The Sun King and Dasharatha - Indians in Africa thousands of years ago

May 9, 2005

Dear list members

Hare Krishna

One of my other interests is archeology

– I find discoveries of bygone years very fascinating. I found a

nice article linking Africa and India.

There is such a lot of information of how the Rajas of India conqured the rest

of the World. The problem with the internet, is that everything is presented

the American and Eurocentric Way. Its high time that we have a search

engine of Indian origin that takes the trouble of refuting silly theories like

the Aryan invasion, Greek Astrology as being oldest, that UFO’s were

around in India (Vimanas), etc

I have the pics of the Siva Linga that Swee spoke about,

archived somewhere – I will post it when I find them. Dr. Cyril

Hromnik, a South African historian, claims in his book Indo-Africa, published in 1981, that

Indians had settled in Southern Africa more

than two thousand years ago to exploit gold and other minerals. According to

him, the term " Bantu " comes from the Sanskrit word bandhu (relative) which the Indians used

for their African helpers or servants.

Regards

Bipin

Ps: There are many

Archaeo-Astronomers researching many things, maybe Swee will be our first

Archaeo-Astrologer J

http://www.sulekha.com/expressions/column.asp?cid=157864

Published on Friday, December 14, 2001

The

Sun King and Dasharatha

Prof Subhash Kak

A sad consequence of the racist

historiography of the 19th century

Indologists and their successors is the neglect of India's interaction with Africa.

Cyril Hromnik's Indo-Africa

(1981) is the only book on the Indian contribution to the history of

sub-Saharan Africa that I am aware of, but it

is just an exploratory study.

The story of India's interaction with Egypt is better

known, if only to scholars. Two important figures in this story are Dasharatha

and the Sun King -- and I don't mean the Suryavanshi king Dasharatha and his

son Rama, nor Louis IV, the French Sun King. My subjects are two historical

persons with Indic connections -- one from North Mesopotamia and the other from

Egypt.

The Sun King Akhenaten of Egypt (ruled 1352-1336 BC according to the

mainstream view) was the son-in-law to Dasharatha, the Mitanni king of North Syria,

through the queen, Kiya. (The name Dasharatha is spelled Tushratta in the

Hittite cuneiform script, which does not distinguish between 'd' and 't' very

well. Some have suggested that the Sanskrit original is Tvesharatha,

“having splendid chariots.”) Letters exchanged between Akhenaten

and Dasharatha have been found in Amarna in Egypt and other evidence comes from

the tombs of the period that have been discovered in excellent condition.

The Amarna age is now one of the

best-known and most romantic periods of ancient Egypt. Akhenaten was a

revolutionary in his religious beliefs, and many argue that his ideas mark the

beginnings of the Western monotheistic tradition. This period also saw the

fabulously beautiful Nefertiti, Akhenaton's first queen who had her own Mitanni

connection, palace intrigues, artistic triumph and great personal tragedy.

The Mitanni, who worshiped Vedic gods,

belonged to an Indic kingdom that was connected by marriage across several

generations to the Egyptian 18th dynasty to which Akhenaten belonged. The first

Mitanni

king was Sutarna I (“good sun”). He was followed by Paratarna I

(“great sun”), Parashukshatra (“ruler with axe”),

Saukshatra (“son of Sukshatra, the good ruler”), Paratarna II,

Artatama or Ritadhama (“abiding in cosmic law”), Sutarna II,

Dasharatha, and finally Mativaja (Matiwazza, “whose wealth is

prayer”) during whose lifetime the Mitanni state appears to have become a

vassal to Assyria.

The daughter of King Artatama was

married to Tuthmose IV, Akhenaten's grandfather, and the daughter of Sutarna II

(Gilukhipa) was married to his father, Amenhotep III, the great builder of

temples who ruled during 1390-1352 BC (“khipa” of these names is the

Sanskrit “kshipa,” night). In his old age, Amenhotep wrote to

Dasharatha many times wishing to marry his daughter, Tadukhipa. It appears that

by the time she arrived Amenhotep III was dead. Tadukhipa married the new king

Akhenaten and she became famous as the queen Kiya (short for Khipa).

The Egyptian kings had other wives as

well. Akhenaten's mother, Tiye, was the daughter of Yuya, who was a Mitanni married

to a Nubian. It appears that Nefertiti was the daughter of Tiye's brother Ay,

who was to become king himself. The 18th dynasty had a liberal dose of Indic

blood.

But how could an Indic kingdom be so

far from India, near Egypt? After

catastrophic earthquakes dried up the Sarasvati river around 1900 BC, many

groups of Indic people started moving West. We see Kassites, a somewhat shadowy

aristocracy with Indic names and worshiping Surya and the Maruts, in Western Iran about 1800 BC. They captured power in Babylon in 1600 BC, which

they were to rule for over 500 years.

