The Opet Festival of Ancient Egypt: Has it been derived from the Jagannatha Rathyatra of Puri, India? (cont.)
By Bibhu Dev Misra (IIT, IIM)
As per Vedic accounts,
the festival of Rathayatra has been celebrated in India for thousands
of years, although the current Temple of Jagannath only dates from
the 12th century CE. The festival has been mentioned in
multiple Puranas, which are Vedic historical documents of
unknown antiquity. The Skanda Purana states that the first
Jagannath Temple was established in Puri in the Krita Yuga, which, as
per the currently accepted Yuga Cycle doctrines, began at around
10,900 BC. Since Jagannath refers to Vishnu i.e. the Lord of the
Universe, he was worshipped in different forms in the different
Yugas. In the Kali Yuga he is worshipped in the form of Krishna. The
Skanda Purana also specifies the date of the Rathyatra festival. In
many other Vedic documents such as the Narada Purana, Padma Purana
and the Ramayana, the virtues of worshipping Jagannath have been
extolled. The festival is, therefore, indubitably Vedic in origin.
That would imply that
this ancient festival, along with the cult of Krishna, Balaram and
Subhadra was transferred from India to Egypt, sometime prior to 2000
BC!
That is a phenomenal
idea. Although we know that Indian traders had extensive trade
relations with the first Pharaohs of dynastic Egypt in 3000 BC, and
sold them cotton, muslin, spices, gold and ivory, such a major
influence of India on Egyptian religious systems has not been
explicitly identified by historians till now. Some scholars have,
however, pointed out the similarity between the culture of Egypt and
Eastern India. Peter Von Bohlen, a German Indologist, mentioned that
there are elements of folk art, language, place names and rural
culture of Bengal (the state adjacent to Orissa and included in it in
ancient times) which have an affinity with their Egyptian
counterparts. For instance, even now the people of Orissa use the
word ‘Kaa’ to refer to a ‘close friend’ or a
‘spiritually connected friend’. However, when you
consider the fact that an entire patheon along with associated
ceremonies and rituals seems to have been exported to Egypt from
India, it appears that the Pharaohs of Egypt and the Emperors of
India must have maintained very close relations since ancient times.
This ‘pantheon’ transfer would have been possible only
through express royal patronage. But when and why did this happen?
Who all were involved? Was this also accompanied by a transfer of
armed forces which resulted in the reunification of entire Egypt
under the Pharaohs? History provides us with no answers.
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