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Thread: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Historical layers of Mahalakshmi, Durga, Kirats, Lapis Lazuli, Kambala's Seven Syllable Deity





    After posting that the story of Samjna is included in the simple inquiry, who is Vairocani?, Samjna in turn does the same for Shaktism as a whole.


    Raj Balkaran in thirty pages dissects Wendy Doniger's forty-year career in interpreting Samjna sociologically, along the lines of Good and Evil mothers.

    It does not question about Yama and Yami and their meaning of "restraint". Or the significance of Samjna as Best Mare hiding in Uttara Kuru.


    It does say that in Markendaya Purana, a Samjna tale is given before *and* after Devi Mahatmya.



    The exploits of this formidable figure constitute
    the first known Sanskrit articulation of a Great Goddess within the Indian
    subcontinent, indeed the first occasion where the ultimate divine principle is
    accorded femininity. Believed to have emerged somewhere along the Narmada
    River c. fifth century ce (Kinsley, 1982: 153), the DM is preserved in thousands
    of manuscripts across India, in remarkably stable fashion

    While the DM equates supreme reality with the feminine Hindu concepts of
    m ā y ā , ś akti , and prak ṛ ti , it posits no systematic theory; instead, it masterfully
    interweaves these philosophical strands—as only narrative can—into the visage
    of a Feminine Divine whose power surpasses that of the Vedic pantheon, and
    even that of the cosmic trim ū rti comprised of the great gods Brahm ā , Vi ṣṇ u, and
    Ś iva.



    It is not quite a "system", yet they bring one forward fairly directly.

    A similar doctrine to Lakshmi Tantra (e. g., Ahirbudhnya Samhita) is found in Lalita Mahatmya, a dialogue between sage Agastya and Hayagriva (an incarnation of Vishnu), placed at the end of Brahmanda Purana:



    That goddess Mahātripura-sundarī who is Maheśvarī herself is well known as Śrīkāmākṣī.

    The Śaktis beginning with Tripurā are her own incarnations. She herself was Mahālakṣmī. She created three eggs formerly. Those eggs were the abode of the three great Devas as well as the three Śaktis. From one egg were born Ambikā and Puruṣottama; from another egg were born Śrī (goddess of wealth) and Virińca (Brahmā) and from the other the third, were born the goddess of speech and Śiva.

    Maheśvarī united (in marriage) Indirā (the goddess of wealth) with Mukunda (Puruṣottama). She joined Parameśāna with Pārvatī and Pitāmaha with Sarasvatī.

    8. She employed Brahmā in the task of creating the worlds, Vāsudeva in the task of sustaining and the three-eyed lord (Śiva) in the task of annihilation.

    9. All these stay in Brahmaloka, Vaikuṇṭha and Kailāsa (respectively) always meditating on Mahālakṣmī, the bestower of welfare.



    We do not know of the time when it may have been "inserted" to the Purana. Information on the Lalita suggests it depends on Tripura and Adi Shankara, and tells us:

    In all the dhyana verses there is a recurring theme on Devi's red complexion, which is said to resemble the sun at dawn, and her compassionate nature.

    ...the last name of the Sahasranama is "Lalitambika" effectively showing that Devi's form as Lalitambika is her most absolute form.

    It highlights her battle with Bhandasura, the Ashes of Kamadeva, who may have no other sources. The story certainly has other versions, e. g. in Buddhism, because it is in the category "Mahesvara Subjugation", which appears new or unique in the Lalita in this version, but no Bhanda.


    This text--the origin of Sri Cakra or Sri Yantra--is therefor likely younger than Devi Mahatmya. The personal name Lalita is implicated in the movement of Jaganath from Savara tribal deity into Puri. So the name or disorganized inspiration may be older.




    Comparatively, you have to screen the very beginning of Devi Mahatmya to see that Mahamaya is the Adi Shakti.

    In the next section, she takes over the original story of Viraja, to slay Mahish Asura. It is at this point that she instead gains a massive form as the fused energy of all the deities, and it is this energetic outburst which is named Candika, Ambika, and Bhadrakali. This also says:

    Thou art Durgā; the boat to cross the difficult ocean of existence; devoid of attachments!

    Thou, O Durgā, when called to mind, dost remove terror from every creature!


    In Canto XCI she is again called Durga.


    Notice the above meanings, and, the following story that is not in Markendaya Purana:


    Name of an Asura slain by Durgā (thus receiving her name from him).

    Name of an Asura (supposed to have been slain by the goddess Durgā, [Skanda-purāṇa])

    Durgama (दुर्गम).—An asura chief born in the dynasty of Hiraṇyākṣa and son of Taru, Durgama was an enemy of the Devas from his very birth.

    In response to his woes:


    Ambikā gave them Śāka (a vegetable) fruits and roots to eat. Because she protected her devotees by supplying Śāka to them she came to be known as Śākambharī, thenceforward.


    She makes her massive ferocious display and:


    Then the fight commenced directly between Devī and Durgama. Fifteen arrows of Devī hit the asura at the very same time and he was killed. (Devī Bhāgavata, Saptama Skandha).

    The tale is also found in Skanda Purana and Padma Purana.

    This is the same motif that Mahalakshmi-as-Bhadrakali does in Adbhuta Ramayana.


    The slayer of Durgamasura appears in the Mahatmya of Shakambari.


    The same question comes up and a qualitative difference is found for Two Durgas:

    1st...killed Durgamasur directly but killed Mahishasur indirectly.

    2nd...got the name Durga after killing Durgamasur but her name was already famous as Durga before killing of Mahishasur.


    Every response equates Adi Shakti to Parvati, because they are mostly using younger Puranas rather than what we are citing.


    There is a very Lakshmi-looking Durga:


    Durgā Amman is also depicted in the Subramanya Swamy Temple (or Subramaṇya Svāmi Temple) in Thiruparankundram or Parankundram (Paraṅkuṉṟam), representing a sacred place for the worship of Murugan.—In the Durgā Amman’s sannidhi, she is represented with four hands. The upper hands carry conch and discus in the right and the left hands respectively and the lower hands are in the abhaya and varada-hastas. She is represented standing on the head of a buffalo (Mahiṣāsuramardinī).


    Devi Mahatmya has Durga, "to cross over", similar to Tara.

    Devi Bhagavata Purana has Durga, the slayer of Durgamasura.



    Shiva Purana at first does not call the fused Mahisamardini by a term such as Candika:


    Then the gods eulogised the great Śakti, Ambikā in the form of Mahālakṣmī with words choked with devotion.


    In Padma Purana, Rudra tells Parvati about the greatness of Mahalakshmi:


    Nārāyaṇa, the lord of Śrī, of the form of six qualities...


    Devi Mahatmya was already widespread around the 700s, and it is thought to be the following later text where "Durga" begins to be a regular name--and still, the first identification of Adi Shakti in Srimad Devi Bhagavata:


    I fly for refuge unto that Devî who was praised by Brahmâ while resting on the navel lotus of Visnu who was lying fast asleep in Yoga nidrâ. O Munis! meditating on that Maya Devî who creates, preserves and destroys the universe who is kuown as composed of the three gunas and who grants mukti...


    is consistent with "Sri Devi" as essentially the Purana's title.

    Even its Wiki summary is massive. From there we are referred to Chapter Fifteen where Mahamaya is clearly intended.




    Even in Kashmiri Siva Krama:


    Similarly the Seventeen forms of worship of Mahat is described thus.

    In the Gaṇapati-Āvaraṇa, (first Āvaraṇa) Śakti as Srī projects three images...



    So the "personalization" of the name "Durga" comes out most likely through the chronological sequence Devi Mahatmya, Lalita Mahatmya, Devi Bhagavata Purana.

    This is subsequent to a perhaps "impersonalized" durga from Mahanarayana Upanishad, ca. 300 B. C. E.

    Although the Upanishad is certain about the yogic context, it is still not the ultimate origin of Devi in character.


    C. Bhattacharya 2021 studies Markendeya Purana similar to the above, involving also Devi Sukta or RV 10.125, and epithets such as Sasvata, Dhatri.


    That means we can retain two things from the Rg Veda, in a more complete, and less iconoclastic manner, than they usually are.

    First, a Buddhist Homa can often be seen asking earth goddess Prithvi for permission; but this is a short form of an Apri Hymn. Such hymns are from the Veda such as around:


    10.110.8


    and the fuller form is an invitation to the three, Sarasvati, Ila, and Bhu or Bharati. The last has been re-confused with Sarasvati or Eloquence around the ca. 1,000s. But originally, Bharati is more like a "vast or expanded" Bhu Devi.


    Sri and Lakshmi distinguished.

    Vak and Sarasvati also referring to Apri Hymns.



    The Devi Sukta has apparently been also confusing to some, here described by R. Harish:


    1. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, it is evidently the earliest hymn about a universal mother goddess, from a time much before the conceptualization of the three principal female divinities – Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati and Mahakali. To explain, Devi Suktam is from Rig Veda, which is much earlier (perhaps by a thousand years) to Devi Mahatmya/Markandeya Purana and other sources which refer to a universal female deity or a trinity of female deities. Devi Suktam is in fact the vedic basis for Devi Mahatmya. Devi Suktam expounds on the idea that this entire universe emerges from one primeval source, and visualizes this universal power as a female, rather than as a male.

    2. Also, the seer of this hymn is a rishika (a female rishi) by name Vaak. Further, the hymn also relates to a female deity, whose name too is Vaak (literally means speech). It is one of the few hymns where both the seer and the divinity are female. It is also perhaps the only hymn where the seer and the divinity have the same name.

    3. A very unique feature of this hymn is that unlike other hymns, it is not addressed by a seer (rishi) to a divinity (deva). On the contrary, the devi (Vaak) herself explains about her own glory (i.e., atmastuti) in this hymn. It is explained that this hymn was rendered by the rishika (Vaak) in a state of ecstasy, when she had identified herself as being one with the goddess (Vaak), and hence spoke as the goddess herself.



    Indians still try to figure out "who is the goddess?" with minor disputes until someone says, well, it is Adi or Para Shakti, such as a discussion on Ambhrani that includes the hymn.


    Another version from Orissa is also translated by Rajkishore Mishra.


    Several half versions are recorded. There are several versions. You have to call it Aham Rudre, or there are other pieces sharing "devi suktam" for the title. Here is a fairly clear relaxed version.





    Meluhha is an RV search engine which I deleted the line numbers to obtain this more readable format:


    aháṃ rudrébhir vásubhiš carāmi
    ahám ādityáir utá višvádevaiḥ
    ahám mitrā́váruṇobhā́ bibharmi
    ahám indrāgnī́ ahám ašvínobhā́
    aháṃ sómam āhanásam bibharmi
    aháṃ tváṣṭāram utá pūṣáṇam bhágam
    aháṃ dadhāmi dráviṇaṃ havíṣmate
    suprāvíye yájamānāya sunvaté
    aháṃ rā́ṣṭrī saṃgámanī vásūnāṃ
    cikitúṣī prathamā́ yajńíyānām
    tā́m mā devā́ ví adadhuḥ purutrā́
    bhū́riṣṭhātrām bhū́ri āvešáyantīm
    máyā só ánnam atti yó vipášyati
    yáḥ prā́ṇiti yá īṃ šṛṇóti uktám
    amantávo mā́ṃ tá úpa kṣiyanti
    šrudhí šruta šraddhiváṃ te vadāmi
    ahám evá svayám idáṃ vadāmi
    júṣṭaṃ devébhir utá mā́nuṣebhiḥ
    yáṃ kāmáye táṃtam ugráṃ kṛṇomi
    tám brahmā́ṇaṃ tám ṛ́ṣiṃ táṃ sumedhā́m
    aháṃ rudrā́ya dhánur ā́ tanomi
    brahmadvíṣe šárave hántavā́ u
    aháṃ jánāya samádaṃ kṛṇomi
    aháṃ dyā́vāpṛthivī́ ā́ viveša
    aháṃ suve pitáram asya mūrdhán
    máma yónir apsú antáḥ samudré
    táto ví tiṣṭhe bhúvanā́nu víšvā
    utā́mū́ṃ dyā́ṃ varṣmáṇópa spṛšāmi
    ahám evá vā́ta iva prá vāmi
    ārábhamāṇā bhúvanāni víšvā
    paró divā́ pará enā́ pṛthivyā́
    etā́vatī mahinā́ sám babhūva



    for which, one rapidly finds variant translations, such as:

    In 10 125.6, Sarasvati as vak and mantra resided in the tip of the arrow shot by Rudra in the battle (with Tripurasura) and slayed the demons.

    I stretch the bow to Rudra,
    So that he who hates Brahmam is hurt by the arrow,


    Translation of a few verses.

    Devanagari with translation.

    Griffith 1896 translation.



    It is Vak Rishika possessed by and speaking as Vak Devi. Our first impulse about this is "Viraja".





    Kirats


    I am getting the sense that everything Kiratic is totally dwarfed by the scope of Balochistan.

    The following may sound familiar about non-Aryan Leimarel:

    Pakhangba wept to his mother, Leimarel Sidabi. She told him the secret behind the throne of the universe. The secret is that going around the throne of the Supreme Being is equivalent to going around the universe. So, Pakhangba went around the Supreme Being, his father. Thus, he won the race and became the ruler of the universe.



    This is from the language of Meitei or Manipuri, prevalent around Tripura and Sylhet.


    The doctrine is considered that of Sanamahi:


    The first mentions are found in the Cheitharol Kumbaba, the Court Chronicles of the kings of Kangleipak (old name of Manipur), starting from the king Nongda Lairen Pakhangba, who ruled for more than a century, from 33 to 154 CE.


    The Hinduizing language Assamese probably began around the fourth or fifth century:


    The earliest forms of Assamese in literature are found in the 9th-century Buddhist verses called Charyapada, the language of which bear affinities with Assamese (as well as Bengali and Odia) and which belongs to a period when the Prakrit was at the cusp of differentiating into regional languages.


    The neighboring non-Aryan language is the Limbu:



    Both Limbu and Lepcha were ostensibly devised with the intent of furthering the spread of Buddhism. However, Sirijanga was a Limbu Buddhist who had studied under Sikkimese high Lamas. Sirijanga was given the title 'the Dorje Lama of Yangrup'.


    The Chinese text Po-ou-Yeo-Jing, translated in 308 AD, refers to the Yi-ti-Sai (barbarians bordering on the north), a name which is an exact equivalent of. The Limbu were also one of the earliest inhabitants of Sikkim. The name of the Indian state itself is a combination of two Limbu words: su, which means "new", and khyim, which means "palace" or "house".


    Their non-Vedic religion is Kirat Mundhum with ancestor Virupaksha.


    These are the tribes formative of Nepal's Kirat Dynasty:


    Anthropologists and historians believe that the fossil records show that people lived in Nepal around 30-40 thousand years ago. The first people of Eastern Nepal were the Yakthung in the hills and Koches in the Terai. The first people to live permanently and call Limbuwan their home were the Yakthung people. They spoke the Limbu language and practiced Yuma Sammang religion.


    "Yakthung" essentially means "Limbu"--perhaps prior to Buddhist missionaries--while "Koch" does not.

    Koch follow an aboriginal deity called Sonaton.

    Like "Nepal", it does not originally refer to a modern caste, but an ancient Tribe:


    Follows Matrilineal clans

    They originate from Hulun Buir of Southern Siberia and came to India around 2500 BC along with their group of koche, meche, tiprasa, lepcha, dimasa, bru, reang etc.

    They were called as Kuvacha (Rakshas in Rig Veda)

    Kochas belong to bodo kachari group of people like bodo, garo, Tiprasas as they claim they are mostly same in culture and language.





    Koch is a quite small branch of the perhaps more numerous Garo:


    Garo is a matrilineal society but is not to be mistaken to be matriarchal. While the property is owned by women, the men govern the society and domestic affairs and manage the property.

    The religion of the ancestors of the Garo is Songsarek.

    According to one oral tradition, the Garo first migrated to the Garo Hills from Tibet (referred to as Tibotgre) around 400 BC under the leadership of Jappa Jalimpa, crossing the Brahmaputra River (Songdu Chibima) and tentatively settling in the river valley.







    Genetics has done little to affect the basic premise:


    We have very little or no evidence as to when the Tibeto - Burman and other tribes speaking languages and dialects of the Sino - Tibetan family first entered India . But as Kirāta tribes , they appear to have entered India 1000 B.C.



    In the area of their likely origin, Jin or Tang State, founded ca. 1046 B. C. E., was in South Shanxi, i. e. south of Mount Wu Tai Shan. There is little information about Jin for this period beyond a list of rulers. Over time, Shanxi becomes China's main center of mega-merchants and banking system, until the arrival of the British.


    To their north were the Xirong or Rong, or Shanrong or Quanrong. The Chinese Shang dynasty attests this term at a possibly earlier date; and we see the name Rong still carried until at least the 600s by Maw Rong. As we can see, there were numerous Chinese battles which could have encouraged Kirats to flee at any point in time, and no record of it happening. They may have stopped in or re-launched from Yunnan.



    The current Kirat conjecture claims in its lengthy History:


    The first Kirat king who ruled central Nepal was Banashur.


    It is mentioned in the Mahabharata, Krishna sends forces to overwhelm him, which according to the Kirats created the brief Hindu Yadava dynasty before Yallamber and the longer Kiratic dynasty.



    Its ruins are not that old:


    Noted historian K.L Borouah, the author of “Early History of Kamrup” agreed that “the temple mush have been built in the fifth or sixth century A.D by a predecessor of Bhaskar Varma, the most powerful king of ancient Kamrup of the seventh century, a contemporary and worthy ally of celebrated Harshabarddhan, the emperor of mid-India”.


    Khasi are Australic speakers thought to have come from Burma in the Holocene period (pre-2000 B. C. E.):


    The Khasi tribe holds the distinction of being one of the few remaining matriarchal tribes of the world.

    ...nga meaning "I," which is the same in Tibetan, Burmese, and Old Chinese as it is in Khasi.

    The Khasi people also have their own word for the Himalayan mountains which is Ki Lum Mankashang which means that at one point in time, they did cross the mighty mountains.

    They have a vaguely-hinted at native religion called Ka Niam Khasi, which features mankind's breaking the ladder to heaven, which was just south of Kamarupa and Guwahati.


    Only here does genetics begin to explain multiple migrations:


    We found the Khasi population to be genetically distinct from other Austroasiatic speakers, i.e. Mundaris and Mon-Khmers, but relatively similar to the geographically proximal Tibeto Burmans. The possible reasons for this genetic-linguistic discordance lie in the admixture history of different migration events that originated from East Asia and proceeded possibly towards Southeast Asia. We found at least two distinct migration events from East Asia. While the ancestors of today’s Tibeto-Burman speakers were affected by both, the ancestors of Khasis were insulated from the second migration event. Correlating the linguistic similarity of Tibeto-Burman and Sino-Tibetan languages of today’s East Asians, we infer that the second wave of migration resulted in a linguistic transition while the Khasis could preserve their linguistic identity.






    The first linked studies seemed surprised that Tamangs have mostly-male Tibetan DNA, with a recent admixture of Eastern Nepal. Of course, because Tamang Cavalry was sent from Tibet, and then mostly settled in Nepal. So that more or less just confirms what our history said, which, of course, is about the earliest it is reliable.

    Australic speakers are in the "Mon" classification of mostly lowland Burmese, whereas Kirats appear to have been mostly mountain-dwellers. Neither of these answer who was in Nepal 30,000 years ago.

    The current pattern in India:






    Combining stone tools and genetics:


    The earliest inhabitants of modern Nepal and adjoining areas are believed to be people from the Indus Valley civilisation. It is possible that the Dravidian people whose history predates the onset of the Bronze Age in the Indian subcontinent (around 3300 BC) inhabited the area before the arrival of other ethnic groups like the Tibeto-Burmans and Indo-Aryans from across the border.

    The earliest inhabitants of modern Nepal and adjoining areas are believed to be people from the Indus Valley civilization. By 4000 BCE, the Tibeto-Burmese people had reached Nepal either directly across the Himalayas from Tibet or via Myanmar and north-east India or both.


    "Erectus" fossils may be over a million years old, whereas for Sapiens:


    The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date back to about 30,000 years ago. The oldest discovered archaeological evidence of human settlements in Nepal dates to around the same time.



    That website is reasonably decent, going from there to Indus Valley.

    Such records are found in what is called Shivalik Hills, meaning the south Himalayan foothills from the Indus in Pakistan, across to the Brahmaputra in Assam.

    These are flaked tools called Soanian.

    Some believe they may be related or mixed with Hoabinhian (Vietnamese).

    Acheulean tools are also found nearby, thought to be from a different species/previous era.


    The type site for the Acheulean is Saint-Acheul, a suburb of Amiens...


    Ironically, Amiens Cathedral is a gigantic Gothic masterpiece, which would hold two Notre Dames. It is a great one for "Templar myth" since it is said to have received the head of John the Baptist, once accused of being the Templar's Baphomet idol. The Cathedral has an incredible display of a Christian pentagram--Wiki does not call this to our attention, but you can pry it out:










    This was brought to my attention by a site referring to the outside of the North transept rose window:









    Lapis Lazuli

    So from looking at the historical source for lapis, and, the region eventually becoming more Persian and Islamic, and the West breaking away around the 600s, the idea has a certain continuity in Buddhism. Researchers speak of blue, and the Sky God, and such things associated with names similar to Dyaus, and it may be associated with the sign of Sagittarius or Dhanvantara, the Puranic healer. Buddhist Deity Yoga continues to characterize it with a male.


    Here is an expression taken from a Thai site:


    It is believed that Bhaisayaguru cures dukkha using the medicine of his teachings.



    Dukkha is ultimately the Skandhas. Otherwise, it is similar to comments by H. H. XVII Karmapa, who gives a rare recital of the Dharani in Sanskrit, saying:


    Bhaiṣajyaguru (भैषज्यगुरु,藥師佛, sangs rgyas sman bla), formally Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja (“Master Healer and King of Lapis Lazuli Light”) is the Buddha of healing and medicine in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Commonly referred to as the “Medicine Buddha”, he is described as a doctor who cures suffering using the medicine of his teachings.

    It is said that Bhaiṣajyaguru’s original name and title was rāja (King), but Xuanzang[iii] translated it as Tathāgata (Buddha). Subsequent translations and commentaries followed Xuanzang in describing him as a Buddha.

    He is flanked on the right by Suryaprabha with his two acolytes and on the left by Candraprabha again accompanied by his two acolytes.


    He does not quite seem to catch what he is saying about its first translator:


    Srimitra (ch.12, A.D. 317-322)


    Because then we will find Gilgit manuscripts used on a comparative basis by Schopen 1978:


    This third part is devoted to an English translation of the Sanskrit text, with notes; the latter making up the bulk of the work. In these notes I have attempted to show how a literate member of the Gilgit community, assuming he was familiar with the texts known to have been available to him, would have, or could have, understood the Bhaisajyaguru-Sutra, I have also attempted to show what was and what was not unique to Bhaisajyaguru-Sutra vis-a-vis the Gilgit collection as a whole, and to make the first tentative steps towards reconstructing the 'Buddhism' current at Gilgit in the 5th-6th century.


    He collected from Gilgit, and then adds the Tibetan version separately. This is from three hundred years or so prior to the published version from Huan Tsang.


    Is there some kind of Buddhist response at one of the most major sites, the closest to these mines, well, there you have it.

    His individual form is common but Himalayan Art tells us:


    When tangkas of the Medicine Buddha mandala are painted he switches places with the personified image of Prajnaparamita and occupies one of the eight minor positions surrounding the center.


    And then as a rare specimen of a relationship setup, there is a 1400s Ladakhi:







    He is beside Manjushri whose Sword rests on the Lotus as we have discussed.

    They are over Lakshmi's Eleven Face Avalokiteshvara and Tara.

    It did not specifically say Alchi, but, that is the oldest continuously-operating Buddhist site, from the ca. 1,000s. That leaves it as the western-most, while the Afghan and Pak regions are increasingly Islamicized. Although Alchi considers themself part of the Gelug Order, given their age, they have never seen any authority in the Dalai Lama.


    Sanskrit Bhaisajaya Guru Sutra is a Pranidhana of Manjushri, and has a retinue of Twelve Yaksha Generals. He seems to be explaining a type of Pure Land Meditation, a Vyuha, similar to Sukhavati. There is Prajnopaya, but nothing specifically about Prajnaparamita. As Samye puts it:


    According to the original sutra introducing the Medicine buddha, his pure land is peerless, constructed of blue beryl, and adorned with parapets made of the seven precious substances. Buddha Śākyamuni himself reports that this pure land is equal in quality to Sukhāvatī.



    Traditionally:

    A lapis lazuli mala is specially for Medicine Buddha practice and other deities of Vajra Family, such as Vajrapani.


    Light is Medicine is Dharma.


    And he is taught as a Kriya Yoga, also mentioning seven brothers, or i. e. Seven Historical Buddhas. Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives the liturgically-extensive version for Death and Dying.

    That's it. He is quite basic. The Sutra obviously reflects a widespread familiarity with Sukhavati, it has presented something similar but different, for almost no other reason than to convert the stone, vaidurya, into the color, light. His Pure Land is presumably easier to attain than Abhirati, and he is also a death counsel. But he does not become a tantric principal and range through numerous other practices.

    He does, however, speak in Shurangama Sutra.


    A study of another Thangka gives the Zodiac to the Yakshas:


    Each yaksha general reigns over one of the twelve months and twelve parts of the day...



    It is a mistake to call him the similarly-named character in Lotus Sutra. There are also similar names in the Larger Sukhavati Vyuha, e. g. Vaidűryanirbhâsa. More significantly, Ratnasambhava appears to combine lapis and gold.


    The Vaidurya Stairs happen to be mentioned in a praise of Akshobhya.

    In another text it is actually said that Medicine Buddha is the Aswins' teaching passed through Atreya, the Ayurveda professor of Taxila, to Jivaka--Buddha's physician--and that it does use outer, inner, and secret mandalas. And it was hidden in Uddiyana in the same as the following manner.


    From Conze's Eight Thousand Lines Prajnaparamita:


    Into that the perfection of wisdom was placed, written
    with melted vaidurya on golden tablets.

    Sadaprarudita replied: "Where is this perfection of wisdom, the
    mother and guide of the Bodhisattva?"

    Sakra answered: "The holy Bodhisattva Dharmodgata has placed it in
    the middle of this pointed tower, after he had written it on golden tablets
    with melted Vaidurya, and sealed it with seven seals. We cannot easily
    show it to you."


    This also has a Newer Copy.



    In the full Hsuan Hua Shurangama Sutra, Lapis could not be more Vajra Family:


    The worlds of the ten directions and his own body and mind are as bright and transparent as Vaidurya. This is the end of the consciousness Skandha.

    When the consciousness Skandha ends, your present sense faculties will function interchangeably. Within that interchangeable functioning, you will be able to enter the Bodhisattvas' Vajra Dry Wisdom. In your perfect, bright, pure mind, there will be a transformation.

    It will be like pure Vaidurya that contains a precious moon, and in that way you will transcend the Ten Faiths, the Ten Dwellings, the Ten Practices, the Ten Transferences, the Four Additional Practices, the Vajra-like Ten Grounds of a Bodhisattva's practice, and the perfect brightness of Equal Enlightenment.

    You will enter the Tathagata's sea of wondrous adornments, perfect the cultivation of Bodhi, and return to the state of non-attainment.

    These are subtle demonic states that all Buddhas, World Honoured Ones, of the past, discerned with their enlightened clarity while in the state of Shamatha and Vipashyana.

    If you can recognize a demonic state when it appears and wash away the filth in your mind, you will not develop wrong views.
    The demons of the Skandhas will melt away, and the demons from the heavens will be destroyed. The mighty ghosts and spirits will lose their wits and flee.


    From the notes in Lamotte's Suramgamasamadhi Sutra:


    ' Ascent of Maitreya to the Tusita heaven'...His usnisa has the
    violet colour of the vaidurya.


    This has helped track down Beer's complete Encyclopedia. It is Tibetan but he adds in a fair amount of Sanskrit, and describes, as well as on Stupa construction:

    Vaidurya Karpo, an astrological treatise composed by Desi Sangye Gyatso-the regent
    of the fifth Dalai Lama...

    Desi Sangye Gyatso
    also compiled two comprehensive illustrated treatises on
    Tibetan medicine and astrology, known as the Vaidurya
    Ngonpo (Blue Beryl), and the Vaidurya Karpo (White Beryl).
    The seventy-seven beautifully illustrated medical thangkas
    of the 'Blue Beryl', together with Desi's codified editing of
    the Gyuzhi (Four Medical Tantras), reveal the genius of this
    great scholar's profound vision.



    And among the Seven Jewels of Enlightenment, the Maniratna:


    The jewel is described as being smooth, eight-faceted,
    as radiant as the sun, and fashioned of lapis lazuli like the
    vaidurya jewel. It is often borne on the back of the precious
    horse, or held in the right hand of the precious minister.


    Also:

    Dhanvantari is attributed with
    revealing the medical science of Ayurveda, which subsequently became the root of the four tantras (Tib. rgyud bzhi)
    of the Tibetan medical system.


    And for the Serpent Hood:


    These may represent the nagas' activities or castes, or the seven other naga kings accompanying them - which are rooted into a single union along the
    spine. A single naga head above may also represent
    Kundalini Shakti.


    For the Seven Jewels of Enlighenment, an entry for the Symbols calls the Maniratna Faith, which is not typically included. They skipped Prasrabdhi. Maniratna is considered fourth (Prasrabdhi). We will get back to this with another listing.


    The Seven are very succinctly divinized.

    A version using Pitha goddesses is in Umapati's Vajravarahi Sadhana. These are not the same devis as with Vajradaka. Hers is a Body Mandala. Sorted in order, her group is:

    Dharma Pravicaya--Saundini
    Priti--Cakravega
    Virya--Khaganana
    Prasrabdhi--Khandaroha
    Smrti--Cakravarmini
    Samadhi--Hayakarna
    Upeksa--Suvireti


    Khandaroha is also Prasrabdhi in its lower rank in the Pithas, so it makes sense. This "layering" is even apparent in the Smaller Sukhavati Vyuha. It is again in Vilasavajra's Namasangiti commentary in Tribe's NMAA.

    This is very different, it means these devis are cells in her Nirmanakaya, these are the organs of Vajravarahi herself.


    The Jewels also appear in the difficult Chakrasamvara section on Seven Yoginis, which I made some more guesswork here and here, but it is mystifying.


    The other format is to place them as Six Families in Durjayachandra's Vajradaka Sadhana, they are the Six Yoginis, because Sri Heruka is Smrti. Buddhist Studies Review quotes this without giving the source, as if it were standard. By colors, these are:


    Blue Heruki, Dharma pravicaya

    Yellow Vajrabhairavi, Virya

    Red Ghoracandi, Priti

    Green Vajrabhaskari, Prasrabdhi

    Smoky Vajraraudri, Samadhi

    White Vajradakini, Upeksa




    The Jewels are given in sequence in the Pali Samyukta Agama:

    Moreover, in the sūtra on the seven factors contributing to awakening (bodhyaṅga 菩提 分), the Buddha presents [them] as a succession of caitasikas [as follows]: “When a bhikṣu is in the course of the four applications of mindfulness (smṛtyupāsthāna 念處), at that time he practices the awakening-factor of mindfulness (smṛti 念). [His] mind is in mindfulness, and discriminates (*pravicayate 簡 擇 ) dharmas. Because of the discrimination of dharmas (dharmapravicaya),
    energy (vīrya 精進) arises. Because of the power of energy, [he] can accumulate wholesome dharmas, and pure joy (prīti 喜) arises in [his] mind. Because joy arises in [his] mind, [he] attains tranquility (praśrabdhi 猗). Because of the attainment of tranquility, [his] mind is concentrated (*samādhiyati 攝). When the mind is concentrated, he attains [the awakening factor of] concentration (samādhi 定). Because of the attainment of concentration, [he] is able to abandon greed and sorrow. Because of the abandoning of greed and sorrow, [that is, as a result of this succession of practices], one knows that caitasikas arise one after another.” [SĀ no. 810. No. 99]


    Faith is in the "Ten Roots", it is a precursor but not among these; the list of symbols using it might consider the Cakra comes first for a Cakravartin. The Vajradaka Sadhana clearly makes assignments in the evident order that Prasrabdhi follows Priti. And so it is ironic that in the Jewels of Enlightenment, the "Jewel" can only be adduced by this process of elimination, due to some rather strange mistake which seems counter-intuitive to any text. It is in fact a Medicine Buddha teaching which appears derived from "Seven Riches":


    saptadhanāni



    which are from Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend.


    Vajrabhaskari is otherwise only found in Kambala's Sadhananidhi Chapter Eight, which gives mandalas for each of the Four Chakrasamvara mantras, and it matches Durjayachandra's Seven Syllable retinue exactly, except for saying "and so on" where he gives the correspondences.

    Chapters Four to Seven have the Pitha system.


    "Bhaskari" has a meaning of progeny of the Sun, such as in Skanda Purana on Tulasi (Basil):


    The grove of Tulasī plants is meritorious. It destroys all sins. It yields what is desired. The excellent persons who plant it, do not see Bhāskari (Yama, the god of Death).

    Same in Garga Samhita. Otherwise, it is feminized as a Vidya in the Jain Ramayana.

    Kongtrul's Book One, Myriad Worlds, gives the items without correspondences, taken from a few lines in "Great Mindfulness Scripture".

    Pali and Mahayana sources listed.

    The items are not Buddhist, they are in Vayu Purana and are thoroughly Hindu, so, it would seem kind of important to "convert" them". So far, most descriptions amount to mundane faculties. We are trying to make retinue ranks of:


    Six Yoginis --> Gauris (Cemeteries and Asta Vijnana) --> Vajraraudris (Urging through Song) --> Seven Jewels.



    The Jewels are what actually manifests the Noble Eightfold Path of a Bodhisattva, which cannot arise out of Hindu practices. The symbolic items are perhaps more like a Kriya, whereas the deities are Vajradakinis arisen from Subtle Yoga. In other words, one would want to train on the items first, but, at least with a determination of what they stand for.


    In the sense of "remote, distant":

    Vidūra (विदूर).—[vi-dūra], I. m. The name of a mountain and city whence the lapis lazuli is brought.



    Certainly not its own name, but, makes sense from an Indian perspective.

    Its meaning is lossy, mistaken for cat's eye or beryl, its significance underplayed unless reconstructed as we have.

    Muller says:

    To these seven bodhyangas Burnouf has assigned a special
    treatise (Appendice xii, p. 796).


    You have to skip the term, "Sutra", as he wrote Lotus de la Bonne Loi, and at this point criticizes Tibetans on translating "Smrti" in an underwhelming manner, as it is the process of Bodhi or Sambodhi, using in its hands the other Jewels such that:


    Nous voyons maintenant ce qu'il faut entendre par les éléments constitutifs de l'état de
    Bôdhi parfait...


    So, yes, very much like saying Smrti, the Fifth Yoga, is Complete Vajrasattva, who then uses these Jewels such as the Sixth Yoga, Samadhi, to accomplish the Complete Bodhisattva Path. That is why the Seven Syllable Deity is so poignant.


    Kambala made a commentary for Four Syllables, Hum--Vajra, Ah--Lotus, Vam--Stamen, Phat--blocks the tip.

    It is meaningful since he recommended Yoni Puja, which is of course related to Karmamudra.


    It can be said by Taranatha that he was involved with Padmavajra's Hevajra, but this retinue of Dakinis for Chakrasamvara is exactly as they are deified in Sadhanamala by Durjayachandra much later. As Lawapa he is described in the Yamantaka lineage behind the Four Commissioners which becomes Kagyu. Kukkuripa as introduced to Gesar should be roughly contemporaneous.



    Circle of Bliss uses "Kambala" for the Rock of Indra Heaven in a Red Ganapati thangka.


    Back to one of the first dharanis, here is Anantamukha from Chapter Two of Ratnakuta. As to the symbol, Vaidurya, as Medicine Buddha it is probably almost as old. As to why these items are not more clearly arranged with the Seven Jewels of Enlightenment, I am not sure, even though we may have it in a mandala or something like that. I cannot recall because the items are not mantrified, I have paid less attention to it. Faith first apparently comes from Asvaghosha, which is probably not Mahayana, and is period-appropriate to Nagarjuna's Letter.


    Finally here is an FPMT document from Geshe Chonyi.

    Root Text: The Eight Categories and Seventy Topics by Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen--ca. 1500s Abbot of Sera who composed its syllabus.




    Here is an explanation of the symbolism of the seven royal possessions linked to the seven branches of enlightenment.

    Precious wheel

    The branch of enlightenment of perfect mindfulness is symbolised by the precious wheel. Just as the precious wheel overcomes or is victorious over that which is to be conquered by revolving and moving forward, likewise, with mindfulness, one is able to overcome that which is to be overcome.

    Precious elephant

    The branch of enlightenment of perfect fine discernment of phenomena, which is wisdom, is likened to the precious elephant. Because this wisdom is able to overcome the apprehension of signs or the apprehension of true existence, it is just like the precious elephant that is very powerful in overcoming many discordant factors.

    Precious horse

    It may be interesting for us to look at the individual meanings of the seven royal possessions as they have their own characteristics. Since they are trying to draw the link between the seven royal possessions and the seven branches of enlightenment, how do these seven royal possessions symbolize these seven branches of enlightenment?

    Here, the branch of enlightenment of perfect joyous effort is likened to the precious horse. It is said that this precious horse can travel the world within one morning and return. In order to do that, there is striving, so you need joyous effort. Here, joyous effort refers to striving to develop the different concentrations.

    You need perfect joyous effort to actualize the different supernatural powers, the different concentrations, clairvoyance and so forth. In fact, to achieve enlightenment quickly, joyous effort is needed. The explanation of this is related to the precious horse.

    Precious jewel

    Next, there is the branch of enlightenment of perfect joy. There is an explanation relating that to the precious jewel. With perfect joyous effort as a condition, one is able to develop the concentrations, clairvoyances and so forth. One is able to engage in many aspects of many different Dharmas, thus bringing joy to benefit the body and mind. It is likened to how the precious jewel is said to be able to give people happiness. It is said that just the light emitted from the precious jewel is able to do that.

    Precious queen

    Next is the branch of enlightenment of perfect pliancy. With perfect pliancy, one is able to pacify mental and physical dysfunctional tendencies. Due to that pacification, one comes to experience great joy and bliss. This is symbolized by the precious queen who is said to be able to bestow uncontaminated bliss.

    Precious householder

    Next is the branch of enlightenment of perfect meditative stabilization. When one has meditative stabilization, one is able to achieve many different goals. Among the seven royal possessions, the precious householder symbolizes this as it is said that he is able to satisfy whatever necessities, needs or desires we may have.

    I remember reading in one text but I don’t remember which text now. I could be wrong but I remember it was mentioned in a text that when one achieves the Mahayana path of seeing, one achieves the space or sky treasury. When one achieves that, henceforth, there is no way one will be poor. I guess there is no poverty of material.

    Khen Rinpoche: When you achieve that, you become a real Dzambhala!

    The first ground is called Very Joyful. The bodhisattva on the first ground is so happy and joyful because at that time, he sees that soon he will achieve enlightenment and will be of benefit to many sentient beings. This is why the first ground is called Very Joyful because the bodhisattva is very happy as he will achieve enlightenment soon.

    Precious minister

    The branch of enlightenment of perfect equanimity is linked to the precious minister among the seven royal possessions.



    Usually the Minister is the Householder, so here they have probably mixed out General. They were not able to distinguish Upeksha very much. We find it very distinguishable, since it begins in the Four Immeasurables and travels through the layers to wind up here.

    We do not expect this to be scripturally-defective, it is rather the Prasangika philosophy that we feel ought to be constrained, is a bit more like the Male Gatekeepers, whereas these Jewels have to do with that which is being protected so it does transform the basis, they are not negations.

    If the Jewel is then Priti, it refers to the First Bhumi.

    If Smrti is the Wheel, Chakra, it may not be surprising that Vajravarahi gives it to Chakravarmini. This goddess in turn is both exceedingly important and obfuscated by error, having to do with Vajrakumara and Kila.


    The Sera list is appropriate because it is the only one.

    Even the other adaptation will place the General with upeksha-similar terms. Sera is technically in error by omitting it and there is no way to make it valid. Usually the worst I have seen in Kagyu is that when they speak about anything prior to Tilo, it is mostly in terms of "this is on record, however, this part of history is debatable". And it is, because we had to look quite carefully to get the idea of Po Srimitra and Gunabhadra, compared to pseudo-Nagarjuna and the fact that almost all later Chinese pilgrims change at least something about the doctrine, and then Vasubandhu is just about as tumultuous in India.


    So we have found a layering of songs that come straight from the historical epochs:


    Vedic -- Devi Suktam

    Upanishadic -- Durga Suktam, Viraja Homa

    Puranic -- Mahalakshmi Namostute


    Following that trend, we could say Nepalese Annapurna is Mahalakshmi, or Kamakshi in Mangala Roopini. It is slow to sift for the more authentic and better-sounding pieces. Often I veer towards the slower and more mystical, but, it can be difficult to tell who the artists are in some cases. And so although the instrumentalized version previously posted was excellent, here is Uma Mohan's perky version of Durga Suktam:






    Annapurna Rosary with misprinted title:

    Last edited by shaberon; 23rd July 2023 at 04:11.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Pratisara Muttering and new Golden Light Sutra




    Like unfolding a lotus, we will start using the symbol of the Crescent for the step past basic Deity Yoga, which we started with a fusion of Prajnaparamita and Sarasvati.

    Most everything under focus will still be Sutras and Dharanis, which are fairly unrestricted, and you feel your way through them.

    A dharani is versatile, and is not confined to Deity Yoga. For example, sometimes I use the short Usnisa Vijaya mantra while feeding animals, as is suggested, although I have never done a practice on this deity. She is major enough that we can find numerous resources for her, and the only critique is that she is not originally part of Long Life Trinity.

    We are looking back towards original Indian formats, to which it is apparent that the Trinity and Atisha's Seven Eyed Tara are not a part of it, and the Kalachakra Tantra also sidesteps into its own pantheon which does not mesh with other material. And those things are what you will get when you study through the Tibetan language. Buddhist sadhanas all use Sanskrit, not just the words, but the whole ethos. It is large but manageable. As an example, a Vajravali relationship thangka shows Usnisa Vijaya, Pratisara and Pancha Raksa, Grahamatrika, Vasudhara:







    We can observe the two on the right have "switched" the southern color to blue.

    Six Arm Vasudhara has an upraised right hand, which may hold a rosary or have various names, but is "the gesture associated with singing" (Sagara Nirghosa).

    In a larger version from the Met, she is over her own Ila Devi form, and is also effectively the center of four of the Pancha Raksa who are in the corners, bracketed by the Eight Auspicious Symbols:







    The mandala page says the corresponding text implies Vasudhara is Prajnaparamita, as well as the center of Pancha Raksha.


    So, once you take Prajnaparamita, she is effectively transmutable to Pratisara and Vasudhara. Well, that is what we are depicting as the two symbols, Bindu and Crescent.

    It is still the same principle as one Goddess, Devi, or Shakti, in multiple forms, but at a certain point, this one-ness is less significant than the multiple forms. And so we are going to link an exercise that uses Pratisara as a slight change to what was already posted for Prajnaparamita. This post itself is going to examine the connected-ness of the forms.



    Vasudhara and Pratisara share Vajrini and Vajravati epithets.

    We can compare Pratisara Dharani to a Vasudhara recording with its text.



    As a deity, Pratisara shares the syllable Pram with Prajnaparamita.

    Along with information on Wind Element, we have a post orienting us towards Pratisara Muttering. That one may not be quite so crisply structured. It expects you to bring in experience from the first Deity Yoga, absorb some new information, and then you make your own practice notes such as jotting down mantras and simply modify what you have already done.


    The post has her usual forms, but she is also an Outer Activity of Vajrapanjara Tantra in this group:


    The Vajrapanjara group of three are Bhutadamara Vajrapani, White Prajnaparamita and White Pratisara.


    This simpler form is almost identical to Mrtyuvacana Tara, except for her squatting pose:






    It means she is ready to leap across the universe, and is standard for this aspect. The following figurine has no provenance, and it has rendered her the same as Tara:







    Chances are, it is intended to be Pratisara, since Mrtyuvacana Tara did not gain traction in Tibet, since Atisha's White Tara came in first. That is what happened. They proliferated Atisha's Tara and did not even have Tara Tantra until the final Indian imports around the 1500s. Because we do not have the Panjara, I am not aware of a sadhana that uses the small White Pratisara.



    Pratisara appears to veer between Jewel and Buddha Families. We are mainly looking at SM 194 & 195; she has larger forms in Mitra Gyatsa and Vajravali. Of the two we mentioned, at first, she is "nanaratnamukutim", a trait shared with only a single Ashoka Marici. This means "various jewels", as in a rainbow from Saundarya Lahiri:


    Banishing darkness and shining with the varied gem-decked
    brightness of Indra's bow,

    Sphuran nana ratna bharana - with bright-lit varied gem-set jewels
    Parinad dhendra dhanusham - matured into the form of Indra's bow


    It is a way of expressing her Crown, which is one of the few reliable ways of determining the Family involved. Neither color nor primary item are definitive.

    In 195, she is simply "ratnamukutim", similar to other Maricis. Here, two of her faces are yellow, she does not have a blue one. If someone is crowned with a Ratna, it is a Jewel.

    Most of her available iconography shows other white forms, or the yellow ones tend to look like her crown ornament is a vajra or wheel. This recently showed up, a non-iconic 1700s Chinese, where it appears more like a Jewel:










    The second, 195, is very similar to the first, but it adds more sadhana standards such as the Four Immeasurables and Emptiness Mantra, and appears preparatory for Akshobhya or Vajrapani Abhiseka, similar to Raudra Krama. In turn, the Emptiness Mantra is very exclusive to Mrytuvacana Tara. Again, these originals are on page six, in the area where we archived material that is hard to get.



    So the brief sadhanas are asking you to do some homework, to put the meaning to it, rather than simply reading and imitating the statements. They ask for this, while implying relationships to other deities, Pancha Raksa or otherwise.



    Scholarship for a long time reduced her to "a deified amulet", but I think there may be a whole lot more to it.

    It is easy to see that Mayuri is very prominent at Ellora, and she has her own Sutra which is quite old, and, hints at or would be compatible with more complete mandala doctrines, which are not written until centuries later.

    Mayuri works in some other retinues, and, she is in the Pancha Raksa, who also have their own smaller, individual Sutras. This group is usually very simple and illustrates a basic Quintessence. However, this also undergoes changes, which are not understood or discussed, but are not too troubling by following the symbolism.

    Part of that lies in the appearance of three of them as non- or pre-Buddhist deities, and two of them not, only having meaning as deified aspects of Buddhist Yoga practice, Mantra and Samadhi.


    As well as her own Sutra, Bari tradition states that Pratisara arises from Vairocana Mayajala Tantra. He also furthers the Four Arm Sita Tara lineage:


    Chintamani Raja, Pandita Amoghavajra, the Translator from Kham Bhikshu Bari...



    Its tenth chapter, Net of Illusion, is Namasangiti, and otherwise there is the hint of Vairocana Mayajala "in relation to Maitreya (Ajita)". Otherwise we do not directly know the text.


    Four Arm Sita uses Blue Lotus Mudra, and, upon review, the Pancha Raksha's role to "protect a Bodhisattva in the womb" may be literal--such as the Puranic Blue Lotus is planetary, but symbolicly an embryo--and moreover, in Buddhism, this would be Generation Stage, that is, the mind of, or potential practice of, someone striving for Bodhisattva-hood, they are "in the womb" of it.

    Further, they also do Raudra Krama. Sadhanamala jumps from the basic Pancha Raksa to the bewildering PR 206; but there are also a couple intervening moments elsewhere. Usually, Pramardani is in the East, but for example in Panca Raksa Devi Stotra, Pratisara is still first or central, and then her first deity is Mantranusarini and the last is Pramardini, who is called Naumi in each couplet. Sitabani happens to be the only one concerning a cemetery:

    śmaśānasthena muninā yā samuccāritā purā |



    Then, we can find a different format, in a sequence giving Mantranusarini last. In Dharani Samgraha, Pratisara involves Yakshas and Garuda:



    āyāṇḍa yakṣāsūradaityasaṁdyāḥ | pūjāvidhānaniratāgaruḍānendrāḥ |



    and her dharani begins with the unusual:


    om vipūlagarbbha vipūla vimale jagagarbbha vajajvālāgarbbha |



    To the extent this is an identifier, there is such a thing:


    2a) Vipulā (विपुला).—The Goddess enshrined at Vipula.*

    * Matsya-purāṇa 13. 36.

    Vipula Devi in Devi Bhagavata Purana.



    It is plain in Mahamayuri Sutra:


    The great sage Vajrapani though lives in Rajagrha
    Often dwells in Mount Grdhrakuta.
    The deity Garuda resides in the Vipula mountain.


    The yaksha Kumbhira of Rajagrha
    Often resides in Vipula together with his huge and powerful contingent of troops
    And a retinue of billions of yakshas.


    Mountain King Vipula /


    also telling us:


    Vaisravana who resides in the city Alakavati,
    Located along the jeweled stairway of the Buddha’s descent,
    Is surrounded by billions of gods and goddesses.



    Notwithstanding confusion between Vaisravana and Kubera, this is also meaningful to Venkateswara:


    The various names that glorify BhUmi DEvi as the Consort of the Lord are: Sarvam SahA , AchalA , Visvambhara , Vipula Ananandha, PruTvee and Vasundhara. Her Lord is proud about these and other NaamAs of His dear consort that reveal Her durability in coming to the protection of suffering ChEthanams with Her Lord, Her infinite capacity to forgive those who transgress Her Lord's injunctions , Her vastness (VipulA) and possessing inestimable wealth( VasundharA).


    Moreover, it has been known since Pali Vepulla, which traces it back to three Historical Buddhas.

    It tells us:


    Vepulla was the abode of the Yakkha Kumbhira and his one hundred thousand followers (D.ii.257).


    From Vepulla, the Cakkavatti gets his cakka ratana (KhpA.p.173; J.iv.232), and it was this gem which Punnaka obtained from the mountain to be offered as stake in his game of dice with Dhananjaya Koravya. J.vi.271, 272, 326.



    It is significant to the Jains:


    Lord Mahavira gave his first sermon on the Vipula Peak at Rajgir.

    Sri Paravanatha has a permanent temple on this mountain of the immortals.


    and:


    Ketumati - The future name of Baranasi. It will be at the head of eighty four thousand towns, the capital of the Cakkavatti Sankha and the birthplace of the Buddha Metteyya. D.iii.75f; J.vi.594; Anagat., vv.8, 30; according to v.8 it is the same as Kusavati.

    Ketumatī (केतुमती) is the name of a river situated in Majjhimadesa (Middle Country) of ancient India, as recorded in the Pāli Buddhist texts (detailing the geography of ancient India as it was known in to Early Buddhism).—It is stated in the Vessantara Jātaka that the King Vessantara with his wife and children proceeded to Gandhamādana. Then setting his face northward he passed by the foot of Mount Vipula and rested on the bank of the river Ketumatī. He crossed the stream and then went on to the hill called Nālika. Still moving northward he reached the lake Mucalinda.



    Kasyapa is at Mount Kukkutapada, not terribly far from Vipula, waiting for Maitreya.

    Sitabani is the Cool Grove also in Bihar, near the base of a mountain inhabited by Dungeshwari. This is also well-known:


    The dungeshwari or pragbodhi caves are where the Buddha performed austerities for six years before he attained enlightenment.

    It is correct that Sujata gave him some food and then he proceeded to Bodh Gaya for Full Enlightenment. So one sees emaciated and robust Buddhist statues. One finds Buddha sharing a cave with Dungeshwari.

    This itself hints at the sacred geography of the local rivers, particularly the Phalgu or Nirajan.

    It turns out that the river is actually bone dry except for five months a year.

    Buddha restored eyesight to a blind cobra on the island now called Sarasvati.


    We have a larger post on this neighborhood, including the trail.



    It is the first holy site visited by the pilgrim and here his first offering must be made for the souls of his ancestors. According to the Gaya Mahatmya, which forms part of the Vayu Purana, the Phalgu is the embodiment of Vishnu himself. One tradition states that it formerly flowed with milk.

    According to Hindu belief, the soul wanders after death until pindadan, or religious service seeking salvation for the dead from the cycle of rebirth, is performed. The fortnight-long pitrapaksh period is considered auspicious to offer pindadan. The 15 days of the waning moon during the Hindu month of Ashvin are known as pitrapaksh. Pindadan is traditionally offered on the banks of the Phalgu at Gaya.


    The river is sometimes dry due to a curse from Sita, and it is the site of Vishnupad Mandir:


    The temple is believed to be built upon the site where Vishnu had purportedly killed the demon Gayasura or pinned him underground.

    Gayasura now pushed into earth pleaded for food. Lord Vishnu gave him a boon that every day, someone will offer him food. Whoever does so, their souls will reach heaven. The day Gayasura doesn't get food, it is believed that he will come out.


    Sita cursed the Phalgu for bearing false witness about her Pindan or food offering. So the area is heavily connected to Food and Sraddha. "Nirajan" becomes a verb or an act, purifying offerings with lamps and heat in a Homa, which in turn becomes symbolic in the yoga of an Inner Homa. This is more or less what we would attempt to get a deity to do with a flaming Dharmodaya.


    Mixing "river" and "heat", there is then Varuni flowing like butter in all of them, or, Agni:


    Ahavaniya fire "loved sixteen rivers", from Sita in the Tarim to south India.


    Upacara, restraining the Hindrances (Nivarani), is the outer Nirajan, or, Nirajan is counted among the standard sixteen accessories in exoteric Upacara.



    Effectively, we have found Three Lamps. First, Dipa Tara carrying a lamp on a pole, as Outer Nirajan. Then the Dharmodaya. Then in the tantric Dissolutions, Lamp is the last phase before Sky or Space. That of course is not depicted in rituals, although the whole thing still involves Food:


    "Outer" means that it has to do with the Offering Goddesses. And then what we find is that there are "two Lamps", because the second, Inner Nirajan is a different group of Five Offerings ending on Food, which has a more powerful Lamp. This becomes the Agni Kunda or Red Dharmodaya or Triangle, or item of Ghasmari, and if this Offering is successful and you enter the Dissolutions, it will be the fourth dissolution, Turquoise Lamp. You could probably call these Outer, Inner, and Secret Lamps.



    Elizabeth English found this in Samvarodaya Tantra:


    ...for just as, in the external world, the river Niranjana nourishes the site of enlightenment (vajrapitham) upon which the Buddha sat, so in the internal "yogic world," the central channel avadhut nourishes the circle of great bliss upon which Vajravarahl stands.

    [§31] Just as outside there is nourishment in the sites [and other places] with the water of the river, so in the body, the flowing channels (nadis) nourish [aspects of the body, beginning with] the nails [and teeth] .

    "Outside" [refers to] the vajra seat (vajrapitham), the place of great enlightenment, [and] the river [is] Niranjana. Whereas (tu) in the body, the circle of great bliss, is held to be the vajra seat, and [the central channel] Avadhuti.


    It is here that Devi Bhagavata Purana gives instruction on Agni and the Pranas:


    Think of the belly as Araṇi or the piece of wood for kindling the fire (by attrition), think of the mind as the churning rod, and think of the wind as the rope, and then kindle the fire, residing in the belly...


    Within the mouth, there is the Āhavanīya fire; within the heart, there is the Gārhapatya fire; in the navel, there is the Dhakṣiṇāgni fire...


    This is as in Brahmanda Purana as the Five Souls of the Year. Again, this is taking the five basic Pranas of Ayurveda, and relating it to the whole cosmos.



    The "permanent entities" contrasted to "shifting kingdoms" in the world-systems would apply to Manvantaras and the milking of Vasudhara:


    Puṣkariṇī (otherwise known as) Vāruṇī gave birth to Cākṣuṣa Manu.

    The story of Pṛthu and his milking of the earth is a Purāṇic transformation of the Vedic conception of milking of the Virāj cow. The Virāj Sūkta (AV. VIII 10) forms the basis of the Purāṇic legend. This purāṇic legend records the right of the sages (public leaders) to do away with a wilful tyrant.


    Vāruṇī—daughter of progenitor Vīraṇa; wife of Cākṣuṣa.*

    * Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa II. 36. 102. Viṣṇu-purāṇa I. 13. 3.


    That was the previous Manvantara, and now it is certainly the Blue Lotus generally:


    Puṣkariṇī (पुष्करिणी) refers to a “lotus lake”, according to the Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja, an ancient Buddhist ritual manual on agriculture from the 5th-century (or earlier), containing various instructions for the Sangha to provide agriculture-related services to laypeople including rain-making, weather control and crop protection.—Accordingly, “Then the Bhagavān reached the vicinity of the residence of Vaiśravaṇa. In that region there was a choicest forest called Viṣavaka. There was a lotus lake (puṣkariṇī) in the middle of an opening of the forest. By the power of that lotus lake the fields, gardens, forests, groves, flowers and fruits in the capital of Aḍakavatī became refreshed [...]”.






    Golden Light Sutra



    In this Manvantara, starting over in the Vedas, Apri Hymns designate the transmission of Ten Rishi Gotras. In the same sense, "Gotra" in the title of RGV refers to the Mahayana Bodhisattva Gotra. The ten in Rig Veda are similar in a few other sources, such as AV 5.XII:


    Lofty, celestial Dames with gold to deck them, assuming all
    their fair and radiant beauty.
    Come the first two celestial sweet-voiced Hotars, arranging
    sacrifice for man to worship,
    As singers who inspire us in assemblies, showing the eastern
    light with their direction!
    Let Bhārati come quickly to our worship and Ilā showing like a
    human being.
    So let Sarasvati and both her fellows, deft Goddesses, on this
    fair grass be seated.
    Hotar more skilled in sacrifice, bring hither with speed to-day
    God Tvashar...


    The significance being the same Three Goddesses are found around line eight in the hymns of every Gotra.


    Sri Aurobindo says "the Puranas" mixed Bharati into Sarasvati--without saying specifically in which ones--but he does give their purposes and why Bharati is also called Mahi.




    This whole concept is absent from the new translation of Golden Light Sutra in Thirty-One Chapters.

    It was not mentioned in the previous Golden Light Sutra in Twenty-One Chapters.

    Anyone can just look at the contents and it is plainly obvious that this line eight of Apri Hymns is exactly what is being moved forward here.

    Even better, one sees that Eloquence is still pinned to Sarasvati; it has none of the conflation which may have crept into some of the Puranas.

    Moreover, this is a special Sasrasvati--she has Eight Arms, she stands on one foot, she has a skirt of grass like Parnasabari, in fact she is teaching Ayurvedic herbalism.

    Moreover, in the older version, she clearly has the epithets Hingula, Marici, and Marici Prana. In the new version, this is less clear and simply annotated:


    higule 927

    Toh 555 has hiṅgule. In both Toh 556 and 557, Yongle and Kangxi have hiṅgule; Lithang, Choné, and Urga have hegule; and Lhasa has hiphule.


    This Sutra begins in Chapter Two with the transformation of a house into a Lapis Lazuli Palace, and the arrival of Four Dhyani Buddhas as we know them, although the new translation is skittish about this as well. Ratnaketu should be easily understood as Ratnasambhava, and Dundubhisvara is Amoghasiddhi, according to the very origin of Tara as Princess Jnana Candra.

    The Mahasri Sutra appears to be perhaps just the Sri Chapter circulated independently, which similarly is about the arising of Sri Lakshmi as a Buddha.

    Since Golden Light was translated as early as 420, it is hard to tell why Vairocana Abhisambodhi Tantra would not employ this format. It has deftly fused the Vedic Apri Hymn to the main Pancha Jina stamp as centered on Vairocana-as-Buddha, and although it is a Sutra, due to the mantras and images, Tibetans classify it as a Kriya Tantra. This and Vairocana are both Sutras.


    The longer Golden Light Sutra takes six hours to recite, whereas Mahamayuri has three sections in its most extensive form. These two have the same background, and Mayuri clearly employs golden light as a power. If the theme of Golden Light is that a "King" is simply the yogin on their way to becoming a Cakravartin, Mayuri may not be a snakebite kit, but the inner means of the disciple purging toxins.

    Neither idea is terribly complicated, but, it does require a shift in thinking from how the external recital of certain words is less significant than inner development of the mind and prana.


    The extensive Sutra adds a first name to the querent of Sarasvati, which is also similar to Dharmacakra Mudra:


    Vyākaraṇa is the study of grammar and linguistic analysis in Sanskrit language.

    Vyākaraṇa (व्याकरण) refers to the “promise of future attainment”

    The Bodhisattva then takes the Bodhisattva Vow (praṇidhāna), receives the promise of future attainment (vyākaraṇa), and proceeds to follow the Bodhisattva Path, including the ten stages (bhūmis).


    There is an additional section where Sarasvati gains hypostatical epithets, such as Narayani, Radha, or the consort of Mahesvara. Because this section is about practices, it makes sense, because Sarasvati is about the underlying practice of Mantra in general, which means as yoga deities, the others do essentially arise from her. In their consecutive chapters, they are "just there" and do not repeat the elaborate techniques found in the Sarasvati Chapter. Further, these praises also attach her to the Sabari pantheon:


    All wild people of the mountains and forests
    Continually make offerings to you, the goddess.
    They make banners and flags from peacock feathers...

    When you ring a great bell, the sound that emerges
    Resounds even on the Vindhya Mountains.


    The translators just summarized this as "Durga", but it is pretty specific iconography:


    You are ever adorned by eight arms
    That hold, individually, an arrow, bow, sword,
    Axe, mallet, hook, discus, and noose.






    It is not possible to prove that Pratisara is as old as these Sutras, however, Parnasabari is, and what we found about Hingula flattens the contenders. Mayuri is also certainly the parallel implication of Sabaris, again falling back to the Dattatreya lineage and the era of Hingula and Parasurama. That is more specifically in the hands of Matangi, who again becomes a Buddhist convert, just in a different Sutra.

    If we agree that Pratisara is a harnessing of Vipula Devi, it will blow through all of that and we would have to think in terms of the Historical Buddhas.

    I am less confident we could say that Sitabani "is" Dungeswari Devi, since the latter is of the mountain, and Sitabani is a charnel ground in the woods across the parking lot. She is called the Peaceful Cemetery, and I am not sure we can even find a whole set of these. The Cemetery Yoga is transformative, i. e. what is currently grotesque, is, like the power of Bhu from raw to improved, made over into something fertile and beautified. More emphatically, Sitabani is the major source of Heruka Yoga.

    I posted a few times that Pratisara "is" Mamaki, but really the Sutra just says that Pratisara practice will also cause one to be protected by Mamaki. It is not very specific, but we frequently see Mamaki sent over to Jewel Family, and there is a really strange door about Vasudhara and the Yakshas and an interaction between Vajra and Jewel Families. Biographically, Sakyamuni went to Gandhara and back, subduing Yakshas while he rose on the Bodhisattva Bhumis. Then he sat in Dungeswari Cave for six years doing asceticism, which was found to be insufficient for a Buddha. He moved to Bodh Gaya until doing an initiatic meditation in Akanistha with Tilottama as his consort, Dissolving the Voids and arising in Complete Sambhogakaya, which happens to be what is mentioned for the first time in VAT.

    The later Heruka and Dakinijala Samvara tantras are the attempt to replicate this meditation in personal experience.


    G. Hidas has a very thorough, ongoing Pratisara study, which finds it extremely signifcant, employed by two Gilgit Queens, used by Chinese pilgrims such as Fa Tsang and Amoghavajra, and still going late in the reign of King Ramapala. The Sutra has no commentaries, but an extensive outlay of related manuscripts for her mandalas and so on. He does not think the Gilgit manuscripts of the early 600s reflect the original production of the Sutra. That seems plain, because the first version he published is the one beginning with Ekajati and Lankesvari.

    If we do not want to dismiss Hinglua and Vipula as meaningless gibberish stuffed in the dharanis for no reason, this is the same. These scriptures are written in their own context, which consists in the background of these deities, not their invention.

    Same with the Pisaci mantras also found in Pratisara.

    That perhaps is the most important principle.


    The author's other works include Pramardani and Dharani Samgraha 2021.


    Szanto has got a fragment of Rigi Arali Tantra which is found to be the same as Buddhakapala and Vajramrita.

    His list of works covers Amritasiddhi, Jnanapada, parts of Catuspitha and Dakini Jala, and of course the now-complete Samputa Tantra. He has uncovered tons of details that I personally find quite valid towards Indian Buddhist Yoga.

    From St. Petersburg, we find Sardulakarnavadana, with the immediate notice that the short version transmitted to China ca. 200 lacks the astrological information, and, that the part it lacks is a thorough digest of normative Indian Astrology. The particular fragment is a piece from the middle; it is still basically a Matangi and Ananda Sutra. Interestingly, such fragments have been recovered since the nineteenth century, i. e. prior to the beginning of Theosophy, but of course they were archived, not published.



    From finding that the "rosary for Vajra Family" is made of lapis, that suggested to me that the title, Vajramala Tantra, could have the intention of lapis, rather than generic mandala descriptions which would probably say "a rosary made of vajras". Vajras made of what?


    In looking for someone to have made this connection, it does not stand out very prominently. First here is an unusual translation on the decorations of Mathura in Srimad Bhagavatam:


    vaidurya-vajramala-nila-vidrumair

    ...vaidurya stones, diamonds, crystal quartz, sapphires, coral, pearls and emeralds.


    Obviously, someone has interjected "Seven Jewels", where only four are given, one perhaps being "Diamond Rosary" if you must. However, "diamond" is a late analogue, viz.:

    Cultural History from the Vāyu Purāna

    Vajra (वज्र):—It is mentioned in the Ṛgveda mostly as a weapon of Indra. It is suggested that it was originally made of stone and later of bone. In later literature its use as a weapon becomes rare. The Vāyu-purāṇa uses it mostly in connection with Indra and Śiva. It, however, shows a stage when vajra as a weapon was probably no longer in use and the term was often metaphorically used.

    It is "diamond" in, for instance, the 500s astronomy texts. It is not in the Prajnaparamita Sutra but is in the Sastra.

    There are, in fact, older alternatives:


    Hīra (हीर).—[hṛ-ka ni]

    2) A diamond

    Vaira (वैर) refers to “diamond”


    According to Forbes:


    It's curious to note that one of the most famous properties of a diamond, its "fire" (ability to reflect and bend light), was only “discovered” in the 20th century with the development of the brilliant cut.

    Before that, diamonds were cut in relatively simple and unspectacular forms. This may explain why in ancient cultures, the mineral quartz was often used to replace the more valuable gemstone.

    According to Hindu folklore, diamonds form when lightning strikes a rock.


    So this is entirely possible for Diamond:


    The word 'diamond' is said to have originated from Old French 'diamant' and Latin 'adamantem' meaning 'the hardest metal'. The source word is 'adamant' which of course means 'that which cannot be tamed or controlled'.

    Herein lies the Sanskrit connection. 'Adamant' itself derives from Sanskrit 'daman' (दमन) which means 'control', 'oppression', and 'restraint'. 'A' negates the meaning. 'A-daman' (अ + दमन) means 'that which cannot be tamed or controlled or broken'. Hence, 'adamant'.

    'Adamant' describes the 'extreme hardness' of diamond. Hence its name.




    There is this unusual instance from Guenther's Naro:


    ...put on cotton trousers, took a skull in
    his hand, and set out as a mendicant, muttering the word 'vaidurya'.
    This is a symbol for being able to digest whatever one eats.


    Medicine Buddha is in Shurangama Mantra, and:


    41 ŚRIYĀ PĀṆḌARA-VĀSINYĀṂ ĀRYA-TĀRĀ
    With fortune, in white cloth, Holy Tara
    42 BHṚI-KUṬYĀṂ CED VĀJĀṂ VAJRA-MALA-ITIS,
    In anger, as victory(vijaya) female Thunderbolt holder
    43 VI-ŚRUTĀṂ, PADMAKAṂ, VAJRA-JIHVAḤ CA MĀLĀ CE IVA APARĀJITĀ-VAJRA-DAṆḌĪ
    Renowned, lotus-like, Vajra(diamond) tongue and garland, and like invincible Thunder-bolt staff
    44 VIŚĀLĀ CA ŚĀNTA VAIDEHA PŪJITAH, SAUMĪ RŪPA, MAHĀ-ŚVETĀ-ĀRYA-TĀRĀ,
    Wide, silent, moon offering great white Holy TaraIndra
    45 MAHĀ-BALA APARAJITA, VAJRA SAṂKALĀ CED IVA VAJRA-KAUMĀRĪ
    Great strength, undefeated vajra matted, and as a Vajra Kumârî("The Girl")


    which also did not use the name "Siva":

    20 NAMO BHĀGAVATE RUDRAYA, UMA-PATI SAHEYAYA.
    Salute World Honoured Rudra (Śiva), Destroyer, his wife Umâ and family.


    The mantra is plain about extending Parasol's identity:


    BHAGAVANTAS TATHĀGATOṢṆIṢAṂ SITA-Ā-TAPATRAṂ. NAMO APARĀJITAM PRATY-ANGIRAṂ




    From History of Buddhism:


    In order to subdue the latter, the Lord took a lute with 1000 strings
    and a frame of Vaidurya stone.

    Then, when the Sahalokadhatu will become deprived of
    precious jewels, these relics will become a Vaidurya stone called
    Ketumati which will remove all poverty. Thereafter these relics
    [136 a.] will rise up till Akanistha.



    Sakya Sribhadra:


    On the Srin-po-ri the Great Pandit accomplished the Vajra-
    mala-abhiseka and greatly furthered the spread of the teachings
    granting magical power.


    None of those quite...answer the question...but, lacking who said this, we can find in a preview of Kagyu Golden Lineage Treasury:



    ...the Dzambu River, with pleats of the finest vaidurya...

    My winds are the vajra mala.


    That is how it is written, although beginning "My Body is Hevajra", it is assigning various aspects to various tantras, which would be agreeably meaningful as stated, Vajramala expanding to 108 Winds.


    Although a lapis rosary is indicated for Medicine Buddha and Vajra Family for multiple centuries, there seems to be no notice that this may have been informative towards "Vajramala" as a title.






    Shigatse and Lhasa, Tibetan international zones



    It is not at all correct that Tibet is "isolated", there have been for example Uzbeki Islamic merchants entering for centuries. Most of this trading does go through towns of the Gelugpas. My suggestion is that this is why the Theosophical Mahatmas appeared to be, and typically worked with, the Gelug order. In actual doctrine, Prasangika refutes Yogacara, and Tson kha pa's writings are very sexualized--neither of which matches what HPB was trying to say. It doesn't have this coherence. It does stand upon the older Nyingma foundation. Other Buddhist schools were too small and powerless to have outside connections. So we will try to take this as the Gelugs are a resource, a way to affect greater numbers of people. Irony being the Theosophical Founders were initiated into Threravada. Olcott stuck to this; HPB at least attempted to promote Mahayana.

    We found that shortly after her, Kalimpong truly became a Gelug outreach that almost totally and solely conditioned the future of Buddhism "for the west".


    Previously, there was a 1773 inscription saying that the Panchen Lama had sent an envoy to the Maharajah of Benares. But we do not know that much of anything came from it. However, Theosophy copied the Maharajah's motto. Dayanand Saraswati had gotten kicked out, and we find someone initiated by the same guru:

    Bhaskarananda Saraswati (1833–1899)



    At about age 27, he was initiated into the holy order of Sannyas by Paramahamsa Swami Purnananda Saraswati of Ujjain...

    into:

    Dashanami Dandi sannyasi

    and settled at Benares in 1868, becoming advisor to Kashi Naresh or the Maharajah of Benares.

    Alexandra David-Néel studied yoga with Bhaskarananda.

    He also finds mention in Mark Twain's non-fiction travelogue Following the Equator (1897), who met Swami in Varanasi.


    It turns out that there *was* an extension of Buddhism back into India prior to the TS, due to George Bogle, of an Ayrshire elite family who were colonialists and slavers. He eventually went to work for the East India Company.

    Ignoring their numbers, he met the Panchen:


    Lobsang Palden Yeshe (1738-1780)


    Through a bunch of wars and commercial situations, he nevertheless spent six months in what has been characterized as a humble, honest Cultural Exchange.


    The result was a temple built in Howrah, home of The Great Banyan Tree. This is simply across the river from Calcutta.

    Its story is fairly well presented by an Indian 2015 blog. Here again, the important liaison was through a member of:



    Dashanami Sampradaya

    The Gosains were a unique class of trading monks, who were so rich and powerful that they often had private armies to guard trading routes. The Panchen Lama valued them for the information and intelligence they were able to provide on the neighbouring countries. Hastings himself was deeply impressed with Purangir, and sent with him his energetic Scottish private secretary George Bogle to establish diplomatic contacts with the Panchen Lama. What Hastings had in mind was to use the Panchen Lama’s access to the Qianlong Emperor to secure trading rights in China which was then closed to all foreigners. The Panchen Lama in return wanted a small favour. India, for Tibetans had long been the “Holy Land”. “I wish to have a place on the banks of the Ganges, to which I might send my people to pray”, he told George Bogle, and the East India Company was only too happy to oblige. This is how Bhot Bagan Math came to be built.

