Vidyut Chakraborty

PROLEGOMENA

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to

believe. [Voltaire]
I started this piece of elucidation on the static vibrant faith of Indian literate mass who
enchant old is gold. But how much old is your religion and how did it survive the
catastrophe of political upheavals and when do you come to know the veracity of the
legends and myths, reply comes thousands of years.
The rationality expected is far from the knowledge of truth. Hindus, Muslims, Jains,
Buddhists, Sikhs and Christians Jews, and a number of Tribes not belong to these
religions, are known as Indians. Besides, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and
Myanmar also remained once upon a time the part of greater India. Inter national
relationship with South Asian nations (Japan Indonesia Cambodia etc.), China and
Persia was so ancient that antiquity needs to be ascertained.
The discovery of ink and writing tools enhanced the glory of the past for keeping
records of history. When these materials were made available? Prior to that all were on
memorizing capacity of individuals. How much of the records were destroyed and
distorted in the passage of time?
These are called the reasoning before taking anything as granted. The process of
questioning failed by the general intelligentsia and naturally percolated to the general
mass. So even after successful achievement of coming to inference by the European
scholars and Indian Pundits regarding the queries, people accept the legends and myths
as true and correct history of India. This is a universal phenomenon.
The truth as unearthed by the European and Indian epigraphists, numismatics and
paleographists of 18th century was tried to be jotted down.

History is that certainty produced at the point

where the imperfections of memory meet the
inadequacies of documentation.
Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending

A history need documentation to support the events of past. India from

Afghanistan to Indonesia, from Sri Lanka to Tibet had a few authenticity of
its vast cultural, social and political affiliation which can be said as history.
Had Britishers not colonized, India would have drowned in the
darkness of past. Africans sailed to so many countries and colonized
and became the ancestors of so many tribes, but did not keep that
history of Anthropology unless the Europeans unearthed the mystery
of their heredity.
Prior to excavation of Harappa ( Europa) and Mohenjodaro
( Meso potamia), there was no written history of Relics, Motifs and
Stupas of such vast civilization which existed from Anatolia ( Egypt)
to Gujrat ( Surat). The documentation was generally cited from
Megasthenes,,Fa-Hsien and Hsuan- Tsang, Al Beruni and Ibn Battuta.
Megasthenese (350-290BC) was a Greek ambassador of the Seleucids to

the court of Chandragupta(302-298BC) founder of the Mauryan

Empire.
Fa- Hsian ( Faxian (CE 337- 422) was a Chinese Buddhist monk walked
on foot from china to India and visited the Buddhist sacred sites
covering the present Xinjjang, Pakistan,Nepal, Bangladesh ,Sri Lanka
and India between 399-412AD .
Hsuan- Tsang (Xuanzang (CE 602 664) was a Chinese Buddhist monk
who described the interaction between China and India.

Ab Rayhan al- Brn ( CE 973-1048) recorded the political and military

history of India and covered Indias cultural, scientific, social and

religious history in detail.
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta (CE1304 1369AD) was a

Moroccan Muslim scholar and traveler. This covered nearly the whole
of the known Islamic world and beyond, extending from North Africa,
West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the
Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and
China in the East. After his travel he returned to Morocco and gave his
account of the experience over a period of thirty years, to Ibn Juzay,
which were published in the Rihla (lit. "Journey").

Faxian at the ruins of Ashoka's palace

Sculptures, Monuments, Painting, Inscriptions all were there but absence of

heritage among the intelligentsia were meritless to read it, write it and to
make it in public. All the myths and legends were virtually accepted as
history and many Indians believe those stories as true and correct
irrespective of what was discovered or not .

