This is the 5th article in a series on European connection to ancient India as sourced from Indian texts. These articles are part of a longer series written in Tamil that seeks to establish that Tamils were not the 'Dravidians' of the Indus region but had their roots in the Southern seas. The previous articles in this short series in English can be read in the following links.
1. From Indus Proto-Siva to Celtic Cernunnos.
2. The Stars of the Jews and Christians originated in India!
3. Kali Yantra in crop circles of Europe!
4. On Stonehenges, Druids and Dasyu
The source article in Tamil for the current article can be read here:-
http://thamizhan-thiravidana.blogspot.in/2012/09/106-anatolia.html
My thanks to Mr TG Saranathan for translating this article into English.
{From the previous article:- Druhyu and Anu were the two sons of King Yayati born to the Danava woman Sarmishta. Yayati was Rama's grandfather's grandfather. In a fight for the kingdom of Yayati between his 5 sons, Druhyu and Anu lost and had to leave Aryavartha whose western borders ended to the east of River Indus at that time. From Vishnu purana 4-17 we come to know that "The son of Druhyu was Babhru; his son was Setu; his son was aradwat ; his son was Gandhara ; his son was Dharma ; his son was Dhrita ; his son was Duryaman ; his son was Prachetas, who had a hundred sons, and they were the princes of the lawless Mlechchhas or barbarians of the north". Their route from India was the North- west corridor where Gandhara, the 4th generation descendant of Druhyu established Gandhara (Kandahar) which was eventually annexed by Bharata, Rama's brother. With that the Druhyus were pushed to central and western Europe. The phonetic similarity between the names Druhyu and Druid is striking. In the olden Celtic language, Druid is referred to as Druvid. Druvid is a Sanskrit word. It means firm or stable knowledge. Druids were famous as knowledgeable people. In this article we further explore the connections between the Celts / Druids with ancient India.)
Long before the Roman Empire was formed, Celts were spread out in Central and Western Europe. Their religious teachers were Druids, who were expert warriors. There are strong evidences to show that Druids were the descendents of Druhyu and his associates, who migrated some 7000 years ago from India. Druhyu was one of the Five sons of Yayati and in the fight among them for succession to the Kingdom, Druhyu lost and was driven out. Max Muller interpreted this fight as Aryan - Dasyu fight. Druhyu and his associates were not living according to Vedic stipulations and so were exiled out of India after they were defeated in the war of succession to the throne of Yayati in the Saraswathi basin. Druhyu and his associates found their way in the North West of India and settled in Central Europe. This is derived from Vishnu Purana, chapter 4-17 (quoted above in the foreword)
They were ruling the people of Central Europe at that time. The Sovereignty they could not wield in India, they applied on the people of Central Europe and enforced the traditions and customs, they were following while in India, on their subjects. Though they were Dasyus, i.e., non -Vedic conformists, they were following many Vedic traditions and customs. Some of the commonalities between Druid / Celtic practices and Vedic practices are listed below.
The Druids / Celts followed Vedic practices like idol worship, worship of multiple gods, food offerings in worship, philosophy of non destruction of soul, belief in rebirth after death, worship of ancestors, etc. Julius Caesar, while describing them, mentions that they were experts in Religion, Philosophy and Astronomy, and they were doing research in, debating and interpreting, those fields. (1) This is similar to the way Upanishads were formed through debates, discussions and interpretation of Vedas. The Druids chanted something similar to Vedas. Vedas were not written, but orally transmitted. Similarly the Druids did not keep a written record of the chanting. They did not read out from books. Those who chanted Vedas were under strict regulations and disciplines; the Druids also followed strict codes of conduct. Like this, the Druids can be compared to Brahmins in Vedic tradition in many ways.
There are many evidences found in Ireland, to show that Druids lived in Central Europe. History of Ireland mentions that the Druids came to Ireland from Central and Western Europe, which is North of Ireland. Since the word North was mentioned, none thought it prudent to trace their origins to India, in the East.
