Guru Nanak visits Mecca - Mohammed—A Sanskrit-speaking Vedic Indian - Islam Vedic khatre mein hai

Sacred Hindu places in India that Moslems purposefully built mosques on top of to defile:

Arabian Vedic Roots.
from Vocal resonance <autismas@hotmail.com>

Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 17:25:39 -0500

Hi There! you have posted a great article in the web page I just finished reading. You may want to add this info somewhere, as it is devoid of this important findings as well.

The articles under this web page are remarkable. THey missed out few items like the City of UR was where URVASI, the demsel from Hindu Purana lived.

ANd also the city of KARBALA is where VEDAS recited on the banks of Euphrites and Tigris River first;

CIty of QURNAH, was the demon king KARNA, the evil pharaoh lived once.

City of HIndiyah is later moved down to Indus valley where Hindi speaking people originated. HIndi speaking India came out of that city's name in IRAQ!

KEdar River was where LORD KEDARINATH's temple once existed in Mesopotemian times. This river's name is mentioned in bible OT. KETURAH was the wife of KETU as in Raghu and KETU.

BADR is the place where BADRINATH temple once existed in IRAQ, which got demolished when those Hvites became Shiiates. Hvites are called that in Hebrew which means SHIVITES in Sanskrit language.

SADR was also a place where LORD SADASHIVA's temple once existed in IRAQ.

Also about TERAH, the TRIFOLD and his 3 sons~ABRAHM, HARAN and NAHOR.(Bible OT). THis TERAH was the last Saguna or manifested BRAHMANOMAHARISH from Santana Dharma times, who worshipped BYBLOS or MAHA NANDHI and LORD SHIVA mostly.

SAIs Island in Nubian Kingdom where Shirdi SAIBABA's ancestors came from to INdus Valley Western ghat of India back in 1800s. SAIs were kings who were hindus first, Voodoo practioners next and muslims at last before they migrated into MUMBAI region back in 1800s. SAIBABA was born in INDIA during BRITISH times 1836AD.

Why LORD NARAYAN is called "SUMER" NARAYAN? Because the Saguna BRAHMAN HARAN (was no other than NARAYANSELF who was killed by ABRAHM's followers back in 3,000BCE, before Ramayana Times).

NAHOR's followers were relocated to NAGERCOIL in SOUTH and KAALADI is not too far from that place where ADHI S was born, before he travelled up north to meet w aryun Pali speaking Buddhists from Afghanisthan back in 600AD or so. Adhi S's ancestors arrived from Mesopotemia to Nagercoil to build a temple for Shiva back in 2,900BCE.
 

   Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 01:32:47 -0000
   From: "vrnparker" <vrnparker@yahoo.com>
Subject: Arabian Vedic Roots

Note: A recent archeological find in Kuwait unearthed a gold-plated statue of the Hindu deity Ganesh. A Muslim resident of Kuwait requested historical research material that can help explain the connection between Hindu civilisation and Arabia.]

Glancing through some research material recently, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a reference to a king Vikramaditya inscription found in the Kaaba in Mecca proving beyond doubt that the Arabian Peninsula formed a part of his Indian Empire.

The text of the crucial Vikramaditya inscription, found inscribed on a gold dish hung inside the Kaaba shrine in Mecca, is found recorded on page 315 of a volume known as 'Sayar-ul-Okul' treasured in the Makhtab-e-Sultania library in Istanbul, Turkey. Rendered in free English the inscription says:

"Fortunate are those who were born (and lived) during king Vikram's reign. He was a noble, generous dutiful ruler, devoted to the welfare of his subjects. But at that time we Arabs, oblivious of God, were lost in sensual pleasures. Plotting and torture were rampant. The darkness of ignorance had enveloped our country. Like the lamb struggling for her life in the cruel paws of a wolf we Arabs were caught up in ignorance. The entire country was enveloped in a darkness so intense as on a new moon night. But the present dawn and pleasant sunshine of education is the result of the favour of the noble king Vikramaditya whose benevolent supervision did not lose sight of us- foreigners as we were. He spread his sacred religion amongst us and sent scholars whose brilliance shone like that of the sun from his country to ours. These scholars and preceptors through whose benevolence we were once again made cognisant of the presence of God, introduced to His sacred existence and put on the road of Truth, had come to our country to preach their religion and impart education at king Vikramaditya's behest."

For those who would like to read the Arabic wording I reproduce it hereunder in Roman script:

"Itrashaphai Santu Ibikramatul Phahalameen Karimun Yartapheeha Wayosassaru Bihillahaya Samaini Ela Motakabberen Sihillaha Yuhee Quid min howa Yapakhara phajjal asari nahone osirom bayjayhalem. Yundan blabin Kajan blnaya khtoryaha sadunya kanateph netephi bejehalin Atadari bilamasa- rateen phakef tasabuhu kaunnieja majekaralhada walador. As hmiman burukankad toluho watastaru hihila Yakajibaymana balay kulk amarena phaneya jaunabilamary Bikramatum".

(Page 315 Sayar-ul-okul).

[Note: The title 'Saya-ul-okul' signifies memorable words.]

A careful analysis of the above inscription enables us to draw the following conclusions:

  1.. That the ancient Indian empires may have extended up to the eastern boundaries of Arabia until Vikramaditya and that it was he who for the first time conquered Arabia. Because the inscription says that king Vikram who dispelled the darkness of ignorance from Arabia.

  2.. That, whatever their earlier faith, King Vikrama's preachers had succeeded in spreading the Vedic (based on the Vedas, the Hindu sacred scriptures)) way of life in Arabia.

  3.. That the knowledge of Indian arts and sciences was imparted by Indians to the Arabs directly by founding schools, academies and cultural centres. The belief, therefore, that visiting Arabs conveyed that knowledge to their own lands through their own indefatigable efforts and scholarship is unfounded.

An ancillary conclusion could be that the so-called Kutub Minar (in Delhi, India) could well be king Vikramadiya's tower commemorating his conquest of Arabia. This conclusion is strengthened by two pointers. Firstly, the inscription on the iron pillar near the so-called Kutub Minar refers to the marriage of the victorious king Vikramaditya to the princess of Balhika. This Balhika is none other than the Balkh region in West Asia. It could be that Arabia was wrestled by king Vikramaditya from the ruler of Balkh who concluded a treaty by giving his daughter in marriage to the victor. Secondly, the township adjoining the so called Kutub Minar is named Mehrauli after Mihira who was the renowned astronomer-mathematician of king Vikram's court. Mehrauli is the corrupt form of Sanskrit 'Mihira-Awali' signifying a row of houses raised for Mihira and his helpers and assistants working on astronomical observations made from the tower.

Having seen the far reaching and history shaking implications of the Arabic inscription concerning king Vikrama, we shall now piece together the story of its find. How it came to be recorded and hung in the Kaaba in Mecca. What are the other proofs reinforcing the belief that Arabs were once followers of the Indian Vedic way of life and that tranquillity and education were ushered into Arabia by king Vikramaditya's scholars, educationists from an uneasy period of "ignorance and turmoil" mentioned in the inscription.

In Istanbul, Turkey, there is a famous library called Makhatab-e-Sultania, which is reputed to have the largest collection of ancient West Asian literature. In the Arabic section of that library is an anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. That anthology was compiled from an earlier work in A.D. 1742 under the orders of the Turkish ruler Sultan Salim.

The pages of that volume are of Hareer - a kind of silk used for writing on. Each page has a decorative gilded border. That anthology is known as Sayar-ul-Okul. It is divided into three parts. The first part contains biographic details and the poetic compositions of pre-Islamic Arabian poets. The second part embodies accounts and verses of poets of the period beginning just after prophet Mohammad's times, up to the end of the Banee-Um-Mayya dynasty. The third part deals with later poets up to the end of Khalif Harun-al-Rashid's times.

Abu Amir Asamai, an Arabian bard who was the poet Laureate of Harun-al-Rashid's court, has compiled and edited the anthology.

The first modern edition of 'Sayar-ul-Okul' was printed and published in Berlin in 1864. A subsequent edition is the one published in Beirut in 1932.

The collection is regarded as the most important and authoritative anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. It throws considerable light on the social life, customs, manners and entertainment modes of ancient Arabia. The book also contains an elaborate description of the ancient shrine of Mecca, the town and the annual fair known as OKAJ which used to be held every year around the Kaaba temple in Mecca. This should convince readers that the annual haj of the Muslims to the Kaaba is of earlier pre-Islamic congregation.

But the OKAJ fair was far from a carnival. It provided a forum for the elite and the learned to discuss the social, religious, political, literary and other aspects of the Vedic culture then pervading Arabia. 'Sayar-ul-Okul' asserts that the conclusion reached at those discussions were widely respected throughout Arabia. Mecca, therefore, followed the Varanasi tradition (of India) of providing a venue for important discussions among the learned while the masses congregated there for spiritual bliss. The principal shrines at both Varanasi in India and at Mecca in Arvasthan (Arabia) were Siva temples. Even to this day ancient Mahadev (Siva) emblems can be seen. It is the Shankara (Siva) stone that Muslim pilgrims reverently touch and kiss in the Kaaba.

Arabic tradition has lost trace of the founding of the Kaaba temple. The discovery of the Vikramaditya inscription affords a clue. King Vikramaditya is known for his great devotion to Lord Mahadev (Siva). At Ujjain (India), the capital of Vikramaditya, exists the famous shrine of Mahankal, i.e., of Lord Shankara (Siva) associated with Vikramaditya. Since according to the Vikramaditya inscription he spread the Vedic religion, who else but he could have founded the Kaaba temple in Mecca?

A few miles away from Mecca is a big signboard which bars the entry of any non-Muslim into the area. This is a reminder of the days when the Kaaba was stormed and captured solely for the newly established faith of Islam. The object in barring entry of non-Muslims was obviously to prevent its recapture.

As the pilgrim proceeds towards Mecca he is asked to shave his head and beard and to don special sacred attire that consists of two seamless sheets of white cloth. One is to be worn round the waist and the other over the shoulders. Both these rites are remnants of the old Vedic practice of entering Hindu temples clean- and with holy seamless white sheets.

The main shrine in Mecca, which houses the Siva emblem, is known as the Kaaba. It is clothed in a black shroud. That custom also originates from the days when it was thought necessary to discourage its recapture by camouflaging it.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Kaaba has 360 images. Traditional accounts mention that one of the deities among the 360 destroyed when the place was stormed, was that of Saturn; another was of the Moon and yet another was one called Allah. That shows that in the Kaaba the Arabs worshipped the nine planets in pre-Islamic days. In India the practice of 'Navagraha' puja, that is worship of the nine planets, is still in vogue. Two of these nine are Saturn and Moon.

In India the crescent moon is always painted across the forehead of the Siva symbol. Since that symbol was associated with the Siva emblem in Kaaba it came to be grafted on the flag of Islam.

Another Hindu tradition associated with the Kaaba is that of the sacred stream Ganga (sacred waters of the Ganges river). According to the Hindu tradition Ganga is also inseparable from the Shiva emblem as the crescent moon. Wherever there is a Siva emblem, Ganga must co-exist. True to that association a sacred fount exists near the Kaaba. Its water is held sacred because it has been traditionally regarded as Ganga since pre-Islamic times (Zam-Zam water).

[Note: Even today, Muslim pilgrims who go to the Kaaba for Haj regard this Zam-Zam water with reverence and take some bottled water with them as sacred water.]

Muslim pilgrims visiting the Kaaba temple go around it seven times. In no other mosque does the circumambulation prevail. Hindus invariably circumambulate around their deities. This is yet another proof that the Kaaba shrine is a pre-Islamic Indian Shiva temple where the Hindu practice of circumambulation is still meticulously observed.

The practice of taking seven steps- known as Saptapadi in Sanskrit- is associated with Hindu marriage ceremony and fire worship. The culminating rite in a Hindu marriage enjoins upon the bride and groom to go round the sacred fire four times (but misunderstood by many as seven times). Since "Makha" means fire, the seven circumambulations also prove that Mecca was the seat of Indian fire-worship in the West Asia.

It might come as a stunning revelation to many that the word 'ALLAH' itself is Sanskrit. In Sanskrit language Allah, Akka and Amba are synonyms. They signify a goddess or mother. The term 'ALLAH' forms part of Sanskrit chants invoking goddess Durga, also known as Bhavani, Chandi and Mahishasurmardini. The Islamic word for God is., therefore, not an innovation but the ancient Sanskrit appellation retained and continued by Islam. Allah means mother or goddess and mother goddess.

