TajMahal & Ancient Indian Measurement

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

'Came across an article on Tajmahal which suggests that Tajmahal

builders used the ancient Indian units of measurement (Angulam,

Vitasti = 12 Angulam & Dhanus = 108 Angulam). 1 Angulam = 1.763cm.

 

THose who are interested may please check the link.

 

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/12706/taj-mahal-builders-followed-harappan.html

 

If proven beyond doubt and accepted by 'Experts', this might put another

nail on the prevailing theory of construction of Tajmahal by ShahJahan.

 

 

Regards

 

P L Chakraborty

 

 

 

Sunil Nair [astro_tellerkerala]Monday, July 13, 2009 9:38 AM Subject: Fw: Mleccha, Meluhha – language, writing, people

 

 

 

 

 

--- On Sun, 12/7/09, S. Kalyanaraman <kalyan97 > wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

Mleccha, Meluhha – language, writing, people

Mleccha -- language (indistinct speech)

Manusmruti provides evidence for mleccha as one of two dialects in ancient India. (10.43 mukhabÄahurÅ«pajjÄnaam yÄ loke jÄtayo bahih mlecchavÄcaÅ› cÄryavÄcas te sarve dasyuvah smá¹›tÄh ‘Those born in the world, those who employ arya speech and those who employ mleccha speech – both are remembered as dasyu’), languages are classified as Mleccha vÄcas and Arya vÄcas ( that is, lingua franca and literary Sanskrit). Monier Williams dictionary notes: mleccha vÄc (opp. To Ärya vÄc);mlecchaakhya ‘called mleccha’, copper; mlecchana ‘the act of speaking confusedly or barbarously, Dhaatup.; mlecchita = mlishta (Paan. 7.2.18); mlecchitaka ‘speaking in a foreign jargon (unintelligible to others).

Mleccha languages were viewed by Patanjali as apaÅ›abdas which could not be employed during ÄdhyÄtmika duties. ApaÅ›abda use on other occasions was acceptable in the linguistic world of Patanjali. (Madhav Deshpande, 1993, Sandkrit and Prakrit, p. 32). For Patanjali, mleccha is apaÅ›abda, ‘corrupt speech’, maybe a reference to the use of Prakrits or of prakritised Sanskrit. Correct use of words was emphasized – by using eteá¹£shÄm for performing shraddha ceremony for pitá¹›trayi (father, grandfather and great-grandfather, male line); but the feminine form etÄsÄm when performing the shraddha ceremony for mÄtá¹›trayi (mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, female line).

In Jaina records, mleccha are Dasyu. In Jaina geography, karmabhumi has six parts: one khanda was peopled by noble, meritorious good people; the other five were mleccha khandas, peopled by the rest of the inhabitants of the karmabhumi.

Of course, Vidura speaks to Yudhishthira in mleccha language (mleccha vaacaa, 1.135.6b).

In Mudrarakshasa, Chandragupta’s foil is Malayaketu, a mleccha. The arya-mleccha opposition is insignificant in the play and virtually nonexistent in the rest of the Indian tradition on Chandragupta (Robert E. Goodwin, 1998, The playworld of Sanskrit drama, p.114)

Kumarila Bhatta (6th cent.), in his commentary, Tantra Vaarttika, clearly notes Arya, mleccha and Dravida usages, refers to ‘the countries inhabited by the Mlecchas being innumerable’, (TV, 1.111.6). loc. cit. Kapil Kapoor, Language, linguistics and literature, the Indian perspective, p. 51 http://tinyurl. com/na7wer

Mleccha – people

Mlecchas were present everywhere; Aryans and mlecchas alike drink water from the various rivers of Bharatavarsha (6.10.12).

Mahabharata notes: From Yadu were born the Yadavas, TurvasuS sons are the Yavanas, Druhyu’s sons are the Bhojas, Anu’s are the mleccha jaatis. (1.80.26-27) . Mleccha teachers are mentioned (Mlecchaacaaryaah, 12.4.8c. Yudhishthira notes that mlecchas also engage in fasting (13.109.1b). [in Tamil texts Mullaippaattu, 41-46. pp. 214-18; 'Silappadhikaram V. pp, 9 12, the term Yavana is rendered Sonagar by the earlier and mleccha by the later Commentator.]

