Madhusudan vagamratam vol 4 ithihasa pu vishayam

MADHUSUDANA VAGAMRTAM OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS OF VIDYAVACASPATIMADHUSUDAN OJHA IN THE INTERPRETATION OF VEDIC THOUGHT, FIVE VOLUMES.

VOLUME FOUR:

ITHIASAPURANAVISAYAH (Part-I)

Dr. A. S. RAMANATHAN

Published by PT. MADHUSUDAN OJHA VEDIC ADHYAYANA EVAM SHODH PEETH SANSTHAN, JAIPUR MADHUSODANA VAGAMRTAM VOLUME FOUR: ITHIHASAPURANAVI$AYAH (PART-I)

by Dr. A. S. RAMANATHAN

I am very happy to present to the readers Part I of fourth Volume of the series titled Madhusudanavagamrtam.

Puranas and Itihasas form an integral part of our ancient Sanskrit literature.

In fact we have the saying which means that unless we are familiar with Itihasas and Puranas we cannot fully grasp the contents of Vedic mantras. No other religion can boast of such a vast Puranic literature as we have. In fact most of us know more of Puranas and Itihasas than of Vedas and Upanisads.

Madhusudan Ojha exhibits remarkable skill in teaching us the origin, structure and evolution of the Puranas.

In his two major works titled Jagadguruvaibhavam and Indravijayah Ojha has very cleverly built a cogent history of our ancients who led a very highly civilized life ten thousand years ago, at which time, the first composition of Veda mantras was commenced by a few highly talented superhuman intellectuals named Sadhyas.

Ojha also shows that Purana in some form existed even before the composition of the Vedas, based on some valid statements in our literature.

Contrary to the belief of modern historians and archeologists, Ojha proves that history is very much there in our Vedic literature hidden in the mantras: He says that if we make the correct approach to the study of our mantras, we can build a cogent history of our ancients which derives additional support in the statements in Puranas.

Indravijayah and Jagadguruvaibhavam are two outstanding works of Ojha which contains historical and geographical details of life and areas of settlement of our ancients. These point out that in a very extensive area in Asia our ancients who were intellectuals of a very high degree, once led a prosperous and highly civilised life.

In

the

present

major works of Ojha like

part

of

this

Volume

I

have

presented

the an

originals

of

some

d

and also given sufficient notes in English on them. At the end of this

part, some extracts of Ojha’s

and his article entitled have been presented.

• In the second part of this Volume I hope to present containing four essays based on some works (in Hindi) authored by him. Motilal Sastri, an outstanding disciple of Madhusudan Ojha, wrote the four following books based on the teachings of his Guru:

The essays will be under the titles: 1.

The Svarupa of Bhartiya Hindu Manava 2.

Visvasvarupavivecanam.

3.

4.

Agama Rahasyam The four National festivals-Raksabandhan, Navaratrotsava, Dipavali, and Holika and their Vedic origin.

My thanks are due to Dr. Gulab Kothari, Managing Director, Rajasthan Patrika for the financial support for this project.

Thanks are also due to Mrs Revathy of Chengamalam Enterprises, Chennai, for help in the typesetting work.

Chennai - 4 May, 2007

_ a. S. Ramanathan

CONTENTS Page Chapter I

Introduction

Chapter II

Puranarahasyam

1

Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Jagadguruvaibhavam - Summary

70

Chapter VI

79

- Text

Chapter VII The Land of Aryans and Their Culture

137

Chapter VIII

164

- Text

Chapter IX 389

Chapter X

^

MADHUSUDANA VAGAMRTAM VOLUME FOUR: milHASAPI JRAN AVI SAY AH (PART-I)

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM II

||

Volume Four: Ithihasapuranavisayah - Part I

I.

Introduction

In the previous three volumes which we have just completed we have presented to the readers, enough mateiral to read, re-read and enjoy Ojha’s unique contributions to the undersanding of Vedic thought. In this volume we shall present Ojha’s contribution to the understanding of the logic of the Puranas, Ithihasas and associated matters.

Ojha wrote about half a dozen books on Puranas and Ithihasas under the common head Purana SamTksa. Historical details have also been presented by him in his books entitled Indravijaya, Jagadguruvaibhavam and Svargasandesa.

We

shall

deal

with

all

these

in

this

volume.

1. Purana Samlksa 2 Under this Ojha wrote the following books.

1.

An

introduction

to

Purana

entitled This has published by Jodhpur University.

been

Samlksa already

by

Ojha edited

is by

available

in

Prakash

his

book

Dube

and

2.

_ In this small book, Ojha has tion of the Puranas with profuse quotations from the originals.

briefly

discussed

the

3.

In this book Ojha goes into greater order in which the eighteen Puranas have come into existence.

detail

into

logic

A book entitled w

(in Hindi) based on Ojha’s

the

evoluand

and his

is available to us. This book has been written by Suijandas Swamiji and has been published by Karpur Chand Kulish, founder editor of Rajasthan Patrika. We shall reproduce here an english version ofthis book for the readers and also present Ojha’s original articles on as well as 4. : - In this book Ojha has discussed all detials pertaining to what Manvantara represents and also details of what Yuga, Divyayuga, Nityakalpa, Saptakalpa, Trimsatkalpa etc represent.

Unfortunately a part of the original manuscript is missing and Suijandas Swamiji has published whatever is available and has given his notes in Hindi for the same. We shall present in this volume the original text of Ojha together with a summary of the same in english.

ChapterII. Puranarahasyam Puranas are essentially historical accounts of the creation of the universe.

They constitute encyclopaedia of knowledge of various things like, Vidya, Art, Architecture etc. They are divided into kalpas according to the period during which they came into existence. These Kalpas are four in number viz., 1. Vaidika Kalpa, 2. Vedavyasiya Kalpa, 3. Lomaharsanlya Kalpa and 4. Augrasravasa Kalpa.

These contain accounts of Srsti processes which were prevalent even before the Veda Samhitas and Brahmanagranthas were composed.

1. Vaidika Kalpa Long long ago there was a Purana named which contained Srsti Pratisrsti (pralaya) details. That this Purana preceded everything else is It

is

the

Purana

that

inferred from the starting sentence which says is referred to in the Satapatha Brahmana

statement

etc. which

says _ etc., In this statemnt the word th author of

, Again Matsya Purana says,

is mentioned by

That

is

why

the

word

itself

means

that

it

deals

with

events

of

very

old

times as told in Padma Purana In Brhannaradiya Purana it is said that there was a Purana named Brahmanda Purana which contained four lakh verses. This was later divided into eighteen Puranas by Vyasa after I (Narada) taught him the contents of this Purana.

From the above it is clear that formed the basis for drawing akhyanas pertaining to adhidaivika, adhyatmika and adhibhautika events whcih were used by the authors of Brahmanas to explain the meaning of mantras.

To quote an example we see the following statement in Aitareya Brahmana.

Is is therefore clear that the akhyanas which occur in that Purana have been compiled by the authors of Brahmanas to explain manthrarthas. The word used in the Brahmana is very significant. In Padma Purana Srsti khanda, it is said Though in Brahmana granthas the various vidyas were available in condensed sutra form, some maharsis, for the convenience of their disciples, made treatises of some of these vidyas and gave it to others. Thus Kapila compiled a treatise of

Patanjali prepared a treatise of Yogavidya. Vatsyayana was the author of Kamasutras and Manu made treatise on Dharmasastra. Yaska made Nirukta Sastra, Panini compiled Vyakarana Sastra and so on. In the same way Vyasa made a grantha named Purana Samhita which contained many things like, Gathas.

Kalpasuddhis, Upakhyanas, stories, Srsti, Pralaya processes etc., He taught this Samhita to Lomaharsana (Asita) who was his student.

In effect Ojha says it is BramandaPurana which formed the basis VedavyaSa’s Purana Samhita and which also provided the basic knowledge Srsti and Pralaya processes for the Vedic seers.

of of

1. Vedavyaslya Kalpa From the above discussion it is clear that the Purana Samhita which Vyasa composed contained the following four additional topics which were absent in the Purana of Vaidika Kalpa. They are 1. Akhyanas, 2. Upakhyanas, 3. Gathas and 4. Kalpa suddhis (rules regading karma, dharma and related things).

2. Lomaharsana Kalpa and Augrasravasa Kalpa MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM Lomaharsana was one of the disciples of Vedavyasa, who was engaged in the propagation of Puranas. He learnt the Purana Samhita from his teacher and based on it he wrote another version of Purana Samhita in which he dealt with all the four topics which Vedavyasa had dealt with in his work and then included five laksanas of Puranas which are 1. 2. sfrfapf:, 3.

3. W: and 5.

He then propagated this in the gatherings of learned men, sages like ยงaunaka who had taken part in Naimisaranya gatherings. In these made several interrogations and Lomaharsana gave his answers and the whole series of discourses he made there, formed the basis of the eighteen Puranas with which we are familiar.

Of these eighteen Puranas, eight were finalised by Lomaharsana and the rest ten were finalised by his son When once these works became popular, people started forgetting about the Purana Samhita of Vyasa.

Unfortunately in these new works several contradictory statements with regard to Srstividya which did not conform to what was available in Vedas, appeared. It is to the credit of Madhusudhan Ojha to have examined them in detail and had made very valuable suggestions in his various works regardings ways of reconciling Vedic statements with those found in these Puranas.

4. Vyfiana in Puranas and Ithihasas The main aim of Vedavyasa in writing Puranas and Ithihasas which included subjects like Mahabharata and Gita was to present Vaidikavijnana which combines both Jflana and Vijftana to the people in an understandable manner.

Subjects like Atma which was believed to be all pervasive, which constituted the mulavastu, that was responsible for the coming into existence of all that we see around us and understanding which in all its aspects leads to the attainment of Jflana was dealt with in the Puranas and particularly in Gita which is included in Mahabharata. The details of Srsti processes destruction processes and the structure of the Visva in all its aspects constituted Vijnana and that was also dealt with in the Puranas. Subjects like Dharma, Nlti and other associated subjects were also dealt with in both Itihasas and Puranas. All these constituted Vijnana. There is nothing wrong in calling both Jflana and Vijftana as constituting Atma Sastra, since, from one Atma, the entire Vi&va is born and during the destruction process, this Vi6va merges into that, one Atma.

5. Puranas as aids to decipher the meanings of Vedic mantras Puranas and Itihasas differ in their periods of coming into existence. Vedavyasa compiled Puranas and later Itihasa like Mahabharata to be aids to understanding Vedarthas.

