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Tinto Maps #19 - 20th of September 2024 - India

Hello everyone, and welcome once again to another Tinto Maps! Today we will be taking a look at India! Yup, a whole subcontinent… Exciting!

Let me say a foreword before I start sharing with you some beautiful maps. Some of you may wonder why we decided to make the entire Indian subcontinent in just one DD, instead of spreading it a bit. There are two reasons for that. The first is the political situation: the Sultanate of Delhi is at its zenith, under Muhammad bin Tughlaq. You will soon see that it rules over more than half of the region, approximately; so splitting that polity into several DDs would have felt weird.

The other is that we felt that a more cohesive approach made sense in this region, as it’s sooo diverse compared to others, that the way we approached it, both for its setup and content, was from the generic to the particular; therefore, we think that it will also help us more when we tackle the review of the region. Speaking of that, don’t worry much about the time available to prepare suggestions; you may already know that we have a backlog of several regions, and therefore weeks, before we hit the Indian review, so you will have plenty of time to research and prepare them. In any case, as it’s a massive task (we know it firsthand), we’ll let you know a bit in advance when we plan to start the in-depth review of it, so you have time to wrap it up.

As a final say, I just want to mention that an old acquaintance of the community, @Trin Tragula , now Design Lead in CK3, helped us to map a big chunk of it. Thanks, mate! And now, maps!

Countries:
Countries.jpg

Colored Wastelands.png

As I just mentioned, the Sultanate of Delhi is at its zenith, under Muhammad bin Tughlaq, extending through the Indo-Gangetic Plain, including Bengal, and to the south, throughout the Deccan. There we have its toughest contender, Vijayanagar, a county that is a bulwark of Hinduism. Other important countries around it are Orissa and Sindh, but much smaller countries generally surround Delhi. You might wonder how it would be possible to stop Delhi from completely controlling the region, then. For this, two things are affecting its capability to achieve it. The first is the base game mechanics: ruling over so many different cultures and religions with low control will be hard. The second is a Situation that involves the Fall of the Sultanate; if Delhi wants to succeed, it will have to fight back against rebellions, which involves the potential independence of the Bengalese countries or newborn ones such as the Bahmanis, and the multiple Indian states around it, which are ready to take over it.

Dynasties:
Dynasties.jpg


Locations:
Locations.jpg

Locations 2.jpg

Locations 3.jpg

Locations 4.jpg
Yes, we are making some adjustments to the coloring of the mapmodes!

Provinces:
Provinces.jpg

Provinces 2.jpg

Provinces 3.jpg

Provinces 4.jpg

Areas:
Areas.jpg

The bug is still there, yes… The area that is to the southwest is Malabar.

Terrain:
Climate.jpg

Topography.jpg

Vegetation.jpg

Here we have a new type of topography: Atolls. We added it some months ago, as we worked on finishing the map of the Pacific Ocean, and it will be the last one added to the game.

Development:
Development.jpg

A new map mode is born! Here you have the development of India. The most developed place is Delhi, which is part of the fertile Gangetic Plain.

Harbors:
Harbors.jpg


Cultures:
Cultures.jpg

Cultures 2.jpg

Cultures 3.jpg
Not an entirely new map, but a glorious one. We chose it to be the one to present how the different cultures could be present in the game for a reason.

Religions:
Religions.jpg

Religions 2.jpg

Religions 3.jpg
India is the birthplace of numerous religions, and that needs to be reflected in the religious map. The main religion is Hinduism, but don’t be deceived by its homogeneous look, as it will be quite deep feature-wise. We also have Buddhism, which is at a low point, after some centuries of prosecutions. Mahayana is a majority in Sindh, although that's not completely exact, as an earlier form of Buddhism was practiced there; we’re also not 100% convinced about it being a majority, as some sources and accounts set the Islamization of the region to be completed under the Ghaznavids, in the 11th and 12th century, while others delay it until the 14th century - we followed the later approach, but we're very open to feedback in this specific matter. Another form of Buddhism is Theravada, which is the most practiced religion in Sailan. Some interesting minorities present in the region are Jains (yellow stripes), Nestorians (the pink stripe in Malabar, which portrays the ‘Saint Thomas Christians’), Jews (which have their own separate culture, ‘Kochini’), and several Animist confessions, of which we’ve already split Satsana Phi, the traditional religion of Tai people, and Sanamahism, the religion of Meitei people. Oh, although it’s not strictly part of the region, the light blue stripes to the north is Bön religion.

Raw Materials:
Raw Materials.jpg

Raw Materials 2.jpg

Raw Materials 3.jpg

Raw Materials 4.jpg
India was for some time in the period the wealthiest region of the world, one of the main reasons being that it’s incredibly rich in very different types of resources, including some of the expensive ones. That will make for a very interesting economic gameplay.

Markets:
Markets India.png

There are several market centers in India that we think portray well the situation in 1337: Kabul (yes, it’s in Afghanistan, but it’s one for the area of Kashmir), Delhi, Khambat, Calicut, Pulicat, Varanasi, and Chittagong.

