Solar Deities & The Great Khorasan Road (2600 BC)

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

"The Great Khorasan Road stretched from Balkh to Egypt and was a major route for Lapis lazuli since at least 5000 BC….It was also the area of the great Solar Kingdoms of Ancient Central Asia and the Middle East…. "khor" means "sun" and "san" means "the place", "the dwelling" . Khorasan, is the "place where the sun rises".

Click on the map to enlarge

"SHAMASH…… Babylon….The first literary text in the Akkadian language was a hymn to Šamaš that was found among the texts from Tell Abu Salabikh (ca. 2600 BCE). …..(Akkadian Šamaš "Sun"), was a native Mesopotamian deity and the sun god in the Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian pantheons. Shamash was the god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu. Akkadian šamaš is cognate to Syriac ܫܡܫܐ šemša or šimšu Hebrew שֶׁמֶשׁ šemeš and Arabic شمس šams….The two chief centres of sun-worship in Babylonia were Sippar, represented by the mounds at Abu Habba, and Larsa, represented by the modern Senkerah. At both places the chief sanctuary bore the name E-barra (or E-babbara) "the shining house"—a direct allusion to the brilliancy of the sun-god. Of the two temples, that at Sippara was the more famous, but temples to Shamash were erected in all large centres – such as Babylon, Ur, Mari, Nippur, and Nineveh….Šamaš (Sumerian Utu) is the god of the sun. He brings light and warmth to the land, allowing plants and crops to grow. At sunrise Šamaš was known to emerge from his underground sleeping chamber and take a daily path across the skies. As the sun fills the entire sky with light, Šamaš oversaw everything that occurred."….http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/utu/

SURYA…..Proto-Indo-European….the exact gender of the Sun or Moon tends to vary among subsequent Indo-European mythologies. Here are two of the most common PIE forms: *Seh2ul with a genitive form *Sh2-en-s, Sun, appears as Sanskrit Surya, Avestan Hvara; Greek Helios, Latin Sol, Germanic *Sowilo (Old Norse Sól; Old English Sigel and Sunna, modern English Sun), Lithuanian Saulė, Latvian Saule; Romanian Soare, Albanian Diell……Surya (Devanagari: सूर्य Sūrya, "the Supreme Light") Suraya or Phra Athit is the chief solar deity in Hinduism. The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general…..

MITHRA…..'Surya' is also known as 'Mitra' (meaning friend) for his life nourishing properties. The Mitra form of 'Surya' had been worshiped mostly in Gujarat, where a clan of Suryawanshi kings was known as Mitrawanshi kshatriyas, also known by its distorted name Maitrakas (मैत्रक)… Suryavansha or Suryavam(n)sham or Solar Dynasty was a dynasty of ancient India. The term Suryavanshi refers to a person belonging to Suryvansha dynasty, an ancient Kshatriya clan of India. It is also known by many synonyms as Adityavansa, Mitravansa, Arkavanśa and Ravivansa…..The early Suryavanshis considered the sun god (Surya, Aditya or Arka) as their kuladevata and mainly practised sun-worship.The Gurjars believe they have descended from Suryavanshi and Chandravanshi kshatriyas. The copper-plate grants and their seals of Gurjars bear an emblem of the Sun. Also, the Gurjar title of honor is Mihir which means Surya…..The Puranas, particularly Vishnu Purana, Ramayana by Valmiki and the Mahabharata by Vyasa gives accounts of this dynasty. The Raghuvamsha of Kalidasa also mentions the names of some of the kings of this dynasty…..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suryavansha

"Shivini or Artinis (the present form of the name is Artin, meaning "sun rising" or to "awake", was a solar god in the mythology of the Urartu, a prehistoric Iron Age kingdom. He is the third god in a triad with Khaldi and Theispas and is cognate with the triad in Hinduism called Shivam. The Assyrian god Shamash is a counterpart to Shivini. He was depicted as a man on his knees, holding up a solar disc. His wife was most likely a goddess called Tushpuea who is listed as the third goddess on the Mheri-Dur inscription. Shivini is generally considered a good god, like that of the Egyptian solar god, Aten, and unlike the solar god of the Assyrians, Ashur to whom sometimes human sacrifices were made."....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urartu

Artinis……The Urartian (pre-Armenian) sun-god. He is one of the non-Aryan triad, with Khaldi and Theispas….http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artinis.html

"Shamash (Akkadian Šamaš "Sun"), was a native Mesopotamian deity and the sun god in the Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian pantheons. Shamash was the god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu. Akkadian šamaš is cognate to Syriac šemša or šimšu Hebrew שֶׁמֶשׁ šemeš and Arabic شمس šams…..The Assyrian god Shamash is a counterpart to Shivini…the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel to slay Humbaba, each morning they pray and make libation to shamash in the direction of the rising sun for safe travels."....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamash

Greater Khorasan - map of Persia by Emanuel Bowen showing the names of territories during the Persian Safavid dynasty and Mughal Empire of India (ca. 1500–1747)..Click on the map to enlarge

RA…..EGYPT…..Ra /rɑː/ or Re /reɪ/ was the ancient Egyptian solar deity. By the Fifth Dynasty (2494 to 2345 BC) he had become a major god in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the midday sun. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it is thought that if not a word for 'sun' it may be a variant of or linked to words meaning 'creative power' …t he major cult centre of Ra was Heliopolis (called Iunu, "Place of Pillars", in Egyptian), where he was identified with the local sun-god Atum. Through Atum, or as Atum-Ra, he was also seen as the first being and the originator of the Ennead, consisting of Shu and Tefnut, Geb and Nut, Osiris, Set, Isis and Nephthys. ….i n later Egyptian dynastic times, Ra was merged with the god Horus, as Re-Horakhty ("Ra, who is Horus of the Two Horizons"). He was believed to rule in all parts of the created world: the sky, the earth, and the underworld. He was associated with the falcon or hawk. When in the New Kingdom the god Amun rose to prominence he was fused with Ra as Amun-Ra. During the Amarna Period, Akhenaten suppressed the cult of Ra in favour of another solar deity, the Aten, the deified solar disc, but after the death of Akhenaten the cult of Ra was restored."..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra

Male figure (Shamash or Ashur) in an Assyrian winged sun emblem (North-West Palace of Nimrud, 9th century BC; British Museum room B, panel 23). This iconography later gave rise to the Zoroastrian Faravahar symbol.

"The pantheon was headed by a triad made up of Khaldi (the supreme god), Theispas (Teisheba) god of thunder and storms, as well as sometimes war, and Shivini a solar god. Their king was also the chief-priest or envoy of Khaldi. Some temples to Khaldi were part of the royal palace complex while others were independent structures."….Piotrovsky, Boris B. (1969). The Ancient Civilization of Urartu: An Archaeological Adventure. Cowles Book Co. ISBN 0-214-66793-6.

"Godin Tepe….a Sumerian settlement first inhabited c. 5000 BCE which comprised a village and a fortress. It became an important stop along the Great Khorasan Road trade route."

Armenian Mythology: Stories of Armenian Gods and Goddesses, Heroes and ... By Mardiros Harootioon Ananikian

LAPIS LAZULI AND THE GREAT KHORASAN ROAD….Y. MAJIDZADEH….Vol. 8, No. 1 (1982), pp. 59-69 Published by: Paléorient

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

October 2013

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

**************************

Emperor Asoka: Eusebeia & Non-Violent Ahimsa (256 BC)

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

When Ashoka's army took 150,000 people captive and slew 100,000 people at Orissa, unlike Alexander at Tyre and Genghis Khan at Balkh, he experienced tremendous revulsion and an abhorrence of any killing and suffering, human or animal, and never again waged war.

