Religion · Indian

Hinduism

A family of traditions with no single founder or creed, rooted in the Vedic religion of north India and joined over centuries with the worship of Shiva, Vishnu and the Goddess, temple rites, devotion and teachings of karma and liberation. Brahmins and traders carried it across South and Southeast Asia, and migrants carried it worldwide.

c. 1500 BCE – today
36 places reached
Living faith

See it spread on the atlas All religions Wikipedia

2026

Every path it took: 36 places reached, 29 still held; faint where it has gone

FaithMain faithFootholdArrival

Trade routesSea laneRiver or canal

Wonders

Wonders of the world on the atlas in the story of Hinduism: built for it, long used by it, or standing on its holy ground.

Built 1003 – 1010
The Brihadisvara Temple
Thanjavur, India
A temple to Shiva built by the Chola king Rajaraja I at his capital, Thanjavur; worship there has gone on for a thousand years.
Built c. 1113 – 1150
Angkor Wat
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Built by the Khmer king Suryavarman II as a temple to Vishnu, and probably his tomb; it is the largest religious monument in the world.

Trade routes that carried it

Routes on the atlas that its missionaries, merchants and pilgrims travelled. The map above draws them in the years they ran.

c. 200 BCE – 1500 CE · by sea and river
Maritime Silk Road
Indian traders and Brahmins sailing these lanes brought Hindu gods and kingship to Southeast Asia, from Funan's port of Oc Eo to Champa, the Malay peninsula and Java.

Symbol meaning

Om

Om, or Aum, is the sacred syllable chanted at the start and close of prayer, scripture and meditation. The Upanishads call it the sound of Brahman, the ultimate reality, and read its three sounds, a, u and m, as waking, dreaming and deep sleep, with the silence after it as the fourth state beyond them.

Timeline

36 places in order of arrival: when the first believers came, from where and how; when it became the main faith there, and when it faded.

