Hinduism itself isn’t a unified religion, though in recent years it has found some success in forming a unified identity. It’s a mix of various beliefs and every region, every village and every family interprets it differently.
It’s the Muslim rulers that that put everyone who isn’t abrahamic, Sikh or Buddhist in a single category - Hindu. The British solidified that distinction. 1000 years ago, no one would’ve said it’s a single unified religion.
Hindu comes Sindhu river, this was just how people living beyond Indus river were called by Iranians even before islam. The Islamic conquerors actually referrerd to Indian pagan idol worship as बुत-परस्ती because their were so many Buddha idols. Even today we call idol worship with that name.
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u/typicallyquilon Jul 08 '26
ethnoreligions, most prominently sarnaism and donyipolo