The Aryan Invasion: Who Are We?

       A lot has been said on this subject since British era, but the reality is still unknown. Do we Indians really come from a distinct culture of so called "Aryans?" Or are we the descendants of prehistoric native Indians? This confusion has led to a lot of linguistic and genealogical research putting forth a lot of ideas and food for thought.
       It was noticed by some European travelers who visited India in 16th century that there is a striking similarity between Indian languages and Latin and Greek. When India was under British rule, many experts began researching this similarity between languages and came up with an idea that European and Indian languages descend from a historical language which is now called "Proto-Indo-European" (PIE) language. Sanskrit (mother of most of the north Indian languages) and Latin (mother of many European languages) are found to be very close to each other. Certain words including those for relations, agriculture, etc. must have been in abundant use since ancient era and they are traced back to have a common root in PIE.

Migration of Aryans from their origin to Europe and Asia

       Also, some excavations in Central Asia discovered the peculiar rituals practiced by ancients who lived there around 3000-2000 BCE. Similar rituals were seen to be practiced in the north-western region of India in the times slightly later. Many other evidences suggest a steady West-to-East migration first in Indus Valley and then in Ganges plain. The Vedic religion in ancient India shares many of its aspects with old religion of Persia or Iran. Also, the deities of Vedic people, ancient Persians, ancient Greeks and Roman civilization seem to be close to each other in their descriptions. Many of the religious symbols including the ill-famed Swastika were shared across the land of Eurasia by Aryans. Does this mean that Hindus are descendants of another race from a far land? It is said that some of the Aryans may have migrated into India around 1400-1500 BC and helped establish Vedic culture here. This culture had many different aspects than earlier Indian cultures like Indus Valley Civilization. These new aspects might have been introduced by influential foreign rulers from a separate culture, i.e., Central Asian or Aryan.

Swastika - now a stigmatized symbol in
Western world was possibly very
important in Proto-Indo-European culture

        Genetic evidences suggest that the genes in Y-chromosome (which is inherited by a son from his father) found in India show some links to those in Western Asia and Europe. These genes of North Indians who are thought to be Aryan descendants differ a bit from those of South Indians who are considered to come from Dravidian race. This might mean that there was an influx of particularly western males in North Indian plains. Today's Indian populations seems to be a mixture of genes from both of these races as some new evidences suggest lack of enough differentiation between south and north Indian populations. However, when the caste divide in India was genetically analyzed, it was found that those who are considered from upper caste carry genes which are less distant to Western Asians and Europeans than that in the case of lower caste population.    

         The Aryan philosophy of pure gene had been considered foul after World War II when lots of non-Aryans especially Semitic people were brutally killed in Nazi Germany under the scheme of eugenic policies in the favor of Aryans. Thus, the divide is being wiped away slowly under the modern anti-racist and humanitarian philosophy. But this means that the question of Aryan Invasion of India is also going slowly out of consideration. New genetic studies have started a controversy as they suggest North and South Indians have similar genetic patterns. Although the later claim is started to gain favor, the big question is: will we ever know who we are?

The Credibility of Ramayana

           There has been a lot of fuss about this argument since long. But then a couple of years ago Sri Lanka was seen making tourism advertisements where they showcased some places which according to them were where some incidences from Ramayana took place. This outrageous exploit immediately instigated a thought in me... Do people really think it happened?

            I do not wish to deliberately invade the popular belief of all those orthodox Hindus, but what sane mind would believe that a man can have ten heads. Now they would say, he was not a man... he was a Rakshasa. What are Rakshasas really? They looked like men in all sense as per the tales. They satisfy all the criteria to be classified as men. The most possible explanation would be that they were a dark skinned race of humans. They must have been looked upon as lowly by the famous Aryan attitude of ancient North Indians. Or they must be imaginary.

            Again, it has always been told that the epic was written by Valmiki, himself a character in the tale. Now, why should one believe that this information is true when there are doubts on the credibility of the story itself? Do we even know whether any such person existed at all? Just because a book mentions that it was written by some John Smith doesn't prove that it was, especially when it is thousands of years old and possibly has undergone many modifications across generations. Some evidences suggest that the poem was composed through centuries.

