THE SOLAR SYSTEM WAS ALREADY KNOWN TO ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS ?

In this article we will be discussing about ancient civilizations who knew about our Solar System exactly as we know about it today in the modern era, and this they knew thousands of years ahead in time and there is enough material facts and evidence that they did know this. We will not be able to answer in our article, how these Ancient Civilizations could have been so accurate about the Solar System without the access to modern scientific instruments and even without a telescope to help their naked eyes when they looked up to identify the planets. But we will definitely provide enough evidential substance to proof that this kind of knowledge was already accessible to mankind.

We will begin our understanding of our Solar System as we know of it, as it happened according to the Modern Era first before moving into the Ancient times.

What does Modern Astronomy speak of:

Prior to 1600 AD, mankind had knowledge about the Earth, Sun, our Moon and planets like Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. This was possible because all of these heavenly bodies could be seen by the naked eye. Later, Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel . Sometime in 1846, Neptune was discovered  by Adams and Leverlier . Finally Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Tombaugh. And by 2006, three dwarf planets Ceres , Eris and Haumea were also discovered. We also want our readers to know that the Scientific fraternity still is not sure whether to consider Pluto as a planet or not and agrees currently to consider it as a dwarf planet. We will however consider Pluto as a planet in our article. If we consider Ceres and, Eris and Haumea as planets, then the count of planets in our Solar System would be 12. The scientific fraternity is still not sure whether to consider these 3 as asteroids or dwarf planets. So we know now that in the Modern Era, mankind knew about all the 9 planets by the year 1930 with the last discovery being of Pluto.

Telescope and its Arrival:

Because we are talking about Ancient Civilizations who were able to perfectly identify that there were exactly 9 planets in the Solar System, it becomes apparent for us to know about the instrument that could open our vision of our Solar System. And before moving into these Civilizations, we will do a short study of the arrival of the telescope.

According to all the information available today, the earliest working Telescope was invented in the year 1608 in Netherlands by Hans Lippershey and Zacharias Jansten. This model was a refracting telescope. Galileo, who is more known as the man behind the invention of the telescope, actually had heard about this Dutch telescope and by June 1609 had made his own model and later improved upon the design the following year. It was also a refracting telescope. The world would not see a reflecting telescope until 1668, when Isaac Newton built the first practical working design of the reflecting telescope and hence his name bears as the “Newtonian Reflector” .

So, what we know now is that, the world had not seen a telescope at least until the year 1608. We don’t have any previous historical evidence that before 1608, there was a telescope. So we agree that before 1608, mankind did not have access to a telescope and thereby the mystery deepens. How could these Ancient Civilizations, which we speak off now in the article could have easily known that there were 9 planets.

Sumerians and their Knowledge of the 9 Planets:

Who were the Sumerians: Sumer or Sumeria was one of the ancient civilizations and historical regions in southern Mesopotamia, modern-day southern Iraq, during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age. Although it was previously thought that the earliest forms of writing in the region do not go back much further than c. 3500 BC, modern historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c. 5500 and 4000 BC by a non-Semitic people who spoke the Sumerian language (pointing to the names of cities, rivers, basic occupations, etc. as evidence).

While we agree that even more studies are required to understand who Sumerians were and their culture in a deeper way, We will now head to the extra-ordinary knowledge about the Solar System which modern world has come across now.

The ancient Sumerians knew 11 planets that revolved around the Sun and more strikingly they also talked about a 12th planet. We have already come across the fact that only 5 planets of our solar system were visible to mankind with the naked eye and the other planets like Uranus (1781), Neptune (1846), Pluto (1930) , Ceres (2006) ,Eris (2006) and Haumea (2006) were discovered later. In the photograph below, considered to be a 6000 year old cylinder seal impression, we find 11 heavenly bodies revolving around the Sun. There could be in-numerable ways of understanding this.

But the ones we think could seriously apply:

1) The 9 planets revolving around the sun along with the smaller two heavenly bodies being the natural satellites of the two planets around which they have been shown.

2) All the 9 planets of our Solar System, along with Ceres and Eris.

What is more significant is that , the Entire Concept of “ Heliocentric Solar System “ which considers that the Sun was at the middle of the Solar system  and that all the other planets revolved around the Sun was only thought of to have come across to mankind by the 17th century when Nicolaus Copernicus developed a mathematical predictive Heliocentric system , which the likes of Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton developed an understanding of physics later that got acceptance of the idea that the Earth moves around the Sun. And here, we have evidence that a Civilization dating back to 3500 B.C and possibly even more in time, already knew that there were 9 + 2 planets ( We are still not sure about these 2, whether they were satellites/moons or planets )  revolving around the Sun and that the Earth was not the centre of the Solar System, but the Sun was actually the centre and all heavenly bodies revolved around it ? And even more without telescopes or any scientific aid?

We also said that the Sumerians talked about a 12th Planet. In the picture above we see distinctly a 12th planet exactly in the middle of the picture and far away from the Solar System. Was it Nibiru? As mentioned by Russian, Zecharia Sitchin in his book on the Sumerians named ‘The 12th Planet’ published in the year 1976 or was it Haumea or could it be an asteroid which somehow was very important for the Sumerians? We don’t exactly know. But what we do know is this

1) This ancient civilization much before the Modern Era knew that the Sun was the centre of the Solar System and that all the planets revolved around it.

2)  This ancient civilization knew there were more planets than just the five which were visible to mankind that revolved around the Sun.

How could the Sumerians have access to this kind of knowledge with modern instruments like a telescope? 

But the mystery does not end here as we proceed to another Ancient Civilization that has been following the 9 planets system for centuries before Modern Mankind would even find the existence of the 9 planets. And we move on in order to find if other ancient civilizations also spoke of 9 Planets in the Solar System .We found, that even Ancient Vedic Indian astronomers, spoke of 9 heavenly bodies (grahas/planets) and a heliocentric solar system.

However, we admit that, our study of the ancient vedic astronomy found out that Vedic astronomy was a little weak in accurately naming the planets as we have in our Solar System as we know today. In Vedic astronomy, The Sun ( Surya in Sanskrit ) and Chandra ( Our Moon) has been considered as Grahas/Planets . The remaining 7 heavenly bodies are as Mangala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Brihaspati (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn), Rahu (North Lunar Node/ Possibly Neptune as Uranus, which would not be discovered until 1781 ) and Ketu (South Lunar Node/ Possibly Neptune which would not be discovered until 1846).

Pluto thereby does not find a place in this Solar System. Ironically, Even Earth does not find a mention as a planet in what the Ancient Vedic astronomers called as the Navagraha ( The Nine planet system).

But understanding Vedic astronomy becomes important in the light that, for whatever reason the Vedic astronomers did not include the Earth into the 9 planets, they did say The Solar System had 9 planets and that it was a heliocentric. We will share some of the evidence we could collect about the proof for both, later in our article below. But before that , we will share some of the information we could collect from the Vedas and Puranas regarding the Solar System. 

So below is a short snapshot of the same.

Ancient Vedic India and the 9 Planets:

Ancient India’s contributions to astronomy are well known and documented. The earliest references to astronomy are found in the Rig Veda, which are dated 2000 BC. By 500 AD, ancient Indian astronomy emerged as an important part of Indian studies and its affect is seen in several treatises of that period. In some instances, astronomical principles were borrowed to explain matters pertaining to astrology, like casting of a horoscope. Apart from this link of astronomy to astrology in ancient India, science of astronomy continued to develop independently, and culminated in original findings, like:

1) The calculation of occurrences of eclipses

2) Calculation of Earth’s circumference

3) Theorizing about gravity

4) Determining that Sun is a star

5) Determining the number of planets in the Solar System

We also found that there are astronomical references of chronological significance in the Vedas. Some Vedic notices mark the beginning of the year and that of the vernal equinox in Orion; this was the case around 4500 BC. Fire altars, with astronomical basis, have been found in the third millennium cities of India. The texts that describe their designs are conservatively dated to the first millennium BC, but their contents appear to be much older.Some scholars have claimed that the Babylonians invented the zodiac of 360 degrees around 700 BCE, perhaps even earlier. Many claim that India received the knowledge of the zodiac from Babylonia or even later from Greece. However, as old as the Rig Veda, the oldest Vedic text, there are clear references to a chakra or wheel of 360 spokes placed in the sky. The number 360 and its related numbers like 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 108, 432 and 720 occur commonly in Vedic symbolism.

