Angiras, Atharvan & the Anu in the Rigveda / Part II

The Anu Tribe in the Punjab

I do not accept the theory of Shrikant G. Talageri, which asserts "the other branches of Indo-European languages spread out from India to their respective historical habitats."  I assume that our Earth's real history began off-planet in the Pleiades, Altair, and others. However I find Talageri's research of interest. I also do not agree with Malati J. Shendge's idea that the 'gods' in the Rigveda are merely a primitive people, earthbound warriors, who worship fire (in wood). But her research is intriguing and fertile ground in that if one views her descriptions through the lens of observing the beings who colonized our planet and have an advanced technology, who also might have appeared as beings of light, as they possessed the ability to move through both space and time —— then the detailed research of the lady Shendge becomes fascinating. Of course she consistently brings it all down to a primitive earthbound level, while I am still watching from the Mothership!

The names Anu and Bhrigu are used interchangeably.

According to Talageri the names Anu and Bhrigu are used interchangeably. Remember that the Bhrigu are one of the three most important Rishi family names in the Rig Veda: Angiras, Bhrigu, and Atharvân. We have already identified Angiras and Atharvân as possibly coming from an even older tradition than the Aryan Rig Veda. This conjecture is attested to in that the oldest name of the Atharva Veda is Atharvângirsah — and is a text that prescribes spells, astrological and magical rituals, and content similar to Sumer and Babylonia. Therefore as the scholars have suggested the Atharva Veda may represent a Vedic connection with Sumer and Babylonia, both of which are known for their occult and magic rituals. "From Egypt to Iran spells and magic still form a large part of spiritual belief." [B. Bhattacharya]

The Anus were in the Kashmir Valley & the Punjab

Talageri says that the "names Anu and Bhrigu are used interchangeably." He also states "the home of the Anus was the Punjab (Saptasindu), which was not the homeland of the Vedic Aryans, but was the homeland of the Anus. [Rig Veda V.31.4 — the translations do vary!] ...The Anus spread from the east to occupy the whole of the Punjab. ...The name Anu or Ânava for the Iranians appears to have survived in later times in the very heart of Avesta land." The Dâsharâ Battle of the Ten Kings is described in the Rigveda VII.18.33 & 83; and the Anu king who leads the confederation of Anu tribes against Sudâs is Kavasha [VII.18.12].

Talageri says that the Anu were originally inhabitants of Kashmir and Himachal-Pradesh. He gives the names of three tribal conglomerates: the Druhyus, the Anus, and the Purus. The historian Kamlesh Kapur also speaks of the Anus Dynasty: "...the five earliest royalties and their geneologies (Purus, Anus, Druhyua, Yadus, Turvasha) is important information for early beginnings of written Indian history. The wars between the kings are detailed." Kapur states that "the dynastic period began around 4000 BC...Yayti divided his territory among his five sons...the Druhyus were occupying the area west of the river Indus, which is now Pakistan. Kings of the Puru Dynasty were ruling the area between Sarasvati and Jhelum rivers, Anus were in the Kashmir Valley and Yadus were in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Sindh regions. Turvashas occupied vast regions in Central and Eastern parts of Indian subcontinent."

The M. Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary gives a number of definitions of the Sanskrit word ANU — one of which is a "non-Aryan man".

Atharvan & Angiras represent two aspects of magical practices

The research of Thaneswar Sarmah also states that the earliest name of the Atharva Veda is Atharvângirsah, and then Bhrigvangiras. In ancient India Atharvan and Angiras represent two aspects of magical practices: Shanta and Ghora. The Atharvans are mentioned as Pitris [ancestors] with the groups of Angirasas [X.14.6]. In Rigveda III.2.4 Agni is said to be the gift of Bhrigus, who kindled Agni for the sake of the people [IV.7.1]. The Angirasas and the Bhrigus are mentioned together, but nowhere are the Bhrigus and the Atharvans mentioned together.

Therefore we may assume that Atharvan came before Angira and Bhrigus — as is indicated in the opening verse of the Mundaka Upanishad: "What Brahmâ imparted to Atharvan, even that science of Brahman Atharvan taught to Angira in olden days..." — therefore some scholars think the essence of Atharva Veda is from an even earlier period than the Rigveda, perhaps the remnants and recollections of a religion of magic, rituals and protective healing spells as practiced in ancient Sumer and Akkad, passed on down in memory through the generations to India.

