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India has often been seen as a highly spiritual country. I am not sure just how to assess this. It is notable that the world's five great religions were born in such confined areas. Three came out of the Middle East (Judiaism, Christiamity, and Islam). The other two came out of India (Hindism and Budhism). And India has given birth to several smaller, but important religions. Budhism has almost disappeared from India, but Islam has made strong inroads. In fact India is the wotld's largest Muslim nation, although they are still in a minority. There are many other religious traditions in India. One of the most important is the Sikihs as well as the Jains. And there are also Christians as a ressult of the European colonial era, especially the British Raj. And there is also the contunuing influence of primitive Animism.
The principal religion of India is Brahmanism/Hinduism. Hinduism is a religion almost uniquely associated with India and neigboring Nepal as well as the East Indies (especially Java) where it was carried by Indian traders. For a range of historical reasons it has not spread to other countries. There are Hindus in other countries, but almost always restricted to Indian emmigrants. Hinduism is a mystery to most westerners and many Muslims view it as an idultrious religion. At first glance with the various gods it may not seem like a monothesistic religion, but this would be a misunderstanding, much like concluding that Christianity is not a monotheistic religion because of the trinity and saint cults. Brahmanism and its stratified social caste system, evolved from the Vedic religion of Aryan invaders who entered the sub-continent. Hinduism has been described as a mode of living of one particular people. Unlike many other religions, there is no international missionary zeal to spread the religion to non-believers. It is also the only great monotheistic religion with such a stratified class system. This alone would make it virtually impossible to spread to peoples that had not been born into the religion. Hinduism eventually became the dominant religion of India, and later it became state religion; Jains and Buddhists were persecuted. Then game the Islamic invasion and the Moghu Empire.
A more recent religion rising out of India is Buddhism. Gautama Buddha achieved spiritual enlightenment at Boddh Gaya, in northeastern India (567 BC). He was a prince born into great luxury, but was touched by the desire to somehow put an end to the all too apparent human misery.
Buddhists essentially teach deliverance and the final point of the Buddhist search is nirvana which is perfect and incomparable bliss. Emperor Asoka converted to Buddhism and promulgated a state religion combining elements of both Buddhism and Jainism. Hinduism eventually became the dominant religion in India. Buddhism was effectively destroyed by Hindus, even before the Islamic invasions. The Muslim rulers even futher supressed Buddhism. The supression was so intensive that the origins of Buddhism were largely unknown even in the early 19th century.
Jainism is an off-shoot of Buddhism. It was in many ways a protest against Hinduis, but also influenced by the long Hindu traditions. Vardhamana Mahavira (599-527 BC) was a contemporary of Buddha. He claims to have achieved enlightenment (about 557 BC). He founded Jainism that came to a major competitor with Hinduism at a time of great religious ferment in India. The final and maximum law of Jainsm is ahimsa (non-violence). Jain tradition teaches a sucession of 24 Tirthankaras (saints) who are the foundation of the religion.
The last Tirthankara was Vardhamana who is called Mahavira (the great hero) and Jina (the victor). The Jains believe that all matter and spirit in the universe are eternal. Jains believes that spirits retain conciouness of identity through sucessive incarnations. These incarnations were deterimined by one's conduct. The goal of life is to reach Nirbanah which is release from body and matter. Jains believe that an individual can reach Nirvanah after nine reincarnations.
Arabs soon after the Islamic explosion from Arabian desert appeared in India. A Muslim foothold developed in the West (8th century). The Arabs who conquered Mesopotamia and Persia contunued their military advance into the sub-continent. They conquered and Ilamicized Sind, the north-western frontier province as well as portions of Punjab. Muslim invasions from the north continued (1000 AD) At first they were raids, but gradually increased in intensity. Islam entered India, as with other countries, by conquest. The Mongol warriors introuced Islam by the sword (16th century). The Moghuls spread Islam throughout India. The Moguhl Emperor Baber conquered India and unified most of northern India (1526). The Muslim dynasty he founded lasted until supresed by the British after the Sepoy Uprising (1857). The famed Taj Mahal was built by the Moghul emperor Shajahan. While Islam was introduced by conquest, it was spread in part because it appealed to many Indians, especially the poor untouchables. Millions of Indians converted. There are large numbers of Muslims in India, even after the partition that createrd Pakistan. While Muslims are a minority, India is in fact the world's most populace Muslim nation. One interesting aspect of Islam in India is political. Some analysts have questiin whether a Muslim nation can be democratic. Indian Muslims have clearly signed on to democracy despite continuing terrorist efforts to insite sectarian violence. Muslims in modern India have clearly accepted democracy as the best way of protecting their rights in a majority Hundu nation. The larger question of course is whether Muslims are willing to extend similar rights in countries where Muslims are the dominant religion.
