Worship of Brahman in different forms has been an integral part of
not only this Bharatha varsha,
but of the entire world in olden days.
Worship differed from country to country
But the God worshiped was the same Vishnu or Narayana or Brahman
in different forms or as in different avatars.
Initially I thought of writing about the countries and the types of worships
that exited during and even before Mahabharatha times,
after concluding the series on ' No Aryan - Dravidian Divide It was One Aryavartha'.
After proving by means of various Tamil texts
that the entire land mass from
followed one only culture and one and only identity,
I wanted to move over to how even the entire land mass of the earth,
called as varshas in different dweepas in olden days (before Mahabharatha times),
also followed the one only culture, the only dharma
that was Sanatana dharma.
Even the new archaeological revelations point to a single culture of Aryans in many lands.
I came across this in the following link
http://downwithjugears.blogspot.com/2008/02/aryan-ancestors-on-silk-road.html
"Recent excavations in the
more than 100 naturally mummified corpses of people who lived there between 4,000 and 2,400 years ago,
indicating that the Aryan incursion into
But the pet theory of Aryan invasion of Westerners
is continuing with these 'new-found revelations',
as they are unable to stomach the notion that
Aryans existed as they were in Bharatha varsha.
There are lots of information from Hindu texts
giving us leads into how things took shape in olden times.
For instance
Valmiki Ramayana gives a crucial information on
how the one land-one culture
started to disintegrate giving rise
‘mlecha’ – outsiders.
Until the 18th descendant in the Ikshvaku dynasty, who was Bharatha,
there was not reported any calamitous warring tendencies,
nor any adversaries.
It was in the reign of the 19th descendant, namely Asita,
son of Bharatha, did rivalries begin.
While describing the lineage of Rama to Janaka on the occasion of Rama’s marriage,
Sage Vasishta says,
"To which Asita, kings like Haihaya-s, Taalajanghaa-s, and the valiant Shashabindu-s
have become adversaries and kings in hostility,
he had to wage war with them...” (1)
It is said (2)
“When king Asita passed away his queen and this Sagara's mother
wanted to commit self-immolation,
but this Sage Cyavana dissuades her from it because she is pregnant,
and takes her to his hermitage.
When she gave birth to Sagara, Sage Cyavana rears up Sagara and teaches him
all of the archery by according aagneya astra Fire-missile etc., kingcraft, and scriptures.
On one occasion when Sagara asks for the details about his father,
Cyavana had to tell all the legend of Asita and his conflicts with yavana-s, and shaka-s.
Sagara becoming furious at Haihaya-s, Taalajanghaa-s, and the valiant Shashabindu-s,
wars with them and drives them out of this country.
While doing so, Sagara makes yavana-s tonsured,
shaka-s or so-called Scythians, as half-tonsured,
and paarada-s as shaggy haired ones,
thus stripping of their Kshatriya-hood.
Taking the nearness of name paarada to Persia,
it is said that the kings repulsed by Sagara taken domicile in the Middle East
and a aaryan or a aa riaan is Airan or present day Iran,
and age-old are Indo-Iranian links.
Further, the word Asia has its own nearness to the name of king Asita.”
Any research on Aryan that
they were supposed to have ‘originated’ from middle east
can not ignore this piece of information from Ramayana.
Continuing my line of thought,
this so-called Aryan culture
is indigenous to us,
the people of Bharatha varsha, also called Aryavartha,
our Dharma called Sanatana Dharma
was the only culture or Dharma
prevalent throughout the world
until 5000 years ago.
No one invaded any,
and no one thrust their precepts on any.
And everyone was part of a single Dharma.
That is why any excavation dating back to 4000 + years ago,
will certainly bear similarity to Aryan values and way of life.
I have based my research on the countries
and culture of the people in those places
on the information contained in Srimad Bhagawatha
and analyzed using inputs from Sanjaya's description of these countries
which he saw using his 'power to see' granted by sage Vyasa
for the main purpose of 'seeing' the war at Kurukshethra
and reporting it to the king Dhritharaashtra.
