a body of religious and philosophical beliefs and cultural practices native to India and based on a caste system; it is characterized by a belief in reincarnation, by a belief in a supreme being of many forms and natures, by the view that opposing theories are aspects of one eternal truth, and by a desire for liberation from earthly evils | a Muslim republic in southern Asia bordered by India to the north and west and east and the Bay of Bengal to the south; formerly part of India and then part of Pakistan; it achieved independence in 1971 |