Posts by "Indian Cultural Diffusion"
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on June 07, 2021 7

Orion and Kartikeya

Of all the constellations that embellish the night sky, it is Orion which is probably the most conspicuous and easily recognizable one. Since the Orion constellation lies on the celestial equator, just south of the ecliptic, it can be seen from any part of the world. 

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on May 09, 2019 6
The Ankh was one of the most popular symbols of Egypt, symbolizing “life” or the “breath of life”. It’s a very ancient symbol, dating from the Early Dynastic Period (c.3150 – 2613 BCE), and appears widely in inscriptions and iconographic art. Relief carvings often depict gods holding the ankh at the nose of the pharaoh and conferring on him the “breath of life” or “eternal life”. It, thus, represented the life-giving powers of the deities.
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on October 05, 2018 37
Note: This article has been published in the New Dawn Magazine, Issue 172 and the Graham Hancock's website.

Recently, on Oct 1, 2018, the BBC ran a story[1] about the discovery of hundreds of petroglyphs i.e. rock carvings in the Ratnagiri and Rajapur area of the state of Maharashtra in western India. Many of these petroglyphs are very large, which have been etched on the rocky, flat hilltops.
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on March 29, 2017 30
Bull-Leaping

 My interest in the Minoan civilization of Crete was sparked when I noted a conspicuous parallel between the Indus and Minoan cultures – that of the popularity of the sport of bull-leaping. Indus seals from c.2600 BCE onwards show acrobats leaping over a bull, while in Cretan art bull-leaping appears at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age in c.1700 BCE.
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on January 13, 2017 16
Note: This article has been published in Esamskriti.
 
Bull-Leaping on Indus Seals
 
Jumping over a bull was a popular sport amongst the Indus people. A seal from Banawali (c.2300 – 1700 BCE) shows an acrobat leaping over a bull. Another seal from Mohenjo-Daro (c.2600 – 1900 BCE) depicts two people participating in the sport simultaneously: one person jumps from the back of the bull and lands in front, and is shown in various stages of leaping, while another person jumps from the front.
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on November 22, 2016 5
Note: This article has been published on Esamskriti.

In the Hindu legend of the Churning of the Milky Ocean, the gods and the demons churned the Milky Ocean in order to acquire the Nectar of Immortality. In this grand spectacle, Vishnu, the preserver of the cosmic order, had taken the form of a massive tortoise (Kurma Avatar) in the middle of the Milky Ocean. His humped shell acted as a pivot for Mount Mandara or Mount Meru, which served as the churning stick, while the serpent Vasuki was the cord for the churn.
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on October 14, 2016 7
The Olmec Heads 

A long-standing enigma surrounding the Olmec civilization is the significance of the colossal stone heads found at the Olmec sites. Till date, 17 monumental stone heads have been recovered; 16 from the Olmec ceremonial centers at San Lorenzo, La Venta, and Tres Zapotes, and a solitary one - the La Cobata head - which is also the largest, from a mountain pass in Sierra de los Tuxtlas. The La Cobata head weights nearly 40 tons while the smallest one is close to 6 tons.
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on August 31, 2016 26
Note: This article has been published on Graham Hancock's website.

The Olmec Yogis 

A few years back, in course of a long trip through Mexico, I had visited the La Venta Museum in Villahermosa. The open-air museum has an enticing collection of Olmec sculpture, including three colossal Olmec stone heads. The artifacts had been moved here from the Olmec settlement of La Venta in western Tabasco when petroleum exploration in La Venta threatened the safety of these rare archaeological specimens.
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on June 22, 2015 9
Note: This article has been published on eSamskriti.


Pagodas are a dominant and attractive feature of the cultural landscape of China. These towering, multi-tiered structures generally have an odd number of tiers (between 3 and 15) signifying the many levels of heaven inhabited by the Buddhas.
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on August 16, 2014 10

Note: This article has been published on the Graham Hancock website.

Background

A number of ancient historical sources speak of a heroic person of extraordinary abilities, Hercules, who had traveled across the world in the ancient times, destroying evil monsters and laying the foundations of civilization. He built massive fortified cities in distant lands, started royal dynasties, and established the institutions of astronomy and priesthood. As a result of his many incredible acts of strength, courage, piety, and benevolence he was deified after death and raised to the status of the gods. 

The statements of the Greek historians indicate that Hercules was a native of India, and was none other than Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna. This assertion is supported by many symbolic connections between these two heroes, as well as a major overlap between the labours of Hercules and the extraordinary childhood feats of the brother deities Krishna-Balaram. I had written about this in a previous article titled, "Hercules and Balarama: The Symbolic and Historical Connections". In a subsequent article titled: "The Legendary Exploits of Hercules-Balarama in Rome, Egypt, and Mesopotamia", I had explored his remarkable feats in distant lands, and shown how all of them conform to his identity as Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna.

