ANCIENT INDIAN RELIGION.

Indian religions based on a contemplative life and not centered on the idea of deities, are the ones that originated in the Indian subcontinent: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
Evidence attesting to prehistoric religion in the Indian subcontinent derives from the corresponding final period of hunter-gatherer cultures and from which scattered rock paintings have been found.
- Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world and today scholars refer to it as a way of life widely practiced since 1500 BCE. It contains a broad range of philosophies linked by shared concepts, rituals such as worship (Puja) and recitations, meditation, family oriented rites of passage, cosmology, annual festivals, textual resources and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Sources of authority and eternal Truths in its texts play an important role and there is a strong tradition of questioning authority in order to deepen the understanding of these Truths and to further develop them. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring leaving beings (Ahimsa), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, and compassion, among others.  Prominent themes include the 4 proper goals or aims (Purusarthas) of human life: 1) ethics/duties (Dharma), 2) prosperity/work (Artha), 3) desires/passions (Kama), 4) liberation/freedom/salvation (Moksha); action, intent and consequences (Karma), cycle of rebirth (Samsara), and the various paths or practices to attain liberation/freedom/salvation (Yogas).
- Jainism postulates  an eternal and ever-existing world which works on universal laws. It has a firm and an unalterable shape which is measured by means of a unit (Rajju) that is supposed to be very large. The universe is divided into 3 parts. The world is surrounded by 3 atmospheres: dense-water, dense-wind, and thin-wind. It is then surrounded by infinitely large non-world which is absolutely empty. The whole world is said to be filled with living beings. In all 3 parts, there is the existence of a very small living beings (nigoda). Nigoda are of 2 types: Nityas which will reborn as Nigoda forever and the Itaras which will be reborn as other beings too. Within the mobile region of universe there are animals and plants everywhere and where humans are restricted to 2.5 continental area of middle world. The beings of the lower world are called Naraki (hellish). The demi-gods (Deva) live in whole on the top and middles world and the top 3 realms of lower world. Living beings are divided into 14 classes (Jivasthana): 1)fine beings with one sense. 2)Crude beings with one sense. 3)Beings with two sense.
4)Beings with three sense. 5)Beings with four sense. 6)Beings with five sense without mind. 7)Beings with five sense with a mind. These can be under-developed or developed which makes it a total of 14. Humans get any form of existence and are the only ones which can attain salvation. The followers are called "Jains," a word derived from the Sanskrit word "Jina" meaning "victory" and connoting the path of victory in crossing over life's stream of rebirths through an ethical and spiritual life.
- Buddhism is the world 4th-largest religion or 7% of the global population, known as Buddhists. It is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of the Buddha. He was moved by the innate suffering of humanity and its endless repetition due to rebirth. He set out on a quest to end this repeated suffering.
He first studied under Vedic teachers, learning meditation and ancient philosophies, particularly the concept of "nothingness, emptiness" and "what is neither seen nor unseen." Finding this teachings to be insufficient to attain his goal, he turned to the practice of a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often to the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Then he turned to the practice of meditation, which he had already pursued in his youth. He famously sat in meditation under a sacred Fig Tree. He gained insight and attained enlightenment. He attracted followers and founded a monastic order (Sangha). Now, as the Budha, he spent the rest of his life teaching what he had discovered and died at the age of 80 in India. His teachings were propagated by his followers, and in the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE, 18 Buddhist sub-school of though were founded, each with its own basket of texts containing different interpretations of Buddha's teachings.
- Sikhism was founded in Punjab area of South Asia, which now falls into the present day states of India and Pakistan. The Sikh faith began around 1500 CE, when Guru Nanak (1469-1539) began teaching a faith that draw from the religious ideas of Hindu and Islamic thought. He was already an original spiritual thinker and expressed his thoughts in extraordinary poetry that became the basis of Sikh scripture.
Nanak's birth and early years were marked with many events that demonstrated that God had marked him out for something special and was keeping an eye on him. He soon showed an advanced interest in religion and studied Islam and Hinduism extensively. As a child he demonstrated great ability as a poet and philosopher. One famous story about him tells of his rebellion at the age of 11. At this age Hindu boys of his caste would star to wear the sacred thread to distinguish them. Nanak refused to wear the sacred thread by saying that people should be distinguished by the things that they did, and their individual qualities, rather than by a thread.
Nanak continued to demonstrate a radical spiritual streak by arguing with local holy men and sages, both Hindu and Muslim, that external things like pilgrimages, penances and poverty were of far less spiritual importance than internal changes to the individual's soul.
He worked for a while as an accountant but while still quite young decided to devote himself to spiritual matters. He was inspired by a powerful spiritual experience that gave him a vision of the true nature of God, and confirmed his idea that the way to spiritual thought was through meditation and through living in a way that reflected the presence of the divine within each human being.
In 1946, although married and having a family because of his family tradition in the Hindu faith, Nanak set out on a set of spiritual journeys through India, Tibet and Arabia that lasted nearly 30 years.
Nanak studied and debated with learned men he met along the way and as his ideas took shape he began to teach a new route to spiritual fulfillment. The last part of his life was spent at Katarpur in the Punjab, where he was joined by many disciples attracted by his teachings.
The most famous teachings attributed to Nakar are that there is only one God, and that all human beings can have direct access to God with no need of rituals or priests. His most radical social teachings denounced the caste system and taught that everyone is equal, regardless of caste or gender.