Buddha has to be dated to 1800 BC: Religion, Asia

• Buddha has to be dated to 1800 BC: Religion, Asia

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  • I think the whole confusion has arisen because there are two emperor Ashokas, and both are Buddhists! The Ashoka of Buddhist scriptures belongs to the Mauryan dynasty of 1500 BC. He was a compulsive individual, devout in his faith, and took steps to spread his religion far and wide by sending missionaries and constructing Buddhist monasteries and stupas. However, he had nothing to do with the edicts and the Kalinga war. The Buddhist scriptures are talking about Ashoka the Mauryan. The scriptures mostly talk about parts within India -- Kashmir, Maharahtra, Mysore, Himalayas, Western India. Buddhism was not yet spread in India by his time -- so the scriptures are clearly talking of the spread of Buddhism within India under Mauryan emperor Ashoka.
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  • The Ashoka of the edicts belongs to the Gupta dynasty of 300 BC. He was the one who was involved in Kalinga war. He felt remorseful and later converted to Buddhism. However, by his time, Buddhism was already spread far and wide and there was no need for him to send missionaries. Moreover, by his time, Buddhism was reeling under the onslaught of Sankarcharya and the Vedic religion was making a comeback. As we shall see a little later in this discussion, Buddhism was in a confused state about its ideology because of the theological attack launched by Sankaracharya. Buddhism was in a transition stage and it did not give much scope for missionary activites. So, Ashoka the Gupta was not hawkish about his religion, but was much more tolerant of all religions.
  • Source: Excepts from Prithviraj R's forthcoming book on history -- 19000 YEARS OF WORLD HISTORY: The Story of Religon. He can be reached at prithvi.book@gmail.com. .

महाजाल पर सुरेश चिपलूनकर (Suresh Chiplunkar): आज भी लाईट नहीं गई, सेकुलरिज़्म की जय… (एक माइक्रो पोस्ट)

• महाजाल पर सुरेश चिपलूनकर (Suresh Chiplunkar): आज भी लाईट नहीं गई, सेकुलरिज़्म की जय… (एक माइक्रो पोस्ट)

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  • लगभग दो साल पहले ईद के दिन एक पोस्ट लिखी थी, यदि उसे आज भी ज्यों का त्यों पेश कर दूं तब भी स्थिति में कोई बदलाव नहीं आया है। उज्जैन में रोज़ सुबह दो घण्टे बिजली कटौती होती है, चाहे होली हो, दिवाली हो या राखी हो, लेकिन आज सुबह लाईट नहीं गई, क्यों? इसके सही जवाब पर कोई ईनाम मिलने वाला नहीं है, क्योंकि सभी जानते हैं कि आज ईद है। (जिन्हें पता न हो, वे जान लें कि मध्यप्रदेश में एक साम्प्रदायिक पार्टी का शासन है)
  • … फ़िर भी भाजपा एक साम्प्रदायिक पार्टी है… मुसलमानों से सम्बन्धित केन्द्रीय योजनाओं में उत्तरप्रदेश से अधिक धन गुजरात सरकार खर्च कर रही है, लेकिन फ़िर भी मोदी "आदमखोर" हैं।