I recently made a map and a description of a world defined by the emergence of a evangelistic religion in northern India, contemporous to Buddhism and Jainism. This initially was inspired by some speculations of whether Jainism could have taken Buddhism's place, but went on a different tangent. I was inspired somewhat by reading about the history of Gnosticism, and how it represented a dark mirror-image and rejection of Judaism. In OTL, Jainism and Buddhism were ultimately derived from ascetic movements that evolved out of even older Indian shamanistic traditions. These existed concurrent with the Vedic faith, and were absorbed into what became Hinduism (as was Buddhism in India).
Maaga, however, is different. It is a rejection, a counter-reaction to the Vedic faith that relies on that faith as background moreso than asceticism. In this thread I am interested in getting others input in order to flesh it out and make it more plausible in a cultural and metaphysical sense.
It is a revealed religion, preached by a man known as Janaka. The wheel of life of the Vedic faith was, Janarka preached, a prison artificially created to house and contain human souls by the demiurge Braah in bodily vessels, or kaya. There existed three kinds of beings in the universe: vinnanasatta (conscious beings), anattasatta (unconscious beings, or automatons) and asavasatta (corrupt beings). It is this division of beings that serves as the most important, and most contentious, theological point in Maaga.
Janaka preached that vinnanasatta, represent beings who are equal to the demiurge, but who have been tricked and imprisoned by him into this universe, as state known as moha, or delusion. Only through realizing this truth will it be possible to break out of this condition. The wheel of reincarnation is simply a revolving door, operated by malicious creatures seeking to maintain the status quo.
To break the bonds of moha required a state of awareness, and the following of what was known as the Path, or Magga. Magga specified a moral philosphy for life to minimize moha and cultivate a sense of transcendence, but compared to the alternative doctrines of the time it was a relatively moderate lifestyle. The faith required no special dietary requirements as animals were considered simply automatons, and dismissed asceticism as merely another form of excessive sensuality.
Now, the largest point of contention is the idea that some human beings are actually not vinnana, but rather anatta or asava. To be anatta is bad enough, it means that one is simply an automaton, spiritually void and entirely mechanical. To be asava is worse, what animates one is not an equal human soul, for want of a better word, but an inferior and evil spirit created by Braah, a warden to maintain the illusion.
This distinction will be the foundation of all the disputes and bloodshed in the Maaga cultural sphere, and be used to justify both the most terrible atrocities and also used to encourage good works. Some examples:
- The concept that certain races are essentially anatta will be very popular in societies that hold slaves of an identifiably different ethnicity. Counterreaction would happen later, by those claiming all humans are vinnana. I expect that in societies where slaves spiritual worth is determined as nil, other rival faiths would take hold, secretly or not, amongst the slave population.
- Some will believe that the number of vinnana to be limited, though the precise numbers will be disputed, ranging from the billions to less than hundreds. Some sects will consider themselves the only vinnana in a fallen world, somewhat akin to the Elect of Calvinism. This tendency for collective solipsism will mean that traditions of monasteries and hermitude will likely not develop.
- The idea that women are anatta will be popular in some societies where the relative social position of women is low, but may not be sustainable. Except that position to disappear whenever a strong woman gets political power, such as a queen or king's consort. I can see many instances where men make bold claims of the anatta status of women when they are amongst fellow men, but quickly quieten down about it when they get home
- Times of war will, obviously enough, see enemies as asava or as anatta ruled by asava. Peace might, or might not, see the losers being rebranded as vinnana.
- Claims of asava may see the emergence of phenomena similar to witch hysteria. I can easily see the emergence of an entirely crackpot but highly complex science of determining an individuals spiritual value. In villages, strange old women who live by themselves may be accused of being asava, prompting the arrival of strange and dour men who put her through a series of physical and psychological tests to prove one way or the other. As asava are believed to be essentially inhuman, I would expect the penalties of being branded as one to be harsh indeed. One would also see such men on battlefields and recently-conquered lands, though there I expect such factors as rank, physical beauty, usefulness and presence or lack of back-talk to way heavily, though it would never be admitted.
One feature I am seeking to include is the way Maaga turns against itself in times of relative peace. When Maagists border with non-believers, the common consensus is that the heathens (or at least their leaders) represent asava, while the coreligionists are all vinnana. In times and areas where non-Maagists are absent, however, doctrinal squables will see the the Maagists turn against rival sects, claiming that the heretics are asava. This wouldn't always be the case, and would settle down for long periods, but the general rule is that the Maaga world is defined by a solid front along it's frontier, with a tulmutuous interior.
