The Roots of Hinduism

Abstract Hinduism has two major roots. The more familiar is the religion brought to South Asia in the second millennium bce by speakers of Aryan or Indo-Iranian languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. Another, more enigmatic, root is the Indus civilization of the third millennium bce, which left behind thousands of short inscriptions in a forgotten pictographic script, difficult to decipher in the absence of bilinguals. The author of this book spent fifty years researching these roots. This book traces the Aryan migrations from their original homeland north of the Black Sea through the Eurasian steppes to Central, West, and South Asia. Among many other things, it discusses the profound impact of the invention of the horse-drawn chariot on Indo-Aryan religion, and presents new ideas on the origin and formation of Vedic literature and rites, and the great epics. Previously, it has been argued that the Indus people spoke a Dravidian language, and that the Indus script mentions God Murukan (Vedic Rudra and Hindu Skanda) and certain stars and planets with their Old Tamil names. These insights are developed here. But its main focus is on the West Asian pair of Mother Earth (lion) and Father Sky (bull), who, with their sacred marriage, were central in the Indus religion, too. This heritage lives on today in South Indian villages, and in Vedic and Tantric rites and myths, including that of Goddess Durgā and Mahiṣa.

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