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There is also a link between Zoroastrianism and the ancient Vedic religion. They probably were the same before a schism led by Zoroaster.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y ago
> There is also a link between Zoroastrianism and the ancient Vedic religion. There are probably elements in both coming from even more ancient Indo-European religions. I wonder if you could also find similarities with German and Greek deities as well and try to reconstruct a proto-Indo European religion.
- _dt_ 5y ago
  There's been quite a lot of research into this area, I think its super fascinating. Wikipedia has a good page on it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology) but there's also a many interesting books
  - nextaccountic 5y ago
    Hello, does this include the Sumerian and Babylonian religions? I am asking because Aphrodite can be traced back to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte and then to Ishtar / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna
- zozbot234 5y ago
  Some intriguing elements have been reconstructed. For example, the myths of a primeval, world-nurturing cow from Norse mythology tell us that the cow-worship element in Vedic religion must be ancient indeed.
KorematsuFred 5y ago
The most ancient book of India is Rigveda. The first of Vedas. Exact timing is up for debate but could be easily 5000+ years old. I think in one of the early chapters the book describes a war, a war of 10 kings it is called. Leaving the mystical elements aside this war would shape future of India and Persia going forward. The historians I know believe that this war is not pure fiction but rooted in truth. In this war 9 Persian tribes unite to finally destroy the one king on India's western border (modern day Pakistan). All those tribes are named and it turns out all except 2 still exist in modern day Iran. The defeat of Indian king is certain except that Persians make a terrible mistake, they try to cross a shallow river to pursue Indian king and a sudden cloudburst in mountains wipes off majority of the army. Persians see this as Gods favouring Sudas, the Indian King, Indian King Sudas believes this to be the doing of his God Indra. Defeated Persians walk back. It is a long journey and by the time they reach home their numbers are low and moral is broken, one of those tribes would split further to become the modern day Zoroastrianism. World's first monotheistic religion. Technically, Zoroastrianism is at direct conflict with Hinduism and yet both religions have thrived side by side in India and average Hindu has very positive opinion of Parasi people (Zoroastrianism). Examine the language of both religions. In Sanskrit Asura means evil people (demon), in Persian Asura becomes Ahura which means Lord. I have always felt that Parasi and Hindu communities are exceptional example of how religious groups with opposite viewpoints can live next to each other and peacefully.
- yumraj 5y ago
  > I have always felt that Parasi and Hindu communities are exceptional example of how religious groups with opposite viewpoints can live next to each other and peacefully. I think the primary reason for this is that neither religion has a concept of converting someone to their religion. Same is true for Judaism, and probably for most ancient religions. As no one was actively trying to convert the other person, wars were fought over territory and resources, and not over who had better gods. It is only when proselytizing became a requirement did we start seeing religious wars.
  - kleton 5y ago
    The Zoroastrians who became Gujarati Parsis made an agreement with a Hindu ruler to be allowed in as refugees, as long as they do not proselytize or allow conversions to Zoroastrianism. Previously, it was not a strict ethno-religion.
Ar-Curunir 5y ago
That model is a bit too simplistic. Right now our best model is that Vedic Aryans we’re the vanguard, facing pressure from Iranian to their back, and so they expanded eastwards, probably picking up Vedic characteristics as they passed through the BMAC culture

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y ago

> There is also a link between Zoroastrianism and the ancient Vedic religion. There are probably elements in both coming from even more ancient Indo-European religions. I wonder if you could also find similarities with German and Greek deities as well and try to reconstruct a proto-Indo European religion.

_dt_ 5y ago
There's been quite a lot of research into this area, I think its super fascinating. Wikipedia has a good page on it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology) but there's also a many interesting books
- nextaccountic 5y ago
  Hello, does this include the Sumerian and Babylonian religions? I am asking because Aphrodite can be traced back to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte and then to Ishtar / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inanna
zozbot234 5y ago
Some intriguing elements have been reconstructed. For example, the myths of a primeval, world-nurturing cow from Norse mythology tell us that the cow-worship element in Vedic religion must be ancient indeed.

KorematsuFred 5y ago

The most ancient book of India is Rigveda. The first of Vedas. Exact timing is up for debate but could be easily 5000+ years old. I think in one of the early chapters the book describes a war, a war of 10 kings it is called. Leaving the mystical elements aside this war would shape future of India and Persia going forward. The historians I know believe that this war is not pure fiction but rooted in truth. In this war 9 Persian tribes unite to finally destroy the one king on India's western border (modern day Pakistan). All those tribes are named and it turns out all except 2 still exist in modern day Iran. The defeat of Indian king is certain except that Persians make a terrible mistake, they try to cross a shallow river to pursue Indian king and a sudden cloudburst in mountains wipes off majority of the army. Persians see this as Gods favouring Sudas, the Indian King, Indian King Sudas believes this to be the doing of his God Indra. Defeated Persians walk back. It is a long journey and by the time they reach home their numbers are low and moral is broken, one of those tribes would split further to become the modern day Zoroastrianism. World's first monotheistic religion. Technically, Zoroastrianism is at direct conflict with Hinduism and yet both religions have thrived side by side in India and average Hindu has very positive opinion of Parasi people (Zoroastrianism). Examine the language of both religions. In Sanskrit Asura means evil people (demon), in Persian Asura becomes Ahura which means Lord. I have always felt that Parasi and Hindu communities are exceptional example of how religious groups with opposite viewpoints can live next to each other and peacefully.

yumraj 5y ago
> I have always felt that Parasi and Hindu communities are exceptional example of how religious groups with opposite viewpoints can live next to each other and peacefully. I think the primary reason for this is that neither religion has a concept of converting someone to their religion. Same is true for Judaism, and probably for most ancient religions. As no one was actively trying to convert the other person, wars were fought over territory and resources, and not over who had better gods. It is only when proselytizing became a requirement did we start seeing religious wars.
- kleton 5y ago
  The Zoroastrians who became Gujarati Parsis made an agreement with a Hindu ruler to be allowed in as refugees, as long as they do not proselytize or allow conversions to Zoroastrianism. Previously, it was not a strict ethno-religion.

Ar-Curunir 5y ago

That model is a bit too simplistic. Right now our best model is that Vedic Aryans we’re the vanguard, facing pressure from Iranian to their back, and so they expanded eastwards, probably picking up Vedic characteristics as they passed through the BMAC culture