The Greatest Pallavan's Architecture , How They Carved a Temple from a Rock?

Rock Cut Temples , Pallavan King's Golden Era 

The first examples of stone temples in India are Rock Cut. These are created by carving large rocks. Carving rocks are harder than working with wood, the material used for building temples prior to the introduction of stones for the purpose. Rock cut temples were introduced in Tamilnadu in 7th century AD. During the initial period, the sculptors were not experienced working with stone and at many instances the work had to be abondoned halfway due to mistakes. These incomplete works give us clues to understand the techniques the ancient sculptors used. Fig. 2 shows a rock where a temple carving work had been abondoned at a very early stage. This shows the techniqe used for carving out rocks to form space in the rock.

                                                                      Fig. 1 A Rock Cut Temple in Mamallapuram

                                                      Fig.2 Left abondoned carving work. Right: Enlarged carved area.

In Mamallapuram there are several examples of incomplete works. These are at different levels of completeness. One can see columns cut to rough form which were to be refined later, but the work had to be abondoned due to unknown reason. Fig. 3 shows two rock cut examples where the work had stoped at a rough cut stage. In the right side example the columns are seen at a higher level of completion than the left hand side ones. However, the bases and the top portions are still incomplete. Note the back side walls in both these photographs, the techniques employed to cut and remove the unwanted portions of the rock is clearly visible.

                                                             Fig.3 Columns and other incomplete elements

Fig. 4 shows two examples of incomplete lion columns. The final forms have been achieved to a large extend, but the final bit of work is still to be completed. Lion columns are Typical to Dravidian architecture during Pallavan rulers in Tamilnadu..

                                                                              Fig.4 Incomplete columns.

Mamallapuram has number of good specimens of completed works. The examples in the pictures below (fig.5) are showing elaborately carved columns of rock cut temples found there. These columns belongs to early Dravidian style

Stories in the Stone - Sculptures from Pallavan's Mamallapuram, Tamilnadu, India.

Background

Writing has been invented very late. Spoken language and the stories originated well before they were put in writing. Most of the stories of ancient origins were related to religion or about heros and heroic acts. As all these stories had some messages to be communicated to the public, these stories were transmitted orally through generations. Later, wall paintings and sculptures were also used for this purpose. Even after writing had become a standard form of communication and record keeping, paintings and sculptures continued to have been used for this purpose. As visual mediums are usually very effective in communication, and in addition thay also have aesthetic value. Therefore, In temples and other related buildings, sculptures were used, to communicate stories and other information.

Sculptures in Mamallapuram

Mamallapuram is one of the places where one can see several most ancent stone sculptures in Tamilnadu in India. Many of these sculptures depicting stories are bas releifs. These sculptures had been carved inside rock cut temples, free standing temples and even on exposed rock surfaces. Most of these were carved between 7th century to 10th century AD during Pallava rule. Stories carved are related to mostly Hindu relegion. This page shows sculptured panels depicting stories of 1. Killing of Mahishasuran by goddess Durga, 2. Baheerathan Thapasand 3. Krishna protecting the people.

Story No.1

In Hindu mythology one can find several stories based on the enmity between the inhabitants of the world of gods and the Demons known as Asuras in Sanskrit language. As a common theme, in many such stories kings of Demons become powerful enough to suppress the power of the king of the world of gods, by the boons they receive from one of the three supreme deities namely Siva, Vishnu and Brahma and take control of it. Then the gods complain about their plight to the Trinities. Trinities then take a special form or create some one in such a way to overcome the power of the boon given to the Demon.

1. Goddess Durga fights with Mahishasuran

In one of such stories, a king of Demons named Mahisha (means buffalo) received a boon from Brahma after a severe penance undertook by him. According to the boon only a female can kill him. Probably he may have thought that the females were generally weak and the boon he received was as good as immortality. He started his atrocities and defeated Indra the ruler of the world of gods. He banned worshipping of gods. Indra and his subjects went to Siva. As a female with such a power to overcome the strength of the Demon is needed kill him, they combined all their powers and created the goddess Durga. She went to the Demons place and challenged him. A fierce fight raged and continued for nine days. Durga killed all of Mahisha's lieutenants and engaged Mahisha. He decided to use deception tactics and changed his forms frequently while fighting. However Durga overcame all his tactics and killed Mahisha with her spear. As she killed Mahisha the goddess Durga got the name Mahishasura Mardhani, "the distroyer of Mahisha".

The sculptured panel seen here depicts this fight between Durga and Mahisha. Durga is seen seated on a lion, with several hands and the Demon is seen in a form of buffalo.

2. Story depicting Arjuna Thapas or Bhaheeratha Tapas

3. Krishna Protecting People from Indra's Anger

Ancient Sculptures of Pallavan Period, Tamilnadu, India

PALLAVAN KINGS AND PALLAVAN PERIOD

Pallavas ruled Tamilnadu from 6th century AD to 9th century AD. Buddhism and Jainism were the main religions before this period started fading away during Pallavan rule. Hinduism had a great revival during this period. Temples were built using perisheble materials such as wood, bricks in South India before stone became a preferred material during early Pallavan period. Art and Architecture were flourishing. Kanchipuram the capital of Pallavas and the port town Mamallapuram still have remains of many of these creations.

This page shows some of the sculptural work of Pallavan period found in Mamallapuram and Kailasanathar Temple Kanchipuram.

A Sculpture Dipicting a Mythological Story Found in Mamallapuram

Sculptures on the External Wall of a Temple in Mamallaputam.

A Part of a Relief Sculpture Named "Arjuna Thapas" in Mamallapuram

Scultures Found in Kailasanathaar Temple, Kanchipuram.

Another Sculpture in Kailasanathar Temple in Kanchipuram.

Dravidian Architecture

Introduction to Dravidian Architecture

Dravidian Architecture is an Architectural style of South India, which evolved around 6th century A.D. and developed for about 10 centuries. This style has produced number of magnificient buildings. This growth had been patronised by various dynasties, that ruled this region. Architectural Historian sub divide the period of Dravidian Architectural growth into 1. Pallavan Period, 2. Cholar Period, 3. Paandavan Period, 4. Vijayanagaram Period and 5. Nayakkar Period.

Pallavan period provided us with several buildings to early stage of the development of this style. Earliest ones are rock-cut temples. Later then temples carved in one stone and in the later stages, the construted temples. Pallavas introduced the technique of building in stone into Tamilnadu.

Cholar Period

Period of Cholar domination was the golden age for Dravidian Architecture. Under the rule of Great Kings Rajaraja Cholan and his son Rajendra Cholan, arhitectural activities got unprecedented royal patronage and the temples built during this period include large ones such as Great Temple of Thanjavur.

A View of the Great Tower on the sanctuary of the Thajavur Temple

SCIENCE IN VEDAS

The core foundation of Hindu belief is that Vedas contain source of all knowledge – physical or metaphysical. However in last 100 odd years, this belief has come under scrutiny due to the advances that modern science claims to make.An entire group of Vedic ‘experts’ have stood up to prove that Vedas contain early man theories and are not compatible with modern discoveries. These include communist historians propelled by commentaries on Vedas by western indologists like Max Muller, Griffith et al and a new breed of intellectuals who initiate all research with assumption that ‘old means defective’. However in modern era of religious marketing, another group has come up which would go to any length to discover scientific errors in Vedas. This is the group which would want 800 million Hindus to lose faith in Vedas and their religion and embrace what they believe is the final message of God. Yes I am referring to Islamic and Christian evangelists.

