Editing Hinduism (section)

== Definitions ==
"Hinduism" is an umbrella-term,<ref>{{harvnb|Lochtefeld|2002a}}; {{harvnb|Flood|2022|p=339}}</ref>
referring to a broad range of sometimes opposite and often competitive traditions.<ref>{{harvnb|Holberg|2000|p=316}}; {{harvnb|Nicholson|2013|pp=2–5}}; {{harvnb|McDaniel|2007|pp=52–53}}; {{harvnb|Michaels|2004|p=21}}</ref>
In Western ethnography, the term refers to the fusion,{{refn|group=note|name="Lockard-fusion"}} or synthesis,{{refn|group=note|name="Hiltebeitel-synthesis"|{{harvnb|Hiltebeitel|2002|p=12}}: "A period of consolidation, sometimes identified as one of 'Hindu synthesis', 'Brahmanic synthesis', or 'orthodox synthesis', takes place between the time of the late Vedic Upanishads ({{Circa|500 BCE}}) and the period of Gupta imperial ascendency (c. 320–467 CE)."}}{{sfn|Samuel|2008|p=193}} of various Indian cultures and traditions,<ref name="various cultures">{{harvnb|Hiltebeitel|2002|p=12}}; {{harvnb|Flood|1996|p=16}}; {{harvnb|Lockard|2007|p=50}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|name="fusion"}} with diverse roots{{sfn|Narayanan|2009|p=11}}{{refn|group=note|name="roots"}} and no founder.{{sfn|Fowler|1997|pp=1, 7}} This [[Hindu synthesis]] emerged after the Vedic period, between {{Circa|500}}{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2002|p=12}}–200{{sfn|Larson|2009}} BCE and {{Circa|300 CE}},{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2002|p=12}} in the period of the [[Second Urbanisation]] and the early classical period of Hinduism, when the [[Indian epic poetry|epics]] and the first Puranas were composed.{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2002|p=12}}{{sfn|Larson|2009}} It flourished in the [[Medieval India|medieval period]], with the [[Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent|decline of Buddhism in India]].{{sfn|Larson|1995|pp=109–111}} Hinduism's variations in belief and its broad range of traditions make it difficult to define as a religion according to traditional Western conceptions.{{sfn|Turner|1996a|p=275}}

Hinduism includes a diversity of ideas on [[Spirituality#Hinduism|spirituality]] and traditions; Hindus can be [[Polytheism|polytheistic]], [[Pantheism|pantheistic]], [[Panentheism|panentheistic]], [[Pandeism|pandeistic]], [[Henotheism|henotheistic]], [[Monotheism|monotheistic]], [[Monism|monistic]], [[Agnosticism|agnostic]], [[Atheism|atheistic]] or [[Humanism|humanist]].<ref name="Lipner2009p8">{{harvnb|Lipner|2009|p=8}} Quote: "[...] one need not be religious in the minimal sense described to be accepted as a Hindu by Hindus, or describe oneself perfectly validly as Hindu. One may be polytheistic or monotheistic, monistic or pantheistic, henotheistic, panentheistic, pandeistic, even an agnostic, humanist or atheist, and still be considered a Hindu."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict |publisher=Academic Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-12-369503-1 |editor-last=Kurtz |editor-first=Lester}}</ref> According to [[Mahatma Gandhi]], "a man may not believe in God and still call himself a Hindu".<ref>MK Gandhi, ''[http://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/essence_of_hinduism.pdf The Essence of Hinduism]'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724045756/http://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/essence_of_hinduism.pdf |date=24 July 2015 }}, Editor: VB Kher, Navajivan Publishing, see page 3</ref> According to [[Wendy Doniger]], "ideas about all the major issues of faith and lifestyle – vegetarianism, nonviolence, belief in rebirth, even [[Caste system in India|caste]] – are subjects of debate, not [[dogma]]."{{sfn|Doniger|2014|p=3}}

Because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}} The religion "defies our desire to define and categorize it".{{sfn|Knott|1998|p=117}} Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and "a way of life".{{sfn|Sharma|2003|pp=12–13}}{{refn|group=note|name="definition"}} From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism, like other faiths, is appropriately referred to as a religion. In India, the term ''(Hindu) dharma'' is used, which is broader than the Western term "religion," and refers to the religious attitudes and behaviours, the 'right way to live', as preserved and transmitted in the various traditions collectively referred to as "Hinduism."{{sfn|Flood|2003a|p=9}}{{sfn|Thomas|2012|p=175}}{{sfn|Bhattacharya|2006}}{{efn|name="Hindu_dharma"}}