Samudragupta conquered Kashmir and Afghanistan which were mleccha countries at that time and enlarged his empire (VR Ramachandra Dikshitar, 1993, The Gupta polity, p.199)

People born from the tail of the celestial cow Nandini, kept by Vasishtha. Mahabharata:

1. Mlecchas sent Vishvamitra flying in terror

2. Bhimasena defeated the mlecchas living in the coastal regions and took several valuable diamonds as tax

3. Mlecchas living in the coastal area were once defeated by Sahadeva of Pandavas

4. Nakula also once defeated the mlecchas

5. Bhagadatta was the king of mlecchas

6. Bhagadatta accompanied by mlecchas living on the coasts attended the Rajasuya of Yudhishthira

7. Mlecchas will be born on earth at the beginning of Pralaya

8. Kalki, incarnation of Vishnu will destroy the mlecchas

9. Karna during his campaign conquered many mleccha countries

10. A place of habitation in Bharat is called mleccha

11. Anga, a mleccha warrior was killed in battle by Bhimasena

12. Once mlecchas attacked Arjuna with arrows. Arjuna killed the hairy soldiers

13. Satyaki killed many mleccha soldiers in the great war

14. Nakula killed Anga, a mleccha king

15. Arjuna had to face a great army of mlecchas to protect the yaagaashva

16. The wealth that remained in the Yaagashaalaa of Yudhishthira after the distribution of gifts to Brahmins was taken away by the mlecchas

17. Mlecchas droved angered elephants on to the army of the Pandavas.

Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Puranas, 2001, by Parmeshwaranand

http://tinyurl. com/n5n3de

 

Exploring Identity and the Other in Ancient India

Mleccha (and its equivalent milakkha) are usually translated as foreigner or barbarian. A translation which is inadequate in so many ways but not least because it implies that it was a word used by Indians to describe non-Indians. In fact it is a term used by some writers who lived in certain parts of India to describe people native to what we think of as India but who lacked some important criteria the writer felt defined his cultural identity (language, religion, geographical location, ancestry etc.). Most often it was used by Brahmanical writers to describe those outside of the aryavarta… Parsher begins with a discussion of the etymology of Mleccha. As the earliest reference occurs in the Satapatha Brahmana, which is part of an oral tradition dating to before 500 BC, scholars have usually looked for various origins in the bronze age societies of the first and second millennium BCE...

In fact in early texts it is clear that mleccha status was defined largely in terms of language (either the inability to use Sanskrit, or the inability to use it correctly). Language was central to identity in ancient India, as evidence by the process of Sanskritization in the early centuries AD, the importance of the Grammarians from Panini onwards. Readers interested in this aspect should also consult the very good collection of essays by Madhav M Deshpande, Sanskrit & Prakrit: Sociolinguistic Issues (Mohilal Banarsidass, 1993)…

Arthasastra suggests that mleccha would make valuable mercenaries, in fact it prescribes their use for a number of activities (assassination, espionage, poisoning) which might be considered beneath arya. This is a not entirely positive view, but it is a pragmatic one. The epics, which Parsher takes as generally later in tone, also portray the mleccha as valuable mercenaries. On the other hand, the Dharmasastra literature generally takes a theoretical (but not consistent) view of non-contact with the mleccha, and the Mudraraksasa a similar position, portraying Malayaketu as depending on mleccha mercenaries in contrast to Chandragupta. If the sources are taken in this order, they suggest a shift towards a rhetoric (if not reality) of mleccha exclusion… The assertion that 'aboriginals were apparently ostracized because of their backwardness and repulsive habits'… Parasher vacilitates '... they were all listed together as mlecchas. This is not difficult to understand and can be explained by the fact that to the brahmin writers these people were all outside the varnasramadharma' (p. 214). [unquote] Source: About: Aloka Parasher,1991, Mlecchas in Early India Munishiram Manorharlal.

