Author: Ajay Kansal
Reviewed by : Reshmy Pillai
Reviewed by : Reshmy Pillai
Did gods create mankind, or
did mankind created gods?
The back
cover screams this question at the reader with the preamble concluding that
this book by Ajay Kansal deals with
establishing the fact that anthropologies and histories lead to one conclusion
- mankind created gods!
The
writer starts off with a very arresting question in the preface – Why are there
many religions but only one science on the earth and you would expect a
atheist’s rant coming along in the next 200 odd pages. But he surprises with
the balance and poise of his argument with never the book turning onto an
anti-theist track. Ajay Kansal takes us along on the journey of the evolution
of mankind from the nomadic human to the agriculturist to the social animal by
tracing his religious evolution.
He tells
us that the religious journey of man began right in his nomadic days with
abundant mysteries of nature boggling him scared like night, animals, pregnancy,
ghosts, etc. This fear of man gave birth to the concept of a superhuman
somewhere with immense powers – the very concept of god. Nomadic man began
worshipping the things that relived him from his fears – Fire, Sun and Sky and
thus began nature worship. Later with him turning to agriculture the fear of
food scarcity came in and with it developed the fertility cult – the worship of
the goddess. Agriculture led to settlements that led to diseases, which proved
another mystery for human minds, and up came the concept of a punishing god –
The Yahweh of Judaism. The beliefs were prominent that diseases are punishments
from the super power and ways to please the punishing god were sort out which
led to the barbaric practice to sacrifices – human and animal. With the
punishment culture settling in, came the problems of cruelty, injustice and
exploitation which it required some relief. This requirement of mankind gets
fulfilled in the form of a kind merciful god – Jesus of Christianity. While
this was the story of the western side of the globe the eastern side too
underwent similar change patterns with fire, sky and sun worships being
followed in the name of yagnas leading
to only affluent strata’s of the society understanding worships and gods. The
need was simplification of religion and a prince-turned-ascetic is the answer –
Buddha of Buddhism. With a major part of the population understanding and
following Buddhism the priests of the earlier practiced religion of the land –
Hinduism revamp the teachings to revolve around thousands of gods and millions
of folklores about the gods getting it back to be the favorite of the
people.
Ajay
Kansal has written an excellent book about the religious evolution of mankind
filled with historical facts and scientific proofs. There is hardly any invalid
talk that is not supported by hard facts concerning the discussion. Be it the
proof of first human burials at Skhul caves in Israel or talk of a solar cult,
with the Stonehenge in England as a proof of its existence, he talks in facts.
While he talks about the temple snake healers in Greece, he also questions on
why only domesticated animals like bull or goat were offered to the gods in
sacrifice by priests; why not a tiger? He challenges the reader to question
beliefs and rituals not for the faith but for their authenticity and need.
A work
that talks so well based on facts is weakened some what in narration by the
writer’s continuous projection of priests of every religion, in every era as
clever self-centered beings who created gods, rituals, traditions etc. for more
selfish reasons than social ones. Also the writer being a doctor and Hindu
unwittingly emphasizes more on the chapters dealing with diseases and Hinduism,
which form the two longest chapters in the book while an equal depth in other
areas is missing.
Not one
of the best books on the subject but a very decent one for overall
understanding of Religious Evolution of Mankind which moved from new problems
to new gods to new religions. It’s a 3 on 5 for me.
Happy
Reading.
(Reshmy loves stories and books that tell those stories, corporate slave by the day, obsessed reader, writer and reviewer by any other time available. She blogs at http://reshmypillai.wordpress. com and tweets @ReshmyPillai )
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