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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section British Colonialism and Imperialism

Introduction, the development of modern hinduism.

• Missionary Encounters
• Brahmo Samaj
• Ramakrishna Mission
• Modern Hindu Identity
• Sects and Schools
• Ritual, Festival, Temple
• Science and Medicine
• Bhagavad Gita
• Nationalism
• The Legal Domain

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• Bal Gangadhar Tilak
• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya (Chatterji)
• Bhagavad Gita in Modern India
• Dalits and Hinduism
• East India Company and Hinduism
• European Constructions
• Geography of Hinduism
• Indian Medicine
• Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Hindu Nationalism

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• Hinduism in Gujarat
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British Colonialism and Imperialism by Sandeep Banerjee , Atreyee Majumder LAST MODIFIED: 21 February 2023 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195399318-0269

The advent of British colonialism in Bengal in 1757 and its spread to other parts of South Asia during the latter half of the eighteenth century structured indigenous society in significant ways. The institution of individual property rights since the 1790s reshaped the class structure of Indian society in decisive ways leading to the rise of propertied classes in Bengal and beyond. At this time the British also began codifying indigenous religious practices to develop a legal framework to rule over their Indian subjects. This inaugurated a process that drew in a wide cast of actors and groups ranging from colonial administrators to orientalist scholars and Hindu (and Muslim) reformers and revivalists as well as Christian missionaries. The collaboration and contestation between these groups gave shape to the modern identity of Hinduism. This process saw the emergence of new Hindu religious groups and sects such as the Brahmo Samaj and the Ramakrishna Mission while also seeing the recoding of earlier religious traditions such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism and Tantra. It also led to the reconfiguration of the identities and status of older Hindu divinities and festivals while engendering a new deity of the nation: Bharat Mata or Mother India. These reconfigurations went hand in hand with the recasting, at times violently, of the earlier fuzzy religious identities into more identifiable Hindu (and Muslim) subjects that came to define—and continues to define—South Asian polity and society. The nexus of colonialism and Hinduism also shaped gender and caste identities in British India in decisive ways. Indian women were projected as victims of their own societies who required protection. Literary productions emerging from colonial South Asia bear witness to this complex and contested process of the Indo-British colonial encounter and provided a locus for the imagination and contestation of Hindu tradition and its social ramifications. Hinduism also became a key conceptual resource for anticolonial politics and the articulation of a putative nationalism whose conception ranged from the inclusive to the parochially sectarian.

The question of the modernity of Hinduism and its colonial provenance is a key area of scholarly investigation. While scholars largely agree that colonialism was a key factor in the development of modern Hinduism, scholarly opinion differs on the extent to which it was responsible in shaping the identity of the religion. Hatcher 2022 provides an excellent overview that examines the emergence of Hinduism in colonial South Asia. Frykenberg 2005 suggests the modern Hindu identity develops from the eighteenth century. Lorenzen 1999 , by contrast, locates the emergence of Hinduism to Hindu-Muslim rivalry between 1200 and 1500. Pennington 2005 and Patterson 2021 study British representation of Hinduism. Oddie 2006 examines the construction of Hinduism by British Protestant missionaries, while van Bijlert 2020 shows the emergence of Hindu identity and modernity as imitative of Western Protestantism and rooted in the reinterpretation of specific sacred texts. The essays of the edited volumes focus on the fashioning of Hinduism as a unified category (in Bloch, et al. 2009 ) and the way colonialism shaped Hinduism and Hindu tradition (the relevant essays in Dalmia and Stietencron 1995 ). Weiss 2017 focuses on a 19th-century Tamil religious figure to locate the religion’s modern transformation within Hinduism.

Bloch, Esther, Marianne Keppens, and Rajaram Hegde, eds. Rethinking Religion in India: The Colonial Construction of Hinduism . London: Routledge, 2009.

Anthology provides a range of views on the question of whether Hinduism as a unified category resulted from the encounter with Western, Christian notions of religion.

Dalmia, Vasudha, and Heinrich von Stietencron, eds. Representing Hinduism: The Construction of Religious Traditions and National Identity . New Delhi: SAGE, 1995.

Wide-ranging collection that includes some essays that focus on the colonial era. These take up issues such as the legal repercussions, the recasting of Hinduism and the constitution of Hindu tradition in the colonial era.

Frykenberg, Robert Eric. “Constructions of Hinduism at the Nexus of History and Religion.” In Defining Hinduism: A Reader . Edited by J. E. Llewyn, 125–146. New York: Routledge, 2005.

Provides a holistic view on how Hinduism as a category and religion is defined and mobilized from the eighteenth century onward.

