Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Thank Karunanidhi for the success of ‘Kolaveri di’


It is said that success has many fathers whereas failure has none.  But the instant success of Kolaveri di song has only one father –it is its lyrics! 

There are a few reasons articulated for the success of this song –say,  its tune, the theme and the mood. But all these 3 are not new. Songs with these 3 elements have succeeded in their respective regions / languages but not like Kolaveri song. The simple reason is that Kolaveri lyrics are understandable for all. 

The tune and the voice remind me of  Ilayaraja music. Some one said that it sounds like “Nilaavathu vaanaththu mEle “ song. Yes, the music seems to be a mix of some already heard songs.  Even Dhanush’s voice reminded me of Ilayaraja.  But what stands out is the lyrics. 

English- mixed songs have generally appealed to larger masses. When people understand the meaning of the words, they can easily relate with the song and repeat the song. When this happens for a song having a good musical appeal, then it becomes a runaway hit. 



In the past songs like ‘Take it easy Urvashi’ and ‘Chkku bukku rayilu’ also received wider attention all over India. But they were adapted in other languages and succeeded.  In contrast, Kolaveri di is fully understandable. The broken English that many an average Tamilian is known to speak sounds funny, new and also easy to understand.

This is a kind of English that no one else can make, I think. This is an English that can crop up among people who face constraints in learning this language. The Tamil Chauvinist Karunanidhi had successfully stalled the growth of English and Hindi in Tamilnadu. While 2 generations of people have come up with no knowledge of a single word in Hindi, the love for English could not be curtailed. Our boys have to somehow know some English to attract girls and to fare well in campus interviews. The result of this is the birth of ‘Kolaveri di English’ which many like to call as Tanglish. No It is not Tanglish, it is English words spoken with native slang. It has appealed to the people and also made the song understandable. I think that is the main cause for the success of this song.

The irony is that such a suppressed love for English and success of such English cannot have come through but for Karunanidhi’s   policies on Tamil. He went to ridiculous extremes by saying that films having a Tamil name would be given tax rebates – this is irrespective of the contents of the film. 
Hardly six months after he was removed from power, here is a Tamil movie titled “3” churning out a song “kolaveri di’ full of English words, I wonder whether Karunanidhi heard this song and if so, what his feelings were like!!




Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The timing of Mullaperiyar agitation during Sabarimala season.

Times are such that if there is an agitation against a project that would benefit crores of people, then such an agitation would have the backing of the Church having some sinister design. The common man on the street is now more or less convinced that the Kudangulam agitation is promoted by people having some hidden agenda of the Church. The same seems to be the case with the Mullaperiyar dam controversy also. 

The following article written by Mr Bharat many months ago has a compelling reason to be read now. He has pointed the strange coincidence between the timing of the Mullaperiyar agitations and the annual Sabarimala pilgrimage time. The article is very convincing that I want to add only one information on that worship of Sastha. Sastha or Ayyappa worship had been there from time immemorial. The Mohini avatara, the progenitor deity of Lord Ayyappa was a very old concept. In geological symbolism too, it goes far back in thousands of years. 



The worship of Ayyappa also has an astrological reason. He is known as Dharma sasatha. Among the planets Saturn is the Dharma devatha who gives what people deserve by their actions. Therefore worship of Ayyappa is recommended as a remedy from  hardships indicated by Saturn.  


The astrological treatise called “Prasna Maraga” recommends worship of Sastha (Ayappa) as the remedy for the defects caused by Saturn in one’s horoscope. (Prasna Marga part 1, chapter 15, verse 7). This book was written in Kollam 825 (1649 AD) by a Kerala Nambhoodri whose name is not known. His place was Edakkad near Talasseri. From the book it is known that this writer –astrologer belonged to a traditional school of astrology and had written what was handed over to him. Those having knowledge of older astrological texts would accept that this author had compiled the wisdom of sages of yore. 


Why I am saying all this is that the recommendation of worship of Sastha to appease Saturn and as a remedy for purva karma indicated by Saturn’s position in one’s horoscope must have been an olden practice that he is reiterating in his book. As the book was written in 1649, it can be definitely said that worship of Ayyappa was there by that time. Such a worship coming down for ages seem to be the target for the evangelists. With a Government that is keen on bringing out communal bill, people must know the real threat for our nation and our culture. 


India has always been a Hindu nation. With so much of wide ranging Hindu-ness spread across our country, it is not inappropriate to call our nation as a Heritage Nation. Heritage does not lie in old buildings. It lies in us, the people who are the continuing and living example of this Heritage. This Nation must be allowed to exist with its Heritage and culture. Any force that seeks to destroy any part of it should be nipped. 


-Jayasree

Watch this video for the real story behind Mullaiperiyar dam. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXti8xblCLM

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http://indianrealist.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/mullaperiyar-dam-controversy-and-sabarimala/


Mullaperiyar Dam and Sabarimala: The religious roots of the Controversy

By Bharat


Mullaperiyar Dam is located in the state of Kerala in India. It derives its name from the portmanteau of two rivers, namely, Mullai Ar (Mullaiyar) and Periya Ar (Periyar). The dam was the result of a treaty (lease indenture) signed in 1886 for 999 years between the ruler of Travancore and the Secretary of State, Government of India, (then under British colonialist rule) representing Madras Presidency.

This masonry dam, built with lime and Surkhi by the British Army Engineering Corps, was commissioned in 1895. After Independence, Indian states were reorganised and their boundaries rationalised. The areas surrounding the Mullaperiyar Dam ( originally part of the State of Travancore) were merged with Kerala, while the state of Tamil Nadu received full rights to own and operate the dam as per the lease treaty. Tamil Nadu continued to use water from the dam. In 1970, both the governments decided to renew the treaty.
According to the website of Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, the controversy about the dam began in 1979 when several news reports began appearing in Kerala press regarding its safety.  From then onwards, the Government of Kerala began to see this primarily as a safety issue while the Tamil Nadu government saw it as an attempt to violate the water-sharing treaty.


It is not the intent of this article to argue for or against a party in this dispute. In fact this is not about either the historical aspects of water sharing treaty between the states or the safety aspects of the dam.
It is a painful historic fact that in India, many a times, local issues and disputes have worsened due to its being hijacked by various disruptive forces, national or international. Whether this holds true in the case of Mullaperiyar dam needs to be checked thoroughly.

This article is an attempt to investigate the forces that lie behind this controversy.
Mullaperiyar Dam Controversy in the Media

It is interesting to note that in the news media, Mullaperiyar issues get highlighted only during certain months of the year. This trend looks more or less the same for the last one decade (2000-2009).




[Figures 1 & 2 give the ‘Google news search’ for the individual years from 2000-2009].




A quick look at these figures suggests that the number of news items appearing in the media on this controversy starts in October, peaks around December and then continues on until April.
The significance of this trend will look surprisingly familiar to a Malayali or a person from South India.  It is obvious that news items about the dam controversy appear only in the months that are significant for the Sabarimala pilgrimage of the Hindus. Is this a mere conincidence? Let’s see.