In addition, Puranas contain details of Astronomy and Geography. Mahabharata gives us information on the history of great men as well as details of Dharma and Nlti.

The akhyanas which the Puranas conain throw considerable light on the Vijftana hidden in the mantras.

Therefore, learning Puranas is very necessary for those who want to go deep into Vedic mantras.

The Puranas have been divided into eighteen parts to be in conformity with

Atma Vijftana which also has eighteen facets. Prajapati is called Soda&i because he has sixteen kalas. The four Atmas which form his central part constitute four Puranas. He has two paksa (side) pranas which are called ‘Arka’s which deposit virya on Prajapati’s Atma. He has two pranas which are used for

Then he has seven

pranas whichform his head and

these are also called Brahma pranas. Then he has one prana. Thus, his Atma has sixteen kalas. This Atma which is Prajapati has two more kalas namely Ifcvara and Jiva making the total eighteen. Because Atma has eighteen kalas, the Purana 6astra which deals with Atma 6astra has also eighteen divisions.

In the same way Mahabharata and Gita are also divided into eighteen parvas and eighteen chapters because they also deal with Atmasastra.

Then Ojha briefly explains the eigheen parts of Atma. We have already dealt with this in our various books (For eg. see our book ‘Essence of Bhagavad Gita’ pp.56-58 of Introduction). Here we shall only catalogue them.

The Jivatma has broadly three categories of Atmas (Khandatmas) viz., Brahman group, Deva group and Bhuta group. We can also say that these three groups are Amrta group, Brahma group and Sukra group. All these total up to eighteen. They are as follows: Four Amrtatmas are 1. Pratpara, 2. Avyaya, 3. Aksara and 4. Ksara.

Five Brahma Atmas are 1. Santatma (Avyaktatma), natma, 4. Prajnanatma and 5. Pranatma.

2.

Mahanatma,

3.

Vijna-

Nine sukratmas are 1. Sarlratma (Bhutamaya), 2. Hamsatma (vayumaya), 3. Divyatma (Vaisvanara Agni), 4. Divyatma (Taijasa vayu), 5. Divyatma (Prajna Indra) (Karmatma or Yajnatma), 6.

Cidabhasa, 7.

Cidatma (Vibhutilaksana), 8. Cidatma (Srilaksana), 9. Cidatma (Urklaksana). Total 18 Atmas.

Some explanations of the above table is necessary.

1. We have three principal Atmas functioning in us. They are Amrtatma which is also called Ksetrajna Atma, Brahmatma also called Antaratma and Sukratma also called Bhutatma.

Ksetrajna Atma is the inner most Atma.

Bhutatma functions as the outer Atma or Bahyatma. Manu describes these three Atmas

in his Smrti

Here Saura Atma which and the Atma which is which is Jivatma or Antaratma.

is amrta aware of

is the Kstrajna. Bhutatma is Karmatma sukha and dhukha is called Mahanatma

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM 2. Amrtatma consists of Paratpara, Avyaya Aksara Visvatlta and therefore beyond description.

The Purusas and are mentioned in Gita (see 15-16,17).

and Ksara. other three

Paratpara is are called

3. The Devas function in us as five different Atmas. We have Avyaktatma, Mahanatma, Vijnanatma, Prajnanatma and Pranatma ruled by Svayambhu, ParamasthI, Surya, Candra and PrthivI respectively.

Avyaktatma is called Santatma. It is through him we have the Rsi Pitr Deva manusya pranas reaching us from regions above the sun.

It

is

these

Pranas

which

Manu

refers

when

he

says,

4. Mahanatma is responsible for the presence and functioning of the three gunas Satva, Rajas and Tamas in us. Vijfianatma is responsible for the functio ning of Vidyabhuddhi and Avidyabuddhi in us.

Prajfianatma is responsible for the functioning of the five jnanadriyas and five karmendriyas. Pranatma enables the functioning of Prajfiamatra, prana matra and bhutamatra in us.

5. Our Bhutatma is of five types.

The external bhutamaya Atma is called Sariratma. Then we have Hamsatma which is Vayumaya. It resides in the space betwen earth and moon. It acts as a guard when the man is asleep.

It is not attached to the earth. It does not sleep. Though it can freely move out of the body but just like a bird tied to a rope, it can go out but never leave the body. When the man dies it builds its own body and roams about (see

4.3.11,12).

The next is Divyatma which is of three types Vaisvanara, Taijasa and Prajfia.

VaiSvanara is formed by the mixing of martyagni of the earth with amrtagni of the heavens. Taijasa is formed by martyavayu with amrta caitanya (consciousness).

Prajna is formed when amrtagni or martya Indragni (Dyulokagni) mixes with amrta caitanya. Prajna Atma again is of three kinds viz., Karmatma (yajfiatma) Cidabhasa and Cidatma.

Karmatma is one which experiences sukha and duhkha and carries also the samskaras of previous births, it is of Agni form. It accumulates the vasanas or samskaras of previous birth in the form of prarabdha karma which can be dstroyed only by suffering or enjoying their effects.

However, if jlva attains jflana, it can get rid of the accumulated karma vasanas and also prevent the Atma from accumulating such vasanas in future. The Gita says,

As a result of this, the Jiva attains Mukti. Cidabhasa is that part of ISvaratma which reaches our body and gets mixed with our Vijfianatma. Cidatma is that part of I&varatma which reaches our body and percolates every part of the body like the rays of the sun. he is common to all Sariras and functions as unattached Isvara.

Gita says about this Atma

A part of this Cidatma is also established as Vibhuti, Urk and Sri in the Jlvas in the form of three viryas viz., brahma, ksatra and vit. Gita says

Thus we have nine bhuta divyatmas which can be divided into Here a question arises. If Vedavyasa has described the Jlvatma as having

eighteen khandatmas, how then do MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM we explain the structure of having sixteen padas corresponding to the parts of Atma tatva? The reply is that Vedavyasa has explained Jivatma as Sodasi (having sixteen kalas). Jlva Prajapati has two forms viz., Nirukta and Anirukta. Anirukta form is Paratpara which is limitless while the Nirukta Prajapati has three major parts viz., Avyaya, Aksara and Ksara and each of these have five kalas. It is this Sodasi Purusa Prajapati that has been discussed in Vyasa’s Brahmamlmamsa Sastra.

The four kalpas viz., the four kandas of Vedavyaslya Kalpa second kalpa. Let us now go into

and which details

Dvapara yuga, Vedavyasa who was also called _

we of

kalpas form have already named as thesefour kandas. During

the the

divided Vedas into

five Samhitas and propagated them. These Samhitas are 1.

Rk Samhita contained mantras in verses, Yajus Samhita contained yajur mantras in prose and Sama Samhita contained mantras which were recited in the form of ganas (songs). This division was done by Vyasa for the convenience of rtviks in yajnas. Those mantras which were not directly used in Vitana yajnas were compiled and this was named Atharva Samhita.

Itihasas and Upakhyanas formed the subject matter of Puranas.

In order to propagate the above five Samhitas among people, Vedavyasa chose five disciples. learnt

Sama

learnt Rk Samhita,

Samhita

and

learnt Yajus Samhita,

learnt

the Samhitas they learnt from Vyasa.

Purana Samhita.

He propagated by him on the basis of Purana

Atharva

Samhita.

All

these

four

propagated

was chosen to propagate the the eighteen Puranas which were made out Samhita of Vvasa. Thev alsoprovided five anuban-

dhas to these Puranas. These were I These wing table purana-wise.

are given in the follo-

6. The first Kanda of Vedavyaslya kalpa 1. Brahma Purana According to Mundakopanisat Brahma was the first to come into existence among the Devas 10 MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

This Brahma carricd out

This is suppor-

ted 10 also by Satapatha Brahmana (6.1.1.8,10). He created the Veda triad first and made it as the pratistha for all the lokas. In these lokas the prajas had their . Then their dharmas are contained in Brahma Purana.

2.

were created. All the above details

Padma Purana

This deals with the origin of Brahma. It is believed that he came out from a lotus. The detials of the origin of lotus and how Brahma was created etc. are all contained in this Purana.

3.

Visnu Purana

Since Visnu is the origin of Padma (lotus) that brought Brahma into existence, the Visnu Purana was written to give details of the true nature of Visnu.

4.

Vayu Purana This Purana describes the Pratistha of Visnu. Vayu is representative of the

infinite space. Akasa and Vayu together constitutes yajus . Yajus then represents both motion (Vayu) and rest (Akasa). Since they always go together both are called Vayu only. When everything disappears, only the Vayvakasa remains . Visnu in Vayu Purana.

5.

takes

his

pratistha

on

this

All

these

are

described

Bhagavata Purana

The support for the Vayu is Samudra which has different names in the three trilokas. In RodasI trilokl it is called Arnavasamudra. In Krandasltrilokl it is called Sarasvan. In the Samyatl trilokl it is called Nabhasvan. It is Paramesthya Sarasvan that provides suport for Anantasesa Vayu. It is for this reason Bhagavata Purana is also known as Sarasvata Kalpa or Paramesthya Samhita.

6.

Narada Purana Narada Purana investigates the support for the Sarasvan samudra. What is the origin

of this samudra? Aptatva is called Nara Narada is a rsi prana. The marut group which came from this Narada prana represents the Aptatva in the form of Vayu and is called Nara. This is detailed in the Narada Purana. It is Yajus which is Vayvakasarupa and is the Sesa which we have mentioned earlier. It is in Vayvakasa Somahuti constantly takes place and this is Yajna. This Yajna is nothing but Visnu From this yajna a martyapinda (which is of agni form) is formed and this is the

The Sarasvan samudra is surrounded by Veda mandala on all sides and this Veda mandala consists of five sections consisting of Svayambhu, Paramesthl, Surya, PrthivI and Candra. These are described in the Vedas. But in the Puranas they are described in the reverse way. In other words, in the Puranas Prthivl’s Agni is Brahma. The Sauramandala which is in the form of Hiranmaya-

12 brahmanda is the Mahapadma.

ParamesthI which is apomaya represents Visnu.

The infinite Vayusamudra is his Sesa. The aptatva of Sarasvan samudra has its origin in Narada Prana which is Rk, Yajus, Sama form. The srsti stars with Sarasvan and extends to PrthivI through Mahapadma and Brahma who has his Pratistha on PrthivI creates Vedas which deal with the creation of five bhutas, loka, praja and dharma.

Alternately Narada rsi is vak prana which is trayibrahmamaya. It is this Narada prana first creates the apsamudra called Sarasvan.

