While looking for some information on a place called
Sakala, I chanced upon some Tamil names and olden Tamil practices in Ancient
Estonia and in Sami people. Whatever I am going to write here from what I
noticed, may only be peripheral and it needs deeper study to establish them as
true.
“Sakala” is an old country that finds mention in
Mahabharata. It was in the region of Aratta and could be reached from the
Indian side after crossing rivers Sutlej and Ravi. But there was another “Sakala
country” further north. Ancient Estonia was known as Sakala.
At the outset
one may think that Sakala is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘whole’, ‘all’, ‘complete’
etc. But when looked at the names connected with this country, most of them
sounded Tamil!
(Source:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Estonia
)
In the above map of Ancient Estonia of the 13th
century, the name Vaiga is similar to river Vaigai in Tamilnadu. It is an
ancient name in Tamil. Likewise Virumaa, Pudiviru, Mohu (Mohur is a place in
Tamilnadu), Ugandi (ugappu or Ugandu is a Tamil word for happiness) and Sakala
are familiar in Tamil.
This region had Kunda culture in very
ancient times dating to 8500 – 5000 BC. Kunda is a word for pot both in Tamil
and Sanskrit.
There was a Pulli settlement
dated to around 11000 years ago. Pulli in Tamil means petal or the outer whorl
of the flower. There is reference to Pullinam in Sangam texts. Pullinam refers
to sheep variety in Tamil. A Tamil Sangam age verse makes a distinction between
Pullinam and Nallinam referring to sheep and cattle respectively.
Pullis were settled on the banks of Parnu river – sounding like Parna meaning leaf in
Tamil and Sanskrit. Pulli and Parna are parts of a plant in Tamil. Taking Pullinam
as sheep, they too are connected with parna as they subsist on leaves.
Most Pulli regions end with ‘Maa’ in their name. There is a ‘Sindi’ also in this map!
‘Maa’ has many meanings in Tamil such as animal,
elephant, bee, mango tree, Goddess of prosperity (Lakshmi), wealth, unit of
measurement applicable to measuring land, pride, strength, beauty, black,
colour, mother and powdered cereal (flour).
Looking at so many “Maa’s in this map, I wonder
whether ‘Maa’ was used to denote some unit of measurement.
Maa also means flour in Tamil. The traditional food
of Estonians is a Maa – flour of barley, rye, oat and pea. It was called as Kama
A bowl of Kama.
Kaama is a word in Sanskrit too which means love,
desire etc. But in the context of a food, and flour in particular, the Tamil
word Maa fits in well.
The names of places where archaeological excavations were done also sound as Tamil.
To name a few taken from this website
Names in Estonia - Similar ones in Tamil with
meaning in bracket.
Akali - akal (to move away)
Kroodi - Koodi ? (together)
Kullamäe- Kullam (short)
Kääpa - kaappu (protection)
Narva Joaoru - naravu (toddy, milk)
Riigiküla - kulam (lineage)
Siimusaare - siimam (boundary)
Tamula - Tamil?? (Tamila)
Pulli - Pulli (petal, dot)
Valma - valimai (strength)
Villa - vil (arrow)
The
archealogical finds from Estonia also has surprising connections with Tamil.
The following artefacts were recovered from Kumna near Kella.
Kumna sounds like Tamil Kumana and Kella like kalla
or kola. Kolla in Tamil is one who is engaged in smithy works.
The figure titled as 1 is a popular design called ‘Kolam’ and drawn with flour on the floor or ground in
Tamilnadu. A complicated design of it is called Srivatsa, which is found in
Indus symbols. But ask any rural Tamil woman, she would recognise it as ‘Kolam’
design that is drawn as a mark of sacredness on all days in front of the house,
inside the house and in temples.
The above is Srivatsa.
The pictures below show Tamil woman making huge
designs of Kolam on the streets.
The image in the picture of artefacts numbered 2 is
the basic design of ‘Kolam’ made on festival days.
It is developed further as seen in the picture
below.
The Mari religion of
this region has a symbol that looks very much like a ‘Kolam’
The people of Sami religion or Sami
people lived in a place called “Kola” peninsula!
Kola Peninsula also has its bag of surprises for us
in their names. It has a lake called “Imandra”
(Indra?), has a river called ‘Niva’ and a Gulf
called ‘Kandalaksha’. Kanda in Kandalaksha is Tamil word for Skanda.
Mavalla
Koda is a religious organisation of Estonian natives. This name also sounds
like corrupt form of Tamil. Even the very name Estonia is how Tamil words adopt
‘e’ before words starting with ‘s’.
Of all these, Sami people have many common features
with Tamil.
First of all ‘Sami’ is Tamil word for God.
Sami people worship stone which resembles ‘linga’.
The above is Siedi, worshiped by Sami people.
