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Mathomathis would like to present an article on Purusha Sukta by author Zachary F. Lansdowne Ph.D (who served as President of the Theosophical Society in Boston, has been a frequent contributor to The Esoteric Quarterly. His book The Revelation of Saint John, which provides a verse-by-verse analysis of the entire Revelation, was reviewed in the Fall 2006 issue). The following article is a continuation from the previous article The Purusha Sukta | The Sacrifice of Purusha | 102. Verses 11 through 16 present, for our consideration, some prescriptive models of human evolution. 11. When they divided Purusa, how many ways did they apportion him? What was his mouth? What were his arms? What were his thighs, his feet declared to be? What are the stages of human evolution, and what body parts of the Planetary Logos consist of human beings in those stages? The first, third, and fourth verses include the idea that the physical body of the Planetary Logos incorporates all human beings living on our planet. This idea is similar to the notion in Christianity that the disciples of Christ form his body. For example, the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ … Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” If we accept that all human beings are incorporated into the physical body of the Planetary Logos, then it seems reasonable to think that a group of similar human beings would form an organ or part within that macrocosmic body. Bailey has a similar notion when she says, “The human atom is a part of a group or center in the body of a heavenly Man, a Planetary Logos.” Here, the term “human atom” signifies a human being who is regarded as a unit within a greater body. Assuming that Purusha (or Purusa) corresponds to the Planetary Logos, the above verse says that the physical body of the Planetary Logos is divided into separate parts. Let us suppose that this division is based on the stages of human evolution because evolution is a major theme in the Purusha Sukta. Similarly, the division of the animal kingdom in the eighth verse is based on the stages of animal evolution. Let us also suppose that all people at the same stage of evolution have a function that is analogous to that of a body part belonging to a human being, so we can say that those people form that same part within the body of the Planetary Logos. Given these suppositions, what body parts of the Planetary Logos consist of human beings in their various stages? 12. His head was the Brahmana [caste], his arms were the Rajanaya [Kshatriya caste], his thighs the Vaisya [caste]; from his feet the Sudra [caste] was born. People polarized in their causal body are like priests and act as the mouth of the Planetary Logos; people polarized in their mental body are like soldiers and act as His arms; people polarized in their emotional body are like merchants and act as His thighs; and people polarized in their physical body are like servants and act as His feet. The Purusha Sukta is the oldest extant text that mentions the four traditional castes (or classes) of Hindu society, and it is the only hymn in the Rig Veda that mentions them. These four castes are: Brahmins, or priests; Kshatriyas, or warriors; Vaisyas, or merchants; and Sudras, or servants and laborers. Although discrimination based on caste is against the law under the Indian Constitution, caste distinctions based on birth unfortunately continue to play a socially destructive role in India even today. Paramahansa Yogananda, a teacher and writer on Hinduism, states that the caste system known today is quite different from the system that originated in Vedic times: These [four castes] were symbolic designations of the stages of spiritual refinement. They were not intended as social categories. And they were not intended to be hereditary. Things changed as the yugas [cycles of time] descended toward mental darkness. People in the higher castes wanted to make sure their children were accepted as members of their own caste. Thus, ego-identification caused them to freeze the ancient classifications into what is called the “caste system.” Such was not the original intention. In obvious fact, however, the offspring of a brahmin may be a sudra by nature. And a peasant, sometimes, is a real saint. Yogananda regards the four castes as symbols for the stages of spiritual refinement and provides the following interpretation of them: 1. Sudra. “At his lowest level of refinement, man thinks not only of, but with, his physical body. Tradition typifies him as a farm laborer, though that is simplistic.” 