In one or two paragraphs, explain why you believe Hinduism remained the most important religion in India. Why didn't newer religions win over more people?
Answers
Explanation:
During the Maurya and Gupta empires, the Indian culture and way of life were deeply influenced by Hinduism.
Hinduism reinforced a strict social hierarchy called a caste system that made it nearly impossible for people to move outside of their social station.
Emperors during the Gupta empire used Hinduism as a unifying religion and focused on Hinduism as a means for personal salvation.
Answer and Explanation:
Popularization of Hinduism
Hinduism originally started as a tradition from within the brahmin class, making it difficult for people of lower castes to access, but it gradually grew more popular. Sometime around 1500 to 500 BCE, two epic poems called the Mahabharata and the Ramayana were created and eventually written down in the early centuries of the Common Era. These poems laid out information about Hindu values and gods—Vishnu, for example—through dramatic stories of love and war. When these stories were written down, they spread more quickly and easily throughout India. Another text, the Bhagavad Gita, was a poem that highlighted Hindu values and the possibility of salvation for people who lived those values. The Bhagavad Gita helped popularize Hinduism among lower castes because it asserted that people could achieve salvation by performing their caste duties.
During the Gupta empire—from about 320 to 550 CE—emperors used Hinduism as a unifying religion and helped popularize it by promoting educational systems that included Hindu teachings; they also gave land to brahmins. The Gupta emperors helped make Hinduism the most popular religion on the Indian subcontinent.