We came across a text on Vedic astronomy that is said to have been dated to 1350 BC and written by Lagadha. And it speaks of another of the earliest concept of a heliocentric model of the solar system, in which the Sun that is at the centre of the solar system and the Earth that is orbiting it. Further exploration of the other Vedas, Puranas and other Vedic texts might throw more light into this and we will continue to do that to the extent we can.

We also found some more evidence and we share here and this one we have taken from another referential study to start and we share what we could collect as information available today .

The Aitareya Brahmana (9th–8th century BC) states: "The Sun never sets nor rises. When people think the sun is setting, it is not so; they are mistaken." This indicates that the Sun is stationery (hence the Earth is moving around it), which is elaborated in a later commentary Vishnu Purana (2.8) (1st century AD), which states: "The sun is stationed for all time, in the middle of the day. ... Of the sun, which is always in one and the same place, there is neither setting nor rising."

Yajnavalkya (9th–8th century BC) recognized that the Earth was round and believed that the Sun was "the centre of the spheres" as described in the Vedas at the time. His astronomical text Shatapatha Brahmana (8.7.3.10) stated: "The sun strings these worlds - the earth, the planets, the atmosphere - to himself on a thread." He recognized that the Sun was much larger than the Earth, which would have influenced this early heliocentric concept. He also accurately measured the relative distances of the Sun and the Moon from the Earth as 108 times the diameters of these heavenly bodies, almost close to the modern measurements of 107.6 for the Sun and 110.6 for the Moon.

Based on his heliocentric model, Yajnavalkya proposed a 95-year cycle to synchronize the motions of the Sun and the Moon, which gives the average length of the tropical year as 365.24675 days, which is only 6 minutes longer than the modern value of 365.24220 days. This estimate for the length of the tropical year remained the most accurate anywhere in the world for over a thousand years. The distance of the Moon and the Sun from the Earth was accurately measured as 108 times the diameters of these heavenly bodies. These are very close to the modern values of 110.6 for the Moon and 107.6 for the Sun, which were obtained using modern instruments.

There is an old Sanskrit shloka (couplet) which also states "Sarva Dishanaam, Suryaha, Suryaha, Suryaha" which means that there are suns in all directions. This couplet which describes the night sky as full of suns, indicates that in ancient times Indian astronomers had arrived at the important discovery that the stars visible at night are similar to the Sun visible during day time. In other words, it was recognized that the sun is also a star, though the nearest one. This understanding is demonstrated in another Sloka which says that when one sun sinks below the horizon, a thousand suns take its place. Many Indian astronomers had later formulated ideas about gravity and gravitation in the early middle ages.

The cosmological time cycles explained in the Surya Siddhanta, which was copied from an earlier work, gives:The average length of the sidereal year (the length of the Earth's revolution around the Sun) as 365.2563627 days, which is only 1.4 seconds longer than the modern value of 365.2563627 days. This remained the most accurate estimate for the length of the sidereal year anywhere in the world for over a thousand years. The average length of the tropical year (the length of the year as observed on Earth) as 365.2421756 days, which is only 2 seconds shorter than the modern value of 365.2421988 days. This estimate remained the most accurate estimate for the length of the tropical year anywhere in the world for another 6 centuries (until Muslim mathematician Omar Khayyam gave a better estimate), and still remains more accurate than the value given by the modern Gregorian calendar currently in use around the world, which gives the average length of the year as 365.2425 days. Later Indian astronomer-mathematicians such as Aryabhata made references to this text, while later Arabic and Latin translations were very influential in Europe and the Middle East.

The Indian astronomer-mathematician Aryabhata (476–550 AD), in his magnum opus Aryabhatiya, propounded a mathematical heliocentric model in which the Earth was taken to be spinning on its axis and the periods of the planets were given with respect to a stationary Sun. He was also the first to discover that the light from the Moon and the planets were reflected from the Sun, and that the planets follow an elliptical orbit around the Sun, and thus propunded an eccentric elliptical model of the planets, on which he accurately calculated many astronomical constants, such as the times of the solar and lunar eclipses, and the instantaneous motion of the Moon (expressed as a differential equation). Bhaskara (1114-1185) expanded on Aryabhata's heliocentric model in his treatise Siddhanta-Shiromani, where he mentioned the law of gravity, discovered that the planets don't orbit the Sun at a uniform velocity, and accurately calculated many astronomical constants based on this model, such as the solar and lunar eclipses, and the velocities and instantaneous motions of the planets. Arabic translations of Aryabhata's Aryabhatiya were available from the 8th century, while Latin translations were available from the 13th century, before Copernicus had written De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, so it's quite likely that Aryabhata's work had an influence on Copernicus' ideas. Aryabhata wrote that 1,582,237,500 rotations of the Earth equal 57,753,336 lunar orbits. This is an extremely accurate ratio of a fundamental astronomical ratio (1,582,237,500/57,753,336 = 27.3964693572), and is perhaps the oldest astronomical constant calculated to such accuracy.

While we have shared whatever information we could collect about Ancient Vedic astronomy ,for us evidence and material facts are important to understand that the Vedic astronomers did actually had the knowledge about the 9 planets. So we tried to explore the places where half of any knowledge is always parked of in Hinduism. The Hindu Temples ? Was our first guess and we were not disappointed at all.  While we again mention here that In the Vedic astronomy the Sun and the Moon, have been considered as planets and we will continue to keep this in our mind. And more importantly, the Earth is not even considered as a planet among these 9 heavenly bodies.

Evidence of the 9 planet knowledge found in Indian Temples called the Navagraha (Nine Planets):

The Navagraha temples are temples devoted to Navagraha - the nine (nava) major celestial bodies (Grahas) of Hindu astronomy. These celestial bodies are named Surya (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Mangala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Brihaspati (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn), Rahu (North Lunar Node) and Ketu (South Lunar Node). Many temples in South India, Maharastra , Assam contain a shrine dedicated to the Navagrahas. While newer ones are still being built in India

Earliest evidence of the Navagraha Temples are found in Tamil Nadu:

There is a cluster of Navagraha Temples dating from the Chola dynasty near Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu. Each temple is located in a different village, and is considered an abode of one of the Navagrahas. However, the majority of these temples are dedicated to Shiva. The Surya temple is the only one dedicated to the Graham. In fact, it is dedicated entirely to the worship of the Sun-God and the other navagrahas, the former being the object of worship as the principal deity and the latter as attendant deities. It was built around the 11th or 12th century A.D. The other temples were built earlier, ranging back to 7th-9th century A.D.

So, we know that Ancient Indians were praying to the 9 Planets all along as these temples in Tamil Nadu still stand till this date and prayers are still being offered at this temples.

But we need a proof that the Ancient Vedic astronomy left an evidence of a heliocentric Solar System with the Sun at the centre and had there been any temple prior to our modern era that gives that substantial proof of evidence. We found it at the Navagraha temple in Assam.

