THE

CRADLE OF INDIAN
HISTORY

BY

RAO BAHADUR

C. R.

KRISHNAMACHARLU

Government Epigraphist for India (Retired)

THE ADYAR LIBRARY

1947

Price Rs.

38-0

Printed by C. Subbarayudu, at the Vasanta Press.

The Theosophical
P.

I.

Society, Adyar, Madras

C. No. 85-13-2-1947.

PREFACE
THE

scope of this small brochure is explained in ChapAn attempt is made to examine the accounts
ter One.
given in early puranic literature about the home and
expansion of the early Hindus. The subject is a very
vast and intriguing one, especially so in view of the
neglect shown by the early Indologists to the statements

made

early indigenous literature*

They were all,
always, condemned as fictitious imaginations

in

almost
and dismissed as of no value for constructing a succinct
account of our early history.
I have felt for a long time that scholars under a
self-imposed cloak of dictatorial criticism did scant
justice to the authors of the Indian Epics. So the task,
humble though hazardous, was undertaken by me to
put the so-called ore and dross of puranic accounts
into

the furnace of research in

studies

the

light

and thereby smelt down as much

of

modern

of historical

material as possible.
I cannot claim to have said the final word in the
suggestions made here, and the identifications indicated
I
am
appear very controversial.
criticism
the
aware
of
that
may be levelled against
fully
the
the thesis, but
encouragement afforded by some

should inevitably

VI

scholars of merit and erudition to the

vision developed

me

my

in

arguments

new angle

of

has emboldened

to publish the thesis.

Chapter One discusses the correct view that must

be

taken

munity
the

of

the

of

literature

a country

or com-

and also discusses

be put upon some of our esta-

to reconstruct its history,

interpretation to

blished conceptions about the Devas, the Suras, Asuras,

Manavas

etc.

"

In Chapter II entitled
The Genesis " are dealt
with the period of the Praja"patis, the Tushitas and

Yama-devas, the early monarchs like Prachinabarhi

and the significance of the terms manvantara etc.
Chapter III discusses about the historicity of the progeny of Manu and the place of the early monarchs
like Vena, Prthu etc., in the evolution of ancient Indian
kingship.

The

history of the

Vedic Community

is

'

'

of the early
dealt with in Chapter IV. Herein

Expansion

are described the achievements of Priyavrata and his

connection with the Seven Islands, while the historical
position of the
etc.

monarchs

Idhmajihva, Nabhi, Rshabha

and the connection of this community with the

Ilavrta country surrounding the Meru mountain, are

also discussed.
Possible identifications of the several

dvlpas, of King Idhmajihva and of the Yas'asya and

other varshas of the puranic lore, are suggested in this
connection.
In Chapter V, an attempt is made to
discuss the mutual relationship between the Suras and
the Asuras, and their historic representatives, while
incidentally identifications of the Vedic Chumuri tribe

Vll

and the Dasa warrior Dhuni are also made. The last
i.e., Chapter VI, is devoted to an examination of early

and

Indo-Eyptian

Indo-Persian contacts.

Theories

propounded herein regarding the connection of Bacchus

with the Meru mountain and the origin of the
names Egypt and the Nile at variance with the
'

'

'

'

Egyptologists may prove of some interest

Attention drawn herein to similarities
scholars.

views of
to

some

between
regarding

Egyptian and Indian notions

Narayana, the goat- headed Khnumu, the
early

worship of the Sun by the Cynocephallii and the apparent identity in the forms of the names of certain
early puranic and Egyptian
terest scholars.

The bark
frail,

and

of this small brochure

wait to watch

Even

scholarly criticism.

pounded
I

monarchs,

may
is,

also in-

fee],

very

prorgess on the surfs of

some of the theories pro-

its
if

acceptance in the scholarly world,

labours amply rewarded.

in this find

shall consider

my

thanks are specially due to Professor Rao

Bahadur K. V. Rangaswami Aiyangar who examined

My

and strongly urged its publication.

This was the first note of encouragement I received. I
am deeply obliged to Dr. G. Srinivasa Murti, B.A., B.L.,
M.B. & C.M., Vaidyaratna, Honorary Director, Adyar
Library, and General Editor of the Adyar Library
Series, for taking over the publication and affording
the necessary facilities.
My thanks are also due to
Sri A. N. Krishna Aiyangar, M.A., L.T., Joint Editor

the

of

manuscript

the

Adyar Library Bulletin

for

having patiently

Vlll

seen the
Index.
of

the

work through the press and prepared the

My

very great to the Manager

Press for the neat and expeditious

obligation

Vasanta

is

printing of the work in these difficult times.

Tyagarayanagar
9th February, 1947

C. R. K.

CHARLU

CONTENTS
PREFACE
CONTENTS

.....
.

PAGE
iv

ix

CHAP.
I.

II.

A VIEW OF

IT

.1-15

THE GENESIS
The

Prajapatis Prajapati Daksha and Svayariibhuva Manu Tushitas and Yama-Devas

Kardama

Prajflpati

Daksha I and Bhava ConThe Yajfiaghnaghna and

secration of the Prajapati

Rbhu De vas

King Prachinabarhi Priyavrata

Dhruva and Manu Uttama The Manvantaras.
-

III.

16

29

MANU'S PROGENY
Manu Vena--Prthu
Havirdhana The Ten Prachetasas
The Rudra Qlta Daksha and Aditi
,30-37
The Prajapatya Period

Haryas va
f

IV.

THE EXPANSION
Priyavrata and the Seven Islands of the Earth

Agnidhra
discourse of

Idhmajihva

much

interest

Seven Primeval Islands

identified with

Nimrod

IJshaba

spiritual

Outer Expansion

The

The Ilavrta-r-Nimlochani
Samyamanl identified with
Meru identified The
of

Sonmiyani Off-shoots
Lokapalas or Dikpalas Sarikarshaga worshipped
in Ilavrta
Hayagrlva worshipped in BbadrasVaNarasimha
varsha
worshipped in Harivarsha

PAGE

CHAP.

Kamadeva worshipped
same as

the Hittite

mountains

Shemakha

Bazargotcha

manasya
barha

Abhaya Arabia

Vajrakuta
Euxinus Pontus

Ikshu-samudra

SurOda

and

Sahara

Kshemaka

The Stelmali-dvipa Somali

(Black Sea)

Soudan

Sonan

Thebaid

Apyayana

with

same as Yezd

Kabarda

and

its

Kshema

Dagon

Yas'asya-varsha

Subhadra-varsha
varsha

identified

etc.

Shamash

and

Plakshadvipa

country

Plakshadvipa
Idhmajihva and Ishmi

Persia

Ketumala

Ketumala

in

SurOchana

Ramanaka
Paribharha

Rihmana

Sau-

Deva-

Propria

Barbari

The

rivers of

Abijnata

Abyssinia

Suro

The Mountains of
The
the S'almali-dvipa
Kus'a-dvipa The Seven
varshas of the Kus'a-dvipa The Mountains of
the Kus'a-dvipa
Dadhimanthoda Dalmatia The
Krauncha-dvipa The Seven varshas of the Krauficha-dvipa The Mountains of the KrauScha-dvipa
The S'aka-dvipa The Pushkara-dvipa Bokhara.
the

S'almali-dvipa

identified

V.

38

63

THE SURAS AND ASURAS

Suras and Syria A mar a and Amuru of ancient
Syria Syria and Assyria The home of the Devas
Suras and Asuras

Syrians and Assyrians

The
The

Nagas and Garudas The Deva Civilization

Dharma Rshabha The Asura Rshabha or Vrshabha The Puraijic King Ijtshaba The Sumris
Vedic Chumuri Dhulji Dungi
.64-70
:

VI.

INDO-EGYPTIAN AND
TACTS
Asia and Egypt

The

origin of the

INDO-PERSIAN

CON-

Bacchus and Meru Mountain

name

'

Nile

'The

Sanskrit

XI

CHAP.

PAGE

"

of

"

Kukkubha

Aegyptus
Cucupha
Amrta Egyptian root ra meaning
A suggestive Egyptian version of Narato give
yaQa Egyptian Khnumu with a goat's head
Indian Prajapati Daksha with goat's head Egyp-

origin

Sa

hoopoe
1

tian

'

Satit or

Cynocephalii

Sati

Hawk

Indian Sati

Kimpurushas
Snake in Egyptian
Indian
and Ureus

and

Egyptian Horus
Garuda and Uraga Indian Hayas'iras Egyptian
Usirniri Anu
Us'inara
Harseisis (the Sun)
Usirtasen
Kheops Kshupa Kush,
Arshtishega
Alaka and Turasu Alaka and Turvasu Manthot-

crowns

Mandhatri and Ambarlsha The

Ilavrta
Garuda and Naga migration to S'almali
Naubandhana identified Kubera's seats Kailasa
same as Hemakuta Kuber koh in Persia Hiraijya-

pu and Ahmosis

Kalakeyas identified 5'aravaQa

Taraka River Chakshu identiAsura
identified
fied
River Kshiradhara identified Vedic river
pura

identified

.......

ParushQl identified

INDEX

.71-88
89

CHAPTER

VIEW OF

ONE
era

of the acute

the

is

extent,

in

cultural tastes

the

of

respect

exhaustive study of the

step.

promise

of

To

sense.

historic

primary

developed

satisfy

history

of

this

the

the present
to the desired
in

Hindu

race,

Vedic and Puranic literature

Amidst the

valuable

IT

literature

material

for

that

is

holds out

the construction

of

the
the

large
this

the Mahabharata occupies a unique position, next

While the Vedas record the
to that of the Vedas.

history,

only

prayers and

praises

of the

ancient

Brahrnanic Rshis, the

Mahabharata story turns round the ancient Kshatriya charand any light that is incidentally thrown on the
acters
religious life of the times comes in only as auxiliary to the
;

vicissitudes

of

the

heroic

life.

The outstanding theme

is

Kshatriya in character. The fact helps us a great deal in

appreciating the value attached by the ancient Aryan culture
to the active life

secluded but none the less

hymn-singers.

and heroes in preference to the

serious and serene life of the devout

of kings

Herein

is

exhibited an entirely

human and

worldly interest that the epic Mahabharata and such other

ancient Indian literature possess for the lay reader as well
as for the critical scholar and student of Indian history and
civilisation.

In

the

several

historic

periods like the

Pre-Vedic, Vedic and Puranic Aryan history, the question of

considering

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

mahayugas, the
kalpas, the mahakalpas, the manvantaras and so on, has
No other race has attempted
to be taken -into account/
to

of time with the yttgas, the

Aryan sense

the

a degree

such

sections

calculable

The Aryan

Time.

Arj ans of India to reduce into

the ceaseless and limitless -current of

as

the

Hindu

rather the

denotation of time in

terms of kalpas, manvantaras and so forth,

of

much

value to

unique and

is

the student of history and

human

civi-

and progress in so far that it indicates the remote

of the past which the Aryans with their historic instinct

lisation

limits

attempted to preserve. The Vedic and Puranic Brahmana

Rshis have been the custodians of this historic sense nay, also

which they kept alive in their memories

the samkalpas and the mahasamkalpas? which

the universal sense

in the

forms of

taking the individual as the centre, describe, as it were, the

huge circle which includes within itself the time, place and

purpose in and for which he lived from day to day at the

bidding of

God

(Bhagavan).

Scientific study of evidences available

history

do

not,

logically

speaking,

and construction

consist,

as

is

of

generally

in the exposition of the archaeo-

imagined nowadays, merely

logical, epigraphical and numismatic evidence only, since these

do not

reacsh effectively

and

satisfactorily the distant limits in

the past to which, Literature and Tradition, better custodians,

in some respects, of the nation's historic memories, extend.

Who

can reach or count the sub-strata of monumentary relics

that have undergone submergence, layer over layer, with the
passage of

Time

The topmost

layer of the
'

monuments

is

at

The Puranic story of creation mentions the birth .of the four Vedas
as having happened after the birth of the Rudras, which took place in the
Padmakalpa (Bhag. 3. 22), and after the birth of the Prajapatis of the
1

Varahakalpa, to which Svayambhuva

y

The mahnsamkalpa

Manu

belonged

'

(ibid, 23).

brings out this outlook of the Aryan

mind

fully.

A VIEW OF IT

best only a partial evidence for the last chapter of the history
of the nation.

Basing entire authority on such latter-day evidence,

"
western authors have begun tracing the ? early
history of
India from the time of Alexander's campaigns. To the modern

whose

western nations,

yond the fourth or the

of the history of

historical beginnings

fifth

do not reach be-

century A. D., a better conception

India seems evidently impossible.

These

authors, coming as they do from nations of recent growth,

writing this history with motives other than cultural

in

some cases

are apparently racial

and prejudicial

and

which
to the

correct elucidation of the past history of India, cannot acquire

testimony for historic veracity or cultural sympathy. It seems

N
necessary and vital in this connection to raise the point whether a

work presuming

starting only with

to be

an

"

Early History of India

Alexander's campaign

ceived and with true historic instinct.

is

"

but

scientifically con-

Early Indian history,

than beginning at about 327 B.C., strictly speaking

ended some centuries even prior to it. Alexander's military
rather

India and Porus's compromise with him bespeak only a

fallen India. At this period the martial and constructive greatvisit to

ness of India had

come

to

an ebb.

The contemporary Nandas

and the subsequent Mauryas were only

like

lamps

in the night

of this non-Kshatriya period in the history of Bharatavarsha.

To

the national historians of the country, namely, the authors of

the Puranas and to the careful scholars of

its

history, namely,

Vedic hymns, of the Brahmanas, the

Sutras, the Puranas and such literature, the bright period in
the history of the Aryans' and the Bharatiyas and of their civithe

students

of the

appeared to have ended with the disappearance of the

ancient Kshatriya families of the land, with whose dim or bright
lisation

careers were inseparably

bound up the decadence or prosperity

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

4
ol

the true heroism and

and her

of her kings
in

this

wisdom

of India, respectively the arts

Even

rshis.

late

Pre-Mauryan India was

respect a blank, unlighted by the glorious deeds of the

Kshatriyas of the period that had ended long before. To

Hanuman even the Bharata period was a time of physical and
Moremoral degeneration compared with the time of Rama.
1

over, even the Kshatriya races

made by

regenerations

found

in the

Puranas were only

the Brahmanic Rshis \vhen%the

Therefore a
and purer Kshatra blood had degenerated.
historic sense must satisfy itself in tracing with a critical

earlier

truly

still

and sympathetic eye and determining thereby the

historic

background of the various authorities, especially the hymns,

the epics and other Puranas together with the Kavyas, utilis-

and

ing the archaeological

allied data only for the late period

which they are evidences. History, to be true, scientific,

open-minded, educative and constructive, must make a con-

for

but judicious use of the historic memories of the

nation embodied in the literature of the country and its tradi-

siderable

cowardly scholarship to fight shy of the stupendous

literature of India and decry, in the name of modern criticism,
tion.

It is

unapproached volume

this

and dismiss

The
instance,

vast

it

as entirely valueless for purposes of history.

true mission of the historian consists, in the

and

with reference to

long

origin

vistas

first

inquiring into the origin and significance of the

in

tradition

recent

of evidence as purely mythological

of

mythological

its

antiquity.

literature

of

or

vast

nation

Nations or communities of

and growth could naturally come

tradition

the

fields

of

to possess

mythology

nor

could they lay any claim to a possession of epics of extraordinary bulk and manifold character. The longer the stream
1

Mbh, Irapyakap.
ibid,

Adip. 75. 27.

151.

A VIEW Of IT
of
its

the tradition and mythology of a nation the greater

Indian Vedic and Puraiiic literature

antiquity.

is

its

com-

parable to the ocean which, in the words of Kalidasa, is both

attractive on account of its pearl wealth and awful with its
whirls and

shoals,

of

The

hollows.

of

collection

the

pearls

and making up the string

the interesting but none the less

truth from this ocean

historic

account

of a connected

is

arduous task of the future historian of India.

The

history of the Vedic Aryans,

Hindu

of the

whose deeds
the

race,

has

But much

Rshis.

the seed

roots in the life of the

its

and recorded

are praised

who formed

earlier

Devas

Vedic hymns by
must have been

in the

literature

superseded by these new Rks which should have incorporated

most of the material contained in it. This earlier literature

might have been in the form of gathas and gitas, i.e., lays
and songs. The beginnings of these hymns do not seem to
have reached the very origin of this society. The fact that the
few hymns of the Bgveda are the compositions of Rshi

first

Madhuchchhandas, the son

of Vis'vamitra, suggests that prior to

the time of Vis'vamitra there existed no

Rgveda

in the present

cannot therefore be concluded that absolutely no

literature of the hymn or other nature existed in Pre-Vis'va-

form.

It

mitra period.
(Devatas) Indra, Agni, Yama, Varuria and
invoked in these hymns have been taken by some
deities

The.
so on,

scholars

be

to

personifications of the forces of nature.

study of the epics and of the Vedic hymns, in the

light of the less obscure epics raises a suspicion whether the
careful

are

deities

only

personifications

deifications of great

known
rude

as

and beneficent

"

apotheoses."

beginnings

of

of

It

human

natural

phenomena

personalities

or

which are

would be consistent with the

understanding,

mentality and

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

6
instinct

of

self-preservation

that

appreciates

kindness and

beneficence and perpetuates and honours the names of such

personalities,

war,

to suppose that great

conquering

and victorious leaders

and benefactors would

kings,

strike

in

the

imagination of the primitive Pre-Vedic people during their

glorious life on earth here and indelibly remain on their

memories even

after quitting

the mortal frame.

It

would

be quite natural for these people to gain strength and inspiration

by meditating upon them and to identify them also

with

the

of

forces

nature that

manifested

beneficent as well as destructive.

When

themselves as

the Vedic Aryan

invoked Indra to give him rain, he did it only in imitation of

his ancestor, the Pre-Vedic man, who had learnt to call the
*

raining force" by the

title

of

or the

name

of
1

name

the

Not

first

"

Indra," which was either the

victorious or beneficent lord

the epithets applied to Indra

The expression " Indra " is
suggest his phenomenal nature.
"
traced from the root ind, which signifies lordship " (ais'varya)*
his

We

community.

may

Lakshml,

more

note
is

nature.

He

that

called Indira.

personal

to assign to

here

than

him
is

all

the

Goddess

The Puranic

of

Prosperity,

i.e. %

depiction of Indra

is

phenomenal and we have no reason

Vedic references a purely phenomenal

a son of Aditi and so one of the Adityas.
His
in the

surname Vasava denotes that he was a descendant of one

of the Vasus or we might rather say that one of the Indras
was the son of a Vasu.
1

This instinct of devotion is manifested in the habit of the true

Vaish^ava
seeing the spirit of Vishpu or Krh$ia in every atom of the Universe and every
force that is manifested therein; cf, the saying "sarvarij
Vishjmmayam
jagat;" and the ancient Ilk, Narayapam
vis'vatmanaifa

mahajneyam

paray-

Brahma-tattvam Narayapah parah, Narayapaparo

jyotirStma Naraya^ah parah, yac ca kiffcij jagaty asmin dys'yate s'ruyatepi
va, antar bahis' ca tat sarvam vyapya Narayapah sthitah (Vai$hnava-mantrapushpam.)

anam, Narayanaparam

A VIEW OF IT
connection

In this

will

it

not

be out of place to

quote Donald A. Mackenzie on a precisely similar question,

Greek

value

the

namely,

Homer

of

historian

of

the

Referring to the interpretatation of the Homeric

race.

Max

legends given by scholars like

as

the

for

of

"products

traditional

Miiller, Grote,

myths

based

upon

and Cox
various

"

and the siege of

phenomena of the earth and heavens
"
repetition of the daily siege of the
Troy considered as a
East by the solar powers that are robbed of their brightest
"
Mackenzie says
so was Greece
treasures in the West,"
robbed of

above class of interpretations was characterised

"
The born
scholarly stupidity."
Lang as

archaeologist

"

The Trojan war has for a

time been regarded by eminent scholars as a myth of

Schliemann wrote thus

long

The
by Mr. Andrew

heroes and Troy swept out of existence."

its

in

1878

which, however, they vainly endeavoured to find the origin

But in all antiquity the siege and conquest of
in the Vedas.
Illium by the Greek

army under Agamemnon was considered

as an undoubted historical fact and as such

authority of

the great
retained the

Thyucidides.
of

many

been omitted by Homer.

For

memory

believed in the Trojan

War

The

it is

accepted by

tradition has even

details of that

war which have

my part, I have always firmly

my full faith in Homer and in

has never been shaken by modern criticism

and to this faith of mine I am indebted for the discovery of

the

tradition

Troy and

treasure,"

There

hardly less justification

for our placing equally good faith in the Indian tradition and
literature.

its

And we

is

are already, hearing an archaeological echo

(though imperfectly interpreted yet) of Indian tradition from

Harappa in the Panjab and Mahenjo Daro in Sindh.

The Vedic
Vasus,

and

Indra and other Adityas,

Rudras and so on were descended from Prajapatis
lords

chiefs

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

Daksha, Kas'yapa, Kardama, and others, who also produced

It would thus appear that the patriarchs were
the Manus.
the common ancestors of the Vedic Devas and the Asuras,
like

whom

were the predecessors of the Devas in the

possession of power and ascendency and were hence called
The period of the
the Purva- Devas (i.e. the Early Lords).

the latter of

Deva ascendancy was known by

the appellation Devayuga,

which the Prajapati Daksha, the father of Diti, Aditi,

The Devas and
Kadru, Vinata and Devasena belonged.

to

Asuras were members of collateral branches descended from

the brothers Marici, Pulastya and Pulaha.

Daksha

Prajapati

is

Brahma's

son, the

the progenitor of the chief Devas and

His daughter Aditi gave birth to the twelve lords

who are celebrated and invoked in the Vedic hymns and who

Asuras.

known by

are

the general metronymic

name Adityas

2
.

The

were Mitra, Aryaman, S'akra,

Varuna, Vivasvan, Piishan, Savitr and Vishnu (surnamed

most

popular

among

these

another daughter of Daksha gave birth to

3
while his third daughter
Hiranyakas'ipu and Hiranyaksha
Danu gave birth to many sons among whom figure the wellDiti,

Upendra).

'

known

enemy

Pradyumna
Paulomi

-(viz.,

married Kas'yapa,
1

the

was married

enemy

of

daughter

to Indra.

other enemies of Indra, Bala and Vrtra, were the

another

of

(namely, Namuci),

S'ambara), and Puloma, whose

alias S'achi

Two
sons

Indra

of

daughter of Daksha named Danayu

who

Mbh> Adip. 16. 5.

They are also surnamed

too was a Prajapati (patriarch).

who
The

Aditeyas.

These two brothers are stated

BhBg. 3. 17. 18.

to

have been the Adi-Daityas

see

The name of Danu as the ancestress of the early Gaelic tribe appears
myth and legend also. The Gaelic people are styled Tuata Te
Danann i.e., Tribe or Folk of the Goddess Danu (C. Squire, Celtic Myth
and Legend, p 48). Cannot the expression tuata be connected with the Skt,
4

in

'

Celtic

'

'

suta

(son)

'

A VIEW OF IT

Danu and Danayu were known by the metronymic name Danavas. The other branch of the Asuras to which
descendants of

Havana belonged was the progeny of Pulastya, a Prajapati

who was of the generation previous to Daksha's and to whom
The
were born Agastya, Kubera and Ravana among others.
1

other ancient tribes

known

to Puranic literature as the

Rak-

shasas were also akin in nature to the Asuras and the Danavas

From him
and they too claimed descent from Pulastya.
were descended also the other Deva races like the Yakshasand
3
The later clannish distinctions between the
the Kinnaras.
several

named

communities are preserved

after

them,

viz.,

in the

the Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya,

Asura, Gandharva, Rakshasa and Pais'aca.

are believed

to

systems of marriage

These distinctions

have been recognised from the time of Manu

The Asuras too had their Dharma like the

Svayambhuva.
Devas and the Deva-Rshis.

