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Ask Devdutt Pattanaik: The deep, forgotten links between India and Iran

The Times Of India Podcast

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What Is the Mythological Divide Between India and Iran?

From a mythological point of view, Iran marks the division between the Indian way of thinking and the Western way of thinking. Both sides use the word you know Deva Asura but in a very different way. In India Devas are the good guys and Asuras are the bad guys. The one God is called Ahura which is in Iran, so becomes her. So Sindhu becomes Hindu. Soma becomes Homa, Asura becomes Ahura. And all his enemies are called Divs or Devs. When Alexander comes to Iran, he sees this monotheistic cult, one God, one king, everybody obeying him. This Iranian thinking or what we call the Persian

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