While both these groups of evangelists are propelled by vision of making everyone in world a follower of their respective Holy Books, the situation is even more desperate for Quran zealots. This is because a bulk of Islamic evangelists believe that Jesus will come again towards end of the world after which they would reach Paradise forever. And an important sign of Jesus’ coming is conquest of India. I do not know the original source of this superstition, but this remains a primary motivator for most Islamic evangelists today.

Thus every now and then, we would see references to ‘Scientific Errors in Vedas’. The typical pattern would be english translation of some mantra followed by a Veda Mantra reference. For example
“Earth is flat” – Yajur Ved 32.8

Often the reference and English translation are both pointing to sources best known to authors of these works. But for layman, these create a lot of confusion and doubt over relevance of Vedas. While I would shy away from thrusting my personal faith on Vedas, I would like to provide some excerpts from Vedas that provide clues to deep scientific concepts hidden within them.

Unfortunately, due to thousand years of slavery, burning of our universities and libraries by barbarians and then demands for tackling issues of survival first, there remains a lot of work to be done to rediscover the Vedic sciences. However, sufficient clues exist to justify why this rediscovery would be worthwhile. In this article, I shall provide some brief snippets of such clues.

A point of note: Vedas not being dogmatic in nature and containing eternal truths, do not try to spoon-feed us. Thus Vedas would contain seeds for all forms of knowledge and would urge humans to explore further. Because in the Vedic framework, its our efforts that can provide us bliss.

You can refer to original mantras at http://www.aryasamajjamnagar.org

MOTION OF EARTH

Rig Veda 10.22.14
“This earth is devoid of hands and legs, yet it moves ahead. All the objects over the earth also move with it. It moves around the sun.
In this mantra,
Kshaa = Earth (refer Nigantu 1.1)
Ahastaa = without hands
Apadee = without legs
Vardhat = moves ahead
Shushnam Pari = Around the sun
Pradakshinit = revolves

Rig Veda 10.149.1“The sun has tied Earth and other planets through attraction and moves them around itself as if a trainer moves newly trained horses around itself holding their reins.”
In this mantra,
Savita = Sun
Yantraih = through reins
Prithiveem = Earth
Aramnaat = Ties
Dyaam Andahat = Other planets in sky as well
Atoorte = Unbreakable
Baddham = Holds
Ashwam Iv Adhukshat = Like horses

GRAVITATIONAL FORCE
Rig Veda 8.12.28“O Indra! by putting forth your mighty rays, which possess the qualities of gravitation and attraction-illumination and motion – keep up the entire universe in order through the Power of your attraction.”
Rig Veda 1.6.5, Rig Veda 8.12.30“O God, You have created this Sun. You possess infinite power. You are upholding the sun and other spheres and render them steadfast by your power of attraction.
Yajur Veda 33.43“The sun moves in its own orbit in space taking along with itself the mortal bodies like earth through force of attraction.”
Rig Veda 1.35.9“The sun moves in its own orbit but holding earth and other heavenly bodies in a manner that they do not collide with each other through force of attraction.
Rig Veda 1.164.13
“Sun moves in its orbit which itself is moving. Earth and other bodies move around sun due to force of attraction, because sun is heavier than them.
Atharva Veda 4.11.1“The sun has held the earth and other planets”
LIGHT OF MOON

Rig Veda 1.84.15“The moving moon always receives a ray of light from sun”
Rig Veda 10.85.9“Moon decided to marry. Day and Night attended its wedding. And sun gifted his daughter “Sun ray” to Moon.”
ECLIPSE

Rig Veda 5.40.5“O Sun! When you are blocked by the one whom you gifted your own light (moon), then earth gets scared by sudden darkness.”
“SCIENCE OF BUILDING SHIPS AND AIRPLANES”Swami Dayanand has detailed Mantras regarding these in his Vedic commentary and Introduction to Vedas” (1876). The scientists of IISc concluded that the mechanism of airplane as suggested by Dayanand is feasible. The first manned plane was built 20 years after death of Swami Dayanand.

The verses are difficult to translate in English here, but readers are advised to review “Introduction to Vedas” by Swami Dayanand or interpretations of following mantras: Rig Veda 1.116.3, 1.116.4, 10.62.1, 1.116.5, 1.116.6, 1.34.2, 1.34.7, 1.48.8 etc.

SCIENCE OF TELEGRAPHY

Rig Veda 1.119.10“With the help of bipolar forces (Asvins), you should employ telegraphic apparatus made of good conductor of electricity. It is necessary for efficient military operations but should be used with caution.”

I am also attaching a few pdfs of the scientific advancements of ancient India. These are developed by Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage

I hope this would be sufficient to at least drive the need for further exploration of our scientific heritage originating from Vedas.

VEDAS AND MOTION OF PLANETS

Vedas, the first texts of humanity, contain seeds of all forms of knowledge – spiritual or material. And hence it is obvious that there is no possibility of contradiction between claims of Vedas and deductions of science.Unlike other so-called holy texts Vedas do not demand blind belief on unobservable. So there is no blind insistence on belief in any avatar, prophet, god, son of god, mythology or historical claims to avoid some hell-like place and seek some heaven-like holiday spot. On contrary, the Vedic principle is to explore higher levels of truth in most unbiased manner and be honest to the results of this exploration. Science and Vedas go hand in hand.

hus the approach of Vedas is way different from rest of the religious products with whom Vedas are often wrongly clustered. Vedas do not spoon-feed. They don’t expect you to find truths of nature and world by memorizing certain verses. On contrary, Vedas urge humans to put efforts, conduct experiments, reflect upon those experiments and discover wisdom by making best use of this laboratory called life. And in the journey towards more and more advanced experiments you conduct, Vedas stand with you as a trusted guide, coach and mentor. Vedas don’t answer the questions on your behalf in the examination, like what happens in many corrupt institutions. They help you seek the answers from within yourself in most honest manner.

Being a student of science for major part of my life, the mysteries of universe have always fascinated me. And I have always had great respect and admiration for scientists like Kepler, Newton, Faraday and Einstein whose pursued the unraveling of these mysteries. They are the modern Rishis of their fields who discovered the wisdom within themselves by following the Vedic methods of exploration and gave us the opportunity to be even greater Rishis. And when I dwell into the Vedas, I find them to be my trusted mentors who reinforce the same fundamental truths that were discovered by these wise men. That leads to conclusion that scientific spirit of these legends combined with proactive inspiration from Vedas could be such a powerful combination that could transform the civilization in most wonderful manner – giving methods, direction, efficiency and purpose to all we do and seek to do as humans. 

