Bharat , Vedic Rishis and Guru Parmapara

The West has a unique habit of stealing Knowledge from ancient India Knowledge systems, whethere it is Yoga, Ayurveda or Astronomy,and many more. The West that is the west of Bharat,starying from 6th century 

1. Achaemenid Empire (Persia) – 6th–4th century BCE
2. Macedonian Empire (Alexander the Great) – 327–325 BCE
3. Seleucid Empire – 305 BCE
4. Indo-Greek Kingdoms – 2nd century BCE–1st century CE
5. Shakas (Scythians) – 1st century BCE–4th century CE
6. Parthians – 1st century CE
7. Kushan Empire – 1st–3rd century CE

Early Medieval Era

8. Huna Empire (White Huns) – 5th–6th century CE
9. • Central Asian nomadic tribe; invaded India after destabilising the Gupta Empire.
   • Atrocities:
     
   • Historical texts like Rajatarangini describe Hunas as ruthless destroyers of cities and temples.
   • Massacres of civilian populations, especially in Gandhara, Punjab, and Malwa.
   • Temples were looted, idols smashed; Buddhist monasteries such as in Taxila were burned down.
   • Decline of urban life in affected areas due to plunder and depopulation.
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10. Arab Caliphate (Umayyads) – Early 8th century CE

• Led by Muhammad bin Qasim, the Umayyads invaded Sindh in 711 CE.
• Atrocities:
  
• Chachnama records mass slaughter after the capture of cities like Debal.
• Many women and children were taken as slaves; women from royal households were sent to the Caliph’s harem in Damascus.
• Forced conversions: Hindu and Buddhist communities were taxed heavily under jizya unless they converted to Islam.
• Destruction of temples and Buddhist stupas; some replaced with mosques.
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8. Ghaznavid Empire – 11th century CE

• Background: Mahmud of Ghazni launched 17 raids into India from Afghanistan.
• Atrocities:
  
• Somnath Temple raid (1025 CE): Thousands of devotees killed; temple looted of wealth estimated in tonnes of gold and precious stones.
• Repeated massacres in Mathura, Kannauj, and Thanesar; chroniclers like Al-Utbi boast of idol destruction and enslavement.
• Tens of thousands of men, women, and children taken as slaves to Ghazni.
• Systematic targeting of wealthy Hindu temples as both economic and religious warfare.
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8. Ghurid Empire – Late 12th century CE

• Background: Muhammad of Ghor defeated Prithviraj Chauhan in 1192 CE, starting large-scale Turkic Muslim rule in north India.
• Atrocities:
  
• After the Second Battle of Tarain, mass executions of Rajput soldiers and nobles.
• Loot and destruction of Hindu temples in Ajmer, Delhi, and Varanasi.
• Chroniclers note large-scale enslavement and forced religious conversions to Islam
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Late Medieval to Early Modern Era

12. Delhi Sultanate – 1206–1526 (Turkic, Afghan origins)

• Background: Series of Turkic and Afghan dynasties ruling much of north India.
• Atrocities:
  
• Slave Dynasty: Qutb-ud-din Aibak destroyed numerous temples, including converting parts of Qila Rai Pithora into mosques.
• Khilji Dynasty: Alauddin Khilji’s invasions of Gujarat, Malwa, and South India involved large-scale plunder, destruction of temples (e.g., Chidambaram, Madurai), and massacres of resisting populations.
• Tughlaq Dynasty: Muhammad bin Tughlaq executed entire populations in rebellions; Timur’s 1398 invasion (while Delhi was under Tughlaq rule) massacred over 100,000 civilians in a single day.
• Widespread slavery and jizya taxation on non-Muslims; Hindu temples routinely desecrated and converted to mosques.
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12. Mughal Empire – 1526–1857 (Turco-Mongol origin)
13. Portuguese Empire – from 1498 (Goa, coastal forts)
14. Dutch East India Company – 17th–19th century (trading posts)
15. French East India Company – 17th–18th century (Pondicherry, enclaves)
16. Afghan Durrani Empire – mid-18th century (Ahmad Shah Abdali)
17. British East India Company & British Crown – 1600–1947 and to forget russia ,America along with china has been trying to control India even after Independence through various forms(that is a story for another time) but if I missed any barbarians i.e. lile  Khiljis, qutub shahi dyansty , the church,most commonly known United Kingdom or British, but also other countries ,old enpires of Persia, Greece,Portugese,America, Dutch and french to be more specific.  renaming it on purpose, cutting its history and birth from its roots and projecting that it has discovered something unique. But that it is not it, most of times the purpose of the vidya is lost and only a physical benefit is looked at from western , materialistic point of view. So called Intelligence which they operate from is only limited to material dissection, empirical analysis and research and more sopisticated ways of writing thesis after thesis on simple topics. What a ayurvdic vaidya can check by looking at a person’s nadi and examination by tongue etc , a Modern MBBS doctor will need at least 1 X ray or scan to diagonise the matter. Not just with this, lets take another example galileo was hounded by church for almost2 decade/20 years because he believed in heliocentrism and that ge was only spared torture and death beacuse his powerful friends intervened on his behalf. Heliocentrism is the model where sun is center of solar system and not earth, whereas the church and most of alm other places people believed that it is geocentrism , earth is center of solar system and not sun. Now they had to develop a telescope see it and believe it, understand it. Wheres Vedic Rishis have always placed ths Surya in Navagraha Sthapana (9 planets we worship, which btw pluto is mot a significant enough for planet , which again was updated only a few years ago by modern science).

