Countries and worship that existed before Mahabharatha times!

Worship of Brahman in different forms has been an integral part of

not only this Bharatha varsha,

but of the entire world in olden days.

Worship differed from country to country

But the God worshiped was the same Vishnu or Narayana or Brahman

in different forms or as in different avatars.

Initially I thought of writing about the countries and the types of worships

that exited during and even before Mahabharatha times,

after concluding the series on ' No Aryan - Dravidian Divide It was One Aryavartha'.

After proving by means of various Tamil texts

that the entire land mass from Himalayas to the tip of Kumari

followed one only culture and one and only identity,

I wanted to move over to how even the entire land mass of the earth,

called as varshas in different dweepas in olden days (before Mahabharatha times),

also followed the one only culture, the only dharma

that was Sanatana dharma.

Even the new archaeological revelations point to a single culture of Aryans in many lands.

I came across this in the following link

http://downwithjugears.blogspot.com/2008/02/aryan-ancestors-on-silk-road.html

"Recent excavations in the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang province have uncovered

more than 100 naturally mummified corpses of people who lived there between 4,000 and 2,400 years ago,

indicating that the Aryan incursion into Asia was in fact far earlier and far more extensive than anyone previously believed"

But the pet theory of Aryan invasion of Westerners

is continuing with these 'new-found revelations',

as they are unable to stomach the notion that

Aryans existed as they were in Bharatha varsha.

There are lots of information from Hindu texts

giving us leads into how things took shape in olden times.

For instance

Valmiki Ramayana gives a crucial information on

how the one land-one culture

started to disintegrate giving rise

‘mlecha’ – outsiders.

Until the 18^th descendant in the Ikshvaku dynasty, who was Bharatha,

there was not reported any calamitous warring tendencies,

nor any adversaries.

It was in the reign of the 19^th descendant, namely Asita,

son of Bharatha, did rivalries begin.

While describing the lineage of Rama to Janaka on the occasion of Rama’s marriage,

Sage Vasishta says,

"To which Asita, kings like Haihaya-s, Taalajanghaa-s, and the valiant Shashabindu-s

have become adversaries and kings in hostility,

he had to wage war with them...” (1)

It is said (2)

“When king Asita passed away his queen and this Sagara's mother

wanted to commit self-immolation,

but this Sage Cyavana dissuades her from it because she is pregnant,

and takes her to his hermitage.

When she gave birth to Sagara, Sage Cyavana rears up Sagara and teaches him

all of the archery by according aagneya astra Fire-missile etc., kingcraft, and scriptures.

On one occasion when Sagara asks for the details about his father,

Cyavana had to tell all the legend of Asita and his conflicts with yavana-s, and shaka-s.

Sagara becoming furious at Haihaya-s, Taalajanghaa-s, and the valiant Shashabindu-s,

wars with them and drives them out of this country.

While doing so, Sagara makes yavana-s tonsured,

shaka-s or so-called Scythians, as half-tonsured,

and paarada-s as shaggy haired ones,

thus stripping of their Kshatriya-hood.

Taking the nearness of name paarada to Persia,

it is said that the kings repulsed by Sagara taken domicile in the Middle East

and a aaryan or a aa riaan is Airan or present day Iran,

and age-old are Indo-Iranian links.

Further, the word Asia has its own nearness to the name of king Asita.”

Any research on Aryan that

they were supposed to have ‘originated’ from middle east

can not ignore this piece of information from Ramayana.

Continuing my line of thought,

this so-called Aryan culture

is indigenous to us,

the people of Bharatha varsha, also called Aryavartha,

our Dharma called Sanatana Dharma

was the only culture or Dharma

prevalent throughout the world

until 5000 years ago.

No one invaded any,

and no one thrust their precepts on any.

And everyone was part of a single Dharma.

That is why any excavation dating back to 4000 + years ago,

will certainly bear similarity to Aryan values and way of life.

I have based my research on the countries

and culture of the people in those places

on the information contained in Srimad Bhagawatha

and analyzed using inputs from Sanjaya's description of these countries

which he saw using his 'power to see' granted by sage Vyasa

for the main purpose of 'seeing' the war at Kurukshethra

and reporting it to the king Dhritharaashtra.

