The religious events in India at the time of Buddha were much more complex and nuanced than most of those who concentrate on Buddha alone are aware, for example

The religious events in India at the time of Buddha were much more complex and nuanced than most of those who concentrate on Buddha alone are aware, for example, there was also Charvaka school, apparently even less willing to accept any direct influence of gods on humans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charvaka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charvaka "Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embraces philosophical skepticism and rejects ritualism, and supernaturalism." Also Jainism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism even today with "four to five million followers worldwide." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavira https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavira "Mahavira and Gautama Buddha are generally accepted as contemporaries (circa 5th century BCE)." "Beyond the times of the Mahāvīra and the Buddha, the two ascetic sramana (seeker) religions competed for followers as well as the merchant trade networks that sustained them.[128][414] Their mutual interaction, along with those of Hindu traditions, have been significant." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_and_Jainism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_and_Jainism "Jainism and Buddhism share many features, terminology and ethical principles, but emphasize them differently.[2] Both are śramaṇa ascetic traditions that believe it is possible to attain liberation from the cycle of rebirths and deaths (samsara) through spiritual and ethical disciplines.[3] They differ in some core doctrines such as those on asceticism, Middle Way versus Anekantavada, and self versus no-self (jiva, atta, anatta)."