> About the latter ("considered to be one of the earliest universities in the world") and the revival of the university - I recently started reading a book called, The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies. I'm interested in learning about the influence of Buddhism on Greek (and later European) philosophy. I know almost nothing about the history of India, so it's been a fun educational journey.

There is a lot of interconnect between Ancient Greek and Ancient Indian civilizations. Even when it comes to Demigods we have lots of similarities. Mostly because we interacted a lot (in spite of the Wars that we fought with each other, we eventually began to respect each others Civilizations more deeply). But with the fall of these Ancient Civilizations much of that relations that were built was lost. In a way, Dharmic Religions are the oldest surviving Religions... or dare I say oldest surviving Ancient Civilizations.

One of my biggest gripes with Western Indologists is that they classified Sanatan Dharma/Hinduism as Polytheist. Which is actually far from the Truth. We have only 1 God (the Brahman of the Vedas — the Supreme Being) with many Demigods (Devatas). Now depending on the school of Vedanta one follows, there are multiple interpretations of what God is (is God an independent entity — Tattvavada/Dvaita, we are all part of one God — Vishishtadvaita or I am God — Advaita). Yet all of it just boils down to either Monism or Monotheism. Not Polytheism. But as usual, the latter has stuck on due to wrong translations and will take a long time for it to be fixed.

Buddhism and Jainism on the other hand fall under Charvaka Philosophy. Charvakas deny the Supremacy of the Vedas as they believe in empirical evidence, direct perception alone. So even though we all come under the same umbrella term of "Dharmic Religions" there is a fundamental difference between both, which goes by the terminologies: Astika (Vedic) and Nastika (non-Vedic).

> The name of Chandragupta Maurya I hadn't heard before, but I see he is an important historical figure, the grandfather of Ashoka. And they're said to be from the Shakya family from which Gautama Buddha descended.

Yes you are right. Chandragupta Maurya was the Emperor of Ancient India and the founder of the Mauryan Empire. Emperor Ashoka is his descendent.

> I don't know the truth of the matter, but perhaps the translators simply lacked understanding?

This is a long story but it ties heavily to Evalengelical Christian Missionaries and providing them a fodder by misinterpreting many of the scriptures incorrectly (many Missionaries here use these translated scriptures to fool the local populace). It then becomes really easy to coax local populace in India (typically the lower castes), who due to various unfortunate circumstances (including discrimination they were subjected to in the past by upper castes, coupled with their own economic conditions), weren't versed in Sanskrit, to convert to Christianity or other Abrahamic Religions.

I have no issues with people converting as that is their individual preference/right but I don't want wrongly translated scriptures to be used as fodder for such conversions. I am more worried about these translations gaining a life of its own and cementing itself as the true translations winning over actual translations that was passed down through generations by our Ancestors. I want to preserve this culture/tradition as I feel it holds value to people on Earth and for future generations to research/introspect/learn from. Irrespective of whether they find value in it or not. Irrespective of whether it is perfect, faulty or downright nonsense. It should be looked at as preservation of Ancient Culture/Traditions and not be lost in the annals of Time.

Also, wrong translations builds animosity between groups. People here are converting not out of some profound wisdom or philosophical enlightenment but out of a hatred for the Religion they belonged to. This sort of brainwashing is going on every single day in India.

Very few who bothered to do their own independent research and figure out that the translations are wrong reconvert back.

This is not healthy for a society IMHO. Especially if conversions are forced or happen out of misinformation/animosity, it just ends up creating bad blood, regrets (once you realize you have been taken for a ride) and even divisiveness leading to communal rifts.

So I see it as my moral duty to set things right when I see wrong translations. Even if the World is against me. And I know I am not alone in this endeavour.

> Especially this comment ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32929993 ) was very thought-provoking, one of my favorite comments ever on this forum.

Thank you so much for your kind words! Means a lot!