"Ahimsa (Sanskrit: अहिंसा; IAST: ahiṃsā, Pāli:avihiṃsā) is a term meaning do not injure. The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hiṃs – to strike; hiṃsā is injury or harm, a-hiṃsā is the opposite of this, i.e. cause no injury, do no harm.Ahimsa is also referred to as nonviolence, and it applies to all living beings including animals. Ahimsa is one of the cardinal virtues and an important tenet of major Indian religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism). Ahimsa is a multidimensional concept, inspired by the premise that all living beings have the spark of the divine spiritual energy, to hurt another being is to hurt oneself. Ahimsa has also been related to the notion that any violence has karmic consequences. While ancient scholars of Hinduism pioneered and over time perfected the principles of Ahimsa, the concept reached an extraordinary status in the ethical philosophy of Jainism and Buddhism. Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi strongly believed in the principle of ahimsa. Ahimsa's precept of 'cause no injury' includes one's deeds, words, and thoughts.Classical literature of Hinduism such as Mahabharata and Ramayana, as well as modern scholars debate principles of Ahimsa when one is faced with war and situations requiring self defense."…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahimsa

The Maurya Dynasty (321-185 BC) emerged following the withdrawal of Alexander the Great from India in 325 BC, when the dynasty's founder, Emperor Chandragupta, seized the throne of the Nanda Dynasty at Magadha (South Bihar), the leading kingdom of Upper India at the time. After Alexander's withdrawal from India, Chandragupta defeated Alexander's General, Seleucus Nicator, and a vast area of the territory originally conquered by Alexander in India was ceded to Chandragupta by the General in return for five hundred elephants. The cession was followed by the conclusion of a treaty of alliance and friendship, and eventually the General and the Emperor cemented their friendship by intermarriage between their families.

Buddhist proselytism at the time of king Ashoka (260–218 BCE)

"The Indian emperor Ashoka in his 250 BCE Edicts used the word "eusebeia" as a Greek translation for the central Buddhist and Hindu concept of "dharma".....The word was used in Classical Greece where it meant behaving as tradition dictates in one's social relationships and towards the gods. One demonstrates eusebeia to the gods by performing the customary acts of respect (festivals, prayers, sacrifices, public devotions). By extension one honors the gods by showing proper respect to elders, masters, rulers and everything under the protection of the gods."

One outcome of this treaty of alliance and friendship was the sending of a Greek ambassador, Megasthenes, by Nicator to Chandragupta's court. During his residence, Megasthenes wrote detailed reports of life at the court and of the organization of the Maurya Empire. Unfortunately his reports are lost, but fragments of them are repeated in other Greek writings which have survived. Through them, some precious details of the Maurya Dynasty, the Royal Court, the capital city and the remarkable system of government of the empire are known.
Alexandria in Arachosia was a city in ancient times that is now called Kandahar in Afghanistan….Megasthenes lived with Sibyrtius, satrap of Arachosia,…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megasthenes

Chandragupta reigned for twenty-four years (321-297 BC) before abdicating his throne in favour of his son, Bundusara. His system of government continued under Bundusara, who left no noticeable mark upon the empire. Bundusara was succeeded by his son, Asoka, in 273 BC, although, as was usual, Asoka was not consecrated as Emperor until 265 BC…..The Contribution of the Emperor Asoka Maurya to the development of the humanitarian ideal in warfare"….1995 Article, International Review of the Red Cross, No. 305, by Gerald Draper

"Emperor Asoka's conquest of the Kalingas and subsequent remorse …..With the capability for waging war that he inherited and augmented, Asoka defeated the three Kalinga kingdoms (modern Orissa) in about 256 BC - the sixteenth year of his reign and the eighth after his consecration. Historical evidence - consisting of little other than the surviving thirty-four edicts - does not reveal why he went to war with the Kalingas. However, one of his edicts - the famous Thirteenth Edict or " Rock Edict " , also known as the " Conquest Edict " , of 257 BC -, declared that the victory was overwhelming and losses among the defeated peoples were particularly devastating: his army took 150,000 people captive and slew 100,000, and many times that number died in the conquest."….Reflections on Law and Armed Conflicts...By Gerald Draper

"Ashoka's response to the Kalinga War is recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka. The Kalinga War prompted Ashoka, already a non-engaged Buddhist, to devote the rest of his life to Ahimsa (non-violence) and to Dharma-Vijaya (victory through Dharma). Following the conquest of Kalinga, Ashoka ended the military expansion of the empire, and led the empire through more than 40 years of relative peace, harmony and prosperity.

"From the time of his victory over the Kalingas in 256 BC, and the consequent remorse, until the end of his reign in 232 BC, Asoka never waged another war. Indeed, in the years following his victory, he spent time piously retracing the steps of the Buddha and raising stupas inscribed with moral injunctions and imperatives at holy places of pilgrimage; and for some two years he became a member of a Buddhist order without relinquishing his role as Emperor….His conversion to Buddhism, effected with the help of his own teacher, Uprag upta, was gradual. Even though he did little to change the system of government he inherited, he introduced a novel and powerful moral idealism - a moral rule or " way of life " in the Buddhist sense as he understood it - which he called the " Law of Piety " ."….http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jmf2.htm

One of the most radical of Asoka's reforms was the almost total prohibition on hunting and slaying of animals for food. … This prohibition of animal slaughter corresponded to Asoka's moral revulsion for human slaughter in warfare and his subsequent abhorrence of any killing and suffering.(Gerald Draper)

"Like many great visionary leaders of the past and present, Ashoka's undistinguished descendants, were unable to sustain his moral mission and the Law of Piety lost its vigour. After his death in 231 BC the empire was divided, its power declined and the Law of Piety passed into history."….(Gerald Draper)

Bilingual inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by king Asoka, from Kandahar. Kabul Museum.

"Inscriptions made by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, a fragment of Edict 13 in Greek, as well as a full Edict, written in both Greek and Aramaic has been discovered in Afghanistan. It is said to be written in excellent Classical Greek, using sophisticated philosophical terms. In this Edict, Ashoka uses the word Eusebeia ("Piety") as the Greek translation for the ubiquitous "Dharma" of his other Edicts written in Prakrit: "Ten years (of reign) having been completed, King Piodasses (Ashoka) made known (the doctrine of) Piety (εὐσέβεια, Eusebeia) to men; and from this moment he has made men more pious, and everything thrives throughout the whole world. And the king abstains from (killing) living beings, and other men and those who (are) huntsmen and fishermen of the king have desisted from hunting. And if some (were) intemperate, they have ceased from their intemperance as was in their power; and obedient to their father and mother and to the elders, in opposition to the past also in the future, by so acting on every occasion, they will live better and more happily." (Trans. by G.P. Carratelli)

Fragment of the 6th Pillar Edicts of Ashoka (238 BCE), in Brahmi, sandstones. British Museum.

