The Origin of Monotheism- Meluhha
by Javed Rashid
Oct.,9,2011
CHAPTER 1: SUMMARY
The thesis that is being attempted to be established is that
monotheism, which is taken to originate from the Jewish people, is a concept
that was evolved within other societies .The most likely candidate is the Indus
Valley Civilization. This study attempts to investigate the linkage between the
Indus Valley Civilization and the development of the One God religion in Sumer
There is evidence of considerable trade between
Mohenjadaro/Harappa(IVC) and Sumer (SC).The SC was the cradle of monotheism
.The issue is what impact (if any) did the IVC had upon the development of the
religion of Prophet Ibrahim? Considerable trade between IVC and SC suggests:
Ethic Similarities; Ethnic linkage between IVC and SC.
The Sumerian myths can be classified in two major parts.
Firstly are those which differ in content depending upon the place the myth was
found and also the time in which it was composed, these include the Gilgamesh myth
.The second category are those which do not vary in content
,irrespective the place that the myth was found or the time of composition of
the myth, these include the creation myth ,the flood myth .The conclusion drawn
is that the myths that do not vary in content are the primal religious text
that the Sumerians brought from their place or origin, in the piedmont between
modern Pakistani Punjab and the Turkish East. The origin of the Sumerians and
the Harrapans is likely to be the same and therefore the primal religious text
is perhaps a common heritage of the two civilizations.
The IVC is characterized by : well planned cities and system
that are almost identical in all contemporary cities of the civilization : lack
of any evidence of warfare between cities ; lack of evidence of belief in many
gods ; rationality in burial practices ; evidence of a central authority that
is not maintained by a warrior monarch ; lack of evidence of warrior kings ;
lack of evidence of slavery ; urban setting ; advanced manufacturing and
trading practices . All of which suggests that IVC could only have existed if
the central belief system supported the structure of the society and the
economy .The unity in practices and ideas could only emanate from a concept
that propagates such unity .It is therefore hypothesised that monotheism is
either a concept that the IVC obtained from the time of common existence with
the Sumerians or a concept that evolved within the IVC . Without monotheism IVC
could not have existed.
The Indus civilization
excavations do bring out the following facts: -
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There does not seem to be a large number of gods, in
fact very few figurines have been found which could be gods or goddesses,
although it should be said that these figures, the priest – king, dancing girl,
other god figures do not necessarily indicate images of gods. The first two
were not images whilst the later could be god images but these perhaps relate
to the last Indus periods, a period according to this thesis, the Indus elite
had already migrated to Sumer, and the whole structure and ethos of the Indus
society had changed .
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The burial practices in proto Harrapan /early Harrapan
period changed in about 3000 BC. Burial were no longer elaborate and dead
bodies did not include valuables, in contrast to the practice which continued in Sumer and
elsewhere .The Indus burials were simple and indicate the fact that these
people believed that the dead had no use for the material goods which are of
value to the living. Incidentally in the late Harrapan period the burial
practices changed again .The dead were cremated, this would indicate a major
change and would support the theory that the Indus elite did migrate (to Sumer)
around 2000 BC and although the cities did continue to exist but the central
organizing force was not there any more.
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No evidence has been found to indicate inter city
warfare amongst the Indus cities. It would
seem that these cities were not at war with each other and the similarity in
city layouts would indicate a strong central authority, which was imposed not
by force but by commerce, trade and religion.
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There is significant evidence of industrial activity,
this would indicate a society that was progressive, was not warlike and
therefore had structures that assisted innovation (although the fact that Indus artifacts remained exactly the same for a large
period of time would indicate that there was strong central regulation which
did not allow change and therefore inhabited innovation).
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There is also no evidence of slavery, There does seem
to be an upper and lower class but the structure does not seem to have been
maintained by use of force .The elite perhaps exercised control by means of:
religion; and by management and control of trade with Sumer and elsewhere.
The above would indicate that the Indus civilization was inclusive in nature and therefore
would not have multiple gods; there would be a single God which could have been
an abstract concept of God. Prophet Abraham (pbum) perhaps did seem to have
obtained the concept of an abstract, mono, omnipresent God from Sumer Indus
people (Egypt Crete and China
The Indus government was
very complex and yet was efficient.
These were efficient and technologically advanced people. Their art
indicated that these people had fine artistic sensibilities .The efficiency is
manifested in the ability of the Indus people
to evolve and establish a complex social structure, which integrated various
ethnic and religious groups and ensured peace and prosperity.
The primitive man also is said to
believe in cyclic nature of things and life , the modern mind believes in a
linear forward looking approach .Burial practices where the dead body was
accompanied with large an mount of luxury goods and in cases where the body is
cremated do suggest that the society practicing such burial procedures believes
in the cyclic nature of life and the dead are deemed to return in the same or
in some other shape .The Harrapan burial practices , in sharp contrast to
contemporary civilizations, were simple burial with very few commodities buried
with the dead body , the few items that were found were very inexpensive (
there are very few exceptions to this) . This would suggest that the Harrapan
people were forward looking people who had a pragmatic view of things and
events.
The Sumerian myths seem to be of
two kinds , one that differ from time to time ,these were modified in each
successive era , the other are that seem to have been kept in tact for all
times , these seem to be related to the sacred text that perhaps the Sumar
brought from the piedmont perch from where they migrated to the plains .The
concept that the human mind has a deep structure that allows it to learn
language and to accept the monotheistic concept of religion has been given by a
number of philosophers .This legacy, the monotheistic concept of religion, from
the place of fall (Eden according to the Bible) seem to be the factor that made
civilizations dominant , and this key factor passed from the dominant
civilization to the succeeding one . The Indus people were the first owners of
this key concept and when for unknown reasons their land became not receptive
to this primal but everlasting truth they migrated and passed on this message
to Prophet Ibrahim .Who in the travels spread this to the whole of middle
eastern .the Jewish people became the owners or holders of this key element and
this subsequently passed on to other civilizations and this process goes on to
the present.
The IVC concept of religion was exported to Sumer, with whom
the IVC had ethnic, cultural and economic ties .This occurred when the Indus
elite migrated, for reasons not clearly established, to Sumer , around 2000 BC
( various traditions related to the Mai Nanna etc. ,in modern Pakistani
Baluchistan , do point to possibility of such migration by land route from IVC
to Sumer). The Sumerians had evolved very differently. They had established a
number of independent cities who were in constant strife with each other and
each city had a separate god, monotheism clearly did not evolve in SC. The only
source of this concept could be the IVC whose elite chose Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh)
and transferred the concept to the Hebrews .The concept was also clearly alien
to the Hebrews as is evident from the Biblical and Koranic accounts of the life
of Prophet Ibrahim in Ur, this concept did not evolve within the Hebrews and
was clearly imported from other people.
The IVC concept of religion , in the sub-continent, did not completely die out with the Aryan
victory over the Indus people .Hinduism is comprised of two diverse streams,
one related to the Aryan concept and another ,completely different in character
and ethos to the non-Aryan traditions, that is referred to as indigenous
traditions ,These are reflected in the Jain, Buddhist and Bhakthi or devotional
response to the Brahamanic Hinduism .The
source of these anti-Aryan traditions must surely be the IVC .Some of these pre
Aryan tradition ,especially the devotional South Asian religion, do contain a
concept of a single God , and do not subscribe to the cult of sacrifice or of
elitism in religious and other affairs .The Indus people are surely the source
of these traditions .
Monotheism can perhaps be traced to the IVC from where it
was passed on to the Hebrews .The fact that there are ancient primal sacred Sumerian
myths suggest that monotheism possibly
was a legacy of the IVC from their place of origin .Perhaps the attainment of consciousness
, by the first human, Prophet Adam (pbuh) also included the concept of a single
God .Human consciousness encapsulates
the concept of monotheism , the full extend of the message unravels with technological
and other change in human existence and will probably be completely unraveled
by the time life on this earth ceases to exist .
CHAPTER 2: Indus valley Civilization
The Indus valley Civilization,
3500 – 1800 BC is the earliest known civilization of south Asia ,
corresponding to the Bronze Age cultures of ancient Egypt Mesopotamia ,
and Crete . This civilization is as old as those which are called the cradles of
human culture, civilizations like those of Egypt Babylon
Populated by, what are referred to as the “black – headed
“people. These “black headed “people are also credited for the formation of the
Sumeric civilization.
The Indus cities were laid out on a rectangular grid system,
with wide main streets running parallel to each other, cut at right angles by
smaller streets .The streets were lined with large blocks of houses, many of
them two storied, all of them with flat roofs. They were the first to use
bitumen in walls, floor and roofs, to keep the damp out .The houses were built
of baked bricks. Access to the upstairs rooms was by a narrow stone staircase
at the back of the house .The staircase sometimes continued to the top of the
roof .The house had bathrooms and water closets, rubbish shoots and excellent
drainage systems .The drains were incorporated in the walls and led into
covered sewers which ran down the side of the streets.
Excavated settlements reveal blocks of mud-brick buildings
separated by streets, and the cities, such as Mohenjadaro and Harappa ,
are dominated by large public buildings. Characteristic artifacts include a
distintictive black on red pottery, ceramic toys and figurines, etched
carnelian beads, metal (bronze, silver, gold) ornaments and tools, and stamp
seals with an un deciphered script.
The Indus people had wooden
storage chests with bronze or copper fasteners, beds, and benches. Carved chair
legs dating back to about 2000 BC have been found in the ruins. Houses had
their own wells. There were also public bathhouses, which were frequently used.
Some houses were larger than others and this must indicate
that there was a rich class which was superior to ordinary people. They were
great traders. Indus pottery, jewellery and
metal work has been found in many places in the Middle
East and so perhaps it was the merchants who owned the larger
houses.
They used copper and bronze and made fish hooks,
copper-headed arrows razors and bronze mirrors (Indus
seals and script that depict the fish and a man with an arrow could be
depicting the nature of commodity traded i.e. fish hooks or arrow heads
respectively, the papal leaf could be depicting cotton)
Clothing that the Indus
women wore was very gay. They wore short, scanty petticoats rather like
mini-skirts. Their clothes were made of cotton, linen or wool. They wore
bright, sparkling jewellery made of gold, silver, or shell, inlaid with stones
like jade and lapis-lazuli .Men wore a sort of cloak which went over one
shoulder and under the other.
They were great craftsmen and made fine pottery on the
wheel. Potters usually engraved or painted their pottery. Their favorite design
was geometric, but they used also the figures of animals as decoration .the
designs were painted in black ink.
They kept songbirds and dogs as pets. They also raised
cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry for food, and used cattle for drawing vehicles.
They are believed to have invented the ox cart.
The sculpture produced is also beautiful particularly when
it depicts motion.
They build no temples or palaces and their rules do not seem
to have splendid tombs constructed. By about 1500 BC the civilization
disintegrated.
Unfortunately, the
nature of the social organization in this complex culture still evades complete
interpretation.
Sometimes after 2000 BC, complex ecological changes occurred
in the Indus valley area, forcing abandonment
of many settlements and altering the basic characteristics of the civilization.
Late Indus Valley
The civilization did not appear abruptly, as was initially believed,
but evolved indigenously. Some experts believe that it borrowed from the Sumeric,
a claim that is perhaps not correct , the civilization was distinctive yet
there are signs of constant contact with Sumer and there are also reasons to
believe that both the Harrapan and Sumerian people did share a common ancestry, they were
either the same people or most likely were closely related cousins .In any case once developed the civilization
was an intensely individual one, with many characteristics not shared with any
other civilization . There was contact between the Indus and Sumerian people,
this is evident from the large number of seals and letters in Indian script
that have been excavated in Mesopotamia .Much fewer Sumer seals etc. have been discovered in Indus cities
The Indus civilization
became mature by about 2500 BC, then over the next 1000 years it stagnated,
There is overwhelming evidence of maritime trade with other
areas. Some beads were reported to have been exported to Egypt Indus
civilization supported the cultivation of wheat barley.
The significant increase in rainfall at the beginning of the
third millennium BC, attested by palaeoecological evidence, played an important
part in the sudden expansion of the Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures in north-west
India Indus
culture.
The present evidence would suggest that the onset of aridity
in the region around 1800 BC probably resulted in the weakening of the Harappan
culture in the arid and semi arid parts of northwest India
The Indus people did not
engrave inscriptions on stone or place papyrus scrolls in the tombs of their
dead: all we know of their writing is derived from simple inscriptions on their
seals.
These people farmed .The people of Indus
prospered on the foundations of an agriculture based system and irrigation and
fertility, maintained by silt bearing floods. Wheat and barley were grown, as
were melon seeds, oil crops like sesame and mustard, and dates. Field peas were
also grown .The earliest trace of cotton known anywhere in the world have been
found in the Valley.
Animals domesticated include dogs, cats, zebu, short-horn
and buffaloes, and possibly pigs, horses, camels, and asses.
From every crop grown a large portion had to be paid into
the granaries. This siphoning of the surplus was not managed by force but was
perhaps achieved by the prevalent religious practices and beliefs.
Archeologists have turned up imports including gold from
southern India Afghanistan India Iran Mesopotamia has been noted, as Indus pottery has been discovered in the ancient city of Tell Asmar
A number of typical Indus seals have been found in Sumer,
seals dating back to between 2300 and 2000 BC .The finding of Indus seals in
Mesopotamia suggests that people of Indus may have resided in this territory,
possibly merchants who were keeping up a constant trade with the Mesopotamia
people (cotton was a staple export of Indus, and could have been the crop that
brought these two civilizations into contact). These seals are thought to have
been a representation of personal names .With these seals turning up in many
locations ,it seems that in spite of the totalitarian casts associated with the
Indus State ,trade may have been in the hands of private merchants rather than
regulated by a form of governmental authority .The Indus people sailed in high prowled
,single mast boats ,sound for carrying the exported goods .Nearing the end of
The Indus Civilization, the cities began to wither and the strong economy
deteriorated.
