=======  Understanding Hinduism  =======

Kaaba a Hindu Temple?

[Note: A recent archeological find in Kuwait unearthed a gold-plated
statue of the Hindu deity Ganesh. A Muslim resident of Kuwait requested
historical research material that can help explain the connection between Hindu civilisation and Arabia.]

Was the Kaaba Originally a Hindu Temple?
By P.N. Oak (Historian)

Glancing through some research material recently, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a reference to a king Vikramaditya inscription found in the Kaaba in Mecca proving beyond doubt that the Arabian Peninsula formed a part of his Indian Empire.

The
text of the crucial Vikramaditya inscription, found inscribed on a gold
dish hung inside the Kaaba shrine in Mecca, is found recorded on page
315 of a volume known as ‘Sayar-ul-Okul’ treasured in the
Makhtab-e-Sultania library in Istanbul, Turkey. Rendered in free
English the inscription says:

"Fortunate
are those who were born (and lived) during king Vikram’s reign. He was
a noble, generous dutiful ruler, devoted to the welfare of his
subjects. But at that time we Arabs, oblivious of God, were lost in
sensual pleasures. Plotting and torture were rampant. The darkness of
ignorance had enveloped our country. Like the lamb struggling for her
life in the cruel paws of a wolf we Arabs were caught up in ignorance.
The entire country was enveloped in a darkness so intense as on a new
moon night. But the present dawn and pleasant sunshine of education is
the result of the favour of the noble king Vikramaditya whose
benevolent supervision did not lose sight of us- foreigners as we were.
He spread his sacred religion amongst us and sent scholars whose
brilliance shone like that of the sun from his country to ours. These
scholars and preceptors through whose benevolence we were once again
made cognisant of the presence of God, introduced to His sacred
existence and put on the road of Truth, had come to our country to
preach their religion and impart education at king Vikramaditya’s
behest."

For those who would like to read the Arabic wording I reproduce it hereunder in Roman script:

"Itrashaphai
Santu Ibikramatul Phahalameen Karimun Yartapheeha Wayosassaru
Bihillahaya Samaini Ela Motakabberen Sihillaha Yuhee Quid min howa
Yapakhara phajjal asari nahone osirom bayjayhalem. Yundan blabin Kajan
blnaya khtoryaha sadunya kanateph netephi bejehalin Atadari bilamasa-
rateen phakef tasabuhu kaunnieja majekaralhada walador. As hmiman
burukankad toluho watastaru hihila Yakajibaymana balay kulk amarena
phaneya jaunabilamary Bikramatum".

(Page 315 Sayar-ul-okul).

[Note: The title ‘Saya-ul-okul’ signifies memorable words.]

A careful analysis of the above inscription enables us to draw the following conclusions:

1.     That
the ancient Indian empires may have extended up to the eastern
boundaries of Arabia until Vikramaditya and that it was he who for the
first time conquered Arabia. Because the inscription says that king
Vikram who dispelled the darkness of ignorance from Arabia.

2.     That,
whatever their earlier faith, King Vikrama’s preachers had succeeded in
spreading the Vedic (based on the Vedas, the Hindu sacred scriptures))
way of life in Arabia.

3.     That
the knowledge of Indian arts and sciences was imparted by Indians to
the Arabs directly by founding schools, academies and cultural centres.
The belief, therefore, that visiting Arabs conveyed that knowledge to
their own lands through their own indefatigable efforts and scholarship
is unfounded.

An
ancillary conclusion could be that the so-called Kutub Minar (in Delhi,
India) could well be king Vikramadiya’s tower commemorating his
conquest of Arabia. This conclusion is strengthened by two pointers.
Firstly, the inscription on the iron pillar near the so-called Kutub
Minar refers to the marriage of the victorious king Vikramaditya to the
princess of Balhika. This Balhika is none other than the Balkh region
in West Asia. It could be that Arabia was wrestled by king Vikramaditya
from the ruler of Balkh who concluded a treaty by giving his daughter
in marriage to the victor. Secondly, the township adjoining the so
called Kutub Minar is named Mehrauli after Mihira who was the renowned
astronomer-mathematician of king Vikram’s court. Mehrauli is the
corrupt form of Sanskrit ‘Mihira-Awali’ signifying a row of houses
raised for Mihira and his helpers and assistants working on
astronomical observations made from the tower.