            There are several other "flavors" of Ramayana... where the story is modified as per the community's own interests. For example, there is a Jain version of Ramayana that says Laxman was the one who killed Ravana and then Ram became a follower of Jainism. If such modifications are possible within centuries or possibly millennia, the credibility is obviously lost that the epic was composed by one person and it is an account of history. Above all, the epic never mentioned that it indeed is an account of what happened. It never gave an illusion of Ram being a God. He is mentioned everywhere in the story as a normal human being who always tried to be an ideal person, committed his fair share of mistakes in his life, did all humanly things possible. But now you would see around that big temples are devoted to him. People spend months tracing his journey across India just to gain his favor and to wash their sins away. Don't they understand that tracing a route in a story is not going to bring them any good? And don't they know that this time can be utilized for something productive which would indeed prove beneficial? Are they cleared of sins once they get their ablutions from Rama's sacred ponds?

            I don't prove a point here, nor am I trying to. It is just that somewhere down in my heart I feel uneasy looking at people who would not contemplate, but thoughtlessly believe that some story happened just because their parents told them so. There is no search for evidence before devoting to a God. There is no thought given before deciding to worship a God to verify that he is really a God and he was meant to be. Absolutely, the epic showcases a great diversity of characters, their thoughts, their meaning of life and their journey of life. And surely, Ram is a character with devotion, love and trust that no human can possibly be like. But still, the sad and ironic part is that a story is not being interpreted as it should be by the oldest culture known for its sensibility and sensuality.

A Tale of Two Cities

Mumbai

Pune

Vs.

 
        Recently I had a chance to visit Mumbai for my GRE. People around me might be aware of the fact that I detest Mumbai to some extent for being sultry, humid and overcrowded. But during this visit, I had a realization of some other notable aspects of Mumbai that you can never have in Pune. Some things that make Mumbai more of an attractive place to live than Pune. These are some of my observations along with some known facts about Mumbai and Pune.

Mumbai: Very humid, sweltering climate in almost all seasons
Pune: Pleasant climate... dry and cool air

Mumbai: Extremely crowded
Pune: Moderately crowded (can be seen as advantageous or otherwise)

Mumbai: 4 wheelers
Pune: proliferation of 2 wheelers

Mumbai: People follow lane discipline while driving (looks so cool)
Pune: What's a lane? :P

Mumbai: People speak Mumbaiya - a unique variation of Hindi
Pune: People insist on speaking Marathi... and only the Puneri version of it... which (according to them) is the purest form of Marathi.

Mumbai: Very helpful people
Pune: The old city often gives you some experiences of "ear-pleasing" conversations with native people.... sometimes even swear-words... and the Marathi ones... BEWARE

Mumbai: If you see a plate "Beware of the dog" outside houses, do beware of the dog.
Pune: Ignore such plates... they are just a threat to keep unwanted guests away. There may not even be a dog in the house. But you still should beware of the plate (paati) owner who may frown at you for ignoring the Paati.

Mumbai: People willingly help you to locate new addresses.

Pune: I often hear this story of how some guy asked for an address in some random house on a street in Kothrud and he was shown the directions by the woman "इथून थोडं बाहेर जा... खालच्या अंगाला वळा... तिथे या इमारतीचं गेट दिसेल... त्यावरची पाटी वाचा.. (येथे पत्ते विचारू नयेत.)"  :-|

Mumbai: People are courteous.

Pune: People write Puneri Paatya for deliberately insulting you. There is even a website for such Paatis. www.puneripatya.com.  Some of them we discussed in preceding points.

Mumbai: Local trains are the fastest way of traveling. These trains work at clockwork precision. You will have another train after exactly 3 minutes if you miss one. GPS control... you see.

Pune: Our old PMPML :P .... no need to mention the details of how "efficient" they are. You miss one and you might have to wait for another half an hour :)

And don't even think about local trains. I have seen Pune-Mumbai trains being more frequent than Pune's local trains.

Mumbai: A sea... wow

Pune: A couple of rivers full of dirt (I don't know why puneites are proud of them)

Mumbai: No winters :(

Pune: chilling... I love it.

