Exploring Hinduism – Geography and History

Course content

Who is a Hindu? Why are they called a Hindus? Who started the Hindu “religion”? When did it start? What makes Hinduism different? Is being a Hindu relevant in today’s world? Answers to such questions and more await the students in “Exploring Hinduism” a series of courses that facilitate a structured exploration of various facets of one of the world’s most ancient families of traditions.

Coming in this series of courses, the course, titled “Exploring Hinduism – Geography and History”, will prepare the explorer to trace the geographical location and extent of the roots of the Hindus and also the timeline of this civilization. This course will also throw light on significant events that changed the course of their civilization as well as the course of its narrative.

It will help see the Geography and the History of the Hindus from a Hindu perspective and experience how different this narrative is. Open to teens and/or their parents as well as grandparents, either together or separately, this series is designed to take discussion and contemplation from beyond the course window, into the portals of home, family and society.

This course involves approximately 10 sessions of 100 minutes each delivered in one quarter. These sessions will cover aspects of the Geography and History of the Hindu Civilization, such as:

• Geographical extent of the Hindu civilization
• Unique features of this Geography and their influence on the Hindu culture
• What are the sources for the Hindu history?
• Tracing the Hindu history with the historicity of Mahabharata and Krishna
• Tracing the Hindu history with the historicity of Ramayana and Rama
• Tracing Source, History and Transmission of the Veda
• How did Hindu history get reduced to Mythology?
• Was the Aryan Invasion Real or a Myth?
• Did Alexander invade India and defeat Porus?
• Do the Geography and History of the Hindus converge? If so where and when?
  This course can be taken as the inaugural course of a whole series titled “Exploring Hinduism”, or as a stand-alone course. It can be enjoyed by teenagers in the age group 12-18, on their own or together with their parents. Alternatively, parents who have teens may also benefit from this course.