These stones are picked up from nature (not carved)
and consecrated on a higher level. Twigs and leaves are strewn on them as how
Hindus do ‘archana’ with flowers on idols.
The names of female deities of Sami religion end
with ‘akka’. Akka
is a Tamil word for elder sister.
Maderakka was the first
Akka and it refers to Mother of the tribe. Maata is mother in Tamil and in
Sanskrit as well and Maderakka sounds like Tamil word for Mother figure called
as Akka.
The three goddesses Sarakka,
Juksakka and Uksakka sound similar to three female goddesses namely
Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Uma.
Shamanism is another feature that is common between early
Tamils and Sami people. The use of drums and connect with ‘spirits’ is
something extensively found in Tamil Sangam literature and which even continue
today in rural Tamilnadu.
The belief in after life and ancestor worship is yet
another common feature with Sami people. I came across a name ‘Maravah’ in one of the articles on these topics.
Marava is the name of a people engaged in war and protection.
As if to crown all these is the name Sakala. Sakala was the olden name for Estonia, in
Northern Europe. One may think that this is a Sanskrit word. But the location of
Estonia makes me think that it refers to ‘Sakala’ or ‘Sakalai’, a Tamil word
that refers to the husband of wife’s sister. And this location comes within the
area from where Skanda’s wife came.
Skanda, also known as Muruga was a popular God of
not only Tamils but many across India from very olden times. Even Rama was
known to have worshiped him as known from the verse in Valmiki Ramayana (2-25-11
) which says that his mother Kausalya told him that Lord Skanda would guard him
on his way in exile. She mentioned Skanda’s name as the first one among the
other names.
Skanda was not a myth but a real person who lived in very ancient
Tamil lands which can be located near west or north Australia which are now
under water. His name is synonymous with warrior-ship. Anyone engaged in deep contemplation
of his prowess is bound to become capable of trouncing his enemies. (This
contemplation is the basis of prayers for Gods in Hinduism).
Skanda’s wife was from some northern lands of the
globe, known as Indra’s land or Deva’s land. In general terms, the northern
hemisphere was known to belong to Devas and the southern hemisphere to Asuras. The
sages, the narrators of information such as this, have always added some
mythical and extraordinary elements so that they would last in memory and are
passed on from generation to generation for a very long time. It is up to us to
remove the mythical elements and derive the information contained within. As
such we cannot deny the geographic connection to a land called Deva land or
Indra loka on earth.
The fathers of each of the 5 Pandavas of Mahabharata
were someone from outside Bharata varsha. Of them Arjuna was fathered by Indra himself.
There are many references to a land of Indra with their capital at Amaravathy –
a place situated on a hill from the description. Skanda from Deep South married
a girl from Far North who happened to be the daughter of Indra. Her name was
Devyaani or Devaanai as per Tamil texts.
Due to this marriage connection, an exchange of
people or movement of people had happened from Deep South to Far Northern
regions. The topography of these regions need to be studied to look for clues.
But as of now the surprising similarity with Tamil in the names of this region
and with Sami people is something that cannot be brushed aside. There is
likelihood of the people of Skanda’s land having gone over to the land of his
wife and settled there. In such an event, this place Sakala is a fitting one to
refer to the region where the sister of Skanda’s wife had lived.
The sisters of Devyaani were Akka godessess. Kanda
in Kandalaksha is another surprising link. Even the very name Sakala also
recognised as Sagala reflects the use of 'ka'-'ga' for the same letter which
happens only in Tamil. Sakalai is also pronounced as Sagalai in Tamil to refer
to the husband of wife's sister. If this region was the maternal home of
Skanda's wife, it also means that her sisters ( akka) lived there. Perhaps
their husbands also came from the same region. This makes it the land of
Sagalai of Skanda.
Related articles:-
Skanda in Scandinavia – http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2013/09/is-vedic-astrology-derived-from-greek_27.html
Genetic study shows out of India migration
to Europe 26,000 years ago - http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2016/02/out-of-india-migration-to-europe-26000.html
Update added on 25th June 2017:-
I happened to read about the practice of naming children as "Pulli" in Telugu speaking community that once lived in north of Madras. The source of this is "Indian Antiquary", volume 10, published in the year 1881.
The practice until the 19th century was to name the child born after the death of its older sibling, as Pulli. For boys, the name is "Pulya" and for girls the name is "Pullama"
Pulli-akalu is a leaf that was used as a plate for eating food in those days. These are thrown out on a heap and when the child is born (after the death of the elder child), two or three of them are brought and placed on the child.
Naming the child as "Pulli" had another explanation among the people of those times. Pulli means hole. (In Tamil it means dot. The Kolam are made around the dots / pulli). The previous child is dead leaving a hole, and the new child has come to fill up the hole. Based on this rationale, the new child was named Pulli.
It would be interesting to know the kind of customs that Pulli people of Estonia followed.
