What is Hinduism called in the Hindi Language?
The word Hindu has more to do with geographic location than religion. It probably has its roots in the name of the river Indus. Strictly speaking therefore the word ‘Hindu’ describes an inhabitant of the area. Combine that with ‘stan’ which stands for ‘the land of’ and you get Hindustan – the land of the Hindu. So Hindus describes all people who live in Hind or Hindustan rather than their faith. The name of the faith subscribed to by the ancient people of the area, if ever there was a name, got lost in history. It was the British colonists who, wanting to label the faith to distinguish it from other major faiths in the area called it Hinduism. Thus, in one stroke, turning all Hindus into followers of Hinduism, as it were. The faith has many scriptures, the most important being the Vedas. Modern scholars and reformers of the faith recognise that Hinduism and Hindu are not the correct names for the faith and its followers. Some have suggested it would be more appropriate to call the fait
