What do Hindu religious texts say about creation of Human beings or Life in general.

We know that Chritianity and Islam state divine creation of Human as we are now at some point in time about lets say 10000 years ago (just a figure).
(i.e Creationism)

So does Hinduism support any form of evolution?

The obvious "Hanuman" connection tells us something, but what exactly?

Any one????

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I once made a mistake, but I was wrong about it.

Hi Mercury6,

Your question about what Hinduism stands for vis-à-vis Christianity, when it comes to beginning of human life as we know it today, is thought-provoking to say the least. I must congratulate you on this.
The creationists and evolutionists are in a continuous state of debate without any body becoming any wiser. The debate has the potential to continue forever until one side finds the silver bullet.
Though not an expert in the field by any stretch of imagination but I have my own views on the subject.
The basic difference between Hinduism and Christianity is that the former is a way of life emphasizing inner strength while the later is more of external strength. (This also explains why Christianity and Islam have tried and succeeded in the past to rule over others by physical force and now trying to do the same by way of controlling the thought process. It would be very interesting to see the outcome of the stand-off between these two 'forces' brought head to head after 9/11. Whereas Hinduism, true to its values, concentrated on spirituality and developed amazing documents like Vedas).
In my view the Hindu texts have refrained from 'planting' human species on earth but in line with its core values 'appointed' gods in charge of natural forces (including birth and death) so important in defining our lives. Life cycle was defined as a complex function of karma and dharma. What you sow, so shall you reap.
On the other hand Christianity reset time to zero when Adam was planted on this planet. By some simple assumptions-the most basic being that all human beings are born with sin-a model was presented that required human beings to follow the 'teachings' and become eligible for a place in heaven. In other words man in its ideal form is an image of God but because of satanic interference has sinned. In order for one to be pure one has to follow God's word. Another common thread in Christianity and Islam is to teach God’s word to infidels.
If one reflects deeply on the above one would find that Hinduism does not require creation as its central theme for survival but Christianity does. That is why so much debate about creation and evolution.
Have you heard of relatively new thought of Intelligent Design? We may discuss that once other desis respond to this thread.

Disclosure: I believe human life is just an accident and another accident can completely erase it from the face of earth. The above is purely a personal view and not meant to hurt anybody.

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Man's Best Friend

I don't know if it directly mentions evolution however it could be infered in a way (if you were nudged to think in that direction).

Hindus believe in re-incarnation until your achieve Moksha (the state of merging or being one with God). You have to go through about a million "lesser" life-forms starting from the most basic to advance up the chain and be incarnated as a human. And if as a human, you screw up and live like a jerk, you again go down the ladder (the primitiveness of your form directly proportional to the degree of your sins) and have to climb up again to humanity. Only whe you achieve perfect balance in your life as a human can you achieve Moksha (which should explain the big jump in population on earth )

You could infer from this that life on earth began in its most basic form (the amoeba) and advanced into more complex forms, which is basically what evolution suggests. The pretext of evolution however is survival, whereas that of religion in "divine plan". You choose.

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Are you there?

Hi Mercury,
Greetings,

Hinduism does indeed have a large corpus of work on human evolution.The nine incarnations of Lord Vishnu, referred to in numerous religous texts and illustrated on Temple walls in the Gupta period (320 AD) are exactly what Charles Darwin put in his theory of evolution.The incarnations evolve each step to finally emerge in the human form as Lord Rama.

Although being a student of Indian history and an aracheologist I must add with some reservations, the fact that some nationalist scholars have gone to the extent of saying that Darwin flicked the theory from Indians....?? But this, I feel is debatable.

Yet it is a fact that if you see the various incarnations of Lord Vishnu, they are progressive evolution from a fish to a human.And they did carve it in stone on a temple door in South India long before Darwin.

Hope the above is of relevance.Look forward to your comments.

JFI:
I am writing my Doctoral thesis on ' A Reassesment of the Indus Valley Civilisation in the light of recent excavations' and have actively participated in archaeological excavations with the Archaeological Survey of India and a couple of Universities.

Regards
Northwind

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Those who want to make their dreams come true dont sleep

Very Interesting indeed.

In a way It leaves open for discussion and interpretation such concepts, which is very much according to Hinduism's character as a non-dogmatic religion.

I also agree its more a way of life than a religion.

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I once made a mistake, but I was wrong about it.

Here is an English Translation of a vedic verse that talks of Creation:

Then even Nothingness was Not,
Nor Existence,
There was No Air, Nor the Heavens Beyond It.

What covered it?
Where was it?
in Whose Keeping?
Was there cosmic waters in depths unfathomed?

Then there was neither death
Nor Immortality
Neither was there the torch of Night or Day
The One breathed Mindlessly, Self Sustaining
There was the One then and
There was No Other

Then There was darkness wrapped in darkness
and all this was just unilluminated water
and The One that came to be, wrapped in Nothingness
Arose at last, Born of the power of heat

At first, desire decended upon it,
This was the Primal Seed, born of the mind
the sages who have searched their hearts with wisdom
know that what is, is kin to that what is not

They have stretched their cords across the void
and know what is above and what below
seminal powers made fertile mighty forces
First there was Power and then there was impulse

After all who knows and who can say
whence it all came from and how creation happened?
The Gods themselves are later than Creation
So who truely knows whence it has arisen?

Where all Creation has its origion?
Whether he fashioned it or he did not
He who Surveys it all from the highest heavens
He knows, or perhaps even He doesn't know.

If you remember the "Discovery of India" series on Doordarshan, the title song of the program was a Hindi version of this veda.

DT

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Microsoft - Which end of the stick do you want today?

The link below provides a comparison of views from several religions and faiths on evolution and creation.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_denom.htm

Interestingly if we give equal respect to all beliefs we can soon conclude that there is no consensus on the issue.

or is it that the truth lies somewhere inbetween.

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Man's Best Friend