Puranic chronology

The Puranic chronology is a timeline of Hindu history based on the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas. Two central dates are the Mahabharata War, which according to this chronology happened at 3138 BCE, and the start of the Kali Yuga, which according to this chronology started at 3102 BCE. The Puranic chronology is referred to by proponents of Indigenous Aryans to propose an earlier dating of the Vedic period, and the spread of Indo-European languages out of India, arguing that "the Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to the earliest period of the Sindhu-Sarasvati (or Indus) tradition (7000 or 8000 BCE)."[1]

Krishna and Arjun on the chariot, 18th-19th century painting

Hindu scriptures

The Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa are the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India.[2] Together they form the Hindu Itihasa.[3] The Mahābhārata narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War, and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes and their successors. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or puruṣārtha (12.161). The bulk of the Mahābhārata was probably compiled between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, with the oldest preserved parts not much older than around 400 BCE.[4][5] The original events related by the epic probably fall between the 9th and 8th centuries BCE.[5]

The Rāmāyaṇa narrates the life of Rama, the legendary prince of the Kosala Kingdom. Various recent scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE, with later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE.[6]

The Puranas (literally "ancient, old",[7]) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly legends and other traditional lore,[8] composed in the first millennium CE.[9][note 1] The Hindu Puranas are anonymous texts and likely the work of many authors over the centuries.[10] Gavin Flood connects the rise of the written Purana historically with the rise of devotional cults centering upon a particular deity in the Gupta era: the Puranic corpus is a complex body of material that advance the views of various competing sampradayas.[11] The content is highly inconsistent across the Puranas, and each Purana has survived in numerous manuscripts which are themselves inconsistent.[10]

The Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranas contain genealogies of kings,[12] which are used for the traditional chronology of India's ancient history. Michael Witzel doubts the reliability of these texts as historical documents, concluding that they "have clearly lifted (parts of) lineages, fragment by fragment, from the Vedas and have supplied the rest ... —from hypothetical, otherwise unknown traditions—or, as can be seen in the case of the Mahābhārata, from poetical imagination."[13]

Puranic chronology

Cyclic time and Yugas
Main article: Yuga Cycle

The Puranas are oriented at a cyclical understanding of time. They contain stories about the creation and destruction of the world, and the yugas (ages).[14] There are four yugas in one cycle:

According to the Manusmriti (c. 2nd CE),[15] one of the earliest known texts describing the yugas, the length of each yuga is 4800, 3600, 2400 and 1200 years of the gods, respectively, giving a total of 12,000 divine years to complete one cycle. For human years, they are multiplied by 360 giving 1,728,000, 1,296,000, 864,000 and 432,000 years, respectively, giving a total of 4,320,000 human years. These four yugas have a length ratio of 4:3:2:1.[16]

The Bhagavata Purana [3.11.18-20] (c. 500-1000 CE) gives a matching description of the yuga lengths in divine years.

The Kali Yuga is the present Yuga. According to Puranic sources, Krishna's departure marks the end of Dvapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga,[note 2] which is dated to 17/18 February 3102 BCE,[17] twenty years after the Bharata War.[18]

Dashavatara
Main article: Dashavatara

The Dashavatara refers to the ten primary (i.e. full or complete) incarnations (avatars) of Vishnu, the Hindu god of preservation which has Rigvedic origins. Vishnu is said to descend in the form of an avatar to restore cosmic order. The word Dashavatara derives from daśa, meaning 'ten', and avatar (avatāra), roughly equivalent to 'incarnation'.

Various versions of the list of Vishnu's avatars exist, varying per region and tradition.[19][20][21][22] Some lists mention Krishna as the eighth avatar and the Buddha as the ninth avatar,[19] while others – such as the Yatindramatadipika, a 17th-century summary of Srivaisnava doctrine[21] – give Balarama as the eighth avatar and Krishna as the ninth.[21] The latter version is followed by some Vaishnavas who don't accept the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu.[23] Though no list can be uncontroversially presented as standard, the "most accepted list found in Puranas and other texts is [...] Krishna, Buddha."[24][25][26][27][28][note 3]

The following table summarises the position of avatars within the Dashavatara in many but not all traditions:[20][21][22][29]

Position Krishna, Buddha
(common list)
[20][note 3][note 4]		 Balarama, Krishna
(Vaishnavites)
[20][21][note 5]		 Balarama, Buddha
[30][note 6][note 7]		 Krishna, Vithoba
[29][note 8]		 Balarama, Jagannatha
[31][note 9]		 Yuga[20]
1 Matsya[20][21] (fish; saves Manu Vaivasvata) Satya Yuga[20]
2 Kurma[20][21] (turtle, tortoise)
3 Varaha[20][21] (boar, wild swine)
4 Narasimha[20][21] (man-lion)
5 Vamana[20][21] (dwarf-god) Treta Yuga[20]
6 Parashurama[20][21] (Brahman warrior)
7 Rama[20][21][note 10]
8 Krishna[20][note 6] Balarama[20][22][21] Balarama[30][note 6] Krishna[29] Balarama[31][22] Dvapara Yuga[20],
Kali Yuga in case of Buddha[20]
9 Buddha[20][note 3] Krishna[20][22][21] Buddha[30][note 3] Vithoba[29] Jagannatha[31][22]
10 Kalki[20][21] (prophesied 10th avatar who ends the Kali Yuga) Kali Yuga

Pre-Bharata War kings and avatars
Matsya (fish) rescues the Saptarishi and Manu from the great Deluge
In traditional Hindu astronomy, seven stars of Ursa Major are identified with the names of Saptarshis

The Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana contain lists of kings and genealogies,[12] from which the traditional chronology of India's ancient history are derived.[34] Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the Maurya court at Patna at c. 300 BCE, reported to have heard of a traditional list of 153 kings that covered 6042 years, beyond the traditional beginning of the Kaliyuga in 3102 BCE.[35] The royal lists are based on Sūta bardic traditions, and are derived from lists which were orally transmitted and constantly reshaped.[35]

Shraddhadeva Manu

The first king is Shraddhadeva Manu, the seventh and current Manu of the fourteen manus of the current kalpa (aeon), the progenitor of humanity. According to the Puranas, the genealogy of Shraddhadeva is as follows:[36]

  1. Brahma
  2. Marichi, one of the 10 Prajapatis ("lord of creation and protector") created by Brahma, and one of the Saptarishis.
  3. Kashyapa, son of Marichi and his wife, Kala. Kashyapa is one of the Saptarishis, the seven ancient sages of the Rigveda[note 11] who are the patriarchs of the Vedic religion, and the ancestors of the Gotras of Brahmins.
  4. Vivasvan or Surya (sun, solar deity), son of Kashyapa and Aditi.
  5. Vaivasvata Manu, the son of Vivasvan and Saranyu (Saṃjñā). He is also known as Satyavrata and Shraddhadeva.

Shraddhadeva had seventy children, including Ila and Ikshvaku, the progenitors of the Lunar and Solar dynasties of the kshatriyas, which play a prominent role in the origin stories of the royal families of the Vedic period.[39] The Mahabharata states that "it is of Manu that all men including Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras, and others have been descended."[40][note 12]

Tentative chronology

The Puranas have been used by some to give a tentative overview of Indian history prior to the Bharata War.[41] Gulshan (1940) dates the start of the reign of Manu Vaivasvata at 7350 BCE.[41] According to Ganguly, the Puranic gives 95 kings between Shraddhadeva Manu (aka Manu Vaivasvata), the progenitor of humanity, and the Bharata War.[42] Dating the Bharata War at 1400 BCE, A.D. Pusalkar (1962) uses this list to give the following chronology:[42]

  1. Pre-flood tradition and the dawn of history
  2. The great flood and Manu Vaivasvata
  3. The period of king Yayāti (c. 3000-2750 BCE)
  4. The period of king Mandhatri (c. 275-2550 BCE)
  5. The epoch of Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Vishnu (c. 2550-2350 BCE)
  6. The era of Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu (c. 2350-1750 BCE)
  7. The period of Krsna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu (c.1950-1400 BCE)
  8. The Bharata War (c. 1400 BCE)

According to Subhash Kak,

[T]he Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to the earliest period of the Sindhu-Sarasvati (or Indus) tradition (7000 or 8000 BCE).[1][note 13]

