Antiquity and Continuity of Vedic Culture

1. Antiquity and Continuity of Vedic Culture Marathi Bhashik Mandal April 30, 2011

2. Debt

3. Sources of Compilation • Vedic Literature • Puraan, Ramayan, Mahabharat • Zend Avesta, Greek Sources • Astromical, Philological, Archaelogical, Literary • Genetics

4. RgVed – Oldest BookBelongs to All, irrespective of class, colour or creed • Astronomical References • Taiteriya Brahman (3:1:15), where Brushaspati (Jupiter) crossed the Pushya constellation, gives a date of 4650 B.C. • AiteriyaBrahmana refers to 6000 B.C. • From the calculation of the vernal equinox cycle, the TaiteriyaSamhita provides dates that reach as far as 22000 B.C (Ref: Vartak, Tilak). • The life sized head has a hair style which the Vedas describe as being unique to Vasishtha... Carbon 14 tests indicate that it was cast around 3700 B.C., with an error in either direction of upto 800 years .. an age also confirmed by independent metallurgical tests" (J. of Indo-European Studies, v.18, 1990, p.425-46).

5. The Homeland(Manu)

6. Early Kings Manu the son of Vivasvan, was the 15th decendant of Barhi. Manu's decendants are called Manav. During his rule a terrible flood broke out. It is believed that a shark (First incarnation of Vishnu) helped Manu survive the floods.

7. Swayambhuva Manu • Kaliyug : 3102 B.C (Varahamihira, Kalhana, Arya Bhatta, Vruddha Garga, Puraan) • ChaturYuga Cycle : 12000 human years (4800 years Kruta, 3600 Treta, 2400 Dwapar, 1200 Kali) • Vaivasta Manu: 13902 B.C (10,800 years before Kali) • Swayambhuva Manu: 29000 B.C (71 Divya Years before) 1 Divya Year = 360 human years) • The Matsya Puraan (129-76, 77) confirms • B.G.Tilak in his "Orion" has calculated 29101 B.C., using astronomical data

8. “Bhaarat” Origins • King Nahush caretaker of Indra's Kingdom • King Yayati's thirst to remain young • Yayati rewards his youngest son Puru • Shakuntala is born to Apsara Menakaa • Prince Dushyant secretly marries Shakuntala. • Shakuntala looses the ring, that proves her to be Dushyant's wife. • Ring is found. Return of Shakuntala. • King Bharat. After whom the country is called Bhaarat.

9. Cradle of Civilization • Where? When? Spread? • Harappan figurines depict a mother goddess often enough, and again the Vedic hymns implore various aspects of the Mother: Sarasvati, Ushas, Ila, Aditi, Prithvi, Bharati… the cult of a mother goddess is attested as early as 8000 or 9000 BCE! • (Source: Page 234 of The Lost River: On the Trail of the Sarasvati, by Michel Danino, Penguin Books, 2010).

10. Saraswati-Sindhu Culture • 300 cities & many supporting villages covered 1,500,000 sq. km. Bigger than Western Europe. • Most cities were shaped as parallelograms. • Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa had populations of 100,000. • Cities had giant reservoirs for water. • Underground drainage system. • 2 or 3 storied houses, built with bricks of uniform size. • Weights were standardized. • The entire empire used same script. • Marine culture. A huge dock in Lothal. • They exported goods to Egypt (Nile) and Sumer (Iraq, Tigris-Euphrates). Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh

11. River System • Sapta-Sindhu Region • Saraswati changes course 4 times, finally disappears

12. Saraswati Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh

13. RgVedic Places

14. 40,000 year old Painting • White silica sandstone rock shelter • Bhimbetka Caves • Notice the horse with rider

15. Outbound Migration • Commerce (miners, sailors, merchants) • Natural Movement • War • Famine, Flood

16. Early Migrations(War of Ten Kings)

17. Early Migration – The first Wave • The First Great Migration: Druhyus spread out northwards from northwestern Punjab and Afghanistan into Central Asia (and beyond) • The Second Great Migration: The Anus spread out westwards from the Punjab into Afghanistan • BhRgus (Phryges, Thraco-Phrygians), Alinas (Hellenes, Greeks) and Simyus (Sirmios, Illyrians or Albanians) migrating westwards from Afghanistan as far as Anatolia and southeastern Europe • Kashyapa Rishi is associated with northern regions like Kashmir, that was originally called Kashyapa Mira or Kashyapa’s lake … also the Caspian Sea appears to be named after him • UttaraKurus, described as a spiritual paradise north of the Himalayas (perhaps Siberia or Shiva-riya)

18. Daasharadnya Yuddha (War of Ten Kings) • Iranian (Abhivarta) Chayamana – King of Paarthava people • Bhaaradwaj Rishi, Commander Divodaasa (Father Daivavatata, Son Sudas) • Sudas (Vishmamitra, Vasishtha, Agastya) • Puru, Yadu, Turvasa Anu, Druhyu, Alina, Paktha ('Pathan'; 'Pashthun'), Bhalinas, Siva, Visanin, Simyu, Vaikarna • Sindhu River – Migration to East and West