One Koranic verse is an exact translation of a stanza in the Yajurveda. This was pointed out by the great research scholar Pandit Satavlekar of Pardi in one of his articles.

[Note: Another scholar points out that the following teaching from the Koran is exactly similar to the teaching of the Kena Upanishad (1.7).

The Koran:

"Sight perceives Him not. But He perceives men's sights; for He is the knower of secrets , the Aware."

Kena Upanishad:

"That which cannot be seen by the eye but through which the eye itself sees, know That to be Brahman (God) and not what people worship here (in the manifested world)."

A simplified meaning of both the above verses reads:

God is one and that He is beyond man's sensory experience.]

The identity of Unani and Ayurvedic systems shows that Unani is just the Arabic term for the Ayurvedic system of healing taught to them and administered in Arabia when Arabia formed part of the Indian empire.

It will now be easy to comprehend the various Hindu customs still prevailing in West Asian countries even after the existence of Islam during the last 1300 years. Let us review some Hindu traditions which exist as the core of Islamic practice.

The Hindus have a pantheon of 33 gods. People in Asia Minor too worshipped 33 gods before the spread of Islam. The lunar calendar was introduced in West Asia during the Indian rule. The Muslim month 'Safar' signifying the 'extra' month (Adhik Maas) in the Hindu calendar. The Muslim month Rabi is the corrupt form of Ravi meaning the sun because Sanskrit 'V' changes into Prakrit 'B' (Prakrit being the popular version of Sanskrit language). The Muslim sanctity for Gyrahwi Sharif is nothing but the Hindu Ekadashi (Gyrah = elevan or Gyaarah). Both are identical in meaning.

The Islamic practice of Bakari Eed derives from the Go-Medh and Ashva-Medh Yagnas or sacrifices of Vedic times. Eed in Sanskrit means worship. The Islamic word Eed for festive days, signifying days of worship, is therefore a pure Sanskrit word. The word MESH in the Hindu zodiac signifies a lamb. Since in ancient times the year used to begin with the entry of the sun in Aries, the occasion was celebrated with mutton feasting. That is the origin of the Bakari Eed festival.

[Note: The word Bakari is an Indian language word for a goat.]

Since Eed means worship and Griha means 'house', the Islamic word Idgah signifies a 'House of worship' which is the exact Sanskrit connotation of the term. Similarly the word 'Namaz' derives from two Sanskrit roots 'Nama' and 'Yajna' (NAMa yAJna) meaning bowing and worshipping.

Vedic descriptions about the moon, the different stellar constellations and the creation of the universe have been incorporated from the Vedas in Koran part 1 chapter 2, stanza 113, 114, 115, and 158, 189, chapter 9, stanza 37 and chapter 10, stanzas 4 to 7.

Recital of the Namaz five times a day owes its origin to the Vedic injunction of Panchmahayagna (five daily worship- Panch-Maha-Yagna) which is part of the daily Vedic ritual prescribed for all individuals.

Muslims are enjoined cleanliness of five parts of the body before commencing prayers. This derives from the Vedic injuction 'Shareer Shydhyartham Panchanga Nyasah'.

Four months of the year are regarded as very sacred in Islamic custom. The devout are enjoined to abstain from plunder and other evil deeds during that period. This originates in the Chaturmasa i.e., the four-month period of special vows and austerities in Hindu tradition. Shabibarat is the corrupt form of Shiva Vrat and Shiva Ratra. Since the Kaaba has been an important centre of Shiva (Siva) worship from times immemorial, the Shivaratri festival used to be celebrated there with great gusto. It is that festival which is signified by the Islamic word Shabibarat.

Encyclopaedias tell us that there are inscriptions on the side of the Kaaba walls. What they are, no body has been allowed to study, according to the correspondence I had with an American scholar of Arabic. But according to hearsay at least some of those inscriptions are in Sanskrit, and some of them are stanzas from the Bhagavad Gita.

According to extant Islamic records, Indian merchants had settled in Arabia, particularly in Yemen, and their life and manners deeply influenced those who came in touch with them. At Ubla there was a large number of Indian settlements. This shows that Indians were in Arabia and Yemen in sufficient strength and commanding position to be able to influence the local people. This could not be possible unless they belonged to the ruling class.

It is mentioned in the Abadis i.e., the authentic traditions of Prophet Mohammad compiled by Imam Bukhari that the Indian tribe of Jats had settled in Arabia before Prophet Mohammad's times. Once when Hazrat Ayesha, wife of the Prophet, was taken ill, her nephew sent for a Jat physician for her treatment. This proves that Indians enjoyed a high and esteemed status in Arabia. Such a status could not be theirs unless they were the rulers. Bukhari also tells us that an Indian Raja (king) sent a jar of ginger pickles to the Prophet. This shows that the Indian Jat Raja ruled an adjacent area so as to be in a position to send such an insignificant present as ginger pickles. The Prophet is said to have so highly relished it as to have told his colleagues also to partake of it. These references show that even during Prophet Mohammad's times Indians retained their influential role in Arabia, which was a dwindling legacy from Vikramaditya's times.

The Islamic term 'Eed-ul-Fitr' derives from the 'Eed of Piters' that is worship of forefathers in Sanskrit tradition. In India, Hindus commemorate their ancestors during the Pitr-Paksha that is the fortnight reserved for their remembrance. The very same is the significance of 'Eed-ul-Fitr' (worship of forefathers).

The Islamic practice of observing the moon rise before deciding on celebrating the occasion derives from the Hindu custom of breaking fast on Sankranti and Vinayaki Chaturthi only after sighting the moon.

Barah Vafat, the Muslim festival for commemorating those dead in battle or by weapons, derives from a similar Sanskrit tradition because in Sanskrit 'Phiphaut' is 'death'. Hindus observe Chayal Chaturdashi in memory of those who have died in battle.

The word Arabia is itself the abbreviation of a Sanskrit word. The original word is 'Arabasthan'. Since Prakrit 'B' is Sanskrit 'V' the original Sanskrit name of the land is 'Arvasthan'. 'Arva' in Sanskrit means a horse. Arvasthan signifies a land of horses., and as well all know, Arabia is famous for its horses.

This discovery changes the entire complexion of the history of ancient India. Firstly we may have to revise our concepts about the king who had the largest empire in history. It could be that the expanse of king Vikramaditya's empire was greater than that of all others. Secondly, the idea that the Indian empire spread only to the east and not in the west beyond say, Afghanisthan may have to be abandoned. Thirdly the effeminate and pathetic belief that India, unlike any other country in the world could by some age spread her benign and beatific cultural influence, language, customs, manners and education over distant lands without militarily conquering them is baseless. India did conquer all those countries physically wherever traces of its culture and language are still extant and the region extended from Bali island in the south Pacific to the Baltic in Northern Europe and from Korea to Kaaba. The only difference was that while Indian rulers identified themselves with the local population and established welfare states, Moghuls and others who ruled conquered lands perpetuated untold atrocities over the vanquished.

'Sayar-ul-Okul' tells us that a pan-Arabic poetic symposium used to be held in Mecca at the annual Okaj fair in pre-Islamic times. All leading poets used to participate in it.

Poems considered best were awarded prizes. The best-engraved on gold plate were hung inside the temple. Others etched on camel or goatskin were hung outside. Thus for thousands of years the Kaaba was the treasure house of the best Arabian poetic thought inspired by the Indian Vedic tradition.

That tradition being of immemorial antiquity many poetic compositions were engraved and hung inside and outside on the walls of the Kaaba. But most of the poems got lost and destroyed during the storming of the Kaaba by Prophet Mohammad's troops. The Prophet's court poet, Hassan-bin-Sawik, who was among the invaders, captured some of the treasured poems and dumped the gold plate on which they were inscribed in his own home. Sawik's grandson, hoping to earn a reward carried those gold plates to Khalif's court where he met the well-known Arab scholar Abu Amir Asamai. The latter received from the bearer five gold plates and 16 leather sheets with the prize-winning poems engraved on them. The bearer was sent away happy bestowed with a good reward.

On the five gold plates were inscribed verses by ancient Arab poets like Labi Baynay, Akhatab-bin-Turfa and Jarrham Bintoi. That discovery made Harun-al-Rashid order Abu Amir to compile a collection of all earlier compositions. One of the compositions in the collection is a tribute in verse paid by Jarrham Bintoi, a renowned Arab poet, to king Vikramaditya. Bintoi who lived 165 years before Prophet Mohammad had received the highest award for the best poetic compositions for three years in succession in the pan-Arabic symposiums held in Mecca every year. All those three poems of Bintoi adjudged best were hung inside the Kaaba temple, inscribed on gold plates. One of these constituted an unreserved tribute to King Vikramaditya for his paternal and filial rule over Arabia. That has already been quoted above.

Pre-Islamic Arabian poet Bintoi's tribute to king Vikramaditya is a decisive evidence that it was king Vikramaditya who first conquered the Arabian Peninsula and made it a part of the Indian Empire. This explains why starting from India towards the west we have all Sanskrit names like Afghanisthan (now Afghanistan), Baluchisthan, Kurdisthan, Tajikiathan, Uzbekisthan,  Iran, Sivisthan, Iraq, Arvasthan, Turkesthan (Turkmenisthan) etc.

Historians have blundered in not giving due weight to the evidence provided by Sanskrit names pervading over the entire west Asian region. Let us take a contemporary instance. Why did a part of India get named Nagaland even after the end of British rule over India? After all historical traces are wiped out of human memory, will a future age historian be wrong if he concludes from the name Nagaland that the British or some English speaking power must have ruled over India? Why is Portuguese spoken in Goa (part of India), and French in Pondichery (part of India), and both French and English in Canada? Is it not because those people ruled over the territories where their languages are spoken? Can we not then justly conclude that wherever traces of Sanskrit names and traditions exist Indians once held sway? It is unfortunate that this important piece of decisive evidence has been ignored all these centuries.

Another question which should have presented itself to historians for consideration is how could it be that Indian empires could extend in the east as far as Korea and Japan, while not being able to make headway beyond Afghanisthan? In fact land campaigns are much easier to conduct than by sea. It was the Indians who ruled the entire West Asian region from Karachi to Hedjaz and who gave Sanskrit names to those lands and the towns therein, introduce their pantheon of the fire-worship, imparted education and established law and order.

It may be that Arabia itself was not part of the Indian empire until king Vikrama , since Bintoi says that it was king Vikrama who for the first time brought about a radical change in the social, cultural and political life of Arabia. It may be that the whole of West Asia except Arabia was under Indian rule before Vikrama. The latter added Arabia too to the Indian Empire. Or as a remote possibility it could be that king Vikramaditya himself conducted a series of brilliant campaigns annexing to his empire the vast region between Afghanisthan and Hedjaz.

Incidentally this also explains why king Vikramaditya is so famous in history. Apart from the nobility and truthfulness of heart and his impartial filial affection for all his subjects, whether Indian or Arab, as testified by Bintoi, king Vikramaditya has been permanently enshrined in the pages of history because he was the world's greatest ruler having the largest empire. It should be remembered that only a monarch with a vast empire gets famous in world history. Vikram Samvat (calendar still widely in use in India today) which he initiated over 2000 years ago may well mark his victory over Arabia, and the so called Kutub Minar (Kutub Tower in Delhi), a pillar commemorating that victory and the consequential marriage with the Vaihika (Balkh) princess as testified by the nearby iron pillar inscription.

A great many puzzles of ancient world history get automatically solved by a proper understanding of these great conquests of king Vikramaditya. As recorded by the Arab poet Bintoi, Indian scholars, preachers and social workers spread the fire-worship ceremony, preached the Vedic way of life, manned schools, set up Ayurvedic (healing) centres, trained the local people in irrigation and agriculture and established in those regions a democratic, orderly, peaceful, enlightened and religious way of life. That was of course, a Vedic Hindu way of life.

It is from such ancient times that Indian Kshtriya royal families, like the Pahalvis and Barmaks, have held sway over Iran and Iraq. It is those conquests, which made the Parsees Agnihotris i.e., fire-worshippers. It is therefore that we find the Kurds of Kurdisthan speaking a Sanskritised dialect, fire temples existing thousands of miles away from India, and scores of sites of ancient Indian cultural centres like Navbahar in West Asia and the numerous viharas in Soviet Russia spread throughout the world. Ever since so many viharas are often dug up in Soviet Russia, ancient Indian sculptures are also found in excavations in Central Asia. The same goes for West Asia.

