Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization
Page 96
3. The general view is that the short inscriptions of the Harappan script are trade linked and were probably in most cases used to label merchandise
4. John M. Cooper (ed.), Plato: Complete Works, 551, Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis, 1997
5. Ibid., 551–2
6. Georg Feuerstein, Subash Kak, David Frawley, In Search of the Cradle of Civilization, 29, Quest Books, Wheaton, Ill., 1995
7. Although the possibility cannot be completely ruled out. There is a curious reference in the Atharvava Veda, 19.72.1, to placing the Vedas back in a chest – which suggests the existence of a written version. The matter is discussed in David Frawley, Gods, Sages and Kings, 249, Passage Press, Salt Lake City, 1991
8. Gregory L. Possehl, Indus Age: The Beginnings, 6, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999
9. Ibid., 6
10. Ibid., 7, 8
11. Ibid., 5–6, and see for example Kennoyer, op. cit., 24
12. Possehl, op. cit., 41
13. Personal communication, Professor B. B. Lal, formerly a student of Wheeler’s. See also discussion in Feuerstein et al., op. cit., 77ff
14. Possehl, op. cit., 42
15. Ibid., 6
16. Ibid., 6
17. Ibid., 6
18. Ibid., 6
19. Emphasis added. Cited in Vedavyas, Astronomical Dating of the Mahabaratha War, 64, University of Vedic Sciences, India, 1995
20. Cited in ibid., 64
21. M. Muller, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, 34–5, cited in Feuerstein et al., op. cit., 42
22. Kennoyer, op. cit., 29
23. Ibid., 104 ff
24. V. Gordon Childe, The Aryans, 1926, 211–12, cited in Possehl, op. cit., 41–2
25. Colin Renfrew, Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins, 182, Pimlico, London, 1998
26. Ibid., 188
27. Ibid., 190
28. Ibid., 205
29. Ibid., 205
30. S. R. Rao, Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilization, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1991
31. See S. P. Gupta, The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization, 91, 97, Pratiba Prakashan, Delhi, 1996
32. Ibid., 146
33. Vishnu Purana, vol. 2, 785, Nag Publishers, Delhi, 1989
34. Ibid., 853
35. E.g. see Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists, 393, Dover Publications, New York, 1967
36. Bhagvata Purana, vol. 2, part 5, 12.3.30, 2139, Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, 1978
5 / Pilgrimage to India
1. A range of figures for the extent of the civilization are given by different authorities. See Jonathan Mark Kennoyer, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, 17, American Institute of Pakistan Studies, Oxford, 1998; S. R. Rao, Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilization, 10, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1991; S. P. Gupta, The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization, 1–4, Pratiba Prakashan, Delhi, 1996, gives 2.5 million square kilometres
2. See discussion in Gupta, op. cit., 114
3. Sir Mortimer Wheeler, The Indus Civilization, 3rd edn, 1968, 55
4. Rao, op. cit., 49
5. Kennoyer, op. cit., 50. He gives a population of 41,250 for the Lower Town of Mohenjodaro – 76.6 hectares – but notes that the total populated area was much larger – 250 hectares or so. Pro rata this yields a total population of about 150,000.
6. Ibid., 57
7. Ibid., 52
8. Georg Feuerstein, Subash Kak, David Frawley, In Search of the Cradle of Civilization, 73, Quest Books, Wheaton, Ill., 1995
9. Ibid., 73
10. Rao, op. cit., 17
11. Ibid., 17
12. Kennoyer, op. cit., 15. The reference comes from Kennoyer’s study of blade technologies in the Indus Valley cities. He found plentiful evidence that certain large gastropod seashells (Turbinella pyrum and Chicoreus ramosus) had been cleanly and efficiently sliced up to make jewellery. These shells are exceptionally hard and he came to the conclusion (page 96) that they must have been cut ‘with a specialized bronze saw … By studying the depth of each saw stroke on fragments of shell from the ancient workshops, we can reconstruct the basic shape of the saw. It had a very thin serrated edge that was long and curved, similar to the saws still used in shell bangle making in modern Bengal. Even more astounding is the fact that the Indus bronze saw was able to cut the shell as efficiently as the modem steel saws, which suggests that the Indus bronze workers were able to produce a bronze that was as hard as steel.’
