Navigating the Myths, Legends and Deliberate Misinformation
If
you were to ask a random selection of Indian people about the history of
India, you would get as many different stories as the number of people who you
asked the question. This is because as the history of the world and human
origins remain a mystery, India it seems is the epitome of all mysteries.
When we look back and think if we evolved from the apes, some of the evidence
says maybe but some of it says not. We may have spread out of Africa or
Australia, this remains unclear. When we look at the global landscape and the
anomalies in the historical record without going into what is referred to as
"forbidden archaeology", it is very hard to know what to think.
The problem is that there has been very little record-keeping and given that
India has suffered from invasion, occupation and loss of territories over the
past 1200 years. The first waves of Muslim invaders burned the libraries and it
is said that the library at Nalanda now in modern day Pakistan and served tens
of thousands of students took many days to burn. Some researchers
consider that it was a larger library than the Alexandria library burned by the
Romans.
There is archaeological evidence of human habitation in India from two million years back.
This evidence is verified by the world's archaeological and scientific
community but left from our history books in favour of the Out of Africa theory which puts
people in India approximately 50,000 to 60,000 years ago but left from our history books because
much of our 'science' is shaped for political convenience.
The Australian archaeologist David Adams describes trade through the Wakaan corridor (North India) about thirty-five
thousand BC and interestingly the Neanderthals who were supposedly confined to the Mediterranean
region must have travelled this way as there is more Neanderthal DNA in today's East Asian population than in the European.
Add to this the Narasimha idol found in Germany dated to 32000 BC proving that far greater communication links existed at the time.
So it's not especially clear whether or not these people were hunter gatherers
or simple agriculturalists and it does not take into account the Neanderthal DNA
in the modern Asian population or the Denisovian influence that is present in modern day Tibetan, South East Asian and
aboriginal Australian populations. We also cannot rule out other possibilities in human evolution.
Then there is a blank until around 15,000 BC when it is said that the first yogi
revealed the science of being human. This knowledge was shared with a small
group of men who became known as the Saptarishies or great sages. After these
gentlemen graduated as accomplished (enlightened) yogi's with a sound
appreciation of the nature of existence, they separated and travelled to the
corners of the earth.
The words 'India' and 'Hindu'
There has been much discussion as to their origins but "the word Indu in the authoritative Monier-Williams Sanskrit dictionary
represents not only the Soma drop but also the Soma Itself. In the Brahmanas Indu is used for moon. In the famous River
hymns of Rig Veda (Nadistuti Sukta) the river Indus is named as "Good Soma"
(Su-Soma). So we have the droplets of Soma" "Indu and the flowing Soma Sindhu. Both Indu and Sindhu refer to the central Vedic religious ritual"
"Soma." ~
swarajyamag
One of the Saptarishies went to Africa, another to South America, another to
central Asia, another to the Middle East, another to East Asia, one to the
Indian subcontinent and one remained in the Himalayas whether teachings were
first given.
Thus the science and technology was transmitted to those who would listen and
over the generations, many men and women have followed what is referred to as
the path of yoga. They understood the nature of existence and the relationships
between all life forms in this planetary system that we all call home.
At this time from about 14,000 BC it is thought that India had a substantial
human population which is evidenced from the submerged cities that have been
found on today's continental shelf. Because life in the Himalayas is a very
arduous place to live during the winter, a great many yogis and yoginis
travelled down through the subcontinent where life was a little easier, but they
would return to the Himalayas for the summer.
As they travelled, these enlightened men and women were given hospitality by the
people and in return for that kindness, these enlightened beings came up with
solutions to help improve the lives of the population. This included irrigation
schemes, how to improve crop yields, how to improve health and how to get the
best experience out of life.
Those enlightened beings recognised that the creative principal of life permeates
all existence and therefore all existence is inherently sacred. As in every
culture, folk heroes became deities and took on godly status, but this was
something that believers in Islam and Christianity could not comprehend.
The intellectual, scientific and cultural development of India was far ahead of
anything in Europe. Many people around the world find it difficult to accept
that so many ordinary things like language and numbers, astronomy and the
sciences all had their roots in India. For those who know how to see, there is
evidence of Indian technology in every corner of the world.