2. Vaisya. “When a person begins to use his intellect, he first does so strictly for personal gain, thinking always, ‘What’s in this for me?’ The obvious example of such a person is a greedy merchant.” 3. Kshatriya. “When one develops further in spiritual refinement, he inclines to use his intelligence for the general good rather than only for his own benefit. Such a person is typified as the soldier—not the marauding sort, but one who readily sacrifices his own life, if need be, for the sake of others.” 4. Brahmin. “Finally, when the individual evolves spiritually to the point where he wants only God, he is like idealized images of a priest.” Bailey describes four polarization of consciousness that are quite similar to Yogananda’s stages: 1. “During this [first] period, the man is polarized in his physical body and is learning to be controlled by his desire body, the body of feeling or of emotion. He has no aspirations save such as pander to the pleasures of the body; he lives for his physical nature and has no thought for aught that may be higher.” 2. “The second period covers a point in […]
Mathomathis would like to present an article on Sushruta Samhita | Medical treatment of inflamed ulcers based on the book Sushruta Samhita, volume 4: Chikitsasthana by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna | 1911 | 123,229 words. The article was adopted from the website: https://www.wisdomlib.org/, a detailed explanation is available on the website. Metrical Texts:— Ashmari (urinary calculus, etc) is a dangerous disease and is as fatal as death itself. A case of recent origin (acute) proves amenable to medicines, while an enlarged or chronic one requires surgical operations. The remedial measures, in the order of anointing, etc., should be employed in the first or incipient stage of the disease, whereby the entire defects with their causes (i.e., roots of the disease) would be radically cured. Treatment of Vataja Ashmari:— Clarified butter cooked with a decoction of Pashanabheda, Vasuka, Vashira, Ashmantaka, Shatavari, Shvadamstra, Vrihati, Kantakarika, Kapotavamka, Artagala, Kakubha, Ushira, Kubjaka, Vrikshadani, Bhalluka, Varuna, Shaka-phala, barley, Kulattha, Kola and Kataka fruits and with the Kalka of the drugs constituting the group of Ushakadi, speedily brings about the disintergration of Ashmari (urinary calculi, etc.) due to the action of the deranged Vayu. Milk, Yavagu (gruel), a decoction, soup, or an alkali, properly prepared with the above Vayu-subduing drugs should also be administered as food and drink in the above cases. Treatment of Pittaja Ashmari:— Similarly a medicated clarified butter cooked with the decoction of Kusha, Kasha, Shara, Gundra, Itkata, Morata, Ashmabhid, Shatavari, Vidari, Varahi, Shali-mula, Trikantaka, Bhalluka, Patala, Patha, Pattura, Kuruntika, Punarnava, Shirisha, with the paste (Kalka) consisting of Shilajatu, Madhuka (flower) and the seeds of Indivara, Trapusha and Ervaruka, would speedily bring about the disintegration of Pittaja Ashmari (calculi, etc.). An alkali, Yavagu (gruel), soup, a decoction, or milk, properly prepared with the above Pitta-subduing drugs, should also be prescribed as food and drink in these cases. Treatment of Kaphaja Ashmari:— The use of medicated clarified butter prepared from the milk of a she-goat† and cooked with the paste (Kalka) of the drugs constituting the Varunadi group, Guggulu, Ela, Harenu, Kushtha, the Bhadradi group, Marica, Citraka, Surahva and the Ushakadi group, leads to the speedy disintegration and expulsion of the Ashmari (stone, etc.) due to the action of the deranged Kapha. So also the use of an alkali, Yavagu (gruel), soup, milk, or a decoction, properly prepared with the above Kapha-subduing drugs, is recommended as food and drink in such cases. A potion consisting of the powdered fruit of the Pichuka, Amkola, Kataka, Shaka and Indivara mixed with treacle and water proves beneficial in cases of Gravel (Sarkara). The bones of the Krauncha, camel and ass, as well as the drugs known as Shvadamshtra, Talamuli, Ajamoda, Kadamba- roots and Nagara pounded together and administered through the vehicle of wine (Sura) or hot water, leads to the disintegration of Sharkara (gravel). The milk of an ewe mixed with powdered Trikantaka- seeds and honey should be used for seven days for the disintegration and separation of an Ashmari. Alkaline Treatments:— An alkali should be prepared from the ashes of the drugs used in the preparation of the aforesaid medicated clarified butters, by dissolving and filtering them in ewe’s urine The alkali should then be slowly boiled with an alkali similarly prepared from the dung of domestic animals, with the powders of Trikatu and the drugs of the Ushakadi group thrown into them as an after-throw. It proves curative in cases of stone, Gulma, and gravel. Alkalies from burnt bark of sesamum, Apamarga, plantain, Palasha and barley taken with the urine of an ewe destroy the gravel (Sharkara). As an alternative, the alkalies of Patala and Karavira should be used in the preceding manner. Two Tola (Aksha) weights of the pastes of Shvadamstra, Yashti-madhu and Brahmi (mixed with ewe’s urine) should be given to the patient; or the expressed juice of the Edaka, Shobhanjana and Markava (with the said urine) should be given, or a potion consisting of the pasted roots of the Kapotavamka with Kanjika, or Sura, etc., should be administered. Milk boiled with the aforesaid drug (Kapotavamka) should be taken by a patient in case there is pain (in urinating). Milk boiled with Triphala or Varshabhu should be administered as a drink and a decoction of the drugs of the Vira-taradi group should be employed in all these cases. A physician should have recourse to the following measures (surgical operations) in cases where the above-mentioned decoctions, medicated milk, alkalies, clarified butter and Uttara-vasti (urethral syringe) of the aforesaid drugs, etc., would prove ineffective. Surgical operations in these cases do not prove successful even in the hands of a skilful and experienced surgeon; so a surgical (Lithotomic) operation should be considered a remedy that has little to recommend itself. The death of the patient is almost certain without a surgical operation and the result to be derived from it is also uncertain. Hence a skilled surgeon should perform such operations only with the permission of the king. Modes of Surgical Operations:— The patient should be soothed (Snigdha) by the application of oleaginous substances, his system should be cleansed with emetics and purgatives and be slightly reduced thereby; he should then be fomented after being anointed with oily unguents; and be made to pertake of a meal. Prayers, offerings and prophylactic charms should be offered and the instruments and surgical accessories required in the case should be arranged in the order laid down in the Agropaharaniya chapter of the present work (Sutra-sthana, ch. V.). The surgeon should use his best endeavors to encourage the patient and infuse hope and confidence in the patient’s mind. A person of strong physique and unagitated mind should be first made to sit on a level board or table as high as the knee-joint. The patient should then be made to lie on his back on the table placing the upper part of his body in the attendant’s lap, with his waist resting on an elevated cloth cushion. Then the elbows and knee-joints (of the patient) should be contracted and […]
Mathomathis would like to present article on Indian Astronomy | Astronomical Dating of Events | 103 by the author Kosla Vepa Published by Indic Studies Foundation, 948 Happy Valley Rd., Pleasanton, Ca 94566, USA. Previous article can be found here (Indian Astronomy | Astronomical Dating of Events | 108 (Vikrama Samvat | Saptarsi Tradition)) Their website can be located Indicstudies.us. The studies is also conducted by N.S. Rajaram PhD. Author’s in the volume 1 of their research start their discussion on a topic called Why are History and the Chronology Important by Kosla Vepa PhD. The Western historians have tried to identify Kanishka era with 78 CE in their attempt to deny historicity of the Salivahana saka. Professor Sengupta had considered astronomical information from two kharosthi inscriptions which refer to regnal years of Kanishka , but could not match with the 78 CE date and so he proposed his own date for the starting of the Kanishka era. The inscriptions in question are no.26 and no. 35 in the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Vol. II. edited by Sten Konow. According to the inscriptions, in the eleventh year of reign of king Kanishka, on the 20th day of Asadha, it was uttaraphalguni naksatra. In the year 61, on the 8th day of caitra, the naksatra was purvasadha. Know had concluded that the full moon day was the first day of the month in these inscriptions. Sengupta correctly pointed out that there is no such Indian system in which the first day of the month is the full moon day. The months are full moon ending months and the 20th day of Asadha of the inscription would correspond