Number of words: 270

It is an interesting thought that image worship came to India from Greece. The Vedic religion was opposed to all forms of idol and image worship. There were not even any temples for the gods. There probably were some traces of image worship in the older faiths in India, though this was certainly not widely prevalent. Early Buddhism was strongly opposed to it and there was a special prohibition against the making of images and statues of the Buddha. But Greek artistic influence in Afghanistan and round about the frontier was strong and gradually it had its way. Even so, no statues of the Buddha were made to begin with, but Apollo like statues of the Bodhisattvas (supposed to be the previous incarnations of the Buddha) appeared. These were followed by statues and images of the Buddha. It is an interesting thought that image worship came to India from Greece. The Vedic religion was opposed to all forms of idol and image worship. There were not even any temples for the gods. There probably were some traces of image worship in the older faiths in India, though this was certainly not widely prevalent.

This encouraged image-worship in some forms of Hinduism though not in the Vedic religion which continued to be free of it. The word for an image or statue in Persian and in Hindustani still is But (like put) derived from Buddha himself. This encouraged image-worship in some forms of Hinduism though not in the Vedic religion which continued to be free of it.

Excerpted from pages 161 of ‘Jawaharlal Nehru The Discovery of India, by Jawaharlal Nehru