CHAPTER 10

 

COMING OF GNOSTIC ARYANS: MANICHEAN

 

Pallavas as Persian Aryans 

 

 Pallavas played a vital role in the development of Hinduism. 
Who are these Pallavas?

 

In the detailed study on this problem India's Parthian Colony “On the origin of the Pallava Empire of Dravidia” By: Dr. Samar Abbas, May 14, 2003, (http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/ india_parthian _colony1.php)  gives the following description along with detailed evidence in Archaeology, Administration, Language, Toponyms and Personal Names, Anthropology, Architecture, and Legendary Descent. (See also: Ancient India    V.D.Mahajan)

 

“Pallavas of Dravidia as Pahlavis

 

The Pallavas are first attested in the northern part of Tamil Nadu, precisely the geographical region expected for an invading group. This, together with the evident phonetic similarity between the words "Pallava" and "Pahlava", has long led researchers to advocate a Parthian origin of the Pallavas:

 

"Theory of Parthian origin: The exponents of this theory supported the Parthian origin of the Pallavas. According to this school, the Pallavas were a northern tribe of Parthian origin constituting a clan of the nomads having come to India from Persia. Unable to settle down in northern India they continued their movements southward until they reached Kanchipuram.”

 

The late Venkayya supported this view and even attempted to determine the date of their migration to the South.   They must have migrated some time in the second century BC into the North.  However in time they were mixed with the local people.  Hence we have :Dr V. A. Smith say:

 

"It is possible that the Pallavas were not one distinct tribe or class but a mixed population composed partly of foreigners and partly of the Indian population but different in race from Tamils and taking their name from the title of an intruding foreign dynasty (Pahlava) which obtained control over them and welded them into an aggressive political power" (Early History of India, 1924, Dr V. A. Smith).

 

 

The Kiskindha Kanda of Ramayana associates the Pahlavas with the Yavanas (Greek), Shakas, Kambojas, Paradas (Varadas), Rishikas and the Uttarakurus etc and locates them all in the trans-Himalayan territories i.e. in the Sakadvipa  The Markendeya Purana and Brhat Samhita  mentions Pahlava and Kamboja settlements. The earliest known coinage in lead issued by the then Pallavs could be dated between 3rd and 4th century AD. They must have come as merchants around 2^nd C BC just as the later colonisers.  They became powerful and became Kings only by the third century AD.

The kings of Pahlava were also present at the Rajasuya sacrifice of king Yudhishtra. And associates them with barbaric tribes of Uttarapatha.  Manusmriti states that the Pahlavas and several other tribes like the Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Paradas, Daradas, Khasas, Dravidas etc were originally noble Kshatriyas, but later, due to their non-observance of sacred Brahmanical codes and neglect of the priestly class, they had gradually sunken to the status of Mlechchas.  It is therefore quite possible they were Christians as the word Mlecha was usualually used for christians by the strict Brahminical traditions.  In Bhavishya Purana Jesus is quoted as the prophet of the Mlechas.  Basham point out: "It is to be noted that to Taxila, which was ruled by Gondophares, a Pahlava, the apostle St. Thomas is said to have brought India's first knowledge of Christianity ."(A.L.Basham, The Wonder that was India, P.61). 

 

 

Mani the Persian Gnostic (A.D. 215-276 )

Mani's father was at first apparently an idolater, for; as he worshipped in a temple to his gods, he is supposed to have heard a voice urging him to abstain from meat, wine, and women. In obedience to this voice he emigrated to the south and joined the Mughtasilah, or Mandaean Baptists, taking the boy Mani, with him, but possibly leaving Mani's mother behind. Here, at the age of twelve Mani is supposed to have received his first revelation. The angel Eltaum (God of the Covenant; Tamiel of Jewish Rabbinical lore?), appeared to him, bade him leave the Mandaeans, and live chastely, but to wait still some twelve years before proclaiming himself to the people. It is not unlikely that the boy was trained up to the profession of painter, as he is often thus designated in Oriental (though late) sources.

Babylon was still a center of the pagan priesthood; here Mani became thoroughly imbued with their ancient speculations. On Sunday, 20 March, A.D. 242, Mani first proclaimed his gospel in the royal residence, Gundesapor, on the coronation day of Sapor I, when vast crowds from all parts were gathered together. "As once Buddha came to India, Zoroaster to Persia, and Jesus to the lands of the West, so came in the present time, this prophecy through me, the Mani, to the land of Babylonia", sounded the proclamation of this "Apostle of the true God". He seems to have had but little immediate success and was compelled to leave the country.