Piodasses (one of the titles of Ashoka: Piyadassi or Priyadarsi.....Two edicts in Afghanistan have been found with Greek inscriptions, one of these being a bilingual edict in Greek language and Aramaic. This edict, found in Kandahar, advocates the adoption of "Piety" (using the Greek term Eusebeia for Dharma) to the Greek community:
Ten years (of reign) having been completed, King
Piodasses (one of the titles of Ashoka: Piyadassi or Priyadarsi,
"He who is the beloved of the Gods and who regards
everyone amiably") made known (the doctrine of)
Piety (Greek:εὐσέβεια, Eusebeia) to men; and from this moment he has made
men more pious, and everything thrives throughout
the whole world. And the king abstains from (killing)
living beings, and other men and those who (are)
huntsmen and fishermen of the king have desisted
from hunting. And if some (were) intemperate, they
have ceased from their intemperance as was in their
power; and obedient to their father and mother and to
the elders, in opposition to the past also in the future,
by so acting on every occasion, they will live better
and more happily. (Trans. by G. P. Carratelli)

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

October 2013

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

**************************

Greek-Bactrian Satraps After Alexander the Great ( (356 – 323 BC)

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

"Following the victorious battle of the Hydaspes River, Alexander's army marched until the Hyphasis river (modern day Beas river). It was at that point where his army mutinied unwilling to face the army of the vast Nanda Emire laying to the east and demanding from the king to finally take the long way home. Despite his initial disagreement, Alexander finally consented and later turned south against the Malli tribe. This event took place between July and September 326 B.C. and marked the eastern point of his Empire."….Plutarc: Alexander - Chapter 62

"The Maurya Dynasty (321-185 BC) emerged following the withdrawal of Alexander the Great from India in 325 BC, when the dynasty's founder, Emperor Chandragupta, seized the throne of the Nanda Dynasty at Magadha (South Bihar), the leading kingdom of Upper India at the time. After Alexander's withdrawal from India, Chandragupta defeated Alexander's General, Seleucus Nicator, and a vast area of the territory originally conquered by Alexander in India was ceded to Chandragupta by the General in return for five hundred elephants. The cession was followed by the conclusion of a treaty of alliance and friendship, and eventually the General and the Emperor cemented their friendship by intermarriage between their families."....Reflections on Law and Armed Conflicts...By Gerald Draper

"One outcome of this treaty of alliance and friendship was the sending of a Greek ambassador, Megasthenes, by Nicator to Chandragupta's court. During his residence, Megasthenes wrote detailed reports of life at the court and of the organization of the Maurya Empire. Unfortunately his reports are lost, but fragments of them are repeated in other Greek writings which have survived. Through them, some precious details of the Maurya Dynasty, the Royal Court, the capital city and the remarkable system of government of the empire are known.

"Megasthenes (Μεγασθένης, ca. 350 – 290 BCE) was a Greek ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica. He was born in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of the Seleucid dynasty possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain. Scholars place it before 298 BC, the date of Chandragupta's death.Alexandria in Arachosia was a city in ancient times that is now called Kandahar in Afghanistan….Megasthenes lived with Sibyrtius, satrap of Arachosia"…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megasthenes

Megasthenes: "At the beginning of his Indica, he refers to the older Indians who know about the prehistoric arrival of Dionysus and Hercules in India, which was a story very popular amongst the Greeks during the Alexandrian period. Particularly important are his comments on the religions of the Indians. He mentions the devotees of Heracles and Dionysus but he does not mention Buddhists, something that gives support to the theory that the latter religion was not widely known before the reign of Ashoka."....Vassiliades, Demetrios, "Greeks and Buddhism Historical Contacts in the Development of a Universal religion"The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. XXXVI, No. 1 & 2, Otani University, Kyoto 2005.

"Emperor Asoka's conquest of the Kalingas and subsequent remorse …..With the capability for waging war that he inherited and augmented, Asoka defeated the three Kalinga kingdoms (mod ern Orissa) in about 256 BC - the sixteenth year of his reign and the eighth after his consecration. Historical evidence - consisting of little other than the surviving thirty-four edicts - does not reveal why he went to war with the Kalingas. However, one of his edicts - the famous Thirteenth Edict or " Rock Edict " , also known as the " Conquest Edict " , of 257 BC -, declared that the victory was overwhelming and losses among the defeated peoples were particularly devastating: his army took 150,000 people captive and slew 100,000, and many times that number died in the conquest."….Reflections on Law and Armed Conflicts...By Gerald Draper

"Amyntas Nikator was an Indo-Greek king. His coins have been found both in eastern Punjab and Afghanistan, indicating that he ruled a considerable territory....Bopearachchi places Amyntas c. 95–90 BCE, whereas Senior places him c. 80–65 BCE....Amyntas struck bilingual silver coins with a variety of portraits. Most of these bear the reverse of sitting Zeus holding a victory palm and a small statue of Athena, which according to RC Senior may have indicated an alliance between the house of Menander I and the house of Antialcidas. Some of his coins feature the reverse of fighting Athena typical for Menander's descendants. The epithet Nikator (Victor) was previously only used on the Bactrian coins of Agathocles, a century before Amyntas' reign. His bronzes feature the syncretic deity Zeus-Mithra wearing a phrygian cap and Athena standing at rest, both forming the vitarka mudra....Amyntas also minted some spectacular Attic coins, the largest silver coins of Antiquity.These huge coins were found on the archeological site of Qunduz in Afghanistan. Some of these coins use his ordinary Zeus reverse, but some of them used Tyche in an identical position."....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyntas_Nikator

"Stasanor: In the first partition of the provinces after the death of Alexander (323 BC), Stasanor retained his former satrapy of Drangiana, but in the subsequent division at Triparadisus (321 BC), he exchanged it for the more important government of Bactria and Sogdiana. Here he appears to have remained quiet for some years, taking no open part, so far as we are informed in the contest between Eumenes and Antigonus. After the victory of Antigonus, although Stasanor had apparently inclined in favour of Eumenes, Antigonus found it prudent to pardon him and left him in the undisturbed possession of his satrapy, 316 BC., since Stasanor had secured the attachment of the native population by the justice and moderation of his rule, and thus firmly established his power in the satrapy."....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasanor

"Chandragupta and the eastern provinces....Seleucid–Mauryan war....Seleucus soon turned his attention once again eastward. In the year 305 BC, Seleucus I Nicator went to India and apparently occupied territory as far as the Indus, and eventually waged war with the Maurya Emperor Chandragupta Maurya:....Always lying in wait for the neighboring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he [Seleucus] acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander, as far as the river Indus, so that the boundaries of his empire were the most extensive in Asia after that of Alexander. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus. He crossed the Indus and waged war with Sandrocottus, king of the Indians, who dwelt on the banks of that stream, until they came to an understanding with each other and contracted a marriage relationship. – Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55.....Only a few sources mention his activities in India. Chandragupta (known in Greek sources as Sandrökottos), founder of the Mauryan empire, had conquered the Indus valley and several other parts of the easternmost regions of Alexander's empire. Seleucus began a campaign against Chandragupta and crossed the Indus. Seleucus' Indian campaign was, however, a failure. It is unknown what exactly happened. Perhaps Chandragupta defeated Seleucus in battle."...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucus_I_Nicator

"After the death of Spitamenes and his marriage to Roxana (Roshanak in Bactrian) to cement relations with his new satrapies, Alexander turned to the Indian subcontinent. He invited the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara, in the north of what is now Pakistan, to come to him and submit to his authority. Omphis(Indian name Ambhi Kumar), the ruler of Taxila, whose kingdom extended from the Indus to the Hydaspes (Jhelum), complied, but the chieftains of some hill clans, including the Aspasioi and Assakenoi sections of the Kambojas (known in Indian texts also as Ashvayanas and Ashvakayanas), refused to submit...Dissension and rivalry soon followed the death of Alexander..... The satrapies handed out by Perdiccas at the Partition of Babylon became power bases each general used to bid for power. After the assassination of Perdiccas in 321 BC, Macedonian unity collapsed, and 40 years of war between "The Successors" (Diadochi) ensued before the Hellenistic world settled into four stable power blocks: Ptolemaic Egypt, Selucid Mesopotamia and Central Asia, Attalid Anatolia, and Antigonid Macedon. In the process, both Alexander IV and Philip III were murdered."

