As Hinduphobia peaks in the US, Christian and Islamist groups push new campaign against Hindus: How NY State Council of Churches and IAMC have joined forces to target Hindus
OPINDIA POST
A Christian nationalist church group and the Islamist outfit IAMC have teamed up to host anti-Hindu seminars in the US, accusing Hindus of “weaponizing” their faith even as attacks on the community rise. Hindu groups have slammed the events as an organised effort to vilify Hindu Americans and mainstream Hinduphobia. This collaboration comes amid IAMC’s long record of anti-Hindu propaganda in the US.
Amidst surging Hinduphobia in the United States, a Christian nationalist outfit and the Islamist group, the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), have joined forces to further vilify the Indian American Hindus and their faith. The New York State Council of Churches (NYCOC), through its Religious Nationalisms Project (TRNP), has announced a series of interfaith seminars from 20th to 23rd November, in North Carolina’s Bay Area.
The events titled “The Weaponization of Hinduism in Northern Carolina and India and the Relationships to Global Religious Nationalisms” are being co-organised by the Islamist group IAMC. The additional sponsorship for these anti-Hindu events comes from the White Christian Nationalisms Task Force of the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church.
As per the promotional material of the scheduled events, the seminars will be held at several locations, including the United Methodist churches in Roseville, Alameda, and Santa Rosa; First Church Berkeley (United Church of Christ). One of the seminars will also be held at a Sikh Gurudwara Sahib in San Jose.
This series of seminars will be on the theme of Religious Nationalisms, with “a special focus on Hindutva as a central case study.” The events will have three presenters: The Reverend Peter Cook, The Reverend Neal Christie, and The Right Reverend Joshua Lickter.
American Hindu rights groups call out Christian-Muslim collaboration to peddle Hinduphobia
The collaboration of a church-linked Christian outfit and a rabid anti-Hindu Islamist IAMC has sparked outrage among American Hindus.
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) criticised the anti-Hindu tour and highlighted that it comes at a time when hatred against Hindus is increasing in the US. The HAF also questioned the city authorities why such an event is being allowed in California and why public funding is involved in such an anti-Hindu propaganda event.
“A New York based Christian church group joining the Indian American Muslim Council on a “tour” in spewing provocative lies against Hindus when anti-Hindu hate is at its zenith is absolutely unacceptable. Why does your office fund this @GovKathyHochul? Is this ok in California @CAgovernor?” the HAF wrote on X.
Suhag Shukla, the Executive Director of the HAF, said, “The New York State Council of Churches is joining a Muslim group to tour California—not to promote solidarity & peace—but to target peaceful Hindu Californians. This isn’t interfaith solidarity, this is an ambush. @GovKathyHochul, your NY Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is funding NYCOC when anti-Hindu hate is peaking. How is this ok?”
IAMC and its anti-Hindu/anti-India activities and past Hinduphobic collaboration with the New York State Council of Churches
The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) is a Washington-based Islamist outfit which has been involved in anti-India activities and pushing an anti-Hindu agenda for many years. In 2021, IAMC, along with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), campaigned to designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern”.
During the India-Pakistan conflict in May this year, when the Indian Armed Forces eliminated Islamic terrorists and their infrastructure deep inside Pakistan, the IAMC and CAIR condemned India’s Operation Sindoor.
The Indian American Muslim Council is reported to have links with the banned Islamic terror outfit, Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Besides, the Indian American Muslim Council has ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) through its founder, Shaik Ubaid. The IAMC is a Jamat-e-Islami-backed lobbyist organisation claiming to be a rights advocacy group. The IAMC has also been involved in promoting antisemitism.
The IAMC has also formed the Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) group, which is an open anti-Hindu and anti-India organisation based in the US.
Not to forget, in 2021, ‘Hindus for Human Rights’ also endorsed the anti-Hindu event ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ conference. It also came up with a “special toolkit” to propagate against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his State visit to the US in June 2023.
In June 2023, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi was seen sitting alongside Sunita Vishwanath during an event hosted by the Hudson Institute. In October 2023, the X account of HfHR was withheld in India in response to a legal demand.
In the past, the IAMC had reportedly collaborated with and even paid money to various groups in the USA to get India blacklisted by the USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom). IAMC had been caught spreading fake news and misinformation to further the Islamist cause in India. It had also been slapped with the UAPA in 2021. The IAMC often publishes dubious reports and propaganda materials slandering American Hindus and Hindus in India, under the pretext of countering ‘Hindu nationalism’.
From seminars to surveys, reports to speeches, the IAMC has long been vilifying the American Hindus and their faith. In September 2024, IAMC conducted a ‘survey’ [pdf] with the ulterior motive to brand the religious minority group as ‘racist’, ‘intolerant’ and ‘Islamophobic.’ OpIndia reported how the IAMC survey passed off vague and subjective opinions from its respondents as absolute truth.
Unsurprisingly, the upcoming ‘Weaponization of Hinduism’ seminars are not the first anti-Hindu collaboration of the NYCOC and the IAMC. In August 2024, the Federation of Indian Associations NY-NJ-CT-NE decided to include a Ram Janmabhoomi Temple float in the India Day Parade to mark the 78th Independence Day of India. This, however, did not go well with the IAMC and the New York State Council of Churches, who, along with other Islamists, pro-Khalistan and other anti-Hindu groups, wrote a letter to the New York Governor Kathy Hochul and then Mayor Eric Adams, peddling lies to oppose the inclusion of the Ram Mandir float in the parade.
These organisations have claimed that VHPA, an offshoot of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) “has been designated as a militant religious organisation by the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook”. However, OpIndia reported back then that while it is true that VHP and Bajrang Dal were designated as “militant religious organisations” on 4th June 2018, the names were effectively removed from the list by 25th June 2018. It was a mistake to call these two organisations “militant”, and the CIA itself had rectified it in less than a month.
In June 2025, the NYSCOC and TRNP joined the IAMC in issuing a statement slandering an event hosting several Hindu activists in Dallas. These anti-Hindu groups linked Hindutva with violence and religious hatred. They also hurled sweeping allegations about religious freedom and tolerance in India, insinuating that somehow Christians and Muslims are under threat in the Hindu-majority country.
Amidst rising racism against Hindus and Indians in America, anti-Hindu elements attempting to ride the wave and further their nefarious designs
From the 1907 anti-Indian mob violence in Washington, the 1910 Detroit Times “Hindoos (Hindus) Continue to Flock to the US” article referring to Hindus as ‘Oriental scum’, the discriminatory Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, the Dot Busters group in 1980s which targeted Hindus Americans based on their religious and racial identity and assaulted them, to the individual cases of religiously-motivated hate crimes against Hindus post 2001, attempts at revisingCalifornia’s K-12 history-social science curriculum to include stereotypical representation of Hindus and Hinduism in textbooks, Hindus in the US, have faced hatred, discrimination and violence.
Earlier, these Hinduphobic attitudes found manifestation in anti-Asian racism and labelling of Hindus as ‘caste-ridden savages’ and ‘heathens’, and attacks. It manifests today in temple desecrations, school bullying, media propaganda and online hatred. A 2022 Network Contagion Research Institute report documented a 1,000% increase in anti-Hindu slurs online, blending white supremacist “replacement” fears with Islamist narratives accusing Hindus of “genocide” in India.
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
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Part 22
Snake Goddess Manasa Devi (manasaa)
Manasā (मनसा).—Name of a daughter of Kaśyapa, sister of the serpent king, Ananta, wife of the sage जरत्कारु (jaratkāru) and mother of the sage अस्तिक (astika); so मनसादेवी (manasādevī).
Indus Valley Seal of Sarpa Rajni (Rig Veda Poetess name in Tenth Mandala Hymn 189)
Snake Goddess is worshipped during Vedic time and in Harappan Civilization. She is also seen in Egypt, Greece and in the Middle East.
Manasa Devi is worshipped mainly in Bengal and adjacent states of Bihar and Assam. She is another form of Parvati, wife of Shiva.
Manasa is greatly revered in Bengal , where she is believed to ward off poisonous snakes. She is the daughter of Kasyapa and Kadru and sister of Ananta or Vasuki according to local legends. Lord Vishnu lies on the snake bed in the middle of milky ocean, and he is said to rest between cosmic emanations.
Manasa stands upon or is shaded by a seven headed snake. Her symbols or attributes are snake and water jar.
She is the wife of Jarat kaaru . she is also called Jagad gauri, Nityaa (eternal) and Visha -haraa. Visha haraa means one who has the special power of counter acting the venom of serpents.
Snake worship originated in India. All the words for snakes in ancient languages are derived from Sanskrit and Tamil (Naga-S/Nake, Sarpa- Serpent), Oviyar- Ophis, Uraga, Pannaga). All Hindu Gods and Goddesses have snakes as their ornaments. Egypt followed Hindus and we see snakes over the heads of Pharaohs. Snake and Garuda are seen with Vaishnavite Naamam symbol in Wedget/Udget .
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Stories of Manasa Devi are told in different ways in Bengal. The gist of the stories is one gentle man ignored Manasa Devi worship and he lost his children due to snake bites. Ultimately they were saved through the worship of Mansa.
From Rig Veda, Indus Valley to Sabarimalai in Kerala, we see snake worship.
The greatest wonder is Brahmins worship snakes with reverence in daily oblation Sandhyavandana with a mantra beginning with Narmadaayai Namah….
(Mandhata’s son Purukutsa married Devi Narmada and the latter was the sister of Nagaas of Rasatala. Nagaas were afraid of Gandharvas as some six crore Gandharvas resided in Rasatala tormenting Nagaas by hunting their ‘Ratnas’(jewels) from their hoods. The Nagaas prayed to Bhagavan Vishnu and the latter assured that the son of Mandhata viz. Purukutsa would destroy all the Gandharvas at the instance of Narmada Devi. As professed, Purukutsa eradicated Gandharvas and the Nagaas gave a boon to Narmada that whosoever bathed in the River or even recited the following would be safe from ‘sarpa-visha’ or the poison of serpents; the relevant Shloka or stanza to be recited states:
(Devi Narmada! My salutations to you in the day or night, do safeguard me from the fear of Serpents and their poisonous bites!) The full mantra includes the names of great seers Jarat kaaru, Aastika and the King Janamejaya)
The Harappan seal with a goddess surrounded by snakes on either side shows Snake Goddess was worshipped from 2000 BCE or before that, because Nagaraani is in the Vedas as well.
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Story of Manasa Devi (from old article)
Chand was a merchant who did not believe in the Goddess Manasa devi. As a result, he lost all his sons due to snake bites. But yet he was very obstinate and never paid reverence to the Goddess. He got one more son who was the apple of his eyes. He was still obstinate in not worshipping Manasa and Manasa Devi was also relentless and she bit his son on his wedding day in spite of his precautions. His newlywed wife Vehula did not allow his body to be cremated. She was fasting till her body became a skeleton but never stopped her prayers to Manasa. She begged to Manasa for the restoration of his husband’s life. At last Manasa relented and gave his life back.
It is the belief of many that a person supposed to be dead by a snake bite, really lives in a state of suspended animation for a long time after.
Bengalese plant a milky white plant (Euphorbia Lingularum) on these days on a raised mound of earth in the courtyards of their houses and worship Goddess Manasa Devi. They worship her to get immunity from snake bites or avoiding bitten by snakes. If anyone has died due to snake bite in the family all of them join in worship and they pour milk in the ant hills where snakes live.
Hindus, by not killing the snakes, the vital animal in the food production chain, increase the production of food grains. The snakes keep even frogs and toads in control which freely enters every home during rainy season.
Villagers don’t fear snakes even when it enters a house; they simply trap it in a box or pot and release it in the field. They know the value of it.
Manasa Devi
The serpent worship is universal. There is no ancient culture without a serpent God. Whether it is Egyptian or Mayan, Indus or Vedic, Minoan or Babylonian we see serpents with Gods and Goddesses. But Hindus are the only race in the world who maintains this culture until today. We have Naga panchami celebrations celebrated throughout India where live snakes are worshipped. Hindus respect Nature and Environment and use the natural resources to the minimum.
Snake Goddesses such as Manasa Devi and Naga Yakshi are worshipped in India. The Vedas has an authoress named as Serpent Queen. She was one of the 27 women poets of Rig Veda and her poem is in the Tenth Mandala (10-189). Her name is SARPA RAJNI (Serpent Queen)
We have two more references to this lady in Taitriya and Aitareya Brahmanas. Sarpa Vidya (science of snakes) is mentioned in Satapatha and Gopatha Brahmanas. (see Vedic Index of name and subjects by authors AB Keith and AA Macdonell, page 438 for more details).
Aligi is the name of a kind of snake in the Atharva Veda (V-13-7) and Viligi, another snake, is also mentioned in the same hymn. Earlier scholars like AA Macdonell and AB Keith mentioned them as snakes in their Vedic Index Volumes. Bala Gangadhara Tilak did lot of research and told us that these were from the Akkadian languages. He dated the Vedas to 6000 BC. Modern research by scholars Dr Bhagawatsharan Upadhyaya and Dr Naval Viyogi showed that they were not snakes, but kings of Assyria- Aligi (Alalu) and Viligi (balalu) of 3000 BC.
Garuda with Vaishnavite Naamam on head.(left); Snake/Naaga (on left); Eye in the middle . Egyptian Symbol Wedjet
Atharva Veda in Sumeria 3000 BC
Taimata is twice mentioned in Atharva Veda (V-13-66; V-18-4) as a species of snake according to Whitney and Bloomsfield. Once again, the old Vedic translations are wrong. Actually Taimata is nothing but Tiamat found in Babylonian literature as a Goddess. May be it is the corrupted form of Sanskrit DEVA MATA (Goddess).
More research shows many Sanskrit words in Sumerian and Babylonian literature such as Berorus (Vara Ruci), Ottaretas (Urdhwaretas), Mesopotamian god Dumuzi/Tammuz/Sammata (fish God). They are pure Sanskrit words. One and the same god was called in different names by different cultures at different times and that too in corrupted forms. When we read Sumerian names we have to remove prefixes Nan, Nin,Sin. They are equal to Sri, Sow etc. Future research will prove that they have migrated from India in the remotest time.
Naga Yakshi worshipped in all the Ayyappan temples including Sabarimalai and other goddess temples found in the Middle Eastern countries around 3000BC. We see them in Indus valley and the Vedas as well.
My conclusion can be summarized as follows:
1. Vedic translations of Aligi, Viligi and Taimata are wrong and they were all really people, may be people with snake totem (Nagas). 2. Since Atharva Veda mentions Kings who lived around 3000 BC, it must be dated around that period. Rig Veda is (linguistically) older than Atharva Veda. 3. We see snake gods or goddesses in all ancient cultures. In India, we see it from Vedic days. They are worshiped until today proving that Indian culture is the oldest living culture. 4. Last but not the least; such continuity is possible only when this worship originated in India. So we can safely conclude that Hindus went to different parts of the world taking their culture. Like we lost the whole of South East Asia after 1300 year Hindu rule, we lost the Middle East long before that.
Tamil Version follows…………..
To be continued……………………………..
Tags- Hinduism through 500 Pictures in Tamil and English; படங்கள் மூலம் இந்து மதம் கற்போம்- Part 22 , Snake Goddess, Manasa devi, Alii, Viligi, Harappan, Rig Veda, Atharva Veda, Tiamath
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
xxxx
Scholars are attracted to the topic Plato and the Upanishads and there are three books published with the same topic in the past 50 years.
I read all the three books recently and almost similar topics are discussed by the three authors. Indian authors on Upanishads also compared them.
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Plato and the Upanishads by Vassilis Vitaxis was published by Arnold Heinermann Publishers (India) Private Limited New Delhi at the price of Rs 20 in 1977.
The review in The Weekly Mail said,
“It has been established that there was contact between India and Greece even long before Alexander’s campaign. Eusebius (315 CE) speaks of a tradition which he attributes to Aristoxenus, the well known wrier on harmonics and a pupil of Aristotle that certain learned Indians actually visited Athens and conversed with Socrates. The similarities between the Greek philosophy and early Indian thought are very close.
The attempt of the author is to show how the philosophy of Plato has much in common with the philosophy of the Upanishads. The quest of the leaders of the Eleatic school for ONE REALITY underlying material phenomena is very much the same as the metaphysical quest of the Upanishadic seers of that ‘knowing which everything else becomes known.’
The Socratic irony may be matched by a passage in the Kena Upanishad which declares with reference to the TRUTH “it is not understood by those who understand; it is understood by those who do not understand”.
1
The author finds many parallels between the Upanishads and Plato both in method and substance; the dialogue forms are used by both the Upanishads and Plato. Moreover, this serves as a suitable instrument or vehicle of teaching.
2
Indian philosophy insists that the sphere of logical thought is far exceeded by that of the mind’s possible experience of reality. Similarly, Plato sees ‘Supreme Truth cannot be orally thought or committed to writing. It can only be an object of some inner experience.
3
In the Phaedrus, the image of the chariots used by Plato is almost the same as in Katha Upanishad. Both the Upanishads and Plato use sleeping state as a metaphor to signify the conditions of life lacking philosophy or enlightenment.
4
The sun is used by the Upanishads and Plato as the cause of light and so of vision and visibility. The light of the sun directed at man that is a beam turned towards the inner self, is platonic. This principle “know thyself“ was the foundation on which Plato erected his theories. It is needless to add that it is Upanishadic method also.
5
There are however several differences between Plato’s object and that of the Upanishads. One of them is that Plato seems to believe in the existence of many souls. His is in consonance with certain schools of India philosophy like Sankhya , but not with Advaita which is the major principle expounded by the Upanishads.
6
Further there are many passages in Plato’s RUPUBLIC wherein he refers to God as if He were a person. Nevertheless, he has also evidence that this is only an image or a way of speaking and His true concept about the Absolute and infinite, that Real Being is anything but a personal God .
7
Both Plato and the Upanishads regard self -perception as a source of purity in information, and stress the importance of thought and need for reflection and contemplation.
8
Plato also speaks of two kinds of knowledge, the lower leading to opinion and the higher leading to knowledge, which is similarly mentioned in the Mandukya Upanishad and the Katha Upanishad.
9
There is also the touch of the principle of MAYA in Plato who states that the empirical world is thought of as a shadow of reality. “our senses perceive only ghosts and appearances, which are in a state of continuous flux. Only the mind (NOUS) can reach the TRUTH by the communion of the soul through whatever immortal quality it possesses with the unchangeable and the real within the world of form which exist in a super celestial state beyond the substance. Both Plato and the Upanishads agree about the impossibility of defining the Absolute.
10.
These and many other parallels, quoted by the author, are of great interest to the students of comparative religion and philosophy. The ultimate emphasis of Indian thought has always been liberation or Moksha. The ultimate emphasis of Greek thought has always been to expand the norms and forms of life in whatever manner possible.
–Mail Newspaper Interview by S Y K.
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Two more books
Plato and Vedic Idealism
Swami Paramananda
Anmol Publications, New Delhi, 1990
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Hindu Influence on Greek Philosophy
J Lomperis, Department of Political Science, Duke University
All the three books mentioned here are available at University of London Library at SOAS, London.
Research paper written by London Swaminathan Research article No.1421; Dated 19th November 2014.
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva form the Hindu Triad. Of the three gods Brahma has amazing science behind him. We know about the cosmic rhythm in the dance of Shiva. We see the nuclear explosion in the description of Visvarupa Darsanam of Krishna in Bhagavad Gita. In fact it is Robert Oppenheimer, the Father of Atomic bomb, who compared Krishna’s Visvarupa Darsanam to the explosion of the first atomic bomb. Now I see the science of Black Hole in the same Visvarupa Darsanam! But no one has looked into the scientific aspects of Brahma like they did in the case of Dance of Shiva or Visvarupa Darsanam.
The story of Brahma is more interesting than a science fiction story. Hindu’s great scientific achievements and developments are weaved into his story. Brahma is the God of Cosmology God of Astronomy God of Mathematics God of Creation and Evolution
Scientific Fact 1 Only now we know that there are billions of stars and there may be millions of earths with possible extra terrestrial civilizations. The time scale is very different from our earth. What we spend as 100 years on earth may be one second or a fraction of a second for them. Human years are different from them. Satya Loka, the abode of Brahma, is a place where time moves very slowly. His life is hundred heavenly years, each of 360 days and nights. Each day or Kalpa is equal to 4,320,000,000 earthly years. Brahma’s current age is said to be 51 and each of his years the universe is destroyed and rebuilt. Hindus see the time in a different way from the westerners. When the world did not even learn to count 1000, we the inventors of decimal system went far ahead in numbers. All the yuga or kalpa calculations are in magical numbers; added together it will be 9. Ancient Sumers took it from us put all their pre dynastic kings age in the same way!
Scientific fact 2 He created the world; but he created himself from the primeval waters using the power of his desire. He thought a seed into existence which grew into a golden egg. The two halves of the shell became heaven and earth, within which he fashioned the sky. This is actually the description of Big Bang, though the word earth may be inappropriate here. Hindus knew that everything in the universe is globular. But the western word waited for a Copernicus and Galileo to “discover” it. Brahma’s name itself is Golden Egg= Hiranya Garba.
Till this day science could not explain why the Big Bang happened. Hindus only explain the Big Bang as God’s desire. Bible has taken this concept and used it in the lines “ In the beginning the word was there and the word was with God”. Bible and other Semitic scriptures did not explain about the cyclical nature. They concluded it as one off event.
Scientific fact 3 Foreign scholars took great delight in describing the “incest” of Brahma: He had a daughter by name Satarupa and through incestuous intercourse he created the world. She was very beautiful and Brahma turned to the direction where she went and got five heads. This is a symbolic story to tell about the evolution. If a teenager asked his mum or dad whether man or Woman came first they cannot answer this chicken and egg question. Actually Brahma’s story explains a scientific fact. In the beginning bacteria multiplied by splitting into two and then unicellular organisms appeared. Higher the ladder, there were hermaphrodite animals where both sexes were there in the same species (Like Artdhanaree of Shiva). Male and female species appeared separately at a later age. At one stage dominant male should have separated from the female. This story was used by the Bible saying that God created a woman from the left rib of Adam. In other words Eve is the “daughter of Adam”—came out of the same body. But both of them had sex. So the “story of incest” is the story of evolution.
Scientific Fact 4 Only now the cosmologist and astronomers write about the Big Bang (expansion) and Big Crunch (contraction). But Brahma’ life span explained the Big Bang and Big Crunch thousands of years ago.
Scientific fact 5 Vishnu’s Avtars (incarnations) as Fish, Tortoise, Pig, Man Lion shows the progressive evolution. In the Vedic literature the first three Avatars appear as Brahma’s Avtars. Later it was transferred to Vishnu. So Brahma is the God of Creation and evolution.
Scientific fact 6 Some Puranic (mythology) stories described Brahma coming out of the lotus which grew from Vishnu’s naval. In fact it is the story of continental drift. Continents were formed after millions of years of movements of earths plates. In the beginning there was only one big land mass called Pangaea. Though the books describe it as a Greek word actually it is Sanskrit Pangaya meaning Lotus. Like lotus blooming, earth also slowly bloomed and the continents drifted. Women are also said to give birth to children from their “lotuses”.
Scientific fact 7 Amazing number and the calculation of Yugas, eras, eons – all adding up to number 9 shows the amazing mathematical skill of the Hindus. They saw completeness in Number Nine. The calculation of big numbers itself show their knowledge and interest in mathematics .
Scientifc Fact 8 Brahma has 29 names in Amarakosa, first thesaurus in the world. He is a water born god. All the life forms appeared from Water in the beginning — is scientific fact. Without water molecules life forms cannot originate.
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My Visit to Brahma Temple in Tamil Nadu
French Stamp on Brahma from Indo China
Date: 14 April 2019; Post No. 6264
Brahma
It is said that Brahma hasn’t got many temples in Tamil Nadu. They say Pushkar in Rajasthan and a few places got temples for Brahma, one among the trinity. But to my surprise I saw a huge statue of Brahma thronged by a big crowd in Thiruppattur Brahmapureeswar temple in Tamil Nadu. Though the main shrine is devoted to Lord Shiva, Brahma was the sought after god there. The reason being people believed that He will rewrite your bad fate in your favour.
Lot of devotees came with their horoscopes written in note books and others came with A 4 size notes or Foolscap size note books. If some astrologers have written something bad will happen to you during such and such period, you may give your written prediction to the priest there. He collects and takes all of them to the God (in the form of statue) and return them to the respective devotee after Puja. Scores of note books of horoscopes changed hands during my short stay at the temple.
Apart from this belief, the statue itself was big and beautiful with sandal paste applied all over.
Where is Tiruppattur?
It is near Trichy. It is 34 kilometres from Trichy.Sa amyapuram is in between Trichy and Tiruppattur. When you google for this place you will be misled easily to other two Thiruppathurs in Tamil Nadu.
What is there?
In addition to a huge Brahma statue, there are 12 lings believed to be installed by Brahma himself. He worshipped Lord Shiva to get out of the curse.
Everyone must visit this beautiful temple. It was sung and praised by Saint Sundarar, one of the great Four Saivite saints.
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‘KA’ is Brahma – Interesting Info. from Panini and Kautilya
Post No. 8239; Date– 25 June 2020
Eight years ago, I wrote about the God ‘Ka’ (Prajapati, Brahma) in this blog. All Sanskrit scholars raised their brows without understanding or pretending not to understand the word ‘Ka’ in the Rig Veda (RV 10-121). The hymn itself ends with praising Prajapati (Brahma). Ka means ‘who’ as well in Sanskrit. In Sanskrit there is no interrogation mark. These half -baked scholars put interrogation mark at the end of each mantra in the hymn and started wondering or misinterpreting. But in Hindus mind, Ka is Prajapati/Brahma. If you remove the interrogation marks and read the poem/hymn it coincides with the last word Prajapati.
