---
title: The invention of the Hindu
date: "2005-04-03T12:00:00Z"
categories:
  - links
wp_id: 680
description: Explore the historical construction of Hinduism as a unified identity during the 18th and 19th centuries. This consolidation merged diverse sub-continental practices into a global rival to monotheistic faiths, fundamentally altering its traditional pluralism and tolerance.
keywords: [hinduism, religious history, indian modernization, monotheism, cultural identity, colonialism]
---

[The invention of the Hindu](http://www.axess.se/english/archive/2004/nr2/currentissue/theme_inventionhindu.php).

> Hinduism is largely a fiction, formulated in the 18th and 19th centuries out of a multiplicity of sub-continental religions, and enthusiastically endorsed by Indian modernisers. Unlike Muslims, Hindus have tended to borrow more than reject, and it has now been reconfigured as a global rival to the big three monotheisms. In the process, it has abandoned the tradition of toleration which lie in its true origins.