Multan's strong Buddhist past Influence?

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

The trick of the devil is somehow slowly squeeze in some form of deviation. For example people praying at mazars right next to a mosque. Whereas hadoth clearly says not to make grave a place of worship.

But those same mizar goers will say oh no we are not praying towards a grave but just at it.

Yes this is wrong, but most people who go to Mazars only read fatiha over the grave and make dua for deceased. I visit Data darbar every time I go to Lahore. It is a very humbling experience for me, to reflect in quiet and pay my respects to one of our great heroes, Hazrat Ali Hajveri of Afghanistan.

Only a minority of people commit shirk. Those mostly are not knowledgeable in Islam and overcompensate.

 

[Bouncer]

As the Sales Development Manager in Esso in the early 1970s, I have had the good fortune of visiting nearly every town/village of Pakistan where there was an Esso petrol station or a Reseller agent retailing Kerosene supplied by Esso. This includes all of South Punjab.

Located near the confluence of all the 5 rivers, Multan is one of the oldest cities of the subcontinent, perhaps as old as the Vanarasi because the Indus civilization is at least 3000 years old. In addition to the tombs & mausoleums of the Muslim saints, I also remember the local Sales Rep taking me to visit the ruins of Sun Mandir at Sher Shah which existed at least around 640 AD when visited by the Chinese traveler Hsuen Tsang. Understand Mulatn's historic name Mulasthana means the Sun temple (?) Additionally only the least inquisitive visitors of Bahauddin Zakaria's shrine would fail to notice the Prahladpuri temple located near it.

Regret to say that since the forced Arabization of Pakistan funded by Saudi Arabia post-Khomeini era and with the full cooperation of the bigot Zia & some extremist Mullahs, Pakistanis in general & the Punjabis, in particular, have started to deny the rich cultural history of the region; the textbooks have been altered to reflect the same. As if this region was barren land and our history started with Mohamed bin Qassim. Nothing can further from the truth.

Great post as always! This last paragraph is what pisses me off so much. There are so many interesting facets of our history but instead of claiming them and taking pride in them, we choose to start our history with Muhammad Bin Qasim. Such a shame.

Pakistani people have existed in more or less same geographic borders since thousands of years. But our textbooks fail to teach it just because defenders of our ideological borders deem it against whatever cooked up theories they have.

 

[AfrazulMandal]

Of course, before Islamic mass conversion (led by monks,) Pakistan and Afghanistan were the heartland of Buddhism and bore the brunt of Hindu-Buddhist civil war engulfing the region.

Multan in particular was the site of an ancient pagan Sun temple and a pilgrimage ritual (similar to Kaaba for pagan Arabs.)

The story of Multan's conversion is very interesting. One Muslim scholar from Central Asia had settled there for a short time with a family. He heard wailing in the middle of the night from the family. When he went to see them to inquire if everything was alright, he was told the ritual of the people of this region.

Families were expected to give their young children to a temple nearby as sacrifice to appease an idol. This night it was their turn and they had sent their little one there.

When the scholar arrived at the temple, with only sword and Quran in hand, he saw a demon trying to devour the young child. He recited some verses of Quran and defeated that creature ending that ritual, which led to mass conversion of the city.

Mods, nothing in the video suggests a Hindu past, but only commonality with Buddhism.

Please remove the word Hindu from the title, thanks.

@waz @WebMaster @Horus @Dubious

There is no shame in accepting the Hindu past.

@Joe Shearer What can you tell us about this idol where children were sacrificed?
@Soumitra See, your civilisation in all its glory.

In that case, it DOES bear a strong resemblance with Hinduism. In any case Hindu/Buddhism cannot be divorced from each other entirely either. No need to feel defensive, now that you have left it in the past.

My two cents.

Afghanistan was never the heartland of Buddhism or a Buddhist country. Only the Eastern part of Afghanistan was inhabited by Buddhists. The Southern and Northern part were ruled by the Sassanid empire who were Zoroastrians by faith. There were Kalash tribes, Hindus and small Jewish community too in Afghanistan.

Pakistan was 100% Buddhist when the Mauryans were rulers. The Gandhara civilization and Taxila were renowned for its Buddhist past.

Buddhism was destroyed in Gandhara and Taxila primarily by Mihirkula, the White Hun. After that Hinduism began to emerge once again in Sindh, Gandhara and other areas of Pakistan.

Kashmir was also 100% Buddhist before Shaivite Hindus and Muslim ruler Sikandar Butshikhan wiped Buddhism from Kashmir.

Done with your Islamophobic post?

