by Stephen Knapp
As we investigate the region and countries of the Middle East, we find much evidence that shows the early influence of Vedic culture. Much of this influence still remains today. This justifies the fact that such influence would not be there if this region had not been at one time a part of the global Vedic Aryan culture and had been administered by Vedic rulers
The Hittites were known to have worshipped a god called Inar. Most undoubtedly the Vedic Indira, which the Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (p.85) mentions as a god who had come from India with the Indo-European Hittites. There is also a book that has been found in Anatolia on horse training that contains technical terms in perfect Sanskrit. Thus, the Hittites were certainly part of Vedic culture and a migratory wave out of the Indian region. This could have been due to lack of water in the area as the desert expanded.e out of the Vedic Aryan civilization. We can also recognize how the Vedic influence extended over a vast area and travel west into Europe and other regions and affected these countries in greater or lesser degrees.
Ancient India no doubt covered a much larger area of land than it does today and spread much farther to the north and west. At least there are historical indications showing that the Aryan influence was felt over long distances. The Vedic gods, for example, were known over a wide area. V.Gordon Childe, in his book The Aryans, states that evidence makes it clear that the Aryans had been established in centers on the upper Euphrates in 1400 BCE. These centers were similar to the cities of the Indus Valley and Later in Media and Persia. In fact, Hugo Winckler, in 1907, identified the names of four Vedic gods (Indra, Varuna, Mitra and the Nasatya twins) along with ten Babylonian and four Mitannian gods that were invoked as witnesses to a treaty signed in 1360 BCE between the kings of Mitanni and the Hittites. There are also tablets at Tell-el-Amarna that mention Aryan prices in Syria and Palestines. But these Aryans were not necessarily permanent residents of the area but dynasts who ruled over the non-Aryan subjects of that region. This would explain why some scholars such as Jacobi, Pargiter, and Konow accept the deities of the Mittani in the Upper Euphrates in Syria and Palestine as being Indian, introduced to the area through a Sanskrit speaking people who came from the Punjab. Furthermore, L.A.Waddell claims that the first Aryan kings can be traced back to at least 3380 BCE. They had a capital north of the Euphrates near the Black Sea in Cappadocia in 3378 BCE, and these Hittite kings of Cappadocia bore Aryan names. This means that the Aryans had to have been very well settled in the area during this time.
The Hittites
In speaking of the Hittites, they are said to have invaded the area of Cappadocia near 1950 BCE,. However, as the above evidence shows, they may have been there much earlier. The Hittites are mentioned in Egyptian and other records of the area, as well as in the Old Testament. Documents from Boghaz-Koi, Turkey, translated in 1917, showed they did speak ancient, but unknown, Indo-European language. This no doubt had to have been related or derived from Sanskrit. The dialect they spoke include Luwian, Palaic, Lycian, and others. The Hittites people were called the Khatti in the oldest documents. This could possibly be derived from the Sanskrit words Kshatriya or the Pali Khattiyo, as pointed out by D.D.Kosambi in The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India, (p.77).
The Hittites were known to have worshipped a god called Inar. Most undoubtedly the Vedic Indira, which the Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology (p.85) mentions as a god who had come from India with the Indo-European Hittites. There is also a book that has been found in Anatolia on horse training that contains technical terms in perfect Sanskrit. Thus, the Hittites were certainly part of Vedic culture and a migratory wave out of the Indian region. This could have been due to lack of water in the area as the desert expanded.
The Mittani
The Mittani were also eastern people forced to move farther west away from their Indian homeland. They appeared as ruling tribes of Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine near 1400 BCE. This is another example of people in far North India who had to leave the region due to a lack of water and resources due to the growing desert. Though they took up the local language and culture of the region, they still left clay tablets at El Amarna in the 15th century BCE that recorded the names of the Mitanni kings of Syria, namely Artatama, Artamanya, Saussatar, Sutarna, Subandu, Dusratta, Suwardata, and Yasdata. Later on, the treaties between the Hittite king Shubbiluliuma and the Mitanni king Mattiuza are shown to invoke the Mittani gods Mitra (Vedic Mitra), Indaru (Indra), Uruwna (Varuna), and Nashattiya (the Nasatyas). Herein we can see that the Mittani gods had names similar to the Vedic gods. The Mitanni people were also called the Maryanni. Childe, in his The Aryans (p.19), compares this name to the Sanskrit word marya, meaning young men or heroes. This word used in the Rig Veda (3.54.13 & 5.59.6). Thus, it is likely that the Mitanni could hardly be anything but part of the Vedic culture and from India. However, as they moved from their native land, they shed their culture. The Mitanni people were a group from the Vedic Purus.
The Mittani were also eastern people forced to move farther west away from their Indian homeland. They appeared as ruling tribes of Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine near 1400 BCE. This is another example of people in far North India who had to leave the region due to a lack of water and resources due to the growing desert. Though they took up the local language and culture of the region, they still left clay tablets at El Amarna in the 15th century BCE that recorded the names of the Mitanni kings of Syria, namely Artatama, Artamanya, Saussatar, Sutarna, Subandu, Dusratta, Suwardata, and Yasdata. Later on, the treaties between the Hittite king Shubbiluliuma and the Mitanni king Mattiuza are shown to invoke the Mittani gods Mitra (Vedic Mitra), Indaru (Indra), Uruwna (Varuna), and Nashattiya (the Nasatyas). Herein we can see that the Mittani gods had names similar to the Vedic gods. The Mitanni people were also called the Maryanni. Childe, in his The Aryans (p.19), compares this name to the Sanskrit word marya, meaning young men or heroes. This word used in the Rig Veda (3.54.13 & 5.59.6). Thus, it is likely that the Mitanni could hardly be anything but part of the Vedic culture and from India. However, as they moved from their native land, they shed their culture. The Mitanni people were a group from the Vedic Purus.
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