Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

INDIA

In biblical usage, the northwestern region of the subcontinent of southern Asia east of Arabia, marking the eastern boundary of Ahasuerus’ territory (Esth. 1:1; 8:9; cf. Ad. Esth. 13:1; 16:1). The first important civilization in India was along the Indus River and had highly developed urban settlements; these people, akin to the Sumerians, had entered India between 4000 and 2500 b.c. Writing flourished in this culture, but only a few words of this Dravidian language have been translated by modern scholars. Communication with Mesopotamia existed, but the Indus River culture was less advanced.

Invasions by Indo-european Aryans, beginning in the middle of the 2nd millennium, introduced Vedic religion, which was assimilated into pre-Aryan elements to form Hinduism. The pre-Aryan people mainly migrated into south India, where Tamil, a Dravidian language, is now dominant.

The two chief Hindu deities are Siva, found also in the Indus River culture, and Vishnu. Siva has many functions, but especially represents creative forces. His primary symbol is a stylized phallus, which is considered to have a divine nature. Of Vishnu’s many incarnations, the beautiful youth Krishna is the object of much devotion. Hinduism has a strong focus on love, both physical and romantic/emotional.

Ancient trade routes connected India and western areas as early as the Early Dynastic III period in Mesopotamia (ca. 2500). Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggests comparisons between Palestine and the land of the Tamils in the 12th century, including linguistic similarities between some Tamil/Dravidian and Hebrew names. The Seleucids employed elephants and their “Indian drivers” in warfare (1 Macc. 6:37).

Significant parallels may be seen between the Song of Solomon and the earliest surviving written literature of the Tamils, written in the Cankam Age, perhaps before the 7th century. Cankam poetry consists of both Akam, dealing with the interior, and Puram, focusing on the external world. The Akam love poetry involves a landscape, such as forest, mountain, cultivated lands, desert, or seashore; and the gods worshipped there and the fauna and flora. Mostly secular love poems, they exhibit deep insight into the psychology of love. Five phases of mutual love are described, all involving a kind of separation. Each landscape with its own images summons its own specific emotion and romantic situation. There is a profusion of nature imagery. The structure of the poems is drama, monologue, often with a confidante as listener.

Bibliography. S. Hikosaka and G. John Samuel, eds., Encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature 1 (Madras, 1990); A. Mariaselvam, The Song of Songs and Ancient Tamil Love Poems. AnBib 118 (Rome, 1988).

E. Lynne Harris

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

INDIA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)