Ancient
India on Exhumation
There
are two typed copies of this Chapter. Both of them contain
additions and corrections in the handwriting of Dr. Babasaheb
Ambedkar. After consideration, we decided that the latter
version should be included here. This essay, consisting of
three pages only, seems to be an introduction to a larger subject Dr. Ambedkar probably had in his
mind.—Editors.
Much
of the ancient history of India is no history at all. Not
that ancient India has no history. It has plenty of it. But it has lost its character. It has been made
mythology to amuse women and
children. This seems to have been done deliberately by the Brahminical
writers. Take the word Deva.
What does it mean? Is the word Jana Vishesh representing a
member of the human family? It is made to appear superhuman
agency. By this the pith of history contained in it is
squeezed out.
Along
with the word Deva occur the names of Yaksha, Gana, Gandharva, Kinnars. Who were they? The impression one gets on reading the Mahabharat and Ramayan is that they are imaginary beings who
filled the horizon but did not exist.
But
the Yaksha, Gana, Gandharva, Kinnaras were also members of
the human family. They were in the service of the Devas. The Yakshas were guarding the
palaces. Ganas were guarding the Devas.
Gandharvas were amusing the Devas by music and dancing. The Kinnaras were also in the service of the Gods.
The descendants of the Kinnaras are even now living in Himachal Pradesh.
Take
the name Asura. The description of Asura given in the Mahabharat and Ramayana make out as though hey belonged to non-human world. An
Asura is described to eat ten carts-load
of food. They are monsters in size. They sleep for six months.
They have ten mouths. Who is a Rakshas? He too is described
as a non-human creature. In size, in his capacity for eating, in his habits of life he
resembled the Asura.
There
is a plenty of references to the Nagas. But who is a Naga ? A Naga is represented as a
serpent or a snake. Can this be true ? Whether true or not, it is so and Hindus believe it. Ancient Indian history must be exhumed.
Without its exhumation Ancient India will go without history. Fortunately with the help of
the Buddhist literature,
Ancient Indian History can be dug out of the debris which the Brahmin
writers have heaped upon in a fit of madness.
The
Buddhist literature helps a great deal to remove the debris
and see the underlying substance quite clearly and distinctly.
The
Buddhist literature shows that the Devas were a community of
human beings. There are so many Devas who come to the Buddha to have their doubts and
difficulties removed. How could this be unless the Devas were human beings
Again
the Buddhist canonical literature throws a food of light on the puzzling question of the
Nagas. It makes a distinction between womb-born Nagas and egg-born Nagas and thereby
making it clear that the word Naga has two-fold meaning. In its original sense it stood
for the name of a human community.
The
Asuras again are not monsters. They too are a Jan-Vishesh human
beings. According to Satpatha Bramhana,
the Asuras are the descendants of
Prajapati the Lord of the creation. How they became evil
spirits is not known. But the fact is recorded that they fought against the Devas for the
possession of the earth and that they were overcome by the Devas and that they finally
succumbed. The point is clear that the Asuras were members of the human family and not
monsters.
With this exhumation of debris, we can see Ancient Indian History in a new light.
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