Re: History of jainism
this may be true today, but even as recently as 200 years ago, hinduism wasn’t as homogenized or standardized as it is today. present mainstream hinduism has assimilated many ideas and deities from various other elements in the subcontinent, else we would all be praying to indra and sacrificing horses (ashvamedha). there is no mention of moksha or karma in the vedas. these were developed into hinduism by those that compiled the upanishads. and at that time, there were more “religions”/schools of thought in india that at least coexisted side by side with vedic brahmanism, if not preceeded its arrival into the region. when it comes to ideas and philosophies, it is harder to distinguish given that 2000+ years have passed, but with deities this is more obvious.
for eg., in kerala, one of the most important temples is the temple of muthappan. literally, muthappan means “wise old man”. it is a hindu temple, and nowadays people try to say muthappan is shiva. but folklore on muthappan is completely distinct from shiva. and devotees bring fish and coconut toddy as offerings. you show this to mainstream hindus from north india, they’d get a heart attack. but technically this is hinduism now.