[Note: Ancient Indian sculptures include metal statues of the Hindu deity Ganesh (the elephant headed god); the most recent find being in Kuwait].

Unfortunately these chapters of world history have been almost obliterated from public memory. They need to be carefully deciphered and rewritten. When these chapters are rewritten they might change the entire concept and orientation of ancient history.

In view of the overwhelming evidence led above, historians, scholars, students of history and lay men alike should take note that they had better revise their text books of ancient world history. The existence of Hindu customs, shrines, Sanskrit names of whole regions, countries and towns and the Vikramaditya inscriptions reproduced at the beginning are a thumping proof that Indian Kshatriyas once ruled over the vast region from Bali to Baltic and Korea to Kaaba in Mecca, Arabia at the very least.

BY SRIMATI ADITI CHATURVEDI

In 570 AD, the year of Muhammad's birth, Arabia was a thriving, rich and varied Vedic culture. Although monotheism in the forms of Christianity and Judaism were known to the people of Arvasthan, they were undeterred in their uncompromising faith to the religion of their ancestors: Hinduism . Every household had an idol of a Hindu god or goddess. There were hundreds of sacred groves, places of pilgrimage, and temples which were sanctuaries containing images of the entire range of Vedic gods. The temples in addition to being the religious focus of the Arabs, were also the cultural centres of learning. It was the temples that were the venues of literary and poetry competitions, of glorious festivals.
 

The virtues most highly prized by people of Arvasthan were bravery in battle, patience in misfortune, loyalty to one's tribe, and generosity to the needy and the poor. They proudly upheld the value of tolerance in matters of religious practice and belief. The respect they showed towards other people's religions was fully in keeping with their Vedic spiritual tradition.

The status of women was that of pride and equal respect. How could it be otherwise with a people whose chief deity was the goddess Durga (Alla). Women married men of their choice and were financially independent. They were entrepeneurs, artisans, poets and even warriors! Later on Muhammad would marry Khadija, who was not only a wealthy merchant but also in the position to choose her own husband. This clearly demonstrates the level of freedom women enjoyed in Vedic Arabia. Hind, who was the wife of Muhammad's chief enemy Abu Sufyan, herself participated in the battlefield.

Hind opposed Muhammad tooth and nail. She followed her husband to the battlefield and when Abu Sufyan surrendered Mecca to Muhammad without a fight she caught hold of him in the marketplace and cried:
"KILL this fat greasy bladder of lard! What a rotten protector of the people"
When Muhammad tried to baptise her & asked her not to commit adultery , She spat out the bitter words:

"A free woman does not commit adultery!"

How proud this woman was of the rights and privileges that her Vedic society had invested to her!

It was Islam that extinguished the light of knowledge in Vedic Arabia. It is ironic that the man who brought about such darkness himself belonged to the Qurayshi Tribe of Mecca. The Qurayshi were particularly devoted to Allah (Durga) and the famous Shivling of the Kaaba Temple. The fact that the Shivling remains to this day in the Kaaba is solely due to the fact that it happened to be the Qurayshi tribe's faceless Family Deity. As I mentioned before Muhammad's name itself came from Mahadeva, which is another cognate for Lord Shiva. Muhammad's own uncle, Umar-Bin-E-Hassham was a staunch Hindu and fervent devotee of Lord Shiva. He was a renowned poet and wrote many verses in praise of Shiva. One of these has survived on page 235 of Sair-Ul-Okul and reads as follows:

Kafavomal fikra min ulumin Tab asayru
Kaluwan amataul Hawa was Tajakhru
We Tajakhayroba udan Kalalwade-E Liboawa
Walukayanay jatally, hay Yauma Tab asayru
Wa Abalolha ajabu armeeman MAHADEVA
Manojail ilamuddin minhum wa sayattaru
Wa Sahabi Kay-yam feema-Kamil MINDAY Yauman
Wa Yakulum no latabahan foeennak Tawjjaru
Massayaray akhalakan hasanan Kullahum
Najumum aja- at Summa gabul HINDU

which translates as:

The man who may spend his life in sin
and irreligion or waste it in lechery and wrath
If at least he relent and return to
righteousness can he be saved?
If but once he worship Mahadeva with a pure
heart, he will attain the ultimate in spirituality.
Oh Lord Shiva exchange my entire life for but
a day's sojourn in India where one attains salvation.
But one pilgrimage there secures for one all
merit and company of the truly great.

Muhammad's uncle was one of the resident priests of the Shiv temple known as "Kaaba". This sacred sanctum was decorated in an extremely rich and beautiful fashion. The Kaaba was astronomically oriented to face the winds. The minor axis of the rectangular base of the Kaaba was solistically aligned towards summer sunrise and winter sunset. It contained 360 statues of Vedic deities and was a shrine primarily associated with sun worship. The temple was an architectural representation of an interlocking set of theories covering virtually all creation and comprehending chemistry, physics, cosmology, meteorology and medicine. Each wall or corner of the Kaaba was associated with a specific region of the world. Thus this glorious Hindu temple was made to symbolically represent a microcosm of the universe. The Arabs would face east when praying. This representation of a microcosm demonstrated by the eight directional structure was derived from the Tantric pattern (Refer to Figure 1) of Hinduism. Right at the centre of the Kaaba was the octogonal pedestal of Bramha the creator. Today this very pedestal is called Maqam-E-Ibrahim by the Muslims.
 

Figure 1.
A tantric pattern which defines the structure of Kaaba

However, more significant was the fact that the Kaaba was an extremely rich and ornate temple. On its walls hung innumerable gold plaques commemorating the winners of the annual poetry competition known as the Okaj fair. There were gold, silver and precious gems everywhere. It is no wonder that Muhammad armed with his facade of a new brand of religion set out to capture the immense wealth of the Vedic shrine of Mecca. After plundering the riches of the Kaaba, the wealth enabled him to systematically destroy all traces of the religion that threatened him so directly. It is an indisputable fact that money will make any low criminal devoutly religious in a hurry.

Despite the fact that Muhammad had to destroy all traces of Hinduism in order to make his "new religion" work, he knew that in order to fool people convincingly he would have to borrow from the Vedic culture that surrounded him. Being illiterate he picked out rituals and symbols that he didn't understand and distorted and falsified them for his own ends. Here is a list of these distortions:
Muhammad destroyed all 360 idols, but even he could not summon the courage to completely obliterate the Shivling in the Kaaba. He entered the temple and kissed the black stone. The Shivling was so sacred that the man who so detested idol- worship ended up kissing the largest idol in the Kaaba. Later his followers in a fit of piety broke the Shivling and then out of remorse repatched it together again. Today it lies broken at seven places and held together by a silver band studded with silver nails, bearing the name "Sangey Aswad" which came from the Sanskrit Ashwet meaning non-white or black stone.
He jumbled up the Sanskrit words Nama and Yaja (which meant "bowing and worshipping" respectively) into a combination word Namaz and used that to describe his prescribed method of prayer.
Because the Vedic custom was to pray facing the East, in his hatred for all things Hindu, he directed his followers to pray facing only the west.
The method of circling around a shrine seven times in a clockwise direction is an ancient Vedic custom. Muhammad with his lack of originality decided that the 7 ritual perambulations should be retained but again in his hatred of all things Vedic decided the direction of the perambulations should be anti-clockwise.
With his phobia of all things Vedic, Muhammad knew that the greatest reminder and threat to his forced brand of religion were the beautiful Vedic idols of Arabic temples. Thus he destroyed every idol he could find and made idol worship the greatest crime for a Muslim. Such a man could never have comprehended how an abstract concept can be conveyed through a symbolic representation in the form of an image. Thus he made all image representation a sin as well.
Vedic religion is known for its ancient oral tradition. It is well known that the Vedic culture emphasized oral debate and expression far more than the written word. In adition the oral recitation of Vedic scriptures was always done in a lyrical fashion, utilizing music and thus reaching a height of expression. In fear of this musical tradition Muhammad decided to forbid Music.
All Arabic copies of the Koran have the mysterious figure 786 imprinted on them . No Arabic scholar has been able to determine the choice of this particular number as divine. It is an established fact that Muhammad was illiterate therefore it is obvious that he would not be able to differentiate numbers from letters. This "magical" number is none other than the Vedic holy letter "OM" written in Sanskrit (Refer to figure 2). Anyone who knows Sanskrit can try reading the symbol for "OM" backwards in the Arabic way and magically the numbers 786 will appear! Muslims in their ignorance simply do not realise that this special number is nothing more than the holiest of Vedic symbols misread.

Figure 2.
Read from right to left this figure
of OM represents the numbers 786

There are many such instances where the symbols and rituals of Vedic culture were completely distorted and falsified by Muhammad in his bid to "create" his brand new religion. However in his haste to deceive and because of his ignorance and illiteracy, thousands of Vedic symbols still remain. Although they have been distorted beyond imagination, they still remain as solemn reminders of Arabia's glorious Vedic past. They can never be supressed.

In fact the rise of Islam put a full stop to all the previous knowledge of Arabia. The imperialistic message of Islam diverted all energies into raiding, looting and destruction. The incentive to learn and preserve the Vedic wisdom that had thrived in Arabia for so many centuries, was wiped out by the brutal pressure of Islam. Making easy money through loot and massacre was far more appealing than upholding the tenets of ancient knowledge. Gone were the schools, teachers, libraries, poets, artists, philosophers and scholars that had littered the Vedic landscape of Arabia like stars. Everyone had to become a raider if not from choice then for the sake of surviving the absolute intolerance of dissenters, that Islam preached. Thus was the light of learning extinguished in Arabia. All that remained was the Koran, the Kalma and the murderous hatred of anything Non-Muslim.

In my next article I will explore how the Arabs fought to keep the integrity and pride of their Vedic culture alive in the face of the violent, unjust and murderous destruction caused by the followers of Islam.

Note: Works of P.N. Oak, Sita Ram Goel, Arun Shourie, Jay Dubashi, Harsh Narain and Ram Swarup have been used to compose this article.

We are in the process of preparing a television documentary on this subject and have noted a number of writers claiming a Vedic presence.

In particular P.N. Oak and  Aditi Chaturvedi.

We would very much like to contact them and wondered if any of your members had their email address.

The focus of the question that perhaps your members might be able to answer revolves around the claim that pre-Islamic poetry contains Vedic names in particular from a source that we have been unable to find.

The is the quote and perhaps someone might be able to verify that source with preferably copies of the title page and the relevant pages containging the poetry in questions.

"ANTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT ARABIC POETRY: SAYAR-UL-OKUL

In Istanbul in Turkey, there is a famous library called Makteb-e-Sultania which is reputed to have the largest collection of ancient West Asian literature. In the Arabic Section of that library is an anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. That anthology was compiled from an earlier work in A.D. 1742 under the orders of the Turkish ruler Sultan Salim.

The 'pages' of that volume are made of HAREER - a kind of silk used for writing on. Each page has a decorative gilded border. It may be recalled that gilding pages of sacred books is an ancient custom associated with old Sanskrit scriptures found in Java and other places. The anthology itself is known as SAYAR-UL-OKUL. It is divided into three parts, the first part contains biographic details and the poetic compositions of pre-Islamic Arabian poets. The second part embodies accounts and verses of poets of the period beginning just after Prophet Mohammad up to the end of Banee- Ummayya dynasty. The third part deals with later poets up to the end of Khalifa Harun-al-Rashid's times. Incidentally "Banee" means "Vanee" and Ummayya as in Krishnayya are Sanskrit names.

Abu Amir Abdul Asamai, a distinguished Arabian bard who was the Poet Laureate of Harun-al-Rashid's court has compiled and edited the anthology.

The first modern edition of Sayar-ul-Okul anthology was printed and published in Berlin in A.D. 1864. A subsequent edition was published in Beirut in A.D. 1932. This work is regarded as the most important and authoritative anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. It throws considerable light on the social life, customs, manners and entertainment forms in ancient Arabia. The book also contains an elaborate description of the ancient Mecca shrine, the town and the annual fair known as OKAJ which used to be held there every year. "

Ever

Mike

Mike.Sanders@BibleMysteries.com
http://www.BibleMysteries.com

"The  Greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to Love and be Loved in return" (Edan  Ahbez)

ABU DHABI-The Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi is at least 1,000 years older than was thought, an archaeological organization said on Saturday on the basis of studies of Pottery. The Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological survey (ADIAS) said its studies on Pottery recovered from the Batten area of Abu Dhabi showed the island was inhabited As far back as the third century A.D.