Population:
Population.jpg

Population 2.jpg

Population 3.jpg

Population 4.jpg

Population 5.jpg

Population 10.jpg

Population 9.jpg

Population 6.jpg

Population 7.jpg

Population 8.jpg

India has a big population. To be precise, around 95M pops. Delhi is the second largest country in the world in population, with 41M pops, which makes it a behemoth, with very serious governance challenges. I’m also showing this week the progress we’re making with the coloring of the population mapmode; the stripes on several locations mark that they’re overpopulated, as they have more pops living on them than the pop capacity available (something that may be reviewed, as balancing very densely populated regions such as India or China is really challenging).

And that’s all for today! We hope you enjoyed this massive Tinto Maps. Next week we will be taking a look at the Steppe. Which one, you might wonder? Well, the one ruled by the Golden Horde, from Ukraine in the west to Mongolia in the east. Cheers!
 
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I don't care if it's going to be the native language or English, but please just make it consistent.
I do have to echo some need for consistency. If Mahayana gets the macron diacritic to represent vowels of "double length," then that should apply to all other names as well.

Also, Jaffna should extend more south on the western side of the island. According to Ibn Battuta in 1344 the capital of the kingdom moved to Puttalam (Puttaḷam, perhaps?) during the pearling season, which is currently in Dambadeniya in the map. And he also writes that Colombo was under the rule of a Muslim pirate with an Abyssinian garrison, which is interesting.
 
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I do have to echo some need for consistency. If Mahayana gets the macron diacritic to represent vowels of "double length," then that should apply to all other names as well.

Also, Jaffna should extend more south on the western side of the island. According to Ibn Battuta in 1344 the capital of the kingdom moved to Puttalam (Puttaḷam, perhaps?) during the pearling season, which is currently in Dambadeniya in the map. And he also writes that Colombo was under the rule of a Muslim pirate with an Abyssinian garrison, which is interesting.
tbh, Sri Lanka as a whole should be a lot more fragmented, and a lot of Sinhalese lands in the North should be broke off from them. The reality is that Royal Sinhalese control over mush of the periphery of their borders were weak, and the Vanni chieftains, the Aryachakravartis, and pirates all took advantage of this to set up their own rule outside of the Sinhalese core.

Im worried that because of the lack of representation of this fragmentation, the Sinhalese will just end up easily uniting Sri Lanka and steamrolling Jaffna, when in reality Jaffna was a huge threat to the Sinhalese monarchy and even invaded deep into Sinhalese territory at times.

Accurately representing the island will require a substantial increase in the location density too however, given how many Vanni chieftains there were.
 
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Cultures in the Himalayas​

Sikkimese Culture​

It is more accurate to refer to the culture of Sikkim as Lepcha culture, as there was no unified Sikkimese identity. The Lepcha and Limbu peoples are the indigenous groups of Sikkim, while the Bhutias began migrating from Tibet around the same time. Since Limbu is already mentioned, replacing "Sikkimese" with "Lepcha" is recommended. Additionally, consider including Bhutia influences in northern Limbuwan and Sikkim.

Khasa Culture​

Khasa Prakrit, also known as Khas Prakrit or Himalayan Prakrit, is a medieval South Asian language that serves as a common ancestor to the Pahari languages, including Nepali, Kumaoni, Jaunsari, Mandeali, Kangri, and Garhwali. The Khasas extensively populated the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand and dominated the inner Himalayan belt up to Nepal.

Historically, the Khasas established themselves from Afghanistan to Nepal, managing village-level theocratic republics known as Gram-Rajya and Mandals under various local clans. The ruling Katyuri dynasty of Kumaon, believed to have Khas origins, was a significant power in the region from 700 to 1200 CE. According to historical records, the Katyuri dynasty claimed sovereignty over various Gram Rajyas and initially ruled from Joshimath in the Alaknanda Valley before shifting its capital to Baijnath. The Katyuris were connected to the medieval Khasa Malla kingdom, which had a strong presence in western Nepal and Uttarakhand.

The Khasa kings formed the Khasa-Malla Kingdom, which ruled over western Nepal and parts of Uttarakhand from the 11th century until it fragmented into local chiefdoms in the late 14th century.

Historian E.T. Atkinson noted in the 1886 Kumaon gazetteer that there were approximately 250 'septs among Khasiya Brahmins' and 280 'septs among Khasiya Rajputs,' representing the Khasa tribe. He estimated that 90% of the Brahmins in Kumaon belong to the Khas tribe. The Khasiya Brahmins were primarily cultivators and agriculturalists, worshiping deities such as Bhairava, Shiva, and Vishnu, with many deriving their surnames from their villages of origin.

The Khas people of the Western Himalayas share similarities with those in Garhwal, Kumaon, and Nepal, often referred to as Rajputs or Kanets in Himachal Pradesh. The Khasiyas of Jaunsar-Bawar, represented by the Jaunsari Rajputs and Brahmins, practiced polyandrous marriages.