http://www.kushan. org/reviews/ mlecchas. htm

A milakkhu (Pali) is disconnected from vÄc and does not speak Vedic; he spoke Prakrt. " na ÄryÄ mlecchanti bhÄá¹£Ä bhir mÄyayÄ na caranty uta: aryas do not speak with crude dialects like mlecchas, nor do they behave with duplicity (MBh. 2.53.8). a dear friend of Vidura who was a professional excavator is sent by Vidura to help the PÄṇá¸avas in confinement; this friend of Vidura has a conversation with Yudhisthira, the eldest PÄṇá¸ava: "kṛṣṇapaká¹£e caturdasyÄm á¹›tÄv asya purocanah, bhavanasya tava dvÄri pradÄsyati hutÄsanam, mÄtrÄ saha pradagdhavyÄh PÄṇá¸avÄh puruá¹£ ará¹£abhÄh, iti vyavasitam pÄrtha dhÄrtaÄ á¹£á¹­rrÄsya me Å›rutam, kiñcic ca vidurenkoto mleccha-vÄcÄsi PÄṇá¸ava, tyayÄ ca tat tathety uktam etad visvÄsa kÄraṇam: on the fourteenth evening of the dark fortnight, Purocana will put fire in the door of your house. ‘The Pandavas are leaders of the people, and they are to be burned to death with their mother.’ This, PÄrtha (Yudhiṣṭ ira), is the determined plan of Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra’s son, as I have heard it. When you were leaving the city, Vidura spoke a few words to you in the dialect of the mlecchas, and you replied to him, ‘So be it’. I say this to gain your trust.(MBh. 1.135.4-6). This passage shows that there were two Aryans distinguished by language and ethnicity, Yudhis.t.ra and Vidura. Both are aryas, who could speak mlecchas’ language; Dhr.tara_s.t. ra and his people are NOT aryas only because of their behaviour.

Melakkha, island-dwellers

According to the great epic, Mlecchas lived on islands: "sa sarvÄn mleccha ná¹›patin sÄgara dvÄ«pa vÄsinah, aram ÄhÄryÄm Äsa ratnÄni vividhÄni ca, andana aguru vastrÄṇi maṇi muktam anuttamam, kÄñcanam rajatam vajram vidrumam ca mahÄ dhanam: (Bhima) arranged for all the mleccha kings, who dwell on the ocean islands, to bring varieties of gems, sandalwood, aloe, garments, and incomparable jewels and pearls, gold, silver, diamonds, and extremely valuable coral… great wealth." (MBh. 2.27.25-26).

A series of articles and counters had appeared in the Journal of the Economic and social history of the Orient, Vol.XXI, Pt.II, Elizabeth C.L. During Caspers and A. Govindankutty countering R.Thapar's dravidian hypothesis for the locations of Meluhha, Dilmun and Makan; Thapar's A Possible identification of Meluhha, Dilmun, and Makan appeared in the journal Vol. XVIII, Part I locating these on India's west coast. Bh. Krishnamurthy defended Thapar on linguistic grounds in Vol. XXVI, Pt. II: *mel-u-kku =3D highland, west; *teLmaN (=3D pure earth) ~ dilmun; *makant =3D male child (Skt. vi_ra =3D male offspring. [cf. K. Karttunen (1989). India in Early Greek Literature. Helsinki, Finnish Oriental Society. Studia Orientalia. Vol. 65. 293 pages. ISBN 951-9380-10- 8, pp. 11 ff et passim. Asko Parpola (1975a). Isolation and tentative interpretation of a toponym in the Harappan inscriptions. Le dechiffrement des ecritures et des langues. Colloque du XXXIXe congres des orientalistes, Paris Juillet 1973. Paris, Le dechiffrement des ecritures et des langues. Colloque du XXXIXe congres des orientalistes, Paris Juillet 1973. 121-143 and Asko Parpola (1975b). "India's Name in Early Foreign Sources." Sri Venkateswara University Oriental Journal, Tirupati, 18: 9-19.]

Meluhha trade was first mentioned by Sargon of Akkad (Mesopotamia 2370 B.C.) who stated that boats from Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha came to the quay of Akkad (Hirsch, H., 1963, Die Inschriften der Konige Von Agade, Afo, 20, pp. 37-38; Leemans, W.F., 1960,Foreign Trade in the Old Babylonian Period, p. 164; Oppenheim, A.L., 1954, The seafaring merchants of Ur, JAOS, 74, pp. 6-17). The Mesopotamian imports from Meluhha were: woods, copper (ayas), gold, silver, carnelian, cotton. Gudea sent expeditions in 2200 B.C. to Makkan and Meluhha in search of hard wood. Seal impression with the cotton cloth from Umma (Scheil, V., 1925, Un Nouvea Sceau Hindou Pseudo-Sumerian, RA, 22/3, pp. 55-56) and cotton cloth piece stuck to the base of a silver vase from Mohenjodaro (Wheeler, R.E.M., 1965, Indus Civilization) are indicative evidence. Babylonian and Greek names for cotton were: sind, sindon. This is an apparent reference to the cotton produced in the black cotton soils of Sind and Gujarat.