Sabarimala Pilgrimage:

The Sabarimala pilgrimage is one of the most ancient pilgrimages of India. The presiding deity of Sabarimala, Lord Ayyappan, is one of the most popular deities in South India. The temple is open for worship only during the days of Mandalapooja (around November 15 to December 26), Makaravilakku (January 15), Vishu (April 14), and the first five days of each Malayalam month.

Sabarimala pilgrimage finds mention in many historical records of foreign travellers as well as colonial administrators (though this fact is studiously avoided by both Western and Indian scholars).
‘Memoirs of Travancore’  written by William Henry Horsley in 1839 describes Sabarimala as “Chowrymully”:

“Among the other pagodas of celebrity that of Ayapen at Chowrymully attracts particular attention, vast numbers (and many even from the eastern coast) flocking to it at the period of festival in January, to present their vows and offerings, notwithstanding that it is situated in the wildest country possible.”


Fig.1. Google News Search for the years 2000 – 2004

Fig.2. Google News Search for the years 2005 – 2009

It is possible that some readers of this article will feel that this article is going to be just another conspiracy story with out any real substance. It may also be argued that this similarity in “news-trend” is most probably a result of either a natural or an accidental cause with no connection to Sabarimala issue.

But when one observes the recent over-earnestness of certain anti-Indian publications regarding the reporting of Mullaperiyar issues and  also the same yearly ritual of ‘hit pieces’ regarding Sabarimala coming around the same time of year, it would become clear to a sensible observer  that this cannot be a result of accidental or natural causes.  There is a hidden sense of purpose and deliberateness in these ‘hit pieces’ that most of the time these ‘news-stories’ come with highly misleading titles  and repetitive news  .

The first step in unravelling this mystery would be to develop some idea about the published ‘literature’ regarding Sabarimala by the modern scholars, esp. the Western Scholars. A few of the important such papers/ books will be discussed here in this context.

Only a few books have been published regarding Sabarimala so far in English by Indian / Western authors. Of the Indian authors, books written by K.R. Vaidyanathan “Pilgrimage to Sabari” Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1978 and Radhika Sekar’s “The Sabarimalai pilgrimage and Ayyappan cultus” Published by Motilal Banarsidass, 1992 are the prominent ones. (Note: Radhika Sekar’s work was originally written for her Master’s thesis to University of Carleton and later published by MBD).

In the recent years quite a few foreign scholars have published research papers on Sabarimala. Amongst these, Remy Delage’s (a French geographer who have published a few papers in connection with “spatial dimensions” of Sabarimala Pilgrimage) and Filippo Ossello and Caroline Ossello‘s paper (‘Ayyappan Saranam’: Masculinity and Sabarimala Pilgrimage in Kerala) which deals with “gender aspects” of the pilgrimage are significant.

These works deserve greater attentions in this context as they are a pointer towards the western psyche regarding Sabarimala pilgrimage. As normal practice with Western scholarship, all these papers have irreverent comments/ descriptions of Lord Ayyappan such as “ambivalent diety” , “hyper-male diety”  and in a few places half-truths or plain lies . There are various remarkable things about these papers that can raise a few questions or doubts in the mind of a discerning reader.

“Mapping Out Social Change in South India” – A Geographic Information System and Its Applications (Chrtisophe Z Guilmoto, Remy Delage et al.)  is the result of a bigger project  “South Indian Fertility Project” (SIFP) funded by Institut Français de Pondichéry ( research centre of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Wellcome trust ( leading NGO of U.K)   etc. The objective  of this SIFP project is to “is to analyse the social and economic dimensions of demographic change through the study of spatial heterogeneity of fertility in South India”.

This paper  deserves to be read in full as its introduction to the subject, findings and the conclusion are relevant here. One also has to know why “mapping a religious pilgrimage” is a serious topic to be ‘researched’. Firstly Remy Delage in “Mapping Out Social Change in South India” asserts that “While in 1950s – 1960s, Sabarimala only attracted groups originating from Malabar Coast and the Tamil Districts neighbouring Kerala(Madurai, Virudhanagar etc), the pilgrimage today draws several million devotees coming mostly from the four corners of South India (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh).”

Author/Authors do not cite any source for this nor is it clear as to how he reached his conclusion regarding the numbers and the geographical distribution of pilgrims of 50 – 60 period. However Remy Delage in a published paper titled “From Fieldwork to Research Theory on an Indian Pilgrimage”  (another paper on Sabarimala Pilgrimage) gives a number of “ten to fifty thousand persons”. Again, it is not clear as to how he has arrived at this figure. This particular paper can be considered as an important one for our purpose in another respect also as he gives out the “complete list” of primary and secondary references perused for his research. (Please note that the omission of one important primary source is very significant of which more, will be explained later).

“Mapping out Social Change in South India” primarily is an attempt at mapping the pilgrimage of Sabarimala. In this study, a definite interest is taken with respect to movement of pilgrims from the State of Tamil Nadu. A district wise break-up of Tamil Nadu pilgrims was done using a questionnaire survey during the pilgrimage. Using this limited data, GIS maps were created for visualising geographic origin of pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, for representing routes and major destination (holy places) liable to be visited by the Pilgrims en-route to Sabarimala.

Though throughout the paper, an attempt has been made to study the routes or visiting places of the pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, the conclusion that the author arrives at is totally ambiguous and unrelated. It would appear as if such a conclusion is given just to hide the real intentions. This is because, the maps, (even though data is taken from a non-representative sample) clearly indicate that, the neighbouring districts of Madurai, Coimbatore, Theni etc ‘produces’ the major portion of the Tamil Nadu Pilgrims to Sabarimala. This fact is a matter of common knowledge and does not require any Geographic Information System (GIS) to prove this. But the use of GIS, to map out the routes and the other holy places/temples frequented by pilgrims of Sabarimala is a novelty, the use of which would be highly beneficial for its intended readership.
Here, the second connection between Mullaperiyar & Sabarimala emerges.

As per Wikipedia, “The dam’s purpose was to divert the waters of the west-flowing Periyar River eastwards, …………….taking the water from the reservoir through a tunnel cut across the watershed and Western Ghats to the arid rain shadow regions of Theni, Madurai District, Sivaganga District and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu”

This would mean that the areas served by Mullaperiyar dam are exactly the same areas from where, originates the ‘major portion’ of Tamil Sabarimala pilgrims.

Now it’s the time to ask ourselves some what if scenario questions and its effect on Sabarimala Pilgrimage:

a) What would happen if State of Kerala tries to forcefully ‘take over’ Mullaperiyar dam citing ‘safety’ reasons or tries unilaterally to build another dam in the place of Mullaperiyar?

b) What would happen if Mullaperiyar dam ‘breaks’ or is ‘made to break’?

The answer to the first question would be extreme resentment from State of Tamil Nadu which will lead to immediate economic blockade of the two passes which will lead to a state of mutual hostility. The result would be highly disastrous for Sabarimala Pilgrimage as well as for the unity of the nation. The answer to the second question would also be extreme hostile reaction from the State of Kerala towards the Tamils which would certainly affect Sabarimala Pilgrimage as well as the cultural unity amongst them. Thus it can be seen that in both cases, it’s a win-win scenario for those who want to disrupt the Pilgrimage.