The Mahabharata

refers in

some

places to Danavarshis, (i.e., Rshis among the Danavas). From

the Prajapatis were also descended the Manus, who, having

presided over and governed with their wise laws, certain races
of mankind, gave rise to the tribe-name Manavas, which exin reference to
pression always appears in literature

Bhfig.

mankind

4, 1.

The Vidyadhari women appear as servants of queens and other high

class women.
Prasuti, the wife of Kardama-Prajapati had them as servants
(Bh&g. 3. 23. 37). The Upa- Devas are mentioned in the Bh&gavata (4, 3.6),
2

S'ridhara, the commentator of the work, refers the expression to the GandharBut it appears more reasonable to include among them the Yakshas, the
vas.
Kinnaras and other Devayonis. The Deva creation is said to have been of
It consisted of the Vibudhas, Pitrs
eight-fold nature (Bhag. 3, 11. 27).

Asuras, Gandharvas, Apsaras, Siddhas, Yakshas, Rakshasas, Charapas, Bhutas,

Of these the Gandharvas and
Pretas, Pis'achas, Vidyadharas and Kinnaras.
the Apsaras are classed as one group, the Yakshas and the Rakshasas, as another,
the Siddhas, the Charapas and the Vidyadharas together as a third, and the
Kinnaras and Kimpurushas as a fourth group. This grouping must have been

based upon their original kinship.

8
4

Mbh. Adip.

67. 7.

M6fc.ldip.

72. 14.

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

10

This larger

the Devas.

contradistinction' to

in

generally

application of the term to the whole

mankind

is

only a later

usage.

The manvantaras,

again, are not after all fictitious

marks

placed upon time but seem to have been carefully noted with
an astronomic precision and celebrated from early times on
certain fixed days of the year very
anniversaries.

The Manus who were

lords of subjects)

its

like the other national

also Prajapatis

are stated to have been fourteen in

and the eras denoted

This had

much

after

them are each

own Devaganas

(i.e.,

called a

ruling bodies),

(i.e.,

number

manvantara.

its

Indra (their

Saptarshis (i.e., the Seven Rshis or Wise Men).'

manutvam or the position of a Manu devolved upon a

chief),

The

the

person as a result of consecration to the honoured place of a

ruler or governor of the community, as in the case of Manu
Svarochisha.

which

fact

There were also recognised fourteen Indras,

goes to prove that Indra was a class name or title

referring to a functionary.

From
rulers

of

the

the

Manu

Vaivasvata were descended the famous

so-called

Suryavarhs'a (Solar dynasty).

popular idea that these kings were descended from the

The
Sun

The Svayambhuva-manvadi anniversary falls on Kartika s'u. 12 about

the 1st of November the Svarochisha-man on As'vija s'u. 9 about Sept. 29th
on Chaitra s'u. 3 about 30th March the Tamasa-man on
the Uttama-man
Bhadrapada s'u. 3 about 25th August; the Raivata-man on Paushas'u. 11
about 29th December the Chakshusha-man on Ashadha s'u. 9 about 3rd July ;
the Vaivasvata~man on Magh s'u. 7 about 24th January the Surya-Savarnikaman on Bhadrapada va. 8 about 24th Sept. the Daksha-S&varpika-man on
Kartika s'u. 15, about 4th November the Brahma-Savarnika-man on Phalguna
s'u. 15 about the 3rd March
the Dharma-Savarnika-man on Ashadha s'u. 15,
about 5th July the Rauchyaka-man Q on Chaitra s'u. 15 about 15th" April the
Indra-S&varpika-man or Deva-Savarpika man on Kartika va. 5 about 5th
November and Bhautyaka-man* on Jyeshtha s'u. 15 about 9th June.
2
In ancient Greece also the Seven Wise Men were recognised. Bias,
the son of Tentamidas, born at Priene, was one of them.
He flourished about
566 B.C. The name bears astonishing resemblance to the name ofVyasa
(Byasa as pronounced in N. India).
1

See Sabdakalpadruma

ibid. s. v. Indra.

s.

v.

Manu,

A VIEW OF IT

11

be based upon a confusion between the names

Vivasvan as applied to the Sun as one who possesses vivas,

seems

to

i.e.,

tejas

the

Devas.

and also

(light)

to a son of Aditi, the ancestress of

Puranic genealogy traces the descent of these

the son of Aditya (son of Aditi) Vivasvan and

kings from

the twelve Adityas were

Mitra, Savitr, Pushan, and Vivasvan, names which, in course

Manu.

Vaivasvata

called

of time,

came

Among

to be applied to the

Sun along with the term

Surya, which was the original expression applied to the Sun.

By indifferent application of synonymous expressions the

Vaivasvata-vams'a has come to be called the Suryavarhs'a,

though its physical descent from the Sun could not be explained by any means.

Similar
"

Lunar"

the

is

case

with

the

kings

of

the

so-called

should certainly never be possible to estaThe

blish a physical descent of these kings from the Moon.
Moon was originally called Chandra because of the quality of
race.

It

But among the sons

of Atri, one of the primeval Rshis was a Chandra from whom
these kings claimed descent. The ephithet Chandravams'a has
delighting

(\/

chand

Dhp.

ahladayati).

thus to be traced to an animate being, the son of a Rshi and

not to a heavenly body like the Moon.
'

From

the foregoing paragraphs

it

could be seen that the

Devas were not mere imaginary symbolical beings or phenomena that they were a race of people who had their exis;

tence on this hard earth, struggled with their kinsmen like the
Danavas, the Asuras, and the Rakshasas and wrested the lordship of the earth from them assigning them to the position of
"
"
"
"
the Purva-Devas and that the so-called Solar and Lunar
;

dynasties of kings were descended from animate beings but

imgained as descendants of the heavenly bodies, the Sun and the

Moon.

The

earlier

members

of these dynasties like Das'aratha

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

12
of

the

Raghu

who were

race

and

Pururavas

of the Chandravarhs'a,

men, are stated to have helped the Indra,

the Devas of their time, against his enemies, the

lords of

the lord of

Asuras and the Danavas.

The

kings of the Manavas, like

are said to have belonged to the

Pururavas, and Yayati, who

had free access to the
Krtayuga
!

Deva and

the Asura lokas

and even had matrimonial relationship with

the Asuras, as between Yayati and the Asura king Vrshaparva's
countries)

(i.e.,

daughter S'armishtha. Yayati drove into Vrshaparva's territory

in his own chariot which indicates that their dominions lay

While on the one hand he had matrivery near each other.

monial relationship with the Asura princess, on the other,
he had similar relationship with the Apsaras Vis'vachi, with
whom he visited such pleasure resorts as the Nandanavana,
Alaka, the city of Kubera, near the Kailasa and the summit

Meru mountain, which were

the Deva territory, if not within it.

of

all

the

all

situated near about

The Asuras were

not

ugly type in physique as the Rakshasas are repreto be in literature, for example in the Ramdyana.

of the

sented

They had among them

beauties like S'armishtha

who

struck

beauty unpaialleled even among the Devas,

Gandharvas and Kinnaras. Astika, the dauhitra grandson of
Yayati, was already a friend of the Indra when he went to the

Yayati

as

Svarga in the company of Yayati.

These were but a few of the alliances entered into between
the Deva kings and the Manava kings. Though such distinctions as the Deva and the Manava were drawn in later stages,
in the earlier stages there

races

while

in

still

was

earlier

close contact between the

period,

at

the

dawn

two

of their

had common ancestry and kinship. Though the

Asuras and the Devas came from a common progenitor they

history they

Mbh. Adip,

84. 1.

A VIEW OF IT

13

were not so friendly with each other as the Devas and the
Manavas were. The Devas were the ideals of the Manavas

and much

of the culture

that

after

shaped

of

the

and

civilisation

former.

of the latter were

Expressions like

Deva-

Nagari applied to a particular kind of script and Deva- Gandharl applied to a particular musical mode and a number of
other expressions associated with Deva are reminiscent of the
Deva influence on the Manava culture.
It

therefore necessary to begin

is

Hindu

or the

race with the patriarchal

the history of India

(i.e.,

the prajapatya)

period and carry the account through the Aditya-Deva period,

dealing with the nature and position of the Indra, Agni,

Yama, Vasus, etc., noticing the relations, though hostile, these

and certain other Deva characters had with the Asuras, the
Danavas and so on, and then describe the constructive and
cumulative effect of their rule and the rule of the Puraijic

we

reach the period of the Mauryas, so

as to give a satisfactory and exhaustive history of India and
till

dynasties,

its

It

people.

finally

would then be

was but the modern and

realised that the Maurya period

"
"
not the
early
period of the history

of the country, in view of the Prfe- Vedic beginnings of

it.

with this view-point that the indigenous literature

of the race has to be .studied and a connected account of it
It

is

written on the lines of modern historical works.

be

hazardous
that

scholars

hymns

the

instinct

historic

what

and

is
if

it

that

in

historic

injustice

to

It

say with

would
certain

Hindus, ancient or mediaeval, had no

them. We must here pause to consider
:

permeates the whole mass of the Vedic

not celebration of the heroic or beneficent nature

Pre-Vedic characters that had come to be deified by

the Vedic period ? What could be the motive, if not historic,

of the

in

mentioning the several Asuras that were destroyed by

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

14
these

What

is

it

glories of the great

ParvatI,

What

etc,,

in

if

not historic sense that celebrates the

ancient characters like Vishnu, S'ambhu,

the numerous stotras and sahasrandmas

not historic veneration for the past that permeates the several Puranas ? Lastly, could we see anything
is

it

if

other than the historic instinct in the undertaking of the great

Vyasa to compose an incomparably monumental

the Mahabharata, the main theme of which is

sage-poet

work

like

quite a temporal one, being the description of the struggle

between two branches of a far-famed royal house ? The

an ideal biography, according to the Aryan

conception, of an ideal son, husband, king and hero in a
poetic setting which is unique in merit of conception and

Ramayana

is

The Bhdgavata

another ever-lasting work, both in

the nature of a history of the world as known to the ancient
sages of India and a biography a biography not of a single
style.

hero but
Spirit

'

of

is

the Single and

that descended

Supreme Hero (Purusha) and

upon the earth according

to the needs

permeated by a devotional temper

but that does not take away any the least from the historic

of the time.'

True,

it is

History was the hand-maid of the selfculture, faith, devotion and idealism of the age to which
value of the work.

these works belong and this conception of history probably

should not
suited the cultural demands of the age best.

We

quarrel with this ancient conception of history for even within

our own generation the conception and presentation of history

has been changing from decade to decade and a century

hence our conceptions of history may not command the same
devotion

with

which we cling

ancient histories to be in

them now. To expect

our modern forms is but a crude
to

expectation to encompass within our smaller self the entire

Universe, what

it

was,

is

and

shall be.

It is also

want

of

VIEW OF

IT

15

historic sense to fail to appreciate the particular ideals of the

condemn hastily, as mere fabrications,

the statements made about the <very remote past in the

particular ages
all

and

national literature

to

and

tradition.

The

And

it

virtue of greed for knowledge needs no apology.

is but the humble hope aud attempt of the author to

suggest in the following chapters what points might be culled

from the epic and the Puninic literature for a history of the
Cradle of the Hindu race. Those presented here are not

exhaustive but they will clearly show what possithere are of making up a history of the race from

many and
bilities

works
should

like these studied

certainly

maiden attempt

be

on the lines suggested above.

many

like this

pit-falls

and imperfections

Yatne krte yadi na sidhyati ko'tra doshah

There
in a

CHAPTER

II

THE GENESIS
IN the foregoing chapter we have referred to the priority of
the Prajapatis to the Aditya-Devas who are celebrated in the
Vedic hymns. These Prajapatis, we have supposed, were
'

the original
several

The

lords of

groups

Prajapatis

Tradition

the

its

separation into the

Danavas, Daityas,
Kinnaras
and other tribes
Rakshasas, Yakshas,
took place and came wen to be recognised.
like

Suras,

Asuras,

recognises

Prajapatis in

twenty-one

'

mankind before

all,

just as

avataras

Prajapatis and twenty-one

recognises ten chief avataras and

chief

ten

it

in

all

of

Vishnu. 1

The

ten

chief

Prajapatis were Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha,

The
Kratu, Vasishtha, Prachetas., Bhrigu and Narada.*

twenty-one Prajapatis were

Brahma, Sthanu, Mann, Daksha,

Bhrgu, Dharma, Yama, Marichi, Angiras, Atri, Pulastya,

Pulaha, Kratu, Vasishtha, Parameshthin, Vivasvan, Soma,
Kardama, Krodha, Arvak and Krita. Of these
Prajapati
Daksha was the most famous, having been
*

consecrated to the position of the chief of

There was a namesake of
as stated below.

the Prajapatis'
who was the common ancestor, on their
his, of a later date,
mother's side, of the chief races, viz. the Adityas, the
1

Bh&g. 1-3,
gabdakalpadruma,

s,

v. Prajapati.

THE GENESIS

17

Daityas, the Danavas, the Garudas, the Pannagas and other

He was on that account known as the
Puranic races. }

'matamaha' (Varahapurana

Bibl.

Ind., p. 139, v. 39),

Of

'

'

and were denoted by the

lords
Adityas were
4
2
Daksha was a Rshi, 3 a Muni
appellation Bhuvanes'varas.'
and a Prajapati also. He had lost all his sons. His surviving
these

the

:>

were given in marriage to the

contemporary Prajapatis and begot through them the several
fifty

or

sixty

daughters

races, detailed above.

The
i.e.,

Daksha

Daksha

belonged to the sixth

Chakshushamanvantara and has to be distinguished from

Daksha

later

I,

i.e.,

who belonged

II

to the first

manvantara (Bhag. 4-1).

touch upon this manvantara
It

i.e.,

the

Svayambhuva-

not be out of place here to

in brief terms.
This is the

will

manvantaras recognised in the present cycle

(kalpa), which is known as Varaha-kalpa (Bhag. 3-11-36)

first

of

the

or S'vetavaraha-kalpa as stated in

the sarikalpas

The

monial prologues of the Brahmanas.

i.e.,

cere-

previous kalpa

was known as the Padma-kalpa before which had passed the

Brahma-kalpa, when Brahma was recognised as S'abda-

Brahma (Bhag. 3-11-34 ff.). In the Svayabhuvamanvantara

But he did not
the Brahma Svayambhu was the creator.
He did so at the
create the world now for the first time.
'

'

bidding of Narayana only as before (yathd-purvam) (Bhag.

3-9-43 and 3-20-17). The son of this Svayambhu-Brahma

who was
1

Mbh.
Mbh.

the Prajapati was the

Adi. pp. 66 am} 67.
Adi. 66-14.

ibid., 67-10.

ibid., 67-11.

Manu Svayambhuva-Manu.

ibid. ,67-12.

This reminds one of the classical instances of the early Egyptian King
Danaus (circa B.C. 1945), having fifty daughters see Lempriere's Classical
Dictionary.
;

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

18
fact

(In

this

is
'

"^

Vay

the

Manu

take that the

Manu which
title.
One of the
'

in

name

or

title

tradition or literature unlike the

Brahma which occur

with reference to earlier times. So we may
son of Svayambhu was named or designated
tftks

^n

as

occurrence of the

first
'

'

and

Prajapati

expression in subsequent times became a

was

Manu). Svayambhuva-Manu was a paramount monarch (samrat) and reigned

from his town (purl) called BarhishmatI in the Brahmavarta
entire

watered

country
earth

Prajapatis

with

its

also referred to as

is

He was

river

seven oceans

Sarasvati,

'

of kings

first

a saintly king of

over the

3-22-29).

(Bhdg.

nrpa (protector of people)

(Bhag. 4-1-2) and as the

3-21-45).

the

by

called

i.e.,

He
king

'

(adiraja) (Bhag.

Brahmana

origin (Vipra-

He was disciple of S'ambhu and

Rajarshi) (Bhag. 3-21-26).
devoted to the worship of Vishnu !
The supreme deity of the
.

period was Hari

(i.e.,

Narayana) worshipped under the name of

Yajna or Yajnadeva.

The Indra

of the age

was

also called

Yajna (Bhag. 4-6-7). He was the lord of the Devaganas of the

time who were known by the name Tushitas* (Bhag. 4-1-7).

They appear

to

8-1-19).

Tushitasand

YSma-Devas

sequel.

The

have borne the surname Yama-Devas

These have

(ibid.,

to be identified with the

daughter s sons sons of

Svayambhuva-Manu as can be seen from the
expression
devaganas applied to them has to
daunitra s sons

'

i.e.

'

Vishnu must here be understood to be synonymous with Narayapa who

in a large sense called Vishnu and should be distinguished from the iditya
of this name who belonged to the Chakshusha-manvantara, who was a son of
the Prajapati Daksha's daughter Aditi and Kas'yapa-Prajapati and was the
younger brother of the Aditya S'akra who was an Indra. He was on account
of this relationship to Indra and great helpfulness to him in the field of battle,
1

is

surnamed Upendra.
*

i.e.

The Vishnu-Pur(ina (1-15-127 to 133) refers them to the Chakshusha

the sixth) manvantara while Bhdg. (8-1-21) refers them to the second i.e.

THE GENESIS
'

be explained not in the sense of

as ruling bodies or

19

worshipped

deities

groups of governing lords.

Svayambhuva-Manu married S'atarupa,

three daughters by

name

'

but only

who

bore him

Akuti, Devahuti and Prasuti.

Of

marriage to the Prajapati Ruchi who

had through her a son and a daughter. The son was no other
than Hari known by the title Yajusharh-pati i.e. lord of the

these Akuti

was given

in

'

'

Yajus (mantras) (Bhag. 4-1-6) and the daughter was called

Dakshina. Hari as lord of the Yajus was called Yajnadeva
whose consort was Dakshina. She was believed to be an am&a
'

of

(aspect)

Bhuti

i.e.

'

Lakshml.

married as husband and wife.

sons

who were

collectively called

The brother and sister were

To these were born twelve
Yama-Devas.

Their names

were Tdsha, Pratosha, Samtosha, Bhadra, S'anti, Idaspati,

Idhma, Kavi, Vibhu, Vahni, Sudeva and Rochana. The
second daughter Devahuti was given in marriage
Prajapati
Kardama

He

to the Prajapati

belonged

to

the

Kardama, a son

of

Brahma/

Krtayuga as also did the Prajapati

1
This marriage is justified by S'ridhara, the commentator of the Bh&gavata on the ground that the couple only represented arps'as and so were not
precluded from joining in wed-lock. This is only the justification sought by a
Sister-wives are known to history from
later age for an earlier institution.
Marriage of paternal cousins, now condemned, is not
early Egyptian records.
unknown to Hindu tradition. Marichi and Daksha were brothers and Kasyapa,
the son of the former, married Aditi and other daughters of the latter (Mbh.
Adi. p. 633 and 4). These instances seem to bring the early Hindu marriage
system into a line with the Egyptian system and suggest that the present
Muhammadan custom of marrying paternal cousin sisters was not unknown to
the ancient Hindus as to the Egyptians. Aegyptus, the son of Belus, gave his
fifty sons in marriage to the fifty daughters of his brother Danaus.
Aeschylus,
however, says that Danaus considered this connection as unlawful and impious
(Lempriere's Classical Dictionary Danaus). It is probable that Aeschylus
views the marriage from a later standard and so ascribes hostility to Danaus.
The Biblical prophet Abraham married his own step sister Sarai. Sarai was
born to Terah, the father of Abraham, by a different mother (Genesis, 11-27 ;
20-12). Moab and Ammon were born to Lob, the paternal nephew of Abraham,
through the latter 's two daughters (ibid., 19-31 ff.). Has the Biblical couple,
Abraham and Sarai, any connection with the Puranic couple Brahma and

Sarasvati
*

The

A Naga

Prajapati

of the name of Kardama is mentioned in Mbh. Adi. p. 35-16.

Kardama is stated to have been a member of Brahma's assembly

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

20

Daksha

To him

I.

above with

identified

fested himself

in

the
the

human

S'abda-Brahma

who

has been

Hari of the Padma-kalpa maniform (Bhag. 3-21-10 and 11) at

the as'rama called Bindusaras on the banks of the river Sarasvatl

the

(Bhag. 3-21-6 to 8 and 33). The spot where Devahuti,

wife of Kardama, later on attained salvation through

penance was

called,

on

this account,

Siddhipada and near

it

flowed the river Siddhida.

The

Svayambhuva-Manu named Prasuti

the Prajapati Daksha I (Bhag. 4-1-7)

third daughter of

was given

marriage to
through whom she had sixteen daughters.
in

They were mostly

named after qualities like, S'raddha, Maitrl, Daya etc. Thirteen of these were given in marriage to the Prajapati Dharma.
The fourteenth named Svaha was given in marriage to Agni
and the fifteenth named Svadha was given in marriage to the
The sixteenth and
Pitrs Agnishvattas as their common wife.
l

daughter Sati was given to Bhava.

The marriage of Svadha with the Agnishvattas is one of
the early few instances of polyandry known to the Puranas.
last

Another such instance

is

the marriage of the Apsaras Varkshi

(Mbh. Sa. p. 11-19) along with the other Prajapatis. A Kardama is desHe was the son of Kir ti man, grandson of Viraj as and
cribed in ibid., 58-97.
His son was Anariga and grandson was Atibala.
of
Vishnu.
great-grandson
The son of the last was Vena, the father of the famous king Pythu. This is
different from the genealogy of Vena given in the Bhag. and the Vishnupuruna
where Vena is stated to be the son of Anga. It is probable that Vena the
descendant of Kardama mentioned above is identical with Vena, surnamed
Rajas'ravas who is stated to have arranged the Veda in a previous age (Wilson,

Vishnupurana

p. 273).

1
Their names were S'raddha, Maitri, Daya, S'anti, Tushti, Pushti,
Kriya, Unnati, Buddhi, Medha, Titiksha, Hri, and Murti. These names arid
the association of their bearers with a character named Dharma might lead to
the suspicion that the relationship described is a kind of moral symbolism.
But this is by no means necessary. The age to which the characters belong
was one of moral genesis and social construction. In such an age it must be
quke natural to name persons after the several qualities desirable for man and

woman

to possess.

THE GENESIS

2l

daughter of the Rshi Kandui by the

Apsaras Pramlocha (Bhag. 4-30-12 f) with the ten Prachetasas, of the time of king Soma probably the progenitor of the
alias

the

Marisha,

whom we

speak later on.

To Murti, the youngest of the wives of Dharma, were
born Nara and Narayana (Bhag. 4-1-52) who became Rshis

Somavarhs'a (Bhag. 6-4) of

and

repaired

for

Gandhamadana

penance early

forest

(Ibid., 58).

shall

in

their

towards the

life

Svaha, the wife of Agni,

begot three sons namely Pavaka, Pavamana and S'uchi.

The fraternal group of the Pitrs to some of whom Daksha

gave his daughter Svadha in marriage were not all of the

same nature. Some of them were fire-sacrificers while the
others were not

(Bhag. 4-7-63).

