A Study of Pre-Islamic Religions in Afghanistan

Abstract

The magical and vast nature of Afghanistan has been one of the most essential factors in the implementation of strategic plans of great powers throughout history in this part of the world including its strong economy in the Middle Ages and the tall mountain ranges, plains, and flats, desert areas, rivers and the special geopolitical situation showed the magnificence of the country to the explorers. Therefore, yesterday's Khorasan and today's Afghanistan hosted them at certain times, and the powers came and went, or they were dissolved among the native people with their cultural and ideological mixing. The arrival of pre-Islamic religions is one of the consequences of those movements, whose remains include golden cups from the treasure of Flaul Hill, Greek works of Ai Khanum, vases with Roman sheaves, small Indian plates found in Bagram, and luxurious jewelry. Tala Tepe and thousands of other remains talk about the artistic, cultural, and religious mixing of this ancient region. Receiving works from many places such as Hoda, Bamiyan, Bakhtar, Gandhara region, etc. in Afghanistan is a clear expression of the existence of Greek-Bactrian civilization and the spread of Greek culture and ideas with our religious mixtures, before the spread of the holy religion of Islam, as Gandhara was the main route of trade caravans and the passage of Buddhist missionaries to the eastern lands of the country, it was considered the first place to build Buddhist statues. In Bamiyan, Salsal is 55 meters high and Shamameh is 35 meters high, and it stamps the seal of Buddhism on the forehead of the time. The art of high-quality paintings indicates the existence of another religion called the religion of Mani, which was inspired by the Indo-Greek style in the spirit of the industry of the Sassanid period. Shivaism and Brahmanism in Kabul and the coronation of Rayan Kabuli in the region of Shiyuki (Shiva's place) and Andaki (Andra's place) in the southwest of current Kabul, and Shiyuki idols of Shiva and Andaki idols of Indra and Brahma existed because these two are considered to be the lords of the Brahmins. Here still possible to visit those places and hold special ceremonies there, which indicates the existence of this religion in Afghanistan before Islam.