israel krishna

ANCIENT MAP OF ISRAEL - THE SRI KRISHNA, SRI RAMA AND KASHMIR CONNECTION

Much has been written about the possibility of Jesus Christ having spent some of the missing years of his life in India, and the similarities between his life story and that of the life of Sri Krishna, but there is much more that has been left untouched.

That includes the India connection to the names of the ancient rivers and mountains and places in Israel.

First the name 'Canaan'. Canaan was an ancient land corresponding to modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel and was also known as Phoenicia. The Ancient History Encyclopedia says,"The origin of the name 'Canaan’ comes from various ancient texts (among them the Hebrew Bible) and there is no scholarly consensus on precisely where the name originated nor what it was intended to convey about the land. According to the Bible the land was named after a man called Canaan, the grandson of Noah (Genesis 10). Other theories cite `Canaan’ as derived from the Hurrian language for `purple’ and, as the Greeks knew the Canaanites as `Phoenicians’ (Greek for `purple’ as the Phoenicians worked in purple dye and so were called by the Greeks `purple people’) this explanation is the most probable but, by no means, provable"- says the Ancient History Encyclopedia. But, there are more plausible explanations supported by cultural collateral as evidence.

Canaan is historically attested throughout the 4th  millennium BC. The later Amarna Letters use the name 'Kinahhu', while other sources of the Egyptian New Kingdom mention numerous military campaigns conducted in a place called 'Ka-na-na'. Now all these ancient names are cognates to the name 'Kanha' (कान्हा) - the name of Sri Krishna who was also known as 'Kanan' (कानन) and 'Kishen' (किशन). 

One of the largest rivers in Israel, known as the Kishon (also called Kishen) drains into the Jezreel (also called Yizreel) valley. The name Kishon is a cognate of 'Kishen', the name of the Hindu God, Sri Krishna as mentioned above. Even, to this day the name Krishan is pronounced as Kishen in Kashmir. The name of his mother was 'Yashodha' (यशोधा) also called 'Jashoda' (जशोधा) , close cognates of the names Yizreel and Jezreel. The Kishon flows in the region known as Phoenicia. In the same province are located the towns of 'Ramah' and 'Kanah'. Near to the town of Ramah is 'Kadesh' also called 'Kudesh' (कुदेश), meaning 'inhospitable land' in Sanskrit, referring to the wilderness of Kadesh. It is quite logical to say that 'Ramah' and 'Kanah' get their name from Sri Rama and Sri Krishna.

To the East of Phoenicia lies the province of Gallile which gets its name from the 'Sea of Galilee', which is also known as Kinneret (as it is called in Old Testament) or Lake Gennesaret (as it is called in the Gospel of Luke). All Bible writers use the term 'sea' for 'Sea of Galilee' except the Gospel of Luke, where it is called a 'lake'. And 'lake' it should be called - for it is 'lake'.

Here is a look at the name 'Gennesaret' through the Sanskrit lens. First, a look at 'saret', the second part of the word. In Sanskrit, 'sara' (सर) means 'lake', 'sarat' (सरत्) means 'flowing', and 'sarita' (सरित्) means 'river'. The word 'ghanasara' (घनसार) means 'water' - the 'ghana' here indicating 'deep' or 'immense' amount of water. That establishes the Sanskrit connection.

The Biblical name 'Kinneret', which is the more ancient name and precedes the name 'Gannesaret'. It  comes from the Hebrew word 'kinnor' meaning 'harp' - which is regarded as the 'instrument of music in heaven'. The lake is supposed to be shaped like a 'harp'. In Sanskrit too 'kinnar' (किन्नर) means 'heavenly music'. Also, the 'kinnars' are a 'heavenly race' of men mentioned throughout the Ramayana. The female counterpart of the 'kinnars' were the 'apsaras'. In the Ramayana the 'kinnars' are always mentioned along with the 'apsaras'. So if there was a 'Kinneret', was there a lake dedicated to the 'apsaras' too? The Bible does mention a lake by the name 'Asphar' in Israel, also the Dead Sea was known as 'Ashphalites', though now the name is connected to 'asphalt' - though there is no known etymological source of 'asphalt' and is credited to non-Greek, non-Latin unknown source. 

