The History of Sanatana Dharma is very deep and extensive.To have an idea of what it was one has to know Sanskrit, Hinduism and the Indian Regional languages.
I am handicapped in this respect in that I am conversant only in two languages,Sanskrit and Tamil, though I can speak Kannada.
Amriteswara temple, Karnataka.
If I know the other languages I might be able to get a better idea of the Sanatana Dharma for it was spread throughout the world and embedded deeply in all the regions of India.
Available records speak of Pali, Sanskrit and Tamil as the oldest.
Scholars from the other regional languages may send in their information on this,
One request is that this site is for Sanatana Dharam and not a ground for Linguistic war for that is the shortest cut to destroying Sanatana Dharama.
To me Sanskrit is my Father Tongue and Tamil Mother tongue.
This, I hope, might apply to all of us in various regions of India, the Mother Tongue being the one determined by region in which one is born or picks up from his mother.
Earliest historical evidence to Kanndigas is found in Brahmagiri , Karnataka.
Brahmagiri is an archaeological site located in the Chitradurga district of the state of Karnataka, India. Legend has it that this is the site where age Gautama Maharishi (also spelt Gauthama Maharshi) and his wife Ahalya lived. He was one among seven noted Hindu saints (Saptharshi mandalam). This site was first explored by Benjamin L. Rice in 1891, who discovered rock edicts of Emperor Ashoka here. These rock edicts indicated that the locality was termed as Isila and denoted the southernmost extent of the Mauryan empire.[1][2] The Brahmagiri site is a granite outcrop elevated about 180 m. above the surrounding plains and measures around 500 m east-west and 100 m north-south. It is well known for the large number of megalithic monuments that have been found here.The earliest settlement found here has been dated to at least the 2nd millennium BC
As this date is 2 BC I searched for earlier connections with Sanatana Dharama.
References are found in the Tamil Classics on this and in Legends.
Tamil Purananuru, says the people of Karnataka were from the Yadavas of Dwaraka.
Now there are references in the Puranas of seven Dwarakas.
This reference about Kannadigas probably refers to the second Dwaraka, when the tribes left for the middle east and elsewhere because of Flood.
One group led by Agastya and Kapila, who compiled Purananuru settled in Karnataka, on the banks of Kaveri River.
Sangam Tamil poets composed over 2000 poems. Purananuru is an encyclopaedia of Tamil culture. It has got less than 400 verses. Purananuru verse 201 was composed by Kapilar two thousand years ago. This is a very important verse in Purananuru. It throws much light on early Indian History. Kapilar talks about 49th generation of Irungovel. Famous Tamil Commentator Nachinarkiniyar , who lived several hundred years ago, gave a very interesting story about this verse.
Nachinarkiniyar said that Agastya brought 12 tribes from Dwaraka ruled by Lord Krishna. Another city in the name of Dwaraka was founded in Karnataka (Mysore) state in the twelfth century. There is an interesting story about how and who founded this city. Hoychalas were the kings who ruled from this city. Hoychala is translated into Tamil asPulikadimal which is found in verse 201.
Chala was a king belonging to Yadu dynasty. While he was hunting in the Western Ghats, he saw a hare heroically fighting with a tiger. This made him to think that this place must have some special importance. When he followed the fighting tiger and hare, an ascetic who was doing penance ordered king Chala to kill the tiger. The ascetic’s order in Sanskrit was “Hatham Hoy Chala”. So from that day on wards the king and his descendants were called Hoychalas. If the verse 201 refers to this anecdote then it must have happened 2000 years ago.
This is reinforced by the Temples dedicated to Hindu Gods by the Hoysalas in Karnataka
I received a question as to how to read and understand Hinduism, Sanatana Dharma.
The sender of this question is Professional in IT from IIT .
Vedas.
‘Would that be alright if I begin with the Brahma Sutra Bhashya of Shankaracharya?
It is difficult to understand.
Can you suggest any method’
I thought these some of the questions many are seeking answers for.
Strictly speaking the Vedas have to be studied for Twelve years minimum to have an idea.
Unlike the other Religions, Hinduism is based on Experience and Intuition and it takes time for one to grasp.
So it is difficult to understand the Vedas in the present day unless one decides to spend a lifetime on studying the Vedas, which is not practical now.
