Is Hinduism that unique?

Recently on a trip to Hawaii (a US state in the middle of the Pacific originally inhabited by Polynesians) I came to know a little more about the native Hawaiian religion. They had a number of Gods resembling the forces of nature. Most famous of these was Pele the volcanic goddess (Hawaii has several active volcanoes) but there were also gods and goddesses representing the harvest, sea, snow, thunder, fire, war and the underworld. They had many chants, but they were only an oral tradition (nothing was written down).

They also had a "kapu" system of forbidden acts like men & women eating together and commoners not being allowed to touch the kings and high priests. The king rules with advice from the high priest and women had little role in leadership.

All this sounded rather familiar. Perhaps the ancient religions were not that different after all.

Hidden Ancient Secrets Of The Swastika Symbol Used World-Wide


Swastika is a powerful ancient symbol that today is mostly associated with Nazi Germany. However, it’s true origins stretches far back in time.

Swastikas have been found on ruins across ancient Europe. All ancient European cultures-i.e., the Etruscans, Greeks, Romans, Gauls, Celts, etc. – practiced the same high spiritual religion of Hinduism, from where the swastika symbol originated.

The Sphinx Played An Important Role In the Ancient World
An idol with human head and a lion’s body known as sphinx is one of the most important symbols in humanity’s records. It’s a keeper of the holy places and the mysteries of life, and a guardian of knowledge and symbol of riddles and intrigue. It is a creature full of secrets – a mystery of Nature.
It has deep connections with the ancient civilizations of Greece and Egypt. According to a legend, the Sphinx dies for the truth, because his perception of the Truth is only one.
The oldest known sphinx was found in Gobekli Tepe, Turkey and was dated to 9,500 BC. Ancient Egyptian and Babylonian considered the sphinx to be a guardian, often flanking the entrances to sacred royal tombs and religious temples.

http://www.messagetoeagle.com/10-remarkable-similarities-between-ancient-civilizations-that-offer-proof-of-universal-prehistoric-knowledge/

Hinduism and Egyptian religion.

Considering the enormous geographical distance between India and Egypt, ancient Egyptian religion and modern Hinduism have a surprising number of similarities in concepts and practices. This is not to say that other polytheistic religions do not have similarities with each other or with ancient Egypt but not in what appears to be such abundance as between ancient Egyptian and Hinduism. A number of religions do have similarities with Hinduism, such as Buddhism (which was born from Hinduism), and some African belief systems, but as Hinduism is one of the six main world religions the comparisons between this vibrant religion and a long-extinct ancient religion are interesting.

Aspects of Hinduism can be traced to the Indus Valley Civilisation (approximately 2500 BC), when it was at a cultural high point, through the archaeological record, although this religion is not recognisable as the form practised by Hindus today. The Indus Valley Civilisation and their religion is contemporary with the Egyptian Old Kingdom and the religion of the ancient Egyptians was in a fully developed form. How the ancient Egyptian religion developed is unknown as no written records of these developmental stages. Hieroglyphs were not introduced until approximately 3100 BC on the Narmer Palette whereas the Indus Valley civilisation has written texts dating to prior 2500 BC, from the Mohenjo-Daro region. Unfortunately this language has not yet been deciphered (Brockington 1996, 24) and therefore the contents (religious or otherwise) are unknown to us.


http://history-of-hinduism.blogspot.com/2010/07/hinduism-and-ancient-egyptian-religion.html

The main similarity between ancient Egyptian religion and modern Hinduism is their polytheistic nature. Both religions have one Supreme Deity, who is seen as the creator of all life. However both religions have a choice as to which deity they chose to worship in this role. The choice of Supreme Deity is often related to political events and is often the state god. In ancient Egypt the Supreme Deity was either Amun, or Ra, (or the Aten in the Amarna period) and in modern Hinduism the Supreme Deity is Vishnu, Shiva or Brahma.

Although both Hindu gods and Egyptian gods exist in their thousands, each is a manifestation of the Supreme Deity and it has been argued that both religions have a monotheistic element. As the Supreme Deities are too complex or too powerful for many ordinary people to comprehend and bring into their lives on a personal spiritual level, they take on different forms, each with different personalities or characteristics, which can be approached for particular things, appealing to different people on many levels. For example Sekhmet, the lioness headed goddess, in ancient Egypt was addressed to cure illnesses (Lurker 1984, 106) as the goddess of epidemics, and in Hinduism before embarking on an exam or a business venture you would make an offering to Ganesha the elephant headed god of removal (and placing) of obstacles (Kanitkar & Cole 2003, 31).

