Ancient Indians and The Veda
This web-site is all about the ancient Indians. Who they were, where they lived and what they did.
How can we know what happened in the far past? Times change so rapidly, that our lives are very different from the times of our parents and grand-parents.
If you wanted to know about your grand father, you would listen to the stories that he told you about himself, the stories that others told you about him, look at his diaries and photographs and other such records. Then you would piece it all together and create in your mind, a picture of what your grandfather was like when he was young, what he did and how he lived.
You would see how it all fits in, with any other information you have about his times. Then you would be ready to tell your grandchildren how your grandfather lived. You might just tell them the story, or write it all down, or make a song about it, or paint pictures about it, or even carve it in stone.
Ancient Indians, our forefathers, preserved all that they knew, all that they did, all that happened to them and descriptions of all the places they had been to or lived in., in The Veda and in the Sthala Puranas or stories of Places.
Ancient Indians were spiritual and poetic. They saw divinity and beauty in everything. They were also highly technical and mathematical and were very good astronomers. And they put everything into their Veda, their rituals and their lifestyle. They lived in a way that they could never forget who they were and what they had learned so far.
Veda Vyasa studied the entire Veda and he classified it into 4 separate Vedas – that had to be used together with rituals and other books whether for worship or for knowledge. He also separated all the stories out into different Puranas.
Vyasa was a great organiser and the first story that I tell will be Vyasa’s story.
Authorship and Copyright Notice: All rights reserved – Satya Sarada Kandula.
The Cosmic Explosion: By Jayant V Narlikar (Author) : Science Fiction For Children
I spent the morning reading this delightful book for children filled with astronomy, history, archaeology, future and so forth. It starts with a child in Harshavardhana’s time and ends with a child in the future.
Priced at Rs 30 with 5 Rs off if you buy it at the Bangalore Book Festival (Entry fee Rs 20 + parking fee)
Jayant Vishnu Narlikar’s profile: (Source) Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar is an eminent astrophysicist. Narlikar is considered a leading expert and defender of the steady state cosmology. His work on conformal gravity theory with Sir Fred Hoyle, called Hoyle-Narlikar theory, demonstrated a synthesis can be achieved between Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and Mach’s principle. India’s second highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, was awarded to him for his work. Prof. Narlikar was the founder director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) at Pune, India
MADHYAMAVYAYOGA – Bhasa’s Play in Full
Glad News:
MADHYAMAVYAYOGA – Bhasa’s Play in Full at Kavyanubhavam : Sanskrit Text + Translation.
Indian History – A New Construct – 1.7 :Chiranjeevis – The Long Lived Ones – Markandeya, Vyasa, Maya, Parasurama
Please refer : How long did ancient Indians live? and How many kinds of Yugas are there?
- Markandeya lived through Kruta, Treta and Dwapara Yugas, we know this based on the incidents in his life and the people he interacted with. He survived the flood/deluge/pralaya.
- Vyasa was born at the junction of the Treta and Dvapara Yugas and lived at least till Suka was 16 years old. (See : References to Yugas in Srimad Bhagavatham : Vyasa’s Birth and Calendar from Vyasa’s birth to Janamejaya’s Coronation)
- Maya wrote the Surya Siddhantam whenKruta Yuga ended and built the Maya Sabha in the Dwapara Yuga.
- Parasurama filled the Samantha Panchakam with the blood of the adharmic kshatriyas in the sandhya between the krutha and tretha yugas, interacted with Sri Rama in the tretha yuga and gave Dronacharya his battle axe in the Dwapara Yuga. He also taught Karna in the Dwapara Yuga.
The Traditional View: with the exception of Maya all these sages are alive today and live in the Himalayas.
- Markandeya was present at least from 4 million years ago at the beginning of this Caturyuga.
- Vyasa was born 5111 + 0.2 (4.32)(1000000) = 869111 years ago and lived for at least 864060 years.