The study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of "Hinduism", has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion.{{sfn|Sweetman|2004}}{{sfn|King|1999}} Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism,{{sfn|Sweetman|2004}}{{Refn|group=note|Sweetman mentions:
* {{harvnb|Halbfass|1988}}, ''India and Europe''
* {{harvnb|Sontheimer|1989}}, ''Hinduism Reconsidered''
* [[Ronald Inden]], ''Imagining India''
* [[Carol Breckenridge]] and [[Peter van der Veer]], ''Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament''
* [[Vasudha Dalmia]] and [[Heinrich von Stietencron]], ''Representing Hinduism''
* [[S.N. Balagangadhara]], ''The Heathen in his Blindness...''
* [[Thomas Trautmann]], ''Aryans and British India''
* {{harvnb|King|1999}}, ''Orientalism and religion''}} and have also been taken over by critics of the Western view on India.{{sfn|Nussbaum|2009}}{{refn|group=note|See [[Rajiv Malhotra]] and [[Being Different]] for a critic who gained widespread attention outside the academia, [[Invading the Sacred]], and [[Hindu studies]].}}

=== Typology ===
[[File:Aum Om navy blue circle coral.svg|thumb|upright|[[Om]], a stylised letter of the [[Devanagari]] script, used as a religious symbol in Hinduism]]
{{Main|Hindu denominations}}

Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents. Of the historical division into six [[darsanas]] (philosophies), two schools, [[Vedanta]] and [[Yoga (philosophy)|Yoga]], are currently the most prominent.{{sfn|Clarke|2011|p=28}}
The six [[āstika]] schools of Hindu philosophy, which recognise the authority of the Vedas are: [[Samkhya|Sānkhya]], [[Yoga]], [[Nyāya]], [[Vaisheshika]], [[Mīmāṃsā|Mimāmsā]], and [[Vedānta]].{{sfn|Holberg|2000|p=316}}{{sfn|Nicholson|2013|p=2–5}}

Classified by primary deity or deities, four major Hinduism modern currents are [[Vaishnavism]] (Vishnu), [[Shaivism]] (Shiva), [[Shaktism]] (Devi) and [[Smarta Tradition|Smartism]] (five deities treated as equals).{{sfn|Bhandarkar|1913|p=}}{{sfn|Tattwananda|n.d.|p=}}{{sfn|Flood|1996|pp=113, 134, 155–161, 167–168}}{{sfn|Lipner|2009|pp=377, 398}} Hinduism also accepts numerous divine beings, with many Hindus considering the deities to be aspects or manifestations of a single impersonal absolute or ultimate reality or [[Supreme God (Hinduism)|Supreme God]], while some Hindus maintain that a specific deity represents the supreme and various deities are lower manifestations of this supreme.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=14}} Other notable characteristics include a belief in the existence of [[Ātman (Hinduism)|ātman]] (self), [[reincarnation]] of one's ātman, and karma as well as a belief in dharma (duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and right way of living), although variation exists, with some not following these beliefs.

June McDaniel (2007) classifies Hinduism into six major kinds and numerous minor kinds, in order to understand the expression of emotions among the Hindus.{{sfn|McDaniel|2007|pp=52–53}} The major kinds, according to McDaniel are [[Folk Hinduism]], based on local traditions and cults of local [[deities]] and is the oldest, non-literate system; [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic Hinduism]] based on the earliest layers of the Vedas, traceable to the 2nd millennium BCE; Vedantic Hinduism based on the philosophy of the [[Upanishad]]s, including [[Advaita Vedanta]], emphasising knowledge and wisdom; Yogic Hinduism, following the text of [[Yoga Sutras of Patanjali]] emphasising introspective awareness; Dharmic Hinduism or "daily morality", which McDaniel states is stereotyped in some books as the "only form of Hindu religion with a belief in karma, cows and caste"; and [[bhakti]] or devotional Hinduism, where intense emotions are elaborately incorporated in the pursuit of the spiritual.{{sfn|McDaniel|2007|pp=52–53}}