c. 1500 BCE, at once the main faith · Kurukshetra
The Vedic hymns took shape in the land of the seven rivers, and the Kuru realm around Kurukshetra became the heartland of the Vedic rites, one root of what later became Hinduism.
c. 1000 BCE, at once the main faith · Prayaga
Vedic settlers spread down the Ganges-Yamuna doab; Prayaga, where the two rivers meet, became a great place of pilgrimage, and the Kumbh Mela still gathers millions here.
from Kurukshetra · by migration
c. 800 BCE, at once the main faith · Kashi
Kashi, a kingdom of the middle Ganges named in late Vedic texts, grew into the holiest city of Shiva, where pilgrims come to bathe in the river and many come to die.
from Prayaga · by migration
c. 600 BCE, at once the main faith · Ujjain
Ujjayini, capital of Avanti, carried Brahmanical religion into Malwa and central India; its Mahakaleshwar shrine of Shiva is one of the twelve jyotirlingas.
from Kurukshetra · by migration
c. 490 BCE, main faith from 185 BCE · Pataliputra
Pushyamitra Shunga, who seized Pataliputra from the last Maurya, revived the Vedic horse sacrifice, and the Gupta kings, devotees of Vishnu, ruled their empire from here after 320.
from Kashi · by migration
c. 200 BCE, at once the main faith · Pratishthana
The Satavahana kings, who ruled the Deccan from Pratishthana, performed Vedic sacrifices; Queen Naganika's inscription at Naneghat lists the great rites they held.
from Ujjain · by migration
c. 200 BCE, main faith 625 CE – 1400 · Kashmir (Srinagar)
Kashmir held Brahmanical shrines beside Buddhist ones from early times; the Karkota kings (from c. 625) made Hindu worship the valley's main faith, and Kashmir Shaivism flowered here.
from Kurukshetra · by migration
c. 200 BCE, at once the main faith · Saurashtra (Prabhasa)
Prabhasa on the Saurashtra coast is a pilgrimage site in the Mahabharata; its Somnath temple of Shiva, sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026, was rebuilt many times.
from Ujjain · by migration
c. 100 BCE, main faith from 650 CE · Pandya country (Madurai)
Tamil poems of the Sangam age praise Pandya kings for Vedic sacrifices; around 650 the saint Sambandar won the king of Madurai from Jainism to the worship of Shiva.
from Pratishthana · by migration and trade
c. 100 BCE, main faith from 650 CE · Chola country (Thanjavur)
Sangam poems hail the Chola king Perunarkilli for a royal Vedic rite; from about 850 Thanjavur was the Chola capital, where Rajaraja I built the Brihadisvara temple in 1010.
from Madurai · by migration
c. 245 CE, until 1431 · Funan (Óc Eo)
Chinese envoys around 245 heard that an Indian Brahmin, Kaundinya, had married the queen of Funan; Vishnu and Shiva images from its port of Óc Eo show the Indian cults it took up.
from Thanjavur · by trade
c. 275 CE, at once the main faith · Kanchipuram
The Pallava kings, who rose in the Andhra lands of the Satavahanas, performed Vedic sacrifices; Kanchi became a city of temples, among them Rajasimha's Kailasanatha of about 700.
from Pratishthana · by conquest
c. 350 CE, at once the main faith · Kamarupa (Pragjyotishpura)
The Varman kings of Kamarupa, ruling from about 350, were Hindu, and the Kamakhya shrine of the Goddess near their capital later became a chief seat of Shakta worship.
from Pataliputra · by migration
c. 375 CE, at once the main faith, until 1635 · Kutai (Muara Kaman)
King Mulavarman's stone sacrificial posts at Muara Kaman, inscribed in Sanskrit in the late 4th century, record his gifts to Brahmins and are the oldest inscriptions in Indonesia.
from Kanchipuram · by trade
c. 400 CE, at once the main faith, until 1471 · Champa (Mỹ Sơn)
Around 400 the Cham king Bhadravarman built a shrine to Shiva as Bhadreshvara at Mỹ Sơn, which stayed Champa's holy valley until the Vietnamese took the region in 1471.
from Óc Eo · by trade · Shaivism
c. 400 CE, main faith from 464 CE · Nepal (Kathmandu)
The Licchavi kings brought Brahmanical rites to the Kathmandu valley; Manadeva's pillar at Changu Narayan (464) is Nepal's oldest dated inscription, and Pashupatinath is Shiva's shrine.
from Pataliputra · by migration
c. 450 CE · Bengal (Karnasuvarna)
Gupta copper plates record land given to Brahmins in Bengal in the 5th century; around 600 Shashanka, a Shaiva king, ruled Gauda from Karnasuvarna.
from Pataliputra · by conquest and migration
c. 550 CE, until 1474 · Kedah (Bujang Valley)
Hindu shrines such as Candi Bukit Batu Pahat stood in the Bujang Valley of Kedah, a port of the Bay of Bengal trade; they were left as Kedah's rulers took up Islam.
from Kanchipuram · by trade
c. 650 CE, main faith 802 CE – 1300, until 1431 · Cambodia (Angkor)
Jayavarman II was consecrated universal king on Phnom Kulen in 802; his heirs built Angkor around the cults of Shiva and Vishnu, Angkor Wat among them, until Theravada took their place.
from Óc Eo · by trade
c. 650 CE, main faith from 732 CE, until 1527 · Central Java (Prambanan)
Hindu shrines on the Dieng plateau date from the 7th century; King Sanjaya set up a Shiva linga in 732, and the Mataram kings raised the Prambanan temples, consecrated in 856.
from Kanchipuram · by trade · Shaivism
c. 650 CE · Trincomalee
The 7th-century Tamil saint Sambandar sang of Shiva's shrine of Koneswaram at Trincomalee; Hindu Tamils of the island's north and east keep it today.
from Thanjavur · by trade and migration · Shaivism
c. 750 CE · Panduranga
Shiva temples stood in the southern Cham land of Panduranga from the 8th century; Po Klong Garai near Phan Rang dates from about 1300, and the Balamon Cham there still keep a Hindu faith.
from Mỹ Sơn · by mission
c. 882 CE, at once the main faith · Bali (Besakih)
Royal inscriptions from 882 show Shaiva and Buddhist cults on Bali; after Majapahit's conquest in 1343 and the flight of Javanese nobles and priests in the 15th and 16th centuries, it stayed Hindu.
from Prambanan · by trade and mission
929 CE, at once the main faith, until 1527 · East Java (Trowulan)
Mpu Sindok moved the Mataram court to East Java in 929; from Trowulan, capital from 1293, the Majapahit kings honoured Shiva and the Buddha until Demak took it around 1527.
from Prambanan · by migration
1819 · Singapore
Tamil settlers came with the British port from 1819; Naraina Pillai founded the Sri Mariamman temple in 1827, and Thaipusam processions are among the city's largest festivals.
from Thanjavur · by migration
1834, main faith from 1861 · Mauritius (Port Louis)
Indentured labourers from Bihar and other parts of India came to the sugar estates from 1834; Hindus became the island's largest community, and Ganga Talao is their pilgrimage lake.
from Kashi · by migration
1838 · British Guiana (Georgetown)
The first indentured Indians reached British Guiana in 1838 on the Whitby and the Hesperus; their descendants make Hinduism the country's second faith.
from Kashi · by migration
1845 · Trinidad (Port of Spain)
The Fatel Razack landed the first indentured Indians in Trinidad in 1845; Hindus are about a fifth of the people, and Divali is a national holiday.
from Kashi · by migration
1860 · Natal (Durban)
The Truro brought the first indentured Indians from Madras to Natal in 1860; Durban holds South Africa's largest Hindu community, of Tamil, Telugu and Hindi-speaking descent.
from Kanchipuram · by migration
1873 · Malaya (Kuala Lumpur)
K. Thamboosamy Pillay, who came from Singapore, founded the Sri Mahamariamman temple in 1873; Tamil workers on the rubber estates spread Hindu worship across Malaya.
from Singapore · by migration
1873 · Suriname (Paramaribo)
The Lalla Rookh brought the first Indian labourers to Suriname in 1873; Hindus, mostly of Bhojpuri descent, are about a fifth of the country's people.
from Kashi · by migration
1879 · Fiji (Suva)
The Leonidas brought the first indentured Indians to Fiji in 1879; their descendants built temples across Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, and Hindus are over a quarter of Fijians.
from Kashi · by migration
1894 · New York
After speaking at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893, Swami Vivekananda founded the Vedanta Society here in 1894; ISKCON was founded here in 1966.
from Karnasuvarna · by mission
c. 1896 · East Africa (Mombasa)
Indian workers brought to build the Uganda Railway from 1896 joined Gujarati traders on the coast; Hindu temples rose in Mombasa, Nairobi and Kampala.
from Prabhasa · by migration and trade
c. 1968 · Leicester
Gujarati Hindus from Kenya, and from Uganda after Idi Amin expelled its Asians in 1972, settled in Leicester, whose Divali lights on Belgrave Road are among the largest outside India.
from Mombasa · by migration
c. 1970 · Houston
Indian migrants who came after the 1965 immigration reform built Hindu temples around Houston; the Sri Meenakshi temple at Pearland, built from 1977 to 1982, honours the goddess of Madurai.
from Madurai · by migration

Hinduism is an umbrella term for a range of Indian religious and spiritual traditions (sampradayas) that are unified by adherence to Dharma, a cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, as expounded in the Vedas. The word Hindu originated as an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest surviving religion in the world, it is also described since the 19th century by the term Sanātana Dharma (lit. 'eternal dharma'). Vaidika Dharma (lit. 'Vedic dharma') and Arya Dharma are historical endonyms for Hinduism.