- See : Indian History – A New Construct – 1.5 : Correlating the Geological Time Scale with the Caturyugas for Calculations
My Question : Did Vyasa live 8 lakh years ago and did he live for at least 8 lakh years?
My thoughts:
- The Narmada Skull (Home Erectus/Homo Sapiens is dated at 600,000 years ago). So I can believe that humans roamed India at that time.
- The Astronomical lengths of the Yugas Refer to Graha Alignments. Instead of taking the alignment of 5 planets, their nodes, anti-nodes, apogees, perigees, together with the sun, moon and the fixed stars, which gives us 4.32 million years for a Caturyuga, we can consider the Barhaspatya Yugas of the alignment of The Sun, Moon, Jupiter and the Dhanishta Nakshatram. Instead of taking the 4:3:2:1 ratio for the individyal yuga lengths we can take 1:1:1:1, which was also a system of the ancient days.
Then we get The following time line.
- O Kaliyuga = 3102 BCE based on astronomical events + the geology of the Saraswathi River. (See :Date of the Mahabharata War)
- Vyasa’s birth 3162 BCE. Vyasa’s life span : 60 + 60 = 120 years : before moving to Himalayas.
- Maya’s composition of the Surya Siddhantam 3202 BCE. Maya’s life-span : 20 (in Krutha) + 60 (in Tretha) + 30 (in Dwapara) = 110 years
- Markandeya’s life span : 60 + 60 + 60 = 180 years : before moving to Himalayas. (In this polluted age, there are those who live till 150, so 180 is not difficult for me to accept).
More Points and Details:
- See : Generations between Rama and Krishna. and Generations previous to Sri Rama. Then you can see that many sages like Dhaumya, Garga etc who were not listed among the Chiranjeevis also lived from middle of Krutha Yuga to the middle of Dwapara Yuga.
- This will require us to question the puranic lists of kings that are the favorites of Pargiter and to go with brahminical lineages. We have to go by incidents, places and interactions to confirm membership in the kingly lists.
- See : Date of Veda Mantras, and Equinoxes and Dating Vedas. Some Vedic Mantras have been dated 6500 BCE based on the astronmical events that they recorded. We have to reject max Muellers arbitrary dating of the Vedas. We have to take into account the Rshi of the Mantras, his/her lineage and the astronomical events/clues recorded by the mantras all of which were neglected ny Mueller.
- Many Vedic Mantras were composed by Rshis who taught or guided Sri Rama either during his childhood or during his Vanavasam. Some mantras were composed prior to these rishis. Veda Mantras were used in Sri Rama’s wedding by Vasishtha.
- The Upanishads were created by the students and descendants of these rshis (eg Nachiketas)
- The Bhagavad Gita of Sri Krishna, was composed based on Upanishadic Philosophy and quotes Upanishads. From the Veda Mantras of Vasishtha to the Bhagavad Gita of Sri Krishna the gap is a few hundred years and not a few thousand years.
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Indian History – A New Construct – 1.6 : Pangea and the drift of the Indian Plate : JambuDweepa?
When the earth’s crust was formed, the land masses were distributed. They came together in the paleozoic period to form a single continent called Pangea. Animation that shows the formation of Pangea.
This article shows how India broke away from Africa and attached itself to Asia, with diagrams, links to animations and time periods.
At the beginning of the Vaiwasvatha Manvantara (about 300 million years ago), all the present day continents, were still joined together into a single landmass called Pangea.
Can you locate the Indian Sub Continent in Pangea? See how we were attached to Africa, Antartica and Australia.
Starting around 200 million years ago, in the present manvantara, the land masses started breaking up into separate continents. Animation that shows the break up of Pangea.
Animation that shows how India broke away from Pangea and crashed into Asia creating the Himalayas. I like to think that JambuDwipa may have referred to the time when India was actually an island, but you can think of Eurasia or of Pangea too… We need more research and study.