From apsamudra, the srsti of vayu samudra takes place. It is in this vayu samudra Visnu’s Paramesthya apomaya residence exists. In the nabhi kendra of Visnu who is inside samudra the Mahapadma which is hiranmayarupa is situated. From this amrtagnimaya Brahma appears.

His sarira constitutes the PrthivI pinda. This Brahma creates Veda, loka, praja and dharma. In this way in different ways, Adhidaivika srsti has been described in the six puranas starting from Brahmapurana and ending with Narada Purana.

Madhusudan Ojha in his says while explaining adhidaivika srsti.

(which will be dealt with in this volume)

<

After this in the four Puranas starting with Markandaya Purana, Adhyatmika srsti is dealt with. During the time of Vedavyasa Adhyatmika srsti was dealt with in four different ways. These form the second Kanda of Vedavyaslya Kalpa.

7. Second Kanda We shall first explain the four different schools pertaining to the commencement of srsti process which we have indicated above.

First School: Srsti is caused by Prakrti which has the three gunas (Satva, Rajas, Tamas).

The school is supported in Markandeya Purana.

Second School: The entire Jagat is created through the AgnI soma yajna Both Agni and Soma constitute the primordeal tatvas in the creation process. When Soma is deposited in Agni it takes the form of agni and only agni remains. The Agni Purana stresses the role of Agni in all creations.

Third

School:

Saunaka savs in

In

But

Agni

mentioned

above

has

its

origin

Surya

is

the

in

the

sun

as

-

his

other

the

words

some

scholars

beleived

that

primary

cause

for

the creation and destruction of this Visva. The agni of riksa) and the agni of the earth have their origin only Puranarahasyam school described in Bhavisya Purana.

the middle region (Antain Suryagni. This is the

Fourth School: The Sruti says, So the entire Visva started with vak and has taken this shape now. But the fact is Brahman is the cause of this viSva. As Brahman is asanga and nirvikara, srsti is only an illusion. It is vivarta caused by illusion just like a snake is vivarta of rope caused by illusion. The school is supported in Brahmavaivarta Purana.

Thus there are four schools which are named These were supported by the four Puranas as mentioned and described above viz., 7. Markandeya Purana, 8. Agni Purana, 9. Bhavisya Purana and 10. Brahmavaivarta Purana.

8. Third Kanda of Vedavyaslya Kalpa In this Kanda the subject dealt with in six more Puranas is described.

Avatara srsti is explained in these six. Though it was accepted that Prajapati creates everything, it was thought that Prajapati comes into action through six differnet avataras. These are explained in this third Kanda.

11. Linga Purana Lingavatara is explained in the eleventh Purana which is Linga Purana, according to which Srsti takes place from Linga. The Mundakopanisat says that srsti takes place through Aksara Purusa and at the time of pralaya the created bhutas eo back and merge in the Aksara.

Here

means

Bhuta is Ksara Purusa and he always resides with Aksara Purusa. The Sruti says that Srsti takes place from linga which is

14 Mahadbrahmaksararupa.

This

Mahadbrahmarupa

Aksara

is

of

many

kinds

and

therefore the srsti also is manifold. This is what is explained in Linga Purana.

12. Varaha Purana The Ksara pindas which are created The cohesive force which so to make

by Lingarupa theseDindas is

Aksara is called PrthivI. a kind of vavu which

is called Varaha. | I But this Varaha has different names for different Pindas. For example that Vayu which makes the svarupa of Svayambhu pinda is called Adivaraha. That which makes

is called Yajnavaraha. That which makes suryapinda is called â&#x20AC;&#x17E; and that which makes the pindas of earth is called

makes

is called

That which

- Actually the AdhidaivikaAsvattha tree has

five branches which are

_ and

M l these are

achieved by in the form of Varahavayu. These details are contained in Varaha Purana. The Taittirlya Brahmana says,

^ Also the Satapatha Brahmana says

Mahasudan Ojha says, Every pmda is made by Varaha Vayu only. What makes PrthivT ninrla Emusa varaha vayu

This Enusavarahavayu collects the PrthivI paramanus from water and makes the PrthivI pinda. This is described in the Puranas as Prajapati took the form of Varaha and lifted the earth from waters. Taittiriyasamhita makes it clear.

13. Skanda Purana The primordeal Agni that takes part in the formation of PrthivI is of two kinds. One is martya and another is amrta. Martyagni goes to form the body of the earth and amrtagni is established in it and is prana rupa. It is thisprana rupa agni that is called Prajapati. This Agni takes five forms viz., an

d is Kumaragni. Skanda Purana considers this Agni as the playing its role in all fcariras of Prthivi as described in

In these the middle Agni most important Agni Skanda Purana. This

Agni is explained also in Satapatha Brahmana. It says,

In

other

words

bhuta

or

Bhutapati

Samvatsara

Prajapati

deposited

his

retas

in his wife who is usarupa. A year afterwards she gave birth to Kumaragni.

14. Yamana Purana These sariras of Prthivi have their support in different dyulokas. These pairs viz., Dyava Prthivls are many in number and they constitute the Jagat. Among these three are important viz., RodasI, KrandasI and Samyatl. For each of these dyuloka forms the Pratipad and Prthivi forms anucara (something like leader and follower). The Prthivi gets its sarlra through thousand â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;goâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;tatvas. They are grouped into aharganas each thirty in number. Every six aharganas make a Stoma. The first three aharganas which is inside Prthivi constitutes the first stoma and the rest five stomas have six aharganas each. They are _ _ stomas. The first three of these (i.e. upto thethree steps

constitute

I of Visnu who is yajnarupa. That is why he is called

The six stomas extending from the centre upto thirty third stoma constitute the region of Visnuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three steps cover the three lokas viz., Prthivi, Antariksa and Dyuloka. In other words, he spreads yajna in these three lokas and makes all srstis. These details are contained inVamana Purana. The SataDatha Brahmana says,

15. Kurma Purana The whole Jagat has come out from the basic Kasyapaprana . All the srsti that takes place on the earth from kasyapa only. It is also called Kurmaprana because' it carried out all creations 1 . The Kurmaprana Prajapati takes the form of tortoise and carried out all creations. Its uttara (upper) kapala Constitutes dyuloka. its adhara (lower) kapala constitutes Prthivl.

Its intermediate region constitutes antariksa.

This means this kasyapa has rasa of the three lokas inside it. Prthivl rasa which is thick is called Antariksa rasa is called

and Dyuloka rasa is called

Thus the Prthivl gets sprinkled with the rasas of the three lokas and through this Praja srsti takes place. In the human system all these three rasas is present.

In the bones, dadhirasa is present. Blood, serum etc., contain ghrta rasa and

the

sweet

portions

of

the

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM body contain madhu

rasa.

In

this

way

the

sariras

of all the three lokas are built from Kasyapa prana. That is why it is said All these details are available in Kurma Purana. The Satapatha Brahmana describing the Kurma Prana says

16. Matsya Purana All prajas have kinds viz.,

come and

into

existence

from

rsi

prana.

This

prana

is

of

three

Bhrgu, Angiras and Atri, these three pranas

are of type. Kasyapa, Daksa and Kratu are pranas. Matsya, Vasistha and Agastya are pranas. Vasistha prana is on the north side of akasa. Agastya is on the southern side of akasa and Matsya is prevalent in the middle region.

Centred around the celestial equator matsya prana extends on both south and north regions. All earthly creations take place because of matsya prana. Matsya Purana goes into details of these creations.

In this way, Linga, Varaha, Kumaragni (Skanda), Vamana, Kasyapa and Matsya Puranas which take their formation from Prajapati are responsible for the secondary srstis inside Prajapati srsti. In order to explain these, Vedavyasa composed six Puranas one for each of these from his original composition viz., Purana Samhita. With these we have dealt with all the three kandas of Veda vyaslya kalpa. In these, the first six Puranas starting from Brahma Purana differ in Uktha (i.e. origin) and that is why they are called Puranas. They deal with Adhidaivika srsti.

The next four starting from Markandeya Purana deal with Adhyatmika srsti according to different views regarding the Uktha (origin) and therefore they are called starting from Linga deal

Puranas. Then the next six Puranas with secondary process which

entities for each Purana. That is why they are called to Ojha. He says,

17. Garuda Purana

Purana according

start

from

different

This Purana deals with

which is of different kinds. They are

1. When the process runs opposite to the process which results in Srsti it is called 2. Constructive process is

Destructive process is

These are called

and 3. When the process results in reducing manifold Atma into single Atma, it is 4.

is

is

.All these are dealt within Garuda Purana.

The bird garuda refers to

which in the Vedas is also referred to

as w This represents a Prana which descends down from Svayambhu loka, goes through all the lokas below and finally reaches the earth. When it ascends from here it wanders in the lokas above. It gets the name suparna because it brings auspicious things to places which it visits It takes birth in different yonis of the earth. After the other lokas according to the Karma it accumulates. It is called suparna.

The Rg

body falls it goes to is Karmatmaprana that veda says:

In other words one divine golden bird is inside Samudra. It surveys the entire Visva. I saw this bird inside me when he was very near to me. The mother earth fondles him and he fondles his mother. This suparna who is inside samudra is no other than sun who illuminates and reveals all the three worlds. This earth takes the rasa of surya and surya takes the rasa of earth. Here the word mother is used to mean which is fed by divine suparna prana.

This Vak which pervades the enitre Visva is praised in Yajurveda.

Aitareya also says in his Aranyaka Therefore in the Rgveda mantra under consideration here and rf H MI only mean that the prana which pervades all the three lokas comes into contact with Vak and both prana and Vak pervade each other.

The mantra in essence means that suparna rupa pranatma bound by karma wanders through all the three lokas.

Incidentially the readers may be aware that greatrespect was given to Karma by the sages and to support it there is a

The

Garuda

Purana

deals

with

which says

these

wanderings

of

suparna

pranatma

bound

18

by Karma.

In other words, the Jlva when it leaves its body goes to various lokas to enjoy or suffer the rewards of Karma. This is the subject of Garuda Purana. Yajnikas perform Agni Cayana and build suparna with Istakas and perform yaga praying that the Agni they worship should take suparna form and says Prajapati took the form of suparna and created Devas.

These Devas assumed suparna rupa and became immortal. That is why the saying goes

which means only when yajnikas perform Cayanayaga they can achieve amrtatva (see our book Atmagatividya) (See also In

this

way

Vedavyasa

in

all things connected with and 18. Brahmanda Purana After completing the details to give details of the place of operation

four

of

kandas

of

his

Purana

Srsti and Pratisrsti of these processes. This place

Samhita

processes,

dealt

with

Vyasa

had

is called and details of its svarupa were given by Vyasa in Brahmanda Purana. In this way in eighteen Puranas the entire consisting of its creation, end and the vijnana involved in these was covered by Vyasa. This has been in existence from very ancient times and therefore these are Puranas or parts of Purana Sastra.

