Hinduism V Judaism

Compare and contrast the teachings in the foundation periods of Hinduism and Judaism

The foundations of both religions will be compared in a timeline format with contrasts and comparisons highlighted. The main difference to be noted even before the timeline comparison is that Judaism is a monotheistic religion in that it believes in one God as creator and ruler of the universe and the lord of human history. Hinduism is a religion of many Gods, some decent and some evil but all worthy of the respect of human beings. Hinduism does believe in one force, Brahman from which everything in the universe came and to which everything in the universe shall return.

1800 BC - Judaism. Abraham is called by God to leave his country, family, culture and pagan gods. In return God would transform Abraham's descendants into a great nation. Abraham does this and it is at this time, according to Jewish Scriptures, Judaism is born. This can be a point of contention for at this time there were no real doctrines to follow.

1500 BC- The foundation of Hinduism is attributed to a highly developed civilisation in the Indus Valley, Northern India. At this time an Indo-European people, the Aryans invaded the Indus Valley and in doing so they imposed new forms of religion. With the Aryan people come the earliest writings of Hinduism, the Vedas. The four basic Vedas are:

1. Rig-veda - Wisdom of Verses

2. Yajur-veda - Words said by the priest at rituals

3. Sam-veda - Wisdom of Chants

4. Atharva-veda - Wisdom of the Atharvan Priests

1200 BC - After more than 400 years as slaves to the Egyptians, Moses leads the people of Israel to freedom. Before this happens however an event of major importance to the Jews takes place. Moses had been telling Ramses II, the Pharaoh of Egypt to 'let his people go'. Ramses had refused. As a result of his refusal a series of unspeakable disasters fell upon him and his kingdom the last of which was the mysterious death of Egyptian children. To avoid this tragedy, the Israelites had killed, cooked and eaten a lamb and painted some of its blood on the outside of their houses. Their houses were spared, or passed over and their children would be safe. This day is commemorated as on of the most important events in the Jewish calendar, Passover.

A couple of months after escaping Egypt, Moses is summoned by God to Mt Sinai where God presents him with the Ten Commandments. Three entire books of Jewish Scripture are devoted to outline the contents of Israel's constitution as determined by God. They are

1. Shemot - Exodus

2. Wayiqra - Leviticus

3. Devarim - Deuteronomy.

Through these social welfare, criminal law, religious ritual and even environmental policy into a vast set of laws Jew call Torah.

At this point it can be argued the Judaism became a religion. Comparing it with Hinduism it now had a set of doctrine for its followers to follow. This is why in some cases Hinduism is considered to be about 300 years older that Judaism if you discount the Judaism claim for Abraham being the birth of the nation of Israel and there religion

1000-300BC Hinduism - In the period after the Vedas Indian gurus began to reflect deeply on the content of their religion and sought to make sense of the world in light of that tradition. During this period the Upanishads were composed. The term Upanishad means 'sitting near' and the purpose of them is to gain a form of knowledge that allows the individual to escape the cycle of rebirths. The Upanishads represent the beginnings of philosophy in India and are the last stage of interpretation of the Vedas. There are twelve classic Upanishads and these contain parables and anecdotes, dense philosophical argumentation, dialogues, poems and proverbs. The promise behind reading and understanding the Upanishads is the material will give you ultimate insight into life, the universe and everything. Some of the most important beliefs of