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I was having a conversion with some friends of mine about ancient groups of people. One of my friends who also happens to be Indian stated that the worlds first language was something called Sanscript originating someplace in India. He also said that this was language was older than the "vedic" culture. I have never heard of sanscript so I didn't dispute it at the time. So is his statement true?
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quote:They say also that the Egyptians are colonists sent out by the Ethiopians, Osiris having been the leader of the colony....and many other matters of a similar nature are Ethiopian practices, while the shapes of their statues and the forms of their letters are Ethiopian; for of the two kinds of writing which the Egyptians have, that which is known as "popular" (demotic) is learned by everyone, while that which is called "sacred" is understood only by the priests of the Egyptians, who learn it from their fathers as one of the things which are not divulged, but among the Ethiopians everyone uses these forms of letters...
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markellion - "Ethiopians" does not refer to the country called "Ethiopia". The word is a Greek one meaning "Burnt Face" it refers to ALL of Africa south of Egypt.
The Greeks knew nothing of history; as when they entered Europe (ca. 1,200 B.C.) they were illiterate nomads.
Consequently they made-up a lot of things to explain the many things that they did not know.
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I know that Ethiopian does not mean the modern country of Ethiopia. Also Diodorus Siculus was also talking about what the Ethiopians said about themselves
"Many other things are also told by them concerning their own antiquity and the colony which they sent out that became the Egyptians, but about this there is no special need of our writing anything."Posts: 2642 | Registered: Sep 2007
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But Mike, "Ethiopian" doe not mean "burnt face". The Greeks had a word for the colour of Africans "melanchros". I have no idea what "Ethiopian" means.
Recall that well-known line from Aristotle's Physiognomica: "too black(melanchroes) a hue as with Egyptians and Etiopians marks a coward, so too, too white a hue as with women. The best colour is the coulour intermediate between these two extremes".
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quote:Originally posted by lamin: But Mike, "Ethiopian" doe not mean "burnt face". The Greeks had a word for the colour of Africans "melanchros". I have no idea what "Ethiopian" means.
Recall that well-known line from Aristotle's Physiognomica: "too black(melanchroes) a hue as with Egyptians and Etiopians marks a coward, so too, too white a hue as with women. The best colour is the coulour intermediate between these two extremes".
quote:Originally posted by Mike111: Common sense is not very common.
Man originated in Africa.
Man had language BEFORE he left Africa.
First written language;
Ancient Sumer; Ancient Egypt;
Pick your choice.
Yes obviously for someone who understands the OOA theory the answer the question is quite clear and simple. Thing is, my friens assertion of sanskrit as the first language was somehow in his mind a counter to the African origins of mankind.
I was actually expecting someone to perhaps post info on sanskrit and when it was invented. Since my good indian friend only gave me his word and suggested I look it up.
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Chrome-Soul - Sanskrit is the hybrid language that evolved with the melding of the language of the invading Arians and the language of the indigenous Black Dravidians of the Indus Valley Civilization. These people were also known by the names of their greatest cities: Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. In terms of size, this civilization was the largest of the original civilizations of man.
The people of Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and the other cities, shared a sophisticated system of weights and measures, used arithmetic with decimals, and had a written language that was partly phonetic and partly ideographic. The Indus people also utilized seals for signatures and pictorial presentation, as did the people to the northwest in Elam and Sumer. The Indus valley people carried on active trade relations with the middle-east in gold, copper utensils, lapis lazuli, ivory, beads and semiprecious stones.
The Indus religion was animistic, they used the Unicorn, cattle, elephants and other animals to represent their gods. They are seemingly the originators of the Unicorn, {the exact meaning of a horned Horse is unknown}. The Indus seals are amulets addressed to the gods and were worn on the body.
In the Seal below, we have a depiction of the Deity (in this case Maal/Mal) as a Unicorn, and then the votive inscription was written above the Deity (in Harappan script).
The manger, under the head of Maal is made up of several Indus signs. It reads Puu-i- Paa, or " A flourishing Condition, Thou distribute it".
Typical of their large planned cities, was Mohenjo-daro, which along with it's great buildings, had city streets laid out in a grid. The city is thought to have housed roughly 50,000 people, and had a granary, baths, assembly halls and towers. The city was divided into two parts, west of the city there stood a citadel surround by a wall.