Milakku, Meluhha and copper

Copper-smelting had to occur on the outskirts of a village. Hence, the semantic equivalence of milakkha as copper. Mleccha in Pali is milakkha or milakkhu to describe those who dwell on the outskirts of a village. (Shendge, Malati, 1977, The civilized demons: the Harappans in Rigveda, Rigveda, Abhinav Publications) .

 

 

 

 

 

"Gordon Childe refers to the 'relatively large amount of social labour' expended in the extraction and distribution of copper and tin', the possession of which, in the form of bronze weaponry, 'consolidated the positions of war-chiefs and conquering aristocracies' (Childe 1941: 133)... With the publication of J.D. Muhly's monumental Copper and Tin in 1973 (Muhly 1973: 155-535; cf. 1976: 77-136) an enormous amount of data on copper previously scattered throughout the scholarly literature became easily accessible.. . cuneiform texts consistently distinguish refined (urudu-luh-ha) [cf. loha = red, later metal (Skt.)] from unrefined copper (urudu) strongly suggests that it was matte (impure mixture of copper and copper sulphide) and not refined copper that was often imported into the country. Old Assyrian texts concerned with the import of copper from Anatolia distinguish urudu from urudu-sig, the latter term appearing when written phonetically as dammuqum, 'fine, good' (CAD D: 180, s.v. dummuqu), and this suggests that it is not just 'fine quality' but actually 'refined' copper that is in question... TIN. In antiquity tin (Sum. nagga/[AN.NA], Akk.annaku) was important, not in its own right, but as an additive to copper in the production of the alloy bronze (Sum. sabar, Akk. siparru) (Joannes 1993: 97-8)... In some cases, ancient recipes call for a ratio of tin to copper as high as 1: 6 or 16.6 per cent, while other texts speak of a 1:8 ratio or 12.5 per cent (Joannes 1993: 104)... 'there is little or no tin bronze' in Western Asia before c. 3000 B.C. (Muhly 1977: 76; cf. Muhly 1983:9). The presence of at least four tin-bronzes in the Early Dynastic I period... Y-Cemetery at Kish signals the first appearance of tin-bronze in southern Mesopotamia. .. arsenical copper continued in use at sites like Tepe Gawra, Fara, Kheit Qasim and Ur (Muhly 1993: 129). By the time of the Royal Cemetery at Ur (Early Dynastic IIIa), according to M.Muller-Karpe, 'tin-bronze had become the dominant alloy' (Muller-Karpe 1991: 111) in Southern Mesopotamia. .. Gudea of Lagash says he received tin from Meluhha... and in the Old Babylonian period it was imported to Mari from Elam...

AbhidhÄna CintÄmaṇi of Hemachandra states that mleccha and mleccha-mukha are two of the twelve names forcopper: tÄmram (IV.105-6: tÄmram mlecchamukham Å›ulvam raktam dvaṣṭamudumbaram; mlecchaÅ›ÄvarabhedÄkhyam markatÄsyam kanÄ«yasam; brahmavarddhanam variṣṭham sÄ«santu sÄ«sapatrakam). TheragÄthÄ in Pali refers to a banner which was dyed the colour of copper: milakkhurajanam (The Thera and TheragÄthÄ PTS, verse 965: milakkhurajanam rattam garahantÄ sakam dhajam; tithiyÄnam dhajam keci dhÄressanty avadÄtakam; K.R.Norman, tr., TheragÄthÄ : Finding fault with their own banner which is dyed the colour of copper, some will wear the white banner of sectarians). [cf. Asko and Simo Parpola, On the relationship of the Sumerian Toponym Meluhha and Sanskrit Mleccha, Studia Orientalia, vol. 46, 1975, pp. 205-38).

http://www.hindunet .org/hindu_ history/sarasvat i/html/vedictech .htm

An excellent introduction to the introduction of writing system by Meluhha traders is provided by Massimo Vidale: