Thursday 27 March 2014

SANSKRIT ORIGINS OF THE NAMES MT. PARNASSUS & MT. TOMAROS OF GREECE

"In Mathura, we became convinced of the fact that the inhabitants of the Greek Olympus were born nearer to the Himalayas than to the country of Homer, that Parnassus must be sought near the Bamian, and that Apollo, Hercules, Bacchus and Orpheus are Avataras of Krishna, Baladeva, Vagisa and Arjuna, the friend of Krishna, one of the Pandavas." (From 'Caves and Jungles of Hindustan' by Helena Petrova Blavatsky - (1831-1891).

The ancient name of Bamiyan (in present day Afghanistan) was 'Varnmaya' (वर्णमय), Sanskrit for 'that which consists of symbolic letters, colours and sound'.

Mount Parnassus is a mountain of limestone in central Greece that towers above the Delphi Oracle, north of the Gulf of Corinth, According to Greek mythology, this mountain was sacred to Apollo, the same Apollo that Blavatsky says was the Greek avatar of Sri Krishna. (See passage above).



Mount Parnassus, Greece
The name 'Parnassus' has Sanskrit origins.

Blavatsky traced the origins of the name 'Parnassus' in Greece, to the Old Persian (Avestan) name of Hindu Kush which was 'Paropanisus'. Blavatsky was of the opinion that Paropanisus was a distortion of Old Persian 'Paru' which means 'mountain'. But the old Persian 'paru' itself has Sanskrit origins, where 'paru' (परु) also means 'mountain'.

An even more ancient name of the Hindukush was 'Paariyatra' (पारियात्रा) and is first mentioned in the Kishkinda Kand, Chapter 42, of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Valmiki Ramayana.

E. Pococke, in his 'India in Greece' put forth the view that the Hindukush, that is the 'Paariyatra' of the Ramayana, came to be known as 'Devanika' because of the many 'deva' (देव) or 'gods' that dwelt there. According to Pococke one of the peaks of the Devanika range was the 'Parnassus', which later came to be known as 'the hill of Bamiyan'. It was called Parnassus because of the many 'parnasi' (पर्णसि) that adorned its slopes. The 'paranasi' were the 'leaf and branch' huts, the dwelling places of the Hindu ascetics who inhabited the Parnassus. The root of the word 'parnasi' is 'parna' (पर्ण) which means 'leaf'.

Mainstream theorists do not venture in the direction of Sanskrit in their quest to trace the phonology of Parnassus. They limit themselves to Luwian (an ancient Indo-European language) and say that Parnassus gets its name from Luwian 'parna' meaning 'house'. But then in ancient times if huts were predominantly made of leaves and branches, it may just be that the 'Luwian 'parna' is the equivalent of both house and leaves. In ancient India, leaf huts were also called 'parna-kuti' (पर्णकुटी).

Adjacent to the Paranassus Peak in Greece is the Oracle of Delphi. The second largest Oracle in Greece is the Oracle of Dodoni, which gets its name from the Sanskrit 'Devi-deva'. The Oracle of Dodoni lies close to Mt. Tomaros in the southwestern Ioannina region in the Pindus mountain range of Greece. Edward Pococke traces the name 'Pindus' to the 'Pandava' clan of the other great Sanskrit epic of ancient India, the Mahabharata. For more about the India connect to the Oracle of Dodoni click here.



Mt Tomaros and the Oracle of Dodoni
The name Tomaros stems from the
Sanskrit 'Sumeru' and Dodona 

from Sanskrit 'Devi-Deva'

Referring to the Greek God Bacchus, Blavatsky wrote that the legend of the Greek Bacchus emerges from the Vedic God Vagisha* who it is said first appeared on mount Su-Meru. Blavatsky places Sumeru near Bamiyan in the Hindukush and traces the name Tomoras to Sumeru.

The historians of Alexander the Great, who had traversed to this part of the world, called the Su-Meru mountain 'Su-Meros', and insisted even in those days that it was the abode of Bacchus.

According to the mythology of the Greeks, Bacchus was born from the thigh of 'Jupiter'. In Greek the word for thigh is 'meros' - hence the confusion. Bacchus was not born from the 'meros' or thigh of Jupiter, his legend appeared from the Hindu legend of Vagisha and his abode at Mt. Sumeru. The 's' often changes to 't' in Greek, hence the Sanskrit 'Sumeru' that corrupted into 'Sumeros' ultimately changed to Tomaros'.

*Vagisha (वागीश) is one of the manifestations of both Shiva and Vishnu. 

