@rajiraouf,
rajiraouf;113984 wrote:Any idea as to which were those prevailing religions? What were their basic tenets? And where?
Yes, the original religion of the Aryans, who by then had migrated all the way through Europe, Asia, and South Asia. There are two main written sources for these earliest beliefs. One is the Rig Veda, which before its current written form was believed to have been passed on for thousands of years. Of course to Hindus it is a book of the highest holiness, but historically seen (i.e. without eye to what Hinduism
would evolve) it tells us in great detail about the forms of devotion among the Aryans.
The second are the Avestas, which are quite similar to the Rig Veda, but from Persia and not South Asia. The Gathas written by Zoroaster are in the Avestas, but there is much religious text that predates him in the Avestas.
I'm not expert in this, but what I've learned from this audiocourse is that 1) there were multiple gods, many of whom were sort of peaceful and innocuous, 2) after the Aryans and Mesopotamians made contact the Aryans began to use chariots and weapons, and correspondingly the more 'warlike' god Indra became popular.
Zoroaster it seems had a 'moral' reaction to his increasingly lawless society (that had no central god, no divine moral authority, and was being run by warlords). He exhorts devotion to Ahura Mazda, the one 'uncreated' and good god, and considers that the path to good and to salvation.
So his religion was greatly simplified, at least in terms of divinity, than the rigvedic / avestan religions. It also had eschatology and morality, which the others did not.
That's about as much as I know. There's a lot written about this subject:
Gathas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Avesta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rigveda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indo-Iranians - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Historical Vedic religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zoroastrianism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia