Thiruvalluvar Aandu - what Karunanidhi does not know of Thiruvalluvar!

Despite opposition from the people of Tamilnadu,

Karunanidhi has gone ahead with passing the order

that the 60 year cycle (with Sarvadhari having just started) must be dropped

and from now onwards only Thirvalluvar aandu must be mentioned

along with Christian years in all official and administrative correspondence.

Only a person who has no inkling of the science of ‘mana’ (measurement) of time

can pass such an order.

Only a person who has no grasp of the cultural past of India – the oldest in the world –

can pass such an order.

Only a person who has no respect for democracy can pass such an order.

Above all,

only a person who has no knowledge of Thiruvalluvar can initiate Thiruvalluvar aandu!

If only he knows who Thiruvalluvar was,

I bet he would not even turn to his side,

not have built a kOttam and a statue for him.

It looks like an irony of Fate that Thirvalluvar is getting a pet treatment

in the hands of Karunanidhi!!

I wonder what he will do if he comes to know that Thiruvalluvar was a parma vaishnava,

one who worshiped none but Rama, his bete noire!

And this is exactly what was true of Thiruvalluvar.

Thiruvalluvar’s origins and background had been quite an enigma

but it is possible to unearth the face of him from his work.

One of the intriguing ones is that

whether he had any particular god in mind when he wrote

the first chapter on God (kadavuL vaazhtthu).

There are indeed some clues to unravel this mystery.

Let me go step by step.

There is an overwhelming evidence his book, Thirukkural,

that Thiruvalluvar promoted Vedic religion only.

The very arrangement of the book into 3 divisions (muppaal)

is a vedic concept of Purusharthas, dharma, artha and kaama.

He left out the 4 th division, Moksha, because

adherence to the principles of the first 3

will automatically elevate one to Moksha or

Liberation from the cycle of life and death.

The compartmentalization of the ‘adhikaras’ into the mystic number 108

for Dharma (aram) and Artha (poruL)

also is indicative of a definite plan to present his book

on the vedic notion of spirituality.

The choice of the term, ‘Adhikaram’ itself for the chapters

is indicative of the vedic practice of Yatho-desa paksham –

which means the spread of control / influence by itself and its own sake,

that is, the message of Kural will spread by itself the message of Purusharthas.

The positioning of adhikaram, ‘voozh’ (destiny) after dharma (aratthu-p-paal)

is also demonstrative of a Vedic influence.

How-much-ever dharmic one may be,

one can not stop or escape from the interference of ‘oozh’ or destiny

is the message given at all ages,

from Gita onwards (one has control over one’s actions only, not on the results)

to Silappadhikaaram (oozh vinai urutthu vandhu ootttum)

and this has been aptly given as a finale for Aratthu-p-paal by Thiruvalluvar.

The only source book he quotes for all rules is the ‘nool’

The ‘nool’ that he often speaks in kural is the Vedas

and he has repeatedly glorified the ways the ‘Saandror’ or Aryans.

(read my post on http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-aryan-dravidian-divide-it-was-one_3029.html)

Brahmins (anthanar) and Vyakarana sastras (725)

are the respected ones he looks at,

for any reference to acts of dharma.

Devas and their habit of receiving Havis from humans are often mentioned by him.

He disapproves animal sacrifice in yajnas but not yajnas themselves,

giving indication of his leanings towards vedic practices

and his willingness to usher in modifications –

which is what sages too had said for kali yuga.

The Vamana avatara is clearly mentioned in kural 610

where he tells that the king must be like “ulagu aLandhaan”,

Vamana in conquering worlds.

He makes a veiled mention of Rama’s valour in kural 773

for showing mercy to the enemy in the war field when he is down in spirits.

Most important of these is his veiled reference to Rama

in his opening verse.

Thiruvalluvar begins his book with a worship of god.

The Akaara Brahman is indicated in his very first verse

as also the Bhagam (6 qualities) of Bhagavan – a vedic concept.

Akaara Brahmam is equated to Vishnu in Bhagavad Gita.

Beyond this there is something also.

He has indicated his God – ishta devatha in this verse – ‘agara mudala..’

It has been a practice in ancient times

for the poets to reveal their God or Lord or the Lord of the song (paattudai-th-thlaivan)

in their first verse as a puzzle.

Thirvalluvar too had done that.

These ancient norms of poetry indicated in Tholkaappiyam were aimed

at spreading and preserving the greatness of the Lord or God

who had been praised by the poet.

The praise of the Lord to live long can not just be empty words

but it also must incorporate certain features

that help in making the Lord and his name immortal.

We come across such norms of Tholkappaiyam explained in Choodamani nigandu, as sutras

and when I attempted to apply these rules to Thirukkaural,

I am in for a surprise.

Thiruvalluvar indeed had followed these ancient norms

and had indicated his Lord, his Ishta devatha as Rama!!

One will be surprised to know that these norms were in tandem

with certain rules of astrology, meant for longevity and greatness!

In 12-31 (“I-vagai sthaanam for seyyuL”) of Choodamani nigandu is like this.

This is about the sthanas.

A person is said to undergo 5 stages of life, such as

Bala (infant)

Kaumara (boyhood)

Youvana (youth)

Vriddha (old age) and

Marana (death)

These are known as 5 sthaanas.

In astrology, each house / rasi (constellation) is divided

into these 5 sthanas also known as avasthas

and predictions depend on the position of a planet in the sthana

Even is a planet is exalted, if it is placed on, say, marana sthana / avastha

(the degrees indicating death), the planet can not bestow the results of its exaltation.

That planet is as good as dead.

That is the implication and interpretation.

Therefore this sthana-bala was given prime importance by ancients,

even in poetry.

Their rule of poetry is that the lord / god of the Poet

must be indicated in the first verse.

But that indication must happen in the favorable sthaana or position.

Of the 5 sthaanas, the first 3 are about growth, a period of happiness.

