Comments by "K `" (@user-jt3dw6vv4x) on "Knowledgia" channel.

  1.  @dennisthemenace4288  Indonesia is a Muslim-majority nation but despite that, the Hindu-Buddhist heritage is still a big part of Indonesian culture. At the end of the day, Hindu-Buddhist heritage is an innate part of Indonesian culture regardless of what religion most people follow as it was one of the elements that form the foundations of Western Indonesian cultures. So it'll always be there.
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  2. It's clear to see in countries like Australia where Sri Lankans, Thai and Vietnamese all live. All three groups and others (mostly the Theravada groups) have opened Buddhist temples together for example dating back to the 1970s and common festivals like the South and Southeast Asian New Year in April are celebrated in pan-Asian style. For example, the pageant "game" that is celebrated for the New Year is done with Sri Lankan, Thai, Cambodian and Burmese women dressing up in their traditional clothing.
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  3.  @rizkyadiyanto7922  So by that I assume all the other indigenous elements are disappearing too like Kejawen. That's not something to be proud about. I suppose Bali is the only place where indigenous culture still exists then.
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  4.  @rizkyadiyanto7922  Hinduism came from India but it spread to other parts of Asia and mixed with local culture. That's what happened in Bali and Java. It's Balinese Hinduism. The other groups are erasing their heritage.
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  5.  @Player-re9mo  Yeah I can agree with that but you do lose at least some aspects of your heritage when you convert. As you said, they remove the aspects which go against Christianity and since the most basic aspects of Eastern religions and philosophies go against Christian teachings, you're basically losing your heritage. I'm speaking more specifically in the case of Eastern cultures as opposed to other cultures. Since Eastern religion and philosophy are so syncretised with local culture, by converting to Christianity you're losing your culture. That is why there is backlash in Asian countries like Nepal towards Christian missionaries because Christian converts disrupt the local values creating a cultural clash that authorities find very hard to deal with.
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  6. Yeah but that's the thing, the rulers didn't convert because the rulers were supportive of Eastern religions and philosophies. Eastern spirituality is tied within the local Eastern cultures which would mean that converting to another religion would be like giving up your own culture/identity. It's also why many of the Muslims in S/SE Asia still retain cultural practices associated with their indigenous culture as well as Hindu-Buddhist heritage. For example, Indonesian Muslims are one example who retain their pre-Islamic heritage. The Bangladeshi Muslims are another, who still celebrate the Indic-influenced Solar New Year along with other Asian countries like India, Thailand and Cambodia.
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  7.  @santhoshv3028  Sri Lanka shares cultural ties to both southern India and Southeast Asia.
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  8.  @rizkyadiyanto7922  Yeah Malaysia, Brunei and Aceh have always been like that but the rest of western Indonesia was always different. That's sad. I've already noticed the international reputation of Indonesia has taken a nose dive, I suppose it's the result of these changes and I assume it'll exacerbate as this continues. There was always something unique about the practice of Islam in western Indonesia, now it'll be like the Arab world. I don't want it to change but it's up to the people if they want to change or not. If they believe it's right for them then it is, I have no right to tell them that they're wrong because it's their culture and they have the freedom to practice how they want.
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  9.  @justchilling704  A tiny fraction? Absolutely not, thousands and thousands of Christian missionaries make it their mission to travel to Asia and convert everybody from Nepal to Cambodia. If they could, they'd be in North Korea too. The purpose for them is spread their teachings but most people in Asia do not care about that. That's why missionaries focus on impoverished people because it's easier to convince a poor person that there is a higher being that can save them.
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  10. Japan and Korea were never close to Indonesia and Malaysia. What makes you think they were?
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  11.  @manavalanp2123  Yes it's similar to Tamil Nadu and Kerala too
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  12.  @rizkyadiyanto7922  If another Christian or non-Muslim candidate were to emerge the same issue would arise I fear.
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  13.  @justchilling704  A sizeable portion conduct missionary work and they have journals and atlases to document "unreached people" and ways to convert them to the Gospel. A lot of ordinary Christian people also try to convert people. Missionaries educate people and provide medical assistance or food, that is true but there are layers to this. A lot of missionaries travel to rural locations in Asian countries like Nepal or Cambodia in the hopes of converting impoverished people. They hand out bibles and pamphlets in addition to their humanitarian work. It's easier to save a soul that is hurting than one that is well off, this is why a lot of Western and Korean missionaries travel across developing Asia.