The Matsaya Purana names two rivers by the names of 'Parnasa' and 'Tamasa'. And it is likely that ascetics who travelled to different regions of the Devanika Range of Greater India named their new habitation places, as they travelled westwards, from the names in the scriptures of India.

Sunday 23 March 2014

THE IONIAN SEA AND THE DODONA ORACLE OF GREECE - THE SANSKRIT AND KASHMIR CONNECTION

The Ionians were one of the four major ancient tribes of Greece, the other being the Dorians, Aeolians and Achaeans. Ionia was a district of ancient Greece inhabited by the Ionians. Etymological dictionaries say that the name 'Ionia' is pre-Greek, and is perhaps related to Sanskrit 'yoni' (योनी) meaning 'womb' and refers to a 'Goddess-worshipping people'. There is no known accepted source of the word 'Ionia' in the Greek language.

The Ionian Sea located between Greece and Italy.
The word 'Ionian' is traced to the
Sanskrit 'Yoni' and 'Yavana'.

Epirus (see map below) is a geographical and historical region in south-eastern Europe, shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea. It is said that the name Epirus is derived from the Greek 'Epeiros' meaning 'mainland' or 'terra firma' however its root is traced to Indo-European (which really is Sanskrit in disguise). The Indo-European word is 'apero' meaning 'coast'. In Sanskrit 'apara' (अपार) means 'bank on this side', 'unbounded', 'without shore', and so on.



Names of Sanskrit origins abound in Greece and it is therefore important to look at Edward Pococke's view put forth in his book, 'India in Greece'. His view was that in antiquity tribes of Indian origin moved westward and left their trail in the names of rivers and mountains and cities and towns, across Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Greece and Italy. For example Pococke traced the name of 'Macedonia' or Makedonia to the 'Maghadan' tribe of India. 

According to Count M. Bjornstjena as stated in his book 'The Theogony of the Hindoos' published in 1844, there is at least an indirect link between the Vedic god Shiva and Dodona via the Temple of Ammon in Egypt. He says,"... several names of the Hindoo mythology are recognized in Egypt; thus Ammon the Supreme God of the Egyptians corresponds to the Aum of the Hindus; and the Brahmanical Siva is found in the temple to which Alexander the Great made his pilgrimage from Egypt which yet bears his name...". He adds, "According to the accounts of the priests in Sais to Herodotus, two priestesses were sent from the great temple of Ammon in Thebes to select spots in which sacredotal temple be erected, the one pointed out Siva in the Libyan desert, the other to Dodona in Epirus....".  



The site of the Dodona Oracle in Greece.
The Oracle was dedicated to Goddess Dione,
the word originates from Sanskrit 'Devi' meaning 'deity',
and to God Zeus, whose name originates
from Sanskrit 'Deva' meaning 'god'.

Pococke also decodes the name Dodon, the centre of an Oracle dedicated to a 'Goddess Mother' by the name Dione. He was of the view that the origin of the name 'Dione', which means 'deity' lies in the Sanskrit 'devi' (देवी) meaning 'goddess'. The Oracle at Dodon was also shared by the Greek God 'Zeus' whose name originates in Proto Indo- European as 'Dieus', which as mentioned above is simply Sanskrit in disguise - 'Dieus' too is a corruption of Sanskrit 'deva' (देव) which is 'god'.


Edward Pococke states that 'Doda' in Kashmir, India
gets its name from the Sanskrit 'Deva-deva',
which with time corrupted into 'Deo-deo' and
then to Doda from which Dodon in Greece gets its name
.

Pococke links the name of the town Dodon in Greece to the ancient Brahmins of Doda in Kashmir who he says emigrated out of India in antiquity. Pococke traces the name of Doda in Kashmir to 'Deva-deva' (देवदेव) which means 'God of gods' and is another name of the god 'Brahma'. 'Doda' in Kashmir is regarded by some as an 'oracle-site' and link its name to deva-vani (देववानी)  or (देववाणी) - 'the voice of God' or 'the voice of Heaven'.


Notice the names Trikala, Arta, Pramanda, Parga, Kalamata,
Andritsena, Kranidi, Patra, Thiva, Timavos,
Lamia and Domokos on the map of Greece

Pococke had put forth the view that there was an exodus of many tribes that moved westwards and settled all along the path from India to Greece. Notice the following place names in Greece and their Sanskrit meanings. 

1. Trikala: Trikala (त्रिकाल) in Sanskrit is 'the triad of 'past, present and future'. The city of Trikala is built on the ancient site by the name Trikka. In Sanskrit 'trika' (त्रिक)  also means a 'triad'. Though the ancient city of 'Trikka' is said to have been named after a Greek mythology nymph, her name 'Trikka' has no meaning in Greek.

