Hinduism

__**Basic Information about Hinduism**__
 * Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in existence. After Christianity and Islam, it ranks as the world's largest religion.
 * Today there are about 650 million Hindus worldwide. The majority of Hindus live in India, where the religion was born.
 * Unlike Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, or most of the other active world religions, Hinduism was not founded by one individual. Rather, it is the result of a coming together of many religious beliefs and philosophical schools. The different schools of thought and doctrine that flourished on Indian soil over the centurries were not originally labeled as Hindu.
 * Hinduism does not have an agreed set of teachings and scripture.

__**Bristish Rule**__ The British Indian Empire or British Raj is the name given to the period of British colonial rule. The British rule brought enormous changes in Indian life. //**Changes:**//
 * The Laws of Manu, compiled around 200 CE declared that a Hindu widow was to remain //sati//, a Sanskrit word that was interpreted to mean chaste or pure, and was not to remarry, while a Hindu widower was permitted to marry again. Gradually, the word sati was used to designate the ritual of self-immolation or self-sacrifice by a Hindu widow on her husband’s pyre. Through her self-sacrifice, a widow remained pure and demonstrated her everlasting devotion to her husband. Thus sati came to mean both the practice of self-immolation and the Hindu widow who died by this ritual.


 * The debate over sati escalated when the East India Company, under pressure from evangelical groups in Britain, //legalized sati in 1813 if the widow acted voluntarily.// This legislation triggered intense debate in India and Britain both for and against sati. British missionaries as well as Indian advocates and opponents of sati sought sanction for their opposing positions in Hindu scriptural texts. Emboldened by support from Indians such as Ram Mohan Roy and influenced by the Utilitarian philosophy which sought the greatest good for the greatest number of people through legislation, Lord William Bentinck, governor-general of the Company’s possessions in India from 1828 to 1835, promulgated legislation criminalizing sati in 1829. Controversy persisted during the 1830s because of continuing episodes of sati. It proved difficult to enforce the prohibition in a climate where cremation took place usually within 24 hours of death and British officials were widely dispersed.
 * British officials contributed in prohibiting sati - barbaric Hindu tradition.

 "Women in World History : MODULE 5." //Center for History and New Media//. Web. 15 Sept. 2010. <[] .> "BBC - Religion: Hinduism." //BBC - Homepage//. Web. 14 Sept. 2010. <[] .> "Wikipedia - British Raj. Web. 26 Sept. 2010. <[]>