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion. Islam futher intensified the religious ferment of the sub-continent. The Islamic prohnibition on idoltry was particularly significant. New religious sects preached against idolatry as well as polytheism and caste. Here the Sikhs were especially important. Nanak (1469-1538) founded Sikism. He was a Punjabi, born in Talwandi Lahore which is now part of Pakistan. Sikhism is an attempt to recocile the two main religions of India, Hinduism and Islam. Numbering approximately 23 million worldwide; over 60 percent of Sikhs live in the Indian state of Punjab, where they form about two-thirds of the population. Men and boys don't cut hair, but they roll up and cover it. The adults wear the characteristic turban, the boys a cloth.
Animism is the belief that all of nature (including inanimate objects) is actually alive and have a soul or spirit. This religious belief is very common with many if not most indigenous peope expressed in tribal, pagan, and shamanistic religions. The primitive people of India were animists and tribal groups in India still practice amimism. This set of beliefs, however, has been much more influential. The animism pf early India has been into mainstream Hinduism and survives as a range of local traditions. The same has occurred with Shintoism in Japan.
Christianity appeared in India from the earliest days of the founding of the religion.
The Apostle St. Thomas brought Christianity to India. The historical record is sparse, but St Thomas is believed to have reached India (about 52 AD). He preached to Brahmin families on the west coast (Kerala) converting some. He founded churches and then moved to the east coat where he was martared near Madras.
There are reports of a Thomistic desicple on the north-west borders of Hindustan. There is a better substantiated belief in preaching among the Dravidian populations of the south. Here there is a Christian comminity that pre-dates the European imperial era. The early Christian impact on India, however, was minimal. Europeans reintroduced Christianity to India. Christians arrived at an early stage in the development of rhe religion, but had pnly limited impact. The first European to reach India was the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (1498). The Portuguese monopolized Indian trade (16th century). Other Europeans (Dutch, English, and French) competed (17th century) Finally as part of the 7 Years War, Britain emerged as the dominant colonial power (18th century). Moghul power disipated by dynastic and sectarian conflicts eased the path for Europeans The Europeans brought Christianity with them. Most of the major Protestant sects have adherents in India. There are also Catholic converts. Christians are only a small part of the Indian religious converts. I am unsure as the the social-class or regional make up of Indian Christians. Here is an images from northern West Bengal (figure 1). The photograph was taken in Kearchand, a village with about 5,000 inhabitants 150 kilometers from Calcutta. In the region all Christians belong to Santhali Tribe. The image here shows the Holy Friday procession on April 17, 1992 (figure 1). We also note a children's First Communion in the 1990s. The girls wear the same junior white wedding dresses worn in Europe and America. The boys wear white shirts and shorts.
Jews are reported in India even before the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem. Some Indian Jews claim to be descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel. The Roman supression of the Jewish Revolt dispersed Jews from Paestine (66-70 AD). It is at this time that Jewish comminities appear in North Africa and Europe. Jewish colonies existed in Malabar/Kerala (1st century AD).
There is a small Zoroastrian community in India. Here the influence was again Middle Eastern, specifically Persian. They appeared about the same time as Islam (8th century). ubsequent to the fall of the Persian Empire, after which Zoroastrianism was gradually supplanted by Islam, many Zoroastrians fled to other regions in the hope of preserving their religious tradition. Among them were several groups who migrated to Gujarat, on the western shores of the Indian subcontinent, where they finally settled. The descendants of those refugees are today known as the Parsis.
In India the Zoroastrians enjoyed tolerance and even admiration from other religious communities. From the 19th century onward, the Parsis gained a reputation for their education and widespread influence in all aspects of society, partly due to the divisive strategy of British colonialism which favored certain minorities.
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