The gods however held different roles within the two cultures as the concerns of the population was different due to landscape, social and climatic differences. It has been stated that both religions are in fact henotheistic religions, that is, the worshipping of one chosen god over others. However many Hindus would argue that all gods are in fact a part of the Supreme Deity and therefore essentially the same. In the Memphite Theology describing the Egyptian creation the god Ptah is said to be present in “everybody and is in every mouth of all the gods, all men, all cattle, all creeping things that live” (Allen 1988, 43) and indicates that the ancient Egyptians also argued that one god could be present in all other deities. This debate of One God or Many is one that will continue.

As in ancient Egypt, the Hindu gods have many myths about their lives, relationships, battles and killing, although for both religions it is impossible for a god to actually be killed. They are killed for the purpose of the story but this death is not a permanent state. A perfect Egyptian example is the dismemberment of Osiris by Seth. Although his body parts were scattered the length and breadth of Egypt, Isis and Nephthys were able to resurrect him. After he had impregnated Isis, Osiris became the god of the Underworld, not dead but not permitted into the land of the living.

There is also a dismemberment story in Hindu mythology, when Shiva’s consort Sati died. In his grief, Shiva carried her body the full length and breadth of India. The other gods saw he was inconsolable and decided that he needed to part with the body of his wife in order to grieve and to continue with his life. Vishnu decided to cut up the body of Sati, until there was nothing left in Shiva’s arms. Shiva then retired to a mountain to meditate. Although his wife Sati was dead and dismembered she was reincarnated into Parvati who managed to persuade Shiva to marry her (Doniger O’Flaherty 1975, 249- 51).

In both the Hindu and Egyptian mythology in many places where the dismembered body parts fell onto the earth, there arose a sacred centre or temple, and although the motivation for the dismemberment is different there are clear similarities. Despite the stories’ differences, the deceased in both were reborn into another form, Sati into Parvarti and Osiris into the god of the Underworld. Gods do not die in either religion; they move on and live again.

http://history-of-hinduism.blogspot.com/2010/07/hinduism-and-ancient-egyptian-religion.html

Hinduism and Egyptian religion.


There are many more similarities between these religions, which can be explained through both the Egyptian religion and the ancient religion of the Indus Valley being very accommodating. Both religions absorbed local deities into the main pantheon, as well as local practices and myths. Most ideas were not rejected (Brockington 1996, 209) therefore creating the colourful and varied religion of the modern Hindu, and also of the ancient Egyptian which were very similar, as we can see from the few examples cited. The question therefore arises, “is there a common source for the religion and if so, where or what is this source?”

There is evidence from the archaeological record that Egypt was trading directly with India from at least the Ptolemaic period, which was many centuries after both religions were fully formed, although evidence suggests there may have been indirect contact from an earlier date. During the pharaonic period spice may have been imported from India for use in the temples and a number of Indian products including indigo, and tamarind wood, bearing the names of eighteenth dynasty kings (Wilkinson 1994, 237) have been found in tombs. However this does not necessarily mean they were trading directly with the Indian continent.

http://history-of-hinduism.blogspot.com/2010/07/hinduism-and-ancient-egyptian-religion.html

As a Hindu, I find many similarities between Hinduism and the ancient Greek religion. In ancient Greek religion, there were the Titans, which were essentially personified elements of the earth or nature deities.

Similarly, in Hinduism, the pantheon consisted of nature deities, including Indra, god of rain, thunder, and lightning, and Prithvi (also known as Bhumi and Dharti), mother earth. These deities have often been compared to the Greek Zeus and Gaia, respectively.

Both followers of the ancient Greek religion and Hinduism performed fire rituals and offered libations to the gods. Further, in Hinduism when a "baptism" or "christening" take place, the spiritual leader (guru) tells you who your personal or guardian god is and the prayer (mantra) that you should chant when offering prayer or supplication. In the ancient Greek religion, my understanding is that a similar initiation takes place and the devotee's guardian god (eg, Poseidon) is revealed as well as the hymn that the devotee should say/sing in prayer or supplication.

