Breaking down the question
The question has two linked parts. First, set out the basic tenets of the Hindu religion. Second, resolve a classic debate — is Hinduism monotheistic or polytheistic? The examiner wants both descriptive knowledge of Hindu belief and an analytical judgement on its theological character.
Basic tenets asks for the organising ideas — dharma, karma, rebirth, moksha and the like — that give Hinduism coherence despite its diversity. The second part is a trap for the careless, who pick one side. The sociologically informed answer shows that the binary of monotheism versus polytheism is too crude for Hinduism, which contains elements of both and is better captured by concepts such as henotheism and an underlying philosophical monism.
How to approach it
Open by acknowledging that Hinduism is less a single creed than a family of traditions, which is why it resists simple labels. Set out its basic tenets systematically — the authority of the Vedas, dharma, karma and rebirth, the goal of moksha, the purusharthas, and the plurality of paths.
Then take up the theological question. Show the evidence for polytheism, the evidence for monotheism, and reconcile them through henotheism and the monistic idea of one ultimate reality (Brahman) manifest in many forms. Draw on the note on religious communities in India and close with a considered verdict.
Model answer
Hinduism is often described not as a religion in the Semitic sense — with a single founder, a single scripture and a single creed — but as a family of traditions that has grown over millennia. This internal diversity is the key to both its tenets and the question of its theological character.
The basic tenets. Despite its plurality, certain core ideas recur across Hindu traditions. The first is a broad acceptance of the authority of the Vedas and the wider corpus of sacred texts, which lends a loose doctrinal continuity. The second is dharma — the moral and social order, the duties appropriate to one's station and stage of life, which regulates conduct. The third is the linked pair of karma and samsara — the law that action bears fruit, and the cycle of birth, death and rebirth through which the soul passes according to its deeds. The fourth is moksha — liberation from this cycle, the ultimate spiritual goal.
Around these cluster further tenets — the doctrine of the atman, the individual soul, and its relation to the ultimate reality; the four purusharthas or aims of life — dharma, artha, kama and moksha; and the recognition of multiple margas or paths to liberation, chiefly the ways of knowledge, devotion and action. Hinduism's tolerance of many paths, many deities and many philosophies is itself one of its defining features. Sociologically, M. N. Srinivas distinguished the Sanskritic or textual tradition, broadly uniform across regions, from the folk or local traditions of village deities and practice — the two constantly interacting.
Is Hinduism monotheistic or polytheistic? On its surface, Hinduism appears emphatically polytheistic. It venerates a vast pantheon — Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, the goddess in her many forms, and countless regional and village deities, each with its own myths, temples and festivals. The ordinary devotee worships many gods.
Yet Hinduism is also, at a deeper level, monotheistic — or more precisely monistic. The philosophical traditions, above all Advaita Vedanta, hold that behind the multiplicity of gods lies a single ultimate reality, Brahman, the one absolute of which all deities are manifestations. The famous Vedic dictum ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti — the truth is one, the wise call it by many names — expresses exactly this. The many gods are so many faces of the one.
The most apt characterisation, following Max Müller, is henotheism — the worship of one god as supreme without denying the existence of others. A devotee may treat Vishnu or Shiva or the Devi as the highest reality, addressing to that chosen deity the language of an all-encompassing God, while still acknowledging the wider pantheon. Hinduism thus holds monotheistic devotion and polytheistic form together without contradiction.
Verdict. The dichotomy of monotheism versus polytheism is therefore too rigid for Hinduism. Empirically and in popular practice it is polytheistic; philosophically and in its highest reaches it is monistic, affirming one reality behind many names. Henotheism best captures its lived logic. Hinduism is neither simply the one nor simply the many, but a tradition that comprehends both — a unity that expresses itself through diversity, which is precisely what makes it sociologically distinctive.
Examiner's perspective
Examiners look for a two-part answer that first lays out the tenets systematically — dharma, karma, rebirth, moksha, the purusharthas, the plurality of paths — and then engages the theological question with nuance rather than picking one side. Candidates who declare Hinduism simply polytheistic, or simply monotheistic, stay in the middle band.
The strongest scripts resolve the apparent contradiction through henotheism and the monistic idea of Brahman manifest in many forms, citing the maxim that truth is one though called by many names. Bringing in Srinivas's Sanskritic and folk distinction adds a sociological dimension beyond mere theology. A crisp verdict — polytheistic in practice, monistic in philosophy, henotheistic in logic — demonstrates the analytical control that earns the top band.