Jadunath Trivedi
(Editor's intro: "Jadunath Trivedi is a well-known Sanskrit scholar, author, and former principal of Sanskrit Kala Sangam, Varanasi." c. j. wallia)

Bhagwan S. Gidwani's Return of the Aryans, published in 1994 by Penguin in India & Canada (ISBN: 0-14-024053-5), is a famous historical novel. Based on monumental research of scholarly texts, archaeological sources, and the oral tradition of memory songs from many diverse lands, the book is a highly readable account of the origin of the Aryans in northwest India and the journey of some of them out of their homeland westwards, their trials and triumphs overseas, and finally their return to India.

Judging from the title of the book, many have assumed that it tells only the story of Aryans. Actually, Return of the Aryans goes deep into the pre-Aryan era to the birth and beginnings of Hinduism and unfolds the drama of Indian civilization back to its roots prior to 8,000 BC. While Gidwani wishes to focus on the story of Aryans, his hero, as he clearly points out is "the pre-ancient Hindu." The book goes into the pre-history of the Hindu period to present glimpses of the art, culture, music, abstract thought, philosophical leanings, and spiritual values of pre-ancient India.

Gidwani shows that Aryans of 5,000 BCE were born, grew up, and died as
citizens of Bharat Varsha (India), anchored in the timeless foundation of the Hindu tradition. Simultaneously, he demolishes the false theory of the invasion and conquest of India by Aryans originating from the West. Moreoer, he supports the testimony of scholars who seek to demolish the motivated theory of North-South conflict. He shows how the people of Ganga, Sindhu, and other regions came together with the Dravidian regions in a spirit of equality and mutual respect. The chapter "To the Land of Tamala" provides a good account of the foundations of ancien south Indian culture.

The book is replete with enthralling tales of Aryan adventures, courage, rashness, heroic thrusts, triumphs and failures, in various lands which were later known as Iran, Sumeria, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Scythia, Russia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, and Germany. It also covers a vast panorama to reveal the dramatic stories behind the origins of Om, Namaste, Swastika, Gayatri Mantra, Rig Veda and Soma wines. It tells how Sanskrit and Tamil developed, and how they influenced world-languages; also it has tales of discovery and disappearance of Saraswati River, and founding of Ganga, Dravidian, and Sindhu civilizations; the battles and blood-shed that led to the rise of Varanasi, Hardwar, and many other cities.

Return of the Aryans speaks of ideals that took shape in those early times to become the foundation of Sanatana Dharma. Among those ideals were recognition of the spiritual nature of man regardless of where he is from; acceptance of every culture as an expression of eternal values; and man's obligation to respect and protect environment, and all creatures -- tame and wild. The book has tremendous appeal to those in search of India's pre-ancient cultural, philosophic, spiritual, and material heritage. Also, it fulfils a long-felt need to keep alive, for younger generation, the awareness of the foundation and eternal values of India's culture.

The scope of Gidwani's Return of the Aryans is obviously vast as it seeks to tell us of the entire drama of the birth and maturity of the roots of Hinduism in the pre-Vedic and the Vedic era from 8,000 BCE. However, for the purpose of this article, I will concentrate only on the high status enjoyed by women in ancient India.

On the question "Who created the Universe and who created God?" Return of the Aryans  quotes Sindhu Putra, the spiritual leader of 5,000 BC, to reply, "God created the Universe, but before Him was She -- the Mother!" This reply conforms to the Hymn of Creation as it was then known in Bharat Varsha, which Return of the Aryans quotes as follows:

Hymn of Creation

Then nothingness was not, nor existence then,
Nor air nor depths nor heavens beyond their ken
What covered it? Where was it? In whose Keeping ?
In unfathomed folds, was it cosmic water seeping ?
Then there was no life, no birth nor death,
Neither night nor day nor wind nor breath,
At last One sighed " a self sustained Mother,
There was that One then, and none other,
Then there was darkness wrapped in darkness;
Was this unlit water, unseen, dry, wetless ?
That one which came to be, enclosed in naught,
Arose, who knows, how, from the power of what !
"But after all who knows and who can say
Who, how, why, whence began creation's day ?

"Gods came after creation did they not ?
So who knows truly, whence it was wrought!_.
"Does that first Mother Herself know, now?
Did She create or was Herself created somehow;
She, who surveys form the heavens, above us all,
She knows " or maybe She knows not at all.

"Did She Herself create the one god !
And gladly gave Him the Creator's rod !
But so re- fashioned Time and Space
That He was more, and She was less ?
"Did She turn future into past ?
So He came first and She was last!
"But surely, She told Him all, all!
Then how could He not know at all?
"Or perhaps He knows it not, and cannot tell
Oh! He knows, He knows, but will not tell...

                             (Return of the Aryans,  p.124-125)
.
With many adaptations and variations, this ancient song also appears in Rig Veda -'Hymn of Creation'--X:129. There are however some notable differences, as Rig Veda does not refer to: Creation of First Mother; First Mother as the Creator of the One God; Future turning into Past; and Time and Space being re-fashioned by First Mother, so that She becomes less and last, while God becomes more and first.

This aspect in Return of the Aryans is a poetic exercise to show that as the greatest of attributes of God is compassion, associated more with the feminine sex, that God Himself must have had a mother to precede Him.