Then we have the Ithihasas Puranas Stotras Stuthis and Legends.
Where to begin?
It looks very complex and one is bewildered at the seemingly vast knowledge base and it appears at a first glance each contradict the other.
The one is also confused by the thoughts in Hinduism that the Reality is Not One(Advaita),
Qualified Not Two (Visishtadvaita)
Dualism(Dwaita).
33 Crore Gods mentioned in the Puranas,
You have Trimurthis,
Of the some say Shiva is superior, Others Vishnu and yet others Devi and so many versions.
And Hinduism , in the form of Karma Yoga asks one to forego the results of action.
Bhakthi Yoga says that One has to simply surrender to God and nothing else is needed.
Yet we have the Karmas sanctioned in the Vedas which are to be performed by very one.
We have Raja Yoga, in the form of Yoga where one learns to control the Mind and which says Mind control alone will do, nothing else is required!
Hinduism says that there is Destiny and your Life is prepared and at the same time says that one can raise by one’s effort.
Hinduism says that one should renounce things and be in the world.
Seemingly contradictory.
But they are not.
I have posted a few articles on each of these aspects.
What is the original source and authority on any subject?
I encountered this issue when a comment for a Post mine stated that the Links/sources provided by me depend on each other and as such they commit the fallacy of Circular reasoning.
Hence they are unacceptable.
Human Race From India.
The comment also observed that I must provide a reliable source like Text Books(?) or a reputed authority.
What then is a source that is dependable?
You depend and take reference to the one that is in agreement with known facts that are available.
And these facts are to be borne out by physical evidence such as Archaeology an , in my opinion, Astronomy as one can not tamper with Astronomical events while one can with Archaeology.
And in addition one may have to depend on contemporary references of the relevant period where the events have occurred and the foreign sources which were contemporary in terms of Time that refer to these events.
This the procedure I follow in validating information.
But all these have to stop at one point where the trail ends.
If you star doubting the authenticity of this, then no knowledge is possible.
Science conveniently circumvents this by saying some fundamentals are self-evident,Axioms, and are not to be questioned.
But Arts and History does not have this privilege.
The first source has o be proved as in Philosophy.
Philosophy tries to answer questions that are unanswerable by Science.
So the talk about God Reality evokes a lot of arguments an denials.
These areas need perception combined with inference,and testimony.
If one were to deny Inference as it may be faulty because non availability of all the facts then Inference can not be used.
In that case many day-to-day activities might come to a standstill.
And on Testimony if one were to doubt every testimony , I can not even say who my parents are!
Indian philosophy accepts Inference and Testimony(Sabda) as sources of Knowledge, under certain conditions.
I shall be writing on the sources of Knowledge shortly.
Now to the subject on hand, that of where did all the races originate from?
If one were to check western sources, both historical and religious,they would simply state that it was there or it is from another place.
You check on Human migration to Europe,
Waves of people came in intervals in they state.
Then they add from Asia.
Please read my post on Human Migration.
The trail ends there.
But the source they quote, namely India,comes out with references then they are dismissed at Myths.
Bu the west’s statement that human migration just happened and it is from Asia people accept it.
Why?
I leave it at that.
Now when we find human races History the same pattern is observed.
This is what is Race about.
Groups of humans have always identified themselves as distinct from neighboring groups, but such differences have not always been understood to be natural, immutable and global. These features are the distinguishing features of how the concept of race is used today. In this way the idea of race as we understand it today came about during the historical process of exploration and conquest which brought Europeans into contact with groups from different continents, and of the ideology of classification and typology found in the natural sciences.