Having
seen the far reaching and history shaking implications of the Arabic
inscription concerning king Vikrama, we shall now piece together the
story of its find. How it came to be recorded and hung in the Kaaba in
Mecca. What are the other proofs reinforcing the belief that Arabs were
once followers of the Indian Vedic way of life and that tranquillity
and education were ushered into Arabia by king Vikramaditya’s scholars,
educationists from an uneasy period of "ignorance and turmoil"
mentioned in the inscription.

In
Istanbul, Turkey, there is a famous library called Makhatab-e-Sultania,
which is reputed to have the largest collection of ancient West Asian
literature. In the Arabic section of that library is an anthology of
ancient Arabic poetry. That anthology was compiled from an earlier work
in A.D. 1742 under the orders of the Turkish ruler Sultan Salim.

The
pages of that volume are of Hareer – a kind of silk used for writing
on. Each page has a decorative gilded border. That anthology is known
as Sayar-ul-Okul. It is divided into three parts. The first part
contains biographic details and the poetic compositions of pre-Islamic
Arabian poets. The second part embodies accounts and verses of poets of
the period beginning just after prophet Mohammad’s times, up to the end
of the Banee-Um-Mayya dynasty. The third part deals with later poets up
to the end of Khalif Harun-al-Rashid’s times.

Abu Amir Asamai, an Arabian bard who was the poet Laureate of Harun-al-Rashid’s court, has compiled and edited the anthology.

The
first modern edition of ‘Sayar-ul-Okul’ was printed and published in
Berlin in 1864. A subsequent edition is the one published in Beirut in
1932.

The
collection is regarded as the most important and authoritative
anthology of ancient Arabic poetry. It throws considerable light on the
social life, customs, manners and entertainment modes of ancient
Arabia. The book also contains an elaborate description of the ancient
shrine of Mecca, the town and the annual fair known as OKAJ which used
to be held every year around the Kaaba temple in Mecca. This should
convince readers that the annual haj of the Muslims to the Kaaba is of
earlier pre-Islamic congregation.

But
the OKAJ fair was far from a carnival. It provided a forum for the
elite and the learned to discuss the social, religious, political,
literary and other aspects of the Vedic culture then pervading Arabia.
‘Sayar-ul-Okul’ asserts that the conclusion reached at those
discussions were widely respected throughout Arabia. Mecca, therefore,
followed the Varanasi tradition (of India) of providing a venue for
important discussions among the learned while the masses congregated
there for spiritual bliss. The principal shrines at both Varanasi in
India and at Mecca in Arvasthan (Arabia) were Siva temples. Even to
this day ancient Mahadev (Siva) emblems can be seen. It is the Shankara
(Siva) stone that Muslim pilgrims reverently touch and kiss in the
Kaaba.

Arabic
tradition has lost trace of the founding of the Kaaba temple. The
discovery of the Vikramaditya inscription affords a clue. King
Vikramaditya is known for his great devotion to Lord Mahadev (Siva). At
Ujjain (India), the capital of Vikramaditya, exists the famous shrine
of Mahankal, i.e., of Lord Shankara (Siva) associated with
Vikramaditya. Since according to the Vikramaditya inscription he spread
the Vedic religion, who else but he could have founded the Kaaba temple
in Mecca?

A
few miles away from Mecca is a big signboard which bars the entry of
any non-Muslim into the area. This is a reminder of the days when the
Kaaba was stormed and captured solely for the newly established faith
of Islam. The object in barring entry of non-Muslims was obviously to
prevent its recapture.

As
the pilgrim proceeds towards Mecca he is asked to shave his head and
beard and to don special sacred attire that consists of two seamless
sheets of white cloth. One is to be worn round the waist and the other
over the shoulders. Both these rites are remnants of the old Vedic
practice of entering Hindu temples clean- and with holy seamless white
sheets.

The
main shrine in Mecca, which houses the Siva emblem, is known as the
Kaaba. It is clothed in a black shroud. That custom also originates
from the days when it was thought necessary to discourage its recapture
by camouflaging it.

According
to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Kaaba has 360 images. Traditional
accounts mention that one of the deities among the 360 destroyed when
the place was stormed, was that of Saturn; another was of the Moon and
yet another was one called Allah. That shows that in the Kaaba the
Arabs worshipped the nine planets in pre-Islamic days. In India the
practice of ‘Navagraha’ puja, that is worship of the nine planets, is
still in vogue. Two of these nine are Saturn and Moon.

