Who is the founder of Hinduism?

Unlike other religions, Hinduism has no one founder but is instead a fusion of various beliefs, originating in Central Asia. The term Hinduism is what is known as an exonym (a name given by others to a people, place, or concept) and derives from the Persian term Sindhus designating those who lived across the Indus River.

Accordingly, one may interpret Hinduism as monotheistic (as there is one god), polytheistic (as there are many avatars of the one god), henotheistic (as one may choose to elevate any one of these avatars supremacy), pantheistic (as the avatars might be interpreted as representing aspects of the natural world), or even atheistic as one might choose to replace the concept of Brahaman (knowledgeable) with one's self in striving to be best version of one's self. This eternal belief was first set down in writing in the works known as the Vedas during the so- called Vedic period c. 1500 - c. 500 BCE. but the concepts were transmitted orally long before.

There is no founder of Hinduism, no date of origin, nor - according to the faith- a development of the belief system; the scribes who wrote Vedas are said to have been simply recording that which had always existed. This eternal knowledge is known as shruti ("What is heard") and is set down in Samhitas, Aranyakas, Brahmanas, and the Upanishads (all are Hindu scriptures). It is the world's third-largest religion, with over 1.2 billion followers, or 15 -16% of the global population, known as Hindus.