In Astronomy and Jyostisha Vidya, it is clearly mentioned about sun being center , the 7 rays of light, the moon, the stars and comstellations of the zodiac,the planets. Now when you google discovery of solar system it is attributed to Copernicus, keppler etc, but they were already present in Bharat, in most cases the vedic knowledge stolen from bharat and renaned.

The purpose of Mantra Sadhana or any other paddhati of sadhana is to establish a personal connection with the devata, with guru paramapra, to receive divine grace, love and blessings; the rest are all side benefits. Devi and Devatas are beings of light and power, and Rishis(men and women) are beings who have attained Siddhi and maintain the flow of such vidyas for thousands of years, unbroken. Some rishis(men and women)and siddhas, out of their compassion,n chose to engage with human beings to share the vista they have attained siddhis through the grace of the devata. It might be a siddhi of mantra or kriya, or any other form of tantra or sadhana, but yes. So we need to stop marketing our rituals, our Sadhana paddhati’s as physical or mental benefits, though they have benefits in physical, vital and mental planes of the being. The purpose of these vidyas is to embody and carry the same light, wisdom, love and power that the devata has and use it for establishing dharma in life, not just to get some health benefit. The nurturing of the roots, the foundation of life, which is dharma. Unfortunately, because of 1000 years of invasion, slavery and living in a survival zone of life, Hindus have missed the aspect of power, creativity and meaning of our parampara of yoga and sadhana. 1000 years of trying to stay alive while preserving culture has led to degeneration, and the modern urban educated Hindu has little or no connection with yoga or the meaning of dharma, let alone living and embodying it with its full essence and power. The guru pramapara, Tantra, Mantra, Yoga Sadhana, and so many more rituals, which are present in distorted form today, have produced beings of light, love, power and wisdom. It was the Karuna of Shiva by which he chose to transmit this vidya and Shakti to Sana Kumaras, Sapta Rishis and Mata Sati, Parvati, who in turn established the various forms,paddhatis of Sadhanas and Guru parampara we see in its little diminished form today. So reducing the aim of mantra sadhana or any other form of sadhana from Devata Anubhuti and in its core aim, to establish contact with the Divine, for transformation of human being to getting some health and material benefits is like having a rocket with you, but instead of aiming for the sun or moon, you use it to travel to office everyday.

Any sadhana, whether it’s mantra or kriya or anything else, grounded in shastras, the core aim is siddhi of the Devi or Devata and core transformation and evolution of a human being. Also, my request is to stop using words like rhythmic sound patterns or sound therapy when you chant a mantra, it’s mantra sadhana, when you practice yoga, it’s Yoga Sadhana, not body-bending exercise. 

When you do modern-day surgery, it’s Shalya Chikitsa, not something the West created or invented, but something that the West learnt from India and presented it in a modern form without attributing it to its roots, Ayurveda, to our rishis and gurus. The West and, sadly, sometimes the modern-day educated Hindu have a habit of de-linking any practice that’s Hindu from its root and renaming it as something that’s scientific and modern.

The West systematically rewrites history and appropriates knowledge without attribution. This pattern is pervasive and deeply problematic.  Ancient Indian surgical techniques described in Ayurveda are presented as modern Western innovations. Yoga Sadhana and practices get secularised and credited to contemporary fitness movements. 

Here are Sanskrit terms for various academic subjects and fields of knowledge:

**Physical Sciences:**

- Chemistry - Rasayana Shastra (रसायन शास्त्र)

- Physics - Bhautik Vigyan (भौतिक विज्ञान) / Padarthavidya (पदार्थविद्या)

- Astronomy - Jyotisha (ज्योतिष) / Khagola Shastra (खगोल शास्त्र)

- Mathematics - Ganita Shastra (गणित शास्त्र)

- Geology - Bhumi Vigyan (भूमि विज्ञान)

- Metallurgy - Dhatu Vigyan (धातु विज्ञान)

**Life Sciences:**

- Biology - Jiva Vigyan (जीव विज्ञान)

- Medicine - Ayurveda (आयुर्वेद) / Chikitsa Shastra (चिकित्सा शास्त्र)

