Hindu and Hinduism are terms with many meanings and connotations. They mark out a core set of beliefs and values, social practices and ritualsrnfrom what, say, Sikhs and Muslims and Buddhists have and do. Ethnic, geographical and historical associations, too, cluster around these terms: the religions in South Asia and their diaspora, for example, or the ways in which Hinduism over the centuries has grown up around the Vedas (the early holy books like the Upanisads) and the Brahmins (the priestly caste), and in modern times how the terms have taken on new political dimensions (for example, in Hindutva or Hindu identity).rnAs this dictionary says, such terms demonstrate "a huge variety of social, devotional and ritual practices, along with their associated theologies and ideologies, while retaining and reconfiguring older elements such as notions of purity and pollution". Each sets up binary oppositions in Hindu thought closely connected with identity and ritual.
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