Michaels distinguishes three Hindu religions and four forms of Hindu religiosity.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=21}} The three Hindu religions are "Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism", "folk religions and tribal religions", and "founded religions".{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=22}} The four forms of Hindu religiosity are the classical "karma-marga",{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=23}} [[Jnana yoga|jnana-marga]],{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=24}} [[bhakti yoga|bhakti-marga]],{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=24}} and "heroism", which is rooted in [[Sannyasa#Warrior ascetics|militaristic traditions]]. These militaristic traditions include Ramaism (the worship of a hero of epic literature, [[Rama]], believing him to be an incarnation of Vishnu)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of RAMAISM|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Ramaism|access-date=28 October 2020|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en|archive-date=29 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174144/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Ramaism|url-status=live}}</ref> and parts of [[Hindu nationalism|political Hinduism]].{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=23}} "Heroism" is also called [[Vīrya (Hinduism)|virya-marga]].{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=24}} According to Michaels, one out of nine Hindu belongs by birth to one or both of the Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism and Folk religion typology, whether practising or non-practicing. He classifies most Hindus as belonging by choice to one of the "founded religions" such as Vaishnavism and Shaivism that are moksha-focussed and often de-emphasise [[Brahmin|Brahman]] (Brahmin) priestly authority yet incorporate ritual grammar of Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|pp=21–22}} He includes among "founded religions" [[Buddhism]], [[Jainism]], Sikhism that are now distinct religions, [[Syncretism|syncretic]] movements such as [[Brahmo Samaj]] and the [[Theosophical Society]], as well as various "[[Guru]]-isms" and new religious movements such as [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]],
[[BAPS]] and [[ISKCON]].{{sfn|Michaels|2004|pp=22–23}}

Inden states that the attempt to classify Hinduism by typology started in the imperial times, when proselytising missionaries and colonial officials sought to understand and portray Hinduism from their interests.<ref name=ronaldinden127 /> Hinduism was construed as emanating not from a reason of spirit but fantasy and creative imagination, not conceptual but symbolical, not ethical but emotive, not rational or spiritual but of cognitive mysticism. This stereotype followed and fit, states Inden, with the imperial imperatives of the era, providing the moral justification for the colonial project.<ref name=ronaldinden127 /> From tribal Animism to Buddhism, everything was subsumed as part of Hinduism. The early reports set the tradition and scholarly premises for the typology of Hinduism, as well as the major assumptions and flawed presuppositions that have been at the foundation of [[Indology]]. Hinduism, according to Inden, has been neither what imperial religionists stereotyped it to be, nor is it appropriate to equate Hinduism to be merely the monist pantheism and philosophical idealism of Advaita Vedanta.<ref name="ronaldinden127">Ronald Inden (2001), ''Imagining India'', Indiana University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-253-21358-7}}, pp. 117–122, 127–130</ref>

Some academics suggest that Hinduism can be seen as a category with "fuzzy edges" rather than as a well-defined and rigid entity. Some forms of religious expression are central to Hinduism and others, while not as central, still remain within the category. Based on this idea [[Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi]] has developed a 'Prototype Theory approach' to the definition of Hinduism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ferro-Luzzi |title=Hinduism Reconsidered |publisher=Manohar |year=1991 |editor-last=Sontheimer |editor-first=G.D. |location=Delhi |pages=187–195 |chapter=The Polythetic-Prototype Approach to Hinduism |editor-last2=Kulke |editor-first2=H.}}</ref>

=== {{IAST|Sanātana Dharma}} ===
{{See also|Sanātanī}}

[[File:Srirangam-Rajagopuram-1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam|Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple]], dedicated to the [[Hindu]] deity [[Vishnu]], is said to be worshiped by [[Ikshvaku]] (and the descendants of [[Solar dynasty|Ikshvaku Vamsam]]).<ref>Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya kanda, sarga 6, sloka 1, 2 and 3</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/Srirangam-temple-rich-with-elaborate-details/article59829979.ece|title=Srirangam temple rich with elaborate details|newspaper=The Hindu|date=3 April 2014|accessdate=28 August 2023|via=www.thehindu.com|archive-date=16 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816200421/https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/Srirangam-temple-rich-with-elaborate-details/article59829979.ece|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/news/india/was-ram-born-in-ayodhya/articleshow/77380259.cms|title=Was Ram born in Ayodhya?|website=Mumbai Mirror|accessdate=28 August 2023|archive-date=14 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814150318/https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/news/india/was-ram-born-in-ayodhya/articleshow/77380259.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

