Johannesburg: Where does Lord Shiv not exist? It is said that Shiv is in
every particle and every stone. There is Shiv in Kailash, Shiv in Kashi, and Africa. The discovery of a Shiv idol in
South Africa is proof that 6000 years ago, Africans used to follow
Hinduism. Archaeologists have found a 6000-year-old shivling idol in a cave
named Sudara in South Africa, made of hard granite stone. The
archaeologists are amazed at how the shivling survived there for so
long? Recently the world's longest shivshakti effigy was unveiled in South
Africa. In that effigy Lord Shiv and his shakti (power) better half
Parvati is also present. This effigy was established in the township of
Actonville in Benoni city. 10 artists took 10 months to complete this
effigy.
From a broad statistical standpoint, Hinduism’s roughly 0.2% presence in Africa is seen as so inconsequential that most data organizations don’t even bother mentioning it in their census reports. Instead, they opt to clump the religion, along with a medley of the continent’s other minority faiths, into a 1% usually categorized as “others” and simply leave it at that.
However, broad statistics can sometimes be deceiving, especially when it comes to figures so prominent that even minuscule percentages are significant in terms of actual numbers. Such is the case regarding Africa’s Hindu adherents, whose 0.2%, in the context of the continent’s 1.2 billion population, is an estimated 2.5 million.
As such, Hinduism, though sparsely practised throughout the continent compared to religions like Islam and Christianity, can be found in notable pockets, pockets in which the culture, despite seeming out of place, is expressed just as beautifully as anywhere else.
While the scattered nature of these pockets can make understanding Africa’s Hindu story a somewhat complex, a handful of the most noteworthy can still give an overarching view of what this story entails. With the hope of providing said view, here are four countries where Hinduism’s presence is particularly noteworthy and why.
1) South Africa
Before the Union of South Africa (the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa) was founded in 1910, the area comprised four separate British colonies: Cape, Transvaal, Orange River, and Natal.
In this last colony, Natal, now part of the KwaZulu-Natal province, Hinduism began taking root in the African mainland. The government, needing a cheap replacement for the labour plantation owners lost after slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire, decided to do what several other colonies had already begun: import Indian nationals under a system of indentured servitude.
Presented with the opportunity of new beginnings — specifically five-year contracts, after which they could sign for another five years, followed by the opportunity to settle permanently with crown land and full citizenship rights — 6,445 impoverished yet hopeful Indians journeyed to Natal between 1860 and 1866.
Sadly, these early immigrants were treated more like slaves than hired workers, brought on overcrowded ships, housed in military-style barracks, and forced to work under terrible conditions. So bad was the ill-treatment of labourers, in fact, that immigration was paused after 1866.
In 1874, however, it resumed in full throttle, as thousands of new immigrants poured into Natal, not just indentured labourers but also a community of traders, artisans, and teachers who made the trip at their own expense. Over time, many labourers who completed 10 years of service, equipped with the skills they acquired during their indentureship, joined this community, which quickly began expanding.
Concerned that Natal could become majority Indian if this growth remained steady in 1891, the government decided to revoke its promise regarding gifting land and citizenship.
Regardless of this move, Indians made up almost half of Natal’s population by 1893; by 1904, they outnumbered the whites. By 1911, after all of the colonies joined to become the Union of South Africa, thereby ending Natal’s indentureship program, the colony had received more than 150,000 Indian immigrants.
As South Africa became more industrialized, the following decades saw the rapid urbanization of Hindus who began moving into the cities, most notably Durban, the Indian population of which increased from 17,015 in 1911 to 123,165 in 1949.
Though, during this period, this population faced a myriad of challenges, including high levels of unemployment, wide-scale poverty, and various efforts by the government to have them repatriated, they persevered, building temples and schools so their youth could become better educated in Hindu culture, as well as have access to better jobs.
Therefore, establishing themselves firmly in the city's cultural fabric, Durban is now home to most of South Africa’s 1.3 million Indians, making it, according to some sources, the largest Indian city outside of India and thus a most potent hub of Hindu practice.
2) Mauritius
While Natal was the first British colony in the mainland to become part of the Indian-indentured-servant program, it was actually Mauritius, the island located roughly 1,200 miles off the southeastern coast, that was the first British colony in Africa (in all of the empire, in fact) to start importing Indian workers in the new post-slavery system.