Such

of

them as were not

devoted to Agni seem to have been denoted by the appellation

Barhishats while the others were called Agnishvattas.
In this period there arose an occasion for mutual condemnation between Daksha and his son-in-law Bhava. On
the occasion of the Vis'vasrt-satra performed by the Devas,
lishis

and Prajapatis

ail

combined, Daksha failed to honour

1
We do not meet with the name Kapcju in Vedic literature. Thejaimi*
nlya Upanishad-Brahmana (111, 10, 2) mentions an Udgatrj priest named
Kapdviya. The priest must have been a late descendant of the Rshi Kapdu
whose name was probably forgotten by the Vedic period since he was of the
Svayambhuva-manvantara. The Vedic hymns refer to the heroes of the Chakshusha-manvantara and later periods.
There seems to be good reason to infer that the term Agni refers in
some places in the Vedic and Puranic literature to human characters. The
first Agni might have been named after the natural phenomenon fire (Of. Latin:
Ignis = Fire) and the son-in-law of Daksha I was probably the first person named
Agni. It is because Pavaka, was a son of this Agni and so he too was called
an Agni, that in subsequent ages 'Pavaka' came to signify the fire.' The
These consisted of
earliest members of the Agni family were forty-nine in all.
Agni, his three sons Pavaka. Pavamana and S'uchi and their forty-five sons
As many sacrifices and as many holy fires connected with
also called Agnis.
them and named after them were recognised in subsequent times (Bhag.
The several Agnis of the time were stated to have attended the
4-1-62).
Vis'vasft-satra along with the l^shis and Munis and to have stood up and
honoured Daksha I along with them, on his entry into the assembly (sadas)
(Bhag. 4-2-4 and 6). They were addressed along with the Brahmarshis and
Devas by Daksha when he condemned Bhava (ibid., 9).
'

'

'

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

42

Bhava

as he honoured

and uncultured

tions

in the sacrificial

assembly, and.

conduct on the score of Bhava's tamasic associa-

his

justified

Brahma
life

He

lived in the cremation ground.

further declared in spite of the dissuasion of the leaders of the

Daksha

Bh

sadas,

and

Bhava should not be honoured

that

with a share in the

along

Upendra and other Devas.

on the occasion. But his follower

with the Indra,

Bhava nobly kept

sacrificial offerings

quiet

Nandis'vara burst forth with a condemnation of Daksha and a

him

curse upon

that

he should

henceforth with a goat's

head, and denounced the Brahlive

head having lost his own

manas. This incursion upon the Brahmanas

in general in-

down

that in future

censed Bhrgu and he in

his

turn laid

worshippers and followers of Bhava should be considered as

atheists (Pashandins) (Bhag. 4-2).

Daksha and Bhava continued their silent spite against

each other for some time. Time came when Daksha was
installed

Brahma

by

.-

the

signify

lord

the Prajapati

the
to

'

Prajapatis
this

position

as required by the

Daksha had evidently developed

position

all

elevation

his

Brhaspati-sava

Brahmishtas

of

Daksha had performed the Vajapeya sacrifice

and having
it
he commenced the
" completed
*

Consecration of
A,

To

4-3-2).

(Bhag.

as

in

(ibid.,
'

self-conceit

'

S'ruti.'

and held

all

contempt under the sense of his superior

At this sacrifice were present all the
4-3-3).
'

'

Indra and Upendra should here be understood to refer

to the lord of the then Devas and his deputy.
They must be distinguished
from the later Aditya Indra-S'akra and JLditya Upendra- Vishnu.
1

The terms

'

V&japeyena

ishtvd,

'

Bfhaspatiavena yajeta.'

The

latter is

called

most important of the kratus.

This Sruti supports the view of
Dr. Macdonell that the Vajapeya and the Byhaspatisava were not identical,
in primitive times (Ved. Ind. Vol. II, p. 73) though the Satapatha-Brahmana
suggests their identity. Both the sacrifices seem to have been subsidiary 'to
the royal sacrifice of the Rajasuya (ibid., p. 72). The As'valayana Sutra
mentions only the Vajapeya among the seven main y&gas.
the

THE GENESIS

23

Brahmarshis and Devarshis, including the Pitr-devatas ac-

companied by their wives. Daksha carried the inveterate

hatred for Bhava to the ridiculous length of so arranging
the sacrifice that

no honour

was reserved for

Moreover Bhava had been

of offerings

Rudra whose ams'a Bhava was.

Daksha's pupil (Bhag. 4-2-11) and
them

contributed

partly

to

the

this relationship
slight

between

which Daksha

in

held him.

effacement
in

The

resented this.

Sati

arms

to

The Yajnag

well-known.

is

story of her subsequent self-

When

the attendants of Sati rose

Daksha, Bhrgu who was officiating in

the sacrifice invoked the Devas through the

destroy

na-

ghna RbhuDevas

Yajfiaghna-ghna

'

sacrifice.

Then

rose

up the

Rbhu-Devas who attacked and destroyed the

2
Pramathas and the Guhyakas who had risen
up against Daksha. But the followers of Bhava got again
The yajnaghnas i.e., destroyers of the yajna
Asuras, R&kshasas, Pis'achas etc.
1

(i.e., sacrifice)

were the

The Guhyakas were only a

mentioned

in the

section of the Yakshas.

They are not
Vedic literature though they occur often in the Purapas.

The name Yaksha

occurs several times in the %g-Veda and the Atharvaor

feast
attached to it by
of
holy practice
Ludwig in accordance with the native commentators precludes us from
Whether this is the true sense of the expression
referring it to the Yaksha.
or a proper name is mean t is doubtful. The Vedas probably referred to them
under the name of Yaksha also which occurs in the Rg-Veda in two places
as the name of a people (Macdonell and Keith, Ved-ind. Vol. II, p. 182).
The Guhyakas were originally appointed by Kubera to guard his treasures
(Sabdakalpadruma) and were probably only a section of the Yakshas whose
lord he was. Their* habitation is grouped with the Pis'achaloka and the
Gandharvaloka. The land of the Ghurkhas is not very far removed from the
Takshas'ila (Taxila) country in which the Pais'achi-speaking people lived and
near which the ancient Gandhara country lay. The latter was the same as
the Gandharva country. According to the Mahabharata (Sa. 29-3) the Guhyaka
country was called also Hataka which we may have to identify with the country
around the modern Attock. The Kailasa is also stated to have been the abode
This is not far from Nepal which is the
of the Guhyakas (ibid., 4-5-26).
modern home of the Ghurkhas. In the Vedic times the country to the northwest of India was called Gandhari, the people of which country were also
called Gandhari.
They were later called Gandhara (Macdonell and Keith,
Ved. Ind., Vol. I, p. 218). Bharata the younger brother of Rama had to conquer the Gandharvas before he could annex the Sindhu country (Raghuvams'a,
XV, w. 87 and 88) ,

V&da.

'

But the meaning

'

'

'

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

24

the upper hand

Bhava deputed

under the
for the

This event

fice.

command

destruction of

one of the

is

of Virabhadra

Daksha and

whom

his sacri-

earliest instances of religious

quarrels based entirely on personal grounds.

The position of Daksha as Prajapati appears to have

mean

no

been

the Vajapeya

which he

sacrifice

elsewhere prescribed for the samrat who was

authority than the king (Macdonell and Keith,

higher

Ved. Ind.,

Bhava

for

is

performed
a

one

Vol.

II,

p.

Others

resented.

He had grown haughty and

433).

Bhrgu and Nandi naturally

into a class warfare which, how-

like

took sides and developed it

ever, was soon put an end to by the mediation of others and
the final apology of Daksha.
This event occurred in the time of king Prachinabarhi

As

(Bhdg. 4-5-8).
The statement

to

who

this king

was we are not

seems to be an anachronism

already been told that

certain.

we have

for

Svayambhuva-Manu was the Brahmanic

king (Viprarajarshi) of this period. Prachinabarhi was probably one of the kings even the greatest and the most warlike
of

them

that attended the Vis'vasrt-Satra.

Or

it

possible

was the king of the territory adjoining

that in which Daksha lived and performed

that Prachinabarhi

mg

rac

ma-

bar hi

satra an(j over

w hich

Manu
SvayambhuvaJ

had no authority.

In that case he

may have

with the king of that name who belonged to

Atri's race as stated in the Mahabharata (S'anti. 207-6) and
to be identified

who was

the husband of S'atadruti and father of the

Prachetasas, whose son through, their

was the Daksha-Prajapati

From
have

II of the

common

Ten

wife, Varkshi

Chakshusha-manvantara.

the genealogy given in the Bhagavata he appears to

been called also by the name Barhishmat and his

daughter-in-law to have been called Marisha,

THE GENESIS
we grant

If

the premise

made

25

already that the heroes cele-

hymns were descendant's of Daksha II of the

Chakshusha-manvantara we should find it interesting to trace
brated in the Vedic

the trend of events and succession in the ruling family for the
previous manvantaras, as these pertain to the pre- Vedic period.

Svayambhuva-Manu married
had two sons

viz.,

was appointed

heir

through

Priyavrata and Uttanapada.

whom

he

Priyavrata

by Svayambhuva Manu. He had spiritual

initiation from the sage Narad a and enjoyed

the lordship of the earth with his sons, living

In this resworldly life without attachment.

Priyavrata

pect he

S'atarflpa

was a forerunner

of

King Janaka

of Videha.

The

descendants of Priyavrata ar connected in Puranic literature

with the story of the original expansion of the Pre- Vedic

Aryas of which we shall' speak later on. We shall first deal

here briefly with the race of Uttanapada which continued

down

Daksha

the Prajapati whose daughters' sons form

the subject of celebration in the Vedic hymns.
Uttanapada had two wives named Suniti and Suruchi.
to

II,

Suniti had a son

named Dhruva, and Suruchi had

a son

named Uttama.

Dhruva, advised by his mother, devoted

himself to the worship of Hari, when he was
openly ill-treated by his father and step1
mother. He repaired to the Madhuvana forest

on the banks

Yamuna

of the river

for his cherished

penance

spot could not have been called Madhuvana by the time of Dhruva
after the name of the Asura Madhu who lived there during
the time of the much later AyQdhya king Rama and was destroyed there by
The narrative in the Bh&gavata and the
his younger brother S'atrughna.
This was evidently one of
it under the later name.
to
refers
Vishnupurana
the Asura settlements in early India.
1

for

it

The

was named so

the

In

time

of

Dhruva's grandfather

i.e.

Svayambhuva-Manu

the

was considered sacred for penance while in Dhruva's time the

YamunS comes into prominence. The Vedic people knew the latter river
(Macdonell and Keith, Ved. lnd. Vol. II, p. 180).
Sarasvati

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

26

on the advice

unsullied devotion for six

whom

he propitiated with
months satisfied him with the grant
Hari

of NSrada.

and advised him to return to h is

of his desires

When

city.

he returned he was most warmly received by his parents and

younger brother Uttama. Sometime after, Uttama, son of
Suruchi, died at the hands of the Punyajanas
this

case)

(i.e.

Yakshas

one of his hunting expeditions to the

in

in

hills.

Dhruva, knowing of this, started in expedition to take revenge

and attacked Alaka which was situated in a valley of the Hima-

and was a stronghold of the Guhyakas and the

Yakshas whose lord was Kubera. Here he was opposed by
vat mountains

thirteen ayutas

Guhyaka

forces.

favourable to

Asuras

who

(i.e.

130,000) of the Yaksha, Rakshasa and

At one time the battle seemed to be un-

Dhruva but he soon came out

The

successful.

also took sides with the Yakshas,

Rakshasas and

Guhyakas against Dhruva used their mayd (magic) to overpower

him. These he is stated to have overpowered by means of his
He gained the upper hand and continued to
Narayanastra.
destroy the Punyajanas in large numbers.

But

in the

mean-

time his grandfather Svayambhuva-Manu appeared on the

scene accompanied by Rshis and advised him to desist from
his destructive expedition as

it

was improper

cendants to annihilate the Upadevas

(i.e.

for

Manu's

des-

Yakshas, Asuras

and urged him to appease Dhanada (i.e. Kubera) who

was an intimate friend of Giris'a (i.e. Bhava or S'ambhu)
whom he had offended by the attack of his city. When

etc.)

Dhruva ceased warfare and sheathed his sword in deference

to Manu's wishes, Dhanada came up to Dhruva with offers of

who were

leaders

These must evidently have been the Chaldeans and Assyrians,

experts in the cultivation and employment of magic (See Maspero,
Civilization, p. 780),

who were

peace accompanied by his chief followers

1

Dawn of

THE GENESIS

27
c

among the Charanas, Yakshas, Kinnaras etc. Dhanada was

no mean king. He was the overlord of kings and his supreme
position

was recognised by the application

to

him

of the title

Rajaraja (i.e. King of Kings).

Dhruva's encounter with the Upadevas marks a stage
in the relationship between the Manavas and a section of

Devas, whose habitations at this period were in the

the

The Devas and Upadevas were

Himalayan regions/

essen-

occupants of elevated places on mountain sides and

tially

their valleys

and

the surname

it is

probably this feature that brought them

Divi&had

'

(seated in heavens)

which must have

been applied to them by the races living on the plains.

A word about the manvantaras may be skid herefirst

i.e.,

lasted

for

the

is

Svayambhuva-manvantara

71 yugas (Bhag. 3-21-36).

The

stated

to

The
have

expression

'

yuga

Instead
very vague significance in ancient literature.
of understanding by it the period of a few thousand years
is

of

the meaning attached to

The Manvan-

it

in later

11^1-^^
take
to

times

we

it
mean a generation
must reasonably
which sense it frequently denotes in the Bg*

Veda (Ved. Ind., Vol. I, p. 192). We may thus infer that

this
Manvantara was understood very much in the sense
But a
of an
for a period of seventy-one generations.
era
'

'

still

'

more probable

interpretation of the expression

'

'

'

would be

'

Basileus Basilikon and Sahanusahi which were

Shah-in-Shah of the modern Persian
the title
only the
monarchs. Is it possible that Basileus has some connection with B&hlika
frequently referred to in the Mahabharata ?
1

the titles
forerunners of

Compare

'

'

torial

'

'

The land of the Prajapatis also evidently lay in these regions. Terrinames connected with the names of some of them are still retained.

Dak t hoi,
sthala.

a vast valley in the Himalayan zone represents the ancient Dakshaof Kardam on the upper course of the river
Kauriala, a tributary of the Sarju (SarayvO and a few miles to the south of the
Manasarowar lake reminds us of the Prajapati Kardama who must have lived

in

The modern town

and owned these

parts.

THE CRADLE OP INDIAN HISTORY

28
the

that

Manvantara

of

for

lasted

Svayambhuva-Manu

'

'

Yugadi the
Year Day according to the Hindus, we have the clue to

seventy-one years only, for in the expression

New

the original significance of the expression

The

next

Manvantara

who

Svarochisha

is

stated

to

'

yuga

viz.,

a year.

have been that of

said to have been the son of

Agni (Bhag.
not by any
could
8-1-20).
Certainly seventy-one generations
means be traced or accommodated in the genealogical lists
is

even in the Purapas, after Svayambhuva-Manu and

The most reasonable and acceptable
before Svarochisha.

given,

explanation, here again,

would be

to take Svarochisha to be

the metronymic surname of Uttama, the son of Suruchi (or

the

Svaruchi)

favourite

queen of Uttanapada.

It

is

just

possible to assign a period of seventy-one years to the reigns

Svayambhuva Manu and his sons Priyavrata and Uttanapada after whom came to power Svarochisha in the absence of
Dhruva on penance.

of

The

third

Manvantara

said to be

that of

Uttama,
'the son of Priyavrata (Bhag. 8-1-24).
Priyavrata had three
sons named Uttama, Tamasa and Raivata by his second
queen. These were successively Manus and lords, therefore,
is

'

Manvantaras (Bhag. 8-1-28). Though the lord of the

second Manvantara was Uttama, the son of Suruchi (or

of

Svaruchi) to distinguish

him irom the

third

Manu, he appears

mentioned by his metronymic name Svarochisha.

fourth Manvantara was the Tamasa-manvantara

to have been

The

(Bhdg. 8-1-28). Tamasa

be the brother of Uttama

who gave
2

II.

the

name

Such proximity

and time between two successive founders

is

to

it is

said to

of relationship

of

Manvantaras

1
Even in certain inscriptions of the Vijayanagara period the king's reign
referred to as a Manvantara.

Uttama

was Uttama, the son of Uttanapada.

THE GENESIS

29
X

lends support to the view suggested above that a manvantara,

in

its

earliest
'

of

period

or reign of a

significance, did not cover

thousands

Manu.

'

of years but denoted only a generation

in

Very suggestively again

are

that

told

the

'

'

fifth

Tamasa (Bhag.

brother of

of

Chaksu.

in

the same work

Manu.

this

is

support of this inference

'

was

called

that

Manu was

only of the

made
was the
we find

with the statement

in variance

(4-13-15)

Chakshusha, the son

Chakshu himself

Accepting the latter statement as correct

that this

we

Manu was Raivata, the younger

The 'sixth Manu accord8-5-2).

ing to the (Bhagavata, 8-5-7)

But

any fabulously long

fifth

or sixth generation from

Dhruva, the step-brother of Uttama 1 to whom we have

above attributed the second Manvantara. Following the order
of the Manvantaras as given in the Bhagavata we find that
the line of succession was not always hereditary.

reasons

to

think

that

at

times at least

it

was

We

have

elective.

Kautilya notices that the Manu Vaivasvata was elected king

by the people (R. S. Sastry's Translation, Chapter III, p. 26).

Even

this selection or election

was often from the family

of the

previous Manu.

1
In the later stages we find the term Manvantara applied to a long period
covered by a number of reigns very much like our modern eras. Thus the
Chakshusha-Manvantara lasted from the reign of Chakshu to the time of
Daksha II, the ancestor of the Adityas one of whom was the Manu Vaivasvata.
Daksha II belonged to the eighth generation after Chakshu.

CHAPTER

III

MANU'S PROGENY

THE Manus

so

far

noticed

all

of

them

were descended

The genealogy from Svayambhuva

Vaivasvata Manu may be arranged as in the accom-

from Svayambhuva Manu.

Manu

to

panying

table.

With
kings,

the beginning of the Suryavams'a and the Somavarhs'a

leave behind us the period of the Prajapatis and

called in

the rulers of people were evidently

the earlier period.
This period was the patriarchal

we
Manus by which name

period of the history of the ancient Aryans, which was followed

1
by the period of the 'rajas' of the Suryavams'a and Soma-

vams'a whose descendants could well be traced through the

many centuries following, till we come to the so-called
'

historic

'

period which

commences with
the Nandas.

immediate predecessors

We

the Mauryas or their

now

turn to the progeny of Priyavrata I, son

of Svayambhuva-Manu.
Following very closely the accounts
of

shall

we have

given in the Bhagavatam

it

even

ascribe

to

it,

most

to associate

it

with or

of the expansion of the ancient

home, the Himalayan, the TransHimalayan and the Brahmavarta countries.

Before dwelling upon the history of this expansion we
shall briefly touch upon the period preceeding the one which
we have taken the Vedas to refer to i.e., the Aditya period.

.Hindus beyond

We
1

their earlier

'

have referred to this as also the patriarchal' period on

In a few cases the

i?fthu.

'

title

Svayambhuva Manu

'

is applied to earlier rulers also like

raja
described as a vipra-rajayshi.'
'

is

MANU'S PROGENY

by the Prajapati
was also the Manava period from the

account of the important position held

(lord of the subjects).

fact

It

31
in

was vested

that the sovereignty

Manu

The

it

in the

corresponded very much

of the later period while the

latter

to the king (raja)

very much resembled the spiritual guide, sovereign

adviser of the people.
Svayambhuva-Manu on the

'

prajapati

and

occasion

of

his

the

to

visit

Kardama

Prajapati

says that

mouth the Prajapatis who were

devoted to the study of the Vedas (Chhandas), to penance
(tapas), to knowledge (vidya) and tg meditation (yoga) (Bhag.
3-22-2), while the Manu himself was created by Brahma

Brahma

'

from

This

created from his

own

his
is

very

'

shoulders for their protection

much

the

like

of

story

(ibid.,

the

3-22-3).

creation of the

Brahman and Kshatriya given in the Purusha-Sukta. While

the Prajapati preserved the Brahman i.e., knowledge of the
kshatra
i.e., heorism
Supreme, the Manu preserved the
The Prajapati represented the heart or mind
(ibid., 3-22-4).
(hrdaya) of Brahma while the Manu represented the body
(anga) of Brahma (ibid., 3-22-3).
'

'

'

'

This distinction

is

and not

essentially functional

original

Svayambhuva-Manu himself was the son of Prajapati

(Brahma). The original and functional nature of Manu is
the

for

'

'

conveyed by the epithet vipra-rdjarshi applied to him (See

above p. 18). And what in its entirety was the nature of
the Manu's position at this period

He was

the protector of

good and the chastiser of the wicked*

(ibid., 3-21-50). He was an embodiment of the

the

Manu

Sun, the Moon, Agni,

1

the

Does

it

mean

'

svamukhajftit
2

Cf

'

by word of

his

Vayu, Yama, Dharma and the

'

dushta-nigraha

and

'

mouth or command
'

of the inscriptional period

'
.

Indra,

'

Something

'

vitfishja pratipalana

of Inscriptions.

like

THE CRADLE Op INDIAN HISTORY

32

His army was to guard and

protect the country and save it from the Dasyu depredations
which endangered the peaceful life of the people (ibid.,
Prachetasas

3-21-51).

(ibid.,

The

dignity of his position was marked by the

use of a ratha (chariot) as a vehicle (ibid). Thus, in all
3-21-52).

respects,

the

Manu was

the fore-runner of the later

Anga, the grandson of the

'

i.e.,

His son Vena

He was

ruler.

Anga

the

left

is

here evidently in the sense of

the king.

a Prajapati

people

Manu Chakshu,

who

is

wicked

so

in

city

styled a
his

in

disgust

'

'

raja

'

raja.'

referred to as

the lord of the

was a despicable

behaviour that

and renunciation.

is

father

He was

approached by the Munis with entreaties to be kind and just

in
his rule but he heeded them not.
He
Vena

devotion to Hari and any sacrifices

claimed divinity and divine honours himself.

denied

to

"

him.

He

all

"

the embodiment of all the

King was," he said,
"
and claimed by wide proclamation all sacrifices
Devas
their several gifts and offerings.
The
for himself with

The

Munis who were

sorely grieved by this perversity of regal

conception decided upon killing him and relieving humanity

for he delighted to a
of a tremendous pestilence like him
;

extent

diabolical

in

killing

quite innocent animals for no

more

children while they were playing.

The strong remonstrances of his father had no effect upon
him. So the Munis felt constrained much against their

purpose

will,

him.
1

and

but very

still

much

the interest of the people, to remove

in

So they cursed him and made him

The Rg-Veda (X -93-14)

lifeless

refers to a generous patron

by a common

named Vena.

In the

same passage are mentioned Prthavana and Par thy a. This Vena may have
The epithets or
to be taken as different from king Vena the father of Prthu.
Prthavana seem to suggest that he was a
and
Parthya
patronymics
descendant of Pythu. The king Prthu, as the son of Vena, was known to
'

the

E^VUa

'

'

'

(Ved. 2nd., Vol. II, pp. 325 to 330),

MANU'S PROGENY

From

33

body they evolved by some process of massage the Nishada, the ancestor of the Nishadas at first and then
a couple named Prthu and Archi.
The last two, who were

curse.

his

ams'as

considered

of

(aspects)

Narayana and

Lakshml, were married together.

Prthu was the' first king (adiraja)

human

the several kinds of

and towns.

The

because he founded

settlements (janapada), villages

He became the paramount sove-

performed 100 as'vamedhas at the spot

reign,

where the

his consort

river SarasvatI took its rise.

reign of

Prthu

is

momentous

as an epoch-making

As already stated
organise the people and distribute them

period in the ancient history of the Hindus.

he was the

to

first

into settlements like villages, towns,

with and overcame even the Suras

at the

homage

cities

(i.e.

fought
Devas) and received

hands of their lord Indra.

the country between the rivers

He

etc.

His capital lay

in

He was

Ganga and Yamuna/

a great devotee of Hari and coming after his atheistic father

Prahlada succeeding Hiranyakas'ipu.

He was naturally considered to be an amsa of Hari since
otherwise he could hardly have overpowered and received
presents a

parallel

Indra. His sacrifices were attended by

homage from

and learned men

of wise

several

names

like

of the age

'

'

raja
?

all

classes

who were known under

Devarshis, Brahmarshis, Pitrs

Here begins probably the steady and habitual application

sion

to

etc.,

upon

of the expres-

to the ruler.

the plains could not have existed in the time of

said to have been brought thither only by king Bhagiratha of
The reference to the river here must
th'e Suryavamsa of a much later period.
be taken to apply to the upper course of the river which was only in the
mountain parts. The river Yamuna is mentioned in the Rg-Veda (Macdonell
and Keith, Ved. Ind. Vol. II, p. 186). The capital of P$thu might have been
situated between the upper courses of the two rivers in which case the Puranic
writer must be understood to refer to the country with its geography as known
in his time.