So the norm was that the name of the Lord must be indicated in the first 3 sthanas.

If indicated in the last 2 sthanas (of old age and death)

the poet’s work would not stand long in spreading the name of his lord.

The Sutra in Choodamani nigandu says

that the poet must indicate the first letter of his lord

in the first 3 letters of the first verse of the poem.

But it must be given as the shortened one, if the letter has deergha swara.

That is if the letter is ‘nedil’, its complimentary ‘kuril’ must be used.

“baalanE kumaran mannan padu muthir kizhavan saavu

kOlundhan pEr ezhutthu kuritthadu mudalaaga-k-koLga

yElu mun ezhutthu moondrum inbham pin-irandum theedhaam

saalu moovagai seer thane saatriya kavidahikki inbham.”

(bala, kumara, mannan (king), old man and death.

Fix the first letter of your lord as a shortened swara (kuril- ezhutthu) in these.

The first 3 are good. The last 2 are bad.

Fixing the letter in the first 3 is a happy beginning for the poem)

Applying this to the first verse of Thirukkural,

Agara mudhala –

we have to look into

‘agara’ only, that has three letters, a, ga, ra.

All these are ‘kuril’ only.

The Lord of Thiruvalluvar must begin with any of these 3 only

and that letter could also be ‘aa’, ‘gaa’ and ‘raa’,

reduced into ‘kuril’.

Now the next rule is given in 12-102 of Choodamanu nigandu

as “seyyuLukkuriya nakshathram”. (the star of the poem)

“thanadu naaLil pinnaLum saarnthiru naalum aarum

vinaviya ettu vonbaanum viruttham vondrillai thanaaL

iNaiya moondrudan aindhaa naaL yEzhaa naaL ivai porundhaa

ninaiyum im-moondru vonbhan yErpadu moondru vattam”.

As per this rule, the poet must indicate the letters of those stars

which are 2^nd, 4^th, 6^th, 8^th and 9^th from the birth star of the lord

counted in 3 rounds of 9 stars for all the 27 stars.

The 1^st, 3^rd, 5^th and 7 th stars from the birth star of the lord are not advised.

This means the poet must begin the poem with the letter that are indicated for the stars

that are 2 nd, 4^th, 6^th, 8^th and 9^th from the birth star of the Lord.

In Vedanga Jyothisha, each star is assigned some letters

which one can refer from the almanacs.

The poem must start with the letter of those stars that are 2^nd, 4^th, 6^th , 8^th or 9^th from the

birth star of the Lord, counted in groups of 3 covering all 27 stars.

The Kural begins with ‘a’.

“a” is the letter for the star krittika.

If we look at probable stars that come in that order mentioned above,

we get Punarpoosam (punarvasu) as the star of the Lord.

Krittika is the 6^th star from Punarvasu in the 3^rd round of 9 stars.

Punarvasu is the birth star of Sri Rama.

The ‘ra’ in agara is the 3^rd letter which is the kuril of ‘raa’ of Rama.

This is place at “mannan” sthaana as per the Sutra of Nigandu.

This also stands for Youvana – youth immortalized in verses.

This means the poetic work as well as the Lord of the poet

will live for ever.

The second rule is to start the poem with letter of the star of Rama’s star group.

It is done.

The poem starts with ‘a’, the star of krittika

which is 6^th in the 3^rd round from Punarvasu.

Thiruvalluvar has followed this ancient rule of poetry writing

and has succinctly indicated his Ishta devata as Rama.

Needless to say

he went on to incorporate the Brahma-tattva

in the very first verse itself

in akkaraantha Brahman and Bhagavan.

The only other god that he has mentioned in his work

is Lord Vamana.

What an irony of Destiny

that an avowed hater of Brahmanic and Vedic culture,

promoting one whose book is nothing but Vedas in Tamil

(Tamil marai, uttara vedam are the other names of Thirukkural)

Such a devotee of Rama and follower of Vedic ways,

is being resurrected by none other than Karunanidhi,

to demonstrate his Tamil leanings.

If only Karunanidhi is sincere in his love for Thiruvalluvar,

let him first close all Tasmac shops (liquor shops).

Only then he would get the blessings of Valluvar who was dead against drinking.

Particularly when the liquor shops are run by the government

and the government shamelessly boasts of increasing the liquor sales

in the excuse that it is being used to augment the expenses

for buying Colour TVs for the poor,

Thiruvalluvar would not like to have anything to do with him.

He would not live in any kottam or statue or aandu that

Karunanidhi proposes .

Next issue is that

Karunanidhi must stop meddling with years and

instead revert to Prabhavaadhi cycle of years.

Only then he could get the blessings of Thiruvalluvar.

Of all the people Thiruvalluvar could not have tolerated

the scrapping up of the prevalent system of years and New year.

He is one who sticks to ancient practices.

By scrapping the existing years, Karunanidhi is

causing irreparable loss

to the ancient body of knowledge.

Already we lost many ancient treasures, due to negligence and ignorance.

To state an example, we know about the 60 years

starting from Prabhava from Surya siddhantha.

But the Siddhnatha talks about them in the context of Brahaspatya mana

-of the rounds 5x12=60 years of Jupiter, that start from Vijaya of this cycle.

The start of Soura mana with Prabhava is yet to be located in the texts.

Though we have information that this 60 year cycle of the sun

undergoing 3 stages of 20 years , of superior, medium and inferior kind of results,

we are still trying locate the source that tells about the origins of this cycle.

All clues lead to Prajapatya mana that describe manvantharas,

that might have contained information on yuga classification

on the basis of precision of equinoxes,

starting from Prabhava

But that knowledge seems to have been lost.

Today, by dropping the cycle of Prabahva etc,

Karunanidhi is committing a grave blunder -

a blunder that will be not forgiven by destiny for un-doing the existing knowledge.

The future generations are likely to lose all knowledge about this

as how we have already lost most treasures of the past.