In
India the crescent moon is always painted across the forehead of the
Siva symbol. Since that symbol was associated with the Siva emblem in
Kaaba it came to be grafted on the flag of Islam.

Another
Hindu tradition associated with the Kaaba is that of the sacred stream
Ganga (sacred waters of the Ganges river). According to the Hindu
tradition Ganga is also inseparable from the Shiva emblem as the
crescent moon. Wherever there is a Siva emblem, Ganga must co-exist.
True to that association a sacred fount exists near the Kaaba. Its
water is held sacred because it has been traditionally regarded as
Ganga since pre-Islamic times (Zam-Zam water).

[Note:
Even today, Muslim pilgrims who go to the Kaaba for Haj regard this
Zam-Zam water with reverence and take some bottled water with them as
sacred water.]

Muslim
pilgrims visiting the Kaaba temple go around it seven times. In no
other mosque does the circumambulation prevail. Hindus invariably
circumambulate around their deities. This is yet another proof that the
Kaaba shrine is a pre-Islamic Indian Shiva temple where the Hindu
practice of circumambulation is still meticulously observed.

The
practice of taking seven steps- known as Saptapadi in Sanskrit- is
associated with Hindu marriage ceremony and fire worship. The
culminating rite in a Hindu marriage enjoins upon the bride and groom
to go round the sacred fire four times (but misunderstood by many as
seven times). Since "Makha" means fire, the seven circumambulations
also prove that Mecca was the seat of Indian fire-worship in the West
Asia.

It
might come as a stunning revelation to many that the word ‘ALLAH’
itself is Sanskrit. In Sanskrit language Allah, Akka and Amba are
synonyms. They signify a goddess or mother. The term ‘ALLAH’ forms part
of Sanskrit chants invoking goddess Durga, also known as Bhavani,
Chandi and Mahishasurmardini. The Islamic word for God is., therefore,
not an innovation but the ancient Sanskrit appellation retained and
continued by Islam. Allah means mother or goddess and mother goddess.

One
Koranic verse is an exact translation of a stanza in the Yajurveda.
This was pointed out by the great research scholar Pandit Satavlekar of
Pardi in one of his articles.

[Note:
Another scholar points out that the following teaching from the Koran
is exactly similar to the teaching of the Kena Upanishad (1.7).

The Koran:

"Sight perceives Him not. But He perceives men's sights; for He is the knower of secrets, the Aware."

Kena Upanishad:

"That
which cannot be seen by the eye but through which the eye itself sees,
know That to be Brahman (God) and not what people worship here (in the
manifested world)."

A simplified meaning of both the above verses reads:

God is one and that He is beyond man's sensory experience.]

The
identity of Unani and Ayurvedic systems shows that Unani is just the
Arabic term for the Ayurvedic system of healing taught to them and
administered in Arabia when Arabia formed part of the Indian empire.

It
will now be easy to comprehend the various Hindu customs still
prevailing in West Asian countries even after the existence of Islam
during the last 1300 years. Let us review some Hindu traditions which
exist as the core of Islamic practice.

The
Hindus have a pantheon of 33 gods. People in Asia Minor too worshipped
33 gods before the spread of Islam. The lunar calendar was introduced
in West Asia during the Indian rule. The Muslim month ‘Safar’
signifying the ‘extra’ month (Adhik Maas) in the Hindu calendar. The
Muslim month Rabi is the corrupt form of Ravi meaning the sun because
Sanskrit ‘V’ changes into Prakrit ‘B’ (Prakrit being the popular
version of Sanskrit language). The Muslim sanctity for Gyrahwi Sharif
is nothing but the Hindu Ekadashi (Gyrah = elevan or Gyaarah). Both are
identical in meaning.

The
Islamic practice of Bakari Eed derives from the Go-Medh and Ashva-Medh
Yagnas or sacrifices of Vedic times. Eed in Sanskrit means worship. The
Islamic word Eed for festive days, signifying days of worship, is
therefore a pure Sanskrit word. The word MESH in the Hindu zodiac
signifies a lamb. Since in ancient times the year used to begin with
the entry of the sun in Aries, the occasion was celebrated with mutton
feasting. That is the origin of the Bakari Eed festival.

[Note: The word Bakari is an Indian language word for a goat.]