The

river

Prthu since

it

Ganga on

is

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

34

whom

his unparalleled devotion to

Even

Hari made a great impres-

primeval Yogi Sanatkumara showed his

appreciation of Prthu's greatness and righteousness by visiting
him often and holding spiritual discourses with him. In old
sion.

the

age he entrusted his kingdom to the care of his sons and retired
to the forest for penance, accompanied by his wife Archi. His

days were spent on the slopes of the Mandara mountain.

When he died, his wife made the funeral pyre and burnt herself with him.
The Devas who inhabited the slopes of the

last

mountain were struck with the devotion

praised her greatly for

of the noble

queen and

it.

who became

Prthu was succeeded by his son Haryas'va,

the supreme king (adhiraja) while his younger brothers were

apppointed to rule over the dominions in the several quarters.

Haryas'va was appointed lord of the eastern
Dbumrakes'a got the south, while
territories.

Harvas'va

Vrika and Dravinas got the west and the north respectively.
Hafyas'va surnamed Vijitas'va, had obtained the power of
invisibility

(antardhana) from Indra

who gave

it

or taught

it

him when he recovered from him the lost sacrificial horse

of his father Prthu, because though he knew that Indra was
leading away the horse, he did not hurt him for the offence.
to

This gave him the surname or

title

Antardhana,

Through

his

queen S'ikhandinI, Haryas'va alias Vijitas'va alias Antardhana had three sons named Pavaka, Pavamana and S'uchi,
who had been previously three Agnis and were now born to
first

her through a curse.

Havirdhana was
vati.

Vijitas'va alias

his fourth son born to his

Antardhana had no love

queen Nabhas-

for power.

On

the other hand he hated the king's duties of collecting taxes

1

This

is

perhaps the

earliest instances.

earliest instance of sati, or at

any rate one of the

MANU'S PROGENY
So he devoted himself

and punishing people.

through

and on the pretext

of performing
-

he resigned his crown.

sacrifice

queen HavirdhanI,
mat,

Gaya, S'ukla,

mat

was

Havirdhana had

learned

the

master of the several yogas.

He

very

numbers and

in

so

entitled Prachi-

^^

of

Barhish-

rituals

performed sacrifices

and a
in

such

was
grass and on

places that the earth

with

sacrificial

accoun t he was given the

,-..,He
barhi.
1

nabarhi

...
Through his

sons, viz. Barhish-

six

science

many

widelj* covered

Barhishmat

an elaborate

Krshna, Satya and Jitavrata.

in

large

to the worship,

of the Yajna-purusha, the Hari of his age,

sacrifice,

Havirdhana

35

was passionately

title

Prachlna-

,,,...,
loved
,

by S'atad-

probably the daughter of a

Through her he had ten
sea-faring chief and married her.
sons.
They were known by a common name, Prachetasas.
ruti,

sea-girl,

They were
The Ten
Prachetasas

QJ

all

D h armaB

devoted to penance and study

retired

xhey
,. f

penance, early in

life.

^
On

to

the

their

forest for

way thither
who taught

they were met by Girls'a (i.e., Rudra or S'iva,

them the secret of the worship or the Lord of Penances
'

(Tapasaspati)
in

i.e.,

Hari.

They

spent

'

a very long period

meditating upon Him.

about thus.

Their meeting with S'iva came

As directed by their father the Prachetasas pro-

ceeded towards the west to find a suitable spot for penance.

When

they approached a lake on the borders of the Western

Sea, they were suddenly drawn by a strain of divine music

which was unlike anything they had heard. Immediately

after, they saw the great S'iva coming in front of them
accompanied by his followers. He accosted them and speaking
i
This king was probably distinct from the king of the name referred to
above in connection with the story of Daksha I. See p. 24 above. In this case
this king would be Prachinabarhi II.

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

36
in

appreciation of their righteousness offered to teach them

the praises that had to be sung in glory of

What

Hari.

known

has been

Bhagavatam

he taught them on this occasion

as the Rudra-Gita

which

is

given in the

(4-24).

Their father, after some time, gave up his crown and

retired

to

the

solitude,

as'rama thereby

Kapila's

elevation

of

to

seek

the

peace of

penance and the mercy of his

cherished god, Hari.

The Prachetasas remained long in penance at the end of
which Hari appeared before them and directed them to stop

penance and return to worldly life (as their ancestor

Dhruva did under his advice). He advised them to marry as

their

their

common

wife

the

girl

Marisha, the daughter of the

Rshi Kandu and the apsaras Pramlocha who had at Indra's

instance tempted the Rshi out of his penance and subsequently became his consort.
After the retirement of Prachlnabarhi, the father of the
Prachetasas,

the earth

became

desolate.

There was neglect

People had no proper rule or government. Even

everywhere.
the most elementary pursuits of life like cultivation had considerably ceased and forests grew where there
habitations.

The

Prachetasas, on their return to wordly

sought to destroy these by

fire.

advice,

And when from among

the

Marisha, as

girl

by the
their

forest-deities,

common

wife.

life,

But they desisted on proper

the trees emerged suddenly

she was offered to them as a tribute

if

they accepted her and married her as

The result of this marriage was the

birth of the Prajapati

ap

had been human

Daksha

II.

The

des-

cendants of Daksha through one of his daughters

were the Adityas who are the

the Vedic hymns. In Vedic literature,

viz.,

heroes mostly praised in

Aditi,

MANU'S PROGENY
the

later

Dakshayanas

37

appear as a race of princes, who,

because of performing a certain rite, prospered down to the

time of the Brahman itself (Macdonell and Keith, Ved. Ind.,
'

Vol.

I,

p. 349).

CHAPTER

IV

THE EXPANSION
Now

leturn to the story of the early Hindu expansion

the descendants of Priyavrata.
The genealogy of

to

under

Priyavrata and his successors

for the benefit of the student.

is

shovt n in the attached table

In

Priyavrata's reign which lasted for a pretty long time

the earth was disposed into seven islands separated by seven
Priyavrata and
the seven islands
of the Earth

S6aS

The

were called the Jambu,

Plaksha, S'almali, Kus'a, Krauncha, S'aka, and
Pushkara. Over these seven islands Priyavrata
*

islands

extended his authority and appointed his seven non-recluse

The

sons governors of these.

other three sons

viz.,

Mahavlra,

Savana and Kavi became ascetics even while in boyhood.

His daughter Orjasvati was given in marriage to Us'anas
and bore him a daughter named Devayani.
!

Us'anas, otherwise known as Kavya, being the son of Kavi. a son of

Bhygu and Khyati, is said to have been the guru of the Daityas and Asuras
whose abode was in the sea. The Greeks recognised a sea-deity called
Oceanus, one of whose daughters was Dione. There is a great likelihood of
the Greek 'Oceanus' having had his original in the Hindu Us'anas. Here,
however, may be given the genealogies respectively of Us'anas and Oceanus!
The latter is taken from Lempriere's Classical Dictionary.
1

Brahma
Svayambhuva Manu
Prajapati

Kardama

m.

Coelus or Uranus (Va*

m. Terra (Dhara)

runa)

Devahuti

Oceanus (Us'anas)

Khyati (Bhag. 3-24)

m.

Bhfgu

Kavi

Uyanas

(alias

Jbevayani

Sukra)

Dione

THE EXPANSION
Agnldhra, the

39

son of Priyavrata, at the bidding of

his father, reigned over the people of JambQdvipa.
He had

He

no son s.

,^

first

Agnlahra

to the
repaired
*

Mandara moun-

which was the pleasure resort of the

apsarases, the damsels among the DSvas. There he began
The latter knowing of this sent
to meditate upon Brahman,
tain

the apsaras Purvachitti

of the songstresses of

She was loved by the king and married him.

his court.

them

who was one

were

born

Harivarsha,

nine

Ilavrta,

named

sons

Ramyaka

(or

Kuru, Bhadras'va, and Ketumala.

Nabhi,

To

Kimpurusha,

Ramanaka), Hiranmaya,
These were subsequently

appointed rulers over the nine divisions of the JambQdvipa

which afterwards came to be called after them.

The younger
became

brother of Agnldhra

lord of the

varshas (provinces)

Idhmajihva we

of

Plakshadvlpa and divided

(Bhag.

Of

5-20-2).

speak later on.

his
sons married

shall

death
Idhmajihva

of

daughters
this

who were

name),

shtra,

Lata,

named Idhmajihva

Meru

into seven

it

these varshas and

After Agnidhra's
respectively
J
r

(evidently

chief

the
of

called MerudevI, Pratirupa, Ugradarh-

Ramya, S'yama, Nari, Bhadra and Devavlti.

Of the sons of Agnldhra, Nabhi, the eldest

He P ra y e(l and sacriYajna-purusha. He had the

^ acl no issue at
ficed

to

the

first -

Varshadhara, because he was lord of a

varsha.
Through the grace of Hari, he had a son named
Nabhi
Rshabha, who was considered an ariis'a of Hari.
Rshabha on the thorne and retired for
placed
r

surname or

title

Rshabha

penance

to

Vis'ala

panied by his queen MerudevI.

1

How

later on.

he

is

identical with

It

(Badankas'rama) accomis

stated

that as Indra

Ishmidagon of Assyrian history

will

be shown

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

40

was

(who

considered

be

to

the

lord

of

rain)

did

not

kingdom of Rshabha out of jealousy for his

greatness, Rshabha smiled at him in slight and created
which was called Ajanabha and which gave
his own rain
the

in

rain

name

was again re-named Bharatavarsha after Bharata (Bhag. 5-4-3,9 and 11-2-17) the son
of Rshabha, who was very famous and was an epoch-making
The epithet Arhattama
king of this early period of history.
the

to the country

till it

Yajna-purusha whose incarnation Rshabha was

believed to be, appears to have been transferred to Rshabha
to

applied

This

also.

fact

coupled with the application of the epithet

RshabhanStha suggests that the beginnings

In the Jaina records which trace their
here.

to the Jaina teacher

of Jainism
spiritual

lie

hierarchy,

Nabheya

Rshabha married the

by Indra(J3/mg. 5-4-8).
these Bharata was the
nine sons mostly

(son of Nabhi)

Jayanti,

girl

He

is

greatly praised.

who was

offered to

him

sons through her. Of

The other
eldest and most famous.

known

bore

many

to history

were Kus'avarta, Ilavarta,

Brahmavarta, Aryavarta, Malayaketu, Bhadrasena, Indrasprik,

Vidarbha and Kikata. They were lords of nine islands
(Bhag.

11-2-19).

Nine

cultivation of religion

devoted themselves to the

others

and a

life

of meditation.

These were

Prabuddha, Pippalayana, Havir(called also Dramila in Bhag. 11-2-21),

Antariksha,

Kavi,

Hari,

h5tra,

Dramidha

Chamasa and Karabhajana.

These became nude recluses

wandering over the earth realising within themselves that

this Universe with its good (sat) and evil (asat) was the body
of the god and that they were part of and not distinct from it

or from

him

ent in their

'

(Bhag. 11-2-22).
life

They were

and went about as

it

absolutely indiffer-

pleased them.

This appears to be only a later attempt to explain the

varsha connecting it with rain.
1

They

name Ajanabha-

THE EXPANSION

41

were srramanas and as such travelled through the countries of

the Suras, Siddhas, Sadhyas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Naras,
Kinnaras and Nagas, Being fully evolved souls, they had
easy access to the habitations of Munis, Charanas, Bhutanathas, Vidyad haras etc.
They visited once a satra (a kind
of

sacrifice)

performed by Nimi, the king of the Videha

Here, after the customary exchange of courtesies,

ensued a conversation on spiritual matters, which has ever
country.

since then been referred to as an authority in such matters.

spiritual dis-

course of

much

Kavi dilated upon and defined the true nature

of a

Bhagavata and the Bhagavaja Dharma

interest

(Bhag. 11-2-33 f). Antariksha defined the

nature and function of Maya through which the individual
self is lost in the meshes of the lower senses and thereby
renders

itself

subject to birth and death

own powers of selfhim, was an agent of God which

innate strength of the higher self and

Maya, according to

control.

not realising the

its

brought about the creation, existence and disolution of the

On

the question of overcoming the forces of this

Maya, Prabuddha, the younger brother of Antariksha, dwelt at
some length emphasising the transient nature of worldly pos-

Universe.

sessions

and advising on the wisdom

who could lead the individual

Brahman and to the grace of Hari.

of seeking a

to

the

proper guru
of the

realisation

Pippalayana dwelt on the

three primary qualities viz. Sattva, Rajas and

Tamas and

the

Narayana. Asked by
Nimi, what the effect of karma was, Havirhotra explained that
karma done by the individual without any exercise of control
original source of the Universe being in

on the senses and with blind

goal,

faith

will not take

him

to the

would be of use when done without attachthe senses and to the results of karma. In his opinion

but that

it

ment to
the Vedas were only a paroksha-vada
6

i.e.

leading utterance

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

42

and served only as vehicles

for the inculcation of the principles

good life just as honey serves as a coating for the medicines

He laid emphasis on the
to be administered to children.
importance of the tantra (method) in worshipping and realising the grace of Kes'ava i.e. Hari and the necessity of securof

ing

the

great

teacher

true

deeds

of

Hari,

On Nimi

enquiring as to
Dramila described to him the

(dcharya).

Nara and Narayana who were born

actions of

to

Dharma-

Prajapati through his wife Miirti, a daughter of the Prajapati

mentioning how Narayana put to shame the temptress of Ir\dra and the several actions of Hari in his Matsya,

Daksha

and other forms. The others viz. Chamasa and

Karabhajana expatiated on the origin and duties of the four
castes and the forms in which Hari was worshipped in the

Varaha

several periods.

The remaining
selves

sacrifices

to

became Brahmans.

eighty sons of

Rshabha devoted them-

and

of the

realisation

Brahman and

so

Rshabha, the religious man that he was, with his mind

ever directed towards God and attached to nothing on earth,

was

through strange countries. He

the Brahmavarta country.
There he visited

of a disposition to travel

to visit

happened

them on the way

to peace. He left this country also and continuing his random
travel passed through the Konkana country and the adjoining
the assembly of Brahmarshis and discoursed to

Vankapata,

Towards

his

mountain

Kutaka and the southern Karnajaka countries.

last days he remained in the forest near the Kutaka

living

the

most

indifferent

life

of an

avadhuta

This suggests a Kshatriya origin for Brahmans. And it has to be remembered that the Manu whose descendants they were was a r&jarshi. These
distinctions were only functional in their origin.
1

Of.

mostly

Kodagu and Kudagu, the native name

hilly.

for the

Coorg country which

is

THE EXPANSION

43

bearing loose, dishevelled and unbraided hair and eating stone,

very much like art imbecile without any cloth on his person.
Finally his body was
is

consumed by the

forest flames here.

It

the king of the Koraka

stated that in a subsequent age,

and Vahkapata countries named Arhat, learning of this sort

of life led by Rshabha and misunderstanding it, encouraged
people in an atheistic

life,

void of bath, cleanliness, ritual or

and given to condemnation

Brahmanas and Yajfia (sacrifice).

sacrifice

of the

Brahman, the

We

have seen above that the sons of Agnidhra, viz.,

Kimpurusha, Harivarsha Ilavrti, Ramyaka, Hirarimaya, Kuru,
Bhadras'va and Ketumala became lords of several countries

and gave

their

called so.

We

names

to these countries,

which were since

have also noticed that Bharata, the son and

successor of Rshabha gave his

name

to the ancient

Ajanabha

His
country which was called the Bharatavarsha after him.
younger brothers in their turn probably gave their names to
the several

divisions

of

land over which they ruled,

viz.,

Brahmavarta, Aryavarta, Maiayaketu

(the modern Malaya or Malabar country), Bhadrasena (the
modern Bassein ?), Indrasprik (Indore ?), Vidarbha'and Kikata.
Kus'avarta,

Ilavarta,"

1
This is evidently the Puranic explanation of the un-Brahmanic life of
certain religious sects of these countries led in vain imitations of Rshabha.

This land must be identical with Ilavrta mentioned above.

Vidarbha as a place-name occurs

in early

Vedic literature only

Jaiminlya Upanishad Brahmana (Ved. lnd. Vol.

t

The name Kikata appears

in the

II, p. 297).

as of a people in one passage of the

Rg-Veda

Yaska declares in his Nirukta (VI-32) that Kikaja was the name
(111-53-14).
The St. Petersburg Dictionary gives Kikata as a
of a non-Aryan country,
synonym of Magadha. This identification is doubted by Oldenburg and Hillebrandt. Weber thinks that the Kikatas were an Aryan tribe settled in the
Magadha country, but at variance with other Aryan tribes (Ved. Ind.
Vol. I. p. 159). Weber's theory that they were Aryans gets support from
the statement of the Bhagavata that Kikata was a descendant of Agnidhra.
It is also possible that the country of which Kikata became lord and to which
he gave his name was originally a country of non-Aryan tribes and this fact
t

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTOkY

44

covered most of the northern part of India

which would roughly correspond to the later Uttarapatha

These

territories

'

and the sons of Rshabha may be considered to have established Aryan dominion and influence throughout that part of
the country.

We
Hindus

have above referred to the expansion of the early

in the time of Priyavrata's sons and grandsons.

Outer Expansion

brother became,
Priyavrata's
'

it

is

said, lord,
.

Plakshadvipa. At this period, the

Puranas say, there were seven recognised islands into which
the entire surface of the globe was divided.
of

the

These

were

the

Jambu, Plaksha, S'almali,

Kus'a, Krauncha, S'aka and Pushkara dvipas

(Bhag. 5-1-31).

The Jambudvlpa was

the main

home

of the early

Hindus

from which as the centre they viewed the entire earth. It

was recognised also under its nine divisions called varsh&s which
were
called
ijaka)

The

Ilavrta,

Harivarsha, Kimpurasha,

A janabha),

Bharata

(anciently

Bhadras'va, Ketumala, Kuru, Ramyaka (Rama-

and Hiraijmaya.

Of these the

chief centre

in

Ilavrta

was again the

which was situated the Mount

Ilavyta

Meru, the home of the early Devas. We -can

easily locate this varsha as we are told that 'its southern

boundary partly included the Himalayan range. It must

have at one time covered the entire country between the
might have accounted for Yaska's description of it as a non- Aryan country
Weber's theory drawn in the light of later spread of Buddhism does not
sound convincing. We have reasons to think that the inhabitants of the
country ruled by Kikata were non-Aryan for they appear along with other
Prof. Macdonell thinks that the
aboriginal tribes (Ved. lnd. Vol. I, p. 358).
name Pramagapda of the king of the Kikatas mentioned in the; Rg-Veda
The Magadhas are of little
(111-53, 14) is un-Aryan (Ved. /n<f., Vol. 11-38).
repute in the Vedic literature since they were not really Brahamanised.
The Kikafas, who were perhaps the prototype of Magadhas according to
Prof. Macdonell, must have been an adjoining tribe to the Magadhas akin to
them in social and religious life,
.

'

'

THE EXPANSION
modern

Altai

The name
modern

mountains and the Thian Shan mountains.

the country appears to be preserved in the

river Hi which rises in the Dzungaria range and after
of

taking a westerly direction

Balkhash and

tary of this river

into

falls

name

the

in

The name Vernoe

river.

45

the lake

of

Balk or

town Hi or Kulja on this

a town on the banks of a tribu-

of the

of

and lying

to the west of the said

town Hi

probably retains the original association of the place with

Varuna who as a lokapala occupied the western part of the

Deva country.
tain which was

In

Meru mounHindu purapic

the western direction of the

the meridian for the early

geographer was the town of Varuna called Nimlochani as the

Aindrlpuri (the city of Indra) the capifal of the
Nimlochani

Devas was

identified with

Nimlochani

Nimrod

to the east of

is

Nimrod named
as

(Bhdg. 5-21-6

it

f).

evidently

the

Assyrian town

Nimrod. Nimrod,
But
but a deserted village.

after the king

given in maps now, is

the early and veteran Assyriologist Layard discovered several
monuments here of a very early period. SamyamanI, the
is

it

town
Samyamani

Yama, which

of

is

stated to have been

situated in the southern direction of this

identified with

onmiyam

^.^ must ^ e

id en tifi e(j

w ith

moun-

the modern town

Sonmiyani, on the coast of the Sonmian bay in the Arabian

Sea and a few miles to the north-west of Karachi (Ind. Emp.
Plate 36

Gaz., Atlas,
Atlas,

Map

and Keith Johnston's Royal General

31).

The Puranic geographer

says that round about the

Meru

mountain were several offshoots of mountains

M^Sified

like

the hollen round the P istil of the lotus

These were the Kuranga, Kurakara, Kusumba,

Vaikamkata, Trikuta, S'is'ira, Patahka Ruchaka, Nishadha,
1

The name

Altai itself

might carry the original association with

IlSvyta.

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

46

Vaidurya and Charuvihahga* These

S'itivasa, Kapila, S'ankha,

may

respectively

be

with

identified

the

modern Kuenlen,

Karakoram, Hindu-Rush, Vitim, Irkutsk, Teitsihar, Peling,

some mountain that gave the country of Russia its name,

Thian Shan, Stanavoi, Yahlanoi, Khingan, Verkhoianok and

Kamachatka ranges which, roughly speaking, cover the moun1

This should
systems of the northern part of Asia.
suggest to us that the Puranic geographical outlook and assotain

ciations reached upto the northern shores of the Asiatic con-

and very near the Arctic regions.

able from the fact that the Mahabharata
tinent,

of a

Brahman! named

S'andili

This

not improbrefers to a settlement

is

on the mountain called Rshabha

on the borders of the northern

sea.

This must have been

one of the few settlements near the Arctic regions known at

These settlements
the time to which the epic here refers.,
further

go to suggest that the early Devas,

earliest

Devas, did

in

live,

if

not the very

the Arctic regions as propounded

by the great scholar B.G. Tilak, for which theory we have a

strong evidence in the immemorial tradition that the Deva

day and night lasted

ment

for six

months each.

The Deva

settle-

the Ilavrta must have been a later stage in their

in

down from the

The nearest and

a stage in which they had moved

Arctic regions southward into Central Asia.

history,

immediate offshoots of the Meru mountain were the Mandara

on the

east,

west and

Meru-Mandara on the

Kumuda on

the north.

Supars'va on the
four main forests on

south,

The

the offshoots on the four sides respectively were the

forest
1

It

of the
is

Devas on the

which was dear

east,

suggested here that the earlier

name Ajanabba

might have been the original of the modern name

'

Nandana

to their king,

of the Bharatavarsha
applied to the con-

Asia

'

tinent.
2

See Udyoga-Parva, 111-27 112-22 113-1.

This is different from the Mandaragiri hills in the Bhagalpur
Bengal (Imp. Gaz., Atlas. 29, C-2)
;

district of

THE EXPANSION
Indra,

and near which

47

lay his capital

city

Amaravati

the

Chaitraratha forest on the south which was the favourite resort

>

of

Yama

to

Kubera.

the Vaibhrajaka forest on the west, favourite to

Varupa, and the Vis'vatobhadra forest on the north favourite
;

The

Meru

central point of the

of Indra

Brahma

city of

and other

called

Manovati was at the

region round which were the cities

lords.

It is

not improbable that though

these lords had their respective cities in their

removed

far

fjrom

the

all

territories

the Meru, they had their favourite settle-

ments on the Meru or

centre where

own

Meru

in the

Deva

regions since

lords could

it

was the

and should gather

for

It is more probable
pleasure or for purpose.
that ^ ere were tJle first settlements of the loka-

palas, the lords among the Devas from which

they should have moved on to distant places in course of time
It is posas a result of migration or in a spirit of conquest.

days of occupation of the Meru regions

the Devas constituted themselves into eight sections under

sible that in their early

whom

the chief or major lords were Indra,

Varuna, and Kubera while the minor loids or chiefs

lords

eight

Yama,

were Agni,

of

Nirrti,

Vayu and

Is'ana,

with their cities occupying

This
the several directions or quarters of the Meru region.
to the several directions
explains also the appellations given
after their names viz. Indra-dik, Agni-dik, Yama-dik, etc.
Their

cities at 'this early period

mentioned below:

The

city

appear to have been called as

Manovati, which belonged to

the chief adviser of the Devas and their lords occupied as stated above the central spot in the Meru region. Among

Brahma

the rest, Amaravati on the east belonged to Indra, TejovatI

where they lived
and
Yakshas
Gandharvas
served them
pleasure*
and contributed to their amusement by their sweet songs and fine dances.
1

These

amidst

all

forests contained

habitations of the Devas,

The Upadeva$

like

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

48

on

the

south

south-east

Sarhyamanl on the
Yarna, Krishnangana on the south-west
S'raddhavatI on the west belonged to
belonged to Agni,

belonged to

belonged to Nirrti,

Varuna, Gandhavati on the north-west belonged to Vayu,

Mahodaya on the north belonged to Kubera, and Yas'ovati on

Bhava is
stated to have been worshipping Vishnu under
t fo e
name Sankarshana. Bhava must have
In

the north-east belonged to Isana.

