WRITTEN BY LONDON SWAMINATHAN

Post No. 10,725

Date uploaded in London – –    8 MARCH   2022         

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.

tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

Not many people knew that the 18 books of Sangam Tamil literature running to nearly 30,000 lines never used the word SIVA, but used Vedic Gods Indra, Vishnu and Varuna. Like Rig Veda the attributes of Lord Shiva are there but not the word SIVA in early Tamil. The word was used only from 7^th century CE. Not many people knew that the Tamils say ‘Siva is Rudra and Rudra is Siva’ in 18,000 verses from seventh century CE. Lord Siva’s eight famous violent attacks as Rudra,  form Eight Famous Shrines( Ashta Veerattana Sthalas). So foreign idiots’ attempt to divide Siva and Rudra did not succeed in Tamil Nadu.

xxxx

Tamil month Masi corresponds with March -April in English calendar. It is the month of Holi Festival and Tamil Kaman Pandikai. (Pandikai means festival). In Northern India the Hindus celebrate Holi and throw colours at one another and make fun. Slowly Non Hindus also joined the fun, but still remains mainly a Hindu Festival The story behind it and burning Holika show it is Hindu. Tamils also celebrate it in the name of Kaman (Manmatha) Pandikai. Like Holika burning in the North, Tamils burn Manmatha, God of Love. Lord Shiva, who has the third eye, i.e. Eye Of Wisdom, burns Manmatha. Since Manmatha’s wife Rathi (Cupid) cried and begged for the revival of her beloved husband Manmatha, Lord Shiva agreed but with a big condition. The condition is that he would be living for ever but bodyless (Anangan), visible only to Rathi.

Highly philosophical and psychological principles are embedded in this story. A very big principle is taught to village folk in the simplest way with sexy dances all over the night for 13 days in Tamil Nadu. It was celebrated in Rome/Italy and Greece, but banned or controlled when it went berserk, hysterical and unruly.

Stupid and half -baked idiots compared Lord Shiva with Roman god Bacchus or Greek god Dionysus without understanding the principle behind Hindu festival.

xxx

First look at the simple and grand principle:

Love is blind; sexual feeling or urge is natural; but uncontrolled sex will damage one and the person who wins this base feeling is a saint. The person who can do is like Lord Shiva, with Third Eye, Wisdom Eye.

Ramana Maharishi, Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and very recently Kanchi Shankaracharya (1894-1994) were typical examples of this great feat. But no lay man should avoid sex. So Siva told Rathi God of Love will be there for ever but as An Angan=Less Body= Bodyless. That is the feeling of Kama/amour is abstract, it is not concrete; a woman gives green signal to it. That is why Shiva told Rathi (Cupid) your husband will be visible to you only.

Even if you mad after a woman, that Rathi/woman only can say yes or no and make it or mar it. This is the big philosophy behind this great Holi Festival and Tamil Kaman Pandikai. Both are celebrated at the same spring season when such sexy feelings start blooming. But Tamils start 13 days earlier than Holi (Full Moon Day) and culminates it on Full moon day, like Holi

All major Hindu festivals are celebrated on Full moon days. Millions of people gathered under moon light to celebrate it. A very few like Deepavali are celebrated in the dark but compensated with oil lamps.

Every society finds some excuse to celebrate, but they don’t have high principle behind it. In Kaman and Holi festival, we give he message to the society, please go ahead with your celebrations for two weeks, but at the end when you get wisdom burn the desire like Lord Siva and go higher and higher. This message is lacking in Western Festivals.

Early Greek and Roman writers saw Kaman Festival in the north and compared it to Bacchus Festival, because they did not understand the big message behind our Hindu festival.

Romans were the worst lot in the first few centuries of modern era. They imported Vedic God Mitra via Iran and changed it to Mithra, made it a secret underground festival and slaughtered Bulls indiscriminately. They drunk uncontrollably and had sex with everyone in public. So the Roman government and later Pope banned it. But yet they couldn’t wipe it out. Even today whoever visits Rome can see the Mithra cult temples in the underground chambers. Bacchanalia was for drinking and mixing with other sex

Tamil Kaman Pandikai dances have sexy gestures. It is to attract laymen. Normally village folk dancers dress and disguise like Manmatha, his wife Rathi and Lord Siva with other paraphernalia. They dance in street corners in big cities, but in the grounds or temples in small towns. We cant see unruly scenes. It was orderly.

