4000 Year Old Lord Vishnu Statue

[Andal]

Vannaakkam,


I'm not sure if you have seen it yet but Facebook is blowing up today with news that a 4000 year old statue of Vishnu has been discovered in Vietnam. There is more info HERE

Does anyone know if this has been scientifically verified? If it is true, it would force academia to rewrite it's history of Hinduism. It would be a substantial find and also show that since ancient times Sanatana Dharma has been a world religion.

What are your thoughts on it?

Aum Hari Aum!

 

[Vinayaka]

I would never be surprised about the antiquity of Hinduism.

 

[StarryNightshade]

This is the first time I've heard of this, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were true.

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

Wait... I though the Vedas were written at that period of time. That means that the oral tradition is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY older than I though !

Incredible

 

[GoodbyeDave]

How can they be sure it's Vishnu? How did they date it?

 

[Stormcry]

show that since ancient times Sanatana Dharma has been a world religion.

No, it couldnt prove that once Sanatana Dharma was a world religion. It could have been a world religion if any existence of Hindus groups was found there.
but we don't find such groups practicing vaidik teachings in any countries like we find in Countries like Afghanistan.

Actually the news is an indication of ruling of Hindus all over the world. Puranas too mention this. Puranas mention Hindu kings who used to conquere kings of other countries. So that statue or temple must be established by a Hindu vaishnawa king.

 

[Andal]

How can they be sure it's Vishnu? How did they date it? — that's a very early date for Oc Eo. Do you really trust a post that claims the same religion existed in Siberia and Australia?

I am not making a claim one way or another I am asking specifically for other Hindus view on this. Your post seems a bit confrontational please remember that this is the Hindu DIR board.

Aum Hari Aum!

 

[Stormcry]

Hinduism can't be a world religion because this is more than impossible. In entire population of all other countries, we didnt find EVEN A SINGLE person who was following vaidik teachings. Even they didn't know Veda and Sanskrit words. Veda & Sanskrit were followed only in India. We don't find any religious group outside of India following veda is very very big support of the fact that Hinduism was never a world religion.

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

I am not making a claim one way or another I am asking specifically for other Hindus view on this. Your post seems a bit confrontational please remember that this is the Hindu DIR board.

Aum Hari Aum!

I would add that it is a legit website also, so well.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

I am not making a claim one way or another I am asking specifically for other Hindus view on this. Your post seems a bit confrontational please remember that this is the Hindu DIR board.

Sorry if I sounded confrontational — it wasn't intended. :sorry1:

The people of Funan, the area where this statue was found, were Cambodians. We all know that the Cambodians were Hindus long before they became Buddhists. South East Asia was on the trade route between China and India and so bound to be influenced by one or other of those two more advanced cultures, and India was the one they all favoured. But, having been trained as an archeologist, I do tend to get a bit exasperated when sweeping claims are made on the basis of one artefact.

 

[Kalidas]

Hinduism can't be a world religion because this is more than impossible. In entire population of all other countries, we didnt find EVEN A SINGLE person who was following vaidik teachings. Even they didn't know Veda and Sanskrit words. Veda & Sanskrit were followed only in India. We don't find any religious group outside of India following veda is very very big support of the fact that Hinduism was never a world religion.

Maybe you forgot but more than half of this dir is filled with people not from India

 

[Kalidas]

Either way, that would be awesome. I am going to come at this with cautious optimism, remember the shroud of Turin? Remember how THAT turned out?

 

[Sb1995]

Hinduism can't be a world religion because this is more than impossible. In entire population of all other countries, we didnt find EVEN A SINGLE person who was following vaidik teachings. Even they didn't know Veda and Sanskrit words. Veda & Sanskrit were followed only in India. We don't find any religious group outside of India following veda is very very big support of the fact that Hinduism was never a world religion.

You do know that Tamil is older than Sanskrit and can be considered more Holy than Sanskrit for many Hindu's. You seem to only know what your parents have taught you. Please read some more.

 

[ShivaFan]

The photo doesn't match the ones I recently read about in a magazine (I will go find the article if I have to, but believe me I read it, I read a lot uf Archeology magazines published out of the UK, US and India), and it is true that Hinduism in Vietnam goes WAY BACK thousands of years. This article also had an ancient Vishnu found in Vietnam, but it wasn't the same as the one you shared. In other words, there are a lot of Hindu murtis, ruins, artifacts found in Vietnam of Hindu origin. It is a fact that there were Hindu Kingdoms in Vietnam of NATIVE people who were taught by South Indian Tamil speaking Hindu priests, Brahmins and Kshatriyas a form of South Indian Hinduism.

I know many Vietnamese in California, most are Buddhist but a few are a form of Hinduism of Vietnam, just like you have Hinduism in Bali.

The spread of Hinduism in ancient times was vast, India's role and origin of religion is without question, Buddhism today in Asia all started in Nepal-India. The fact that Buddhism is in Vietnam speaks to this fact that yes, religion both Hindu and Buddhism spread there. This has not stopped. Hinduism is seeing a (re)-surgence in Thailand, and of course Hinduism now has a large following in the USA. Some may not like the idea, but not liking something doesn't detemine the outcome. And largely it is Indians who are helping in no small measure with this spread. The world is now "smaller" than ever. Hinduism will be travelling by humans to other planets next, though it is already there now but I mean in terms of human exploration and migration.

But actually, there seems to be a trend now BACK to religion, for many religions, perhaps marking the beginning of the end of 1960s style secularism.

Om Namah Sivaya

 

[Vinayaka]

Sri Lanka, Bali, and Nepal are the three places outside of India where Hinduism has been going on for a very long time AND has stayed large. However, historically all these places were called something different back then. So, in many senses, India was larger geographically back then. it's not called INDOnesia for nothing.

 

[Sb1995]

Sri Lanka, Bali, and Nepal are the three places outside of India where Hinduism has been going on for a very long time AND has stayed large. However, historically all these places were called something different back then. So, in many senses, India was larger geographically back then. it's not called INDOnesia for nothing.

We've lost Indonesia as Hindu's. Only 1.67% of the country is Hindu.

 

[Vinayaka]

We've lost Indonesia as Hindu's. Only 1.67% of the country is Hindu.

Only Bali remains and I have no idea why. But there are tons of ancient temples scattered throughout those islands. Probably a much less friendly attitude towards archeology prevents more discovery. That's just a guess though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prambanan

 

[Kalidas]

Only Bali remains and I have no idea why. But there are tons of ancient temples scattered throughout those islands. Probably a much less friendly attitude towards archeology prevents more discovery. That's just a guess though.

Prambanan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From the research I did, it was due to Catholicism during inquisition time. Bali was essentially the last refuge of the Hindus able to stem the tide. Islam came later and dud the same.

 

[Sb1995]

Only Bali remains and I have no idea why. But there are tons of ancient temples scattered throughout those islands. Probably a much less friendly attitude towards archeology prevents more discovery. That's just a guess though.

Prambanan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After Christianity and Islam came, all Hindu's fled to the Bali islands.

 

[ShivaFan]

Not to get off subject from Hinduism in Vietnam, but in regards to Bali, I always believed there is a direct connection to this Island and the Ramayana, where there were migrants who came to Bali soon after Ravana was defeated.

That is my belief.

But a side note on Bali, during the late part of WW2 and the Japanese conflict, and then for years afterwards, Bali became sort of a magic shangrila to many US soldiers who became fascinated with it. My father served in Germany during the war, not on the Japsnese front, but even he mentioned it. It must have been a very special place and isolated from the rest of the world in those days before modern influence and tourism.

Om Namah Sivaya