Indians believe there were Harish Chandra in Satya Yuga,

Ram Chandra in Treta Yuga, Sri Krishna in Dwapar Yuga and
Nothing worst than Koli (Kali ) Avatar in Koli (Kali) Yuga.
Indians barring a very few rather negligible percentage
believe that Satya Yuga will come back and along with Ram
Rajyo ( Regime) will also come back. Further added they
believe the sermon of Bhagabad Gita-For the salvation of
the righteous, for the destruction of the wrong-doers and to
establish righteousness, I manifest myself every yuga (eon).
Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati Bharata
Abhyudhanam adhar masya tadatmanam srijamyaham
Paritranaya sadhunam vinashayacha dushkritam
Dharmasamstha panarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge .
[ Chapter 4: Transcendental Knowledge Text 8, Bhagabad
Gita ]
All such religious and pious people expect a magic power to
abolish their plight and distress irrespective of their
religions. Not only Indian Hindus but all the religions teach
such mysterious remedy of economic recession, social
injustice and political crisis even the daily family problems.
For the Hindu people there were several sermons, say
Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou kada chana,
Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva
Akarmani [ Chapter 2 verse 47 Bhagabad Gita ] which
mean The precise philosophy is that one causes to act with

dedication and the result of ones deed comes later to yield

fruits to the successor. So one has to adhere to the duties
not on the motive of getting good result for ones self only
but for everyone.
Every Hindu chants this mantra but none follow the
sermon. The Hindu Business community of India does the
business with an intention to make more and more profits
by hook or by crook although they utter this mantra daily
morning. The pious Hindu politicians do all the worst crimes
and sins with an intention to come into power and daily
worship deity with these verses of Gita.
When confronted the truth, there comes back no one to
establish righteousness (Dharma). So the prejudiced
ignorant ( Agyan Timiranjasyo) followers develop some
explanation quoting something utopian alibi from his own
conception of religion (Dharma).
Dr. Raja Ramanna, Advisor to the Ministry of defense,
Government Of India, made a noteworthy comment. One
can always ask the question as to why with all our
background we did not have an industrial revolution
earlier. Why is there so much superstition and
irrationality and why is creative thinking still not so
vibrant as it is in the west? Talking of superstition
and irrationality one can see them everywhere, even
in the advanced countries of the west. As regards
creative thinking, India has been a pioneer in art
and literature in the past, and there are signs that
she has again become active in those fields.

Dr. Ramanna (1928-2004) was a nuclear scientist, Minister

of defense, Secretary of Defense Research, who was known
as Father of Indian nuclear program.
Regarding superstition he just avoided the causes and
stuck to the prejudices on westerners negativities.
Superstition is as bad as in East as in West. He bypassed
the problem of pauperism, population and proper education
of the mass which compelled the people subjugated by the
political parties in power to believe in super natural being
to solve their difficulties of life. They cannot fulfill their
minimum requirements of life which is the promised target
of the government. The world famous Indian personalities
are not the product of Indian government, it is their
individual achievement. Even Dr. Ramanna was the product
of Kings College, London. The fund in making and buying
the nuclear weapons by a poor country cannot be the sign
of progress. Indians never bothered about the preservation
of cultural history. They rather submit themselves to the
political upheavals of the countries. The practice is still
there.
Voltaire perhaps spoke rightly If you have nothing to
tell us, except that one barbarian succeeded another
on the banks of the Oxus and Jaxartes, what is that
to us?
Prior to Empire Asoka there was no history of inscription on
coins, tablets and presence of monuments. Even the
manuscripts in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit were not available
for a long period of past. No Indian could read the Bahmi