Here I bring you two interesting Mantras from Rigveda that explain the planetary motion. Swami Dayanand quoted one of them very briefly in his amazing textRigvedadibhashyabhumika or Introduction to Vedas (available in Downloads section of agniveer.com) more than 130 years ago.  The mantras can have various meanings, as is the case with most Vedic mantras. But I shall explore the straightforward meaning in context of motion of planets.

The first one is Rigveda 10.149.1.

This is one of the several Mantras in Vedas that assert that planets move around sun. It says:

“The sun has tied Earth and other planets through attraction and moves them around itself as if a trainer moves newly trained horses around itself holding their reins.”
In this mantra,
Savita = Sun
Yantraih = through reins
Prithiveem = Earth
Aramnaat = Ties
Dyaam Andahat = Other planets in sky as well
Atoorte = Unbreakable
Baddham = Holds
Ashwam Iv Adhukshat = Like horses

Very clearly, the mantra explains that sun is center of solar system and planets (including earth) move in a closed-loop path around it.

The second one Rigveda 8.12.28 details this motion of planet

“All planets remain stable because as they come closer to sun due to attraction, their speed of coming closer increases proportionately.”

In this Mantra,
Yada Te = When they
Haryataa = Come closer through attraction
Hari = Closeness
Vaavridhate = Increases proportionately
Divedive = continuously
Vishwa Bhuvani = planets of the world
Aditte = eventually
Yemire = remain stable

(The reference to sun comes from rest of the Mantras in this Sukta before and after this mantra)

The mantra clearly states that:

1. Motion of planets around the sun is not circular, even though sun is the central force causing planets to move (Refer previous mantra 10.149.1)

2. The motion of planets is such that Velocity of planets is in inverse relation with the distance between planet and sun.

It can be easily shown with the help of Newton’s Second Law that, for a planet revolving around sun in an elliptical orbit, having distance ‘r’ with sun and angle ‘θ’ made between length ‘r’ and any fixed axis, at any instant, following holds true

From the above, it can be easily shown that derivative of the product of square of distance between sun and planet and rate of change of angle θ, with respect to time, is zero. And thus following relation is obtained (with h as a constant)

Interestingly, the above relation is nothing but the conservation of angular momentum, observed in cases involving Central Forces! If you replace angular velocity with linear velocity, it leads exactly to the same principle that the Vedic mantra 8.12.28 asserts – that velocity of planets is inversely related to distance from sun!

What laws of mechanics and motion can be derived from these principles is something that each of you studying science can explore and be excited about!

But what is wonderful is that the principles are in perfect sync with Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and Newton’s law of gravitation. In fact, if these Vedic principles were known, deriving Kepler and Newton’s laws and hence law of conservation of angular momentum becomes the next easy logical step for an analytical mind!

This is the beauty of Vedas. Vedas and Science are never in contradiction. In fact the foundation of Vedic religion lies in the principle that “True Science and True Religion can never contradict.“

Please note that we no way imply that mere analysis of Vedic mantras could lead to any scientific discovery. Because Vedas themselves suggest that without experiments and research in real-world, truth cannot be discovered (Refer Atharvaveda 12.5.1, Yajurveda 1.5 and 19.30). But we do want to imply that Vedas form a wonderful guru who would always stand besides you as a reliable guide. Nothing in Vedas would contradict your rational discoveries. And as you discover more and more, Vedas would make you realize how magnificent that Supreme Power is who is managing this entire universe through such perfect unchangeable laws! Thus Vedas strengthen you from core.

What we presented was just 2 mantras that we chanced to discover with whatever limited intellect we have. But that does seem to indicate that Vedas do merit a more detailed and institutionalized research. We do hope that such researches become reality of tomorrow so that humanity could rise above schism between science and religion, and fights among various blind cults for claiming the title of only true religion. Vedas are the most credible and viable hope for a religion that is in sync with science and excludes any notion of blind belief. This would be the next level of evolution of human civilization.

May we all embrace wisdom and destroy roots of all blindness! May we all evolve!

"சூர்யவர்மன்" , "கம்போடியா" நாட்டில் தமிழர்களின் பிரம்மாண்ட கலைத்திறமையை உலகிற்கே காட்டிய "அங்கோர் வாட்" கோயில்

உலகின் பெரிய வழிபாட்டுத்தளம் எது என்பது உங்களுக்கு தெரியுமா ? அதை யார் கட்டினார்கள் என்பது தெரியுமா ?

இது வரை நம் தமிழர்களின் சாதனைகள் பற்றி நான் தெரிவித்திருந்த தகவல்களிலேயே மிக சிறந்த ஒன்றாக நானே இதை கூறுவேன். இந்த 

அதிசயத்தைப் பற்றி எழுதவே நான் பெருமையடைகிறேன். இந்த இடத்திற்கு சென்று பார்ப்பதையே என் வாழ்நாள் ஆசையாக கொண்டுள்ளேன். தினமும் என் கணினியை தொடங்கியவுடன் இதன் படங்களை பார்த்த மகிழ்ச்சியில் தான் அன்றைய வேலைகளே தொடங்குவேன்.

நானும் இந்த தொகுப்பபை எவ்வளவோ சுருக்கி சிறியதாக எழுதலாம் என்று தான் நினைதேன். ஆனால் குறைக்கப்படும் ஒவ்வொரு வரியும், இதன் ஒரு வருட உழைப்பை குறைத்து விடும். நீங்கள் உங்கள் நேரத்தை நிச்சயம் ஒதுக்கி இதை படிப்பீர்கள் என்ற நம்பிக்கையுடன் வெளியிடுகிறேன். ஆம் அது தான் "கம்போடியா" நாட்டில் நம் கலைத்திறமையை உலகிற்கே காட்டிய "அங்கோர் வாட்" கோயில்.

இரண்டாம் "சூர்யவர்மன்" இந்த இடத்தை கைப்பற்றியவுடன் இந்த பிரம்மாண்ட கோயிலை இங்கு கட்டினான். இந்த இடம் தான் அவனின் தலை நகரமாக செயப்பட்டது. ஒரு பெருமையான விஷயம் சொல்லாட்டுமா?, "விஷ்ணு" கடவுளுக்காக கட்டப்பட்ட இந்த கோயிலானது தான் இன்று வரை உலகில் கட்டப்பட்ட வழிபாட்டுத்தலங்களிலேயே "பெரியது "! இந்த கோயிலை ஒரு கலை பொக்கிஷம் என்றே கூறலாம், திரும்பிய திசை எல்லாம் சிற்பங்களை வடித்துள்ளனர். இந்த கோயிலின் ஒரு பக்க சுற்று சுவரே 3.6 கிலோமீட்டர்கள் அப்படி என்றால் இந்த கோயில் எவ்வளவு பிரம்மாண்டமாக கட்டபட்டிருக்கும் என்பதை கொஞ்சம் கற்பனை செய்து பாருங்கள்.( மீண்டும் ஒரு முறை ), இதன் சுற்றி சுவர் மட்டுமே 3.6 கிலோமீட்டர்கள்! இந்த கோயிலின் ஆரம்பக்கட்ட வடிவமைக்கும் பணிகளானது பனிரெண்டாம் நூற்றாண்டின் முதலாம் பாதியில் தொடங்கியது. இருபத்தி ஏழு வருடங்கள் இந்த இடத்தை ஆண்ட "சூர்யவர்மன்" இறக்கும் சில ஆண்டுகள் முன்பு இதன் வேலைகள் நிறைவடைந்தது.

