Hinduism and India

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1. In today's society, how has Hinduism affected the Hindu's living in India?

Hinduism effects Hindu's living in India today, much in the same way as it has in the past. Hindu's are diverse and apply Hindu rituals and beliefs to their daily life and behavioral pattern. Some participate in rituals and festivals (e.g. Pilgrimage places in the Hindu tradition, etc.), while others are free to worship as they please. However, the Hinduism as a belief system has some basic tenets that affect the Hindus living in India today. Also, the Muslims may soon become the majority religion soon, and the violence between the two religions is effecting the Hindus living in India today (see more detail at http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=how+has+Hinduism+affected+the+Hindu%27s+living+in+India%3F&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3De33a01af0f6bca0f%26clickedItemRank%3D3%26userQuery%3Dhow%2Bhas%2BHinduism%2Baffected%2Bthe%2BHindu%2527s%2Bliving%2Bin%2BIndia%253F%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.india-seminar.com%252F2002%252F513%252F513%252520sudhir%252520chandra.htm%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPTop%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.india-seminar.com%2F2002%2F513%2F513%252520sudhir%252520chandra.htm).

Let's look at the following example, which expands on these ideas (e.g., beliefs, pilgrimages, etc.), which affect the Hindus living in India today.
Example:
The religion identified as Hinduism did not actually appear until the centuries preceding the Christian era. Hinduism is an aggregation of the religious beliefs and practices deriving from the Vedism and fertility cults of the Harappan peoples, and the animistic, shamanistic, and devotional practices of the widely varying, rural-dwelling indigenous cultures of south, central, and eastern India. Adding to and further enriching this mix were the concurrently developing religions of Jainism and Buddhism. Indian culture has thus developed a fascinating collection of religious beliefs and customs that range from simple animistic worship of nature spirits in a common rock or tree to the complex, highly codified Brahmanic rituals practiced at the great pilgrimage centers.
In India we find the oldest continually operating pilgrimage tradition in the entire world. The practice of pilgrimage in India is so deeply embedded in the cultural psyche and the number of pilgrimage sites is so large that the entire subcontinent may actually be regarded as one grand and continuous sacred space. Our earliest sources of information on the matter of sacred space come from the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda. While the act of pilgrimage is not specifically discussed in these texts, mountain valleys and the confluences of rivers are spoken of with reverence, and the merits of travel to such places are mentioned. Following the Vedic period the practice of pilgrimage seems to have become quite common, as is evident from sections of the great epic, the Mahabharata (350 BC), which mentions more than 300 sacred sites spanning the sub-continent. It is probable that most of these sites had long been considered sacred by the aboriginal inhabitants of the region and only later came to be listed in the Mahabharata as different regions came under the influence of Hinduism. By the time of the writing of the Puranas (sacred texts of the 2nd to 15th centuries AD), the number of sacred sites listed had ...