The European concept of “race,” along with many of the ideas now associated with the term, arose at the time of the scientific revolution, which introduced and privileged the study of natural kinds, and the age of European imperialism and colonizationwhich established political relations between Europeans and peoples with distinct cultural and political traditions.[37][38] As Europeans encountered people from different parts of the world, they speculated about the physical, social, and cultural differences among various human groups. The rise of the Atlantic slave trade, which gradually displaced an earlier trade in slaves from throughout the world, created a further incentive to categorize human groups in order to justify the subordination of African slaves.[39] Drawing on Classical sources and upon their own internal interactions — for example, the hostility between the English and Irish powerfully influenced early European thinking about the differences between people[40] — Europeans began to sort themselves and others into groups based on physical appearance, and to attribute to individuals belonging to these groups behaviors and capacities which were claimed to be deeply ingrained. A set of folk beliefs took hold that linked inherited physical differences between groups to inherited intellectual, behavioral, and moral qualities.[41] Similar ideas can be found in other cultures,[42] for example in China, where a concept often translated as “race” was associated with supposed common descent from the Yellow Emperor, and used to stress the unity of ethnic groups in China. Brutal conflicts between ethnic groups have existed throughout history and across the world.[43]
The 1775 treatise “The Natural Varieties of Mankind,” by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach proposed five major divisions: the Caucasoid race,Mongoloid race, Ethiopian race (later termed the Negroid race), American Indian race, and Malayan race, but he did not propose any hierarchy among the races.[47] Blumenbach also noted the graded transition in appearances from one group to adjacent groups and suggested that “one variety of mankind does so sensibly pass into the other, that you cannot mark out the limits between them”.[48]
From the 17th through the 19th centuries, the merging of folk beliefs about group differences with scientific explanations of those differences produced what one scholar has called an “ideology of race”.[38] According to this ideology, races are primordial, natural, enduring and distinct. It was further argued that some groups may be the result of mixture between formerly distinct populations, but that careful study could distinguish the ancestral races that had combined to produce admixed groups.[43] Subsequent influential classifications by Georges Buffon, Petrus Camper and Christoph Meiners all classified “Negros” as inferior to Europeans.[47] In the United States the racial theories of Thomas Jefferson were influential. He saw Africans as inferior to Whites especially in regards to their intellect, and imbued with unnatural sexual appetites, but described Native Americansas equals to whites.[49]
Where is the evidence here on Races?
Check the source provide here or check any other source.
The same information under esoteric words with no shred of hard evidence and what is quoted in rare cases as an archaeological finds point out Indian connection and no body shall pursue it.
This blog does that ,Pursuing sources and the trail stops with the Puranas and Ithihasas.
And the facts mentioned by them are borne out by archaeology9Indain and Foreign) and Astronomy.
On the issue of races this is what the Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata and The Puranas have to say.
And my research shows most of them have been validated and I have published them.
I shall continue to pursue what has not yet been covered.
King Yayati a king of the Lunar Dynasty is mentioned to have 5 sons, all of whom became the founders of many royal dynasties.
The sons of Yadu are known by the name of the Yadavas: while those of Turvasu have come to be called the Yavanas. And the sons of Drahyu are the Bhojas, while those of Anu, the Mlechchhas. The progeny of Puru, however, are the Pauravas (1:85). Yadavas became strong in central India. The Pauravas (Kurus and Panchalas were branches of this race) became strong in northern India. The sons of Anu were also called Anavas, thought to be the Iranian tribes, who were all grouped as Mlechas. The Yavanas along with the Anavas established themselves in the far western regions.
It is not clear if the Bhojas mentioned here represents the Bhoja-Yadavas, a sub-sect of the Yadavas. However the epic mentions a king named Kunti-Bhoja (the king of Kunti and the foster-father of Pandava’s mother Kunti) and a city named Bhojakata in Vidarbha. There is a highly speculative possibility that the Druids of Ireland were the descendants of Drahyu.
Race from Kamadhenu.
When the sage Vasistha was attacked by king Viswamitra’s army, Vasistha’s cow, Kamadehnu, brought forth from her tail, an army of Palhavas, and from her udders, an army ofDravidas and Sakas; and from her womb, an army of Yavanas, and from her dung, an army of Savaras; and from her urine, an army of Kanchis; and from her sides, an army of Savaras. And from the froth of her mouth came out hosts of Paundras and Kiratas, Yavanas and Sinhalas, and the barbarous tribes of Khasas and Chivukas and Pulindas andChinas and Hunas with Keralas, and numerous other Mlechchhas.
