By Dr. Naval Viyogi
About the
Book: The
Nagas, like most of the other Native tribes had serpent as their totem. They
also used to worship serpent and consider them to be their protective deity.
They also used to wear artificial hoods of cobra on their heads at certain
occasions.
The
tradition of Naga worship or totem was in prevalence in Babylonia, Assyria,
Palestine and Iran from ancient times and it was brought to India alongwith
migration of Sumerians and Assyrians and Dravidian race.
There are
enormous evidences of seals and seal impressions found from Indus towns to show
that Indus Valley people also used to worship this serpent deity.
In
Rigvedic account, there is a mention of Nagas or Ahi (serpent) race, Naga
warriors or Naga kings among them Ahivritra is prominent, who was sworn enemy
of Indra, the Aryan god and militant leader. In Atharva-Veda there are some
hymns, which describe serpents named Iligi and Viligi, according to B S
Upadhyaya, these were names of father and son in the genealogical table of
Assyrian kings. This proves that serpent (Naga) race and its tradition of
serpent worship came from Western Asia.
On the
basis of findings of pottery type from Ahar and its proto-type from
contemporary sites in Anatolia, Assyria and Iran, Dr. Sankalia has reached a
conclusion that new immigrants came from the above mentioned region.
Archaeological
evidences recovered from the excavation of Prabhasa a site of B & R Ware
culture in Kathiavar, it has been proved by scholars that users of this pottery
were Yadavas of Mahabharata fame. These Yadavas were original inhabitants of
Western Asia and Iran. Racially they were round headed Alpine or a blend of
Alpine or Dravidian race.
These
people, according to Rigveda were non-Sanskrit speaking non-Aryans whose mother
tongue was Souraseni, which has been described as Mlechchha language in
Puranas. They are also called Dasas in Rigveda.
Krishna,
the black hero of Yadavas, in addition of his being an incarnation of Vishnu
was also a son of Vasudeva and great grandson of Aryaka who was a Naga chief in
origin. Baldeva or Baldou, the elder brother of Krishna is said to be
reincarnation of SeshaNaga, hence he was always under the protection of many
hoods of cobra. At his death his soul came out of his mouth in the form of
large cobra.
They
developed a guild based industry and trade system and at one stage their every
village was turned into an industrial state. The base of their military system
was nation-in-arms which made them most powerful and invincible people of the
ancient age. Republican system was base of their ruling system, which is said
to be modern development of Europeans.
In short
these people were wealthy worker and warriors who believed in equality and
brotherhood and knew no caste. They were followers of Buddha's teachings of
non-violence, their sword was not for violence but for maintaining peace. They
were architect of urbanization of ancient India second time after the fall of
Indus cities and their ultimate achievement was "Golden Age" of
Indian history.
Book
Description
ISBN:
|
8175362871
|
No. of
Pages:
|
462
|