Apart from this, when Greeks and Romans brought Celts under their rule, they changed the Celtic names. They changed the names of places and people to Greek and Latin and gave new interpretations.
Greeks had a general tendency to give their own names in Greek to the names of non- Greek people and places. They were careless about naming unfamiliar ones and disregarded original pronunciation. Perhaps, that is why when someone talks illegibly, we say he is talking Greek and Latin! Greeks always spoke different from all others. They coined new words which had no bearing on continuity or relationship to the original word.
To cite an example, Krishna is a Sanskrit name. In any other language people would address that person as Krishna only. But in Greek language Krishna is addressed as Herakles! The Greek ethnographer Megasthenes, has mentioned the name of Krishna as Herakles, though there is a view that it means Hari Krishna! He called river Yamuna as Jobares and Krishnapuram as Kleisabora,
Therefore, we can imagine the havoc they had done to Celtic names, whose culture they wanted to wipe out completely. History shows the oppressive nature and sense of superiority of the Greeks, while dealing with their subjects. This resulted in concealing historical evidences.Not only that, many Celtic gods were brought into the Greek fold with new names and new dressing! Let us remember that the greatly praised Greek culture is a borrowed one!
When Greek dominance faded, the Celts were prevented by Christianity from continuing with their traditional Celtic practices and customs. Christianity showed keen interest in wiping them out totally.
Presently, as interest is gaining momentum for tracing Celtic words and names, it comes to be seen that Celtic culture was prevalent in Central Europe. It is also seen that the Greek substitutes to Celtic words had no bearing or continuity with the original ones. It is difficult to find the true meanings of many Celtic words, but interestingly enough they resemble Sanskrit and words related to Sanskrit!
For example, it is now known that Celtic culture was prevalent in Hungary. There is a hill called Gellert in Hungary. It is believed that it is the name of a Christian priest from Italy who visited Hungary in the 11th Century with the aim of converting Hungarians into Christianity.
That was the time when Idol worship and multiple god worship of Celts were prevailing in Hungary. Gellert tried to change those customs, but was faced with stiff resistance. The opposition to him was such that he was put inside a barrel and rolled down the hill. (2) At a later stage, this priest was considered as a martyr and the hill was named after him.
But researchers have found that the hill was earlier called by the ancient Celtic name, Kelen.(3) Kelen was changed to Gellert - just like how Brungi mount became Parangi mount and later named as St.Thomas Mount in Chennai, Tamilnadu and a martyrdom was conferred on Thomas (4). Such manipulations that are happening in India now, were successfully carried out in Europe right from the early times of Christianity.
Kelen is related to Sanskrit word khela – which means game or sport. Khelati (खेलति) in Sanskrit means to play. Even today we find a street named Kelta in Budapest city. Perhaps the very name Celts (Kelts) came from Khelati or Khela, as these people were fond of sports.
If Kelen is derived from Khela, then this place must have something to do with sports. If one searches from that angle, one finds that the city of Budapest, where the hill Gellert is situated, was built on the ancient city of Aubwan. That place is famous for water sports. In Sanskrit 'aapa' means water. This place was a residential colony of the Celts. We do find a similar sounding name 'Abrawan' in India in the colonial records. Though it means 'running water', it was the name given to the finer quality of cloth called Muslin. (5)
It was also known as Malmal. Indian weavers were known for making this finest quality of cloth from antiquity. The British imperialists cut the thumb of the weavers of this variety of cloth to destroy competition to their cloths from England. (6) Though it is not exactly known why this cloth was known as Abrawan, the meaning indicates that the weaving of this cloth (now extinct) had something to with running water. Looking for a similarity to this in the Hungarian Aubwan we are surprised to learn that the Celts of this region used to wear fine clothing which resembled Indian Pyjamas! The men of the Celtic society wore 'Bubble like pants' (7)
Indian Pyjamas
The pyjamas too look bubble like. Perhaps weavers of Abrawan, the malmal cloth went along with Druhyus when they left ancient India. With them the name Aubwan came to stay there. Perhaps in course of time, Aubwan became better known for the water sports too.