Since
Eed means worship and Griha means ‘house’, the Islamic word Idgah
signifies a ‘House of worship’ which is the exact Sanskrit connotation
of the term. Similarly the word ‘Namaz’ derives from two Sanskrit roots
‘Nama’ and ‘Yajna’ (NAMa yAJna) meaning bowing and worshipping.

Vedic
descriptions about the moon, the different stellar constellations and
the creation of the universe have been incorporated from the Vedas in
Koran part 1 chapter 2, stanza 113, 114, 115, and 158, 189, chapter 9,
stanza 37 and chapter 10, stanzas 4 to 7.

Recital
of the Namaz five times a day owes its origin to the Vedic injunction
of Panchmahayagna (five daily worship- Panch-Maha-Yagna) which is part
of the daily Vedic ritual prescribed for all individuals.

Muslims
are enjoined cleanliness of five parts of the body before commencing
prayers. This derives from the Vedic injuction ‘Shareer Shydhyartham
Panchanga Nyasah’.

Four
months of the year are regarded as very sacred in Islamic custom. The
devout are enjoined to abstain from plunder and other evil deeds during
that period. This originates in the Chaturmasa i.e., the four-month
period of special vows and austerities in Hindu tradition. Shabibarat
is the corrupt form of Shiva Vrat and Shiva Ratra. Since the Kaaba has
been an important centre of Shiva (Siva) worship from times immemorial,
the Shivaratri festival used to be celebrated there with great gusto.
It is that festival which is signified by the Islamic word Shabibarat.

Encyclopaedias
tell us that there are inscriptions on the side of the Kaaba walls.
What they are, no body has been allowed to study, according to the
correspondence I had with an American scholar of Arabic. But according
to hearsay at least some of those inscriptions are in Sanskrit, and
some of them are stanzas from the Bhagavad Gita.

According
to extant Islamic records, Indian merchants had settled in Arabia,
particularly in Yemen, and their life and manners deeply influenced
those who came in touch with them. At Ubla there was a large number of
Indian settlements. This shows that Indians were in Arabia and Yemen in
sufficient strength and commanding position to be able to influence the
local people. This could not be possible unless they belonged to the
ruling class.

It
is mentioned in the Abadis i.e., the authentic traditions of Prophet
Mohammad compiled by Imam Bukhari that the Indian tribe of Jats had
settled in Arabia before Prophet Mohammad’s times. Once when Hazrat
Ayesha, wife of the Prophet, was taken ill, her nephew sent for a Jat
physician for her treatment. This proves that Indians enjoyed a high
and esteemed status in Arabia. Such a status could not be theirs unless
they were the rulers. Bukhari also tells us that an Indian Raja (king)
sent a jar of ginger pickles to the Prophet. This shows that the Indian
Jat Raja ruled an adjacent area so as to be in a position to send such
an insignificant present as ginger pickles. The Prophet is said to have
so highly relished it as to have told his colleagues also to partake of
it. These references show that even during Prophet Mohammad’s times
Indians retained their influential role in Arabia, which was a
dwindling legacy from Vikramaditya’s times.

The
Islamic term ‘Eed-ul-Fitr’ derives from the ‘Eed of Piters’ that is
worship of forefathers in Sanskrit tradition. In India, Hindus
commemorate their ancestors during the Pitr-Paksha that is the
fortnight reserved for their remembrance. The very same is the
significance of ‘Eed-ul-Fitr’ (worship of forefathers).

The
Islamic practice of observing the moon rise before deciding on
celebrating the occasion derives from the Hindu custom of breaking fast
on Sankranti and Vinayaki Chaturthi only after sighting the moon.

Barah
Vafat, the Muslim festival for commemorating those dead in battle or by
weapons, derives from a similar Sanskrit tradition because in Sanskrit
‘Phiphaut’ is ‘death’. Hindus observe Chayal Chaturdashi in memory of
those who have died in battle.

The
word Arabia is itself the abbreviation of a Sanskrit word. The original
word is ‘Arabasthan’. Since Prakrit ‘B’ is Sanskrit ‘V’ the original
Sanskrit name of the land is ‘Arvasthan’. ‘Arva’ in Sanskrit means a
horse. Arvasthan signifies a land of horses., and as well all know,
Arabia is famous for its horses.