Historical  sources, cited by British colonial officials in the early 19th century, had previously dated the first Abu Dhabi settlement back to around 1761, ADIAS said, “This new evidence of early first millennium A.D. settlement bring the island on which the UAE’s capital city stands firmly into the pattern of settlement within the coastal region of the Emirates, “It said in a statement.

(The above item was published in the Indian Express, Sunday, February 13,2000.  Both archaeologists and Newspaper staff must realize that Islam and Christianity are barely 1000 to 1600 years ancient.  But  the lands they converted are millions of years ancient.  Consequently all educated persons must remember that relics discovered in these lands and their names must be traced to their Vedic, Sanskrit origin.)

The above photograph shows the detail of the ceiling, decorated in multicolored majolica, of the Mashhad MOSQUE in Iran. Look to the left of the photograph directly underneath the leftmost peacock's feet and you will suddenly notice the unmistakeable statue of Shree Vishnu Bhagvan seated in lotus pose with Shankh and lotus in his hands. This is clear hard evidence of the fact that many of the mosques in Islamic countries such as Iran were originally Vedic Temples. This can be supported by the fact that the peacock is a bird indigenous to India and central to Hindu religious iconology. The peacock is not native to Iran nor is the use of iconography encouraged by Islam. Figurative sculpture especially is forbidden in Islam as this amounts to idolatory. In addition please observe the typically Hindu stylized lotus pattern background upon which the sculpture of Shree Vishnu is superimposed in relief. One must logically conclude that this photograph is visual evidence of the Vedic Origin of the Mosque in Mashhad, Iran.

From the book Our World Vedic Heritage by P.N. Oaks, page 633: ( [world-vedic] Digest Number 539 )

" Siddiqi's article informs us that the name of the city Baghdad, ( which was a center of Hindu, Vedic learning ), itself is of Sanskrit derivation. " Bagh " means God and " dad " means given by, hence, Baghdad means a city given by God. This derivation belies the Muslim claim that Baghdad was built by Caliph Al-Masur in 762 ­ 763 A D., and that it was scientifically planned by him with the help of Indian engineers and architects. It is circular in design and claimed to be the first of Muslim cities. What is meant by the term first Muslim city is is that it was the first big, reknowned Vedic city captured by Islam outside of Saudi Arabia.

If Baghdad was among the first few cities of Islam it should have been named Islamabad, Allahabad or Mohammadabad. How come that it was given a Sanskrit name commemorating the Vedic name for God, Bhagavan?

Secondly, if it was a city built with the help of Hindu engineers and Hindu science and has a Hindu name, how could it be a Muslim city?

Thirdly, we are told that the city was founded in 762 ­ 763 AD. Can a whole city be planned, built, inhabited and named all in one year? [ Especially back then! ] How many years does it take to plan a city, survey and acquire land, develop it, order building material, raise buildings and populate the city?

And if Baghdad was newly created as a Muslim city, how was it an ancient center of Hindu learning?

All such cross-questioning reveals the utter falsity of Muslim claims; and the utter gullibility of modern historians in just swallowing any Muslim claim without even the least examination.
Another very important conclusion which emerges from the above Muslim version is that Baghdad, far from being built in 762 ­ 763A D, was subjected to a terrible sack and general massacre in that year. Almost overnight the entire populace was terrorized into accepting Islam and from that day Baghdad was proclaimed a Muslim city. Consequently, all its Vedic temples were advetised to be Muslim mosques and tombs. This is a graphic instance of how, in Islamic terminology, ` built  a city ` implies conversely its plunder and ravage.

History itself has been concocted. As everybody was forced to become a Muslim not a sould was left to write about the terror and torture with which Baghdad was transformed into a Muslim city. This is true not only of Baghdad but of all land overrun by Islam. Everyone has been forever silenced and none is ever allowed to tell the story of how entire regions were overnight turned Muslim as though by a magic wand. This is proof that falsification of suppression of history has ipso facto become a basic Muslim tenet. Individuals and realms have been trained never to probe into how or when they became Muslim, but merely to keep repeating the fanciful glories of Islam."

Posted by Dharmapad
 
 

BY DHIRA GOVINDA DASA

July 23, 2003   VNN8242
http://www.vnn.org/editorials/ET0307/ET23-8242.html

EDITORIAL, Jul 23 (VNN) — Readers who were interested in VNN Story VNN8222, Hebrews and Vedic Brahmins, will find the following article very interesting. This article is also found in the new edition of the book Krsna, Israel, and the Druze- An Interreligious Odyssey, by Dhira Govinda dasa (David B. Wolf, Ph.D.), available from Torchlight Publishing (www.torchlight.com or torchlight@spiralcom.net) or Satvatove (DGovinda@aol.com).
 

Jethro, The Druze And Vedic Origins

A serendipitous, though intensive, case study of Israeli Druze reveals striking similarities between Vedic and Druze philosophy and culture. This article uses these congruities as a springboard for researching Druze origins. Jethro, commonly known as the father-in-law of Moses, is the greatest saint in the pantheon of Druze prophets. He is a Midianite, a tribe descending from the sons of Keturah who were sent by Abraham to the East. Analysis of the relationship between Moses and Jethro reveals that Moses oftentimes accepted the role of Jethro's student. It is suggested that Moses was the disciple of Jethro in practical as well as spiritual matters. This conforms with the Midianite-Kenite hypothesis about the origin of the Hebrew religious system. The author relates this idea to the Druze connection with India, and suggests that Druze oral and written traditions be studied, alongside a reexamination of the Midianite-Kenite hypothesis, to determine the extent of Vedic influence on Judaic history.

In 1988 I went to northern Israel, not as a student of religious history, but as a book seller. With a team of six other Vaisnavas, I visited the towns, cities and villages of the Galil, presenting Hebrew translations of the books of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to the Jewish population. In the process, we stumbled upon the Druze, and entered a world of fascinating interethnic experiences, which became the subject of a book I published in 1994, entitled Krsna, Israel and the Druze- An Interreligious Odyssey. This book describes many occurrences, some of which will be narrated below, suggesting a connection between Vedic and Druze culture and philosophy. Further, this paper attempts to indicate a relationship between Vedic civilization and Judaism, through Jethro, the major prophet of the Druze, and urges scholars of Judaic and Indic studies to pursue this line of inquiry.

On several occasions we met with the late Sheik Tarif Amin, former world spiritual leader of the Druze. He expressed genuine appreciation that hundreds of Druze households were placing sets of Vedic books in their homes. Sheik Amin stated that he wanted the Druze people to work with the Hare Krsna movement "as one race." This is an amazing declaration, considering that the Druze are primarily known for their isolation and clandestine religious practices.

Salman Falach, Druze Minister of Education in Israel, purchased hundreds of Srila Prabhupada's books for Druze schools and libraries. For his personal collection, Mr. Falach bought all the books we had in English, and, after paging through the Srimad-Bhagavatam, stated "I think after reading these books I will discover that our religion is coming from them." All segments of Druze society, including farmers, political leaders, educators, sheiks and businessmen, became fascinated by the Vaisnavas and the Vedic literatures they presented. Within a short time, Druze were accepting these Sanskrit literatures as their own scriptures. What is the explanation for this?

We spoke with many Druze sheiks and intellectuals, and they shared deeply with us. Although Druze are considered by the academic community to be an Arabic sect of Islam (Firro, 1992), albeit an unorthodox one, most Druze consider their roots to be Indian. Their beliefs are pervaded by characteristically Vedic conceptions. For instance, their scriptures, like the Vedic puranas and itihasas, and unlike chronicles of Middle Eastern religions, describe history dating back hundreds of millions of years, with incarnations of God in a human form appearing at regular intervals. This is akin to the Vedic idea of regular appearances of avataras. Also, transmigration of the soul is a central tenet of Druze philosophy. In fact, to describe this principle the Druze use the same analogy as Krsna uses in the Bhagavad-gita [2:22]: "As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones."

Kamal Jumbalat, the late Druze political hero and renowned spiritualist, often extolled Krsna, the Bhagavad-gita, the Ramayana, and other Vedic books and personalities in his writings (Dasa, 1994, p. 219). He also spoke of Druze going to India and taking sannyasa (Jumbalat, I Speak for Lebanon, p. 34), and Jumbalat was himself a vegetarian and considered himself, in his later years, to be living as a vanaprastha, the retired order of life in the Vedic social system.

Even on esoteric points, sheiks would surprise us with parallels between Vedic and Druze understandings. For instance, Sheik Farhoud, an eminent Druze religious leader in the northern Galil, commenting on the ontology of Jesus Christ, explained that the Christ on the cross was an illusory Christ. His exposition was strikingly similar in quality to the Vaisnava understanding, based on the Kurma Purana (Caitanya-Caritamrta, Madhya-lila, 1: 117), that the Sita stolen by Ravana was maya-Sita, or an illusory representation of the real Sita. Occasionally sheiks expounded on Druze astronomy, and the descriptions were very similar to those of the 5th Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Actually, the term "Druze," like the word "Hindu," was coined by the Muslims. Almost 1,000 years ago El Drazi was a heretic to the emerging Druze faith, and Muslims, to deride this new sect, derisively referred to the group by the name of their dissident. Druze consider themselves as Muwahidoon, which translates as "the one, eternal religion, (Abu-Izzeddin, 1984; Betts, 1988; Firro, 1992)" much as a practitioner of Vedic religion is performing sanatana-dharma, the eternal occupation of the soul, rather than any temporally or geographically based religion (Prabhupada, 1972- from Introduction). The current manifestation of the Muwahidoon, known as the Druze, originates from al Hakim Bi-Amr Allah, the sixth Fatimid Caliph, who ruled Egypt during the late 10th and early 11th Centuries (Abu-Izzeddin). According to the sheiks, there are other manifestations of the Muwahidoon.

To avoid persecution, as well as to prevent unqualified persons from obtaining knowledge, Druze conceal their beliefs. They have developed a philosophy of social interaction called taquiyya, meaning that one should perform duties according to the national milieu, while internally remembering one's identity as a member of the Muwahidoon. Even Druze are not permitted to read their scriptures until they take vows of initiation (Dana, 1980). Yet, top sheiks were revealing confidential information to us, considering us to be Muwahidoon from India. Some Druze pundits revealed that the original language of their scriptures was Sanskrit, and indicated that incarnations such as Buddha and Krsna are described in these books.

In 1928, Richard Gottheil (Hitti, 1928, Foreword) declared "The Druzes have been the wonder of scholars,... All sorts of theories have been advanced by scholars to account for their particular tenets and customs... The scholars have been unsuccessful.. and the Druzes still remain the great mystery." Modern-day research has done little to uncover the origins of the Druze, though Abu-Izzeddin (1984, p. 121) states "Recently discovered manuscripts throw new light on influences from India," and provides strong evidence of the Muwahidoon culture extending to India during the middle of the 11th Century. Also, the story of the disappearance of al Hakim is vague, and many scholars and Druze believe that he left Cairo and went to India to meditate during the final stage of his appearance on Earth (Abu-Izzeddin).

To find a spiritual culture with such unmistakable Vedic influence in Israel was astonishing, and this impromptu ethnographic research should be valuable for scholars investigating the connection between India and the Middle East. This author has done some examination of relevant literature, and would like to share findings that may have profound implications for the major Western religions.

Jethro, Moses' father-in-law1, is the foremost prophet for the Druze. Their largest annual celebration is held at the tomb of Jethro, near Tiberias (Dana, 1980). Jethro, known as Nabi Schweib by the Druze, was a Midianite (Exodus 18:1), a tribe descending from Keturah, a wife of Abraham (Genesis 25:1-2). Genesis (25:6) describes that Abraham sent the sons of Keturah to the East. Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel (Glazerson, 1984) asserts that Abraham sent them to India. This is more evidence linking the Druze with India, or at least the East. If we examine the relationship between Moses and Jethro, the story becomes even more interesting.