2. Arta:  'Arta (आर्त) or 'Artha' (आर्थ) means 'significant' in Sanskrit. 

3. Pramanda:  'Pramanda' is probably a distortion of the sanskrit 'pramanya' (प्रामान्य) which means 'authority'. 
4. Paraga: 'Paraga' (पारग) means 'learned'. 

5. Andritsena: 'Andritsena' is a compound Sanskrit word where 'anidrit' (अनिद्रित) means 'watchful' and 'senA' (सेना) means an 'army', though 'sena'  (सेन) is also often used as an ending syllable in a name of a person. 


6. Krandidi: 'Kranidi'  may be a corruption of 'krandas' (क्रन्दस्) that is 'battle cry'.

7. Patra:  Patra (पात्र ) means a command, though the name of 'Patra' in Greece and 'Petra' in Jordon have been linked to the meaning 'stone' and could therefore be derived from Sanskrit 'prastar' (प्रस्तर) also meaning 'stone'. 

8. Thebes: The present day Thiva was known as 'Thebes' in antiquity, its name a distortion of Khiva that Pococke traces to 'Kubera'.

9. Kalamata: Kalamata in Sanskrit simply means 'Goddess of Time' which is the 'Kali-mata' of the Vedic tradition. Though the Greek 'Kala' means 'good', similar to Sanskrit 'kalayan', the Greek city 'Kalamata' is said to get its name from Greek 'kalamia' meaning 'reed'. But whether it is the true source of 'kala' remains uncertain.

The word 'kala' appears in other Greek city names such as 'Kalabaka' and 'Kalamaki'. 'Kalabaka' is said  to have Turkish origins where it means 'Strong Fort'. 'Kalamaki' is translated as 'Little reed' and is the also the Greek name of a Turkish town by the name 'Kalkan'. 

A simpler explanation one might think is that the word 'kala' may have to do with the Sanskrit 'kala' (काल) meaning 'time'. 

10. Then there was 'Damastium' located 5 miles away from the Oracle of Dodon. Pococke states that 'dama' and 'damma' are distortions of the Sanskrit 'dharma' (धर्मं) meaning 'duty'. The 'astium' in Damastium says Pococke is a distortion of the Sanskrit 'asti' (अस्ति) that is 'to be'. Damastium in Greece was a place for the 'residing priests'.
11. Domoskos: Domokos is probably a distortion of 'Dharma-desh' (धर्म-देश) meaning 'Land of Dharma'. 

Update: See comment below for more insight on 'Damastium' as the equivalent of Sanskrit 'dhAma + asti + ayaM' meaning 'this is the place'.

Ionians appear in Indic literature and documents as Yavana and Yona as well as in the documentation of the 'Edicts of Ashoka', dated to 250 BC. Before then, the Yavanas appear in the Vedas. In the Vedas, the Yavanas are a kingdom of Mlechhas, or barbarians, to the far west, out of the line of descent of Indic culture and in general refer to the Greeks.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

CLUES FROM ANCIENT INCAN PANELS - SRI GANESHA AND HIS VEHICLE, THE 'MUSHAKA'

If Sri Rama had the Pushpaka Vimana, did Sri Ganesha also own a flying vehicle? Traditionally it is believed that his vehicle , mushaka (मूषक) was a  mouse. Clues from ancient Incan (Latin American) panels:


On an ancient Incan panel you find a central figure,considerably larger than the other two figures, seated on a 'mushaka' or mouse. Is that Sri Ganesha? He was known as 'Mahakaya' (महाकाय) on account his being 'large bodied'. And his vehicle was a 'mouse.


The true potential of Sri Ganesha's vehicle
'the mouse'? From an ancient
South American panel.
A sketch of the coloured panel above where
the 'human entity' is seen operating the vehicle.



Flying Mouse (मूषक)?
Personal flying machines

As an aside, etymological dictionaries state that the word 'mouse' originates from PIE 'mus'. PIE is an engineered language. Most likely the source of 'mouse' is the Sanskrit 'mushaka' (मूषक) meaning 'mouse'.


Seen here are ancient artifacts from South America.
Was Sri Ganesha's 'trunk' really a 'breathing apparatus'.

Incan Astronaut Panel
Sri Ganesha with his flying machine?


Vimana shaped ancient flying machine?
in a Hindu Temple at Cambodia.

Monday 17 March 2014

THE FOUR RIVERS OF 'GENESIS' - THE SANSKRIT CONNECT

A passage from Genesis- Old Testament:

"A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates".


