The following are extracts from “Selected Writings” of Late Roni K. Khan.
GLIMPSES OF PARSI HISTORY
THE HISTORY
Conventional history, relying only on so-called “hard” sources like archaeological finds to the exclusion of scriptural and other evidences which it brushes aside as myth, legend and folklore, assigns a range of only about 2,500 years to the civilized history of Iran, commencing with the “founding” of the Iranian Empire by Cyrus the Great in 558 BC. Thus, the conventional view presents only three Zarathushti dynasties (Achaemenian, 558 to 330 BC; Parthian or Arsacid 250 BC to 225 AC; Sassanian, 226 to 651 AC), briefly punctuated by an interregnum of Greek (Selucid) rule from 331 to 249 BC following the conquest by Alexander of Macedon, and finally the Muslim period from 652 AC, when Iran fell to Arab hordes, upto the present day. Also, conventional history dates the Prophet of Iran, Lord Zarathushtra, at 660 to 583 BC.
There is complete unanimity on the historical accuracy of the dynastic periods forwarded by conventional historians, but the glaring problem is simply that their list is grossly incomplete. In addition, the conventional dating provided for Lord Zarathushtra is absurd enough to be laughable. One cannot help but note, with some amusement, the ‘unapologetic promptness’ with which scholars (mainly western) of ancient oriental history regularly push back the frontiers of time as they “expand” their knowledge on some fresh archaeological discovery or the other, or whatever else they consider as “hard” evidence.
For instance, the latest “going rate” for some of these scholars is now anywhere between 1700 to 1000 BC for the era of Zarathushtra, and the former date is also being assigned to the commencement of the composition of the Rigveda (the oldest of the Vedas). One cannot help but wonder whether such Western scholars (and some of their Eastern pupils) may somehow be biased, perhaps even subconsciously, by notions that the antiquity of Iranian and Indian spiritual thought could not possibly precede the Christian era by too great a margin or, as Lokmanya Tilak wryly suggests, by the estimation of traditional Christian theology that the world was created 4000 years before the advent of Lord Christ. Some Western scholars have opined that the early religions of Iran and India were “gropings in the dark” and the “babblings of infant humanity”, while one Western scholar, writing as late as 1951 has thought fit to bestow on his book the title “Zoroaster: Politician or Witch Doctor ?”!
Our response to these myopists is simply to offer them the spectacles of a single, incontrovertible (undeniable) piece of scientific evidence, established in one of the foremost scientific institutions of the Western world. The sacred Avestan scriptures of the Parsis contain several Yashts addressed to many of the 33 (cf. also, 33 divine beings worshipped in the Rigveda) Yazatas (high angelic entities who assist Ahura Mazda, the Supreme Creator, in the management of His universe; literally, one worthy of being attuned with, from ‘yaz’ = to attune).
The late Parsi savant, Dr.Sohrab A. Hakim, culled from the Meher Yasht and from some other Avesta Yashts, certain explicit astronomical references to the relative positions of specific stars and constellations. Dr.Hakim then posed a simple scientific question to Dr.John E.B. Ponsonby, Head of Radio Astronomy Centre at the world-famous Jordell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England: “at which period of time would the relative configurations and positions of the stars and constellations, as exactly described in the Meher and other Yashts, have been visible from the Northern Hemisphere of the earth ?”
Based on state-of-art computer analysis and the sophisticated Hawkins-Rosenthal Star Catalog, in June 1975 Dr.Ponsonby plotted and released the resultant celestial map which establishes beyond doubt that, in the present cycle of the Precession of the Equinoxes, the only date which satisfies the raw data provided from the Yashts is 9,500 BC. The stars don’t lie!
I. AIRYANAM VAEJO
The ancient Avesta texts, especially the Holy Vendidad, make frequent and reverent mention of the fabled land in which the Aryan race originated at the dawn of the present human cycle: Airyanam Vaejo (Sk. beeja = seed; Airyanam = of the Aryans; hence, Seedland of the Aryans). The precise geographical location of this original Aryan homeland has been the subject of much scholarly speculation over the past century or so. Lokmanya B.G. Tilak’s pioneering study, his 1903 thesis entitled “The Arctic Home in the Vedas”, convincingly shows, based on certain sacrificial allusions in the Vedas and certain direct descriptions in the Vendidad (I and II), that its true location was in the North Polar Arctic region. Incidentally, the contention of another group of Indian scholars that the Aryans were always indigenous to India and that the Aryan colonisation is only a myth, is clearly overruled by the testimony of the Vendidad (I,3-20) which provides a list of fifteen other locations to which the Aryans migrated after abandoning Airyanam Vaejo: one of these is specified as Hapta Hindu (Sk. Sapta Sindhu, Land of the Seven Rivers – note that the alphabets “s” and “h” are interchangeable between Avesta and Sanskrit) from which the names “Hindu” and “India” have been sourced.
