Thursday 7 March 2024

LAKE ROTORUA AND THE SANSKRIT SOURCE OF MAORI NAMES

There is a Maori legend. In that story the inhabitants of a village called Tuporo discover that amongst the pilgrims from their village, only those who took a route from Tuporo to the sacred Rotorua past the lakes of Tarawera and Rotomahana survived in their pilgrimage. Other who had taken a different path perished. A team of villagers is set up to investigate the matter. They succeed in establishing the identity and the dwelling of the culprit, a monster by the name Hotupuku who lived in Kapenga. The subject of interest here are the names that occur in this legend as well as place names that occur on the present map of Rotorua region. All of them have Indic-Sanskritic origins.

The Rotorua region is connected with many other fascinating legends. Local tribes have kept their history and culture alive by passing on these legends orally from one generation to the other. These legends are the equivalent of the Puranic tales of India and their similarity indicates that the Maoris in all probability did arrive from India into the Polynesians triangle and then in New Zealand and gradually settled around the great lakes and waterbodies there.

Lake Rotomahana: We find that the Maori word for lake is 'roto'. It famously appears in the name Rotorua, but it is the name Rotomahana that helps us decode the etymology of the word roto. In the name Rotomahana, the word 'mahana' (महान) exists in its original Sanskrit form and means great or large or sacred.  One may also arrive at the etymology of Maori 'roto', from Sanskrit 'srota', meaning a water source, or a spring or a lake. Rotomahana, more correctly Srotamahana therefore means 'great lake' or the 'sacred lake'.

The Maori dictionary gives the meaning of 'mahana' as 'cordial' or 'warm, but that is a slight deviation from its original Sanskrit meaning of great, and refers to the respect or reverence or hospitality offered to that which is recognized as great. The Maori word for respect is  maanaki, which is derived from Sanskrit maan, (मान)  with the same meaning.

However, this interpretation of 'mahana' does differ from the one given by Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter (1829 -1884), the German-Austrian geologist who had surveyed the Rotomahana site in great detail during the Novara expedition that he led. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "warm lake" for Rotomahana, following Hochstetter's translation when the surrounds of the lake had become world famous following its first European written description in 1843.

The name Rotorua seems to be derived from
Sanskrit srota (स्रोत) meaning 'source of water'
and rta (ऋत) or 'divine truth'.


Lake Rotorua: About the suffix 'rua' in the name Rotorua, it is said that it stands for 'two' in the Maori language. It appears to be a distortion of the Sanskrit 'dvi' (द्वि) with the same meaning of 'two'. But since Rotorua is a sacred site one may look at two other Maori words which may be the source of 'rua' in the word Rotorua. One is 'wairua' which means 'spiritualism' and 'essence'. The other is 'tua' which means 'transcend'. These two words do more justice to the essence of the name Rotorua rather than the commonly accepted interpretation of 'Lake number two'. Of the two meanings, 'wairu' is more appropriate because 'wai' is Maori for 'water', and appears in the names of many water bodies, especially those that were heled sacred by the Maoris-such as Rtomahana. Also, 'ru' seems to have an association with the Rigvedic 'rta' (ऋत) meaning 'divine truth' and might be derived from it.

Mt. Terawera: Then there is Mt. Terawera located 24 kilometres southeast of Rotorua on the banks of a lake by the same name. 
Tara (तर) is a Sanskrit root word that means swim as well as tide. When extended to tarala (तरल), it takes the meaning of fluid. Vari (वारि) means water as mentioned above and river or mist. In Maori, water is wai though for some reason in the name Tarawera, the original Sanskritic vari or vara form is retained.

Tuporo: As for the name Tupora, the suffix in the name Tuporo is certainly a variation of the Sanskrit pura (पुर) meaning place, for Edward Tregear tells us in his book 'The Aryan Maori' that the syllable pa means settlement in Maori. The 'tapu' suffix in the name Tikatapu stands for 'sacred area' in Maori. Here, we can easily see that Sanskrit dvipa meaning island changes to tapu in Maori, just as it does in many Sanskrit derived languages like Hindi, where dvipa and tape both mean 'island'.  As t and d are considered interchangeable sounds according to Grimm's Law of Sound Shift, it easy to understand how dvipa changes to tapu or how the Sanskrit 'danta' or Latin 'dente' change to 'teeth' in English.

In his article 'The impact of Languages and the Coalescence of the Fragments: A preliminary study in the affinities of the Maori language' published in the J
ournal of the Polynesian Society dated June 1946, author A.A. Lind had collated a list of Sanskrit and Maori words to show their similarity.

Sanskrit: kanik, very small.
Maori: kanehe, a trifle, anything small;

Sanskrit: kapa to shake, tremble
Maori: to throb, palpitate

Sanskrit: sound
Maori: ku sound ku to make a low inarticulate sound

Sanskrit: kora bud, korak - bud, 
the fibres of the
stalk of a lotus.
Maori: korare: (noun) greens, leaves of edible vegetables, (verb)- to pluck 

Sanskrit: mana to respect, revere, worship
Maori: manasa- mental, the mind, manawa- heart, breath
the seat and. mind. spirit, faculty of reasoning and feeling.

Sanskrit: muha, muhu to be foolish, 
Maori: muhu - stupid, untaught
be incapable of discrimination, to be bereft of sense and wisdom

Sanskrit: nakh, naksh - to go, to move,
Maori: naki- glide with an even motion to approach.

Sanskrit: pa air, wind. 
Maori: pa - to blow as the wind

Sanskrit: pawak-fire or its deified personificatiin
Maori: pau- consumed, exhausted 
pawa- smoke, pahunu-to burn, fire


Sanskrit: purana-tales of past days; purakau-an old man, legend
puratan-ancient
Maori: puraku-an old man, a legend.

Sanskrt: pura, puri- to satisfy, fill. 
Maori: purena-to be brimful, run over

Sanskrit: puta-pure, purified, cleansed, etc.
Maori, puta -perform ceremonial cleansing from tapu 
puta-to come, come forth, come out, appear, come into sight; to be born; Maria, puta, put.

Sanskrit, ra: fire, heat, warmth, burning, scorching, love, desire, speed
Maori, ra: the sun  rar: expose to the heat of fire, dry, scorch.

Sanskrit, rewa, reva: to go, to move, to flow as a
river.
Maori, rewa: to melt, be or become liquid, get under
way.

Sanskrit: roma-water, a hole.
Maori: roma-current, stream, flood, channel

Sanskrit: taka, taki- to bind.
Maori, taka- to fasten a fish-hook to a line, thread by
which the hook is fastened to the line

Sanskrit: tu to injure, hurt, kill, become full.
Maori: tu to fight with, to engage, be ignited, vehement, energetic, persistent.

Sanskrit: phana or fana-to go, causal form to cause to go.
Maori: whana to travel, to come, to go  

Sanskrit, wan?water, a cascade or fountain; wan?a
heavy sea, the rolling of water from wind.
Maori, wai - water; moana waiwai?ocean, open sea;

Sanskrit, wara- to desire,
covet, ask, obtain.
Maori, warn?desire; 

Sanskrit, ware- water, a waterpot
Maori: wari- watery, applied to potatoes spoiled by
frost

Sanskrit: waha-a bearer, porter, a carrier; wahan- a vehicle or conveyance of any kind
Maori: waha -
 to carry on the back, to raise up;
wahanga- a load, burden 

Bibliography:

Saturday 2 March 2024

LAKE TAUPO, SANSKRIT AND THE MAORI LANGUAGE OF NEW ZEALAND

There is a Maori proverb or whakatauki as they call it. It says, 'Poipoia te kakano kia puawai' which translates as 'Nourish the flower and it will bloom'. Notice how all the words in this Maori saying are Sanskrit in origin. Maori 'poipoi' from Sanskrit poshaka, (पोषक) nourishing. Maori 'kakano' from kana (कण) grain or kanaka (कनक) meaning seed. Puawai meaning flower from Sanskrit (फुल्ल्) phulla, meaning flower or blossom.

Also, notice the word whakatauki itself. It is a variation of two Sanskrit root words vac (वाच्) speak and ukti (उक्ति) speech in the Maori word whakatauki meaning a saying. The Sanskrit word for a proverb or saying is (लोकोक्ति).

One of the leading scholars of the Maori Language was Adele Schaefer who arrived in New Zealand in 1939 with her husband Felix, an economist, and settled in Wellington. Schafer had a deep interest in myths and legends and studied Maori language, myth and legends. She traced the origins of Maori, spoken by the aborigines of New Zealand, and other Polynesian languages to Sanskrit citing the authority of many authors who had earlier presented the same view. In her article 'The Relationship between the Maori and Sanskrit languages' she states, "In the nineteenth century a good few writers explored the relationships which exist between the languages and cultures of India and Southeast Asia and those of Polynesia."

The main feeding rivers of Lake Taupo are the Waitahanui, the Tongariro and the Tauranga Taupō River. All of these names are Sanskrit in origin, Taupo from tapa (तप) meaning both ascetic and warm, Tongariro and Tauranga contain the Sanskrit root words jhara (झर) watersource, or ghara (घार) sprinkling and tarang (तरन्ग) wave.

Many of the writers argued that the original home of the Polynesian people was India, and many of them considered that there was a clear relationship between the Polynesian languages and Sanskrit. One such writer was Edward Tregear who believed that Polynesian and Maori were derived from Sanskrit. He discussed his theory in his book 'The Aryan Maori' which was published in 1885. In 1891, Edward Tregear published his 'Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary' where he quotes parallel words between Maori and other Polynesian languages and parallel words in Sanskrit. He compares Maori words, that occur in some form or the other in Maori languages, its proverbs, as well as its legends with Sanskrit and Indian Puranas to show their similarity. There has been some debate about the etymology of the words in his list but by and large most of them are accepted. Here are a few examples:

Sanskrit: Tu, to grow, increase.
Maori: T'wpu, to grow.

Sanskrit: dhi, to shine 
Maori: Hihi, a ray of the sun.
Hiko, to begin to shine, distant lightning.

Sanskrit: Pa, to protect, a village.
Maori: Pa, a fortified town

Sanskrit: Var, Vari water.
Maori: Wai water. Awa, a river. Aivha, rain.

Sanskrit: Bhu, to be Pu, a tribe.
Maori: Pu, to blow. Pudiki, to come forth.

Sanskrit: Vri, to choose
Maori: Whiriwhiri, to select, choose.

Sanskrit: Ayas, the dawn
Maori: Ao, the dawn. Mareeao, the dawn.

Sanskrit: raj, to shine
Maori: Ra, the sun, a torch. Rangi, the heavens.

Sanskrit: Agni,the god of fire.
Maori: Am, fire, sacred

Sanskrit: Kapila- certain holy persibage
Maori: Kapira- religious reclus

Sanskrit: Pat, to fall
Maori: Patapata, falling in drops.

Sanskrit: Vash, an opening
Maori: Waha, the mouth. 'K.mvaha,

Sanskrit: Rikshi- a priest
Maori: Ar, riki or Ariki, a noble priest.

There has been some debate about the Sanskrit word Rikshi to be equated with rishi with the meaning sage. However, in Sanskrit the word rakshar (ऋक्षर) means priest though rishi is more common and means sage rather than priest. 

Sanskrit: Ma, to measure.
Maori: Maro, a fathom

Sanskrit: Karali, terrible
Maori: karari, or ngarari - spined naga

Some authors such as A.A. Lind have criticized Treagear for make these connections and what they term as hurried deductions. For example, Lind states that Treagear had wrongly associated the Sanskrit karali with Maori karari which means a small fish and wuth Ngarara, which means a monster reptile in Maori. However, what we do know that karali is also the word for 'barbed fish' in Sanskrit derived languages such as Marathi. Karali is also the Sanskrit word for one of the four fangs of a particular snake whose venom is used as an Ayurvedic medicine. It also refers to a particular type of a snake bite where the bite has the look of a cow's horn.

Lind was of the view that the Maori word ngarara is traceable to the Sanskrit graha. He states, "Graha means an alligator, a crocodile; compare with Hindi gharial...". In any case, both Treagera and Lind were of the view that these words have Sanskrit origins.

Sanskrit Puranas and Maori fables:
There are many fables in the Maori tradition that tell us that there was a definite link between ancient India and New Zealand, the new home of the Maoris after they left India. The Maori took with them to their new land the culture, folklore and language from India. S
ometime in deep antiquity, perhaps with the rise of the Sarasvati civilization or the Indus Valley civilization or the emergence if the Aryans, these aborigines who are often regarded as the descendants of the Naga race of India, were either driven out or chose to leave their homeland.

Author Edward Tregear was of the opinion that even before the Aryans emerged, India was magnificent owing to the intelligent and skillful aborigines
of India who went by the name naga, so called due to their serpent like features. He states in his book Aryan Maoris, "I must impress upon my reader the necessity of remembering that the Aryans, who became the ruling and exclusive people of India, were not the original owners of the soil. The magnificent temples, the great cities, the wonderful systems of religion and philosophy were not the work of the first inhabitants of Hindustan. They were the outcome of that tribal intelligence, that vitality of mind and body, which evolved the art of Greece, the strength of Rome, the commerce of Britain. In the forests of Ceylon, on the hills of Assam, in the recesses of the Himalaya dwell the descendants of those savage people whose ancestors fled before the Aryan tidal wave. These aborigines were called Nagas, the serpent worshippers— Naga meaning great serpent. Although we seem here to be dealing with fables, it is certain that there was an original race so called".

The mythological stories of the Maoris reveal to us that many of the
place names that exist in present day New Zealand have Sanskritic origins. One such area is the volcanic land of Rotorua. There are three legends about the people of Rotorua in antiquity, who were terrorized by three demons, name Hotupuku, Pakehaua and Kataore. The three demons devoured the inhabitants of the villages of Tanhunui, Tuporo and Tikitapu in the district of Taupo.

In the first story the inhabitants of Tuporo village realize that amongst the travelers, only those who took a route from Taupo to the sacred Rotorua past the lakes of Tarawera and Rotomahana survived in their pilgrimage. Others who had taken a different path perished. This later helps them establish the identity of the monster of Kapenga and the location of his dwelling. His name was Hotapuku. The villagers then plan an attack, and one day march towards the demon's abode. Crossing the river Waikato, they arrive at the open plain of Kaingaroa, before reaching the dwelling of the demon at Kapenga. They capture him by ropes, kill him, and finally cut him open only to find in his gut their dead who were either swallowed whole or bitten in parts, along with their weapons, ornaments and other valuables.
 
Here is a Sanskrit decode of the names that appear in this legend. The suffix in the name Tupora is certainly pura (पुर) for Tregear tells us that the syllable pa means settlement in Maori. The 'tapu' suffix in the name Tikatapu stands for 'sacred area' in Maori. Here, the Sanskrit dvipa changes to tapu in Maori, just as it does in many Sanskrit derived languages such as in Hindi, for t and d are interchangeable sounds.

The name Kaingarao, Tregear states is a distortion of Kainagaroa meaning 'eat the long serpent'. The middle syllable naga is Sanskrit in origin, and is the equivalent of serpent. Similarly, Kapenga is a truncated form of Kapenaga, where the word naga appears once again.

Tregear tells us that the river name Waikato contains the prefix wai meaning water, derived from Sanskrit vari (वारी) with the same meaning. Two lake names occur in the myth of Hotupuku and are called Tarawera and Rotomahana. Tara (तर) is a root word that means swim and also tide. When extended to 'tarala' (तरल), it takes the meaning of fluid
; vari (वारि) means water as mentioned above as well as river or mist. In Maori water is wai though for some reason in this legend the original Sanskritic vari or vara form is retained in the name Tarawera. Mahana is the same as Sanskrit 'mahana' (महान) implying great or large.

As for the name Rotomahana, the root word 'ru' (रु) in Sanskrit and its derivations such as 'roroti' (रोरोति) have to do with roar or a yell, and hence is linked with demons and volcanoes in the Maori legends. The Rotorua is a volcanic area. In their legends they become the abode of the 'naga' lizards and monsters, such as Hotupuku. Mahana, of course means large as mentioned above

Tregear identifies Hotupuku as the Rig Vedic Vritra. Vritra (वृत्र), 'enveloper', is a danava or demon in Hinduism. He serves as the personification of drought. UIn the Puranas Vritra is accused of hoarding the waters and rain and of stealing cows. He is an adversary of the king of the devas, Indra. As a danava, he belongs to the race of the asuras. Vritra is also known in the Vedas as Ahi (अहि). He appears as a human-like serpent blocking the course of the Rigvedic rivers, and is slain by Indra with his newly forged vajra. Indra appears as Atua in the Maori tradition and is the equivalent of the Norse god Odin.

In a second legend another man-eating monster Pakehaua, who dwelt at a place called Te Awahou near a deep pool called Te Warouri, devoured the men of Waikato and Patetere. A team lead by a chief named Pitaka, carried out the mission to capture the demon. As Pitaka dived into the pool with an army of men and their ropes, the rest of the men stood by the shore reciting their charms and spell which softened the spear like crest of the demon, enabling his capture
. On being cut skeletons and bones of the dead spilled out of his body.

The chief is called Pitaka, a variation of the Sanskrit pita (पिता) or father. Waikato contains the Sanskrit vari or water which appears in the Maori language as 'wai' also meaning water. The name Patetare is constituted of two Sanskrit words pat (पत् )- fall, and tar (तर)- swim or water. Both the villages, the legends tell us, were situated near waterbodies or lakes. Both the place names, Te Awahou and Te Warouri contain the Maori form of the Sanskrit word 'vari' as Tregear tells us. 
In Maori mythology, Tawhirimatea (or Tawhiri) is the god of weather, including thunder and lightning, wind, clouds and storms, the Sanskrit vari appears as whiri here in the Maori name.Raw appears to be a distortion of deva.

A third monster, called Katatore, a lizard like creature who they said lived both in water on land, dwelt in a cave at Moerangi on the road between Tikitapu and Rotarua. It was captured by rope and killed in a similar fashion. The chief named Tangaroamihi, did not realize that the monster was his own pet who behaved well only in his presence, and was therefore most distraught when he realized that it was his pet that had been killed by the tribe of Ngatitama.

The names Tangaroamihi and Ngatitama both have a Sanskrit connect. Ngatitama is once again derived from the Sanskrit 'naga'. Tangaroa was the Maori god of fishes, and has a definite connect to the Sanskrit 'taranga' meaning 'wave'. We find an important place in the vicinity of Rotorua, namely Tauranga which means literally "landing place on the sea" from the Māori 'tau", 'to land". The name reflects the city's position on the shores of the harbour.

Of the name Katatore -the lizard like monster-one may look at the Sanskrit 'kutichar' meaning crocodile or kattaar (कट्टार) meaning weapon, though the name 'Katatore' has been associated with the Sanskrit 'graha' which distorts to 'ghariyal' in Hindi but keeps the meaning of 'crocodile'. According to the Grimm's Law of sound shift, the letter g and k are interchangeable, so are t and d. Hence, in all likeliness ghariyal  distorts to katiyal and then to katatore, but keeps the meaning of crocodile or 'the lizard like monster' from the original Sanskrit 'graha'.