    The temple was consecrated in June, 1776.


    The principal deity was Mahakal (also spelt Mahakala), formally called “Sri Sri Iswar Mahakal Thakur”.

    19th century authors describe the idol as being built of precious metals and having nine heads, eighteen legs and thirty six arms, each clasping a weapon and one holding on to a female consort. There were also idols of Tara, identified by Nepalese Buddhists as “Prajna Paramita”, Cakrasamvara with consort, Guhyasamaja with consort, Vakra Bhrkuti and Padmapani.


    After Purangir’s death in 1795, he was succeeded by his disciple Daljit Giri Gosain, also referred to as Daljitgir. After Daljitgir’s death, the link with Tibet was severed. The Bhot Gosain, or Bhot Mahant as they were known, did not travel to Tibet anymore, as their predecessors had. The Qing Dynasty’s severe travel restrictions on its subjects ensured the Tibetan monks too no longer came to Bhot Bagan.


    The Mahakala is gone, this is the remaining Tara:






    So the Buddhist presence faded in the early 1800s, while the new Panchen, Tenpei Nyima (1781–1854), delivered the first Icons Worthwhile to See, in Mpngolia, 1810. That was the blockprint edition. The later painted version of course is heavily reliant on Mahakala. The following Panchens were:

    Palden Tenpai Nyima (1782–1853)

    Tenpai Wangchuk (1855–1882) (Nyingma)

    Thubten Choekyi Nyima (1883–1937)

    In 1901, Choekyi Nyima was visited by the Mongolian Lama, Agvan Dorzhiev.

    The Dalai Lama was attempting to collect revenue from the Panchen Lama's estate to cover a fourth of Tibet's military expenses, and to reduce the power of the Panchen Lama, who at the time enjoyed rule over an effectively autonomous region around Shigatse.

    In China, the ninth Panchen Lama worked on plans to develop Tibet along modern lines.

    The Panchen Lama was considered extremely "pro-Chinese", according to official Chinese sources.

    Choekyi adopted the ideas of Sun Yatsen like the Kham revolutionary Pandatsang Rapga.

    Peking Voice of the Silence by Alice Cleather and Basil Crump was done with his assistance, and clearly says HPB was at Tashi Lhunpo and knew the previous Panchen--a controversial Nyingmapa who did not live very long.


    Speaking of Koothoomi (a Vayu Purana sage, spelled Kusumi in the Brahmanda), here is Damodar, Writings of a Hindu Chela:


    We know of only one MAHATMA bearing the name of my venerated GURU DEVA who holds a well-known public office in Thibet, under the TESHU LAMA. For aught we know there may be another bearing the same name; but at any rate he is not known to us, nor have any of those, we are acquainted with in Thibet, heard of him. And this personage, my BELOVED MASTER, is, as I have described Him, resembling the portrait in Mr. Sinnett's possession, and and does not look old. Perhaps the clairvoyants are confounding the sect of Khadampas with the Kauthumpas? The former, although not regular Dougpas, are great magicians and indulge in practices an Adept of the good Law would feel disgusted with — such as the well known phenomenon of ripping open the abdomen, exposing the intestines, and then restoring them to their normal place and condition, &c. &c. The latter, the Kauthumpas, are the disciples of my MASTER.


    HPB says the "elderly" gentleman may have been KH's "next lama", Ten-dub Ughien, and that despite any Gelug affiliation:


    ...our Mahatmas belong to no sect...

    although it actually is a Gotra in Devi Bhagavata Purana:


    How, by what Kuthuma Śākhā, the noble King Bhagiratha meditated on the Devī Gaṅgā; what stotra did he recite and what was the method with which he worshipped the Ganges.


    It has been suggested the Tibetan name equates to Ugyen Gyatso (1851-1915), who, despite the similarity, would not have been "elderly" either. Sarat Candra Das was his associate, and true he attempted some map-making for the British. Emma Martin has a large article criticizing any ability of "manufactured understanding". That sounds accurate because this is too difficult to understand to begin with. Olcott met and openly discussed the "two spies", as if indeed they were not the Mahatmas.



    For Voice of the Silence, Katinka Hesselink says:


    Blavatsky reveals in a letter to a family member that she copied it out of a Tamil text...


    which would explain the insertion of "Vairagya" as the Seventh Paramita.

    Boris de Zirkoff's edition with background on its writing was never published, but David Reigle has posted the typeface. HPB says the original language was actually Telugu. She also says "Light on the Path" by Mabel Collins was "modernized" out of the same secret books as Voice and the Stanzas of Dzyan.

    Chennai appears to be Telugu for Madras, so, the language was likely relevant to the Theosophical founders. Vairagya is in the first section of Taittiriya Upanishad and Chandogya Upanishad, and is the title of the whole first book of Yoga Vasistha.


    In the Buddhist sense:


    Cariyāpiṭaka lists seven perfections.


    That is not strictly true--it "lists" ten, but comments seven, by way of dividing up the Jataka Tales. In
    Cariyapitaka:


    The Bodhisatta has, throughout innumerable ages, fulfilled the ten paramis for countless number of times. Cariya Pitaka records such performances in thirty-five existences, selecting seven out of the ten paramis, and recounts how each parami is accomplished in each of these existences.


    Because these groupings and transmissions were not agreed by all, we find that one of the main places which utilized this text was Ceylon. Telugus are everywhere:

    They are commonly known in English as Sri Lankan Gypsies



    Anything Buddhist in Telugu would have been translated from Pali, which includes:


    Nekkhamma parami : renunciation

    In the Cariyapitaka, seven paramis are illustrated in the stories: Dana, Sila, Nekkhamma, Adhitthana, Sacca, Metta and Upekkha.


    So this does not even resemble the Six Paramitas of Mahayana. Their list of ten does not include Dhyana. No one would argue that "vairagya" translates "nekkhama"--it is just not a Paramita as per Mahayana.


    Tamraparniya is the most likely origin of Abhayagiri, i. e., the likely source of Mahayana and Vajrayana until suppressed in the 1100s.

    The namesake is really the Tamraparni River:

    ...that originates from the Agastyarkoodam peak of Pothigai hills of the Western Ghats...


    which implicates Rishi Agastya, as well as the Mt. Potalaka of Avalokiteshvara and Tara.

    A dark era of eight hundred years engulfed Abhayagiri Vihara until its rediscovery in the 1880s awoke scientific and scholarly interest in the abandoned and vandalized ruins.

    Veneration of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva has continued to the present day in Sri Lanka, where he is called Natha.


    So, yes, in that sense, for the Founders to join a dilapidated 5% Buddhist minority in a Theravada ethos merely scratches the surface that Mahayana and Mantra practice (including Dravidian) are mainly south Indian of a fairly early date. Again, this is the significance of finding Ekajati and Lankesvari in some of the oldest paper writing in Gandhara--Pratisara at that.


    Finally, upon finding other examples of the rather strange Dhumavati of Nepal--unidentified with no background information:










    In the top we see what appears to be Mahacinakrama Tara. This does not tell us it is a Buddhist image, because she has been copied verbatim by Hindus, like Cinnamasta. The image does indicate this "rejuvenated" Dhumavati as being subsequent to Cinnamasta, which is certainly how I read the symbolism from the older photograph. Here it is in place.

    "Hinduism" lacks a "conversion factor", other than basic agreement; no baptism or oath. The Dwija ceremony is traditionally for the higher castes. Scripturally, however, castes are merely descriptive, not an assignment from birth. Similarly, the Laws of Manu--extracted from one codex by the British to give the Indian Hindus "their own system"--is only one of some fifty texts, which contradict each other, and contradict themselves internally. Gandhi said it was for guidance and analysis. Dayanand Sarasvati believed in it literally. So to be an Arya Samaj Hindu, it means you have to follow their particular procedure.

    You might have to do something similar to participate in a particular temple, or be accepted in a lineage, but there is nothing in Sanatana Dharma that requires anything like this. Just acceptance and practice.

    If Buddhism "rejects caste", it rejects an artificial enforcement of birth stations which should not have been taking place, so, in this sense, it is not really against Hinduism. It does take a minor oath, mainly meaning it is the "best guide". It does reject false views and heresies "of the Tirthakas", which means it does not dispute correct views held perhaps by some of the wiser Hindu creeds. It perhaps adds to them, but, a lot of the basics are the same. Buddhism already allows for a few differences of opinion within its parameters. It seems the point we are at now is the ability to review and make decisions about the school one follows. So if I elevate Maitreya's Yogacara--almost to the neglect of Vasubandhu and some of the Chinese varieties---it is still just a way of narrowing down the train of thought to a particular practice.

    What we find with Pratisara sits comfortably on this, both in historical sequence--coming around in the 600s which has not much to show for itself--and by being a newer type of practice. Etymologically:


    Prasaṅga (प्रसङ्ग).—Applicability; possibility of being applied; the word is used with respect to a grammatical rule or operation which is on the point of being applied or taking place; the word प्राति (prāti) is also used in the same sense...


    And if "amulet-cord" is not really a Buddhist contrivance, the term can also be found in a 1300s commentary on Birth:


    The quality of parihasta, an amulet, worn on the wrist in bringing about conception has also been stated earlier.[2]

    [2]:

    parihasta vidhāraya yoniṃ garbhāya dhātave / maryāde putramā dhehi taṃ tvamā gamayāgame // Atharvaveda, 6.81.2

    parihastaḥ hastaṃ pariveṣṭya vartamānaḥ rakṣakāraḥ pratisaraḥ / Sāyaṇa, Ibid., 6.81.1


    Although it is a late comment, it is clearly a Vedic subject.

    Thanks to a new posting, the non-leaping Pratisara can be found as a drawing in a Chinese Three Hundred and Sixty Deities.


    The book seems to have been the original from which was made a certain type of Lamaistic plaque which is found in large numbers in Peiping and in western museums, and which was manufactured during the reign of Ch’ien-lung.

    These plates depict photographs of a manuscript entitled Chu Fo P’u-sa Sheng Hsian Tsan which are ascribed to an unnamed Chang Chia Hutuktu (possibly Lalitavajra), embedded in the book "Two Lamaistic Pantheons" (1937) by Walter Eugene Clark; From Materials collected by the Late Baron A Von Stael-Holstein in 1928.


    This particular deity belongs to the category: “Great Masters of Prajnaparamita-yana”.


    It means the time of the Qianlong Emperor:


    Born: September 25, 1711, Lama Temple, Beijing, China
    Died: February 7, 1799, Forbidden City, Beijing, China

    He was respected as the "Emperor Manjushri" (文殊皇帝) by Tibetans.

    He seems to have accepted Confucianism, Jurchen Shamanism, and Manchu Buddhism. He supported the "Yellow Church" as a matter of statecraft. He did not like:


    Great changes happening to Chinese Muslims, like the introduction of a Sufi order, the Naqshbandiyya to the Hui, causing the Qianlong emperor to adopt this harsh attitude against Muslims in contrast to his grandfather and father...The change in Manchu attitudes towards Muslims, from tolerating Muslims and regarding them as equal to Han Chinese, before the 1760s, to the violence between the Qing state and Muslims after the 1760s, was due to progressive Qing involvement in the conflict between the Sufi orders Jahriyya and Khafiyya making it no longer possible for the Qing to keep up with the early rhetoric of Muslim equality...The sudden questions about halal in Islam that Mongol Buddhists had in the 18th century was caused by all these things, northwestern China right next to Mongolia getting militarized, the Qing government officially declaring Muslims to be anti-Qing and violent and revivalist Islam coming to China.

    The persecution of Christians by Yongzheng became even worse during the Qianlong reign.

    ...in the winter of 1757, he declared that—effective the next year—Guangzhou (then romanized as "Canton") was to be the only Chinese port permitted to foreign traders, beginning the Canton System, with its Cohong and Thirteen Factories.

    The British sent a sample of trade goods that they intended to sell in China; this was misinterpreted as tribute that was adjudged to be of low quality.

    ...they reacted prudently to reports of British expansion in India by placating the British with unspecified promises in order to avoid military conflicts and loss of trade.


    That explains why the British tried to go over land. The rejection borders on a marque or letter of reprisal.

    These Emperors had various ways of not committing European primogeniture:


    To avoid such struggles in the future, the Yongzheng Emperor designed a system by which the living emperor would choose his successor in advance and on merit, but would keep his choice secret until his deathbed. The name of the future emperor was sealed in a casket that was hidden behind a panel in the rafters of the Qianqing Palace inside the Forbidden City.


    Manchu Buddhism includes the absorption of Wu Tai Shan, the translation of Surangama Sutra to Tibetan, ten thousand dharanis, and a disregard of a number of Sastra texts.


    This sculpture depicts Pratisarā (fo-mu) from the Pao-hsiang Lou pantheon: a Lama temple situated in the garden of the Tz’u-ning palace in the Forbidden City (Gu-gong) at Peiping.





    So, I suppose it is not really Mrtyuvacana, who is Sita Tara with two arms and two eyes. Her knees actually would be raised and bound by a yoga cloth:


    ābaddhavajraparyaṅkāṃ varadotpaladhāriṇīm



    and she is not holding a wheel, but simply bears it, possibly like an amulet, or more likely as a mantra wheel.


    Atisha actually does translate these White Taras and:


    Samaya-tara-stava.^^ In
    the Peking edition, its colophon is : “Written by Vagisvara-
    kirti, the immortal and the resident of Ratnagiri of Kosala...


    But as to why his personal practice was more significant than a treatise from a Vikramasila Gatekeeper based in Parasunya, I cannot say. This is like a border or division. This Tara is almost certainly compatible to Four Armed Sita Tara, they are the ones with this name.

    And there is a GRETIL Sanskrit Mrtyuvacanopadesa in Four Chapters.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Vimanas and Vajratunda




    It struck me as inappropriate that at least since around the 60s, "Chariots of the Gods" gave westerners an excuse to claim that the Indian folklore was an attempt to explain UFOs. It seems they thoroughly missed the point that "other worlds" mostly refer to other planes of existence. When we take on this topic, it, like so much in Sanskrit, has multiple meanings.


    This is a false belief about Vimanas:

    Mechanical birds are specifically mentioned in the Rig Veda (verse 1.164.47-48).


    because these verses:


    ...were taken as evidence for a spacecraft by Indian philosopher and social leader Dayananda Saraswati...


    whom we rebuke by Chronology:


    1882, March 26—Swâmi Dayânanda Sarasvatî lectures in Bombay and launches an attack denouncing the Founders and the T.S. (Ransom, 169).


    April, 1882:

    As a consequence of all this, we declare the alliance between the Theosophical Society and the Arya Samaj broken.


    His "brother", Bhaskaranand Sarasvati, wrote the initial paper for The Oriental Department, 1891, for W. Q. Judge. This was towards the end of HPB; referring to the prior background, A. Swami of Jaipur told Olcott:

    ...eight years before, in Tibet, one of them, known as Jivan Singh Chohan, had told him that he need not be discouraged about the religious state of India, for they had arranged that two Europeans, a man and a woman, should soon come and revive the Eastern religions. This date corresponds with that of the formation of our Society at New York...

    As this is still a current name, it may be spelled:


    Chauhan refers to one of the thirty-six Rajput clans


    That tells us that Rajputs and Orissans were in Tibet, lamenting the consequences of colonialists ruining the Indian educational system. This obviously was not a one-sided reaction, and Arya Samaj is a one-sided thing that is not its legitimate fruit. Then he gives this odd declaration, which has framed the current western concept.



    "Vimana" does however appear in Rg Veda, and--notwithstanding Wilson's translations, they are what we get in this quick grab--it does at least have a "mobile" meaning in 7.87.6:


    rajaso vimānaḥ

    the powerful transporter beyond sin


    The exact same phrase also appears in 10.121.5:


    the measure of the water in the firmament

    Nothing mentions water...


    1.139.5:

    the measurer of the water [?]


    2.40.3:

    showerers (of benefits)


    Vimana on its own in 10.82.2:

    is all-pervading



    As a synonym in 10.139.2:


    Yajus. 17.59: nṛcakṣā = vimānaḥ





    It has many definitions, which do not usually suggest "flight":


    Vimāna can also refer to a “residence” in general.

    Vimāna (विमान):—The common word denoting the ‘temple’ is Vimāna (dwelling of God), in practically all the manuals on architecture e.g., in the Mānasāra, buildings of one to twelve storeys are called Vimānas (XVIII). There is a great metaphysical or more correctly a cosmological truth embedded in this word.

    The Vāyu-purāṇa (IV.30-31) says:—“To measure (mā) is to make a thing by giving shape to it and existence”. Vimāna, therefore, measured in its parts, is the form of God, which is this Universe, the macrocosm, and the temple the microcosm. To measure, as the Samarāṅgaṇa-sūtradhāra has aptly said, is to create—there is an idntity between the measure and the object. Whatever is produced is called meya.

    Dr. Kramrisch has very beautifully brought out the significance of the word denoting and connoting temple both in its architectural and spiritual implications—“The temple as Vimāna, proportionately measured throughout, is the house and body of God. By temple is understood the main shrine only in which is contained the Garbhagṛha, the womb and house of the Embryo, the small, innermost sanctuary with its generally square plan.”

    The finial of temples is a stupi:


    Symbolising the primal waters, the stūpī is shaped like a bulbous pot.


    cf.:

    2) Stūpa (स्तूप) in the Rigveda and later denotes the ‘top-knot’ of hair as designating the upper part of the head.

    Stūpa Skt. (Pali, thūpa; Sinh., dagoba; Tib., chöten), lit., “hair knot”; characteristic expres­sion of Buddhist architecture, one of the main symbols of Buddhism and a focal point in tem­ples and monasteries.


    Vimana is subsequently:


    1c) Vehicles of gods;1 built by Viśvakarma.2

    1) Vāyu-purāṇa 30. 96.
    2) Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa III. 10. 119; 16. 14 and 51; 59. 18; IV. 17. 16; Vāyu-purāṇa 66. 30.


    The sense of "vehicles" is present in the Epics and Puranas, less so in the Vedas. The architectural sense is quite Masonic, and of a similar intent as the word "dimension", a measurement.



    It appears in Buddhism, in the fifth century:


    Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja


    which inter-textualizes with Pratisara, and is given to us by the same researcher in Sanskrit with Translation 2019.


    It is immediately recognizable, i. e. Tunda = "beak", so we surmise it is a Garuda Yoga, reduced to the symbolic veil of weather control.


    Before that, here are a few responses on Garuda:


    Garuda’s mother, Vinata, mother of the birds, was tricked into becoming the slave of her sister and co-wife, Kadru, mother of the nagas (serpents). The lasting enmity between the birds, particularly Garuda, and the serpents is attributed to this. The nagas agreed to release Vinata if Garuda could obtain for them a drink of the elixir of immortality, the amrita, or soma. Garuda performed that feat, thus giving the snakes the ability to slough off their old skins, and, on his way back from the heavens, he met Vishnu and agreed to serve him as his vehicle and also as his emblem.

    According to the Amarkosha; Garuda is called as Garutman which means the stratosphere which surrounds the earth. When the Lord is identified as Sūrya Nārāyana, then Garuda becomes the stratosphere which conveys and modifies the rays of the sun to the earth and thus prevents the destruction of life by the intensity of the heat.



    Garuda is the son of Kashyapa (clear vision) and Vinata (She-before-whom-knowledge-bows). Vinata quarreled with her co-wife Kadru (chalice-of-immortality) who was the mother of the “ever-moving ones” - the serpents which are the symbols of the cycles of time. From this quarrel originated the enmity between Garuda and the serpents.

    Garuda which means “Wings-of-speech”, is Lord Visnu's vehicle. In the Vedas he is also known as Garutman. He represents the Vedas which carry the Lord of Sacrifices. Garuda is the mantras of the Veda which travel with the speed of light from one world to another.

    Garuda's wife is Unnati (progress) also called Vināyakā (queen-of-knowledge).


    Svāhā, the wife of Agni, takes the shape of a female Garuḍī = suparṇī, [Mahābhārata iii, 14307 and 14343])

    Garuda is also a Destiny in the scale of Dana Paramita.


    His form is often something similar to a Kinnara:


    ...human body and limbs, its face being white, its wings red and its body golden.

    ...face is similar to the face of a bull.




    As he is connected to Vimanas and Nagas:



    1) Puṣpaka (पुष्पक).—A divine Aerial Chariot. Origin. Viśvakarmā had a daughter named Saṃjńā. She was married to Sūrya. But Saṃjńā could not live with Sūrya for long because of the terrible heat and so she came back and told her father about it. At once Viśvakarmā ordered Sūrya to come to him and the former then tried to reduce his brightness by rubbing him on a grindstone. However much he tried he was not able to reduce even an eighth of his brightness. The brightness of the Sun which was rubbed out spread in the atmosphere as suspended lustrous particles. Viśvakarmā collected that lustrous dust and from it created four brilliant things. The Cakrāyudha of Mahāviṣṇu is one, the Triśūla of Śiva is another, and the third is Puṣpakavimāna (Puṣpaka Aerial chariot). The fourth is Śakti, a weapon of Subrahmaṇya. Viśvakarmā gave them all as presents to Brahmā. (Chapter 2, Aṃ a 2, Viṣṇu Purāṇa).



    Citraketu, the King of the Vidyadharas traveled by his Vimana, round the world. He visited hundreds of people in several places and was praised by the sages. He stayed on the heights of Kulâcalendra [Mount Meru].




    From comments on King Harsha's play, Nagananda:


    Nagananda, inspired by Buddhism, is one of the best Sanskrit dramas in five acts dealing with the popular story of Jimuthavahana’s self-sacrifice to save the Nagas. The story depicts how prince Jimuthavahana inspired by the noble virtues taught by the Buddha, offers his body to stop serpents being consumed daily by Garuda the leader of the birds; and how he succeeds in converting Garuda to the principle of ahimsa, abstention from causing injury to living beings.


    and then sociologically:


    Mahabharata also mentions that the territory of Suparnas, the enemies of Nagas ,was close to Hiranyapura the city of the Daityas and Danavas.

    Naga race was almost exterminated by Janamejaya, the Kuru king, who conducted the massacre of Nagas at Takshasila. That massacre was stopped by Astika, a Brahmin whose mother was a Naga (Vasuki’s sister Jaratkaru). The city named after Takshaka, viz Takshasila (Taxila) to the west of the river Vitasta (Jhelum) was the abode of Naga Takshaka.



    Nagas are like footmen of the Pisacis. They can harm a human being, greatly; if so, the first thing is to determine what Family. Secondly, as the play hints, when countering them, you have to can the anger and act out of love. This is exactly what we find in the beginning of the Vajratunda, where a Brahmin survives being burned by Naga Fire and runs to Buddha as a last resort, and Vimana comes in:



    There will be a sealing of the boundaries for all Nāgas: the slopes
    of the great fire-mountain will completely cover the four directions and the
    great fire blaze mass cloud that is the expanded [wings] of the Garuḍa speed
    bird, called a great mass, will cover the sky. It is there for the protection of all
    flowers and fruits. All Nāgas and so on will be burnt by that. All harmful Nāgas
    will be destroyed.

    Immediately after the Bhagavān had uttered this spell, the destroyer of all
    Nāgas and all malefactors and calamities, all the great Nāgas got headaches,
    their bodies became putrid, stinking and foul-smelling. They fell at the feet of
    the Bhagavān and said, “O Bhagavān, extremely dreadful mantrapadas have
    been uttered. O Bhagavān, my offence is known. But, O Bhagavān, I was
    overpowered by the hostile spell-master and I stroke back and emitted [the fire].
    Then, O Bhagavān, the hostile Nāgas become agitated and destroy crops. They
    destroy flowers and fruits. They send down thunderbolts. They stir up cold
    winds. They send down excessive rain, a lack of rain and untimely rain.
    However, O Bhagavān, the spell-master, the reciter of spells, should abide by
    friendliness. He should have the armour of a friendly being. He should have the
    sword of friendliness in his hand. [For] friendliness pacifies the hostile...
    However, O Bhagavān, from today on I make a vow in the presence of the Tathāgata.
    Wherever this spell-holder king will circulate, there, O Bhagavān, the
    Nāgas will not make calamities again. Wherever this heart-dhāraṇī is used for
    protection, [there is] rescue, shelter, safeguard and the sealing of the boundaries
    and sealing of the maṇḍala. Where an amulet-cord is made, for that person, O
    Bhagavān, we will constantly ward off all calamities.”


    And, the sense of Vimana is flight:


    O the One who Wears a Flame Garland, O the One with Fierce Speed, O
    Holder of the Best Flying Palace...

    jvālāmālādhāriṇi caṇḍavegavati pravaravimānadhāraṇi


    because it is Garuda.

    The "sword of friendliness" is in Pratisara, which is also here with the important principle of the Mayuri, Sima or Boundary:


    sīmābandhaṃ maṇḍalabandhaṃ pratisarāyāṃ



    If Rama used the Puspaka Vimana--a "flower", perhaps yellow, brass, or sunlight, we would not expect this depiction:









    Nagas are infinite and dark, unlimited time, whereas the solar Garuda is finite cycles of time, so it can really cut up Nagas forever and there is no effect, like scooping a ladle of water and dropping it back. Rama or Vishnu's brother is Sesha or Ananta, the Endless Naga, and they are not enemies.

    Going back to the first 1896 translation of the I.164 Riddle Hymn, it does appear to be a Garuda Yoga interfaced with Agni, The Year:


    46. They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutman.
    To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan.

    47. Dark the descent: the birds are golden-coloured; up to the heaven they fly robed in the waters.
    Again descend they from the seat of Order, and all the earth is moistened with their fatness.

    52. The Bird Celestial, vast with noble pinion, the lovely germ of plants, the germ of waters,
    Him who delighteth us with rain in season, Sarasvan I invoke that he may help us.


    "Golden" here is suparṇā, again inferring Garuda. There is no Vimana, but it also does not seem correct to say that there are none in Rg Veda. A newer translation looks even less like a personal vehicle.

    "Vimana" does have the flying vehicle meaning in Yoga Vasistha III.XXXIII and IV.XXXIX, in the second of which it has the suggestion of "balloons". It is also not out of the question they were hot air balloons. That part is about Brahma as a magician and the metaphor "Gandharva city", which is a stock phrase in Buddhism.



    Vimana is in Prajnaparamita Sastra related to Kama Loka. Again as the deva mansions in Mahavastu. Again it appears to translate mansion:


    Invested with the forms of devas, waited on by throngs of Apsarases, with plenty of food, choice things to eat and drink, they rejoice in the mansion they have come to.



    Same in the story of Dipamkara.


    Vimanavatthu is a Pali Buddhist text of no less than eighty-three Vimanas, partially similar to Mahavastu. These are all personal stories about how the mansions are made by merit.



    By the time of Devi Bhagavata Purana, it is standard for "chariots of the gods", with no other intent:


    The Ganges flows thence from the Dhruva Manḍala, the abode of Viṣṇu, in Koṭis and Koṭis of Divine Channels, interspersed with many Vimānas or carriages, deluges the Canḍra Maṇḍala (the Moon Sphere), comes gradually to the Brahmā Loka. Here She is divided into the four channels, Sītā, Alakanandā, Bhadrā, and Caturbhadrā and irrigating many countries, mountains, and forests ultimately falls in the oceans. The Sītā, the famous Dhārā, purifying all, while falling down from the Brahmāloka, passes round the mountains that form as it were the filaments of the flower-like Sumeru mountain, and falls on the top of the Gandhamādana range.


    Since at least 281 B. C. E., Chinese have a similar mountain-as-rivers-source based on Kunlun, Queen Mother of the West.


    Among some Russian translations:



    Italian scientist, Tibet G.Tuchchi by comparing a variety of sources calculated that Shambhala - is a very real "traditional place near the river Sita (ie the Tarim River)" in Western Turkestan.

    SHAMBALA: in Buddhism and a number of mystical teachings it's a legendary land situated to the north of Tarim river (Amu Darya, Syr Darya) or in the great mountain ranges of Asia.



    Nevertheless, in the background of Theosophy, Teshu Lama asked Bogle to find out from the Bengali pandits about Shambul. Theoretically, he should not have had any question about it, if Tibetans always knew it was in Kashmir or the Tarim, or in their own country, and he had the best knowledge base of them all. He had most likely heard that stuff, and probably nothing suggesting a south Indian location, until maybe he responded to a rumour, or something suggested that non-Buddhist Bengalis would be better informed than his own traditions.


    But then the most important things to the Theosophists are in a single sentence in a Chinese UNESCO report:


    Farther to the southeast of the basin the Kunlun is continued by the Altyn-tagh, which extends eastward to the Tsaidam basin in Koko Nor province and forms the southern boundary of the corridor.


    Koothoomi "went home" on the southern side of Kunlun, Altyn Taigh is where the Purana Samhita or Book of Wisdom of the World is kept, and "Tson kha pa of Koko Nor" is highly revered.







    So, perhaps we may have to consider Three Shambalas, depending upon context. And we have been through several suggestions that Uttara Kuru goes even beyond the Tarim Basin into Siberia. That suggestion will make even more sense when we follow the disingenuity as reported in Consultants and Controversy about a recent genetic study:



    At that point, headlines around the world announced, America’s Natives Have European Roots.

    It was found that these Ice Age Siberians had deep ancestry that connected them to Western Eurasians, while they were also ancestors of Native North Americans. More surprisingly, the Mal’ta people appeared to have no direct ancestry connecting them to present-day East Asians. That was unexpected, as it has long been assumed that Native North Americans were of direct East Asian descent. Mal’ta Boy’s Y chromosome haplogroup R is a very ancient lineage thought to have arisen in Southeast Asia during the Paleolithic.


    It is not Malta, the country in the Mediterranean, but a similar spelling associated with Haplogroup U:


    Basal U was found in the 26,000 years old remains of Ancient North Eurasian, Mal'ta boy (MA1).


    Haplogroup U is found in 15% of Indian caste and 8% of Indian tribal populations. Haplogroup U is found in approximately 11% of native Europeans and is held as the oldest maternal haplogroup found in that region.


    His father's line was R, and his mother's line is the otherwise unmodified first change from R to U.

    His time frame is approximately one whole Great Year before now.

    The burial arrangement:





    And what is observed about this Culture:


    Evidence seems to indicate that Mal'ta is the most ancient known site in eastern Siberia, with the nearby site of Buret.

    Until they were discovered in Mal'ta, "Venus figurines" were previously found only in Europe.

    The wide variety of forms, combined with the realism of the sculptures and the lack of repetitiveness in detail, are definite signs of developed, albeit early, art.

    At first glance, what is obvious is that the Mal'ta Venus figurines are of two types: full-figured women with exaggerated forms, and women with a thin, delicate form.

    Discussing this easternmost outpost of paleolithic culture, Joseph Campbell finishes by commenting on the symbolic forms of the artifacts found there:

    We are clearly in a paleolithic province where the serpent, labyrinth, and rebirth themes already constitute a symbolic constellation, joined with the imagery of the sunbird and shaman flight, with the goddess in her classic role of protectress of the hearth, mother of man's second birth, and lady of wild things and of the food supply.





    So, it is a bit odd, the subclades of this group are in European fossils much older, coming from a woman who "changed" from Haplogroup R about 45,000 years ago, but this child skeleton is the only mention of Basal U.


    I don't understand genetics that much, but, the way it was expressed by the BBC:


    It is the oldest modern human genome sequenced to date, researchers report in the journal Nature.


    Which is said this way in the main study with about twenty participants and written up as Dual Ancestry of Native Americans 2014:


    To our knowledge this is the oldest anatomically modern human genome reported to date.



    The curiosity about "dual" is because the kid is not related to the extreme East Asians, and so the Americas show this...Maltese ancestry, and later, another wave of the unrelated easterners. And it is "shocking" about how closely that is related to Europeans, but, if we scroll back up to the statistic, then according to the people who speak of Lake Vaikhanas in Uttara Kuru:

    I think the researchers must not ignore the Indian connection.


    But they *do* ignore it. All the maps are about the east and west flow of the gene pool, even though caste Indians are slightly higher in the relationship than Europeans. The current Mitochondrial map does not show it.


    That page only has a few more tips:


    The Buddhist Scholar Buddhaghosa has recorded that Mandhatha went around the four Mahadipas and brought a large number of people of Uttarakuru to India. This migration happened sometime after the first floods at the end of Ice age.



    Mandhatha is quite surreal and:

    He was said to have conquered the entire world and composed Hymn 134 of Mandala 10 in the Rig Veda.


    Not to be confused with the philosophical Riddle Hymn 1.164. Manadala X contains the Nadistuti sukta which is in praise of rivers and is important for the reconstruction of the geography of the Vedic civilization and the Purusha sukta which has been important in studies of Vedic sociology.



    Godha was born as a rich princess, who was later become a great female rishi, and her significance was mentioned in Rig Veda (10.134). This is ostensibly a Vaisnava claim with no sources, and attributes her with numerous Krishna praises, which has nothing to do with the verse in question.


    She is actually the first in a sequence of female Rishikas in X, followed by a rebuttal that most of them are not human, such as godha = monitor lizard. Here she is in a cleaner list.


    Interestingly she is actually named first by:


    Sri Kathyayana in his Rigveda Sarvanukramani has listed the Rishikes:

    gOdhA GhOShA vishwavArA apAlOpaniShanniShat |


    and then seems to be erroneously credited with the whole hymn.


    She is actually the Rishika of 10.134.7--not in the verse itself--which is perhaps unusual since Mandhata did the first six verses. At this point, one would have to assert the Veda was composed by an iguana, or, the attribution is wrong.




    Griffith on Wikisource is one of the few places where the whole hymns are on one page, 10.134 obviously is interested in Mother Goddess.

    As a generic word, "godha" also means a cord, similar to "pratisara", although usually as an archer's arm guard, as it is used in verse VIII.69.9 about the invocation of Indra.

    It is in X.28.10, about the drawing down of Soma, but does not seem to come through in the translation. This verse is an example of Concatenation, which has a very large sample of instances.

    Griffith's whole hymns are also on Sacred Texts, here giving:


    There hath the strong-winged eagle left his talon, as a snared lion leaves the trap that caught him.

    Even the wild steer in his thirst is captured: the leather strap still holds his foot entangled.


    whereas Wilson:


    The hawk has fastened her claw in heaven; a lion confined (in a cage) places one foot over the otheṛ.

    As a captive buffalo (is) thirsty, (so) Indra thirsted for the Soma, Gayatrī brought it to him easily (from heaven).


    The names used by Wilson must be interpretive. If we did that, the verse arguably starts on Garuda:


    suparṇa itthā nakham ā siṣāyāvaruddhaḥ paripadaṃ na siṃhaḥ | niruddhaś cin mahiṣas tarṣyāvān godhā tasmā ayathaṃ karṣad etat ||


    So far I am unable to find any reason she might be equated to Gayatri. If anything, since the animal could also be an alligator, she would be closer to Makara.

    She has much more to do with geography in Brahmanda Purana:

    the mountain Godhana

    Godhana = Garatha Hills in Bāṇa’s Harṣa-carita



    The following territories and realms have been, founded on (the banks of) these rivers...the Godhas...


    Clearly distinguished from this in the next line:


    The land towards the northern extremity of the Sahya mountain where the river Godāvarī flows, is the moṣṭ fascinating realm on the whole of the earth.


    There are hardly any further traces of this geographical term; there is, perhaps:


    Godha (गोध).—A village in the north-east part of ancient India. (Śloka 42, Chapter 9, Bhīṣma Parva).


    Otherwise, following Bana's inrepretation, there is on the banks of the Yamuna:


    Garatha, Ghatampur, Kanpur Nagar, Uttar Pradesh



    Thank you, Bana, since this is an example of the contents of Brahmanda Purana which has become sanitized and unknown.


    This one hymn X.134 has some kind of joint ownership between someone practically forgotten and someone very famous.


    In Pali Buddhism, Mandhata is a Cakravartin:


    When Mandhata went to the deva world he was accompanied by inhabitants of all the four continents. After his return to earth, however, the Cakkaratana, stuck fast in the ground, and the others could not return to their homes. They thereupon begged for the intervention of the minister (Parinayaka), who was carrying on the government with Mandhatas shoes on the throne. He gave them lands in Jambudipa. There those who came from Pubba Videha called their land Videharattha; those from Apara goyana called it Aparantajanapada, and those from Uttarakuru dwelt in what afterwards came to be known as Kururattha. DA.ii.482; MA.i.183f.


    And is quite intriguing in Narayanapariprccha:


    The lord tells him that earlier, during the reign of King Ratnaśrī of Magadha, there lived Sarveśvara Tathāgata, from whom the Bhagavān learned the Mahāmāyāvijayavāhinī spell. For hundreds of thousands of years that king ruled righteously by the power of this dhāraṇī. In his next existence he was born as Māndhātā, a Bodhisattva and Cakravartin king, who practiced charity for sixty-four thousand kalpas and became a Buddha.



    Going back to the article reacting to the figurine at the burial site:


    One of the main features of people of Uttarakuru is that the women enjoyed freedom from all taboos of a society. They were free to mate with anyone they liked and that they had many mates.

    Sthree-rajya in Samara was also known for pre-dominance of women having free life.


    Taking the blog somewhat cautiously:


    Most of Russia is covered by Airavatha varsha.

    Nearly 20 sites have been found out to have housed circular habitations resembling Vedic life.
    An important site is the one in Arkaim which is located in the confluence of two rivers called Karakanga and Utya-kanga.

    The Arkaim site contains swastika signs and other symbols of Vedic rites. Swastika is derived from the word swasth which means getting healed. This site is dated at 4500 BP.

    Lopamudra, the wife of sage Agasthya was said to have belonged to Uttra Kuru. She had penned a few verses in Rig Veda which are of the nature of pangs of separation of a love-struck lady.

    What is of interest to us is the discovery of a statue of Vishnu in Staraya Maina (in Samara).


    From:


    Moscow, January 4: An ancient Vishnu idol has been found during excavation in an old village in Russia's Volga region, raising questions about the prevalent view on the origin of ancient Russia.

    The idol found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to VII-X century AD. Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovsk region was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so far believed to be the mother of all Russian cities.



    However the Russians did not make that claim, and the pictures show such a crude relic that, although seemingly Indic, it is unidentifiable. Plus it is dated to around 700-1,000 so there is not much it could tell us.





    The Siberian child represents the original deviation from:


    Haplogroup R consists of two subgroups defined on the basis of their geographical distributions, one found in southeastern Asia and Oceania and the other containing almost all of the modern European populations.


    And then if we try to figure out how his primeval Mother U works out through India:


    U [all groups] – High frequency in West Eurasia, Indian sub-continent, and Algeria, found from India to the Mediterranean and to the rest of Europe; U5 in particular shows high frequency in Scandinavia and Baltic countries with the highest frequency in the Sami people.

    Ancient DNA classified as belonging to the U* mitochondrial haplogroup has been recovered from human skeletal remains found in Western Siberia, which have been dated to c. 45,000 years ago.


    So, you do find variations at great age, Basal U6* was found in a Romanian specimen of ancient DNA (Peștera Muierilor) dated to 35,000 years ago.


    U1 is found in the Svanetia region of Georgia at 4.2%. Subclade U1a is found from India to Europe, but is extremely rare among the northern and Atlantic fringes of Europe including the British Isles and Scandinavia. In India, U1a has been found in the Kerala region. U1b has a similar spread but is rarer than U1a. A variety of subclade U1b1 with the mutations G14070A! and A3426G is found in Ashkenazi Jews. Subclades U1a and U1b appear in equal frequency in eastern Europe.

    Approximately one half of the U mtDNAs in India belong to the Indian-specific branches of haplogroup U2 (U2i: U2a, U2b and U2c). Haplogroup U2b2 has been found in the remains of a 4500 year old female excavated from the Rakhigarhi site of Indus Valley civilisation, in present day state of Haryana, India. While U2 is typically found in India, it is also present in the Nogais, descendants of various Mongolic and Turkic tribes, who formed the Nogai Horde.

    Haplogroup U7 is considered a West Eurasian–specific mtDNA haplogroup, believed to have originated in the Black Sea area approximately 30,000 years ago...12% in Gujarat...the Vedda people of Sri Lanka where it reaches it highest frequency of 13.33% (subclade U7a). One third of the West Eurasian-specific mtDNAs found in India are in haplogroups U7, R2 and W. It is speculated that large-scale immigration carried these mitochondrial haplogroups into India.

    Haplogroup U9 is a rare clade in mtDNA phylogeny, characterized only recently in a few populations of Pakistan (Quintana-Murci et al. 2004). Its presence in Ethiopia and Yemen, together with some Indian-specific M lineages in the Yemeni sample, points to gene flow along the coast of the Arabian Sea. Haplogroups U9 and U4 share two common mutations at the root of their phylogeny. It is interesting that, in Pakistan, U9 occurs frequently only among the so-called Makrani population. In this particular population, lineages specific to parts of Eastern Africa occur as frequently as 39%, which suggests that U9 lineages in Pakistan may have an African origin (Quintana-Murci et al. 2004). Regardless of which coast of the Arabian Sea may have been the origin of U9, its Ethiopian–southern Arabian–Indus Basin distribution hints that the subclade's diversification from U4 may have occurred in regions far away from the current area of the highest diversity and frequency of haplogroup U4—East Europe and western Siberia.


    Basal U therefor appears extinct.

    What it means to be the "oldest Homo sapiens sapiens" or Anatomically Modern Human generally means distinct from Neanderthal or Denisovan.

    For which there probably were multiple Eves, and out-of-Africa is not that simple:

    A human jawbone in Israel, reported last year to date back to 180,000 years ago, and a skull fragment in Greece that’s even older, indicate earlier human migrations.

    When the team looked at the Denisovan genome, they found fragments of DNA in it from an even earlier hominin, vestiges of some population whose own genome has not been found or sequenced.

    Siepel and his team found that around 3% of Neanderthal DNA — and possibly as much as 6% — came from modern humans who mated with the Neanderthals more than 200,000 years ago. The same group who gave rise to modern humans throughout the world also furnished Neanderthals with (at least a little) more DNA than the Neanderthals would later give them. “You think you’re just looking at a Neanderthal,” Siepel said, “but you’re actually looking at a mixture of Neanderthal and modern human.”


    There is a newer 2021 earliest AMH, Zlaty Kun at about 45,000 years, after whom:


    One possible explanation for the discontinuity is the Campanian Ignimbrite volcanic eruption roughly 39,000 years ago, which severely affected climate in the northern hemisphere and may have reduced the survival chances of Neanderthals and early modern humans in large parts of Ice Age Europe.


    They may be using it in terms of a whole genome sequence or some other critical factor as opposed to other AMH finds going back 300,000 years.



    We are not geneticists, we are looking for markers on how Indian legends may tie into facts. The child skeleton is remarkable for the Venus figurine, and at least genetically as closely related to India as the other places that got all the attention. With thirty figurines found at the Siberian site, they are not lapis, but they show that the idea and craft were related to Europe from an even more distant past.

    The remarkable point was an unremarkable Venus noted by the Gem Society as it passed through an auction:

    Mother goddess amulet, lapis lazuli, Anatolia, 7th-5th millennium BCE.




    whereas a ca. 3,000 B. C. E. figurine at Mergarh is not lapis:





    The significance of the first one being that the widespread archaic art form intercepted the single Lapis Lazuli source in Afghanistan, with the substance in turn being requisite for the mythologies of Mesopotamia and Egypt, where it arrived by sea trade. Europe cut itself off by around the 600s, until again Renaissance artists imported it again at a price higher than gold.








    There are numerous details posted at Don's Maps:


    … the male equipment (hunting weapons and bird figurines) was found to the right of the fireplaces. The female equipment (knives, scrapers, needles, awls, ornaments, statuettes of women) was found on the left.

    This is the first time such a distribution has been observed within a Paleolithic habitat.

    On one side of the plate we can see three snakes. The snake is rare in northern hemisphere Paleolithic art, presumably because the cold conditions precluded a wide distribution of snakes. In addition, it can be seen that the snakes have very broad heads, as though they belong to the Cobra group - yet Cobras are now known only in southern asian localities.



    Interestingly, microscopy shows that the carved women had a wide variety of clothing and hairstyles, very different from the normal finds of this age such as at Menton, Italy:





    This is a perhaps stunning preservation of Buret 3 and 4:






    which is not lapis, but Pigments, which usually wear off to a few spots. They used most of the colors, with such things as azurite, hematite, and malachite, cuprous compounds, very many things.


    It actually does make sense to migrate from Europe to this area, but not to upper Balochistan, during the Last Glacial Maximum:


    During the last glacial maximum, 21,000 years ago, the sea level was about 125 meters (about 410 feet) lower than it is today.

    There were ice sheets in modern Tibet (although scientists continue to debate the extent to which the Tibetan Plateau was covered with ice) as well as in Baltistan and Ladakh.


    Counter-intuitively, there was some ice prevention due to Pacific Winds:


    Surprisingly, one of the coldest regions in the modern world, Northern Siberia, escaped this fate and remained largely ice free.


    While just to the east, Transbaikalia was covered:


    Extensive mountain glaciation is documented for southern Siberia, north-western Mongolia, and north-western China.


    All the Indian trans-Himalaya was glaciated, but not Kathmandu Valley; and these glaciers are thought to have melted rapidly.


    The Gobi is so backwards that its glaciers shrank during the Ice Age, and grew back in the Holocene.

    Wind, dust, and precipitation are much stronger factors than temperature alone.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Nine Families, Mrtyuvacana Upadesa, Purana Samhita




    This is interesting, through a sort of ongoing irony, I think we can see through Brian Hodgson's material much more effectively now. He was not a fanatic. He didn't believe in it, actually he did not even like it. But he was of the mind to make a fair and accurate record of what seemed important to the Nepalis.

    It must have been an alternate manuscript, when he says he used Dharma Samgraha, our available copy does not include the Nine Families that his does. This is highly unusual for Buddhism. In Nepal, it would closely match Durga, and he did not take into account that Buddhism may perhaps be similar to Hindu Durga. Instead, he broke it down into "schools", which really does not seem useful or accurate at all.

    Consequently, this has led researchers to pursue a non-existent "Svabhavika school".

    He listed these before giving the tabulations of categories and entities, in the sense that the one explains the other. And so now, rather than a doctrine, the "school" is actually Purity Mantra:


    1. All things are governed or perfected by Swabhava; I too am governed by Swabhava. (Ashta Sahasr'ika.)



    It is a translation of "governed", where it would more accurately be purity or purifying. And it is not "things", which would be "Dharmata". The mantra says that Dharma has the self-nature of purity, and that I have the self-nature of purity; therefor, I have the nature of Dharma, i. e. truth, reality, or law.

    The category of lists is based from the Three Jewels, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Generally, Dharma is given the feminine or Prajna aspect, and the Sangha is Red Avalokiteshvara, the emanator of Hindu Deities. The main duality of masculinity and femininity is described by Namasangiti and Prajnaparamita Sutras, who conjointly produce the Sangha, or manifested multiplicity of lives. Simple enough.

    The "first school" includes an Inverted Stupa, which seems to be taken from a Prajnaparamita addendum I am not sure, but it is from the "ritual section" of something. The guess would be a Nepalese practice affixed to the Sutra.


    Puja Kand:


    From Svabhava, the letter Y, air; from
    that of the letter R, fire ; from that of the letter V, or B, water,
    and from that of the letter L, earth ; and from that of the letter S, Mount Sumeru. On the summit of Sumer is a lotos of precious stones, and above the lotos, a moon crescent, upon which sits, supremely exalted, Vajra Satwa. And as all (other) things proceed from Swabhava, so also does Vajra Satwa, thence called the self-existent.



    The first batch of statements is what he calls "atheistic". Rather than divisions into sects, these "schools" appear to be different emphases drawn from different pools of scriptures.


    His second, "Aiswaraka" or "theistic" system, is based on Swayambhu Purana. He does not cite chapters, but this is where we find Triple Aum:



    7. When all was void, perfect void (Sunya, Malia Sunya)
    the triliteral syllable Aum became manifest, the first created, the
    ineffably splendid, surrounded by all the radical letters ( Vija Akshara), as by a necklace. In that Aum, he who is present in all things, formless and passionless, and who possesses the Tri Ratna, was produced by his own will. To him I make adoration.
    ( Swayambhu purana).


    The third or "Karmika" sytem, on the Avadanas and Lalita Vistara. Seems obvious to me that these are works and deeds, i. e. tales of actions, which of course is not really different from philosophy. This is all supposed to be compatible.

    His final group is not something I am familiar with by name, but I know what is in it. The "Yatnika" system is para-tantric or Mahayoga.

    1) Yatna (यत्न).—Effort in the utterance of a letter

    2) Yatna.—Specific effort, by adding a word to a rule for drawing some inference, with a view to removing some technical difficulty


    This is where we find the first two syllables; I do not see anything that causes "M" to correspond to Sangha.

    Namasangiti:

    8. I make salutation to Adi Buddha, who is one and sole in the universe ; who gives every one Bodhi-jnyan ; whose name is Upaya ; who became manifest in the greatest Sunyata, as the letter A. Who is the Tathagata ; who is known only to those who have attained the wisdom of absolute truth.

    Puja Kand:


    12. When all was Sunyata, Prajna Devi was revealed out of Akash with the letter U ; Prajna, the mother of all the Buddhas and Bodhi-satwas, in whose heart Dharma ever resides ; Prajna, who is without the world and the world's wisdom, full of the wisdom of absolute truth : the giver and the ikon of that wisdom ; the ever living (Sanatani) ; the inscrutable ; the mother of Buddha.


    These are the more specific references to goddess in a Mahayoga fashion.

    Gunakaranda Vyuha:

    15. The humbler of the pride of Namuchi-mara, and of all proud ones : the giver of the quality of Satya ; the possessor of all the sciences, the Lakshmi; the protector of all mortals, such is the Dharma Ratna.


    Sadhanamala:

    19. Salutation to Prajna Devi, from whom, in the form of
    desire, the production of the world was excellently obtained, who is beautiful as the full moon, the mother of Adi Buddha,
    (Jinindra Matra,) and wife of (the other) Buddha, who is imperishable as adamant.


    20. That Yoni, from which the world was made manifest, is the Trikonakar Yantra. In the midst of the Yantra or trikon (triangle) is a bindu (point, cypher): from that bindu, Adi Prajna revealed herself by her own will. From one side of the triangle Adi Prajna produced Buddha, and from another side, Dharma, and from the third side, Sangha. That Adi Prajna is the mother of that Buddha who issued from the first side ; and Dharma, who issued from the second side, is the wife of the Buddha of the first side, and the mother of the other Buddhas. (Comment on quotation 19.)


    21. Salutation to Prajna Paramita, the infinite, who, when all was void, was revealed by her own will, out of the letter U. Prajna, the Sakti of Upaya, the sustainer of all things, (Dharmiki) the mother of the world, (Jagat-matra) the Dhyan-rupa, the mother of the Buddhas. The modesty of women is a form of her, and the prosperity of all earthly things. She is the wisdom of mortals, and the ease, and the joy, and the emancipation, and the knowledge. Prajna is present every where.



    Dharmadaya-sangata Kamrupini, variously rendered, ' well got from the
    rise of virtue,' « well got from the rise or origin of the world ;' also as in text, Dharmadaya, the source of all things, signifies likewise the Yoni, of which the type is a triangle. See 20. The triangle is a familiar symbol in temples of the uddha Saktis, and of the Triad. The point in the midst represents either A'di Buddha or A'di Prajna, according to the theistic or atheistic tendency of his opinions who uses it.


    His somewhat misleading, but, roughly correct, differentiation is:


    6. From the union of the essences of Upaya and of Prajna
    proceeded the world, which is Sangha.

    Such is the Aiswarika reading. The Prajnikas read ' from the union of Prajna and Upaya.'


    and he does mention five Kayas including:


    4. Maha Sukha kaya.
    5. Jnyan kaya.


    What he quotes from Sadhanamala does not register with me. At first I do not find the exact terminology. In fact, the only thing close to "Kamarupini" is in Mrtyuvacana Tara, right where she has the Heart Wheel:


    sarvasambuddhatatputramātaraṃ kāmarūpadhām /
    dhyātvā' 'ryatārāṃ hṛdaye tasyāścakraṃ sitadyuti //



    What is notable for Family of Nine is that at one level, it is the Dharanis for the Seven Days of the Week, adding Pratyangira and Dhvajagrakeyura. Before it there is a Sangha, and then these are called Prajnas, like Locana and Mamaki, etc., in the previous iterations. Finally, the former Prajnas are repeated here as the Family of Dharmas, a new distinction. They are the same ones, with the extensions being:


    8. Pratyangira. 6. Vajrasatwatmika. 7. Vasundhara. 9. Guhyeswari.



    So that is how we get Vasudhara, Pratyangira, and Guhyeshvari as quite special, a Trinity above and beyond the regular Six Families. The first two of them are still essentially dharanis with continuations, whereas Guhyesvari is more like tantric Adi Prajna, i. e. subsequent to Prajnaparamita in Vajra Family, Mahacinakrama Tara, Ugra Tara, and Ekajati, and others such as Mantranusarini intervening.



    Then, going back to Mrtyuvacana Upadesa, it turns out that the brief Sadhanamala article is clipped from its latter portion. The thing as a whole is a system, which, at its base, draws in Mrityusanjivani and the Pancha Raksa, and its outcome is Vajra Kaya and Chakrasamvara Tantra.


    Section Two is on "the interval", or i. e. death consciousness:

    idānīm āntaraṃ mṛtyor


    ending:


    maraṇa-vańcana eva yatnaḥ //


    That...might be "the Yatnika school". After all, this is by Vagisvarakirti, one of the most influential gurus to Nepal.


    Section Three has the ultimate meaning of Sutras leading in to the Pancha Raksa:


    gaṇḍavyūhādisūtrāntān mahāyānaprakāśakān
    ekāgro vācayen nityaṃ mṛtyuvańcanam aśnute // VMv_3.25 //

    buddhabhāṣitaniḥśeṣa- yogatantrādivācanāt
    pańcarakṣāvidhānād vā mṛtyuvańcanam āpyate // VMv_3.26 //

    uṣṇīṣagarbhacaityādi- pradakṣiṇavidhānataḥ
    dhāraṇījapataś cāpi vańcyate mṛtyur udyataiḥ // VMv_3.27 //


    Tara evidently as the origin of tantra:


    tārābhyudayatantroktaṃ


    Unmistakable:


    āryamahāpratisarā- mantraikalakṣajāpataḥ
    dūrvādaśāṃśahomena dhruvaṃ syān mṛtyuvańcanam // VMv_3.56 //

    oṃ uktvā padaṃ vimale jaya vare 'nu cāmṛte
    hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ phaṭ tataḥ svāhā- padaṃ brūyād anantaram // VMv_3.57 //

    vairocanād bharadvayaṃ saṃbharadvayam uccaret
    uktvendriyabalaśabdaṃ viśodhanipadaṃ vadet // VMv_3.58 //

    hūṃ hūṃ ruru cale svāhā mantro 'yaṃ mṛtyuvańcakaḥ
    āryamahāpratisarā- hṛdayaṃ sarvasiddhidam // VMv_3.59 //


    Appearance of the syllable U:


    ūṃ oṃ mṛtyuńjaya oṃ syād ayaṃ mantro daśākṣaraḥ // VMv_3.62 //


    Perhaps referring to Samputa Tantra:


    saṃpuṭādikatantrokta- pańcāmṛtaprayuktibhiḥ
    yathopadeśayuktābhir jāyate mṛtyuvańcanam // VMv_3.72 //

    ūrdhvādhobhyāṃ saṃpuṭayogaṃ yaḥ satataṃ kurute hitayogam
    tasya suruṣṭo 'py avihatatejāḥ kińcitkārī no yamarājā // VMv_3.73 //



    Section Four starts with Wrathfuls and parts of the Vimalosnisa or funerary mantra:


    oṃ tato 'mṛtakuṇḍali khakhakhāhikhāhipadāt
    tiṣṭhatiṣṭhapadaṃ tasmād bandhadvayaṃ hanadvayam // VMv_4.12 //

    mahāgaṇapatipadāj jīvitāntakarāya ca
    hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā mantro vighnanivāraṇaḥ // VMv_4.14 //



    Only then does it reach Sita Tara as in Sadhanamala:


    sitāravindamadhyastha- candrabimbāsanopari
    ābaddhavajraparyaṅkāṃ varadotpaladhāriṇīm // VMv_4.28 //


    Another mysterious interjection of Cunda:


    locanāṃ māmakīṃ cundāṃ mahāśvetādidevatām
    svavarṇaveṣamudrābhir dhyātvā mṛtyuṃ na paśyati // VMv_4.38 //


    More tantras and Skeleton Yoga:


    cakrasaṃvaratantrokta- herukākārabhāvanām
    kṛtvā tatpariṇāmena kapālākārabhāvakam // VMv_4.41 //

    kaṅkālarūpanidhyānaṃ yad vā khaṭvāṅgabhāvakam
    mārayitum ayogyatvān mṛtyur naivopasarpati // VMv_4.42 //


    Lion's Sport:


    siṃhavikrīḍitāmudrā- bandhanād vāyurodhataḥ
    jitakumbhakayogād vā nirodho mṛtyuvańcakaḥ // VMv_4.60 //


    And towards the end:


    vajraḍākaṃ catuṣpīṭhaṃ buddhapańjarakādi ca
    kālottaraṃ kālāvalīṃ kālapańcāśikām api // VMv_4.99 //



    This appears to be a complete Mahayoga instruction, but it is based only on a simple White Arya Tara, with a knees cloth as listed near the top of a recent Nepali Dictionary.


    Curiously, the shoulder strap often seen, is not even mentioned, but this is, in the Pali Nikayas:


    To make knee straps, bhikkhus are allowed a loom, shuttles,
    strings, tickets, and all accessories for a loom.


    That is after robes and other articles that you are supposed to or are allowed to have. Suddenly for this, you get a loom.

    Mrtyvacanopadesa is a compiled or layered text that tells you nothing about the beginning parts.

    It is a sensitive subject, because some people see the first/most original aspect of something as the most important; others see it as inadequate. In the sense of "revealed teachings", we frequently see the explanation "no one to understand it", or, "this question has not been asked". When things are added or modified, then, we wind up with things like bathing in the Ganges, which is condemned in this volatile Hindu reaction against Puranic Hinduism. It favors the Vedic/Upanishadic philosophy.

    Well, we might criticize the "superstition" of Ganges bathing, but, the problem is that it should not have become so polluted in the first place. At one point in time, it was probably a great idea.

    I at least do not value the Puranas as injunctions for ritualistic acts, but they do help explain the Vedas in a cosmological and sometimes mantric sense. They do diverge into sectarianism, which is also not the point.

    It is correct that HPB referred to a type of Adi Purana kept in Altyn Taigha, the mountains between Tibet and the Tarim basin. This is somewhat sensible, given the extreme age of Balochistan as a civilization. There is another quote that Cheiro studied it. From what we know, he studied a book of palmistry in Bombay. It is said that Gurdjieff studied it. I am not sure that is supportable either.

    It has never been "found", although it is correct that Vyasa refers to a single Purana.

    Without stating that this "is" it, there is a project called Purana Samhita. This took thirty years to compile! It is like looking for an Ur-text or Q gospel. The author compared and condensed the common sections of the older Puranas such as the Brahmanda, and reduced it to something that sounds feasible, although it does not bear out most of what HPB said, which was taken from extant Puranas.

    For instance, there is no "Yuga system"--it was made by astronomers, which means in the ca. 200-500 range, who then made calculations and invented a Kali Yuga. What is found here is that the Yuga is a five year cycle--i. e. what we have already gathered from the Brahmanda as the important doctrine of Rudra and Agni as the Year.

    There are "four epochs", but these are very basically the stages of primitive man, agriculture, tribes, and finally civilization which is the main topic. The first three are "pre-historic", and history does not begin until ca. 3,600 B. C. E., placing the Mahabharata War at around 1,900 B. C. E.--which is perhaps why some of the submerged Dwarka seems to have "younger" remains, which would match a younger date.

    The Vedas are not "revealed" and most of the Vishnu incarnations are not mentioned, ones like Rama and Krishna being ordinary kings. Some of them are battles.

    The author disposed of stories that seemed to be glorification of certain brahmins to super-human status. Buddha is still used as a marker with the time of King Ajatashatru.

    It still begins with a Genesis-like portion of cosmology.

    HPB said that if her astronomical figures were not perfect, their error was probably closer to the real truth than the mummery of the time saying the world was created in 4,004 B. C. E., so, if the later astronomical interpolations suggest the age of the earth is about two billion years, then we would at least agree it is a much better guess.


    We have not yet found, and perhaps never will, much of anything written older than around 3,600 B. C. E., even if we turn to the "isolated" language of Elam:


    In the Elamite pantheon goddesses played a more important role than elsewhere. The enumeration of forty deities in the treaty of Naram-Sin begins with Pinigir, goddess of love and procreation, who was worshiped throughout Elamite history and had an aštam, or temple of fertility; she was very frequently represented in art (Spycket, 1992). In addition, various local divinities were goddesses: Kiririša at Liyan, Upurkupak at Čoḡā Pahn (KS-102) and Gotwand, Mašti at Mālamīr, Manzat at Deh-e Now (q.v.).


    Elam probably means "highlanders" and was a name given by outsiders.

    With ruins, symbols, and genetics, yes of course we can trace humanity going back much further than this. But no, you can't really put words to it. We can say there were fourteen Zoroasters and twenty-eight Veda cycles, and that drawings going back many thousands of years may appear at least slightly related to the concepts, but nothing much more conclusive than that.

    Buddhism works differently from all these other systems. It does not channel Rishi Bharadwaj to get dictations about machines in the ancient past. Rather, it says that the Mandalas or Assemblies exist outside of temporal contstraints--that they are always available whenever someone enters a certain samadhi. There is no need to attempt a description of STTS as an actual battle that took place 11,000 years ago, or that Vispasi Muni lived during the Parasurama incarnation, or anything like that. Doesn't matter. They are oblivious. Mrtyuvacana or STTS was not perceived by early Buddhist disciples, since the language necessary to teach them had not even been developed yet.

    That is why it works to say that Asanga was like a hinge, who re-oriented philosophy and basic meditation towards certain things like even Mayuri, which is not explained in great detail, into the Pancha Raksa, which remain valid and relevant to this more elaborate procedure described by Vagisvarakirti, which contains, in essence, the whole compendium of practices that help in seeing the lucidity or direct perception of Chakrasamvara.

    That is, of course, also why you cannot pick up an advanced tantra and get it to work, but you can get the Sutras and dharanis as the proper tools to outfit you for the purpose.


    In this sense, Prajnaparamita and Vasudhara are practically mandatory, and I believe we can see how Mayuri and the Pancha Raksha are highly involved and recommendable. The Sadhanamala is somewhat in a coherent order, but I believe I also have the array as drawn by Dharani Samgraha, which encapsulates practically the entire pantheon. In this manner we can post very many dharanis and practices in a fairly logical organization. You take some that are more of the primordial basis, and then one can feel one's way through minor additions suitable to one's temperament. Eventually one may arrive at a special Ista Devata, like a governess for one's entire experience, in which case I will only be making a suggestion that Janguli is comparable to the whole Sarvadurgati Parishodhana, and, an entry aspect of Krsna Yamari Tantra.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Vasudhara related to Homa and Dharani Samgraha




    Vasudhara is such a critical gating goddess, because she is approachable as an individual follower, as a dharani; and then we find she remains as an aspect of Adi Prajna.

    She holds the Prajnaparamita Sutra, along with the display of other attributes such as Singing, that might not be commonly associated with it.

    Along with Jambhala she guards the door of the Yaksha Realm or Shambala, and they are ecstatics.

    She covers both aspects of the Vedic or Apri goddesses, Ila and Bhu or Bharati.

    She is a major part of the Homa. A Homa is a type of Kriya Tantra which, in its esoteric aspect, is about burning the Skandhas.

    The Skandhas are the Suffering as discussed in the Four Noble Truths.

    Lakshmi Tantra may be considered as a Kriya, and it is similar to a small Homa, by vaporizing the individual.

    So this is very flexible. Prasrabdhi is "relaxation", but, moreover, a type of "pliancy" where the mind can adjust, and not simply cleave to Prajnaparamita Sutra as if there were nothing else, or fixate on the outer ritual of the Homa as if that were adequate.

    In Vairocana Abhisambodhi Tantra, Buddha recommends doing an Inner Homa, which, in Vajracharya training, is the advanced kind. This is described on p. 308, Homa Chapter, a Lokottara (Buddhist) Homa is synonymous to Adhyatmika (Hindu), citing Chakrasamvara and Samvarodaya Tantras, and Vasanta Tilaka and its Tika.


    The two Lokottara Siddhis are almost all that really distinguishes Buddhism from the more sincere forms of Hinduism. Because, of course, these "-isms" are necessarily poor translations, the so-called Hinduism is more properly Sanantana Dharma. This is redundant, because it means Eternal or Timeless Dharma. But if you understand "Dharma", it simply is permanent by definition. "Buddhism" may be called "Bauddha Dharma", which would mainly mean the practice of the Lokottara Siddhis. Again, the main distinctions between the two traditions are simply in the Bodhisattva intent, and the Mahayana meditation based on the practice of the certain Siddhis.


    Vak or Aham Rudresbhir Hymn from Atharva and Rg Vedas, as posted near the top of the page, similarly, is an Adhyatmika Hymn; or, it follows the stages of Four-fold Om, and:


    Only vaikharī type of Vāk is expressed verbally and listened by others.


    Note that in the Vedas, it is Indra Vaikuntha, it does not have to do with Vishnu.

    For a good view of Hindu or Sanantana Dharma, this is verified on a page with multiple quotes about the overall scheme:



    Indra-Agni–Soma was the original Trinity and Brahma-Vishnu–Shiva were rather minor deities...

    Indra in the Vedas is associated with Viṣṇu as best friends, so Indra’s best mate was elevated to High God Viṣṇu - who is also linked to water. Arjuna was the demi-god son of Indra who became the best friend of Krishna who is an incarnation of Viṣṇu - so the cycle of transformation is completed. The Pauranika Arjuna/Krishna = Vedic Indra/Vishnu.

    Agni was associated with Rudra...

    Vedic Vishnu is not necessarily called "Vamana", although he does the same thing with three steps:


    idaṃ viṣṇur vi cakrame tredhāni dadhe padam ||

    samūlhamasya pāṃsure ||


    Yama means “controller” and represents the principle of self-control and the ultimate leveller which is the principle of Death which take ultimate control of all living entities.

    Indra is derived from he same root as “indriya” sense organs and the highest of the sense-organs is the mind which is king in the body (microcosm) and Indra is the king of heaven.

    Varuna means “all enveloping space” and is the personification of Divine Omnipresence and omniscience.

    Kubera means “deformed body” and is the prince of the negative forces. He is associated with riches and power which invariably attract dark energy.


    Hanuman is not directly in the Vedas, although:


    Atharva Vēda 15.6.10–15.6.12 authenticates both the Itihāsās and Purāṇās...


    which, chronologically, most likely refers to the three Mula Puranas, as the first distribution from "the Purana" as per Vyasa.


    If god is one and his name is Indra according to rig veda then why it sill have 32 other gods?

    Trimshati koti means “33 types of representations” for a deity.

    We don’t have a “god”, since it cannot be tested and validated.

    We have an unknowable reality that we can access with a bit of practice, even if we cannot understand its true nature. What we know is that it transforms us, hence the validation.

    Indra is not “god”, it is the “ruling quality of the mind”!

    In this “era of the mind” (manvantara), Indra is Purandara, the “destroyer of forts”.


    Rudra, whom we know as Shiva, is the fierce form of Agni ( fire ) ignited in fire sacrifice. The fire has a blue hue in the middle. Hence, it is blue-necked. Rudra is also associated with wind and storm. Rudra is also invoked for medicinal powers. Rudra's primary weapons are bow and arrow, instead of trident.

    In Rig Vedic Samhitas, Vishnu has no weapons. He is all pervasive. His region is the Supreme. As Sun is the most high.

    Rudra and Vishnu are sometimes portrayed as a deity as well as they are portrayed as metaphors for natural phenomenon. All the Devas are supposed to the personification of natural forces. Divinity is praised through these forces.

    The Vedas are mostly concerned with Yajna or fire sacrifice in contrast to the elaborate culture of idol worship, mantra deeksha, yoga, etc. Hence, people sight differences.

    Vedas might be mystical. But, Vedas are of no use to us.

    Practical spirituality is discussed in the Upanishads. It is the Upanishads, which tells us what to do, what is the goal, etc.

    Hence, for me Upanishads tops the hierarchy instead of Samhitas, Aranyakas and Brahmanas.

    Puranas are elaborate extension of the Upanishadic teachings. They contain stories, art, literature and culture. Puranas too contain philosophy. They too contain methods to realise the subtle truth.

    Agamas forms an important aspect of the colourful, vibrant Hinduism, which we know about. The method of idol worship, temple construction, etc are the subject matter of the Agamas. Agamas are also philosophical like the Upanishads. They are like Upanishads with additional knowledge of temple worship. Without, Agamas, Hinduism will loose its identity.

    People who preach Veda Supremacy, Indra Supremacy, etc, over Upanishads, Puranas and Agamas, gives us nothing except dry intellectualism. Dry spiritual intellectualism is time waste. It leaves you nowhere.

    Metaphorically, in our heart cave, the Supreme Consciousness shines. One who realise this Purusha becomes free from all pain and suffering.

    You should not think in binaries and dualities of true and false, good and bad. Always seek the middle way.

    From any perspective things may be right or wrong, useful or not useful - skilful or unskilful, beneficial or unbeneficial.

    The Puranas are “commentaries” on the Vedas and serve to explain the Vedic teachings in easy to understand form through stories, legends, and didactic narratives - they are meant for the common folk who are unlearned in the higher philosophy and metaphysics of Vedanta. They are secondary texts and have no authority in and of themselves without reference to the Vedanta.

    So it is better to transition and graduate from the Puranas to the study of Vedanta.

    All deities are manifestations of aspects of Consciousness and the Psyche and all the deities and the 14 worlds (lokas) are located within ourselves.

    The dictum is yathā brahmāṇḍa tathā piṇḍāṇḍa - as is the macrocosm so is the microcosm.

    The human body is a model of the cosmos and is pervaded by the Divine Consciousness. Just as the Universe is pervaded by the same Divine Consciousness. This link between the Microcosm and the Macrocosm is explored through the teachings on the Chakras - a complex subject beyond the scope of this post.



    Those are fairly sound remarks. We would just say the "fire sacrifice" is symbolic; we would like to do an Inner Homa and burn the Skandhas. We may add some ritual items; we may even have an actual fire and burn something in it.

    The Yoga will work whether or not we use something external. We anticipate a system for devotees who maybe live in an apartment, and have nothing to do with a temple and an actual fire pit. They may be dirt poor and can't afford anything. The Yoga is especially for the poor, and those otherwise pushed off or away from official channels or personal training. It is portably transmitted through writings, particularly by internet in this case. You proceed at your own pace, and accomplish by devotion and merit. Following Maitri's suggestion, we would say it is possible to train oneself to the threshhold of the Third Initiation. Somewhere between here and there, Vasudhara is unavoidable. I am not sure that she needs to be the first deity one contemplates, but she is, so to speak, the "ripening" of seeds that have been planted.

    Again she is quite like the mystery of why Earth and Sun are basically the same in Astrology.



    Vasudhara is in the Homa in a precise way; and we can also frame her within the 500+ deity pantheon in Dharani Samgraha. At one point, I made a plain copy of its difficult-to-read contents. I thought it would be helpful to parse it out in sort of a commentarial style to see if it is making sense, if it has a pattern, rather than just being a repository. It does.

    It is similar but not identical to the structure of Sadhanamala, which changes a few things for Vajrasana and Trisamadhiraja, but is otherwise easily recognizable as a companion. It has only a small number of basic mantras, and scales up to very involved sadhanas. So it is a bigger commitment, more advanced. What we are looking at now would be more like a basic introduction. The Panchen Lama's IWS is sort of like the two combined.


    Dharani Samgraha begins with something that resembles Paramadya, conjures Buddha Families and Namasangiti:


    Vajrasattva Kaya: Four kinds of Prajnaparamita (similar to STTS)
    Sapta or Seven Buddhas, i. e. Historical Buddhas
    Vajrasattva Kayodbhava, born from the body of Vajrasattva, are the Dhyani Buddhas: Vairocana, Musa Mantra Vidya, Maya Jala, Akshobya, Ratna, Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi
    Namasangiti followed by many Manjushris and Lokeshvaras

    This is followed by a section for Sutras:

    Sarvadurgati and Sutras, including Lankavatara

    Bhaisajya


    and then Vajrapani interspersed with goddesses such as:



    Cunda
    Dhvajagrakeyura
    Guhyeshvari
    Janguli
    Vajrayogini
    Ekajati
    Sragdhara, including Siddha of Sabari Yoginis; Siddha Sabara was guided by and through Avalokiteshvara--Karuna to the Sabaris.


