Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization

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Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization Page 96

by Graham Hancock

3. The general view is that the short inscriptions of the Harappan script are trade linked and were probably in most cases used to label merchandise

  4. John M. Cooper (ed.), Plato: Complete Works, 551, Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis, 1997

  5. Ibid., 551–2

  6. Georg Feuerstein, Subash Kak, David Frawley, In Search of the Cradle of Civilization, 29, Quest Books, Wheaton, Ill., 1995

  7. Although the possibility cannot be completely ruled out. There is a curious reference in the Atharvava Veda, 19.72.1, to placing the Vedas back in a chest – which suggests the existence of a written version. The matter is discussed in David Frawley, Gods, Sages and Kings, 249, Passage Press, Salt Lake City, 1991

  8. Gregory L. Possehl, Indus Age: The Beginnings, 6, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999

  9. Ibid., 6

  10. Ibid., 7, 8

  11. Ibid., 5–6, and see for example Kennoyer, op. cit., 24

  12. Possehl, op. cit., 41

  13. Personal communication, Professor B. B. Lal, formerly a student of Wheeler’s. See also discussion in Feuerstein et al., op. cit., 77ff

  14. Possehl, op. cit., 42

  15. Ibid., 6

  16. Ibid., 6

  17. Ibid., 6

  18. Ibid., 6

  19. Emphasis added. Cited in Vedavyas, Astronomical Dating of the Mahabaratha War, 64, University of Vedic Sciences, India, 1995

  20. Cited in ibid., 64

  21. M. Muller, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, 34–5, cited in Feuerstein et al., op. cit., 42

  22. Kennoyer, op. cit., 29

  23. Ibid., 104 ff

  24. V. Gordon Childe, The Aryans, 1926, 211–12, cited in Possehl, op. cit., 41–2

  25. Colin Renfrew, Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins, 182, Pimlico, London, 1998

  26. Ibid., 188

  27. Ibid., 190

  28. Ibid., 205

  29. Ibid., 205

  30. S. R. Rao, Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilization, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1991

  31. See S. P. Gupta, The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization, 91, 97, Pratiba Prakashan, Delhi, 1996

  32. Ibid., 146

  33. Vishnu Purana, vol. 2, 785, Nag Publishers, Delhi, 1989

  34. Ibid., 853

  35. E.g. see Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists, 393, Dover Publications, New York, 1967

  36. Bhagvata Purana, vol. 2, part 5, 12.3.30, 2139, Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, 1978

  5 / Pilgrimage to India

  1. A range of figures for the extent of the civilization are given by different authorities. See Jonathan Mark Kennoyer, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, 17, American Institute of Pakistan Studies, Oxford, 1998; S. R. Rao, Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilization, 10, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1991; S. P. Gupta, The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization, 1–4, Pratiba Prakashan, Delhi, 1996, gives 2.5 million square kilometres

  2. See discussion in Gupta, op. cit., 114

  3. Sir Mortimer Wheeler, The Indus Civilization, 3rd edn, 1968, 55

  4. Rao, op. cit., 49

  5. Kennoyer, op. cit., 50. He gives a population of 41,250 for the Lower Town of Mohenjodaro – 76.6 hectares – but notes that the total populated area was much larger – 250 hectares or so. Pro rata this yields a total population of about 150,000.

  6. Ibid., 57

  7. Ibid., 52

  8. Georg Feuerstein, Subash Kak, David Frawley, In Search of the Cradle of Civilization, 73, Quest Books, Wheaton, Ill., 1995

  9. Ibid., 73

  10. Rao, op. cit., 17

  11. Ibid., 17

  12. Kennoyer, op. cit., 15. The reference comes from Kennoyer’s study of blade technologies in the Indus Valley cities. He found plentiful evidence that certain large gastropod seashells (Turbinella pyrum and Chicoreus ramosus) had been cleanly and efficiently sliced up to make jewellery. These shells are exceptionally hard and he came to the conclusion (page 96) that they must have been cut ‘with a specialized bronze saw … By studying the depth of each saw stroke on fragments of shell from the ancient workshops, we can reconstruct the basic shape of the saw. It had a very thin serrated edge that was long and curved, similar to the saws still used in shell bangle making in modern Bengal. Even more astounding is the fact that the Indus bronze saw was able to cut the shell as efficiently as the modem steel saws, which suggests that the Indus bronze workers were able to produce a bronze that was as hard as steel.’

