Miscellaneous Topics discussion

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->When Buddhism was implanted in Central Asia, and Buddhist temples were built for worship of Buddha-statues, the Mazdeans described the enthusiasts of this Indian religion as but-parast, “Buddha-worshippers”, as opposed to the Mazdean âtish-parast or “fire-worshippers”.  The term but-parast came to mean more generally “idol-worshipper”, for by the time of the Muslim invasions, but had become the generic term for “idol”, hence but-khana, “idol-temple”, and but-shikan, “idol-breaker”.  They made no distinction between the different sects based in India, and by the time the persianized Arabs and Turks invaded India, the word but-parast was randomly applied to all Indian unbelievers.  Seeing that the Brahmins had fire-ceremonies just like the Mazdeans, the Muslims occasionally included the Indian Pagans in the category âtish-parast as well, again without bothering about distinctions between different sects.
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<b>Who is a Hindu?</b> - Koenraad Elst