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Common Narratives of Adam and Swayambhu Manu We Suggest That This Prophet Lived at Pushkar on Two Grounds That Are Common to the Two Traditions

Common Narratives of Adam and Swayambhu Manu We Suggest That This Prophet Lived at Pushkar on Two Grounds That Are Common to the Two Traditions

Common Narratives of and Swayambhu We suggest that this lived at Pushkar on two grounds that are common to the two traditions. One, location of his abode was atop a mountain. Two, four rivers flowed out from here. Mount Moriah or Mount Meru The Biblical tradition tells of Adam living at Mount Moriah while the Hindu tradition tells of him living at Mount Meru. The Targum, a secondary Biblical text, says that after being banished from Eden, Adam “went and dwelt on Mount Moriah, to cultivate the ground from which created him.”1 This means that Adam was created by God from the ground of Moriah and he lived here after God banished him from the . The two ends of Adam’s life were located at Moriah. Therefore, we may assume that the Garden of Eden, where he lived between these two ends, too was located at or near the mountain of Moriah. The Hindu texts say that ’s seat is located at Mount Meru.2 The common theme in the Biblical and Hindu descriptions is that creation took place atop a mountain as indicated in the adjective “Mount” added to both Moriah and Meru. Further, the two names carry the same consonants “M” and “r” suggesting that the same place is referred to in the two traditions. The elevation of Pushkar is at 530 meters above Mean Sea Level, while that of Ajmer, the city to its south, is at 475 meters. In other words, Pushkar is located barely 55 meters higher than Ajmer and scarcely qualifies as a “mountain.” However, the city is located in a valley surrounded by higher mountains. One accesses Pushkar from Ajmer through a pass as shown in Figure 1. Perhaps the texts refer to Pushkar as a “Mount” in reference to the mountains that surround it. Another possibility is that the texts have glorified Pushkar as a 2 Common

“mountain” due to its spiritual height rather than its physical height. Evidence of habitation is available continuously from the last 200,000 years from the area around Budha Pushkar Lake. Bridget and Raymond Allchin, authors of The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan, say: Around the… Budha Pushkar there is concentration of sites with (small stone tool) industries… these are primarily living or camping sites… the importance of this unique place may extend back without a break to prehistoric times.3 Archaeologists have also found pottery related to the Bronze Age and a fishhook here.4 This establishes that people lived in the area from prehistoric times to the Bronze Age which began at c. 3500 BCE, and includes the time of Adam at c. 4000 BCE.

Figure 1: Approach to Pushkar Mountain from Ajmer. Photo: Author, September 2016.

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A legend says that “Ajay Meru,” the original name of the city of Ajmer, was derived from “a goat-herd of Pushkar, who was called Ajapal…”5 The connection of the name Ajay Meru with Meru is self-evident. Thus, this legend connects Meru with Pushkar as follows: Meru – Ajay Meru – Ajmer – Ajapal – goat-herd of Pushkar – Pushkar. The legend says that Ajapal lived before the time of dated to c. 1500 BCE. Hence the association of the name “Meru” with Pushkar is ancient.6 The Hindu living tradition says that Brahma undertook the task of creation at Pushkar. His main temple is located here. Now we assess the above informations on the four levels of evidences mentioned in the previous chapter. Levels of Evidence. The geographical evidence is that Pushkar is located on a hill as indicated in the adjective “Mount” added to the names Moriah and Meru. Archaeological evidence for habitation here is available from c. 4000 BCE. The evidence from similarity of names is that the name “Ajay Meru” of Ajmer carries the name “Meru,” which is mentioned as such in the Hindu texts, and which is similar to the name Moriah mentioned in the Biblical tradition. The location of the main temple of Brahma provides evidence from the living traditions. Thus we find that the location of Moriah and Meru at Pushkar is supported by all four levels of evidence. Rivers of Eden, and Meru The , the and the Hindu texts all tell of four rivers flowing at the seat of creation as they indeed do near Pushkar. says that four rivers named Pishon, Gihon, Perath and Hiddekel flowed out of the Garden of Eden.7 The Quran tells of four rivers of water, milk, wine and honey flowing in the Paradise.8 The Hindu narrative tells of three rivers named Alaknanda, Saraswati, Sita and an unnamed river flowing out from Mount Meru. It also says that four rivers of mango juice, 4 Common Prophets jamun juice, honey and milk flow in four directions.9 Thus, all the three texts tell of four rivers flowing at the seat of creation. The Quran and Hindu texts additionally describe the four rivers in terms of different liquids. Four rivers indeed flow out of Pushkar as shown in Figure 2. The river emerging to the south of Pushkar is the Sagarmati. We suggest she is the Pishon of the Bible and Alaknanda of the Hindu texts. She flows near the town of Pisangan. The name Pishon and first part “Pisan” of the name Pisangan both carry the same consonants “p,” “s” and “n” and suggest a common origin of the two names. The river emerging to the west of Pushkar is the Saraswati. We suggest she is the Gihon of the Bible and the ancient Saraswati of the Hindu texts. The river emerging to the northeast is the Nahar. We suggest she is the Perath River of the Bible and the unnamed north-flowing river of the Hindu texts. The river emerging to the southeast is the Dai. We suggest she is the Hiddekel of the Bible and Sita of the Hindu texts.

