Ancient Indian History

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 07-09-2008, 07:19 PM by Bodhi.)

above post much more interesting and important.

===

couple of trivia reg. bhojarAja paramAr. he commissioned the construction of a massive temple compound, which could have rivaled the magnificent choLa temples of south, if it were to be completed. It included an enormous shiva-li~Nga of about 22 ft height carved off a single rock. However, the temple construction did not complete (for whatever reason - have seen various reasons). The unfinished structure lies a few KMs outside the city of Bhopal.

bhojashAlA complex was another magnifiscence of bhoja. This was dedicated to Saraswati Devi. ravaging gazi-s destroyed it and constructed a mosque over it, and a mosque today stands there. (under congress rule, regular namaaz had also re-started, which stopped after Uma Bharati regime. Today it is under ASI control)

whatever be the story behind the hindi proverb, "kahaan raaja bhoj, kahaan gangoo telee", this makes bhoj immortal to every hindi-speaker. (-> 'What comparision of Raja Bhoj awith Gangu the oil-seller!') His empire attained tremendous wealth, security and happiness under him. He also wanted to start a new Hindu calendar like Vikramaditya or Shalivahana.

**Hauma Hamiddha** · 07-09-2008, 07:40 PM

Ishwa- thank you for your explanation regarding Saraganus -it does seem likely.

<< height carved off a single rock. However, the temple construction did not complete (for whatever reason - have seen various reasons). The unfinished structure lies a few KMs outside the city of Bhopal.>>

Bodhi- He was killed in the battle defending dhAra against the kalachuris and chAlukyas.
I wrote about this sometime back:
bhoja deva

Also I had posted earlier on his striking work:samarA~NgaNa-sUtradhAra
his samarA

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 07-09-2008, 08:36 PM by Bodhi.)

Thanks Hauma Hamiddha.

In your marvelous entry you stated:
QUOTEAnother notable construction, which is a historical civil engineering masterpiece, is the bhoja lake which was built by daming and channelizing the Betwa river. 

Indeed that reminds me of another Hindi proverb that remains popular till date in the Madhya Pradesh region, although not that popular elsewhere.

taalon me taal bhoja-taal, shesh sab talaiyaa
raani me raani durgavati, shesh sab nachaiyaa

('Among lakes, only counts the lake of bhoja, all others are just pit-ponds
Among queens, only counts durgavati, all others are just courtesans')

I also read another version of it in one of Rahul Sankrityayana's novels.

you also wrote:
QUOTEThe sarasvatI idol from the temple was taken by the Britons to the museum in London.

Is this the British Museum of London you speak of? Are you Sure? I have recently spent a lot of time in it without finding it. Which museum? Please respond to this one quickly.

07-09-2008, 09:06 PM

Ishwa,

Thanks again for your detailed post!

Shalivahana did start a new era within a very short span of time after vikrama era. He could have merely wanted to commemorate his victory, but the mere fact of establishing a new era implicitly implies that the new kingdom doesn't encourage the use of the older era. Both eras had similar claim to fame, e.g. driving away the shakas, both were established in the same geographical region and within a narrow temporal span. The kings in general suffer from a deep yearning for glory, barring the sage-kings or avataras. So, altjhough it is quite possible that there was no malice in shalivahana towards vikrama, but a competition for glory is quite evident.

HH,

Nice writeup on Bhoja-rAja. It seems the Wikipedia has summarily quoted your article without any references to your blog.

Re: pArada (mercury) and its various uses in rasAyana
Have you come across any evidence that may suggest that pArada could stand for molten-metal (liquid metal) in general?

Bodhji,

Thanks for reminding me the saying about rAjA bhoj and gangoo teli. I didn't know about the other one.

07-09-2008, 10:17 PM

Dear HH and Bodhi,

Another interesting building must be the garden palace of Raja Bhoja in Agra, not far from the Badalgarha Fort (Lal Haveli or Red Fort).

