This page groups religions by the rough size of their following, from faiths with a handful of adherents to the few traditions that dominate world population. Wikipedia notes that the four largest religious groups, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, together "account for 5.8 billion people and 73% of the population." Browsing by size lets a visitor see how a small or newer movement compares in scale to a religion counted in the billions.
Facts
Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryContested: Dharmic is a modern cover term, and dharma does not carry the same sense in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain usage. The family resemblance is real; the shared word conceals as much as it shows. 2 Overview
What Defines This GroupingTraditions of Indian origin sharing the vocabulary of dharma - the order of things and the conduct proper to it - together with karma, rebirth, and release from the cycle of rebirth as the goal. 2 Learn More
The Dharmic Traditions
This group holds religions of Dharmic classification, the family of traditions that arose in the Indian subcontinent and share the vocabulary of dharma (cosmic and moral order), karma (the moral law of action), and rebirth, with liberation from the cycle of rebirth as the ultimate goal.
The browser will find the Indian-origin religions grouped here by this shared framework. The entries describe each in its own terms; other classification tabs separate the Dharmic traditions further by their stance on the divine, polytheistic, monotheistic or nontheistic.
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. DharmaView the Source Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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