Links Between Ancient India and the Mayans

Recent studies hint at possible links between the ancient civilization of the Indus valley and the Mayans of central America.

B G Siddarth, the director of the B M Birla science centre in Hyderabad, had pointed out striking similarities between the two ancient cultures. Mexico and India are situated at opposite sides of the earth in longitude. According to the Puranas, a secondary Hindu scripture, the "devas" or the gods and the demons or the "assures" lived on the opposite sides of the Earth. The experts took a deep interest in the calendars followed by the two cultures. While the Indus valley people followed a calendar based on the movements of the Jupiter, acknowledged to be the leader of the gods, the Mayans followed one based on the movements of Venus or "Shukra", who, according to the Puranas, was the leader of the ashuras. Siddharth also pointed out that some carvings in Mexico depicted an episode similar to that of churning the ocean by the gods and the demons in the Hindu mythology. The Mexican representations of the tradition also bore a striking resemblance to those found in different parts of India. Dr Ganpati, an expert on the ancient Hindu architecture, based in Chennnai had also found striking similarities between the design and the construction methods used by the Mayans and the ancient Hindus.