हिंदू असे लोक आहेत जे स्वतःला सांस्कृतिकदृष्ट्या सामाजिक आणि धार्मिकदृष्ट्याहिंदू धर्माचे पालन करतात.[१][२] ऐतिहासिकदृष्ट्या, हा शब्द भौगोलिक, सांस्कृतिक आणि नंतरच्याभारतीय उपखंड मध्ये राहणाऱ्या लोकांसाठी धार्मिक अभिज्ञापक म्हणून देखील वापरला जात आहे.[३][४]
'हिंदू' या शब्दाचा ऐतिहासिक अर्थ काळाबरोबर विकसित झाला आहे. मध्ययुगीन कालखंडातील मजकूरांद्वारे इ.स.पू. 1 शतकाच्यासिंधू संस्कृतीच्या (पर्शियन आणि ग्रीक संदर्भ),[५] हिंदू या शब्दाचा अर्थसिंधू नदीच्या आसपास किंवा त्यापलीकडे भारतीय उपखंडात राहणाऱ्या लोकांसाठी भौगोलिक, वांशिक किंवा सांस्कृतिक अभिज्ञापक आहे.[६]
^Lloyd Ridgeon (2003).Major World Religions: From Their Origins to the Present. Routledge. pp. 10–11.ISBN978-1-134-42935-6., Quote: "It is often said that Hinduism is very ancient, and in a sense this is true (...). It was formed by adding the English suffix -ism, of Greek origin, to the wordHindu, of Persian origin; it was about the same time that the wordHindu, without the suffix -ism, came to be used mainly as a religious term. (...) The nameHindu was first a geographical name, not a religious one, and it originated in the languages of Iran, not of India. (...) They referred to the non-Muslim majority, together with their culture, as 'Hindu'. (...) Since the people called Hindu differed from Muslims most notably in religion, the word came to have religious implications, and to denote a group of people who were identifiable by their Hindu religion. (...) However, it is a religious term that the wordHindu is now used in English, and Hinduism is the name of a religion, although, as we have seen, we should beware of any false impression of uniformity that this might give us."
^चुका उधृत करा:<ref> चुकीचा कोड;brian111 नावाने दिलेल्या संदर्भांमध्ये काहीही माहिती नाही