To its adherents, Hinduism is a traditional way of life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Insoll |first=Timothy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QNxnYjYRuOMC&pg=PA35 |title=Archaeology and world religion |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-415-22155-9 |access-date=29 December 2020 |archive-date=29 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174124/https://books.google.com/books?id=QNxnYjYRuOMC&pg=PA35 |url-status=live }}</ref> Many practitioners refer to the "orthodox" form of Hinduism as ''[[Sanātana Dharma|{{IAST|Sanātana Dharma}}]]'', "the eternal law" or the "eternal way".<ref>{{harvnb|Bowker|2000}}; {{harvnb|Harvey|2001|p=xiii}}</ref>{{sfn|Vivekjivandas|2010|p=1}} Hindus regard Hinduism to be thousands of years old. The [[Puranic chronology]], as narrated in the [[Mahabharata]], [[Ramayana]], and the [[Puranas]], envisions a timeline of events related to Hinduism starting well before{{Weasel inline|date=February 2024}} 3000 BCE. The word ''dharma'' is used here to mean ''[[religion]]'' similar to modern [[Indo-Aryan languages]], rather than with its original Sanskrit meaning. All aspects of a Hindu life, namely acquiring wealth (''artha''), fulfilment of desires (''kama''), and attaining liberation (''moksha''), are viewed here as part of "dharma", which encapsulates the "right way of living" and eternal harmonious principles in their fulfilment.{{sfn|Knott|1998|p=111}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hacker |first=Paul |title=Dharma in Hinduism |journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy |year=2006 |volume=34 |issue=5 |pages=479–496 |doi=10.1007/s10781-006-9002-4|s2cid=170922678 }}</ref> The use of the term ''Sanātana Dharma'' for Hinduism is a modern usage, based on the belief that the origins of Hinduism lie beyond human history, as revealed in the [[Hindu texts]].{{sfn|Knott|1998|pp=3, 5, 117}}{{sfn|Bowker|2000}}{{sfn|Harvey|2001|p=xiii}}{{sfn|Parpola|2015|p=3}}{{Clarify|reason=Not clear what is revaalex in Hindu texts.|date=February 2024}}

''Sanātana Dharma'' refers to "timeless, eternal set of truths" and this is how Hindus view the origins of their religion. It is viewed as those eternal truths and traditions with origins beyond human history– truths divinely revealed ([[Shruti]]) in the [[Vedas]], the most ancient of the world's scriptures.{{sfn|Hatcher|2015|pp=4–5, 69–71, 150–152}}{{sfn|Knott|1998|p=3}} To many Hindus, Hinduism is a tradition that can be traced at least to the ancient Vedic era. The Western term "religion" to the extent it means "dogma and an institution traceable to a single founder" is inappropriate for their tradition, states Hatcher.{{sfn|Hatcher|2015|pp=4–5, 69–71, 150–152}}{{sfn|Lipner|2009|pp=15–17}}{{refn|group=note|The term ''sanatana dharma'' and its Vedic roots had another context in the colonial era, particularly the early 19th-century through movements such as the [[Brahmo Samaj]] and the [[Arya Samaj]]. These movements, particularly active in British and French colonies outside India, such as in Africa and the Caribbean, interpreted Hinduism to be a monotheistic religion and attempted to demonstrate that it to be similar to Christianity and Islam. Their views were opposed by other Hindus such as the Sanatan Dharma Sabha of 1895.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XOyYCgAAQBAJ |title=The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions: Volume 1: A – L; Volume 2: M – Z |last2=Case |first2=Frederick I. |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-252-09433-0 |pages=902–903 |access-date=25 July 2018 |archive-date=28 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240328155559/https://books.google.com/books?id=XOyYCgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

''{{IAST|Sanātana Dharma}}'' historically referred to the "eternal" duties religiously ordained in Hinduism, duties such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (''[[ahimsa|ahiṃsā]]''), purity, goodwill, mercy, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, generosity, and asceticism. These duties applied regardless of a Hindu's class, caste, or sect, and they contrasted with [[svadharma]], one's "own duty", in accordance with one's class or caste (''varṇa'') and stage in life ([[puruṣārtha]]).<ref name="EB-sanatana dharma" group="web">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Sanatana dharma {{!}} Hinduism |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/665848/sanatana-dharma |access-date=17 November 2016 |archive-date=3 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503143650/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/665848/sanatana-dharma |url-status=live }}</ref> In recent years, the term has been used by Hindu leaders, reformers, and nationalists to refer to Hinduism. Sanatana dharma has become a synonym for the "eternal" truth and teachings of Hinduism, that transcend history and are "unchanging, indivisible and ultimately nonsectarian".<ref name="EB-sanatana dharma" group="web" />