I have also shown that Egyptians borrowed it from us and made a hieroglyph out of it. Ka symbol means God and he is shown as the son of Pita (Ptah in Egypt).
Tamil and Sanskrit dictionaries give the meaning Prajapati. Probably Indian Rishi Mahadeva ( in Egypt he is Imhotep-Imho=Maha; tep=Dev )taught them about Vedic Mudras and Vedic Gods (Please see my 20+ articles on Egypt)
Interesting information from Panini
Kautilya who came a few centuries after Panini, proposed to Maurya Chandra Gupta a few interesting ideas.
Use religion to make money.
First, celebrate religious festivals ; second, make Gods’ dolls, idols and statues for sale, out of which government can make money.
Kautilya’s wonderful ideas work until today. We Hindus buy dolls of Krishna, Ganesh and Devi until this day to do Pujas on respective festival days. Religious tourism is not only popular in India, but also in other parts of the world. Mecca, Vatican City, Jerusalem and Lourdes are big businesses for Air lines, Hotels and Tourist Industry. The mementos , books and pictures they sell in these places mean huge money.
Let me come back to Panini.
Panini wrote only a grammar book with 4000 couplets in Ashtadhyayi. That and the complimentary works that came after it give encyclopaedic information about Hindu life 2700 years ago.
Panini mentions the following Vedic deities –
Agni, Indra, Bhava, Varuna, Sarva, Rudra, Mrida,
Vrishakapi, Pusha, Aryama, Twashta, Nasatya.
Mostly in 4th and 6th chapters .
I will touch only the controversial gods.
1.Vrishakapi is one of the names of lord Vishnu in Vishnu Sahasranama. When it came in humorous dialogue poem in the Rig Veda, foreigners deliberately translated it as ‘sexy monkey’ but Panini mentioned it as a god (4-1-37) along with other Gods; no fuss is made.
Second interesting thing is about
Nasatya (6-3-75); Two Ashwini Devas are known as Nasatya. The name is derived by Panini from Na Asatyaah- who are the opposite of non-truth. The other interpretation mentioned in Mahabharata and Nirukta is one who are born out of Nasa (nose) of Samnjaa, wife of Surya. Panini rejected this and went for the first one which is originally given by Aurnavabha. He lived before Yaska of Nirukta.
Third interesting thig is about ‘Ka’.
Panini refers to Prajapati under the symbolical name of Ka. Patanjali says Ka is not a pronoun (who), but the proper name of a deity.
Mridaani is not found later. This shows Panini lived nearer to Vedic times.
He also gives information about the worship of Month, Year, Season and Stars/Nakshatras.
He shows that Bhakti movement was there 2700 years ago. Particularly Vasudeva bhakti (Krishna Bhakti).
Temples were also there for public worship. There were temples for Kesava, Rama and Kubera (1-43-6)
Kubera worship makes interesting reading.
The reference to the bhakti of Maharaja or Kubera proves on the other hand that Panini surely had religious bhakti in mind (4-3-97).
An important sutra 5-3-99 ‘jiivikaarthe chaapanye’ proves Panini knows images of deities in his time .
There may be images installed in temples which are not of individual ownership, and hence not for anyone’s livelihood/jiivika, or for sale/panya, but for worship/puujaartha.
If it is for sale ‘kan’ suffix is added
Siva becomes sivaka
Skanda becomes skandaka .
Both ‘chala’ and achala images with the devalakas/owners of shrines would serve for worship/puujaartha, be a source of livelihood to their care takers/owners , but not for sale/apanya.
All these are the object of Panini ‘s rule , and they would be named as siva, skanda without ‘ka’ suffix.
Greedy Maurya kings
Patanjali adds more interesting information.
Mauryan kings , ‘greedy of gold’ /hiranyaathibhih, had ordered to set up , and most probably , to sell images . it served three purposes- jiivika, panya and puujaa .
Kautilya supplies the much needed commentary on this extraordinary Mauryan measure to replenish their exchequer.
The Devtaadhyaksha , officer for religious worship, is directed to raise money by manipulating the worship of divine images and exploiting the credulousness of the people, such as organising fairs and festivals in the holy shrines of deities – daivata chaitya- , improvising shows of miraculous Naga images with changing number of hoods, and spreading the news of other miracles etc
—Arthashastra 5-2
Kautilya got three birds in one stone – Jiivika/livelihood, Panya/sales and Puuja/divine worship. He is indeed a clever Brahmin!
–Source book – India as known to Panini, VS Agrawala, University of Lucknow, 1953 (with my inputs )
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Tamil Hindu Encyclopaedia- Brahma
Post No. 11,489
Date– 30 November 2022
Brahma is often confused with two other words Brahmana and Brahman.
The three words have different meanings.
1.Brahma is one of the Hindu Trinity, i.e. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva
2.Brahmana or Brahmin is the name of the priestly class, one of the four Vedic castes
3.Brahman is god in the Upanishads, Hindu god is genderless.
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Brahma is given the job of Creation. He was born on a lotus that came out from the belly button of Vishnu lying in the sea bed on 1000 headed snake.
Ancient Tamils called him with different names based on the Hindu Puranic stories.
Following names for Brahma are found in Sangam Tamil Literature
பிரம்மா Brahma,
படைப்போன்- Padaippon- Creator,
பூவன்- Poovan – Mr Flower
நான்முகன்- Naan mukan- Mr Four Faced
ஆதி அந்தணன்- Aadhi Anthanan – First Brahmin
முதியவன்- Muthiyavan – Eldest/ Oldest,
வாய்மொழி மகன்- Vaaymozi Makan—Veda (mouthed) man
தாமரைப் பூவினுட் பிறந்தோன் – Person born in Lotus
மலர்மிசை முதல்வன், – First man on flower
உலகு படைத்தோன், – Creator
படைத்தோன், – Creator
முதுமுதல்வன் Old and First man
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பிரம்மா பற்றிய அறிவியல் உண்மைகள்
அறிவியல் உண்மை 1 கடந்த நூறு ஆண்டுகளாகத்தான் பில்லியன் கணக்கில் நட்சத்திரங்களும் அதைச் சுற்றி மில்லியன் கணக்கில் பூமி போன்ற கிரகங்களும் இருப்பதை உலகம் அறியும். அதில் பல்லயிரம் கிரகங்களில் வெளி உலகவாசிகள் (Extra Terrestrials) வசிக்க உள்ள வாய்ப்புகள் பற்றியும் விஞ்ஞானிகள் அறிவர். ஆனால் சத்ய லோகத்தில் வசிப்பதாகக் கருதப்படும் பிரம்மா பற்றிப் படிக்கையில் அவர் ஒரு வெளி உலகவாசியோ என்று வியக்கத் தோன்றும். அவருடைய வாழ்நாளின் காலம் நாம் இந்தப் பக்கத்தில் எழுத முடியாத அளவு பெரிய எண்ணிக்கை. மற்ற கலாசாரங்களுக்கு 1000, 10,000 என்ற எண்கள் கூடத் தெரியாத காலத்ததி , நாம் உலகமே வியக்கும் ஆயுளை பிரம்மாவுக்குக் கொடுத்தோம் அது மட்டுமல்ல இது ஒரு பிரம்மாவின் ஆயுள். அவர் போன பின், அடுத்த ப்ரம்மா வருவார் என்றும் சொன்னோம். இன்னும் விஞ்ஞானிகளுக்கு — காலம் என்பது சுழற்சி உடையது— Cyclical வட்டமானது என்று கூடத்தெரியாது. இப்பொழுது கருந்துளை ஆய்வுகள் நிறைய நடப்பதால் நமது கொள்கையை வெகு விரைவில் உலகம் ஏற்கும்.
பிரம்மாவின் ஒரு நாள் என்பது 4,320,000,000 ஆண்டுகள். இது போல அவர் 100 ஆண்டுகள் வாழ்ந்த பின்னர் புது பிரம்மா வருவார். இப்பொழுதுள்ள பிரம்மாவுக்கு வயது 51. ஏதோ அறிவியல் புனைக்கதை (Science Fiction) படிப்பது போலத் தோன்றும்.. இது கதை என்று யாராவது நினைத்தாலும் முதலில் அறிவியல் புனைக் கதை எழுதிய பெருமை நமக்கே கிடைக்கும்.