This is also found in Ramayana:- the tribes like the Kambojas, Barbaras, Pahlavas, Yavanas, Sakas, Mlecchas, Haritas and Kiratas etc. had originated from the body parts of the divine cow, Kamadhenu of sage Vasistha, as hords of army men, to protect him from the attack of the king Viswamitra (Ramayana 1.55.2-3). The following passage from Mahabharata. At (12:35) is mentioned:- What duties should be performed by the Yavanas, the Kiratas, the Gandharvas, the Chinas, the Savaras, the Barbaras, the Sakas, theTusharas, the Kankas, the Pathavas, the Andhras, the Madrakas, the Paundras, the Pulindas, the Ramathas, the Kamvojas, the several castes that have sprung up fromBrahmanas and Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas, and the Sudras, that reside in the dominions of (Arya) kings?
They were later given the status of Sudras. The Mekalas, the Dravidas, the Lathas, the Paundras, the Konwasiras, the Saundikas, the Daradas, the Darvas, the Chauras, the Savaras, the Varvaras, the Kiratas, the Yavanas, and numerous other tribes of Kshatriyas, have become degraded into the status of Sudras through the wrath of Brahmanas. (13:35). It is in consequence of the absence of Brahmanas from among them that the Sakas, the Yavanas, the Kamvojas and other Kshatriya tribes have become fallen and degraded into the status of Sudras. The Dravidas, the Kalingas, the Pulandas, the Usinaras, the Kolisarpas, the Mahishakas and other Kshatriyas, have, in consequence of the absence of Brahmanas from among their midst, become degraded into Sudras (13:33).
Kamadhenu in this context has to be taken in its meaning of perennial.
It means that the Races originate from India perennially.
A passage in the Mahabharata, which is rendered as a futuristic prediction mentions thus:- The Andhra Kingdom, the Sakas, the Pulindas, the Yavanas, the Kamvojas, theBahlika Kingdom Valhikas and the Abhira Kingdom Abhiras, will then become possessed of bravery and the sovereignty of the earth (3:187).
Yavana rulers might have spread throughout ancient India, who established their city-states or small kingdoms during the period of Mahabharata. Many ancient Indian warriors like Pandu, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva, Karna and Vasudeva Krishna were mentioned as encountering Yavana kings.
Mention of Yavanas who fought with Arjuna and his father Pandu:- The king of the Yavanas himself whom the powerful Pandu even had failed to bring under subjection was brought by Arjuna under control (1:141). Mention of a Yavana stronghold in Mathura:- The Yavanas, the Kamvojas, and those that dwell around Mathura are well skilled in fighting with bare arms (12:100). Nakula the son of Pandu reduced to subjection the fierce Mlechchas residing on the sea coast, as also the wild tribes of the Palhavas, the Kiratas, the Yavanas, and the Sakas. And having subjugated various monarchs, and making all of them pay tributes, Nakula that foremost of the Kurus, full of resources, retraced his way towards his own city (2:31). Sahadeva, the son of Pandu, brought under his subjection and exacted tributes from the Paundrayas and the Dravidas along with theUdrakeralas and the Andhras and the Talavanas, the Kalingas and the Ushtrakarnikas, and also the delightful city of Atavi and that of the Yavanas (2:30). The Yavana city mentioned here seems to be a south Indian port city of the Yavanas during the ancient era.
Having come to the western regions, Karna made all the Yavana and Varvara kings pay tribute. The Suta’s son brought the Sasakas and the Yavanas under his sway.(3:252).Vasudeva Krishna slew the Yavana called Kalyavana (3:12). The Sakas, and the Yavanas with followers, were all vanquished by Krishna. (7:11).
The Greeks participated in the Kurikshetra War along with Duryodhana on the advice of Karna.
India Greece Trade Route 300 BC.
The Greeks were known as Yonas and Yavanas.
The Yavanas, Greeks were a part of those people considered as Mielchas, meaning those who strayed from the Vedic Dharma.
Thee were initially following the Sanatana Dharma.
They had caste system along the lines of Hinduism.
Many of them were considered to be Kshatriyas and Vaisyas.
‘
Yavanas were described to be beyond Gandhara. There was another country mentioned in the epic as Parama Yona, in the far west of Yavana. This could be the Ionia ofGreece, somehow related to Indian Ionians or Yavanas. The name Yavana could be the Sanskritized form of the name Ionia. Yavanas, Sakas, Pahlavas and Hunas were sometimes described as Mlechhas. Sometimes along with them, the Madras, Kambojas, Kekeyas, Sindhus and Gandharas were included. This name was used to indicate their cultural differences with the Vedic culture, prevailed in the Kuru-Panchala Kingdoms.