For many years he traveled abroad, founding Manichæan communities in Turkestan and India. When he finally returned to Persia he succeeded in converting to his doctrine Peroz, the brother of Sapor I, and dedicated to him one of his most important works, the "Shapurikan". Peroz obtained for Mani an audience with the king and Mani delivered his prophetical message in the royal presence. We soon find Mani again a fugitive from his native land; though here and there, as in Beth Garmia, his teaching seems to have taken early root. While traveling, Mani spread and strengthened his doctrine by epistles, or encyclical letters, of which some four score are known to us by title. It is said that Mani afterwards fell into the hands of Sapor I, was cast into prison, and only released at the king's death in 274. It seems certain that Sapor's successor, Ormuzd I, was favorable to the new prophet; perhaps he even personally released him from his dungeon, unless, indeed, Mani had already effected his escape by bribing a warder and fleeing across the Roman frontier. Ormuzd's favor, however, was of little avail, as he occupied the Persian throne only a single year, and Bahram I, his successor, soon after his accession, caused Mani to be crucified, had the corpse flayed, the skin stuffed and hung up at the city gate, as a terrifying spectacle to his followers, whom he persecuted with relentless severity. The date of his death is fixed at 276-277.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09591a.htm

 

 

 

 

Gnostic Chronology of the Order of Nazorean Essenes
clip from Timeline Compiled by Abba Yesai Nasrai, O:N:E:

http://essenes.net/chronnaz.html

216 A.D.  Mar Mani, the promised Parclete and Maitreya, was born on 8 Nissan, 216 A.D. in Mardinu, a little village in Iraq and grows up in an Elchasite monastery after age 4.

c222   Bardesanes died by about 222, an important esoteric figure and credited with the Nazorean like Hymn of the Pearl found in the Acts of Thomas.

228   The angel At-Taum appears unto Mani in a vegetarian Elchasite monastery.

240 Mani separated from the Elkasite community in his 24th year, at the end of King Ardashir's reign. In early April of 240, or 241 AD, the angel At-Taum again appeared unto Mani and commanded him, saying: "Now the time has come for you to go out and proclaim your authority. Peace be on you, Mani, from myself and from the Lord who sent me to you and who has chosen you for His Message. He has now bidden you to invite to your truth, and to proclaim the good news of the Truth from before Him, and   to persevere in that with all your zeal."

240-241   Mar Mani sailed to India, specifically to the Indus valley which is today's Beluchistan, where he converted a Buddhist King, the Turan Shah of India.

242   On the second Sunday after Easter, 20 March, A.D. (or perhaps April 9, 243) Mani first proclaimed  his gospel in the city of the King, Gundesapor, on the coronation day of Sapor I, when vast crowds from all parts were gathered together. A significant day in the resurgence of Nazorean Gnosticism. 

245  Mani traveled to Shapur's court. It is said that the King saw  two torches of light over Mani's shoulders at their first meeting which influenced him to accept the prophetic calling of Mani. 

255  Zarathustrian magi led by Kartir persuaded Shapur to break with Mani and promote their religion in the empire, causing Mani to go into exile.   .

276   Mani was arrested at Gundev Shapur in 276A.D., was kept in chains until he died 26 days later.  Mani died in prison on February 26 in 277A.D. His death was told by two of his disciples - Amu and Ozei, in Mir.

291   Terrible persecution arose once again in the Persian empire in 291. Vahram II killed Sisin himself, and many Manichaeans were slaughtered. Bahram I is said to have buried 200 Manichaeans with their heads downward in pits and their feet tied to stakes."  (Manichaens fled to other countries which included India)

 c300-400    Yoga (Yogocara), the second major Mahayana school, is founded by brothers Vasubandhu and Asanga. According to their teaching absolute reality is mind or consciousness therefore thought creates objects out of itself.  Buddhist tantras emerge in India, mingling Hindu Tantras with Buddhist thought.