lipi ( scriptures) inscribed on the walls of Monuments and

Temples.
So they do not know what they are learning as godly advices of
religious scriptures from the priests, whether the same are the
original ones or the duplicate one distorted through the passage of
time. There are several stories from Vedas and Vedantas
(Upanishads & Puranas) comprising of Brahmans and
Aranyaks which are continually preserved by the orthodox
Brahmin communities kept in residence or in the temples.
Here also lie many a questions, when Vedas, known as
Shrutis (the texts learned through Listening, Memorising and
Preaching), come into the stage of writing in Bhurjapatra,
and from where the writing ink1 came.
Pearl Buck quoted : If you want to understand today,
you have to search yesterday .
It can be said the writing with ink did not start prior to 4th
millennium B.C. It implies there were inscriptions on stone
tablet and caves-wall and monuments. Besides there ware a
lot of memorization of old sacred writings through the clans
of priests.
So when the written Vedas2 are coming to be in text it
cannot be published before the invention of Indian ink.
There are four Vedas:
The Rik-Veda, the Yaju- Veda, the Sam veda and the Atharba
Veda. Each Veda has been sub-classified into four major text
types- the Samhitas( mantras and benedictions), the
Aranyaks ( texts on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and

symbolism), the Brahmans( commentaries on rituals,

ceremonies, and sacrifices), and the Upanishads ( texts
discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).
Some scholars add fifth category the Upasanas (practice of
the Vedic texts or worship). No inscriptions of Vedas were
discovered as it was Shruti only.
V. Raghavan , Ex Professor of Sanskrit of Madras University,
in his Search Preservation and Publication of Manuscript
wrote : When did script and writing arise and whether
writing was known to the Vedic Rishis are questions
which have been discussed by many. The general
view is that writing, such as is seen in Ashokas
edicts, was current in India only about 800B.C. The
material on which we have the earliest writing, the
edicts of Asoka, is the rock; the stone continued to
be used for royal inscriptions all through Indian
history and we even have a few poems and plays
engraved on rocks.
Inscribed seals ( Pusta from which came Pustaka, the
book) and pottery and burnt Asvamedha bricks
bearing names have been thrown up by excavation.
Leather, cotton-cloth, and silk (Pata) were also
occasionally used.
The common word for writing material is patra refers to the
leaf of the tree. The trees used were Birch or Bhurja whose
inside bark was peeled and dried or its leaves are dried for
use in writing known as Bhurja- Patra . There were Palm

Leaves ( Tal Patra) also used for writing. The two circular or
other blank holes in the palm leaves were used for running
thread that bound palm leaves together, from which the
name probably Granth, the treatise ( Granthana means
putting together in a thread) came. But Tamil Language was
called Granth in those days.
The confusion arises if Indian ink was and Bhurja- Patra and
Tal Patra were possibly invented prior to Asoka Regime, then
where those written manuscripts( Punthi) vanished?
Rock edicts of Asoka Regime were first uncovered by
Alexander Cunningham in November 1861. Cunningham
wrote Reports ( 23 volumes) read out bilingual inscription
on early coins ( Greco Brahmi and Greco Kharosti) and
followed by the numismatist, epigraphists and
palaeographists like James Princep, Lassen, Norris, Buhler,
Konow and many others.
The punthis were not in sight. The punthis were sincerely
copied and sacredly preserved by the Gurus of Sanskrit
schools (Tols) and their disciples also. Preservation was a
difficult task due to rains and worms. There were thefts of
punthis and plagiarism too. Punthis were found by a task
force formed by the British Government in Europe, Middle
East, Pakistan, China, Nepal and Far estern countries like
Japan and Indonesia.
Theodore Aufrecht compiled Catalogus Catalogum of the
Pali, Sanskrit and Prakrit manuscripts taken up to 1903

which was taken for revised edition in 1935 and the first
volume of New Catalogus Catalogum was published in
1949. Haraprasad Sashtri of Calcutta University, wrote
Catalogue of Palm leaf and select Paper Manuscripts
belonging to Durbar Library(Nepal 1905).
D C Sircar, Former Government Epigraphist of India ,
observed : The study of Indian inscriptions practically
started on the 15th January, 1784, by the British and other
European scholars, administrators and Missionaries for an
enquiry into the history and antiquities, Arts, Sciences and
literatures of asis in general and India in particular. At that
time no Indian pundit was able to read the ancient Brahmi
and Kharosti writings although the most learned among

