Hinduism in India

Hinduism is the largest religion in India. According to the 2011 Census of India, 966.3 million people identify as Hindu, representing 79.8% of the country's population. India contains 94% of the global Hindu population. The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions: namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—collectively known as Indian religions that believe Moksha is the most supreme state of the '' Ātman'' (soul). The vast majority of Indian Hindus belong to Shaivite and Vaishnavite denominations. India is one of the three countries in the world (Nepal and Mauritius being the other two) where Hinduism is the dominant religion.

History of Hinduism

The Vedic culture developed in India in and . After this period, the Vedic religion merged with local traditions and the renouncer traditions, resulting in the emergence of Hinduism, which has had a profound impact on India's history, culture and philosophy. The name ''India'' itself is derived from Sanskrit ''Sindhu'', the historic local appellation for the Indus River.

India saw the rule of both Hindu and Muslim rulers from to . The fall of Vijayanagar Empire to Muslim sultans had marked the end of Hindu dominance in the Deccan. Hinduism once again rose to political prestige, under the Maratha Empire.

Partition of India

The 1947 Partition of India gave rise to bloody rioting and indiscriminate inter-communal killing of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs across the Indian subcontinent. As a result, an estimated 7.2 million Hindus and Sikhs moved to India and 7.5 million Muslims moved to Pakistan permanently, leading to demographic change of both the nations to a certain extent.

Demographics

Hindu population by States and Territories

Hindu majority State/Union Territory in India

List of most Hindu majority states with more than 80% of population of Hindus.
# Himachal Pradesh – (95.17%)
# Dadra and Nagar Haveli – (93.93%)
# Orissa – (93.63%)
# Chhattisgarh – (93.25%)
# Madhya Pradesh – (90.89%)
# Daman and Diu – (90.50%)
# Gujarat – (88.57%)
# Rajasthan – (88.49%)
# Andhra Pradesh – (88.46%)
# Tamil Nadu – (87.58%)
# Haryana – (87.46%)
# Puducherry – (87.30%)
# Karnataka – (84.00%)
# Tripura – (83.40%)
# Uttarakhand – (82.97%)
# Bihar – (82.69%)
# Delhi – (81.68%)
# Chandigarh – (80.78%)

Apart from this, there are 10 States/Union Territory of Hindu majorities. With Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal having more than 70 percent of population.

The Hindu population has increased more than three times from 303,675,084 in 1951 to 966,257,353 in 2011, but the Hindu percentage share of total population has declined from 84.1% in 1951 to 79.8% in 2011. When India achieved independence in 1947, Hindus formed 85% of the total population and pre-Partition British India had 73% of Hindus and 24% of Muslims.

Among the community, it is estimated that Forward castes comprise 26 per cent, Other Backward Classes comprise 43%, Scheduled Castes (Dalits) comprises 22% and Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis) comprise 9%.

Hindu minority State/Union Territory in India

Of the 28 states in India, Hindus form the majority in 22 states except for Punjab ( Sikh majority), Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Mizoram ( Christian majority). In Manipur, Hinduism is a plurality religion, where Hinduism is practised by 41.39% and Christianity is followed by 41.29% of the people. Out of the eight Union territories, Hindus form the majority in five.

Hindus are the minority in six states and three union territories of India namely:

# Mizoram – (2.75%),
# Lakshadweep – (2.77%),
# Nagaland – (8.74%),
# Meghalaya – (11.52%),
# Ladakh – (12.11%),
# Jammu and Kashmir – (28.8%),
# Arunachal Pradesh – (29.04%),
# Punjab – (38.49%) and
# Manipur – (41.39%)

Out of the eight states of northeast India, Tripura, Sikkim, and Assam are Hindu majority while four are Hindu minority, and one as a plurality.

States with declining Hindu population in India

West Bengal

Two districts in West Bengal, Malda and North Dinajpur, had a Hindu majority in 2001 census which, by the time of the 2011 census, had become a Hindu minority or plurality. The percentage of Hindu population in the state has decreased from 78.45% in 1951 to 70.54% in 2011. Another district, Murshidabad, is a Muslim majority district where the Muslim population steadily increased from 55.24% in 1951 to 66.27% in 2011.

Uttar Pradesh

The proportion of Hindus in the Saharanpur district was 59.49% in 2001. This had declined to 56.74% by 2011 – a drop of 2.75%. At the same time the Muslim population proportion increased from 39.11% in 2001 to 41.95% in 2011.

Assam

A study on population composition of Assam reveals that the Hindu population proportion in Assam has declined from 70.78% in 1951 to 61.47% in 2011. In 1891, the Muslim population proportion in Assam was only about 5%, but by the 2001 census it had risen to above 30% and by 2011 to above 34% of the total Assam population. According to the 2001 census, there were six Muslim-majority districts in Assam, which increased to nine by the time of the 2011 census.

Kerala

The population of Hindus in Kerala has more than doubled from 8,344,351 in 1951 to 18,282,492 in 2011 census, but the share of Hindu population has dropped from 68.5% in 1901 to 54.7% in 2011.

Manipur

A decrease in the 1991–2001 period is observed in Manipur, from 57% to 52% population share, where there has been a resurgence of the indigenous Sanamahi religion. The Hindu population share in Manipur also decreased in 2001–2011 from 52% to 41.4%. The religious conversion of Hindus to Christianity and migration of Christians from Nagaland are considered to be the reason for this decrease in the Hindu population.

Law & politics

Many Right Wing Hindu organisations have demanded that India should be declared a "Hindu nation" by constitution. As far citizens concerned, only 3/10th Indian hindus are in the favour of making India as Hindu Rashtra.

As of 28 July 2020, there were pleas going on Supreme Court of India to remove the words secular and socialist from the Preamble to the Constitution of India. Recently ex-Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy's have made Plead to Supreme Court of India for Deletion of "Socialist" & "Secular" words from Preamble to the Constitution of India.

Controversy

Although the Constitution of India has declared the nation as a secular state with no state religion, it has been argued several times that the Indian state privileges Hinduism as state sponsored religion constitutionally, legislatively and culturally. The original copy of the Indian constitution has the illustration of Lord Ram, Sita, and Lakshman in Part III on Fundamental Rights and Lord Rama has been considered as the true guardian of people’s rights. Article 343 (1) of the Indian Constitution also states that, "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script". Also, Article 48 of Indian constitution prohibits the slaughter of cows or calves (a sacred animal in Hinduism) and it is a criminal offense in most of the states of India.https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1452355/

See also

* Hinduism by country
* Caste system in India
* Other Backward Class
* Hindus by district in India
* Hinduism in South India
* List of Hindu temples in India
* Freedom of religion in India
* Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
* Hindu Code Bills

References

External links

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{{Religion in India topics

India
History of India
History of Hinduism