The Mitanni

ruled northern Mesopotamia (including Syria) for about 300 years,

starting 1600 BC, out of their capital of Vasukhani. (For Mitanni names,

I give standard Sanskrit spellings rather than the form that we find in

inscriptions in the inadequate cuneiform script, such as Wassukkani for

Vasukhani, “a mine of wealth.”) Their warriors were called marya, which is the proper Sanskrit term

for it.

In a treaty between the Hittites and

the Mitanni,

Indic deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya (Ashvins) are invoked. A text

by a Mitannian named Kikkuli uses words such as aika (eka, one), tera (tri,

three), panza (pancha, five), satta (sapta, seven), na (nava, nine), vartana

(vartana, round). Another text has babru (babhru, brown), parita (palita,

grey), and pinkara (pingala, red). Their chief festival was the celebration of vishuva (solstice) very much like in 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.

Akhenaten (“glory of the

Aten”) ascended the throne as Amenhotep (“Amun is content”)

IV but he changed his name to honour Aten (“One god” represented as

the solar disk) in his sixth year of rule. He moved his capital from Thebes to Akhetaten

(“Horizon of Aten”), now known as Amarna, where palaces and buildings

were built from mud brick, and in which he built a splendid temple to Aten

filled with religious art.

After his father's death, he built

temples on the perimeter of the famous Temple

of Amun at Karnak

and dedicated them to Aten, rather than Amun (“the Hidden One,” the

principal deity at the time, also known as Amen). He erased the names of other

gods, particularly Amun, and he also erased his father's name wherever he found

it.

Some argue that Akhenaten introduced

monotheism by the banishment of all deities excepting his chosen one. He has

been seen as a precursor to the Old Testament prophets, and thus to the

Abrahamic religions, but he must have been influenced by the belief in 'One

Truth' behind appearances of the Vedic system through the three generations of

queens in his family from the Mitannis.

If the Vedic element was important,

as is perhaps reflected in the mysticism of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the

cult of the dead and resurrection remained the most important element of the

Egyptian religion. This cult continues to form the cornerstone of the three

Abrahamic faiths.

Akhenaten was succeeded by

Smenkhkara, believed by some to be Nefertiti herself, and soon afterwards by

Tutankhaten, Akhenaten's son by Tadukhipa (Kiya) under the regentship of Ay.

Akhenaten was a fanatic and the country had suffered a great deal during his

reign. The nobles now reversed course. Tutankhaten changed his name to

Tutankhamen (to invoke Amun), but before he could consolidate power he was dead

at the age of sixteen after a rule of just nine years. His tomb was discovered

intact in 1922, and now he is widely known as the Boy-King.

Tutankhamen was followed by Ay,

Nefertiti's father, who ruled for four years. He, in turn, was followed by the

general Horemheb, who now erased all records of Akhenaten, and his successors.

The new city

was abandoned, and worship of the Amun was reestablished. Akhenaten disappeared

from Egyptian history, and he was referred to as “that heretic” or

“rebel,” until the reconstruction of history in modern times. Yet,

his idea of a jealous god lived on, and prospered.

Here's an extract from a letter by

Dasharatha to Amenhotep III, Akhenaten's father: “My father loved you,

and you loved my father still more. And my father, because of his love, has

given my sister to you... Behold, one chariot, two horses, one male servant,

out of the booty from the land

of Hatti I have sent you.

And as a gift for my brother, five chariots and five teams of horses I have

sent you. And as a gift for Gilukhipa, my sister, one set of gold pins, one set

of gold earrings, one gold idol, and one container of sweet oil I have sent

her.”

Another letter accompanies the image

of goddess of Shaushkha of Nineveh (Ishtar), Dasharatha's Ishta-devi, sent to Amenhotep III to restore

him to health during illness. Ishtar is Venus, and the Vena hymn of the Rigveda

(10.123) anticipates her Mesopotamian mythology.

A message of greetings from

Dasharatha to Akhenaten sounds very modern: “To Napkhuria (Akhenaten),

king of Egypt, my brother,

my son-in-law, who loves me and whom I love, thus speaks Dasharatha, king of Mitanni, your

father-in-law who loves you, your brother. I am well. May you be well too. Your

houses, Tiye, your mother, Lady of Egypt, Tadukhipa, my daughter, your wife, your

other wives, your sons, your noblemen, your chariots, your horses, your

soldiers, your country and everything belonging to you, may they all enjoy

excellent health.”

