Hinduism is the oldest religious faith in the world. It is the faith of the diverse groups of people of this area, in India, Nepal and Bali [Indonesia], over 900 million people. There are many other ancient cultures in these areas that were influenced by the Hindu faith. It is believed to have been practiced in the Indian subcontinent, in the west Asia and Southeast Asia for over 6000 years. Western Historians, often limited by their Biblical theories, said that it originated from the cultural practices of "Aryan invaders" to the Indus valley in 2500 BC. A simple story told over the years becomes an accepted part of history. Hindu Scholars discounted this view and say that it was present for over 7 to 10 thousand years all over India and West Asia. The ancient India had several groups of farmers and nomadic hunters. They all had many different faiths and beliefs and followed their own methods of prayer rituals. All these got assimilated with Hindu religion.

Historians always find it difficult to fix the specific dates of the origin of the faith or the time various works were written. Even the early Puranas refer to "Devas" and "Asuras" often fighting wars. It is possible these stories are based on such historical incidents. It is interesting to note that while in our mythology Devas were the good ones and Asuras were the bad, early Persians referred to their good gods as "Ahuras" and "Ahura Mazda" and bad ones as "Daevas," though all of them were also religious and prayed to God and performed rituals to Fire, like the rituals in Rig Veda. In all these Puranas, very little information is given about the time or the name of the author. For a long time many of these works were passed on as recitation, by mouth. Later, many Rishis arranged them in proper orders. Any records of the historical dates of these events are obviously artificial, though attempts have been made to divide the period into some convenient landmarks.