Did Hinduism survive?

Submitted by Prashant, Feb 24, 2019 at 20:46

Dear Dr Pipes,

I usually agree with DNM but in his note entitled "India survived despite of the atrocities committed against its people by the Muslim invaders!", DNM made the same mistake that almost every one talking about Hinduism and India makes. People say that Hinduism survived in spite of this and that. What they forget that Hindu/Indian way of thinking and living has not survived in a huge portion of the land mass where it existed and thrived in the past. Just 2000 years go, Hindus lived, worked, thought and taught in contiguous region from Afghanistan to Thailand. Now the entire region that is Afghanistan and Pakistan is free of any sign of HInduism. Even in Today's India, Hindus are roughly 75% of the population. So it is wrong to say that Hindusim survived. Hinduism is well dead in a lot of areas where it once thrived.

I will say exactly the same thing about the Jews. I will also say the same thing about Christianity in the ME. It is by no means obligatory that Hinduism (or any other religion) must necessarily survive. But it is almost obligatory that those who believe in a belief system should try to protect it and expand it. The complacent belief that 'Hinduism survived' is not true and gives the Hindus a false sense of safety which is just not there.

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