>Now it's pretty obvious that language varies from country to
>country - I believe the first European traders to reach India
>in the post-Vasco da Gama age of exploration thought that
>the Hindus they met were Christians because of the way
>they prayed with their palms together
The correspondances were a lot stronger than this. African Muslims thought the Indian traders were christains because they prayed to idols. An Indian in De Gama's room spotted a picture of St Gabriel and flung himself on the floor and finally De Gama actually spotted a temple in India which contained what he thought was the Virgin and Child and knelt down before it in prayer. It actually was Devaki nursing Krishna.
>So - if RW folks can recognise that names for god vary
>more readily than they spot the difference between rites
>(you're praying to whom? Vishnu? Ah, must be their word
>for God, Father Domingo, they're praying the right way) -
>why aren't there more cases in Glorantha where gods with
>different names in different parts of the world are generally
>recognised to be the same being?
Well they do. Identifying Kahar as Orlanth or Balumbasta as Lodril would cause nobody problems. What causes more problems is implying that the god of [despised ethnic group] is the same god as your own god. Saying that Kargzant is the Sun God Yelm is looking for trouble in Dara Happa.
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