Overall, the significant presence of Khas people in Kumaon and Garhwal justifies recognizing the cultures in these regions as Khasa rather than solely Kumaoni or Garhwali. Nepali, Garhwali, and Kumaoni are more modern cultural identities that stem from the older Khas culture. This perspective acknowledges the historical and cultural continuity of the Khasa identity in the Himalayan landscape.

Kirati Culture​

The Kirati are indigenous to the eastern part of Nepal, roughly corresponding to the current Koshi Pradesh, as well as parts of Sikkim, Darjeeling, and Kalimpong. The major groups within the Kirati are the Rai and Limbu. Since Limbu is already included in the discussion, it would be beneficial to rename the section to "Kirati" to encompass a broader range of groups, including Rai, Limbu,Limbu, Rai, Sunwar, Yakkha,etc . This change would reflect the diverse cultural landscape of Limbuwan. Additionally, consider adding the Sherpa community in northern Nepal.
I disagree with the suggestion you make for Garhwali and Kumaoni at last. Garhwal, although disunited at the start date, would be unified just a few decades later and through the efforts of Ajay Pal, the till now disunited people of Garhwal, identifying more with the Garhs they belonged to rather than Garhwal as whole, would come to see themselves and their culture different from their neighbours. As for Kumaon, Kumaon and Doti (and Garhwal too) had been united under the Katyuris for quite some time. These Katyuris were Kumaoni through and through. Not to say much about the never-ending rivalry between these two kingdoms.
 
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I do have to echo some need for consistency. If Mahayana gets the macron diacritic to represent vowels of "double length," then that should apply to all other names as well.

Also, Jaffna should extend more south on the western side of the island. According to Ibn Battuta in 1344 the capital of the kingdom moved to Puttalam (Puttaḷam, perhaps?) during the pearling season, which is currently in Dambadeniya in the map. And he also writes that Colombo was under the rule of a Muslim pirate with an Abyssinian garrison, which is interesting.
horne africans in south asia is not that rare . there is that famous chinese pirate fleet that had african gunners , chinese militants and japanese samurai mercs financed by portugal to take on dutch positions . the arabs and african muslims had lot of presence in the region reason why india got a black african origin ethnicity like the Habshis ( from arabic habasha , name given to ethiopia ) . they exist in india since the 700s when they arrived with the arabs either as free traders or slaves .
so having ethiopians there is not really rare , the indian ocean was pretty interconnected and a beacon of civilization in that period. this is why playing as oman will be super fun

though that make me now wonder if the habshis / siddis exist in the game
 
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The new projection really shows on this map :)

Thinking about all the winter and ice features from the recent dev diary, I now wonder: Is there features related to monsoons in the game? I realize going into detail is probably beyond scope for a map dd, but hopefully it's at least possible to confirm if it's on the radar.
 
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Garhwal, although disunited at the start date, would be unified just a few decades later and through the efforts of Ajay Pal, the till now disunited people of Garhwal, identifying more with the Garhs they belonged to rather than Garhwal as whole, would come to see themselves and their culture different from their neighbours
There you answered that Garhwali aligned themselves with their ghars rather than as gharwal so gharwal as a unified culture makes no sense. Again you used future tense that they would come to see themselves as different from their neighbours so that definitely means post the unification of gharwal by ajay pal i.e post 1358 .For people who identified themselves as different from each ghars would require at least 3 generations to form a culture .And this is just counter arguments for your narrative
As for Kumaon, Kumaon and Doti (and Garhwal too) had been united under the Katyuris for quite some time. These Katyuris were Kumaoni through and through
Again i agree with you one on this .In fact i think i have already mentioned Khasas being originated from present day kumaon .But scholars are in unison when i say the katyuris were khasas .And kumaoni as a unified and separate culture is a much more modern.
In the book of Rahul Sankrityayan, Himalaya Parichaya: Garwahl (Allahabad 1953) it is written that, "The kings of Kumaon-Garhwal were called, Kedare Khasamandale which means Kedar region as the residence of Khas people". Even in Mahabharata their is mention of khasas residing in the Himalayas .Similarly many historical records support this .
Not to say much about the never-ending rivalry between these two kingdoms.
Again rivalry is normal even in siblings let alone on nations. Just because two kingdoms hate each other is not a justification for their separate cultural identity.

Again it would be alright if they removed the khas from the equation because khas which is obsolete now are the ancestors of the Indo Aryan Pahadi people .I believe they had not diversified enough to create a separate cultural entity .gharwali and kumaoni were not unified enough to have a separate unified culture at least in 1337 AD.
 
Hello everyone, and welcome once again to another Tinto Maps! Today we will be taking a look at India! Yup, a whole subcontinent… Exciting!

Let me say a foreword before I start sharing with you some beautiful maps. Some of you may wonder why we decided to make the entire Indian subcontinent in just one DD, instead of spreading it a bit. There are two reasons for that. The first is the political situation: the Sultanate of Delhi is at its zenith, under Muhammad bin Tughlaq. You will soon see that it rules over more than half of the region, approximately; so splitting that polity into several DDs would have felt weird.

