Bhudist India Hindu China

Hello everyone today's question is how can we make China have a ruling Majority that is of a hindu population or has the population have the hindu religion. And By this how can we have India have a majority of Bhuddist religion?
 
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Hello everyone today's question is how can we make China have a ruling Majority that is of a hindu population or has the population have the hindu population. And By this how can we have India have a majority of Bhuddist religion?

Buddhist majority in India is very simple. Make the Mauryan empire last a few more centuries and you might have a Buddhist majority in India. Indeed, at one time, Buddhism had considerable numbers (probably even a majority) in the middle and lower Gangetic valley and was definitely the majority throughout the Indus valley and in eastern Afghanistan. Peninsular India might be converted to Buddhism if Mauryan empire lasts a few more centuries in south India.

Hindu China is almost ASB. Hinduism, as many have pointed out here, is not really a single monolithic religion, but is actually a whole horde of beliefs woven into the cultural fabric of India itself. I cannot see how that culture could be superimposed on a Confucian-Taoist China.
 
Buddhist majority in India is very simple. Make the Mauryan empire last a few more centuries and you might have a Buddhist majority in India. Indeed, at one time, Buddhism had considerable numbers (probably even a majority) in the middle and lower Gangetic valley and was definitely the majority throughout the Indus valley and in eastern Afghanistan. Peninsular India might be converted to Buddhism if Mauryan empire lasts a few more centuries in south India.

Hindu China is almost ASB. Hinduism, as many have pointed out here, is not really a single monolithic religion, but is actually a whole horde of beliefs woven into the cultural fabric of India itself. I cannot see how that culture could be superimposed on a Confucian-Taoist China.


Honestly Buddhism and Hinduism are not my forte but thank you for telling me this. Just wondering umm could Hinduism if it does spread like from a diaspora Could hinduism settle in tibet or somewhere else near china and because of China's influence Hinduism becomes a little bit more centralized so it could slowly become a pluasibal religion for the Chinese?
 
Honestly Buddhism and Hinduism are not my forte but thank you for telling me this. Just wondering umm could Hinduism if it does spread like from a diaspora Could hinduism settle in tibet or somewhere else near china and because of China's influence Hinduism becomes a little bit more centralized?

It might be quite possible for Hainan and Taiwan to become Hindu if they get influenced by Indian traders like what happened in Cambodia or central and southern Vietnam. Further, Yunnan had a large number of Indian influences at one time (during the Nan Zhao period and continuing into the Kingdom of Dali times). It might be possible for them to develop along Indian culture if they get more influenced from India between the eighth and thirteenth century. Finally, making Tibet Hindu is quite possible. Just make Tibet accept Buddhism during the Maurya reign and adopt Indian influences. Then, one king might just convert into Hinduism from Buddhism and create a fake Indian lineage and get absorbed into the Hindu metaculture.

The rest of China - I would say almost impossible, since the Confucian-Taoist culture was the predominant one.
 
It might be quite possible for Hainan and Taiwan to become Hindu if they get influenced by Indian traders like what happened in Cambodia or central and southern Vietnam. Further, Yunnan had a large number of Indian influences at one time (during the Nan Zhao period and continuing into the Kingdom of Dali times). It might be possible for them to develop along Indian culture if they get more influenced from India between the eighth and thirteenth century. Finally, making Tibet Hindu is quite possible. Just make Tibet accept Buddhism during the Maurya reign and adopt Indian influences. Then, one king might just convert into Hinduism from Buddhism and create a fake Indian lineage and get absorbed into the Hindu metaculture.

The rest of China - I would say almost impossible, since the Confucian-Taoist culture was the predominant one.
Okay thanks but once hinduism get's to Tibet and indochina. When China start's to influence those area's will Hinduism start to become more of a centralized faith? More along the lines of A COnfucian Taoist culture?
 