இதன் பின்னர் ஆறாம் "ஜெயவர்மன்" கைக்கு மாறியது .பின்னர் இந்த கோயில் கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சமாக "புத்த" வழிபாடு தளமாக மாற்றப்பட்டு.இன்று வரை இது புத்த வழிபாட்டுதளமாகவே செயல் பட்டு வருகின்றது. பதினாறாம் நூறாண்டிற்கு பிறகு இந்த கட்டிடம் சிறிது சிறிதாக புறக்கணிக்கப்பட்டது, அடர்ந்த காட்டுக்குள் இது கட்டப்படதனால் இது யார் கண்ணிற்கும் படாமல் சிதலமடயத்தொடங்கியது.

பின்னர் 1586 ஆம் ஆண்டு " António da Madalena " என்ற போர்சுகீசிய துறவியின் கண்ணில் பட்டது, அதை அவர் " is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of." என்று கூறியுள்ளார். பின்னர் Henri Mouhot' என்ற பிரெஞ்சு எழுத்தாளர் தன் புத்கத்தில் இந்த கோயிலின் சிறப்பை வெயிட்டவுடன் தான் இதன் புகழ் உலகம் முழுக்கும் பரவத்தொடங்கியது. அவர் அந்த புத்தகத்தில் One of these temples—a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged." என்று குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார். பின்னர் இங்கு ஆய்வு பணிகளை மேற்கொண்ட பிறகு தான் இது நாம் கட்டியது என்று தெரியவந்தது.

இன்றைக்கு இருக்ககூடிய தொழில்நுட்பத்தை பயன்படுத்தி கட்டினால் கூட, இப்போதைக்கு இது போன்ற ஒரு கட்டிடம் கட்ட 300 ஆண்டுகள் ஆகும் என ஒரு பொறியாளர் கூறி உள்ளார். ஆனால் எந்த தொழில் நுட்பமும் இல்லாத அந்த காலத்தில் வெறும் 40 ஆண்டுகளில் இது கட்டி முடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது இதில் இன்னொரு சிறப்பு "கம்போடிய நாட்டு தேசியக்கொடியில் நம் தமிழர்கள் கட்டிய இந்த கோயில் தான் "தேசிய சின்னமாக" பொறிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இதை பற்றி எழுத சொன்னால் இந்த நாள் முழுவதும் இதன் சிறப்புகளை வரிசை படுத்திக்கொண்டே இருக்கலாம். ஆனால், இப்போதைய கால சூழ்நிலையில் இதை படிப்பதற்கே சிரமம் என்பதால், இதை இதோடு முடித்துக் கொள்கிறேன்.

கடைசியாக ஒன்று இந்த 2012 வரை கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள தொழில்நுட்பம் வாய்ந்த ஒரு கேமராவில் கூட இன்று வரை இதன் முழு கட்டிடத்தையும் படம் பிடிக்க முடியவில்லை! வானத்தில் 1000 அடிக்கு மேல் விமானத்த்ல் இருந்து எடுத்தால் மட்டுமே இதன் முழு கட்டிடமும் பதிவாகின்றது. இவ்வளவு சிறப்பு வாய்ந்த இந்த இடத்தை பற்றி எத்தனை பேருக்கு தெரியும் என்பது தெரியவில்லை! குறிப்பாக இது நம் தமிழ் மன்னன் கட்டினான் என்பது எத்தனை தமிழர்களுக்கு தெரியும் என்பதும் கேள்விக்குறியே?! தேடல் தொடரும்..!!!

குறிப்பு : சூர்யவர்மன் மலாய் வழி வந்த மலாய் தமிழ் மன்னன் என்று ஒரு தரப்பும், அவர் க்ஹ்மேர் இன மன்னன் என மற்றொரு தரப்பும் கூறுகின்றது..எது எப்படியோ, இதை ஏற்ப்பதும், ஏற்காததும் அவரவர் விருப்பம் சார்ந்தது !

" THE MUDRAS " MEDITATIONS WITH FINGERS AND HANDS , THE ANCIENT TAMIL MEDICINE

Mudras Traditional Tamil medicine emphasizes that as the proportion of the basic elements that have the body (earth, water, air, fire and ether) will be healthy and balanced or unbalanced getting to be 

