I'm
writing this after a breathtaking visit to Arizona's Grand Canyon. To many
Native American tribes the Grand Canyon is a sacred place: site of numerous
origin myths from the Havasupai to the Zuni; hushed repose of the Hopi dead. If
I were forced to choose a religion, that’s the kind of religion I could go for.
The Grand Canyon confers statures on a religion, outclassing the petty
smallness of the Abrahamics, the three squabbling cults which, through
historical accident, still afflict the world. Richard Dawkins, The Science In The Soul
Since I'm versed in the old beliefs, myths, and religions of the ancient Tunisia, in addition to my fondness for ancient pagan temples of the antiquities, I can only agree with Richard Dawkins every time I visit a place in Asia where the old beliefs
are still alive. India, Nepal, the Island of Bali, and some parts of Asia
bravely resisted the spread of Islam and Christianity into their lands and preserved the oldest religions and cults. For these
peoples and the rest of the ancient world the land and the nature were the
origins of myths, custom and traditions, and laws. Bringing a new cult, pantheons, and tradition weren't considered a replacement of the existing ones. Both new comers and indigenous assimilated their pantheons into the encountered new ones; Roman used to adopt the gods of the conquered lands: ISIS (not the Islamic state haha) is Egyptian, Saturn looks like Semitic Baal and Ceres is Greek.
Roughly
95% of world’s Hindus live in India and Nepal. That’s natural! Hinduism is a
compilation of traditions and philosophies practiced in India, or the land
beyond the Indus valley. This term was first used by Greeks and Persians to
describe the peoples that used to live beyond Indus river, it flows through actual
Pakistan. The term "Hindu" became familiar in the 18th and
19th centuries when British scholars started using it to describe distinctive Indian practices. The term excludes Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs.
In the
beginning of the first millennium, Hindu traders introduced their gods and beliefs
to Southeast Asia the same way Phoenician traders had introduced their gods
to North Africa 10 centuries earlier. Southeast Asian Hinduism, like its North African counterparts after the arrival of the Phoenicians from actual Lebanon, is a syncretism
between local beliefs and traditions that had existed before the arrival of
Hindu traders from the Indian Sub-continent.
Like all synchronized religions, Southeast Asia has its own version of Hinduism: same gods but different names and why not
stories. It reminds us of ancient Greeks, Romans, and Phoenicians when they
introduce their gods to other Mediterranean peoples: same function, features
but different names and stories. As matter of fact, Greek historians used to assimilate the gods of the different civilizations into theirs: the Greek god Zeus became Jupiter, the Phoenician God Eshmun became the Greek Aesculapius, and so on.
I witnessed Southeastern Hinduism when I visited Malaysia and Indonesia.
Despite being Muslim majority countries with 60% and 95% respectively, Malaysia
and Indonesia have an important Hindu community. In Malaysia the Hindu
community is made of Indian expats, while in Indonesia Hindus are indigenous.
The most famous Hindu site in Malaysia is The Batu Caves in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. It was there where I started encountering the oldest religious practices on earth; more than 5000 years old, older than Judaism based on archaeological record. The site hosts the tallest statue of the lord Murugan, the Hindu God of war. By the way, it was easy to recognize that he is a god of war since he holds a spear like his peers Mars and Ares of the Roman and the Greek mythology.
Finally, I can't hide my fondness for the Island of Bali in Indonesia. Its street processions drive me crazy: this is how many modern painters, without witnessing a Hindu procession, imagined ancient gods and goddesses processions in the ancient world.
