Hinduism is the world’s oldest religion, according to many scholars, with roots and customs dating back more than 4,000 years. 

Today, with about 900 million followers, Hinduism is the third-largest religion behind Christianity and Islam. Roughly 95 percent of the world’s Hindus live in India.

Although the name “Hinduism” is relatively new, having been coined by British writers in the first decades of the 19th century, it refers to a rich cumulative tradition of texts and practices, some of which date to the second millennium B.C. or possibly earlier. 

Hindus generally accept — and indeed celebrate — the organic, multileveled, and sometimes pluralistic nature of their traditions. This expansiveness is made possible by the widely-shared Hindu view that truth or reality cannot be encapsulated in any creedal formulation, a perspective expressed in the Hindu prayer, “May good thoughts come to us from all sides.” Thus, Hinduism maintains that truth must be sought in multiple sources, not dogmatically proclaimed.

If you land in India any time in late February or March (this year it was this past Sunday and Monday), it’s wise to check the dates of the annual Holi festival, and bring a spare set of clothes. That’s because for a few days in spring, people crowd the streets and splash brilliantly-colored dyes on anyone walking by. 

Holi represents the arrival of spring and the triumph of good over evil. It is also said to be the enactment of a game the Hindu god Lord Krishna played with his consort Radha and the gopis, or milkmaids. The story represents the fun and flirtatiousness of the gods, but also touches on deeper themes: of the passing of the seasons and the illusory nature of the material world.

Traditionally, the colors used in Holi came from flowers and herbs — which in the hot climate of India tend to produce bright natural dyes — but today they’re usually synthetic.