.... Again as bearing on the other side of the argument I have now to mention that, on the right bank of the river about 5 miles above the fort there is the site of an ancient garden palace called the garden and palace of Raja Bhoj. Certain intelligent educated Hindus in Agra say that it is traditionally held to have been a palace of the Raja Bhoj of Malwa of the 5th "to 6th centure; but at any rate all agree as to the fact that this garden palace of Raja Bhoj was in existence previous to the Muhammadan conquest of this part of the country.(Archaeological Survey of India. Report for the year 1871-72, part 2 Agra by A.C.L.Carlleyle. page 4.)

One interesting piece of information on palaces of Ujjain, may be extracted from the Mrcchakatikam describing the Palace of VasantasenÃ¢ with 8 courts.
Even though it is from a literary work, perhaps the poet had a real palace of Ujain in mind.

There is a lot of information in the Matsya Purana, Brhat Sa]mhita and the Shilpa/Vastushastras (like Vishvakarmaprakasha, Samaranganasutradhara). After enumerating 18 predecessor in chapter 253 (grhamana-nirnaya), the Matsya gives information about the Devalayas and Nrpalayas based about the shalas it has, like Ekashala, Dvishala, Trishala, Catuhshala (Pancayatana type, sarvatobhadra type), in chapter 269 (Mandapa-lakshana) it gives information about 22 types of temples, like Meru, Kailasha, Vimana, Hamsa, Caturashra (square) and Ashtashra (octagon), etc. Chapter 270 describes the various types of Mandapa, like Trikona, Catushkona, Ashtakona, Vrtta (circular), etc.
Chapter 254 (Stambhamana-nirnaya) information is given about the 5 types of Stambhas or pillars or towers: Rucaka (4 sides), Vajra (octagon), Dvivajra (16 sides), Pratinaka (32 sides) and Vrtta (circular)

One interesting point in the Gupta Age work, is the Garbhamana measurement: Ashtapada/Padashta or 8 squares around the central Pada for the Brahmasthana and Murtti or Linga. This is exactly what is later called the Hasht Bihisht concept in Mughal and Safavid architecture of the 16th/17th century. (late 16th c. Humayun Rauza, middle 17th c. Taj Mahal and late 17th c. Hasht Behesht in Iran).
What makes it more interesting, is when the Garbhamana measurement is applied to a Navaranga Prasada (having 8 Angas: 4 Karna-shalas in the corners and 4 Mukha-shalas in the 4 cardinal directions), consisting of 16 supporting pillars )Solah Vedi), in each corner a pillar. This is in a Caturashra Chatuhshala Prasada. (Humayun's Rauza and the Hasht Behesht palace have this concept) But if we take an Ashtashra Prasada, we get a Barah-khamba. The 4 corner pillars in the 4 outer Padas are left out. These 4 pillars may be backprojected to the corners of the Jagati or platform, giving the 4 Maha-Stambhas. (The Taj has this concept)
A Navaranga Prasada is rather a Barahdari, but both Hasht Bihisht buildings in Delhi and Agra are rather being used as tombs.

Four Maha-Stambhas around a Sanctum both on a raised platform, are first met with in the Bauddha Mandala concept of Stupas. An stylistical miniature example: Model of a stupa (Buddhist shrine), ca. 4th century, Pakistan, ancient region of Gandhara, Bronze; H. 22 3/4 in. (57.8 cm), W. 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald J. Bruckmann, 1985 (1985.387ab)
Another, also of Gandhara, 2nd century CE, has 4 lion-crowned Stambhas surrounding the Stupa. http://spach.info/documentation/newsletter...Mayy%201999.pdf

Minarets attached to Mosques was a later development. Round minarets were even much later, the origins of which were in the east, Bauddha, Jaina, Vaishnava and Shaiva Stambhas placed close to their Sanctums. The first converted Sanctums + Stambhas by the Muslims was in Afghanistan:
In Pharos (1909), his fundamental monograph on towers, H. THIERSCH remarked:
''The Islamic countries of the East are characterized by minaretsâ¦ which are circular in plan and cylindrical or conical in elevation. The origin of this round minaret remains in the darkâ¦. Not the tower of Samarra, and less even the one of Delhi, can be considered the sourceâ¦
The originâ¦. Must be looked for in other regions and in older timesâ¦ in those borderlands between India and Persia which today form part of Afghanistan. Here we find the oldest cylindrical towers I knowâ¦ it is certainly not proof, but a welcome indicationâ¦ of their congeniality with mosque towers that the local Muslims call them ''minar''.
[Thiersch has here the complex formed Qutb Minar in mind]