Sankarshana

the Ilavrta,

in

worshipped

keen

Ilavrta

* or(i

t"e

country to the east of the

Mandara mountain
Arunoda took

its rise

the Lavanarnva.

which the

in

river called

and flowing eastward empties

itself

into

In the Bhadras'va-varsha." the lord of the

country, viz.,

Bhadras'rava and his subjects worshipped the

J
Hayagnva form of Vishnu. In the Hari-

Hayagriva wor-

varsha,

shippd in Bhadms'va-varsha

which
.

was

form.

the
XT

Narasimha
in

Tiarivarsha

south
,_,,

of

Ilavrta
'

."

it

In the Ketumala country which

worshipped

by the Nisnadna mountains,

worshipped in the Narasimha

separated from

Vishnu

lay to
.

was situated

to the

west of the Ilavrta separated from it by the

4
mountain, Hari was worshipped
Malayavat
_,
T ._
under the name Kamadeva.
The country
.

Ketumala was probably called

after the tribe

1
The city Samyamani referred to on p. 45 above must be taken to be a later
settlement of Yama as a result of the expansion of the Devas under him or his
*
successors to the borders of the Arabian Sea.

This

may now be

preserved in the

name Lhassa.

Vishnu assumed this form when the Asura S'ankha took away the Vedas,
to chase him and recover them.
Taking away the Vedas was probably some
of the Tablets of Destiny referred to
the
to
away
carrying
analogous
thing
in Assyrian history (Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, p. 666 f.)
This is the earlier known Malayavat mountain after which was named
one of the hills near the modern Hampi. The latter was known at the time
of Valmiki, who mentions it in connection with the Pampa-Saras.
Similarly
the hill near Bezwada has been called, from the early centuries of the
3

'

'

Christian Era, the Indrakila after a hill of the same name in the Himalayan
region where Arjuna, according to the Mahfrbharata made penance to
from him*
propitiate S'iva and obtain weapons

THE EXPANSION
which

in historical

times was called Hittites

under the name

Kamadeva

ancj as

worshipped in

Rhati

'

'

Khetas

'

who were known

the Egyptians
to the Assyrians.
The lands
to

Khatti corresponding to modern Syria

lay to the north-west of modern Arabia which
have to be identified with the Puranic Harivarsha.
It
e

'

Ketumaia

may

49

'

appears also possible that the name Khatti

{s
the colloquial aad so a prakrit from Ksha-

Ketumgla same

as the Hittite

shall

mentioned

in

to both the countries.

now proceed
the

We

identification.

name Jammu

the

_,.

Assyriya was adjoining the Hittite

lands and the worship could possibly have

common

We

tnya.

country

been

'

with the several dvipas

Puranas and make an attempt at their
to deal

have above referred to the possibility of

Jamba,'

Kashmir

preserving the ancient

But there are good reasons to con-

near

'

island-name

clude that the Jambu-dvipa covered a larger tract than the

modern Jammu. The second name of the river Brahmaputra,

Sanpo or Tsanpo and the names of many other streams

the Trans- Himalayan regions ending in Tsanpo lead to

viz.,

in

the conclusion that the original

name Jambu

modern form and that the Jambu-dvipa had

country covered by these streams.

It

is

survives in this
its

centre in the

also said that

two

Ragozin's Assyria, pp. 212-217.

Macdonell and Keith note the usage in the Jatakas of the form Khattiya
for Kshatriya (Vcd. lnd. Vol. I, pp. 202 and 203).
8
The Mah&bharata (Bhi.-6-31) states that this lay to the west of the
Meru mountain. The same work (Sa. 29-39) places the GandbamSdana
This is contrary to
mountain between the Ilavrta and Ketumaia varshas.
'

'

'

'

Bh&gavata location of it to the east of IlSvfta and to the location of

Meru between the Malayavan and the Gandhamadana mountains made in the
Bhishmaparva (6-10) which would correspond to the Bhdgavata location
The country of the Nagas lay in the Bharata period between the
again.
IlSlvrta on the east and the Gandhamadana mountain on the west.
The
the

province called Nagais immediately to the north of the Caucasus suggests

the possibility of the ancient Naga settlement having reached the TransCaucasian lands.

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

50

islands lying in the vicinity of this dvlpa were destroyed by

the sons of king Sagara, who dug up the entire earth in

quest of the sacrificial horse and that some fresh islands

were formed

their places

in

(Bhag. 5-9-27).

These were

names Svarnaprastha, Chandras'ukla, Avartana,

Hamanaka, Mandeharuna, Panchajanya, Simhala and Lanka

known by
(ibid.,

the

5-9-28).

The

Plaksha-dvlpa, according to the Bhagavata, lay in

the Lavanasamudra

The

(i.e.,

Here was the Agra

Salt sea).

called

(Aryan or Puranic) lord of the country

was Idhmajihva, the second son of Priyavrata. He divided
These
into seven varshas named after his seven sons.
it

Hiranmaya.

were

first

S'iva,

Plakshadvipa

mountams,

maka,

Subhadra, S'anta, Kshema or KsheAbhaya, and Amrta. The mountains

island were Manikuta, Vajrakuta,

Indraj

Yas'asya,

its

etc.

>

>

sena,

Dhumravarna, Hiranyathereof were Aruna, Srmana

Jyotishman,

griva and Meghamala.

The

rivers

The

Suprabhata, Rtambhara and Satyambhara.

people of the island were composed of four castes,

viz.,

Hamsa,

Anglrasi,

SavitrT,

Gordharayana and Satyanga. These

2
the Sun.
This island name is evidently

Patariga,

were worshippers of

preserved in the modern country name Persia, and in fact

must have covered a much wider tract than
Plakshadvipa
identified with

modern

Persia.

It

should have included also

boundary must have been

This
originally a sea called Lavana-samudra (or Lavanoda).
Arabia.

now

Its eastern

be identified with the territory occupied by the Salt

Steppe and the Salt Desert extending from the foot of the hills
on the south-eastern shores of the Caspian Sea in the north to
is

to

The god Khemosh celebrated by the Assyrian king Mesa (Mesha ?) in

Nimrod might represent the purapic Keshema or Kshemaka.

his stele found at

2

Cf Ragozin's Vedic India, pp. 212-217.

.

THE EXPANSION

51

the northern confines of Yezd in Persia on the south and from

the east of Ajemi in the same country to the western borders

This vast expanse

of Afghanistan.

which name
Sanskrit
the

called

Khorasan

name Ksharasamudra (Lavana-samudra) which

in

Prakrit would assume the form Kharasamudra

later shifts take the

sea that

now

very probably a corruption of the original

is

first shift in

an3 by

is

form Kharasan or Khorasan.

must have thus connected the modern Gulf

The

of

Oman

with the Caspian Sea must have also separated the Plakshadvipa from the Jambu-dvipa forming the eastern boundary
of

the former.

The northern boundary

of this dvlpa should

have also been a sea consisting of the modern Black Sea, the
Sea of Azov, the sea that must have existed in the tract now
lying between

the latter and the Caspian Sea, which tract

is

now only a low

country studded with salt marshes broken here

and there by a few hills which are characteristically called
sand hills.' This extinct sea must have touched the modern
*

Stavrapol on the north side and included within its bed the
modern provinces of south Russia, the Cossacks of the Black

nomads and Astrakhan. The Sea of

Marmora, the Black and the Mediterranean Seas which are
connected by it and the Red Sea must have all formed together
the north-west and western boundaries of this huge island while
the Arabian Sea was the southern boundary of the island.
Sea,

the

Kalmuck

The Bhagavata

(5-20), as already

mentioned

refers to

the colonization of this island by king Idhmajihva, the second

son of Priyavrata. From the history of Assyria

which was part

of this ancient island

we

learn

known king of the country

The name by a few phonetic

that the earliest

was
1

called

noticeable even
*

Ishmi-Dagon.*
'

'

in Prakrit in place of the classical Sanskrit

in Indian dialects like the Bengali and the Uriya.

The appearance

of

Ragozin, Assyria,

p. 2.

'

'

is

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

52

changes

may

The
The name

be traced to Ic^hmajihva or Idhmadahana.

son of this Assyrian king was Shamash-Raman.

suggests a possibility of identification with the

Puranic name, Kshema, of the son of king

ShSTash

Idhmajihva
tween the two
able

identity

sets of

(ibid.,

names

is

though the time

parallel be-

very suggestive of a prob(1800 B.C.) allotted to the

monarch might appear too

Assyrian

The

5-20-3).

late

for

the Puranic

king.

The Plaksha
of seven

Bhagavata consisted
varshas which were called S'iva,

island according to the

countries

(called

Of

Yas'asya, Subhadra, S'anta etc., as already noticed).

these

the S'iva-varsha evidently coincided partly or wholly with the

1
modern province of Sivas watered by the river Kizil Irman in
Asiatic Turkey.

The modern

province of Yezd in Persia

would correspond to the Puranic Yas^asya-

name Ea of one of the Assyrian

gods we may have a relic of the name
In the

vfcrsha.

triad of

of the king Yas'asya, the founder of the varsha.

Of the nftmes
ably

retained

in

of the other varshas

the

modern Kabarda.

have included within

SubhadraV

?Sbarda

its

'

Subhadra

is

prob-

This varsha must

boundaries the entire

country lying to the north of the Caucasus

range and to the south of the ancient sea
that

and the Caspian Sea.

must have connected the sea

of

Azov

The Kshema-varsha must have covered

1
Profs. Macdonell and Keith in Ved. Ind. (Vol. II, p. 313) refer to a tribe
called the S'ivas as lying to the north-west of the Vedic-country.
They refer to
another tribe called Vishapins whose helmets were horn-shaped or ornamented
with horns. The latter is more probable for we have in ancient paintings
the representation of the Kushite on p. 489 of
representations of these, See
of Civilization. See also the representations of the Assyrian
Maspero's
Ramraan on p. 663 (ibid.) and of Nebo on p. 671 (ibid.). It is interesting

Dawn

god

some of the Indian paintings represent S'iva with a pair of

horns ornamenting his head-gear, very much like that of Nebo.

to observe that

THE EXPANSION
the

Trans-Caucasia

entire

retained

Ksh

S ha:

in
viz.,

difficult to

Abhaya

Arabia

that

of

The

name is
province Shemakha

maps.
the

of

Abhaya is probably preThe

the modern name 'Arabia.
S'anta and Amrta are somewhat
It is
trace in modern geography.
1

served

two varshas,

the

name

while the

S?emSh a
other

in

of

53

not improbable that

modern Armenia.'

Amrta

is

the

same as the

'

Of the seven mountains

of

this

dvlpa

viz.,

Maijikuta,

Indrasena, Jyotishman, Dhumravarna, Hirariyagriva and Meghamala, the first, fifth and seventh may be
identified respectively with the modern Manisht mountains,
Va'jrakuta,

within a few miles to the east of Baghdad, the

Dhumanlu

mountains, an offshoot of the Taurus range and the Merkhunclj

mountains on the northern frontiers of Laristan, a province of
modern Persia. The Andish range which is an offshoot of the

Elburg range

may

be the Puranic Indrasena.

mountain may have

to

be identified with the

modern Bazargotcha range

tazaratcha

The Vajrakuta

to the south of the

province of Shemakha.
have to be identified with the

.Sevanga lake in the

The mountain

of

Jyotishman may

modern Arjish range

Turkey

The

in Asia.

the south of Rumeli, a province of

in

rivers

Orentes

in

modern

Syria, Sanga-

rius

in

and Euphrates may be taken to

Puranic Aru^a, Angirasi, Satyambhara and

Anatolia, Tigris

represent

the

Suprabhata respectively.
of the Tigris,

The name
also in the
1

river Zab,

must be the same as the

which

is

a tributary

Puraiiic river Savitrl.

of the Puranic river Srmaija is probably preserved

modern town-name Smyrna

Cf The name
.

The

of

Amesia on the banks

in

of the river

Anatolia and

it is

Irmak.

The river Tigris is known by the local name Shatt-El-Amara, which must
be a mutilated form of the PurSpic name Satyambhara.
2

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

54

not improbable that the river Sarabat on which the town

stands was anciently called Srmana.

Beyond the Plaksha-dvipa which, according

to'

the above

suggested identification, ends on the west with Asiatic Turkey

and Arabia lay the S'almali-dvipa separated from it by the
know that in Classical geography the
Ikshu-samudra.

We

sea Euxinus Pontus

'

modern Mingralia,
But it is
the Black Sea.

Colchis
called

the

i.e.

between Asia and

It lay

the north of Asia minor and to the west of

to

Europe partly

'

referred to.

is

in

Asia Minor.

It is

now

possible that the whole of

the watered area to the west of Asia Minor

Ikshu-Samudra
Euxinus Pontus

11.
this

was known by
i

Even the name

name.

applied to a part of the

Sea might be a corruption of the original Puranic

Aegean

name

Sanskrit

'

^| arc

Ikshu.'

j car i urn

The Puranic Ikshurasoda must have

embraced the modern Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the

Red

Sea.

was the S'almali-dvlpa ? It was the northern

and north-eastern part of the modern continent of Africa. The

What,

then,

Puranic name S'almali

dTfp^sSSal'i

slightly modified

name

the

This island,

Asia.

The

entire part of

now

preserved in a

evidently popular

of Somali

form

the Purapas.
.

It

in

the province nearest to

surrounded

by the Suroda.
the African continent covered by the Sahara
it

is

said, is

and Soudan must have been the Suroda referred to

desert

is

is

to determine

difficult

in

which of the two

Cf Lempriere's Classical Dictionary,

.

Ikku or Ikhu

Note also the names of places like Salmi and

is

a possible corruption of the original Ikshu,

1 Solimanish

in the

Nubian

desert.
4

The

boundary
the sequel.

'

'

must be understood to refer to the

expression
surrounding
on the farther side of the island in this and allied statements in

THE EXPANSION
*

names

modern

Sahara

'

and

original Suroda.

SU

aS

ra

so?dan

'

Soudan

But

it

'

comes from the

possible that both

is

have come from this name thou g h b y different

phonetical transitions.

The

ancient varshas of

which were founded by Yajnabahu, the third son

of Priyavrata and named after his seven sons

this island

SUr

55

na
suro

whom

he appointed to govern over them were,

Surochana, Saumanasya, Ramanaka, Deva-

Apyayana and Abhijnata. Of these Surochana might be represented by the modern Suro,
a p rov ince of Africa to the west of the modern

barha, Paribhara,
Saumanasya

Saumanasya was probably the country round about the modern Assonan of Sonan (Syena) near
the first cataract of the Nile. The RamanakaRamaijaka:
varsha must have embraced the north-western
Kihmana
part of Africa covered by modern Morocco.
Somali.

The name
D

a:

Thebaid
*

called

is,

in all liklihood, preserved in the

modern name

Rihmana, a province of Morocco. Devabarha

would then c rres P nd to the modern Said or
upper Egypt, which was in ancient times
which should be taken to be a corruption of
the Sanskrit Devabarha. Paribarha is preserved

Thebaid

'

l^e

class ^ ca ^ n &me

Barbari applied to the

Propria of
province of Libya. The name
the country in which ancient Carthage lay is also probably to
The
be traced to the Puranic Paribarha.
'

'

'

Puranic varsha Apyayana must be identified

with the modern Abyssinia which lies immediately to the north-west of Somali. The last and seventh
varsha Abhijnata must have been the country
AbhjjSata
,
,
AI,,
watered by the modern river Abai, one of the
,

tributaries of the Nile.

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

56

Of the

rivers of the island

w*. Ammati, Simvali, Sarasf

Kuhu, Rajani, Nanda, and Raka, the

vati,

The rivers of

may have

first

to

be identified with the (Bahr El) Abiad which

the

S'aimali-dvipa

is

identi ed

name

White Nile. Simvali

have been the name of that part of the

the native

g ht

of the

This stream

Nile which flowed in the Saumanasya-varsha.

must have given the name to the town Syene which is applied
The now-dried-up and
to El Sonan as remarked above.
ancient river Sobat watering the country to the south-west of

Limmu and SeBu

to

the south of Abyssinia must be the

Howash watering the country

lying between Limmu and Somali may be provisionally identiOne of the chief tributaries of the river
fied with Kuhu.
The

Puranic Sarasvatl.

Cache

may be the same as the Puranic

Nanda we have probably to look in the
Africa where now exists a river called

Ratchin which

is

For the

Rajani.

river

river

north-western part of

The

Barca which waters the country to the southOf

east of Nubia might be identical with the Puranic Raka.

Nun.

river

the mountains of this island mentioned in the PurSnas

viz.,

Vamadeva, Kumuda, Mukunda, Pushpavarsha and S'atasruti (or S'atas'rnga), very

J

Svarasa, S'atasrnga,

'

The Mountains

few

now.
appear possible
Svarasa might be the same as the modern Ras

of the S'simali-

vipa

of

identification

which has a height of about 15,000' feet in the disThe mountains of Semada and
of Samen in Abyssinia.

(Detcher)
trict

Yekandach

might

represent

the

ancient

Vamadeva and

Mukunda.

The
*

island

is

said to have been the residence of Garuda,

We

the king of birds/

characteristic

been
1

taken
Maspero,

emblem
from

know

of the hawk,

Somali

(the

Dawn of Civilization,

Egypt had the

This emblem must have

that southern
1

ancient

p. 262.

S'almali).

The

THE EXPANSION
hawk-headed Egyptian-deity Horus

is

57
well nigh the Indian

'

Garucja.'

The

Kus'a-dvipa which is said to have been situated

beyond the SurSda and girt (on its farther side) by the Ghrtoda
must be identified with the country and archiThe Kus'a-dvipa
,
pelago near the classical island of Cos which

,,.,.,

The latter
name Kus'a.

bore also the surname Coos in ancient geography.

name evidently owes its origin to the Sanskrit

The Puranic
Greece

of

Kus'a-dvipa must have included the entire region

and the sorrounding countries. Of the seven

varshas into which the island was divided

viz.,

Vasudana,

Drdharuchi, Nabhi, Gupta, Satyavrata, Vipra and Vamadeva,

The province
a few at least seem possible of identification.

Macedonia might have been the ancient

Vasudeva and the classical Thracia, the ancient
of

The seven
varshas of Kus'avipa

Drdharuchi.

The

classical

Naupaetia may
The country round the

be identified with the Nabhi-varsha.

lake Topolias, anciently called Copias

was probably the Gupta-

varsha while the Puranic Satyavarsha may have to be identified

The
with Sparta and the adjoining countrj of Kalavryta.
Puranic Vipravarsha was very probably the classical Epirus.
r

We

that the classical Thessalia

learn

surname

Aemathia

in

Classical

was

literature

also

known by

and

the

seems as

it

though we have to trace the surname to the Puranic name

Vamadeva.

Of the mountains
Chitrakuta,

Kapila,

of this island viz.,

Devanika,

Babhru, Chatu^STriga,

Drdhvaroma and Dravina,

V
probable that the name Greece which in Classical geography is
Graecia, has come from the original Ghrta. The Ghytoda must have been the
sea sorrounding the island of Crete which in Classical literature is called Creta
1

It

is

or Krita.
'

'

'

The name Turkey with u pronounced as in put and k

'ch as in many classical words may be traced from Drdharuchi.
**
'

'

replaced by

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

58

Babhru might be

^
The ^
Mountains

identified with the

to the west of

of theKus'a-

of

Gabrovo lying

Pindus range.

was probably the

The

Chatus'-

Othrys which
the eastern continuation of the Pindus range.

s'rnga
is

mount

The Kapila mountain was

classical

the same as the mountain Kovveli

Copias referred to above. The Classical

Delphi might be the Puranic Devanlka and the mountain near
Vardholomic in the province of ancient Achaea and modern
to the west of the lake

Elis identified with the

Urdhvaroma

Dravina mountain of the Puranas

Dias Arna

in

Of the

is

of the Puranas.

The

very likely the mountain

Naupalia.
rivers of this island

mentioned

in the

Bhagavata
viz.. Rasakulyai, Madhukulya, S'rutavinda, Mitravinda, Devanot
garbhS, Ghrtachyuta and Mantramala,
Rivers of Kus'advipa
more than two or three are easily identifiable.

The

Vrysia in modern Thessaly may be identified

with the Rasakulya, the Saranda Potamos in Arcadia, with
river

the

Davia, a tributary of the river Rhouphia,

with the the Devagarbha and the Akrat which falls into the
S'rutavinda,

Gulf of Corinth with the Ghrtachyuta. The name of the

river Mantramala seems now to be preserved in the
place-

name Mandra

The

now falls
into the Bay of Eleusis must have been known
by the name
Mantramala. We have ho reference to any prince named
But the name Aeneas
Hiranyaretas in Classical literature.
which figures in it may be a. phonetical descendant of the
in

Megara.

small river which

original Puranic Hiranyaretas.

The

farther

boundary of the Kus'a-dvlpa is said to have

been the Dadhimanthoda. We have no sea of that name
referred to in Classical literature or geography. But it
appears
as if the name of this ancient sea is preserved in the modern

country-name Dalmatia.

This country

lies

on the eastern

THE EXPANSION
shores of the Adriatic sea and

modernthoda- Dairn"ti

suggested above

Bosnia,

the same as the Classical Euxine and as

is

same

the

The name Tyrrhenian

original

The
belt

spreads eastward over the

Servia and the low-lying

P ro y i n ces of Walachia and Silistria joining its

eastern arms with the western parts of the

Black Sea, which

'

59

Dadhi.

sea

Puranic

Ikshu-samudra.

may have been

derived from the

as

the

'

the north of this low-lying

to

entire country lying

and extending towards the north and

identified
U

dv*

^^ e m

must be

east

the Puranic Krauncha-dvlpa,

with

'

Kherson
and
province-name
the place-name Kronstadt may be considered
dern

to contain reminiscences of the original

The seven varshas

which

into

Krauncha

this

island

'J

was divided

were Amoda, Madhuvaha, Mehaprishtha, Sudama, Rshijya.

Lohitarna and Vanaspati. Of these Madhuvarshasof the
^KrauScha-dvipa

half

of

the

vaha may be identified with Mpldavia

^^

Megha-

with p russ a w hich preserves the latter

Sudama with Sweden (and
Puranic name
i

Norway) and Rshijya with the classical Raetia which very

probably -was the origin of the modern name Russia. Lohitarna

was evidently the modern Lithuania where even today the

language of the people
Vanaspati-varsha

may

modern province

the

is

of

2
very closely allied to Sanskrit.

The

be considered to have extended over

Banat

in Austria,

Roughly speaking,

the Krauncha-dvipa must have occupied the major part of the

modern Europe excluding the extreme northern, north-eastern

and south-western portions

of

the continent, which latter at

the period of the Puraijic references probably lay under the

1

mount Konzu
December
1921,
The Modern Review,

Of. Also the

name

of the

in the eastern
p. 709,

Carpathian range,

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

60

Dadhirrfanthoda.

Mediterranean

'

may

It

does not occur in

the

Classics

sometimes called internum nostrum or medius

*

'

be remarked here that the

;

word

but

it

is

The

liquor.