With the above details we close second Kalpa or Vedavyaslya Kalpa.

&astra called

9. Third and Fourth Kalpas of Purana Samhita During third and fourth Kalpas Lomaharsana and Ugrasravas made their contributions to Purana literature.

Lomaharsana studied Vyasa’s Purana Samhita and then composed a new Purana Samhita and this Samhita had five laksanas.

These were 1. Manvantara, 2. Srsti, 3. Pratisrsti, 4. Vam&a and 5. Vamsyanu Carita.

Srsti includes all the nine srstis.

Pratisrsti includes Anusrsti also.

This anusrsti is concerned with Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika srstis. It was of two kinds. Vamsa is of four kinds viz., and constitutes the life stories of distinguished person in the above four Vam&as. contains the fourteen Manus and their stories. Ojha has written a separate book named and there he has discussed this. We shall deal with it in this volume itself later.

Lomaharsana had six disciples. They were

Samhita Gatha’s

and

I There is a verse which says this in our literature.

and

composed their own PuranaSamhita individually.

as well as Vedavyasa’ PuranaSamhita and KalpaSuddhis which were

contained Akhyanot there in

nas, Upakhyanas, Lomaharsana’s Samhita., However, during a much later period when Purana discourses were organised by Suta in the form of conversation between Saunaka and Suta, it was

believed that Vedavyasa composed all the eighteen Puranas.

But the fact is that only mula Purana Samhita was composed by Vedavyasa and the eighteen Puranas which came later were composed by Lomaharsana and his disciple Ugra6rava. In the same way yanas, gathais etc. in his Purana all were covered in these additions.

1-

5.

Let

us

see

what

- These actually mean details of events that were actually witnessed

2.

3.

4.

added Akhyanas, UpakhSamhita for the first time.

and the details of events which have been

passed on from one person to another person over the years All types of historical accounts including incidental accounts covered by them.

History of mega and mini events.

Vaidika akhyanas and Laukika akhyanas which may cover adhidaivika events or adhibhutika events or adhyatmika events or mixed accounts of all the three.

Mythological accounts such as stories composed about stars and constellations which were actually meant to be easy methods of teaching Astronomy.

6.

in the form of very old Vedamantras or verses whose source and meaning have not been unamabiguously understood.

Kalpasuddhi which contains rules for performing rituals. It is of four kinds viz., those that belong to Srouta Karma, to Smarta Karma, Samayika and acarika.

The Purana Samhita compiled by Savami contained Darsanavidyas, different kalas Pariksavidyas (like examinatiion of gems and other objects), agamavisayas and nltivisayas.

The PuranaSamhita which was compiled by Kasyapa contained elaboration of the contents of Vedas In

this

way

the

and details of evolution of Puranas

etc., in addition to what has already been said. source of the material that is contained

Puranas which are in the form of conversation betwen

in

the

eighteen

was derived

from the four Purana Samhitas of Thus the Puranas had three stages of development.

I stage: Purana Samhita compiled by II stage: Purana Samhitas compiled by Lomaharsana, Samsapayana, Savarni and Kasyapa. in stage: The group of eighteen Puranas which were in the form of conversation between Suta and Saunaka in For the propagation of Puranavidya Vedavyasaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disciple Lomaharsana travelled all over the places and reached Namisaranya. He saw there Saunaka who with his 84000 disciples was conducting

which was actually a

20

to his Puranas

satra to be performed in three years. When Saunaka saw Lomaharsana coming place he welcomed him and expressed his wish to hear the eighteen through his mouth.

Lomaharsana readily agreed and Saunaka chose

an auspicious day and mae elaborate arrangement for Lomaharsanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lectures on the Puranas. The exposition started and as, Lomaharsana was going through the Puranas one by one, as he learnt from Vyasa, Saunaka interrupted him with many questions.

Lomaharsanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s answers to Saunakaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s questions increased the contents of each of the Puranas and in this way a new version of the Puranas became available. When Lomaharsana was narrating the Agni Purana as compiled by Vyasa balarama who lived in Dvaraka came there and found that Saunaka was learning Puranas from Lomaharsana who was a Suta and not a Brahmana. He became angry and killed Lomaharsana. Saunaka strongly objected to this and said that Sastras say that Purana vidya can be taught even by a Suta if he is learned.

Balarama realised his mistake and apologised to Saunaka and said that Lomaharsana son, Ugrasravas was more learned than his father and therefore Saunaka can continue the jnanayajna with Ugrasravas. saunaka agreed and continued the discourse with Ugrasravas and all the Puranas were completed.

However, the same Puranas as told

by Lomaharsana and as told by Ugrasravas differed a little. But for all practical purposes both are equally acceptable.

Also, the order in which Lomaharsana narrated the Puranas differed from the order in which Ugrasravas narrated. This also was not a serious difference.

Puranas are expected to have five laksanas.

They are Srsti, Pratisrsti (Pralaya) Vamsa, Manvantara Vamsyanacarita. But other things also are included in the Puranas as laksanas.

The

first

six

Puranas

viz.,

Vayu

Purana,

5.

1.

Brahma

Bhagavata

Purana,

Purana

and

2.

Padma

Purana,

4.

6.

details of The creation.

second set of Puranas deals with various schools We have already dealt with them in the previous

Purana,

Narada about pages.

3.

Purana

Visnu contain

the origin of Here we shall

merely mention them. They are 1. Creation starts from three gunas of Prakrti.

2.

The creation starts from Agni and Soma.

3.

The creation starts from the sun.

4.

Brahman is the root cause of creation (through

5.

Creation starts from

6.

Creation starts from

7.

Creation starts from

8.

Creation starts from Trivikrama, Visnu, Surya, Matsya etc.

which is nothing but

9.

Creation starts in the Brahmanda using it as a place of operation Thus in six Puranas six kinds of srsti processes are dealt with. Then in four Puranas the four schools of origin of srsti process are dealt with. Secondary details of the srsti process is dealt with in six Puranas. Eschatology is dealt within one Purana and finally the place in which srsti processes take place is dealt within one Purana. The eighteen aspects of Purana vidya are dealt within eighteen Puranas which constitute the avayavas of one single Purana Samhita.

The Pratisrsti laksanas of Puranas are in the following subjects.

is of three kinds. They are What is

Ojha defines.

Ojha in his work Purana Samlksa says that Pratisrsti is of twokinds viz., Anusrsti and Utsrsti. Again Anusrsti is of two kinds viz., In the same way srsti which can be classified as Pratisrsti.

can come under

Alternatively we can say that Pratisrsti is of five kinds. They are

Ojha in his

names the above five kinds of

as the five

laksanas of Purana Vamsa which is one of Puranalaksanas also has five inner divisions viz., In this way all the Vidyas dealt within Purana sastra are the same as Vidyas dealt with in the Vedas.

Ojha shows the ramifications of

in a table.

34

MADHUSUDHANAVAGAMRTAM

36

MADHUSUDHANAVAGAMRTAM

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

72

74

78

82

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

This section should be very carefully read since it contains many clues to the origin Vedic compositions and the relation between what we have now and what were originally composed. All these will be discussed in detail in our fifth volume. Here, we are mainly interested to present to the readers the original works of Ojha which in our opinion constitute outstanding research work.

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

Chapter VII. The Land of the Aryans and their Culture 1. Introduction In volume one of this series we had presented an analysis of the controversy that is going on now both inside and outside the country regarding the land of the Aryans. We had mentioned that both Jagadguruvaibhavam and Indravijaya of Ojha contain valuable information on this subject. We have already presented in the previous chapter Ojhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jagadguruvaibhavam.

In this chapter we are mainly concerned with the contents of Ojhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book, Indravijayah, in which Ojha throws new light on the land of the Aryans and their culture. It is very unfortunate that even though this book was available in print as early as in 1930, no historian or archeologist has made any critical assessment of the historical value of the contents of the book. In fact, this book did not receive the attention of even those scholars both in India and abroad who are known to have done extensive research in the Vedas. In my opinion the new approach adopted by Ojha to expose the origin, settlements and the culture of Aryans never received the appreciation it deserves from the scholar community both in India and abroad.

In this article my attempt will be to show how Ojha went about to solve the problem and how relevant his conclusions are for a realistic solution of the same.

2. Triloki concept of Aryans Ojha rightly begins his work with the exposition of Triloki concept of the Sadhyas of Devayuga. This is only a part of the more comprehensive and important concept of the Vedic seers which assumes the presence of a grand Unityor Harmony in Nature which is mainly contained in the Upanisadic statemet Accordingly they imagined that Adhidaivata (Divya) Trilokya consists of 1. Agniloka or Prithivlloka extending from trivrt stoma (9th stoma from the centre of the earth) to the 15th stoma, 2. Antariksaloka extending from 15th stoma to 21st stoma and 3. Indraloka or Dyuloka extending

of the equinoxes which has 25,000 year cycle and the accompanying climate changes should have destroyed everything there.

Ojha comes out profusely in beautiful verses to tell us that both in Puranas and Itihasas references to Triloki occur, but when they occur in Vedas and Purafias while discussing the scientific aspects, it refer to divyatrilokl. But when they occur in Itihasas dealing with life of mortals, it refers to bhaumatrilokl.

However here it is important to note that the Triloki with which we are immediately concerned in this chapter is within Bharatavarsa itself. The svarga region for Bharatavarsa is the region of Pamirs where manusyadevas lived. The region where the Iravati river originates constitutes the Vayu loka of Bharatavarsa where intermediate species belonging to Devayoni like gandharvas, vidyadharas, yaksas etc. lived. South of it below the mountains and north of the equator (Indus valley and adjoining regions) manusyas lived and the kings who ruled them belonged to Agnivamsa, Suryavamsa and Candravamsa.

Ojha then discusses how the name Bharatavarsa was given to our land.

3. Origin of the name Bharatavarsa (a) Pauranikamatam 1. Agnldhara was the son of Svayambhuva Manu. His son was Nabhi. Nabhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son was Rsabha whose son was Bharata. That it why our land is called Bharatavarsa (see Visnu Purana, Skanda Purana, Markandeya Purana).

2. Bharata was the son of Dusyanta and he was a mighty king who ruled over this land at one time. That is why it is called Bharatadesa. (Agni Purana, Sat. Br., Mahabharata).