Hinduism encompasses diverse systems of thought, marked by a range of shared concepts that discuss theology, mythology, and other topics in textual sources. Hindu texts have been classified into Śruti (lit. 'heard') and Smṛti (lit. 'remembered'). The major Hindu scriptures are the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata (including the Bhagavad Gita), and the Agamas. Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include karma (action, intent and consequences), saṃsāra (the cycle of death and rebirth) and the four Puruṣārthas, proper goals or aims of human life, namely: dharma (ethics/duties), artha (prosperity/work), kama (desires/passions) and moksha (liberation/emancipation from passions and ultimately saṃsāra). Hindu religious practices include devotion (bhakti), worship (puja), sacrificial rites (yajna), meditation (dhyana), and Yoga. Hinduism has no central doctrinal authority and many Hindus do not claim to belong to any denomination. However, scholarly studies recognise four major denominations: Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. The six Āstika schools of Hindu philosophy that recognise the authority of the Vedas are: Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedanta.

While the traditional Itihasa-Purana and its derived Epic-Puranic chronology present Hinduism as a tradition existing for thousands of years, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of Brahmanical orthopraxy with various Indian cultures, having diverse roots and no specific founder. This Hindu synthesis emerged after the Vedic period, between c. 500 to 200 BCE, and c. 300 CE, in the period of the second urbanisation and the early classical period of Hinduism when the epics and the first Purānas were composed. It flourished in the medieval period, with the decline of Buddhism in India. Since the 19th century, modern Hinduism, influenced by Western culture, has acquired a great appeal in the West, notably reflected in the popularisation of Yoga and various sects such as Transcendental Meditation and ISKCON, better known as the Hare Krishna movement.

Hinduism is the world's third-largest religion and considered the largest ethnic religion, with approximately 1.17 billion followers, or around 15% of the global population, known as Hindus, largely in India, Nepal, Mauritius, and in Bali, Indonesia. Significant numbers of Hindu communities are found in the countries of South Asia, in Southeast Asia, in the Caribbean, Middle East, North America, Europe, Oceania, Africa, and Australia.

Etymology

The word Hindū is an exonym, derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, the name of the Indus River as well as the country of the lower Indus basin (Sindh). The Proto-Iranian sound change *s > h occurred between 850 and 600 BCE. "Hindu" occurs in Avesta as heptahindu, equivalent to Rigvedic sapta sindhu. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions Hindush (referring to Sindh) among his provinces. Hindustan (spelt "hndstn") is found in a Sasanian inscription from the 3rd century CE. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term and did not refer to a religion. In Arabic texts, "Hind", a derivative of Persian "Hindu", was used to refer to the land beyond the Indus and therefore, all the people in that land were "Hindus", according to historian Romila Thapar. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as a popular alternative name of India or northern India.

Among the earliest known records of 'Hindu' with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by Xuanzang. In the 14th century, 'Hindu' appeared in several texts in Persian, Sanskrit and Prakrit within India, and subsequently in vernacular languages, often in comparative contexts to contrast them with Muslims or "Turks". Examples include the 14th-century Persian text Futuhu's-salatin by 'Abd al-Malik Isami, Jain texts such as Vividha Tirtha Kalpa and Vidyatilaka, circa 1400 Apabhramsa text Kīrttilatā by Vidyapati, 16–18th century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts, etc. These native usages of "Hindu" were borrowed from Persian, and they did not always have a religious connotation, but they often did. In Indian texts, Hindu Dharma ("Hindu religion") was often used to refer to Hinduism.

Starting in the 17th century, European merchants and colonists adopted "Hindu" (often with the English spelling "Hindoo") to refer to residents of India as a religious community. The term got increasingly associated with the practices of Brahmins, who were also referred to as "Gentiles" and "Gentoos". Terms such as "Hindoo faith" and "Hindoo religion" were often used, eventually leading to the appearance of "Hindooism" in a letter of Charles Grant in 1787, who used it along with "Hindu religion". The first Indian to use "Hinduism" may have been Raja Ram Mohan Roy in 1816–17. By the 1840s, the term "Hinduism" was used by those Indians who opposed British colonialism, and who wanted to distinguish themselves from Muslims and Christians. Before the British began to categorise communities strictly by religion, Indians generally did not define themselves exclusively through their religious beliefs; instead identities were largely segmented on the basis of locality, language, varna, jāti, occupation, and sect.

Definitions

"Hinduism" is an umbrella-term, referring to a broad range of sometimes opposite and often competitive traditions. In Western ethnography, the term refers to the fusion, or synthesis, of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis emerged after the Vedic period, between c. 500–200 BCE and c. 300 CE, in the period of the Second Urbanisation and the early classical period of Hinduism, when the epics and the first Puranas were composed. It flourished in the medieval period, with the decline of Buddhism in India. Hinduism's variations in belief and its broad range of traditions make it difficult to define as a religion according to traditional Western conceptions.

