The word Hindu was used initially to describe the people of india, it was never used to describe religion.+

Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru: ~ “The word Hindu can be earliest traced to a source a tantric in the 8th century and it was used initially to describe the people, it was never used to describe religion. (The discovery of India” on page -74 and -75)

According to Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, Its connection with religion is of late occurrence. The word Hinduism is derived from the word Hindu.

The word Hinduism was first used by English writers in the 19th century to describe the multiplicity of faiths of the people of India.

In Encyclopaedia Britannica, it says ~ The word Hinduism was first used by the British writers in the year 1830 to describe the multiplicity of the faiths of the people of India excluding the converted Christians. (Volume -20, Reference -581)

Swami Vivekananda says: - The word Hindu is a misnomer; the correct word should be a Vedantins, a person who follows the Vedas.

Hinduism incorporates a vast pantheon of deities, some of whom are manifestations or combinations of others. Most of the deities mentioned in the Vedas are no longer worshipped; much of today's popular devotion centers around the major deities of Shiva, Vishnu, and the Goddess. The Vedas describe a number of deities, most of whom are personified forces of nature. The most oft-mentioned are Indra, Agni, Soma, and Varuna.

Max Müller says: ~ “The religion of the Veda knows no idols; the worship of idols in India is a secondary formation, a degradation of the more primitive worship of ideal Gods."

Hindus are idol worshipers of a large number of Gods and Goddesses whereas Vedas declare God is ‘ONE’ and that God is Atman.

Yajur Veda – chapter- 32:~ God is Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape. God cannot be seen directly by anyone. God pervades all beings and all directions.

Yajurveda: ~ There is no image of God in truth. God in truth is unborn and eternal. (Chapter 32, Verse 3)

Yajurveda: ~ God in truth is nondual and pure"

Yajurveda: ~ "They are entering darkness, those who worship the natural things (like air, water, fire, etc.), they are sinking more in darkness who worship created things." (Chapter 40, Verse 9)

Thus, Idolatry does not find any support from the Vedas.

Rig Veda: ~ 'Prajnanam Brahma'- Consciousness is the ultimate reality or Brahman or God in truth.

God in truth is the Atman, the Self. Atman is present in the form of consciousness.

Do not accept any other God other than Atman not worship other than Atman.

Let these words be inscribed in your subconscious.

Nothing is real but God. Nothing Matters but love for God in truth. God in truth is everywhere and in everything.

God in truth is hidden by the illusory universe. God in truth alone is and all else is an illusion. 

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe. May ye never turn away from the Atman, the Self. May ye never accept another God in place of the Atman nor worship other than the Atman?" (10:48, 5)

Rig-Veda 1-164-46 and Y.V 32-1 clearly mention that God is “One”.

Rig Veda declares God is ‘ONE’ and that God is Atman, then why believe and worship anything else in place of real God.

Thus, Atman the ‘‘Self’’, is God. Thus, ‘‘Self’’-realization is real worship. ‘‘Self’’-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana is necessary to get realization.

Chandogya Upanishad Chapter: ~ ekam evaditiyam- God is only one without a second. (6- Section- 2- Verse- 1)

Swethaswethara Upanishad:~ Na casya kasuj janita na cadhipah, which means of him of Almighty God, there are no parents they have got no lord. Almighty God has no true father, he has no true mother, he has no true superior. (Chapter-6- Verse -9)

Swethaswethara Upanishad:~ Na Tasya Pratima Asti -God there is no Pratima, there is no likeness, there is no image, there is no picture, there is no photograph, there is no sculpture, there is no statue. (Chapter -4- Verse- 19)

Swethaswethara Upanishad: - No one can see the Almighty God (Chapter -4, Verse -20)

Bhagavad Gita Chapter: - all those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires worship many Gods. (7- Verse -20)

That is the reason today when we peep into the religious history of India we find that the word Hinduism is a misnomer.

Hinduism today is a group of castes and creeds with diverse ideologies with diverse beliefs and codes of conduct in different parts of India. Hinduism is not the ancient Santana Dharma, the eternal religion, or the Vedic Dharma, the religion of the Vedas. :~Santthosh Kumaar