WHO DISCOVERED AMERICA? by Ricardo Palleres of Archaeology Magazine, 2005

What if Europe was really in darkness in comparison to the Far East and India that Columbus set sail to find?

What if the popular idea that the Tibetans and the American Indians have much in common in terms of their

spiritual culture is largely a result of another historical scenario? What if Hindus and Hopis, Advaitins and

Aztecs, Tibetan monks and Mayans were part of one world culture -- a spiritual one? It very well may come

to pass in the near future that those concerned with truth will wrestle primarily with history rather than

science. The obvious reason for this is that, in the words of Dr. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, author of Theology

and the World's Religious History, "Humanity is more important than things. The truth about humanity is of

a higher order than the truth about things."

History tells an intriguing tale, one that ultimately may provide the greatest support for a spiritual worldview.

But history has also been distorted. An example of this is the "common knowledge" that Columbus

discovered America. Some say he didn't, nor were any other Europeans the first to touch America's shores.

There is good reason to reexamine the history of the world and the Americas in particular. An unbiased look

into the development of our planet's civilizations may help to bring about a change in values, a shift from

material values to spiritual ones.

What if Europe was really in darkness in comparison to the Far East and India that Columbus set sail to find?

What if the popular idea that the Tibetans and the American Indians have much in common in terms of their

spiritual culture is largely a result of another historical scenario? What if Hindus and Hopis, Advaitins and

Aztecs, Tibetan monks and Mayans were part of one world culture -- a spiritual one? Perhaps the

development of Western civilization and the Protestant ethic, which many of the West are now coming to

abhor, have gotten in the way of the spiritual development of humanity. Perhaps many technological

developments, while making physical contact with other cultures more possible, have distanced us from one

another in a deeper sense.

Another historical scenario: The spiritually sophisticated Asians were the first to set foot on Western shores,

and Asia, not Europe, was the seat of culture. This theory is found in the Vedic literature of India. The

ancient Puranas (literally, histories) and the Mahabharata make mention of the Americas as lands rich with

gold and silver. Argentina, which means 'related to silver,' is thought to have been named after Arjuna (of

silver hue), one of the heroes of that great epic. India's Puranic histories are, however, questionable to the

rationalist. In the minds of the purists, they are more akin to myths. The Puranic view is that even if its

histories are only myths (which is not necessarily the case), the lessons to be learned from them are infinitely

more valuable than what can be learned from recording the coming and going of humanity. In their view,

only those human events that serve to promote transcendental knowledge are worth recording.

Fortunately, for dealing with the "I'll only believe it if I can see it" mentality of the purists, there is

considerable hard evidence and academic support for the Vedic theory that most people are unaware of.

Unbiased consideration of this remarkable evidence may move modern-day rationalists to give serious

thought to the more realistic spiritual outlook of "Only if you believe it can you see it." After all, reality is a

living thing and it may reserve the right not to show itself but to those to whom it so chooses. Otherwise,

why are we in illusion, or in search of reality? If it is something we can attain by our own prowess, how did

we get here (in doubt) in the first place?

Many historians have scrutinized historical evidence to find more insight into the marvelous cultures that

populated the American continent before Christopher Columbus was born. Their thirst for research was

based on the assumption that the great Mayan, Aztec, and Incan civilizations could not have appeared all of a

sudden in the Western world. Rather, they must have received strong influence from ancient Eastern

cultures, mainly from India.

Alexander von Humbolt (1769-1859), an eminent European scholar and anthropologist, was one of the first

to postulate the Asiatic origin of the Indian civilizations of the Americas. His and other scholars' views

formed the basis for the "diffusionist" argument, which was opposed by the "isolationist" viewpoint.

Diffusionists believe that the world's civilizations are a result of social contact (civilized man meets

uncivilized man). Isolationists believe that civilizations cropped up all over the earth without physical

contact with one another.

It is readily accepted that some twenty thousand years ago primitive Asians crossed the Bering Strait into

North America and gradually moved south all the way to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Diffusionists

maintained that after this occurred civilized Asiatic people distributed themselves via the Pacific, thereby

bringing civilization to the Americas. Isolationists insisted that after the nomadic tribes crossed the Bering

Strait, a homogeneous race of "Indians of the Americas" was formed, and the American tribes-people then

went about reinventing all culture, duplicating in two thousand years what originally took about six

millenniums in the Old World.

