The Long Shadows of Hindu Kush

Good research.Interesting read.Thank you.

B++

Nice overall summary, tiny bit biased but I can live with it.

You are proabbly the first Pakistani whom I heard writing about Bullah Shah`s writing about Abdali. Your contrymen will get you my friend.

Sir,

Nice insight into the region.

regards,

A fascinating and very interesting insight into the history of the region! Thanks!

Minor notes:
[And thus came about the name Hindu Koh or the Hindu mountain]
I thought “koh” meant cave and “kush” meant a type of grass. But I may be wrong. (Rahul_Capri to the rescue?)

[In recent times, it produced its very own radical Talibans and the international terrorist cult of Al Qaeda.]
I thought that one originated in Pakistan and the other in the Middle-east.

[Therefore, when the push comes to a shove, it would be a wise decision for Pakistan to side with the regional rather than the extra-regional states.]
I don’t doubt the wisdom of this advice (and I certainly don’t want to turn this into a discussion on geopolitics) but it is not as if Pakistan is siding with the “extra-regional” states by CHOICE? Also, let’s be serious, in this region the “wisdom” has always been highly subservient to political expediency.

A good, broad historical sweep. Enlightening as usual from you!
Some minor quibbles! I believe that the region also went through a vedic/hindu phase between zorastrainism and buddhism. I believe that buddhism was brought into this region by Ashoka and not by Chandra Gupta. Ashoka, as you know, was a descendant of Chandragupta Maurya.

Re: # 5
Right,
Also Hindu Kush was the name given by Muslim Invaders, killers of the Hindus.

BeeJay # 4

In Persian, Koh means `mountain`. And `Kush` means killing.

There are different theories with ragard to the name `Hindu Kush`.

In ancient times, the term `Hindu` did noot carry any religious connotation. It simply denoted the people who lived in South Asia.

nhk

Dost # 5

Historically, Hindu Kush was a Persian backyard. The books talk about the Vedic Aryans -whatever loose theoligical concept they had. Later Zoroastrianism seems to have picked up.

Chandra Gupta is said to have introduced Buddism - which fully flourished during the times of Ashoka.

I guess there could be differences in the shades of interpretations.

nhk

Nazar Saheb#8:

Are you sure?

Chandra Gupta Maurya, I believe, was himself not a Buddhist. He was, in fact, brought to power by the famous brahmin Machiavalli, Chanakya.

Incidentally, there is quite a bit of disagreement about the caste of Chandra Gupta Mauraya. He is believed by many to be of a low caste (Modern day Guptas in India are, asaik, Vaisyas/Banias). This has an interesting contemporary significance. The dalit party of India, Bahujan Samaj Party` leader Mayawati, is trying to win over the brahmin votes in UP and is invoking the alliance of the Brahmin Chanakya and the low-caste Chandra Gupta to win their support.

#7
True.Hindu probably didnt refer to a certain religious group.But then again werent the majority Hindu or followers of hinduism!

A little off topic but has anyone her ever heard of Jordi Magraner? he spent the last 12 years searching for bigfoot (barmanu in local chitrali dialect) in these areas especially around Chitral.He was killed a few years ago by his servant.Alot of his research was based on witness testimonies; it just fascinates me as to how many secrets lay undiscovered in these regions.

NH,
It is not ``Poros`` - but Pururvas ( the name itself shows that he was a descendant
of Puru - who by the way is closely tied to the Rigveda and the Bharata)
Poros or Porus is the greek version of the Indian name - it tends to confuse.
Similiarly Darius - is actually Darayush

The name of Chanakya (the author of the Arthashastra) is Vishnu Gupta

nazar:

interesting read

what is the current status of the durand line?

When the British come, they fail to conquer Hindu Kush from the East could have included briefly the afghan wars?

and the fakir of ippi?

rgds

t

I also found interesting that Mullah Omar of Taliban came from town/village of
Singesar near Kandahar.
Singesar sounds a lot like `apabhransha` of Singheshwar or short of SinghSarovar
(sar being short of Sarovar like in Amrutsar and Singh meaning Lion).

Re: # 9

``He is believed by many to be of a low caste (Modern day Guptas in India are, asaik, Vaisyas/Banias). ``

I don`t think there is any connection b/t Chandragupta and the modern day guptas. Maybe ``Gupt`` was more of a title at that time, as someone else pointed out that Chanakays real name was Vishnu Gupt.

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#10

``True.Hindu probably didnt refer to a certain religious group.But then again werent the majority Hindu or followers of hinduism!``

you can say that most of them were either vedic, buddhists, jains. may be some of them were atheists or agnostic but were still hindu (by culture). Hence some say that converted muslims/christians are also hindu!!

``barmanu in local chitrali dialect``

does ``barmanu`` mean big man. Just curious because thats what it would mean in my native language.

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#4 Beejay

``I thought “koh” meant cave and “kush” meant a type of grass. But I may be wrong. ``

Koh-e-noor: light of the mountain
khud-khushi: killing oneself
hindu-ksuh: killer of hindus

some say that that was hindu holocaust. I think the GoI should do some research to find the fact so that we can know what happened and why.

Re #14

``some say that that was hindu holocaust. I think the GoI should do some research to find the fact so that we can know what happened and why.``

Maybe dispersal and westward migration of Gypsies from then North/Northwest India was a result of that!

dost-mittar #9

{{Chandra Gupta Maurya, I believe, was himself not a Buddhist}}

There is a Jain tradition to the effect that Chandragupta Maurya adopted their path, abdicated in favour of his son Bindusara, became an ascetic and starved himself to death.

{{Incidentally, there is quite a bit of disagreement about the caste of Chandra Gupta Mauraya. He is believed by many to be of a low caste }}

Caste of peacock-breeders? There are other traditions though.