Today there is only a reference to two major (NÃ¢gara and DrÃ¢vida) and
one major hybrid style (Vesara), and some local varieties. But these three grand stles are actually named after their places of origin: DrÃ¢vida in southern India, Vesara in Karnataka and NÃ¢gara is originally a Gujarati style (spread by the Chalukyas from Gujarat to Orissa). The last spread also to the north. But where is the real North-Indian style, with local northwestern, Sindhi, Rajasthani, Haryanvi and Pracya substyles? Do we have to look for them in converted and ruined Devalayas and Nrpalayas from the Sindhu to the Brahmaputra?

Bodhi · 07-09-2008, 10:47 PM

Ishwa, interesting that you mentioned it. When possible, take up an excursion from Firozabad to Agra, roughly 3-4 KMs on both sides parallel to the national highway. You would not be disappointed!

ramana · 07-09-2008, 10:50 PM

Ashok Kumar, Have you read the book "Your Inner Fish" by Neil Shubin which traces the human origins from fish via amphibians and mammals using fossils and genes. The reason why I ask is in the dasavtaras, the first one is matsya the very saem fish that Shubin talks about. So my point is there a significance in that avatara about the human origins? Is there any hint why matsya avatara? The next is Kurma ie an amphibian.

I know you have a very good background in bio-technology and Sanskrit.

07-10-2008, 12:30 AM

Ramana,

IMHO, HH is a much better source for biotech and sanskrit.

QUOTE(ramana @ Jul 9 2008, 10:50 PM)Ashok Kumar, Have you read the book "Your Inner Fish" by Neil Shubin which traces the human origins from fish via amphibians and mammals using fossils and genes. The reason why I ask is in the dasavtaras, the first one is matsya the very saem fish that Shubin talks about. So my point is there a significance in that avatara about the human origins? Is there any hint why matsya avatara? The next is Kurma ie an amphibian.

I haven't read the book, but heard about it. The idea is not new. There is a theory that human embryos also go through all these evolutionary stages, where first they appear like fish embryos, then amphibian embryos etc. The actual appearance of similarity between the embryos may be controversial, but one thing is quite well established that structures in an embryo appear in an order that follows their appearance during evolutionary history. Some people even say that a human embryo goes through whole of human evolutionary history, starting from fish to human, at a fast rate during its development.

The sequence of the dashavatara is very striking in showing evolutionary trends. The reptilian branch separated out after the amphibious stage, and didn't connect with human evolution which moved to mammals. Birds developed from the reptilian branch. So it is even more striking that the dashAvatara doesn't have any snakes or birds in the sequence.

If the dashAvatAra seqence was merely fanciful, it could have had snakes or birds in the sequence too. Great nAgas such as sheSha, vAsukI and great birds like garuDa etc are part of the purANic lore, but are absent in the dashAvatAra sequence. So the fact that the snakes along with birds are absent, is another agreement with the evolutionary history of humans.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...of-Man-wiki.jpg

Sri Aurobindo's interpretation of human avatAras as evolutions of consciousness also gels in well with this. The dashAvatAra are about evolutions of humans, not of any other species.

~~Pandyan~~ · 07-10-2008, 02:36 AM

QUOTE(Ashok Kumar @ Jul 9 2008, 03:00 PM)I haven't read the book, but heard about it.Â The idea is not new.Â There is a theory that human embryos also go through all these evolutionary stages, where first they appear like fish embryos, then amphibian embryos etc. The actual appearance of similarity between the embryos may be controversial, but one thing is quite well established that structures in an embryo appear in an order that follows their appearance during evolutionary history.Â Some people even say that a human embryo goes through whole of human evolutionary history, starting from fish to human, at a fast rate during its development.