The streets were straight and were drained to keep the area sanitary. Mohenjo-Daro had a building with an underground furnace and dressing rooms, suggesting bathing was done in heated pools - as in modern day Hindu temples. The people of the city used very little stone in their construction. They preferred bricks, two types of bricks mainly - fired bricks, and wood bricks - which were created by using burnt wood ash.
The White Arians from Central Asia invaded at about 1,500 B.C.
But as with the White people who invaded Europe, they were illiterate Nomadic people. More importantly, these particular Whites had no respect or belief in writing. So it was many hundreds of years later before they began to learn how to write.
Much later, at about 400 B.C. (no one really knows) the Arian's did learn to write, (this is when Sanskrit was born), however some Brahmins considered it a sacrilege to change from communicating their beliefs orally, to putting them in written form. But a sufficient number of Brahmins supported this innovation, and they began to put traditional Arian stories into writing. These writings became known as the Vedas - Veda meaning wisdom. These Vedas became wisdom literature, a literature that would be considered as an infallible source of timeless, revealed truth. The most important of the Vedas was the Rig Veda, which consisted of hymns or devotional incantations written in ten books.
Here are some excerpts from the Rig Veda. The Arian words for the original Black people were {Dasyus, Dasas and Simyus}.
a) He, much invoked, hath slain Dasyus and Simyus, after his wont, and laid them low with arrows. The mighty Thunderer with his fair-complexioned friends won the land, the sunlight, and the waters.
b) Sing, with oblation, praise to him who maketh glad, who with Rjisvan drove the dusky brood away.
c) Indra in battles help his Arian worshipper, he who hath hundred helps at hand in every fray, in frays that win the light of heaven. Plaguing the lawless he gave up to Manu's seed the dusky skin; Blazing, 'twere, he burns each covetous man away, he burns, the tyrannous away.
d) Strengthened by songs of praise thou rentest piecemeal the Dasa, him who deemed himself immortal. With us mayst thou, O Indra, waxen splendid, with Surya overcome the Dasa races.
e) Indra the Vrtra-slayer, Fort-destroyer, scattered the Dasa hosts who dwelt in darkness. {Prof. Uthaya Naidu translates this as "who sprang from a black womb."}
As you can see from the Veda verses, even at this late date, the Whites in India were still consumed with keeping the Blacks at bay.
Thus your Indian friend is in the same position as many modern Egyptians. They wish to claim the heritage of the ancients, but with little or none of their Blood.
Those in India who are related to the ancients can be determined by their skin color, the darker the skin, the purer the connection.
quote:The varieties of complexion prevailing among the Hindoos, who are Caucasians, are very noticeable. Bishop Heber was much struck, on his first arrival in Calcutta, by the great difference in colour between different natives. "Of the crowd by whom we were surrounded, some were black as Negroes, others merely copper colored, and others little darker than the Tunisians whom I have seen at Liverpool. Mr. Mill, the Principal of Bishop's College, who had come down to meet me, and who has seen more of India than most men, tells me that he cannot account for this difference, which is general throughout the country, and everywhere striking. It is not merely the difference of exposure, since this variety of tint is visible in the fishermen, who are all naked alike. Nor does it depend on caste, since very high caste Brahmins are sometimes black, while Pariahs are comparatively white.
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This is what Mike said about this racist Harper's weekly publication
quote:Originally posted by Mike111: The facts are surprisingly accurate... as is made plain from the piece, the actual facts have been long known.
Harper's weekly 1899
The caption says this:
quote:The Iberians are believed to have been originally an African race, who thousands of years ago spread themselves through Spain over Western Europe.....had never been out competed in the healthy struggle of life, and thus made way, according to the laws of nature, for superior races.
quote:Originally posted by Mike111: Chrome-Soul - Sanskrit is the hybrid language that evolved with the melding of the language of the invading Arians and the language of the indigenous Black Dravidians of the Indus Valley Civilization. These people were also known by the names of their greatest cities: Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. In terms of size, this civilization was the largest of the original civilizations of man.
The people of Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and the other cities, shared a sophisticated system of weights and measures, used arithmetic with decimals, and had a written language that was partly phonetic and partly ideographic. The Indus people also utilized seals for signatures and pictorial presentation, as did the people to the northwest in Elam and Sumer. The Indus valley people carried on active trade relations with the middle-east in gold, copper utensils, lapis lazuli, ivory, beads and semiprecious stones.
