Which religion originated first and where?

Question

Just curious.

Answer 1

Hindusim;Hinduism is the only major religion of the world that can neither be traced to a specific founder nor has a holy book as the one and only scriptural authority. India's major religion, Hinduism is followed by approximately 80% of the population and is one of the oldest extant religions with its roots extending back to 1000 BC. The rituals and the religious practices of the Indus Valley Civilization developed with the influence of the southern Dravidians and the Aryans around 1500 BC. The religion has gifted a number of Holy books to the world including, the Bhagwad Gita, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Puranas.

Hinduism has a number of sacred writings that outline how its followers should conduct their lives. These writings include the Mahabharata and its famous section, the Bhagavad-Gita.


Hinduism believes that a person's life is actually the journey of the soul. The Hindu goes through a series of reincarnations that eventually lead to 'moksha', or salvation, freeing the body from the cycle of rebirths (after reaching spiritual perfection). Purity of mind and action is essential, as 'karma' or actions in life determine your reincarnation. Bad 'karma' leads to being born into a lower reincarnation. 'Dharma' on the other hand controls the laws of the social, ethical and the spiritual.

The most interesting fact about the religion is the number of Gods worshipped. The three main manifestations of the omnipresent God are: Brahma, the creator of the universe, Vishnu the protector and Shiva the destroyer. Wars between the Asuras (demons) and the Devas (Gods) are a common part of the Hindu mythology. The Asuras wanted to conquer the territory of the Devas. Many interesting stories are woven around this theme.

Hindus follow the principle of ahimsa, non-injury to living creatures. This principle especially applies to cows, which Hindus believe are sacred animals. As a result, hardly any Hindus eat beef, and many do not eat any kind of meat.

Hindus are divided into a large number of social groups called castes. The castes are grouped into four main categories. These categories, from the highest to the lowest, are Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. Each caste has a traditional occupation, such as priest, artist, or farmer. A Hindu is born into a caste and can never become a member of a different caste. Within a community, a person's social status usually depends on the caste to which he or she belongs.

Each caste has its own rules of behavior. These rules limit social contacts with members of other castes. Marriage between people of different castes seldom occurs. Each caste also has rules concerning who may cook the food its members eat. For example, people of a high caste may eat only food that is prepared by members of the same caste. Most Hindus will eat food prepared by members of a higher caste. Each caste also has customs regarding the type of food its members may eat. Some castes eat meat, and others eat fish but not meat. Some eat neither meat nor fish, but do eat eggs. Still others do not eat eggs. Generally, the higher castes have more restricted diets than the lower castes.

Education and modern industrial life have weakened many caste barriers. Today, Hindus of various castes mix in factories, offices, and public places. But few Indians want the caste system to die out completely. Many castes provide welfare and educational benefits to their needy members. Castes also help to pass on various skills in arts and crafts from generation to generation.

Fast Facts:
- Hinduism is the third most widely followed religion in the world.
- Hinduism inspired several other religions like Buddhism; Jainism and Sikhism.

- Hinduism is the only major religion of the world that can neither be traced to a specific founder nor has a holy book as the one and only scriptural authority.

This is chronology of events in the history of mankind. So when someone tells you the Greeks and Romans form the cradle of human civilization, you can tell them Egyptians and Indians were building cities thousands of years before the so-called Western civilization even set a stone.

4-5 MILLION B.C .- Humans (Hominids - in primitive ape-like stages) first appear in AFRICA (EAST & SOUTH)

2.5 - 2 MILLION B.C. - Humans (Homo Habilis - humans with brain and dextrous fingers and Homo Erectus) appear in Africa

900,000 B.C. - Humans (Homo Sapiens) move towards WEST ASIA (MESOPOTAMIA - PERSIA -INDUS)

850,000 B.C. - Humans move towards LOWER EUROPE (ANATOLIA/ BALKANS).
(ANATOLIA is mordern day Turkey)

450,000 B.C. - Humans move towards CHINA (NORTH)

200,000 B.C. - Humans seen in MIDDLE EUROPE

120,000 B.C. - Humans start occupying JAVA

100,000 B.C. - EARLIEST KNOWN FORM OF HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS (AFRICA)

50,000 B.C. - Humans move towards AUSTRALIA

35,000 B.C. - Humans move towards UPPER EUROPE

30,000 B.C. - Humans set up in NORTH AMERICA

10,000 B.C - Humans migrate towards SOUTH AMERICA (ICE AGE ENDS)

