Chronology of Indian History --Newer discussions

Just trying to understand your logic ....asur a symbolic( negative) name was developed later in Indian literature which was taken later by persian ..pointing towards east west movement .....


My question was why this symbolic negative name was willingly taken as a proud identity by persians Kings ?


Answer is simple... this was not a negative identity or some symbolism or a word created by simply adding A to Soor to denote a negative meaning.



I think Ranbir confused Shauur an Urdu word that mean salika which people use in villages with word Soor used for dev.

I did not quite write that it was negative throughout as Dev also got called asur -

"Some Vedic dieties that are regarded as Dev were also Asur in Rig Ved. Agni is asur (III.3.4, IV.2.4, X.15.1) as it emits smoke, Varun is asur (I.24.14, II.27.10) as he is the lord of the night, Rudr is asur too (I.122.1, II.1.6) as he is related to smoldering fire."

It is quite possible that the stark difference was not evident in the beginning as it did later but how it got developed into one in later texts and also got associated with people is a good question.

It is quite possible that what I wrote is not right as some shlok can easily disprove that. I was going by one book and it made sense to me.

Regarding your question on why it was taken on proudly by somebody, I do not know. You have to study ancient texts to understand what transpired.

Regarding this statement -
Answer is simple... this was not a negative identity or some symbolism or a word created by simply adding A to Soor to denote a negative meaning.

Since asur is provided in Rigved as part of text then I am sure, it was there for a reason and the meaning then is same as we use it now. I have provided many more vilom words above and not just asur.
 
Answer is simple... this was not a negative identity or some symbolism or a word created by simply adding A to Soor to denote a negative meaning.

Since asur is provided in Rigved as part of text then I am sure, it was there for a reason and the meaning then is same as we use it now. I have provided many more vilom words above and not just asur.

I have read these books and I agree with PL Bhargva's assertion that Asur in Rigved was used for higest of Gods .It was not developed as a negative thought as had it been a negative word then it should have never found a place in Zandevesta for highest and purest of Gods.Again this indicate that movement is not from east to west as Devas despite a positive meaning in east are regarded as negative in Iran .We can correct our assumptions in reference to these observations or keep believing what we believe already.
 
Ranbir said:
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Vedon mein jis ladai ka varnan hai veh das rajaon ki ladai hai jo Ravi nadi ke aas paas ladi gayi. Isme Sudas vijayi hue. Yeh ladai aryon aur aryon ke beech mein thhi. Ek taraf kuch asur bhi thhe. Is ladai ko katai dev asur sangram nahin kaha ja sakta kyonki arya dono taraf lad rahe thhe. Sudas raja ki doosri ladai Yamuna ke tat per hui. Vidvanon ka mat hai ki Yamuna per hui ladai pehle ladi gayi. Puranon tak pahunchte pahunchte bahut ghaal meil ho gayi.

nrao said:
You are right, Dasrajan yudh is definetely described as an encounter only between Aryans.

In fact it was not a war in the real sense of the word and it was never fought, I think.
It seems more of a chance encounter where some groups (taken as enemy of Sudas) came across a convoy of Sudas. The encounter took place in the middle of river Parusni (Ravi). Enemy of Sudas who were moving upstream, were swept away by some sort of flood or tide. Sudas who was moving downstream got saved. And that was the end of the so called yudh which Sudas won.

Thus we find hyms praising Indra for his help provided (I think for the timely flood) as mentioned in Rig Ved. Sudas is never mentioned for his bravery or fighting prowess but for his devotion. As provided by Bhagwan Singh - RigVed (VII 18.5-17), Wikipedia has Griffiths translation about it, which are confusing.

Friend,

Would you kindly share the basis of your saying about Dasrajan Yudh that :''In fact it was not a war in the real sense of the word and it was never fought, I think.''

Does even Rigvedic evidence has no historic relevance at all?

Thanks

Rajpal ji,

The basis of what I wrote is what is provided in Rig-Ved and I also provided the source above. Kindly read up on RigVed VII 18.5-17. That in my view, is the Rigvedic evidence and the historic relevance of this event. For a quick understanding, please go through Wikepedia article, even though there are confusing meaning, they do provide a gist of the encounter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ten_Kings

It appears that only Aryans were prepared to fight each other (unlike what Ranbir wrote above, no Asur is mentioned). What appears is that Sudas, was heavily outnumbered and outmatched in this 'encounter' and he came out victorious. The encounter took place in middle of Parusni (presently river Ravi). The two groups were in boats or ships moving in opposite direction (one going upstream) and one going downstream (Sudas). The ship/boat moving upstream sank due to some kind of 'tide or flash flood'. This particular incident probably ended the encounter. Hence the stuti to thank and praise Indr for the help by Sudas.