300   By this date, a village in India was known as Mani-grama, or Mani's Town. 

Evidently, one of Mani’s major evangelical fields was India.  The reason for that is not difficult to find.  He was a Persian and an Aryan.  Aryan Pallavas were in India as prominent people scattered all over India from North to South. Beginning with an ancient Persian from of Zarathustrianism, which penetrated the Tibetan region in the 5th Century BC, and followed by a heretical Pudgalavadin form of Buddhism in the 3rd century BC, paved the way for the influx of the teachings of Mani in the late 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th centuries AD.  This Manichaean faith became totally dominant in northern Tibet  when the Uighur King converted to Manichaeanism in 762 AD. In A.D. 1000 the Great Persian historian Al-Beruni wrote: "The majority of the Eastern Turks, the inhabitants of China and Tibet, and a number in India belong to the religion of Mani, the Buddha of Light”

However, what happened in the rest of India was very radical. Thomas Christianity was supplanted by Gnostic Christianity and grew up with tremendous amount of myths and Puranas that it came to be known as Sanadhana Dharma without the mention of Isa (Jesus), though Jesus was taken as a great sage but not a soter.

 What did Mani teach?    

 It is not necessary to explain what is gnosticism and what Mani taught while in India because Gnosticism in modern form is Hinduism.  They believed in the god of creation and also in an on going war between good and evil.  They believed in the law of Karma and also in reincarnation.  It is through gnosis or knowledge one attains moksha (salvation) which is variously described as union with God or becoming a god or escape from the cycle of birth and death.

To the Buddhists Mani became Buddha and to the Christians Mani became the Apostle of Jesus and the Paraclete whom Jesus Promised.   For many years Mani traveled abroad, founding Manichean communities in Turkestan and India.  Then he returned to Syria and did send his father and his disciples (one of the names of Mani's disciple was Thomas) into India to continue his ministry.  His ministry was centered in Kanchi area

Thus in India he efficiently converted isolated Christian denominations of Vaishnava and Saiva denominations into its present day form. Mani’s work was concentrated in and around Kanchipuran which was also the headquarters of Thomas.  In due course he was elevated to the status of another Son of Siva along with Ganapathi (the Lord of Hosts who has the face of an elephant) as the Bala Subra Manian.  (Bala means young or child, Subra refers to the emanation of light of the dazzling white).  Remember Manichaenism was called "The Teaching of Light"

The Malabar literature refers to him as Magician Manicka Vachagar.  Even in the New Testament Gnostics were referred to as Magicians. (Simon Magnus and Elymas were called Magicians).  SubraManyam is represented with a Peacock since the magicians are said to have the ability to fly like a peacock.  (Simon Magnus is said to have died in one of those flights)   

 

It was Mani’s teachings that brought in Vegetarianism into India among the Brahmins.  Manicheans were vegetarians by principle. We know that Vedics were non-vegetarians and sacrificed animals to propitiate gods and ate them.  This was the normal religious form of all pastoral tribes in the world.  How did the idea of Vegetarianism came into Hinduism?  It certainly was not Vedic.  Jains were Vegetarians as a protest against sacrificial killing.  How did vegetarianism and Ahimsa comcept  enter into Vedic followers of Hinduism?  We can trace it to Mani.

 “One of the main principles of the Manichaean’s was a vegetarian diet of mainly green and yellow foods. Supposedly, light was concentrated in these foods and their bodies served as filters for the particles of light contained in the plants”. (Litvinsky: 1992...Pg 414)

 

The mythical parallel with the teachings of Mani can be seen from the following Manichean doctrine of creation

 “In the doctrine of Manichaeism, "The Teaching of Light" as it was called;
  the Universe was originally divided between two eternal, uncreated, and
  utterly irreconcilable principles: Light and Darkness. The Realm of Light
  was located in the North, tended upwards, and extended infinitely to the
  North, East and West. It was ruled by the Father of Greatness (identified
  with Zurvan in Persia), and was manifested as five "worlds": Nous (Mind),
  Ennoia (Thought), Phronêsis (Prudence), Enthymêsis (Reflection), and
  Logismos (Reason); which are surrounded by a great number of Aions.
  Twelve of these Aions, the "first-born," surround the Father, three to each
  quarter of the Heavens.”

One of basic teaching of Manicheanism is the idea of process of emanation whereby the Supreme Person transforms and pervades the lower realms. This idea is seen in Vaishnavism as it is found in Mani.  The Supreme Being (paramatman) procedes in the following forms of emanations:

1.      Para, the transcendental Supreme Being beyond all.

2.      Vyuhas, the emanations of God who reside in the higher planes.

3.      Vibhavas, the incarnations of God who appear upon earth from time to time.

4.      Antaryami, the immanent being who resides in all beings as a partner of the soul.

5.      Arcavatara, the consecrated image of God made out of earthly material, which is worshipped by His devotees as God Himself.

