It All Started in Jambudvipa. Or Did It?

Why are Indians obsessed with origins? Why do we equate

originality with authenticity and authenticity with truth? And
how does this get tangled with moral policing?
By Devdutt Pattanaik
As storytellers take creative license show Shiva with a daughter on television (Devon ke Dev
Mahadev serial on Life OK channel), locate Suryavanshis and handravanshis in the !ndus valley
civili"ation (Shiva trilogy novels #y A$ish %ri&athi), clai$ that southern 'akshasas were li#eral
&eo&le at the receiving end of northern Devas (novel Asura #y Anand (eelakantan), visuali"e
)anesha as a tri#al youth in the $idst of a Shudra and Arya conflict (the Kannada novel Dhundhi
#y *angalore author +ogesh Master, who was arrested last $onth after so$e $oral &olicing grou&s
&rotested) &eo&le are not ,uite sure what is the truth- %his leads &eo&le in search of origins, for we
#elieve origin is the truth-

As !ndians we have always loved origins- .or $illennia, the tri#es and co$$unities of !ndia have
worshi&&ed origins the source of rivers ($ountains), the source of the sun (eastern direction), the
source of $ilk (cow)- /e love shrines that are swaya$#hu or self0created, #orn of natural rock
without hu$an intervention-
1owever, we are not co$forta#le when the origins we seek turn out to #e an outco$e of history, or
when the origins are located in foreign geogra&hy, or when the origins are not si$&le and singular
like a seed, #ut rather, co$&le2 and $ulti&le like a river3s tri#utaries-
.or $any !ndians, 4originally !ndian3 refers to an idea that is ti$eless, or at least five thousand years
ago- %he &hrase 4five thousand years ago3 is an atte$&t to $ake the 4ti$eless3 sound $ore ti$e0
#ound, hence scientific5 and yet #eyond the reach of e2as&eratingly anal, evidence0seeking
historians-
So everything that is !ndia ca$e into #eing five thousand years ago6 7edas, 'a$ayana,
Maha#harata, as well as the 8uranas fro$ where we get infor$ation a#out 7ishnu, Shiva, Durga
and )anesha-
1istorians will &oint out that such conclusions are #ased on s&eculation and anchored at #est #y
astrono$ical data and hagiogra&hic te2ts that cannot #e trusted- .or historians, the !ndus valley
cities ca$e first, then the 7edic hy$ns, then the 9&anishads, then the *uddha, then the
Maha#harata and the 'a$ayana, then the 8uranas that tell the stories of 7ishnu, Shiva, Durga and
)anesha, then the arrival of !sla$ followed #y heightened &o&ularity of *hakti literature such as the
works of %ukara$ and %ulsidas, Akka Mahadevi and Mira#ai, and finally the rise of :uro&ean
&owers, cul$inating in the !ndian national $ove$ent- (Only 'a$chandra )uha #othered to tell us
that history continues after )andhi)-
Such linearity and &eriodicity is re;ected #y traditionalists for who$ 1induis$ is 4sanatan dhar$a3
or a ti$eless truth where everything fro$ #hakti, to te$&le worshi& of 'a$, Krishna, Shiva, Durga
and )anesha, to the ritual of yagna referred to in the 7edic hy$ns, e2isted si$ultaneously across
the !ndian su#continent, thriving even in the well &lanned #rick cities on the #anks of the !ndus and
now0dry Saraswati, five thousand years ago-
.urther, all truths a#out !ndia and its origins $ust have roots only in <a$#udvi&a, the su#continent
&oetically descri#ed as sha&ed as a ;a$#ul, the !ndian #lack#erry-
/e #ristle when anything !ndian is attri#uted to foreigners- +et fro$ ancient 8ersia we learned
a#out e$&ires and $onotheis$, and fro$ ancient )reece we learned stone idol worshi&- .ro$
ancient hina, we learned $any alche$ical %aoist &rinci&les that we incor&orated in %antra, which
is so$eti$es called hinachara, or the hinese way5 although we largely &refer to tell ourselves
a#out how hinese $artial arts originated in the $artial arts of Kerala (or as A' Muragudoss would
have it in the =>?? %a$il $ovie @au$ Arivu, sealed in the genes of an ancient 8allava &rince)-

