QUIZ: Who Coined the term ‘Hinduism’?

by Sarvesh K Tiwari

11 Comments to “QUIZ: Who Coined the term ‘Hinduism’?”

  1. Kaffir's avatar

    My money is on the British. Unless you’re looking for a specific person who coined that term.

  2. Sarvesh K Tiwari's avatar

    Yes Kaffir, the person who is recorded to have used the term ‘Hinduism’ for the first time.

  3. Kaffir's avatar

    If I had to take a wild guess, and taking into account that this may be a trick question, would it be Swami Vivekanand or Swami Dayanand Saraswati?

  4. Sarvesh K Tiwari's avatar
  5. Mystic Fire's avatar

    Sarvesh ji, my guess would be some earlier orientalist like William Jones or Monier Williams…

  6. Mystic Fire's avatar

    Sarvesh ji, after some googling I came to know that Raja Ram Mohan Roy had used this term way back in 1816 and that is the earliest reference I could find on internet. But I don’t think Roy babu would have coined this term…he must have definitely borrowed this term(as he borrowed many of his ideas) from some Briton

  7. Sarvesh K Tiwari's avatar

    Mystic Fire, you are absolutely right!!

    It was the anglicised Ram Mohun Roy who is recorded to have used the term “Hinduism” for the first time, in the first decades of nineteenth century, and not in a very positive sense. No, he did not borrow the term although he did internalize the alien idea behind it. Max Mueller later wrote about this fact.

  8. Bharat's avatar

    Sarvesh,
    Do you have any idea about the person who made this phrase “Hinduism is not a religion, but a way of life” ?

    Regards
    Bharat

  9. Sarvesh K Tiwari's avatar

    Bharat, I can make a guess – Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan? or Anand Coomaraswamy?

  10. Bharat's avatar

    Sarvesh,

    It was not meant to be a “quiz”. In fact I was looking for the right answer.

    Swami Chinamayanda (commenting on the “way of life” phrase, ) refers to one “Irish Padre” who originated this phrase.

    Regards
    Bharat

  11. Bharat's avatar

    Please read as – *Swami Chinmayananda

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