Huge lions guard the gate at Hattusa (later it became Lion Throne/Simhasana)

Written by London swaminathan

Research article No.1923

Date :10^th June 2015

Time uploaded in London: 21-10

Who are Hittites?

Scholars say that no one knew who were they and where from they came. Their monuments have been found in Bogazkoy (previously known as Hattusa; now called Bogazkale) in Turkey.

Where were they?

They ruled Turkey (Anatolia) and Northern Syria.

When did they rule?

We knew that they existed between 1800 BCE and 1200 BCE.

What language did they speak?

They spoke an Indo –European language to which Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and most of the European languages belong.

Were they Hindus?

Other than the Sanskrit connection there are lot of similarities between Hindus and Hittites.

I have listed them below.

Why did their rule come to an end 1200 BCE?

Hattusa (Bogazkoy) , their capital was razed to ground about 1200 BCE. The end was sudden and this has been largely attributed to “sea people” from the Mediterranean. Some disagree.

Hittites are known from Old Testament and clay tablets discovered in Turkey ( area ruled by Hittites). In 1906, Dr Hugo Winckler began excavation in Bogazkoy and found a Royal archive of 10,000 tablets. The tablets give a good picture of Hittite politics and society. Czech scholar B.Hrozny deciphered the script and wrote about it.  Hittite called their language NESILI.

Bogazkoy = Hattusa in Turkey

Similarities with the Hindus

1)They spoke a language related to Sanskrit. All scholars agree on it. And so they did not belong to Anatolia (Turkey).

2)They use the phrase 1000 Gods in their peace treaty and this is very common in Hindu scriptures. Decimal system was invented by the Hindus. Vedic god Indra is decribed as a man with 1000 testicles (so potent!) and his Vahra Aydha is 1000 pointed! Thousand here means “a lot”.

3.They signed a peace treaty with the Egyptians 3000 years ago. The signing of peace treaty is also a typical Hindu custom. We hear about the Peace Treaty between Ravana and a Pandya king in Tamil literature (Please read my earlier article on it) We knew about another peace treaty between Mitanni king Dasaratha and Egyptian king around 1400 BCE.

4.Hittite Treaty:–Treaty of Rea-masesha mai Amana, the great king, the king of the Land of Egypt, the valiant, with Hattusili, the great king of the Land of Hatti, his brother, for establishing good peace and good brotherhood worthy of great kingship between them for ever.

The treaty goes on to define the relationship between the two nations; to renounce aggression; to establish a defensive alliance; to guarantee, upon the death of either party, he succession of legitimate heir; and to provide for the extradition of fugitives. The treaty was carved on the wall of a great temple of Karnak and at the Ramesseum of Thebes (Egypt). One of the final passages calls upon the gods as witnesses to the good faith of the signatories (this is also typical Hindu custom):

“As for these words —— as for him who shall not keep them, a thousand gods of the land of Hatti together with a thousand gods of the land of Egypt, shall destroy his house, his land and his servants”

Rea- masesha mai Amana was the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II. (Again this name is Sanskrit Ramasesha) .The Hittite king’s name was Hattusili (in Sanskrit it is Sathyaseela; s=h in many languages)

5)Royal Marriages :Hittites survived by Royal marriages, diplomacy and heroic fights. They were superb fighters. Royal marriages mean marrying girls from neighbouring countries which is also typical Hindu custom: Dasaratha married a woman from Kekaya, Dhritarashtra married a woman from Gandhara/Kandahar, Rama married a woman from Videha etc (Kaikeyi, Gandhari, Vaidehi)

6)Hattusa was full of temples. They were worshipping Storm God (similar to Indra) and Sun Goddess (similar to Gayatri)

7)Buyukkale (Turkish word for Great Castle) occupies a rocky place in Eastern Hattusa, where the king resided. It had its own temple and two libraries, where thousands of cuneiform clay tablets have been found.

8)A tablet from one of the temple archives says, “The deity  has now been made as a statue in silver covered with gold in the shape of a bull standing on all fours”. The storm god sometimes was represented a s a bull and at other times was shown accompanied by two bulls that pulled his chariot. Indra is also represented as bull in the Vedas.

9)Hattusili III, who signed a peace treaty with Ramses II,gave his daughter to Ramses II in marriage. