Thande
Donor
Oh, I'm not saying it'll disappear, I just think that infantrymen may move up the ranks a bit.
What happened in OTL with the Sikhs?
Roman India
- Thread starter Thande
- Start date
Oh, I'm not saying it'll disappear, I just think that infantrymen may move up the ranks a bit.
What happened in OTL with the Sikhs?
Flocculencio
Donor
Well the officers at least would have been mainly kshatriya anyway even before the introduction of heavy infantry.
The Sikhs dropped the caste system within their ranks- they picked up the "all believers are brothers" concept from Islam.
Would that be Latinized into "Musirius?" (My Latin is totally rusty...)
Ummm, Pliny was Roman. So, if he called it Muziris, thats what it latinized as.
The idea of a Roman india is very interesting. But given the fact that Indian culture has being able to "absorved" and "assimilated" most of its invaders (except maybe for the Muslims), you would need a very strong Roman presence at the begining if you don't want all traces of "Romanity" to dissapear just a few years after all contact with Rome is lost.
Actually not even the Muslims in India "survived" the cultural absorbtion and assimilation by Indian culture. Just look at the present India, especially at the certain parts of the country (though (or "and of course" ?) it's not just limited in those areas...).
One fun fact: there are actually more Christians in India than followers of the famous Sikh faith. Why do Sikhs have more political clout than Christians?
Because there are many different sects of christians... catholics, protestants etc.
Flocculencio
Donor
Thande and Fabilius are both right!
Firstly because the Christians don't work together- there are huge differences between the various Christian sects.
Take Kerala where Christianity has been present for near 2000 years- my people, the St. Thomas Christians (Syrian Orthodox) are well integrated into the caste system as honourary Kshatriyas. Kerala evolved a caste/class system where the Hindus were the aristocracy and the bulk of the peasantry, the Syrian Orthodox were pretty much gentry (owning a lot of land with low-caste Hindu tenants and paying taxes to Hindu aristocracy) and some Christians, the Jews and the Muslims were the mercantile class. However when the Portugese came along they made lots of converts in two classes- the outcaste fisherfolk and among some of the St. Thomas Christians. The former became Roman Catholics while the latter became Syrian Catholics in union with Rome. The effect of this is that old-fashioned Syrian Orthodox Keralites from the pukka gentry families (like my grandmother) will be willing to regard Syrian Catholic Keralites as equals while Roman Catholic Keralites are looked down on as peasants.
Secondly, the Sikhs have the most representation in the Indian Armed Forces per capita of any Indian ethnic group. When the Indian Army goes to war, the Sikh Regiments will lead the charge- and the Sikh Regiments are scary. Man for man they may be the finest warriors on the planet except for the Gurkhas*.
Flocculencio
Donor
This is why Kerala is a good place to set up- historically it's been the most diverse of the Indian states because so many people come and go there. A Roman state would be pretty Indianised within a few centuries but it would still be recognisably Roman, just as the Syrian Orthodox are recognisably Orthodox after two thousand years in India.
You certainly won't get a Roman India- you can get a Romanised city-state in Cranganore or Cochin.
mojojojo
Gone Fishin'
Very interesting, would that be possible?
BTW: How did this thread become a giant christianity wank?
This thread never became a "giant Christianity wank".
Thande was just interested in discussing a scenario where the Indo-Roman colony became Christian just like the rest of the Roman Empire, and developed/adopted it's own unique Thomasine branch of Christianity. And the debates about that scenario simply led about a few interesting posts about the characteristics of the Christian communities that also exist in OTL southern India.
...and I fail to see exactly how a scenario about a coastal Indo-Roman Christian thallasocracy would be a "giant Christianity wank".
..
Once we reach the point that the debated scenario involves an entirely Christianized southern India and Indonesia, then you can complain about this thread being/becoming a giant Christianity wank.
mojojojo
Gone Fishin'
Maybe I am misunderstanding things. What is the accepted definition of "wank" as it related to AH?