Having once been the recipient of Indian workers under French colonial rule, 6,000 of Mauritius’ 80,000 population was already Indian when Britain began its indentured program, thus making it a more appealing work destination for recruits — some of whom had relatives there — even after other colonies began competing for their services.
Because of this, Mauritius’ Indian population swiftly grew, despite Parliament having to pause the program for two years due to the ill-treatment of workers like it later had to in South Africa, as 700,000 labourers migrated to the island between 1834 and 1920.
Today, 50% of Mauritius’ 1.3 million population is Hindu, making it the only African country where Hinduism has the highest number of followers.
As a result, the island is sometimes called “little India,” where almost all its presidents and prime ministers have been Hindus and where most Hindu celebrations are public holidays.
3) Uganda
Generally speaking, the story of Hinduism in Uganda begins in similar fashion to that of South Africa and Mauritius, or any other British colony.
Requiring cheap labour, this time for the construction of the Uganda Railway that would connect Kampala in Uganda to Mombasa in Kenya, the British imported around 40,000 Indian workers in the 1890s.
After completing the project in 1902, a majority of the laborers returned to India, while a small percentage opted to stay and continue work in railway and other British operations, like retail and administration.
Comprising just a sliver of Uganda’s overall population, this small percentage was soon joined by a wave of new immigrants — mostly traders — who began establishing their own businesses. As these businesses prospered, spurring even more immigrants to come and work, the Indian population became instrumental in developing the country’s economy through and beyond the end of colonialism.
Unfortunately, after colonialism, discrimination against Indians rose to exceptionally high levels as part of the policies of various East African governments who felt that indigenous Africans should be at the forefront of the economy.
Such xenophobic policies reached their culmination in 1972 when military dictator General Idi Amin announced that all of the Indian-origin people living in Uganda — numbering, by that time, almost 80,000 — had to leave the country. If, after 90 days, any of them were still there, they would, as he put it, be made to feel as if they were “sitting on fire!”
Hence leaving their businesses and homes to be seized by the government, all of the region’s Indians mass migrated to a medley of other countries, including around 28,000 to the United Kingdom, around 15,000 to India, and around 8,000 to Canada.
Thereafter faced with a shortage of skilled professionals, the expulsion of Indians actually caused Uganda to fall into a financial crisis, resulting in long-term economic devastation.
20 years after the exodus, Uganda reversed its laws banning Indians, offering to give back their seized properties with hopes they would return and reinvigorate the economy by recreating employment. Having already rebuilt their lives in other parts of the world, however, most who left Uganda in ‘72 decided to simply sell their reclaimed property and not move back.
There was, on the other hand, a minority who indeed returned, with some even repossessing the businesses they originally owned. Now numbering 30,000, Ugandan Indians again hold controlling stakes in various sectors of the economy, employing more than 1 million indigenous people and contributing to more than 65% of the country’s domestic revenue.
4) Ghana
Ghana’s Hindu community, from a broad perspective, is made up of two distinct groups: Indians and indigenous Africans, both of whom get along very well, regularly sharing spaces of worship and occasionally banning together to host visiting teachers or dignitaries.
During the first half of the 20th century, the Indian community was very small, consisting mostly of Gujaratis who settled in the country in the colonial era — not as indentured servants, but as merchants seeking economic opportunities. After 1947, however, this group was joined by an influx of Sindhis who migrated to Africa, spurred on by the partition of India, thus adding to Ghana’s overall Indian population.
Because, for the most part, this population engaged in their cultural practices privately due to the general assumption Hinduism was an Indian faith that might be unappreciated by foreigners, the migrants made no real attempts to introduce their traditions to the native Ghanaians during this period. The religion, as a result, remained only among the Indians for a long time.
The Ghanaians, nevertheless, still managed to have encounters with Hinduism throughout this period. Soldiers who had served alongside the British in Sri Lanka and India during World War II, according to reports, came back to Ghana with remarkable tales of Hindu gods and mysticism, arousing in the Africans a curiosity for India and its spiritual culture.
Fueled not only by the popular rise of Hindi movies, which were characterized by supernatural displays of spiritualism, but also by the appearance of various astrologers and healers who claimed connections to Hinduism, this curiosity rose throughout the decades.