“… in the ports of southern India, where the early Tamil poems of uncertain date speak of a settlement of the Yavanas.”(1) The same author (2) does not follow the assumption that Yavanas were Roman traders, although she points out that between the first-second cent BC up to and included the third-fourth cent AD, rightly or wrongly “the term yavana denoted an Ionian Greek”.(3) On pages 83–5 she makes mention of early Indian literature where foreigners were dubbed “yavana”, and points to an Asokan inscription where a border-people is given this appellation. In central and western India, she says, Yavana “figure prominently as donors to the Buddhist Sangha”.(4)
(1) H.P.Ray, The Winds of Change, Delhi, 1994:49, 84; (2) ibid p. 52; (3) ibid p. 54; (4) ibid p. 84..
Thus the Vedic society acknowledged their extra ordinary skills, but kept them as outcasts. An account in the epic depicts Yavanas as the descendants of Turvasu, one of the cursed sons of king Yayati. Only the fifth son Puru’s line was considered to be the successors of Yayati’s throne, as he cursed the other four sons and denied them kingship. Pauravas inherited the Yayati’s original empire and stayed in the Gangatic plain who later created the Kuru and Panchala Kingdoms. They were the followers of proper Vedic culture.
Yavana was the name of one of the sons of Maharaja Yayati who was given the part of the world known as Turkey to rule. Therefore the Turks are Yavanas due to being descendants of Maharaja Yavana. The Yavanas were therefore kshatriyas, and later on, by giving up the brahminical culture, they became mleccha-yavanas. Descriptions of the Yavanas are in the Mahabharata (Adi-parva 85.34). Another prince called Turvasu was also known as Yavana, and his country was conquered by Sahadeva, one of thePandavas. The western Yavana joined with Duryodhana in the Battle of Kurukshetra under the pressure of Karna. It is also foretold that these Yavanas also would invadeIndia in the Kaliyuga . (Srimad Bhagavatam 2.4.18 [1])
It later proved to be true in 326 BC.
Among the tribes of the north and west are the Mlecchas, and the Kruras, the Yavanas, the Chinas, the Kamvojas, the Darunas, and many Mleccha tribes; the Sukritvahas, the Kulatthas, the Hunas, and the Parasikas; the Ramanas, and the Dasamalikas. These countries are, besides, the abodes of many Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra tribes. Then again there are the Sudra and Abhiras, the Dardas, the Kasmiras, and the Pattis; the Khasiras; the Atreyas, the Bharadwajas etc. (6:9)
King Yayati a king of the Lunar Dynasty is mentioned to have 5 sons, all of whom became the founders of many royal dynasties.
The sons of Yadu are known by the name of the Yadavas: while those of Turvasu have come to be called the Yavanas. ..
‘
The word “Yona” in the Pali language, and the analogues “Yavana” in Sanskrit; “Unan” in Urdu and “Jôbon” in Bengali, are words used in the ancient Indus Valley to designate Greek speakers. “Yona” and “Yavana” are transliterations of the Greek word for “Ionians” (Homeric Greek: Iaones, Ancient Greek: *Iawones), who were probably the first Greeks to be known in the East.
The Yavanas are mentioned in the Buddhist discourse of the Middle Length Sayings, in which the Buddha mentions to the BrahmanAssalayana the existence of the Kamboja and Yavana people who have only two castes, master or slave. The direct identification of the word “Yavana” with the Greeks at such an early time (6th-5th century BCE) can be doubted.[1]
Examples of direct association of these with the Greeks include:
The mention of the “Yona king Antiochus” in the Edicts of Ashoka (280 BCE)
The mention of the “Yona king Antialcidas” in the Heliodorus pillar in Vidisha (110 BCE)
King Menander and his bodyguard of “500 Yonas” in the Milinda Panha.
The description of Greek astrology and Greek terminology in the Yavanajataka (“Sayings of the Yavanas”) (150 CE).
The mention of “Alexandria, the city of the Yonas” in the Mahavamsa, Chapter 29 (4th century CE).
