हिंदू

हिंदू असे लोक आहेत जे स्वतःला सांस्कृतिकदृष्ट्या सामाजिक आणि धार्मिकदृष्ट्या हिंदू धर्माचे पालन करतात.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37, Quote: "It is often said that Hinduism is very ancient, and in a sense this is true (...). It was formed by adding the English suffix -ism, of Greek origin, to the word Hindu, of Persian origin; it was about the same time that the word Hindu, without the suffix -ism, came to be used mainly as a religious term. (...) The name Hindu was first a geographical name, not a religious one, and it originated in the languages of Iran, not of India. (...) They referred to the non-Muslim majority, together with their culture, as 'Hindu'. (...) Since the people called Hindu differed from Muslims most notably in religion, the word came to have religious implications, and to denote a group of people who were identifiable by their Hindu religion. (...) However, it is a religious term that the word Hindu is now used in English, and Hinduism is the name of a religion, although, as we have seen, we should beware of any false impression of uniformity that this might give us." ऐतिहासिकदृष्ट्या, हा शब्द भौगोलिक, सांस्कृतिक आणि नंतरच्या भारतीय उपखंड मध्ये राहणाऱ्या लोकांसाठी धार्मिक अभिज्ञापक म्हणून देखील वापरला जात आहे.

'हिंदू' या शब्दाचा ऐतिहासिक अर्थ काळाबरोबर विकसित झाला आहे. मध्ययुगीन कालखंडातील मजकूरांद्वारे इ.स.पू. 1 शतकाच्या सिंधू संस्कृतीच्या (पर्शियन आणि ग्रीक संदर्भ), हिंदू या शब्दाचा अर्थ सिंधू नदीच्या आसपास किंवा त्यापलीकडे भारतीय उपखंडात राहणाऱ्या लोकांसाठी भौगोलिक, वांशिक किंवा सांस्कृतिक अभिज्ञापक आहे. 

हिंदूंची लोकसंख्या जवळपास 1.20अब्ज आहे.Hindu Population projections  Pew Research (2015), Washington DC

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वर्ग:हिंदू धर्म