Buddha does not become Buddha

Not that Buddhism became the dominant religion either, but it made such a tremendous impact that Hinduism later tried to incorporate Buddhism into itself to close the gap on the cognitive dissonance of how such a "heresy" nearly drowned the local religions. Hence why some Hindus traditionally regard the Buddha as the 9th Avatar of Vishnu.

Scientific Potential
Indian religions also carried very strong scientific potential if developed further. I dare say in OTL they have had an impact, probably via Buddhism along the Silk Road and the merging with Western philosophy. But in TTL, even if Jainism replaces Buddhism, there is still strong potential there.

Interesting thing about Jainism is that it has one the most developed Atomic theory of all of the ancient philosophies. That is, they included subatomic particles and positive and negative charges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_philosophy#Atomism


Buddhism however, also have Kalapas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalapa_(atomism)

There was also a lot of early science within the Vedic scriptures as well
 
Interesting thing about Jainism is that it has one the most developed Atomic theory of all of the ancient philosophies. That is, they included subatomic particles and positive and negative charges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_philosophy#Atomism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_philosophy#Atomism
Interesting, but how can an atom change from being infinitesimally small to having an extension or back?

Sounds more like a description of qualia.
 
A world without Buddhism is a very interesting TL. it would certainly help Hinduism expand at the start, but perhaps it's continuing social issues (Hinduism today is an evolved version, kind of like Catholicism since the 60's. Kind of.)

Someone should write a TL about it!
 
A world without Buddhism is a very interesting TL. it would certainly help Hinduism expand at the start, but perhaps it's continuing social issues (Hinduism today is an evolved version, kind of like Catholicism since the 60's. Kind of.)

As I said before, Hinduism would actually evolve slower without Buddhism unless a significant replacement takes Buddhism’s place. Hinduism (if we can call it that) needed a significant challenge from the Sramanic schools to trigger reform and syncretism, and further unify the Vedic traditions. Alot of what we consider to be Hinduism only started developing in this era, prior to that, the Vedic religion was almost entirely a different series of faiths, as varied as the Germanic Religion. Hinduism was also not a religion that was very “expandable”, its one of those faiths in which conversion was not really a thing. Until modern times anyway. Consolidation of prior traditions yes, spreading everywhere, not really.

Interestingly, Hindu deities are usually popular in modern Buddhist countries. Tons of Chinese and South Asian gods are Hindu Gods (though a Buddhist conception of the Devas would be fundamentally different than a Hindu’s).
 
As I said before, Hinduism would actually evolve slower without Buddhism unless a significant replacement takes Buddhism’s place. Hinduism (if we can call it that) needed a significant challenge from the Sramanic schools to trigger reform and syncretism, and further unify the Vedic traditions. Alot of what we consider to be Hinduism only started developing in this era, prior to that, the Vedic religion was almost entirely a different series of faiths, as varied as the Germanic Religion. Hinduism was also not a religion that was very “expandable”, its one of those faiths in which conversion was not really a thing. Until modern times anyway. Consolidation of prior traditions yes, spreading everywhere, not really.

Interestingly, Hindu deities are usually popular in modern Buddhist countries. Tons of Chinese and South Asian gods are Hindu Gods (though a Buddhist conception of the Devas would be fundamentally different than a Hindu’s).
Aye, the Thai kings see themselves as an incantation of Vishnu
 
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