On this one there is a tricephalic rudra on the top; below that a li~Nga. In central left panel rudra & umA with a bull can be seen, center 3 water goddesses; right 2 unidentified deities
This exemplar from Sai, HP has a li~Nga above the outlet; a top panel with the moon& sun archons flanking viShNu, rudra, brahman; 2 goddesses like umA (L) & ga~NgA (R); the 2 figures flanking the li~Nga are likely ritualists.
This exemplar from Kilar, HP has no deities but just the faunal elements with the characteristic floral motif
Exemplar from Luj, Pangi near Chamba. Not all deities are not clearly identified: There king yama, whose day it is with his mace & lasso to the right. To his right it might be brahman. The other deity is possible viShNu; there is a horse-rider with a club& unrecorded inscription
A fragmented exemplar from Dadvar featuring a deity who could be yama.
An alternative interpretation of that deity is that he is varuNa. This is more consistent with the watery connection of the stones. My friend from the region pointed out that varuNa was the deity worshipped in this stone at Lasua & that's supported by an inscription from Nal
A fountain stone from Bharara, HP with the central deity identified as varuNa.
An exemplar from Barahar with varuNa; a couple worshiping a li~Nga; cavalry warriors like the Pir Panjal horsemen; infantrymen.
The Batrundi fragment with varuNa and similar warriors as above.
The viShNu: dashAvatara fountain stone fragment from the Chamba region with water goddess panel below that. These were recorded by the ASI over 100 years ago; a search for new examples can still be done.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
The so called fountain stones, which adorn sacred water outlets in Himachal, have a range of interesting iconography that has been poorly explored. Let's consider a few: This e.g. from Sahi has in the panel above the outlet viShNu nArAyaNa flanked by 4 water goddesses. The top
panel has an interesting combination of shaiva & vaiShNava deities. The central rudra is flanked immediately by saMkarShaNa & vAsudeva. To their flanks are gaNesha and skanda
A fountain stone from the Chamba region showing rudra flanked by gaNesha and likely skanda.
How did the Hinduization of the east happen? One hypothesis has been cultural diffusion. It is currently the preferred hypothesis among the "mainstream" academics of the Abrahamosphere. Additionally they emphasize a role for Buddhism while downplaying any biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
role of H. This hypothesis believes that it was largely a memetic transfer with little actual admixture of people from India. However, we know from at least as early as the 500s of BCE the H were deeply involved in East Asian trade. Moreover, the East Asian traditions themselves
e.g. that from Khmer acknowledge the role of the H kauNDinya in their foundation mythology (also found in chIna sources). This suggested that the H were physically moving into the east to found kingdoms. This latest article from Changmai et al shows the clear presence of an
good point: the tirumantiram represents a syncretic tradition combining the siddhAnta & the traipura systems. The drAviDa-stotra to vArAhI you cited from it is indeed clear on this matter. It inheres specifically from the kameshvarI lineage of the traipura system that was
particularly strong in the drAviDa country as presented in the lalitopAkhyAna. In that vArAhI & her 1000 pArShadI-s are incorporated independently of the other mAtR^i-s as daNDanAthA or the commander of the armies of kAmeshvarI. tripurA herself is praised by an epithet invoking
the acts of vArAhI as: vishukra-prANaharaNa-vArAhI-vIrya-nanditA | We also have evidence from the adoption by the nAstika-s of the widespread existence of an independent cult of vArAhI; some H temples to the deity throughout the country support that contention.
A pantheonic scroll of the Koreans from the Haein-Sa temple from 1862 CE depicting 124 deities being derived in part from the Hindu pantheon. The two prominent identical looking deities in this section are brahman (left) & indra (right)
The next section of scroll prominently depicts rudra (left): 3 heads holding trishUla&moon keeping with old iconography; rAjarAja (right) holding moon& sun. skanda center with lance. Known as Tongjin Posal or Wit'aechon in Korean the kaumAra tradition emerged from in east Asia
Daoxuan lüshi gantong lu, where the chInAchArya Daoxuan in the early 600s presented a peculiar narrative of the "conversion" of skanda to the nAstika heresy & as a deity whom the chIna bauddha-s must hold as their ideal. He is said to have miraculously appeared to the chIna &
@arya_amsha I saw this twt earlier & was tempted to respond but desisted because 1 could ask: if a v2 or v3 claims to have studied the veda how do we know he really did so.. If we set that aside we can cite the following unambiguous cases: shrauta rituals- many v2s have done it close to
@arya_amsha modernity. e.g. the ashvamedha of jayasiMha-II, his successors continued shrauta rites down to the 1900s. Even in bauddha-dominant lankA we hear of vijayabAhu-2 performing shrauta somayAga in the 1100s. closer to our times in the late 1900s Jichkar, a v4 by birth adopting v2/3
@arya_amsha varNa performed a somayAga. In terms of actually studying the veda, the mAnasollAsa of someshvara-deva chAlukya clearly states that the v2 should study the shruti after upanayana. Did kings really do so around that time? We have the evidence from aparAditya the shilahara's
Issues related to this essay get discussed episodically on the TL. With due respect to @Telugutalli, there is 1 point where I disagree & another where (going against the grain of most H on this medium) I think H need to be more circumspect (trigger warning). 1st the disagreement
I do think history is important, and the failures at writing an objective history for yourself will result in others writing it & robing you of your past. What is meant by objective: when you write for yourself you have to eschew the impulse to fall prey to contrafactual accounts
just because they feel good. Now this can be difficult for a nation which has an undistinguished past;however, it is not an issue for the H to tell their own history factually as surviving ancient nation, when many of their cousins have been wiped out by the same forces that seek