The other is that we felt that a more cohesive approach made sense in this region, as it’s sooo diverse compared to others, that the way we approached it, both for its setup and content, was from the generic to the particular; therefore, we think that it will also help us more when we tackle the review of the region. Speaking of that, don’t worry much about the time available to prepare suggestions; you may already know that we have a backlog of several regions, and therefore weeks, before we hit the Indian review, so you will have plenty of time to research and prepare them. In any case, as it’s a massive task (we know it firsthand), we’ll let you know a bit in advance when we plan to start the in-depth review of it, so you have time to wrap it up.

As a final say, I just want to mention that an old acquaintance of the community, @Trin Tragula , now Design Lead in CK3, helped us to map a big chunk of it. Thanks, mate! And now, maps!

Countries:
View attachment 1189937
View attachment 1190039
As I just mentioned, the Sultanate of Delhi is at its zenith, under Muhammad bin Tughlaq, extending through the Indo-Gangetic Plain, including Bengal, and to the south, throughout the Deccan. There we have its toughest contender, Vijayanagar, a county that is a bulwark of Hinduism. Other important countries around it are Orissa and Sindh, but much smaller countries generally surround Delhi. You might wonder how it would be possible to stop Delhi from completely controlling the region, then. For this, two things are affecting its capability to achieve it. The first is the base game mechanics: ruling over so many different cultures and religions with low control will be hard. The second is a Situation that involves the Fall of the Sultanate; if Delhi wants to succeed, it will have to fight back against rebellions, which involves the potential independence of the Bengalese countries or newborn ones such as the Bahmanis, and the multiple Indian states around it, which are ready to take over it.

Dynasties:
View attachment 1189938

Locations:
View attachment 1189939
Yes, we are making some adjustments to the coloring of the mapmodes!

Provinces:
View attachment 1189943

Areas:
View attachment 1189947
The bug is still there, yes… The area that is to the southwest is Malabar.

Terrain:
View attachment 1189948
View attachment 1189949
View attachment 1189950
Here we have a new type of topography: Atolls. We added it some months ago, as we worked on finishing the map of the Pacific Ocean, and it will be the last one added to the game.

Development:
View attachment 1189951
A new map mode is born! Here you have the development of India. The most developed place is Delhi, which is part of the fertile Gangetic Plain.

Harbors:
View attachment 1189952

Cultures:
View attachment 1189954
Not an entirely new map, but a glorious one. We chose it to be the one to present how the different cultures could be present in the game for a reason.

Religions:
View attachment 1189956
India is the birthplace of numerous religions, and that needs to be reflected in the religious map. The main religion is Hinduism, but don’t be deceived by its homogeneous look, as it will be quite deep feature-wise. We also have Buddhism, which is at a low point, after some centuries of prosecutions. Mahayana is a majority in Sindh, although that's not completely exact, as an earlier form of Buddhism was practiced there; we’re also not 100% convinced about it being a majority, as some sources and accounts set the Islamization of the region to be completed under the Ghaznavids, in the 11th and 12th century, while others delay it until the 14th century - we followed the later approach, but we're very open to feedback in this specific matter. Another form of Buddhism is Theravada, which is the most practiced religion in Sailan. Some interesting minorities present in the region are Jains (yellow stripes), Nestorians (the pink stripe in Malabar, which portrays the ‘Saint Thomas Christians’), Jews (which have their own separate culture, ‘Kochini’), and several Animist confessions, of which we’ve already split Satsana Phi, the traditional religion of Tai people, and Sanamahism, the religion of Meitei people. Oh, although it’s not strictly part of the region, the light blue stripes to the north is Bön religion.

Raw Materials:
View attachment 1189959
India was for some time in the period the wealthiest region of the world, one of the main reasons being that it’s incredibly rich in very different types of resources, including some of the expensive ones. That will make for a very interesting economic gameplay.

Markets:
View attachment 1190014
There are several market centers in India that we think portray well the situation in 1337: Kabul (yes, it’s in Afghanistan, but it’s one for the area of Kashmir), Delhi, Khambat, Calicut, Pulicat, Varanasi, and Chittagong.

Population:
View attachment 1189963

India has a big population. To be precise, around 95M pops. Delhi is the second largest country in the world in population, with 41M pops, which makes it a behemoth, with very serious governance challenges. I’m also showing this week the progress we’re making with the coloring of the population mapmode; the stripes on several locations mark that they’re overpopulated, as they have more pops living on them than the pop capacity available (something that may be reviewed, as balancing very densely populated regions such as India or China is really challenging).

And that’s all for today! We hope you enjoyed this massive Tinto Maps. Next week we will be taking a look at the Steppe. Which one, you might wonder? Well, the one ruled by the Golden Horde, from Ukraine in the west to Mongolia in the east. Cheers!
1726939372719.png

Those two culture clusters (Green with Punjabi and Brown with Marwari) need to be recoloured. it is hard to tell where the borders and minorities are
 
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There you answered that Garhwali aligned themselves with their ghars rather than as gharwal so gharwal as a unified culture makes no sense. Again you used future tense that they would come to see themselves as different from their neighbours so that definitely means post the unification of gharwal by ajay pal i.e post 1358 .For people who identified themselves as different from each ghars would require at least 3 generations to form a culture .And this is just counter arguments for your narrative

Again i agree with you one on this .In fact i think i have already mentioned Khasas being originated from present day kumaon .But scholars are in unison when i say the katyuris were khasas .And kumaoni as a unified and separate culture is a much more modern.
In the book of Rahul Sankrityayan, Himalaya Parichaya: Garwahl (Allahabad 1953) it is written that, "The kings of Kumaon-Garhwal were called, Kedare Khasamandale which means Kedar region as the residence of Khas people". Even in Mahabharata their is mention of khasas residing in the Himalayas .Similarly many historical records support this .

