Some of the historians have a very logical reasoning that much of the Christian philosophies and doctrines might have been originated from the Hindu dharma. Both historians and sages have a point that there has been a predominant influence on Christianity and many Christian rites could have been directly borrowed from Vedic Literature.
Similarities between Hindu dharma and Christianity
Comparing Christ and Christian rituals/beliefs with Hindu teachings/rituals.
1. The Birth of Krishna, Buddha and Jesus Christ
Alain Danielou, a French historian, noticed in the early 1950s that a great number of events which surround the birth of Christ – as it is related in the Gospels – strangely reminded us of Buddha’s and Krishna’s legends. The reason he provides it related to how the structure of Christian church has some similarity with the structure of Buddhist Chaitya and how the rigorous asceticism of some Christian sects has similarities with the asceticism of Jain and Buddhist philosophies. He further illustrates that the veneration of relics, the usage of holy water, which is in fact a Hindu practice, and the derivation of Amen in the roots of Om could connect Christianity to Hinduism.
2. The Knowledge and The St. Augustine Quote
In addition, Konraad Elst, another historian from Belgium, says that “many early Christian saints such as Hippolytus of Rome, possessed an intimate knowledge of Brahmanism.” He points out the famous Saint Augustine quote where he says, “We never cease to look towards, where many things are proposed to our admiration.”
However, after the second century, the Christian leaders broke away from the Hindu influence and established that Christianity initiated with the birth of Christ, according to famous American Indianist – David Frawley. This sparked the belief that Brahmins are heretics and later, Saint Gregory dismissed the Hindu claims with his infamous public destruction of the “pagan” idols of the Hindus.
3. The Orange Robe worn by Jesus Christ
Other Great Indians sages, such as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar – the founder of the Art of Living – and Sri Aurobindo, remark upon the stories about how Jesus came to India to be initiated could possibly true. Some of his claims are noteworthy. For instance, he proposes that the orange robe that Jesus sometimes wore is actually the Hindu symbol of renunciation of the world, and wearing an orange robe was not a usual practice in Judaism by any means.
4. The Worship of Virgin Mary
Likewise, he says, “In the same way, the worshiping of Virgin Mary in Catholicism is probably borrowed from the Hindu cult of Devi.”
5. The Use of bells
Also, the use of bells, which are absent in the modern-day Synagogues – the modern-day Judaism, are used in church, and bells have a very deep root in Buddhism and Hinduism, still even in the present days.
The list about the similarity between Hinduism and Christianity goes on:
- Both Hindus and Christians have been known to use incense.
- Both Hindus and Christians are known to use sacred bread, which is known as ‘prasadam’ in Hindu dharma.
- Churches have different altars around which are similar to the manifold deities inside Hindu temples.
- Christians recite prayers on the rosary, which is quite like how the Hindus perform the ‘Vedic japamala’.
- The Christian Trinity is similar to how Hindus believe Lord Vishnu as the supreme Lord, all-pervading Brahma as the Paramatma and The Holy Ghost as the expansion of the Lord Shiva.
- The use of the sign of the cross while reciting the words in the bible is similar to anganyasa of Hindu dharma.
Adapted from thought.co