Hinduism began in the Indian subcontinent, with its earliest roots usually traced to the Indus River Valley (in today’s northwest India and Pakistan) and the surrounding regions of North India.

Where did Hinduism start?

Most scholars link the origins of what became Hinduism to:

  • The Indus Valley (Harappan) civilization along the Indus River, in present-day northwest India and Pakistan.
  • Early Indo-Aryan cultures that moved into North India and interacted with existing Indus and other local traditions.

Because Hinduism has no single founder and grew by blending many local beliefs, it does not have one precise starting date or single birthplace, but the broad starting region is the Indus–Ganges plains of the Indian subcontinent.