Again rivalry is normal even in siblings let alone on nations. Just because two kingdoms hate each other is not a justification for their separate cultural identity.

Again it would be alright if they removed the khas from the equation because khas which is obsolete now are the ancestors of the Indo Aryan Pahadi people .I believe they had not diversified enough to create a separate cultural entity .gharwali and kumaoni were not unified enough to have a separate unified culture at least in 1337 AD.
That is definitely some food for thought for me, if there was a way to make new cultures emerge in the game, I don't think this would be much of a problem. Though combining them all into one group still doesn't seem like a good idea to me. The process of cultural amalgamation, that happened in Garhwal was the stark opposite of what you propose. In garhwal, it was many different identities coalescing into one rather than one culture spliting into many. And we know that at the start date, these people most definitely would have thought of themselves different than Kumaonis if they were unwilling to recognise the similarity in the culture of even the adjacent Garhs. A person living in the Barahat region (modern Uttarkashi) would not have much in common with a person living in the western edge of Nepal.

Unrelated to this, what do you think should be done with Garhwal, as we know Garhwal was disunited at this time, divided into 52 Garhs? Also I think Uttarakhand, Himachal and Doti should be made into a seperate region of their own, named something like Himvant or Hemont.
 
The new projection really shows on this map :)

Thinking about all the winter and ice features from the recent dev diary, I now wonder: Is there features related to monsoons in the game? I realize going into detail is probably beyond scope for a map dd, but hopefully it's at least possible to confirm if it's on the radar.
they said they will be storms and moonsoons but i guess thats all we know for now as Johan stated he will make a TT about storms and moonsoons later .
but its good that they exist , i wonder how visually they will look like
 
That is definitely some food for thought for me, if there was a way to make new cultures emerge in the game, I don't think this would be much of a problem. Though combining them all into one group still doesn't seem like a good idea to me. The process of cultural amalgamation, that happened in Garhwal was the stark opposite of what you propose. In garhwal, it was many different identities coalescing into one rather than one culture spliting into many. And we know that at the start date, these people most definitely would have thought of themselves different than Kumaonis if they were unwilling to recognise the similarity in the culture of even the adjacent Garhs. A person living in the Barahat region (modern Uttarkashi) would not have much in common with a person living in the western edge of Nepal.

Unrelated to this, what do you think should be done with Garhwal, as we know Garhwal was disunited at this time, divided into 52 Garhs? Also I think Uttarakhand, Himachal and Doti should be made into a seperate region of their own, named something like Himvant or Hemont.
There will be some sort of cultural conversion like eu4 or assimilation like vic 3 .I am pretty sure they have pretty much already thought about this issue .There was option to revive lost culture in eu4 .So i dont see why u cant spawn new culture.

Regarding your question you and i have already answered everything but let me list the similarity between the two people:

1.Geographic Proximity

  • They are both located in the Himalayan region, which contributes to shared cultural and environmental aspects. They both experience similar high-altitude, mountainous terrain.

2. Ethnic and Cultural Links

  • They (such as the Pahari ethnic group) share same ethnic roots. Both groups are predominantly Indo-Aryan(khas-aryan to be specific).
  • Both regions have a strong sense of Pahadi (hill people) identity, often tied to the rugged mountainous lifestyle.

3. Languages

  • There are some similarities in terms of structure and vocabulary, especially given their common roots(khas prakriti).

4. Religion and Festivals

  • Hinduism is the religion for both and both people celebrate major Hindu festivals like Dashain (in Nepal) and Dussehra (in Garhwal), along with Tihar in Nepal and Diwali in Garhwal.
  • Both cultures also have local deities and traditional religious practices that are deeply tied to the land and environment.

5. Traditional Dress and Attire

  • Women in Garhwal traditionally wear ghagra-choli, similar to traditional Nepali attire like the gunyu cholo for women.

6. Similar Economies

  • Both have same economies traditionally based on agriculture, animal husbandry, and handicrafts. The mountainous terrain makes large-scale agriculture difficult, so terraced farming is common in both places.

7. Migration and Shared Borders

  • Historically, there has been migration and interaction between these people resulting in some shared cultural practices, though each has its distinct national identity. In fact they have shared rulers for more than 400 years (under katyuri kingdom as uou yourself mentioned).
 
I have a few suggestions regarding the peripheral areas of the Indian subcontinent on the map - hopefully they won't get lost in the pile of comments! Apologies if this has been discussed in the large thread already.