***********************************

In the 4^th chapter in the 5^th Canto of Bhagavatam

we find the description of varshas (countries)

and avatars of Lord.

The avatars are all over the place.

While deciphering the nature of these avatars,

which possess some significant meaning

we come to know about the countries and the nature of people too.

The description in Canto 5 is comparable to the 5 land forms of

ancient Tamils, each having a specific God for worship.

The description is about worship in varshas or countries,

that were parts of larger landmass or islands or Dweepas

which were 5 in number.

As how we find worship of different gods in different places,

so too with these varshas.

Each varsha had a specific following

as a result of which each varsha had a specific moorthy

(or avatara or form of Vishnu) for meditation and worship.

This can be substantiated by cross reference

(to the description of these varshas)

found in Bheeshma parvam, 6 th & 7th chapters. (Mahabharatha)

The varshas described in this parvam are about the land forms that

existed prior to the onset of kali yuga,

or in other words, about 5000 years ago.

The 5 th canto of Srimad Bhagavatham expresses

the kinds of worship that were followed in those lands.

This is not about any specific avatara,

but about the predominance of a particular God

as goal of worship in those days and in those varshas.

The Gods that have been predominantly meditated upon

were naturally the avatars

that have happened before Krishnavatara

and other forms of Vishnu..

Let me tabulate what has been given in this chapter.

(1) BhadrAshva varsha > Hayagreeva or Dharma.

(2) Hari varsha > Narasimha.

(3) KetumAla varsha > Hrishikesha.

(4) HiraNmaya varsha > kUrma

(5) Uttara kuru varsha > VarAha

(6) Kimpurusha varsha > Rama.

(7) Bharatha varsha > Narayana.

From this the following insights emerge.

(1) Not all varshas have been covered.

Not necessarily.

The description of these is related by SUta in the context of what is Truth,

what is spiritual Truth and what people did to follow the Truth.

As a matter of giving examples,

the sage is expressing how the people of different varshas

have been singing His praise in the way

that has been peculiar to their lands.

One instance is Hari varsha. This is a

place having the descendants of Prahlaadha.

Naturally they were the worshippers of Lord Nrusimha.

If we go by the nature of these varshas,

(some clues emerge from Sanjaya's description in Bheeshma parvam)

there is nothing surprising about the way

a particular God has gained

prominence in a particular varsha.

Let me elaborate them further in this post.

(2) The avatars till Rama have been worshipped,

probably with the exception of Vamana.

It may be because Vamana constituted

3 nodes of the Sun's journey in the sky

in a day and in an ayana.

Details of these are found in Surya Siddhantha

(earlier discussed by me in the post "Karunanidhi's tryst with Calendar")

Vamana avatara happens everyday,

with his first step at sunrise,

2nd step of sweeping the heavens at mid-day

and the 3rd step at sun set.

As such the sandhyavandhana is a worship of Sun God

(eqauted to Brahman in Brahma sutras and upansihads)

as Vamana avatara!

Thus Vamana avatara happens at all times

and as long as earth goes around the sun!

The Vamana purana also mentions many avataras of Vamana.

One interesting information we find in Vamana purana is

that Prahladha went to a temple of Vamana, to worship Him.

The location seems to be somewhere in the southern bank

of the river Ganga.

The sage who is hearing this from another, asks how could

Prahlaadha had worshipped Vamana

whose avatar has not yet taken place.

It was replied that the Lord had taken the Vamana avataras many

times in the past (before humbling Bali)

and this temple is of Vamana in one such avatara.

(3) A rationale of why all avatars are at all places –

sometimes jumbled in order –

can also be substantiated from chapter 10 of Gita,

where Bahgavan identifies Himself with many beings.

The names of those beings are jumbled,

i.e., from different manvantras

as not one of them can be identified

along with the other of the same group

from the same purana.

Different puranas give their names differently.

In other words

We will find the names of maruts, sadhyas, rishis etc

from different manvanthras,

running all over this chapter.

