Hindu views on evolution

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Hindus have found support for, or ideas foreshadowing evolutionary ideas, in

scriptures,[1][2] such as the mytheme of Dashavatara
, the incarnations of Vishnu starting with a fish.

Reception in India

In India, there were minimal references to Darwinism in the 1800s. While elements of Victorian England opposed the idea of Darwinism, Hindus already had the present notion of common ancestry between humans and animals.

creation–evolution controversy has seen much debate in US, Middle East and parts of Africa, it is an insignificant issue in India, because of its Hindu-majority population.[4][5]

Most Indian scientists accept biological evolution and it is taught in Indian universities.[6]

Spiritual evolution

Many Hindu reformers compare the

involution of the Divine into matter takes place, and the person has to evolve over multiple lives until the Divine gains recognition of its true nature and liberation is attained.[8][1]

Hindu creationism

Hindu creationism also known as Vedic creationism is a type of religious

old earth creationism.[9][10][11][12] Historian of science Ronald Numbers has commented that "Hindu Creationists have insisted on the antiquity of humans, who they believe appeared fully formed as long, perhaps, as trillions of years ago."[13] The views of Hindu creationism are based on the Vedas, which depict an extreme antiquity of the universe and history of the earth.[14][15]

The emergence of modern Vedic creationism has been linked to Dayananda Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj.[16] In his Satyarth Prakash, Saraswati promoted anti-evolutionary views and took a literal reading of the Vedas. He argued that God designed the physical bodies of all species 1.96 billions years ago on earth and on other planets at the beginning of the present cosmic cycle.[16] He stated that God conjoined the bodies with pre-existing souls and that different species were created and distributed to souls in accord to their karma from the previous cosmic cycle. Saraswati in a public lecture condemned Darwinian evolution but misunderstood common descent by questioning why monkeys no longer evolve into men.[16]

Vedic creationism holds a view of the world derived largely from the

fossil record to make it fit with their metaphysical assumptions.[17]

Vanara

The Hindu epics mention an ape-like humanoid species called the vanaras.

The

modern humans.[19] Michael Cremo
, a Hindu creationist, states:

The idea of ape-men is not something that was invented by Darwinists of the nineteenth century. Long before that, the ancient Sanskrit writings were speaking of creatures with apelike bodies, humanlike intelligence, and a low level of material culture. For example, the Ramayana speaks of the Vanaras, a species of apelike men that existed millions of years ago. But alongside these ape-men existed humans of our type. The relationship was one of coexistence rather than evolution.[19]

Dashavatara

The order of the Dashavatara (ten principal avatars of the god Vishnu) is interpreted to convey Darwin's evolution.[20][21] British geneticist and evolutionary biologist J. B. S. Haldane opined that they are a true sequential depiction of the great unfolding of evolution. According to them, like the evolutionary process itself, the first avatar of God is a fish - Matsya, which depicts aquatic life, then comes the aquatic reptile turtle, Kurma, which depicts creatures moving to land, then a mammal - the boar Varaha, then Narasimha, a man-lion being, which is sometimes taken to mean creatures like Okapi, Archaeopteryx, and others, then comes Vamana, the dwarf hominid. Then Parashurama depicts humans when they were in the caveman stage. And then, Rama depicts the rise of civilization and kingdoms.[22] (Sometimes, when Balarama is taken into account, he is taken to represent the growth of agriculture.) Krishna is taken to symbolize the growth of art and crafts.[22] The tenth avatar Kalki is believed to appear in the future, prophesied to end the present age of the Kali Yuga.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Gosling 2011.
  2. ^ Moorty, J.S.R.L.Narayana (May 18–21, 1995). "Science and spirituality: Any Points of Contact? The Teachings of U.G.Krishnamurti: A Case Study". Krishnamurti Centennial Conference. Retrieved 2008-12-26. Hinduism has its own version of evolution, which agrees with the scientific theory that evolution is from the simple to the complex and from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous
  3. ^ a b Gosling 2011, p. 345–347-348–353.
  4. ^ Balaram, P (2004). "Editorial" (PDF). Current Science. 86 (9): 1191–1192.
  5. .
  6. ^ Mackenzie Brown 2020, p. 175.
  7. ^ Mackenzie Brown 2020, p. 124.
  8. .
  9. S2CID 170662013.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  10. .
  11. ^ Science & Religion: A New Introduction, Alister E. McGrath, 2009, p. 140
  12. ^ The creationists: from scientific to intelligent design, Ronald L. Numbers, 2006, p. 420
  13. ^ James C. Carper, Thomas C. Hunt, The Praeger Handbook of Religion and Education in the United States: A-L, 2009, p. 167
  14. ^ A history of Indian philosophy, Volume 1, Surendranath Dasgupta, 1992, p. 10
  15. ^
  16. ^
  17. ^ J. K. Trikha, A study of the Ramayana of Valmiki, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1981
  18. ^ a b Londhe, Sushama (2008). A Tribute to Hinduism: Thoughts and Wisdom Spanning Continents and Time about India and Her Culture. Pragun Publications. p. 386. For example, the Ramayana speaks of the Vanaras, a species of apelike men that existed millions of years ago.
  19. .
  20. .
  21. ^ .

Sources

Further reading

Evolution theory
Creationism
"Vedic creationism"
Hindu nationalism

External links

Hinduism and Science

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