140

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

b) Vaidikamatam Now Ojha reels off quotations from Vedas and Brahmanas and says because Agni was appointed as the ruler of this country by Indra of Devayuga and Agni was known as Bharata, Manusyaloka which is the Prthivlloka was called Bharata varsa.

A

few

of

the

Vedic

and

Brahmanic

passages

quoted

by

Ojha

in

this

connec-

tion are given below.

But the common man believed with food and wealth it was called Bharata.

that

because

the

land

was

nourishing

all

3. The two halves of Bharatavarsa In course of time Bharatavarsa later split into two halves. The eastern half was called Hindustan and western half was called Parastan. Ojha gives here the reasons for the divsiion, Indus river being the dividing line.

The eastern limit of Bharatavarsa was Formosa in the Southeast China sea.

The western limit was Red sea. Therefore the western part covered Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Iran and that part of Arabia occupied by Greeks at that time. The eastern half was called Aryavarta and the western half was called Aryayana.

Ojha states the reasons for saying that the western half was once Bharatavarsa.

142

He savs.

In other words, the people who were non Aryans, called Oriens. That is why we infer of the Aryans.

living west of Indus river and north of the regions south of Aral and Capspial that the above mentioned land was once

the Gulf seas, as the land

In the western part of Bharatavarsa there was a Rsi called Rjrasva who belonged to the Aryans group. His daughter’s son was one Zarathustra (he may not be the same Zarathustra who wrote the sacred text of the Parsis) who fell out with the Aryan brahmins and as a result he rejected the Brahml script and used KharosthI instead. He gave up worshipping Indra and started worshipping Varuna who was the principal enemy of Indra and who was an Asura. He also propagated asura dharmas among the people. The Aryans who supported Zarathustra’s new religion were Magas and they were brahmins. South of Balkash there was a place called Sakadvipa and the rulers of this region were called Sakas.

They were Scythians and were speaking a non aryan language.

The Magas got the support of Scythian kings (&akas) and were spreading their new religiion.

Zarathustra called the region which they brought under their control as ‘Oriaspa’ which in course of time became Oriens. In this context the reader may refer to ‘Early Indo-Iranian religion’ under the head ‘Middle Eastern religions in Macropaedia Brittanica (Vol. 24)’ and also the article ‘Takht-I-Sulaiman - City of the Royal Fire’ in ‘Atlas of Mysterious Places’ edited by Jennifer Westwood - London, 1987.

There is a place called Maghiana in present Pakistan south of Hindukush mountain range. It is the same as Jhang Sadar. If we move westwards and then northwards we reach the western edge of Sharifi mountain. A river originates here and flows westwards. Vaidikas called it Sarayu. The region south of that river was called Eriana by non Aryans. The Sarayu river was probably the same as the present Helmand river flowing in Iran plateau. Ojha says that the region east of Eriana and west of Sulaiman range was called India by non Aryans and that was the region where Aryans lived. That is why the Rgveda says that Aryans lived on the bank of Sarayu and there they killed Arna and Citraratha. Ojha says,

^ cTT ^ arrcf 3HulfRl^<*TT^ft:” II Ojha

now

passes

TO:” I V.3°.?<0 (^-stRvjj-q; ^fhrraW:) on

to

a

later

period

and

gives

proof

of

Aryan

settlements

in the western part of Bharatavarsa.

Once there was a confrontation between Vasistha and Visvamitra, king of Kanyakubja (U.P., India) over the cow Nandini.

Visvamitra wanted to forcibly take her away from Vasistha. But the cow did not like going with him and showed it by rubbing her hoof in a fit of anger against the ground. Vasistha prayed to Varuna his friend and at that time he was the king of Asuras. Varuna obliged Vasistha and sent him five groups of his followers who were Asuras.

They touched the hoof of Nandini and made a promise to her that they would drive away Visvamitra. They fought with him and defeated him. Because they touched the hoof of Nandini they were called Khurad or Kurd and their place of living was known as Khurdistan which is situated in Iran. Later Muslims of Afghanistan and Baluchistan called it Khurasan.

In Saktisangama Tantra the following verse is found.

I ||” In course of time Muslims occupied the entire western part of Bharatavarsa.

Ojha says that the fact that Muslims have later occupied the western part cannot obliterate the earlier fact that it was, as part of Harmony law, originally the western part of Bharatavarsa. Ojha says, ^ ^mfTTS^Tts^Tt jajfrT ^ft ^ WH: JTff^ II

^ ?W

W II 0£RN<J:)

Ojha then deals with the following topics in order.

Sl^uiHi

K .

I

^ i P w H ^ I 3 . 3TTW^sTrf#T: I V. MR'HI-T^HI

I

I FSFft JTfrt II IWT^ffTT

I

Vrsakapi was earlier a close friend of Indra but later Rjrasva weaned him to his side. All the above details are available in the 86th Sukta of tenth mandala of Rgveda. Ojha quotes the relevant rks in his book. The reader may refer to Ojha’s book for the above details.

4. Rjrasva - Indra confrontation Rjrasva in an attempt to insult Indra asked Vrsakapi who was formerly a friend of Indra and now the king of Asuras, to perform Soutramani yajna for which Indra also was invited. In that yajna Indra was made to drink sura (liquor) along with Soma juice. IndranI also attended the yajna and in her presence Indra drank sura and this was ridiculed by the brahmins who were supporters of Varuna. They forcibly took away the Soma vessel from Indra and made Vrsakapi drink it. This angered IndranI who was later consoled by Vrsakapi and Indra.

Then a compromise was reached and both Vrsakapi and Indra drank Soma.

5. Confrontation between Aindrabrahmanas and Varunabrahmanas As manas

time passed the differences between Aindrabrahmanas and Varunabrahincreasd. In a yajna organised by Varuna in Vahllka, brahmanas who

144 supported Varuna and also those who supprorted Indra attended.

During the yajna, a big verbal fight took place between the two groups of brahmanas regarding the relative merits of Indra and Varuna. Actually they wanted to come to a decision through mutual discussion as to who of the two should be honoured in that yajna. Some brahmanas took the side of Jaradasti who favoured Varuna as the Deva to be honoured. Others took the side of Brhaddeva and argued that Indra is the Deva to be honoured.

Ojha says that during the verbal quarrel between the two sides, opinions emerged regarding the relative merits of Indra and Varuna. In the of Ojha, these are,

In other words, the three opinions are, 1. Agni rules over eight vasus. Soma rules over Rudras and Indra rules over Maruts.

Varuna rules over Adityas.

Brhaspati rules over

three words

Visvedevas.

2. Agra rules over the eight vasus. Indra rules over the marutganas. Varuna rules over the Adityas. Soma rules over the Pitrs. Brhaspati rules over Visvedevas.

3. Agni rules over Vasus, Indra rules over Rudras and Varuna rules over Adityas. Soma rules over Pitrs. Varuna rules over waters and Brhaspati rules over Visvedevas.

In the above presentation it would appear that both Indra and Varuna had important roles and it was difficult to decide who is superior to whom. Actually the discussion brought to the forefront, the problem of deciding which Adhidevatas go with which leader, the leaders being Indra, Varuna, Agni, Vayu, Soma and Brhaspati. Each of these leaders had established himself by might and merit and each controls his own Adhidevatas. They occupy the three trilokls, RodasI, KrandasI and Samyatl. RodasI is the lowest Triloki, KrandasI is in the middle and Samyatl is at the top. Each of these has a triloki structure, consisting of PrthivI (lowest), Antariksa (middle) and Dyau (Dyuloka).

All the Devatas have established themselves according to their merit and ability.

They are located in Triloki in the following way.

Agni is at the bottom of Prthivlloka. Vayu occupies the Antariksa and Indra of RodasI Triloka rules and controls Agni and also the Vasus which are under the control of Agni. He also control the Rudras ruled by Vayu and also the Adityas of Dyuloka.

Soma occupies the middle loka and he controls Pitrs and Rudras. Varuna is located above Soma and controls the waters of ParamaesthI loka and also Adityas of KrandasI Dyuloka. Brhaspati is at the top in the Samyatl loka and he controls all the Visvedevas.

In other words, Indra controls more devatas than Varuna. But, since Varuna controls waters which are essential for the Prajas of PrthivI his importance increases. But when he gives us too much waters, he brings with them diseases also. That is why brahmanas found that there is no strong case to choose Indra or Varuna. But since Soma was available only to Indra and not to Varuna, the bramanas who supported Varuna and were speaking against Indra, were doing so out of jealousy. Ojha puts the case of supporters of Varuna as follows:

The Land of the Aryans and their Culture

145

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

In other words the supporters of Varuna proclaimed that it is Varuna who supports Indra. Varuna is Svarat and single handed he contorls his subjects. Indra is only Samrat and depends on Varuna and other devatas for his support. Waters fill the greater part of the earth and Indra who is the embodiment of consciousness (cetana) and light (jyotis) depends on water for the activation of consciousness and therefore Varuna is superior to Indra. All bhutas and devas have their origin in waters.

Prana, buddhi and consciousness are all dependent on waters.

In our body water and salt are predominantly present and therefore waters have the highest importance and Varuna is the supermost god fit to be honoured in every yajna. People can live without food for days together but they cannot live without water. Therefore waters constitute our Atma. It is waters that separate the rasa part of food from mala part. Our body is nourished by the former and the latter is rejected only with the help of water.

The ParamesthI mandala is nothing but an ocean of waters and Indra who shines above depends on these waters, just like a servant depends on his master to survive.

On the other hand the brahmanas who supported Indra presented the distribution of devatas in the following way in the RodasI, KrandasI and Samyatl trilokls.

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MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

Now Ojha describes in several verses the who proclaimed Indra’s superiority over Varuna. of the verses here.

case We

presented by shall present

the brahmanas only the gist

It is Indra who is Atma and who rules over all devatas. If Atma is destroyed all the devatas will disappear. These waters constitute the sarira of Indra and provides the base for Indra’s enjoyment. Indra’s Atma pervades the whole space as well as every part of our body, it is Atma that resides in the sarira which is active because of its presence. If Indra Atma leaves the body, it immediately starts stinking. Here what is important to note is that Atma alone is satya and waters being in rta state does not have an Atma. The aptatva is nothing but Soma and Indra drinks it and enjoys it. However, when Soma takes the form of waters and people drink it they cannot avoid being affected by disease caused by waters. Here it is implied that Soma has only good effects on our system and has no bad effects.

