Tarakka: Ancient Monuments of Bhubaneswar as Reflections of Stars

Tarakka: Ancient Monuments of Bhubaneswar as Reflections of Stars
By Deepak Bhattacharya ¹ & P. C. Naik ²
Edited by Sharif Sakr

The location and design of the ancient temples of Bhubaneswar have been guided by rich astronomical insight. Not only temples, even the painted hill caves, ancient forts and river docks have been placed and constructed in accordance with the location of individual stars and with outlines of constellations that have related shapes or star-lore. Individual monuments have corresponding stars, and as a group they form a similar pattern on the ground as they do in the sky above. The star-temple correlation is centred on the constellation of Orion, which is reproduced in its entirety.

Location and Historical Context

Bhubaneswar is located 20.05° North / 85.82°East, on the Eastern coast of India. As the present administrative capital of Orissa province, it is globally well-connected. The modern city covers around approximately 30 square kilometres, whereas the ancient monuments are clustered in an area of 10 sq. km, termed the core area in the INTACH[1]-EKAMRA heritage conservation plan of 1989. Ekamra is the name given to Bhubaneswar in the ancient literature. The historical period of the Bhubaneswar monuments covers two millennia, between 300BC and 1600AD. This architectural heritage includes Jaina, Buddhist and Hindu sites (the latter being most recent and numerous). The names and cultural classification of the 28 main archaeological sites is given in Fig. 1, along with code numbers from 1-28 to allow easy reference later on.

Fig. 2 - Survey of India with Terrestrial Tarakka Fig. 3 - Star positions in the night sky, based on bi-polar zenithal view standard star map (Ref. 13). READ MORE- CLICK LINK

World History Timeline - By Tarini Carr

9000-5000 BCE

7500BC- Ancient bricks dated at the Gulf of Cambay. Remains of what may have been a pre-Harappan city.
7000BC- Earliest Pre-Harappan settlement of Mehrgarh.
6150BC Çatalhoyük is a major Neolithic center in Turkey.
5000-3400BC- first signs of maize, bean and cotton domestication in Mesoamerica.
5000 BC The practice of ritual burial and artificial mummification is begun by the Chincorro people of north coastal Chile, attesting to the Andean concern for the veneration and preservation of the dead.
5000BC - Yang Shao Culture. Farming villages in the Yellow River valleys.

4000-3000BCE

4000BC- Excavations from this period at Sumerian sites of Kish and Susa reveal existence of Indian trade products.
3372BC- First date in Mayan Calendar.
3700-3100BC- The Uruk Period of Sumeria, people moved from villages to cities, writing developed, and the creation of monumental temples. Uruk become one of the most important centers in Mesopotamia.
3100BC – First Egyptian Dynasty founded by Menes.
3100BCFirst Mycenaean Culture begins.

3000BC Stonehenge in England built
3000BC Egyptian Hieroglyphs developed

3000-2500BCE

2952BC- Fu-Xi, first of the Three Noble Emperors rules. He develops the Chinese alphabet and culture.
2870BC – Troy founded.
2800BC- Foundation of the ‘Old Kingdom’ in Egypt, covering 3rd Dynasty to the 7th.
2780BC- Zoser becomes ruler of Egypt. His physician Imhotep designs the first pyramid at Saqqara.
2700BC – Great Pyramid age begins in Egypt with Khufu building the Great Pyramid of Giza.
2697BC- Huang-ti, the “Yellow Emperor” comes to power in China.
2613BC – Death of king Khufu, succeeded by his son Redjedef who introduces the worship of Ra into the royal tutelary and religion.
2603BC –Khafre rules and builds his tomb at Giza.
2600-1800BC Indus Civilization at its height.The Harappan cities have sophisticated water and sewer systems, the like which would not be seen until Roman times.
2586BC – The temple of Sri Rangam in south India completed.
2578BC –Menkaure rules Egypt, builds the smallest of the 3 pyramids at Giza.
2500BC- Sphinx built at Giza
2500BC -Long Shan Culture .East China and Central River valleys. Wheel-made pottery, divination and ancestral worship
2500BC – Papyrus used for writing in Egypt.
2500BC -Residential communities on the north Pacific coast of Peru grow large. The extensive Aspero, covered over thirty acres , with ceremonial mounds, plazas, and terraces.

2500-1600BCE

2371BC- Sargon of Agade founds the Akkadian Empire and unites Sumer and Akkad.
2350BC Sargon of Akkad destroys Babylon (which rises again)
2350BC- Yao Dynasty in China.
2205-1766BC – Xia Dynasty begins in China. Ritual bronze vessels and "oracle bones" calligraphy. Evidence of a relatively sophisticated medical system using acupuncture needles and medical observations
2150BC- Civil War in Egypt
2100BC- The Kingdom of Ur 2100-2000. Abraham leads his people from Ur to Canaan (Palestine).
2000BC- The so-called Temple of the Crossed Hands, a large square building with mud reliefs of crossed human arms in an interior chamber, is built at Kotosh in the north central Andean highlands
1925BC- Hittites conquer Babylon.
1800-900BC Early Formative Period of Mesoamerica. Neolithic farming villages;looms, ground stone figurines; rule by groups of elders, shamans, or chiefs; rain & fertility cults
1878BC – Sesostris II dies and is succeeded by his son Sesostris III who builds a canal at the first cataract of the Nile, forms a standing army and erects forts at the Southern border.
1700BC- The Minoan civilization on Crete is at its height
1700 BC Construction begins on the pyramid at the site of Cerro Sechin in the north-central valley of Casma, Peru.
1728BC- Accession of Hammurabi the Great of Babylon, author of the great Code of Laws.
1650-rise of Mycenaean civilization.

1600-1500BCE

1600BC – Hebrews enter Egypt.
1600BC-Linear A (writing) in common use over Crete.
1595BC – First Babylonian Empire destroyed by the Hittites.
1570BC- Beginning of the New Kingdom in Egypt: Hyksos driven out by Ahmose I and the Temple of Amun at Karnak begun. Reunification of Egypt begins.
1551BC – Ahmose I dies and is succeeded by Amenhotep I. He begins the custom of hiding his burial place.
1504BC- Thutmose II dies and is succeeded by his young son Thutmose III. His mother Hatshepsut governs as regent and within a year is crowned pharaoh. Mother and son then rule jointly.
1500BC – Cinnamon is exported from Kerala to Middle East.
1500BC- First tomb in the Valley of the Kings Egypt.
1500BC-Polynesians migrate throughout Pacific islands.
1500BC-Mittani Kingdom begins in Asia Minor.

