[caseferter]

I had posted earlier that the name Hinduism for the religion did not exist till may be about 500 to 600 years back.

Hinduism like most religions did not have a name. If Sanathana dharma was the name by which the Hindus themselves called it, there would have been no problem. But they did not.

When the English landed in India they had to coin a word for the religion of the Hindus. Since the religion was propunded by Brahmins they initially called it Brahminism. Not Brahmanism but Brahminism that is the religion of the Brahmins. Later when their knowledge of the people of India widened, they found that there were differences in the practice of religion by the people who were not Brahmins. There were objections from the Hindus to the name Brahminism. You will find that interested people who want to carry on an anti-Hindu campaign still use it.

The term Hinduism was coined to include the religious practices of all the castes and creeds.

Religious historians traced the evolution of the religion and divided it into three/four phases. The Vedic religion, the Epic/Puranika/Smartha religion and then Hindusim which encompassed all these and much more. The Epic/Puranika/Smarta religion was the one they called Brahminism and not the Vedic religion. It is because the people of India had given up the Vedic religion long back. The revival of the Vaidic way of life by the Smarthas did not bring back the Vedic religion.

The term Brahminism was objected to as being very narrow and full of contradictions. The term was given up later. Of course it was revived by Indian historians for preaching anti-Brahminism later.

Now till aroung 1950 or 1960 ( I am not sure of the date) the term Sanathana Dharma was never used. Swami Vivekananda did not use it. Pandit Madanmohan Malaviya the founder of Banares Hindu university and other Hindu scholars like Tilak and pundits never used the term. Swami Dayananda Saraswathi who founded Arya Samaj to revive the Vedic religion also did not use it.

The term Sanathana Dharma was first used in copper plate of the middle ages which was excavated after independence. The copper plate defined Sanathana Dharma as the combination of Shruti and Smiriti. I did have the exact sanskrit verse. But I am not able to trace it.

As I write this I am referring to the book "A religious history of ancient India' by R.P. Goyal. This was a prescribed text book in many universities long back. This book is a compilation of information from various sources with a lot of reference citations in every page. This is one book which deals extensively on the Smarta religion, which many of the later historians have ignored. The book was published in 1986. The index does not even have an entry called Sanathana Dharma.