Some of his most significant achievements were in Egypt, which was been largely ignored by modern historians. The ancient Greek and Roman sources relate that, when Hercules-Balarama arrived in Egypt, he had stopped a flood on the Nile which was threatening to go out of control. He, then, deposed of a tyrant king called Busiris, and established his own son Ramesses (also known as Aegyptus) on the throne of Egypt. It was from the name of his son Aegyptus that Egypt derived its name. Hercules's arrival in Egypt initiated a new phase in Egyptian history, which corresponds to the Naqada I Period (c. 4000 BC-3500 BC) of Predynastic Egypt.
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on August 05, 2014 9
Background 

Legends and folklores from around the world speak of a heroic person of immense strength, courage, justice and piety, called Hercules, who had roamed the world in the ancient times, and played a significant role in slaying evil monsters, founding important cities and in establishing the institutions of monarchy and priesthood.
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on April 27, 2014 14
Background

 The statements of the Greek historians such as Arrian and Diodorus Siculus (who were quoting from the still earlier works of Megasthenes), indicate quite clearly that the legendary hero Hercules was a "native of India", and that he was none other than Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna. Oriental scholars, such as Captain Francis Wilford and Colonel James Tod, have provided further insights in support of this association, while my own research has revealed more commonalities between these heroic personalities.
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on March 06, 2014 10

Sometime around c.305 BC, the Greek geographer and explorer Megasthenes arrived at the court of the Indian emperor Chandragupta Maurya at Pataliputra (modern Patna). He was sent as an ambassador by Seleucus Nicator of the Seleucid dynasty, with whom Chandragupta Maurya had entered into a treaty and matrimonial alliance. During his stay in India, Megasthenes compiled the book Indica - a commentary on the geography, social traditions, and religious customs of India. Although, the original work of Megasthenes is no longer available, later Greek historians such as Arrian and Diodorus Siculus have referred to Indica in their works, from where we can gather snippets of some very important observations made by Megasthenes regarding the presence of Hercules in India.

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on June 08, 2013 18

In Hinduism, Lord Vishnu is widely regarded as the Supreme Creator. In religious iconography he is shown reclining on the coils of a gigantic, seven-hooded serpent called Ananta-Sesha, in the middle of the cosmic milky ocean.

 Both Vishnu and Ananta-Sesha and are eternally present through the periodic cosmic cycles of creation and destruction. The Vishnu Purana states that at the end of a “Day of Brahma”, when the entire creation has been dissolved, and the world has been converted into one vast ocean, “the Supreme reposes upon his mighty serpent couch amidst the deep: he awakes after a season, and again, as Brahma, becomes the author of creation.”[i]
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on January 27, 2012 38
Note: This article has been published in the Graham Hancock website, Cycle of Time, and Esamskriti.

There are many similarities between Amun, the all-powerful Creator god of the ancient Egyptians (with his primary center of worship at Thebes), and Krishna, the Supreme Creator of the Indians. Both of them were blue-complexioned, wore “feathers in their head-dress” and were depicted with a “sacred river” emerging from their feet. In addition, the grand Opet festival of Karnak, which was celebrated over a period of 24-27 days during the season of the flooding of the Nile, is identical in form and spirit to the Jagannath Ratha Yatra festival that is still celebrated every year at the coastal town of Puri, India. I had discussed these connections in detail in a previous article titled “Krishna Worship and Rathyatra Festival in Ancient Egypt?".
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on June 23, 2011 54
Note: This article has been published in the Viewzone magazine and the Graham Hancock website.

Petra, the ‘rose red city, half as old as time’, located in modern day Jordan, is undoubtedly one of the most dramatic archaeological sites of the world. In a recently conducted Internet poll, it was voted by internet users as one of the ‘seven wonders of the modern world’. In this abandoned city, which lies hidden behind impenetrable mountains and gorges, magnificent rock-cut temples and palaces have been carved into towering cliffs of red and orange sandstone. The most famous of these structures is the ‘Al Khasneh’ (or the ‘Treasury’), which was made famous in an Indiana Jones film.
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on March 13, 2011 36
Note: This article has been published on the Iskcon News site, the Graham Hancock website, eSamskriti, Satyameva Jayate and the Viewzone Magazine.


Amun and Krishna

An interesting piece of information caught my attention during my journey across the sacred sites of Egypt in early 2010. During the light and sound show in the magnificent temple complex of Karnak, I heard a voice booming over the loudspeakers: “I am Amon-Ra...The waters of the Nile sprout from my sandals.” As soon as I heard this, I was reminded of the Creator God Vishnu in Hinduism. In the typical depiction of Vishnu in Hindu iconography, the sacred river Ganges is shown emerging from the toe of Vishnu, while in Egypt the waters of the Nile sprout from the sandals of Amun.
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