them could read manuscripts copied a few centuries

earlier.
N R Banerjee, Superintendent of the Excavation, ASI ,Delhi,
remarked: At this time the mantle Sir William Jones
had fallen on the able shoulder of James Princep who
solved the mysteries of Brahmi and Kharosti
inscriptions,identified Piyadassi of Brahmi
inscriptions with Asoka and thereby established the
contemporaneity of the Greek kings of the west with
Asoka.
Pundit mobility and scholar migration in particular formed
cultural integration with India and outer countries. As foreign
scholars used to come in India so Indian pundits also
migrated to Tibet, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Persia and

Greece. Difference was that The foreigners changed the

Indian names, in some cases real identity problem persisted,
but Indian did not change the names of the foreigners.
To the Greeks, Bindusara was known as Amitrochates,
perhaps the Greek translation of the Sanskrit Amitraghata,
the destroyer of the foes. His father , Chandragupta was
known to the Greeks as Sandrocottus.
Chandragarbha of Bikrampur Dacca, became Dipankar
Srijnan, and was named in Tibet as Atish.
Chandragarbhas house was known as Nastik Punditer
Vita ( the house of an atheist scholar) for along time. He
was totally forgotten in history except cited in some
Buddhist scriptures. One scholar diplomat Sarat Chandra
Das (1849-1917) of Chittagong ( now in Bangladesh) visited
Tibet ,the forbidden country, in the later part of 19th century
as an envoy of British Indian Government . Despite all
adversities he was successful to collect material buried in
ancient manuscripts which was published with the title
Indian Pundits in the Land of Snows by Asian Society,
Calcutta, in 1893, and also the Travel Account of Tibet
by British Geographical Society, London. A forgotten
chapter on Tibets glorious history and pioneering work done
by the Buddhists saints of Bengal particularly Dipankar
Srijnan was brought into limelight for the first time.

Greek Historians apart from Megasthese also contributed a

lot to find out the History of India from the time of
Alexander. They are
Strabo ( 64BC -19AD), Pliny the Elder(Natural History
published in 75 AD),Plutarch (45-125AD, Chapters 57-125 of
Lives), Justine 2AD Epitome), Arrian ( 130AD Anabasis),
Diodorus(36BC), Nearchus, Eratosthenes( 276-195BC).
Indian Works are related to Maurya Empire were on Hindu
side-Kautilyas Arthasastra, Khemendras
Brihatkathamanjari, Visakhaduttas Mudrarakshasa,
Somdevas Kathasaritsagar, on Jain sides-Hemachandras
Parisistaparvan,Bhaadrabahus Kalpasutra andon
Buddhist side- Dipa vamsa, Mahavamsa and Mahabodhi
vamsa.
Jones, Princep, HP Sashtri figured out the existence of
manuscript (Punthi) in Bikaner Palace(10000), Tanjore
Sarasvati Mahal(13000), Raghunath Temple of
Jammu(4500),Ahmadabad(60000), Nambudri Family of
Cochin(5000), European Union( 50000) out of which UK
(30000),USA ( 6000), Japan( 500), Nepal( 30000),
Dacca(5000), Lahore (6000) and several thousands in
Calcutta & Banaras university apart from Math and
Monasteries.
The things could have been gone astray. But in 1651,
Abraham Roger and Ernst Haxledon wrote a book named
Open door to the Hidden Heathendom on Brahmnical