There are three lokas viz., Rodasi, KrandasI and Samyatl. Rodasi is the lowest. Dyava-PrthivI and KrandasI is in the middle and supports Rodasi Dyava Prthivl. Samyatl is at the top and it supports both the other trilokls and therefore superior to both of them. In every trilokl, the dyuloka is important since it is the main supporter of that Dyava Prthivl. In everyone of them Brahma, Visnu and Indra reside. Rodasl’s Surya is Hiranyagarbha and he represents Indra and it is its ruler. In KrandasI trilokl ParamesthI is the chief Devata. Thus there are three kinds of Visva and Samyatl is the highest of them and constitutes the highest vyoma mandala.

In KrandasI Samudra (waters) is the principal Devata and Rodasi pertains to Brahmanda. It is Indra who resides in highest vyoma mandala and rules over all the activities of this Visva. He presides over vak and that is why he is called vacaspati. He is also Vedamaya. On the other hand Varuna is concerend only with the activities of waters and is only ruler of waters (Apam patih). Again below in the Brahmanda (Rodasi) Indra is the supreme presiding Devata. Here he is together with Agni, Vayu and Surya and Veda, Apah and Agni are the yonis (source regions) for their activity.

In the loka above it Paramesthi resides and Varuna is the ruler there.

Devatas

below

him.

. But above him is another Indra who provides Cetana to all the Therefore it is wrong to say Varuna is the source of cons-

ciousness. The Indra who rules over Varuna in Svayambhuva Indra. The Indra whom Varuna rules over in his mandala is Aditya Indra (Saura Indra) and is different from the Indra above him and who rules over everything as Svarat including the Samudra which is under Varuna’s control.

Indra is the embodiment of Vak and he is situated in Satyaloka. It is from Vangmayaloka waters were produced and came down to the loka below it and became Samudra there.

Svayambhuva loka is above all lokas and Paramesthi loka is below it and below Paramesthi loka, Suryaloka is situated. In each of these lokas Brahma, Visnu and Indra reside. Therefore Varuna is ruled by Indra both inside and outside.

The brahmanas supporting Indra proclaimed that Indra is Svarat and Varuna is samrat only and they said that this is the true Indra-Varuna vijnanam and should be accepted by all. Ojha then reels off quotations from Rgveda which represent glorification of Indra by the various Rsis. The reader may refer to text for details.

It is to be pointed out here that the Indra Varuna vijnanam presented here is confined mainly to some details available in Rgveda. Many more details can be added by a scientist probing into Veda and Brahmana statements. We had occasion to present them when we went through Karma kanda. Indra got excited by the praise showered on him by the various Rsis. He waged a war against the Asuras and defeated them.

In course of time the tide turned again in favour of Varuna. Varuna’s grandson Brhaddiva became Brahma’s pet and he was accepted by him as his grandson. From that time onwards, some Rsis led by Brhaddiva and his father Atharva started praising Varuna in the assembly of brahmanas in which both supporters of Varuna and Indra were present. There were some who praised Indra and Varuna equally. Thus there were three groups one in favour of Indra, another in favour of Varuna and a third in favour of both.

At this juncture the brahmanas who were supporters of Indra decided to organise Somabhisava function again for Indra. They invited Hiranyagarbha Rsi 148

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

to arrange for havis and Soma ahutis for Indra.

Hiranyagarbha raised some objections for this. He said that be it Indra or be it Varuna both are under another superior Devata viz., Hiranyagarbha. He is the Brahman who contains both Varuna and Indra inside him. Therefore both Indra and Varuna cannot transgress the limits prescribed by Hiranyagarbha. So,it is not easy to decide who of these two deserves the havis and Soma offerings. It is better we offer them to Hiranyagarbha himself. Thus argued Hiranyagarbha who was the gransdon of Visvamitra. The 121st sukta of tenth mandala of Rgveda contains the exposition of Hiranyagarbha’s status above both Indra and Varuna according to Ojha. In other words the statement, gets a new meaning in the hands of Ojha. Hiranyagarbha is the first Prajapati who came into existence and he alone deserves the offerings of Havis and Soma.

Now the supporters of Indra sought the help of Vasistha who was earlier

the friend of Varuna and had received lot of help from him. Now it is a question of deciding on merits. Vasistha was already unhappy over the earlier incident when Soma cup was forcibly snatched away from Indra and given to Vrsakapi.

So in this discussion he took the side of Indra and praised him and also arranged for Soma offering to Indra in his house. Ojha quotes the relevant sukta in Rg veda. This angered Varuna and he started taking action and punished him in varous ways. After this incident Vasistha was reconciled to treating both Indra and Varuna as equals and started praising both with the help of Vamadeva and Medhatithi. Then all of them came to a compromise and decided to treat both Indra and Varuna as equals. Ojha gives the comparative merits of both Indra and Varuna as brought out by the Rsis during the compromise.

The Land of the Aryans and their Culture

149

These enjoyable verses are easy to follow and I leave it the readers for enjoying Ojhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s style of writing. Here we understand why Varuna, even though he is an Asura is worshipped by us along with Indra. At the end Vasistha became a friend of both Indra and Varuna and took his residence in between their territories.

Ojha says that the above upakhyana is found in the sacred book of Zarathustraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s followers and also in some from in Bhavisya Purana.

According to Ojha there were many Zarathustras and we know that Rjrasvaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grandson (dauhitra) was the first Zarathustra who was enemy of Indra. The Zarathustra who is familiar to modern scholars had his birth more or less four thousand years ago. Ojha surmises that Zarathustra who was enemy of Indra of Devayuga was the dauhitra of Rjrasva and was a brahmana. He was the one who brought into existence Varuna brahmanas who joined the Asura group and encouraged them to fight against Indra and his Aryan supporters. He was a resident of Valhlka

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM desa.

Aranas, Mujavats, Mahavrsas and Valhlkas followed Zarathustra’s mata.

Aranas lived in Iran and were mostly found in Oriens. Ojha quotes Atharva Veda to substantiate his statements.

Since the fight between the supporters of Varuna and Indra was a never ending one, Brahma (manusya Brahma of Devayuga) tried to settle the claims of both parties. He divided Bharatavarsa into two halves with Indus river as the diving line. The eastern part was Bharata and belonged to the supporters of Indra. The western half was Parastan and it belonged to the supporters of Varuna. The former were Devas and Devamanusyas and the latter were Asuras and Asuramanusyas. In course of time several changes took place both with regard to the land of the two groups as well as with regard to the rulers who with their might occupied these parts.

6. Geography in Puranas Then Ojha discusses the geography of the globe and says taht Bharatavarsa occupied one fourth of the bhumandala. In Padma Purana and Matsya Purana the bhumandala is described as a lotus with four petals pointing to the four directions. The southern petal represents Bharatavarsa, the western petal represents Ketumalavarsa, the northern one represents Kuruvarsa and the eastern petal Bhadrasvavarsa. The whole of Asia and Europe was called Jambud vlpas and Bharatavarsa covered major portion of it.

Ojha then names the Upadvlpas of Jambudvlpa. According to Ojha the ancient Lanka city is not the same as Sinhaladvlpa or the present day Srilanka. He surmises that the ancient Lanka city was probably in the Laccadives region. Ojha gives many more details in the section in his book ‘Indravijaya’. These will be of great interest to Historians and Geographers.

7. The language of the Aryans Discussing the language of the people of Bharatavarsa Ojha says it was originally Brahmi or Chandobhasa and it was the root language for all Indo European languages. It is this Brahmi bhasa that has given rise to Nagari bhasa that is in vogue today. Bharat! bhasa was made Samskrta by Panini. Nagari bhasa refers to Hindi of today and Samskrtabhasa is the Sanskrit language in use today.

Regarding lipi (letters) the lipi that we inherited from Devayuga was called which consisted of 97 letters and later Samskrta bhasa had 64 letters which flowed out of Brahma's mouth. Panini also mentions about the existence of

Varnamala during the Vedic period. Ojha therefore surmises that gave rise to Brahmi script and from that Devanagari script came into

use.

Ojha totally rejects the theory that during the Vedic period there was no script and Vedas were passed on from generation to generation orally as Srutis.

He maintains that script was there and the word Sruti has a different connotation closely linked to Vijana Veda. The reader may see his book for more details.

8. The land of the Aryans

Ojha then passes on to deal with an important topic entitled in which he tries to establish the land of the Aryans. In the beginning itself Ojha declares that the Aryans belong to this land and they are not people who came from outside. He says,

The Land of the Aryans and their Culture

151

The meaning is very clear. In four crisp verses Ojha has summarised his thesis. Then Ojha examines five reasons adduced by those who think that the Aryans came from some middle latitude regions and have occupied our Bharata desa after displacing the native inhabitants by force. They say that these Aryans were residents of mountainous regions near the Jambu river and west of Bilurtag and Mustag mountains and came to India and occupied the land which was earlier occupied by the local people. Some however, believe that they came from Pamir region. These people give five reasons to substantiate their statement. They are, 1. These Aryans belong originally to the water ridden regions of Rome and some regions of Greece.

They moved southwards and occupied various regions.

2. The sacred text of Parsis mentions that their original land was Airyanblj.

This land was most probably in the Pamirs.

3. The rk (1.30.9) says that Indra goes to his earlier devotees often. It means their place was outisde India.

4. The Satapatha Brahmana says that there was a big flood and Manu who was in a mountain in the north crossed the flood with the help of a boat and reached the southern side. All his people lost their lives in the flood.

5. The fights between individuals of two different groups of people have been described in the Vedas. These should be between the Aryan group and the non Aryan native people of India.

Ojha says that all the above reasons do not stand close scrutiny. He gives his reasons for rejecting the above views. In the olden times there was a yajna conducted by Sunas6epa and Indra was invited for the yajna. Sunassepa simply reminded Indra of his old associations and places and this pleased Indra very much and he gladly accepted the offerings in the yajna. Here Ojha implies that Indra was only reminded of his old residence and not the old residence of Aryans.

Airyanblj mentioned in the sacred text of the Parsis should be some other land called Aryanak and this was destroyed by heavy snowfall according to Ojha. There is a mountained named â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Araratâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in Armenia and the valley of the mountain was Arkanan which was a fertile place. In olden times the people of Armenia used to say that Manu escaped the flood of the valley and ran to the high moun-

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM tain. Some people also say that Aryanak was fall often and with the result it was destroyed.

In another rk in Rgveda (3. 58. 6) it is said,

subjected

to

very

heavy

snow

In this rk, Visvamitra says, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;O men, your old place and your friendship are very auspicious. Your wealth is on the banks of Jahnavl river. Here you make friends again and let us all drink Soma and enjoy. â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Ojha says that Visvamitra left his yajnasala on the banks of Jahnavl river in Rajasthan, went to a forest area and put up his yajnasala there and performed yajna.