    Swayambhu Purana

    Vasudhara

    Dharanis per day of the week, such as Ganapati Hridaya. The week ends on Grahamatrika (Seven or Saturday) followed by Rahu and Ketu (Eight and Nine), then Ten Wrathful Ones.


    Pancha Raksa in this order:

    Pramardani; Mayuri occupies pp. 384-409; Sitavati; Pratisara; Mantranusarini.

    Pratyangira

    Mahamaya Vijayavahini, p. 461:

    vijayavāhi || 0 || om namo bhagatyaiāryya mahāmāyā vikṣayavāhinye ||


    it appears to include her Sutra in response to Narayana up to p. 471.


    Seeming to end with:

    Vajra Tara and Paramitas, Vairocani, Twenty-one Taras, Mahakala.



    Here is an unusual Vasudhara with Heshang Moheyan. Chinese, he went to Samye' around 793 to argue on behalf of "Sudden Enlightenment", which of course lost the debate. So he does *not* represent the original Arhats who transplanted Mantras to China starting in the perhaps 100s. Instead, this is an attitude adjustment on those types of practices that seem to spring up in the Orient; he seemed to believe that "gradualism" meant the outer practice of preaching Dharma to the uneducated. I would say the belief in "Sudden" is very nearly egotistic, too much self-conviction based perhaps of only a minor shade of realization. Vasudhara, here, is putting the brakes on that:








    Most images of her are Nepalese. She frequently has the unusual trait of six arms, but only one face.

    Well, most iconography of Vishnu Vamana shows him as a dwarf stepping on Bali's head.

    There are almost no images of a six arm Vishnu; it is practically forbidden.

    Nepal's Changu Narayan temple is probably its oldest existing iconography of any kind, and here, Vamana has six arms and one face:






    This can be found in India; even this at Ellora is younger:






    19th century Kalighat:





    Aditi, mother of the sun gods:





    Nepalese Vasudhara:





    So if we just think of her name for a moment, it says she holds the Eight Vasus, being the Five Elements, Sun, Moon, and Stars or Akasa, Ascendant, or Dhruva.

    Through Aditi, the Sun is born out into its array of twelve faces, or months, or signs.

    So this already shows a dual nature of higher and lower Suns, who are together in the Heaven of Thirty-three; along with the Ten Pranas, this makes up the majority of the population.







    Here is a Nepalese Vasudhara with Prajnaparamita and Manjushri over her shoulders, and the Pancha Raksa below:





    She again holds a Prajnaparamita manuscript, and the Wheat Ear or symbol of Virgo.

    So there are a lot of practices, and we would like to carefully arrange them.

    In Buddhism, there is Cintamani Tara, who is basic for Jewel Family overall, and then also towards the Ila and Gopali Vasudharas.

    There are the Red Vasudharas Manohara and Bharati, for specific aspects of tantrism.

    And Vasudhara herself transiting into the larger form.

    Unfortunately, I have not yet found a good song recorded for her, or a dharani beyond a home recital version. One can look, but, as soon as I start seeing that it is about money, I get very sick. It is like a type of blasphemy. If anything, you are supposed to do the appropriate meditations as well as outer practices, which, slowly, transform karma into a state of well-being. The world is tough! If it was that easy, everyone would be rich. We don't solve problems with prayers. Let alone invocations that make a travesty of the relatively simple "secret" that wealth is hidden in the body and mind. Even Greek Christianity says that the "riches of god" are Pluto! This is the same thing we are trying to teach! And they have ruined it on both sides of the globe.


    Here is one of the main factors into how this was done, and why scholarship is an utter failure at trying to say this is why we have things in common or there is a sub-stratum to a "world religion".

    The old Jewish meaning of a "messiah" was a consecration, the anointment of a powerful figure who had done something significant, like King Cyrus of Persia by liberating them from Babylon. Let the Vatican describe the prior, mundane messiahs. It is thought that during the period of captivity, they had acquired some new ideas, primarily the concept of a future, eschatological messiah.

    This originates from Zoroaster's Saoshyant, which in this case does not seem to hold a comparable Sanskrit cognate, unlike most of the Avestan vocabulary. The doctrine has a minor equivalency to a future Vishnu as Kalki, and it is not present in Buddhism or does not correspond to Maitreya at all. Nor did Constantine have anything to do with the New Testament. However, the grounds that there may have been something archaic as a background for the Torah is the stele:

    ...by the Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah (who ruled 1213-1203 BCE). On this stele is an inscription in which the Pharaoh boasts that he has conquered various other nations, including the land of Israel: “Israel is laid waste, its seed is not.” This is the earliest reference from outside the Bible to anything having to do with Israel or the Bible itself.


    with the likelihood of translating the Egyptian:


    ... “prt” as “grain” rather than “seed,” to make it clear that this is an agricultural term and not a familial one. In other words, the pharaoh was boasting that he had destroyed Israel’s agriculture, not that he had committed genocide.

    Similarly, Egyptian "Israel" may be contended, or, given the grammar, the stele more likely refers to a nomadic people rather than a city-state. Its first lines describe significant foes--Libyans and Hittites--and the rest seem to be sub-divisions of Canaan, up to:

    ysrỉꜣr

    or

    I.si.ri.ar

    Note that the Egyptian language already knew how to attach Semitic El to the vizier of Akhenaten in the 1300s B. C. E., and instead of this, we see:

    Ar or Aur, meaning "black,", or, as in "Osiris", As-ar, where it may be Eye or stand in for Ra. Of course, "Israel" was the knee-jerk interpretation in 1896, and if this is a transliteration, Ar is Semitic for "city" or a specific city in Moab.

    Mandaeans identify Moses as Kiwan--Saturn, and credit him with magic power derived from the Yurba, or war-like power of the physical sun, described as something like the captain of a ship, but not the boss of the company. So far, in our estimation, Captivity Judaism blends this with a doomsday savior idea that was not part of "messiah" previously.





    The series of Vishnu avatars is Puranic, not Vedic, and subsequently it has different meanings in different Puranas. Many of them include Buddha as a Vishnu incarnation; no Buddhist source says this, and, it would contradict the doctrine of him achieving Buddhahood, rather than being born as a perfected deity.

    Firstly we can say that there is a terrible account, which starts by using the correct meaning of "vasudhara", and goes on to a devious way in disposing of heretics and sinners in Agni Purana, Chapter Sixteen:


    1. I am describing the manifestation (of Viṣṇu) as Buddha, by reading and hearing which one gets wealth. Once in the battle between devas and asuras, devas were defeated by the daityas (demons, sons of Diti).

    2. They sought refuge in the lord saying, “Protect us! Protect us!”. He (Viṣṇu), who is of the form of illusory delusion became the son of Śuddhodana.

    3-4. He deluded those demons. Those, who had abandoned the path laid down in the Vedas, became the Bauddhas and from them others who had abandoned the Vedas. He then became the Arhat (Jaina). He then made others as Arhats. Thus the heretics came into being devoid of vedic dharmas.

    5-6. They did such a work deserving hell (as reward). They would receive even from the vile. All of them became mixed Dasyus and devoid of good conduct at the end of Kaliyuga. Of the Vājasaneyaka veda (Śuklayajurveda) only fifteen sections will be existing.

    7. Non-aryans in the form of kings would devour men who wear the costumes of righteousness and have a taste for unrighteous thing.



    That is, in fact, the chapter's title and subject, so this is very important to someone.

    Buddha is not present in Mahabharata's list, where his place is held by Vedavid.


    He is also not present, and it is obvious what that name means, since Brahmanda Purana includes Dattatreya, Mandhatha, and Vyasa (Vedavyas, or, presumably, Vedavidya).


    Almost completely different from any list usually published. Such lists also omit "minor" avatars such as Hayagriva, which in turn we would think are important. The lists of ten are meaningful, as long as one understands them to be of "major" incarnations, not the whole Vishnu saga.

    Some sources, at least, have a friendly reason for including him, such as Garuda Purana:

    May Buddha preserve me from the concourse of heretics (Pashandas), may Kalki preserve me from sin and sinful propensities.


    or:


    He will take his twenty-first incarnation as Buddha to bring the mankind back to virtuous path by preaching against the rituals and proving that it is not proper for a seeker to get bound by them. Lord Vishnu would take incarnation as Kalki and will be born to a Brahmin named Vishnuyasha to liberate the earth from the sinners.’


    That is a Purana criticizing reliance on ritual, which is exactly what we are saying about Inner Homa.

    Similarly in Devi Bhagavata Purana:


    We bow down to Thy Buddha Incarnation, that Great Deva who didst come down here to put a stop to the slaughtering of the innocent animals and to the performance of the wicked sacrificial ceremonies! Obeisance to the Deva! When almost all the persons in this world will turn out in future as Mleccas and when the wicked Kings will oppress them, right and left, Thou wilt then incarnate Thyself again as Kalki and redress all the grievances! We bow down to Thy Kalki Form!


    Although we don't agree on a technical point, at least it is a kinder way of getting Hindus to perhaps be accepting towards Buddha.

    I am not in a position to compose Puranas, however, if it were possible to suggest someone who entered the world after Krishna, one could consider the ninth avatar might be Ayyappa:


    Ayyappa (अय्यप्प) is the son of Lord Viṣṇu and Śiva. The energy of compassion (dayā) of Viṣṇu and wisdom (jńāna) of Śiva coalesced into the divine refulgence tejas personified as Ayyappa. He is the embodiment of Tapas or austerity — deep meditation which generates the internal heat of both compassion and wisdom.

    It is believed that Lord Ayyappa has his divine control over Lord Śani – the ruler of Planet Saturn (Śani) – which governs over karma and karmic debts, forcing the one to work them out through hardships and austerities – towards liberation.


    That worked because Vishnu was his mother, he had taken the female form Mohini, which is not a full avatar, but an appearance he had previously used, such as at the Churning of the Ocean.


    Hinduism does not revolve around Kalki that much, although he does have a similar destroyer role as religious saviors seem to. Maitreya is the total opposite; he comes to earth because it has already become populated by Bodhisattvas. You may attempt to commune with him in the present moment, but, aside from him being defined as the future Buddha, there is nothing about anyone sitting around waiting or hoping for him to come. Destruction of evil forces is obviously performed by Vajrapani.


    Maitreya for the most part is a Sastra, and so here, the Sastra for Dhyana Paramita uses "adhyatmika" in a Mahayana fashion similar to Asvaghosha's critique of the Worldling:


    The bodhisattva feels great compassion (mahākaruṇācitta) at this sight and makes the following oath: “I will act in such a way that beings obtain all the inner bliss (adhyātmasukha) of the dhyānas and samāpattis, that they may be freed from impure bliss and that, in dependence on these dhyānas, they finally reach the bliss characteristic of Buddhahood.” It is in this way that the dhyānas and samāpattis take the name of virtue.

    This is of course much closer to what we would mean by "salvation" or "savior"--a personal transformation--since we really do not need any new "teachers"--except in the sense of those experienced in the Dharma, who merely seek to continue the Dharma.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Vasudhara and Grahamatrika







    Aside from the two wrathful deities at the ends, these seven goddesses are:


    Vasudhara, Grahamatrika, Usnisa, Prajnaparamita, Parasol, Vajra Tara, Tara


    Those are not quite the same as Saptavara or dharanis per day of the week.

    I would suggest it is Prajnaparamita flanked by Usnisa deities, flanked by others who are intensifications of their introductory forms at the ends.

    There is, fortunately, ongoing work with goddesses as Sonic Power, and a down-to-earth look at Text as Temple, referring to Grahamatrika as popularly in use similar to Medicine Buddha.


    The seven daily dharanis do not really seem to reflect Buddhist versions of the planets, aside from Vasudhara--Sun, with the semi-secret extension of Marici--Venus.

    They are only partially explainable as deities, since for example Ganapati Hridaya would be rather intricate, practically a whole pantheon unto itself.

    When trying to configure Grahamatrika as to Who? This has been pretty difficult. Her Sanskrit Sutra is in Dharani Samgraha, in the same way it contains a few others. The team mentioned above is in process of publishing it. Differently from anything else, she seems to have...no roots or connection to anything. Just by symbolism, I found that Six Arm Parasol loses her parasol item, which suggested to me that perhaps Grahamatrika is a variety of this. However, poking around in the work as mentioned above, there happens to be in the Extensive Asa Saphu catalog:


    vasudhArA grahamAtrikA nAma dhAraNI


    which is more authoritative than my visual inspection. We might dispute this as giving Vasudhara two days. This would not be valid, because Monday uses Vajravidarani, a semi-wrathful Red Vasudhara. So instead of cutting it out, that means she is up to three days. From Dharmakoshasamgraha, emanated by Akshobhya:


    "Vajravidarani is five-faced, ten-armed, carries in the right hands the goad, the sword, the arrow, the Vajra, and the Varada mudra, and in the left the noose, the shield, the bow, the flag and the Abhaya pose. She stands in the Pratyalidha attitude".


    So, this perhaps gives weight to the idea that Grahamatrika may be another advanced aspect of Vasudhara. If we keep going, options for Ganapati Hrdaya include Lakshmi, which means that Vasudhara corresponds to four days.

    Ganapati and Lakshmi or Vasudhara have the trait of totally changing their name in their different forms.






    Mitra's Grahamatrika mandala 44 is like that in Kriyasamucchaya, not the smaller fourteen-deity version as commonly listed. And it is among the strangest mandalas given, because it is centered on the Sun, and Grahamatrika comes at the end, in the northwest of the outer ring. The two middle rings are supposed to be the Planets, and then the Naksatra or Lunar Mansions called "stars".


    We would guess that such a thing would be mis-identified as a Surya Mandala.

    Here is one that is not exact--the second ring is Twelve Adityas, that is, minute variations on Surya himself. This one does, however, appear to have Grahamatrika in the upper right corner:





    Her yellow face is supposed to be red--at least in the text of her smaller mandala. But we can find a statue in a Sakya monastery where this face is green. What they all have in common is two hands doing Dharmacakra (or Vyakhyana) Mudra, as it is here.

    This one does not seem to include her, although it uses the Naksatras rather than the Adityas. It also includes the Zodiac. They are in plain red circles, starting with Aries in the upper right. As you go around, Gemini is Mithuna or a couple which is Indian, then you see a white Leo in the lower right where there are four signs, then a centaur for Sagittarius and a Makara for Capricorn, and finally two signs in the upper left:







    A textbook version of the smaller Grahamatrika mandala uses the odd feature of two Maricis in an obvious way:







    Six Arm Vasudhara is almost always shown with a single face; Circle of Bliss finds that a three-faced Vasudhara refers to the three times of the sun, and three states of a yogini.

    Miranda Shaw notices her solar color, and calls her the "doorkeeper to an invisible realm" in the appropriate way.


    Dhara Graha is a name for the earth according to Vashisht Vaid, who stuck a few Buddhist ideas into his Astrology Book Collection. As to the waterfall:


    Vasudhara Tirtha would provide the fruit of the Horse-Sacrifice while Tarpana to Pitras would benefit far further. Not far from here were Vasu Tirtha immensely liked by the Ashta Vasus as also Brahma Tunga Tirtha for pleasing Lord Brahma by worship and Renuka Tirtha for purifying of conscience. In the near
    vicinity were Pancha Nada Tirtha, Bhima Tirtha and Giri Kunja Tirtha.

    Geographically:


    That range is called Alakapuri mountain range. The river Alakananda arises in that
    range and flows down 8 miles to reach Badrinarayana.


    And of course it is unmistakable that a Wheat Ear means Virgo. Just about like Demeter--Ceres.


    These two are ready in Sanskrit:

    Vidarani with brief Sutra

    Grahamatrika with brief Sutra; the version in Dharani Samgraha in this case also appears larger.


    They use an unusual name for the Sun, which is found with Hindu Tantric Ganesh:

    megholkaya: Megholka [the fire of the cloud]


    Appears to more specifically refer to Vakratunda, Ganesh who is like sunlight.


    This is also seen in the Agni Purana mono-syllables.


    And unknown to 84000 when translating Siddhaikavira Tantra:


    Megholka God of lightning (Indra?) invoked to obtain riches or women


    or in Pratisara:

    It is not clear who exactly Dattaka, Damaka, Lohaka and Megholka are.




    In Grahamatrika's mandala, Rahu is the color:


    Rājāvarta (राजावर्त, “lapis lazuli”)



    Grahamatrika is:


    ratna makūṭi


    The coloration for her is given in Dharani Samgraha:


    svetānīlāruṇatrimukhā


    Aruna, brother of Garuda, charioteer of Surya, is therefor the redness of dawn.


    Although using a mandala for the planets, Grahamatrika at least refers to the Zodiacal Signs with expressions such as:


    dvādaśarāśīnām

    dvādaśāṁgula


    It is said in rare instances, those are individually depicted, but I have not found an example.

    The Sutra is set in Adakavati, only thing in the Samgraha that seems to be. Because it is also the domain of Sri and/or Vasudhara, and not many, if any, others, again circumstances press their identity quite close.



    Tibetan Art features a noticeable White Vasudhara, which they have not noticed in their own description. I am not sure how you miss this.

    Circle of Bliss 63 finds a White Vasudhara at LACMA--paired with Yellow Vasudhara who has the unusual attribute of Peacock Feathers, the white one switches this for a Mirror, and also has a child. The obvious tantric intent here is filed at the museum as "Cosmic Man":







    I am less convinced he is cosmic, than there is such a thing as White Vasudhara. Not in most of the sadhana books, but Nepal is entitled to have things that are somewhat unpublished--there is one of them. Three Face Yellow Vasudhara is not in the books either. Neither are Six Chakras, not in the basic ones anyway. The stand-alone at Tibetan Art is only a slight variation of the one here, and could perhaps be called modernized.


    Again this brings forward the notion that in Buddhism, the six-armed deity is somewhat "powerful" yet regularly seen, whereas in Hinduism it is quite constrained, barely seen besides certain Vamana Vishnus.



    Here is Sonam Tsemo, over a register of unusual dharani goddesses, which are suggestive of Sadhanamala. The identifications from Bari Gyatsa are used; they are out of order, and something is missing, so we will make an adjustment. This happens to involve the Six Arm Parasol without a Parasol:






    XX -- first is not mentioned
    69. Arya Vajra Gandhari
    67. Dhvajagrakeyura
    77. Vajravarahi
    76. Vajra Nairatmya
    7O. Shri Mahakala
    68. Aparajita
    71. Vajra Shringkhala (Does this look green? It is probably Vajra Tara.)
    73. Arya Sitatapatra


    I do not see any further explanations, although there is a fairly educational thangka of him where, instead of Sakya Hevajra, he is shown with Krsnacharya, Samvarodaya, and Luipa Chakrasamvaras, and related lineage.

    The omitted red goddess may be Kurukulla. The strange Parasol is semi-wrathful, unlike Grahamatrika, and since she typically has a different role, one could easily say that Grahamatrika probably does have greater affinity to Vasudhara, whereas Aparajita is an alter-nym of Parasol.

    The titles of unpublished dharanis are more reliable than hasty visual conclusions, such as green deities are in Karma Family, or PR 206 is ever drawn correctly. So Vasudhara Grahamatrika is hard to dispute. The latter does not seem to have her own Bija, Heart Mantra, Japa, or any of those normal accoutrements; nothing to distinguish her by.


    In India, "planets" are not named for motion, but:


    The Nine Planets of Vedic Astrology or Jyotiṣa are the forces that capture or eclipse the mind and the decision making of the human being-thus the term 'Graha'.


    It also may refer to crocodiles and similar creatures, the senses, and in Buddhism, "Grasping" or the tenet of Duality and non-Duality of subject and object.

    Grahamatrika is unusual for giving Saturn the epithet "Krsnavarnaya", which usually refers to Rahu, who has obviously been altered somewhat. Lapis Lazuli is considered effective on both nodes as well as Saturn, depending on where you look, or if Cat's Eye gets involved.

    Hers is a relatively late, perhaps eighth or ninth century text. Planets or Grahas have been said to be affected by mantras previously, but this is specifically for them, in perhaps a newer way that at least refers to the Zodiac. Again, the only thing that looks particularly different about it is Gemini, which in turn may be the Aswins as understood in western Astrology. India would not need that, since they are already a Nakshatra.

    My guess is that the Planets have been oath-bound similar to Yakshas, and so the mantras compel them to release their aspect of mind, behavior, or fate that they have seized. We should of course wait for the Sutra translation to say for sure, and then perhaps we can figure a few additional details from Dharani Samgraha.


    We might also need to say that the "Four Yugas" are Hellenized, because their names as Gold and so on, are found in Greek texts older than the Puranas. Moreover, they reflect the ratio of the Tetraktys, which, so far, I have not found credited as having an Indic source. A year re-interpreted as "Deva year" = 1,000 years is probably Indian, giving the Ages a far greater time span. To an extent, this would be understandable, because they would have at least known that Indus Valley was really old. Nobody would have accepted calculations that give the origin of humanity at 4,004 B. C. E., or anything so shallow. The mere suggestion of it would be shocking and sound ignorant. That does not mean the Puranic figures are literally true either, although they remain a "better guess".

    Dharanis as recitations could be used by anyone, in any context, and the Saptavara in one sense can be attributed to newer, cheaper printing presses, making books for every household. We want to use this as a type of groundwork or guidance towards sadhanas or Deity Yoga, which is a more serious commitment. You would not quite so casually just pick up Grahamatrika or an advanced Vasudhara and just start doing it. But, I think, you do want to eventually make your way to Vasudhara as a deity that is very nearly a requirement. So we will work on a post that puts together her several hypostatic aspects and practices. Here, we have just discovered convincingly that Grahamatrika numbers among them, which explains why she seems like a nobody coming from nowhere; she's not an individual, but an aspect or form of White Vasudhara.
    Last edited by shaberon; 14th August 2023 at 11:48.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Vedic History and Vasumati



    There arguably is a difference between the horse-using Aryans and Sanskrit and the sedentary and neatish dwellings of Indus Valley which probably had a different range of animals. There is a bridge between these things, but the picture is just now developing.

    It is possible that the most archaic ruins in Anatolia do not show any signs of Indian influence, but then there was probably a Northern Silk Road for overland caravans that were probably camels and donkeys by 4,000 B. C. E. if not before.


    We can still reasonably say that "recorded" history begins around 3,000 B. C. E., by which point there is an oversea route, at least in the sense of small coastal vessels around the Persian Gulf. Due to this, it appears Uruk or Chaldea assumed an influential middleman position, with a second link of seafarers able to reach Egypt. In this way, it is possible the Chaldean culture was informative to the Egyptian, in terms of cosmological ideas and metaphysics and so on. Egyptian art is reliably obsessed by the inlay of lapis into gold. It is so important to them that they will pay premium prices for the importation of a blue stone from "a distant land". It was so rare and exotic to them, that they agreed it was worth *more* than gold.

    The effect of Indus Valley merchants is strongly attested in the Chaldean records, and, minorly, in Elam.

    In the deciphered cuneiform scripts, the Chaldeans talk about the employment of translators to deal with them, which seems to be the idea that Meluhha = Mleccha copper worker caste. Industrially, this is the Bronze Age. One finds the beginning of the use of a solid wheel, and then around 2,000 B. C. E., more successful use of the spoked wheel.

    The current understanding of the horse suggests that it is a survivor of a minority through the Ice Age, which, because Central Asia had certain characteristics, these essentially were the surviving horses. It is thought these were first domesticated in Kazakhstan by the Botai by 3,000 B. C. E., more as a milking animal.

    This is being investigated at Krasni Yar near the border of Russia and China which says:


    c. 2000 BC
    Horses pull chariots in eastern Russia and Kazakhstan.

    2000-1500 BC
    Horseback riding becomes common in Afghanistan and Iran.


    Around 2200 B. C. E., selective breeding began developing what is known as the modern horse. By around 1,000 B. C. E., it had spread back across the trading routes, and the wild populations went extinct.


    From the discovery of modern horse skeletons in a corresponding strata of 2,100-1,700 B. C. E. at a Harappan site of Surkotada, Gujarat:


    ...the presence of the horse in the Rig Veda is so prominent that no other animal comes close. There are five hymns about the horse in the Rig Veda, but only one about the bull, one about the goat and one about a bird.


    That makes it nearly impossible to say anything about Harappan versus Aryan culture, if it appears to be simply co-temporaneous. Obviously the thoroughbred horses were of great value, which says nothing about any type of hostilities or use of the Sanskrit language. It does suggest the Rg Veda collation could not really be much older than ca. 2,000 B. C. E., excepting any parts that do not include a horse.

    Asvins means the presence of a horse is incorporated into them or into that area of the hymns.

    It may be that the Vedas are celebrating the addition of the horse to the world.

    One would be left with a Puranic, that is, presumed spoken tradition, or Upanishadic Yoga if possible, to suggest a Sanskritic culture that is much older than the ca. 2,000s B. C. E., which is a bounding limit for the Vedas it seems.


    From the internal idea the Donkey Plough was used to conquer India:


    The strange thing about donkeys is that they were vehicles of Vedic gods Indra and Agni in Atharva Veda. But later became the vehicle of Jyeshta (Muthevi) and ****ala Devi (Goddesses of poverty and disease). They were relegated to back stage. Greek gods Dionysus and Hephaestus used donkey as their vehicles.

    [IMG]https://tamilandvedas.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/kalighat_****ala.jpg[/IMG]


    Sitala

    Also the unusual class of Veda Murtis:


    Rg-veda: रासभाननः (Donkey face)
    Sama-veda: हयाननः (Horse face)
    Yajur-veda: अजाननः (Goat faced)
    Atharva-veda: मर्कटाननः (Monkey face)


    The question on why horses come up in this literature has been reviewed in a paper on Flora and Fauna in the RV:

    Donkey

    the word khara is totally absent in the RV, and is a post- Rigvedic word, but another word for the donkey, gardabha, is found twice in the Late Books, I.29.5; VIII.56.3, and once in a hymn in the Early Books, classified by Oldenberg as a late, or late redacted, hymn, and notorious for its late words: III.53.23.


    ...the IE languages have a common word for the domesticated horse, but none for the wild horse; and this common word for the domesticated horse is also accepted as a word borrowed from a non-IE language. So the horse was clearly an import into the (secondary) homeland of the IE languages. Further, the idea that invading Aryans introduced the horse to indigenous Dravidian and Austric people is disproved by the fact that those languages have distinctive names for the horse completely unrelated to the IE words. As the evidence shows, the horse was a rare imported animal in the period of the Old Books of the Rigveda, which is why the ashvamedha of that period (not even called by that name then) merely had a horse being let loose into neighbouring areas to herald the imperialist activities of expansionist kings like Sudas. Horses became prolific only in the period of the New Books, when we find references to the slaughter of the sacrificial horse, the word ashvamedha, and the proliferance of new types of personal names with the elements "ashva" and "ratha".


    It decides that the timeline of the Vedas actually traces the import of the horse and other northwestern animals, found mostly in newer books, while all books have the eastern animals:


    ...the elephant (ibha-, vāraṇa, hastin), the Indian bison (gaura), the peacock (mayūra), the buffalo (mahiṣa, anūpa) and the spotted deer or chital (pṛṣatī/pṛṣadaśva).


    So, yes, the collated Rg Veda depends on the horse, but, the total origin of it, probably not--the article suggests that the Sanskrit Vedic Aryans may as likely have been indigenous, rather than significant migrations of tribes from Central Asia. The horse did not start it, but, rapidly advanced itself.


    Old Books: II, III, IV, VI, VII

    New Books: I, V, VIII, IX, X

    ...references to camels and spokes in the Rigveda, all exclusively in the New Books.

    ...ice and snow appear in the Rigveda only in the New Books.

    Peculiarly "common Indo-Iranian" words for northwestern flora and fauna appear later only in the New Books (5,1,8,9,10), or even later: meṣa/maēša (sheep), urā/ura (lamb), uṣṭra/uštra (camel), varāha/varāza and sūkara/hūkara (boar), kaśyapa/kassiapa (turtle), khara/xara (ass), jahāka/dužuka (hedgehog), etc. These words represent the common northwestern vocabulary of the New Books (or later) and the Avesta (or Iranian in general).


    Iron is not in Rg Veda, but it is in Yajur and Atharva Vedas.


    Chronology determined by the Sages yields the order:


    Early Family MaNDalas (VI, III, VII)

    Mandala I

    Later Family MaNDalas (IV, II, V)

    VIII

    IX (a Soma compilation)

    X (a new language)


    Because the Aswins are in all of it, then the name may mean something other than "horse":


    Āśvinī (आश्विनी):—[from āśvina > āśva] f. Name of a kind of brick (iṣṭakā), [Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa; Kātyāyana-śrauta-sūtra]

    Aśva—The horse is said to have been born of the Creator’s feet (Vayu Purana)


    Or, the idea that the horse symbolizes prana--could perhaps be released if it originally meant prana and then horse. Then we would have to find an Indic etymology not dependent on the IE cognates, and there is:


    E. aśa to pervade, kvan Unadi affix

    which is possible for Asa:

    aśū to expand

    And then "kvan" will give us "sound" such as in compound:


    Prakvaṇa (प्रक्वण).—[pra-kvāṇ + a], m. The sound of the vīṇā or lute.

    Upakvāṇa (उपक्वाण).—[upa-kvaṇ-śabde, ap-ghań vā] The sound of a lute or of Kinnaras.

    Parikvaṇana (परिक्वणन).—a. Loud.

    -naḥ Ved. A cloud.



    or perhaps a better combination with:


    Āśu (आशु).—a. [aś-vyāptau uṇ] Fast, quick

    -śuḥ Ved.

    1) To press out Soma juice, distill (mostly Ved.).


    Unaccented:

    Asu (असु).—m. pl. always, (asavaḥ) The five vital breaths or airs of the body. n. (-su) 1. Reflexion, thought, or the heart as the seat of it.

    Asu (असु).—i. e. 1. as + u, m. plur. 1. The five vital breaths, or airs of the body


    That explains Vedic Asura, Breath, and Asuniti, deity thereof.

    Accented As is in the derivation of Vishnu:

    With vi, vi -- To pervade, aśnu. 1. To pervade, to occupy.


    For Asvini, I would have thought that "-vin" is a possessive, such as tapasvin. And then just in the simple word for horse:


    Aśva (अश्व).—[aś + va]

    For the suffix Va:

    (-vā) 1. Going


    There is a certain expression for instant:

    Rig Veda used the cliché MANO VEGAM-Speed of Mind. All the seers use it for speed. On a practical level they use VAAYU VEGAM/ speed of wind as well.


    But we are thinking there may be something that is fast, other than a horse.

    Here is a glimpse of it from Kak 2000 on astronomy:


    the a´svamedha, the so-called horse sacrifice, which actually represented
    the transcendence by the king of time in its metaphorical representation as
    horse. The primary meaning of a´sva as the sun is attested to in the R. gveda,
    Nirukta, and Satapatha BrŻ ´ ahman. a


    Vi´svanŻatha VidyŻala˙nkŻara suggests
    that these should be identified as the sun (A´sva)

    RV 1.164.2 and Nirukta 4.4.27 define A´sva as
    the sun.


    The Asterism and Lunar Mansion:

    A´svayujau, ‘the two horse-harnessers,’ are the stars β and α Arietis.
    A´svinŻı is a later name. The name refers to the time when these stars
    rose just before the sun during vernal equinox.



    Venus, in its earlier incarnation as
    the A´svin twins, was seen as born to the sun.



    RŻasabha which literally means the twin asses are defined in Nighant.u
    1.15 as A´svinau which later usage suggests are Castor and Pollux in Gemini.
    In Western astronomy the twin asses are to be found in the next constellation
    of Cancer as Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australis.


    From a rebuke of MacCaulay and Muller:


    In Shatpath Brahmana (13.1.6) it is stated "Rashtram va asvamedhah"
    i.e. asvamedha means to manage or run the affairs of the rashtra
    (country) in a befitting manner.

    Sukta 162-

    Ashva-stuti (As per translation of H.H. Wilson)

    Sukta 162 in fact deals with the science of applying horse power
    (automation) of the fire pervading in the form of energy.

    This horse is veeryani.

    Sukta 163

    How can horse be identified with Agni (fire),
    sun and the air etc. none has cared to justify.

    Second mantra includes the term 'surat ashvam' which means the fast
    moving Agni i.e the fire which enables a speedy locomotion.

    ashvam = the rapid horse in the form of Agni (fire, electricity etc.)

    Tenth mantra includes the word 'ashva' where it means the bright swift
    horses in the form of fire, air, water etc.

    It is the same for Sage Dadhikra.



    What did everyone have before the spread of horses. Surplus agriculture is the necessary sign of growth and stability. Wine and cider making out of anything is fairly raw and requires little technique. People could make a jug of something. Other recipes take some kind of equipment and process. Brewing is continuous from Mergarh.

    That is a good agricultural study, and, from this, one can follow the spread of wheat, barley, lentils, and peas, from Anatolia to Balochistan:




    In terms of India, one can practically see the before-and-after cataclysm, i. e. wheat got about as far as Dwarka, and then does not seem to cross the rest of India for a thousand years. With respect to Rg Vedic flora:


    ...that wheat was an unfamiliar grain to Vedic traditions, as compared to rice, is indicated
    by the fact that it was even defined in relation to rice; and, in contrast to the sacred use of rice in Vedic rituals, wheat is treated with disdain: ―Pāṇini, ArthŚā, BṛSam and Vṛkṣ(S) define the word as a type of grain distinct from barley and rice [...] Additionally, NāmaMā makes a curious remark: it is a mlecchabhojya, a food of barbarians‘.


    ...the absence of wheat in the Rigveda is not doubted by any one.


    It does not refer to growing rice, but, its products:


    apūpa (a kind of rice-cake), puro ḷ ā (a kind of rice-pancake), and odana (a brew of rice boiled in milk or water)


    The wheat trail reflects in a human mix of genetics in about the same ratio, categorized as Iranian Farmers. There is more Anatolian DNA in the west, which fades as you go across, and does not really affect India.


    According to the Brewers:


    The middle Ganges valley witnessed the domestication of Indian rice (Oriza sativa, subsp. indica), yellow foxtail (Setaria pumila), amaranth (Macrotyloma uniflorum, kulthi bean or horsegram), and various cucurbits between 6000 and 3000 BC.

    Between 5500 BC and 2000 BC, the domestication of starchy plants in India involved several centres and relatively complex exchanges/borrowings/adaptations (see map below) underpinned by population migrations. Archaeobotanists and linguists have tried to superimpose their respective protohistories to understand the setting up of very distinctive regional cultures (Fuller 2003).


    So then you can find the wheat stallout meeting the spread of rice from north India since about 6,000 B. C. E.:






    So, yes, you might do a Pinda or rice ball offering. Rice appears more definitive than the horse in terms of Vedic inspiration. Buddhist Vasudharas and Taras are adaptive, in that they can use a rice stalk instead of wheat, or a coconut as a Wish-fulfilling tree. Perhaps Vedas have their origin in the Gangetic Plain and show Bronze Age responses to influences from the northwest.


    To archeology, that corresponds to the Vindhya-Ganga Zone:


    Comparison of the C-14 dates of the Vindhyan sites of Tokwa or Kodilwa and middle Gaṅgā sites of Jhusi or Lahuradewa showed that by 8th millennium BCE, while earliest farming culture started in the middle Gaṅgā zone the Vindhyan sites already entered the Neolithic stage roughly at the same time or even before.

    The middle Gaṅgā sites are more indebted to the Vindhyan sites for this astonishing growth. As regards agriculture the Neolithic Jhusi had shown considerable variety in crops and indeed was one of the earliest agricultural sites of the world. For this reason Jhusi exemplifies the transformation from the earliest Mesolithic phase of a hunting, foraging, farming and rural life to the coming of an urban phenomenon in the area, typified by Vārāṇasī.

    Jhusi could perhaps be considered the domestication of rice, Oryza Sativa, out of wild varieties. It is currently still inhabited at the conflux of Ganges and Yamuna.


    Britannica is willing to say:


    It was one of the first major urban settlements in the middle Ganges valley. By the 2nd millennium BCE Varanasi was a seat of Vedic religion and philosophy and was also a commercial and industrial centre famous for its muslin and silk fabrics, perfumes, ivory works, and sculpture. Indians are willing to dig and say it may reach back to 4,500 B. C. E.


    According to Wiki, domestic rice comes from a single Chinese cultivar and from it:

    A more recent population genomic study indicates that japonica was domesticated first, and that indica rice arose when japonica arrived in India about ~4,500 years ago and hybridized with an undomesticated proto-indica or wild O. nivara.

    It then spread to Harappan and Susa.

    It is thought to have entered Nepal ca. 3,000 B. C. E.. So it looks like India cultivated wild rice at first, then there was the domesticated, which relatively quickly moved outwards, perhaps not quite as fast as a horse. In books, Cinapatta or China Silk appears in the 4th century BCE Arthasastra, before India is mentioned in Chinese writings. However it is hard to argue with rice genetics. India got this oriental product at about the same time that Harappan seals are showing up in Elam.



    Given the 2014 discovery of a 350 acre Ganges site:


    Rakhigarhi is an ideal candidate to believe that the beginning of the Harappan civilisation took place in the Ghaggar basin in Haryana and it gradually grew from here. If we get the confirmation, it will be interesting because the origin would have taken place in the Ghaggar basin in India and slowly moved to the Indus valley. That is one of the important aims of our current excavation at Rakhigarhi.

    The classification of languages as Indo Aryan and Dravidian itself is a big blunder. If there are any two languages that are closer to one another that is TAMIL and SANSKRIT.

    The second point is that civilisation traveled from the East towards West and not vice verse as scholars thought until now.

    Change “Indus” Valley Civilization to “Ganges” Valley Civilization!!

    The original dig started in 1963 according to the Washington Post, which notices the significance a few days ago.


    The site has Harappan seals:


    The discovery of a tiger seal from the sitting room and a few others from the house and its vicinity, weights of chert, and lapis lazuli beads and deluxe Harappan pottery indicate that the house belonged to a prominent merchant.




    It may be older than Mohenjo-Daro and:


    This positions Rakhigarhi as a unique Harappan site which promises to reveal new civilization contours by pushing the Indus Valley civilization by a thousand years or more.”.

    So far, research on the site has revealed all the defining features of the Indus Valley civilization, including potters kiln, wheel-made pottery baked to red colour, and Indus script on seals. Its size, spreading over 220 hectares, surpasses by far the well known Harappan sites of Mohenjo-daro (now in Larkana district of Pakistan), Harappa (in Pakistan) and Dholavira (Kutch region of Gujarat) which are estimated at 200, 150 and 60 hectares respectively.



    The meaning is:


    The cities of the Harappan civilization were noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and techniques of handicraft and metallurgy.

    The oldest site of the Indus Valley Civilization, Bhirrana, and the largest site, Rakhigarhi are located in the Indian state of Haryana. Bhirrana or Birhana, a small village in Fatehabad District, Haryana, is situated along the channels of the seasonal Ghaggar (Saraswati) river. The Bhirrana site is stated to be the oldest Saraswati-Indus Valley Civilization site, dating back to 7570-6200 BCE. The antiquities found at this site include pottery, fabrics, copper chisels, arrowheads, spearheads; beads arrowheads, faience, terracotta and shell, bangles of copper and terracotta; semi-precious stones and beads, etc.

    Bhirrana was occupied by pit dwellers before the Harrapan phase, and lapis lazuli is found in this strata. Haryana is equivalent to the Vedic Kuru kingdom.

    In its first genetic study:


    The DNA of a single male skeleton (classified as 'I4411') shows affinity with present-day subaltern South Indian, Tamil tribal populations, most notably the Irula people.

    Next, at 2500 B. C.E.:


    The study of DNA samples of the skeletons found in Rakhigarhi, an Indus Valley Civilisation site in Haryana, has found no traces of the R1a1 gene or Central Asian ‘steppe’ genes, loosely termed as the ‘Aryan gene’.

    From a partially-Iranic female:


    The analysis by Reich and colleagues also shows that the Iranian-related lineage present in the Indus Valley people split from the natives of Zagros Mountains in Iran before 8000 BCE. This is before crop farming began there around 7000–6000 BCE.

    This suggests that the descendants of the world’s first farmers who lived in the Fertile Crescent have had no roles in introducing farming to South Asia.


    In Science:


    ...she lived sometime between 2800 and 2300 B.C.E. Her genome closely matched DNA from 11 other individuals who had been found at sites in Iran and Turkmenistan.

    ... the Iranian-related DNA in both the Indus individuals and modern Indians actually predates the rise of agriculture in Iran by some 2000 years. In other words, that Iranian-related DNA came from interbreeding with 12,000-year-old hunter-gatherers, not more recent farmers, Reich explains.

    These can plausibly be called Turanians.

    After this--i. e., from about 2,000 B. C. E.--then, the European-mixed Aryan genetics come mixing back in to India. From the available pool of 523 individuals prior to then, it appears that Balochistan was fairly localized and did not externalize. Harappans are a mixture of non-Aryan Turanic Iranians and South Indians; Aryans in the sense of Yamnayas spread widely and rapidly along with the horse, this is not denied, but it does not look like the explanation of Indic or Vedic culture.

    From a study on Rakigarhian I6113, the "pure Iranian":

    The Beit Cave individual
    dates to 10,000 BCE, definitively before the advent of farming
    anywhere in Iran.


    Is an ancient split from South Asian and Ethiopian. Harrapan is a mix from this back with South Asian. No Steppe Nomad or Iranian Farmer included. They are more closely related to Andaman Islanders than anything from the west.


    Turanians are segregated from Persians in their own terms:


    From the 5th century CE, the Sasanian Empire defined "Turan" in opposition to "Iran", as the land where lay its enemies to the northeast.

    Turan is negativized the same way out of the Avestan chronicles. Doesn't have any more particular meaning, just an ancestral split similar to the sons of Noah. South Asian is a remotely ancient migration from it, then Indians and Ethiopians since Ice Age times, then Iranians relatively recently.



    A 5,000 year old jewelry factory has been found.


    The idea of gold and particularly giving it to women appears in the Vedas. Given the time frame, one would expect a prominence of Lapis Lazuli, especially when contending the earliest writings in Egypt and Sumeria depend on it. In India, all we know is it was physically present.

    So we have a few questions about that, as well as the time of the sinking of Dwarka, drying of the Sarasvati River, and/or other cataclysm which may have caused migration.



    A recent examination of Sindhu Sarasvati takes into account the Mergarh site and the discovery of written Sanskrit in Syria.

    Questioning the time of the Mahabharata War should naturally include the submergence of Dwarka. It was not mentioned, but, there is a general description of what could now be called the Astronomical date (placing it in the 3,000s B. C. E.) compared to the Puranic date (ca. 1,900 B. C. E.).

    The latter is also close to the geological estimate of the end of the Sarasvati River:



    Recent archaeological discoveries indicate that the Sarasvati river dried up around 1900
    BC, leading to the collapse of the Harappan civilization that was principally located in
    the Sarasvati region (accounting for about 70 percent of all the Harappan sites). The
    Rigveda celebrates the Sarasvati as the greatest river of its day, going from the mountains
    to the sea (giribhya asamudrat in RV 7.95.2).

    The Mahabharata as an encyclopaedia of early Indian culture and history may be
    expected to shed light on the Sindhu-Sarasvati (SS), or Indus, Tradition. For example, the
    Mahabharata and the Puranas call Visnu and Siva by the name Ekasrnga, the “onehorned one,” or the unicorn, which is one of the most striking images from the mature
    phase of the SS Tradition.

    The Santi-Parva (chapter 343) of the Mahabharata speaks of the one-tusked boar
    (Varaha) who saves the earth as Visnu’s incarnation. Here Varaha is described as being
    triple-humped, a figure that we see in the Harappan iconography. There is other
    continuity of motif and style between the SS Tradition and the classical Indian culture.

    Is the Mahabharata epic -- the text of 100,000 verses -- which is a source for the events of
    the War to be taken as history? The epic itself claims to have been originally just 8,800
    verses composed by Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa and called the Jaya. Later, it became
    24,000 verses, called the Bharata, when it was recited by Vaisampayana. Finally, it was
    recited as the 100,000 versed epic (the Mahabharata) by Ugrasravas, the son of
    Lomaharsana.


    We see Kassites, a somewhat shadowy
    aristocracy with Indic names and worshiping Surya and the Maruts, in Western Iran about
    1800 BC.

    For Kassite:


    The origin and classification of the Kassite language, like the Sumerian language and Hurrian language, is uncertain, and, also like the two latter languages, has generated a wide array of speculation over the years, even to the point of linking it to Sanskrit.


    As to the intermittent river through Haryana:


    The Sutlej changed its course about 8,000-10,000 years ago, leaving the Ghaggar-Hakra as a system of monsoon-fed rivers terminating in the Thar Desert.

    A large number of sites from the Mature Indus Valley Civilisation (2600-1900 BCE) are found along the middle course of the (dried-up) Hakra in Pakistan.

    ...most of the Indus Valley sites known so far are actually located on the Ghaggar-Hakra river and its tributaries and not on the Indus river...

    This completely went away ca. 2,000 B. C. E.





    But no one understands the writing or language that is traceable in Indus Script:


    ...some symbols from potter's marks and graffiti belonging to the earlier Ravi phase from c. 3500–2800 BCE.


    ...pottery inscriptions and clay impressions of inscribed Harappan seals dating to around c. 2800–2600 BCE

    c. 2600–1900 BCE, strings of Indus signs are commonly found

    Often, animals such as bulls, water buffaloes, elephants, rhinoceros, and the mythical "unicorn" accompanied the text on seals, possibly to help the illiterate identify the origin of a particular seal.


    At Harappa, the use of the script largely ceased as the use of inscribed seals ended around c. 1900 BCE; however, the use of the Indus script may have endured for a longer duration in other regions such as at Rangpur, Gujarat, particularly in the form of graffiti inscribed on pottery.


    Both seals and potsherds bearing Indus script text, dated c. 2200–1600 BCE, have been found at sites associated with the Daimabad culture of the Late Harappan period, in present-day Maharashtra.

    ...researchers now generally agree that the Indus script is not closely related to any other writing systems of the second and third millennia BCE, although some convergence or diffusion with Proto-Elamite conceivably may be found.

    About 35 Proto-Elamite signs may possibly be comparable to Indus signs.

    Indus characters from an impression of a cylinder seal discovered in Susa (modern Iran), in a stratum dated to 2600–1700 BCE



    For Susa:


    One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital of Elam and the Achaemenid Empire, and remained a strategic centre during the Parthian and Sasanian periods.

    Susa appears in the very earliest Sumerian records: for example, it is described as one of the places obedient to Inanna, patron deity of Uruk, in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta.

    Shortly after Susa was first settled over 6000 years ago, its inhabitants erected a monumental platform that rose over the flat surrounding landscape. The exceptional nature of the site is still recognizable today in the artistry of the ceramic vessels that were placed as offerings in a thousand or more graves near the base of the temple platform.




    Indian carnelian beads with white design, etched in white with an alkali through a heat process, imported to Susa in 2600–1700 BC. Found in the tell of the Susa acropolis. Louvre Museum, reference Sb 17751. These beads are identical with beads found in the Indus Civilization site of Dholavira [Gujarat].


    Susa was mostly in the cultural sphere of the much larger and more influential Uruk.






    At Daimabad:

    There is a break in occupation for about half-a-century between the Phase II (Late Harappan period) and Phase III (Daimabad period ca. 1800 BCE).


    from where the significant discovery of bronzework:


    a sculpture of a chariot, 45 cm long and 16 cm wide, yoked to two oxen, driven by a man 16 cm high standing in it;
    a sculpture of a water buffalo, 31 cm high and 25 cm long standing on a four-legged platform attached to four solid wheels;
    a 25 cm high sculpture of an elephant on a platform 27 cm long and 14 cm wide similar to the water buffalo sculpture, but axles and wheels missing;
    a sculpture of a rhinoceros 19 cm high and 25 cm long standing on two horizontal bars, each attached to an axle of two solid wheels.



    In the Epics, Vaidurya means Lapis Lazuli by way of referring to "a distant place", Vidura, which king was important, one of the wisest characters in Mahabharata.


    Not only was this not a Vedic term, it may not be mentioned at all, and the book may not ever say "blue" in any way.

    As with terms like Syama or Krsna, Nila was indistinguishable "dark".

    Nothing was called blue, it was impossible.


    It divides lower and upper heavens:

    Above dyau, the diva naka.


    which usually have the color "Shiny" such as:


    naka rocana


    That article is scanned onto a single page here. Beowulf, for example, has no green or blue. It has been speculated that "ancient people were color blind". Egyptian may have the first word for blue that means blue.



    There is an argument that Lapis may have been called Niska. This however has been taken as gold (weight or coin) or a necklace such as:


    niṣkagrīvo


    which by this argument would equate to:

    nilakantha


    And then you would need strong support to re-interpret passages such as suniska of the Maruts.


    Or, after addressing the Daughter of Heaven or duhitar diva:


    the worker of gold ornaments or the maker of garlands


    Would they more likely be working lapis?

    The merchant class was often called Pani, "holder".

    But noticing a similarity to Dioscuri when taking up the subject of Trade:


    It is mentioned that Prince Bhujyu had been shipwrecked and was rescued by two Asvins.


    We can find that Egypt *loved* Lapis Lazuli and sent out gold. India may have had some natively, however, this was their main import, probably mostly in the form of coins.

    "Rajavarta", perhaps meaning king's trade/exchange of lapis for gold, is not Vedic, although perhaps a similar meaning is.

    Rg Veda does not really mention "blue" and it does not have hell.


    Egypt says "blue or blue stone" but is somewhat unlike Harappan:


    The IVC built well planned
    municipalities for its citizens. While the Egyptians spent three
    generations of their labor force (estimated between 20,000-10000)
    building useless mausoleum-pyramids to bury the God-kings, the Harappans were
    successful in eradicating, disease, hunger, and malnutrition. The
    Harappans of the IVC did not build huge commemorative, deifying, dedicatory,
    cenotaphs. The Harappans of Meluhha-IVC built the finest cities of the
    third millennium. Since the Indus Valley was a relatively
    unstratified society it did not built huge obelisks to its kings.


    Rather than writing glyphs, it passed chants through a chain of consciousness in living organisms to the present moment.


    From the Tamil view of Dilmun:


    There is a claim the people lived a life FREE of ordinary diseases such headaches and eye aches and so forth. It is also claimed that even people did not suffer from senility, for even at old age they were youthful. These are in agreement with what we know of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro from the archaeological excavations. The presence of sophisticated drainage system along with town planning indicates that the people as a whole were aware the immense importance of keeping their city PURE and CLEAN (sukkilla & kooka).

    The city was well planned with different areas allotted to different occupations. There was also overall good co-ordination among the different trade groups as it is claimed that there were NO quarrels among them. There was NO uuzal or falsities and corruption and hence perhaps the people had a good social conscience with strict adherence to Dharma, the ethical principles.


    The Veda could not quite say "blue stone" or "something from far away". It may be something such as a thing from Aratta:


    Hymn to Nisaba (Nisaba A): "In Aratta he (Enki?) has placed E-zagin (the lapis lazuli temple) at her (Nisaba's) disposal."




    If lapis perhaps has a synonym, the Vedas refer to Mujavat or Balkh as a place of Soma.


    Being multi-faceted, Soma:


    Soma is mentioned as existing in all plants (RV X.97.7) and different types of Soma are indicated, some requiring elaborate preparations. Water itself, particularly that of the Himalayan rivers, is a kind of Soma (RV VII.49.4). In Vedic thought, for every form of Agni or Fire, there is also a form of Soma. In this regard, there are many Somas throughout the universe.

    Soma was also connected to the practice of alchemy and as early as the Rig Veda, it was prepared with gold and possibly lapis lazuli, perhaps even with sea shells or pearls.

    The Yogic Soma is a secretion in the brain from practices of pranayama, mantra and meditation (an elixir prepared from the Tarpak Kapha or form of Kapha lubricating the nervous system in Ayurvedic thought).

    Soma at a yogic level refers to the crown chakra or thousand petal lotus of the head, which is opened by Indra (yogic insight) and releases a flood of bliss throughout the body. This inner Soma is the main subject of the Vedic hymns, though outer Somas were also important.


    If we reason through a color that is mentioned, one might wonder if Niska is *necessarily* the same as being another synonym for it. Candra usually denotes yellow or gold.

    Gold is also recovered from the river beds and that is why the Indus was called Hiranmaya in the RV (10-75-8) The Sarasvati is also depicted as Hiranyavartani (AV 6-61-7)

    Hiranya means ornaments in gold in the RV (1-122-2; VS 15-50)

    A golden currency, weights of gold,’astaaprud’, is mentioned in the Kataka Samhita (11-1) and Taittiriya Samhita (3-4-1-4).

    Niskariva (necklace of niska coins; Kasu Maalai in Tamil) – AV 5-14-3

    During marriage, gold ornaments were gifted to the daughter by the father, as for example, niska in the RV (2-33-10)

    Rig Veda mentioned women wearing golden ornaments on breast (RV 1-166-10) vakshasu rukma.



    Mani figures in RV (1-33-8) and AV(1-29-1;2-4-1;8-5-1 which may be gems or jewels.)

    Mani is worn around neck : manigriva (RV 1-122-14)

    Hiranya mani in Rig Veda may mean gem studded gold ornaments.



    In Rig Veda, the beneficial aspect of using GEMSTONES is mentioned in the tenth mantra of the nineteenth sutra of the sixth mandala...

    If:

    It was the Rig Veda that first advised human beings to use seven gems of as many colours to gather the rays of sun into the body.



    In at least one of the Samhitas:


    Sapta ratnA dadhana: no explanation is given by the
    scholiast as to what they are.



    In the hymn Soma Rudra VI.74:


    Every house that (Soma resides) has the Seven properties (ratnas).

    somārudrā dhārayethām asuryaṃ pra vāmiṣṭayo.aramaśnuvantu |
    dame-dame sapta ratnā dadhānā śaṃ no bhūtaṃ dvipadeśaṃ catuṣpade ||


    Aurobindo finds Seven Jewels in Savitri V.82. This does not specifically have "seven". The only other place I can find it is V.001.05c in basically the same phrase as given above, but instead related to Agni. He does not use the translation "jewels", but "delights".



    Sukla Yajur Veda gives the Three Channels as Ida--Lunar, Bharati--Pingala/Solar, Sarasvati--Susmna, cf. XXI.37 with the Aswins. This is commented together with them in relation to Seven Mothers, vital airs, and saving the man from drowning.

    Commented with Seven Vyahriti:


    Do you know who first found out that anything concerning Agni is numerically
    reckoned in terms of seven?

    It is those who recite Atahrva Veda who found out this. They characterized
    the seven tongues as seven jewels

    dame dame sapta ratna dadhaanOgni: /
    (Taittriya Samhita 4.1.3)


    The Vedas do not mention what seven jewels are.

    Nila potentially is sapphire, amethyst, or lapis.


    Unsurprisingly, there is an attempt with Sapta Ratna and Chakravartin to data mine Indus Script through Atharva Veda, this is a corresponding piece later from Amaravati:






    Of course we have worked them out in Buddhism, and were trying to find lapis in the Vedas, except it seems to be excluded unless by spoken tradition, due to the lack of identification of jewels.

    Not only does it not really say they are jewels, ratna has the general meaning of "precious things"; it is made using the -tna suffix, which indicates time, such as praga + tna = pratna or "previous, forward" time, i. e. the past, whereas ratna is compounded with "ram", sport or play. So it almost has the meaning "give me your seven good times" which makes sense for Agni (the Year) and Soma (Pitrs or all kinds of time).

    The very first line of Rg Veda concerns Agni and ratna dhata, or ratna dha tama, similar to a Gotra Patronym such as Gautama or Ratnottama.

    In this sense, Zoroaster or Zoro Ustra is an Atharvan in the Bhrgu line.




    Brihad Devata 123 lists the items, wheel, etc., and:


    * This sloka is meant to explain the expression sapta ratna in RV. vi. 74. I, and

    serves at the same time to introduce the story of the conqueror Abhyavartin.



    That is a deity catalog adding myths and legends, some of which are found in Mahabharata.

    The other "give us" in this hymn is bhesajani, i. e. medicine. It will come up again in a moment.


    We can't really say that the Veda teaches wearing seven gems, however the Sapta Ratna have two kinds, one for Soma and Pitrs, the other is Agni, and Rudra is central to this. So that shapes the main ethos that is in Brahmanda Purana already. Just this occurrence of the phrase. Subsequently it continues in a couple ways.

    From an article on the triple structure of creation, it is found that Agni carries one's offerings and runs across the universe to the dark, transcendent Agni called Apam Napat.

    As the cosmic watery deep, this is related to Varuna, whose Bhrgu clan moved west becoming the Mazdaeans.


    In our world the original Agni tired of doing this and perished in many pieces, which is the point of the name Vaisvanara:




    Yāska has pointed out in the Nirukta that
    Agni is the only god, prayed in various names.


    Vaiśvānara only qualifies Agni as manifested in
    three regions. Agni has been described as having three abodes
    (trisadhastha), son of three mothers (tryambaka,
    R.V,VI.59.12) or something connected to three. But this triple
    character of Agni rightly justified in the form of Vaiśvānara
    as he has been thought of as pervaded the three
    regions.


    In Rg Veda, this role is most closely related to:


    Surya

    X.88.12, Vaiśvānara is thought of as Surya. “The
    gods make Agni Vaiśvānara, the indicator of days, for the
    sake of the whole world,who stretched out the radiant
    dawns,and he moves along, scatters the darkness with his
    light.”

    VI.8.2 speaks of the birth of Vaiśvānara
    in the highest world(parame vyomani) which means the birth
    place of sun.



    Jaiminiya Brāhmanạ very explicitly
    describes Vaiśvānara in a spiritual way stating him as Prạ̄na in
    first place and Apạ̄na in the second.


    Visnu, minor in the Veda, later encapsulates Surya or Aditya and Vaisvanara (Vishnu Man).

    Mixing with the pranas, then, this brings in Agni is the Year and the Five Souls of the Year.

    As we see, Agni is attached to Rudra in a primordial way, and then, Vishnu in an expansive one.


    Categorically, there are hardly any adjectives, no wonderful paradises described in Rg Veda. Practically all of its enriching descriptive material is just on the deities themselves. And it is a collection from Gotras, which means that in archaic times, a village practicing Mandala Two is probably not going to pick up the hymns of Mandala Nine and try to syncretize them. Because Atharva Veda has six more kinds of Apri Hymns, then, it is like saying there are Eighteen Mahapuranas; there may be about sixteen kinds of Vedic Gotras, some having a lot in common, others becoming perhaps adversarial.

    If they were accurately revealed, then, what is said about Saptaratna in one Mandala is not exclusive to or in denial of the other.

    Then because this is quite clear and complete in Brahmanda Purana, it follows this would be a more influential source of commentarial details that are not in the Vedas. Other Puranas with fewer or contradictory details, or ones that seem to be setting up a national protector deity, would just be less useful in the esoteric sense. Modern India has a lot of Gaudiya Vaishnavism from the sixteenth century, and Hindutva from ca. 1900, which seem imbalanced and incomplete. There was no Radha character from the Vedas, for instance.


    So when looking at the lack of written Vedas, or, the apparent under-development of Indus Script compared to its trading partners, it seems to be a later adaptation over the spoken tradition; here some responses as to perhaps why:



    It typically takes a student about 10 years to master a single Veda. To remember everything he has been taught, the student has to continue reciting the verses for the rest of his life. If he's good, he might even attract students of his own.


    Mahabharata at the advent of writing calls writers of Vedas "stealers of the word". Writing was viewed as inferior to memorization.


    Quote Rigveda was not meant to be a book at all, while its verses were composed by sages.

    We have only preserved those verses from the very few generations coinciding with the age when sages came to be thrust off the society, and kings began to transform them to a class of priests who would repeat the old verses merely in the rituals.

    The sage formulator who spontaneously could create the spiritual concepts in yajńa by his Vāk, the Brahmā, became a thing of past. In late Rigveda and Atharvaveda, we find this doom being painfully spoken by the sages of the time. The aris, the lord chiefs, came to mean “enemies”, as they discouraged sages and just wanted their rituals to be done with people who could memorize old verses. The dichotomy between Brahmins “who know” (viduḥ, manīṣiṇaḥ) and Brahmins “who don’t know” (na vidvān, pākaḥ, acikitvān) became more and more significant. People began to compose Brāhmaṇas (literally “after the Brahmā” - specially made so that the memorized verses could be somehow used for the rituals kings and elites wanted) and also collect the verses of the ancestors they knew by heart. (into the saṃhitās) The new class came to be called Brāhmaṇas, and they referred to themselves as “avaras” (later ones) in order to show their humility towards the sage ancestors. Some kings and their priests in the later ages, were kind enough to show the Brahmā as a creator god, but only to be shunned forever.

    That is the history of the Dark age.

    The response on that page from Dr. Balaji Viswanathan is a good look at the organization of old Indian texts--rather long and not necessary here, but worth understanding. Going through posts on Quora verifies that some small minorities of Indians are authentic and intelligently follow a less-sectarian, more educated and polite undertaking at their own philosophies and yoga. But then there is so much drama that young people barely know how to start.




    Veda is very similar to Mahayana Sutras. Both of these are "revealed" literature, Vedic Sages receiving hymns or mantras. Mahayana reveals samadhis consisting of an elaborate scene, various beings, and Dharma talk, and then includes dharanis or mantras in support of the whole thing. You have to look at Abhayakaragupta and Nepal and it seems plain that Agni Homa may be a public ritual performed by priests, but then it is Inner Yoga for anyone.

    It is slightly unorthodox for using Varuni as a Third Cup.

    It uses Red Powder, which perhaps is a later derivation from Hingula.

    Because of curds and the like, it uses Vasudhara. In anything, this may also be slightly encouraging towards the art of yogurt making; whether or not you really do this, in terms of Inner Homa, you could really use a bond with Vasudhara as an ongoing meditation which cultivates Luminous Curds.

    She then can become quite tantricly powerful. There is Manohara who personalizes the First Activity, and, then, we could say perhaps the First Joy.

    Bharati is The Vessel, the accumulator of tantric Soma or melted Bodhicitta. She is not even the Inner Fire but a far goal, in fact she probably manifests as the most important point about the Third Joy and the real Mahamudra and Sahaja. Again, I will say I understand what they mean on a physiological basis, since that part is not any different from subtle yoga by other means. That is because, to do it right, you have to take up Mahayana meditation in its particular definition in the first place, and then you have to divinize this physiological state by doing the sadhana appropriately.

    That makes a Bodhisattva. Any other practice results in Liberation.

    If Vasudhara is something like "Buddhist Lakshmi", then we can easily involve common standards on her. Kolhapur Mahalakshmi combines the view that a totally different set of Pithas, of the Vindhyas, Kolhapur, and others, represent Devi incarnations or manifestations, alluding to the contemplation of Mahalakshmi as Adi Shakti and Annapurna.

    Maharastra has this type of Lakshmi, and the migration of those from the Sarasvati River areas and the weaver caste. The Dyaneshwari text is a non-Buddhist example of this.



    Another avatar with a profound consequence is Parasurama killing the Warrior caste except for a few, who hid at Hingula Mata and returned to West India as weavers. Hingula remains important enough to be the source of fire for the Jaganath Mahaprasad ca. year 500. Ancient cotton remains are another sign the Vedas might pertain to inner India.




    In terms of weaving:


    Rig Veda (6.9.3) refers to Lord
    Vishnu as Tantuvardhan or weaver because he has said to have woven the rays of the Sun into a garment
    for himself.

    It suggests that weaving was an art to be learnt by women compulsorily. The
    women participated in weaving were called vayitri.

    || tad va etat strinam karma yad urnasutram karma ||…..Satapatha Brahnana 12.7.2.11.

    The weavers were known as vasovaya.

    || vasovayo vinam a ||…. Rig Veda 10.26.6.

    The Atharva Veda personifies night and day as two sisters weaving the web, the nights as serving the
    warp and the days as woof

    A close scrutiny of the Vedic
    literature shows that there were female weavers who were known as vayanti, vayitris, and siris.



    In the system of Manjushri, it appears that Bhattacharya published an error which can be remedied by Nepalese manuscripts, so that the first Dharani goddess is Vasumati. Same Nepal that has the oldest copy of the Rg Veda from the ca. 1,000s. This is the first one; introductory. She is in Karma Family as is the subject or practice overall. In the future or final Buddha cycle, the consort of Amoghasiddhi will be Dharani.

    And so we are kind of going to borrow and share this name:



    Vasumati (वसुमति).—name of the mother of the Buddha Viraja (2): °tiḥ, n. sg., Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra 364.13 (verse).



    with a minor reincarnation of Rama and Sita.


    At the main sanctum, Sri Maha Vishnu depicts the core of two of His sahasra namas (thousand names). The names are Beshajam and Bishak. In simple terms, Beshajam refers to medicine and Bishak refers to physician. His head is in the south side and His feet are at north side. With one hand, He teaches Pranav manthra to Sri Brahma and with the other hand, He blesses the head of Sri Salihothra Maharishi.




    Sri Vaidhya Veera Raghava Swamy

    The main deity is sleeping on a 5-headed Ādi Śesha.

    From the general story of this temple:


    He asked the sage EvvuL? (where to rest). The sage showed him his parna shaala.

    The Athithi went into the parna shaala, put His head on the southern side, covered Himself with the blanket and reclined. At that time, there was sounding of Deva loka instruments and in the place of the Athithi, Sriman Narayana had given darshan.

    Tiruvallur: Away by 15 km is the lesser
    known but legendary VaradarajaTemple of Veera Raghava Swami as Sesha saayi with his right hand kept
    on the head of Maharshi Shalihotra; this Temple also has a Lakshmi Mandir with her name as
    Kanakavalli or Vasumati.


    This Vishnu evidently shares a name with Medicine Buddha.


    The backstory of all these Vishnu incarnations is in karma and the pain of being separated from his Shakti. Similarly to how Sahajayana is a type of complementary Vajrayana, then, it could be said that a literary class similar to Ramayana but emphasizing Mahalakshmi is Sitayana. Considering the temple in the karma of Sita:


    Many things have happened in this location over the ages, including Vishnu reteaching the Vedas to Brahma after he forgot it due to his fifth head being cut off.

    Rama decides to perform an Ashwamedha Yagna to free himself from the sin of killing a Brahmin (namely Ravana). But you can't perform an Ashwamedha Yagna without your wife, and Sita had already departed the Earth. Rama's advisors urge him to marry someone else, but he refuses because he has taken an Ekapatni Vrata (a vow to marry only one wife). Instead, he places a golden statue of Sita next to him as he performs the Yagna. But then he has a dream where Sita appears and tells him something like "Rama, how could you? I am your wife and you are putting a golden statue next to you? If so, you should marry that statue in a future birth!" And indeed, in the Kali Yuga the golden statue is reborn as Vasumati, daughter of the king Dharmasena. Then Vishnu comes again in the form of Rama and marries her.



    This is a fairly simple story, vows and devotion --> divine presence manifests.

    In that sense it is a "minor incarnation".

    In most of these circumstances, Sita draws her initial power from being virginal, and following along then there others such as Kanyakubjika, it still means she is lustful.


    This name comes up again in the vision of Sage Narmada right at the beginning of Skanda Purana X where the reader is warned:


    Description of Vindhya 1

    7. By means of his two refulgent forms, that of the immobile and that of the mobile (i.e .• through precious stones found
    therein and due to semi-divine beings residing there), he makes
    Vasumati (the earth, possessor of treasure of Vasus i.e., gems,
    fire, rays etc.) true to its name.


    1. vv. 7-56 give a beautiful description of the Vindhya mountain. The
    words used here are pregnant with double meaning and hence it is difficult
    to comprehend their full implications.



    And so you are starting there with Mountains as some of the main characters. That particular range lending its name to Vindhyavasini, one of the primordial Lakshmi manifestations often confused for Durga.

    The spouse of Sri Venkateswara has the karma of Kolhapur:


    Kolhasur wished to be killed by Goddess Mahalakshmi in her avatar with 18 hands. After the fulfilment of this wish, Kolhasur asked for three dying wishes. Firstly, he wanted the Rakshalaya region to be named after him. Secondly, Kolhapur should become a holy place. Lastly, he should be offered a pumpkin every year.

    Accordingly, Kolhapur was named after him and is one of the holiest places. Every year on
    Ashwin Shuddha Panchami, a pumpkin is offered. The pumpkin represents Kolhasur.



    This separation is continuous, until Kubera can be repaid.

    In that sense, our Jewel Family is the presentation of the fact that there are Nidhana or Secret Treasures to be discovered; Karma Family is the Accomplishment.

    Liturgically, Ratnasambhava does not have a strongly-associated consort. It usually is represented by Mamaki, who visually remains Blue, and her movement has to do with tantric adjustments such as Melting and the Vajradhatu. Most of the outer Lakshmis that the dharanis pertain to are singular. At some point though a focus on Vasudhara is going to excite Jambhala. That is like saying a pilgrimage to Venkateswara is supposed to be followed by Kolhapur. In the inner sense, Vasudhara and Jambhala embody a type of bonding that the practitioner themself is doing, resolving non-duality and tension and undergoing a form of ecstasy. Eventually, Lakshmi is the whole Kamadhatu.

    We could say that prior to the Third Initiation that actual sexual union is not required. So, we simultaneously have to kind of overlook it, as well as, flexibility in the sense that someone *might* do sexual yoga, which is still of course compatible. We wind up looking at this both ways and neither. Either one comes down to interior consequences from reversing the winds.

    That is represented by the Crescent, and is supposed to be done largely by a Noumenal process. It has nothing to do with a physical or vibrational "activating". The first Buddhist cakra is Nirmana which means that it has to be made from a mantric field. It is also generally considered Gold Earth.










    So what we will do is sort of re-distribute something from Buddha Weekly and why. That is a brief article talking in a restrictive way about five chakras. What we want to do is proceed in an open way about Four Cakras including:


    Navel (yellow): Tummo Fire, Dhyani Buddha Ratnasambhava and Jewel Family — i.e. associating Ratnsasmbhava with manifestation and earth.

    Navel chakra: Nirmana chakra • 64 spokes or petals • red drop • Nirmanakaya or manifested body • activity of manifestation • physical manifestations (such as Shakyamuni Buddha) • earth element

    Correspondences change based on practice.



    So, yes, it mentions about starting from Three Places, which are in most meditation and are not quite tantric. From Guru Yoga we at least are going to make a type of litanous model of Three Places and Four Initiations. And then you can start doing Three Syllable Mantra of Om Ah Hum. If the number of cakras fluctuates, three does not, because you go to the Three Channels and this is the purpose of Om Ah Hum which is continuous.

    So there is a markable change in moving from Three Places which is a Dhyana to Three Channels, which has the intent of the subtle body, by making Four Cakras, as something other than three places with visualized lights.

    The Nirmana cakra is going to begin with a mantric field and reversed winds.

    Golden Drop Lakshmi would be an example of a sadhana which flows from this understanding.


    Similar to Om Vajra Bhumi Ah Hum of Thirty-seven point enlightenment:

    The earth is the golden ground, completely pure, full of beauty and power.



    Vasumati presumes a type of introductory system hardly seen in other sources. Her dharani directly assists in this first layer of Ayur Vasita, Adimukticarya Bhumi, and Ratna Paramita.


    In a linear sense, the first two dharani goddesses conceived as "moving on" to the First Bhumi in its normal understanding are:


    Vasumati is yellow in colour and holds in her left hand the ears of

    corn".

    The right holds the common symbol, the Visvavajra.



    Ratnolka is red in colour and in her left hand she holds the Cinta- mani banner".

    In the right hand she holds the common weapon, the Visvavajra.



    Or, in the parallel sense, what is a "transitional" Bhumi that Lakshmi dharanis assist, Vasumati's corresponding goddesses are:


    “Āyurvaśitā is whitish-red in colour and holds in her left hand the image of the Buddha Amitāyus in the samādhi-mudrā on the padmarāgā jewel ”.

    The right hand displays the lotus as in all other Vasita deities.

    These Vaśitās are collectively taken to be the spiritual daughters of the Dhyāni Buddha Amitābha.




    Ratnapāramitā is red in colour and holds the disc of the moon on a lotus in her hand”.

    Ratnapāramitā thus holds in the right hand the cintāmaṇi flag and in the left the moon’s disc on a lotus.

    The twelve deities collectively have their spiritual father in Ratnasambhava.




    The first of the twelve heavens is the Adhimukticarya Bhumi and is described in the following words in the Nispannayogavali :

    "Adhimukticaryabhumih padmarakta raktapadmadhara",


    "Adhimukticarya Bhumi is of the colour of a red lotus, and holds in her left hand the red lotus'*.

    The right hand as usual holds the Vajra which is the common sign of all Bhumi goddesses.




    Lakshmi or Vasudhara does not really characterize the rest of Manjushri's system.

