Transcript Slide 1

Antiquity and Continuity
of Vedic Culture
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Sources of History
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Vedic Literature
Puraan, Ramayan, Mahabharat
Zend Avesta, Greek Sources
Astromical, Philological,
Archaelogical, Literary
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
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.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
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
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
“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.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Cradle of Civilization
• Where?
• When?
• Spread?
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
40,000 year old Painting
•White silica
sandstone rock
shelter
•Bhimbetka Caves
•Notice the horse
with rider
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
River System
•Sapta-Sindhu Region
•Saraswati changes course 4
times
•Finally disappears
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Saraswati
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
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
RgVedic Places
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Outbound Migration
• War
• Famine, Flood
• Commerce
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Dasharadnya Yuddha (War of
Ten Kings)
• Iranian (Abhivarta) Chayamana
– King of Paarthava people
• Bhaaradwaj Rishi, Commander
Divodaasa (Father Daivavatata,
Son Sudas)
• Sudas (Vasishtha, Agastya)
• Sindhu River – Migration to East
and West
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Paarthava and Bharata
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Hindu Kush Region
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
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)
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Migration to West (Tigris, Euphrates)
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
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"
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
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)..."
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
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").
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Great Epics
• Ramayana
• Mahabharat
• Migration to East, Far West
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Ramayana
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
5500 B.C
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.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Rama Setu
•Fictitious?
•30 km long –
Ramaeshwar and
Srilanka
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
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.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
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 )
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Ramayana in South East Asia
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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
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
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.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Mahabharat
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
3138 B.C.
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.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Immense Destruction
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Krishna leaves his earthly abode
Kaliyug descends
Dwaraka submerged
1500 years pass
Heavy Migration occurs (Maya in Mexico,
Bheema in Siberia)
• Bhagavad Geeta is sung
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Mahaveer Jain
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1864 B.C.
Born near Pataliputra (Bihar)
• Jaina tradition holds that Bhagawan
Mahaveer (Vardhamaan) left this
world 15 years after the death of
Bhagawan Buddha (1807 B.C.), i.e.,
in 1792 B.C., and since Mahaveer
lived for a span of 72 years, he must
have been born in 1864 B.C.
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He preached that right faith
(samyak-darshana), right knowledge
(samyak-jnana), and right conduct
(samyak-charitra) together will help
attain the liberation of one's self.
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Nonviolence (Ahimsa), Truthfulness
(Satya), Non-stealing (Asteya),
Chastity (Brahmacharya), Nonattachment (Aparigraha)
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Gautam Buddha
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Siddhartha to Shuddhodana the king
of Kapilavastu (Nepal). Married to
Yashodhara, who soon gave birth to a
son who they called Rahul.
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Gautam Siddharta was 23rd in the
Ikshwaku lineage
Contemporary of Kshemajita,
Bindusar and Ajatashatru, the 31st33rd kings of the Shishunaga dynasty
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Aarya-ashtangamarga
(Eight-fold path)
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Coronation of Ajatashatru tookplace,
that is in 1814 B.C.
Astronomical calculations suggest
Gautam Siddharta to be 2259 years
after the Bharata War (3138 B.C.).
which turns out to be 1880 B.C.
Born in 1887 B.C., Renunciation in
1858 B.C., Penance during 1858-52
B.C and Death in 1807 B.C.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Chandragupta Maurya
1534 B.C.
•“Magadha” King
•Greek chronicles silent on the
names of Chanakya, Bindusar (his
son) and even Ashoka (his
grandson)
•Shishunaga dynasty ruled for 360
years, beginning from 1994 B.C.
•Nanda dynasty was 100 years
(Mahapadma Nanda)
•During this time dams were
constructed on rivers for water
storage and irrigation. Rainfall
was measured. Silver coins were
issued by the rulers to facilitate
trade. (Earliest known coin is a
coin issued by Ajatshatru.)