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Figure 2: Rivers of Pushkar. Shaded areas indicate mountains. The Biblical and Hindu narratives both indicate a connection of the rivers emerging to the south and west of the Garden of Eden or Mount Meru. The Targum says that the Gihon carried the waters of the Pishon;10 while the Hindu texts say that both the Alaknanda and Saraswati Rivers flowed near the Gandhamadan Mountains. This is exactly the situation of the Sagarmati and Saraswati rivers. The Saraswati carries the waters of the Sagarmati after Govindgarh where the two rivers join as shown in Figure 2; and the combined river flows near the Aravalli Mountains as shown in the larger picture in Figure 3. The Hindu texts may be equating the Aravalli Mountains with the Gandhamadan Mountains. Thus they say that the Alaknanda-as- Luni and Saraswati-as-Luni both flow near the Gandhamadan Mountains. It is remarkable that both the Biblical and Hindu texts tell of a special connection between rivers emerging from the south and west of the seat of creation. 6 Common Prophets

Figure 3: Luni River and Aravalli Mountains. Levels of Evidence. The geographical evidence is that four rivers flowed out of here and two of these rivers joined together. Archaeological evidence for habitation here has been mentioned above in the context of the location of Mount Moriah and Meru here. The evidence from similarity of names is that the Biblical name Pishon could have a connection with the name Pisangan. The name Saraswati of the west-flowing river here provides evidence from both similarity of names and living traditions. Thus we find that the location of Moriah, Garden of Eden, Paradise or Meru at Pushkar is further supported by all the four levels of evidences from the rivers. Now we proceed to discuss the common events at the time of the Prophet. The Beginning of Marriage The Bible and the Hindu texts tell of the beginning of the institution of marriage at the time of Adam or Swayambhu Manu. of the Bible say that God took part of the ’s ribs and made a woman from it:

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The Lord God… took one (of Adam’s) ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. And the rib which God had taken from man, made He a woman and brought her unto man.11 A says the same in the statement that “a woman is created from a rib.”12 We substitute alternative meanings of the Hebrew words given in italics in the above verse and render it differently below. The steps for deriving the alternative meanings used here are given at the endnote.13 The Lord God… took one [woman] aside, and quarantined her from humankind.14 And the [woman taken] aside, whom the Lord God had taken away from [all the] mankind, made He a wife and brought her unto one man.15 The sources of the alternative meanings of the Hebrew words accepted by us here are given in the respective endnotes. Thus rendered, the verse tells of God establishing a relationship between one man and one woman, which is the institution of marriage. Wenham and M Sarna, author of the JPS Commentary, both support the association of these verses with the beginnings of marriage.16 We find a similar narrative in the Hindu texts: (Brahma was once thinking that) it is indeed surprising that creation is not taking place despite my continuous effort. (Then) His body suddenly divided in two parts. A pair of male-female emerged from these parts. The male was Manu and the female was his queen .17 From the statement that the woman was the “queen” of Manu, without the mention of their relations with other men or women, we can infer that the woman was wedded to one man at this time. Holy Basil: The Plant of Knowledge The Bible and the Quran tell that Adam and fell from the Garden of Eden or Paradise because they partook of a prohibited plant. The Hindu texts tell of the fall of the 8 Common Prophets