Hatcher, Brian A. “Re-ordering Religion in Colonial South Asia.” In Routledge Handbook of the History of Colonialism in South Asia . Edited by Harald Fischer-Tiné and Maria Framke, 62–76. London: Routledge, 2022.

Delineates the emergence of religion in colonial South Asia as a fundamental influence on social and political movements. It also suggests that the category of “religion” is produced in the colony and the metropole at this time.

Lorenzen, David N. “Who Invented Hinduism?” Comparative Studies in Society and History 41.4 (October 1999): 630–659.

DOI: 10.1017/S0010417599003084

Insisting that the claim of Hinduism being invented or constructed by European (or British) colonizers, sometime after 1800 is false. The author argues that a Hindu religion theologically and devotionally grounded in texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Puranas, and commentaries on the six darshanas gradually acquired an identity through the rivalry between Muslims and Hindus in the period between 1200 and 1500.

Oddie, Geoffrey A. Imagined Hinduism: British Protestant Missionary Constructions of Hinduism, 1793–1900 . New Delhi: SAGE, 2006.

Explores how British Protestant missionaries imagined and constructed the idea of Hinduism in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Shows the missionaries’ conceptions of Hinduism were shaped by their own location in post-Enlightenment Europe and the Christian conception of religion as well as their desire to understand Hinduism better to spread Christianity more effectively.

Patterson, Jessica. Religion, Enlightenment and Empire: British Interpretations of Hinduism in the Eighteenth Century . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Examines British colonial representation of Hinduism in the eighteenth century to delineate the ways it was presented, the intellectual frameworks that shaped it, and some of the ramifications this had for Enlightenment thought, East India Company policy, and contemporary ideas of empire.

Pennington, Brian. Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

DOI: 10.1093/0195166558.001.0001

Argues that Hinduism emerged through a dialogic process during the Indo-British colonial encounter between 1789 and 1835. The British colonial state and Christian missionaries posited Hinduism as a unitary “world religion” that displayed coherence and unity despite sectarian and regional variations. Indians interacted, argued, and responded to British authors over key religious issues such as image-worship, sati, tolerance, and conversion.

van Bijlert, Victor A. Vedantic Hinduism in Colonial Bengal: Reformed Hinduism and Western Protestantism . Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2020.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003053606

Shows the production of Hindu identity and modernity by imitating Western Protestantism and locating it in, for the first time, the reinterpretation of the Vedanta texts: the Upanishads and the Gita.

Weiss, Richard S. The Emergence of Modern Hinduism: Religion on the Margins of Colonialism . Oakland: University of California Press, 2017.

Focusing on the Tamil Shaivite religious leader Ramalinga Swami (b. 1823–d. 1874), who was marginal to colonial and Hindu institutional authority, the study emphasizes the capacity of Hindu traditions to inspire new forms of Hinduism.

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Hinduism and Christian Doctrine Investigation

Hinduism that originated in India is one of the oldest religious cultures in human history. Every religion to be a part of Hinduism should support the caste system, respect the Vedas (Sanskrit scriptural texts), and honor particular spirits and deities (Corduan, 2012). The main Hindu deities, the caste system, and other practices significantly influence the way of a believer life. Hindu beliefs and practices will be further analyzed through the prism of Christian doctrine to make a comparison.

Hinduism is both monotheistic and polytheistic at the same time. Its followers worship one God but have a choice from the myriad of deities to focus their devotion on one of them. The most important Hindu divinities are Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva who respectively create, protect, and destroy the universe. These Hindu gods also called the Trimurti, the concept that correlates with the Christian idea of Trinity. Vishnu is a piece-loving diety, a sustainer of life that encourages truth, order, and righteousness (Danielou, 2017). Brahma is the main deity of Hinduism who created the universe. In the Vedas, he plays an insignificant role, whereas the Mahabharata reveals that he is invincible and powerful as a thousand suns. On the contrary, Shiva dismantles worlds that further would be recreated by Brahma again and stands for dissolutions and death. This concept arose only during the creation of Puranas what is a relatively late period of Hinduism. The Vedic association of the three gods Agni, Vayu, and Surya who together represented one sunny deity became the forerunner of the triumvirate concept.

The separation into classes called castes occurred many thousands of years ago and has survived to this day. The caste system comes from Aryans who lived in the territory of modern India about one and a half thousand years BC and already had a society divided into estates. The Manusmriti, which is the ancient legal text, presented four main varnas and established the order of ideal society. Then the caste system was developed and transformed by various ruling powers such as the Mughal Empire and the British Raj. This rigid system today is criticized by liberal individuals because it fosters social inequalities.