There is, however, only one important aspect on which Tilak’s thesis is unconvincing; how could such a high civilization have possibly survived, let alone thrived, in a sub-zero Arctic deep-freeze? Tilak himself expressed doubts on this score, but suggested the occurrence of inter-glacial periods of mild climate when human habitation may have been feasible; not a very convincing argument! The enigma is further compounded when we find Ahura Mazda declaring, “I have made every country dear to its people even though it may not have had any charm in it at all … had I not done so, the whole living world would have invaded Airyanam Vaejo”, and the scriptural statement that in Airyanam Vaejo there was “neither cold wind nor hot wind” (Vendidad I, 1-2 & II, 5). These descriptions clearly paint the picture of a veritable paradise on earth, located in some equable, Temperate zone – hardly evocative of a brutal clime! The Vendidad also records that Ahura Mazda gave advance warning to Shah Jamshed (Yima Kshaeta), the glorious monarch of the Peshdadian dynasty, of a tremendous natural catastrophe that was to overtake Airyanam Vaejo, along with exhaustive instructions on how to survive it (II, 21-31); it further records that Yima subsequently led the Aryans on a Southward migration in three distinct waves (II, 8-19). Thus Airyanam Vaejo was abandoned, and the question naturally arises: why would anybody ever want to leave a paradisical land?
Enigmas are inevitable when we deal with matters so shrouded in the mists of time that they are almost beyond the imagining. Fortunately, the ancient texts continue to yield valuable direct and indirect evidences if subjected to scholarship accompanied by inspiration, and it is due to the lifelong researches of scholars such as B. D. Pithavala and J. M. Chatterjee that much new light has been shed on the riddles of Aryan ”pre-history”.
Important work in Pehlavi (the language of the Sassanian period), the “Iranian Bundaheshn” (also referred to as Zand Akasih, the “Knowledge of Tradition”), preserves a precise reference (V-1, 1-2) that is probably unique in world literature for its extreme antiquity and significance – the antediluvian (before the Holocaust - the Great Flood) World Horoscope (Zaich-i Gehan) which comprehensively records for posterity the exact relative position of key stars and constellations as they obtained in the sky on the very eve of the devastating holocaust of which Ahura Mazda had forewarned Shah Jamshed (Yima).
From the various data recorded in the Zaich-I Gehan, the following is of prime importance:
“The ‘Adversary’ (Petiyara, i.e. the holocaust) entered the earth in the month of Fravardin, on the day of Ohrmazd, at noon, when the day and night were equal ……….…………the House of Life (i.e. the Ascendant or 1st House of the Chart) was at the 19th degree of Cancer ……… Aries was at the Mid-Heaven (i.e. the 10th House) and the sun was disposed in it, in the asterism Patiyar (i.e. Ashwini) ..…”.
Two definite and striking conclusions follow from the above crucial extract:
(i) The holocaust occurred on the day of the Vernal Equinox, equivalent to March 21st in today’s terms – as day and night were equal and the Sun was in the first point of Aries which was on the Zenith from the place of observation (…Aries was at the Mid-Heaven (i.e. the 10th House) and the sun was disposed in it …).
Incidentally, from this we can now understand the true reason why the Iranians, from the most ancient times to this day, observe the Vernal Equinox as their New Year Day – after all, it is nothing but the real birth-date of the present human cycle!
We also understand why the Iranians call their New Year Day “Jamshedi’ Navroze” – in recognition of the mighty Shah Jamshed who presided over the destiny of the Aryan race and saved it from extinction on that fateful day so very long ago.
(ii) Airyanam Vaejo, in its original and pristine state (i.e. before the catastrophe stuck), was located in a climatically-hospitable Temperate (not Arctic) zone.
This crucial conclusion is based on the fact that in the Northern Hemisphere, when the first degree of Aries is on the Meridian (……Aries was at the Mid-Heaven i.e. the 10th House), the 19th degree of Cancer can rise on the Ascendant (per the Sayana or Iranian school of Astronomy) only in regions situated between 38 to 41 degrees North Latitude (i.e. Temperate zone) and no where else.
