Discuss the effects of polytheism and the lack of unification in India prior to Ashoka
c
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ANSWER:
Because of the various disparate forces in India and the adherence to a social varna rather than a political and religious identity, there was a tremendous difficulty in gaining any kind of unification in India. Polytheism, which allowed for many gods to be worshiped in different ways, encouraged commonality; particularly in the adaptation of Vedic religion to the Aryan and Dravidian cultures. The flexibility of India in religious terms, along with the lack of political unification under any one ruler (until the Mauryan Empire), meant that no one particular political party could claim power. It is not until the Mauryan Empire, and Ashoka's endorsement of Buddhism (in its various forms, another factor of localism and adaptation), that one can see a tying together of religion and politics as an attempt to unify the country. Unification was established only through religious toleration and syncretism.
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