'

must have certainly been based upon

ferthe Puranic name (Dadhi)^mantha which signifies a

latter

epithet

liquor

'

mented liquor/
The mountains

of

this island

were seven and they were

Vardhamana, Bhojana. Upabarhana, Ananda,

Nandana and Sarvatobhadra. The S'ukla mountain may be

called

S'ukla,

identified

'

Mount Blanc

the highest point

'

'

which expression significantly means white

The Vardhamana and the Sarvatobhadra also

the

in

'

with the modern

Alps,

S'ukla).

seem possible

of

identification.

The

Valdai

hills in

the pro-

be the Puranic Vardhamana range,

and the Carpathian mountains (with the s sound attached
to c
as we have to do in very many Classical and European
vince of Novgrod

may

'

'

names and words

The mountains
oftheKraufichadvipa

to

see

their affinity

to

Sanskrit)

would

suggest theii identity with the Puranic Sarva3

lobhadra.
The name of the Puranic Bhojana*

mountains may be taken to be preserved

modern province

of Bosnia.

The Pyrenees range may

in the

easily

be identified with the Upabarhana mountains of the'Puranas.

In Classical geography this range bears the name Pyrena-

cimons which name

1

is

easily deducible

from (Upa-) Barhana.

Lempriere's Classical Dictionary.

Sabdakalpadruma explains mantha as a drink (p&yavitf&sha). The

Kg-Vlda refers to it as a drink (Ved. Ind., Vol. II, p. 131). The Puranic
~

urQda must have included part of the Mediterranean sea which was nearest
Syria and Phoenicia and called in Classical times by the name
Syriacum Mare.

S>

to

Sarpata or Sarpatha would be a very natural contraction and corrupt

Sarvotdbhadra.' From their very configuration which is an almost
circular range the Carpathians would have been originally called Sarvatobhadra.
4
Cf the names Pojana Rusk of a mount in the province of Banat in
Austria and Pojana Demi on the western borders of Moldavia.
'

form of

THE EXPANSION

We

may,

in

this instance,

was

of the Pyrenees

that a province at the foot

recall

called

61

Beam

(Keith Johnstone's Royal

The river Aryakl' may be identified

with the modern Rhone in France which in Classical geography bore the name Arar. The Puranic name probably

Map

Atlas,

'

No.

10).

survives in that of the river Arc, a branch of the Rhone.

The

S'aka-dvlpa lay beyond the Krauncha-dvTpa sepafrom it by the Kshiroda. The varshas of this island

rated

were Purojava, Manojava, Veparnana, Dhumranlka, Chitraratha, Bahurupa and Vis'vachara. Very few of these are easily
identifiable

now.

The mountains were

Is'ana,

Urus'rnga,

Balabhadra, S'atakesara, Sahasrasrota, Devapala and Mahawhile the seven rivers of the island were called Anagha,

nasa

Ayurda,

Ubhayavrshti,

and Nijadhrti.

From

Aparajita,

Panchapari,

these several associations

Sahasrasrti

we have

to

identify the island with the long belt of the country extending
from the eastern borders of the Baltic to the modern Siberia,

the northern and north-eastern regions of European Russia

and the modern Siberia. The varshas Purojava, Manojava
anc^ Vis'vachara must have respectively been
The s'aka-dvi a
situated about the modern Barysheva
near
i.e.

'

the

Onega Bay, the country watered by the river Mezen in

the northern part of the modern Archangel in European

Russia and the country watered by the modern river Petchora. 3

The moderu Ural range separating European, from Asiatic
Russia and the Balkash mountains to the north of the Caspian
Sea correspond very likely to the Puranic Urus'rnga and

Balabhadra mountains.

Among

to be identified with the

!

The Times Atlas,

Cf.

1895,

modern Onega

Map

The Times Atlas, Map

the rivers,

67,

67.

G.

in

Anagha may have

European Russia,

2.

The

original Sanskrit

must have been the original of the modern form Petchora,

name

Vis'vachara

THE CRADLE OP INDIAN HISTORY

62

Ayurda with the modern Ayauz near the source

in Siberia, and the
in the
Kirghiz Cossacks
'

'

with

vrshfi

The

modern Obi.

the

Purariic

of the Irkutsk
river

Ubhaya-

we

Aparajita

have probably to identify with the Lena and Panchapari with

The

the Yensei,

rivers Sahasrasrti

and Nijadhrti must have"

been the names of the modern rivers Sarisoo in Kirghiz

Cossacks and the Nijnaia, a tributary of the Yensei. The
Kshlroda of the Puranas we must take to be the same as the

modern Caspian Sea with a wider area extending over the

low-lying tracts around it.
cal geography the eastern parts of
present

We
it i.e,

know

that in Classi-

those on the Asiatic

The name
by the name Hyrcaneum.
Hyrcaneum must be deduced from the original Kshlra which
2
The name of the
in Prakrit would become Khlra and Khlr.
were

side

called

country Kirghiz (Cossacks) lying to the east of the Caspian

sea probably retains this original association with Kshlra.

Beyond the Kshlroda (on the other

dvlpa)

lay the

It

Pushkara-dvipa.

side of the S'aka-

can be easily seen that

modern Bokhara country which bears also

the significant surname Bukhara, a corrupt

this is only the

ThePushkaradvipa: Bokhara

form

which

it

p ushkara

was divided

Ramanaka and Dhataka have

territorial divisions Damanikoh

to be

The two varshas

in

Puranic times,

traced in the

into
viz.,

modern

on the west and Tartary on

Their descriptive surnames Arvachlna

the east respectively.

and Prachina evidently became proper names and are now

traceable in the names of Airuk and Aral towards the east
4
and Paractecene, the eastern part of the Khanat in Bukhara.
1

9
8

Lempriere's Classical Dictionary.

Hyr 'in Hyrcaneum is a further transition from
'

'

and

'

'

Khir

generally interchange in phonetics invariably,

the place of R.
*
Keith Johnstone's Royal Atlas.

'

in Prakrit.

like

taking

THE EXPANSION
It

said that here lay the four cities of the four Idkapalas

is

Indra, Agni,

viz.,

this

Yama and

Varuna.

account that this land was called

name

'

'

Sogdiana

pellation like

63

which may have

It

must have been on

in Classical

to be derived

times by

from an ap-

Svarga-Devayana or Svarga-DevasthanaJ

See above p. 47.

CHAPTER V

THE SURAS AND THE ASURAS

WE

now
name

have

to
'

consider

the

tracing the
Asshur or Assur

possibility
*

'

of

'

'

'

Assyria from the original

found in Assyrian records which again represents only the
Puranic Asura.'
There is also the possibility of identifying
Classical

'

'

with the Puranic Sura a

the Classical country-name
Syria
surname of the Devas according to the Sanskrit lexicons based

upon the immemorial Aryan tradition. Historically the Suras

must be considered to have been a section of
c
c
.

ou.ra~oyrici

the larger group called Devas.

The Suras are
k
nown
the
a j so
Amaras in
appellation
by
Amaras
In
the
must
have
literature.
Sanskrit
been a
fact,

Amara-Amuru

of ancient Syria

'

'

the country
of Syria was known to the Chaldean king Sargon the Elder
(B.C. 3800) under the then ancient name of Amuru.
section

of the Suras.

It is interesting to see that

In

Classical

literature

the territorial

names Syria and

distinct in their application.

Assyria were not kept clearly
Lempriere remarks that Syria was a large country of Asia the
boundaries of which are not accurately ascertained by the
'

Syria was, he says, bounded, generally speaking,

on the east by the Euphrates, north by mount Taurus, west
ancients.'

Amuru must have been a

Maspero, Dawn of Civilisation, p. 597
variant of the original name Amara as Yakshu was of Yaksha (Ved. Ind.
Vol. II, p. 182). Prof. Macdonell does not suggest any connection between
Yaksha and Yakshu. But I believe that they are connected.
1

THE SURAS AND THE ASURAS

the Mediterranean and south by Arabia*

by

It

was divided

and provinces among which were Phoe-

into several districts

nicia,

65

Judaea or Palestine, Mesopotamia, Babylon

We must mark here the mention of Assyria as

Seleucis,

and Assyria.

a province of Syria.
The same authority remarks that Syria
was also called Assyria, and the words Syria and Assyria,
though distinguished and defined by some

called

Syrians

authors,

were

ancient

authors

and

the

often

the

used

Assyrians

Assyrians.

Syrians,

In

indifferently.

are

often

The king

of

Assyria generally styled himself 'king of kings' as a demonstration of his

The

power and greatness.

indifferent application

of

names

to the Syrians

and

the Assyrians in Classical literature points to the fact that just

as the Suras and the Asuras, who came from a common stock

and were kinsmen, divided into two

rival parties eternally

and

were neighbours mingling

and social life, they too were of

proverbially hostile to each other,

and intermingling

in political

common

stock living in close neighbourhood, warring with

each other, but to the outer world they were but one nation,
at

times denominated by the

name Syrians and

at other times

by the name Assyrians.

appears reasonable to infer that the two countries of
Syria and Assyria formed part of the very ancient Sura or Deva
land which may be said to have extended over the entire
It

western, central and northern Asia and included

The home o
the Devas

within

its

boundaries the Himalayan

and SubJ

Himalayan countries. We have referred to

Ilavrta, in which was situated the Meru mountain and which
must have corresponded to the whole or part of the Pushkaradvipa wherein lay the
1

cities of the lokapalas as

Lempriere's Classical Dictionary.

9

having been the

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

66

home

of the Pre-Aditya

of the
in

and Aditya-DSvas.

The

home

earliest

Devas must certainly have been, as already suggested,

the Arctic

Zone

since otherwise the tradition of their six-

month day and six-month night cannot be explained. The

settlement in the Ilavrta was a later stage in the movements
From the Ilavrta the Deva communities must
of the Devas.
have spread into several countries in several directions and
mostly the west, south-west and south where they developed
separate settlements and crystalised into several sections under
the names Suras, Asuras, Danavas, Rakshasas etc.

The

Classical Syrians and Assyrians

to belong to this stage in the expansion of

and

would

respectively

Asuras.
Suras and
Asuras: Syrians
ssynans

Asuras

correspond to the Suras and the

The Nagas, the Yakshas, the Gan-

dharvas, the Garudas and the Kinnaras whose

a pp earance

in ancient

Hindu

must have

Suras and the

alongside of the

literature

makes us think them

subsidiary to the Suras and the Asuras,

former,

would thus appear

the original Devas

lived amidst

them as

more often

to be
to the

distinct but

sub-

ordinate communities.

But instances and evidences are not wanting to show that

least the Nagas at certain times rose to a position of eminence and political equality with the Suras

at

ean

Asuras.

anc^

Sections

of

these

Nagas and

Garudas must have migrated to ancient Egypt

will

be shown in

earliest civilization of the countries in

south-western

where they rose to royal supremacy as

the sequel.
.

The

and western Asia must have been Devaic or Daivic

The Deva
Civilization

in cha-

racter though the variations that arose in course

f

of time gave

,,

them shades

result of political

and

,.

of difference as a

social circumstances

and

THE SURAS AND THE ASURAS

fc

We

changes.

should be able,

we

if

67

carefully analysed the

language basis of these ancient races, to see an under-current of

common roots and names in them. The Greeks of the

whose language bears marks of resemblance to

Sanskrit and whose mythology runs very much on the lines of
the Hindu mythology were probably the Danavas
of the

Classical days

we

Puranic literature; for

'

Danai

'

from the name

own time

are told that they were called the

Danaus

'

of their early king.

Even

was prevalent the strong tradition

that they were immigrants from Asia which they, however,
repudiated and claimed to be the sons of Graecia (i.e.,
in

their

there

Greece).

the sculptures unearthed in Chaldea there

Among
called

seal

'

the

seal

'

of

is

represented on

Shargani-Shar-Ali

page 601 of Prof. Maspero's Dawn of Civilization. The scene

carved on this seal shows the early Chaldean king Gilgames
'

'

Now, we

Hindu Purapas
the name of Ox (Rshabha or Vrshabha) menThese
tioned in three connections mainly.

watering- the Celestial Ox.

have, in

are the god or spirit of

ness)

represented as a bull

Dharma

who walks on

(Righteousthe four legs in

all

Yuga, on three in the Treta, on two in the

Dvapara and only on one in the Kali yuga. It is possible to

the Satya or Krta

construe the sculpture as representing Gilgames worshipping

or entertaining the Dharma- Rshabha (the Bull of Righteousness).

The

other

possibility

represents the Asura- Vrshabha

is

the bull

that

who

(Rshabha)
stated to have been

is

1
The Danavas who also came from the original stock from which the
Devas came could not naturally have had a different language.

Lempriere's Classical Dictionary, p. 280.

Could

it

be that the expression

association with the

name

times) the civilization of

is

Kf ta
'

'

'

in
'

Greta
very old, probably

of the island

which

'

'

Kfta-Yuga
(called Greta
'

among

'

had some,
in Classical

the oldest

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

68

Apart from the question of the date

of Krsh^a we have to grant the existence of

destroyed by Krshna.
_.

TheAsuraRshabhaor

an Asura by name Vrshabha and it is not

unlike i y t hat this Asura is deified by later

vrshabha

This fact would explain the existence of such

huge sculptures of the winged bull with human crowned
head found in very large numbers and in prominent positions
Assyrians.

'

Assyrian ruins. The Puranic king

Rshabha was considered an avatara of Vishriu

among
king Rshabha

and an Arhattama and has been suggested above

have been the founder of Jainism. His son Bharata who

to

was also a
to a king

have taught his philosophy

The king might be identical with

spiritualist is stated to

named Rahugana.

the Chaldean king Sargon,* whose seal, with bull-entertainment shown, has been referred to above. The later Asura-

contemporary of Krshna) might have taken

the name after the deified Arhattama.

Rshabha

The

(the

intimate contact that was necessary for such spread

influence

of

from

India

or

Chaldea was not absent at

records

of

the

its

this

north-western borders to
early

period.

The

trade

black-headed,

perhaps Dravidian-speaking
Sumris of the Euphrates mouth prove such close relations
with the peninsula of Sinai and Egypt as to
Sumns
ma ke a similar connection with western India
,Jkf
:

Vedic Chumuri

probable as far back as B. C. 6000. Of the

races of whose presence in Gujarat and the neighbourhood
The Bh&gavata, 5-4.
The full name of Sargon is Shargani-shar-Ali (Dawn of Civilization,
p. 596). He was also called Sharrukin (ibid, p. 597).
Shargani or Sharrukin
may be a corrupt from of Rahftgaga. The suffix shar-ali I would propose to
yarali (in the sense of a collection or row of reeds). Sargon
derive from
1

'

'

'

'

'

mother, the princess conceived me and secretly

says of himself thus :
gave birth to me ; she placed me in a basket of reeds, she shut up the mouth
of it with bitumen, she abandoned me to the river, which did not overwhelm

me

(ibid., p. 598),

My

THE SURAS AND THE ASURAS

Mr. Hewitt finds traces, the
'

moon-worshipping Sumri
mention made of Cumuri
*

earliest is the
]

In

'

as

69

same black-headed

Vedic literature
the

name

who

we have

an enemy of
mentioned in the
of

along with his friend Dhuni, is

Rg-VZda (VI. 20, 13 X. 113, 9) as having been defeated by
Indra. Elsewhere the two are spoken of along with S'ambara,

Dhablti

'

Pipru and S'ushna as having been destroyed by Indra who

Profs. Macdonell and Keith feel it
destroyed their castles
!

impossible to say whether real

men

or

demons

are meant.

The names Chmuri and Dhuni need not necessarily have been
a personal name but that also of a race or family name and
we may safely identify the Vedic Cumuri with the Sumri (or
;

Zumri) of the Euphrates valley referred to above. Chumri

and S'ambara who are mentioned along with Dhuni, Pipru and
Vedic literature are considered to have been among
8
We know, S'ambara, according to
the leaders of the Das'as.

Varchin

in

was an Asura. Chumuri was probably one. We

have probably to associate them with southern Chaldea which
4

the Puranas,

has been

with the land of Shumir.

identified

The

latter

name must have

given a race-name like Shumiri (the people

later contracted in Classical mention into

Shumir) which

The

Shumri and Sumri.

Dhuni: Dungi

king

Das'a

Dhuni was

probably an ancestor of the southern Chaldean

who is assigned by Assyriologists to about

Dungi

Compare Sayce's Hibbtrt Lectures 33 J.R.A.S* XX-326 and Bombay

;

Gazetteer, Vol.

I,

part I

History of Gujarat,

p. 11 f.n, 2.

'

<*

Ved. Ind., Vol.

ibid.,

page 358.

'

also been a personal name very much

also a personal name besides being a

The name Chumuri might have

the name
race-name.
like

1, p. 262.

'

English

which

is

Maspero, Dawit of Civilization, p, 616,

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

70
2900 B.C.

He was

also a

are said to have been.

The above

moon-worshipper which the Sumri

go to prove the existence even in preVedic and Vedic period of close contact between the Chaldean
facts

and Assyrian peoples and the Indian people who might not
altogether have been ignorant of the Egyptian country which

we have above

identified with the Salmali-dvlpa.

are not wanting to prove great similarity based

Evidences

upon immense

contact between the early Indian people and civilization on

the one hand and the Egyptian people and civilization on the
other. It is with these that we shall deal in the sequel though

they are not exhaustively collected here.

Maspero,

Dawn

ibid., p. 618,

of Civilization^

p. 617.

CHAPTER

VI

INDO-EGYPTIAN AND INDO-PERSIAN CONTACTS

11

INVETERATE

prejudice alone could prevent us from admit1

ting that the Eyptians of the Memphite period went to the
*
The majority
ports of Asia and to the Haui-nibu by sea

Asia and Egypt

of scholars would place the cradle-land of the

Egyptians in Asia but cannot agree in deter-

mining the route which was followed

Africa*

(Dawn of

Civilization,

p.

45).

their migration to

in

If

was

the cradle

in

was the Puranic Ajanabha-varsha now identified

with the Egyptian Haui-nibu, the route for the migration
would generally and naturally have been the modern Arabian
What route the recent Indian settlers in Kenya and
Sea.
India which

other parts of Eastern Africa have adopted might have been

adopted even in the early days when they migrated from Asia
to Egypt.
Homnel, the Assyriologist, is inclined to derive

the Egyptian civilization entirely from the Babylonian.

He

Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, p. 389.

302:
Scholars
like Max Miiller have suggested that the Hauiibid., p.
nibu or Hanebu as they were called at times were the half-savage hordeswho peopled the marshes of the delta on the Mediterranean shores. (ibid.,
To go to these people the ancient Egyptians need not have passed
p. 391).
the sea. On the other hand they must have gone by the river Nile or by the
land-route. Nor would they have gained anything by commerce or other
relationships with a half -savage people. The greater probability seems to be
that they crossed the seas towards east and reached the Indian shores which
were civilized enough to offer scope for commercial relationship. The Hauinibu must be the AjanSbha-varsha of !Rshabha by which name India or at
any rate its north-western parts were called before they were called Bhftratavarsha after king Bharata, (see page, 40 above).
1

Circa 4000 B.C.

'

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

72

endeavours to prove that the Heliopolitan myths and hSnce

the whole Egyptian religion is derived from the cults of
Eridu.'

(ibid, p.3).

The other view that

West or South -West

the Egyptians

came

to

Egypt from

favoured by Professor Maspero.

He quotes with approval the view of the Viennese Egyptonot only are the Egyptians of
logist Herr Reinisch that
the

is

African origin but that the human races of the ancient world
of Europe, Asia and Africa are descended from a single family

whose

original seat

Equatorial Africa'

ments

was on the shores

(ibid., 6).

of naturalists

of that

This view

of the great lakes of

is

based on the argu-

and ethnologists which lack the support

primary guide

in

research for the remote

i.e.

pre-

historic past viz., Mythology and tradition as recorded in

Racial memories cannot reasonably be set aside
literature.
in the doubtful light of mere constructive theories in the

consideration of such

gested

by

contained

material

the

The paths

subjects.

in

the

for enquiry sug-

Vedas and the

Puranas regarding the ancient habitats of mankind do not

appear to have been taken into consideration by the holders
of

Even anthropologically

view.

this

'

Egyptian

selected

of Civilization,

by him,
affinity

Africa.

p.

'

the

noble type of

and reproduced by Prof. Maspero (Dawn

47) with the characteristics drawn from it

especially the hair, should strongly suggest a greater

a foreign people than to the Negroes of -Central

The description given by the Professor does but echo

to

the description sung by the Indian poet Kalidasa of the

'

noble

So we will have to assign

king viz., Dilipa.
an Asiatic origin to the ancient Egyptians. To their civilizatype of Indian

'

tion there might have been a joint contribution

as well as Chaldea and Assyria.

1

The Raghuvamtfa, Canto

I,

w.

Even the

12 to 30.

made by

India

civilization of the

INDOEGYPTIAN AND JNDO-PERSIAN CONTACTS

latter

seems traceable to the Indian

73

civilization or both the

Assyrian and Indian civilizations must have had a common

source just as the Suras (i.e. Devas) and Asuras (historic
Assyrians) had a common ancestry according to the Puranas,
in the Ilavrta country surrounding the Meru mountain.

Writing of the Indus Culture Sir John Marshall says

(Archaeological Survey of India, 1926-27, pp. 58 & 59) that
"

on the other hand there

a certain

is

amount

of evidence

The opipointing to a connection with pre-dynastic Egypt.

nion has lately been gaining ground that the cradle of Sumerian
and Egyptian

civilizations

is

to be sought

somewhere

east of

Mesopotamia. If, indeed, such a cradle existed it is as likely

as not to have been in the vast richly watered plains of Northern India*"

The arguments and

literary as well as philologi-

brought together in this work here and elsewhere

would seem to support strongly the view that India and its

cal evidences

north-western borders were the cradle of the Egyptian and

allied civilizations of the near West.

Bacchus who was

identified with the Osiris of

Egypt and
who was a son of Jupiter and Semele and whose history is
drawn from the Egyptian traditions concerning
Bacchus and
Meru mountain

^^ anc ent ^i n g
i

is

stated to have been educat-

ed on the mountain Meros

in India

'

sacred

The mountain

apparently corresponds to the

Puranic Meru,' the stronghold of the Devas.
Certain plants are also supposed to have been introduced

to

Jupiter.'
'

into

Egypt from

Asia.

'

From

Asia,

man

has,

at different

times, brought wheat, barley, the olive, the apple, the white or
pink almond and twenty other species now acclamatised on
'

Lempriere's Classical Dictionary Pliny is said to have called it Nysa.'

This probably stands for the Nishadha which was on the borders of the Ij&vrta
and not far from the Meru.
1

10

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

74

the banks of the Nile

The

plant tamarisk called in

Egypand asri has the same name given to it in Semitic

languages both ancient and modern. This would suggest the
question whether the tamarisk did not originally come from
!

tian asari,

In that case

Asia.

must have been brought

it

to

Egypt

in

remote antiquity for it figures in the Pyramid texts. Bricks

of the Nile mud and Memphite and Theban tombs have
yielded us twigs and even whole branches of the tamarisk.'

Professor Maspero says that the origin of the name of the

He says " the least unlikely etymoriver Nile is uncertain.
*

'

'

is still

logy

The origin of the

name Nile

that which derives Neilos from the

Hebrew nakr, a

'

He

river,

or nakkal, a torrent.'

word

also notices Groff's derivation of the

from Ne-iealu, the branches of the Nile in the Delta. The

professor does not appear to have considered the possibility
of the intimate connection that exists

and

its

significance

the ancient Egyptians and Greeks-

to

'

'

Dictionary states that the river got

the ancient king of Thebes who gave

name from Nilus

name to the river which had been

the

'

Nile

in his Classical

Lempriere
the

'

between the name

previously called

Professor Rawlinson says that the

Aegyptus.

word

'

Nile

'

in

'

But the true origin of the

deep blue.'
Egyptian means
name seems to be in the Sanskrit word Nlla which must have
been

pronounced and understood

Sanskrit.

We

also

know

in

Egyptian quite as

in

a part of

its

that the river

is

in

'

course called by the redundant name Blu6 Nile/ This must

have given the characteristic name to the whole river.