***********************************
In the 4th chapter in the 5th Canto of Bhagavatam
we find the description of varshas (countries)
and avatars of Lord.
The avatars are all over the place.
While deciphering the nature of these avatars,
which possess some significant meaning
we come to know about the countries and the nature of people too.
The description in Canto 5 is comparable to the 5 land forms of
ancient Tamils, each having a specific God for worship.
The description is about worship in varshas or countries,
that were parts of larger landmass or islands or Dweepas
which were 5 in number.
As how we find worship of different gods in different places,
so too with these varshas.
Each varsha had a specific following
as a result of which each varsha had a specific moorthy
(or avatara or form of Vishnu) for meditation and worship.
This can be substantiated by cross reference
(to the description of these varshas)
found in Bheeshma parvam, 6 th & 7th chapters. (Mahabharatha)
The varshas described in this parvam are about the land forms that
existed prior to the onset of kali yuga,
or in other words, about 5000 years ago.
The 5 th canto of Srimad Bhagavatham expresses
the kinds of worship that were followed in those lands.
This is not about any specific avatara,
but about the predominance of a particular God
as goal of worship in those days and in those varshas.
The Gods that have been predominantly meditated upon
were naturally the avatars
that have happened before Krishnavatara
and other forms of Vishnu..
Let me tabulate what has been given in this chapter.
(1) BhadrAshva varsha > Hayagreeva or Dharma.
(2) Hari varsha > Narasimha.
(3) KetumAla varsha > Hrishikesha.
(4) HiraNmaya varsha > kUrma
(5) Uttara kuru varsha > VarAha
(6) Kimpurusha varsha > Rama.
(7) Bharatha varsha > Narayana.
From this the following insights emerge.
(1) Not all varshas have been covered.
Not necessarily.
The description of these is related by SUta in the context of what is Truth,
what is spiritual Truth and what people did to follow the Truth.
As a matter of giving examples,
the sage is expressing how the people of different varshas
have been singing His praise in the way
that has been peculiar to their lands.
One instance is Hari varsha. This is a
place having the descendants of Prahlaadha.
Naturally they were the worshippers of Lord Nrusimha.
If we go by the nature of these varshas,
(some clues emerge from Sanjaya's description in Bheeshma parvam)
there is nothing surprising about the way
a particular God has gained
prominence in a particular varsha.
Let me elaborate them further in this post.
(2) The avatars till Rama have been worshipped,
probably with the exception of Vamana.
It may be because Vamana constituted
3 nodes of the Sun's journey in the sky
in a day and in an ayana.
Details of these are found in Surya Siddhantha
(earlier discussed by me in the post "Karunanidhi's tryst with Calendar")
Vamana avatara happens everyday,
with his first step at sunrise,
2nd step of sweeping the heavens at mid-day
and the 3rd step at sun set.
As such the sandhyavandhana is a worship of Sun God
(eqauted to Brahman in Brahma sutras and upansihads)
as Vamana avatara!
Thus Vamana avatara happens at all times
and as long as earth goes around the sun!
The Vamana purana also mentions many avataras of Vamana.
One interesting information we find in Vamana purana is
that Prahladha went to a temple of Vamana, to worship Him.
The location seems to be somewhere in the southern bank
of the river Ganga.
The sage who is hearing this from another, asks how could
Prahlaadha had worshipped Vamana
whose avatar has not yet taken place.
It was replied that the Lord had taken the Vamana avataras many
times in the past (before humbling Bali)
and this temple is of Vamana in one such avatara.
(3) A rationale of why all avatars are at all places –
sometimes jumbled in order –
can also be substantiated from chapter 10 of Gita,
where Bahgavan identifies Himself with many beings.
The names of those beings are jumbled,
i.e., from different manvantras
as not one of them can be identified
along with the other of the same group
from the same purana.
Different puranas give their names differently.
In other words
We will find the names of maruts, sadhyas, rishis etc
from different manvanthras,
running all over this chapter.