to sravana sukla panchami and 8th day of caitra would correspond to caitra krsna astami. With these calendrical data, when Sengupta tried to calculate the dates based on the 78 CE as the beginning of Kanishka era, he could not quite match the data from the inscriptions. So he proposed that the Kanishka era be started from December 25 of 79 CE, nearly two years after the Salivahana saka. But, based on the list from Rajataragini, Kanishka’s date would be 1298 BCE. The eleventh and sixty-first years would be 1287 BCE and 1237 BCE respectively. Figure A shows the star map for June 23, 1287 BCE, it is sravana sukla pancami uttaraphalguni, an exact match to the inscription. Figure B shows the star map for March 1, 1237 BCE, caitra krsna astami, also an exact match to inscription no. This clearly establishes the consistency of the record in rajatarangini with the kharosthi inscriptions and hence the miss-identification of Kanishka era by the Western historians. Author Concludes as following: The real history of Bharata is preserved in its itihasa and purana texts. The Chronology is comprehensive and cogent. Simulations of the astronomical data preserved in these texts, using modern planetarium software, have attested the coherence of the chronology. From the date of the Mahabharata war, the sarpa yaga of Janamejaya, the date of Buddha, Asoka Maurya, Kanishka, Adi Sankara, the Gupta period, through the Vikrama and Salivahana sakas, the chronology exhibits a continuous flow which has been convincingly demonstrated by the simulations using planetarium software. The consistency is staggering. Many of the sticky points with ‘traditional chronology’ of the historians is simply resolved with these stimulations. There is still a large body of inscriptional data awaiting validation by simulations using the planetarium software.
In the following article, Mathomathis would like to present the technical aspects of the Gotra system followed in the vedic tradition. In Vedanta dharma, the term gotra means clan. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. However, all families having same gotra need not be cousins. They can be descendants of sons or disciples or even adopted sons of the Rishi(Seer), who is the root and whose name is used as Gotra. For example if a person says that he belongs to the Kutsa Gotra then it means that he traces back his male ancestry to the ancient Rishi (Saint or Seer) Kutsa. Gotra means cowshed (Go=Cow, tra=shed) in Sanskrit. Paini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram (IV. 1. 162), which means the word gotra denotes the progeny (of a sage) beginning with the son’s son. This system was started among Brahmins, with a purpose to classify and identify the families in the community. Vedic/vedanata Brahmins identify their male lineage by considering themselves to be the descendants of the 8 great Rishis i.e Saptarishis (The Seven Sacred Saints) + Bharadwaja Rishi. So the list of root Brahmin Gotras is as follows : Angirasa Atri Gautam Kashyapa Bhrigu Vasistha Kutsa Bharadwaja The offspring (apatya) of these eight are gotras and others than these are called as gotravayava. These eight sages are called gotrakarins from whom all the 49 gotras (especially of the Brahmins) have evolved. For instance, from Atri sprang the Atreya and Gavisthiras gotras.In almost all Hindu families, marriage within the same gotra is prohibited, since people with same gotra are considered to be siblings. But the hidden reason behind this practice is the ‘Y’ Chromosome which is expected to be common among all male in same gotra. So, the woman too carries similar ‘X’ Chromosome and if married, their offspring may be born with birth defects. Few families even maintain their Pravara which is a list of all seers through which their Gotra was derived. It connects to the root Seer. Gotra is always passed on from father to children among most Hindus, just like lastname(surname) is passed on worldwide. However, among Malayalis and Tulu’s its passed on from mother to children. Additional rule in the Gotra system is that, even if the Bride and Bridegroom belong to different Gotras, they still cannot get married even if just one of their Gotra Pravara matches. Now, why only male carries fixed lastname and gotra and why female can change her last name, gotra after marriage? Genes and Chromosomes Among Humans Humans have 23 pairs of Chromosomes and in each pair one Chromosome comes from the father and the other comes from the mother. So in all we have 46 Chromosomes in every cell, of which 23 come from the mother