Hinduism is believed to have begun, approximately 4,000 years ago, in the region of the Indus Valley located mainly in what today is Pakistan. Hinduism originated when the Aryan people, who came from Central Asia, developed settlements in the Indus Valley and assimilated the deities of the Indus Valley region's indigenous peoples into their own religion. Hinduism emerged as a highly polytheistic religion and a religion involving deities that could embody universal dualities. For example, some of the deities were considered to be both male and female.
During the first millennium A.D., Hindus, throughout India, began worshipping Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu as their 3 primarily deities. This evolution in Indian Hinduism sometimes involved deities being abandoned (they were no longer worshipped). Other deities, that had previously been worshipped as primarily deities, became minor deities (deities that were worshipped as incarnations of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu). Today, many Indians still worship Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu as their 3 primary deities. Brahma is commonly worshipped as being the creator of the world and Vishnu is worshipped as being the ruler of the world. As the ruler of the world, Vishnu is also believed to sustain life. Shiva represents the god of paradoxes or dualities.