Another issue is that

Thiruvalluvar himself would not have allowed the switch over

to this Thiruvalluvar aandu,

for, he was not born at that time that Karunanidhi and his coteries say that he was born

and he would have been dead against changing the age old system

which was based on sound principles of astronomy

and measurement of time.

The irony of sorts is that Karunanidhi is promoting a core Vishnu-bahkta,

who has indicated his Lord as Rama in his wonderful book of Dharama-artha-kaama

in a beautiful way in conformity with the norms of poetry writing.

The mockery of sorts is that Karunanidhi who had no qualms in writing preface to a work

that said that Thiruvalluvar copied from Christian thoughts

(a so-called research work by M.Deivanayagam, “Thiruvalluvar Christhuvara?”

-“Was Thiruvalluvar a Christian?” had the preface written to it

by none other Karunanidhi),

should promote Thiruvalluvar’s name for Tamil / Hindu years.

The sad state of times is that

if Thiruvalluvar were to be born again,

he would be given a SC status!!

Valluvar and Thiruvalluvar are scheduled castes according to Tamilnadu govt.

What a beautiful service these people are doing to Thiruvalluvar’s memory!!

.

From Adicchanallur to Sembiyankandiyur burial urns - It is Vedic practice only.

The burial urns have been unearthed in Sembiyankandiyur.
These urns contain bones (not skeletons) of dead people.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/27/stories/2008042757322000.htm

Similar findings are also there from Adichanallur
http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/000622.html

According to T. Satyamurthy, Superintending Archaeologist and
Director of the dig at Adichanallur,
the urns and surrounding pots conform to descriptions of ritual in
Tamil Sangam literature – 'Manimekhalai', 'Natrinai', 'Raditrupattu'
and 'Purananuru'.
The remains of cremated bodies were placed in a burial urn, the mouth
of which was covered by inverting another urn over it. Smaller pots
strung around the 'twin-pot' burial urn contained personal possessions
of the deceased - ornaments or weapons - together with offerings like
paddy or grains.

This may be termed as a practice unique to Tamils.
And it will also be argued that Tamils were different from Aryans or
rest of India culture.
but it is not so.

Burying the incinerated bones of the cremated in pots is very much
Vedic in origin.

This is part of the post-cremation ceremony,

called Pithru-medha ceremony.

The Gruhya sutras of Asvalayana describes

the details of how this

ceremony is done.

As per this, the incinerated bones are collected and deposited in urns
in separate pots designed for males and females.

There are some excavations reported in Indus-sarawad excavations of
such urns bearing male/ female figures.
Similar ones are being excavated from Tamil nadu from time to time.
These are nothing but proofs of the prevalence of the Pithru-medha ceremony
authorized by Gruhya sutras.
This is again a strong proof that Tamils followed Vedic practices only.

Here is a note on this practice a described by texts.

Post cremation Burial (Pitr-medha)

During the Vedic and early Grhya periods it was common to bury the
incinerated bones of a deceased person in an urn.

This was the
pitr-medha ceremony.

The Grhya-sutras of Asvalayana describe how the burned bones were to
be collected on the third lunar day (tithi) after death.

In the case of a man who had died, the bones were to be collected by
elderly men
and placed into a male urn.

In the case of a woman, the bones were to be collected by elderly women
and placed into a female urn.

Urns were designed by their shape to be male or female.
The performers of this ceremony were to walk three times in a
counterclockwise direction around the bones
while sprinkling milk and water
from a particular kind of twig (sami).

The bones were then placed into the urn as they were picked up individually
with the thumb and fourth finger.

First the bones of the feet were to be gathered
and then successively the other bones were to be gathered working
toward the head.

After the bones had been purified and gathered they were sealed and
buried in a secure location.

By the end of the Grhya period the practice of burying bones in an urn declined.

For full details, browse this link.

http://www.sanskrit.org/www/Rites%20of%20Passage/ancestors2.html

-jayasree

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

Sembiyankandiyur megalithic pottery with graffiti marks

Megalithic period pottery found

T.S. Subramanian (The Hindu, April 27, 2008)

Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department leads excavation

— Photo: M. Srinath

Significant finds: Pottery with graffiti marks found at
Sembiyankandiyur village in Nagapattinam district.

—

http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/27/images/2008042757322001.jpg

CHENNAI: Pottery items including bowls, dishes and urns, from the
Megalithic period, have been excavated at Sembiyankandiyur near
Kuthalam in Mayiladuthurai taluk of Nagapattinam district by the Tamil
Nadu Archaeology Department.

An important finding: eight urns aligned in a particular manner, three
of them with human bones inside. These might be of members of one
family, according to department officials. The pottery included
black-and-red ware, black ware and red ware.

The site yielded a rich collection of pottery with graffiti marks. A
few iron pieces were also found.

Archaeology Department officials estimated that the pottery belonged
to the Megalithic period or the Iron Age, which can be dated between
300 B.C. and A.D. 100.

Earlier discovery

The discoveries were made at the site where in 2006 school teacher V.
Shanmuganathan found a polished Neolithic celt (tool) that had
engravings resembling the Indus script. This celt caused a stir in
archaeological circles. It was T.S. Sridhar, then Special Commissioner
of Archaeology, who noticed the engravings on the polished celt. A
semi-polished celt was found nearby without engravings.

The Archaeology Department decided to excavate the Sembiyankandiyur
site to find out its antiquity and fix the chronology. The excavations
began on February 6. Four trenches were laid at the place where the
celt with the engravings were found. The first trench was laid in the
garden of Mr. Shanmuganathan, the second trench at Thoppumedu which
belonged to Shanmugam, a retired physical education teacher, another
in the backyard of the house of Muthappa and the fourth at Padayachi
Kollaimedu.

Important findings from the trenches were bowls, dishes, broken urns,
full-size urns and so on. Eight urns were found to be aligned in a
particular manner, three of them with human bones. Some urns had
ritual pots inside. Some pots and sherds have thumb-nail impressions
on them.

Designs and markings
Full-shape pots had the graffiti depicting a fish, a 'damaru', sun,
star and a swastika. Geometric designs and marks depicting fish, sun
and star and graffiti marks are often found on black-and-red ware and
black ware, with the symbols sometimes repeated.

The excavations at Sembiyankandiyur were done under the guidance of
Dr. S. Gurumurthi, Principal Commissioner of Archaeology; Dr. S.
Vasanthi, Archaeologist; M. Muthusamy, Curator of Tranquebar Museum;
S. Selvaraj and P. Gowthamaputhiran, Archaeological Officers of
Thanjavur and Coimbatore respectively.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/27/stories/2008042757322000.htm

--------------------------------------------------------

Adichanallur excavations.

http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/000622.html

17 March 2004
Urn-burials at Adichanallur

100 years after an urn-burial site was first excavated by an amateur
British archaeologist the Archaeological Survey of India [ASI] has
resumed digging at Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu. To date, 20 burial urns
have been unearthed. The burial site, a huge mound, is close to a lake
on the southern bank of the Tamiraparani. Painted pot sherds, black
ware and red ware found near the urns date from the megalithic period,
1000 BCE, to the 1st century CE, and from the early historic period
which continued up to the 6th century CE. The sherds include hundreds
with beautiful designs and graffiti, superbly crafted pot spouts and
tiered knobs from pot lids. One sherd had a twisted rope-like design
running around it.

According to T. Satyamurthy, Superintending Archaeologist and
Director of the dig, the urns and surrounding pots conform to
descriptions of ritual in Tamil Sangam literature – 'Manimekhalai',
'Natrinai', 'Raditrupattu' and 'Purananuru'. The remains of cremated
bodies were placed in a burial urn, the mouth of which was covered by
inverting another urn over it. Smaller pots strung around the
'twin-pot' burial urn contained personal possessions of the deceased -
ornaments or weapons - together with offerings like paddy or grains.
The archaeologists are hoping to find grain and other organic material
(bones, wood or charcoal) that will assist Carbon-14 dating.

The site was first brought to notice by Dr. Jagor of Berlin in
1876. Amateur British archaeologist Alexander Rea, who excavated the
site for a few years from 1900, described it as "the most extensive
prehistoric site as yet discovered in southern if not the whole of
India. It covers an area of 114 acres, within which burial urns were
found, at some places close together and at others more widely apart."
Rea's results were published in the ASI's Annual Report for 1902-1903
under the title 'Prehistoric Antiquities in Tinnevelly'. According to
Rea, the several thousand objects found at the site and inside the
burial urns included finely made pottery, iron implements and weapons,
bronze vessels and ornaments, gold diadems, bones, stone beads and
stone household implements, together with traces of cloth, wood and
mica. "Husks of rice and millet were found in quite a large number of
pots inside the urns."

The aim of the current excavation is to investigate the site
thoroughly and establish its chronology. Another aim is to discover
whether there was a habitational site nearby. Burial sites were
commonly part of settlements. The Adichanallur site's location close
to a lake is similar to that of the urn-burial site at Mangadu in
Kollam district. Dr. Satyamurthy, who carried out the excavation at
Mangadu, says: "The burials found at Adichanallur show the trend of an
earlier phase, such as coarse pottery and hand-made pottery. So that
the date of Adichanallur may even be earlier than that of Mangadu."
Scientific analysis using C-14 or the archaeo-magnetic method may
confirm dates prior to 1000 BCE.

Source: The Hindu (14 March 2004)

Being Hindu is not communal!

In India, anything that is Hindu or vedic will be instantly branded
as Communal.

Sandhya Jain has exposed this hypocrisy in her review of Dr Chakraborthi's book,
"The battle for ancient India"

The concluding part of her article interested me:-

"All people of the subcontinent are heirs of the Indus civilization.
It links the deep south through the find of a polished celt with
incised Harappan script signs near Cuddalore, and several sites with
antennae copper swords of the upper Gangetic Valley copper hoard type
as far as Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu and a tea estate in Kerala.
Above all, it is not easy to note any non-Indian tradition in the
figure of the Sramana from Mohenjodaro or any other sculptural relic
of this civilization."

This is now an accepted fact.
But where we differ is how this mix-up happened.
The One Aryavartha following the one Sanatana Dharma
made this happen.

Jayasree

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

Pioneer-BookReview- 27April2008

Return of the Vedic Saraswati : Sandhya Jain

Dilip Chakrabarti derides the tendency to reduce historical debates to
slogans of 'secularism versus communalism', writes Sandhya Jain

Dilip K. Chakrabarti: The Battle for Ancient India . An Essay in the
Sociopolitics of Indian Archaeology. Aryan Books International, New
Delhi , 2008. Price: Rs. 390/0; pp. 173.

As water-starved Haryana urges the Oil and Natural Gas
Commission for drilling machines to rediscover the paleo channels in
which the once-mighty Saraswati may be flowing silently, it may solve
one of the most vexatious issues of Indian history. Plagued with water
disputes with Punjab and Rajasthan, the state where Sri Krishna gave
the famous command to do one's duty, may soon unravel the truth of a
river once hailed as 'best of mothers' and more lately mocked as
'mythical.'

Colonial Indology and its modern avatars may soon face a reality
check. Dilip Chakrabarti takes this negative legacy head on in his
latest work, deriding especially the tendency to reduce debates to
slogans of 'secularism versus communalism'. On the Aryan Invasion
Theory (now Aryan Migration Theory), he argues that the history of
ancient India must be judged in its own terms and no claims of
externally inspired diffusion of its cultural development be made
unless there is strong supportive evidence and the hypothesis can be
justified in clear geographical terms.

Chakrabarti notes that when Dayaram Sahni went to excavate Harappa in
1920, the abundance of pre-historic Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and
Neolithic remains, including Neolithic settlements in the south, and
the 'Copper Age' was known. Any perceptive archaeologist would realize
India had a pre-historic civilization before its documented history,
especially in view of the occurrence of seals with unknown writings
and art-style at Harappa . It was known that ancient India had a long
history of trade and commerce with different countries, including
Egypt , in the second millennium BC. Unfortunately, the theory about
Indian 'races' and languages and the myths of Aryan and Dravidian
invasions were invented before the Bronze Age Indus civilization was
discovered; hence the finds at Harappa and Mohenjodaro had to fit into
an entrenched paradigm.

In 1924, John Marshall reported that in the third millennium BC or
even earlier, the peoples of Punjab and Sind lived in well-built
cities with a mature culture, developed arts, crafts and pictographic
writing. He was clear this civilization developed in the Indus Valley
itself, and noted its possible religious ambience, mentioning R.D.
Banerji's finding of a tank at Mohenjodaro which he felt was a
charanamritakunda, "receptacle for the holy water used for the washing
of the sacred image." At Harappa , archaeologists found a small mound
suggestive of an image shrine, though it is difficult to say if image
worship existed then. Chakrabarti says this is a hint to seek
reflection of the Indus religion in prevailing rituals of Hinduism.

R.P. Chanda created the confusion about the builders of Harappa and
Mohenjodaro and the Rig Vedic Aryas. He believed the Indus
civilization was both pre- and non-Vedic. Yet Chanda also tried to
view the Indus civilization within the framework of Indian tradition
by identifying its yogic tradition as the root of one of India 's most
important spiritual dimensions; he also realized indebtedness of the
Buddhist and Jaina traditions to the Indus civilization. Mortimer
Wheeler formalized the Aryan invasion to explain the demise of the
Indus civilization in 1947, and the idea acquired hegemonic status in
academia though convincingly disputed by B.B. Lal (1953) and G.F.
Dales (1964).

P.V. Kane examined the relationship between the Harappan civilization
and Vedic Aryans in his Presidential Address to the Indian History
Congress in 1953. He argued that as Mohenjodaro and Harappa were major
cities, "the remains of dead bodies would have been found on an
enormous scale" in the event of an Aryan attack, and not limited to 26
skeletons at Mohenjodaro! The cities could have been deserted because
the rivers on whose banks they stood shifted. Kane compared the
internal evidence of the Rig Veda and excavated evidence of Indus
settlements and found reverence for water and the Pipul tree in both.
Regarding the occurrence of bulls on Indus seals, he noted that the
Rig Veda referred to Indra and other gods as Vrishabha (bull).
Astronomical references in the Rig Veda and Brahmanical literature
suggested that the Rig Vedic people were earlier than the Indus Valley
people, but as the evidence was meagre it was best not to dogmatise.

Tackling the festering dispute over the horse, Chakrabarti says horse
bones have been identified in and before Harappan contexts by
competent professionals like B. Nath of the Zoological Survey of
India. Moreover, Harappans could have imported horses from central
Asia as Shortughai was on the border.

The Cholistan archaeological survey showed the course of the
Ghaggar-Hakra denoted the core area of origin of the Indus
civilization, prompting S.P. Gupta to coin the term Indus-Saraswati
civilization, as Ghaggar-Hakra denoted the Saraswati riverbed.
Scholars challenge the view that the Rig Veda describes only an
agricultural- cum-pastoral society. Bhagwan Singh has listed various
crafts and professions, navigation, overland trade and commerce,
housing and urban centres; while R.S. Bisht has shown that Dholavira
was divided into three distinct parts: upper, middle and lower,
corresponding to the Rig Vedic parama, madhyama and avama.

Chakrabarti argues that as the spread of this civilization was not
limited to the Indus valley, there is no justification to call it the
Indus Valley civilization; Marshall called it the Indus civilization.
While Indus-Saraswati civilization does better justice to its sheer
extent and the role of the Saraswati in its genesis, it does not cover
the whole territory; hence he favours Harappan civilization. Moreover,
in the current political context, Indus Valley civilization gives it a
Pakistan twist. What refreshing candour.

Chakrabarti concludes that the archaeological sequence of all areas
covered by Indus civilization sites shows no break in any relevant
area, or any evidence of new cultural inroads which cannot be
explained geographically with reference to the Oxus-Indus-Pamir-
eastern Iran political and economic interaction sphere. He feels the
Harappan tradition tempered with unidentified regional elements laid
the roots of the entire cultural development of the upper Ganga plain,
given that the antennae swords of the Gangetic valley copper hoards
have been verified as belonging to the Harappan tradition.

All people of the subcontinent are heirs of the Indus civilization. It
links the deep south through the find of a polished celt with incised
Harappan script signs near Cuddalore, and several sites with antennae
copper swords of the upper Gangetic Valley copper hoard type as far as
Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu and a tea estate in Kerala. Above all, it
is not easy to note any non-Indian tradition in the figure of the
Sramana from Mohenjodaro or any other sculptural relic of this
civilization.

http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=BOOKS&file_name=book2%2Etxt&counter_img=2

Poompuhar- an evidence of an ancient past.

Poompuhar - The reality of this sub-merged city has now been accpeted by the researchers.

A lot more is needed to be researched off-shore Poompuhar

(Read the article below)

Instead of encouraging research in this part,

the Governement of India with the connivance of DMK

would like to destroy the traces of sub-mergence once for ever...

Fortunately, ASI has refused to grant permission for this move.

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

http://www.grahamhancock.com/underworld/underworld1.php?p=4

Online Introduction to Underworld
From Fingerprints of the Gods to Underworld

An Essay on Methods
By Graham Hancock

The mystery of the U-shaped structure

Yet there are so many underworlds.

