[tinamasak]

There is a popular theory that the name California could have been derived from Kapilaranya - where sage kapila lived.

The sagaras went in search of the horse and found it in kapilaranya and in the resulting confrontation sage kapila reduced the sagaras to ashes.
It is believed kapilaranya was part of pataal log because the sagaras crossed the ocean to get to it.
Any idea why sage kapila lived in pataal log?

[Vemnagelignc]

agopal,

sorry to disappoint you

here is a more believable explanation

California — Infoplease.com

thank you.

ps.. don't believe that hotel connmara has anything to do with kannimary either.. it was named after a british lord

[Unakjyfk]

Let us see what the Paramacharyal says about this. This is verbatim English translation of what he said. source: Hinduism Sanathana Dharma and Vedanta: presented by Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham : kamakoti.org.

"You know the Sagaras went on digging the earth down to the nether world in search of their sacrificial horse. An ocean came into being in this way and it was called sagara after the King Sagara.

The Sagaras, at last found the horse near the hermitage of Kapila Maharishi. Thinking that he must be the man who had stolen the animal and hidden it in the nether world they laid violent hands on him. Wherupon the sage reduced them to ashes with a mer glance of his eye. Such is the story according to the Ramayana. America, which is at the antipodes, may be taken to be Patala or the nether world. Kapilaranya (the forest in which Kapila had his hermitage), we may further take it, was situated there. It is likely that Kapilaranya changed to California. Also noteworthy is the fact that there is a Horse Island near California as well as an Ash Island.

[heinz_1966]

anand,

california was so named by the spaniards of the 1500s. i can be fairly certain, that these guys had no clues of hindu mythology or scriptures.

how could they have derived the name california from kapilaranya, when they would have had not known of kapila.

to attribute the name to kapila, reminds me of the old soviet science text books that was prescribed to us in colleges, where every scientific discovery was attributed to russian scientists.

now a days, i think, i have heard that our ancient rishis and scientists have thought of, discovered almost every human endeavour, prior to the modern world. i will go along with that for a lark, but in all seriousness????

[purchasviagra]

Interesting thing about California...

Why just rich nations..

May I have some referals about some of the poor countries like Somalia,Nicaragua, Nigeria...

[Xbcofega]

I just produced what the Acharya had stated on this topic. My view on this remain neutral unless there is conclusive proof to prove both sides of the argument. The reason why a lot of things are ascribed to Hinduism is because Sanatan Dharma was supposed to predate everything else. There are lot of Vedic principles found in other religions. This is not to prove the superiority of the Vedic religion but just that there was a continuous chain of inspiration of human thought leading to inventions and theories and Vedic religion happened to be the oldest one. The Spaniards need not have known Hindu mythology or Kapila. If a twisted form of the name Kapilaranya was existing at that point of time all they had to do was rename it as California or whatever. I am not saying that this was the way it happened but that possibility cannot be discounted altogether either. We also need to understand that the world was one big landmass once and if the theory of one religion is true it is quite possible that Kapila had his ashram in California. The Acharya had spoken in length about the presence of the Vedic religion throughout the world.

If you look into the customs and traditions of African tribes before they became Muslim or Christian one can find a lot of similarities with the Vedic religion like idol worship, sacrifices etc. There is a whole bunch of Western Indologists who say that the Vedic religion was worldwide and influenced a whole lot of other religions.

[pipojambo]

I just produced what the Acharya had stated on this topic. My view on this remain neutral unless there is conclusive proof to prove both sides of the argument. The reason why a lot of things are ascribed to Hinduism is because Sanatan Dharma was supposed to predate everything else. There are lot of Vedic principles found in other religions. This is not to prove the superiority of the Vedic religion but just that there was a continuous chain of inspiration of human thought leading to inventions and theories and Vedic religion happened to be the oldest one. The Spaniards need not have known Hindu mythology or Kapila. If a twisted form of the name Kapilaranya was existing at that point of time all they had to do was rename it as California or whatever. I am not saying that this was the way it happened but that possibility cannot be discounted altogether either. We also need to understand that the world was one big landmass once and if the theory of one religion is true it is quite possible that Kapila had his ashram in California. The Acharya had spoken in length about the presence of the Vedic religion throughout the world.