1500BC The Huaca de los Reyes, a grand building complex of plazas, sunken courts, colonnades, towers, and adobe sculptures, is built of stone and clay mortar at the site of Caballo Muerto in Peru's Moche Valley.
1500BC Gold is hammered into thin foil and placed in the hands and mouth of a youth upon burial at the central highland site of Waywaka in Peru. The gold foil is the first evidence for the working of metals in South America

1500-1000BCE

1483BC –Thutmose III of Egypt reconquers Syria and Palestine and expands his empire.
1400BC- Cretan Culture ends: Knossos burnt..
1379BC – Amenhotep introduces monotheistic Sun-worship and abolishes all old gods.
1375BC- Suppiluliumas becomes king of the Hittites in Asia Minor and begins building Hittite Empire.
1361BC- The boy-pharaoh Tutankhamen succeeds Akhenaton: his advisors restore the worship of the old gods of Egypt.
1350BC-The Lion Gate of Mycenae built.
1304BC- Rameses II the Great, becomes pharaoh of Egypt

1300BC-Phoenician settlements founded in Helias and Cadiz.
1276BC – Lifetime of Tiglath Pileser I of Assyria. He conquers the Armenians, Hittites, Babylonians and forces Egypt to pay tribute to him
1250BC - Moses leads 600,000 Jews out of Egypt.
1200BC-Agamemnon, king of Mycenae
1193BC- Probable time of the legendary Greek Trojan War celebrated in Homer's epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey (ca -750).
1175BC- Invasion of Egypt by confederation of Greeks, Philistines, Sardinians, and Sicilians: all defeated by Ramses III.
1124BC - Elamite Dynasty of Nebuchadnezzar I moves capital to Babylon, world's largest city, covering 10,000 hectares, slightly larger than present-day San Francisco.
1122BC- Emperor Wu Wang founds the Western Chou Dynasty in China
1000-400BC Height of the Olmec civilization. Famous for the sculptures of giant stone heads with Negroid features.Incipient forms of writing appear as early as 500BC.

1000-700 BCE

975BC - King Hiram of Phoenicia, for the sake of King Solomon of Israel, trades with the port of Ophir (Sanskrit- Supara) near modern Bombay, showing the trade between Israel and India. Same trade goes back to Harappan era.
953BC- Solomon builds the Great Temple.
950BC - Jewish people arrive in India in King Solomon's merchant fleet. Later Jewish colonies find India a tolerant home.
850BC - The Chinese use the 28-nakshatra zodiac called Shiu, adapted from the Vedic jyotisa system.
814BC- Carthage founded by Phoenicians.
800BC – Traditional date of the composition of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
776BC - First Olympic Games are held in Greece.
770BC – Eastern Chou Dynasty in China (till 256BC).
753BC – Traditional date of the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus.
722BC- Capture of Samaria by Sargon II.
710BC – Assyrians destroy the kingdom of Chaldea.
705BC – Sennacherib becomes king of Assyria till 682BC.
701BC – Sennacherib establishes his capital at Nineveh.

700-600 BCE

689BC – Assyrians destroy Babylon and flood the area.
650-600BC Zarathustra, founder of Persian Zoroastrianism
647BC – Assurbanipal sacks the Persian city of Susa, enslaves the Elamites and sows salt on the ground so that nothing will grow there.
621BC – Dracon introduces Athens first written laws, which are noted for their severity.
612BC – Nineveh destroyed by Medes, Babylonians and Scythians led by the Babylonian king Nabopollassar.
608BC – Necho of Egypt defeats and kills Josiah, king of Judah, at the Battle of Megiddo.
604BC – Era of Hebrew prophet Daniel.
600BC - Life of Susruta, of Varanasi, the father of surgery. His ayurvedic treatises cover pulse diagnosis, hernia, cataract, cosmetic surgery, medical ethics, 121 surgical implements, antiseptics, use of drugs to control bleeding, toxicology, psychiatry, classification of burns, midwifery, surgical anesthesia and therapeutics of garlic.
600BC Lifetime of Lao-tzu, founder of Taoism in China, author of Tao-te Ching. Its esoteric teachings of simplicity and selflessness shape Chinese life for 2,000 years and permeate the religions of Vietnam, Japan and Korea.

600-500BCE

594BC – Solon becomes sole Archon of Athens. He introduces milder laws to replace Dracon’s. Creates courts of citizens and reforms elections of magistrates.
586BC- Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon captures Jerusalem: People of Judah deported to Babylon.
580BC - Nebuchadnezzar II begins building ‘The Hanging Gardens of Babylon’.
559BC – Cyrus the Great founds the Persian Empire.
551-497BC - Lifetime of Confucius, founder of Confucianism faith.
546BC –Battle of Sardis: Croesus, last king of Lydia defeated by Cyrus; Persians overrun Asia Minor.
539BC- Babylon captured by Persians: Judah and Phoenicia become Persian provinces.
539BC Greeks defeat the Carthaginians in battle.
538BC – Cyrus allows some Jewish exiles to return to Judah.
520BC – Work is resumed on the Temple of Jerusalem (completed 515BC).
517-509BC – Darius I conquers the Indus region and makes it part of the Persian Empire.
509BC – Foundation of Roman Republic.
508BC- Democratic constitution proclaimed in Athens.
500-200 BC-precocious ceremonial centers emerged in the Maya lowlands at sites like El Mirador, Nakbé, Cerros, and Uaxactún.
500BC- China- Agriculture begins to make more advances including the use of an iron plow.

500-300BCE

500BC – Iron Age begins in Britain.
499BC – Revolt of Ionian Greek cities against Persian King Darius.
486BC – Xerxes, son of Darius, becomes king of Persia.
480BC – Battle of Thermopylae: Spartans wiped out by Persians. Persian invasion of Greece halted.
461BC – Pericles comes to power in Athens.
460BC – Birth of Demetrius (460-370BC), Greek philosopher who constructs a working mechanical model of the universe.
450BC - Athenian philosopher Socrates flourishes (ca -470-400).

432BC The Parthenon is completed
428-348BC - Lifetime of Plato, Athenian disciple of Socrates. This great philosopher founds Athens Academy in 387BC.
403BC-Warring States Period of Chinese History (403-221BC)
400BC- Lifetime of Hippocrates, Greek physician and "father of medicine," formulates Hippocratic oath, code of medical ethics still pledged by present-day Western doctors.
332BC – Alexander invades Egypt and ends Persian rule, appointing his generals Cleomenes and Ptolemy to govern.
330 BC – Alexander conquers Persia and sets fire to Persepolis.
326BC -Alexander invades, but fails to conquer, Northern India. His soldiers mutiny. He leaves India the same year. Greek sculpture impacts Hindu styles. Bactria kingdoms later enhance Greek influence.
300BC Nak'be becomes a major center in central America. Enormous stucco-surfaced limestone masks embellish a major temple, the first occurrence of a longlived Maya religious pattern.

300BCE-8AD

282BC- The Colossus of Rhodes is constructed.
221BC-Great Wall of China is built, ultimately 2,600 miles long, the only man-made object visible from the moon.
220BC-standardization of weights, measures, calligraphy in China. Emperor Qin Shi Huang creates burial pit city including thousands of Terracotta warriors.
150BC - Ajanta Buddhist Caves are begun near present-day Hyderabad. Construction of the 29 monasteries and galleries continues until approximately 650AD. The famous murals are painted between 600AD and 650AD
150 BC The site of Tiwanaku on Bolivia's Lake Titicaca is laid out in a grid pattern with civic-ceremonial structures and elite residences forming the center. Stone sculptures with low-relief carvings of human, animal, and undulating snake figures are erected.
100BC the Nazca peoples living in the Ica Valley and in the Río Grande de Nazca drainage are impressive weavers, producing complex works.
113BC- Heliodorus column is erected
100BC – Scythians invade North India and take over.
50BC - Kushana Empire begins (50BC-220AD). This Mongolian Buddhist dynasty rules most of the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia.
44BC – Julius Caesar assassinated in Senate house.
30BC – As her forces are routed by Octavian (Augustus Caesar), Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt commits suicide.
5BC – Birth of Jesus Christ.
8AD – China ruled by Wang Mang, a commoner who had served the Han Dynasty who was appointed emperor after a power struggle.