  13. Gupta, op. cit., i

  14. Ibid., i

  15. Gupta, op. cit., 141

  16. Gregory Possehl, interviewed by Sharif Sakr, 24 October 2000

  17. Captain M. W. Carr (ed.), Descriptive and Historical Papers Relating to the Seven Pagodas of the Coromandel Coast (first published 1869), reprinted Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1984

  18. Ibid., 34–5

  19. Ibid., 2

  20. Ibid., 1

  21. E.g. Vishnu Purana, vol. 1, 188ff, Nag Publishers, Delhi, 1989

  22. Carr, op. cit., 12–13

  23. Ibid., 3

  24. Ibid., 13

  25. Ibid., 13

  26. Ibid., 14

  27. Ibid., 14

  28. Ibid., 14–15

  29. E.g. Plato, Timaeus and Critias, 145, Penguin Books, London, 1977

  30. Rao, op. cit., 141

  31. Ibid., 141

  32. Ibid., 141

  33. Ibid., 126 and 142

  34. Ibid., 141

  35. Pannikar and Srinivason, cited ibid., 143

  36. Ibid., 120

  37. Michael A. Hoffman, Egypt Before the Pharaohs, 16, Michael O’Mara Books, London, 1991

  38. Cyril Aldred, Egypt to the End of the Old Kingdom, 35, Thames and Hudson, London, 1988

  39. Ibid., 35, 33

  40. Kennoyer, op. cit., 114

  41. Arthur Posnansky, Tiahuanacu: The Cradle of American Man (4 vols.), plate LXXIX.a, J. J. Augustin, New York, 1945

  42. Aldred, op. cit., 35

  43. Mackay, 1934, 422, cited in Possehl, op. cit., 289

  44. E.g. Thor Heyerdahl, The Ra Expeditions, BCA, London, 1972

  45. Gupta, op. cit., i, 114

  46. Possehl, op. cit., 290

  47. Ibid., 290

  48. Ibid., 290

  49. Note in Lothal site museum

  50. See Fingerprints of the Gods, chapters 24 and 25

  51. John Howley, Jada Bahrata Dasa, Holy Places and Temples in India, 438, Spiritual Guides, 1996

  52. Bhagvata Purana, 10, 1571

  53. Ibid., 10, 1570

  6 / The Place of the Ship’s Descent

  1. Ralph T. Griffith (trans.), Hymns of the Atharvaveda, vol. 1, xxvii, Munisharam Manoharlal Publishers, Delhi, 1985 (first published 1895–6)

  2. Gregory L. Possehl, Indus Age: The Beginnings, 5, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999; Satpatha Brahmana, part 5, 362, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1994

  3. Possehl, op. cit., 5; Griffith, op. cit., vol. 1, xi

  4. Possehl, op. cit., 5; Griffith, op. cit., vol. 1, xi

  5. Possehl, op. cit., 5

  6. Griffith, op. cit., vol. 1, xii. The Atharva Veda is so named, says Griffith (p. xi), ‘not from the nature of its contents, but from a personage of indefinitely remote antiquity named Atharvan …’

  7. M. Sundarraj, Rig Vedic Studies, xxi, International Society for the Investigation of Ancient Civilization, Chennai, 1997

  8. See Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, vol. 2, 461

  9. See ibid., vol. 1, 517

  10. Ibid., 12, 189

  11. Ibid., 189

  12. J. G. Frazer, Folklore in the Old Testament, vol. 1, 85, Macmillan, London, 1918

  13. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, vol. 7, 693; vol. 9, 920