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

October 2013

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

**************************

Anahita, Durga, Kali, Vajradakini, Ishtar

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

"Anahita is a Water Goddess, a Fertility Goddess, and a Protector of Women. Later ... She is sometimes depicted as riding a tiger (like Durga!) ...

A 4th century BC depiction of Anahita, radiant and mounted on a lion, being worshipped by Artaxerxes II....Artaxerxes II Mnemon was king of Persia from 404 BC until his death in 358 BC. He was a son of Darius II of Persia and Parysatis."

There are many incarnations of Durga: Kali, Bhagvati, Bhavani, Ambika, Lalita, Gauri, Kandalini, Java, Rajeswari, et al….

"Inanna, the forerunner of the Akkadian Ishtar, appears in the earliest known forms of the Sumerian religion…. the main “attributes” of Ishtar / Inanna: The female form, the helmet, the weapons (arrows on the back, mace or ax in left hand), standing on a wild beast (probably a lion here). As with all ancient deities, it is essential to list those “attributes” properly as they often were the only means to identify a given god or goddess whose representations otherwise might differ widely from place to place and in time. Hindus still proceed in this way in order to identify their own deities……Referring to Hinduism, a present-day deity still worshiped by Hindus, Durga…..If you look at the attributes of durga, they all are there: female form, helmet, weapons, riding on a wild beast (there are no lions in India so here, it is a tiger). Even some of the weapons are the same: bow and mace. Another similar (but even darker) Hindu goddess is Kali…..Modern Hindus are not conscious that they still are worshiping Ishtar/Inanna under another name."….http://palinidolatry.wordpress.com/ishtar-like-deities/

"Inanna can be considered the most prominent female deity in ancient Mesopotamia.[1] As early as the Uruk period (ca. 4000–3100 BC), Inanna was associated with the city of Uruk.... Inanna (Sumerian: Inanna; Akkadian: Ištar) was the Sumerian goddess of love, fertility, and warfare, and goddess of the E-Anna temple at the city of Uruk, her main centre.

"Durga (Sanskrit: दुर्गा), meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible", is the most popular incarnation of Devi and one of the main forms of the Goddess Shakti in the Hindu pantheon...She is Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati in her mild form; Goddess Kali and Goddess Chandi in her wrathful form. Durga is also called Padmanabha-Sahodari and Narayani, the sister of Lord Vishnu. According to Shaivism and Shaktism, she is supreme, but to bring back lord Shiva in Sansar, she was reborn in human form (Sati and Parvati) to marry Shiva. Durga gave birth to his first child Kartikeya.

"Besides Durga in Hinduism, there are many other instances of goddesses that fit the same profile as Inanna/Ishtar:The west-semitic goddess Astarte, a near duplicate of Ishtar referred to abundantly in the Bible.The Greek/Roman goddess Aphrodite/Venus who, although chiefly being associated with sexuality, still was viewed clearly enough as a warrior goddess in Caesar’s time to be claimed by him as his ancestor under the label “Venus Victrix” (the victory giver) or, in Greek, “Aphrodite Enoplios” (the armed, same root as in “hoplite“). One noteworthy feature of Aphrodite/Venus is her association with Adonis, which generally is considered a duplicate of the god Dumuzi/Tammuz associated with all Semitic forms of Inanna/Ishtar, including Astarte. Tammuz is mentioned in the Bible: Ezekiel 8:14 “Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz” The Greek/Roman Goddess Athena/Minerva often represented helmeted and holding a javelin and shield. In the picture below, notice the weapons, the helmet, and the serpent, an animal also frequently associated with Ishtar/Inanna (as she is with Eve in Genesis)."….http://palinidolatry.wordpress.com/ishtar-like-deities/

Astarte (Ancient Greek: Ἀστάρτη, "Astártē") is the Greek name of the Mesopotamian (i.e. Assyrian, Akkadian, Babylonian) Semitic goddess Ishtar....Astarte was connected with fertility, sexuality, and war. Her symbols were the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the dove, and a star within a circle indicating the planet Venus. Pictorial representations often show her naked. She has been known as the deified evening star."

hy·pae·thral also hy·pe·thral (h-pthrl)....Wholly or partly open to the sky: an ancient hypaethral temple.

"Vajradakini.....Vajradakini is the designation of the dancing semi-wrathful form of Vajravarahi. She holds a vajra knife in her raised right hand, and a cup, or sometimes a vial, of amrita in the other....The symbolism of the cup that she raises to her lips is related to the activity of the Great Goddess of India, Durga. .....Sometimes she is depicted holding a two-sided drum as when she is equated with Machig Labdron, who popularized the Chod (pron. cho) as a complete path."

Yogini (Sanskrit: योगिनी, yoginī) is the complete form source word of the masculine yogi- and neutral/plural "yogin." Far from being merely a gender tag to all things yogi, "Yogini" represents both a female master practitioner of Yoga, and a formal term of respect for a category of modern female spiritual teachers (in both hinduism and buddhism) in eastern countries such as India, Nepal, and Tibet.Numerous great yoginis and female mystics are mentioned in the Vedas; in fact, many of the vedic rishis were yoginis, rishikas. In classical Sanskrit literature, Yogini is the name of a class of female tantric sorceresses in the train of Durga, sometimes enumerated as 60, 64 or 65 (Harivaṃśa, Kathāsaritsāgara).Female power here denotes balance. In her book Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism, scholar Miranda Shaw writes that a large number of women like Dombiyogini, Sahajayogicinta, Lakshminkara, Mekhala, Kankhala Gangadhara, Siddharajni, and others, were respected yoginis and advanced seekers on the path to enlightenment.

"In the Tibetan Buddhism and Bön tradition, a female practitioner is known as a ngagma (see ngagpa), and in the Drikung Kagyu school of Buddhism, togdenma (Tenzin Palmo). These married tantric practitioners are required to devote significant time to retreat and spiritual practice. Ngagma are particularly known for performing birth rituals, weddings, funerals, divinations, and pacification of spiritual disruptions. Some ngagmas are comparable in practice to the Mahasidda yoginis of Indian Buddhism.

"Yogini is a term that finds reference in several texts related to Hinduism and Buddhism where its literal meaning is "shaman" or wisdom seer (rishi), a definition that could just as easily be interpreted as “alchemist.” Some of the greatest of the ancient rishis were in fact women. A female rishi is known as a rishika.

The Sixty-Four Yogini temples...Chausathi yogini (sixty-four yogini) temple located at Hirapur, Odisha.....One of the Yogini of Chausathi Yogini Temple at Hirapur, Odisha.....There are four major extant sixty four yogini temples in India, two in Odisha and two in Madhya Pradesh. One of the most impressive yogini temples in Odisha is the 9th century CE hypaethral Chausathi yogini (sixty-four yogini) temple located at Hirapur in Khurda district, 15 km south of Bhubaneshwar. Another hypaethral sixty-four yogini temple in Odisha is the Chausathi yogini pitha in Ranipur-Jharial, near Titilagarh in Balangir district. Presently only 62 images are found in this temple.

Kali stands on the corpse of Shiva with her long tongue sticking out of her mouth.....Kali wears a garland of skulls & a full skirt of arms.....Kali is the dark Hindu Goddess of time and change.