If you look into the customs and traditions of African tribes before they became Muslim or Christian one can find a lot of similarities with the Vedic religion like idol worship, sacrifices etc. There is a whole bunch of Western Indologists who say that the Vedic religion was worldwide and influenced a whole lot of other religions.

Shree Anand,

Vedic Religion is the pradanam and aadharam for all religions existing today.Vedic Religion is the mother and father of all religions existing today.Thank you.

Gopal.

[Arrocousa]

This reminds of an argument put forth right here in this Forum by an erstwhile member that Abraham and Sarah (the Hebrew ancestors) was none other than Lord Brahma and Godess Saraswathi!

It has been shown scientifically that there is synchronicity in human development. This is to say that some thoughts arise in one group of people in one corner of earth while similar thoughts arise at the same time with different group of people living in a different part of the globe. No one yet knows why.

From this one may conclude that since Sanatana Dharma has existed for a long time, it is not inconceivable that other religions/cultures evolved in different parts of the globe, that had similar features. But whether they were all the same religion we call Sanatana Dharma is questionable, and to ascribe every religion as stemming from Vedic Religion is absurd. Even there are differences in the way idols were worshipped in India versus how they were worshipped elsewhere.

These types of tall claims about our religion and culture while offering no real value to us, only makes us look strange in the eyes of the modern world where logic and scietific inquiry are accepted as norms.

We need to start with scepticism first and then prove whether our hypothesis is correct and not the other way around.

Regards,
KRS

[Nopayof]

Shri Anand ji,

We also need to understand that the world was one big landmass once and if the theory of one religion is true it is quite possible that Kapila had his ashram in California. The Acharya had spoken in length about the presence of the Vedic religion throughout the world.

When earth was one big landmass (gondwana land) human life did not exist on earth. Now dunno if people think they came into being bcoz of some yogic powers of rishis or any such thing, but in whatever way humans came to be on earth, it sure happens to be that the species came to occur on earth eons after gondwana split.

If you look into the customs and traditions of African tribes before they became Muslim or Christian one can find a lot of similarities with the Vedic religion like idol worship, sacrifices etc. There is a whole bunch of Western Indologists who say that the Vedic religion was worldwide and influenced a whole lot of other religions.

what is 'vedic' may be subjectively used by diff ppl in diff ways, some class vid or 'vedic' as knowledge born of human intelligence that has existed since man has existed and will continue to exist as long as man exists, some class 'vedic' as a period of time in history such as pre-vedic or post-vedic.

sure, africa is in all likelihood the motherland and womb of the entire humankind, and practices are carried by man whereever he goes. however when man moved out of africa, dunno if he had a 'religion' or was he just a hunter on the move. i opt for the latter.

[wmhardware]

When earth was one big landmass (gondwana land) human life did not exist on earth. Now dunno if people think they came into being bcoz of some yogic powers of rishis or any such thing, but in whatever way humans came to be on earth, it sure happens to be that the species came to occur on earth eons after gondwana split. That is the Western Scientist's point of view. Sorry, till Science comes to a definite conclusion with solid proof as to when mankind originally came into existence, I will not buy this. The problem is with every new fossil find the age of mankind is put so many years back. It was previously thought the modern human being (homo-sapiens) evolved 160,000 years back and then there was a new fossil find putting it back to 195,000 years. Fossils of hominids were dated 6 million years while that of primitive humans about 1.8 million years. I am no scientist and in no mood to challenge them but to my simple mind the fact that while the earth itself is about 4.5 billion years as accepted by modern science, the modern man appeared only 195,000 years ago is inconceivable.

Now let us apply the yuga concept as per Hinduism. This math can seem to be bit confusing initially. Starting with Svetavaraha who was the first Manu, we are now in the Vaivasvata Manvantara, the period between the 7th and 8th manu. Each manvantara (reigning period of a Manu) consists of 71.42 maha-yugas with each MY consisting 4.3 million years approx. Having completed 6 manvantaras and and 26 MY (we are in the 27th MY as per the Acharya), man in the form of the first manu appeared 1.9 billion years back.