Bharata War
Main article: Kurukshetra War

The historicity of the Mahabharata War is subject to scholarly discussion and dispute.[43][44] The existing text of the Mahabharata went through many layers of development, and mostly belongs to the period between c. 500 BCE and 400 CE.[45][46] Within the frame story of the Mahabharata, the historical kings Parikshit and Janamejaya are featured significantly as scions of the Kuru clan,[47] and Michael Witzel concludes that the general setting of the epic has a historical precedent in Iron Age (Vedic) India, where the Kuru kingdom was the center of political power during roughly 1200 to 800 BCE.[47] According to Professor Alf Hiltebeitel, the Mahabharata is essentially mythological.[48] Indian historian Upinder Singh has written that:

Whether a bitter war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas ever happened cannot be proved or disproved. It is possible that there was a small-scale conflict, transformed into a gigantic epic war by bards and poets. Some historians and archaeologists have argued that this conflict may have occurred in about 1000 BCE."[44]

Despite the inconclusiveness of the data, attempts have been made to assign a historical date to the Kurukshetra War. Popular tradition holds that the war marks the transition to Kaliyuga and thus dates it to 3102 BCE. A number of other proposals have been put forward:

  • P. V. Vartak calculates a date of October 16, 5561 BCE using planetary positions.
  • P. V. Holey states a date of 13 November 3143 BCE using planetary positions and calendar systems.
  • K. Sadananda, based on translation work, states that the Kurukshetra War started on November 22, 3067 BCE.
  • B. N. Achar used planetarium software to argue that the Mahabharata War took place in 3067 BCE.[49]
  • S. Balakrishna concluded a date of 2559 BCE using consecutive lunar eclipses.
  • R. N. Iyengar concluded a date of 1478 BCE using double eclipses and Saturn+Jupiter conjunctions.
  • P. R. Sarkar estimates a date of 1298 BCE for the war of Kurukshetra.
  • V. S. Dubey claims that the war happened near 950 BCE[50]

Post-Bharata War

The Vedic Foundation gives the following chronology of ancient India since the time of Krishna and the Bharata War:[web 1][note 14]

Indigenous Aryans - '10,000 years in India'

Indigenous Aryans
Main article: Indigenous Aryans

The Epic-Puranic chronology has been referred to by proponents of Indigenous Aryans, putting into question the Indo-Aryan migrations at ca. 1500 BCE and proposing older dates for the Vedic period. According to the "Indigenist position", the Aryans are indigenous to India,[52] and the Indo-European languages radiated out from a homeland in India into their present locations.[52] According to them, the Vedas are older than second millennium BCE,[53] and scriptures like the Mahabaratha reflect historical events which took place before 1500 BCE. Some of them equate the Indus Saraswati Civilisation with the Vedic Civilization,[52] state that the Indus script was the progenitor of the Brahmi,[54] and state that there is no difference between the people living in (northern) Indo-European part and the (southern) Dravidian part.[53]

'10,000 years in India'
See also: 8th millennium BC

The idea of "Indigenous Aryanism" fits into traditional Hindu ideas about their religion, namely that it has timeless origins, with the Vedic Aryans inhabiting India since ancient times.[note 25]

M.S. Golwalkar, in his 1939 publication We or Our Nationhood Defined, famously stated that "Undoubtedly [...] we — Hindus — have been in undisputed and undisturbed possession of this land for over eight or even ten thousand years before the land was invaded by any foreign race."[55] Golwalkar was inspired by Tilak's[note 26] The Arctic Home in the Vedas (1903), who argued that the Aryan homeland was located at the North Pole, basing this idea on Vedic hymns and Zoroastrian texts.[56] Gowalkar took over the idea of 10,000 years, arguing that the North Pole at that time was located in India.[56][note 27]

Subhash Kak, a main proponent of the "indigenist position," underwrites the Vedic-Puranic chronology, and uses it to recalculate the dates of the Vedas and the Vedic people.[57][58][web 4] According to Kak, "the Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to the earliest period of the Sindhu-Sarasvati (or Indus) tradition (7000 or 8000 BC)."[57] According to Sudhir Bhargava, the Vedas were composed 10,000 years ago, when Manu supposedly lived, in ashrams at the banks of the Sarasvati river in Brahmavarta, the ancient home-base of the Aryans. According to Sudhir Bhargava, people from Brahmavarta moved out from Brahmavarta into and outside India after 4500 BCE, when seismic activities had changed the course of the Sarasvati and other rivers.[59][60]