Mumbai: I would love to drive on those roads.
Pune: It is always a sweating experience for newbies.

Mumbai: Good chaat outlets
Pune: Don't even get me started on Pune's chaat... Come on... Chaat is not supposed to be sweet.

Well, I am not biased or anything. I don't hail from any of these cities. Hence, I think my perspective is neutral. I love both of these cities for being one of their own kind. More on my home town in later posts...

The Art of Calligraphy

Calligraphy literally means "beautiful handwriting". The word originates from Greek κάλλος kallos (beauty) + γραφή graphẽ (writing). It has been an art since man invented writing as a way of expressing thought. Today almost every language that can be written employs elegant handwriting when it comes to a showy display. As an art alongside painting and sketching, Calligraphy started experiencing a common presence in the range of arts in medieval ages. Many artists have developed a myriad of different styles for Calligraphy till today and these various fonts are frequently used in invitation cards, religious art and cut-stone inscriptions. Some prominent styles of Calligraphy are from Chinese, Arabic, Indian and Medieval European cultures. 

Western Calligraphy:

13th Century Bible

Western calligraphy is the writing style with Roman writing systems.  It flourished in the medieval period when churches started promoting the handwritten bibles. The ones written with a stylistic hand were of course the ones with more value and importance. And thus, calligraphy started flourishing in the West as an art through the religious texts. The image shown alongside shows an example of a thirteenth century handwritten Icelandic bible.

Today, with the advent of technology, handwritten texts have become rarer. But still, many artists still pursue the art of penmanship and also the computers are loaded with magnificent font styles of writing English and other languages.

Arabic Calligraphy: 

Ottoman Calligraphy

Arabic calligraphy evolved along with Islam in the Middle East. It has been a major medium of transmission of Quran, the holy book of Islam and thus is the most venerated art form in the Islamic world. Most of the Arabic Calligraphy is done using Arabic alphabets and it employs arabesque as the most prominent style. The alongside image shows a good example of Ottoman calligraphy from Turkey (Ottoman Empire). Even today, this art remains the major means of expression of religious scriptures and verses from Quran. 

Indian Calligraphy:

Mahabharata

On the same lines as the other religious texts, Hindu texts were also being  written in beautiful handwriting styles in old ages. The Indic scripts had developed their own forms of calligraphy and were often used for writing religious texts in Sanskrit. When Mughals ruled India, they brought Persian calligraphers in India along with them. The influence of Persian art can be seen on many texts and architecture of Mughal time. The text on Qutub Minar is a good example of Persian influence on Indian Calligraphy.

Eastern Asian Calligraphy:

Love

Calligraphy from far east employs Mandarin and Japanese scripts. The main tool of their calligraphy is a brush rather than a quill unlike Western calligraphy. The  use of brush brings a look of flowing letters in the Asian texts. As Mandarin uses symbols instead of alphabets for expressing ideas, the words mostly comprise of only one or two symbols and they can be elaborately embellished. Such decorated words can make good tattoos on your arms. Nevertheless, Asian calligraphy is a distinct art and needs a special skill with brush.

These all forms of calligraphy make the study of this art a truly profound subject. Its connection with the religious texts has made it a divine standard of writing from the old ages till today.  I hope it continues to flourish in today's world, although the use of pens and brushes is increasingly being an ignored standard over that of the keyboards and phones.

The Evolution of Religion, Part II

      We saw in the part I of this article how man rallied his intellect over the powers of nature and the idea of existence of the God surfaced. As man tried to cogitate on the inexplicable phenomena that occurred around him, he pondered over the plausible explanations, but the science behind them was far away from being discovered. Consequentially and considering the state of cognition on the basis of the theories inherited from earlier generations, man settled with an idea that these phenomena were being controlled by some gods. A god for each phenomenon. Poseidon controlled the seas and earthquakes, Zeus controlled the sky and storms. Man even prayed to gods for bringing them fortune and wisdom. Greeks worshiped Athena for wisdom, Indians Saraswati. As humans were gripped tightly with these ideas since long, this polytheist society lasted for millenniums since the ages of Proto-Indo-Europeans to the time of modern religions.

