Manu and the Mahābhārata (original) (raw)
Related papers
MAHABHARATA TO MAHAJANAPADA: THE STORY OF INDIA'S FIRST COINED MONEY
Mumbai Coin Society, 2018
Mahabharata is one of the two great Sanskrit epics of Ancient India, the other being Ramayana. The Mahabharata translates as ‘The Great Tale of the Bharata Dynasty’ and is the longest poem ever written being 4 times the length of Ramayana and 10 times the length of the two ancient Greek poems Iliad and Odyssey combined, composed by Homer. The The Mahabharata is an epic legendary narrative of the Kurukṣhetra War between the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas. ‘Bhagwad Gita’ is an important component of the Mahabharata. It is believed the Kurukshetra War occurred between 1200 – 800 BC, with some holding the view it occurred much earlier ca 3000 BC or even earlier, while some historians and archaeologists argue this conflict occurred in 1000 BC. One of the fallouts of the Kurukshetra War was the political re-organization in India and the emergence of 16 Big States (Solasa Mahajanapadasa) few centuries later, of which Magadha became the most prominent and dominant by the time of Buddha ca 600 BC. It was also the time when the economy transitioned from predominantly barter and proto-money to coined money system. This is the story of India’s first money of how coinage evolved in India from the time of the Mahabharata to the Mahajanapadas.
HInduism in India: The Early Period, 2017
One could scarcely draw together two larger topics than the Mahābhārata (Mbh) and dharma. The former, a tale of a fratricidal and internecine battle interspersed with theme-expanding stories, moral tales, fables, and didactic tracts, claims to be 100,000 stanzas long; the text constituted in the Critical Edition in the mid 20th century by a team of scholars comes to some 75,000. The Mbh has arguably been the most influential and significant cultural product to emerge from South Asia in the last two millennia. The word dharma, on the other hand, has, since perhaps the 5th century BCE (or a little later), been the preeminent term of ideological expression in South Asian thought, and lent itself to the collective name for one of South Asia's most enduring genres, dharmaśāstra. The word is, as has often been noted, of central importance to the Mbh; indeed, in many respects, the Mbh both marks a significant moment in the semantic development of dharma (Hiltebeitel 2011: 20-29) and demonstrates its emergence as a term encoding cultural and ideological legitimacy.
The Chronology of India: From Manu to Mahabharata
for their valuable suggestions and sustained encouragement. I also thank Sh. Sanjay Sharma, Sh. Shamit Khemka and Sh. Paritosh Agrawal for extending all support in design of cover page and publication of this book. I thank Ms. Kalyani Prashar for her efforts in editing the manuscript. I also thank Sh. Vinod Yadav for his creative contribution in the type-setting, design and printing of this book. Finally, I thank my wife Sandhya for her support, encouragement and patience during the time of writing of this book. New Delhi Vedveer Arya 19 th Sep 2019 6 | The Chronology of India : From Manu to Mahabharata sheet anchors of the chronology can be firmly established. The internal archaeo-astronomical data of ancient Indian literature is the most credible evidence to unravel the sheet anchors of the chronology of ancient India. All ancient Indian chronological traditions follow the timeline of Yuga cycles. They unanimously relate that the present Yuga is the Kaliyuga of the 28 th Chaturyuga of Vaivasvata Manvantara that commenced during the Mahābhārata era; however, there is a divergence of opinion about the exact epoch of the Kaliyuga. According to the Mahābhārata, the epoch of Kaliyuga commenced before the Mahābhārata war (3162 BCE). Most probably, the Mahābhārata indicates the commencement of Kaliyuga on 9 th Jan 3176 BCE and Māgha Śukla Pratipadā, when the Saptarṣis were at Maghā Nakśatra. Āryabhaṭa indicates the commencement of the Kaliyuga at midnight on 5 th Mar 3173 BCE, Chaitra Śukla Pratipadā in the 1 st year of the 60-year cycle, i.e., Prabhava Saṁvatsara, when Jupiter was in Aries. The Bhāgavata tradition mentions that the Kaliyuga commenced after the death of Sri Krishna in the 36 th year from the date of the Mahābhārata war whereas Lāṭadeva's Sūrya Siddhānta indicates the commencement of Kaliyuga from 17 th Feb 3101 BCE when all five planets, sun and moon were in close conjunction in Mīna Rāśi (Pisces). Thus, the epoch of Kaliyuga can only be conclusively established in the 32 nd century BCE, between 9 th Jan 3176 BCE and 17 th Feb 3101 BCE. Interestingly, Lāṭadeva's Sūrya Siddhānta says that Maya the great Asura wrote Sūrya Siddhānta at the end of the Krita Yuga of the 28 th Chaturyuga of Vaivasvata Manvantara, when all five planets, sun and moon were in close conjunction in Meṣa Rāśi (Aries). 4 This great conjunction took place on 22 nd Feb 6778 BCE and Chaitra Śukla Pratipadā.
