http://phoenicia.org/rigveda.html

this is what you should all know. Of our past 30,000 years ago.

Preface

Many truths lie buried in the dark depth of the past covered over by numerous strata of forgotten events. I propose to dig up one of them, one that would have to combat the history of the primitive ages as it is commonly accepted and also the cherished theories of the scholars of the east and the west, both old and new. What I fear is that the importance of the discovery may fail to attract the attention of the learned world through my own insignificance, utterly unknown to fame as I am. But I consider the task I have set upon myself to be of great moment, and nothing undaunted I intend to strike out the path, for diligence in the cause of truth is destined to bring its reward and recognition of the truth
I begin by recapitulating first the results of my investigation to create, if possible, an interest in the subject at the outset. They are the following:

A great war broke out in the remote old days between the Indian Aryans and the Phoenicians in which the latter were defeated and compelled to leave wholly or partially the land of the Aryans.
Most of the Suktas of the Rig Veda either describe or refer to this and many other wars.
The Rig Veda, therefore, is not a poem only but a history. The current meanings of most of the Suktas will accordingly have to be altered and the Rig Veda SANHITA itself explained in a way different from the accepted one.
The Phoenicians were the first of the civilized nations of the world. The civilization of Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Greece and other ancient countries owed its origin to the union of the civilization of the Aryans with that of the Phoenicians.
The Phoenicians originally lived in Afghanistan or in some part of India, whence driven out they migrated gradually westwards. While still residing in the neighbourhood of India they colonized and traded with Arabia and the countries bordering on the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Phoenicians had colonies in many countries from each of which they were driven away by the natives after severe struggles. In this way they were expelled from India, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, or they mixed with the natives when they lost their supremacy in those countries.
The primitive civilization of the world was born long before the time known to us.
In ancient time the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea were connected together by a strait through which the Phoenician and Aryan trading ships entered the Mediterranean Sea and Indian goods were taken to Europe. As that passage gradually silted up the connection between India and Europe broke off.
These conclusions will lead on to many others which it is neither the place nor the time to dilate upon. They are sure to revolutionize the history of the world, chalk out a new path for linguistic researches, and recast the classification of the human races when the agitation caused by their novelty has calmed down and they have found acceptance with the learned world. A careful investigation, I am confident, will reveal the truth of these statements to honest enquirers, and the feeble track I lay out will before long turn to a high road in skilled hands of willing labourers in the cause.

The Panis

The word Pani occurs in not less than 36 riks of the Rig Veda It is used in one form or another in all the Mandalas except the fifth and the ninth, the forms being Panih, Panim, Paneen and Panayah. In the Sukta no. 108 alone of the tenth mandala the word is employed eight times. There are 11 riks in the 108th Sukta of the tenth mandala, and ill six of them Pani is the god. In some of the books the god is mentioned as Panayah and in other as Panayásura

It should be noted here that the names of the gods and the Rishis with which each Sukta begins were selected long after the collection of the VEDAS. These were determined in the Index known as the Anukramanee. The Anukramanee which has been followed in the Rik-Sanhita in adopting the names of the gods and the rishis, was composed by Katyayana Katyayana came after Yáska and it is therefore evident that the names were invented many centuries afterwards without having any historic truth in them. There is nothing in the Suktas themselves which can throw any light in elucidating these words. Moreover in some of the riks two or three names are mentioned of which only one is to be taken as the god. It is clear the commentator himself was at a loss to decide the point. It would not have been the case had the composer of the Sukta made the selection himself. Had he done so he would surely have mentioned only, one god instead of many. Take for example the 58th Sukta of the fourth mandala. The gods named therein are: -- Agni (Fire), Surya (the Sun), Ap (Water), Gabo (the Cows), or Ghrita (clarified butter). The same remarks apply to the use of the names of the rishis, vide the 2nd Sukta of the fifth mandala in which the names of the rishis are: -- KUMÁRA the son of ATRI, or KRISA, the son of JAR, or both. The inference therefore is that the names of the rishis, the gods arid the chandas heralding each Sukta, were inserted many years after the composition of the Sanhita itself, and must accordingly, be taken at their proper worth. Pani and Asura are two different words with different meanings. The Panis were not Asuras. The application of the word Panyásura as the name of the god in the 168th rik, quoted above, is to be taken to date from the Pauranic period and not the Vedic.