Jethro is commonly understood as an idol-worshipping pagan, a Midianite priest, who converted to Judaism by associating with Moses. If we study the role of Jethro, however, this description seems unsatisfying. In Exodus (Chapter 18), Jethro brings Zipporah and her two sons to Moses, and Moses bows down and kisses Jethro. Then Jethro praises the God of the Jews and "took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God." It is interesting to conjecture why the elders of Israel are eating food that was sacrificed by an idol worshipper. On the next day Jethro instructs Moses on the formation of an administrative structure for the Israeli people. Some scholars assert that he also helped set up the system of worship (Auerbach, 1975). Before giving instruction, Jethro admonishes Moses for placing himself (Moses) as direct arbitrator for all decisions, great and small. Also, he introduces his remarks by stating "Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God be with thee." It sounds like Jethro has quite a bit of authority, granted by God Himself. According to Exodus, "Moses did all that he [Jethro] had said." Albright (Beegle, 1972) claims that the twelve tribes of Israel formed as a result of Jethro's reorganization of the people.

Before returning to Egypt, Moses asks Jethro's permission to embark on the journey (Exodus 4:18). Furthermore, Auerbach (1975, p. 205) writes "The first sacrifice in Israel was offered up not by Moses but by the Midianite priest Jethro. He too was apparently the one who came to fashion the ark." Thus, Jethro was the first priest of the Israeli nation, and many scholars suggest that he instructed Moses and Aaron in the practices of priesthood. Auerbach (p. 122) concludes that "a strong Midianite influence on Israel's cult and law is undeniable..." In addition, the Ark of the Covenant is directly connected with Jethro and is considered to be of Midianite origin (Auerbach, 1985). Moreover, when Moses asks Jethro to be a guide, he is literally asking him to "be for us as eyes." (Baskin, 1983, p. 59) Baskin, quoting the Sipre on Numbers, expresses the request of the Hebrews to Jethro as follows. "In everything that is hidden from our eyes, you shall enlighten us." Baskin goes on to explain "Jethro will bring to light things that have been neglected or forgotten." (Baskin, 1983, p. 59) In summary, the idol-worshipping pagan from the East has an astonishingly easy and profound influence on the Israelite nation and Moses, the prophet of prophets.

I propose that Jethro instructed Moses, not only about administering justice, but also about spiritual knowledge and practices. That is, Moses' prime preceptor for understanding how to please and worship God was Jethro, priest of the Midianites. In Exodus, Jethro takes the initiative in offering sacrifices to YHVH (Exodus 18:12) because he was more familiar with the God of Moses than Moses himself. Interestingly, this is not a particularly original hypothesis.

Many scholars have asserted that the Israelites received their religion from the Kenites, a tribe associated with Jethro (Judges 1:16, 4:11) and a part of the Midianites. The Jewish Encyclopedia summarizes the theories of these scholars. "Jethro initiates Moses and Aaron into the worship of YHVH. Several modern scholars believe, in consequence of this statement, that YHVH was a Kenite deity, and that from the Kenites through the agency of Moses his worship passed to the Israelites. The Kenites, then, were a nomadic tribe, more advanced in the arts of life than Israel." (The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1916, p. 467) Ben-Sasson calls this the "Midianite-Kenite" hypothesis on the origin of the name Yahweh (Malamat, 1976, p. 45).

To summarize the line of reasoning, many scholars have believed that the Hebrew nation acquired their religion from the Kenites. These scholars apparently were unaware of the similarity between Druze culture and philosophy and the Vedas. Nor did they seem much concerned with the connection between the Kenites and the East. In light of recent ethnological findings regarding the Druze (Dasa, 1994), and the intriguing status and role of Nabi Schweib in relation to Moses, the Kenite theory acquires a fresh cogency.

Jethro was a Kenite, a tribe from the East, and with roots perhaps stemming from India. He is the major preceptor of the Druze, whose present philosophy and lifestyle are remarkably Vedic, considering they are situated in the Middle East. The interaction between Jethro and Moses suggests that Moses, at least in some capacity, was Jethro's disciple. This hypothesis conforms with the theory of Kenite origins of the Hebrew religion. Thus, the Vedas may be the source of the Judaic religious tradition.

In many Midrashim, the East, in comparison with any other direction, is hallowed as a source of light and knowledge. For example, in The Midrash Rabbah (1977, Vol. 3: Numbers, p. 90) it is stated "The east is the source from which light goes forth into the world, and there camped the standard of Judah which bred kings, scholars, and men of pious deeds. For this reason Moses and Aaron and his sons camped there... The three tribes of the South, however, who were close to quarrelsome men, perished together..." Also, Jewish commentators throughout the ages have described India as a land of potency and paradise. The Legends of the Jews (1925, Vol. 5, p. 196) delineates stories of sages who went to India to obtain "plants of paradise," and narrates how Solomon (Vol. 4, p. 149) secured water with special healing powers from India. And in Volume 1, page 11, of The Legends of the Jews, it is written "Beyond the inhabited parts to the east is Paradise with its seven divisions, each assigned to the pious of a certain degree." Genesis (2:8) places Eden in the East. Additionally, Keturah, whose sons went to the East, is especially characterized for fine qualities. According to the Midrashim (The Midrash Rabbah, Vol. 1, p. 543), "[the name Keturah] implies that she united piety and nobility... she was like one who seals up a treasure..." "Keturah," according to The Legends of the Jews (Vol. 5, p. 264), means "sweet like incense."

In many fields, such as linguistics (e.g., Kak, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990), astronomy (e.g., Thompson, 1989, 1997; Kak, 1987), archaeology (e.g., Rao, 1988, 1991, 1993; Jacobi, 1894; Hicks and Anderson, 1990), mathematics (e.g., Seidenberg, 1962), and Indology (e.g., Rajaram and Frawley, 1995; Burrow, 1973; Jarrige and Meadow, 1980), there is compelling evidence for an original Vedic culture. This article has presented a case for an East to West flow of religious and spiritual knowledge, emanating from ancient India. This hypothesis helps to answer many questions, such as those concerning the relationship between Moses and Jethro, and the origins of the Druze. The community of religious scholars may benefit from pursuing the line of inquiry outlined herein. This would require reviving and rethinking the Midianite- Kenite theory, with reference to Torah, midrashim, agaddah, and scholarly analysis that has been done on this topic throughout the generations. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, fruitful investigation would entail researching the oral and written traditions of the Druze, which may be a formidable task, considering their heritage of secrecy.

Footnote
1. According to the Druze, Jethro was the guardian of Zipporah, not her father. Therefore, they do not consider Jethro to be the father-in-law of Moses.

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Rao, S. R. (1988). Excavation of submerged ports- Dwarka: A case study. Marine Archaeology of Indian Ocean Countries- Proceedings of the First Indian Conference, Oct., 1987, pp. 47- 53. National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India, 1988.
Rao, S. R. (1991). Dawn and Devolution of the Harappan Civilization. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.
Rao, S. R. (1993). Foreword to The Aryan Invasion Theory: A Reappraisal, by Shrikant G. Talageri, pp. v-ix. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.
Seidenberg, A. (1962). The ritual origin of geometry. In Archive for History of Exact Science, Edited by C. Truesdell. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Seidenberg, A. (1962). The origin of Mathematics. In Archive for History of Exact Science, Edited by C. Truesdell. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1916, Funk and Wagnalls Company, Printed in USA. The Jewish Publication Society of America (1955). The Holy Scriptures- According to the Masoretic Text. Philadelphia.
The Midrash Rabbah (1977). Translated by Dr. Judah J. Slotki. London: The Soncino Press.
Thompson, R. L. (1989). Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy. Los Angeles: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
Thompson, R. L. (1997). Planetary diameters in the Surya-Siddhanta. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 11 (2), pp. 193-200.
 

CLICK LINK FOR PHOTO OF lion's head in part of the decoration of the imposing ruins of ancient temples at ancient Baalbek (Lebanon) The Swastikas are formed in decorative manner along the wall.
http://www.library.yale.edu/~okerson/ne1.html

COMPILED BY VRIN PARKER

USA, Dec 9 (VNN) — (This and more info on the Ancient World's Vedic Heritage can be found @  http://www.vedica.net/) Around four thousand years ago, the Hurrians (The Hari) controlled an important empire called Mitanni. It is principally among the Mitanni that Vedic Aryan names and words occur....In a famous treaty between the Hittite ruler Suppiluliuma and the Mitanni king, Mattiwaza,(Mattiraja) about 1370 BC, the Vedic gods Mithra, Varuna, Indra and the twin Nasatyas are mentioned. Thus in the Mitanni kingdom Aryan gods were worshipped as well as Mesopotamian deities, which proves an Aryan Vedic element." In a famous tablet, we have the seal of Prince Suttarna, son of Kirta, King of Mittani in which two lions are defeated by a central single human- headed lion-in bird costume;mid second millennium BC.

In particular treaty, between the Hittite King Shuppilulima and Mattiwaza (Mattiraja), king of the Hurrian (Hari)kingdom of Mitanni circa 1350 BC, listed among the divine witnesses "Mitra-ash, Uruwana, Indra, and the Nashatiyanu gods, the very Mithra, Varuna, Indra, and the Nasatya gods of the Vedic pantheon"

Another treatise from the State Archives of the Hittite Empire was discovered in Boghaz-keui in modern Turkey. It is a treatise on chariot racing and it uses Sanskrit words such as "Aikavartana=One Turn, Teravartana=Three Turns, Panchavartana=Five Turns, Sattavartana=Seven Turns."

Excavations in El-Amarna in Egypt have yeilded the fact that about the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C., Kings and Princes with typical Vedic names were ruling in the region of modern day Syria. Some of the names are Artamanya, Aryavirya, Yashodatta and Suttarna.

From Mitannian proper names such as Shuwardatta one can also infer the presence of the Vedic Sun God Surya in the Mitanni pantheon. Surya was also worshiped by the Vedic Aryan Kings of Babylon, the Kassites, by the name of Suryash.

According to ancient records, 3400 years ago,Egyptian Emperor Menkheperura or Thutmose the IV, married a daughter of King Artatma. Artatma was the King of the Vedic Mittani Kingdom, situated in the Upper Euphrates river area. As mentioned before, the Mittani are universally recognized as Sanskrit speakers and followers of Vedic Dharma and Culture. This is evidenced in the various ancient tablets etc. that have been found by archeologists.

We know from a letter addressed by Dushratta, king of Mitanni- Artatama's grandson,-written to Akhnaton,that six times had Thotmose the Fourth made his request, but all in vain. Mitanni was a small kingdom; nothing to be compared with the mighty Egyptian Empire. Some suggest concerns about the Egyptian King's lack of Vedic culture was the basis for King Artatama's repeated refusal to give his daughter in marriage to the most powerful monarch of his times.Not until the seventh asking, did King Artatma agree to the marriage proposal.The Ancient records state, "after the seventh asking,the king of Mitanni gave his daughter to the king of Egypt."

The new Queen outwardly forsook her Vedic/Sanskrit name and adopted an Egyptian one, more in keeping with her new position- Mutemuya, or "Mut in the sacred bark"-and is styled upon the monuments as "hereditary princess, Great Lady, presiding over the South and over the North." Of her personality and actual influence nothing is known. It can only be surmised that she would, in her new home, feel herself drawn to Vedic dieties such as the Sun-God Surya,which the Greeks were one day to call Heliopolis-to Ra- Horakhti of the Two Horizons.The Egyptian's called the Sun-God Atem or Aton. Most probably, she could relate to the fiery Disk of Aton,-much like her native Aryan gods Mithra and Surya, rather than replace their worship with the exalted Amon, the tribal god of Thebes. Her real, undeniable contribution to the further history of Egypt (and of religious thought) lies however in the fact that she gave birth to King Amenhotep the Third or Amenhotep the Magnificent.

Amenhotep the Third, married one of the most remarkable feminine characters of Antiquity, Tiy, daughter of Yuaa and of Tuau, or Tuaa. Although Yuaa was a priest of the age-old Egyptian fertility-god, Min, he was a foreigner "from North Syria" or, to be more precise, from the Vedic Mitanni Kingdom.During this time in Egyptian history, the ruling aristocracy of Egypt,including the king, were of mixed Egyptian and Mittani ancestry. Sir Flinders Petrie holds Yuaa to have been one of those numerous allied or vassal princes that were then brought up at the Egyptian Court.