Kafirs and "Pagan" Religion in the Hindu Kush/Pamir Region

The first thing I want to suggest is renaming the Kafir culture. It was a pejorative to label infidels by their Muslim neighbors. That said, I understand the difficulty of finding a good name since Nuristani, the current name for these people, was a more recent moniker given after they had converted to Islam.

An alternate proposed name I've seen is Peristani, which isn't commonly used and is also an anachronistic term, but doesn't come with the "baggage" of Nuristani (that was given in the context of conversion), and refers to the religious beliefs in Peris or Paris, supernatural fairy-like beings in the folklore of Iran and adjacent regions. It is the preferred term used by Alberto and Augsto Caocopardo, two specialists in the peoples of this region.

On a related note, Alberto's Fence of Peristan - The Islamization of the "Kafirs" and Their Domestication is a good source for portraying the spread of Islam in this region (see link below). He includes a map of estimated spread of the Kafirs/Peristanis in c. 1500 on page 85 which might be of good use. In general, I think the spread of a pagan religion in the region should be a bit bigger and the majority in some places. Nuristanis/Peristanis were famously not converted to Islam until the late 1800s, well after the game's timeframe.

If you want to split up the religion of the Indo-Iranian, pre-Islamic Nuristanis/Peristanis, I've called it Dezawism in my RICE mod for CK3, after their chief deity, Dezaw or Dezau. Dezaw also happens to be the chief deity of the Kalash people, who I don't see on the map. They are famously the "last" pagans of the region, as a chunk of their population are still non-Islamic to this day.

TLDR
  • Change Kafir culuture name to Nuristani or Peristani
  • Add a Kalash culture in the region
  • Add "pagan" Dezawist religion to represent Nuristani/Peristani and Kalash religion

Sources

A World In-between The Pre-Islamic Cultures of the Hindu Kush, Augusto Caocopardo
Fence of Peristan - The Islamization of the "Kafirs" and Their Domestication, Alberto Cacopardo
Gates of Peristan. HHistory, Religion and Society in the Hindu Kush, Alberto and Augusto Caocopardo
Nuristan, Encyclopedia Iranica
Socio-Cultural Life of the Kalasha People of Chitral: A Study of their Festivals, Muhammad Kashif Ali and Muhammad Iqbal Chawla

Buddhists of Sindh = Sammitiya

Historically, the Buddhists of Sindh were dominated by the now extinct Sammitiya sect, part of the also extinct so-called Pudgalavada branch of Buddhism. The Pudgalavadins are interesting in a few respects. They were once a big chunk of India's Buddhist population, and they were considered heretical by most other schools of Buddhism. The famous 7th century Chinese monk and pilgrim of Journey to the West fame, Xuanzang, for instance, wrote a number of anti-Pudgalavada treatises during his stay in India, and my understanding is the Pudgalavadins were more than happy to return the favor. Anyhow, I propose adding Sammitiya to the region to replace Mahayana (Pudgalavada, from what I have heard, was a pejorative used by their sectarian opponents).

I have linked a few sources below showing the Sammitiya were the main Buddhist group in Sindh, at least in the early medieval period. If we are to assume they survived as a minority group in the region, I don't think there's reason to doubt they would've mainly stayed Sammitiya as well.

From Buddhist Traditions in the Rock Art of Sindh, Pakistan (pg 116):

According to [Xuanzang's] account, there were 460 Buddhist monasteries with 26,000 monks in greater Sindh. Of these, ten monasteries (with no monks) in Multan were in ruins, while 100 monasteries with 6,000 monks in Makran were inhabited jointly by Mahayanists and Hinayanists (ibid:7-8).

The remaining 350 monasteries, 33 stupas and 20,000 monks all belonged to the Hinayana school known as the Sammitya. According to Hiuen Tsiang, Sindh, with almost half of all Indian Sammitya monks and monasteries, was the major centre of this school in the Indian subcontinent (ibid:7-8).

From The Lost Terracotta Buddhist Stupa of Kahu-jo-daro (page 93):

Xuanzang (629645 CE) mentioned that Buddhism was at its peak in the Sindh region and that the king of the region was a Buddhist. Yi-Jing (671-695 CE) observed that the Sammitiya sect of Hinayana tradition dominated the region. The Sammitiya sect had been quite popular and widespread during the 3rd-4th centuries CE, as is evident from one of the earliest inscriptions at Sarnath which states that around the 3rd century this sect drove out the Sarvastivadins.

From Religion and Society in Arab Sind (page 43). (One thing to note is this is from an older scholarly paper that describes Sammitiya as "Theravada." However, more recently scholarship tries to avoid this as to not confuse an umbrella term for non-Mahayana and early schools of Buddhism (as used here) with the modern Theravada school prominent in SE Asia. These days I think the term Nikaya Buddhism is sometimes preferred.)

Clearly, the paramount Buddhist school in Sind at the time of Hsuen Tsiang was the Sammitîya. Indeed, Sind was the major centre of this school in the Indian subcontinent. Almost half of all Sammitîya monks and monasteries in greater India were located in 'the Indus Valley. No other region in the subcontinent had a similar concentration.

