Lord Krishna is our historical hero

 I feel greatly fascinated by the ancient past of India. More I study, more feel I convinced that,no doubt, we have done a lot of research in knowing our ancient history yet all this is not enough. I am all praise for Alexander Cunningham[1814-1893], the father-figure of the Archaeological Survey of India, who discovered the rock-edicts of Ashoka the Great about Lord Buddha and Lord Mahavira and proved their historical existence. He was an army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group yet keeping in view his deep interest in the history and archaeology of India, the British government appointed him as the archaeological surveyor of India in 1861. His commitment was life-long and achievement phenomenal in revealing the distant past to us. I am of the view that we have had in the post -Independence period very talented scholars and historians like Hemchandra Ray Chaudhry,  R C Majumdar,  D D Kosambi,  Ram Sharan Sharma,  Romila Thapar, and  S R Rao etc. who enriched and enhanced our ability to comprehend the continuous flow of economic,political,social and cultural life of our ancient land. Alexander Cunningham identified the "Dhamek Stupa" in Sarnath, a quiet retreat from Varanasi where Lord Buddha is believed to have delivered his first spiritual discourse. In 1896, Samsher Rana and Altois Anton Fuhrer spotted the stone pillar  at Rummindei  which marks the visit of emperor Ashoka to Lumbini in 249 BC, the birth place of Lord Buddha near Kapilvastu in Nepal. Before the year 1896, nobody was actually aware of the historical existence of this great soul. Only literary texts,oral traditions and myths were in vogue about his life and works.  The oral tradition is always floating. But the day, the Lumbini pillar was unearthed, Buddha had become historical. Real interest in the "Sakya Muni" grew only between 200 BC and 200 A D. The different biographical tales on him like "Sarvastivadins, Lalitavistara, Theravadins, Nidankatha and Asvaghosa's "Buddhacharita" were composed after 500 to 700 years of his birth. The earliest iconography of Lord Mahavira, the 24th Jaina Tirathankara, was revealed at the archaeological sites in the North India,particularly in Mathura-- the native land of Lord Krishna. Most of the rock reliefs and sculptures about Lord Mahavira date to between 100 BC and 200 A D. There is some historical affinity between Lord Krishna and Jaina Tirathankars also,particularly Neminatha,the 22nd Tirathankara. Neminatha is believed to be  a Yadav prince and  cousin of Lord Krishna in the Jaina tradition. We must know that the Jaina saints and scholars in ancient India were endowed with a great historical sense. In recording our ancient tales full of maximum authenticity, they are next only to the Buddhist scholars who composed and shared with others their " Jataka" tales.  If we wish to reach the historical truth so far as Lord Krishna is concerned, we have to explore and excavate the historical mounds and sites of Kurukshetra, Hastinapur, Indraparstha, Dwarika, Kaushambi and the Rajgriha[ near Pataliputra or Patna] in a painstaking manner.  It is quite interesting to note that the copper chariots have recently been discovered from some burials at Sanauli village in Baghpat district.This historical mound may help us in connecting  with our glorious ancient period of the Mahabharata . With the passage of time, we may stumble upon many more layers of evidence about our ancient society. We will have to correlate and cross-check the sculptures, artifacts, seals and terracotta figurines of different ancient mounds systematically and scientifically also.


                             