100-300AD

10AD – Indian embassy to Emperor Trajan in Rome.
30AD – Christ crucified.
60AD - Buddhism is introduced in China by Emperor Ming-di after he converts to the faith.
79AD – Mount Vesuvius erupts and destroys Pompeii.
100AD - Zhang Qian of China establishes trade routes to India and as far west as Rome, later known as the "Silk Roads."
100AD- The Pyramids of the Sun and Moon are constructed in Mexico at Teotihuacan
117AD - The Roman Empire reaches its greatest extent.
180AD -Mexican city of Teotihuacan has a population of more than 125,000 and covered at least 8 square miles. It is one of the largest cities in the world betwen200-700 AD.
205-270AD - Lifetime of Plotinus, Egyptian-born monistic Greek philosopher and religious genius who transforms a revival of Platonism in the Roman Empire into what present-day scholars call Neo-Platonism.
225AD – Later Han Dynasty of China collapses. China is plunged into 350 years of chaos among 3 feuding kingdoms.
250AD- Nazca lines in Peru
250-600AD- The Mayan have long-count calendar, writing, sculpture, mathematics, ceramics, and large-scale urban planning widespread in many areas.

300-500AD

300AD- Mayan Empire at its height (300-800AD)
313AD- Christianity becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire.
358AD -Huns, excellent archers and horsemen, invade Europe from the East.
391AD- Roman Emperor Theodosius destroys Greek Hellenistic temples in favor of Christianity.
400AD – Polynesians sailing in open outrigger canoes reach as far as Hawaii and Easter Island.
405AD – Chinese pilgrim Fa Hein begins his travels through the Gupta Kingdom.
419AD - Moche people of Peru build a Sun temple 150 feet high using 50 million bricks.
430AD – Attila the Hun ravages Europe.
440AD – Pope Leo I proclaims papal supremacy over the teachings of Christianity.
450AD– Hunas invade India
452AD- Pope Leo I persuades Attila the Hun not to sack Rome.
476AD – Birth of the astrologer Aryabhatta. who by using Vedic numerals accurately calculates pi () to 3.1416, and the solar year to 365.3586805 days. A thousand years before Copernicus.

500-1000AD

570AD – Birth of Mohammed.
618-907AD -Tang Dynasty. the silk road trade to Europe thrives
641AD-Arab Muslims conquer Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia in 4 years.
686AD- Reign of Pallava King Rajasinha who begins the extensive sculptural art in the thriving sea-port of Mahabalipuram.
691AD – The Dome of the Rock is built in Jerusalem.
750AD-Kailasa temple is carved out of a hill of rock at Ellora, India.
875AD - Muslim conquests extend from Spain to Indus Valley.
1000AD- A few Hindu communities from Rajasthan, Sindh and other areas, gradually move to Persia and on to Europe becoming the ancestors of present-day Romani, or gypsies.
1000AD-Vikings reach North America, landing in Nova Scotia.
1000AD-Polynesians arrive in New Zealand, last stage in the greatest migration and navigational feat in history, making them the most widely-spread race on Earth.

1000-1500AD Inca Empire at its height.

1000-1300AD

1000-1250AD- Chichen Itza flourishes as the economic and political center of the Mayas
1100-1200AD-Rise of Toltec Empire centered at Tula. They dominate Mexico
1001AD- Turkish Muslims sweep through the Northwest under Mahmud of Ghazni, in the first major Muslim conquest of India.
1040AD –Chinese invent the compass and moveable type and perfect the use of gunpowder, first invented and used in India as an explosive mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal to power guns, cannons and artillery.
1150AD – Building of the present Jagannatha Temple in Puri.
1096-1099AD- First Crusade
1167AD – Birth of Genghis Khan.
1175AD- Toltec Empire of Mexico crumbles.
1199AD – Genghis Khan becomes supreme leader of the Mongol tribes.
1200-1400AD-Rise of the Aztec Empire; disintegration of Maya civilization
1227AD- Mongolian Emperor Genghis Khan, conqueror of a vast area from Beijing, China, to Iran and north of Tibet, the largest empire the world has yet seen, dies.
1238AD – T’ai Kingdom established at Sukhot’ai, capital of the Angkor Empire, after two T’ai chiefs defeat the Khmer. This area later becomes Siam / Thailand.

1276AD - Kublai Khan completes conquest of China.
1297AD – Marco Polo visits South India.

1300-1600AD

1325AD- Southern Aztecs under Tènoc found Tenochtìtlan while northern Aztecs found Tlatelòlco just north of it
1336AD– Kingdom of Vijayanagara, last Hindu empire in India, extends as far as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines (till 1565).
1300-1600AD- Renaissance in Europe.
1400-1500AD – Aztec Empire at it’s height
1433AD - China cloisters itself from outside world by banning further voyages to the West. (First bamboo curtain.)
1492AD- Looking for India, Christopher Columbus lands on San Salvador island in the Caribbean, thus "discovering" the Americas and proving that the earth is round, not flat.

1519AD-Tenochtìtlan/ Tlatelòlco
probably has 200,000 to 300,000 people
1520AD-Montezuma II, last Aztec emperor of Mexico is murdered by the Spaniards.
1533AD -Pizarro captures the Inca capital of Cuzco and conquers Peru.

FROM ARCHEOLOGYONLINE.NET

VEDIC ROOTS OF EARLY TAMIL CULTURE

Based on conference organized by Naimisha Foundation at Bangalore on March 12-13, 2001, and at the National Seminar on Origins of United Vedic Culture organized by Pragna Bharati and sponsored by the Indian Council of Historical Research at Hyderabad on March 17-18, 2001.
In recent years attempts have been made to cast a new look at ancient India. For too long the picture has been distorted by myopic colonial readings of India�s prehistory and early history, and more recently by ill-suited Marxist models. One such distortion was the Aryan invasion theory, now definitively on its way out, although its watered-down avatars are still struggling to survive. It will no doubt take some more time�and much more effort on the archaeological front�for a new perspective of the earliest civilization in the North of the subcontinent to take firm shape, but a beginning has been made.

We have a peculiar situation too as regards Southern India, and particularly Tamil Nadu. Take any classic account of Indian history and you will see how little space the South gets in comparison with the North. While rightly complaining that �Hitherto most historians of ancient India have written as if the south did not exist,�[ 1]Vincent Smith in his Oxford History of India hardly devotes a few pages to civilization in the South, that too with the usual stereotypes to which I will return shortly. R.�C. Majumdar�s Advanced History of India,[2] or A.�L. Basham�s The Wonder That Was India[3] are hardly better in that respect. The first serious History of South India,[4] that of K.�A. Nilakanta Sastri, appeared only in 1947. Even recent surveys of Indian archaeology generally give the South a rather cursory treatment.

The Context
It is a fact that archaeology in the South has so far unearthed little that can compare to findings in the North in terms of ancientness, massiveness or sophistication�: the emergence of urban civilization in Tamil Nadu is now fixed at the second or third century BC, about two and a half millennia after the appearance of Indus cities. Moreover, we do not have any fully or largely excavated city or even medium-sized town�: Madurai, the ancient capital of the Pandya kingdom, has hardly been explored at all�; Uraiyur, that of the early Cholas, saw a dozen trenches�;[5] Kanchipuram, the Pallavas� capital, had seventeen, and Karur, that of the Cheras, hardly more�; Kaveripattinam,[6] part of the famous ancient city of Puhar (the first setting of the Shilappadikaram epic), saw more widespread excavations, yet limited with regard to the potential the site offers. The same may be said of Arikamedu (just south of Pondicherry), despite excavations by Jouveau-Dubreuil, Wheeler, and several other teams right up to the 1990s.[7]

All in all, the archaeological record scarcely measures up to what emerges from the Indo-Gangetic plains�which is one reason why awareness of these excavations has hardly reached the general public, even in Tamil Nadu�; it has heard more about the still superficial exploration of submerged Poompuhar than about the painstaking work done in recent decades at dozens of sites. (See a map of Tamil Nadu�s important archaeological sites below.)

