Folks,
To counter this effect, we should distinguish the practice of pre-vedic religion. Pre-Vedic religion such as Shaivism, Ancestors worship, Bumi puja(Land worship), Nature worships(trees, stones, snakes, etc), Animism and Shamanism were already in existence in the ancient India since the dawn of the mankind which has been proven by many scholars.
The religion of most of the ancient communities of the Central Himalaya was primarily based on the superstitious beliefs and was connected with the practice of sorcery, excorsim, and magic. The tree worship, the worship of Mother-Goddess and Chandika Devi, snake worship, stone worship in the form of linga or the cult of phallus, held very important place among the ethnic communities in ancient India. The aborigines of the mountain tribes of the country, who had not come into contacts with
Brahmins revered an invisible supreme spirit, various other evil spirts, minor deities.., etc the practice which still survives." Shiva, generally considered a non-aryan deity, secured a prominent place among the Kiratas. It can be roughly asserted that Shiva-worship might have begun among the Kiratas in the mountainous regions of the Himalaya in pre-Vedic times, before the advent of aryans.
Shaivism, in some form, was the prevailing religion of the aboriginal Kiratas.
On the basics of an eposide described in the Mahabhrata, as well as in the Kiratarjuniyam, of
Bharavi, the Kirata may be identified with Shiva, and it may be suggested that Shiva was their popular deity. Romila Thapar, while supporting this literary evidence, also has admitted that in all likelihood the Kiratas were the worshippers of Shiva.The assertion that Shiva, the god of the Himalayan mountain, was worshiped by the non-Vedic kiratas, can be proved in many ways. Some of the foreign scholars have also consolidated the concept that Shiva was a patron god of the aborignals. Megasthenes has also referred to the two Indian deities-- Dionysus(identified with Shiva) and
Herakles (identified with Krishna). The former was worshipped as the highest gods on the mountains and the latter was adored in the plains.Thus it is clear that the practice of worshiping Shiva might have begun much earlier to the Christian era, even though the Kiratas did not call themselves Shaivas.
Chandrapida, the prince of Ujjian, in course of his expediation against the Kiratas and the kindred tribes, inhabiting the vast tract of forest extending beyond Suvarnapura, as far as the mountain Kailash(the abode of Shiva) in Tibet, saw both the Shiva temple and a cave in its
southern direction, as recorded by Banabhatta in his Kadambari. The region surrounding the Kailash mountains and Manasa lake (Tibet) in the Himalayas was inhibiated by the Kiratas and other tribes are also recorded in the Mahabharata text. That is a definite indication of Shiva worship in the Kirata region of the northern Himalaya. The concept of Shiva worship originally flourished among primitive tribes, living in the hills and forests --the Vratyas, the Nisadas, and other non-aryan. ~ Ancient communities of the Himalaya By Dinesh Prasad Saklani
More works from the scholars that Worshiping of Siva existed during pre-vedic times or where the influence of Brahmins were very limited:
"Whereas the Gopalas and Mahispalas were thought to have come from India and followed Vedic Hinduism with Vaisnavite inclination, the Kiratas were thought to be the followers of Shiva. Kirateswore Sivalinga and proto-Lichchvi Kali of Aryaghat are indicative of Sivaite following among Kiratas." (Tiwari 2002)
The Aryans entered the Indus Valley in waves between 2000-1200 BC and expanded into the Gangetic plains. The Aryans referred to the original inhabitants as “Dasaâ€, “Dasyu†and later “Saka†and they were excluded from the Aryan society because they had different religious beliefs. The Manusmriti identifies the Kiratas as one of the eleven tribes who inhabited the Indus-Saraswoti region. Tiwari believes some of these tribes were forced to move away from their homeland and into the Kumaon region. While the Khas set up their kingdom in the Kumaon hills, the Kiratas moved on to settle in the Kathmandu Valley. While no remains of temples were found in the Indus Valley, archaeologists have concluded that worship of the primal form of Siva, Rudra, was popular.
The easternmost town of the Sakas dug up by archaeologists so far is Alamgirpur which lies a little to the north of Delhi. Thus, the physical distance as well as the time gap between the Indus civilization and the Kathmandu Valley is not as great as it seems. Further east and closer to Nepal lay the Sakya kingdom of Kapilavastu. They are believed to belong to the Khas clan of the Sakas and they also extensively used brick construction. Considering the fact that the Sakyas and the Kirats were contemporaneous, it is not difficult to conceive that the Kirats may have traveled to Kathmandu Valley after being displaced from their ancestral homeland by the Aryans. ~ The Temple of the Kirata Nepal Prof. Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, Ph. D
According to G.P Singh, "Saivism, Saktism, Tanticism and Visnavism --- the four important sects or forms of Hinduism also became popular amongst the Kiratas.
It is very difficult to ascertain the exact period, which marked the emergence of Saiva, Sakti and Trantric cults as popular cults in the kiratas society.