The scarier part in this Issue is that, the same effects can happen even if there is a feeling that two mentioned scenarios are going to happen. i.e. Even a misunderstanding that the State of Kerala is attempting to change the treaty unilaterally or the feeling that the dam is extremely unsafe can produce the same result of disrupting the Sabarimala Pilgrimage. This has been happening for the last ten years. It can be seen that to till this day, this issue has been ‘kept alive’ (thanks to our ‘liberal political & Judicial system) by various means. The latest one in this regard is a ‘Hollywood movie” named “DAM 999”  which is going to get released soon.

The producer as well as the director of this movie, Sohan Roy is a Malayali Entrepreneur who owns a marine company based in UAE. The very name of the movie suggests that it is related to the Mullaperiyar Issue. It is still unknown how this subject is going to get treated in the movie or even how the movie is going to fare in the box office. But surely it looks like another attempt to take this issue to a ‘higher level’. The news that it is going to be released in 4 languages with the possible involvement of Celebrities like Aishwarya Rai, Celine Dione and other top level artists from Malayalam film Industry gives some hints about this.

But now a genuine question can be raised as to how and why Sabarimala is so important that such great efforts are being made to destroy it. Who are its enemies? What are their intentions? Have they attempted to destroy it previously? If so, why there are no historical records for it?


Sabarimala Temple Arson

In order to answer this, we need to historically revisit the 1950’s. It would be seen that in all currently available books/ websites/ periodicals there would be a single line mention of temple fire in Sabarimala, which forced the then administration to rebuild the temple.  Some very few websites mentions this as a handiwork of some ‘miscreants’. The entire matter has been so described in those books that even perceptive ‘hindutvavaadins’  began to assume this incident as ‘a forest fire’ intentionally / unintentionally initiated by members of a ‘rival’ community primarily for financial / land grab attempts.

It should also be noted that even our foreign scholars of this subject maintain their silence on this. Remy Delage in his paper titled “From Fieldwork to Research Theory on an Indian Pilgrimage” gives a full mention of the efforts of two devotees who tried to ‘promote’ Ayyapa in India, particularly after the ‘Temple fire’.  Yet he also ‘forgets’ or ‘choose not’ to mention this very important source. This is when he includes all government publications as well as record from 1906 to 2000’s.

What could be ‘so interesting’ in this report that all “our scholars” are conveniently forgetting it?? Why is it so difficult for researchers to locate this report??

It should not be so. As a matter of fact, there was an enquiry report titled “Sabarimala Temple Arson Case” which was later published by Government of Kerala in 1957.  This report (35 pages) is now available from a government owned website (Information & Public relations Department)
(http://www.firstministry.kerala.gov.in/).
Sabarimala Temple Arson Case: Enquiry Report was the report of the investigation of the same case conducted by Shri. K. Kesava Menon, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Special Branch, C.I.D. (On Special Duty). This report is significant for multiple reasons. Firstly, this report completely unravels the players who are actually involved in this issue.

Secondly this report extensively covers the “sentiments” of a certain community and proves that the most important reason for this temple arson was religious fanaticism. Thirdly had this report been studied and lessons learnt, Hindus could have avoided the ignominy of the “Nilakkal Agitation episode”  This is because this enquiry report categorically narrates this strange episode in detail –

“There is another back ground, which if viewed with the facts and the incidents mentioned above, will lend support to the possibility of an organised plan to destroy the Sabarimala shrine. In the month of Makaram, according to Ouseph, he followed a party of muthalalies consisting of Karimbanal Kochukunhu muthalali, Jnellamitthath  Kuttiachan, Podimittom Verghese, Karipparambil Devassya, Vadakkepparambil thomman and Pottamkulam Thomas, who left Erumeli in a Jeep and went to Kalaketti from where they went to Kollamuzhi by walk and halted. They directed the coolies to go into the forests and hunt. Then the muthalalies and himself went to Nilakkal in search of a church which they believed to be existing at Nilakkal. Though a search was made, they did not find any remnants of a church, but they saw only remnants of two or three temples.


It is surprising that at this period of the history of Travancore these muthalalies are searching for a church on the route to Sabarimala. It may be that either they want to establish by some evidence the existence of a church there or to renovate it or they are in search of a suitable place for building a church. Anyway the desire for a church near the Sabarimala orthodox route seems to have been deeply rooted in their mind as otherwise there was no necessity for all these muthalalies to join on this business. This it can be seen that since some time, the Christians have begun to deel the increasing number of low caste Hindus visiting the Sabarimala temple in ecstasy and devotion, which in all probability they would have thought if not checked would inevitably result in a check to the growing process of conversion of low caste Hindus to Christianity.
Further, the existence of a church at Nilakkal and Pampakadavu would in the long run attract Christians to colonise the area and thereby they could exploit these fertile regions and improve their financial conditions.”
That these exact things happened after a period of 30 years during Nilakkal agitation which led to their success in building their church at Nilakkal proves the extreme short sightedness of the Hindus.
Some other Excerpts from the Enquiry report:

1) ……………… the marks of violence on the brass-plate door of the Sreekovil together with the marks on the idol, raise the irresistible conclusion that the forcible entry into the Sreekovil was for the purpose of breaking the idol and that the weapon that was used to cut the Sreekovil door was the same used to break the idol. At the scene of occurrence, there was an axe and it is definite that that axe was used to cut the Sreekovil door, as traces of brass were found on the sharp edge of the axe and hence it has to be said that the fire was not accidental. ( Page 2 of the report)


2) The temple and its surrounding buildings were built up of wood, copper, brass, which were not easily inflammable, but they have been completely burnt. This is evidence enough to show that great effort has been made to set fire to the temple and speaks a deliberate action. ( Page 2 of the report)


3) The possibility of fire around the forest area enveloping the temple and thus bringing about the destruction of the temple is also out of the question, as there were no signs of any such forest fire around the area, and there were ample indications of a deliberate setting fire of the temple at the scene. ( Page 2 of the report)


4) The temple and surrounding building as already mentioned having been built of mostly non-inflammable materials, could not be easily set fire to and on a modest calculation, the perpetrators could have worked at this at least for four to five hours continuously, as evidenced from the emptying of the ghee tins and utilising cloth and other materials to set fire to the temple. Further, there were signs of occupation of the temple premises by a party. They have made use of the provisions that were stored in the temple including coriander. These clearly show that great labour has been undertaken in committing this act. ( Page 3 of the report)


5) After having explained that theft was not the motive of the offenders, the next point for consideration is to find out what else is the motive and who could possible have that motive. From the examination of the scene of occurrence and attendant circumstances, it was possible to come to a conclusion that the offence was a deliberate one well conceived and executed. There was a touch of open vandalism and desecration was the only purpose. The breaking of the idol after forcibly entering into the Sreekovil by cutting open the door with an axe indicates ferocity. With this background, the whole point has to be viewed ( Page 3 of the report)


