Aristotle was a philosopher, not someone who used scientific method. Scientific method is fairly recent in history. Are you familiar with what scientific method is? Observe, hypotheisize, test, record results, conclude, repeat... anything else is simply not scientific method.
I am giving below extract from my paper published in Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies. THis does not relate directly to the Exodus butthese scholars indicate a connection between the Torah and Indus Valley. Thx.
William Jones
Sir Williams Jones was a judge at the Supreme Court at Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) and the founder of the Asiatic Society. He traced the parallels between certain Biblical and Hindu persons in the Presidential Address given to the Society in 1788 titled “On the Chronology of the Hindus.” (Jones, William,
The Works of Sir William Jones in Six Volumes, Vol I, G G and J Robinson, London, 1799, page 313). He suggested that Biblical Adam was parallel to Hindu Swayambhu who were both born, in his reckoning, in 4006 BCE; Biblical Noah was parallel to Hindu Vaivaswat who both were born in 2949 BCE; and Biblical Raamah was parallel to Hindu Rama who both were born in 2029 BCE.
He noted that Adam and Swayambhu were the first human beings and that Noah and Vaivaswat lived at the time of the Flood in the two religions. However, he considered Biblical Raamah, son of Cush, to be parallel to Hindu Rama apparently on etymological considerations alone. He did not draw any parallels between the narratives of Raamah and Rama. He also did not discuss the parallels between Cain and Indra; and between Moses and Krishna. Further, he did not discuss the theological parallels between these persons.
T W Doane
Thomas William Doane was a pioneer of free thought. He published his sole literary work
Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions in 1882 (Doane, T W,
Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions, J. W. Bouton, New York, 1882,
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bible Myths and their Parallels in Other Religions, by Thomas William Doane., Retrieved July 22, 2020). He drew parallels between the narratives of the Bible and the Hindus but did not look at the genealogies, similarities of names and theologies. The non-consideration of genealogies made it possible for him to draw a parallel between narratives at different genealogical positions. Yet he made some fine parallels.
He drew a parallel between Adam and Swayambhu on the strength of both living at a place with four rivers; and Noah and Vaivaswat on the basis of the Deluge. These parallels are same as suggested by us. However, there are numerous cases where he jumps the genealogical position. We give two examples.
He associated the Tree of Life mentioned in the narrative of Adam with the Soma plant mentioned in the narrative of Indra. He ignored the statement in the Hindu texts that Indra lived in the fourth generation from Swayambhu—whom we show was more likely parallel to Adam. Thus there is a gap of four generations between the Tree of Life and the Soma Plant.
Second, he associated Abraham with Harishchandra on the basis of both having offered their son in a failed sacrifice. However, the main narrative of Abraham—going to the south, wife being taken to the Pharaoh, separation from Lot, and expelling Hagar have no parallels in the narrative of Harishchandra. There is no parallel between the names Abraham and Harishchandra either. Thus, while Doane furthered the study of the parallels, the specific parallels outlined by him left much to be desired.
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade was Professor at Universities of Bucharest and Chicago. He published
Patterns in Comparative Religion in 1958 and his seminal work
Myth and Reality in 1968 (Eliade, Mircea,
Patterns in Comparative Religion, Sheed & Ward, New York, 1958; Mircea Eliade,
Myth and Reality, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1963). In these books he brought together narratives from across the world and shew that underlying them were certain common patterns. Like Doane, we find that, in the context of Biblical-Hindu parallels, those drawn by him did not often match with the genealogical positions.
He said, for example, that the creation of Eve from Adam’s ribs was parallel to the primeval pair of Yama and Yami described in the Rig Veda. He ignored though that Adam and Eve married while Yama and Yami did not marry. Eliade did not examine the parallel between Adam and Eve, and Swayambhu and Shatarupa. The creation of these primeval couples is associated with splitting of the body and they were the progenitors of the human race in both the religions.
Like Doane, Eliade too associates the Tree of Life described in the Bible with the Soma plant mentioned in the Rig Veda.
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. He was influenced by Indian philosopher Jiddu Krshnamurti. He traced the parallels in the Hindu and other world narratives in
Oriental Mythology published in 1962 which is part of his trilogy of
Primitive-, Oriental- and
Occidental Mythology (Campbell, Joseph,
The Masks of God: Oriental Mythology, Secker & Warburg, London, 1962).
Unlike Doane and Eliade, Campbell rightly drew parallel between the making of woman from man’s ribs in Genesis and the splitting of the primeval being into husband and wife as described in the Hindu texts.
A number of other examples, however, face a chronological problem. Campbell identified the Tree of Knowledge of the Bible with the pipal tree (ficus religosa) at the time of Buddha. However, the two mentions are separated by three millennia. Campbell did not explore the possible parallel between the Tree of Knowledge or the Tree of Life and the Kalpa-vriksha or “wish-fulling tree” that is mentioned at the time of Swayambhu.
He drew a parallel between the Biblical narrative of the Deluge and the Rig Vedic narrative of Indra killing Vritra and releasing waters that were held up by Vritra. Campbell ignored that Noah would have been mighty happy if the pent up waters had been released and the Deluge abated. The clear parallel to the Biblical Deluge is available in the Fish Incarnation at the time of Vaivaswat which Campbell ignored.