Navagraha Temple In Assam:

The Navagraha Temple is found on the top of Chitrasal Hill (or Navagraha Hill), in Guwahati city, Assam, India. Enshrined in this temple are nine Shivalingams, representing the nine Celestial bodies, each covered with a colored garment symbolic of each of the celestial bodies, with a Shivaligam in the centre symbolising the Sun. The Navagraha temple in Assam  The Navagraha temple was built by Ahom King Rajeswar Singha in the late 18th century. The exterior of the temple had been renovated in recent times during the late 1923-45. But the inner sanctorum remains exactly the way it was built first. Do we see the heliocentric evidence here? We do. The Sun is again at the centre.

So why did the ancient Vedic astronomers who exactly knew that the Solar System was heliocentric and that the Sun was the one around which all planets revolved, did not include the Earth in the same line in their description of the Navagraha and we don’t find Earth in any of the Navagraha temples ? Another question that comes up here is that , though enough evidence has already been pointed out in the Vedas and the Puranas , we have also shared in our article already that ancient Vedic astronomers knew that the Sun was actually a Star, the Navagraha temples considered the Sun as a Planets ?

Possibly, the answer lies in another Branch of Vedic knowledge that also had evolved exactly at the same time as Vedic astronomy and that was “ VEDIC ASTROLOGY “ . Now , in Vedic astrology, everything in nature, Living or Non-Living is said to be influenced by the position of the Grahas/ Planets. Vedic astrology further states that every moment in a person’s life and especially events like Birth, Marriage and Death , in order words the most important aspects of a human life happens under the influence of the planetary positions of these 9 heavenly bodies.  But, because Vedic astrology is an astrological calculation based on the Lunar calendar, The Moon became an important part of these 9 heavenly bodies. Further , the Sun was very important is calculating out the Lunar Charts , events like equinoxes , eclipses needed to be calculated based on the Sun’s position. So the Sun also became very important for the ancient astrologers. As there was no way to exactly state the position of the Earth, any calculations based out on the Earth’s position could not in any way have been possible. So the Earth actually became a redundant aspect in the Lunar chart and possibly was considered a non contributor to the events that happened to a person’s life. And if that was how , it was thought of , then the whole idea of not having the Earth in the Navagraha temples , exactly fits in and possibly thereby , ancient Hindus needed to have prayed only to the 9 planets which they thought influenced their life events.

So the question here is, Why would the Ancient Vedic astronomers put the Count of the Planets, as 9 ? They could have put it at any number, But WHY 9?. Did the ancient Vedic Astronomers know exactly that the Solar System comprised of our Sun and another 9 Planets? Or was it that They did know that the Sun was the centre of the Solar System, but were not able to identify the 9th Planet which would be Pluto (discovered in 1930) and knew there was a 9th Planetary body that was influencing the Solar System, so instead had Our Moon included in the planetary system.

There could be in-numerable accounts to look at and various possibilities. A deeper research into the ancient Vedic astronomy and Astrology might provide the missing link which we are at now. But the fact remains, the Ancient Vedic astronomers were right when they said that the Solar system was heliocentric , they were right in putting the Sun at the centre of the Solar system and all this had happened, centuries before the arrival of Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler or Galileo Gallilei.

Solar System and the Mayans, The Ancient Greeks, The Ancient Babylonians, The Ancient Egyptians, The Ancient Chinese:

While we have already spoken about who ancient civilizations who knew substantially more about our Solar System years before the Modern technology would discover some of the planets, we also need to understand , what is known and available about the Knowledge the Mayans, The Ancient Greeks , The Ancient Babylonians , The Ancient Egyptians and the Ancient Chinese had about the Solar System.

Evidences point out that ancient Mayans, Greeks, Babylonians, Egyptians and the Chinese had amazing knowledge about the Solar System. Much is already accepted, about their ability to make Solar Calendars with so much accuracy that in most cases, it is as accurate as the one Modern Astronomy of ours talks of. At this point, we are not saying that they were 100% accurate, yes we know that, but given the fact, we already know How precise they were able to calculate Solar eclipses, Lunar eclipses , Equinoxes etc. Their knowledge about the Stars and Constellations still marvel Modern scientist. As of to talk about , the 150-100 B.C Antikythera Machinism that was recently discovered is a massive example of the Ancient Greek Astronomical knowledge.

But in our article, we are not being able to provide any evidence that the Ancient Mayans, The Ancient Greeks , The Ancient Babylonians, Egyptians or the Chinese knew about the presence of 9 or more Planets in our Solar System. This is primarily only because of the limited knowledge that mankind today has about these ancient Civilizations. As we study, we also need proof and evidence. At this point of the hour, we state that it is only because of no literary, pictorial or otherwise evidence that we have come across so far, that we are not being able to state in clarity whether the Mayans, Greeks, Babylonians, Egyptians and the Chinese knew about the 9 Planets of our Solar System. We however believe that in time when our knowledge about these civilizations would expand with our better understanding of their Scriptures, literature, their ancient tablets, their ancients languages and their ancient Cultural system, we might find evidence that they knew More than WE KNOW TODAY !!! And it is possible that, we are just at the Tip of the Iceberg of knowledge these Ancient Civilizations Had.

YAZIDIS : YAZIDISM A BELIEF SYSTEM MIS-UNDERSTOOD FOR GENERATIONS ?

Everytime, you pick up a newspaper these days or try switching on to any news channel, the News would have a mention of Yazidis. It would depend on which media, Print or Electronic and which National or International broadcaster, you are putting your ears or your mind onto, depending on your location, varied stories would reach Home. But it is very imperative that before we conclude on our rationales, our dimensions of realisation, onto whether to ignore or believe in what needs to be understood and how.

We will try to explore, a plethora of episodes, while we try to better understand who these people called the Yazidis are, try to understand why the fundamental expect of the belief system of the Yazidis is the way it is, try to understand why other religions don’t understand the value system engrained in this specific faith and why Yazidism as a belief system needs to be re-looked from every angle of what is already spoken of. The First thing we need to do in order to value a belief system that we are not oriented to believe is to forget what our own value systems for a limited time while we study this topic and also what our own religions puts across in substance. To understand, any religious belief system, we need to be un-biased in the approach. So while we proceed into this topic, let’s agree that we will be an unbiased segment of human intelligence that would try to find a reason behind a belief system and focus only the greatest answer called “WHY?” So we are ready Now ?  Let’s Go and we will start from the very basics , because every note is important .

Yazidis ( Yezidis ) : Yazidis ( or Êzidî ) have been mostly considered as a Kurdish religious community and most of the literature available today mentioned them a Kurdish community as they mostly speak Kurdish, a northern Indo-European language, though many of them also speak Arabic. However, many sources believe that Yazidis regard themselves as distinct from the Kurds. Their ethnicity still remains obscure, as many Yazidis say that the Kurds are originally Yazidis who shifted culturally after they adopted Islam. The Yazidis adhere to the religion Yazidism, which will be the centre of all our discussion in this article. The total population of Yazidis or people following the religion Yazidism is figured as 860,000 to 1,020,000 while exact figures are not available. Primarily inhabiting in today’s Iraq (650,000 approximated), Yazidis are also residing in Syria ( 50,000 approx), Germany ( 100,000 -120,000 approx ) , Russia ( 40,586 ), Armenia ( 60,000 ,where they are considered a national group), Georgia (20,843) , Netherlands (5,000) and Sweden( 4,000 ). Communities in Armenia, Georgia and Syria have been in decline since 1990’s as a result of significant migration to Europe, especially to Germany.

Yazidism : The Yazidis are monotheists, believing in God as creator of the world, which he has placed under the care of seven holy beings or angels, the chief of whom is Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel. The Peacock Angel, as world-ruler, causes both good and bad to befall individuals, and this ambivalent character is reflected in myths of his own temporary fall from God's favor, before his remorseful tears extinguished the fires of his hellish prison and he was reconciled with God.