The Stealing of Cows

The stealing of cows by the Panis forms one of the most important factors of the Rik-Sanhita. The Suktas in which the Panis are mentioned, in which allusion is made to cows, or in which Indra is the god, are mostly related, directly or indirectly, to the stealing of cows. The commentator Sáyanáchárya admits this to be the case almost everywhere. Mr. Romesh Chunder Dutt, following the footsteps of Professor Max Muller, finds those of the Suktas or riks to contain the story of the stealing of cows in which the word Pani occurs, and considers the views of Sáyana as far fetched with regard to other Suktas and riks

In the commentary Sáyana makes reference to the Panis in explaining Sukta 33 of the first mandala (Vide page 79 of Mr. Dutt's edition), which runs . "Desiring to get back the cows, stolen by the Asuras known as the Panis, &c." Mr. Dutt rejects, this allusion to the Panis on the ground that they are not mentioned in the Sukta. The list I have prepared will. however, show that the word Pani does occur in rik 3 of the Sukta and it may be noticed that Mr. Dutt has made no attempt to prove Sáyana wrong in his explanation there In my opinion Sáyana's exposition appears to be the correct one when we study the Sukta as a whole. Sáyana refers again to the story of the stealing of cows when he begins his commentary on Mandala 11, Sukta 24, rik 6, and states how the homes of the Asuras of the Pani tribe were burned by the messengers of the Devas (gods) when they were discovered with the stolen cows by the hound Saramá. Sukta 108 of the tenth mandala will bear this out as nowhere else is the story related more fully and clearly. But Mr. Dutt, on the authority no doubt of European scholars, sets down this simple affair as merely an allegory without having any underlying historical basis.

Prof. Max Muller says . "It is a reproduction of the old story of the break of day. The bright cows the rays of the Sun or the rain clouds, for both go by the same name, have been stolen by the Powers of darkness, by the Night and her manifold progeny. Gods and men are anxious for their return. But where are they to be found? They are hidden in a dark or strong stable, or scattered along the ends of the sky, and the robbers will not restore them. At last, in the furthest distance the first signs of the Dawn appear, she peers about and runs with lightning quickness, it may be, like a hound after a scent, across the darkness of the sky. She is looking for, and following the right path, she has found it. She has heard the lowing of the cows, and she returns to her starting place with more intense splendour. After her return Indra arises, the God of light ready to do battle in good earnest against the gloomy Powers, to break open the strong stable in which the bright cows were kept, and to bring light and strength and life back to his pious worshippers." Science of Language, Vol II PP. S 13-514.

The following points. however, require elucidation before we can accept the theory of the Western scholars:

The Dawn never returns after it has once disappeared, before the same Sun-rise.
The allegory as described does not correspond with the story as related in the original.
If by the God of light the Sun is meant, what becomes of Indra?
Saramá

To ascertain the meaning of a Vedic word it is necessary to have some acquaintance with the expounders of the Vedas. If I hold that at to know the Vedas correctly we need not follow the Western scholars, it must not be inferred that I disregard them. I am not however prepared to honour them before the scholars of my own country. To put without rhyme or reason a different construction on the exposition of the Vedic scholars of India, is to ignore them and as it were to persecute the M.

The writers of the Niruktas were the first expounders of the Rig Veda. The works of three of them, out of four whose names are available, are not forthcoming. Yáska, whose writings have been preserved, was the fourth writer of the series. According to Mr. R. C. Dutt Yáska flourished in the 9th century B.C., and if it be admitted that the Rig Veda was composed two thousand years before the birth of Christ, Yáska must have had to elucidate the Vedic words tracing their evolution through the history of the country for eleven hundred years. But it is impossible that he could have done so, and I do dot think I need adduce any reasons for my assertion. He had to explain the unintelligible riks with the help of tradition and the dictionaries extant. Achárya Sáyana also followed the same course for the purpose, only that his profound wisdom and valuable researches shed a brighter lustre on it. Prof. H. H. Wilson thus speaks of Sáyana: "He undoubtedly had a knowledge of his text far beyond the pretension of any European scholar, and must have been in possession either through his own learning or that of his assistants, of all the interpretations which had been perpetuated by traditional teaching C. 1 earliest time.

The Western scholars take the Rig Veda to be a collection of hymns in praise of nature. This theory they have consistently followed without looking to history for the correct exposition of the Vedas. In fact they have gone the other way of deducing history from the Vedas. But I would follow the scholars of my own country who did not try to create a history out of the Vedas. I would make history my guide in opening up the secrets of those sacred books. I must however at the outset say that my acknowledgments are due to the scholars who have already taken the lead in unfolding the mysteries of the Vedas, as also to Mr. R, C. Dutt in particular.

