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The history of Hinduism covers a wide variety of related religious traditions native to the Indian subcontinent. [1] It overlaps or coincides with the development of religion in the Indian subcontinent since the Iron Age , with some of its traditions tracing back to prehistoric religions such as those of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation .
Hindu beliefs are vast and diverse, and thus Hinduism is often referred to as a family of religions rather than a single religion. [ web 10 ] Within each religion in this family of religions, there are different theologies, practices, and sacred texts.
Hinduism – predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. [1] Its followers are called Hindus , who refer to it as Sanātana Dharma [ 2 ] ( Sanskrit : सनातनधर्मः , lit.
The historical Vedic religion, also called Vedicism or Vedism, and sometimes ancient Hinduism or Vedic Hinduism, [a] constituted the religious ideas and practices prevalent amongst some of the Indo-Aryan peoples of the northwest Indian subcontinent (Punjab and the western Ganges plain) during the Vedic period (c. 1500–500 BCE).
The Puranas have been used by some to give a tentative overview of Indian history prior to the Bharata War. [13] Gulshan (1940) dates the start of the reign of Manu Vaivasvata at 7350 BCE. [ 13 ] According to Ganguly, the Puranic gives 95 kings between Shraddhadeva Manu (aka Manu Vaivasvata), the progenitor of humanity, and the Bharata War . [ 27 ]
The deity is said to have been born out of a lotus that grew out of the navel of Vishnu. He was given the four Vedas by Vishnu, and instructed to commence the act of creation. [9] Brahma is not widely revered in contemporary Hinduism, as no major tradition emerged around his worship, as they did for Vishnu and Shiva. [10]
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (c. 1500 –900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the end of the urban Indus Valley Civilisation and a second urbanisation, which began in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain c. 600 BCE.
It is notable that Hinduism largely followed an oral tradition to pass on knowledge, for which there is no record of historical dates. All dates here given ought to be regarded as roughly approximate, subject to further revision, and generally as relying for their validity on highly inferential methods and standards of evidence.