Not only did the vast majority of Sindî Buddhists belong ta the Sammitîya just before the Arab conquest, but there is evidence to conclude that this school still prevailed among those Buddhists who did not convert after the conquest.

Anyhow, I think the inclusion of Sammitiya would be pretty fun. You have a sect that's considered heretical by most other sects of Buddhism. And, despite once having a dominant spread centuries ago among Indian Buddhists, it's pretty much on its dying throes with virtually no rulers and no one to support it.


TLDR
  • Reduce spread of Buddhism in Sindh
  • Make Sindh Buddhists a new branch, Sammitiya
Sources

Buddhist Traditions in the Rock Art of Sindh, Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro
Religion and Society in Arab Sind, Derryl McLean
The Lost Terracotta Buddhist Stupa of Kahu-jo-daro: An Attempt at Reconstruction, Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Edit: I just saw this earlier post by @Bishweshwar which you can also look at for more info on Sindh, and I largely agree with it.
 
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I have a few suggestions regarding the peripheral areas of the Indian subcontinent on the map - hopefully they won't get lost in the pile of comments! Apologies if this has been discussed in the large thread already.

Kafirs and "Pagan" Religion in the Hindu Kush/Pamir Region

The first thing I want to suggest is renaming the Kafir culture. It was a pejorative to label infidels by their Muslim neighbors. That said, I understand the difficulty of finding a good name since Nuristani, the current name for these people, was a more recent moniker given after they had converted to Islam.

An alternate proposed name I've seen is Peristani, which isn't commonly used and is also an anachronistic term, but doesn't come with the "baggage" of Nuristani (that was given in the context of conversion), and refers to the religious beliefs in Peris or Paris, supernatural fairy-like beings in the folklore of Iran and adjacent regions. It is the preferred term used by Alberto and Augsto Caocopardo, two specialists in the peoples of this region.

On a related note, Alberto's Fence of Peristan - The Islamization of the "Kafirs" and Their Domestication is a good source for portraying the spread of Islam in this region (see link below). He includes a map of estimated spread of the Kafirs/Peristanis in c. 1500 on page 85 which might be of good use. In general, I think the spread of a pagan religion in the region should be a bit bigger and the majority in some places. Nuristanis/Peristanis were famously not converted to Islam until the late 1800s, well after the game's timeframe.

If you want to split up the religion of the Indo-Iranian, pre-Islamic Nuristanis/Peristanis, I've called it Dezawism in my RICE mod for CK3, after their chief deity, Dezaw or Dezau. Dezaw also happens to be the chief deity of the Kalash people, who I don't see on the map. They are famously the "last" pagans of the region, as a chunk of their population are still non-Islamic to this day.

TLDR
  • Change Kafir culuture name to Nuristani or Peristani
  • Add a Kalash culture in the region
  • Add "pagan" Dezawist religion to represent Nuristani/Peristani and Kalash religion

Sources

A World In-between The Pre-Islamic Cultures of the Hindu Kush, Augusto Caocopardo
Fence of Peristan - The Islamization of the "Kafirs" and Their Domestication, Alberto Cacopardo
Gates of Peristan. HHistory, Religion and Society in the Hindu Kush, Alberto and Augusto Caocopardo
Nuristan, Encyclopedia Iranica
Socio-Cultural Life of the Kalasha People of Chitral: A Study of their Festivals, Muhammad Kashif Ali and Muhammad Iqbal Chawla

Buddhists of Sindh = Sammitiya

Historically, the Buddhists of Sindh were dominated by the now extinct Sammitiya sect, part of the also extinct so-called Pudgalavada branch of Buddhism. The Pudgalavadins are interesting in a few respects. They were once a big chunk of India's Buddhist population, and they were considered heretical by most other schools of Buddhism. The famous 7th century Chinese monk and pilgrim of Journey to the West fame, Xuanzang, for instance, wrote a number of anti-Pudgalavada treatises during his stay in India, and my understanding is the Pudgalavadins were more than happy to return the favor. Anyhow, I propose adding Sammitiya to the region to replace Mahayana (Pudgalavada, from what I have heard, was a pejorative used by their sectarian opponents).

I have linked a few sources below showing the Sammitiya were the main Buddhist group in Sindh, at least in the early medieval period. If we are to assume they survived as a minority group in the region, I don't think there's reason to doubt they would've mainly stayed Sammitiya as well.

From Buddhist Traditions in the Rock Art of Sindh, Pakistan (pg 116):



From The Lost Terracotta Buddhist Stupa of Kahu-jo-daro (page 93):



From Religion and Society in Arab Sind (page 43). (One thing to note is this is from an older scholarly paper that describes Sammitiya as "Theravada." However, more recently scholarship tries to avoid this as to not confuse an umbrella term for non-Mahayana and early schools of Buddhism (as used here) with the modern Theravada school prominent in SE Asia. These days I think the term Nikaya Buddhism is sometimes preferred.)





