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Friday, May 6, 2022

The Hindus: The Last of the Ancients

Victory in wars does not imply cultural superiority. Economic success does not imply cultural superiority. Many nations in the earlier ages, and in the present, have won wars and attained economic success because their culture was brutal, corrupt, and violent; their culture encouraged them to invade other nations to plunder, enslave, and proselytize. But in nations which were vanquished in the global conflicts, a significant part of the population took their defeat as a sign that the religion and culture of the victors was superior, and they became an easy target for enslavement and proselytization. 

In the last 1000 years, the four proselytizing religions—Islam, Christianity, Communism, and Capitalism—have swept the world and conquered 75 percent of mankind. There is immense pressure on the remaining 25 percent to enter the global bandwagon by accepting some form of the four proselytizing religions. Of these 25 percent holdouts, the vast majority (more than 85 percent) are the Hindus of India. There are several reasons—which I can’t express in this short three-paragraph article—which enabled India’s Hindus to elude the powerful attraction of the four proselytizing religions. But while eluding the proselytizing religions, India’s Hindus have failed to fully participate in the advancements in politics, science, and technology that took place during the last 250 years—the consequence of this failure is that they could not develop their society.

The Hindus are the last massive and mostly monolithic group of people (their population is 1.2 billion) who follow ancient moral and cultural beliefs. By ancient beliefs, I mean the beliefs which are founded on theories and mythologies which originated more than 2500 years ago. If a significant part of India’s Hindu population accepts another faith or ideology, then their ancient beliefs will be lost, and their society will get bogged down in civil wars which will go on for decades. Economic development, which can come through political reforms, and the strengthening of military capabilities, will be the key to their survival.

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