6) Offenders have to reach the temple through such routes and familiarity and knowledge of the surrounding forest area and routes are essential requisites for such an expedition. Though it will not be correct to state that there are no Hindus who are not acquainted with the place and route, it is reasonable to consider that Christians have got more familiarity and knowledge than the Hindus in this direction, as they and they alone occupy the places at the base of these hills and they are the only persons who hunt and poach in the vicinity of the temple day in and day out. In short, they have more facilities to commit this crime than any other community; and it is in evidence that they have hunted and poached in the vicinity during the relevant period.
The forest lands and the areas either at the beginning of these routes or lying along these routes are all cultivated not by the Hindus but by the Christians. The Hindus have not and cannot have so much of opportunities as the Christians. A Christian has absolutely no regard for a Hindu temple or idol. To him a Hindu idol is either a piece of stone or a block of metal. In short, he attached no sacredness for any Hindu idol or temple except that he may admire as a work of art. It is otherwise for a Hindu. ( Page 4 of the report)


7) This offence is not at all the work of a mad man as evidenced from the method or manner in which the temple was set fire to and idol broken. The Hindus have no influence over the area and any party of Hindus cannot get into forests without being noticed by Christians. ( Page 4 of the report)


8) A party of Hindu coolies who had gone to collect minor produce had satisfactorily explained their movements and a thorough verification was made. They had no hand in this. The Hindus have no purpose whatsoever by destroying this ancient sacred temple. It is from this temple that Hindus get a large income. It is this temple that brings unity among all classes of Hindus.  ( Page 4 of the report)


9) Further, if the Hindu Mandal wanted to dot it, they would have as well done this before the Kaviyur  reconversion or even before the Hindu Mandal Convention at Quilon. Finally, if the Hindus have done this, certainly information would have come out by this time regarding the perpetrators, because, psychologically at least one of the Hindus would have become terror-stricken and blurted out the details to somebody. It was because the offence has been committed other than by the Hindus, no information has so far come forth. This is borne by the fact that a Christian or a Muslim has absolutely no feeling for the destruction of Hindu idol or temple. This again is a point of Psychology.(  Page 5 of the report)


10) History has repeatedly shown that such sacrilegious acts in spite of the devotion of the Hindus towards such ancient temples and idols have been committed with a view to challenge the basic existence of the Hindu temples. This is not only due to the fanaticism in the wake of hatred but also due to a desire to put a stop to the influx of a large section of humanity into the folds of this ancient religion. This is one of the sacred temples which draw due to its sanctity thousands and thousands of devotees of all castes and creeds to offer their prayers to GOD AYYAPPA.


Long before the Father of the Nation preached temple entry for all untouchables, this ancient temple stood as a beacon light and guidance to the whole of India. For example, the low caste Pulaya and the high caste Brahmin rubbed shoulder to shoulder and offered prayers in this ancient temple. In the present day, in the wake of partition and communal tension among different communities, exhibiting the ugly signs of enmity against one another, this Makaravilakku stood in all its solidarity voicing forth the union of all Hindus into one fold and the fact stood as the foundation stone on which caste, creed and colour had to be shed away in the worship of the all-pervading God. (  Page 6 of the report)


11) Investigation having pointed out the hand of Christians on circumstantial evidence, the details of which I have given below, it is natural to believe that the above facts related to the motive are not inconsistent with the evidence gathered. I am emphasising this point to show that the case was investigated as an ordinary Arson case on other important circumstantial findings with a view to trace the offenders, in which the motive point was not taken into consideration to begin with, and after investigating this on the lines mentioned above, and having arrived at conclusions, the motive point came in naturally in the wake of investigation. (  Page 8 of the report)

Conclusions

1) Presently, Sabarimala temple reportedly gets better security coverage. Serious studies need to be made about Government’s view of threat perceptions to Sabarimala.

2) There were reports in the press regarding certain explosions on 27-12-2009 near Sabarimala which caused panic.  On 5th Jan 2010 PTI reported arrest of a LTTE  man at cumbum. This is a serious development to be considered. It is a widely known fact that a certain “Universal” religion was one of the sponsors for this terrorist organisation. The fact that most of these types are out of jobs now and sitting idle in T.N camps should be taken into consideration. Any attempts of LTTE to infiltrate to the either forests or the shelter camps for refugees near Kerala / T.N border needs to be monitored.

3) The protection of Mullaperiyar Dam needs to be strengthened. The fact that the adversaries can go to any length for their nefarious deeds is to be acknowledged.

4) Let us remember what H.G Wells says in his book ‘Crux Ansata’   “I think that it stands for everything most hostile to the mental emancipation and stimulation of mankind. It is the completest, most highly organized system of prejudices and antagonisms in existence. Everywhere in the world there are ignorance and prejudice, but the greatest complex of these, with the most extensive prestige and the most intimate entanglement with traditional institutions, is the[ XXX]. It presents many faces towards the world, but everywhere it is systematic in its fight against freedom.”


REFERENCES:


1. Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India
http://wrmin.nic.in/index3.asp?subsublinkid=739&langid=1&sslid=733
2. Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India
http://wrmin.nic.in/index3.asp?subsublinkid=739&langid=1&sslid=733
3. JOURNAL OF KERALA STUDIES, PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSITY OF KERALA, Vol. XXXI, March-Dec 2004, pp. 1-66 (William Henry Horsley’s Memoir of Travancore (1839): Earliest English Treatise on the History of Travancore
Achuthsankar S. Nair,  University of Kerala)
4. “Stop Pilgrimage promotion in Sabarimala: Study” (P.Venugopal) : The Hindu, Dec 26, 2001
5. From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 24, Dated June 21, 2008 publishing repetitive news regarding Sabarimala on 2nd January 2010
6. Remy Delage-  Pilgrimage and Environment in South India — A Research of Compatibility Between Conflicting Ideologies ; Mapping Out Social Change in South India — A Geographic Information System and Its Applications
7. Filippo Ossello and Caroline Ossello — ‘Ayyappan Saranam’: Masculinity and the Sabrimala Pilgrimage in Kerala,2003
8. Filippo Ossello and Caroline Ossello — Ayyappan Saranam’ – [“The resultant child,Ayyappan, product of two males, was born from Vishnu’s thigh. Shiva and Vishnu were ashamed” – This story of ‘shame’ is un heard of and most probably  a wilful lie]
9. http://www.ifpindia.org/South-India-Fertility-Project-SIFP.html
10. http://www.demographie.net/sifp/objectives.htm
11. See  http://www.saranamayyappa.org/ResearchArticles.htm
12. See- ceias.ehess.fr/docannexe.php?id=952
13. Mullaperiyar Dam. (2010, January 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12:27, January 10, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mullaperiyar_Dam&oldid=336405035
14. Film Review,Oct 2009 –The Hindu http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2009/10/24/stories/2009102451611700.htm
15. Malayala Manorama Website (20-Dec-2009) http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/malayalamContentView.do?tabId=4&programId=1073752864&BV_ID=@@@&contentId=6320608&contentType=EDITORIAL&articleType=Malayalam%20News
16. Rajeev Srinivasan, Rediff http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/feb/28rajeev.htm -“The settlers are almost entirely Christian. In their enthusiasm, some Christians actually set fire to the Sabarimala temple in the 1950s: it was a nuisance to them in their attempts to grab the surrounding forest”

17.  Menon, K Kesava Sabarimala Temple Arson Case: Enquiry Report. Kerala — Trivandrum: The Govt.Press, 1957

18. Report can be downloaded from www.firstministry.kerala.gov.in/pdf/bills/Reports/tmple_arsn.pdf

19. For more details see http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=279
20. Malayala Manorama http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/contentView.do?contentId=6442196&tabId=1&programId=1080132915&channelId=-1073865030&BV_ID=@@@

21. PTI http://www.ptinews.com/news/453575_Suspected-LTTE-militant-arrested



Friday, November 25, 2011

Mystery of Mt Toba (Sundaland) explained through Puranas!

