Historical Vedic religion given to Absolute reality (Brahman) speculations in the early Upanishads, as these terms are etymologically linked. The word Brahmanism was coined by Gonçalo Fernandes Trancoso (1520-1596) in the 16th century. The Vedic religion was probably the religion of the Vedic Indo-Aryans, and existed in northern India from c. 1750–500 BCE. The Indo-Aryans were a branch of the Indo-European language family, which originated in the Sintashta culture and further developed into the Andronovo culture, which in turn developed out of the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes. The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd
Religion in New Zealand Religion in New Zealand Religion in New Zealand encompasses a wide range of groups and beliefs. Christianity is the most common religion with almost half (48 percent) of the population at the 2013 New Zealand census declaring an affiliation. Around six percent of the population affiliated with non-Christian religions, with Hinduism being the largest at over two percent, while 42 percent of New Zealanders stated they had no religion in the most recent census and 4 percent made no declaration. New Zealand has no state religion or established church, although Anglicanism is required to be the religion of the Monarch