even seriously sick. Just as each element can have a positive influence on us, you can also destroy us. This can restore inner balance through the language of gestures. The following meditations can be done for a few minutes a day and its effectiveness is assured. Require our full attention and fingers of our hands. These gestures called Mudras. These gestures are very important because they allow us to properly channel the energy through our body and to facilitate the achievement of many goals as the spiritual upliftment, healing physical and emotional healing. Meditation 1: With the power of the thumb. The element fire, the lung meridian, and Mars (the planet and ancient god of war) are associated with the thumb. The fire feeds the energy of the thumb of the other fingers and absorbs excess energy. Thus, restores the balance. It is similar to the destructive power of fire or fever. Exercise Lying or sitting around your right thumb and four fingers of his left hand and place your left thumb along the inside edge of the right hand. Close your eyes yconcéntrate in the breath that flows within. Now imagine a white light that lights you up completely, and through you down to your roots and then up to your head lit up your world. Each time you exhale, send light rays directly to the diseased body part. Focus on the body part that is weaker or sick. Calmly repeat. Focusing only on white light illuminates and purifies you, make silence within. You will notice as they come out large and dense dark energy-like clouds of smoke, fleeing a body and an enlightened mind and peace. This exercise is also recommended in situations of stress. Meditation 2: With the power of the index finger. The throat chakra, the large intestine and the stomach meridian is associated with this finger. In this finger is also attributed the ability to command, reflection, inspiration and intuition. It also relates to the air element, which represents the mind and the power of thought. The planetary energy associated with this finger is Jupiter, which indicates the eternal change of things, accept life with all its facets. Exercise Lying or sitting around your index finger and four fingers of his left hand, leaving the thumb is extended to half of his right hand. Close your eyes. You focus on your breathing and feel the movement of the universe to the rhythm of your inhalations and exhalations your. Now look at your thoughts come and go. Obsrervalos carefully for a while. Do you listen to your inner dialogue? Do you know that our unconscious thoughts greatly weaken us? What are your thoughts, positive or negative, conscious or unconscious? If we make the following meditation for several days, we realize that there is a certain habit in our thoughts. Habits can be changed by the time we become aware of them, but changes always require a certain amount of time and effort. If we strive to continuously replace harmful thoughts by conscious thought and useful, we can change the circumstances of our lives accordingly. Keep your finger in this situation for a while and feel the heat flows. Meditation 3: With the power of the middle finger. It relates to the heart chakra. With this finger, which is the longest of all, our body tells us and the heart can reach heights that we can not achieve with other parts of our body. Radiates its energy at infinity. Could also be considered how a stairway to heaven. The planet that fits your energy is Saturn, situated on the edge of our solar system and also called the "guardian of the threshold." But Saturn reminds us that progress in our spiritual journey, we must first meet our chores around the Earth. The meridians involved in the energy of this finger are the meridian circulation and the meridian of the gallbladder. Both help us seize and master the challenges of life. Exercise Lying or sitting around your right middle finger with the four fingers of your left hand. The left thumb should extend to the middle of his right hand. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in your work. You're doing what you love to do. There you can make full use of your talents and inclinations to overcome all obstacles that appear in your way. Visualize yourself succeeding. Visualize yourself being happy doing what you do. Think that your actions enrich the world. The divinity is expressed through you and your actions when you forget to do that for you and what you're meant to do. If your occupation does not satisfy you and if you have no leisure activities or interests that you indulge, then it is time to ask within, until you receive an answer and accept it. Hold your finger in silence for a while and feel the heat flowing in you. Repeat with your left middle finger and changes hands. These hand positions also have an excellent effect on tension in the neck. Meditation 4: With the power of the ring finger ring finger is associated with Apollo, the sun god, and the root chakra, which governs the pelvis. It is the force of resistance. The Chinese have linked finger with the liver meridian. The power of the liver gives a person patience, serenity, hope and vision for the future. Exercise Lying or sitting around your left ring finger and four fingers of his right hand, thumb extended right into the middle of the left hand. Close your eyes. Imagine the earth, the mountains and rocks crushed in all its forms whether in the deserts, mountains or islands. What happens when the masses of earth begin to move? And when the earth is dry? And when the earth is fully exposed to the sun? Now imagine the fertile land. Slowly let the vegetation appears. Buds, stems, leaves, seedlings, shrubs, trees, forests. Now visualize a seed. With every breath we make, something moves inside the seed gradually grows and expands into the light. . At the same time, we see it take root deep in the earth. It becomes a tree that grows slowly. You see it grow slowly because we know that time is not important. Has only continued growth. The tree blooms anew every year, and bears fruit. Like the tree-giving and each year pays off, we can also succeed if we give fully to life and act according to his purpose. Keep your finger for a while and feel the heat flowing. Then do the same with your other hand. Meditation 5: With the power of the little finger Linked to the second chakra, the energy center of sexuality. Also associated with this finger with the ability to communicate. Also related to the water element (water symbolizes the realm of emotions). Relationships, nourish and strengthen or weaken. And, in turn, give us the ability to be happy. They give us sublime feelings and improves our mood. According to our relations have clear or dark water. We will have independence or dependence. We experience the relationships act as a reflection of those qualities of our shadow which we reject or refuse to recognize. Venus is the planet involved. Exercise Lying or sitting around your left little finger with the four fingers of his right hand, until your right thumb extending to the middle of your left hand. Close your eyes. With the eye of your mind scroll to the seashore and watch the waves that you get wet feet. The same image can be applied to your feelings. Emotions work like waves that flow subject to the law of giving and receiving. Emotions can also be described as clouds do not allow us to have conscious thought. So you see yourself in the midst of a wave or a storm. We focus on breathing, calm down. Aspire and exhale visualizing white light. We focus on monitoring our thoughts and feelings. The white light comes faintly. Gradually we see the tide go away and clouds. Sunlight appears. The calm, love and peace will settle back into our hearts and in the spring now conscious thoughts and deep harmony. Continue the same operation on the other hand. Surround your right little finger and hold it by the same amount of time.

PROOF of Dinosaurs in Cambodia Temple(Angkor Wat) constructed by GREAT TAMIL KING RAJA RAJA CHOLAN

Proof of Dinosaurs in Cambodia Temple ( Angkor Wat ) constructed by GREAT TAMIL KING RAJA RAJA CHOLAN

HINDU WAY OF LIFE

WHAT IS THE HINDUS WAY OF LIFE.

For many Hindus there are four goals in human life (purusharthas);

1 Moksha - the release of the soul (Atman) from the cycle of rebirth.
The individual soul (Atman) unites with Brahman the universal soul. T

here are different ways to Moksha.
spiritual - involves acquiring spiritual knowledge through yoga and meditation. devotion to god
working selflessly for the good of society.
How a person is reincarnated is determined by karma.

2 Dharma - the code for leading one's life.
Respect for elders is considered important and many consider marriage as a son's religious duty.
3 Artha - the pursuit of material gain by lawful means.

4 Karma- through pure acts, knowledge and devotion, you can reincarnate to a higher level. The opposite achieves the contrary result.

Great Reflexology Chart for Hand Points

Great Reflexology Chart for Hand Points..

Hindu Astronomy

Count Bjornstjerna proves conclusively that Hindu astronomy was far advanced even at the beginning of the Kaliyug or Iron Age of the Hindus, about 5000 years ago.

They knew about the precession of the equinoxes anti about the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis which the priests (Brahmins) discussed in the 5th century B.C.

The above quotations give some idea of the antiquity of the astronomical science of the ancient Hindus. There are numerous treatises written by famous scientists on astronomy and also astrology which was considered equally important. Some of the well known scientists were Parashar (12th century B. C.), Aryabhata and Varahamihira.

“The Hindu astronomers knew about and practiced .the division of the ecliptic into lunar mansions, the precession of the equinox, the earth’s self support in space the revolution of the moon on her axis, her distance from the earth, the dimensions of the orbits of the planet and the calculation of the eclipses.

The ancients knew about the roundness of the earth. In Aryabhateeya we read: ‘The earth, situated in the middle of the heaven and composed of five elements, is spherical in shape.

The theory of gravity is thus described in the Siddhanta Sirornani: ‘The earth, owing to its force of gravity, draws all things towards itself, and so they seem to fall towards the earth.

Another ancient scientist, Gargya, was the first enumerator of constellations and divided the zodiacalbeli into 27 equal parts. Varahamihira, son of Gautania is said to be the first person to identify Jupiter (Brihaspati), reference to which is to be found in the Rig-Veda.

Towards our time, A. D. 1727, we have Maharaja Jai Singh II, the builder of Jaipur, one of the earliest planned cities and of the famous observatories in Jaipur, Delhi, Varanasi, Mathura and Ujjain. A number of the instruments in these observatories are still working accurately. The sun—dial in Jaipur still gives the time with an accuracy of two seconds! Sawai Jai Singh corrected the Indian almanac also.

The Beginnings of Hinduism

The ancient Persians, who occupied the lands west to the Indus River called the whole country lying across the Indus River Sindh and its inhabitants Sindhus, a designation that was later taken over by the Greeks who succeeded them and resulted in the now commonly used designations of India and Indians. The Muslims, who began invading India from the eighth century onward, used the term Hindu as a generic designation for non-Muslim Indians, identical with “idol worshipers.” In the 1830s Englishmen, writing about the religions of India, added -ism to Hindu and coined the term Hinduism, making an abstract and generic entity out of the many diverse and specific traditions of the Hindus.