Now one may ask what happened to the remnants of the man in terms of fossils. Between the yugas there is supposed to be a avantara pralaya (partial deluge) where there is a wholesale annihilation of mankind before the start of the next yuga. But Kali yuga is supposed to be the worst. It is said the physical size of man keeps reducing from the age of Satya yuga because of the gradual reduction of dharma that towards the end of Kali, the man almost resembles a beast in character and physique. There is even a theory which suggests that the homonid fossils could belong to the previous kali period.

There is absolutely no proof for what is said in our scriptures but logically I would go for it than for varying estimates given by scientists with every new fossil find and rock formation. I believe there was a Creator but then to believe that he created earth about 4.5 billion years ago just to watch the plants and animals for 4.333 billion years, then waited for another 166 million years after Gondwana broke up and then created man, the highest level of creation, just about 195,000
years ago.

Of course, none of the above arguments are valid, if I don't believe in a God or Creator where everything happened in a random manner.

[LoloLibia]

Timothy came from Thirumoorthy only.

Pennsylvania came from penn echchil enaiyah?

Germany came from Jamadagni.

(All in lighter vein only).

See how the rhyme and alliteration are misunderstood.

[RobertLS]

Sorry Anand, saw this just now.

That is the Western Scientist's point of view. Sorry, till Science comes to a definite conclusion with solid proof as to when mankind originally came into existence, I will not buy this. The problem is with every new fossil find the age of mankind is put so many years back. It was previously thought the modern human being (homo-sapiens) evolved 160,000 years back and then there was a new fossil find putting it back to 195,000 years. Fossils of hominids were dated 6 million years while that of primitive humans about 1.8 million years. I am no scientist and in no mood to challenge them but to my simple mind the fact that while the earth itself is about 4.5 billion years as accepted by modern science, the modern man appeared only 195,000 years ago is inconceivable.

The hominidae family split from the hylobatidae family abt 15 million years ago to evolve into a seperate species. The homo genus then came to evolve some 2.5 to 3 million years ago. Survivability depends on various factors, humans can become extinct the moment a meteor hits the earth or climate changes, etc, and new forms of life that can adapt (or has been adapted) to a diff atmosphere can come into being. However, many life forms evolve from a pre-existing template. Over the years, man too can evolve into a diff type (diff looking) creature (like with a larger skull, larger brain, he may lose his canines, molars, and so on)..

Currently, the age of the modern man or what every single man on earth is now (well almost, unless the hypothesis of the neanderthalensis merging into the sapiens is proved right or wrong with the ongoing decoding of the neanderthal genome project) is estimated from the gene clock technique as being around conservatively +/- 200,000 to 300,000 years. I prefer to by go evidence as found.

Even if the molecular clok were assumed to be erroneous, the age of the current modern man is no way going be in billions of years. Again this does not mean humans or human-like creatures did not exist before. Prior to the heidelbergensis there were other hominids. But what the modern man came to be, is by no means in billions of years in origin. Some say man did live alongside dinosaurs 65 million years ago, as long as proven by some sorta failsafe method, its hard for me accept any hypothesis..

Now let us apply the yuga concept as per Hinduism. This math can seem to be bit confusing initially. Starting with Svetavaraha who was the first Manu, we are now in the Vaivasvata Manvantara, the period between the 7th and 8th manu. Each manvantara (reigning period of a Manu) consists of 71.42 maha-yugas with each MY consisting 4.3 million years approx. Having completed 6 manvantaras and and 26 MY (we are in the 27th MY as per the Acharya), man in the form of the first manu appeared 1.9 billion years back.

Sri Yukteshwar calculated the yuga cycle a wee bit differently. was told calculation (of the dating) depends on the method used.

Now one may ask what happened to the remnants of the man in terms of fossils. Between the yugas there is supposed to be a avantara pralaya (partial deluge) where there is a wholesale annihilation of mankind before the start of the next yuga. But Kali yuga is supposed to be the worst. It is said the physical size of man keeps reducing from the age of Satya yuga because of the gradual reduction of dharma that towards the end of Kali, the man almost resembles a beast in character and physique. There is even a theory which suggests that the homonid fossils could belong to the previous kali period.