I think you're talking about the theory of recapitulation, which states that ontogeny mirrors phylogeny (embryonic development also showing evolutionary stages). I'm pretty sure the theory has been discredited now.

07-10-2008, 03:31 AM

QUOTE(Pandyan @ Jul 10 2008, 02:36 AM)I think you're talking about the theory of recapitulation, which states that ontogeny mirrors phylogeny (embryonic development also showing evolutionary stages). I'm pretty sure the theory has been discredited now.

The ontogeny (morphogenesis or shape/form) part, in the strict sense, is indeed proven to be not correlated well with phylogeny. I did mention that matching of shapes was controversial.

But that is not the end of the story. I guess Gould's book is the best one for this discussion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontogeny_and_phylogeny
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/GOUONX.html
QUOTETurning to modern concepts, Gould demonstrates that, even though the whole subject of parallels between ontogeny and phylogeny fell into disrepute, it is still one of the great themes of evolutionary biology. Heterochrony--changes in developmental timing, producing parallels between ontogeny and phylogeny--is shown to be crucial to an understanding of gene regulation, the key to any rapprochement between molecular and evolutionary biology. Gould argues that the primary evolutionary value of heterochrony may lie in immediate ecological advantages for slow or rapid maturation, rather than in long-term changes of form, as all previous theories proclaimed.
So there are connections between ontogeny and phylogeny, but not as simplistic as thought of in the recapitulation theory.

Also check the Modern Observations section in wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recapitulation_theory

07-10-2008, 03:52 AM

Ashok: You are right. That is why Vikramaditya's fight and Samvat is remembered and revered most by different Panthas. Many kings wanted to be a Vikramaditya, especially in the face of the "Shakas".
His kinsman Shalivahana is rather remembered for his Samvat.

Bodhi: Yes, thank you. I will make that trip.

Bodhi · 07-10-2008, 06:19 PM

Hauma Hamiddha Ji, I am very interested to know which museum is that you mentioned there (Saraswati of Bhoja smuggled by Brits). I am still "HERE", will go there NOW, and can at least share pictures.

Bharatvarsh · 07-10-2008, 06:34 PM

Bodhi all indications show that its the museum u already went to:
QUOTEthat he is willing to bring back the idol of Saraswati from the British Museum.

www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fline/fl2009/stories/20030509003103700.htm
QUOTEThe idol is now in the British Museum, London. There is some evidence that he built a Saraswati temple as well.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=P3uD22Ghqs...num=4&ct=result

Bodhi · 07-10-2008, 06:40 PM

OK, go again... let us see...

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 07-10-2008, 09:17 PM by Bodhi.)

QUOTE(Ishwa @ Jul 10 2008, 03:52 AM)Ashok: You are right. That is why Vikramaditya's fight and Samvat is remembered and revered most by different Panthas. Many kings wanted to be a Vikramaditya, especially in the face of the "Shakas".
[right][snapback]84022[/snapback][/right]


Yes. a King who succesfully repulsed vidharmI invaders from North-West and secured North, had a tendency to be known as vikramAditya. Last of these was hemachandra, who was titled "vikramAditya" too, after he not only repulsed the humAyun, threw away his throne, and conquered the whole of North, but also destroyed the hegemony of Afghans, relatives of Sher Shah Suri of his own side to claim the title of King. At the time of his coronation at Delhi, he was titled vikramAditya by the brAhmaNa-s. He was the last Hindu king to have done that, and to have controled Delhi, although for a brief period.

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 07-23-2008, 12:13 AM by Bodhi.)