In contrast to other civilizations The Indus people achieved
great accuracy in measuring physical units of length, mass, and time. They were
perhaps also using the decimal system .All of this signifies a highly advanced,
technologically adept and efficient civilization. They were among the first to
develop a system of uniform weights and measures. They also evolved new
techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead, tin.
Bronze, terracotta and stone sculptures in dancing poses
also reveal much about the Indus art of
dancing .A harp like instruments and shell objects attest to the fact that
stringed instruments were used. Much of the Indus
art is considered advanced for the time.
Social cohesion, which allowed various ethnic groups to
co-exist, is depicted by animals of several heads that represent a combination
of different tribes or social groups. Further
Harrapan rulers were treated as common men after their
death.
The contributions of the civilization include decimal
divisions in measuring length and mass, study of stars, construction if tidal
docks, efficient sewerage system, metallurgical techniques.
The language of the Indus
people was sufficiently different from Sumerian (or Elamites) to require a
translator from Meluhha whose name was iu-iliSu .the products of Meluhha
include: abba wood, a thorn tree (kikar?); mesu wood (of the plains); ships of
Meluhha type (boat). Indus words in Sumerian
include: Sindh wood sinda; date palm; the “red dog of Meluhha” zaza cattle
(zebu?); elephants; sesame oil
In contrast to other civilizations, burials found from these
cities are not magnificent; they are more simplistic and contain few material
things. Remains of palaces or temples in the cities have not been found, no
hard evidence exists indicating military activity .The cities did contain
fortification and the people used copper and bronze knives, spears, and
arrowheads.
The Harrapan civilization was mainly urban and mercantile.
Inhabitants of the Indus valley traded with Mesopotamia , Southern India ,
Afghanistan Persia Indus River
The theory that the Dravidians are the Indus people and that
the Dravidian language contains Indus language words and form does not appear
to be right .The Dravidians, living in South of India, do not exhibit any
feature of the Indus valley civilization and no trace of Indus cities have been
found in south India (although South India does presents a superior urban
layout and management than does North India) .South India has not revealed any
evidence of connection to the Indus civilization, no seals or pottery or other
artifacts unique to Harrapan civilization have been located in south India . There
, however, is evidence that the Dravadians did coexist with the Harrapans for
some time before the advent of the Aryans .Dravadian religious responses to
Brahamin controlled Hinduism possibly borrow form the Indus legacy that the
Dravadians carried with them from the period that they had co-existed with the
Harrapans .
Seals were passed around as part of a project to create
literacy in the rapidly developing and urbanizing society of the Indus Valley
Then there are secondary uses for the seals that have been
found. These are economical and come in the form of receipts and labels .The
receipts were given as evidence that a tax has been paid .The labels were used
to identify persons and also indicate ownership of animals and other things.
ARON - from the internet.
The Indus elite maintained
power by managing and controlling the trade based upon the agricultural surplus
from the Indus area and of processed stones
and other products .These were manufactured in secret factories.
The Indus elite were able
to manage the trade due to ethnic and other similarities with the Sumer
The Sumer Sumer
The Indus elite migrated to
Sumer
Extract from “A Glimpse of The social Stratification and
Political Set-up of the Indus Civilization “by
B.B. Lal published in “Harrapan Studies” edited by G.L Possehl and M Tosi
published by Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd.
“The available evidence indicates that there were at least
three classes in the Harrapan society: a priestly class occupying perhaps the
highest position ;an agricultural-cum-merchant class forming the main core; and
a labor class at the lowest rung of the ladder .Indus cities seem to have
residence for the upper classes in the fortified areas and for the labor class
outside the fortified area as in Kalibangan .The citadel is seen to be the seat
of the priests .The town had : a priestly class inhabiting the Citadel : an
agricultural-cum-merchant class occupying the Lower Town ;and a worker class
living outside the two fortified areas .Mohenjadaro and Harrapa also had a
Citadel and a lower Town ..Indus population seem to have been divided into
three sections : an elite associated with the Citadel or Acropolis ,a well to
do middle class occupying the Lower Town ,a relatively weaker section working
for the former two categories .Whether these divisions were based purely
economic factors or had socio-religious impress as well cannot be categorically
stated .It seems that religion did play an important part .The Elite occupying
the Citadel at Kalibangan seem to have derived their authority from religion
and commanded perhaps the highest position in the hierarchy .”
The most striking feature of the Harrapan civilization was
its homogeneity in all aspects of life ,such as ,pottery ,buildings and
religious beliefs .The Harrapan beliefs were different than Sumerian (and
Egyptian) ones .The Harrapan believed in one female goddess in contrast to the
many gods that the Sumerians believed in .The Harrapan believed in a female
goddess whose depiction bears close resemblance to the goddess Inanna .Who it is stated got bored with her duties
and went back to Sumer ,where she was got drunk by Enki and tricked in giving
away certain divine objects referred to as “ME’s” ,these were supposed to give
great power to Inanna .All of this gave great power to Ur and she became its
major deity .This myth could be interpreted as to describe the migration of the
Indus Elite from the IVC to Summer and the transmittal of the Indus philosophy
or religion to the Sumerians .
The Mesopotamian civilization is characterized by a
multiplicity of city-states ,an efficient writing system ,a changing art style
,international contacts ,organized warfare ,and an extensive irrigation system.
All of these characteristics are not discernible in the Indus Civilization. It
is unlikely that any contact with the Sumeric civilization germinated the Indus
Civilization. The evidence does suggest that IVC was an indigenous development.
The advantages of natural soil and water in the Indus plain could ensure higher crop yield to create
large surpluses which in turn supported greater population and encouraged craft
specialization leading to mass production and standardization of products.
IVC offers striking similarity to Sumeric and Iranian
civilizations. The well developed and organized city life, use of the potter’s
wheel, use of precious and semi precious stones and metals, a script are
features that were common
Long distance trade must have necessitated the keeping of
records and proper packaging of goods marking them with identifiable seals. The
administration of the cities must have involved keeping of records and issuance
of orders. All of this must have required the kind of seals and script that has
been found in the Indus cities. Of the 400
signs known over half are identical with porto-Elamite and proto-Sumeric
examples, the rest are of indigenous origin. It would therefore seem that the Indus people drew upon the existing signs of their
proto-urban predecessors, on whose base they erected their civilization. About
78 signs are similar to the pre-Indus signs. The script therefore seems to have
been developed from already existing signs of their forbearers. The Semitic
people who had contact with the Harrapan borrowed, by 1600 BC, 17 Indus cursive signs for their consonant value.
Burials found from these cities are not magnificent; they
are more simplistic and contain a few material goods. This evidence suggests
that this civilization did not have social classes. Remain of palaces or
temples have not been found .No hard evidence indicating military activity exists.
The seals suggest a symbolic or religious intent. Stone
sculptures carved in steatite, limestone, or alabaster depicts a male figure
who may have represented a god.
The civilization experienced its height around 2500 BC and
began to decline about 2000 BC. One cause of the dispersal could have been a
result of agricultural problems. Topsoil erosion, depletion of nutrients from
the soil, or a change on the course of the Indus River
The Indus government was
very complex and yet was efficient.
These were efficient and technologically advanced people. Their art
indicated that these people had fine artistic sensibilities .The efficiency is
manifested in the ability of the Indus people
to evolve and establish a complex social structure, which integrated various
ethnic and religious groups and ensured peace and prosperity.
The quality of municipal town planning is an outstanding
feature of this civilization .The uniform planning of towns and cities suggest
the presence of efficient municipal governments which placed high priority upon
personal hygiene .The streets were laid in an efficient grid pattern which
ensured that the houses were protected from noise, odors and thieves. Baked
bricks which were rare at that time in the near east were used. The uniformity
of town planning suggests the presence of a strong centralized government that
must have enforced this strict planning regime.
Town administrators enlisted the cooperation of the people
in order to efficiently execute public works programs .The administration also
standardized industrial products such as metal tools and weapons and even the
units that were used to measure length.the smooth flowing of trade channels was
a result of strict vigilance by state and city authorities .An efficient system
of distribution of agricultural and industrial products, and raw materials,
indigenous as well as imported is evident
.The high degree of homogeneity in products ,the uniform town planning
,the rigorous enforcement of trade and municipal regulations ,and the efficient
distribution system all confirm that there was a highly efficient and effective
administration in the Indus valley .
The elite perhaps managed two important functions:
. Firstly to provide the exchange mechanisms
and arrangements
by which
the surplus was taken over from the farmers .
. Secondly to arrange, manage the trade with Sumer
and to
exchange the surplus for other items .
The decline of the IVC could well be the failure of the
elite to perform any of the above two functions.
Trade could have been disrupted by means of reasons
including disruptions caused due to : changes in the middle man arrangements ;
and disruptions of the trade route due to hostile people having taken over
these routes.
The seals with inscriptions perhaps have economic
significance. The seals, therefore, must have:
. Quantity depictions
.
Item depictions
If these were used for internal exchange perhaps these must
pertain to items that were surplus . Seals found in Sumer
The Indus people did not
engrave inscriptions on stones or place papyrus scrolls in the tombs of their
dead.
The genius behind the advanced architecture of the Indus
civilization carried over into a thriving agricultural and trade based economy
.The Indus people used the plentiful rivers surrounding them much to their
advantage .The people of Indus prospered on the foundations of an agricultural
based system of irrigation and fertility, maintained by silt bearing floods
.Wheat and six-row barley were grown , as were melon seeds, oil crops like
sesame and mustard ,and dates .Peas are the only vegetables that have so far
been associated with the civilization .The earliest traces of cotton found
anywhere in the world have been found in the Indus Valley .Dogs, cats ,zebu ,
cattle ,pigs, camels, horses and asses were domesticated .Elephants may also
have been domesticated as many seals have elephant representations and ivory
was used for crafts .For every crop that was grown a portion was deposited with
the central public granaries .Hunting and fishing was also practiced and meat
did form a part of the diet of the Indus people .
In addition to
agriculture and hunting trade and commerce formed an important part of the
economic life of the Indus people .Trade with various lands has been recorded
and links with Mesopotamia has been noted, as Indus pottery has been discovered
in the ancient city of Tell Asmar .A number of Indus seals have also been found
in Sumer, these date back to 2300 and 2000 BC .This in turn suggest that the
Indus people may have resided in Mesopotamia .The trade seems to have been in
the hands of businessmen rather than with the political/religious elite .
CHAPTER 3: Sumerian Civilization
The land between the two river valleys of the Tigris and
Euphrates have provided of the oldest settlements, the extreme south was the
richest as from centuries of drainage and flooding a rich top soil was built up
.It was easier to grow crops here than in most other places, provided safe and
regular water supply could be ensured for rain was slight and irregular and the
river bed was above the plain .all of thus provided the opportunity of
producing more than was needed for consumption. Fish additionally was available
from the river and sea.
The land was populated by a dark-skinned race from north –
west India Sumer
The Sumerians probably began to move into the Mesopotamian
plain before 5000 BC these people understood the working of metal and could
make many useful tools. They were already skilled farmers, and in the rich soil
of Mesopotamia they found the opportunity to
develop their agricultural skills to a high degree .It was not long before they
were growing far more than they needed for themselves, and so they began to
trade with their less skilful neighbors. The Sumerians were builders as well as
farmers. There were no natural stones for building in Mesopotamia ,
nor was there much timber .So they made bricks by molding the thick clay of the
river banks into blocks and leaving them in the scorching sun to bake. Soon
they discovered that settlements farther away had natural stones, and they
traded their surplus farm goods for the stone.
Meanwhile they developed the potter’s wheel and with it were
able to fashion a great variety of useful vessels, such as bowls, plates, cups,
vases and storage jars. They decorated their pottery with beautiful designs and
shapes. They also knew how to make sculpture and how to work copper, bronze,
and gold and precious stones.
They build small boats of plaited reeds which they covered
with animal skin and pitch. This gave mobility and allowed them to communicate
between early settlements, which in time led to the development of the great
cities. Sumer
UR another city was encircled by means of a high brick wall
and a wide canal which was used for defense and for transport .On the rivers
edge was a harbor which brought goods to and from the other settlements along
the Euphrates .In about the middle of the city was a large temple in the shape
of a tower called a ziggurat .
The family was the most important unit of society, and the
father was the head .To keep the family together he usually had land, which
could be handed on to his wife or son.
There were three classes of people in Sumer
Sumerians believed that gods were responsible for people’s
safety, good health and prosperity. The gods had to be kept happy .It fell to
the priests to supervise the many jobs that this entailed. They tended the
temple land outside the city: they managed the storehouses: and they conducted
trade, exchanged surplus food for stone, timber, and precious metal with which
they adorned the temples and chapels.
The priests were also looked upon as the wise men of the
city. They held lessons in the temple enclosure, prescribing medicine for the
sick, sat in judgment over disputes between one person and another and managed
the calendar.
The Sumerian year was calculated on the behavior of the moon
and had twelve months divided into hours and days. The months, however, were
only thirty days long which equaled a year of 360 days. Therefore, in order to
make the seasons coincide properly with the calendar, every so often the
priests announced that another month would be added to the current year.
The Sumerian gods governed natural forces such as the earth
(Enlil), the sky (Anu, water (Ea) the sun (Shamash) and the moon (Nanner). Each
city had its special god but also worshipped other gods .The chief god for Ur Eridu
The temple was enclosed by a high wall. Inside this
enclosure there was a palace for the reigning king .His house was like the
others in the city except that it was larger, for it had to accommodate his
advisers and servants as well as his family .The priests of the gods also lived
in the enclosure.
Nanner was also worshipped in many smaller temples
throughout the city, and there were small temples for his wife, Ningal.