And here is a look at the names of the rivers through the Sanskrit lens:

The first is the river Pishon.  The word 'Pishon' is said to mean "the great effusion", the river is described as "reminder of God's abounding grace". In Sanskrit, a cognate of Pishon is 'poshin' (पोषिन्) which means 'nurturing' which is the equivalent of 'God's abounding grace'. Another cognate is 'Ishan' (
इषन्
)  which means 'streaming out' or 'pouring out'.

The Pishon flows through the land of Havilah, also spelled Evilas and Evilath, which it is said was full of suffering. In Sanskrit, a cognate of 'avilah' is 'aavila' (आविल) and means 'muddy', 'polluted' or 'foul'. It seems then the River Pishon nourished or cleansed the land of 'Havilah'.

The second river is the Gihon, from Sanskrit 'gahan' (गहन) meaning 'deep'. Biblical dictionaries translate 'Gihon' as 'valley'.


The other two rivers are the Euphrates and Tigris. The Tigris has always been described as the 'swift river' as compared to the 'slow moving' Euphrates. Its name may well have been derived from the Sanskrit 'tivra' (तीव्र) which means 'swift, fast or intense'. The second syllable is 'agr' (अग्र) and means' first, foremost, or ahead'. The more common interpretation of the name Tigris is 'tiger' which itself is derived from the Sanskrit 'vyagr' 
(व्याग्र).

However, the Sumerian name of Tigris was 'idigna':

Idigna or Idigina is believed to derive from *id (i)gina with the meaning "running water", which can be interpreted as "the swift river", contrasted to its neighbor, the slow-moving Euphrates. The Sumerian Idigna or Id(g)nina too has Sanskrit links for 'ida' (इडा) means 'flow' and 'ina' is wild or powerful. Idi may be a truncated form of Sanskrit 'nadi' meaning river.

There seem to be more links to Sanskrit. For example, the Sanskrit word 'ninad' relates to 'humming noise' or 'sound made by gushing water'. Nini is 'pouring out'.


Sometimes the name 'Tigris' is associated with Old Persian or Avestan 'Tigr' meaning 'the fast one' but that again is derived from Sanskrit 'tivra' (तीव्र) meaning 'fast'. 

Fausset's Bible dictionary states that in the word Euphrates, the first syllable Eu, is derived from the Sanskrit Su (सु), which denotes 'good'; the second syllable denotes 'abundant'. The Sanskrit word for abundant is 'Purna' (पूर्ण). Hence Euphrates may be derived from the Sanskrit 'Su-Purna' (सुपूर्ण) meaning 'Good-Abundance'. 


The Babylonians and Assyrians called Euphrates 'Su-Purattu'. It was known as 'Purattu' in Akkadian and 'Puranti' in Hurrian, 'Puranti' may be linked to Sanskrit 'Purandhi' (पुरन्धि) which means 'bountiful' or 'abundant'.


Notice names such as 'Nagar' (नगर) meaning 'town;
and 'Haran' probably from Sanskrit (हरणि) meaning
'water channel' in the vicinity of the Euphrates.
 'Haran'
 may also have got its name from the Vedic 'Haran'
which is another name of Lord Shiva.

Edward Pococke, who had a different view, states in his book 'India in Greece' that the name Euphrates is a distortion of 'Su-Bharata' which changed into 'Su-Purattu', hence the Babylonian and Assyrian name. The word 'su' (सु) as mentioned above means 'good' in Sanskrit, 'Bharat' (भरत्) is the name of ancient Indian king after who
m India was named 'Bharata' (भारत). Bharat is known to have extended his empire into Central Asia right up to the Mediterranean.

The Gihon was also known as the Karun, 'karun'
(करुण
means 'compassionate' in Sanskrit.

The Sumerian cities of Sippar and Nippur are also located on the path of the ancient Eu-pharates. The 'par 'and 'pur' are probable corruptions of the Sanskrit 'pura' meaning 'town' or 'city'. The first syllable in both names are short and may have meanings in many languages, however as a combination Nippur would mean the 'low lying city', nIpa (नीप) in Sanskrit meaning that which is situated on the 'lower side', and 'nipa' (निप) 'that which absorbs' or 'soaks'.  A corruption of any number of words, 'sipa' could be a distortion of 'ksipa' (क्षिप्) which means 'to pour'. That would make 'Sippar', the 'city that poured' (the waters of Euphrates) and 'Nippur' at the lower end of the flow making it 'the city that receives' (the waters of the Euphrates). Some historians trace the roots of the name Nippur to the word 'Nabha'. 'Nabhapur' - hence the city of the 'Nabhas'. Others have linked the name Sippar to Shiva-pura.