and 23 from the father. Of these 23 pairs, there is one pair called the Sex Chromosomes which decide the gender of the person. During conception, if the resultant cell has XX sex chromosomes then the child will be a girl and if it is XY then the child will be a boy. X chromosome decides the female attributes of a person and Y Chromosome decides the male attributes of a person. When the initial embryonic cell has XY chromosome, the female attributes get suppressed by the genes in the Y Chromosome and the embryo develops into a male child. Since only men have Y Chromosomes, son always gets his Y Chromosome from his father and the X Chromosome from his mother. On the other hand daughters always get their X Chromosomes, one each from both father and mother. So the Y Chromosome is always preserved throughout a male lineage (Father – Son – Grandson etc) because a Son always gets it from his father, while the X Chromosome is not preserved in the female lineage (Mother, Daughter, Grand Daughter etc) because it comes from both father and mother. A mother will pass either her mother’s X Chromosome to her Children or her father’s X Chromosome to her children or a combination of both because of both her X Chromosomes getting mixed (called as Crossover). On the other hand, a Son always gets his father’s Y Chromosome and that too almost intact without any changes because there is no corresponding another Y chromosome in his cells to do any mixing as his combination is XY, while that of females is XX which hence allows for mixing as both are X Chromosomes. Women never get this Y Chromosome in their body. And hence Y Chromosome plays a crucial role in modern genetics in identifying the Genealogy ie male ancestry of a person. And the Gotra system was designed to track down the root Y Chromosome of a person quite easily. If a person belongs to Angirasa Gotra then it means that his Y Chromosome came all the way down over thousands of years of timespan from the Rishi Angirasa. And if a person belongs to a Gotra (say Bharadwaja) with Pravaras (Angirasa, Bhaarhaspatya, Bharadwaja), then it means that the person’s Y Chromosome came all the way down from Angirasa to Bhaarhaspatya to Bharadwaja to the person. This also makes it clear why females are said to belong to the Gotra of their husbands after marriage. That is because women do not carry Y Chromosome, and their Sons will carry the Y Chromosome of the Father and hence the Gotra of a woman is said to be that of her husband after marriage. Y is the only Chromosome which does not have a similar pair in the human body. The pair of the Y Chromosome in humans is X Chromosome which is significantly different from Y Chromosome. Even the size of the Y Chromosome is just about one third the size of the X Chromosome. In other words throughout evolution the size of the Y Chromosome has been decreasing and it has lost most of its genes […]
In the following article mathomathis would like to discuss on topic Yajnavalkya Smriti | Vyavahara Law. This is a continuation from the previous article which was Yajnavalkya Smriti | Indian Law | 101. Do read the previous article before continuing here. Among the three topics, Acara, Vyavahara and Prayascitta, discussed in Smriti texts, Vyavahara has relevance even today. Yajnavalkya is the earliest Smrti author, who dealt with the Vyavahara part separately with due importance. Thus in the legal history of India, Yajnavalkya Smriti has a paramount position and it stands next to Manu Smriti in antiquity, importance and authority. Though this work follows the same pattern as of Manu, its concise style and scientific arrangement of the topics helped it to acquire a dominant position among ancient Indian law books. P.V. Kane observes that this work deserves this position not only by its concise and clear statement of principles but also by its breadth of vision and its comparative impartiality towards the claims of both sexes and the different Varnas Author and Date of YS The name Yajnavalkya is famous in Vedic literature as a celebrated sage closely associated with the Vajasaneyi School of Shukla Yajurveda. The following statement in Satapatha Brahmana says that the Shukla yajurveda was promulgated by sage Yajnavalkya as received from the Sun. An interesting story in this regard is described in Mahabharata, which is as follows: Yajnavalkya studied Yajurveda from his preceptor Vaisampayana. A rupture between the teacher and the student occurred and the latter vomited all that he has studied from the teacher. Later by worshiping the Sun God, Yajnavalkya