Anyhow, I think the inclusion of Sammitiya would be pretty fun. You have a sect that's considered heretical by most other sects of Buddhism. And, despite once having a dominant spread centuries ago among Indian Buddhists, it's pretty much on its dying throes with virtually no rulers and no one to support it.


TLDR
  • Reduce spread of Buddhism in Sindh
  • Make Sindh Buddhists a new branch, Sammitiya
Sources

Buddhist Traditions in the Rock Art of Sindh, Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro
Religion and Society in Arab Sind, Derryl McLean
The Lost Terracotta Buddhist Stupa of Kahu-jo-daro: An Attempt at Reconstruction, Sabyasachi Mukherjee

Edit: I just saw this earlier post by @Bishweshwar which you can also look at for more info on Sindh, and I largely agree with it.
kafir should not change it was literally the name used until 1896 because the locals didnt convert till around that period and even today "kafarstan/kafirstan" is still used by many .
its an enforced name like the term slav that the norse gave to the ruthenian slaves or soudan that the arabs gave to songhais and nubians .
here its given to a culture because it was culture of none believers , the alternative names you gave are not culture names and they dont fit

Peristan is a vague name that refer to a wider region that engulf pre islamic highly mythologised area of hidoukush mountains so its not to be used here. its like a nickname . its like albion for britain or cathay for china .

Nouristan is a modern name that was given after the population converted as i said and it mean land of light since the term nour mean light in arabic .
so you want it to be a land of light already since 1337 ?
nouristanis btw are just a branch of the Kalash peoples of ancient Bactria and if they are called nouristani now its because they live in nouristan the land of light .
there is nothing called the culture of land of light as you propose
kalash also is not a culture but an ethnicity of peoples descendents from old bactria and they were one of many who got called kafirs because of their way of life / culture that was described that way for not being islamic.

i think you are messing up everything big time suggesting irrelevent names just because you think the term kafir is offensive.
maybe cease writing such big essays if you are going to write such big blunder mistakes you are literally misguiding the devs and confusing them this way.
 
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I am Bengali and have some suggestions:
  1. The northern section of Sonargaon country (Madhupur tract) in Bengal should be jungle or forest as it is part of the Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests biome. Historically, it was known to be a large Sal (Shorea robusta) forest. Even today, a substantial section of that region is covered in forest. The primary resource there should be timber.​
  2. The culture of the Chittagong area should be a mix of Bengali and Rakhine primarily, instead of a Rakhine majority.
  3. Religion in eastern Bengal (Sonargaon, Gaur, Sylhet, etc.) should be a compound of Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism. Prior to the Muslim conquest, the area was predominantly Buddhist peasants alongside Hindus. The Pāla dynasty (750–1161 CE) played a significant role in the revival and flourishing of Buddhism in the region. The Pāla rulers were great patrons of Mahayana Buddhism and established many renowned centers of Buddhist learning and art.
  4. As for terrain, the Deccan Plateau must be a large plateau, covering parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, and Maharashtra. Additionally, the Malwa Plateau ranges in elevation from about 1,650 to 2,000 feet; The Baghelkhand Plateau has an average elevation of about 500 meters above sea level; The Chota Nagpur Plateau varies in height, with the general elevation being around 620 meters (approximately 2034 feet). However, the highest points can reach up to 1,164 meters (about 3,819 feet). Therefore, they should be portrayed as a plateau.
    1920px-Deccan%2C_India.png
  5. The primary resource in the Khulna area of the Bangladeshi Sunderbans should be fish, as shrimp farming is booming there.
 
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Would love to see consideration for the very niche religion of Ajivika, a shramanic faith predating Buddhism, reaching its high point likely under Bindusara, the oft forgetten second Maharaja of Chandragupta’s dynasty, and Ashoka’s father.

Ajivika is said to have persisted until the 14th century, and it would be incredibly cool to have it represented in the tiny quantity it did! I can provide sources if needed.

I’m mostly into classical and iron age India, however being Pakistani Punjabi, I’m quite excited for this diary in particular. I am concerned by the large Hindu blob (typical I’m sure) as we see divisions in other regional religions like Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. I’d personally like to suggest adding some sectionalism although you mention it being a very deep religion so I trust that perhaps those internal differences in Indian folk religion will be shown properly.

I’d also like to bring up the case of the Adivasi people as I am SOO happy to see them, but they seem to be lacking their traditional Sarna spiritualism, though perhaps that’s ‘animist’ right now as a placeholder (I hope).

Some cultures I see missing from the top of my head are Pashto, Pahari, and Parsis.

I’ll make a followup post with more organized points for everything I’ve brought up here with proper information not just off the top of my head.
 
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Kafir culture should change its name, really.
Image Kafir Muslim.
It is not a joke
In Pakistan and probs India too, Kafirs and Kafiristan has no negative connotations even if it is the case in other cultures and languages—I have not lived in Pakistan for a decade so perhaps things have changed, however it is still the term used for the population today to my knowledge.

In fact, I’ve even heard the (incorrect) theory that the Kafir in Kafiristan is a false-cognate with Kafir the Islamic term in Pakistan, as Kafirstanis are, ofc, now mainly Muslims.
 
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