Who is a Hindu?

Who is a Hindu? is a book by Koenraad Elst published in 2001 by Voice of India.

In the first part of the book, Elst tries to give a definition to the term "Hindu", although he writes that "there is no simple solution for the complex question, “Who is a Hindu?”" He also compares Hinduism with monotheistic creeds.

The book then discusses whether Hindu reformists, Buddhists, Jains or Sikhs can be considered as Hindus. Other topics in the book include the Caste system and Hindutva.

Elst " Who Is a Hindu? Hindu Revivalist Views of Animism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Other Offshoots of Hinduism (Voice of India 2002): Historically, the word “Hindu” means: an Indian Pagan, nothing more, nothing less. The Muslim invaders who brought this word into India and first used it in a religious sense (in Pagan Iran it had simple meant “Indian”), saw no fundamental difference between Brahmins and Buddhists, Tribals and Jains, Rajputs and Other Backward Castes, Lingayats and Sikhs. To them, all these groups had this in common, that they were bound for hell. So, it is not difficult to answer the question who is a Hindu straightforwardly. But because the “secularists” and other anti-Hindu agitators like to make simple things difficult, questions like “are neo-Buddhists Hindus?” have become politically meaningful, so a painstaking answer is provided. "

Elst: Then came Who Is a Hindu?, about whether tribals, Buddhists etc. are Hindus, also an item with important ramifications. I zoomed in on Buddhism in my Dutch book De Donkere Zijde van het Boeddhisme ("the dark side of Buddhism"), half of which is an analysis of the relations between the Buddha and Hinduism. This is a very consequential matter, as the Buddha has become a weapon against Hinduism and most scholars assume the "Hinduism bad, Buddhism good" principle. Again, I am the only one in the world to have thematized this issue.

External links

• [1] ^[archive] Online text of book
• What is Hinduism? ^[archive]