CHINAR SHADE : SANSKRIT AND ANCIENT VEDIC CULTURE IN RUSSIA

( VISHNU from the Trinity of Brahma Vishnu and Mahesha )

SANSKRIT AND ANCIENT VEDIC CULTURE IN RUSSIA

“Do all human beings have a close universal origin? Who were the original Vedic Aryans. How Vedic society was a global influence and what shattered this once world-wide society. The Vedic influence and proof of its ancient existence has been found in such countries as Britain, France, Russia, Greece, China, Japan, Egypt, and in areas of Scandinavia. Further there are strong links between the Vedic and other ancient cultures, such as the Sumerians, Persians, Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, etc.All the major religions of the world were influenced by the Vedic tradition and still contain many Vedic elements within them.”

( Source ” Proof of Vedic Culture's Global Existence” by Stephen Knapp)

“The Vedas has a two fold interest, it belongs to the history of the world and to the history of India. In the history of the world the Vedas fills a gap which no literary work in any language could fill.”

(Max Muller)

RIGVEDA refers to a country named RUS ? Is it present day RUSSIA ?

In 2007, Dr Alexander Kozhevin from Archeology Department of Ulyanovsk State University found An ancient Vishnu idol during excavation in an old village in Russia's Volga region, raising questions about the prevalent view on the origin of ancient Russia. The idol found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to 7th to 10th century AD. Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovsk region was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so far believed to be the mother of all Russian cities. Prior to unearthing of the Vishnu idol, Dr Kozhevin has already found ancient coins, pendants, rings and fragments of weapons in this region. Dr Kozhevin, who has been conducting excavation in Staraya Maina , said that every single square metre of the surroundings of the ancient town situated on the banks of Samara, a tributary of Volga, is studded with antiques.

( Photograph of the Ancient vishnu Idol discovered in Volga region of Russia )

Adds Dr Alexander Kozhevin ,

“ We may consider it incredible, but we have ground to assert that Middle-Volga region was the original land of Ancient Rus. This is a hypothesis, but a hypothesis, which requires thorough research,"

According to Dr. Acharya Somuchidononanda Pandey an Indian Sanskrit scholar ,

“ In the Rig Veda, there is a passage that goes, Itham ascati pasyat syantham, ekam starayath mainaa-kaalam. This translates into Staraya Maina is the name of the land of the 45 rivers (on whose banks the noble Rishis conducted the famous Horse Sacrifices), where the sun god descends into one fifty two forty seven. While the first line identifies a location, the second line talks about the exact latitude and longitude at which the solar spectrum produces interference lines at one, fifty two, and forty seven. The discovery of the idol confirms the location in Russia, identified in the Rig Veda as rus soviath sapthamahanagaratham (the ancient and holy land of the 722 flying vehicles). The ancient connections between the Russians and the Indians has been unequivocally confirmed. In Russian orthodox Christianity, worship is conducted very much like in Vishnu temples. The Russians refer to the feast of Vizhnyir Ekoratsya Vikhunh, directly corresponding with Vaikhunda Ekhadasi. The Russian language also owes a lot to Sanskrit, whose origins 50,000 years ago roughly correspond with the language of the people of the Smritzyi archaeological site, along the banks of the now-dried up Vernstokhlin (Varnasatyakhalini) river system.”

We already know that Slavic rituals and Slavic names for their gods bear close proximity to Ancient Vedic sources . And then in 2007 , an ancient Vishnu Idol was found in Volga region that led further credence to the thought that ancient Vedic society extended to Russia as well. And an abundance of interesting place names (toponyms) Sanskrit origin in Russia. For example, the river Ganga and Padma in the Arkhangelsk region, Moksha and Kama in Mordovia. Tributaries of the Kama are Krishneva and Hareva. Indra — the lake in the Yekaterinburg region. Maya — the city near Yakutsk, etc.

Adds Professor Alexander Vasilyavich Medvedev, chairman of the religious affairs committee of the Urals region.

“The problem amongst our leaders may not be so much in having to accept your movement, but to accept that the Vedic culture could have very well been the original culture here in Russia.You know in Russia practically all the scientists accept that the Vedic culture once flourished here, the center being in the Volga river region.. The debate among our scientists is only if the Aryans came from India or they originated here.”

And is Vedi sanskrit the mother of present day Russian language ?

