Santana Dharma deserves to be treated on its own as a distinct religion with its own sacred texts, rites, rules of social life, beliefs, and practices, without interlinking it with Hinduism.+.

As one peeps into the annals of Indian religious history, Hinduism is not ancient Sanatana Dharm or Vedic Religion. 

The Supreme Court of India correctly pointed out that Hinduism, as a religion, incorporates all forms of belief without mandating the selection or elimination of any one single belief. “ It is a religion that has no single founder, no single scripture, and no single set of teachings. It has been described as Santana Dharma, namely, eternal faith, as it is the collective wisdom and inspiration of the centuries that Hinduism seeks to preach and propagate,” ---Hinduism has no single founder or scripture.

The Supreme Court failed to observe that the present Hinduism is not ancient Santana Dharma or Vedic Religion.

Hinduism is not a religion. Rather, it is a group of castes found within India that share common beliefs while still remaining very different. Many may even argue that it is not a religion but more a way of life. The term "Hinduism" was not developed by the practitioners, but by groups outside of the religions as a means for labeling the entire Indian people.

Many groups within Hinduism claim a sort of "going back to the Vedas". While these groups are attempting to create a bond with the Vedas, they will never be followers of Vedism while they still hold their core ideals.

These core beliefs are at odds with those of the Vedas. Many followers of Hinduism translate the Vedas to fit into Hindu thought by changing the translation to reflect the beliefs of monism, reincarnation, the caste system, and the absence of animal and human sacrifice. However, these poor translators

Santana Dharma or Vedic Religion has no founders, whereas Advaita and qualified Advaita, Dvaita, and all other sects and castes identified as Hinduism are identified with their founders.

All of these castes have non-Vedic Gods, rituals barred by the Vedas. The dualism came only in the 12th century. The orthodox Advaita and Dvaita are based on the Abrahamic framework. Both Advaita and Dvaita schools are based on the Vedas, and they condemn each other with Upanishads and Puranic citations and try to prove they are right and others are wrong. The orthodox Advaita has nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman because they worship idols, human worship, and symbol worship, and indulge in non-Vedic rituals barred by the Vedas. 

Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj, was the first modern Indian thinker to emphasize the importance of ‘going back to the Vedas’ to bring about social reforms in Hindu society and to purify Hinduism of its many aberrations. The founder of Arya Samaj was the first modern Indian thinker to emphasize the importance of ‘going back to the Vedas’ to bring about social reforms in Hindu society and to purify Hinduism of its many aberrations.

Remember This:~

Santana Dharma is distinct from Hinduism. Santana Dharma deserves to be treated on its own as a distinct religion with its own sacred texts, rites, rules of social life, beliefs, and practices, without interlinking it with Hinduism. Perhaps it is right to maintain that the Mimamsa School, which is concerned with the investigation of the Vedic texts, their correct interpretation, and the meticulous performance of the Vedic rituals and ceremonies, has preserved and defended a part of the heritage of the Vedic tradition.

The Vedanta school may also have received some of its inspiration from the Vedas. For the rest of the Hindu philosophical schools and religious sects, the influence of the Vedas is nominal. However, inasmuch as elements from the Vedas have influenced some aspects of Hinduism, it may be considered as one of the many factors influencing modern Hinduism.

But by no means can it be maintained that Hinduism has its direct ancestry in the Vedic religion or the Santana Dharma. Therefore, the Hinduism of Vedic times is an imagined community. Hinduism is of a much later origin, and a historical view of Indian religions would endorse a dichotomy between Vedic Religion or Santana Dharma and contemporary Hinduism.

Hinduism does not have a long ancestry as is often presumed or propagated by Hindu ideologues. In fact, historically, religions like Buddhism and Jainism can claim greater antiquity than the Hinduism of today. Hinduism began to take a systematic form from the time of Sage Sankara (8th century A.D). In this sense, he may be considered as the ‘founder’ of Hinduism but he never called it Hinduism.

Thus, Hinduism came into existence with its own code of conduct, beliefs, and rituals after the 8th century. Hinduism, as one knows it today, is of recent origin. He states: “Hinduism did not really achieve its status as a coherent, though still baffling, religious complex until after the establishment of British rule in India.

In discussing the Vedic Religion,n it is also to be remembered that in the course of history, many non-Aryan elements entered into the Vedic Religion.

The Vedic Aryans freely borrowed elements from the culture and the society around them. But we cannot say with precision which are the non-Aryan elements in the Vedic Religion. Therefore, the thesis of the direct ancestry of Hinduism of today from Vedic Religion is to be considered as a myth purported by orthodoxy.:~Santthosh Kumaar