Week 255: Conversion to Hinduism, Roman Lord Shiva, Malaysian Chinese-Run Hindu Temple
11/02/2024 - Modern Hindu Content
Welcome to Eternal Path! This week we feature: Conversion to Hinduism, Roman Lord Shiva, a Malaysian Chinese-Run Hindu Temple, and an aesthetic!
Reading Highlight: Conversion to Hindu Dharma
Can you convert to Hinduism? The answer is yes. Did some boomer or fake guru teach you otherwise? They’re wrong. Simple as that. Really the only article you need to read on the topic is “Conversion to Hindu Dharma - Past Precedents, Present Challenges and Future Possibilities” by Ghora Angirasa and Kavita Meegama. The full link to the article is: https://www.brhat.in/dhiti/conversiontohindudharma1 - bookmark it and make sure to imbibe the knowledge and lessons contained within it.
It is chock full of actual references to Hindu texts and examples from Hindu history, as opposed to the vacuous boomer\ nonsense one generally encounters on this topic from people who claim there is no “conversion to Hinduism”.
The key questions that they explore (with the answer to #1 being an unequivocal “Yes”) are:
Can a person, particularly one of non-Indian origin, convert to Hindu Dharma?
What does conversion to Hindu Dharma mean in terms of belief and/or praxis
Following conversion, is it essential for the new Hindu to be assigned a varṇa or jāti?
We highly encourage all of our readers to not just read the article (linked here again for convenience), but to widely circulate this article, as it is the best resource on the topic of Conversion to Hinduism. Most importantly, we encourage our readers when confronted by those who claim “one cannot convert to Hinduism” to forcefully argue against them, and if needed, put them on the defensive by asking “Who are you to deny people the tools to reach moksha?”
We at Eternal Path have covered converts to Hinduism in a number of previous issues, including: Week 80 (Altai Hindus), Week 2 (Heliodorus), Week 5 (Raskhan + Dayak Hindus), Week 186 (Lotha Khunbao), and Week 131 (Ghanaian Hindus).
History Highlight: Roman Lord Shiva
Below is a statue with the Head of Lord Shiva, done in a Roman Style, dating to the Kushan Empire. We’ve covered the topic of the Indo-Greeks and Hinduism and Greek Religion in previous publications Week 157, Week 2, Week 51, and Week 223 so its interesting to see an example of a Roman-influenced Hindu sculpture.
Trade between Indian Kingdoms and the Roman Empire flourished and the map below with tons of Orange (representing where Roman coins were found) has huge orange spots in the Deccan peninsula, indicating that those were centers of exchange between Indians and Romans.
Temple Feature: Banting Temple run by Chinese
Heartwarming story of a Chinese family that restored and runs a Hindu Temple in Malaysia.
Aesthetic: Banting Hindu Temple
