KALSI, AN ANCIENT TANTRIC SITE IN DEHRADUN

Kālsi (कालसी), a modest town in the Jaunsar–Bāwar region of Dehradun district, is best known for the Rock Edicts of Ashoka. Carved around 250 BCE, these inscriptions preserve all fourteen Major Rock Edicts, making Kālsi unique among the sites of Mauryan imperial memory. Discovered by Alexander Cunningham in the mid‑19th century, the edicts stand as a testimony to the emperor’s vision of dharma, compassion, and governance. Thus, Kālsi is already inscribed into the historical consciousness of India as a locus of Ashokan authority.

The Temple of Kali at the confluence of the rivers:

Yet, beyond the imperial stone of Ashoka’s edicts, Kālsi shelters another layer of sacred geography. At the confluence of the Amalāva River, flowing down the Chakrāta Road, with the currents of the Yamunā basin, stands a humble yet enigmatic shrine dedicated to Mā Kāli. The sangama itself feels charged: the cool winds of the Uttarakhand valleys carry whispers of purity and secrecy. In Purāṇic imagination, such confluences are never accidental; they are chosen abodes of śakti, liminal thresholds where energies coil and awaken. Kālsi’s shrine is remembered as one such seat, associated with Kubjikā Māta, the goddess of hidden, coiled energy.

Several small rivers like the Amlava, the Bin and the Naro fall
into the Yamuna near Kalsi, making it a sacred spot.

The river’s very name, Amalāva, is a cypher. Derived from amala (अम्लान) — pure, moonlike — it resonates with the Śākta tradition where Amala (अम्ल) signifies “she who is free of impurity.” The Kubjikāmata‑tantra, the earliest and most authoritative text of the Kubjikā cult, speaks of this quality of the goddess. The Kularatnoddyota describes the inner Moon above the brahmarandhra, diffusing nectar, while the Kumārikākhaṇḍa identifies this radiance as the form of the goddess Amā. Emerging from the body of the god, the goddess — pure, radiant, awakened consciousness — manifests as Kubjikā herself. Thus, the Amalāva River is not merely a stream but a living metaphor of lunar purity, sanctifying the temple’s location.

The cave of Kubjika at the temple site:

The mystery of Kālsi does not end with the river. According to the temple’s chief priest, Bharat Bhushan Sharma, there once existed a cave beside the shrine, now sealed. Local tradition holds that during their exile, the Pāṇḍavas rested here, invoking their kuladevatā, Kāli, who appeared to them in fierce splendour. The entrance of the cave is still visible within the temple precinct, a silent witness to epic memory. Its closed mouth radiates secrecy, suggesting hidden energies beneath the surface. In the Kubjikā tradition, the goddess dwells not on the loftiest peaks but in middling heights, in valleys charged with mystery. Kālsi’s terrain resonates with this description, and the sealed cave becomes more than a relic of epic lore — it is a womb‑like cavity, a hidden sanctum of śakti, echoing Kubjikā’s coiled, secret presence.

Once, the Kalsi Temple Site may have looked like this.

The visit of the Pandavas:

Perhaps it was for this very reason that the Pāṇḍavas came seeking the site. On their way to Lakshmaṇādāl, they paused here, drawn not only by hardship but by an instinctive pull toward the hidden śakti (शक्ति) of the sangama. Lore tells us she appeared, blessing them with victory in battles yet unseen. After the war, as they journeyed toward the Himalayas for their final ascent, they are said to have paused once more at Kālsi, reaffirming the sanctity of the goddess’s abode.

The precinct itself bears further marks of antiquity. Scattered around the site are ancient kundas, said to have been used by kings for Aśvamedha yajñas, situating Kālsi as a ritual centre of sacrifice and sovereignty. Tradition also recalls that in the Dvāpara Yuga, this was a site of Navarātri worship, where the goddess was invoked in her nine forms, binding the rhythms of cosmic time to the valley’s sacred geography.

Kālsi thus presents both aspects of the goddess: the luminous purity that shines through the Amalāva and the mysterious presence of Kubjikā concealed in the cave. And all of this unfolds at the threshold where the Amalāva meets the Yamunā — a sangama that is both natural and supernatural, a confluence where purity flows into secrecy, and secrecy coils into power. Every element — river, cave, shrine, and confluence — becomes a cypher. Kālsi’s Kāli temple is not only a place of worship but a hidden centre of Kubjikā Māta, where the waters of the Yamunā embrace the purity of the Amalāva, and together they guard the mysteries of the goddess in the valley winds.

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INDIC-SANSKRITIC ROOTS OF THE NAME OF THE SEA-PEOPLES

Around 1200 BCE, Egyptian inscriptions began to mention mysterious groups arriving by sea. Pharaohs described battles against tribes whose names sounded unfamiliar: Shardana, Shekelesh / Shakalesh, Washesh, Peleset, Denyen, Teresh, and Tajjekaras. Historians later grouped them under the label “Sea Peoples,” and their sudden appearance became one of the great puzzles of ancient history. However, all of these names have Sanskrit roots, a view that the mainstream has not either delved-in or recognised yet.