The dispute is in regard to the correct meaning of the three words, Pani, saramá and go. For the meaning of the first Prof. Max Muller depends on the meaning of the second. According to Prof. Kuhan, Saramá means storm. He says that Saramá is only a different form of the Teutonic Storm and the Greek herme. The word Saramá is derived from the root Sar with the suffix amá and Sar means to go. Saramá therefore means a runner or one who goes quickly. But storm or wind does not appear to be the correct meaning of the word Saramá as used in the Vedas. There Saramá is a messenger of Indra; she seeks out the lost cows and goes about to distant places. For her services she is rewarded with food for her son, (I. 62. 3) and she gets a large quantity of milk from Indra and others (1. 72. 8). So Saramá cannot mean the storm or the wind.

Prof. Max Muller would think that saramá and the early dawn were one and the same thing. He says: "There can be little doubt that she (Saramá) was meant for the early dawn, and not for the storm. In the ancient hymns of the Rig Veda she is never spoken of as a dog, nor can we find there the slightest allusion to her canine "nature. This is evidently a later thought." Science of Language, Vol. II. R 5 51. I agree with the learned Professor in holding that

Saramá was not a dog. The Panis concealed the cows: Saramá discovered them and informed Indra. It would appear that in those days whoever found out a lost thing after a careful search -- an informer -- was called Saramá and naturally the word came to mean a dog long after the Vedic days. To reconcile the meaning of the word in the Vedas, Sáyana ascribes to her supernatural powers, or how could a dog speak? Nothing, was impossible in the land of the gods.

In the Rig Veda Saramá has been given a number of attributes. She is the messenger of Indra (X. 108 2); she is beautiful, fortunate (X. 108 5); she is fair-footed or swift-footed. Surely these cannot be attributed to a dog.

Prof. Max Muller says. "It is Ushás the Dawn, who wakes first (I 123. 1); who comes first to the morning prayer (1. 123. 2). The-, sun follows behind as a man follows a woman (Rv I. 115. 2). Of whom is it said, as of Saramá, that she brings to light the precious things hidden in darkness? It is Ushás, the Dawn, who reveals the bright treasures that were covered by the gloom (1. 123. 6). She crosses the water unhurt (VI. 64. 4); she lays open the ends of heaven (1. 92 11); those very ends where, as the Panis said, the cows were to be found. She is said to break the strongholds and bring back the cows (VII. 75. 7; 79. 4). It is she who, like Saramá, distributes wealth among, the sons of men (1. 92. 3; 123. 3). She possesses the cows (1. 123. 12. &C.) she is even called the mother of the cows (IV. 52. 2). The Angiras, we read, asked her for the cows (VI. 65. 5), and the doors of the dark stable are said to be opened by her (IV. 5 1 2). In one place her splendour is said to be spreading as if she were driving forth cattle (1. 92. 12); in another the splendours of the Dawn are themselves called a drove of cows (IV. 51. 8; 52. 5). Again, as it was said of Saramá that she follows the right path, the path which all heavenly powers are ordained to follow, so it is particularly said of the Dawn that she walks in the right way (1. 12 4. 3; 1 13. 12). Nay even the Penis, to whom Saramá was sent to claim the cows, arc mentioned together with Ushás, the Dawn. She is asked to wake those who worship the gods, but not to wake the Panis ( ( 1 124. 10). In another passage (IV 51. 3) it is said that the Panis ought to sleep in the midst of darkness while the Dawn rises to bring treasures for man.

It is more than probable, therefore, that Saramá was but one of the many names of the Dawn "

From these the Professor concludes that Saramá and Ushá or the dawn are the same thing. But I am unable to subscribe to this view. If Saramá could not be the storm, it could neither be the dog. It is absurd that such epithets as fair-footed and beautiful should qualify a dog, or that such expressions as returning to Indra and crossing a stream should be predicated of a storm.

The learned Professor was so charmed with the Greek stories of the light, the darkness 1 a and the dawn, that he was led to trace the allegory in the Vedas even. And it was very natural. The son of a famous German poet he was taught from his infancy to look upon the world with the eyes of a poet as full of poetry. He loved poetry and saw it everywhere in nature all around. To him the Rig Veda therefore was nothing but a poem, a book of hymns, and hence the allegorical expositions. Thus what was meant to be a history was taken to be a poem. Let me however point out that the Rig Veda is not a poem but a history, the first and the most ancient history of the world. It is impossible for a nation to have a poem without having a history of its own. Prof. Max Muller would even trace the origin of the Trojan war in the epic of the immortal HOMER to the stories of the Panis and Sarainá in the Rig Veda. To discover the original meaning of old and obsolete words it is necessary to know (I) the condition or history of the then society, (2) the intellectual progress attained by the men of the time, and (3) the changes in the meaning which the words themselves have undergone from time to time. I would only point out here that at least the first two requisites were not fulfilled by the Western scholars in ascertaining the meaning of the Vedic words. In fact the allegorical explanations they have given to various words and passages of the Rig Veda would point to an intellectual state of our forefathers which it was not possible for them to have attained in those early days. Development of the Imagination must follow, and not precede the maturity of the Intellect.

