Vunnam Dharani Krishna, Alliance School of Law
In an effort to determine when the right to practice one's own religion first emerged in India, the following is what I have learned and what I believe to be true:
Helena, a daughter of Seleucus Nicator I, wed Chandragupta Maurya in 305 BCE. I view this as the pivotal event that inspired India's claim to freedom of religion. After overthrowing the Nanda dynasty,
Chandragupta wed Helena for two reasons:
1) Because he loved her
2) As that would avoid bloodshed among Greek and Mauryan troops deployed by
Alexander
This union was successful since even the Greek forces had lost power, and the Mauryans had been easily conquering India. Given that Helena was the daughter of the Greek official in charge of the Asian subcontinent, this marriage strengthened ties with the Greeks. This union facilitated the coexistence of Greeks and Indians, which is how the first foreign religion reached India.
Greek and Indian residents began to appreciate each other's traditions and ceremonies as King Chandragupta himself adopted a Greek woman as his wife and a Greek princess joined Hinduism.
The Zoroastrians who had been threatened by Muslim invasions later in the eighth century AD escaped to present-day Gujrat and settled in Diu; since they were Persian, the Indians named them Parsis. At that time, Sri Rai Karan, the monarch of Gujrat, allowed Parsis to dwell there and never compelled them to convert. And in this way, India set a new trend by accepting a different religion.
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