2. HINDUISM IS THE OLDEST LIVING CULTURE IN THE WORLD.
Look around. Do you find any other culture that has lasted as long as the Hindu or Vedic culture? Do you see any other culture that after no less than 5,000 years, if not much longer, is still thriving and dynamic, practicing many of the same traditions as it did from thousands of years ago? Sure, you have other old cultures, like the Egyptian, the Inca, Maya, Aztec, all of which go back about 5,000 years, but none of these are still living cultures. They are all gone, leaving us but remnants and artifacts to figure out what really was their culture.
For the Vedic civilization, it is not something that we really need to decipher from old remnants. The traditions and practices that you presently see have been going on for many thousands of years. Its history is well documented in the Puranas, much of which even historians have not researched as well as they should. Through such study it is obvious that the Vedic society has a prehistoric origin. While most of the "living" cultures that we find today, and the most popular religions, are a modern creation in the sense that they have only come about within the past 1400, 2000, and 2500 years with the advent of the Muslim, Christian, or Buddhist religions. However, the Vedic culture goes back much farther. Many scholars have noted the antiquity of the Vedic civilization. For example, in his Discourse on Sanskrit and Its Literature, given at the College of France, Professor Bournouf states, "We will study India with its philosophy and its myths, its literature, its laws and its language. Nay it is more than India, it is a page of the origin of the world that we will attempt to decipher."
In this same line of thinking, Mr. Thornton, in his book History of British India, observed, "The Hindus are indisputably entitled to rank among the most ancient of existing nations, as well as among those most early and most rapidly civilized. . . ere yet the Pyramids looked down upon the Valley of the Nile. . . when Greece and Italy, these cradles of modern civilization, housed only the tenants of the wilderness, India was the seat of wealth and grandeur."
The well-known German philosopher Augustus Schlegel in his book, Wisdom of the Ancient Indians, noted in regard to the divine origin of Vedic civilization, "It cannot be denied that the early Indians possessed a knowledge of the God. All their writings are replete with sentiments and expressions, noble, clear, severely grand, as deeply conceived in any human language in which men have spoken of their God. . ."
Max Mueller further remarked in his India--What It Can Teach Us (Page 21), "Historical records (of the Hindus) extend in some respects so far beyond all records and have been preserved to us in such perfect and legible documents, that we can learn from them lessons which we can learn nowhere else and supply missing links."
On the antiquity of the Vedic society, we can respect the number of philosophies, outlooks on life, and developments in understanding our purpose in this world that has been imbibed and dealt with during the course of its existence. Through all of this, it has formed a commentary and code on all aspects of life and its value, the likes of which can hardly be found in any other culture today. Thus, with age comes wisdom. And the nature and depth of the Vedic wisdom can hardly be compared with anything else that is presently available. Anyone who has taken a serious look at it will agree. It is universally applicable to all.
Replies:
Australian Aborigines are
Australian Aborigines are the oldest culture, and some still practice their old traditions
Hello
Yeah you're probably right Hinduism is the oldest living culture but Chinese culture is about 5000 years ago so you know I dont know about the religion but if you talking about the culture than china is one of the oldest living culture
namaskar
dear ajay,
all heroes and God of Hinduism are there on earth miliions of year before...
please update your knowledge about culture, religion etc..
Hinduism is older than 5000
Hinduism is older than 5000 years. It is probabbly 7000 years old, starting in Central Asia (Aryavarta).
Overlooked
Australian Aboriginal culture has remained virtually unchanged since arrival in Australia about 40,000 years ago. Most cave paintings depicting depicting this way of life date to at least 20,000 year if not more. Enough Said !!!!
They have preserved it yes,
They have preserved it yes, so have amerindians, etc. australia is not the only 40k culture .... we see that in europe, india etc. But at an advanced level it was india. Dwaraka, 9500 yrs old has sophisticated drainage system and infrastructure not seen again until modern times.
You dont know about
You dont know about anything. Just go learn about Armenian culture then compare to Hindu. Let me just remind you that Armenians had Karahunge which is the oldest observatory in the world. It is 3500 years older than Stonehenge. 7500 years ago armenians knew that earth was round, and the knew how big it was etc.