doorkeepers of the Lord when the smell of holy basil entered the nostrils of the Sages. The Bible and the Quran both say that God commanded Adam not to eat of a particular plant at the Garden of Eden or the Paradise: Bible: You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and , for when you eat from it you will surely die.18 Quran: And We said, “O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat therefrom in abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.”19 Adam partook of the forbidden plant nevertheless and God banished him from the Garden for this act: Bible: So the Lord God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.20 Quran: And We said, “Go down, (all of you), as enemies to one another, and you will have upon the earth a place of settlement and provision for a time.”21 The above verse from the Bible tells of a physical movement of Adam from Eden. The above Ayat, however, does not tell whether Adam went down physically from the mountain to a low-lying place, or he went down psychologically from a higher- to a lower state. Mainstream translations of the Quran favor the psychological interpretation. However, the Lahore Movement says that the word “habt,” used for “going down” in this Ayat, “sometimes means… descending from a high place to a low one, but its more frequent use… is… in the sense of removing from one place to another.”22 Interpreted in this way, this Ayat too could indicate a physical movement from the mountain to a low-lying place. The narrative of Sanak and other Sages provides a Hindu parallel to this event. At one time, the Sages went to the abode

Index 9 of Lord in the but the doorkeepers would not let them in. The Sages became angry and cursed the doorkeepers: …both of you descend from here to the sinful (material) world.23 Coming to know of this curse, Lord Vishnu came to the place. Then: …the breeze carrying smell of holy basil leaves… entered the nostrils (of the Sages) and… created agitation in their inner self.24 The Sages then worshipped Lord Vishnu. Subsequently, the Lord intervened and reduced the curse: The Supreme Lord said: “These two will… soon take birth from a godless womb.”25 Upon their fall from the abode of the Lord…, these two… have now entered the womb of Diti (on the earth).26 We deduce that this narrative was located at the time of Swayambhu Manu since Diti, from whose womb the cursed doorkeepers were born, was married to , one of the grandsons of Brahma.27 Now we can trace the parallels in the two narratives. The Semitic narrative tells of Adam partaking of a plant, and he going down from a higher to a lower place. The Hindu narrative tells of the Sages smelling the holy basil, and the doorkeepers going down from a higher to a lower place. The plant that led to the downfall of has an association with the psyche in both the narratives. The Bible says the “eyes of both of them opened.”28 Sarna says that by eating of this plant, the “intellectual horizons were immeasurably expanded” and it gave the “capacity of reflection.”29 The Hindu narrative says the smell of the holy basil leaves created agitation in the inner self of the Sages. This “agitation” could be similar to the “opening of the eyes.” The holy basil has such psychic properties. It can enhance cerebral circulation, attention span, and memory.30 Figure 4 gives picture of the plant from the author’s garden. 10 Common Prophets

The Hebrew word for the “plant” in the above verse is “ets.” The root of this word is “astah.” One meaning of “astah” is “to fasten” or “to make firm.”31 This quality can be interpreted in a physical or psychological sense. In the physical sense, “to make firm” may be associated with a tree that generally holds firm. In the psychological sense the same phrase may be associated with making the mind firm and focused. The holy basil matches with this latter psychological interpretation.32 “Opening the eyes” and “creating agitation in the inner self,” could be related to making the mind firm and focused. The Bible indicates that Adam and Eve ate the “produce” of the plant. Though “produce” is often associated with fruit of a plant, it can also indicate edible leaves.33 Thus partaking of the leaves of the holy basil could be indicated here. Alternative suggestions for the Plant of Knowledge include the grape, fig, wheat, and pomegranate.34 But none of these have qualities associated with the mind. Figure 4: The holy basil. Photo: Author, We have completed the September 2015. discussion of the common geographies and narratives of Adam and Swayambhu Manu. We now provide more evidence for the location of Adam at Pushkar in the next section followed by more evidence for the location of Swayambhu Manu at Pushkar in the subsequent section.

