Chapter 558: Improved Brahmins
However, after ignoring the proposal of the Brahmins, Li Zhen and Li Yun quickly discovered that although they could conquer the Kingdom of Chora with force, if they wanted to truly rule here, they had to rely on the power of Brahmins, because after thousands of years of development, the influence of Brahminism has penetrated into all aspects of the Indian people, and their thoughts and behaviors were all influenced by Brahmin doctrines.
Faced with this situation, Li Zhen and Li Yun thought of three solutions. The first is to implement high-pressure rule. No matter what the impact of Brahminism has, they will all be solved by violence. However, this will definitely be resisted by local people, and they may be driven out one day. The second is to accept the Brahmin's suggestions, replace the original Kshatriya nobles, and recognize the transcendent status of Brahmins.
However, neither of the above two methods were what Li Zhen and Li Yun wanted to see, so after they gathered everyone, everyone thought hard for a long time and even wrote to Li Yan for advice. Finally, with the joint efforts of everyone, they finally made a great decision, which was to transform the Brahmanism so that it would be more conducive to their rule in India without touching the interests of most believers.
This was not a random decision made by Li Zhen and Li Yun, but based on the information provided by Li Yan before, coupled with their collection after landing in India, they discovered that the Brahmanism in the Indian continent has now fallen into a period of decline. For example, taking the most powerful Jieji Dynasty in the north as an example, although Jieji believed in the Brahmanism, he also supported other religions for the need for rule. Especially in recent years, he actually increased his support for Buddhism and built thousands of pagodas on both sides of the Ganges River. This behavior caused the declining Buddhism to show signs of revival.
The Jade Ri Dynasty was just one of the representatives. In other parts of India, Brahmins encountered the same situation, and their influence was much worse than before. If Li Zhen and Li Yun were not allowed to continue, then in a few decades, Brahmins would absorb the doctrines of some religious religions such as Buddhism, thus resulting in the new Brahmins, which was the Hinduism that flourished later in life.
Although Li Yan, Li Zhen and Li Yun were not aware of the religious changes in India, they were sensitively discovered that Brahmins were not willing to decline their influence. Many Brahmins were looking for new religious ways out, and this undoubtedly gave Li Zhen and Li Yun a chance. As long as they could promote the improved Brahmins and enhance the influence of the new Brahmins, a considerable number of Brahmins would definitely welcome their arrival. With the support of these Brahmins, they could go further in the Tianzhu area in the future.
It is also based on the above idea that Li Zhen and Li Yun first used money to bribe some local Brahmin nobles. This is actually a very simple thing. Because the local Brahmin nobles lived a degenerate life and advocated pleasure. In addition, there were threats of force, a group of Brahmin nobles were soon controlled by Li Zhen and Li Yun, and then according to their needs, they improved the current Brahmin doctrine.
However, after hearing about this very "interesting" incident, Li Yan personally wrote a letter to Li Zhen and Li Yun, reminding them that the new Brahmins must refer more to the newly-rise Islam of the great cannibalism and the Roman Catholicism and other religious models, and strive to achieve the unity of politics and religion in Islam. Only in this way can they truly override religion and not be bound by religion.
Li Zhen and Li Yun naturally attached great importance to Li Yan's solemn suggestions. Dashi is not far from India. Dashi and Roman merchants often came to India by boat, so they could easily find some merchants who believed in Islam and Catholicism, and then learned about the religious situation in Dashi and Rome through them, and then provided them to those Brahmin nobles. As a result, a new type of religion with Brahmins as the main body and referenced Islam and Catholicism appeared.
In order to win the support of Brahmins, this new religion named the new Brahmin. It also believes in the three main gods of Brahmin, Vishnu and Shiva, and also supports the species system. However, on this basis, the new Brahmin promotes the reincarnation of Li Yun as the god of protection Vishnu, while Li Zhen is the reincarnation of Shiva, the god of destruction, and jointly serves as the pope of the new Brahmin religion. One is the emperor of protection, and the other is the emperor of destruction.
After determining the religious status of Li Zhen and Li Yun, the new Brahmin promoted the mission of the pope who had traveled far away: because he sensed the weak Brahmin power in various parts of India, the two main gods reincarnated in the East and led the divine army to India, in order to clean up those pagans who did not believe in Brahmins and let the glory of God shine on the land of India again.
Of course, in order to cooperate with the propaganda of the New Brahmanism and to increase the divinity of the two popes, Li Zhen and Li Yun, the New Brahman nobles who defected to them fabricated many myths and legends about them, such as the two who showed a vision when they came out, the gods asked their father Li Shimin to kill their father Li Shimin, and the seven-year-old snake chopping at the age of eight-year-old dragon slaying, and so on. Anyway, these things are ready-made, just borrow them from the Central Plains myth and use them.
In addition, in order to make this political and religious regime more stable, Li Zhen and Li Yun also made modifications to the political system in their hands, dividing all officials into two categories, namely military and political officials and religious officials. The first category is nothing to say, referring to the administrative structure of the Tang Dynasty and Taiwan, but the details have been modified. As for the establishment of religious officials, it was a major reform, because it represented that secular regimes finally surpassed religion. Only through the appointment of Li Zhen and Li Yun, could Brahmin nobles have legal missionary power.
After the establishment of the new Brahmin religion, Li Zhen and Li Yun immediately began to preach in the ruling area. They first started with Brahmins, mainly based on the Brahmin nobles who had been bribed, and then used force threats to hold all Brahmin temples in their hands as quickly as possible. Then, with these temples as the center, they began to spread new doctrines and promote the deeds of the two popes, Li Zhen and Li Yun, and increase the number of believers.
This top-down reform is very fast, and for the believers, apart from adding the pope who reincarnated the two main gods, there is no big change. Moreover, in Brahmin religion, the main gods are often reincarnated into other gods, humans, and even wild beasts to complete some missions, so there is nothing unacceptable about the reincarnation of the two main gods, Li Zhen and Li Yun.
Chapter completed!