13. Gupta, op. cit., i
14. Ibid., i
15. Gupta, op. cit., 141
16. Gregory Possehl, interviewed by Sharif Sakr, 24 October 2000
17. Captain M. W. Carr (ed.), Descriptive and Historical Papers Relating to the Seven Pagodas of the Coromandel Coast (first published 1869), reprinted Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1984
18. Ibid., 34–5
19. Ibid., 2
20. Ibid., 1
21. E.g. Vishnu Purana, vol. 1, 188ff, Nag Publishers, Delhi, 1989
22. Carr, op. cit., 12–13
23. Ibid., 3
24. Ibid., 13
25. Ibid., 13
26. Ibid., 14
27. Ibid., 14
28. Ibid., 14–15
29. E.g. Plato, Timaeus and Critias, 145, Penguin Books, London, 1977
30. Rao, op. cit., 141
31. Ibid., 141
32. Ibid., 141
33. Ibid., 126 and 142
34. Ibid., 141
35. Pannikar and Srinivason, cited ibid., 143
36. Ibid., 120
37. Michael A. Hoffman, Egypt Before the Pharaohs, 16, Michael O’Mara Books, London, 1991
38. Cyril Aldred, Egypt to the End of the Old Kingdom, 35, Thames and Hudson, London, 1988
39. Ibid., 35, 33
40. Kennoyer, op. cit., 114
41. Arthur Posnansky, Tiahuanacu: The Cradle of American Man (4 vols.), plate LXXIX.a, J. J. Augustin, New York, 1945
42. Aldred, op. cit., 35
43. Mackay, 1934, 422, cited in Possehl, op. cit., 289
44. E.g. Thor Heyerdahl, The Ra Expeditions, BCA, London, 1972
45. Gupta, op. cit., i, 114
46. Possehl, op. cit., 290
47. Ibid., 290
48. Ibid., 290
49. Note in Lothal site museum
50. See Fingerprints of the Gods, chapters 24 and 25
51. John Howley, Jada Bahrata Dasa, Holy Places and Temples in India, 438, Spiritual Guides, 1996
52. Bhagvata Purana, 10, 1571
53. Ibid., 10, 1570
6 / The Place of the Ship’s Descent
1. Ralph T. Griffith (trans.), Hymns of the Atharvaveda, vol. 1, xxvii, Munisharam Manoharlal Publishers, Delhi, 1985 (first published 1895–6)
2. Gregory L. Possehl, Indus Age: The Beginnings, 5, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999; Satpatha Brahmana, part 5, 362, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1994
3. Possehl, op. cit., 5; Griffith, op. cit., vol. 1, xi
4. Possehl, op. cit., 5; Griffith, op. cit., vol. 1, xi
5. Possehl, op. cit., 5
6. Griffith, op. cit., vol. 1, xii. The Atharva Veda is so named, says Griffith (p. xi), ‘not from the nature of its contents, but from a personage of indefinitely remote antiquity named Atharvan …’
7. M. Sundarraj, Rig Vedic Studies, xxi, International Society for the Investigation of Ancient Civilization, Chennai, 1997
8. See Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, vol. 2, 461
9. See ibid., vol. 1, 517
10. Ibid., 12, 189
11. Ibid., 189
12. J. G. Frazer, Folklore in the Old Testament, vol. 1, 85, Macmillan, London, 1918
13. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, vol. 7, 693; vol. 9, 920
14. Ibid., vol. 7, 693
15. Ibid., vol. 9, 920
16. Ibid., 804
17. John E. Mitchiner, Traditions of the Seven Rishis, xvii-xix, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1982
18. Ibid., xvii
19. Ibid., xvii
20. E.g. see Ralph T. Griffith (trans.), Hymns of the Rgveda, vol. 1, 66, footnote 99, Munisharam Manoharlal Publishers, Delhi, 1987 (first published 1889). There are more than eighty separate references to Manu in the Rig Veda
21. Ibid., vol. 1, 66
22. Ibid., vol. 1, 99
23. Ibid., vol. 2, 218
24. Ibid., vol. 2, 513
25. Ibid., vol. 1, 155
26. See discussions in E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1973 (first printed 1911). See also discussion in Jane B. Sellers, The Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt, 21, Penguin, London, 1992
27. Griffith, Rgveda, vol. 1, 285
28. Ibid., 286
29. David Frawley, Gods, Sages and Kings, 285–6, Passage Press, Salt Lake City, 1991. See Bhagvata Purana, vol. 8, 24.10–11, Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, 1978
30. ‘Wash thee away’ is Weber’s rendering. J. Eggeling has ‘cut thee off’. Max Muller has ‘cut thee asunder’. See Satpatha Brahmana, part 1, 217, note 3.