9. The fights described in the Vedas Ojha then takes up for discussion the fights (sangrama) described in the Vedas between two groups of people or two individuals which have been interpreted by many schools as fights between Aryans who came from outside and the natives who lived in Bharat. He says about the people of previous yuga,

The meaning of these verses is easy to follow. Ojha divided the peopole of the earth in those days into three categories viz., Devas, Manusyas and Adevas. Those who were against Devas were Asuras and were mentally alert and physically very strong people. Manusyas were ordinary people while Devas were superintelligent men. Adevas were also Asuras in a way and were of three kinds viz.

Danavas, Daityas and Panis.

Manusyas lived in Bharatavarsa. Deva lived in Svarga which was the dyuloka of Bharatavars trilokl. There were others in Svarga who were manusyas but who were not Manavas i.e. were not the prajas of Manu.

The fights described in the Vedas can be classified into five categories.

1. Devas fought with Panis; 2. Devas fought with Danavas; 3. Devas fought with Daityas; 4. Devas fought with Dasyus; 5. Devas fought with their own fellow Aryans.

The causes (nimitta) for fights pertained to Surya, Candra, land and cows.

Fights between Aryans with Aryans (mentioned in 5) were very few.

Ojha narrates one of them.

Once Candra eloped with Tara, the wife of Brhaspati. Bhrgu, the son of Varuna who was against Brhaspati supported Candra.

Indra was Deva and Varuna was Asura. Brhaspati was Devaguru and so there was fight between Indra and Varuna on this account. In this fight some ministers of Gandharva kingdom came and advised Soma (Candra) to return Tara to Brhaspati. Ojha quotes the relevant rks here (see R.V. 10.109.1 & 2). Ojha also quotes Taraharanakhyana given in the fifth kanda in Sukta 17 of Atharva Veda. In this fight Agni took the lead, went to the harem of Soma, brought Tara and returned her to Brhaspati.

Then Ojha describes the Sangrama of Devas with Panis, which arose because Panis stole the cows of Devas. Ojha again quotes the relevant passages from Rgveda. Then Devas fought with Danavas and Daityas and the dispute was with regard to some land of devas occupied by the danavas and daityas.

There was ultimately a compromise and the land of the devas was returned to them.

Then the story of Araru who was Adeva and who lived in Manusyaloka and who made unsuccessful attempt to get into devaloka is told in Satapatha Brahmana.

Because of the division of land between Devas and Asuras, the entire land on earth was divided into Devatrailokya and Asuratrailokya.

The Devatrailokya was contained in the present Asia. Bharatavarsa was the Prthvlloka of Devatrailokya, the region in the Himalayas (Haimavatavarsa) was Antariksaloka and upto the sea coast in the north (upto the limit of Kuruvarsa) was Dyuloka which consisted of three Vistapas (Brahamavistapa, Visnuvistapa and Indravistapa).

Manu whose prajas were manusyas lived in Devatrailokya.

Svayambhuva Manu liived in Asia Minor (Anatolia). Ojha says this was the first region where Manusyas lived. It is here that the boat of Caksusa Manu after crossing the flood affected regions was brought to the mountain Ararat in Turkey. Taurus mountains in Turkey constituted the western boundary of Trilokl.

Because Tarakasura lived there in olden days it was called Taurus later. Adi Manusya Brahma built one of his residences in this mountain which is close to the mediterranean sea.

Later when Brahma divided the land between Devas and Asuras, this region went to the Asuras. Both Devatrailokya and Asuratrailokya were called Asia by the Adevas or Asuras.

Then Ojha passes on to some details of the story of encroachment of the land by the Asuras.

Anatolia, where Svayambhuva Manu lived, fell into the hands of Asuras in a fight between them and the Devas. In those days the Asuras were led by a powerful Asura. He overpowered the regions of Devas and occu-

pied many of them. LaterMADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM another leader called Romaka brought many more regions belonging to Devas under the Asuras. These were Armenia, Kurdistan, Samadesa, Arabia, Philisthan (Palestine?) and Mesapotamia.

Ararat which was in Armenia was named Judi mountain after their occupation. It extends upto the Mediterranean sea and it was in that reigon the fight between Devas and Asuras took place. Kurdistan changed hands between Devas and Asuras several times during the fights and ultimately the Asuras took it over. Mesapotamia was inhabited predominanly by Asuras and that is why it is called Assyria. The places named Kalakanja, Kalaka, Daurhrada and Maurya, all belonged to a place called Keladia which is now called Iraq. The country where Asuras wee stopped from encroaching into the territory of the Devas is now called Syria.

Then Ojha describes the destruction of Varahasura and his forts by Indra and Visnu. Ojha says that there were twelve big battles between Devas and Asuras in the regions of West of Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Armenia, Syria, Assyria etc. both in Svarga and Prthivl regions of Bhaumatrilokl. Ojha gives brief description of these battles by taking support from Rgveda and Puranas. In these battles though there were some initial gains for the Devas, ultimately they were defeated by Asuras. Ojha says that he has described these battles in his book .

Then

Ojha

discusses

the

following

topics

The Land of the Aryans and their Culture

in

order.

155

Here we shall give some details of the last topic.

The Devas had established a replica of the Sun on the earth and mounted it on a carriage (ratha) with two wheels. They were experts in yajnavidya and became prosperous by performing various yajnas. The Asuras thought that their knowledge is based on the study of the Sun for which only they had established an artificial Sun. They became jealous and wanted to steal the artificial Sun. They put the Dasyus on the job and thus Devas had to fight with Dasas (Dasyus) on this account. Ojha says that the details of this fight were told by Vaikuntha Indra to Saptagu who was a manusya.

The Dasyus were of three kinds. 1. An uncivilised group of Dasas who belonged to Bhaumasvarga and who roamed in forests and mountains and indulged in fighting, killing, stealing etc. 2. Dasyus who also belonged to Bhauma-

svarga and who were well behaved and served the civilised Aryans in Bhaumasvarga. The above two types were classed as devayonis. The third kind were manusyas who lived in Bharatavarsa.

They lived in forests and were called nisadas (hunters). There was no fight at all between these people and the Aryans of Bharatavarsa.

In fact the Smrtis mention about the harmonious relations between the Aryans and these nisadas.

The amanusa dasyus were living in the Himalayan regions and in the upper reaches of Indus river. The Veda mention the names of some of them. Here Ojha describes the geography of Indus river and says that it consisted of three parts. Each part consisted of seven rivers joining the Indus river. Ojha names them as Ojha says that the amanusa dasyus lived the western and northern parts and there were many fights between them and the Aryans of Bharatavarsa. On the another hand there were no dasysus at all in the eastern part and therefore there were no confrontations on this side. In other words, Ojha says that the Dasas (dasyus) who fought with Aryans did not belong to Bharatavarsa.

Concluding this discussion Ojha says,

10. The story of Rbhus Then Ojha introduces the Rbhus to us. He says that even before the confrontation with Dasyus took place, Aryans were living in Bharatavarsa.

This is evident from the fact that the Rbhus lived in Bharatavars before that. Who are these Rbhus? Ojha explains.

Long before the Aryan-Dasyu confrontation took place, there was a king named Sudhanva in Bharatavarsa and he had three sons. These sons named Rbhu, Vibhva and Vaja became students of Rsi Tvasta.

Tvasta taught them carpentry. Later these very same craftsmen (Rbhu and his brothers) found fault with the wooden utensils which Tvasta had made for Vedic rituals. Actually they found fault with the wood from which these utensils were made and they said they would make better utensils making use of the right type of wood.

These words were carried to Tvasta who was in svarga. Tvasta got angry and vowed that he would kill them for their adverse comments on his work. Agni returned from svarga and went to the house of Rbhus (the students of Tvasta). They found out that Agni had come to chastise them for their bad comments on Tvastaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. They regretted for their conduct and told Agni that they would never indulge in Devaninda thereafter. They also told him that their comments were on the wood used for camasa (utensil) and not on Tvastaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. Agni told them that they shoul make four patterns of camasa based on one camasa and go to svarga and show them to the Devas. This was the order of the Devas.

Here Ojha says that camasaMADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM may mean anna (food) and the implication of Agniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement and also be that when we cook food for ourselves and our family members, it should be divided in four cups. One is meant for ourselves, another for unexpected guests, the third is meant for people around and the fourth for birds, ants, worms etc.

The Rbhus took upo the challenge, discussed many things among themselves which would please the Devas. They made many pieces of fine art and took them to svarga. The Devas were very much pleased with the art pieces of Rbhus and the fame of Rbhus spread in svargaloka. Indra gave them suitable presents and also made provision for them in the evening Soma drink ('Hi . Ojha gives many details about the work of Rbhus here.

He quotes extensively from Rgveda containing glorification of the Rbhus.

Ojha concludes his with a few beautiful verses which declare that Bharatavarsa was the land of manusya Aryans and they did not come here from somewhere else.

The Land of the Aryans and their Culture 157

11. Establishment of Solar observatory Vasistha and other Rsis set up an observatory of the Sun on the bank of river Sarasvatl which was between Indus and Jhelum. The origin of SarasvatT was believed to be Sarpasarovara also called Jyotismati in Matsya Purana. Vasistha lived on the bank of this river and the place where he lived was called Sarasvatlnagari.

This place is a little elevated above the ground level and that is why it was called Dharuna. Bharadvaja in the sixty first sukta of the sixth Mandala of Rgveda praises Sarasvatl river.

Describing the establishment of the solar observatory and its purpose, Ojha says,

15 8

MADHUSUD AN A V AG AMRT AM

In the above verses Ojha gives a description of the observatory. From this description, it would appear that it was similar to the solar tower that exists at the Kodaikanal (India) observatory or any other modern solar observatory where with the help of Ceilostat, the reflecting mirror which receives the Sunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image moves and changes its orientation in tune with the diurnal motion of the Sun and sends the reflected rays down through a pin hole camera and the image is received on a screen. In the modern observatories the camera is built with a long focus lens so that the image of the Sun can be magnified to the desired extent. In the case of pin hole camera the image will be small and the sunspots will not be visible unless they are big. It is interesting to note that recently in the Egyptian pyramid the scholars have found some such arragnement in which the Sunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rays will reach the interior parts of the pyramid through various holes on the outer surface of the pyramid which were arranged according to the changes of declination of the Sun throughout the year when changes take place in its declination. Ojha goes further and gives some details of the knowledge acquired by the maharsis from the above solar observations.

The reader may refer to the text for details.