- Surgery - Shalya Chikitsa (शल्य चिकित्सा)

- Botany - Vanaspati Shastra (वनस्पति शास्त्र)

- Zoology - Prani Vigyan (प्राणी विज्ञान)

- Anatomy - Sharira Rachana Vigyan (शरीर रचना विज्ञान)

**Engineering & Technology:**

- Engineering - Yantra Shastra (यन्त्र शास्त्र)

- Architecture - Vastu Shastra (वास्तु शास्त्र) / Shilpa Shastra (शिल्प शास्त्र)

- Mechanical Engineering - Yantra Vigyan (यन्त्र विज्ञान)

- Civil Engineering - Nirman Shastra (निर्माण शास्त्र)

**Social Sciences:**

- Economics - Artha Shastra (अर्थ शास्त्र)

- Political Science - Rajya Shastra (राज्य शास्त्र) / Rajniti Shastra (राजनीति शास्त्र)

- Psychology - Manas Vigyan (मनस् विज्ञान) / Chitta Vigyan (चित्त विज्ञान)

- Sociology - Samaj Shastra (समाज शास्त्र)

- History - Itihasa (इतिहास)

- Geography - Bhugola Vidya (भूगोल विद्या)

**Languages & Literature:**

- Grammar - Vyakarana (व्याकरण)

- Literature - Sahitya (साहित्य)

- Linguistics - Bhasha Vigyan (भाषा विज्ञान)

- Poetry - Kavya Shastra (काव्य शास्त्र)

**Philosophy & Logic:**

- Philosophy - Darshan Shastra (दर्शन शास्त्र)

- Logic - Tarka Shastra (तर्क शास्त्र) / Nyaya Shastra (न्याय शास्त्र)

- Ethics - Niti Shastra (नीति शास्त्र)

Many of these weren’t just theoretical subjects but had highly developed practical applications in ancient Bharat, as written in various texts like Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, Aryabhatiya, and countless others that formed comprehensive knowledge systems long before their “modern” counterparts.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The issue isn’t just appropriation - it’s the deliberate erasure of origins. When practices and science are stripped of their Sanskrit terminology, their philosophical context, and their origin and birth, they disassociate any connection to guru parampara; it’s not just cultural insensitivity. 

It’s historical revisionism that serves to maintain certain power narratives about where knowledge and Civilisation “really comes from. This becomes particularly insidious when the same institutions that spent centuries dismissing these practices as “primitive” or “superstitious”, later adopt them, rebrand them, and claim credit - while continuing to ignore or marginalise the living traditions and peoplewho preserved this knowledge through millennia of disruption.Despite 1000 years of invasion and attempts to wipe out our Hindu civilisation and dharma,\ Our guru parmapara, love and grace of devi and devatas, helped us survive this onslaught.Facing systematic attempts to erase Hindus by destroying centres of knowledge and worship of devatas, universities and temples, a few examples of Nalanda in modern-day Bihar, Takshashila, modern-day Pakistan, Vaalabhi University, modern-day Gujarat Vikramshila University, modern-day Bihar, and Sharada Peetham, present-day Kashmir,Odantapuri, Jagadalla, Pushpagiri, Sompura Vihara and the list of temples is endless, more than 50,000 temples destroyed, some places mosques and churches built over the temple main devata vigraha, murtis, walls, with false pride, they kept our inscriptions and murtis onpresent-day structures and tried to establish a false sense of conquest, conversion and victory.

Yet despite which our vidyas and Guru Parampara endured, because of the divine grace and blessings that the land of Bharat has.

To add fuel to the fire, the West, having successfully destroyed our Gurukal and education system, successfully rewritten our history till now, having established an inferiority complex in Hindus about their own culture, gurus and paramapara, is now attempting to rebrand yoga, tantra and sadhana without acknowledgement, adding insult to historical injustice done to Hindus.

The consistent pattern of taking, renaming, and claiming while erasing the source is indeed a form of ongoing colonialism, a ruler-slave, superior-inferior race mindset that needs to be called out directly.

Having first attempted physical destruction of these knowledge systems, they now seek to own them by stripping away their Sanskrit names, philosophical foundations, and connection to the rishis and guru traditions that preserved them.

This isn’t academic - it’s a continuation of colonialism by other means. 

When Ayurveda’s surgical techniques become “modern medicine,” when yoga and pranayama become “exercises and breathwork,” when dhyana becomes “mindfulness,” when mantra Sadhana becomes “ rhythmic sound patterns and therapy”

The pattern is clear: take the knowledge, erase the source, claim the credit.

Kindly acknowledge the sources and roots of knowledge that came from Bharat and our rishis, gurus, devi and devatas.

I understand the West has a habit of stealing and rewriting history from its point of view, but not anymore.

Vande Guru Parmapara

Om Bhairavaya Namah

Om Dum Durgayai Namah

Jai aur Vijaya Ho