The misconceptions of the Western scholars are more-over largely due to their acceptance of the current meanings ideas and of the Vedic words in explaining long-forgotten usages. It should be remembered that the modern meanings of words have reference to the modern state of the human society. An attempt to explain the Vedas, which are four or five thousand years old, in the light of present day signification of words is undoubtedly vain and useless. In two or three hundred years even many words and their meanings as well become obsolete and antiquated. What wonder, therefore, that a large number of words of an ancient work like the Vedas should be entirely forgotten after the lapse of so many centuries? The use of many words in their original Vedic sense has been forbidden even after the days of Sáyana. The dictionaries which are the repositories of words and their meanings were themselves compiled long after the Vedas when a great many of the words had lost their etymological signification; and the grammar has only puzzled the scholars in arriving at the correct import of the Vedic words, as it deals with but a few of the various meanings which particular words conveyed. Hence it is that the principal Vedic words have been made to mean what was not contemplated by the sages of old who used them first. The words Sarainá, Pani, Go, Indra, Soma, the twins Asvi, etc., are of this class and difficult to unravel.

The Meaning of the Word Pani

I wish Prof. Max Muller had taken the same pains to ascertain the meaning of the word Pani as he had done for Saramá. To get at the correct meaning of the latter it is desirable that we should first know the correct meaning of the former. And so I begin with the word Pani.

I have already said that the word Pani is mentioned no less than 36 times in the Rig Veda. The word Pani forms as it were the backbone of the Rig Veda: it is the key that unfolds the meaning of the sacred book, Not only do the stories of Saramá and Pani, but also good many riks depend for their proper interpretation upon the correct meaning of the word Pani itself. The rules of grammar relating to numbers and inflections have not been observed in the Rig Veda and it is not unusual for a word in the singular number to denote plural ideas or objects.

The expression Revatá Paniná (4. 25. 7) shows that the Panis were rich.
The expression Paner maneeshán (3. 58. 2) shows that the Panis were wise.
Abasam Panim (6. 61. I) would show that the Panis were given to introspection.
The rik 7-6-3 tells us that the Panis did not perform any Yajnas or sacrifices; were garrulous, arrogant or haughty; had no respect for Yajanas and were Dasyus i.e., idlers or robbers. According to Sáyama they were usurers also.
In 1. 33. 3 the word Pani is used for traders. Mr. Dutt, evidently following the European scholars, adopts the meaning of the term as traders in this rik. It is therefore clear that the Panis were a trading people and sold things for their value.
The rik 6. 5 1 14 represents the Panis as gluttons. For their voracious eating they were regarded as monsters. The word is also explained to mean illiterate traders.
All these would go to show that the word Pani could never mean darkness. It must mean men or some creatures akin to men. They were indeed a nation of traders without sacrifices, selfish, illiterate and usurious.

A nation of traders of those ancient days recalls the Phoenicians of old, for they were the only trading people then. In those days the Phoenicians were known as the Panis. The Aryans spoke of them as the Panih and the Romans as the Punic.

The question now is, how did the Panis come to be the neighbours of the Aryans?

Prof. Keightly says that the Phoenicians called themselves Kedmus In the Semitic language Kedmum means the East. it is probable that the Phoenicians came from the East and so gloried in the name of Kedmus, i.e., an Eastern people. This again would show that civilization had travelled from the east and had not its origin in Egypt.

Herodotus, known in the West as the father of History, was born in Asia Minor in 434 B.C. He travelled over many countries and recorded the experiences of his travels. He says: "The more learned of the Persians assert the Phoenicians to have been the original exciters of contention. This nation migrated from the borders of the Red Sea to the place of their present settlement, and soon distinguished themselves by their long and enterprising voyages. They exported to Argos, amongst other places, the produce of Egypt and Asia." Chapter I. Book 1.

Prof. Larchar of Ireland says: "Some authors make the Phoenicians to have originated from the Persian Gulf." And in Pockock's 'India in Greece' we have (vide page 218), "There to the north dwelt the singularly ingenious and enterprising people of Phoenicia Their first home was Afghanistan

I could multiply such quotations in support of my views. These lead me to conclude that from Afghanistan the Phoenicians went to the coast of the Persian Gulf, from the Persian Gulf to the borders of the Red Sea in Arabia and thence to Phoenicia, their last colony and home. I should like to observe here that they had, before their occupation of Phoenicia, colonized Egypt and the islands of the Mediterranean Sea. They had colonies in Greece and in the adjacent countries even. In fact with the Phoenicians or Panis the light of civilization travelled from the cast to the west.