received the revelation of the Sukla yajurveda and Satapatha Brahmana. In Brhadaranyakopanisad, sage Yajnavalkya appears as a great philosopher. In the fourth Brahmana of the second chapter of the Upanishad, he is depicted as explaining mysterious philosophic doctrines to his wife Mytreyi. In the third and fourth chapters, which are famous as Munikanda or Yajnavalkya kanda, he is described as giving instructions to Janaka regarding the definitions of Brahma. The orthodox view accepts that this famous sage referred to in Vedic literature and the author of YS are one and the same personality. The following verse in YS is taken as the proof by them: Here the author introduces himself as the promulgator of the Aranyaka that he received from the Sun and also as an authority of YogaShastra. But P.V. Kane considers this verse as an interpolation to glorify YS as the work of a great and ancient sage, philosopher and Yogin. He also states: “From the style and the doctrines of the Smrti it is impossible to believe that it was the work of the same hand that gave to the world the Upanishad containing the boldest philosophical speculation couched in the simplest yet the most effective language.” W.L.S. Panshikar also states that it is impossible to accept the Yajnavalkya of the Vedic period as the author of the Smriti as the text itself proves a later compilation. The Mitaksara commentary of Vijiianesvara starts with the statement that the extant YS, which is in the form of a dialogue between Yajnavalkya and the sages, is an abridged form of the original work: The period of this code cannot be fixed with any certainty. Its posterity to ManuSmriti and ArthaShastra is clear as it follows these two works in many places. The most ancient commentary on this treatise is the gloss of Visvarupa written in 9 century A.D. Several references in Visvarupa’s work make it clear that the commentator was separated from the author by many centuries. Considering all these factors P.V. Kane places this work somewhere between first century B.C. and third century A.D. But, another scholar in Smrti literature, Sir. Ramakrishna Gopala Bhandarkar, opines that the Ganapati worship described in YS appears to be of a later age with somewhat more developed or complicated form. He states: “Between the end of the fifth and the end of the eighth century, the Ganapati cult must have come into practice and the Smriti of Yajnavalkya must have been written not earlier than the sixth century A.D” The Content and Arrangement of YS The work is written in classical Anustubh metre. The number of verses varies according to different commentators. Visvarupa accepts 1003 verses in the text. But Apararka includes 1006 verses. According to Vijiianesvara and Mitramisra, the number is 1009. In Sulapani’s commentary there are 1010 verses. In the case of arrangement of verses also slight differences are seen in these commentaries. As regards the treatment of subject, YS follows the same pattern of Manu. But the methodological arrangement of topics avoiding repetition of same or similar provisions makes this work very brief, scientific and practical. Yajnavalkya views are far more modem and advanced than that of Manu. He goes beyond the discussions of the eighteen titles of law as stated in ManuSmriti. In order to fulfil the requirements of the changing society he has made adaptations and modifications in Manu’s pattern. In several matters like women’s right of inheritance and status of Sudras Yajfiavalkya’s views are more liberal and progressive than that of Manu. It is said that the society of Yajnavalkya’s age was highly influenced by the teachings of Buddha which was against all kinds of discrimination’s and inhuman treatments. The favorable attitude of Yajnavalkya towards women and the oppressed sections like Sudras might be the result of the impact of Buddhist ideals on the society. Acaradhyaya The whole text is divided into three chapters named Acaradhyaya, Vyavahara Dhyaya and Prayascitta Dhyaya. Each Adhyaya is again divided into Prakaranas. The Acaradhyaya which contains 13 Prakaranas deals with Acaras or regulations relating to the performance of religious rites and ceremonies and the general duties of men according to their Varnas and Asramas. Upodghataprakarana: In which fourteen Vidyas, twenty expounders of Dharma and constitution of Parisad are explained Brahmacariprakarana: Where the Samskaras up to marriage are described Vivahaprakarana Varnajati viveka prakarana Grhastha dharma prakarana: Explains the duties of the householder The duties […]