Bibliography

Monday 15 January 2024

JORDAN AND PETRA, THE SANSKRIT SOURCE OF THE NAMES

In mainline literature it is said that the country Jordan gets its name from the river Jordan. The origin of the name 'Jordan' is traced to the ancient Semitic word 'Arda'. 'Arda' in turn comes from the Hebrew 'Yorad' which is derived from the Aramaic 'Yarden' or 'Jarden' meaning 'downflowing' or 'that which descends'. It is generally believed that the suffix "den" is linked to the Akkadian word dannum which means "powerful".

Let's go a step further and check out the obvious Sanskrit connection to the words mentioned above in the context of the etymology of Jordon. In Sanskrit, the word for 'flowing down' is 'jharat' (झरत्) and the root word is 'jhara' (झर) which means 'sprinkling' or 'waterfall' and is used to describe water bodies or rivers, not only in the Indian subcontinent but around the world. As for the suffix 'den' in the word Jordon, as well as the Akaddian 'dannum' to which the word Jordon is sometimes associated, both of these can be explained by either the Sanskrit 'dhunI' (धुनी), a word which means river, or by 'dhuni' (धुनि) which means roaring or shaking. 

But this association of the word Jordon to Sanskrit does not occur in isolation. There are many rivers around the world which have names that are cognates of the Sanskrit jhara. Examples include the Jari of South America, which is the northern tributary of the River Amazon, the River Jara in Melbourne, the Jara River of Romania which is a tributary of the Susita River, or Lake Jara in New Mexico; not to mention the Amazon, whose ancient most known name is Maranon, perhaps a variation of jharadana. There is a valid reason for this argument. Even today some of the tributaries of the Amazon retain names such as Jari, Jurua and Jhavary; and there must have been many more such names in the past. All of these world rivers therefore in all likelihood have the same Sanskritic name source as the river Jordon does.

Now, let's look at the Jordanian archaeological site of Petra. Petra is the home of Jordan's most ancient race - the Nabateans, who arrived here in around the 4th century BC. The site however is known to have been inhabited from as early as 9000 BC. 

Petra is a city carved in a mountain - its rocks are mostly red or pink in hue. It appears that at the Temple of Petra, the Vedic god Shiva was well known owing to the presence of a carved Shivalinga in a rock wall. This structure is sometimes identified as the Greek 'Omphalos'. Though the Greek word phalos  is the same as the Sanskrit linga, the etymology of Om is untraceable in Greek, unlike in Sanskrit where the word Om (ओमrepresents a sacred sound, syllable, mantra, and an invocation. Its written representation, (), is one of the most important symbols of Hinduism. It is variously said to be the essence of the supreme Absolute consciousness -  defined variously as Atman, Brahman, or the Cosmic World. The Vedic obelisk or the shivalinga is also associated with the symbol Om, also called Omkara.

The Omphalos or Shiva-Linga of
Petra Temple, Jordan.

Lord Shiva is a Vedic God. Om is a Vedic symbol.

The Petra shivalinga is not the only obelisk at Petra. At Jebel al-Madhbah, meaning 'mountain of the altar', there is a large Nabataean ritual site on the summit centered around an altar reached by a rock-cut staircase. This site was first identified by the French Middle East historian Maurice Sartre who had observed that beneath the peak of Mt. Madbah were two gigantic sacred stones. Around it, were cisterns fed by rainwater. Though this altar is often believed to have been a sacrificial altar, it is likely that this too was used for shivalinga worship, as cisterns with water are an integral part of the ritual involved with shivalinga worship. This idea is not in any way far-fetched,  for in neighboring Saudi Arabia, in the pre-Islamic Era, obelisks were widely worshipped and were known as Al Acara. For more on shivalinga worship in Saudi Arabia click here.

The obelisks of Mt. Madbah, Petra

It is said that the name Petra derives from the Greek word 'pietra' which means 'stone', a reference to the rocky landscape of the area, a name given to the site when the Greeks arrived here.  However, Petra is not the ancient most name of the site though it may easily be connected with the Sanskrit 'prastara' (प्रस्तर), which means 'rock' and distorts to 'patthar' in Hindi.

The Biblical Manuscript or the 'Dead Sea Scrolls' say that the original name of Petra was 'Rekim Geya' or 'Rekem'. The name 'Rekem' was inscribed at the Petra temple on the passage wall called the Siq or Sic. This inscription was visible until a couple of decades ago when a bridge was built over the passage-wall such that sadly, the inscription is no longer visible. The inscription was embedded in the bridge structure and was not removed to a museum for some reason.

So, what is the etymology of the names Rekem and Gaya? As mentioned above Petra is believed to have been built by the Nabateans. It was known to the Syriacs as Rekem which meant ‘holy’ in their language. In Aramaic too Rekem meant ‘holy’. Petra was also known as Kadesh Barnea and this name too carries the meaning equivalent to 'holy'. Evidently, it was a holy site but not much more can be interpreted from these manuscripts.

What sheds some light to all of these names is the Rig Veda. The name Rekem is closely linked to the Rig Vedic concept of Rta (ऋत). In the Vedic texts, Rta and Rtam a close Sanskrit cognate of the Aramaic 'rekim', is translated as "universal law" or "cosmic order". It is from the concept of 'rta' that stem the concept of riti (रीति
), or rites.

More precisely, the Sanskrit 'rich' (ऋच्), written as ṛc , refers to a praise, or to a sacred verse of the Rig Veda recited as an obeisance to a deity, as opposed to a saman (सामन्) or verses which were chanted during Vedic yagya or fire rituals. 'Rich' (ऋच्) also refers to sacred texts, or the collection of the verses of praise in the Rig Veda. It is this word that emerges as 'asa' in Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrian practices emerged from and were deeply influenced by Vedic practices. The Rig Vedic concept of Rta, the Yajur Vedic concept of fire worship etc, the Vedic ritual of preparing Soma, known as Hoama to the Zoroastrians, are all parts of the Zoroastrianism practices derived from the Vedas. It is therefore quite possible that the Vedic rites of birth and death were also practiced in ancient Zoroastrianism.

Today, Zoroastrianism is still practiced in the neighborhood of Jordon, especially in Iraqi Kurdistan and by the Parsis of Iran, and of course by the Parsis, who immigrated to India from Iran a 1000 years back when Islam was making inroads into Iran and Iraq. 