    It is like a cue for all dharani practices overall.

    She is a normal Ila Devi except for carrying the sign of Karma Family, the Crossed Vajra.






    Agni is also thoroughly hypostasized with Manu.

    Just north of Haryana is the "Flood Myth" and destination of Manu, Manali in HP:


    Manali, once called the "end of the habitable world," is an important hill station of northern India spread along the banks of the river Beas.

    Manali is the beginning of an ancient trade route through Lahaul (H.P) and Ladakh, over the Karakoram Pass and onto Yarkand and Hotan in the Tarim Basin of China.



    At the Beas or Vipas:


    Veda Vyasa, the author of the Indian epic Mahabharata, is the eponym of the river Beas; he is said to have created it from its source lake, the Beas Kund.

    Before Veda Vyasa, the Vipasa river was known as Saraswati.



    Generally:


    In some texts and traditions, Brahmavarta is associated with the region around modern-day Kurukshetra in the state of Haryana, India. This area is often mentioned in the ancient texts like the Rigveda and the Manusmriti as a center of Vedic culture and learning. According to Hindu tradition, it was in Brahmavarta that the sages and rishis (seers) performed yajnas (sacrificial rituals) and composed hymns of the Vedas.


    Fromsacred geography:


    Manu Smriti 2.17. That land, created by the gods, which lies between the two divine rivers Sarasvati and Drishadvati, the (sages) call Brahmavarta

    Aryavarta is the land between Himalayas and the Vindhya mountains.

    According to some, the land of the Aryas is the region between the Ganges and Yamuna.


    HP has pre-historic Kols and Kirats, and then Harappan activity in the Sivalik foothills from ca. 2,200 B. C. E. However, no such sites are listed. Nirmand is possibly one. If they are few and relatively late, it is likely a sign of cataclysmic migration.


    Now whether flood or drought for Manu seems harder to say.


    Brahmavarta includes HP and Haryana qv. Bhrgu's ashram on Dhosi Hill.

    On the Drishadvati:


    Most of the ashrams of the Rishis who compiled the Rigveda were on the river, between Pushkar and Dhosi Hill in Brahmavarta.


    Again taking them as layers:


    However, if we get a little deeper into the Suktās, we will find that most of these verses were inspired by regions with large forests, several flowing rivers and heavy rains.

    The Rishis who developed the Vedic Suktās or hymns were not necessarily from the same or nearby regions.



    Further:


    The field of the Kurus, the Matsyas, the Pancalas and Surasenakas constitute the country of Priestly sages (Brahmarsi Desa), right next to the Land of the Veda

    Manu 2-19

    Since Manu refers to perennial river Sarasvati he must have lived long long ago.

    The areas he mentioned falls under Indus Valley Civilisation. He says that is the Land of Veda. So Indus valley and Vedic Civilisation are one and the same.

    Manusmriti is post-Mauryan, though likely again accreted, it does not seem particularly ancient.

    Manu is in RV II at 10.6 and 20.7.

    Manu Vaivasvata – 8-5, 8-27-31

    Manu in RV: 1-80-16, 2-33-13, 7-63-1, 10-100-5; AV 14-2-41.

    Ṛg-veda i, 130, 8; viii, 98, 6 etc.

    He has over 150 mentions in it.



    Manu made Agni into a Hotra from Verse One on Purohita:



    Pura > Body> Tri PurA > Three Bodies > Sthoola (Gross material body) + Abstract Mind Body + Sookshuma > Subtle Life (Vital) Energy > One does soothing action

    Hotr also > The Postmaster who sends all Parcels to the Designated destinations


    So MANU ( Man Alone) invented Agni (FIRE) can be Manifested (Vyaktham ) from Un-Manifest ( Avyaktham ).


    That view does not like "priests".


    There is a somewhat esoteric analysis in the Highlights from Manu in the Vedas.

    It finds Manu as "inner man", vijnanamaya purush, who is a mind-born son, manomaya purush.

    That goes closer to universal truth than attempting to say the first human being had anything to do with horses.


    Overlooking the Satluj valley in the lesser-known Seraj region of Kullu district, and about 150 km from Shimla and 17 km from Rampur, is the large Nirmand village:



    This village has been in existence since the early Vedic period, making it one of the oldest rural settlements in India. A number of ancient stone and wooden temples dating back to the 6th and the 7th centuries A.D. speak of Nirmand’s religious and historical importance. For this reason it is often called the "Kashi of the Himalayas."

    One of the ancient shrines in the village is dedicated to Goddess Ambika.

    Nirmand is believed to have been established by Parshurama during the Mahabharata era. There are more memorabilia supposed to be from the same time. On the way to Shrikhand Peak, there are the famous 'Bhima-Pathara', which basically means 'Bhima-Stone', these are said to be rocks that Bhima used to make his way to heaven during their ascent to Swarg Lok, alongside the other Pandavas brothers.

    Sarahan is a Village in Nirmand Tehsil in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh State with a Bhima Devi temple, 12 KM from Nirmand. Continuing from Sarahan you get to Solan named for Sulini Devi. Continuing to Haryana would bring you to Pinjore which again has Bhima Devi. This way you have gone about 200 km from Nirmand. Since Simla is a British construct, you would have less waypoints and probably longer distance to get into Punjab. Nirmand to Pinjore may be the relatively convenient route between larger cities of the Vedic period.



    Nirmand's distance from Manali: 218 km

    Manali is still sparsely inhabited and:


    The history of Manali (Manu-Alaya) is as interesting and spiritual as its beauty. According to Hindu mythology, it is said that Manali was the abode of Maharishi Manu, who laid the foundation of human creation. Manali has also always been known as the “Valley of the Gods”.


    Spiritually, this place is very energetic and a living example of life creation. According to mythology, it is believed that at the time of the creation of human life, Maharishi Manu meditated here for many years and accumulated the Kundalini energy in the form of the human body. If you want to partake in the spiritual process of life during your visit to Manali, you must visit this holy place once.

    Hadimba was the wife of Bhima, the most powerful brother of the Pandavas. The temple is named after Hadimba devi.


    Well, is there something "new", yes, a trans-Himalayan trade route into Ladakh and the Silk Road, in the era of horses. There is also snow, which was said not to be known in the Old Books, or spoken of. This is obviously not new compared to Silk Road branches through Pakistan towards Gujarat, and Hingula Mata. And, it is closely contemporaneous to "waves" from the Harappans, comparable to a branch that took over Aleppo.


    It is mentioned in the Vedas as Gandharvon ki Bhumi; it is Kullant Pith because it is the end of the inhabitable world before the Greater Himalaya.

    Diserens 1991 is a personal pursuit of the yoginis there who are an aerial host.


    From one standpoint, you could say that Harrapan went to ruins generally; Kashi and Nirmand are much like progressions right off of it that are still standing.

    Historically it might be possible that there was a Sage Manu who also had something to do with the New Books of the Vedas. In the same spot Vyasa compiled the Mahabharata. There could have been a series of disasters of wars and floods and droughts which seems to be the end of a civilization at the same time another, separate occurrence is domestication and spread of the horse just about everywhere else from the orient to Spain.

    If you look at an itinerary about actually going there, the significance of Leh is not missed.



    There is some information from trying to assess Chinese Jibin for Gandhara Kapisa as the following passage from the 16th century Tarikh-i-Rashidi, chap. XCIX, makes plain:

    “There are three principal highways into Kashmir. The one leading to Khorásán [“a – country which at that time spread eastward to beyond Herat and Ghazni, and southward to Mekrán.” See Vol. I, p. *30] is such a difficult route, that it is impossible for beasts of burden with loads to be driven along it ; so the inhabitants, who are accustomed to such work, carry the loads upon their own shoulders for several days, until they reach a spot where it is possible to load a horse. The road to India offers the same difficulty. The road which leads to Tibet is easier than these two, but during several days one finds nothing but poisonous herbs, which make the transit inconvenient for travellers on horseback, since the horses perish.”


    The second theory is based on the fact that the route to Kandahar, as given in both the Hanshu and the Hou Hanshu, reaches it after crossing through Xuandu (the ‘Hanging Passages’ = Hunza/ Gilgit), and then passes through Jibin.

    There is a route from Gilgit to the Kashmir Valley itself which was in use until 1947, but, political considerations aside, the shortest route from the Tarim Basin for someone headed to the north Indian plains, remain the ones over the Kilik or Mintaka Passes, and then through Hunza and Gilgit and on to the Chitral/Kunar Valley. Further east one could cross the Baroghil Pass with pack animals during summer, leading down to Mastuj and Chitral as described below.

    The only alternative routes for laden animals were much further east over the difficult Karakoram Pass and then across Ladakh to Kashmir.

    From Ladakh heading south, there are a couple of difficult alternative routes over very high passes, both converging, finally, on the unpredictable and dangerous Rohtang Pass (3,980 metres or 13,058 ft) leading into the Kulu Valley and the northern Indian plains. The Rohtang Pass is only open from June to September each year and is notorious for its deadly “icy winds and sudden blizzards at any time of the day even during the summer.” Chetwode (1972): p. 184 – which see for graphic accounts of such disasters.

    However, the route through the Kullu Valley and Manali over the Rohtang Pass to Lahaul, and then on to Ladakh and the Tarim Basin always retained a certain importance in spite of its dangers and difficulties. It was not only a conduit for the famous cottons and wools of the north Indian plains. There were important silver mines (now exhausted) past Manikaran in the Parvati River Valley which joins the Kullu Valley from the east, and also some of the finest quality charas or hashish was (and is) produced in the region, forming a major export item to the Khotan and Yarkand well into the early years of the 20th century.


    Rohtang pass provides a natural divide between the Kullu Valley with a primarily sanatani culture (in the south), and the arid high-altitude Lahaul and Spiti valleys with a Buddhist culture (in the north).

    The local name for this pass is a generic name of pass.[citation needed] There are many other passes in Lahaul and Spiti which have specific names (Kunzam La, Baralacha La, etc.). This is suggestive of the fact that this must have been the oldest and most frequented pass in the region, or the fact that it is the main pass leading from one cultural region to another, quite different one, to the north.

    According to Roerich, Antimony is also found in Kullu and:


    Among the Tibetans there still prevails a tradition regarding the existence of hidden books in Mandi, and this tradition in all probability refers to the books above mentioned. Mr. Howell, Assistant Commissioner of Kulu, told me that the present Thakur of Kolong, Lahoul, had once been told by a high lama from Nepal, where the books are still hidden. Unfortunately the Thakur had entirely forgotten the name of the place.

    On the rocks of Lahoul are two images, a man and a woman, about nine feet high. A legend concerning these images states that they are the ancient inhabitants of this place. The same legend, as is well known, also surrounds the gigantic images of Afghan Bamian.

    In 1922 we are given the name Rasol Pass (or Roshkoling), and Ucchieh silver mines, once run by the waziri. I'm not sure we can be any more specific as to when a road up to Manali might have been opened or become important.


    The above refers to the route Malana to Rasol to Kasol. The first two having shrines of Renuka Mata. Kasol is only about 5 km from Manikaran. This is the most likely pass if going to Manikaran. Of course, the temples are restricted and there are alternate routes:


    ...no outsider is allowed to touch their temples, much like other places like Tosh and Malana. Rasol is a beautiful village with its own culture and history. Here you can see the amazing view of Sar Pass and Khali Pass.

    ...the Manali-Keylong road on your way to Rohtang La.

    Manali is in the northern arm of the valley near Rohtang, and Manikaran is in the eastern arm near Kasol. So with an approximate map, one can see the route through Malana would be a shortcut to get to the Manali road, which is the one that continues north to Kyelong, Zanskar, Rumtek, and Leh. Looks difficult! Sambal and Mandi being lower.


    In the other direction, from an article on the network:


    From Punjab there were two results to Leh: One via Hoshiyarpur, Kullu,
    Rohtang pass, Keylong, Bara Lacha pass, Lahchung Pass and Tanglang Pass. Another was via
    Srinagar, Zojila, Namika Pass, Fatula Pass.


    Given that destination:


    The archaeological explorations during the recent years have revealed the antiquity of the Hoshiarpur District to the Harappan Period. On the basis of surface exploration, the following new sites have been brought on the Archaeological map of India and the traces of the selfsame people as at Harappa and Mohenjadaro have also been detected in the Hoshiarpur District.


    It is close to Jalandhar and about 300km to Nirmand on the Simla route. Amritsar is a bit past Jalandhar.




    Manu only knows three Vedas. Or he may only be speaking about the forms:


    The verse is not mentioning about 3 Vedas .. it is mentioning about the 3 types of Vedic Mantras -- Rik, Yajus and Saman. All Vedic mantras fall under one of these type. Even Atharva Veda is comprised of some Riks and some Yajus.

    In I.23 it indicates these as Agni, Vayu, and Surya.


    There were three kinds of hymns in One Veda text:

    The Purans state that there is only one Veda which is divided into four parts. ‘In the earlier yugs (eras) the Vedas were a single text. Hence it was difficult to study them. Sage Vyas realised this after completion of His study of them. He realised that since the verses [rucha i.e. a mantra or a shloka (many ruchas constitute an aphorism (sukta)] and aphorisms (sukta i.e. a combination of ruchas) were scattered in different lineages (gotras), the Vedas had to be divided in such a way that they would serve the purpose of performing sacrificial fires and being handed down by tradition. E. g., Vayupuran 1.179, Padmapuran 5.2.43.




    Vyasa and Atharvan promoted the Atharva Veda; Vyasa compiled the Vedas, and compiled/wrote Mahabharata. A battle at Kurukshetra wiped out the ashrams in that area. Or, it was "attacked from the west" and Vyasa worked during the reign of:


    King Shantanu and Queen Satyavati


    He refers to a single Purana. Then, he lives through and writes about the Mahabharata War. In fact, he is Chiranjiva or immortal, at least in tradition.

    So he "divided" three Mulapuranas and four Vedic texts, from an original, single, each.


    The language of the Atharvaveda is different from Rigvedic Sanskrit, preserving pre-Vedic Indo-European archaisms.

    Most of the hymns of Atharvaveda are unique to it, except for the one sixth of its hymns that it borrows from the Rigveda, primarily from its 10th mandala.

    ...the hymns of Atharvaveda existed by the time Chandogya Upanishad was completed (~700 BCE), but were then referred to as "hymns of Atharvangirasah".



    That is an odd mix of "new language" of Mandala X with pre-Vedic material in something not called "the fourth Veda" by that time. Finally we can add the odd mix of iron into India. The Hittites may not have a monopoly, but did have a Hindu dynasty, at the time of developing Iron:


    X-ray fluorescence spectrometry suggests "that most or all irons from the Bronze Age are derived from" meteorites.

    The early Hittites are known to have bartered iron (meteoric or smelted) for silver, at a rate of 40 times the iron's weight, with the Assyria in the first centuries of the second millennium BC.

    About 1500 BC, increasing numbers of non-meteoritic, smelted iron objects appeared in Mesopotamia, Anatolia and Egypt.


    The Iron Age began in India about 1200 BC. Archaeological sites in Gangetic plains have yielded iron implements dated between 1800 and 1200 BC. By the early 13th century BC, iron smelting was practiced on a large scale in India. In Southern India (present day Mysore) iron was in use 12th to 11th centuries BC.


    The Vedas do not tell anyone to wear gems, and, not only are they not a crusader-enforced horse religion, it may be that the horse is secondary, and received characteristics, such as the name, Asva, which may give us a better understanding if used as "solar" and that it is more about harmonizing certain classes of nature:


    Agni and the Vasus

    Vayu and the Maruts

    Surya and the Adityas


    The Veda will not do much besides give us names and praises. The Epics and Puranas are to give them genesis-like creation myths and personal stories. It is already obscurantist because Surya or Aditya is already one of the Vasus. This just means we start thinking in terms of mental and physical suns.

    It has a lot of material about what it means for the Vasus to be born through goddess Ganga, which is dealing with Maya and manifestation into the physical world, as well as purifying the dross through spiritual practice. One version of the story results in a somewhat familiar idea of Dyaus become trapped in the lower world:




    The Mahabharata relates how the Vasus, led by "Prithu" (presumably here a male form of Prithvi), were enjoying themselves in the forest, when the wife of Prabhasa (also referred to as Dyaus) spotted a divine cow and persuaded her husband Prabhasa to steal it, which Prabhasa did with the agreement and aid of Prithu and his other brothers. Unfortunately for the Vasus, the cow was owned by the sage Vashishta who learned through his ascetic powers that the Vasus had stolen it. He immediately cursed them to be born on earth as mortals. Vashishta responded to pleading by the Vasus by promising that seven of them would be free of earthly life within a year of being born and that only Prabhasa would pay the full penalty. The Vasus then requested the river-goddess Ganga to be their mother. Ganga incarnated and became the wife of King Shantanu on condition that he never gainsaid her in any way. As seven children were born, one after the other, Ganga drowned them in her own waters, freeing them from their punishment and the king made no opposition. Only when the eighth was born did the king finally oppose his wife, who therefore left him. So the eighth son, Prabhasa incarnated, remained alive, imprisoned in mortal form, and later became known in his mortal incarnation as Bhishma.



    Buddhist Vasudhara can be credited with holding these like she holds a Prajnaparamita Sutra. It is the internalization of outer learning, and the discovery of inner learning. Elemental Vasus are art of tantric purification; so are any of the astral beings, as by Grahamatrika, or perhaps White Vasudhara. The Yaksha kingdom uses pacified Air to reveal treasures hidden in the Earth or material body. Vasudhara and Jambhala are the overseers of them.

    Vasumati collects a type of Hindu Bhaisajya guru, and the horse makes its way into the Sagittarius sign also related to healing.

    We have multiple Vasudhara practices in her own name, and, I am not sure yet how many branch names, but I think we can safely rank Grahamatrika among them. She will probably get her own small library next.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Horse and Ashwattha history, Jewel Family and Vasudhara




    Part of the knowledge base we are collecting is a reversal of Academia, particularly starting with new archaeological finds and additional manuscripts since the late twentieth century.


    We are more or less re-discovering the track of civilization. Mahayana Buddhism is an urbanizing creed, intended to go with education in all subjects and the proliferation of trades. Consequently, it involves the aim to make it run smoothly. Part of that is the knowledge of not detaching urban man from the natural world. Recent findings have proved that "India" designed cities of brick houses in towns that were neat and sanitary in the archaic past, perhaps as early as 8,000 B.C. E., and since the Harappan era did not involve much writing, it is hard to say one way or the other whether it has Sanskrit or the Vedas.


    Similarly, one cannot prove that Mahayana or the tantras were personally spoken by Buddha during his lifetime. But nothing was written until ca. 25 B. C. E., and, among the earliest written records, one finds the outlook of primitive Mahayana. So, it is not out of the question there was an additional community of spoken traditions, or, one had certainly developed by the time Buddhism was entering south India, and anyway these Sutras and Tantras are available outside of time and space. You do the samadhi, you witness the revelation of STTS and the like.

    It is an extension of the principle that is in the Vedas, which concerns mantras about esoteric subjects. The realizer of the divine state who is able to transmit a real mantra is a Sage.


    The knowledge that the Vedas are not dictations about external rituals is Yogacara.

    This is much more precise, because, unlike the frayed ends of total Vedic History, the Aranyakas reflect something close to the current compendium of Vedic manuscripts, with, most likely, a generic Purana myth without multiple versions in a lot of different Puranas. Moreover, the early or Brihad Aranyaka takes place maybe 1-200 years before Buddha himself, in the same country, Mithila.

    This may be called the Sukla or White Yajurveda. Sage Yajnawalkya was at the court of historical Sita.

    The next major iteration was shortly after Buddha, by or around ca. 300 B. C. E., the Black or Krsna Yajurveda, which is not really "opposing" but could perhaps be called "weird", exemplified by Taittiriya Aranyaka.

    If Buddha was more or less in the middle of all of this, then, what he does is only a small change in the Yoga Darsana. And if we do not use Mahayana, then Buddhism can be hard to describe how it is much different from the following. It may do so in terms of Nirvana and a slightly different vocabulary. Instead we are trying to use the same operating system for a different task, to make Complete Manifest Buddha.

    As intellectual history, that is why we are well-off to take most Sanskrit literature fairly seriously, with the eye to capture and re-purpose it according to the task.


    Beginning with some of the philosophy of Yajnawalkya:


    The Taittiriya Upanishad (iv) describes in a crescendo the personal structure of the ultimate experience. The five layers of the person are food, breath of life, mind, consciousness, and bliss. A whole anthropology is here reflected: each of these layers has itself a personal structure, a human form, and the higher form each time “fills” the lower form, that is, completes it and sublimates it. And all these layers are integrated in the ultimate experience (v. 8), which can only be a personal experience; in it the cosmic purusha in the sun and the spirit in Man merge. The inner Man is ever wakeful, ever active, and ever pure (v).



    That is quite close to the Ramayana on Aditya.


    For the normal concept of samadhi and Liberation, Chandogya Upanishad on Lokadvara:


    The visible sun is the Sabda Brahman; passing out through the head signifies piercing through the sun; the remaining possible motion is towards Brahmaloka.


    So if that utterly removes one's subtle body and latent tendencies, one is removed from reincarnation.

    We would say this is a fact in nature, and are going to work in the same natural process of yoga, in the view that Bodhisattva means many lifetimes of aspiration and effort. It is like going high as possible in the Moksha system, and always refusing the aspect of release and coming forward again purposefully.




    Similarly, the idea of a dispersed Agni and a re-gathered Vishnu can be started from the Mandukya Upanishad on Fourfold Om:


    The first quarter is called Vaisvanara, whose sphere of activity is the waking state, who is conscious of external objects, who has seven limbs and nineteen mouths and who is the experiencer of gross objects.


    Going to the Mandala Brahma Upanishad on Nirvikalpa Samadhi:

    The mind that functions leads to bondage and the mind that does not function leads to liberation. Hence anything is within the range of Mind. The same Chitta (mind) when depends on nothing will be fit for dissolution. That dissolution should be practiced on me who am full. I am the only cause of the dissolution of mind. The sound generated in Anahata ether (Heart Chakra) echoes. In the echo, a radiance is generated. The mind penetrates into that radiation. That mind is the doer of creation, sustenance, and annihilation of the three worlds. When that mind meets with the dissolution that is the supreme state of Vishnu.




    Well, yes. Nirvikalpa is extensive in Buddhist Yogacara. Also it is possible to find in the Zodiac Signs, Mahabharata on Dvadasaditya leading to:



    12 Viṣṇu Mīna (Pisces) Blue


    Then we can understand more of the following from Yajnawalkya:


    The Path of the Sushumna extending from the sun in the
    heart up to the sun in the sky, through which the Satya Loka (world of Brahma) is attained
    by the practice of Yoga, is in conformity with this means, for such Yogis, after reaching
    Satya Loka, attain disembodied salvation along with Brahma through Brahma Jnana. The
    path to the world of the qualified Brahman is connected with the heart and the sun. The
    most subtle Nadis starting from the heart and the rays starting from the sun meet and a
    highway is made, as it were, for a comfortable journey. Those who meditate and follow the
    path of the qualified Brahman perceive forms of different colours like white, blue, red,
    blood-red, green etc. This path of different colours is known through Brahman in the form
    of the Witness. He who practises Ahamgrahopasana (meditation in which one identifies
    oneself with Saguna Brahman) travels through this path. A householder, through the
    practice of Panchagni Vidya (meditation on the five fires), also goes along this path.




    We want to intercept the Sun as the real operative in the formal Asvamedha:


    Dayananda Sarasvati and his followers take RV 1.162 to be a hymn on the heroic sacrificial horse who is being tended to by attendants.



    The horse in Indian mythology stands for the Sun. The sea is taken to be it's stable and its birthplace. This reference is to the primal "waters" surrounding the earth from which the Sun emerges every day.

    This idea was transferred in popular mythology to the vast Equine-head in the sea. The fire issuing from its mouth is the Vadavanala, which is the fire of the Sun hidden in Canopus in the southern celestial hemisphere. The Asvamedha is the sacrifice of the annual renewal of the Sun at the New Year and that of the accompanying renewal of the king's rule. At the spiritual level, it is a celebration to get reconnected to the inner Sun.



    Of the principal animals conceived within the body, the horse represents time. The horse sacrifice is then the most mystical and powerful because it touches upon the mystery of time, which carries within it the secret of immortality.

    The sacrifice of the animals is the enactment of the killing of the mortal lower self for a transformation into the immortal higher self. Since the higher self cannot manifest itself without the lower one, one must settle for something less, a ritual rebirth of the individual. In other words, sacrifice deals with the mastery of time.

    From here, the next step is the cause of time or the Sun.

    Following this confusion about Horse is Vak in the Riddle Hymn I.164. But from the symbolism we get:


    the goat (aja)

    SB 7.5.2.21 says vak va' ajah: aja is speech.



    "Vaji" is similar to Asva (going quickly); vaji, one who goes. So is:


    Haya (हय).—[hay-hi-vā ac]

    E. hay to go, or hi to go



    Why don't the Vedas make much sense to us?


    Horse is a galloping thought seeking to take action.


    Same reason that the "supreme deity" is not exactly Surya:


    Thus, in Ashwa-Rig Veda 1.163, the idea is converted into action in Yama stage or the stage of compulsion.


    Buddhist Chakravartin is drawn from exactly this, a cosmic horse, the horse is the sun, the sacrifice is an astrological rite of renewing.

    Eagle Nebula that is shaped like a horse.

    YV IX.9, the speed of the horse, like that of Baaj and Shyena, is in their heart.


    A Gandharva, usually part bird or horse:


    The Gandharva also “receives the Soma from the ‘Daughter of the Sun.’ , to put it in the Soma power plant (RV 9.113.3), i.e. to bring it into this world.” Gandarva also brings other things from beyond the world, including humans (RV 10.10.4) and horses (RV 1.163.2). As such, the function of the Gandharva is to “accompany things from ‘outside’ into this world, thereby ridding them of their (potentially) dangerous nature”.



    The most likely solution for the Veda is probably not "No horse" but "No Central Asian horse:


    In verse I.162.18, the Rigveda describes the horse as having 34 ribs (17 pairs), while the Central Asian horse has 18 pairs (36) of ribs.

    Fossil remains of Equus Sivalensis (the `Siwalik horse’) show that the 34-ribbed horse has been known in India going back tens of thousands of years. This makes the whole argument based on “No horse at Harappa” irrelevant.

    South Indian languages like Kannada and Tamil have indigenous (desi) word for the horse —kudurai — suggesting that the horse has long been native to the region.


    Unfortunately that kind went extinct way too long ago--but there are alternatives in the Horse debate:


    Przewalski (wild Mongolian) horses, which often (not always) had 34 ribs.

    So do some Arabians.

    No one says about the Tibetan pony or its Indian descendants. Of course Lung ta is a horse and they are used as Dikpalas also in Nepal, but we don't know if these are a match.


    Przewalski's horses are called "takhi," which means "spirit" in Mongolia.

    DNA analysis of horse remains associated with the 5,000-year-old Botai culture of Central Asia revealed the animals were of Przewalski lineage.

    The Arabian is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses in the Middle East that resemble modern Arabians dating back 4,500 years.

    That's around the same time the Central Asians went to work--it is a breed because wild horses such as Przewalski's have bristled manes and the Arabian is sleek. The Arabian horse pre-dates the Arabian people, e. g.:


    There is pictorial evidence from pottery and tombs in Ancient Egypt suggesting that spotting patterns may have existed on ancestral Arabian-type horses in antiquity.

    Perhaps for their ancestors:


    ...a 2010 discovery of artifacts dated between 6590 and 7250 BCE in Al-Magar, in southwestern Saudi Arabia, that appeared to portray horses.


    Did someone say Egypt was taken over and managed by Arabs?

    ...


    Sri Aurobindo in his study of the Rig-Veda and the Upanishads found that:

    The word ashva must originally have implied strength or speed or both before it came to be applied to a horse.


    Like:

    ...depiction of the Ashvins as birds.


    There are bulls but not cows on Harappan seals, which we would not take to mean "no cows". Horses are still rare in India.


    The strongest case for a relation of Harappan to Vedic culture is its exemplary display of Seven Sisters:


    A famous seal from Mohenjodaro called the ‘Pleiades sign’ shows the seven figurines, a sacrificial scene and a huge ram.

    The Rig-Vedic hymn 1.164.3 speaks of ‘the Seven Sisters… in whom the names of the seven Cows are treasured’. These are celestial sisters. Then there are the terrestrial seven sisters. At the dwelling place of Varuna, he is surrounded by his seven sisters (8.41.2). Varuna is the horse that resides in the water (1.163.1). Varuna thus connects both the celestial seven sisters and terrestrial seven riverine sisters. After all, both the celestial and the terrestrial oceans are his two thighs (Atharva Veda 4.16). The same Atharva Veda hymn also speaks of Varuna as ‘contained in the drop of water.’ This provides us a connection between Varuna and Rudra-Skanda. Pointing out the ‘Rudra’s identity with Rohita, the ‘red’ rising sun, whose rays may be conceive as arrows killing the demon of the night’, points out that ‘Rudra’s variant name Skanda connects him with the ‘jumping’ (skand-) seed-drop.’


    The more ancient religious texts of the Vedas and the Purana, on the other hand, clearly state the Krittika are flames in their own right. They point out that the ‘forty nine original fires’ of Hindu traditions include both the Krittika and the Rishis, along with Agni and several other Indian deities.



    According to a site on Harappa:


    This seal from Mohenjo-daro contains, perhaps more compactly than any other, what we can tell of ancient Indus beliefs and traditions.

    It shows a deity with horned headdress and bangles on both arms, standing in a pipal (sacred fig) tree and looking down on a kneeling worshiper. A human head rests on a small stool. A giant ram and seven figures in procession complete the narrative. The figures wear a single plumed headdress, bangles on both arms and long skirts.








    In the Indus script, numerals are marked by repeating a short vertical stroke the required number of times. The pictograms of 'six' (six short strokes divided to two lines) and (on its left side) 'fish' together form a syntactic unit (Fig. 13f). It corresponds to the compound aru-meen 'six-star' occurring in Old Tamil texts and denoting the asterism of the Pleiades. This constellation was the first one in the ancient Indian star calendar whose conjunction with the sun at the vernal equinox marked the new year around the 23rd century B.C.

    The Great Bear's Old Tamil name elu-meen 'seven-star' corresponds to the combination of the pictograms '7' + 'fish', which alone constitutes the entire text of one finely carved Indus seal.

    13f is some conjecture about Fish as a glyph for stars and planets.

    As for what they are calling a tree:


    Called Ashwatha in Sanskrit, the peepal tree is sacred to Hindus as well as Buddhists [Bodhi Tree].

    The fire sticks used in Hindu sacrificial fire like agnihotra also contain dried wood of ashvatha tree.



    Ashva (horse) and stha (situated), meaning where horses are tied, is another derivation.

    • Nakshatra: Associated with Pushya nakshatra.

    • Raasi: Associated with Dhanusa (Sagittarius) raasi.

    • Navagraha: Associated with Guru (Jupiter) graha.



    4) The constellation Aśvinī.

    9) An epithet of the Sun [Mahābhārata iii, 151].



    So if reverted from "horses stand under it", then ashwattha comes out as a tree with the sun bound to it in a peculiar manner.


    Agni is Vanaspati (Lord of the Forest), who is praised in the Rig Veda as the ever-green, golden-hued, refulgent Tree with a thousand branches.


    As a "class", vanaspatis are the inflorescences which include any figs.


    For the Love of Nature:


    Nature as the Divine Looking back as far as we can see, in the Rig Veda we find Earth and Heaven often addressed in union as a single being (dyáváprithiví) and honoured together; they are ‘parents of the gods’ (7.53), ‘father and mother’ but also the ‘twins’ (1.159); together they ‘keep all creatures safe’ (1.160). From the beginning, therefore, our planet is essentially divine, as is the rest of the creation: the biblical gulf between the creator and the created finds no place here. Further proof of the earth’s divinity is that she holds in her depths the hidden sun, Mártanda, and the divine Fire, Agni, another name for whom is Vanaspati, the tree-lord of the forest: O Agni, that splendour of yours which is in heaven and in the earth and its growths and its waters. (3.22.2) He is the child of the waters, the child of the forests, the child of things stable...

    In fact, the Rig Veda sees the cosmos as a thousand-branched tree (3.8.11, 9.5.10). Building on this symbol, the Gítá uses the striking image of the cosmic ashvattha (the pipal or holy fig tree, Ficus religiosa) with its roots above and branches below, to remind us of the real source of this manifestation.


    Dyaus is hardly ever mentioned alone; Dyavaprithvi is a dvandva and:


    Since there is no other combination of masculine and feminine as such described in the Vedas, whenever two entities are "coupled" together to form another, the coupling entities are considered as Prithvi-Dyava combination.


    Here is a closer look at recombination:

    1) Prithvi and Dyo
    Connecting God: Asvini Kumar
    Breakup: Usha (Vayu-like), Ratri/Nakta (Parjanya-like)

    2) Dyava-Prithvi and Surya
    God: Agni
    Number: 8 Vasus
    Breakup: 3+3 of Dyava-Prithvi, 1 Surya, and these 7 combined as one.

    Agni’s triple birth:

    1st in Aryaman’s place
    2nd in Asvini Kumar’s place
    3rd in Surya’s place.


    As well as being parental to Indra and Vayu, Dyavaprithvi is the entire scientific scheme at great length.

    Another view is that Dhyava is feminized, which is possible in the definition:

    dyu is a substitute for div f. before terminations beginning with consonants and in compounds.

    Dyu, [masculine] sky, heaven (also [feminine])

    Note the offspring pair Usha Ratri is dual feminine. The suggestion is that Vedic deities are not consort pairs; Mitravaruna is not a couple, but a merger or unity.

    Although grammatically possible, the verse itself states this means Father-Mother:


    1.185.10

    pitā mātā

    1.185.11

    dyāvāpṛthivī satyam astu pitar mātar


    The expression "two mothers" (dvimata) can be found in:


    I.31

    I.112

    III.55


    But these are not individualized, it is a metaphor:


    As simple fire Agni is the child of two mothers (the two sticks that produce it by concussion )...

    Agni is worshipped without fire in the form of Skanda or Muruga.


    So we will take it more as "scientific", in that the Vedas are not superstition or dumb fascination. Dyavaprithvi is not "two mothers", despite the occasional appearances of masculine names with normally feminine endings.



    As discussed in a Medica:


    The origin
    of Asvattha was mentioned as from Ravi ( 18/8 ).

    Vayupurana refers Asvattha as vanaspati (vegetable) which grows on the summit
    of the vipula mountain. Indra had once garlanded this, a fact from which the name of
    Ketumala-dvipa is derived. It is also mentioned that Asvattha tree grow at the source of
    the river, Keven on the Asuras mountain.

    Since the fire was produced by friction between the Asvattha and the Sami
    plant in the sacred Homa ceremony, the anology between this and the intercourse of
    sexes is apparent, and Agni or fire thus produced is the child. Agni once hid in the
    Asvattha tree and because of it being the temporary home of Agni, the God of fire, the
    tree became sacred.


    Agnipurana: it refers Asvattha with the synonyms like Pipal Bodhidrma, caladala
    etc.( 108/12). While describing beautiful female, her Yoni was compared with the shape
    of leaf of pipals (24311 ,4).


    Not all vanaspatis are Ashwatthama, but Agni Vanaspati is.

    The two sticks most likely developed sexual polarity, perhaps as it became more acceptable to speak of such things.

    Asvattha comes up first in a tree study agreeing they are shown on Harappan seals.



    As well as mentioned by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita:


    Ancient scriptures depict our body as an inverted tree or 'olata vriksha'.

    Why is it said that peepal tree has its roots upwards and branches downwards?

    How can a tree have its roots upward?

    You’re probably referring to the Ashwattha tree, which is a spiritual concept - the Tree of Knowledge - where each leaf is a Veda mantra.

    Asvattha tree, the fig tree, the world, the tree of Samsara, which extends from the Avyakta down to the immovable. This has its root in Brahman. From Brahman only, the whole universe proceeds.


    Peepal tree is used a metaphor and an embodiment (or physical expression) of the spiritual Asvattham tree, the source of the Veda

    Katha Upanishad(2:3:1)

    1. (Yama said): There is that ancient Asvattha tree whose root is upwards and branches are down. That indeed is pure. That is Brahman and that alone is called lmmortal. Upon that, all the worlds depend and no one goes beyond that. This is verily That.









    We will take everything we have there and treat it like a Kriya Tantra, because it is called for.


    It will be supplemental to the fact that we have Buddhist dharani goddesses who are in Jewel Family.

    If asked about the Dhyani Buddha of this Family, it is not like Avalokiteshvara where there are hundreds of hymns and probably at least a hundred and eight forms. There is no Bodhisattva with a special outreach. Almost nothing to do here besides ponder. Seems unusual to make a sacred thing out of something that is not explained or understood. Aside from being an abbreviation of the character in Golden Light Sutra, information about him is fairly generic:


    The first documented mention of Ratnasambhava is found in the Ārya Suvarna-prabhā-sottamasutrendrarājamahāyana Sutra (Sutra of Golden Light) and in the Guhyasamāja tantra.

    The most elaborate account of him is to be found in the Panchakara section of the Advyavajra sangrah.

    RatnasaṃBhava is associated with the Skandha of Feeling or sensation and its relationship with Consciousness.

    His Buddha field is known as Śrimat.

    In the Bardo Thodol, he is depicted in union with Mamaki and attended by the male Bodhisattvas Akashagarbha and Samantabhadra and the female bodisattvas Mala and Dhupa.

    In Tibet, Vaiśravaṇa, also known as Jambhala and Kubera, is considered a worldly dharmapāla, and is often depicted as a member of the retinue of Ratnasambhava.



    So, no, the last three are not identical, but related. This is already obscure. The Sutra indicates him as being the Tathagata in that world-system where Sri Lakshmi attained Buddhahood. So it is a small scene without a lot of texts and forms, but, there is a significant message. It does not say he is Vishnu. Akshobhya is Vishnu.

    Himalayan Art only has a small bit of additional description such as:


    Ratnakuta buddhafield

    In the middle of a ground of lapis lazuli is a jewelled throne - bestowing numerous attainments. On top is a thousand petalled lotus - unstained by worldly faults. Wisdom and means appear as a sun and moon. Above this, as the essence of all qualities is Ratnasambhava. With a radiant body having the colour of blazing gold, one face, two hands, the right is in supreme generosity -- fulfilling the wishes of beings. Performing meditative stabilization, the left is in the mudra of meditation.

    In the bottom register on the left side is Vaishravana Riding a Lion followed by four Jambhala-like figures, blue, white, red and green. On the right side are the two principal protectors of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism - Panjarnata Mahakala and Shri Devi.

    1300s Sakya:








    Shalu reproduction:







    Hardly any other types of depictions, with famous attendants, or something from Vajramrita Tantra, no. I have never noticed Vajra Tara re-enact him in any special way. So this is noticeably the least-represented Dhyani Buddha.



    Using the Dakini Jala titles, he would be called Vajra Surya.

    An occult sun is the motif underlying Sarvadurgati Parishodhana Tantra.



    Chakravartin and Vasumati are standard topics in sacred geography with respect to four- and seven-fold systems. We are going to take it less literally than they are, which is less difficult. Pretty safe to say that no one ever believed there was a sea across north India. The thing is semi-fantastical by its own admission.





    Rg Veda did not quite seem to tell us much about jewelry, and then there is a vast array of definition to Cintamani. The site would for example, tell us if it was in the Aranyakas, and that is not mentioned. So it does not seem to be an item until the medieval era. And then it means pretty close to the same thing in every kind of school and philosophy. It is in Pali Buddhism, and, recently they have added material from what we would argue is a type of Garuda Yoga:


    Cintāmaṇi (चिन्तामणि) refers to “wish-granting jewels”, according to the Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja, an ancient Buddhist ritual manual on agriculture...




    In the Guhyasamāja it is said: “The five Kulas (families) are the Dveṣa (hatred), Moha (delusion), Rāga (attachment), Cintāmaṇi (Wishing Gem), and Samaya, (convention) which conduce to the attainment of all desires and emancipation”.


    From Matsyendra Nath's 108 Names of Avalokiteshvara:


    “Cintāmaṇi is also similar to [Piṇḍapātra Lokeśvara], except that here he carries the Caitya in his right hand while the empty left is held near his navel.—Piṇḍapātra Lokeśvara is one-faced and two-armed and stands on a lotus. He holds the Piṇḍapātra (the bowl) in his two hands near the navel”.


    According to Alice Getty:


    It is the special symbol of Ksitigarbha, Samantabhadra, Ratnapani, Ratnasambhava, and Mahakala, as well as of Jizo and the six-armed Nyo-i-rin Kwan-non. Avalokitesvara may also carry it, but rarely, and it is the accessory symbol of several other gods. The cintamani is represented in several different ways.

    The mani, or jewels, may be nine in number, in which case they represent the nava ratna, or the nine jewels borrowed from Brahmanism. Or they may represent the sapta ratna, or seven precious jewels, much considered in Tibet and China (v. ratna). The mani may also be six, or only three in number (more frequent in Japan), representing the tri-ratna, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.



    Our thinking is that Buddhism had entered south India and probably Kerala around the Satavahana era from the ca. 300s. This most likely contains the arising of Avalokiteshvara. By the 600s it prevailed in east India, Bengal and Assam, that had also essentially been foreign countries. Matsyendra was highly regarded in having come from Assam. Seems to be a replay of 600s Santikar Acharya.


    That is also observable in the definition of Cintamani which is not from "the" Ramayana, because it is a variety composed in the Twelfth Century.


    It is not a big variation on the story, it is an upgrade of the Poetry in Tamil. In doing so it says:


    Cintāmaṇi (चिन्तामणि).—A diamond. This was salvaged from the ocean of milk along with other precious items like Airāvata, Uccaiḥṣravas, Kalpavṛkṣa, Kaustubha, Candra, Apsaras, Mahālakṣmī, Tārā, and Rumā. (Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Kaṃpa Rāmāyaṇa).


    The poetical explanation comes from the decline of Buddhist influence in the southern areas. Being creative, it may be using a word where it was not previously.

    Other than always a magical meaning, sometimes Ganesh, it doesn't have much of a worldly usage, except for:


    A kind of horse, having a big curl on the neck...



    So it is a partial attribute of Avalokiteshvara, and Guhyasamaja is in the position of trying to tell people there are Five Buddha Families, because what they believed in was Buddha as a part of Three Jewels.



    The thing that seems puzzling about Avalokiteshvara Six Syllable Mantra is that it is not a phrase, it is one word, Manipadme. And we looked around for examples of Pandaravasini as a basic Red Tara, and they are hard to find. What people are usually shown is a Green Tara that is in Lotus Family and then Kurukulla. But that actually is the tantric sadhana, or similar to it. In general terms, the closest thing to a basic Red Tara in Lotus Family is Sitabani.

    With that mantra, we believe it means two deities that split out of it, Padma Tara and Mani Tara.


    From the view of Tara, Avalokiteshvara is more or less the access point to our world.



    Because so much of the practice is based on a color and a sound, then, it is also noticeable that Jewel Family works with the syllable Bhrim. It is true that Bhrkuti has this, because of her initial, like Vasudhara is usually Vam.


    If Cintamani is importing a special sound, in this case, it happens to be that of Jupiter.

    This is especially related to the Family that Vasudhara is in, usually.

    The area where Six Syllable Mantra appears to split is easily recognizable, in fact this begins with Padmajala.

    Here is where you have a dancing deity, which Avalokiteshvara is not usually associated with, and it is usually considered dakini energy.




    Cintamani Tara is perhaps a little unusual for having been rinsed out of view. This is particularly bad in the IWS, but is fixable by extracting the text to compare to the illustrations.

    The following appears to be parallel with Red Avalokiteshvara of Nepal, whose body is made of Hindu deities.

    The first two frames are individual Bodhisattvas; the last begins this series with:


    Arya Avalokita 252

    He should be crowned with Amitabha. In front of him should be Yellow Tara bearing a Jewel with both hands offering it to him. The end of the session has this Tara dissolving into one's heart.






    It would have used her with the mantra Om Mani Tare Hum.

    The next set begins with Chakravartin Avalokita 253, a form of Amoghapasha:





    The left half of his body is supposed to be Pandara.

    His additional faces are those of Hindu deities.

    He should be crowned with Amitabha, and Vayu and Agni with half their bodies sticking out.

    Pandara is mantricly associated with Kunda.

    Avalokita with Amogha Padma Pasa, Maha Pasupati, and Padma Kula Samaya.

    His title is perhaps Vishveshwara. According to Taranatha, he should split into male and female deities. He uses Noose to "draw in the wrathful", i. e. the Hindu Worldly gods. In Nepal, Amoghapasha is the male equivalent used in Sutra-to-Tantra conversion, is the noose to those who have an interest in samadhi, similar to Vasudhara of the system we are working in.



    Next is Padmapani who should be a Nilakantha.

    He is crowned with Amitabha having the attributes of a Brahma Citra. Above his main face are six peaceful and three wrathful faces with necks.

    Pandara should be embraced to his left; they can be standing or in Vajra Paryanka.

    Pandara is now mantrified with Om Padma Tare Hum.

    This one is related to Prakriti and Gnosis.



    Last is Sukhavati Lokeshvara with Pandara, which is somewhat accurate, bearing in mind this practice is hardly done outside of Nepal.

    Same with Padmajala. Both of them have several relics in Nepal.


    Cintamani Tara came in with something that sparked a reaction and went away.


    The IWS artist and/or the website continue to be oblivious about the next series for tantric Mamaki and more Pandara, who is mantricly closest to Simhanada Lokeshvara. When you see this Mamaki, you would say, what do you mean, consort of Ratnasambhava.


    If you keep up with this series, where it goes is:


    White Hayagriva with Blue Ekajati, both emitting deities from the tips of their jewels


    We have at the beginning of a post:


    Cintamani sadhana


    in two versions. In one, the syllable becomes Vrim, which is for the tree, Vrksakalpa, the wish-fulfilling tress, which may contain a cintamani, or, it may be completely fruited with cintamanis. Then, Kurukulla has a Vrksakalpa Grove.


    This Cintamani practice was transmitted by Ratnaraksita (same as the Padmini on Samvarodaya Tantra).

    Sita Tara was transmitted by Cintamaniraja.


    There is more information in the post above the exercise as well.

    She has two half-posts, something like that.




    For Vasudhara, she really has her own vault or archive. We will try to find her whole display from numerous sources, and work towards a few Dhyana forms having their mantras.


    In Twenty-one Taras there may be:


    11. Vasudhara on Rigpa Wiki in a combined page


    Concerning the normal Noose item of Jewel Family, Kila's Gatekeepers are quite possibly the source of some extreme or advanced tantric goddesses:


    321. In the east is the goddess Vajrayaksa with the head of a hoopoe bird holding in her hand an iron hook. In the south is Vajrabhairavi with the head of a magpie, holding a noose. In the west is Vajramrta with the head of an owl holding fetters in her hand and in the north is *Ghataka (gSod-byed) with the head of a hawk holding in her hand a bell."

    There is a sudden appearance of Female Vajramrita as Ulukha Mukhi. She is Owl Dakini with Chain, is a female Secret Sun, and the most likely answer for a "svabhaprajna" of male Vajramrita.



    Dhanada Krama Tara is sometimes called "Green Vasudhara", and, they are likely related, because she is "difficult", probably because she uses a fully-staffed mandala.

    Green Mahalakshmi is crowned by Yamantaka.

    Mahasri Tara is an Accomplishment in Akanistha and Nirvana.


    Those are simple forms of related goddesses, and to begin with we are more concerned with Ila Devi.



    According to the British Museum, in her mandala, Vasudhara is accompanied by Buddha Ratnasambhava, goddess Ila, Jambhala, the Buddha, Dhyani Buddhas, Sucandra, Manjusri, and Vajracarya performing the homa sacrifice. The overall nineteen deity scheme is standard enough in Nepal, it is easy to find ten examples. Ila is something like her earthly observer while she is in Tusita paradise, or Alakavati.




    Ila is the wife of Budha and mother of Purūravas; she is also called maitrāvaruṇī as the daughter of mitra and varuṇa, and is in Varuni Yajna. As the cow, Ila also has a dual existence, Heaven and Earth, and has milk of Rta (Jupiterian). She is also Ghritapadi: she whose foot drips with ghee.


    "Manu sought whatever upon earth was fit for sacrifice. He found
    butter poured out. He said, ' Who has power to employ this in sacri-
    fice also ? ' Mitra and Varuna replied, ' "We two have power to employ
    the cow.' They then sent forth the cow. Wherever she went forth,
    butter was pressed out. Hence she is called the ' butter-footed.' This
    is her birth ... He calls upon Ida. Animals are Ida. He calls
    upon animals. He calls upon them four times. For animals are four-
    footed. He says ' Manav!.' For Manu first saw her. He says ' Butter-
    footed.' He says so, because butter was pressed from her foot. He
    says ' Maitravaruni.' For Mitra and Varuna sent her forth."



    " Ida, the daughter of Manu, was a revealer of sacrifice. She heard,
    ' the Asuras are placing fire.'. Ida said to Manu, ' I shall so
    place thy fire that thou shalt increase in offspring, cattle, and twins ;
    thou shalt be firmly established in this world, and shalt conquer the
    heavenly world.' She first placed the garhapatya fire. It was
    through the garhapatya that she produced for him offspring and
    cattle."

    Garhapatya is one of Agni's three faces, and the permanent household fire, used to light fires for sacrifice. "Svaha" always offers something into this.



    unidentified piece of the 1800s. The central figure ought to be called Ila Devi and:


    Directly above the central Vasudhara is Yellow Jambhala. To the left of that is White Jambhala. To the right is red Kurukulla.

    At the bottom right is Manohara Vasudhara, red in colour, slightly-peaceful and slightly wrathful. At the bottom left is Gopala Vasudhara, yellow, in a standing posture.





    IWS Vasudhara 326 belongs to the dharani; and then the three, Ila, Gopali, and Manohara, the group that is in the thangka, appear to be bundled in the tradition of Jamari and part of the same process.


    The White Jewel Family goddess, Mantranusarini in Dharani Samgraha is a completely different Sutra than the stand-alone, where Brahma is replaced by Kamesvara. The dharani is much more difficult, possibly, the most difficult. Her narrative conclusion has lines with Sumati, Satva Pramudita or beings on the First Bodhisattva Bhumi, which is a service to Vasudhara, which Turns the Wheel of Dharma:


    rayasmitraṁyateca sumatīsarvvaneyaṁ prakaṁpitāḥ | sarvasatvāḥ pramudritāḥ sarvaḥ svastika riṣyātī || padikāraṁ prakaṁpitāḥ vasyavodhro vasundharāḥ mārāśvadurmmanā āśāḥ sarvaḥ svastika riṣyati || yasyaāsī tamuneryasyadharmmacakra pravarttate |


    Which is attractive to the Ganas or Hosts:

    vaśīkṛtāḥ sarvagaṇāḥ sarvvaḥ svastighaka riṣyati ||


    of Devatas of Buddha's following.


    The tone that I get from it is not particularly destructive, and seems to have more in mind the emanation of blessings and boons. Moreover she has to do with Vasudhara, and, the manifestation of Vajrasattva on the First Bhumi.



    In IWS:



    Yellow Bhrkuti 445 marked with a Bhrim is the Mother of Vajra Family. The rays of her syllable invite Blue Hum. Then she is followed by the wrathful male, Mahabala, who is red and fiery and even crowned by Amitabha, but, he similarly is inviting a Blue Hum.

    Karma Family is not even mentioned; Jewel Family is also a summoning by Vajrapani, of Vaisravana from Alakavati, and then Jambhala and Vasudhara also invite Blue Hum.



    IWS Golden Drop Lakshmi includes a strange Flask containing Green Tara with the following retinue:


    White Purnabhadra with a jewel-marked flask
    Yellow Ganapati with a jewel and a gold amulet box
    Red Vaisravana with a jewel and a tree
    Black Jambhala with a jewel and a mongoose
    Green Subjugating Tara with a jewel and an utpala
    Red Kurukulla with an utpala and a gem-marked hook
    Yellow Vasudhara with a jewel and rosary
    Sitatapatra with a jewel and a jewel-marked lotus



    Those goddesses are not Yakshas, but, appear to be cooperating with Vasudhara in their Subjugation. Everyone has a sign of Jewel Family.

    Mahasri is part of the same Utpala Mudra group, and so is Tarodbhava Kurukulla, a hypostasis involving Golden Drop Lakshmi and a Flask of Yakshis or Vajradakinis.






    Bari lineage Secret Accomplishment Red Tara (Manohara apparently) includes Kila, Marici, and Vasudhara with retinue:














    In Krsna Yamari Tantra, Manjuvajra's Chapter Fourteen uses Four Places and Nadis. Its purpose is easily found:


    vajrabhūmidevīmākṛṣya


    which is a fusion of:


    Vasudhara and Amitabha Vajradharma


    followed by individual sadhanas of Ekajati in basic form, doing a Yaksini Siddhi with a retinue consisting of:


    jambhalāṃ pūrvato dhyāyed vasudhārāṃ tu dakṣiṇe || 40 ||

    jalendrān paścime nyasya uttare cibikuṇḍalīm |
    āgneyādicatuṣkoṇe caturyakṣīṃ vibhāvayet || 41 ||

    her mantric identity is:

    vasusādhani



    And then Six Arm Manjuvajra has a ring of some of his personal Messengers and then:



    mārīcīṃ parṇaśabarīṃ vasudhārāṃ ca cundrikām |
    āgneyādicatuṣkoṇe nyased ratnasamuccayāḥ(yān) || 52 ||

    aśokapatraṃ śākhāṃ ca dhānyamańjari daṇḍakam |
    pītaṃ śyāmaṃ punaḥ pītaṃ śuklaṃ dehān tu bhāvayet || 53 ||


    In that reasoning, it sounds like Marici starts in Agni = Southeast, and you end on Cundri, which is likely Cunda, in her regular Northeast.

    This Manjuvajra is the unusual:

    nāthamadṛśyārthaṃ


    Mam Adarsa, Me Reflection, madrysa = resembling me. He then uses the syllable Mam to lead off a retinue with Marici, while still himself remaining a type of Mam.

    Lord of My Reflection Artha (explanation)


    And so it is after him that you get Janguli and Kurukulla.



    This Chapter Fourteen starts with Om Ah Hum and a samaya with male Bodhicitta and female Bhumi.


    The middle of this chapter seems to be saying Vasudhara is the Yellow Earth Square at the top of Inverted Stupa. It says that you will do some Avesa and it is about Four Maha Bhuts or Great Elements or Form Elements:


    atha te maitreyapramukhāḥ sarvabuddhabodhisattvā vajraniruktipadaṃ śrutvā tūṣṇīṃbhāve sthitā abhūvan | tatredaṃ vajrāveśasamayam || 19 ||

    caturbhūtamahābīje catuścakraṃ prasādhayet |
    catu[ḥ]sthānaprayogena(ṇa) ākāśamapi cālayet || 20 ||


    And then it is not necessarily Four Cakras, because there is no Throat:

    pādānte yaṃ | nābhau raṃ | hṛdi laṃ | śirasi vaṃ || 21 ||


    That says "Feet = Yam", although we would say Legs, the shape of a Crescent, or Bow, called Dhanva here, Blue, Canda Maruta is Violent Storm, followed by Fire like a Red Sun:


    dhanvākāraṃ mahākṛṣṇaṃ caṇḍamārutabhīḥkaram |
    tryasro dāvāgnivad vahni(hnī) raktasūryasamaprabhaḥ || 22 ||

    It does not mention Heart but then it says Fourth, Yellow Dhatri (Earth):


    caturasrāṃ mahāpītāṃ vajradhātrīdharakṣamām |
    sumeruparvatākrāntāṃ bhāvayecca vasundharām || 23 ||


    Actually it gives White Heart Circle out of order before calling this Vajra Amitabha yoga:


    vṛttaṃ śuklaṃ mahāśītaṃ ghanānāmiva varṣaṇam |
    dhārāsahasrasaṃpūrṇaṃ prāleyācalaśītalam || 24 ||



    As far as I can tell, this chapter is an example of what we are calling Pranayama and Inverted Stupa.

    This sequence begins with Vajradakini less as the center of Five Elements, but more as Vijnana as the center of Five Skandhas. She evokes Sumbha and Paramasva. Then it goes to Lotus Family as the basis of Muttering and Inverted Stupa, strongly related to Vasudhara. Then it says Remember the pleasant and playful bring the angry dwarves and the "four limbs or stages" will affect your Forehead:


    saumyaṃ tu lalitaṃ proktaṃ krodha[ḥ] kharva iti smṛtaḥ |
    caturaṅgulanālena lalāṭacibukena vā || 34 ||


    Those krodhas are represented by Ekajati and Pukkasi.







    Chapter Eight contains something which has little other meaning than Lightning Vasudhara:


    vidyuditi | karmaṇi prathamā | vinā meghaṃ vidyudutpādaḥ | vidyucchobhā dīptiḥ | smaraṇāccintanāt | tāmutpādayati vā | vidyudvasudhārā tāṃ smaraṇād hūmkārādutpādayatītyarthāntaram | śeṣaṃ sustham | yasya siddhirnāmagrahaṇāyeti | nāmagrahaṇārthaṃ yasya mantrādisiddhirbhavati, yo'tiśayena mantrasiddho'pītyarthaḥ | nāmagrahaṇena mantrasiddhiriti samudāyārthaḥ | so'pi sakṛjjaptena mantreṇa mriyate | atiśayatīrthikamantrasiddhisāmarthyam | kāmadhātvādīnāṃ bhuvanānāṃ bhoktā pālayitā | athavā bhuvanānāṃ vistārayitā nirmātetyarthaḥ | ata āha - icchayetyādi | niyamādinā vinā siddhyatītyāha - eṣa ityādi | eṣa ihāṣṭapado mantraḥ, sa yathepsitaṃ karma kuryāditi sambandhaḥ | vrataṃ mahāvratādi | caryā avadhūtādirupatā | āhāraṃ vinā ahorātrasthitirupavāsaḥ | ata evoktaṃ paṭhitasiddha iti | kalpaśāstram , tatrokta upacāro vidhānam | yatheṣṭavihāraḥ || 2 ||



    The expression Vidyut for lightning often has the context of an evanescent flash. In those days, there was not much to describe it as "steady" as illumination; however it can mean this, in, perhaps, only Buddhist commentaries:


    Vidyut (विद्युत्) refers to “shining (suns)”, according to the Ṭīkā Pot Worship [i.e., Kalaśapūjā] ritual often performed in combination with the Cakrasaṃvara Samādhi, which refers to the primary pūjā and sādhanā practice of Newah Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhists in Nepal.—Accordingly, “Rising out across the circle, that kindles the wind, of a hundred shining suns (vidyut—vidyucchatā bhāsvarā), A burning triad, infatuating the three worlds, an overflowing stream of nectar, Giving her own abundant bliss, having the pure essence of Buddha knowledge, Free from traversing existence and non-existence, beloved sow, drink to you”.


    At first, in the quote, we see Megha or Cloud lightning, but then we see a similar expression as this weird definition, applied to a Lamp:


    vidyucchobhā dīptiḥ


    and then it appears to be teaching Avadhut and other forms:

    caryā avadhūtādirupatā


    Also in that section, there is Kama Dhatu.



    The author of the Marutgana scientific article is rather strange. He began immediately by posting an article on Black Hole--White Hole axis of creation including a Black Sun article and numerous things connecting it to Rg Veda.

    After that, for some reason he continued posting forms and legal documents, but, it is a rather hefty swing at astro-occultism. He says a black hole is not destructive but just grinds energy into a generic form, which issues from the White Hole, which is Vasudhara. As well as emitting the visible cosmos, the white hole produces a Black Sun which is symbolized in the Moon, i. e., its ability to go dark, and itself is synchrotron radiation and dark energy.

    The original, biggest white hole is called Mahi, and it allows limitless others.

    It is interesting, I am not sure I would spend much time scrutinizing it one way or the other in terms of accuracy, but the underlying point that something like a Black Hole of Pralaya and a Black Sun of invisible energy during manifestation are both natural, normal forms of Parabrahm, is there.






    Vajramrita Tantra took Homa practice as a formal basic, and may not have even said anything new about it. But we would say the above is completely enfolded into it:



    Samputa Tantra Chapter Seven uses Agni Homa, starting with Vasudhara who is revered by Vajrasattva, a naked woman, Agni who may burn in various ways, into Mahavairocana or any main deity, inside a bhaga is Tara who has Sixteen Arms and Seven Faces, Emerald Color, with an upper Donkey Face or any form desired, called Heruki, emanates yourself as Manjushri and Vajrabhairava, Marici spawns, White Vajra Family Parnasabari arises on a sun disk in the sky, one becomes Vajrakrodha Gazing at Vajravarahi into Vajradakini, and then it looks like Hayagriva holds the power of Paramesvara. This goes through many brief individual rites towards Sri Paramadya and Mahasukha Vajratejah, ending with Ananta Puja. There are thin veils on things like the Second Void, and Hevajra stops the Sun and Moon.



    Mentioned once in her appropriate tantric role, the first mention of Vairocani is a sidebar:

    “Locanā is the creator of peace for the buddhas.
    She makes all rites successful,
    She is said to revive the dead,
    And she is the requester of the vajra pledge.” {7.3.7}

    And the Blessed One added, “Oṁ, svāhā to Vajravairocanī. {7.3.8}




    Vasudhara is in Catus Pitha Tantra, and with Jnanadakini, the two evidently emanate, combine, or form, Annapurna.




    Yellow Vasudhara collected in Russia reverses Jambhala.

    Here is a Sri Lankan hand collected Vasudhara Praise with Sanskrit and English versions, chased down on manuscripts in St. Petersburg and Berlin.




    From our standing collection are the following links for her forms and practices:



    Vasudhara and Paramitas

    Summary of Sadhanamala and Dharani Samgraha Vasudharas. Links for Sanskrit and translated dharanis.


    Sadhanamala's similar forms arise from Yellow Vam, doing varada, carrying corn on a gem dish.

    Minor Vasudhara's first mantra is:

    oṃ śrīvasunidhāna-kṣetre svāha

    Her next form appears to have the seal of Ratnasambhava. Her mantra is:

    oṃ vasudhārā ratnanidhānakṣetre svāha


    Her increased form there is an Akshobya version with a minor retinue, and this makes her one of his peaceful emanations along with Janguli and Parnasabari. This change to the dharani seems to be the one giving the syllable Srim.



    Vasudhara and Apri Hymn

    Has descriptions of Ila and Bharati.


    Hindu Ila is the consort of Mercury-Budha and she is the true "Jupiter" or guru of men.

    Om Illayah Namah


    Om, Shri Vasudhara ratna nidhana kashetri, swaha


    In Pali, she is known as Nidhi in Nidhi Khanda Sutta, which plainly translates her from outer wealth to inner.

    Vasudhara's role is Holder of the Vase or Flask, sometimes in Orange, Reddish-Brown, or Black. There is, so to speak, a Vase sub-initiation to any initiation. Or, after you have an initial or first Vase initiation, it is repeated in each new rite.



    Fruit Picker Vasudhara is not quite the same as Cintamani Tara because she is plucking and offering fruit which is a tantric bindu. Very similar to Jambhala and the citron. So this is sort of a blend of Ila with Cintamani. Taranatha suggests she is actually dancing:






    Seventh Panchen's "Dharani of Vasudhara, Goddess arisen from Dharani":

    Om Vasudharini Svaha

    From the tradition of Jamari, “This deity topic is applied to empowerments and rituals focusing upon the golden Vasundhārā [another name for Vasudhārā], whose color is like refined gold; she is adorned with silks and jewel ornaments and is in the full bloom of youth; her right hand holds a reddish blue picula fruit, her left an ear of rice; she stands with feet together on two jewel vases with their bases meeting and streams of jewels pouring forth from their mouths.” (TBRC)

    NAMO RATNA TRAYĀYA/ OṂ GHATAṂ JHIBHASAṂ RAKṢANI/ PHALA HASHTI/ VĀSUDHĀRITE/ ŚIVAṂ KARI ŚĀNTIṂ KURU PUṢTIṂ KURU/ BHAYANĀSI/ SARVA DUṢTAṂ/ BHAŃCA BHAŃCA/ JAMBHA JAMBHA/ STAMBHA STAMBHA/ AMṚTE/
    UTBHAVE/ KURU KURU/ MAMAKA JYAIṂ SVĀHĀ


    RG 62 Cintamani Tara is probably the most basic sadhana ever.

    IWS 138 expands it a little bit and adds a mantra almost identical to Dhanada's, except it reads:

    Om Tare Tuttare Ture Dhanam Me Dehi Svaha





    Vasudhara with other deities

    Matured Vasudhara and Swayambhu Purana

    In Swayambhu Purana, Vispasi went to Mount Phullocca and observed the light of the Swayambhu. Vasudhara dwelt on Mount Phullocca and made rivers flow. Then Manjushri came and split open the lake at Kathmandu with his Chandrahasa sword (30,000 years ago according to geologists). He was initiated by Guhyeshvari in her worshipable form, Eighteen Arm Saffron Khaganana. Krakucchanda was after him.

    Six Arm Vasudhara is an Anuttara deity with her own Vasudharoddhesha text. From Pam comes a lotus from whence Bhrum, a moon disc with Vasudhara. Here she is Samhbogakaya and her crown emblem is Viswa Vajra (Amoghasiddhi). This kind holds a rosary. In Nepal, she is the link or public face of the secret temples of Varahi, her exoteric double. Her left face should be orange-red of the morning sun, which is Vajrakumari or hypostasis of Varahi as generatrix. Middle face is the yellow of noon, herself. The right face is vermillion of sunset, Varahi in her matured forms.



    Vasudhara, Prithvi, Kamadenhu, Gopali, Alakavati, the Crescent


    Has Bhu Devi Gayatri, series of Vasudharas in IWS

    At Ellora, earth-touching Buddha during enlightenment (Maravijaya) is accompanied by a bowl-offering Bhumi and this slapping Aparajita. At Ratnagiri, 13/16 Buddha images are the Bhumisparsha moment with Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani, and Bhumi. One of these adds slapping Aparajita, and here, Bhumi arises from the earth with anjali mudra.

    Sri and Bhu are usually shown as separate individuals with Vishnu. It is intriguing that "Green Mother Earth" is hard to find in Hindu or Buddhist images.

    Atharva Veda style is usually Green Four Armed. She does things like "give me back my bhagavan bhakti, which I threw on the ground in anger". She holds Vaisvanara or the sacred fire worshipped in Agni Homa. This is pre-Buddhist, and so again, we are not changing the definitions much, but insuring our practice is non-materialistic, and oriented towards esoteric or inner wealth and abundance.

    Otherwise, Mother Bhumi is often depicted in votive statuary, seated on a square platform which rests on the back of four elephants, who represent the four corners of the world. When depicted with four arms, the paraphernalia she holds are a pomegranate, a water vessel, a bowl containing healing herbs, and another containing vegetables. When shown with two arms, she holds a blue lotus known as Komud or Uttpal, the night lotus, in the right hand. The left hand may be in the Abhaya Mudra (fearlessness), or the Lolahasta Mudra, which is an aesthetic pose meant to mimic the tail of a cow. She is mentioned in the Buddhist Pali Canon, dispelling the temptation figure Mara by attesting to Gautama Buddha's worthiness to attain enlightenment.

    Mother Bhumi is also understood to be the consort of Lord Varaha. She is also the mother of Sita, so it is not surprising that baby Sita was found in a ploughed field. According to the Uttara-kanda, when Sita finally leaves her husband Rama, she returns to Bhumi.

    At least in terms of Prithvi Tattva, Ksham is its seed syllable.

    Prithvi's basic form is cow:

    She had three children with the god Dyaus. Her daughter Ushas is the goddess of the dawn. Her two sons were Agni, the god of fire, and Indra, the god of thunder. So this is about ancient Rig Veda use. A broad-based survey of Prithvi seems to accidentally land her in Ratna Family and as Vasudhara. The survey catches the snag where the lower or daughter Prithvi is no longer the second side of the primal androgynous unit, but more like a locked down half of a giant shell. This helps because the Buddhist Ratna Family has low staff; here, it quickly becomes related to Kamadhenu or magic wealth cows, and, in the Agni concept, we make luminous curds, and we see something about luminous cows for the future of the chariot of dawn.






    The Seventh Panchen's dharani for Cowherd Gopali Vasudhara:

    Om Jamdhi Khatha Manohara Sarva Bhana Patta Ratno Hum Jrum Hum Hum Svaha


    This distinctly does not say Hara twice. Jamdhi is a mountain at the base of Mt. Meru, and the next term can mean a border, encircling rim, speech or dramatic lesson and minute examination.

    It introduces Jrum which has little other use other than Vajrabhairava's heart mantra with Ganesh. Lakshmi tantra definitely uses it with her Jaya form.




    Crescent and Yam Syllable with Pratisara example. After a couple of basic examples, then one understands about sadhana components and how basic deities are alterations to the same formula. You would choose what appropriate articles of Vasudhara are needed, and use instead of Pratisara.



    In this area we may add the Sanskrit Alphabet with a look at evolving the syllables Hrih and Hum.

    Combinations of colors on these syllables, Lotuses, and notes of the musical scale are used across the board of Sadhanamala goddesses.


    There is such a thing as Vasudhara Praise which is outside of Guru Yoga. Deity Yoga is a certain practice, and some parts such as Songs and Vidyas may be portable to mundane situations. Similar to Tara's Song which you can just use on its own. Here is a Rosary or 108 Names of Vadushara.



    Twenty verses for recitation:

    Arya Sri Vasudharaya Namastottarasata



    Nama Srivasudharayai

    (homage to the glorious vasudhara)


    divyarupi surupi ca saumyarupi varaprada
    vasudhari vasudhara vasusri srikari vara

    divine in form, exceedingly beautiful, gentle in manner, giver of boons, possessor of wealth, bearer of treasures, resplendent with riches, radiating lustre, noble,

    dharani dharani dhata saranya bhaktivatsala
    prajnaparamita devi prajnasribuddhivardhani

    bearer, supporter, creator, yielder of refuge, devotedly pious, goddess of the perfection of wisdom, one who increases wisdom, prosperity, and intellect,

    vidyadhari siva suksma santa sarvatra matrka
    taruni taruni devi vidyadanesvaresvari

    blessed with learning, benign, subtle, calm, a mother at all places, young and youthful, a goddess presiding over knowledge, liberality, and lordship,

    bhusita bhutamata ca sarva bharanabhusita
    durdantatrasani bhima ugra ugraparakrama

    adorned, the mother of beings, embellished with all ornaments, frightening the ill-tamed, formidable, fearful, ferociously powerful,

    danaparamita devi varsani divyarupini
    nidhani sarvamangalya kirtilaksmiyasahsubha

    the goddess of the perfection of generosity, raining (riches), bearing a divine form, possessing treasures and all blessings, endowed with renown, wealth, fame, and splendor,

    dahani marani candi savari sarvamatrka
    krtantatrasani raudri kaumari visvarupini

    scorching, slaying, violent, savage, the mother of all (beings), terrifying the god of death, fierce, youthful, bearing all forms,

    viryaparamita devi jagadananda locani
    tapasi ugrarupi ca rddhisiddhivaraprada

    the goddess of the perfection of effort, bearing eyes that bring happiness to the world, an ascetic fierce in form, granting power, success, and boons,

    dhanya punya mahabhaga ajita jitavikrama
    jagadekahitodyukta samgrame tarini subha

    opulent, virtuous, fortunate, invincible, winner of prowess, solely concerned with the welfare of the world, a capable saviour in battles,

    ksantiparamita devi silini dhyanadhyayini
    padmini padmadhari ca padmam asanam asini

    the goddess of the perfection of patience, pious, absorbed in religious meditation, possessing a lotus, holding a lotus, seated on a lotus seat,

    suddharupi mahateja hemavarnaprabhakari
    cintamanidhari devi prajnapustakadharini

    pure in form, great in majesty, emanating a radiance of the color of gold, the goddess bearing the gem that gratifies all desires, carrying the book of wisdom,

    nidhanakutam arudha dhanyagaradhanapriya
    traidhatukamaha adhya divyabharanabhusini

    she who has ascended the peak of a treasure, attached to the riches in a treasury of wealth, powerful in the three worlds, affluent, adorned with divine ornaments,

    matari sarvabuddhanam ratnadhatvesvaresvari
    sunyatabhavini devi bhavabhavavivarjini

    the mother of all Buddhas, a mistress presiding over the sphere of wealth, the goddess meditating on emptiness avoiding the states of existence and non-existence,

    vainayaki vineta ca sada klesavicchedani
    bhindani sarvamaranam saptapatalaksobhani

    a leader, a guide, always destroying defilements, shattering all obstacles, causing agitation in the seven nether regions,

    brahmani vedamata ca guhyarat guhyavasini
    sarasvati visalaksi caturbrahmaviharini

    belonging to the Brahman caste, the mother of the Veda scriptures, the goddess of speech, large-eyed, practicing the four sublime states,

    tathagati maharamya vajrini dharmadharini
    kamadhavesvari vidya visvajvalagrammandali

    a female Buddha, most pleasing, bearing the vajra thunderbolt, practising the Law, goddess of the sphere of desire, (goddess of) learning, possessing an excellent circle of all-pervading light,

    bodhani sarvasattvanam bodhyangakrtasekhari
    dhyanadhimukti sampanna advayadvayabhavini

    enlightening all beings, bearing the seven factors of enlightenment as a diadem, endowed with contemplation and zealous application, conscious of the non-duality of what is non-dual,

    sarvarthasadhani bhadra strirupa mitavikrama
    darsani buddhamarganam nastamargapradarsani

    promoting the welfare of all, good, bearing the form of a female, walking with measured steps, showing the path of the Awakened, pointing out the way to those who have lost track,

    vagisvari mahasanti goptri dhatri dhanamdada
    strirupadharani siddha yogini yoginisvari

    goddess of speech, most tranquil, protector, creator, giver of wealth, bearer of a female form, possessing super-natural power, a contemplative saint, a queen among ascetics,

    manohari mahakanti subhaga priyadarsani
    sarthavahakrpadrsti sarvatathagatatmaki

    attractive, lustrous, charming, lovely to look at, casting a compassionate eye on merchants, blessed with the character of all Buddhas.

    namas te'stu mahadevi sarvasattvarthadayani
    namas te divyarupi ca vasudhara namo'stu te

    Homage to you, great goddess who grants the needs of all beings. Homage to you of divine form. Homage to you, Vasudhara, the bearer of treasure.





