Are Hindus monotheistic or polytheistic? The answer may surprise you.

How many Gods do Hindus have?
— None? ✅
— One? ✅
— Many? ✅

Wait, what? How can it be all of these?

For years, textbooks have labeled Hindus as polytheistic. And in our attempt to fit into the Abrahamic framework, to be better understood, we’ve pushed back and said we too are monotheistic…we have one God with many manifestations. It’s what we tell teachers. It’s what we tell our kids.

But, in doing so, we’ve limited OUR OWN understanding of Hindu Dharma traditions which have a variety of teachings about the Ultimate Reality and Divine. Rather than turning away from this, we should embrace the openness and willingness of our Dharmas to understand the Ultimate Reality from multiple perspectives.

What if we could wipe the slate clean of colonial narratives and begin to learn and present our tradition in its entirety, with its important contextual nuances?

What if we could examine Hindu history and dharma through archeological, genetic, literary, and sociological methodologies?

At HAF, we’re changing the way we talk about Hindu Dharma. At HAF, we’re making it easier to be Hindu in America.