Similarities in concept of evolution of life on earth in Dashavatar and modern Geology.

There are many similarities between two theories.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Mankind has long sought to learn how, when and where life originated; and plants have come into existence.
Until the middle of the nineteenth century life was presumed to be created by some supernatural power either once or at successive intervals.
The biblical story of creation of world within six days was put forward by Spanish monk Father Sudrez. He described that the earth and heaven were created on the first day and sky on the second day. Third day the earth surface dried and the ancestors of plants and animals originated. The Sun, the moon, and the stars were created on the fourth day, the birds and the fishes appeared on the fifth day and finally man and beasts were created on the sixth day of creation. In the end of seventh day a woman was constructed from the 12th rib of the man.
According to Hindu mythology the world was created by God Brahma. Gods, men and devils developed from His head; birds from His chest; goats from His mouth, and plants from the hairs of the body.
According to ancient and mediaeval beliefs the life is distributed throughout the cosmos in the form of resistant spores of living forms, the Cosmozoa. These reached the earth accidentally from some other planets, and on getting favourable conditions for life these developed into organisms.
The entire life span of earth is called the geologic time. Plants and animals have changed gradually during the passage of geologic time and present a chronological sequence of events, which led to the evolution of more and more complex from the simple ones. These evolutionary changes are read in the form of fossils that are found in succeeding rock beds on the strata.

In Hindu mythology the concept of biological evolution (from fish to modern man) is clearly shown in the form of Dashavatar (ten avatars of Lord Vishnu). If we compare it with geologic time scale of biological evolution, there are few similarities. According to Dashavatar the first avatar of Lord Vishnu was in the form of fish on this earth. If we compare it biological events on different Geological Time Scale first developed life was also in the form of fish which originated during Cambrian period.

Second avatar was in the form of Tortoise(reptiles). In geology also first reptiles comes as second important evolution which originated in Mississippian period just after Amphibians.

Third avatar was in the form of Boar. In Tertiary periods all the big mammals originated.


Narasimha, the Man-Lion (Nara= man, simha=lion) was the fourth avatar. But in geology no such evidences are mentioned. It may have been related with Ape Man The term may sometimes refer to extinct early human ancestors, such as the undiscovered missing link between apes and humans.

Fifth avatar was in the form of Vamana, the dwarf man. It may be related with the first man originated during Pliocene. It may be related with Neanderthals. Neanderthals were generally only 12 to 14 cm (4½–5½ in) shorter than modern humans, contrary to a common view of them as "very short" or "just over 5 feet".


Parashurama, the man with an axe was the sixth avatar. It has the similarities with the first modern man originated during Quaternary period or the man of Iron age.

Lord Rama the prince of Ayodhya , Lord Krishna and Lord Buddha were the other avatars of Lord Vishnu. It indicates the physical and mental changes and evolution in the man from its time of appearance.

There may be difference in opinion regarding comparing time of evolution of different spices in Dashavatar and modern geological time scale. But it is also true that most of the sequence of evolution is same. Only difference is that in Dashavatar there is no concept of Dinosaurs or birds.
Sources:
Rastogi, V.B. 1988. Organic Evolution. Kedar Nath Ram Nath, New Delhi.
Cvancara, A.M. 1995. A field manual for the amateur geologist. John Wiley & sons, Inc. New York.
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http://www.topnews.in/files/Neanderthal.jpg
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