A place called Sicambriya is to the North of Budapest city. This is also an ancient city of Celts. According to Celtic language this means mount or peak or bench. A similar name exists in India too. In Tamil and in Sanskrit, Sikaram means mountain or hill peak. There is scope to believe that sikaram has become Sicambriya. The Celts had resided here and played sports in nearby Budapest. Even today Budapest is famous for Water sports.
Celts were not only interested in water sports but also in other sports of might. They played War games too, which is unfamiliar to Europeans till this day. Historical researchers say that there was a wooden board in this game in which wooden figures were used for playing. The figures would disappear in the game. This resembles the ancient game of India called as chathuranga. (8) Its modern version is the chess game.
This game originated in India. The Pandavas, in Mahabharata, lost a kingdom, by merely playing this game, without actually engaging in a battle. Thus it is appropriate to call Chathuranga or chess as War game! If Celts had played this game, it is easy to trace the origin of Celts to the place of origin of the game – which is India. If it is argued that Celts came to India and spread that game, then Celts and their names must have been remembered in India. But we find Celtic names in Central Europe and in Ireland, not in India!
If all the customs and practices of Celts listed above had originated within Celts themselves, and then spread out into India, were they the Aryans mentioned by Max Muller? The stories about Celts which describe them in detail and available in Ireland, never talk of Aryans as their names. In fact, no Europeans followed their practices. But the same practices, in a much refined form, still continue in India. If Indian practices were distorted and followed by Celts, it means they had lost touch with the originals, in course of time.
As if to prove that the Celts were the descendents of those who migrated from India, they had named even their country, taking cue from their roots. Ptolemy, who lived in the 1st Century A.D., has mentioned Ireland by its Celtic name IOUERNIA. With passage of time, Iouernia got changed to Ire, to Ireland. The name Iouernia sounds familiar with Ayoni. Ayoni in Sanskrit means not born from yoni or womb.
If the Celts were Ayonis, who were born in yoni? Or, to put it in another way, if the place of birth of them was not yoni, which place was considered as yoni or womb? To put it in yet another way, if there was a place called Ayoni, then it pre-supposes that there was a Yoni present elsewhere.
If Druids were the descendents of Druhyu, then it is logical to assume, they were born outside their root country, India. India was considered as the womb or yoni. Yoni has several meanings in Sanskrit, but all of them centre around a same theme as 'Source' or 'origin'. Yoni means Vagina, womb, seed, race, stable, source, origin, seat, home, descent, receptacle, birth, fountain, spring, abode, place of birth etc. Yoni is the place where creation and development take place. Its shape is triangular.That way, India has been the yoni or womb where all cultures were born and developed.
We discussed about Triangles in a previous article and established that India is also triangular.(9)
Not only that India is in a triangle shape, it is also in the form of yoni kund!
In Vedic customs, havan or sacred fire is performed in different shapes of agni kund or fire pots, depending on the objective. Yoni kund is one type. Mayan describes in Vaastu shastra how the Yoni (womb) shaped fire pit must be made. (Mayamatha 25-47). According to that, a square should be drawn. A point must be fixed outside the square and at about 1/5th of side of the square, from the bottom line. From the mid points of the sides of the square, curved lines should be drawn to join this point at the bottom. Then, again curved lines should be drawn to join from the mid points of the two sides with the midpoint of the top side. The resultant figure is yoni kund shape.
Such a yoni kund can be superimposed on India map as shown in the figure below.
Thus, India itself is a Yoni or is inside a Yoni. This resembles the Aswatha (peepal) leaf mentioned in Vedas. On this leaf, the child Krishna is depicted as lying, when pralaya or the great deluge happens. The import of this is Creation after a deluge. Creation is symbolised by the shape of peepal which resembles the shape of yoni or womb.