Historical timeline of Hinduism

Stages:

1) Pre-Aryan or Proto-Dravidian: In this stage religion was focussed mainly in the fertility gods and godesses. Phallic image of Shiva was worshipped along with fertility Godesses. There was the jati system of specialization of labour. The activities were primarily agrarian and the political system consisted mainly of various villages with no kingdoms.

2) Aryan: Aryan deities were similar to the Greek Gods and Godesses. Indra was the king of Gods, Agni the God of fire, Varuna the God of the wind and so forth. The sacrificial rituals and hymns were focussed on invoking the Gods to obtain favours from Gods such as the Yajna. Brahma and Vishnu had a relatively smaller roles to play. Caste System of the Varna or the skin color led to 4 distinct roles the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas and the Shudras. There were also out-castes, mainly the various tribes who were considered untouchables. The Dravidian Jati system was enforced on top of the caste system to further divide each caste into many Jatis or groups of occupation. Brahmins held a lot of power. The Vedas were the religious texts. Manusmriti offered the model of society and the role of various castes. The key focus was to preserve the natural order of work based on one's birth, following religious rituals and observing the superiority of Brahmins and preserving the community.

3) Hindu Renaissance: During this period several new philosophies and ideas were introduced. Also Hinduism had to compete with alternative religious philosophies introduced by Buddhism and Jainism which may have been the reason for changing the core Hindu beliefs.

The most popular among these is the concept of Brahman and Atman. The Gods were simplified to have 3 major deities being the most superior, Creator - Brahma, Preserver - Vishnu and the destroyer - Shiva. Of which Shiva and Vishnu had a major role. All other deities played a minor role and had limited lifetimes. Vedanta or the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita were the key books introduced in this period. The key focus in this period was the debate between Moksha and Dharma. Moksha or liberation through renunciation and Advaita Vedanta is the key philosophy supporting this. Dharma was primarily with maintaining an individual's role in society. The stages of life concept was introduced as a mechanism to obtain renunciation while still maintaining one's duties. This divided life into 4 stages. The first stage was primarily focussed on obtaining education on the occupation or trade based on one's birth. The second stage was to be a householder and also being specialized in the occupation. The third stage is partial renunciation where one leaves with his wife to a smaller dwelling. And the final stage being the one of renunciation.

The Bhagavad Gita offered an alternative form of achieving Moksha using the 4 yogas. The karma yoga, Nyaana yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga.

4) Bhakti or Devotional movement: This was introduced in several stages. After the Islamic conquest the sufi devotional movement led to a similar devotional movements in Hinduism. There were several Saints who brought about Bhajans and Kirtan movements focussing on a particular deity based on the region. e.g. in Maharashtra Namdeo, Tukaram focussed on Vitthal or Vishnu in Pandurang, in the south Ramanujam had a movement for Venkateswara. etc.

5) Neo Hindu movements: These came about by educated leaders who went abroad to study in the 19th and 20th century. The leaders here were influenced by western ideas and tried to introduce them with Hinduism. Common themes are the abandoning of idolatry and rituals, upliftment of women and so on. Also you can note a revival of Brahmanism introduced in the Vedanta and by Shankaracharya. Key movements are Ram Mohan Roy's Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj and so forth. None of these movements gathered many followers and none of them gathered momentum and mainstream Hindu followership remained the same

6) Hinduism today: For the most people religious education is primarily through parents and other elders. And this primarily includes following rituals, superstitions, visiting temples and maybe reading Amar Chitra Katha for various stories from the Puranas. For most people particularly in the west religion doesn't hold much. For second and third generation Indians religion is absolutely non-existent. Most ABCDs would define themselves as spiritual but not religious, whatever that is supposed to mean.

The reason for this decline is obvious. Although there was a huge development in Hindu philosophies and ideas, most people are either unaware or ignorant of these ideas. Very few people are familiar with the concepts of Brahman, Atman and Moksha. Every Hindu knows about the Bhagavad Gita but not many people read it.

There needs to be a Hindu revival to revive the good teachings of Hindu culture with respect to the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. All other practices and rituals needs to be changed or eliminated. For e.g. in marriages today the priests invoke chants to Indra, Vayu and all other Gods who have been rendered obsolete. These chants needs to be modified to reflect Brahmanism. Vishnu or Shiva needs to be the only God that is worshipped and the movement needs to be away from Idolatry. If this can be achieved Hinduism can bring about a better society and a better world for all of us to live in.