THE STORY OF INDIAN THOMAS CHURCHES WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN INDIA M.M.Ninan Hinduism: What Really Happened in India - M.M.Ninan iii Hinduism: What Really Happened in India - M.M.Ninan iv Hinduism: What Really Happened in India - M.M.Ninan v Hinduism: What Really Happened in India - M.M.Ninan vi Dedicated To My wife Ponnamma and my four children - Premeela, Anil, Preethy, Ajit and their families, who stand the test of faith amidst great odds; testifying to the great heritage of faith in action, in a pluralistic decaying world - a faith that was once delivered by the Apostle Thomas to the shores of Malabar to our fathers Hinduism: What Really Happened in India - M.M.Ninan vii !!! " #! $%&'() *+ ,-# ) #-% - .- #-% % /00111!-2%#3!*40 # ! 56 **# 7 ))) /00111! *%!*408440 Hinduism: What Really Happened in India - M.M.Ninan viii CONTENTS FOREWORD v Chapter One INTRODUCTION TO HINDUISM 1 Chapter Two ARYAN ORIGINS 18 Chapter Three ARYAN INVASION AND EXPANSION IN INDIA 34 Chapter Four SANSKRIT : THEKEY TOINDIANRELIGIOUSHISTORY 59 Chapter Five IS JESUS AND KRISHNA ONE? WILLTHETRUEKRISTPLEASESTANDUP? 88 Chapter Six PRAJAPATHI AND BALADEVA 110 Chapter Seven BHAVISHYA PURANA 127 Chapter Eight THOMAS CHURCHES OF INNER INDIA 145 Hinduism: What Really Happened in India - M.M.Ninan ix Chapter Nine OM WHAT DOES IT MEAN? WHERE DOES IT COME FROM? 155 Chapter Ten ICONS, IMAGES AND IDOLS 162 Chapter Eleven SAIVA, VAISHNAVA AND CHRISTIAN TEACHINGS 175 Chapter Twelve THE STONES CRY OUT 191 Chapter Thirteen HINDUPHILOSOPHICALSYSTEMS 204 Chapter Fourteen GNOSTICTAKENOVER 230 Chapter Fifteen WHATDOESALLTHISMEAN? 253 TIME LINE: EXTERNAL INFLUENCE 262 TIMELINEOFINDIANRELIGIONS 263 Hinduism: What Really Happened in India - M.M.Ninan x FOREWORD Prof. M.M. Ninan in his present work `Hinduism – What Really Happened in India' provides an in-depth analysis of the emergence of Hinduism as a religion and its present form of existence. In his own words Hinduism was evolved, ` by the dominant class in each period by interpreting, deviating, changing, correcting, molding, manipulating, modifying and integrating various aspects of religion and even god to suit the political menu'. Quoting from research materials and archeological findings Prof. Ninan elucidates in detail the origin of Aryan tribes, their migration to India, the creation of Vedas, the amalgamation of concepts of god by taking and interpolating them with existing texts, the development of Sanskrit language and the like. How the Aryan invasion broke the fabric of indigenous society in India is a matter of great interest. After the arrival of Aryans the non- Aryans gradually became sub humans in Indian society. Quoting from Prof. Uthaya Naidu it says, ` the prevention of learning and destruction of temples belonging to pre-brahminic religions like Saivism, Sakthism and Tantrism and their replacement with Vedist and Vaishnava mandirs gradually led to the collapse of the indigenous communities. Sanskrit as a language was developed between 100 AD to 150 AD from Prakrit and other languages. The inscriptions of Sanskrit language are available only from 5th century AD on wards. This is evidenced by the fact that apart from portions of Vedas, which were not written in Sanskrit, all other Vedas, Upanishads, Brahmanas, and Puranas were written in Sanskrit only after 100 A.D. The God concepts like Prajapati and Krishna have taken a lot from other historical religions. Prajapati, which depicts the ultimate sacrifice of God, has definite Christian influence. Similarly several aspects of Krishna. The historical, linguistic, archeological and architectural facts in the book equip the reader to enter into a fruitful dialogue with the adherents of Hinduism. The book reveals the horizon of thinking of Prof. Ninan a Physicist turned theologian and challenges readers to participate in serious discourses. Rev. Sunny George Philadelphia, PA19115 09/18/2003 Hinduism: What Really Happened in India - M.M.Ninan xi Hinduism: What Really Happened in India – M. M. Ninan 1 Chapter One INTRODUCTION TO HINDUISM Hinduism is not a monolithic religion. It is formed over many ages, under various religious influences from countries around the world, forming several syncretic layers. Like any other religion, there is a spectrum of theologies – in this case ranging from atheistic to monotheistic. Some define it to include all religions as part of Hinduism. This is therefore a continuation of the Gnostic religions of old with its immense ability to syncretize. There is an asymptotic discontinuity between Vedic and Upanishadic religions. Vedic religion is ritualistic with 33 nature gods. As opposed to the Vedic religion, Modern Hinduism is defined as a Theistic religion with Monotheistic Trinitarian content allowing for an infinite number of lesser gods. In this chapter, we look at some of the