In the earlier days of Sumer
The king was helped and advised by priests and other
official. Some of them assisted him in dispensing justice for, as the
population of the cities expanded. Business in the law courts became a heavy
burden for the king alone. Traders and farmers kept the city well stocked with
food and other necessities and with many luxuries as well. They increased the
prosperity of the whole community by successfully trading with other cities and
with less civilized races further away .The craftsmen turned their skills to
making the city beautiful. Sculptors carved exquisite statues, carpenters
fashioned splendid gates, doors, and furniture. And smiths made jeweler out of
silver, gold and precious stones. Armourers wrought copper for weapons of all
kinds; for the Sumerians were warlike people and needed arms on may occasions
Among the most skilled craftsmen in Sumer were seal-cutters .the kings .the
court official’s .the high priests and the merchants all needed seals for their
letters, orders, legal documents and accounts .The seals were made of clay or
stone, alabaster or ivory, and were carved with images of gods, animals or
human beings.
The slaves were the servants of the rich in the households
or on the land. They often were enemy solders that had been defeated and
captured in the field of battle. Slaves also cleared the streets, emptied the
rubbish and carried water to people’s houses. Some were able to buy their
freedom and purchase their own land.
Sumerians developed the cuneiform writing .As far as 3500 BC
they drew pictograms, or outline of objects incised on clay tablets with reed
pens. The pictograms were used to communicate basic information about crops and
taxes. These tablets were than baked and became almost indestructible .The
pictograms developed into a mixture of pictures and symbols, which represented
pronunciations of word syllables. Eventually they had a script, which include
some 600 symbols. Over time the need for writing changed and the signs
developed into a script called cuneiform
From about 2700 70 about 2280 BC, UR Sumer
In between 3000 and 2000 BC Sumer was subjected to invasions
by several races, these were successfully defended .in about 1950 BC Semitic Amorties from the
western Arabian desert and emetic Elamites from the east began to move into the
richer plains of Mesopotamia. They over ran the Sumerian cities .The Amorties
had been overrunning northern Sumer, Babylon a village in northern Sumer
eventually became the now famous city and its king Hamurabi managed in
dominating the whole of Mesopotamia .His rule was extended over the period 1790
to1750 BC .By then the Babylonian had developed their own language and Sumerian
language was relegated to be the language of the priests. Hamurabi gave the
famous code, which it is believed became the source of Moses Ten commandments.
Some of the laws mentioned in the Old Testament are derived from Hamurabi’s
Laws. Hamurabi did not invent these laws; he assembled existing laws, revised
them and added new ones of his own in order to bring the whole system up to
date.
The Babylonians were great readers of poetry, one of their
famous epic was the story of a mythical Sumerian hero-king Gilgamesh, the
legend was absorbed in Babylonian folklore.
From the beginning as a collection of farming villages
around 5000 BC to its final collapse in about 2000 BC, the Sumerians developed
a relation and a society that influenced both their neighbors and conquerors
.The Babylonians took the Sumerian language and the religion .In fact, traces
and parallels of Sumerian myths can be found in Genesis.
The Uruk period stretched from 3800 BC to 3200 BC, the
period is referred to as the reigns of Dumuzi the Shepard who was worshipped as
the god of the spring grain. This period saw very rapid urbanization .The Eanna
of Uruk, a collection of temples dedicated to Inanna, was constructed at this
time. These building served religious as well as civic functions. Which was
fitting as the en, or high priest, served as both the spiritual and temporal
leader .The temples were places where craftsmen would practice their trade and
here surplus food would be stored and distributed?
The Jemdat Nasr period lasted from 3200 BC to 2900 BC, the
period was not particularly remarkable .It was this period that the great flood
is supposed to have taken place .The Sumerian account of the great flood may
have been influenced upon the flooding by Tigris and Euphrates onto their
already marshy land.
The Early Dynastic period saw kingship move to Kish .A king
of Kish named Etana was believed by the Babylonians top have rode to heaven on
the back of a giant eagle so that he could receive the “plant of birth “ from
Ishtar (their version of Inanna) and thereby produce an heir.
Meanwhile in the South the dynasty of Erech was founded by
Meskiaggasher, who along with his successors, was termed the “son of Utu “, the
sun god. Followed three other kings, including another Dumuzi, the famous
Gilamesh took the throne of Erech around 2600 BC and became involved in a power
struggle for the region with the Kish dynasty and with Mesanneoadda, the
founder of the dynasty of Ur. While Gilamesh became a demi-god, remembered in
epic tales, it was Mesannepadda who was eventually victorious in this three way
power struggle, taking the by then traditional title of “King of Kish ":
Sargon united both Sumer Akkad , his realm is said to extend from the Mediterranean sea to the Indus
river .He build the city of agate .his empire fell apart just 40 years after
his death and Guti, a mountain people, razed agate and deposed the then king.
The Guti were driven out by Utuhegal of Uruk/Erech. Ur-Nammu
usurped his authority and became king. And established the Third Ur dynasty
around 2112 BC .He gained control and developed the earliest known law-codes
and had constructed the great ziggurat of Ur, a kind of step pyramid which
stood 60 x 200 ft. This was a very prosperous period, which ended by 2000 BC,
when the civilization collapsed under the Amorite invasion; Sumer Babylonia .
Professor Samuel Kramer observed that:
“With the help of their gods especially Enlil ,the “King of
Heaven and earth”, the Sumerians transformed a flat ,arid windswept land into a
blooming ,fertile kingdom”
The whole of Sumerian life evolved around the gods, whom
they regarded as flesh and blood immortals .They invented their deities as an
imaginative psychological response to a hostile, incomprehensible environment
.The picture that emerges is that of anthropomorphic gods with human like
motions, intimately mixed up in human affairs .Every Sumerian city was
associated with one, sometimes, two gods.
The Sumerians believed that the gods had created man as a
worker
George Smith of the British Museum published his
translations of the sacred Babylonian text in 1876..This was the Emma Elish
epic and it presented the creation epic in much more detail than the Bible.
Eridu the ancient city of the Sumerians literally means
E.RI.Du or “home in the Faraway Built”.
Extracts form “Mesopotamian Myths” by Henrietta McCall,
British Museum Publication
The temples in which the gods were worshipped were run by a
priestly class .A priest called a satammu probably headed the administrative
side and sons often followed fathers into the same profession.
Religion played an important part in the everyday life of
the people. On a personal level they attach themselves to a particular god or
goddess and offered prayers and sacrifices in return for intercession with the
other gods and protection from evil spirits.
There is no promise of an afterlife and death was accepted
in a resigned and matter of fact way.
The inhabitants of cities could be divided into two parts,
those few who benefited from court and temple connections which gave them the
use of their own means of production, and those who were wholly dependent upon
the palace and temple organizations. Most of the means of production were under
the control of the vast temple complexes and the royal places, although
individual owned land as well. Both temple and palace derived their income from
mainly agriculture, either directly or through the payment of taxes. Central
administration received most income and redistributed it .Both organizations
supported a large number of people who were paid with food and clothes etc. . .
.
Chapter 4 Mesopotamian Myths
Traditionally, authorship of the oldest works was attributed
to sages sent out before the Flood by the god Ea to bring civilization to
mankind. In Mesopotamian eyes, true authenticity must derive from divine
inspiration and/or great antiquity.
Gilgamesh as great in knowledge and wisdom, as one who
bought information from before the days of the Flood (this possibly refers to
the primal religious text that was common to both the Sumerian and Harrapan
people).
Gilgamesh decides to see Ut-napishtim, who with his wife is
supposed to have survived the Flood and to know the secret of eternal life .Ut-napishtim’s
gift to Gilamesh is a closely guarded matter, a “secret of the gods” – a plant
of rejuvenation.
The Epic of creation, unlike that of Gilamesh, appears to
have been almost unknown outside Mesopotamia .
Tablets have been found at Sultantepe, Nineveh Kish Babylon Babylon
Myths can be interpreted in a variety of ways: they can
portray cosmic forces personified ,as for example when chaos is subdued by
order ;they can reflect historical events such as military campaigns ,the
building of city walls and the return of the cult statues ;they can serve a
purely cultic purpose ,for example recitations at the New Year’s festival ;and
events in them can mirror the cycle of nature ,thus reassuring their audience
that the national gods are in command.
Gods played a far greater part in the life of the ancient
world than can easily be comprehended today.
The Myth of Dumuzi and Inanna
Dumuzi or Tammuz and Inanna or Ishtar myth .The former is a
vegetation god who dies and rises again with the rebirth of vegetation in the
spring. Inanna decides to go to the nether (the land of no return) world, ruled
over by her sister Ereshkigal .To guard against any disasters she instructs her
vizer, Ninshubur, that if she does not return in three days he is to perform
mourning rites for her and to request the gods Enlil of Nippur, Nanna the
moon-god of Ur, and Enki, the god of wisdom, in Eridu to intervene and spare
her life .She puts on her queenly attire and presents herself at the gate of
the nether world, where she is challenged by Neti ,the gate keeper of the seven
gates .She ,as she passes though each gate loses a piece of her apparel and is
brought before Ereshkigal and the Anunnaki ,the seven judges of the nether
world .She is turned into a corpse .Her vizer does as instructed and Enki
performs certain magic operations by which she is restored to life .
This was the earliest myth, which perhaps the Sumerians
brought with them when they came to the delta.
The Myth of Creation
The original myths have no description of the act of
creation. These myths can be classified under three heads: -
The Origin of the Universe: The goddess Nammu (sea) is
described as the “the mother who gave birth to heaven and earth”. Heaven and
earth was a mountain, whose base was earth ant the top heaven. Heaven is
personified as an, and earth Ki, and from their union the air god Enlil was
born, it was he who separated heaven and earth and brought the universe into
being.
The Organization of the Universe: The moon-god Nanna or Sin
was born out of rape of goddess Ninlil by Enlil, he was banished to the
underworld but Ninlil was with child and she insisted to follow Enlil. Enlil is
believed as the source of vegetation, cattle, agricultural implements and the
art of civilization, all this he delegates to lesser gods.
Another myth describes the journeys of Enki to different
worlds in order to bring order into the universe .He visits Ur
The Creation of Man: Man was created for the service of gods
(essential to justify the production of surplus and its submission to the gods
to keep them happy), to till the ground and free the gods from having to do
work for their living. Gods complain that they cannot get their food. Enki is
asleep but Nammu arouses him from sleep, on his instructions Nammu and Ninmah
mix clay and bring man to existence.
The Myth of the Flood: A god appears to be declaring his
intention of saving mankind from the destruction which the gods have decided to
bring upon them. Enki is credited as that god.
The Enuma Elish or the creation myth describes Enki who
blesses Nippur Ur
Enki, the king of the Abzy, decrees its fate:
Black Kur, your trees will be large trees.
They will be me-groves of the Kur:
Their thrones will be set in royal palaces.
Your reeds will be large reeds; they will be reeds of the
Kur:
Heroes work them as weapons in the battlefields.
Your bulls will be large bulls
They be the bulls of the Kur.
Their roar will be the roar of the bulls of the Kur.
The great me of the gods will be perfected for you.
All the dar—birds of the Kur (wear) carnelian beards;
Your birds will be haia-birds;
Their cries will fill the royal palaces
Your silver will be gold
Your copper will be bronze-tin.
Kur, everything you have will (increase),
Your people will (multiply),
Your males will
go after his fellow male like a bull.
Chapter 5: Sumerian Myths and the Holy
Books
The Sumerian myths have a great influence upon the Old and
new testaments. The biblical accounts in some cases mirror the contents of the
myths.
Jewish history begins at the bottom of the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers. This was a logical place
for civilization to begin in terns of development of agriculture and culture,
and it’s also a logical place for Prophet Abraham to appear, because he is
going to affect the world, he has to be at the crossroads of the ancient
migration pathways. Prophet Abraham was born in Mesopotamia ,
in a city called Ur
The religions of ancient east were predominantly
polytheistic. Most tribes and societies in the Mesopotamian region believed in
some kind of pantheon of recognized deities. Natural elements or phenomena were
often associated with deities .The existence of gods like Enlil (air), Anou
(sky) and Enki (water) in Sumer
Abraham came from Ur Aram
Excavations show that the architectural knowledge of the
people that inhabited this area was extraordinary. Some of the earliest brick
dwellings were found in this area. The society relied heavily on farming and
trade within the local area as well as on merchants who facilitated the
movement of goods between the cities .The city states often warred with each
other and there was no political unity.
It appears that in Abraham’s (pbuh) times there was a
general migration from urbanized areas to farming villages and rural existence
.He was given marching orders by a divine source known as Yahweh.
Z Sitchin in his book “The 12 th Planet” and Alan Alford’s
book “Gods of the New Millennium” has indicated that Abraham was summoned in a
covert manner? If true this would only make sense if Yahweh was not well liked
in Ur Sumer
The bible suggests to us that Arram lived his childhood with
Ur Haran Ur
The Bible says that Ishmael and all the males of the House
of Abraham were circumcised as a sign of the Alliance
Within the numerous human societies, the notion of there
being many gods or spirits preceded the concept of a single God .The precise
time at which monotheism, the worship of one god, appeared is not known. That
it arose somewhere in the Middle East ,
probably in Mesopotamia , is certain (although
this thesis attempts to prove that the concept was borrowed or acquired from
the decaying Indus valley Civilization) .Judaism,
Christianity and Islam, all trace their roots back to one individual: Abraham,
who probably lived sometimes after 2000 BC. According to the Hebrew Bible (the
Old Testament), Abraham emigrated from Ur Sumer Euphrates River Persian
Gulf – to Canaan (roughly the
area now called Israel
Extracts from
Bruce Feiler
Abraham –A Journey to the heart of Three Faiths
HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 2002 .