This belief builds on Sufi mystical reflections on the angel Iblis who proudly refused to violate monotheism by worshipping Adam and Eve despite God's expressed command to do so. Because of this connection to the Sufi Iblis tradition, some followers of other monotheistic religions of the region equate the Peacock Angel with their own unredeemed evil spirit Satan or Shaitan ( as in Islam), which has incited centuries of persecution of the Yazidis as "devil worshippers." Persecution of Yazidis has continued in their home communities within the borders of modern Iraq, under fundamentalist Sunni Islamic revolutionaries.

Yazidism is said to have been influenced by Sufi influence and imagery can be seen in the religious vocabulary, especially in the terminology of the Yazidis' esoteric literature, but much of the theology is non-Islamic. Their cosmogonies apparently have many points in common with those of ancient Persian religions. Early writers attempted to describe Yazidi origins, broadly speaking, in terms of Islam, or Persian, or sometimes even Pagan religions; however, research published since the 1990s has shown such an approach to be simplistic and a deep understanding as we will reveal in this article will show much further evidence that, Yazidism was never influenced by any of the mentioned religions ever.

Many scholars believe that Yazidism is not an offshoot of another religion, but shows influence from the many religions of the Middle East. Core Yazidi cosmology has a pre-Zoroastrian Iranian origin, but Yazidism also includes elements of ancient nature-worship, as well as influences from Christianity, Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism, Islam and Judaism. We tend to disagree slightly here, as we believe Judaism ( which at the max could be 4000 years old with all the historical data available today) ,Christianity and Islam could never have had influenced the Yazidism belief system and why we consider this is because of one notable aspect in this regard. According to the Yezidi Calendar, April 2015 marked the beginning of their year 6,765, which would thereby state that their Year 1 would have been in 4,750 BC in the Gregorian calendar. So this belief system called Yazidism, predated much further before to the religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. And possibly that is the reason why the Yazidis account of Creation differs so significantly from that of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and that is known fact today. We are however keeping the Pagan, Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism in our mind as we proceed further in our study into Yazidism.

The Peacock Angel and Gnosticism : In the Gnostic tradition (which the Yezidi religion is closely aligned with), Tawsi Melek is analogous to the first son of the Goddess Sophia, who in the process of creating and governing the universe divided herself into seven rays or “sons.” Her seven sons were coeval with and governed one of the seven colors, tones, planets, etc. The first ray or son, who for the Yezidis was Tawsi Melek (the Ildabaoth of the Gnostics),became the leader of the other sons and the eventual ruler of the universe.

Through his manifestation as a snake, the Peacock Angel is also analogous with the Gnostics’ understanding of the Serpent on the Tree in the Garden of Eden. As opposed to the Christian viewpoint, the Gnostics recognize the Serpent of Eden to be their primal instructor and savior. They claim that the Serpent was specially sent down from Heaven to the Garden of Eden by Sophia in order to help awaken Adam and Eve to their divine nature. According to the perspective of the gnostic yogis of India, the Serpent on the Tree is a metaphor for the inner serpent (known in the East as Kundalini) that coils around the Tree of Life, the human spine, and brings a seeker knowledge of his or her divine nature as it climbs up the tree and awakens the inner centers of gnostic wisdom, the chakras.One reason why we belief Gnosticism could have seriously influenced Yazidism is because , even in the today’s date , the Temple Entry at Lalish, the Most holiest site for the Yazidis clearly indicates a Clear Carving of a Serpentine of the Wall of which we provide a picture below. But if we consider, that indeed Yazidism was influenced by Gnosticism then the religious belief system they incorporate today in their daily life would have roots somewhere in India or more pronouncedly in Ancient Hinduism. We will keep this in our mind while we further go deep understanding Yazidism as manifested  in other religions as well.

The Peacock Angel and The Sumerians : Any study into the religion of Yazidism, would be a complete waste if the study would not in-corporate the Sumerian Belief System. The reason why? It is because today’s Iraq and most of the Middle-Eastern countries, much prior to the arrival of Islam was Mesopotamia, the Place of the Great Sumerian Civilization. And because Yazidis, predominantly inhabited in Iraq since history about them has been scripted in words, it is imperative we study whether, there was the influence of the Sumerian belief system in the Yezidi belief of Yazidism.

And what we know is this:

In the Sumerian belief system, the Peacock Angel was manifested as Enki, the Lord of the Earth, who was also the Lord of Wisdom and the Serpent on the Tree of Dilman, the Sumerian Eden. The Sumerians may have adopted Enki from Yezidi emissaries from India who played a role in the fledgling Sumerian civilization. Or they may have received him from the gnostic sect of Mandeans who were also assimilated into Sumerian civilization after migrating from the East, specifically Sri Lanka, the island patronized by the Peacock Angel as the Hindu Murugan or Sanat Kumara.”

This time we find the pointers towards India and Srilanka . So, at one hand we have Hinduism from India and Buddhism from Srilanka, while we do acknowledge the Hindu believers in Srilanka and who are mostly the Tamil speaking population that reside there. But we have a serious pointer to Name here “Murugan”. We will keep this in mind.

The Peacock Angel In Greece and Egypt : Today’s mankind knows about the technological advancement that the Ancient Egyptians and The Ancient Greeks possessed. As for the Egyptians, the Great Pyramid at Giza stands out as a testimony to their Technological advancements and  today we know it was built sometime around 2500 BC and as for the Greeks , the Antikythera mechanism , which was nothing but what modern scholars believe was an anolog computer designed to predict astronomical positions and possibly even  the future of an individual belonging to between 150 BC – 100 BC is again a testimony. So we understand that both the Ancient Egyptian and the Ancient Greek civilizations were a much advanced society. Could Yazidism be influenced by these civilisations? We tried to explore if there was a Peacock Angel anywhere in ancient Egytian or Greek belief system.

And this is what we know :

The Peacock Angel was known in Greece and Egypt as Dionysus and Osiris respectively. According to the early Greek historians like Diodorus these figures were manifestations of the same entity in different civilizations.

Osiris, meaning the “Many-eyed,” was a legendary Egyptian king who reflected many of the attributes of the Peacock Angel. After encircling the globe astride a bull he ostensibly became, like Tawsi Melek, King of the World. Like the Peacock Angel, Osiris was also omniscient, or “Many-eyed,” and his eyes multiplied throughout the universe. The symbol of both Tawsi Melek and Osiris is the many-eyed Flower of Life. Osiris was also known in Egypt as the “green man,” and his green image could often be found in the Egyptian temples. Because of this association, Osiris was annually prayed to for the renewal of Egypt’s green vegetation.

The association between Dionysus and Tawsi Melek became conclusive during the conquest of Alexander the Great, when members of the conquerors’ army visited the temples of Murugan in Sri Lanka while exclaiming “We know this deity, he’s our Dionysus.” So sure were they of this truth that when the Greek Ptolemy created the first world map he labeled Murugan’s region in Sri Lanka the “Place of Bacchus,” or “Place of Dionysus.” Like his Hindu counterpart Murugan, Dionysus was the union of the universal male/female polarity (Zeus and Semele) and the chosen King of the World. Also reflecting both Murugan and Tawsi Melek, Dionysus was in some cosmologies designated the creator of the universe, and wherever his cult flourished he was represented as a snake or serpent, symbol of the life force that condensed to become the physical cosmos. Every year it was believed by the Greeks that Green Man Dionysus as the primal serpent power or life force would awaken from his slumber and their lands would become abundant again.

Once again we have pointers towards Srilanka and more importantly, this time more specifically towards the Tamils of Srilanka, who pray to a Hindu diety called Murugan. We are keeping the pointers in our mind.

Peacock Angel and Persian Zoroastrian : We already said that we would keep Zoroastrian on our mind while we study the belief system of the Yazidis and History knows of the influence that the Persian Empire had , so we will try to study whether the Persian Zoroastrian belief system spoke of a Peacock Angel and if it did then in what light  was it highlighted .