But there is a second reason for this poor awareness�: scholars and politicians drawing inspiration from the Dravidian movement launched by E.�V. Ramaswamy Naicker (�Periyar�) have very rigid ideas about the ancient history of Tamil Nadu. First, despite all evidence to the contrary, they still insist on the Aryan invasion theory in its most violent version, turning most North Indians and upper-caste Indians into descendants of the invading Aryans who overran the indigenous Dravidians, and Sanskrit into a deadly rival of Tamil. Consequently, they assert that Tamil is more ancient than Sanskrit, and civilization in the South older than in the North. Thus recently, Tamil Nadu�s Education minister decried in the State Assembly those who go �to the extent of saying that Dravidian civilization is part of Hinduism� and declared, �The Dravidian civilization is older than the Aryan.�[8] It is not uncommon to hear even good Tamil scholars utter such claims.

Now, it so happens that archaeological findings in Tamil Nadu, though scanty, are nevertheless decisive. Indeed, we now have a broad convergence between literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence.[9] Thus names of cities, kings and chieftains mentioned in Sangam literature have often been confirmed by inscriptions and coins dating back to the second and third centuries BC. Kautilya speaks in his Arthashastra (c. fourth century BC) of the �easily travelled southern land route,� with diamonds, precious stones and pearls from the Pandya country�;[10] two Ashokan rock edicts (II and XIII[11]) respectfully refer to Chola, Pandya and Chera kingdoms as �neighbours,� therefore placing them firmly in the third century BC�; we also have Kharavela�s cave inscription near Bhubaneswar in which the Kalinga king (c. 150 BC) boasts of having broken up a �confederacy of the Dravida countries which had lasted for 113 years.�[12] From all these, it appears that the earliest Tamil kingdoms must have been established around the fourth century BC�; again, archaeological findings date urban developments a century or two later, but this small gap will likely be filled by more extensive excavations. But there�s the rub�: beyond the fourth century BC and back to 700 or 1000 BC, all we find is a megalithic period, and going still further back, a neolithic period starting from about the third millennium BC. While those two prehistoric periods are as important as they are enigmatic, they show little sign of a complex culture,[*] and no clear connection with the dawn of urban civilization in the South.

Therefore the good minister�s assertion as to the greater ancientness of the �Dravidian civilization� finds no support on the ground. In order to test his second assertion that that civilization is outside Hinduism, or the common claim that so-called �Dravidian culture� is wholly separate from so-called �Aryan� culture, let us take an unbiased look at the cultural backdrop of early Tamil society and try to make out some of its mainstays. That is what I propose to do briefly, using not only literary evidence, but first, material evidence from archaeological and numismatic sources as regards the dawn of the Sangam age. I may add that I have left out the Buddhist and Jain elements, already sufficiently well known, to concentrate on the Vedic and Puranic ones, which are usually underemphasized. Also, I will not deal here with the origin of South Indian people and languages, or with the nature of the process often called �Aryanization of the South� (I prefer the word �Indianization,� used in this context by an archaeologist[13]). Those complex questions have been debated for decades, and will only reach firm conclusions, I believe, with ampler archaeological evidence.
CLICK HERE for detals.

VEDIC CIVILIZATION--NATURAL HISTORY

Unique conditions at the end of the Ice Age gave rise to agriculture in Southeast Asia. Its spread to India made the Vedic civilization possible.

By Navaratna Rajaram

Gift from Southeast Asia
Seven hundred years ago, Zhou Daguan, the envoy of the Chinese Emperor Khubilai Khan stationed at the court of Indravarman III (1295 - 1307) at Angkor, noted an unusual natural phenomenon. During the months from July to November, when the Mekong is in full spate, the Tonle Sap, its major tributary in Cambodia, reverses direction and flows back into a natural reservoir also called Tonle Sap ('Great Lake').
The reason for this is the impact of the mighty Mekong. The floodwater flow resulting from the combination of the summer monsoon and melting glaciers is so great that the Mekong overflows into the Tonle Sap channel, pushing it backwards into the lake. The lake more than doubles in size, making Tonle Sap the largest freshwater lake in Asia. When the hot season ends, the river reverses direction again and resumes its normal southward flow. The lake level also falls.

Zhou Daguan recorded that this seasonal rise and fall in the water level allowed local farmers and fishermen to harvest a variety of 'floating rice' that grew in the lake. It is a fast growing variety that germinates in deep water and grows as much 4 inches in a single day, eventually reaching a length of 20 feet. The rice always stays on the surface because its rate of growth parallels the rate at which the lake rises. It gives a clue as to how rice cultivation began, launching the agricultural revolution. Genetic studies show that the oldest rice species are found in the monsoon belt from the Brahmaputra to the Mekong, which includes the Tonle Sap. Wet rice cultivation was the result of humans copying this extraordinary phenomenon, in which irrigation and transplanting occurred naturally.
This forces us to revise the long held view that the agricultural revolution began in the so-called 'Fertile Crescent' in West Asia some 8000 years ago. R.E and E.H Huke of the International Rice Research Institute observe that recent archaeological evidence in North Thailand "when viewed in conjunction with plant remains from 10,000 B.C. discovered in Spirit Cave on the Thailand-Myanmar border, suggests that agriculture itself may be older than was previously thought."(AND HISTORIAN IN PAST THOUGHT WORLD STARTED 5000 YEARS AGO AND BIBILICAN STORY TELLS ADAM AND EVE-LAUGHABLE)
The Mekong - Tonle Sap system where agriculture may have been born.
Climatic conditions at northern latitudes were unsuitable for agriculture: they were cold and arid and could not support large populations. This rules out the Fertile Crescent as the birthplace of agriculture. Natural history and archaeology both indicate that the agricultural revolution began 12,000 years ago in tropical Asia. The Tonle Sap region in Cambodia is the likeliest location.
Out of the Ice Age
Agricultural revolution was what made civilization possible. To arrive at a reasonable date for the rise of civilization, we need to know when climatic conditions turned favorable for the growth and harvesting of wild species, especially rice- the first crop to be cultivated. This happened when humans learnt to simulate under artificial conditions, as near lakes and river deltas, the natural phenomenon occurring at Tonle Sap. Post Ice Age natural history helps shed light on it.
Great Lake (Tonle Sap) from the hilltop Shiva Temple at Angkor built by Yashovarman I (889 - 910) (Photo: N.S. Rajaram)
The Ice Age ended nearly 15,000 years ago, not in one fell swoop but in fits and starts with at least two mini ice ages known as the Older Dryas and the Younger Dryas. Present conditions were reached about 10,000 years ago. Since then, the world climate has been stable. There have been fluctuations of course, but nothing like the changes that engulfed the world from 18,000 to 11,000 years ago. During the Ice Age, most of the freshwater was locked in the Himalayan glaciers. This had to end before nature could create condition so that species like the Tonle Sap 'floating rice' could blossom forth.
During the Ice Age, the great Himalayan rivers from the Indus to the Mekong either did not exist or were minor seasonal flows that could at best support small populations that subsisted by hunting, fishing and food gathering. The monsoon was also weak because low temperatures meant less evaporation. Population centers were mainly in the tropics, in tropical Asia and Africa. These were concentrated in the Savannahs in Africa and by lakes and coastal regions in India and Southeast Asia.
Communication between India and Southeast Asia was mainly by sea. Maritime activity was facilitated by the fact that during the Ice Age sea levels were nearly 400 feet lower than they are today. South Indian and Southeast Asian land mass was greater in extent and easier to navigate. A vast subcontinent, known as Sunda Land, larger than India, was submerged when sea levels rose as the Ice Age ended. These tropical lands, and not the temperate regions at higher latitudes like the Fertile Crescent were where agriculture began. This is a scientific fact.
The fabled towers of Angkor Wat, the world's largest Vishnu Temple near the Great Lake, built by King Suryavarman II (1113 - 50). Angkor Wat is derived from the Sanskrit Nagaravati. Angkor Thom is Nagara-dhaama. (Photo: N.S. Rajaram)