This pseudo-evolutionist theory leaves much to be desired, and its unspoken acceptance casts doubt on the

credibility of the anthropologists. After all, doesn't it tax our credulity when we are asked to believe that a

whole series of complicated techniques like casting by the lost wax method, the alloying of copper and tin,

the coloring of gold by chemical processes, weaving, and tie-dyeing and batik were by some miracle

invented twice, once in the Old World and again from scratch in the Americas? What mysterious

psychological law would have caused Asians and Americans to both use the umbrella as a sign of royalty, to

invent the same games, imagine similar cosmologies, and attribute the same colors to the different

directions?

No archeologist today would attribute to prehistoric Europeans the independent invention of bronze casting,

iron work, the wheel, weaving, pottery, writing, and so many other cultural elements that were derived from

the Middle East. Similarly, the industrial developments in Britain were introduced from elsewhere within the

European continent, not developed independently. What then would cause one to insist that what was not

possible for the Europeans (duplicating culture independently) was possible for the American Indians?

Especially when at the same time we are taught that the Europeans were of superior stock!

The Aryan civilization of India is a logical choice for the beginning of the diffusion of our planet's

civilization. American historian Will Durant, in his book Our Oriental Heritage, described India as the most

ancient civilization on earth, and he offered many examples of Indian culture throughout the world. He

demonstrated that as early as the Ninth Century BCE, Indians were exploring the sea routes, reaching out

and extending their cultural influence to Mesapotamia, Arabia, and Egypt.

Although modern-day historians and anthropologists might prefer to accept Egypt or Babylon as the most

ancient civilization, due to various archeological findings, their theories are by no means conclusive. The

popular theory in the academic community that the Aryans were an Indo-European stock, who spoke an

unknown pre-Sanskrit language and only later invaded India subsequently occupying her, is also

considerably lacking in supportive evidence. Indeed, there is very little evidence whatsoever for the

postulated Aryan invasion of India. But perhaps it is easier for modern people to accept ancient Egypt and

Babylon, whose ancient civilizations have no living representation and thereby do not pose any challenge to

the status quo.

But India is alive and kicking. Prominent traces of ancient Vedic civilization can still be found today not

only in India but outside her borders as well. The life science of ayurveda, yoga and meditation, and Sanskrit

texts translated into modern languages are all prominent examples. If we recognize ancient India as a

civilized spiritual giant, we will have to reckon with her modern-day representations. It is altogether possible

that the Vedic theory, if thoroughly researched, poses a threat to many of the concepts of modern civilization

and the current worldview, as can be seen by the fact that the Vedic literature and spiritual ideology loomed

as the greatest threat to the British in their imperialistic conquest of India.

In 1949, two scholars, Gordon Ekholm and Chaman Lal, systematically compared the Mayan, Aztec, Incan,

and North American Indian civilizations with the Hindu-oriented countries of Southeast Asia and with India

herself. According to them, the emigrant cultures of India took with them India's system of time

measurement, local gods, and customs. Ekholm and Lal found signs of Aryan civilization throughout the

Americas in art (lotus flowers with knotted stems and half-dragon/half-fish motifs found commonly in

paintings and carvings), architecture, calendars, astronomy, religious symbols, and even games such as our

Parcheesi and Mexican patolli, which have their origins in India's pachisi.

Both the Hindus and the Americans used similar items in their worship rituals. They both maintained the

concept of four yuga cycles, or cosmological seasons, extending over thousands of years, and conceived of

twelve constellations with reference to the Sun as indicated by the Incan sun calendar. Royal insignias,

systems of government, and practice of religious dance and temple worship all showed remarkable

similarities, pointing strongly to the idea that the Americas were strongly influenced by the Aryans.

Another scholar, Ramon Mena, author of Mexican Archeology, called the Nahuatl, Zapoteca, and Mayan

languages "of Hindu origin." He went on to say, "A deep mystery enfolds the tribes that inhabited the state of

Chiapas in the district named Palenque. . . . Their writing, and the anthropological type, as well as their

personal adornments . . . their system and style of construction clearly indicate the remotest antiquity. . . .

