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[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Isn't he Hindu? Do they have an Armageddon cult too (besides Kali)?

[–]ageingrockstar[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Oh, may have found you some Hindu eschatology, although it's still presented as a rejuvenating destruction in the endless cycle of existence, and not a final end time.

Again, just a wikipedia article :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalki

[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Kalki is described in the Puranas as the avatar who rejuvenates existence by ending the darkest and destructive period to remove adharma (unrighteousness) and ushering in the Satya Yuga, while riding a white horse with a fiery sword.

One of the things you learn studying ancient texts, or I did anyway, is that they were written over millennia and continued to be added to, modified, edited right up until the printing press and mass distribution made that impracticable.

The above was clearly borrowed from Revelations. Which is also ubiquitous in ancient texts, borrowing concepts and ideas and metaphors very liberally, wherever there is contact between civilizations. Some would say that's a defining trait of human civilization, which makes the whole 'cultural appropriation' thing pretty stupid. All they're doing is accusing someone of being human.

[–]ageingrockstar[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The above was clearly borrowed from Revelations.

I thought the same. But Hinduism is famously syncretic.

However, the difference, as I've already talked about, is they incorporated it into their 'endless cycle' view of existence, rather than the Abrahamic teleological viewpoint.

[–]ageingrockstar[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

No, I don't think they have an 'Armageddon cult', I think that's limited to the Abrahamic religions.

And Kali is different; yes, she's representative of death & destruction but as an eternal and necessary part of life. She's a Goddess of Creation as much as a Goddess of (creative) Destruction.

My feeling (but not informed opinion) is that the weird love affair of some Indians with Israel is simply and disappointingly based in shared hate and bigotry towards Islam and Muslims.

[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

So you're saying nothing at all like that Indiana Jones movie, or the Brits' description of the Thuggee movement?

[–]ageingrockstar[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Don't get the Indiana Jones reference (I only saw the first one) but I did think of the Thuggee movement while writing that comment, as a counter-example.

However, looking just now at the Wikipedia article, it seems that the story of the nihilistic Thuggees (who supposedly worshipped Kali) may be largely a British Raj invention :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee#Dispute_and_scepticism

(It's only wikipedia but it does cite some references)