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HINDUISM/SANATAN DHARMA IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER MAN MADE RELIGIONS

HOW IS SANATAN DHARMA (HINDUISM ) DIFFERENT FROM OTHER RELIGIONS ?
Open source religion :: If Wikipedia is an encyclopedia then Hinduism is a religion .Here religious democracy is practiced religiously. It absorbs everything, there are regular moderations, revolutions, induction of local beliefs and deities .
No one God but one God :: It's not a polytheistic religion where Ares will get angry if you pray Hercules. Hanuman will be as happy as Ganesha whether you worship him or... not. But every Hindu tries to stick to a God that suits him, so in the end its one God.

No one prophet but hundreds :: We have seven Rishis, after them hundreds of other Revolutionary saints and philosophers. Each one of them belong to a school of thought and everyone has a following.
No single philosophy or version of reality :: Dvaita, advaita, samkhya, yoga, nyaya, vaisheshika, vishista-advaita, bauddha, jain and sikh. Choose whichever pleases you .
No single book to follow :: follow bhagavad gita or ashtavakra gita, follow veda or just vedanta. Follow samkhya karika or brihadaranyaka upanishad. Anything and everything is open to you. Read, explore and enjoy.
Science is Religion and Religion is science :: Not every school of thought is creationist in Hinduism. Samkhya propounds creation of being from non-being. Those scientists who invented surgery, ayurveda, number system, explored astronomical objects were devout Hindus not necessarily believing in a personal God.
Yes to Evolution :: every soul has to pass through 8,400,000 lifetimes in various species to get human form. Layman or poetic way to express evolution.
Vedas :: They are not word of any personal God, but are apaurushya, they are not concieved by one prophet but clans of prophets. They are universal sounds "shabda" and no single man can claim authority over them. Since they are the eternal truth and eternal truth is very difficult to get. Very truly vedas are as mysterious as the truth itself.
Treat God like Human :: Idols are human-like or anthropomorphic or just animals. Each day Idols are offered the food and dressed with new dresses. Festivals are for us and for the idols as well.
No proselytization :: One of the few religions in which proselytization/conversion is not a part of spiritual diet. No forced conversions. Because forcing itself defeats the concept of open source Sanatan Dharma.
Absorb and learn from others :: Islam came, christianity came and so did jews and parsis and mingled with Sanatana Dharma. Religious sharing at its best. Sufism could only flourish in India because here Idolatry can be practiced But sufism told native Indians about love and they started doing Bhakti.
Hinduism is the religion that could rightly capture the infinitude of universe and the value each human holds in this vast scheme.
 

Vedic Origins of the Zodiac - The Hymns of Dirghatamas in the Rig Veda

Vedic Origins of the Zodiac - The Hymns of Dirghatamas in the Rig Veda

By David Frawley

 