India crashes into Asia to form Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau
The continental drift has not “ended” as it were. Below you see an image of the continents will join up again as per current predictions, by the next manvantara. Look at the Indian peninsula.
According to this NASA report this may be the final form of the continents 250 million years into the future (next manvantara)
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Authorship and Copyright Notice : Satya Sarada Kandula : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula. All rights for the images vest with the source.
Indian History – A New Construct – 1.5 : Correlating the Geological Time Scale with the Caturyugas
Please Refer : Kalpas, Manvantaras, Samvatsaras and How many kinds of Yugas are there?
Traditionally, the present kalpa, the sveta varaha kalpa, began approximately 2 billion years ago, which corresponds to the paleo proterozoic era of the precambrian eon. Half of the Sveta Varaha Kalpa is over.
Calculations as per tradition :
At this time 27 Caturyugas of the 7th manvantara and 6 previous manvantaras of the Sveta Varaha Kalpa are over. The present manvantara is Vaiwasvatha Manvanthara.
1 Kalpa = 4.32 billion years
1 Manvantara = 4.32 billion years/14 = 308.571 million years.
1 Caturyuga is 4.32 billion years/1000 = 4.32 million years.
1 Krutha Yuga = 0.4 (4.32) million years
1 Tretha Yuga = 0.3 (4.32) million years
1 Dwapara Yuga = 0.2 (4.32) million years
Kaliyuga began in 3102 BCE, so 5111 years of Kaliyuga are over.
There fore 5111 + 0.9 (4.32)(1000000) +27(4.32)(1000000) + 6(308.571) (1000000) years have elapsed since the beginning of the present kalpa (sveta varaha), ie 1,971,959,111 years ago. The present manvantara (Vaivaswatha) began 120,533,111 years ago.
Traditionally, the Vaiswastha Manvantara started about 120 million years ago, in the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic era of the Phanerozoic Eon.
Our present Caturyuga :
Traditionally our Caturyuga is 4.32 million years long. We are only 5111 years into the Kaliyuga, which is 432000 years long. 426889 years of our Kaliyuga are left. Towards the end of this period is when Kalki Avatar is expected.
3893111 years of this Caturyuga have elapsed, ie about 4 million years of our caturyuga have elapsed. Our entire Caturyuga falls within the Neogene period of the Cenzoic Era.
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My explanation of the Bhagavad Gita : Now Available in Book Form
Check it out, write a review, (buy it 
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Karthikeya (Skanda, Kumara), Rudra, Agni and Gold
(Reference) This narration is from the Anusasana Parva of the Mahabharata. (Book 13 sections 84 to 86.)
Yudhisthira asked his great-grandfather, Bhishma, as he lay on his bed of arrows, waiting for Uttarayanam to die, why the gift of gold was considered purifying as per the Shrutis.
Bhishma then narrated that Gold was the son of Agni (Energy) and told him the following story.
Bhishma’s guru, Parasurama (Bhargava Rama, the son of Jamadagni) wished to cleanse himself after eliminating Kshatriyas thrice times seven times. He performed the Aswamedha Yajna but did not feel light in his heart. He turned to the rishis for advice, who guided him to the brahmanas. Parasurama then went and approached Vasishtha, Kasyapa and Agastya.
They told him that while gifting (dana) cattle, land and wealth, was purifying, gifting gold, which had the splendour of fire, also had special benefits of purification.
First, Vasishtha gave this account of events based on Prajapathi, “Gold is of the essence of Agni and Soma. Churning the entire universe, a mass of energy was found. That energy is gold. And therefore held in high regard by the Devas and Gandharvas and Uragas and Rakshasas, Manavas and Pisachas. All of these jathis convert gold into crowns, armlets etc and wear it on their person. Of all kinds of Dakshina, gold is the best. Agni is all the deities in one, and gold has Agni for its essence.”