    Here is another Vasudhara Dharani. It appears to be a copy of a Nirdesa which is instructions on a practice rather than a continuous mantra. For example the first section is Buddha in the Ocean of Song who is invoking the manifestation of Sri. Then there is a retinue, and various kinds of mantras as well as a long dharani.





    namo ratnatrayāya |

    om namo bhagavate vajradharasāgaranirghoṣāya tathāgatasyārhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya tadyathā om śrī surūpe suvadane bhadre subhadre bhadravati maṃgale sumaṃgale maṃgalavati argale argalavati candre candravati ale acale acapale udghātini udbhedini ucchedini udyotini śasyavati dhanavati dhānyavati udyotavati śrīmati prabhavati amale vimale nirmale rurume surūpe surupavimale arcanaste atanaste vitanaste anunaste avanatahaste viśvakeśi viśvaniśi viśvanaṃśi viśvarūpiṇi viśvanakhi viśvaśire viśuddhaśīle vigūhanīye viśuddhanīye uttare anuttare aṃkure naṃkure prabhaṃkure rarame ririme rurume khakhame khikhime khukhume dhadhame dhidhime dhudhume tatare tatare ture ture tara tara tāraya tāraya māṃsarvasattvāṃśca vajre vajre vajragarbhe vajropame vajriṇi vajravati ukke bukke nukke dhukke kakke hakke ḍhakke ṭakke varakke āvarttini nivarttini nivarṣaṇi pravarṣaṇi vardhani pravardhani niṣpādani vajradharasāgaranirghoṣaṃ tathāgataṃ anusmara anusmara sarvatathāgatasatyamanusmara saṃghasatyamanusmara anihāri anihāri tapa tapa kuṭa kuṭa pūra pūra pūraya pūraya bhagavati vasudhāre mama saparivārasya sarveṣāṃ sattvānāṃ ca bhara bhara bharaṇi śāntamati jayamati mahāmati sumaṃgalamati piṃgalamati subhadramati śubhamati candramati āgacchāgaccha samayamanusmara svāhā |

    svabhāvāmanusmara svāhā | dhṛtiṃ .... | sarvatathāgatānāṃ vinayaṃ ... hṛdayaṃ ... upahṛdayaṃ ... jayaṃ ... vijayaṃ ... sarvasatvavijayamanusmara svāhā |

    om śrīṃ vasumukhīṃ svāhā | om śrīṃ vasuśrī svāhā | om śrīṃ vasuśriye svāhā | om vasumati svāhā | om vasumatiśriye svāhā | om vasve svāhā | om vasude svāhā | om vasuṃdhari svāhā | om dhariṇi dhāriṇi svāhā | om samayasaumye samayaṃkari mahāsamaye svāhā | om śriye svāhā | om śrīkari svāhā | om dhanakari svāhā | om dhānyakari svāhā |

    mūlamantra |

    om śriye śrīkari svāhā | om dhanakari dhānyakari ratnavarṣaṇi svāhā | sādhyamantra | om vasudhāre svāhā | hṛdayam | lakṣmyai svāhā | om upahṛdayam | om lakṣmī bhūtalanivāsine svāhā | saṃyathā daṃ om yānapātrāvahe svāhā |

    tadyathā |

    suṭa suṭa khaṭa khaṭa khiṭi khiṭi khuṭu khuṭu maru maru muṃca muṃca maruńca maruńca tarppiṇi tarppiṇi tarjani tarjani dehi dehi dāpaya dāpaya uttiṣṭa uttiṣṭa hiraṇyasuvarṇaṃ pradāpaya svāhā | annapānāya svāhā | vasunipātāya svāhā | gauḥ svāhā surabhe svāhā | vasu svāhā | vasupataye svāhā | indrāya svāhā | yamāya svāhā | varuṇāya svāhā | vaiśravaṇāya svāhā | digbhyo vidigbhyaḥ svāhā |

    utpādayantu me kāṃkṣāvirahaṃ anumodayantu imaṃ me mantrapadāḥ |

    om hraṃ hrīṃ ehyehi bhagavati dada dāpaya svāhā |

    etadbhagavatyā āryavasudhārāyā hṛdayaṃ mahāpāpakariṇo 'pi siddhyati puruṣapramāṇān svabhogān dadāti īpsitaṃ manorathaṃ paripūrayati kāmaduhān yān kāmān kāmayati tāṃstānīpsitān paripūrayati |

    mūlavidyā |

    namo ratnatrayāya | namo devi dhanadaduhite vasudhāre dhanadhārāṃ pātaya kuru kuru dhaneśvarī dhanade ratnade he hemadhanaratnasāgaramahānidhāne nidhānakoṭiśatasahasraparivṛte ehyehi bhagavati praviśya matpuraṃ madbhavane mahādhanadhānyadhārāṃ pātaya kuru kuru om hraṃ traṭa kailāsavāsinīye svāhā |

    mahāvidyā |

    om vasudhāre mahāvṛṣṭinipātini vasu svāhā |

    mūlahṛdayaṃ |

    om vasudhāre sarvārthasādhinī sādhaya sādhaya uddhara uddhara rakṣa raksa | sarvārthanidhayantraṃ vava ṭata vava ṭaṇṭa ḍaṇḍa svāhā |

    paramahṛdayaṃ |

    om namo bhagavatyai āryalevaḍike yathā jīvasaṃrakṣaṇi phalahaste divyarūpe dhanade varade śuddhe viśuddhe śivakari śāntikari bhayanāśini bhayadūṣaṇi sarvaduṣṭān bhańjaya bhańjaya mohaya mohaya jambhaya jambhaya stambhaya stambhaya mama śāntiṃ puṣṭiṃ vaśyaṃ rakṣāṃ ca kuru kuru svāhā

    levaḍikā dhāriṇīyaṃ






    Sri fairly closely becomes seed syllable Srim, Lunar one. In Ayurveda, It is much like milk in nature, and in qualities very sedating and sleep-promoting. It is nurturing and is also the mantra of the Cosmic Cow in Hinduism as Go-Mata, the Mother-Cow, of which the earth itself as seen as an energy.

    The mantra “Śrīṃ” is said to have a feminine and cooling energy that helps calm and cool the mind and is good for anger and rage and other fiery emotions. It relates to shriya (prosperity). It relates to the Hundu Goddess Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity and also aggravates the Ayurvedic dosha or biological humor of Kapha (phlegm). Śrīṃ as the sound “Sha” relates to the Soma-shakti and Apas or Waters, making the sound of a stream (sha).

    So V or Vam for Vasudhara is shared, but Sri(m) is also for Vasudhara (and also starts Cinnamasta's mantra). According to the shaivists' rule 23 on mantras, without Maya--Hrim, Trittava--Hum, Lakshmibija--Srim, or Rava--Phrem, a mantra is powerless.


    Hindu Lakshmi usually has a Four Arm form, and, Buddhist Vasudhara does not, unless you include Dhanada.

    Reasoning incrementally, her major form has one face, Grahamatrika has Three Faces, and the two infused perhaps cause Three Face Vasudhara and tantric Annapurna.



    Six Arm Vasudhara has an upraised right hand, which may hold a rosary or have various names, but is "the gesture associated with singing" (Sagara Nirghosa).


    ...the third with the hand in a gesture accompanying singing...This form of Vasudhara arises from the Togpa Chungwa and the Vajravali text of Abhayakaragupta.


    Artists have retained it as a sort of raised hand, sometimes adding a rosary or something, but sometimes it appears empty.

    Four thangkas of Six Arm Vasudhara.


    Bhrkuti and/or her Rosary are similar, it may be this gesture intended.

    This is along the lines that all mantras are based on Prana, that obviously the Vedas specify different modes of chanting and singing, and it is this which is sought to coalesce into the Buddhist Sangiti.


    Cintamani and Golden Light with Chinese and Sanskrit Sri Devi dharani song recordings.

    Kolhapur Mahalakshmi Namostute with other recordings.

    Ila Devi mixed with Mahalakshmi effectively gives Buddhist Vasumati holding a Crossed Vajra, essentially as authoress of dharanis which overall are governed by Karma Family. Ila mixed with Cintamani is Fruit Picker.

    Bhu Devi is closer to Gopali, Marici, Bharati, and Varahi.


    Gopali is like a samaya to the Sabaris or Forest Maidens.

    On the one hand, Krishna's Gopalis discovered the Red Kunkuma powder which goes in the jar "Kumari".

    On the other hand, one of the products of the cow goes in the jar "Yogurt".

    So there you have two of the main "magical substances" used in a Homa.

    With the transition she is making, they become inhabitants of the slopes of one's personal Mt. Meru. Think of it that way. She helps you rustle and milk these cows. Then you make magic yogurt purified by the sun for use in the Homa. Vasudhara said to meditate her mentally. We can mostly do it that way. If a person buys actual yogurt, or, emulates the entire rite by making it themselves, that can only help.


    In her 108 Names she is also Kama Dhatvishvari, same as Lakshmi of Hevajra Tantra.

    The Gopali form is another Dharani goddess who is an increment past Ila, and a bridge to Manohara.

    As we see, Vasumati is like a Mother aspect to Kumari or Katyayani (or equivalent such as Buddha).

    So there are two tracks of Yogurt and Red Powder used in the Homa on that basis.



    The yogurt has a cosmic aspect similar to the Milky Way or nebulae, as well as a personal aspect, like the degree and quality of luminosity.

    The luminosity intended by matured Vasudhara is absolutely gorgeous, like aurorae. Mind's inner nature is incomprehensively beautiful. We have dirt or Earth in our Vajra Eyes.

    If one just looks at the filing system, Mahamaya Vijayavahini is incredibly occult and likely to be overwhelming to a novice.

    It is like an additional merger with Guhyajnana Dakini to become the consort of Avalokiteshvara in a wrathful manner.

    It also refers to one of the most powerful emanations of Jewel Family, Prasanna Tara. She is also reflected in for instance Samputa Tantra. Along with the Sutra elevations of Mortal Eye to Divine Eye, she, in addition, functions as Nectar Eye.

    Prasanna has an inadequate web page, but, she has one. Tantric Annapurna has a reasonable amount of detail.
    Last edited by shaberon; 30th August 2023 at 00:58.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Lakshmi--Tara and Rudra--Agni as The Year; symbolism of Homa; internal structure of Sadhanamala; the Iron Age and Vartali






    We have posted a few aspects of Vasudhara as introductory for the Homa.

    And then from within it, Lakshmi--Annapurna is the real recipient, or use of the powers designated as Agni.

    She has literal and symbolic aspects. In the material sense, a Homa feast consists of sending bundles of food home with the guests; in the yogic sense, it has to do with inner transformations and the release of Bodhi or psycho-spiritual energy by other names. This type of goddess is an automatic response to the quality of Agni or other devatas mentally input by the disciple as intercessory. Usually you get nothing because of doing ritual yoga than the real inner work. Followed appropriately, there is less need for external ritual, and more reason to learn the subtle nuances of mind and prana.


    Here are a few things to summarize Mahalakshmi as Adi Shakti and Agni Is the Year.



    Gaja Lakshmi is famous as a four-armed figure since the earliest representations. Here she is strongly having the aspect of Tara on an Indian Hindu 1200s Lakshmi:






    This is likely due to the period ca. 1,000-1,200, we have found some Hindu tantras literally start copying some Buddhist sadhanas, as if they were more effective practices.

    The art site and Tibet in general are a bit obtuse in dealing with Lakshmi although the following is essentially correct:



    Shri Lakshmi (pal lhamo): believed to be the peaceful form of Shri Devi Dudsolma the principal female protector of Tibetan Buddhism and also of Lhasa, Tibet.





    So we may see it as a bit backwards to derive Lakshmi from Dudsolma. Usually one would say that a wrathful aspect is emanated on an as-needed basis. For the common Tibetan wrathful form, in certain ways she is a local protector and more specifically the Dharma Pala of the Panjara. That one is a highly specific practice along the lines of Hevajra and Mahakala. So it does less good to make this one famous, although she is, of course, prominent in Kagyu and most other advanced tantric lineages. More universally we should think of this one as Smoky Kama Dhatvishvari or the entire Kama Loka. She has this guise and a few others recorded in Tibetan which are more continuous to Indian metaphysics. The wrathful aspect is indeed necessary to complete the whole inner host, such as the Six Yoginis.

    Much more publicly one could also think of her as the "unusual" White Peaceful Protector. The site has numerous examples of this from a relatively recent 1700s Gelug proliferation. But if we pick through it then we will find a modern (1960s-) version from the rather unusual apparently Black Hat monastery of Nenying:







    It is not, strictly speaking, a Gelug institution, because it was set up in the First Transmission. Then it became one of the first Kadam pa settings. Then it became Kagyu and more specifically a Shangpa because it is intermediary between Kungpo Naljor and Pagmo Dru. From that point it was a bastion of Kagyu dissemination into Bhutan. Finally around the 1700s it became part of the Gelug school. That, of course, has more to do with political dominance, and not any type of debate or conversion process. Afterwards, one finds many representations of Peaceful White Protector, although if Tibet had been familiar with Tara Tantra or other transmissions than only Atisha, there might not be such a huge gap.



    This rare one is said to be special to Mongolia and China, without explaining it, she has a Vase and Mongoose as well as a Child, but what is more evident is that she is a Pingala or has tantric flameswept hair like Bharati:








    Her Simhanada aspect is mentioned as:


    The green Devi Lakshmi is most commonly found depicted in Karma Kagyu paintings.






    This one is Mahalakshmi who should be crowned by Yamantaka. It is possible this perhaps means "as someone summoned by Yamantaka in MMK". What appear to be the general cues about mandala retinues such as from Vajratunda and Mayuri, in Manjushri Mula Kalpa, erupt in an overpopulation database due to the power of Yamantaka. He or Wrathful Manjushri effectively summons all beings, including the Hindu deities.


    Lion-mounted Green Mahalakshmi, crowned by Yamantaka, surrounded by Yakshis, is 325 in IWS. This has Nine Treasure vases, uses Srim syllable, and is not the same mantra as Mahasri, but it says she is Sri Devi for her Offerings. She is called a Prajnaparamita goddess who emerges from Gagana Ganja Samadhi.


    Then Sarvadurgati Parishodhana Tantra adds an unusual Green Durga. The title does not really refer to goddess Durga, but the tantra does, and, it more closely is a map and guide about Kama Loka. It does something profound with the planetary deities. It does not directly involve Durga or other Hindu devis very much, but, then, overall, they are considered Vidyas of the system. So it perhaps could be called an indirect propitiation of Durga.


    It has much to do with death, and, funerals as a rite of passage are of course performed by Agni priests.




    From surviving artifacts, we can quickly illustrate Generation and Completion Stages in terms of the Homa. This one is considered a Hindu 1000s Agni:







    For a metal icon, it is a bit unusual that he still has a painted face, being Yellow.

    That indicates the Buddhist Samaya Agni, meaning he works like the Buddhist Deities in the Two Stages.


    This is from a set of Medicine Buddha retinue figures and, it would be Completion Stage Agni, moreover, he has the corresponding symbols, the Eightfold Noble Path above, and the Seven Jewels of Enlightenment below. Those do not include a couple of Lotuses used as fillers, but it does have the Cintamani in the top position:






    Then, as if preparing for the doctrine of the Year, Agni is the Year, continuing to a different Medicine Buddha set, there is a surviving specimen of a 1700s Chinese:


    Vayu (Tibetan: Lunglha)

    North-west, Vayu Deva, smoky-coloured, holding a banner, riding a deer.

    The five syllable mantra written in lantsa script in the lower embroidered composition appears to be written clockwise, starting at the top, and reads 'om spha ra na kham.' The Sanskrit syllable 'kham' is special for the Buddha of the northern quarter of a mandala - Amoghasiddhi.








    It is possible they have a White Bhu Devi on page four of the examples.


    Again, this image is a type of boundary or dividing line, since the Bodhisattva, the living example of the Noble Eightfold Path, depends on and is produced by the Seven Jewels. So the challenge is really to make these Seven arise and remain in consciousness, which will automatically cause you to perform the Eightfold Path. This summarizes our Sutra-to-Tantra intent.



    For the Seven Jewels of Enlightenment in Hearing the Name and Abhisambodhi:


    4. The hearing of the name and abhisaṃbodhi are not simultaneous[322]

    Question. – However, the Prajńāpāramitāsūtra says here that one hears the name of the Buddha and that “at the same time” (saha śravaṇena) one obtains abhisaṃbodhi. It does not say that after having heard the name it is necessary to practice the Path in order to finally obtain abhisaṃbodhi.

    Answer. – Here the expression “at the same time” (or simultaneously) does not mean ‘in one and the same mind-moment’ (ekacittena): it only means that there is no intermediary (antara) [between hearing the name and abhisaṃbodhi]: that is what the expression “at the same time” means.



    [Metta sutta]. – As the sūtra says: “When the mind of loving-kindness (maitrīcitta) is cultivated, the seven members of saṃbodhi (saptasaṃbodhyaṅga) are cultivated (sahagata).”


    Objection. – But the meditation of loving-kindness (maitrīsamādhi) is impure (sāsrava), for it has beings as object (sattvān ālambate); how then could one cultivate, AT THE SAME TIME, the seven members of saṃbodhi (saptasaṃbodhyaṅga) [which themselves are pure (anāsrava)]?

    Answer. – After loving-kindness has arisen, one cultivates the seven members of saṃbodhi. As there are no other dharmas [that are inserted between maitrī and the saṃbodhyaṅgas], we say that they arise at the same time (sahagata).

    The expression ‘at the same time’ can have two meanings: i) it can designate strict simultaneity (samakāla); ii) it can designate posteriority in the long run, provided that no other dharma comes to be inserted between the two terms. Here, as it is a mind of maitrī and [without any other intermediary (antara)] a practice of the seven saṃbodhyaṅas, it is said that they arise AT THE SAME TIME.




    Saṃyutta, V, p. 119, l. 3–5:
    Quote Idha bhikkhave bhikkhu mettāsahagataṃ satisambojjhaṅgaṃ bhāveti || la || mettāsahagataṃ upekhāsambojjhaṅgaṃ bhāveti vivekanissitaṃ virāganossitaṃ nirodhanissitaṃ vossaggapariṇāmim. – Here, O monks, the bhikṣu [who cultivates maitrī], by that very fact cultivates the smṛtisaṃbodhyaṅga ‘going with maitrī’; he cultivates by that very fact the [dharmapravicayas, vīrya, prīti, praśrabdhi, samādhi] and upekṣā-saṃbodhyaṅga ‘going with maitrī’, dependent upon separation, detachment, destruction, and having abandonment as goal.

    This sūtra is cited in summary in Kośabhāṣya, p. 146, l. 12–14. One cannot take it as an argument to assume the absolute simultaneity of maitrī and the saṃbodhyaṅgas. Indeed, maitrī marred by belief in the self is impure, whereas the seven saṃbodhyaṅgas depending on detachment from the world are pure, and the pure practices cannot co-exist with the impure practices. The truth is that the development of the saṃbodhyaṅgas follows the development of maitrī immediately and without intermediary (samanantara).

    Similarly, the obtaining of abhisaṃbodhi follows the hearing of the name of the Buddhas (nāmadheyaśravaṇa) without intermediary, but is not mingled with it.

    The conquest of abhisaṃbodhi comes about with the help of causes and conditions, the main ones being the merits acquired by the ascetic himself and – according to the Greater Vehicle – the grace of the Buddhas. By itself, the hearing of the name would not be able to realize abhisaṃbodhi; it is, nevertheless, the slight cleavage that makes the ripe fruit fall, the drop of water that makes the vase of merits overflow.


    The Awakening, so to speak, will come from the Jewels, just not instantaneously and not without being primarily grounded in Love.


    When we look at the primordial arising of Agni, it is in close connection with names such as Atharvangiras and Prajapati. There is little explaining Atharvan or the title Atharva Veda. Here again it is similar to Zoroaster, and Avestan "atar" being a word for flame or fire. In that case, going to the Sanskrit root Atr:


    The names of the Rishis are also given, wherever necessary, their significant value, as in the first hymn Gavisthira which means the Steadfast in the Light or the general name Atri. Atri means either the Eater or the Traveller; Agni himself is the Atri as he is also the Angiras; out of a devouring desire, experience and enjoyment of the forms of the world he advances to the liberated truth and delight of the soul in the possession of its infinite existence.


    Atr has the meaning of eating--devouring, or crossing over or expanding.

    Among the symbolisms comes Hunger, Food, and destruction of forms, fire to transfer the energy, and so on.


    As we saw with Vasumati, the idea of a Guest is highly important, as in her story a simple guest turned out to be Vishnu himself.


    The idea of an important Guest, Food, and the Householder is readily apparent in the section for Purascaranam in rules for Vaisvadeva = Vaisnavara in Devi Bhagavata Purana:



    Both the Paramahansa or Brahmacārī mendicant are the masters of the prepared food (Pakkānna); so when anybody takes one’s food without giving to any of these two, if they happen to come there, he will have to make the Cāndrāyaṇa (religious or expiatory penance regulated by the moon’s age, that is, waxing or waning). O Nārada! After the offering given to Vaiśvanara, one is to offer Gogrāsa, that is, mouthfuls of food to the cows. Hear now how that is done. The mother Surabhi, the beloved of Viṣṇu, is always stationed in the region of Viṣṇu (Viṣṇupada); so O Surabhi! I am offering you mouthfuls of food. Accept it. “Salutation to the cows,” saying this, one is to worship the cows and offer food to them. Hereby Surabhi, the Mother of the cows, becomes pleased. After this, one is to wait outside for a period that is taken to milch a cow, whether any guests are coming. For if any guest goes back disappointed from any house without any food; he takes away all the puṇyams (merits) of the house-holder and gives him back his own sin. The house-holder is to support mother, father, Guru, brother, son, servants, dependants, guests, those that have come, and Agni (Fire).


    Think of the belly as Araṇi or the piece of wood for kindling the fire

    (by attrition), think of the mind as the churning rod, and think of the wind as the rope, and then kindle the fire, residing in the belly; the eyes are to be considered as the sacrificer, (the

    Addharyu), and consider fire in the belly as the result of churning. In this fire of the belly, one is to offer oblations for the satisfaction of Prāṇa, etc., the five deities. First of all offer oblations to the Prāṇa Vāyu...


    Within the mouth, there is the Āhavanīya fire; within the heart, there is the Gārhapatya fire; in the navel, there is the Dhakṣiṇāgni fire; below the navel, there is the Sabhyāgni fire and below that there is the Āvasathyāgni fire. Think thus. Next consider the Speech as the Hotā, the Prāṇa as the Udgāthā, the eyes as the Addharyu, the mind as the Brahmā, the ears as the Hotā and the keeper of the Agni, the Ahamkāra (egoism) as beast (Paśu), Om Kāra as water, the Buddhi (intellect) of the house-holder as the legal wife, the heart as the sacrificial altar, the hairs and pores as the Kuśa grass, and the two hands as the sacrificial ladles and spoons (Sruk and Sruva.) Then think of the colour of the Prāṇa mantra as golden the fire of hunger as the Ṛṣi (seer), Sūrya (the sun) as Devatā, the chandas as Gāyatrī and Prānāya Svāhā as the Mantra uttered; also repeat “Idamādityadevāya namaḥ” and offer oblations to the Prāṇa. The colour of the Apāna mantra is milk white. Śraddhāgni is the Ṛṣi, the Moon is the Devatā, Uṣṇik is the chandas, and “Apānāya Svāhā,” “Idam Somāya na namaḥ” are the mantras. The colour of the Vyāna mantra is red like red lotuses; the fire Deity Hutāsana is the Ṛṣi, the fire is the Devatā; Anuṣṭup is the chandas, “Vyānāya Svāhā” and “Idamagnaye na namah” are the mantras. The colour of the Udāna mantra is like that of the worm Indra Gopa; fire is the Ṛṣi; Vāyu is the Devatā, Brihatī is the chandas; “Udānāya Svāhā’’ and “Idam Vāyave na namaḥ” are the mantras. The colour of the Samāna mantra is like lightning; Agni is the Ṛṣi; Parjanya (the rains, water) is the Devatā; Pankti is the chanda; “Samānāya

    Svāhā” and “Idam Parjanyāya na namaḥ” are the mantras. O Nārada! Thus offering the five oblations to the five breaths, next offer oblations to the Ātman; the Bhīṣaṇa Vahni is the Ṛṣi; the Gāyatrī is the chanda; the Self is the Devatā; “Ātmane Svāhā,” and “Idamātmane na namaḥ” are the mantras. O Nārada! He who knows this Homa of Prānāgnihotra attains the state of Brahmā. Thus I have spoken to you in brief the rules of the Prānāgni hotra Homa.



    Purascarana is the advanced form of Prayoga. It is not mere repetition but roots the important aspect of Bhavana, meaning to cultivate a feeling of the deity's actual presence. So yes, that is para-tantric or a way of shifting energy beyond outer formalities. Doesn't specifically mean Chod or any given rite, just that a solitary retreat format would often be done to attempt the real Chod, which means it may be "associated" with Purascarana.



    The Year


    Brahmanda Purana in one area has one of the best summaries of Agni as Time in the Real Nature of Kala. First is the difference of groups of Pitrs or Time Elementals:



    6-7a. They are remembered by the name Agniṣvāttas and Barhiṣads. Those of theṃ who were householders, who did not perform Yajńas are remembered as the Pitṛs of the group Agniṣvāttas. They were not Āhitāgnis (those who regularly maintained sacrificial fires).

    7b-9. Those of them who performed Yajńas are the Pitṛs (known as) Somapīṭhins. Those who performed Agnihotras are remembered as the Pitṛs called Barhiṣads. In this sacred lore, it has been decisively mentioned that the Ṛtus (seasons) are the Pitṛs and the Devas.


    Then, Time is the means of dividing one year in five different frequencies. At first, is the Mind-born Son of Brahma:


    21. Hence the Vatsara (year) is considered the great grand-father of the subjects.


    It is Saṃvatsara (the year) that is considered and remembered as Prajāpati.

    23. Agni, the son of Saṃvatsara, is called ṛta by scholars. Since they are born of Ṛta, they are called Ṛtus.


    The Rtus are the six seasons.

    There is an intricate relation of the Pitrs to Svadha and other goddesses leading to the release of Ganga.

    The summary of Agni resumes:



    ĚH. Let the real nature of Kāla (Time) be listened to. After listening, let it be retained in the mind. The sun is his source and the period of the twinkling of the eye is his beginning. He is called Saṃkhyācakṣus (Having the number for his eyes).

    112. The day and night together constitute its form. The Nimeṣa (moments) are his limbs. The year (Saṃvatsara) is his essence. His name is Kalātmaka (one whose soul is the digit).

    113-115. That lord of subjects is of the nature of the present, future and past times. Understand the condition of the Kāla divided into five, by means of the day, the fortnight, the month, the seasons and the Ayanas. The first (year) is Saṃvatsara; the second one is Parivatsara; the third one is Iḍvatsara; the fourth is Anuvatsara; and the fifth among them is Vatsara. That period of time is termed Yuga.

    116. I shall explain their principle (Tattva). Even as it is being recounted, understand it that which is mentioned as Kratu and Agni is considered Saṃvatsara.

    117-120. This sun, the son of Aditi, and the fire of time is Parivatsara.

    Soma (the moon) which is of the nature of the essence of waters, which has two movements, the bright and the dark ones (i.e. the bright half and the dark half of the month) is Iḍva-tsara and has been decisively determined so in the Purāṇas. He who purifies the worlds with his seven times seven bodies (i.e. 49 Maruts); he who blows favourable to the world—that wind is Anuvatsara.

    He who was born of the Ahaṃkāra (ego) of Brahmā as Udagrudra—that blue-red (complexioned) Rudra should be known as their Vatsara.

    I shall explain his Satattva (essential nature); understand it even as it is being recounted.

    121. Due to the contact of limbs and minor limbs, the Kālātman (the soul of time) is the great-grandfather. He is the lord and source of origin of Ṛk, Yajus and Sāman; he is the master of the five (i.e. day, fortnight etc.).

    122. 126. He is Agni, Yama, Kāla, Sambhūti and Prajāpati. He is source of origin of the sun. He is mentioned as Saṃvatsara by learned men.

    The sun should be known as Parivatsara. He is the source of origin of the divisions of Kāla (Time), of the months, seasons and the two Ayanas; of the planets, stars, chillness, heat, rain, span of life and holy rites; the Bhāskara (sun) is the source of origin of the smaller divisions and the days; he is Vaikārika (an evolute?), of kindly disposition, the son of Brahmā and the Lord protector of subjects. He is one. He is (in a way) not one. He is day, month, season and grandfather. He is Āditya, Savitṛ, Bhānu, Jīvana (Enlivener) and honoured by Brahmā. He is the Prabhava (source of birth) and Apyaya (end or that in which they merge themselves at death)of all living beings. Therefore, Bhāskara the presiding deity of the Tārās (constellations), should be known as the second Parivatsara.

    127-129. Since Soma (the moon god) is the lord of all medicinal herbs, since he is the grandfather, since he is the enlivener of all living beings, since he is the lord, causing Yoga (acquisition of what is not attained) and Kṣema (preservation of what is acquired); since he always looks after and upholds the universe by means of his rays; since he is the source of origin of the Tithis (days of the lunar fortnight), junctions of Parvans, full moon and the New moon; since he causes the night; since he is the Prajāpati with nectarine soul—for all these reasons Soma (Moon) with the Pitṛs is remembered as Iḍvatsara.

    For the following reasons Vayu (the Wind god) is Anuvatsara:

    130. In the world he is the propeller of all activities of the living beings through the five types of vital winds viz.: Prāṇa, Apāna, Samāna, Vyāna, and Udāna.

    131. He causes the unified and simultaneous activities of the five units of the physical body. viz.; the sense organs, the mind, the intellect, the memory and the strength.

    132. He is the soul of all; he is the lord of all worlds through the (spatial winds) Āvaha, Pravaha etc. He exists through his seven times seven bodies (known as Maruts) that render help to others.

    133-134. He is the maker of the destiny of all living beings; he is the Prabhańjana (violent gust of wind also); he perpetually causes the well-being of all living beings; he is the source of origin of fire, waters, earth, the sun and the moon; the wind is Prajāpati: he is the soul of all the worlds; he is the great grandfather and he causes days and nights. Hence, it is that Vāyu (wind god) is Anuvatsara.

    135. All these four (i.e. Kāla, the sun, the Moon and the wind god) are lords of subjects; they are born of the flanks (of Brahmā); they are the fathers of all the worlds. They have been glorified as the souls of the worlds.

    136-137. Bhava came out crying, through the mouth of Brahmā who was meditating. The great lord is mentioned (in the Vedas) of Ṛṣi (sage), Vipra (Brāhmaṇa), the soul of the living beings, the great grandfather, the lord of all living beings and the Praṇava (Om). It is through the penetration of the Ātman (soul) that the limbs and minor limbs of the living beings take shape.

    138-139. Rudra who causes Unmāda (Madness) and (at the same time) blesses, is called Vatsara. Thus the sun, the moon, the fire, the wind and Rudra are all identifiers with Yuga (?). Lord Rudra who is the soul of Kāla is always the cause of annihilation. Lord Rudra entered this universe by means of his own brilliance.

    14-0-141. Due to the contact with the soul that is the support, by means of the bodies and the appellations (he enters the universe). Therefore, through his own vitality he has the status of Deva, Pitṛ and Kāla and this status blesses the worlds. It is the greatest. So Rudra is always worshipped by those who are the knowers of that (Rudra?)

    142-144. Since the lord is the master of the lords of subjects, since he is Prajāpati, since he is the conceiver of all living beings, since Nīlalohita is the soul of all, since Rudra resuscitates the fading and declining medicinal herbs again and again; since at the time when medicinal herbs decline, the lord is worshipped by the Devas, the leader of whom is Prajāpati and who seek fruits eagerly desired by them—(He is worshipped by offering Puroḍāśa in three Kapālas) otherwise called Three Ambakas—So the lord is called Tryambaka.




    It is a five-year epoch, but, we find two kinds of division in information about the Solar System:


    The five (units of time beginning with Saṃvatsara are diversified, due to four measures...

    137. The following are the four measures (for calculating time) viz.: Saura (Solar), Saumya (Lunar), Nākṣatra (sidereal) and Sāvana (based on Savana calculation of days from sunrise to sunset).

    Tai. Br. I. 4.10.1 identifies Saṃvatsara, Parivatsara etc. with god Agni, Āditya etc.



    and the frequencies:


    126-129. Three seasons (make one Ayana), and two Ayanas make a solar Year.

    125. A period of fifteen days is mentioned as a Pakṣa (fortnight). Two Pakṣas make a month and two solar months make a season.



    So Brahma creates by a system that means the only constant is the divisions of Agni and of the Pitrs or Time and that Rudra ensouls it. Moreover, Agni or Fire is clearly above the visible creation because:


    He is source of origin of the sun.

    (1) Kratu-Agni, (2) The Sun-god, (3) Soma or the Moon-god with Pitṛs, (4) The Wind-god and (5) Rudra


    Agni--Samvatsara--Days

    Aditya--Parivatsara--Fortnights

    Soma--Idvatsara-Months

    Vayu--Anuvatsara--Seasons

    Rudra--Vatsara--Ayanas



    Samaya Agni crowned by Vajrasattva and some basic tantric aspects of Homa are covered in a work on Red Avalokiteshvara Karunamaya:


    The sadhana lies at the very heart of all Vajrayana worship and its
    philosophy. The mandala is a concrete representation of the sadhana
    and the puja of the homa is a ritualization of the sadhana of Agni, the
    fire deity. What then is a sadhana ? The basic meaning of the Sanskrit
    word is “leading straight to the goal,’’ and the term as used by the
    Vajrayana masters means a visualization and calling forth of a deity,
    i. e., an evocation, which leads the worshipper straight to the goal of
    Vajrayana Buddhism, namely, the realization of the void ( sunyata )
    and the identification of the worshipper with it.

    The ultimate aim of the sadhana is to transcend duality by attain¬
    ing a vivid conscious experience of the non-dual state. “The peaceful
    and wrathful deities invoked during a sadhana correspond to components
    of the adept’s own being and are the forms they assume in certain
    states of consciousness, such as the state which follows death, certain
    dream-states and some of the states reached during meditation. The
    adept must behold the universe as a vast expanse of spotless purity,
    as the ‘container’ or ‘fold’ inhabited by ‘deities,’ whose very nature he
    recognizes as pure void and whose immense power is the creative power
    of void manifested in its non-void emanation. ”

    Sadhana is sometimes translated as meditation, and it is this, but
    a meditation in which the visualization of the deity involving the three
    faculties of body, speech and mind ( kaya-vak-citta ) plays a paramount
    role.“The purpose of this visualization is to gain control of the mind,
    become skilled in creating mental constructions, make contact with
    powerful forces (themselves products of mind) and achieve higher states
    of consciousness in which the non-existence of own being and the non¬
    dual nature of reality are transformed from intellectual concepts into
    experiential consciousness.” The visualization is thus a yoga of the

    mind, and the practice of it presupposes a thorough grounding in the
    Mahayana sutras as well as a mastery of Hatha yoga practices. Accord¬
    ing to the recorded experiences of the masters it produces quick results,
    as opposed to the slow process of realization used in standard Hinayana
    and Mahayana Buddhism. It makes use of forces ‘familiar to man only
    at the deeper levels of consciousness, of which ordinary people rarely
    become aware except in dreams. These are the forces wherewith mind
    creates and animates the whole universe jordinarily they are not ours to
    command, for, until the false ego is negated or unless we employ magic
    means to transcend its bounds, our individual minds function, as it
    were, like small puddles isolated from the great ocean.”

    The masters testify that when they are lost in meditation there
    emerge from the depths of their psyche certain truths which assume
    various forms and aspects. There is a general supposition that whenever
    a man loses himself in such meditation these truths will appear in certain
    forms. For the adept their number and aspect are fixed by habit and
    experience. When it comes to visualizing these forces in the form of
    deities each individual adept will bring up different representations
    and forms from the depths of his own subconscious. Thus the masters
    each composed sadhanas, or ways and methods of visualizing a deity.
    The great variety of these sadhanas (the Sadhana Mala contains 312
    of them) results from the different visualizations of masters, each of
    whom was an individual with his own individual experience and psyche.
    A disciple starting on the road of such meditations was faced with a
    bewildering array of such sadhanas and deities. Hence the necessity
    of a guru, a master experienced in the practice of sadhana, one who could
    discern the psychic state and needs of the disciple, and who could selecl
    from the array of sadhanas those which would suit the disciple’s person:
    characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses, his degree of intelligence and
    his level of attainment. When he becomes a master himself the disci¬
    ple will develop his own personal sadhanas from the experiences welling
    up from his own subconscious, but he will be put on the road to this by
    practising the sadhanas of his master.




    Moreover, they most frequently speak of male Annapurna:


    In Ita Chen Tole, west of the darbar in Bhaktapur on the road
    running south from the main road leading to the darbar is the temple of
    Red Matsyendranath of Bhaktapur. He is known by the Sanskrit
    name of Annapurna Lokesvara.


    The lower of the small roofs is tiled, the upper one is of gilded copper
    and surmounted by a golden gajur made in the form of a caitya with an
    image of Aksobhya Buddha set into it.

    The figure of Amoghapasa is flanked by two
    Taras. The other four toranas each have a four-armed figure of Lokes¬
    vara flanked by two Taras.


    With the goddess distinguished in the roster ending:


    ...5. Jambala, 6. Vajrasattva.

    There are five halampos hanging from the roof. The two at the ends
    depict the purna kalasa (a symbol used to represent prosperity and to
    portray the goddess Annapurna), the centre halampo shows the Budd¬
    ha Aksobhya.


    This summary is based around Amoghapasha and shows, so to speak, a more popular or common public doorway than the very obscure theology of Varuni who is not featured here. The basics are the same, but, most established presences such as Avalokiteshvara or Medicine Buddha do not really need our extensive analysis, which is aimed at Tara or individual dharani goddesses, because they did not get a continuously smooth transition from their Indian originals.


    That does not make them fully independent from the more well-known things, to which we must sometimes refer to Avalokiteshvara, or Shiva, etc., as part of the background and general information.


    What we are doing as not being Saivites is remaining rather quiet about the following.

    That is from trying to say that the real Rudra is only in the most refined consciousness or highest Samadhi. We are going to be kind of quiet while everything sort of flips around and Rudra is framed as the Ground of All. Then what we are failing to do is make this a grand announcement, to shed the idea that by speaking many words and making a major emphasis that we would realize the goal. These articles explain Yoga as the "doing" of what the best words are trying to elucidate. That is to say that "doing" via names and images such as Agni and Mahalakshmi remains the important factor for reasons already given. That is a bit like saying there may be three precursor levels of samadhi prior to the kind that is meant in Six Limb Yoga. Since we have proven we cannot do this Sixth Limb, then, words fail us, which is why Rudra is not really discussed at great length.


    It remains true that Nilalohita existed in the first Mental Creation and in all the successive waves of world-systems until ours. As this one is coming into play, Rudra at first sounds a bit like he is holding another set of Vasus when his Eight Forms are given. But if you look carefully in Brahmanda Purana, you will see one of his components is *not* a regular element. For the display of Rudra in this Kalpa:



    55. O lord, your seventh name that had been mentioned by me was Ugra. The initiated Brāhmaṇa becomes the body of that name of yours.

    56. On this being uttered, the Caitanya (consciousness, alertness) that was in his body entered the initiated Brāhmaṇa who performs the Soma sacrifice.

    57. For that duration, the initiated Brāhmaṇa becomes lord Ugra. Hence, no one shall abuse or revile at him nor shall anyone speak vulgar words about him.



    It's not Fire, or the Stars, his body also consists of a Gnostic individual.

    From among the Vasus, one could perhaps argue that Dhruva is the necessary basis and stable gateway for the individual to enter Gnosis, and that Ugra may correspond, with the understanding that the initiate is not a default background element, but transformation of the same.

    But here it is very distinct that Ugra Rudra is not like most groupings of Tattvas. As to its possible connection with the unusual spelling previously given above:



    Udagrudra=Udagra Rudra. Or we may adopt the reading of Vā.P. 31.32a:

    ahaṅkārād rudan rudraḥ /

    “Rudra who roared out of haughtiness and conceit.”


    It is noise, wind, or storms associated with Ahamkara or egoity, maybe not quite so dramatic, especially if we do not think that Rudra is a pile of immature emotions. Aside from the spelling, the name is applied to Nilalohita.

    In fact, there is a kind of favoritism for Ugra:


    ...when Devi says that She makes those whom She love as Ugra (Rudra), Brahmadeva, a r.si or a brahmin sage - it is clear that She shows an order of priority based on the Brahman knowledge attainable by each being.


    Vishnu is described as self-existent in RV 1.156.2, however Rudra is a son of Prajapati and his names are given to him:


    Thus, Rudra cannot give Moksha by himself. He does so by using 'RAma nAma'.



    This makes it definitely a type of stacking hypostasis, which is found to be India's most mysterious:


    The Atharvaveda represents a further stage of elevation for the Vedic Rudra. Book XV of this saṃhita identifies him with all of creation in a language which is distinctly Vedic but addresses the deity as Eka-vrātya, vrātyas being not of the ārya community. (Read the first few hymns, or the whole book in translation here. He becomes Mahādeva and holds the bow of Indra, erstwhile chief of the Vedic gods. The texts speak of seven attendants of this deity including Bhava, Īśāna, Paśupati, Śarva, Ugra, Rudra and Mahādeva. They are apart, yet a part of him – a theme which Phyllis Granoff takes up in her research on later developments in the persona of Śiva. Rudra/Mahādeva/Eka-Vrātya is fond of strong sura and shares a special relationship with a puṁścalī (a harlot, lit one who goes after men) but also becomes one with all that the ārya hold pure. Varuṇa, Soma and the seven ṛṣis follow him; hymns like rathantara and brihat follow him, as do the ādityas, and viśvedevas.


    No, Shiva is not originally the correct name, and in the Vedas, siva or "auspicious" is an epithet shared between Rudra, Indra, and other deities.

    In Atharva Veda, Nilalohita is mixed in with Rudra called Vratya:




    All the various seers (r̥ṣīs) of Vedas had uniformly realized the one fact that – all the Vedic hymns are actually the hymns for Rudra alone. They realized that it is Bhagawan Rudra alone who adorns various aspects for various tasks of the universe. This is why they passed those Vedic hymns to us by stating the “dēvatā (deity)” of the hymns under different names. For ignorant people, they look as hymns to different gods, but one who has discerning eyes, would be able to understand the “r̥ṣī-hr̥daya” i.e., the heart of the seer.

    Because he is the one who exists as the fire in three planes – viz. – beyond the universe as the infinite fire of consciousness, within the universe he exists as the three-fold types of fires (grāhapatyā etc.) as a carrier of the sacrificial libations to the recepients; and within the microcosm (bodies of Jivas) as the gastric fire (vaisvānara) – Hence he is the one who is called as “Agni”.

    Because he pervades everything as their lifeforce, he is the “Prana”, and so on so forth…


    Atharva Veda has an entire hymn (XV) dedicated to Lord Shiva’s Vratya aspect and there it says that this Vratya created the world through prajapati (viraj) and then into that golden-egg (hiranyagarbha), this Vratya (Shiva) entered and was born within that. He was the first being to manifest within the universe (hence called as Eka-Vratya, i.e., the loner ascetic), and then became the sole lord of all others (Ishana) and was of dark and tawny complexion (Nilalohita) and was the greatest of all the gods (Mahadeva).


    The verse after this brings in the "dual deity":


    dyā́vāpr̥thivī́


    but as used in an expression:


    You are higher than Heaven and wider than the Earth.



    At this point, he is highly esoteric but perfectly manageable, and then we have to be careful of sectarianism, because in further developments, for example it is not possible to state a definite retinue of Eleven Rudras:



    Rig Veda mentions a set of thirty-three deities. According to Yaska_charya, the thirty-three gods are divided equally in three different planes of existence namely the celestial plane (dyuloka) the intermediate region (antarikshaloka) and the terrestrial region (bhurloka) each plane having eleven gods.

    1.2. There is however a slight variation among the different traditions in naming the thirty-three deities. According to the Shatapatha Brahmana, these thirty-three deities include eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Adityas, Dyaus, and Prithvi. While, Yaska_charya mentions: eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Adityas and two Asvinis.


    1.3. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad the Rishi Yajnavalkya at one stage says “The eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Adityas, Indra and Prajapati are the thirty-three gods".

    He goes on to explain: Katame rudra iti: "Who are the Rudras?" and says "The ten senses and the mind make eleven. These are the Rudras.""When the senses and the mind leave the body, they make one cry in anguish." While a person is alive, these eleven: the senses and the mind, subject the individual to their demands, and make him cry in agony if he violates their laws.


    1.4. In Rig Veda, Rudra is one of the intermediate level gods (antariksha devata) .He is described as fierce, armed with bow andfast-flying arrows"brilliant shafts which run about the heaven and the earth" (RV 7.46.3),. He is endowed with strong arms, lustrous body decorated with ornaments and having flowing golden hair (kapardinam).


    1.5. Rudra is also regarded as the best physician- bhishaja shiromani-Vaidyanatha (RV 2.33.4).



    So, in the view of Yoga, we try to make a person sensitive to Agni and Vayu. It is not a litany of names you can follow in a timeline and accomplish much. They are living and present forces which are supposed to be used to trigger the Samadhi. Rudra or Ugra Rudra is akin to their re-gathering and enlightened use.

    From a large article showing how Rudra tracks in Vedas and Itihasa:


    This is the first homage to Rudra-Soma sung by Maharśi Kaṇva Ghaura in Rig Veda Mandala 1 Sukta 43. And as we go deeper, we will see the complete assimilation of Soma, Agni, Mitra-Varuna, Vayu, and more.



    It is a large subject on its own. And so we will agree with the underlying tenets without getting in to the web of how many Shiva schools and so forth. We are doing something related but different. Curiously, Rg Veda uses "nilalohita" in a very different way in 10.85.28:




    nīlalohitam bhavati kṛtyāsaktir vy ajyate | edhante asyā jńātayaḥ patir bandheṣu badhyate ||


    “Blue and red is (her form); devoted (to her) is left behind; her kinsmen prosper, the husband is bound in bonds.”


    Kṛtyā: goddess practising magic or magic personified



    Kṛtyā (कृत्या) refers to “sorcery”.—In order to counter the sorcery (kṛtyā) of someone who wishes evil for the bride, a purifying bath is prescribed as part of the Vedic marriage rites (Atharvaveda 14.2.65). The couple recite the following verse while looking at the red and blue evening sky in order to propitiate the goddess Kṛtyā:—“Her hue is blue and red: the fiend (kṛtyā) who clingeth close is driven off. Well thrive the kinsmen of this bride: the husband is bound first in bonds”.—(cf. Ṛgveda 10.85.28 = Atharvaveda 14.1.26).

    Note: The Vedic goddess Kṛtyā, the embodiment of sorcery, is said to be this colour [i.e., dark (red and blue) like ‘blue collyrium’], reflecting that of the cloth that has been soiled by the bride on the night of the consummation of her marriage. — On the morning after the garbhādhāna ceremony, which is performed on the fourth day after marriage, the cloth worn by the bride, which has been soiled by the nuptial consummation, is given over to the priest. Indeed, the red and blue blood spots on the cloth are regarded as representing Kṛtyā and hence as inauspicious. The garment, which is called śāmulya, is supposed to be extremely ominous if retained in the house. It becomes a walking Kṛtyā and associates herself with the husband thereby bringing all disasters upon him.




    With respect to Goddess Krtya:



    Piśācīs are produced through the magical rites and these entities are called Kṛtyā.

    ...her multiple forms having two legs, four legs and eight legs are also presented in the Atharvaveda.

    In the Atharvaveda, though it is stated that the Aṅgirases are well-expertised in the performance of Kṛtyā, but, yet, it may be performed by the Śūdras, women and even by the king himself. Besides, gods also, sometimes, perform Kṛtyā.

    The Atharvaveda refers to three types of Kṛtyās, one is performed by the Aṅgirases, one by the Asuras and the other one is svayaṃkṛtā, i.e. the Kṛtyā who obtains the performer himself due to some mistakes on the part of the user.

    Unlike other goddesses, Kṛtyā is called abhāgā, i.e. the unfortunate one.


    While there is a prevalence of the combined name Atharvangiras in Atharva Veda:



    ...the name angiras by itself occurs
    but in a single Vedic passage, TS. 7. 5. 11. 2 = Kathaka Asvamedhagrantha
    ( angirobhyah svaha), as the designation of the fourth Veda. Quite frequently,
    however, the members of the compound atharvangirasah are separated so
    that each is mentioned by itself, but always in more or less close vicinity to
    one another, showing that the Atharvans and Angirases had a separate existence,
    and that the AV. consists of these two component parts. In fact, in a con-
    siderable range of the literature especially of older times the term atharvan
    refers to the auspicious practices of the Veda, the bhesajani (AV. n. 6. 14),
    those parts of the Veda which are recognized by the Atharvan ritual and the
    orthodox Brahmanical writings as s'anta, ‘holy’, and paustika , ‘auspicious’; the
    term angiras refers to the hostile sorcery practices of the Veda, the yatu (SB.
    io- 5. 2. 20), or abhicara, which is terrible ( ghora ).


    An equivalent verse on Krtya is:


    AV 6.45.3 = RV. 10. 164.4



    In this text we find rebuffing amuletry:


    krtyaprati-
    haranani

    The Atharvan makes further the important distinction
    between sorcery which takes the initiative (< abhicara ), and defensive, or retal-
    iative sorcery; the latter merely repels the practices undertaken by others
    ( pratyabhicarana , pratisara , and prativarta).

    In the later systematization
    (e. g. Rig-vidhana 4. 6. 4; 8. 3) the term angirasa = abhicarika is modulated
    similarly into praty angirasa = pratyabhicarana.



    Atharva is not exactly a "fourth Veda" by giving a new kind of hymn, but, by these fulcrum-like intersections of powers that easily clash. Krtya or Pisaci must be one of the main principles in Buddhism, i. e., that it is the exact same powers that lead to insanity and destruction, as, when harnessed, produce healing and order. Also, an Atharvan on the one hand could lead to blind following of ritual, and on the other, an Angiras might be little other than a sorceror. The joint meaning of Atharvangiras "neutralizes" those extremes by looking at the operative power in each. If this power is Pisacis, then, it makes sense. There are moral choices which lead to using them selfishly or destructively, and simple ignorance that leads to a variety of failures, and we want to overcome all of that.



    So in the view of Indian Buddhism at least, it is not non- or anti-Vedic, in fact we have grounds to refer to that which eludes the Hindus frequently. We have the early Apri Hymns of the three goddesses through this Red-Blue Krtya. We could say we continue the Homa in an advanced way, or, in the case of those Buddhists whose sadhanas do not seem to mention Agni and the like, then, that sadhana is still adjunct to or able to be incorporated with a Homa.

    The Homa does not really have anything to do with what Buddhists call Union, but, it does appear to have a male-female polarity or Sakti aspect, indirectly, since it is not like Agni with any of his wives. It perhaps is more like the Buddhist symbol of the Bell. A male deity is a bit like the force that strikes the bell, and, the female is the response, or the resonance, or resulting experience in the cosmos. The male or the Buddhas are the mind of the meditator, i. e., the intentions and the perceiving apparatus. The female is the perceived experience, that which is felt, and known. And so while various Vasudharas are part of the setup, overall, the attempt of Agni is to resonate Lakshmi Annapurna.

    It has a personal tantric meaning, and, it is supposed to affect the world.


    Then there is a relatively dark period or conflationary era. One could almost say the Taittiriya Aranyaka occupies the range that would seem like "Buddha's Gospel" era, except there was no such thing as the Pali texts come noticeably later. And then we are trying to show that so-called Mahayana texts really are not that much later, ca. year 200. And at this point, there have been believed to be the Eighteen Schools of Buddhism, and along with that, multiple strands of Puranic Hinduism. To some degree, these are mutual refutations, and in other ways, the writings are becoming more subjective, subtle, and profound, than has been expressed in previous language. In some other ways it is hard to make an understanding or agreement and "be" a school.

    It is like a mix of sharp, fast sectarianism, and confusion or haziness due to the nascent state of the language and literature.




    Lakshmi and Tara


    The Tattva system does not fully satisfy Lakshmi Tantra. Not matching a system of "planes", either, it uses an art of creation through Sheaths:


    saktikosa, mayakosa, prasutikosa, prakrtikosa, brahmandakosa and jivakosa.


    The first sheath consists of Sakti herself in her transcendental form. This contains everything that belongs to the pure creation.

    Maya, the second sheath, represents the starting point of the material (pure--impure) creation based on the three material gunas (sattva, rajas and tamas). It should be noted that here Sakti combines both the Agni and Soma aspects of God. The former represents God's kriyasakti or dynamic power, and the latter His bhuti-sakti or power to sustain. Sakti is here called Mahalaksmi and possesses both female and male characteristics.

    When the perfect equilibrium of these three gunas is disturbed, each guna manifests itself as a separate sakti, springing from Mahalaksmi, the first transformation of a part of God's Sakti into matter. These three saktis are named Mahasri, Mahakali and Mahavidya and respectively represent the rajas, tamas and sattva gunas. These three deities are the components of the third sheath called prasuti, or the mother. Each of these three mothers gave birth, as it were, to twins. With a part of Pradyumna, Mahasri created the twin deities Brahma and Laksmi. With a part of Samkarsana, Mahamaya (or Mahakali) created the twin deities Rudra and Trayi. With a part of Aniruddha, Mahavidya created the twin divinities Visnu (Krsna) and Gauri. Thus whereas in the Saktikosa, the three Vyuhas Samkarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha have Sri, Sarasvati and Rati as their respective saktis, in the prasutikosa the same male deities are consorted with three other female divinities and become parents of the three Puranic primary gods Brahma, Visnu and Rudra and their respective sakti consorts. At Sakti's bidding, Brahma married Trayi, Visnu married Laksmi and Rudra married Gauri. This traditional divine triad and their consorts together with primordial nature form the components of the prakrtikosa. Brahmandakosa consists of the Samkhya categories, while all the bodies of animate beings belong to the jivakosa.



    In other words, most normal metaphysics discusses Prakriti which concerns the Tri-shakti or Trinity or Gunas and the Tattvas. Here we get a definite impression that there is a cosmic or mental plane which is beyond Prakriti, in a way that things are twisted or even reversed as explained by the strange web of relationships behind the normal Trinity.


    For the Impure Creation:


    This is the evolution of the Samkhya categories. The lotus bearing Hiranyagarbha with his consort Trayi is Time, which evolves out of the three divine gunas, viz. bala, virya and tejas. This is the primeval evolving nature whose vibration results in material creation. Time is the primary limitation of the material world. Hiranyagarbha, who is the conscious principle, stirs primeval nature into activity. He excercises his own power of discretion or wisdom to regulate the activities of the evolving primordial nature. The wisdom of Hiranyagarbha (here his sakti) is called Trayi since, according to mythology, Brahma first created the three Vedas (collectively called Trayi), and then the world on the pattern recorded in the Vedas. These three (viz. the lotus, Hiranyagarbha and his wife Trayi) were the first to be transformed into the category called mahat (the great). Mahat consists of the cosmic life-principle, the cosmic intelligence and the cosmic Person. Vibration is the attribution of the cosmic life-principle, discretion is that of the cosmic intelligence, and the cosmic Person possesses two sets of attributes. Morality, knowledge, detachment and majesty constitute his first set. The four opposite qualities from his second set. Mahat evolves into ahamkara and from its three components (the three gunas sattva, rajas and tamas) are created the sense organs, the motor organs, the mind with its three components, and the subtle and gross elements. From ahamkara onwards, the process differs slightly from both the Samkhya and the Vedanta concepts of creation.



    Almost all of the Indian schools are going to say something like universal Mahat produces individual Ahamkara, and then mostly they break down into their own retinues and lore and terminology and it is really unfeasible to constantly compare all these large sets. Theosophy has this same trouble by adding non-Indian systems for comparison. But if we focus this subject it will be more direct:


    Mahat (Sanskrit) Mahat [from the verbal root mah to be great] The great; cosmic mind or intelligence, the basis and fundamental cause of the intelligent operations in and of nature considered as an organism. Blavatsky called it the first product of pradhana, the first-born of the Logos, universal mind limited by manvantaric duration, the cosmic noumenon of matter, the one impersonal architect of the universe, the great manvantaric principle of intelligence, the Third Logos, and the divine mind in active operation.

    Eternal in its essence and periodical in its manifestations, mahat combines the ideal plans and prototypes of all beings and things in the manifested objective and subjective world. In another sense it is the entire aggregate of the dhyani-chohanic host, and therefore the source of the active organic cosmic intelligence controlling and directing the operations of fohat; it is likewise the direct source of the manasaputras, a class of the dhyani-chohanic host.

    In Brahmanical philosophy, mahat is the father-mother of manas. In Sankhya philosophy, it corresponds to kosmic buddhi or mahabuddhi and is called the first of the seven prakritis or productive creation, the other six being ahamkara and the five tanmatras.

    When a ray from mahat expresses itself as the human manas (or even as the manasic attribute of the finite gods), it then because of surrounding maya involves the quality of egoity or aham-ship. Thus it is said that the great Tree of Life has parabrahman as its seed, mahat as its trunk, and ahamkara as its spreading branches.

    Mahasunya or Mahasunyata (Sanskrit) Mahāśūnya, Mahāśūnyatā [from mahā great + śūnyatā emptiness] The great void; when considered in its positive aspect, boundless space, including all the spaces of space, and therefore the universe and all that is in it considered from the spiritual and divine standpoints, which to intelligences living in lower realms seem to be the great Void. When considered from its negative aspect, cosmic illusion (mahamaya) because the entire boundless objective universe with all its visible or invisible planes is, from the standpoint of the divine-spiritual, unreal and illusive, i.e., impermanent and transitory, although lasting spans which to human comprehension might seem almost an eternity. Thus both the positive and negative significances are based upon the fundamental idea of the utter reality of the divine-spiritual, and the unreality, impermanence, and fleeting character of all that is objective.



    When we turn to Buddhism, the following has an interpretation as one word, "matron of a harem", and another as the descriptive name, Mahat Tara. We have another post with a Nepalese edition of the main system of Mahattari and Mahasri, which also comes from Blue Lotus Mudra.


    In the metaphysics just given, Mahasri is an unmixed Divine Guna, mother of Brahma and Lakshmi in the Pradyumna Vyuha.

    Would these ideas be quite similar, then, yes, Lakshmi Tantra is to revert the Ahamkara to its Laya state, which would be like using Mahattari Tara to produce the setting for Akanistha and Nirvana, which is Mahasri Tara.


    1400s Nepalese Mahasri Tara at Tibet Museum:






    Art of Nepal explains her as one of the earliest and most important representations there. She is generally identifiable by Dharmacakra Mudra, unless there was a reason to specify the figure as Prajnaparamita.

    This is the article they discuss:







    There are numerous individual examples of Tara in this form:


    Chinese Palace Museum

    Nepalese 1000s (maybe the nicest one; on this, one could likely say she is crowned by Crossed Vajra)

    Indian

    Indian 1000s

    Tibetan 1300s

    Tibetan 1000s

    Harvard

    Unknown

    Unknown

    One more is with the set entitled Teaching Gesture.

    That is more accurate, it is really Vyakhyana Mudra, which has the same appearance, but the expression "Dharmacakra Mudra" is supposed to be reserved for a moment of Turning the Wheel of Dharma.





    There are a few pages of the goddess trio with Sandalwood or Khadira in Three Deity Tara. The set is mostly like taking Varada Tara as the basis of Suryagupta's Taras, or Atisha's in a couple of examples.

    That is a soft approach in showing Tara as the hostess of more Taras. In this way she is different from the Green Eight Fears Tara. Nagarjuna's Khadira Tara is based on the main companions Marici and Ekajati. One can think of this as running parallel to Tara Tantra, and the idea of her with Twenty-one Taras, and to an advanced Karma Family Tara.


    Based on her mantra, it could be seen that Mahasri is also an extension of Dhanada Krama Tara, similar to a mix of Vasudhara with a Karma Family mandala.

    Those are good reasons to involve Mahasri as Tara Fifteen.


    Throughout the set of thangkas, there are nuances such as Cittamani based from a vision, yet said to resemble Green Tara of Bari or Nyan, and being a Tara who guides one in Dissolutions. Another has the unusual image of Reversed Sabdavajra. Nagarjuna's Khadira Tara from ca. 800 is more or less the catalyst for all of these similar but individualized trends of practices.

    The Guge specimen perhaps has added White Janguli, who plays her lute, whereas Sarasvati is described as only holding it.


    In the sadhanas, so far we have found the only Green Tara that is clearly in Lotus Family is Day--Night Tara. So in other words, these are pictures of Peaceful Day Tara.

    In Sadhanamala, Khadira is clearly not in Lotus Family:


    tāṃbījagarbhaṃ, tatpariniṣpannāṃ haritām amoghasiddhimakuṭīṃ


    If it is a Nagarjuna tradition, he is also credited with White Vajra Tara and Ekajati 127.

    The illuminated manuscript MSD4 certainly appears to use Khadira as the impulse for Sadhanamala goddesses such as Vajra Tara. This comes up about halfway in to our post on manuscripts and again, for independent work, someone has done an excellent job at digging up these illuminations that are not on public display, and, visually, figured out almost the exact same story we find in Sadhanamala verbally and by comparing it to external sources.

    Their analysis says that Prajnaparamita becomes Vajradhatvishvari by appropriating Marici and radiating light.

    That is a broad based fit for Twenty-one Taras and Sutra-based Dharanis as is recommended in Yoga Tantra and what works such as Sadhanamala and Dharani Samgraha are for.


    The thangkas also manage to squeak out the idea that Ekajati is not always extreme in appearance.

    Moreover, she also has the aspect of Nectar Ekajati, same as the odd Nectar Vetali in Dakini Jala.


    Dakini Jala is remarkable for several things. It gives us Wrathful Families as are used in Armor Deities and the Six Yoginis. It gives the Gauri goddesses as embodiments of Moods. This subject is "noted" but not elaborated, except perhaps by Picuva Marici and Vajramala or Vajra Rosary Tantra.

    That is a barrier or a type of door because the Gauris are also the primordial senses or a very active tantric energy in Generation Stage. In the inner sense these are definitely like Krtyas. They may cripple you or drive you mad. And so there is a terrific amount of Calming required for what might otherwise be a volcano of Rajas. This is always the case until one is truly adept at crossing the Generation Stage quickly and efficiently. It is most related to Cemetery Yoga, which is what strongly involves Maheshvara Subjugation and Generation of Sri Heruka.

    The Seven Jewels of Enlightenment are based in Metta or Maitri or Love, which is a universal shared by all deities, we do not have a particular manifestation of it. Any type of Ista Devata or Dhyana Rupa can do it. Doesn't matter. What does matter is them being on the far side of the Gauris. And so an additional retinue called Vajraraudris becomes involved, which has to do with Urging Through Song, which has to do with the universe reverting to Laya and summoning the deity to arise once more.

    Together with the importance of Tara or Mahasri Tara who is in the Akanistha, Kama Dhatu or Lakshmi is the paramount use of "seven planes" because of the dualities and mayas in them all except for the Purity of Akanistha. Tara's Forest of Turquoise Leaves is the easiest to enter and the most greenishly lush, being one of the few that is not made of jewels. Her area is mostly green with some portions of various color. A proliferation of a certain flower such as Red would indicate Asoka Marici or Vajrayogini, Wish Trees would be Kurukulla, but Acacia usually has small yellow flowers.

    Sandalwood has some reddish aerials and is mainly native to south India.

    However her Grove is the more widespread Mimosa Catechu:


    Khadira (खदिर) refers to the Acacia catechu, and is used in the treatment of Horses (Gajāyurveda or Aśvāyurveda) in the Garuḍapurāṇa.

    Khadira (खदिर) is mentioned frequently from the Rigveda onwards as a tree with hard wood—the Acacia catechu. The Aśvattha is referred to as engrafting itself upon it in the Atharvaveda, and from it the climbing plant Arundhatī is said to have sprung.


    As a resemblance to Mount Potalaka, for Khadiravani:


    Khadiravani Tara, or the saviouress of the Khadira (catechu) forest, is an emanation of the Dhyani Buddha Amoghasiddhi, who is taken to be a condensation of the Green cosmic color.

    In order to show her origin, the Khadiravani deity usually has, on her crown, a miniature figure of her sire with the Abhaya Mudra. Khadiravani is two-armed, showing the Varada Mudra in the right hand and Utpala (night lotus) in the left and is accompanied by the two goddesses Asokakanta Marici and Ekajata. Sometimes the companion deities are not present

    She appeared to Nagarjuna while he was meditating at a khadira (acacia) forest in the south of India. "Reting deity" because of its association with this location, just as a particular emanation of the goddess in India came to be known as Khadiravani Tara, because her shrine was in a grove of Khadira trees.


    Khadira is a mountain crossed by Sudhanamukara in an 1882 Calcutta reply to Brian Hodgson that lists eighty-five Nepalese texts known to them (contents on p. 49).

    The setting of Tara's Grove is more likely in Andhra and not identical with Potalaka.

    “She is a Heroine with a courageous mind”

    “Those sentient beings who actually wish to see the pure realm of Tara in their minds will rejoice in the cooling rays of pure vision in the soothing shelter of the blooming lotus of faith.”


    --Delok Dawa Drolma








    Manuscript Kurukulla related to Yulokod Tara.

    So while we think it is important to attribute Khadira to Nagarjuna, and classify this as Yogacara, we will suggest it is continuous and dynamic as seen by Nyan's Sadanga Yoga Green Tara and Delok Dawa Drolma saying the Tibetan Yulokod still has Tara's Sanskrit Song. Those are similar examples from times around the year 800, 1200, 1900.

    The system of Nepal was stable during those times of upheaval.

    We do not see readily accessible thangkas which add Janguli and Mayuri like the Sadhanamala text says.

    The exception is the Kagyu Vajrayogini which does show this retinue in the lower right although it is with Varada Tara. It is from the similar Sakya transmission Sadhanasagara or Sadhanasamuchaya (Drub Tab Gyatso), which is like Sadhanamala with Vajrapani and most of the Chakrasamvara stuff cut out.

    Mahasri is similar in appearance to Khadira, but with more vines, leaves, and flowers.

    With Varada Tara, some of the retinue members bear Camaras or Fly Whisks, and, with Mahasri, they do not.

    Either one should have a charged-up Ekajati.


    If Sadhanamala has some of its own internal technique, and, part of this involves Blue Lotus Mudra, we find it shared among the following:


    Mahattari, Vistara, Astamabhaya, Sita, Dhanada, Mahasri, Laughing Ekajati, and Tarodbhava Kurukulla.


    These have something to do with what is called in Interfaith:


    ...unifying (ekikrtya) power of the Supreme Atman.


    which is used in a similar way to what Khadira does:

    dhyātvā jńānasattvena sahaikīkṛtya


    i. e., that is why we say we are starting from Samaya beings, then attempting to invoke a Greater, Maha, or Jnana Sattva being the real deity in its personal form which we had previously imagined.


    Khadira's blend of Jnanasattva with the magical Krtya is repeated by Vasyadhikara, Dhanada, Vajra Tara, and Kurukulla. PR 206 has it with respect to the Tathagatas.


    Sadhanamala 89-92 appear to be nuances of Green Tara in a summoner role, followed shortly by Nagarjuna's White Vajra Tara 96, which again suggests her as among the most basic White Taras. Khadira and Vajra Tara being that close, one would tend to think, yes, this probably means Nagarjuna's Green and White Taras. White Vajra Tara adds Gnosis Mantra, Mental Recitation, and a fiery appearance. No particular Family is assigned to her; she is Bhattarika Tara from Antariksha.

    Mahattari is very easily distinguishable because she adds Purity Mantra and Saptavidhanuttara Puja, and holds a flaming or scintillating lotus or possibly sapphire. She does not have the companions or any floristry; i. e. is introspective.


    Along with this is a recognizable "Krama" personalized on a few goddesses:


    Mahacina Krama

    Dhanada Krama

    PR 206: Mahabala Krama Raudravesa


    From the 1800s Drukpa, we are able to show what appears to be Mahabala Krama:


    Descending on the right are Humkara, Hevajra Sahaja Heruka, Vajra Nairatmya, and Chaturbhuja Mahakala. At the bottom center is a variant form of Bhutadamara Vajrapani.



    In other words, Mahabala being a loosely-arranged dharani system probably since Asanga's time or the 500s, is then involved with the Humkara or Ten Wrathful Ones and what we found to be its Fiery Transformation in NSP. This is related to Kila and the base of the spine cakra such as Cakravega or Dipacakra and Vajrakumara or tantric Vajrasattva. Here, they have even attached Heruka from Ratnakarasanti's system. It is still with Bhutadamara, or, a proto-tantra from approximately the layer of Pratisara and Vajratunda.

    The thangka could perhaps be construed as showing basic versions on one side and advanced or Yogini versions on the other.


    In NSP, the Pancha Raksha simply gain large or Maha forms. PR 206 is too weird to be drawn correctly, and the whole thing is replete with esoterism that reads differently and adds up especially when understanding the Puranic Rudras and Maruts. It may look like it is about pregnancy like Vajratunda is about making it rain. But it would not really be anything new to explain rain, etc., as symbolic, because the Puranas and Vedas already revert to symbolic or dual meaning. Therefor the same material always looks different if you are taking it literally or figuratively.

    Pratisara is Vipula Devi, Garuda comes from Vipula.


    So if we see three kinds of Kramas, one might characterize Mahacina as "strong" and Pratisara something like "taming of the strong". Dhanada is simply "difficult". The system in Nepal involves Mahattari, (Varada or Khadira, etc.), and Mahasri. In Sadhanamala, Dhanada appears to interpose or configure this. Close to the stage of Entering the Mandala. Although this does not seem to be followed in Tibet, it does match its period-appropriate origins. So she is a strong example of something peculiar to Sadhanamala. Most of the rest of them are extensions, like it is the best source for Marici, but she is known elsewhere.

    From the illuminated manuscripts and Seven Syllable Deity, Dhanada is present with others known externally, Kurukulla, Prajnaparamita, Sita, Vasudhara, or Marici and Vajra Tara.


    This was most likely in the context of Tara Tantra, which was one of the last things transmitted to Tibet, and why we are presenting an aspect that does not have Atisha's Taras or Long Life Trinity, etc., but it does have Dhanada.




    As another type of internal structure, Sadhanamala also uses the following expression:


    Ṣoḍaśasvara (षोडशस्वर) or simply Ṣoḍaśa refers to the “sixteen vowels”, according to the Manthānabhairavatantra, a vast sprawling work that belongs to a corpus of Tantric texts concerned with the worship of the goddess Kubjikā.—Accordingly, “(Kuṇḍalinī) in her straight form (ṛjvī) is in the little-known (aprasiddha) place. Once she has filled the lake of nectar in the end of the sixteen (vowels) (ṣoḍaśānta), she who is the living being (jīvarūpiṇī) fills everything right up to the living being. In the form of the well-known senses (akṣa), she measures out time. She acts within the world of transmigratory existence and regulates the path to liberation. She is endowed with the 21,600 (breaths) enumerated in relation to the fettered soul in accord with the (Yogic) teaching concerning night and day”.

    The commentary on these lines in the Ṣaṭsāhasrasaṃhitā explains that: “Thus she is the one at the ‘end of the sixteen’ [i.e., ṣoḍaśāntā], that is, she is at the end of the sixteen vowels [i.e., ṣoḍaśasvara-antā]. The meaning is that she is the supreme (energy) of Unstruck Sound (anacka) and is without (phonemic) measure (nirmātrā). Here itself she is the living being because (she) fills (the body)”.



    The Sixteen have several instances, as well as Prathamasvara or "first sound". And as we look through, there are further examples of second or two, fourth, and sixth sounds, such as Mrtyuvacana 112:


    pańcam asya prathamaṃ tu dvitīyasvarayojitam /
    ardhendubindusaṃyuktaṃ sitaraśmivibhūṣitam //


    Four on Mahacinakrama 101:


    tasya dvāravidhiṃ vakṣye yogācārānusārataḥ /
    prathamaṃ haparaṃ dattvā caturthasvarabhūṣitam //



    Six on Ekajati 124 & 125:

    hāntaṃ ṣaṣṭhasvarākrāntaṃ nādabindusamanvitam /
    etad bījavaraṃ śreṣṭhaṃ trailokyadahanātmakam //



    Eight on Kurukulla 175:

    aṣṭasvarapariṇatān


    Kurukulla 181 uses multiple examples of four, five, and six.



    I am not sure if these only refer to certain vowels, or perhaps musical notes. But we can detect an increase. And this Kurukulla should be approximately matching Subtle Yoga and so she is strongly suggestive of Eight Joys.

    Our book ends where it should be Nairatma with all Sixteen and Completion Stage.


    That is strongly suggestive of its character because it has no standard Kurukulla Archer. It seems to have tantric Kurukulla only, meaning at least the presence of Nectar or Melted Bodhicitta.

    Because she is in Krsna Yamari Tantra with Janguli, then, Sadhanamala appears to have this intent with Janguli as well. She may not work as a medical snakebite kit, but, she probably is helpful towards certain issues and impediments on having a successful subtle life.


    Janguli is somewhat comparable to Garuda and we will finish off with Garuda leading back to Rudra.


    Curiously, this likely involves Wootz or Damascus steel:


    “Wootz was the first high-quality steel
    made anywhere in the world. According
    to reports of travelers to the East,
    the Damascus swords were made
    by forging small cakes of steel that
    were manufactured in Southern India.
    This steel was called wootz steel.
    It was more than a thousand years before
    steel as good was made in the West.”

    -J. D. Verhoeven and A. Pendray, Muse, 1998



    The Iron Revolution or Age was not completely new, since crude iron work is very old, but this is inferior to bronze. The art of making more durable iron products such as steel went through some kind of background development until ca. 500 B. C. E., it apparently is the main Bantu deity Ogun.

    Allright. Now to grab a couple quick Theosophical definitions:


    Simha (Sanskrit) Siṃha Lion; the fifth zodiacal sign, Leo, said by some mystics to represent the jivatman or spiritual ego, corresponding to the immanent christos.

    Simorgh (Persian) Meregho-saena (Avestan) Sen-murv, Sene-muruk (Pahlavi) The gigantic bird of fable likened by some to the hippogriff or griffin; half phoenix, half lion. In the ancient Zoroastrian scriptures of the Avesta, it is described as a gigantic bird whose resting place is the tree Jad-besh (opposed to harm of all seeds); when he rises aloft a thousand twigs shoot forth from that tree; when he alights, he will break off the thousand twigs and shed their seed. The bird Chanmrosh forever sits in that vicinity, and collects the seed which drops from the tree and conveys it where Tishtar seizes the water, so that it may rain on the world.

    In later mythology, as in the epic of Firdusi, the simorgh is depicted as a gigantic bird who finds the infant Zal on the mountain Alberz [Berj], carries him to his nest and rears him “teaching him the language of the country and cultivating his understanding.” Simorgh-anke (simurgh-’anka), the steed of Taimuraz or Tahmurath equivalent to the phoenix or roc, was “a marvelous bird, in truth, intelligent, a polyglot, and even very religious. . . . It complains of its old age, for it is born cycles and cycles before the days of Adam (also Kaimurath). It has witnessed the revolutions of long centuries. It has seen the birth and the close of twelve cycles of 7,000 years each, which multiplied esoterically will give us again 840,000 years” (SD 2:397).

    Behind the tales that have clustered around this wonderful bird, there was a deep symbology: “Simorgh was the guardian of the ancient Persian Mysteries. It is expected to reappear at the end of the cycle as a gigantic bird-lion. Esoterically, it stands as the symbol of the Manvantaric cycle” (TG 299). Simorgh symbolizes the ancient knowledge and the creative life force. In later Persian literature, it represents the perfect man who has exalted himself to the highest degree of freedom.



    The Simorgh becomes important when we see all the technical parts of the Homa are sub-rites so the whole thing--as well as the whole structure of the Vedas--is for the purpose of sacrifice, Soma Yajna.


    That links a study which is the prospect of the Vedas actually describing metallurgy as the thesis for Soma sacrifice:



    The metaphor is emphatic and constitutes an expression of awe and wonder on how infusion of carbon (carburization) into metal in a furnace (yajnakunda) is mediated by the burning of wheatchaff (godhuma) set atop the Yupa as caṣāla (according to Rigveda, Taittiriya Samhita and Satapatha Brahmana).



    Identification of Soma as metal is consistent with the context of Indus Script Corpora as metalwork catalogues of the Bronze Age Revolution.



    It must be something, because Indian carbonized steel was superior to anything for thousands of years. Concerning Soma as molten metal:


    In Avestan, Veda textual traditions, homa bird, श्येन śyena, sēṇa brings down Soma.


    sēṇa 'eagle' Indus script hieroglyph, senmurv (Ancient Persian)


    “Sęnmurw (Pahlavi), Sîna-Mrű (Pâzand), a fabulous, mythical bird. The name derives from Avestan mərəγô saęnô ‘the bird Saęna’, originally a raptor, either eagle or falcon, as can be deduced from the etymologically identical Sanskrit
    śyena.”


    "Simurgh (/ˌsɪˈmərɡ/; Persian: سیمرغ‎), also spelled simorgh, simurg, simoorg or simourv, also known as Angha (Persian: عنقا‎), is a benevolent, mythical flying creature. The figure can be found in all periods of Greater Iranian art and literature and is also evident in the iconography of medieval Armenia, the Byzantine empire, and other regions that were within the sphere of Persian cultural influence.[clarification needed] The mythical bird is also found in the mythology of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and is called Kerkés, Semrug, Semurg, Samran, and Samruk.

    The name simurgh derives from Middle Persian Pahlavi sēnmurw (and earlier sēnmuruγ), also attested in Middle Persian Pāzand as sīna-mrū. The Middle Persian term derives in turn from Avestan mərəγō Saēnō "the bird Saēna", originally a raptor, likely an eagle, falcon, or sparrowhawk, as can be deduced from the etymological cognate Sanskrit śyenaḥ ("raptor, eagle, bird of prey") that also appears as a divine figure.


    Simorg, śyēná (anzu), patanga, mákṣikā: Rigveda riddles, Meluhha hieroglyphs as archaeometallurgy metaphors



    One of the oldest representations of a griffon-like syena is:



    Sculptural frieze. stūpa of Sanchi, second half of 2nd century BCE (Kramrisch,1954, pic13)


    Matching these artifacts (including over 8000 Harappa Script inscriptions which are metalwork catalogues) with the wealth-creation activities detaled in the ancient texts of the Veda dated to ca. 10,000 years Before Present, a vivid picture emerges about the contributions made by the artisans, artificers, workers and traders of the civilization to the wealth of nations along the Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi to Haifa.

    Artha, ‘wealth’ of Vedic Sarasvati civilization in 1 CE is directly and substantially related to the Bronze Age Tin Bronze Revolution in Bharata (India, Vedic rāṣṭram) and long-distance trade which stretched along the Maritime Tin Route from Hanoi (Vietnam) to Haifa (Israel).



    Vajra is:


    ...also applied to a thunderbolt in general or to the lightning evolved from the centrifugal energy of the circular thunderbolt of इन्द्र when launched at a foe ; in Northern Buddhist countries it is shaped like a dumb-bell and called Dorje.




    One statement is emphatic in RV 10.124.3 which uses the expression pitre asurAya, ’Father Asura’ as the primeval world of undivided unity.


    I was trying to find any discussion where "lifting the earth" is understood as planetary crust formation. I haven't seen any resumption of this idea, however, the iconography is certainly quite old. The linked study clearly makes use of Boar Avatar and a metal ring on top of a sacrificial post (Yupa) as his "snout":



    As the yajnika together with his dharmapatni performs vājapeya soma yaga, the attainment of heaven occurs when the yajnika touches the wheat (top-piece) (SBr. 5.1.2.12-16). This top-piece is the चषालः caṣāla signified by Varāha’s snout and which signifies चषालः caṣāla ‘anna, food’ for pyrolysis to carburize metal into hard alloy, in the smelting process.

    Wheat which is annam is the wheat chaff constituting the चषालः caṣāla. This is the vajra, adamantine glue which achieves the process of caburization in pyrolysis to attain hard alloys.

    The depiction of this wheat chaff is rendered in Indus Script cipher. Hierroglyph: bhūĩ ‘earth’ signified as bhudevi carried on the चषालः caṣāla ‘snout of boar’ varāha Rebus: bhũ ‘wheat chaff’ as annam.

    Procedure for vājapeya soma yaga

    Satapatha Brahmana elucidates the process using wheat chaff as चषालः caṣāla, the metaphor is ascent on Yupa to heaven.


    A horizontally placed vishnu cakra is also a substitute for caṣāla. But the key in archaeometallurgical terms is wheat straw, which is a carburization mediation to harden wrought iron into steel. Thus, climbing up to the entire top portion of the Yupa as a metaphor is the attainment of immortality. This amRtatva in materialistic terms is the acquisition of muhă̄, ‘quantity of iron produced from a smelter’.

    godhUma गोधूम ‘wheat chaff’



    For such a procedure, there is:


    ...evidence for performance of a Soma Yaga in Binjor (ca. 2500 BCE). The evidence is a yajńa kunda with an octagonal pillar, a signature pillar of a Soma Yaga, together with an Indus Script inscription.


    As to it being done by kings or about wealth:


    It is the duty of men of prowess to give liberally of their substance so as to acquire greater wealth and status, thereby initiating an endless cycle of giving at all levels of society. It is also imperative that these meritorious deeds be properly recorded. In the second and third inscriptions, there is an expressed linkage between the giving of gifts (dAna) and the acquisition of merit (puNya). To record these pious acts a sacrificial post (yupa) was erected. What we have, then, is action on the temporal plane that was meant to have eternal impact in the sense that Mulavarman was building his field of merit.




    To package the symbolism:


    There is an orthodox explanation of the symbolism underlying the boar avatara of Vishnu
    given in the Padma-purana. The Vayu-purana also gives the same passage word for word. In them it is stated that the sacrifice (yajńa) is as a whole symbolised by the boar, and that its various limbs represent the limbs of the sacrifice.


    ...in the Vedic stream of the Bharatas, the school of Prajapatya Vaishvamitras instituted instituted a rite to commemorate the twelve month year also known as Prajapati, with a twelve day pouring to the deities: Savita, agni, matarishvan, the adityas, the nakshatras, the Rta dhAta, Brihaspati, Mitra, Varuna, Indra and Soma. The end of the year was marked symbolically by the beheading of Prajapati by Rudra. The restoration of his head in the new year was through the surgery of the Ashvins. The myth of the cephalic surgery on Prajapati and Dadhici served as the fusion point of these rites during the early settlement of the Bharatas in the sub-continent. This resulted in the Pravargya rite which marks the restoration of the head of yajńa or the Prajapati also called Makha’s head in the Brahmana literature.


    Pravargya worship is thus associated with Dadhici (also known as Dadhyanc – dadhya ‘curd’ PLUS anch (ams’a?) ‘parts’). Dadhici is associated with the making of the weapon called ‘vajra’ from his bones. Dadhici is the son of sage Atharvan. Dadhici’s son was Pippalada. Dadhici is a master of Brahmavidya or Madhuvidya. The narrative refers to Ashvins replacing Dadhici’s head back with the head of a horse and reviving Dadhici to revive Madhuvidya. The making of the Vajra weapon from Dadhici’s bones is the central metallurgical process.

    RV 1.80.16 In like manner as of old, so in whatever act of worship Atharvan or father Manu, or Dadhyan~c engaged, their oblations and their hymns were all congregated in that Indra, manifesting his own sovereignty. [Manus.-pita: Manu being the progenitor of all mankind; dadhyan~c or dadhi_ci_, a r.s.i, son of Atharvan].




    So the foregoing is based from one person's analysis of a 2015 dig and discovery of the octagonal post. If the analysis is not completely correct, it still means that the site is of that age or ca. 2,500 B. C. E., and, it involves wheat both in steel-making and as usual. Since then, there was a 2016 discovery of artifacts by a farmer, followed by a crowd looking for gold coins, followed by a police presence.

    Then enough artifacts to establish a local 2020 museum.


    Generally speaking of the place:


    Alamgirpur, also called "Parasaram ka khera", is an archaeological site of the Indus Valley civilization that thrived along Yamuna River (c. 3300–1300 BC) from the Harappan-Bara period, located in Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the easternmost site of the civilization. It was partially excavated in 1958 and 1959 by Archaeological Survey of India...

    Little metal was in evidence. However, a broken blade made of copper was found.


    That does not fit very well with the wheat-for-steel concept. As for what has been found in the remains of Binjor:


    In the Ghaggar river valley, explorations and excavations had been done in several sites. These sites included Kalibangan, 46 GB and Binjor 1, 2, 3 and 4, Rakhigarhi and Baror.

    During 2017 excavation, 4000 years old high protein multi-grain laddus were found...



    What are these Harappan ladoos?


    He stated that the most intriguing things about these ‘laddoos’ were that when it came in contact with water, the slurry turned purple. They then handed over the samples of food balls to BSIP for scientific analysis.

    Initially, they thought that the food balls had some connection with occult activities, since the figurines were also found in close proximity.

    They initially presumed that these were non-vegetarian food.

    However, after primary microscopic analysis, they found that the ladoos were made of wheat, barley, chickpea and a few other oilseeds.


    That implies some kind of clash, since Kasi or Benares was a rice-eating culture that apparenly denounced wheat. Harappan seems to have accepted it, and lacks rice in this recipe. This could be simply climatological, i. e., today Rajasthan is probably still not a big rice farm, aside from irrigation. It is understandable that rice would fail to circulate far out of southern and eastern Asia.

    In turn, this makes Harappan sound less likely as the source or origin of the Vedas.


    The term "godhuma" has the literal meaning of "earth smoke".

    Sukla Yajurveda only refers to wheat as a polishing agent for pottery. It is a synonym for gavedhuka, which is not wheat, but wild grass or Job's Tears.

    The linked study gives its earliest use as:


    Satapatha Brahmana elucidates the process using wheat chaff as चषालः caṣāla, the metaphor is ascent on Yupa to heaven.
    5.2.1.


    which means we would have to accept all his synonyms as equivalents in order to form the conclusion that this is definitely about using wheat to make steel. However the very same book he is quoting quite specifically says that "godhuma" is a "forest grass":


    gavedhukā āraṇyagodhumākhyā oṣadhayaḥ…/ Sāyaṇa on Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, 14.1.2.19






    Although wheat can be traced to Mergarh ca. 7,000 B. C. E., from Rg Veda, there is:

    Presence of Dhana, Absence of Godhuma.

    The Rg Veda definitely has rice, and, does not mention wheat whatsoever.


    Wheat or godhuma does make its appearance in Yajur Veda and Ramayana.



    So if wheat may not be omnipresent or such a sole inspiration, that most likely should be assigned to the Pillar, Yupa, stambha, or skambha:


    Vanaspati is the sacrificial post yupa (Nirkuta, VIII.17; also Rig Veda I.13.11).

    As per Pranagnihotra Upanishad (IV.1), the sound om is compared with the sacrificial post in self sacrifice. The heart of sacrifice is also compared with yupa in Mahanarayana Upanishad (XXV.1).


    A long reflection on its symbolism may be found in a single source:


    Atharva Veda ( X – 7,8) — Skambha Suktam

    In the context of Hindu mythology, stambha, also spelt as Skambha, is believed to a cosmic column. It is believed that the stambha functions as a bond, which joins the heaven (Svarga) and the earth (prithvi).

    On top, sits Brahma

    At bottom, Hari (Vishnu) in Boar (Varaha) Avatar



    This--which can be imitated by poor people using cheap materials--most likely results in sectarianism by being re-worked into the concept of the Linga:


    In that hymn a description is found of the beginningless and endless Stambha or Skambha, and it is shown that the said Skambha is put in place of the eternal Brahman. As afterwards the Yajna (sacrificial) fire, its smoke, ashes, and flames, the Soma plant, and the ox that used to carry on its back the wood for the Vedic sacrifice gave place to the conceptions of the brightness of Shiva's body, his tawny matted-hair, his blue throat, and the riding on the bull of the Shiva, and so on — just so, the Yupa-Skambha gave place in time to the Shiva-Linga, and was deified to the high Devahood of Shri Shankara.


    As another example, there is a Tamil coin showing a horse at a post with "umbrella curves" on top of it.

    Of course, they stand "under or near" the Aswattha tree, so I would not rush to say this shows a horse about to be killed.

    Again, we simply do not care how many people or kingdoms may have taken this all literally as a practice of animal slaughter. It may be that blood sacrifices are standard, and the Vedas arose in the context of trying to make it symbolic. In any case, the boar, goat, horse, etc., are *all* symbols of something, and the ultimate is "human sacrifice" which of course is the burning of the ego.


    We did not find anything about the crust or earth's formation, but there is perhaps a gravitational relationship of Earth to Jupiter in Satapatha Brahmana:


    18. Thereupon; while looking down upon this (earth), he mutters, Homage be to the mother Earth! homage be to the mother Earth!' For when Brihaspati had been consecrated, the Earth was afraid of him, thinking, 'Something great surely has he become now that he has been consecrated: I fear lest he may rend me asunder!' And Brihaspati also was afraid of the Earth, thinking, 'I fear lest she may shake me off!' Hence by that (formula) he entered into a friendly relation with her; for a mother does not hurt her son, nor does a son hurt his mother.

    5:2:1:1919. Now the Brihaspati consecration is the same as the Vâgapeya; and the earth in truth is afraid of that (Sacrificer), thinking, 'Something great surely has he become now that he has been consecrated: I fear lest he may rend me asunder!' And he himself is afraid of her, thinking, 'I fear lest she may shake me off!' Hence he thereby enters into a friendly relation with her, for a mother does not hurt her son; neither does a son hurt his mother.

    20. He then descends (and treads) upon a piece of gold;--gold is immortal life: he thus takes his stand on life immortal.




    That seems to tell us that the orthodox process as a whole automatically propitiates Brihaspati--Jupiter. Agreeing that this is to some extent necessary, we are just saying it is "incomplete" by excluding the teachings and mantras from Sukra--Venus.




    As an interesting cited image:



    Figure 44 in Zhu Xintian, 2008, The queen’s stepwell of India

    Mother divinity with pine cone, Varāha with Varahi holding triśula and yupa with caṣāla (associated with bahusuvarnaka in Ramayana signifying a Soma yaga). This is an extraordinary sculpture depicting the wealth of Bharata during the Bronze Age. Mother earth is shown carrying a pine-cone, signifying agricultural wealth and wealth of mineral resources. VaraHi is seen carrying a caṣāla, on a yupa, signifying wealth creation working with metals.



    Her Image was studied by Rangarajan 2004:


    The focus of this book is on goddess Varahi who is the atmasakti of Varaha responsible for lifting up the earth goddess from the Nether region. Very few books like the present are available which are exclusively devoted to Varahi.


    Old Orissan terms for "stump goddess" include:


    Taripennu, Dharani Deota, Bhu


    one that holds the earth:

    Unmatta Bhairavi


    a few other Varahis:

    Vartali (Brhad) and Dhumavati, Jyestha



    Vartali is perhaps an alternate name for:


    Karnapishachini


    And--having spent some time looking into why her name appears to mean "round or circle"--we can find this one elevated by Sri Lalita in the singular account against Bandhasura:



    On the sixth step were eight deities led by Vartali: Varahi, Varahamukhi, Andhini, Rodhini, Jrmimbhini, Mohini and Stambhini with a dusky white buffalo on their left to carry Dandanatha.


    kuTiladamsTrAM: Having curved tusks (teeth). Meditate on the curved tusks (teeth) while repeating ‘vArtAli vArtAli’. Since teeth are required for vArta- speech.

    vArtAli: Lord of speech. As seen above the varaha avatar used the tusks to lift the world, having big tusks are indicated here. Philosophically they indicate the Vedas which are the sure means for being lifted up.


    It turns out this Varahi is well-known enough to have a detailed Vartali Purascarana, which shows Bandhuka flowers as her offering, which is also special or specific in some of the Buddhist sadhanas, sometimes meaning a goddess of this color. She is shown in a Green form with a noticeable Yantra and the fruits of her practice.

    There is also a brief Dhyana of her in a Peaceful Six Arm form from:

    Parashurama Kalpasutram - Varahi Krama


    And she appears in a list of Durga forms in Skanda Purana such as:


    Vajratārā
    Mayūravadanā
    Chinnamastā
    Vārtālī
    Jaṃbhalī
    Sureśvarī


    Her main meaning appears to be "having curved tusks", which, at first, are used to raise and separate Earth from Water, and then, perhaps, more associated with human teeth and therefor "talking".

    In Sadhanamala, she is Red having Four Arms, and is the first, or Eastern, retinue attendant for Marici although she is spelled:


    varttāli


    She takes a few standard Marici attributes, Needle and Asoka, and also has Hook and Noose. The retinue is similar, except the last member resembles a normal Kurukulla Archer, i. e. she has a Bow and Arrow, although being Sow Faced. Her name, Varahamukhi, is standard for the others, or, Varttali is "a varahamukhi". These are not quite Buddhist Vajravarahi. They are like aspects of Bhu Devi or Lakshmi in Varahi incarnation. So the proceeding dilemma about the Sacrificial Post perhaps also being for iron work, compared to its philosophical meaning of raising the earth, and cotemporaneous use for Sabari Saktis, this all kind of goes together here.

    It is "only" a Marici attendant, but, contains all of that.

    In terms of the Song, it is possible for Ekajati to move forward to be the origin or leader, and it is common for Marici to be the last or Tara Twenty-one.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Dharma and Artha; Mahacina and Vedic History: Flood and Drought, Solar and Lunar Dynasties



    This is out of some recent re-considerations of the lensed views in most of the knowledge base. It will have to be broken in two parts.

    I do not know what to make of the group of "great or major or world religions".

    I am not sure they are a certain thing because broadly classed, some of them are Abrahamic and others are Dharmic.

    The first is based from written instructions, Mosaic Law, and the second is not quite like this. The context and application appear to be something else. What is the case is that all the Dharma is not quite from a law, but, the principle or value of generosity and giving. It is the same to a King or any rich person. Wealth, whenever it accumulates, is supposed to be given. There is a reasonable subsistence level, and, a general effort in surpassing it in order to re-distribute the excess. That is supposed to be the basic motive that is in all the social fabric.

    That is not the end of the meaning, but, it is the beginning, of what I am not sure is a religion but is Dharma.

    You don't take the first step in any Path without it.


    This characterizes anything that could be considered Hindu, Jain, or Buddhist. Those are all just collections or libraries from particular Sages, some of whom consider others as heretics and so forth. And so it is noticeable that there is a somewhat widespread Puranic agreement about the deity named Dharma in:



    1) Bhāgavata-purāṇa III. 12. 25; IV. I. 48-50; Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa II. 9. 1, 49-50; IV. 1. 40; Matsya-purāṇa 3. 10; 4. 34 and 55; 5. 13; 146. 16; Va. 1. 69; 10. 26; 100. 43; Viṣṇu-purāṇa I. 7. 24, 28-31; 15. 77, 103. Vāyu-purāṇa 63. 41; 66. 2; 76. 3.



    He is a Prajapati or emanated from the Mind of Brahma.

    The understanding I have gotten is that within the Creations that Lakshmi calls "Sheaths", Brahma "creates" Worlds or Lokas, first in a mental way, and eventually in form. The simple analogy is that he is interested in making Subjects. Various living beings, who, understandably, would hopefully do spiritual practices. But we find he loses interest in a group of images standing around saying "Thank you Brahma", which is like the impression I get from "religions". Anyway, he creates more races of Subjects in more world systems when he becomes aware he wants them to reproduce mithuna srsti, or, that is, by blissful sexual reproduction. He "creates" from existing light and energy merely by shaping it, he is not all that good at it, and so Dharma does not "worship" the Creator. Yoga is of course the way of stopping and reversing creation. It is like running the Purana backwards and then repeating the world formation.


    When the current Aeon begins, Dharma is mind born as:


    A son of Brahmā, born of the right side of his chest; one of the first five created things for the propagation of people; the first devata who married the thirteen daughters of Dakṣa or the Dākṣāyaṇis ([or] ten: Lakṣmī, Dhṛti, Tuṣṭi, Puṣṭi, Medhā, Kriyā, Buddhi, Lajjā, Vasu, Śānti, Siddhi and Kīrti)


    ...father of 12 Sādhyas, 8 Vasavas, 10 Viśvedevas, of Maruts, of Bhānus, of Muhūrtas and so on. Father of Yudhiṣṭhira; cursed by Māṇḍavya the sage.*

    * Vāyu-purāṇa 10. 26; 63. 41; 66. 2; 76. 3. Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa II. 9. 1, 49-50.



    And what he does is a human social expansion of Jupiterian Rta. We want to say Rta is a bit like the sun and natural law, which is important but however not the sum total of existence. A successful realm of Subjects has to find its own inter-personal order:


    Dharma (धर्म).—In Indian tradition, the concept of ṛta (cosmic order) gave rise to the idea of dharma. The term dharma here does not mean mere religion; it stands for duty, obligation and righteousness. It is a whole way of life in which ethical values are considered supreme and everyone is expected to perform his or her duty according to his or her social position and station in life. In Buddhism, the word dhamma is used, which is the Pāli equivalent of the Sanskrit word dharma. The guidelines and rules regarding what is considered as appropriate behaviour for human beings are prescribed in the Dharma Śāstras. These are sociological texts that tell us about our duties and obligations as individuals as well as members of society.

    The concept of right and wrong is the core of the Mahābhārata which emphasizes, among others, the values of non-violence, truthfulness, absence of anger, charity, forgiveness and self realization. It is only by performing one’s righteous duties or dharma that one can hope to attain the supreme path to the highest good. It is dharma alone that gives both prosperity (abhyudaya) and the supreme spiritual good (niśryas).


    For the Hindus all life is sacred. The divine soul is believed to permeate all that exists in nature: stones, plants, animals and humans. [...] Before the Vedic period, forests were experienced as the home of wild forces of animal and vegetative life, beyond the control of village life guided by the priests. A division was perceived between orderly village life controlled by the Brahmins (priests) who guided the people in the practice of dharma (the cosmic law that refers to the duty of human beings to their family, to society, humanity, nature and towards God), and the adharmic world of the forests (that which is not in accord with the law of dharma) over which the priests had no control.



    Śaṅkha and Padma are the two treasures (nidhis) which dharma bears. These are intended to help those people who pursue the right course conduct in order that the pursuits (kāma and artha) would have been fruitfully taken up by them. Kāma means desires in life. Artha means wealth or economic condition.



    Dharma of course remains transcendent to mundane affairs; according to the Vayu and Brahmanda Puranas it is:


    Manifold and subtle; to understand the truth is difficult; hence it is not possible to give a definite lead in the Vedic laws; hence sages do not attach weight to dāna and yajńa but to sanātanadharma which leads to svarga; is knowledge of the Śrauta Smārta dharma and following of Varṇāśrama for attainment of heaven; Iṣṭaprāpaka dharma introduced by the Ācāryas. Consists of ten things: begging food, non-theft, purity, disinterestedness, activity, sympathy, non-injury, avoidance of anger, service of the guru, truthfulness; of four pādas.



    So it is "through" that, or, requiring it as a platform. To do otherwise is to enter hypocrisy and soon meaninglessness.

    Consequently, in Shiva Tantra:


    Dharma (धर्म) refers to the “qualities (of one’s consciousness)”, according to the Īśvarapratyabhijńāvimarśinī (KSTS vol. 65, 330).—Accordingly, “[...] Thus, due to practicing [this insight], the qualities of His consciousness (saṃvid-dharma), which are aspects of Śakti, fully penetrate [those various levels], causing the [various] powers to arise. But even without practice, in the [rare] case of an instantaneous immersion into That, one obtains the state of liberation-in-life through the process of the direct experience of [the Five Mystic States]: Bliss, Ascent, Trembling, Sleep, and ‘Whirling,’ which means Pervasion”.




    In Pali Buddhism it is the Instantaneous Moment or Time Quantum:


    For the Abhidharmikas, the ultimate components of existence, the elementary constituents of experience were called dharmas. These dharmas were seen as the ultimate entities or momentary events which make up the fabric of people's experience of reality. The conventional reality of substantial objects and persons is merely a conceptual construct imputed by the mind on a flux of dharmas. However, dharmas are never seen as individually separate entities, but are always dependently conditioned by other dharmas in a stream of momentary constellations of dharmas, constantly coming into being and vanishing, always in flux.

    The four categories of dharmas in the Theravada Abhidhamma are:

    citta (Mind, Consciousness, awareness)
    cetasika (mental factors, mental events, associated mentality), there are 52 types
    rūpa — (physical occurrences, material form), 28 types
    nibbāna — (Extinction, cessation). This dharma is unconditioned it neither arises nor ceases due to causal interaction.




    When we see what is noted, it would be difficult and less helpful to memorize twenty-eight kinds of forms.

    With Citta properly highlighted, it would say that it is accompanied by Seven Permanent Cetasikas. This then is our Heart Bindu, which is the Brahmanda or Brahma Anda, or Golden Egg or Hiranyagarbha. The Bindu itself is tiny but the Egg is the abiding part or layer of one's aura, is not born and dissipated such as the forms of physical and astral bodies.

    Consciousness, per se, being the Point, the Egg being the Experience or World.

    The capability of a reversed, blank state, a kind of "washing" or purging, can be done by many Yogas, whereas Mahayana Buddhism could be described as a variety of:



    The primary purpose of Mīmāṃsa is to establish the nature of right action (Dharma).


    The Eightfold Path such as Right Conduct we have established as, not words that can be learned, but, the result from awakening the Seven Jewels of Enlightenment. That is the way to get "Mahayana Mimamsa". As it is:



    The search for the Dharma by means of the non-apprehension of all the teachings. – The bodhisattva seeks the Dharma with resolutions associated with omniscience and [hence] does not fall to the rank of śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha.

    To seek the Dharma (dharmaparyeṣṭi) is to write it, to recite it, to study it and to meditate on it. These texts heal the mental illnesses (cittavyādhi) of beings. The bodhisattva sacrifices his life to gather together these text-remedies.


    Non-material Dharmas are not cognized by the five faculties. Therefore it is by means of considering the moment of birth-duration-destruction of the mind that we know that the mind (citta) is composed of parts (sabhāga).




    So "Artha" sounds a bit materialistic, which is not inherently a sin--but, even so, this has the meaning of "meaning" such as in the following sense:



    Manusmṛti with the Manubhāṣya

    The term Artha (अर्थ, “purpose”) stands for what is helpful; the meaning therefore is that what is mentioned here is the means for accomplishing what is helpful for man

    The means of accomplishing the purposes of man are of four kinds. That is, the following four steps should be taken towards that end:—viz: acquiring, saving, augmenting and giving.


    Ultimate Meaning of Dharma is the Purpose (Param Artha), one could say. Having taken that from the Laws of Manu, they are neither laws nor from the actual Manu, because they are clearly Puranic. Of this work, old written Buddhism is aware it is just a philosophical suggestion, seeing the description of the author.


    Pali Kanon: Pali Proper Names

    An Indian sage of old who wrote a work for the guidance of kings in good government. E.g., Cv.lxxx.9, 55; lxxxiii.6; lxxxiv.2; xcvi.26.


    He is a sage, not a legislator, and we can say very well that no ancient period represented a single legal code being enforced over a sub-continent. He perhaps is a popular one among many of his kind. For the most part, Dharma has nothing that runs like an equivalent of the Ten Commandments. And of course the Commandments say nothing other than they were a single event. And they were "permanently written", which is the reverse of Indian ways. This event is also a simultaneous original heresy against Mandaeism. So then just in Moses, you either have the backbone of several religions, or, an aberration not accepted by Mandaeans or Dharma followers. The most we can really say right now is that Book Manu was probably an actual person.


    The Manu of the Flood is Puranic and is said to have landed at Dev Bhumi (Kullu Valley) and was succeeded by others in the area according to an inhabitant:


    Vasishta established his ashram across the valley at a hot springs that is still there. Bhrigu Rishi made his ashram on a south-facing slope right across from where my cottage is. The great human-born Veda Vyasa, also lived here in this valley. Vyasa was the Rishi who arranged the Vedas into four sections, wrote the Brahma Sutras and composed the Mahabharata, the grand epic of India which contains the Bhagavad-Gita and the Bhagavatam Purana, the story of Lord Krishna's life. So vast and comprehensive is the Mahabharata, it is called the 'Bible' of India. It is said of this great story, 'If it isn't in the Mahabharata, it isn't'. Vyasa dicated that great epic right here in this Valley of the Gods to the elephant-headed God-Ganesh.


    Vyasa (or River Beas) is something like an epoch dividing line. He refers to "a" Purana, like a Purana Samhita. In Ramayana terms, usually Three Vedas are referred to, until the time when Mahabharata is compiled by Vyasa:


    I have given below what Srimad Bhagavata Purana says about this.

    He re-edited the Veda, which was a single unit originally, by dividing it into four, so that the sanctifying institution of Vedic Yajna, performed by four officiating priests, may not disappear from the human society. He then revived the Veda by editing it into four books, the Rik, Sama, Yajus and Atharva, and he also brought into existence the Itihasas and Puranas - the sacred traditional histories and the ancient sacred lore known as the fifth Veda. Had it not been for this work of the Great Rishi, man with his deteriorating intellectual capacity, would have forgotten all this massive sacred heritage.


    "This" Vyasa did not work on Mahabharata as we know it, which was done by:


    Krishna Dvaipayana


    At the very least, it should be considered there was a Veda Vyasa and an Epic Vyasa.


    From around 2,000 B. C. E., Harappan culture is believed to have physically withered while "the Vedic Period" comes in. This suggests that Vyasa and Mahabharata would be somewhat younger.

    However, concerning these Harappans, it is entirely possible that Aryans and Dravidians are the same Vedic Sanskrit people and the Indus Seals reveal this in proto-Brahmi.

    The Flood Myth is not Vedic because the Vedas have No Stories and it appears in Satapatha Brahmana. It occupies six lines of VIII.1 and then goes to Calling the Ida and so it would sound like we are back with Gopali Vasudhara. Thought to be committed to its current written form around 300 B. C. E..This is some thousand years off of the latest Vedas, which is why it sounds like an adoption of Dagon or Genesis, rather than a significant original Indian belief. So we will run through the possibilities.



    Himachal Pradesh has pre-historic Kols, Kirats, and Kinnaurs, and shows a wave of Indus Valley migration in the foothills. So it was inhabited for thousands of years prior to the Flood Myth. We do not know of any cue why someone would think the ocean was affecting HP, whereas it is more possible that the draining of Kathmandu Lake was a specific event that could have been spoken of forever.

    If that story of Flood Manu is late and even inaccurate, there may have been some other reason Vyasa and the Sages knew of Manali and Manu. If it was not literally "the land of the first person", there may have been an era when a much longer road through Afghanistan and Pakistan was shortcut by a new, more difficult road, from Ladakh to Manali. There was definitely a point that changed Manali from "the end of the world" into a relatively important trading post.

    To me, at least, this makes the Flood Myth sound much more symbolic, exactly like the Ida which follows it and is a large part of the subject of Wealth, which was not bound up by laws, or any kind of constitutional framework, from any actual first person that we know of.


    Artha is Wealth, in a mundane, common sense way, but is a juncture or transform. And so it is "the purpose of the goods" or "the meaning of the words", perhaps similar to what we might call raison d'etre. Considering that it is not only the moral aspect of wealth, it is found again in a deified position. These are Gatekeepers of the Dharmadhatu Vagisvara Manjughosha Mandala:




    Pratisaṃvit (प्रतिसंवित्).—In Buddhism Four Pratisaṃvits are acknowledged as the branches of logical analysis, and these are named as:

    Dharma (nature),
    Artha (analysis),
    Nirukti (etymological analysis),
    Pratibhāna (context).



    It is the only time that they make a retinue, that I am aware of.

    DDV is an interesting mix of standards as well as tailored deities such as these.

    As a likely scriptural basis, the Four Pratisamvits are taught as Unhindered in Chapter XXII Mahaparinirvana Sutra, leading to Paramartha.


    It is none other than the same as in our Table of Contents, where, Mahayana, in dealing with Void, generally says something must be present in order to be considered "empty" of something else, and that which is empty of ego and mental formations is:


    Eternal, Bliss, Self, and the Pure


    The chapter is not terribly long, and includes the Six Paramitas for example. It is a good scriptural moment of Mahayana.


    Evidence for fires in the Ladakhi caves is only given for the Eleventh Century. Parts of the area were settled by Mons from Kullu Valley. However no one really says anything about the Silk Road other than it was probably running by around 2-300 B. C. E., and there is no way to ascertain anything about exactly how, why, or when there would be a Manali to Leh Silk Road.

    I am not sure the question has been asked by any of the universities, archeologists, or writers.

    There was something equally important, but, probably nearly the opposite of a Great Flood.


    So far, objectively, we are told that there was a late expansion of IVC into Himachal Pradesh, and, there is no way to legitimately associate this with the Sanskrit Vedic culture. And then some sneak in the dark changes it from the moonlike environment that it really is, into a prosperous branch of the Silk Road. In fact this remains in the modern age in the state of HP, this area still has many that are fairly well-to-do, and, the other half of the state is still at a pretty rugged subsistence level.

    Therefor, something behind the legends and scriptures really happened, and the least-likely case is enough rain to float a boat into the mountains. However, we might say it is fine to use this as a metaphor, in a symbolic way.


    The current assessment of Fish Avatar Matsya has nothing to do with an historical event and a person literally sailing through some Ice Age tempest:


    According to Bonnefoy, the Vedic story is symbolic. The little fish alludes to the Indian "law of the fishes", an equivalent to the "law of the jungle". The small and weak would be devoured by the big and strong, and needs the dharmic protection of the legislator and king Manu to enable it to attain its full potential and be able to help later. Manu provides the protection, the little fish grows to become big and ultimately saves all existence. The boat that Manu builds to get help from the saviour fish, states Bonnefoy, is symbolism of the means to avert complete destruction and for human salvation. The mountains represent the doorway for ultimate refuge and liberation. Edward Washburn Hopkins suggests that the favour of Manu rescuing the fish from death, is reciprocated by the fish.


    No, it is not "Vedic", it is Matsya Purana or some other extrapolation of SB.

    If Vedic sacrifice is supposed to be symbolic, it may follow that the Flood is symbolic. Nothing from that analysis even attempted to connect encroaching waves or a boat, or any way it could have "actually happened", as if it didn't matter. This is like a piece of reverse or negative analysis, saying that India does not really record such an event, it may not have happened. The singular submergence of Dwarka could easily have been a local seismic event, rather than a world flood.

    If anything, the symbol does have to do with the Watery Deep, or, Varuna, in the sense of cosmology and primordial chaos in which the physical plane arises or is emanated.

    It has this metaphysical meaning, but, from a critical perusal of the sources, I am not finding anything that persuades me that either a world flood, or, even the planetary formation of oceans and crust, is being discussed here at all.


    It does form a pattern, esoterically, of Matsya and Varaha avatars as doing something "from mind to matter", but this is before Vamana, which could be described as the Caitanya or Consciousness of Vishnu filling or permeating physical space.

    But then you more or less have a "missing Epic" because Parasurama does interact with the human race and, it is at the level of calamity.

    Moreover, tradition asserts that this produces the lineage of Dattatreya, and this one quite likely is "pre-Vedic", or, it may not be out of line to place it as far as around 6,000 B. C. E., beyond written Vedas or other similar relics. This somewhat mirrors the Indian recalcitrance about writing anything. It seems to be an active choice to force you to memorize as much as possible, and society would mostly depend on direct teacher to student means.

    That could easily explain the relative dearth about Indus Script and what happened to the place, which, in turn, may have been suggestive of the need for writing, and you start getting evidence for Sanskrit Vedic culture.

    The shift we found with Hingula Mata and the Weaver Caste going to Gujarat and Maharastra approximately fits the last or latest known Indus Valley developments which happened around there, such as Dholavira. You could probably say it expanded into the Shivalik foothills in HP, and perhaps simply remained, while in west India the sites seem abandoned and it is like a revolving door from one culture to the next.

    In that northern expansion, you encounter Mons and Kirats.

    Those are closer to a good explanation of Manjushri.

    Kiratpur to Manali just got a new highway, considered a four hour shortcut off the previous way.



    At some point, Manali became important, but at first it was fairly deep in Kirat country, which makes it inexplicable as the home of the first person, or the seat of Aryan culture. In those times, meeting the Kirats was not very friendly. From the Limbu telling:


    Shambhasura was a Kirata who was defeated on the banks of the Sindhu and moved to the Kinnara Land of Himachal Pradesh. The Mongols mixed with the Kiratas and moved East to Nepal eventually.


    And this also appears in the standard History of HP--prior to the Indus Valley expansion:


    The famous war between the Aryan King 'Divodas' and the Kirata King 'Shambhar' is mentioned in an ancient Hindu scripture, the ‘Rigveda’. King Shambhar had 99 forts in the Western Himalayan region of what is now regarded to be Himachal Pradesh. This war between the Indo-Aryans and Tibeto-Burman 'Kiratas' lasted for a total of 40 years sometime between 3,000BC to 2,500BC and led to the destruction of 99 of the aforementioned forts, King Shambhar and his ally Verchi were slain at a place known as 'Udubraj', supposedly where the war had taken place. This led to the demise of the Kiratas in the Western Himalayas and led to them fleeing eastwards to Nepal and North-East India.


    Some extrapolate it to mean he is the original Shiva. From the Vedas, "siva" is an epithet of several if not all deities.

    Divodas may have driven out the leadership that became Yalambar and the Kirat kings of Nepal, but, he obviously did not eradicate the Kirat people.


    Various Rg Veda verses however have different numbers of forts.

    Once we have a hint where to look, we can just get these verses ourselves, finding Shambar in:


    I.130

    II.14

    II.19

    VI.31


    All of his instances including VII and IX are linked up there.

    Here are ten or so Sambara quotes and his association with Susna and drought. Or similarly a chart of RV Shambar episodes mixed with other events.

    So that would appear to be archaically chronicled somehow--I am not sure it is a "story", but, at least a brief description of a conflict. And then we can note two very different eras as remarked on a tour site:


    I. Himachal Pradesh is home to many tribes. These include the Dagi, Khasa, Hali, Koli, Dhaugri, Kanaura, Dasa and Kirat tribes, who have occupied these lands from the time of the Indus Valley civilization.

    II. The famed Silk Route of days of yore passed right through Himachal Pradesh, and connected the far corners of China, Tibet, Ladakh and Kashmir.


    Eventually it did. Here is an idea why it might be a big shortcut from Punjab, and, because Uttarakhand is rather mountainous, the route is attached to Haryana:






    It would be more accurate to say the Kirats were there for an indeterminate time in the Stone Age regardless of the IVC, and that the main Silk Road was in the east in India in Assam and Sikkhim, which is why that is the "entry point" of the Kirats, who had eventually spread across the Shivalik or foothills.

    Northern Haryana is the oldest and largest Indus Valley Civilization at Bhirrana and Rakhigarhi.

    It appears to have pushed out King Shambar by Divodasa at a time roughly equal to the Harappan expansion into HP. This is what the Rg Veda is about.

    That strongly suggests that it could only be after Divodasa that an Indic Manu, Vyasa, or other Sages would have entered the area of Manali.



    Being careful not to confuse progress, Divodasa II is the brother of Lakshman's mother and a descendant of Dhanvantari. They appear to be aligned to Kashi.

    The Ramayana is of course originally compiled by a Kirat.

    Kashi is not quite as old as the first Indus Valley, and so far it appears that Vedic Sanskrit culture most likely arose in Kashi and became culturally accepted in Haryana and perhaps only certain parts of the IVC. That is if in fact the IVC was a different language, or, perhaps, non-Vedic Sanskrit speakers. The oldest Rg is talking about deities and observances that were already done in its time. That means there are indeterminately loose threads about its background, and we can only say its particular style appears to be Gangetic.



    RV Divodasa's son Sudas is considered the antecedent for the Kuru Kingdom:


    The Kuru Kingdom was the first recorded state-level society in the Indian subcontinent.

    The Kuru kingdom decisively changed the religious heritage of the early Vedic period, arranging their ritual hymns into collections called the Vedas, and developing new rituals which gained their position over Indian civilization as the Srauta rituals, which contributed to the so-called "classical synthesis" or "Hindu synthesis". It became the dominant political and cultural center of the middle Vedic Period during the reigns of Parik**** and Janamejaya, but declined in importance during the late Vedic period.



    In Sudas against the Ten Kings:


    The first phase of the battle took place on the banks of the river Ravi (then Parusni) near Manusa.

    Sudas decisively won against the tribal alliance by strategic breaching of a dyke on the river thereby drowning most of the opponents.

    Then the territory around the Sarasvati River was occupied.



    Because "manusa" is an unknown location that means "human", you have at least a battle originating near "humanity" that ends with a flood eliminating a large number of them, even though it is a human-designed flood.

    Some have speculated that this Ten Kings victory was so important that, it is simply this, magnified and reworked as Mahabharata.

    Divodasa primarily fought one main Kirat foe; Sudas was against a coalition of Kirats, Persians, Afghans, and Kashmiris.


    Sudas opened the area and the first known Kuru king is Pariksit, who appears in the following genealogy:


    Arjuna --> Abhimanyu --> Pariksit

    Pariksit is eulogised in a hymn of the Atharvaveda (XX.127.7-10) as a great Kuru king (Kauravya), whose realm flowed with milk and honey and people lived happily in his kingdom. He is mentioned as the raja vishvajanina (universal king).



    Sudas is mostly forgotten but:


    This is the most important historical event in the Rig Veda.


    It says that Indra is possibly "rain", and that from here, one finds the Mazdaean divergence:


    They are ‘without fire-sacrifice’: in the Persian religion, fire was so sacred that it could not be polluted.



    The purported tie is found in the son of Vyasa Krishna Dvaipayana:

    A historical Kuru King named Dhritarashtra Vaichitravirya is mentioned in the Kathaka Samhita of the Yajurveda (c. 1200–900 BCE) as a descendant of the Rigvedic-era king Sudas.

    The link for those lines goes into decent detail, including something that would favor Kashi as the origin of Vedic culture:


    Firstly, the Aryas were in the east, defending their land from enemies coming from the west. The defeated tribes went back to the west, and not to the south. The Rig Veda mentions no other homeland of the Aryas. This gives the lie to the Aryan Invasion Theory, a favourite of our leftist cabal.




    So the Kurus, Pariksit and Dhrtarashtra, appear in the late Vedas. They are descendants of Sudas, who is not personally considered a Kuru.


    "Vyasa" is an office, like "Indra" and "Manu".

    Again here is something that is simpler to understand, it is Krishna, the writer, who proliferates Krishna, the deity, in the story, Mahabharata. He may have mixed, added, and romanticized various strands of previous stories, but even so it holds the detail about the submergence of Dwarka due to the curse of Gandhari, i. e. Dhrtarasthra's wife.


    It definitely has evidence placing it in a certain range:


    Initial finds that included a large number of stone anchors from Dwarka waters indicated that Dwarka was one of the most active ports in the past.

    The presence of very heavy three-holed anchors of 14-13 century BCE is important evidence of a protohistoric jetty (a landing stage or small pier at which boats can dock or be moored) in Dwarka harbor.



    On further investigation, it will be found that India brought such anchors to other ports around the Persian Gulf, so that part is relatively common and identifiable. But on a further look at this site, it becomes complicated because of discovering fortifications:


    This was a major find that many believed established the presence of an ancient city at a place that was believed to be the home of historical Krishna’s rule. The problem lied that these were mostly evidence of a known port city that was well known even between 1000 to 1500 CE.


    The resolution would be that Krishna was only Dwarka I because there were about Eight Dwarkas:



    Before the port towns of Bet Dwarka and Dwarka came into existence in the 15-14th century BCE, there appears to have been an even earlier settlement at least in the island of Bet Dwarka, which is attested by the late Harappan seal of the conch shell and the parallel-sideblades of chert, and a few sherds of the beaker and perforated jar.

    This was clear evidence of the ancient submerged city being a part of the mature Harappa Culture of the Indus Valley Civilization.

    The seal from a trench in Bet Dwarka waters depicts a three-headed animal with exaggerated eyes and body drawn in outline suggesting the influence of Bahrainian art.

    It is worth noting that the late Harappan· settlement in BetDwarka preceded the 1500-1400 century BCE settlement.

    The first settlement made in the 15th century BCE was submerged or washed away and so also the second one made in the 10th century BCE. After a long gap, the third settlement was made in the 1st-century BCE/CE as suggested by the Red Polished Ware and copper coins known as Karshapanas.



    That means it has three periods in which a land mass was destroyed, with multiple phases of architecture and culture in each.

    One of them looks contemporary enough that one wonders why there is no story about sinking of Dwarka III or any of this.

    The old part does seem to say that a literal Krishna and Gandhari could have happened and the time of it would be about 1,200 B. C. E., and, in my view at least, it does not matter if something was re-constructed nearby after a century or two. It may even be possible they were in the second one since it used "land reclaimed from the sea". This sounds more likely according to the description. It was epic, i. e., a colossal thing rapidly developed, and soon lost. Then abandoned for a long time.




    The human toll of the Epic is cataclysmic:


    The entire male community (except Krishna and Balarama) of the Yadavas perished in the war among themselves. After the two brothers gave up their mortal bodies, Dwaraka was submerged in a Tsunami. Krishna had called for Arjuna, and before leaving the world, He asked Arjuna to rescue all the female and the children and take them to Hastinapur. Arjuna did exactly what he was asked to do.

    However, in the way, they were attacked by some bandits. And the most extraordinary thing that happened is that Arjuna, though the greatest archer of that age, failed to defeat the group of bandits and rescue the Yadavas who were with him.

    Arjuna realised that all his prowess came from Krishna, and now that Krishna has left the earth, his prowess has left too. After this incident, the Pandavas gave the throne to Pariksit, the grandson of Arjuna, and left for the Himalayas.



    According to Mahabharata and Vayu Purana, Hastinapur was flooded by the Ganges.

    Excavation says the site matches the Dwarka wares of about 1,500 B. C. E. and that it actually was flooded around 800 B. C. E.


    It too has older layers and:


    The 2020 Budget had identified Hastinapur, along with Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Sivasagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichallanur (Tamil Nadu), to be revamped as “iconic” sites.


    We also found that if you take the Mahabharata and a general guess that the Licchavis came to Nepal in about the year 432, then you would get a Yalambar who matches about 800 B. C. E.--but from a Kiratic counting, you get something that sounds more like a spillover from Shambar of the Rg Veda:


    The Yele Sambat (Yele Era) is named after Kirat King Yalambar. 32 Kirat Kings ruled in the Kathmandu valley for 1963 years 8 months. The Lichhavi dynasty dethroned the Kirat rulers in 158 AD (evidence: statue of Jaya Barma found in Maligaun of Kathmandu). This means that Kirat King Yalambar's reign started BC 1779.


    The "Licchavi dynasty" started in the 400s, but, it is a shaky name at best, since they had previously defeated the Kirats, and, most of the time while they were in power, the original, or, Ahir Gupta dynasty kept attempting to and sometimes succeeded in taking power.


    Evidently going from the Rg Veda you would get an archaic history ca. 2,000-1,800 B. C. E. consisting of a few generations:


    Divodasa and Shambar

    Sudas and the Ten Kings

    Ramayana and Yalambar


    Around this time, there is the reduction of IVC and the Sarasvati River until:


    Kuru Kingdom and Mahabharata




    Beginning around p. 45, an HP History Course describes artifacts of the ages of two million and 40,000 years, then paradoxically re-installs Aryan Invasion, but manages to include:


    Possibly the Kolis, Hali Dums and Chanals of the
    western Himalayas, and Chamangs and Damangs of Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti are the
    remnants of this very ancient race. At the time of Rig Veda their powerful king was
    Shambara, who had ninety-nine strong forts in the hills between the Beas and Yamuna
    rivers.

    One of the powerful Dasyu kings
    was Shambara, about whom reference has already been made. The Rig Veda mentions
    that Shambara was the greatest enemy of the Aryans. After fighting for 40 years the
    Aryans de-feated him. After his defeat some of the Dasyu tribes retreated to- wards the
    north and maintained a precarious existence in the hills under the supremacy of the
    Khashas.

    In the latest ages some Vedic saints and sages
    with their disciples came to the low Himachal valleys as peaceful settlers and
    established their hermitages in several places. Among them the Rainka take in Sirmur
    district is connected with Jamdagni, the Vashishtha Kund in Manikaran of the Kullu
    valley with Vashishtha Rishi, Nirmand with Parshurama, the Beas cave in Bilaspur with
    sage Vyasa, etc.



    Lacking any better terminology, one could perhaps say Himachal and Haryana are like the Late Mandalas of Rg Veda.

    The course does not say "Manali" but "Kulantapeetha".


    If it seems awkward to imagine a Sanskrit Manu being there, that is perhaps because:



    According to the Ramayana, Ayodhya was founded by Manu, the progenitor of mankind...

    A. K. Mozumdar states that Manu is the one who built a city on the Sarayu (being the river that his mother Sanjana was the goddess of) and called it Ayodhya meaning the 'invincible city'. This city served as the capital of many kings from the solar dynasty...

    This includes the world-conquering Mandhatri of Rg Veda X.134, or, perhaps, the symbol of the Cakravartin.

    Mandhatri, an Ikshvaku ruler, is described in the Rigveda to have annihilated the Dasyus, and seeks the help of the Ashvin twins, the divine physicians of the Vedic religion.

    According to the Daśaratha Jātaka, the legendary heroes Daśaratha and Rāma were kings of Kāsī, and not of Kosala as the Puranic tradition makes them out to be.

    Vedic texts mention two other kings of Kāsī, one named Divodāsa, and his son or descendant, named Daivadāsi Pratardana.


    It is impossible to write about any first "ruler of the world", but, perhaps, a founder of Aryavarta:


    The Vasistha Dharma Sutra (oldest sutras ca. 500–300 BCE) I.8-9 and 12-13 locates the Āryāvarta to the east of the disappearance of the Sarasvati River in the desert, to the west of the Kālakavana, to the north of the Pariyatra Mountains and the Vindhya Range and to the south of the Himalayas.





    However there is a decent argument that mythical Ayodhya is not modern Ayodhya, that it may not be an actual place, may be a symbol, such as, evidently from Atharva Veda, a yogic symbol of the human body. Grammatically, ayodhya is an adjective, similar to Invincible.


    aṣṭācakrā navadvārā devānāṃ pūrayodhyā
    tasyāṃ hiraṇyayaḥkośaḥ svargo jyotiṣāvṛtaḥ

    Eight-wheeled, nine-doored, is the impregnable stronghold of the gods;
    in that is a golden vessel, heaven-going (swarga), covered with light

    —Atharvaveda 10.2.31 —Translation by William Dwight Whitney



    It makes perfect sense to me so far, since it is more in line with a mentally-produced Manu entering human form.

    The Ramayana text has a more Vedic than Puranic tone, as for example Ramayana AK 110 includes Brahma as Varaha lifting the earth from water.


    Manusmrti appears in IV.18.30, although it is not a title, only a tradition.


    Gutenberg Ramayana pdf has as a footnote:


    Sambar was a demon of drought.


    and in his section:


    By Sambara, whose flag displayd
    The hugest monster of the sea...





    The problems coming from the northwest were primarily described as the invaders being "cattle raiders" (Panis). And so you quickly turn to the mythos of Sage Vasistha and stolen cattle and so forth, and this indeed springs from here.

    Vashistha, the family priest of the dynasty of Ikshvaku...

    Although the current edition is almost certainly interpolated--has Puranic ideas such as Hari incarnating as Buddha--one could at least consider the background and likely origin of Valmiki's Yoga Vasistha. The translator also thinks it has had a few adjustments:


    As written down in medieval times, Yoga Vasishta is not a pure expression of a yogi’s teaching. The
    scribes inserted their gloss because some some parts are what we would call culturally insensitive.
    The condescending references towards women and “lower” social classes belong to the pundit
    scribes who wrote down the stories. One cannot imagine a yogi having such attitudes.

    The brahmin scribes who put the existing Sanskrit text in writing were misogynistic to the extent they
    blame women for being the seducers of men and of less value. But in the substance of two of the most
    significant stories themselves, that of Queen Leela and Queen Chudala, it is the woman who attains
    Self realization first and ends up having to wake up their husbands.

    The most obvious gloss is the reverence towards the brahmin priest class.



    In most academia, it has been thought that this work was produced in the tenth century, which meant Vasistha crossed the border into Tibet and picked up a Tara practice. But Tibet had no Taras until Atisha. Because Mahacina does not necessarily mean a location, it may mean a culture, Kiratic. This will also make sense from within the text itself.


    There are two drought disasters which destroy the lands of Kirat King Lavana of the Vindhyas and Persian King Parigha.

    It definitely says that such things happen as punishment for man's wickedness.

    Lavana had defeated Mandhata.


    It confirms the ability of yoginis:


    King Sikhidhwaja and Queen Chudala — The royal couple lead an idyllic life and both pursue
    spiritual knowledge. Chudala practices self-inquiry and attains Self realization. Sikhidhwaja notices
    she appears unusually radiant, but when she explains Self realization, he dismisses her as a mere
    woman. — Astral Travel: Chudala keeps her wisdom to herself and learns the yogic powers of
    manifesting astral bodies and astral travel. (VIA.77-80). Vasishta explains how such powers are
    possible. Queen Chudala tries to share her knowledge with her husband, but Sikhidhwaja continues to
    simply dismiss her as being only a woman. (VIA.83)

    The Parable of the Miser Kirata and the Philosopher’s Stone [Cintamani]. In this interlude within the story of
    Sikhidhwaja and Chudala, Vasishta explains how one can learn something valuable despite seeking
    trifles. The miser is searching for a lost cowry shell when he discovers the Philosopher’s Stone.
    (VIA.83.16-24)


    When Chudala uses her powers in HP, she sees many Pisacis, which is still said to be the case there.

    It brings in familiar terminology such as:

    Kiratis and Pukkasa tribals


    And then it seems to have the full background for what we have found in Buddhist Pisaci Mantras and this whole aspect of Shakti. Moreover, it has a goddess as one:



    Karkati — Karkati (“Crab”) is a female demon (rakshasi) who performs powerful tapas and obtains
    the boons to become Vishuchika (“Cholera”) and Suchi (“Needle”) so she can feast on mankind.
    Unsatisfied, she does tapas again to regain her original form and learns from a king and his minister
    how to eat lawful food. (III.68-83)


    So, rather, it has plenty to do with women and outcastes. After all, something should reflect the continuance of Kiratic peoples in areas that became mixed with Aryas.

    The Goddess is Hunger, Disease, and Pain:


    She resembled the intelligent
    principle of the Buddhists and logicians (tarkikas) which is unseen by others.

    Now this needle took the rarefied form of air and moved about after all living beings as the colic
    wind in quest of sucking animal gore.

    Her sole object was to kill the lives of others at her pleasure.


    She has a quite long story; after repenting:


    There can be no objection to your slaughter of animal life under proper bounds.
    Therefore act within the bounds of justice and refrain from all acts of injustice in the world.


    And then it goes to an occult discussion. So the whole thing is highly symbolic with almost no literal meaning whatsoever.


    So we have looked at the Flood by trying to force things which are not there, and despite the mention of some local disasters, there is nothing like a world flood in the older literature.

    On the other hand, I have tried to look at Vrtra or drought as only symbolic, however, this does appear to have additional objective meanings.


    Puranic Vritra was created by Tvastr, however:


    According to the Rig Veda, Vritra kept the waters of the world captive until he was killed by Indra, who destroyed all the 99 fortresses of Vritra (although the fortresses are sometimes attributed to Sambara) before liberating the imprisoned rivers. The combat began soon after Indra was born, and he consumed a large volume of Soma at Tvashtri's house to empower him before facing Vritra. Tvashtri fashioned the thunderbolt (Vajrayudha) for Indra, and Vishnu, when asked to do so by Indra, made space for the battle by taking the three great strides, for which Vishnu became famous, and was later adapted in his legend of Vamana.



    Tvastr did of course fashion the Vajra, which Indra used to kill Vritra or Ahi.


    Are they the same?

    According to the Rig Veda, Vritra kept the waters of the world captive until he was killed by Indra, who destroyed all the 99 fortresses of Vritra (although the fortresses are sometimes attributed to Sambara) before liberating the imprisoned rivers.



    Isn't it more original?


    But why, in spite of the fact that the Rigveda has been a subject of historical study for nearly two centuries, was this wealth of information left untapped? Why did the scholars fail to discover all this evidence?

    The answer is that scholars engaged in the historical interpretation of the Rigveda have never really found it necessary to examine the actual information in the Rigveda. All interpretations have been based on purely extraneous factors, and the Rigveda itself has never been required to play more than an incidental, and dispensable, role in these exercises.


    The article contrasts literal and symbolic meanings:



    Quote The VRtras, the enemies, the oppressors, or obstructors, are the hostile powers in the atmosphere who malevolently shut up the watery treasures in the clouds. These demons of drought, called by a variety of names, as VRtra, Ahi, SuSNa, Namuci, Pipru, Sambara, UraNa, etc. etc., armed on their side, also, with every variety of celestial artillery, attempt, but in vain, to resist the onset of the gods.

    Further, in his footnote to 1.31.1, he quotes Wilson: the legend of Indra's slaying VRtra in the Vedas is merely an allegorical narrative of the production of rain. VRtra, sometimes also named Ahi, is nothing more than the accumulation of vapour condensed or figuratively shut up in, or obstructed by, a cloud. Indra, with his thunderbolt, or atmospheric or electrical influence, divides the aggregate mass, and vent is given to the rain which then descends upon the earth.


    To cut a long story short, the Hindu invasionist scholars are so busy internationalising the Rigveda, and transporting it into the remote past, that they really cannot be bothered with the actual historical information so richly present in the Rigveda.

    The political misuse of the theory by leftists and casteists, in order to question the Indianness of Hinduism or to stir up caste hatreds and conflicts, a process which started with Jyotiba Phule, is the primary cause of this dislike.

    Unfortunately, yes, there seem to be Hindu emotional reactions against "Aryan Invasion", which lead to equally wrong conclusions. So far I have always seen the date for Rama at around 5,000 B. C. E., and more recent ideas pushing it up to 13,800. The strong sense I get from a limited number of sources seems to insist that the Ramayana must have been fairly soon after Rg Veda, but these events were not quite in the remote past or prehistoric.


    Indra's original importance was in defeating Vritra, Shambar, and Susna, although they may have been (presumably rainless) clouds, and rescuing cows from the Panis.


    Given the time frame, then, yes, it would make sense to speak of battles against drought. None of these are necessarily planetary or doomsday for the whole world, but, are effectively multiple adversaries against the world of the Aryas.

    It all seems due for a re-read. The difficulty may lie in that this is "where" the symbolic meets the human. It may be that Vritra is the "symbolic" name for the human Shambar, that he was effectively an incarnation or devotee of Vritra. The main difference is that this symbolism does *not* include the formative processes of the earth's heating and cooling and crust, nor does is represent a Great Flood or replace it with a Great Drought.

    If there was a terrible drought that demolished Akkadia ca. 2,100 B. C. E., and another that perhaps hit Mohenjo Daro around 1,900 B. C. E., those may not have looked like a unit to anyone, but could be called a re-arising nemesis.


    Such symbolism is supposed to be developed by the Puranas, where we find Vishnu as Varaha and then as the Solar Months. And, to me, at least, the value in the Puranas is how it enhances the vagaries of the Vedas, not how it can cause a sectarian split or make simplified reductions. That is why I mainly look to them for the symbolic actions of the Mind of Brahma, and it matters far less what ritual some village was doing in the medieval era.

    So the first symbol about the Waters is cosmological, like Genesis, and the second group probably is not the formation of the planet, but the weather patterns as seen in Vedic times.


    In the Yamala literature, Nil Sarasvati is virtually identical to what we posted about AV Krtya in the previous post:


    For six thousand years he did Sadhana, but still the Daughter of the Mountains did not appear to him.

    She is attached to pure Cinacara (Shuddhacinacararata).

    She is in the form of the Atharva branch of the Vedas (Atharvavedashakhini).

    Go to Mahacina (Tibet) and the country of the Bauddhas and always follow the Atharvaveda (Bauddha deshe' tharvaveda Mahacine sada braja).


    "Desha" could just as easily be "a region" as a "country", just as "mahacina" might be an adjective saying, "in the manner like that of the AV".

    That would say that the Kirats, despite any resistance during the composition of Rg Veda, actually must have had something of value, which probably ceased representing literal interpretations of things like blood sacrifice. The "Atharvan" was a kind of "chief priest" that was not always present or required in Rg Veda, but later rose in importance as "the explainer" and was codified as a Fourth Veda. This suggests, for example, that Samans may have just been a business of memorizing songs and reciting them on an intellectual plane. The Atharvan who was not always available was the one who understood esoteric symbolism and succeeded in yoga. The other jobs were just jobs that could be performed by anyone who probably gained the opportunity from birthright.


    In the Yamalas, Vasistha, agitated by finding wine and women, raises the objection:


    How can there be Siddhi without Vaidik rites?

    Buddha said, "Oh Vashishtha, listen the while I speak to thee of the excellent Kula path, by the mere knowing of which one becomes in a short time like Rudra Himself. I speak to thee in brief the Agama which is the essence of all and which leads to Kulasiddhi. First of all, the Vira (hero) should be pure (Shuci)..."


    She:

    ...is Raudri with eighteen arms...

    According to Hindu belief the Ramayana was composed in the Treta age, and Vashishtha was the family priest of Dasharatha and Rama...


    In the same way, it is really the Sages who are Mind-born Sons of Brahma, and then they are again human.

    And then they are again a Kula, Gotra, or lineage.

    The Sage is like a Buddhist Vidyadhara. This is not a Buddhist Jataka Tale saying when he was a Bodhisattva that he met Vasistha. This is Hindu tantrism justifying Sakti with the words of Buddha. It could not have been his first incarnation composing Vedic hymns. If he was the priest of a dynasty, it could be a lineage or reincarnations or any means of propagating the yoga of the Solar Dynasty, if we can rightly say Vasistha Yoga continues it.


    From notes to a Nepalese Sword Mahacina:


    The goddess is named Mahācīna-Tārā and testifies to the syncretic Buddhist and Hindu tantric cults in Newar country. She is also known as Prajṅādevī. She is part of the group of 21 Tārā but is also assimilated to Prajṅāpāramitā. The legend that deals with the origin of her cult includes both Buddhist and Hindu elements. The wise Vasistha could not visualize the goddess Tārā and asked for the advice of his spiritual master, the god Brahmā. However, the goddess eventually appeared to him and ordered him to go to Mahācīna in order to meet Buddha, the ultimate avatara of Viṣṇu. Thus, at the place called Mahācīna, he was able to pay tribute to Tārā, which appeared to him under this specific iconography (Mahācīna Tārā). She is sometimes confused with the dreaded Ekajatī.

    Representations of this goddess are rare.


    According to Yogapedia:



    Although the true author and time of creation is unknown, many believe the "Yoga Vasistha" was composed between the 6th and 14th centuries.

    since:


    ...the Ramayana, either by Valmiki or Goswami Tulsidas, does not make any reference to these teachings of Vasishtha to Rama or the circumstances that led to the dialogue between them. We get an idea about both of these from the Yoga Vasishtha itself.


    It happens because Rama does not want to listen to Viswamitra, the Sage of the Panis.

    It is of course thought it has not been studied much because it is so massive.

    The pdf collects it in one file, or, there is a page for its four volume Table of Contents which is already overpowering.


    It is not difficult to imagine a limited oral tradition of Vasistha Gotra which responds to further occurrences such as the Puranas and the Buddha and compiles it during the Yamala era. Attributing the composition to Valmiki is Kiratic.

    What we are looking for is those developments that are accurate and a useful enhancement of the difficult symbolism from the Vedas. In some cases, like the development of Vishnu, or the rarified subject of Atharva Veda that comes up here with the quandry of Mahacina, or Laksmi Tantra, we think so, yes.

    Does that agree with all Puranic statements or Vedic research, no, nowhere close.

    Ekajati is not Mahacina because she is from Orissa and uses a Spear rather than a Sword.



    Puranic Manu of the Flood is Dravidian; and the Solar Dynasty in Ramayana places Rama about eighty descendant-kings later. Sudas is sixty-five. There are six Chakravartins ending on Rama.

    Divodasa is mostly called King of Kashi or Benares, is related to Bharadwaj Gotra. He is probably in the Lunar Dynasty.

    They align Solar king forty-one Chakshu or Sudeva (Contemporary of Chandravanshi Emperor Bharata).


    The unification from RV Mandala VII resembles:


    Quote Sanskrit word Arya has no racial connotation in the Vedas but is used to describe the members of Puru- Bharata dynasty. King Sudas and King Bharata were descendants of Emperor Bharata. Our country gets the name Bharat from Emperor Bharata.

    The Puru- Bharata dynasty provided leadership for thousands of years as is mentioned in the Rig Veda.

    The Battle of the Ten Kings led Bharatas to occupy the entire Puru territory (Western Punjab) centered around Sarasvati River and complete their [...] migration. Sudas celebrated his victory with the Ashvamedha ritual to commemorate the establishment of a realm, free of enemies from the north, east, and west. He still had enemies in the Khandava Forest to the south, which was inhabited by the despised non-Indo-Aryan Kikatas.

    A political realignment between Purus and Bharatas probably followed soon enough and might have included other factions of the tribal union as well; this is exhibited from how the core collection of Rig Veda prominently features clan-hymns of both the sides.

    The King Sudas allies with the Aryan tribes of Trustu and Bharata, to form the Kuru super-tribe which will form the first Mahajanapada ( Kuru goes on to defeat the other warring Aryan tribes).


    Yes, in terms of India, that seems pivotally important.


    Purus and Yadus were originally part of the ten rival tribes, and when defeated, the new power occupies Haryana and gives the final recension of Rig Veda. Mahabharata does not mention Sudas, although Purus, Bharatas, and Pandavas are all part of the Lunar Dynasty.


    In Harivamsha, Divodasa II had actually taken Kashi by force and:


    In order to put an end to hostilities, Bhadrasenya’s son the high souled Kshatriya king Durdama took back again his ancestral kingdom which had been forcibly occupied by Divodasa.

    72. Divodasa begat on Vrishadvati the heroic Pratardana. That boy son of his again defeated Durdama.



    This conflict may have been Bhrgus or Bhargavas and Haihaiyas or Kshaitriyas. When Durdama is driven away:


    This last invasion severely weakened the Haihayas. It was only during the time of Kartavirya Arjuna that the Haihayas would once again establish their dominance over Bharatvarsha.




    From another view it is important to think of Divodas as the incarnation of Dhanvantari and Ayurveda.

    And from the prior link, he had cured a Drought in Kashi which had become Puranic, which is described as torn, erroneous, and misleading in the article.

    His wife is apparently named Madhavi in Mahabharata. She is from Lunar Dynasty.


    The woman is perhaps important since we are not seeing how Solar and Lunar merged. The Puranas accept Buddha as a member of the Solar Dynasty, and the Jains are descended out of the first king. Divodas sounds Lunar but his son or grandson Sudas does not. If she was Vrishadvati, it is not known what this means, but with a minor spelling change in Manu and intra-Indic conflict:


    There were two main Vedic cultures in ancient India. The first was a northern kingdom centered on the Sarasvati-Drishadvati river region dominated by the Purus and the Ikshvakus. The second was a southern culture along the coast of the Arabian Sea and into the Vindhya Mountains, dominated by the Turvashas and Yadus and extending into groups yet further south. These northern and southern groups vied for supremacy and influenced each other in various ways as the Vedas and Puranas indicate. The northern or Bharata culture ultimately prevailed, making India the land of Bharata or Bharatavarsha and its main ancient literary record the Vedas, though militarily the Yadus remained strong throughout history…..

    When a Tsunami struck South, he, along with his son left for Ayodhya.

    His son Ikshvaku founded the Surya Vamsa, Solar dynasty.

    His daughter, Ila, who was left behind in South, here south meaning from the Saraswathi valley to the present south india, running through the coast of Arabian sea, which was not called thus then.

    She married Chandra and had a son Budha.

    Then came Pururavas.

    This is the Lunar Dynasty, Chandra Vamsa.


    The River is the border of Kurukshetra:


    According to Manu, the tract between the old sacred rivers Saraswati and Drishadvati in Kurukshetra was known as Brahmavarta. Kurukshetra along with Karnal and Kaithal districts is known as the ‘Rice Bowl of India’ and famous for Basmati Rice.


    Mahabharata has a totally different woman's name than Harivamsa--which we guess is more helpful, but with a spelling error for Drshadvati:


    The queen of Divodāsa and mother of Pratardana.*

    * Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa III. 67. 67; Vāyu-purāṇa 92. 64.



    Pratardana, King of Kashi, is a friend of Rama, and is taught that Indra is Prana in Kausitaki Upanishad.


    We have made use of the note in III.67:

    (Divodāsa II)



    This is probably why it appears Divodasa could not be an ancestor of Vedic Sudas--this is not him or is a later namesake. The first one is probably an alternym of Atithigva, who is exclusive to the Vedas. He is in the Gotra of Bharadvaj.

    Or:


    Divodāsa, as per Rig Veda, is an ancient Chandravamshi king more or less contemporary of the ancient Suryavamshi king Mandhātā.


    The events at Kashi are called the twelfth Deva War.


    From the Ramayana notes:

    No mention is made
    of these monstrous penances in the Veda, where the struggle
    between Visvámitra, the leader of the Kusikas or Bharatas, and
    the Brahman Vasishtha, the leader of the white-robed Tritsus, is
    represented as the struggle of two rivals for the place of Purohita
    or chief priest and minister at the court of King Sudás, the son of
    Pijavana.



    In Ananda Ramayana:


    An Elephant arrived at the banks of River Ganga to refresh itself. It was killed by some birds. This astonished The Moon (Lord Soma) . He thought in his mind, “The birds of this place killed an elephant. It could surely be because the influence of this land.” So, he decided to make that place as the capital of Chandravansha Rulers. The place where the birds had killed an elephant was Hastinapura.

    Nahusha was Aayu’s son. From Nahusha came Yayati. The youngest son of Yayati was Puru. Puru ruled from Hastinapura as his capital. He had a son named Gavaya. Gavaya had a son named Alpa whose son was Nala who was a great warrior conquered ten directions was defeated by Lord Rama during his concession. He was succeded by his son Nadyuta whose son was Jatikara. By Jatikara, came Vasuda. By Vasuda, came Laghushruta. By Laghushruta, came Suratha whose son was Ajamidha made a good relationship with Lord Rama.”

    The Lunar Dynasty King who was contemporary of Lord Rama was “Nala who ruled Hastinapura”. He was an ancestor of Pandavas, Kauravas and Bhishma lived during Treta Yuga.

    The Chandravanshis were plainly a tribe, until the arrival of Kuru who established a large kingdom under his control, seated at his capital Hastinapura. That is why this is called the Kuruvansha as well. The most fascinating and significant king in this line has been Yayati.


    This does not match the Wiki extracted page, but, the Valmiki Ramayana text simply sticks the Lunar back in to the Solar Dynasty:

    Prasusruka was Maru's child;
    His son was Ambarísha styled.
    Nahush was Ambarísha's heir,
    The mighty lord of regions fair:
    Nahush begot Yayáti: he,
    Nábhág of happy destiny.
    Son of Nábhág was Aja: his,
    The glorious Dasaratha is,
    Whose noble children boast to be
    Ráma and Lakshman, whom we see.
    Thus do those kings of purest race
    Their lineage from Ikshváku trace:

    The long list places at sixteen:

    Haryashva I(Haryaśva)(Married Mādhavī, daughter of Chakravarti Yayati)


    On the page for Pururavas, first human of Lunar descent:


    Puru (contemporary to Suryavanshi Emperor Mandhatri)

    The Puru Dynasty Kings such as King Puru and Janamejaya were once defeated by Ravana of Lanka.


    Up to Emperor Bharata, twenty-eight.

    Bharata was named so because he had the blessings of Goddess Saraswati and Lord Hayagriva. India developed Vedic studies (Sanatana Dharma) in the Vedic Period.

    Kuru II or namesake of the Kuru Kingdom is seventeen after him.


    The "Lunar" branch is not of "different origin" but the daughter's descent:

    Pururavas was the son of Budha (himself often described as the son of Soma) and the gender-switching deity Ila (born as the daughter of Manu).

    And, I suppose you could say it sometimes re-joins, and sometimes rivals, the Solar branch. The Ramayana text places Yayati quite close to Rama, but in the list he is over sixty generations prior. The list, of course, does not verse quote its sources, but says it comes from a Critical Edition. Because it adds names from the Puranas, it likely adds from multiple Ramayanas. The text actually gives its own clues with the current ruler described as the following:


    Ikshváku's son, Ayodhyá's lord,
    Invincible by foeman's sword,

    “O King, whose hand Ayodhyá sways,
    My lord, whom Míthilá obeys


    Vasistha says:

    Manu, who life to mortals gave,
    Begot Ikshváku good and brave.
    First of Ayodhyá's kings was he,
    Pride of her famous dynasty.

    There is a narrative break for Kalindi, mother of Sagara.

    There is a negative presence of the phrase "Solar Dynasty". If anything, the implied term is "Ayodhya Dynasty".

    There is no doubt that Ikshvaku is hailed as a human progenitor, but nothing exalts Surya or the Sun, and it brings in Yayati as if that would not be weird. It is possible Nahusa and Yayati are duplicates. Or, this was biological, and Yayati was adopted into the Lunar Dynasty, from the Tamil view:


    Manu had left a distinct clue on an entity that lived before his times. He was Skanda, alias Subrahmanya, the only name along with Vedic entities (of Nature) appearing in the mantra of Indra-dvaja composed by Vaivasvata Manu.

    ...a similar list narrated by Vasishtha when persuading Rama to return to the kingdom to take up kingship omits his [Yayati's] name in particular. In the same narration, Vasishtha states that only the eldest son takes up the rulership in the Ikshvaku race. This gives rise to a scenario of Yayati, the second son of Nahusha, not being given rulership. After Nahusha appears the name Nabhaga, the son of Yayati in the second list.

    Tamils do not identify with Bharata. At least three lineages exported humanity westward, and:


    Genetic inflow is detected in the case of Pandavas - they were fathered by persons from outside India!


    The Ramayana lacks a "solar dynasty". It has Vamana Vishnu, but, in fact, nothing about Surya, and "solar" has to be appended to "Ikshvaku" as a footnote, because it means "gourd". Solarity is represented in the tale by monkeys and bears, moreover, monkeys inherit the status of Maruts. Pururavas is remembered in a poetic eulogy for the sad fate of Urvasi. As if his parentage or lineage was unimportant. When meeting Agastya, they are given a Puranic origin myth, and:


    The following is the literal translation of the Canto, text and
    commentary, from the Calcutta edition...


    is a sub-section where a massive Surya invocation is given. In other words, not part of the base text, but an add-on extension, which would become the only thing to particularly solarize Rama.


    Since Mahabharata is obviously trying to unify the empire of Bharata, then, we can see that if Krishna is in the Lunar Dynasty, that some effort has been made to distinguish it. Not only is the split not findable in Ramayana, it actually hints at something else, Kings of Ayodhya, which would be Yoga. It does have "a Purana" from Agastya, such as the progeny of Kasyapa where:

    Aditi, Diti, and Danú
    Obeyed his will as consorts true,


    and it goes on to include many, such as Kadru, mother of non-hooded snakes, with serpents being from Surasa. Valmiki is just putting together things that have already been said, i. e., he is making a written form of spoken traditions. He is not Indian so he may not be inherently averse to that. It has these "Puranic contents" and the descendants of "Gourd King of Ayodhya" in a way that seems devoid of sectarianism or twisting. It is not exactly a struggle for an empire. It seems more like a way to paint deities in greater detail than in the Vedas. And how to extrapolate them into current events and one's life.

    Rama himself knows and abides with:


    And in the line from which we spring,
    When ordered by their sire the king,
    Through earth the sons of Sagar cleft,
    And countless things of life bereft.
    So Jamadagní's son obeyed
    His sire, when in the wood he laid
    His hand upon his axe, and smote
    Through Renuká his mother's throat.
    The deeds of these and more beside.
    Peers of the Gods, my steps shall guide.




    Compared to what may have been the "first Mahabharata" or "Ten Kings", Rama is already an allegory attempting to find a Middle Way:


    Vashishta’s side included the Pahlavas, Sakas, Yavanas, Kambhojas, Barvaras, Haritas, Kiratas and other ‘foreign’ warriors. These ‘foreign’ warriors are indo-scythians (sakas), and associated tribes like Yadavas.

    Vishwamitra’s side included folks claiming to be Bharatas, like Bharadvajas, Brihaspatyas, Bhargavas, etc. They continued to claim Kshatropeta Brahmana status for themselves all through the puranic period though they were not the biological sons / descendants of Bharata.

    So, one side is foreign, and the other side are claimants. Who’s vedic then??

    The Ramayana aims to make peace between these two, by positioning both Vashishta and Vishwamitra as the gurus of Rama. Obviously, chapters (sargas) and verses within existing sargas were added to different versions of Ramayana by different scribes under different kingdoms. It all depended on what the ruler wanted as itihasa (in such case, it is always his own history).



    Without manifesting the peaceful, reasonable ideal, the result is Caste-ism and arguments over personal descent.

    Chakravartins in the "Solar Dynasty" were given as Mandhata and his son Ambarisha, Sagara, Bhagiratha who brought Ganges to Earth, Rama.

    The Lunar Dynasty being only slightly different, it emanates from Brahma through Sage Atri, which is why it also includes Dattatreya and Anagha Wife of Dattatreya, Nimi, Sriman. As an adjunct, that would include Parasurama in its epoch. Dattatreya is effectively a sibling of Chandra the Moon, who is Father of Budha--Mercury, consort of Ila Devi, from whom Pururavas.


    Parasurama and Hanuman are considered Ciranjiva or Immortal. Persisting, while Rama and Krishna come and go, is not an issue because there is No Limit on the consciousness of Vishnu in any cluster of atoms or galaxy of world-systems.


    As Dattatreya said to Parasu:


    Association with the Sages is alone said to lead to the highest good. Your contact with Samvarta has led you to this stage of enlightenment, which is the forerunner of emancipation. On being approached, the Sages teach the greatest good.


    Also:


    Lord Datta remains on this earth since then for the sake of devotees.

    Lord Dattatreya, the teacher of teachers, had been Guru to Brahma, Parashurama, Prahlada, Kings Yadu, Alarka, Kartaveeryaarjuna and carved out a stupendously marvelous Guru sampradaaya and Guru parampara throughout all the ages.

    His mother Anasuya believed in the words” ATHITHI DEVO BHAV” which meant guest is equal to God.

    The fuller account is that she breast feeds them naked so it is a little unusual. Well, it is very unusual.

    We just quoted Rama guiding himself by this, which is important as his biological heritage.

    One of Datta's disciples in RG Veda:


    Yadu is almost always associated with cattle (cattle owner / herder / protecting cattle from being stolen in raids).

    Yadu is also Cursed.



    From the human Son of Ila, one line of descent is Pururavas, Ayu, Nahusha, Yayati:

    Yayati (Contemporary to Demon King Vrishparva) had two wives and five sons. Yadu, Turvasu, Druhyu, Anu and King Puru were the five sons of Yayati. Devayani and Sharmishtha were the two wives of Yayati. Yayati, later, became the most powerful ruler of his era.

    Another more important descent is Pururavas-->Emperor Bharata, by whom the term "Lunar Dynasty" seems to be applied.

    The extensive Lunar Kings lists are very extensive. But in a concise and relevant beginning:


    Yadu was the Founder of Yadu Dynasty and Yadava Kingdom (contemporary of God Parashurama)

    Yadu had five sons, Sahasrada, Payoda, Kroshtu, Nila and Anjika. Yaduvamsa was hourned by all royal saints.

    Sahasrada had three righteous sons Haihaya, Haya and Venuhaya. In the kingdom of the Haihayas there was a descendant Kanka whose sons where well known as Kritavirya, Kritouja, Kritavarma and Kritagni. Kritavirya’s son was Arjuna also called Kartaviryarjuna who had worshipped Lord Dattatreya and was blessed with one thousand arms and immense strength. He had defeated many asuras, had performed several sacrifices and ruled his subjects righteously for years. But once when he began to terrorise the sages and religious people in Sage Jamadagni’s ashrama over the desire for a divine cow, he was killed by Parashurama. Kashtriyas who were righteous were spared by Parashurama. Among the Haihaya descendents Shura, Shurasena and Shuravira passed by the name of Haihayas.


    Some escaped by taking shelter with Hingula Mata. After all, she is remote. But she soon becomes quite spiritually influential to India.

    Yadu can be found in about eleven Rg Veda instances, usually in conjunction with Turvasa. Most of these are perhaps "incidental accounting", and, if we were to pick the more primordial, he is at the beginning of VI.45, which already has the epithet Vrtrahan (slayer of Vrtra) for Indra. Six is either an old book, or, even the first group of hymns.

    Most hymns in this book are attributed to the bārhaspatya family of Angirasas, especially to Bharadvaja.

    A summary of Mandala VI suggests it is the oldest reference to people and events of the Vedas, possibly of the world. Here, in Rg 22, the Dasas are not yet subdued although Nahusa is present; a few other hymns seem to be during the conflict, and others post-conflict. There are minor conflicts among Aryas, and some seem to be searching for a permanent homeland. Foes or enemies are mainly Vrtras and Dasyus, also the Panis, some Aryas, and Vala. It seems to culminate with Divodas taking care of Sambar. So this all appears previous to Ten Kings. It is an independent saga, i. e., nothing embroiled with later times or stacking and switching of names, or repeating something, it does look like a fairly clean "round one" of events in this milieu.



    Comparing the translation of Rg 45:


    He brings Yadu and Turvasa "from distance", and we find this term for "horse":


    arvatā

    Indra is "our great intelligence":


    pramatir mahī


    He is also Brahma and the husband of Saci. His "thunderbolt" is the obscure:


    dṛḷhāni

    He slays Maya.

    There are also chariots (ratha). Indra is the chief of charioteers, who are tasked with recovering stolen wealth. "Vajra" appears in verse eighteen to be used against Rakshashas. This is followed by a more familiar "asvi" for "horses". He destroys Dasyus and opens the cattle fields of Kuvitsa (probably where cattle were stashed). The lord of the Panis appears to be called Brbu. Wilson ignores "arya" in the last line but Sayana says:


    Bṛbu is called Takṣā the carpenter or artificer of the Paṇis; the legend is preserved by Manu (10.107) and Nīti Mańjarī: the illustrious Bharadvāja, with his son, distressed by hunger in a lonely forest, accepted many cows from the carpenter Bṛbu; the ṛca is attributed to Sayu, the son of Bharadvāja.

    Sinauli Chariots have been excavated recently and thought to be in the range 2,000-1,800 B. C. E., and of course, they are solid-wheeled carts, not sleek war chariots. The expression "ratha" is just "a car" with no technical varieties, other than the context in which it is found. VI.45 sounds like the retrieval of goods, so, "cart" is most likely apropos. There is not much argument over the appearance of solid-wheeled carts from around 3,000 B. C. E., even if Sumerian in origin, they could easily be in India shortly thereafter. This only represents a discovery in Kurukshetra.


    It could perhaps fairly be said that Mandala VI is hypostatical. It has a mundane human level, an atmospheric one where the chief enemy is Drought, and, a metaphysical one since the deities flow from the mind of Brahma. It covers a discrete time from the life of Nahusa to the victory of Divodasa.


    Well, he is not close to "the" first human being, but, he is close to "a" first human being of a particular kind.

    The first thing that is obvious is that the offspring have nothing to do with the line of kings going to Bharata. Or, the first, Pururavas, should not be confused with the son of Yayati:

    Puru (contemporary to Suryavanshi Emperor Mandhatri), defeated by Ravana




    If Nahusa is a scene-setting character for the Rg Veda, then, one would have to ask what it means to have Ila and Budha as parents for these generations:


    Pururavas m. Urvashi

    Ayu

    Nahusa:



    Nahusha is mentioned often in the Rigveda, starting in Mandala 1. Nahusha reigned from Pratishthana. According to the Harivamsha, the appendix of the epic Mahabharata, he married Viraja, the mind-born daughter of the Pitrs.


    Padma Purana:


    Āyu approached the seer Dattatreya, and after propitiating him, he requested the sage to grant him a son who would be invincible and possess many virtuous qualities which are required for a great king. The sage obliged and a son was born to Āyu. Hunda was just waiting for the birth of Ayu's son because he was scared that Ashoksundari's curse would come true. So, the infant was kidnapped by the asura Hunda and he ordered his minions to slay the child. However, the minions only abandoned the child at the hermitage of Sage Vashistha. Vashistha took the child and named him Nahusha "the fearless one". Nahusha grew into a youth, a disciple of Vashistha. Eventually, Vashistha revealed Nahusha's true parentage. Nahusha acquired weapons from the gods and killed Hunda in battle and returned to his parents. He then married Ashoksundari.


    They would be small compared to the Aryas, Mandhatr being the first Cakravartin some twenty steps after Ikshvaku. The priest of the Solar race has just raised the scion of the Lunar one. That name is ill advised. Why would you not call them the Earth and Mercury people? Should we just automatically know that? The Veda begins with someone whose grandfather whose existence happened in a very unusual way, and he was, of course, famous.

    In Ramayana, Nahush is the son of Ambarisha, and Pururavas is outside the lineage in an heroic allusion.

    A similar grouping is seen here:

    Purūravas (पुरूरवस्) is the name of an ancient king having performed the pacificatory ritual described chapter 47 of the Ahirbudhnyasaṃhitā, belonging to the Pāńcarātra tradition which deals with theology, rituals, iconography, narrative mythology and others.—Accordingly, “[This rite] should be employed by utterly glorious Sovereigns when they are in distress—[...] Ambarīśa, Śuka, Alarka, Māndhātṛ, Purūravas, Rājoparicara, Dhundhu, Śibi and Śrutakīrtana—those Kings of old attained Universal Sovereignty after performing this. They became free of diseases and free of enemies. Their fame was widely spread and blameless”.

    ...the account given in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, based on a passage in the Ṛigveda, where it is said that Urvaśī agreed to live with Purūravas on two conditions:-namely that her two rams which she loved as children must be kept near her bed-side and never suffered to be carried away, and that he must take care never to be seen by her undressed. The Gandharvas, however, carried away the rams, and so Urvaśī disappeared.

    supposed to have instituted the 3 sacrificial fires [Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā v, 2]

    according to, [Nirukta, by Yāska x, 46] he is one of the beings belonging to the middle region of the universe

    Pururavas (पुरुरवस्):—(vāḥ) a. Kuvera.

    There are some interesting stories such as his Testing.

    Concerning the "Two Dynasties":


    Ikṣvāku, the ancestral father of the solar dynasty of Kings was brother of Ilā.

    She:

    sprang out of a sacrifice of Vaivasvata Manu in honour of Mitra and Varuṇa; the latter two adopted her as their daughter.*

    * Vāyu-purāṇa 85. 7.

    she is also called maitrāvaruṇī as the daughter of mitra and varuṇa


    We have gazillions of Ilas, in fact we have recently summarized a vast pantheon as passing through and from her, and now it appears her progeny mark the era of the background for Vedic events.


    Her son is Pururavas, who clearly has one laudatory praise in Rg Veda. Hymn X.95 in its re-tellings only gets complicated. This hymn is said to be the only mention of Swarga.


    We just found Yadu all over the place, and so one might think the recent progenitor, Pururavas, must be comparatively as large. He is not. Aside from the Urvashi hymn, he is simply mentioned in I.31:


    Agni thou madest heaven to thunder for mankind; thou, yet more pious, for pious Pururavas.
    When thou art rapidly freed from thy parents, first eastward they bear thee round, and, after, to the west.

    Thee, Agni, have the Gods made the first living One for living man, Lord of the house of Nahusa.
    Ila they made the teacher of the sons of men, what time a Son was born to the father of my race.


    This would seem to be extremely reflective of the Lunar Dynasty, or, whatever it may have been known as. Then if we compare Wilson's I.31.4 with Bhasya:


    “Your, Agni, has announced heaven to Manu; you have more than requited Purūravas doing homage to you. When you are set free by the attrition of your parents, they bear you first to the east, then to the west (of the altar).”

    Commentary by Sāyaṇa: Ṛgveda-bhāṣya

    Allusion to the agency of Purūravas, the son of Budha or Soma to genitive rate fire by attrition and to emply in three sacrificial fires: sukṛte sukṛttaraḥ, doing more good to him who did good; the fires is first used to kindle the āhavanīya fire and then the gārhapatya.


    That may match his piece of definition, instituting the three fires, which would be unique.

    In the next Bhasya:


    “The gods formerly made you, Agni, the living genitive ral of the mortal Nahuṣa; they made Iḷā, the instrumental uctress of Manu, when the son of my father was born.”

    Commentary by Sāyaṇa: Ṛgveda-bhāṣya

    Nahuṣa was the son of Āyus, son of Purūravas, who was elevated to heaven as an Indra. Iḷā instrumental tues the first rules of performing sacrifices, hence she is Śāsanī = dharmopadeśakartrī, the giver of instrumental uction in duty


    So you see it goes backwards. Pururavas is a minor figure in I and X, the latest books, whereas the old books begin with more focus on his descendants and the solar ones. X.95 could easily have been a spoken tradition which was not recorded for quite some time.

    There is something like a non-compete in Brahmanda Purana Yajnawalkya Receives the Veda from the Sun God:


    96. The kings born of the family of Manu, the family of Pururavas, the scions of the families of Ikṣvāku and Nābhāga—these should be known as Rajarṣis (saintly kings).

    In Chapter Two, Pururavas is overcome by greed and killed, which appears to be correct historically.


    That does not mean he does not share an important teaching in Chapter Twenty-eight:


    1. O Sūta! King Purūravas, the son of Ilā, used to go to the heaven on the New Moon day in every month. How was it? How did he propitiate the Pitṛs (Manes).


    If those pieces go together correctly, it would mean that Pururavas established both of the main kinds of rites, i. e. Fire Offering for Agni/Svaha, as well as Soma/Sraddha/Pitrs. Chapter Two depicts Ayus as causing Pitrs' Offering and all the rest to be performed. The ultimate question of this Assembly is to Vayu who explains himself as the Maruts and Prana.


    Before "Lunar Dynasty" it may have been Earth as in the example of Prayaga:


    ...capital of the Aila Purūravas on the north bank of the Yamunā.

    “[The Goddess] went to Devīkoṭa, (arriving there) in a moment, and with a powerful look (āloka) (it became a sacred site. Then she went to) Aṭṭahāsa, (so called) because she laughed (there) loudly. (Then she went to) Kolāgiri, Ujjenī, Prayāga, Varṇā (i.e. Vārāṇasī), Viraja, Ekāmra and other (places) and (then on to) another universe”.

    Harṣa’s assemblies at Prayāga, every five years, speak of the religious sanctity of the place and the benevolent attitude of the emperor.

    Prayaga (प्रयग) is a synonym (another name) for the Horse (Aśva).



    As one more consideration of the timings of the generations, this may be possible from a look at the genealogy of Rama from Manu through Yadu:


    02. Ikshvaku (originally Rishabha, became Ikshvaku after surviving with SugarCane juice)

    03. Bharata : He is the son of King Rishabha and founder of the Sun Dynasty (Suryavansha). Among the hundred sons of king Ikshvaku, Bharata is the eldest one. Because he has very broad chest of a warrior, he was also called as Kushki. Ikshvaku‘s another son, named Nimi, founded the Videha dynasty.

    04. Vikukshi (Shashad) (he who eats the meat of a rabbit so he named Shashad) (contemporary to King Pururava who was founder of Chandravansh)

    05. Baan (contemporary to 2nd Chandravanshi King Aayu andVijaya-1)

    06. Kakutstha (Puranjaya or Indrahomi or Indravahu) ruled 10,900 years (contemporary to 2nd Chandravanshi King Aayu)

    07. Anena (Anaranya or Suyodhana) (contemporary to 3rd Chandravanshi King Nahusha)

    08. Prithu (contemporary to 4th Chandravanshi King Yayati and demon king Vrushaparva)

    09. Vishvarandhri (Vishvagandhi or Vishvamshaha) (contemporary to 5th Chandravanshi King Yadu, Puru, Suhotra)




    Divodasa and Sambara era:


    22. Prasenajit-1 (Seinya Jeet, Ranashva in Agni Puran)

    23. Yuvanashva(2) (who was contemporary to Chandravanshi King Gandhara who was founder of Gandhara Kingdom, Shakuni born 95 generation after King Gandhara)

    24. Mandhata (Chakravarti Samrat) killed by Lavanasura in Mathura (He defeated Ravana). Conquered the Druhyus and vanquished Nriga, Marutta, Jaya, Suna, Sudhanwan, Angara, Gaya and Asita.

    25. Purukutsha (married with Narmada), Ambarisha (adopted by Yuvanashva), Muchukunda (helped Deva in Deva-Asur War and latter he killed Kaal Yavan by fire from his eyes at the time of Sri Krishna Avatara in end of Dwaparayuga) (Contemporary to Chandravanshi King Sibi who was founder of Keikaya and Madra Kingdom)


    Emperor Bharata era:


    40. Champ (Chunchu) (Conntemporary of Chakravarti Samrat Bharata of Chandravansh in lineage of Puru)

    50. Sagara (Chakravartin Samrat) he ended Haihaya Dynasty. Sagara had many sons but only Asamanjash live (Contemporary to Chandravanshi King Hasti who founded Hastinapura)

    51. Asamanjash (Contemporary to Chandravanshi King Ajaamidha who was founder of Panchala Kingdom)


    Ten Kings era:


    64. Sudas (contemporary to King Kuru-1 of Chandravansh who founded Magadha Kingdom)


    After Rama 81, thirty or so "generations" until the Mahabharata.

    I cannot say why those correspondences are made, the argument should be based first from what can be found in the Vedas, with secondary sources on a kind of scale. A raw list does not tell us anything such as siblings ruling neighbor kingdoms or anything about the reign, so the actual numbers are not reliable necessarily as a sequence of timespans. There could be gaps, and once you get to different Puranas, variation is obvious. It is a matter of doing a cross-reference to see if something like the above is possible.

    We are supposing that the Rg Veda has little new information post-Sudas, and this space is occupied by the events of the Ramayana.






    We will split the review here and resume with a closer look at the Solar Dynasty.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Dynasties (additional material)



    Following through with support for the previous post, it may be fundamentally incorrect to subject the Sanskrit ethos to any implied identity with "world religions" and extraordinary amounts of scientific data.

    I do not think the Rg Veda really has a "first man" or "surviving man" concept like Adam or Noah.

    It has something similar at the heads of two important lineages. But these are lineages of kings. It is a story that starts in media res. And so the question would be who those are, what makes them prominent or memorable. And there is a metaphysical and cosmological axiom grafted into them. The military facts are something like a necessary playing board for that which is trying to be expressed.


    So far we find the first tangible Kings of the Two Dynasties are Mandhata and Nahusa.


    If we look in a few more notes on Mandhata by Tamils:


    Sanhatswa – rendered Samhatasva in Brahma Purana. He had 2 sons, Akrasava and Krisasva, and a daughter Haimavati whose son was Prasenajit.

    Prasenajit married Gauri. As per Brahmapurana, he had 2 sons Yuvanaswa and Mandhatri. However, as per SB and Vishnu Purana, Mandhatri was Yuvanaswa’s son.

    Mandhatri – He married Chaitarathi / Bindumati, daughter of Sasabindu. He is supposed to be a mighty monarch who conquered seven continent and bought them under his dominion. A verse in Vishnu Purna is translated as “From the rising to the going down of the sun, all that is irradiated by his light, is the laand of Mandhatri* As per Brahmapurana he had 2 sons, Purukutsa and Mucukunda; and Trasdasya was the son of Purukutsa.


    Puru is an unusual name, meaning "many, much, abundant", and is usually just a prefix, such as Purukutsa, or Sage Puru Atreya, author of RV V.16 and V.17. Rava could be noise, grains or granules, a king, or a line of descent, and we have seen no comments on which "Pururavas" could be given a meaning. However, he is considered to have transmigrated to the Regency of Mercury, and is mantrified accordingly.

    Compared to Hermes, etc., yes that would sound significant as "one initiator" of humanity.

    In that way, an advanced meaning of "rava" may work:


    The Tantrāloka refers to the authority of the Brahmayāmala to explain why resonance (the term used is rāva) is ten-fold. Resonance is said to be radiant (śrīmān) lit. “possessed of glory”. Jayaratha takes this epithet to refer to the dual nature of consciousness as both manifestation (prakāśa = rāva) and representation (vimarśa = rāviṇī, tasyaśrīḥ).

    It is three- fold, because it is divided into “coarse”, “subtle” and “beyond”, each one of these three types originating either from the heart, the throat or the palate. To these three times three varieties is added the tenth, all-pervasive Resonance. Jayaratha identifies the three first types as the three levels of speech: vaikharī, madhyamā and paśyantī, and refers the reader to Abhinavagupta’s discussion of these in the third book of the Tantrāloka. The Yogin who masters this Resonance can ascend to ever higher forms of embodiment and thus achieve the ultimate merging. The Yogin is instructed to practise daily until rāviṇī, the power of representation in the form of the highest verbal consciousness, arising from Resonance, merges into non-Resonance.





    Aila Pauravas is a legitimate if not superior characterization of the Dynasty to the point when it could be said that "Lunar" is applied.

    The question about what is descent from Ila is Noumenal or Mental, especially if we are trying to distinguish her starting in the Apri Hymns, through Vishnu and Ganapati, and the aspects of Vasudhara and Buddhist Homa. It is Ila and Bhu although they have their own sub-routines. Bhu is the Planetary Intelligence so to speak, and Varahi, and as raw potential of nature may be somewhat Adharmic since the woods can be out-of-control or dangerous. Ila is more like a form of Bounty produced on or in Bhu by Dharmic means. The first follows Rta and is Jupiterian, which simply is not the extent of understanding or spiritual practice available to humanity. In fact you could probably say this is like making a modern civilization and wasting your time on non-spiritual things. Enough to run a church with a liturgy, not quite the same as expending one's energy in this strange pair Ila and Bhu, and that Pururavas is like enlightened practice of a full Soma Yajna which is a complement of the Solar Dynasty evidently inhabiting a symbolic Dharma Ayodhya.

    I might suggest that "mahacina" is Kiratic, conjoined with what they found acceptable from Aryan and Buddhist practices, is inherently hybridized by the time it appears in history or the written word. This seems far more likely than a medieval shock occurring in Tibet, which also may have been skittish or averse towards such things.



    The Sakya clan being part of the Solar Dynasty, this is not Kirat country of Nepal or Kathmandu:


    Nimi was ruler of Mithila region and started the kingdom of Janaka.

    In the Jatakas, the Bodhisattva was elected as Mahasammata (Ikshvaku) and was also Mandhata.


    If there may not have been a Flood in the conventional sense, it also seems unlikely that anyone would remember planetary formation. In fact, there is some chance that "material creation" was the vision of a completely-formed planet arising from ether. You *could* get this sense from doing Yoga based on Dissipation. You would *know* that matter is projected by mind, but, this itself will not give you the details of billions of years of cosmic processes. It won't resolve Big Bang versus Steady State universes. And such speculations are heavily discouraged as, at best, a waste of time, or, by obsession, insanity.

    What we do know is that the height of the Ice Age, approximately one Great Year ago, had Central Asia as a paradise, and the founding of Mal'ta Buret. Emigrations from there which would become Indians and Ethiopians were "finished" around 10,000 years ago, around the beginning of IVC. Glaciated land had obviously confined and directed mankind's movements for thousands of years; the thaw and what has been presumed to involve The Flood goes like this:







    It is possible that archaic Central Asia experienced flooding or rainy or marshy conditions, or, perhaps, was overpopulated.

    Indic immigration perhaps was mostly to the west of the Himalayas, the Kirats having moved through Assam and being indissolubly meshed in the history of Yunnan.

    So far the only explanation is Manjushri.

    And so by linking Asvaghosha as an important early writer--I don't think he says much that represents Mahayana--he is responding to an abundance of Artha.

    He mainly criticizes the Worldling. At this point, a person has the ability to fairly easily keep adjusting all of his creature comforts. If he is writing this to a popular audience, that is because it is mostly what they do. They are not that interested in something like meditation or the symbolic meaning of the Vedas. It sounds like now. There is a 10-15% minority which does, and, most of the rest of the use of the same material is superstition and slogans and an ongoing trend of materialism.

    That is not what the most basic Dharma and Artha are about.

    In reviewing this, I would have to agree it is correct, Rg Veda has really just been used as occasional supporting quotes. The stuff that is in it is barely known. It is not that difficult! The architecture of it gives it away. Ten is the newest Mandala, considered to be its own modernized language, and that is where you get the Hymn for Pururavas, who must have already been a major figure prior to the oldest parts of the book.

    One can dispute and argue the Puranas, because they already do that amongst themselves. But this is a scripture, meaning that the heritage of Yadu has to be this unit. Yadu is the early days of Dharma in the Parasurama era. What happens is a partial reconciliation of Aryas to non-Aryas, as well as to different kinds of Aryas. Dharma is not someone's personal property. The Truth and Usefulness or Dharma and Artha are of course universal and shareable.


    The view is shared of Divodas and Sudas as Dharmic kings in materialistic times.

    In Rg Veda, those are much more important than they are in even the Puranas.




    Not too surprisingly, the issue about imbalanced representation has been taken up with respect to the Solar Dynasty, finding Ikshvaku named once in X.60. However, he is represented by the Trksi or tribe and descendants. Mandala VI therefor speaks of an alliance of Nahusa tribes, Trksi, and Puru.

    Mandhāta is clearly a distant ancestral king in this line, since he is not referred to in any contemporary sense.


    They say that the Trksis are interpolated into the Old Books, and misunderstanding this has caused "Indologists" to believe they were Purus. It is, so to speak, an honorific tribute to the Solar kings.

    This is saying that the oldest written core is written about descendants of Mandhata and Nahusa.

    That does not say that the oldest written part mentions the oldest events, but it does help set up the timing.


    There are a few other tribes, but those three appear to have most to do with the events and future dynastic endeavors:


    Quote Mandhātā (half a Pūru himself) had reason to be friendly with the Pūrus, who were his maternal relations.

    The Puranic accounts of the Ikṣvāku dynasty associate all the early kings with the east, but in the case of Mandhātā, they relate his movement westwards in support of his Pūru kinsmen who were under assault from the Druhyus to their west in a pre-Rigvedic period.

    Later, Mandhātā returned to his own kingdom in the east, and there is little record in traditional history of the activities of his successor kings in the east having much to do with the northwest (until the much later period of the Epics). However, it is clear that some of his descendants remained in the northwest and originated a new northwestern branch of Tṛkṣi or Ikṣvāku kings distinct from the eastern ones.

    Thus the Ramayana genealogy omits many kings, such as Purukutsa, Trasadasyu, Hariśchandra and Rohita, who are well-known in Vedic literature as Aikshvāku kings.

    Purukutsa and Trasadasyu were not known to the eastern traditions as ancestors of Rama, because they were not ancestors of Rama: they were kings of the northwestern branch of the Ikṣvākus.

    ...the Puranas retain lists of all the Ikṣvāku kings, while the Vedic texts name only kings from the northwestern branch line, and the eastern traditions (though also in the manner of the Puranic records) name only kings from the main eastern line.

    Iksvaku probably is the Sun and is not the royal power of X.60.


    I am not one to jump if the Lunar or Earth Kings may have had five sons, but, the activity of the supposedly human Ikshvaku is such that:


    Father of a hundred sons—Vikukṣi, Nimi, Daṇḍa and others. 25 of these sons ruled Āryāvarta, 25, the western territory, three, the middle country and the rest all other provinces.

    RV X.60 is not to a deity, it is to King Asamati , and combines this "manu person" with an article "who/which/that":


    yasyekṣvākur


    which is more like the expression "yonder sun".

    Rg Veda clearly does not say that Ikshvaku is the son of Manu who landed in the mountains with a boat.



    Nevertheless, there are important kings of the Ikshvaku line:


    Mandhatr became an Angirasa. That is, he and his descendants, who were born as Iksvakava Kshatriyas, had become Brahmanas of the Angirasa clan. The Angirasa absorbed several prominent Kshatriya clans into their folds and spawned new gotrams. Even those of pure Brahmana descent among them were often involved in the war enterprise, such as Drona, Ashvatthama or the group of Bharadvajins (Bharadvaja Barhaspatya, Payu Bharadvaja & Samyu Bharadvaja) who were the seers of the sixth mandala of the Rig Veda.

    “Dasyu” predates even the composition of the oldest hymns of the Rig Veda, book 6. (Here, Divodasa, the near ancestor of Sudas, is spoken of in a contemporaneous sense, and Trasadasyu of the Iksvaku is long antecendent to Divodasa of the North Pancala dynasty)


    Asamati:


    Name of a king (with the patron. Rāthaproṣṭha)


    It is fuzzy about this Asamati:


    Quote Iksvakus do not play any known significant role in the RV as a whole, let alone the Dasarajanya battle.

    Aila kings (the lunar dynasty kings) are the main royal actors, the Iksvakus, Kosalas, Videha are respectable spectators and the kingdoms in the far east as well as in the Northwest and beyond are condescended upon as barbarians at worst and outsiders at best. The references to the solar dynasties are scant in the earliest parts of Vedic literature, with ‘Iksvaku’ occurring just once in the RV at 10.60. Interestingly, this singular reference occurs in the context of the King Asamati mentioned above as the father of Bhayada. Asamati is addressed as Ratha-Praushta and his descent from Iksvaku is also implied. In the light of these two accounts, it can be suggested that the Vedic texts were not unaware of the Iksvakava but only referred to them when it was in their direct interests (As in the RV hymn composed by the Gaupayanas, the priests of Asamati) or when it was related to the interest of the more renowned characters.

    It is unclear who this Rathaprostha is and there is no other information available about this Rathaprostha clan.

    Asamati Rathpraushta had for his priests, the Gaupayanas. The Gaupayanas were sons of the sister of Agastya, according to RV 10.60.6.

    It is highly probable that Agastya might have managed to secure the priestly offices for his nephews given his friendship with the Vasiṣṭha of Sudasa’s time, which was immortalized in the seventh book of RV as mythology when both Vasiṣṭha and Agastya were said to have been born of the joint deity, Mitra-Varuna (RV 7.33.10).


    That article goes on to suggest that Sambar was a Puru or Bharat and examines side-switching and power shifts.


    Devi Bhagavata on the origin of Mandhata:





    King Ikṣāku ordered his son Vikukṣi...


    Brahmanda Purana III.63 is similar after referring to Nabhaga and Ambarisa becoming Angirases.


    It is stated in Devī Bhāgavata, Skandha 7, that after the death of Śaryāti, the Rākṣasas (giants) attacked Ayodhyā and the sons of the King having fled to different directions, Ikṣvāku continued the dynasty of Śaryāti in Ayodhyā. Hundred sons beginning with Vikukṣi, were born to Ikṣvāku. Of these hundred sons fifty were employed to rule over the regions of East and North and fortyeight, to rule over the regions in the south and the west. With the remaining two sons the King stayed in Ayodhyā, and carried on administration.


    Well, it is not a Dravidian with an Ark. He is still somewhat fantastic. Seemingly the first ordinary human in the line may be Sasada or Vikuksi.

    Brahma Purana is somewhat simple and at least mentions Pururavas and Ikshvaku in the same area:


    But after Ikshvaku died, Vikukshi returned to his father’s kingdom and began to rule there. This was the kingdom of Ayodhya. One of Vikukshi’s sons was Kakutstha, and Rama of Ramayana fame was born in this line.


    In Rg Veda, the intervening "Kuksi" was no person; Kuksi is abdomen, belly, womb. That means Soma Drinking in I.8.7, II.11.11, X.28.2, and once for Eating Bulls where Indra is Uttara, transcendent.


    If Vikuksi may be the first who is determinable as an individual person, he is said to be contemporary to Pururavas, which would seem to be a reasonable match.

    I am not sure they are human.


    From the detailed list, the Solar founding kings mean little to me until:


    Pṛthu was the son of Vena, son of Anga. He was called the first king, from whom the earth received her name Pṛthvī.

    The fifth monarch of the solar dynasty.


    And that is because he is described as the first who is Consecrated, Anointed, or Adi:


    In Hindu tradition, Prithu became the first true king. While he was crowned emperor of the world, many other sovereigns were appointed by Brahma.


    He has more epithets such as Vishnu Avatar, Cakravartin, and inventor of agriculture, as well as chasing the Earth-as-Cow until she yields Anna:

    The epic Mahabharata states that Vishnu crowned Prithu as the sovereign and entered the latter's body so that everyone bows to the king as to god Vishnu. Now, the king was "endowed with Vishnu's greatness on earth". Further, Dharma (righteousness), Shri (goddess of wealth, beauty and good fortune) and Artha (purpose, material prosperity) established themselves in Prithu.


    Ramayana Prithu is only a few places ahead of Mandhata. In the Puranic list they are much farther apart. Mahabharata loses this completely. So, yes, those probably represent geographical variations, along with editing.

    That Ramayana list is numbered and only has about forty generations, half the size of the Puranic list. Then it may be necessary to say that closer to Rama are Nahusa II and Yayati II. Nahusa is in several Rg Veda Mandalas. Most likely there is a difference.


    Similarly on two Nahusas and Yayatis:


    Quote RV 9-47 mentioned Yayati Nahusa. This Yayati is not the Yayati, great grand son of Pururava. The name of the father of this Yayati was also Nahusa, but this Yayati is called Manava, i.e. son of Manu, in the Anukramani. According to this, Samvarana was the father of Manu. So the the lineage is

    Samvarana -- Manu--- Nahusa-- Yayati-- Madhavi-- Viswamitra and so on.



    In short there were two Yayatis and two Nahusas.

    Ramayana says nothing with the extended hierarchy of Yadu, etc., and looks like someone borrowing only the two names a few centuries later.






    Concretely about the Solar Dynasty from RV:


    Book 6 is associated with Divodāsa, and Books 3 and 7 with Sudās.

    A list of "Seven Solar Kings" beginning with Mandhata may be derived:


    Purukutsa

    Trasadasyu

    Trivṛṣan

    Tryaruṇa

    Trāsadasyava

    Kuruṣravaṇa

    The rest of the kings are clearly kings contemporary to the period of the New Books.

    The composer is Nābhāka Kāṇva: incidentally, in the Ikṣvāku dynastic lists in both the Puranas and Epics, Nābhāga is the name of one of the far descendants of Mandhātā. In VIII.40.12, he positions himself close to Mandhata or at least related.

    Ramayana does not have these descendants of Mandhata. In the Puranic lists, they are incomplete:


    24. Mandhata

    25. Purukutsa

    27. Trasadasyu (Son of Purukutsa)

    35. Trayyaruni


    It is like splitting a wishbone; Rama's ancestor Bahu or Asita is a different son of Mandhata. That would make sense. Why the Puranas, over-compiled here, lose what is in the Vedas, I am not sure. In RV, Kurusravana first appears in the commentary:


    Deposited in the waters: a title of the fire placed on the altar, at the kuruśravaṇa ceremony


    He is an individual in X.33.4:

    kuruśravaṇam āvṛṇi rājānaṃ trāsadasyavam

    His descent goes to Upamasravas and Mitratithi--unknown to the other lists.

    As we follow those, there is no King Sagara of the Vedas. For Rama, he would appear timewise around the end of this bloc from the Veda.


    Being leery about anything like another Purana, I nevertheless did not understand "rest of the kings" in the article linked above. It sounds like it would go on for heaps and scads after Kurusravana, which would represent the New Books, but that is not really the case.

    He means "kings other than Mandhata", i. e., mostly that brief list itself spans the Rg Veda. The additional references are for example V.27:

    Trvrsan's son Tryaruna


    Or, "present tense" to the writer of VIII.19:


    A gift of fifty female slaves hath Trasadasyu given me, Purukutsa's son


    Others, but not unfamiliar, in VII.19:


    Fain to fulfil the wish of Atithigva humble, the pride of Turvasa and Yadva.


    So, yes, the Lunar or Aila Dynasty is much more enshrined here; one of the more prominent Solar Kings is with some symbolism in IV.38 in the past tense:


    1. FROM you two came the gifts in days aforetime which Trasadasyu granted to the Purus.
    Ye gave the winner of our fields and plough-lands, and the strong smiter who subdued the Dasytis.
    2. And ye gave mighty Dadhikras, the giver of many gifts, who visiteth all people,
    Impetuous hawk, swift and of varied colour, like a brave King whom each true man must honour.
    3. Whom, as 'twere down a precipice, swift rushing, each Puru praises and his heart rejoices,-
    Springing forth like a hero fain for battle, whirling the car and flying like the tempest.


    10. Dadhikras hath o'erspread the Fivefold People with vigour, as the Sun lightens the waters.
    May the strong Steed who winneth hundreds, thousands, requite with sweetness these my words and praises.


    Vishnu is already hypostasized in VI.20:


    When thou, Impetuous! leagued with Visnu, slewest Vrtra the Dragon who enclosed the waters.

    11. Favouring Usana the son of Kavi, thou wast his ancient strengthener, O Indra.
    Thou gavest Navavastva. as a present, to the great father gavest back his grandson.
    12. Thou, roaring Indra, drovest on the waters that made a roaring sound like rushing rivers,
    What time, O Hero, o'er the sea thou broughtest, in safety broughtest Turvasa and Yadu.



    I.112 is an interesting who's who of those who have been helped by Aswins, whether Kings, Sages, or somebody. It mentions:


    Wherewith, when Sambara was slain, ye guarded well great Atithigva, Divodisa, Kasoju,
    And Trasadasyu when the forts were shattered down...

    to Manu long ago;

    Wherewith ye brought the host of kind Gods to Sudas...


    and the Aswins addressed as:


    18. Wherewith, Angirases! ye triumphed in your heart, and onward went to liberate the flood of milk;



    Trasadasyu, author of [Ṛg-veda iv, 42], is frequently mentioned in RV, and it would appear that hymns were composed during and after his lifetime. He is not in Mandala VI, but in VII.19.3:


    “Undaunted (Indra), you had protected with all your protections Sudāsa, the offerer of oblations; you have protected in battles with enemies for the possession of the earth Trasadasyu, the son of Purukutsa, and Puru.”





    We might find it important that his grandfather:


    māndhātā yauvanāśvaḥ

    is the Sage of X.134, although the last line is filled in by Godha. And this is circular:


    Yauvanāśva (यौवनाश्व).—Name of Māndhātṛ, son of Yuvanāśva.

    That matches Ramayana and the Puranic list.

    He has no "raja" title, either, so that may not downgrade Prthu of Mandala X for not having it. We shall see.

    Yuvanasva's daughter Kaveri is said to have married the Aila Janhu.

    Kaveri is half of the Ganges.

    Here is where the Veda stops. It just told us that Mandhata is the son of Yuvanasva ("young horse"). But it does not go beyond this. The Ramayana suggests for his father Dhundhumara, who is unattested elsewhere, and other texts say Prasenajit:


    A son of Haimavatī and father of Yuvanāśva.*

    * Vāyu-purāṇa 88. 64; Viṣṇu-purāṇa IV. 2. 47-8; Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa III. 63. 66.

    Prasenajit (प्रसेनजित्).—Father of Reṇukā, wife of the sage Jamadagni. (Chapter 58, Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa)


    Ramayana puts Prasenajit *descended* from Mandhata, and does so on pages also mentioning the River Ikshu or Iksumati, right before it talks about Iksvaku.


    The Rg Veda knows nothing of the pre-generations of Yuvanasva.


    That is in spite of trouble being taken to add Solar kings where they may have been omitted.

    From Puranas:


    Mandhatra married the Chandravamsha princess, Bindumati, daughter of Shashabindu, King of the Yadavas.

    Bindumatī (Caitrarathī) had 100 famous sons with names beginning with Pṛthu.

    Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa III. 70. 19-22


    Her father's name slightly resembles the Ikshvaku:


    Śaśada (शशद) (lit. “one who devours a hare”) is a synonym (another name) for the Hawk/Falcon (Śyena).

    Although "Hare marked" is the Moon.


    On pp. 7-8, Ancient India adds a few more Vedic kings, making this same Puranic comparison, possibly having a useful chart split in branches.

    Concerning the oldest Puranic individuals:

    The Rigvedic canon was not closed till after their times, because it contains a hymn by Devapi, brother (or cousin) of king Santanu; yet none of those kings are mentioned in the hymns except Bharata, Santanu, apparently Ajamidha, and Mandhatr and possibly Rama, while x, 134 is attributed to Mandhatr, and in x, 179, verse 1 is assigned to Sivi and verse 2 to Pratardana.






    Examples of "reversing" the Solar Dynasty to a prestigious position by interpolating the hymn are:


    VII.19.3 refers to Indra helping the Pūrus "in winning land and slaying foemen" once by way of Sudās (the hero of Book 7) and once by way of Trasadasyu Paurukutsa (who is otherwise not connected in any way with Sudās, but is elevated to his level with this reference in Book 7).

    Likewise, I.63.7 refers to Indra rendering military aid to the Pūrus, once by way of Sudās and once by way of Purukutsa.


    And although it may look like ages in the list, the Vedic group after Mandhata is relatively brief because according to the Tamil:


    As per Brahmapurana he had 2 sons, Purukutsa and Mucukunda; and Trasdasya was the son of Purukutsa.

    And then in the Rg Veda:

    6. Trāsadasyava

    means "son of Trasadasya". And so we can make a tidy little bundle of what has been exalted here. Such a dynasty is on the side of the Veda, so to speak. What looks like a long list of seven may equate to only four physical generations.








    Prithu can be found anywhere from four to sixteen places above Mandhata.


    Prithu's activity sounds something like a Solar Dynasty being accepted by an Earth one.


    He is supposed to be at the time of Yayati. This may be feasible if it represents a westward move of the Solar Dynasty, and the generations before him may be somewhat figurative.

    Like Pururavas, he is not only the Sage of X.148, he even says so:


    Hear, hero Indra, the invocation of Pṛthu; you are glorified by the praises of the son of Vena...


    However if there are credits such as "Raja Asamati", this one is not a king. Instead, his title is "son of Vena".

    "Vena" is not found in our lists, but, in Mahabharata he is called evil and there is a salvational tale of Prithu and Archi. Pururavas was a subject; this one is a composer in the latest book, not a king of generations before the events. He could be, but it is far from clear that he is shown as an ancestor of Yuvanasva.

    It is possible there was an oral tradition for that.


    But no, Rg Veda has virtually no information about the origin of the Solar Dynasty.

    As said in Ancient India:


    All these were eminent kings and all will be found in the genealogies except Prthu Vainya, whose lineage stands quite apart from the other genealogies and seems rather mythical.




    I could understand Pururavas may have been widely celebrated with no particular need of being written until the end of the period, but Prithu is under the radar drastically, why would he not be a character somewhere. Mandhata seems to be taken in as the first important Solar King, and so it records the name of his father respectfully enough--but that would have meant a foreign culture to the audience of the hymns. They would know Mandhata, but nothing of any important ancestry of his. The Veda does not seem to provide this. It takes tremendous speculation about Prithu. Some Puranic versions have him in the previous Manvantara. However, Mandhata was certainly no stranger where he was from, so it may be possible that non-scriptural lineages have information that is supplemental to the passages of the Vedas, themselves being the domain of Pururavas.



    You might get me to believe in the allegiance of a hundred minor petty nobles, but, Iksvaku personally siring a hundred kings in a great empire does not appear plausible.

    We think it is talking about a symbolic kingdom anyway.

    There is nothing in Rg Veda that personalizes Iksvaku at all, but there are multiple Clan or Sage lines that are named for Manu.

    Manu almost positively has a dual meaning, starting as a Prajapati from a work on symbolic Manu:


    Inside him is Pavamana and Etasha, Horse of the Sun, IX.63; is Samvarana, VIII.51; Manu as Pramati performs sacrifice mentally, X.100; emphasizes meditation more than fire offering, V.21; is Vijnanamaya and Manomaya, inner and outer, or father and son.


    The Rg Veda is full of Manu and manava or his descendants, mainly as acted out by the Earth Dynasty.

    The Solar Dynasty appears to have been accepted by them and concordantly back-written or given a kind of tributary heritage.

    The Solar Dynasty and Manu are not as easily connected as the simple picture usually painted.

    The two Dynasties are more like Aila Pauravas and Ayodhya Prithus. Either one is an aspect of Manu. Neither one really implies a solitary first human. They do however mean certain lineages. It would not be unlikely that Rama is intended as harmony out of distress.


    Here is the factor one might say limits the likelihood of the very remote past.

    There were cereal agricultures from the Harappan era, and some of that was wild rice, and then in the Gangetic Plain there is a detectable emergence of modern Rice:


    ...a single domestication event for O. sativa. This was supported by a genetic study in 2011 that showed that all forms of Asian rice, both indica and japonica, sprang from a single domestication event that occurred 13,500 to 8,200 years ago in China from the wild rice Oryza rufipogon. A more recent population genomic study indicates that japonica was domesticated first, and that indica rice arose when japonica arrived in India about ~4,500 years ago and hybridized with an undomesticated proto-indica or wild O. nivara.


    That is why we would say there might be a Vedic rice-based culture that does not match original IVC. Punjab is probably already introduced to wheat by the time the Vedic agitations stir. It does not necessarily mean they coined the Sanskrit language. It does provide the necessary background for the Vedic or Aryan ethos.


    Spread of rice with light blue additional 200m depth of ice age coast and Japan and Indonesia were peninsulas:






    Yes you get a sense of a massive "Flood" but it is spread out over so many thousands of years, it may have been difficult to recognize as one.

    Instead, there must have been a type of Eastern Silk Road for India to get rice from China.

    In that case, there was probably already a Kiratic pass, onto which the rice appeared.

    If Pururavas made famous a method involving a rice offering from surplus domestic production, there is little to suggest it would have been before this ca. 2,500 B. C. E. range, and afterwards, there would be.


    It played a part in a trend in a paper from Bates U. Seoul:


    By 3200 BC, however, rice agriculture was present outside the Ganges in the Indus Civilization. The data show accelerated domestication in the Indus environment and agricultural systems that played a part in later hybridization with the arrival of Chinese rice.



    According to Physics, you can detect the Agricultural Revolution at Rakhigarhi:


    As well as the winter staples of wheat and barley and winter pulses like peas and vetches, they found evidence of summer crops: including domesticated rice, but also millet and the tropical beans urad and horsegram, and used radiocarbon dating to provide the first absolute dates for Indus multi-cropping: 2890-2630 BC for millets and winter pulses, 2580-2460 BC for horsegram, and 2430-2140 BC for rice.


    Shortly after this is the likely IVC settlement on the way to Manali:


    Nir-Mund: Parshurama carried the headless body of his mother over his shoulder and moved from place to place till he arrived at the spot, where Nirmand now lies.

    Kols are also "Mundas".

    Or:


    Nirmand is a sacrosanct place where Parshuram Rishi is believed to have settled the Brahmins in a bid to eliminate the Kshatriyas, members of the warrior caste from the face of the earth.


    with a famously inscribed Mask:

    Mujuni Devi

    Dattanagar is also a holy site on account of its having been founded by Sage Dattatreya who is venerated in a shrine.



    I, at least, think if it matches Late IVC or Early Vedic time frames, it may mean an area cleared of Kols, it does sound like it would support the campaigns of Divodas or Sudas, it probably is supporting evidence.

    It is between Haryana which is ancient and Manali, which would not seem to have been Indian until after all this was done.

    Behind the battles there is a theme going on here, which is the Sages as advisors to the Kings. So for example "becoming Angirases" is significant. This may be why Book VI by Bharadwajas begins the recording process. We have not really discarded the metaphysical question about evolution out of the Sun and Manu. However it simply seems to be the generic background of all the Vedic lore. So far there is no "Vedic story" about incarnation or individualization, or first man, etc., but it *does* seem important that there is a "Vedic system" of Pururavas, leading to the more intricate question about what is his descent from:


    Moon--Candra and Tara Brihaspatipriya

    Mercury--Budha and Earth--Ila


    In a basic view of Buddhist Dhyana, one invokes Ila in a Noumenal or Dharmic capacity, until her material counterpart, Bhu, is forced to witness Buddha's Enlightenment.

    Or, one could say Gautama was Ikshvaku and Mandhata, and so Buddha has this foundation of the Aryas much like could be said of Manjushri and Mahacina or the Kirats. And so these reflect right into the embroilments we find in Rg Veda. And so of course it is not much different, they function about the same as Sages or Atharvans, and we are stacking this up in the same way that it takes a certain chronology in order to develop the language of the deepest and most profound Yoga as summarized by Vikramasila. And all of that is still in conjunction with Homa. It perhaps is an ongoing look at the "system of Pururavas".

    The symbolic or Dharma context is more important than the externals.



    We are not sure that Vedic Pururavas was a normal individual.


    However, we can find him on a modern page teaching the magic of Agni and Ashwattha.





    lamenting Urvashi



    It turns out that is because he is practically the backbone of Sanskrit:


    It is the first Indo-European love-story known, and may even be the oldest love-story in the world. Its history throughout the whole range of Sanskrit literature is astonishing. The story itself can be regarded from several points of view—all of them interesting. Firstly, it is a tale of a great love, full of deep feeling and real pathos. Its beauty is quite sufficient to immortalise it, whatever else we may read in it. Secondly, it contains incidents which strike one as distinctly symbolical, and immediately open up that ever-fascinating pursuit of theorising. Thirdly, it has a distinct historical and anthropological value, and is without doubt the earliest example of nuptial taboo in existence.


    It continues in Skanda Purana.

    You could call that an original kernel of the Vedas attested in a late Purana.


    From him, I have always considered the son Ayus as symbolic, and he is not personalized in Rg Veda. There is a vague guess the following may be "son of Pururavas" in I.53.10:

    “You, Indra, have preserved Suśravas by your succour, Turvayāṇa by your assistance; you have made Kutsa, Atithigva, and Ātu subject to the mighty though youthful Suśravas.”



    although the name means "having heard", and seems to be:


    ...of a Ṛṣi (having the [patronymic] Kauṣya), [Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa]


    So it seems doubtful this identifies Ayu.


    There is the clear statement of Agni as the Ayu of Nahusa in I.31.11.


    If a normal person, he would have the unusual:


    wife Prabhā, Rāhu's daughter


    or:


    Prabhā (प्रभा).—Daughter of a dānava called Svarbhānu. She was married to king Āyus and Āyus begot of her sons like Nahuṣa and others (Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa. 3—6—26).

    one of the nine Devis serving Soma

    abandoned her consort for Soma with eight other Devis.


    Urvashi is an Apsaras, Prabha is a Danava, and so their mates may not be regular males.


    From Ayus, it would appear the first human generation is Nahusa. He is variable; but in the Rg Veda, there is King Nahusa at the Sarasvati River, VII.95; similarly in VII.6.5; may also be an expression of Age; and may be an aggregate expression of mankind or humanity.



    Nahuṣa married Virajā the daughter of Pitṛ.

    If he married Viraja, it is likely that Padma Purana is an interpolation of Asokasundari. It can only be circularly explained by saying that Asokasundari is Viraja. However, Viraja is the ancient sakti of Jaipur, who has Spear or Sulini correspondences in Ekajati and Bhima Devi.


    His tale has the limitations of Indra and Brihaspati. This Lunar patriarch is raised by the Solar priest:


    Vasistha (traditional seer of the 7th Mandala of the RV) named him Nahusha...





    He:


    ruled heaven in the absence of Indra in the Mānasa lake...

    ...when Indra lay concealed under waters to expiate the sin of having killed the demon Vṛtra, a Brāhmaṇa, he was asked to occupy his seat.

    He winds up cursed into serpent form by Agastya, later released by Yudhisthira.


    As he was ultimately a failure, one finds among them Vena as the worst king, Nahusa as bad:


    Sudas, son of Pijavana was a great king, with Visvamitra as his family priest and Vashista as his enemy.


    Vena is actually praised in X.93.


    One does find the name Nahusa Manava.

    His son is a Sage:

    Yayāti Nāhuṣa is also represented as the author of [Ṛg-veda ix, 101, 4-6])


    Yayati does not fail quite so hard.


    Having complicated ancestry, Nahusa probably is human, and still esoteric in nature. Here is a view on Vedic Nahusha:


    Quote Nahusha, the son of Manu,happens to be the seer of Rigvedic mantras 9.101.7-9

    Earlier three mantras(9.101.4-6) happen to be of seer yayaati, the son of Nahusha.

    The element Manu tries to bond together personal intelligence, mind and five sense organs. He gradually reaches from Nahuh to Nahustar, then leaves all these seven and then declares himself as Nahushah, the killer of the seven(Rigveda 10.49)

    This Nahusha is actually Indrah Vaikunthah who is the god of Rigveda 10.47 and is both seer and god for Rigveda 10.48-50.

    In a way, it is the path of leaving non divine individuality and reaching to a central point or Naabhi.

    Proceeding from multiplicity of the gross body towards integrity gives rise to the birth of Nahusa the Indra. This nahusha the Indra is able to penetrate the seven abodes of seven top pranas (Rigveda 10.99.7) :

    Sa nritmo nahusho asmat sujaatah puro abhinad arhan dasyuhatye.

    And he helps in development of ninety nine abodes of Shambara( Actually, Mahendra, and not Nahusha, destroys 99 abodes of demons) (Rig.1.122.10) :

    Aham nyanyam sahasaa sahaskaram nava vradhto navatim cha vakshayam

    There is one more quality of Nahusha mentioned in Rigveda 1.122.10.

    Adha gmanta nahusho havam suureh shrotaa raajaano amritasya mandrah. - - - - - -Etam shardham dhaam yasya suureh ityavochan dashatayasya nanshe

    Here shardham is symbolic of some higher state of a crowd. The purpose of nahusha is to control all the bodily defects so that these may be able to offer oblations to gods. These controlled progeny have been called at other places as maanushee vishah.

    Even after reaching the higher stage of development, Nahusha could not attain the stage of Indra, the husband of Shachee. Hence, in the anecdote of Nahusha in Puranas, there is a fall of Nahusha who tries to make Shachee her wife. Actually, Shachee is the name of a big power of the highest god or parbrahman. The godly power Shachee is attainable for every person by the gesture of God. She is the power of not only her husband Indra, but of every other person also. Still, she can not remain confined to a particular individual. Though Indra the god can reside in every individual body sea of consciousness as a seer of atman, but her Shachee wants to get integrated only with his infinite form. On the other hand, though Nahusha has attained human qualities, he is still bound to his own individuality. Thus, though Nahusha is symbolic of higher state of humanity or higher state of mind(Manu), he is not highest.


    In vedic glossary of terms, all the terms which are symbolic of man or human qualities, happen to exist in their plural form. It seems as if Nahushah is a singular form, but actually this also happens to be a plural form. This is clear from the following mantra(Rigveda 10.80.6) :

    Agnim visha eedate maanusheeryaa agnim manusho nahusho vijaataah.

    Here the human progeny are said to have taken birth in different forms by the names of Manushah and Nahushah. Hence, along with manushah, nahushah is also to be taken as a plural word. Nahushah is a plural of Nahus. That is why there is reference in Rigveda of Nahushee vishah, just like Manushee vishah.


    Shachi is perhaps the first not named for her husband.

    As per the "limitations" mentioned previously, in our esoteric view, we are not quite that concerned with Indra Shakti as presented here, but, in fact, with Tvastr Shakti. Indra is mainly Form, so it is incomplete.

    The "hiding" thing is what we have taken as foetal development and then "Bodhisattva in the Womb". Blue Lotus Mudra.



    And so Nahusa says he is of the line of Manu, whereas Mandhatr says Yuvanasva.


    Manavas are mentioned on a page for Rigvedic Tribes:


    Vlll/18/20 King Manya Mana

    There are two seers from Manu clan, called Manava, viz. Nahusa Manava (9/7-9,101) and Nabhanedista (X/61-62). This clan is now-a-days called Manu.



    For the second son of Manu, Nabhanedista, in X.62 he joins Brihaspatis and Angirases who defeated Vala. This highlight goes on to observe Brihaspati discussed as a human as well as a deity. And, the son of Divodasa is Sage Parucchepa.


    He is mentioned in passing on a brief study that Aryan kings took taxes and tribute, but they did not own the state or land.



    In Garuda Purana:


    Vaisali dynasty descended from manu’s Nabhanedista. This dynasty is recorded in seven Puranas but only four lists of this Purana are complete those is the vayu visnu, Bhagavata and Garuda.


    or:


    Nabhanedista established the Vaisya Visala (Buddhist Vaisali) dynasty in Tirhoot.


    His name is frequently abbreviated to Dista (possibly Time).

    His explanation is in the commentary to Prasnopanishad:


    He is then called Nabhanedista-one who has gathered oneself at the navel centre. Once this is done, then again the rays are thrown outward and they again ...



    If there are some kind of non-Vedic Aryans, is there a conversion factor?

    Some missing detail from arguments or disputes among Rishi Gotras?



    Vedic "becoming Angirases" is critical to Dawn and Luminous Cattle. Indra "becomes" Angiras, Panis are not, and Dawn is the most:


    Usha also is described as aṅgirastamā and in addition as indratamā.


    ...the Vedic myth has profounder aspects. In the first place, the Angirases are not merely the deified human fathers, they are also brought before us as heavenly seers, sons of the gods, sons of heaven and heroes or powers of the Asura, the mighty Lord, divas putrāso asurasya vīrāḥ (III.53.7), an expression which, their number being seven...Moreover there are passages in which they seem to become purely symbolical, powers and sons of Agni the original Angiras, forces of the symbolic Light and Flame, and even to coalesce into a single seven-mouthed Angiras with his nine and his ten rays of the Light, navagve aṅgire daśagve saptāsye, on and by whom the Dawn breaks out with all her joy and opulence.

    All taken from Sri Aurobindo.


    The Met has a Choladevi as Varahi with Angiras and Mahalakshmi.

    There are Angirases in multiple examples from Krishna Yajur Veda.

    Angiras "is" Agni, composed some of the first mantras, and:


    Angiras is a Vedic rishi (or sage) who, along with sage Atharvan, is credited to have formulated ("heard") most of the fourth Veda called Atharvaveda.

    Mandala 6 of the Rigveda is attributed to a family of Angirasas.

    Lord Buddha is said to be a descendant of Sage Angirasa in many Buddhist texts.

    Angirasa are said to have composed the very first verse of the Rig Veda, the hymn to Agni.


    Mandala Six is signed by the family of Bharadwaj:

    Bharadwaj Maharshi was the son of Brihaspati and the grandson of Angirasa Maharshi.

    Bharadwaj Maharshi was the Guru of Ayodhya Maharaj Vishnu Ram of the Ishvaku Dynasty.

    He is associated with Ayurveda, Prayaga, Yajnawalkya, and Katyayani.

    Also:


    Rishi Bharadwaj was the son of sage Brihaspati. Sage Brihaspati was the son of Rishi Angiras. These 3 rishis are called the traya rishi of the Bharadwaj Gotra.

    The ashram of Bhardwaj rishi still stands on the banks of river Ganges in Allahbad, India.

    Himachal Pradesh: around 60% of Brahmins have Bharadwaja as their gotra.



    They perhaps opposed western Bhrgus who emphasized Varuna. Although Mitra and Varuna are supposed to be two halves, there possibly was schism between followers. Mitra:


    ...loved Ūrvaśī and finding her thinking of Varuṇa, cursed her to be born on the earth.

    ...saw Ūrvaśī and let flow his retas, which was collected by Ūrvaśī in a pot and from which came Agastya and Vasiṣṭha.



    The oldest Mandala is a type of consortium which could not possibly have been the "start" of anything.


    The oldest human avatar Parasurama is taken to be in Rg Veda as the Sage of Apri Hymn X.110. This uses the name Rama Jamadagnya as also in the Epics.


    Dattatreya is Vedanta:


    The Dattatreya Upanishad, which is part of the Atharva Veda, describes him as variously taking the form of a child, a madman and even a demon, in order to help his followers attain moksha (liberation). In the earliest traditions, he was portrayed with only one head.

    The Ramayana only discusses his parents, Atri and Anasuya.

    For Dattatreya:


    The text is a Tantra and Vaishnava work, likely one of the relatively recent, 14th- or 15th-century CE era composition compared to other Upanishads.

    It even calls him a Pisaca.

    He is in a few others:


    Shandilyopanishat

    Avadhutopanishad and Jaabaaldarshanopanishad mention that the philosophy is given by Shri Dattatreya.

    Nepal has an ancient Dattatreya temple on anasuya parvata, which houses a similar idol of Dattatreya. This idol is worshipped as Adi Dattatreya Murti.

    And finally Bhikshukopanishad, which is all probably from late medieval times.



    Dattatreya is not clearly part of the Vedas in about the way that Prithu looks like a long reach. They are big in Mahabharata.


    The Veda's oldest characters come in the newest Mandala; Pururavas as a subject, Mandhata and Parasurama as authors.



    The first possible event is accounted for in multiple late creation hymns:


    R̥V 10.72, 10.81–82, 10.90, 10.121, and 10.129.

    Purusha Sukta of Rigveda (10.90) explains that the universe was created out of the parts of the body of a single cosmic man ( Purusha)

    The Hiranyagarbha (literal translation, 'golden egg') Sukta of the Rig Veda (X:121)

    the crafting of the universe by Viśvakarman from the wood of a tree (RV 10.81)

    the pulling apart of a primordial whole into earth and sky by Indra (RV 5.31.6, RV 10.113.5 etc.)

    These the two world-halves have I, even as Tvashtsr
    knowing all beings, joined and held together. – Rig-Veda
    4.42.3


    substrate:


    ...the Rig Veda in particular, offers no one, single theory of creation. Instead, there is the paradox of mutual creation whereby Aditi and Daksha create one another. By the dharma of the gods, two births can be mutually productive of one another, yet the earth born from the crouching divinity is also said to be born from the quarters of the sky that are born from her [10.72].


    At first, no one thought of the symbolic meaning of Vrtra until as in Indian Cosmogony:


    As far as I see, Professor W. Norman Brown has been the first to state
    that Indra's fight with Vrtra is a creation myth [1942].


    He then rejected the nature myth:


    It has long been recognized by several students of Vedic mythology
    that the Rigvedic myth of Indra’s combat with the dragon Vrtra has no
    bearing on natural phenomena such as thunderclouds and rain, but
    represents an Aryan myth of creation.


    That has certainly always conditioned my thinking, but, it perhaps is both of these. Archaeology strongly suggests that Drought was a major player in fate. Cosmic or Noumenal Water is the main governor of material water. We wish he would have said something like "additionally" rather than "everyone is wrong".



    But he did pick up on that which Aurobindo and Frawley are missing, Tvastr:


    in the beginnings there were the waters restrained with-
    in a shell, which was personified as Vrtra ; there existed
    force for expansion, which was personified as god Varuna.

    Besides the withheld waters there was a Fashioner God, Tvasta, who had created
    Dyavaprthivi to be his house. Of these two was born Indra,
    who drank Soma, that made him expand and be strong. He
    forced apart Dyaus and Prthivi filling the space bet. them
    and being the informing power of the atmosphere. He split
    the covering within which lay the waters, so that they came
    forth. They were impregnated and gave birth to the Sun
    and themselves flowed into the atmospheric ocean By

    • this great deed Indra separated the Sat from the Asat. This
    was creation. Varaha now took over to organise everything
    and prescribe the laws by which it would operate.


    That is the right idea. He is "before", he makes the weapons of the Devas, he makes the best anything, and he has top shelf Nectar. Indra is something like a rival. And so I think the moral of Nahusa goes here. Indra powers on their own do not stop the soul from falling.

    This view is scripturally inspired about Tvastr:


    But chief contribution of this proficient workman is soma, the
    gods drink. In Rig-Veda thus said- Tvashtar, most deft of
    workmen, knew each magic art, bringing most blessed bowls
    that hold the drink of gods. His axe, wrought of good metal,
    he is sharpening now. Wherewith the radiant Brahmanspati
    will cut.

    His special function in the natural world is the formation of
    embryo in the womb. The celestial artist god is said to be
    creator and shaper of embryo inside a woman’s womb.
    RigVeda mentions him thus-

    “Even in the womb, god Tvashtar, vivifier, shaping
    all forms, creator, made us consorts. None violates
    his holy ordinances: That we are his the heaven and
    earth acknowledge.”

    10.46.9, 10.2.7


    This first possible event is in the last book, like the first characters. But no, still, not quite like Adam and his descendants.

    The process is sparse enough that literature develops three modes of creation.


    Coagulation

    Mundane Egg

    Lump:

    Prajapati, while roaming over the Waters
    in the shape of the Wind, sees the Earth and dives into the Waters
    in the shape of a boar. As such he brings the first beginning of
    the earth to the surface.

    Originally it was as small as the boar's
    snout, but soon, while still floating on the surface of the Waters,
    it began to grow.


    You can categorize them, but, I think the resolution is probably to them all being simultaneously true, rather than conflicting ideologies.


    If it does not have any chain of events from creation through first human being and the "children" or something, it may begin with a First Battle:


    This, the first of the historical Bharata-Pūru battles took place in Haryana during the time of Sṛńjaya (the father of Divodāsa). It is described in Book 6, in hymn VI.27. • This battle took place on the banks of the Yavyāvatī and Hariyūpīyā, two sister tributaries of the Sarasvatī. • The Turvasus and the Yadus (Vṛcīvants) appear to have invaded up to Haryana, and the Bharata Pūrus (under Sṛńjaya) and their western neighbours the Anus (under the Pārthava king Abhyāvartin Cāyamāna) jointly defeated the Turvasus and Yadus. • This battle is important only because it shows that in the early period, the Bharata Pūrus and the Anus were allies, in contrast to the situation in later times. Also it explains early references to Haryana (Lake Manusha) in the Avesta.

    Then:


    The Western Opponents of Sudās-1 • VII.83.1 names Dāsas, the Pṛthus/Pārthavas and Parśus/Parśavas among the opponents of Sudās. All the others are named in hymn VII.18: • Verse 5: Śimyus. • Verse 6: Bhṛgus, Druhyus. • Verse 7: Alinas, Pakthas, Bhalānas, Śivas, Viṣāṇins. • Verse 8. Kavi Cāyamāna. • Verse 11. Vaikarṇas. • Verse 12. Kavaṣa, Druhyu.

    Their exodus westward is referred to in VII.5.3 and VII.6.3.

    They are all names found in just six verses from two hymns out of the 1028 hymns and 10552 verses of the Rigveda, all these names pertaining to a single historical event.



    This is the work of one Indologist, he has written few books on this as well, in which he has debunked Michael Witzel to which Witzel offered Talageri a scholarship under him if he was willing to tweak his views. Witzel tried to bribe.



    And then as a tangent to a final event, discussing X.86:


    The Dāśarājńám or the “Battle of Ten Kings”, described in the Rig Veda (RV) hymns 7.18, 7.33 and 7.83, is clearly a historical event.

    Sóma is asked to help Dívodāsa defeat śámbara, Yádu and Turváśaḥ (RV 9.61.2). In another battle, Tū́rvayāṇa or Suśrávas, with I’ndra’s help, defeats a coalition of twenty kings which includes Kútsa, Atithigvá, and others (RV 1.53.10, RV 6.18.13).


    That is a valid background for the things discussed, such as something I would not agree with, using Antares north of the equator. It treats this hymn as a successful rebellion. What is interesting is the Queen becomes Indrani in the first person; this is some of her counsel:



    No woman would have a better behind than me, or would be better at sex than me. Or pressing closer or thrusting her thighs higher.

    I have many sons, am the wife of I’ndra and a friend of the Marúts.



    This is understood as transfer of power to a new king:


    He is not powerful, whose penis hangs between his thighs. He is indeed powerful, whose hairy organ becomes erect from hanging down.

    He is not powerful, whose hairy organ becomes erect from hanging down. He is indeed powerful, whose penis hangs between his thighs.



    VI.47 with Tvastr and Divodas, the son of Srnjaya, honoring the Bharadwajas.

    Also:


    In VI.27, Abhyāvartin Cāyamāna (called a Pārthava, i.e. Parthian, in verse 8) is an ally of the Vedic Aryan (Pūru Bharata) king Sṛńjaya, son of Devavāta, in a battle fought in the Haryana region.


    I see what is happening. Some of the sites we are linking are adding their own ideas onto Talageri, whi started by criticizing Hindutva in 1993. In a review he says:


    Unlike some other Hindu writers, he is rational in his dating of the different parts of the Rigveda (where his dates generally coincide with my own) and is not concerned with transporting the Epic-Puranic events back into extremely remote times. In fact, in respect of the Ramayana events he even goes to the other extreme in this matter, and concludes that Rāma is "is a contemporary of Śaṁtanu" (p.319), and is "dated towards the end of Ṛgvedic 10th Maṇḍala (2000-1900 BCE)" (p.299).



    That archive has a *lot* of articles on this Out of India Theory.

    We don't have to agree with everything he says, but, so far it is a very serviceable analysis.

    For example, there are no "Asva" names in the Old Books.

    Half of it is against the idea that IVC *was* Vedic Aryan from the outset and that the extensive Purana lists justify a west-to-east movement.

    It is a difficult argument, which is why I said just look at the Rice. You can't quite tell when it got going around the Ganges, but, you can see when it reached industrial strength in Haryana. The Sages can't go where there is no rice. There is a lot to say there was an east-to-west movement, of which there is not really any writing, until Haryana.

    All we are trying to do is make a few boxes of meaningful epochs and accurate events.

    I mean, the long-held notion that Ikshvaku has any special connection to Manu is practically denied by the Rig Veda.


    Talageri's site has no layout, but I was able to scratch up the main chronology:



    Quote The first prominent Bharata king after the eponymous Bharata, named in the Rigveda, is Devavāta, and he is mentioned only in these four Books. Sṛnjaya, his son, is likewise mentioned only in Books 6 and 4.

    They represent the periods of Divodāsa (6), Sudās (3, 7), and Sahadeva/Somaka (4).

    Book 6 covers the period of Divodāsa, and is therefore decidedly earlier to Books 3 and 7. Books 3 and 7, more contemporaneous, cover the period of his descendant Sudās. But, within a contemporaneous period, the core of Book 3 is slightly earlier than the core of Book 7, since it is generally accepted that the period of Viśvāmitra as the priest of Sudās preceded the period of Vasiṣṭha as the priest of Sudās.

    Book 6 is the purest Family Book, since every single hymn and verse in the Book is composed by a ṛṣi belonging to the Bharadvāja branch of the Angiras family.

    Book 3 has ṛśis belonging to the Viśvāmitra family as composers in every single hymn, but two hymns also have a few verses composed by other ṛṣis.

    Book 7 also has ṛṣis belonging to the Vasiṣṭha family as composers in every single hymn, but now we have two whole hymns, 101 and 102, jointly composed, as equal partners, by an Angiras ṛṣi and a Vasiṣṭha ṛṣi.

    Book 4 (which belongs to the Gotama branch of the Angiras family) has two hymns, IV.43-44, wholly composed by ṛṣis belonging to the Bharadvāja branch of the Angiras family; and Book 2 (which belongs to the Gṛtsamada or Kevala Bhṛgu family) has four hymns, II.4-7, wholly composed by a ṛṣi belonging to the Bhṛgu family.

    The Late Books, on the contrary, are multi-family books...the New Books do mention spoked wheels, invented only in the second half of the third millennium BCE (after 2500 BCE), and domestic camels also domesticated in the same period.



    Book 7 refers in VII.96.3 to Jamadagni, a composer from Book 3. It also refers to three contemporary ṛṣis, all three of whom have mini-books composed by their descendants in Book 1: Agastya (VII.33.10,13), the brother of Vasiṣṭha; Parāśara (VII.18.21), a grandson of Vasiṣṭha; and Kutsa (VII.25.5), a colleague of Vasiṣṭha.


    We actually have direct testimony in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa VI.18, to the effect that six hymns in Book 3 are late compositions, which were added into the Book at a late date as a solution to a dispute between the Viśvāmitras and the Vāmadevas.

    which is:


    Quote ...the solution to the mystery of the order of arrangement of the Family Books 2-7. They were originally arranged in order of increasing number of verses: 429, 536, 589, 727, 765, 840.

    and again the important promotions into Old Books:


    Quote ...the references to Purukutsa and Trasadasyu in the four above hymns, in the Early and Middle Books, are extraordinary interpolations, by composers of the Late Period belonging to the two families most closely, and continuously, associated with the Bharatas (the branch of the Pūrus to whom the Early and Middle Periods and Books of the Rigveda belong), i.e. by the Angirases and the Vasiṣṭhas, into their early Family Books.

    The above is similar to Matsya Purana on the arising of the Pancala Dynasty from Prithu. Bhagavata Purana does not show this and the Rg Vedic Pancala kings are just a few generations before Draupadi.

    This wrinkle probably represents the Vasishthas defecting after Sudas's victory.






    We also find that the Anukramani or header information with Sages, meters, and ragas, comes from a conversation of Sage Vamadeva with Indra and Aditi.

    That is not explained, but, there is something similar from a study on female seeers regarding IV.18:


    Aditi is the sole female seer to be met in the fourth book of Rgveda. Rgveda IV.I8 is a dialogue hymn, the speakers being Indra, Aditi and Vamadeva. Here again Aditi cannot be regarded as a mundane woman but a celestial being - the mother of the gods.


    However Talageri has twenty years of argument where we find that the information always preceded any hymn recital, and to the furthest extent, this is some of the most impeccable information known to man:



    All the Anukramanis, whatever their alleged dates, give the same data on the Rishis.

    There is a world of difference between vague genealogical lists of kings and holy men hanging in the air, and a concrete index of the composers of sections of a concrete text.

    ...if Mandala A has a hymn ascribed to an ancestor of a Rishi composer from Mandala B, we do not find another case where Mandala B has a hymn ascribed to an ancestor of a Rishi composer from Mandala A.



    The only variance is that in late times, especially Mandala X, if a compiler did not know the Sage, he put the deity as the composer. In the majority of cases, the attributions are definitive. The net result is that regardless of origin, you wind up with what might be better described as ten "family groups" depending on what Apri Hymn they use.

    That is why the solid way to arrange all this is by the manner of writing.

    By the time of the last book, there are so many Sages that many of them are unknown. The overall period of composition shows a definite "change of ages" from something like a prayer for survival to a flourishing enterprise.

    That makes an actual chronology of history, at a time when even then, the idea of trying to tell someone about direct descent from a first man would have probably got you laughed at.

    Evolution out of a mental Manu is for everyone; taking birth.

    Mandaean Adam works this way and lacks the "chain of descent" and as far as I know, Covenant. So I think the followers of Moses may have specialized in this linear thing and the Great Flood. This notion has nothing to do with the Vedas. They inherently involve a type of mysticism that they do not actually teach. They reflect or record their environment and do not start anything. Such "starting", for instance, can largely be pinpointed to Pururavas, whom appears a figure of legend from before anything being composed.

    Even he did not necessarily start the "mythos" or divinities, but clarified and taught something still used today.

    As mantrins, we are strongly interested in this, and not so much an ecclesiastical institution. Or perhaps it is an interest in the ongoing Bhakti of Ila Devi. As soon as we accept her as an aspect of Buddhist Vasudhara, it encapsulates everything from Pururavas onwards, returning to Agni Homa and, the questions of what is in this Vedic metaphysical symbolism. Some of it is well-known. Sri Aurobindo is pretty good. We are mainly suggesting a closer consideration of Tvastr. A man might "become Indra" and yet perish in the face of his Dharmic Duties.

    He does not have a whole hymn dedicated to him in the Rig Veda, but is mentioned in conjunction with other deities in [R.V.1.13], [R.V.2.1] etc.

    In fact he is mentioned over eighty times in all Mandalas, such as II.11.19:

    ...you have slain Viśvarūpa, the son of Tvaṣṭā...

    III.7.4:


    “The flowing (rivers) invigorating him, bear along the great son of Tvaṣṭā, the undecaying upholder (of the world), radiant with various forms in the vicinity (of the firmament); Agni is associated with heaven and earth, as (a husband with) one only wife.”



    So, yes, Indra is "creative" with organized forms out of raw material, but, if someone thinks Daksha and Aditi is a little strange, you need to suss out the tribulations of Tvastr and Indra. Again, Tvastr's Daughter is the wife of the Sun or Surya. His RV appearances already recognize him as the knower of Immortality. Raising him to this level is not a Puranic innovation, it is rather bold, it is not a secret, just self-secret in being difficult to figure out the meaning.





    No two Vedas are different, and, in the case of manuscripts and handmade books, no two Mahabharatas are alike.

    The two case studies are alike, if we say Old and New Books and then Puranic digression. Those are like Sutra and Tantra Buddhism and our "puranas" are Tibet, Mongolia, Japan, etc., all semi-conversant but yet different or even contradictory. When we turn to Sanskrit Buddhism, we start finding answers that have simply been overlooked.

    India in the 2020s is just now able to produce a coherent view of her own Rg Veda.

    Sanskrit Buddhism cannot claim to have been in the management of any country, and is just some archives. India has shown little interest in Sanskrit manuscripts found in Tibet, again, the suspicion being because they are Buddhist and may not suit their desired version of history. Buddhism and the failure of the Vedas to support an extremely archaic regimen seem to be inconvenient truths.

    Most of Talageri's argument is extraneous because we have independently arrived at close to the same conclusions.

    Those conclusions are very robust, but, he is not asking some of our esoteric questions.


    In part we see:


    Tvastr is above/behind Viswarupa or Vrtra, and is probably doing mental creation.

    Indra is triply-aspected, dealing with this as material creation, rain, and embodied in Kings.


    Creation is not in the Old Books; Tvastr, having performed it, is.

    Tvastr and Vishnu are "obscure", by not having their own hymns, dedications, etc., but in the symbolic sense they are already in the roles as described. Brahma is the agent of Vishnu's ideal mental creation, and so Indra can only take any importance subsequent to Brahma. There is no such thing as "Shiva" which is why, to get the Puranas, we have kicked out Red and Blue Rudra as being the highest refined Samadhi and therefor unreal to the typical person, because their Rudras and Maruts exist as an uncontrolled Storm. In Buddhism, Wrathful Candika standing for this.

    That is why one would allow the Puranas, for instance, to convey the elaborate meanings of Vishnu and Tvastr which are not available just from knowing their Vedic invocations.

    I personally have never tried to be very objective about Mahabharata, since it is really a story about the trials of Yudhisthira. He perhaps is a bit like Job written into a gigantic amalgamation.


    The Vedas reflect a prior amount of culture that occupies the same time and space as what archaeology calls IVC.

    Talageri says that in every other case when linguistic evidence appears to match the physical, that the two have been declared identical and the language is that of the culture.

    We might reserve judgment and think there were probably mutually-intelligible dialects, technology, and trade from Pakistan and Dravidia, into part of Bengal, that was non-Kiratic. The Veda is a cultural accretion willingly or otherwise.

    Harappan Seals are not for the purposes of Sages, who were reluctant about writing. It would be understandable to find Seals in Mesopotamia because they were something like a business license for so-and-so, a metalsmith of such-and-such family of Dwarka, used by laborers and merchants, and possibly due to outside influence. If these were Sanskrit speakers, then, yes, it could reflect what we surmise were probably common spoken myths about Pururavas or Agni, etc., but all I am willing to say is there is overlapping territory here.

    The oldest Book is by a family who are already a descendant branch.




    Book VI uses an extant language to prevail upon some kind of mythology that must be coming from Angirases.

    Book Ten is practically syncretic and in a visibly advanced version of language.

    One asks what happened to these Sages, they appear to have compiled additional sections of the Veda, until crystalized by Veda Vyas shortly after the events of Mahabharata, which may be ca. 1,000 B. C. E., and not such an isolated bracket either. One might say Yajnawalkya compiles Yogacara ca. 700 B. C. E. and then from the time of Buddha, ca. 500 B. C. E., all of the Indian historical record relies on him. And then even in Pali, he mostly just describes the modern philosophy as "incomplete", that the institution of rites is less important than a clear mind and love towards other beings. And that Samadhi was, so to speak, this, similarly misunderstood by the Yogis.


    If people continue achieving the state of a Sage after written Vedas, what do you do?

    Would it be like those Sages prior to the Vedas?

    There should be some kind of living tradition, perhaps entities such as Mohini and Charchika. We want to say the same thing with Buddhism, i. e., Delok Dawa Drolma and Sanskrit Tara. And in that sense, it validates our own Sages, if Sutras and Tantras are considered scriptures, it means this. The level of Vidyadhara is a Sage whether you go down in history or not.

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    Default Re: Nirakara and Shentong Buddhism, Tara, Sadhanas, Sanskrit culture

    Dharma and Ashoka versus Ashoka



    It is not just King Sudas who has been forgotten.

    The Lion Capital of Sarnath was adopted as a national symbol merely as a random suggestion after "nothing suitable could be found".

    This means around 1947, the nation really had no idea what represented itself. It was a find, there is no rationale as to how or why it may symbolize India or anything else.

    It had just been excavated in 1905:




    although it is a pretty close match to the Sanchi Stupa:





    Of course, now, we are in a position to claim these are edifices of what we have to say. I cannot give any better prior written evidence of Buddhism, so, Sanchi features in our Table of Contents. I will take it to mean what we have to say, and Indians don't know what it is, at least they certainly did not by putting its twenty-four spoked wheel in the middle of the flag.

    Is India a Buddhist country?

    No, and I think Ashoka undermined the first wave of Brahmanism which was placing priests as an uber-class.

    I would rather not have made this a political issue and was not seeking to. It strikes me as inconvenient that to study the intra-Indian esoteric symbolism of Sanskrit Buddhism, is to land in the same issue that has apparently invented caste by bypassing the Rg Veda.

    It is no accident, since Buddhism carries forward the Vedic tradition.

    With some difficulty calling this a "religion", one could at least be sure it is a "meaningful practice" such as in a thesis Abstract from Kurfirtova 2017:


    This thesis traces the origins and history of homa in India paying special attention to its Buddhist variations. It compares the Vedic, Hindu, and Buddhist tantric homa rituals and examines similarities and differences between them. Drawing on a wide range of Vedic and tantric scriptures, such as the Ṛg Veda, Atharva Veda, Bṛhadāraṇyaka and Chāndogya Upaniṣads, Matsya and Vāyu Purāṇas, Mahāvairocana Sūtra, Guhyasamāja, Cakrasaṃvara and Hevajra Tantras, this study attempts to establish how much Buddhism has in common with Vedic culture. As anticipated, tantric homa rituals in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions undeniably share the same roots that go back to India’s Vedic and pre-Vedic past.


    or a brief article by Grether 2015:


    This chapter examines the symbolic relations between fire and water in ritual performances of both Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions. In one form or another, water appears both before and after fire, thus providing a kind of symbolic framing device.



    Allright. So Buddhism is the same or similar strand of Homa, except it is Yoga, which is the same classification for almost any kind of Indian spiritual practice that is *not* strictly Vedic mantras and Homa. If we turn to Hindus for *their* understanding about it, you have to call in a specialist to explain to them why they should have any interest by going to the middle of modern skepticism:



    1. All that is there in this universe is Brahman only. All one needs to do is to realize that all is Brahman. What is the use of an external ritual in realizing this internal truth?

    2. The ritual is very important and needs to be done properly and perfectly. Then things will magically happen. Instead of doing it with errors, one is better off not doing a ritual altogether.

    The first viewpoint based on a misunderstanding of Vedanta trivializes external rituals and the second viewpoint based on a misunderstanding of Aagamas takes external rituals too seriously and that creates a fear of even taking one up.



    That is about the same reason that Tibetans have divided Buddhist tantras into "classes" starting with the simple fact that some people cannot be trained to do anything more than ritual acts. They are yoga-insensitive. Most people can take symbols and slowly etherialize it, so to speak, and a few are capable enough that they are at risk of the first view given above.

    Homa is grafted into Buddhist tantra, so, any modern practitioner will eventually encounter it. Of course from Buddha's time you wouldn't have had to say anything about it, all you would have to say is anything specifically different. So firstly he says Inner Homa, and, such a thing would appear to have its origin from an Atharava Veda tradition. Because this owes to "Atharvangiras", even though it may be later than the events of Rg Veda, it is still scripture, conditioned by Angiras. That, of course, makes sense regarding the originators of the Riks.


    So it sounds a little strange that Hindus would lack understanding Homa from the level of "it doesn't matter" to "why" to "what's that?"

    No matter what has happened is the fact remains that India has unbroken ties to its origin and an apparently small minority who do not suffer these same issues. Such an explanation involves the view that Agni not the practitioner brings the deities. The more important part of the rites is not the "purpose" rites such as to have children, but the general one about the cosmos and life. That article also at least refers to Svaha and Svadha.



    As an outsider, I would say my interest is not particularly grabbed by thinking of the Rg Veda as a big bag of random hymns that could not be construed to have much meaning. But it has incredible structure and meaning and highlights its own features. Once what looks random, repetitive, and disjointed, is put in the context of its own internal references, it has a lot of significance. It is beyond the fact that a stray quote may apply to something.




    The evident "tampering" with the written Rig Veda is that a few Solar Kings were added to previous hymns in an "extraordinary" manner. It appears to be a way of showcasing their importance. It does not affect the main story.


    It is mainly about the spread of the system of the Aryas, which has come from the lineage of Pururavas, primarily as Homa or Soma Yajna.

    So far, we found that Pururavas--probably an abstract--only appears in the latest books. We are left with the conjecture that his most famous story was quite probably known before being written. Rather, what was written was a hymn, meaning it follows a certain meter, whereas a spoken narrative myth would not have to do this.

    The second is only a mention of him without focusing his personal story.

    In Hymn I.31, he appears in what would seem to be one of the more primordial views and definitions about such a "system". Is this isolated, detached, or otherwise inconsistent?


    There is very little said about its author except a suggestion his Gotra is in Kanyakubja and:



    Shatapatha Brahmana 1.6.4 mentions that Indra after hurling the thunderbolt at Vritra, hid himself and certain divinities were deputed to find him:

    Agni of the deities, Hiranyastűpa of the Rishis...



    That is extraordinarily bizarre that SB would give such a high acclamation for an unknown individual, aside from why would you not select a famous one. That line almost implies he is a Manasaputra or Prajapati. Except, similar to a Sage or Manu, we probably also have to figure that Vrtra has three tiers, as the Physical Plane, Drought, and perhaps a human being. Just because he may also mean Creation does not disqualify him as being weather.

    We won't jump to any conclusions about our Rishi here, other than he is probably the only one that mentions Pururavas outside of the Urvashi story. How does it go? At the beginning of I.31 where Agni is the Most Angiras:


    To Matarisvan first thou, Agni, wast disclosed...


    That sounds doctrinal.

    Who?

    Commentary by Sāyaṇa: Ṛgveda-bhāṣya

    Prathamo mātariśvane, first in, or on the wind; alluding to the text, agnirvāyurādityaḥ: fire, air, sun in which Agni precedes Vāyu


    Hmm, well, it's not quite a person. What?


    Name of Agni or of a divine being closely connected with him (the messenger of Vivasvat, who brings down the hidden Fire to the Bhṛgus, and is identified by, [Sāyaṇa on Ṛg-veda i, 93, 6] with Vāyu, the Wind.



    That's not the same hymn.

    Who is it by?


    gotamo rāhūgaṇaputraḥ


    And used in the line:


    “Agni and Soma, the wind brought one of you from heaven, a hawk carried off the other by force from the summit of the mountain; growing vast by praise, you have made the world wide for (the performance of) sacrifice.”

    Commentary by Sāyaṇa: Ṛgveda-bhāṣya

    Legend: Vāyu brought Agni from heaven as desired by Bhṛgu, when performing a sacrifice. Soma was brought from svarga, on the summit of Mount Meru, by Gāyatrī, in the shape of a hawk. The allusion is to the early use of fire and Soma in ceremonies.


    "Hawk" is the expected:

    śyeno


    They understand a ceremonial use, but it is only symbolic for tantra.

    Others may be in the business of establishing how that pertains to a guild, or military faction, or metal, and of course it may be appropriate for some of those externals as well. But many of these hymns are a simple, basic way of invoking what I would say is only drawn out in more detail by future works. That line is not the Samputa Tantra, which is a bit like saying the D Minor scale is not Bach's Tocatta and Fugue.



    Another definition separates Lightning from the Sun and Fire:


    Though Agni originating from the clouds reaches the earth as lightning it hides itself making it invisible to man. It was Mātariśvan who took its form from the earth and gave it to the Bhṛgu family and made it possible for them to make it as and when it was required. (Ṛgveda).


    Matarisvan is "comparable" to Prometheus, but moreso to Vayu or Wind in its own symbolism such as Agni is the Year.

    As the topic of a paper, here is an Abstract from Pinault 2013:



    Mātariśvan is a mythical being of the Vedic religion, who brought the fire from afar, probably from heaven, to the men, i.e., to the first priests. After the Rigveda it has been taken as the personification of the wind. The paper discusses the etymology of the name mātaríśvan-. The connection with mātár- 'mother' is due to popular etymology, because this term in the dual referred to the two pieces of wood of firesticks used for churning fire. An alternative etymological of Vedic mātaríśvan- is proposed, based on the fact that he was conceived as a winged creature, comparable to the bird who brought the soma plant to the mortals in primeval times.



    Matarisvan's links go to several RV Mandalas. Most are the newer ones. Looking back, he appears to have a single source in the oldest book.


    VI.8.4:


    “The mighty maruts have seized upon him on the lap of the waters (in firmament), and men have acknowledged him as their adorable sovereign; mātariśvan, the messenger of the gods, has brought Agni vaiśvānara (hither) from the distant (sphere of the) sun.”


    "Sun" here is:


    vivasvato


    and this one is by:

    bharadvājo bārhaspatyaḥ


    One can sense the suggestion it means life and consciousness come from there just like sunshine.

    There does not seem to be an "of the gods" phrase, he is just Duta, frequently just a status unless qualified:


    Ex. dēvadūta, rājadūta, yamadūta, viṣṇudūta...



    It may be the earliest reference of:


    Zodiacal; गगने तान्यनेकानि वैश्वानरपथाद्वहिः (gagane tānyanekāni vaiśvānarapathādvahiḥ) Rām.1.6.31.


    The "sky of Vaisvanara". However without further information, we do not know that Vishnu and the Adityas have anything to do with star signs, just the months. Ramayana would probably use it in that sense.


    The word itself occasionally being feminized:


    f. A sacrifice at the beginning of the year.


    in our normal meaning:


    Vaiśvānara (वैश्वानर, “the all-pervader”)

    Vaiśvānara (वैश्वानर) refers to the “universal man”, according to Buddhist teachings followed by the Newah in Nepal, Kathmandu Valley...Vaiśvānara, “The Universal Man”, another form of the sun god.


    If I am seeing this rightly, this character from the eighth hymn ever written is still a main character of Sanskrit Buddhism. So there is not any mystery or confusion here. It is just the same. Agni related to Vishnu, and why Vishnu is Solar. Life Wind has moved Consciousness from the Sun into the human being.




    On this, HPB can be found to tremendously upgrade Mueller's translation of Anugita. So she is quite close to the real meaning of Vaisvanara there.


    It is at the very beginning of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad as part of the Symbolic Horse.


    It is part of Fourfold Om in the beginning of Mandukya Upanishad.

    Nearly synonymous to Viraj.

    Built in to the idea of Jagganath.



    There are two important meanings here, because, at first, Yoga is not about rites and hymns in the objective sense. It is the exploration of the inner meaning of what is in those hymns. Since this turns out to be Prana, which is universal and immediate, that is the explanation or teaching of Yoga. That is why the Horse Symbol might perhaps be called an original defining moment of Yogacara. Jagganath and Buddha are not necessarily "Vedic" but are based from the same hymns.


    Before we resume this one is a train wreck. Aurobindo does not translate it. Griffith makes an error in the first line by reading "vrsa":

    ...the conquering might of the swift red-hued Steer.

    whereas Wilson:

    ...the might of the all-pervading jātavaedasa


    The next line gives locations that at least I understand:

    parame ǀ vi-omani ǀ vratāni ǀ agniḥ ǀ

    antarikṣam ǀ amimīta ǀ su-kratuḥ ǀ vaiśvānaraḥ ǀ



    Line three follows as one of the briefest Genesis legends ever, and Wilson omits Mitra.

    In the next line where he just has "sun", Wilson has a Trinity:


    As envoy of Vivasvan, MatariSvan brought Agni Vaisvanara hither from far away.


    Line five recalls Agni being praised from Yuga to Yuga.

    In line six, Agni is also Maghavat, i. e. the title does not solely belong to Indra.

    It is only seven lines.


    So, if it is similar to Genesis, it involves the emanation of Primordial Man on multiple planes, and, our personal connection to any "first actual man" is blown away by "ages upon ages". Pururavas can still be an emanation of Manu even if he is not the father of humanity. Not only is that sort of thing undetectable, here it seems to be dismissed completely.



    It is, of course, true that some Buddhists did not like the Vedas but we note this is around the time that Sthiramati was ostracized and so there is not much literature from Yogacara for a while. So the axiom in that study is slightly off to say that *all* Buddhism rejects it.

    For example the phrase Buddhist Veda can be found in China and Indonesia in the earliest transmissions to which we would have to say Sri Lanka is a significant source. You can't just think of Nalanda. Nobody speaks for everybody.


    Ashoka quite likely founded a small Nalanda Vihara, which is not the same as, and may have been abandoned prior to, Nalanda University.

    While we are dusting off his artifacts, we will go back to why they may be very inappropriate national symbols.


    From a Hindu walk-out, he left because he found the current religion is Caste-ism:


    Quote The religion that has clear resemblance to contemporary Brahminism was largely consolidated in the post-Vedic age called the ‘Brahmana period’.

    But Brahminism, due to its Brahmin-supremacist and discriminatory practices, lost its appeal among the masses and was replaced with the more egalitarian religions of Buddhism and Jainism sometime in fifth century BCE. By second century BCE, Buddhism, as the state religion of King Ashoka, was influential in a geographical area larger than present-day India.


    These smaller sects were then brought together, nationalised and reinvented in the nineteenth century as 'Hinduism'.



    This politicisation of 'Hinduism' by Gandhi (which is perhaps a more secular version of the anti-Islamic, Brahmin-supremacist, nationalist and racist Hinduism, or Hindutva, put forward by V.D. Savarkar) is directly responsible for the rise of communal political parties in India.


    We might say "state religion" is not quite the right term, but, perhaps his personal and a mainstream practice.



    As an example of a "loose" Gotra which was combined into nationalism and constitutionalized, Agrawal Gotra says it descends from Rama's son Kusha:


    The Agrasen legend can be traced to Agarwalon ki Utpatti ("Origin of the Agarawals and Agrahari"), an 1871 essay written by Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850-1885), a noted Agrawal author and poet. He claimed to have compiled the legend from "tradition" and "ancient writings", especially a text called Sri Mahalakshmi Vrat Ki Katha. He stated that Sri Mahalakshmi Vrat Ki Katha was contained in the Bhavishya Purana, which exists in several recensions. However, independent researchers have been unable to find the legend in any version of Bhavishya Purana.



    It may be effective in reducing too-close marriages among its eighteen branches, all of whom claim different Vedic Rishis and so on, it is complex. It has mainly Vaishnavas and Jains, so, it is not "a" religion other than a blanket for certain groups. It is a label or branding mark.

    Above is a social doctrine picked from the belief of a twenty-one-year-old.


    Such a thing is developed from "Brahmanism" which, so to speak, is the first commentarial layer developed from the Vedas.

    But this commentary is almost exclusively Karma Kanda.

    The next layer is based around those who are no longer Householders compellingly performing the same rituals daily.


    So you find a basically different subject in the Aranyaka:


    Brahmanas were developed as a mode of explanation for performing the sacrifice and rituals.

    Later, Aranyaka came into the scene. The Sanskrit meaning of Aranyaka means “forest book”. One of the major differences between Brahmanas and Arayankas is that Aranyakas contain details about confidential ceremonies that are done by specific people. They are more philosophical than the Brahmanas.

    Aranyakas, generally do not emphasise more on the ceremony, custom practice or sacrifice; instead, they tend to focus on philosophy and spiritualism. They lay more focus on the moral values of the karya rather than the vidhi. They form the connective link between karma marga and the gyan marga.

    The main intention behind their creation was to be studied only by the person who initiated it or by the rishis who migrated, got settled in the forests and did not take part in anymore sacrifices.



    Also:


    Aranyakas, along with Brahmanas, represent the emerging transitions in later Vedic religious practices. The transition completes with the blossoming of ancient Indian philosophy from external sacrificial rituals to internalized philosophical treatise of Upanishads.


    There is also a certain continuity of the Aranyakas from the Brahmanas in the sense that the Aranyakas go into the meanings of the 'secret' rituals not detailed in the Brahmanas. Later tradition sees this as a leap into subtlety that provides the reason for Durgacharya in his commentary on the Nirukta to say that the Aranyakas are ‘Rahasya Brahmana’, that is, the Brahmana of secrets.



    It is not really a "class" of literature that we are scolding or not.

    Parts of the Brahmana must be accurate and useful, but, here, we also pick up the seeds for institutionalization and caste and so forth, which appear to be inaccurate to the Vedas.

    The Aranyaka generally is about Symbolic Sacrifice and Prana. So although this would be considered a real, upgraded commentary, then of course it would also be possible to stray away from the Vedas and Brahmanas entirely, instead of respecting the good and useful parts.


    So you can tell there are streams or schools of thought which may not have had names originally, but, become users of Brahmanical or Yoga traditions who commit deviations that are in force today, as a national identity. They recall Bharata II, of the Mahabharata era, but have nothing from Bharata the ancestor of Rg Veda events.


    Well, if I can just as easily claim a mental connection with Angiras Gotra, and deny it has anything to do with DNA or actual acceptance into a temple or society, this perhaps is more true than anything in India. If it means a system of Yoga, which, we say, simply expounds and performs in a way that appears to match the symbolic meaning contained in the Vedas, then the physical or objective factors do not really matter.

    In the most plebian sense, you could establish a "Gotra system" ay any point in time, in the sense that yes, that is very useful in prevention of genetic disease and mutation. That does not require the stratification of lesser beings.

    If Prince Siddartha was part of Gautama Gotra:


    As per Brahmanda Purana, one of the sub-branches of the Raanaayani branch of Sama Veda was initiated by Gautam. Some famous disciples of Gautam were Shaandilya, Gārgya, and Bharadvaja.


    The Devi Bhagavatam says that the river Godavari is so named because of its association with Gautama. He had two sons by name Vamadeva and Nodhas.

    His wife is Ahalya, herself the 'mind born daughter' (Sanskrit: manasa putri) of Creator Brahma. The Puranas speak of the story wherein it is described how Gautama won the hand of Ahalya by circumambulating the divine cow in order to fulfill the stipulation of Brahma that whoever first goes round the whole Earth will win the hand of Ahalya. The 'chief priest' (Sanskrit: Purohita) of King Janaka of Mithila, by name Shatananda, was the son of Gautama and Ahalya.

    With Bharadvaja, Gautama shares a common ancestry as they are both descended from Angirasa, and sometimes they are both bracketed together under the name Angirasa.

    The sons of Gautama are Vamadeva and Nodha. The 4th book of the Rigveda is that of the Vamadeva Gautama family.

    The Brahmaanda-purana mentions that one of the sub-branches of the Raanaayani branch of Sama Veda was initiated by this Gautama. Some famous disciples of Gautama were Praachina-yogya, Shaandilya, Gaargya, and Bharadwaja.


    Here is the picture of all original Gotras.



    A Ramayana story is Indra disguising himself as Gautama:







    Causing a predicament until release by Rama:








    The primordial Gautama is debatable as to whether actually being human, and certainly cannot be the same individual who composed Dharma Sutra. Dharma Sastra is a later, Puranic group of texts such as Manu Smrti, written in verse, while the mostly prose Dharma Sutras are Vedic commentary:


    Quote Gautama and Vasiṣṭha are ancient sages related to specific vedic schools and therefore it is hard to say whether they were historical authors of these texts.

    The issue of authorship is further complicated by the fact that apart from Āpastamba the other Dharmasūtras have various alterations made at later times.


    Dharma is not of human origin. This worked for rituals-related rules, but in all other matters this created numerous interpretations and different derivations. This led to documents with various working definitions, such as dharma of different regions (deshadharma), of social groups (jatidharma), of different families (kuladharma). The authors of Dharmasutras and Dharmashastra admit that these dharmas are not found in the Vedic texts, nor can the behavioral rules included therein be found in any of the Vedas. This led to the incongruity between the search for legal codes and dharma rules in the theological versus the reality of epistemic origins of dharma rules and guidelines.


    Āpastamba thus proposed that scriptures alone cannot be source of Law (dharma), and dharma has an empirical nature. Āpastamba asserted that it is difficult to find absolute sources of law, in ancient books or current people.

    Most laws are based on agreement between the Aryas, stated Āpastamba, on what is right and what is wrong. Laws must also change with ages, stated Āpastamba, a theory that became known as Yuga dharma in Hindu traditions.


    The sources of dharma according to Gautama Dharmasutra are three: the Vedas, the Smriti (tradition), acāra (the practice) of those who know the Veda.



    Gautama Dharmasūtra is a Sanskrit text and likely one of the oldest Hindu Dharmasutras (600-200 BCE), whose manuscripts have survived into the modern age.

    The text is notable that it mentions many older texts and authorities on Dharma, which has led scholars to conclude that there existed a rich genre of Dharmasutras text in ancient India before this text was composed.

    The text was likely composed in the Ranayaniya branch of Samaveda tradition, generally corresponding to where modern Maratha people reside (Maharashtra-Gujarat). The text is likely ascribed to revered sage Gautama of a remote era, but authored by members of this Samaveda school as an independent treatise.

    The foundational roots of the text may pre-date Buddhism because it reveres the Vedas and uses terms such as Bhikshu for monks, which later became associated with Buddhists, and instead of Yati or Sannyasi terms that became associated with Hindus. There is evidence that some passages, such as those related to castes and mixed marriages, were likely interpolated into this text and altered at the later date.


    So, again, if it was "the rules" for anybody, it would be this one Samaveda school. So it would be a question of their influence and/or how many others are similar. You almost have to call it Gautama II as being considerably post-Vedic.

    The four surviving Dharma Sutras are plainly culls from a larger "layer", particularly if Gautama quotes so many, he cannot be described as other than in the middle of post-Vedic commentary.

    It does state that you enter caste by becoming Twice-born, which places you as a type of Indian servant, but not to foreigners:


    66. And all men must serve those who belong to higher castes.

    67. If Āryans and non-Āryans interchange their occupations and conduct (the one taking that of the other, there is) equality (between them).


    It stops a step shy of saying that the caste was determined by birth, but, it does have "Twice-born" which again we do not know has anything to do with the Vedas. In fact it begins with Castes and a Kali Yuga which is not a "time period" but a condition.

    It has more to do with the "Avara" men of current times, rather than the "great men" of the Pravara epoch:


    Apastamba substitutes arvācīna kaliyugavartin, 'men of modern times living in the Kaliyuga.' The last explanation seems to me the most accurate, if it is distinctly kept in mind that in the times of Gautama the Kaliyuga was not a definite period of calculated duration, but the Iron Age of sin as opposed to the happier times when justice still dwelt on earth.



    This again sounds like it echoes Mahabharata, in saying that the powerful original Gotras were demolished and the Sages went into hiding, followed by a Kali Yuga.

    This outcome would be radically different than Ten Kings.

    So then there were generations before Mahabharata, which launched these trends, which led to this war.

    Ramayana does not deal with evil dynasties or deluded priests:


    Ram-rajya, is an ideal time when everyone does his or her dharma and "fathers never have to light the funeral pyres for their sons."

    He took exile so his brother Bharata could reign.


    Somewhat awkwardly:


    The first proper king of the surya vamsha was Ikshvaku and the Ramayana is a chronicle of the solar dynasty, or at least a part of its history. Similarly, the first king of the chandra vamsha was Ila and the Mahabharata is a chronicle of the lunar dynasty.


    The first makes a lot of sense, viewed symbolicly, and the second was Ila Devi and she was pre-Vedic, and so the connection between the original and "this" Lunar Dynasty is lacking.

    Generally:


    Quote There is a difference between an incident happening and it being recorded. In that day and age, recording meant composition and oral transmission, with embellishments added. There was noise associated with transmission and distribution. It is impossible to unbundle the various layers in the text, composed at different points in time. Valmiki is described as Rama’s contemporary, just as Vedavyasa was a contemporary of the Kouravas and the Pandavas. But that doesn’t mean today’s Valmiki Ramayana text is exactly what Valmiki composed, or that today’s Mahabharata text is exactly what Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa composed. Therein lies the problem with several approaches to dating.


    The first and favoured method of dating is undoubtedly the astronomical one, based on positions of nakshatras and grahas (constellations/stars and planets), or using information about events like eclipses. However, because layers of the text were composed at different points in time, compounded by precession of the equinoxes, this leads to widely divergent dates for an event like Rama’s birth, ranging from 7323 BCE to 1331 BCE.

    The later sections, like the ‘Uttara Kanda’, and parts of the ‘Bala Kanda’, were probably composed around 500 CE. It isn’t the case that all later sections are in ‘Uttara Kanda’.

    It does not recognize Caste:


    Ramayana has nothing to do with caste (please keep in mind that today's definition of caste is entirely different from that of those days when Caste was not just based on birth but also on Samskaras and Occupation)

    Ramayana just speaks about Dharmic (Righteousness) way of leading life.

    Castes in today's definition is entirely different from what was it earlier. Today,. Caste has political significance. But,. During Ramayana, it was Character and Righteous path that was given importance over caste by birth.



    Satyapal Singh is currently arguing this against the BJP.

    Its vocabulary is present but Rama is using it more in the sense of jobs, and not really a "system" as attempted by later texts.


    It may mention eighty-eight professions, but not Kshatriyas:


    His observation on caste system as depicted in Ramayana is noteworthy. Though Vaishyas and Shudras are shown their respective profession, there is no subordination of castes and ranks, founded on diversities of occupation as has been exhibited in later times.



    I would think that "guilds" or anything similar suggests the Indus Seals. If the majority of their meaning is probably different products and lines of work, then, it would be difficult to separate this from the technologies and conditions at the start of the Vedas. That requires nothing of heredity or hierarchy.


    "Caste" is English for Portuguese "casta" so this cannot be Indian at all. While unravelling that the Ramayana story of Sabari is about a heaven world, not liberation from a caste:



    Quote If all sacred texts of Hinduism were translated & represented perfectly everywhere, there would be no problem of understanding or wrong interpretation of our texts.

    But this is not so.

    Most of the Sanskrit literature has been distorted beyond recognition, and misrepresented by scholars, journalists, film-makers, political figures, artists, and all other communication professionals for vested interests.

    Caste system in Hinduism is one such topic – a myth, spun into a lie which looks similar to the truth. There was no “caste system” in Hinduism; there were varna and jaatis, wherein “varna” signified what the purpose of life was for an individual and “jaati” signified their lineage – tracking back their gotra and ancestors. The two were not related.

    Due to several political tactics, Varna and Jaati were intermixed by the people talking about these, and Hindus of today have no idea of which is what.

    Poorly translating Sanskrit, and saying that Varna is synonymous with Caste system, is one intellectual crime of our modern age which Hindus face the consequences of on a daily basis.

    Hindus are the mute spectators of this intellectual crime, which feeds them wrong information every day.

    This is why it is important for Hindus to know and understand what was originally mentioned in our sacred texts, which are wrongly cited left, right and center (pun intended).


    People were able to distort the Ramayana and masses believed it because Sanskrit was not taught to Hindus for a very long period and Hindus were disconnected from their own roots and their sacred texts. They relied on others to teach them their sacred texts, and this misplaced trust was exploited by anyone who cared to do so.

    If Hindus had taken interest in their own language and scriptures, there would not be any possibility of foreigners and vested interest groups misusing the texts to make deliberate attacks on Hinduism.

    Not only does this academic Hinduphobia need to be stopped, there is an urgent need for Hindus to take ownership of their own inheritance and culture, by learning it, teaching it, sharing it, promoting it so more people can learn the true words as encapsulated by rishis, and creating more voices who speak up anytime a malcontent mouthpiece abuses Hindu literature.

    The reason why “Caste system” exists is because no one learnt the meaning or origin of caste system. It exists in today’s modern society and is a gift of modernization, a gift of the west. It was never a part of Hinduism, and the day Hindus wake up to this fact hitherto unknown to them, the same day Hindus can be emancipated from the evil of caste system and follow the blessing of varna, which lead human beings towards moksha.

    Of course, we have found that "Hindu" is a similar state-ist name with no scriptural basis.

    The counter-argument is particularly weak. Again it is an almost spam-level of throw in anything, but it is unable to reach into the core of the Vedas.


    We have shown it originally is about three kinds of factions, each of whom having a distant forefather who is para- or quasi-human like Manu, and, the actual living memory is that they are allied by agreements inspired by Sage Angiras.


    L. Bayi on something is wrong:


    Quote Indian civilisation goes back a long way. However, the concept of "Hindu" owes its existence to a handful of foreigners, who fell in love with the way of life of the people who lived by the river Sindhu. Max Mueller and AL Basham are just two of the many such thinkers and scholars, who helped decipher India, not just for the world outside but in some part for us as well. Indian civilisation by its vibrancy and vitality relied on sculptures, paintings, music, dance and martial arts to survive. Knowledge was passed from the Guru to the disciple by word of mouth, rather than written records.

    All are born shudras. One "graduates" into one's caste only later. This does not mean that the shudras are the "lowest" class in society. The original idea of the Indian caste system was that no one group would have supremacy. For a society to function smoothly, it needed the Brahmins, who had a monopoly on knowledge. Weapons belonged to the kshatriyas as did wealth to the vaishyas. The shudras made up the rest. Everybody had to pitch in and do their bit, if civil society was to work efficiently.

    There were frequent intermarriages between castes. Yajnopaveetham, the sacred thread ceremony, was a coming of age ritual for all the castes. The glorified or suppressed label of "high" and "low" castes came into vogue only much later when the custodians of knowledge denied the teaching of the Vedas to castes deemed to be lower than them, and the women.

    It is a sign of India's fractured society that the castes denied access to this esoteric knowledge could not fight for their rightful place in society.

    Valmiki, the author of the present regime's favourite scripture, the Ramayana, was a hunter before he became an author. Ved Vyasa, the author of Mahabharata, was the son of a fisherman. Lineage did not matter in those times. It should not now.

    Well into the first quarter of the 21st century, it is time we Hindus asked ourselves this crucial question - should a Hindu Renaissance not mean a return to our eminently sensible, well-thought out roots? Or will we continue to let the "sacred thread by birthright" or lack of it allow our ancient traditions to continue to be ignored, instead continuing with dynastic conventions which are merely the children of the sterile parents - exclusivism and unwillingness to accept traditions over its perversion? A fault that led to the overpowering of Hindu society and which, so long as it is allowed to continue, will ensure that its potential as a whole society remains unfulfilled.

    Tamil tradition suggests Rama was against caste to begin with:


    Lord Rama embraced Kugan, who was a tribal leader and chieftain of the hunters (Ayodhya Kanda). He also embraced Jatayu, leader of the vultures (actually vulture tribe). He ate the fruits, half eaten by the tribal woman Sabari (Both in Aranya Kanda). He took into his fold Sugreeva (Kishkindha Kanda), a leader of the monkey clan/tribe and Vibhisana (Yuddha kanda), leader of the Rakshasa tribe. He treated all of them as his own brothers, according to Kamban who adapted Valmiki Ramayana in Tamil.


    It is very good for Tamils to re-think this because EVR hated the Ramayana:


    In 1920 he joined the Non-cooperation Movement and became active in the Indian National Congress party, following its Gandhian principles devoutly.

    All these activities were well within the reform program of Gandhi and the Congress party.

    In 1925 he withdrew from the Congress party, henceforth attacking it as a vehicle for Brahmin domination.



    He read it in a radically crude manner about north vs. south domination, and so while it is not at all what I would say the book is actually about, it successfully agitated Tamil resistance. As additional fodder he also hated Manu Smrti. But by direct knowledge you see the opinion of INC.


    BJP knows how to respond with words to the effect that "Dalits are important".


    What sounds like a "caste system" is really a spiritual axis:


    The earlier portions of the Rig Veda do not refer to any divisions of the people on the basis of caste. The term varna did not mean caste but class. In the Mahabharata (12. 188), the opinion is repeated that all creation is God's creation, and that no one is high or low by birth. It is only by samskara (purification, training) that one becomes a Brahmin

    Varna was conferred on the basis of the intrinsic nature of an individual, which is a combination of three gunas (qualities) sattva, rajas, and tamas.

    The following examples illustrate that the Varna System of the Vedas was based upon one's aptitude and natural capabilities...


    Adi Shankara had stated that by birth every human being is a Shudra. It is by education and upbringing that he or she becomes ‘twice born’, that is, a Dwija.

    The Buddha never said:

    "Down with the Brahmins! Break Brahmins tyranny!” On the contrary, he taught about how to be a true Brahmin, as against having the outer attributes but not the inner qualities of a Brahmin. Many of his disciples were Brahmins. The myth of Buddhist social revolution against Brahmin tyranny can be disproven on many counts with the Buddha’s own words. "





    In this sense, Shudra <--> Brahmin is like a scale of adult development, whether reduced to an animal, or educated and uplifted. One may have a Sudra job and be a better Brahmin than someone with a Brahmin job.


    From an opinion:


    After India gained Independence and the Constitution came into effect, many archaic ideas enshrined in religious texts became irrelevant and embarrassing. Untouchability has its roots in religious texts but today,even a devout Hindu claiming to be a ‘Sanatani’, won’t publicly admit to practising untouchability even though they do practise it privately.


    This sort of thing could perhaps simply be described as a very old argument by M. V. Nadkarni 2003:


    This paper, citing evidence from the ancient scriptures, attempts to establish that Hinduism - its vedic and classic variants - did not support the caste system; it rigorously opposed it in practice and principle. Even after the emergence of the caste system, Hindu society still saw considerable occupational and social mobility. Moreover, Hinduism created legends to impress on the popular mind the invalidity of the caste system - a fact further reinforced by the constant efflorescence of reform movements throughout history. The caste system survived in spite of this because of factors that ranged from the socio-economic to the ecological, which helped sustain and preserve balance among communities in a non-modern world.


    More work led to enough samples to research history exactly this way as described by Ramayana in 2015 Genetics:


    Quote More recently, some scholars have provided strong evidence about the chronology of these events hinting at a deep-rooted civilization, developing indigenously for over several thousand years [8,11–15].

    Therefore, in the present study, we make an attempt to evaluate two schools of thought emerging from the current scenario. The first school suggests that the tribal people are the aboriginal inhabitants, while the later migrants, i.e., the Dravidians followed by the Aryans have pushed them back in to small pockets in South India [49–52]. According to this school, the caste system was established by the aforementioned later migrants [11,50,52,53]. The alternative hypothesis advocates that all the caste and tribal populations of India have Paleolithic roots and share a common origin [3,15,33,54–60]. The differentiation observed in modern South Asian populations is mainly derived by strict endogamy, long term isolation and several evolutionary forces. More specifically, relying on each other, first, we seek to investigate the continuity vs. discontinuity of the genetic thread connecting the different populations of India. Second, keeping in mind the pivotal information extracted from Ramayana, we look specifically into the question: whether and to what extent the three major tribes (Bhil, Kol and Gond) share their genetic ancestry among them as well as with other contemporary caste and tribal populations?


    The geographical origin of light green component (ANI or ANE) is so far unclear and more research is needed from unsampled area as well as from ancient DNA; however, the time of spread of this component from its origin place (either of any; the Caucasus, Near East, Indus Valley, or Central Asia) has happened more than 12.5 thousand years before [38], which is significantly earlier than the purported expansion of Dravidians and Aryans languages from outside the subcontinent.

    Notably, the Andaman Islanders are not the only population carrying the ASI component exclusively, as was suggested before [37]. Austroasiatic speakers (more precisely, the South Munda) of the subcontinent also seem to possess the ASI component in near unadulterated form (Fig 1c). More research with complete genome analysis would be required to clear the geographic center of the ANE component; however, it is evident from the present analysis that the dark green component (ASI) can be considered as a connecting thread for all the Indian populations (Fig 1c). Taken together, these results support the second hypothesis suggesting that all Indians, irrespective of their caste or tribal affiliations, share a common genetic ancestry, which is undoubtedly founded over the indigenous ASI component.

    All the Indian populations, except the present Tibeto-Burman speaking populations, are well separated from other continental populations and form a major cluster comprising present populations speaking Indo-European, Dravidian and Austroasiatic (Munda) languages (S1 Fig). The Pakistani populations are scattered in different clusters, where few of them (Sindhi, Pathan and Burusho) cluster loosely with Indians; Hazaras show an affinity toward Central Asians, and Balochi, Brahui and Makrani confirm an intermediate position because of shared recent African ancestry and gene flow [38,74,75]. The Bhil, Kol and Gond showed a closer affinity among them as well as with the extent Indo-European, Transitional and Munda speaking populations (Fig 1a and S1 Fig).

    In conclusion, our high resolution analysis portraying the three ancient tribal populations, strongly rejects any incoming genetic signal of large scale recent (during the post-Neolithic) migration either of the present Dravidian or the Indo-European speaking populations to the subcontinent. We also concluded that the Indian populations preserve strong genetic signatures in support of a common ancestry. The studied tribal populations do share large number of genome among theselves as well as from o caste and tribal poulations. Notebly, the placement of various populations along the Indian cline is not solely governed by the geography, but also by the caste-tribe interaction and various other selectional forces. These patterns point to a complex demographic history of the subcontinent which has been shaped in-situ by admixture events at different time scale, as well as by intricate geographical heterogeneity and long term effect of several evolutionary forces.


    So the only type of immigration to India was in the Ice Age.

    In that case it is possible it had southern inhabitants whose pure stock is the Andaman Islanders, but, otherwise is mixed in to native Indians. Therefor, pre-Vedic Stone Age mythology arose somewhere in a group called "everybody" that can be identified today. You could perhaps call that pre-Sanskrit. They would all appear to be many different peoples and languages. They are all more closely related to each other than to anyone else, so it is actually different appearances and languages, within a related genetic group.

    Vedas already represent a new phase of existence with roads and carts. I would think they reflect a "reluctance to write", since the oldest mandala is by Bharadwaja who is not a first generation anything, but a disciple. His tone is that someone would already understand Indra and Agni. It is possible that they actually were trying to resist caste-ism. How would you make a commandeering statement about professions if Indian work is known in Elam, possibly before the remote ancestors in the Vedas?


    IVC cities are known for a caste-less appearance or no central authority.

    By what has been recorded, it appears that Sanskrit Aryas were only slightly later in symbolic Ayodhya on the Gangetic Plain.

    My view has always been that it is not incredibly clever, but, one could restrict the actual Vedas into a birthright initiation, in a language that is not common but people are allowed to hear the mantras, and develop an institution. The rift is visible in the Brahmana period. The Vedas do not have this meaning, unless you choose this kind of commentary. As to whether they have opposing statements, I do not know.

    The evidence is predominantly casteless in IVC, the Vedas, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita, and Buddhism, perhaps along with some so-called Hindu kings.

    What that tells us is that King Sudas most likely did establish a "system" which remained coherent through the events of Ramayana. You could perhaps call that an "Age". Nevertheless, one would be able to accept that there was a type of Brahmana and Dharma Sutra institutionalization which may have been discussed or was taking place by around 1,000 B. C. E. Whether that means it caused, or, profited by the events of Mahabharata, is still difficult to say.

    Valmiki ranges from Most Backwards Caste to the leaders of the Sikhs.



    To use that word at all is to refer to something that had first perhaps been used against the Jews in Iberia:


    But we have long known that there is no equivalent word for “caste” in any Indian or Asian language. It came as a loan-word but is today firmly embedded in Indian public and policy discourse. We also know that the first users of the term (as casta) were Iberians – Portuguese and Spanish, first in the Iberian peninsula and then in Asia and the Americas. But how the term was used – descriptively, administratively, and sociologically – is less known. The connection of Asia and the Americas has not been made.

    “Casta” before 1500 had tended to refer to type or breed of plant or animal: but it now came to mean a species of human marked by descent.

    But while this etymology is well-known, most discourse has assumed that the loan-word was applied to a pre-existing and very old indigenous social institution, an institution that has remained unchanged until the present.


    As spoken by a Jesuit in 1615 it represents his own system of suppression:


    Can you not conceive that in another country where all men, brahmans and parias alike are white, there will be among the whites the same distinction of castes, the same distinction between nobles and commoners?


    So this seems to be foreign policy through 1492 and the Conquistadors. Virtually the same thing that ran Spanish America. Portugal was in Asia.

    Note: Portuguese casta has exact counterparts in Spanish and Catalan casta, none of which are attested before the fifteenth century.


    "Breed of plant or animal" became "race of human being".

    The Wiki page on this is quite defensive calling it "theoretical", but are we not going to see the Jesuits work for about a hundred years and then start getting kicked out of every country?


    A. Xavier 2016 studies the transition from a familiar "division by religion" to a new "division by blood or race" that arose in Iberian colonies. Jesuits have a heavy and international hand in the semantics and philosophy applied here.

    They are inventing and defining races.

    The evident mistake is that "bloodline" was less significant in India than what is attempted to be called "caste" or social status.

    India gets the Jesuitry and then the 1794 English publication of Laws of Manu.

    So you compound whatever was already distorted in India with a European way to corrupt the world's knowledge base, and, from that, you get a modern country.


    Varna "color" becomes "caste" which should perhaps have been:


    “four occupational divisions”

    The four castes, with the Śūdra as the fourth, are mentioned once in the Ṛg-veda, X, 90, 12. The opposition between Āryas and Śūdras occurs in the Atharva-veda, XIX, 62, &c., and in most of the Brāhmaṇas.



    Buddhism reacts to something about it:

    Varṇamātsarya refers to “selfishness regarding class” and represents one of the “five selfishnesses” (mātsarya)


    What is the "caste" hymn?

    Purusha Sukta:


    Quote There is clearly no hierarchy intended, but only symbolic meanings. This can be driven home more clearly, if one considers what the ‘Purusha Sukta’ says in its entirety. It describes the God (Purusha), as the perennial source of all creation, as having countless heads, eyes and legs, manifested everywhere beyond comprehension. All creation is but fourth a part of him and the rest is thus, ambiguous.

    The Sukta describes a great Yajna, or a ritual sacrifice, called `Sarvahut’, or the ‘offering of all’. It was God (Purusha) himself who is worshipped in the Yajna, which is performed by Brahma, the creative power of the Purusha. The Devas, who are the senses of the Purusha, are the priests.

    Thus, the beast of sacrifice, tied to the altar is the Purusha himself; all of nature is the altar; the Purusha’s heart is the fire, and the Purusha himself is sacrificed in the Yajna, which is the process of creation itself. The ‘Purusha Sukta’ does not intend to speak about human society and its organization.


    In the entire Rig Veda, it is only in the ‘Purusha Sukta’ that the four varnas are mentioned. However, the ‘Purusha Sukta’ itself does not use the word ‘varna’ and wherever the word occurs elsewhere in the Rig Veda, it is to be noted that it is not used to refer to the four types of people in society.


    The argument against the notion that a hierarchical caste system is “divinely inspired” and ‘intrinsic’ to Hinduism is powerful and profound. Along with all the other factors that have influenced the evolution of the caste system, any public debate about caste should at a minimum incorporate the understanding that untouchability did not exist until a millennium after the Vedas were composed; finds no mention even in texts such as the Manusmriti; and far from defining or sanctioning a birth-based, hierarchical caste system, the overwhelming message of the Vedas is that of divinity inherent within each one of us.

    It mainly deals with "Arya varna" and "Dasa varna", so, "varna" could not mean labor division within the Aryas.

    The Veda just says there is such a thing as Sudras in a neutral tone with no implications. The Sudra is not discussed in relation to any "varna system". At most it is just reporting on labor divisions which themselves are probably informative to the Veda, not the other way around.

    To claim it starts or defines something is almost exactly backwards.

    Nevertheless, "varna" at some point becomes synonymous to "four occupational groups", which is still not necessarily hazardous.


    As to the consolidation of Varna and Jati perhaps mostly by Manu Smrti (Samhita):


    Quote ...it is far from clear whether the Samhita is a single text composed either by a group of moral legislators – believed to be a tribe called the Manava in the northeastern part of India, or by an author Manu believed to be the ancestral patriarch of the Aryans belonging to a pre-Vedic era, or whether the one who falls historically between Vedic times and the age of composition of the statutes known as the Brahmanas.

    While a mythological Manu is believed to have preceded the Vedic Aryans, and numerous Manus preceded him from the beginning of human time, the version of genesis which the Manu Samhita presents, and on the basis of which it builds its entire social cartography, is several times contradicted by the literature of later Vedic times.


    ...the uncertainty in dating it raises the important question as to whether the Manusmriti merely precipitated what existed as a social and legal practice before it and in its own time, or whether it originally proposed and propagated these practices.

    This [Taittiriya] Upanishad proceeds in its delineation of the process of creation without any trace of influence of the Manu Samhita version of the origin of life and society.

    That section failed to observe that multiple creations besides Purusha are in the Rig Veda.

    Sections of Manusmrti are practically copied in BG verse 35, on svadharma, and perhaps a negative connotation towards "being someone else" perhaps similar to Varnamatsarya. One single phrase like this again does not quite praise a rigid caste system, but suggests Manusmrti may be an older text.



    Quote What is astounding is that, in ancient India, the story of genesis was used as a basis for law governing inter-community relations. The hierarchy of the vocationally high and the low implied in the Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda was taken to mean a prescription with legal sanction. Thus, any attempt in thought, move or gesture to change the hierarchy came to be seen as a sin against Purusha.

    Later, at whatever date the Manusmriti came into circulation, Purusha of the Rig Veda was replaced by Brahma, a deity with whom Vedic lore would not have felt at ease.

    As the higher varnas found the given social arrangement to their advantage, they kept resisting every reformist movement.

    The eighth to the eighteenth century is the period when jati became the main principle for social segregation in India.

    The jatis had no clear metaphysical basis. They were more an expression of difference in terms of language, region, occupation, cultivation practices, food habits and skills. But these differences, once accepted, lead to a particular jati formation, with its identity being invariably expressed in terms of the specific practice of worship.

    If the metaphysics based on the story of genesis was the basis for varna consolidation, the perception of ‘difference’ leading to a metaphysical view was at the heart of the jati-formation process.

    India does not have a presto moment when they were given Ten Commandments, but a slow push of something similar.

    There is a seeming gap there because whatever accumulated from the direction of Manusmrti would have been obliterated by Emperor Ashoka for quite some time. This Empire was a "whole India" and afterwards I am not sure there was.


    Chances are the Mauryan Empire began as a rigid system, which Ashoka personally dismantled:


    The response of the Brahmanical social order, which was based on the fourfold varna division, was to make the caste system more rigid and deny a higher status to the commercial class. The rigidity of the Brahmanical class system sharpened the divisions within the society. The lower orders turned to various heterodox sects; this created social tensions. It was this situation which emperor Ashoka inherited when he ascended to the Mauryan throne.



    Then as an example of post-Ashoka reversions:


    According to Vedas there are only 4 Varnas but durying Medieval time 5th Varna was included illegally by some Anti Vedic or anti Hindu philospers . Who included this 5th Dalit Varna was still unknown. Dalit was not mentioned in any vedas. There is no Such word Dalit in Hindu sacred texts. Dalit was introduced by some racist or some anti Vedic writer or philosopher , it is Unknown.

    Durying Emperor Ashoka time there is not Dalit Varna and it is created and mentioned in society illegally durying Medieval age.

    finally Caste is a Portuguese Word.

    Please don’t use Caste for Politics ,reputation .


    and:

    The culture at that time was ‘shamyak' sankranti

    The people are mostly buddist, Jain, lokayukta,Ajivak.

    As per megasthenes Indica there was no such four varnas is described ….it's were the best time of history……and king Ashoka didn't mentioned any caste or Varna division in his inscriptions.

    All the sources that people are giving is just an Stories not historical evidences…


    BJP is accused of false hagiography by tying caste into his 2320th birthday.

    There is unfortunately a modern Ashoka where the privileged discuss "diversity" as an essentialized subject while avoiding contact with the "diverse population".


    Jin 2022 indicates that Ashoka's principles were not ultimately successful:


    In the 3rd century BC, facing the problems of caste system caused by
    Brahmanism, emperor Ashoka who was the most famous ruler of ancient India
    tried to use Buddhism and tolerance to reshape Indian society.However, his attempt
    failed because of fragile politics and immature agricultural economic, thus making
    India lost the possibility of forming a more united community.


    That is, he did not effectively concert the principles of Dharma into enforceable laws, and the agricultural destitution in many parts of India did not immediately galvanize into utopia. He temporarily kicked out hereditary statuses and provided other reforms such as against animal sacrifices. It all came rolling back afterwards. Ashoka can most likely be considered a "reign of peace and prosperity" in a tangible, if limited sense. At least noticeably different from the before and after. Without all the subsequent details, for now we will summarize with the word "dalit" and a "varna system" which had huge effect starting around the eighth century.


    The resurgence of the "jatis" is the same as the beginning of Caliph-like assaults causing various amounts of damage until around the 11-1200s north India is completely overrun, then colonized by Europeans.

    One may suppose if the incomplete work of Ashoka had been improved for generations, there would be a very different picture. Instead there is this period of smaller regional kings with diverse policies.

    One notices this is somewhat of a power struggle between kings and priests.

    That is the same story as the visitors.


    Eventually an order founded in only 1540 is able to begin international missions at least as early as the failed Chesapeake Bay 1570 with the Algonquins.


    Starting from Mexico 1572:


    During the colonial period Jesuit missions acted as primary institutions of colonization. They were employed by the
    Spanish Crown to undertake the preliminary Christianization and "civilization" of native peoples, thus paving the way
    for Spanish settlement and thereby extending and safeguarding its dominion. However, between 1759 and 1768 the
    Jesuits were expelled from the main European Catholic countries and their respective colonies, and in 1773 Pope
    Clement XIV promulgated the official suppression of the Society of Jesus. These moves were the culmination of antiJesuit propaganda that had been fueled by Enlightenment ideas and growing religious nationalism; the allegiance of the
    Jesuits to the Pope and their material wealth and autonomy, most visibly demonstrated in the Paraguayan missions, were
    seen as a threat to state power...



    Shamans hated them and plagues happened. Soon there is a nation split in half between these converts and the normal people. The bait from the Jesuits was freedom from encomienda:




    The encomienda was first established in Spain following the Christian reconquest of Moorish territories (known to Christians as the Reconquista), and it was applied on a much larger scale during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Spanish East Indies. Conquered peoples were considered vassals of the Spanish monarch. The Crown awarded an encomienda as a grant to a particular individual. In the conquest era of the early sixteenth century, the grants were considered to be a monopoly on the labour of particular groups of indigenous peoples, held in perpetuity by the grant holder, called the encomendero; following the New Laws of 1542, upon the death of the encomendero, the encomienda ended and was replaced by the repartimiento.


    The expulsion [1767] was part of an effort in the Bourbon Reforms to assert more control over the American colonies.


    The Bourbons are similar to India, i. e., monarchs attempting to curb the power of priests.

    Loyola admits:


    From the first the whole concept of the reductions had been a subject of controversy. Some early writers saw the reductions as an attempt by the Jesuits to establish an empire of their own in Paraguay; others viewed the project as a threat to the traditional slave-run colonial system. And modern critics continue to question the value of any such intervention, no matter how benign, in the cultural development of other peoples.



    Well, if you were just doing new construction projects while eliminating "encomienda", it would be harder to criticize. But this is not just involved with, in fact there is only one reason for doing it, conversion to Christianity. This is what it meant. Other European culturalisms were "made available" but not mandatory.

    That is totally different than conversion to Dharma, which did not mean Buddha Dharma, let alone any particular sect or school therein. Maybe it just means "Indian civilization" because it definitely is not a religion, and it definitely does mean a set of personal guidelines, which are not inherently embodied in any state apparatus or legislation.

    Portuguese encomienda was said to be even more severe than that of the Spanish, and this is what hit India. Afterwards, Moravians and others keep showing up on missions of conversion and other "cultural reforms".



    So all that wrapped a bow over what had already been done.

    Once there was a king who left some of the most majestic historical markers available. These were used to translate Brahmi Script, i. e. the Indians had already lost a whole language system. Concerning what unfolds therefrom, it is like it is still brand new. Posted a few hours ago:


    Ashoka edicts silent on caste order. Runs counter to what we’re taught about varna history.

    The very term ‘varna’ or any of the names of the three varnas, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra, are completely absent in Ashoka’s vocabulary. His extensive discussion of social relationships in the context of the practise of dharma takes no account of the varna system. The only member of that system mentioned by Ashoka is the Brahmin, but he is mentioned in the context of religious organizations called Pasandas and not as a social and demographic group. Further, Brahmins are always contrasted not to the other three varnas, but to wandering ascetics or Sramanas, with whom they form what Ashoka regarded as the broad category of religious professionals.

    ... we should begin to question whether the sources that present this fourfold social division, sources that are the basis for contemporary textbook descriptions of ancient Indian society, are reliable. They are, for the most part, authored by Brahmins, who have historically been placed at the summit of this fourfold hierarchical structure.


    He didn't act like it:


    Asoka also maintained that anyone who follows Dhamma can expect good results in this life as well as the next. This contrasted with what the Dharmashastras said about the duties of people of each varna. The varna system was accorded divine sanction by the priestly class. Asoka understood this, just like Buddha, and hence, he used the same motif of gods commingling with the people in order to convey his own dissenting views. It was a new wine being made headier by being poured out of an old and recognizable bottle.

    The advocation of ahimsa by Asoka was in sharp contrast to what the Dharma Shastras expected of a Kshatriya king. The theory of kingship which Asoka perceived as one based on nonviolence was breaching the Dharma & Artha- Shastric theories of kingship as one based on violence and welfare of the king. This is evident in the Mahabharat, where the ideals of Yudhishthira are very similar to that of Asoka. This is evident in the Shanti Parva, where the Raja Dharma as advocated by Bhisma is rejected by Yudhishthira as immoral.



    He does not connect the Ghryasutras with Brahmins, suggesting they have no authority in household rites.


    R. Sivan finds negligible difference between "Buddhism and Hinduism":


    In my vast experience in dealing with brahmins the name of Ashoka has never arisen in a conversation in 50 years!!


    Nevertheless they know of him, and have taken to re-writing him:


    Of late, popular writers—with scholarly-sounding books published under their name—have sought to rewrite Indian history to resonate with the Hindutva supremacist world-view. One such book is ‘The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History’ by Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Advisor in the Union Ministry of Finance and popular writer.

    Perhaps we should conclude that with a Hindutva regime in power, the spread of its exclusivist world-view would continue unabated among the chattering classes. After all, what Ashoka espoused is complete anathema to them.



    In fact the assertion is the Pillars were "propaganda dissemination". Seriously?

    Asoka focused on a Dharma that was not specifically Buddhist, but it was distinct from false notions. The more universal Dharma was translated into Greek:


    Quote eusebeia

    The underlining of this social ethic was virtually the reversal of the other system, the varnashramadharma.

    The heretics were more successful in the competition for royal patronage in the immediate post-Mauryan times. This was doubtless resented by the orthodox.

    Ashoka is ignored or reduced to a mere name in the dynastic lists of the Puranas.

    The varna-ashrama-dharma of the normative texts was not universally accepted.

    In his last edict, the Seventh Pillar Edict, Ashoka states that dhamma has advanced among people through two ways, through codes and rules or legislation (niyama) and through conviction and persuasion (nijjhatti). Significantly, he did not mention the coercion of conquest as most other kings would have done. He adds that legislating behaviour has been less effective as compared to persuasion. His belief in the effectiveness of his policies may have been in part wishful thinking. All the same, for a king of early times this is a remarkable statement. Its poignancy lies in its coming in the last of his edicts, a retrospective on his reign.


    My impression is that he is quite similar to Guru Nanak of the Sikhs.

    He didn't "reject Hinduism" but said the followers were not using the good and true parts of it. I am not sure if he fingered the Brahman class specifically; he was outraged by popular belief. As far as I know there is mostly acceptance and little provocation between Sikhs and Buddhists.

    Greeks were not Brahmans or Sramanas, but it appears they received the same Dharmic treatment, which in some cases was also written in Aramaic.

    Ashoka is in some way credited with constructing the Silk Road as well, although it seems this may be along the lines of an upgraded highway for steady commerce. There was some kind of IVC route, and then there was a shortcut through Kashmir, to get to China. And at some point the Leh to Manali route was added. Technologically there were probably a few donkey carts during Rg Veda, and Silk Road means trains of horse-drawn wagons. Something like that.

    Instead of being named for Ashoka, the country is named for Bharata, the one that is not from Rg Veda.

    Neither one seems to represent the country, but they are forgotten relics that have been found there.

    I understand it, there appears to be continuity from Rg Veda through Buddha up to the Homa system of Abhayakaragupta. That, in a sense, is a "nation", or i. e. a focused curriculum of teachings and practices which are not contradictory. Or you could call it Yogacara and replace "Rg Veda" with "Yajnawalkya" and then see if it contradicts the Vedas.

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