This

not the sole example of Sanskrit origin being

is

traceable for
1

Egyptian names.

Dawn of Civilization,
ibid.,

Sanskrit

p,

name

'

The names

'

Aegyptus

by

p. 27.

28, fn. 3. Compare also the

Uraga for the asp.
'

Egyptian name

'

uraeus

'

and the

1NDO-EGYPTIAN AND INDO-PERSIAN CONTACTS

which the Nile was

and

originally called

of the inhabitants of

Egypt

The

Sanskrit

f^is wor(j

goat

name
have come

'

'

Aegyptu

evidently appear to
'

from the Sanskrit word

js

'

75

the

which means a

aja

traceable as the nucleus

was denoted
by the surname Aegiochus because he was
brought up by a goat called Amalthaea and used goat-skin as
his shield in the war of Titans.
Pan, the classical god of
shepherds who resided in Arcadia was also known by the
"

"

man y

Aegyptus

Classical names.

surname Aegipan because he had goat's

to recall here the Puranic

called

Potamus
is

means

'

of the

the goats'
also derived by Classic writers
"

the
of

'

The town on

said to have been fed

is

The name

Aegium.

It is interesting

feet.

name Ajaikapad.

Corinthian coast where Jupiter

was

Jupiter

by a goat
'

Thracian town

Aegos

The name Macedonia

from two words which mean

river.'

The word is probably a

Meshadrona. The classical town

valley of the goat."

the Sanskrit

the

corruption
of

Aedessa

'

'

(Edessa) was given the surname Aegeas by the Macedonian

The modern
goats.'
king Caranus who took it by following
*

which divides
Archipelago, that part of the Mediterranean
Greece from Asia Minor, was called Aegeum Mare in Classical
islands which
geography, from the number of
2
appear above the sea like goats (aiges).

the
Assyriologists have interpreted

Chaldean texts to mean

which

in

'

'

water
ocean

Sanskrit

is

'

word

the Ocean.'

it

contains that

'

'

apsu

looks as

It

the

the locative form of ap which

has been understood as the original word

the store of water. It

is

word

means

itself for

possible that the Assyrian

*

and

The name Egypt is evidently to be traced to Aegyptus.' Could there

be some connection between this association with a goat and the goat's
'

'

'

not

if

of the

head given to the Egyptian deity

8
5

Khnumu ?

Lempriere's Classical Dictionary.

Maspero,

Dawn of Civilization,

p. 537,

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

76

Chaldean texts carefully analysed and interpreted in the light

of Sanskrit like any of its several prakrit forms would reveal
fresh

and

facts

linguistic

The

historic associations.

connections and thereby suggest

word Ziggurat applied to the tops
*

'

pinnacles of the old Assyrian palace-mounds is not far

removed from the Sanskrit word &ikhara. In the expression
or

'

cwcM/>/u*-headed

'

sceptre

Egyptian Pharaoh which

which

kubh? hoopoe

is

applied to the staff of the

considered a misnomer,

is

the Sanskrit

'

we

find
'

word kukkubha which means a

Mas P ero notes that from ancient

evidence we know that the cucupha was a
'

kind of bird ''

bird perhaps a hoopoe.'

The "ancient Egyptians

refer to a mysterious fluid called

which was circulated throughout the members of the gods

of Egypt and carried with it health, vigour and life/
They
were not all equally charged with it some had more, others
'

'

sa

had

less,

Sa

their

Amyta

energy being proportionate to the amount

which they
This Sa very probably
* contained.
_

represents or corresponds to the

Indian Devas.

In Sanskrit also

The popular Puranic

monarchs

idea

of the 'Suryavarhs'a

'

Sa
is

signifies the

that

amrta
amrta.

the earliest

of the
3

Hindu

were descendants of the Sun.

This has a parallel in Egyptian belief and tradition that the

Pharaohs were blood- relations of the Sun-God (Ra), through
4
In Hindu
the father and others through their mother.
tradition, we have the kings of the Somavams'a who descended

from Soma and his son Budha and who were the bloodrelations of the Sun on their mothers' side for Budha married
Mbid., p. 265,

fn,

The word

'hoopoe' also must be derived from the

Sanskrit kukkubha*
2

*
4

ibid., p. 110.

Sabdakalpadruuia.
Maspero,

Dawn of Civilization,

p. 259.

1NDO-EGYPTIAK AND INDO-PERSIAN CONTACTS

the daughter of the

Ila,

Manu

77

Vaivasvata, the son of Vivas-

The Egyptian
van, an epithet of the Sun.
n &me Ra applied to the Sun is etymologically
derived from a root which

ra

krit root

meaning 'to

It

ig

'

fiive

means

WQrth observing here that

*

in

to give.'

Sanskrit
*

As in
Hindu mythology so too in Egyptian mythology the Sun
(Ra) is believed to be the right eye of the Divine Face i.e.,
God, who was called Horus and the Moon was considered to
too the root ra also

means

to give.'

be the

left eye.

or seal reproduced on page 1 of Maspero's Dawn

of Civilization represents a bearded old-looking person lying

stele

in a reclining

suggestive

Qn

hig

Egyptian seal

^ amK

posture with his trunk resting

He

wears on i y undergarments

which look very much like the dhoti of the

Hindu.' His left leg is folded in under the right leg which
6
The foot is bare and has no shoe put on
is stretched out.

From

it.

which

of

near his waist rises up a

supported a

is

The main

figure

reclines

subject of the stele

suggests at the

It

is

first

human

creeper at the top

figure in a seated posture.

wavy

on the back

of a crocodile.

The

evidently from Egyptian mythology.

sight a strong parallel to the Hindu

Naraya^a) lying on a serpent-couch on

waters and Brahma supported on a lotus stalk emerging from
idea of

Hari

(or

The

his navel.

details of the

ibid,, p. 88, fn. 1,

r& dane

Egyptian representation are not

S'abdakalpadruma.

Bhagavata,

8-24-50.

Dawn of Civilization, p. 88 fa. 2 and p,

were respectively the right and left eye of Hari.
*
For the adoption of this dress in ancient Egy
tions on pages 105 and 634 of the above work.
4

This

Most
is

of the Egyptian portrait sculptures

another respect in which the ancient Egypti

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

78

Hindu representation

exactly similar to the

4

Ancient Egyptian version of

But

of Narayana.

the inherent identity of the idea behind the

two forces

itself

Egyptian

seal

strongly

upon our minds. The

seems to represent the early

echo of the Hindu story of Creation as known in ancient Egypt.

Other examples are not wanting of echoes of Hindu
mythology in ancient countries like Egypt and Chaldaea. In
a drawing given on
Egyptian

Khnumu

human
the picture

ject of

stated to be

is

of

Daksha, the chief of

human

goat's

head

"

The

sub-

modelling

men

two palms.

Khnumu

Modelling or creation of

function

Indian Prajapati

figures with his

on a potter's table."
accredited

of

is

goat

goat's head

Dawn

represented a human figure with a

*
f
head touching the heads of two standing

Civilization

with a

157 of The

p.

men

is

the

Hindu mythology.
the prajapatis had also to increase
a

Prajapati

in

species by creation.

He had

also a

goa t's head which was substituted in place

^ s own which had been cut off by Bhava,
'
the husband of Satl.

Khnumu, we may

suggest, to be

The

representation of

an Egyptian rendering

in

Daksha engaged in creation. Daksha

is stated to have borne the surname Ka (S'abdakalpadrumd).
The Egyptian monarchs are said to have usually taken a
surname or second name which was known as KaS
Look again at the illustration on page 239 of the same
sculpture of the idea of

work where Khnumu is represented with the goat's head. To

him Satit presents the Pharaoh Amenothes
or Sati: Indian
Satl

III.

Satit is very probably identical with Sati

of the

'

one of the two wives of

1

work,

Dawn of Civilization
Prof.

But the Egyptian Sati is

Khnumu and not his daughter

Purapas.

p. 262.

Maspero gives also the form

Sati for Satit in the index to the

above

INDO-EGYPTIAN AND INDO-PERSIAN CONTACTS

as

was

SatI

from

the

of

Daksha

Prajapati

79

This departure

(Ka).

in

Egyptian mythology is
attributable to the migration of the idea from its early
puranic home to the Egyptian country and the local colouring
relationship

original

received there.

We

hear in Hindu Puranic tradition that

the monkey-god, the most favourite servant of

a pupil of the Sun.

Among Egyptian

we have one showing

HanumSn,
Rama, was
sculptures

religious

Sun worshipped by two cynoone standing on either side of him.

The cynothe

cephalii

cephalii

by appearance and acceptance baboons and

and warrant our association of these with the

are
9

monkeys

The

vanaras of the Puranas.

the

surname

was

the

original of the Classical

Egyptian
c"noceohatii

devotion
the

disciple

view

that

and so a worshipper

the

to

Sun

the

lends

The

cynocephalic
a

parallel

to

Hanuman was considered a

The Kimpurushas
of the Sun.
So the Kimpurushas

are placed to the north-west of India.

must have been the predecessors

offering

probably

name Cynocyphalus.

reference
to

known by

also

which

Sanskrit

in

Kimpurushas

are

latter

worship' to the Sun.

of the

much

In any case,

note the intimate connection recorded in

later

it is

Magii in

informing to

Hindu and Egyptian

mythology as existing between the monkey-like cynocephalii

and Hanuman and the Sun.
In the Egyptian sculptures
group of the hawk and snake.
1

we

frequently

This group

come
is

across the

represented as

ibid., p. 103.

Lcmpriere's Clascical Dictionary explains the cynocephalii as a nation in

who have the head of a dog according to some traditions. The ancient
tradition that they had dog's faces was either not correct or the animals that
were represented like monkeys in Egyptian sculpture must be called by a
The sculptures show them to be monkeys and not dogs.
different name.
India

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

80

the crown of the Egyptian monarchy in most cases. In a few

surmounted by the group

wherein the serpent is under the claws of the
In a few other cases only the hawk is
hawk.
the royal sceptre

Hawk and snake

in

is

Egyptian

shown

the head-dress of the king, while in

in

serpent appears as such.-

snake

in

The Pharaohs

some only the

invariably bore the

whose hood ornamentally curved up

the head. The snake represented the coiled Ureus

their head-dress

'

in front of

of the
Egyptian 'Horus

north and the hawk, the bird Horus of

m

Their grouping repre-

the south, of Egypt.'

and Ureus
indian Garuda
:

sents the union of the

two and probably the

andUraga

conquest o f the North by the South. The

serpent crest of the Egyptian kings was evidently based on
their early connection with the land traversed by the mountain
of the

serpent in the principality of Siut on the upper banks

where they must have settled after migration

from Indian ports. The south must have been the land of the
Garudas whose emblem Horus corresponds to and probably is

of

the Nile,

identical with the Puranic

Garuda.

The

peoples of these two

be taken to represent sections of the Puranic

Garudas and Nagas who must have migrated to the west in
lands

may

remote antiquity.
is

Again in the Mahabharata (Udyogaparva 99-5) the Sun

stated to have been known by the epithet Hayas'iras in the

Maspero,

Dawn of Civilization,

Compare

ibid., p. 262.

ibid., p. 456.

Satis

p. 211.

and the Pharaoh Amenothes III on

The Egyptian word

'

Uraeus

'

p. 239, ibid.

for serpent

is

probably from

the Sanskrit word Uraga.

3
The golden sparrow-hawk which the Horus is considered to stand for, is
represented with the portion of the body below the neck white in the illustration given on p. 262 of the above work, like the Indian Garuda-kite,

INDO-EGYPTIAN AND INDOPERSIAN CONTACTS

Naga-ldka

(ibid.,

99-1).

the
Indian Hayas'iras

Sun

81

The

ancient Egyptians worshipped

under the name Harseisis ' which

maY

be held to be a corrupt form of the name

This is additional evidence for
Hayas'iras.

Egyptian

Harseisis

our identifying the Egyptians with the ancient

Garudas and Nagas.

In the picture of

huge bird flying

kalas'a

if

The

referred to above, is seen a

in front of the seated god.

the

great god or primeval hero

Egyptians must certainly be honoured with

of divinity the chief of

(same as

ambrosia

Among

In his claws the

mouth turned downward. What

not the Puranic Garuda bearing the amrta-

bird holds a pot with

could this be

Khnumu

Khnumu
all

of the

the attributes

which was the possession

amrta

of the

')

the Pharaohs of the

fifth

dynasty of ancient Egypt

mentioned one by the name Usirniri Anu whose reign is

3
placed between the years 3900 and 3875 B.C.
Us/inara
Usirniri Anu
This name shows a very close correspondence

is

The

Puranic name Usinara of the family of Anu.*

to the

Puranic king

Anu and

progeny belonged to the Soma-

his

Egyptian king Usirniri Anu

claimed for their previous generations matrimonial alliances
The Puranas inform us
with the daughters of the Solar race.

The descendants

vams'a.

of the

that the

Somavams'a

Maspero,

tt

kings were the descendants of

Dawn of Civilization,

Budha

p. 142,

jealousy between the Garudas and the Nagas seems also to

be represented in Egyptian mythology by the jealousies of Khnumu's two
queens Amikit and Satit who had for their forehead ornaments the snake and
3

the

The Purapic

hawk
3

respectively.

Dawn of Civilization,
Anu

p. 383.

probably the corrupt form of the patronymic

would signify a descendant of Anu in Sanskrit.
5
Dawn of Civilization, p. 454.
4

is

'

'

Mah&bh&rata Sabha-parva,
t

11

8-14, 40*36

and

41-3.

'

Anava which
'

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

82

and

his

queen

Arshtisheaa:
Usirtasen

a princess of the so-called Solar (Vaivasvata)

The names of three other Egyptian
line.

Ila,

Pharaohs

Usirtasen

viz.,

I,

Usirtasen II and

Usirtasen III strongly remind us of the name of

the Puranic king Arshtishena who is referred to as a rajarshi

a saintly king). From Maspero we learn that Usirtasen

III was ranked among the Pharaohs that civilized the coun(i.e.

and so had received divine honours while

try

alive.

still

He was

placed in triads and temples were raised to him.

Another echo of the Puranic name in EgypKheops: Kshupa
,
,,,*,
tian
history is probably heard in that of
Kheops, which might be a corruption of the Puranic name

t.r

Kshupa.

The

Egyptian

Usirtasen

king

III

is

stated

to

have

humbled the Rush and conquered the tribes of Alaka and

Turasu among others. 8 Professor Maspero thinks these names
outlandish from the standpoint of ancient Egyptian geography

and
Kush, Alaka
and Turasu

may

finds

hard to locate them

it

It

(ibid).
,

Al_.

^e su gg este ^ here on this very ground of

outlandishness that this Alaka has to be identi-

with the Himalayan town Alaka, the capital of Kubera

and Turasu with the king of that name who was the son of
fied

Yayati or more probably with

Alaka and
Turvasu

tr jk e

ment one(j so o ften

j

This

t jj e

the Turvasu

Vedic

liter-

would not only

confirm our view expressed above that there was contact,
political and otherwise, between India and Egypt in remote
ature.

identification

times but also give a suggestion on the probable antiquity of

the Puranic Turvasu and his descendants.
1

Mah&bharata, Sabha-parva,

Maspero, Dawn of Civilisation, p. 491.

Macdonell and Keith, Ved. Ind., Vol. I, p. 314

8-13

Anurfasana-parva, 177-73.

f,

INDOEGYPTIAN AND INDO-PERSIAN CONTACTS

83

Another very suggestive pair of royal names we find in

those of Monthotpu and his successor Ahmosis
Monthotpu and
Ah
fa "
of
gyP tian history which have a* parallel
SEft Jld
Ambarisha
n the Puranic names of Mandhatf and his
:

son Ambarisha.

In the few foregoing paragraphs

show

certain similarities

between the

and the ancient Egyptian

tion

civilization in

we may now
thus The Hindus

In

aspect.

brief

The

we have attempted to
ancient Hindu civiliza-

lay

more than one

down our

conclusions

of the r
pre-Vedic

and Vedic

Ilavfta

periods were settled in the country of IJavrta

which lay to the north of the Himalayas including the northwestern portions of India and in the country occupied by modern
Afghanistan, Baluchistan and the eastern parts of Persia. This

we may

call

the

Deva country.

It

must have extended

to

we have suggested to be
the Purapas.
From this

the borders of the Caspian Sea which

with

identical
original

the

Kshlroda of

home must have emigrated

who were

the earlier lords and so

the Asuras (Assyrians)

known

in the

Puranas as

the Purva-Devas, Suras, Danavas (probably Greeks who were

Their dependant and at times friendly
called Danai), etc.
tribes

viz.,

Yakshas (Yakshus of the Vedas), Gandharvas

(Centauri of the Classical Literatures), Garudas, Nagas

etc.,

Sections of these, Garudas and

also lived in this country.

Nagas, must have moved probably by the sea, from the shores
of the modern Persian Gulf, the southern shores of Baluchistan

and the mouths of the Indus

the Somali coast-land,

Maspero,

i.e.

the Purapic S'almali.

Dawn o/ Civilization,

Bh&gavatam, 9-6.
The Hindu festival

to the African coast, landing

on

Here they

p. 462.

of the New Year's Day is called Ugttdi and the

ancient Egyptians called their feasts of the New Year's Day, Ugatt,
8

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

84

must have

set

up kingdoms and dynasties

to history

Garuga and

the ancient

Naga Migration
to Salmah

carrying with

Hindu

of

Pharaohs known

them many

traits of

The presence
names among those

civilization.

^ certain

Hindu-like royal
of the ancient Pharaohs as pointed above might be explained

two ways namely

in

(i)

that

these

Pharaohs were either

deputies or viceroys sent out by the powerful

of the times to rule over the S'almali

dominions and

(i.e.

that the Pharaohs took their

(ii)

some notable kings

Hindu monarchs

of India of the previous times.

Egyptian)

names

after

In certain

even royal princes might have gone out from India

cases

(Ajanabha-Haiu-nebu of the Egyptian history) to rule over

Egypt. The tailed turbans of the Egyptian kings which is
l

common

Indian princes from early times, performance

of sacrifices by the ancient Egyptian monarch and his queen's
2
participation in the sacrifice, the loin-cloth and the mode of

so

to

adopted by ordinary persons, the dress of the woman

with the end of the cloth taken over one of the shoulders
it

tying

from the front and bringing

Hindu

the

like

to establish
civilization.

of the ancient

sion

life

Egyptians lend further support to this view. In the

Dawn of Civilization,
ibid., pp.

of the

Brahman occurs the expres-

ibid.,
;

pp.

p. 271.

265 and 271.

loin-cloth -and- tuft-bearing

aditya-mandalantar-vartinam tejomdyam hiranmayam

dressing

the

are the outstanding features of the religious

sandhyavandana prayer
"

round from behind very much

an Indian origin for the Egyptian royalty, life and

The tree and serpent worship and the worship of

Sun which

daily

it

together with other similarities noticed above seem

peasant

the

women,

185,

201

ibid., pp. 655.

ibid., p.^121.

The Chaldaean women

also

had

this

mode

of

INDO-EGYPTIAN AND INDO-PERSIAN CONTACTS

tl

purusham anuchintaydmi

God

which

compare the ancient idea

of

a prayer to the

signifies

We

that dwells in the Sun's disc.

*

85

may in this instance,

Lord God who dwelleth in

the

'

(Dawn of Civilization, p. 190).

We shall now close with a few remarks about some ancient
settlements of the Puranic people.
The rajarshi Priyavrata
who was also surnamed S'raddhadeva was performing penance
solar disc

on the banks of the

rnala."

Here he

river ChirinI

said to have

is

and on the banks of Krta-

first

met and been addressed

by the God-fish Hari. ChirinI has probably to be identified

with the modern river Churnee in Afghanistan which rises in
the northern spurs of the Gool mountains and passing by the
town of Ghuznee falls into the lake of Abishida after taking a

southern

The

course.

Krtamala referred to

river

in

the

Bhagavata may have to be identified with the Gomal which

flows near the Churnee but only separated from it by the
range of the Kandan hills and which formerly fell into the
Upper Indus (Sindhu) at a point to the south of the modern
1

Dera Ismail Khan.'

These two

from the Himalayas and their identification

by the

fact

that the ark of

not far removed

rivers are

Manu was

is

made probable

tied to a

peak called

Naubandhan in an offshoot of the Himalayas/

The Naubandhana of the Bhagavata has to
be identified with the modern Nehbandan
mountains between Persia on one side and Afghanistan and
5
The name of the town called
Baluchistan on the other.

Neybandan
1

8
1

"

in

the eastern part of Persia

Mah&bharata, Vana-Parva,
Bhagavata,

190-6.

8-24-12.

Kieth Johnstone's General Atlas. No. 31.

Mbh.. Vana-Parva, 190-49.

The Times Atlas No. 76.
,

is

another echo of

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

86

The worship

God-Fish must have

travelled from this part of the country to ancient Assyria and
Chaldaea where representations of Him have been discovered
the Puranic name.

example at Nimrud.

for

We

of the

hear constantly of the seats of Kubera in connection

with the Himalayan range or its surrounding country. Alaka

on the Kailasa is one such which is very well-known. But
,

were

there

other

with

associated

seats

Kubera' s seats

name of Kubera. In the Mahdbhdrata

(Bhlshma-parva) we are informed of more than one
seat of Kubera.
One of these was the Gandhamadana
the

mountain
Kailasa same as

TT -

associate

some

was the
r*

,1

.-

modern

mountains

Khyber

with the

The name

'

The

Kubera.

(called also Iran)

one of them.
T ,,

Persia

modern Persia

in

certainly
in

other places also with

Mountain Kuber Koh

Kuber Koh

35) and another

v,

(ibid.,

.,

Hemakuta, which is the same as the Kailasa

(ibid., v, 41).* But it appears as if we have

Hemakuta
to

in

A f

is

the

of
L

Afghanistan

substituted for the earlier

'

'

for the earlier Assur) must be associated with

Assyr
Khuber i.e. Kubera. Arjuna in his northern conquests before
the RSjasuya sacrifice is said to have proin

(as

Hiranyapura which was in

the land of Asuras and having conquered it
further north against the Asura nations called
cee d e d

marched

still

against

The

Nivatakavachas and Kalakeyas.

is

Kilakeyas
identified

not

possible

to

Nivatakavachas,'

identify

now.

it

But the

Kalakeyas are probably now represented by the tribe called Khalkhas occupying

p ur apic

the northern part of modern Mongolia.

1

Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, p. 547.

Kieth Johnstone 's Royal Atlas, No. 31.
The Times Atlas, Nos. 74 and 85.

The Khalkhas must

INDO-EGYPTIAN AND INDO-PERSIAN CONTACTS

87

have been pressed northward from the country round Hiranyapura by the advance of enemy hordes from the south and
east.

Hirnyapura

Kumara

hero

is

is

clearly the

modern

Iran.

said to have been born in

The Puranic

S'aravana and the

*

ara

seems

commentators have explained it as a clump

of reeds
among which he was picked up.

p*

to

'

But the correct significance of the expression

be geographical and the mountain Sarawan in

Kumara
evidently referred to in the tradition.
must have spent his earlier days here and it must have been

Afghanistan

is

country that he marched against the

Asura hordes that marched against the Devas, under the

from

this part of the

leadership of Taraka.

the Ethiopian monarchs of Egypt is mentioned

one by name Tarhaka who was a contemporary and enemy

Among

or

whose reign is placed between B.C. 668 and 626. This is certainly too
a date for the Puranic hero Kumara and his foe Taraka.
of

Asura Taraka
late

Assurbanipal,*

But herein we have probably a clue as to the nationality of

the earlier Taraka, the foe of Kumara.

The Puranic

Chakshu which took its rise in the

Malyavant mountain flowed through the Ketumala country
and fell into the sea on the west. This would
ShU
C
Ri
to the modern Oxus which in
correspond
r

river

identified

former times

is

supposed to have taken a

into the Caspian Sea in two

south-westerly course and fallen

mouths, the northern at the Balkan

Bay and the southern

Arjuna is stated to have conquered the northern nations called Kasas,

aud Para-Tankanas. The Kasas eviJhasas, Pasupas, Kulindas, Tankanas
dently occupied the country round about the modern Kashgar on the north
bank of the Tarim in Chinese Turkestan (36 N. L. and 76 E. Long). The
Kulindas probably lived on the slopes or at the foot of the Kwen Len
1

mountains.
2

Ragozin's Assyria, p. 379.