  14. Ibid., vol. 7, 693

  15. Ibid., vol. 9, 920

  16. Ibid., 804

  17. John E. Mitchiner, Traditions of the Seven Rishis, xvii-xix, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1982

  18. Ibid., xviir />
  19. Ibid., xvii

  20. E.g. see Ralph T. Griffith (trans.), Hymns of the Rgveda, vol. 1, 66, footnote 99, Munisharam Manoharlal Publishers, Delhi, 1987 (first published 1889). There are more than eighty separate references to Manu in the Rig Veda

  21. Ibid., vol. 1, 66

  22. Ibid., vol. 1, 99

  23. Ibid., vol. 2, 218

  24. Ibid., vol. 2, 513

  25. Ibid., vol. 1, 155

  26. See discussions in E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1973 (first printed 1911). See also discussion in Jane B. Sellers, The Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt, 21, Penguin, London, 1992

  27. Griffith, Rgveda, vol. 1, 285

  28. Ibid., 286

  29. David Frawley, Gods, Sages and Kings, 285–6, Passage Press, Salt Lake City, 1991. See Bhagvata Purana, vol. 8, 24.10–11, Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, 1978

  30. ‘Wash thee away’ is Weber’s rendering. J. Eggeling has ‘cut thee off’. Max Muller has ‘cut thee asunder’. See Satpatha Brahmana, part 1, 217, note 3.

  31. Ibid., 216–18

  32. Ibid., 218–19

  33. Frazer, op. cit., 185

  34. Ibid., 186

  35. Ibid., 186–7

  36. Ibid., 187

  37. Ibid., 191

  38. Ibid., 191

  39. Ibid., 192

  40. Ibid., 192

  41. Ibid., 192

  42. Satpatha Brahmana, part 1, 218, note 1

  43. Atharva Veda, 19.39.8, translated by Frawley, op. cit., 299

  44. Griffith, Atharvaveda, vol. 2, 243

  45. Ibid., vol. 2, 243, note 8

  46. Cited in Satpatha Brahmana, part 1, 218, footnote 1

  47. Griffith, Rgveda, vol. 1, 319

  48. Ibid., vol. 1, 319, note 13

  49. Bhagvata Purana, cited in Frazer, op. cit., 192

  50. Ibid., 192

  51. Matsya Purana, part 1, 7, Nag Publishers, Delhi, 1997

  52. See extensive discussion in Fingerprints of the Gods, chapter 31

  53. Matsya Purana, part 1, 7, note.

  54. See chapter 2 and Samuel Noah Kramer, History Begins at Sumer, 152–3, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991

  55. Mitchiner, op. cit., 206, 208–9

  56. ‘Formerly in the Svayambhuva age these were the Seven great Rsis. When the Age of Caksusa had passed … the Seven Rsis were again born as the seven Mind-born. (The question is asked: How were the Seven Rsis formerly born as the seven Mind-born? And the answer is given: After a long period, the Rsis were born a second time – so we have heard.)’ Cited in Mitchiner, op. cit., 33

  57. Griffith, Rgveda

  58. Ludwig, cited in ibid., vol. 2, 624, note 7

  59. Mitchiner, op. cit.

  60. Ibid., xvi

  61. Ibid., 196

  62. Lokamanya Bal Ganghadar Tilak, The Arctic Home in the Vedas, 425, Tilak Bros, Poona, 1956. I have rendered ‘Kalpa’ as ‘age’.