The Hindu wisdom is always encapsulated so that it is preserved against mutilation and also makes itself revealed only to the seeker. This wisdom is three-fold, physical, divine and symbolic. There is a verse in Aithareya Upanishad that says that Devas want to be invisible, secretive, mysterious, indirect, hidden and so on. This is told in a single word "parOkshENa" ("parOksha priya iva hi dEvaa:" Ai Upa - 1-3 -14).

That is why we find most of the stories of Puranas and of deities indiscernible or even absurd at normal reading, metaphysical on deeper contemplation but revealing geological stories of man and creation when seen in the light of revelations of diverse fields of modern science. In this post I am bringing out the inner secret of Tripura Samhara by Lord Shiva that is now revealed in the findings of what is called "Sundaland".


Sundaland is a name given to a cluster of islands in South eats Asia. It consists of Malay peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Borneo and other surrounding areas. The recent developments in sea level research done by Glenn Milne and Graham Hancock have shown that these islands were not islands but were connected as a huge land mass some 22,000 years ago.




The sea level was lower than now by approximately 150 meters thereby offering a good expanse of land for mankind to thrive. This region is a centre of attraction for researchers because this is the "closest area" for early man from east Africa who moved out eastward around one lakh years ago.



The light shades around the continents show the extent of exposed landmass at an earlier time when sea level was low due to Ice Age. The red circle shows the 'Sundaland' which now looks fractured into islands. The migration of man as revealed in genetic studies show that mankind stayed on for thousands of years  somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Currently Indian Ocean, south off India shows no sign of landmass. But with the discovery of Sundaland, there is increased interest in finding out whether it offered habitation for early man.

Another important discovery is that an ancient volcano located in Sundaland erupted about 73,000 years ago causing a wide spread devastation of mankind and other life.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123142739.htm


 
The red star on the left side of Sundaland was the location of Mt Toba, a Super Volcano that erupted then.
The scale of devastation was such that the volcanic ash spread as far as the Arabian sea covering most parts of South India by a few meters.



The red spot in the above picture is the location of Mt Toba and the blue spots are the regions where ash deposits have been identified. Due to the wind direction at the time of eruption, the ash had spread towards west of Indonesia.

Recent excavations in Jwalapuram, in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh showed that this village which had an human dwelling at that time (73,000 years ago) was covered with the ash of Mt Toba.

  
Genetic studies reveal that almost all of mankind vanished then but for a small group from which the current population of the globe has come up. These 2 revelations - a massive burst of a volcano and a small and specific cluster of mankind surviving that catastrophe are remarkably revealed in the Puranic narration of Tripura Samhara.

Before telling about that, I want to describe a few words and concepts that occur in the Puranas.

The Devas were beings who lived in northern hemisphere.
The Asuras  lived in southern hemisphere. They were huge in size too.
The gigantic size of the Asuras is also not a figment of imagination. There is something about gigantism in the  South Pole, the reasons for which Science has not yet found out. Recently many marine life forms of gigantic size have been found out in the Antartic ocean.


A gigantic worm on the floor of Antartica ocean.

The other terms that I want to introduce to the readers are Meru and Naga or snake.

The Meru or the  peak of Meru mountain is the Northern pole. The South pole offers a basis or substratum which was borne by the Giant Tortoise (Vishnu as Kurma). The constant rotation of the axis of Meru causing day and night and changing the climate in the north and south is described as the churning done by Devas and Asuras. Samudra Manthan, as it is called is thus a geological incident written as a story in the Puranas.


The Meru is tied with the snake, Vasuki which is used for churning. It is actually a  personification of the mantle under the crust of the earth. As the earth keeps rotating continuously for eons, the underlying mantle is churned continuously. It erupts wherever there is a weak spot on the crust.Poisonous gases, molten minerals etc come out of the churning. The poisonous gases were de-harmed because Puranas say they are "drunk by Shiva, the Neela kanta" . The molten minerals get solidified in course of time and become valuable metals and gems. This is personified as "Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth". But for this constant churning, we would not be getting wealth (lakshmi).


 A scene of Samudra Manthan seen at the floor of Atlantic ocean. 

With this background information on some basic concepts of the Puranas, we will proceed with Tripura Samhara.

Tripura means three sides or anything that is three. One can explain it at any level - physical, philosophical etc.
But after coming to know of the Sunda land and the eruption of Mt Toba, the story of Tripura Samhara shows a geological event.The names associated with Tripura samhara bear unique resemblance to the way a Super Volcano was maturing to erupt.

There was a Tarakasura who was killed by Karthikeya.
Tara means star.
Karthikeya is derived from a meaning 'fire' or 'cut'.
A star or star like glowing material was absorbed by Fire (Agni) is the import of this.

After the death of  Tarakasura, his three sons,
Tarakaksha, Vidyunmali and Makalaksha did penanceto become terrific fortresses.
Tarakaksha means star-eyed, Vidyunmali means one wreathed in lightening and Kamalaksha means lotus eyed (red in colour).
They formed 3 cities which were continuously rotating.
The cities were made of iron at the bottom, silver above that and gold on top.
They were fierce and kept rotating thereby tormenting the people.
They were called the Tripura  Asuras.

This description of the Tripura asuras (3 sided asuras) tallies with that of an active volcano.
The initial Volcano, Tarakasura had spewed fire (killed by Karthikeya).
But that was not the end of the Volcano.
It kept being active by being star like sparks (Tarakaksha), lightening (Vidyunmali) and red in color (kamalaksha).




The magma underneath had been so volatile that it is described as though the 3 layers of molten minerals of iron, silver and gold were rotating all the time.

The Devas and Danavas were present in that location, so say the Puranas
We know Asuras, but who are these Danavas?
Generally those in the southern hemisphere were called as Asuras. But there were other people also. One of them were called as Danavas. This is another concept of Puranas which is now proven by genetics.
There was an ancient progenitor of man  (Y-chromosome) and quite a few female progenitors (mt DNA). The current population of the earth have come from them.

