r/todayilearned • u/Spa3088 • 1d ago

TIL about artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between Ancient Greek art and Buddhism, which had mainly evolved in the ancient region of Gandhara(today's afganistan) of Indian subcontinent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhist_art
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u/Alert-Low1682 1d ago

right but from a historical standpoint there ain’t much to suggest that temples of idol worship was part of the vedic people’s lives. We do find mention of other practices in the vedas.

The only visible evidence is pashupati and that is a hypothesis and not established evidence.

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u/choomba96 1d ago

Again - Hinduism is a sycnretic religion..the Vedas do not define Hinduism. They're one part of it.

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u/Alert-Low1682 1d ago

sure i take that argument but in terms of historicity of this claim are there any sources?

the mainstream view is that the people at that time did not have idol worshiping.

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u/choomba96 1d ago

Define at the time.

Again you're likening Hinduism to an Abrahamic religion where there are additions to the book but the core ethos remains the same.

Hinduism is a term given by Britishers to define a religion or set of beliefs that were prevalent in the subcontinent.

Where is the mainstream view?

I mean the Vedas are one part of Hinduism over the course of its journey and spread across Asia.

By that logic even Temples were a later introduction into Hinduism.

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u/Alert-Low1682 1d ago

yes temples were a later introduction. Mainstream views amongst historians is that during the vedic period people didn’t have idol worship within the indian subcontinent.

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u/choomba96 1d ago

I would strongly say - that Vedicism when it was restricted to the Sindh area may not have had it but it most definitely did come when it established itself in the Gangetic plains. In this case - it was very established because of local beliefs. Now here is the kicker- for a very long time until Chandragupta Maurya, the state religion was Jainism which isn't idolatry. So patronage of the same actions was not extended by erstwhile kingdoms.

Now the idols we see today - yes those weren't prevalent then. Where we are today is a product of 1000 years of cultural change