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

88
at the Adji

Bojur Bay.

In the Mahabharata (Bhishma-parva,

6-28) the river Kshlradhara

,-

taken rise

dhara

in

the

Meru rpeak.

is

stated to have

This

is

probably
j
r

the modern river Syr Daria which

the
..

rises

in

western spurs of the Thian Shan range and flowing

towards the west falls into the sea of Aral.
,.
.

Vedic river

Professors Macdonell and Keith say that the

Parushpi
identified

identified/

modern

Vedic
This,

river

it

Haroot

river

may

Kieth Johnstone, Royal Atlas, No. 31,

Ved. Ind. Vol. I, p. 321.,

Johnstone

's

Royal Atlas,

safely

be suggested, was the same as the

in Afghanistan.

ParushnI has not been

INDEX
Aindripuri, 45

ABHAYA, 50 equated with

;

Arabia, 53
Abhijnata, 55
Abhishida, 85
Abraham, 19
Abyssinia, 56

Achea, 58
Aditi, 6, 8, 18, 19, 36

Aditya-Deva period, 13
Aditya-Devas, 16, 66
Aditya period, 30
Adityas, 6, 7, 8, 16, 36
Aditya-S'akra, 18, 22
Adji Bojur Bay, 88
Adriatic Sea, 59
Aegean Sea, 54
Aegiochus, 75
Aegos Potamus, 75
Aegyptus, 19, 74, 75

Aemathia, 57
Afghanistan, 85, 87, 88

Agamemnon,

Aeschylus, 19
Agastya, 9
Agni, 5, 20, 21,31, 34, 47, 48,

50,62
Agnidhra, 39, 43
Agnishvattas, 20, 21
Airuk, 62
Ais'varya, 6
Ajaikapad, 75
Ajanabha, 40, 43, 44, 71, 84
12

Akrat, 58
Akuti, 19
Alaka, 12, 26, 82, 86
Alexander, Campaign of, 3
Altai Mountains, 45
Amara, Amru of ancient Syria,
65
Ambarisha, 83
Amalthea, 75
Amaravati, 47

Amenothes

III, 78,

80

Amasia, 53
Amikit, 81

AmOda, 59
Ammati, 56

Ammon,

19

Amrta, 50, 53, 76

Anagha, 61
Anariga, 20
Ananda, 60
Andish range, 53
Angiras, 16 g
Anglrasi, 50, 53
Anatolia, 53

Antardhana, 34
Antariksha, 40, 41
Aparajita, 61, 62
(Abyssinia), 55
Arabia, 50, 54, 65
Arabian Sea, 51

Apyayana

'

Aral, 62

Arcadia, 58, 75
Archangel, 61

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

90

Bhadrasena, 40, 43
Bhadras'va, 43, 44
Bhadras'va- Varsha, 39, 44, 48
Bhftgavata, 2, 9, 14, 17, 18, 19,

Arci, 33, 34
Arjish range, 53

Arjuna, 48, 86
Arishtaseija-Usirtasen, 82

Armenia, 53
Aruija, 50, 53
ArunQda, 48
Arvak, 16

20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 29, 30,

31, 36, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45 t
49, 50, 51, 68, 77, 83, 85

Aryaki, 61
Aryavarta, 40, 43
sari, 74
Asia and Egypt, 71
Assyria See also Sura, Syria
26, 49, 51, 64, 65, 68, 72
Astika, 12
Astrakhan, 51
Asuras, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16, 26,

_ 64,

65, 73, 83, 87

As'valayana Sutra, 22
Atibala, 20
Atri, 16
Austria, 59
Ayurda, 61, 62
Azov, Sea of, 51

Bharata, 40, 43
Bh&ratavarsha, 43
Bhrgu, 16, 22, 24
Bhutanathas, 41
Bhuti, 19

Bhava, 21, 22, 23,

Bhojana, 60
Black Sea, 51, 54
Blanc, Mount, 60
Bosnia, 59, 60

BrahmS,

24, 26,

16, 19, 31,

48

77

Brahmaijas, 3

Brahmaputra, the, 49
Brahmavarta, 40, 42, 43
Brhaspati-Sava, 22
Buddhi, 20
Budha, 81
Bukhara, 62

B
BACCHUS, 73
Badarikasframa, 39
Barbishats, 21
Barhishmat, 35
Barhishmati, 18
Barhishmati or Prachinabarhi,
35
Babhru, 57, 58
Bahurupa, 61
Balabhadra, 61
Balkh (Balkhash), 45
Baluchistan, 85
Barca, 56
Barysheva, 61
Belus, 19

Bezwada, 48
Bhadra, 19
Bhadra, 39

CARANUS

(King), 75

Carpathian Mountains, 60
Carthage, 55
Caspian Sea, 50, 51, 87
Chaitraratha, 47
Chakshu (Manu). 32
Chakshu (River), 87

Chakshusha-Manvantara, 24, 29
Chaldea, 67, 68, 72, 77, 78, 86
Chamasa, 40, 41
Chandra-S'ukla, 50
Charanas, 27

Charuvihanga (Kamachatka), 46
Chatus's'riiga, 57,
Chiriiji,

58

the, 85

Chitrakuta, 57, 58
Chitraratha, 61

INDEX
Dharma Rshabha, 67

Churnee, 85
Ccelus, 37
Copias (Lake), 58
Cos, 57
Cossocks, 51
Cox, 7
Cynocephalii, 79

Dhrdharuci, 57
Dhruva, 23, 25, 26,
29,36

Daityas, 16

Dhumanlu, 53
Dhumrakes'a, 34
Dhumranika, 61
Dhumravarija, 50
Dhu^i (King), 69
(Dungi)
Dias Arna, 58
Dillpa, 72

Daksha,

Diti, 8

D
DADHl-manthoda,

58, 59,

60

8, 9, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21,

22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 35, 36, 78,

79
Dakshasthala, 27
Dakshflyaijas, 37
Dakshhja, 19
Dalmatia, 58, 59

Danavas,

11,

9,

12,

13,

16,65,

Danfiyu,

8,

Danu,

8,

Dione, 37
Dramidiha, 40

71 to 88
58
El Sonan, 56
Euphratis, 53
Euxinus Pontus, 54, 59

EGYPT,

Elis,

67

19,

27, 28,

Dravifla, 34, 57,^58

66, 67, 83

Danaus,

91

Danai, the, 58
Das'aratha, 11

Dasyu, 32
Dasa, 20

CACHE, 56

Dera Ismail Khan, 85

Devabarha (Thaibad), 55

Deva Gandhari,

13

21, 49
Gandharvas, 12, 41, 47, 66, 83
Gandhavati, 48

Gandhamadana,

Devagarbha, 58

GangS, 33

Devahuti, 19, 20, 37

Devanika, 57, 58

Garudas, 56, 57, 66, 80, 81, 83

(See also Nagas) Garugla and
Naga Migration, 84

Deva Nagari,

13

Gftthas, 5

Devapala, 61

Devas,Home of, 65

Civilization,

Devaviti, 39
DevayanI, 37
Dhabiti, 69

Dharma
31,41

16,

Gaya, 35
Ghrtacyuta, 58
GhrtOda, 57
Ghuznee, 85

66,67
Devasena, 8

Dharma,

Gilgames (King), 67
Gitas, 5

67

(Prajapati), 20, 21,

Gomal, the, 85
Gool Mountains, 85
Gordharayaija, 50

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

Ikshu Samudra or Euxinus
Pontus, 54, 59
Ilfivarta, 40, 43, 44, 46

Grote, 7

Guhyakas, 26
Gupta, 57

Ilavrta, 39, 44, 48, 49, 65, 66,

H
HAMPI, 48
Hamsa, 50
Hanuman,

73, 83
Illium, 7
Hi,

45

Indra, 5, 6
4,

son of Aditi, 6
descendant of Vasu, 6

79

Harappa, 7
Hari, 34, 35, 39, 40, 42, 48, 77
Harivarsha, 39, 43, 44, 48

Haroot, 88
Harseisis (See Hayas'iras), 80, 81

Haryatfva, 34
Haui-nibu, 71

10,

31,

33,

7, 8,

34, 45, 46, 62,

69
Indrakila, 48
Indrasena, 50, 53

Indrasprik, (Indore ?) 40, 43

Is'ana, 47, 61
Ishmi Dagon, 39, 51

'

Havirdhana, 35
Havirhotra, 40, 41
Havirdhani, 35
Hayagriva, 48

Hayas'iras, identified with

Egyptian Harseisis, 80, 81

Jaitniniya Upanishad Brahmana, 21, 43

Hillebrandt, 43

Jambudvlpa, 39, 44, 48, 51

Janaka (King), 25
Jayantl, 40

Hiragmaya,

39, 43,

44

Hira^yagriva, 50

Jhasas, 87

Hiraijyakas'ipu, 8, 33
Hiraijyaksha, 8

Hiraflyapura, 86
Hiraijyaretas, 58
History, changing conception

Jitavrata, 35
Jupiter, 73, 75

Jyotishman, 50, 53
of,

14,15
Hitittes,

49

Homer, 7

KABARDA, 52

Horus, 57, 77, 80

Howash, the, 56
Hri, 20
Hyrcaneum, 62

Kadru, 8

Kailasa, 12
identified with Hemakuta, 86
Kalakeyas, 86
Kalidasa, 5, 72
Kalpas, 2
Kamadeva, 48, 49
Kandan hills, 85
Kagdu, 21, 36
Kapila, 36, 57, 58
Kapila (Yahlanoi), 46
Karabhafijana, 40, 41
*

IDASPATI, 19
Idhma, 19
Idhmajihva, 39, 50,
identified with Ishmi Dagon,
51

93

INDEX
Kukkubha, 76

Karachi, 45

Kulindas, 87

Kardam, 27
Kardama, 8,

16, 19, 20, 27, 31,

Kulya, 45

Kumuda,

37
18

Kas'yapa, 8,
Kautilya, 29
Kavi, 19, 37, 40, 41
Keith, 24, 25, 27, 33, 37,43,44,
49, 52, 64, 82, 88
Kenya, 71

Ketumala, 39, 43, 44, 49

identified with Hititte coun-

49
Khalkhas, 36
Kheops, Kshupa, 82
try,

Khnumu,

46, 56

Kurukara (Karakoram), 45
Kuranga (Kuenlen), 45
Kuru, 39, 43, 44
Kus'a-dvipa, 37, 44, 56

Seven Varshas of, 56

Mountains of, 57-58
Rivers of, 58
Kus'avarta, 40, 43
Kusha, 82

Kusumba (Hindu-kush), 45
Kutaka, 42

Khorasan, 51
Khyati, 37
Kikata, 40, 43, 44

LAKSHMI,

Kimpurusha, 9, 39, 43, 44, 79

Kinnaras, 9, 12, 16, 27, 41, 66
Kirtiman, 20
Kizil Irraan, 52
Konkaija, 42
Koraka, 43
Kovveli, 58
Kratu, 16
Krauficha-dvipa, 37, 44, 59
Seven Varshas of, 59
;

of,

60

Krlta, 16

Kriya, 20
Krodha, 16

Kronstadt, 59
Krshfla, 35, 67

Krshgangana, 48
Krtamala, the, 85
Kshetna and Shamash, 50, 52
Kshemaka, 50
Kshema Varsha, 53
Kshlradhara, identified, 88
KshlrOda, 61,62, 83
Kubera, 9, 12, 26, 27,46,48,
82 seats of, 86
Kuhu, 56
;

78, 81

Mountains

6, 19,

Lang, Andrew,

33

Lankfl, 50
Laristan, 53

Lata, 39
Lavaija-samudra, 50, 51
Layard, 45

Lempriere, 17, 38, 54, 60, 62,

65, 67, 73, 74, 75, 78
Lena, 62
Lhassa, 48
Libya, 55
Limmu, 56
Lithuania, 59
Lob, 19
Lohitarna, 59
LokapSlas, 45, 46, 47, 63, 65

M
MACDONELL,

A., 22, 24, 25, 27,

33,37,43,44,49,52,64,82,88
Mackenzie, Donald A., 7
Madhuchchhandas, son of Vis'vfimitra, 5

Madhukulya, 58
Madhuvaha, 59

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

94

Madhuvana, 25
Magadha, 43, 44
Mahabharata, 4, 8, 9, 12, 14,
17,20,24,27,46,49,80,81,85
Mabakalpas, 2
Mahanasa, 61
Mahasamkalpas, 2
Mahavira, 37
Mahayugas, 2
Mahenjo Daro, 7
Maitri, 20
Malayaketu, 40, 43
Malayavan, 49
Malayavat, 4tf
Mandara Mountain; 34, 39, 46, 48
Mandeharuija, 50
Mandhatr, 83
Mandara, 58

85

Mantramala, 58

Marmora, Sea

of,

10

of, 5 1

Marshall, Sir John, 73

Maspero, 26, 48, 52, 56, 64, 69,

70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, 78, 80,
81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88
Maurya period, 13

Mauryas,

3,

Moldavia, 59
Moroco, 55
Mukunda, 56
Murti, 20, 21, 41

Nabhl, Varshadhara, 39, 57

Nagas See also Garudas, 41,
49, 66, 81, 83, 84

Manthotpu and Amosis, 83

Manvfidi festival, dates

Manvantaras, 2, 10, 27
Manavas, 9, 12, 27
Marriage, forms of, 9
Marlchi, 8, 16, 19
Marisha, 21. 24, 36

Modern Review, The, 59

Nabheya, 40

Manovati, 46
8, 16,

Mitra, 8
Mitravinda, 58
Moab, 19

NABHASVATI, 34

Maijikuta, 50, 53
Manojava, 61

Manu,

Meros, 73
Meru, 12, 39, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49,
65, 73, 88
Merudevi, 39
Mesapotamia, 73
Mesh a (Assyrian King), 50
Meshadroija, 75

30

Maxmiiller, 7
Maya, 41

Medhfl, 20

Meditarranean Sea, 51, 60, 65

Megara, 58
Meghamala, 50
Mehaprshtha, 59
Merkhunch, 53

Namuci, 8
Nandana, 60
Nandanavana,
Nandas, 3, 30

12,

46

Nandis'vara, 22, 24
Nara, 21, 41
Narada, 16, 25, 26
Naras, 41
Narasimha, 48

Narayaija, 21, 33, 41, 77, 78

Nari, 39

Naubandhana, 85

N ail pal a,

58
42
Nimi, 41,
NimlSchani, 45
Nimrod, 45
Nimrud, 86
Nirrti, 47, 48
Nirukta, 43
Nishada, 33
Nishadha (Thian Shan), 45
Nebo, 52
i

INDEX

95

Nehbandan, 85
Neybandan, 85

Prachinabarhi (King), 24, 36

Prachinabarhi II, 35

62
Nijadhrti, 61,
Nijnaia, 62
Nile, 56, 74, 75, 80

Pradyumna, 8

Nivatakavachas, 86

Pramlocha", 21, 36
Prajapatis, 7, 9, 10, 16 (Ten
Chief) and twenty-one in all,
16
Prftjapatya period, 13, 31
Prasuti, 19

O
Oldernberg, 43
Onega, 61
Orentis, 53

Pratirupa, 39
Pratosha, 19
Priyavrata, 25, 28, 30, 37, 38
and the seven islands, 38
44, 50, 51

Othrys, 58
the,

87

PADMAKALPA,

Pramaganda, 44

OCEANUS, 37

Oxus,

Prahalada, 33

Panjab, 7

Para Tankanas, 87
Paribarha (Propria Barbari), 55
Parushni, identified, 88
Parvatii 13
Pasupas, 87
Pan, 75
Pampa Saras, 48
Panchajanya, 50
Panchapari, 61, 62
Paractecene, 62

Patanka (Peling),
Pavaka, 21
Pavamana, 21

45, 46, 50

Petchora, 61
Pindus, 58
Pippalayana, 40, 41
Pipru, 69
Pitr-Devas, 21, 22, 33
Flaksha-dvipa, 37, 38, 44, 50,

51,54
Pliny, 73
Porus, 3

Prabuddha, 40, 41
Prachetas, 16
Prachetasas (Ten), 21, 32, 35,
36

Prthu, 32, 33, 34

Pulaha, 8, 16
Pulastya, 8, 9, 16
Puranas, study of, a primary
step for Indian History, 1

4,5
Purojava, 61
Pururavas, 12
Purushasukta, 31
Purvachitti, 39

Purva-Devas, 8, 11
Pushan, 8
Pushkaradvipa (Bokhara),
37, 44, 62, 65
Pushpavarsha, 56
Pushji, 20
Pyrenees, the,

RA

(Sun

Kaetia,

Ragozii

Rahugs
Raivatal
Rajani,

Raka,
Rakshasas,

Rama,

79"

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

96

Ramman

(Assyrian god), 52

S'ambhu, 13
Sarhkalpas, 2
Samtosha, 19

Ramaflaka, 44, 50, 55, 62

Rantayaija, 12, 14
Ramya, 39
Ramyaka, 39, 43, 44
Ras, 56
Rasakulya, 58
Ratchin, 56
Ravaiia, 9
Rawlinson, 74

Red

Samyamani,
S andill, 46

Sarikarshaija, 48
S'arikha (Khingan), 46

Sanatkumflra, 34
S'anta, 50, 52, 53
S'anti, 19, 20
Sap tar sh is, 10

Rhone, the, 61

Sarabat, 54
Sarai, 19

the, 58
5, 27, 32, 33, 44,

Rg-Veda,
60,69
ROchana, 19
Rshabha, 39,
'

48

Sangarius, 53

Sea, 51

Rhouphia,

45,

Saranda Po tarn us, 58

Sarasvati, 19, 20, 25, 33, 56
S'aravana, 87

40, 42, 43, 44,

Sarayu, 27

68, 71

Rshbhanatha, 40
Rshijya, 59
Rtambhara, 50

S'armishtha,
Sargon, 68
Sarisoo, 62

Sarvatobhadra, 60

Ruchi, 19
Rudra, 7, 35

ffatadruti, 35
S'atarupS, 19, 25

Rudra-Glta, 36
Russia, 59, 60

Satapatha Brahtnana> 22
S'atasrnga, 56
Sail (Self-immolation), 34
Satit,

SA, 76

Sabdakalpadrunia,

10, 16, 23,

60, 76, 77, 78

Sadhyas, 41
Sahasrasrota, 61
Sahasrasrti, 61, 62

Sakadvlpa, 37, 44, 61

Varshas of, 61
Rivers

of,

Mountains

61

62
8
S'akra,
Sagara (King), 50
of,

S'almalidvlpa, 37, 44

Somali, 54 ;
Rivers of, 56

Mountains
S'ambara,

78

S'atrughna, 25

8,

of,

69

56

70, 83,

84

Satyambhara, 50
Satyanga, 50
Satyavrata, 57
Saumanasya, (Sonan), 55, 56
Savana, 37
Savitr, 8
Savitrl, 50
Schliemann, 7
Sebu, 56
Semada, 56
Servia, 59
Shamsh- Raman, 52
Shargani-Shar-Ali, 67, 68
Shumin, 69
Siddhida, 20
Siddhipada, 20

INDEX
S'ikhaijdini,

Svarochisha Manu, 10
SvarOchisha-Manvantara, 18, 28

34

Sithhala, 50
Simvali, 56
(Teitsihar), 45 f

S'is'ira

97

Svayambhuva Manu,
46

S'itivasa (Stanavoi), 46
Siut, 80
S'iva, 50, 52

Smyrna, 53
Sobat, 56
Sogdiana, 63
S5ma, 21

2, 9, 18,

19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30,

31,37
Sweden, 59
S'yama, 39
Syene, 56
Syria, See also Sura, Assyria
Syria and Assyria, 49, 64,
65, 66

Soudan, 54
Sonmiyan Bay, 45
Squire, C., 8

Sraddha, 20
Sraddhadeva, 85
Sraddhavati, 48
S'ramaijas, 41
Sridhara, 19
Srmafla, 50, 53, 54
S'rutavinda, 58
Sthanu, 16

Subhadra, 50, 52

Subhadra Varsha (and Kabarda),

52

TAMASA Manvantara,
Tarim, the, 87
Tankanas, 87
Taurus range, 53
TejOvati, 46
Thessalia, 57
Thessaly, 58
Thracia, 57
Tigris, the, 53
Tilak, B. G., 46

Suchi, 21

Time, Aryan sense

Sudama, 59
Sudeva, 19
S'ukla, 35, 60
Sumris (Vedic Chumri), 68
Supars^va, 46
Suprabhata, 50
Sura (Syria), 64
Suras, 16, 33, 41, 64
Suras and Asuras, 64, 66
Surochana (Sura), 55
Surdda, Sahara and Soudan,

Titiksha, 20
T6sha, 19

55,60

28

Taraka (Asura), 87

of,

2-3

Trikuta ("Irkutsk), 45
Topolias (Lake), 57

Trojan War, 7
Troy, 7
Turasu, 82
Turvasu, 82
Turkey, 53, 54
Tushitas and Yama Devas, 18
Tushti, 20
Tyrrhenian Sea, 59

Suruchi, 25, 26, 28

Sushija, 69
Sutras, 3

Svadha, 20, 21
Svaha, 20
Svarasa, 56
Svarijaprastha, 50
13

UBHAYA

Vrshti, 61, 62

Ugadi (Yugadi), 83
Ugradamshtra, 39
Unnati, 20

THE CRADLE OF INDIAN HISTORY

98

Upabarhatja, 60
Upendra, 18, 22

{jrdhvarQma, 57, 58
Ural range, 61
Uranus, 37
(Jrjasvatl, 37
Ornsriiga, 61
Usfcnas, 37
Usinara, Usirnari Anu, 81
Usirtasen, See Arishtasepa
Uttama, 23, 25, 26, 28

Uttflnapada, 25

VishSijins, 52

Vishnu, 6, 8, 13,
avatars of, twenty-one, 16
Vishijupuraija, 18, 20, 25
Vis'vachflra, 61
Vis'vachi, 12
Visvasft Satra, 21, 24
Vis'vatObhadra, 47
Vivasvan, 8
Vrika, 34

Vrshabba (Asura), 68
Vrshaparva, 12
Vrysia, 58

W
VAHNI,

19

Vaibhrajaka, 47
Vaidurya (Verkhoianok), 46
Vaikamkata (Vitim), 45
Vaivasvata Manu, 10, 11, 29,
30, 77
VSjapeya Sacrifice, 22
VajrakQta, Identified with
Bazargotcha, 50, 53
Valdai hills, 60
Vamadeva, 56, 57
Vankapata, 42, 43
Varahapuraqa, 17
Vardhamana, 60
Varkshi, 20
Varuna, 5, 8, 45, 46, 48, 62
Vasava, 6
Vasishtha, 16
Vasudeva, 57
Vasus, 6, 7, 13

Vayu,
Vena,

48
20, 32
31,

Vepamana, 61
Vernoe, 45
Vibhu, 19
Vidharbha, 40, 43
Vinata, 8
Vipra, 57
Virajas, 20
Visttlfi, 39

WALACHIA, 59
Weber, 43, 44

YAjffA, 18

Yajnabahu, 55
YajSadeva, 19
YajSaghnaghna and Rbhu
Devas, 23
YajSapurusha, 39, 40
Yakshas, 9 16, 26, 41, 47,
66, 83
f

Yama, 5,
48,62

13, 16, 31, 45, 46,

18, 19
25, 33

YSma-devas,

Yamuna,

Yas'asya, 50, 52
Yas'asya Varsha, same as
Yezd, 52
YasOvatI, 48
Yaska, 43, 44
YaySti, 12

Yekandach, 56
Yensei, the, 62
Yugadi, 28
Yugas, 2

Z
ZAB,

the,

53

Ziggurat, 76

48