LIBERATING INDIAN MIND -33
TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGE

This history preserved in memory for six to eight thousand years could not be a narrative but a struggle to reach the truth, and as such it could be a creation out of the bits of information choreographed picturesquely on the mind. Data from many stages mixed to make the picture vivid. Had I been writing history, we could pass on to the next stage from where we ended. We are scrutinizing the bulk of un-examined and misunderstood aspects of our culture so we think wise to analyse some of them.
Division of Land. There are many hints suggesting that like any other animal humans could move at their will without any restriction and yet they remained confined to defined geographical boundaries as we find in animal world and among birds. Even migratory birds do not cover the entire earth. Animals like zebra, Kangaroo, and ostrich, elephants, tigers are limited to specified zone. Stone tools give indication of a mega beat which in southern India concluded in MP, while the other in northwest spread from MP in India to Caspian and Mediterranean Seas, and yet a third from eastern India to to south-east Asia and its islands. We know nothing in detail. There are many versions of delimitation of gathering area within the mega beat zones. As the entire humanity was stuck up at hunting-gathering stage, the division was sure to be among the Asuras alone. If it was caused by the pioneers of agriculture who “madly’ damaged the ecology, and so limitations were imposed to keep them off, we can not be sure.
The legends that came down vary in detail but reach the same conclusion that the devas were refused any territory to them. As a prelude to Kauravas refusal to give any share (सूच्यग्रं न दास्यामि विना युद्धेन केशव) the Devas are denied any territory wherein they could conduct their experiments, and they had to resort to tricks to dispossess the Asuras of a much larger area than their due. After all these pioneers were initially a smal band.*
{*nb. देवाश्च वा असुराश्च, उभये प्राजापत्याः …अथ ह असुरा मेनिरे अस्माकं खलु इदं भुवनमिति। ते होचुः, हन्तेमां पृथिवीं विभजामहै ता विभज्य उपजीवेम इति। तद् वै देवा सुश्रुवुः। विभजन्ते ह वा असुराः पृथिवीं प्रेत तत ईष्यामो यत्र इमाम् असुरा विभजन्ते के ततः स्याम यत अस्मै न भजेमहीति ते यज्ञं एव विष्णुं पुरस्कृत्य ईयुः। ते ह ऊचुः, अनु नो अस्यां पृथिवीं आभजताः त्वे इव अस्यां भाग इति। ते ह असुरा असूयन्त इव ऊचुः यावत् वै एष विष्णुः अभिशेते तावत् वो दद्म इति।}
The rest of the legen is common knowledge. Vishnu was a spark of fire and once permitted they raised the fire to such a flagration that the Asuras had to flee for their safety.

Much remains unstated in this episode which agitates against other versions of the conflict. For example, their plight and flight in every quarter to escape the fury of the Asuras. But if we look at the place names with deva as the core, and the deva title continuing till this day we find such names throughout tribal belt in northern India at least. From Bhunjdeva of Chhatisgarh to Deua of Nepal and Deva of Bengal. That puts an affirmative stamp to the claim of the Devas that they sprang from the same background as the Asuras and differed only in their determination to introduce a change in subsistence pattern at whatever cast.

There were fierce protests and bloody sacrifices by the Devas or Brahmanas and the rakshasas were coercive no doubt. This fact is also borne out by many versions, from birth of Sita out of the pitcher filled with blood of the Brahmanas and buried under earth, to Puranic and Brahmanic episodes. The furrowmark deified as Sita and adulated as such occurs in RV as well.^
{^nb अर्वाची सुभगे भव सीते वन्दामहे त्वा। यथा नः सुभगासिस यथा नः सुफलासिस॥ ४.०५७.०६}

It was difficult for the Devas to defeat the ever present and dominant Asuras who kept them in a state of constant awe even after they had been themselves hounded out to secluded corners as at the earliest stage the Devas.

Victory of the Devas over Asuras was not a victory in face to face conflict, but one of the technological superiority. There is linguistic and literary evidence to show that gradually a substantial number of those who earlier opposed agricultural option switched over to agriculture that added to the numerical strength of the Devas. Agricultural prosperity was the greatest attraction:**
{**साकमेधेन वै देवाज्ञ वृत्रं अघ्नन तेन एवव्यजयन्त। )

It was not the defeat of a people. It was not limited to India alone. Revolutions are not completed in a day. They are not made successful with might of armed men or advanced weaponry. Armies and weapons fail in the face of more just and sustaining economic order which redefines social order.