In terms of legend and mythology, there are a wealth of similarities. However, for brevity, I shall give one example. In both the Ramayana and the Odyssey, the hand of a maiden is won by stringing a bow. In the Odyssey, in her husband's long absence, the queen of Ithaca, Penelope's house become overrun by suitors who wished to marry her. She was able to deter them for a long time but eventually was backed into a corner and had to respond. At her wit's end, she announced a contest: Whoever could string her husband's bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe shafts may have her hand. In the end, Odysseus is able to make it back to his queen, with some help from the gods, and save his wife. In the Ramayana, Sita's father, Janaka, announces that whomsoever could lift and string Lord Shiva's bow (a feat that no mortal man could do) would be worthy of marrying his daughter. Prince Rama was able to do so and Sita accepted him as her husband. Note, however, that where Odysseus was a mortal man aided by the gods, Rama was an incarnation of Vishnu who, although human, was of divine essence.


https://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=A0LEV1bNQBtaXzoAiBlXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyMmRmczY1BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDQjQ4MzVfMQRzZWMDc3I-?qid=20070316131726AAKR9N2&p=hinduism%20and%20greek%20religions

Elsewhere I wrote about the influence of Zoroastrian Religion on Hinduism.

https://www.tamilbrahmins.com/showthread.php?t=18028&p=254160#post254160

The history of Indian thought commences only when the Aryans of Central Asia separated themselves into two groups, the one making through Afghanistan to India and the other spreading over the territory called Iran. (Gilbert Murray)The Avesta is nearer the Veda than the Veda to its own epic Sanskrit. (Dr. Mills)Varuna is the god of sky...He is identical with the Greek Ouranos and the Ahuramazda of the Avesta. (S.Radhakrishnan)

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Like the Rigvedic Aryans, the ancient Iranians worshipped gods like Mitra, Vayu, Verutraghna.They also wore the sacred thread and worshipped fire. They had a social classes that were in some ways similar to the Vedic occupation based caste system.


The people who lived in Afghanistan and adjoining areas and practiced a form of Vedic tradition prior to the spread of Zoroastrianism had some affinity with those who lived in north western India and worshipped Vedic gods.

Both spoke different dialects of Sanskrit and worshipped several common gods. We have no information as to how the two pastoral communities happened to live side by side with distinct cultures but unmistakable similarities. They probably had a common ancestry but went their ways during their wanderings.

In the Indian subcontinent, climatic changes forced the Vedic people to migrate to greener pastures towards the Gangetic valley. The migration forced them to adapt to new conditions and make some adjustments in their religious beliefs and practices. But the core aspects of the Vedic tradition survived the upheaval.


http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/h_zoroa.asp

Of Course, we can say that all these religions were influenced by Hinduism.

Late Cho Ramaswamy provides interesting insights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yicg1nvghSo

prasad1 said:

Elsewhere I wrote about the influence of Zoroastrian Religion on Hinduism.

https://www.tamilbrahmins.com/showthread.php?t=18028&p=254160#post254160

The history of Indian thought commences only when the Aryans of Central Asia separated themselves into two groups, the one making through Afghanistan to India and the other spreading over the territory called Iran. (Gilbert Murray)The Avesta is nearer the Veda than the Veda to its own epic Sanskrit. (Dr. Mills)Varuna is the god of sky...He is identical with the Greek Ouranos and the Ahuramazda of the Avesta. (S.Radhakrishnan)

---

Like the Rigvedic Aryans, the ancient Iranians worshipped gods like Mitra, Vayu, Verutraghna.They also wore the sacred thread and worshipped fire. They had a social classes that were in some ways similar to the Vedic occupation based caste system.


The people who lived in Afghanistan and adjoining areas and practiced a form of Vedic tradition prior to the spread of Zoroastrianism had some affinity with those who lived in north western India and worshipped Vedic gods.

Both spoke different dialects of Sanskrit and worshipped several common gods. We have no information as to how the two pastoral communities happened to live side by side with distinct cultures but unmistakable similarities. They probably had a common ancestry but went their ways during their wanderings.

In the Indian subcontinent, climatic changes forced the Vedic people to migrate to greener pastures towards the Gangetic valley. The migration forced them to adapt to new conditions and make some adjustments in their religious beliefs and practices. But the core aspects of the Vedic tradition survived the upheaval.


http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/h_zoroa.asp

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This Central Asia theory does it really hold good?

If so..that means Aryans would have some oriental sort of looks cos Central Asians many look in between Caucasian and Asian.

I dont think Rama or Krishna had oriental like looks..both were tall..dark and handsome with Kamalanetra(lotus petal like eyes).

Also what about Vamana avatar?
He was a Brahmana right?
Much before Treta yuga before any Kaliyuga migration theory.
So where did Vamana come from?
Kazhakstan?

hi

in ancient times...earth was single part ....never divided much...so many things are very common MAYAN tribe of mexico

and or other dravidian worship...all are tribals together...later separated..

tbs said:

hi

in ancient times...earth was single part ....never divided much...so many things are very common MAYAN tribe of mexico


and or other dravidian worship...all are tribals together...later separated..

Click to expand...

Is this the theory that all the continents were joined at one time before they split apart?
That may very well be true, but the timeline is very different.