Who were the Sea-Peoples?

Mainstream scholarship, led by figures such as Michal Artzy and Assaf Yasur‑Landau, places these tribes in the Aegean and Mediterranean world. According to this theory, they were displaced migrants from Cyprus, Anatolia, or the Aegean islands who raided Egypt and settled along the Levantine coast during the Late Bronze Age collapse. Egyptian records like the Medinet Habu inscriptions of Ramesses III and the Merneptah stele are cited as evidence of their incursions, and scholars interpret their ships and weaponry as Aegean in style.

Yet there is another way to understand them. Instead of treating these names as unidentifiable, we can trace them to Sanskrit roots and Indic geography.

• Shardana recalls śṛdh (शृध्)— “defiant, windy.” Or sardha (सार्ध) meaning 'troop'.
• Shakalesh echoes Sakaleśvara (सकलेश्वर)— “lord of all.”
• Washesh, ties to vaṣ (वष्)— “to overpower,” and the Vakṣu river (Amu Darya).
• Peleset  reflects Pala (पाल)— “protector.”
• Denyen derives from dhana (धन)— “wealth” or dāna (दान)— “generosity.”
• Teresh comes from tāra (तार)— “to cross.”
• Tajjekaras from tajjña (तज्ज्ञ)— “resourceful, skilled.”

Seen this way, the tribes listed in Egyptian records were not alien marauders from the Aegean but Indic groups whose movements reflect a sacred‑geographic continuum stretching from the Vakṣu river to the Levant. This reframing situates the Sea Peoples within India’s civilizational ambit and challenges the dominant narrative of purely Mediterranean origins.

By contrast, the Sagartians (Σαγάρτιοι / Asagartiya) appear in Herodotus and Achaemenid records as an Iranian nomadic tribe allied with the Medes and Persians. They were known for their horse‑based pastoralism and distinctive use of the lasso in battle. Their homeland lay on the Iranian plateau, near Media and Yazd, and they were integrated into the Achaemenid imperial system.

Linguistic Resonances

• The name Sagartia / Asagarta has been analysed by mainstream scholars as containing asa (“horse” in Old Iranian, cf. Sanskrit aśva) and garta (“pit, seat, enclosure,” cf. Sanskrit garta).

• This parallels Indic tribal names such as Trigarta (त्रिगर्त), showing the Indo‑Iranian spread of nomenclature.

• Alternatively, the Sagartians may simply derive their name from Sagara (सागर) — “sea” — situating them within the same semantic field as the Sea Peoples, whose identity was tied to maritime movement.

Comparative Table

Group	Region	Era	Identity	Indic Connection
Sea Peoples	Egypt & Levant	ca. 1200 BCE	Tribes listed in Egyptian records	Names linked to Sanskrit roots (śṛdh, pala, dhana, tāra, tajjña)
Sagartians	Iranian plateau (Media, Yazd)	6th–5th c. BCE	Nomadic Iranian tribe under the Achaemenids	Name Asagarta parallels Sanskrit aśva + garta, or derives from Sagara (“sea”)

Taken together, the Sea Peoples and the Sagartians illustrate the Indo‑Iranian continuum of tribal names and identities. Whether through roots like śṛdh, pala, dhana, or through broader terms like aśva, garta, and sagara, these groups reflect a shared linguistic and cultural heritage. The Sagartians, though not part of the Sea Peoples, may well derive their name from Sagara, reinforcing the idea that both sets of tribes belong to the same sacred‑geographic imagination stretching from India to the Mediterranean.

THE VEDIC-HINDU LAND OF NURISTAN IN AFGHANISTAN

We begin our journey from the Sapta Sindhu, and step into Nuristan, the easternmost land of Afghanistan, nourished by the Kunar River, which is mentioned in the Rigveda IV.18.8 as Kusava (कुसावा), its name a combination of kusha ( कुश) 'sacred grass' and the hydronymic suffix ava (अव). In Rigvedic hydronyms (Kusava, Rasava), ‑ava functions as a nominal ending that marks “that which flows”. Hence, ava is a suffix in river names, and avani (अवनि) means 'river'. In Vedic lore, the name Kusava ties water to fertility, ritual purity, and the sacred grass of Vedic rites.

However, the mainstream view, reflected by scholars such as Alexander Cunningham, holds that the name Kusava shares its origin with the Kabul (Kubhā) River. Cunningham asserts that hydronyms such as Kubha, Kunar, Kurram, Gomal, and Kunihar derive from a Scythian root 'ku' meaning 'water'. Cunningham, in his writings, even claimed that the name Kophes (Greek Cophen for Kabul) is 'as old as the Vedas'. 

This argument, however, does not withstand philological scrutiny. We have already established, with scriptural and archaeological support, that Kubhā derives from the Sanskrit root kubha, meaning “crooked,” a descriptive epithet for the Kabul River’s winding course, similar to Kurram, derived from krimi (कृमि), or 'crawl'. Other river names are likewise Sanskritic in origin: the Gomal corresponds to the Rigvedic Gomatī, 'that which roams', the root word linked to gau (गो) or 'cow'.