[they] all speak of India and the Orient." Still another scholar, Ambassador Poindexter, in his two-volume

1930s treatise The Arya-Incas, called the Mayan civilization "unquestionably Hindu."

The Aztec culture in particular shows a striking resemblance to that of India. Aztecs divided their society

into four divisions of both labor and spiritual status, as did the Hindus. In India, this system of government

was known as varnashrama, or the division of society based on body types and mental dispositions resulting

from past karma. As in Indian civilization, the Aztecs maintained a God-centered government in which

people were employed in accordance with their natural karmic tendencies. The results of the labor of all the

priests, administrators, mercantilists, and laborers were for the glorification of Godhead, who in turn was

thought to provide for humankind.

And what about Europe? When Europe was still uncivilized, Indian culture, as well as American culture, was

highly advanced. When Europeans were still cave dwellers and nomads wandering from place to place

subsisting through hunting, some American peoples were plowing fields and baking bread and dressing in

cotton, the seeds for which came from India. When merchants sailing from India brought delicious spices,

aromatic perfumes, incense, fine silk, precious stones set in delicate and rare jewelry, complex craftsmanship

of ivory, and many other goods never seen before by Europeans, the riches and mystique of that land

captivated them.

Ultimately, the theory that India, Mother India, is the earthly source of spirituality can be to some extent

supported by the fact that India is still today the most religious country in the world, with a theology that

dates back to antiquity. The idea that she is the source of civilization as well, although supporting evidence is

available, will ultimately require that modern man reevaluate what constitutes civilization before it gains

wider acceptance.

Who Discovered the Americas? Clues to Influences from Ancient Hindus By Professor Chaman Lal (University of Delhi)

As the seeds of herbs and trees are carried to distant places by wind and birds, so in ancient times mankind

and culture spread over the world through the tides of great Indian and Pacific oceans. The Hindus were

mighty navigators and pioneers of culture centuries long before Columbus was born. They established their

cultural empires in Java, Bali, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines, Cambodia, Champa, Annam and Siam and

ruled there until after the 14th century. Evan today Cambodia's King bears the title of the great Varman

rulers of India, and Bali has a Hindu Raja. Today, many believe that Hindu migration to America was

vigorous from the first to the twelfth century A.D.

Ship-building

Indian ship-building had developed at least 2000 years ago and according to Dr. Robert Heine Geldern and

Dr. Ekholm, Director of the Museum of Natural History in New York, there appears to be little doubt that

ship-building and navigation were sufficiently advanced in southern and eastern Asia at the period in

question to have made trans-Pacific voyages possible. As early as the time of Ptolemy in the second century

A. D., Indian ships sailed to the Malayan Peninsula and Indonesia across the Bay of Bengal. In the third

century horses were exported from India to the Malayan Peninsula and Indo-China on indication that there

must have been ships of considerable size. When the Chinese Buddhist scholar Fattein return from India

around A.D. 400 he embarked on a ships which carried more than 200 sailors and merchants and which

therefore must have been larger than the ships of Columbus and early Spanish explorers. "Ships of that size

able to cross the Indian Ocean and the China Sea with their dangerous cyclones could certainly cross the

Pacific as well." According to French and British historians the Hindus excelled in the art of constructing

ships and for centuries the British and the French borrowed from the Hindus many improvements in the

naval architecture. "Indian vessels are so admirably adapted to the purpose for which they are required that,

notwithstanding their superior science, Europeans were unable, during an intercourse with India for two

centuries, to suggest or to bring into successful practice one improvement." (Sir John Malcolm, Journal of

Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 1)

The fact that the Hindus were capable of sailing too far off countries like Mexico and Peru is proved by the

official historian of Mexico, who in his book published by the Mexican Foreign Office, wrote: "Those who

first arrived on the continent later to be known as America were groups of men driven by that mighty current

that set out from India towards the east." Former U. S. Ambassador, Miles Poindexter, states in his book

The Ayar-Incas that primitive Aryan words and people came to America especially from Indo-Arya by the

island chains of Polynesia. The very name of the boat in Mexico is a South Indian (Tamil) word: Catamaran.

