Uncovering extended Hinduism in ancient Iran!!

      The early Iranian people were actually ethnic Indo-European people who lived in Iranian plateau before 3000 BCE. A group of people called Proto Iranians emerged as separate branch from Indo Iranian people during second millennium BCE. These proto iranian people were addressed themselves as 'Aryans' and Aryan Invasion theory was referred after them. But, there is no such Aryan Invasion happened in the history !! Truth is people have migrated from greater India to Iran while expanding their territory and due to several natural calamities such as drying Saraswati river, droughts, floods due to change in the course of Sindhu river etc. 

        During the declination of Sindhu civilization, people who lived in those region have dispersed into different directions in multiple groups. Some people moved back to India, some moved further north and some group moved to Turkey etc. But, none of the indigenous Sindhu people were displaced by Indo Aryans, as mentioned by the westerns in Aryan invasion theory. Aryan Invasion theory is a myth !!

   

         While exploring the lands around India, a group of people from western side of India have migrated to Iran during Sindhu Civilization. But, prior to Sindu civilization, set of dravidian kings of ancient tamizhakam have expanded their kingdom to Iran, Syria, Turkey via Persian gulf. For more detailed information about dravidians of Pre - Indus Valley civilization, reach out to the post below

https://divinediyaas.blogspot.com/2020/12/kumari-kandam-part-5-pre-indus-valley.html

        Ancient Iran was ruled by many Indian kings and the people who first established their civilization in Iran, practiced Hindu culture and traditions by following Sanatana Dharma.

    This post will explain about several Hindu elements rooted in ancient Iran, one by one.

        At the end of Satya yuga (First yuga) Iran was ruled by Asura King Hiranyaksha and it was considered as abode of Asuras, Rakshas, Daiteyas etc. A part of Iran was called as 'Hiranyapura' and it was named after this legendary king Hiranyaksha. For more details about this, reach out to

https://divinediyaas.blogspot.com/2021/02/hiranyanpura-land-of-hiranyaksha-in.html

Asura King

Earlier, Iran was called as 'Persia' and it's a part of Persian Country. 

A. Parasurama

     In Vedas, the place Iran was not mentioned, but Parsu tribe was mentioned. Parsua (earlier Parsuash, Parsumash) was an ancient tribal kingdom/chiefdom in Iran. Iran was also called as Persian country. What is mean by Persian ? 

The word Persian comes from Parasu - which means axe in Sanskrit. This in turn, denotes Lord Parasurama who was the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, before the avatar of Lord Rama. Parasurama - means Rama with axe, he was born to Sage Jamadagni and Renuka.

         Lord Parasurama wiped out many Kshatriya clans to revenge for his father’s death.  His name Parasu stands for axe. He carries it on his shoulder for ever .

Parasurama

Persis - better known as Persia, is a region located to the southwest of modern Iran (now Fars). The Persians are thought to have initially migrated either from Central Asia or more probably, from the north through the Caucasus. They would then have migrated to the current region of Persis in the early 1st millennium BC. The country name Persia was derived directly from the Old Persian name Parsa.

    In Tamizh, ancient persian country was called as 'Parasiga Nadu', means land of Parsa people. Thus the main ethnic tribe of Iran Parsa were from India and the iran region was named after this indian tribes.

B. King Kuru and Clan of Kamboojas from India

        King Cyrus the Great, the founder of first Persian empire - also known as Kuru. Why he was named as Kuru ?? 

    Because, he was named after the legendary Great King Kuru of Bharat, as he was from their clan. Kauravas and Pandavas of Maharabharata were from Kuru clan - Kuru Vamsa. 

Cyrus the Great

    The roots of King Cyrus's was from India. Cyrus's father Cambyses was referred to the Sanskrit tribals - Kambojas in Akand Bharat. This means that Cyrus and his father were from ancient India, migrated to Iran and followed hindu culture and traditions.

        The great king Cyrus from kuru vamsa, has spread the Persian influence all over Asia & during his rule Zoroastrianism religion has reached maximum heights.

    Zoroastrianism is one of the continuously practiced religion based on the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (also known as Zarathustra in Avestan or Zarthost in Modern Persian). After Hinduism, this religion was followed by the people of Iran.

C. Upanayanam and Punul

        Upanayanam is one of most important ritual for a boy in Hinduism. This tradition is widely discussed and explained in many sanskrit texts and it's being followed among Hindus for several thousand years. Even in Ramayana and Mahabharata, several kings, sages wore this sacred thread which runs from shoulder to waist (example: Lord Rama, Pithamaha Bheeshma, Pandavas, Kauravas, Sage Vyasa, Parasurama etc) 

         In this ceremony, the boy will receive a 'Sacred Thread' called as 'Janeu' in hindi, 'Poonal / Punul' in Tamizh. (Will put down a separate detailed post about Upanayanam and importance of Punul)

Upanayanam - means the act of leading to /  enlightenment / Third eye (vision / Pineal gland). This ceremony announces that the child has entered into formal education / school.

Boy in Upanayanam 

        In the above picture, the boy during his Upanayanam ritual wore a thin, yellow Yajnopavita / Punul, the sacred thread runs from left shoulder to waist. In some tradition, during this ritual, the first sacred thread will be given in yellow color, the picture mentioned below will show white sacred thread.

Note the munja grass girdle around the waist, like a belt. 

Upanayanam ceremony

Punul / Janeu - White sacred thread, which is being held in hands of father and son in the above picture. This sacred thread needs to be changed every year during the auspicious day called 'Avani Avittam', where the older ones are exchanged with new sacred thread in an elaborate step by step process by chanting mantras for each step.

