hindus walking into afghanistan be like (legit their mountain range means 'hindu killer mountains')
also can we talk about the hindu kush mountain range? theres so many cultures there, some even avoided islamization and the larger hindu religion. the Kalash people for example practice a religion that is very similar to ancient Vedic rites. basically its a cryochamber culture
In myth it is notably the role of Indra, his rainbow and his eagle who is shot at, the killing of his father, the killing of the snake or of a demon with many heads, and the central myth of releasing the Sun from an enclosure (by Mandi < Mahān Deva). There are echoes of the Puruṣa myth, and there is the cyclical elevation of Yama Rājan (Imra) to sky god (Witzel 1984: 288 sqq., pace Fussman 1977: 70). Importantly, the division between two groups of deities (Devalog) and their intermarriage (Imra's mother is a 'giant') has been preserved, and this dichotomy is still re-enacted in rituals and festivals, especially the Chaumos. Ritual still is of this type: Among the Kalash it is basically, though not always, temple-less, involving fire, sacred wood, three circumambulations, and the *hotṛ. Some features already have their Vedic, and no longer their Central Asian form (e.g. dragon > snake).
They basically maintained the 'thunder god as leader of the pantheon' that other Indo-European languages have. its very neat to see. they also have festivals around the solstice that involve burning logs (yuletide / yule logs) and hunting. they also have a formal split among their gods, e.g. aesir, vanir, jotuns. or in greek, the titan vs god dichotomy.
my favorite part of their 'yule' :
The men must be divided into two parties: the pure ones have to sing the well-honored songs of the past, but the impure sing wild, passionate, and obscene songs, with an altogether different rhythm. This is accompanied by a 'sex change': men dress as women, women as men (Balumain also is partly seen as female and can change between both forms at will
i just found it impressive how close their religion is to vedic. its been able to stay that way for thousands of years!
there were a couple of invasions by hindus when it was buddhist, which i assume is what the name refers to. though i suppose it could be because of timur or something, or the hindus first attempting to repel the muslim invasion of the indus valley
It had different name back when it was Buddhist. "Kush" is a pashto/persian word for slaying. They named the mountain range after the slaves they have killed
o ok yeah just looked it up. some say slaves some say its a reference to the first invasion of the indus valley when a hindu king tried to cross the mountains to counter attack ghazni
seleucids walking into bactria be like
hindus walking into afghanistan be like (legit their mountain range means 'hindu killer mountains')
also can we talk about the hindu kush mountain range? theres so many cultures there, some even avoided islamization and the larger hindu religion. the Kalash people for example practice a religion that is very similar to ancient Vedic rites. basically its a cryochamber culture
They basically maintained the 'thunder god as leader of the pantheon' that other Indo-European languages have. its very neat to see. they also have festivals around the solstice that involve burning logs (yuletide / yule logs) and hunting. they also have a formal split among their gods, e.g. aesir, vanir, jotuns. or in greek, the titan vs god dichotomy.
my favorite part of their 'yule' :
i just found it impressive how close their religion is to vedic. its been able to stay that way for thousands of years!
Kush
Pretty sure the Hindus walking into those mountain ranges were slaves who died of extreme cold and starvation
there were a couple of invasions by hindus when it was buddhist, which i assume is what the name refers to. though i suppose it could be because of timur or something, or the hindus first attempting to repel the muslim invasion of the indus valley
It had different name back when it was Buddhist. "Kush" is a pashto/persian word for slaying. They named the mountain range after the slaves they have killed
o ok yeah just looked it up. some say slaves some say its a reference to the first invasion of the indus valley when a hindu king tried to cross the mountains to counter attack ghazni