Archaeologists have discovered India's oldest stone-age tools,
up to 1.5 million years old, at a prehistoric site near Chennai. The discovery
may change existing ideas about the earliest arrival of human ancestors from
Africa into India." ~
Scott Net.
Civilization existed in India 75,000 years ago and archaeological sites like
Jwalapuram, new DNZ anaylisis and migration theory proves that India was the
home of modern man and civilisation.
In the India that existed before Alexander, and before the Islamic invasions, India was a dysphoria of kingdoms
and tribal groups. When travelling back then, in the course of 50 miles, the language, colours and
flavours of land and people would be remarkably different. Yet while they spoke different languages,
there was a spiritual understanding that gave everyone on the continent a sense of unity, a sense
that they were all part of a great unfolding drama.
"About 2500 B,cvu great wave of desiccation seems to have
passed over Asia, which converted steppes into deserts and drove the great
pastoral tribes of the steps of the north as well as the Semites of the Arabian
grass-land in search of pastures new. This great displacement of tribes included
the "Canaanite" invasion of Syria, referred to in the Genesis and the Semite
migration into Mesopotamia, leading to the establishment of a powerful
Babylonian monarchy."
Life in ancient India By Srinivas Iyengar 1912, p 105
This connection with life came to be called Hinduism as if it was a religion
because it confounded the minds particularly of the British who occupied India
for more than 250 years. But it's estimated that they robbed India that in
monetary terms alone was in excess of $300 billion.
The work of the travelling yogis engendered a respect and a celebration of life,
and Sanatana Dharma is a term that is more respectful than Hinduism. Sanatana
Dharma did not guarantee an entirely peaceful life, because neighbours will
often squabble and the epic Hindu book "the Mahabharata" describes some of these
squabbles.
"Hinduism..... gave itself no name, because it set itself no sectarian limits; it claimed no universal adhesion, asserted no sole infallible dogma,
set up no single narrow path or gate of salvation; it was less a creed or cult than a continuously enlarging tradition of the God ward endeavour of
the human spirit. An immense many-sided and many staged provision for a spiritual self-building and self-finding, it had some right to speak of
itself by the only name it knew, the eternal religion, "Santana Dharma" said Sri Aurobindo.
But the teachings of yoga were memorised and philosophised, and when writing
evolved across the subcontinent, all the books that had been passed on through
an oral tradition were written down and are known collectively as Vedanta.
The philosophy of Vedanta and Sanatana Dharma was well circulated around the
world by 5000 BC and this was a governing influence in all societies. So there
are a great many cultural, genetic and intellectual threads connecting India to
every part of the world.
The population of India had a reason for being, they felt connected to life and
they had an especially strong influence across the broader Asian region. There
is evidence of Indian construction technology in Lebanon, Indian elephants were
used during construction periods in Greece and Rome, the actual country of India
which may have been better known as Bharat included Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Nepal, Bangladesh Myanmar (Burma) and Malaya.
Sanatana Dharma also had a strong influence in Indonesia and then Buddhism
arrived. The evidence suggests that the man who became the Buddha was born
around 630 BC (based on the analysis of the excavation at Lumbini from December
2011 to February 2012). 100 years after the birth of Buddha in the 6th Century
BC, Buddhism spread quite rapidly across the entirety of North India and into
Southeast Asia where it remains strong today. It's worthy to note that the
Temple city of Angkor Wat in Cambodia was built as a Hindu temple and it was a
replacement for a Hindu temple complex that preceded it. But apparently while
Angkor Wat was being completed, Buddhism became more dominant.
Buddhism is actually a yoga practice because it teaches that all life is a form
of suffering and the Buddha laid out the pathway to end suffering by achieving
enlightenment or self realisation. Yet because Buddhism is a path to
enlightenment, it is also a path of yoga and the enlightenment achieved through
one of the branches of yoga or one of the branches of Buddhism (because like
yoga there are many) Buddhism and yoga have the same end, it's just that the
words to describe the path and some of the technical aspects of meditation are
slightly different.
Many of the characters in Hindu legends have been proved as real, they offer inspiration and encouragement to live a
joyful life in harmony with nature and fellow man.
This video takes us to the holy places of Lord Rama in India, where events from the Ramayana have taken place.