When I lived in Madurai 45 years ago, while returning from night duty from my newspaper office, I used to stop my cycle and watch it for some time. Yesterday many Tamil newspapers reported Kaman Pandikai happening in many parts of Tamil Nadu. On the last day, lord Siva burns Manmatha. He is in Sangam Tamil literature and Sanskrit literature.

Now a brief description of Roman Bacchus and Greek Dionysus.

xxxx

BACCHUS

Roman god of wine and intoxication

Known period 400 BCE TO 400 CE

Synonyms – Liber, Dionysus / Greek

Centres of cult – throughout Roman empire  .

Literary sources – Aeneid of poet Virgil

Bacchus is modelled closely on the Greek god Dionysus. In Roman Mythology his parents are  Jupiter and  Semele, the daughter of Kadmos, who became deified only after her death by fire on mount  Olympus.

Bacchus is depicted as a youthful figure wearing an ivy or grape crown carrying a wand or thyrsus.

He is riding a chariot pulled by leopards. He was  worshipped extensively in festivals called Liberalia and  Bachchanalia. These posses strongly phallic connotations and on occasions  the god was modelled like a phallus (linga shape). This made the Greek and Roman writers to compare Lord Shiva(linga). But the main aim of Kaman Festival is destroying Kama (Uncontrolled sexual urge); that is completely absent in Greek or Roman festivals. Probably they stole the juicy part of the story and rejected the philosophy behind it.

Kaman Festival have different versions. In short Indra or Daksha asks Manmatha to seduce Lord Siva and he failed in it and was burnt alive. But the abstract idea of love as bodyless Manmatha will be there on earth; no one can wipe out sex.

xxxx

Now to Greece- DIONYSUS

Origin – Greece

God of wine and intoxication

Period – from pre Christian period until 400 CE.

 Synonyms –  Deunysos, Zonnysos, Liber, Bacchus

Centres of cult – Pylos, Ayla, Irini

Art references – Attic wine amphorae dated around sixth century BCE.

Literary sources- Hymns to DIONYSUS

Attributed to Homer/ only fragmentary

It is similar to bacchanalia described above. The festival was celebrated with intoxicated frenzy and carrying gigantic phallus symbol. They attribute it semitic people, not Hindus. Wine drinking and goat sacrificing festivals were also there. This carrying male genital organ (phallus) or  showing it to public through people who disguised as satyrs are not known to Hindus at any period. Semitic means the forefathers of people who founded Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Seeing all these in their own places, the foreign half baked idiots misinterpreted Hinduism and Indus Valley civilization. Since these people did not know 2000 year old Sangam Tamil literature or later 18,000 Tamil Shiva (Saivite) verses they bluffed and bluffed throughout and said Vedic Rudra is different from Siva. The very word Siva came from Vedic Rudram for the first time in Yajur Veda. In Tamil it came into use only from 600 CE. That is at least 1600 years after Sanskrit Siva! Because Yajur Veda is dated 1000 BCE.

But I would add one more point, before I conclude; there is one SIVA in Rigveda, which Professor Wilson says Lord Siva, but Max muller gang says it is not Siva with capital S, but siva= auspicious. Prof. Wilson dated Rigveda 2000 BCE but Max Muller gang dated it first 1200 BCE later changed it to 1500 BCE or some unknown time before that!

In India if one does not know Tamil and Sanskrit, the person is unfit to write anything about Hinduism. They can only comment within a small circle. The 30, 000 lines written by 400+++ Tamil poets 2000 years ago have lot more on Vedic culture.

xxx

Conclusion

We don’t see any visible display of sex organs like phallus in any old or new Hindu rituals or festivals. Even the God of Love (Kaman) festival gives the message, ‘Destroy Kama through your Third (wisdom) Eye like Lord Siva (individually); but sex would survive Anangan (bodyless) for ever. Anangan is another name of Manmatha in Sanskrit. Manmatha means Mind churning. If one gets that Kama feeling his mind is churned. The Sanskrit word kama is used through out Sanskrit and Sangam Tamil literature. This gave birth to the English word (k)Amorous, amour etc. ( Probably the foreign invasion of North India changed Manmatha burning of Kaman Pandikai into Holika burning in the North).

Long Live Holi and Kaman Pandikai .

—subham—

TAGS – Bacchus, Dionysus, God of Wine, God of Love, Manmathan, Rathi, Cupid, Holi, Kaman Pandikai, Burning, Holika, Bodyless