An imaginary ride, through the dividing and merging Gods of India and the Middle east.

Consider the culture of the Middle East and its many sects and beliefs. Many great religions originated and diverged from one common root and its culture. The religions like Judaism, Islam, and Christianity formed, also many divisions within those religions. But most of these groups thrived as independent practices and power structures around them. Let us assume all these sections were under a single religious group, and different sub-groups were the castes. In the bible, we can see that there was untouchability. In that scenario, the Jews were the priestly class, and they would become the Brahmin class of the Middle East, and other sects may become the castes. Fortunately, or unfortunately, that didn't happen. There were various prophets and challenges against the priestly class, it soon decentralized power and money, and the Gods also distributed very early on. People are no longer united under one deity or hierarchy. Major sects became religions, and those religions had their versions of very autonomous practices and customs independent of gods, power, and structure.

In India, people have been in many groups and castes for a long. Initially, they worshipped different Gods but were later united by the supremacy of the Brahmin class, and their gods merged with Brahmin Gods through many stories and myths. If we apply the middle eastern analogy, it could be a different story. Indra was one of the early Gods. Ancient Tamils worshipped Siva. The name Krishna is a comparatively new one, and the vast majority of Indians start worshipping Krishna within the last 1500 years. The Indian subcontinent is a story of how gods merged and united various sects. Many sects worshipped different gods, sometimes not of a single root. Because of the control over Indian communities from the priestly class, gradually, those Gods became the god of other sectors. During Constantine’s period, a similar thing happened in Europe. Christianity became the predominant religion in Europe. Without the dominance of the priestly class, the Indian subcontinent may have many religions like Buddhism, Jainism, Vaishnavism, and Shaivism. Fortunately or unfortunately, these gods were merged and co-existed, and various sects within the Indian community started accepting the brahminic version of the Gods and incorporated them.