The reason may be to show
how He has been through - across all times, at all Ages.
Now a detailed account on varshas and their Lords.
The chapters mentioned above give detailed report
on varshas and dweepas,
as seen by Sanjaya upon gaining Divine vision to see the War.
Before training his vision to the war field,
he looks around the world,
obliging the request by Dhritharaashtra.
(Anyone working on landforms in ancient world,
can take up a study of these chapters and
the subsequent ones to arrive at a precise picture of lands,
the people and their culture.)
One can see then that the entire landmass was
brimming with sanatana dharma.
Everywhere there was worship of Vishnu's different forms.
Infact the Bharata varsha was the only place among those other places
where rajas and tamas (the 2 gunas or characteristics) were predominant.
Sanjaya expresses this in detail in the next chapter
after finishing the description of the landmass.
It seems (from a reading of these chapters) that all the
avatars have taken place in bharata varsha,
because there was no need
for Bahgawan to take avatars to establish Dharma at other places
as those places were full of dharmic people!
The location of Meru
The Meru running east to west and south to north
was central to all existence.
That the sun and the heavens revolved around it shows that
this refers to the axis of the earth
from which directions were calculated.
Many texts tell about the height of Meru in yojanas.
One calculation puts it as 100,000 times higher than the Mount Everest.
A land form of such heights can not exist.
But by the principle of name-form and works symbolism (3)
we can draw two allusions.
First one is drawn from Surya Siddhnatha.
According to Surya Siddhantha
Meru is indeed the North pole (4)
can be justified from a verse in Surya Siddhantha.
"The one going toward Meru, there takes place an elevation of the pole (Dhruva)
and a depression of the circle of asterisms.
To one going toward the place of no latitude,
on the contrary,
a depression of the former and
elevation of the latter".
The no-latitude area is inferred to be equator.
The height of Meru mentioned in many texts must therefore be
the distance from equator to North pole.
The second allusion is about a mountain called Meru.
In my reasoning this is somewhere on the line passing through
Tanzania where there is a volcano called Meru
with a rivulet called jambhoo passing
down on its side.
This area is closer to the Equator.
Nile river originated in ‘Chandristhan’.
To quote an example here, Lieutenant Speake, when planning his
discovery of the source of the Nile, secured
his best information from a map reconstructed out of Puranas. (5)
It traced the course of the river, the "Great Krishna,"
through Kusha-dvipa,
from a great lake in Chandristhan, "Country of the Moon,"
which it gave the correct position
in relation to the Zanzibar islands.
The name was from the native Unya-muezi,
having the same meaning;
and the map correctly mentioned another native name, Amara,
applied to the district bordering Lake Victoria Nyanza.
"All our previous information," says Speake, "concerning the
hydrography of these regions, originated with the ancient Hindus."
The ancient history is now completely buried
with the re-naming of the lake as Lake Victoria.
Pataala with Bali is 180 degrees away from India in the globe.
Another interesting information from Hindu texts that comes to my mind is
that Bali who was humbled and sent to Patala
would become the Indra of the next manvanthra.
From purans we get the description of
what happens after manvanthra – it is pralaya.
After 100 suns (100 years of scorching the land by sun),
it would rain for 100 years when all life forms would perish.
But some able bodied ones would survive and migrate to another planet.
Once situation becomes normal,
these people (descendants of these people)
would return to earth and start new races.
Since Bali is said to be the next Indra and since Surya Sidhanta
identifies the land at the other side of the globe as Patala,
a curious thought comes whether the descendants of the people there
( of Bali)
are the ones mentioned in Puranas (particularly Linga purana)
as continuing (or initiating) their progeny in the next manvanthra.
The talk of prevalence of once ancient wisdom in this region
(particularly Peru) adds sap to this thought.
Another allusion here is one
that is drawn from the information on next Manvanthra.
It is said in many puranas that next manu
will be the son of Sun and his wife Chaaya.
Chaaya means shadow.
There is a probability that there is a shadow binary to our Sun.