The reason may be to show

how He has been through - across all times, at all Ages.

Now a detailed account on varshas and their Lords.

The chapters mentioned above give detailed report

on varshas and dweepas,

as seen by Sanjaya upon gaining Divine vision to see the War.

Before training his vision to the war field,

he looks around the world,

obliging the request by Dhritharaashtra.

(Anyone working on landforms in ancient world,

can take up a study of these chapters and

the subsequent ones to arrive at a precise picture of lands,

the people and their culture.)

One can see then that the entire landmass was

brimming with sanatana dharma.

Everywhere there was worship of Vishnu's different forms.

Infact the Bharata varsha was the only place among those other places

where rajas and tamas (the 2 gunas or characteristics) were predominant.

Sanjaya expresses this in detail in the next chapter

after finishing the description of the landmass.

It seems (from a reading of these chapters) that all the

avatars have taken place in bharata varsha,

because there was no need

for Bahgawan to take avatars to establish Dharma at other places

as those places were full of dharmic people!

The location of Meru

The Meru running east to west and south to north

was central to all existence.

That the sun and the heavens revolved around it shows that

this refers to the axis of the earth

from which directions were calculated.

Many texts tell about the height of Meru in yojanas.

One calculation puts it as 100,000 times higher than the Mount Everest.

A land form of such heights can not exist.

But by the principle of name-form and works symbolism (3)

we can draw two allusions.

First one is drawn from Surya Siddhnatha.

According to Surya Siddhantha

Meru is indeed the North pole (4)

can be justified from a verse in Surya Siddhantha.

"The one going toward Meru, there takes place an elevation of the pole (Dhruva)

and a depression of the circle of asterisms.

To one going toward the place of no latitude,

on the contrary,

a depression of the former and

elevation of the latter".

The no-latitude area is inferred to be equator.

The height of Meru mentioned in many texts must therefore be

the distance from equator to North pole.

The second allusion is about a mountain called Meru.

In my reasoning this is somewhere on the line passing through

Tanzania where there is a volcano called Meru

with a rivulet called jambhoo passing

down on its side.

This area is closer to the Equator.

Nile river originated in ‘Chandristhan’.

To quote an example here, Lieutenant Speake, when planning his

discovery of the source of the Nile, secured

his best information from a map reconstructed out of Puranas. (5)

It traced the course of the river, the "Great Krishna,"

through Kusha-dvipa,

from a great lake in Chandristhan, "Country of the Moon,"

which it gave the correct position

in relation to the Zanzibar islands.

The name was from the native Unya-muezi,

having the same meaning;

and the map correctly mentioned another native name, Amara,

applied to the district bordering Lake Victoria Nyanza.

"All our previous information," says Speake, "concerning the

hydrography of these regions, originated with the ancient Hindus."

The ancient history is now completely buried

with the re-naming of the lake as Lake Victoria.

Pataala with Bali is 180 degrees away from India in the globe.

Another interesting information from Hindu texts that comes to my mind is

that Bali who was humbled and sent to Patala

would become the Indra of the next manvanthra.

From purans we get the description of

what happens after manvanthra – it is pralaya.

After 100 suns (100 years of scorching the land by sun),

it would rain for 100 years when all life forms would perish.

But some able bodied ones would survive and migrate to another planet.

Once situation becomes normal,

these people (descendants of these people)

would return to earth and start new races.

Since Bali is said to be the next Indra and since Surya Sidhanta

identifies the land at the other side of the globe as Patala,

a curious thought comes whether the descendants of the people there

( of Bali)

are the ones mentioned in Puranas (particularly Linga purana)

as continuing (or initiating) their progeny in the next manvanthra.

The talk of prevalence of once ancient wisdom in this region

(particularly Peru) adds sap to this thought.

Another allusion here is one

that is drawn from the information on next Manvanthra.

It is said in many puranas that next manu

will be the son of Sun and his wife Chaaya.

Chaaya means shadow.

There is a probability that there is a shadow binary to our Sun.

Another wife of sun is Sandhya

which means twilight.