Suggested Links:

Thursday 13 March 2014

MORE ABOUT ANCIENT SYRIA AND ISRAEL - THE SANSKRIT, SRI RAMA & SRI KRISHNA CONNECTION

Known in Hebrew as Aram, Syria was also variously referred to with names such as Mesopotamia, Aram-Naharain, and Padan-Aram in ancient times.

Mesopotamia: It is generally accepted that Mesopotamia gets its name from Ancient Greek and means 'in the middle of rivers', where 'meso' means 'middle', and 'potamos' means 'river', literally 'rushing water', traced to PIE 'pet' meaning to 'rush' and 'to fly' - ignoring the Sanskrit pat (पत्) which means 'descend', 'flow', 'to rush down', to 'fall rapidly'. The Greek 'meso' itself is derived from Sanskrit 'madhya' (मध्य) via Proto-Germanic 'medjaz'. 

The two major rivers of Mesopotamia referred to here are the 'Euphrates' and the 'Tigris'. Edward Pococke, the 17th century historian, traces the name 'Euphrates' to 'Su- Bharata' meaning 'Good Bharata', derived from the name of the ancient king 'Bharat' (भरत्) via the Assyrian name for Euphrates 'Su Paruttu'. The 'Tigris' has been equated with the word 'Tiger', which is said to be derived from the Sanskrit 'vyagr' (व्याग्र) meaning 'tiger'.


Aram-Naharain: 'Naharain' which means 'canal' in Hebrew' may be traced to the Sanskrit 'nira' (नीर) meaning 'water' and 'nihara' (निहार) meaning 'mist'. 

Padan-Aram: Padan-Aram may be traced to the Sanskrit 'padam' (पदम्) meaning 'to tread' and 'padan' (पदन) which means 'to move'. It is said that the name 'Aram' comes from Hebrew 'rum' meaning 'high places'. However, the Old Testament was originally written in Aramiac.  

Edward Pococke has traced the name 'Aram' to the Vedic God Sri Rama, the name brought into Mesopotamia by the descendants of the tribes of the sons of Sri Rama - Luv and Cush.

Ancient Mesopotamia.
Notice the names Ramadi, Kish and Nippur.
Euphrates was decoded as 'Su-Parata' from Su-Bharata' 

by Edward Pococke. Tigris gets its name from Sanskrit 'Vyagr'.

There are examples of  words in Aramiac and Hebrew which are very close cognates of Sanskrit words. For example, there is a possibility that words such as 'hara' (हर) which means 'God' or 'eminent' in Sanskrit, were passed on to Hebrew, and the meaning transformed from 'God' and 'eminent' as in Sanskrit to 'mountain' or 'elevated' in Hebrew. In the Bible too, mountains are often associated with places of worship (pagan: Deuteronomy 12:9, Isaiah 65:7; YHWH: Exodus 17:9, 1 Kings 18:42), and it's been proposed that people like to pray on mountains because it gives them the feeling that they're closer to the divine realm.

The Sanskrit 'hara' appears in the names of  mountain peaks in India such as the 'Harmukh'(5142 m) and 'Hardeol' (7151m) which are 'elevated' because they are mountain peaks, and 'eminent' because they are named after 'Hara' meaning 'god'. Then there is Hari Parvat (1709 m) in Srinagar, Kashmir.

And we find in Hebrew that though the word 'hara' does not mean 'god', yet it means 'elevated place' or a 'mountain' - for example - Har HaKarmel - or Mt. Carmel (1724 m), that has been considered sacred since the times of the Cananites. The ancient 'Cananites' of Israel who chronologically preceded the Jews regarded all high places and mountain peaks as sacred just as did the Vedic Hindus. It is therefore logical that the word 'hara' might have been transported by the emigrating tribes of India and acquired a slightly different meaning by the time the word emerged in Aramiac in Mesopotamia and Canan (Israel). In any case the Sanskrit  'hari' (हरि) also means 'of a mountain' and is therefore common with Hebrew. According to Edward Pococke' the author of 'India in Greece', the word Canan is derived from Sri Krishna's name 'Kanha'.

Mt. Carmel Range in Israel
or Har HaKarmel

The name Rama occurs in the Old Testament and refers to a Biblical town that existed before the birth of Jesus and is mentioned in the 'Book of Genesis':

"A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." Matthew 2:18

Here is another verse of the Old Testament:
"The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, "This is what the LORD says: 

"Because the Arameans think the LORD is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the LORD." Kings 20:28. 

