|
|
It is surprising that in spite of a lot of advancement made by the peoples of the Indian subcontinent, our history depends
on mythology to trace our roots. Initial mitochondrial as well as Y-chromosome DNA analysis of a few Indian, Pakistani and
Nepalese samples indicate that this subcontinent fell in way of three early human migratory routes. The first took place nearly
50 to 80 thousand years ago, and it made humans reach the Australian continent. This oldest migration route follows the coast
line of the land which respectively now is known as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia,
Indonesia and Australia. The sea level at that time was lower than what it is now, and it made the task of the migratory early
humans easier. The other two migratory routes took a detour through north India to respectively reach China and Mongolia.
Professor Spencer Wells traces the steps of all these routes in his book The Journey of Man. The modern human inhabitants
of Europe reached there around 20 thousand years back from Turkey and Siberia; and there is no genetic evidence to suggest
that the Europeans majorly re-migrated to anywhere in Asia and Africa before the advent of the Greek civilization. Alexander
the Great when faced King Darius II of Persia, he principally was fighting an army commanded by Greek mercenaries. Alexander
definitely reached the Indus and surveyed the other side of the great river and traveled down to reach the Arabian Sea with
a part of his army disbanded and left behind. Historical studies suggest that Kashmiris originated from the Jewish people.
But the work of Professor Wells (in collaboration with now-infamous Dr. A. Q. Khan's research laboratories) fails to find
such a link. The Kashmiris call themselves people of Kasheur. In several old European languages the word cashier (casseer,
casseir) means disband (troops). Many Kalash customs and their women's headgear still strongly resemble the ones of the ancient
Greeks. Even the Laddakhi women wear similar flower-basket headgear on ceremonial occasions.
The documentation by Alexander's chroniclers does not make a mention of Buddha; though Jain-like mendicants are mentioned.
Much before Alexander, Taxila was full of private schools which taught travelers following the silk route, local skills and
languages. Undoubtedly, places like Taxila were points of cultural contact between the rising Europeans and the peoples on
the eastern side of Indus.
The Indus valley cities are neatly constructed with pucca bricks, but they always lack any temples or congregational structures.
Even today, our export processing zones show the same deficiency. The mushrooming traders busy in trade with Phoenicians merchants
came out with their unique signatures; our illiterate bidi merchants show the same penchant with their ingenious trademarks.
A bearded Narendra Modi still bears a strong resemblance to the famous sculpture of the bearded Indus-valley priest.
Indus valley was clearly a happening place. Chanakya travelled from somewhere in central India to Taxila to study. Even Chandragupta
Maurya was hovering near Alexander's camp, far away from his native Pataliputra! Was he like Jawaharlal Nehru leaving no chance
to meet world leaders even prior 1947 -- he went to meet the Bolsheviks and attended one of their functions? The name Jawaharlal
has roots in modern Persian, not in Sanskrit. Was the name Chandragupta a synthesized name in a new language, namely Sanskrit,
getting fashionable in those times? We had a Nepalese assistant who changed his name from his original Namdev Sapkota to Nand
Lal Sharma.
If Buddha had such a sweeping influence, why does not he find a mention by Alexander's scribes? Was he just a small-time philosopher
elevated to international status by the diplomatic campaigns of Ashoka? Had Sanjay Gandhi lived on, could he have turned Dhirendra
Brahmachari into an international icon? Do not forget, Ashoka was known as Chandashoka in his youth for his love for violence.
In the very interiors of Nepal, the Vedas exist in printed form; and the printing takes place in Varanasi. The place is two
days trek from Baglung, without roads, without electricity and with just one newly installed telephone at a government school.
There are witches who are sentenced to be murdered by local panchayats.
During Durga Pujas in West Bengal, the priests need the services of prompters to maintain accuracy. Banning of the prompting
some years back raised a furore; the accuracy of the recitations became suspect in the absence of customary prompting.
Though it is believed that the Vedas were consigned to the collective memories of the priests, there are material evidences
of their being in written form too. The Pippalada branch of learning wrote some of them in the 13th century.
In the last decade of the eighteenth century, William Carey stayed in Bengal for three years and took the services of one
Rama Rama Bose to supervise three Brahmin scholars to chronicle the Vedas. Little is known about the authenticity and sincerity
of this mission, as Reverend Carey was an ordinary Christian priest on a paid mission. Max Mueller never once visited India
in his lifetime. He only worked with the copies collected by William Carey and the East India Company.
Al Biruni in the eleventh century in his thesis on the Indians called us Al Hind, and that is how we came to be known as Hindoo
or Hindu. Hind is a mispronunciation of Sind; as sapta is hepto in Greek, and saptah is haphta in Persian. Al Biruni used
to operate from a centre of learning in Herat (now in Afghanistan), established by Mahmood Ghaznavi. He visited the Indian
mainland along with the marauding emperor. He also had the advantage of staying closer to India and meeting and interviewing
many Indian travellers and traders at Heart too. He used to read to them the works by western scholars like Plato. He observes
that the Indians used to take notes. But those notes used to differ considerably from the originals. They were adapted to
Indian readership, with terms and contexts changed.
There is a considerable degree of difference between the social practices of the priestly class (the Brahmins) of different
regions of India. Tamil Brahmins use a lead vessel (eeyamchumb) to sweeten their rasam (soup), while Dogra Brahmins savour
a strong local cheese which to Indian palette is akin to rotten curdled milk. The marital preferences also differ drastically;
while maternal uncle is a natural choice for the Tamilians irrespective of their caste, north Indian Brahmins like to make
a definite non-incestuous alliance. The basic pronunciation of Sanskrit also is governed by local dialects spoken by the Brahmin
priest. The preliminary genetic analysis of various castes in India also indicates that peoples of the same caste staying
in different regions are not of common ancestry.