In Puranic narration, Sage Kashyapa will appear wherever there is a need for creation of people.
Perhaps he signifies the ancient Y- chromosome.
If someone says that he does not know his Gotra, elders will ask them to adopt Kashyapa Gotra because all Gotras (Y- chromosomes?) have come from Kashyapa.
He was in the Deep South before 70,000 years ago,
near Kashmir around 40,000 ago and
after that his name comes associated with the region that has the Caspian sea.
Kashmir got its name from Kashyapa only.

This sage in the beginning of populating the world married 13 daughters of the Prajapathi (Father of people).
In ordinary understanding, people used to think lowly about this sage and other sages who married many women.
But all those stories are symbolic.
One of his wives was called as Danu. 
The children born to her were called as Danavas!
The lineage from them also were called as Danavas.
This shows that Danavas are coming in a specific maternal-lineage 
They are asuric in nature to some extent.


Popular Danavas are
Hiranya Kasipu,
his son Prahladha, 
Maha Bali, 
his son Banasura, 
Puloma (father in law of Indra and father of Indrani) 
Vrishaparva and 
Maya, the architect.

The Danavas including Maya was present at the time Tripura was fuming!
The torment caused by Tripura was unbearable that  the Devas asked Shiva to kill him.
He did so by using a single arrow.
The killing of Tripura by Shiva was described as Tripura samhara.
The exact process of killing is described in the Sangam Tamil text called Paripadal
which is an exact description of the destruction caused by a Volcano.

Paripadal - 5 says
"naaga naaNaa malai villaaka
moovagai, aareyil Orazal ambin muLiya" 

(நாக நாணா மலை வில்லாக
மூவகை ஆரெயில் ஓரழல் அம்பின் முளிய)

Naaga - snake
naaNaa - as the string (of the bow)
malai - mountain
villaaka - as the bow
moovakai - 3 types
aareyil - walls (fortresses)
Orazal - a single streak of fire
ambin muLiya - at the end of an arrow - killed

That is,
Shiva killed Tripura with the mountain as the arrow and the snakes (mantle / magma) as the string, he blew the 3 fortresses of iron, silver and gold (molten material) by shooting a single arrow which has fire at its end.
The snakes - as we told before - personify the magma trying to come out. 

This describes the sudden and powerful eruption of fire and mantle from inside the mountain (volcano) which resulted in the complete collapse of the volcano.

To depict it pictorially, here is the image of how a volcano looks when it bursts.



The same picture with the personification of a volcanic eruption with the Bow, String and Arrow that Puranas describe in Tripura Samhara is given below.




This Bow -string -arrow symbolism will look like a bursting volcano like this: 


Further description of the narration of the puranas say that as a result of that destruction,  there was ash everywhere. The ash was pale gray in colour. Shiva was completely drenched in that ash. He took up a handful of ash and smeared it on his forehead (the custom of wearing sacred ash started then). Not only that he started dancing! That dance was called as Tripura Samhara Tandava (the dance of destruction of Tripura)


This pose of Tripura samhara also fits in the description of the burst of a Volcano.
The leg has been raised straight upwards showing the path of the arrow from inside the earth
and shot upwards through the mouth of the volcano.

This dance of Shiva is described in the Tamil text, Silappadhikaram as the first among the 11 dance forms. This is called in Tamil as "Pandarangam".
Pandaram means white. 
Shiva was smeared in white ash after the destruction of the Tripura and then he started dancing on the ashes. That was the Pandarangam dance. This is depicted as Tripura smahara dance of Nataraja!


This description from Tamil texts clearly show that Tripiura samhara was indeed a Volcanic burst.
Shiva is associated with destruction.
The way the destruction had happened has been told as a symbolic story.
The Devas were happy about the destruction as the asuras were devastated.
But Maya Danava was present at that time!
He was a Shiva worshiper.
Seeing him trapped in the fire that ensued, Shiva saved him.
This shows the Danavas also escaped and continued their life.

Now let us look at corresponding clues to the location around Mt Toba.
(Toba sounds like a corrupt form of Tripura. Locals in that area might give us some leads on how that name Toba was pronounced in olden days) 





When Mt Toba erupted, the land looked like above. The red mark denotes the location of Mt Toba.


In the picture above we see so many locations of Sumatra having the name 'Pulau' which sounds similar to Puloma, the Danava who once inhabited this location according to the Puranas.
From where these names starting with Pulau come?




Now take a look at this picture.
There is a place called Tarakan in this region (Kalimanthan)
The red star shows the area of Tarakan  and the inserted picture shows Toba and Tarakan.
Tarakan has underground oil fields, thereby substantiating  our analysis that this location has for long experienced hot beds underneath.
In the story of Tripura samhara, we see Taraka or Tarakasura as the father who was destroyed by Karthikeya. 
The 3 Tripura asuras were the sons of Tarakasura.
In the picture above, there is a Taraka and also on the same line Mt Toba.
This seems to be the Father and the sons according to Puranic symbolism. 
The location of Tarakan now must be researched to know whether it was the location a volcano that burst in much older times. 


Tarakan is in a place called Kalimanthan.
Look at the name Kalimanthan, it means Kali's rotations or agitated dance.
In Tripura Tandava, Kali, the better half of Shiva also joined the dance.

Look at this picture.


We can see the Puranic characters Maya, Indra etc connected with Tripura samhara.
There are many places in this region having Maya name attested somehow.
There is Maya Karimatha and a Mayo island!
There is Indramayu!
Bali island reminds of Bali danava.
This location had been occupied by danavas in Tripura samhara times.


In addition there is a Madura and Yamadena.

This would raise doubts whether this region was originally the
Tamil region of old Pandyas, the Then- Madurai.
No I dont think so.
Then-Madurai was lost due to sea-floods.
Shiva was the protector deity and a king of that land once.
But the Sundaland region suffered the wrath of Shiva and it bore the brunt of fire not water.

This makes us think that the Madurese came to occupy this part
after their Then-Madurai was devastated by a flood.
According to Sangam Tamil texts,
the Pandyan king along with the survivors landed in the then extended region of South India
in a place called Kapatapuram. 
It is probable that many of his subjects have either died or managed to survive in nearby islands.
One such group would have landed in Sumatra and started new life.
It is always a habit with people to call their new locations with their old place- names.

The Madurese carry resemblance to Tamil life described in Tamil texts,
such as making salt as their profession (called as Umanar in sangam text)




and conducting bull races!!







Close to this place is a place called Yamadena, a word resembling the Vedic concept of Yama , the lord of death. The people here have a old stone-boat in which they do ancestor worship.

The broken stone -boat at Yamadena.

It looks that the people who escaped a great flood in a boat had reached this island.
The boat stood rock-strong that they escaped,
while others of their clan in other boats had drowned.
The people had done obeisances in their memory in a boat made of stone.

These 2 places, Madura and Yamadena seem to come from a people of later times
who escaped a flood.
Such a flood devastated Then Madurai about 7000 years ago.
But the rest of Sundaland bear the imprint of Tarakasura
as a Super volcano which caused havoc to the population.


