India is mentioned in many ways in Talmud, and clearly our sages had extensive trade with India, for example Kohen Gadol's garments and Ketoret ingredients see Mishnah and Talmud dealing-with-indian-reality-150-500-ce.

Rambam's brother David was a serious trader in India, and died in a shipwreck in the Indian sea Maimonides' brothers losing Rambam's money.

As our sages were very idolatry minded, and due to high resemblance of (at least parts of) Hinduism to idolatry, I would expect them either clarify their outlook on Hinduism or warn themselves and others of possibility of prohibited mixtures. As we know, Avoda Zarah disqualifies a mixture in any proportions, so one seed or one hair of sacrifices to Avoda Zarah would disqualify a whole ship full of the same sort.

I couldn't find though a single mentioning of a doubt or abstention from such trade on the grounds of (even sofek) Avodah Zarah.

Questions: Why is the serious doubt not mentioned?

  • Are not the many hindu names not idolatry because they are naming attributes, eg shanti is peace; prabuh is most powerful; so attributes of the One? – gamliela Dec 5 '17 at 13:26
  • Maybe there just wasn't a market in human hair? – Double AA Dec 5 '17 at 19:05
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    What is the difference between trade with India or any other pagan nation in ancient times (e.g Greece, Rome etc.), what makes India special? – Fei23 Dec 5 '17 at 19:24

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