History of all Religions

Do you know the age of the earth?

It's roughly 450 crore years(4,500,000,000)

The human race appeared just 50,000 years ago.

Religions took birth only 5000 years ago. It's infinitesimal as compared to the inception of the earth.

The spread of the religions of the world-Representational only, figures are subject to change.

Buddha pointed out to human head when he was asked, "Where Religions came from?" Well, the concept of God came from human minds!

He's worshipped as a lord, he, himself uttered that it's a human conception.

Anyway, we're living a virtuous and righteous life only because religions made us do so. 

Firstly, I would like everyone to remember that I'm not for or against any religion.

Just after their inception the human race only knew that some things of nature threaten and harm them and some make 'em happy and let 'em live. They didn't have any theory on how to dwell.

They started worshipping the trees and nature which gave 'em fruit, food, water and shelter. Likewise, they stood away from venomous trees and natural forces which threatened 'em.

Things changed when the race evolved. The Indus valley civilization, also known as the Harappan civilization, is considered to be one of the ancient civilizations of the world. Human beings of that era didn't name what they followed. But, they just thought 'em as following "Sanatana dharma". There was no religion. There was no God. They worshipped only nature. I stress there was no God. However, statues of lord Shiva were found during the excavation process. Anyway, there were only a set of rules, regulations and directives as to how to live, what to do and what not to do.

Bull Seal-Indus valley civilization

The basic need behind religion was that when humans were left unwatched, they take it for granted and do whatever they want and exploit their surroundings.

Yes, there are violations of well-formulated rules and regulations even by Civilised humans in the contemporary world. Thus, there was a necessity for something to be done then to have 'em under control and that thing turned out to be Religion.

Later, the people went in search of food and fodder into the jungle. Then things changed, the civilization vanished gradually. And, what is now called the Indian subcontinent went back 500 years in development all of a sudden.

Then people started imagining on how would God really look like and that's how their artistic minds started associating personage silhouettes and worshipped 'em. The same race which worshipped nature gave shape to their imaginations and carried forward the tradition with inheritance.

Ever since the inception of idol worship we consider Lord Murugan(Second son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi) as the guardian of the Tamil people and associate him with Kurinji Land(Kurinji(Tamil): Rich mountains and mountainous regions), as the six most sacred abodes of Murugan were mentioned in Tamil Sangam literature were thoroughly mountainous.

Also, when the Tamil word "Kovil" which means Temple in English and Mandir in Hindi, is broken into syllables, it would mean- "Ko": King in Tamil and "Ill": Home in Tamil; which in turn means that temple is the residence of a king.

In a monarchy, kings used to hear the grievances of the people and fix it. After the righteous and favourite king passes away; people made statues of the kings and open up their hearts to the idols which they consider as immortal and their prayers would be heard. Thus begun idolatry.

This was later followed for kings who went Vanvas(Vanavasam in Tamil) also. Thus reliance and beliefs were born.

Not only then; also now we carve statues of great leaders as a mark of respect.

And that's why God's addressed sometimes as "Aandava", which means a person who ruled(Tamil).

We all know, the famous Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai, Tamilnadu. Meenakshi is none other than erstwhile Queen of Madurai City. The temple was constructed as a memorial for her.

Even now if you go to Madurai and tell someone your problems and grievances; they would say "Don't worry, Meenakshi Amman will take care of everything"!!!

I should let you know this here:

We say Madurai: Meenakshi; Kanchi: Kamatchi and Kashi: Vishalatchi.

For worshipping God and Goddess like this we have a set of rites, rituals, customs and traditions.

And that's how Hinduism evolved 4000 years before Jesus was born; roughly 5000 years from now.

Hinduism

Next: Second Oldest Religion

Judaism, the oldest of the monotheistic religions, is 3500 years old. Jews believe that God made a promise (called the first covenant) to Abraham that he would be the father of a great people if he followed God’s instructions. Jews believe that God renewed the covenant (the second covenant) with Moses, who led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. God also revealed the Ten Commandments to the Jews as a set of rules to follow.

Before Jesus: 500 BC

Buddha was born. Buddhism evolved. Bodhidarma(known as Damo in China), an Indian, a Tamilan, goes to China and spreads Buddhism. It's now spread almost all over East and South-east Asia. Bodhidharma founded Zen Buddhism, which has the largest number of Buddhists.

Buddhism

After that:

Christianity is nearly 2,000 years old, beginning around 30 CE with the death of Jesus Christ. There is a strong Christian tradition in many parts of the Arab World. Some Arab Christians are the descendants of the very first Christians, and the world’s oldest churches are found in the Arab World. Some church services in the Arab World are still delivered in Aramaic, the language spoken by Christ.

Christianity

Later:

Islam is almost 1,300 years old and recognizes Moses, Jesus, and many others as prophets. The Prophet Muhammad (570-632 CE) was born in Mecca, in present-day Saudi Arabia, and is considered the last of the prophets. Muslims believe that Islam began in 610 CE when Muhammad started receiving revelations from God, or Allah in Arabic. These revelations are recorded in the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam.

Islam

All Ok. But why can't these so-called virtues and righteousness be preached directly and uniformly?

Because topography and culture differ. To understand better, we leave chappals outside the temple premises before entering, as a mark of respect. But this can't be done in the Americas or in the Middle-east as the weather there is freezing cold or burning hot!! Thus in western countries, to prevent themselves from cold people wear shoes even in churches. In the Middle East, people wear Hijabs or Barqas to prevent arid sand making contact with their heads.

To make people abide by these rules, to save themselves from danger religion was kept in front of every rule; a simple trick to make people follow.

Kings, elders, parents may not be obeyed but religious heads would be, will be and are. Because rules strike at the brain first, but religion strike at the belief systems.

It's as simple as that. We believe that someone's watching us and we'll be punished if we do wrong whether we're punished or not. That's how the whole and all systems run to ensure humans live a righteous life and up to what they are.

Thus religions are the most important part of this planet.

But through the years many wars are fought in the name of religions. These hazards arise when someone speaks high of their own religion and criticize that of others. And forcible conversions and forcing one's beliefs on others could be grave.

You follow your own, let others rely upon theirs. Let atheists be themselves.

Atheism

Well! We're highly privileged to be Indian nationals. We're free to follow any religion. Overall, humanity is India's religion.

                                                         Thank You.

                                                         Jai Hind!!!

                                                                                                                               Cheers......









Actions: This article is here as a result of a butterfly effect.......See how?



Compiled by(Grammar): Boopathy B



View my Profile