And this is what we know :

The Persian Zoroastrian tradition is a close cousin to that of the Yezidis’ and it is probable that they have a common origin in the East. Links between the Yezidis and Persians are manifold. They share many rites, including daily Sun worship, and the premier savior-deity of both traditions (Mithra and Tawsi Melek) is a solar god possessing the cock as a sacred animal and Sunday as his sacred day of the week. There is no question Tawsi Melek is a counterpart of the Persian Mithra, whose name denotes “middle” and “harmony,” thus denoting the balance and union of the universal polarity. While we should also note that the Hindu deity, Murugan also seems to fit exactly here, and brings Mithra, Tawsi Melek (or Melek Taus) and Murugan and finally the Peacock Angel into one single manifestation. Mithra’s common name in Persia was Mihr, a title currently assumed by Tawsi Melek’s premier representative on Earth, the Mir or Yezidi Prince, and an additional link between Mithra and Murugan can be gleened from the name of Mithra’s most sacred annual celebration, the Mihragan.

Now we are definitely getting closer. Two things are for sure falling in place : 1) Murugan and 2) Hinduism . But, we still need to explore Buddhism, because when we were trying to understand the Sumerian connection, we did get a pointer towards the Srilankan Buddhist belief system.

The Peacock Angel and Buddhism : In-order to better understand the connection between Yazidism and Buddhism, we will have to try to understand whether the Buddhist texts ever said of a Peacock Angel. And here we will try to explore, what ancient texts of Tibet, One of the Holiest places for Buddhist and the centre of Buddhism today for the modern world who follow Buddhism as religion speaks of.

And This is What we know :

In Tibet the Peacock Angel appears to be manifest as Amitabha, the peacock-riding dhyani buddha who sits upon his Peacock Throne in the heaven of Sukhavati and occasionally takes a physical incarnation as the King of the World in legendary Shambhala, the land of immortals that flies the Peacock Flag. Shambhala, meaning the “Place of happiness,” is a place designed as eight territories or “petals” and recognized to be the heart chakra of planet Earth. In the center of the planetary heart chakra is the palace of the King of Shambhala, who thus functions as not only planetary monarch but soul of the world (just as the human soul resides within the human heart chakra). According to one legend, the Peacock Angel not only spread his colors around the globe but additionally merged his spirit with that of the Earth and became the world soul. Thus, his physical body is the Earth and his will is reflected in the actions of all creatures that live upon the face of the Earth.

This time around, we found just one pointer, Amitabha . But so far, throughout our study we were getting connected to three Complete Pointers 1) Murugan 2) Hinduism 3) The Tamilians of India and Srilanka and now the fourth 4) Amitabha as mentioned in Buddhism. So we keep in mind all the 4 pointers, as we proceed further in our understanding of Yazidism.

While we have tried to study all the ancient religions and its connections with the Peacock Angel, With, all the hints giving us pointers at Murugan and Hinduism all this while, we will try to explore what Hinduism speaks of regarding this Peacock Angel. But before moving into Hinduism, we should not forget that One among the Most Ancient and Advanced Civilizations that existed on this planet were the Mayans of the South Americas, just exactly at the time when on another part of the World  The Ancient Chinese and the Ancient Hindus, were at its fullest in terms of knowledge, military art and weapon structure. So we will be exploring if the Mayan Culture ever spoke of a Peacock Angel first before moving into Hinduism. And here we state that the reason we won’t include Judaism, Christianity and Islamic views of the Peacock Angel in our study in this article is because we consider that a Belief System that originated later and much later in time ,when centuries already had passed could not influence a Belief System that evolved earlier. So, we are keeping, our Basics centred at Theory of Evolution with Time.  And we are definitely keeping, our pointers in our minds as we proceed further.

The Peacock Angel among the Mayan Culture : In the Mayan tradition the Peacock Angel is known as the spirit of Quetzlcoatl, the “Plumed Serpent.” In the Quiche Maya cosmology found in the Popul Vuh there is a passage very similar to that found in Genesis (and no doubt has the same origin) which states that the Creator moved upon the face of the waters. In Genesis this creator is recognized to be the synthesis of a group of creator spirits (usually counted as seven) known as the Elohim. Similarly, in the Popul Voh the creator is a blue-green plumed serpent, or “Quetzlcoatl,” comprised of seven creator spirits. The plumed or feathered serpent of the Quiche Maya denotes the Son of God who was the union of the primal male (feathers) and female (serpent body) principles which united to produce the middle color of blue-green. This blue-green dragon is, in other cultures, a peacock rather than a dragon. Thus, the blue-green plumed serpent is the Quiche Maya representation of the Yezidis Peacock Angel.

In Maya tradition many enlightened teachers were historically known as Quetzlcoatl because they had evolved themselves to such an extent spiritually that they had become one with the Divine Mind, which the primal serpent was an embodiment of. In fact, the primal serpent was the first form assumed by Spirit during the process of creating the universe and embodied not only his Divine Mind but his infinite power. Then as he precipitated the universe from out of his own power he encoded it with the blueprints contained within his Divine Mind. Today, those enlightened masters in the Quetzlcoatl tradition often reveal their office by wearing a headdress of peacock feathers.

Masters with the insight and power and called dragons or serpent were not just found among the Maya, they were universal. In fact, during what could be called Earth’s  “Dragon Age” most great civilizations were governed both spiritually and temporally by priests and priest kings calling themselves dragons or serpents. Lung Dragons ruled China, Serpent Nagas ruled India, Quetzlcoatls ruled Central America, Druid Adders ruled the British Isles, etc. These rulers had awakened the evolutionary serpent force at the base of the spine, which then climbed the inner Tree of Life (the spine) and united their minds with the Divine Mind. When this occurred, these masters also inherited an abundance of supernatural “serpent” power with which to govern their kingdoms.

So we have more pointers now and including The Chinese Dragon to add to our list of earlier established list of 1) Murugan 2) Hinduism 3) The Tamils speaking people of Srilanka 4) Amitabha and now 5) The Chinese Lung Dragons. But when we further extend our study, we would not incorporate the Chinese connection as it speaks of the Dragon, because we already have evidence that there is a serpentine connection with Yazidism. So we are left with 1) Murugan 2) Hinduism 3) The Tamil speaking people of India and Srilanka and 4) Amitabha as mentioned in Buddhism.

 

The Peacock Angel And Hinduism : The Hindus know Tawsi Melek as Murugan, the legendary son of Shiva and Shakti. Among his numerous alternate titles are Skanda, Sanat Kumara, Karttikeya, and Subramaniya Swami. Like the Yezidis Tawsi Melek, the Hindu Murugan is the king of the universe and moves through his domain as a young boy astride a peacock, or simply as a peacock. Similar to the Peacock Angel, Murugan’s sacred animals include not only the peacock but also the snake and the cock. The snake denotes that the essence of Murugan is pure energy (energy moves as a serpent spiral) and the cock denotes his affiliation as a solar deity. Murugan or Tawsi Melek are names for the cosmic energy that created the universe out of itself, as well as the savior who, like the cock, heralds the end of humanity’s darkness.

Murugan’s identity as one of seven angelic beings is manifest within some Hindu scriptures that refer to him as Sanat Kumara, the leader of the Seven Kumaras. These Kumaras are portrayed as brothers who assisted Sanat Kumara in the creation of the Earth and the enlightenment of humankind. According to the Puranas, the ancient legends of India, the Kumaras were the first to teach humanity the path to enlightenment.

Another heptad association with Murugan is the asterism of the Pleiades.  One of Murugan’s names is Karttikeya, which is derived from Krittika, a Hindu name for the Pleiades.  According to legend, when Karttikeya was first born on Earth he possessed seven heads, one for each star of the Pleiades, but he lost one of them and so now he has six.  Thus, more than simply reflecting the Pleiades, Murugan is the Pleiades.

