The Evolution of Religion of Egypt and Harappan India
The Evolution of Religions of Egypt and Harappan India, is a thouough analysis of the striking similarities between ancient Egypt and Harappan civilisations. Each chapter itself is a goldmine of information and contains exhaustive references to other books and basic sources for further study
Sulabh Jain is a software engineer from the University of Canberra, who had a fascination for mythology and religion since childhood and the book under review is the result of a lifetime study of both. Mythology and religion are two potent concepts, which had remarkable impact on man and his life. Myths have a unique position in human culture. They are the subconscious dream of a society and as such they convey important messages that a culture is otherwise not in a position to articulate. Myths are stories that narrate in an imaginative and symbolic manner the total and basic structures of a culture.
Religion is an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, practices and centre on one supreme God or Gods. Religion gives many people a feeling of security because they believe that a divine power watches over them. Karl Marx called religion “Opium of the people”, but it has acted effective force. Religious beliefs have resulted in the growth of strong nation and strident belief in one’s own religion has led to strife, conquest and destruction. What Sulabh Jain has done is to effectively marshal a wealth of information on the evolution of myths and religion in Ancient Egypt and ancient Harappa and discern amazing similarities and highly improbable coincidences.
This book is divided into three parts. The first part is an introduction to the lifestyle and religions of the Egyptions and the Harappans and is based heavily on archaeological and textual evidence. The second part attempts to show the unmistakable connection between the two cultures and religions. The final and third part elaborates what the similarities mean from a historic point of view.
The first part is a thorough and painstaking analysis of the history of the period from 3000 BC. An identical survey of Indian history is also done with meticulous thoroughness.
Let us nave a look at a few of the similarities between the religions of Egypt and Harappa, to which Jain draws our attention. Atum is sesf-created and the ultimate power of the Egyption universe. Atum is believed to be seated on a primordial flower and is attributed to be responsible for initiating the creation process by opening a cosmic egg laid by a cosmic goose. Our Brahma emerges from an omnipotent force called Brahman;we have the golden egg – the Hiranyagarbha from which life issues forth. The Egyptian god Ptah- curiously sounding like our ptah resembles Shiva and Brahma. The pedestal on which Ptah is installed looks very much like the Shivalinga. The divine bull Apis is associated in the same way as Nandi is associated with shiva. The Egyptian god Ra is similar to Surya. Ra travels in a solar boat; Surya is driven in a chariot by seven horses.
The author points out the identity between the two theologies of the Egyptians and the Harappans, Which could possibly have led to sharing of a great deal of social values. Yoga was practised both in Egypt and India under different names.
After the exercise in identifying similarities in a number of parameters in Egypt and Harappa the author raises the pertinent query : “What does this mean?” and attempts in answer. The majority of world’s religions can be traced back to Egypt in India in some form or other. If the religions of these two countries are greatly similar, it could perhaps give a reason to believe that other cultures have remnants of religion in these two countries. Important traces of this should be present within most of the religions throughout history after civilization. Hinduism, especially vedic Hinduism must have originated in India as early as 3000 BC.
The idea of European incursion into India would never have been given any credibility if not for the remarkable similarity in the Indo-European language group. There has been some cultural integration between Ancient Egypt and Harappa and there is a case for a further deep study as to how this emerged. The key point is that the Egyptians and the Harappans were in contact with one another prior to the development of their civilisations and the codification of their religions. Thus, these two groups of people underwent parallel developments in their society and religions for some time. Hence the great similarities between their faiths.
Jain’s work is a thorough analysis of the striking similarities between ancient Egypt and Harappan civilisations. Each chapter itself is a goldmine of information and contains exhaustive references to other books and basic sources for further study. This books is a major contribution to the literature on religion and mythology and warmly commended to all students of culture, religion and sociology.