The people who had escaped the havoc have managed to live in other areas nearby.
Though Indian Ocean seems to be devoid of land to support people,
it did have good many locations which were mostly top of the mountains
of 90 east ridge and the other long range on south of Arabian sea.
There were scattered regions where people could have stayed.


 The Mascarene region was a landmass as huge as Tamilnadu  that was above sea water some 7000 years ago.



The memory of Mt Toba was carried on for 1000s of years
which was personified as the destruction caused by Lord Shiva.
In my opinion, the people had started recognizing the stars of the sky and watching the patterns and relating them to events abour 70,000 years ago.
The name Tarakasura, though could have been coined later, was coined so to show that the knowledge of stars started at the time of Tripura (Mt Toba) 
The Tripura samhara was 'predicted' to happen on the day when Moon comes in conjunction with the star Pushya.

The study of stars must have started then and was gradually developed.
By the time people overcame the impact of the Volcano and started new life,
sages would have come into existence through contemplation and deep thought on sun and stars.
The period of Daksha comes later and he is identified as having 27 stars as daughters.
So that is the period of the actual birth of astrology.
The oldest name for astrology is 'Nakshatra darsana' (seeing the stars or the philosophy of stars)
and not Jyothisha.
The Hindu astrology is based on star positions and  the position of planets in the stars.
There is a puranaic narration of Daksha having his head replaced with the head of a ram.
That symbolizes the birth of the knowledge of the zodiac.
All these go far backwards in time, perhaps 40,000 years before present.

The contemplation on Nature by the people of that era resulted in the birth of Vedic Thought and the formulation of symbolisms for natural events such as Toba eruption.
The Sundaland existed then and people had moved back to occupy them.
They also carried their symbolisms and named the places as Pualu, Mayo, Taraka and so on.

Daksha's people suffered the wrath of Shiva (destruction) some time later in the form of a devastating fire. That was another period in the past which we will discuss in another post.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Indus girl and Indra loka have remnants in the South West Americas?

As more and more information is flowing from different parts of world on their past cultures, I am surprised to see a similarity between them and what we see in the depictions and narrations in Hindu texts. The Puranic narrations seem to be true on many counts in revealing the history of very olden times. The researches by  Stephen Oppenheimer on genetic trail of man, by Glen Milne on the sea level in the past and by Graham Hancock on water-buried civilizations are giving credence to what Hindu texts have recorded through the words of visionary sages of an undated past.

To begin with, let me show a surprise match between a female figurine found in the Indus valley  and the traditional Hopi female of Pueblo culture.

















Indus figurine with prominent hair buns on two sides of the head.

This hairstyle is not found anywhere in India, nor in old statues. There are numerous female figures carved in temples all over India, but none of them have been reported to exhibit this kind of huge side buns. 

This style is not found anywhere in the west or north west of Indus culture, but is seen even today among the Hopi women of Pueblo culture!


                                         Traditional hair style of Hopi women



They use a curved wooden stick and roll the hair around it. A similar technique was in use until recently in India, but the bun was made behind the head and not on the sides of the head. More often, the bun will be made perfectly circular by rolling ribbon around a huge ring. It will be fitted at the back side of the head by rolling the hair around it. Heroines of old Tamil movies did exhibit this kind of a bun. But I have never seen anyone sporting the buns sideways.

There are other female figurines of the Indus showing similar side buns with a spiral.





Though this is not exactly seen in the Hopi women, theirs is a spiral bun only. It is possible that it can be made to face forward or sideways.

This is a traditional hairstyle of the Hopi women and not used at all ages. It is interesting to know that only unmarried girls who are expecting courtship sport this hair style! 

While looking for further clues to solve the mystery of Indus hairstyle appearing in Pueblo culture, I happened to come across greater surprises! One of them  is about the way they depict the Sun God!



Sun God is popular in many cultures. But He has a specific description Indian Iconography. The popular shrines in India dedicated to Sun God do not actually depict the Sun as per the rules of iconography that existed 2000 years ago! The 58th chapter on Iconography of temple images found in  Brihad Samhita written by Varahamihira before 5th  century BP has 3 verses on how the image of Sun must be sculpted.


There are no weapons held by the Sun God. All that he will hold is a lotus in each hand. He must be in standing position wearing  a crown and pendants with garlands hanging from his neck. From breast to the feet he should appear covered. There is a specific mention that he must be adorned in the method followed in Northern countries. Which Northern country does Varahamihira have in mind?  Varahamihira was himself  Sun worshiper - something he mentions in his book and lived in Avanti in Central India.



From his location in Avanti, he can not be referring to North India. Perhaps he had in mind countries north to the Himalayas. We will discuss it later. But we have to take note that he is not referring to any country in the north west or west of India such as Egypt, Rome or Babylon which had Sun worship.

Lets take a look at Sun as seen in Indian temples.
The style is as per Varahamihira's description.
The lotus in the 2 hands is a prominent feature.


 When we look at West Asian and European regions for their depiction of Sun God, we don't find any connection with the Hindu Sun God.

Take a look at Ra, the Egyptian Sun God:

The Celtic Sun is in standing position but is holding a spear and looks almost naked.



The Sumerian Sun God has weapons in hand and stands with one leg raised.



The Akkadian Sun God is seated.


The Roman Sun God sports a weapon and not exactly upright.


Now take a look at the Sun God of Incas, he is holding a rounded flower- like item in his hands.


Yet another depiction in Kachina doll from the same Incas. is this dress Northern style?


Compare it with another depiction from Indian sculpture.

A similar dress, covering only a part of his legs.

A popular depiction of the Sun God Inti of Inca again. What does he hold in his hands?



 This similarity with Inca's Sun nearly half way away from India looks perplexing, but not so when we look at other traditions in the western part of the Americas. The traditional residences of the Pueblo people give me a better idea of why we are seeing these similarities.

Before explaining that, let me tell in brief where the Sun God is supposed to reside as per the Puranas. 

The Sun (Surya) is a Deva and was 'last seen' in the North! Before that he was in the South with his wife Sanjna. At some time, unable to bear his heat, Sanjna escaped to the North. Sun also followed suit and joined her in the North. This Puranic narration shows the shift of period of the sunlight from the South to the North. This happened some 40,000 years ago. Stephen Oppenheimer's tracing of human migration confirms this information. The migration has gone to the Northern hemisphere through India!

Again looking at Hindu texts, Mahabharata narrates a version of all the countries around the world in early chapters of Bheeshma parva. There it identifies a place called Suryavaan - a mountain - where the sun shines over head. This place is located in continent called Shaka dweepa. I have done an extensive analysis of the location of Shaka dweepa through various cross references in my Tamil blog on tracing the origin of Tamils
(http://thamizhan-thiravidana.blogspot.com). For this post I want to say that Suryavaan was indeed a part of the 90 meridian range near the Equator that is now submerged in the Indian ocean.


It was mentioned as Suryavaan because of its location on the Equator. The first Sun worship must have started there. Mahabharata mentioned that four varnas including Brahmins who were called as Maga Brahmins lived in Shaka Dweepa. As a cross reference we do find Varahamihira mentioning that only Maga Brahmins are entitled to do pooja to Sun God. ( Brihad Samhita 60-19). There are references to Maga Brahmins having migrated to Indian mainland for the sake of installing and carrying out worship of Sun God.


