Some thoughts on ancient Siva-Naga-Arya -Dravida Civilizations

[Guest guest]

Some thoughts on ancient Siva-Naga-Arya -Dravida Civilizations

- Written by Sreenadh OG (Sreesog)

 

Naga and Arya

Going by ancient literature, folklore, legends and traditions, two names that comes up most frequently are Arya and Naga.

Nagas were the some of Kadru whom some scholars have taken as the personification of earth. So Nagas are the sons of this very earth â€" i.e. natives of India. Aryas alias Devas were the sons of Vinita, the bent one, regarded as the goddess of heaven. She had two sons â€" Aruna, the charioteer of Surya and Garuda, the carrier of Vishnu. As per the story, the relations between the cousins were strained.

This legend is noticeable. Earlier the Aryans alias Brahmins were the followers of Mitras, the Sun god. This is the stream of Aryans existed in Vedic period (whether it be Indian Aryans who preferred Mitra-Indra or the Iranian Avestan Aryans who preferred Mitra-Varuna).

To quote from the book Surviving Harappan Civilization by PC Kashyap - “From the Vedic perspective there is no record or an illusion of Brahman-Naga confrontation. Traditions and legends speak only of cordial ties, inter marriages and fellow feelings between Nagas and Brahmins. There have been marriages between the two groups.

[it is interesting to note however that most of the Naga conflict seem to have been with Kshetriyas. With the Brahmanical hierarchy too, conflicts were between Brahmans and Kshetriyas; Parasurama’s anihilation of the Kshetriyas 21 times being the most prominent. (Here Haiheyas (of Karta Veerarjuna tradition) are mentioned as Kshetriyas)]â€

But when it comes to the later stream of Aryas, i.e. the later day Arya (Brahmanical) Vaishnava cult (Garuda cult), the story takes another path! The enmity between Nagas and their cousin Garuda is a favorite theme in Indian literature and art. The Vaishnava cult became prominent and popular near the 2nd and 3rd century AD, especially during the period of Sungas and Guptas.

Let us look at historical background behind this change. To quote from the text ‘Surviving Harappan Civilization by PC Kashyap’ â€" “The Allahabad pillar inscription mentions three Nagas among the kings of Northern India whose kingdoms were annexed to the Gupta empire. These kings are Nagasena, Ganapatinaga and Nagadatta. After the defeat of these rulers and their confederates the territory of the Naga formed part of Samudra Gupta’s empire. It appears that menaced by the expansionist ambitions and policies of Samudragupta, the Nagas and Sakas formed ties in an endeavor to withstand his onslaughts. In the battle of Eran, mentioned in Sridharavarman’s inscription, the Nagas and the Sakas were exterminated and the territory was annexed to the Gupta empire.â€

It was thus 2nd and 3rd century Aryan Brahmanic Vaishnava cult that caused major destruction to the ancient Naga tribe and tradition that is more indigenous to India than the later day Aryan invaders.

Looking back in history we see that â€" The Sakas had several Naga connections. The Nanda Vamsa is Nagas. The Pallavas are Nagas. The Vakataka kingdom is a Naga kingdom. King Bhoja of 11th century was a Naga king. The Pallava Script modified as Grandha script later became the Malayalam script of Kerala, and the Kerala Nairs claim the ancestry of Nagas â€" the Naga saga continues! From the ancient past upto the 11th century AD Naga kings survived in some part or other of this country. Takshasila, Mahishmati, Padmavati, Bhogavati all being major Naga city centers in North India.

Iconographic history of Nagas

Who are these Nagas? Are they the people who created Sindhu-Sarasvati civilization - The Mohanjadaro and Harappan cities? No â€" it may not be so.

Of course, Nagas who belong to this land, were very familiar with it, and know what treasures lay beneath its surface. They used copper extensively and were agriculturists producing cereals and fiber. They were great builders too. Many great cities â€" the Karkotaka Naga capital Mahishmati, Takshasila, Bhogavati and many more belongs to them. The numerous locations all over the country which are still named after the Nagas for example Nagpura, Uragapura, Nagarakhanda, Nagarcoil, Nagara patana, Nagur etc indicate that they were spread throughout the country.