Oldest living culture
I have often been quoted as referring to the Australian Aborigines as having the world's oldest living culture which as others have said, is over 40,000 years old. But there are many others with equal longevity. Humans came out of Africa and tribes such as the !Kung bushmen could lay claim to the title of oldest culture and given that they are just one of many African tribes, there may be many more who can trace their lineage back to early humans even exceeding the 40 millennia of the Australians.
Indian
Indian culture is the oldest living culture and indian is the oldest civilization in the world. When people in other parts of world were roaming in Jungles , India has big cities like Hurrappa and Mohanjodaro. Almost 60,000 sites are recognised so far which dates back to more than 10,000 years , in India. When it comes interm of living civilization with a culture almost same as it was 5000 - 10,000 years old, than it is indian culture. There are stray cases of some tribal groups in Australia, Africa , or else where, living in almost isolation from the world, but culture and civilization means more then time factor. It is the progress, acheivements gained in the field of science, technology, medicine, etc etc. There is no match between these tribal groups and Indian civilization. Vedas have knowledge of those historical events , which are happened much much more than 10,000 years ago. How could those events recorded in Vedas, while scientists are now confirming these facts with so much efforts, e.g. Indians belive that earth is balanced on the head of 1000 head surpent, scientists with lastest technology confired that deep in the see almost more than 29 kilometers under water , there are rocks in semi solid position, changing shapes like snake , they named them serpentile rocks.
celtics/celts? they existed
celtics/celts? they existed in bc
There is substantial
There is substantial archaeological evidence suggesting Australian Aboriginals have existed for atleast 60,000 years - some claim up to 100,000 years. Much of the Aboriginal culture is still practiced today, expecially in North Western QLD, the Northern Territory and Central Australia.
Won by a long shot.
Please Do Some Research
the religion of Hinduism dates back to around the 2nd,3rd century B.C.E but the Indian Culture dates back even further, i'm not chinese but i believe the chinese civilization is the oldest continuating culture every other culture is either gone, dead has been conquered by another religion at one time or the british, or they're a minority in the country they currently reside in, I'm not chinese but chinese culture with it's traditions has withstanded everything from civil war to influence from religion with the exception of one shortlived buddhist dynasty, By The Way, God is Not A Culture it's a belief
The exact oldest civilization on earth will never be known
I dont beleive the oldest will ever be known. I mean you can say the hindus are untill your blue in the face. But does big cities really count as a requisite for a civilization? Do you call a small town man a barbarian just because he perfers the laid back life of rural living as aposed too the neurotic rush, busy and often dangerous and brutal life in a city?
So what one group of people perferred too rely heavier on smaller towns too drive there culture simply because the mindset of there people detested the thought of large population centers, wich through out history bred disease, crime and destitution.
whos too say how long back you have too go in time too find the very first one? Would a kingdom built out of sod houses leave any evidence besides there stone tools?
What happens when the glaciers north receed far and reveals some neolithical city that shouldnt have been built? One so old it's walls have seen neanderthalls?
Umm, if its agriculture that is the requisite, didnt the first apearance of agriculture come out of Korea? Maybe they have some secret old culture burried under layers of dirt nobody thought too look for.
Maybe the oldest are actually the inuet! Maybe all those cave drawings are just actually just done by prehistoric kids in nurseries because caves are easier too defend, those drawings are pretty, well, kiddish arent they.
Who knows, maybe my moms right, we were aliens born retarded and abandoned here long ago by some advanced civilization choosing earth too hide it's embarisment!
anyways
culture could have evolved in any direction. Remember there was wonce more than six completely diferent species of homonids competing for servival and all but one died out because of the inhospitable way the climate was changing back then. Life today would be very diferent if any other species were too survive longer.
ASSYRIAN
6758 years and still living and breathing and fully spoken and practice religion. First to preach Christianity. We are the first people on earth, first to discover civilization and its cause of us there is CHRISTIANITY! get your facts right before you write an article...The longest religion and first known civilization people still do exist and we still speak our language.