Goddess Durga (Hindustani pronunciation: [d̪uːrgaː]; Sanskrit: दुर्गा), meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; durga) is the most popular incarnation of Devi and one of the main forms of the Goddess Shakti in the Hindu pantheon.Ramprasad Chanda writes the following about the evolution of Durga from primitive goddess to her current form.... "...it is possible to distinguish two different strata – one primitive and the other advanced. The primitive form of Durga is the result of syncretism of a mountain-goddess worshiped by the dwellers of the Himalaya and the Vindhyas, a goddess worshiped by the nomadic Abhira shepherd, the vegetation spirit conceived as a female, and a war-goddess. As her votaries advanced in civilisation the primitive war-goddess was transformed into the personification of the all-destroying time (Kali), the vegetation spirit into the primordial energy (Adya Sakti) and the saviouress from “samsara” (cycle of rebirths) , and gradually brought into line with the Brahmanic mythology and philosophy."

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

October 2013

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

**************************

Orissa, Oddiyana & the Indo-European Migration (1500 BC)

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

"Orissa in central south-eastern India, was founded by Indo-Europeans who migrated into India from around 1500 BC, but who were originally from Central Asia."….http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsFarEast/IndiaKalinga.htm

"Indo-Aryan Migration into India, c. 1750 B.C. ......This map shows the general route taken by the Indo-Aryans who migrated into India beginning around 1750 B.C. They were nomadic warriors who came from the Plateau of Iran and moved through the Hindu Kush Mountains into the Indus Valley and beyond to the Ganges Valley. With them they brought bronze weapons, horses, and chariots."

"Oddiyana, mentioned in some Buddhist texts, according to some scholars may have referred to Orissa.".....Jitāmitra Prasāda Siṃhadeba (2001). Tāntric Art of Orissa.....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Odisha

"Odivissa: A name used in some Buddhist texts, including in those by Taranatha."...Thomas E. Donaldson (2001). Iconography of the Buddhist Sculpture of Orissa

"The term "Odisha" is derived from the ancient Sanskrit term Odra Desa or Odra Vishaya (lit. land of the Odra). In Pali, natives of this region were called Oddaka and in Sanskrit they were called Odra.

"Schism Between Asura and Deva Worshippers......The story of the differences between the asuras and devas were of course a reflection of the differences and the violent conflict between the deva and asura worshippers. While, as we have mentioned, the Hindu scriptures do not directly refer to Mazda worshippers, the Zoroastrian and Persian texts talk about the conflict as one between the deva and Mazda worshippers. We will therefore refer to the conflict as between the deva and asura-Mazda worshippers.....According to the poet Ferdowsi's epic, the Shahnameh, at the dawn of history the Mazda worshippers and the deva worshippers fought two primordial battles. The battles took place during the reign of the first Aryan king, Gaya Maretan (a name later shortened first to Gayo-Mard and then Kayomars in the Shahnameh). The first battle started when the deva worshippers led by Ahriman, attacked Gaya Maretan's Mazda worshippers......At the time of Zarathushtra's birth, Mazda worship had lost ground to deva worship, as had the virtues of honesty and not causing harm to others....The first royal patron of Zarathushtra's religion was King Vishtasp. Ferdowsi's Shahnameh tells us that King Vishtasp was king of Balkh....the War of Religion (cf. Greater Bundahishn 9.36 and Lesser Bundahishn 12.36) in which Vishtasp was apparantly victorious .....The conflict and Vishtasp's victory could have resulted in the deva worshippers living in his Central Asian kingdom, leaving or being pushed south through the Hindu Kush mountain passes into the upper Indus valley (today's Pakistan). It is possible that the Indus valley had previously been populated by deva worshippers, and that those from Central Asia migrated to join their co-religionists. The Hindu Kush (meaning Hindu Killer) would from that point, have formed a border between the Zoroastrian Mazda worshippers and the deva worshippers.".....http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/aryans/religion2.htm

The Deva and Mahish-asura armies meet in battle.....Berkley Art Museum

"The Oriya, known classically by various names (Odia, Odri, Utkaliya, Kalingi, Latin: Uri), are an ethnic group of eastern India and of eastern Indo-Aryan stock. They constitute a majority in the eastern coastal state of Odisha, with minority populations in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh…..The vast majority of the Oriyas are Hindus and are known for their history of Sun worship. Odisha is home to some of the oldest Sun temples in India, including Konark. There are small Christian and Muslim minorities......The term 'Oriya', while sometimes used to refer to any inhabitant of Odisha (that is, an Orissi or Odishan), more precisely refers to the ethnic group which natively speaks the Oriya language. Odisha marks the southeastern frontier of Aryan expansion and is therefore also home to a large tribal population of Dravidian and Munda origin. While many of them have adopted the Oriya language, they maintain a distinct identity and there is no discernible admixture between them and the Oriyas."….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriya_people

"The word Oriya comes from ancient Sanksrit Odra. The Odrakas are mentioned as one of the people that fought in the Mahabharata, a testimony to their Aryan roots. Pali literature calls them Oddakas. Ptolemy and Pliny the Elder also refer to the Oretas who inhabit India's eastern coast…..

"….did the Aryans enter India in a single wave or did they enter through different waves of migration? Hoernle has suggested -that the Aryans entered India mainly in two waves. The first wave of migrating Aryans entered through the Kabul valley to Punjab. The second wave crossed the Gilgit, Chitral route and reached East Punjab and finally colonized the Ganga-Yamuna valley. The first wave of migrating Aryans belonged to Rig Vedic culture and the second group represented Brahmanical culture and they ultimately dominated the Brahmarshi Desa or Madhya Desa. Rapson has, however opposed the Hoernle theory. He has pointed out that the Indus Delta and the Gangetic plain are divided by a natural barrier. Hence the Aryans first migrated to the Indus valley and from that base they colonized the Ganga-Yamuna valley over long course of time after crossing the natural barrier. However archaeologists are inclined to suggest that the Aryans using gray-pottery entered Indian interior in two waves. In the middle of the second millennium B.C. the gray-pottery using Aryans belonging to copper bronze culture entered India. In the early centuries of one millennium B.C. the iron using gray-pottery Aryans entered India. In short they came in two waves."….http://www.importantindia.com/1066/migration-of-aryans/

"The evidences of the Later Vedic literature shows that in the Later Vedic period the Aryans migrated into the interior parts of India. The river Ganges is mentioned only once in the Rig Veda, but in the Later Vedic literature, the Ganges and the Yamuna are frequently mentioned. The Aryans became familiar with the river Sarayu in U.P. The mention of Kasi, Videha and Magadha indicate that they migrated as far as Bihar. The Satapatha Brahmana in the Yajur Veda mentions these places. It is estimated that the Aryans many years. It is estimated that the Aryan expansion in eastern India took place between 1000 B.C. and 800 B.C…."….http://www.importantindia.com/1066/migration-of-aryans/

"Odissi, also known as Orissi (Oriya: ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ oṛiśī), is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. It originates from the state of Odisha, in eastern India. It is the oldest surviving dance form of India on the basis of archaeological evidences….In the Tantric temples, such as the Hirapur Shrine, many of the yoginis especially are depicted in poses reminiscent of present day Odissi. "…..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odissi_dance

"Mentioned in the Mahabharata, Kalinga probably played host to more than one small kingdom. Two early capitals were at Dantapura and Rajapura, but its historical beginnings are very hazy. The royal line of Kalinga is said to have originated from King Vali, who may have been the king of Magadha, along with the originally non-Vedic lines of Anga, Pundra, Suhma, and Vanga…..Many small kingdoms existed in northern India while the powerful kingdom of Magadha dominated in north-eastern India during the first millennium BC, and occasionally extended its influence across the entire Ganges Plain towards the modern border with Pakistan. Like Magadha, the kingdom of Kalinga (roughly the Puri, Ganjam and Cuttack districts of modern Orissa in central south-eastern India and part of Andhra Pradesh), was founded by Indo-Europeans who migrated into India from around 1500 BC, but who were originally from Central Asia…..

