Pococke
Pococke, E. is the author of book - India in Greece,Indian Reprint, Oriental Publishers, Delhi-6, 1972.
Migrations from Indian to north western countries
Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria)[1] writes that We may now cite at some length from Pococke[2] who has traced Indian migrations to all corners of the world solely through linguistic similarities.
This extreme reliance on phonetic similarities seems to weaken his argument, but there is ample support, from other disciplines, techniques and lines of investigation, for his claims. Further, the large body of data, he has massed together cannot be brushed away lightly. When supported by other evidence, his thesis becomes incontrovertible.
According to Pococke a great number of adventurous preux chevalier tribes from India migrated to Spain, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor,Persia, Colchis, Armenia and the Caucasus region, all of which provide distinct and startling evidence of Indian colonization in great profusio. We have tried (in appendix No.6) to pinpoint the Indian names and places of the origin of the migrated tribes as well as the altered forms of their names in their new settlements in other countries. The appendix indicating all this, is by no means, exhaustive. It may not be unnecessary here to point out that in some countries the presence of Indian tribes can be construed by their names, though distorted, while, in others their identity can be traced by place names in these transformed phonemic nomenclatures. All the more significant is the fact that almost all the tribes are considered Saca-Getae (Jats) or Scythians by the learned scholar[3].(cf. Appendix No.6).
Pococke[4] believes that the major migrations took place from India as a result of internecine wars and religious persecutions in which the Buddhists had been the main victims. To these may be added the Parasurama-Haihayas (Scythians) wars, Sagar's war against Haiihayas and their allies (Sakas, Parthas,Pahlavas etc) the Dasarajna Wars, the Rama-Ravana Yudha, the Mahabharata war. Pococke lays special stress on the virulent religious strife for a long time between the Brahmins and the Buddhists for supremacy, leading to Brahmanic victory and the gigantic expulsion of the Buddhists. Pococke claims[5] that this was the most crucial event which compelled migrations and
The Jats:Their Origin, Antiquity and Migrations:End of page 307
banishment of the vanquished to the north-western countries. The Saga of the Kurus and Pandus, though ostensibly political was in reality, as Pococke[6] contends, a struggle between the Brahminical and the Buddhistic parties. Profound night clouds this portion on Indian history. What Pococke regards as clear is that the emigrants coasted along the shores of Mekran, traversed the mouth of Persian Gulf. Adhering to the sea-board of Oman, Hadramant and Yemen (the Eastern Arabia), they sailed up the Red Sea, and ascending the mighty stream - the Nile - that fertilizes a land of wonders, founded the kingdoms of Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia[7] and Ethiopia. Fhilostratus, Julius Africanus, Eusebius and Syncellus, the Greek writers[8] assert that the Ethiopians were originally an Indian race, emigrated from the river Indus and settled in the vicinity of Egypt.
Jat connections
- Another tribe probably Virkas went as far down as Chile an Peru where they popularized the festival of Ramlila which is celebrated there as Rama-Sitva festival (Pococke, Ind. In Greece, pp. 250f).
- Hukum Singh Panwar[9] gives a list of tribes with reference to E. Pococke [10], who migrated from India to Peru and other countries. This includes Purus/Virks (Jat clans) from Panjab went to Chille & Peru, Andes where they were known as Parur/Peruvian/Virkucha in Peru.
- E. Pococke[11] includes the Fertile Crescent in the Bharata or that time and calls the whole land mass from India to Irak by the name of Greater Bharata. Pococke maintains that the Greek appellation of river Euphrates (Eu = good, Phrates = Bharatis) betrays the name of the Bharatians who settled in that valley. They had, as noted before, emigrated there from Sapta Sindhu, where they are said[12] to be living on the banks of the Saraswati river along the lower course up to its mouth during Rig Vedic period.[13]
- "The land of Hellas, a name so dear to civilization and the arts, was so called from the magnificent range of heights situated in Beloochistan, styled the 'Hela' mountains. * * * The chiefs of this country were called 'Helaines,' or the 'chiefs of the Hela.'"[14]
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See also
References
- ↑ The Jats:Their Origin, Antiquity and Migrations/The identification of the Jats, p. 307-308
- ↑ Ibid., pp. 32, 47, 134.
- ↑ Ibid., pp.38, 51ff, 63, 70, 124, 148, 159, 178, 195, 205, 229, 242, 251, 255,300.
- ↑ For further study please cf. C. Wordsworth, D.O., 'Greece, Pictorial and Descriptive; Grote, His. of Greece; Niebuh" His. of Rome; Troyer, Ramayana; Tod, Ann; Is and Antiquities of Rajasthan; Ency. Metropolitania; Smith, Muth. Lex., vol.I Homer, Odessey, Iliad; Asiatic Researches; Mure, His. of Greek Literatura, . Vol.I; Strabo's Geographia; Wilson, skt. Les.; Kruse, Hellas; Smith, Dic. of Astiq.; Hamilton E, Ind. Gaz., Vol.I; Thoronton, Geog. of Ph.; Thirliwall, His. of Greece; Thueydide, Genesis and App. No. XX in Pococke's Ind. in Greece
- ↑ Ibid., Chs VI-XV
- ↑ Ibid., p. 300. Dr. Buddha Prakash describes the Epic war as the 'Saga of the Sakas'.
- ↑ Ibid., p.43
- ↑ Ibid., p. 205.
- ↑ The Jats:Their Origin, Antiquity and Migrations/Appendices/Appendix No.6
- ↑ Tribal and Geographical Identifications based on India in Greece by E. Pococke, Indian Reprint, Oriental Publishers, Delhi-6.
- ↑ op.cit., p. 45.
- ↑ Das, op.cit., pp.66, 114; Dwivedi, op.cit., q.v.
- ↑ The Jats:Their Origin, Antiquity and Migrations/The migrations of the Jats to the North-Western countries,p. 242
- ↑ E. Pococke, India in Greece,p.48.
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