In the Vedic scriptures, 'Hari' or Shiva is known to reside in the hills. The peak of Kailash and Kedarnath are the abode of Shiva, so is Harmouk and the cave of Amarnath. Many mountain peaks and highlands bear the name 'Rama' in Syria, Israel and Jordon - which include the Aramaen Mountains - and these too were considered sacred.

Ramah, also called Ramot is named after the biblical city of Rama, where the Prophet Samuel lived and was brought for burial:

Now Samuel had died, and all Israel lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, and (each one lamented him) in his own city. (Samuel I, 28:3).

Related Link:
Ancient Map-of Israel - Sri Rama, Sri Krishna & Kashmir Connection

Tuesday 11 March 2014

THE 'CAMEL' IN THE OLD TESTAMENT & 'ZOROASTRIANISM' - THE SANSKRIT CONNECT

Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), Genesis 12:16

"And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels."

Reginald Stuart Poole (1832–1895) was an English Archaeologist, and Orientalist. Some of Poole's best work includes his articles for the the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica' and on Egypt, Hieroglyphics and Numismatics. He also wrote for 'Smith's Dictionary of the Bible', and published volumes dealing with his special subjects.

In 'Smith's Dictionary of the Bible', Stuart Poole traced the source of the word 'camel' and Hebrew 'gamel' to the Sanskrit 'kramela' (क्रमेल) meaning 'camel', which is derived from the word 'kram' (क्रम्), meaning 'to walk' or 'to step', which would then signify the walking animal.

The Sanskrit 'kramela' passed into Hebrew as 'gamal' which is how it appears in the Old Testament, into Arabic as 'jemel' or 'gemel', into Egyptian as 'sjamoul', and into Latin as 'camelus'. In fact even the Hebrew 'gamal' by itself may be traced to Sanskrit 'gam' (गम्), 'to go' or 'to walk'.

To link camels only to the desert and to Central Asia is common, but the fact is that 3.5 million year old camel fossils have been found right up in the Arctic. The camel has also been mentioned in the Ramayana, in the Yuddha Kanda, Chapter 73, Verse 13 and in the Aranya Kanda.

The 'Kleins Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language' traces the source of the English 'caravan', Middle French 'caravane', Old French 'carvane', Medieval Latin 'caravana', Persian 'karwan' to the Sanskrit 'karabhah' (करभ), another Sanskrit word for the 'camel'.

Even the name 'Zoroaster' has been linked to the Sanskit 'ushtra' (उष्ट्र), i.e 'camel' , the first part of the name being 'jarita' (जरित) meaning 'old' which is also the root of the English 'geriatric'. The name of Zoroaster has been translated as 'old camel' though some link his name to the Sanskrit 'harit' (हरित्) 'golden' which distorts into 'zara' in Avestan and 'usha' (उषा) 'dawn'.

Tuesday 4 March 2014

ANCIENT MAP OF ISRAEL - THE SRI KRISHNA, SRI RAMA AND KASHMIR CONNECTION

Much has been written about the possibility of Jesus Christ having spent some of the missing years of his life in India, and the similarities between his life story and that of the life of Sri Krishna, but there is much more that has been left untouched. That includes the India connection to the names of the ancient rivers and mountains and places in Israel.

First the name 'Canaan'. Canaan was an ancient land corresponding to modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel and was also known as Phoenicia. The Ancient History Encyclopedia says,"The origin of the name 'Canaan’ comes from various ancient texts (among them the Hebrew Bible) and there is no scholarly consensus on precisely where the name originated nor what it was intended to convey about the land. According to the Bible the land was named after a man called Canaan, the grandson of Noah (Genesis 10). Other theories cite `Canaan’ to have been derived from the Hurrian language where 'caanan' stands for `purple’. The Greeks knew the Canaanites as `Phoenicians’, phoenician is Greek for 'purple'. The Phoenicians worked in purple dye and so were called by the Greeks `purple people’. "This explanation is the most probable but, by no means, provable"- says the Ancient History Encyclopedia. 


But, there are other more plausible explanations supported by cultural collateral as evidence. Canaan is historically attested throughout the 4th millennium BC. The later Amarna Letters use the name 'Kinahhu', while other sources of the Egyptian New Kingdom mention numerous military campaigns conducted in a place called 'Ka-na-na'. Now all these ancient names are cognates to the name 'Kanha' (कान्हा) - the name of Sri Krishna who was also known as 'Kanan' (कानन) and 'Kishen' (किशन). 