Hinduism includes a diversity of ideas on spirituality and traditions; Hindus can be polytheistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, pandeistic, henotheistic, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic or humanist. According to Mahatma Gandhi, "a man may not believe in God and still call himself a Hindu". According to Wendy Doniger, "ideas about all the major issues of faith and lifestyle – vegetarianism, nonviolence, belief in rebirth, even caste – are subjects of debate, not dogma."

Because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion "defies our desire to define and categorize it". Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and "a way of life". From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism, like other faiths, is appropriately referred to as a religion. In India, the term (Hindu) dharma is used, which is broader than the Western term "religion," and refers to the religious attitudes and behaviours, the 'right way to live', as preserved and transmitted in the various traditions collectively referred to as "Hinduism."

The study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of "Hinduism", has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, and have also been taken over by critics of the Western view on India.

Typology

Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents. Of the historical division into six darsanas (philosophies), two schools, Vedanta and Yoga, are currently the most prominent. The six āstika schools of Hindu philosophy, which recognise the authority of the Vedas are: Sānkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaisheshika, Mimāmsā, and Vedānta.

Classified by primary deity or deities, four major Hinduism modern currents are Vaishnavism (God Vishnu), Shaivism (God Shiva), Shaktism (Goddess Adi Shakti) and in Smartism (worships five deities treated as equals). Hinduism also accepts numerous divine beings, with many Hindus considering the deities to be aspects or manifestations of a single impersonal absolute or ultimate reality or Supreme God, while some Hindus maintain that a specific deity represents the supreme and various deities are lower manifestations of this supreme. Other notable characteristics include a belief in the existence of ātman (self), reincarnation of one's ātman, and karma as well as a belief in dharma (duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and right way of living), although variation exists, with some not following these beliefs.

June McDaniel (2007) classifies Hinduism into six major kinds and numerous minor kinds, in order to understand the expression of emotions among the Hindus. The major kinds, according to McDaniel are Folk Hinduism, based on local traditions and cults of local deities and is the oldest, non-literate system; Vedic Hinduism based on the earliest layers of the Vedas, traceable to the 2nd millennium BCE; Vedantic Hinduism based on the philosophy of the Upanishads, including Advaita Vedanta, emphasising knowledge and wisdom; Yogic Hinduism, following the text of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali emphasising introspective awareness; Dharmic Hinduism or "daily morality", which McDaniel states is stereotyped in some books as the "only form of Hindu religion with a belief in karma, cows and caste"; and bhakti or devotional Hinduism, where intense emotions are elaborately incorporated in the pursuit of the spiritual.

Michaels distinguishes three Hindu religions and four forms of Hindu religiosity. The three Hindu religions are "Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism", "folk religions and tribal religions", and "founded religions". The four forms of Hindu religiosity are the classical "karma-marga", jnana-marga, bhakti-marga, and "heroism", which is rooted in militaristic traditions. These militaristic traditions include Ramaism (the worship of a hero of epic literature, Rama, believing him to be an incarnation of Vishnu) and parts of political Hinduism. "Heroism" is also called virya-marga. According to Michaels, one out of nine Hindu belongs by birth to one or both of the Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism and Folk religion typology, whether practising or non-practicing. He classifies most Hindus as belonging by choice to one of the "founded religions" such as Vaishnavism and Shaivism that are moksha-focussed and often de-emphasise Brahman (Brahmin) priestly authority yet incorporate ritual grammar of Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism. He includes among "founded religions" Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism that are now distinct religions, syncretic movements such as Brahmo Samaj and the Theosophical Society, as well as various "Guru-isms" and new religious movements such as Transcendental Meditation, BAPS and ISKCON.

Inden states that the attempt to classify Hinduism by typology started in the imperial times, when proselytising missionaries and colonial officials sought to understand and portray Hinduism from their interests. Hinduism was construed as emanating not from a reason of spirit but fantasy and creative imagination, not conceptual but symbolical, not ethical but emotive, not rational or spiritual but of cognitive mysticism. This stereotype followed and fit, states Inden, with the imperial imperatives of the era, providing the moral justification for the colonial project. From tribal Animism to Buddhism, everything was subsumed as part of Hinduism. The early reports set the tradition and scholarly premises for the typology of Hinduism, as well as the major assumptions and flawed presuppositions that have been at the foundation of Indology. Hinduism, according to Inden, has been neither what imperial religionists stereotyped it to be, nor is it appropriate to equate Hinduism to be merely the monist pantheism and philosophical idealism of Advaita Vedanta.

Some academics suggest that Hinduism can be seen as a category with "fuzzy edges" rather than as a well-defined and rigid entity. Some forms of religious expression are central to Hinduism and others, while not as central, still remain within the category. Based on this idea Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi has developed a 'Prototype Theory approach' to the definition of Hinduism.