I also think that unlike Dev-Asur encounters which may seem to be symbolic, this encounter was a real incident involving real people and real tribes that exist even today. Every historian and Vedic expert agrees to this event. However, how the events unfolded and what happened is based on how different people interpret the shloks. What I provided is one interpretation, based on Bhagwan Singh's book.

For a little exercise, try not to call it as dashrajanyudh or battle of ten kings but something like Parusni ki ghatna or an encounter on Parusni, it will definitely convey different meaning. Words like Yudh/battle prepare ones mind to expect something like that. Similarly, think of Indus valley civilization as Saraswati-Sindhu civilization and the geographical center will immediately move to a different area then what the mind is conditioned.

Anyways, once again, I am willing to change what I wrote above if better translation or explanation is provided.
 
Just trying to understand your logic ....asur a symbolic( negative) name was developed later in Indian literature which was taken later by persian ..pointing towards east west movement .....


My question was why this symbolic negative name was willingly taken as a proud identity by persians Kings ?


Answer is simple... this was not a negative identity or some symbolism or a word created by simply adding A to Soor to denote a negative meaning.



I think Ranbir confused Shauur an Urdu word that mean salika which people use in villages with word Soor used for dev.

Agar aap Rigved padhenge to shayad aap samajh jayenge ki ho kya raha hai. Bharat mein bahut se Dharm utpan hue jinka vajood Vedic dharm ki kaat karna tha. Udharanarth Bodh, Jaini, Carvaka, Zarathushtra ke dharm jaan boojh kar vedic dharm ke viprit thhe. Isme jyada sanshay nahin hai ki Iran ke arya Devon ko kharab maante hain aur asur ko acha. Bharata mein ab iska ulta hai.

Aur yeh mat bhooliye ki Bogaz Kuy mein bhi bharatiya aryon ke bhagwanon ko dev maana gaya hai. Aur rahi baat Shauur shabd ki to iska lena dena insaan ke acharan se hi hai aur yahi paribhasha hamare desh ke rishiyon ne bhi prayog ki thi aryon aur dasyu ke vishay mein.
 
I have read these books and I agree with PL Bhargva's assertion that Asur in Rigved was used for higest of Gods .It was not developed as a negative thought as had it been a negative word then it should have never found a place in Zandevesta for highest and purest of Gods.Again this indicate that movement is not from east to west as Devas despite a positive meaning in east are regarded as negative in Iran .We can correct our assumptions in reference to these observations or keep believing what we believe already.

Can you produce Bhargavas quotes and more importantly also cite if he is quoting anything from RigVed or is he just quoting other scholar. Although, I did write above that Dev are called Asur also, so does not seem like a big issue here. Here is that quote again -

"Some Vedic dieties that are regarded as Dev were also Asur in Rig Ved. Agni is asur (III.3.4, IV.2.4, X.15.1) as it emits smoke, Varun is asur (I.24.14, II.27.10) as he is the lord of the night, Rudr is asur too (I.122.1, II.1.6) as he is related to smoldering fire."

Not sure if they are highest of Gods or lowest of Gods but Dev are also referred to as asur for sure, so once again no issues there.

Zend Avesta, it seems corresponds to later parts of Rig-Ved and lot more similar to later Ved (like Yajur, Atharav and Sam) so that context needs to be seen.
 
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Agar aap Rigved padhenge to shayad aap samajh jayenge ki ho kya raha hai. Bharat mein bahut se Dharm utpan hue jinka vajood Vedic dharm ki kaat karna tha. Udharanarth Bodh, Jaini, Carvaka, Zarathushtra ke dharm jaan boojh kar vedic dharm ke viprit thhe. Isme jyada sanshay nahin hai ki Iran ke arya Devon ko kharab maante hain aur asur ko acha. Bharata mein ab iska ulta hai.

Aur yeh mat bhooliye ki Bogaz Kuy mein bhi bharatiya aryon ke bhagwanon ko dev maana gaya hai. Aur rahi baat Shauur shabd ki to iska lena dena insaan ke acharan se hi hai aur yahi paribhasha hamare desh ke rishiyon ne bhi prayog ki thi aryon aur dasyu ke vishay mein.

Yeh theek lagta hai ki naye dharm Vedic dharm ke viprit thee. Dev and asur acquiring different meaning in different places could be seen in this light of new ideologies opposing Vedic dharm.
 
