Seven Wonders of Ananda Nagar
Wonders of nature do not create a sensation of surprise in human hearts as they are God’s creations. We will now speak of the seven wonders of Rárh i.e., of Ananda Nagar which will show both natural wonders and human achievements. The reader will feel a compulsion of visiting Ananda Nagar to see these wonders.
1. Belamu Hill: About four kilometers and a half to the south of central Ánandanagar you will see a hill running east-west on the longer side. It is called Belamu. Scholars think that it may have been named after Belamukha, a Jaena god. The village Chitmu, named after the Jaena God Cittamukha, is near the hills. Belamu is the oldest hill in the world. This Belamu is the solid much that rose out of water about three hundred million years ago and looked at the sky. Scholars have come to this conclusion after examining its rock. The stones are so old that they break when pressed between two fingers.
Gondoana was the oldest land mass in the world. It included western Ráóh, Deccan, Africa, Australia, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Indonesia etc. The soil of this area is the oldest soil on earth. The soil of Belamu is even older than the soil of other parts of this area. Shriishrii Prabhataranjan Sarkar, in his book “Sabhyatar Adivindu Ráóh” says the following about creation of this land: ”It was an ocean agitated by tall waves. The ocean had no name or appellation. Who would give it a name? Who would tell others about it? Man had not yet arrived on earth. It was three hundred million years before our times. There was no vegetation on earth that could identify or give a name to a parcel of arid rocky land. This nameless rocky soil was later given the name of Ráóh. Ráóh is a word from an ancient Austric language. It means “a land of red soil.” In the earth of those days, there was no Áryávarta; there was no plain of Bengal and the south. Deserts of Rajasthan and Gujarat were also absent. The northern part of the Arabian Sea was also missing. The southern part was there. It joined the Deccan with Andamans, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia, above water at some point and under water at other points. In that manless world, Ráóh was even more ancient than other areas. Its snow-clad peaks had given birth to many rivers. These rivers fed by molten snow made their journey into the ocean; some to the east, and others to the south-east.
Days passed. Time moved on from beginning-lessness to eternity. The mountains, acted upon by storms and thunderstorms, were slowly eroded. They lost their crowns of snow and were reduced in stature. As the mountains become smaller, the basins between mountains rose. We can see today wavy red soil in Western Ráóh — the waves advance towards east o to merge in the distant blue; in their reverse journey, they tell us of a lost address. That undulating land is our Ráóh.”
2. A Dead Volcano: If one looks towards the east from central Ánandanagar, one can see at a distance of about 8 kilometres a hill which could look as if it has been beheaded. In 1965, Baba (Ánandamuurtijii, our spiritual preceptor) saw the hill and told us that from the flatness of the top, it could be easily inferred that it had been a volcano in the distant past. Its top was powered and scattered as a result of frequent eruptions. The volcano is now dead. Years passed. Research on Ráóh had started by that time. On 28th of December, 1980, Baba went to Dimdiha Hill. He sat on a stone and said: “Look around for a black- coloured piece of stone. I went to find proof acceptable to scholars.” Such a stone was found under water in a spot where the river skirted the hill. Baba took it in his hand and said: “Yes, it was formed by lava. That proves that the hill was a volcano in Ráóh in India.” Geologists have been skeptical about existence of volcanoes in India. For India is not in the volcanic belt. Baba has said in this connection:–
In the past, the North and South Poles were not at their present location. Displacement of Poles has happened several times. At some time in the past, India, and Ráóh in particular, must have been in the volcanic belt. The belt probably went along the western side of Ráóh. Seeing recent changes in nature, Baba commented that the poles have again suffered displacement. In the past, numerous birds from Siberia came to the water body below the hill in the winter. They laid their eggs on the hill. Local people collected those eggs. They therefore gave the hill the name Dimdihá (Dim = the Bengali word for egg-tr.). Baba renamed the hill ‘Dimbagiri’.
3. Navacakra Caves: We found a cave near the bottom of the Dimbagiri alias Dimdihá. Probably, seekers of the Supreme used to perform tantrik practice here about five thousand and a half years ago. Many tantrik symbols are etched on the sides of the cave. It is obvious from the structure of the cave that it dates back to the Bronze Age or the Iron Age. We know that caves are either natural or man- made. This cave is man-made. This is obvious from a look at its walls. It has a depth of about fifty feet. One has to crawl on one’s chest to enter it. But inside the cave, there is space for sitting down. It has two storeys. Eight to ten persons can sit together inside it.
The 20th May, 1986, is a gold letter day in human history. For it was on this day that the Navacakra cave, the oldest cave used for religious practice, situated in Dimdihá Hill near Ánandanagar in Western Ráóh was discovered. This has been the first such discovery. So, the importance of this discovery can be easily perceived. History does not look very far. Many of its untold stories are lying hidden in in caves created by prehistoric cave-dwelers. Many scholars have conducted research on this subject revealing to us a lot of information about development of human civilization. But these scholars are silent on how caves are involved in the spiritual endeavours of man.
On 20th May, 1986, Baba was shown a sketch of the tantrik drawings on the cave wall. He said that it was an evidence of the tantric Navacakra Sádhaná introduced by Shiva. The nine cakrás of the human body are shown here. Probably some tantric preceptor here initiated his disciple to tantric rituals. It also might be the place where some spiritual seeker practised tantra. The cave might be five thousand and a half years old. For there is no indication here of Ciinácára (the Chinese school of tantra – tr.). Ciinácára came to our country five thousand years ago. When people of Europe moved about unclad in forests, people near Ánandanagar meditated in caves, seeking God.
