Of Hopi women, Maga Brahmins & the Migration of Sun Worshipers

This hairstyle is not found anywhere in India, nor in old statues. There are numerous female figures carved in temples all over India, but none of them have been reported to exhibit this kind of huge side buns.

This style is not found anywhere in the west or north west of Indus culture, but is seen even today among the Hopi women of Pueblo culture!

…While looking for further clues to solve the mystery of Indus hairstyle appearing in Pueblo culture, I happened to come across greater surprises! One of them  is about the way they depict the Sun God!

Sun God is popular in many cultures. But He has a specific description Indian Iconography. The popular shrines in India dedicated to Sun God do not actually depict the Sun as per the rules of iconography that existed 2000 years ago! The 58th chapter on Iconography of temple images found in  Brihad Samhitha written by Varahamihira before 5th  century BP has 3 verses on how the image of Sun must be sculpted.

There are no weapons held by the Sun God. All that he will hold is a lotus in each hand. He must be in standing position wearing  a crown and pendants with garlands hanging from his neck. From breast to the feet he should appear covered. There is a specific mention that he must be adorned in the method followed in Northern countries. Which Northern country does Varahamihira have in mind?  Varahamihira was himself  Sun worshiper – something he mentions in his book and lived in Avanti in Central India.

From his location in Avanti, he can not be referring to North India. Perhaps he had in mind countries north to the Himalayas. We will discuss it later. But we have to take note that he is not referring to any country in the north west or west of India such as Egypt, Rome or Babylon which had Sun worship.
Lets take a look at Sun as seen in Indian temples.The style is as per Varahamihira’s description.The lotus in the 2 hands is a prominent feature.

When we look at West Asian and European regions for their depiction of Sun God, we don’t find any connection with the Hindu Sun God….Now take a look at the Sun God of Incas, he is holding a rounded flower- like item in his hands.

…A popular depiction of the Sun God Inti of Inca again. What does he hold in his hands?

This similarity with Inca’s Sun nearly half way away from India looks perplexing, but not so when we look at other traditions in the western part of the Americas. The traditional residences of the Pueblo people give me a better idea of why we are seeing these similarities.

Before explaining that, let me tell in brief where the Sun God is supposed to reside as per the Puranas.  The Sun (Surya) is a Deva and was ‘last seen’ in the North! Before that he was in the South with his wife Sanjna. At some time, unable to bear his heat, Sanjna escaped to the North. Sun also followed suit and joined her in the North. This Puranic narration shows the shift of period of the sunlight from the South to the North. This happened some 40,000 years ago. Stephen Oppenheimer’s tracing of human migration confirms this information. The migration has gone to the Northern hemisphere through India!

Again looking at Hindu texts, Mahabharata narrates a version of all the countries around the world in early chapters of Bheeshma parva. There it identifies a place called Suryavaan – a mountain – where the sun shines over head. This place is located in continent called Shaka dweepa. I have done an extensive analysis of the location of Shaka dweepa through various cross references in my Tamil blog on tracing the origin of Tamils(http://thamizhan-thiravidana.blogspot.com). I will write details later. For this post I want to say that Suryavaan was indeed a part of the 90 meridian range near the Equator that is now submerged in the Indian ocean.

It was mentioned as Suryavaan because of its location on the Equator. The first Sun worship must have started there. Mahabharata mentioned that four varnas including Brahmins who were called as Maga Brahmins lived in Shaka Dweepa. As a cross reference we do find Varahamihira mentioning that only Maga Brahmins are entitled to do pooja to Sun God. ( Brihad Samhitha 60-19). There are references to Maga Brahmins having migrated to Indian mainland for the sake of installing and carrying out worship of Sun God.

There is an opinion that the Maga Brahmins had come from north west of the Indus. It can not be so because

1. Mahabharata description of Shaka dweepa where Maga Brahmins originally lived does not match with any of the West Asian or European land,
2. Sun worship must have originated in a place where Sun shone overhead / in equator and not in latitudes north of Tropic of Cancer where Sun can never be seen over head.
3. such a notion was fed by an assumption that Brahmins were the Aryans who migrated from West Asia or Central Europe. This theory has been discredited now and
4. the Maga Brahmins were not well versed in Rig Vedas showing them to be different from the  Brahmins who settled in Saraswathy regions.

From Suryavaan, the sun worship has shifted to North (India) and further north when the Northern hemisphere became hospitable for living some 40,000 years ago. The Sun God of Hindu texts lived in the North, in Uttar Kuru which was far north to the Himalayas. There is a chapter in Valmiki Ramayana on the countries in all directions to Bharat. The Vanar-king Shugreeva narrates step by step the countries encountered in the North until the Northern pole. These details has been analysed in my Tamil blog. Accordingly, the ancient land of Devas or what they called Indra loka was identified with numerous cross references from both Tamil and sanskrit texts.

Uttarkuru was around lake Vaikhanas. Vaiskanas is the present day Lake Baikal. The wives of Pandu bore children from the Devas belonging to Uttar kuru according to Mahabharata.Karna was the son of Surya Deva of Deva land where Uttar Kuru was situated. The fact about people having lived in those areas before the last Ice Age confirm that the Puranic narration of Deva loka and Uttra kuru are not figments of imagination.