But still, the Naga total is ABSENT from Harappan seal. The Harappan civilization is Pre-Aryan, Pre-Naga, and Pre-Dravidian. Harappa belongs to the Saiva Agama tradition that forms the knowledge base providers for all the later day cultures. Yes, one of them was the Naga tradition and another the Vedic Aryan Brahmanic tradition. The legend of Naga cult gets represented extensively in the later day Indian iconography as PC Kahyap puts it â€" “The Cobra is also garland of Siva, a weapon in the hand of Ganesha, and an independent deity in his own regard with a special day of the year to himself, on which the orthodox can do no digging and use no metal. At the same time, he is the indian peasant’s favorite guardian of the fields, Kshetrapala, a name also given to Sivaâ€

“Shesha the great cobra finds employment in many different situations. He is supposed to bear the whole earth upon his head, to keep it from subsidence into the waters. He serves also as bed and canopy for Vishnu, who sleeps upon the waters and whose incarnation Krishna eventually became.â€

Thus goes the great icongraphic cobra legend of the Naga cult!

Harappans are NOT Dravidians

Harappans are NOT Dravidians as PC Kashyap puts it â€" “A section of scholars has laid great store by the occurrence of Brahui in the western neighborhood of India usually to buttress the Dravidian thesis, but another group maintains that the Brahui speaking group may have reached their place in historic times, for Dravidians in considerable numbers went northwards as late as 11th century AD. Besides modern anthropology shows that the Brahuis are not of Dravidian race.

Had the authors of civilization been Dravidians, they would have still been found in the vast region of the sub-continent. It is inconceivable that after the eclipse or collapse of the civilization, all the citizens migrated only south of the Vindhyas along the west coast. Some of them at least must have escaped to the north east and if so there should have been some Dravidian characteristics still present among the populance. We have seen that Harappan colonies have been surviving upto Nirmad and Ranvin-Sarahan (both in Himachal Pradesh), but there is no trace of Dravidian blook or racial features in the upper Satlaj valley.â€

Thus it is evident that Harappan civilization does not belong to Dravidians, Aryans or Nagas. It was Pre-Dravidian, Pre-Aryan, Pre-Naga and was Saivate in nature â€" the Ancient Saiva Agama tradition. They must have co-existed with Naga-Aryan (and might be Dravidian) civilizations by the end of their decline.

Note:

1) Saiva â€" In the ancient past they must have survived as a religion and culture rather than a tribe. Later with the advent of numerous tribes and cults such as Naga, Aryan, Dravidian and so on they lost their identity and too got submerged in the diverse deity sea of India.

2) Naga â€" They remained a tribe rather than a religion, even though at some period of time they might have reflected the full nature of a religion. But later got submerged and lost identity in the diverse deity sea of India.

3) Aryan (Vedic Brahmanic & Vaishnava Brahmanic) â€" They remained both a tribe (Brahmanic) and religion (Vedic religion) at the same time. Later they too got submerged in the diverse deity sea of India, but kept and still keeping their identity through surviving Vedic literature.

4) Dravidian - They had identity both as a tribe and religion at the same time with own literature and worldview. But all this is already lost and by now they too got submerged diverse deity sea of India.

5) Jains â€" They remained a religion rather than a tribe and absorbed people from many tribes. Their deities had too much in common with the diverse deity sea of India. And with the passing of time they got submerged in the diverse deity sea of India. After some more days the Jains will not be considered as a religion at all, but only as a branch of diverse deity sea of India (now termed Hindu religion).

6) Buddhists â€" They remained a religion rather than a tribe and absorbed people from all the religions and tribes and became one of the first well-organized religions. They still remain a religion and keep their identity.

 

The diverse deity sea of India is known as Hindu religion today. Saiva-Naga-Arya- Jains-Dravidian is all just part of this broad definition of Hindu religion today.

- 0-