Russia - was it a Vedic Country? Mahaperiyava clarifies!
Dear Friends, Recently, Our friend Rajan ( Gogo) sent me a mail on the visit by Prof. Ribekov, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Oriental studies in 1987, having kept a Photograph of Kanchi Sri Sankaracharya in his office and when he visited India took time to visit the Sri Sankaracharya at Kanjeevaram. During the interview, Sankaraacharya asked him, although Russian language has many Sanskrit words, does he know of a dialect which prevailed in the northern part of Russia and Prof. Ribekov was astonished as that dialect was almost similar to Sanskrit, then Swamiji told him that Rishis like Yagnavallkya have established Vedic research centres in Russia and their country is Rishivarsha. Prompted by this cue, I thought of sharing some exotic thoughts expressed by some scholars on the same herein:
The Eurasian Continent was divided into 3 regions as per Mahabharatha. The big red circle represents the Sudharshana Dweepa where the rule of Sanathana Dharma was in place. Bharath was in the South. Hemakuta or Himalayas was the northern border of Bharth. The dark red rectangle was Ilavarsha. The top red rectangle is Airavatha Varsha in the extreme north of Sudharshana Dweepa. The top rectangle is largely Russia. Airavatha was the elephant of Indra, the ruler of Devaloka as per Mythology. There was a wooly Mammoth which became extinct 10000years ago in that region of Siberia/north pole. The above classification of Eurasia existed 10000years ago. The region called UttarKuru existed in Siberia. Uttarkuru means a land of Kurus settled in the North, where the men and women of the Territory were said to have lived a free life and mingled with each other. The route to Uttar Kuru was explained in Valmiki Ramyana, through the narration of Suggreeva who went in search of Seetha to the north of Bharath. Once having crossed the Hiimalayas, he came across a pure-water lake called Vaikhanas, where saages used to do penance. There is a similar lake called today as LAKE BAIKAL.
According to Ramayana, Uttarkuru was in the north of Vaikhanas( Lake Baikal). Sages like Yagnavalkya spent their Vanaprastha days near that Lake. This incidentally tallies with the conversation of Sri Sankaraacharya with Prof. Ribekov. The opinion amongst various scholars is that the name Russia is derived from the word "Rishivarsha" as stated by Sankaracharya. There is a lot of references of Rishis going to Deva Territory in our Puranas.
There is a famous river called Volga in Russia. Volga means Rasa or Rosa. Rasa is a sanskrit word meaning essence, elixir, Love, nectar etc. This name perfectly fit with the river of fine water quality. Form the meaning of Rasa, the word Russia developed is another opinion.
A tributary of Volga is known as Moksha whic is a pure Sanskrit word. There is another tributary nearer to Moksha called Mokswa. Moscow got its name from Mokswa as it is on the banks of Mokswa.
Moksha is also the name of the old langugae spoken in this area and even today some of the people of the region speak Moksha. The customs of the people who speak Moksha are Vedic, and they have worshipped Indra and Vayu and other nature deities of Vedic times.
A strong connection to Vedism was recently unearthed in Siberia nearKazaksthan. Nearly 20 sites have been found out to have housed circular habitations resembling Vedic life.
An important site is the one in Arkaim which is located in the confluence of two rivers called Karakanga and Utya-kanga. These names sound likeGanga!
An important site is the one in Arkaim which is located in the confluence of two rivers called Karakanga and Utya-kanga. These names sound likeGanga!
Arkaim has all the trappings of a Vedic system. The name itself sounds like Arka, the name of the Sun. Arka, the sun has healing properties. There is a tree called Arka which is used in Ayurvedic medicine .
The Arkaim site contains swastika signs and other symbols of Vedic rites. Swastika is derived from the word swasth which means getting healed. This site is dated at 4500 BP
The Arkaim site contains swastika signs and other symbols of Vedic rites. Swastika is derived from the word swasth which means getting healed. This site is dated at 4500 BP
This site falls in the route described in Mahabharatha.
Sri Sankaracharya brought to our notice that Russians indeed followed Vedic ways. In Vedic way of expressing one’s place, the method is to express the biggest unit and the go in steps to the smaller units. That is, if one were to express one’s location, one has to mention the country, then state, then the city and so on. This method is still followed in Russia. This is the method followed in Sankalpa mantras in all Vedik rituals – but forgotten in material life by us.
I leave to your guess now whether Russia was a Vedic Country. I had been to Russia many times. I have seen many similar names to old Indian names amongst Russians. There are many sanskrit words in Russian language. Further interestingly, as in Sanskrit, which has Singular, dual and Plural - Russian language also has special words of Duals for many of their words in its Grammar unlike other Latin based languages.
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