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  14. Also, after travelling to Sri Lanka, I ended up learning and reading that in the past Sri Lankan historians went through a phase where they wanted to focus on Sri Lanka's cultural interactions with Southeast Asia instead because they believed Sri Lankan history was too Indocentric. While no longer Buddhist, the impact of the Malays and Indonesians (Javanese, Ambonese and Balinese) is evident to see in Sri Lankan culture and history such as the Malay invasions of the 13th century as well as the migration of Malays and Indonesians to Sri Lanka during the Dutch colonial era who ended up leaving such a huge mark on Sri Lankan culture, especially its cuisine. I can't imagine Sri Lankan rice and curry without sambal for example, which came with the Javanese settlement. Genetically they left an impact too through the emergence of a Sri Lankan Malay community who speak a local dialect of Malay and the traces of Malay/Indonesian ancestry among the Sinhalese and Moor populations, as discussed by Sri Lankan Malay historians.
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  15.  @Z_X_M87  How do you know yours is the truth?
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  16.  @JakeRed378  Insane how they can believe in things like Vikramaditya empire whilst getting upset that China claims Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as Chinese territory. The irony.
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  17.  @Lowlife-ix6oj  Well then clearly you don't know enough. A culture can be its own thing whilst having similarities with other cultures.
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  18.  @mondaysinsanity8193  That is absolutely NOT true. Nobody conquered other regions in order to spread these religions. They spread through contact and trade. The reason why Buddhism and Hinduism spread so widely in other parts of Asia is because it was already compatible with the indigenous cultures that it spread to. This is why Buddhism and Hinduism are syncretised with local beliefs in all of the countries they are practiced in. That is NOT the case with Abrahamic religions. In traditional Chinese culture, Buddhism is viewed as one of the "Three Teachings" alongside Confucianism and Taoism and the three beliefs are syncretised together, the Five Precepts in Buddhism are the exact same in Taoism. This mixture of beliefs was spread to Vietnam and South Korea. In Japan, Buddhism introduced elements in areas that Shintoism did not focus on like death, so Buddhism and Shintoism were syncretised together. Across the entirety of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Buddhism and Hinduism were syncretised together with local folk beliefs like Nat worship in Myanmar and Satsana Phi in Thailand, the same applies to India and Nepal and in Bhutan and Tibet, Buddhism was syncretised with Bon.
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  19. I agree and in an Australia, where I'm from, the cultural connections with Southeast Asians is evident as a result of Buddhism. For example, the big pan-Asian Buddhist temples in Australia attract Sri Lankan, Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian communities which result in significant overlap like the prevalence of Buddhist monks of different backgrounds living together as well as the celebration of common festivals like the South and Southeast Asian Solar New Year in April. Many Indian and other South Asian groups celebrate this festival too but because most of them are not Buddhists, there is never a chance to celebrate the festival with them and Diwali happens to be more important for them which Sinhalese people do not celebrate. There is definitely cultural interactions with Indians too such as through the South Asian grocery stores but Buddhism is definitely a big difference that separates the Sinhalese and Indian cultures.
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  20. Also the British created the "Sri Lankan Malay" community by merging the Javanese, Ambonese, Balinese and Malays of Sri Lanka together because they all spoke Batavian Malay which later became Sri Lankan Malay. The British couldn't tell the difference between each of the groups. As a result, most people have no idea there are Sri Lankan "Malays" who are actually Christian because they are Ambonese and not Malay Muslim.
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  21.  @ozzymandias7346  I never said it was a European religion but Christianity is not an Eastern religion. The people beyond West Asia traditionally practiced Eastern religions. It being of Asian origin means nothing here because it has nothing to do with Eastern religions which is what I am talking about.