"From about 2000 BC, the Indus Valley civilization began to decline. The history of these centuries is obscure, but this decline has been linked by modern scholars to environmental factors, such as change in climate patterns or an overuse of land and water resources; possible invasion by Indo-European tribes from central Asia may have been another factor. In any event, by about 1700 BC the large cities of the Indus valley had disappeared altogether. At about the same time, newcomers to India made their appearance, Indo-European speaking, semi-nomadic pastoralists from central Asia. They have brought with them the domestic horse and two-wheeled chariots, and have begun spreading out over the great plains of northern India. These “Aryans” are already starting to compose an oral poetry consisting of hymns, spells, rituals, dialogues and proverbs, which in later times will form the Vedas, the ancient foundation literature of Hindu civilization. These reflect a world under the rule of warrior aristocrats."….http://www.timemaps.com/history/south-asia-1500bc

"Indo-Aryan migration to and within Northern India is consequently presumed to have taken place in the Middle to Late Bronze Age, contemporary to the Late Harappan phase in India (c. 1700 to 1300 BC)….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migration_period_of_ancient_Burma

"According to the simplest and perhaps most popular scenario Tsilupa and Kalachakrapada the Elder were actually the same person, a so-called "madasiddha," or holy man, who hailed from Cuttack in what is now the state of Orissa. Tsilupa did apparently make a journey of some sort to the north of India, regardless of how events on his journey later became mythologized. The journey, however, takes on different connotations according to which version of the Legend which we accept. A strictly historical approach would maintain that Tsilupa actually traveled by conventional means to a country which then actually existed in the material realm, but to which legend has given the name of Shambhala, and there met with teachers or adepts who taught him the Kalachakra and presented him with actual texts which he then brought back to India."….http://www.shambhala.mn/Files/transmission.html

"Oddiyana: Oddiyana, mentioned in some Buddhist texts, according to some scholars may have referred to Orissa."….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Odisha

"According to geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza in the book The History and Geography of Human Genes, the Dravidians were preceded in the subcontinent by Austroasiatic speakers, and were followed by Indo-European-speaking migrants sometime later….Some scholars like J. Bloch and M. Witzel believe that the Indo-Aryan moved into an already Dravidian speaking area after the oldest parts of the Rig Veda were already composed… native Dravidian speakers learning and adopting Indo-Aryan languages….

"The Indo-Aryan migration theory describes how the Indo-Aryan speaking people arrived in the Indian subcontinent, by proposing a migration from BMAC (present-day northern Afghanistan) into northern ancient India (modern day India and Pakistan). These migrations started approximately 1,800 BCE, after the invention of the war chariot, and also brought Indo-Aryan languages into the Levant and possibly Inner Asia. It was part of the diffusion of Indo-European languages from the proto-Indo-European homeland at the Pontic steppe, a large area of grasslands in far Eastern Europe, which started in the 5th to 4th millennia BCE, and the Indo-European migrations out of the Eurasian steppes, which started approximately 2,000 BCE......The theory posits that these Indo-Aryan speaking people may have been a genetically diverse group of people who were united by shared cultural norms and language, referred to as aryā, "noble." Diffusion of this culture and language took place by patron-client systems, which allowed for the absorption and acculturalisation of other groups into this culture, and explains the strong influence on other cultures with which it interacted.......The idea of an Indo-Aryan immigration was developed shortly after the discovery of the Indo-European language family in the late 18th century, when similarities between western and Indian languages had been noted. Given these similarities, a single source or origin was proposed, which was diffused by migrations from some original homeland. This linguistic argument is complemented with genetic, archaeological, literary, and cultural evidence, and research and discussions on it continue......The proto-Indo-Iranians, from which the Indo-Aryans developed, are identified with the Sintashta culture (2100–1800 BCE), and the Andronovo culture, which flourished ca. 1800–1400 BCE in the steppes around the Aral sea, present-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The proto-Indo-Iranians were influenced by the Bactria-Margiana Culture, south of the Andronovo culture, from which they borrowed their distinctive religious beliefs and practices. The Indo-Aryans split off around 1800-1600 BCE from the Iranians, whereafter the Indo-Aryans migrated into the Levant and north-western India."

"*** The debate about the origin of Indo-Aryan peoples is controversial, resulting in political agitation and inflamed sentiments. Some have rejected the theory of Indo-Aryan origins outside of India, maintaining that the Indo-Aryan people and languages originated in India."....Tobin Siebers. Religion and the Authority of the Past. University of Michigan Press. p. 52.

Witzel, Michael (1999), "Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan (Ṛgvedic, Middle and Late Vedic)"
Witzel, Michael (2001), "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts"
Witzel, Michael (2005), "Indocentrism", in Bryant, Edwin; Patton, Laurie L., TheE Indo-Aryan Controversy. Evidence and inference in Indian history, Routledge
Witzel, Michael (2006), "Rama's realm: Indocentric rewritings of early South Asian archaeology and history", in Fagan, Garrett G., Archaeological Fantasies

**************************

Shivini: Solar Deity of Utartu (9th Century BC)

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

Part of a bronze belt. Karmir Blur.... the god Shivini, who is resting on one knee and supporting the winged sun-disc. Behind Shivini there is the god Teisheba on a bull, and below him the cartouche with the stylized sacred tree. On the left there are preserved the front parts of a shedu—the winged lion with a human head. (Armenian Historical Museum)]

"The image above is from Urartu, the kingdom of Van, and shows a figure of divinity atop a bull. He wears the horned cap of divinity, has the wings of divinity, a pattern of rosettes the symbol of the Tree of Life surrounds him, holds the 3 segmented fruit from the Tree of Life and on top of his cap is a representation of the winged disk. Each of the fruits is debossed with a rosette. This is the ultimate image of divinity.... Shamush Sun Disksame arrangement is how the winged disk is represented. The Assyrians show Ashur their national god in much the same way. The circular rim with attached wings is a representation of the winged disk and is called the solar disk...... it is more than likely in this context to relate to the third person of the Urartian pantheon Shivini. The real sun disk, the sun disk of Shamash, is the smaller image of the stone disk. Look closely and you can see the rim with what appears as an empty center. There are pros and cons as to who is the origin of Shivini.".....http://firstlegend.info/van.html

"Shivini or Artinis (the present form of the name is Artin, meaning "sun rising" or to "awake", was a solar god in the mythology of the Urartu, a prehistoric Iron Age kingdom. He is the third god in a triad with Khaldi and Theispas and is cognate with the triad in Hinduism called Shivam. The Assyrian god Shamash is a counterpart to Shivini. He was depicted as a man on his knees, holding up a solar disc. His wife was most likely a goddess called Tushpuea who is listed as the third goddess on the Mheri-Dur inscription. Shivini is generally considered a good god, like that of the Egyptian solar god, Aten, and unlike the solar god of the Assyrians, Ashur to whom sometimes human sacrifices were made."....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urartu

Khaldi was one of the three chief deities of Ararat (Urartu). His shrine was at Ardini.....The other two chief deities were Theispas of Kumenu, and Shivini of Tushpa....Of all the gods of Ararat (Urartu) pantheon, the most inscriptions are dedicated to him. His wife was the goddess Arubani. He is portrayed as a man with or without a beard, standing on a lion. Khaldi was a warrior god whom the kings of Urartu would pray to for victories in battle. The temples dedicated to Khaldi were adorned with weapons, such as swords, spears, bow and arrows, and shields hung off the walls and were sometimes known as 'the house of weapons'."

