Why did Hinduism survive while the other IE pagan religions died out?

[mswas]

I missed the part about Intermarriage. In that case I suppose Zoroaster’s days are numbered. Good thing life on Earth only has 7 more years anyway. ;p

Erek

[AK09]

@yBeayf

Despite local variations, the various settled Indo-European agricultural societies had common origins, and several similarities in their indigenous religions – broadly similar pantheons with powerful goddesses; strong traditions of heroic epics; a tripartite division of society into priests, warriors, and farmers; and widespread religious practices, such as a reverence for and keeping of perpetual flames, elaborate purificatory rituals, veneration of wells and small bodies of water, sacred threads, and the conception of a divine beverage (soma/haoma, ambrosia, the Nordic blot rituals, etc.).

Nevertheless, within a few hundred years after Christ, the Roman world was largely Christian, having abandoned the old paganism. (As Cecil says here, " the old Greek and Roman pagan religions were […] completely out of gas."). Why the old paganism ceased to be compelling for a large part of the population I don’t know, but the fact remains that a great many people found no problem abandoning their indigenous beliefs for an imported religion (unless you believe that Christianity was just paganism under a different name, which I don’t).

The rest of the first millenium saw most of the northern European pagan cultures becoming Christianized – the Celts, Slavs, and Germanic peoples. Christianity never took firm hold in Persia, but Islam did, and today Zoroastrianism is hanging on by a fibre of a thread.

So that leaves India. Despite an early Christian presence in the south, continuous trading contacts with the Islamic and Graeco-Roman worlds, and several centuries of Muslim rule, today only around one-eighth of the population is Muslim, and Hindus are by far the majority. The Graeco-Roman religion is long defunct, and the living transmission of Hellenic philosophy ceased. The Druids are gone, and we scarcely know the first thing about their religion. The best information we have on Balto-Slavic paganism is a set of 20th-century copies of a now-lost set of inscriptions that stand a good chance of having been forgeries. But Hindu philosophy is still being transmitted from teacher to student, and the old gods and old rituals are still going strong. So what is it about India that allowed Hinduism to survive and thrive, while everywhere else it was replaced almost completely by Christianity or Islam?

It is truly an amazing occurrence, that practices and rituals which really really old are still in practice. I had the same thought last week, when i had visited my village near Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India for the yearly Pongal cooking festival, also known as aadi pongal. (Please note this is different from “Pongal” festival that happens during Mid of Jan.) (The difference is during Jan Pongal we do it in our current homes, during aadi pongal we go to our ancestral temple and keep pongal there).

So coming to the reason behind this festival (aadi pongal) as quoted by my mother “Your father’s line of ancestors have been keeping it in this spot (a nondescript, small & old temple) for several generations (at least 10+), they all come here (maybe in spirit form) & see that we have been keeping the tradition alive, making their hearts overflow with joy and shower our family with blessings of all those who were here before us”.

The entire process felt ancient & the nuances of conducting the rituals were done by a local priest (not the Brahmin one) in turn instructed by old people (70+). For example we needed to heat the rice in water so that it overflows the container which holds them & the tricky part is one should not use any modern equipment (no petrol or kerosene), all done with rocks and sticks + match sticks. All this followed by sacrificing the Goat. The entire experience created a deep connection between the land and my conscious (i really dont know why, but it did).

I could only guess why such rituals are still at practice in India, it all goes to the firmness of the belief and the way next generation is initiated into this. (most of the participants were from Chennai and some from Bangalore, major/morden cities in India). I wouldn’t want this practice to end before my time is over here.