When, in the 1970s, a new wave of Hindu groups thus began arriving in the country — ones whose goals were to actively share their traditions with the indigenous — many of Ghana’s people were primed to reciprocate, despite the hostile public reaction instigated by Christians.
As such, Hinduism began taking hold among Ghana’s native, so much so that the indigenous Hindu community now actually outnumbers the Indian community, and Hinduism as a whole is the country’s fastest growing religion.
Thanks https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/hinduism-beyond-india-africa
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Scientific Reason behind Indian Punishment :
Remember the ‘good’ old Indian school punishments? Holding the earlobes with arms crossed over your chests, bending the knees and then sit and then stand and so on till the time Masterji is saying?
Ever thought why the traditional Indian school teachers would give this particular punishment? I believe even majority of the teachers who grant this punishment to their students do not know the reason behind it. This form of punishment has been in practice in our country since the Gurukul time and was given to the students who were weak in studies. That is a different question if now a days teachers grant this punishment for any mistake and not only for studies but originally it was meant for weak students only.
Talking about the logic behind this punishment, it is very interesting to know that this particular posture increases the blood flow in the memory cells in brain and synchronizes the right and left side of the brain to improve function and promote calmness, stimulates neural pathways via acupressure points in the earlobe, sharpens intelligence and also helps those with autism, asperger’s syndrome, learning difficulties and behavioral problems.
Probably we have forgotten this ancient method of increasing memory power but the West is now using is very diligently and they are recommending this posture or exercise to treat many a diseases.
Like @[312842482135099:274:Useful info] <](https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/481073_493407857411893_695757700_n.jpg)
![Photo: Dhanvantari
Dhanvantari is an Avatar of Vishnu from the Hindu tradition. He appears in the Vedas and Puranas as the physician of the gods (devas), and the god of Ayurvedic medicine. It is common practice in Hinduism for worshipers to pray to Dhanvantari seeking his blessings for sound health for themselves and/or others.
Commonly worshipped as the Hindu God of Medicine, the Master of Universal Knowledge, Physician of Gods and the Guardian Deity of Hospitals, DHANVANTARI is regarded as the original exponent of Indian medical tradition called AYURVEDA, the ‘eternal science of life.’ This tradition is now accepted as the oldest, most original and unbroken medical system of the world.
In ancient Indian tradition there are several schools like those of ATHARVAN, ATREYA, CHARAKA, SUSHRUTA, BEHLA, AGNIVESA, PARASARA, HARITA, VAGBHATA and MADHAVA. Of these, the ‘Great Three’ or BRIHAT-TRAM are the works of CHARAKA, SUSHRUTA and VAGBHATA. Further there was the school of physicians headed by ATREYA and of the Rasa Siddha-s, by KASHYAPA.
DHANVANTARI has many myths and legends woven around him. Normally shown as clad in bright yellow silk, He is depicted with four hands- the upper pair of hands carrying sankha and chakra, and the lower pair, a (golden) leech (jalookaa-medical term Hirudo Medicinalis) and kamandalu (pitcher) (sometimes shown as a blood letting bowl). Sometimes he is shown with the text of the upaveda, AYURVEDA and medicinal herbs. Sometime he is shown with a tulasi-seed garland around his neck and a plant-wreath halo. His complexion is blue, making Him another incarnation of VISHNU. Interestingly, the leech was part of the doctor’s kit in olden days since it was used to suck out impure blood from the patient‘s body. Even now, extract from its saliva is used to prevent clotting.
What does the word Dhanvantari mean?
The word DHANVANTARI affords different interpretations:
(a) The word dhanus is only indicative (upalakshna). It denotes the science of surgery. The one who has seen the end (anta) of it is DHANVANTARI.
(b) The word dhanvan means a desert. (Compare RIGVEDA [V.36.1] dhanvachara meaning, he who moves in a desert). There is a mantra in the Veda: dhanvan iva prapaaasi (0 Lord! You are like the place where water is distributed to travellers in a desert.) Thus, DHANVANTARI the incarnation of Lord VISHNU with a pot of nectar in His hand is like prapaa (water spot) in the desert of worldly existence.