The Brahmanical model tells that the earlier mentioned god of creation, Brahma, formed four different types of people from his body parts. It established a ground for a specific social hierarchy that includes twice-born Kshatriyas (rulers, warriors), Brahmins (priests), Vaishyas (merchants), and not twice-born Shudras (workers). Moreover, the Dalits group consists of untouchables who are outside of the system (Corduan, 2012). Hindu religious texts describe Dalits as polluted people justifying their adverse social status.

The caste system influences the life of every Hindu individual as his/her membership is defined by birth and determines their rights and obligations for the entire life. The upward mobility and current position are non-negotiable because the caste’s purity is essential in Hinduism. The current position cannot be affected by the deeds in this life, while they would determine the next birth’s position. However, the members of the middle and upper categories have a channel of social mobility through sanskritization process, which is the adoption of a Brahmanical way of life (Bapuji & Chrispal, 2020). On the contrary, Dalits and other lower castes did not have access even to this potential mobility. Even Dalits who converted to Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity could not avoid the Hindu social order and its persecutions.

Furthermore, the caste system guides social interactions between upper and lower social classes, especially regarding marriage. Every individual was restricted to marrying someone outside their caste and encouraged to practice endogamy. The Brahmanical dogmas provide a penalty to those who do not preserve the purity of the caste in the form of out-casting and shunning that sometimes included killings (Bapuji & Chrispal, 2020). The social intercourse between representatives of different castes is minimized and controlled. Scriptures and their norms also give insights on how upper castes should interact with Dalits that in general are abusive practices. For instance, Dalits receive food or tea in separate containers that are never put together with those used by representatives of upper castes (Bapuji & Chrispal, 2020). Today the caste system becomes milder and social mobility more accessible. Nevertheless, the untouchability and social separation rules are still followed by the majority of Indian society.

The northern-Indian state Nagaland is the home for the Ao Naga ethnic group that has undergone conversion to Christianity, namely to American baptism. Before 1872, when Edwin W. Clark started to preach it in the region, Ao Nagas had their own set of gods with special jurisdictions (Chongpongmeren, 2020). However, they also believed in one God who was depicted in many different ways according to the context. The notion of God (Tsungram) included Lichaba (creator of the earth), Aningsungba (deity of the sky), Tiaba (a god who controls destiny), Mayusung (a lord over the dead), and other minor divinities controlled by them. The major transition occurred in 1876 when traditional believes were discouraged by missionaries. As a result, Ao Nagas turned to Baptism and new socio-religious institutions were established.

However, Ao Church incorporated and preserved a part of customary law regarding sex relationships and marriage. Their system of marriage is inter-clan one or exogamous; thus, clan separation is not practiced. Christianity was accepted by the majority of households, while secular and religious life became inseparable. Although social institutions conform with the Baptist gospel and tribes are more pacified, cultural traditions such as living under the collective authority of elders are still relevant among them. The animist festivals and rituals that were restricted are still occasionally performed.

This Christian community shares a similar Hindu idea of pervasive divinity. Nagas have believed in one diety that had many appellations and today they have faith in one God. In terms of karma, members of the tribe believed in taboos and sacrifices that allegedly influence the current life and not the future one (Chongpongmeren, 2020). The Hindu idea of reincarnation was abandoned and instead, the concept of resurrection of those who followed Jesus in his ways emerged. The word of God found in the Bible replaced the notion of dharma, which is God’s divine law.

Taking into consideration the differences between Hinduism and Christian doctrine it seems that it is difficult to engage a follower of Hinduism with the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, the idea of Trimurti can be correlated with the concept of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Even though Hinduism worships a myriad of deities, it also believes that they come from the eternal self. The main difference is that the latter does not have a founder like Jesus Christ and its followers believe that all the roads (Path of Devotion, Knowledge, or Good Deeds) lead to salvation (Barua, 2015). On the contrary, Christianity accepts salvation through Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection what is following the Bible. The concepts of karma and reincarnation encourage avoiding the commitment of sins to have a better next life, while Christians avert it to have a chance for eternal life following a final Judgment day. Despite the early mentioned differences, Hinduism is a very tolerant religion that has some intersections with Christian doctrine which can be utilized during the conversation.

Bapuji, H., & Chrispal, S. (2020). Understanding economic inequality through the lens of caste. Journal of Business Ethics , 162 (3), 533-551.

Barua, A. (2015). Debating ‘conversion’ in Hinduism and Christianity . New York, NY: Routledge.

Chongpongmeren, J. (2020). Christianity in Northeast India: A cultural history of Nagaland from 1947 . London, UK: Routledge.

Corduan, W. (2012) Neighboring faiths: A Christian introduction to world religions . (2d ed.). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

Danielou, A. (2017) The myths and gods of India: The classic work on Hindu polytheism . India, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

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