Tag: Vedic period

One finds it very curious about the  relationship of the people of India living in the northern part of India, North of  the Vindhya Ranges, where the

Vedic civilization flourished and the Southern part, South of the Vindhyas.

There are some assumed facts.

1.Vedic civilization was a closed one and Dravidians had no inkling of it.

2.The Vedic people considered the Dravidians as Barbarians and uncultured.

They were called as Dasyu meaning Slaves.

3.That the Vedic life was introduced by the sons of Viswamitra through their descendant, Apasthamba( I was holding this view and  you can see my

posts on this and my view was based on the scholarly view of PT.Srinivasa Ayyangar in his Book History of the Tamils.

The Vedic people banished  criminals and the sinners to Dravida Desa.

4.The Dravidas were invaded by people from the north and the Dravidians , subjugated and the Dravidians became cultured.

Lets us see how right these assumptions are.

1.Vedic civilization was a closed one and Dravidianas had no inkling of it.

Far from it.

To begin with the Bharata varsha extended beyond the Vindhyas,Asia, included Lemuria,Far east,Africas, Americas and the Europe, including the

Scandinavian Countriies.

The customs that have survived in these areas, the artifacts and temples, system of worship point to Vedic Presence.

The worship of Fire, Burning the corpses,Worship of the Sun, Use of Spices native to India, Temples like Angkor,worship of ancestors , especially in

Read some of my posts on these under Hinduism.

The designation as the Chief  God of each geographical Division unique to Tamils-Varuna for Neythal Seashore,Korkai, Durga for Palai, Desert, Mayon,

Vishnu for Mullai, Forests.

The participation of Northern kings in Southern princesses’ Swayamvara and of the South in the North.

In Damayanti Swayamvara Tamil kings were present.

In Lord Rama’s marriage tamil kings names are mentioned as being present tin the Swayamvar of Sita.

Tamil Chera King Udiyan Cheralathan  fed both he Kaurva and Pandavas armies during the Mahabharata War.

Tamil kings participated in the Mahabharata war, some on the side of the Pandavas some on the side of Kauravas

Pandya King fought along the Pandavas,his daughter was married to Arjuna when hwas on a Pilgrimage to South.

So this argument that the Tamil and the Vedic  people were mutually exclusive is erroneous and mischievous.

2.The Vedic people considered the Dravidians as Barbarians and uncultured.

They were called as Dasyu meaning Slaves.

Again sheer nonsense.

The Puarans quote Tamil Kings as cultured, wealthy and highly industrious.

The Vedic people bought Ivory and pearl from the South.

The History of Tamil is as old as Sanskrit and beyond tracing.

Please refer my posts on these.

Now to the term Dasyu.

Rigveda 1.33.4

O, All Powerful Warrior! You possess a variety of powers and roam alone. Do use your powerful weapon to destroy wealthy Dasyu (criminals) and Sanakah (those who steal from others). May they reach their deaths through your weapon. These Sanakah are devoid of noble acts.

The adjective used for Dasyus are “Ayajva” meaning those who do not perform noble acts or noble resolutions. Obviously such people would be criminals. Thus the king is advised to destroy such criminals to safeguard his people.

Sayana defines Dasyu as thief. Dasyu origins from root ‘Dasa’ which means “Upakshaya” or that which leads to destruction. Hence Dasyu refers to those people who are destructive or criminals. It does not refer to any caste or race.

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Rigveda 1.33.5

Those Dasyu (criminals) who are themselves devoid of noble resolutions and clash with noble people, flee away due to your protection. O brave warrior, you have destroyed the Avrata (unscrupulous) from everywhere.

In this mantra, two adjectives are used for Dasyu – Ayajva (those who do not perform noble acts and noble resolutions) and Avrata (indisciplined and unscrupulous).

Very clearly, Dasyu refers to criminals and they are accorded the same treatment in Vedas as they deserve in any civilized society.”

So this misinformation falls flat.

3.That the Vedic life was introduced by the sons of Viswamitra through their descendant, Apasthamba( I was holding this view and  you can see my

posts on this and my view was based on the scholarly view of PT.Srinivasa Ayyangar in his Book History of the Tamils.

The Vedic people banished  criminals and the sinners to Dravida Desa.

In the light of explanation in 1 and 2 this is no more valid.

However it is a fact that criminals were sent to Dravida desa ,Viswamitra banished his sons and and Apasthamba compiled the Apasthamba Sutra being

practiced even to day in the South.

4.The Dravidas were invaded by people from the north and the Dravidians , subjugated and the Dravidians became cultured.

Aryan invasion theory is deliberate misinformation and proved to be a Myth.

Read my post on this.

As,

Indus valley inscriptions do indicate the so called Dravidian insignia and the artifacts found in the South in places likes like Aikkamedu contain Vedic

Symbols,

The cultural unity in customs and practices between the north and the South,

Many Rishis are common both to North and South, Agasthay, Bhargava, Parashuama, Viswamitra, Vasishta,Ygnyavalkya,

The ancient languages both Tamil and Sanskrit quote each other, and as

, nothing definite is known about the ancient domain of the Dravidian parent speech. It is, however, a well-established and well-supported hypothesis that Dravidian speakers must have been widespread throughout India, including the northwest region. Origins of Dravidian people are informed by various theories proposed by linguists, anthropologists, geneticist and historians. According to geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza in the book The History and Geography of Human Genes, the Dravidians were preceded in the subcontinent by an Austro-Asiatic people, and were followed by Indo-European-speaking migrants sometime later.

                              Most linguists believe that Dravidian-speaking people were spread throughout the Indian subcontinent before a series of Indo-Aryan migrations. In this view, the early Indus Valley civilization (Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) is often identified as having been Dravidian.Cultural and linguistic similarities have been cited by researchers such as Finnish Indologist Asko Parpola as being strong evidence for a proto-Dravidian origin of the ancient Indus Valley civilization.

                             Some scholars like J. Bloch and M. Witzel believe that the Indo-Aryan moved into an already Dravidian speaking area after the oldest parts of the Rig Veda were already composed. The Brahui population of Baluchistan has been taken by some as the linguistic equivalent of a relict population, perhaps indicating that Dravidian languages were formerly much more widespread and were supplanted by the incoming Indo-Aryan languages.(wiki)

My conclusion is that the people of the North and the South were one under Bharatavarsha lived together, married between them , fought against each

other.

When they were against each other they considered the other as  undesirable and once he issues are sorted out they became one  together.

Otherwise lot of things in Sanatana Dharama, Temples, Archaeology become meaningless and self contradictory.

Citation with thanks.

http://agniveer.com/vedas-dasyu-hinduism/

Image credit.

Vedic India North.

http://www.miraed.net/parallelhistory/era_display_get.php?fname=India%20Vedic%20Period

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