There is absolutely no proof for what is said in our scriptures but logically I would go for it than for varying estimates given by scientists with every new fossil find and rock formation. I believe there was a Creator but then to believe that he created earth about 4.5 billion years ago just to watch the plants and animals for 4.333 billion years, then waited for another 166 million years after Gondwana broke up and then created man, the highest level of creation, just about 195,000
years ago.

Of course, none of the above arguments are valid, if I don't believe in a God or Creator where everything happened in a random manner.

was told there is a method to the madness in the way randomness of evolution works.

[Freefspruptpx]

Dear HHji,

To each his own. I know my arguments stretches it a bit too far on the credibility issue (which I still believe) but just wanted to offer a different perspective.

Thanks

[SeLvesTr]

Dear Anand ji

I also heard that, Australia came from "Asthra+ alaya" . When rama in anger started taking his arrow out from its hoot and viewing against the sagaradeva, the samutradeva appeared before him and asked sorry. But, according to rama, he never get backs his asthra. He finally asked the lord of ocean himself what to do now with that asthra. He said that, just send it to padhala loga and there was a big continent residing inside and rama did like that...

I need explanation for this too. Earth was almost a single piece only. On later developmental stages only, it got divided into this much continents and countries. In campodia, age old shiva temple is there. In Javanese, the word 'siti' means earth! Many Javanese women have Siti as part of their names. Perhaps this came from Sanskirt? (notice Ksiti from Ksitigarbha)? I guess so. What about the other word: garbha? Guwa-garbha is the ancient Javanese word for stomach, or to be precise, the inner part of woman's body in which a baby is conceived and grown. This perhaps connected to why one's country is sometimes referred as 'mother-earth'.
The full moon in Java is called "purnama". What is it called in India?

The Hind culture spread from the area along the River Sindh, all the way along the coast across the Indian Ocean, through Thailand, western Malaysia, Sumatra in Indonesia, Java, the Eastern islands of Indonesia, up to Australia.

Hinduism is very ancient and am sure it has wide-spread. If there is only one man in this whole world, what is the need of a name for him? If there is only one dish in the world, what is the use of naming it? Similarly, hinduism was only (monopoply) religion in ancient times. So, it does not had any special names. Just beacuse of this alone, you cannot doubt whether hinduism has its roots only in india.

So, it may be possible in every aspect of naming certian places like this in relation with our hinduism...

Pranams

[avavavava]

Dear all

When I was jus browsing, I got this article in my system. Since the web page is not working proper Iam here copying the whole thing. Sorry for eating the space. But I dont know, whether all these things are true.