Malati J. Shendge states that "The Sumerians were not just confined to Khuzistan or Susa, or lower Mesopotamia, but they were spread in north-western, central and eastern Iran." Her research involves a very detailed study of countless layers of archeological discoveries. She says, "During the Third Dynasty of Ur peaceful immigrations from the north-west and north-east of Babylonia were continually going on...there was trouble all over the place caused by these migrant populations and it is just possible that...One such fleeing horde arrived, after many hardships, on the borders of the Indus Valley, attracted by the stories of wealth, abundance of cattle, fertile land and water and called by the Rig Veda the Aryas." Our own times have made us very aware of the potential troubles that come with fleeing and desperate migrants.

Malati J. Shendge boldly proposes that "the Vedic language and Sanskrit both are descendents of the Akkadian" — thereby making the assumptions of the Indo-European theory false. With a list of words from Akkadian and Sumerian as evidence, she says "These terms are really Akkadian both by their context and now confirmed phonologically and semantically through the actual correspondences that have been established. This confirms the new theory [her theory] that Sanskrit is the language of the Asuras."

I plan to further research her findings, even though I have no background in philology. Of course, I would love to believe this — as it would support my own ideas that the Indus Valley was given Inanna to encourage her to leave Sumer and Egypt. According to her, there were already many diverse settlements there. Secretly she made the decision to bring the metaphysics of Altair to this her new territory to assist the people living there in their evolution. Altair was the home of the mother of Inanna's grandmother Ninhursag. [Inanna Returns, Part I. Ch.VIII - The Temples of Love]

Malati J. Shendge says "Sanskrit is derived from Akkadian and Sumerian...Sanskrit is not a language of the Aryas...It is essentially a lineal descendent of the languages of the Asuras." She states that the Rig Veda does not belong to the Aryas and in fact in her view this was "purely an assumption without any firm basis." And she states "...it is possible to find parallels in the Akkadian sources to many clans and personal names of the poets of Rigvedic compositions, and of the Asuras, the enemies of Indra." She believes that the language of the Rig Veda — [meaning the older Vedic Sanskrit which is very different from the latter classical Sanskrit] — is a form of Akkadian and "that the Akkadian in the process of evolution has become what we know today as Sanskrit." She has written two scholarly detailed books on this subject.

While I doubt we will ever know the truth, I hope I have at least given you a few ideas to consider. When ancient religions and hoary, perhaps unknowable histories, become the weapons of power politics, searching for truth in the remote past can become very murky — even perilous. I have no wish to offend anyone. I continue to confess that I am not a scholar, only a visionary, an old mystic and artist whose experiences have led to an unending curiosity. I personally have seen over 30+ UFOs in daylight and with friends. No one could ever convince me that the ETs aren't around us in our skies. My six months experience of visions watching the colonizing family through the eyes of Inanna remains an enigma to me. Believe me, I have tried to put it aside.

How did we get here?

The vast humbling specter of millions of galaxies now seen by our astronomers convinces me even more that it is absurd to believe that we are alone in the universe. Really ridiculous! Can it be that our little blue-green jewel of a planet — with its aggressively belligerent inhabitants forever warring with one another, and now sadly seriously polluted in the pursuit of consumption — can it be that our mother Earth is all there is in the vast deep and dark space of the Creator's endless beauty and awesome wonder? Never.

Surely there are wonderfully brilliant wise beings ever moving throughout the universe, masters of space and time, geneticists, galactic-botanists, astrophysicists, and engineers who know the secrets of free plasma energy, dedicated to the purpose of establishing colonies of new life on an ever expanding number of planets — in the spirit of hope, faith, and Love for the One that dwells within All.

What happens on each planet, like ours, may take surprising turns, zigzagging wildly, unpredictably. Unknown unpleasant deformations may occur, especially when the time comes for a planet to grow out of its external-god worshipping adolescent phase to reconnect with the ubiquitous God within the Hearts of All. Entire populations may outgrow their colonial phase, become truly Enlightened and at long last take responsibility for the well-being of their own planet. Otherwise it seems probable to me, and perhaps even quite sensible that planets which are forever at war, ego-centric, stuck in acquisitiveness, greed and fear, who cannot evolve into higher consciousness and take the next step, will be handed over to 'caretaker' tyrants —— the bitter boring experience of which may eventually wake them up.

