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In 1966, the Supreme Court of India defined what Hinduism is for legal purposes:  

In 1966, the Supreme Court of India defined what Hinduism is for legal purposes:  

1. Belief in the authority of the Vedas (an ancient hymns to the gods, written in Sanskrit). The oldest collection of hymns in the Vedas is the Rig Veda, which was written between 1800 and 1300 B.C. The greatest Veda hymn is the “Bhagavad Gita,” a section in the Mahabharata concerning life’s never-ending spiritual journey towards perfection, to be attained by adhering to a code of conduct. The Bhagavad Gita is a spiritual guide to life’s problems, like the parable in Christianity, but more precise.  

1. Belief in the authority of the Vedas (an ancient hymns to the gods, written in Sanskrit). The oldest collection of hymns in the Vedas is the Rig Veda, which was written between 1800 and 1300 B.C. The greatest Veda hymn is the “Bhagavad Gita,” a section in the Mahabharata concerning life’s never-ending spiritual journey towards perfection, to be attained by adhering to a code of conduct. The Bhagavad Gita is a spiritual guide to life’s problems, like the parable in Christianity.  

2. Spirit of tolerance and willingness to understand and respect an opponent’s view.  

2. Spirit of tolerance and willingness to understand and respect an opponent’s view.  

6. Unlike most other religions, Hinduism is not defined by a specific set of philosophical concepts.  

6. Unlike most other religions, Hinduism is not defined by a specific set of philosophical concepts.  

7. Belief in one god. Contrary to popular belief, Hinduism is not a polytheistic religion. It's just awesome. The Vedas, the primary Hindu holy scriptures states that there is only one God but can manifest in many forms.  This is the reason why there are many deities.  A common example used to explain this is that an individual can be called different names depending on the relationship has with another.  A man can be a son to his parents, a nephew to his uncle, a father to his son, and a husband to his wife all at the same time.  None of these different relationships suggest mutiple people but rather different aspects of one person.  The same is applied to God in Hinduism, which has no form and is infinite.  Hindus may call God, Paratman(Supreme Soul), Brahmana(Eternal Spirit), or Ishvara(Supreme Lord).  Deities have various names but represent aspects of God that manifest in the world.  For example Agni(fire, Divine spark), Vayu(wind, or breath which could mean life force, Indra(in mythology king of gods but also refers to the senses such as vision, hearing, touch, taste), Lakshmi(fortune).

7. Belief in one god. Contrary to popular belief, Hinduism is not a polytheistic religion. The Vedas, the primary Hindu holy scriptures states that there is only one God but can manifest in many forms.  This is the reason why there are many deities.  A common example used to explain this is that an individual can be called different names depending on the relationship has with another.  A man can be a son to his parents, a nephew to his uncle, a father to his son, and a husband to his wife all at the same time.  None of these different relationships suggest mutiple people but rather different aspects of one person.  The same is applied to God in Hinduism, which has no form and is infinite.  Hindus may call God, Paratman(Supreme Soul), Brahmana(Eternal Spirit), or Ishvara(Supreme Lord).  Deities have various names but represent aspects of God that manifest in the world.  For example Agni(fire, Divine spark), Vayu(wind, or breath which could mean life force, Indra(in mythology king of gods but also refers to the senses such as vision, hearing, touch, taste), Lakshmi(fortune).