Noted Scholar Dr Shashi Shekhar Toshkhani adds ,

“ I am happy to find you referring to the incredible lexical energy of Sanskrit . It is not just Russian or Polish, words derived from Sanskrit are present in the vocabularies of all European languages, starting with classical Latin and Greek. The Slav languages are replete with words taken from Sanskrit. As we know,the discovery of lexical similarities between Sanskrit and European languages in the 19 th century had thrilled European linguists, as in it, they found "milennial roots" of their linguistic culture. According to Dr. Lokesh Chandra, one of the most eminent scholars of Indian culture, "Sanskrit words in the European languages are millennial roots that reach down into the endless soil of time." It is not only the adoption of the basic vocabulary, he says, "Sanskrit verbal roots, prefixes and suffixes, as well as the generative system,became the building blocks of European languages." It is because of the "Westward push" of the Sanskrit speaking Indic people, and not the assumed "push to the East" of the Aryans that Sanskrit became the "substantive base of the Indo-European languages", Dr. Lokesh Chandra says, giving overwhelming evidence to substantiate his views in this regard.”

( Photograph from a page of Noted Hindi writer Bhisham sahni's book " TODAY's PASTS A MEMOIR ". Sh Sahni adds that there are many words in sanskrit and in Russian that appear common , especially those words that are in religious contexts. In this book , He also adds that Mrs Kamla Ratnam ,wife of the then Cultural ambassador of the Indian embassy at Moscow had compiled a Book on the subject and uncovered hundreds of common words in sanskrit and Russian )

Some more words that are common in sanskrit and Russian

Russian	Sanskrit	English
Krov	Kravya	Blood
Okhotnik	Akhetika	Hunter
svoi	Sva	One’s own
Tebya	Tva	Thou
Nosorog	Narsingha	Rhinoceros

Dr W R Rishi (1917-2002) eminent scholar and linguist worked as Translator in Indian Embassy Moscow for some time.. He wrote several books on affinity and closeness between Sanskrit and Russian language. In his scholarly book "India & Russia – Linguistic & Cultural Affinity" he writes ,

“In the sphere of vocabulary, there is such a large number of words which are common to these two languages that it has not been possible to mention all of them in this chapter. Only a list of basic words common to both these two languages has been given. Moreover, as explained in the succeeding paragraphs of this chapter many of the grammatical rules are common to both these languages and the number of words common to these two languages formed after the application of such common grammar rules could be further multiplied.”

(A Photograph of stone inscription in Baku. Special Thanks to Austria Based Artist Kapil Koul for the above photograph.)

Adds Kapil Koul
" I found this image in a book about Azerbaijan: inscribed stone (in Devnagri script/ Sanskrit) in the wall of the forte in Baku, 12 th Century."And according to Dr Shashi Shekhar Toshkhani
"The Azerbajan inscription referred to by Kapil Kaul Ji is regarding the Jwala Ji (Goddess of fire ) temple in Baku."
Furhter one can see Swastika engraved on the stone . oldest swastika is reported to have been found in stone engravings in Ukarine .it is surely a Vedic symbol representing what is known as PURASHAARTHHAA or combination of Dharma (natural order), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire), and Moksha (liberation.) )

Journey of a religion or culture , quite often, means the journey of a language . We must understand and try to find out which religion or culture traveled where along with the language. So many factors are responsible for journey of a language.

( Autar Mota )

PS

In his Book "Arctic home of Vedas" , Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920), believed that the climate of North pole must have been friendlier in ancient times as has also been mentioned in some ancient scriptures mailny Vedas and Zoroastrian Avesta. He also brings in some geological, astronomical and archaeological witness to support his theory . And according to him, when the climatic conditions changed , the Aryans moved southward into present-day Europe, Iran and India. Although this theory has never gained widespread reception among mainstream scholars since it was first published in 1903 yet Tilak has made a undeniable case which is not easily refutable.Some western Historians also believe that Arctic to be the primordial cradle of the Aryan race.

There is another Book Titled ANCIENT INDIA 2000 BC to 800 AD ( Published in 1904 by LONGMAN LONDON ) that deals with this theory .According to this the book” A section of Aryans apparently got disgusted about “animal sacrifices and the use of the fermented Soma wine”, struck their tents and led off their cattle to Iran to found the Avestic tradition.”

Another book “The Origin of the Aryans “ by Isaac Taylor. Isaac Taylor (1829–1901) provides a comprehensive summary of the problematical issue of the origins of the Indo-European peoples. Taylor’s book was the first major English-language work to reject the Ex oriente lux theory of Indo-European origins in favor of a birthplace in southern Russia. He points out that language alone cannot be a final indicator of racial origins.Using a thorough evaluation of cranial, archaeological and cultural evidence, he presents his conclusion.