Hindu Chronology - Siddha Saiva Agama Perspective

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Dear All, The following is from: http://www.siddha.com.my/religionoftheagamas/chapter8.html Note: To know about the non-semitic (non-jew/christian/muslim), Ancient Sumerian Temple cult, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer Love and regards,Sreenadh===============================Hindu Chronology

There are gaps in our understanding of Hindu history as the information is not complete. Current evidence places the Indus Valley Civilisation between 3,300â€"1700 BCE, which is contemporaneous with the Sumerian Civilisation.

It is estimated that the vedic age was during the period of 2,500 BCE

to 1,500 BCE, about one millenium antecedent to IVC and Sumeria. Prior

to that was Mehgarh at 5,500 BCE. Even prior was Dvaraka at 9,000 BCE. While all of these sites shows evidences of Hinduism, there are gaps in between.

We know little of the period from 1,500 BCE to

500 BCE, the birth of Buddha. There is a gap between the vedic age to

that of the shad dharsanas of post 500 BCE. We are still unable to read

the Indus script and tie it to the vedas. There is another gap between

the vedic age and the Indus Valley Civilisation. There is yet another

gap between the Indus Valley and Mehgarh.

The Jain tirthankara Rsabhadeva,

the first tirthankara, who was worshipped, is mentioned in the vedas.

The Padma Purana says Rama built a temple and worshipped Muniswrathanath,

the 20th Jain tirthankara. So it is quite silly to say that the agamas

antecedent the vedas. They were contemporaneous, or the agamas were

anterior.

Tolkappiam precedes Astadhyayi by 2-3 centuries may have some merit as Agastya

was the guru of Tolkappiar. Agastya wrote several rig vedic, agamic and

tamil works. So he and Tolkappiar couldn't have been late. Besides the

Cheras were already ruling in full tolkappiar culture. And for sure

Agamas were pre-buddhist and pre-Nebuchadnezzar, 950 BCE.

But common sense tells us that sanskrit and the

vedic age could not have sprung all of a sudden in much developed form

in 1,500 BCE. Surely the language, religion and culture must have been

preceded by at least a millennium of development. It would be logical

to presume that there was a pre-vedic age, with origins in the Sumerian

and IVC. Prakrits (including tamil) precedes sanskrit. How could a well

formed language suddenly appear out of nowhere. Samskrta is well formed

prakrits. Prevedic texts cannot be overlooked anymore.

"Sanskrit is not the Vedic language but was

evolved out of the dead vedic Aryan and the then regional languages of

India called Prakrits which included Tamil and Dravidian. The term

Prakrit means 'previously created' and Sanskrit means 'perfectly

created', thus the very name Sanskrit suggests its posteriority to the

Prakrits in origin. A study of Tolkappiam and Paninis' Astadhyayi shows

that Tolkappiam is anterior to Paniniam by 2 or 3 centuries."

http://www.intamm.com/linguistics/primary.htm

"I feel that the history of Indian philosophies

must begin from Sumerian where as I have shown you find the central

elements of even Buddhism and Jainism in the Gilgamesh Epic. Samkhya and Yoga are present quite visibly in many Sumerian texts. Right now I am studying the Solar Cosmology in the Sumerian Kinglist and which is with us through Rig Veda,

etc. While Sumerian is definitely Archaic Tamil, and the whole Sangam

culture of the Tamils is a continuation of the Sumerian, it is not

clear to me how they came to settle in the South and Sri Lanka.,

 

The language of Vedas is also a variant of Archaic Tamils as Raghavan

is also trying to show. The metaphysical insights of Rig Veda are

certainly developments from the Sumerian. As I explore it, I notice

that almost all the basic trends in later Indian philosophies are

presaged in Sumerian philodophical and cosmological thinking so much so

that we can say the Indian is simply a footnote to the Sumerian and which is Dravidian if we go by the language.

 

Noting that Yoga practices are widely prevalent, it may be that the

Samkhya System may be one of the earliest philosophical systems of the

Hindu mind. The Purusha-Prakirti of the Samkhya may actually be An-Inanna or even Enki-Ninsikilla, the dancing gods of the Paradise Tilmun. In the Sirbiyam of En Hudu Anna, it is said that it is An

who gives all powers to In-Anna and who because of it, keeps on movimg

tirelessly all the time. Here we can see that it is In-Anna of the

Sumerians, the Woman who keeps on giving birth tirelessly who is the

Prakirti, that which keeps on moving on its own. It may be possible

that the Samkhya System was in fact the Siva-Sakti dance demythologized

and made into a rigorous philosophical system.

