Vedic Archeology (Part Two)

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Part 2: Further Antiquities (from gosai.com)

 

Presently, Heliodorus is the earliest Westerner on record who actually converted to Vaisnavism. Moreover, many reputable scholars, like Dr. A. L Basham and Dr. Thomas Hopkins, declare that Heliodorus was not the only Greek to convert. Dr. Hopkins, Chairman of the Department of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall college, says, "Heliodorus was presumably not the only foreigner who was converted to Vaisnava devotional practices (although he might have been the only one to erect a column, at least one that is still extant). Certainly there must have been many other." The Vedic religion saw itself as universal and welcomed all peoples into its embrace. As Raychaudhari writes:

 

The Beshnagar record testifies to the proselytizing zeal of the Bhagavatas in the pre-Christian centuries, and shows that their religion was excellent enough to capture the hearts of cultured Greeks, and catholic enough to admit them into its fold.

 

The Mora Well and Ghosundi Inscriptions tell us that the rich and complex Vaisnava conception of the Godhead and full expansions of the Godhead into the material universes were already well established in the first two centuries before Christ. The Srimad Bhagavatam says, that when the original Godhead, or Krishna, appears on the earthly plane, the Godhead always is accompanied by various complete expansions of the Godhead, who both possess the full potency of the Godhead and are worshipable. The Srimad Bhagavatam states, "Lord Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, along with Balarama, played like a human being, and so masked, he performed many superhuman acts." His divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains the system of divine expansion:

 

… Balarama and Krsna are original forms of the Lord… Krsna… is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Balarama is the first plenary manifestation of the Lord. From Balarama the first phalanx of the plenary expansions, Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Aniruddha and Pradyumna, expands. Lord Sri Krsna is Vasudeva, and Balarama is Sankarsana.

 

Seven miles west of Mathura in the small and unimposing village of Mora, General Cunningham made another vital find regarding the historicity of Vaisnavism. In 1882, on the terrace of an ancient well, he discovered a large stone slab filled with inscriptions. Although more than half of the writing had already peeled away on the right side, the remainder was legible. It was transcribed, and a facsimile of the inscription was published in the Archaeological Survey of India’s Annual Report. The message was clear. Not only was Krishna worshiped in the centuries before Christ, but also His expansions or associates, especially "the five heroes of the Vrishni Clan." Scholarly research makes evident that these five are Krishna (Vasudeva), Balarama (Sankarshana), Pradyumna, Samba, and Aniruddha.

 

In 1908, a Dr. Vogel had the Mora Well slab removed to the Mathura Museum and tried to tamper with the translations of the inscriptions in order to throw the Vedic religion into a bad light. However, because the contents of the inscriptions had already been published authoritatively and were well known in academic circles, Dr. Vogel’s efforts at creating disinformation failed. The complex theology, metaphysics, and cosmology of Sanatana Dharma and Vaisnavism definitely existed in an advanced state centuries before Christ. The Mora Well inscription is an important archeological proof of this historical fact.

 

In the village of Ghosundi in the Chitor district of Rajasthan is found the Ghosundi Inscription, which largely duplicates the message of the Mora Well Inscription. Kaviraja Shyamala Dasa first brought this evidence to light in The Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society. Today, the inscription can be inspected in the Victoria Hall Museum in Udaipur.

 

The surviving part of this inscription relevant to this chapter reads as follows:

 

[this] railing of stone for the purposes of worship is [caused to be made] in the Narayana-compound, [dedicated] to the Blessed Ones [bhagavabhyam] Samkarshana and Vasudeva, the gods…

 

The inscription is in a form of Sanskrit script called Northern Brahmi script, which dates the inscription as being from the second century BC in either the late Maurya or early Sunga periods. An almost identical inscription also was uncovered nearby and is called the Hathi-vada Inscription. These inscriptions also dispel the myth that Krishna was only revered by the ksatriya, or administrative-warrior, class of India, the class Krishna had appeared in. According to K. P. Jayaswal of the Archaeological Survey of India, these inscriptions demonstrate that brahmins, the priestly and intellectual class, also worshiped Krishna as the "Lord of all," and thus Vaisnavism was entrenched in the entire Indian society.

 

The same point is made in the famous Nanaghat Cave Inscription in the moder state of Maharashtra, where Vasudeva and Sankarshana (or Krishna and Balarama) are included in an invocation of a brahmin. Additionally, Raychaudhuri reports:

 

The Nanaghat Inscription shows further that the Bhagavata [Vaisnava] religion was no longer confined to Northern India, but had spread to the south and had captured the hearts of the sturdy people of Maharashtra. From Maharashtra it was destined to spread to the Tamil country and then flow back with renewed vigour to the remotest corners of the Hindu world.

 

On epigraphical grounds, this inscription is dated conclusively as coming from the second half of the first century BC.

 

Krsna, Agathocles coin,

Ai Khanoum, Afghanistan, 2nd century B.C.

 

 

A lot of numismatic evidence also corroborates the antiquity of Krishna. For instance, excavations at Ai-Khanum, along the border of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union, conducted by P. Bernard and a French archeological expedition, unearthed six rectangular bronze coins issued by the Indo-Greek ruler Agathocles (180?-?165 BC). The coins had script written in both Greek and Brahmi and, most interestingly, show an image of Vishnu, or Vasudeva, carrying a Chakra and a pear-shaped vase, or conchshell, which are two of the four main sacred symbols of God in Vaisnavism. Many other finds of ancient coins also prove the antiquity of Krishna worship in India.

 

Balarama, Agathocles coin,

Ai Khanoum, Afghanistan, 2nd century B.C.