அது மட்டுமல்ல. யுகம் பற்றிய எதைக் கூட்டிப் பார்த்தாலும் ஒன்பது என்ற எண் வரும். இதை சுமேரியர்கள் கூட நம்மிடமிருந்து எடுத்துக் கொண்டு பிரளயத்துக்கு முந்தைய சுமேரிய மன்னர்களுக்கு இப்படி ஆட்சி ஆண்டுகளைக் கொடுத்துள்ளனர்!!
அறிவியல் உண்மை 2 பிரம்மாவுக்கு ஒரு பெயர் ஹிரண்ய கர்பன். அதாவது தங்க முட்டை! உலகம் உருண்டை என்பதைக் கண்டுபிடிக்க மேலை நாடுகள் ஒரு கலீலியோ, ஒரு கோப்பர்நிகஸ் தோன்றும் வரை காத்திருந்தது. ஆனால் நாமோ துவக்க காலம் முதல் பிரபஞ்சத்தில் உள்ள அனைத்தும் கோள வடிவானவை என்பதை அறிந்து, அண்டம் ( முட்டை வடிவானது), பிரம்மாண்டம், பூகோளம் (புவியியல்) என்று பெயரிட்டோம். அதுமட்டுமல்ல. அந்த ஹிரண்யகர்ப்பன் ஒரு நாள் திடீரென வெடித்து வானமும் பூமியுமாகப் பிளந்ததென புராணங்கள் பகரும் இதையே இப்பொழுது மாபெரும் வெடிப்பு Big Bang Theory — பிக் பேங் – என்று சொல்லுகின்றனர். இது ஏன் ஏற்பட்டது என்று விஞ்ஞானிகளால் விளக்க முடியவில்லை. நமது சாத்திரங்கள் மட்டுமே கடவுள் ஒரு சொல்லை நினைத்தார் — அதைச் சொன்னார்- உலகம் உருவாக்கப்பட்டது என்று சொல்லுகிறது. இதை பைபிள் அப்படியே நம்மிடமிருந்து எடுத்துக் கொண்டது. ஆனால் அதற்கு மேல் விளக்கவில்லை.
நாம் அதற்கும் மேலாக ஒரு படி சென்று மாபெரும் வெடிப்பு —ஒரு நாளைக்கு பலூன் போல ஊதிக்கொண்டே போய் பின்னர் முடிவில் வெடிக்கும் —அப்பொழுது காற்றுப் போன பலூன் போல பிரபஞ்சம் சுருங்கும் Big Crunch — மீண்டும் பலூன் போல ஊதும் — என்று – ஸைக்ளீகல் Cyclical —வட்டமான சுழற்சி உடையது என்று சொல்லியிருக்கிறோம். இந்த பிக் க்ரஞ்ச்Big Crunch – கொள்கையை இப்பொழுதுதான் விஞ்ஞானிகள் ஏற்கின்றனர்.
அறிவியல் உண்மை 3 தசாவதாரத்தில் முதலில் மீன், பிறகு ஆமை, பிறகு பன்றி, பிறகு பாதி மனிதன் –பாதி சிங்கம் என்பதெல்லாம் டார்வீன் சொன்ன பரிணாமக் (Theory of Evolution) கொள்கையை ஒட்டி இருப்பதை நாம் அறிவோம் ஆனால் முதல் மூன்று அவதாரங்களும் உண்மையில் ஆதி நூல்களில் பிரம்மாவின் பெயரிலேயே (பிரஜாபதி) உள்ளன. ஆக அவரே படைப்புக் கடவுள்—பரிணாம வளர்ச்சிக் கடவுள். இதை சதபத பிராமணம் (Satapata Brahmana) முதலிய நுல்கள் விளக்கும். பின்னர் இதை விஷ்ணுவின் அவதாரங்களாக புராணங்கள் எழுதின. இதை இன்னொன்றாலும் அறியலாம்.
அறிவியல் உண்மை 4 வெளிநாட்டுக்காரர்களுக்கு கிளுகிளுப்பூட்டும் ஒரு விஷயம் நம் இலக்கியங்களில் உண்டு. அதை எழுதி, எழுதி நம்மை நக்கல் செய்வது—பகடி செய்வது—கிண்டல் செய்வது அவர்களுக்குப் பொழுதுபோக்கு. அது என்ன ‘’பலான’’ கதை என்கிறீர்களா?
பிரம்மா ஒரு மக:ளைப் பெற்றார். அவள் பெயர் சதரூபா (நூறு உருவம்)—அவல் அழகைக் கண்டு பிரம்மா அவளையே உற்று நோக்கினார். அவளுக்கோ வெட்கம் பிடுங்கித் தின்றது- வேறு திசையில் ஓடி ஒளிந்தாள் அங்கேயும் பிரம்மா திரும்பினார். ஒவ்வொரு திசையிலும் ஒரு முகம் வரவே அவருக்கு நாலு முகம் தோன்றி அவர் நான்முகன் ஆனார். அவளோ வெட்கப்பட்டுக் கொண்டு மேலே போனாள். அங்கு ஐந்தாவது முகம் உதித்தது. அவளுடன் ஒன்று கூடிப் (Incestual Intercourse) பின்னர் உலகத்தைப் படைத்தார். இதைச் சொல்லிச் சொல்லி வெளிநாட்டினர் மகிழ்வர். உண்மையில் இந்தக் கதையை நம்மிடமிருந்து பைபிளும் இரவல் வாங்கி முதல் அத்தியாயத்திலேயே எழுதிவிட்டது. ஆதாம் என்பவரின் இடுப்பு எலும்பை கடவுள் முறித்து ஏவாள் என்ற பெண்ணை உருவாக்கவும், ஆதாம் அவளுடன் கூடி (Incest?) மனித இனத்தை உருவாக்கினார் என்பது அக்கதை. ஒரே உடலில் இருந்து ஒருவரைப் படைத்தால் அந்த ஏவாளும் சதரூபா போல ஆதாமின் மகள்தானே!!
இதில் உள்ள அறிவியல் உண்மை என்னவென்றால் முதலில் பாக்டீரீயா போல இருந்த உயிரினம் ஒரு செல் உயிரினங்களாக மாறி நீரில் நீந்தி பிறகு ஒரே உடலில் ஆண் பெண் உறுப்புகளுடன் பிறந்தன (ஹெர்மாப்ரோடைட் Hermaphrodite). பின்னர்தான் ஆண், பெண் என தனித்தனி உயிர் இனங்கள் தோன்றின. இதை அர்த்தநாரீஸ்வரர் என்னும் சிவனின் வடிவத்துடன் ஒப்பிடலாம்.
முதலில் ஆண் தோன்றினானா? பெண் தோன்றினாளா? முதலில் முட்டை வந்ததா? கோழி வந்ததா? (Chicken and Egg question) என்ற கேள்விக்கு விடை கூறும் கதை இது. பெரிய விஞ்ஞான உண்மைகளை, சுவையான கதைகளாகத் தருபவை நம் புராணங்கள்!
அறிவியல் உண்மை 5 பிரம்மாவின் தோற்றம் பற்றிய கதை பெரிய பூகர்ப்பவியல் ( Geology ஜியாலஜி) கதையாகும். அவர் நீரில் படுத்து இருந்த நாராயணனின் தொப்புள் கொடியில் இருந்து உதித்த தாமரை மலரில் இருந்து தோன்றியதாக ஒரு கதை உண்டு. இது காண்டினென்டல் ட்ரிப்ட் Continental Drift எனப்படும் கண்டங்கள் நகர்ந்த கதை ஆகும். முதலில் பூமி என்பது ஒரே நிலப்பரப்பாக இருந்தது பின்னர் அது தாமரை மலர்வது போல மெதுவாக நகர்ந்து இன்றுள்ளது போல ஆசியா, அமெரிக்கா, ஆப்பிரிக்கா எனப் பிரிந்தது. இதையே தாமரையில் பிரம்மா தோன்றி உலகைப் படைத்தார் என்போம். புராணத்தில் கூட பிரம்மாண்டம் என்று இருப்பதைக் காணலாம். ‘ப்ரு’ என்னும் வடமொழி வேர்ச் சொல் மூலமே ‘’பெருகுதல், பிரிதல், பெரிய, ப்ருஹத், ப்ரம்ம’’ — முதலிய சொற்கள் வந்தன.
கிரேக்க மொழியில், முதலில் இருந்த சூப்பர் கான்டினென்ட்டை ‘’பங்கேயா’’ Panagaea என்பர். பங்கய என்றால் தாமரை எனப் பொருள். இது பங்கஜம் என்ற வடமொழிச் சொல். பிற்காலத்தில் இந்தப் பொருள் அறியாதோர் கிரேக்க மொழியில் புதுப் பொருள் கண்டனர் ( பேன்+ கயா ). பெண்கள் குழந்தை பெறுவதையும் தாமரை மலரில் இருந்து குழந்தை வந்ததாக வடமொழி இலக்கியங்கள் வருணிக்கும்.
