Download as doc, pdf, or txt
Download as doc, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 3

MITTANIS-THE VEDIC ARYANS FROM INDIA In a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni as per clay tablet

excavated near TurkeySyria border which belonged to 1700BC, Indic deities Mitra, Varun. a, Indra, and Nasatya (Asvins) are invoked. A text by a Mitannian named Kikkuli uses words such as aika (eka, one), tera (tri, three), panza (panca, ve), satta (sapta, seven), na (nava, nine), vartana (vartana, round). Another text has babru (babhru, brown), parita (palita, grey), and pinkara (pi _ ngala, red). Their chief festival was the celebration of visuva (solstice) very much like in India(As per clay tablet details).( If they are from India,how they celebrate the festival peculiar to India).

It is not only the kings who had Sanskrit names; a large number of other Sanskrit names have been unearthed in the records from the area. But is this language Indo-Iranian, Iranian or Indo-Aryan or to rephrase: did the Mittanis speak the PIE branch of India.? That matter was settled in 1960 by Paul Thime There are several reasons, but to be brief, I shall only give three: 1. the deities Indra,Mitra, Varun.a, and Nasatya are Indian deities and not Iranian ones, because in Iran Varun.a is unknown and Indra and Nasatya appear as demons; 2. the name Vasukhani makes sense in Sanskrit as a "mine of wealth" whereas in Iranian it means "good mine" which is much less likely; 3. satta, or sapta, for seven, rather than the Iranian word hapta, where the initial `s' has been changed to `h' In fact there are many arguments in support of. Archaeologists have not found Central Asian, Eastern European or Caucasian culture in the Mittani kingdom. At the time same time they found the peacock motif -- something which could have come from India. Based on this Burchard Brentjes argued that Indo-Aryans were settled in the Near East much before 1600 B.C.E.With all the trading relations between various parts of India and the Near East, dating as far back as 4000 BCE with the find of cotton in Dhuwelia and carnelian bead in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BCE, the migration of Indo-Aryans from ancient India is not a fantasy tale.

Sanskrit Names in West Asia Over fifty years ago, Roger T. O'Callaghan and W.F. Albright published in Analecta Orientalia of Rome a list of 81 names (13 from the Mitanni, 23 from the Nuzi, and 45 from the Syrian documents) with Indic etymologies. Out of this list, Dumont provided the etymology of 45 names in the much more readily available Journal of the American Oriental Society of 1947.18 A few of these names with the Sanskrit cognates in parentheses are: Abirata (Abhirata, pleased, contented) Aitagama (Etagama, with the gait of an antelope) Aitara (the son of Itara) Artamanyu (R. tamanyu, revering the divine Law) Ardzawya (Arjavya, straight, honest) Brasena (Vrasena, possessing an army of heroes) Biridaswa (Br.hadasva, possessing great horse) Bardaswa (Varddhasva, the son of Vr.ddhasva)

Bayawa (Vayava, the son of Vayu) Bryasura (Vryasura, the hero of valour) Bryawadza (Vryavaja, owning the prize of valour) Bryasauma (Vryasoma, the moon-god of valour) Brya (Vrya, valour) Indarota (Indrota, upheld by Indra) Kalmasura (Karmasura, the hero of action) Purdaya (Purudaya, giving much) Rucmanya (Rucimanya, revering light) Satuara (Satvara, swift) Saimasura (Ks.emasura, the hero of security) Subandu (Subandhu, being good kinsmen) Sumala (having beautiful garlands) Sumda (Sumd. ha, bountiful) Swardata (Svardata, given by heaven) Tsitriyara (Citrya-rai, having distinguished property) Urudti (Urudti, having wide splendour) Warasama (Varasama, equal to the best) Wasasatta (Vasasapta, possessing seven dwellings) Wasdata (Vasudata, given by the Vasus) Yamiuta (Yamyuta, favoured by Yamin) Analyzing the names, Dumont concludes that the names are clearly Indic and not Iranian. The initial s is maintained and the group sv is represented by the similar sounding sw and not the Avestan aspo. Also, most of the names are bahuvrhi or tatpurusa compounds. Considering the language, it is clearly an Indic dialect because the initial v is replaced by b, while medial v becomes the semivowel w. Like Middle Indic (Prakrit) dialects, the medial pt transforms into tt, as in sapta becoming satta. Dumont stresses its relationship to Sanskrit in the characteristic patronymic names with the vr.ddhi-strengthening of the rst syllable, like in Saumati (the son of Sumati) or Sausapti (the son of Susapti). The worship of the Vedic gods like Indra, Vayu, Svar, Soma, R.ta, Vasus has already been noted. The fact the the Mitanni names suggest a Middle Indic dialect is supportive of the thesis that the emigration of the various groups from India took place after the early Vedic period had come to an end. The drying out mother like Saraswathi river started huge migration of Aryans in all direction.One group migrated towards West and many groups migrated down south to reach gangetic plain. See,how those Mittanis migration very much tally with the drying of Saraswathi river.Mittanis appeared in 1700BC in Syria Turkey border,which took around 200 years to reach that place as they are moving as a settlement. Above from the above, their middle indic dialects also confirms their origin in India.

Mittanis were very close to Egyptian Pharaohs and they gave their daughters to them. The Amarna clay tablet letter details written by Mittani kings to their son-in-law i.e., Egyptian Pharaohs which are excavated Al-amarna in Egypt, throw many fascinating details.

Shuttarna was a descendant and son of Mittanian king Artatma I. He was an ally of Egyptian Pharaoh and Amenhotep III The diplomatic dealing among them recorded in Amarna clay tablets. Mittani Shattarna daughter Kilu-Hepa or Gilukhepa was given to Amenhoep III Mittani king in the Amarna clay tablet refers on 7th request by the Pharaoh only, he decided to give his daughter to the Pharaoh. Initially,Mittani king not willing to give his daughter to Pharaoh as he might had believed that Pharaohs culture was not acceptable to him. But,Hittites enmity forced him.Still,if those Indo-Aryan kings gave their daughter to Pharaohs means,definitely,those pharohs origin was related to them in some way.Else,those Kshatriya or warrior caste kings, kills their daughter by their own hand, instead of giving to Pharaohs. This also indirectly confirms the link of ancient Egyptian Pharaohs to ancient India.

You might also like