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Very knowledgeable thread...Though it still remains a mystery whether movement was from east to west or west to east! N rao and Romar ji on one side and rajpal ji and narender bhai on other...good discussion going on... waiting for the conclusion
 
Very knowledgeable thread...Though it still remains a mystery whether movement was from east to west or west to east! N rao and Romar ji on one side and rajpal ji and narender bhai on other...good discussion going on... waiting for the conclusion

#362 should help you.
 
Very knowledgeable thread...Though it still remains a mystery whether movement was from east to west or west to east! N rao and Romar ji on one side and rajpal ji and narender bhai on other...good discussion going on... waiting for the conclusion

Friend,

I am really grateful to you and also to all the other friends on Jatland Forum for showing their interest in the discussion.

I take the opportunity to explain that there is nothing like one or two persons on one side or the others on other side on the issue.

Fact is, we are discussing the issue with open mind just to find out the truth about the original abode of the Aryans when tnhere was no division among them as 'Indo-Aryans','Iranian-Aryans' and 'Indo-European Aryans.'

If someone gives a satisfactory evidence acceptable to pass all tests of historical research methodology, we are very much open to accept the same.

But gossips, floating baseless ideas on origin of various words[ for example Asura] or dependence on the borrowed links of other sites, it seems, would further complicate the real issues of academic interest and ultimately result into creating more hazy picture on the way to reaching the destination i.e. abode of the 'Aryans'.

I have not heard from the participants a word on the earlier posted views suggesting common ancestor of Devas and Asuras. If someone has other view he is welcome to share it here otherwise it may be presumed that all participants agree that Kashyap was the father of both the Devas and Asuras.

Thanks
 
Can you produce Bhargavas quotes and more importantly also cite if he is quoting anything from RigVed or is he just quoting other scholar. Although, I did write above that Dev are called Asur also, so does not seem like a big issue here. Here is that quote again -

"Some Vedic dieties that are regarded as Dev were also Asur in Rig Ved. Agni is asur (III.3.4, IV.2.4, X.15.1) as it emits smoke, Varun is asur (I.24.14, II.27.10) as he is the lord of the night, Rudr is asur too (I.122.1, II.1.6) as he is related to smoldering fire."

Not sure if they are highest of Gods or lowest of Gods but Dev are also referred to as asur for sure, so once again no issues there.

Zend Avesta, it seems corresponds to later parts of Rig-Ved and lot more similar to later Ved (like Yajur, Atharav and Sam) so that context needs to be seen.

Dost,

Yadi hum Kashyap se Deva aur Asur dono groups ki utapati ko maan lete hain to yah bahas ka vishya suljh jata hai ki baad ke granthon mein kiske baare mein kya kaha gaya hain.

Asura's represented senior branch of the 'Aryans' and it seems became rulers which was resented to by their junior brethern belonging to Devas.

There does not come the religion in between them at the primary stage.

Priestly class seems to have gathered influence in political matters at later stages as the traditions recorded in our old literature show.

Dhanyavad.
 
#362 should help you.

Do you think, it is satisfactory resolution of the issue?

We have at least 2 archaeological/geological certainties which tell us that Rig Ved should be dated much earlier than 1500 BCE:

i) iron has been dated to 1800 BCE or earlier in India in the Indo-gangetic plains,
ii) Saraswati river which has been mentioned in RigVed the most, has also been dated to have dried earlier than 2000 BCE. In Rig-ved times, it was flowing uninterrupted.

I am not sure if we should focus too much on Dev-asur sangram. Sometimes early symbolism takes historical shape later on. For a little digression, here is my thought about Dev-Asur (using Dr. Bhagwan Singh's book, The Vedic Harappans, as a reference) -

To focus only on Dev-asur is not correct. Lets look at all such pairs that find mention in Rig-Ved:

सुर - असुर or sur(dev)-asur,
देव - अदेव or dev-adev (enlightenment-unenlightenment),
स्नात - अस्नात or snat-asnat (initiated-uninitiated),
मेधावी - मूरा or medhavi-mura (wise-foolish),
आर्य - दास or arya-dasa (master-servant),
ज्योति - तम: or jyoti-tama (light-darkness),
रितविक - म्रीद्रावच or rtavak-mrdhravac (good in speech-corrupt in speech)

BTW - Most of the above words are still in use in present day India.

Most of these dev-asur conflicts seem to be symbolic and should also be seen in context as advice of good आचरण to follow to deal with or overcome specific asurs or fears. People were probably overcoming their डर या भय (asur) and they also performed rituals where they were helped by Agni (fire), Indr (rain) etc. So Agni and Indra became Dev to people but sometimes when they also caused destruction, they became Asur as well.