My people,, Rajputs, resisted Islam tooth and nail, but by the time Sultan Aurangzeb finished his rule, we were all Muslim. Eventually Punjab was Islamized alhamdulilah.

This was his lasting contribution to justice and equality in eyes of history. Eradicating Hindu/Buddhist influence was not easy, which is why previous Mughal rulers tried to balance appeasement with religion.

 

[Soumitra]

There is no shame in accepting the Hindu past.

@Joe Shearer What can you tell us about this idol where children were sacrificed?
@Soumitra See, your civilisation in all its glory.

In that case, it DOES bear a strong resemblance with Hinduism. In any case Hindu/Buddhism cannot be divorced from each other entirely either. No need to feel defensive, now that you have left it in the past.

My two cents.


Done with your Islamophobic post?


This was his lasting contribution to justice and equality in eyes of history. Eradicating Hindu/Buddhist influence was not easy, which is why previous Mughal rulers tried to balance appeasement with religion.

Much proud of your violent past?

 

[AfrazulMandal]

Much proud of your violent past?

Go pleasure yourself seeing Gujrat genocides...

On a serious note, when Multan was Islamised, our families were most probably still Hindus, serving the Brahmins as slaves...

 

[Joe Shearer]

There is no shame in accepting the Hindu past.

@Joe Shearer What can you tell us about this idol where children were sacrificed?

This seems to be a straight lift from the Semitic God Baal. In Carthage, a brazen image of Baal existed, where the 'stomach' was a brass vessel above a blazing fire. Its two 'hands' swept in whatever was placed in front of it on a 'tray'. It was the religious practice of the Carthaginians to sacrifice their infants to this infernal god; the infants were placed on the tray, and swept in by the 'hands', and constituted a sacrifice.

To be honest, I have never heard of this as a practice in Hinduism. There have been myths of Rajput warriors, for instance, who got visions in the middle of the night, usually from the goddess Chandi, and sacrificed themselves.

@Soumitra See, your civilisation in all its glory.

In that case, it DOES bear a strong resemblance with Hinduism. In any case Hindu/Buddhism cannot be divorced from each other entirely either. No need to feel defensive, now that you have left it in the past.

My two cents.

Hinduism and Buddhism really have nothing much to do with each other except at the broadest possible foundation level. It is as legitimate to say that Christianity and Judaism cannot be divorced from each other entirely either.

Done with your Islamophobic post?


This was his lasting contribution to justice and equality in eyes of history. Eradicating Hindu/Buddhist influence was not easy, which is why previous Mughal rulers tried to balance appeasement with religion.

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

Great post as always! This last paragraph is what pisses me off so much. There are so many interesting facets of our history but instead of claiming them and taking pride in them, we choose to start our history with Muhammad Bin Qasim. Such a shame.

Pakistani people have existed in more or less same geographic borders since thousands of years. But our textbooks fail to teach it just because defenders of our ideological borders deem it against whatever cooked up theories they have.

Janab, what are you talking about?

IVC, Gandhara are in syllabus.

 

[Naofumi]

Hinduism and Buddhism really have nothing much to do with each other except at the broadest possible foundation level.

Hinduism as in Advaita Vedanta tries to incorporates Buddhism and Buddha was even declared as an avatar of Vishnu.

Edit : Removed the name of Adi Shankaracharya, was not sure.

This was his lasting contribution to justice and equality in eyes of history. Eradicating Hindu/Buddhist influence was not easy, which is why previous Mughal rulers tried to balance appeasement with religion.

He thought lowly of Indians, even Indian Muslims, that's a fact.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1089132731089473536

Look at 7, 8, 9.
He praised Persians, Turanians (CA Turks), Sayyids of Barha (supposedly migrants settled in Muzaffarnagar , UP) but mocked Hindustani soldiers (including Rajputs) for their resistive attitude in war, lol. He preferred cowards for raiding and loots.

 

[-blitzkrieg-]

i was watching a tour video of Multan and couldn't help but discover some peculiar similarities in some multani shrine rituals and similar rituals observed in present day east asia.

lighting incense sticks and candles at a shrine, a strong reminiscent of hindu buddhist ritual which can be specially observed in east asia where this is very popular ritual in buddhist temples.

View attachment 607366

View attachment 607369

china

a mini shrine at Multan which strongly reflects the present east asian buddhist tradition or mini shrine culture

View attachment 607365

mini shrines at japan

i personally hate such useless practices..however you are imagining things..this has got nothing to do with hindu/buddhism..its just a way people are making a living out of religion.

no one noticed the gun market?

nothing to cheer here.
These people could have been successful entrepreneurs with million $ worth arms industry with a competitive export base had their forefathers been helped by the govt. Instead they are doing the same thing their forefathers were doing back in WW1 days.There would have been thousands of jobs and much more social development but we missed the train.