While Hindus have appropriated the designation Hindu and use it today to identify themselves over against Muslims or Christians, they have expressed reservations with regard to the designation of Hinduism as the “religion of the Hindus.” They see a certain disrespect in the -ism suffix and emphasize that the Hindu dharma is more comprehensive than the Western term religion: it designates an entire cultural tradition rather than only a set of beliefs and rituals. With these reservations in mind, we are going to use the widely introduced term Hinduism in describing the majority religio-cultural tradition of India in spite of the impossibility of defining it in any precise manner. 

The Vedas, the oldest literary monument of the Indian people, a collection of hymns composed in an archaic Sanskrit, are universally considered the foundational scriptures of Hinduism. The authors of these hymns called themselves Āryans, “Noble People.” The date of the composition of these hymns and the original habitat of the Aryans have become one of the most contested issues in Indian studies. The polemical literature has reached such dimensions and the emotions have been raised to such heights that only a sketch of the controversy and some hints about its ideological background can be given in this place.

Around 1860 a group of European Sanskritists suggested that the best explanation for the many common features of what later were called the Indo-European languages was the assumption of an invasion of a band of Aryan warriors, who till then had been living somewhere between Central Asia and Western Europe, into India. Did not the Ṛgveda, the oldest Sanskrit source, describe the battles, which the Āryas, under their leader Indra, the “fortdestroyer,” fought against the Dasyus, whose land they occupied? Making the self-designation ārya (noble) a racial attribute of the putative invaders, every textbook on Indian history began with the “Āryan invasion” of northwestern India, the struggle between the “fair-skinned, blonde, blue-eyed, sharp-nosed Aryans on horse chariots” against the “black-skinned, snub-nosed indigenous Indians.”

This putative “Aryan invasion” was dated ca. 1500 bce, and the composition of the hymns of the Ṛgveda was fixed between 1400 and 1200 bce. The Aryan invasion theory was conceived on pure speculation on the basis of comparative philology, without any archaeological or literary evidence to support it. It was resisted as unfounded by some scholars from the very beginning. In the light of recent archaeological finds, it has become less and less tenable. Nevertheless, the Aryan invasion theory, recently downgraded to an Aryan migration theory, is still widely defended and forms part of many standard histories of Hinduism. In the following, the arguments pro and con will be presented, and it will be left to the reader to judge the merits of the case.

THE ARYAN INVASION THEORY

Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European attempts to explain the presence of Hindus in India were connected with the commonly held biblical belief that humankind originated from one pair of humans—Adam and Eve, created directly by God in 4005 bce—and that all the people then living on the earth descended from one of the sons of Noah, the only family of humans to survive the Great Flood (dated 2350 bce). The major problem associated with the discovery of new lands seemed to be to connect peoples not mentioned in chapter 10 of Genesis, “The Peopling of the Earth,” with one of the biblical genealogical lists.

With regard to India this problem was addressed by the famous Abbé Dubois (1770–1848), whose long sojourn in India (1792-1823) enabled him to collect a large amount of interesting materials concerning the customs and traditions of the Hindus. His (French) manuscript was bought by the British East India Company and appeared in an English translation under the title Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies in 1897 with a prefatory note by the Right Honorable F. Max Müller. Addressing the origins of the Indian people, Abbé Dubois, loath “to oppose [his] conjectures to [the Indians’] absurd fables,” categorically stated: “It is practically admitted that India was inhabited very soon after the Deluge, which made a desert of the whole world. The fact that it was so close to the plains of Sennaar, where Noah’s descendants remained stationary so long, as well as its good climate and the fertility of the country, soon led to its settlement.” Rejecting other scholars’ opinions that linked the Indians to Egyptian or Arabic origins, he ventured to suggest them “to be descendants not of Shem, as many argue, but of Japhet.” He explains: “According to my theory they reached India from the north, and I should place the first abode of their ancestors in the neighbourhood of the Caucasus.” The reasons he provides to prove his theory are utterly unconvincing—but he goes on to build the rest of his “migration theory” (not yet an Aryan invasion theory) on this shaky foundation.

When the affinity between many European languages and Sanskrit became a commonly accepted notion, scholars almost automatically concluded that the Sanskrit-speaking ancestors of the present-day Indians had to be found somewhere halfway between India and the western borders of Europe— Northern Germany, Scandinavia, southern Russia, the Pamir—from which they invaded the Punjab. When the ruins of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa were discovered in the early twentieth century, it was assumed that these were the cities the Aryan invaders destroyed.

In the absence of reliable evidence, they postulated a time frame for Indian history on the basis of conjectures. Considering the traditional dates for the life of Gautama, the Buddha, as fairly well established in the sixth century bce, supposedly pre-Buddhist Indian records were placed in a sequence that seemed plausible to philologists. Accepting on linguistic grounds the traditional claims that the Ṛgveda was the oldest Indian literary document, Max Müller, a greatly respected authority in Veda studies, allowing a time span of two hundred years each for the formation of every class of Vedic literature and assuming that the Vedic period had come to an end by the time of the Buddha, established the following sequence that was widely accepted:

 * Ṛgveda, ca. 1200 bce * Yajurveda, Sāmaveda, Atharvaveda, ca. 1000 bce * Brāhmaṇas, ca. 800 bce * Āraṇyakas, Upaniṣads, ca. 600 bce

Max Müller himself conceded the purely conjectural nature of the Vedic chronology, and in his last work, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, published shortly before his death, admitted: “Whatever may be the date of the Vedic hymns, whether 1500 or 15000 bc, they have their own unique place and stand by themselves in the literature of the world.” 

There were already in Max Müller’s time Western scholars, such as Moriz Winternitz, and Indians, like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who disagreed with his chronology and postulated a much earlier date for the Ṛgveda. Indian scholars pointed out all along that there was no reference in the Veda to a migration of the Āryas from outside India, that all the geographical features mentioned in the Ṛgveda were those of northwestern India and that there was no archaeological evidence whatsoever for the Aryan invasion theory. On the other side, there were references to constellations in Vedic works whose time frame could be reestablished by commonly accepted astronomical calculations. The dates arrived at, however, 4500 bce for one observation in the Ṛgveda, 3200 bce for a date in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, seemed far too remote to be acceptable, especially if one assumed, as many nineteenth-century scholars did, that the world was only about six thousand years old and that the flood had taken place only 4500 years ago.

Present-day defenders of the Aryan invasion/migration theory are displaying what they believe to be an impenetrable armor of philological detail research: in addition to the Ṛgveda and the Avesta, whole libraries of literary documents pertaining to dozens of languages are marshalled and “laws of scientific linguistics” are adduced to overrun any opposition. The scholarly debate has largely degenerated into an ideological battle. The defenders of the Aryan invasion theory call everyone who is not on their side “fundamentalist Hindu,” “revisionist,” “fascist,” and worse, whereas the defenders of the indigenous origin of the Veda accuse their opponents of entertaining “colonialistmissionary” and “racist-hegemonial” prejudices.

Many contemporary Indian scholars, admittedly motivated not only by academic interests, vehemently reject what they call the “colonial-missionary Aryan invasion theory.” They accuse its originators of superimposing—for a reason—the purpose and process of the colonial conquest of India by the Western powers in modern times onto the beginnings of Indian civilization: as the Europeans came to India as bearers of a supposedly superior civilization and a higher religion, so the original Aryans were assumed to have invaded a country that they subjected and on which they imposed their culture and their religion.