One of the largest rivers in Israel, known as the Kishon (also called Kishen) drains into the Jezreel (also called Yizreel) valley. The name Kishon is a cognate of 'Kishen', the name of the Hindu God, Sri Krishna. which is pronounced as Kishen in many parts of India including Kashmir. The name of Krishna's mother was 'Yashodha' (यशोधा) also called 'Jashoda' (जशोधा) , close cognates of the names Yizreel and Jezreel. 


The Kishon flows in the region known as Phoenicia. In the same province are located the towns of 'Ramah' and 'Kanah'. Near the town of Ramah is 'Kadesh' also called 'Kudesh' (कुदेश), meaning 'inhospitable land' in Sanskrit, which could be a reference to the wilderness of Kadesh. However Kadesh with its generally accepted meaning of pure and holy probably derives from the Sanskrit 'Shuddha'(शुद्ध) which means pure, true, absolute or unpolluted. In fact, the Cannaanite root Q-D-S of Kadesh, is nothing but the Sanskrit 'Shuddha'. It is also quite logical to speculate that 'Ramah' and 'Kanah' get their name from Rama and Krishna.

To the East of Phoenicia lies the province of Gallile named after the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee was also known as Kinneret (as it is called in Old Testament) or Lake Gennesaret (as it is called in the Gospel of Luke). All Bible writers use the term 'sea' for 'Sea of Galilee' except the Gospel of Luke, where it is called a 'lake'.

Here is a look at the name 'Gennesaret' through the Sanskrit lens. First, a look at 'saret', the second part of the word. In Sanskrit, 'sara' (सर) means 'lake', 'sarat' (सरत्) means 'flowing', and 'sarita' (सरित्) means 'river'. The word 'ghanasara' (घनसार) means 'water' - the 'ghana' here indicating 'deep' or 'immense' amount of water. That establishes the Sanskrit connection.


The name 'Kinneret' is the more ancient name and precedes the name 'Gannesaret'. It  comes from the Hebrew word 'kinnor' meaning 'harp' - which is regarded as the 'instrument of music in heaven'. The lake is supposed to be shaped like a 'harp'. In Sanskrit too 'kinnar' (किन्नर) means 'heavenly music'. 


Also, in the Indian context the 'kinnars' were a 'heavenly race of men' and are mentioned throughout the Ramayana. The female counterpart of the 'kinnars' were the 'apsaras'. In the Ramayana the 'kinnars' are always mentioned along with the 'apsaras'. 

So if there was a 'Kinneret', was there a lake dedicated to the 'apsaras' too? The Bible does mention a lake by the name 'Asphar' in Israel. The Dead Sea itself was known as 'Ashphalites' - though the  name is today connected to 'asphalt' there is no known reason for connecting the lakes name to asphalt. 

Then there is the Susita River, also now calledby its Greek name Hippos. 'Susit' (सुसिता) means 'white' in Sanskrit.

We digress here and touch a bit upon what might
be of interest to many readers and that is the question whether Jesus Christ ever travelled to India, especially to Kashmir. There are a number of places geographically located in Israel and in areas around Srinagar in India who's names are cognates of one another, and which related to the life of Christ as well. These names indicate that the belief that Jesus lived a part of his life in India is indeed a fact. 


In a way the map of Israel, especially the area adjoining the Ganeesaret Lake, is the map of Srinagar around the Dal Lake.

If one were to take Ganne-Saret as the equivalent of the Dal Lake who's ancient name was Maha-Sarit (महा-सरित) , we find that both these names mean the same - 'a huge water body'. 


We proceed from there and find the mountain peak of Harmukh, the highest peak in the vicinity of Srinagar - and the abode of Shiva. And on the map of Israel one sees a river by the name Yarmouk - a cognate of the Harmukh. 'Yarmouk' is a tributary of River Jordon and flows through the GanneSaret Lake.

Then there is Mt. Hermon, which again is a pretty close cognate of 'Harmukh'.  Equating the two names might seem like a bit of a stretch but then we find that located at the bottom of Mt. Hermon is a lake by the name 'Ram'. There is a town called 'Ramah' in Phonecia. Then there is the town of 'Ramathiam' in the province of Judea - and yet another town by the name of 'Ramah' in Judea which is different from the one located in Phoenicia. 


In Assyria, Mt. Hermon was known as 'Sinieru' which is the Pali (a Sanskrit derived language) name for Meru. Hence, another link is established. In any case, the Biblical name of Syria was 'Aram' and the language of the Bible 'Aramiac'.


Another river that flows into the Gannesarat is the Bethasaida. Many words that begin with the sound 'V' in Sanskrit distort into 'B' in Sanskrit derived languages. If the same principle be applied in the case of 'Bethsaida', it has then definitely originated from the name 'Vetasta' (वितस्ता) - the ancient name of the river Jhelum in Srinagar that flows along the Dal Lake or MahaSarit as it was once called.

