Messing the Past

Western archaeologists were astounded by these findings but orthodox Hindus weren't surprised at all. Their ancient chronicles-enormous religious anthologies like the Puranas and the Mahabaratha, which you'll learn about in chapter5, "The people's Religion"-often mentioned glorious Cities of the distant past. They even mentioned legendary architects like the Asura Maya who could whip up spectacular buildings with beautiful gardens and lotus-laden pools and mirrored walls.

But Western scholars never believed those ancient chronicles for a minute. The surprising thing is that even as they dug up more and more evidence that the Hindus' own version of their history was more or less correct, western scholars still couldn't believe it!

Here's why. In nineteenth-century European intellectual circles, Oxford University scholar Frederick Max Miller was held in only slightly less esteem than God. One day Miller announced that the Veda, India's most ancient spiritual classic and the very foundation of its faith, had been composed between 1200 to 1000 B.C.E. As far as Western scholars were concerned, God had spoken. This in spite of the fact that some of the positions of the stars and planets mentioned in the Veda could only have occurred sometime between 3500 and 4000 B.C.E.!