“Once after Rudra and Uma were married, the Devas requested them not to have a son together, because the world could not bear the energy of one who combined their essence in him. At that time Uma ruled that neither would the Devas have any children of their own. A part of the essence of Rudra became the blazing Agni and grew and grew. In the interim, the Adityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the Maruts, the Aswins, and the Sadhyas were greatly troubled by Taraka Asura., who took over their regions as well as their possessions, drawing his protection from the Varam given to him by Brahma.”
“Brahma heard their troubles and said that Agni, who was exempt from Uma’s ruling, would have a son who would destroy Tarakasura. He asid, ‘Find Agni and ask him to transfer Rudra’s essence to Ganga. Agni sprang in former times and is the most eternal of all creatures. Agni is the Lord of the universe. He is incapable of being apprehended or described. Capable of going everywhere and existing in all things, he is the Creator of all beings. He lives in the hearts of all creatures. Endued with great power, He is older than Rudra himself.’ ”
“They searched for Agni everywhere but could not find him, as he had merged his self into his self. A frog let them know, that Agni was hiding in the deep in the waters. But the Devas and others could not find Agni in the waters. Then they were told by an elephant that agni was hiding in an Aswattha tree, but they could not find him there. In the meantime Agni entered a Sami tree and this time he was pointed out by a parrot. The Devas made Agni come out of the sacred Sami wood, henceforth used for making ritual fires.”
“Agni now asked the Devas and others what he could do for them and they asked him to give them a son of his who would command them in battle and lead them to victory against Tarakasura. Ganga conceived his son and bore the essence of Rudra as long as she could bear its blaze. Then in a moment when she was frightened by a noise, she delivered the essence onto the slopes of the mountain Meru.”
“It was endued with the complexion of gold. In energy it was even like Agni. Of an excellent complexion, perfectly stainless, and blazing with splendour, it illuminated the entire mountain. The fragrance emitted by it resembled the cool perfume that its scattered by lakes adorned with lotuses and Nyphoea stellata, mixed with that of the Nauclea Cadamba. With the splendour of that foetus everything around it seemed to be transformed into gold even as all things on mountain and low land seem to be transformed into gold by the rays of the Sun. Indeed, the splendour of that spreading far, fell upon mountains and rivers and springs. The three worlds were illuminated by it. It was as beautiful and bright as the sun and the moon.”
“From that day, Agni was called Hiranyaretas. Kruttika Nakshatram owned the baby and raised it and therefore he was called Karthikeya. He was also called Skanda and Guha.”
“It was in this way that gold came into existence as the offspring of the deity of blazing flames. Hence it is that gold came to be looked upon as the foremost of all things and the ornament of the very gods. It was from this circumstance that gold came to be called by the name of Jatarupam. It is the foremost of all costly things, and among ornaments also it is the foremost. The cleanser among all cleansing things, it is the most auspicious of all auspicious objects. Gold is truly the illustrious Agni. the Lord of all things, and the foremost of all Prajapatis. The most sacred of all sacred things is gold, Verily, gold is said to have for its essence Agni and Soma.”
Vasishtha then followed up this account of the birth of Karthikeya (Gold), with a different account of what happened called Brahmadarshana.. which we shall take up on a different day!
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
Indian History – A New Construct – 1.4 : Formation of the earth’s crust and oceans.
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/17121 ; How the earth's core was formed
The earth was a part of the molecular cloud or our nebula that solidified after being compressed by a shockwave from an exploding supernova. The T-Tauri solar wind blew away our initial gasesous atmosphere. Our closeness to the center of the nebula meant that we had the high temperatures needed to form the rocky minerals and become a rocky planet. Because of the warmth of the earth’s radioactivity and the heat generated by metorite impacts, our planet slowly differentiated into a hot iron core and a silicate crust. Or perhaps the earth was formed out of pre-differentiated bodies with cores as discussed in the article linked to from the diagram on the left.