In metaphysics it is believed that our Solar System rotates around the Pleiades, and that the asterism is a special point of creation for our local galaxy. High frequency energy from a more refined universe is channeled through the Pleiades, specifically the star Alcyone, which then encodes it with a specific shape and destiny it will assume in our three dimensional universe. Because of its unique function of feeding and nurturing our galaxy, the Maya referred to the Pleiades as the “teats of the rattlesnake.” In agreement with many ancient cultures, the Maya maintained that the creator of the universe was a serpent, snake, or dragon which possessed a septenary nature. They therefore portrayed it with seven heads, tails, twists to its body, or teats (or all of the above). It was also represented as a rainbow (as it is among the Yezidis) or as a rainbow serpent (as it is among the Australian Aborigines) that encoded all energy with the seven colors, tones, etc. The Maya and others often referred to this septenary serpent as the Son of God who was born at the beginning of time from the union of the primal male/female principles manifesting as spiraling energy. From a geometrical perspective, this primal union created not only a spiral but a vesica pisces, the “eye” and “seed of life,” which became the “flower of life” and then kept multiplying to become eyes manifest all throughout the universe. These vesica pisces eyes represent the omniscience of the primal creator, such as Tawsi Melek. They were colored either green, or blue-green, the middle color that reflected the union of the male/female principles. Thus, the combination of the blue-green color produced a Son of God in the form of an all-seeing blue-green dragon (the word dragon is derived from all-seeing), a dragon-peacock, or simply a many-eyed peacock. He was the blue-green dragon creator of the Chinese and Quiche Maya, or he was the blue-green peacock of the Yezidis. But whatever his form, one of his principle homes was the seven stars Pleiades.

So we have definitely found a strong connection with Murugan and the Peacock Angel and but we are just slightly convinced that there could possibly be a Yazidism connect to Ancient Hinduism. And we need much more evidence before we can deduce that any theory to prove that Yazidism in the Middle East across the Arabian Sea and Hindus on the other side were having a connection. So, until that clue is available we would have to explore more.

And when we went back in time , in search of more evidence. We found some that connected, including this One. The fact is even the Yazidis don’t remember exactly when this was built, but ironically, They consider it to be a Temple. And we have a question, why was it called a Templebut “Temple” was always associated with Hinduism and Buddism and the very architecture of this monument and for any researcher in the World would agree, it is in the form exactly how any Hindu temple would have been erected in the first place.

And we find more evidence and  Even in the most sacred and holiest place of the Yazidis at Lalish , and according to the Yazidis , Its a Temple. Why would the present descendants of the earliest Yazidis still call their holy place of worship as a Temple? Inspite of the fact, that they speak Kurdish and Arabic and have been following more or less the same Arabic style of living, whether it was their dress code to be factored in. But We find evidence from their Cultural and Societal norms that unlike the Arabic or the Pagan cultures or even Persian style of livelihood,

The Yazidis are very conservative in What they viewed is acceptable to their belief system and what on other occasions was a Taboo.

So we still have our 4 Pointers. 1) Murugan 2) Hinduism 3) The Tamil Speaking people of India and 4) Amitabha from Buddhism. And now we will try to study what are the similarities and dis-similarities we have when we verify the Cultural Code of Conduct of the Yazidis, against Hinduism and Buddhism.

So we still have our 4 Pointers. 1) Murugan 2) Hinduism 3) The Tamil Speaking people of India and 4) Amitabha from Buddhism. And now we will try to study what are the similarities and dis-similarities we have when we verify the Cultural Code of Conduct of the Yazidis, against Hinduism and Buddhism.

From our study above , it has become clear that Yazidi belief system has more affinity to Hinduism and not Buddhism.

So, is the Hindu God known as Murugan to the Tamils of India and Srilanka, the Peacock Angel of the Yazidis. We found great evidence that it is indeed. Sharing you some of the pictures to show how close the two belief systems are.

And we have even more connections : 

And now what we found when studying through out the length and breadth of India , in search of Murugan and his numerous other Manifestations.

So we have found the hidden connection between the Yazidis and Hinduism . But , Hinduism which have close to 330,000,000 Gods and Goddesses ( all deities aligned ) why would the Yazidis only concentrate on following Murugan ? And we Find the answer, the moment we lifted our understanding of what looked practical and has been documented as always in the scriptures : Hinduism flowing out from India via Afghanistan to the Middle East. We realized, There was always to connect via Sea-Ways and We provide more evidence of that here, from another researcher who pointed out everything we were finding it difficult to connect with the Our Final connection of the Tamils of India and Srilanka . Sharing this Youtube 16 minutes Video Uploaded by Tamil Chinthanaiyalar Peravai, 7 angels,7 Angles , 7 reasons for a Rainbow. We found a story that History wanted to share, all these years to the people who had the patience to listen . 

The YouTube Link :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX-g587ral0

And before we end our article here , we want to ask a few questions: 

1) Is branding Yazidis as Devil Worshipers justified in any way ?

2) Has Yazidis of today fallen a victim in the present world because of our lack of ignorance about ancient religions and ancient customs ?

3) Do we have any right to question how somebody prays to God ?

And before we adieu , we promise to continue our quest for Lumeria in our episodes later. 

Disclaimer : The author of this article wants to mention that this entire article is a work of Research and has been done from a Scholarly angle. The author does not intend to offend the religious sentiments of any Religion or Belief System. The author maintains that every Religion has a common purpose and that is to keep Humanity Connected to the Creator of this World , whom in any religion people refer to as God , though different religions and people across geographies might have their own name for their version of the almighty.

MAHABHARATA – A WAR FOUGHT WITH TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED WEAPONS?

For years The “ Kurukshetra war “ has been considered as a Hindu mythological epic put across in the form of a book called the “Mahabharata” . The Mahabharata speaks of a war that arose from a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins of an Indo-Aryan kingdom called Kuru , the Kauravas and the Pandavas for the throne of Hastinapur. The location of the battle is described as having occurred in “Kurukshetra” currently in the modern state of Haryana, India.  The battle of Kurukshetra is considered to be a “Dharma Yudh “ meaning “ The War for Righteousness” .  As described in the Mahabharata texts , this battle lasted for 18 days , starting on the day of Kartheeka Bahula Amavasya ( The end of Kartheeka and the start of Margisira lunar month, on a Tuesday early morning ) . The year for the Kurukshetra war is still debatable as  various historians put it in the years ranging from 6000 BCE to 500 BCE . based on various interpretations on the astronomical and literary information provided by the Mahabharata and other ancient Vedas of the Hindus of that time. But I will concentrate on the material facts relating to the War and put across the subject in the light of the Weapons which the Mahabharata speaks off, that were used in this 18 days throughout this Epic battle of supremacy.

But before we start with unfolding and better understanding of the depth of the Weapons used, let us understand some very critical information about this Epic War at a short glance to understand the magnitude of this War in the first place:

Total length of this War	18 Days
Total Number of Chariots and Riders	393660
Total Number of Elephants and Elephant Riders	393660
Total Number of Horses and Horse Men	11,80.980
Total Infantry / Foot Soldiers	1968300
Total Casualty	3936600
Total Survivors	12

So, we have understood one fact that in this war, Close to 4 Million warriors had died in a span of 18 days. Leaving only 12 survivors , 8 from the Pandavas tent ( namely all the 5 Pandavas , Krishna, Satyaki and Yuyutsu ) and 4 from the Kauravas tent ( Namely Aswatthama ( Guru Drona’s Son ) , Sage Kripa , Kritavarma and Vrishakethu ( Son of Karna ) . 4 Million deaths , in a war spanning just 18 days and would this magnitude of destruction be possible with 2 opposing armies fighting against each other with Bows and Arrows , Gadas, Spears and Swords and keeping in mind that This War had its own rules of ethics like , This entire war had to be fought during daylight and there was never to be a night time attack by either enemies and the Mahabharata speaks that this ethics were maintained . So we start our adventure from here on.