It seems more likely that castes formed of an uncertain freezing of social classes. A community of pattal makers called Dusaliye
in Jammu region claims their origins from a Kshatriya ancestor who migrated from the north Indian plains. Now they find themselves
to backward status. Emperor Shivaji's elevation to the status of a Kshatriya is well known. Conversely is the demotion of
travelling ironmongers of Rajasthan from Maharana Pratap's warriors to a dubious socially less acceptable group.
Our fast-acquired skills as BPO workers and call-centre operators speaking fluent functional English seems to have turned
us into an English-speaking nation. William James initially was amazed to see a lot of similarity between Greek and Sanskrit.
As, due to the oral tradition hypothesis, it seemed that even Greek was a derivative of Sanskrit. The discovery of the new
language became so important to the Europeans that in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion there is a mention of wax recordings
of that exotic language from the East. The authenticity of the great oral tradition becomes suspect not only in view of the
illustrations cited above, but also after advancements in Linguistics and Psychology. A verbatim memorization of the Vedas
for a period of around three millennia by nearly 90 generations of priests is untenable. That too in the complete absence
of any alphabet during the first millennium of this assumed tradition. Alphabet is necessary for the freezing of a text; a
language is an evolving medium; it can carry ideas and stories but is never faithful to the last word.
Known history of Indian kings begins with Chandragupta Maurya, grandfather of Ashoka. We gather that Chandragupta Maurya displaced
the Nandas. Strangely, beginning from the Nandas to the Pratiharas, all the major dynasties in India were not of Kshatriya
origin. This period spans nearly 1500 years. So, where were the Suryavanshi and Chandravanshi Kshatriyas during those years?
The emergence of major stone sculpture, coinage and use of alphabet in India dates post Alexander. All the major writings
with authorship took place in the first millennium A. D. We do not even know the name of the Seleucid princess who was given
in marriage to Chandragupta Maurya. However, that does not mean that she and her entourage did not influence central Indian
culture. Ashoka was the first known Indian king to send emissaries to foreign courts. The emergence of India as a kingdom
has parallels with the post-independence contemporary India. Ashokan India's USP was Buddha, Buddha and Buddha all the way;
and it did work out well with the neighbours. But does it also mean that Ashoka very well knew that he could not embellish
anything else to impress the foreign courts. The rest of the things were already known to them? So did Ashoka discover Buddha?
A general study of contemporary Indian surnames and gotras reveal that they evolve, mutate and adapt. Like Bhatias, for instance,
are in Sindh considered being separate and noble, while in Punjab they are simply a group different from the Aroras and the
Khatris. Kushwahas in Rajasthan are noble; while in eastern U. P. they are backward and considered non-Kshatriya. However,
a rich and well-placed Kushwaha family from eastern U. P. can gradually strike marital alliances with central U. P. better-placed
Kushwaha families and graduate into being accepted as part of the Kshatriya clan. But this is slightly jeopardized if that
family wants to keep taking the advantages of job reservation for them. It appears that the preparing of schedules by the
British and the resultant handicaps given to the weaker groups has resulted in the quantification of the castes. Caste identities
now seem to have lost their earlier medieval seamless nature: take, for example, Solankis in western India have Jats as well
as Kshatriyas vouching for distinction.
Gotras are very interesting to study. All the Brahmins bear distinct Sanskritic gotras, claiming the descent from or tutorship
of a Brahmin sage. Highly placed Kshatriyas, the Suryavanshis and the Chandravanshis, always have the privilege of have Sanskritic
gotras. But fringe Kshatriyas have sometimes their mythological or real ancestor as their gotra name, which many a time is
non-Sanskritic. Vaishyas are mostly not so particular about Sanskritic purity; like the gotra of a Bansal is Bansal. Many
Jat families have their clan names passing off as gotra. Many present-day backward castes, like the Sainis of Haryana have
animal names passing off as Gotras, like, Buteral and Kagal. This custom is close to the Adivasi custom of ascribing one totem
name derived either from some animal, bird, plant or tree to every family, like Lakra among the Oraons is a tiger. Migrant
families from the Punjab now in Pakistan are supplied the Gotra called Kushal by the priest if they themselves happen to be
ignorant of their actual gotra. The Kushalanis among Sindhis definitely lay a claim over this gotra. Now this Kushal was said
to be a king, and not a Sanscritic priest.
The author's gotra is said to be Vishnu Maharishi, which seems to be an effort to induct Buddhist Bengalis into mainstream
Hinduism in the medieval years, as Buddha is considered to be an avatar of Vishnu. Therefore, it seems that gotras and surnames
had almost been available off the shelf since the quite early in our history; one only needed to have the paying capacity
or the ability to move to look for the shelf.
Almost all the Indians fail to trace their ancestry with valid documentary proof beyond past 500 years. All the royal families
are of post-Islamic-rule or post-Shivaji extraction; with the only exception being the rulers of the State of Cochin and Travancore.
All the priestly families can only show some tattered handwritten shlokas in Sanskrit, which again are by no chance more than
a thousand-year old. The tamrapatras (copper plates) showing dana (conferring) are all by known non-Kshatriya kings or little-known
vassals with big names.
Finally, the understanding of ourselves as people who are not at all isolated from the rest of the world, and who have thrived
on the common land of three distinct human migratory trails which produced two great peoples; the Central Asians and the Chinese.
A thorough genetic placement of the Indian human genetic material would further help all of us to lose fabled or projected
past Identities and images and to help us form a culturally fairer society. A cultural detachment may be needed initially
to try to separate mythology from chronology, so that we emerge as self-respecting people fully understanding and sharing
a global ancestry.
|
|
|