Sanātana Dharma

To its adherents, Hinduism is a traditional way of life. Many practitioners refer to the "orthodox" form of Hinduism as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal law" or the "eternal way". Hindus regard Hinduism to be thousands of years old. The Puranic chronology, as narrated in the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and the Puranas, envisions a timeline of events related to Hinduism starting well before 3000 BCE. The word dharma is used here to mean religion similar to modern Indo-Aryan languages, rather than with its original Sanskrit meaning. All aspects of a Hindu life, namely acquiring wealth (artha), fulfilment of desires (kama), and attaining liberation (moksha), are viewed here as part of "dharma", which encapsulates the "right way of living" and eternal harmonious principles in their fulfilment. The use of the term Sanātana Dharma for Hinduism is a modern usage, based on the belief that the origins of Hinduism lie beyond human history.

Sanātana Dharma refers to "timeless, eternal set of truths" and this is how Hindus view the origins of their religion. It is viewed as those eternal truths and traditions with origins beyond Human history– truths divinely revealed (Shruti) in the Vedas, the most ancient of the world's scriptures. To many Hindus, Hinduism is a tradition that can be traced at least to the ancient Vedic era. The Western term "religion" to the extent it means "dogma and an institution traceable to a single founder" is inappropriate for their tradition, states Hatcher.

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Text from the Wikipedia article “Hinduism”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wonders

Wonders of the world on the atlas in the story of Hinduism: built for it, long used by it, or standing on its holy ground.

Built 1003 – 1010
The Brihadisvara Temple
Thanjavur, India
A temple to Shiva built by the Chola king Rajaraja I at his capital, Thanjavur; worship there has gone on for a thousand years.
Built c. 1113 – 1150
Angkor Wat
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Built by the Khmer king Suryavarman II as a temple to Vishnu, and probably his tomb; it is the largest religious monument in the world.

Trade routes that carried it

Routes on the atlas that its missionaries, merchants and pilgrims travelled. The map above draws them in the years they ran.

c. 200 BCE – 1500 CE · by sea and river
Maritime Silk Road
Indian traders and Brahmins sailing these lanes brought Hindu gods and kingship to Southeast Asia, from Funan's port of Oc Eo to Champa, the Malay peninsula and Java.

Symbol meaning

Om

Timeline

36 places in order of arrival: when the first believers came, from where and how; when it became the main faith there, and when it faded.