The RAMAYANA (Balakanda, Sarga 45) describes him as a divine being who emerged from the milky ocean after a churning of 1000 years. He carried a kamandalu (water pitcher) in one hand and a danda (staff) in the other.
The first Dhanvantari
Gods, repeatedly defeated and killed by their more powerful cousins, the demons, approached Lord VISHNU, seeking the boon of rejuvenation and the gift of immortality.
He then directed them to churn the primeval ocean in which were hidden the secrets of life and death.
The Gods sought the help of the demons, to whom they promised part of the spoil. With VASUKI as the rope and Mount MANDARA as the churning rod, they churned the ocean till it yielded several valuable things such as desire-yielding trees, a cow, the flying horse, the white elephant and nymphs, Moon and LAKSHMI. Finally came DHANVANTARI the divine physician, holding the pitcher of AMRITA the elixir of life that could bestow immortality.
The HARIVAMSA (ch. 29) describes him as prosperous-looking, and says that after emerging from the milky ocean, he stood worshipping Lord VISHNU. VISHNU named him ABJA. He then bowed down to VISHNU and said: “0 Lord, I am Your son. Allor a share of the sacrifices to me.” VISHNU replied: “Portions of sacrifices have already been allotted. Since you were born after the celestials, you cannot be considered as one of them. You will be born in the world of humans and then you will become a celebrity. In your second life, which will be in the DVAPARA YUGA, even from the time of your conception, you will have various occult powers. You will be born as god-incarnate. You will compose works on AYURVEDA which will be well known in all parts of the world.”
"Dhanvantari is worshipped as the Hindu God of Medicine. He epitomlzes medical knowledgeAe is also regarded as the origlnal exponent of the Indian Medical Tradition, Ayurveda".
In the DVAPARA YUGA, there was a king called DHANVA in the family of the rulers of KASI. He did not have children for a long time. He performed penance and propitiated ABJA (another name for DHANVANTARI). Pleased by his austerities, ABJA was born as his son. DHANVA named him DHANVANTARI. DHANVANTARI taught AYURVEDA in parts, to eight disciples. To him were born KETUMAN, BHIMARATHA and DIVODASA.
There is a story in some purana-s connecting DHANVANTARI with PARIKSHIT, the grandson of the PANDAVA-S. When TAKSHAKA wanted to bite PARIKSHIT and kill him, a specialist in treating poisonous bites rushed to save the king. But TAKSHAKA bribed and sent him back. It is said that the doctor thus sent back was DHANVANTARI. But other references identify him with KASHYAPA.
The BRAHMA VAIVARTA PURANA (Krishnajanma Khanda) has an interesting story connecting DHANVANTARI with MAANASAA DEVI, a serpent Goddess. Once DHANVANTARI was going to KAILASA along with his disciples. On the way, TAKSHAKA hissed and spat venom. Irritated, one of the disciples of DHANVANTARI boldly plucked the diamond on the head of TAKSHAKA and threw it on the ground.
Hearing about this, VASUKI, the King of Serpents, threatened DHANVANTARI with thousands of serpents under the leadership of DRONA, PUNDARIKA and DHANANJAYA. The poisonous breath of these snakes made the disciples of DWANTARI swoon. However, DHA”TARI made all of them recover with a powerful medicine and in turn sent all the serpents to a swoon.
When VASUKI came to know about this, he next sent the serpent-maid MAANASAA DEVI, a disciple of Lord SIVA, to face DHA”TARI. MAANASAA DEVI also made all the disciples of DHANVANTARI swoon. But DHANVANTARI proved more than a match for her. He brought back his disciples to normal with his powerful medicines. When MAANASAA DEW realized that she could not harm DHANVANTARI or his disciples with her poison, she took the trisula (trident) given by Lord SIVA and aimed it at DHANVANTARI. At this point, SIVA and BRAHMA appeared before them, pacified and sent them away.
According to some other works, DHANVANTARI was born as DIVODASA, King of KASI. He became famous as KASIRAJA and composed many texts on AYURVEDA. Glorification of these works is to be found in the AGNI PURANA (chs. 279-288), and the works of KASIRAJA’S disciple, SUSHRUTA.