<img src='http://www.britishmuseum.org/images/ps270899_l.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
(1)OM srimad-bhoja-nareMdra-chaMdra-nagarI-vidyAdharI-dharmadhIH soShA nAma sabhAShaNA khalu sukha-prasthApyatA
(2)yApsarAH | vAgdevIM prathamaM vidhAya jananI pashchAj-jinAnAM-trayIM ambA nitya-phalAdikAM vararuchi mUrttim shubhA ni
(3)-rmANe|| iti shubham || sUtradhAra sahira-suta-maNathaleNa ghaTitaM || vij~nAnika shivadevena likhitaM iti ||
(4)samvat 1091 ||

Above is the transliteration of the 4 lines inscribed in devanAgarI script on the base of the famed pratimA from bhojadeva's city. These four lines would mean something like this:

OM! In the city of the Moon-like Emperor bhoja is being commissioned very delightedly by that apsarA named soShA, who is learned in the vidyA-s, has a mind firmly set in dharma, and who is good in speech:
First accomplishing the Mother Goddess of Voice (Saraswati), and then the three jina-s, is being made this way the mUrti of the Mother, the giver of choicest and everlasting boons. all auspicious. executed by maNathala, the son of sahira the carpenter. this written by knower of sciences shivadeva.
saMvat 1091 vikramI (->1034 AD)

The mUrti of mother vAgdevI in standing posture with four arms (now only two left) is about 1.2 m tall, and is made of coarse white marble. She was worshipped in the capital of rAjA bhoja, the famed dhArA nagarI (modern town of dhAr in madhya pradesh) up until year 1880, when mlechCha-s decided to uproot her, smuggle her, and place in the British Museum of London as an exhibit.

Originally she would have been chaturbhujI, but two arms are now broken. In the remaining two she holds an aMkusha and a noose. She has a beautiful and tall crown in karaNDa style, and her tall hair are done in a bun on a side. Below her is the high pedestal base on which the above four devanAgarI lines are inscribed, and is shown a figure of a lady paying her tribute to the Goddess - probably representing the lady who commissioned the construction of the mUrti. (She is probably being referred to as apsarA, but must have been either a lady of royal family or a rich merchant lady of jaina bent. I think the latter, also because of the reference to the jina-s).

I was very unlucky as I could not have her darshan. First time around when I went, obviousely I was not looking for her particularly, but could have missed her because according to the British Museum, it is not a pratimA of vAgdevI, but that of a jaina yakShiNI ambikA. But the second time around when I did know what I wanted to see, I really ran out of luck, as these mlechCha-s have deported her to another mlechCha country on "Loan" for a year. She is being "exhibited" at a museum in spain these days it seems. But some helpful mlechCha-s at the BML would e-mail me the images hopefully, and when I get those I shall post these here. Posted here are some images from the Museum's database.

For future refernce if someone interested to visit. She is supposed to be out in the walking alleys in the "South Asia" section on the ground floor, Room G33. ID: 1880.19; PRN: PRI-1300.

Now, another mUrti, this one certainly of vAgdevI, and contemporaneous of the above one, but mentioned here to be from western India, probably mAlwA. She is also in the same material and similar style, although shorter in height and has tIrthaMkara-s on the periphery:

<img src='http://www.britishmuseum.org/images/ps185355_l.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

And then there is other Saraswati pratimA, of a very similar style, but much larger in size and dated as per the exhibit records to 5-6th century rajasthan:

<img src='http://inlinethumb41.webshots.com/40104/2625709610100818794S500x500Q85.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

As to the first one, Kirit Mankodi has done some work to explore whether it is yakShI ambikA or vAgdevI herself in a 1981 paper: 'A Paramara Sculpture in the British Museum: Vagdevi or Yakshi Ambika'. I don't have access to it.

Also Read the following museum resources:

1. "yakShI ambikA" (or Saraswati)

2. Saraswati

**Hauma Hamiddha** · 07-14-2008, 08:15 AM

Bodhi - thank you for sharing these images. I am extremely intrigued by the term:
"vij~nAnika shivadevena likhitaM ". I wonder what exactly "vij~nAnika" means.

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 07-14-2008, 10:40 AM by Bodhi.)

HH: In reality the words on the base are rugged and chipped at places, and some characters have to be guessed. In this particular one, what is visible (from the image only, and museum database, as I did not myself see the mUrti) is "vi"<gap>"A(mAtrA)""nika". which devanAgarI character can fill the gap is open for speculation. Hope when/if those folks send the better images we would be able to see what it really could read.