Page 25
“Mass migrations, from Mesopotamia
to Canaan were noted around 1800 B.C.E.”
“Jewish and Christian scholars associate this place with UR Sumer
Page 48-49
“Later generations conclude the Abraham understood that the
voice belonged to God, specifically the one and only God .All three religions
are clear on this point .But the Bible, in fact is not .If anything, it
suggests otherwise .The voice that calls Abraham belongs to Yahweh, often
translated as “the Lord”, Later .Abraham performs circumcision at the request
of El Shaddi or “Almighty God”. He plants a tamarisk at the behest of El Olam,
or “Everlasting God”. Even Yahweh confirms that polymorphy, telling Moses that
He appeared to Abraham as El Shaddai .
The suggestion in such passages is that Abraham, far from
the complete monotheist of Moses, still retains echoes of the polytheism of his
ancestors .He is a transitional figure, with a foot in both worlds.”
Page 86
“In Genesis …………After circumcision ,the Lord appeared to
Abraham in the form of three men .Abraham immediately throws open his tent
flaps ,slaughters a calf , and asks Sarah to prepare a meal .As a reward ,the
men promise that Sarah shall soon have a son. But she laughs,” I am withered,
am I to have enjoyment with my husband so old?” God is clearly miffed.”Is
anything too wondrous for the Lord?” In response, Sarah actually lies to God.
“I did not laugh”. But God has none of it.” You did laugh”. Finally the men
depart.
The Sumerians claimed that their culture was a gift from the
gods .The Sumerian and Mesopotamian text do credit flesh and blood gods with
the creation of man. These texts closely parallel the Biblical account of
Genesis, although the later tends to present the monotheistic interpretation.
The beliefs of ancient people were founded on perceptions
that had proper substance in their historical context.
Karen Armstrong writes:
“The idea of the covenant (with Moses) tells us that the
Israelites were not yet monotheists ,since it only made sense in a polytheistic
setting .The Israelites did not believe that Yahweh ,the God of Sinai ,was the
only God ,but promised in their covenant ,that they would ignore all other
deities and worship Him alone ….The Prophet would urge the Israelites to remain
true to the covenant but the majority would continue to worship Baal ,Asherah
and Anat in the traditional way “.
There is an amazing
similarity between Genesis and the Enuma Elish ( a Babylonian epic text) .One
Mesopotamian text describes the instructions given by the god in charge of creation :
“Mix to a core the
clay
From the Basement
of Earth,
Just above the Abzu
And shape it into
the from of a core
I shall provide
good, knowing young gods
Who shall bring
that clay to the right condition”
The Bible makes a
similar claim that man was created “from the dust of the ground”
Why mankind was
created .The Bible states only that “there was no man to work the ground” prior
to the “creation” but the Atra-Hasis gives additional details:
“When the god, as
men
Bore the work and
suffered the toil
The toil of the
gods was great,
The work was heavy
The distress was
much”
Another aspect of
the Exodus is the Ark of the Covenant .The Lord tells Moses
;
“There above the
cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will
meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelis”
The Lord explains
that he cannot accompany the Israelis to the Promised Land in person; indeed he
will use the Ark
Prophet Abraham
pbum came form Ur
Adam’s fall from
grace,according to the bible, was a result of consuming a drug or fruit that
was forbidden, the consumption of which led to sexual knowledge.
All of Mesopotamian
texts indicate that man was originally created as a slave race to relive the
“toil” of the gods.
Sumerian depictions
of the event suggest that the serpent-god was Enki himself, and that he was
temporarily arrested for this act.
According to the
Bible man was created to “work the ground” .The Sumerian version claims that
“the gods of Sumer
Genesis 11 does discuss the Sumer
“At first, the people of the whole world had only one
language and used the same words. As they wandered about in the East, they came
to a plain in Babylonia and settled there.
They said to one another,” Come on! Let’s make bricks and bake them hard”….”
Extract from Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997
“Nimrod, character in the biblical Book of Genesis,
described as “the first potentate on earth” and “mighty hunter in the eyes of
Yahweh (God) (Gen. 10:8-9). In Genesis he is identified as the son of Ham and
grandson of Noah, and an empire-builder whose lands included large areas of
southern Mesopotamia . Nimrod’s identity is
much debated. He has been associated with the Mesopotamian god Ninurta, with
the legendary Mesopotamian hero Gilamesh, and with King Shamshi-Abad 1,the
founder of the Assaryian Empire.
The epitaph “mighty hunter” applied to Nimrod in genesis has
traditionally been interpreted as indicating that “his prey was man”. In the 17
th.- centaury epic poem Paradise lost(Book X11, 11.24-63),by English writer
John Milton ,Nimrod appears as the lawless and impious tyrant whose ambition
led to the disastrous episode of building of the Tower of Babel, Nimrod
instructed his people to construct a tower to reach heaven .God punished
Nimrod’s arrogance and halted constriction by condemning the human race to
speak separate and mutually unintelligible languages and scattering it all over
the world .Legend locates the tomb of Nimrod in Damascus, Syria .In English
literary tradition ,the name Nimrod is often applied to a skillful or daring
hunter .”
Extract from Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997
Gilgamesh Epic
An important poem is named for its hero, Gilamesh, a
tyrannical Babylonian king who ruled the city of Uruk, known in the Bible as
Erech (now Al Warka, Iraq), according to the myth, the gods respond to the
prayers of the oppressed citizenry of Uruk and send a wild, brutish man,
Enkidu, to challenge Gilgamesh to a wrestling match. When the contest ends with
neither as victor, Gilamesh and Enkidu become close friends. They journey
together and share many adventures. Accounts of their heroism and bravery in
slaying dangerous beats spread to many lands.
When the two travelers return to Uruk, Istar (guardian deity
of the city) proclaims her love for the heroic Gilamesh. When he rejects her,
she sends the Bull of heaven to destroy the city. Gilamesh and Enkidu kill the
bull, and, as punishment for his participation, the gods doom Enkidu to die.
After Enkidu’s death, Gilamesh seeks out the wise man Utnapishtim to learn the
secrets of immortality .The sage recounts to Gilamesh a story of a great flood
(the details of which are so remarkably similar to later biblical accounts that
scholars have taken great interest in this story). After much hesitation,
Untnapishtim reveals to Gilgamesh that a plant bestowing eternal youth is in
the sea. Gilamesh dives into to the water and finds the plant but later loses
it to a serpent and, disconsolate, returns to Uruk to end his days.
This saga was widely studied and translated in ancient
times. Biblical writers appear to have modeled their account of the friendship
of David and Jonathan on the relationship between Gilamesh and Ebkidu.”
The Prophet Ibrahim and Nimrod incident finds no mention in
the Bible.The incident with Nimrod and The prophets opposition by his Father
and people are also not mentioned at all in the Bible .The bible treats the whole affair as a
migration by the prophet to other lands to seek better economic opportunities
.The Koran does present the incident as follows :-
Al Ambia 51…
Even before that We had accorded realization to Ibrahim and
We knew him well .Remember the incident
when he ,Ibrahim ,said to his father and people “ these idols which you worship
,what is their use “ ,they replied that “ we found our ancestors and
forefathers worshipping these idols “ .Ibrahim said “ you are misguided and so
were your forefathers “ they said “are you serious or are you joking with us “
Ibrahim replied “ No , the true God is the same Who is the Creator of the earth
and heavens .I affirm my faith in front
of you and in your absence I will deal
with your idols “ .The prophet than did
in fact broke the idols into pieces but left the biggest idol unharmed .When his family came back they saw the fate
of their idols and said “ who has done this to our gods some amongst them
replied that “ we heard , a young man
named Ibrahim , who was mentioning this –the destruction of the idols to
us “ .Ibrahim was summoned and asked as to why he had destroyed their idols
.Ibrahim said that the idols were damaged by the big idol ,he suggested that
they question the big idol .This
argument did register with the people but then they chose to ignore the
rational and logical answer provided by Ibrahim and complained to Nimrod .
XX! – The Prophets verse 51 – 71
And we verily gave Abraham of old his proper course, and we
were Aware of him. When he said unto his father and his folk. What are these
images unto which ye pay devotion? They said: We found our fathers worshippers
of them .He said: Verily ye and your fathers were in plain error. They said:
Bringest thou unto us the truth, or art thou some jester? He said: Nay, but
your Lord of the heavens and the earth .Who created them; and I am of those who
testify unto that. And, by Allah, I shall circumvent your idols after ye have
gone away and turned your backs. Then he reduced them to fragments, all save
the chief of them, that haply they might have recourse to it. They said: Who
hath done this to our gods? Surely it must be some evildoer. They said: we
heard a youth make mention of them, who is called Abraham. They said: Is it
thou who hast done this to our gods, o Abraham? He said: But this, their chief
hath done .So Question them, if they can speak. They gathered they apart and
said: Lo! Ye yourselves are the wrong doer. And they were utterly confounded.
And they said: Well thou knowest that these speak not .He said: Worship ye then
instead of Allah that which cannot profit you at all .not harm you? Fie on you
and all that ye worship instead of Allah! Have ye then no sense?
They cried: Burn him and stand by your gods, if ye will be
doing, we said: O fire .be coolness and peace for Abraham. And they wished to
set a snare for him, but we made them great losers. And we rescued him and Lot (and brought them) to the land, which we have blessed
for (all) peoples.
Translation from
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall
The Koran and Talmud do discuss this .The Koranic
description suggests:-
. The monotheistic religion did not form the part of the collective
Consciousness of his (prophet
Ibrahim’s) people and family .His father and people were clearly idol worshippers(
Although there are references, to a lost tradition and belief of worship of one
God).
. Nimrod and the establishment also
were not happy at this action and claim of Ibrahim pbuh .This would suggest
that the Sumeric/Babylonian people were also not the adherents of the monotheistic
religion.
.Interestingly Nimrod’s unhappiness,
in fact, resulted from the complain of The Prophets father and not from the
deeds of Ibrahim pre se. The assertions of the Prophet Ibrahim were not per se
offensive to the ruler .Nimrod.s displeasure resulted from the debasing of the
Hebrew deities at the hand of Ibrahim .
One could infer that the monotheistic religion as a concept
was introduced by people other than the Prophets family and the prevailing
population and royalty of UR Ur Indus
civilization, which around this time started to .Did the Indus
elite migrate to Ur Sumer
The character and ethos of the Indus civilization was
inclusiveness .There is no evidence of any intercine warfare or struggle .This
trait was definitely not transferred to the people who subsequent to the
decline of IVC inhabited these areas .The succeeding people were tribal and
pastoral people, with considerable evidence of intercine warfare and struggle,
as depicted in the Mahabatra .The IVC did not transfer its main trait to the people
who succeeded them.
Perhaps the elite migrated to UR Kutch area) and therefore the essence of the IVC was not
transferred to the subsequent societies that followed the IVC in the
sub-continent. What was transferred was the handicrafts and other craft skills
.This would suggest that Indus people other than the Indus elite did stay on
.The Indus civilization was characterized by the lack of defined priest
structures .Also absence were elaborate burial practices .There is evidence of
inequality but there is no evidence of human sacrifice or slave workers
(general health of non elite has been deemed to be good, they had been well fed).
The religion of the Sumerians left its mark on the entire Middle East .Its temples and ziggurats are scattered all
over the region .Its literature, cosmogony and rituals influenced its neighbors
to an extant that Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions echo Sumerian ones.
Each city housed a temple that was a seat of a god, as the
gods controlled the powerful forces which often dictated human life .The city
leaders had a duty to please the towns patron deity, not only for the good will
of that deity but also for the good will of other powerful deities (this could
also be the method used to skim off the surplus form the farmers, who were made
to believe that gods needed pleasing else the prosperity of the farmer would be
threatened, the farmer gave away most of the surplus to the god to ensure
continued good will of the deity with reference to weather ,water etc . )
The priests initially held this role which also continued
when secular kings got to power. Many kings also claimed divine right.
The circular central shrine of the temple, known as a
“cella”, had a brick alter or offering table in front of a statue of the
temple’s deity, the cella was lined on its long ends by many rooms for priests
and priestesses. These mud–brick buildings were decorated with cone geometrical
mosaics, and the occasional fresco with human and animal figures. These temples
eventually evolved into towering ziggurats.
The temples were staffed by priests, priestesses, musicians,
singers, castrates and hierodules. Various public rituals, food sacrifices and
libations took place on a daily basis. There were monthly feasts and annual,
New Year celebrations. During the later, the king would be married to Inanna as
the resurrected fertility god Dumuzi.
When it came to more private matters, a Sumerian remained
devout .In times of misfortunes a
Sumerian could do little, the best he could do was would be to “plead, lament
and wail, tearfully confessing his sins and failings.” their family god or city
god might intervene on their behalf, which did not happen always. After all a
man was created as a broken, labor saving, tool for the use of the gods and at
the end of everyone’s life, laid the underworld, a generally dreary place.
The Sumerian concept of creation (anki) was that the
primeval sea (abzu) existed before anything else and within that, the heaven
(an) and the earth (ki) were formed .The boundary between heaven and earth was
a solid (perhaps tin vault, and the earth was a flat disc. Within the vault lay
the gas-like “lil” or atmosphere, the brighter portions therein formed the
stars, planets, sun and the moon. Each of the major Sumerian deity is
associated with one of these regions .An the god of heavens may have been the
main god prior to 2500 BC, although his importance gradually waned .the
original name of the earth goddess, whose name more often appears as Ninhursag
(queen of the mountains), Ninmah (the exalted lady), or Nintu (the lady who
gave birth). It seems likely that these two were the progenitors of most of the
gods.
