Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jagermeister 12-03-05, 01:10 PM	I recently started studying Sihkism on my personal time, out of curiosity spurred by seeing several Sihks while on vacation. So I went to the book store, and picked up the first book on the shelf that I saw pertaining to Sihkism. What does this have to do with Eberron? Well, some of you may or may not be aware of this, but Khyber is an actual mountain pass through the Hindu Kush mountain range. Pondering that coupled with the term or title Rajah to the regions inhabitants has made me wonder what significance these "transplanted" words have to Eberron. Was the Khyber of Eberron named that just because the name sounds nice? Or does it have something to do with its real world counterpart? Do the Rajahs of Eberron have any intended correlation to those of our own world? Khyber pass has had an interesting history, which you can read about here (http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/khyber.html) if you are feeling inquisitive. Perhaps this has already been discussed before. At any rate, I stumbled upon it, and thought I would share.
Siran Dunmorgan 12-03-05, 02:22 PM	I recently started studying Sihkism on my personal time, out of curiosity spurred by seeing several Sihks while on vacation. So I went to the book store, and picked up the first book on the shelf that I saw pertaining to Sihkism. What does this have to do with Eberron? Well, some of you may or may not be aware of this, but Khyber is an actual mountain pass through the Hindu Kush mountain range. Pondering that coupled with the term or title Rajah to the regions inhabitants has made me wonder what significance these "transplanted" words have to Eberron. Was the Khyber of Eberron named that just because the name sounds nice? Or does it have something to do with its real world counterpart? Do the Rajahs of Eberron have any intended correlation to those of our own world? Khyber pass has had an interesting history, which you can read about here (http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/khyber.html) if you are feeling inquisitive. Perhaps this has already been discussed before. At any rate, I stumbled upon it, and thought I would share. Well, yeah... in Hindu lore, Khyber, i.e., over the pass from what was the Persian side in the old days, is where the rakshasas, i.e. demons that impersonate your friends, come from. The history professor I had years ago on this subject suggested that this was a transference into myth of Persian traders coming into India pretending to be friends and then turning on their Indian trading partners. —Siran Dunmorgan
Jagermeister 12-03-05, 02:32 PM	Well, yeah... in Hindu lore, Khyber, i.e., over the pass from what was the Persian side in the old days, is where the rakshasas, i.e. demons that impersonate your friends, come from. The history professor I had years ago on this subject suggested that this was a transference into myth of Persian traders coming into India pretending to be friends and then turning on their Indian trading partners. —Siran Dunmorgan Interesting. I haven't ever read into the real world mythology of the Rakshasa before. Thanks for that tidbit.
hiryuu 12-03-05, 03:02 PM	I had thought Khyber sounded familiar. Three years of Asian Humanities courses, and I can't believe I forgot it. I have to go looking thorugh my notes on Mohenjo Daro again now.
MarkB 12-03-05, 03:51 PM	There's a Roger Zelazny novel called Lord of Light, which combines SF with a lot of Eastern mythology. It features evil beings called Rakasha, and this was the first time I'd encountered them outside D&D. And of course, most British players above a certain age will have heard of Khyber Pass via the film Carry On Up The Khyber - it took our group some time to take Khyber seriously as the deadly place it is as a result.
ekomega 12-03-05, 04:56 PM	Khyber Pass is an Afghani restaurant two blocks down from my apartment.