 

 

To summarize, today the weight of empirical evidence proves that Krishna and Vaisnavisam predate Christianity. Numerous literary, archeological, and numismatic sources build an unassailable case. Nevertheless, Vaisnavism and Christianity still show amazing similarities. In the chauvinistic and sectarian atmosphere of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, these similarities led most Western scholars to adopt the now discredited "borrowing theory." But these attitudes did more that distort the truth. In the twentieth century they directly led to two world wars of unprecedented ferocity and destruction. Therefore, sensitive and caring people perceive these attitudes as being obsolete, and, instead of clinging to them, more intelligent people now seek the path of unity. Even in religion, one of the key contemporary attitudes is the ecumenical spirit, the desire to emphasize more our similarities with other peoples, nations, and religions rather than our differences.

 

If Westerners can drop their defenses and look at Vaisnavism with ecumenical eyes, they will see a religion and a philosophy which undoubtedly through the Greeks helped to shape the soul of Western civilization itself and its largest religion, Christianity. Rather than being shocked by the similarities, we ought to rejoice in them. From at least our vantage point and in light of all the material presented in this book and from other sources, it is obvious to us that Christians and Vaisnavas are worshiping the same original Godhead and are seeking salvation and solace from that Godhead through the same transcendental, personal loving relationship.

 

The early Western researchers into Vaisnavism were correct in at least this sense: there are too many similarities between Vaisnavism and Christianity for it to be mere coincidence. And since the "borrowing theory" cannot explain it, we suggest that both religions emanate form the same divine revelatory source-God. The message of Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita and the message of Jesus Christ in the New Testament are identical in essence: recognize the loving existence of your Divine Father and enter into a personal loving relationship with God. Each religion has developed this philosophy with different areas of strength. Vaisnavism presents a far more systematic and scientific explanation of divinity and metaphysics, while christianity in the West is proving more adept at putting the philosophy of God’s love into practical action in areas like economic advancement, human rights, and political participation. If the ecumenical spirit grows and predominates in both East and West, then these two great religions can share their strengths openly with each other to create a civilization that would be far more evolved and cultured than anything that exists today. In the end the issue really isn’t who borrowed what from whom. For a true Vaisnava or Christian this issue is resolved simply—everything we have is borrowed ultimately from God. God is the original source, and God is one.

 

 

[shvu]

 

A brief review:

 

I don't know if you critically examined this article or if you just accepted it as is. I noticed a few things about this article,

 

1. What was the scope? It is commonly accepted by the world that Krishna is pre-Christ. This was concluded by the "biased" western Indologists themselves. So I wonder what the scope of this article was. If it had provded something to show that Krishna was 5000 years old, then yes. However the writer of this article is toying around with dates like 150 BC, etc.

 

2. Vaishnava means, a worshipper of Vishnu. Vishnu was a popular God among the Aryans by the time of the Brahmana literature [viz. Taittreya Brahmana] which has been dated to well before 1000 BC. That shows beyond any doubt that Vaishnavism is at the least a whole millenium older than Christianity [if not older] and this point was never debated by anyone. I can only say that the writer of this article has not done his home work, for he is struggling with dates like 200 bc.

 

2. Megasthenes never talked about Krishna.

 

Anyone who has basic knowledge of Krishna and who has bothered to read the extant portions of the Indica will not even by a wide stretch of imagination, equate Heracles to Krishna. I wonder who this Sarvajna was who came up with this ridiculous idea. Let us see what Megasthenes said about Heracles.

 

Heracles was a Indian hero king who was getting old at 40. He was worried about finding a suitable match for his daughter. He searched high and low, and found no one. So finally he married her himself!

 

Now I have never heard of such a story attributed to Krishna in any literature. One wonders if Megasthenes did come to India at all. To my knowledge there is no Indian God who married his own daughter, although it is possible that there may have been a Greek God who did so. This being the situation, to connect Heracles and Krishna is absurd.

 

3. The pillar naming Vasudeva means little or nothing. Vishnu and Krishna have been shown to be older than this pillar.

 

Once again, people should not rely on tabloid articles to learn history. More often than not, they are half-baked and false.

 

Cheers

 

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Originally posted by shvu:

I can only say that the writer of this article has not done his home work, for he is struggling with dates like 200 bc.

 

The point of the article is to establish the antiquity of Krishna from various sources. The ancient Jaina literature and the Chandogya Upanishad do establish the existence of Krishna much prior to the time of Buddha. This is a date you have repeatedly disagreed with:

 

Originally posted by shvu:

We are yet to find evidence to show that the concept of Krishna was around before the time of the Buddha.

And on another occassion:

 

Originally posted by shvu:

Let alone 3000 bc, to the best of my knowledge there is no record of Krishna which dates to before the time of the Buddha, that is 500 bc !!

And another occassion:

 

Originally posted by shvu:

Add to it the fact that there is no record of all these Gods dating before 500 bc.

 

 

[This message has been edited by jndas (edited 06-02-2001).]

[Dharma]

Once at the Palace of Gold in Moundsville, WV., I remember one of the devotees who was in charge of leading tours told me that the Krishna religion was founded in 1492. Perhaps I misunderstood, but I remember being surprised at how recent a practice it was and remembered the date because of Columbus's landing in the Americas.

 

Guess I have climbed up the ladder to confusion here.

[Gauracandra]

This person was probably referring to 1485 as the birthdate of Sri Caitanya, the founder of Gaudiya Vaisnavism.

 

Gauracandra

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

They sometimes use the words "Krishna religion" as a generic term for gaudiya vaishnavism, since in the west it is mostly gaudiya vaishnavism one finds. Prior to Gaudiya Vaishnavism there have been countless saints who have propagated the worship of Krishna, such as Alvars, Madhvacharya, Vishnuswami, etc.