A similar solar observatory was also set up in Bhaumasvarga. The image of the Sun produced there was called Asma Prsni and it was also set up in a high place and wass called Svarga Dharuna. While giving a description of

ASma Prsni Ojha says that he has described it fully in his book Svargakhyati.

We shall deal with both Svargakhyati and Devasurakhyati in some other connection later. Here we give the description as given in his book â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Indravijayah .

Here it should be noted that in verse 6, Ojha probably implies that in the Svarga Dharuna, the lattitude and longitudinal effects in the duration changes of day and night were taken into account in its set up. A picture of this Svarga Dharuna with A6ma prsni is given by Ojha. It is to be noted that this picture was drawn in colour painting by Ojha himself.

After some time again there was trouble from Afghan Dasyus to the Aryans in Gandharvadesa and Indra came to their rescue. Thereafter there were many incidents in which Dasyus from outside Bharatavarsa attacked the Aryans of this land and these incidents are described by Ojha. When the trouble increased the Aryans requested Indra to help them and Indra came to Bharatavarsa and destroyed or drove away the dasyus and protected them.

Indra was praised by the various Rsis for his help and a celebration of his victory were organised in Svargaloka.

Then Ojha says that the Dasyus stole away the Surya set up at Sarasvatl bank site. The foreigners then set up a solar laboratory in Syria the remnants of which, according to Ojha, can even now be seen in Syria.

Concluding his story of Indraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s victory over his enemies Ojha says that the Aryans of our land ultimately got rid of all troubles and became a very prosperous group of people. Ojha concludes this history with the following verses.

160

12. Conclusion We have come to the end of the story of early Aryans as narrated by Ojha.

Ojha has shown remarkable skill in handling this subject and as a scientist I would say that he has opened for the first time the box of Vedic wisdom. Never before such an attempt was made to interpret the Vedas and Puranas in this way.

Historians, archeologists and scientists familiar with the Sanskrit language will be able to read between his lines and infer many things. Ojhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s writings are bound to open up new ideas in thier minds to understand ancient Indian history. Ojha has given a fitting reply to those who say that there is no history available in our ancient Sanskrit literature. According to him, history is there, but it is hidden inside the apparent myths.

It is pertinent to point out here, that while we all praise the Sanskrit language most of us have not cared to acquire some scholarship in that language.

Right from the beginning the knowledge of this language has been acquired by people most of whom did not make use of their knowledge to acquire sufficient expertise to properly interpret our ancient literature.

Some individuals started new religions in India simply because they did not have the capacity to understand the secrets of Aryan culture.

It was Madhusudan Ojha who worked very hard and brought out for the first time many of the wonderful concepts of the Aryans in his writings. But alas, his writings never received the attention of scholars and therefoe we continue to be as ignorant of our culture as we have all along been.

Therefore the four books of Ojha viz., Indravijayah, Jagadguruvaibhavam, Svargasandesa and Devasurakhyati would suggest to us that a deeper study of the Puranas and Vedic literature is urgently required to pick and gather the historical facts hidden in them.

The following path-breaking conclusionsn of Ojha are very relevant in such a study.

1. More than tweleve thousand years ago a group of people called Manijas fluorished in Asia, north of Himalayas. They first appeared in the western border of China and spread westwards upto Red sea and northeastwards upto Siberia. This group consisted of a highly civilized and intelligent people called Aryas who built houses in cities and lived there and also uncivilized people called Barbaras who lived in forests and indulged in all sorts of nefarious activities. In our research we should be able to understand who these Manijas were and their connection if any to the Sumerians who

fluorised much later in the Euphretis-Tigris delta and also Minoan or IndoEuropean civilisation which developed in Crete still later.

2. In the Aryan group a great leader called Brahma appeared and he was very knowledgeable and became very popular.

Under his leadership there was very high intellectual activity and most of the Vedic literature came into existence during this period. The birth of Brahma took place in Pamirs when Abhijit was the pole star. This manusa Brahma was the propounder of the Brahman theory of the origin of the cosmos. Because this region was very prosperous at that time, intellectually as well as materially, it was called Svarga and the Aryans were called manusyadevas. Varnavyavastha was there and there were four divisions of men viz., Sadhyas, Maharajikas, Abhasvaras and Tusitas corresponding to the later divisions, Bnihmanas, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras. It is manusya brahma who set up the manusyaloka in the Indus valley with the help of Svayambhuva Manu. This civilisation of Aryans in Asia existed before Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian and Indo-European civilisations. Here it is relevant to point out that Manijas consisted of both civilised and uncivilised people. The early group of these civilised Manijas were materialistic in their outlook. It was only after Manusya Brahma took over their leadership they became both spiritually and intellectually oriented.

3.

When our ancients talk of Svarga in Ithihasa it refers to bhaumasvarga which existed in Asia. When they talk about adhidaivata matters, the svarga they refer to, is the Devasvarga where Deva pranas were believed to prevail. The scientist would call them subtle forces playing distinct roles in the creation processes on the earth. They were of many kinds. They enter the human system also and activate our Jnanendriyas and Karmendriyas.

4.

There is a grand harmony in the viz., adhidaivata, adhibhuta and adhyatma.

5.

The Aryans of manusya loka did not have quarrel with the of Bharat. On the other hand they suffered the onslaughts came from outside and attacked them.

6.

The Indus valley civilisation is an Aryan it spread throughout India and took various forms.

7.

Regarding the language of Bharatavarsa Ojha says, it was originally Brahmi or Chandobhasa. It was the root language of all Indo European languages.

Regarding script, Ojha says it was originally Pathyasvasti from which Brahmi and Devanagari came into existence. While Brahmi bhasa was used by the people, the language of Vedas and Brahmanas was called Daivi bhasa or Chandobhasa.

functioning

of

Nature

civilisation

and

at

in

the

three

levels

uncivilised people of tribals who course

of

time

All the above conclusions of Ojha deserve our earnest consideration and we should probe more and more into our literature to unearth the secrets hidden in them. With these remarks I close this chapter with the following statements of Ojha which form the introduction to his work entitled

162

The Land of the Aryans and their Culture

163

More notes will be provided along with the original text wherever necessary.

In this context a recent paper entitled â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Aryan-Dravidian controversyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

by Dr. David Frawley which has recent appeared in the Internet should be of great interest to the readers. The book by N. S. Rajaram and David Frawley titled Vedic Aryans and ancient civilisations, recently published contains many interesting details about the land of the Aryans.

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

166

168

170

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

172

174

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

176

178

182

184

186

188

189

MADHUSUDANAVAGAMRTAM

This single chapter is enough for a research worker to prepare a Doctorate Thesis on the extent of ancient Bharata Varsa taking additional help from Archeologists and Historians. This chapter is full of information, suggestions and guide lines to prepare the thesis.

* The remarks made by the author in this section and also his essay on should be taken into account by scholars specialising in linguistics.

elsewhere

The meaning of the rks is given below: 1.

I who am endowed with good thoughts and engaged in self studies enjoyed the food (which is Soma) which is savoury and which all the devas and men go after, saying it is sweet honey.

2.

O Soma, you have entered into the yajna and appeased the anger of the devas. You enjoy Indraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friendship. Bring us riches quickly.

3.

O Soma, you are immortal. We have consumed you and have become mortal. We have attained light i. e. svarga where there is light always. We have known the devas. what harm can a mortal do to us?

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

O Soma, we have consumed you. Having entered our heart, be sweet to us, just like a kind father is to his son. O Soma, you are famed as having many qualities. Increase our life span.

This Soma cosnumed by me makes me famous. It knits my joints closely just like straps secure a car. It enables me not to falter in my duties. It keeps me away from disease.

O Soma! consumed by us make us shine bright like fire produced by churning. Give us clear sight. Nourish us and make us wealthy.

O Soma! Our spirits rise high while consuming you in the same way as a son feels when he enjoys his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s riches. Prolong our life like the sun makes the bright days longer.

O King Soma! favour us and make us prosper. Be mindful of the fact that we are your devotees. Please do not throw us to the wrath of enemies.

O Soma! You are the protector of every part of our body. Though we harm you (i. e. crush you to extract the juice) be gracious and be our best friend.

10. This Soma is friendly with me and when consumed will never harm me. I pray to Indra for longer life after depositing Some in me.

11.

All our maladies have weakened and vanished. With fear they have vanished into darkness. Soma has got into us. With it we shall be able to prolong our life.

12. O Pitrs, immortal Soma has entered into us who are mortals. Let us offer him oblations and rest securely under his grace and favour.

13. O Soma you have pervaded earth and heaven along with pitrs. Let us serve you with oblations and become lord of riches.

14. Give us blessings, O Gods, let not sleep or idleness overpower us. Let us be friends of Soma and praise him and have good children.

15. On all sides, O Soma you are life giver. You are the eye of all people. You give us all round protection.

Note: There are other Suktas in the Rgveda especially in the eighth and nineth mandalas which praise the good effects of Soma which is often described as madhu, ghrta, amrta, piyusa etc.

This chapter Aryadaslya prasanga is an extraordinary research contribution which Ojha has exhibited his extraordinary skill in interpreting Vedic proving that Bharatavarsa is the native land of the Aryans. In the second volume a detailed analysis of Ojhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Indravijaya will be presented with on the contents of this

of Ojha in passages and part of this special stress chapter.

* Ojhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will be presented to the reader in voluem five of this series. A picture of has been painted in colour by Ojha himself. A black and white copy of this can be seen in our book Atmagatividya published by Rajasthan Patrika.

The above work is a one of the most outstanding creations of Ojha. In the second part of this volume we will make a detailed analysis of the contents of this book and show how Ojha has been able to produce history from Rgveda and the Puranas.

Chapter IX: Extracts from Ojhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s In volume one of our series we had given sufficient information on the rsi

concept and have reproduced also a portion of Ojhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book entitled chapters

of

dealing with the above subject. There we had said that a few more this book will be presented in volume four. Therefore we present

here a few more topics of the same book. These topics are titled as

printed and published by One more book of Ojha entitled

our fifth volume.

Rajasthan Oriental gives more details of

Research Institute. We shall reproduce This has this book also in

Chapter

by Ohja

(time span) is an important concept of the Maharsis of Vedic period. in

the

We find the use of the words Puranas. We also find that time

is

measured

separately

for

etc., Manusyas,

pitrs, Devas and Brahma. While in the fifth volume we shall deal with in great detail, here we would like to present an article by Ojha which gives a good introduction to this subject and covers many things briefly which we would

see in detail later.

It

may

be noted

that

has also been dealt within

Ojhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s which we have already presented to the readers in our third volume part one.

413