=== ''Vaidika dharma'' ===
{{See also|Historical Vedic religion|Vedic period}}
Some have referred to Hinduism as the ''Vaidika dharma'',{{sfn|Sharma|Sharma|2004|pp=1–2}} bypassing the Tanttric revelations. The word 'Vaidika' in Sanskrit means 'derived from or conformable to the Veda' or 'relating to the Veda'.<ref name="MW_Vaidika dharma" group="web">{{Cite web|last=Monier-Williams|first=Monier|author-link=Monier Monier-Williams|year=1988|title=Sanskrit English Dictionary|url=http://sanskritdictionary.com/scans/?col=1&img=mw1022.jpg|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174152/http://sanskritdictionary.com/scans/?col=1&img=mw1022.jpg|archive-date=29 December 2020|access-date=24 July 2018|website=sanskritdictionary.com}}</ref> Traditional scholars employed the terms Vaidika and Avaidika, those who accept the Vedas as a source of authoritative knowledge and those who do not, to differentiate various Indian schools from Jainism, Buddhism and Charvaka. According to Klaus Klostermaier, the term Vaidika dharma is the earliest self-designation of Hinduism.{{sfn|Klostermaier|2014|p=2}}{{sfn|Klostermaier|2007b|p=7}} According to [[Arvind Sharma]], the historical evidence suggests that "the Hindus were referring to their religion by the term ''vaidika dharma'' or a variant thereof" by the 4th-century CE.<ref name="Sharma1985a">{{Cite journal|last=Sharma|first=A|author-link=Arvind Sharma|year=1985|title=Did the Hindus have a name for their own religion?|url=https://josa-publications.sydney.edu.au/chronological-index-1960-2002/|journal=The Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia|volume=17|issue=1|pages=94–98 [95]|access-date=17 March 2021|archive-date=4 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304042137/https://josa-publications.sydney.edu.au/chronological-index-1960-2002/|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Brian K. Smith, "[i]t is 'debatable at the very least' as to whether the term ''Vaidika Dharma'' cannot, with the proper concessions to historical, cultural, and ideological specificity, be comparable to and translated as 'Hinduism' or 'Hindu religion'."{{sfn|Smith|1998}}

Whatever the case, many Hindu religious sources see persons or groups which they consider as non-Vedic (and which reject Vedic [[Varnasrama Dharma|varṇāśrama]] – 'caste and life stage' orthodoxy) as being heretics (pāṣaṇḍa/pākhaṇḍa). For example, the ''[[Bhagavata Purana|Bhāgavata Purāṇa]]'' considers Buddhists, Jains as well as some [[Shaivism|Shaiva]] groups like the [[Pashupata Shaivism|Paśupatas]] and [[Kapalika|Kāpālins]] to be pāṣaṇḍas (heretics).<ref>Valpey, Kenneth Russell; Gupta, Ravi Mohan (2013). ''The Bhāgavata Purāṇa, sacred text and living tradition'', p. 146. Columbia University Press.</ref>