The root 'ku' is not a Scythian borrowing, and the names are Sanskritic formations. Yāska’s Nirukta provides internal Vedic philological evidence. In glossing water‑terms, Yāska explains kulya (कुल्या) as a 'channel cut through the earth', a rivulet or distributary, and situates it alongside nadī (नदी) 'river' and srutī (सृति) 'flow'. This shows that Vedic tradition itself classified river names within the Indo‑Aryan lexicon, using precise Sanskrit categories. The Nirukta anchors hydronyms like Kubhā and Kusava firmly in Sanskrit semantics, not in Scythian etymology.

Modern Indo‑European linguistics confirms this. The true Indo‑European root for 'water' is wed-, from Sanskrit udaka (उदक), Latin 'unda', English 'water,' not ku. Cunningham’s reliance on a Scythian ku root is therefore speculative and unsustainable. 

Sanskrit names still abound in Nurustan. Parun or Parana,

Mandol or mandal, Kamdesh and Ameshdesh.

These are names with a Sanskrit history.

Courtesy: Map data © Microsoft Bing Maps

Parun-The capital of Nuristan: Mainstream scholarship remains largely silent about the widespread Sanskritic geography of Nuristan and the neighbouring district of Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The capital of Nuristan bears the name Parun. Given the Sanskrit tapestry of names, its etymology must derive either from para (पर), meaning 'boundary' or 'high', or it perhaps has more poetic origins, such as pāraṇa (पारण), meaning 'cloud' or 'flight'. In keeping with the Sanskrit–Purāṇic method of toponomy, the name is best read in relation to its geography.

Parun lies scarcely 300 km from Charsadda, the ancient Puṣkalāvatī, and just over 400 km from Taxila, the Takṣaśilā of the epic tradition. Yet mainstream scholarship remains reluctant to acknowledge the Vedic–Purāṇic elements embedded in Nuristani culture. This reluctance is striking in the case of the Kalash, an Indo‑Aryan community of the Hindu Kush—often described as having traces of Greek ancestry from Alexander’s invasion—who still preserve a polytheistic tradition with clear affinities to Vedic ritual and cosmology.

DNA studies have suggested minor Mediterranean admixture among the Kalash, but they remain inconclusive. What is clear is the predominance of Indo‑Aryan ancestry and the continuity of Indic ritual forms. To concede Greek ancestry on biological grounds is therefore only to acknowledge a limited genetic input, not a cultural inheritance. The living tradition of the Kalash is overwhelmingly Vedic in character.

Alexander himself practised the Olympian polytheism of the Macedonian Greeks, worshipping Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, and later identifying with Zeus‑Ammon in Egypt. His campaigns, however, were political and military, not religious. Greek religion was never established in the Hindu Kush, nor did its armies implant their faith in these valleys.

Nuristan, historically known as Kafiristan, was described vaguely in post‑Islamic sources as “animist.” Tamim Ansary notes that “the people there practised an animist religion involving elaborate graves decorated with images carved of wood.” Yet this characterisation obscures the deeper Indic continuity. The Nuristani tribes worshipped Yama, the Hindu god of death, called Imr’o or Imra in their own tradition. Their polytheism, sacrificial rituals, and cosmologies resonate far more with Vedic Hinduism than with Hellenic cults.

Richard Strand, in his Notes on the Kalasha Religion (Nuristan Language Project), observed: “Their religion is a form of Hinduism that recognises many gods and spirits and has been related to the religion of the Ancient Greeks, who mythology says are the ancestors of the contemporary Kalash […] However, it is much more likely, given their Indo‑Aryan language, that the religion of the Kalasha is much more closely aligned to the Hinduism of their Indian neighbours than to the religion of Alexander the Great and his armies.”

The name Kalash itself has no secure etymology and is best explained either through Sanskrit kalaśa (कलश), meaning a 'ritual pitcher' or 'water vessel'—apt for a region so rich in rivers and glacial streams—or through Kailāsa, the name of the sacred Himalayan peak, evoking the cosmological sanctity of the Hindu Kush.

The largest lake in Nūristān is known as Mondal Lake. In a Vedic land, every name carries meaning. Mondal has no known sense in Dari or Pashto. Mainstream scholarship often seeks Persian cognates to emphasise external influence, overlooking the fact that geographical names—especially of mountains and rivers—rarely change, their toponymy remaining anchored in antiquity. Within that context, one may equate Mondal with the Sanskrit maṇḍala (मण्डल), the closest cognate. 

Yet in the Sanskritic tradition, lakes in the Himalayan region frequently bear the prefix mana (मन), meaning “mind,” signifying the tranquillity and depth of waters, and conveying the nuance of stillness. In that light, the etymology of Mondal Lake may be restored as Manah‑tāla (मनःताल), “the waters of tranquillity.” This restoration lies well within the established phonological framework of Indo‑Aryan sound shifts, where the dental /t/ in tāla regularly softens to /d/, yielding forms such as dol. Thus, Mondal may be understood as a vernacular reflex of the older Sanskritic Manah‑tāla.