10000-4000 B.C. - Humans start AGRICULTURAL/ HUNTING/ METAL WORKS

6000 B.C. COPPER FOUND IN WEST ASIA

5000 B.C. COPPER FOUND IN BALKANS

4000-2000 B.C. BRONZE/ COPPER IS WIDELY USED IN THE OLD WORLD (ASIA)

2000-1000 B.C. IRON IS FOUND IN WEST ASIA/ INDIA/ CHINA

3500 B.C.-1100 B.C. (EGYPTIAN EMPIRE AT ITS PEAK) - WORLD's FIRST CITIES COMES UP ON THE BANKS OF RIVERS NILE, TIGRIS/ EUPHRATES- URBAN (CITIES UR- URUK -BABYLON)

3200 B.C. WORLD's FIRST URBAN CIVILIZATION COMES UP AROUND NILES IN EYGPT - URBAN (CITY- MEMPHIS, THEBES)

3000 B.C. - 1500 B.C. - WORLD's NEXT BIGEST URBAN CIVILIZATION COMES AROUND - INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION- URBAN (CITIES - HARAPPA MOHENJO-DARO)

1800 B.C. - 1100 B.C. NORTHERN CHINA BEGINS URBANIZATION (CITIES - ZHENGZHOU SHANG KINGDOM)

2000-1100 B.C. GREEKS START THEIR URBANIZATION
(I) KING MINOS OF THE ISLAND OF CRETE (AEGEAN EMPIRE) (2000-1700 B.C.)
(II) MYCENAEN EMPIRE (PALACE OF KNOSSOS BECOMES THEIR MOST FAMOUS SYMBOL)

1650-1200 B.C. HITTITE EMPIRE (Turkey)

2000 B.C.- 1000 B.C. - LEVANT EMPIRE (Present day Israel) INCLUDES CITIES LIKE JERUSALEM, AMMAN, DAMASCUS, GAZA). IT EXPANDS TO INCLUDE MESOPOTAMIA (KIngdom of Mittanni and Kingdom of Hittite) AND EGYPT

- KINGDOM OF MITANNI (MESOPOTAMIA)
- KINGDOM OF HITTIE (ANATOLIA) - (BOGASKOY CITY)

1000-300 B.C. - POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CENTER OF INDIA SHIFTS FROM INDUS VALLEY TO THE MORE FERTILE GANGES PLAINS. BUDDHISM, JAINISM AND THE MYSTICAL VEDISM DEVELOPED IN THIS ERA. THE UPANISHADS (LAST PART OF VEDAS) URGED ESCAPED FROM PHYSICAL WORLD. RAMAYAN (AROUND 300 B.C.) AND MAHABHARATA STARTED AROUND 400 B.C.

1000-600 B.C. ASSYRIAN EMPIRE (MESAPOTAMIA & LEVANT) (CITY NIMRUD).
(MESOPOTAMIA is mordern day Middle-East)

900-300 B.C. GREEK EMPIRE (GREECE, AEGEAN, WEST ANATOLIA, ITALY)
(CITY-ATHENS)

300-100 B.C. HELLENISTIC WORLD (GREECE, WEST ANATOLIA, MESA)
(KING ALEXANDER)

563 B.C. BIRTH OF BUDHA - BUDHISM BEGINS TO SPREAD

600 B.C.-640 A.D. PERSIAN EMPIRE - EGYPT, MESA, ASSYRIA, INDUS
(PERSIAN EMPIRE ALSO CALLED ACHAEMENID EMPIRE)

1000 B.C.-50 A.D CELTIC EMPIRE IN EUROPE (BEYOND CACAUCUS MT.'S)

300 B.C. - 500 A.D. ROMAN EMPIRE (ITALY, SPAIN, FRANCE, GREECE, N.AFTRICA, ANATOLIA, LEVANT, EGYPT)

600-200 B.C. MAURYAN EMPIRE (KING ASOKA) CITY-PATALIPUTRA

300 - 400 A.D. -GUPTA DYNASTY UNITES INDIA AROUND 320 AD. ART, ARCHITECTURE AND LITERATURE ARE INDIA'S FINEST ACHIEVEMENTS OF THIS EAR. MATHEMATICAL INNVOATIONS IN INDIA INCLUDE THE ZERO AND USE OF DECIMAL NUMBERS