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  22.  @mondaysinsanity8193  Well I guess the answer is that most Asian cultures have a stronger belief in their cultural heritage than other cultures. I suppose that's true because when we look at colonised Asian territories like Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, they firmly protected their heritage during the times of missionary work. The Allies' occupation of Japan after WW2 didn't alter Japanese culture, even India despite being conquered by West and Central Asian Muslim rulers is still Hindu-majority today. That part of the world is really the only place in the world where the dominant religions are non-Abrahamic. So yeah, now that I think of it, I think this is the answer.
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  23.  @mondaysinsanity8193  It took over a century for Buddhism to be fully assimilated into Chinese society and one of the key reasons for why it became popular in China was because of Taoism. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism spread through cultural diffusion. That is why Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism are only practiced within the Indosphere and Sinosphere. There is no other place on earth where Eastern religions were adopted by non-Asian (Indosphere/Sinosphere) people.
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  24.  @Peizxcv  To be fair, Assamese is an Indo-Aryan language that is natively spoken in Assam. Indo-Aryan shouldn't be correlated to culture or anything, it's just a language family. However, the entirety of Northeast India which was known as Assam was its own separate entity.
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  25.  @mondaysinsanity8193  The reality is that all of these beliefs are Eastern religions and the very concept of Eastern philosophy is the result of all of these religious and philosophical traditions mixing together as a result of their compatibility. None of these religions would be so widely practiced if they were not compatible with the local culture to begin with, Eastern religions are seen as "ways of life". There is no strict dogma to follow, you aren't going to hell if you worship Vishnu in the morning, bow down in front of the Buddha in the afternoon and light some incense in front of a portrait of a Tai folk god or Shinto kami in the evening. This is just the way the East is.
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  26.  @mondaysinsanity8193  I'm literally Asian, I'm speaking from an Eastern perspective. I think I know my own heritage, thank you very much. It was already compatible. It's time for you to do some reading on Asian history and religions.
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  27. It was never part of India so it never achieved independence from India.
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  28. Modern India is exactly that. Each of its states are separated along the lines of ethnicity, language and culture. For example, the Tamils predominantly live in Tamil Nadu, the Marathis in Maharashtra, the Biharis in Bihar, the Harayanvis in Harayana, Rajasthanis in Rajasthan, Assamese in Assam, Meitei in Manipur, Nagas in Nagaland, Kashmiris in Kashmir, Ladakhis in Ladakh, Odias in Odisha, Punjabis in Punjab and so on.
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  29.  @bg53rockylayek4  Sinhalese formed in Sri Lanka from the intermixing of indigenous groups with an Odia-related group and subsequent other groups like Malays.
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  30.  @rickgolder6818  Absurd claims made by an Indian nationalist. There is NOT a single Indian ruler that ruled the entirety of South Asia (not Indian subcontinent, it's called South Asia). Where are these delusional beliefs coming from? This is the point, y'all love to say the whole of South Asia was once part of India and degrade these other countries of their sovereignty by calling it "Akhand Bharat" but in the same breath get mad triggered at China claiming Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh.
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  31. Hinduism didn't spread to Iran because India's contact was with other parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It was people from eastern and southern India, who are further away from Iran, that took Indian cultural concepts to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
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  32. Nobody in Sri Lanka will want that
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  33.  @sriharshacv7760  Okay but size is not the question, Sri Lanka is culturally, ethnically and historically distinct as explained in the video. Sri Lankan society is a mix of Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Malay and Burgher cultural elements. It's evident in the cuisine, the languages (Sinhalese, Tamil, Sri Lankan Malay) and the culture. Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan people are "Sri Lankan" because of the cultural interaction between the Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Malays and Burghers.
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  34.  @mondaysinsanity8193  Reincarnation is a concept that exists in so many religious traditions, it's not just native to Eurasia. We're talking about Asia and you're talking about Europe, where is the correlation? You can't understand Asian history by looking at everything and comparing it to European history. That's not how it works.
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  35.  @tivo3720  Christmas is actually really popular in some parts of Asia where Christianity is a minority. I know Christmas is considered the second biggest festival in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka (only second to the South and Southeast Asian Solar New Year).
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  36.  @Mkayou  No, Sri Lankan people are completely different. Why do Indians always want to claim Sri Lanka??? It's so weird.