அறிவியல் உண்மை 6 கணித விஷயத்தில், ஒன்பது என்ற எண்ணின் வியப்புறு குணங்களில் பல ஆராய்ச்சி செய்து அதன் பெயரில் பிரம்மாண்டமான எண்களைக் க(ல்)ற்பித்து (கல்பம் என்பதே பிரம்மாவின் ஒரு நாள், பரம் என்பது அவரது 100 ஆண்டு) உலகம் அறியாத புதுமைகளைச் செய்தனர் இந்துக்கள். ஒன்பது என்ற எண்ணின் பரிபூரணத் தன்மையை மனதிற் கொண்டே 108, 1008 என்ற அஷ்டோத்திரம், சஹஸ்ரநாமம் ஆகியவற்றைப் படைத்தார்கள் இது பற்றி நான் இரண்டு ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன் எழுதிய எண்கள் 18, 108, 1008 பற்றிய கட்டுரையில் விரிவாகக் கொடுத்து இருக்கிறேன்.
அறிவியல் உண்மை 7 நாரா (நீரா) அயனன்= நாராயணன், பிரம்மா மற்றும் முதல் இரண்டு அவதாரங்கள் எல்லாம் — நீரில்தான் உயிரினங்கள் தோன்ற முடியும், பரிணாம வளர்ச்சி பெற முடியும் —- என்று காட்டுகின்றன. இன்று வெளி கிரகங்களிலும் நீரின் மூலக்கூறுகள் (water molecules) இரு கின்றனவா என்று விஞ்ஞானிகள் தேடிக் கொண்டிருப்பதை நாம் அறிவோம்.
Brahma in Sumerian Civilisation
அறிவியல் உண்மை 8 உலகின் முதல் அகராதி (Thesaurus/ Dictionary நூலான அமரகோசம் வழங்கும் பிரம்மாவின் 29 வடமொழிப் பெயர்களை மற்றொரு கட்டுரையில் தருகிறேன்.
பிரம்மா என்பவர் வானவியலை (Astronomy/ Cosmology) விளக்கும் கடவுள் பூகர்ப்பவியலை (Geology) விளக்கும் கடவுள் உயிரியல், பரிணாம வளர்ச்சியை (Biology / Theory of Evolution) விளக்கும் கடவுள் கணிதம், பிரம்மாண்ட எண்களை (Mathematics and Amazing Numbers) விளக்கும் கடவுள் பிக் பேங், பிக் க்ரஞ்ச்(Big Bang and Big Crunch) முதலிய அதி நவீன கொள்கைகளை (Ultra Modern Theories) விளக்கும் கடவுள்!!
—-சுபம்—
Tags-Hinduism through 500 Pictures in Tamil and English; படங்கள் மூலம் இந்து மதம் கற்போம்- Part 21 ,பிரம்மா , அறிவியல் உண்மைகள், Science behind Hindu God Brahma! Brahma Third part.
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
xxxx
BRAHMA- First Part
God of creation; one of the Trinity, Brahma Vishnu Shiva.
Temples at Pushkar, Rajasthan, Brahmapureeswar in Tamil Nadu; all South Indian Saivite temples have Brahma’s statues.
No proper worship; like Archana, Sahasranama, Puja etc.
Sung by saints in all Saivite hymns as one searching for Shiva’s head along with Vishnu in Boar form searching for His feet; but both failed.
Brahma lied and so he was cursed that he won’t be worshipped on earth.
His abode is Satya Loka up above the earth. He has an end unlike Shiva and Vishnu. A new Brahma takes over.
But his life span in human years is very huge.
His wife is Sarsvati, Goddess of Wisdom and Education.
Brahma is portrayed as Prajapathi in the Vedas.
Now he is shown with four heads because one of his five heads was chopped off by Lord Shiva according to Tamil verses.
His references are in Tamil Sangam literature, Tirukkural, Tevaram, Tiruvasagam etc.
When he insulted others, Shiva cut off his fifth head. That happened at Tirukkandiyur near Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu according to Sthala Puranas (local temple legends). His beautiful figure is at that place.
When he failed to tell the meaning of Aum- Pranava mantra—he was imprisoned by Skanda, Shiva’s son; later released at the request of Devas.
He created Sapta Rishis from whom humans were created.
Tamil Encyclopaedia Abhidhana Chintamani of Singara velu Mudaliyar gives 67 points about Brahma.
His vehicle is swan (Hamsa);
He came from the belly of Vishnu on top of a lotus flower. In Tamil Tirukkural as Malarmisai ekinaan.
He gave boons to lot of Devas and Demons.
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More about Brahma’s appearance
Brahma , distinct from Brahman, the all pervading Eternal Spirit, is the first member of the Hindu Triad. His principal function is Creation. Independent shrines dedicated to him are rare. Still figures of Brahma are commonly found decorating one of the niches in the north wall of the central shrine in Siva temples. Images of Brahma are sometimes seen on pillars, ceilings and other parts of the temple. But he is not worshipped as a chief deity except one or two temples in India.
According to Maanasaara, one of the standard works on sculpture, Brahma is represented with four hands. He has, however, one body with four heads. The image may be standing or seated. The form of the left lower hand exhibits the posture of conferring boons (Varada Mudra) while the right lower indicates protection (Abhaya mudra). The corresponding upper hands hold the water pot (Kamandalu) and the rosary (Akhsamaalaa) or sometimes the sacrificial ladle (Srik) and spoon (Sruva).
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The following ornaments are seen in the finished picture of Brahma:
Earrings or pendants fashioned like the face of a crocodile.
The sacred thread, Yajnasutra, hanging right across the body from the left shoulder;
The scarf (Uttariiya) thrown round the neck so as to stretch down to the knees;
The utarabandhana, or literally girdle going round the belly;
Necklace and torque;
Armlets, arm-rings, wristlets, anklets, waist zone, finger rings set with gem stones etc.
His hair is made up in the fashion of Jataa-Makuta and he is attended by two goddesses Sarasvati on the right and Saavitri on the left.
Another representation shows Brahma riding a chariot drawn by Seven Swans (hamsa). He is seated on a full blown lotus flower (Tamil Tirukkral refers to it) , his eyes closed in a meditative posture. Goddess Saavitri is seated on his left thigh. There are various other representations of Brahma drawn purely from the imagination of the sculptor or painter, sometimes also based on puranic legends.
To be continued……………
Tags- Brahma, First part, Sarasvati, lotus flower, ornaments, Four heads, Hinduism through 500 Pictures in Tamil and English; படங்கள் மூலம் இந்து மதம் கற்போம் – Part 19
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NEWS BULLETIN
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MRS Brhannayaki Sathyanarayanan from Bengaluru speaks on
DEVA PRAYAG TEMPLE
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Talk by Prof S Suryanarayanan
Topic- Some Interesting Facts
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SPECIAL EVENT-
Talk on Keezadi Excavations
Keezadi and South India
By
N Ganesh Raaja, Amateur Historian and Author
Ganesh Raaja. N hails from Tamil Nadu. He completed his engineering in 2003 and has more than twenty years of experience in the software industry.
He was attracted towards ‘History of India’ after noticing a defaming article in an Indian magazine. He has spent more than eight years researching on this subject. He has read vast number of books related to ancient Sanskrit literature, ancient Tamil literature, scientific evolution etc. written by eminent Indian and foreign scholars.
Each book he referred to catered to a specific aspect of Indian life. After understanding them, a natural interest arose in him to reconcile and chronologically arrange them in a ‘holistic’ and ‘interesting’ way. This is a first attempt at narrating India’s story ‘as-it-happened’.
The result is the book, titled, “The Jambū Island”. This book chronologically organizes the Rishis, kings, literaryevolution, people’slives, and scientificprogress based on Sanskrit and Tamil literature. It aims to eliminatemyths, interpolations, and exaggerations. It strives to present the story in a logical and captivatingnarrative, with many pictures.
This book covers the period from roughly 6000 BCE to 3138 BCE, narrating significant events including the rendering of the Vedicmantras by the Rishis, the Aryan clan split towards Iran resulting in the formation of the Zōrōastrians, the atrocities and defeat of the Haihaya clan, fusion of Nāgās and other native tribes into the Vedic religion, Āryancolonization of SouthIndia, and the Bharata battle at Kurukshetra.
Post launching his book, Ganesh has started an Youtube channel in Tamil to share his learnings. The goal of this channel to spread awareness about the greatness of our country and Hindu religion, to create a counter-narrative to the popular Dravidian ideology of Tamil Nadu.