The history of Maaga would begin with the preaching of the extremely charismatic Janaka, and the later compilation of his writings and records of his actions into holy books written in Pali. Many of the spiritual terms I have used I have misappropriated from Pali Buddhist terms, though used differently. Maaga spreads amongst the non-Braham population more rapidly then Jainism or Buddhism, it is easier to convert into and live by with it's less strict lifestyle, and it is somewhat of a self-esteem boost. Unlike Buddhism, it will be impossible for the Vedic faith to absorb Maaga into itself, and success for Maaga will mean the extermination of the Vedic faith and no Hinduism. I let the Jains survive by migrating out of there and eventually becoming Gypsy/Jew analogues in China, with Buddhism surviving thanks to positive mentions of Siddhartha by Janaka in the sutras (expect pogroms, though).
The rise of Maaga will destroy the caste system of India (big butterflies) as well as seeing Pali outcompete and replace Sanskrit. By the 4th or 3rd centuries BCE, Maaga as the faith of a united Indian empire will begin to spread, to tribal communities and into Central Asia.
Other effects I will be positing is that Maaga will have, initially, less success in China than Buddhism (more threatening to the status quo) and will have an effect on Persia as well, making them more militantly Zoroastrian and paranoid and ethnic about it as well. Later, Maaga hordes from Central Asia will bring the faith to Europe.
As for other religions of the world. China, absent Buddhism, I see as eventually developing a form of Emperor worship based on local ideas. Perhaps Legalism will be stronger here, I have to devote some thought to it. In the Middle East, the same interactions between Hebraic morality and Hellenistic thought that gave rise to Christianity will spawn another messainical faith, but one highly divergant from our Christianity or Islam. In the West, a more Punic-influence Rome-analogue will see a Latinized Baal/Cronus cult (which if it survives seems to me to be the most likely candidate for becoming explorers and spreading to the Americas.) After working out some Maaga ideas, I may turn to the other faiths to see how they have developed in response to Maaga and each other.
Anyway, you can read up on the history I worked out on this post in the map thread. https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=4430597&postcount=7203
The main purpose of this thread is to get some outside feedback to work things out. I need to detail some more of the theology and the practices. I need to work out the theological mechanism for which following the Maaga allows one to break free from Braah's prison. Perhaps I need an eschatology. I will be doing some reading on early Hinduism to work out some of the theological ideas that were floating around at the time, and try to work out how they might be put to use and develop. I need to work out how differences in Maagist doctrine will emerge as it spreads, particularly in the differences between Indian and European Maaga. It should be interesting, I hope at least.
Maaga, however, is different. It is a rejection, a counter-reaction to the Vedic faith that relies on that faith as background moreso than asceticism. In this thread I am interested in getting others input in order to flesh it out and make it more plausible in a cultural and metaphysical sense.
It is a revealed religion, preached by a man known as Janaka. The wheel of life of the Vedic faith was, Janarka preached, a prison artificially created to house and contain human souls by the demiurge Braah in bodily vessels, or kaya. There existed three kinds of beings in the universe: vinnanasatta (conscious beings), anattasatta (unconscious beings, or automatons) and asavasatta (corrupt beings). It is this division of beings that serves as the most important, and most contentious, theological point in Maaga.
Janaka preached that vinnanasatta, represent beings who are equal to the demiurge, but who have been tricked and imprisoned by him into this universe, as state known as moha, or delusion. Only through realizing this truth will it be possible to break out of this condition. The wheel of reincarnation is simply a revolving door, operated by malicious creatures seeking to maintain the status quo.
To break the bonds of moha required a state of awareness, and the following of what was known as the Path, or Magga. Magga specified a moral philosphy for life to minimize moha and cultivate a sense of transcendence, but compared to the alternative doctrines of the time it was a relatively moderate lifestyle. The faith required no special dietary requirements as animals were considered simply automatons, and dismissed asceticism as merely another form of excessive sensuality.
Now, the largest point of contention is the idea that some human beings are actually not vinnana, but rather anatta or asava. To be anatta is bad enough, it means that one is simply an automaton, spiritually void and entirely mechanical. To be asava is worse, what animates one is not an equal human soul, for want of a better word, but an inferior and evil spirit created by Braah, a warden to maintain the illusion.
This distinction will be the foundation of all the disputes and bloodshed in the Maaga cultural sphere, and be used to justify both the most terrible atrocities and also used to encourage good works. Some examples:
- The concept that certain races are essentially anatta will be very popular in societies that hold slaves of an identifiably different ethnicity. Counterreaction would happen later, by those claiming all humans are vinnana. I expect that in societies where slaves spiritual worth is determined as nil, other rival faiths would take hold, secretly or not, amongst the slave population.