The idea of 10,000 years of Hindu presence in South Asia stands in stark contrast to mainstream scholarship, according to which proto-Vedic culture entered India starting 1500 BCE with the Indo-Aryan migrations, and Hinduism developed as a synthesis of Vedic-Brahmanic and indigenous religious traditions after 500 BCE.

gollark: I don't see how that works. That's just putting your brain into bizarre edge-case states, it wouldn't give you visibility into the afterlife or lack thereof (unless whatever controls access to that is very badly designed and easily tricked).
gollark: If it just means it in some fuzzy sense of "we are somewhat connected and should be nice to each other" then... sure, but it should say that directly (in a more eloquent way I can't be bothered to come up with).
gollark: I'm not aware of *other* definitions which, well, make sense.
gollark: Impressive sleep schedule.
gollark: That's not the same thing, though.

See also

Notes
  1. Wendy Doniger, based on the study of indologists, assigns approximate dates to the various Puranas. She dates Markandeya Purana to c. 250 CE (with one portion dated to c. 550 CE), Matsya Purana to c. 250–500 CE, Vayu Purana to c. 350 CE, Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana to c. 450 CE, Brahmanda Purana to c. 350–950 CE, Vamana Purana to c. 450–900 CE, Kurma Purana to c. 550–850 CE, and Linga Purana to c. 600–1000 CE.[9]
  2. The Bhagavata Purana (1.18.6), Vishnu Purana (5.38.8), and Brahma Purana (2.103.8) state that the day Krishna left the earth was the day that the Dvapara Yuga ended and the Kali Yuga began:
    * Bhagavata Purana Part I. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. 1950. p. 137. (1.18.6) On the very day, and at the very moment the Lord [Krishna] left the earth, on that very day this Kali, the source of irreligiousness, (in this world), entered here.
    * Wilson, H. H. (1895). The Vishnu Purana. S.P.C.K. Press. p. 61. (5.38.8) The Parijata tree proceeded to heaven, and on the same day that Hari [Krishna] departed from the earth the dark-bodied Kali age descended.
    * Brahma Purana Part 2. Motilal Banarsidass. 1955. p. 515. (2.103.8) It was on the day on which Krishna left the Earth and went to heaven that the Kali age, with time for its body set in.
  3. Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu:
    Krishna, Buddha
    Printed sources
    • Bansal, Sunita Pant, Hindu Gods and Goddesses, p.27, "Vishnu Dashavatara";
    • Dalal, Roshen (2010), Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide, Penguin Books India, ISBN 9780143414216, p.112, "Dashavatara". Dalal: "The standard and most accepted list found in Puranas and other texts is: [...] Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Kalki";
    • Doniger O'Flaherty, Wendy (1994), Hindu Myths, Penguin Books India, ISBN 9780144000111, p.175. Doniger: "Visnu is generally said to have had ten incarnations [...] Krsna [...] the Buddha."
    • Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0, p.116. Flood: "...by the eight century the standard number of descent-forms in the Vaisnava Puranas is ten. These are [...] Krsna, Buddha."
    • Klostermaier, Klaus K. (2007), Hinduism: A Beginner's Guide, Oneworld Publications, "Visnu Avataras". Klostermaier: "The most common tradition speaks of ten such avataras [...] Krsna [...] Buddha."
    • Krishna, Nanditha (2010), The Book of Vishnu, Penguin Books India, ISBN 9780143067627, p.28-29. Krishna: "Krishna [...] Buddha [...] There is a difference of opinion as to whether Buddha was an incarnation of Vishnu [...] The alternative then is Balarama, Rama of the plough and elder brother of Krishna, who is listed after Rama, thereby removing Buddha and making Krishna the ninth incarnation."
    • Leeming, David Adams, A Dictionary of Asian Mythology, p. 19, "Avatar"
    • Lochtefeld, James G. (2001), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, ISBN 9780823931798, p.73, "Avatar". Lochtefeld: "Although there is some variation in the list of Vishnu's Avatars, the gnerally accpeted list is as follows [...] Krishna, Buddha."
    • Vaswani, J.P. (2017), Dasavatara, Jaico Publishing House, ISBN 9789386867186, p.12-14;
    • Wuaku, Albert (11 July 2013). Hindu Gods in West Africa: Ghanaian Devotees of Shiva and Krishna. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-25571-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link), p.148.