Scholars are not sure whether Queen Tiy's mother, Tuau or Tuaa, who, according to most scholars, was of royal descent, was a full- blooded Egyptian or partly or wholly Mitannian inspite of her Egyptian name. In a letter sent by Dushratta, king of Mitanni, to Akhnaton, Tiy is called my sister, which would indicate that she herself was, through one of her parents at least, if not through both, was of royal Mitannian blood.

Not enough has been written about the probable Vedic influence of the many Mitannians who lived at the Egyptian Court. In particular, not enough is publicly known about the influence of the Vedic Mittani in Amenhotep the Third's "house of women"-upon the education of the young prince who was to ascend the throne as Amenhotep the Fourth. He has become immortal under the name of Akhnaton, the well known father of King Tutankamen.

What has been virtually ignored are the deep Vedic roots of Akhnaton. On his Father's side, his Grandmother was Mittani, and his Father was half Mittani. On his mother's side, his Grandfather was Mittani, his Grandmother at least half Mittani and his own Mother was half or maybe a full blooded Mittani. Since there is no doubt as to the Vedic/Aryan identity of the Mittani, we can be confidant of the fact that Akhnaton was strongly influenced by Vedic Culture. This explains the many similarities between his religion of the Sun and Vedic Spirituality.

His devotion to One Supreme Godhead has also been recognized to have impacted Moses and the religion of Judaism and Christianity. What is not very well known, is the Vedic Basis and nature of Akhnaton's philosophy and religion.This is another very important link between Vedic Culture, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Akhnaton was born in the beautiful Charuk palace, in Thebes, in or shortly after1395 B.C.,-(some scholars place his birth a few years later.)At the young age of 12, Akhnaton was crowned King of Egypt. Records show that in the beginning, he merely reigned, while his Mitanni Mother, Queen Tiy, governed.The King of the Mitanni, King Dashratha (Dushratta),writing to congratulate him on his accession, addresses himself to Queen Tiy, not to Akhnaton directly. Even in later letters of this period, Dashratha writes to Akhnaton advising him to"refer to his mother" about important matters.

The evidence proving the Vedic influence-via the Mitanni- on Akhnaton is beyond questioning. In fact, not only were a majority of his relatives Mitanni, his wife was also a Mitanni princess, the daughter of King Dashratta, the famous Nefertiti. It is a well known fact that she, along with Akhnaton, were acting in the role of High Priest and Preistess in the religion of Aton. It has erroneously been stated that Aton's worship was"invented" by pharaoh Amenhotep IV/ Akhenaten. However, beginning with Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III, Aten enjoyed a higher level of worship.

At the age of eighteen years, he came into complete power of the Kingdom. It was at this time that he proclaimed his faith in One God- The Sun, which he designated by the name of Aton, ie. The Disk or Fiery Orb. He publicly proclaimed his faith in Aton, as the God of Gods. Some have claimed that as a Sun worshipper, Akhnaton was more of an Animist Nature worshiper rather than a devotee of a Supreme Godhead. However Akhnaton's own words confirm that this is not the case. Akhnaton spoke of the Sun disk as being the Eye of Aton and a representative of Aton's Power. In the Bhagavad Gita, the Sun is described as one of the unlimited eyes of God's Universal Form. In the Brahma-Samhita the Sun is also described as the Eye of God.Akhnaton's reverance of the Sun is properly understood in this context.

The symbol of Aton, as presented by Akhnaton, was an image of the Sun Disc with many sunrays extending out, ending in hands, in a kind of triangle shape. Some scholars have also pointed out that the shape of the Pyramids represents the Sun's beams shining down to Earth, in a triangle shape, with the top being the Source and spreading out ever wider as it reaches the Earth.

The similarity between Akhnaton's Aton and Surya is indeed striking. The Sanskrit description of the Divine source of light corresponds perfectly with the picture of Aton given in the Egyptian King's hymns.

"As the Vivifier and Quickener, He raises His long arms of gold in the morning, rouses all beings from their slumber, infuses energy into them, and buries them in sleep in the evening."(From a Vedic prayer to Sun God.) This description also fits perfectly with the carvings of Aton as the Solar disc extending its golden arms to the Earth. Archeologists have confirmed that all these images and engravings were covered in gold at one time.

Also according to Akhnaton, Aton as the Supreme Godhead, was imbued with both the male and female principles. He says to Aton,"Father and Mother of all that You have made." This paralels with the Vedic terms for the Sun,Savita(male) and Savitri(female)or the Sun and the Sun's energy.

Akhnaton's Hymn to Aton also shows a remarkable scientific understanding of the Sun's role in the functioning of life on the planet as a whole. Some see his religion as " a philosophic and scientific revolt against religion," rather than a new religion. One scholar, H.R.Hall sees Akhnaton as "History's first scientific mind," due to his scientific understanding of the Sun and its relation with the organic world. However, those versed in Vedic Spirituality know that true religion is based on scientific principles of reality. As a follower of Vedic Dharma, Akhnaton was aware of this and many other scientific and spiritual facts.

Accompanying Akhnaton's name in every inscription of his reign, apart from the early ones, is the term "Ankh-em-Maat" or "Living in Truth." In a tomb of one of his followers an inscription was found, "The King has put the truth into me, and to lie is an abomination." (From the tomb of a courtier named Ay.) As we know Satya, or Truth, is also one of the main points in Vedic culture. To this very day the motto of India/Bharat is "Satyam Eva Jayate."

I see it as a powerful affirmation of the truth, that the most spectacular and famous find in Egyptian history was the discovery of the tomb of Akhnaton's son, Tutankhamon. The Universe has a wonderful way of bringing Truth and Justice to light. After Akhnaton's death, the priests of Amon, did their best to obliterate the memory of Akhnaton and his religion of Aton. All his monuments and inscriptions were torn down and the stones were all reused. However this very act of desecration is the very thing that has preserved Akhnaton's story for thousands of years.

When all of his inscriptions and carvings were reused, they were hidden away from not only the eyes of the Egyptian people, but also from the erosive effects of the environment. The newly carved inscriptions and carvings of his enemies soon withered away under the effects of the sun, wind and rain.

Another important point to remember, is that modern scholars, though able to understand Egyptian hieroglyphics, they are only guessing at the pronunciation. They have no way to ascertain the vowel sounds as spoken by the ancient Egyptians. Thus we come across such a variety of spellings of terms like Ra or Re, Ikhnaton, Akhnaton, Akhnaten, Aten, Aton, Yiten etc. The fact is, it was only through the discovery of the Rosetta stone,that scholars were able to finally understand the hieroglyphics. They were able to compare them with the other two known languages on the stone. IF ONLY THE SCHOLARLY WORLD COULD UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THAT THE VEDIC RECORD IS THE ROSSETA STONE TO ALL THE MYSTERIES OF HISTORY, SCIENCE AND CULTURE, HUMANITIES IGNORANCE OF ITS OWN PAST WOULD BE LIFTED.

                                                        By P. N. Oak

Muslims all over the world need to realize that from times immemorial  their ancestors followed Vedic culture.  It was only after 622 AD that they were forced to become Muslims.

 Hereunder are relevant extracts from Muzaffar Husain’s article carried by Organizer weekly in its issue dated April 18, 1999.

“Taliban may attempt to destroy every vestige of pre-Islamic civilization, but it cannot dency the historical reality.”  Afghanistan’s ancient religions of Vedic or Parsi fire-worship survive.  In spite of Iran’s embracing Islam, Cyrus, Sohrab and Rostam are even today hailed as Iranian icons.  Gandhar (modern Kandhar)  cannot disown Gandhari and the Mahabharat.  Iran may observe the most militant from of Islam, but when the question of their enthnic origin arises, the Iranians proudly claim their Aryan descent.

Azarbaijan had witnessed Stalin’s oppressive persecution of Muslims.  Hundreds of thousands of Azarbaijani Muslims were deported to Siberia.  They had fought the most bitter crusade to defend their faith.  Yet today a debate is ranging on the discovery of ancient Shiva temples there and on origin in an ancient Shaivite culture.  Mohammed is considered the last great Prophet.  But the Holy Quran, the inspired scripture, and Islamic history accept that he was preceded by a hundred and twenty four thousand Prophets.  In fact, a true Mussalman is bound in that historical “fact.”  In the same way, India has been ruled by the ancient Aryans, the Buddhists, the Hindus, the Sultans, the Mughals and the Christians, but the fact cannot be gainsaid that India’s greatest historical figures were Shri Rama and Shri Krishna.  Similarly the Old World Asian continent cannot boast or any other deity than Lord Shiva.

Doubting Thomases can raise the question: As Islam dies not recognize idol-worship, how can Islamic countries reconcile to Shiva worship?  But to be heir to a legacy does not require one to subscribe to idol-worship.  In Arabian history there is a place associated with Hatim Tai.  But now Hatim is not worshiped there.  Culture has an uncanny way of disgesting all.  In Pakistan Panini is not worshipped and yet it is Panini whom the whole of Pakistani population idolizes.  Pakistan had already issued several postal stamps bearing his illustration.   Kabul was called Kubha during the Buddhist period, and today’s Bannu was called Varnu.  But the fact that their names are corrupted does not lead to any change in their historical significance.  Therefore, if there is any single significant source inspiring unity among countries from Arabian Peninsula to the Indonesian archipelago, it is only Lord Shiva.

How reverently Lord Shiva was worshipped in Pre-Islamic times in the Arabiab peninsula, can be gleaned from verses of Umer-bin-Hashsham in which he pointedly mentions Shiva with his popular name ‘Mahadev’ Therefore, Islamic scholars, while holding aloft the nammer of Islamic principles must also respect the Shiva legend of the Arabs.  It will not only be their magnanimity but it will also be recognition of the Arabic legacy.

 In his anthology of Arabic poems, Serial Okul, on p. 235 Mer bin Hashsham says,  Kafvinak Zokramin Ulumin tab aseru  Kaluvan Amatatul have a Iazakkuru  No tazasveroha udan eleavada – a  liavra  Valuka ene Zatallehe aum tab aseru  Va aha loatha Azah aremain Mahadev  Manozel ilamuddine Minahum va sacatta

That means

 “Can the person, who indulged in bad deeds and Iustful and angry actiities, be granted salvation if he reprints, atones for and proposes to embrace dhrama and follow righteous path?
 If  he worships Lord Mahadev with true devotion he can attain the highest position in spiritual attainments.”
 The name of Mahadev is mentioned in the Arabic original exactly as it is pronounced in Sanskrit.
Umer-bib-Hashaham future says, “Oh Lord! Grant me a day’s stay in India in exchange for my entire life, because by reching there a man attains salvation.”   Va Sahabe ke vam fim kamil Hinde you man  Yakulun na Iajaha jan fainak tavajjaru

Another poet is cited in this same book on p. 257 who says,  Aya munarekal araz vashaive nohaminar Hinde   Va adarakkallah Zikaratun

That means:

 “Oh holy land India, you are great.  Because God has made you to spread His Wisdom.”
 

Vedic Past of Pre-Islamic Arabia - Parts 1 - 8 - by Aditi Chaturvedi
http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/byauthor/aditichaturvedi/vpopia1.html

http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/byauthor/aditichaturvedi/vpopia2.html

http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/byauthor/aditichaturvedi/vpopia3.html

http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/byauthor/aditichaturvedi/vpopia4.html

http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/byauthor/aditichaturvedi/vpopia5.html

http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/byauthor/aditichaturvedi/vpopia6.html

http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/byauthor/aditichaturvedi/vpopia7.html

http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/byauthor/aditichaturvedi/vpopia8.html

THE KABA SHROUD

     History-scholars around the world seem totally unaware of big voids in world history viz. (1)   What is the pre-Christian history of european countries?  (2)  What is the pre-islamic history of west  Asian and other muslim countries?

     Since Christians and  Muslims, in that order, from the two largest communities in the world, they have no motivation left to ponder over or discover what ws the culture and language of their pre-conversion amcestprs.

      In fact both those communities, including their educationists, firmly  believe, somnolently, that they have been christians or  Muslims from their very first human ancestor.  That smug conviction of theirs needs to be shattered by a firm hammer-blow of  TRUTH viz.  that there was no christianity before 312 A.D.  and no islam before 622  A.D.

The UNESCO ( The United Nations  Educational, Social and cultural  Organization) must insist that all history-texts mentioning  Christianity and / or Islam must mention those cut-off dates, so that readers around the world are left in no boubt about the origin of those cults.