In India, the city of Gaya, located on the Niranjana river, also called the Phalgu, is an ancient Vedic-Hindu pilgrimage site in Bihar.  It is a sacred site where the cremation and the last rites of the people who have passed on are performed to this day. Gaya has been a pilgrimage centre and a spiritual site where rites were performed for those who had passed since the Ramayanic times. It is here that Sri Rama famously performed the ritualistic rites of his father Dasaratha, after his death. It is this name that appears in the Nabatean records.

The Nabateans of Jordon prayed to a god they called Dushara. Though the name is said to translate as 'that who lives in the stones', the name Dushara bears an uncanny similarity to the name Dasaratha. As per E. Pococke, the author of 'India in Greece', ancient Indian tribes that migrated westward from Bihar (then called Magadh) all the way to Greece are known to have built many temples and other sacred sites en-route and given them Vedic names. Rekem Geya was probably one of them.

 The ritualistic rites for those who have ascended heaven are performed at Gaya during what is known as 'Pitra Paksha', pitra (पितृ) ancestors, paksha (पक्ष) 'fortnight'- the fortnight of the ancestors. In India the name Gaya is tied with 'pitra'. It is for this reason that Sri Rama had performed the ritualistic rites for his departed father at Gaya. 

So was the name Petra, earlier known as Rekem Gaya, derive its name from 'pitra' or 'ancestors'. Petra was a cultic site for the Nabateans who it is said built the city in honor of their dead. The Nabateans are known to have performed sacrificial rites here for the soul of their dead ancestors. It is said of the site that those who entered here no longer had any need of worldly possessions. It was the Nabatean realm of the dead. It was a necropolis with no quarters for the living. Those who came to visit the departed souls took shelter in the caves. It indeed was a site for the 'pitra' of the Nabateans.

Temple of Petra,
also called Rekem-Geya seems to have some 
Links to the Gaya of India.

The area around the temple around Petra Temple was full of water springs, the site itself lacked water.  Water was brought into the Temple mainly from one water spring which was located at what is now called Wadi Musa through channels built here. The main water channel was called the Siq or Sic*and in spite of this rocky site having complex geological features, the channel brought and distributed water at many places within the temple. In Sanskrit 'sic' (सिच्) means to soak or irrigate. The Siq is now dry and serves as the main entrance to the site, but it once appears to have also carried the pilgrims to the main site in boats.

It is Moses who is credited with extracting water from below the red rocky arid area that is called Petra today. Until then, say the Aramaic texts, the site of Rekem-Geya was known as 'kadesh'. 'Kadesh' or 'Ku-desh' (कुदेश) in Sanskrit means 'Bad-Land' or 'Inhospitable Land', though it carries the meaning of 'holy' in Hebrew.

In some texts the region is also known as Barnia-Kudesh. 'Bhurni' (भूर्णि) in Sanskrit means 'desert' or 'distant'. 'Kudesh' as mentioned above means 'inhospitable'. By the time of the Aramaic translation of the Torah, Petra was known as Rekem Gaya or the Holy Ravine. Rekem Gaya is the Hebrew or Aramaic equivalent for the Sanskrit 'rtam kheya' (ऋतम् खेय) or the Divine Ravine.

The second highest mountain peaks in Jordon, which is a few kilometres away from Petra, is known as 'Jabal Ram'. The valley around it is known as Wadi Ram, though it is pronounced as Ram, it is mostly written as Rum. The highest mountain in Jordon is known as Umm ad Dami. Um is perhaps the truncated form of Ram or Rum. Dami means red and refers to the colour of the mountain. The name Ram reappears many times in place names in and around Jordan. Rama in the Indic lore is the son of Dasharatha. There appears to be a link between the two names in the Nabatean culture too in the names Dusara and Jabal Ram. 

Jabal Ram Peak at the centre,
the second highest point in Jordan


NOTES
1. The name Macedonia is traced to Magadh, the ancient name of Bihar, by E. Pococke.  To read more about the link of Gaya and Magadh to Greece click here.
2. The name Dushara is also a close cognate of the Sanskrit 'Dasraha'. Dasraha was a king of the Yadu family. He was so famous that his descendants were called the Daśārhas. As Śri Krishna was born as a descendant in the line of Dasraha, Sri Krishna is sometimes called Dsarha in certain places.
3. There are other Sanskrit links to the name Rekem Geya. 'Recin', pronounced rechin (रेचिन्), means red-powder, the hue of the stone in Petra. Rekem-Gaya translates as 'Red-Gaya' from Sanskrit.  


Citations:
1. "Is Petra an Ancient Shiva Temple"?: Click Here
2. 'Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalams' of India: Click Here
3. From Bharata to India: Chrysee the Golden by M.K. Aggarwal
4. 20 Images of Petra That Show Just How Incredible It Is (matadornetwork.com)

Saturday 11 November 2023

VEDIC MT. MERU IN SYRIA , ISRAEL AND TURKEY

The Vedic texts and scriptures record many forgotten parts of world history. The Vedic texts also unveil the mystery behind the history of some of the oldest archaeological sites around the world. In this post, an examination of three such ancient sites in West Asia -Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem, the Temple of Hadad in Syria's Aleppo town, and the Stonehenge site of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, through the lens of the information contained in the Vedic-Puranic texts, reveals that these sites had some definite links to Mt. Meru as documented in the Rig Veda. 

Mount Meru, also known as Sineru in Vedic texts, is a golden cosmic mountain that stands at the centre of the universe. In the Vedas it is regarded as the axis of the world as well.
  This world axis extends across the entire universe through infinite dimensions. It has two ends, known as 'sumeru' and 'kumeru'. The etymology of meru is simple. Meru (मेरु) is the Sanskrit word for 'axis' or 'spine'. Meru also has the meaning of nabhi or 'navel of the world'

There are many countries and earlier civilizations that unknown to them, were named after Meru, Sumeru or Kumeru. Examples include Morocco, Camerron and the Sumerian civilization. Read more about the connection to these names in future posts. * 

There are other examples of the link to the name Meru in other parts of the world too. Scholars such as Helene Blavatsky have linked the name of the Amerrisque mountain chain, commonly known as the American Cordillera, that runs from North America to South America through Central America, with Meru. The American Cordillera chain of mountain ranges (cordilleras) consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of the Americas. For more on the subject of the link of the word Meru to America click here.