Are we confronted with a contradiction? Does our definite finding that Airyanam Vaejo was a Temperate land mean that Tilak’s thesis about its Arctic location is invalidated along with the bold testimonies of the Vendidad (I, II) on which he drew? Certainly, the Vendidad does make the following direct statements about the climate of Airyanam Vaejo, which science tells us can apply to only one place on earth – the Polar Region:
(a) ten months of Winter and two months of Summer,
(b) the year there seemed like a day,
(c) the Sun and stars rose there only once a year and
(d) ice and extreme cold.
No, there is no contradiction! Both conclusions are valid and both sets of climatic conditions did prevail in Airyanam Vaejo – but at different periods of time, separated by the onslaught of a natural cataclysm which brought sudden and draconian climatic changes in its wake.
The Zand Akasih indicates the original (Temperate) climate prevailing prior to the holocaust – on the other hand, the Vendidad indicates the new (Arctic) climate that set in after the onset of the holocaust which occurred in exact fulfillment of Ahura Mazda’s warning, “O fair Yima (Shah Jamshed), son of Vivanghan! Upon the material world are about to fall evil Winters that will bring a cruel deadly frost and make snowflakes fall thick, even ten inches deep on the highest tops of mountains!” (Vendidad II, 22-24).
Tilak’s thesis is perfectly valid insofar as he deals with Airyanam Vaejo’s post-holocaust (Arctic) location – but it is only recent research, much after Tilak’s time, which has determined its original, pre-holocaust (Temperate) location.
As we have seen, a fresh look at the scriptures has established that a colossal natural catastrophe did occur, causing a sudden and irreversible change in climatic parameters. The question that naturally arises is: what exactly was that catastrophe and just how did it so drastically over-turn the old climatic balance? Here, since the evidences are not so direct, we have to fall back on educated inferences. The direct clue we have from the Vendidad is Ahura Mazda’s clear statement about snow and flood-waters. Judging from this, we can at least make a reasonable inference that our holocaust is synonymous with the Great Flood recorded in the Biblical Book of Genesis. In fact, virtually all ancient races throughout the world, from the Americas to China, share a common tradition of a common disaster in a very early epoch; further, each of these races has its own Noah-like survivor-leader, such as Deucalion of the Greeks, Ut-Napishtim of the Babylonians, Yima of the Iranians, Baisbasbata of the Indians, Coxcox of the Mexicans, and so forth.
Coupled with these consistent race-memories of the global disaster is history’s greatest mystery story of the fabled lost continent of Atlantis which is said to have perished and sunk in a convulsion of earthquakes and floods. Plato, in two of his Dialogues (“Timaeus” and “Critias”), has recorded in considerable detail the knowledge revealed to his great-grandfather, Solon the Wise, by the Egyptian priests of Sais: “O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are but children ……. there was an island situated in front of the straits which you call the Columns of Heracles (i.e.Straits of Gibraltar), larger than Libya and Asia (Minor?) put together … in a single day and night of rain all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared, and was sunk beneath the sea ….. many great deluges have taken place during the 9,000 years, for that is the number of years which have elapsed since the time of which I am speaking ….. there have been, and there will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes.”
Since Solon lived from 639 to 559 BC, the date of the great disaster can be set at circa 9,600 BC or about 11,600 years ago, which matches closely, with scriptural estimates of the era of Shah Jamshed. In all probability, the Great Deluge, the Sinking of Atlantis and the “Attack of the Adversary” which plunged Airyanam Vaejo under ice, all relate to the same global catastrophe of around 12,000 years ago and marked the commencement of the present Human Cycle.
What may have caused the disaster? We do know that the blow was sudden and swift, for the Zand Akasih record specifies, with a strong sense of immediacy, a specific date (month Fravardin, day Ohrmazd) and even a specific time (noon); also Plato’s Dialogues speak of a single day and night of terror, intense enough to have caused the annihilation of a continent; and the Bible tells of the sudden commencement of a torrential downpour which took no more than forty days to inundate the entire earth. The swiftness and scale of the event seems capable of being explained only by one natural phenomenon, a shifting of the earth’s magnetic North-South Axis; nothing else is capable of wreaking a worldwide disruption of such intensity.
The “Precession of the Equinoxes” (whereby the shifting Axis traces a complete but very gradual circle once every 25,800 years, also know as “Plato’s Year”) is one of the normal motions of the earth due to its asphericality (see footnote for further explanation).