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Aadi Shankaracharya
509 B.C.
•Kaladi, Kerala (Sivaguru, Aaryamba)
•Sri Govinda Bagawathpathar (Guru)
•Established 4 “Maths” (pilgrimage site
and seat of learning )
•Jotirmath, Badrinath, Uttar Pradesh
•Govardhana Matha, Puri, Orrisa
•Sringeri Peetham, Shringeri,
Karnatak,
•Dwaraka Pitha, Dwaraka, Gujarat)
•Upholding the underlying unity of the
holy land of Bharat.
•Lived for 32 years (Quem di diligunt,
adolescens moratur -- Whom the gods
love, die young)
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Alexander meets Puru
King Porus
Alexander Defeated
Returns to the West
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Gupta Dynasty
Gupta Dynasty
•Xandramas, Sandrocotus,
Sandracyptus
•2811 years after the Mahabharata
War, i.e., corresponding to 328 B.C.
•Sandrokotus of the Greeks, the
political and social conditions in India
at that time, match to those of in the
era Chandragupta Gupta (not Maurya)
•"Golden Age" in the history of India
•Art and architecture, polity and
politics, wealth and wisdom
flourished side by side.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Cholas in South East Asia
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Aryan Migration
Myth of the Aryan Invasion
(1500 B.C)
Cause a split between
North and South, different
castes, aboriginals
Justification to rule Bharat
Arya means noble, with
good qualities (Rama,
Krishna, Buddha,
Chanakya)
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
RgVed – Oldest Book
Belongs 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.
• Aiteriya Brahmana refers to 6000 B.C.
• From the calculation of the vernal equinox cycle,
the Taiteriya Samhita 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).
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Conintuous History and Spread
• Vedic culture had reached a state of
supreme high idealism
• Arya people wanted to propagate and
share with rest of the world
• From the original Sapta-Sindhu homeland,
and later, from the regions of Caspian Sea,
the Vedics appear to have migrated across
the globe
• “Dravid” were the early offshoots of the
Vedic people through Sage Agastya
• Common history of humanity
• Commonality and affinity of the most
ancient languages with Sanskrit
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Timelines
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Swayambhuva Manu 29,000 B.C.
Veda (early stages) 23,720 B.C.
Samhita (Taitiriya) 22,000 B.C.
Manu Chakshushu 17,500 B.C.
King Pruthu 16,050 B.C.
Manu Vaivasvata 14,000 B.C.
Indra-Skanda dialogue (Mahabharat)
13,000 B.C.
Glaciation period 8,000 B.C.
Dasharadnya War 7,000 B.C.
Ramayana 5,500 B.C.
Orion period 4,000 B.C.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Timelines Continued
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Greeks separate 4,000 B.C.
Rajatarangini begins 3,450 B.C.
Gonanda-I of Kashmir 3,238 B.C.
Mahabharata 3,138 B.C.
Veda (last stages) 3,100 B.C.
Saptarsi era begins 3,076 B.C.
Saraswati-Sindhu Culture 3,000 B.C.
Gautam Siddharta born 1,887 B.C.
Gautam Siddharta Nirvana 1,807
B.C.
• Mahaveer Jain born 1,862 B.C.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
Timelines Continued
• Chandragupta Maurya 1,534 B.C.
• Ashoka Maurya 1,482 B.C.
• Ashoka Gonanda 1,448 B.C. Kanishka
1,294 B.C.
• Kumarila Bhatta 557 B.C.
• Vruddha Garga 550 B.C.
• Aadi Shankaracharya born 509 B.C.
• Harsha Vikramaditya 457 B.C.
• Shatkarani Gautamiputra 433 B.C.
Chandragupta Gupta 327 B.C.
• Shakari Vikramaditya 57 B.C.
• Shalivahan 78 A.D.
• Huen-Tsang 625 A.D.
• Kalhana (Kashmiri historian) 1,148 A.D
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh