Jayasree Saranathan

Jayasree Saranathan

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The link given at the end of this article, provides the genetic analysis aimed at establishing the roots of Indians, in the light of theories of Aryan invasion (that a 'superior' race of Aryans came to India from Middle Asia / Europe) and also to explore the differences between castes in India.

As with other researches on these issues, this research also has established that Indians were indigenous to the Sub-continent. The Indian Sub-continent had served as an incubator to many ancient lineages.

The interesting findings are that

(1) the Kashmiri and Himachal Brahmins were more ancient – giving rise to the theory that further descendents of India sprang from them - and

(2) the Brahmins were in no way different from the ancient tribes – implying that they both traced their lineage to a common ancestry and that there are no genetic differences between the castes.

This is a great news for those of us convinced of the Sanatana dharma as the one and only Universal Law operating in the world.

One of the basic tenets of this Dharma is that the Creator Brahma facilitated the birth of humans through his Maanasa putras, the saptha rishis and other rishis who are known as Gotra pravarthakas.

All the human beings have sprung from these Gotra rishis only.
Even today the Gotra identification continues in our country, across all the sections of people. A person of one gotra does not marry the person of the same gotra. The reason is precisely, what the genetic research is going after – the Y-chromosome.

Persons born in the same Y chromosome family (as identified by a gothra) become Sa-gotris (siblings) and marriage within them can not result in genetic variations (variations are needed for further growth of Human race). Such sa-gotris exist in India cutting across the barriers of place, language and habits.

It will give rise to better insights if the genetic research is done gothra-wise and to find out variations between different gothras.

The antiquity of Kashmiri and Himachal Brahmins can be understood in the light of the ancient notion on Manu as the progenitor. The Himachal connection strengthens my opinion that the people of Manaali in Himachal Pradesh, (Manaali was originally known as Manu-aalay – the house of Manu) may be the oldest of all people and may even bear signs as ancestors to all the other people of India.

A gotra indicates patrilineal kinship. In a literal sense, gotra means 'cow-shed'. In Atharvana veda it is referred to a clan.

This perhaps indicates a group of persons who have sprung in a common place. Further descendants have sprung up from them.

The descendants were identified based on their 'varna' or attitude or nature, though they all sprang from a same Gotra.

The varna has now become the mis-understood and maligned concept.

In contrast to 'varna', 'Jathi' was identified as a simplistic concept of having just two distinct types. They are male and female.

The term Jathi is derived from "jatha:" – the one who is formed. Only two such formations are there - male or female. So the Jathis were only two.

Only these three concepts (gotra, varna and jathi) were there in ancient Bharath.

What we have bequeathed now are distortions and deterioration of these concepts with the passage of Time.

There are 49 established gotras. Here is given the list of 20 gotras with respective pravaras. The pravaras are further sub-division of Gotra rishi. As they have sprung from the same rishi, marriage within the pravaras also is not advised.

Gotra – rishi / Pravaram

1. BARADWAJA / ANGIRASA-BARHASPATYA-BARADWAJA

2. SHADAMARSHANA / ANGIRASA-BOWRUKUTSA-TRASTASYA

3. ATREYA / AATREYA -AARCHANANASA-SYAAVASASVA

4. VADOOLA / BARGAVA-VAITHAHAVYA-SAAVEDASA

5. SRIVATSA / BARGAVA-SYAAVANA-AAPNAVANA-OURVA-JAAMADAGNYA

6. KOUSIKA / VISVAMITRA-AGAMARSHANA-KOUSIKA

7. VISVAMITRA / VISVAMITRA-DEVARATHA - OUTHALA

8. KOUNDINYA / VAASISHTA-MAITRAAVARUNA-KOUNDINYA

9. HARITHA / AANGIRASA-AMBARISHA-YUVANASAVA

10.MOUDGALYA / AANGIRSA-PARMYASVA-MOUDGALYA (OR)DAARKSHYA-

BARMYASVA-MOUDGALA (OR)ANGIRASA-DHAAVYA MOUDGALAYA

11. CHANDILYA  / KASYAPA-AAVATSARA-CHANDILYA (OR)KASYAPA-AAVATSARA – DAIVALA

12. NAITRUVAKAASYAPA / KASYAPA-AAVATSARA-NAITRUVA

13. KUTSA / AANGIRASA-MAANDATRA-KAUTSA

14. KANVA / AANGIRASA-AJAMIDA-KAANVA (OR)AANGIRASA-KAURA-KAANVA

15. PARASARA / VASISHTA-SAAKTYA-PAARASARYA

16. AGASTYA /  AGASTYA-DARTYACHYUTA-SOUMAVAHA

17. GARGI / ANGIRASA-BARHASPATYA-BARADWAIA- ORAANGIRASA

               -SAINYA- GARGYA

18. KAASYAPA / KAASYAPA-AAVATSARA-DAIVALA

19. BADARAYANA / AANGIRASA-PARSHADASVA-RATHEETARA

20. SANKRITI / AANGIRASA-GOWRAVITA-SAANKRUTYA (OR)SAADHYA-                                          GOWRAVITA- SAANKRUTYA

If one does not know the gotra, it is said that one can adopt either the gothra of Jamadagni or Kaasyapa.

SvagOtra pravara ajgjnaanE Jamadagnim UpaasrayEt / NirNayasindu
Gotra naase Tu kasyapa:?. Kasyapa gOtrasya Sarva saadhaaraNatvaat /
(Smriti Chandrika)

It is because these two maharishis are said to be universal progenitors of human race.
They have been eulogized in the yajur hymns of Sun (AruNam).
They may not be human beings in the exact meaning of the term.
According to the metaphorical meaning of the hymn,
they seem to signify some energy level from which creation proceeded.
It is possible that in accordance with uninanimity of name, shape and works theory,
the rishis of that name were possessed of such energies.

There is another method to know one's gotra, if one does not know what his gotra is.
This is as per astrology that one can adopt the gotra indicated by the star in which one is born.
In Jyothisha, Gothras are recognized on the basis of Saptha rishis who are said to rule 28 stars
(including Abhijit) of the zodiac.

The Saptha rishi gotra stars are as follows:

(1) Marichi: Aswini, Pushya, Svati, Abhijit.
(2) Vasishta: Bharani, Ashlesha, Vishakha, Shravan.
(3) Angiras: Krittika, Magha, Anuradha, Dhanistha.
(4) Atri: Rohini, Purvaphalguni, Jyestha, Shatabhishakam.
(5) Pulastya: Mrgashirsha, Uttaraphalguni, Mula, Purva Bhadrapad.
(6) Pulaha: Ardra, Hasta, Purvashadha, Uttarabhadrapad.
(7) Kratu: Punarvasu, Chitra, Uttarashadha, Revati.

Persons born in the stars of the same Rishi are prohibited to marry within themselves.
The rationale of this must be explored to find out the common thread among them.
Astrologically, it appears that the distance between the stars is inimical to compatibility and friendship.

In Vaastu sastra, this arrangement of stars (in gotra varga) is 8th from the other.
The 8th varga signifies death and destruction.
In other words, the 1st and 8th in a group of 8-vargas don't go well each other.
Like this, we can pin point few other issues of non-match within the stars
that come under the same rishi.

The commonly accpeted rationale for prohibition of marriage within same gotra
is that the progeny will not be hale and healthy.

The links to genetic research:-

The Indian origin of paternal haplogroup R1a1* substantiates the autochthonous origin of Brahmins and the caste system

by Swarkar Sharma et al., Journal of Human Genetics (2009) 54, 47-55

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11517386/jhg20082a

http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/palaeolithic

(1) Silk” in Indian tradition

(2) Non- violent silk in Vedic times?

(3) Silk in Tamil tradition.

http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/silk

New evidence for early silk in the Indus civilization –

IL Good, JM Kenoyer, RH Meadow (2009)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11508384/Indussilk

The pieces of evidence for silk in Harappa and Chanhudaro are from threads to connect beads or bangle fragments.

http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/silk/ScreenShot270.bmp?attredirects=0 Fig. 3 Copper or copper-alloy wire ornament from Harappa c. 2200 BCE revealing intact thread. Photograph by JM Kenoyer.

http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/silk/ScreenShot271.bmp?attredirects=0 Fig. 6 Steatite (enstatite) microbead from Chanhu-daro showing slightly 'S' twisted single-ply thread. Photomicrograph by I. Good and R. Newman

[Note BC has been changed to BCE; AD has been changed to CE] Silk is an important economic fibre, and is generally considered to have been the exclusive cultural heritage of China. Silk weaving is evident from the Shang period c.1600–1045BCE though the earliest evidence for silk textiles in ancient China may date to as much as a millennium earlier. Recent microscopic analysis of archaeological thread fragments found inside copper-alloy ornaments from Harappa and steatite beads from Chanhu-daro, twoimportant Indus sites, have yielded silk fibres, dating toc.2450–2000BCE. This study offers the earliest evidence in the world for any silk outside China, and is roughlycontemporaneous with the earliest Chinese evidence for silk. This important new finding brings into question the traditional historical notion of sericulture as being an exclusivelyChinese invention.

BACKGROUND

The Indus Civilization, c. 2800–1900 bce, was one of the great urban riverine civilizations of the ancient world. Current understanding of this cultural phenomenon is that it emerged out of earlier diverse, regional cultures that interacted with each other economically and socially. Settlements of the Indus Civilization spread over a vast area, centred on the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river systems of Pakistan and northern India. From the Himalaya and Hindu Kush to the coastal regions of Kutch and Gujarat, westward into Baluchistan and eastward into northwestern India, sites identified with the Indus Civilization are distributed across an area larger than that of Mesopotamia or of Egypt. Harappa, a settlement near the river Ravi in what is now Punjab Province of Pakistan, was the first of the Indus cities to be discovered (Vats 1940). For more than a century excavations have been carried out in the eponymous city (for a recent overview, see Possehl 2002; see also Kenoyer 1998). The florescence of the Indus culture (2600–1900 bce) is sometimes designated Mature Harappa .

More than a few enigmas concerning the Indus Civilization still vex archaeologists, not least of which is the lack of substantive evidence for reciprocal exchange of commodities with Mesopotamia, where Indus-produced luxury materials such as etched and long biconical carnelian beads were found in the Early Dynastic III period royal graves at Ur (Zettler and Horne 1998).

Recent work at Harappa (e.g., Meadow and Kenoyer 2005, 2008) has been carried out by the Harappa Archaeological Research Project (HARP), directed by Richard H. Meadow (Harvard University), Jonathan Mark Kenoyer (University of Wisconsin at Madison), and Rita P. Wright (New York University) in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and Museums of the Government of Pakistan. A new study of artefacts recovered from the 1999 and 2000 seasons at the site has revealed the presence of silk. The silk is not degummed but contains sericin-coated twinned brins, or filaments, of fibroin.

Micromorphological study indicates that the silk derived from wild silkmoth species rather than Bombyx mori . To assess the culture-historical significance of these new silk finds we take into account several wild silkmoth species known to South Asia, understanding that the real nature and extent of sericulture in antiquity is at present unknown. It has been assumed that the wild ancestor to the Chinese silkmoth,

Bombyx mandarina (Moore) was domesticated into the well-known (and only domesticated) insect

B. mori in China (Kuhn 1982; Chang 1986), although B. mandarina (Moore) is also native to South Asia. The earliest evidence to date for silk in China comes from an isolated find possibly as early as c. 2570

Bce from the Liangzhou Neolithic site of Qianshanyang (Zhou 1980; see also Vainker 2004; Good, forthcoming). There is evidence for silk from a bead thread at Nevasa in peninsular India c. 1500 bce

(Gulati 1961; see also Good 1995; Janaway and Coningham 1995). This new evidence of silk from both the recent excavations at the site of Harappa and from the Chanhu-daro collection curated at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, indicates that silk threads were being produced nearly a millennium earlier than the Nevasa finds, and were being used in more than one Indus settlement during the height of Indus urbanism. This new discovery of silk in the Indus Valley pushes back the earliest date of silk outside of China by a millennium and is roughly contemporaneous with the earliest evidence for silk from within China.

Not only has early evidence for silk been assumed to be limited to China, but the techniques of degumming and reeling have also been considered exclusive Chinese silk industry 'secrets'. The process of degumming is one in which the sericin gum is removed from the silk, by submerging the cocoons into a weak alkaline solution. Reeling silk is a process by which the long silk strands (gummed or not) are collected on to a bobbin rather than needing to be twisted as short segments into a spun thread. These two important silkworking processes have been thought to be part of a 'package' of Chinese technology known only to China until well into the early centuries ce, although the evidence presented here indicates that wild

Antheraea silks were also known and used in the Indus area as early as the mid-third millennium

bce, and that reeling was practised. The implication of evidence for silk reeling is that the silkmoth was stifled, leaving the cocoon intact in order to be unravelled. When wild silk cocoons are collected on the ground, usually after the silkmoth has eaten its way out, the remaining silk fibres must be spun rather than reeled, as they are short. Specific contributions of the present paper include discussion of new silk finds from Harappa and Chanhu-daro along with SEM imaging of modern wild specimens of Antheraea assamensis and A. mylitta silk…

RESULTS

Harappa

In the course of excavations on Mound E at Harappa in 1999, a hollow copper or copper-alloy bangle fragment (H1999/8863-2) was recovered from domestic debris that dates to Period 3C (c. 2200–1900 cal bce).

Preserved fibre forming a thread was found inside the hollow portion of the bangle. The thread samples removed comprise two fragments: one was recovered in disintegrated condition (designated 'A') and the other still retained some thread structure ('B'). These two samples are of the same thread, and are composed uniformly of the same type of fibre. Partial mineralization and fibre disintegration hampered a simple and straightforward identification of thread sample H99/8863-2. The thread itself is a slightly 'S' twisted (at about10°), two-plied thread with approximately 60–75 'Z'-spun strands in each ply.

Scanning electron micrographic survey at high resolution (1000 magnification and above) of various sites on both sample fragments 'A' and 'B' allowed morphological determination of fibres to be silk, and further determination of silk from the A. assamensis species (see Table 1 and Figs 1 and 2).

A second thread sample from Harappa (H2000/2242-1 lab 2000–1955) was recovered in the 2000 field season. It was found preserved inside a coiled wire ornament made of native copper or of a copper-alloy that was recovered from debris on the floor of a structure dating to late Period 3A or early Period 3B (c. 2450 cal bce). The ornament appears to be some sort of necklace made up of two strands of coiled wire strung with silk thread. This sample is also of a wild Antheraea silk, but appears to be from a different species, A. mylitta , as it has a distinctive striated fibre (Figs 3–5). The particular morphological characteristics of each type of silk are due to the unique shape of the silkworm's orifice when ejecting fibroin during cocooning. In this case, striations are characteristic of A. mylitta silk. These two species are indigenous to South Asia. A. assamensis is found in the high altitudes of the northeastern subcontinent,

And A. mylitta is found along the tropical west coastal region. However, both regions are at a considerable distance from the Indus Valley…

Chanhu-daro

Chanhu-daro is another significant site of the Indus Civilization, located on the west bank of the river Indus in what is now Sindh province of Pakistan. Chanhu-daro was excavated in the winter of 1935–36 by the first American Archaeological Expedition to India directed by Ernest Mackay and sponsored by of the American Oriental Society and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Mackay 1943). A recent survey of excavated small finds (principally copper or copperalloy artefacts such as razors and bowls) currently in the Boston MFA collections revealed several objects with either textile 'pseudomorph' or actual extant textile adhering to surfaces of objects. One object, a heat-fused cluster of microbeads made of enstatite (heated magnesium silicate, perhaps in the form of steatite) found inside a copper or copper-alloy bowl, had been published in Mackay's report (plate LXXIV, object 2391). The microbeads contained therein (object 2391B) were noted to include intact thread remains (see Figs 6 and 7).

The object dates somewhere between 2450 and 2000 bce . Microbead and thread samples from this object from Chanhu-daro were removed and analysed. The thread consists of a single ply of approximately 40–50 strands, with a slight 'S' twist (approximately 12–15°). Fibres from the thread were studied under SEM at 20 kVwithout sputtercoating. They appear partially gummed and partially twinned, characteristic of a reeled (but not degummed) silk. It is not certain at this stage of research from which species of silkmoth these fibres derived. The fibres may be from A. assamensis or possibly from a species of Philosamia (Eri silk)…

DISCUSSION

The formal exportation of silk from China took place around 119–115 bce during the reign of Han Emperor Wu-ti, who sought the fabulous blood-sweating 'celestial horses' of Ferghana (in modern day Uzbekistan). Yet archaeologists have puzzled over the early presence of silk in a late prehistoric Celtic site in Germany

C . 700 bce , as well as silk finds from several other sites in Europe, the Mediterranean, Egypt and Central Asia (see, for example, Richter 1929; Hundt 1971; Askarov 1973; Wild 1984; Braun 1987; Lubec et al.

1993). For decades, archaeologists have cited these findings as evidence for early contact between China and the West (for full discussion see Good 1995; see also Good in press). What has not been adequately considered in the literature, however, is the possibility that a non-Chinese (and de facto wild) species of silkworm that produced workable silk was known and used in antiquity, and that the rare instances of silk that have been discovered far outside of China, and that date to before Wu-ti's trade relationship with the West began, may have, in fact, been produced indigenously or imported from regions other than China. The evidence presented here now suggests that early sericulture did in fact exist in South Asia and was roughly contemporaneous with the earliest known silk use in China.

CONCLUSIONS

This research offers new insight on the extent and antiquity of sericulture. Specifically, these finds indicate the use of wild indigenous silkmoth species in South Asia as early as the mid-third millennium bce. Careful morphological study of highly degraded fibres through images derived from scanning electron microscopy allows subtle but distinct and diagnostic features of fibre surface and fibre shaft morphology to aid in moth species identification. At least two separate types of silk were utilized in the Indus in the mid-third millennium bce.

Based on SEM image analysis there are two thread forms in the samples from Harappa, which appear to be from two different species of silkmoth (Antheraeasp.). The silk from Chanhudaro may be from yet another South Asian moth species Philosamia spp. (Eri silk). Moreover, this silk appears to have been reeled. The variety in type, technology and thread forms of these few rare examples of silk offers us a glimpse into the extent of knowledge about sericulture in the Indus Civilization during the Mature Harappan phase. This knowledge helps to explain other early instances of silk in Eurasia outside of China, specifically from the mid-second millennium bc Deccan Peninsula of India (Gulati 1961) and contemporaneously in Bactria (Askarov 1973). By careful analysis of archaeological silk fibre surface morphology, one can distinguish between the source silkworm species. Through this type of study we can also begin to better understand the origins of silk use further to the East. The discoveries described here demonstrate that silk was being used over a wide region of South Asia for more than 2000 years before the introduction of domesticated silk from China. Earlier models that attribute the origins of silk and sericulture exclusively to China need to be re-examined and revised.

NOTE

Ages employed in this article for Harappa and Indus Civilization sites are based on calibrated radiocarbon dates, of which more than 100 come from Harappa. Other dates are those current in the literature…

Meadow and Kenoyer excavated the Harappa materials and identified samples with threads. Kenoyer conducted preliminary analyses on Harappa threads (the results of which are referred to in Kenoyer 2003, 2004). Meadow and Kenoyer provided Harappa samples to Good, who analysed and identified the threads both from Harappa and from Chanhu-daro. Good wrote the article, with contributions on Indus archaeology from Kenoyer and Meadow, and produced the images and figures, except Figures 3 and 4.

[Source: Good, I.L., JM Kenoyer and RH Meadow, 2009, New evidence for early silk in the Indus civilization, Archaeometry, 50,00 (2009), Univ. of Oxford]

Some glosses related to silk:

See at http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/silk

Jayasree Saranathan

The following link provides a concise view on the genetic studies conducted by 9 different groups of eminent scientists in the past decade.

All these studies invariably dispute the Aryan Invasion theory.

These studies establish that India provided a common gene pool that was ancestral to all the diverse maternal European and American lineages.

It seems India has served as an incubator for further spread of human race.

The Indian gene pool traces its origin in Africa as early as 50,000 years ago and from this gene pool only, further migrations have happened to the rest of the places in Europe.

Within the Indian gene pool, there is no difference in terms of Y chromosome, between tribes and castes and communities. There is no difference regionally and linguistically.

Details of the studies and results can be read here.

http://www.omilosmeleton.gr/pdf/en/indology/Genetics_and_the_Aryan_Debate.pdf

--> The findings are in tandem with what is being repeatedly written in this blog.
The Indian land mass originally called as Aryavartha or Jambhoodweepa was huge and spread in the southern part of the equator. Daksha prajapathy was the ruler of this place according to puranas. The previous manvanthra had happened in that region. Any manvanthra stretches to 30 crore years. The present manvanthra (7^th manvanthra in which we are in the 28^th Chathur maha yuga) started 11 crore years ago. This means the present type of human evolution started 11 crore years ago.

At that time the entire land mass of Jambhoodweepa had been one with Australia, Africa and Indonesia. The Caucasian origin is noted in Africa in the genetic studies. This tallies with beings such as Kubera and daithyas who lived in Kusha dweepa which is the present day Africa (there is an archeological evidence of Kuber, city of gold in Africa). Along with them had existed the Negroids.

The types of people has been mentioned by Bhaskara II, in Siddhantha Shiromani. He says that there were 4 races of people, devas, asuras, manushyas and daityas.

He quotes this from much earlier texts which had become extinct even by his times.

The asuras were dark in colour and daithyas were fair in complexion.

In addition there had been Danavas who were asuras with fair complexion. Maya was a Danava.

Like this different types of races had existed in this southern land.

But the archeologically proven volcanic eruption in Indonesia around 80,000 years ago and the continuing movement of the Lemuria towards north (this started 80 lakh years ago) accompanied with earthquakes etc resulted in fissures in the land.

The land had moved north, along with the people who once shared their land with those in Africa and Australia.

That is how the origins can be traced to Africa.

I do not think a 'migration' from Africa happened. I wonder why there was a need for migration at a time when land forms were close and non-ripped. People existed in the vast land mass and had easily moved throughout. Here we should not think of the land mass of the present day. Today the Indian sub continent is moving northward at the rate of 9 metres per century. Just imagine where it would have been some 50 or 80,000 years ago.

At a time of 80k years ago the rate of movement must have been even more. At present, the movement is too restricted and slowed down due to the already – reached limits of pushing the Russian plate. This land mass south of the Himalayas which contained Kumari must have been the jambhoo dweepa (naavalam theevu) , now known as a mythical Lemuria.

From Sangam texts we know that India was spread far down the south. The civilization that dominated the south then must have continued but faced threats when the seas rose due to Ice age coming to an end. This is mentioned as the first deluge in Tamil texts.

Sangam texts also reveal that the Bay of Bengal was a ‘dug-out-sea’. This sea in the east is known in Tamil texts as ‘Thodu kadal’ It means “thOndappatta kadal” or ‘the sea that is dug’. It was dug by the sons of sagara which came to be filled by the Ganges.

This takes us to look at the time of Ganges. Ganges came down in the times of Bhageeratha which was some 1000 years before Rama. Astronomically Rama’s time has been dated around 7000 BC. So Ganges came at around 8000 BC.
It was only with the coming of the Ganges, the Ganga sagar or Bay of Bengal was carved out on the landmass (refer my posts on Ram sethu)

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Related posts:-

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/04/from-genetic-studies-to-literary.html

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/06/first-man-originated-in-manaali-hp.html

Jayasree Saranathan

Today no one asks what is in a name or why not any name, while naming one's child.

Lot of thinking goes into finding a name for the child.

Concepts such as energy and vibration of the name

and what the name conveys are given due consideration while choosing the name.

Sanatanic system of thought also followed certain concepts

while deciding the name for the new-born.

'Nama-karma' – naming the child –

is one of the main samskaras to be done by the parents,

irrespective of the varna or caste to which they belong.

And this naming was guided by certain rules.

The child must be given 3 names.

They are 'maasa naama' – name based on the month of birth,

'Nakshathra naama' – name based on the birth star and

'vyavahaara naama' – name for daily usage.

The sankalpa manthra for the naming ceremony as told in Dharma Sindhu is

"mama kumarasya aayushyabhi vrudhyartham,

sabha sthala sat-purushE madhyE, naama prakatana siddhyartham,

maasa naamna, nakshathra naamna, vyavahara naamaacha

samskarishyaa vahe"

(For the sake of longevity of my child, let me announce in the midst of this group of great persons, the month-name, star-name and usage name of my child.)

This format has been in vogue for all these years till, say,

a couple of generations ago, in many families.

This format was followed for some important reasons.

The most important name is the naama nakshathra.

Jyothisha which is considered as the eye of the Veda Purusha says

that the star in which a person is born rules the mind and thoughts of the person.

The birth star is no accident of life!

A person is destined to born at a specific time in the specific star

so that his life's journey is fulfilled as planned by Kaala purusha.

Every star has some vibration that tallies with a specific akshara (letters)

Akshara is that which never declines or decays or dies.

It stays on.

Rig Jyothisha of Lagadha indicates stars by specific aksharas.

For instance Ashwini is known as 'jou' in Rig jyothisha.

If it is said 'dra', it indicates Arudra.

Like this,

'Gaha' for Poorva phalguni,

'hi' for poorva bhadrapada,

'shya' for pushya,

'haa' for hastha,

'je' for jyeshta,

'shta' for dhanishta,

'moo' for moola,

'nye' for bharaNi,

'kru' for Kritthika.

'ro' for rohini,

'dha' for Anuradha and so on.

These aksharas carry the entire tattawa or vibration of the star.

A person born in a star is said to possess this tattwa or vibration.

As such, a group of aksharas is indicated for each star.

A person born in a star is supposed to get his name beginning with that akshara!

This concept of Naama nakshathra had been in vogue from time immemorial.

Just by knowing one's name, an intelligent person will be able to say what his nature is, by linking the first letter of his name to the star it denotes.

This was very useful at many places.

All of us have to interact with each other and

it would be useful if we can know the nature of the other person just by his name.

Naama nakshathra is useful in everything in mundane life,

from deciding the house or plot you want to buy for occupation

to deciding your fortunes at any given moment (through prashna sastra).

Nama naskhathra was also used in poetry in olden Tamil texts,

wherein the name of the person or king or God praised in the song

is cleverly indicated in the very first word of the first verse.

In this way we can find out the god indicated by

Thiruvalluvar in Thirukkural as Sri Rama. (*)

The month name is also necessary for ascertaining the nature of events in one's life.

If the star is about the moon's position at the time of birth,

the month indicates sun's position at the time of birth.

The sun and the moon are regarded as the breath (swaasam) of a person.

They represent the two naadis of the breath,

the surya nadi (in the right nostril) and chandra naadi (in the left nostril).

The text 'Shiva swarodhayam' details this.

The mastery over these two are supposed to make one the Seer of

past, present and future.

This mastery is regarded as one among the 64 arts.

These two naadis of the sun and the moon decide the longevity of the person.

When one of them malfunctions, diseases occur.

If the malfunction prolongs, death occurs.

In this way, the sun and the moon

or in other words, the month and the star in which a person is born

become indicative of his / her life and longevity.

The third name is of course, the general name by which a person is called.

But for all practical purposes, the star name is necessary.

Some tips from rishis:-

Ashvalayana:- The surname of a brahmin is Sharma,

that of kshathriya
is Varma.

The vaishya has Gupta and

the fourth caste has Dasa as its
surname.

Manu:- Girls should be given names that are easily pronounced and are
not harsh sounding. The name should have clear meaning, should be
attractive and auspicious. The names should end in Aa (long aa) or
(˜ or Ÿ ) and should signify blessedness. The boys should have
names with even number of letters - e.g. Rama, shiva [izv] . Girls
should have names with odd number of letters- e.g. Yashod˜, Bhav˜nŸ.

(*) The God indicated by Thiruvalluvar.

From

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/04/thiruvalluvar-aandu-what-karunanidhi.html

We come across norms in Choodamani nigandu, given as sutras

and if we apply these rules to Thirukkural,

we come to know that

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 "maanan" 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 (in Madiyinmai adhikaram)

Jayasree Saranathan

The following article by Jayati Gosh explains the Phenomenon of Satyamisation – of 'Control Fraud', that is a fact of the capitalistic economy with less or ineffective regulations, as excerpted from Mr William Black's book.

The Indian scene offers two pictures in contrast of the now surfaced 'Satyamisation'.

On the one side, the question looming large in our minds is whether Satyam is a lone aberration? With corruption having come to stay in endemic and epidemic proportions, can we say that one is honest only as long as he is not caught? If we start looking at other major business houses, will there be anyone left to throw the first stone at the offender as Lord Buddha told? The phenomenon of "control fraud", eclipsing modern business practices lends credence to this question.

On the other side, we have corruption of mammoth proportions of the politically powerful. The 8,000 crore Satyam scam pales into insignificance, in the face of 80,000 crore Spectrum scam. Atleast in the case of Satyam, there is some solace that it was a by-product of a business, where the money had gone into growing business, in generating employment and revenue. But where has the Spectrum scam money gone? How many jobs it generated? How much revenue it brought for the country? And there is another question, are we living in a world of two types of corruption, positive corruption of the Satyam kind (of Business class) and negative corruption of the Spectrum kind (of Political class)? Should we not ask these questions too??

-jayasree

Related post on horoscope of Ramalinga Raju:-

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/01/ramalinga-raju-what-his-horoscope-says.html

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

Markets don't regulate, they abet 'control fraud'

by

Jayati Ghosh

http://www.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCC/2009/01/27/ArticleHtmls/27_01_2009_009_007.shtml?Mode=0#

THE SATYAM saga gets more and more amazing by the day, with extraordinary revelations about the extent to which the Raju family was apparently able to siphon money out of the company they controlled. As the murky details emerge, it is tempting to bemoan the poor state of industry supervision in the Indian corporate sector and see this case as an example of how Indian regulatory standards are not yet up to the standards set in the West. Indeed, that is how several analysts, both in India and abroad, have interpreted it.

But the truth is that instances like Satyam are neither new nor unique to India. Similar — and even more extreme — cases of corporate malfeasance abounded in the past decade, across all the major capitalist economies, especially in the US. And these were not aberrations, rather typical features of deregulated capitalist markets.

Furthermore, there is also quite detailed knowledge about the nature of such criminal tendencies within what are supposedly orderly capitalist markets. Four years ago, at a conference in New Delhi, the American academic William R. Black spoke of how financial crime is pervasive under capitalism. He knew what he was talking about: as an interesting combination of lawyer, criminolo gist and economist, he recently authored a bestselling book on the role of organised financial crime within big businesses.

This book — The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One: How corporate executives and politicians looted the S&L industry — is a brilliant exposé of the savings and loan scandal in the US in the early 1980s. It received rave reviews, with the Nobel prize-winning economist George Akerlof calling it a modern classic and praise came from all quarters including the then chairman of the US federal reserve, Paul Volcker.

In his book, Mr Black developed the concept of "control fraud" — frauds in which the CEO of a firm uses the firm itself, and his/her ability to control it, as an instrument for private aggrandisement. According to Mr Black, control frauds cause greater financial losses than all other forms of property crime combined and effectively kill and maim thousands.

Control fraud is greatly abetted by the incentives thrown up by modern executive compensation systems which allow corporate managers to suborn internal controls. As a result, the organisation becomes the vehicle for perpetrating crime against itself.

This was the underlying reality in the savings and loan scandal of the early 1980s that Mr Black used to illustrate the arguments in his book. But it has been equally true of subsequent financial scams that have rocked the US and Europe — from the scandal around the Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI) in the UK in 1991, to the Enron, Adelphia, Tyco International, Global Crossing and other scandals in the early part of this decade, to the Parmalat Spa financial mess in Europe, to the recent revelations around accounting practices of banks and mortgage providers in the US in the current financial crisis.

The point is that such dubious practices, which amount to financial crime, flourish during booms, when everyone's guard is down and financial discrepancies can be more easily disguised. This environment also creates pressures for CEOs and other corporate leaders to show, and keep showing, good results so as to keep share prices high and rising. The need arises to maximise accounting income and so private "market discipline" actually operates to increase incentives to engage in accounting fraud.

This intense pressure to emulate peers in a bull market, and deliver "good" results even if they are fake, is a well-known feature of financial markets which intensifies extant problems of adverse selection and moral hazard. According to Mr Black, "This environment creates a 'Gresham's Law' dynamic in which perverse incentives drive good underwriting out of circulation".

Mr Black further argues that the tendency for such control fraud has greatly increased because of neoliberal policies that have reduced the capacity for effective regulation. According to him, this operates in four ways: "First, the policies limit the number and quality of regulators. Second, the policies limit the power of regulators. It is common for the profits of control fraud to greatly exceed the maximum allowable penalties. Third, it is common to choose lead regulators that do not believe in regulation (Harvey Pitt as chairman of the SEC and, more generally, President Reagan's assertion that 'government is the problem'). Fourth, it is common to choose, or retain, corrupt regulatory leaders. Privatisation, for example, creates ample opportunities, resources, and incentive to corrupt regulators".

"Neo-classical economic policy further aggravates systems capacity problems by advising that the deregulation, desupervision and privatisation take place very rapidly and be radical. These recommendations guarantee that even honest, competent regulators will be overwhelmed. Overall, the invariable result is a self-fulfilling policy — regulation will fail. Discrediting regulation may be part of the plan, or the result may be perverse unintended consequences." "Neo-classical policies also act perversely by easing neutralisation. Looting control frauds are guaranteed to produce large, fictional profits. Neo-classical proponents invariably cite these profits as proof that the 'reforms' are working and praise the 'entrepreneurs' that produced the profits. Simultaneously, there is a rise in 'social Darwinism'.

The frauds claim that the profits prove their moral superiority and the necessity of not using public funds to keep inefficient workers employed. The frauds become the most famous and envied members of high society and use the company's funds to make political and charitable contributions (and conspicuous consumption) to make them dominant." "In sum, in every way possible, neo-classical policies, when they are adopted wholesale, sow the seeds of their own destruction by bringing about a wave of control fraud. Control frauds are a disaster on many different levels. They produce enormous losses that society (already poor in many instances) must bear. They corrupt the government and discredit it. They inherently distort the market and make it less efficient.

When they produce bubbles they drive the market into deep inefficiency and can produce economic stagnation once the bubble collapses. They eat away at trust." Mr Black's analysis is extremely relevant for India today. Not only because it shows how widespread the problem has been in other countries, but also because it suggests that it could be much more widespread even in India than is currently even being hinted at. It is also very important because it shows how much of the problem is essentially due to policies of deregulating financial practices and implicitly encouraging lax supervision, often as part of the mistaken belief that markets are good at self-regulation and can control the ever-present instincts of greed and the desire for individual enrichment at the cost of wider social loss.

Jayasree Saranathan

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Gotras & common genetic ancestry of all Indians.

Kaun banega Slumdog Millionare? (sample questions)

Friday, January 30, 2009

Was India home for ‘Silk’ production? (Harappan findings)

(1) Silk” in Indian tradition

(2) Non- violent silk in Vedic times?

(3) Silk in Tamil tradition.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Genetic study on Aryan non-Invasion!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Naming your child.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Economics of Satyamisation.

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