 

Dr. Loganathan

akandabaratam/

The pasupatas were the earliest of Hindu sampradayas going back into the BCE era. Tagare says pasupata saivism is vedic

and is the earliest Hindu sampradaya among six shaiva sampradayas, and

survives till present times. (see G.V.Tagare, "Saivism: Some Glimpses",

Delhi, 1996, p. 3). Gautama and Kanada, founders of Nyaya and Vaisheshika schools respectively, were Pasupatas (see Prof. R.K. Siddhantashastri, "Saivism Through the Ages", Delhi, 1975, p. 99).

Mahabharata mentions Krishna's initiation into Pashupatism (Anushasana-parvan, 14.379-380). In the same chapter Yajnavalkya and Vyasa

are said to have been Pashupata-shaivas. But it is hardly surprising

that these sages were pasupatas as Yagnavalkya does assert that only by

chanting the Sri Rudram does one gets knowledge and moksha. We can see

that most of the ancient sampradayas were Pasupathas, Nandinathas or

Adinathas. The latter two simply go by the name of natha swamis today.

To have a balanced view of Hinduism we have to

know of a fuller list of the main personages who shaped it and the

texts by them. Here, we have an approximate Hindu Chronology of personages, texts and sampradayas:

PreVedic (Sumerian) Period

3000 BCE Suruppak, NeRi

2300 BCE Enhudu Anna, Exaltations of In-Anna Kes Temple Hymns,

2000 BCE Sulgi, Hymn B

1800 BCE Hammurabi's Legal Code

1800 BCE Many Incantation Texts

Vedic/Agamic Period

2500-1500 BCE > 420 rishis, Vedas and Agamas

PostVedic

1000 BCE Pasupata monastic orders

700 BCE Kapalika monastic orders

700 BCE Kalamukha monastic orders

600 BCE Kanada, Vaisisekha

600 BCE Bhoga Rishi

600 BCE Agastya

600 BCE Lopamudra (or Kausitaki), Lalita Sahasranama

500 BCE Kaundinya, Panchartha Bhasya

500 BCE Kapila, Samhkya

400 BCE Vyasa

300 BCE Jaimini, Purva Mimamsa

250 BCE Nandinatha, Nandikesvara Kasika

200 BCE Tirumular, Tirumantiram

200 BCE Patanjali, Yoga Sutras

200 BCE Gautama, Nyaya Sutras

200 BCE Tiruvalluvar, Tirukural

100 CE Auvaiyar I, Purananuru poems

200 CE Lakulisa, Pasupatha sutras, Karavana Mahatmya

200 CE Kusika

200 CE Garghya

200 CE Maitreya

600 CE Appar, Sundarar

675 CE Guhavasi Siddha

775 CE Rudrasambhu

800 CE Vasugupta, Siva Sutras

800 CE Adi Shankara, Sambandhar

850 CE Kallata, Spanda Sastra

850 CE Somananda, Siva Drishti

850 CE Ugrajyoti

850 CE Sadyojyoti

900 CE Utpaladeva, Pratyabijna Sutras

950 CE Manickavasagar, Nammalvar

975 CE Abinavagupta, Tantraloka

900 CE Matsyendranatha

1000 CE Gorakhsanatha, Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati,

1056 CE Srikumara, Tatparyadipika

1100 CE Basavanna, Vacanas, Sakthi Visishadvaitha

1100 CE Allama Prabhu, Mantra Gopya

1200 CE Aghorasiva

1200 CE Ramanuja

1300 CE Auvaiyar II, Aathicoodi

1300 CE Meykandar

1300 CE Nimbarka

1300 CE Madhva

1500 CE Vallabha

1500 CE Chaitanya

1600 CE Appaya Dikshitar, Sivarkamani Dipika

 

We see a gravitational paradigm powershift in the global picture of Hinduism, where the vedas are no longer the epicentre but a point on the continuous path of Agamism,

and where the Sumerian origins which has been partly attested with

linguistic evidences and archealogical artifacts, has found a

foundational position now firmly in place. A culmination of sorts. This

view corrects a lopsided view and the history of the Hindus that has

long been erroneously presented.===============================