Bodhi · 07-22-2008, 04:39 PM

QUOTEAncient idols of Hindu gods recovered in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow, July 21 : Idols of Hindu gods and goddesses, dating back to the 10th and 11th century, were recovered from a tunnel in Etawah district, about 200 kms from here, officials said Monday.

The idols were recovered from the compound of an ancient Lord Shiva temple in Dadora village.

"A four-wheeler was parked inside the temple compound last week and after it left, the soil caved in," temple priest S.P. Dikshit told IANS.

A tunnel was discovered after the locals dug up the soil. Over a dozen idols were found subsequently.

A team of the Archaeological Society of India (ASI) reached the spot Monday and carried out an inspection.

"A police team has been stationed at the site as the recovered idols appear to be of historical importance. Experts are also camping in the area carrying out tests and exploring possibilities for further excavation," senior superintendent of police- Etawah, S.R.S. Aditya told IANS.

http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=...s&id=88780

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 08-03-2008, 07:47 PM by Bodhi.)

QUOTEWho were the Vratyas - the searching wanderers?

...

The Vratyas roamed about, mostly, in the regions to the East and North-west of the Madhyadesha, that is, in the countries of Magadha and Anga. They lived alone or in groups, away from populated areas. The dialect spoken by the Vratyas was Prachya, the source of the languages of Eastern India.

[According to Mahamahopadhyay Haraprasad Sastri,the vast territory to the South of the Ganga and North of the Vindhya ranges extending from Mudgagiri (Monghyr) in the East to the Charanadri (Chunar) in the West was called the land of Magadha tribes. TheAnga region was around Bhagalpur area.]

The Kesi-suktha of Rig Veda (10:13:6) and vratya- suktha Atharva Veda (15th kanda), carry graphic descriptions of these magis, the Vratyas.

They were distinguished by their black turbans (krishnam ushnisham dharayanti), a set of round ornaments for the ears (pravartau),a jewel (mani) hanging by the neck, rows of long necklaces of strange beads swinging across the chest , two(dvi) deer-skins tied together for lower garment, and sandals for the feet (upanahau), so on. They wore long and often matted hair (kesi).They used a peculiar type of reclining seats (asandi) - [I am not sure what that seat was.]

They did not care either for the rituals or for initiations (adhikshitah); andÂ not at all for celibacy (Na hi brahmacharyam charanthi).They did not engage themselves in agriculture (Na krshim) or in trade (Na vanijyam).They behaved as if they were possessed (gandharva grithaha) or drunk or just mad.

The Vratyas were a part of the Vedic society, but lived at its fringe. They seemed to have no regard for the Vedas and to the practice of yajnas (fire-cult); and resisted imposition of locally accepted patterns of behavior. They followed their own cult-rules and practices. They were obviously the rebels of the Vedic age; and had scant respect for the establishment. They drifted far and wide; roamed from the Indus valley to banks of the Ganga. They were the wandering seekers. In a manner of speaking, Vratyas anticipated the Hippies of the 1960s by thousands of years. [The Vratyas appeared to be more purposeful and creative, in comparison.]

The scholars generally believe, what has come down to us as Tantra is, in fact, a residue of the cult-practices of the Vratyas. The Tantra, even to this day, is considered non-Vedic, if not anti-Vedic.

The Atharva Veda (Vratya Kanda) mentions that Vratyas were also a set of talented composers and singers. They found they could sing a lot betterâand probably hold the notes longerâif they practiced what they called pranayama, a type of breath control. They even attempted relating their body-structure to that of the universe. They learnt to live in harmony with nature. There is, therefore, a school of thought, which asserts, what came to be known as Yoga in the later periods had its roots in the ascetic and ecstatic practices of the Vratyas. And, the Vratyas were, therefore, the precursors of the later ascetics and yogis.