The Indus religion was animistic, they used the Unicorn, cattle, elephants and other animals to represent their gods. They are seemingly the originators of the Unicorn, {the exact meaning of a horned Horse is unknown}. The Indus seals are amulets addressed to the gods and were worn on the body.
In the Seal below, we have a depiction of the Deity (in this case Maal/Mal) as a Unicorn, and then the votive inscription was written above the Deity (in Harappan script).
The manger, under the head of Maal is made up of several Indus signs. It reads Puu-i- Paa, or " A flourishing Condition, Thou distribute it".
Typical of their large planned cities, was Mohenjo-daro, which along with it's great buildings, had city streets laid out in a grid. The city is thought to have housed roughly 50,000 people, and had a granary, baths, assembly halls and towers. The city was divided into two parts, west of the city there stood a citadel surround by a wall.
The streets were straight and were drained to keep the area sanitary. Mohenjo-Daro had a building with an underground furnace and dressing rooms, suggesting bathing was done in heated pools - as in modern day Hindu temples. The people of the city used very little stone in their construction. They preferred bricks, two types of bricks mainly - fired bricks, and wood bricks - which were created by using burnt wood ash.
You have been here about two years, and in all that time you have NEVER read anything on the Indus Valley civilization?
Worse yet; If you had even checked Wiki, with all of it's racist White boy nonsense, it would STILL have at least put you on the right track.
From Wiki - Clicking through the subjects;
Vedic period. Indo-Aryans. Andronovo culture. (Note: Even on Wiki, when it comes to White people; the trail MUST eventually go back to Asia).
The Andronovo culture, or Sintashta-Petrovka culture is a collection of similar local Bronze Age cultures that flourished ca. 2300–1000 BCE in western Siberia and the west Asiatic steppe. It is probably better termed an archaeological complex or archaeological horizon. The name derives from the village of Andronovo (55°53′N 55°42′E / 55.883°N 55.7°E / 55.883; 55.7), where in 1914, several graves were discovered, with skeletons in crouched positions, buried with richly decorated pottery.
At least four sub-cultures have been since distinguished, during which the culture expands towards the south and the east:
* Sintashta-Petrovka-Arkaim (Southern Urals, northern Kazakhstan, 2200–1600 BCE, o the Sintashta fortification of ca. 1800 BCE in Chelyabinsk Oblast; o the Petrovka settlement fortified settlement in Kazakhstan; o the nearby Arkaim settlement dated to the 17th century; * Alakul (2100–1400 BCE) between Oxus and Jaxartes, Kyzylkum desert; o Alekseyevka (1300–1100 BCE "final Bronze") in eastern Kazakhstan, contacts with Namazga VI in Turkmenia * Fedorovo (1500–1300 BCE) in southern Siberia (earliest evidence of cremation and fire cult[1]) o Beshkent-Vakhsh (1000–800 BCE)
Since you saw fit to not bother to actually READ anything, but rather, to post Trolling nonsense that perpetuates ignorance; then I can only assume that you have chosen to follow the other ignorant idiot White Boys and become a full-time ignorant racist asshole troll, in the mode of the Afroidiots. Congratulations, you are well suited for your new job.
BTW - My note above - (Note: Even on Wiki, when it comes to White people; the trail MUST eventually go back to Asia).
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These guys say that there was no color prejudice in the caste system. I was referring to your point that the black man was being put down
Also you completely disregarded evidence about the origin of Egyptian writing
quote:Originally posted by Mike111: markellion - "Ethiopians" does not refer to the country called "Ethiopia". The word is a Greek one meaning "Burnt Face" it refers to ALL of Africa south of Egypt.
The Greeks knew nothing of history; as when they entered Europe (ca. 1,200 B.C.) they were illiterate nomads.
Consequently they made-up a lot of things to explain the many things that they did not know.
quote:It is not merely the difference of exposure, since this variety of tint is visible in the fishermen, who are all naked alike. Nor does it depend on caste, since very high caste Brahmins are sometimes black, while Pariahs are comparatively white.
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Ethiopians have had very intimate relations with Indians. In fact the Ethiopians ruled much of India. These Ethiopians were called Naga. It was the Naga who created Sanskrit.
A reading of ancient Dravidian literature which dates back to 500 BC, gives us considerable information on the Naga. In Indian tradition the Naga won central India from the Villavar (bowmen) and Minavar (fishermen). The Naga were great seamen who ruled much of India, Sri Lanka and Burma. To the Aryans they described as half man and snake. The Tamil knew them as warlike people who used the bow and noose.
The earliest mention of the Naga, appear in the Ramayana , they are also mentioned in the Mahabharata. In the Mahabharata we discover that the Naga had the capital city in the Dekkan, and other cities spread between the Jumna and Ganges as early as 1300 BC. The Dravidian classic, the Chilappathikaran made it clear that the first great kingdom of India was Naganadu.
The Naga probably came from Kush-Punt/Ethiopia. The Puntites were the greatest sailors of the ancient world. In the Egyptian inscriptions there is mention of the Puntite ports of Outculit, Hamesu and Tekaru, which corresponds to Adulis, Hamasen and Tigre.
In Sumerian text, it is claimed that the Puntites traded with the people of the Indus Valley or Dilmun. According to S.N. Kramer in The Sumerians, part of Punt was probably called Meluhha, and Dilmun was probably the ancient name of the Indus Valley. (Today some scholars maintain that Oman, where we find no ancient cities was Dilmun and the Indus Valley may have been Meluhha).
Ancient Ethiopian traditions support the rule of Puntites or Ethiopians of India. In the Kebra Nagast, we find mention of the Arwe kings who ruled India. The founder of the dynasty was Za Besi Angabo. This dynasty according to the Kebra Nagast began around 1370 BC. These rulers of India and Ethiopia were called Nagas. The Kebra Nagast claims that " Queen Makeda "had servants and merchants; they traded for her at sea and on land in the Indies and Aswan". It also says that her son Ebna Hakim or Menelik I, made a campaign in the Indian Sea; the king of India made gifts and donations and prostrated himself before him". It is also said that Menalik ruled an empire that extended from the rivers of Egypt (Blue Nile) to the west and from the south Shoa to eastern India", according to the Kebra Nagast. The Kebra Nagast identification of an eastern Indian empre ruled by the Naga, corresponds to the Naga colonies in the Dekkan, and on the East coast between the Kaviri and Vaigai rivers.
The presence of Meluhhaites/ Puntites in India may expain the Greek tradition of Kusites ruling India up to the Ganges. It would also explain the Aryan traditions of Mlechchas ( Sanskrit name for some of the non-Aryan people) as one of the aboriginal groups of India. Many scholars associate the name Mlechchas with Meluhha.
The major Naga tribes were the Maravar, Eyinar, Oliyar, Oviyar, Aru-Valur and Parathavar. The Nagas resisted the invansion of the Cholas . In the Kalittokai IV,1-5, the Naga are described as being "of strong limbs and hardy frames and fierce looking tigers wearing long and curled locks of hair." The Naga kings of Sri Lanka are mentioned in the: Mahawanso, and are said to have later become Dravidians, as testified to by the names of these people: Naganathan, Nagaratnam, Nagaraja and etc.
The major gift of the Naga to India was the writing system: Nagari. Nagari is the name for the Sanskrit script. Over a hundred years ago Sir William Jones, pointed out that the ancient Ethiopic and Sanskrit writing are one and the same.
William Jones, explained that the Ethiopian origin of Sanskrit was supported by the fact that both writing systems the writing went from left to right and the vowels were annexed to the consonants. Today Eurocentric scholars teach that the Indians taught writing to the Ethiopians, yet the name Nagari for Sanskrit betrays the Ethiopia origin of this form of writing. Moreover, it is interesting to note that Sanskrit vowels: a,aa,',I,u,e,o, virama etc., are in the same order as Geez.
The Ethiopian script has influenced many other writing systems. Y.M. Kobishnor, in the Unesco History of Africa, maintains that Ethiopic was used as the model for Armenian writing, as was many of the Transcaucasian scripts. Dravidian literature indicate that the Naga may have introduced worship of Kali, the Serpent, Murugan and the Sun or Krishna. It is interesting to note that a god called Murugan is worshipped by many people in East Africa.
It is interesting that Krishna, who was associated with the Sun, means Black, this is analogous to the meaning of Khons of the Kushites. Homer, described Hercules asfollows: "Black he stood as night his bow uncased, his arrow string for flight". This mention of arrows identifies the Kushites as warriors who used the bow, a common weapon of the Kushites and the Naga. Kumarinadu
The Naga or Ethiopians were defeated by Dravidian speaking people from Kumarinadu. Kamarinadu is suppose to have formerly existed as a large Island in the India ocean which connected India with East Africa. This landmass is mentioned in the Silappadikaram, which said that Kamarinadu was made up of seven nadus or regions. The Dravidian scholars Adiyarkunallar and Nachinaar wrote about the ancient principalities of Tamilaham, which existed on Kamarinadu.
Kumarinadu was ruled by the Pandyans/Pandians at Madurai before it sunk beneath the sea. The greatest king of Kumarinadu was Sengoon. According to Dravidian scholars the Pandyans worshipped the goddess Kumari Amman. This Amman, probably corresponds to the ancient god Amon of the Kushites. The Kalittokai 104, makes it clear that after the Pandyans were forced to migrate off their Island home into South India, "to compensate for the area lost to the great waves of the sea, King Pandia without tiresome moved to the other countries and won them. Removing the emblems of tiger (Cholas) and bow (Cheras) he, in their place inscribed his reputed emblem fish (Pandia's) and valiantly made his enemies bow to him".
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Naga/Nagash was also the title 'King' for the ancient Semitic speaking people of modern Ethiopia who lived in Arwe, and ancient kingdom in Punt. In addition, the ability of the Ethiopians as sailors, is supported by the title bahr nagash, "ruler of the maritime province" or Eritrea.
According to Ethiopian traditions the first empire was founded by Za Besi Angabo, of the Arwe line which ruled Ethiopia for 350 years. This dynasty began in 1370 B.C. The traditions of this dynasty are recorded in the Kebra Nagast , or "Glory of Kings". (Doresse 1971)
The greatest and most famous of the rulers of Arwe was the Queen of Sheba, known as Makeda of Tigre, and Bilkis to her subjects in South Arabia. (Windsor 1969, p.38-39)
Za Sebado, was the grandfather of Makeda, he ruled Ethiopia from 1076-1026 B.C., his wife was named Cares. Makeda was born in 1020 B.C., and ascended the throne in 1005 B.C., she ruled Ethiopia and South Arabia until 955 B.C. During her rule she visited King Solomon of the Jews. Here Makeda was impregnated by Solomon.
Makeda had a son. He was named Ebna Hakim, from his descendants Hebrewism came to Ethiopia.
Queen Makeda had a residence near Axum, but the main capital of Arwe was located along the southern end of the African shores of the Red Sea in a district called Azab, Asabe or Saba, which meant in the Tigrinya language of the time "the southern lands".
The name Sheba , was a variation of the name Saba or a specific designation. (Doresse 1971)
When Ebna Hakim took the throne, his mother had already established colonies in Arabia and India. Hakim took the name of Menelik I in 955 B.C. At Axum, Menelik established his capital. The first city of Axum was at Dar'o Addit Kilte.
Menelik I, ruled an empire extending from the Blue Nile to Eastern India. He later, according to tradition, made the empire much larger. After Menelik the people of Arwe worshipped either Hebrewism or the serpent Arwe.
The most important King of Arwe ,after Menelik was King Geder of the city of Nouh, or Sabo, a suburb of Axum. The Kings of Arwe controlled the gold of the Fezoli region of Ethiopia, as revealed by archaeological excavation in the Kerem district in the North and the Edola area in the southern Ethiopia.
Their gold fields in Meroitic Kush, and Sofala in Mozambique produced considerable amounts of gold.
The civilizations of modern Ethiopia are characterized by the practice of agriculture via irrigation and terracing. Ethiopians had a knowledge of wheat and barley long before 1000 B.C. Soft wheat cultivation was concentrated around the centers of Axum, Harar and Addis Ababa.
The farmers of Arwe used the plough and the hoe or digging stick to prepare their fields for cultivation. From here the plough was taken to South Arabia.
The Puntites have had many religions. Before Christianity and Hebrewism their religion consisted of several gods. The people worshipped the serpent Arwe.
The other gods were good and evil. These gods evolved into a series of distinctly Puntite gods including: Sin, the moon god (he was called Amuqah in Aowa);Ashtar, the planet Venus; Nuru, the Shinning One; Bahr, the sea god; Medr, the earth god; and Mahram , the god of war. The god Mahram was often identified with the planet Mars.
Due to trade relations of Punt with other lands Puntites originally probably used the Proto-Saharan script to keep proper records. Over time this writing system was modified, to form an alphabetic system.
The first writing created by the Puntites was Sabaean. The earliest inscriptions written in this script were found at Haoulti , Ethiopia. These inscriptions are over 3000 years old. The Ethiopians also took writing to South Arabia and later India. Both Thamudic and Ethiopic scripts are derived from the Sabaean writing. (Drewes 1962; Doresse 1971)
The Indian Ethiopians called Naga, made one important improvement over the Ethiopic alphabetic scripts. This improvement was the addition of vowels to the alphabet.
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The major contribution of the Ethiopian Nagas was the Indian writing system called Deva-Nagari. Nagari is the name for the Sanskrit writing system. Over a hundred years ago Sir William Jones, pointed out that Ge'ez and Sanskrit writing are one and the same. He explained that this was supported by the fact that both writing systems went from left to right, Sanskrit and Ge'ez share udentical vowels in the same order, and the vowels were annexed to the consonants. Today Eurocentric scholars teach that the Indians taught writing to the Ethioipians, or Ethiopian writing came from Yemen, yet the name Nagari for Sanskrit betrays the Ethiopian origin for this form of writing. In Ge'ez the term nagar means 'speech, to speak'. Thus we have in Ge'ez, with the addition of pronouns: nagara 'he spoke, nagast 'she spoke' and nagarku 'I spoke'.
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Ge'ez dates back to 500 BC, whereas Brahmi dates to 264-271BC. As a result Devanagari has nothing to do with Brahmi. Brami is a syllabary whereas Devanagari is abugida.
Here is the Brahmi script
Here is the Devanagari script
Here is Ge'ez script
A cursory comparison of the scripts, indicates that Ge'ez shows more similarity to Devanagari that Brahmi does to Devanagari.
A comparison of Devanagari and Ge’ez shows many similar signs.
Deavanagari …………..Ge’ez
Ka………………………k’a, k’e
Ţa…………………….ta
Ţha……………….ta
Ya…………………ye
Ĵha ……………he
Ha………………he
Va………………wa
Ra……………..rä
Dha………….da
Ba…………….be
Ra…………….rä
Da………………dä
Śa…………..ze
Sa…………..zu
Vowels
u………….u
e…………ä
u………..a
It is clear fron this comparison of Devanagari and Ge’ez we see the following consonantal patterns:
K/k
Ţ/t
D/d
S/z
Ś/z Vowel pattern
A/ä
U/ u
U/a
A/e
This comparison of Ge’ez and Devanagari suggest a stronger influence of Ge’ez on Devanagari than Brahmi.
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As you can clearly see from a comparison of the scripts that Ge'ez shows more similarity to Devanagari that Brahmi does to Devanagari.
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The Sanskrit language is highly respected in India. It carries the religion and culture of all the people of India. A.B. Keith, in A History of Sanskrit Literature (1928), makes it clear that Sanskrit was probably invented as early as the 6th Century BC. Although Sanskrit is recognized as a major language controversy surrounds its origin. Some researchers see it as language given to mankind by the Gods, while others see Sanskrit as an artificial language created to unify the diverse Indian nationalities. Keith in
A History of Sanskrit Literature commenting on this state of affairs noted that: “ We must not…exaggerate the activity of the grammarians to the extent of suggesting…that Classical Sanskrit is an artificial creation, a product of the Brahmins when they sought to counteract the Buddhist creation of an artistic literature in Pali….Nor…does Classical Sanskrit present the appearance of an artificial product; but rathe5r admits exceptions in bewildering profusion, showing that the grammarians were not creators, but were engaged in a serious struggle to bring into handier shape a rather intractable material” (p.7).
Although, this is the opinion of Keith it appears that Sanskrit is lingua franca, an artificial language, that was used by the people of India to unify the multi-lingual people of the India nation. This led Michael Coulson, in Teach Yourself Sanskrit (1992) to write that “The advantage to using Sanskrit, in addition to the dignity which it imparted to the verse, lay in its role as a lingua franca uniting the various regions of Aryan India” (p.xviii).
According to Arthur A. Macdonell in A Sanskrit Grammar for Students (1997), says that the Sanskrit language is known by many names. It was called Nagari ‘urban writin’, Deva-nagari ‘city writing of the gods’. V. Kanakasabhai in the Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago, says that Sanaskrit is called Deva-nagari, because it was introduced to the Aryas by the Nagas. The characters associated with Deva-nagari are the characters used to write Sanskrit today.
The Naga were Semitic speaking people from Ethiopia. According to Macdonell the Semitic writing was introduced to India around 700BC (pg.2).