Another wife of sun is Sandhya
which means twilight.
If it is said that a son will be born to
Sun and chaaya,
it may be indicative of a by-product of a
Collision between the Sun and its invisible binary.
It means the present system of earth will be gone and
a new system will evolve
for which Bali will be the Indra.
This in all probability could mean an atomic age!
Or a system operating on atomic power
which science of today had not hypothesized.
I connect atomicity to Bali,
because he was over-powered by a Vamana
( indicating a small form),
perhaps to over come the power of Bali of his atomic power.
The country at Far-east.
Coming to our topic,
there are many clues that all the varshas were
part of a great humanity of sanatana dharma and
rishis of yore had a very good knowledge of them.
From Surya Siddhantham, we come to know
that people possessed very good knowledge of lands
and their locations throughout the globe. (6)
It says,
“ When passing overhead Bhadrashwa,
the sun is rising in Bharatha,
it is moreover at that time
mid-night in Ketumaala
and sunset in Kuru.”
This means Bhadrshwa was 90 degrees east of Bharatha, our country
And Ketumaala was 90 degrees west of Bharatha.
Kuru was just on the opposite part of the globe,
180 degrees from us.
This also means that Bhadrshwa was in the Far east of India.
From Srimad Bhagawatham (canto 5)
we come to know that people of Bhadrashwa
worshipped Hayagreeva!
Africa is Kushasdweepa.
Another notable feature emerging from this Canoto-5
is the meaning of Kusha-dweepa.
Kusha means dharbhai and
Kusha dweepa is a land of
darbhai (the grass lands of Africa)
Each dweepa had acquired its name
from the predominant tree or plant in that area
(like the jambhoo
dweepa where India is, was once full of Jambhoo (amla or naaval maram) trees)
This Kusha –dweepa was the biggest of all dweepas, as per the
description of Sanjaya.
This land was known to have many medicinal plants.
Coming to our discussion on varshas,
it seems that it is here in
Kusha-dweepa,
Ketu mAla varsha was located.
Ketumaala 90 degrees to the west of Bharatha varsha
locates it in Africa.
(This description as it was 5000 years ago.
No drastic tectonic movement has been reported in the intermediary period.)
Sanjaya says that the
people of this varsha are black in colour and strong in body!
The land north of this varsha had people who were white in complexion.
That was
Shwetha varsha, says Sanjaya.
Sage Narada was said to be belonging to
Shwetha varsha (inferred to be somewhere in Europe or
Southern Europe.)
It is in KetumAla, Kubera spent his time,
as per Sanjaya's description.
The people of this land worshipped Hrishikesha
(5th chapter of Bhagavatham),
the One who has controlled all Indriyas or
who controls all indriyas.
The prevalence of kusha grass goes with
japa or meditation.
One reasoning we draw here is that the people of
KetumAla were all the time engaged in mediation
by controlling their indriyas and concentrating on Hrishikeshan.
From the hymn mentioned in Bhagavatham it is also known
that this was a land where Lakshmi and
her attendants worshipped Hrishikesha.
Connecting this with Kubera's residence here, we can understand that
this land was a land of prosperity.
We have another information from Surya Siddhanta, about the four great
cities situated on the opposite ends of the world, equidistant from
one another.
1. Yamakotipura in BhadrAshva varsha in the east,
2.Lanka
3. Romak in KetumAlavarsa in the
4. Siddhapura in Kuruvarsha in the north.
The celebrated astronomer Bhaskaracarya mentions the time difference
between the important cities situated in different parts of the world
in his Siddhanta Siromani (Goladhyaya) thus:
" When the sun rises at Lanka,
the time as at Yamakotipura to the east
of Lanka, will be midday.
Below the earth at Siddhapura,
it will be twilight then,
and at Romakadesa, the time will be midnight."
(below the earth refers to paatala but also the place 180 degrees away.)
If one tries to decipher this, YamakOti pura is somewhere in the
east of Bharatha,
90 degrees in the east, away from Lanka.
Why Lanka was chosen a reference point is one question.