I'll not add here to what I have to say in the book and the television series about Malta, China and Japan -- or why and where I think the Grand Bahama Bank as it last looked 6000 years ago is portrayed on the infamous Piri Reis Map of 1513.

I'd like to close with the Indian "theme" of the last few paragraphs but in a place about as far away as you can get from the Gulf of Cambay and still be in India.

The place is called Poompuhar. It lies on southeast India's Coromandel coast facing the Bay of Bengal between modern Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Its immediate offshore area has been the subject of marine archaeological investigations by India's National Institute of Oceanography since the 1980's -- and numerous non-controversial finds of man-made structures dated between the third century AD and the third century BC have been made in the "inter-tidal zone" close to shore at depths down to 6 feet (approximately 2 metres).

These finds of structures in shallow water (some so shallow that they are exposed at low tide) have been quite widely written-up in the archaeological literature. But for some reason other discoveries that the NIO has made in deeper water off Poompuhar have attracted no attention at all. Most notably these other discoveries include a second completely separate group of structures fully three miles from the Poompuhar shore in water that is more than 70 feet (23 metres) deep. The lack of interest is surprising because to anyone with even minimal knowledge of post-glacial sea-level rise their depth of submergence is - or should be - highly anomalous. Indeed according to Glenn Milne's sea-level data the land on which these structures were built last stood above water at the end of the Ice Age more than 11,000 years ago.

Is it a coincidence that there are ancient Tamil flood myths that speak of a great kingdom that once existed in this area called Kumari Kandam that was swallowed up by the sea? Amazingly the myths put a date of 11,600 years ago on these events -- the same timeframe given by Plato for the end of Atlantis in another ocean.

Like the cities in the Gulf of Cambay the underwater structures three miles offshore of Poompuhar were first identified by an instrument called sidescan sonar that profiles the seabed. One structure in particular was singled out for investigation and was explored by divers from India's National Institute of Oceanography in 1991 and 1993. Although they were not at that time aware of the implications of its depth of submergence -- i.e. that it is at least 11,500 years old -- the 1991 study confirms that it is man-made and describes it as:

a horse-shoe-shaped object, its height being one to two metres. A few stone blocks were found in the one-metre wide arm. The distance between the two arms in 20 metres. Whether the object is a shrine or some other man-made structure now at 23 metres [70 feet] depth remains to be examined in the next field season.

The 1993 study refines the measurements:

The structure of U-shape was located at a water depth of 23 metres which is about 5 kilometres off shore. The total peripheral length of the object is 85 metres while the distance between the two arms is 13 metres and the maximum height is 2 metres Divers observed growth of thick marine organism on the structure, but in some sections a few courses of masonry were noted

After 1993, no further marine archaeology was conducted along the Poompuhar coast until 2001 when I arranged with the NIO to dive on the U-shaped structure with funding from Channel 4 television in Britain and the Learning Channel in the US. Exclusive footage of the structure was filmed and is shown in episode 2 of the Underworld television series. Chapter 14 of the book is a report of our dives at Poompuhar, and what we found there.

Dr A.S. Gaur of the NIO told me on camera that it would have required "a very great technology" to build the U-shaped structure -- one far beyond the abilities of known cultures in India 11,500 years ago. For Dr Gaur this is a reason to doubt the accuracy of the sea-level-data which suggests that the structure was submerged so long ago. However the NIO have not yet been successful in recovering any datable materials or artefacts that could tell us its age more directly (for example by C-14 or TL tests).

My own expedition to Poompuhar with the NIO in 2001 was limited to diving on the U-shaped structure and one neighbouring structure. But what's really exciting is that more than 20 other large structures are known to be located in the same area down to depths of more than 100 feet. These have so far been identified only by sidescan sonar and never yet explored by divers. I've organised an expedition jointly with India's National Institute of Oceanography and John Blashford-Snell's Scientific Exploration Society in Britain to map and investigate these other structures in March/April 2002.

The Cambay and Poompuhar discoveries are both reported in depth for the first time in Underworld and set into the proper context of the flood myths and inundation history of the broader regions to which they belong.

If they are what they seem to be -- a caution I must repeat since so little research has actually been done by anyone -- then they signal an exciting new era in Indian archaeology in which the investigation of submerged ruins will play an increasingly important role. How do the Poompuhar finds compare with those in Cambay? Are they both parts of the same lost civilisation? Or do they perhaps represent two separate Ice Age cultures, one based in the north and the other in the south of the subcontinent?

Further exploration, involving divers, sonar scans and the recovery and analysis of artefacts will provide the answers.

And for reasons that I explain in Underworld, I think India's most ancient scriptures, the Vedas, also have a lot to tell us. There are tremendously good reasons to disbelieve the scholarly consensus (certainly the consensus amongst Western scholars) that the Vedas were composed as late as 1500 B.C. Parts of them probably do date from then; but some of the hymns could be much older than that -- carried down by oral traditions from much earlier times.

I think it all goes back to the Ice Age.

And in Underworld I try to explain why.

Graham Hancock
February 2002

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

http://setubandha.blogspot.com/2008/04/ancient-chola-port-city-asi-refused-noc.html

Publication:Times Of India Chennai; Date:Apr 26, 2008; Page Number:4

ASI refuses NOC for Poompuhar harbour

Accuses DMK Government Of Arm-twisting

T S Sreenivasa Raghavan | TNN

Chennai: Even as the Ram Setu row continues to simmer, the DMK government is headed for another controversy, this one set in the backdrop of the historic Poompuhar town in Nagapattinam district.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and state archaeology department have accused the government of armtwisting them into giving a 'no objection' certificate' (NOC) for a Union government-funded Rs 40-crore fishing harbour at Poompuhar that could destroy the ruins of the ancient Chola port city, lying at a depth of eight metres under the sea.

Archaeologists have refused to issue NOC for the proposed project since "the site chosen has several on and offshore archaeological structures."