    Readers must also be clearly told that christianity was forced on countries from  portugal to Russia, by the ruthless  ' Convert or kill ' method of Roman armies, under orders of the Roman emperors, from 312 A.D.  onwards so thoroughly, as not to leave  even a single non-Christian alive by circa 1162 A.D.

      Islam copied the same ' Convert or kill ' method, from 622 A.D.  onwards so as  not to leave even a single non-Muslim alive in West Asia. That history being too hideous and bizarre to recall, it has been totally glossed over and  obliterated from woeld text-books.  Should such a blatant suppression of numerous centuries of woeld history be allowed !  History is no history,  if it does not tell the truth.  And education is no education, if it glosses over centuries of gory happenings.

      A  graphic visual instance is our cover-page photo of the annual  Haj pilgrimage at the kaba  shrine in Mecca city is Saudi Arbia.  The nearly two - million - crowd around the kaba looks like a swarmm of ants. Compared with the the towering kaba edifice is obviously 7 - storeyed.  Why then is it perpetually covered with that black shroud from top to bottom?

     The gate-way in the central foreground is of orange-colour stone.  The pillar on its nleft shoulder still stands while the right-shoulder pillar got destroyed by invaders.

      That gives us a clue that the towering 7- storeyed kaba edifice  ( civered  with the  shroud known as  Ghilaf)   must also be of orange - colour stone, as per vedic tradition.

      Encyclopaedia islamica mentions, under the heading 'kaba, that the edifice housed 360 idols, bearing names such as  Lat , Manat.  Obviously it was the shrine of prophet  Mohammed's  non-Muslim ancestors.  That is also evident from islamic terminology.

       The terms mecca, Medina (towships separated by about 20 miles) are Sanskrit  Makha-Medini signifying a land of fire-worship.  Haj is a mal-pronunciation of sanskrit Vraj meaning 'to proceed (on pilgrimage)' 'id' signifying a Muslim holy day, is a Sanskrit term signifying 'holy worship.'  Kaba is Sanskrit 'Ghaba' signifying the Sanctum.  Islam is the Sanskrit term Ishalayam i.e. the Divine Adobe.

       Arbastan is a malpronunciation of the Sanskrit term Arvasthan, meaning a land of (pedigree) horses. Arbia is a western abbreviation.   Muslim pilgrims assembling around the kaba assume the  Brahmin attofe of just  two sheets o cloth- one worn around the waist and the other thrown over the shoulders,  leaving the arms bare.

      Allah, Amba, akka are Sanskrit synonyms of Goddess Durga.  The usual Muslim  invocation alias exclamation 'ya Allah' is actually a Sanskrit invocation, since in Sanskrit  'yaa' is feminine preposition as in the welknown sanskrit chant "ya kundendu Tusharhaar  dhavala, ya Shubhra-vastra vrita..."  etc

       The Sair-ul-okul anthology of ancient Arbic verses contains a poem by jirrham  Bintoim an Arab poet, in praise fo the benevolent rule ofr king vikramaditya  (56B.C.)  over Arabia.

      A Shivling (representintg  God  Shiv)  mentioned as Sungay Aswad (Black stone) in islamic terminology, removed from its inner sanctuary is half imbedded in the outer wall covered by the shround.  The Shivling is an egg-shaped, purple oblong stone.  Half of its curvature is embedded in the wall while its other half, (framed in silver) appears outside on the wall-surface.  Since it is in the open, Arab, attendants, holding an  umbrella over their heads, have to turn asde the shround-flap, to allow the devout pilgrims a glimpase of the sacred shiv emblem.

       The entire edifice is referred to by Muslims as 'Allah-ja-Ghar'  (meaning Alla his Adobe). Why then should it be covered from top to bottom, like muslim women who have to wear the vell from head to foot, at the orders of their men-folk.

      All such evidence indicates that the kaba, a seven - storeyed- shrine of immemorial  antiquity, built with orange - colour stone, is a temple of 360 Vedic deities.

       What better topic can historically-mended Muslim research - scholars, can have than investigatingt the orgin and hisroty of the holy  kaba? who
sweeps, cleans and washes the entire edificem when and how many times durig a year?  Are there still 360 idols inside the twering edifice? Are they
broken or are in good shape?

Research- minded Muslim and other scholars may seek permission and facilities  from the saudi manarch, or fro the international court of justice,
at Hague (in Holland) to conduct research in the orgin and history of the holy, hoary, hindu, vedic shrine.

See our link to the sacred black stone in the Kaaba

4.5. VEDIC ARYANS IN WEST ASIA

4.5.1. The Kassite and Mitannic peoples

An important anomaly in the AIT is the presence of the Mitanni kings in northern Mesopotamia, with their Vedic cultural heritage and language, as early as the 15th century BC, with absolutely no indication that they Were “the Aryans on the way to India”. In fact, the Vedic memories appearing in the Mitanni texts were already remote, with only four Vedic gods mentioned amid a long list of non- Vedic gods. This does not in itself prove that the Mitanni dynasty was post-Vedic, but it certainly confers the burden of proof on those who want to declare it pre-Vedic.

Their language was mature Indo-Aryan, not proto-Indo-Iranian. Satya Swarup Misra argues that the Mitannic languages already showed early Middle-Indo-Aryan traits, e.g. the assimilation of dissimilar plosives (sapta > satta), and the break-up of consonant clusters by interpolation of vowels (anaptyxis, Indra > Indara).37 This would imply that Middle-Indo-Aryan had developed a full millennium earlier than hitherto assumed, which in turn has implications for the chronology of the extant literature written in Middle-Indo-Aryan.

In the centuries before the Mitanni texts, there was a Kassite dynasty in Mesopotamia, from the 18th to the 16th century BC. Linguistically assimilated, they preserved some purely Vedic names: Shuriash, Maruttash, Inda-Bugash, i.e. Surya, Marut, Indra-Bhaga (Bhaga meaning effectively “god”, cfr. Bhag-wAn, Slavic Bog).

The Kassite and Mitanni peoples were definitely considered as foreign invaders. They are latecomers in the history of the IE dispersal, appearing at a time when, leaving India out of the argument, at least the area from Iran to France was already IE. They have little bearing on the Urheimat question, but they have all the more relevance for mapping the history of the Indo-Iranian group.

Probably the Kassite and Mitannic tribes were part of the same migration, with the latter settling in a peripheral area and thereby retaining their identity a few centuries longer than the Kassites in the metropolitan area of Babylon. According to Babylonian sources, the Kassites came from the swampy area in what is now southern Iraq: unlike the Iranians, who migrated from India through Afghanistan, the Kassites must have come by sea from Sindh to southern Mesopotamia. While the Iranians migrated slowly, taking generations to take control gradually of the fertile areas to the south of the Aral Lake and of the Caspian Sea, the Kassites seem to have been a warrior group moving directly from India to Mesopotamia to carry out a planned invasion which immediately gave them control of the delta area, a bridgehead for further conquests of the Babylonian heartland. They were a conquering aristocracy, and having to marry native women, they lost their language within a few generations, just like the Vikings after their conquest of Normandy.

If the earlier Kassite and the later Mitanni people were indeed part of the same migration, their sudden appearance falls neatly into place if we connect them with the migration wave caused by the dessiccation of the Saraswati area in ca. 2000 BC.

Indian-Mesopotamian connections relevant to the Urheimat question have to be sought in a much earlier period. Whether the country Aratta of the Sumerian sources is really to be identified with a part of the Harappan area, is uncertain; the Sumerian legend Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta (late 3rd millennium BC) mentions that Aratta was the source of silver, gold and lapis lazuli, in exchange for grain which was transported not by ship but over land by donkeys; this would rather point to the mining centres in mountainous Afghanistan, arguably Harappan colonies but not the Harappan area itself. However, if this Aratta is the same as the Indian AraTTa (in West Panjab) after all, it has far- reaching implications. AraTTa is Prakrit for A-rASTra, “without kingdom”. The point here is not its meaning, but its almost Middle-Indo-Aryan shape. Like sapta becoming satta in the Mitannic text, it suggest that this stage of Indo-Aryan is much older than hitherto assumed, viz. earlier than 2000 BC.

4.5.2. The Sumerian connection

At the material high tide of the Harappan culture, Mesopotamia had trade contacts with Magan, the Makran coast west of the Indus delta, with Bad Imin, “the seven cities”, and with Meluhha, the Indus valley. The name Meluhha is probably of Dravidian origin: Asko Parpola derives Meluhha, “to be read in the early documents with the alternative value as Me-lah-ha”, from Dravidian Met-akam, “high abode/ country” (with mel/melu, “high”, being the etymon of Sanskrit Meru, the cosmic mountain).38 Meluhha is the origin of Sanskrit Mleccha, Pali Milakkhu, “barbarian”39: because of the unrefined sounds of their Prakrit and because of their cultural impurity (whether by borrowing foreign elements or simply by an indigenous decay of existing cultural standards), the people of Sindh/Meluhha were considered barbarian by the elites of Madhyadesh (the Ganga-Yamuna doab) during the Sutra period, which non- invasionists date to the late 3rd millennium BC, precisely the period when Mesopotamia had a flourishing trade with Meluhha.

The search is on for common cultural motifs between the Harappan culture and Sumer. One element in literature which strikes the observer as meaningful, is this: according to the account given by the Babylonian priest Berosus, the Sumerians believed their civilization (writing and astronomy) had been brought to the Mesopotamian coast by s sages, the first of whom was one Uana-Adapa, better known through his Greek name Oannes. He was a messenger of Enki, god of the Abyss, who was worshipped at the oldest Mesopotamian city of Eridu. Like the Vedic “seven sages”, meaning both the seven clans of Vedic seers as well as the seven major stars of Ursa Maior, these seven sages are associated with the starry sky; like the Matsya incarnation of Vishnu, Oannes’s body is that of a fish.  The myth of the Flood, wherein divine guidance helps the leader of mankind (Sumerian Ziusudra, Sanskrit Manu, Akkadian Utnapishtim, Hebrew Noah) to survive, is another well-known common cultural motif.

The antediluvian kings in Sumer are said by Berosus to have ruled for 120 periods of 3,600 years, or 432,000 years; epochs of 3600 years were in use among Indian astronomers, and the mega-era of 432,000 is equally familiar in India as the scripturally estimated (inexact) number of syllables in the Rg Veda, and as the “high” interpretation of the length of the Kali-Yuga .40 Rather than being a late borrowing, this number 432,000 may well be part of the common IE heritage. At least implicitly, it was present in Germanic mythology, which developed separately from Hindu mythology for several millennia before Berosus (ca. 300 BC): 800 men at each of the 540 gates of Wodan’s palace makes for a total of 432,000. This does not prove any far-fetched claim that “the gods were cosmonauts” or so, but it does show that early Indo-European had a world view involving advanced arithmetic (Sanskrit being the first and for many centuries the only language with terms for “astronomical” numbers), and that they shared some of it with neighbouring cultures.

We may be confident that a deeper search, more alert to specifically Indian contributions than is now common among sumerologists, will reveal more connections. Through the Hittites, Philistines (i.e. the “Sea Peoples” originating on the Aegean coasts and settling on the Egyptian and Gaza coasts in ca. 1200 BC), Mitannians and Kassites, elements of IE culture were known throughout West Asia. Even ancient Israelite culture was culturally much more Indo-European than certain race theorists would like to believe.
 

Footnotes:

37S.S. Misra: The Aryan Problem, p.10. Of course, the data are to be handled with care, for the foreign script in which the Indo-Aryan words were rendered, may not have been phonologically accurate.

38Asko Parpola: “Interpreting the Indus Script”, in A.H. Dani: Indus Civilisation: New Perspectives, p.117-132, specifically p.121.

39V.S. Pathak (“Semantics of Arya”, in S.B. Deo & S. Kamath: The Aryan Problem, p.93) derives the modem ethnic term Baluch from Bloch (< Blukh < Mlukh) < Meluhha. This is very unlikely, if only because the Baluchis have immigrated into this area from Western Iran during the early Muslim period. Before that, in most of the areas where Pashtu and Baluchi are now spoken, the language was Indo-Aryan Prakrit.

40Discussed in Ivan Verheyden: “Het begon met Oannes”, Bres (Antwerp), May 1976. Strictly, Kali-Yuga is to last for 1,200 years, but since “a year among men is but a day among the gods”, scribes have magnified the number to 360 x 1,200 = 432,000.
 