  63. Ibid., 426

  64. Ibid., 426

  65. See discussion in Heaven’s Mirror, 156ff

  66. Griffith, Rgveda, vol. 1, 237

  67. Cited in Sundarraj, op. cit., 333

  68. E.g. ‘he who has eyes can see this, not he who is blind’, cited in Mitchiner, op. cit., 10.

  69. Tilak, op. cit., 427

  70. Lists of different Manvantaras and groups of Manu and the Seven Sages in Matsya Purana, for example

  71. Tilak, op. cit., 426

  72. Mitchiner op. cit., 49–50

  73. Tilak, op. cit., 420

  74. Matsya Purana, part 1, 635. I have rendered ‘Kalpa’ simply as ‘age’.

  75. The Puranas. See Mitchiner, op. cit., 3

  76. Cited in ibid …, 293

  77. Ibid., 128–30

  78. Ibid., 4

  79. Ibid., 5

  80. Griffith, Rgveda, vol. 2, 538

  81. Ibid., vol. 2, 538. See also Mitchiner, op. cit., 10

  82. Discussed in ibid., 262–7

  83. Satpatha Brahmana, part 1, 282

  84. Mitchiner, op. cit., 262–3

  85. See extensive discussions in Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert, The Orion Mystery, Heinemann, London, 1994. See also Keeper of Genesis/Message of the Sphinx, and Heaven’s Mirror

  86. Ibid.

  87. See discussions in The Orion Mystery

  88. R. O. Faulkner (trans.), The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, 138, Utterance 419, Aris and Phillips, Wiltshire (first published by Oxford University Press, 1969)

  89. Ibid., 155, Utterance 466, 5

  90. Mitchiner, op. cit., 253

  91. Ibid., 190–91

  92. Ibid., 189–90

  93. Ibid., 218ff

  94. See discussion in Heaven’s Mirror, chapter 6

  95. See discussion in Heaven’s Mirror, chapter 4

  96. Mitchiner, op. cit., 223

  97. Ibid., 224

  98. Ibid., 225

  99. Mahabaratha, cited in ibid., 223

  100. Ibid., 223

  101. See discussion in Keeper of Genesis/ Message of the Sphinx, 201–2

  102. E. A. E. Reymond, Mythical Origin of the Egyptian Temple, 90, 109, 127, Manchester University Press, 1969

  103. Ibid., 77

  104. Frawley, op. cit., 41

  105. Ibid., 205

  7 / Lost India

  1. See discussion in chapter 1

  2. See discussion in chapter 1

  3. See discussion in chapter 2

  4. See discussion in chapter 5

  5. Georg Feuerstein, Subash Kak, David Frawley, In Search of the Cradle of Civilization, 52–9, Quest Books, Wheaton, Ill., USA, 1995

  6. Ibid., 52

  7. See discussion in Gregory L. Possehl, Indus Age: The Beginnings, 446ff, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999

  8. There is not space to review the literature here but there is little serious dispute amongst scholars that our ancestors were taking to the sea as much as 30,000 or more years ago. See, for example, Geoffrey Irwin, The Prehistoric Exploration and Colonisation of the Pacific, 3ff, Cambridge University Press, 1994

  9. Frawley, in David Frawley, Gods,

  Sages and Kings, 45, Passage Press,

  Salt Lake City, 1991

  10. Ibid., 45

  11. Ibid., 45

  12. Ibid., 45

  13. S. P. Gupta, The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization, 145, Pratiba Prakashan, Delhi, 1996

  14. E.g. see Werner Keller, The Bible as History, Bantam Books, New York, 1988

  15. I described this effect at Easter Island in Heaven’s Mirror, 244–5

  16. Cited in chapter 4

  17. Possehl, op. cit., 362

  18. Ralph T. Griffith (trans.), Hymns of the Rgveda, vol. 1, 4, 12, footnote 99, Munisharam Manoharlal Publishers, Delhi, 1987 (first published 1889)

  19. Ibid., vol. 2, 44, 6

  20. Ibid. vol. 1, 676, 2, 7–9

  21. Ibid., vol. 1, 677, note 2

  22. Ibid., vol. 2, 510, 9

  23. Possehl, op. cit., 363

  24. Griffith, op. cit., vol. 2, 98–9, 1–2

  25. Ramaswamy, Bakliwal and Verma, 1991, ‘Remote Sensing and River Migration in Western India’, Remote Sensing, 12 (12), 2597–2609, cited in Possehl, op. cit., 362