(See : Indian History – A New Construct – 1.3 : Formation of Our Solar System)
“As the earth cooled more, a solid crust formed over the over the liquid material. As the crust cooled, it got wrinkled and burst open in spots. Gradually cracks formed in the crust. Water that formed under the earth’s crust escaped from the cracks in the earth and soon water vapor formed above the earth. This lead to cloud formation. Larger droplets formed in the clouds and as they were pulled to the earth by gravity came the first rainfalls. The rain at first evaporated as soon as it hit the earth. Later, as the earth continued to cool, the rain stayed on to form lakes and oceans. At first the water was all fresh water, but as it had chemicals from the earth’s crust mix in, the water of the oceans became salty.” Source
“At one time the earth was all water on its surface. Later pressure and heat in its center pushed up solid portions of the earth that became land forms. Sometimes the land would sink back down and other portions arise.” Source
Notes :
Our puranas are replete with incidents where the earth was submerged by water and it/she was rescued by Vishnu. One reference is the Varaha Avatara, where Bhudevi was hidden in the waters by Hiranyaksha and Vishnu turned into a Sukara (boar) and brought the earth up on his tusks.
Another interesting reference is in the Srimad Bhagavatham is of The Purusha from whose navel springs the lotus that carries Brahma. The Purusha is in the state of Yoga Nidra under the ocean and the lotus floats on the waters carrying in it Brahma (lit the great), the Master Creator (Srjam Patih). One way of looking at it is that the lotus is the earth’s crust on the molten core that are the waters and that Vishnu is at the core. (Other interpretations : Padmasana, Padmanabha : Literal (Lotus Stalk), Yogic (Spinal Cord,) , Vishnu as the Black Hole at the Galactic Centre)
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Rights for sourced material vest with the source.
Om Namah Sivaya. Karthika Somavaram and Karthika Pournami today.
Om Namah Sivaya : Photograph and Editing Credit : Satya Sarada Kandula : All Rights Reserved
| Tithi | Tithi devta and Puja | Phalam (Benefit) |
| Karthika suddha (suklapaksha) Padyami | Siva | Tejas (Glory) |
| Karthika suddha Vidiya (dwithiya) | Vishnu | Santhi (Peace of mind) |
| Karthika suddha Tadiya (truthiya) | Shakti | Aishwarya prapthi (Wealth) |
| Karthika suddha Chavithi (chaturthi) | Naga devathas / Subrahmanyeswara | Ayush and Arogya prapthi (Longevity and Health) |
| Karthika suddha Panchami | Subrahmanyeswara | Karya siddhi (Success in work) |
| Karthika suddha Shasthi | Subrahmanyeswara | Santhana prapthi (Children) |
| Karthika suddha Sapthami | Surya (Sun) | Tejas and Arogya (Glory and Health) |
| Karthika suddha Ashtami | Durga Devi | Sankata nivarana (Relief from Miseries) |
| Karthika suddha Navami | Pithru devathas | Kutumba soukhyam (Happy family) |
| Karthika suddha Dasami | Ganesha/ Gajendra moksha parayana for Lord Vishnu |
Relief from Obstacles |
| Karthika suddha Ekadashi | Siva | Karya siddhi (Success in work) |
| Karthika suddha Dwadashi | (Vishnu) See Also : Ksheerabdi Kanya – Sree Mahalakshmi – Ksheerabdi Dwadasi | Dhana dhanya vriddhi (Wealth and Good life) |
| Karthika suddha Trayodashi | Vishnu | Tejas (Glory) |
| Karthika suddha Chaturdashi | Kala Bhairava (Also Yama Deepam) | Akala mruthyu haranam (Relief from sudden Deaths) |
| Karthika suddha Pournami | Siva / Krishna | Moksha |
| Karthika bahula (Krishna paksha) Padyami | Agni (Energy) | Tejas (Glory) |
| Karthika bahula Vidiya | Ashwini devathas (See Also: Translation : Ashwini Twins Rg Veda Mantras by Upamanyu, a student of Dhaumya, the priest of the Pandavas.)