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  37.  @Mkayou  I'm not conflating anything. The fact is that Sri Lankan culture is not Indian at all. It is its own thing. Are you going to say Thailand should be a state of India too? They were culturally influenced by India too. Is Thai culture "very Indian" too? Sri Lanka is completely different and even modern Sri Lanka is changing. There are a lot of Chinese immigrants in Sri Lanka and they have integrated into the nation opening Chinese shops, businesses and restaurants. There are Sri Lankan people who now watch Chinese dramas and they broadcast Sinhalese-dubbed Chinese dramas on TV. People also watch Thai and American shows while Bollywood is declining in popularity in Sri Lanka. A Japanese-themed market is set to open as a tourist attraction in Sri Lanka soon and there are so many Russians and Ukrainians that live in resort towns in southern Sri Lanka like Unawatuna and Hikkaduwa nowadays, so much to the point that locals in the area can now speak Russian and there is Russian signage everywhere. Sri Lanka is cosmopolitan in nature. Sri Lanka is simply different, stop claiming that it's "very Indian". Try learning more about your neighbours.
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  38.  @synaestesia-bg3ew  I understood what you meant :)
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  39.  @skipper2594  The majority of people in Sikkim are Gurkhas, who are related to Nepalese though.
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  40.  @KhalidAlharbi67  Well everything Julia said is exactly what was said in the video.
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  41. Sri Lanka is as distinct to India as the Philippines is distinct to Indonesia.
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  42. Only a small portion of the Sri Lankan population is of full "Austronesian" origin and can speak an Austronesian language, Sri Lankan Malay historians say a larger portion has partial Malay ancestry but no coherent genetic study has been done yet. However, the cultural impact of the "Austronesians" (Malays and Javanese to be specific) on Sri Lanka as a whole is far greater. They contributed a lot to the development of Sri Lankan culture. Sri Lankan culture would be very different if Austronesians never settled in Sri Lanka. I have some Malay ancestry, so I acknowledge the significance of Austronesia.
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  43.  @ariapinandita9240  Insanity
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  44.  @patakichi  Agreed. That's why Eastern religions have been syncretised.
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  45. Oh Sri Lanka is unique, your assessment about its culture and claiming it's very similar to Kerala is wrong. There are similarities but that's not all. Sri Lankan culture is a mix of Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil, Moor, Malay and Eurasian cultures. There is nowhere in India where those five groups are present. As a result a lot of the culture present in Sri Lanka is not found in India. Nobody in India eats lamprais for example, nobody eats sambal, nobody makes batik, nobody wears redde hatte, nobody eats seaweed, nobody wears tubular sarong, nobody listens to baila, nobody speaks Sinhalese, nobody speaks Sri Lankan Malay, nobody eats seenakku, nobody eats achcharu, nobody eats nasi goreng, nobody plays the rabana, nobody creates Kandyan masks, nobody wears the traditional Kandyan chieftain attire and I could go on and on. All of that is found in Sri Lanka, not in India.
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  46. Basing your assessment on a bunch of YouTube videos is just wrong. How can you understand a country and its culture or its people based on a bunch of YouTube videos?
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  47.  @JakeRed378  Those are mythological stories created due to Indocentrism. Cambodians, Thai and various other mainland Southeast Asian groups have mythological stories like the Sinhalese have in which they claim they are also descendants of a prince from India. Due to the greatness of India in the ancient era, people wanted to claim association with India. A modern DNA test however paints a different picture. The average Sinhalese is mostly a mix of AASI, Neolithic Farmer and a small bit of Southeast Asian ancestry. The Sinhalese formed in Sri Lanka in which indigenous groups mixed with an Odia-related migrant group in addition to other groups. If the Sinhalese were truly from Odisha or Bengal, then the Sinhalese would not be genetically closest to Sri Lankan Tamils.
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  48.  @Trita-wg4nw  The group that faces the most hate in India are the Muslims, not the Christians
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  49. You're not Sri Lankan. Only Indians use the word "Bharat". Stop larping as a Sri Lankan, Aadu.
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  50. Coming here and claiming to be Sri Lankan when every Sri Lankan Buddhist knows that the Buddha was born in Nepal, not India. You can't even larp properly.
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