DID AVESTSA HEPTAHINDU (SAPTASINDHU) INSPIRE VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM?

DID AVESTSA HEPTAHINDU (SAPTASINDHU) INSPIRE  VASUDHAIVA 

 KUTUMBAKAM?

(Facebook posting by N. R. Srinivasan, Nashville, TN. USA, August 2018)

I was born in Mysore then capital of Mysore State as a citizen of British India in 1930.  I moved to Madras Presidency to continue my studies at the age of eight. After creditably passing Intermediate in Madras Presidency I applied to Engineering colleges with my PCM background. My application was not entertained as I was told that I do not belong to Madras presidency as I was not born there though I studied there from my primary school.  I found that I did not belong to Mysore State also since my delivery was at home and not registered.   I was stateless in India with no citizenship in Independent India.

The Justice party dominated Congress supported by Periyar was in power in Madras Presidency after independence which the Dravidian Movement swallowed later.  Jinnah was quick in action, separated himself from Justice Party and created PAK-I-STAN. Pak means Pure in Persian while Stan is Sanskrit based; I -was inserted for continuity and Pakistan was formed as a rival to   Hindu-Stan, a precondition for Independence.  Probably Jinnah considered Hindus were not a pure lot and left the minor religions in the Hindu fold though few had to be accepted on regional basis whom they are progressively eliminating.  Periyar-Anna-Karunandhi-Inspired-STAN that can be labeled also as PAKISTAN would have been better received by the North dominated Indian Government then, had only our Periyar followers were active and not lazy.  Rajaji also interfered and Periyar followers   got split into DK, DMK and ADMK.    Poor Periyar Group lost an opportunity to have their independence and to have the appropriate name PAK-i-stan  for Dravida Nadu that is archeologically challenged, to commemorate the memories of Periyar, Anna and Karunanidhi or PAK whom they could have deified in Atheism Religion like Azhvars and Nayanmars, and  even built Temples also like Saibaba  Temples in the so called  Hinduism. You know Atheism enjoys religious status in USA legally cleared.

I continued to be a Stateless person according to the noble laws of the country as far as education and public services were concerned but still had a passport that made me a citizen for travel and emigration purposes that helped me to migrate to USA in 1981.  Within two years I got Green card and also after a year citizenship because of my being an expert in my fields by UNIDO though   not born or educated in USA. Now all that I can claim is I am Tamil and US Citizen. Can I claim to be Hindu or Indian, I doubt very much. Hindu is a name to identify the land you hail from and cannot identify your following or belief. I certainly can claim I follow Sanatana Dharma or Eternal Tradition wherever I am.  Now India has introduced the Aadhaar Card which clears all ambiguities and twisting rules for convenience to condemn a person. An Aadhaar card is a unique number issued to every citizen in India and is a centralized and universal identification number. That is why I say Hindu migrants should forget their identity with India with no Adhar card and say they follow Sanatana Dharma with loyalty to Vedas and not Hinduism of India. Is it still linked to caste?  I think so as there is backward class reservation for almost 65% of castes and minority religions. I also believe you lose Aadhaar card once you migrate?

Why I can’t be called a Hindu and also my religion Hinduism? The word Hindu is well recorded in Avesta which talks about Haptahidhuva region that nobody can question being third party holding sealed particulars.  They may question anything in Vedas and say it is all later insertion like modern mantra which sanctifies seven rivers— Yamuna, Ganga, Godavari, Sarasvati, Narmada,  Sindhu, and  Cauvery which clearly says Hindus are from the land of Saptasindhu. But Vedas do not mention Narmada, and Cauvery and Godavari therefore it must be later insertion. Periyar Group have a valid point for argument here as champions of Dravidian cause eliminating Brahmins. 

Sindhu and Saraswati were most sacred rivers of that era.   The hymns in praise of Saraswati are some of the oldest composed 8000 years ago. As per this evidence Sapta Sindhu region comprised of river Saraswati, Indus and five tributaries of Indus viz. Sutudri (Sutlej), Parusni (Ravi), Asikni (Chenab), Vitasta (Jhelum) and Vipas (Beas) river.  The Sapta Saindhavas country of the Rig Vedic period was bounded by the Himalayas and modern Tibet in the east, Turkistan in the north, Afghanistan, in the west and the Aravallis in the South. British liquidated most of this region by donating it out of India or Bharat.

Sapta-Sindhu meaning 7 rivers is the term which gave birth to the word “Hindu”. Sapta-Sindhu was referred to as Hapta-Hindu by Persians etc. The people of this region and culture, the Sapta-Saindhavas were referred to as hapta-Haindavas by Persians etc.  The term is found in Avesta of Zoroastrians.