        Now, this ancient thousands year old tradition is also followed by Zoroastrians, in a very similar manner. The same kind of white sacred thread is being used. 

    Here the priest holding the sacred thread with the boy. The sacred thread is called as 'Kushti' in Pahlavi and 'aiwyaongana' is the Avesta term for the sacred thread. 

    The ceremony to wear this sacred thread is called as 'Navjote'. It's an ritual through which the person enters into the Zoroastrian religion and started to wear sacred thread and belt. 

        This ritual takes places in presence of fire, like Upanayanam in Hinduism. Look at the picture below, the boy is holding a coconut is his hands, coconuts are used in all Hindu rituals and ceremonies. No hindu ritual / ceremony is complete without Coconut.

Navjote 

        This is conforming that the Hindu traditions and culture were followed in ancient Iran before the arrival of Muslims, in other words Hinduism was practiced in Iran several thousand years before during the rule of Hindu Kings of Bharat. In later period of time, though the muslims occupied the land, some of the rituals are still followed in different names in the the name of different group of people / religion. This is strong Hindu connection with Iran.

D. Haoma / vedic Soma

        In Hinduism, after performing sacred rituals like Yagnas, an intoxicating drink will be given called 'Soma'. Like wise, in ancient Iran, after performing their sacred worship 'Yasnas', they have a drink called 'Haoma'. Both the rituals and drink are similar.

    In ancient Iranian texts Avestan, 'Sapta Sindhu' was referred as 'Hapta Sindhu' and  Sindhu was pronounced as 'Hindu', because they replaced 'Sa' with 'Ha'. Iranians don't spell 'Sa'. That's why land of Sindhus, was called as 'Hindus' and Sindhu's land was called as 'Hindustan'. 

E. Worshiping Ahura Mazda

         The ancient Persians originally had so many cultures before converting to Islam. But, among them the most prominent ones were Hinduism followed by Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrian prayers are called as 'manthras', which are conducted usually with hands outstretched in imitation of Zoroaster's prayer style.

Zoroastrianism - The prophet of Zoraster / Zarathrustra in ancient Persia was considered as founder of Zoroastrianism. There are heavy influences of hindusim in this religion.

Fire , along with water are seen as symbols of purity in Zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrian places of worship are sometimes called fire temples. Each fire temple contains an altar with an eternal flame that burns continuously and is never extinguished. Ancient Persia had many religious diversities like some group of people worshiped Ahura Mazda, some group of people worshiped Daeva, some worshiped Indian gods etc. 

Stone carvings of God Ahura Mazda

        God Ahura mazda was worshiped by Iranians, he was actually pronounced called as 'Asura', by replacing 'ha' with 'sa'. God Mithra and God Verethragna were also worshiped in Zoroastrianism, which are very similar to Hindu gods. But, Ahura Mazda was considered as supreme deity and Daevas as their enemies, as once it was the land of asuras. The Asura and Deva concept was there in Hinduism and it was believed by billions of Indians. 

This is how the term Hindus were coined (By replacing 'Sa' with 'Ha' similar to 'Sindhu'). In reality, there was no such religion called 'Hindu' in India. It was originally known as 'Sanatana Dharma' - the 'Eternal way of Life', which was followed by all the Indian people. 

        Sanatana Dharma is not a religion, it is actually Codes of life, path of eternal morality and self realization, it's an universal law for the people to seek eternal truth. 

    Sanatana Dharma was followed by all the people in Akand Bharat and also all over the World, in different names in different languages. This Sanatana Dharma is now called as 'Hinduism'.

        After the regime of King Cyrus the great, Persia was ruled by his great grand son Darius, but unfortunately after his death by Alexander, Persia could not find a strong and stable ruler. Thus the persian kingdom has started to become weaker. Slowly Persia have gone through influences of many other kingdoms. When the Persians became still weaker, Arabs took the opportunity and captured Persia. They, instilled Islam as the state religion & converted the whole of Persia within a span of 30 years. The people who were reluctant were either killed or were forcefully converted. The remaining population who wanted to escape forceful conversion came and settled in India.        

        Islamic conquest of Persia was one of the most brutal example of forced conversions of Islam. 

During 5th century BCE - 

Zoroastrianism was the state religion and Zoroastrians were more than 95% of the then Persia(Iran)

Today Zoroastrians are a meager 0.03% of Iran.

        Parsis are followers of Zoroastrianism in India. They are a group of Iranian Zoroastrians emigrated from Persia to escape religious persecution by the Muslim majority after the Arab conquest. 

        Thus Sanatana Dharma was the religion followed by people in ancient Iran and other persian countries. The parsu tribes of persia, kuru lineage of Cyrus the great, concept of asuras and devas, persian kings mentioned in the Mahabharata war, sanskrit words in ancient Persian texts, practicing hindu traditions and rituals and worshiping hindu gods has proved that ancient iranians were ardour followers of Hinduism before the arrival of Islam. 

    Also, Lord Muruga / Karthikeya was worshiped widely by the people of Iran and his vahana peacock was engraved in many places of Iran. Iranians were very much fond of peacock, their empire is called as 'Peacock empire', there was a famous jeweled golden peacock throne of Kings, but this bird doesn't inhabit in Iran, then why Iranians are so much attached to peacock ???

          My next post will disclose details about Iran's association with peacock, the rule of Tamizh kings, tamizh civilization in ancient Persian with appropriate facts and its link with early dravidians....

- Aarthi Thiyagarajan