    Balarama, Buddha
    • Nagaswamy, N. (2010), Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram), Oxford University Press, p.27
    Web-sources
    • Encyclopedia Britannica, Avatar
    Unspecified
    • Holt, John Clifford (2008), The Buddhist Viṣṇu: Religious Transformation, Politics, and Culture, p.14-15; p.372 note 9 refers to four Purana's which mention the Buddha in 9th position: Varaha Purana 4.2; Matsya Purana 285.6-7; Agni Purana 49.8; Bhagavata Purana X.40.22 and I.3.
    Krishna/Balarama, Buddha
  4. Leyden: Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra.[22]
  5. Leyden: Southern Deccan, Mysore.[22]
  6. The Hare Krsnas, Incarnations of the Lord - Dasavatara - Ten Primary Visnu Incarnations. The Hare Krsnas refer to the eight avatar both as Krsna and as Balarama.
  7. Leyden: Rajasthan, Nepal, Northern Deccan.[22]
  8. Maharashtra, Goa.[29]
  9. prabhat Mukherjee: Orissa;[31] Leyden: West Bengal
    Orissa.[22]
  10. Donald J. LaRocca, Metropolitan Museum of Art, describes a katar with Rama-Krishna-Buddha, referring to Rama as Ramachandra, or alternately Balarama.[32] Yet, Hoiberg specifically states that Rama, as an avatar of Vishnu, is Ramachandra.[33]
  11. Kasyapa is mentioned in RV 9.114.2, Atri in RV 5.78.4, Bharadvaja in RV 6.25.9, Visvamitra in RV 10.167.4, Gautama in RV 1.78.1, Jamadagni in RV 3.62.18, etc.;[37] Original Sanskrit text: ऋषे मन्त्रकृतां स्तोमैः कश्यपोद्वर्धयन्गिरः । सोमं नमस्य राजानं यो जज्ञे वीरुधां पतिरिन्द्रायेन्दो परि स्रव ॥२॥[38]
  12. Mahbharata: "And Manu was endowed with great wisdom and devoted to virtue. And he became the progenitor of a line. And in Manu's race have been born all human beings, who have, therefore, been called Manavas. And it is of Manu that all men including Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras, and others have been descended, and are therefore all called Manavas. Subsequently, the Brahmanas became united with the Kshatriyas. And those sons of Manu that were Brahmanas devoted themselves to the study of the Vedas. And Manu begot ten other children named Vena, Dhrishnu, Narishyan, Nabhaga, Ikshvaku, Karusha, Sharyati, the eighth, a daughter named Ila, Prishadhru the ninth, and Nabhagarishta, the tenth. They all betook themselves to the practices of Kshatriyas (warriors). Besides these, Manu had fifty other sons on Earth. But we heard that they all perished, quarrelling with one another."[40]
  13. See also Kak 1996
  14. The Vedic Foundation, Introduction: "The history of Bharatvarsh (which is now called India)'is the description of the timeless glory of the Divine dignitaries who not only Graced the soils of India with their presence and Divine intelligence, but they also showed and revealed the true path of peace, happiness and the Divine enlightenment for the souls of the world that still is the guideline for the true lovers of God who desire to taste the sweetness of His Divine love in an intimate style.[web 2]
  15. The earliest text to explicitly provide detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the epic Mahabharata which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu.[web 3]
  16. Conventionally dated sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BC.[51]
  17. Conventionally dated 345–321 BC
  18. Conventionally dated 322–185 BC
  19. Conventionally dated 340–298 BC
  20. Conventionally dated c. 320 BC – 272 BC
  21. Conventionally dated c. 230 BC–AD 220
  22. Conventionally dated approximately AD 320–550
  23. Conventionally dated: reign AD 320–335
  24. Conventionally dated 304–232 BC
  25. The Vedic Foundation states: "The history of Bharatvarsh (which is now called India) is the description of the timeless glory of the Divine dignitaries who not only Graced the soils of India with their presence and Divine intelligence, but they also showed and revealed the true path of peace, happiness and the Divine enlightenment for the souls of the world that still is the guideline for the true lovers of God who desire to taste the sweetness of His Divine love in an intimate style."[web 2]
  26. Carol Schaeffer: "Tilak, dubbed the “father of Indian unrest” for his advocacy of violent tactics against British colonialists and inspiration to later Indian Hindu nationalists".[56]
  27. See also Is our civilisation really 10 millennia old? Or are we simply insecure?; Sanjeev Sabhlok (2013).