If it is said that a son will be born to

Sun and chaaya,

it may be indicative of a by-product of a

Collision between the Sun and its invisible binary.

It means the present system of earth will be gone and

a new system will evolve

for which Bali will be the Indra.

This in all probability could mean an atomic age!

Or a system operating on atomic power

which science of today had not hypothesized.

I connect atomicity to Bali,

because he was over-powered by a Vamana

( indicating a small form),

perhaps to over come the power of Bali of his atomic power.

The country at Far-east.

Coming to our topic,

there are many clues that all the varshas were

part of a great humanity of sanatana dharma and

rishis of yore had a very good knowledge of them.

From Surya Siddhantham, we come to know

that people possessed very good knowledge of lands

and their locations throughout the globe. (6)

It says,

“ When passing overhead Bhadrashwa,

the sun is rising in Bharatha,

it is moreover at that time

mid-night in Ketumaala

and sunset in Kuru.”

This means Bhadrshwa was 90 degrees east of Bharatha, our country

And Ketumaala was 90 degrees west of Bharatha.

Kuru was just on the opposite part of the globe,

180 degrees from us.

This also means that Bhadrshwa was in the Far east of India.

From Srimad Bhagawatham (canto 5)

we come to know that people of Bhadrashwa

worshipped Hayagreeva!

Africa is Kushasdweepa.

Another notable feature emerging from this Canoto-5

is the meaning of Kusha-dweepa.

Kusha means dharbhai and

Kusha dweepa is a land of

darbhai (the grass lands of Africa)

Each dweepa had acquired its name

from the predominant tree or plant in that area

(like the jambhoo

dweepa where India is, was once full of Jambhoo (amla or naaval maram) trees)

This Kusha –dweepa was the biggest of all dweepas, as per the

description of Sanjaya.

This land was known to have many medicinal plants.

Coming to our discussion on varshas,

it seems that it is here in

Kusha-dweepa,

Ketu mAla varsha was located.

Ketumaala 90 degrees to the west of Bharatha varsha

locates it in Africa.

(This description as it was 5000 years ago.

No drastic tectonic movement has been reported in the intermediary period.)

Sanjaya says that the

people of this varsha are black in colour and strong in body!

The land north of this varsha had people who were white in complexion.

That was

Shwetha varsha, says Sanjaya.

Sage Narada was said to be belonging to

Shwetha varsha (inferred to be somewhere in Europe or

Southern Europe.)

It is in KetumAla, Kubera spent his time,

as per Sanjaya's description.

The people of this land worshipped Hrishikesha

(5^th chapter of Bhagavatham),

the One who has controlled all Indriyas or

who controls all indriyas.

The prevalence of kusha grass goes with

japa or meditation.

One reasoning we draw here is that the people of

KetumAla were all the time engaged in mediation

by controlling their indriyas and concentrating on Hrishikeshan.

From the hymn mentioned in Bhagavatham it is also known

that this was a land where Lakshmi and

her attendants worshipped Hrishikesha.

Connecting this with Kubera's residence here, we can understand that

this land was a land of prosperity.

We have another information from Surya Siddhanta, about the four great

cities situated on the opposite ends of the world, equidistant from

one another.

1. Yamakotipura in BhadrAshva varsha in the east,

2.Lanka in BhArat varsha in the south and

3. Romak in KetumAlavarsa in the west and

4. Siddhapura in Kuruvarsha in the north.

The celebrated astronomer Bhaskaracarya mentions the time difference

between the important cities situated in different parts of the world

in his Siddhanta Siromani (Goladhyaya) thus:

" When the sun rises at Lanka,

the time as at Yamakotipura to the east

of Lanka, will be midday.

Below the earth at Siddhapura,

it will be twilight then,

and at Romakadesa, the time will be midnight."

(below the earth refers to paatala but also the place 180 degrees away.)

If one tries to decipher this, YamakOti pura is somewhere in the

east of Bharatha,

90 degrees in the east, away from Lanka.

Why Lanka was chosen a reference point is one question.