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

Done with your Islamophobic post?

Bamiyan Buddha is in Central Afghanistan. He doesn't know what he is talking about.

He is just a hater, move on. Should have been banned long ago.

This was his lasting contribution to justice and equality in eyes of history. Eradicating Hindu/Buddhist influence was not easy, which is why previous Mughal rulers tried to balance appeasement with religion.

Rajputs only respected strength and military prowess. They thought mercy was weakness, until Mughals like Sultan Aurangzeb showed them mercy. Then they realized this is real strength.

Go pleasure yourself seeing Gujrat genocides...

On a serious note, when Multan was Islamised, our families were most probably still Hindus, serving the Brahmins as slaves...

Human sacrifice was part and parcel of idolatry in that time. All ancient civilizations had it.

Islam undid alot of those rituals. It gave people a new vision and brought the world out of superstition into modernity.

 

[Buddhistforlife]

Bamiyan Buddha is in Central Afghanistan. He doesn't know what he is talking about.

He is just a hater, move on. Should have been banned long ago.



Rajputs only respected strength and military prowess. They thought mercy was weakness, until Mughals like Sultan Aurangzeb showed them mercy. Then they realized this is real strength.



Human sacrifice was part and parcel of idolatry in that time. All ancient civilizations had it.

Islam undid alot of those rituals. It gave people a new vision and brought the world out of superstition into modernity.

I do not know where is Bamiyan and I'm not concerned with it. I might be wrong when I said that South and North was Zoroastrian but the fact is Afghanistan was divided amongst Sassanids, Kushans and later Hindu Kabul Shahis and was melting pot of different faiths.

The problem with you is that you somehow want to malign Buddhism by repeatedly claiming that Buddhists converted en masse to Islam in Afghanistan which was not the case.

There is no shame in accepting the Hindu past.

@Joe Shearer What can you tell us about this idol where children were sacrificed?
@Soumitra See, your civilisation in all its glory.

In that case, it DOES bear a strong resemblance with Hinduism. In any case Hindu/Buddhism cannot be divorced from each other entirely either. No need to feel defensive, now that you have left it in the past.

My two cents.


Done with your Islamophobic post?


This was his lasting contribution to justice and equality in eyes of history. Eradicating Hindu/Buddhist influence was not easy, which is why previous Mughal rulers tried to balance appeasement with religion.

Your comment has been reported.

@Dubious @Zarvan

He falsely blamed me for Islamophobia. Please check my comment above. There was nothing Islamophobic.

Bamiyan Buddha is in Central Afghanistan. He doesn't know what he is talking about.

He is just a hater, move on. Should have been banned long ago.



Rajputs only respected strength and military prowess. They thought mercy was weakness, until Mughals like Sultan Aurangzeb showed them mercy. Then they realized this is real strength.



Human sacrifice was part and parcel of idolatry in that time. All ancient civilizations had it.

Islam undid alot of those rituals. It gave people a new vision and brought the world out of superstition into modernity.

Also for your kind information Buddhism was already powerless and became a minority in Pakistan when Islam came to the subcontinent. Taxila and Gandhara was 100% Buddhist after that Mihirgula and subsequent Hindu kings destroyed Buddhism from Pakistan.

 

[Brar]

Bamiyan Buddha is in Central Afghanistan. He doesn't know what he is talking about.

He is just a hater, move on. Should have been banned long ago.



Rajputs only respected strength and military prowess. They thought mercy was weakness, until Mughals like Sultan Aurangzeb showed them mercy. Then they realized this is real strength.



Human sacrifice was part and parcel of idolatry in that time. All ancient civilizations had it.

Islam undid alot of those rituals. It gave people a new vision and brought the world out of superstition into modernity.

Isnt animal sacrifices also superstition? It was parcel of what you call idolatry and all ancient civilizations had it.

In my opinion all religions still practice idolatry, just that the old stautes of gods are replaced with something else, wheter it is the cross or even mekkah. Same same bit different no?

 

[AfrazulMandal]

Isnt animal sacrifices also superstition?

Ah, I get where you are going...

No. Qurbani is entirely different.

 

[Brar]

Ah, I get where you are going...

No. Qurbani is entirely different.

So qurbani is not animal sacrifice?

 

[jaibi]

@ Everyone, please keep it civil and not discuss religion here otherwise we'd have no choice but to close it down as per the rules.