The River Jordon that feeds the Genesserat, is one of the major rivers of Israel and Jordon it is said means 'descend' in Hebrew. But in all likeliness the name stems from the Sanskrit 'jhara' (झर)  which means 'descending water' or 'waterfall'. The Sanskrit connection to the name 'Jordon' has 
been discussed in detail here and here.

There a bit more. On the northwestern shore of lake Genesseret lay the city of 'Genesar'. In Douay-Rheims Bible (Gospel of Matthew) it is stated that it was in the city of Genesar where Jesus visited and performed healing:

[34] And having passed the water, they came into the country of Genesar.
[35] And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent into all that country, and brought to him all that were diseased.
[36] And they besought him that they might touch but the hem of his garment. And as many as touched, were made whole. (Matthew 14:34-36).


Ganesar? Well that is just a distortion of the 'ghanasara' (घनसार) mentioned above. Ganesar and Ganessarat must have been derived from the same word.

Other occurrence of the name 'Canan', and therefore 'Kanha' (कान्हा) happens in the river by the name 'Cana' that flows in the Plains of Sharon just south of the Narabata River. Again 'Narabata' is  probably a distortion of the Narmada (नर्मदा) - a river of India.


....continued ..







Monday 3 March 2014

INDIAN ORIGINS OF SARDINIANS OF ITALY & A BIT ABOUT SANDALWOOD

Edward Pococke, the author of 'India in Greece' (published in 1852) traced the names of the pre-Greek civilization that inhabited what later became known as 'Greece', it's language and it's culture, to India, and to the tribes of India that emigrated west. The culture and language of pre-Greek Greece, then known as Pesasagus, was a distorted form of Sanskrit, the language carried west by the emigrating tribes, which Poccocke writes was around the time of the rise of Buddhism in India. He also says that the map of Greece is a map which reflects the names of ancient cities of Greater India.

Edward Pococke had also written a book called 'India in Italy' which was suppressed by the Vatican. Its copies today exist only in the Library of Vatican. What might Pococke have revealed about Italy and its ancient history in this book. It really is not that difficult to figure out since Pococke leaves us enough clues in 'India in Greece' - such as that tribes from India, especially the Yadhus and Meghadans, emigrated West and in their path left a trail of names of mountains, rivers and towns, that have their origins in the names of mountains, rivers and towns in India. The universal decoder of all these names is Sanskrit.

This is an attempt to decode the names of ancient towns, rivers and mountains of Italy. It lies in close proximity to Greece. In this post we begin with Sardinia and travel to other ancient names in Italy in following posts.

Sardinia is large island west of Italy and derives its name from Greek Sardo. Western sources say that - 'Sardo' was perhaps named for the local Iberian people who settled there; the original form and meaning of the name is lost.

A Punic (Phoenician) stele from 7th century B.C. sheds some light. It refers to 'Sardinia' as ' Shardan' and to a people called Sherden (also known as Serden or Shardana).

Stele of Nora, 9th century BC
refers to the Shardans

The Sherdens, like the Phoenicians were adept sailors known for their fierceness on the sea and in battle. An inscription by Rameses II on a stele from Tanis which recorded the Sherden pirates' raid, speaks of the constant threat which they posed to Egypt's Mediterranean coasts:

'The unruly Sherden whom no one had ever known how to combat, they came boldly sailing in their warships from the midst of the sea, none being able to withstand them.'

The Words 'Sharada' and 'Shard' are both Sanskrit words. 'Sharada' means 'educated or learned' and is another name of Goddess Saraswati - the goddess of wisdom. However the word that defines the Sherdens is 'shardh' (शर्ध) which means 'bold' and 'defiant'.

The 'Phonecians' were the same people that the Old Testement called Canan-ites. Edward Pococke traced the origins of the Canan-ites to the people of Kanha. Kanha (कान्हा) is another name for Sri Krishna who belonged to the  'Yadhu' tribe of India. And there is a host of evidence for this fact.

Sardinia was called Sandalion, meaning 'Sandalwood' by the ancient Greeks and the Romans. It is accepted by world etymological dictionaries that Sandalion in Greek originates from the Sanskrit 'chandan' (चन्दन). The Phonecians were known to carry gold, ivory and sandalwood from India to many parts of the world, especially to the Mediterranean countries. It is hence possible that both Sardinia and the Shardans got their name from the Sanskrit 'chadana'.

Suggested Links:

Blog Archive