After 17 years of research I can now claim to have proved my theory of Hindu colonization of America. The

stones in every corner of America speak of Hindu influences.

Aztec Calendar

Let us begin with the Aztec calendar known as the Aztec Chakra of the Hindu Astronomers. It is the

foundation stone of Hindu culture in America. The ancient Americans believe in the four Hindu ages (Yugas

or cycles). This Astec calendar (of Hindu origin) depicts the Hindu ages of the world. Mackenzie, author of

Myths of Pre-Columbian America, says, ""The doctrine of the world's ages (Hindu Yugas) was imported into

pre-Columbian America. The Mexican sequence is identical with the Hindus. It would be ridiculous to assert

that such a strange doctrine was of spontaneous origin in different parts of old and new worlds."" The very

sculpture of the Sun in this calendar bears the imprint of India.

Game of Pachisi

Witness the complicated game of Pachisi as it is played in India and Mexico. Seventy years ago Edward

Taylor (American Poet and Writer) pointed out that the ancient Mexican game of Patolli was similar in its

details to the game of Pachisi played in India and the whole region of Southern Asia. "It seems clear," he

wrote, "that the Mexican game must have come from Asia." Subsequently Stewart Culin (Prominent

Historian on Games) showed that even the cosmic meaning of the Mexican game, its relation to the four

quarters of the world and to the calendars ascribed to them was essentially the same as in Pachisi. Dr.

Kroeber, leading anthropologist of California, observes that "the mathematical probability of two games

invented separately, agreeing by chance in so many specific features, is very low. The close correspondence

between the rules of the two games indicates a real connection." Dr. Kroeber however could not find more

evidence to link India with America and decided to leave the issue unsolved expressing the hope that fuller

and more accurate knowledge would someday solve the dilemma. Dr. Robert Heine Geldern, the famous

anthropologist of Vienna, and Dr. Gordon F. Ekholm have now presented enough evidence to support the

thesis that Americans had definite cultural links with the people of South-East Asia at least 2000 years ago.

The Lotus Motif

Their research during the last three years has supported the theses that Hindus arrived in America much

earlier than other explorers. As I presented 26 years ago in my book Hindu America, they begin with the

image of the lotus motif in India and Mexico. (Lotus is one of the most sacred symbols of India and

Hinduism is essentially embodied in the lotus. One of the most frequent motifs of early Indian art is also the

lotus plant.) The same kind of lotus motif occurs in America at Chichen Itza (Mexico) as a border in the

reliefs of the lower room of the Temple of the Tigers. "It is certainly remarkable that in India as well as in

Middle America, the rhizome, a part of the plant not normally visible because it is submerged and deeply

buried in mud should have been the basic element of a whole motif and, moreover, be stylized in the same

unrealistic manner as an undulating creeper." The two learned anthropologists are definitely of the view that

" such a combination of highly specific details cannot be accidental. It suggests the existence of some kind of

relationship between Maya art and not only Buddhist art in general but the school of Amravati of the second

century A. D. in particular."

The most obtrusive factor in the customs and beliefs of the Maya civilization according to experts is

unquestionably Indian. Maya architecture bears unmistakable seal of Hindu architecture as you can see from

the picture of Maya palaces and temples. Atlantean figures appear in India in the second century B. C. and

played an important role in Indian art. In America they can be seen at Thula in Central Mexico and Chichen

Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula. Gods and ceremonial figures standing on crouched human figures are found

in India from the second century B. C. onwards. In Central America they occurred in many Maya sculptures,

especially at Palenque. From Sanchi to Central America the pattern is similar.

Those anthropologists who until yesterday completely denied any contact between ancient America and Asia

are much perturbed today to find that their so-called 'cross' of Palenque (Mexico) is no longer a cross but an

exact copy of the Hindu Tree of Life on Mount Meru (Sumeru), the mythological centre of the world. A

representation of the Hindu Tree of Life is presented in a shadow play from Java. This depicts the Hindu

celestial tree on Mount Meru. This Javanese specimen and the so-called Mexican cross have the same

demonic figure in the centre and branches of the tree are clearly visible even to a layman. In addition, we

find stairways flanked by serpent-balustrades in South-East Asia and Middle America. The use of half

columns flanking the doors and of groups of small columns set in panels in characteristic of Cambodian

architecture. Highly similar combinations appear in certain Maya buildings.