According to [[Alexis Sanderson]], the early Sanskrit texts differentiate between Vaidika, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta, Saura, Buddhist and Jaina traditions. However, the late 1st-millennium CE Indic consensus had "indeed come to conceptualize a complex entity corresponding to Hinduism as opposed to Buddhism and Jainism excluding only certain forms of [[Antinomianism|antinomian]] Shakta-Shaiva" from its fold.<ref group=web name=sandersonpart1 /> Some in the [[Mimamsa]] school of Hindu philosophy considered the ''[[Āgama (Hinduism)|Agamas]]'' such as the Pancaratrika to be invalid because it did not conform to the Vedas. Some Kashmiri scholars rejected the esoteric tantric traditions to be a part of Vaidika dharma.<ref group=web name="sandersonpart1">{{Cite web |last=Sanderson |first=Alexis |date=March 2016 |title=Tolerance, Exclusivity, Inclusivity, and Persecution in Indian Religion During the Early Mediaeval Period – Part One |url=http://www.sutrajournal.com/tolerance-exclusivity-inclusivity-and-persecution-by-alexis-sanderson |website=Sutra Journal |access-date=13 March 2018 |archive-date=29 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174134/http://www.sutrajournal.com/tolerance-exclusivity-inclusivity-and-persecution-by-alexis-sanderson |url-status=live }}</ref><ref group=web>{{Cite web |last=Sanderson |first=Alexis |date=May 2016 |title=Tolerance, Exclusivity, Inclusivity, and Persecution in Indian Religion During the Early Mediaeval Period – Part Two |url=http://www.sutrajournal.com/tolerance-exclusivity-inclusivity-and-persecution-part-two-by-alexis-sanderson |website=Sutra Journal |access-date=13 March 2018 |archive-date=29 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174151/http://www.sutrajournal.com/tolerance-exclusivity-inclusivity-and-persecution-part-two-by-alexis-sanderson |url-status=live }}</ref> The Atimarga Shaivism ascetic tradition, datable to about 500 CE, challenged the Vaidika frame and insisted that their Agamas and practices were not only valid, they were superior than those of the Vaidikas.<ref group=web name="sandersonpart3">{{Cite web |last=Sanderson |first=Alexis |date=July 2016 |title=Tolerance, Exclusivity, Inclusivity, and Persecution in Indian Religion During the Early Mediaeval Period – Part Three |url=http://www.sutrajournal.com/tolerance-exclusivity-inclusivity-and-persecution-part-three-by-alexis-sanderson |website=Sutra Journal |access-date=13 March 2018 |archive-date=29 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174219/http://www.sutrajournal.com/tolerance-exclusivity-inclusivity-and-persecution-part-three-by-alexis-sanderson |url-status=live }}</ref> However, adds Sanderson, this Shaiva ascetic tradition viewed themselves as being genuinely true to the Vedic tradition and "held unanimously that the Śruti and Smṛti of Brahmanism are universally and uniquely valid in their own sphere, [...] and that as such they [Vedas] are man's sole means of valid knowledge [...]".<ref group=web name="sandersonpart3" />

The term Vaidika dharma means a code of practice that is "based on the Vedas", but it is unclear what "based on the Vedas" really implies, states Julius Lipner.{{sfn|Lipner|2009|pp=15–17}} The Vaidika dharma or "Vedic way of life", states Lipner, does not mean "Hinduism is necessarily religious" or that Hindus have a universally accepted "conventional or institutional meaning" for that term.{{sfn|Lipner|2009|pp=15–17}} To many, it is as much a cultural term. Many Hindus do not have a copy of the Vedas nor have they ever seen or personally read parts of a Veda, like a Christian, might relate to the Bible or a Muslim might to the Quran. Yet, states Lipner, "this does not mean that their [Hindus] whole life's orientation cannot be traced to the Vedas or that it does not in some way derive from it".{{sfn|Lipner|2009|pp=15–17}}

Though many religious Hindus implicitly acknowledge the authority of the Vedas, this acknowledgment is often "no more than a declaration that someone considers himself [or herself] a Hindu,"{{sfn|Lipner|2009|p=16}}{{refn|group=note|Lipner quotes Brockington (1981), ''The sacred tread'', p. 5.}} and "most Indians today pay lip service to the Veda and have no regard for the contents of the text."<ref>{{harvnb|Michaels|2004|p=18}}; see also {{harvnb|Lipner|2009|p=77}}; and {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Brian K. |title=Sacred Texts and Authority |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |year=2008 |editor-last=Neusner |editor-first=Jacob |page=101 |chapter=Hinduism}}</ref> Some Hindus challenge the authority of the Vedas, thereby implicitly acknowledging its importance to the history of Hinduism, states Lipner.{{sfn|Lipner|2009|pp=15–17}}

=== Legal definition ===
[[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] gave the following definition in ''Gita Rahasya'' (1915): "Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and realization of the truth that the number of gods to be worshipped is large".<ref name=Tilak2>Kohli Hari Dev (2010), ''Supreme Court On Hindu Law'', p.251</ref><ref name=Tilak>Ved P. Nanda (ed.)(2016), ''Compassion in the 4 Dharmic Traditions'', p.71</ref> It was quoted by the Indian Supreme Court in 1966,<ref name=Tilak2 /><ref name=Tilak /> and again in 1995, "as an 'adequate and satisfactory definition,"<ref>Peter Beyer, ''Religions in Global Society''</ref> and is still the legal definition of a Hindu today.{{sfn|Doniger|2014|p=20}}