An amalgam of philosophy and religious practice, from about 1500 BCE/BC, what is now known as Hinduism progressively became the dominant way of life (dharma) for the people living between the Indus river and the Arakan Yomas Mountains. Numerous gods and goddesses are recognized within this tradition. Thus it is by no means a monotheistic religion. Nor is Hinduism bound up with a single authoritative text, heroic figure, or hierarchical structure. Likewise, it is nearly impossible to identify a single coherent body of beliefs within Hinduism. Under this name there coexist a multitude of different orientations, such as Brahmanism, Vedantism, Vaishnavism, Shakti, and Tantra. More a way of life than a settled doctrine, scholars have long questioned whether the concept of “religion” has any meaningful application to Hinduism. For some, this names an artificial construct that emerged under the combined influence of British colonial Orientalism, Western education, and indigenous reform movements. There is much truth in this assertion.

However, it cannot be denied that Brahmanism as it emerged at the dawn of Aryan civilization in South Asia constitutes the core of Hinduism even today. Both George K. Tanham and Stephen Peter Rosen accept that Hinduism is closely linked with the caste system that still operates in the subcontinent even after two millennia. And throughout its different historical periods Hinduism has been identified with certain key texts: first the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita, which are from the Vedic and epic periods, and then the dharmasastra literature (of which the Manava-Dharmasastra is the most significant text), which took root during the Common Era. After 900 CE, the growth of Hinduism was shaped by different commentaries on the above-mentioned sources. Finally, from the fifteenth century onward, two epics in particular, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, came to acquire special significance.