The Star of David

        As the ancient Greek culture slowly started losing to the time, Roman beliefs and Judaism were gripping the  Mediterranean and the middle East. Judaism brought a new belief of monotheism in the world. Jews believe in the existence of only one God. As Roman beliefs fell back in time, many monotheist religions started rooting in the western world. Christianity and Islam surfaced following Judaism. These Abrahamian religions now thrive in the world as the most dominant religions. But what led the man to become a monotheist? Why people suddenly started believing some prophets who claimed to be sent by the only omnipotent power, the God? Why were the ancient religions given up? No more they prayed to the gods of their ancestors.   

The Cross

       The politics and social conditions of the region played an important role. There was a resistance to Christianity in the first from the Romans. Jesus Christ was crucified by Roman rulers. But the religion managed to thrive as the disciples continued to preach it further. Slowly whole Europe gave in to this new belief and became Christians. The cross on which Jesus was crucified still remains as the holy symbol. But the middle eastern world had yet to see a new flow of change in the sixth century after the death of Christ. 

Faravahar

      The Achaemenid empire of Persia followed Zoroastrianism as their official religion till the rise of Islam. This religion is considered a sibling of Vedic religion of ancient India. Being Indo-Iranian subgroup of Indo-Europeans, ancient Iranians and Indians followed the similar traditions and their religious beliefs were very similar. Their languages can be traced to have same roots. Zoroastrians were polytheists same as Indians. But as Islam arose in the hot desert of Arabia, this religion of the worshipers of fire came under threat. Muhammad, a trader from Arabia, claimed to receive revelations from the God in seventh century. He preached to Arabians imploring them to abandon polytheism and slowly rose to power claiming the kingdom of Arabia which now was dominated by Islam. 

Islamic crescent

         The empire of Caliphate arose in Arabia later and started expanding in no time. Surrounding kingdoms were threatened to follow Islam or suffer on the day of Quiyamat. Persia was invaded and Islam spread to the boundaries of India. Most of the world was now brought under monotheist religions. Although majority population of the world now believed in only one  omnipotent power instead of many, some religions like Hinduism still survived. The Caliphate of Arabia failed to expand beyond Persia and Hinduism continued to flourish as a major polytheist religion. But soon the Islamic world was dissolved in multiple kingdoms and a few among them managed to invade India successfully and established an empire there. The age of Hindu rulers was over in India and it seemed that Hinduism will see its death. But some of the Moghal rulers like Akbar the Great had a love for the ancient culture of India and Hinduism managed to survive. The mixture of Islamic and Hindu culture of India gave it a unique flavor of cultural prosperity. 

       Although a part of polytheism still lives in the world today in the form of Hinduism, its structure has gone through various changes. Hindus worship their gods as a different conception than they did in the old times. Their faith has become less dominant over their day-to-day lives. Modern Hinduism replaced the ancient Vedic religion of India. 

       The future of religions looks vague to me today. The onset of spreading Atheism across world cannot be denied. As science and technology is advancing rapidly today, man is becoming more and more atheist. Newer branches of existing religions are developing. Scientology, New age are common terms today. Humanism is being regarded as a religion. The concept of religion is evolving rapidly as the world is changing.

        I always contemplate the thought that religions gave us a lot since ancient days. But was it really worth it? We must agree that they reflected deeply on the many important aspects like literature, culture, thoughts, and even food. But the wars they brought on the face of Earth, the lives they took of innocent men and women make me sad. The wars between Christianity and Islam took many lives in the days of the Crusades just for the sake of claiming some holy land. Wars and struggles over such issues still take lives. People still fight over issues whether some piece of land belongs to Hindus for being the birthplace of a god or to Muslims for having a very important place of worship there. How many of us think that it is more important to live together happily than fighting over these issues? People fought, they still fight and they will keep fighting over it. Can we even count how many died fighting for their God? The God, which we don't  even know if exists. The most logical explanations don't point to the existence of such power. But is our faith so strong to make us ignorant? Let the coming generations of humans decide what they want to believe in. But we must bow to the sheer thought of humans about the God that changed the history of mankind. The religions world had seen till now have really made a deep impact on our thoughts, perceptions, knowledge and culture. And we must appreciate the colorful imagination of our entire race that created it. But only thing I hope for is that our future generations will love each other for what they are. They must follow the oldest and most important religion on Earth... i.e. love.