literature. They were not so successful in earning popularity

but aroused interest among the European to the hidden
treasure of Hindu and Buddhist and Jain scriptures. Then
onwards Sanskrit grammars and Translation of Gita
Mahabharata and Ramayana and Kalidas, Barahmihir
continued. Halhed (1751-1830) wrote Bridge over the ocean
of Disputes (Vivadarnavasetu) and A code of Gentoo laws
on ordination of Pundits on Hindu law translated from
Sanskrit to Persian then to English. First direct translation of
Bhagavat Gita was done by Charles Wilkins in 1785, he
translated episodes of Mahabharata ( 1787) and wrote
Sanskrit Grammar(1808). The William Jones translated
Abhijnanam Shakuntalam (1789), Ritu Samhara (1791-92),
Manu Smriti (1794). Horace Hayman Wilson, Schlegel
Brothers (Augustus and Frederick), Franz Bopp, Rudolph
Roth, Max Muller , Weber, Colebrook and so on others. To
contrast the Europeans endeavour and also to defend the
righteousness of Hindu Scriptures the Indian scholars came
into foray. Bhau Daji, Pundit Bhagwanlal Indraji, Kashinath
Trambak Telang, Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, Manmatha
Nath Dutt , Michael Madhu Sudan Dutt and Bankim Chandra
Chattopadhyay contributed a large variety and dimensions
of Puranas. Rajendra Lal Mitra contributed Report on
Sanskrit Manuscripts (1871-74), Romesh Chandra Dutt wrote
A History of Civilisation in Ancient India based on Sanskrit
Literature (3 Vol umes). Michael M S Dutt and Bankim

Chandra Chattopadhyay were two great eminent literary

icons of Bengal who practically set the Bengali language and

literature to an international standard. Dutt wrote a sub epic

, Meghnad badh Kabya, extracting the theme of
Ramayana in a different dimension which is not still dared to
be written by any Indian Laureate. Michael made Ravana
and Indrajit( Meghnad) the real heroes of Ramayana and
tarnish the glory of Ram and Lakshman. Bankim in his
Chaitanya Charit rearticulated the character of Sri Krishna
as a leadership personality of the epic and not as a God and
not as a womanizer.
William Jones(1746-94) along with Henry Thomas
Colebrooke and Nathaniel Halhed founded the Asiatic
Society of Bengal in 1784 and started a journal named
Asiatick Researches. Jones suggested
that Sanskrit, Greek and Latin languages had a common
root, and that indeed they may all be further related, in turn,
to Gothic and the Celtic languages, as well as to Persian.
This is in parlance with the proto language proposition
published by Van Boxhornhad in 1653, a proposal for a proto
language for some European languages. It was a tree model
statement of similarity and a hypothesis that the similarity
results from descent from a common language..

The proto-languages stand at the branch points, or nodes: 15, 6, 20 and 7. The
leaf languages, or end points, are 2, 5, 9 and 31. The root language is 15. The
links between nodes indicate descent or genetic descent. All the languages in
the tree are related.

Arthur Schopenhauer referred to one of Sir William Jones's

publications in 1 of The World as Will and
Representation(1819). Schopenhauer was trying to support
the doctrine that "everything that exists for knowledge, and
hence the whole of this world, is only object in relation to
the subject, perception of the perceiver, in a word,
representation." He quoted Jones's original English:
... how early this basic truth was recognized by the sages of
India, since it appears as the fundamental tenet of

the Vednta philosophy ascribed to Vyasa, is proved by Sir

William Jones in the last of his essays: "On the Philosophy of
the Asiatics" (Asiatic Researches, vol. IV, p. 164): "The
fundamental tenet of the Vednta school consisted not in
denying the existence of matter, that is solidity,
impenetrability, and extended figure (to deny which would
be lunacy), but in correcting the popular notion of it, and in
contending that it has no essence independent of mental
perception; that existence and perceptibility are convertible
terms."
Edgar Allaan Poe's short story Berenice starts with a motto,
the first half of a poem, by Ibn Zaiat: Dicebant mihi
sodales si sepulchrum amicae visitarem, curas meas
aliquantulum fore levatas. It was taken from the works of
William Jones, and here is the missing part (from Complete
Works, Vol. 2, London, 1799): Dixi autem, an ideo aliud
praeter hoc pectus habet sepulchrum? My companions
said to me, if I would visit the grave of my friend, I might
somewhat alleviate my worries. I answered "could she be
buried elsewhere than in my heart?
Warren Hasting and Curzon both Viceroys took initiative in
archeological survey of India. In 1865 AD Hasting designated
Alexander Cunningham as the Archeological Surveyor of
India. From 1861 to 1865, Cunningham succeeded in
covering a vast area from Gaya to Indus, from Kalsi to
Narmada, being obsessed with the account of the
travelogue of Chinese Buddhist monks. In his own words- I

