Chakraborty Origin of Hindu Second Part Arya Never Was Aryan

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-3-7487-6274-4
Verlag: BookRix
Format: EPUB
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E-Book, Englisch, 110 Seiten

It has been observed in the previous book titled 'Origin of Hindu ? The Name' that the dictum of going, moving forward became the central tenet of a huge number of human beings who essentially were the residents of India. Those people were termed as Hindu.   Even when the root of that concept is logically proven, then also a question crops up and remains unanswered. Why did the act of going, moving forward become so important that a large number of people needed to accept it as the guiding principle of their lives? No tangible evidence has been found of any coercive actions on the part of the propagators of that way of life, not even in the folklores or in the legends. The adherence in all probability was voluntary and self-imposed.   For that happening, two broad categories of influences may be credited to: physical and/or cerebral.   The physical environment of the land in reference was set by the actions and interactions of the geological forces.   Cerebral input must have come from some knowledge base. Structured and recorded knowledge base that is unique to India is found in the Vedas and its annotations.   The period, during which the geological timeline shows that that land was becoming ready for human inhabitation, was the time around which the trace of the oldest literature of that land may be found. A little later, the world came to know about the existence of a human settlement in that land, which was more splendorous than anything known to the Greeks, who were the most advanced ones in the known world up to that time.   This book finds the relationship between the geological formation of the Ganga Plain and the propagation of a new way of life that would be known as 'Hindu' religion in later time.   It has been established that the word 'Arya' is a Sanskrit word that means 'the son of the Rishi' and no large human movement that may be termed as invasion, migration etc. needed to be introduced to explain what have happened in that land duri

