The primordial religion of
India was polytheistic, as other early religions all over the world. Many of the gods were animistic (associated with animals and objects).
Hinduism developed from this as a semi-monotheistic religion believing in "atman
?," the universal oneness. Siva, the god of destruction and creation and remover of boundaries, is, like all other gods, avatars, humans, rocks, and everything else, just a facet of atman.
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