About How It Evolved

How It Evolved tells the history of religions the way a good historian would explain it to a curious friend: chronologically, with the evidence on the table, and honest about where the evidence runs out.

Most writing about religion falls into one of two camps. Devotional accounts describe a tradition as it sees itself — often timeless and unchanging. Polemical accounts go looking for ammunition. Neither is much use to someone who simply wants to know what changed, when, and how we know. That is the only question this site sets out to answer.

What makes this site different

• Every claim shows its receipt. Statements cite the specific verse, excavation, inscription, manuscript or peer-reviewed study they rest on, with numbered references on every page.
• Every claim says how sure we can be. Confidence tags — Consensus, Majority, Contested, Speculative, Political — mark how far the evidence actually stretches.
• Disagreements are stated, not resolved by fiat. Where scholars disagree, each chapter gives the strongest form of each position, including the ones we do not adopt.
• Primary sources in the original. Key passages are quoted in their original script, transliterated and translated, followed by what the passage does and does not prove.

What we publish

Each religion gets a series: a sequence of chapters from its earliest traceable roots to the present. The first series, How Hinduism Evolved, runs from Neolithic Mehrgarh (c. 7000 BCE) to the twenty-first century in 13 chapters. Series on Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism are in preparation; each is published only when every chapter meets the same standard.

Who writes it

How It Evolved is written and edited by Amrit Paudel, as an independent project. I started it because the questions I most wanted answered, such as when an idea first appears or what a text actually says, rarely get a straight answer online. The answers exist, but they are scattered across excavation reports, critical editions and journal articles.

Each chapter is built from that published scholarship, listed in the series' bibliography, and from the primary sources themselves. Every citation is checked by hand against a real, findable source, and automated checks on every build make sure no reference is missing or broken. Where specialists disagree, I set out each side rather than pick a winner, and I tag each claim with how settled the evidence is.

I am not a professional academic, and the site does not claim the authority of one. What it offers is transparency: you can follow every statement to its source and judge it yourself. If you are a specialist and spot something wrong or outdated, please tell me; corrections are published and dated. Read the full process in the editorial standards.

Independence and funding

The site is free to read and supported by advertising. Advertisers have no influence over what we publish, and no content is sponsored. We are not affiliated with any religious organisation, political party or advocacy group.

Get in touch

Spotted an error? Know a better source? We want to hear it — corrections are how a site like this earns trust. Write to hello@howitevolved.com or see the contact page.