This is obviously a hoax or some kind of avantgarde art project. Of course it´s not ancient aliens. Why? Because the "carvings" look exactly how ancient aliens are supposed to look like *according to the expectations of current (mostly American) pop culture*. What are the chances?
Even Dan Dedunking doesn´t seem to believe in these "artifacts". Yes, we´re talking about the guy who thinks Easter Island is Atlantis! I mean, dude.
Thomas Sheridan is...well, controversial. Often coded as Alt Right or even Satanist. But listen to this old video from 2009, which apparently got him banned from (Irish?) public access TV. He sounds like somebody who old fashioned feminists might want to take a bear with!
What happened, Thomas me man?
The title of this video is evidently click bait, since the "anti-Hindu temple" or "Hindu anti-temple" is really a medieval royal cremation ground in Cambodia. It´s popularly known as the Terrace of the Leper King.
The content-creator ("Ancient Aliens" personality Praveen Mohan) treats it as Hindu, but according to all-knowing Wikipedia and ChatGPT, the site is Buddhist but with Hindu admixture. Hardly surprising in a syncretic religious environment. Besides, Buddhism took over much of the South Asian ("Hindu") cosmology.
For a moment, I assumed Mohan had come across some kind of truly demonic super-Tantra stuff, but naaah, apparently not.
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| Bilden har ingen uppenbar koppling till ämnet |
Vi tackar! Hälsningar Max Shachtman.
The super-niche YouTube channel HAR (Himalayan Art Resources) strikes again. Very strange stuff in these videos, including a green version of Lakshmi riding on a lion, a twelve-armed red version of Ganapati, various real people turned into "protector-spirits" after their deaths (in one case, seemingly by the guy´s enemies?!) and even "Amitayus with consort". Good luck with this material, guys!
"Himalayan Art Resources, Inc." must be the ultimate nerd channel on YouTube. Or maybe not, since Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism is presumably still popular among Western spiritual seekers. The short clip above deals with deities depicted with wings and mentions examples from both Vajrayana and Bön (Bon). Note the Garuda bird! Apparently a loan from Hinduism.
In case you´re interested.
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| Copilot´s rather puritanical take on Vinayaki |
There is an almost unknown female counterpart to Ganesha, known as Vinayaki?!
Again: Why should we care about this? This is from Trump´s Pravda, Breitbart News.
Blev uppriktigt förvånad över att två tredjedelar av de tillfrågade faktiskt *kunde* nämna namnet på en nu levande konstnär. Modern konst är (för det mesta) bara skit. Så nix, här "konsumeras" ingenting. Föredrar nästan att inmundiga AI-genererade bilder. Nästa fråga!
A propos the previous blog post: Buddha protected by Alexander the Great and Herakles! Welcome to ancient Gandhara...
An interesting video on ancient Greek influence on various aspects of Asian art and culture (including martial arts).
The Greco-Buddhist kingdoms of Bactria and NW India are of course featured, but it turns out that the Hellenic influence survived far longer. Note that the first depictions of the Hindu gods Krishna and Balarama are Greco-Buddhist, and so are the first anthropomorphic depictions of the Buddha. There are even depictions of the Buddha with two dharma-protectors, who on closer inspection turns out to be Alexander the Great and Herakles!
The content-creator argues that some Asian martial arts might be influenced by ancient Greek Pankration (made famous by the games at Olympia). Thai boxing and Bokator in Cambodia are apparently the main suspects. The video also claims that there are descriptions of fighting techniques in the Hindu epic Mahabharata which resembles Pankration.
Interesting. So here we go again: Ex Occidente lux. Or at least mixed martial arts...
OK, so I just had to give Bing AI the same absurd prompts as I gave Gemini. The above is "Federal Vision". Note the drones!
Maybe this is of interest only to theology nerds obsessed with computer games and I´m not one of them (LOL) but I asked Gemini to generate pictures inspired by various theological schools of thought. This is Federal Vision. Probably intended to be something like the Earth Federation in "Starship Troopers"!
Ugly as fuck, too.