Nammu is the goddess of the watery abyss, the primeval sea .She
may be the earliest of deities within Sumerian cosmology as she gave birth to
heaven and earth .She is elsewhere described both as mother of all gods and
wife of An .She is Enki’s mother .she prompts him to create servants for the
gods and is then directed by him on how, with the help of Nimmah/Ninhursag to
create man.
An, the god is heaven was a main god since 2500 BC although
his importance gradually waned .in the early days he carried off heaven, while
Enlil carried away the earth .He and Ki/Ninhursag were the progenitors of most
of the gods, although in one place Nammu is listed to be his wife .His primary
temple was at Erech .He and Enlil gave various gods, goddesses, and kings their
earthly regions of influence and their laws.
Ninhursag (Ki ,Ninmah ,Nintu) Ki is perhaps the original
name of the goddess of earth whose name often appears as Ninhursag (queen of
mountains) ,Ninmah (exalted lady), or Nintu (the lady who gave birth). Most
often she is considered as Enlil’s sister, but in some traditions she is his
spouse instead .She was born, possibly as a unified cosmic mountain with An,
from Nammu and shortly thereafter, their union produced Enlil .In the early
days, as Ki she was separated from Heaven (An) and carried off by Enlil .It
seems likely that she and an were the progenitors of most of the gods .she
later unites with Enlil and with the assistance of Enki they produce the
world’s plant and animal life.
Enki and Ninhursag in Dilmun ,she as (Ninyu) bears the
goddess Ninsar from Enki .who in turn bears the goddess Ninkur ,who in turn
bears Uttu ,goddess of plants .Uttu bore eight new trees from Enki .when he ate
Uttu’s children ,Ninhursag cursed him eight wounds and disappears .After being
persuaded by Enlil to undo her curse ,she bore Enki eight new children which
undid the wounds of the first ones .
Enki seats her (as Nintu) on the big side of the table in Nippur
Enki and Ninmah, she is the mother goddess and, as Ninmah assists
in the creation of man. Enki, having been prompted by Nammu to create servants
for the gods, describes how Nammu and Ninmah will help fashion man from clay.
Prior to getting to work, she and Enki drink overmuch at a feast She then shapes
six flawed versions of man from the heart of clay over the Abzu, with Enki
declaring their fates. Enki, in turn also creates a flawed man which is unable
to eat. Ninmah appears to curse him for his failed effort.
Extract form Ibn e Khuldun:
The Khane Kaaba was said to have been first built by the
Prophet Adam, this was destroyed in the great flood and its traces were lost.
However there is no evidence of this from the hadiath records.
The Koranic verse that says, “Hazarat Abrahim pbum and
Hazarat Ishmael pbum were to construct their walls on ancient foundations”
It is possible that this is a reference to this story.
It is also possible that ancient foundations here mean the
religion and not figuratively the building also it could mean the great
assembly hall in Harrapa (and Mohenjadaro). There was a claim that this great
assembly hall was similar in style and architecture to Kaaba.
Extract form: Tafseer Ibn e Kasir, Allama Ammad uldin ibn e
kasir: Hadiqa Academy Lahore
When Hazarat Abrahim pbuh reached the Kaaba a piece of cloud
was over him and a voice commanded that O Ibrahim construct the House of God
along the shadow of the cloud.
Hazart Sadi states “The stone was brought by the angel
Gabriel from HIND, and then it was white ….
Also it was stated in the same narration that the
foundations of the Kaaba were laid upon already existing foundations.
In Abdul Razzak it is stated that Hazarat Adam came from
Indian sub continent.
Interestingly in 2120 BC Ur-Nammu the governor of Ur was
crowned: King of Sumer, UR and Akkad” his reign lasted until 2095 BC he
standardized weights and measures in the mines .He, formulated a system of law
which tried to establish justice for the underprivileged, notably the widows
and orphans who were desperately poor .He also made rules for punishing the
rich who abused their power by beating and violating their slaves. There were
also laws in this new code to punish those who bore false witness, and laws to
financially compensate people who were victims of robbery and injury, and
particularly indemnities for wives treated badly by their husbands. Were these
laws developed under influence from IVC? The Indus
elite possibly migrated to Sumer
Chapter 6: Signs of Rationality
The Harrapan civilization was unique in many ways .It was
technologically a very advanced society, the arts of Mohenjadoro seem to belong
to a much later era .The social structure and the belief system also seems to
be much advanced as compared to contemporary civilizations .The IVC exhibits
some signs of rationality that need to be explored further.
The seal (Plano convex
molded tablet from Harrapa – Cat. No. 27) shows a man slaying a buffalo and a
seated figure, in yogic posture.
This could be interpreted as the demise of the old religion
(portrayed in the slaying if the buffalo); the deity could be the symbol of the
new religion.
The slaying could represent departure from Sumer
The “deity” in yogic posture, is elsewhere shown as wearing
spreading horns of a water buffalo, does this also represent a departure from
older traditions.
The bull was a worship animal
Lord who walks nobly on heaven and earth, self-reliant,
Father Enki, engendered by a bull,
Begotten by a wild bull,
Prized by Enlil, the Great Kur,
Loved by holy An,……
Once he had turned his eye away from that spot,
Once father Enki had raised it over the Euphrates ,
He stood up full of lust like an attacking bull,
Lifted his penis, ejaculates –
He filled the Tigris with
flowing water.
A wild cow mooing for its young in the pastures,
The scorpion-infested stall,
The Tigris clung to its
side as to an attacking bull.
He lifted his penis, brought the bridal gifts –
Like a big wild bull he thrilled the heart of the Tigris ,
Stood by as it gave birth.
Source: Myths of Enki, The Crafty God by Samuel Noah and
Meier, John
Is the yogic posture
deity a Gilgamesh like figure?
Animal motifs appearing on seals found primarily at the
largest cities include dangerous wild animal including the buffalo. These
animals were revered as totemic animals, closely associated with important
myths and legends. Zebu bull seals is found on many seals and these bulls may
represent the most important or powerful clan of the cities.
The so called granary of Harrapa is found on Mount F .It has
a brick structure that was built on a massive brick foundation over 45 meters
north south and 45 meters east – east .Two rows of six rooms that appear to be
foundations are arranged along a central passageway that is about 7 meters wide
and partly covered with baked bricks. Each room measures 15.2 by 6.1 meters and
has three sleeper walls with air space between them. A wooden superstructure
supported in some places by large columns would have been built on top of the
brick foundations, with stairs leading up from the central passage area. Small
triangular openings may have served as air ducts to allow the flow of fresh air
beneath the hollow floors.
Most scholars agree that theses structures are large public
buildings. Rulers and state officials probably did meet in such large buildings
and many of them may have been used for specific religious functions, their
specific function remains a mystery.
Are these structures a model for the Kaaba?
Extract from Ibn e Khuldun:
The Khane Kaaba was said to have been first built by the
Prophet Adam, this was destroyed in the great flood and its traces were lost.
However there is no evidence of this from the hadiath records.(separate
traditions suggest that Prophet Adam resided in what is now known as the IVC)
The Koranic verse that says, “Hazarat Abrahim pbum and
Hazarat Ishmael pbum were to construct their walls on ancient foundations”
It is possible that this is a reference to this story.
It is also possible that “ancient foundations” here means
the religion and not figuratively the building. Also it could mean the great
assembly hall in Harrapa (and Mohenjadaro). There was a claim that this great
assembly hall was similar in style and architecture to Kaaba.
Extract form: Tafseer Ibn e Kasir, Allama Ammad uldin ibn e
kasir: Hadiqa Academy Lahore
When Hazarat Abrahim pbuh reached the Kaaba a piece of cloud
was over him and a voice commanded that O Ibrahim construct the House of God
along the shadow of the cloud.
Hazart Sadi states “The stone was brought by the angel
Gabriel from HIND, and then it was white ….
Also it was stated in the same narration that the
foundations of the Kaaba were laid upon already existing foundations.
In Abdul Razzak it is stated that Hazarat Adam came from Indian
sub continent.
The similarities in plan and construction of Harrapa and
Mohenjodaro and their sizes suggest that they served as capitals of their
provinces .Both cities were constructed of the same type and size of bricks.
In contrast to other civilizations, burials found from these
cities are not magnificent. Burials are more simplistic and contain few
material things, for the most part things that are found are not luxury goods
.remains of palaces or temples have not been found .The civilization was mainly
urban .The inhabitants traded with Mesopotamia ,
Southern India , Afghanistan Persia
The government was very efficient and complex .The
complexity of the social structure is evident from the fact that various racial
and ethnic groups peacefully coexisted within this civilization for a long
period of time .The quality of municipal town planning is an outstanding
feature of the civilization and depicts the emphasis accorded to hygiene. The
streets were laid out in an efficient grid pattern, which ensured that houses
were safeguarded from odor, noise and thieves .Houses were also safeguarded
from floods. Baked bricks which were rarely used in the Near
East were used for construction. The uniformity (there are some exceptions)
in town planning suggest the presence of a strong centralized government, which
enforced the standardized construction and planning of cities.
The construction and maintenance of the cites was
accomplished by participation of the city population as no slave labor seem to
have been detected or inferred .The government even standardized industrial
products such as metal tools and weapons and even units of length that were
used to measure distance. The administration managed an intricate system of distribution
of agricultural and industrial products, and also raw materials, both
indigenous and imported. They managed to grow enough surplus agricultural
produce to feed the various specialized workers .The high degree of homogeneity
in products ,the uniform planning of towns ,the rigorous enforcement of trade
and municipal regulations and the efficient distribution system all point to an
efficient sophisticated administration , much out of place , in that point in
time .
There is evidence of scientific and technological excellence
as well; this is depicted by the great accuracy that they achieved in measuring
units of length, mass and time. Their smallest division, which is marked on an
ivory scale of Lothal , was approximately 1.704 mm . Their engineers followed
the decimal division of measurement and hence the great symmetry and
homogeneity in their structures. The sewage system was very sophisticated and
they were the first people to develop a system of uniform weights and measures.
They evolved techniques in metallurgy and produced tin, copper, bronze, and
lead.
The Indus people were very
proficient in fine arts .Sir John Marshall once reacted with surprise when he
saw the famous Harrapan bronze statuette of the slender-limbed “dancing” girl
in Mohenjodaro :
“When I first saw them I found it difficult to believe that
they are pre-historic; they seemed so completely to upset all established ideas
about early art .Modeling such as this was unknown in the ancient world up to
the Hellenistic age of Greece, and I thought, therefore, that some mistake must
surely have been made; these figures had found their way into levels some 3000
years older than to which they properly belonged …. Now, in these statuettes,
it is just this anatomical truth which is so startling; that makes us wonder
whether, in this all-important matter, Greek artistry could possibly have been
anticipated by the sculptors of a far-off age on the banks of the Indus. ”
The Harrapan art is considered as much advanced for that
period.
The inclusive mature of the civilization is perhaps its
greatest achievement; various religious, racial and social groups lived in
harmony. Some seals do show some strife between social classes but more
numerous others show integration of ideologically or socially different groups
, which is symbolically shown by animals with several heads that represent a
combination of different tribes or social groups .
This integration was
managed by means of free trade , of goods and commodities ,between various
regions within the civilization resulting in mutual prosperity .The central
authority did manage to put up a system that ensured equitable returns to
different groups by means of establishment of market towns .Another approach of
the Harrappans peoples to the problem of religious differences was to form
confederacies in order to convert other people to the Harrappan ideology and
way of life by offering the benefits of superior material culture and ensuring
as more peaceful life . In addition inter racial marriages were encouraged and
were very common as is revealed by the examination of joint burials of Lothal .
Extracts from Prof. Dani’s interview, from the internet.
“…. Have been working in the assumption that the language of
the Indus people was Dravadian , that the people
who built the Indus Civilization are Dravadians ,. But unfortunately I, as well
as my friend Prof. B.B. Lal in India
” We have not stringed instruments in Indus Valley
Civilization. We have got the flute, we have cymbals, we have got the dholak ,
So , I would like to correct myself : to say that there is nothing surviving in South India
( is wrong) ; this is the only instrument which is surviving there according to
me from The Indus Civilization “
“….So if we insist on an agglutinative language being used
in the Indus period, why not connect it with
Altaic , rather than just with Dravadian ? Why not connect it with Sumerian ,
which is also an agglutinative language ?”
“…. The prototype of Shiva, and about the yoga and so on.
But today we know that there is a great difference between the two “
“So if writing in the Indus Civilization is derived from Western Asia , it is not necessary that the symbols come
from that place. We can use our own symbols. But the basic principle came from
there.”
Extracts from Dr. Tariq Rehman : ”Peoples and Languages in
Pre-Islamic Indus
Valley
“…Thus Pakistani languages have a Dravadian substratum .The
evidence for this presence of this substratum is the presence of retroflex
consonants which does not exist in Iranian or European members of the
Indo-European family of languages .Another clue may be the existence of
consonantal clusters in the beginning and end of words in Iranian , European ,
Dardic languages and even Sanskrit .Thus Sanskrit has “prem” which means love ,
but Hindi-Urdu has “perim”. They insert the vowel “i” between the two
word-initial consonants “p” and “r” because their own rules of pronunciation do
not allow word-initial consonantal clusters”.
“…speakers of , Urdu , Punjabi and Sindhi separate
consonants in words such as “school”, “ stool” , and “small” .It may be that
this splitting of consonantal clusters comes into some of the languages of
South Asia from languages older than Sanskrit .”
“Mohenjodaro was abandoned and a cultural fragmentation in
the Greater Indus Valley took place .When that happened the Harrappan language
remained as a substratum in the language of the Aryan civilization of the Indus
valley civilization of the Indus Valley of about 1200 to 1000 B.C when the
Rigveda was largely composed in the plains of Punjab,”
Chapter 7: Philosophy of Religion
Whiteheads definition of advanced religion:
“A system of general truths, which have the effect of
transforming character when they are sincerely held and vividly apprehended.”