19. Early Migration • Anatolian (Hittite) was the first branch to leave the homeland: “The Anatolian languages, of which Hittite is the best known … they apparently represent an earlier stage of Indo-European, and are regarded by many as the first group to break away from the proto-language. • Four branches, Indic, Iranian, Hellenic (Greek) and Thraco-Phrygian (Armenian) were the last branches remaining behind in the original homeland after the other branches had dispersed. • European Celts clearly practiced, and a few still do, more orthodox Vedic type religions, with similar traditions of chanting, rituals, deity worship, mantra and meditation.

20. Migration to West (Tigris, Euphrates)

21. Roosam and Siberia (Shiva-Riya)

22. Paarthava and Bharata

23. Hindu Kush Region (Nagas)

24. Zarathushtra • Vedic Iranian (Dasyu) • Zarathustra, a contemporary of king Vishtaspa (Sage Kaksivan speaks of one Istasva) lived around 7100 B.C. • Greeks Herodotus / Strabo: Caspian Sea and Caucasus mountains are named from Sage Kaspios (Sage Kashyapa of the Rg Veda)

25. Migration to the West Iran-Iraq • Charles Vallency quotes Sir William Jones as saying "It has been proved by clear evidence and plain reasoning that a powerful monarchy was established in Iran, long before the Assyrian or Pishdadi government; that it was in truth a Hindu monarchy ... that is subsisted many centuries.." (Collectania De Rebus Hibernicus, p.465). • Pococke observes, "that a system of Hinduism pervaded the whole Babylonian and Assyrian empires"

26. Migration Routes (Pani, Kuvera)

27. Migration to the West Europe / Greece • Renfrew allows a date as early as 6000 B.C. for the migration of Vedic aryans into Europe ("The Origins of Indo- European Languages", Sc.Amer, Oct, 1989). Egypt • Prof. Brugsch Bey writes in "History of Egypt" that "We have a right to more than suspect that India, eight thousand years ago, sent a colony of emigrants who carried their arts and high civilization into what is now known to us as Egypt. The Egyptians came, according to their records, from a mysterious land (now known to lie on the shores of the Indian ocean) ... led by Amen, Hor, Hathor (Brahma, Hari, Rudra)..."

28. Migration to the West Greece • Pococke writes in "India in Greece" (quoted in Age of Buddha, by K.Venkatachalam, p.75), "The early civilization, the early arts, the indubitably early literature of India are equally the civilization of, the arts, and literature of Egypt and of Greece; for geographical references conjoined to historical facts and religious practices, now prove beyond all dispute than the latter countries are the colonies of the former". • The Greeks (and Egyptians) derived their cosmogony from the Hindus is apparent from their respective literature (Deshpandey, "Bharat: As seen and known by foreigners").

29. Vedic Greek Deities

30. Vedics in Italy An Vedic emblem at in the Etruscan Museum at the Vatican in Rome. Encyclopedia Britannica mentions under the headings "Etruria" and "Etruscan" that between the 2nd and 7th centuries BC

31. Vedics in Italy Roman consul wearing a “tilak” ... (Published in "History of Rome" page 237 by Smith and in "Long Missing Links" by Aiyangar.)

32. Vedics in Italy What appear to be Ramayanic paintings … Rama, Sita, Lakshman and Lava, Kusha with a horse related to (Ashwamedha)

33. Gypsies of Europe Linguistic and genetic analysis has charted the Gypsy migration from India to Europe through the Hindu Kush, along Persia and the southern shoreline of the Caspian Sea, through the southern Caucasus (Armenia) And westwards to Anatolia and Byzantium. 10 million live in Europe

34. Druids - Druhyus in Europe (Hari-yupia)

35. South-Central America (Paatala, Kingdom of Bali)

36. Mayans, Peruvians, Aztecs, Incas Nagas, Kubera, Shiva, Sun Worship Rama is represented as a descendant from the sun, as the husband of Sita, and the son of a princess named Causelya. It is very remarkable that Peruvians, whose Incas boasted of the same descent, styled their greatest festival Rama-Sitva; whence we may take it that South America was peopled by the same race who imported into the farthest of parts of Asia the rites and the fabulous history of Rama. (Asiatic Researches Volume I. p. 426) "a proper examination of these monuments would disclose the fact that in their interior as well as their exterior form and obvious purposes, these buildings (temples in Palanque, Mexico) correspond with great exactness to those of Hindustan..." (Ephraim George Squier (1821-1888) in Peru; Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas and The Serpent Symbol, and the Worship of the Reciprocal Principles of Nature in America.