The Phoenician held their own civilization to be the most ancient and declared it to be thirty thousand years old. There is however no doubt that they were one of the first civilized nations of the world, if not the first, and that Phoenicia was not their first home. Instead of tracing them to their first settlements on the coasts of Arabia or Persia or in Afghanistan the historians of Europe have located them at once in Phoenicia, and hence the mistake that points to the origin of all civilization in Egypt. I would not discuss here the question whether Afghanistan was the first home of the Phoenicians or not. But I would affirm that the Panis or Panih of the Rig Veda were the same people as the ancient Phoenicians of Afghanistan.

The Meaning of the Word Go

After ascertaining the meaning of the word Pani I take up next the Vedic word Go Saramá will be the last word of my investigation.

The word go occurs in almost all the riks in which the word Pani is used, and also in those Sutras in which Indra is the god or Ushá is the goddess. Prof. Max Muller has generally explained go as the rays of the Sun. I have not yet been able to know how other Western scholars explain the word. Mr. Dutt has followed Prof. Max Muller and has presented his view as shared by, a number of Vedic scholars. Sáyana interprets the word as water in certain passages, and as the re rays of the Sun in others, vide 4. 5 1. 3 and 4. 52. 2. There are, again, places where he gives no synonym for the word at all

Sáyana flourished in the fourteenth century A.D., when the Sanscrit vocabulary had been almost perfected. The word go then had for its synonyms Heaven, ray, thunder, the moon, the sun, animal, the cow-sacrifice, cow, water, organ or sense, word, etc. And yet with all these before him Sáyana did not try to explain away the word go when he came across it in the incidents relating to the theft of the go by the Panis. A reference to the various passages will show that in such cases he has taken the word go to mean the cow or cows and not the rays of the sun.

Let us see how the Rig Veda can itself help us in ascertaining the meaning of the word go.

It is said in 4.58.4 that the Panis kept concealed in the go three kinds of butter and the gods came to know of it. It is absurd to suppose that go which produced milk, curd and butter were rays of the sun and not cows. There cannot be the least doubt that go meant cows.

'The conversation between the Panis and Saramá in the 108th Sukta of the tenth mandala, as translated into Bengali by Mr. Dutt, convincingly shows that the word go could not mean any thing but cows, that it meant some animal and not rays of the sun.

I quote below the passage as rendered in English by Professor Max Muller

The Panis said: 'With what intention (did Saramá reach this place! for the way is far, and leads tortuously away. What was your wish with us? How was the night? How did you cross the waters of the Rasá?'
Saramá said: 'I come, sent as the messenger of Indra, desiring, O Panis, your great treasures; this preserved me from the fear of crossing and thus I crossed the waters of the Rasá.'
The Panis: 'What kind of man is I Indra O Saramá? What is his look, he as whose messenger thou camest from afar? Let him come hither, and we will make friends with him, and then he may be the cowherd of our cows.'
Saramá: 'I do not know that he is to be subdued, for it is he himself that subdues, he as whose messenger I came hither from afar. Deep streams do not overwhelm him; you, Panis, will lie prostrate, killed by Indra.'
The Panis: 'These are the cows, O Saramá which thou desirest, flying about the ends of the sky, O darling. Who would give them up to thee without fighting? For our weapons too are sharp.'
Saramá: 'Though your words, O Panis, be unconquerable, though your wretched bodies be arrowproof, though the way to you be hard to go. Brihaspati will not bless you for either.'
The Panis: 'That store, O Saramá, is fastened to the rock furnished with cows, horses, and treasures. Panis watch it who are good watchers; thou art come in vain to this bright place.'
Saramá: 'Let only the Rishis come here fired with Soma, Ayasya (Indra) and the ninefold Angiras; they will divide this stable of cows; then the Panis will vomit out this speech
The Panis: 'Art thou, 0 Saramá, come hither driven by the violence of the Gods? Let us make thee our sister, do not go away again; we will give thee part of the cows, 0 darling.'
Saramá: 'I know nothing of brotherhood or sisterhood; Indra knows it and the awful Angiras. They seemed to me anxious for their cows when I came therefore get away from here, 0 Panis, far away.'
'Go far away, Panis, far away; let the cows come out straight the cows which Brihaspati found hid away, Soma, the stones, and the wise Rishis.'