Return of the Aryans  explains the practice of a God's consort being named ahead of that God - - for instance, Radhe Shyam, Sita Ram. Similarly, it shows how ancients often referred to God not as "He" but "She." Thus the ancient prayer of 5,000 BC, at most ceremonies, began as follows:

Let us think of the splendor
Of Her that is One-Supreme,
She that is one without second,
That She may inspire our minds,
Our words, thoughts and deeds.

To Her who is the unending Time,
To Her who is without beginning,
To Her, who is without end
To Her, who began it all
To Her, who is the seed of all
To Her, who is the source of all
And to Her, who alone is the Self
That She may inspire us, together, all, all.
In the innermost heart of all,
To her, our prayer, our devotion, our love

                     (Return of the Aryans, p.70)

Gidwani clarifies that this reference to God as "She" or "Her" was a matter of linguistic convenience to express the underlying belief that She is the Universal God who Herself is the Universe, being both the Creator and the Creation; and thus She is the woman, She is the man, She the youth, She the maiden, She the infant, She the old, for She includes in Her own being the entire universe.

Return of the Aryans shows the high status of women in ancient India: women were equal to men in all important spheres of civic affairs, politics, administration, art, philosophy, architecture, education and justice system, not on basis of any affirmative action or quota but by sheer merit. The book has stories of many women who, from 8,000 to 5,000 BC, achieved fame and honor, such as Devi Leilama, who was the first to establish Guilds in India, and was the Chief of the Clan in 5,333 BC; of Dhanawantri, who along with her husband Sage Dhanawantar, was the foremost physician in 5,000 BC, and established a comprehensive system of medicine and surgery. Also, it was a woman, Leelavati, who, in 6,000 BC, established mathematical lore in India, leading eventually to formulation of the decimal system in later centuries. There are also stories of women who led Aryan contingents in foreign countries.

The numerous instances of the high status of women in important spheres in ancient India as shown in Return of the Aryans are supported in other works. In particular Devi Leilama's story in establishment of Guilds is well known. The stories of Sage Dhanawantar and his wife Dhanawantri are known and verifiable. The role they played in establishing a well-organized system of medicine in ancient times is verifiable. Again, who does not know of the role of Leelavati, the mathematician.

The book speaks of Hermit Parikshahari who in 5,030 BC, declared that a woman, whose virtue or chastity is questioned, must walk 10 steps through fire to prove her innocence, but only after the slanderer had gone 30 steps through fire to show that he had honorable motives for making the charge. Thus, "Trial by Fire" was only for dishonest slanderers (and not for the woman slandered), as such a slanderer would not survive his 30 steps through raging fire. Pity, that the Hermit's Verdict is followed no more, while judging slanders against women!

So much regret has been expressed over the centuries that even in Ramayana, Rama did follow the advice of Hermit Parikshahari, but it was Sita herself who had to undergo a terrible test to prove her innocence while the slanderers went free and unpunished. There are of course those who would say that the story in Ramayana is a myth.

Return of the Aryans describes marriage customs of ancient India, whereby a bridegroom took a five-fold marriage-vow to offer his wife: Permanence; Piety; Pleasure; Property; and Progeny.

Return of the Aryans clarifies that if there was discrimination in those pre-Vedic times, it was perhaps against men; for instance, men were to retire as hermits at the age of 60, while a woman was free from such disability. For justification of this custom, Gidwani quotes Karkarta Bharat (Supreme Chief of Sindhu Clan, in whose honour Bharat Varsha was so named in 5060 BC). Said Bharat:

" A woman cannot be asked to retire because her work never ceases. From being a wife, she moves smoothly, selflessly into role of a mother and grandmother, giving all of herself in the service of generations that follow, until her dying day. Man's tragedy, on the other hand, is that he lives for himself, with his ego centered around his own self, and if he loves his children, he loves them merely as extensions of himself; and the older he grows, the more demanding he gets, with his ideas fixed and mind closed. All that grows within him is lust for power, while his advancing age renders him incapable of wielding it honourably. Happiness for man depends on what he could get; for a woman, on what she could give. Retirement at the age of sixty was, therefore, intended to save man from himself and also to protect society." (Return of the Aryans, page 6)

There are of course examples of women becoming hermits in ancient times, but that was voluntary on the basis of the inner voice.

In conclusion, I would like to note:

Return of the Aryans has many more examples of high status and image of women in ancient India: in particular, on women's right to property, encouragement of widow re-marriage, and serious punishment of crimes against women. The ancients always had respect for women and the discrimination of Sati, dowry and other practices against women are comparatively modern. Most of these discriminations against women came long after the pre-Vedic and Vedic era, during those long and grim centuries of the Muslim rule. Such discriminations against women are in negation of the practice, percepts and principles of Sanatana Dharma and Hinduism, as Return of the Aryans clearly shows. How can we, even for a moment, entertain a thought that Sanatana Dharma and Hinduism based as they are on the principle of human rights and protection of creatures tame and wild, as also the preservation of environment, would sanction or tolerate discrimations against half of humanity represented by women!

Politicians, legislators, and administrators when they try to mislead people to believe that dowry, burning women for honor and suchlike are ancient customs, must be challenged, and it should be demonstrated to them they are either ignorant or motivated in their false attribution. People must have the information to challenge such politicians, and the least they must know is that such crimes against women have no sanction in antiquity or religion. This understanding would create proper psychological climate for women's organizations to press for equality and dignity of women, as clearly any discrimination against women would go against the Hindu way of life as established in the principles and ideals of Sanatanah and Sanatana Dharma.