Impact of Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and Christianity in Indian society

Religion is one of the basic institutions of any society. It is a universal system that is found in every society. Religion can be understood as a social system in which there are common faith, worship, rituals, customs, and traditions.

IT is IMPOSSIBLE to KNOW INDIA without understanding its religious beliefs and practices, which have a large impact on the personal lives of most Indians and influence public life on a daily basis. Indian religions have deep historical roots that are recollected by contemporary Indians. The ancient culture of South Asia, going back at least 4,500 years, has come down to India primarily in the form of religious texts. The artistic heritage, as well as intellectual and philosophical contributions, has always owed much to religious thought and symbolism.

Six great religions that are immersed and influenced by Indian views and ideology, three emerging from the innate Indian thought - Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism - and three coming from Asia Minor but establishing themselves firmly in India, - Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Islam.  Every religion deals with dozens of noumena, their specific credentials in life, taking towards the progress of the mind and the spirit. No one can deny that India is a great country with enormous diversity amongst a unity, and the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam makes us feel the whole universe is one family, and lead us to co-operate with one another. Spirituality is more a question of faith than a subject for intellectual analysis. However it does not mean that intellectual knowledge is irrelevant in spiritual practice, faith is of far more help than the intellect as all the above six religions have emphasized albeit in their own way. The religions that came in from Asia Minor and made a major impact on Indian culture are Christianity and Islam.  The three religions that emanated from within ancient India are Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism.

Impact of Buddhism on Indian society:

Gautama whose name was Siddharth was a Sakyan prince who forsook worldly pleasures in quest of sublime peace nirvana. The term Buddha stood for “the wise one”. Human action was viewed as being represented in three ways: thought, speech, and bodily action. Some thinkers even hold Buddha as one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Buddhist spiritual literature and philosophy are founded on the Lotus Sutra, made up of 69,338 characters encompassing the totality of mystic principles.

Buddhism preaches that the cause and the effect of all reality lie within oneself and this is the logical culmination of the philosophy of karma. Buddhists placed these threefold virtues on a higher plane. 

> Consciousness, which composes of truthfulness, righteousness, and veracity. 

> Benevolence, which is typified through equanimity, loving, kindness, sympathetic joy, and compassion. 

> Self-restraint, which includes abstinence, contentment, purity, chastity, and celibacy. 

The Buddhist view is that virtues build up character and these could be either performed by the emancipation of an individual or by developing the needs of a social organization or civil society.

Buddhist social ethics are identified through the twin elements of the ethic of care and the ethic of rights. Society is essentially supposed to be caste-less and distinctions based on birth are rejected. The Buddhist concept of dharma relates to the cosmic order in the universe, unlike the Hindu concept that relates to sincerely performing one’s duty. But like Hinduism, it is the king’s duty to protect dharma. In India, B R Ambedkar embraced Buddhism in the mid-1950s since it stood for equality of man before God. As a result, the faith has spread quite rapidly amongst members of the erstwhile denigrated and lower classes amongst Hindus (castes). 

Impact of Jainism on Indian Society:

It is popularly believed that Jainism is fundamentally an offshoot of Hinduism. It was popularized by during Mahavira’s period during 599-527 BC.

=>  Contributions:

> Ethical idealism; Strengthening of ethical life and moral virtues.

> Austerity(तपस्या), both external (eg: begging, fasting, lack of fetishism) internal (eg: humility, service to humanity, acquisition of knowledge, meditation, penances) to shut influx of evil.

> Preaches kindness not only to human society but to other life forms too which gave form to pure vegetarianism. 

>  Intoxication(नशा) of any kind is strictly prohibited in Jainism.

> Construction of Dharamshala (rest houses) for public service

> In fine arts, their rock-cut architecture, temple architecture and paintings stand out

=>  Jainism has laid down a simple ethical code for people against complex and esoteric(गुप्त) ideas. Prominent among the essence of Jainism is the observance of principles of:-

> Satya (truth)

> Asteya (non-stealing)

> Brahmacharya (non-adultery)

> Aparigraha (non-possession)

> Ahimsa (nonviolence, peace)

=> Observance of these moral virtues are is known as Anuvarna.

=> Both laypersons (Shravakta) and the ascetic (Yati) are supposed to be bound by the following vows.