Mt. Meru in the Upanishads and Vedas:
The Upanishad states 'Yatha Pindi, Tatha Bramhanda'. As is the body, so the universe. As the spine of the body holds its physical and spiritual aspects together, the spine or Meru of the universe holds the universe and all its dimensions together. Therefore, this axis also described as a mountain, is multidimensional. Meru is the pivot on which the entire creation rests. In the human body,  meru in turn rests on the 'chakras' of the spine.

The description of Meru, in the Vedic texts is extremely complex. Three nadis or pulsations run along the spine. The Ida represents feminine energy. The Pingala represents the masculine. The one in the centre, the Sushumna has a spiritual transcendental nature. The nadis runs through seven energy spots or the chakras, as well as the nabhi, or the navel. When the channels are unblocked by the action of yoga, the energy of kundalini uncoils and rises up the Sushumna from the base of the spine, thus bringing about moksha, or liberation. The same concept is applied to the entire creation, its sustenance, and its dissolution, at a universal level. 


Forgotten today by most of the world, the truth is that prominent ancient archeological temple sites around the world portray different aspects of the Mt. Meru lore.

Meru is considered as the abode of gods. In the Vedas the Kailasha peak in the Himalayas, or the 'mountain of snow' is regarded as a material representation of the cosmic Meru on earth. In other parts of the world too, the name Meru is often connected with the place names of sites where grand temples were erected in antiquity. Examples includMt. Hermon in Israel which was historically known as Mt. Sinieru with its meaning equated with 'mountain of snow' just like that of the Himalayas.

Then, there is Mt. Moriah mentioned in the Book of Genesis, the site where the binding of Issac to an altar by Abraham takes place. Both the names Sinieru and Moriah seem to be related to the names Sumeru and Meru.

There are other connections as well. In Vedic descriptions, the roof tower crowning a Hindu temple is called the 'shikhara' (शिखर) which represents the cosmic Meru. We see the Sanskrit 'shikhara' distort and appear as Ziggurat in the Sumerian, Akkadian, Elamite and 
Babylonian texts. In mainstream texts the word ziggurat is said to originate from ziqqurratum (height, pinnacle), in ancient Assyrian or from zaqārum, to be high up. These words are distortions of the word 'shikhara' which has the same meanings.

Mt. Moriah, Jerusalem:
Moriah is the name given to a mountainous region in the Book of Genesis, where the binding of Isaac by Abraham is said to have taken place. It is also mentioned in the Book of Chronicles as the place where Solomon's Temple was built. Both these locations are identified with the current Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The Samaritan Torah transliterates the place mentioned for the binding of Isaac as Moreh, a name for a place near modern-day Nablus, a Palestinian city located in the West Bank, North of Jerusalem. Pliny the Elder stated in his Natural History (5.69), that the towns were named Mamorpha and Naplous. Mamor'ha is a variation of Meru. Nablus or Naplous is a city marked by abundance of water from nearby springs. It is for this reason that in a previous post we had linked the name Nablus with the Sanskrit 'nabha' (नभ ) meaning 'water springs', 'clouds' and 'water'.


Mt. Moriah, Jerusalem
On map dated 1925

In the Jewish Bible, the name Meru occurs with two different spellings, Moriyya (Genesis 22.2) and Moriah (Chronicles 3.1 ). Tradition has interpreted these two as the same place. In both the texts the place is described as a mountain. The Genesis describes Morriya as a 'highland', the Genesis describes Moriah as the mount of Amoria. Some modern Biblical scholars, however, regard the name as a reference to the Amorites, having lost the initial a via aphesis; the name is thus interpreted as meaning land of the Amorites. But it is more likely that Amorite derives from an inclusion of the 'a' sound to Meru.

Mt. Moriah is also referred to and identified as the 'Navel of the World' in the Genesis in the description of Jacob's Dream'. The Genesis says: "He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. And the Lord was standing beside him... Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ... "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God and that is the gateway to heaven" (Genesis 28:10-18). 
This is perhaps the most colorful representation of the essential nature of the site which some would later claim was the "navel of the world". 

At the summit of Mount Moriah, traditionally, is the "Foundation Stone," the symbolic fundament of the world's creation, and reputedly the site of the Temple's Holy of Holies, the supreme embodiment of the relationship between God and the people of Israel. This has been identified with the Omphalos or the Shivalinga in the Indian tradition.

The Amorites were known as the Martu in the Sumerian texts, Ammuran in Akkadian and Emori in Greek were a Semitic speaking people who appear in Sumerian records in circa 2500 BC. There are mentions about the Amorites as Mar-du in tablets from the East Semitic speaking kingdom of Ebla, also dating to 2500BC. Now Ebla itself was also known as Mardikh in some other texts.

An old map shows the city of Aleppo named as Maronia.


It is said that Alexander named Aleppo as Beroea after the name of a nearby mountain Vermio, but again all of these are corruptions of the Vedic name Meru. 

An old map of Syria shows a city name marked as Maronia. About this name, it is said that it was named after the name of a Greek city called Maroneia which was founded by Maron, a son of Dionysus. Dionysus's lore is tied closely to India, and it is said that Dionysus was a Greek god who had travelled to India. Homer mentions the name of the Greek city of Maroneia as Ismaros in his Odyssey.

The Temple of Hadad, Aleppo:
Aleppo is a spiritual site. It is a site naturally built like Mt. Meru. The city of Aleppo is a circle of eight hills with a prominent hill in the centre on which the remnants of an ancient temple dedicated to the storm-god Hadad which dates back to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, was recently discovered by German archaeologist Kay Kohlmeyer.

Hadad was the storm and rain god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions. He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in 2500 BCE. Hadad was introduced to Mesopotamia by the Amorites. Why were they called Amorites? Because of the name Mt. Meru. In Mesopotamia Hadda or Hadad became known as the Akkadian god Adad. But why?

We know, that in Akkadian, Adad is also known as Rammanu (Thunderer) cognate with Imperial Aramaic Raˁmā and Hebrew Raˁam, which was a byname of Hadad.

Rammanu appears to be a variation of the Vedic god Varuna, who is the god of Sea and Thunder. In the Vedic scriptures, he is paired with the god Mitra, who is well known in West Asia as Mithira. Varuna is also mentioned as an Aditya, the sons of the goddess Aditi. It is this name that is the cognate of the Akkadian Adad. In the later Hindu texts like the Puranas, Varuna is also a Dikpala or guardian of the western direction and one of the guardians of Mt. Meru. Varuna also came to be known as Tarhunz in the West Asian pantheon. But there is more if one studies just the location of the temple.