31. Ibid., 216–18
32. Ibid., 218–19
33. Frazer, op. cit., 185
34. Ibid., 186
35. Ibid., 186–7
36. Ibid., 187
37. Ibid., 191
38. Ibid., 191
39. Ibid., 192
40. Ibid., 192
41. Ibid., 192
42. Satpatha Brahmana, part 1, 218, note 1
43. Atharva Veda, 19.39.8, translated by Frawley, op. cit., 299
44. Griffith, Atharvaveda, vol. 2, 243
45. Ibid., vol. 2, 243, note 8
46. Cited in Satpatha Brahmana, part 1, 218, footnote 1
47. Griffith, Rgveda, vol. 1, 319
48. Ibid., vol. 1, 319, note 13
49. Bhagvata Purana, cited in Frazer, op. cit., 192
50. Ibid., 192
51. Matsya Purana, part 1, 7, Nag Publishers, Delhi, 1997
52. See extensive discussion in Fingerprints of the Gods, chapter 31
53. Matsya Purana, part 1, 7, note.
54. See chapter 2 and Samuel Noah Kramer, History Begins at Sumer, 152–3, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991
55. Mitchiner, op. cit., 206, 208–9
56. ‘Formerly in the Svayambhuva age these were the Seven great Rsis. When the Age of Caksusa had passed … the Seven Rsis were again born as the seven Mind-born. (The question is asked: How were the Seven Rsis formerly born as the seven Mind-born? And the answer is given: After a long period, the Rsis were born a second time – so we have heard.)’ Cited in Mitchiner, op. cit., 33
57. Griffith, Rgveda
58. Ludwig, cited in ibid., vol. 2, 624, note 7
59. Mitchiner, op. cit.
60. Ibid., xvi
61. Ibid., 196
62. Lokamanya Bal Ganghadar Tilak, The Arctic Home in the Vedas, 425, Tilak Bros, Poona, 1956. I have rendered ‘Kalpa’ as ‘age’.
63. Ibid., 426
64. Ibid., 426
65. See discussion in Heaven’s Mirror, 156ff
66. Griffith, Rgveda, vol. 1, 237
67. Cited in Sundarraj, op. cit., 333
68. E.g. ‘he who has eyes can see this, not he who is blind’, cited in Mitchiner, op. cit., 10.
69. Tilak, op. cit., 427
70. Lists of different Manvantaras and groups of Manu and the Seven Sages in Matsya Purana, for example
71. Tilak, op. cit., 426
72. Mitchiner op. cit., 49–50
73. Tilak, op. cit., 420
74. Matsya Purana, part 1, 635. I have rendered ‘Kalpa’ simply as ‘age’.
75. The Puranas. See Mitchiner, op. cit., 3
76. Cited in ibid …, 293
77. Ibid., 128–30
78. Ibid., 4
79. Ibid., 5
80. Griffith, Rgveda, vol. 2, 538
81. Ibid., vol. 2, 538. See also Mitchiner, op. cit., 10
82. Discussed in ibid., 262–7
83. Satpatha Brahmana, part 1, 282
84. Mitchiner, op. cit., 262–3
85. See extensive discussions in Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert, The Orion Mystery, Heinemann, London, 1994. See also Keeper of Genesis/Message of the Sphinx, and Heaven’s Mirror
86. Ibid.
87. See discussions in The Orion Mystery
88. R. O. Faulkner (trans.), The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, 138, Utterance 419, Aris and Phillips, Wiltshire (first published by Oxford University Press, 1969)
89. Ibid., 155, Utterance 466, 5
90. Mitchiner, op. cit., 253
91. Ibid., 190–91
92. Ibid., 189–90
93. Ibid., 218ff
94. See discussion in Heaven’s Mirror, chapter 6
95. See discussion in Heaven’s Mirror, chapter 4
96. Mitchiner, op. cit., 223
97. Ibid., 224
98. Ibid., 225
99. Mahabaratha, cited in ibid., 223
100. Ibid., 223
101. See discussion in Keeper of Genesis/ Message of the Sphinx, 201–2
102. E. A. E. Reymond, Mythical Origin of the Egyptian Temple, 90, 109, 127, Manchester University Press, 1969
103. Ibid., 77
104. Frawley, op. cit., 41
105. Ibid., 205
7 / Lost India
1. See discussion in chapter 1
2. See discussion in chapter 1
3. See discussion in chapter 2
4. See discussion in chapter 5
5. Georg Feuerstein, Subash Kak, David Frawley, In Search of the Cradle of Civilization, 52–9, Quest Books, Wheaton, Ill., USA, 1995
6. Ibid., 52
7. See discussion in Gregory L. Possehl, Indus Age: The Beginnings, 446ff, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999
8. There is not space to review the literature here but there is little serious dispute amongst scholars that our ancestors were taking to the sea as much as 30,000 or more years ago. See, for example, Geoffrey Irwin, The Prehistoric Exploration and Colonisation of the Pacific, 3ff, Cambridge University Press, 1994