Pangea was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from earlier continental units approximately 335 million years ago, and it began to break apart about 175 million years ago. In contrast to the present Earth and its distribution of continental mass, much of Pangaea was in the southern hemisphereand surrounded by a superocean, Panthalassa. Pangaea was the most recent supercontinent to have existed and the first to be reconstructed by geologists.

Early hominins—particularly theaustralopithecines, whose brains and anatomy are in many ways more similar to ancestral non-human apes—are less often referred to as "human" than hominins of the genus Homo. Several of these hominins used fire, occupied much of Eurasia, and gave rise to anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Africa about 200,000 years ago.

So that can be the explanation of religious similarities in the Ancient world.

Source: Wikipedia.

One of the greatest archaeological riddles—and one of the grossest academic omissions—of our time is the untold story of the parallel ruins left by two seemingly unrelated ancient civilizations: the ancient Mayans on one side of the Pacific Ocean and the ancient Balinese on the other. During the course of my research, I have uncovered several mysterious, unprecedented and unexplained similarities in their architecture, iconography, and religion. These similarities are so striking and profound that the Mayans and Balinese seem to have been twin civilizations—as if children of the same parent. Yet, incredibly, this mystery is not only being ignored by American scholars, it’s being suppressed.

#1 – Stepped Pyramids (With Temples On Top)

BALINESE (LEFT): The Mother Temple of Besakih, or Pura Besakih, is the most important, the largest and holiest pyramidal temple in Bali, Indonesia, and one of a series of Balinese temples. It has stepped terraces, resembling a stepped pyramid.
MAYAN (RIGHT): This stepped pyramid, called the High Priest’s Temple or Ossuary, has four sides with staircases on each side. The sides of the stairways are decorated with interlaced feathered serpents. Pillars associated with this building are in the form of the Toltec feathered serpent and human figures.s[h=2]#2 – Twin Dragons / Serpents Balusters Running Down Temple Sides[/h]

BALINESE (LEFT): The last stage of Besakih temple is called Stairway to Heaven, and it is made of twin serpent / dragon balustrades that run down the full length of the stairway. At the bottom of the stairway their mouths are open.
MAYAN (RIGHT): The pyramid of El Castillo features plumed serpents that run down the sides of the northern balustrade. At the bottom of the stairway their mouths are open. During the spring and autumn equinoxes, the late afternoon sun strikes off the northwest corner of the pyramid and casts a series of triangular shadows against the northwest balustrade, which creates the illusion of a feathered serpent “crawling” down the pyramid.sp



https://www.richardcassaro.com/supp...ent-cultures-on-opposite-sides-of-the-pacific

prasad1 said:

Is this the theory that all the continents were joined at one time before they split apart?
That may very well be true, but the timeline is very different.



View attachment 6387

Pangea was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from earlier continental units approximately 335 million years ago, and it began to break apart about 175 million years ago. In contrast to the present Earth and its distribution of continental mass, much of Pangaea was in the southern hemisphereand surrounded by a superocean, Panthalassa. Pangaea was the most recent supercontinent to have existed and the first to be reconstructed by geologists.

Early hominins—particularly theaustralopithecines, whose brains and anatomy are in many ways more similar to ancestral non-human apes—are less often referred to as "human" than hominins of the genus Homo. Several of these hominins used fire, occupied much of Eurasia, and gave rise to anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Africa about 200,000 years ago.

So that can be the explanation of religious similarities in the Ancient world.

Source: Wikipedia.

Click to expand...

hi

i think so...its my assumption/theory....not on any record based...becoz..whole universe created with two parts....one is 75 %

water....25% earth part.....so whole earth part was in single part....later due to water divided earth into different continents/

islands...may be true...but im not sure..

Heard someone say - "There are over 1 billion Hindus but there is no such thing as Hinduism"

I think it may be similar to "convergent evolution". Bats have wings, birds have wings. But bats did not get their wings from bats.

Rather than go into Panagea/ Gondowanaland, it is easier to trace common human ancestor to the "out of Africa" theory.

But since organized religion is much more recent, perhaps all tribes started worshipping the natural forces. Monotheism was then a much later occurrence.

The topic you started is very interesting.
You can not sweep it away as coincidence.
There has to some rational explanation.
It has something to do with Human migration.
Animals that got separated evolve their own culture which is different from their ancestors.
But some human cultures in spite of geographical distance seems to be identical.
It is rather fascinating.