c. 1500 BCE, at once the main faith · Kurukshetra
The Vedic hymns took shape in the land of the seven rivers, and the Kuru realm around Kurukshetra became the heartland of the Vedic rites, one root of what later became Hinduism.
c. 1000 BCE, at once the main faith · Prayaga
Vedic settlers spread down the Ganges-Yamuna doab; Prayaga, where the two rivers meet, became a great place of pilgrimage, and the Kumbh Mela still gathers millions here.
from Kurukshetra · by migration
c. 800 BCE, at once the main faith · Kashi
Kashi, a kingdom of the middle Ganges named in late Vedic texts, grew into the holiest city of Shiva, where pilgrims come to bathe in the river and many come to die.
from Prayaga · by migration
c. 600 BCE, at once the main faith · Ujjain
Ujjayini, capital of Avanti, carried Brahmanical religion into Malwa and central India; its Mahakaleshwar shrine of Shiva is one of the twelve jyotirlingas.
from Kurukshetra · by migration
c. 490 BCE, main faith from 185 BCE · Pataliputra
Pushyamitra Shunga, who seized Pataliputra from the last Maurya, revived the Vedic horse sacrifice, and the Gupta kings, devotees of Vishnu, ruled their empire from here after 320.
from Kashi · by migration
c. 200 BCE, at once the main faith · Pratishthana
The Satavahana kings, who ruled the Deccan from Pratishthana, performed Vedic sacrifices; Queen Naganika's inscription at Naneghat lists the great rites they held.
from Ujjain · by migration
c. 200 BCE, main faith 625 CE – 1400 · Kashmir (Srinagar)
Kashmir held Brahmanical shrines beside Buddhist ones from early times; the Karkota kings (from c. 625) made Hindu worship the valley's main faith, and Kashmir Shaivism flowered here.
from Kurukshetra · by migration
c. 200 BCE, at once the main faith · Saurashtra (Prabhasa)
Prabhasa on the Saurashtra coast is a pilgrimage site in the Mahabharata; its Somnath temple of Shiva, sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026, was rebuilt many times.
from Ujjain · by migration
c. 100 BCE, main faith from 650 CE · Pandya country (Madurai)
Tamil poems of the Sangam age praise Pandya kings for Vedic sacrifices; around 650 the saint Sambandar won the king of Madurai from Jainism to the worship of Shiva.
from Pratishthana · by migration and trade
c. 100 BCE, main faith from 650 CE · Chola country (Thanjavur)
Sangam poems hail the Chola king Perunarkilli for a royal Vedic rite; from about 850 Thanjavur was the Chola capital, where Rajaraja I built the Brihadisvara temple in 1010.
from Madurai · by migration
c. 245 CE, until 1431 · Funan (Óc Eo)
Chinese envoys around 245 heard that an Indian Brahmin, Kaundinya, had married the queen of Funan; Vishnu and Shiva images from its port of Óc Eo show the Indian cults it took up.
from Thanjavur · by trade
c. 275 CE, at once the main faith · Kanchipuram
The Pallava kings, who rose in the Andhra lands of the Satavahanas, performed Vedic sacrifices; Kanchi became a city of temples, among them Rajasimha's Kailasanatha of about 700.
from Pratishthana · by conquest
c. 350 CE, at once the main faith · Kamarupa (Pragjyotishpura)
The Varman kings of Kamarupa, ruling from about 350, were Hindu, and the Kamakhya shrine of the Goddess near their capital later became a chief seat of Shakta worship.
from Pataliputra · by migration
c. 375 CE, at once the main faith, until 1635 · Kutai (Muara Kaman)
King Mulavarman's stone sacrificial posts at Muara Kaman, inscribed in Sanskrit in the late 4th century, record his gifts to Brahmins and are the oldest inscriptions in Indonesia.
from Kanchipuram · by trade
c. 400 CE, at once the main faith, until 1471 · Champa (Mỹ Sơn)
Around 400 the Cham king Bhadravarman built a shrine to Shiva as Bhadreshvara at Mỹ Sơn, which stayed Champa's holy valley until the Vietnamese took the region in 1471.
from Óc Eo · by trade · Shaivism
c. 400 CE, main faith from 464 CE · Nepal (Kathmandu)
The Licchavi kings brought Brahmanical rites to the Kathmandu valley; Manadeva's pillar at Changu Narayan (464) is Nepal's oldest dated inscription, and Pashupatinath is Shiva's shrine.
from Pataliputra · by migration
c. 450 CE · Bengal (Karnasuvarna)
Gupta copper plates record land given to Brahmins in Bengal in the 5th century; around 600 Shashanka, a Shaiva king, ruled Gauda from Karnasuvarna.
from Pataliputra · by conquest and migration
c. 550 CE, until 1474 · Kedah (Bujang Valley)
Hindu shrines such as Candi Bukit Batu Pahat stood in the Bujang Valley of Kedah, a port of the Bay of Bengal trade; they were left as Kedah's rulers took up Islam.
from Kanchipuram · by trade
c. 650 CE, main faith 802 CE – 1300, until 1431 · Cambodia (Angkor)
Jayavarman II was consecrated universal king on Phnom Kulen in 802; his heirs built Angkor around the cults of Shiva and Vishnu, Angkor Wat among them, until Theravada took their place.
from Óc Eo · by trade
c. 650 CE, main faith from 732 CE, until 1527 · Central Java (Prambanan)
Hindu shrines on the Dieng plateau date from the 7th century; King Sanjaya set up a Shiva linga in 732, and the Mataram kings raised the Prambanan temples, consecrated in 856.
from Kanchipuram · by trade · Shaivism
c. 650 CE · Trincomalee
The 7th-century Tamil saint Sambandar sang of Shiva's shrine of Koneswaram at Trincomalee; Hindu Tamils of the island's north and east keep it today.
from Thanjavur · by trade and migration · Shaivism
c. 750 CE · Panduranga
Shiva temples stood in the southern Cham land of Panduranga from the 8th century; Po Klong Garai near Phan Rang dates from about 1300, and the Balamon Cham there still keep a Hindu faith.
from Mỹ Sơn · by mission
c. 882 CE, at once the main faith · Bali (Besakih)
Royal inscriptions from 882 show Shaiva and Buddhist cults on Bali; after Majapahit's conquest in 1343 and the flight of Javanese nobles and priests in the 15th and 16th centuries, it stayed Hindu.
from Prambanan · by trade and mission
929 CE, at once the main faith, until 1527 · East Java (Trowulan)
Mpu Sindok moved the Mataram court to East Java in 929; from Trowulan, capital from 1293, the Majapahit kings honoured Shiva and the Buddha until Demak took it around 1527.
from Prambanan · by migration
1819 · Singapore
Tamil settlers came with the British port from 1819; Naraina Pillai founded the Sri Mariamman temple in 1827, and Thaipusam processions are among the city's largest festivals.
from Thanjavur · by migration
1834, main faith from 1861 · Mauritius (Port Louis)
Indentured labourers from Bihar and other parts of India came to the sugar estates from 1834; Hindus became the island's largest community, and Ganga Talao is their pilgrimage lake.
from Kashi · by migration
1838 · British Guiana (Georgetown)
The first indentured Indians reached British Guiana in 1838 on the Whitby and the Hesperus; their descendants make Hinduism the country's second faith.
from Kashi · by migration
1845 · Trinidad (Port of Spain)
The Fatel Razack landed the first indentured Indians in Trinidad in 1845; Hindus are about a fifth of the people, and Divali is a national holiday.
from Kashi · by migration
1860 · Natal (Durban)
The Truro brought the first indentured Indians from Madras to Natal in 1860; Durban holds South Africa's largest Hindu community, of Tamil, Telugu and Hindi-speaking descent.
from Kanchipuram · by migration
1873 · Malaya (Kuala Lumpur)
K. Thamboosamy Pillay, who came from Singapore, founded the Sri Mahamariamman temple in 1873; Tamil workers on the rubber estates spread Hindu worship across Malaya.
from Singapore · by migration
1873 · Suriname (Paramaribo)
The Lalla Rookh brought the first Indian labourers to Suriname in 1873; Hindus, mostly of Bhojpuri descent, are about a fifth of the country's people.
from Kashi · by migration
1879 · Fiji (Suva)
The Leonidas brought the first indentured Indians to Fiji in 1879; their descendants built temples across Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, and Hindus are over a quarter of Fijians.
from Kashi · by migration
1894 · New York
After speaking at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893, Swami Vivekananda founded the Vedanta Society here in 1894; ISKCON was founded here in 1966.
from Karnasuvarna · by mission
c. 1896 · East Africa (Mombasa)
Indian workers brought to build the Uganda Railway from 1896 joined Gujarati traders on the coast; Hindu temples rose in Mombasa, Nairobi and Kampala.
from Prabhasa · by migration and trade
c. 1968 · Leicester
Gujarati Hindus from Kenya, and from Uganda after Idi Amin expelled its Asians in 1972, settled in Leicester, whose Divali lights on Belgrave Road are among the largest outside India.
from Mombasa · by migration
c. 1970 · Houston
Indian migrants who came after the 1965 immigration reform built Hindu temples around Houston; the Sri Meenakshi temple at Pearland, built from 1977 to 1982, honours the goddess of Madurai.
from Madurai · by migration

Wonders

Wonders of the world on the atlas in the story of Hinduism: built for it, long used by it, or standing on its holy ground.