9. Frawley, in David Frawley, Gods,
Sages and Kings, 45, Passage Press,
Salt Lake City, 1991
10. Ibid., 45
11. Ibid., 45
12. Ibid., 45
13. S. P. Gupta, The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization, 145, Pratiba Prakashan, Delhi, 1996
14. E.g. see Werner Keller, The Bible as History, Bantam Books, New York, 1988
15. I described this effect at Easter Island in Heaven’s Mirror, 244–5
16. Cited in chapter 4
17. Possehl, op. cit., 362
18. Ralph T. Griffith (trans.), Hymns of the Rgveda, vol. 1, 4, 12, footnote 99, Munisharam Manoharlal Publishers, Delhi, 1987 (first published 1889)
19. Ibid., vol. 2, 44, 6
20. Ibid. vol. 1, 676, 2, 7–9
21. Ibid., vol. 1, 677, note 2
22. Ibid., vol. 2, 510, 9
23. Possehl, op. cit., 363
24. Griffith, op. cit., vol. 2, 98–9, 1–2
25. Ramaswamy, Bakliwal and Verma, 1991, ‘Remote Sensing and River Migration in Western India’, Remote Sensing, 12 (12), 2597–2609, cited in Possehl, op. cit., 362
26. Ramaswamy et al., cited in Possehl, op. cit., and Possehl’s own views, 362
27. Bhimal Ghose, Anil Kar and Zahrid Jussain, ‘Comparative Role of the Aravali and Himalayan river systems in the fluvial sedimentation of the Rajasthan desert. Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur’, cited in Frawley, op. cit., 75
28. B. Ghose et al., 1979, ‘The lost courses of the Saraswati River in the Great Indian Desert, New Evidence from Landsat Imagery’, cited in Gupta, op. cit., 15
29. B. P. Radhakrishna, ‘Holocene Chronology and Indian Prehistory’, in B. P. Radhakrishna and S. S. Merh (eds.) Vedic Saiasvati: Evolutionary History of a Lost River of Northwestern India, Geological Society of India, Bangalore, 1999
30. Possehl, op
. cit., 372
31. Discussed in Fingerprints of the Gods, chapter 28
32. See Heaven’s Mirror, Fingerprints of the Gods
33. Jacobi, Indian Antiquary, cited in Frawley, op. cit., 182
34. Lokamanya Bal Ganghadar Tilak, The Orion or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas, 220, 234, Tilak Bros, Poona, 1986
35. Ibid., 220
36. Ibid., 220
37. Frawley, op. cit., 189
38. Ibid., 198
39. Ibid., 198
40. Feuerstein et al., op. cit., 244–5
41. John E. Mitchiner, Traditions of the Seven Rishis, 134, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1982
42. Ibid., 139–41
43. Ibid., 158
44. Ibid., 158
45. Pliny, Naturalis Historia, 6, 59–60, cited in Mitchiner, op. cit., 158; Solinus, Compendium, 52.5, cited in Mitchiner, op. cit., 158–9
46. Mitchiner, op. cit., 158
47. Feuerstein et al., op. cit., 247
48. Mitchiner, op. cit., 160
8 / The Demon on the Mountain and the Rebirth of Civilization
1. Turania = Ancient Turkestan
2. S. P. Gupta, The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization, 16–17, Pratiba Prakashan, Delhi, 1996
3. Gregory L. Possehl, Indus Age: The Beginnings, 440, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999
4. Ibid., 440
5. Jacques Cauvin, The Birth of the Gods and the Origins of Agriculture, 76, Cambridge University Press, 2000
6. Possehl, op. cit., 412
7. Ibid., 1
8. E.g. ‘Childe 1936; Bradwood 1952; Binford 1968; Flannery 1968, 1986; Myers 1971; Harris 1972, 1977; Reed 1977; M. Cohen 1977; Rindos 1984; Henry 1989; McCorriston and Hole 1991; Belfer-Cohen 1991, to note a few’, cited in ibid., 429
9. Ibid., 429
10. Bar-Yoseph and Meadow, etc., cited in ibid., 430–31
11. Bar-Yoseph and Meadow, cited in ibid., 430
12. Ibid., 430–31
13. Sauer, 1952, cited in ibid., 431
14. Ibid., 451
15. Ibid., 451, 465
16. Ibid., 453
17. Ibid., 453
18. Ibid., 453
19. Ibid., 453
20. Ibid., 453–7
21. Jarridge et al., cited in ibid., 455
22. Ibid., 453–7
23. Ibid., 238
24. Ibid., 238–9
25. Ibid., 460, 459
26. See discussion in chapter 6
27. Possehl, op. cit., 457–9
28. Ibid., 230
29. Ibid., 457–9
30. Ibid., 483–8
31. Ibid., 482
32. Ibid., 482