The Semitic speakers of Africa founded the ancient civilization of Punt. As a result I refer to the speakers of Ethiopian Semitic languages Puntites.
The Puntite languages are characterized by a basic vocabulary, a system of roots and vowel patterns and the formation of derived verbs by prefixes. The South Arabian languages: Sabaean, Minaean and Hadramautic, are slightly different from modern South Arabic, but analogous to the Ethiopian languages. This represents the influence of the Jectanid tribes on South Arabic.
The major gift of the Naga to India was the writing system: Deva-Nagari. Nagari is the name for the Sanskrit script. Over a hundred years ago Sir William Jones, pointed out that the ancient Ethiopic and Sanskrit writing are one and the same. He explained that this was supported by the fact that both writing systems the writing went from left to right and the vowels were annexed to the consonants. Today Eurocentric scholars teach that the Indians taught writing to the Ethiopians, yet the name Nagari for Sanskrit betrays the Ethiopia origin of this form of writing. In Geez, the term nagar means ‘speech, to speak’. Thus we have in Geez, with the addition of pronouns: nagara ‘he spoke, nagarat ‘she spoke’ and nagarku ‘I spoke’.
Moreover, it is interesting to note that Sanskrit vowels: a,aa,',i,u,e,o, virama etc., are in the same order as Geez. Y.M. Kobishnor, in the Unesco History of Africa, maintains that Ethiopic was used as the model for Armenian writing, as was many of the Transcaucasian scripts. The Naga introduced worship of Kali, the Serpent, Murugan and the Sun or Krishna. It is interesting that Krishna, who was associated with the Sun, means Black, this is analogous to the meaning of Khons of the Kushites. Homer, described Hercules as follows: "Black he stood as night his bow uncased, his arrow string for flight". This mention of arrows identifies the Kushites as warriors who used the bow, a common weapon of the Kushites and the Naga.
Overtime the Nagas were absorbed into the Dravidian population. Today the Naga, are recognized by some researchers as Dravidians.
Recently, Dr. K. Loganathan ,has begun to reconstruct the Tamil and Sumerian origin of many Sanskrit terms. Controversy surrounds the work of Dr. Loganathan because it is claimed that Sanskrit is a representative of the ancestral Indo-Aryan language and has been in pristine shape since Panini. Coulson maintains that “Panini is obeyed and bypassed” .
Sanskrit is not genetically related to the Indo-European family of languages as many researchers have assumed. As a result, Coulson notes that “the syntax of Classical Sanskrit in many major respects bears little resemblance to the syntax of any other Indo-European language (leaving aside similarities in certain kinds of Middle Indo-Aryan writing” .
This view is untenable. W.D. Whitney, in Sanskrit Grammar (1889) observed “of linguyistic history there is next to nothing in it all [Classical Sanskrit]; but only a history of style, and this for the most part showing a gradual depravation, an increase of artificially and intensification of certain more undesirable features of the language such as the use of passive construction and of particles instead of verbs, and the substitution of compounds [i.e., agglutination] for sentences”. Professor Whitney found this characteristic strange because agglutination is associated with non-Indo-European languages like Dravidian.
The Sanskrit language has been under constant change since its creation as various grammarians took liberty with Sanskrit to make it conform to the popular colloquial language forms of the grammarian. As a result, Sanskrit writers have made numerous innovations in writing Sanskrit. Coulson wrote that “The syntax of Classical Sanskrit in many major respects bears little resemblance to the syntax of any other Indo-European language (leaving aside similarities in certain kinds of Middle Indo-Aryan writing”(p.xxii). Dr. Coulson adds that “Furthermore, because of the long history of the language andt the varied sources from which it drew its vocabulary, many Sanskrit words have a number of meanings; and this feature, too, is much augmented by compounding (e.g., because it literally means ‘twice born’, the word dvijah can signify ‘brahmin’, ‘bird’ or ‘tooth’ (p.xxiv).
The diverse origin of Sanaskrit encouraged grammarians and authors of Sanskrit literature to make innovations in writing the language that according to Coulson led to “Panini…[being] obeyed and bypassed” (p.xxii). As a result, Sanskrit is a learned language that has been modified over time by numerous poets writing in Sanskrit and thus we see innovations not in conformity with Paninis grammar by Aśvaghosa, and Kalidasa (Samkara) .
As you can see Sanskrit is not the first language. Sanskrit was a lingua franca used to povide a common means of communication for the diverse people who formerly lived in North India.
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