The word ‘Hindutwa’ like
the Sanskrit word “Aryan” has become much maligned and become very unpopular,
as general public in India seem to have serious misgiving about Hindutwa,
which is unfortunately bracketed with saffronisation. The national
language of India is Hindi, which is an abbreviation for Hindustani and
their national leaders conclude their public functions calling on their
followers to hail “Jai Hind”. Who is a Hindu and what is the minimum
he ought to know? A popular national forum should be created
to serve the purpose of disseminating the fundamental truths about Vedic
Hinduism. The name India for the Bharathavarsha or more popularly
Hindustan is not of indigenous origin but of foreign import. In ancient
times, India was known to the foreigners by the river Sindhu, which Persians
pronounced as Hindu and the Greek as Indos. The Indus River is very closely
related to the Indus Valley civilisation.
Opinion is gaining ground
that the Indus civilisation was probably the earliest human civilisation
in the world. Who were the original inhabitants of this ancient civilisation?
The human remains found at Indus sites reveal that the population of this
Valley was varied in that early age. They bring to light four ethnic
types probably corresponding to the four castes mentioned in the Vedas.
The most singular feature of the Vedic civilisation is the Varna Ashrama
Dharma or the unpopular caste system. This unique system is wholly
indigenous, as no where outside India the concept of social distribution
of labour according to Guna i.e. aptitude and temperament is prevalent.
The citizens of the Indus Valley were not wholly homogenous non-Aryans
or Dravidians but were a mixed ethnic population. Precisely how and
when the caste system with its specific occupations made its maiden appearance
cannot be established with any degree of certainty but the stratification
of Indus society suggests that some form of caste system may well have
been in vogue in that ancient civilisation.
The word “Aryan” is a term
invented by philologists to describe the race presumed to have existed
in pre-historic times and to have spoken the Indo-European language from
which the majority of European and some Indian languages were derived.
The place of origin of the Aryans has been variously sought in Europe and
Asia and the Aryan race is presumed to have branched off at different periods
northwest and westward into Europe and southward into Persia and the valley
of Ganges, giving rise to the great branches of the languages like Greek,
Latin, German etc on the one hand and Persian and Hindu on the other.
Philology is a highly questionable, imprecise pseudo science on which much
reliance cannot be placed. In Sanskrit the word ‘Arya ‘ refers to
noble, enlightened, profoundly wise personages who pursue the Vedic way
of life. Even in the Indus Valley there seems to have existed atheists
and agnostics who must have, like the Buddhists and Jains, revolted against
the Vedic way of life. Rig Veda refers to these non-conformists as
Adevayu i.e. not worshipping Vedic gods, Abrahman i.e. devoid of devotion,
Avrata i.e. lawless, Anyavrata i.e. follower of strange ordinances, Devapiyu
i.e. revilers of Vedic gods etc.
The question often raised
in regard to the antiquity of Vedas is: What is the probable age of Rig
Veda, which is the oldest of the four Vedas. Regarding Vedic chronology
Max Muller opines: “ Whether the Vedic hymns were composed 1000 or 1500
or 2000 or 3000 years B.C. no power on earth will ever determine.” The
Rig Veda is the earliest literary work of India and perhaps of the world.
The excavations of Indus Valley offer useful evidence that can change the
conception of not only ancient Vedic chronology but also human history.
The literary evidence available in the Rig Veda and the archaeological
remains of Indus Valley should be closely examined together to arrive at
any definite conclusion about whether the Rig Vedic civilisation was the
ancestor or the descendent of Indus civilisation. A most attempt
to examine in-depth this complex issue has been made below:
The three crucial antique
remains that are the most important of all Indus Valley finds have not
received the extent of attention that they richly deserve. These are the
unique art pieces in Yogic postures, the four-armed standing figure occurring
at item No. 383 of the Signs of Indus script and the Peepul tree, which
has enormous esoteric significance. In the Karma Kanda or ritualistic
portion of the Vedas, nowhere in the Samhitas, Brahmanas or the Aranyakas
is there any mention about Yoga, as this portion of the Vedas deal wholly
with various forms of Yajnas or fire sacrifices. The first
specific mention about Yoga is found in the Kathopanishad, which is elaborated
in the Srimad Bhagawad Gita, the Song Celestial. Both Kathopanishad
and the Gita contain reference to the Peepul tree and the Gita goes to
the extent of saying that the person who realises the esoteric significance
of this tree is a knower of the Vedas. While the Kathopanishad makes
a passing reference to the four-armed Deity Vishnu in VISHNOR YAD PARAMAM
PADAM, the Lord in the Gita reveals to Arjuna His four-armed Divine Vishnu
form in all its fine details. In the Indus Valley, people seem to
have strictly adhered to several Vedic practices like fire sacrifices,
ceremonial cremation of the dead, worship of Vedic deities, practice of
Yoga, belief in after-life and immortality of soul etc.
On the basis of preponderance
of evidence available in the Indus remains, one can safely conclude that
the Indus Valley civilisation could represent the culmination of the Vedic
period, when the Upanishads and Srimad Bhagawad Gita must have been widely
popular. Western archaeologists have placed the Indus civilisation
between 3250 to 2750 B.C., by allowing a period of 500 years for the seven
different layers of Indus remains. This chronology more or less corresponds
with the traditional view that the Mahabharatha war was fought in 3102
B.C. This fact is further corroborated by the Aihole inscription
of Pulikesin II that declares that the Epic battle took place in 3102 B.C.
that marks the end of the Dwapara Yuga and the commencement of the Kali
Yuga. According to the astronomical tradition represented by Aryabhatta,
the Kali Yuga is believed to have begun on the 18th February 3102 B.C.
The fundamental unity of
the Bharathavarsha from Himalayas to Cape Camorin right from the Indus
Valley times was brought about by the Vedic way of life popularly known
as the Sanathana Dharma or the eternal way of Vedic religion that governs
every aspect of human life from birth to death. The Sanathana Vedic
Dharma must have been the way of Indus people who seem to have worshipped
the Vedic deities, observed the Varna Ashrama Dharma, performed Vedic sacrifices
and practised the Upanishadic Yoga. Indus civilisation did
not become extinct by any foreign invasion and even to this day the eternal
way of Indus life survives in agricultural farming, vegetarianism, cattle
rearing, cotton clothing, use of precious beads, gold ornaments and pottery,
social customs, religious beliefs and spiritual practices.
Vedas are immutable truths that are universally applicable and eternally
valid and can have no beginning or end.
SECRET OF KNOWLEDGE IN BHAGAWAD-GITA:
SECRET OF ACTION IN BHAGAVAD GITA:
SCIENTIFIC SIDE OF RELIGIOUS
CONSCIOUSNESS:
SELF AS KNOWER IN VISISHTADVAITA:
ARYAN INVASION THEORY - FICTITIOUS
FABRICATION:
RELEVENCE OF RELIGION IN SCIENTIFIC
SOCIETY:
Rewriting the History of Ancient
India:
What Hindus ought to know: - This Page