The BHAGAVATA PURANA refers to DHANVANTARI as “smritamaatra aartinaasanah” (One who destroys all sufferings even when remembered). DHANVANTARI, DIVODASA and KASIRAJA are names of the same person who is “the first God and who freed the other Gods from old age, disease and death”, and who in his Himalayan retreat taught surgery to SUSHRUTA and other sages.
The VISHNUDHARMOTTAKA PURANA (I. 73.41) which is a major text on iconography, suggests that, DHANVANTARI should be presented as surupa (handsome) and priya-darshana (pleasant in appearance), with two hands, carrying a pitcher of ambrosia in each hand. According to some dhyanasloka-s given in the PRAPANCHA-SARA-SANGRAHA DANVANTARI may be meditated upon as bathing Himself with nectar flowing from the two pots He holds over His head. This form is to be visualised as seated on the devotee’s head, or upon the lunar orb in the full-moon night. Yet another verse describes him as handsome (manoharaanga), with a tranquil face (prasanna-mukha) and residing in the solar orb (ravi-bimbastba.)
DHANVANTARI’S appearance is celebrated each year on the 13th day (trayodasi) of the waxing moon a few days before the DIPAVALI.
The second Dhanvantari
There is an account of a second DHANVANTARI as AMRITACHARYA. He appears to be an eminent medical scientist born in the ambashtha caste. According to a work called the AMBASHTHACHARA CHANDRIKA, sage GALAVA once went to the forest to collect darbba grass and firewood. He walked for long and felt thirsty and hungry. He then saw a girl coming that way with water. She was a vaisya girl VIRABHADRAA by name. He quenched his thirst with the water given by her. Pleased with her, the sage blessed that she would get a noble son. The girl said she was still unmarried. GALAVA then made a figure of a male with dharbha grass and asked her to get a child from that figure. She got a beautiful baby boy. Since he was born to a vaisya mother and brahmin father (darbha-purusha created by the Brahmin GALAVA) he belonged to the ambashta caste. The boy was named AMRITACHARYA.
Dhanvantari and Kumbha Mela
There are episodes connecting DHANVANTARI with the KUMBHA MELA river festival, which takes place once in twelve years at four different places- HARIDVAR, ALLAHABAD, NASIK and UJJAIN. As DHANVANTARI emerged with the pot containing nectar in His palms, a great fight took place between the Gods and demons to wrest the pitcher from His hands. During the fierce battle that took place in the sky, a few drops of nectar fell in the four places referred to. Hence these places became sacred. KUMBHAMELA-S are held at these places to commemorate the divine event. Devotees throng to these places in tens of thousands to purify and rejuvenate themselves with the waters, which are supposed to have within them, the power of AMRITA.
The Nighantu
DHANVANTARI appears to have been an actual historical person, although his precise identity is hard to be ascertained. He taught surgery and other divisions of AYURVEDA (Indian system of medicine) at the instance of SUSHRUTA, to a group of sages among whom SUSHPUTA was the foremost. DHANVANTARI is regarded as the patron-god of all branches of medicine. While DHANVANTARI is not credited with any medical treatise of his own, in the early accounts, there is a voluminous glossary and materia medica known as DHANVANTARI NIGHANTU. Even as there is the HIPPOCRATES’ oath for allopathic doctors, so is there the DHANVANTARI oath for AYURVEDIC practitioners.
This work is considered the most ancient of all medical glossaries available. The original work is said to have been in three recensions and the present version may have been based on one of them. This text in six se.ctions deals with 373 medicinal substances, their names and synonyms and a brief description of their properties. Described as the ‘third eye’ for practising physicians, it is extensively relied upon, despite several more comprehensive glossaries that have been compiled subsequently.
Dhanvantari in the context of Allopathy
Modern scholars with a scientific bent of mind assume that Western Science in its modern phase is the paradigm for all forms of scientific knowledge. The native systems of medicine, in their opinion, are crude and unscientific. But if Science can be defined as the body of knowledge based on observation of phenomena under a theoretical framework, which itself is tested in observation, the system of AYURVEDA also has a claim to be called Science. In course of time it has been, and is being realized that there is a vast field for research and discovery in this ancient system of medicine. Texts on AYURVEDA lay great importance on empirid observation – collection of data on drugs, on pathological symptoms, and even on anatomy through dissection of corpses.