have identified the sites and most famous places of

ancient places of ancient India, such as the rocks of
Aornos, the city of Taksasila, and the fortress of
Sangala, all connected with the history of Alexander
the Great. In India I have found the celebrated cities
of sankisa, Seavasti and Kausambi, all intimately
connected with the history of Buddha. Among other
discoveries I may mention the great stupa of Bharhut
on which most of the principal events of Buddhas
Life were sculptured and inscribed. I have found
three dated inscriptions of King Asoka and my
assistants have brought to light a new pillar of
Asoka, a new text of his rock edicts in Bactrian
characters, in which we find the whole of twelfth
edict. I have traced the Gupta style of architecture in
the temples of the Gupta kings at Tigowa, Bilsar,
Bhitargaon, Kuthera and deogarh and I have
discovered new inscription of this powerful dynasty
at Eran, Udaygiri and other places.
Curzon established Archeological Survey of India and
appointed John Huber Marshall its head (1902-28). In 1904
Ancient Monuments Preservation act VII of 1904 was passed.
Among the principal excavation carried out under John
Marshall were Charsadda(1902-04), Sarnath(1904-28),
Kasia(1904-12), basar(1903-1914), Bhita ( 190912),Pataliputra (1912-27),Taksasila(1913-14),
Harappa( 1926-31) and Mahenjo daro(1921-23).

Monuments of India are seldom renovated or

reconstructed, but whenever portions are rebuilt it is
necessary to preserve the monument in consonance
with the style and technique of the extant portion.
For doing so conservator must understand the
monument as a whole, its architectural style, the
period, the nature of the building materials, the
structural aspects and the reason of decay- observed
by Rakhaldas Sengupta , Former Director( Conservation)
Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi.
The religious practice of preservation was maintained by the
priests and the shrine authorities. Whenever there was war
and battle, Indians generally were defeated. After the defeat
of Porus, the emperor Chandragupta was the first king who
defeated the Greek King Seleucus and married his daughter
Helen in 305 BC and expanded his empire from Persia to
eastern border of Himalaya. His grand son Asoka was the
second Indian empire in history who furthered the empire to
Sri Lanka and Indo China and Japan. Thereafter no victory
and the invaders destroyed so many valuable antiquities.
Buddhists and Jains were heavily affected along with the
Hindus, it continued till the Moghul period. The British took
different views and the pride of India was saved and
protected.
After Independence the process of preservation became
worse. The land sharks find the soft target of these historic
places or the places were just disdained due to want of fund

and lackadaisical attitude of Bureaucracy. Even the places of

tourist attraction earning revenue for maintenance were
under ruining condition.
International Council of Monuments and Sites formulated an
outline principle for preservation and safeguarding the
historical monuments and evidences which stipulates the
aesthetic and historic value of a monument without
alteration of its antiquity. A long time passed again when the
artifacts were destroyed by stupid people knowingly in the
name of development and unknowingly by the illiterate
rustic people. Some intelligent people engaged them selves
in stealing and selling the antiques to the traders of historic
artifacts.
India Government is receiving fund from UNESCO for world
heritage centre only and is least bothered about the site of
historical interest. The people are illiterate enough to take
care of their places, they also work for the smugglers of the
artifacts and for the land sharks. They are less interested in
history and science of their own place although they tour to
the other provinces of the country and to the foreign
countries to visit the places of historical interest.
So the quote of Aldous Huxley is craves importance.
That men do not learn very much from the lessons
of history is the most important of all the lessons of
history.