Great thread. Another site that might be of interest to y'all is
http://www.hindunet.org/ With the exception of the occasionally annoying banner ad, it's a pretty good site on Hinduism.
Bit of trivia, actually, on that note. The term "Hinduism" is actually pretty much a scholarly construct. Literally, it refers to the people who live in "India" (ie. originally the region of the Indus River). Even to a non-linguist, the connection between the words should be apparent. Lots of scholars actually prefer to talk of "Hinduisms," since there are so many different forms of religion which all fall under the broad umbrella of Hinduism. Some have numbered these different forms in the thousands. Most of them share many of the the same basic ideas, and in many cases, the only difference is which deity is venerated as being "more supreme". That being said, this is mostly something you can bring up at your next office party, since the distinction is mostly semantics, not and not one of practicalities.