> Cultivation of right state of mind

> Regular practice of meditation

> Observance of fast on the 8th and 14th day of moons waxing and waning period

> Confessions of faults and consequent penance

=> Because of factors such as orthodoxy, its affinity with Brahmanism, nonmissionary spirit, absence of hostility with other faiths Jainism still flourishes in Indian society despite the fact that like other religious ideologies it has imbibed(आत्मसात) a number of distortions(विकृतियों).

Impact of Christianity on Indian Society:

> The spread of Christianity in India came with the advent of the Europeans from the early 16th century onwards. Among the earliest missionaries were the Portuguese followed by the Dutch, the French, and the British.

> It was contact between a pre-modern and a modernizing cultural system.

> The missionaries preached in the mother tongue and also used English to adapt them to Christian civilization. This lead to the growth of vernacular languages as well as English.

> Female missionaries did a remarkable job in educating Indian women.

> Christianity attacked the evils of the caste system and contributed immensely to loosening up the system through preaching the formation of an egalitarian society based on self-respect and social justice. It helped in uplifting the victims of the oppressive caste system.

> It has been one of the earliest agencies of social welfare. Through the vast network of social services, it has been able to provide educational and medical facilities to the relatively isolated regions of India.

> In matters of legal justice and civil rights, it encouraged the values of equality, equity, and universalism as opposed to those of status and hierarchy.

> In India, Christianity has been one of the important factors of modernization and economic development. The existing value structure was rendered more open, liberal, egalitarian, and humanistic.

Impact of Islam on Indian Society:

Islam in many ways is based on revelations by the Almighty to the Prophet Mohamed, very much like the Lord spoke to Moses in the burning bush as per the Old Testament. The Islamic faith accepts the Old Testament of the Bible and claims that Mohamed was the last messiah after Christ to have come to save mankind from sin. The Koran is a moral order or commands over the entire civil society that must be obeyed and total unquestioned submission is needed. For Islam either you are a believer (Muslim) or a non-believer (Kafir).

The five duties of a Muslim are: 

> profession of faith in the prescribed form, 

> observance of ritual prayer 

> giving alms to the poor 

> pilgrimage to Mecca and 

> fasting during Ramadan. 

Impact of Religion on Indian Society:

India is a land of religious All. the major religions diversities of the world, viz.: Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism are found in India. The institution of religion has its own impact on Indian society which can be summarised as follows:

=> Solidarity: People belonging to a particular religion closely identify themselves with the religious group.

=> Ethical values: Religion helps in the development of ethical values, eg.: Care for the parents, protection of children, helping the poor and disabled, honesty are certain values, preached by religion.

=> Social control: Religion acts as an effective tool of social control. By imbibing certain ethical values, religion enables to regulate the conduct of individuals.

=> Basis of law: Over a period of time religious customs and traditions gain the force of law e.g.: According to morality, maintenance of wife and children is the bounden duty of the husband. In order to uphold this principle, provisions for awarding maintenance is made as a rule in Hindu Marriage. Act and Sec 125 CRPC.

Negative Impact of Religion:

The institution of religion has caused many problems in Indian society.

=> Groupism: Religion divides people. Such divisions may come in the way of development of the country.

=> Frequent conflicts: People belonging to different religions feel that their religion is superior. They even try to impose their religious practices on others which would lead to conflict situations. In India, the communal conflict has become a common feature.

=> Dogmatism: Every religion has a set of beliefs that may be superstitious quite often. Such ideas block the development of society and the progress of individuals. E.g.: In some communities, there is no improvement in the status of women on account of religious attitudes.

=> Blocks social change: Religion acts as a hindrance for social change. It is highly challenging to transform the attitude of conservative people, e.g.: Restrictions on marriage expenses.

Though Religion has negative impacts it is not possible to have a society without a system of religion. It has become a part and parcel of an individual's life.

Conclusion:

In this way, there were exchanges of ideas from Hinduism and a give and take transaction took thereby enriching its own crucible of thought. In addition, there are several cultures that have co-existed in India over hundreds of years and have influenced each other in some way.

The local interaction between great traditions and local forms of worship and belief, based on village, caste, tribal, and linguistic differences, creates a range of ritual forms and mythology that varies widely throughout the country. Within this range of differences, Indian religions have demonstrated for many centuries a considerable degree of tolerance for alternate visions of the divine and of salvation. Religious tolerance in India finds expression in the definition of the nation as a secular state, within which the government since independence has officially remained separate from any one religion, allowing all forms of belief equal status before the law.