What a perfect site the Temple of Hadad is. The Temple is located on a hill surrounded by eight mountains. In the Puranas of India, Mt. Meru had eight directions. Each one had a guardian god, one of them was Varuna. The tip of the central mountain and its base represented two more directions. The base of the Meru mountain, (or in the human body the base of the spine from where kundalini rises), is known as Adhah. This is perhaps where the name of the with God Adad emerged from.

Gobekli Tepe: Another important site in the context of Mt. Meru is Gobekli Tepe Its ancient most name is Portasar which translates as 'Navel Mountain' in Armenian, which is the definition of Mountain Meru in the Sanskrit texts. Its Kurdish name is Gire Mirezan which is an obvious distortion
 of the Sanskrit Giri Meru.

As research has progressed, it has begun to appear that Gobekli Tepe is a record in stone of the various cataclysmic events that have taken place on earth, events that brought mankind, and perhaps more advanced civilizations, close to an absolute end more than once. The repeated episodes of destruction on earth are recorded in Hindu Puranas in a text form, but is constructed in a physical stone form at Gobekli Tepe. Excavations have revealed many layers of construction at Gobekli Tepe, and it appears that each one represents one cycle of civilization and its destruction, the story told in stone.

According to the Puranas, in at least one of the restarts after a cataclysm, Mt Meru becomes the pivot on which the world rested till it is rescued from the calamity.

Representations of Mt. Meru: There is 
no real location for Mt. Meru because it is cosmic by nature. However, there are many representations of it in places around the world as well as descriptions of it in scriptures.


There is an interesting chapter in the Ramayana about the search for the abducted queen Sita, wife of the god king Sri Rama which mentions Mt. Meru. The Ramayana says that at a time when it was yet not established where Sita was being held captive by Ravana the king of Lanka, one of the search-parties is instructed to head westward away from India by the vanara chief Sugreeva. Sugreeva hands over to the vanara head Susena (who also happens to be his father-in-law), a route-map with specific instructions to be followed closely. As they follow these instructions in the westerly direction, crossing the Indus and many other rivers and mountains, the vanaras are told, the route-map would lead them to their final destination, referred to in the Ramayana as the golden Asta Mountain (Setting Sun mountain). Before they reach the Asta mountain the Ramayana says they would pass across the magnificent golden peak of Mt. Meru. 

The Ramayana also directs the vanaras as they travel from 'Meru' to Mt. 'Asta' to look for a what it describes as a 'gigantic ten-leaved date-palm-tree, which is completely golden and shines forth and is installed on a marvelous podium'. 

Where could this site with a gigantic man-made ten leafed golden palm tree have been? Do any of the ancient archeological sites and cities in West Asia match this description?

The city of Palmyra was once known as Tadmor. 'Tad' is Sanskrit for palm, and 'mor' may be a variation of 'pur' meaning city, given the fact that the Akkadian 'ur' meaning city may be a truncated form of the original Sanskrit 'pur'. The ancient city of Palmyra was perhaps built on an even older city around a magnificent golden palm on a podium that the Ramayana mentions. 

There are other intriguing connections to Ramayana. Mount Hermon, the highest point on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of which rise the two major sources of the Jordan River, was historically known as Sinieru and Senir. These names again are a variation of the Sanskrit Sumeru or the Mt. Meru located near Mt Asta or the Sunset Hill.

If Mt. Asta is Sunset Hill then the Mediterranean Sea becomes the Sunset Sea near which the Ramayana states is the location of the Sunset hill or the 'Asta' mountain. The Mediterranean was once known as the Sunset Sea as we see in the map below. Other Sanskritic names on the map, such as Amurru and Simurru are variations of Meru and Sumeru.

A map depicting the Mediterranean as the Sunset Sea.
The Ramayana states that the world beyond the Sunset Mountain, near Mt. Meru was unknown.
Map from 'The Early History of Assyria'
by Sidney Smith, 1927

*The river Senegal was also known as the 'Sanaga'. There is another river today in Africa (in Cameroon) known as the 'Sanaga'.  If one were to decode the name Sanaga through the Sanskrit lens we find 'ga' (गा) is Sanskrit for 'move' or 'flow' - as in the name Ganga, and 'sana' (सन) means 'calm', or 'serene'. Two rivers, Djerem River and Lom River unite to make this river.  As stated above 'Sangha' is Sanskrit for 'union'. Djerem, a cognate of 'jharim' means 'river' in Sanskrit.  Loma is a cognate of Soma (सोम)  and means the 'moon'. It appears in the name of one of the highest peaks of the Guinea Highlands region- Loma Manasa, perhaps the name should be Soma Manasa, Manasa meaning 'spiritual'. Both Soma and Manasa are words linked to the lore of Shiva.

Citations and Bibliography:
1. Original name of Aleppo? - History Forum ~ All Empires
Hadad - Wikipedi
2. Ancient Syria (israel-a-history-of.com)
Aleppo Citadel
3. Gobekli Tepe and its Potential Connection to The Vedic Culture | by Gautham V Reddy

Wednesday 30 August 2023

THE FOOTSTEPS OF GODDESS DURGA AND THE TEMPLE OF AIN DARA IN SYRIA

Ain Dara is an ancient temple site located in North Syria. It is said to be more than 3000 years old and is dated to the era of the Hittites. The Hittites were an Anatolian people and spoke an Indo-European language and in their culture one detects much Indic influence. The first archaeological evidence for the Hittites appeared in tablets found at the karum of Kanesh which is now called Kültepe. The tablets contain records of trade between Assyrian merchants and a certain "land of Hatti". In the Indic-Sanskrit context the word karum is linked to taxes, work-place and trade. The word haat is the equivalent of market-place. 

Referring to names such as Hittites, Phoenicians and Cannanites found in the tablets found in this region, Alwin Kloekhorst, a Dutch linguist, Indo-Europeanist and Hittitologist states in his writings, "Some names in the tablets were neither Hattic nor Assyrian, but clearly Indo-European." In the Indic context, the words hatti and pani both refer to trade and the market place, hence it appears that the names Hittite, Phani or Phoenicians and kani or Cannanites are derived from an Indic-Sanskritic source. Unsurprisingly therefore, many Indic scholars have in their research traced the origin of the Land of Hatti, the Land of Punt and the antecedents of the Hittites and Phoenicians to India. Scholars have also detected the traces of Indic vastu shastra in the remnants of the architecture of these civilizations.