Some Vedic dieties that are regarded as Dev were also Asur in Rig Ved. Agni is asur (III.3.4, IV.2.4, X.15.1) as it emits smoke, Varun is asur (I.24.14, II.27.10) as he is the lord of the night, Rudr is asur too (I.122.1, II.1.6) as he is related to smoldering fire.

Lets look at some of ways Dev conquered Asurs:
Dev killed Namuci and other demons with foam, they killed Asur through sacrifices, they killed Vrtra with offerings (oblations).

These opposite good-bad forces of Rig Vedic times probably took life form in late texts. It is quite possible that certain tribes or group of people were probably categorized based on their आचरण and behavior (here we get a hint of morality and ethics perhaps) in later texts that you have mentioned previously such as Puraan and Mahabharat, where dev or sur were good people and asur were bad people but in earlier text it does not appear to be so.

However, better scholars can always educate me.
 
Yeh theek lagta hai ki naye dharm Vedic dharm ke viprit thee. Dev and asur acquiring different meaning in different places could be seen in this light of new ideologies opposing Vedic dharm.

Baat un dinon ki ho rahi hai jab vedas aur anya dharama astitava mein hi nahin aye the aur Aryans ke naam se aaj jane jate Bhasha samuh ke log Kisi Ek sthan per rahate the !

Humen us sthan ki khoj ki taraf khule mana se chalana hoga, tabhi smasya ka taraksangat nirakaran ho sakata hai !
 
Can you produce Bhargavas quotes and more importantly also cite if he is quoting anything from RigVed or is he just quoting other scholar......................

..........................

For those who are interested to read the full text of the book under reference , here it is:

P.L. Bhargava, India in the Vedic Age, Upper India Publishing house, Lucknow, (1956).
 
Agar aap Rigved padhenge to shayad aap samajh jayenge ki ho kya raha hai. Bharat mein bahut se Dharm utpan hue jinka vajood Vedic dharm ki kaat karna tha. Udharanarth Bodh, Jaini, Carvaka, Zarathushtra ke dharm jaan boojh kar vedic dharm ke viprit thhe. Isme jyada sanshay nahin hai ki Iran ke arya Devon ko kharab maante hain aur asur ko acha. Bharata mein ab iska ulta hai.

Aur yeh mat bhooliye ki Bogaz Kuy mein bhi bharatiya aryon ke bhagwanon ko dev maana gaya hai. Aur rahi baat Shauur shabd ki to iska lena dena insaan ke acharan se hi hai aur yahi paribhasha hamare desh ke rishiyon ne bhi prayog ki thi aryon aur dasyu ke vishay mein.

Dost,

Aap ne Rigaveda ko padha hoga kripya yah batlane ka kast kijiyega ki kya Rigveda mein Jain aur Buddha Dharam ke baare mein varanan milta hai.

Dhanyavad !!!
 
Rajpal ji,

The basis of what I wrote is what is provided in Rig-Ved and I also provided the source above. Kindly read up on RigVed VII 18.5-17. That in my view, is the Rigvedic evidence and the historic relevance of this event. For a quick understanding, please go through Wikepedia article, even though there are confusing meaning, they do provide a gist of the encounter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ten_Kings

......................

The link referred by you has first of all warned us to note that :

This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. Please help improve this article to make it understandable to non-experts, without removing the technical details. The talk page may contain suggestions. <small>(November 2012)</small>
 
Aap majaak kar rahen hain ya yeh ek sawaal hai?

Jaisi drishti vaisi sristi !!

Vase sodh per discussion ke doran majak karane ka samaye hi kahan milta hai.

Maine sidha swal puchha tha :
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by DrRajpalSingh ...........................................

Dashratha, Haryanakshpa aur Indra ke naam se jude wartanton per bhi lage haath apna faisla dene ki kripa kijiyega ki woh bhi kya arya hi aaps mein ankh micholi khel rahe the.


Ise majak kah kar aapne aap ko aur mujhe logon ki nazar mein mazak ka patar nahin banane deven, yahi aapse karbadh prarthana hai !
 
Iraniyon ke inscxription kaunse saal mein likhe gaye?

Kis aadhar per aap kah rahe hain ki Iraniyon ke inscxription Rigved se pehle likhe gaye?

The word inscription has very wide connotation in itself and includes also in itself any type of written evidence on something whether earthen wares, stones, leather, leafs, metal pieces and so on. For details of the ancient history of Iran search out good books and then come out with questions.

Aap kin inscription ki baat kar rahe hain, specific kijiyega !

Secondly, could you share with us when the Rigveda got its final shape as we find it today.

{Notwithstanding the fact that it carries information of the much more earlier times}.
 
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