.ro$ ancient entral Asia, we learned a#out #uilding stone $onu$ents and to$#s, the $ost
fa$ous #eing the %a; Mahal- .ro$ the Aoroastrians and hristians, we learned a#out heaven and
hell (swarga and naraka) which defies the kar$ic theory where no destination is &er$anent- .ro$
!sla$, we learned the value of holy #ooks (#efore that all wisdo$ was oral and e2&ressed only
through song and dance)-
%hen there is the &ro#le$ of no$enclature- Scholars re;ect the tendency to e,uate 4original !ndian
thought3 with 1indu thought, as the word 1indu e$erged only in the nineteenth century- %he ter$
was used #y the *ritish for ad$inistrative convenience, to categori"e what they had earlier called
the religion of the *rah$ins- %hat $akes us wonder if the 'a$ayan is a 1indu e&ic or an !ndian
e&icB
*ut isn3t 4!ndian3 all things secularB /hat does that $ake the %a; Mahal6 an !sla$ic to$# or an
!ndian $onu$entB And what a#out <ain, *uddhist and Sikh ideas that cannot #e nested under the
u$#rella ter$ 1induB Are ancient ideas fro$ $odern 8akistan and $odern (e&al or *angladesh to
#e classified as !ndian ideasB %his issue is infla$$atory-
/ords like 4South Asia3 &o&ular in :uro&ean and A$erican universities are woefully inade,uate
and inaccurate- Acade$icians now use the word 4!ndic,3 to refer to ancient cultural ideas that are
also, #ut not essentially, 1indu, distinguishing it fro$ ideas associated with !ndia, which is a
$odern &olitical entity-
9nderlying this ,uest for the original is a defensive and a&ologetic stance that can #e traced to the
colonial &eriod- %he *ritish rulers of the land declared that civili"ed cultures are cultures with
history, and since !ndians had no history, only $ythology, there were in need of civili"ing- %hus
they ;ustified their colonial rule- /hite Man3s *urden they called it and went a#out giving !ndia its
history, its $a&s, its education and ;udicial syste$s, $uch of which we still cling to-
/hen !ndians scholars &ointed out that !ndians did have their own notion of history, it was re;ected
as it did not $eet :uro&ean standards- /hen !ndian scholars &ointed out that !ndian &ilgri$s always
had the notion of a single entity called *harat, these were dis$issed as nationalist &ro&aganda-
/hen !ndian freedo$ fighters &ointed out that :uro&eans were invaders, not civili"ers, who drained
!ndia3s wealth, the *ritish reali"ed they were #eing cornered-
So they fought #ack #y declaring the u&&er caste 1indu leaders invaders the$selves 4you tore
down the cities of the !ndus valley ;ust as the 1uns and Musli$s tore down the cities of the
)angetic &lains and enslaved the original inha#itants &ushing the$ into forests or turning the$ into
untoucha#les3- %his is what in $ythology is called a 4*rah$astra3 and we are still reeling fro$ that
salvo-
:ven today, des&ite vast evidence to the contrary unravelled #y !ndian and /estern scholars,
te2t#ooks in schools across !ndia teach !ndian children a#out the 4Aryan invasion theory3 $aking
7edic hy$ns 4foreign3, to the outrage of 1indus-
%he !ndus valley scri&t is still not deci&hered yet s&eculations are rife whether they were &eo&le of
the 7edas (a theory &referred #y historians with 'ight0wing leanings) or non07edic Dravidian
&eo&le (a theory &referred #y historians with Left0wing leanings)-
/earing the guise of science, such theories are actually &olitical in nature- And the &olitics is a#out
origins- So it is not sur&rising that $odern $ythological fiction revolves around !ndus valley cities,
and around invasions of Devas and the conflict #etween Shudras and Aryas- %he success of these
novels reveals the latent hunger of the 4lost3 youth-
And it is not sur&rising that these stories alar$ and anger nationalist and funda$entalist forces who
fro$ ti$e to ti$e violently overreact, $uch to the outrage of li#erals and the delight of the $edia-
.or we still yearn for the &ure 4seed3 of our origins-
%his is rather tragic considering the characteristic feature of !ndianC!ndic thought is its co$fort with
a$#iguity as e2&ressed so clearly in the fa$ous !ndian headshake- !t is evident even in creation
$yths of !ndian origin- <udaic, hristian and !sla$ic stories that arose in the Middle and (ear :ast
are clear a#out the idea of )od as creator- *ut !ndianC!ndic stories are not-
<ain scri&tures say the universe was never created5 it has always e2isted, #loo$ing and withering
with unfailing regularity, &ro&elled #y itself and not so$e intelligent design- *uddha did not care
for origins as he said that he was $ore interested in the healer than the archer who shot the
&oisonous arrow-
!n the 7edas the reation 1y$n goes, D/ho ca$e firstB Light or darkness, reality or a#sence of
realityB :ven the gods ca$e laterEF And in the 8uranas, different #ooks identify different
fountainheads for the universe6 Shiva according to Shiva 8urana, 7ishnu according to 7ishnu
8urana, *rah$a according to *rah$a 8urana and Devi according to Devi 8urana-
As a culture we have always #een conte2tual thinkers- /e create our truths and our origins as &er
convenience, $uch like we create our #iryanis and #hel &uris, never distinguishing our novels fro$
our te2t#ooks $uch to the e2as&eration of scientists and historians- 'a$ and Krishna are as $uch
&art of 4our history3 as )andhi-
So we continue to argue whether 4Sita3s #anish$ent3 is true, as it is not &art of the 4original3 7al$iki
'a$ayana, #ut co$forta#ly acce&t the conce&t of 4Laksh$an 'ekha3 as true, even though it finds
no $ention in 7al$iki3s work- So writers have transfor$ed a tiny sli& of a story fro$ 8ad$a 8urana
into 4Ashoka Sundari3, daughter of Shiva, to ensure the $odern television audience does not feel
that Shiva only &refers $ale children- !n generations to co$e, Shiva will always #e the father of a
daughter, ;ust as several generations earlier he was $ade a father of sons-