Kruttika deepotsavam on Nov 4th 2009 on account of Kruttika Nakshatram day of Karthika Masam |
Arogya (Health) |
| Karthika bahula Tadiya | Gauri (Parvathi) | Soubhagya (Good for Husband and Children) |
| Karthika bahula Chavithi | Ganesh | Kutumba saukhyam (Gives happy family life) |
| Karthika bahula Panchami | Subrahmanyeswara | Vijaya (Victory) |
| Karthika bahula Shasthi | Subrahmanyeswara | Santhana vriddhi (Children) |
| Karthika bahula Sapthami | Surya | Ayush and Arogya (Longevity and Health) |
| Karthika bahula Ashtami | Ashta Lakshmi | Santhi (Peace) |
| Karthika bahula Navami | Durga Devi | Karya siddhi (Success everywhere) |
| Karthika bahula Dasami | Ashta dikpalakas (Indra, Agni, Yama, Nirruthi, Varuna, Vayu, Kubera, Eeshana[Shiva]) | Keerthi (Fame) |
| Karthika bahula Ekadashi | Kubera | Dhana prapthi (Money) |
| Karthika bahula Dwadashi | Vishnu | Yoga prapthi (Eternal unity) |
| Karthika bahula Trayodashi | Yama | Vyadhi nivarana (Relief from severe diseases) |
| Karthika bahula Chaturdashi | Mruthyunjaya (Siva) | Arogya (Relief from diseases and Healthy body and mind) |
| Karthika bahula Amavasya | Pithru devathas | Mano dhairyam (Mental stability) |
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula. All Rights for the table vest with the source.
Indian History – A New Construct – 1.3 : Formation of Our Solar System
At first, our solar system was a, nebula, a molecular cloud in space. Mostly H and He gas and may be a few other elements. It was disturbed by a shock wave from an exploding supernova. This resulted in a compression of the gas, and in an increase in its rotational velocity. The centre of the cloud became hot and dense and the little clumps of matter that formed towards the edges were cold like ice. As the warm condensing particles stuck to each other and gathered mass, their gravity pulled other particles close to themselves.
The center of the nebula became the sun. Rocky planets formed closer to the sun and gaseous planets formed further away. The temperature at which rocky materials, of which the terrestrial planets are made of, such as Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Nickel, and Lead, can begin to form solid material, is much higher, than the outer temperatures at which the gaseous, icy, planets were formed.
“Currently, the theory that best explains all the evidence about the formation of the Earth’s moon is that the Earth was struck by a large object, possibly as large as Mars. This theory holds that sufficient debris was ejected from the Earth to form the Moon. Simulations of this scenario show that energy from such a collision produces a stream of vaporized rock from the impact. It is thought that the Moon formed from this cooled material.”
Because of its heat, the elements of the earth, separated (differentiated) into the molten iron core at the centre and the lighter silicate rock towards the surface.
“The Earth and Mars are examples of contiguous planets which did and did not differentiate early in their histories. The Earth has a well formed core, with a mantle of silicate rock and an outer crust. Earth has a magnetosphere, which is something which is generated in an active iron core. Mars, the “red planet” seems to have a lot of iron on the surface, a weak magnetosphere, and a small iron core. This suggests that Mars is weakly differentiated. The lack of differentiation may say something about how warm these planets were upon formation. Mars may have warmed too late in its history to fully differentiate, or Mars may not have as much of the radioactive material which keeps the Earth warm to start with.”
At this time the sun condensed to a point at which the fusion reactions of Hydrogen into Helium started and the sun started radiating intense energy. The Sun “turned on”. Even today we have smaller scale solar winds by which the sun throws material into the solar system, but not at the enormous rate at which this used to happen, in the beginning.
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