37. Route to South America (“Paatal”) The ancient sea routes from India to South America following the ocean current. (source: The Indians And The Amerindians - By Dr. B. Chakravarti p. 82).

38. Quichua and Sanskrit Akapana (cloudscolored by sun) aka (painting) chani (price) jani (produce) chinkat (jaguar) sinha (lion) Chirau (resplendent) sura (to shine), chirayu (long lasting) huakra (horn) vakra (curved) kakarpa (tent) k'arpara (parasol) mita (time) mita (step passage of time) muti (pounded corn) mut (to pound) nana (sister) nanda (sister) pakkni (to break) pike (to break) paksa (the moon) paksa (the full moon) pisi (small) pis (to break) pitata (bedroom) pita (house, cottage) simpa (cord) samb (to tie) soro (spiritual liqour) sura (spiritual liquor) sokta (six) shaasya (six) (source: The Ayar-Incas - By Miles Poindexter p. 211-215).

39. Rituals, Poetry, Education “From child-birth to cremation and Sati the Aztecs (“Astiks”) observed almost all Hindu rituals including the Gurukula system of education followed in India. The Incas of Peru with Ayar Brahman ancestry observed the sacred thread ceremony, the ear-piercing ceremony all other Hindu rituals and rigidly observed the caste systems of India. It is not without reason that the Spanish author Lopez says in his book Le Races Aryans de Peru : “”Every page of Peruvian poetry bears the imprint of Ramayana and Mahabharata.”

40. Ages of Glory(Ramayan - Mahabharat Era)

41. Ramayana 5500 B.C

42. Evidence • Tradition informs that Mahabharata occurred at the end of Dwaapar Yuga and Ramayana at the end of Treta Yuga. • Some clues from Sumerian clay tablets, Isin and Kish chronicles which approximate the date of the first king (Ukhu == Iksh-vaku) of the first dynasty of Sumeria to be 8350 B.C. • Shree Rama was 75th in Ikshwaku lineage and that 60 generations passed between Shree Rama and Shree Krishna. … (Shrimad Bhagvat) that Ramayanic date therefore falls at about 5300 B.C.

43. Rama Setu • Fictitious? • 30 km long – Ramaeshwar and Srilanka

44. Ramayana Abroad • Nepal, Sri Lanka, South Easy Asia • Japan and China from Jataka • Cold Siberia Mayans of Mexico, Poetry Peru and Vishnu Temple in Uruguay “work of the Nazca people for navigational aid”. According to local legend, this carved trident represents the lightning rod of the god Viracocha, who was worshipped throughout South America.

45. Ramayana in South East Asia • Prambanan was built in Java, Indonesia by Rakai Pikatan, king of the Second Mataram Dynasty (late 9th century AD). • Lions flee as Ravana uproots the mountain where Shiva sits with his consort Parvati. (Temple relief Angkor, Cambodia )

46. Ramayana in South East Asia • Rama, Sita and Lakshmana enter the forest ( Golden Gong Puppet Theatre (Yok the pwe, marionettes)  Yangon, Myanmar Ravana kidnaps Sita.Lakhon bassac (folk opera), DaoTan Drama Theatre Binh Dinh, Vietnam Jatayu tries to rescue Sita. Detail of mural painting (late 18th C) at Wat Phra Si Ratana Satsadaram (Wat Phra Kaeo) Temple Bangkok, Thailand

47. Ramayana in South East Asia Hanuman delivers Rama's ring to Sita.  Khon (court dance drama), Natyasala Dance School Wiangchan, Laos The monkeys build a causeway of rocks to Ravana's kingdom. Hanuman dives below the sea and finds Suvarnamatsya, Wat That Luang Ratsamahawihan temple, Luang Phabang, Laos.

48. Mahabharat 3138 B.C.

49. Evidence • Archaeological evidence (Dwaraka, River Saraswati), inscriptions found at various places (Aihole, Belgaum, Nidhanpur) • Greek records (Megasthenes), etc. provide interesting clues to the dateline of the Mahabharat. • On one of the excavations obtained from the Egyptian Pyramid, dated to 3000 B.C, is found engraved a verse from the Bhagavad Geeta "vasanvsi jeernani yatha vihaya, navani ghrunnati naro parani" (Nava Bharat Times, 18-4-67). • A tablet found in the Mohenjodaro sites depicts Lord Krishna and is dated to be 2600 B.C (Mackay's report, Part 1) • According to B.B. Lal, horse bones, vestiges of the Ashwamedh, have been discovered at Hastinapur.

50. Immense Destruction • Krishna leaves his earthly abode • Kaliyug descends • Dwaraka submerged, Saraswati disappears • Yadav peoples disperse to Europe • 1500 years pass • Heavy Migration occurs (Maya in Mexico, Bheema in Siberia) • Bhagavad Geeta is sung • Pali and Brahmi scripts are developed