This
discovery changes the entire complexion of the history of ancient
India. Firstly we may have to revise our concepts about the king who
had the largest empire in history. It could be that the expanse of king
Vikramaditya’s empire was greater than that of all others. Secondly,
the idea that the Indian empire spread only to the east and not in the
west beyond say, Afghanisthan may have to be abandoned. Thirdly the
effeminate and pathetic belief that India, unlike any other country in
the world could by some age spread her benign and beatific cultural
influence, language, customs, manners and education over distant lands
without militarily conquering them is baseless. India did conquer all
those countries physically wherever traces of its culture and language
are still extant and the region extended from Bali island in the south
Pacific to the Baltic in Northern Europe and from Korea to Kaaba. The
only difference was that while Indian rulers identified themselves with
the local population and established welfare states, Moghuls and others
who ruled conquered lands perpetuated untold atrocities over the
vanquished.

‘Sayar-ul-Okul’
tells us that a pan-Arabic poetic symposium used to be held in Mecca at
the annual Okaj fair in pre-Islamic times. All leading poets used to
participate in it.

Poems
considered best were awarded prizes. The best-engraved on gold plate
were hung inside the temple. Others etched on camel or goatskin were
hung outside. Thus for thousands of years the Kaaba was the treasure
house of the best Arabian poetic thought inspired by the Indian Vedic
tradition.

That
tradition being of immemorial antiquity many poetic compositions were
engraved and hung inside and outside on the walls of the Kaaba. But
most of the poems got lost and destroyed during the storming of the
Kaaba by Prophet Mohammad’s troops. The Prophet’s court poet,
Hassan-bin-Sawik, who was among the invaders, captured some of the
treasured poems and dumped the gold plate on which they were inscribed
in his own home. Sawik’s grandson, hoping to earn a reward carried
those gold plates to Khalif’s court where he met the well-known Arab
scholar Abu Amir Asamai. The latter received from the bearer five gold
plates and 16 leather sheets with the prize-winning poems engraved on
them. The bearer was sent away happy bestowed with a good reward.

On
the five gold plates were inscribed verses by ancient Arab poets like
Labi Baynay, Akhatab-bin-Turfa and Jarrham Bintoi. That discovery made
Harun-al-Rashid order Abu Amir to compile a collection of all earlier
compositions. One of the compositions in the collection is a tribute in
verse paid by Jarrham Bintoi, a renowned Arab poet, to king
Vikramaditya. Bintoi who lived 165 years before Prophet Mohammad had
received the highest award for the best poetic compositions for three
years in succession in the pan-Arabic symposiums held in Mecca every
year. All those three poems of Bintoi adjudged best were hung inside
the Kaaba temple, inscribed on gold plates. One of these constituted an
unreserved tribute to King Vikramaditya for his paternal and filial
rule over Arabia. That has already been quoted above.

Pre-Islamic
Arabian poet Bintoi’s tribute to king Vikramaditya is a decisive
evidence that it was king Vikramaditya who first conquered the Arabian
Peninsula and made it a part of the Indian Empire. This explains why
starting from India towards the west we have all Sanskrit names like
Afghanisthan (now Afghanistan), Baluchisthan, Kurdisthan, Tajikiathan,
Uzbekisthan,  Iran, Sivisthan, Iraq, Arvasthan, Turkesthan
(Turkmenisthan) etc.

Historians
have blundered in not giving due weight to the evidence provided by
Sanskrit names pervading over the entire west Asian region. Let us take
a contemporary instance. Why did a part of India get named Nagaland
even after the end of British rule over India? After all historical
traces are wiped out of human memory, will a future age historian be
wrong if he concludes from the name Nagaland that the British or some
English speaking power must have ruled over India? Why is Portuguese
spoken in Goa (part of India), and French in Pondichery (part of
India), and both French and English in Canada? Is it not because those
people ruled over the territories where their languages are spoken? Can
we not then justly conclude that wherever traces of Sanskrit names and
traditions exist Indians once held sway? It is unfortunate that this
important piece of decisive evidence has been ignored all these
centuries.

Another
question which should have presented itself to historians for
consideration is how could it be that Indian empires could extend in
the east as far as Korea and Japan, while not being able to make
headway beyond Afghanisthan? In fact land campaigns are much easier to
conduct than by sea. It was the Indians who ruled the entire West Asian
region from Karachi to Hedjaz and who gave Sanskrit names to those
lands and the towns therein, introduce their pantheon of the
fire-worship, imparted education and established law and order.