The seven Indus Rivers, Hapta Hindu (nation #15 above), are: 1. the Indus (Veda-Sindhu), the 2. Kabul and 3. Kurram rivers joining on the west and north banks of the Indus, and the 4. Jhelum (Veda-Vitasta), 5. Chenab (Veda-Asikni), 6. Ravi (Veda-Airovati), and 7. Sutlej/Beas (Veda-Vipasa) rivers joining the Indus' east and south banks. (There is some discussion that the Saraswati River mentioned in Hindu Vedic texts was also an Indus tributary - though this is not clear.) The Hindu texts are mainly concerned with the eastern & southern tributaries while the Zoroastrian texts are concerned with the upper reaches of the Indus and all its tributaries whose valleys would have provided access to the plains. 

We do not find reference to Brahmaputra in Vedas or Avesta.  At the time of partition they should have only agreed to give the land of Bangladesh to Jinnah to   form their Pakistan and not Sindhu valley that is West Pakistan and also fixed a time limit for all those who do not sign their loyalty to Sanatana Dharma and Satyemeva jayate to move to present Bangladesh or any Islamic country of their choice and acceptance or move to England. They should have thought of an Aadhaar Card then! Congress missed the opportunity.

So our Periyar followers claim they are not with Aryans and claim  Dravida Nadu thrived beyond Aravalli even before the people of Saptahaindava region and the Vedas. Andhra, Chera and Pandya regions are mentioned in Valmiki Ramayana as part of ancient India but not Kerala that might have been part of Pandya.

I draw inspiration from Ramayana to claim I follow the Dharma which Rama protected endorsed by Kambar, and not the new Periyar PAK Religion of Atheists, with the freedom to practice Dharma as an American Citizen.

The Sanskrit word drāviḍa is used to denote the geographical region of South India.  It was coined by Adi Sankaracharya (590—477 BCE) when he was questioned as to where he had come from by locals in Mandhata to which he proclaimed himself to be a "Drāviḍa Śiśu," with shishu meaning 'child' or 'child of' and dravida being a sandhi word combining the elements dravya, meaning water, and vida, meaning meeting place. Therefore, drāviḍa means  "the place where the three waters meet" with those "three waters" being the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. May be they had some other name then for these seasz?   Southern Brahmins are known as Pancha Dravida while Northern Brahmins are known as Panch Gauda, denoting geographical region. At the time Sankara lived on this earth the word Hindu or Hinduism did not exist and he was therefore declared himself as DRAVIDA BRAHMANA who postulated Advaita Philosophy of Sanatana Dharma. He refrained from both the words Arya and Hindu.

The Nadistuti sukta of Rig-Veda mentioned ten rivers viz. Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Sutudri, Parusni, Asikni, Marudvrdha, Vitasta, Arjikiya and Susoma. The Shutudri is old name of Sutlej, Parushni of Ravi, Asikni of Chenab and Vitasta of Jhelum. Apart from these 10 rivers, the Kubha River (Kabul), Suwastu (Swat) Kramu (Kurram) & Gomati (Gomal) Rivers have also got place in Rig-Vedic texts. Thus, any of these might be the seven rivers of Sapta Sindhava region.

Jinnah wanted the name Pakistan to mean   Pure-land   to his new found land for Islams so as to cleanse the land by killing or converting those who do not believe in Islam later. Similarly Congress wanted to keep the name Hindustan to have legal claim over the land that they gave away forced by circumstances.  Now it is time for present Indians to correct the mistake and get back the rightful land as the historic and geographic name Hindu suggests. Then they can switch over to Sanatan Dharma. But what prevents Hindu Americans to switch over to Sanatana Dharma acceptable to all Hindu migrants from various lands right now? Hinduism as practiced today is not the broad-based Universal Dharmic way of life vedic culture followed. Muslims are occupants of land of Hindus while Hindus have not occupied anybody’s land.  Hindus also do not have a claim over Bangladesh though they speak Bangla like Hindus. So what! Many countries speak English.

It will be therefore wiser to focus on Sanatana Dharma, spiritually progress and help the so called SBNR and the new families of mixed race of Hindu and Abrahamic religions or atheists than worry about what is going on India and with Hindus in  India like Aryan  Dravidian fight, Brahmin hatred, Christian conversion, Hindu killing by Taliban and so on about which we hear so much from our social  reformers, leaders,  religious leaders  and spiritual Gurus in USA who always think all American Hindus are  of Indian origin only. We need to focus on our children and preservation of Vedic Heritage in USA with 400 Hindu temples and several monasteries and spiritual Gurus! Charity begins at home.

"The beauty of Hindu Dharma is that it is not a man-made historical religion, dependent upon church, savior or prophet or preaching any belief or dogma. Hindu Dharma rises from the Earth and Nature, from our Inner Being and allows us to embrace the entire universe within us" --Padma Bhushan Dr. David Frawley.