Lake Mondol, Nuristan, may derive its name from
Sanskrit manah-taal, the Lake of Serenity
Courtesy: nationalparkassociation.org

Other names in the region too point clearly to Sanskrit origins. In the vicinity of Parun lie the towns of Kamdeśa and Ameśdeśa, still preserving the Sanskritic suffix ‑deśa (देश) and 'country' in their names. There are many such examples. A journey through the land establishes without doubt the deeply embedded Sanskritic toponomy still flourishing.

FROM SARASVATI TO SYRIA -THE WESTWARD FLOW OF VEDIC CULTURE

Out of India: For generations, the Aryan Invasion Theory has been taught as if it were settled fact: tribes sweeping into India from the northwest, bringing language and culture with them. But the Out of India Theory (OIT) paints a very different picture. It argues that the roots of Indo‑Iranian culture, language, and spirituality were seeded in India itself, and from there spread outward into Iran, Central Asia, and beyond.

What does this mean in practice? It means that when we examine the evidence—whether it’s the rivers described in the Rigveda, the way sounds shift between Sanskrit and Avestan (Old Persian), the echoes preserved in place names, or the cultural memories carried into treaties far from India—the direction of movement consistently points east to west. In other words, the story of origins begins in India, and the footprints of that story can be traced outward across geography, language, and history.

Sarasvati ancient river map” by Joshua Jonathan,

corrections based on Clift et al. (2012) and Nature Scientific 

Reports (2017).  Licensed under Wikimedia Commons.

The Rigveda, our oldest text, is not vague about its geography. It describes rivers with a precision that locks perfectly into the northwest of India. The Sarasvati is placed between the Yamuna and the Sutlej, a sequence that exists only in India. Try to map this onto Afghanistan or Central Asia, and the puzzle collapses. The contrast becomes sharper when we look westward at the Helmand River, Afghanistan’s longest. Rising in the Sanglakh Range of the Hindu Kush mountains, it flows through rugged valleys before entering the arid southwest. Along its course, the river crosses stark desert plains—the Dasht‑i Margo (“Desert of Death”), the Dasht‑i Jehannum (“Desert of Hell”), and the sand‑covered Registan Desert—before finally dispersing into the shallow Hamun Lake of the Sistan Basin, near the Iranian border.

Lake Hamun, Sistan Basin.
Hamun likely derives its name from Sanskrit
Samud meaning 'wet'.

Here, the naming becomes revealing. Hamun originally derives from the Sanskrit root samud (समुद्), meaning “wet” or “water.” In the Rigveda, the Sarasvati is praised for reaching the Samudra—the great expanse of waters, usually understood as the ocean. But the Helmand never touches the sea; it dies inland. To call its terminal lake “Samud” is almost an intentional stretch, a way of claiming that the river fulfils the Vedic description by reaching “some water.” In fact, in modern Persian usage, Hāmūn is a generic term for shallow, seasonal lakes or lagoons in the deserts of southeast Iran.

Contrast this with Yāska’s Nirukta (5th–4th century BCE), the earliest book of etymology in India. Yāska explains samudra not narrowly as “ocean,” but as “a gathering of waters”—from sam (together) + ud (water). In Vedic usage, this allows samudra to mean any vast expanse of water, whether the sea, a lake, or a reservoir. In India, the Sarasvati’s flow into the Arabian Sea naturally fits this definition. In Iran, however, the Helmand’s shallow lake is being linguistically elevated into a “samudra” to force the geography into the Rigvedic mould. The difference is telling: in India, the description matches the landscape; in Iran, the landscape is made to match the description.

Language by itself also carries its own trail. Sanskrit preserves three distinct “s” sounds—ś, ṣ, and s—while its Iranian cousin, Avestan, collapses them into one. Linguists know that simplification usually comes later, not earlier. Linguistically, simplification (Sanskrit → Avestan) is far more likely than spontaneous complexity. The Avesta even remembers India directly, speaking of Hapta Hendu, the Seven Rivers, echoing the Vedic Sapta Sindhu. But while the Rigveda sings of this land as its living present, the Avesta recalls it as something already left behind. The direction of memory points east to west.

Place names often carry echoes of the past, and Ramsar is a striking example. In Rajasthan, towns called Ramsar are transparently derived from 'Rama' (the deity) and sar (सर), the Sanskrit word for 'lake' or 'pool'. The meaning is straightforward: 'Rama’s Lake'. Now, look westward to Iran. On the southern shore of the Caspian Sea lies a city also called Ramsar, famous today for its wetlands and coastal beauty. The name fits perfectly—'Rama’s Lake' beside a vast body of water. Yet here, scholars hesitate. Instead of acknowledging the Sanskrit root, they insist that sar must mean “head” in Persian, thereby stripping away the Vedic connection.