Some scholars have claimed that the Babylonians invented the zodiac of 360 degrees around 700 BCE, perhaps even earlier. Many claim that India received the knowledge of the zodiac from Babylonia or even later from Greece. However, as old as the Rig Veda, the oldest Vedic text, there are clear references to a chakra or wheel of 360 spokes placed in the sky. The number 360 and its related numbers like 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 108, 432 and 720 occur commonly in Vedic symbolism. It is in the hymns of the great Rishi Dirghatamas (RV I.140 – 164) that we have the clearest such references.
Dirghatamas is one of the most famous Rig Vedic Rishis. He was the reputed purohit or chief priest of King Bharata (Aitareya Brahmana VIII.23), one of the earliest kings of the land, from which India as Bharata (the traditional name of the country) was named.
Dirghatamas was one of the Angirasa Rishis, the oldest of the Rishi families, and regarded as brother to the Rishi Bharadvaja, who is the seer of the sixth book of the Rig Veda. Dirghatamas is also the chief predecessor of the Gotama family of Rishis that includes Kakshivan, Gotama, Nodhas and Vamadeva (seer of the fourth book of the Rig Veda), who along with Dirghatamas account for almost 150 of the 1000 hymns of the Rig Veda. His own verses occur frequently in many Vedic texts, a few even in the Upanishads.
The hymns of Dirghatamas speak clearly of a zodiac of 360 degrees, divided in various ways, including by three, six and twelve, as well as related numbers of five and seven. We must remember that the zodiac is first of all a mathematical division of the heavens such as this hymn outlines. This is defined mainly according to the elements, qualities and planetary rulerships of the twelve signs. The symbols we ascribe to these twelve divisions is a different factor that can vary to some degree. The actual stars making up the constellation that goes along with the sign is yet a third factor. For example, some constellations are less or more than thirty degrees, but the mathematical or harmonic division of each sign will only be thirty degrees. What is important about the hymns of Dirghatamas is that he shows the mathematical basis of such harmonic divisions of a zodiac of 360 degrees.
For Dirghatamas, as was the case for much of later Vedic astronomy, the main God of the zodiac is the Sun God called Vishnu. Vishnu rules over the highest heaven and is sometimes identified with the pole star or polar point, which in the unique view of Vedic astronomy is the central point that governs all celestial motions and form which these are calculated.
According to Dirghatamas Rig Veda I.155.6, "With four times ninety names (caturbhih sakam navatim ca namabhih), he (Vishnu) sets in motion moving forces like a turning wheel (cakra)." This suggests that even in Vedic times Vishnu had 360 names or forms, one for each degree of the zodiac. A fourfold division may correspond to the solstices and equinoxes. Elsewhere Dirghatamas states, I.164.36, "Seven half embryos form the seed of the world. They stand in the dharma by the direction of Vishnu." This probably refers to the seven planets.
Most of the astronomical information occurs in his famous Asya Vamasya Hymn I.164. Much of this hymn can be understood as a description of the zodiac. It begins:
1. Of this adorable old invoker (the Sun) is a middle brother who is pervasive (the Wind or lightning). He has a third brother, whose back carries ghee (Fire). There I saw the Lord of the people (the Sun) who has seven children.
This verse is referring to the usual threefold Vedic division of Gods and worlds as the Fire (Agni) on Earth, the Wind or Lightning (Vayu) in the Atmosphere and the Sun (Surya) in Heaven. This also may refer to the three steps or strides of Vishnu through which he measures the Earth, the Atmosphere and Heaven. The Sun is also a symbol of the supreme light or the supreme Sun God that is Vishnu. The Sun or supreme light has seven children, the visible Sun, Moon and five planets.
We should note that the zodiac of twelve signs is divided into three sections based upon a similar understanding, starting with Aries or fire (cardinal fire ruled by Mars, who in Vedic thought is the fire born of the Earth), then with Leo or the Sun (fixed fire ruled by the Sun), and then with Sagittarius, the atmospheric fire, lightning or wind (mutable fire ruled by Jupiter, the God of the rains).
2. Seven yoke the chariot that has a single wheel (chakra). One horse that has seven names carries it. The wheel has three naves, is undecaying and never overcome, where all these beings are placed.
The zodiac is the single wheeled-chariot or circle yoked by the seven planets which are all forms of the Sun or sunlight. It is the wheel of time on which all beings are placed. The Vedic horse (ashva) is symbolic of energy or propulsive force.
3. This chariot which the seven have mounted has seven wheels (chakras) and is carried by seven horses. The seven sisters sing forth together, where are hidden the seven names of the cows.
The seven planets create their seven rotations or seven wheels. Each has its horse, its energy or velocity. Each has its feminine power or sister, its power of expression. It carries its own hidden name or secret knowledge (symbolically cows or rays). This refers to the astrological influences of the planets.
11. The wheel of law with twelve spokes does not decay as it revolves around heaven. Oh Fire, here your 720 sons abide.
The circle of the zodiac has twelve signs. It has 720 half degrees or twins, making 360 total. The Shatapatha Brahmana X.5.5, a late Vedic text, also speaks of a wheel of heaven with 720 divisions. "But indeed that Fire-altar is also the Nakshatras. For there are twenty seven of these Nakshatras and twenty-seven secondary Nakshatras. This makes 720." Twenty-seven times twenty-seven Nakshatras equals 729, with which some overlap can be related to the 720 half-degrees of the zodiac.
12. The Father with five feet and twelve forms, they say, dwells in the higher half of heaven full of waters. Others say that he is the clear-seeing one who dwells below in a sevenfold wheel that has six spokes.
The five feet of the father or the Sun are the five planets or the five elements that these often refer to (to which Vedic thought associates the five sense organs and five motor organs in the human body). His twelve forms are the twelve signs. The Sun in the higher half of heaven with the waters is the signs Leo with Cancer (ruled by the Moon), with the other five planets being the five feet, each ruling two signs. In Vedic thought, the Sun is the abode of the waters, which we can see in the zodiac by the proximity of the signs Cancer and Leo.
The sevenfold wheel is the zodiac moved by the seven planets. The six spokes are the six double signs through which the planets travel. The same verse occurs in the Prashna Upanishad I.11 as a symbol for the year.
13. Revolving on this five-spoked wheel all beings stand. Though it carries a heavy load, its axle does not over heat. From of old it does not break its ancient laws.
The five-spoked wheel is again the zodiac ruled by five planets and five elements and their various internal and external correspondences.
14. The undecaying wheel (circle) together with its felly (circumference), ten yoked to the upward extension carry it. The eye of the Sun moves encompassing the region. In it are placed all beings.
This may again refer to the ten signs ruled by the five planets, with each planet ruling two signs. The eye of the Sun may be the sign Leo through which the solar influence pervades the zodiac or just the Sun itself. The upward extension may be the polar region.
15. Of those that are born together, the seventh is born alone. The six are twins (yama), Divine born rishis. The wishes that they grant are apportioned according to their nature. Diversely made for their ordainer, they move in different forms.
The six born together or are twins are the twelve signs, two of which are ruled by one planet (considering the Sun and Moon as a single planetary influence). The seventh that is singly born is the single light that illumines all the planets. Elsewhere the Rig Veda X.64.3 speaks of the Sun and Moon as twins (yama) in heaven.
The planets are often associated with the rishis in Vedic thought, particularly the rishis Brihaspati (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus) and Kashyapa (the Sun) which became common names for the planets. Their ordainer or stabilizer may be the pole star (polar point).
48. Twelve are its fellies. The wheel is one. It has three naves. Who has understood it?
It are held together like spokes the 360, both moving and non-moving.
This perhaps the clearest verse that refers to the zodiac of twelve signs and three hundred and sixty degrees. The same verse also occurs in Atharva Veda (X.8.4). The zodiac has three divisions as fire, lightning and Sun or Aries, Sagittarius and Leo that represent these three forms of fire. The 360 spokes are the 360 degrees which revolve in the sky but remain in the same place in the zodiac.
Yet another verse (43) of this same hymn of Dirghatamas refers to the Vishuvat, the solstice or equinox, showing that such astronomical meanings are clearly possible.
If we examine the hymn overall, we see that a heavenly circle of 360 degrees and 12 signs is known, along with 7 planets. It also has a threefold division of the signs which can be identified with that of fire, wind (lightning) and Sun (Aries, Sagittarius, Leo) and a sixfold division that can be identified with the planets each ruling two signs of the zodiac. This provides the basis for the main factors of the zodiac and signs as we have known them historically. We have all the main factors for the traditional signs of the zodiac except the names and symbols of each individual sign. This I will address in another article.
Elsewhere in Vedic literature is the idea that when the Creator created the stars he assigned each an animal of which there were originally five, the goat, sheep, cow, horse and man (Shatapatha Brahmana X.2.1). This shows a Vedic tradition of assigning animals to constellations. The animals mentioned are the man, goat, ram, bull and horse, which contain several of the zodiacal animals.
The zodiac in Vedic thought is the wheel of the Sun. It is the circle created by the Sun’s rays. The Shatapatha Brahmana X.5.4 notes, "But, indeed, the Fire-altar also is the Sun. The regions are its enclosing stones, and there are 360 of these, because 360 regions encircle the Sun on all sides. And 360 are the rays of the Sun."
The Zodiac and the Subtle Body
Clearly this hymn contains a vision of the zodiac but its purpose is not simply astronomical, nor is the zodiac the sole subject of its concern. Besides the outer zodiac of time and the stars there is the inner zodiac or the subtle body and its chakra system. The seven chakras mentioned are also the seven chakras of the subtle body. In Vedic thought the Sun that rules time outwardly corresponds inwardly to Prana, the spirit, soul or life-force (Maitrayani Upanishad VI.1). Prana is the inner Sun that creates time at a biological level through the process of breathing. It is also the energy that runs up and down the spine and flows through the seven chakras strung like lotuses along it.
According to Vedic thought (Shatapatha Brahmana XII.3.28) we have 10,800 breaths by day and by night or 21,600 a day. This corresponds to one breath every four seconds. The same text says that we have as many breaths in one muhurta (1/30 of a day or 48 minutes) as there are days and nights in the year or 720, so this connection of the outer light and our inner processes is quite detailed at an early period.
In Vedic thought the subtle body is composed of the five elements, the five sense organs and five motor organs, which correspond to different aspects of its five lower chakras .On top of these five are the mind and intellect (manas and buddhi) which are often compared to the Moon and the Sun and relate to the two higher chakras. They can be added to these other five factors, like the five planets, making seven in all. The chakras of Dirghatamas, though outwardly connected to the zodiac, are inwardly related to the subtle body, a connection that traditional commentators on the hymn like Sayana or Atmananda have noted.
This hymn of Dirghatamas contains many other important and cryptic verses on various spiritual matters that are connected to but go beyond the issues of the zodiac. It is written in the typical Vedic mantric and symbolic language to which it provides two keys;
39. The supreme syllable of the chant in the supreme ether, in which all the Gods reside, those who do not know this, what can they do with the Veda? Those who know it alone are gathered here.
45. Four are the levels of speech. Those trained in the knowledge, the wise know them all. Three hidden in secrecy cannot be do not stir. Mortals speak only with the fourth.
There is clearly a hidden knowledge behind these verses, which reflect an esoteric tradition of spiritual knowledge that was mainly accessible for initiates who had the keys to open its veils. We cannot simply take such verses superficially but must look deeply and see what they imply. Then the pattern of their inner meaning can come forth. If we do this, the astronomical and astrological side cannot be ignored.
Pingree’s Views
Western scholars of the history of astronomy like David Pingree have accepted the astronomical basis of this hymn. In an article, "Astronomy in India" in Astronomy Before the Telescope, C. Walker (ed.), St. Martin's Press, New York, 1996, pps. 123-124, Pingree suggests that Mul. Apin, Babylonian tablets that date from 687 to 500 BC has "’an ideal calendar' in which one year contains 12 months, each of which has 30 days, and consequently exactly 360 days; a late hymn of the Rgveda refers to the same ‘ideal calendar’. And Mul.Apin describes the oscillation of the rising-point of the sun along the eastern horizon between its extremities when it is at the solstices; the same oscillation is described in the Aitareya Brahmana.’" This ideal calendar is the basis for the zodiac and its twelve signs at a mathematical level. Clearly Pingree is referring to Rig Veda I.164 as his ‘late’ hymn of the Rig Veda.
To quote from David Pingree’s "History of mathematical astronomy in India," in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, C.S. Gillespie (ed.), pp. 533-633, Charles Scribners, New York, 1981, page 534: "In the case of the priority of the Rgveda to the Brahmanas, it is not always clear that the views expressed in the latter developed historically after the composition of the former. All texts that can reasonably be dated before ca. 500 BC are here considered to represent essentially a single body of more or less uniform material." The point of his statement is to try to get such Rig Veda references as those of Dirghatamas later than the Brahmana texts as both reflect a similar sophisticated astronomy, which is necessary to make it later than the Babylonian references and a product of a Babylonian influence as he proposes. This requires reducing all the layers of Vedic literature to a more or less uniform mass at a very late date, which is contrary to almost every view of the text.
Clearly this Rig Veda hymn, which has parallels and developments in the Brahmanas (like the Shatapatha Brahmana quoted in this chapter), must be earlier and show that such ideas were much older than the Brahmanas. To maintain his late date for Vedic astrology, Pingree must assume that this hymn or its particular astronomical verses were late interpolations to the Rig Veda, around 500 BCE or about the time of the Buddha. This is rather odd because the Buddha is generally regarded as having come long after the Vedic period, while the actual text is usually dated well before 1000 BCE (some have argued even to 3000 BCE).
Even the Brahmanas, like the Upanishads that come after them, are pre-Buddhist by all accounts. Perhaps the main Vedic ritual given in the Brahmanas, the Gavamayana, follows the model of a year of 360 days and is divided into two halves based upon the solstices, showing that such an ‘ideal’ calendar was central to Vedic thought. That such an ideal calendar has its counterpart in the sky is well reflected in Vedic ideas saying that equate the days and nights with the Sun’s rays and with the stars (as we have noted in Shatapatha Brahmana with 720 Upanakshatras)*. The Brahmanas, we should also note, emphasize the Krittikas or the Pleiades as the first of the Nakshatras, reflecting an astronomical era of the Taurus equinox. The Shatapatha Brahmana notes that the Krittikas mark the eastern direction.
In addition, the hymn, its verses and commentaries on them are found in many places in Vedic literature, along with support references to Nakshatras. It cannot be reduced to a late addition but is an integral part of the text.
That being the case, a zodiac of 360 degrees and its twelvefold division are much older in India than any Greek or even Babylonian references that he has come up with.
Pingree also tries to reduce the ancient Vedic calendar work Vedanga Jyotish to 500 BCE or to a Babylonian influence. However, the internal date of this late Vedic text is of a summer solstice in Aslesha or 1300 BCE, information referenced by Varaha Mihira in his Brihat Samhita (III.1-2). "There was indeed a time when the Sun’s southerly course (summer solstice) began from the middle of the Nakshatra Aslesha and the northerly one (winter solstice) from the beginning of the Nakshatra Dhanishta. For it has been stated so in ancient works. At present the southerly course of the Sun starts from the beginning of Cancer and the other from the initial point of the sign Capricorn." The middle of Aslesha is 23 20 Cancer, while the beginning of Dhanishta (Shravishta) is 23 20 Capricorn. Calculating the precession accordingly, this is obviously a date of around 1300 BCE.
There are yet earlier references in the Vedas like Atharva Veda XIX.6.2 that starts the Nakshatras with Krittika (the Pleiades) and places the summer solstice (ayana) in Magha (00 – 13 20 Leo), showing a date before 1900 BCE. These I have examined in detail in my book Gods, Sages and Kings (Lotus Press). Clearly the Vedas show the mathematics for an early date for the zodiac as well as the precessional points of these eras long before the Babylonians or the Greeks supposedly gave them the zodiac.
It is not surprising that India could have invented the zodiac and circle of 360 degrees. After all, the decimal system and the use of zero came from India. In this regard, as early as the Yajur Veda, we find names for numbers starting with one, ten, one hundred and one thousand ending with one followed by twelve zeros (Shukla Yajur Veda XVII.2).
The Rig Veda has another cryptic verse that suggests its cosmic numerology. According to it the Cosmic Bull has four horns, three feet, two heads and seven hands (Rig Veda IV.58.3). This sounds like a symbolic way of presenting the great kalpa number of 4,320,000,000 years. Such large numbers for the universe are typical to Indian thought, but scholars such as Pingree would also ascribe them to a Babylonian origin. However, the literature suggests the opposite.