Images of Gods

India has the reputation to be the land of gods but Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia and Honduras had more

gods and richer temples than we had in India at any time. Images similar to the Hindu Gods Shiva, Ganesha,

Indra, the Sun, Hanuman, Vishnu and his tortoise incarnation (Kurma Avatar) were also worshipped in

central and South America. Evidence of these similarities can be found throughout the Americas. You can

recognize images like Shiva, Ganesha and even his rat from Inca mythology in Peru: Ganesha from the

temple of Diego Riviera in Mexico City; images of Hanuman and Shiva from the Guatemala Museum; and

Shiva Linga from Vera Cruz in Mexico City. The Mexican version of Vishnu, in spite of his Mexican

features, can be easily recognized from the mace (Gada) and Chakra that he holds in his two hands. The

image of Vishnu's tortoise incarnation is readily preserved by the United Fruit Line in the museum at

Quiragua, Guatemala and is the greatest puzzle for anthropologists. They have named this image as the

Turtle Stone although anyone familiar with Hindu mythology can see that it is Vishnu's Kurma Avatar

(Tortoise incarnation). Indra is also preserved in the Mexican National Museum as well as the Vaman Avatar

called the Diving God by the native Americans.

Hindu Rituals

The largest temple in Mexico City was the temple similar to that of Lord Shiva, known to them as the War

God of the Mexico, whom the Spanish invaders found entwined by golden snakes. This temple was built in

the 15th century and had 3000 Deva-Dasis to perform religious ceremonials. The Mexican temple had the

Gopuram style that is well recognized in South Asia. Today, it is possible to see a reconstruction of the same

after it was destroyed by the Spaniards. The temples at Tikal in Mexico also bore the imprint of our famous

temple at Madura. No wonder E. G. Squire in his American archaeological researches in 1851 wrote: "It is

believed a proper examination of these monuments would disclose the fact that in their interior structure as

well as in their exterior form and obvious purposes these buildings correspond with great exactness to those

of Hindustan and the Indian Archipelago.” British Stateman and Historian, Sir Stamford Raffles wrote, "The

great temple of Borobudur might readily be mistaken for a Central American Temple.”

Common Ceremonial

Most of you in India are familiar with the Charak Puja ceremonial observed in Bengal and several States in

South India. This Hindu Ceremonial also observed by a Mexican historian call it the mexicon and peru. The

Spanish Valador ritual. A relief of Bayon central temple of Angkor Thom in Cambodia represents a rite

similar to the Mexico Valador. The use of parasol (Chhatra) is an age-old sign of royalty and rank in India,

Burma, China and Japan. The Maya Astec and the Incas also used it as a sign of royalty. Frescoes of Chak

Multum in Yucatan show two types of parasols both of which correspond to types still in use in South-East

Asia.

In reading descriptions of the palace and court of the Aztec emperors of Mexico, anyone familiar with South-

East Asia cannot fail to be reminded of the courts of Burma, Siam and Cambodia. The same applied to the

form of government. Thus the institution of four chief officials in Mexico and Peru corresponds to the four

ministers of state and Governors of the four quarters of the Kingdom in Hindu Buddist empires of South-East

Asia. In both cases this institution is based on cosmological principles. This indicates the similar pictorial

story of the Hindu Buddist origins in the field of art, religious architecture, government, kingship, cosmology

and mythology proves close cultural contacts between ancient India and countries of South-East Asia with

the countries of Central and South America. Dr. Robert Gelern and Dr. Ekholm have come to the following

conclusion:

"The large number of highly specific correspondences in so many fields precludes any responsibility of mere

accidental coincidence nor would it help us to take refuge in any kind of explanation based on some alleged

psychological laws. There is no psychological law which could have caused the peoples on both sides of the

Pacific to stylize the lotus plant in the same manner and to make it surge from the mouth of a jawless

demon's head, to invent the parasol and use it as a sign of rank and to invent the same complicated game

(Pachisi). There is no explanation other than the assumption of cultural relationship. We must bow to the

evidence of facts even tough this may mean a completely new start in our appraisal of the origin and

development of the American Indian higher civilizations."