In the Oxford Handbook of Religion and Emotion (ISBN 0195170210 ), June McDaniel, Professor of Religious Studies at the College of Charleston classifies Hinduism into 6 generic types. This kind of classification makes more sense to the diverse variety in which Hinduism is practised.
- Folk Hinduism - Hinduism according to local customs spanning thousands of years; even beyond vedic era.
- Vedic Hinduism - Traditional Hinduism practised by Brahmins, especially Shrautins.
- Vedantic Hinduism - One of the modern types of Hinduism; practised by Smartins based on Upanishads
- Yogic Hinduism - Based on Patanjali's Yoga sutras
- Dharmic Hinduism - Based on the concept of Karma, societal rituals etc
- Bhakti (Devotional) type - Based on pure devotion to God; eg: Vaishnavism, Saivism etc.
This is a very useful classification of Hinduism. Congratulations for the site. Very complete.
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