What makes this selectivity even more striking is the inconsistency. The same scholars readily accept that the Sanskrit Sarasvati can be linked to the Iranian Haraxvaiti through the S → H sound shift. But when faced with Ramsar, they refuse to allow sar to mean “lake,” even though the geography—the Caspian Sea itself—demands it. The double standard is hard to miss, and it reveals how interpretations are often bent to avoid admitting a Vedic footprint in western toponyms.

And then there is memory itself. If the Vedic people had migrated from colder lands to the north or west, wouldn’t their hymns carry nostalgia for snowbound mountains or rivers left behind? Instead, the Rigveda’s memory is rooted firmly in the Sarasvati-Sindhu landscape.

By the mid‑second millennium BCE, traces of Vedic culture appear far beyond India’s borders. One of the most striking examples is the Mitanni Treaty, signed around 1380 BCE in what is now Syria. This treaty calls upon gods such as Indra, Mitra, and Varuna—names that are unmistakably Vedic, and used in their distinctly Indian forms. These aren’t vague parallels or generic deities; they are the very same figures praised in the Rigveda.

What this tells us is crucial: by the time the Mitanni were making political agreements in the Near East, Vedic culture was already fully established in India. The presence of these gods in Syria doesn’t suggest India borrowed from the West; it shows the opposite—that Indian spiritual traditions had already radiated outward, carried westward by people and ideas. The Rigveda’s world was not isolated; it was influential enough to leave its imprint on a treaty thousands of kilometers away.

Taken together, the rivers, the sounds, the names, and the memories all point in the same direction. India was not a passive recipient of culture from the northwest. It was the source, the cradle, the place where Vedic knowledge took shape before flowing outward. The “Aryan Invasion” begins to look less like history and more like a colonial-era story crafted to fit a narrative. The Rigveda, meanwhile, keeps quietly insisting: We began here.

Shiraz in Iran: A Land named after Wine 🍷🍇

Mainstream etymology holds that Shiraz derives its name from the Elamite name Tiraziš, later evolving into Old Persian Širājiš and finally modern Persian Shirāz.

Folk traditions often link the name to grapes and viticulture 🍇🌿, interpreting Shirāz as a compound of šer (“good”) and raz (“vine”), resonant with the city’s long-standing reputation for vineyards and wine 🍷.

In Persian, angūr means grape 🍇, ras or āb-e angūr denotes grape juice 🥤, and mey signifies wine 🍷, while raz specifically refers to the vine 🌱.

In Sanskrit, the cognate vocabulary includes drākṣā (grape 🍇), rasa (juice, essence 💧), madhu (sweetness 🍯, sometimes wine 🍷), surā (alcoholic drink 🍶), and āsava (fermented juice 🧉), reinforcing the mainstream association of Shiraz with viticulture and abundance 🌿✨.

The Truth about the name Shiraz 🧂🌍

A compelling alternative view is that both Tiraziš and Shirāz may connect to Sanskrit kṣāra (“saline, caustic 🧂”), echoed in Persian kshore (“salty 🧂”). This etymology aligns with the extensive salt diapiric tracts in the Shiraz–Kazerun basin 🏞️. The basin contains dozens of salt plugs, each typically 1–2 km across, with some domes exceeding several kilometers in diameter ⛰️.

Altogether, southern Iran hosts more than a hundred salt diapirs 🌍, making it one of the world’s major salt tectonic provinces. These saline landscapes shaped soils 🌱, hydrology 💧, and vegetation 🌿, embedding salt into the city’s identity and offering a geological substratum for its name.

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The Sinister reason why Shiraz is named after Salt ⚔️🧂

There is a more sinister reason why this major city of Elam became associated with salt. In a tablet unearthed in 1854 📜 by Austen Henry Layard, Ashurbanipal boasts of his conquest of Elam ⚔️:

“Susa, the great holy city, abode of their Gods ✨, seat of their mysteries, I conquered… I devastated the provinces of Elam and on their lands I sowed salt 🧂.”

This act of sowing salt was both symbolic and practical — a gesture of annihilation 💀, rendering land infertile 🌵 and cursed. If Tiraziš lay within Elamite territory, its association with salt may have been reinforced not only by natural geology 🌍 but also by the trauma of conquest and devastation ⚔️🔥.

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Sanskrit as the Decoder 🔑📜

It is Sanskrit that helps us decode all of this 🕉️. The root kṣāra (saline 🧂) provides the semantic bridge to Persian kshore (salty 🧂), allowing us to see how the name Tiraziš/Shirāz could encode both natural salt tracts 🌍 and the historical memory of salt sown in Elam ⚔️.

Thus, Shiraz’s name carries layered meanings:

• Grapes and wine 🍇🍷 — abundance and sweetness ✨
• Salt tracts 🧂 — purification and liminality 🌿
• Salt sowing ⚔️💀 — devastation and curse 🌵

Together, these strands enrich the city’s mythic and historical geography 🌍📜, balancing cultural tradition 🍷 with ecological reality 🌱 and imperial trauma ⚔️🔥.

