Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is a family of linked religious cultures bound by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, pilgrimage to sacred sites and the questioning of authority. It includes various denominations each with an interwoven diversity of beliefs and practices.

An (otherwise unknown) author with the name Sanatani is mentioned by Udayana (10th century).

Sanatani is a term often used by Indians to either describe denominations that adhere to Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism), or what is sometimes misunderstood to be Orthodox Hinduism. The term was popularized by Mahatma Gandhi in 1921.