Built 1003 – 1010
The Brihadisvara Temple
Thanjavur, India
A temple to Shiva built by the Chola king Rajaraja I at his capital, Thanjavur; worship there has gone on for a thousand years.
Built c. 1113 – 1150
Angkor Wat
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Built by the Khmer king Suryavarman II as a temple to Vishnu, and probably his tomb; it is the largest religious monument in the world.

Trade routes that carried it

Routes on the atlas that its missionaries, merchants and pilgrims travelled. The map above draws them in the years they ran.

c. 200 BCE – 1500 CE · by sea and river
Maritime Silk Road
Indian traders and Brahmins sailing these lanes brought Hindu gods and kingship to Southeast Asia, from Funan's port of Oc Eo to Champa, the Malay peninsula and Java.

Symbol meaning

Om

Timeline

36 places in order of arrival: when the first believers came, from where and how; when it became the main faith there, and when it faded.

c. 1500 BCE, at once the main faith · Kurukshetra
The Vedic hymns took shape in the land of the seven rivers, and the Kuru realm around Kurukshetra became the heartland of the Vedic rites, one root of what later became Hinduism.
c. 1000 BCE, at once the main faith · Prayaga
Vedic settlers spread down the Ganges-Yamuna doab; Prayaga, where the two rivers meet, became a great place of pilgrimage, and the Kumbh Mela still gathers millions here.
from Kurukshetra · by migration
c. 800 BCE, at once the main faith · Kashi
Kashi, a kingdom of the middle Ganges named in late Vedic texts, grew into the holiest city of Shiva, where pilgrims come to bathe in the river and many come to die.
from Prayaga · by migration
c. 600 BCE, at once the main faith · Ujjain
Ujjayini, capital of Avanti, carried Brahmanical religion into Malwa and central India; its Mahakaleshwar shrine of Shiva is one of the twelve jyotirlingas.
from Kurukshetra · by migration
c. 490 BCE, main faith from 185 BCE · Pataliputra
Pushyamitra Shunga, who seized Pataliputra from the last Maurya, revived the Vedic horse sacrifice, and the Gupta kings, devotees of Vishnu, ruled their empire from here after 320.
from Kashi · by migration
c. 200 BCE, at once the main faith · Pratishthana
The Satavahana kings, who ruled the Deccan from Pratishthana, performed Vedic sacrifices; Queen Naganika's inscription at Naneghat lists the great rites they held.
from Ujjain · by migration
c. 200 BCE, main faith 625 CE – 1400 · Kashmir (Srinagar)
Kashmir held Brahmanical shrines beside Buddhist ones from early times; the Karkota kings (from c. 625) made Hindu worship the valley's main faith, and Kashmir Shaivism flowered here.
from Kurukshetra · by migration
c. 200 BCE, at once the main faith · Saurashtra (Prabhasa)
Prabhasa on the Saurashtra coast is a pilgrimage site in the Mahabharata; its Somnath temple of Shiva, sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026, was rebuilt many times.
from Ujjain · by migration
c. 100 BCE, main faith from 650 CE · Pandya country (Madurai)
Tamil poems of the Sangam age praise Pandya kings for Vedic sacrifices; around 650 the saint Sambandar won the king of Madurai from Jainism to the worship of Shiva.
from Pratishthana · by migration and trade
c. 100 BCE, main faith from 650 CE · Chola country (Thanjavur)
Sangam poems hail the Chola king Perunarkilli for a royal Vedic rite; from about 850 Thanjavur was the Chola capital, where Rajaraja I built the Brihadisvara temple in 1010.
from Madurai · by migration
c. 245 CE, until 1431 · Funan (Óc Eo)
Chinese envoys around 245 heard that an Indian Brahmin, Kaundinya, had married the queen of Funan; Vishnu and Shiva images from its port of Óc Eo show the Indian cults it took up.
from Thanjavur · by trade
c. 275 CE, at once the main faith · Kanchipuram
The Pallava kings, who rose in the Andhra lands of the Satavahanas, performed Vedic sacrifices; Kanchi became a city of temples, among them Rajasimha's Kailasanatha of about 700.
from Pratishthana · by conquest
c. 350 CE, at once the main faith · Kamarupa (Pragjyotishpura)
The Varman kings of Kamarupa, ruling from about 350, were Hindu, and the Kamakhya shrine of the Goddess near their capital later became a chief seat of Shakta worship.
from Pataliputra · by migration
c. 375 CE, at once the main faith, until 1635 · Kutai (Muara Kaman)
King Mulavarman's stone sacrificial posts at Muara Kaman, inscribed in Sanskrit in the late 4th century, record his gifts to Brahmins and are the oldest inscriptions in Indonesia.
from Kanchipuram · by trade
c. 400 CE, at once the main faith, until 1471 · Champa (Mỹ Sơn)
Around 400 the Cham king Bhadravarman built a shrine to Shiva as Bhadreshvara at Mỹ Sơn, which stayed Champa's holy valley until the Vietnamese took the region in 1471.
from Óc Eo · by trade · Shaivism
c. 400 CE, main faith from 464 CE · Nepal (Kathmandu)