There is an opinion that the Maga Brahmins had come from north west of the Indus. It can not be so because (1) Mahabharata description of Shaka dweepa where Maga Brahmins originally lived does not match with any of the West Asian or European land,
(2) Sun worship must have originated in a place where Sun shone overhead / in equator and not in latitudes north of Tropic of Cancer where Sun can never be seen over head.
(3) such a notion was fed by an assumption that Brahmins were the Aryans who migrated from West Asia or Central Europe. This theory has been discredited now and
(4) the Maga Brahmins were not well versed in Rig Vedas showing them to be different from the  Brahmins who settled in Saraswathy regions.


From Suryavaan, the sun worship has shifted to North (India) and further north when the Northern hemisphere became hospitable for living some 40,000 years ago. The Sun God of Hindu texts lived in the North, in Uttar Kuru which was far north to the Himalayas. There is a chapter in Valmiki Ramayana on the countries in all directions to Bharat. The Vanar-king Sugreeva narrates step by step the countries encountered in the North until the Northern pole. These details has been analysed in my Tamil blog. Accordingly, the ancient land of Devas or what they called Indra loka was identified with numerous cross references from both Tamil and sanskrit texts.


Uttarkuru was around lake Vaikhanas. Vaiskanas is the present day Lake Baikal. 
The wives of Pandu bore the children of the Devas belonging to Uttar kuru according to Mahabharata.
Karna was the son of Surya Deva of Deva land where Uttar Kuru was situated. The fact about people having lived in those areas before the last Ice Age confirm that the Puranic narration of Deva loka and Uttra kuru are not figments of imagination.

Now coming to the main story of this post, the Devas were always depicted as having lived in Sky- cities. The capital of Deva land was Amaravathy which was seen as though it was hanging from the sky or floating among the clouds. A similar description is given to Lanka of Ravana in Valmiki Ramayana. Lanka was situated on top of Trikoota peak surrounded by three peaks. Its location on top of the peak seemed as though it was a sky-city or it was hanging from the sky. On seeing it, Hanuman wondered whether it was Amaravathy, the capital city of the Devas. This shows that the city of the Devas was situated on top of a hill or on high places.

While looking at the Pueblo culture who have the Sun God looking similar to the Hindu depiction of the Sun, we are in for a greater surprise because the Pueblos also lived on 'sky-cities'.

Pueblo areas. The top one in pink was the old Pueblo location.


Look at their houses built on hills.









1879 Photo of a Pueblo dwelling is given below. Puranas say that Devas do not walk on the ground! That is why they had their dwellings on the Sky!! Here the Pueblo people live above the ground. They had another similarity in the form of Sun God  in the way depicted by Hindu texts.


What do all these indicate?


Looking at the map of human migration around the world in the last 80,000 years as mapped by Stephen Oppenheimer on the basis of DNA studies, this similarity gives some clues.

Take a look at this map.


(click the map to see it clearly along with the time line)

The grey lines depict the route of human migration. About 40,000 years ago, man had landed in the Northern areas of the globe as the climate was warm enough for living. I note that period as the time of peak of Devas culture. The Northern dress noted by Varahamihira referred to the dress of the people of that location in North. It must also be noted that other characters such as Revatha and Karana were also born with "udheechya vesha" according to Puranas. It means 'the Northern dress' - a glowing dress complete with ornaments over the body.

It was the time North America and Russia were land connected. People had migrated through that land when Ice Age set in. They turned southwards and moved along with the western coast of North and South America. They settled mostly around the equator in those regions. This happened 10,000 years ago according to genetic studies.

The Pueblos, the Incas and the Mayans settled in these regions. By the time they came down to these places, the old glory of devahood is almost gone. The remnant culture had existed in the form of their dwellings and Sun God. Even the sacrificial pits bear resemblance to  what it used to be for the Devas.

According to Vastu sastra, the ancient science of architecture, the Devas had a different type of architecture and it was altered for the people of Bharat.

The one place connected with Devas in Tamilnadu was Poompukar. From the Tamil texts such as Silapapdhikaram and Manimekalai we come to know that Poompukar was occupied by King Muchukunda in whose custody Indra, the lord of the Devas left the upkeep of his regions. Indra installed his helper, called "Naalangadi Deva" at Poompukar in  return for the help. It was in memory of Indra, the people of Poompukar were doing a festival in the name of Indra until 3rd century AD.

A man made structure found by Graham Hancock off the Poompukar coast has been dated to 11,500 years BP. (It must be noted that the last time we hear about Indra or Devas was around 10,000 years ago, when Indra's son was captured by Surapadma. It was around the same time the famous elephant of Indra - which in all likelihood be the Woolly Mammoth (found in North) became extinct.)
The structure now under water is more or less round or oval shaped.




A similar round or oval structures are found in Arkaim, in what we identified as Uttarkuru.




These were found to be abandoned after setting them to fire.
It must be noted that in the Vedic Homas, the Yaga shalas (sacrificial pits) are burnt after the worship / homa is over.

The surprising part of it is that we find a similar circular sacrificial pits in Pueblo dwellings.




They also bear a burnt evidence!



They bear resemblance to Arkaim models and Poompukar structure!

Now take a look at the map again.






The red line is the route of Sun worship.
It started in Suryavan in the Indian Ocean near the Equator,
entered India and went past the Himalayas to far Northern latitudes.
That was the time the culture of Devas was at it peak.
Surya was an important deity of the North.
The red line turns to North America and finally settled on the west coast around 10,000 years ago.
The Pueblos have a story that their ancestors came from the North and
therefore they had a broad Northern Road.

The circles in blue are the locations where sun worship occurred without much deviation.

Now coming to the Indus girl with her 2 side buns.
In all probability, the women of North (Uttar Kuru and Deva land) had this hairstyle.
This figurine is sporting a voluptuous
 look and almost naked.
The similar style in Hopi people is connected with the period of courtship of an unmarried girl.
This reminds me of the Apsaras women of Deva land who were known for freedom in personal life.
They were seductive and might have looked similar to the depiction of the Indus figurine.


Finally let me show another similarity in the depictions of Goddesses.

This figurine found in Tlatilco has naked looks surrounded by fierce figures (Bhootha Ganas?)



This looks similar to the Chamuda of Mahua temple at Shivpuri in Madhyapradesh (10th century AD)



Perhaps this was how Chamunda was depicted in times of yore, but modified later.

How this figure traveled to Tlatilco in Mexico?
Was it taken by sculptors who learnt it from India?
If so, how did people there develop the worship of this deity?

The only plausible answer looks like a migration of people for 1000s of years via India to the North and then to the Americas.
The customs they carried had deteriorated over time, but such customs have lived almost in tact in Bharat!!
In conclusion I would say that an analysis of Hindu texts
supported by Tamil texts do yield the explanation for puranic accounts
which are now getting proved by modern branches of science.