These texts mention drugs of vegetable, animal and mineral origin. The number of drug plants mentioned in the three SAMHITA-S (CHARAKA, SUSHRUTA and the text ASHTANGAHRIDAYA of VAGBHATA) is somewhere between 600 and 700 and the number of Sanskrit names (excluding their derivatives) of vegetable drugs is about 1900. These works do not discuss plants as such. They discuss, instead, the effects on our bodies of the different parts and products of the plants.
Says the CHARAKA SAMHITA (Sutra Stbana, Ch. I, verses 72-73): “Roots, bark, pith, exudation, stalk, juice, sprouts, alkalis, milk, fruit, flower, ash, oils, thorns, leaves, buds, bulbs and off-shoots are the plant products now in medicine.” In ancient days they were doing trephining (making holes in the head), nose corrections and operative deliveries. In so far as the drugs of animal origin are concerned, the CHARAKASAMHITA done discusses 165 varieties of animals. It says (Sutra Sthana Ch, I, w. 68-69): “Honey, milk, bile, fat, marrow, blood, flesh, excrement, urine, skin, semen, bones, sinews, horns, nails, hooves, hair, gorocana – these are the substances used in medicine from the animal world.” Again, it mentions 64 main minerals used for drugs. This gives an idea Of the enormity of the pharmacopoeia On which AYURVEDIC medicine was based. About the respect for empirical observation of the AYURVEDIC physicians, CHARAKA (Virnaana Sthana, ch. 118, verse 14) says: “The entire world is the teacher for an intelligent physician, as it is the foe for a fool”. Both CHARAKA and SUSHRUTA declare that there is no substance in the world, which is not relevant for medicine.
AYURVEDA has cure for several diseases for which there may not be a permanent cure in allopathy. It must be admitted that there is no dramatic and overnight cure in AYURVEDA. It works over a period of time; but it works.There are very effective thaila-s (oils), aasava-s (drugs), churna-s (powders) and vatika-s (pills/tablets) for different ailments. For instance, KSHEERABALAADI TAILAM is effective for paralysis, VASANTA KUSUMAKARAM for diabetes, ARJUNA (bark) for heart ailments, DRAKSHARISHTA and DASAMULARISHTA for colds and flues, NARAYANA TAILAM and MAHAMASHA TAILAM for rheumatism; RASNA (a herb) and MAHAYOGARAJA GUGGULU for joint pains, BHOOMYAMALAKI (juice extract) for jaundice (Hepatitis B); LASUNA – garlic (crude or caps) good for heart conditions and the control of cholesterol. Every part of the MARGOSA plant leaves/nuts/oil/shoots, is very effective in curing many an ailment. TULASI (basil) is a very powerful plant with rich medicinal properties. ALOE VERA (called KUMARIe)x tract is ideal for curing
uterus problems, bleeding complaints, skin diseases and so on. There are several greens like kattali,pasala keerai, kuppameni keerai, agattikeerai, etc. which act very effectively against a number of diseases like herpis, allergy, kidney stones, cataract, toxins in the body, hair loss, etc.
Conclusion
For certain diseases, AYURVEDA preparations seem to be better. This is what many doctors practising allopathy also have realized. Of course there is also one section of allopaths, which does not recognize the soundness of other systems like AYURVEDA, UNANI and HOMEOPATHY. A good number of them, ofcourse, are recommending the use of AYURVEDIC medicines to their patients. They themselves are using AYURVEDIC medicines. It may be observed in conclusion that the various systems of medicine should work in collaboration to cure or relieve. There should be an open mind and a healthy respect to all systems. After all, many of our “grandmother‘s superstitions” are being found to have a scientific basis cloaked in mumbo-jumbo. We should never forget that divine help plus medicine are required for curing every disease. According to DAVID FRAWLEY (AYURVEDIC HEALING: 1989. Morson Publishing), “Within all of us is the archetype of the Divine Healer. This Divine Healer is the true healer in all beings, not any particular individual or special personality. To heal others or ourselves we must set it in motion within ourselves. DHANVANTARI represents this truth in the tradition of AYURVEDA. His status is found at most AYURVEDIC schools and clinics. It is a reminder that however much we know or skilful we become, everything still depends on the grace of spiritual nature.](https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/p480x480/994532_415075008605000_2136755087_n.jpg)