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
xxxx
Vishnu desceing from heaven; prison in Mathura
Part Fifteen
Yesterday I gave the concluding remarks for Mahabharata Wayang Puppet show of Indonesia in Tamil. Let us look at some matter in bullet points
Who are Pandavas? Yuthisthiran, Bhima, Ajuna were born to Kunti and Nakula ,Sahadeva were born to Madri and both the queens were wives of Pandu, the King who was ruling Hastinapura. Because he was cursed by Kindama Rishi he went to forest and died there.
Kunti got her children through the grace of (Yama) Dharma, Vayu and Indra where as Madri got her children by the grace of Asvini Devas. But Kunti’s eldest son was Karna who was born by the grace of Sun god. When she wanted to hide her first birth all the things started going wrong. Karna was floated in a basket in the river which was recovered by a chariot driver.
In the Indian Olympic Games , Karna wanted to participate but was prevented by the Pandavas saying he was not a king. Immediately Duryodhana proclaimed him as the king of Anga desa. This shows Duryodhana as great statesman.
Kunti could have said Karna was also a Kshatriya, but she did not say it.
Duryodhana and his 98 brothers were suffering from jealousy. At no time neither Gandhari nor Dhritarashtra corrected them. Shakuni was an evil person poisoning everyone’s mind. He spoiled all peace deals proposed by Lord Krishna
And when Yudhisthira lost everything including their wife Draupadi in the gambling, Dushasana, eldest of the Duryodhana gang disrobed her in the assembly. But Krishna saved her modesty by magically producing more and more saris.
When the war started Krishna used all his cunning plans and used Arjuna as his pawn. But Arjuna lost his beloved son Abimamyu too. At the end Aswathtama also killed all the children of Draupadi. This shows war is cruel and both sides suffer. Krisna’s policy was End justifies Means; so he adopted all treacherous schemes.
There is another lesson; not only jealousy destroyed Duryodhana gang; but also showing disrespect to woman also another reason for the destruction. When Dussasana disrobed Draupadi she made a vow she would never decorate her hair until Duryodhanadhis were destroyed. Bhima fulfilled her vow. He killed Dusasana in a cruel way. The hand which touched Draupadi in the assembly was plucked out from his body and he was beaten to death with the same hand.
This is another lesson. If you molest a woman, you will be destroyed.
Third lesson was untruth will cause destruction. Kunti never revealed that Karna was her eldest son. If she were honest in the very beginning, Mahabarata war would not have happened. Karna’s life saving metal jacket/armour was also removed treacherously by Krishna. He asked Indra to go in the guise of a Brahmin and he asked Karna to donate his armour.
Yuthisthira should have stopped the game of dice at one stage. He never stopped it. It was his biggest weakness. Another weakness was that he can be easily manipulated by others. Krishna wanted him to tell a lie in the battlefield about Elephant Aswatththama’s death. He made the announcement in such a way that Drona thought his son Aswaththama was killed .
Kunti met her sons.
Conclusion
Kunti’s dishonesty regarding Karna, Yuthisthira’s weakness of dice game, Kaurava’s jealousy and Krishna’s cunning plans were the reasons for war and destruction.
At the end all of them, both Pandavas and Kauravaas, had miserable death .But yet we got Bhagavad Gita, Vishnu Sahasranama and Yaksha prasna and several stories about ancient women too from the Mahabharata .
Mamular (mahaa moolar) is the oldest Tamil Historian. He is the only poet who sang about Nandas and Mauryas of fifth and fourth centuries BCE.
Though another great Brahmin poet Paranar from Kerala region mentioned about eighty historical anecdotes, the highest number, he was junior to Mamular.
Mahaa moola must have been born on Moola star/nakshatra day like another great Tamil poet Tiru Moolar. He was from Kashmir who gave us 3000 Tamil verses on Yoga etc lived 1000 years after the great Sangam poet Maamoolar.
Sangam Tamil poets Paranar, Mamular and many others give us the history of Tamil Land, what is now called Tamil Nadu in India.
Maamoolar (hereafterwards MM) gives some interesting details about golden treasure of Nandas as well. MM contributed at least 27 verses in Akananuru (naanooru=400).
His name is a Sanskrit name like Paranar and Kapilar. Lord Shiva in the famous Kanchipuram temple is also called Maamoolar. There they attribute the name to the mango tree (Maa Maram in Tamil).
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130
MM gives us following details about Kings:
a) Pulli of Venkatam Hills (the Balaji or Venkata Achala Pathi temple at Venkata Hills is the richest temple in the world and that was the northern border of Tamil speaking world in ancient times.)
b) Nannan of Ezil Hills.
c) Badaga/ Vaduka chief Katti is one of them. Vaduka now stands for Telugu speaking people (B=V are interchangeable through out India from Sangam days (Rig Vedic saBhaa was changed as aVai in Sangam poems)
d) Other names in his poems: Kannan Ezini, Paanan and Anji)
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131
Important note about Great Choza emperor Karikaalan
One of the greatest Tamil emperors is Karaikaal Chozan. He went up to the Himalaya and engraved his Tiger emblem there. He defeated another great king of Chera/ Kerala country named Nedun Cheralaathan. Chera king died by fast unto death called Praayopavesa.
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132
Fast unto death
Hindus , when they wanted to die, sit facing Holy North and starve themselves to death. This is seen in Valmiki Ramayana, Bhagavata etc and they called it Praayopavesa.
Parikshit is described to have observed the prayopavesa when the Bhagavata Purana was narrated to him by the sage Shuka, son of Vyasa.
In 1982, Acharya Vinoba Bhave (spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi) died by prayopavesa.
On 11 January 1997 Swami Nirmalananda subjected himself to prayopavesa.
In October 2001, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami subjected himself to prayopavesa. Subramuniyaswami was diagnosed to be suffering from terminal intestinal cancer. He later died on the 32nd day of his fast on November 12.
Kopperun choza also starved to death; his friends including great Tamil poet Pisir Aaanthaiyaar joined him.
Pancha Pandavas along with Draupadi walked up the Himalayas in the holy north and died.
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Chera’s sea expedition
MM also sang about Cheralathan’s sea expedition where he cut the Kadampa tree (Totem symbol) of his enemy in the middle of the sea. He also won several countries in the north and brought the treasure to his town Manththai
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134.
Tooth Relic
We read lot about Buddha’s Tooth Relic which is holy. But here in MM’s poems we read about enemy’s teeth embedded on the door of the victorious one. Ezini was defeated by Maththi. Chera won Maththi and brought his teeth buried them on the door.
(Z= special L of Tamil language)
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135
Controversial Information
MM said that Uthiyan Cheral, a Chera/Kerala king, fed the Mahabharata warriors. If we believe that literally that Chera should have lived in about 3100 BCE! which is impossible.
The word used in MM poem is Perum Soru meaning great food. It is actually a great feast to commemorate the dead people. That is food in memory of the war heroes. Bhagavad Gita, Sangam book Purananuru and books from Non Hindu religions say that war heroes reach heaven. They have Visa free direct flight to heaven! So, they are remembered, and feast is organised.
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Lyre Broken in Disappointment
Another interesting detail added by MM is a singer breaking his Yaaz (Veena/ lyre) when Evvy died in the battle field. This may be compared to another incident that happened 1400 years ago in Dharmapuram. That was the birth place of great musician named Thiru Neelakanta Yaazpaanar. He was a great Yaaz/ Lyre instrumentalist. He accompanied the Boy Saint Tiru Gnana Sambandar with his wife Mathanka Choolaamani. When he became very proud of his skill, Lord Shiva wanted to teach him a lesson. When Sambandar came to his town he could not cope up with Sambandar’s singing. When he was about to break his lyre, Shiva himself played on his instrument and so even today Shiva appears in a rare form here. He holds a lyre in his hand in this temple. Musicians also break their instruments when they get disappointed. That was reported to us by MM two thousand years ago.
Now let us go into details of Nadas and Mauryas.
To be continued………………
Tags -பிராயோபவேசம் வடக்கிருத்தல் யாழ்முறிநாதர், மாமூலனார், கதவில் பல் சின்னம் , யாழை முறித்த பாணன், மூல நட்சத்திரம், Ancient Tamil Encyclopaedia- Part 2, One Thousand Interesting Facts! -Part 22, Oldest Tamil Historian Mamular
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
xxxx
Akananuru (naanooru) wonders continued……………….
எழுத்துடை நடுகல்
Part twenty
Item 125
Interesting customs found in Akananuru:
Coastal fisher woman worshipping Vedic God Varunan by planting Shark fin bone.