Now coming to the main story of this post, the Devas were always depicted as having lived in Sky- cities. The capital of Deva land was Amaravathy which was seen as though it was hanging from the sky or floating among the clouds. A similar description is given to Lanka of Ravana in Valmiki Ramayana. Lanka was situated on top of Trikoota peak surrounded by three peaks. Its location on top of the peak seemed as though it was a sky-city or it was hanging from the sky. On seeing it, Hanuman wondered whether it was Amaravathy, the capital city of the Devas. This shows that the city of the Devas was situated on top of a hill or on high places.
While looking at the Pueblo culture who have the Sun God looking similar to the Hindu depiction of the Sun, we are in for a greater surprise because the Pueblos also lived on ‘sky-cities’.

Look at their houses built on hills.  1879 Photo of a Pueblo dwelling is given below. Puranas say that Devas do not walk on the ground! That is why they had their dwellings on the Sky!! Here the Pueblo people live above the ground. They had another similarity in the form of Sun God  in the way depicted by Hindu texts.

What do all these indicate?

Looking at the map of human migration around the world in the last 80,000 years as mapped by Stephen Oppenheimer on the basis of DNA studies, this similarity gives some clues.
Take a look at this map.

The grey lines depict the route of human migration. About 40,000 years ago, man had landed in the Northern areas of the globe as the climate was warm enough for living. I note that period as the time of peak of Devas culture. The Northern dress noted by Varahamihira referred to the dress of the people of that location in North. It must also be noted that other characters such as Revatha and Karana were also born with “udheechya vesha” according to Puranas. It means ‘the Northern dress’ – a glowing dress complete with ornaments over the body.

It was the time North America and Russia were land connected. People had migrated through that land when Ice Age set in. They turned southwards and moved along with the western coast of North and South America. They settled mostly around the equator in those regions. This happened 10,000 years ago according to genetic studies.

The Pueblos, the Incas and the Mayans settled in these regions. By the time they came down to these places, the old glory of devahood is almost gone. The remnant culture had existed in the form of their dwellings and Sun God. Even the sacrificial pits bear resemblance to  what it used to be for the Devas.

According to Vastu sastra, the ancient science of architecture, the Devas had a different type of architecture and it was altered for the people of Bharat. The one place connected with Devas in Tamilnadu was Poompukar. From the Tamil texts such as Silapapdhikaram and Manimekalai we come to know that Poompukar was occupied by King Muchukunda in whose custody Indra, the lord of the Devas left the upkeep of his regions. Indra installed his helper, called “Naalangadi Deva” at Poompukar in  return for the help. It was in memory of Indra, the people of Poompukar were doing a festival in the name of Indra until 3rd century AD. A man made structure found by Graham Hancock off the Poompukar coast has been dated to 11,500 years BP. (It must be noted that the last time we hear about Indra or Devas was around 10,000 years ago, when Indra’s son was captured by Surapadma. It was around the same time the famous elephant of Indra – which in all likelihood be the Woolly Mammoth (found in North) became extinct.) The structure now under water is more or less round or oval shaped.

A similar round or oval structures are found in Arkaim, in what we identified as Uttarkuru.

These were found to be abandoned after setting them to fire.It must be noted that in the Vedic Homas, the Yaga shalas (sacrificial pits) are burnt after the worship / homa is over.
The surprising part of it is that we find a similar circular sacrificial pits in Pueblo dwellings. They also bear a burnt evidence! They bear resemblance to Arkaim models and Poompukar structure!

Now take a look at the map again.

The red line is the route of Sun worship.It started in Suryavan in the Indian Ocean near the Equator,entered India and went past the Himalayas to far Northern latitudes. That was the time the culture of Devas was at it peak. Surya was an important deity of the North. The red line turns to North America and finally settled on the west coast around 10,000 years ago. The Pueblos have a story that their ancestors came from the North and therefore they had a broad Northern Road. The circles in blue are the locations where sun worship occurred without much deviation.

Now coming to the Indus girl with her 2 side buns.In all probability, the women of North (Uttar Kuru and Deva land) had this hairstyle.This figurine is sporting a voluptous look and almost naked.The similar style in Hopi people is connected with the period of courtship of an unmarried girl.This reminds me of the Apsaras women of Deva land who were known for freedom in personal life.They were seductive and might have looked similar to the depiction of the Indus figurine.

Finally let me show another similarity in the depictions of Goddesses. This figurine found in Tlatilco has naked looks surrounded by fierce figures (Bhootha Ganas?)

This looks similar to the Chamunda of Mahua temple at Shivpuri in Madhyapradesh (10th century AD)

Perhaps this was how Chamunda was depicted in times of yore, but modified later. How this figure traveled to Tlatilco in Mexico? Was it taken by sculptors who learnt it from India?If so, how did people there develop the worship of this deity?

The only plausible answer looks like a migration of people for 1000s of years via India to the North and then to the Americas. The customs they carried had deteriorated over time, but such customs have lived almost in tact in Bharat!! In conclusion I would say that an analysis of Hindu textssupported by Tamil texts do yield the explanation for puranic accountswhich are now getting proved by modern branches of science.

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Do read the post in full here and don’t miss the comments (those of you who understand Tamizh, pl have a look at Jayasree’s Tamizh blog too). Hopefully someday we will get to the bottom of these mysteries..Until then we can only speculate on the wonders of ancient history.

Somewhat Related Posts: Krishna and Rath Yatra in Ancient Egypt and Latin American Hanuman

Also read: Pretty Ladies and Indus Script