The origins of Hinduism and Hindu Civilization

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Origins

 

 

 

Origins

 

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

 

 

 

 

By Krishna Maheshwari

Both the origins of Hinduism and Hindu Civilization are in the mist of antiquity. Unlike every other religion, Hinduism was not founded by any specific person, nor is there a founding date. What is known however, is that Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world and also one of the few which encorporated what we consider religion today with all of the sciences (ranging from mathematics to astronomy to architecture) as part of its teachings. In modern terms, while Hinduism is considered to be a religion, it is in actuality a much broader set of teachings that cover everything useful in life.

Scriptures tell us that the Vedas were heard by the Rishis and passed down by an oral tradition for thousands of years before they were written down for the first time. Thus they are considered to be Shruti upon which all other scriptures are derived from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dating based on the understanding of Astronomy

The accuracy of Hindu astronomy amazes scientists even today[1] The only way to obtain such accurate constants of precession (without modern instruments and techniques) is through a very long period of uninterrupted observation.

Naked eye observations are accurate up to one sixth of a degree. In the case of observing the precession moving uniformly on the celestial sphere, it would then be possible to obtain an accurate rate up to three decimal places in not less than 50" ~ (72 years € 1‹) or 3,600 years. Measuring the precession is not as simple as that, however. Before attempting to measure the precession, the exact times of the equinoxes must be measured first. Ptolemy, the Greek astronomer, speaks with pride in the Almagest of "very accurately" observing the equinox to within a quarter of a day! That is, to within at best one quarter of one degree of arc. Add to this the difficulty presented by the proper motion of the stars. The star Sirius, for example, has a very large proper motion of -0?.553 ecliptic longitude per year. It would take 1,000 years for Sirius to move one sixth of a degree and for this mistake to be noticed by a naked eye observer. In addition to this, still, the motion of the Earth's perihelion would become noticeable and have to be accounted for. With all these factors, it is difficult to imagine how they can be resolved into a system that would allow continuous observation to produce a constant of precession accurate to three decimal places in less than 10,000 years. Yet, this is exactly the accuracy reached by the Rishis and documented in scriptures such as the Surya Siddhanta[2]

Similar arguments can be put forth to show that to measure the tropical period of the Sun to six decimal places[3] as against modern calculations[4] could not be accomplished only by naked eye observations in less than 10,000 years.

Indologists (who continue to debate the dating of Hindu scriptures, like the Surya Siddhanta) consider that the Surya Siddhanta was written no later than the 4th century AD. The Surya Siddhanta (in the 23rd verse of the 1st chapter) dates itself as having been given by Lord Surya at the end of krita yuga . The preceding verse says that Suryasiddhanta was given to sages in previous yugas too, ie in previous krita yugas. This puts it into pre-historic times. (We are currently in the kali yuga which started on February 18, 3102 BC as per the Julian Calendar.) Regardless of which date is used for the age of the Surya Siddhanta, the resulting dating of Hindu Civilization is at least 10,000 BC.

Dating based on Archaeological Discoveries

Gulf of Cambay

In 2001, ruins of an an ancient city, off of the cost of Dwarka in the Gulf of Cambay (also known as the Gulf of Khambhat) were found by the National Institute of Ocean Technology. Based on the results of a battery of different tests, the city is thought to be upto 9500 years old dating it to 7,500 BC.

The site was discovered by a team from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in December 2000 and investigated for six months with acoustic techniques. The team identified city-like structures at the location, said to resemble those of major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, with regular geometric patterns representing a granary, a great bath and a citadel. Several follow up investigations were conducted and many additional artifacts were recovered.

Considering the advanced nature of this city, we can only assume that Hindu civilization must have begun atleast a few hundred years prior to the city's founding (if not more).

Mehrgarh

Mehrgarh was the oldest, identified, settlement of the Indus-Saraswati Civilization prior to the finding of the ruins in the Gulf of Cambay and has been dated by archeologists to have been settled between 7,000 and 6,500 BC. Like the rest of the 1600 settlements of the Indus-Saraswati Civilization that archeologists have found covering a 25,000 square mile area, this too was built on a north- south axis. The main streets of the city ran north-south, and the entrance of the homes and public buildings faced east. Mehrgarh (like all the other cities as well) were built to the west of the rivers so that they were on land that sloped east to the river.

Archeology, Sthapatya Veda, and dating

Sthapatya Veda prescribes detailed principles of the construction of temples , homes, and cities. One of the main principles of Sthapaatya Veda is that cities be laid out on an exact north-south grid, with all houses facing due east. Another is that the buildings be oriented to the east with a slope to teh east and any body of water on the east. Mehrgarg and most other cities of the Saraswati and Indus valleys followed these principles exactly.

While it is unknown when the principles of architecture were codified into the system described in the Sthapatya Veda is unknown, it is reasonable to conclude that the knowledge was well known and practiced during the earliest periods of this civilization. Thus, since Mehrgarg was built on these principles, the Sthapatya Veda was known at a time prior to that. Considering that the Sthapatya Veda is a part of the Atharva Veda, and the Atharva Veda came atleast 1000 years after the Rig Veda , we can assume that the origins of Hindu Civilization date atleast to 8,000 BC.

The Rig Veda

The first vernal equinox recorded in the Rig Veda is that of the star Ashwini, which is now known to have occurred around 10,000 B.C.

 

Notes

 

 

ª Synodical lunar month of Suryasiddhanta differs from modern value at the rate of 1 seconds (of time ) in 83 years.

 

 

ª For example, Suryasiddhanta gives a value of 24000 for Saurapakshiya (ie, astrological) purposes, while the oral tradition of Suryasiddhanta cited by Bhaskar-II in Siddhanta Shiromani gives a value of 25,500 years, very near modern value of 25800 years. Ptolemy's data belonged to the period of Hipparchus, and Ptolemy has been proven to have plagiarised the works of Hipparchus on precession. Hipparchus gave a the value of one revolution in 36,000 years, which was not improved in Europe before modern age