Sanatan Dharma

Sanatan Dharma

Subject: HISTORY

Section: Art and culture

Context: Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on Sanatan Dharma

Sanatan Dharma is a Sanskrit term that can be translated variously as “eternal religion” or “eternal law”, “unshakeable, venerable order”, or “ancient and continuing guideline”.

• The word “sanatan”, meaning eternal, does not appear in the Vedas.
• The word sanatan started being used in the Bhagavad Gita, and refers to knowledge of the soul, which is eternal
• Sanatan Dharma refers to eternal religions which believe in soul and rebirth.
• The term ‘Sanatan Dharma’ was used in the Gita by Arjuna, when he told Krishna that “when the clan is vitiated, the sanatan-dharmas of the clan are destroyed”.
• A similar term was used by Draupadi when the onlookers did not speak up on her behalf.
• Although the term is most commonly associated with Hinduism, it is also used by Jains and Buddhists because these religions also believe in rebirth. It is not used for religions that believe in one life, that is Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which come from the Middle East.
• Since the late 19th century, Sanatan Dharma has been used to signify Hinduism as a religion, distinct from other religions. It is used to evoke a certain homogeneity in Hinduism, without specifying how exactly that homogeneity is constituted.
• The term gained popularity in the late 19th century with the emergence of various sabhas designed to promote Sanatan Dharma. The Sanatan Dharma at that time came to be understood most popularly as a signifier of Hindu orthodoxy that was a reaction to the reform movements being carried out by missionaries and reformers such as the Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj. 
• In the Punjab of the 1890s, Pandit Din Dayal Sharma began defending certain religious practices such as murti puja or idol worship against the teachings of the Arya Samaj and established an organisation called ‘Sanatan Dharm Sabha’.
• The national organisation, ‘Bharat Dharma Mahamandal’ that also came up during this period stated as its first objective, “to promote Hindu religious education in accordance with the Sanatana Dharma”. The term was also used by the Hindu Mahasabha to refer to the Hindu religion.
• The idea that Sanatan Dharma was Hindu orthodoxy, and that it was in opposition to reform was entrenched in the social identities of late 19th century India.
• While the Arya Samajists criticised image worship and position of Brahmins in Hindu society, the Sabhas reacted by arguing in defence of the caste system and idol worship as being core features of the Sanatan Dharma tradition.
• Savarkar describes the followers of Sanatan Dharmaas those who recognise the authority of Shruti, Smriti and Puranas.
  Shruti and Smriti both refer to Vedic literature, Shruti is first-hand knowledge, that which was heard (Vedas, Upanishads, etc.), while Smriti is that which is written down from memory (Upvedas, Tantras, etc.)