Gautama was born and brought up and lived and died a Hindu...There was not much in the metaphysics and principles of Gautama which cannot be found in one or other of the orthodox systems, and a great deal of his morality could be matched from earlier or later Hindu books." (Rhys Davids)

"To my mind...Buddhism has always seemed to be not a new religion, but a natural development of the Indian mind in its various manifestations, religious, philosophical, social and political" (Prof. Max Mueller.

"Buddhism, in its origin at least is an offshoot of Hinduism." (S.Rahdhakrishnan)

"The Buddha reset the native thinking and breathed fresh life into certain ancient beliefs providing them with a new perspective and interpretation that was indisputably a product of human intellect with its roots firmly entrenched in virtue and righteous conduct. He was a ascetic teacher who refused to believe in the Vedas blindly." Jayaram V

"The more I study Hinduism and Buddhism, the more I realize how similar they are except for the fundamental differences. Both were born in the womb of the same Mother. Both grew in the light of the same wisdom. Both understood the implications of death and the need for a permanent solution. For example the deity of Death who is holding the wheel of existence in this Buddhist painting (of Kalachakra) is the same god of Death who is mentioned in the Upanishads and who manifests before Arjuna in the Bhagavadgita. He is also Rudra and Bhairava, and Mara and Yama. This image of Death, holding the wheel of existence in his Hands and between His teeth with fierce eyes and a terrible form, symbolizes mortality of life and the fact that in the end Death consumes us all." Jayaram V

There are then based on this common foundation three main religions, Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism. Of the second, a great and universal faith, it has been said that, with each fresh acquirement of knowledge, it seems more difficult to separate it from the Hinduism out of which it emerged and into which (in Northern Buddhism) it relapsed. This is of course not to say that there are no differences between the two, but that they share in certain general and common principles as their base. Brahmanism, of which the Shakta doctrine and practice is a particular form, accepts Veda as its ultimate authority. Sir John Woodroffe

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Despite the fundamental differences .hinduwebsite.