Vedas

Published on 20th December, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. Hinduism is typically taught through a historical lens. We are told that there was a Harappan period 4,000 years ago, followed by Vedic Period 3,000 years ago, followed by the Puranic Age, which began 2,000 years ago, which was then followed by the Bhakti Age 1,000 years ago. This was followed by the Reform Movement in colonial times, which happened 200 years ago. However, none of these happened uniformly across India. India is a very large subcontinent. Hinduism did not appear fully formed across the subcontinent, one fine day, like Draupadi appearing fully formed from the sacrificial ..

Published on 19th April, 2020, in Mid-day The mention of southern states is conspicuously absent in vedic literature. Hymns of the Rig Veda date back to 1500 BCE. They refer to the Saptasindhu or Indus Valley region. Shatapatha Brahmana, dated to 800 BCE refers to a movement towards what is now Bihar. In the Aitreya Brahmana, we come across references to the Andhras, Pulindhas, Sabaras, and the Pundhras. These are regions associated with Bengal, today known as Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and even the Godavari delta. It does not refer to Tamil Nadu. Even Panini's book on grammar, in 6th century BCE refers to Kalinga, and nothing ..

Published on 17th November, 2019, in Mid-day The Rigveda refers to a sage called Dirghatama. He was one of the many poets who composed the Vedic hymns. His most famous hymn is the riddle hymn Mandala 1.164, that is full of puzzles and metaphors and cannot be easily explained by scholars. It refers to everything from the sun to the Big Dipper constellation (Sapta Rishi mandala) to the Pleiades constellation (Pleiades), to the zodiac, to the horizon, to the sun, to the earth and the sky, the dawn, the moon and two birds: one that watched the other eat fruit. Most important is a hymn ..

Who is a Hindu? Published on 29th September, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror In the Vedas, there are references to many kings (raja) and to their poet-priests (rishi). Their stories are elaborated in the Puranas. There is a gap of two thousand years between the Vedas and the Puranas, and clearly much is lost in transmission. But it does not matter to the faithful. In the Rig Veda, we hear of how King Sudas, son of Divodasa, of the Bharata tribe, chooses Vasistha as his poet-priest angering Vishwamitra who raises a confederacy of ten tribes, including the Puru, the Anu, the Druhyu, the Yadu and the ..

Published on 18th September, 2019, in The Hindu A study has shown that there is no evidence of Steppe genes in Harappa according to analysis of DNA found in Rakhigarhi. This has led to the claim that Harappan civilisation was indigenous, 100% Indian, not shaped by any foreign influence whatsoever. Since many Puranic historians are convinced Rakhigarhi was Vedic, it could follow that the Vedas had no foreign influence either. Puranic historians have dated the Vedas, based on internal astronomical evidence, to 7,000 BCE (9,000 years ago), the events of the Ramayana to 5,000 BCE (7,000 years ago) and the Mahabharata war at Kurukshetra to ..

Published on 4th November, 2018, in Mid-day. In the Vedas, long before people knew about gods such as Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma, there was a story of how the god of heaven committed incest with the goddess of dawn, his daughter. Now this is called the problem of primal incest, which is found in almost every mythology. The problem is this: if in the beginning, there was 'the one' and then then he or she created 'the second', the relationship of the second with the first can be of either sibling or of child. Either way, a sexual relationship between them is incestuous, which is ..

Published on 21st October, 2018, in Mid-day. The Brahmanas (religious texts) refer to manuals that connect Vedic hymns (mantras) to rituals (yagnas) and offer explanations for the various ritual practices by way of stories. These stories can be dated back to roughly 2,800 years ago, so before the time of the Buddha. Through these, we get a sense of the ideas that existed in India before Buddhist times. One such story is the story of the sage Bharadwaj. We are told that Bharadwaj lived the celibate and pious life of a brahmachari and that he could recollect three of his lifetimes. In each of these ..

Published on 18th February, 2018, in Mumbai Mirror. So the Rig Veda is a collection of over a thousand finely crafted hymns (mantras) distributed over 10 chapters known as mandalas, written in a very old form of Sanskrit. Each hymn (sukta) praises a deity, the most prominent of whom were Indra, Agni and Soma, gods who we are barely familiar with today. The Indra of the Vedas is very different from the Indra of the Puranas: he is not the one who rides the white skinned Airavata and fears loss of his status as king of the celestial devas. He is a warrior who battles ..

Published on 21st January, 2018, in Mid-day. The epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata reached their final form roughly 2,000 years ago, between the 3rd century BCE and 3rd century CE. We know this as the Sanskrit used in the epics is based on a grammar codified by Panini, who lived 2,500 years ago. The epics were composed in North India, in the Gangetic plains specifically, and they focus on men - Ram, Krishna and the Pandavas. Female characters exist to prop up male characters. But 1,500 years ago, roughly between 6th and 9th century CE, in South India, we have very different kind of ..