The Mahabharata speaks about a lot of Weapons that were used in this War of Kurukshetra. The numbers are very high, when we look into the descriptions of the enormous destruction each of the weapons could bring about. However, I am sticking to just 10 weapons , Weapons which speak of Mass Destructions or in the modern era , we say them as WMD – Weapons of Mass Destruction  and I am concreting on what the Mahabharata speaks of about the vastness of destruction these set of  Weapons could bring about.  And here are the Top 10 Most Destructive Weapons and also so note more importantly : Do We Have These Weapons Today in the Modern Era ? We Need to think , we have them NOW in the Modern Era, Don’t We ??? Lets Go .....

1)  Brahmanda Astra – This Weapon is mentioned as the Weapon superior to any other weapon in terms of capabilities and the destruction it could cause. In Short, the Mother of all weapons. This weapon is said to possess the power to destroy the entire universe or in Sanskrit ( Brahmand ). In the Mahabharata era, Parasurama , Bhisma , Drona , Karna all were said to possess the verse to invoke this weapon. Later, Parashurama who had sworn in to teach only the Brahmins about how to invoke this weapon laid a curse on Karna because he lied about his real identity ( He was not a Brahmin). The curse was, Karna would forget all the knowledge required to wield this divine weapon at the greatest need when fighting with an equal. Upom Kama’s pleading however Parshuram gave him the celestial weapon Bhargavastra , equivalent to Brahmastra along with his bow Vijaya . When this weapon is invoked , events similar to Brahmashirsha astra and Brahmastra takes place . According to the Puranas , when this weapon is invoked it will cause “ The Oceans to boil due to its heat . Earth and Mountains will float on air , and everything will burn without ever leaving ashes “ When this astra ( Weapon ) is used for defensive purpose or counter to Brahmastra or Brahmashirsha astra it will swallow the above astras and neutralise it . When this weapon was used for the offensive purpose, nothing can stop it or escape it. While guru Dronacharya had the knowledge about this weapon, he never gave it to his son Ashwathama and his favourite student Arjuna. During , the Mahabharata War , Drona invoked this weapon to use it against the Pandava army ,but due to the request of the Gods and his ancestors, Drona decided not to use this weapon and revoked the idea as it would have annihilated the entire Pandava army who were fighting on the side of righteousness. This weapon was not used in the war of Mahabharata. Now , while the Mahabharata clearly states that the Brahmanda Astra was the most destructive of all the weapons that were used in the Kurukshetra war and much more ahead in terms of potency even than the Brahmashirsa Astra and the Brahmastra and taking this into note if in the modern era , this Weapon had to be compared to than it will be equivalent to 1000 Nuclear War heads being discharged at the same time , targeted at the same place and exploding exactly at the same moment and the energy that would evolve out of this mega explosion is what might be comparable to what the Brahmanda Astra is being said Is what it delivered. Is this possible? We will better understand about the possibility when we try to understand the destructiveness of this weapon when we go through what the Mahabharata speaks about the Brahmastra, which was indeed used in this War.

2)  Brahmashirsha Astra – Brahmashirsha Astra is considered an upgraded version of the Brahmastra and the second most lethal weapon as described in the Mahbharata. According to the Mahabharata, Ashwatthama ( Guru Drona’s Son ) fighting for the Kaurava’s and Arjuna ( The Third son of Kunti and the 3^rd brother of the Pandavas), used this weapon in this war. The Brahmashirsha Astra was considered 4 times more deadlier than the Brahmastra . Parashurama , Bhisma, Drona, Karna Ashwatthama and Arjuna all possessed the knowledge of invoking this weapon by using sacred mantras into any object even to a blade of grass. The Mahabharata explains this weapon when invoked “ It Blaze up with terrible flames with a huge sphere. Numerous peals of thunder were heard , thousands of meteors fell and all living creatures trembled with utter dread. The whole earth trembled , mountains , water bodies and trees all alike. When this weapon was targeted and used , there was no escaping. It would bring total annihilation. The area it hit, it will create a complete destruction and nothing were to grow , not even a single blade of grass for the next 12 years . The area would not have a single drop of rain for the next 12 years. Everything in that entire area would be poisoned including metal & earth  ( Signs of radiation if it was to be looked upon considering it to be a Nuclear/ Atomic detonation ) . The Brahmashirsha Astra is said to be as potent and lethal as the Brahmastra. We will try to explore more about this Weapon in detail in the Brahmastra segment.  

3)  Brahmastra – Brahmastra is the third most lethal weapon mentioned in the Great Epic Mahabharata. This weapon was created by Lord Brahma (One of the among the Trinity with Lord Mahesh ( Shiva ) and Vishnu being the other two. The earlier two weapons which you have already read as I have mentioned were also his variants ) . Third in the reign but a weapon that could destroy multidimensional physical region at once. Lesser in capabilities than the Brahmanand astra and the Brahmashirsha astra , this lethal weapon  according to the Puranas was considered as a very destructive weapon. It is said when the Brahmastra was discharged , there was neither a counterattack nor s defense that could stop it , except for ( Brahmanand astra or Brahmashirsha astra ) . The Mahabharata epic narrates that during the Kuruskshetra war ( the place where this epic war happened , currently in Haryana , India ) , Karna ( Son of Surya ( Son God) and Kunti ) neutralised a Brahmastra discharged by Arjuna with an equal Brahmashirsha astra and the destruction caused by the colliding of this weapons was catastrophic. The Brahmastra was believed to cause severe environmental damage, the land where the weapon was used became barren and all life in and around that area ceased to exist , as both men and women became infertile. There was also severe decrease in rainfall with land developing cracks like in a drought. This weapon is mentioned in the Vedas as the weapon of last resort and was never to be used in combat . The Mahabharata gives much detail about this weapon of mass destruction and narrates it as a weapon with a single projectile charged with all the power of the universe. The Hindu puranas throws much more light into this weapon stating “ An Incandescent colum of smoke and flame as bright as ten thousand suns rose in all its splendour. It was an unknown weapon , an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death, which reduced the entire race of Vrishnis and the Andhakas, The corpses were so burned as they were never to be recognised, their hair fell and the nails as well, pottery broke without apparent cause and the birds turned white. Within hours all foodstock were infected. The soldiers at the war, threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their war equipments “. The Brahmastra also finds narration in the earlier great epic for the Hindus , The Ramayana . The Ramayana mentions it as a weapon “ Contains air, fire and cosmic poison, weighty, emitting air containing Mercury , fiery and sparkling the sky giving the enemy no defense but accept death as a prize “ . In the modern era, the only weapon that relates all the characteristics this potent weapon signifies is nothing but the Atomic Bomb. But , is it rational to say that this Weapon was actually a Atom Bomb . We get the answer , when we study what Dr. Robert Oppenheimer ( 1904 -1967 ) , the man behind the development of the First Atomic Bomb of the Modern Era said in a lecture at Rochester University. And this lecture happened 7 years after the first successful atom bomb test in New Mexico ( Trinity ) . To the question “ Was the Bomb exploded at Alamogordo during the Mahattan Project the first one to be detonated ? “ Dr Oppenheimer gave a strange reply “ Well – yes. In Modern Times , of course “ And as for Oppenheimer’s first words after the detonation of the bomb he quoted from the Hindu epic Mahabharata “ If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky that would be like the splendour of the mighy one. Now I have am become Death, the Destroyer of World .”- ( Bhagavad Gita ) .