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Archaeology

NASIRIYA, Iraq: In the southern Iraq desert, the standing structures of ancient archaeological cities dot the horizon - majestic monuments to times long gone.  Untouched for thousands of years, historic temples, palaces, tombs and entire dead cities are the sole witness of the passing of time.

Properly excavated, these cities could reveal valuable knowledge on the development of the human race and resolve the big mysteries of history. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen. The Sumerian cities have been destroyed, ravaged by the incessant looting that started with the American invasion of Iraq. Once considered historical treasures, today crater-filled landscapes compete for space with hills of shredded pottery and broken bricks.

Looters - mainly farmers or jobless Iraqis of all ages - have destroyed the monuments of their own ancestors, erasing their own history in their tireless search for artifacts.

They leave their homes and villages seeking financial rewards. Poverty, ignorance and greed force them to change their lives and become tomb raiders - and they actually live on the sites they are robbing for months at a time. A cylinder seal, a sculpture or a cuneiform tablet can bring in desperately sought hard cash. They work all day long hoping to find an artifact that they can sell to the dealer for a mere few dollars. It is tough, dangerous work for bad pay.

"A cylinder seal or a cuneiform tablet brings in under $50 on the site for the looter from the dealer. The dealer then sells it at ten times the price," explains the archaeologist responsible for the district of Nasiriya, Abdul Amir Hamadani.

"More than 100 Sumerian cities have been destroyed by the looters since the beginning of the war," says Hamadani, who was appointed at the war's end by the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage in Iraq. "It's a disaster that all we are keeping watch on but about which we can do little. We are incapable of stopping the looting. We are five archaeologists, some hundred guards and, occasionally, a couple of policemen - and they are a million armed looters, backed by their tribes and the dealers.

"We are in danger every time we go on a tour to an archaeological site. A couple of weeks ago, while on site, six vehicles surrounded our cars and we were shot at. After that, we were assured that the next time, we would be killed."

If the looters are just simple peasants, the dealers in stolen antiquities are far more sophisticated. Professional smugglers, they are connected to the shadowy ring that is the international antiquities mafia and black market collectors. There's never a shortage of funds since demand for Mesopotamian artifacts is constantly high - private collectors all around the world adore Sumerian artifacts because they go back to the beginning of civilization and in order to possess such items they are ready to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, all of which intensifies the looting. To cover their backs, local dealers buy the protection of the big clans in the nearby city of Al-Fajr who send their own people to plunder the sites.

"The tribes are powerful, they are well armed and above all, they abide by their own laws," explains Donny Georges, the Director of the Iraq's museums and an Iraqi archaeologist of Assyrian origin appointed by the Americans a few months after the looting of the museum.

"No one can stop them. Although the Coalition forces are well aware of what is going on, no real effort is being made to stop the looting.  The Italian Carabinieri (soldiers) are the only force that worked on this issue for a few months. Their efforts were fruitful in some parts of the Nasiriya district because the tribe leaders there are never interested in confronting the military."

Every military force in Iraq has it's own program of working in the city that they are controlling. Depending on their internal organization some of them work on humanitarian levels, others on protection and others - like the Carabinieri - on archaeology.

The Carabinieri unit in charge of heritage protection, known as Viper 5, used military backup on the sites to stop the looting at the beginning of this year. With the help of helicopter flyovers and foot patrol raids on the archaeological sites once or twice a week they were able to capture and imprison many looters, but in doing so also terrorized the local population. The illegal digging stopped as a result - but only for a few months.

The recent military conflict between the Al-Mahdi army, the local Shiite militia loyal to firebrand cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, and the Coalition Forces hit this protection scheme hard.

"On one hand, it forced the Viper 5 team to reduce their excursions to the archaeological sites to occasional trips, and on the other it pushed the looters to join the Al-Mahdi army," assures Hamadani.

It's no longer a question of looters versus protectors; this is a war with heavy political dimensions. The turn of events caused the Carabinieri to withdraw from a protection assignment.

"At the time it was like a pleasant dream sequence in a long nightmare," says Hamadani, "The looters did not join the Al-Mahdi army because they believe in fighting the Occupation, it's more about personal vendetta. Now they were able to intensify their activities. There were no Italian forces at the Nasiriya Museum when the library was set ablaze. The smugglers are now controlling life in this district and nothing is stopping them from looting."

"These people have no respect for anything, not even their own religion," claims Georges. "Last May, they stole the treasures of the Imam Ali in Najaf. No one really knows what was there but it is widely believed that those were the treasures of the Islamic Sultans. People have been donating their most precious objects to the Mausoleum since the birth of Islam. All that is vanished today."

According to sources inside and outside Iraq close to the smugglers, the local ringleaders are members of the old regime and are known to archaeologists, police, Interpol, private collectors and antiquities dealers. They work out of Baghdad and other big cities in Iraq; they secure the cash flow to the looters, and are capable of smuggling anything outside the country.

There seems to be no end in sight to this horrific scenario.  The coalition military forces are now causing irreparable damage themselves:  they have transformed the historical city of Babylon in southern Iraq into a military base, despite promises from former U.S. overseer of Iraq Paul Bremer in late June to dismantle the base.

"They have leveled archaeological grounds in parts of the site to build a landing zone for helicopters," says Zainab Bahrani, professor of Ancient Near Eastern art history and archaeology at Columbia University, who recently returned to New York City from a six-month observer mission in Iraq having been appointed by the Coalition Forces Senior Advisor for Culture.

"The continuous movements of helicopters have caused the destruction of a wall at the temple of Nabu, and the roof of the Temple of Ninmah. Both date back to the sixth century B.C." Bahrani says.

The military base at Babylon has still not been removed.

According to an archaeologist working with the Americans at the World Heritage site of Hatra, Northern Iraq, who did not want to be named, the danger is no less there than in Babylon.

The U.S. Army program to destroy military left overs from the old regime and the war is harming the ancient site - a Parthian city with a blend of Hellenistic, Roman and Arab styles. Twice a day the army conducts controlled explosions of recovered munitions and mines at the nearby military base. The constant seismic activity is damaging the stone arches in the main temple and the outer wall of the city and this may cause the collapse of parts of this site, listed as a World Heritage monument.

The anarchy that is everywhere in post-Saddam Iraq is destroying the country described in schoolbooks worldwide as the "cradle of civilization."

With over 10,000 archaeological sites still buried, humanity may just be witnessing the destruction of the cradle - the massacre of Mesopotamia.

Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly is an archaeologist and the Middle East correspondent for the French magazine Archaeologia. She has been covering the situation in Iraq for five years and wrote this article exclusively for The Daily Star.

"According to tradition, Guru Nanak said to contemporary theologians of Islam during his visit to Mecca...." According to Makke-Madine di Goshati edited by Prof. Kulwant Singh, Guru Nanak said: "Mecca is an ancient place of pilgrimage, and there is a Linga of Mahadeva here. It was presided over by the Brahmanas. One of the Brahmanas, though born among them, became a Musalman... . His own name was Mohammed, which means the same as Mahadeva... . He floated some sort of a creed, and taught it... ."

http://www.organiser.org/indiathatisbharat.htm

Mohammed—A Sanskrit-speaking Vedic Indian

Islam Vedic khatre mein hai

FOR the last some days Satiricus has been wondering. Satiricus has been wondering if he has been mentioned by name in the Bhavishya Purana. No, it is not a frivolous thought. For if, as it seems, the Bhavishya Purana mentions so many people who are going to come in the future, why should Satiricus not be one of them? Is that because he does not deserve to be mentioned? True, he is not a mentionable founder of a religion—a religion that is not only non-Hindu but anti-Hindu enough to force a Hindu scripture to mention its founder. Take this recent seminar in Mumbai, organised by a forum called Islamic Education Centre and prominently reported by the English-language Press (who else?) under the heading “All religions speak of Mohammed, say scholars”. Did you notice? They are scholars, real scholars, because they say all religions speak of Mohammed. Strangely enough, Guru Nanak does not seem to qualify as one such scholar. For what, according to tradition, he said to contemporary theologians of Islam during his visit to Mecca sounds utterly unscholarly. According to Makke-Madine di Goshati edited by Prof. Kulwant Singh, Guru Nanak said: “Mecca is an ancient place of pilgrimage, and there is a Linga of Mahadeva here. It was presided over by the Brahmanas. One of the Brahmanas, though born among them, became a Musalman... . His own name was Mohammed, which means the same as Mahadeva... . He floated some sort of a creed, and taught it... .” Fortunately there are scholars who know better, and one of them is Mirza Afzal Baig of Jamaat-i-Islami. For, inaugurating this seminar with his erudite oration Baig reportedly revealed that various prophecies contained in the scriptures of different religions hinted at the arrival of Prophet Mohammed. Then, beginning with Hindu scriptures, Baig said: “In the Bhavishya Purana there is a verse that declares the arrival of a mleccha spiritual teacher, whose name would be Mohammed.” Is Satiricus surprised? He is, and he is not, He is not surprised because even Zarathushtra, who antedates Mohammed by thousands of years, has been mentioned in the Bhavishya Purana. Why, even his mother has been named, writes Madalasa Devi Agrawal in her book Age of the Bharat War. She relates a legend according to which a Brahmin woman by name Nikshubha got the boon of a son. The boon said, “Your son will become famous by the name  Maga. His name will be Zarathushtra, and he will bring glory to the dynasty. His descendents will worship fire and will be known by the name Maga, and being worshippers of ‘Soma’ will be Maga Brahmins.” Well, now, the curious cuss that Satiricus is, he is struck by the curious coincidence that both Prophet Zarathushtra and Prophet Mohammed have been called Brahmins. Anyway, Satiricus is not surprised at the possibility that if the Bhavishya Purana mentioned one Brahmin founding a religion of his own, it could well have mentioned another Brahmin doing the same. What, at the most, surprises him is, how could the learned lady Madalasa Devi mention one and miss the other? Oh well, perhaps she and Janab Baig read different editions of the Bhavishya Purana. In fact there may even be a third edition of the Purana. For the late Balshastri Hardas, a reputed Sanskrit scholar, had once said in a public lecture that the Bhavishya Purana referred not only to Queen Victoria but even to a multi-millionaire of Nagpur by name Shri Buti. So, says Satiricus' Sanskritist friend Dr Waradpande, why Mohammed alone, even Christ may have been mentioned, although he cannot check it out, because “as far as I know there is no word index of the Bhavishya Purana”. What does that show? It shows that when Waradpande says “as far as I know” obviously he does not know far enough, and by no means as far as Janab Baig, who may have either found or himself prepared such an index. So then, what is the consolidated list of the Bhavishya Purana? It is Zarathushtra, Christ, Mohammed, Queen Victoria, and Shri Buti. Then can Satiricus single out Mohammed for special focus? The simple answer is, Satiricus may not, but a secularist must. Baig also mentioned the Atharva Veda, which, according to him, speaks of the arrival of a camel-riding ‘rishi’ or sage. “It could only have referred to the Prophet, since the Manu Smriti specifies that Brahmins should not ride asses and camels,” he explained. That explains it, no? No, it does not, at least not for this ignoramus. So far as he knows—and of course that is not so far as Pandit Baig—Manusmriti is based on the Vedas, as ample Vedic quotes clearly show, and what do the Vedas say?
  To his unlettered astonishment Satiricus finds that the injunction that Brahmins should not ride asses and camels is not in accordance with the Rig Veda, the original Veda. Rather, RV-1/116/2 actually refers to the rasabha as the mount of the divine Ashwini Kumaras, and this is repeated in RV-8/85/7. Then again, instead of looking down on the camel, RV-1/138/2 describes it as a war animal, making it obvious that warriors rode it into battle. Similar far-from-derogatory references are found in RV-8/6/31, 46, 48. And if Baig read not only the history of pre-secular Hindu India but also of pre-Islamic Hindu Afghanistan, he would find that many Brahmins had become Kshatriyas and founded their own kingdoms. So how about including Mohammed among them, Janab Baig? Finally, Satiricus must say his secular sensibilities are shocked by Baig's description of Mohammed as a “Mleccha” spiritual teacher. For one of the Vedic Indian peoples who migrated westward were called Anu, and the Mahabharata asserts that mlecchas were the descendents of Anu. To make matters communally worse, Dr Waradpande says the mlecchas are “people who speak a corrupt form of Sanskrit.” Satiricus is aghast. For this makes Mohammed a Sanskrit-speaking Vedic Indian. Alas, Islam Vedic khatre mein hai.