Research paper written by London Swaminathan
Post No 1241; Dated 18th August 2014.

Hindus worship Seven Stars in the Ursa Major constellation every day. They are considered Sapta Rsis (seven sages). Brahmins worship them every day in their Sandhya ritual three times a day. Of the seven stars, the Vasishtha and his wife Arundhati are worshipped by everyone. Arundhati ( Star Alcor) is seen by all the newly married couple just before entering the first night room. Tamil Sangam literature also praised the seven stars as ‘Kai thozu Ezuvar’. Agastya star on the southern sky (Canopus), Tri Shanku (Southern Star constellation) and Druva (Pole Star) on the northern sky are all worshipped by the Hindus. Arudra (in Orion) and Onam are identified with Lord Shiva and Vishnu.

When I was a school student, I read Vanaparva in Mahabaharata where Matali told Arjuna that the stars, he saw during his space travel, were holy souls. As a science student I was trying to find some symbolic meaning instead of literal meaning. But when I started watching Night at Sky in the BBC, the Royal astronomer of Britain Patrick Moor told one day that we were all star dust billions of years ago. After the Big Bang, the universe came into being including the Solar System where the life emerged during billions of years. I became more curious. Later I watched a documentary “The Orion Mystery” on the BBC on 6th of February 1994, and I collected some notes. I wanted to share those notes with you to pave way for further research.

Hindus, Egyptians and Mayas believed that the stars in the heavens are gods. Science does not support this. According to science “stars are luminous globe of gas, mainly hydrogen and helium, which produces its own heat and light by nuclear reactions. Although stars shine for very long time – billions of years — they are not eternal.” But science was not able to explain why did Big Bang happen and why the universe is still expanding and why billions of hydrogen bombs explode every second inside sun etc. Religion says that there is one all powerful force behind everything in the universe and that is God.
We may be made up of star dust, that is only our body, but not the soul. Science does not believe in souls, only religion believes in it.

Space Travel in Mahabharata
There is a fascinating account of Arjuna’s Space Travel in the Vanaparva of Mahabharata. Without going much into it, I will quote only the relevant portion today:

“Arjuna ascended the divine chariot, brilliant like the sun. And on this sun like, divine, wonder working chariot the wise scion of Kuru flew joyously upward. While becoming invisible to the mortals who walk on earth, he saw wondrous air borne chariots by thousands. No sun shone there or moon or fire, but they shone with a light of their own acquired by merits. Those lights that are seen as the stars look tiny like oil flames because of the distance, but they are very large.”
Page 308, Mahabharata, The Book of the Forest (Vana Parva), Translated by A B Van Buitenen

The amazing thing about this space travel of Arjuna in Mahabaharata is that it coincides with the latest discovery of science. Vyasa wrote it 5000 years ago! If any scientist does not want to give credit to Vyasa, at least they must accept he was the first science fiction writer in the World!! ( I will reproduce the entire chapter one day with my comments). Arjuna spent five years in space, says Mahabharata.

Egyptian Belief

In Egypt, the state religion revolved around the belief that the deceased pharaoh was reborn as a star. Ritual incantations (mantras) were chanted, the purpose of which was to facilitate the dead monarch’s rapid rebirth in the heavens:

“Oh king, you are this great star, the companion of Orion, who traverses the sky with Orion…. You ascend from the east of the sky, being renewed in your due season and rejuvenated in your due time”.

(My comments: This is similar to Vedic Mantra. Vedas also talk about Orion constellation as a hunter. Greeks copied it from Hindus and said a similar story about Orion stars).

Mayan Belief
The Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiche Maya of Mexico and Guatemala, contains several passages which clearly indicate a belief in stellar rebirth – the reincarnation of the dead as stars.
Page 141 of Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Researchers have found out some connection with the pyramids and Orion constellation. The three pyramids of Giza plotted against the three belt stars of the Orion constellation. Of the 90 pyramids Cheops – Kufu pyramid is one of the big pyramids. It has lot of drawings on stars. The holes (for air circulation) in the pyramids align with the three stars.

The Orion Constellation and the Hindus
“Mrga Vyadha, the hunter, is the name of Sirius in the legend of Pajapati’s daughter in the Aitareya Brahmana. Prajapati (Orion) pursues his daughter(Rohini) and is shot by the archer Sirius. The transference of the legend to the sky is no doubt secondary, caused by the obvious similarity of the constellation in question to the idea of an archer.”
Page 174, Volume 2 of Vedic Index by A A MacDonnell and A B Keith.

My comments: The Vedic Index authors quoted the above reference from Hildebrandt. I think the hunter idea is copied by the Greeks from the Hindus. Vedic literature is older than Greek literature is an accepted fact. Shiva who is identified with Arudra (Betelgeuse) in the Orion constellation is praised as a hunter in all the Vedic literature (Rudra Mantra and later mythologies). Mrga Shirsa Nakshatra in the constellation is seen as a deer head. Atharva Veda gives all the 27 star names.

Orion is described as a giant hunter by the Greeks. Greeks say that the hunter was blinded but recovered his eye sight by exposing his eye balls to the rising sun (My comments: This is Surya Namaskara). Eos the conceived a passion for him and carried him off, but Artemis shot him with her arrow. He was placed among the stars.
Page 160, An Illustrated Dictionary of Classical Mythology by Gilbert Meadows

When we look at all the stories here, we see a common thread connecting them. The story went to all the civilizations from Ancient India.

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