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chakraborty, Dibyendu

Leseproben

Chapter Four – Trace of human history on the Ganga Plain
For this purpose, in this context, the mainstream history has been taken into consideration. Even the officially circulated historical accounts, mainly timeline and geographical settings, cannot influence this work substantially.      Prehistoric accounts of India   The Vedic Age is not that much a pinpointed era. This period can only be ideated through inferences. As Megasthenes wrote Indica thus, the concept of Hindu was prevalent then. Without the presence of the word ‘Hindu’, Indica cannot be derived. The concept of Hindu is post-Vedic. Thus, the Vedic period must predate Megasthenes’s stay in India. The term ‘Indica’ has a close relationship with the Sanskrit word Hind (????.) which may be differently pronounced as ‘Yinr~d’ (book titled “Origin of Hindu v The Name”) and thought to be derived from the base Sanskrit word ‘ ????.’. The Sanskrit word ‘ ??? ’ (Chaur) used in the Rigveda in the form of ‘ ??????? ’ (Chaureibeti ) is at the root of the concept of ‘ ????.’.   The Vedas were not in written format until a much later stage of history and thus may be included in the list of old texts of India. Actually, they are acknowledged to be the oldest known literature of India. The same is applicable to the two epics of India, the Ramayan and the Mahabharat. In page number 41 of the book titled ‘History and Culture of Indian People - Volume 1’ it has been mentioned that the oldest part of the Vedas, i.e., the Samhita, is at least 3000 years old and may even be considerably older.     Earliest traceable kingdoms of India   The total area of the Ganga Plain (not basin) is said to be around 7.8 lakh (or 0.78 million) square kilometer. Area of the Ganga Basin is estimated at 10.8 Lakh (1.08 million) square kilometer. The Ganga Plain is spread from Rajasthan in the west to West Bengal in the east. Beyond West Bengal, in the east, there is the joint influence of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, but that area is also considered a part of the Ganga Plain.   The earliest known traceable kingdoms of India were the Mahajanapadas of ancient India which have found references in the Vedic texts (of later phase). Mahajanapadas existed from present-day Afghanistan (Kamboja and parts of Gandhara) in the west to West Bengal in present-day India. The Janapadas that existed in the present geographical boundary of Bengal at that time included Anga and parts of Vrijji or Vajji. Prominent cities said to have existed and got mentioning in the texts of that period included Hastinapur, Indraprastha, Varanasi, Pataliputra and Rajagriha (Rajgir).   It is known that during the life time of Lord Gautam Buddha, sixteen great powers (Mahajanpadas) existed in the 7th and early 6th centuries BC, i.e., 2600-2500 years BP. Among the more important kingdoms were the Sakyas of Kapilavastu and the Licchavis of Vaishali. The Government of India provides this information through the website https://knowindia.gov.in/culture-and-heritage/ancient-history.php.   After the Mahajanapadas Magadha was the seat of the earliest empire known in India that has found reference in the Vedic texts and came into focus at around 2700 BP. From this point forward, three dynasties ruled in Magadha. Its fortune turned around 2350 BP when Chandragupta Maurya defeated the Nanda king Dhana Nanda (the famous Chanakya episode). The physical seat of power remained the same, but the name of the empire became known as the Maurya Kingdom.    Emperor Ashok the Great belonged to the Maurya dynasty. During his time, the Maurya Dynasty reached its political pinnacle. The Maurya dynasty ruled in different fragments in Magadha up to 2200 BP.    Magadha had its capital at Pataliputra, believed to be the present-day Patna, the capital city of the Indian state of Bihar.   But Magadha did not have its capital at Pataliputra always. Before Pataliputra, the capital of the Magadha kingdom was at Rajgir. From the perspective of this work, this place demands a little more elaboration.   Rajgir has prehistoric references. Under the initiative of The Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, a publication titled ‘Encyclopedia of India-China Cultural Contacts – Volume I’ was brought out in the year 2014. From page number 158 it may be learnt that this city was founded by Lord Brahma’s grandson, King Vasu (Ramayan) and the name Vasumati was assigned to this city. In the period of the Mahabharata, the city was rechristened as Brahadrathpur after the name of King Brahadrath. In later period when Jarasandha (a prominent character of the Mahabharat) from this dynasty became the king, then the city became known as Girivajra. This city was surrounded by five hills.    Buddhist, Jain texts and Xuanzang’s accounts mentioned its name as Kushagrapura. From this point onwards, historical accounts of this place, as accepted by the modern man, start.   At around 2600 years BP, Bimbisara, a king of the Haryanka dynasty named this city as Rajgriha.   Modern archeological excavations trace the history of this city to 3000 years BP.   The present Rajgir city has an elevation of 73 MAMSL and is an alluvial plain. In contrast, the city of Patna (believed to be the historic Pataluputra) has an elevation of 53 MAMSL and is also an alluvial plain. The shift of the capital city of the Magadha Kingdom from Rajgir to Pataliputra around 2500 years BP indicates the becoming of Pataliputra area geographically suitable and reliable during that period to establish a politically important settlement. Lower elevation justifies the later maturing of that land.   When the capital was shifted to Pataliputra, the earlier capital at Rajgir lost its glory. Nearly 1000 years later (of the shift of capital) when Faxian came here (around 1500 years BP) he recorded this downturn. The same had been ratified again after 200 years of Faxian’s visit by Xuanzang (1300 years BP).   Rajgir area has the remnants of an old city at a higher elevation than the present city. From the statement of elevation, it cannot be imagined that the city of Rajgir is surrounded by hillocks with an average altitude of around 300 meters. Thus, the old city of Vasumati / Brahadrathpur / Girivajra / Rajgriha had a hilly setting and higher elevation at its disposal.   This town had a complex of cyclopean (loosely set stone blocks one onto the other) walls, which is traceable till date.        Earliest available written accounts of India   King Ashok is known to have planted stone inscriptions all over the south of the Himalayas and even beyond. These inscriptions are the oldest surviving and known written texts of India. The oldest one has been dated to 260 BC by the experts. This is a part of verified history.   But the world has no second opinion that the Greek Scholar Megasthenes was born in 350 BC and died in 290 BC. There is no doubt that he stayed in India for a considerably long time. Seleucus I Nicator got his daughter married to Chandragupta Maurya.   Megasthenes was also sent to the court of Chandragupta by Seleucus I. The accounts of Megasthenes about India were referred to by many, especially the Greek historians of later periods. It is accepted worldwide that he wrote an account named ‘Indica’ about this land. Thus, Indica must have been written not later than 290 BC. This is also a part of verified history.   From page numbers 40 & 41 of the book titled ‘Geography in Classical Antiquity’ by Daniela Dueck, Senior Lecturer in the Departments of History and Classical Studies at Bar Ilan University, (publisher Cambridge University Press) it may be learnt that Megasthenes’s account mentioned that he was sent to the court of Sandrocottus, king of Palimbothra in eastern India in around 304 BCE, i.e. 2300 years BP. He produced a four-book series where the detailed accounts of flora, fauna, geography, social structure etc. about India were thoroughly described. This was the first direct written account of India produced by a visitor from the west who himself visited the Ganges Valley.   Physically, the book ‘Indica’ did not survive in its entirety, but there remained so many references to this work by Greek scholars of later years that practically ‘Indica’ written by Megasthenes survived.      The description of Megasthenes   Megasthenes has given a fairly clear description of Palimbothra that he visited. According to his description, that great city of rectangular shape (9 km long and 1.5 km wide) was fortified by huge timber palisades. There existed 64 gates in that fence and 570 towers were present to enhance the security.   Having security towers at an average interval of every 37 meters may be called a very heavy fortification. This is not the sign of a hugely friendly neighbourhood.     Walled cities with nearby mountains   There are...