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1 Targum Pseudo Jonathan, Genesis 1-6, https://juchre.org/targums/pgen.htm, Retrieved September 24, 2017. 2 Mahabharata, Shalya Parva, Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Samvat 2067, 38:13-14. 3 Allchin, Bridget & Raymond, The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan, Selectbook Service Syndicate, Madras, 1983, Page 68. Allchin uses the term “microlithic” for the “small stone tools” mentioned in the quote. 4 Allchin, The Rise of Civilization… Page 65. Allchin uses the term Chalcolithic for the Bronze Age. 5 The name Ajmer of the town near Pushkar was originally “Ajaymeru” meaning “the Meru made by Ajayraja,” or Ajayapala dated to 145 CE. However, another legend tells of Ajaymeru deriving its name from “a goat-herd of Pushkar, who was called Ajapal…” According to this bardic story Ajapal lived before the days of Mahabharata (Buhler, G, The Origin of the town of Ajmer and of its name, Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Vol 11 (1987), Department of Oriental Studies, University of Vienna, http://www.jstor.org/stable.23860911, Retrieved June 18, 2017). 6 More recently, Ajmer is said to be founded by King Aja dated to CE 145 (Rajputana Gazetteer, Vol II, page 14, quoted in Buhler, The Origin…). This may be a later tradition following that of the goat-herd of Pushkar quoted in the previous endnote. 7 Bible, Genesis 2:10-14. 8 Quran 47:15. 9 Bhagwata Purana, Srimad Bhagwat Sudha Sagar, Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Samvat 2060, 5:16:16-24. The rivers are named Arunoda to the east, Jambu to the south, and names of the other two rivers are not given. 10 Targum Pseudo Jonathan, Exodus 13: 17. 11 Bible, Genesis 2:21-22. 12 Bukhari, Shahih, Book 55, Hadith Collection, www.hadithcollection.com, Hadith No 548. 13 The is written in the Biblical . It has about 9000 words. Dr. James Strong assigned a unique number to each of 12 Common Prophets

these words. He has also provided alternative meanings of each word. We can access these in the following steps. Step 1: Open the site http://classic.net.bible.org/bible.php. Step 2: On the upper left corner enter the Book, Chapter number and verse. For example, Exodus, Book 2, Verse 21. That opens a page giving eight different English translations of the verse. Below these are five English translations with the Strong’s number given below each Hebrew word. Step 3: Click on the Strong’s number given below the word you want to study. In this case, click 06763 shown below “ribs.” That will open the page for the Hebrew word “tsela.” Alternative meanings of this word are given here. Step 4: Top of the page shows “Origin: from 06760.” Clicking on this opens a page giving alternative meanings of the word “tsala” which is the origin of the word “tsela.” These meanings sometimes help in interpreting the original word. 14 Rib = side (Strong’s 06763), close = quarantine (Strong’s 05462), and flesh = humankind (Strong’s 01320). 15 Rib = side (Strong’s 06763), taken = taken away (Strong’s 03947), man = mankind (Strong’s 0120), woman = wife (Strong’s 0802), and man = one man (Strong’s 0120). 16 Sarna, Nahum M, The JPS Torah Commentary, Genesis, The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1989, Page 23, Wenham, Word, Genesis 1-15, Pages 69. 17 Bhagwata Purana 3:12:49-53. 18 Bible, Genesis 2:15-17. 19 Quran 2:35-36. 20 Bible, Genesis 3:23. 21 Quran 2:35-36. 22 The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, Al-Baqarah: The Cow, www.aaiil.org/text/hq/comm/mali/2/c2s4.shtml, Retrieved January 12, 2015, note to Ayat 36.

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23 Bhagwata Purana 3:15:34. 24 Bhagwata Purana 3:15:3. 25 Bhagwata Purana 3:16:26. 26 Bhagwata Purana 3:16:34-35. 27 Mani, Puranic… Page 244. 28 Bible, Genesis 3:7. 29 The “intellectual horizons are immeasurably expanded;” “You will be endowed with new mental powers…” (Sarna, JPS, Genesis, Page 19, 25). 30 Winston, and Steven Maimes, http://www.adaptogensinamerica.com/, Inner Traditions, 2007, quoted at Holy Basil – Tulsi, http://www.holy-basil.com/6865.html, Retrieved July 23, 2013. 31 The Hebrew word for tree is “ets” (Strong’s 06086). Origin of this word is “atsah” (Strong’s 06095). “Atsah” is a primitive root that means “to fasten (or make firm).” 32 We have earlier rejected a psychological interpretation of Adam and Eve coming down from the Garden. Here we are accepting a psychological interpretation of the word “plant.” These interpretations relate to two different words and settings and are not contradictory. 33 The Hebrew word for “fruit” is “priy.” It means “produce, offspring, children, crops…” (Strong’s 06529). The word “fruit” can be used for produce in general, which includes leaves. 34 Grace Cathedral, The Tree of Knowledge, http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment/brush_excerpts/brush_200304 09.shtm, Retrieved 20 November 2011

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