Exploration

There were 5 religions/matas/panthas/sampradayas at the time of Mahabharata: Yoga, Samkhya, Vedic, Pancharatra, and Pashupata. The most famous text Ramayana is written with five different perspectives also.

Yoga & Samkhya—Adhbuta Ramayana
Pancharatra—Valmiki Ramayana
Veda—Ramopkhyan

Pashupata Ramayana couldn't be identified however, scholars keep Ananda Ramayana in this category. And there was a Jain Ramayana and Mahabharat too. Yoga is a series of practices and it holds Samadhi as the ultimate goal for the union between Purusha (spirit) and Prakriti (nature). Yoga with Samkhya beliefs formed the Yoga-Samkhya school of thought. The addition of 5 Yama and Niyamas differentiate Yoga from Samkhya. The five Yama of Patanjali's classical yoga system is moral restraints, good conduct, ethics, virtues, and duties that affect yogi's relations with surroundings.

Ahimsa: Non-violence, non-harming other living beings
Satya: Truthfulness
Asteya: Non-stealing
Brahmacharya: Celibacy, moderation of senses
Aparigraha: Non-greed, non-possessiveness

The five Niyama are personal obligations to live well. It includes Saucha (cleanliness), Santosha (contentment), Tapas (self-discipline), Svadhyaya (self-reflection), and Ishvarapranidhana (surrender to a higher power).

The Ten Yama are codified as “the restraints/commandments” in other religions also. There is a long line of 125 prophets/gurus that ended in Patanjali. 125 is also the number of Agni so it could be the Agni-based sect or the sect of Agni merged into it.

The mata of Yoga is formed by Non-Vedic Munis, Yatis, Wanderers, and Yogis-Yoginis. They opposed the Agni-based cult of rituals and immediately connected to Bhrigu. Bhrigu was the one who cursed Agni to devour anything. In Zoroastrian beliefs, Agni is the purest of all and it cannot devour dead dirt, and filth while in Hinduism, Agni is also the purest of all so anything that goes into Agni becomes pure. Agni can never become impure!

So, the Yati Darshana was the ancient Indian. There was a class of Kshatriya Yoginis who were devoted to Siva and called Vratyas. Gandhari was a great Siva Yogini.

Bacchus/Dionysus cult in Greek history had a mad, frenzy women devotees who would drink and dance freely from self-conscious fear and care to ease their sufferings and bring joys. The cult of Chemosh in Moabites, Baal worship in Canaanite were all of similar ecstatic, sensual, drink and dance practices of worship to Rudra/Siva.
Rudra the storm god was the counterpart of the Angry God of Yahweh!

Muni Darshana, Yati Darshana, Vratyas were more or less a separate sect and gradually united under the JOGI sect. Jina monastic order has a Muni order who keep long Jata (matted hair) and bun on head. Jina and Tirthankara's beliefs were incorporated into Saivite's philosophy.

The ancient ascetic tradition of Natha is also known as Yogi (Jogi). The first Natha is Shiva as in Jain is Adinatha. Shiva is self-illuminated, infinite, and imperishable God. Nathas are descendants of the tradition of Mahasiddhas (the practice of renunciation and vairagya). Nathas transferred knowledge through lineage from Guru-Shishya parampara. Dattatreya is the principal deity of the Natha. The sub cults of Natha are Kapalika, Buddha tantra, Shakta, Aghor tantra etc.

The Upanishadic tradition was the group of wandering ascetics called Vadins. That was the called Arayanaka texts because they were written in the jungle. Upanishads promote nontheistic notions, are not based on any mata/sampradaya, and differ from Brahmana texts. Many of the Upanishadic writers were Sramanas. Many of them were recognized with their mothers' names and in most cases, they were Apsaras. The Sramanas were the basis of Jainism, Ajivikism, and Buddhism.

Ajivaka rose to a great height in the Mauryan empire as Bindusara was an adherent as was the mother of Asoka. Asoka gave many grants to Ajivaka also. Asoka was born Ajivaka, converted to Buddhism before becoming the king and he was Buddhist when the Kalinga war happened! After the Kalinga war, he became Ajivaka again and finally returned to Buddhism under Nyogrodha's guidance.

At Vedic time Indra, Agni, Varuna, and other gods were prominent and as the time progressed towards Brahmana, Siva and Vishnu got prominence.

The other Mata like Charvaka was the Anti-Vedic branch that held no god, no rebirth, no karma, no fruits, no liberation, no merits, and no sin. Just enjoy life!

Vedic beliefs lied in the heart of village people that’s why it survived all through. They didn’t need any royal patronage or rich grants to flourish unlike Buddhism, Ajivikism, and other panthas and sampradayas.

Again, I am reiterating the fact that there was NO religion ever existed in Epic India. It was different beliefs and matas in a society.