4. Dinosaur Fossil : There is a small hillock at the western extreme of Ánandanagar. Baba has given it the name of Asthi Páhád (hill of bones – tr.). A dinosaur fossil was found on it. On 27th December, 1980, Baba went there, examined a stone and said that it was a dinosaur fossil. He explained that it was a part of a dinosaur’s back. There was another piece lying at a little distance. It was a part of the lower back of a dinosaur. It was fossilised about 1.5 million years ago. Baba said that parts of the tail also might be found. Looking further east, the tail, broken into several pieces, was found. The lowest part is now kept in the museum at Madhumálaiòca, the Kolkata residence of Baba.
Baba said that this huge reptile had been fossilized a million and half years ago. The fossil belonged to a post-glacial age. Some think that there had been no dinosaur in India. But now we have concrete evidence to the contrary. The dinosaur was the largest animal. Its size was twelve times that of an elephant. There were two types of dinosaurs — herbivores and carnivores. A dinosaur could have a baby elephant for breakfast. A dinosaur’s head was disproportionately small when compared with its trunk. Therefore it was poor in intelligence. Dinosaurs were egg-laying animals. Dinosaurs became extinct long before the advent of man on earth. So no living man ever saw a living dinosaur. The dinosaur and the coctatius were contemporaries. The latter was a carnivore. Lizards are transformed descendants of the coctatius. Thus many animals have become extinct and many new ones have appeared.
Not very far, a red piece of stone was found lying. Baba examined it for quite some time. Then he said that it came from a very fearsome prehistoric animal. It resembled both a bird and a turtle. It could fly. It was huge in size. When it was seen flying, other animals took cover in fear. Its eyes were red. Some more fossils were discovered that day — for examples, the fossil of a tree resembling sál; the fossil of a large animal or the waist of an animal; the fossil of lower leg of an animal resembling a lion, the fossil of a part of the mouth of a wolf; very old hard rock; ancient rock containing silver and mica; etc. In the ancient world, there came a brief glacial age. It is surmised that during that epoch, gigantic animals and other animals of prehistoric Ráóh died of cold. We have the fossils of some animals. Their bodies were not decomposed but were transformed into hard fossils.
5. The Oldest temple on earth: Ten kilometers to the east of Dimdihá Hill, at Deolghata on the bank of the Kansabati, there stand three very old brick-built temples. One of them has collapsed and is in ruins. These are Jaena temples. According to Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, the distinguished historian, they were built during the region of Emperor Candragupta in Magadh. The temples are more than 2,200 years old. There were more temples here, which have been destroyed. These are the oldest temples on earth. We are not of course taking into account stupas and pyramids. Jaenas were the first on earth to build temples and idols Terra cotta decorations in temple are extremely beautiful.
6. Kapil Hill: There is a hill about 25 kilometers directly to the south of central Ánandanagar. It is the Kapil Hill, named after the great sage Kapil, the world’s first philosopher. There is cave in the hill where he wrote his treatise on Sánkhya philosophy. He was born at village Pátjhálda, a village near the hill. A poet of Bengal said about him; “It is here in Bengal that Kapil, a repository of wisdom, the first scholar, the originator the Sankhya school of philosophy, strung a chain of diamonds”. [Translator’s note- The verse contains an untranslatable play on the word sutra, which means in Bengali a thread and also a sentence of the treatise]. The name Kapil is mentioned in the Shriimadbhagabat, the Gita, the Mahábháráta and the UpaniSads. We can from this see his unprecedented popularity. Shrii Phabhatrainjana Sarkar thus speaks of him in his book “Sabhyatár Ádivindu Ráóh” :—
“The best evidence of the identity of an elevated person is his intellectual and cultural refinement and discernment. A man becomes a philosopher when he learns to absorb and watch his environment within himself. It is Ráóh that gave mankind its first philosopher. The great sage Kapil was that philosopher. He desired to probe deeply into the mystery of creation and bring the basic features of the world within the frame of Sánkhya theory. Rooted in the present day world we cannot fathom the level of self-confidence and spiritual audacity that enables a person to do this.” Kapil was born at a place of Ráóh near Jháldá and obtained final realization at Gangasagar on the bank of the Bay of Bengal, the extreme point of Ráóh.
7) The source of the Kansabati : If we stand in the middle of central Ánandanagar and look toward south-west, we will see a round-shaped hill. It is known to us by the name of ‘Round Hill’, but its real name is Jáhar Páhád. One has to walk through it to find the source of the Kansabati. The place is called ‘Bujbuj’. (Bujbuj means bubbly –tr). Water comes out in bubbles from a basin and then flows down. The reason of the place being named Bujbuj is easily understood. This narrow stream assumes large proportions after reaching Medinipur. It becomes even broader after meeting the Keleghai. The cruel river that caused terrible harm to a community through sudden flooding is named Kasái (Butcher). At present this terrible, cruel natured Kasái River has been attired as a woman of leisure in a Benarasi sari and given the name [goddess] Kaîsaávati. One should bear in mind that there is no relationship between this river and kaîsá [bell-metal]. Moreover the Sanskrit for kaîsá is kaîsyá or bharaòa, not kaîsa or kaîsá.
[Sources: ‘Sabhyatár Adi Vindu Ráóh’ and Ánandanagar ek Swapner Desh’]