References
  1. Kak 2001b.
  2. Datta, Amaresh (1 January 2006). The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature (Volume Two) (Devraj to Jyoti). ISBN 978-81-260-1194-0.
  3. "Ramayana | Summary, Characters, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  4. Austin, Christopher R. (2019). Pradyumna: Lover, Magician, and Son of the Avatara. Oxford University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-19-005411-3.
  5. Brockington (1998, p. 26)
  6. J. L. Brockington (1998). The Sanskrit Epics. BRILL. pp. 379–. ISBN 90-04-10260-4.
  7. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, ISBN 0-877790426, page 915
  8. Greg Bailey (2001), Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Editor: Oliver Leaman), Routledge, ISBN 978-0415172813, pages 437-439
  9. Collins 1988, p. 36.
  10. John Cort (1993), Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts (Editor: Wendy Doniger), State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791413821, pages 185-204
  11. Flood 1996, p. 359.
  12. Trautman 2005, p. xx.
  13. Witzel 2001, p. 70.
  14. Rocher 1986, p. 123-124.
  15. Olivelle, Patrick (2005). Manu's Code of Law. Google Books. Oxford University Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0195171464.
  16. Olivelle 2005, pp. 90, 240 (1.61), 241 (1.70-71).
  17. See: Matchett, Freda, "The Puranas", p 139; and Yano, Michio, "Calendar, astrology and astronomy" in Flood, Gavin, ed. (2003). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 139–140, 390. ISBN 0-631-21535-2.
  18. Singh 2008, p. 22.
  19. Wuaku 2013, p. 148.
  20. Vaswani 2017, p. 12-14.
  21. Carman 1994, p. 211-212.
  22. Leyden 1982, p. 22.
  23. Krishna 2009.
  24. Dalal 2010, p. 112.
  25. Lochtefeld 2002, p. 73.
  26. Doniger O'Flaherty 1994, p. 175.
  27. Klostermaier 2007.
  28. Krishna 2010, p. 28-29.
  29. Pathak, Dr. Arunchandra S. (2006). "Junnar". The Gazetteers Dept, Government of Maharashtra (first published: 1885). Archived from the original on 16 October 2009. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  30. Nagaswamy 2010, p. 27.
  31. Mukherjee 1981, p. 155.
  32. LaRocca 1996, p. 4.
  33. Hoiberg 2000, p. 264.
  34. Ganguly 1984, p. 15-16.
  35. Witzel 2001, p. 69.
  36. Francis Hamilton (1819). Geneaolgies of the Hindus: extracted from their sacred writings; with an introduction and alphabetical index. "Printed for the author". p. 89.
  37. Gudrun Bühnemann (1988). Pūjā: A Study in Smārta Ritual. Brill Academic. p. 220. ISBN 978-3-900271-18-3.
  38. Rigveda 9.114.2, Wikisource
  39. Thapar 2013, p. 308-309.
  40. Swami Parmeshwaranand (1 January 2001). Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Puranas. Sarup & Sons. ISBN 978-81-7625-226-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link), p. 638.
  41. Rocher 1986, p. 122.
  42. Ganguly 1984, p. 16.
  43. Singh, Upinder (2006). Delhi: Ancient History. Berghahn Books. p. 85.
  44. Singh 2009, p. 19.
  45. The Sauptikaparvan of the Mahabharata: The Massacre at Night. Oxford University Press. p. 13.
  46. Singh 2009, p. 18-21.
  47. Witzel 1995.
  48. Hiltebeitel 2005, p. 5594.
  49. Singh 2010, p. Chapter 7, Pp. 202-252, 302.
  50. "Experts dig up 950BC as epic war date". The Telegraph (Calcutta). February 1, 2015. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  51. Warder 2000, p. 45.
  52. Trautman 2005, p. xxx.
  53. Trautman 2005, p. xxviii.
  54. Ramasami, Jeyakumar. "Indus Script Based on Sanskrit Language". Sci News. Sci News. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  55. Gyanendra Pandey (2006), Routine Violence: Nations, Fragments, Histories, Stanford University Press, p.103
  56. Carol Schaeffer (2018), Alt-Reich. The unholy alliance between India and the new global wave of white supremacy, The Caravan (2018), p.42
  57. Kak 1987.
  58. Kak 1996.
  59. sanskritimagazine.com, Brahmavarta, the land of Aryans located
  60. Pranab Saikia (May 7, 2018), Exploring The Brahmavarta, The Land Of Aryans, socialpost.news