As the heat around the Aryan invasion theory is rising, it is also emerging that both sides return to positions that were taken by opposing camps more than a hundred years ago. The difference between then and now is the evidence offered by a great many new archaeological discoveries, which clearly tip the balance in favor of the “Indigenists.”

ARGUMENTS FOR AN INDIAN INDIGENOUS ORIGIN OF THE VEDA

One would expect the proponents of an event to provide proof for its happening rather than demanding proofs for a non-event. The controversy about the Aryan invasion of India has become so bizarre that its proponents simply assume it to have taken place and demand that its opponents offer arguments that it had not taken place. In the following a number of reasons will be adduced to attest to the fact that the Aryan invasion of India—assumed by the invasionists to have taken place around 1500 bce—did not take place.

1. The Aryan invasion theory is based purely on linguistic conjectures, which are unsubstantiated.

2. The supposed large-scale migrations of Aryan people in the second millennium bce first into western Asia and then into northern India (by 1500 bce) cannot be maintained in view of the established fact that the Hittites were in Anatolia already by 2200 bce and the Kassites and Mitanni had kings and dynasties by 1600 bce.

3. There is no hint of an invasion or of large-scale migration in the records of ancient India: neither in the Vedas, in Buddhist or Jain writings, nor in Tamil literature. The fauna and flora, the geography, and the climate described in the Ṛgveda are those of northern India.

4. There is a striking cultural continuity between the archaeological artifacts of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization and later phases of Indian culture: a continuity of religious ideas, arts, crafts, architecture, and system of weights and measures.

5. The archaeological finds of Mehrgarh dated ca. 7500 bce (copper, cattle, barley) reveal a culture similar to that of the Vedic Indians. Contrary to former interpretations, the Ṛgveda reflects not a nomadic but an urban culture.

6. The Aryan invasion theory was based on the assumption that a nomadic people in possession of horses and chariots defeated an urban civilization that did not know horses and that horses are depicted only from the middle of the second millennium onward. Meanwhile archaeological remains of horses have been discovered in Harappan and pre-Harappan sites; drawings of horses have been found in Paleolithic caves in central India. Horse drawn war chariots are not typical for nomadic breeders but for urban civilizations.

7. The racial diversity found in skeletons in the cities of the Indus civilization is the same as in today’s India; there is no evidence of the coming of a new race.

8. The Rgveda describes a river system in North India that is pre-1900 bce in the case of the Sarasvatī River and pre-2600 bce in the case of the Dṛṣadvatī River. Vedic literature shows a population shift from the Sarasvatī (Ṛgveda) to the Ganges (Brāhmaṇas and Purāṇas) for which there is also evidence in archaeological finds.

9. The astronomical references in the Ṛgveda are based on a Pleiades-Kṛttika calendar of ca. 2500 bce. Vedic astronomy and mathematics were well-developed sciences: these are not features of the culture of a nomadic people.

10. The Indus cities were not destroyed by invaders but deserted by their inhabitants because of desertification of the area. Strabo (Geography XV.1.19) reports that Aristobulos had seen thousands of villages and towns deserted because the Indus had changed its course.

11. The battles described in the Ṛgveda were not fought between invaders and natives but between people belonging to the same culture.

12. Excavations in Dvārakā have led to the discovery of a site larger than Mohenjo Daro, dated ca. 1500 bce with architectural structures, use of iron, and a script halfway between Harappan and Brahmī. Dvārakā has been associated with Kṛṣṇa and the end of the Vedic period.

13. There is a continuity in the morphology of scripts: Harappan— Brahmī—Devanāgarī.

14. Vedic ayas, formerly translated as “iron,” probably meant copper or bronze. Iron was found in India before 1500 bce in Kashmir and Dvārakā.

15. The Purāṇic dynastic lists, with over 120 kings in one Vedic dynasty alone, date back to the third millennium bce. Greek accounts tell of Indian royal lists going back to the seventh millennium bce.

16. The Ṛgveda shows an advanced and sophisticated culture, the product of a long development, “a civilization that could not have been delivered to India on horseback.” (160)

17. Painted gray ware culture in the western Gangetic plains, dated ca. 1100 bce, has been found connected to earlier Indus Valley black and red ware.

It would be strange indeed if the Vedic Indians had lost all recollection of such a momentous event as the Aryan invasion in supposedly relatively recent times—much more recent, for instance, than the migration of Abraham and his people, which is well attested and frequently referred to in the Hebrew Bible.

INDUS CULTURE OR SARASVATĪ CIVILIZATION?

The Sarasvatī is frequently praised as the mightiest of all rivers, as giving nourishment to the people and, unique among them, flowing pure from the mountains to the ocean. It is the most often mentioned river in the Ṛgveda—and it no longer exists. Its absence led to the suggestion that it might have been a symbolic rather than a real river, an idea supported by the later identification of Sarasvatī with the Goddess of Wisdom and Learning. More recent satellite photography and geological investigations have helped to reconstruct the ancient riverbed of the Sarasvatī and also established that it had dried out completely by 1900 bce due to tectonic shifts. Of the 2,600 archaeological sites so far discovered that were connected with the Indus civilization, over 1,500 were found located on the Sarasvatī River basin, including settlements that exceeded in size the by now famous Indus sites of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa. It is hardly meaningful to assume that the invading Vedic Aryans established thousands of settlements on its banks four centuries after the Sarasvatī had dried out.

When the first remnants of the ruins of the so-called Indus civilization came to light in the 1920s, the proponents of the Aryan invasion theory believed to have found the missing archaeological evidence: here were the “mighty forts” and the “great cities” that the warlike Indra of the Ṛgveda was said to have conquered and destroyed. Then it emerged that nobody had destroyed these cities and no evidence of wars of conquest came to light: floods and droughts had made it impossible to sustain large populations in the area, and the people of Mohenjo Daro, Harappa, and other places had migrated to more hospitable areas. Ongoing archaeological research has not only extended the area of the Indus civilization but has also shown a transition of its later phases to the Gangetic culture. Archaeo-geographers have established that a drought lasting two to three hundred years devastated a wide belt of land from Anatolia through Mesopotamia to northern India around 2300 bce to 2000 bce.

Based on this type of evidence and extrapolating from the Vedic texts, a new theory of the origins of Hinduism is emerging. This new theory considers the Indus valley civilization as a late Vedic phenomenon and pushes the (inner Indian) beginnings of the Vedic age back by several thousands of years. Instead of speaking of an Indus Valley civilization the term Sarasvatī-Sindhu civilization has been introduced, to designate the far larger extent of that ancient culture. One of the reasons for considering the Indus civilization “Vedic” is the evidence of town planning and architectural design that required a fairly advanced algebraic geometry—of the type preserved in the Vedic Śulvasūtras. The widely respected historian of mathematics A. Seidenberg came to the conclusion, after studying the geometry used in building the Egyptian pyramids and the Mesopotamian citadels, that it reflected a derivative geometry—a geometry derived from the Vedic Śulvasūtras. If that is so, then the knowledge (“Veda”) on which the construction of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro is based cannot be later than that civilization itself.