INDIA/BHARAT-SCIENCE OF SACRED.

SCIENCE OF SACRED-HINDUISM/SANATAN DHARMA.Forwarded by David Frawley-

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Nirvana Satakam- Sankhya sutra by Adi Shankaracharya

The World Is  Sankya, Nirvana Satakam

By Adi Shankaracharya explaining the various elements in us for understanding Objects  and how we perceive them, the ‘Observer‘

न च प्राणसंज्ञो न वै पञ्चवायुः
न वा सप्तधातुः न वा पञ्चकोशः ।
न वाक्पाणिपादं न चोपस्थपायु
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥२॥
Na Ca Praanna-Samjnyo Na Vai Pan.ca-Vaayuh
Na Vaa Sapta-Dhaatuh Na Vaa Pan.ca-Koshah |
Na Vaak-Paanni-Paadam Na Copastha-Paayu
Cid-Aananda-Ruupah Shivo[a-A]ham Shivo[a-A]ham ||2||

Meaning:
2.1: Neither am I the Vital Breath, nor the Five Vital Air,
2.2: Neither am I the Seven Ingredients (of the Body), nor the Five Sheaths (of the Body),
2.3: Neither am I the organ of Speech, nor the organs for Holding ( Hand ), Movement ( Feet ) or Excretion,
2.4: I am the Ever Pure Blissful Consciousness; I am Shiva, I am Shiva,
The Ever Pure Blissful Consciousness.

The outside world, to be made known to us has,

Katopanishad

The Prakriti,(The Potential Energy to be known,),of  three constituent  Dispositions of the Prakriti) called the Gunas.

Purusha, Kinetic Energy that Flows,

Mahat, The Intellect, to translate these,

Ahankara,The Feeling of ‘I, Mine” to be conscious,

Mind,(For the Observer)

Five sensory organs,(For the Observer)

Five Motor organs,(For the Observer)

Five Subtle Elements(For The Observed, The World)

Five Gross Elements(For the Observed)

Total 25.