V. Susan Ferguson / 2015

Sources:

Shaivism and the Phallic World, by B. Bhattacharya; Vols. I & II; Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1993.

Prolegomena on Metre and Textual History of the Rigveda, by Hermann Oldenberg, Berlin 1888; translated into English by V.G. Paranjape and M.A. Mehendale; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Ltd., Delhi, 2005.

The Civilized Demons: The Harappans in Rigveda, by Malati J. Shendge; Abhinav Publications, New Delhi, 1977. [now in Kindle at amazon]

The Aryas: Facts Without Fancy & Fiction, by Malati J. Shendge; Rangadatta Vadekar Centre for the Study of Indian Tradition, Abhinav Publications, New Delhi, 1996.

The Language of the Harappans: From Akkadian to Sanskrit, by Malati J. Shendge; Abhinav Publications, New Delhi, 1997.

The Rig Veda and the History of India, by David Frawley; Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 2001, 2003.

The RIGVEDA, A Historical Analysis, by Shrikant G. Talageri; Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 2000, 2004.

EARLY INDIA: From the Origins to AD 1300, by Romila Thapar; University of California Press, 2002.

The Bharadvajas in Ancient India, by Thaneswar Sarmah; Motilala Banarsidass Publishers Private Ltd., Delhi, 1991.

Mundaka Upanisad, with the original text in Sanskrit & Roman transliteration, Translation with Exhaustive Commentary by Swami Muni Narayana Prasad; D.K. Printworld Ltd., New Delhi,1998.

The Atharva Veda, Sanskrit text with English translation by Devi Chand M.A., with introductory remarks by M.C. Joshi, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi; Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ldt, New Delhi, 2002.

ATHARVA VEDA, Mantras in Sanskrit with English Translation & Transliteration, Translated by Swami Satya Prakash Saraswati and Udaya Vir Viraj; DAV Publication Division, Delhi, 2008, 2012.

History of Ancient India, Portraits of a Nation, by Kamlesh Kapur; Sterling Publishers Private Ltd., New Delhi, 2010.

RIG VEDA SAMHITA: Mandala X, (Text in Devanagari, Translation and Notes), by R.L. Kashyap; Saksi, Published in collaboration with ASR, Melkote; Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic Culture, Bangalore, India, 2007, 2012.

Rig Veda, Volume XII [Book X, Hymns 87-191], Translated by Swami Satya Prakash Saraswati and Satyakam Vidyalankar; DAV Publication Division, Delhi, 2011.

Essentials of Rig Veda (With the Text, Translation and Explanation of 62 Mantras), by R.L. Kashyap; Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic Culture, Bangalore, 2005, 2009.

The Harmonic Conquest of Space, by Bruce Cathie; Adventures Unlimited Press, Illinois, 1998.

VÂC, The Concept of the Word In Selected Hindu Tantras, by André Padoux, translated by Jacques Gontier; SUNY 1990, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi India, 1992.

Sonic Theology, Hinduism and Sacred Sound, by Guy L. Beck; University of South Carolina Press, 1993.

THE ROOTS, VERB-FORMS and PRIMARY DERIVATIVES of the SANSKRIT LANGUAGE, (A Supplement to His Sanskrit Grammar, 1879), by William Dwight Whitney; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd, Delhi, 1963 - 2006.

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy, Sanskrit Terms Defined in English, John Grimes; Indica Books, 2009.

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A Study of Deities in Rig Veda, by S.S. Gupta; Abhinav Publications, New Delhi, 2006.

* Indus Civilization images from Wiki Commons

Rig Veda X.129:

6.

Who here can grasp the colossal

boundless far-reaching entirety?

This universe is only a fraction,

a single portion of the infinite forever

Oneness measureless.

Who can speak further of far away creation?

On this side of it the One that moved integrating

became the senses for perceiving,

thus sliding away afar.

7.

As we are ever in motion

opening unfolding the God-within,

so the axis of the universe is

undulating, two serpents embracing,

all pervading within the highest creation,

even far away space ever expanding,

stretched out and spreading in all directions.

We know not if it can be held,

the continuum - indeed

if it can be known at all.

http://www.metaphysicalmusing.com/articles/rigveda2012/rigveda004.htm