The firm stand taken by the ASI/state archaeology officials could be attributed to the underwater images captured by National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) when it carried out a site scan immediately after the tsunami and reconnaissance survey in 2006. These exclusive images and video film are available with The Times of India.

Interestingly, fisheries commissioner Shambu Kallolikar in his March 19 letter to the state archaeology principal commissioner S Gurumurthy claimed monuments identified by NIOT were buried at a distance of four to five km from the shoreline and at a depth of more than 50 feet.

"They're old. He's not aware about recent surveys. The structures are less than half-a-kilometer and they lie at a depth of seven to 11 meters. The fisheries commissioner's claim is based on villagers' opinion, not scientific data," archaeological sources said.

Shambu in his letter played to popular sentiments to justify the harbour site saying "it would protect the Poompuhar village from sea erosion."

But, what upset ASI/state archaeology officials was the blunt comment by a top official of the fisheries department during a meeting in March. "He said it was more important to ensure livelihood to the living rather than protecting submerged temples and vihars constructed by dead people. We're shocked," sources said.

Former director of the state archaeology department Natana Kasinathan, who attended the meeting, said: "I made it clear. If the site had some archaeological structures, then the harbour has to be shelved."

His opinion assumes significance since the five underwater surveys undertaken during his tenure between 1991 and 1997 had unearthed a shipwreck, lead ingots and six man-made structures at Poompuhar.

"No construction can happen in 200 to 300 meters of monuments of archaeological importance. It's not possible to construct the harbour since several archaeological structures are strewn around the site," sources said, adding the structures discovered by NIOT needed further studies. "They're huge in size. They're also covered with bio-fouling. Only when you remove the fouling, we will know if the structures are parts of Buddhist vihars, temples or a row of houses," they said.

Shambu Kallolikar, when contacted, confessed the project was in a state of limbo. However, he denied charges of arm-twisting. "If they (archaeologists) think I am bulldozing them, they're wrong. We are ready to alter the structural design if the harbour meddles with their monuments. But, they have no conclusive proof. So, we're asking National Institute of Oceanography, Goa to do a survey. Also let me make it clear there's no political pressure to push this project through."

timeschennai@timesgroup.com

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQ0gvMjAwOC8wNC8yNiNBcjAwNDAx&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

From genetic studies to literary evidence - the non-existent Dravidas and dalits.

Comment by Anonymous on "Genetic studies - Dravidas and Kashmiri Pandits share a common ancestor."

“THE RESULTS ARE AS EXPECTED, THERE ARE DRAVIDANS, AUSTRALOIDS, MOGOLOIDS, ARYANS AND OTHER RACIAL GROUPS THAT IS PROVED. THOUGH THE PROJECT IS SMALL, THE SAMPLES ARE SMALL AND SO THE FINDINGS TOO ARE NOT LIMITED, A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY IS STILL REQUIRED.

OUT OF INDIA THEORY TO THE DUSTBN NOW, DRAVIDAN AND ARYANS ARE MERELY LINGUISTIC GROUPS BUT BELONG TO SAME STOCK, ARE SAME PEOPLE, PROVED FALSE. THERE MUST BE A STUDY TO PROVE THAT THE DALITS TOO ARE NON ARYANS. THAT IS EAGERLY EXPECTED, SOME RESULTS HAVE ALREADY PROVED THAT. STILL A DETAILED ONE IS REQD.”

____________________________

Jayasree’s reply:-

Reconstruction of the past can yield a true picture or nearer to a true picture,

only if we deal with it from different sources.

Genetic study is one, but it can not give a true picture of the people of very olden times

in a country like ours which has been continuously inhabited from very long

and where free mix of people had happened from very early times.

I suggested a genetic study among certain sections in my post

"Genetic studies - Dravidas and Kashmiri Pandits share a common ancestor."

because that was the recorded case of merger of people,

by Nacchinaarkiniyar in his prefactory note to Tholkaapiyam.

Not just a few people had migrated then.

Entire families of 18 types of Royal descendants,

18 types of feudal lords and tribes called Aruvaalar had migrated then.

People from different sections of Dwaraka had merged into Tamil society.

But this Tamil society that existed then also had its roots from different places of India.

The Cholan kings claimed

(copper plate inscriptions of Thiruvaalangaadu and in sangam texts)

that they are descendants of Sibi of Ikshvaku race in which Rama was born.

Cherans claimed that they are descendants of Parasurama, an avatara of Vishnu.

There is proof for this claim in PuranaanUru.

Pandyans claimed that they were descendants of Goddesses Gowri, wife of Lord Shiva. .

The Pandyans were located in the deep south in an area spread to more than 1000 miles

south of the present day Kanyakumari.

They only nurtured Tamil in the far-off kingdom which is now under the sea,

even when the present day Tamil nadu was not populated.

When a deluge happened corresponding to the time of deluge at Dwaraka,

they moved to the present day Tamil nadu.

Until then Cherans aand Cholans only were ruling Tamil nadu.

The Pandyans brought Shiva cult with them

although Tamil was prevalent in Cholans and Cheran lands

before the Pandyans migrated.

It will be nothing be short of idiotism to say that

these Pandyans with their Tamil subjects were Australoids or Africans or

Dravidas or what ever.

Any further tracing of their origins is to be related to Puranic stories of

Daksha Prajapathi whose daughter married Shiva of Kailash

- a North Indian / so-called Aryan in the words of Dravidian Chauvinists,

but who can be regarded as Dalit too in their nomenclature.

Because shiva exhibited tendencies of ‘pulaiyan’ in Tamil, whereas he is God.

This must make the Dravidian and caste talkers to realize

that they need to go a long way before understanding

what all these terms were meant in this country, in this dharma.

From the descendant of Gowri, daughter of Daksha prajapathi,

Pandavas had emerged.

The very ancient sangam texts talk of them as “panchavas”

(coming in the tradition of Goddesses Parvathi, also known as Pancha-paNi )

and “Gowrias” – coming in the tradition of Gowri.

