Can we trace the line of Hinduism back to Zoroastrianism and even before?

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I mean, yes? Aryans went two directions, west into Europe and east into India (hence Indo-Aryan). The ones that settled in India's paganism evolved into early Vedic religion. The ones who stayed in Iran became Zoroastrianism. The ones that went to Europe created Euro paganism.

It's not a disciplined, rigorous historical theory, but I've speculated that the more forested a country is the more polytheistic it will be inclined to be while the more open it is the more monotheistic it will be inclined to be as a product of how the person understands their surroundings. See how Abrahamic religions came out of hellish arid/desert areas but also the monotheisms (Ghost Dance, Native American Church) of the American Indians and Tengriism. Then contrast to the rich pantheons and sometimes even fixations on very local spirits of Shinto, Hinduism, European paganisms and Mesoamerican paganism.
 
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Slap47 said:
Hinduism is literally just all of the folk religions of India other than Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism consolidated into one group for administrative/tax reasons.
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Yeah, "Hinduism" as a unified religious identity is a colonial construct. Hindu nationalists have run with it in part because it's politically useful, although I'm sure many are also true believers in the idea. Most academics, if they're being honest, recognize it as a problematic term, one that needs to be qualified, at least.
 
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Yes and the Rigveda, the earliest Hindu holy hymns, have a lot in common with the Avestan text of Zoroastrianism and Sanskrit and Avestani are sister languages, probably from the same culture that came down from the Pontic steppes after splitting off from the groups that became Greek, Italic, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic speakers.

Jupiter = sky father = Zeus is a god in early Hinduism, Dyaus.

The Indo-Europeans took all this shit over by mastering the horse early.

Midwit recent book: Proto by Laura Spinney
Prosumer edition: Horse, Wheel, and Language by Anthony.
 
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Slap47 said:
Arguing they come from the same people because of similarities is a stretch. Judaism takes alot from ancient Egyptian religion, but that's because they were neighbors.
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In what ways do the Hebrews take from Egyptian paganism? I'm genuinely curious on this one because I don't think I have ever heard of it before.
 
Slap47 said:
Arguing they come from the same people because of similarities is a stretch. Judaism takes alot from ancient Egyptian religion, but that's because they were neighbors.
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That’s not the argument. The argument is based on archaeological, genetic, and linguistic factors see the works cited, but you do you.

Also Ancient Egyptian and Hebrew are in fact from the same language phylum as well.

AnsemSoD1 said:
In what ways do the Hebrews take from Egyptian paganism? I'm genuinely curious on this one because I don't think I have ever heard of it before.
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Egypt controlled Canaan for centuries. But if you read Exodus, a lot of the magic Moses performs is Egyptian magic. But otherwise, looking at the names used for God you can see Canaanite El (sky), Shaddai (earth/fertility), Midianite Fire God in the burning bush, etc.

Second Temple demonology and angelology was influenced by Persian/Mesopotamian beliefs too.
 
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Slap47 said:
Zoroastrians view cleaning and being clean as holy acts so....
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So do the Hindus. That's why you have to go bathe in the Ganges to spiritually purify yourself and catch 15,000 diseases.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything in the Vedas about not shitting in your holy river or tossing corpses in it.
 
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AnsemSoD1 said:
In what ways do the Hebrews take from Egyptian paganism? I'm genuinely curious on this one because I don't think I have ever heard of it before.
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The Tabernacle is basically a ripoff of an ancient Egyptian practice. Temple Judaism was clearly influenced by the Egyptian presthood with their obsession with ritual purity and light/dark. Monotheism started in Egypt and probably spread through there.
 
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Slap47 said:
The Tabernacle is basically a ripoff of an ancient Egyptian practice. Temple Judaism was clearly influenced by the Egyptian presthood with their obsession with ritual purity and light/dark. Monotheism started in Egypt and probably spread through there.
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Do the robes of the Pharisees and Sagisees take any influence from the paganism of the time?
 
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