Ambassador Akhilesh Mishra on Pandit Madhusudan Ojha’s Indravijaya
The Indian Ambassador to Ireland, Ambassador Akhilesh Mishra, spoke on Pandit Madhusudan Ojha’s Indravijaya during the National Seminar on Indravijaya held on December 28-29, 2024, in New Delhi. Edited excerpts: It has been a wonderful and extraordinary experience reading Pandit Madhusudan Ojha’s Indravijaya. In my view, the book represents a new direction in Sanskrit literature. It is different from traditional texts and verses. It is different from traditional commentaries. Indravijaya is a research driven prose poetry. Its research methodology is modern and scientific. Under normal circumstances, a researcher is often not sure of what the research is likely to discover. Acharya Madhusudan Ojhaji was quite clear about the subject when he first thought of writing Indravijaya. Since he was sure about his subject, he was able to present a comprehensive account of evidence in support. In his endeavour, he dived into vast oceans of knowledge–the Vedas, upanishad, puranas, Mahabharat, Ramayana, Manusmriti etc to bring out pearls of rare knowledge. In his work, Pandit Madhusudan Ojha has been able to establish that the Vedas contained both vijnana and history while remaining apaureshaya or eternal language. He has maintained that devatas like Indra and Varuna were symbolic of scientific elements. He has also remarkably established the veracity of several names given to Bharatavarsha. Using the Indus River as the dividing line, he explains the eastern and western frontiers of Bharat. He has discounted the possibility of Sinhaladweepa as the Lanka mentioned in the Ramayana. Both Lakkadweepa and Maldweepa, he argued, constituted Lanka.He has established the existence of script when Veda Samhita was being compiled. The Aryas, he asserted, were original inhabitants of Bharat and the theories of their foreign origin were fallacious. Ojhaji argued that vedic mantras can be understood at three levels– adhidaivik,adhibhautik and adhyatmik. This triadic concept can be witnessed at several levels in the universe. In the body bearing living beings, these are seen in their actions, knowledge,food,yajna, meditation,worship, offerings, happiness and sadness. Ojhaji has conceptualised this triadic concept in several other fields–in divya triloka, sharirika triloka,bhauma triloka etc. He has even visualised the triadic concept on the earth. Pandit Madhusudan Ojha’s explanation of the nomenclature, geographical boundary and related matters about Bharat. He has documented that Bharatavarsha was known as Nabhivarsha in Skandapurana, Haimavatvarsha and Aryavarsha. The term `Bharat` could refer to several persons and not merely one. Ojhaji pointed out that Bharat refers to agni which is the master of manushyaloka or earth. As Indra is the master of svarga, vayu the master of space, agni is the master of earth. Agni is the master of humans and is known as Bharat. On the earth, agni produces grain and inside the human body, it aids in digestion and growth. As this country is capable of feeding its own people and people of other countries, it is known throughout the world as Bharat. ऋग्वेदस्य तुरीयकमण्डलसूक्ते हि पञ्चविंशतिके।।भारत इत्याख्यातं नामाग्नेर्भूमनुष्यलोकपतेः।।60।। इन्द्रविजय पृष्ठ १५, कारिका ७ The region known as Hindu or Hindustan is only a part of Bharatavarsha. The area along the river Sindh or Indus falls to the east of Bharatavarsha. It is known as Sindhustan. It is said to be the border of Bharatavarsha but in fact it is the border of Hindustan. As Bharatavarsha is popular as Aryavarta in the eastern regions, the western regions of Bharatavarsha are known as Aryayan in Persia. To the east of the Red Sea, west of the Indus River, north of the Indian Ocean, the area was known as Oriens among the Aryans. It indicates the possibility of Aryans being original residents of western parts of Bharatavarsha. Foreigners may have been fascinated by the Indus River as a historical reference point, such a view was imposed on us. It was never a political or geographical boundary of Bharatavarsha. A country with several rivers could not be named after one river. यदिदं भारतवर्षं स्कान्दे तन्नाभिवर्षमप्युक्तम्।आर्षभवर्षं चान्यैर्हैंमवतं वर्षमप्यन्यैः।।45।। भरतस्यायं देशस्तस्माद् भारत इति प्रथितः।भरतं त्वेतमनेकं स्मरन्ति पौराणिकाः सर्वे।।46।। –इन्द्रविजय पृष्ठ ११, कारिका १-२ There were three principal languages in Bharatavarsha–Chhando Bhasha, Lokika Bhasha and Devanagari Bhasha. During Panini’s time, two languages were prevalent–vedic bhasha and Brahmi.It is the Chhando Bhasha which is the mother of all languages in the world with Sanskrit and non-Sanskrit languages as its two offspring. European languages came out of non-Sanskrit stream with Zend Avesta language being the oldest among them. —