The old sage knew that he only had a few days to live, but to him the states of non-existence and existence were the same He had attained the perfect state of detachment, which led to ultimate bliss. He had become one with the One. He had been freed from the bond that chained men in an endless cycle of births and deaths. He had acquired the knowledge of man's true nature, knowledge that would lead him to liberation from this cycle. He was naked as he walked along the banks of the Sarasvati. He felt neither shame nor deprivation. In front of him, about 150 paurusas north, he could see the docks where the slaves and servants were busy loading and unloading goods from boats. Further north, just where the river turned back in a shallow curve and swerved to the right, he could make out the thatched structures of the granaries. On the curve was the only entrance to the city from the riverside. The Sarasvati- the lifeline of the Aryan civilization-flowed gently in the broad direction of the south. The sage knew that while everything was permanent, everything was also temporary Many rivers had gone dry over the ages and many new ones had spring up where none existed Maybe a thousand year from now this mighty river, their sacred river, would not be any more.
To his left, towards the city, he could see rows of priests houses north of that was the great field of sacrifice. To his right, across the river, outside the city, he could see the vast barley fields, now lying bare, with the first crop having been harvested a few days ago. A few days from now a second crop would be planted. He could see the wooden huts and small houses where the field labourers lived. On the river itself, large bouts carrying grain and other items like sesame, milk products, beans, lentils, pulses and meat were going to other smaller cities along the river.
The first person whose contribution I want to acknowledge is my cousin, late Eledath Kapali, who gifted me Bal Gangaan is Tilak's The Orion or Researches into the Antiquiry of the Veds. The book uses the eighty-sixth hymn of the tenth mandala of the Rig Veda, the Vrsåkapi hymn, to buttress the evidence he gives for establishing that the Vedas were composed during the Orion period (that is, when the vernal equinox was in Orion). The clever way in which Tilak interpreted the hymn to derive a suitable astronomical significance gave me the idea to interpret the hymn as representing a historical event that took place in the ancient times. The story of Sudas, the first Aryan, resulted from this.
It took me more than twenty years to get this book into the shape that it is in now. In the early versions of the book. Sudis's rebellion against the reigning king does not succeed. Neither does the religious rebellion succeed. I want to thank V. Umashankar (USV) for taking the effort to send this version to somebody he knew in a publishing house and following up with her. However, that did not work out. My friend, K.G.Y. Narayanan (KGY) also took an active interest in the book. He introduced me to some people he thought could help.
Thanks, USV and KGY. However, I still got nowhere with the publishing of the book, since it was not in suitable shape.
I then reinterpreted the hymn-I think that this interpretation is more meaningful-and changed a highly descriptive, almost documentary, style of narration into a more 'dialoguey' style. In this new version, the secular and the religious rebellions succeed and the reigning king is overthrown. I was then wondering how to get this published.
It was then that M.J. Aravind introduced me to Sharath Komarraju. Sharath ran a class that mentored new writers. I registered for his class and rewrote the novel, this time making it more 'human'. Thanks, Aravind and Sharath.
Paramu Kurumathur is an avid reader of historical works, who has been exposed to diverse cultures and religious works over decades. A keen traveller, he has visited and stayed in around forty countries. He is also an ardent student of Sanskrit and has published a series of online tutorials on learning the language in easy steps-these can be accessed on www.oursanskrit.com. His research into the Rig Veda seeded the idea for The First Aryan.
Paramu is an alumnus of IIT Madras. He has been working in the international software services industry and global IT management since 1980. His interests include studying and interpreting ancient Indian writings, writing limericks and promoting humour as a way of life.
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