Then there is the Susita River, also now called the Hippos. 'Susit' (सुसिता) means 'white' in Sanskrit. There is also a town by the name 'Susit' in Israel. The list is endless.

We digress here and touch a bit upon what might be of interest to many readers and that is the question whether Jesus Christ ever travelled to India, especially to Srinagar in Kashmir. There are a number of places, geographically located in Israel and in areas around Srinagar in India, their names cognates of one another, and related to the life of Christ as well. These names indicate that the belief that Jesus lived a part of his life in India is indeed a fact. 

1. In a way the map of Israel, especially the area adjoining the Ganeesaret Lake, is the map of Srinagar around the Dal Lake.

If one were to take Ganne-Saret as the equivalent of the Dal Lake who's ancient name was Maha-Sarit (महा-सरित) , we find that both these names mean the same - 'a huge water body'. We proceed from there and find the mountain peak of Harmukh, the highest peak in the vicinity of Srinagar - and the abode of Shiva. And on the map of Israel you see a river by the name Yarmouk - a cognate of the Sanskrit Harmukh. 'Yarmouk' is a tributary of River Jordon and flows through the GanneSaret Lake.

2. And then there is Mt. Hermon, which is also a pretty close cognate of the name 'Harmukh'. One may think equating the two names is a bit of a stretch but then we find that located at the bottom of Mt. Hermon is a lake by the name 'Ram' which makes one stop and think. There is a town called 'Ramah' in Phonecia. Then there is the town of 'Ramathiam' in the province of Judea - and yet another town by the name of 'Ramah' in Judea which is different from the one located in Phoenicia. 

In Assyria, Mt. Hermon was known as 'Sinieru'. And 'Sineiru' is the Pali (a Sanskrit derived language of India) name for Meru. Hence, another link is established with Sanskrit. In any case, the Biblical name of Syria was 'Aram' and the language of the Bible 'Aramiac'.

3. Another river that flows into the Gannesarat is the Bethasaida. Many words that begin with the sound 'V' in Sanskrit distort into 'B' in Sanskrit derived languages. If the same principle be applied in the case of 'Bethsaida', it has then definitely originated from the name 'Vetasta' (वितस्ता) - the ancient name of the river Jhelum in Srinagar that flows along the Dal Lake or MahaSarit as it was once called.

4. The River Jordon that feeds the Genesserat, is one of the major rivers of Israel and Jordon. It is said means 'descend' in Hebrew. But in all likeliness the name stems from the Sanskrit 'jhara' (झर)  which means 'descending water' or 'waterfall'. The Sanskrit connection to the name 'Jordon' has been discussed in detail here and here.

5. Then on the south west end of the lake Gennesaret stands the city of Sinnabri, as mentioned in the Aramaic sources. It was called by the Greeks as Sennabris and by the Arabs as al-Sinnabra and Sinn-en-Nabra. In none of the languages, any light is thrown on the philology, etymology or the cultural context within which such a name emerged. But here is what Sanskrit reveals. If Ganneserat is the equivalent of the Mahasarit of Kashmir, then Sinnabri, has to be Srinagar (श्रीनगर) meaning 'beautiful city'!

There a bit more:

6. On the northwestern shore of lake Genesseret lay the city of 'Genesar'. In Douay-Rheims Bible (Gospel of Matthew) it is stated that it was in the city of Genesar where Jesus visited and performed healing:

[34] And having passed the water, they came into the country ofGenesar.
[35] And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent into all that country, and brought to him all that were diseased.
[36] And they besought him that they might touch but the hem of his garment. And as many as touched, were made whole. (Matthew 14:34-36).

Ganesar? Well that is just a distortion of the 'ghanasara' (घनसार) mentioned above - and the town was named after the lake.

Other occurrence of the name 'Canan', and therefore 'Kanha' (कान्हा) happens in the river by the name 'Cana' that flows in the Plains of Sharon just south of the Narabata River - the 'Narabata' is  probably a distortion of the Narmada (नर्मदा)  river of India.

....continued ..