Ebook: Muhammad in the Hindu Scriptures

This book is actually a collection of four books. The first three of these books were originally written in Hindi as a Historical Research by Dr. Ved Prakash Upaddhay of the Prayag University of India. The three books are:
1. Narashangsa and the Antim Rishi;
2. Kalki Avatar and Muhammad; and
3. Religious Unity in the Light of the Vedas
Prof. Ashit Kumar Bandhopaddhay of the Sanskrit Academy,
Howrah, India, translated the above three books into Bengali, and called the combined work as 'Muhammad in the Vedas and the Puranas':·He has also added the following with his translation:
1. Muhammad in the Atharvaveda;
2. Muhammad in the Samveda;
3. Muhammad in the Yajurveda;
4. Muhammad in the Rigveda;
5. Muhammad in the Mahabharata; and an
6. Appendix - Islam in the eyes of the non-Muslims.

In the present English translation, I have combined the first five of the above as Book Four, and called it 'Muhammad in the Vedas and the Mahabharata'.

There are many sacred literatures in the Hindu religion which are regarded by the Hindus as their Scriptures. The foremost and the oldest among them are the Vedas, literally 'Books of Knowledge'.
They are:
1. Rigveda, the Veda of worship, it is the oldest of all the Vedas;
2. Yajurveda the Sacrificial Veda;
3. Samveda, Veda of chants; and
4. Atharvaveda, the Last Veda.
The Puranas, literally 'ancient', are the next oldest scriptures. There are eighteen Puranas, which basically contain the Hindu mythology.

Then there are the Brahman.as- the commentaries on the Vedas; the Upanishads - mystic speculations; Hitopadesa - the Book of Good Counsel; the Bhagavad-Gita - which is part of the great epic Mahabharata i.e. the Great Brothers; and the other great epic, Ramayana. Ramayana is the adventures of Rama, and Mahabharata is the adventures of Krishna - two key figures who expounded the Hindu way of life.
The word Rishi means 'Sage' or 'Saint' - one who has received Divine Revelations- roughly a Prophet or a Messenger. 'Antim'
means Ultimate, so Antim Rishi means the Ultimate Sage or the Final Prophet.
Avatar means incarnation of the Divii1e in the ephemeral world. In one version of the Hindu scriptures there is mention of twenty four Avatars, in which Buddha is the twenty-third and Kalki is the twenty-fourth Avatar. In another version there are ten Avatars, and they are : Matsha, Kurma, Varaha, Nrisingha, Vamana, Parshuram, Ramchandra, Krishna-Balarama, Buddha and Kalki. Kalki is the one who is supposed to appear towards the end of the cycle of time called the Kali-Yug.

The research works of Dr. Ved Prakash Upaddhay and Prof. Ashit Kumar Bandhopaddhay as presented here hav~ proved that
the descriptions of both the An tim Rishi and the Kalki Avatar given in the Hindu scriptures amply point to the life and times of Muhammad, who, according to the Muslim scripture, the Holy Qur'an, is the Last Prophet or the Final Messenger. In addition, they have analysed the predictions of 'That Sage' in the Holy Bible, and 'Antim Buddha Maitreya' in the Buddhist scriptures, and have come to the conclusion that these predictions also apply to Muhammad and Muhammad alone.

I have combined all the above books in this presentation and called it 'Muhammad in the Hindu Scriptures'- Hindu Scriptures
being the main focus of attention in the discussion ahead.
Rajah 11, 1421 A.H.
October 10, 2000 A.D.
Muhammad Alamgir
Sydney, Australia