We visit Ayodhya, Chitrakut, Nasik, Hampi, and Ramesvaram, and see the major holy sights and temples in those places.
It is a travel meditation on Lord Rama.
As we close in on year zero, there was the invasion of the young man known as
Alexander the great. I'm not sure where the idea of great comes from, he was
simply taking revenge on the Persians who'd been a thorn in the side of Greece
for many years, then after his victory over the Persians he kept on going until
he got kicked out of India.
After another period of relative peace, the Muslims arrived. They slaughtered
their way across the north of India and down across Southeast Asia. The word
Islam simply means submit and when Islam comes knocking, people have a few
choices, convert to Islam, become a slave or die. To be fair, you may also
become a Dhimmi, a little better off than a slave whereby you have to turn over
about 50% of everything you earn or produce to the
Moslems.
The subcontinent was treated to generations of barbaric abuse and the slaughter
of millions of Hindus (here the word Hindu is the geographical name for the
region meaning the land of the seven rivers). It took a few hundred years, but
the Moslems were on the verge of being completely expelled from the Indian
subcontinent when the British and other colonialists arrived and a new chapter
of unparalleled catastrophes followed.
Today India is all mixed up, the British did all they could to rewrite Indian
history and transform the Hindu landscape. The built railways to extract the
produce and bureaucracy to administer the country as they wanted. This means
that some intellectual circles within India are promoting personal survival at
any cost which includes denying and even destroying the rich history and
attempting to conform to British and Christian ideologies.
"DNA study of the skeletal remains found at the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi, Haryana, shows no Central Asian trace,
indicating the Aryan invasion theory was flawed and Vedic evolution was through indigenous people." ~
The Economic Times
It could take a lifetime to unravel the truth and yet the land and the life
still resonates with the energy of Sanatana Dharma, the search for enlightenment
or liberation from suffering. The modern day India also suffers under the weight
of capitalism, communism and the growing hand of Islam.
As CK Raju (video) describes the spread of mice and common rats, cotton is one of India's most ancient exports revealing antiquity and reach.
The first evidence of cotton use was found in India and Pakistan, and dates from about 6,000 B.C. Researchers believe that cotton was first cultivated in the Indus delta.
The species are identified as Gossypium herbaceum and Gossypium arboretum which originated in India or Africa - there's some uncertainty about this although cotton
was not used in Africa until later indicating Hindus may have bought it from Africa or perhaps exported it there? By 1500 CE, cotton was known generally throughout
the world except Europe until about 800 A.D. when Arab merchants brought cotton cloth to Europe. When Columbus discovered America in 1492, he found cotton growing
in the Bahama Islands. So how did cotton get to the Bahamas if not via sailors from India or Africa?
Anyone travelling to India need not necessarily know the history, they can
simply imbibe the flavour and colour of the land and people. Anyone spending a
few months or more may well find their life is transformed and they will
appreciate the journey with less concern for the destination.
From the editors of Hinduism Today magazine in collaboration with Dr. Shiva Bajpai,
Professor Emeritus of History, California State University Northridge.
This video is a very good start for non Indian people. Today with modern science
and archaeology, the influence of India can be seen across the world. But this
history runs much deeper and further back to the traces of Indian civilization
at 75000 BC, the ancient submerged cities on the continental shelf circa
15,000BC, the origin and spread of yoga from 14000BC , the influence of India in
the world while Europe consisted of hunter gatherer societies, trade with Rome
and China, the construction of Ankor Wat in Cambodia and the influence of
Sanatana dharma over South East Asia, central Asia, Mesopotamian and Egyptian
societies, the Tamil circumnavigation of the world by 5000BC and so much more.
This great civilization that today is struggling with its identity came close to
destruction under Islam, but the British did a better job as today most Indians,
Hindu's, the peoples of Bharat (the original Sanskrit name for the Indian
subcontinent including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka)
are confused about their identity.
There was no Aryan invasion, Hinduism being without beliefs is not a religion
and the Vedas are pure Indian origin dating back some 30,000 years and Shiva
appeared some 14,00 years ago. Dates for the Indus valley civilisation have been
confirmed as existing about 9000BC. Recent discoveries say India was the cradle
of civilisation, not Africa.