LIVING TRADITION, VENERATING ANCESTORS: DOLMEN AND RG VED
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
Friday, February 19, 2010
Living tradition, venerating ancestors: dolmen and Rigveda
http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/megaliths
Living tradition, venerating ancestors: dolmen and Rigveda
Stone that separates the living from the dead: Rigveda
This note points to the essential connection between dolmen in many
parts of the globe and the funerary practices described in the
Rg Ved.
Planting the stone is a way of venerating the ancestors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolmen
A dolmen is a megalithic tomb with three or more upright stones.
The dolmen is derived from taol maen 'stone table' in Breton, a
Celtic language. Dolmen are found in all continents of the globe.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/48/Muniyara.jpg/220px-Muniyara.jpgSee
dolmen in Marayoor, Kerala belonging to Adi Chera.
See the megalithic portal http://www.megalithic.co.uk/
See Morernani a megalithic site in India:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=15839
Megalithic site found in South Sumatra
Wed, 02/17/2010 2:13 PM The Archipelago The findings are said to
date back to 5000 BCE
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/17/megalithic-site-found-south-sumatra.html
The living megalithic tradition in eastern Indonesia by Haris
Sukendar, Indonesian National Research Centre of Archaeology,
Jakarta:
http://ejournal.anu.edu.au/index.php/bippa/article/view/502/491
The Continuity of Megalithic Culture and Dolmen in Indonesia
By Dr. Agus Aris Munandar, Departement of Archaeology
Faculty of Humanities University of Indonesia Dolmen is the "stone
table
completely with menhir as legs" (SOKMONO, R., 1973, Pengantar Sejarah
Kebudayaan Indonesia I. Yogyakarta: Yayasan Kanisius, p. 72)
http://www.idolmen.org/file/pdf/s149-152.pdf
Rigvedic rite of burying the bones from the cremation includes the
planting of a stone. This is intended to separate the living from the
dead.
RV 10.18.9 Taking his bow from the hand of the dead man, for the sake
of our vigour, energy and strength, (I say) you are there; may we
(who are) here, blessed with male offspring, overcome all the enemies
who assail us.
Dhanur hastaad aadadaano mrutasyaasme kshatraaya carcase balaaya
Atraiva tvam ih vayam suveeraa vishvaa sprdho abhimaateer jayema RV
10.18.9
With this rica, a stone is set up between the dead and the living to
separate them
"According to this approach, food or water that is offered to the
pitrs is first offered to Vishnu and thereby transformed into Vishnu-
prasaad. The word prasada means "mercy" or "grace." Thus Vishnu-
prasaad is God's grace. This prasaad of Vishnu is then offered to the
pitrs, who now receive God's grace instead of mere food or water. In
this way, the grace of God has the power to elevate and sustain the
pitrs in a manner that no human power can match. In the case of a
homa or havan, a ritual performed with fire, the fire is used as the
"delivery system" by which Vishnu is first offered food. This food
offering, which is now God's grace, is then offered to the pitrs
through the fire. It is thus Agnidev, the fire
God, who acts as the link between this world and the world of the pitrs."
(Pancharatra tradition: Hindu Funeral Rites and Ancestor Worship [1]
Antyesti, Sraddha and Tarpana
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2676491/sraaddha1 )
Megaliths, menhir, planting a stone: abiding tradition for thousands
of years
http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/megaliths
The page provides scores of examples of megaliths with menhirs all
over Bharat. The practice of venerating the ancestors by planting a
long stone continues even today in the antyeshti ceremonies performed
after cremation of a person. The person authorized to perform the
samskara, usually the eldest son or a jnaati (relative of the
deceased person), includes an important process: planting of a stone.
This is referred to as The meaning of the gloss, kal is: (Tamil.
Telugu. Tu. Ka. Ma.) Memorial stone in a village, as for a hero;
????????. ???? . . . ??????????? (?????, 771). A stone fixed in the
house of a deceased person for ten days since his demise;????????????
?????????????????? ????????????? ???? ???????? ???. 10.
A flaw in emeralds, one of eight *marakata-k-ku**r_r_**am*, q.v.; ?????????????
???????? ?????. (?????. 14, 184, ???.)
Megaliths are standing memorials of this Hindu samskara. A stone is
planted in the house of the deceased, after cremation, for a period
of ten days.
What has been found in Sembiyan Kandiyur is consistent with the
practice of Pitru-medha described in As'valayana Grhya Sootr.
Post cremation Burial (Pitr-medha)
During the Vedic and early Grhya periods it was common to bury the
incinerated bones of a deceased person in an urn. This was the pitr-
medha ceremony. The Grhya-sutras of Asvalayana describe how the
burned bones were to be collected on the third lunar day (tithi)
after death. In the case of a man who had died, the bones were to be
collected by elderly men and placed into a male urn. In the case of a
woman, the bones were to be collected by elderly women and placed
into a female urn. Urns were designed by their shape to be male or
female. The performers of this ceremony were to walk three times in a
counterclockwise direction around the bones while sprinkling milk and
water from a particular kind of twig (sami). The bones were then
placed into the urn as they were picked up individually with the
thumb and fourth finger. First the bones of the feet were to be
gathered and then successively the other bones were to be gathered
working toward the head. After the bones had been purified and
gathered they were sealed and buried in a secure location.
http://hindutva97.blogspot.com/2008/04/hindu-cremation-rites-including-pitru.html
Read on . . about scores of examples of megaliths in Bharat, India.
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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