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KUTUB MINAR - ITS NAME - THE SANSKRIT CONNECT

In the year 1977, Professor M.S. Bhatnagar flew over the top of Kutub Minar in a helicopter to get a close glimpse of the tower from the skies. A study of the pictures that were taken revealed that the top of the column was shaped like a 24-petaled lotus. He found that, like the base of the column, the entire column is shaped like a lotus flower. Each of the 24 petals represents what is known in Sanskrit as a  'hora' (होरा),  which is the same as the English 'hour'. Around the tower lie the ruins of a 27 temple-complex, each temple dedicated to the 27 nakshatras or star constellations. Obviously, the tower is an observatory.

That there are major discrepancies in the popular beliefs regarding the construction of the tower, its origin, its name and so forth is well known. One of the myths is that it was built by the slave dynasty ruler of Delhi, Kutubuddin Aibak - which is absolutely unconvincing especially because the site predates the birth of Kutubuddin Aibak by many centuries!! Besides, Aibak only reigned from 1206-1210, and that was not ample time for the construction of the tower. What was attempted during the reign of the Allaudin Khilji, another Turik Afghan invader who ruled from 1296-1316, was the construction of a column, which Khilji ambitiously wanted to be double the height of the ancient stambh. which stood at 72.5 metres. But unsurprisingly he failed, the column design was a disaster and could not reach beyond a height of 27 meters though he reigned for 20 years to the 4 years that Aibak had stayed in power. Every ruler of the times wanted to claim that he was the builder. Illtutmish, the successor of Aibak who ruled from 1211-1236  was no different. 

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan states in his book 'The Monuments of Delhi', "There is a controversy about its (Kutub's) construction. It is famous amongst the Mohammadans that this minar was built by Illtutmish and often in the books of history, e.g. the Tarik-i-Fiiruzshahi of Asif and in fact in the inscription of Sikander Lodhi, son of Bahlol Lodhi, carved on its entrance, its construction is ascribed to Iltutmish....". There are even more theories. Sir Syed Khan notes, "Some books, e.g., Taqvim ul Baladan mentions it as madhana (Madhina - the tower from where the call to prayer  is given) of the mosque. The Futuhat-i-Firuzshahi of Firuz Shah  Tuglak refers it to as the Minar of Sultan Mu'izz' uddin (Mohammad bin Sam)." Mohammd bin Sam is more commonly known as Mohammad Ghori. To summarize, every Muslim invader of the time claimed to be the builder of this pillar.

In his analysis of the history of Kutub, historian P.N.Oak quotes Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (the founder of Aligarh Muslim University) who had in his own research come to the conclusion that the Kutub tower was a Hindu building. There are many who are skeptical about what Prof P.N. Oak, and vehemently oppose what Oak has written, but here are the actual passages quoted from Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan's Urdu Text 'Asar-ul-Sanadid' translated into English by Fatima Quraishi who works as Assistant Curator at the Mohatta Palace Museum in Karachi.

Sir Sayyid Khan writes, "The Kutub cannot be a minaret because the column’s door is north-facing similar to Hindu temples, while the doors of minarets are always east facing.... The structure’s first level also shows evidence of stones being placed at a later stage and there is evidence of the bell-and-chain motif of Hindu temples on the first floor. Additionally, the inscription on this pillar is similar to that of Qutbuddin Aibak and Muʿizzuddin’s conquest on the converted temple-mosque."

The text also states," ...there is nothing odd in the fact that epitaphs have been inscribed where idols once were.....when the Muslims conquered the temple, they added their own epigraphs upon the building'."

About the so-called Islamic inscriptions carved on the Kutub Minar, Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan wrote, "..... Often, the shape of letters has been made out, but close inspection reveals that they are incorrect, in some cases just imitations of alphabets, and in other cases words which have little to do with the subject of the inscription. Until today, the inscriptions of this monument have not been read. I have read all of them with the aid of a telescope".

But even more glaring is what Professor P.N.Oak points out and states hence, "The frieze patterns on the tower show signs of tampering, ending abruptly, or in a medley of in-congruent lines. The Arabic lettering is interspersed with Hindu motifs like lotus buds....". This is a fact that can be easily verified.

Here is a Hindu 'Bell and Chain' Motif inscribed on the walls of the Kutub Minar that Sir Syyed Ahmed Khan had written about:

Notice the 'Hindu 'Bell and Chain Motif on the
Kutub Wall that Sir Syed Ahmed Khan wrote
about in his book 'Great Monuments'

The Bell and Chain Design
on the Temples Columns of Kutub Complex

The Bell and Chain Motif on Kutub Temple Walls

The Bell and Chain Motif on the ruins of ancient temples of Kutub

The same 'Bell and Chain' motifs that are seen
on the ancient temples of the complex are seen
on the walls of the Kutub Tower.

Scholars who have read the Surya-Siddhanta have, in their writings, explained the concept behind the construction of this column-shaped observatory. Kutub Minar is a model of Sumeru. Sumeru is a mountain that one may imagine to be located on the axis of the earth.