In Sanskrit sources, the usage of the words “Yona”, “Yauna”, “Yonaka”, “Yavana” or “Javana” etc. appears repeatedly, and particularly in relation to the Greek kingdoms which neighbored or sometimes occupied the Punjab territories over a period of several centuries from the 4th century BC to the 1st century AD, such as the Seleucid Empire, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom and the Indo-Greek kingdom.[citation needed] The Yavanas are mentioned in detail in Sangam literature epics such as Paṭṭiṉappālai, describing their brisk trade with the Cholas in Tamilakam.
The Legend of Krishna along with Balarama, Greek Ambassador worshiping Vishnu, establishing a Stupa In India being worshiped in Greece ma by found in this site under Hinduism.
It states facts, however improbable it might seem to us.
While we are not competent to say what is probable or possible in the scheme of things in the Universe,what we can do is to ascertain verifiable facts mentioned in the Puranas and Ithihasa, Epics of Hinduism.
I, after reasonable research , am convinced of the veracity of the verifiable facts in these Texts, with available knowledge we possess, and the technology we have now.
Krishna as a child
Hence I treat the Puranas and Ithihasas as facts as I would a modern-day scientific paper.
While the modern-day scientific papers keep changing,for clarity, the facts mentioned in these texts have stood the test of Time, right from the Rig Vedic Period, currently dated at 5000 BC.
Some times , while sticks to this view, one comes across some seemingly contradictory facts .
For example the death of Lord Rama preceded the Death of Lord Krishna by a mere 200 years, while according to Puranas these two events were separated by thousands of Years.
By diligently following the Hindu Texts one can solve these riddles.
Please read my post on Rama’s death precedes Krishna by 200 Years.
Now at what did Lord Krishna shed His mortal coil?
The Bhagavata Purana verse 11.6.25 says that Krishna lived for 125 years on earth. The first verse of Mausal Parva, Mahabharata says that Yudhisthira saw bad omens (because of Krishna’s departure from the earth) after 36 years of ruling after they won the Kurukshetra war. So that means Krishna was about 89 years old at the time of war.
This corroborates with the view that the age of Kali-yuga started in 3102 BCE, according to Dr. Achar. As stated in the Puranas, Kali-yuga had already begun, but its full influence was held back because of the presence of Lord Krishna. Then when Lord Krishna departed from this world, which is said to have occurred 35 years after the war of Kurukshetra in 3067, making it the year of 3032 BCE, then Kali-yuga began to show more of its effects.
According to Puranic sources,Krishna’s disappearance marks the end of Dvapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga, which is dated to February 17/18, 3102 BCE.
Astronomically simulated Eclipses and Greek Records place the year at 3031 BC
The Greek records go on to record that Heracles (Krishna) lived 138 generations before the time of Alexander and Sandrocottas, which was about 330 BCE. This then calculates, based on about 20 years per generation, to roughly 3090 BCE, which is about the right time considering 3102 BCE is the date when Kali-yuga began. Thus, Lord Krishna was a genuinely historical figure who lived about the time of 3200-3100 BCE, having lived to 125 years of age. “According to the epic Mahabharata, Krishna first appears [in the epic] at the time of Draupadi’s wedding, and His departure is exactly 36 years after the war. No information about His birth is available in the epic itself, although there is information about His departure. Krishna observes omens (Mahabharata 14.3.17), similar to the ones seen at the time of the war, now indicating the total destruction of the Yadavas. [Astrological] Simulations show that in the year 3031 BCE, thirty-six years later than 3067 BCE, there was an eclipse season with three eclipses. A lunar eclipse on 20 October was followed by an annular solar eclipse on 5 November, followed by a penumbral lunar eclipse on 19 November, within an interval of 14 days and at an aparvani time. Thus the date of departure of Lord Krishna is consistent with the popular tradition that He passed away 36 years after the war. The information about His birth can be gathered from the Harivamsha and the Bhagavata Purana…. It should be understood, however, that the date of His departure from this world is established on the information in the epic and on the basis of [astronomical] simulations, and it turns out to be 3031 BCE’
Refernces.
Matchett, Freda, “The Puranas”, p 139 and Yano, Michio, “Calendar, astrology and astronomy” in Flood, Gavin (Ed) (2003). Blackwell companion to Hinduism. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN0-631-21535-2.
Amriteswara temple, Karnataka.
You must be logged in to post a comment.