Almost in all religions some sort of cosmogony exists
Herbert Spencer from “The Story of Philosophy” by Will
Durant
Society is an organism, having organs of nutrition,
circulation, coordination and reproduction .In a society each of the part
retains its own consciousness and its own will, but the centralization of
government and authority tends to reduce the scope of this distinction .A
social organism grows but with growth it becomes more complex and while
becoming more complex its part acquire increased interdependence.
The development of society mimics evolution, the growing
size of the political unit, from family to state and league, the growing size
of the economic unit, from petty domestic industry to monopolies and cartels,
the growing size of the population unit, from village to town and cities,
surely these show a sign on integration, while the division of labor, the
multiplication of professions and trades, and the growing interdependence of
the city with country, and of nation with nation, amply illustrate the
development of coherence and differentiation .
The same principles of integration of the heterogeneous
apply to every field of social phenomena, from religion and government to
science and art.
Religion is at first the worship of a multitude of gods and
spirits, more or less like in every nation, and the development of religion comes
through the notion of a central and omnipotent deity subordinating the others,
and coordinating them into their hierarchy of special roles.
The first gods were probably suggested by dreams and ghosts
.The primitive mind believed that in death or sleep, or trance, the ghost or
spirit left the body. Echo’s and reflections were sounds and sights of one’s
ghost or double .God was at first only a permanently existing ghost. Persons
who had been powerful during their earthly lives were believed to keep their power
in their ghostly appearance. Such dangerous ghosts had to be appeased. Funeral
rites grew into worship, and all the modes of currying favor with the earthly
chief were applied to the ceremonial of prayer and the appeasement of the gods.
Ecclesiastical revenues originated in gifts to the gods, just as state revenue
began as presents to the chief. Obeisance to kings became prostration and
prayer at the altar of the god .In ancestor worship all religion has its
origin.
Religion is probably the central feature in the life of
primitive man. Existence is so precarious and humble among them that the person
lives rather in the hope of things to come than in the reality of things seen.
Supernatural religion is a concomitant of militant
societies, as war give way to industry, thought turns from death to life, and
life runs out of the groove of reverent authority into the open road of
initiative and freedom.
The military states are always centralized in government and
almost always monarchical, the cooperation it inculcates is regimental and
compulsory, it encourages authoritarian religion, worshiping a warrior god .It
develops rigid class distinctions and class codes .It props up the natural
domestic absolutism of the male. Because the death rate in warlike societies is
high, they tend to polygamy and to a low status of women. Most states have been
militant because war strengthens the central power and makes for the
subordination of all interests to those of the state.
Industry makes for democracy and peace as life ceases to be
dominated by war a thousand centers of economic development arise and power is
beneficially spread over a large portion of the members of the group. Since
production can prosper only where initiative is free, an industrial society
breaks down those traditions of authority, hierarchy and caste which flourish
in military states and under which military states flourish .The occupation of
a solider ceases to be held in high repute and patriotism becomes a love of
one’s country rather than a hatred of every other. Superstitious religion is
superseded by liberal creeds whose focus is upon enrichment of human life .The
contrast between the militant and the industrial type of society is indicated
by the statement that “inversion of the belief that individuals exist for the
benefit of the State into the belief that the State exists for the benefit of
the individuals.
A military society exalts certain virtues and condones what
other people might call crimes. Aggression and robbery and treachery are not so
equivocally denounced among peoples accustomed to them by war, as among people
who have learned the value of honesty and non-aggression through industry and
peace. Generosity and humanity flourish better where war is infrequent and long
periods of productive tranquility inculcates the advantages of mutual aid .The
patriotic members of a militant society will look upon bravery and strength as
the highest virtues of a man, upon obedience as the highest virtues of the
citizen, and upon silent submission to multiple motherhood as the highest
virtues of a woman.
The North American Indian regarded the use of the bow and
arrow, the war club and spear, as the noblest employments of man; they looked
upon agricultural and mechanical labor as degrading.
During immaturity benefits received must be inversely
proportionate to capacities possessed. Within the family group most must be
given where least is deserved.
Evaluation of The Indus valley civilization evaluated at
above criteria would be as follows: -
The Indus civilization
excavations do bring out the following facts: -
-
There does not seem to be a large number of gods, in
fact very few figurines have been found which could be gods or goddesses,
although it should be said that these figures, the priest – king, dancing girl,
other god figures do not necessarily indicate images of gods. The first two
were not images whilst the later could be god images but these perhaps relate
to the last Indus periods, a period according to this thesis, the Indus elite
had already migrated to Sumer, and the whole structure and ethos of the Indus
society had changed .
-
The burial practices in proto Harrapan /early Harrapan
period changed in about 3000 BC. Burial were no longer elaborate and dead
bodies did not include valuables, in contrast to the practice which continued in Sumer and
elsewhere .The Indus burials were simple and indicate the fact that these
people believed that the dead had no use for the material goods which are of
value to the living. Incidentally in the late Harrapan period the burial
practices changed again .The dead were cremated, this would indicate a major
change and would support the theory that the Indus elite did migrate (to Sumer)
around 2000 BC and although the cities did continue to exist but the central organizing
force was not there any more.
-
The Indus cities do not indicate any inter city warfare
evidence .It would seem that these cities were not at war with each other and
the similarity in city layouts would indicate a strong central authority, which
was imposed not by force but by commerce, trade and religion.
-
There is significant evidence of industrial activity,
this would indicate a society that was progressive, was not warlike and
therefore had structures that assisted innovation (although the fact that Indus artifacts remained exactly the same for a large
period of time would indicate that there was strong central regulation which
did not allow change and therefore inhabited innovation).
-
There is also no evidence of slavery, There does seem
to be an upper and lower class but the structure does not seem to have been
maintained by use of force .The elite perhaps exercised control by means of:
religion; and by management and control of trade with Sumer and elsewhere.
The above would indicate that the Indus civilization was inclusive in nature and therefore
would not have multiple gods; there would be a single God which could have been
an abstract concept of God. Prophet Abraham does seem to have obtained the
concept of an abstract, mono, omnipresent God from Sumer Indus people (Egypt Crete and China
The primitive man also is said to
believe in cyclic nature of things and life , the modern mind believes in a
linear forward looking approach .Burial practices where the dead body was
accompanied with large an mount of luxury goods and in cases where the body is
cremated do suggest that the society practicing such burial procedures believes
in the cyclic nature of life and the dead are deemed to return in the same or
in some other shape .The Harrapan burial practices , in sharp contrast to
contemporary civilizations, were simple burial with very few commodities buried
with the dead body , the few items that were found were very inexpensive (
there are very few exceptions to this) . This would suggest that the Harrapan
people were forward looking people who had a pragmatic view of things and
events.
The above discussion supposes that
religion was and is a result of evolution. Society as it grew and matured
required the concept of an abstract, omnipresent God and this evolution
occurred in the Indus cities and was transmitted, by means of the migrating
Indus elite, to Prophet Abraham and his people in Sumer .The problem with this
concept is that it is not supported by subsequent, to IVC, history, progress
does not necessarily relate to improved in religious concepts .In IVC itself
the late Harrapan period could be termed as an regression .An answer to that
could be that the evolution in religious thought and practice becomes a part of
the total human consciousnesses and the progress is passed to the next dominant
civilization ,the civilization making the development could go in decline
.Further complications rise as there is considerable evidenced to support that
the central idea of the monotheistic religion can be traced to the first man
who achieved conciseness , prophet Adam . Early Sumerian myths (the creation
myth for example) do seem to relate to sacred text belonging to the era and
land from where the Sumar migrated to their city states . Rigvedic texts also
contain text that seems to belong to an era when the Aryans had not separated
from the Iranians.
The
Omniscience of Varuna
A
guardian, the Lord of worlds
Sees
all things as if near at hand.
In
secret what ‘tis thought to do
That
to the gods is all displayed.
Whoever
moves or stands, who glides in secret,
Who
seeks a hiding-place, or hastens from it,
What
things two men may plan in secret council ,
A
third King Varuna , perceives it also .
And
all this earth, King Varuna possesses,
His
the remotest ends of you broad heaven;
And
born the seas in Varuna lie hidden,
But
yet the smallest water drop contains him
Although
I climbed the furthest heaven, fleeing
I
should not there escape the monarch’s power;
From
the heaven his spies descending hasten hither,
With
all their thousand eyes the world surveying
Whate’er
exists between the earth and heaven,
Or
both beyond, to Varuna lies open
The
winking of each mortal eye he,
He
wields the universe, as dice a player
Page 50, “The Oxford India
The Sumerian myths seem to be of
two kinds , one that differ from time to time ,these were modified in each
successive era , the other are those that seem to have been kept in tact for
all times . These seem to be related to the sacred text that perhaps the Sumar
brought from the piedmont perch from where they migrated to the plains .The concept
that the human mind has a deep structure that allows it to learn language and
to accept the monotheistic concept of religion has been given by a number of
philosophers .This legacy, the monotheistic concept of religion, from the place
of fall (Eden according to the Bible) seem to be the factor that made
civilizations dominant , and this key factor passed from the dominant
civilization to the succeeding one . The Indus people were the first owners of
this key concept and when for unknown reasons their land became not receptive
to this primal but everlasting truth they migrated and passed on this message
to Prophet Ibrahim .Who in the travels spread this to the whole of middle
eastern .the Jewish people became the owners or holders of this key element and
this subsequently passed on to other civilizations and this process goes on to
the present.
History is the record of progress
of the human race over time. This progress is not a straight linear path, but
there are regressions also, but looking at a long-term picture there is a clear
trend towards steady progress in human religious thought and practice. This
would of course depend as to how we define progress.
Fundamental changes in conception
go together with fundamental changes in values. Historical consciousness has
not been forced upon man by the relentless accumulation of knowledge and
experience .He does not embrace modern view of time and history reluctantly, as
something to which he is condemned by fate. Rather it is a matter of preference
with him .He has come to regard non-repetitive change, the continual occurrence
of novelties, as a law of life because he wants it to be a law of life .The
idea that history repeats itself has been rejected by Kant on the ground that
this will violate human dignity by denying man’s exceptional status.
The ancients had generally seen
the world as eternal, without beginning or end, and as a harmonious whole and
balanced system, a kosmos that partook in the nature of the divine and was a
worthy object of admiration .The new religion saw the world as temporally
finite, the creation of a transcendent personal; Deity who continually sustains
it during its limited period of existence, it was God alone who was now
eternal.
In ancient mythology, religion or
philosophy the world had also been occasionally described as the creation of
God or the gods, but “creation” had then meant a rebuilding or restructuring of
pre-existing materials, according to principles of timeless validity.
The new concept of religion gave
the concept of God’s absolute power and self-sufficiency .God was also said to
process absolute goodness and love. The attitude of looking forward in hope
acquired the status of a virtue and religious demand which it had not processed
before .The classical stance had been to associate hope with illusion, it might
make life more bearable, but the wise and strong neither hoped nor feared.
Relevance to the present issue is
to discuss the differences in: structure of society; and attitudes, between the
prehistoric man and the new emerging man who believed in a single God.
Turgot believes that the first age
has been one in which men like children indulge in anthromorphic beliefs; this
was followed by a period when these phenomena were accounted for
metaphysically, in terms of abstract entities (finally there has been a
breakthrough to scientific rationality). Turgot also referred to mankind’s
gradual unification: beginning with numerous isolated tribes, larger and
larger, and fewer and fewer, units have been formed throughout history and in
the future there will be only one unit.
Condorcet believes that the
subject of progress was the human mind, the shaping of the mind by means of
enlightment and education seemed to be suggested as the proper way of promoting
progress .He divided history into: hunting and fishing (family, language);
pastoralism (livestock, primitive technology, slavery, inequality); agriculture
(further technology, alphabet) and so on.
Marx saw that what makes man human
is the fact that he produces for need and the way he does it, and on the other
hand has ability to produce beyond need .Man became man through labor i.e. by
creating conditions which are necessary to his bodily needs. Labor thus expresses man’s dependency and
lack of freedom; it would have to be abolished if man were to be made
completely free
Kant believes that God has
implanted reason in man and this development of reason is what history is all
about .If so the question is did God reveal the Oneness of the God to the Indus people if so why. This must be a logical reason for
this. What were the differences between Sumer and IVC, Sumerian civilization
was not inclusive in nature, city states were frequently at war with each
other, each had its own deity, IVC was different as it was inclusive, there is
no evidence of multiple gods nor is there evidence of warfare between cities,
Why? Was this so.
Audelung claims that the initial
primal apex language was created when Prophet Adam was born and further that
Prophet Adam was born in Kashmir and Prophet
Adam’s heaven (Eden Kashmir .
Gorres in 1810 claimed that Aryans
were the middle eastern Sumer and that Prophet Ibraham came from Kashmir which
was the first place where human civilization developed .Creuzer in his book
“Symbolik and Mythologie” claimed that the Jews based their religion upon the
religion of the Brahmins, he further claimed that Prophet ibrahim was in fact
the god Brahma and Sarah was in fact the Sarasvati of the sub continent, both
Ibrahim and Sarah were Brahmins.
What is significant in these
statements is the fact that it depicts the intellectual legacy which the sub
continent passed on to Abraham . These comments suggest that that the
monotheist concept could only have come from the Harrappan people and perhaps the
the Harrapan people perhaps did transmit the one God concept to Abraham rather
than the Aryans.
Michelet in his book “History of
Rome” claims that “---the departure place was Hindusitan , which was the birth
place of all races and religions ..”.Renan in his book “ Life of Jesus” claims
that “The Sumer were a tribe of the Jewish people “ .Jacolliot in his
publication claims that “Hinduistan ,which is the birth place of all human
races , is like the full breast of a mother “.