Ain Dara was built by the Hittites on a terrace known as the "Acropolis of the Tell' overlooking the Afrin Valley in Syria. Sadly, most of this site was destroyed by Turkish airstrikes in January 2018. The now ruined parts of the temple included sculptures of lions and sphinxes, elaborately decorated walls with geometrical and floral patterns and other animals and engravings of mythical creatures. However, the most unique of the sculptures here includes four massive footprints engraved on the limestone floor at the path leading to the entrance of the temple.

The giant footprints of a goddess at the ancient
Temple of Ain Dara site at Aleppo in Syria.

If one were to take a clue from the Vedic Puranic tradition, footstep engravings often appear in many Durga temples. Durga Temples also depict the legend of the killing of the demon Maheeshasura by the goddess Durga, who rode a chariot of lions, in her chase of the demon before his death after a nine-day battle.

Maheeshasura is a Sanskrit combination word, where 'maheesa' stands for buffalo and 'asura' means demon. At the end of the battle, Durga tramples Maheeshasura to death. This lore signifies the victory of good over evil and is celebrated in a nine-day festival of Navaratri-twice a year in India. Surprisingly, in Syria, located about 60 km from Aleppo, stood the temple of Hierapolis in Manbij, where rituals similar to those of Vedic goddesses were performed. These have been recorded in the De Dia Syria, the most celebrated work of Lucian of Samosata who lived from 125-180 AD.
A basalt lion sculpture from the Ain-Dara site,
Aleppo, Syria


Ain Dara Temple, Aleppo, Syria.
This sculpture of mythical creature 
may well represent Mahees-asura, the buffalo-demon that Durga killed by trampling. Notice the horn on the human-faced creature with the body of a lion.



Notice the horns on the human faced animal
which indicates that this may be a sculpture
of the shape shifting Maheeshasura
Ain Dara, Aleppo, Syria


Ain Dara Temple,  Aleppo, Syria showing the placement of the
 goddess's feet. In the Vedic context, the goddess Durga's footsteps depict the trampling of the demon Maheesasura. 

In the Indian tradition, sculpture of footsteps of gods and goddesses appear commonly at ancient temples. These are held in reverence and people do not generally step on them, instead offerings are made at these footsteps. Examples include the giant footstep at the Leepakshi Temple in Andhra Pradesh.

Veerabhadra Temple, Leepakshi
Andhara Pradesh, India

We see some ritual practices at Syrian Goddess temples which are close to that which are practiced even today in India. Located close to the Ain Dara temple, at the Hierapolis temple at Manbij in Syria which is dedicated to the Syrian Goddess variously known as Atargatis or Hera, a ceremony that author Lucian described in his 'De Dia Syria'was performed in praise of the goddess twice a year, and is akin to the Navratra ceremony and the Durga puja festivities in India.  Lucian describes a ceremony where the pilgrims would bring pitchers with offerings of gold coins or jewels which they donated to the priests at the Manbij temple. In return the priests would fill the pilgrims' pitchers with the sacred water at the temple lake, who would then pour part of it over the shrine idols, and take the rest of it home as sacred water. This is similar to the Kalasha puja of the Navratri celebrations of India. 

The Manbij temple priests would also fill up a gold vessel with water amidst chanting and perform the same ceremony. The image of the vessel used for the ceremony survives in a coin from that era and looks like a Vedic triple kalasha, one vessel over the other.

The image of the gold vessel used for performing
the sacred-water ceremony at the temple of Hierapolis,
Manbij, Syria. The description of the ceremony at Hierapolis,
written by Lucian in his De Dia Syria is a reminder
of the Kalasha Puja of India

In her book 'Goddess Temples in Western Asia', author Max Dashu states about the ceremonies at Hierapolis, "Its water ceremonies continued, with processions carrying the image of Atargatis to her sacred lake to be immersed, while others brought ocean water to the temple.". The word 'ocean' refers to the Euphrates River which flowed about 10 km away. However, the temple itself stood by a lake fed by the Euphrates. The ritual described here is the Indic 'visarjana' of the Goddess Durga.

Of the temple of the Syrian Goddess at Hierapolis, now known as Manbij, the Hindu Puranic pandits have long claimed that the site was a Shakti peetha dedicated to the goddess Mahabhaga, or Sati, or Durga, all manifestations of the feminine energy, that is Shakti.  The details of this Mahabhaga temple of Syria maybe accessed in a post by clicking here.

A sculpture was excavated at another temple called the Dura Europos in Syria, where a Mesopotamian goddess is seen seated on a lion-throne with one foot placed on the shoulder of what has been described a nymph but is a reminder of what can only be the distortion of the story of Durga slaying Maheesh-asura by trampling him with her foot. 

 An artifact of a Mesopotamian goddess with a foot
on the shoulder of a defeated demon, often identified as a nymph. Excavation from the Dura Europos of Syria indicates
that the lore of Maheeshasura may have been known in Syria.

A second artifact from Dura Europos shows the slaying, but the god here is wrongly identified as the Mittani god Mithira, his name a variation of the Rig-Vedic god Mitra.

The god in this artifact from Dura Europos is often identified as  Mithira by western authors. Mithira is the same as the Rig- Vedic Mitra worshipped by the Mittani kings who's empire extended from Iran to Turkey.
This sculpture artifact may in reality depict goddess Durga slaying the buffalo demon, Maheesa.


Durga slaying Maheeshasura

There is some compelling evidence in the legends related to the temples of Syria written by Lucian that leads one to think that perhaps the Ain Dara site belongs to a time when the lore of Maheeshasura was well known and held sacred in the Syrian-Babylonian-Mesopotamian culture. First, Mahees appears in the Anatolian and Phrygian pantheon of gods as the son of the Goddess Cybele, also known as Kubileya. Kubileya is none other than Kubhjika of the Vedic Tantric pantheon. Kubhjika is another form of the goddess Durga, who in the Hindu pantheon kills Maheesa-asura -the buffalo demon.

In Ain Dara it is said that there were sculptures of mythical animals with human faces. There is one particular which is a creature with the face of a human, horns of a buffalo and the body of a lion. Maheeshasura had taken many forms in his battle against Durga, a lion, an elephant and others before he is killed when he is in the disguise of a buffalo.

A human faced animal with the body of a lion
And the horns of a Buffalo.
The same as Maheesaura,
the demon that Durga killed.


Citations and Bibliography:



Blog Archive