However, on the basis of information contained in the literary texts and other collateral evidence it can be easily affirmed that a large section of the Kirata population in ancient times had abiding faith in the worship of Siva, Mother-Goddess or Sakti and Devi, par excellence and in the Tantric practices. Some of them came under the impact of Bhagavata cult too. Siva, generally conceived as a non-Aryan deity, secured a prominent place in Kirata pantheon. It can be roughly asserted that Siva worship must have begum among the Kiratas in the mountainous regions of the Himalayas in pre-Vedic times before the advent of Aryans. That is why, Siva(Kiratesvara=the God of the Kiratas) has been considered as pre-Aryan God. On the basis of an episode as described in the Mahabharata, as well as, the Kiratarjuniyam of Bharavi the Kirata can be identified with Siva." pg. 238, Kiratas in Ancient India by G.P Singh, 1990.
"The combat between Lord Siva in the disguise of the Kirata with Arjuna in the Mahabhrata is an interesting example of association of Siva with primitive non-aryan tribe.
The archelogical discoveries also prove the existence of crude form of Saivism among the kiratas tribes of North-East frontier region(present Arunachal Pradesh) before the emrgence of mother cult. By the middle of the 7th century A.D, the Kiratas of this region were completely brought within the orbit of Hinduism.
Th Kiratas tribe of this region came under the influence of Brahmincal philosophy of Hinduism.
The Archaeologist Report of Dr. T. Bloch and the discovery of numerous objects in recent archaelogical exploration clearly testify to the prevalence of Saivaism and the cult
of the Mother-Goddess in the north-eastern frontier region in ancient times.
The worship of Siva in the form of Phallus represents a remnant of the ante-Brahmanical religion of India. Linga worship became quite popular before the commencement
of the Christian era. However, the Phallic worship among the Pre-Aryan tribes in the form of stones is in approximation to the truth, if it is not conclusive.
"The clear conception of Siva arose in the Upanisadic age. Siva as been, for the first time, explicitly mentioned as the Aryan god in the Svetasvatara Upanisad
in the background of Yoni-Linga relationship. There was never mention of Siva as Aryan god in Rig Veda, the oldest text of Aryan". From here it can be ascertain that Siva was worshiped by the aboriginal Kirata and Dravidan people before the advent of Aryan. ~Tribal roots of Hinduism By Shiv Kumar Tiwari
Here's one more work where aboriginal people religions has been incorporated into Veda.
According to Coburn, it is striking that the word Candika has virtually no earlier history in Sanskrit. "There are no instances of its occurrence in the Vedic literature we have surveyed. The epics are
similarly barren: neither the Ramayana nor the Mahabharata give evidence of the epithet, although in one of the hymns inserted in the latter Canda and Candi are applied to the deity they praised." ~ Coburn, Thomas B in Devi Mahatmya pg. 95
Swami Prajnananda says "Savarotsava is Durga Puja. Swami Abhedananda remarks that Durga was worshipped by Savar, Barbar Pulinda caste. She was addicted to meat and wine, etc. The Chandipuza of autumn season was therefore called Savarotsava.............Durga and Chandi were
the goddess of the Kirata caste. So Durga other name is Kiratini. ~ Kali Prasad Goswami in Kamakhya temple pg.41
When the Vedic Aryan found that their gods like Agni, Indra, Varun etc. were loosing popularity and people did not worshiped the gods which they brought, rather they were worshipping Subra(Siva)and following Saivisim, then they placed Sibarai worshiping under banned. At first the Aryanised conquerers held this religion (Saivism) in disdain and placed in under a ban. But it did not helped; ultimately peoples over come such banned and Saivism contininue to strive among the aborigines. At the same time to secure easy recognition by the aboriginal people, they placed Siva into Hindu pantheon. ~ By John Marshall, John Hubert Marshall Sir, Asian Educational Services
Here is one excerpts from another scholar.
{R. Chanda, Indo-Aryan races-pp-99-101,106-8 248-52-where he shows that the primitive Saivisim, Vaishnavism, Sankhya and yoga are the four corner stone of modern Hinduism and that there was a time where the orthodox exponent of the Vedism recognized that- these systems were non-Vedic.} ~ The Indo-Aryans of ancient South Asia
By George Erdosy
The degradation of Shavism and other aborigine religions started when their religions were incorporated into Veda, which the "chatur-varna" or four class social system
was in the Vedic religion. The promiment devastating affect on these religions came when the western scholars classified all the religious practice of the Indo-subcontinent into Hindusim blindly. Only through studying of the anceint communitities of Himayalas and India, the scholars have began understanding the roots of Hinduism.
If we are to save our "parampara" religion which we have been worshiping since the dawn of the mankind which the time is immemorial, Ancestors worship,the worshiping of Mother Goddess(Bumi Puja), Nature worship, along with Animism and Shamanism needs to be make aware to the public in proper sense. The system of "varna" should be eradicated immediately.
regards,
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