Artinis……The Urartian (pre-Armenian) sun-god. He is one of the non-Aryan triad, with Khaldi and Theispas….http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artinis.html

"Shamash (Akkadian Šamaš "Sun"), was a native Mesopotamian deity and the sun god in the Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian pantheons. Shamash was the god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu. Akkadian šamaš is cognate to Syriac šemša or šimšu Hebrew שֶׁמֶשׁ šemeš and Arabic شمس šams…..The Assyrian god Shamash is a counterpart to Shivini…the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel to slay Humbaba, each morning they pray and make libation to shamash in the direction of the rising sun for safe travels."....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamash

"Urartu (Armenian: Ուրարտու - Urartu, Assyrian: māt Urarṭu; Babylonian: Urashtu), corresponding to the biblical Kingdom of Ararat (Armenian: Արարատյան Թագավորություն) or Kingdom of Van (Armenian: Վանի Թագավորություն, Urartian: Biai, Biainili;) was a prehistoric Iron Age kingdom centred around Lake Van…. The kingdom rose to power in the mid-9th century BC, but was conquered by Media in the early 6th century BC….. the people of Urartu called themselves Khaldini after their god Khaldi. Boris Piotrovsky wrote that "the Urartians first appear in history in the 13th century B.C. as a league of tribes or countries which did not yet constitute a unitary state…..In the early 6th century BC, the Urartian Kingdom was replaced by the Orontid dynasty. In the trilingual Behistun inscription, carved in 521/0 BC by the order of Darius the Great of Persia, the country referred to as Urartu in Assyrian is called Arminiya in Old Persian and Harminuia in Elamite…..Archaeological sites within its boundaries include Altintepe, Toprakkale, Patnos and Cavustepe. Urartu fortresses included Erebuni (present day Yerevan city), Van Fortress, Argishtihinili, Anzaf, Cavustepe and Başkale, as well as Teishebaini (Karmir Blur, Red Mound) and others….. in 1989 Ayanis, a 7th-century BC fortress built by Rusas II of Urartu, was discovered 35 km north of Van. In spite of excavations, only a third to a half of the 300 known Urartian sites in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia have been examined by archaeologists (Wartke 1993). Without protection, many sites have been plundered by local residents searching for treasure and other saleable antiquities"…..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urartu

Urartian cuneiform tablet recording the foundation of Erebuni Fortress by Argishti.

"With the expansion of Urartian territory, many of the gods worshiped by conquered peoples were incorporated into the Urartian pantheon……examples of incorporated deities are the goddesses Bagvarti (Bagmashtu) and Selardi. On Mheri-Dur, or Meher-Tur (the "Gate of Mehr"), overlooking modern Van, an inscription lists a total of 79 deities, and what type of sacrificial offerings should be made to each; goats, sheep, cattle, and other animals served as the sacrificial offerings. Urartians did not practice human sacrifice."…..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urartu

Male figure (Shamash or Ashur) in an Assyrian winged sun emblem (North-West Palace of Nimrud, 9th century BC; British Museum). This iconography later gave rise to the Zoroastrian Faravahar symbol.

"The pantheon was headed by a triad made up of Khaldi (the supreme god), Theispas (Teisheba) god of thunder and storms, as well as sometimes war, and Shivini a solar god. Their king was also the chief-priest or envoy of Khaldi. Some temples to Khaldi were part of the royal palace complex while others were independent structures."….Piotrovsky, Boris B. (1969). The Ancient Civilization of Urartu: An Archaeological Adventure. Cowles Book Co. ISBN 0-214-66793-6.

"Ḫaldi (dḪaldi, also known as Khaldi or Hayk) was one of the three chief deities of Ararat (Urartu). His shrine was at Ardini. The other two chief deities were Theispas of Kumenu, and Shivini of Tushpa……Of all the gods of Ararat (Urartu) panthenon, the most inscriptions are dedicated to him. His wife was the goddess Arubani. He is portrayed as a man with or without a beard, standing on a lion……Khaldi was a warrior god whom the kings of Urartu would pray to for victories in battle. The temples dedicated to Khaldi were adorned with weapons, such as swords, spears, bow and arrows, and shields hung off the walls and were sometimes known as 'the house of weapons'."….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaldi_(god)

Khaldi……The Urartian (pre-Armenian) supreme god of heaven. He is one of the non-Aryan triad, with Theispas and Artinis. The Urartians regarded themselves as his children and called themselves Khaldians….Theispas….The Urartian (pre-Armenian) weather-god…..http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/theispas.html

"Theispas (also known as Teisheba or Teišeba) of Kumenu was the Araratian (Urartian) weather-god, notably the god of storms and thunder. He was also sometimes the god of war. He formed part of a triad along with Khaldi and Shivini. The ancient Araratian cities of Teyseba and Teishebaini were named after Theispas. He is a counterpart to the Assyrian god Adad, and the Hurrian god, Teshub. He was often depicted as a man standing on a bull, holding a handful of thunderbolts. His wife was the goddess Huba, who was the counterpart of the Hurrian goddess Hebat."

"Tushpa (Armenian: Տոսպ Tosp, Assyrian: Turuspa, Turkish: Tuşpa) was the 9th-century BC capital of Urartu, later becoming known as Van which is derived from Biaina the native name of Urartu….Archaeological excavations and surveys carried out in the Van Province indicate that the history of human settlement in this region dates back at least as far as 5000 BC. The Tilkitepe Mound located along the shores of Lake Van and a few kilometres to the south of the citadel of Van, is the only the known source of information about the oldest cultures of Van predating the founding of Tushpa….

Kala Van......The Fortress of Van (Armenian: Վանի Բերդ, also known as Van Citadel, Turkish: Van Kalesi or Kurdish: Kela Wanê) is a massive stone fortification built by the ancient kingdom of Urartu during the 9th to 7th centuries BC,

"The religion of Urartu was the religion of a large kingdom, and it follows normal structures for other larger contemporary religious systems: A polytheistic pantheon where different gods had their separate cult centres. Gods were associated with, and ruled over certain natural powers, but they needed not be confined by this. Possibly inspired by other religious systems, Urartian religion had a sort of triad, or a theology of three main gods: Shivini, Theispas and Khaldi....These three gods were gods of the basic interests of a society like Urartu was: sun; storm and thunder (hence rain); and war. Gods were depicted in an anthropomorphic manner....Apparently, the most important god was the warrior god, Khaldi; temples to him were built into many royal palaces and the king was also Khaldi's high priest. Still, the other gods may have been considered higher than Khaldi must have been with the Urartian warrior elite."....http://i-cias.com/e.o/urartu.religion.htm

"Urartian castles. In the 9th and 8th centuries B.C. Urartian builders made fundamental contributions to the development of fortress architecture in the Near East. They adapted Mesopotamian fortification methods to the landscape of their own settlement area, the so-called Armenian highlands, but a further advance can also be observed. In this early period Urartian fortresses were erected without regard to the natural terrain, according to a predetermined plan, so that heavy walls and high terraces were frequently necessary. Plain facades predominated, buttressed and defended by massive towers at the corners and along the walls, as at Qaḷʿa-ye Sīāh (Figure 3e), a castle constructed on a flat lava field 36 km east of Māku (Kleiss, 1973)."....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/castles

