a major religious faith of the Indian subcontinent, which involves belief in cycles of reincarnation and the worship of many gods
Hinduism is a term of relatively recent coinage used to refer to Hindus, those South Asians who are not Muslims, Jains, Buddhists, or Christians. Although derived from a Persian name for the Indus river, Hinduism is currently used as a term of self-reference and is counted as one of the ‘world religions’ — Professor Donald Lopez