Sources

Printed sources
  • Carman, John Braisted (1994), Majesty and Meekness: A Comparative Study of Contrast and Harmony in the Concept of God, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
  • Collins, Charles Dillard (1988), The Iconography and Ritual of Śiva at Elephanta, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0-88706-773-0
  • Dalal, Roshen (2010), Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide, Penguin Books India, ISBN 9780143414216
  • Doniger O'Flaherty, Wendy (1994), Hindu Myths, Penguin Books India, ISBN 9780144000111
  • Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press
  • Ganguly, Dilip Kumar (1984), History and Historians in Ancient India, Abhinav Publications
  • Hiltebeitel, Alf (2005), "Mahabaratha", in Jones, Lindsay (ed.), MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religion, MacMillan
  • Hoiberg, Dale (2000), Students' Britannica India: M to S : (Miraj to Shastri) - Volume 4, Popular Prakashan, ISBN 9780852297605
  • Kak, Subhash (1987). "On the Chronology of Ancient India" (PDF). Indian Journal of History of Science (22): 222–234. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-01-22. Retrieved Jan 2015. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  • Kak, Subhash (1996). "Knowledge of Planets in the Third Millennium BC" (PDF). Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 37: 709–715. Bibcode:1996QJRAS..37..709K.
  • Kak, Subhash (2001b), "On the Chronological Framework for Indian Culture" (PDF), Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research
  • Klostermaier, Klaus K. (2007), Hinduism: A Beginner's Guide, Oneworld Publications
  • Krishna, Nanditha (2009), Book of Vishnu, Penguin UK, ISBN 978-01430-6-7627
  • Krishna, Nanditha (2010), The Book of Vishnu, Penguin Books India, ISBN 9780143067627
  • LaRocca, Donald J. (1996), The Gods of War: Sacred Imagery and the Decoration of Arms and Armor, Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Leyden, Rudolf von (1982), Ganjifa: The Playing Cards of India, The Victoria and Albert Museum, ISBN 978-09052-0-9173
  • Lochtefeld, James G. (2001), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Volume 1: A-M, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, ISBN 9780823931798
  • Michaels, Axel (2004), Hinduism. Past and present, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press
  • Mukherjee, Prabhat (1981), The history of medieval Vaishnavism in Orissa, Asian Educational Services
  • Nagaswamy, N. (2010), Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram), Oxford University Press
  • Rocher, Ludo (1986), The Purāṇas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag
  • Samuel, Geoffrey (2010), The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge University Press
  • Singh, Upinder (2008), History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, Pearson Education India
  • Singh, Upinder (2009), History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, Longman, ISBN 978-8131716779
  • Singh, Bal Ram (2010), Origin of Indian civilization (First ed.), Dartmouth: Center for Indic Studies, University of Massachusetts and D.K. Printworld, New Delhi, ISBN 8124605602, archived from the original on 2016-03-04
  • Thapar, Romila (2013), The Past Before Us, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-72651-2
  • Trautmann, Thomas (2005), The Aryan Debate, Oxford University Press
  • Vaswani, J.P. (2017), Dasavatara, Jaico Publishing House, ISBN 9789386867186
  • Witzel, Michael (1995), "Early Sanskritization: Origin and Development of the Kuru state" (PDF), EJVS, 1 (4), archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2007
  • Witzel, Michael (2001). "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts" (PDF). Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 7 (3).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wuaku, Albert (11 July 2013). Hindu Gods in West Africa: Ghanaian Devotees of Shiva and Krishna. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-25571-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Web-sources
  1. the Vedic Foundation, Chronology
  2. The Vedic Foundation, Introduction
  3. Wendy Doniger (2008). "Britannica: Mahabharata". encyclopedia. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
  4. Kak, Subhash. "Astronomy of the Vedic Alters" (PDF). Retrieved 22 January 2015.

Further reading
  • Frawley, David (1993), Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Indigenous understanding of Puranic chronology
Scholarly studies of Indian history
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.