The following is an abridged version of a paper presented at the Conference on Radical Archeological Phenomena (CRAP).
Abstract
Here we present some evidence to show the prevalence of ancient India on the rest of the world. The strategy is to trace the origins of the current names of places to Indian mythology. In view of brevity, only a few examples have been presented here.
Introduction
In recent years there has been increased interest in ancient Indian mythology and Aryan history. It has been shown by Bala et al. [BK 92] that the Indians had captured most of the world around 10,000 B.C. and used to freely travel around the world. Their influences have been found in Mayan temple architecture and sculpture in Mexico, in the Egyptian pyramids, the Kalahari Bushmen language, the bone structure of Ethiopian cows, the mating habits of Swedish men, among others.
Besides this, there is evidence that the ancient Indian society was technologically extremely advanced. Jones and Connery [JC 89] have provided convincing arguments based on archeological findings and the Upanishads that the Indians had developed sound-activated, plasma-powered air vehicles.
In this paper, we present some recent work showing the origins of names of places of widely varied geographical locations in the Indian mythology. This strengthens the recent theory that Indians ruled the world around 10,000 B.C.
Etymology
Australia:
The roots of this word have been traced to the great epic Ramayana. When Rama was trying to cross the ocean to go to Lanka, the ocean was not cooperating to build the bridge. In his anger, Rama pulled out his Astra (a powerful arrow like a missile) and threatened to dry the ocean. Samudra, the ocean God, realised his mistake and capitulated to Rama. Rama forgave Samudra. However, once taken out of the quiver, Rama's Astras have to leave the bow. Samudra meekly suggested that Rama shoot the Astra towards Antarctica hoping that the ice would melt and increase his volume. At that instant, Indra, the God of rain and thunder, was blowing a thunderstorm across the MahaSamudra. This steered the Astra's course away from Antarctica and it landed in the MahaSamudra and dried up a huge land mass. This land was consecrated and people built a temple at the place where the Astra fell. Just as Himalay = Him + Alay, meaning the home of Ice in Sanskrit, similarly, this temple of Astra was called Astralaya, which in time, degenerated to Australia.
Brazil:
The roots of this word have been traced to the greatest epic of all times, the Mahabharata. Jones and Connery have shown that the ancient Brazilian architectural style is very similar to the Yadava architecture of Gokul. It also says in the Mahabharata that Mathura was to the west of Gokul. Combined with the fact that all the continents formed a monolothic land mass at that time, we have conclusive evidence that Mathura and present day Brazil are one and the same. Lord Krishna's youthful escapades with the beautiful Gopis are well known even today as Ras Lila or Brij Lila. These escapades supposedly took place in Mathura. Hence Mathura was also popularly known at that time as BrijLila, which in time got corrupted to Brasilia.
California:
The roots of this word have been traced to the Shiv Purana. Sage Kapila was the Raja Maharishi of Raja Parikshit, the King of Gandhar (Note that this Raja Parikshit is not to be confused with the famous Parikshit, Arjuna's grandson). In the reign of Parikshit, Gandhar was prospering like a Banyan tree, the people were happy, except that Gandhar lacked a heir to the throne. Despite Maharaja Parikshit and Maharani Kamakshi's severe penances, the royal couple was fruitless. After all attempts failed, the Maharaja approached Raja Maharishi Kapila for a solution. Kapila agreed to bless Maharani Kamakshi with a child. In due course, a beautiful baby boy was borne by Kamakshi. Parikshit rejoiced with the rest of Gandhar. In his happiness, Parikshit loaded Kapila with lots of riches. As the child began to grow and its facial features assumed a distinct structure, people began to notice certain similarities between him and Kapila. Kapila, fearing the royal wrath, under the pretext of a sagely voyage, took off to a forest in the far far far east (so far east that it was nearly west) crossing seven seas and seven mountains. Aranya being the Sanskrit word for forest, this forest came to be known as Kapilaranya, which got disfigured to Kaliparanya and finally to Kalifornia.
Zimbabwe:
The roots of this word can be traced to the illustrious bear warrior Jambhavanta. He is one of the seven immortals like Hanuman, Ashwathama etc. He figures significantly in Ramayana and Mahabharata, fighting on the side of Rama in the former and against Krishna in the latter. It is said that in each Yuga, to defend the righteous, Jambhavanta emerges from his eternal resting abode, the Jambh-Bhavana (Bhavana being the Sanskrit word for palace). In time, Jambh-Bhavan was mutilated to Jimba-Bavan, and finally to Zimbabwe.
Here are a few more examples and the roots from which they are derived. For example, Germany from Jal Mani, Greece from Gir-Ish, Japan from Jap-Anth, Russia from Ras Shaiyya, Prussia from Parshu Shaiyya, Argentina from Arjun Sthana, Shanghai from Shankh Chaya, Arctic from Aarthik, Antarctica from Antar Aarthik, Atlantic from Atal Aantik etc.
Acknowledgements:
We would like to thank ASS (Archeological Society of Sumeria) and FART (Foundation for Archeological Research Tools) for financial support.


Pranams

[Reafnartefs]

Dear Durgadasan,

This could very well be true but could not help noticing the sources you cited - CRAP, ASS and FART. May be someone was just having fun.

Thanks

[mincarlie.frymyer]

Dear Anandb

Yes. You are right. I simply shared the info. Thats all. At the sametime, we cannot take everything as a joke also. Real research is required...

Pranams

[AK47rulz]

Dear Anandb

Yes. You are right. I simply shared the info. Thats all. At the sametime, we cannot take everything as a joke also. Real research is required...

Pranams

[geka]

better luck next time

[lousy]

here here here here here here here here here here here here here here here here here here here here