The Vedic presence via the Mitanni in Egypt

and the Near East occurs several centuries

before the exodus of the Jews. This presence is sure to have left its mark in

various customs, traditions, and beliefs. It may be that this encounter

explains uncanny similarities in mythology and ritual, such as circumambulation

around a rock or the use of a rosary of 108 beads. These practices are easily

understandable within the Vedic system, whereas they are remembered as

commandments to be believed without understanding in the Western faiths.

Here's a partial translation of the Great Hymn to the Aten, attributed to

Akhenaten, from the Amarna tomb of Ay:

Your dawning is beautiful in the

horizon of heaven,

O living Aten, creator of life!

When you set in the western horizon,

Earth falls into a deathly darkness.

People sleep in chambers, heads covered,

oblivious of the others,

that their possessions in their head are stolen.

Every lion comes forth from its den,

the serpents sting.

Darkness reigns, earth is silent,

as their maker rests in heavens.

Earth brightens when you rise in the

horizon,

when you shine as Aten of daytime.

As you cast your rays,

the Two Lands are in festivity.

Awake, the people are on their feet.

Cleansed and clothed,

their arms adore your appearance.

The entire land sets out to work,

The beasts browse on their herbs,

trees and plants flourish.

The birds fly from their nests,

their wings greeting you,

as the sheep frisk on their feet,

and the winged things fly.

All live when you dawn for them.

Boats travel north and south,

and roads lie open when you dawn.

The fish in the river leap up before you,

your rays are in the midst of the sea.

You are the one who makes the seed in

men,

who feeds the son in the mother's womb,

who soothes him that he may not weep,

a nurse even in the womb.

You give him breath when he is born,

you open his mouth in speech.

When the chick in the egg cries in

the shell,

you give him breath to sustain him.

You have perfected him

to break out from the egg,

chirp and run around on his two feet.

Your works are manifold,

though hidden from sight,

O One God, beside whom there is no other.

You created the world as you wished,

you alone --

all people, herds, flying creatures,

reckoning of their days.

You make the heavens

to see your creation.

You make the beauty of form,

through yourself, alone.

You are in my heart,

there is no other who knows you.

Save your son, Akhenaten.

You have taught him your ways,

your might.

The world is in your hand,

you are duration,

beyond mere limbs.

Man lives by you,

and eyes look upon your beauty.

You established this world

for your Son,

who came from your body,

the King, the Lord of the Two Lands.

This hymn is often compared to the Psalm

104 of the Old Testament. The Rigvedic hymns 1.50, 4.13, 10.37 to Surya provide

fascinating counterpoint and parallels.

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May 9, 2005

Jaya Jagannatha

Dear Bipin,

Hare Krishna

Bharata was ONE before it split into the different continents. If you read

in the Puranas, there are many aspects of Bharati, who is Krishna’s

shakti. Krishna means Black

and humanoids came from Africa isn’t it?

Heard of Mesopotamia J

Love,

Swee

On Behalf Of Bipin Prag

Monday, May 09, 2005 3:17 PM

[Jaya Jagannatha] The Sun

King and Dasharatha - Indians in Africa

thousands of years ago

Dear list members

Hare Krishna

One of my other interests is archeology

– I find discoveries of bygone years very fascinating. I found a

nice article linking Africa and India.

There is such a lot of information of how the Rajas of India conqured the rest

of the World. The problem with the internet, is that everything is presented

the American and Eurocentric Way. Its high time that we have a search

engine of Indian origin that takes the trouble of refuting silly theories like

the Aryan invasion, Greek Astrology as being oldest, that UFO’s were

around in India (Vimanas), etc

I have the pics of the Siva Linga that Swee spoke about,

archived somewhere – I will post it when I find them. Dr. Cyril

Hromnik, a South African historian, claims in his book Indo-Africa, published in 1981, that

Indians had settled in Southern Africa more

than two thousand years ago to exploit gold and other minerals. According to

him, the term " Bantu " comes from the Sanskrit word bandhu (relative) which the Indians used

for their African helpers or servants.

Regards

Bipin

Ps: There are many

Archaeo-Astronomers researching many things, maybe Swee will be our first

Archaeo-Astrologer J

http://www.sulekha.com/expressions/column.asp?cid=157864

Published on Friday, December 14, 2001

The

Sun King and Dasharatha

Prof Subhash Kak

A sad consequence of the racist

historiography of the 19th century Indologists and their successors is the

neglect of India's

interaction with Africa. Cyril Hromnik's Indo-Africa (1981) is the only book on the

Indian contribution to the history of sub-Saharan Africa

that I am aware of, but it is just an exploratory study.

The story of India's interaction with Egypt is better known, if only to

scholars. Two important figures in this story are Dasharatha and the Sun King

-- and I don't mean the Suryavanshi king Dasharatha and his son Rama, nor Louis

IV, the French Sun King. My subjects are two historical persons with Indic

connections -- one from North Mesopotamia and the other from Egypt.