View source for Sanatan Dharma Roots/What is Sanatan Dharma

=== '''Conclusion''' ===
Sanatan Dharma was not an abstract philosophy detached from history, and Hinduism was not a late construction. They represented the same civilisational tradition viewed through different historical and linguistic lenses. From the earliest Vedic hymns through later philosophical systems, from grammar and ritual to ethics and social organisation, continuity remained evident (Radhakrishnan, 1927; Thapar, 2002).

The notion that Hinduism was created in a later period or imposed by outsiders weakened when examined alongside linguistic, textual, and archaeological evidence. What endured across millennia was Sanatan Dharma — an evolving yet continuous civilisational tradition rooted in knowledge, responsibility, and cultural continuity.

===== '''Keywords:''' =====
Sanatan Dharma, Hinduism, dharma, civilisational continuity, Vedic tradition, Indic civilisation, religious identity, cultural antiquity, Sapta Sindhu, Hindu etymology, Vedic heritage, philosophical traditions of India, ritual continuity, sacred geography, Paninian linguistics, Itihasa-Purana tradition, Arya identity, civilisational worldview, eternal order, history of Hinduism

===== '''Bibliography''' =====
# Rigveda, multiple hymns referencing Sindhu and Sapta Sindhu
# Avesta, Vendidad and related sections referring to Hapta Hindu
# Panini, Ashtadhyayi, Book 3 and Book 6
# Bhavishya Purana, Pratisarga Parva
# Shankar Digvijaya and Madhava Digvijaya
# Achaemenid inscriptions of Darius I and Xerxes I referring to Hidush
# Fa Hien, A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms
# Xuanzang, Great Tang Records on the Western Regions
# F. Max Müller, The Sacred Books of the East, Volumes IV and related
# Michael Witzel, “Early Sanskritization”
# Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, Vol. I