Sri David Frawley once noted a highly anomalous paradox in Indian history. On the one hand, we had the largest bronze age civilization of the world. The Sindhu-Saraswathi civilization(SSC). It was many times larger in its geographical extent than contemporary Mesopotamia and Egypt put together. It had a population estimated at around five million. That number hovered anywhere around 20% of humanity in 2000 BC. Yet despite this massiveness of its praja and samrajya , the ruins of the Sindhu and Saraswathi appear dumb and speechless, their uncracked aksharas appear hollow and silent. They have nothing to tell us, who they were or what happened to them, despite their greatness. On the other hand, we also have the largest and most sophisticated literature from the bronze age. The Vedic corpus. It’s massive scale, its literary evolution, its philosophical, mathematical and astronomical content and their progression is unrivalled in the ancient world. It describes great kingdoms, trade...
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One cannot deny the fact of evolution which is scientifically tested, abundantly evidenced and even demonstrable by documentation . Not without sounding silly, living in a well of dogmas and dying an ignorant man. Yet why does it face such strong opposition? Because naturally, it throws all kinds of creationist ideas to their death kneels, challenging the vast majority of belief systems on the most fundamental of beliefs- of creation itself. The tug of war between the two sides rages on in the west, not really for victory(because as already said, there's really no scope for debate about the fact of it but perhaps only in the details) but rather for public space, adequacy or absence of textbook representation and the like. However there are some extant belief systems which are not at such complete, ireeconcilable odds with evolutionary biology. Namely the Dharmika systems of south Asia, and specifically, the Vedic philosophical system which forms the elite core of what is to...
“What is it, man,” asks Vivekananda in one of his discourses, “that forces you to be ethical?” Is it the fear of god? Or hellfire? Is it the fear of man and his laws? Of punishment and prison? Or is it perhaps the looming pall of conscience? Will we run dry of nobler reasons should we set out to choose a foundation, a motive for morality? We are a sorry and miserable species if the above choices limit us. Egalitarian objectives would be without fair footing. But is there such a thing as a rational reason for ethical behavior? Since empathy is often said to be a prerequisite...
The Aitareya Brahmana is special. On many counts. For one, it is pretty old. In fact it is the oldest brahmana and it belongs to the Rig Veda. Secondly, it contains a profusion of curious historical information about bronze age Indian society, contemporary kings and sages, kingdoms as well as quite a few obscure and named tribes who are yet to plunge into the Vedic pale. The 'Vedic pale', we know from several other indicators, was in the earliest Rig Vedic times and before it restricted to what is now Haryana and it's thereabouts. One such reference is to be found in verse VII.18 of the text. Visvāmitra had a hundred and one sons, fifty older than Madhuchandas, fifty younger. Those that were older did not think this right..Them he cursed (saying) “Your offspring shall inherit the ends" (of the earth). These are the (people), the Andhras, Pundras, Sabaras, Pulindas, and Mütibas ,” who live in large numbers beyond the borders; most of the Dasyus are the descend...
These are times like never before when many parts of the world, swept over by liberal ideals and the all-blending torrents of globalization question the very founding premises of intangible things like 'State', 'nation', 'people', 'patriotism' and so on. They were intangible but they were at the same time immutable, for thousands of years. Now, they seem to make a journey into the abstract and non-existent in people's reasoning. By no means are these changes wrong or without merit. Nationalist feelings can be accused of historically and presently sprouting all kinds of nastiness in collective human behavior. But we are not going to discuss the merits and demerits of any line of political thought. We are going to examine the curious case of one particular 'country'- India. India, or south Asia to be historically accurate, is an entity whose true nature cannot be adequately encompassed by any modern political equation, borders, law...