  26. Ramaswamy et al., cited in Possehl, op. cit., and Possehl’s own views, 362

  27. Bhimal Ghose, Anil Kar and Zahrid Jussain, ‘Comparative Role of the Aravali and Himalayan river systems in the fluvial sedimentation of the Rajasthan desert. Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur’, cited in Frawley, op. cit., 75

  28. B. Ghose et al., 1979, ‘The lost courses of the Saraswati River in the Great Indian Desert, New Evidence from Landsat Imagery’, cited in Gupta, op. cit., 15

  29. B. P. Radhakrishna, ‘Holocene Chronology and Indian Prehistory’, in B. P. Radhakrishna and S. S. Merh (eds.) Vedic Saiasvati: Evolutionary History of a Lost River of Northwestern India, Geological Society of India, Bangalore, 1999

  30. Possehl, op
. cit., 372

  31. Discussed in Fingerprints of the Gods, chapter 28

  32. See Heaven’s Mirror, Fingerprints of the Gods

  33. Jacobi, Indian Antiquary, cited in Frawley, op. cit., 182

  34. Lokamanya Bal Ganghadar Tilak, The Orion or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas, 220, 234, Tilak Bros, Poona, 1986

  35. Ibid., 220

  36. Ibid., 220

  37. Frawley, op. cit., 189

  38. Ibid., 198

  39. Ibid., 198

  40. Feuerstein et al., op. cit., 244–5

  41. John E. Mitchiner, Traditions of the Seven Rishis, 134, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1982

  42. Ibid., 139–41

  43. Ibid., 158

  44. Ibid., 158

  45. Pliny, Naturalis Historia, 6, 59–60, cited in Mitchiner, op. cit., 158; Solinus, Compendium, 52.5, cited in Mitchiner, op. cit., 158–9

  46. Mitchiner, op. cit., 158

  47. Feuerstein et al., op. cit., 247

  48. Mitchiner, op. cit., 160

  8 / The Demon on the Mountain and the Rebirth of Civilization

  1. Turania = Ancient Turkestan

  2. S. P. Gupta, The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization, 16–17, Pratiba Prakashan, Delhi, 1996

  3. Gregory L. Possehl, Indus Age: The Beginnings, 440, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999

  4. Ibid., 440

  5. Jacques Cauvin, The Birth of the Gods and the Origins of Agriculture, 76, Cambridge University Press, 2000

  6. Possehl, op. cit., 412

  7. Ibid., 1

  8. E.g. ‘Childe 1936; Bradwood 1952; Binford 1968; Flannery 1968, 1986; Myers 1971; Harris 1972, 1977; Reed 1977; M. Cohen 1977; Rindos 1984; Henry 1989; McCorriston and Hole 1991; Belfer-Cohen 1991, to note a few’, cited in ibid., 429

  9. Ibid., 429

  10. Bar-Yoseph and Meadow, etc., cited in ibid., 430–31

  11. Bar-Yoseph and Meadow, cited in ibid., 430

  12. Ibid., 430–31

  13. Sauer, 1952, cited in ibid., 431

  14. Ibid., 451

  15. Ibid., 451, 465

  16. Ibid., 453

  17. Ibid., 453

  18. Ibid., 453

  19. Ibid., 453

  20. Ibid., 453–7

  21. Jarridge et al., cited in ibid., 455

  22. Ibid., 453–7

  23. Ibid., 238

  24. Ibid., 238–9

  25. Ibid., 460, 459

  26. See discussion in chapter 6

  27. Possehl, op. cit., 457–9

  28. Ibid., 230

  29. Ibid., 457–9

  30. Ibid., 483–8

  31. Ibid., 482

  32. Ibid., 482

 

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