The Vaishnava doctrine of avatar is evidently derived from Mani’s Evocation principle

“The Father of Greatness saw that it was necessary to meet the challenge of the forces of Darkness. But his Aeons were meant for peace, and they could not be sent to do battle with the demons; so the Father resolved to go to battle himself. To do this, He called forth three Evocations from Himself.

In the First Evocation, the Father called forth the "Great Spirit" or "Wisdom" (Sophia). The Great Spirit projected the "Mother of the Living," and the Mother of the Living projected the "First Man" (identified with Ohrmazd in  Persia). The First Man, with his five sons, fire, wind, water, light and  ether who composed his Soul and were also the "five garments of Light" which made up his armor, descended into the Realm of Darkness to do battle with the invading demons.”

The single most important event during this period in Indian history was the migration of new groups of Aryans from Syria and the continuation of infiltration of their Gnostic theology.  Large number of Syrians were displaced from Persia when the religious persecution took place against the Christians and the Gnostics by Zoroastrians.  There were two such recorded migrations of Christians found in the Kerala Christian lore.  Some of them were rich merchants. They were received with dignity by the Indian people.  Among them was the Thomas of Canaa who came to Malabar Coast.  His descendants form the Kananaya Christian Community. South India became the center of communication between Syria and India.  Some of the villages where these people lived in Kerala were called Mani-gramakar (meaning “The Village of Mani people”. Mani literally means Pearl.  So some interprets that they were Pearl dealers.)  Near Kanchipuram, we still have a village called after Mani, which dates back from the third century AD; the period when Syrian immigration was at its peak and the time when Gnosticism took root in India.

Gnostic Christians – the first enemy of Apostolic Christian Churches came along with the trade to India after the 2nd century. As they became dominant, the influence of Persian Gnosticism became widespread that it swallowed almost all other religions then in existence in India and changed it to what we today call as Hinduism. (the name came very recently).  Since the Thomas Churches of Inner India (i.e. except Malabar/Kerala Churches) did not have the contact with other churches outside of India, they succumbed to the heresy and became the Gnostic Universal Religion (gnostic Sanadhana Dharma) the beginning of the Hinduism. The Christians who disagreed and who put up a vigorous fight against the heresy were finally forced to flee to Kerala where there was a safe refuge until eighth century.  Those of the Northern India fled to the Middle East where the Eastern Churches welcomed them. Some of these came back to India during the Persian Immigration under Bishop David in AD 340.

Pallavas were followers of Sanatana Dharma. In line with the prevalent customs, some of the rulers performed the Aswamedha and other Vedic sacrifices. They had made gifts of lands to gods and Brahmins.  Mahendravarman I (600 - 630 CE) was a patron of the Jain faith. Mahendravarman later converted to Hinduism under the influence of the Saiva saint Appar, with the revival of Hinduism during the Bhakti movement in South India.  (The four Saivite preceptors (Appar, Sampantar, Sundarar and Manicka Vacagar) who were the root cause for the development of Saivism, belonged to Tamilnadu, and the 63 Saivite Nayanmars, belonged to Tamilnadu).

 

Page from an illustrated Manichaean hymn manuscript, found in Central Asia and probably dating to the eleventh century.

No one can fail to see the basic Hinduism in Mani.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 05, 2007

Capital of the Pallavas                  

A. SRIVATHSAN

Kanchi or Kanchipuram was an important city that had trade connections with China as early as second century B.C. Sangam poems describe the city as lotus- shaped, and Manimekalai the great Tamil epic was set in this city. Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism co-existed, and Huien Tsang, the Chinese traveller, records the presence of Buddhist structures in Kanchi. The Jain temple at Tiruparthikundram is still in use. The city expanded significantly when the Pallavas made Kanchipuram their capital.

Kanchi had outgrown its lotus shape and, as a 12th century Tamil text describes, attained the shape of a peacock. The head of this peacock was the Varadharaja temple and the plumage was the area around Ekambaranatha temple. Of all the temples, Kalisanatha and Vaikuntaperumal are best known for their architectural merits. The Vaikuntaperumal temple is a multi-storeyed temple built in the 8th century A.D and is known for the sculptures depicting the history of the Pallavas.