The semi-vertical angle of the column is equal to the difference between the true and mean latitude of the point at which the column stands. According to Surya-Siddhanta, a pillar divided into 12-units, known as the 12-angula Shiva Linga or the Shankhu, can be used to measure the latitude and the time at any point on the surface of the earth. The smallest shadow of the Shankhu or the column will obviously occur at the time when the sun is directly over the tip of the column. The shape of the shadow will be like a funnel or like the 'kutupa' as a funnel is known in Sanskrit. The time or the muhurut at that instance is known as the kutupa or the kutuba mahurat. The word kutupa was therefore always linked with this pillar or stambh.

The 25-inch tilt of this stambh ensures that on 21st June, the day of the summer solstice, at the time of the kutupa mahurata, there is no shadow of the tower anywhere. This is a claim that can be verified by observation.

Originally. this kutupa-mana, (mana मान, is Sanskrit for measure) or the Observatory of Kutupa, was named Vishnu-dwaja or Vishnu-Stambh meaning Vishnu's tower. This name is inscribed in Sanskrit in the Bramhi script on the non-rusting pillar in the temple Complex of Kutupa-Mana which Islamic rulers had tried to blast at least once but luckily for present day researchers, had failed to do. The temple complex hillock was called Vishnupad Giri. Many of these names had died a temporary death at the hands of the then rulers but are now being reinstated. 

In any case the Islamic rulers of India were masters at creating deception by distorting words and giving them new meanings. And there are many such examples. One such example of this is the name Qutubbudin. As mentioned above, the word 'kutupa' was always associated with this structure. It is only a myth that Vishnu stambh got its name Kutub Minar from that of so-called ruler Qutubuddin Aibak. That Aibak, who was of Turkish descent, gave himself the name Qutubbudin after seizing Vishnu Stambh, is obvious from the fact that the Turkish word for pillar or pole is 'kutb'. He undoubtedly gave himself the name Qutubbudin, after he captured the 'pole' or 'kutb' while at the same time camouflaging under 'kutb' the Sanskrit 'kutupa'. No matter what the history books say, it is highly unlikely that Aibak was called 'pole' as a child. The name only makes sense in the form 'Qutubbudin', meaning 'the conqueror of the pole'.The name Mehrauli, the location of the tower, is said to be a distortion of 

the Sanskrit Mihiravali - named after astronomer Varahamihira. who is regarded as the architect of the ancient Kutub. Unlike the word 'Mehrauli', which has no meaning in any language, Mihiravali is a compound Sanskrit word; 'mihira' (मिहिर) means 'sun' and 'avali' (आवलि) means a 'row', 'a line', or 'lineage'. Mihiravali is known to have been astronomer Varahamihira's residence. Varahamihira is one of the most prominent known Vedic astronomers and pre-dates Aryabhatta by a few centuries.

A diagram made from the picture takenby Prof. M.S. Bhatnagar 
flying over the Kutub Minar in 1977, reveals
the 24-Petal Lotus shape of the Tower.
To read more about it, click here. 

Above Plates: Courtesy: Satyashodh.com/kutub.html

Suggested Links:
1.Great Monuments by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
2. Mihirawali - The original name of Mehrauli
3. About the Temple of Kutub
4. Meru
5. Kutub Minar - Its Origins

Footnote: The rotation axis or the spine of the earth is known as 'meru' (मेरु) in Sanskrit, just as our spinal nerve is known as meru-cheta (मेरु-चेता). The eighth muhurut of the day, when the sun is right on our heads, is known by many names, including Abhijit Muhurat, Chaturtha Lagna, Kutub Muhurat, Kutupa Mahurat and Swami Tithiyansha Muhurat. And herein lies the explanation for the name of the column-observatory known as Kutub-Minar.

REMNANTS OF ANCIENT VISHNU TEMPLE AT HUMAYUN TOMB SITE, NEW DELHI

A photo taken some time before 1893 is reproduced here from page 78-79 of  the book 'The World of Ancient India' which indicates that the site where the Humayun Tomb stands today was the site of an ancient Vishnupada Temple. The book, 'The World of Ancient India' is the English version of Dr. Gustave Le Bon's original French work titled 'Les Monuments de L'Inde' which was published in Paris in 1893. The English translation was published by David Macrae, Tudor Publishing Co., (New York) in 1974.

'Vishnu Pada' (विष्णुपद) or 'Vishnu Charan' (विष्णुचरण) temples are significant in the context of the legend that Vishnu, in the avatara of Vamana, strode across the world and planted his feet at three sites on earth. These sites are unknown but many temples in India commemorate this legend of Vishnu. 'Pada' and 'Charan' both mean 'feet'. The destroyed Vishnupada temple at the site where Humayun Tomb stands today was one such site.

Oblivious of this fact, the Hindus still believe that the only significant Vishnupada temples that ever existed were the one at Gaya in Bihar located on the Niranjana river now known by the meaningless name 'Falgu', and the other, which too was destroyed by the Slave Dynasty rulers of Delhi, at the Kutub Complex in Delhi.