It is said, the theoretical basis for transformation of cult-practices into a system (Yoga) was provided by the Samkhya School. Tantra thus yoked Samkhya and Yoga. Over a long period, both Samkhya and Yoga schools merged with the mainstream and came to be regarded as orthodox (asthika) systems, as they both accepted the authority of the Vedas. Yet, the acceptance of Samkhya and Yoga within the orthodox fold seems rather strained and with some reservation, perhaps because the flavor -the sense of their non-Vedic origin rooted in the Vratya cult practices of preÂ Vedic period â that still lingers on.

The Samkhya school, in its earlier days, was closely associated two other heterodox systems, i.e., Jainism and Buddhism. In a historical perspective, Samkhya-Yoga and Jainism - Buddhism were derived from a common nucleus that was outside the Vedic tradition. And, that nucleus was provided by the Vratya movement.

Interestingly, Arada Kalama, the teacher of Gotama who later evolved in to the Buddha, belonged to Samkhya School. Gotama had a teacherfrom the Jain tradition too; he was Muni Pihitasrava a follower of Parsvanatha. The Buddha later narrated how he went around naked, took food in his palms and observed various other rigorous restrictions expected of a Sramanaascetic. The Buddha followed those practice for some time and gave them up, as he did not find merit in extreme austerities.Â The Buddha, the awakened one, was a Yogi too. His teachings had elements of old-yoga practices such as askesis (self- discipline), control, restraint, release and freedom. The early Buddhism, in fact, preserved the Yogi â ideal of Nirvana.

Thus, the development of religions and practices in Eastern regions of India, in the early times, was inspired and influenced - directly or otherwise â by the Vratyas.

Some of the characteristics of the Vratya-thought found a resonant echo in Jainism and Buddhism. Just to mention a few: Man and his development is the focal interest; his effort and his striving is what matters, and not godâs grace; the goal of human endeavor is within his realm; a man or a woman is the architect of oneâs own destiny ; and there is nothing supernatural about his goals and his attainments. There was greater emphasis on contemplation, introspection, pratikramana (back-to-soul),; and a deliberate shift away fromÂ exuberant rituals and sacrifices seeking health, wealth and happiness.

The Vratya was neither a religion, nor was it an organized sect. It was a movement seeking liberation from the suffocating confines of the establishment and searching for a meaning to life and existence. The movement phased out when it became rather irrelevant to the changed circumstances and values of its society.Â The Vratyas, the searching wanderers, the rebels of the Rig Vedic age, faded in to the shadowy corners of Vedic religion, rather swiftly; yet they left behind a lingering influence on other systems of Indian thought.

*****

The Jain tradition claims that it existed in India even from pre- Vedic times and remained unaffected by the Vedic religion. It also says, the Jain religion was flourishing, especially in the North and Eastern regions of India, during the Vedic times.

Because of the basic differences in their tenets and practices, the two traditions opposed each other. As a part of that on going conflict, certain concepts and practices appreciated by one religion were deprecated by the other. The term Vratsa was one such instance.

Vratya has a very long association with Jainism; and its connotation in Jainism is astonishingly different from the one implied in the Vedic tradition where it is employed to describe an inimical horde. On the other hand, Vratya in Jainism is a highly regarded and respected term. The term Vratya, in the Jaina context, means the observer of vratas or vows. Thus, while the Vedic community treated the Vratyas as rebels and outcasts, the tribes in the eastern regions hailed Vratyas as heroes and leaders.

The Vedic and the Jain traditions both glorify certain Kings who also were great religious Masters. In the Hindu tradition, Lord Rsabha - son of King Nabhi and Merudevi, and the ancestor of Emperor Bharata (after whom this land was named Bharatavarsha) is a very revered figure. The Rig Veda and Yajur Veda, too, mention Rishabhadeva and Aristanemi. According to the Jain tradition Rishabhadeva is the first Tirthankara of the present age(avasarpini); and, Aristanemi is the twenty-second Tirthankara.

The Jain tradition refers to Rishabhadeva as Maha-Vratya, to suggest he was the great leader of the Vratyas.

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http://ssubbanna.sulekha.com/blog/post/200...g-wanderers.htm


A lengthy, detailed and interesting article.

comments from HH would be very helpful.

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