Okay thanks but once hinduism get's to Tibet and indochina. When China start's to influence those area's will Hinduism start to become more of a centralized faith? More along the lines of A COnfucian Taoist culture?

You mean - a `Son of Heaven' ruling with the `Mandate of Heaven'? Well, it is possible. The thing to remember is that many powerful Indian monarchs were absolute monarchs with few limits on their power imposed. Sure there was a King's Council, but the Council's function was purely advisory - the king still made all the decisions and everyone was expected to obey. The major difference between India and China about centralisation is the lack of the meritocratic bureaucracy that existed in China and the difference in political theory (India tended to be more a feudal despotism, while China tended towards Administrative Monarchy). Funny thing is that the Mauryan empire was centralised - there were no vassals and the entire kingdom was governed by centrally appointed bureaucrats. If it had lasted for a few more centuries, India might have got a centralised polity as well.

If China influences these areas and they get a meritocratic bureaucracy, I can easily see those areas develop along more centralised lines. But Tibet apart, none of them are large enough to be heavily decentralised. Even without Chinese influence, these states are going to be centralised. Nothing in Indian culture prevented centralisation.
 
I would like to second that Hindu China is ASB. Hinduism evolved out of the ancient Indo-European religion, and the problem is that there were scarcely any Indo-Europeans in China. The only way you might get something vaguely analoguous to Hinduism in China is to have the Tocharians or the Yuezhi successfully take over China.
 

Hendryk

Banned
A Hindu China is, as others have said, much more difficult than a Buddhist India, because China already has a "Hinduism" of its own, which is Taoism. OTOH, somewhat related to your challenge, there is this old thread about a Hindu Japan. Flocc and I came to the conclusion that a more adventurous Tamil thalassocracy might have resulted in a Hindu arc that stretches from the Indus to Honshu by way of the Malay and Filipino archipelagoes.
 
Is there any way for Taoism to evolve along lines that resemble what we think of as Hinduism? Perhaps if the concept of reincarnation was more thoroughly absorbed into Taoist philosophy?
 

Hendryk

Banned
Is there any way for Taoism to evolve along lines that resemble what we think of as Hinduism? Perhaps if the concept of reincarnation was more thoroughly absorbed into Taoist philosophy?
Well, depending on how you look at it, there are certain similarities between the Dao and the Brahman. I suppose that once Buddhism shows up to introduce the concepts of Dharma and Samsara, Taoism could pick them up. In OTL it was rather Buddhism that became influenced by Taoism, thus developing the Mahayana tradition.
 
A Hindu China is, as others have said, much more difficult than a Buddhist India, because China already has a "Hinduism" of its own, which is Taoism. OTOH, somewhat related to your challenge, there is this old thread about a Hindu Japan. Flocc and I came to the conclusion that a more adventurous Tamil thalassocracy might have resulted in a Hindu arc that stretches from the Indus to Honshu by way of the Malay and Filipino archipelagoes.

It can be seen that Japan already has considerable Hindu influences, particularly in the deities worshipped in its pantheon. Shoten (the Hindu Ganesh), Benzaiten (the Hindu Saraswati), Daikokuten (the Hindu Shiva) and Bishamonten (the Hindu Vaisravana) are all part of it. Of the Seven Deities of Fortune - the Shichifukujin - three are Hindu deities. Indeed, the `ten' suffix used in Japanese deities translates directly to Indian Deva (deity). There are hundreds of temples of Indra, Brahma, and Kubera scattered all over Japan.

Also, the Tamil thalassocracy is rather overrated. The entire Indian coast, from Sindh to Bengal indulged in trade to a considerable extent. The Bengal and Gujarat trade in south east Asia was at least as powerful as the Tamil trade. The Tamil thalassocracy became prominent because they were the only Indian kingdom to actually project power into south east Asia. But cultural influences travelled light and were around much before the powerful Tamil thalassocracy developed into a powerful force under the Pallavas and the Cholas.
 
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