ASSYRIAN! google it and learn something!
yes
u r r right..i googled n found u r a asss
There are many cultures that
There are many cultures that are old, there is sumreria, before assyria, etc., but no culture has such old and advanced cities numerous which have been excavated. No culture has literature that describes the prehistory and evolution of the world. Not many cultures were doing medicine and surgery a few millenia ago. The Vedic culture was. Hinduism is the foreign word for vedic culture. Veda means wisdom. The roots of west asian and european culture are actually vedic, probably due to a westward migration. Only in recent times did the abrahamic religions replace them, and bloodshed begin. Actually the history of Jesus and christianity is very interesting, and not what you learn at school. Assyria was the first out of israel that took christianity, but the teachings of jesus reached israel from the east before disseminating elsewhere.
"oldest" mean older than any other, right?
There is a multitude of evidence that suggests Australian Aboriginal culture has remained virtually unchanged for at least 20,000 years (although the average estimation is 40,000 years and some good evidence suggests as long as 100,000 years).
Carbon dating of the pigment (made from plant material) used in aboriginal rock paintings tells us quite precisely when the plant used to make the pigment was alive and thus when the image was produced.
The fact that modern day aboriginal art is similar in both style and technique to this ancient art, and that the ages of these rock paintings show that they have been produced regularly, suggests that this culture has continuously existed from the time of these earlier pieces to today, thus meeting the 'living' culture criteria.
I'm not sure what evidence exists to support the !Kung argument. Whilst I accept that humans did first appear in Africa, I'm not aware of evidence that supports the claim that the !Kung culture has continuously existed for any lenght of time, certainly not longer than the last ice age.
So science would suggest that the title of "Oldest Living Culture" belongs (by quite a significant winning margin) to the Australian Aboriginals.
2. Oldest Living Culture
Dear Sir,
Hindusism is still a seat of wealth of grandeur. Tragically, and perhaps, with the passage of time, forgetting our rich ethics, we have become very self centred besides materialistic. These two characters regardless of one's social standing, at one point or other, hindres the spiritual progress. We need to recondition ourselves. Once this is done, door to spiritualism will open and certainly, we shall attain Moksha in actuality.
Thanks.
Tilak Raj Sharma
oldest living culture
The oldest living culture by easily a long long shot would be the Australian Aborigines, they date back well over 120 000 yrs and they will keep going back!
The culture closest would be the africans.
Aborigines were chasing kangaroos while cave men wer still tryng to figure out how to pickup a rock!
Sorry to say chinese, hindu, europeans, maori, american idians dont come close and thats the way it is.
Aborigines are Indian origins
Dr Raghavendra Rao worked with a team of researchers from the Anthropological Survey of India to sequence 966 complete mitochondrial DNA genomes from Indian 'relic populations'. He said, "Mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother and so allows us to accurately trace ancestry. We found certain mutations in the DNA sequences of the Indian tribes we sampled that are specific to Australian Aborigines. This shared ancestry suggests that the Aborigine population migrated to Australia via the so-called 'Southern Route'".
The 'Southern Route' dispersal of modern humans suggests movement of a group of hunter-gatherers from the Horn of Africa, across the mouth of the Red Sea into Arabia and southern Asia at least 50 thousand years ago. Subsequently, the modern human populations expanded rapidly along the coastlines of southern Asia, southeastern Asia and Indonesia to arrive in Australia at least 45 thousand years ago. The genetic evidence of this dispersal from the work of Rao and his colleagues is supported by archeological evidence of human occupation in the Lake Mungo area of Australia dated to approximately the same time period.
Discussing the implications of the research, Rao said, "Human evolution is usually understood in terms of millions of years. This direct DNA evidence indicates that the emergence of 'anatomically modern' humans in Africa and the spread of these humans to other parts of the world happened only fifty thousand or so years ago. In this respect, populations in the Indian subcontinent harbor DNA footprints of the earliest expansion out of Africa. Understanding human evolution helps us to understand the biological and cultural expressions of these people, with far reaching implications for human welfare."
oldest culture
we are in vaivaswatha manyantara, kaliyuga-study hindu calendar and it dates back to lakhs of years-continuous flow of culture un interupted-it is called anadi-sanatan, no begining and no end, such is the antiquity-hindu culture
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