Why did Indian mythology become more mysterious in the 5th century BC?

Indian religion, the introduction of various religions, makes Indian mythology more mysterious.

India is one of the famous ancient civilizations in the world. As early as 4000 years ago, the Indus civilization was created. Indian culture has been introduced into Southeast Asia since the 3rd century BC. Indian culture represented by Buddhism was introduced into China and became a part of China culture. This historical fact and its result have been known to the world.

The introduction of Indian culture into Southeast Asia is not limited to Buddhism, but also includes Brahmanism, Hinduism and other cultural forms. With the introduction of various religions in India, Indian myths, cosmology, law, philosophy, language, literature, architecture, sculpture, ancient fonts and other valuable cultural forms have also been brought into Southeast Asia by businessmen, missionaries, travelers and immigrants.

Due to the different geographical location, productivity level, conditions, historical background and communication time of ancient Southeast Asian countries, the attitudes of the ruling classes in various countries to foreign religions are also different. In the later period (especially after15th century), due to the invasion of western powers and the introduction of other religions, there were obvious differences in the amount and depth of Indian culture absorbed by Southeast Asian countries.

However, no matter how different they are, the influence of Indian religious culture on Southeast Asia is objective. Before Indian culture was introduced into Southeast Asia, all Southeast Asian countries had their own national cultures. After being introduced, they either influenced each other or merged with each other, thus creating a new cultural form suitable for the local people and local national culture.

Although Indian culture was introduced into Southeast Asian society in the 3rd century BC, it gradually spread deeply after the 3rd century AD. /kloc-In the 3rd century, Islam invaded India, which severely impacted the original Indian traditional culture and basically stopped the continuous spread of Indian culture. However, countries influenced by Indian culture still carry out cultural exchanges through mutual preaching, friendly exchanges, trade and immigration. In fact, India's cultural influence has not stopped.

The infiltration of western colonial forces into Southeast Asia has dealt a great blow to the national cultures of various countries. The cultures of some countries have merged the forms or colors of western culture to varying degrees. Studying the history and culture of Southeast Asia involves the spread of Indian culture in Southeast Asia and its influence in various fields of society. Limited by space, this paper only tries to introduce the historical background of the spread of Indian culture to Southeast Asia, and makes some preliminary explorations and comparisons on the time, methods, means and effects of its spread, and puts forward some personal superficial views for reference only and for the advice of experts and colleagues.

Before Indian culture was introduced into Southeast Asia (about 5th century BC-4th century BC), India was at an important historical turning point of the decline of slavery and the imminent rise of feudalism. China has many small countries. Countries often wage wars to expand their territory and compete for labor. Judging from the situation in most areas, social productive forces have developed rapidly, the economy has developed, the population has increased, iron farm tools have been widely used, and many rural areas have built reservoirs and irrigated farmland. "The number of industrial projects has reached a remarkable level, the professional division of labor has been greatly improved, the manufacturing of chariots has been separated from carpentry, and archers are different from bowstring craftsmen and archers. Tannery workers are different from fur manufacturers or fur manufacturers.

Women participate in industrial production as embroiderers, weavers and dyers. "Trade is booming. As the number of businessmen increases, businessmen begin to form a class. Commodities are mostly silk, muslin, embroidery, ivory, jewelry and gold. Money has been widely circulated. After the political and cultural influence of Aryans expanded in the south and southeast of India, they gave full play to the power of various Brahmans and greatly promoted the prosperity of science and literature, such as astronomy, ethics, mathematics, divination, military science, phonetics, literature and law, phonology, myths and legends, ancient anecdotes, myths, music and dance.

Another important feature of Indian cultural communication is that various ideological trends compete with each other. Since13rd century BC (that is, the period of Vedic Upanishads), the seeds of ancient Indian philosophy have appeared, and India's philosophical thoughts have been quite developed. Philosophers of Upanishads have begun to explore important philosophical issues such as the formation of the universe and the origin of mankind. By the 6th-3rd century BC, in addition to the Brahmanism mentioned above, Buddhism, Jainism and ancient Indian materialism were popular in the lower classes? Locayata. From the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD to the 4th century AD, orthodox Brahmanism formed six main schools, also known as the "six schools of orthodox philosophy".

The three schools developing in parallel with the six schools of philosophy are Buddhism, Jainism and Shunshi, which are called non-orthodox schools or different schools. 10-17th century, Hinduism was also introduced to some countries in Southeast Asia at the stage of strong domestic economic strength. In ancient times, there were many religious sects in India, some of which were dominant and had extensive influence among the people. Its social system, national customs, laws and regulations, and administrative institutions are all subject to religious authority to varying degrees. During the Peacock Dynasty, especially during the reign of Ashoka, the tragic and bloody scene of the Battle of the Lingjia made the initiator of this war? Ashoka's conscience was blamed, which produced feelings of regret and sadness, and inspired the enthusiasm of believing in and carrying forward Buddhism.

According to Indian historians, shortly after the Jelinga War, he was deeply inspired by Buddhist teachings and became a disciple of the Buddha at home, and had a very close relationship with Buddhist monks. He not only made an in-depth study of Buddhist classics, but also personally went to various places to preach Buddhist teachings. He advocated new policies such as "peace and patience" and "moral assimilation", and believed that all the Buddha's remarks were perfect.

He taught people to "obey moral laws", "cultivate the virtues of tolerance and generosity", "obey parents' orders" and "charity". With Ashoka's sincere belief, personal promotion and support, the number of Buddhist monks is increasing, and compared with Brahmanism and Jainism, its status has been improved unprecedentedly. Later, Ashoka also encouraged and sent monks to give lectures and preach abroad.

Indian historians highly praised Ashoka's enthusiasm for carrying forward Buddhism and his positive role in the eastern countries, and also objectively evaluated the monarch's basic attitude towards the coexistence of several religions in India at that time. Although Ashoka believed in Buddhism, he also recognized and believed in Brahmanism and Jainism. Some people think that he believes in several religions at the same time, emphasizing Buddhism. Such an evaluation seems to be objective and fair.

During the Peacock Dynasty (especially in the 3rd-6th century BC, BC 1 century), India's commerce, trade and navigation industry developed rapidly and started foreign trade. In addition to Egypt, Syria and Greece, it also has ties with Ceylon and China. Some historical books mentioned that in the 3rd century BC, it had trade relations with some countries in Southeast Asia through sea routes.

The spread of Indian culture is accompanied by the rise and development of religion, and the prosperity of ancient religions directly or indirectly affects the rise and fall of culture. Religion is integrated and infiltrated into various fields such as ideology, literature and art. Therefore, religious communication essentially refers to the spread of culture. As far as India is concerned, the religions he spread abroad are not just one of Brahmanism, Buddhism and Hinduism, but should include three religions. Although the three religions were introduced from India in different periods, a large number of historical data prove that they have had a far-reaching impact on Southeast Asian countries to varying degrees.

Mr. Curtis, a western scholar, generally describes countries influenced by Indian culture as "countries educated by India". This is inappropriate, and it seems that Mr. Hall, a British historian, does not agree with the view of "indoctrination". However, he did not give sufficient arguments to explain why he disagreed with this formulation. The author believes that as the whole of Southeast Asia, it is undeniable that the three major religions have had an impact on Southeast Asian countries respectively. For example, the early Brahmanism was widely popular in Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and other places, and was also introduced to Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia and other countries.

Around A.D., Hinayana Buddhism spread from India to Myanmar and Sumatra in Indonesia, and then from Sri Lanka and Myanmar to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and other countries. From Indonesia to Malaysia.