It
may be that Arabia itself was not part of the Indian empire until king
Vikrama , since Bintoi says that it was king Vikrama who for the first
time brought about a radical change in the social, cultural and
political life of Arabia. It may be that the whole of West Asia except
Arabia was under Indian rule before Vikrama. The latter added Arabia
too to the Indian Empire. Or as a remote possibility it could be that
king Vikramaditya himself conducted a series of brilliant campaigns
annexing to his empire the vast region between Afghanisthan and Hedjaz.

Incidentally
this also explains why king Vikramaditya is so famous in history. Apart
from the nobility and truthfulness of heart and his impartial filial
affection for all his subjects, whether Indian or Arab, as testified by
Bintoi, king Vikramaditya has been permanently enshrined in the pages
of history because he was the world’s greatest ruler having the largest
empire. It should be remembered that only a monarch with a vast empire
gets famous in world history. Vikram Samvat (calendar still widely in
use in India today) which he initiated over 2000 years ago may well
mark his victory over Arabia, and the so called Kutub Minar (Kutub
Tower in Delhi), a pillar commemorating that victory and the
consequential marriage with the Vaihika (Balkh) princess as testified
by the nearby iron pillar inscription.

A
great many puzzles of ancient world history get automatically solved by
a proper understanding of these great conquests of king Vikramaditya.
As recorded by the Arab poet Bintoi, Indian scholars, preachers and
social workers spread the fire-worship ceremony, preached the Vedic way
of life, manned schools, set up Ayurvedic (healing) centres, trained
the local people in irrigation and agriculture and established in those
regions a democratic, orderly, peaceful, enlightened and religious way
of life. That was of course, a Vedic Hindu way of life.

It
is from such ancient times that Indian Kshtriya royal families, like
the Pahalvis and Barmaks, have held sway over Iran and Iraq. It is
those conquests, which made the Parsees Agnihotris i.e.,
fire-worshippers. It is therefore that we find the Kurds of Kurdisthan
speaking a Sanskritised dialect, fire temples existing thousands of
miles away from India, and scores of sites of ancient Indian cultural
centres like Navbahar in West Asia and the numerous viharas in Soviet
Russia spread throughout the world. Ever since so many viharas are
often dug up in Soviet Russia, ancient Indian sculptures are also found
in excavations in Central Asia. The same goes for West Asia.

[Note:
Ancient Indian sculptures include metal statues of the Hindu deity
Ganesh (the elephant headed god); the most recent find being in Kuwait].

Unfortunately
these chapters of world history have been almost obliterated from
public memory. They need to be carefully deciphered and rewritten. When
these chapters are rewritten they might change the entire concept and
orientation of ancient history.

In
view of the overwhelming evidence led above, historians, scholars,
students of history and lay men alike should take note that they had
better revise their text books of ancient world history. The existence
of Hindu customs, shrines, Sanskrit names of whole regions, countries
and towns and the Vikramaditya inscriptions reproduced at the beginning
are a thumping proof that Indian Kshatriyas once ruled over the vast
region from Bali to Baltic and Korea to Kaaba in Mecca, Arabia at the
very least.

Links to similar topics

http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/
byauthor/aditichaturvedi/vpopia2.html

The following explanation is reproduced from the Sword of Truth archives.

All
Arabic copies of the Koran have the mysterious figure 786 imprinted on
them . No Arabic scholar has been able to determine the choice of this
particular number as divine. It is an established fact that Muhammad
was illiterate therefore it is obvious that he would not be able to
differentiate numbers from letters. This "magical" number is none other
than the Vedic holy letter "OM" written in Sanskrit (Refer to figure
2). Anyone who knows Sanskrit can try reading the symbol for "OM"
backwards in the Arabic way and magically the numbers 786 will appear!
Muslims in their ignorance simply do not realise that this special
number is nothing more than the holiest of Vedic symbols misread.

Figure 2.
Read from right to left this figure
of OM represents the numbers 786
Look at this symbol of Om in a mirror and
you can make out the Devnagari (Sanskrit-Hindi)
numerals 7-8-6

I would like to bring to your notice regarding this, that the word
Kabaa might have come from the TAMIL language - Kabaalishwaran temple
(TAMIL is considered as one of the oldest languages of the world).
Dravidian's worshiped Lord Shiva as their Primal Deity - Indus valley
civilization. Shiva Temple's in South India are called as
Kabaalishwaran temple's. Kabaali - refers to Lord Shiva