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dharma-visheSha-prasUtAd dravya-guNa-karma-sAmAnya-visheSha-samavAyAnAM padArthAnAM sAdharmya-vaidharmAbhyAM tattvaj~nAnAn niHshreyasaM ||

Apr 6, 2023, 10 tweets

Andronovo-derived technology, ghosts &justice by phantoms in a didactic account of the Zhou age by old chIna philosopher Mozi. We would posit that the successful overthrow of the Shang by the Zhou was due to late Andronovo military connections. The description of the ghost's is

v.curious. One cannot help wondering if it was influenced by the imagery of an I-Ir rudra-class deity. The Zhou chariot burial

c.f. quadriga and peculiar trichakra from Andronovan site at Jamani Us Mongolia.

The said event is believed to have happened in the 700-800s of BCE. The chIna-religion can be seen as one of ghosts (gui). They may be associated with the deities Da Siming (the big guy) & Shao Siming (his assistant, who from a H perspective would appear like yama& chitragupta

The curious tale of a Daoist "recipe master" summoning ghosts to punish an official from the age of the Late Han.

Apposite to the above: Whereas various major chIna schools like Mohism, legalism & Confucianism accepted the existence of ghosts in their teachings, & ghost rituals were a part of imperial ceremonies of multiple dynasties, there were officials& scholars who tried to suppress

ghost cults or right works debunking/doubting them. On these occasions, the chIna-s preserve lore of how ghosts came to punish or correct them. Sometimes ghosts of Confucians come to berate scholars of Daoism for adopting the latter philosophy.

Another chIna tale from the 300s of CE that bears a thematic resemblance to the one opening this thread. However, here the avenging ghost is the father of executed individual who achieves his revenge via the deity of heaven.

A variant of this tale preserved by a Daoist teacher says that Yu tried protect himself by performing a rite at a shrine but failed in the requisite vrata. He adds that Yu saw the ghost while in the toilet & died.

A comparable tale of a female ghost is recorded a little over a century later. Here again the unfairly executed female musician applies to the heavenly mandate for killing her executioners in a peculiar fashion

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