Is Hinduism polytheistic or monotheistic

Answer 1

Answer 1Hinduism is at its deepest a monotheistic religion, although the supreme being of God, or Brahman, can be worshiped in many different forms. Hindus believe in one supreme God who created the universe and can be worshiped as light. Hinduism's God has may forms or Avatars. Hinduism is a complex set of religious and philosophical thought and does not fit well with a simplistic categorization of monotheism, polytheism or Atheism. It includes all of these and more. Separate schools of Hindu thought vary one from the other in these topics.

In some schools all the Hindu gods and the human soul (ātman) are part of the Brahman, the supreme soul.

Answer 2

It is difficult to summarize Hindu theology since the various Hindu schools contain elements of almost every theological system.

Hinduism can be:

1. Monastic - Only one thing exists; Sankara's school
2. Pantheistic - Only one divine thing exists so that God is identical to the world; Brahmanism
3. Pantheistic - The world is part of God; Ramanuja's School
4. Theistic - Only one God, distinct from Creation; Bhakti Hinduism.

Observing other schools, Hinduism can also be atheistic, deistic, or even nihilistic. With such diversity included under the title "Hindu," one may wonder what makes them "Hindu" in the first place. About the only real issue is whether or not a belief system recognizes the Vedas as sacred. If it does, then it is Hindu. If not, then it is not Hindu.

Answer 2

Monotheistic is the belief in one God and polytheistic is the belief in many Gods.

Hinduism has many Gods so that makes it a polytheistic belief.

A:2

Hinduism is at its deepest a monotheistic religion, although the supreme being of God, or Brahman, can be worshipped in many different forms. Hindus believe in one supreme God who created the universe and can be worshiped as light. Hinduism's God has may forms or Avatars.

A:3

Hinduism is polytheistic, they have a pantheon of gods that includes about 330 Million deities.

Answer 3

Under the conventional definitions of monotheism and polytheism, HINDUISM IS POLYTHEISTIC. The Hindus primarily worship three distinct gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, who are responsible for creation, maintenance, and destruction, respectively. There are thousands of gods who are of lesser importance than these three and usually have personal cults or worshipers, such as Ganesh.

However, as monotheism has become a standard by which religions are judged in Western society, Hindu theology has moved towards the argument provided in the Community Answer. This argument holds that the Brahman, the universal uniting principle of the universe, is itself of a divine nature and all of the particular gods are simply facets of this Brahman. (It should be noted that Brahman is different from Brahma, the creator deity with no "n".) This shift in argumentation is not to say that this view is new or a revision to the theology, but it has become stressed more than it was a few centuries ago because of the cultural changes in India and the Hindu diaspora.