Guest guest Posted February 21, 2005 Report Share Posted February 21, 2005 Before the coining of the term Hinduism, what were the followers of veda called? Is Vaidika the correct term? Just as there is Hinduism and Hindus, is it vedism and vedics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahnava Nitai Das Posted February 21, 2005 Report Share Posted February 21, 2005 In the Vedas the terms used are "astika" and "nastika" which mean believers and nonbelievers. Astika means "there is" and nastika means "there is not", and it refers to God or Brahman. Besides these terms there were sub divisions such as vaishnava (Vishnu devotee), shaiva (shiva devotee), shakta (devi devotee), saurya (sun planet devotee), and ganapatya (devotee of other gods such as Ganesh) based on which deity the person worshipped. The Vedas were composed at a time when other religions were mostly non existant, thus it was simply divided in to believers and nonbelievers [in the Vedas]. There was no question of Christian, Hindu, Muslim, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.