Sunday, 4 December 2016

A BIT ABOUT THE PRE-GREEK CIVILIZATION OF THE PELASGIS WHO

ORIGINATED FROM INDIA by Neeta Raina

Arnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren (1760- 1842) was a

German historian. Heeren's primary talent lay in
historical research. His books Politics, Trade, and
Commerce in the Ancient World (1796); History of
Ancient Civilizations (1799) and History of European
States and their Colonies (1809) all met with
overwhelming reception when they were first
published.
In his researches on the pre-Greek civilization of
Greece which was then inhabited by a race called the
Pelasgi, Heeran states, "We can distinctly trace an
overland communication betweenIndia & Greece, at
an age long before the historic period." Heeran quotes
Baron Cuvier here, "The Pelasgi were originally
fromIndia, of which the Sanskrit roots that occur
abundantly in their language do not permit us to
doubt." Baron Cuvier traces the route that the early
Indians might have taken to Greece. He was of the
opinion that, ".. they by crossing the mountains of
Persia penetrated as far back as the Caucasus and
then from there instead of continuing by land, they
embarked on the Euxine Sea and made a descent
upon the coast of Greece." *
In 'A Classical Dictionary: Containing a Copious
Account of All the Proper Names', author John
Lemprire states, "...the name Pelasgi was never

assumed by them, but was given to them by the

Greeks. They called themselves Raseni, or rather
Tyrseni. The name Palesgi was applied to them in
familiar language by the Greeks.... Before they fixed
themselves permanently in Greece they would appear
and disappear from the land at stated and regular
intervals...".
All the Pelasgic colonies which established
themselves among the early Greeks, brought with
them the elements of civilization and the arts and also
the use of letters. The Pelasgi are acknowledged ,
moreover to have been the founders of theology of the
Greeks. "They established an oracle at Dedona, they
instituted the mysteries of the Cabiri...in a word,
everything connected with them tends strongly to
confirm the belief that they were a sacerdotal race, a
caste of priests." [For more about the India connect to
the Oracle of Dodona click here.]
Says Lampriere, "It has (been) established, from an
examination of the scattered fragments of early
history , the intimate connection which once
subsisted between the east and the west. The earliest
monuments which the geography, the antiquities, the
mythology, the architecture, and the religious systems
of the most remote times afford, clearly indicate that
in a very remote period colonies of priests from
northern India, with the worship of Buddha, spread
themselves over the countries along the Phasis, on
the Euxine, in Thrace, along the Danube, over many

parts of western Europe, and even through the whole

of Greece. The Pelasgi evidently were a colony or race
of this kind." *
Lampriere was spot on with his analysis. Raseni is the
same as Tyrseni with the first syllable dropped. The
prefix Tyr in the name Tyrseni derives from the
Buddhist 'Thervada', one of the two major sects of
Buddhism. In antiquity, and during the times of
Ashoka the Great, the Thervada Buddhist monks
travelled from India in all directions, taking with them
and spreading not only the elements of the Sanskrit
language, but also the arts, architecture, medicines
and the culture of India.
According to Edicts of Ashoka (304-272 BC), Greek
populations, generally described in ancient times
throughout the Classical world as Yona, Yojanas,
Yavanas, or 'Ionians' were under his rule in
northwestern India:
Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the
Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-ofthe-Gods' instructions in Dhamma.
S. Dhammika, Edicts of Ashoka, Rock Edict No. 13

Far from just being on the receiving end of conversion

to Buddhism, the treatise Mahavamsa indicates that
Greeks took an active role in spreading the Buddhist
faith as emissaries of Ashoka. These Greek
missionaries appear in the list of the 'elders', or
Sanskrit 'sthavira', distorted in Pali to 'thera', sent far
and wide by Emperor Ashoka.

John Lemprire does find reason enough to believe

that the prefix Tyr in Tyrseni is somehow connected to
sacred priests and to Buddhism, but he was unable to
zero-in on the Thervada Buddhist monks. He quotes
the works of Ritter and makes this observation: "As
regards the first part of the name Tyrseni, namely the
syllable Tyr, it is curious to compare with it the remark
of Ritter, who after a long examination of the subject
arrives at the conclusion...that the syllable Thyr ...was
a religious appellative. Such for example are the
names of the Idanthrsi, Thyrsagetos, Thyssagetae,
Thyrsi etc." All the above names contain the syllable
'Thyr', either as a suffix or prefix, and are all the
names of ancient tribes that dwelt in Greece.
Lemprierie quotes the authors of the Etymology
Magazine and says that those authors clearly state
that when the Greeks referred to the Tyrseni people as
Pelasgi they were referring to the 'fine linen robes'
that the Tyrsent wore. The Greeks were referring to the
robes that the Pelasgi wore, who in reality were none
other than the Buddhist Thervada monks. With time
they came to be known as the Idanthrisi, Thyrsagetos,
Thyssagetae, Thyrsi etc. As mentioned above, in the
times of Ashoka Thervada monks travelled in all
directions spreading the word of the Buddha. There
also was an exodus of Buddhist monks from India in
later times when Buddhism declined in India.
In fact Zacharias P. Thundy, Professor Emiretus of the
Northern Michigan University made the observation

that the word 'Therapeutae' itself arises from

the Sanskrit/Pali word 'Thervada' which means 'Elder'.
He says, "Therapeuta is the Hellenization of the
Sanskrit/Pali word 'Thervada'; they were probably the
successors of the missionaries whom Emperor
Ashoka sent to Egypt, to the kingdom of Ptolemy in
the 3rd century as Thervada medical missionaries.
Greek, which does not have have corresponding
sounds for the labio-dental 'v' and the apico-dental 'd',
changed the Indian v & d to p & t ....." Hence,
'thervada' changed to 'therapeuta'.
Heeran had made the observation that the IndoEuropean languages extended from India to Europe
and was spoken in countries lying between the
Paroparmisan chain and the Euphrates river that is
Ariana, Persia, Media, Armenia and Asia Minor. It is
more than likely that the root words of Sanskrit that
appear in some form or the other in all these
languages do so for a reason and the artificial ProtoIndo-European is just the reverse engineering of
Sanskrit.
Herodotus had clearly stated all intermediate
languages spoken in this region including the Zend
and Persian, Armenian and Ossete, all have the same
structure and etymology. He also observed that when
the Medes ruled Asia Minor, they were referred to as
Arii, which was a distorted for of the Sanskrit 'arya'
which translates as 'noble' and was a title of honour.

* - [As quoted in 'The Athenaeum, Issues 271322'edited by James Silk Buckingham, John Sterling,
Frederick Denison Maurice, Henry Stebbing, Charles
Wentworth Dilke, Thomas Kibble Hervey, William
Hepworth Dixon, Norman Maccoll, Vernon Horace
Rendall, John Middleton Murry].
Suggested Readings:
1. The Athenaeum, Issues 271-322 edited by James Silk Buckingham, John Sterling, Frederick
Denison Maurice, Henry Stebbing, Charles Wentworth Dilke, Thomas Kibble Hervey, William
Hepworth Dixon, Norman Maccoll, Vernon Horace Rendall, John Middleton Murry
2. A Classical Dictionary: Containing a Co[pious Amount of all the Proper Names mentioned in
ancient authors" by J. Lampriere
Posted by Neeta Raina at 03:55