The Evolution of Religion, Part I

      Long before the birth of civilizations, humans had been respecting and fearing the powers of nature. Being closer to the nature than today's man, natural forces affected them deeply. As time passed, civilizations developed and man started living at one place in groups rather than wandering in the wild for food and shelter. As human life settled and man started getting more time from farming and other everyday activities, he had time to ponder upon his beliefs and thoughts. He personified the forces of nature and started worshiping them. That was when the concept of 'God' was born. 

    The ancient Egyptians were the first to deify the natural entities. Their major God was Amun-Ra i.e. the Sun. Ancient Egyptians realized that Sun was the source of energy which fed them and with an obvious reason, they started worshiping the sun in the personified form as Amun-Ra. Amun-Ra is depicted in paintings of ancient Egypt with the head of a hawk and the sun as crown over the head. The river Nile used to provide copious amount of water for Egypt's crops in the season of flood. The agrarian economy of ancient Egypt flourished because of the blessings of the God Hapy and the Pharaoh (the King) who were thought to control the annual flooding of Nile.

Isis and Ra

   

        Isis was the goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility. Her worship in the ancient Egypt was so strong that it spread though the Greek and Roman world as well. It continued till the suppression of paganism in the Christian era. Egyptians believed in life after death. They built colossus pyramids for their Pharaohs who were considered gods. Pharaohs were buried in these pyramids to make their journey to the afterlife easy and unhindered. Ancient Egyptians continued their worship of many gods until their civilization came to a slow end under the threats of Greek and Persian invasions.

         When the river Nile watched the slow death of Egyptian civilization, a new culture was flourishing on the Greek islands and around the Mediterranean sea. The Greeks on the same lines of Egyptians followed a religion of polytheism. They had multiple gods who controlled various forces of nature and other important entities of Greeks. Ancient Greeks believed in a timeline starting with the Golden age when titans ruled the universe. Cronus was the king of titans whose three sons dethroned him and Zeus  being one of them claimed the throne deceiving his brother Hades to rule over the underworld and live there. Poseidon, the other son of Cronus, controlled the sea and earthquakes. Gods, sons of the titans, eventually started to reign over the universe under their influence.

Zeus

Poseidon

Hermes

       According to Greek mythology, Zeus ended up as the king of the gods and ruled from the mount Olympus where the thirteen Olympian gods lived. Zeus is always shown with a lightening bolt as his weapon. He is considered analogous to the ancient Indian god Indra who also happens to have the same weapon and he ruled from the throne in heaven being the King of Gods. Many ancient Greek gods are analogous to ancient Indian gods. Hermes, the messenger of gods in Greek mythology is a counterpart of Narada in Indian mythological stories. Many other sources betoken the same origin of these two civilizations. They could be two branches of early Proto-Indo-European civilization. Proto-Indo-European religion is considered to have had a similar mythology, the people being polytheist in the ancient times. 

Varuna

        Ancient Indians also worshiped the powers of nature in the time of Rigveda. Hymns from Rigveda are identified as chants and prayers to personified powers such as rain (Varuna) and fire (Agni). But as Indians came into the post vedic times, their deities changed. No more they worshiped these powers than the post vedic gods. The age of Puranas brought a new range of deities through the new literature that was being written by ancient saints and rishis. Population of ancient India became compulsive towards the worship of these gods on the same lines of Greeks and other branches of the Proto-Indo-European tree.

       Over the time, a general concept of worshiping and respecting natural powers and forces now evolved into a very different and phenomenal concept of worshiping human-like deities. People started fearing the gods and relating the uncommon calamities of nature to the wrath of these gods. Gods needed to be pleased with prayers and with cruel sacrifices of animals and sometimes even humans. Irrelevant rituals and customary practices took the place of pure hearted respect towards the nature, the only force that created us. The sheer might and power of human imagination took him to such a level that bonded him in the fears of strange powers beyond his comprehension. The pure prehistoric love  and  respect towards the nature now altered to become a "Religion."

to be continued...