In our case, however, we are suggesting an abnormal jerk to the Axis entailing a large and abrupt relocation – cause unknown. Such drastic relocations of the Axis are not absent in the history of the planet:
it is scientifically known that the North Pole was once sited in the Pacific Ocean;
in Plato’s Dialogues, reference is made to the Sun and other celestial bodies as to “how in those times they used to set in the quarter where they now rise and used to rise where they now set”, and Plato concedes that this reversal has occurred many times before;
and in the tomb Senmut, architect of Queen Hatsheput (late Egyptian Middle Kingdom), one segment of a ceiling panel depicts the zodiac and constellations as they were at the time of Senmut, while the other segment plots them in reverse orientation, including a period when the earth was reversed in relation to the celestial bodies.
A relocation of the magnetic Axis obviously entails a concurrent and proportionate relocation of the Equator and the parallels of Latitude. It is only such a triple shift that can explain why and how Airyanam Vaejo was suddenly metamorphosed from a heaven into hell; the very same geographical region, originally located around 38 to 41 degrees North Latitude (Temperate zone), now abruptly found its position dictated by a new set of latitudinal parameters which placed it somewhere above 66 degrees North Latitude (Arctic zone). Needless to say, an Axis shift of this magnitude would also inevitably go hand in hand with immense stress on the earth’s crust (causing earthquakes) and displacement of its waters (causing floods).
We have sought to establish the original and revised Latitudes of Airyanam Vaejo but unfortunately, there is no research evidence available to determine its Longitude and thereby pinpoint its exact location on the basis of both co-ordinates. However, it is believed that it lies somewhere in the Northern reaches of Eurasia.
In passing, it is worth noting that scientists have now discovered from fossil evidence that around 12,000 years ago, the continent of Europe was “suddenly and inexplicably thrown into a 700-year long cold snap ….... returning Europe to Ice Age temperatures ….… Columbia University’s Broecker suggests that the solution to this prehistoric mystery centers on (a disruption of the flow of water in) the Gulf Stream, the warm Atlantic current. Such dramatic variability of ocean currents suggests that Earth may not always react gradually … to change … periods of relative calm could be followed by a burst of sudden change, disrupting the status quo for hundreds of years at a stretch”.
The Ecliptic is the path of the sun as observed from the Earth's reference frame and it appears to move around the Earth in a path which is tilted 23.5° to the earth’s equator.
On its Northerly transit, the path of the sun crosses the earth’s equator each year on or around 21st March (Jamshedi Norooz). This point of crossing is called the Vernal Equinox (Equinox = equal period of night [and day] = 12 hours each) and marks the beginning of spring.
When the sun’s plane crosses the equator on the first day of spring, we ask ourselves which of the twelve constellations is out behind our brilliant sun.
In ancient times the intersection marking the Spring Equinox was in the constellation of Aries, the Ram, and for that reason the intersection is still sometimes called "the first point in Aries."
However, at this point in history, the Vernal-Equinox sun is just entering Aquarius on the first day of spring. This is the scientific explanation for what we call the dawning of the Age of Aquarius or a new age.
The sun’s apparent position moves a little bit west in a constellation when observed on the same day each year. This slow movement of the sun’s apparent position in the Zodiac, when viewed on successive Vernal Equinoxes, is referred to as the PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES.
The signs of the zodiac have always been counted in 30 degree segments from the vernal equinox point. It takes the sun approximately 2,150 years to transit each of the twelve constellations on its 25,800-year jaunt around the Zodiac. If we were to live for 25,800 years, or one “Great Year” (also called Plato’s Year), we would witness twelve new ages.
In the long view of things, the Earth has been at this place in the astronomical calendar thousands of times before, as each Platonic year spirals onward.
Consider the twelve star constellations of the Zodiac the same way we think about the twelve months in the annual cycle of our planet. The Earth year consists of twelve months of about thirty days in each month.
In the Platonic year, there are twelve ages of nearly 2,150 years in each age.
The name of an age is taken from the name of the constellation that the Vernal-Equinox sun or the vernal equinoctial point is traversing. When used correctly, the Zodiac is the master calendar or the face of a clock for the Great year (Platonic year).
In light of the above, read again the last paragraph of page-1 and understand how irrefutable is the scientific evidence as culled from our sacred Avestan scriptures - the Meher Yasht and other Avestan Yashts.
“Based on state-of-art computer analysis and the sophisticated Hawkins-Rosenthal Star Catalog, in June 1975 Dr.Ponsonby plotted and released the resultant celestial map which establishes beyond doubt that, in the present cycle of the Precession of the Equinoxes (the 25,800 years cycle as explained above) , the only date which satisfies the raw data provided from the Yashts is 9,500 BC. THE STARS DON’T LIE!”