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[Rteacher]

More evidence that Krishna was known by many ancient Greeks - and worshipped as God ...

[color=darkblue]"These square coins, dating back to 180- BC, with Krishna on one side and Balram on the other, were unearthed recently in Al Khanoun in Afghanistan and are the earliest proof that Krishna was venerated as a god, and that the worship had spread beyond the Mathura region," says T K V Rajan, archaeologist and founder-director, Indian Science Monitor, who is holding a five-day exhibition, In search of Lord Krishna,' in the city from Saturday.

Having done extensive research in Brindavan, Rajan is convinced that a lot of the spiritual history of ancient India lies buried. "Close to 10,000 Greeks, who came in the wake of Alexander the Great, were Krishna's devotees. There is an inscription by Heliodorus, the Greek ambassador at Takshila , which reads Deva, deva, Vasudeva. Krishna is my god and I have installed this Garuda Pillar at Bes Nagar (now in Bihar),'" says Rajan.

According to him the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has unearthed many sites that throw fresh light on the era of Krishna. "ASI is expected to release the full findings next year. Many of the unearthed artifact have a close resemblance to materials of what is believed to be the Harappan civilisation. The findings may show that Krishna's life was the dividing line between India's spiritual history and the society's gradual shift towards a materialistic one," says Rajan.

Interestingly, a lot of what has been uncovered closely resemble the narration in the texts of Mahabharatha and the Bhagavatham," he adds. Both the spiritual works are revered by the Hindus as their holy books.

It has been over five years since the discoveries were made at Tholavira near Dwaraka, close to Kutch. Much progress has been made due to the application of thermoluminous study (TL) in ascertaining the age of artifact. "It is possible to get the diffusion of atomic particles in the clay pottery unearthed and arrive at an accurate date," points out Rajan. Tholavira itself is believed to be the capital city as detailed in the opening chapters of Bhagavatham. Rajan points to an image of a plough, made of wood, which is mentioned in the Bhagavatham.

The findings could lay a trail to understanding Krishna's life (said to be 5,000 years ago) and times, as a historical fact, says Rajan. The exhibition will be open till December 31 at Sri Parvathy Gallery, Eldams Road[/color]


Of course (as you should expect by now) there is also evidence that Norse mythology was influenced by Vedic culture...

The Norse Ragnarok involves the destruction of the earth and the abodes
of the Norse demigods (called Asgard), and thus it corresponds in Vedic
chronology to the annihilation of the three worlds that follows 1,000
yuga cycles, or one day of Brahma. It is said that during Ragnarok the
world is destroyed with flames by a being called Surt, who lives beneath
the lower world (appropriately called Hel) and was involved in the
world's creation. By comparison, the Srimad Bhagavatam (3.11.30) states
that at the end of Brahma's day, "the devastation takes place due to the
fire emanating from the mouth of Sankarsana." Sankarsana is a plenary
expansion of Krsna who is "seated at the bottom of the universe" (Srimad
Bhagavatam 3.8.3), beneath the lower planetary systems.

There are many similarities between the Norse and Vedic cosmologies, but
there are also great differences. One key difference is that in the
Srimad Bhagavatam, all beings and phenomena within the universe are
clearly understood as part of the divine plan of Krsna, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. In contrast, in the Norse mythology God is
conspicuously absent, and the origin and purpose of the major players in
the cosmic drama are very obscure. Surt, in particular, is a "fire
giant" whose origins and motives are unclear even to experts in the
Norse literature.[9]

One might ask, If Vedic themes appear in many different societies, how
can one conclude that they derive from an ancient Vedic civilization?
Perhaps they were created in many places independently, or perhaps they
descend from an unknown culture that is also ancestral to what we call
Vedic culture. Thus parallels between the accounts of Surt and
Sankarsana may be coincidental, or perhaps the Vedic account derives
from a story similar to that of Surt.

Our answer to this question is that available empirical evidence will
not be sufficient to prove the hypothesis of descent from an ancient
Vedic culture, for all empirical evidence is imperfect and subject to
various interpretations. But we can decide whether or not the evidence
is consistent this hypothesis.

If there was an ancient Vedic world civilization, we would expect to
find traces of it in many cultures around the world. We do seem to find
such traces, and many agree with Vedic accounts in specific details
(such as the location of Surt's abode or the sacred buffalo's loss of
one leg per world age). Since this civilization began to lose its
influence thousands of years ago, at the beginning of Kali-yuga, we
would expect many of these traces to be fragmentary and overlain by many
later additions, and this we also see. Thus the available evidence seems
to be consistent with the hypothesis of a Vedic origin.[/color]

http://wiretap.area.com/Gopher/Library/Article/Religion/vedic.txt

[itaewonguy]

[greedy_bones]

edit: I'm moving this conversation over to the evolution/creation thread where it belongs.