On the subject of India here is something about the world that is already known, but not widely-known. Everyone should know about this.
There are, broadly speaking, two main classifications of religion in the world.
There are the western, or monotheistic, religions of Judaism, Christianity and, Islam. Monotheistic means to be based on one god. The original monotheistic religion was Judaism, and Christianity and Islam sprang from that.
Then there are the eastern religions, the major ones being Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism came first and Buddhism sprang from that.
These are not the only religions but the others are minor, in the number of adherents, by comparison. Jainism is another eastern religion. Sikhism is a kind of a bridge between the eastern and western religions. Confucianism is more of a philosophy than a religion.
The predominant religion greatly affects the nature of the society in which it operates. We saw in the posting on this blog, "Understanding The World In Terms Of The South And West And The North And East", April 2016, how the concept of the nation differs in the two halves of the world.
In the North And East, the nations have tended to stay the same since ancient times. But in the South And West, new nations have tended to come into being with new ideas.
The two halves of the world are based on their predominant religions. The South And West is based primarily on the monotheistic religions and the North And East is based primarily on the eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
The two main families of religions, the monotheistic and the eastern, are generally considered as polar opposites. The monotheistic religions focus on salvation by a personal God. The eastern religions typically focus on seeking enlightenment through a fundamental cosmic principle and reincarnation.
The Jews began with a man named Abraham. He had faith that there was only one God, not the multitude of gods typically worshipped by people of the time. Abraham's God was an almighty and all-powerful God. Abraham's God led him from a place called Haran, probably in modern Iraq, to the Jews' Promised Land, which would become the nation of Israel.
Israel was divided into twelve tribes. The Israelites became known as Jews for the tribe of Judah, which became the predominant tribe.
Before Christianity and Islam the Jews, in the nation of Israel, were first delivered from bondage by God. Later they were disciplined by two exiles from their homeland. The first exile was the permanent exile of the ten tribes of the northern nation of Israel, after the twelve tribes had split into the two nations of Israel and Judah. These ten tribes were scattered around the Assyrian Empire, and have since been known as the Ten Lost Tribes.
The second exile was the temporary exile of the remaining nation of Judah to Babylon. The Jews' original Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians and the Jews built the so-called Second Temple in it's place after they were allowed to return from Babylon, after it had been conquered by the Persian Empire.
But not all of the Jews returned to their homeland. Some were doing quite well in Babylon and chose to stay. The result was a thriving Jewish community that lasted from Babylon until modern times. Most of these Iraqi Jews were finally brought to Israel in the 1950s, but the community in Babylon, that declined to return from the exile, played a prominent role in Jewish history.
Some Jews from places like Babylon and Syria migrated eastward to Iran and India, where there were thriving Jewish communities.
There were also ancient Jewish communities, that survived into modern times, in Yemen and Ethiopia. Most were eventually brought back to the modern nation of Israel by airlift.
Judaism was the original of the western monotheistic religions. Christianity is the belief that Jesus was the Jews' long-awaited messiah. Islam acknowledges Jesus and the prophets of Judaism, but claims that Muhammad restored their true message, which had been mistranslated and distorted, and was the "seal" of the prophets.
Just as the original religion of the western, or monotheistic, religions was Judaism, the original eastern religion was Hinduism. Buddhism later sprang from Hinduism. We do not think of India today as a Buddhist country but the wheel symbol on the Indian flag is actually a Buddhist symbol, because Buddhism did originate in India.
Hinduism is polytheistic, meaning many gods, but centers on the universal cosmic principle, known as Brahman.
Hinduism, originating in India, used to be known for it's caste system. The highest caste was of Hindu priests and religious figures, and was known as the Brahmins.
The universal cosmic principle is called Brahman. It's priestly caste are called Brahmins.
There is a writing script that appeared in northern India several centuries before the time of Christ. It is known as the Brahmic Script. It is very important because almost all of the later writing scripts in India are descended from it.
According to the Wikipedia article on "Brahmic Script", it is generally believed to be of Semitic origin. Semitic means the people of the Middle East, including the Jews. We saw above that Jews had migrated eastward to India from Babylon, Syria and, Persia.
Having related words from the same root has been seen before in India. Indian civilization emerged around the Indus River, in what is now Pakistan. The predominant religion in India is Hinduism. Notice the similarity of the words "Indus", "India" and, "Hindu".
Now, what do you notice here?
The words "Brahman" and "Brahmin", which are so important to religion in India, and the word "Brahmic", which is so important to writing in India, is very similar to the name of Abraham. The Brahmic Script, which is of Semitic origin, seems to have been named for Abraham.
Abraham's God was the one all-powerful and almighty God. The western monotheistic religions begin with Abraham. Brahman is the Hindu concept of the universal cosmic principle. The eastern religions begin with Hinduism.
Doesn't it seem that Brahman was named for Abraham? The migrating Jews brought the script to India and the Jews were the people of Abraham.
I am not the first person to notice this but I do think it deserves more attention. The eastern and western religions look like polar opposites but this appears to be a fundamental link between them.
This is related to the idea that modern Hinduism may have come from Egypt. Modern Hinduism is considered by many to be remarkably similar to the religion of Ancient Egypt, with the sacred Nile River replaced by the Ganges.
We saw this in a posting on the World and Economics Blog,
http://markmeekeconomics.blogspot.com/2009/07/wage-and-price-disparity.html?m=0
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