                         Let me quote Cunningham who says,"-- the elder Pliny,for the sake of clearness follows the footsteps of Alexander the Great. For the similar reason, I shall follow the footsteps of the Chinese pilgrim,Hiuen Tsang. Cunningham unearthed fabulous Buddhist sculptures and life-size images of Lord Buddha from Mathura mounds. It is believed that Lord Buddha visited Mathura once in his life time. The most pertinent question is ,"Why did Buddha visit Mathura more than 2400 years ago?" If we dwell deep into that remote past, we come to know that a section of our ancient literary texts point out that the Buddhist stupas were set up in big ancient towns,particularly in North-West India. Lord Buddha is said to have visited Kaushambi[ near Allahabad] several times to deliver his spiritual discourses. In my opinion, Lord Buddha arrived in the famous and historical land of Mathura because he had heard the tales of Mahabharata and its great hero, Lord Krishna. I also guess that there were definitely signs of some initial semi-urban fortifications when Lord Buddha visited Mathura. Mathura had become a famous hub of trade and commerce in those days. Buddha's followers and disciples emulated Ashoka's strong belief in Buddhism and set up monasteries in Mathura. I would like to emphasize once again that today or tomorrow, we shall have a solid evidence which sets to rest all speculation about the historicity of  Mahabharata or Lord Krishna. The ancient sites of Mathura Like Katra,Kankali Tila,Jamalpur or Jail Mound,Bhuteshwar Mound, Balabhadra Kund, Dhulkot, Kans Ka Tila, Prakham, and Mahaban etc located with in the ancient city or within a radius of 20 kilometers are replete with pre-Mauryan,Maurya, and Kushan period artefacts,sculptures and rock columns,pilasters of ancient temples. The fortified city of ancient Mathura had mud ramparts. The Dhulkot area reminds us that there was some fort like structure in the sixth century BC. In fact, with the arrival of the Britishers in the  19th century, the new roads and the railway lines were laid out,cutting through so many ancient mounds. Another historical reality about Mathura city[ settled in the crescent shape] on the west bank of Yamuna is that the changing course of the mighty river destroyed or decimated considerably many of these mounds. Moreover, there has been a continuous habitation in this ancient city for the last three thousand years. In the pre-Mauryan period, the houses were made of reeds and bamboo poles. Then raw bricks also came into usage in the house building. Even after thousands of years of its perennial existence, Mathura city has still countless inscriptions,sculptures and rock reliefs hidden in its  deep layers of the earth. I don't think that the archaeological work at Mathura or different ancient mounds located in its close proximity has reached its saturation point. We have yet to do a lot of search and research. No doubt, from the days of Alexander Cunningham, we have covered more than a century in excavating these mounds. Yet a serious excavation work was carried out in fifties, then in sixties and seventies.Dr S R Rao carried out on shore and off-shore excavations to trace the existence of Lord Krishna's Dwarka and Bet Dwarka which is known as Kushasthali also in our Puranic literature. Dr S R Rao brought to light the ancient port city of Lothal in fifties and his archaeological findings mentioned in his famous book, "The Lost City of Dwarka" cannot be dismissed as a mere figment of his imagination. Not vertical but horizontal excavations will help us in revealing the hidden truths of our ancient past from Mathura.The village Gokul situated in the Mahaban area is very ancient and it finds reference in the writings of Greek historians, Arrian and Pliny. There is a place "Chatti Palna" located in "Assi Khamba"[ five rows of sixteen columns] temple. Ladies visit this place after the sixth day of their children's birth. Here was once an ancient temple also.Pliny and Arrian refer to this place as "Kleoisbora[Krishanpura] located on the navigable river,"Jabores"[Yamuna]. Cunningham also shares this viewpoint. I feel that we must have in our  minds the elements of change and continuity. The noted indologist, Benjamin Preciado Solis gives an account of twenty-three sources[14 of literary texts and 9 of rock reliefs] in support of Lord Krishna's actual existence in the ancient land of India. If Lord Buddha and Lord Mahavira can be accepted as "historical" figures, Lord Krishna also has to be  accorded the same honour and recognition today or tomorrow. We have to revisit all the literary texts,inscriptions and rock reliefs dating from 1000 BC to 600 A D. We must be aware that in our country, the art and tradition of raising rock edicts and inscriptions on the life of great men developed only during the eventful rule of Ashoka the Great. The only gap in case of historical studies on Lord Krishna is that we have to establish logical links between the dozens of literary texts and rock sculptures associated with his life and works. This evidence seems to be lying scattered throughout the North-west and Central India in  ancient forts and mounds. We have to locate and correlate them with one another scientifically. The research on our ancient mounds should continue as they may hide the bigger picture of our ancient great men.

 

Dr RAJ BAHADUR YADAV