Mahābhārata is the most accurately dated historical text in the history of world literature, a golden-page in the Story of Civilization The monograph is organized in three sections. Section 1. Arthaśāstra Itihāsa, metaphors of aṣṭāśri yūpa, caṣāla, and start date of Mahābhārata war on November 22, 3067 BCE Section 2. The Traditional Epoch of Yudhishthira Era and Mahābhārata War -- Vedveer Arya Section 3. Mahābhārata Retold with Scientific Evidences -- Saroj Bala Chāndogya Upaniṣad (7.1.2), applies the term: itihāsapurāṇaṃ pañcamaṃ vedānāṃ to the "histories" itihāsa "ancient traditions") of its day. Mahābhārata categorises itself as itihāsa: cf. Fitzgerald, James (1985). "India's Fifth Veda: The Mahābhārata's Presentation of Itself". Journal of South Asian Literature. 20 (1): 125–140. Gaṇeśa, 8th century. Central Vietnam. Lent by National Museum of Vietnamese History Gaṇeśa as scribe is proclamation of divine sanction for the kāvya, narrated by Kr̥ṣṇa Dwaipāyana Vyāsa, the black Ganga island-dweller. The written version by Gaṇeśa is for wider dissemination of the message of the veda, the fifth Veda, pañcamaṃ veda which is itihāsa, ancient tradition of Bhāratam. See: https://tinyurl.com/ycpoch5w Gaṇeśa is scribe of Mahābhārata Gaṇeśa is Brāhmī scribe of Mahābhārata in the tradition of Indus Script cipher of Bronze Age https://tinyurl.com/y79j8rxp Section 1 presents metaphors of aṣṭāśri yūpa, caṣāla to prove Veda cultural continuum of Arthaśāstra Itihāsa, consistent with details of astronomical observations provided in two theses of Srinivasa Raghavan and Narahari Achar who date the start of the Mahābhārata war on November 22, 3067 BCE. Sections 2 and 3 present arguments of Vedveer Arya and Saroj Bala, deviating from this November 22, 3067 BCE date, but still stay within the traditional chronology and epoch of the Mahābhārata war of 4th millennium BCE. To prove the Veda cultural continuum, I have also presented: Binjor yajña kuṇḍa and Indus Script hypertexts, iconographic evidences related to Gardez Gaṇeśa who is the only scribe of the Epic narration, iconographic evidences for aṣṭāśri Rudrabhāga Śivalinga, the monumental unparalleled sculptural magnificence of Khajuraho Varāha, 19 Yūpa inscriptions,Bhimaswarga narrative of Bhīma, Arjuna, Gaṇeśa dance-step at a smithy/forge producing a sword, and other ancient texts including Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. In my view, the presentations by Srinivasa Raghavan and Narahari Achar meet the test of devices prescribed in tantra yukti doctrine which guided researches of the savants Pāṇini, Caraka, Kauṭilya (kauṭīlika, ‘baclsmith’), a Bhāratīya research method which predates Harvard research method by several millennia. Details of 40 devices in tantra yukti doctrine, to derive vākyārtha have been presented separately. Hopefully, these devices will help resolve the disagreements on specific dates for the start of the war, dates within a time-frame of 4th millennium BCE a broad-spectrum epoch which is consistent.the hydrological history of Vedic River Sarasvatī as a flowing channel, constituting a maritime waterway for seafaring merchants to advance their mercantile transactions. I accept the dates determined by Srinivasa Raghavan and Narahari Achar because the dates are consistent with the internal textual evidence of the Epic and philological tradition of deriving meaning based on lakṣaṇā, particularly for the word graha which has to be interpreted (vākyārtha, ‘meanings of messages’) in context of the textual references, as either a planet or a comet. In my view, Achar’s readings of the term graha based on philological tradition of deriving meaning based on lakṣaṇā constitute a brilliant contribution to reconcile and resolve the apparent inconsistencies within the text, noted for example by TS Kuppanna Sastry. No attempt has been made to reconcile the various dates of BCE arrived at by various scholars. The arguments are presented to the readers for adjudication as the Jury. Section 1. Arthaśāstra Itihāsa, metaphors of aṣṭāśri yūpa, caṣāla, and start date of