Brahmins sent as messengers as told by Tolkappiar.
Women counting days by marking on the wall;
People are listening to lizard clicks to find out good and bad things to come;
Women worshipping crescent moon;
Girls making false cries to attract male youths; Tamil word Venkai stands for both tiger and a tree. Girls shout Venaki, Venaki and the youths come running to save them; and the girls laugh at the youths; but one or two youths will be trapped by the tricky girls.
Women’s games are described in several poems: they played with crabs, chased parrots from the paddy fields; built sand castles;
Soldiers worship hero stones before going to battlefield.
Soldiers look for good omens before marching;
Brahmins who dot follow Vedic rituals make bangles by cutting conches.
Bride is bathed by Four Sumangalis who gave birth to children;
Cowherds take food/ pack lunch in bamboo holes and tie them on the neck of the cow;
Placing spear and other instruments used by a hero near the Hero stones.
Coastal people taking salt bags on the back of the donkeys for selling.
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126
There are more interesting details ; we will look at them now:-
Three Akam poems (53, 67 and 269; also Ainkuru.352) tell us about the Hero stones with Tamil inscriptions. But until very recently such ancient stones were not discovered. So archaeologist K V Sundararajan raised doubts about the age of such poems. At that time the oldest hero stone was dated Sixth century CE. But in 2006 newspapers reported Hero stones with Brahmi letters and experts placed them in BCE period. Old Brahmi inscriptions never mentioned dates, and they were very short. And so, we need more clearcut evidence for Hero stones with Tamil inscription.
Tamils have the habit of pushing all the Brahmi inscriptions to fourth century BCE which is ridiculous. Asoka’s brahmi inscriptions are very long with lot of information, where as Tamil Brahmi inscriptions are not only very short but also in Prakrit or colloquial , ungrammatical Tamil .So they must be later than , much more later than Asoka’s inscriptions.
We know that Orissa king Kharavela marched into Pandya country and defeated the Pandya king according to Hathikumbha cave inscriptions in Orissa. On another side, Mauryans laid road routes in Western Ghats and marched towards or into Tamil Nadu according to Mamular’s Sangam verses. But in that part, that is Karnataka- Tamil Nadu border, we don’t find hero stones with inscription. From Pallava period only we get inscriptions. Jains must have brought it into Tamil nadu. That shows northern origin of Brahmi script.
Karnataka has more documented hero stones than Tamil Nadu. Nearly 3000 hero stones are in Karnataka from sixth century CE
The big question about Tamil Brahmi inscriptions is why didn’t Tamils write legibly like Asoka?
Why didn’t Tamils write at least three lines?
Why do we have to guess the meaning and put words into the mouths of dead people?
Even the very late sixth century CE ones don’t have long sentences.
My guess is Tamils did not practise writing on stones or on any material until sixth or seventh century. Even Lord Shiva’s letter to Cheraman (Kerala King) belongs to post Sangam period.
Some of the references to Hero stones with writings on it:–
விழுத்தொடை மறவர் வில் இட வீழ்ந்தோர்
எழுத்துடை நடுகல் இன் நிழல் வதியும்
அருஞ்சுரக் கவலை நீந்தி என்றும்,- Akam 53
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அரம் போழ் நுதிய வாளி அம்பின்,
நிரம்பா நோக்கின் நிரையங்கொண்மார்,
நெல்லி நீளிடை எல்லி மண்டி
நல் அமர்க் கடந்த நாணுடை மறவர்
பெயரும் பீடும் எழுதி அதர்தொறும்
பீலி சூட்டிய பிறங்கு நிலை நடுகல்Akam- 67
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ஏறுடை இனநிரை பெயரப்; பெயராது
செறிசுரை வெள்வேல் மழவர்த் தாங்கிய
தறுக ணாளர் நல்லிசை நிறுமார்,
பிடிமடிந் தன்ன குறும்பொறை மருங்கின்,
நட்ட போலும் நடாஅ நெடுங்கல்
அகலிடம் குயின்ற பல்பெயர் மண்ணி,
நறுவிரை மஞ்சள் ஈர்ம்புறம் பொலிய- Akam 269
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My old articles
Hero Stone Worship in North India (Post No.4286)
Date:9 October 2017; Post No. 4286
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HERO STONES ON SEA BATTLES (Post No.5163)
Date: 29 JUNE 2018
Post No. 5163
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To be continued………………………
Tags- Hero stones, with Inscriptions,எழுத்துடை நடுகல், Tamil Encyclopedia, Part 20
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
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Village Gods and Goddesses are found all over India. There are three types of village Gods and Goddesses:
1.Gods and Goddesses of Vedic Origin
2.Local Heroes and Heroines with Memorial Stones
3.Persons who self- sacrificed in Sati and Navakandam.
Since it is a vast subject we will look at Village Gods and Goddesses only. All such Gods and Goddesses have Sanskrit names such as Sastha/Ayyanar, Rakkaayee/Vedic Goddess Raka, Kaththaayee/ Kathyayani, Makamaayee /Mahaa Maayaa., Mookkaayee/Mukambhika etc
Kanchi Paramacharya (1894-1994) dispelled the wrong notion that these Gods are of local origin.
The only difference from the big temples and the shelter less, open spaced Village gods is that they are maintained by Non Brahmins. Moreover, they don’t have daily pujas or rituals. During summertime they are celebrated on a grand scale. Lot of Brahmin families hold such Gods and Goddesses as their family deities. Every year, particularly during weddings, birth of new babies they go there and give offerings.
Another difference is offering flesh and wine. This is also over blown by half baked foreigners and Dravidians. They offer meat, fish and wine because they consume it every day. Even Cigarettes, Cigars and Beedies were offered to the village Gods for the same reason.
Sati Stones (Following Parvati’s self -sacrifice in to her father’s Yaga Kundam chaste women also do that; Sati means Parvati), Nava Kandam (Cutting his own body into nine different parts as in Mahabharata) memorials are found all over India. Because Muslim invaders destroyed them in the North, we see a smaller number of monuments in North India. Unfortunately, this topic has not been dealt with on Pan Indian basis.
Kanchi Paramacharya mentioned this type of worship in his lectures. Dr R Nagaswamy, world famous archaeologist and historian, has contributed much on this topic. Local villagers raise a memorial for a hero and in course of time, it became temples. In and around Madurai we see such temples.
(author who lived in Madurai visited Peacchi Amman, Chellath Amman, Sittuk Kuruvi Kali Aaththaa temples very often in Madurai. Just before entering Meenakshi temple used to worship Muniswaran in the northern entrance, and Madurai Veeran in the Eastern entrance. He used to go to Mari Amman temple with his mother outside the town and offer silver replicas of Body parts to avoid small pox. His mother used to offer Maa Vilakku/ lighted wicks in the midst of sweet flour. This is to show that Brahmin families worship village Goddesses. Every year during summer, street aster street celebrate their Goddesses and march to Vaigai River to dissolve/immerse the Goddesses they made with clay. Very big crowd with all the music and dance march to the river bank)
Even big temples have village Gods at the entrance or in front of them. Mostly they are outside villages or towns are in the border of a town.
Each festival of such Gods has different customs. Fire Walking is one of them; offering hair, making Gruel or Sweet Pongal for distribution, taking the clay model of goddesses in procession, making temporary Urchava Murtis with clay and paint, immersion on the third day of festival, carrying Umbrellas (Kudai Eduththal) men dressing themselves like females, wearing only neem leaves to hide their private parts etc are found throughout Tamil Nadu.
Dr Nagaswamy has written one article about the references in Raurava Agama about erecting memorials for the departed heroes or saints. Brahmins used to bury the stones under the earth in their gardens.
Orthodox Hindus bury the dead saints and erect Tulsi Plant Brindhavanams for Vaishnavie saints , Adhistanam with Lingas for Saivite saints. Such Samadhis are seen from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
After Gajabhahu visited the erection of Patni Goddess Stone for Kannaki in Kerala around 132 CE, Patni cult spread all over Ceylon/Sri Lanka. This shows creation of new gods in Hinduism.
Now Samadis of Shirdi Baba, Sathya Sai Baba, Ragavendra, Ma Ananda mayi, Dhargas of Muslim saints, Gurudwaras of departed Sikh Gurus, Maharashtra Hindu sains, Samadhis of great composers are visied by millions. They are all considered Gods and regular pujas are offered. This is to show that hero worship is not new to Hindus.
Renula Devi, Draupati temples are in several places.
Not only villages, even cities have their Goddesses according to Valmiki Ramayana, Silappadikaaram, Manimekali and several other Hindu books.
Greatest of the ancient Tamil poets, Tiru Valluvar justified it in his Kural couplet:
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Tamil and Vedas 
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