Vedic Influence - World conclusion

All over the world we can see remnants of the ancient Vedic culture. I was surprised to know that my name “Swetha” is very common in Russia . Many girls are names “Sveta” or “Svet Nana” which in Sanskrit is "Svetha ananam" and means “Fair faced”. The ancient Russian scriptures mention about a hero Krishen. The scriptures narrate the many adventures of Krishen. They mention that he once killed a witch and a snake. The story of Krishen is identical to the life history of Lord Krishna. The witch and the snake are Putana and Kaliya. Recently an ancient Vishnu idol was discovered in Russia .

'Proof of Vedic Culture's Global Existence' Stephen Knapp shows the Vedic derivation of the names of various countries.

For example, Russia used to be called Rishiya which meant “the land of Rishis ”. Soviet derived from Svet which means region covered with white snow.

Deutschland derived from Daityasthan; “the land of Daityas ”. Rome derived from the name of Lord Rama. Paris from the name of goddess Parameshwari. Amsterdam from Antardham meaning below sea level. Scandinavia from the name of God Skanda. Israel from Ishwaralaya. Syria from Surya. Britain from Brihat-Sthan meaning great land.

As a child I used to play the game called “Chinese Whisper” with my friends. We used to sit in a circle. The person who begins the game has to whisper a word in the ear of the person sitting to his/her left. That person would whisper in to the ear of the person to his/her left and so on. The last person should get up and utter what he/she heard. We would all laugh hard because as the game proceeded, each person would have heard a different pronunciation till the word was completely mutilated!

I see such an effect in every country. The legends and phrases would lose their original pronunciation and meaning during transmission from one set of people to the other.

Even in India , there are three main schools with different interpretations to the Vedanta. We have the Advaita, Vishistadvaita and Dwaita each offering slightly different interpretations to the Vedic texts.

There are many additions to the legends as well. The sthala purana of Sri Rangam temple states that Vibhishana left the vimana of the lord at Sri Rangam as per the request made by the lord as well as a Chola king. There is a new version of the sthala purana which states that Lord Ganesha tricked Vibhishana and got the Vimana of the lord to stay at Sri Rangam. None of the Vaishnava or Saiva puranas agree with the new version and yet the new version is the more popular version.

Similarly there is also a new version added to the Narasimha purana which states that the anger of Lord Narasimha was controlled by a mythical creature called Sharaba. People have even started to worship this creature. In the actual version Lord Narasimha calms down when he sees his favorite devotee Prahlada. As the supreme being he can only be won over by our love for him. We cannot control him by force since he is the all powerful master. Hence the new version about Sharaba is laughable.

People seek variety even in religion. This quest for variety sprouts new legends and Gods which have no basis in theology. Such legends are the fancies of people.

If even in India , close to the root of the Vedic culture people continue to create new legends and religions it is not far fetched to think of such creations in other countries which resulted in the various cultures and civilizations.