definitions of Hinduism to identify the core beliefs. One of the basic problems in discussing Hinduism is that no body knows what it is. It is different for each person. It is not a unified system but a collection of systems, which are so different that one contradicts the other at some point. All systems of Hindu philosophy are based on the experiences of sages Hinduism: What Really Happened in India – M. M. Ninan 2 of ancient India. Since each one of them had their own unique experience, each developed a different system. Because of this, it is difficult to discuss Hinduism coherently, until we define what we mean by the term. It is easy for the Hindu to slip away from the evil that is hidden within by saying that it is not part of Hinduism as he practices. By dissociating anything that is opposed by the critic, one can distill the religion and isolate an idealistic part. At the same time, it can permit and assist errors and evil when it profits the person. Everything can be explained away. Anything can be justified under Hinduism. It is anything and everything one wants it to be. Hence, we are going to look at Hinduism at varying levels. At the intellectual level, it is only a philosophy. It is entirely based on intellectual enquiry and not based on God experience. On the mystic level - on the other hand - it is based only on subjective spiritual and mystical experience of people. On the practical level, Hinduism is very different. It is not based on any historically verifiable revelation of God. Thus, objective verification of claims is out of place. On the practical level, it can be anything from black magic, witchcraft to erotic orgy on one side, to bhakthi and submission and asceticism on the other. All systems of Indian philosophy have for their ultimate goal, the spiritual freedom or Moksha, which terminates all sorrows and sufferings and endows a state of enduring bliss. Nevertheless, this is only on the ultimate level, which is not always discussed at the mundane level. At this level, Hinduism reduces to a means of attaining temporal ends. For this purpose, temporal lower gods are created and worshipped. These temporal gains cover up and hide away the ultimate mukthi. The ultimate bliss is defined differently by different system. To some it is ceasing to exist - equivalent to total annihilation. Then we will not have sorrow or sickness, but we will not have joy or happiness also. For others it is not really annihilation, but being one with God (if God is a Hinduism: What Really Happened in India – M. M. Ninan 3 distinct reality - dualism), or being really who you really is (if you are really the only reality and God – monism) or never to fall into the trappings of life. For others it is a conscious inactivity. If you talk to a common Hindu, his visions are different. He is still thinking of life where there are no problems i.e. a continuation of life with joy and happiness. There are six Darsanas viz. Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Purva Mimamsa and Vedanta. We do not hear much about any other today than Vedanta. This is because this is currently the hot export item. The Hindu Maharishies extensively export this with various flavors. If one reads their brands, we will never recognize any similarity. This is not accidental because that is the very essence of Hinduism - whether it is good or bad. What is Hinduism Really? Hinduism is often said to be one of the oldest religions of the world. It is definitely the oldest among the living religions. How old is it? How old is that religion which is any religion? Is Hinduism a Religion? Truly speaking, when we talk of Hinduism, we do not know whether we are talking about a religion, or a group of religions, or a group of beliefs and traditions (some of which are diametrically opposed to each other.) This some times give rise to the argument that Hinduism cannot be considered as a religion in the strictest sense of the word. It is only a corporation that incorporates into itself many religious thoughts and worldviews. What do we mean by the word "Hindu" and "Hinduism"? Various origins for the word "Hinduism" have been suggested: It may be derived from an ancient inscription translated as: "The country lying between the Himalayan mountain and Bindu Sarovara is known as Hindustan by combination of the first letter 'hi' of 'Himalaya' and the last Hinduism: What Really Happened in India – M. M. Ninan 4 compound letter 'ndu' of the word `Bindu.'" (Bindu Sarovara is called the Cape Comorin Sea in modern times.) It may be a Persian corruption of the word Sindhu (the river Indus) In all these cases, it referred to a geographical region and not to a religion. This is simply because there never had been a single unified religion in India. In spite of all the claims of Sanadhana Dharma and eternal religion, there never existed such a religion.