So also, we insist we have #een using ni$#u0$irchi as talis$ans to ward off the $alevolent ga"e
(na"ar) forever, even though chillies ca$e into !ndia fro$ South A$erica via 8ortuguese traders- So
we will consider Santoshi $ata a ti$eless goddess even though no !ndian had heard of her until the
?G@>s *ollywood $ythological #lock#uster-
So we worshi& horse0headed deities like 1ayagriva in %a$il (adu as a ti$eless for$ of )od
$entioned in the 7edas even though natural historians &oint out that horses are not native to the
su#continent and have always #een regularly i$&orted fro$ entral Asia- So we $ake :nglish, the
language of the coloni"er, our own and &o&ulate it with our very own, very original, words and
&hrases such as 4&re&one3 and 4good na$e3 and s$ugly dare anyone who challenges its authenticity-
%his is what $akes us !ndian- Let us acce&t it- !gnore the &riests, the &hiloso&hers, the teachers and
&oliticians who fight over the 4original and actual3 tri#utary and swi$ in this delightfully tur#ulent
(should we say &olluted) river- Shanti, shanti, shanti-
Devdutt Pattanaik is a Mumbai-based author and illustrator with 25 books on mythology to his
credit. He consults Star ! on serials such as "Devon #e Dev Mahadev$ and "Mahadev$% and serves
as &hie' Belie' (''icer o' the )uture *rou+ ,Big Ba-aar.. o know more visit devdutt.com