Editing Indian religions (section)

==== Prehistory ====
The earliest religion followed by the peoples of the Indian subcontinent, including those of the [[Indus Valley]] and [[Ganges Valley]], was likely [[Ethnic religion|local]] [[animism]] that did not have [[missionaries]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Harari |first=Yuval Noah |title=Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind |publisher=Penguin Random House UK |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-09-959008-8 |location=London |pages=235–236 |translator-last=Harari |translator-first=Yuval Noah |oclc=910498369 |author-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-last2=Purcell |translator-first2=John |translator-last3=Watzman |translator-first3=Haim |translator-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-link3=Haim Watzman}}</ref>

[[File:Mohenjo-daro Priesterkönig.jpeg|thumb|upright|"Priest King" of [[Indus Valley civilisation]]]]

Evidence attesting to [[prehistoric religion]] in the Indian subcontinent derives from scattered [[Mesolithic]] rock paintings such as at [[Bhimbetka]], depicting dances and rituals. [[Neolithic]] agriculturalists inhabiting the [[Indus River]] Valley buried their dead in a manner suggestive of spiritual practices that incorporated notions of an afterlife and belief in magic.{{sfn|Heehs|2002|p=39}} Other [[South Asian Stone Age]] sites, such as the [[Bhimbetka rock shelters]] in central [[Madhya Pradesh]] and the [[Kupgal petroglyphs]] of eastern Karnataka, contain rock art portraying religious rites and evidence of possible ritualised music.<ref group=web>{{cite news |title=Ancient Indians made 'rock music' |work=[[BBC News]] |date=19 March 2004 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3520384.stm |access-date=7 August 2007 |archive-date=27 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227021009/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3520384.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>