Perhaps it was taken as the zero longitude and
computations were made on the basis of it.
(We must search for more information on this.
Later Ujjain became the focal point.
Bhaskara who came later than this period might be just
using the information contained in Surya Siddhantha
and quoted the distance from Lanka, as told in Surya Siddhantha.
The difference between Vikrama era and Saka era
may perhaps be the result of corrections in the zero longitude
that were made some 2000 years ago.)
This could have been part of Indonesian or
Japanese island groups which could have drifted to their present
location.
Please browse
www.atributetohinduism.com
to know
how these areas have had sanatana dharma culture since time immemorial.
Japan has some old inscriptions in Sanskrit
older than any found in India.
This YamakOti pura in BhadrAshva varsha worshipped Hayagreeva or
Dharma as their object of concentration. (1st in the list)
The hymn on
the way Vedas were restored and Dharma
established.
Yama is known as Dharma devata known for his impartiality
between good and evil. It is inferred that this land in those days
must have had the connection with the story of restoration Vedas.
Let me go through the other ones in quick (!?) succession.
Another country is Hari varsha,
where it is mentioned in Bhagavatham that
Prahalladha and his followers worshiped Lord Nrusimha.
Then comes Ramyaka, Hiranmaya and uttara-kuru,
worshipping Matsya,
Kurma and Varaha respectively.
Uttar kuru in Russia.
Uttara kuru is described as north of Hymavada.
This seems to be beyond
the northern limits of Himalayas.
If this is so, the description will
become logical with the so-far available archeological and geological
evidence we have.
There was a sea or water body before Himalayas was
lifted up.
Fossils of marine life are found at the top of Himalayas.
The once-sea area which had now become a land could have become
Ramyaka where Matsya is worshipped.
The Hiranmaya had been the anchor for this elevation of mountains.
Therefore Kurma became their Lord.
Further north Uttara kuru was the
land uplifted and therefore had Varaha as their Lord .
This area is likely to be Russia or Siberia
and the name kuru in the names of
Russians (like Kuruschev) is an interesting point to ponder.
The 3 avataras mentioned in the above 3 lands
is about the cosmic avatars
coinciding with the elevation of the Himalayas.
These avatars are happening regularly throughout the world
at some small intensity ,
whereas these avatars happened at a massive scale
in the beginning of this Kalpa in the distance past.
What is said in
as
is about the avatara at Maha yuga scale
in the beginning of this kalpa.
The time period coincides with the birth of land forms on the surface
of the earth about 3-4 billion years ago.
The description as found in Sanjaya's words
is related to the sequence of land from
Nepal with Sita's connection.
Nepal upwards North.
From the description
of the lands nearby, it seems Nepal was the Kimpurusha varsha,
where Sita's birth place was situated.
Therefore the inhabitants of that
land worshipped Rama.
It is worthy to recall here that Ayodhya was
deserted after Rama's departure (refer Kalidasa's Raghu vamsam),
and
came back to some life and activity about 1000 years ago.
But worship of Rama
had remained in Kimpurusha, in the land of Sita.
Narayana in Bharatha varsha.
The bharatha varsha had Sriman Narayana as their Lord,
as it was here
He was born to establish Dharma.
As per Sanjaya's description, the people of other varshas
were the ones who have slipped from their
Achaara (discipline) in their heavenly abodes
and were born in those lands to shed their karma.
They led an ascetic or devotional life and
left for their former abodes once the time period was over.
There was no report of acrimony and chaos
in those lands as were found in Bharatha varsha.
This shows why avatars have happened in Bharatha varsha –
-to establish Dharma.
References:-
(1) Valmiki Ramayana (1-70-28)
(2) www.valmikiramayan.net (1-70)
(3) Brahma sutras (3-2-30 & 31)
(4) Surya Siddhantha, (12-72) ("cosmogony, geography and dimensions of Creation")
(5) Journal. pp.27,77,216; Wilford, in Asiatic Researches, III
(6) Surya Siddhantha, (12-70)
