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HINDUISM IN TRINIDAD
Professor J. C. JHA*
Hinduism is perhaps the oldest religion of the world. It may be called a commonwealth of religions. One may wonder whether it is just a name covering a multitude of different faiths. However, after looking at the spiritual life, devotion and effort lying behind the creeds one may realise "the unity, the indefinable self-identity" of Hinduism which is not static at all. In the course of about five thousand years this religion has developed in such a way that it has assimilated so many liberal, democratic and other trends. On the one hand it has a high philosophy and ethics, on the other it has retained innumerable rituals and popular beliefs. It describes the Supreme as many-sided and comprehensive and comprehends all the relations existing between man and God.2
In the religion of the Indus people (c. 2500-1500 B. C.) both "iconic and aniconic cults existed side by side, and were just as compatible five thousand years ago as they are in the Hinduism of today.”3 There is ample evidence of the worship of the Mother Goddess and of Shiva among the Harappans. Animal and tree worship also existed. Amulets and charms were common and Yoga was playing an important part.
The Vedic religion developed roughly between 1500 B. C. to 700 B. C. was at first different from the earlier religion but later it assimilated some of the ideas from the Harappan (Indus) religion. The chief objects of worship were the devas but there were some goddesses also. Indra, Varuna, Maruts, Surya, Rudra, Agoi (the firegod) and others are mentioned, but there is undercurrent of monotheism.
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* Professor & Head, Department of History, Patna University,
(India). S. Radhakrishnan, “Hinduism'' in G. T. Garratt (ed.), The Legacy of India, Oxford, first published 1937, reprint 1938, p. 256. S. Radhakrishnan, Introduction to The Cultural Heritage of India (Sri Ramakrishna Centenary Volume), Vol. I, Calcutta, p. XXIV. John Marshall, “Mahenjo Daro and the Indus Civilisation" in B. N. Pandey (ed.), A Book of India, Indian edition, New Delhi, 1977 p. 297.
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