The book “Historical Development
of Music “, claims that” from Mohenjadaro and Harrappa seven stringed musical
have been discovered”. Similar claims were made by Rai Bahadur K.N.Dixit (pre
historic civilization of the Indus
Valley Madras
The above is a view of religion
that accepts that evolution created religion .Although there are a number of
aspects of this assumption that can be debated , we for the purposes of our
inquiry accept this thesis and evaluate the Harrapan civilization on this account .The above and other similar
hypothesis are based on evolution of man , human society , economic structures
and religious concepts .This view if applied to the Harrapn civilization would
perhaps result in rejection of this thesis , since the Harrapan civilization
was inclusive , rational , and pragmatic , all what it should not have been
according to the evolutionary theory .
Chapter 7: Non-Aryan Elements of Hinduism
The IVC legacy did not completely
die out with the demise of the cities .IVC religion continued to play a part in
the subsequent years .Hinduism exhibits two distinct, very different, streams
.One of which is the Aryan concept system and the other is the non –Aryan
belief system , which is argued to be related to the IVC legacy .
The Devotional religion of South India , Jianism and Buddhism were all reactions to
the Aryan-Brahmin control of all religious thought and practices .All these non
Aryan reactions can be shown to be influenced by the IVC legacy.
Extract from “History of Philosophy-Eastern and Western”
“The Upanisads have a distinct mystic and religious strain” pg. 20 .
“In the development of philosophical thought in India
Page 36 “The earliest religious literature in Tamil consists of
devotional songs of the saints called Alvars” page 37”There is no evidence of
the existence of anything corresponding to Vedic ritualism in the Indus Valley
Civilization. We, however, find many of the features of the non-Vedic
civilization that contributed to the growth of later Hinduism “.”Another
prominent feature of the Indus Valley Civilization was the worship of the
Mother Goddess. Thus the Predominance of the female aspect of the Divine in
this civilization is another non-Vedic element which influenced the Indian
civilization of later time “page 38 “The idea of man being his own architect
fits better with the non-Vedic relegopn than with the Vedic religion of
ritualism where man performs the sacrifice to propitiate gods who bestow
benefits on man.
The development of devotional
religion and the subsequent Bkakti movement in South India also needs attention
as this was an anti-Aryan movement .The movement is described as follows:
Bkakti Movement Extract from
“Indology”by Rashid Malik, Fiction House, 2002
“….But the religious movement
which developed in that period of time was called Bhakti , and this movement
had no links to Vedic literature or to other religious books, there were also
no links to the philosophical though of the times in the sub continent .The
movement preached that there are no go-between in the contact between man and
Creator .The movement rejected religion and philosophy and reverted to the
sufic concept of love --- The collection of poems called Dewarama has the
status of a holy book in Tamil South India . The poems portray a new direct
relationship between the Creator and man, this relationship is based on love,
in which the beloved is the Creator and the lover is man “(this extract is from
Professor Mujib as quoted in the above referred book).
The professor’s view can be
summarized as:
-
The rejection of Vedic and other religious literature
by the movement.
-
The rejection of sacrifice and related traditions.
-
The rejection of Vedic deities.
-
Change in manner and style of religious expression.
-
Opposition to the Brahmins.
-
Salvation trough a teacher.
-
Rejection of Sanskrit as a holy language and expression
of religious thought in local dialects.”
The influences on the Bhakti
movement are hotly debated , one line of thought places these on the influence
of Islam , other points of view seek seeds of the movement in the Vedic
literature and in the deity Vishnu .The significant fact here is that the
initial Bakhti literature was found akin to a Indo-Aryan language literature in
Mahastara , this literature was produced before the advent of the Muslims .This
would suggest that the movement could be the manifestation of dormant religious
thought related to pre Aryan era , possibly the Harrappan civilization .
Extract from “a History of India
1.“The participation of women in a
wider area of social activity than laid out down by brahamanic sources was
encouraged by all the socio-religious reform movements in India, such as the
Tamil devotional cult , the Bhakti movement , and the nineteenth-centaury
Brahmo-samraj and Arya-samaraj .”page 67
2.”..The Buddha intended his
teachings to reach the lower strata of society, hence his use of the popular
language Magaghi in preference to Sanskrit. Buddhist following was drawn mainly
from the mercantile community, the artisans, and the cultivators …. The pattern
of association of these two heterodox sects- Buddhism and Jainism – with urban
centers and largely with the lower castes was repeated in later centuries with
the various phases of what came to be called the Bhakti movement …” page 68
3.”In the sphere of religion,
other groups either anti-Vedic or non-Vedic in feeling were also present .Apart
from Jainism and Buddhism, there arrived the Bhagavata and Pashupata cults, the
cults of devotion to Vishnu and Shiva respectively –theism with an emphasis on
personal worship rather than sacrificial rituals – and these were to strike at
the roots in the populace whilst the royalty was busily concerning itself with
Vedic rituals. Eventually the devotional cult was to prove stronger than any
other religious force in the South, and this was recognized even by the royal patrons.
Jainism and Buddhism has gradually
to give way to a new form of religious worship ,the devotional cults of the
Tamil saints , which were among the early expressions of what came to be called
the Bhakti movement .The devotional aspect was formulated in a relationship
between God and man based on love ,a formulation which had not been so strongly
stressed in earlier Hindu thought .The worshippers , recognized a feeling of
inadequacy , would declare his love for God who , it was believed , permitted a
reciprocal relationship ., described poignantly in one of the Tamil hymns .
When you see his face praise him with joy,
Worship him with joined palms bow before him
So that his feet touch your head,
Holy and mighty will be his form
Raising to the heaven, but his sterner face
Will be hidden, and he will show you
The form of a young man, fragrant and beautiful
And his words will be loving and gracious –
Don’t be afraid – I know you are coming.
Tamil devotionalism achieved a
great wave of popularity in the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. and was
continued in the hymns and sermons of the Nayanars(the Shaivite saints) and the
Alvars (the Vaishnavite saints) ……The Vedic gods were either denied or ignored
,the emphasis being not on worship but on the relationship involved in the
worship , the relationship between man and God.
… although never so recognized by
the Brahmins , the Tamil devotional cult was in part a resistance to the
Aryanization of the region.---- Religious hymns and music was popularized by
the Tamil saints , and the singing of these hymns became a regular feature of
temple ritual . The vina was probably
the most frequently used instrument, its origin being the bow-harp familiar to
both the Indian sub continent and the ancient Middle East
…..Dancing was also included in the rituals at the temple .Originating with
folk dancing, the choreography of temple dancing became the highly
sophisticated and complex renderings of religious themes as apparent in its
final form, Bharatanatyam.’
Pages 184-190
The devotional cults were
developed in the Southern Tamil lands, this surely must be significant, the
Dravadiams are said to have coexisted with the Harrappans in the last Harrappan
period and they seem to have either borrowed from the Harrappan language or
contributed to modern day, existing languages in lands that were included in
the Harrapan civilization .The sufic concept, much later, also became the
popular religion in the western and north-western sub continent. The music and
dancing aspects of the devotional religion could have links to the Harrappans ,
where dancing and music seem to be a part of their cultural and religious life
.The monotheistic religion concept could be a legacy from the long forgotten
Harrapan civilization that kept surfacing in the Tamil lands and indeed
elsewhere in the shape of Buddhism , Jainism , Bhakti movement , Kabir and
Nanak , all of these were essentially anti Vedic and anti Aryan in varying
degrees .All these concepts could be echoes from the long forgotten Indus
valley civilization .
Extracts from “The Oxford India
”Prehistoric forms of worship and
many quite un-Aryan social practices survive, especially in the peninsula among
the peoples speaking Dravadian languages” (page 8) .
“ The Dravadian religion and
social customs differed widely from those of Northern India .Caste was unknown
, as it is now in Burma ,and the religion was centered on the ecstatic and
often orgiastic worship of original divinities have since been adopted by the
Brahamins , given new names and identified with orthodox Hindu gods and
goddesses “. (Page 42).
“The laws of marriage and
inheritance also differed completely from those of the Brahmins .Even now, when
Hinduism, with its strict caste rules and its recognized system of law, has
gained the mastery, the old and quite different Dravidian ideas may be traced
in a thousand directions. The ancient Dravidian alphabet called Vatteluttu , of
Semitic origin , is very different from any of the northern alphabets .
Tradition as recorded in the ancient Tamil literature indicated that from the
very early times wealthy cities existed in the South and many of the
refinements and luxuries of life were in common use ……..Commerce supplied the
wealth required for life on civilized lines, and the Dravidians were not afraid
to cross the seas”. (Page 43).
“Those two faiths, it need hardly
be said, did not come into being independently of previous conditions .The
teachings of Mahavira the Jain and of Gautama Buddha , was based on the
doctrine of early prophets .Mahavira started his religious life as a reformer
of an ancient ascetic order said to have been founded by Paravanatha two
centuries and a half earlier . Gautama’s preaching was related to the cult of
“former Buddhas”, whose prophet was Devadatta ,
Gautama’s cousin .” page 76 .
Tamil poem (page 161)
Love
Loveless
natures, cold and hard,
Live
for self alone.
Hearts
where love abides regard
Self
as scarce their own…
Where
the body hath soul,
Live
hath gone before
Where
no love infils the whole
Dust
it is – no more
Origin of Jainism needs to be explored as there may be
evidence of influence of pre Aryan thought upon the development of Jain thought
.Jainism is an independent and most ancient religion of India
Extract from “History of Philosophy-Eastern and Western”
Page 139 “It is now accepted that Jianism is older than Budhism and that
Mahavira who lived from 599 B.C. to 527 B.C. , was not the finder of Jainism
and that his predecessor Parsva who lived 250 years earlier was also an
historical person .The ahimsa doctrine preached by Rsabha is possibly prior in
time to the advent of the Aryans in India and the prevalent culture of the
period”.
The discovery of the Indus Civilization seems to have
thrown a new light on the antiquity of Jainism. The evidence suggests that
Jainism was known among the people of the Indus Valley Indus
Valley
In addition, the sacred signs of swastika are found
engraved on a number of seals.
Furthermore, there are some motifs on the seals found in Mohen-jo-Daro
and it is suggested that these motifs are identical with those found in the
ancient Jain art of Mathura
This presence of Jain tradition in the earliest
period of Indian history is supported by many scholars. It strongly suggests
that Jainism existed in pre‑Aryan time.
The origin of Buddhism also needs to be
explored as this will reveal the influence of pre Aryan thought on the religion
put forward by Lord Buddha .In Indian religion there have been two independent
influences which were originally quite distinct and had separate origins and
which for a considerable length of time were separate but which at a certain
point of time merged and flowed on united right to the present day. The oldest
known civilization was the Indus valley
Civilization, located roughly in modern day Pakistan Harappa . There is also evidence of the fact that they
were literate. They had developed a script which unfortunately we are not able
to decipher.
Extract from “History of Philosophy-Eastern and Western”
Page
152 “A re-orientation of the faith was necessitated by the impact of
Sumero-Dravadian culture of the Indus Valley and the need of cultural expression
beyond the early frontiers of Aryan domination towards the East and the South
where tribes of the hill and the forest lived and imitated Aryan ways and
thought .It has been conjured that yogic mediation , ascetic habit and belief
in transmigration may have come from non-Aryan sources as well as the
development of the Siva and , later , of the Sakti cult “”Criticism of Vedic
practices had started earlier , in fact
, for even the Upanisads belittled the efficacy of sacrificial rites and laid
emphasis on knowledge of Reality as the best path of attaining a blessed
hereafter”. page 153” In fact the dissenters were many and of diverse sorts …..Apart
from the six main heretical teachers from the Buddhist point of view, of whom
Purana-Kassapa, Makkhali-Gosala ,Ajita-kesa-kambalin , Pakudha-Kaccayana ,
Nigantha-Nataputta and Sanjaya-Beltthaputta “
Sakta
and Saiva schools of Indian thought have also been linked to pre-Aryan sources.
The
Aryan invasion and its impact can be described as follow:
The
peaceful life of this civilization was unfortunately interrupted in about the
year 1800 or 1500 B.C. by an invasion that came from the North West Eastern
Europe . The origin of the Aryans was in the grassy region
extending from Poland Western Russia . The Aryans were very
different from the people of the Indus Valley Civilization because they were
generally nomadic and pastoral. They did not have a highly developed urban
civilization. They were a warlike expanding pioneer civilization that lived in
large part from the spoils and plunder that they gathered from the peoples they
conquered in the course of their migration. When the Aryans arrived in India India
The
Indus Valley Civilization had a script which has not been deciphered. The
information regarding the nature of this civilization is from two sources,
first from the archaeological discoveries at the sites of Mohenjodaro and Harappa and second from the records of the Aryans who
described the religious behavior and beliefs of the people they conquered. From
the archaeological evidence we find a number of symbols that are of religious
significance, that are special to Buddhism: the symbols of the Bodhi tree and
animals such as the elephant and deer. Perhaps most importantly there have been
discovered several images of figures sitting in cross-legged postures with
their hands resting on their knees, with their eyes narrowed, half-closed quite
evidently in postures of meditation. These archaeological findings have been
studied by eminent scholars and the conclusion is that we can quite definitely
trace the origin and practice of meditation to the Indus Valley Civilization.
When we look at the descriptions of the religion of the Indus Valley
Civilization from the writings of the Aryans - the Vedas - we find the figure
of a wandering ascetic frequently mentioned. We find that they practiced
meditation, that they were celibate, that they observed an austere life, that
they were sometimes naked or clothed in most simple garments, that they
wandered about homeless and that they taught in the way beyond birth and death.