However, there is evidence of a third site of a Vishnupada temple which was built in antiquity on the original course of the Yamuna river. The tract of land that connects the site of present day Humayun Tomb and Purana Kila is more or less accepted as the site of the Indraprastha city of Mahabharata.  The Yamuna river course has of course since then shifted. 

Here is the evidence in the form of a photograph of the Vishnu footprint slab, or Vishnu-pada taken at the Humayun Tomb site in Delhi which appeared in Dr. Gustave le Bon's English version of the French book Monuments De L'Inde. The slab had survived at least until 1893 when the picture was taken. The photograph was captioned in the English version of the book 'The World of Ancient India' as 'Vishnu's "Footprints", Tomb of Humayun'.

Vishnu's Footprints from the ancient temple at Humayun Tomb, photographed around the year 1893 at the Humayun Tomb.
From Gustave Le Bon's  book 'Les Monuments de L'Inde'

Above is the caption from the English version of Le Bon's book
titled 'The World of Ancient India'

A page from Le Bon's book

There are other indications that the Humayun Tomb was constructed by the Moghuls on the site of an ancient Hindu temple. Some remnants of those ancient structures still remain.

Ancient Temple Pillars were used as construction material.

Here we see eroded carvings of elephant trunks on the pillars of Humayun Tomb rampart.

Another view of the pillars taken from destructed Hindu Temples
and used for construction of Humayun Tomb. In the background
is a section of a typical Moghul fortress wall at the Isa Khan Tomb within the Humayun Tomb Complex.

Notice the 'elephant head' engravings at the bottom of the pillar -
a characteristic of Vedic and Hindu art.

A closer view of a less eroded
'elephant head' engraving.

Ancient Temple Pillars were used as construction material at Humayun Tomb. Notice that the pillars were placed upside down in this 'canopy structure' by the artisans in Moghul times.

The white quartz structure which is a remnant of the ancient temple is far more eroded than the red-sandstone rectangular structure dating to Moghul times. Sandstone erodes faster than quartz. The fact that the sandstone piece is in better shape than the quartz structure proves that the quartz pillars
are much older than the sandstone piece.

Eroded engravings on Temple Pillars which were used for construction
of tomb of Isa Khan at the Humayun Tomb Complex indicates that they belong to a different era.

That Humayun Tomb was built over the site of a Hindu temple is beyond doubt. But as Gustave Le Bon states in his book 'The Crowd', " The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste. preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master, whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim."

THE COSMIC DANCE OF SHIVA AND THE BIRTH OF SANSKRIT

Dr Fritjof Capra, an eminent American Physicist, who wrote the book 'The Tao of Physics' in 1975, connects the rhythmic pulsation of the subatomic particle with the Cosmic dance of Lord Shiva.  He says, “Every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance, a pulsating process of creation and destruction, without end. For the modern physicists, then Shiva's dance is the dance of subatomic matter...... Modern physics pictures matter, not as passive and inert, but as continuously dancing and vibrating. This is very much like the Eastern mystics description of the world. Both emphasize that the universe has to be grasped dynamically. It structures are not static, rigid ones, but should be seen in terms of dynamic equilibrium.”

The Cosmic Dance of Shiva
Statue presented by Indian Government in June 2004 to
CERN (European Centre for Research in Particle Physics), Geneva, Switzerland
CERN is the seat of the Hadron Collider

Lord Shiva performs the Tandava Nritya (ताण्डव नृत्य) which is a divine dance. Rudra Tandava is described as a vigorous dance that is the source of the cycle of creation, preservation and dissolution. The Rudra Tandava marks the destruction of one cycle of creation followed by the beginning of a new cycle. 

नृत्तावसाने नटराजराजो ननाद ढक्कां नवपञ्चवारम्।
उद्धर्त्तुकामो सनकादिसिद्धादिनेतद्विमर्शे शिवसूत्रजालम्॥
At the end of His Cosmic Dance,
Shiva, the Lord of Dance,
with a view to bless the sages Sanaka and so on,
played on His Damaru fourteen times,
from which emerged the following fourteen Sutras,
known as Shiva Sutras or Maheshwara Sutras.

The new beginning is marked by Shiva playing his 'damru' from which the first sounds appear in the newly born universe. The sound is popularly known as Maheshwara Sutra. Amazingly the fourteen verses of Maheshwara Sutra that emanate from Shiva's Damru at the beginning of the new cycle of Creation are also the phonemes of the Sanskrit language. A phoneme is a basic unit of a language's phonology, which is combined with other phonemes to form meaningful units such as words.

Thus, as per the Rig Veda, the Maheshwara Sutra is the first organized sound on earth. To listen to it click here.
Hence, it is believed that the sound of Sanskrit words and the science of Sanskrit grammar (much like mathematics) has existed eternally. The ancient Vedic grammarians Panini, Katyayana and many more conceived and visualized Sanskrit grammar and merely re-established the revealed knowledge in their treatises.

The mouth of the Hadron Collider, Geneva
An Interpretation
Courtesy: 'AboveTopSecrets.com'