[FONT=&quot]There are two possible reasons. First, diffusion, the idea that there was a common, ancient culture from which the ideas originated and then spread as humans migrated across the planet. The second is parallel development which argues that the structure and processes of the human brain are common amongst all peoples and so the same symbols and metaphors to explain the natural world developed amongst people without any contact between the cultures. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The idea of diffusion has fallen out of favor with most scholars. It leads you down the path of an ancient, lost civilization such as Atlantis. The idea of parallel development gained a lot of strength from the work of Carl Jung and his archetypes as well as the comparative mythology scholar Joseph Campbell.


[/FONT]

Anthropologists will tell you that a myth is often the faded memory of a real event. Details may have been added, lost, or obscured in the telling and retelling, but the kernel of truth remains. When two separate cultures have the same "myth" in their body of folklore, their ancestors must have either experienced the same event, or they both descended from a common ancestral source which itself experienced the event.

The only credible way to understand the widespread, similar flood legends is to recognize that all people living today, even though separated geographically, linguistically, and culturally, have descended from the few real people who survived a real global flood, on a real boat which eventually landed on a real mountain. Their descendants now fill the globe, never to forget the real event.

http://www.icr.org/article/why-does-nearly-every-culture-have-tradition-globa/

The Amazing Connections Between the Inca and Egyptian Cultures


http://humansarefree.com/2013/12/the-amazing-connections-between-inaca.html



Many baffling and unsolved similarities link the ancient Egyptians and the ancient pre-Incas/Incas ― even though both cultures evolved on opposite sides of the planet, separated by oceans.



BOTH THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AND INCAS / PRE-INCAS…used solar symbolism as a definitive part of their religion, which was identical. In Egypt the solar deity was Ra, in Peru the solar deity was Inti. In both cultures, you are the solar deity; the sun is a symbol of you, of your soul. You are a sol. You are an eternal divine sun. You have voluntarily Incarnated in matter, but now have amnesia of your true spiritual Self, you’ve lost your way home.

Sometime back, I pointed out that the Reincarnation Theory might have originated from Egypt.

There may be some connections between Hinduism, especially Vaishnavism, and Egyptian Culture.

hi

in pre vedic period.....the ppl worshiped vayu/agni/varuna etc.....not any gods....may be many cultures worship the same as

hindus....especially MAYAN OF MEXICO or GREEK MYTHOLOGY....EVEN EGYPTIANS....after puranic period....we got so

much gods/godesses...

CHANDRU1849 said:

Sometime back, I pointed out that the Reincarnation Theory might have originated from Egypt.

There may be some connections between Hinduism, especially Vaishnavism, and Egyptian Culture.

Click to expand...

Vaishnavism I feel could be connected to Semetic school of thought cos its Dualism but with a Monotheistic flavor.

All this dualism, monotheism are too high level concepts.

In most ancient religions, people were just worshiping natural forces and entities.

Regarding TBSji's concept, it is not just Agni/Vayu/Varun/Indra, people were praying to all kinds of local deities (particularly outside North India) which are never mentioned in any Sanskrit texts.

Maybe Sanskrit is not synonymous with Hinduism ...

Yes. Hinduism is unique in the sense that there is no religion called "Hinduism". Neither there is reference of the word "hindu" in the Vedic Scriptures. According to known sources the word 'hindu' first occurs, as "a Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Sindhu (Sanskrit: Sindhu meaning river), more specifically in the 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I.The Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, and is called "Hapta Hindu" in Zend Avesta. Thus the name denotes the collective beliefs and practices of people living across the river Sindhu in the continent of Bharatha varsha.

". It did not regard it as its mission to convert humanity to any one opinion. For what counts is conduct and not belief. Worshipers of different Gods and followers of different rites were taken into the Hindu fold. The ancient practice of vratyastoma, described fully in the Tandya Brahmana, shows that not only individuals but whole tribes were absorbed into Hinduism." (The Hindu view of life-Dr.S.RadhaKrishnan)
No wonder the followers of different religious philosophy are claimed under the word "Hindu". There is no legal definition for the word "Hindu" till date.
Vedas which are the basis of the spiritual enquiry among the believers is called Shruti- that which is heard. They are Devine revelations, considered "apauruṣeya". Thus they were not written in Sanskrit language, which is refined and codified much later.
Vedas are composed in poem form and Chandas is one of the names by which the Vedas are called. It means ‘that which exhilarates’ or ‘that which gives a (protective) covering’.
More commonly it denotes the meters in poetry. Vedic prosody called ‘Chandas,’ Buddha calls the language of Vedas as 'Chandas'.

This is a vast subject many books and research papers are available on this subject.

Brahmanyan
Bangalore.

Vaishnavism has lot of similarities with Abrahamic Religions. All have come into prominence thru battles - for example : Ramayana and Mahabharatha.