Hindustan is a peninsula in southern Asia that is part of the Indian subcontinent. The peninsula is home to a large number of people belonging to different nations and tribes, having different languages ββand professing different religious doctrines.
The traditional religion of the peoples of the Hindustan Peninsula is rather a religion, since during the existence of this territory and over five thousand years of history paganism, animism, polytheistic and monotheistic beliefs have changed and mixed with each other.
From the Mohenjo Daro Civilization to the Great Britain Colony
The territory of the peninsula has been inhabited since ancient times - the history of the change of eras and civilizations can be traced back to the Neolithic. The earliest settlement here is supposedly 20 thousand years BC. We are talking about Mohenjo Daro - one of the oldest open settlements.
According to some scholars, the lower layers of this city appeared in the area of ββ20-15 millennium BC, although the official date for the appearance of this place is 2600 years before Christ. What is the traditional religion of the peoples of the Hindustan Peninsula of that period? That was the time of the emergence of Hinduism, which was formed on the basis of the civilization of Harappa and the Dravids.
Since then, to our time on the Hindustan there were various peoples belonging to the Dravids speaking the languages ββof the Dravidian group, Veddas (they are probably the oldest population of South India), Kusunda. In addition to these, there were also representatives of the Mund and Tibetan-Burmese language families and others.
Later, after the arrival of the Aryans in the region, a system of castes gradually began to take shape. Based on the doctrine of karma, it divided the population into levels, gradually becoming more ordered and rigid.
Politically, in the region at different times, many kingdoms and empires spread, including the Indo-Greek, Indo-Saka, Kushan kingdom, the empires of Gupta and Kharsha, Magandha and others. The traditional religion of the peoples of the Hindustan Peninsula at that time was Hinduism, Buddhism, in some places - paganism.
Gradually, the territory of the peninsula, passing through the period of conquest by Alexander the Great, the formation and development of Islamic states and the time of the Mughal Empire, turned into a colony of Great Britain.
After gaining independence from Britain, the Hindustan Peninsula was divided into three independent states: the territory of Pakistan, Bangladesh and partially India is located here.
The traditional religion of the peoples of the Hindustan Peninsula
The three largest religious doctrines in this territory are Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism. Besides them, quite a lot of followers have Jainism, Sikhism, animism. Hinduism is the most traditional religion of the peoples of the Hindustan Peninsula: it arose around the 3rd millennium BC. on the foundation of even more ancient beliefs. Since this belief system is rooted in the Vedic, Harapah and Dravidian civilizations, it is considered the oldest in the world.
The single source or founder of Hinduism is not known, there is not even a common doctrine or tradition. In fact, this is a family of views that, in its various versions, takes into account mono-, poly- and pantheism, monism and even atheism.
Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism
Two other religions that are also traditional for this region are Buddhism and Jainism. None of them is dominant in any of the modern states of the peninsula, however, the first and the second have many followers.
Buddhism arose around the 6th century BC The development of one of its movements, Mahayana, was greatly influenced by the Greek-Buddhist culture. Thus, this is a completely traditional religion of the peoples of the Hindustan Peninsula who lived on the territory of modern north-western Pakistan (the Greek-Buddhist culture appeared as a result of the mixing of Indian, Central Asian, Persian and Greek and developed until the 5th century AD on the lands of the eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan).
Jainism and Sikhism arose in the 9-6 centuries BC. e. and the 15th century AD, respectively. Although the first of them is much older, both played a significant role in the history of the region.
Islam
What religion of the peoples of the Hindustan Peninsula is able to compete with Hinduism? The only answer is Islam. It is this monotheistic belief system introduced into the region in the process of conquest, starting from the VIII century.
Islam is the dominant belief system in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is relatively young, but has been among the main religions for several centuries.