Armenian Mythology: Stories of Armenian Gods and Goddesses, Heroes and ... By Mardiros Harootioon Ananikian

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

October 2013

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

**************************

Zhutrul Yeshi & Mucho Demdrug (Tagzig : 1196 BC)

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

Zhutrul Yeshi…."Around 1196 B.C., Zhutrul Yeshi, a great master from Tagzig established the Bon monastic system and propagated the practice of monastic discipline and philosophical study in the kingdoms of Zhang Zhung and Tibet with energy and devotion. Mutri Tsenpo, the second king of Tibet, was interested in the Bon trantric practice Drakpa Kor Sum and invited many scholars from Zhang Zhung to teach it. Through his efforts, the practice of Tantra, the path of transformation, flourished widely in Tibet."…..http://www.olmoling.org/contents/bon_bonpo

"The founder of the ancient Yungdrung Bön spiritual tradition was the Buddha Tonpa Shenrab. Tonpa Shenrab was born at the palace Barpo Sogye of Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring. According to the Bön canon, his birth dates 18,000 years ago. His father was Gyalbon Thodkar of the Mu clan and his mother Yochi Gyalzhedma. His teachings are called ‘Yung Drung Bön’ or ‘Eternal Bön’, and practitioners of Bön are called ‘Bonpo’."….http://gyalshen.org/history-of-bon-2/

"1,800 years later, Mucho Demdrug organized and classified the entire teaching of Tonpa Shenrab into four categories. The prayers, mantras, the teachings on monastic discipline or precepts, and the biography of Tonpa Shenrab were arranged as part of the Sutra collection (mDo). The second category, Prajnaparamita or ‘Bum’, consists of the detailed exposition of the Perfection of Wisdom teachings. The third category, Tantra, or (rGyud) consists of deity visualization, and ritual and esoteric tantric practices. The forth category, ‘mDzod’ consists of the teachings on Dzogchen meditation practices. He also wrote commentaries to these teachings and taught them to many students. Through his teachings and efforts, the teachings of Yungdrung Bön flourished throughout Zhang-zhung and Tibet."……http://gyalshen.org/history-of-bon-2/

"Out of Mucho Demdrug's many students, six become great scholars who translated the teachings of Yungdrung Bön into different languages: Mutsa Tahe and Guhuli Paraya translated Yungdrung Bön into the language of Tagzig. Tritok Partsa translated Yungdrung Bön into Zhang Zhung. Letang Mangpo translated Yungdrung Bön into Chinese. Lhadag Ngadro translated Yungdrung Bön into Indian language, and Sertok Chezam translated Yungdrung Bön into the language of Trom.……http://gyalshen.org/history-of-bon-2/

"Of Tonpa Shenrab's many disciples, the foremost was Mucho Demdrug (Mu cho lDem drug), who in his turn taught many students, the most important of whom were the 'Six Great Translators': Mutsha Trahe (dMu tsha Tra he) of Tazig, Trithog Pasha (Khri thog sPa tsha) of Zhang-zhung, Hulu Paleg (Hu lu sPa legs) of Sum pa (east of Zhang-zhung), Lhadag Nagdro (Lha bdags sNgags grol) of India, Legtang Mangpo (Legs tang rMang po) of China and Sertog Chejam (gSer thog lCe byams) of Phrom (Mongolia)."…..http://bon-encyclopedia.wikispaces.com/Tonpa+Shenrab

"To other scholars, the description seems to resemble the geography of the Middle East and Persia in the time of Cyrus the Great. "…..http://www.manjushri.com/teachings/t-Bon.htm

"To a Bonpo, the question of the geographic identification of Olmo Lungring is less important than its symbology which is clearly made use of to indicate the supramandane origin of the tradition. Symbolic descriptions which combine history, geography and mythology are well known phenomena in ancient texts. The Buddhist description of the universe with Mount Meru supporting the sky, the four Chief Continents to the four cardinal points and this earth as the southern continent is another similar example."…..…..http://www.manjushri.com/teachings/t-Bon.htm

"Shenrab also had a son from each of these two marriages. The son from the first marriage was named Mucho Demdrug, who was later appointed as the successor of Shenrab and taught Bon for three years after his father‟s death (see mDo dus, p. 231). In contradistinction to all other Bon sources, only the author(s) of the mDo dus has recorded that Mucho Demdrug was a son of Shenrab.183 The son from the second marriage was named Oldrug Thangpo. Not much is known about him in Bon sources, except that he also taught Bon for three years (see mDo dus, p. 231) after his half-brother Mucho Demdrug."….https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/17677/ChapterFive.pdf

Tagzig....Mutsha Trahe (dMu tsha Tra he) of Tazig.....Mutsa Tahe and Guhuli Paraya translated Yung Drung Bon into the language of Tagzig....Tonpa Shenrab was born at the palace Barpo Sogye of Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring....sTag-gzig (Tazig) [often identified with Bactria]...Bactria (from Βακτριανή, the Hellenized version of Old Persian Bāxtriš; Bactrian: Baktra; Persian/Pashto: باختر Bākhtar; Uzbek: Балх; Tajik: Бохтар; Chinese: 大夏 Dàxià; Sanskrit बाह्लीक Bāhlika) is the ancient name of a historical region located south of the Amu Darya and west of Gandhara, one of the ancient civilizations of Iranian peoples....Ancient Bactria was in present-day northern Afghanistan, between the Hindu Kush mountain range and the Amu Darya.....referred to by the Greeks as Bactriana.

Zhangzhung.....Trithog Pasha (Khri thog sPa tsha) of Zhang-zhung.....Tritok Partsa translated Yung Drung Bon into Zhang Zhung.....Zhangzhung (Tibetan: ཞང་ཞུང་ ; Tibetan pronunciation: [ɕaŋɕuŋ]; Chinese: 象雄; Chinese pinyin : Xiàngxióng) was an ancient culture and kingdom of western and northwestern Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which in turn, has influenced the philosophies and practices of Tibetan Buddhism. Zhangzhung people are mentioned frequently in ancient Tibetan texts as the original rulers of central and western Tibet. Only in the last two decades have archaeologists been given access to do archaeological work in the areas once ruled by the Zhangzhung.... the Zhang Zhung civilization consisted of 18 kingdoms......Western Tibet, from Gilgit to Khotan....

Sum pa.....Hulu Paleg (Hu lu sPa legs) of Sum pa (east of Zhang-zhung)

China.....Legtang Mangpo (Legs tang rMang po) of China....Letang Mangpo translated Yung Drung Bon into Chinese.

India....Lhadag Nagdro (Lha bdags sNgags grol) of India....Lhadag Ngadro translated Yung Drung Bon into Indian language,

Phrom......Sertog Chejam (gSer thog lCe byams) of Phrom....and Sertok Chezam translated Yung Drung Bon into the language of Trom....Gesar is said to hail from Trom....."Trom Gesar" .....this title is known to have been used by Turkic kings ruling in the area of what is now Afghanistan, who were allies of the Tibetan empire during the eighth century....Gesar may have the same root word as caesar, kaiser, and tsar.

Zariasta was located in the once rich and fertile region of Bactria and encircled by the great Pamir and Caucasus Asia Mountains and the ancient cultures of Tagzig, Uddiyana, Bactria, Kapisa, Tibet, ZanZun, Gandhara and Uighur.

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

October 2013

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

**************************