They adopted Shiva, their son-in-law as their God.

Shiva in various time periods had married the incarnations of Parvathi and

one such marriage is again into the Pandyan family,

to Meenakshi,

which is a later day legend.

It is really a great insult to call the people of this tradition as Dravidan.

Dravidan came much later – perhaps just 1500 years ago.

It is not about a race.

It is about a place where people had ‘run to rest’

There are evidences by way of inscriptions too

(which I will be bringing in subsequent posts on One Aryavartha theory)

that the migrants had literally run to Tamil nadu – infact all over south India

which are now known as Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala-

though they initially settled in Karnataka and parts of Kerala.

They were called as Dravidas by a section of their co-habitants of Dwaraka

(first mention of dravida found in Raja Tarangini of Kashmir)

who chose to migrate towards Kashmir after being dis-located

by the surging seas in Dwaraka.

Their trail is what we see as Indus-saraswad civilization in the Harappan excavations.

I make this claim based on the dating done so far.

Harappan settlements had happened after Dwaraka deluge

and we have evidence from Mahabharatha that

the Dwarakans vacated the city as and when it was being consumed by the seas -

with a section of them heading towards Himalayas along the river Dwaraka,

with Arjuna leading them.

It is possible that many of them settled on the way to North,

(which later sprang up as Harappan civilization)

while some of them headed for Kashmir, accompanying Arjuna.

It must be noted that the best of ancient wisdom and books of ancient wisdom

remained with Kashmiris only.

Even Ramanujacharya made a visit to Kashmir just to have a reading of those books

which were said to contain main inputs on Brahmasutras.

Ramanuja wrote his commentary on Brahma sutra,

based on the version found

in those books which were in possession of Kashmiri pandits.

It is significant to note that Ramanuja’s theory was centered on

the supremacy of Vishnu or Narayana whose incarnation was Krishna.

The source books in possession of Kashmirs must also have contained

notions of supremacy of Narayana.

This is understandable if we accept that they had their roots in Dwaraka

or to Krishna’s tradition.

Coming to the comment by anonymous,

there was no race called Aryan, non-aryan or dravida.

These names were based on attributes (for Aryan) and location (for Dravida).

There had been free movement of people for all times in the past-

Sibi’s decendant coming to South India and

establishing Cholan kingdom is a point in reference.

The people spoke different languages

but followed the same culture, the Vedic culture.

Everywhere on the globe from Southern to Northern hemisphere,

the same practices had been there,

the same kind of division into 4 varnas had been there.

The Demons (rakshsas) and yakshas were there in the south.

So too the Pandyas - but they were closer to equator.

Generally those in the Southern hemisphere were followers of Shiva.

The attempt to classify them on the basis of Language will yield

misleading conclusions than to lead to truth.

It is because at all times and at all societies,

at least two languages had persisted,

one for education and the elites and one for mundane or common place use.

To show how the linguistic analysis may yield to wrong conclusions,

let us see the present condition.

Today we have English for education and different tongues for common use.

Any researcher who come after, say, 2000 years later,

if he happens to get hold of our present day coins,

will end up with a ‘finding’ that English was spoken all over India

and that English was the mother tongue of all Indians

and all the India was one people, perhaps the descendants of the British!

He will conclude so because any coin excavated anywhere in India will be the same.

And all our coins contain information in English only.

By looking at the coins,

he will even conclude that we are very primitive,

and agrarian only with no knowledge of modern gadgets.

This is what our coins depict of ourselves.

He may even be confused with other ‘findings’ on linguistics

from different parts of India,

and conclude that an English speaking culture

using coinage for trade in agricultural products existed throughout India

along with others who spoke a variety of languages (our vernacular tongues).

He may even devise a theory that this English speaking people

were in collision with those of vernacular languages.

So all this talk about deciphering language on the basis of archaeological findings

will not yield correct picture.

Fortunately for us, sangam texts and Vedic texts are there

which can be dated based on the information in them.

The information they yield is that

the culture was one, only Vedic gods were worshiped throughout.

People were one.

Whatever be the regional differences and linguistic differences,

they followed the same culture, the same gods and the same Dharma.

The language of scriptures was Sanskrit

and language of the commoner was different in different places.

The scriptures were in due course adopted in local languages too.

About dalits.

The dalits, which the anonymous wants to be proved as non-aryans,

also may prove to be otherwise.

Because there were no dalits in India in the sangam period or

in the Vedic period.

Some were identified so, by the others in the later period

in a bid to perpetuate work-based differences into social inequalities.

In ancient texts,

there is at only one place that the word “panchama” appears.

It is in Jyothisha.

Jyothisha speaks of a sastra called “Panchama sastra”

Panchama sastra is the sakuna or nimitta sastra,

which is about predicting future

based on some naturally occurring events.

This sastra is called as Panchama, beacsue it is understood by the 5^th varna.

There were only 4 varnas.

The 5^th varna is the combination of all 4 varnas.

Each varna was identified as being capable of certain activities.

The activity that can be done by all the 4 varnas is identifying sakuna.

All the people were capable of knowing this.

That is why Sakuna sastra was known as

Panchama sastra.

I wish people know the past with its culture, its ways and terminologies

before jumping into conclusions.

The dalit is what is created by people –

not by the system of Varna dharma,

not by Aryan or Tamil culture.

(Yes, Tamil texts too speaks of varna variations and

we have definitions of this in the form of Tamil sutras.)

Any Dalit will share the same genes of the rest of the population.

But there are bound to be a mix-up from different parts of the world,

because people had been attracted to this place from time immemorial.

The mix-up was not by invasions

but by trading and other interests.

As Megasthanes noted in Indica in 3^rd century BC,

The people of Aryavartha

“never invaded others and was never invaded” and

“existed long before the ideas of civilisation evolved elsewhere.”