I'm reading an introductory-level book on Hinduism now; something I know very little about, so I decided to edumacate myself

In India, there are demons (which, in former times, had godlike status) called the "Asura." The Japanese have a class of Buddhistic "god-beings" they call the "Ashura." In Zoroastrianism, the main god is called "Ahura Mazda." In Norse mythology, there is a class of gods called the "Aesir."

Don't all of these names sound rather similar to each other? Or is it just me?

When I start to look at similar correspondences, others pop up. For example, in Nordic mythology there is a being called "Ymir" who was a kind of primordial creature. Another primordial figure (said to be the first man) in Hindu mythology is "Yama."

And so on. I keep running into these paralells of similar-sounding names for mythological beings with similar functions that seem to stretch from one end of Eurasia all the way to the other. This suggests some kind of very primal collective origin somewhere, at least to me. The India-to-Japan stuff is not such a stretch (I assume Indian-sounding terminology floated thatway with the spread of Buddhism) but its interesting to see very close paralells in Iranian/Persian Zorastrianism and Nordic mythology...all this seems very wide-ranging to me.

Any ideas?

I really don't know much about what you are talking about and would like to know more

but what I do know is, is that hinduism and buddhism are not really religions but more of a philosophy

It all goes back to Sanskrit, mostly, and the language that preceded Sanskrit (I think it's called proto-Sanskrit, but I could be mistaken).

India and Persia are closely related by language and history. In fact, most of the languages of Europe are related to Sanskrit. They're in the family of languages called "Indo-European". That's why you get so many similar-sounding words. They go back to the original language.

The asura (demon) of Hinduism became a deity in Zoroastrianism, which originated in Persia. Buddhism was imported into Japan, and the various terms were transliterated into the Japanese language. So asura became "ashura". In China, Bodhidharma became Bu-Di-Da-Mo. And so on. "Dhyana" (meditation, in Sanskrit) became "chan" in Chinese; in Japanese they pronounce it "Zen".

Meanwhile, Persia was interacting with the Middle-East, so some of their concepts and sounds found their way into Hebrew, Arabic, and other local languages.

I have always wondered whether the word "amen" is related to the Egyptian deity Ammon-Ra (spelled variously); and whether it might even go back to the Hindu sacred syllable "aum". It's a bit of a stretch, but... you never know.

Well first off the Æsir are not a class of gods but are the gods, except for Frey and Freyja, who are Vanir, sort of like a different tribe...

Second I think you should study up on language, Ymir and Yggdrasil are not pronounced how you think they are... Ymir does not sound like Yama.
Also in Japanese Yama means mountain... maybe the first 'man' was mountain..?

I think you will be more interested in the first 2 people created by the gods: Ask and Embla. Sound like anyone from Genesis?

Originally posted by Ridhya
Also in Japanese Yama means mountain...

In the Hindu pantheon, Yama is the god of death. I believe the OP was referring to that deity.

Originally posted by chiron613

Originally posted by Ridhya
Also in Japanese Yama means mountain...

In the Hindu pantheon, Yama is the god of death. I believe the OP was referring to that deity.

All mountains crumble to the sea, eventually.....even castles made of sand.

Thanks for your replies, everyone. I've learned some interesting stuff from this thread...the ATS braintrust comes through again.

Ok Folks

Yes indeed it is “interesting” that you find some very similar sounding words in some religions.

Here is the thing about most of the ones you have listed. They are all from Indo-European (IE) language cultures. The Indus Valley (India) and Persia (Zorastrianism) which you have listed are linguistically very close on the IE language tree. Their culture was very similar too. When Zorastarism came along it departed from the traditional Indo-European myth and religious structure quite a bit, however it borrowed from the religions which were there before

The Asier and Vanier as pointed out were two “tribes” of Divine beings. Similar to the Irish (my area of expertise) Tuatha De Dannan (People of Art is the most likely translation not People of the Goddess Dannu), and the Fir Bolg. You in the Germanic/Scandinavian faiths have the Giants (Jötnar) and in the Irish myths you have the Tuatha De Domman aka Fomaire. Linguistically quite different from each other and the Eastern IE cultures. But I am sure I could do some linguistic wankery/gymnastics and show a link

Manou, Minos, Mises, Moses


Many myths, gods, and legends evolve over time the same way that language does.

Similar to the way the "germanic" languages have common pronunciations for many words, such as "Gott" and "God", "und" and "and", "pfeffer" and "pepper"


The problem with this simple and easily understood idea is that it suggests that our rock-solid faith systems have actually changed along side us as history unfolds. If that is true, then the question isn't "which faith should i believe in?" but also "at what date in the history of my faith was it truest?"

Both absurd questions.