User:Gazal world/Hinduism

Hinduism is an article by Gujarati writer and philosopher Manilal Dwivedi which was read by Virchand Gandhi on behalf of him at the first Parliament of the World's Religions held at Chicago in 1893.

Background


Manilal was on the advisory council of the World Parliament of Religions which was going to held its first convention in Chicago in September 1893. He was very keen to attend the Parliament as he was interested in explaining "the true essence of Hindu Religion and remove the misunderstandings about Hinduism spread by some Christian missionaries". He tried to get required travel funding from some native states using the contacts of his well-wisher and friend Mansukhram Tripathi, a Gujarati thinker and writer, but did not succeed.

However, he sent an article on Hinduism with his photograph and a short biography to the organisers of the Parliament. The Chairman of the organisation committee liked the article, and in reply, he asked Manilal ten questions on Hinduism and sent an invitation to attend the Parliament. Manilal promptly replied to the questions. Regarding the invitation, Manilal expressed his inability to travel to Chicago as he did not have funding for that. The chairman offered him travel and other expenses. But that was not enough as because of his poor health Manilal was not able to travel without a healthcare assistant with him.

Finally, Virchand Gandhi, another scholar who was invited to the Parliament from Gujarat, read Manilal's article at parliament on behalf of him on 12 September. Later, the article Hinduism and the answers (under the title Answers of the Mimanse Vedanta or Advaita Philosophy―(Orthodox Hinduism)―To Religious Problems) were published in Volume 1 of The World's Parliament of Religions, edited by John Henry Barrows. It was one of the longest articles printed in the volume.

Article

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In the article, Manilal gives technical explanation of the terms 'Hinduism' and 'Indian philosophy', and outlines the development of Hinduism from the Vedas to the nineteenth century. He also discusses major milestones of the development of Hindu philosophy, the origin of caste system in India, the six major schools of Indian philosophy, and the intellectual influence of British rule on India, and described how it helped Indians in creating reform institutions such as Arya Samaj and Brahmo Samaj in India.

Further, Manilal also demonstrates how orientalists have created India of their own imagination and tried to defend Hindu ritualism, theism, and Hindu model of religious unity. He noted that the western scholars have created the idea of Hinduism under the influence of Christianity and ignored the role of divine multiplicity. He further defended the Vedant system and said that the Vedanta "is a system of absolute idealism in which subject and object are welded into one unique consciousness, the realization whereof is the end and aim of existence, the highest bliss Moksha".