- Some will believe that the number of vinnana to be limited, though the precise numbers will be disputed, ranging from the billions to less than hundreds. Some sects will consider themselves the only vinnana in a fallen world, somewhat akin to the Elect of Calvinism. This tendency for collective solipsism will mean that traditions of monasteries and hermitude will likely not develop.
- The idea that women are anatta will be popular in some societies where the relative social position of women is low, but may not be sustainable. Except that position to disappear whenever a strong woman gets political power, such as a queen or king's consort. I can see many instances where men make bold claims of the anatta status of women when they are amongst fellow men, but quickly quieten down about it when they get home
- Times of war will, obviously enough, see enemies as asava or as anatta ruled by asava. Peace might, or might not, see the losers being rebranded as vinnana.
- Claims of asava may see the emergence of phenomena similar to witch hysteria. I can easily see the emergence of an entirely crackpot but highly complex science of determining an individuals spiritual value. In villages, strange old women who live by themselves may be accused of being asava, prompting the arrival of strange and dour men who put her through a series of physical and psychological tests to prove one way or the other. As asava are believed to be essentially inhuman, I would expect the penalties of being branded as one to be harsh indeed. One would also see such men on battlefields and recently-conquered lands, though there I expect such factors as rank, physical beauty, usefulness and presence or lack of back-talk to way heavily, though it would never be admitted.
One feature I am seeking to include is the way Maaga turns against itself in times of relative peace. When Maagists border with non-believers, the common consensus is that the heathens (or at least their leaders) represent asava, while the coreligionists are all vinnana. In times and areas where non-Maagists are absent, however, doctrinal squables will see the the Maagists turn against rival sects, claiming that the heretics are asava. This wouldn't always be the case, and would settle down for long periods, but the general rule is that the Maaga world is defined by a solid front along it's frontier, with a tulmutuous interior.
The history of Maaga would begin with the preaching of the extremely charismatic Janaka, and the later compilation of his writings and records of his actions into holy books written in Pali. Many of the spiritual terms I have used I have misappropriated from Pali Buddhist terms, though used differently. Maaga spreads amongst the non-Braham population more rapidly then Jainism or Buddhism, it is easier to convert into and live by with it's less strict lifestyle, and it is somewhat of a self-esteem boost. Unlike Buddhism, it will be impossible for the Vedic faith to absorb Maaga into itself, and success for Maaga will mean the extermination of the Vedic faith and no Hinduism. I let the Jains survive by migrating out of there and eventually becoming Gypsy/Jew analogues in China, with Buddhism surviving thanks to positive mentions of Siddhartha by Janaka in the sutras (expect pogroms, though).
The rise of Maaga will destroy the caste system of India (big butterflies) as well as seeing Pali outcompete and replace Sanskrit. By the 4th or 3rd centuries BCE, Maaga as the faith of a united Indian empire will begin to spread, to tribal communities and into Central Asia.
Other effects I will be positing is that Maaga will have, initially, less success in China than Buddhism (more threatening to the status quo) and will have an effect on Persia as well, making them more militantly Zoroastrian and paranoid and ethnic about it as well. Later, Maaga hordes from Central Asia will bring the faith to Europe.
As for other religions of the world. China, absent Buddhism, I see as eventually developing a form of Emperor worship based on local ideas. Perhaps Legalism will be stronger here, I have to devote some thought to it. In the Middle East, the same interactions between Hebraic morality and Hellenistic thought that gave rise to Christianity will spawn another messainical faith, but one highly divergant from our Christianity or Islam. In the West, a more Punic-influence Rome-analogue will see a Latinized Baal/Cronus cult (which if it survives seems to me to be the most likely candidate for becoming explorers and spreading to the Americas.) After working out some Maaga ideas, I may turn to the other faiths to see how they have developed in response to Maaga and each other.
Anyway, you can read up on the history I worked out on this post in the map thread. https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=4430597&postcount=7203
The main purpose of this thread is to get some outside feedback to work things out. I need to detail some more of the theology and the practices. I need to work out the theological mechanism for which following the Maaga allows one to break free from Braah's prison. Perhaps I need an eschatology. I will be doing some reading on early Hinduism to work out some of the theological ideas that were floating around at the time, and try to work out how they might be put to use and develop. I need to work out how differences in Maagist doctrine will emerge as it spreads, particularly in the differences between Indian and European Maaga. It should be interesting, I hope at least.