Let us look at each in brief.

What is to be known, has ‘To Be’

That implies presence.

That presence has to be immanent and be inert, to be activated when to it is to be known or aware of.

This presence is Prakriti or the Principle that is permanent, immanent and inert, awaiting to be known.

This is provided by Purusha, the Kinetic principle that interacts with the Prakriti to generate Intellect,(at the macro level)

Now Prakriti is constituted by the Three Gunas or Dispositions(for details see post Gunas under Indian Philosophy)

This Intellect at the Macro level is Mahat.

Once the Intellect is formed, it is ready to be known, both at the Macro-level and at the individual level.

To be  understood, at the Macro-level, the external World has the Following.

Five elements,Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether.

These five elements have five  subtle elements called Tanmatras.

The Five elements of the external world are gross in nature.

Their qualities are a part of them ,  like Heat and Light are the qualities of Fire.

We can not experience them as they are.

The qualities embedded in them make us aware of them, like the heat is known by our bodies, light by our eyes.

To sum up, the external world, the’Observed’ has elements that complement the internal organs of the Individual(Observer).

When these connect Awareness or Knowledge dawns.

Put it in another way , the Observed becomes Observer when connected, when the Individual Ego is identified with it.

Therefore to know the Observer(self), is identical with knowing the Observed(External world), for the elements that constitute both are the same.

The Observed becomes known when the elements of both the Observer and the Observed become  One, when the ‘Ahankara’ or  the ‘I, Mine ‘ is eradicated.

This , in essence, is Advaita of Shankaracharya.

It would be interesting to note that the principles elaborated above are from the Sankhya system of Indian Philosophy , which is called a Nastika, Heterodox, as it does not believe in the authority of The Vedas and for Shankaracharya , the Vedas are his source.

Truth has many facets but destination and truth is one.

From Ramani

RIGVEDA AS SUCH ON ELECTRICITY GENERATION

RIGVED AS SUCH WITHOUT EXPLANATION ABOUT ELECTRICITY

(Rig. 1.32.13). To begin with, there is the description electricity which forms in the clouds in the form of lightning.

Though it has tremendous power, it does not interfere with the solar power.

However, Lord Indra can vanquish Vritra with the help of lightning.

�(Rig. 1.23.12). We get electricity which emits blinding light, which we use for all kinds of tasks.

�(Rig. 1.6.5). This Mantra describes generation of electricity with the help of machines run on wind power.

Electricity can be easily produced where winds are strong. (Rig. 1.64.9)

This Mantra instructs about use of electricity in aeroplanes.

It also describes land vehicles driven with electrical power.

�(Rig. 8.64.29).

Many kinds of jobs are performed with the help of electricity, using attraction, retraction, vaporization, freezing, air circulation, as well as generation of new substances

�(Rig. 1.168.8).

When rains pour down on the earth from clouds, water in rivers gets agitated. Generation of electricity with the help of this agitated water brings smiles all around, meaning that the earth gets lighted up with lights run on electricity. God, you are great! What extraordinary knowledge you have provided in the Veds!.

�(Rig. 3.1.14). Intelligent people combine life and soul.

Similarly, electricity and fire are combined on the earth, and this knowledge is worth attaining for getting our wishes fulfilled. (Rig. 5.52.6).

Wise and learned persons should attain enlightenment of knowledge about electricity etc, just as the armed forces bring lights into the life of people by protecting the nation.

�(Rig. 5.54.11). This Mantra describes the equipment soldiers should carry.

They must have sufficient arms, food, high quality airplanes, glinting armors to guard their bodies, helmets to protect their heads, powerful electrical rays that can destroy the enemy planes

. This clearly means that there is a description of power electrical beams of waves or rays to be used by armed forces in the Veds.

�(Rig. 5.86.3). This Mantra advices kings and emperors that just as the sun uses its powerful rays to destroy clouds and causes rains on the earth which brings happiness to the people, the kings and emperors too should use the power of electricity to destroy enemies and bring happiness to their subjects.

�(Rig. 5.87.10). This Mantra describes that we can clearly listen to our speech elsewhere, with the help of vibration of electrical waves.

Verse 2: Nav Yo Navati Puro bibhed bahvotjasaa
Ahi Cha vritrahaavadheet

Electricity , which breaks, by the energy of its arms the 99 cities, destroys the cloud, which covers the rays of the sun, the source of all energy and power.

This initial description describes the inherent properties of of electrical energy. Here the “arms of electricity” refers to positive and negative currents. The 99 cities refers to the 99 elements, as known to modern day scientists. In Vedic terminology, these essential elements were known as “Bhogas”.

Verse 3: Sa na Indrah Shivah sakhashwavad gomadvavama
Urudhaarev dohate

That very electric power may be our peaceful friend, providing us with the horse-power to drive our machines, light to light up our houses, and power to produce grains in the fields. Let it bring on prosperity and well-being for us by flowing into numerous currents.

Verse 4: Indra Kratuvidang sutang somang harya purushtut
Piba vrishaswa taatripim

Let electricity, so highly spoken of by many learned people, help extract the essence of medicines, thus produced by those, who are well-versed in manufacturing things. Let it keep safe and shower, on us the rain, satisfying all.

Chapter 3 :Hymn XXXI

Verse 1: Taa Vajrinam Mandinam Stomyam mad indram rathe vahato haryataa haree
Purunyasmay savanaani haryata indraaya somaa harayo dadhanwire

Those two speedily moving forces of attraction and repulsion propel the electric current, powerful like the thunderbolt, pleasant and praiseworthy, in this pleasant plane or car. Manifold are the generating powers for the refulgent electricity borne by speedy moving Somas – various kinds of liquid fuels.

Verse 2: Arang Kaamaay Haryo dadhanwire sthiraay hinvanharayo Haree tura
Arvadbhiyor Haribhijorshameeyate so asya kaamam harivantamaanashe

The above mentioned speedy forces of two kinds set in motion strong currents, capable of maintaining steady progress in the attainment of one’s objective in plenty. Whatever complex is attained by these fast moving horsepowers, is enough to achieve the beautiful objective of his, the manufacturer.

Chapter 2: Hymn XV

Verse 6: Twam tamindra parvatam mahaamurum vajrena vajrinparvshashchakartitha
Avaasrijo nivritaah satarvaa apah satraa vishwam dadhishe kevalam sahah

Just as the thundering electricity reduces the vast cloud to nothing by its thunderbolt, so do you, O King, equipped with piercing weapons like the thunderbolt, smash into pieces the vast armies of the enemy, consisting of various units, by your striking power like the thunderbolt. Just as the waters of the cloud released by the electricity, fall down and flow over the earth, similarly the well-equipped armies of the enemy; being subdued by the might of the king are duly regulated by him. Truly do you alone, O King, hold all the power to subdue the foes.

The inference is quite obviously to weapons utilizing electricity. “Piercing weapons like the thunderbolt” is a clear pointer to surges of exceedingly high voltage. The lethal electric weapons are used to counter various units of the army. This is another clue, for as discussed above, the EMP effect can be used to advantage for a number of targets ranging from computers, to communication systems. Apparently electricity was employed as one of the primary weapons in military combat during the Vedic era.

Chapter 4: Hymn XXXVIII

Verse 5: Indra Idhyorah sacha sangmishal aa vachoyuja
Indro vajri Hiranyah

Electricity is well mixed up with Prana and Apana, the 2 horsepowers, yoked to power of speech. Electric power has the striking power of a deadly weapon and is full of brilliance.

From Ramani ji.