Prolog
Many of you know that i began researching the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) formally about 10 months ago. I am happy to say i have made reasonable progress – my first paper (written jointly with Priya Raju & NK Sreedhar) countering FSW’s arguments is going to be published shortly. My paper on the Bangle Hypothesis has been selected for the Classical Tamil Conference set to happen in June 2010 in Coimbatore.
Rig Veda
I had already showed how the Rig Veda couldn’t have been written by the IVC people. Over time, I realized that the Rig Veda (RV) is a veritable treasure trove to divine the Real History of India. I started looking at who the Vedic people called as demons or enemies and any references to gods of the enemy people.
Kuyava
Interestingly, I found the term Kuyavan, who is a Dasa, who is killed by Indra. There are 6 occurrences of the Dravidian word Kuyava – RV.I.103.8, RV.I.104.3, RV.I.174.7, RV.IV.18.8, RV.VII.19.2, RV.II.1.104.3.
It turns out that, i am the first researcher [Iravatham Mahadevan Sir has acknowledged this] to tie the RV demon Kuyava to the Dravidian word (DEDR 1762) , which means potter, obviously a very important profession for the IVC people. Therefore, if one Dravidian person was identified as a Dasa (an enemy) by the RV people, it is likely there is more to it than meets the eye.
Alongside one of the mentions of Kuyava, there is a mention of Kuyava’s wives – Anjasi and Kulisi. I was breaking my head on what these names could mean and i stumbled upon Kulici - a type of pot [well connected to the potter Kuyavan). Yes, we could question how a type of pot could have become a name of Kuyava's wife. However, if the Vedic people could take Kuyava, the name of a profession, as a name of a person, then this is also possible, right? Given that the term Kuyava is found in the earliest sections of the RV, the error could be due to their unfamiliarity with the Dravidians, as they may have just arrived into the Indus Region.
I haven't yet figured out what Anjasi is? Is it also a type of pot?
Namuci
Namuci is the next demon name that got my attention. Namuci was some type of chieftain, not an ordinary enemy. Indra vanquishes him after a lot of difficulty (per the RV). After chasing several deadends, i pursued an idea Priya Raju gave me - is it connected to Padayachi, Pethachi etc. ? The suffix achi is usually used to denote affection - ammucci, appucci, acchan (father in malayalam), or to denote respect - pethachi, padayachi. When i looked at the etymology of ucci it struck a chord - it means head, summit etc. This means Namuci could be Nam + Ucci = where Nam = Our and Ucci = Head - in other words, Chief.
Susna Deva & Mura Deva
RV talks in a derogatory fashion about 2 native gods - Susna Deva and Mura Deva. Several scholars have translated Susna Deva to Phallic God and Mura Deva has been translated as Foolish God (because Mura is an alt. form of Muda which means foolish in Sanskrit).
I was not convinced about these translations. So i started digging into it and I found that in one of the references to Susna, RV talks about the Horn - Sringa in Sanskrit means Horn. Interestingly, Sringara in Sanskrit means passion. That the Horn is a phallic symbol is quite obvious from this. Now we all know who the Phallic God is right? - Shiva. I am not yet able to find out what is the old Dravidian name for Shiva, because Shiva seems to be from Sanskrit.
That the Muradeva could be Muruga was postulated by the Bandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI, Pune in their Annals Volume XXIV from 1943). Again i wasn't convinced and dug deeper. Interestingly, in one of the references to Muradeva, the RV says the god has bent neck. If you look at Mahadevan Signs #47 & #48 [2nd sign from the right in this pic], which are thought to be symbols of Murugan, you can see the bent neck. The word Muruku in tamil has the meaning of crooked or twisted as well.
Epilog
As you can see, RV is filled with many clues as to the true nature of the peoples, the Vedic people conquered/merged with/assimilated – whatever is your favorite term. What do you all think? Do you agree with me? Do you have any thoughts/ideas that can help me?
Disclaimer – many of what i have said here needs to be taken as a hypothesis and not as a scientific proof. As in the Bangle Hypothesis, which i converted into a scientific 5 page paper, i will be converting this post also into a scientific paper.
