Author: Manju Gupta
Publication: Organiser
Date: June 6, 2004
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=26&page=27
Once Upon a Time by Sudhakar Raje,
Babasaheb Apte Samarak Samiti, 180 pp, Rs 100.00
Sudhakar Raje with painstaking effort
has culled into some 200 pages the pre-Islamic Hindu history of the non-
Muslim West Asia. He begins his book by saying that "icons, temples and
scriptures (along with the language in which they are written) are evident,
recognisable relics of the imprint Hindu influence has left on the world."
Quoting Anwar Shaikh, a Pakistani Muslim scholar who, referring to Manu
Smriti, has said, "Here is a Vedic law which clearly shows Vedic influence
on the Middle Eastern culture and the Reformation that took place in Europe,"
the author says that the most modern imprint is that of the amazing progress
of ancient Hindus who achieved in the sciences ranging from mathematics
to medicine, from astronomy to engineering."
The book starts with Hindu influence
in the hoary past in south-eastern Turkey at Nevali Cori. Prof. Herald
Hauptmann of Germany, through excava-tion had come across "well planned
massive structures, almost competing in finesse with the imposing architecture
of the Assyrians who lived in the region thousands of year later. They
are erected in staight lines and at right angles, like villas, with stone
blocks. . . There was also an ancient form of air-condition-ing in each
building. This was achieved though gaps in the floor, below which water
from a stream in the region could be made to flow."
In Baluchistan is an island called
Satadwipa where a Kali temple has been found and so is another temple of
Mahadeva. This north-western region was a bustling centre of international
trade during the heydays of the Indus Valley civilisation.
Archaeological research has resulted
in discovery of protohistoric sites in Afghanistan that prove its close
religio- cultural affinity with Hindu India. The author shows how references
to Afghansitan, its rivers and towns are found in Rig Veda and that Ghazni
had Hindu origin. What makes for moving reading is the reference to the
two world-famous colossal statues of Buddha at Bamiyan, 53 and 35 metres
tall, carved out of cliffs-"the remains that no longer remain"-thanks to
the Taliban vandals who indulged in this wanton act because Islam required
them to be butshikan (idol breakers).
The Iranian connection with Vedic
India is traced back to the Rig Veda. The author quotes from Collecting
the pebles Hibermicus written by Sir William Jones, "It has been proved
by clear evidence and plain reasoning that a powerful monarchy was established
in Iran long before the Assyrian or Pishdadi government, that it was truly
a Hindu monarchy... that it subsisted many centuries, and that its history
has been ingrafted on that of the Hindus who founded the monarchies of
Ayodhya and Indraprastha."
Talking about the land between the
two rivers-the Euphrates and Tigris, the author says ancient artefacts
found in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) point to the link with Vedic Hindus.
Seals found in Sumeria of Mesopotamia are similar to those found at Mohenjodaro.
Even Syria is said to have a Hindu
past, so much so that it derived its name from Surya or Sun.
Arabia, the homeland of Islam has
a long and rich Hindu pre-history. Arabia stands for Arabastan which is
a distortion of Sanskrit name Asvasthan meaning the land of horses. He
explains how Guru Nanak even said that Kaba (in Mecca) was a Shiva temple.
Hind was a popular name among pre-Islamic Arabs. One of Mohammed´s
many wives was named Hind.
Discussing Egypt´s Hindu heritage,
the author says that hieroglyphs of Middle East and Indus Valley civilisations
were similar, and has quoted French historian, who has said that "Egyptians
of those times considered that Osiris had originally come from India, the
land of Shiva."
The author through his book has
succeeded in presenting a review of the pre-Islamic past a what is now
known as the West Asia, broadly tracing the near-westward spread of Hindu
religion, culture and civilisation in ancient times. "The pre-Islamic Hindu
history of the non-Muslim West Asia appears to have begun at least 9,000
years ago and it continued literally for millenniums, at last coming to
an end on the day Mohammad inaugurated Islam, with the destruction of the
Hindu shrine of Kaba."
The author has aptly concluded his
book by quoting Arnold Toynbee who had said, "It has already become clear
that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have an Indian ending.
At this supremely dangerous moment in human history, the only way of salvation
for makind is the Indian way."
(Babasaheb Apte Samarak Samiti,
7 Madhusudan, Playground Road, Vile Parle (E), Mumbai-400 057.)
