Hinduism in Iran

Part of a series on
Hinduism by country

Hinduism has a marginal presence in Iran, with 68,000 Hindus.[1] This represents slightly under 0.1% of the total Iranian population.

Ancient times

See also: Indo-Aryan peoples and Spread of Indo-European languages

According to the Indo-Aryan migration theory, the Iranian and Vedic people share a common Indo-European origin, and a common earlier Indo-Iranian religion, which prevailed among the Indo-Iranian tribes long before their migrations in the 2nd millennium BCE.[2] The Indo-Aryans split-off around 1800-1600 BCE from the Iranians,[3] where-after they were defeated and split into two groups by the Iranians,[4] who dominated the Central Eurasian steppe zone[5] and "chased [the Indo-Aryans] to the extremities of Central Eurasia".[5] One group were the Indo-Aryans who founded the Mitanni kingdom in northern Syria;[6] (ca.1500-1300 BCE) the other group were the Vedic people.[7] The two groups were pursued by the Iranians respectively "across the Near East to the Levant (the lands of the eastern Mediterranean littoral), [and] across Iran into India."[8][note 1]

Modern times

One Hindu temple is found in Bandar Abbas and one in Zahedan, built by Indian merchants in the late 19th century.[9][10]

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada traveled to Tehran in 1976.[11] Since 1977, ISKCON runs a vegetarian restaurant in Tehran.[12] There is a growing interest in Hinduism of the New-Age guru variety.[13]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Beckwith mentions a possible third group of Indo-Aryan migrants who were moved on by the Iranians: "... and perhaps across Eastern Central Asia into China."[8]

References

  1. ↑ Potter 2014, p. 279.
  2. ↑ Klaus G. Witz (1993), The Supreme Wisdom of the Upaniṣads: An Introduction, Motilall Banarsidass, p.25
  3. ↑ Anthony 2007, p. 408.
  4. ↑ Beckwith 2009, p. 33 note 20, p.35.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Beckwith 2009, p. 33.
  6. ↑ Anthony 2007, p. 454.
  7. ↑ Beckwith 2009, p. 33 note 20.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Beckwith 2009, p. 34.
  9. ↑ "The Persian Gulf in History". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  10. ↑ R. Sidda Goud, Manisha Mookherjee. India and Iran in Contemporary Relations. Allied Publishers. p. 46.
  11. ↑ "Swami Prabhupada Founder Of Hare Krishna Movement, And A Virulent Racist, Anti-Semite".
  12. ↑ Ruth A. Tucker (2004). Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions, and the New Age Movement. p. 282.
  13. ↑ "Many hues of a rainbow". The Hindu. 11 June 2006.

Sources

  • Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World, Princeton University Press
  • Beckwith, Christopher I. (2009), Empires of the Silk Road, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0691135894
  • Brown, Robert (1991), Ganesh: Studies of an Asian God, Albany: State University of New York, ISBN 0-7914-0657-1
  • Potter, Lawrence G. (2014), Sectarian Politics in the Persian Gulf, Oxford university Press

External links