Mahābhārata war on November 22, 3067 BCE The locus of events narrated is in sacred space of the basin of Vedic River Sarasvatī; The context and abiding reality of the narrative is Arthaśāstra Itihāsa – History of Bhāratīya Political Economy. This Arthaśāstra Itihāsa is signified by the metaphors of aṣṭāśri yūpa topped by caṣāla consistent with the descriptions in R̥g Veda and Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. The aṣṭāśri yūpa shape is Pratimā lakṣaṇāam of Rudrabhāga of Śivalinga. The linga is ekamukha jaṭālinga ‘face with matted hair on head’ shaped after caṣāla, ‘heap of godhūma wheat-chaff’; mukha ‘face’ rebus: mũh ‘ingot’; skambha ‘pillar’ rebus: kammaṭa ‘coiner, coinage, mint’. Another metaphor of caṣāla is vajra, the sudarśana cakra, the discus weapon of Viṣṇu, analogous to Indra’s thunderbolt, vajra; also analogous to the ḍamaru ‘hour-glass’ shape of the drum in the hand of Rudra-Śiva Naṭarāja. The ḍamaru of Maheśvara yields the anāhata nāda, the unstruck sound of praṇava, divine sound signifier, is paramātman. The ḍamaru also yields Māheśvara Sūtrāṇi, the Veda sound system which enshrines the sounds of language (see image after Frits Staal). The word bharat is a signifier of the competence achieved in creating alloyed metals: barad, barat ‘ox, bos gaurus’ rebus: bharat ‘mixed alloys’ (5 copper, 4 zinc and 1 tin) (Punjabi). Just as Sindon ‘cotton’ signified Sindhu-Hindu, the region, bharat ‘alloy of copper and zinc’ also signified the region with metalworkers who had unique alloying metallurgical competence, made bharatāñce bhāṇḍem ‘pots, pans, implements and weapons of bharata-alloy-ware’. That Kr̥ṣṇa Dwaipāyana Vyāsa [Black (Ganga-river) Island-born] kavi is also a competent astronomer is abundantly clear from the repeated celestial skymaps which are alluded to in the epic, Mahābhārata. Celestial skymaps constitute the calendar of the times of Kr̥ṣṇa Dwaipāyana Vyāsa and the references made by the author-narrator to skymaps ensure that the dating of events is unambiguous and precise. The accuracy achieved to precisely date an event is simply stunning and unparalleled in any other literary document of the world. These times (4th millennium, in my reckoning as demonstrated in this monograph) are a continuum of the tradition which dates back in time, to the R̥gveda. A text that also refers to earlier, pūrve yajñikā The start date of the Mahābhārata war has been correctly reckoned by Narahari Achar as November 22, 3067. The skymap on the 14th day of the war is clear, unambiguous and emphatic validating the date reckoned by Narahari Achar and earlier by Srinivasa Raghavan consistent with the dates recorded in the Epic. Jan. 17, 3066 BCE is the date of nirvāṇa of Bhīṣma. This date together with the dates of the war can be reconciled with the date of ascension to the throne of Parīkṣit (son of Abhimanyu and Uttara) at Hastināpura and dates suggested by Kota Venkatachalam in Kaliyuga Rājavr̥ttāntam to arrive at 1. the Mauryan era of the historical periods from ca. 6th cent. BCE 2. the date on which Porus (Puruṣottama) presents the world-renowned Bhāratīya ukku (steel) sword to Alexander on the banks of Jhelum river in 4th century BCE and 3. the date, ca. 6th century BCE, on which the bilingual Sohgaura copper plate śāsana.was recorded both in Indus Script hypertext (top line) and in Brāhmī script describing the koṭhāgāra ‘storehoues’ were made available to itinerant metalworker merchants. This is also an attestation of the continuation of Indus Script hypertext tradition into the historical periods, together with tens of thousands of punch-marked and cast coins that have been evaluated by numismatists covering an extensive area from scores of copper-hoard culture sites. All these coins including the Vr̥ṣṇi bilingual coins with Indus Script hypertexts and Kharoṣṭhī script are evidences for the continuation of Indus Script hypertext tradition, since all symbols used on these coins are hypertexts and hieroglyphs of the Indus Script. Bhagavadgīta text refers to Sri Kr̥ṣṇa as belonging to the Vr̥ṣṇi kula.
THE CHRONOLOGY OF INDIA: From Mahabharata to Medieval Era Volume II
Prior to the colonial era, Indians traditionally followed a well-established chronological history as narrated in the Puranas starting from the Mahabharata era to the Gupta period. The regnal periods of the Brihadratha, Pradyota and Sisunaga dynasties of the Magadha Empire given in the Puranas clearly indicate that Mahapadma Nanda founded his Nanda dynasty 1500 years after the Mahabharata war. Evidently, the traditional chronology places Buddha in the 19th century BCE and Chandragupta Maurya in the beginning of the 16th century BCE. Colonial historians identified Sandrokottus with Chandragupta Maurya and dated him as the contemporary of Alexander and the date of Buddha nirvana has been brought forward by 1380 years and fixed around 483 BCE. In fact, the complex problems in Indian chronology arise from a misunderstanding of the epochs of ancient Indian eras. I have discovered that the Kurtakoti copper plate dated Saka 530 refers to a total solar eclipse occurred on 9th May 53 BCE in Northern Karnataka which conclusively establishes that the Saka era commenced in 583 BCE and the Sakanta era commenced in 78 CE. Historians mistakenly mixed up these two epochs which led to a chronological error of 660 years. Out of two contemporary copper plates found at Pranaveshvara temple, Talagunda, one plate is dated in the Saka era whereas, another is dated in the Sakanta era. Apart from this error of 660 years, later Jain historians inadvertently identified Ujjain King Chandragupta, a disciple of Bhadrabahu with the Maurya King Chandragupta which made Mahavira, a contemporary of Buddha. In reality, Buddha attained nirvana 675 years before the year of Mahavira nirvana. Puranas and the Burmese inscriptions clearly indicate that Buddha attained nirvana in 1864 BCE. Recent excavations at Lumbini and the radiocarbon samples collected from the Trench C5 at the center of the Buddhist shrine at Lumbini indicate an earliest date of 1681 BCE. There is a chronological error of 1380 years.
The Questionable Historicity of the Mahabharata - S.S.N. Murthy
It is not uncommon in mythology to create elaborate stories around historic heroic figures to elevate them to the level of gods who have time and again formed the basis for the development of religious sects. In Hindu mythology, the scene is slightly different where popular stories have been woven around Vedic themes that had nothing to do with history. Typical is the example of ‘the three strides of Viœµu’ mentioned at about a dozen places in «Rigveda (RV), which in the post-Vedic period was evolved into the ‘Våmana’ (dwarf) incarnation of Viœµu, with the original Vedic theme having been forgotten subsequently. The great Epic story “Mahåbhårata” (Mbh) which has influenced the life and culture in the Indian subcontinent for over 2200 years is probably another such example. So far all archeological excavations (Ghosh, 1989), at some of the important places mentioned in the Epic have yielded nothing, which can corroborate the story. However, most textbooks on Indian history date the Epic around 950 BC. The recent discovery of large ruined cities belonging to probably ‘the Harappan civilization’1, (1900-3000 BC) along the bed of the now dried up Ghaggar River, and a submerged site (believed to be ~1500 BC) at Dvårakå, off the coast of Gujarat by S. R. Rao (1999), has encouraged many scholars to push Mbh to greater antiquity.
Political and Economic Milieu in the Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is an epic written over a long period of time. It is believed that additions have been made to the original story over a number of years. Scholars believe that the Mahabharata has been compiled between 6 th century BCE and 5 th century CE.
The Monetary Dimensions of the Vigrahapala and Adivaraha Dramma Coinage: an Exploratory Essay
Numismatic Digest, 2015
Unlike the 'cashless' economies of the contemporary Pala (Bengal) and Rashtrakuta (Deccan) realms, there existed a prolific silver coinage within the borders of the Gurjara-Pratihara empire (Ganges valley and north-eastern Rajasthan). In the eighth century, these comprised an anonymous coinage called the ‘Vigrahapala dramma’; in the ninth century they consisted of the ‘Srimadadivaraha dramma’. Both series are arguably descended, via the early medieval ‘Indo-Sasanian’ coinage, from the silver coinage of the Sasanian Empire. This paper reviews evidence published by researchers to date on the temporal sequencing and evolution of these two series, and compares the results to treasure trove hoard records, in order to determine the geographic distribution of the coins in circulation, and identify possible minting places. Reference to the few available metallurgical findings rounds out the picture of denominational structure and the coins’ monetary function.