Perhaps it was taken as the zero longitude and

computations were made on the basis of it.

(We must search for more information on this.

Later Ujjain became the focal point.

Bhaskara who came later than this period might be just

using the information contained in Surya Siddhantha

and quoted the distance from Lanka, as told in Surya Siddhantha.

The difference between Vikrama era and Saka era

may perhaps be the result of corrections in the zero longitude

that were made some 2000 years ago.)

This could have been part of Indonesian or

Japanese island groups which could have drifted to their present

location.

Please browse

www.atributetohinduism.com

to know

how these areas have had sanatana dharma culture since time immemorial.

Japan has some old inscriptions in Sanskrit

older than any found in India.

This YamakOti pura in BhadrAshva varsha worshipped Hayagreeva or

Dharma as their object of concentration. (1st in the list)

The hymn on this in Srimad Bhavatham extols

the way Vedas were restored and Dharma

established.

Yama is known as Dharma devata known for his impartiality

between good and evil. It is inferred that this land in those days

must have had the connection with the story of restoration Vedas.

Let me go through the other ones in quick (!?) succession.

Another country is Hari varsha,

where it is mentioned in Bhagavatham that

Prahalladha and his followers worshiped Lord Nrusimha.

Then comes Ramyaka, Hiranmaya and uttara-kuru,

worshipping Matsya,

Kurma and Varaha respectively.

Uttar kuru in Russia.

Uttara kuru is described as north of Hymavada.

This seems to be beyond

the northern limits of Himalayas.

If this is so, the description will

become logical with the so-far available archeological and geological

evidence we have.

There was a sea or water body before Himalayas was

lifted up.

Fossils of marine life are found at the top of Himalayas.

The once-sea area which had now become a land could have become

Ramyaka where Matsya is worshipped.

The Hiranmaya had been the anchor for this elevation of mountains.

Therefore Kurma became their Lord.

Further north Uttara kuru was the

land uplifted and therefore had Varaha as their Lord .

This area is likely to be Russia or Siberia

and the name kuru in the names of

Russians (like Kuruschev) is an interesting point to ponder.

The 3 avataras mentioned in the above 3 lands

is about the cosmic avatars

coinciding with the elevation of the Himalayas.

These avatars are happening regularly throughout the world

at some small intensity ,

whereas these avatars happened at a massive scale

in the beginning of this Kalpa in the distance past.

What is said in sankalpa,

as shweta varaha (shwEtha varaaha kalpE..)

is about the avatara at Maha yuga scale

in the beginning of this kalpa.

The time period coincides with the birth of land forms on the surface

of the earth about 3-4 billion years ago.

The description as found in Sanjaya's words

is related to the sequence of land from

Nepal with Sita's connection.

Nepal upwards North.

From the description

of the lands nearby, it seems Nepal was the Kimpurusha varsha,

where Sita's birth place was situated.

Therefore the inhabitants of that

land worshipped Rama.

It is worthy to recall here that Ayodhya was

deserted after Rama's departure (refer Kalidasa's Raghu vamsam),

and

came back to some life and activity about 1000 years ago.

But worship of Rama

had remained in Kimpurusha, in the land of Sita.

Narayana in Bharatha varsha.

The bharatha varsha had Sriman Narayana as their Lord,

as it was here

He was born to establish Dharma.

As per Sanjaya's description, the people of other varshas

were the ones who have slipped from their

Achaara (discipline) in their heavenly abodes

and were born in those lands to shed their karma.

They led an ascetic or devotional life and

left for their former abodes once the time period was over.

There was no report of acrimony and chaos

in those lands as were found in Bharatha varsha.

This shows why avatars have happened in Bharatha varsha –

-to establish Dharma.

References:-

(1) Valmiki Ramayana (1-70-28)

(2) www.valmikiramayan.net (1-70)

(3) Brahma sutras (3-2-30 & 31)

(4) Surya Siddhantha, (12-72) ("cosmogony, geography and dimensions of Creation")

(5) Journal. pp.27,77,216; Wilford, in Asiatic Researches, III

(6) Surya Siddhantha, (12-70)