If we put together the evidence of the archaeological findings and the evidence
of Aryan literature, we find that there emerges a picture of the religion of
the people of the Indus Valley Civilization in which there are several
important elements. First of all, meditation or mental concentration; secondly
renunciation, abandoning the household life, living the life of a wandering
ascetic; thirdly that we have a conception of rebirth over a long series of
lives; fourthly we have a conception of moral responsibility beyond this life,
the notion of karma; and lastly we have a goal of religious life, a goal of liberation.
These are the salient features of the religion of the very earliest Indian
Civilization.
The Aryan religion in contrast was very
different, and it would be hard to find two religious views that are more
different. Here we find it much easier to construct a picture because we have a
complete literature with regard to their religion. When the Aryans came to India
Chapter 8: Semites and the Indus valley Civilization
Extracts from Karachi
University
The Indus Valley Civilization comprised of a number of
cities, these are stated to be seven in number .These cities were prosperous
due to trade and agriculture. The population was prosperous and was prominent
due to lack of evidence of islands of poverty and need.
The Arabs have a number of pronouncements related to Sindh
and Hind .Wahab ibn Munbah has called Hind and Sindh to be sons of Ham .Ibn-e
Jarar has from Ibn Abbas stated that “Arab and Faras and Naith and Sindh and
Hind were sons of Ham son of Noah .Various Arabic traditions deem Hindi and
Sindhi people to be of the same ethnic stock as the Arabs. An Arabian poet
claims that
“Hind was ours, Sindh
was ours and Arusn was also ours, Eastern people were also our people so to
were the Western people”
The author claims that the script of IVC was the earlier
form of Arabic .Marshall has proved that the language of the IVC could not have
been Sanskrit or any other Aryan language .He expressed the possibility that
the IVC language could be related to the Dravidian group of languages. IVC
seals have been found in Sumerian cities , which indicates close ties between
these two civilizations .The exact nature of this relationship is not exactly
known .It is generally considered that this relationship was related to
commerce and trade , but perhaps the relationship was in fact encompassing
other faucets of life , including religion and social structures .The seals
found in Iraq show that the trade routes between the two civilizations were
very active between 2750 B.C. to 2080 B.C., it further points out to the fact
that the Sumerian ( and the Harrappans) understood each others language ,
Sumerian symbols are found with Indus script in the IVC cities which would
suggest that the IVC people did not understand the Sumerian symbols , on the
other hand IVC scripts with IVC symbols are found in Sumerian cities which
would indicate that the IVC symbols and script was understood by the Sumerians
. These seals performed some function which was common to both civilizations.
Head skeletons found in the IVC cities are similar to those
found in The Palestine Valley, Iraq and Tel Aviv, this would indicate the
ethnic and racial similarities between the Arabs and the Sindhis.
The IVC script has links to Arabic languages and the IVC had
therefore some impact upon the people of other Prophets and upon the world of
Islam.
The language of IVC is neither Sanskrit (nor any other Aryan
language) or Dravidian, it is in fact akin to the language of ancient (4000 to
5000 years old) Arabic. Most ancient languages, except for Chinese, have
relationship with the IVC language. The Indus seals are of three kinds i)
pictures of things ii) modified pictures of things which makes these as
Idea-graphs iii)
This establishes the fact that the IVC was populated by
Arabic people, who migrated to the Middle East .Arabic speaking Iraqis were
called, in the Koran; the people of Abraham, the Semite tribes had their
earliest homes in or around ancient Indus valley. In other words the Arabs went
to their present abodes from Sindh .
The IVC language must have its influences upon Arabic,
Persian, Punjabi, Sindhi, Seriaki and Urdu .Seals found in IVC that are related
to commercial activity were, with minor differences, also used in Sumerian
cities.
The Indus cities were laid
out and constructed in a very organized manner: Broad streets paved with baked bricks;
distinctive architecture of the houses; and separate places earmarked for
collective activities characterized these cities.
Islamic literature’s initial references to Hind are related
to the traditions about Prophet Adam (pbuh) , who is said to be exiled to
present Sir Lanka from heaven .Prophet Adam , in Islamic thought and belief
system , is definitely the first human of the present human race .What is
disputed is that was he the first human .The Koran does not conclusively
establish this fact . There is reference to Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience and
the consequent exile , but it is not clear if they were the original couple to
whom the Koran also refers to .The original human , gave birth of the female
and this initiated the human race , this original human is perhaps some other
than the prophet Adam(pbuh) . Prophet Adam (pbuh) was perhaps the first human
to achieve consciousness some 10000 years ago after the end of the last ice age
.The place where Adam and Eve were exiled to is said to be the present Indian
subcontinent .It is also claimed that Adam’s “heaven” was located on a hill
,from where he was exiled to the plains .The Torah calls this “heaven” as Eden
, a place where four rivers originate ,which places the “heaven” somewhere in
modern Eastern turkey and Armenia .The place to which Adam (pbuh) was exiled is
modern Indian subcontinent .
Interestingly the Aryan ancient records have no references
to the names Hind and Sindh whereas the Arabic ,ancient and relatively modern,
references have extensive usage of both these names .it would seem that the
names of Sindh and Hind was given to these areas by the Semites .
Few Iraqi seals are found in the IVC whereas a large number
of IVC seals were found in the Sumerian cities, which would suggest an unequal
traffic, of both goods and ideas, from IVC to Sumer Indus elite did migrate to Sumer Indus
elite took their manuscripts with them when they migrated to Sumer
Ancient Aryan records, do suggest that at the time of
Mahabharata, Arabic was understood in the subcontinent.
The symbols of prophet Suleiman (pbuh) are found on Indus seals.
Traveling in Arabia , one
comes across camels belonging to different tribes which are distinguished by
means of distinctive marks these marks bear uncanny similarity to those found
on Indus seals.
29 Koranic Surah begin with a few letters, which are
considered to be undecipherable, this cannot be correct as if this were to be
true and these words are definitely a part of the Koran, their meaning would
have been sought by the sahaba from Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), this did not
happen . We can perhaps infer that the meaning of these letters was commonly
understood by the Arabs.
The Koran, in Surah Shorah 8.5, states that:
No man has the status that he can talk to God , but only
through i) revelation(Wahi) ii) across a veil iii) or through a messenger
Chapter 9: Social structures
Extract from Ibn e Khuldun :
Human societies are dependent upon a collective structure,
the need of which was felt very early in human development. This was so because it was not possible for
any individual to fulfill all human needs without help of others.
The concept was perhaps copied from societal structures
exhibited by animals, some animals lived in groups and these groups had a
structure and system of collective behavior.
Human beings when evolved into tribal structures needed to
have individuals specialized in different tasks. This specialization evolved
later into professions. Since man has inbuilt capacity for sin and anti social
behavior there was a need of an authority figure or structure to maintain law
and order and to protect individuals and groups from the ill intentions of
others.
End of extract
Human societies need laws which ensure justice to all
citizens .In ancient societies there was
“national political law “, this was not a systematic law making process as
kings and rulers proclaimed laws. These understandably were mainly to protect
the interests of the elite.
There is no or little evidence of warfare between cities or
groups within the Harrapan people, yet these cities were very similar to each
other. This would imply a strong central regulation, but this regulatory
framework was not based upon use of force but was rather enforced by means of
religion. This would therefore be the driving force. This would provide the
need to develop a law giving process based not upon human or political systems
but rather on an abstract divine being. These laws would therefore be not
subject to revision by kings or rulers or even priests. The upkeep of standards
is reflected in the fact that IVC art displayed a confirmation to standards to
the very end of the IVC (apart for the last periods).
This would therefore be the rationale for development of a
monotheistic religion in the IVC and not in Sumer Sumer
It needs to be mentioned that Sumer and Harrapan people were
ethnically the same and both perhaps belonged to the tribes that originated
somewhere between north west Pakistan to eastern Turkey. The religion of Sumer
was different from other tribal religions in so far as the Sumer religion was
more a “code of homage “(that one might pay to a king or lord) rather than a
mystical worship of gods in fact this relationship with gods was the very
driving force for the rise of Sumerian society .The very reason for the
existence of Sumer and her people seemed to lie with these strange and mortal deities
and the very reason for existence for every Sumerian person was to worship the
appropriate deity .
This in Sumer Sumer
IVC on the other hand was protected form invaders by
mountains and semi deserts; this led to the evolution of the same SUMER Indus valley civilization.
Extract from Ibn e Khuldun
Before civilization trade was managed by barter, then coins
were used, these were made in an oven of gold, silver, the molten metal was
poured into moulds .the finished product had pictures and words
There was a prophet of God in India
Enoch was a prophet who supposedly
lived from 3284-3017 B. C. Prophet Enoch
was also Thoth,
Hermes, Metatron, among
others who supposedly wrote 'Books about the Sacred Knowledge of Creation'.
These creational stories are based on patterns of geometry
that repeat in cycles through the concept of TIME. In the Qur'an, Enoch is called Idris. In the bible he is sometimes called Akhnookh. He was a man of truth and a prophet. We raised him to a high station. Surah 19: 56-57
According to the biblical narrative (Genesis
He called the people back to his forefathers' religion, but only a few listened to him, while the majority turned away. According to the Talmud Selections (pp. 18-21) when the people went astray, Enoch who lived a pious life in seclusion was given prophet hood. He came among the people and by his sermons and speeches made the people give up the idolatry and obey the Command of God. Enoch ruled them and during his reign there was peace and justice.
Prophet Enoch and his followers left
Enoch taught the sons of men the art of building cities, and enacted some admirable laws. He discovered the knowledge of the Zodiac, and the course of the Planets; and he pointed out to the sons of men, that they should worship God, that they should fast, that they should pray, that they should give alms, votive offerings, and tenths. He reprobated abominable foods and drunkenness, and appointed festivals for sacrifices to the Sun, at each of the Zodiacal Signs.
Enoch's name signified in the Hebrew, Initiate or Initiator. The legend of the columns, of granite and brass or bronze, erected by him, is probably symbolical. That of bronze, which survived the flood, is supposed to symbolize the mysteries, of which Masonry is the legitimate successor from the earliest times the custodian and depository of the great philosophical and religious truths, unknown to the world at large, and handed down from age to age by an unbroken current of tradition, embodied in symbols, emblems, and allegories.
There was a substantial Zoroastrian Influence on Judaism when Jewish exiles were exposed to the Persian religion during the Babylonian captivity. Some Jews adopted Enochian tradition in
The last of the Essene stragglers buried the secret book in Cave IV at
The Book of Enoch is a pseudo-epigraphal work that claims to be written by a biblical character. It was not included in either the Hebrew or most Christian biblical canons, but could have been considered a sacred text by the sectarians. The original Aramaic version was lost until several Dead Sea Scroll fragments were discovered in Qumran Cave 4 - providing parts of the Aramaic original.
This fragment reads;
Humankind is called on to observe how
unchanging nature follows God's will.
Enoch acts as a scribe, writing up a petition on behalf of the fallen angels, or fallen ones, to be given to a higher power for ultimate judgment. Christianity adopted some ideas from Enoch, including the Final Judgment, the concept of demons, the origins of evil and the fallen angels, and the coming of a Messiah and ultimately, a Messianic kingdom. The Book of Enoch was removed from the Bible and banned by the early church. Copies of it were found to have survived in
Enoch is the supposed author of 366 books, collectively termed Enochian literature. The most famous writings bearing his name are the First, Second, and Third Books of Enoch, ranked among the large body of literature termed apocryphal and pseudepigraphical, meaning that they are noncanonical (not accepted into the body of recognized books of the Bible) and are-in the case of the pseudepigrapha-attributed to some person of note and written in the style of genuine biblical books. Most interesting of all the legends is the one in which Enoch was transported to heaven and there transformed into the angel Metatron. Once there, he was, with the divine flourish, made into Metatron, the angel of the face, high priest of the heavenly temple, and one of the supreme angels in all of the celestial hierarchy-not to mention the tallest of angels, with 36 wings and 265,000 eyes.
The three so-called pseudepigraphical works were supposedly written by or under the influence of the antediluvian patriarch Enoch, who was taken up to heaven by the Lord, an event described in the Book of Genesis (5:24); pseudepigraphical writings are those that are noncanonical (meaning not accepted into the body of biblical books) and were composed in a style intending to resemble or appear as authentic biblical literature, often assuming the title of some personage known to the audience. In the case of the Books of Enoch, the actual writers or compilers chose a figure who was the source of many legends and tales, the most notable being his transformation by God into the truly powerful angel Metatron. While decidedly uncanonical, the three books remain fascinating and colorful reading, as well as treasures of detail and fanciful images concerning angels.
1 ENOCH-Known is also as the Ethiopic Book of Enoch from the fact that the only surviving complete manuscript of it is in Ethiopic. This is the oldest of the three Enoch books, dating to the mid-second century B.C., although it actually comprises various sections, each dated differently: "The Book of Noah"; "Similitudes"; "The Dream Visions"; "Apocalypse of the Weeks"; and "The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries." Aside from material on Gehenna and heaven and the nature of evil, the text is full of stories and accounts of angels. The writer covers the fall of angels, the names of the archangels, and the fire of the luminaries of heaven. The reader thus encounters such angelic personages as Raguel, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, and Saraqael.
2 ENOCH-Known also as the Slavonic Book of Enoch because the only extant version is a Slavonic translation of the Greek original text, this specific edition dates to the seventh century A. D., although it is based on a much older Jewish text of the first century. A.D. While similar in some ways to the first book of Enoch and perhaps using it as a source, the Slavonic Enoch details Enoch's journey through the seven heavens, the life of Enoch's successors, especially Methuselah, and then gives a forecast of the Great Flood that encompassed the world in later generations. There are descriptions of angels residing in the heavens.
3 ENOCH-Also called the Hebrew Apocalypse of Enoch, this is a Jewish writing dating probably to the second century A.D. It was supposedly written by the noted Rabbi Ishmael, a brilliant scholar of