4)  Narayanastra – This Weapon was considered to be the personal weapon of Lord Vishnu. The weapon fires a powerful tirade of millions of deadly missiles simultaneously. The intensity of the shower increases with the increase in resistance. The only way of defense towards this missileis to show total submission before the missile hit. This in turn will cause this weapon o stop and spare the target. Aswatthama , is said to have unleased this weapon on the Pandavas during the epic battle . Knowing that there was no defense, Krishna who was at the helms of the Chariot on which Arjuna was told the pandavas and their warriors to drop their weapons and lie down on the ground , so that they all surrender completely to the power of this weapon. It was also said that this weapon can be used only once in a war and one treis to use it twice , then it would devour the user’s army . When it was used , 11 Rudras appeared in the sky to destroy the pandavas . Millions of types of weapons like the Chakra, Gadha, Arrows appeared in rage to destroy them, Whoever  tried to offend were destroyed. Krishna who knew how to cool down the Narayanastra advised Pandavas and their army to immediately drop all types and sorts of weapons from their hands and utterly surrender to this great weapon . And as said , everybody does the same and survived the onslaught of this weapon. But , Bhima refused to surrender thinking that it was a sign of cowardice and this brought the attacks of the downpour of fiery arrows and concentration upon him. Bhima gets steadily exhausted and before he had worn out of fatigue , Krishna and his pandava brothers restrain him at the right time. In the modern era, if there is a weapon that could do the same affect as mentioned in the Mahabharata , it has to be a Chemical or Bio-Chemical weapon.

5)   Rudrastra – One among the Most destructive all astras ( weapons ) is higher in capabilities when considered to the Pashupati Astra . Presided over by Rudra ( Lord Shiva ) . Once discharged , this Weapon was a ready to kill enemies  in thousands. In the modern era, we have numerous missiles , which would exactly cause the same amount of destruction . While it need not be a Nuclear Warhead based missile , even today’s Conventional Warheaded missiles have the same potency and destructive prowess . We will better understand this Weapon in detail when we study the Pashupatastra segment below.

6)  Pashupatastra – Considered a highly destructive weapon and falls just behind the Rudrastra is the Pashupatastra. This Weapon presided by Rudra ( Lord Shiva ) is a highly feared weapon belonging primarily to Goddess Durga, the destructive manifestation of Parvati Devi was one of the most destructive weapon in Shiva’s arsenal. Lord Shiva is also known as Pashupatinath. At various times , Lord Shiva also bestowed the use of this astra to other famed personalities, one of them being Meghnad , the son of Ravana , who used it against Laksmana in Ramayana. During the Mahabharata War, Arjuna employed this weapon in Kurukshetra to kill Jayadratha .Arjuna also used this weapon against Karna and Aswatthama.  Pashupati astra can be discharged simply by a thought, by using one’s eyes or by a mantra. It can also be activated and delivered by a bow. The following mantra is said to be the one used for deploying this weapon, although it is said to be locked during Kali-Yuga. “Om hara maheshwarah shoola paani pinak drikk , pashupati shiva mahadeva esshanaa namah shivaaya “ . This astra is capable of destroying the manifest creation and vanquishing all beings. This weapon would destroy any target completely irrespective of target’s nature. When released this weapon summons several monsters and a huge spirit which personifies the weapon. Sometimes, it can cause a catastrophic explosion similar to a hydrogen bomb. Each time the weapon is summoned, its head is never the same. One of the facts , that the Mahabharata clearly indicates is when it says “ Each time the Weapon was summoned, its head is never the same “ . We know today that any missile system would involve 2 characteristic parts. One the Delivery Vehicle and the Other the Warhead with the explosive. The Delivery vehicle becomes important for the launch of the missile to the targeted destination where the Warhead needs to be exploded. In the Mahabharata , it clearly mentions that both the armies were fighting within the territory of Kurukshetra. So possibly , a delivery vehicle was not of much importance and the explosive Warheads could be just mounted upon special arrows ( Again here the Mahabharata says that the nature of the arrows used were of celestial nature and not just ordinary ones) and delivered at the targets. Again noting the fact that , the Head of the Pashupatastra never was same when it was invoked in the next time. Could it mean that the War heads of different nature could be mounted onto this Weapon and delivered at premise targets. After all , it was said that this Weapon was infallible and would destroy the target irrespective of the target’s nature.

7)  Vajra astra – The Presiding deity for this astra is Indra, the head of all the Devas. Vajra means “The Divine Lightning Thunderbolt “ in Sanskrit. This weapon could cut through any mortal defences. Once invoked and discharged, the weapon brought down a shower of arrows from the sky. Vajra astra is considered to be one among the most fearsome weapons in the battle field as it would cause high casualty to the enemy and it would scatter the opposing army. What the description of the Mahabharata brings to the forefront is that The Vajra Astra unlike other weapons was not a missile based system . The manifestations leave me to believe that The Vajra Astra was basically a type of a Fragmentation Grenade. Ancient Hindu scriptures give a detailed structural idea about the Vajra Astra and yes, the modern Grenades do have a huge similarity with this Astra.  To better understand the similarities between the Vajra astra and Fragmentation Grenades , let us understand what a fragmentation grenade is in the first place. The fragmentation grenades are weapons that are designed to disperse lethal fragments upon detonation . The body is generally made of a hard synthetic material or steel, which will provide some fragmentation as shards and splinters. One of the best example for this type of Fragmentation Grenades is the American M67 grenades. This Grenade does exactly the same thing of scattering the opposing army and cause casualty .

8)  Sammohana / Pramohana astra – Sammohana astra , also referred to as the Pramohana astra is a weapon that could put the entire enemy armies into unconsciousness or collapse in a state of trance. Sammohana means “ Delusion “ or “Unconsciousness“ in Sanskrit. It is described as a weapon that can deprive warriors of their senses. In the Mahabharata , Dhrishtadyumma unleashed the Pramohana astra upon the enemy warriors depriving of their senses. In the modern era, We have weapons that exactly fit , what the Sammohana / Pramohana astra was designed to do and that it makes the enemy Hallucinate or go Unconscious. A lot of study in the field of Calmatives , Anaesthetics , Chemical agents has led to the evolution of Modern Chemical weapons that we have today , which can put the enemy’s central nervous systems to unconsciousness or incapacitating Hallucinations.

9)  Nagastra – The Nagastra is a celestial weapon . The first mention of this astra is in the Ramayana , when Indrajith used this weapon against Rama. In the Mahabharata , Karna used this weapon against Arjuna. Though a counter weapon was available in the form of Garuda Astra to counter the Nagastra, Arjuna did not have this Counter Astra in his disposal. Knowing the destructive power of this weapon. Krishna who was at the helm of the Chariot on which Arjuna was , lowered the Chariot wheel into the earth . The astra missed Arjuna, while it hit only his “Mukut “ or the crown Arjuna was wearing. The Nagastra was a weapon that took the form of a snake and upon impact would bind the target in coils of living venomous snakes. A certain death for the enemy was always the final result.  What is very important to note is that , This Weapon was not a Mass Destructive weapon but was to be used only on one specific opponent at one time. What also comes out is , what if these snakes which the Mahabharata speaks of are nothing but electrical impulses coiling up the enemy and slowly override the central nervous system and effect an uncontrollable contraction of the muscle tissue, finally leading to a Cardiac arrest . If we consider the Nagastra in this light , In the modern era we have what we call as Electro Muscular devices ( EMD ) and more easily known as TAZERS . Some of the tazers of today emit close to about 50,000 volts at 25 watts . But these TAZERS of today can very well be designed to send in much more electro waves and much higher voltages . And we have reports that deaths have indeed caused by tazers in the US  And we get an answer for the Nagastra of the Mahabharata.

10) Agneyastra – The Agneyastra was presided by Agni (The Fire God ) . Once the weapon was invoked and discharged, this weapon would emit flames which were not possible to be extinguished by normal means. In the Modern Era, We know a Conventional Warheaded Missile does exactly this.