While the Ṛgveda has always been held to be the oldest literary document of India and was considered to have preserved the oldest form of Sanskrit, Indians have not taken it to be the source for their early history. Itihāsa-Purāṇa served that purpose. The language of these works is more recent than that of the Vedas, and the time of their final redaction is much later than the fixation of the Vedic canon. However, they contain detailed information about ancient events and personalities that form part of Indian history. The Ancients, like Herodotus, the father of Greek historiography, did not separate story from history. Nor did they question their sources but tended to juxtapose various information without critically sifting it. Thus we cannot read Itihāsa-Purāṇa as the equivalent of a modern textbook of Indian history but rather as a storybook containing information with interpretation, facts and fiction. Indians, however, always took genealogies quite seriously, and we can presume that the Purāṇic lists of dynasties, like the lists of guru-paramparās in the Upaniṣads, relate the names of real rulers in the correct sequence. On these assumptions we can tentatively reconstruct Indian history to a time around 4500 bce.

G. P. Singh defends the historical accuracy of the Purāṇic dynastic lists and calls the Purāṇas “one of the most important traditions of historiography in ancient India.” These lists he says “disprove the opinion that the ancient Indians (mainly the Hindus) had no sense of history and chronology.”

A key element in the revision of ancient Indian history was the recent discovery of Mehrgarh, a settlement in the Hindukush area, that was continuously inhabited for several thousand years from ca. 7000 bce onward. This discovery has extended Indian history for thousands of years before the fairly well dateable Indus civilization.

Nobody has as yet interpreted the religious significance of the prehistoric cave paintings at Bhīmbetka (from ca. 100,000 to ca. 10,000 bce), which were discovered only in 1967, and we do not know whether and how the people who created these are related to present-day populations of India. These show, amongst other objects, horses clearly readied for riding—according to the “Invasionists” horse breeding and horse riding were an innovations that the Aryans introduced to India after 1500 bce.

Civilizations, both ancient and contemporary, comprise more than literature. It cannot be assumed that the Vedic Aryans, who have left a large literature that has been preserved till now, did not have any material culture that would have left visible traces. The only basis on which Indologists in the nineteenth century established their views of Vedic culture and religion were the texts that they translated from Ancient Sanskrit.

Traditionally trained philologists, that is, grammarians, are generally not able to understand technical language and the scientific information contained in the texts they study. Consider today’s scientific literature. It abounds with Greek and Latin technical terms, it contains an abundance of formulas, composed of Greek and Hebrew letters. If scholars with only a background in the classical languages were to read such works, they might be able to come up with some acceptable translations of technical terms into modern English, but they would hardly be able to really make sense of most of what they read, and they certainly would not extract the information that the authors of these works wished to convey through their formulas to people trained in their specialties. Analogous to the observations, which the biologist Ernst Mayr made with regard to translations of Aristotle’s works, namely, that sixteenth-century humanists misunderstood and mistranslated his scientific terminology, we must also expect new insights to come out from new translations of ancient Indian technical texts that are more adequate than those made by nineteenth century European philologists.

The admission of some of the top scholars (like Geldner, who in his translation of the Ṛgveda—deemed the best so far—declares many passages “darker than the darkest oracle,” or Gonda, who considered the Ṛgveda basically untranslatable) of being unable to make sense of a great many Vedic texts—and the refusal of most to go beyond a grammatical and etymological analysis of these—indicates a deeper problem. The ancient Indians were not only poets and literateurs, but they also had their practical sciences and their technical skills, their secrets and their conventions that are not self-evident to someone who does not share their world. Some progress has been made in deciphering technical Indian medical and astronomical literature of a later age, in reading architectural and arts-related materials. However, much of the technical meaning of the oldest Vedic literature still eludes us. It would be enormously helpful in the question of the relation between the Ṛgveda and the Indus civilization if we could read the literary remnants of the latter: thousands of what appear to be brief texts incised on a very large number of soapstone seals and other objects, found over large areas of north-western India and also in Western Asia. In spite of many claims made by many scholars who laboured for decades on the decipherment of the signs, nobody has so far been able to read or translate these signs.

THE ṚIGVEDA—A CODE?

Computer scientist Subhash Kak believes to have rediscovered the “Vedic Code,” on the strength of which he extracts from the structure as well as the words and sentences of the Ṛgveda considerable astronomical information that its authors supposedly embedded in it. The assumption of such encoded scientific knowledge would make it understandable why there was such insistence on the preservation of every letter of the text in precisely the sequence the original author had set down. One can take certain liberties with a story, or even a poem, changing words, transposing lines, adding explanatory matter, shortening it, if necessary, and still communicate the intentions and ideas of the author. However, one has to remember and reproduce a scientific formula in precisely the same way it has been set down by the scientist, or it would not make sense at all. While the scientific community can arbitrarily adopt certain letter equivalents for physical units or processes, once it has agreed on their use, one must obey the conventions for the sake of meaningful communication.

Even a nonspecialist reader of ancient Indian literature will notice the effort made to link macrocosm and microcosm, astronomical and physiological processes, to find correspondences between the various realms of beings and to order the universe by establishing broad classifications. Vedic sacrifices—the central act of Vedic culture—were to be offered on precisely built, geometrically constructed altars and to be performed at astronomically exactly established times. It sounds plausible to expect a correlation between the numbers of bricks prescribed for a particular altar and the distances between stars observed whose movement determined the time of the offerings to be made. Subhash Kak has advanced a great deal of fascinating detail in that connection in his essays on the astronomy of the Vedic altar. He believes that while the Vedic Indians possessed extensive astronomical knowledge that they encoded in the text of the Ṛgveda, the code was lost in later times and the Vedic tradition was interrupted.

INDIA, THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION?

Based on the early dating of the Ṛgveda (ca. 4000 bce) and on the strength of the argument that Vedic astronomy and geometry predates that of the other known ancient civilizations, some scholars have made the daring suggestion that India was the “cradle of civilization.” They link the recently discovered early European civilization (which predates ancient Sumeria and ancient Egypt by over a millennium) to waves of populations moving out or driven out from northwest India. Later migrations, caused either by climatic changes or by military events, would have brought the Hittites to western Asia, the Iranians to Afghanisthan and Iran, and many others to other parts of Eurasia. Such a scenario would require a complete rewriting of ancient world history—especially if we add the claims, apparently substantiated by some material evidence, that Vedic Indians had established trade links with Central America and East Africa before 2500 bce. No wonder that the “new chronology” arouses not only scholarly controversy but emotional excitement as well. Much more hard evidence will be required to fully establish it, and many claims may have to be withdrawn. But there is no doubt that the “old chronology” has been discredited and that much surprise is in store for students not only of ancient India, but of the ancient World as a whole.

An entirely new twist to the question has been added by a recent suggestion that modern humankind did not originate circa one hundred thousand years ago in Africa, as was long assumed, but in Asia: and if in Asia, why not in the Indus Valley? To answer that question, much more archaeological work is necessary and many more pieces of the puzzle will have to be put together.