The Licchavi kings brought Brahmanical rites to the Kathmandu valley; Manadeva's pillar at Changu Narayan (464) is Nepal's oldest dated inscription, and Pashupatinath is Shiva's shrine.
from Pataliputra · by migration
c. 450 CE · Bengal (Karnasuvarna)
Gupta copper plates record land given to Brahmins in Bengal in the 5th century; around 600 Shashanka, a Shaiva king, ruled Gauda from Karnasuvarna.
from Pataliputra · by conquest and migration
c. 550 CE, until 1474 · Kedah (Bujang Valley)
Hindu shrines such as Candi Bukit Batu Pahat stood in the Bujang Valley of Kedah, a port of the Bay of Bengal trade; they were left as Kedah's rulers took up Islam.
from Kanchipuram · by trade
c. 650 CE, main faith 802 CE – 1300, until 1431 · Cambodia (Angkor)
Jayavarman II was consecrated universal king on Phnom Kulen in 802; his heirs built Angkor around the cults of Shiva and Vishnu, Angkor Wat among them, until Theravada took their place.
from Óc Eo · by trade
c. 650 CE, main faith from 732 CE, until 1527 · Central Java (Prambanan)
Hindu shrines on the Dieng plateau date from the 7th century; King Sanjaya set up a Shiva linga in 732, and the Mataram kings raised the Prambanan temples, consecrated in 856.
from Kanchipuram · by trade · Shaivism
c. 650 CE · Trincomalee
The 7th-century Tamil saint Sambandar sang of Shiva's shrine of Koneswaram at Trincomalee; Hindu Tamils of the island's north and east keep it today.
from Thanjavur · by trade and migration · Shaivism
c. 750 CE · Panduranga
Shiva temples stood in the southern Cham land of Panduranga from the 8th century; Po Klong Garai near Phan Rang dates from about 1300, and the Balamon Cham there still keep a Hindu faith.
from Mỹ Sơn · by mission
c. 882 CE, at once the main faith · Bali (Besakih)
Royal inscriptions from 882 show Shaiva and Buddhist cults on Bali; after Majapahit's conquest in 1343 and the flight of Javanese nobles and priests in the 15th and 16th centuries, it stayed Hindu.
from Prambanan · by trade and mission
929 CE, at once the main faith, until 1527 · East Java (Trowulan)
Mpu Sindok moved the Mataram court to East Java in 929; from Trowulan, capital from 1293, the Majapahit kings honoured Shiva and the Buddha until Demak took it around 1527.
from Prambanan · by migration
1819 · Singapore
Tamil settlers came with the British port from 1819; Naraina Pillai founded the Sri Mariamman temple in 1827, and Thaipusam processions are among the city's largest festivals.
from Thanjavur · by migration
1834, main faith from 1861 · Mauritius (Port Louis)
Indentured labourers from Bihar and other parts of India came to the sugar estates from 1834; Hindus became the island's largest community, and Ganga Talao is their pilgrimage lake.
from Kashi · by migration
1838 · British Guiana (Georgetown)
The first indentured Indians reached British Guiana in 1838 on the Whitby and the Hesperus; their descendants make Hinduism the country's second faith.
from Kashi · by migration
1845 · Trinidad (Port of Spain)
The Fatel Razack landed the first indentured Indians in Trinidad in 1845; Hindus are about a fifth of the people, and Divali is a national holiday.
from Kashi · by migration
1860 · Natal (Durban)
The Truro brought the first indentured Indians from Madras to Natal in 1860; Durban holds South Africa's largest Hindu community, of Tamil, Telugu and Hindi-speaking descent.
from Kanchipuram · by migration
1873 · Malaya (Kuala Lumpur)
K. Thamboosamy Pillay, who came from Singapore, founded the Sri Mahamariamman temple in 1873; Tamil workers on the rubber estates spread Hindu worship across Malaya.
from Singapore · by migration
1873 · Suriname (Paramaribo)
The Lalla Rookh brought the first Indian labourers to Suriname in 1873; Hindus, mostly of Bhojpuri descent, are about a fifth of the country's people.
from Kashi · by migration
1879 · Fiji (Suva)
The Leonidas brought the first indentured Indians to Fiji in 1879; their descendants built temples across Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, and Hindus are over a quarter of Fijians.
from Kashi · by migration
1894 · New York
After speaking at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893, Swami Vivekananda founded the Vedanta Society here in 1894; ISKCON was founded here in 1966.
from Karnasuvarna · by mission
c. 1896 · East Africa (Mombasa)
Indian workers brought to build the Uganda Railway from 1896 joined Gujarati traders on the coast; Hindu temples rose in Mombasa, Nairobi and Kampala.
from Prabhasa · by migration and trade
c. 1968 · Leicester
Gujarati Hindus from Kenya, and from Uganda after Idi Amin expelled its Asians in 1972, settled in Leicester, whose Divali lights on Belgrave Road are among the largest outside India.
from Mombasa · by migration
c. 1970 · Houston
Indian migrants who came after the 1965 immigration reform built Hindu temples around Houston; the Sri Meenakshi temple at Pearland, built from 1977 to 1982, honours the goddess of Madurai.
from Madurai · by migration