600-1000 A.D. ISLAM POWER SPREADS (622 AD MOHAMED/ MUSLIM ERA STARTS)

700-1100 A.D. VIKINGS RULE (N.W. EUROPE- SCANDINAVIAN, BRITISH, FRANCE, GERMANY, RUSSIA)

100-1600 A.D. OTTOMON TURKS RULE ANATOLIA, LEGANT, EGYPT, S-E EUROPE

1500-1600 A.D. SAFAVID RULE IN PERSIA

1200-1600 A.D. MOGHULS RULE IN INDIA

400 B.C.-1600 A.D. HAN-TANG-SONG-MING DYNASTIES IN THE ORIENT

1600-1900 A.D. MANCHU-CHING DYNASTY

1500-2000 A.D. EUROPEAN DOMINATION

2000 AD onwards - INDIAN DOMINATION??????

Answer 2

Where Did Religion Originate

Answer 3

Nobody really knows what was the first religion. Archeology has suggested that even before man settled and became mainly agricultural, people may have held what could be classed as religious beliefs.

It seems that from the time that man became able to think at a certain level, he has been curious about all manner of things that weren't explainable - think of a child's endless questions which begin almost as soon as he or she is able to talk. I think the human brain has a compulsion to make patterns of things and discover the reason for things and to see if certain actions of his can influence the world outside.

If anything, that is the beginning of quite a compelling argument for there being no God - for all beliefs about the supernatural to be molded and sophisticated from those early workings of the human mind.

If one thinks about it in that super-cynical way, religions do not actually need a real God, they only need the collective belief in an imaginary being. That, in fact, is how some Christian missionaries actually thought about the religions they encountered in their proselytizing and conversion campaigns. They suppressed a great deal of wisdom world wide by insisting on the worship of their God.

From a personal point of view, I know that there is a being that can be called God but I can't prove it to anyone and nor is it my business to do so.

Answer 4

the first religions were polythiestic, many gods worshipped and no-one knows. the first monothiestic religion was started by an egyptian pharoah named Akenaten, he was the father of Tutankhamen and after abolishing all the previous egyptian gods he worshipped the sun as the sun disk the Aten. his rule was short.
and just for the record. Egypt didn't believe in keeping slaves, they believed in the autonomy of every person, what ever religion or sex. they only kept slaves when they took prisoners after a battle, and then they brought them into egyptian life as quickly as possible so the person was then thier friend and no longer their slave.
and before someone asks, the pyramids were a national project, anyone who worked on them got an automatic 'in' into heaven, hardly the kind of honour you'd give to a slave. this is known because of records that were kept at the time and because the various work teams carved thier group name, with pride, into the rock. such as 'the stone pullers of khufu.'

sorry for the rant, just sick of people calling the anchient egyptians when actually they had a really good culture.

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Which religion originated first and where?
Just curious.

Answer 6

Unfortunately that question is impossible to answer to everyone's satisfaction. Each answer depends on the personal faith of the one who answers. The ones who were there are dead so you can't really prove anything. I personally am a Christian and believe that the first "religion" actually originated in Heaven before this world was even created. There could not have been "war in Heaven" if there hadn't been any ideals for Satan to dispute.

Answer 7

The origin of religious thought in general goes back into prehistory.

Of the major world religions you cover in a World Religions class, Hinduism and Shinto are so old they have no known founder.

Answer 8

The first, and the only true and proper way of life has always been total submission to God. That's how Adam and his first offspring started out.
Then people took for themselves other gods besides him, and they made up their own stories and fabricated their own religions.
But there will always only ever be one true way.
There will only ever be one Lord worthy of worship.
And it will always be that most do not know.

Answer 9

The first religion began with the man that raised his look at the vastness of the sky and wondered.
The first religion began with the first sense of fear that caused man to involuntarily seek help from the unknown.
In brief, the first religion began with man's first ability to muse.

Answer 10

We can argue about this for a while. Some say it is the Jewish faith but since it is hard to tell for the origins it might have been some of those of the american Indians that are first. Hard to tell origins and dates are not well recorded that far back

Answer 11

There is probably no record of the earliest "religion" so we'll never know. It was probably more like the individual beliefs of small tribes of people all over the world.