MAJOR RELIGIONS IN THE WORLD

Buddhism
Founder	Gautama Siddhartha Buddha (563-483 BC), born in Lumbini, Nepal
Date Founded	500 BC, India
Sacred text	The Tripitaka (a collection of Buddha’s teachings)
Place of Worship	Vihar (Temple) and Monastery (Where monks reside)
Sects	Mahayana and Hinayana
Sacred places	Lumbini (Nepal) where Buddha was born, Both Gaya (Bihar) where he received Enlightenment and Kushinagar (UP) where he attained ‘Nirwana’.
Followed in	China, Tibet, Korea, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Cambodia, Taiwan, Indonesia and Vietnam

Christianity
Founder	Jesus Christ (4 BC – Ad 30), Born in Bethlehem, also called Jesus of Nazareth
Date Founded	1st AD
Sacred text	Holy Bible consisting of the Old Testament (Before Christ) and the New Testament (during and after Christ)
Place of Worship	Church
Sects	Catholics and Protestants
Sacred places	Jerusalem where Christ lived and preached
Followed in	Spread all over the world

Hinduism
Founder	Of the divine origin
Date Founded	1500 BC, India
Sacred text	The Vedas, The Upanishads, The Bhagavad-Gita and the epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana
Place of Worship	Mandir (Temple)
Sacred places	Ayodhya, Mathura, Amarnath, Hardwar, Varanasi, Tripura, Puri, Rameshwaram, Kedarnath, etc.
Followed in	Concentrated in India and Nepal and also in Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Fiji, Indonesia, Guyana, Trinidad.

Islam
Founder	Prophet Muhammad (AD 570-632), born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Date Founded	7th AD, Arabian Peninsula
Sacred text	The Qur’an(word of god), the Hadis (collection of prophet’s sayings)
Place of Worship	Masjid (Mosque)
Sects	Sunnis and Shias
Sacred places	Mecca and Medina
Followed in	Spread all over the world

Jainism
Founder	Vardhamana Mahavira (599- 527BC), born in Kunda near Vaishali, India
Date Founded	600 BC, India
Sacred text	Bo Specific Text
Place of Worship	Temple
Sacred places	Kunda near Vaishali, India
Followed in	Mainly concentrated in India

Judaism
Founder	Abraham (2000BC) and Moses (1200BC), Born in Egypt
Date Founded	200BC
Sacred Texts	The Hals, Founded particularly in the five books of the Bible, Commentary on Torah was known as Talmud and Midrash
Place of Worship	Synagogue
Sacred places	Jerusalem
Followed in	Worldwide with the concentration in Israel and United States

Sikhism
Founder	Guru Nanak (1469-1539), born in Talwandi village, now in Pakistan
Date Founded	1500 AD
Sacred text	The Guru Granth Sahib
Place of Worship	Gurdwara
Sacred places	Golden Temple, Amritsar
Followed in	India

Zoroastrianism (Parsi Religion)
Founder	Zoroaster (600 BC), born in Iran
Date Founded	600 BC, Iran
Sacred text	The Zend Avesta
Places of Worship	Fire Temple
Followed in	Iran and Northwest India