All Sacred Places of India are Vaishnavite

[prithvi 0]

India originally had four most sacred places, just after Ram’s time, called Kumbhamela spots – Haridwar, Prayag, Ujjain, and Nasik. The legend connecting these four places is a Vaishnavite legend – nectar fell down on earth at these four places when Vishnu was distributing nectar amongst Devas. Haridwar is the place where Ganges emerges onto the plains from Vishnu’s feet called Hari ki Pauri; Haridwar itself means Gateway to Hari or Vishnu. Prayag is the sangam of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. Ujjain has Ram Ghat and Nasik has Ram Kund, which are believed to wash away sins of a lifetime. These tanks are majorly associated with the Kumbhaela festivals.

 

After these four places came another set of pilgrimages called seven holy cities, after Krishna’s time – Haridwar, Kasi, Dwarka, Mathura, Ayodhya, Ujjain, and Kanchi. Out of these, Haridwar, Ayodhya, Mathura, and Dwarka are clearly Vaishnavite. Most people do not know about it, but the most sacred spot in Kasi is not the Siva temple, but it is a slab of stone containing foot prints of Vishnu near a place called Chakra-Pushkarini. The reason for this is, as per several beliefs, it was a Vaishnavite spot before it became associated with Siva. For example, Vaman Purana says that Vishnu used to reside there before he gave the place of Kasi to Siva. Kanchi is a place where Parvati did penance and propitiated Vishnu to get her golden color back; it shows complete Vaishnavite superiority. Ujjain is considered to wash away sins not because of Siva temple, but because of Ram Ghat; Ram is believed to have stayed and bathed there.

 

Then came four holy cities that should be visited by every Hindu atleast once during his life time, generally attributed to Sankaracharya – Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri, and Rameswaram. The first three are clearly Vaishnavite. Rameswaram is a claimed to be a place where Ram worshipped Siva; However, as is well known, Valmiki Ramayam does not contain anything about Ram worshipping Siva, this concept is of latter origin. It was a Ram temple that was later converted into Siva shrine. All four are Vaishnavite shrines.

 

Saivites have now rejected these four places because it shows Vaishnavite domination. They now have separate four holy shrines that should be visited by every Saivite atleast once during his lifetime, at four corners of India – Kasi, Kanchi, Somnath, and Bhubaneswar. We have already discussed Kasi and Kanchi that show Vaishnavite superiority. Somanth is a place where Moon was supposed to die because of a curse. He then prayed to Siva who alleviated his curse. Because of Siva’s grace, the Moon that was supposed to fade out completely, began to wax and wane. I am sure moon never did such a thing at Somnath; the reason why the place of Somnath has been considered holy since time immemorial is because it is the sangam of Saraswati river with Sea. Also, Krishna is believed to have died at a nearby place, so post-funeral rites are done closeby. The legend of Bhubaneswar tells us that the place originally belonged to Vishnu. Siva requested Vishnu to give him this place and Vishnu acceded. Siva was grateful for Vishnu’s grace and, as a token of gratitude, wished to be worshipped here in half Vishnu and half Siva form.

 

If we leave aside these traditional places, let us just take a look at the four most frequented sacred spots of India today – Tirupati, Vaishno Devi, Kaila Devi, Sabarimala. Tirupati, drawing 15 million devotees per annum, does not need introduction. Vaishno devi, drawing five million devotees per annum, is the wife of Ram as per beliefs; she is waiting to become one with Ram at the end of Kaliyug. Kaila Devi in Rajasthan, drawing six million devotees per annum, is popularly called Mahalaxmi, she is a manifestation of Laxmi. Sabarimala of Ayyppa, drawing more than four million devotees per annum, is situated at a place where Sabari, the devotee of Ram, attained salvation. Even though Ayyappa is considered to be the son of Vishnu and Siva, he is always shown with a Vaishnavite mark on his forehead, indicating that he is more of a Vaishnavite deity than a Saivite deity. Even the prayer read out to him every day is called Hari-varasanam and not Hari-hara-varasanam.

 

All of this shows a certain complete Vaishnavite domination of the Indian spiritual scenario telling us that Vaishnavism must have preceded Saivism by several thousand years; Vaishnavism is the original religion of India. Yet, historians have been telling us for the last two hundred years that Saivism is older than Vaishnavism and that Vaishnavite Aryans came from outside about 1500 BC. Even though Aryan Invasion theory has been given a burial recently, it has been replaced by what is called Aryan Migration – Aryans did not invade India, they only migrated to India around 1500 BC – Indians continue being told by both Indian and western historians that Saivism is the older religion, and that Indus Valley is Dravidian. And the guiding force for all of these assertions is the presence of some seals of Siva at Harappa. The study of Indian history started with these seals and ended with these seals; no other study has ever been done.

 

The truth is that Vedic religion preceded Dravidianism by several thousand years. All those archaeological sites of India belong to Vedic religion. Indian history needs to be completely re-written. For example, a site has been recently found at Gulf of Cambay where fired pottery was noted from 16000 BP (Before Present) and advanced civilization has been noted from around at 13000 BP. This site belongs to Indo-European Vedic people and not to Dravidians. Vedas, Ramayan, Mahabharat, and Buddhism came into existence anywhere in the last 15000 years and not after 3000 BP as given by current historians. Mesopotamians are Indians who migrated to Mesopotamia. Jews, Christians, and Muslims are all Vaishnavites who migrated out of India about four thousand years ago. Their God Yahweh/Allah is none other than Krishna.

 

Anyone who writes this would be branded as a Vaishnavite with ulterior motives and sponsored approach. But, should we stop writing about the glory of Indian history just because we would be branded as sectarians?

 

Source: Excerpts from Prithviraj’s forthcoming book to be released in about a month’s time on all online bookstores - 19000 YEARS OF WORLD HISTORY: The Story of Religion.

Prithvi’s blog – http://19000years.blogspot.com

Prithvi’s mail – prithvi.book@gmail.com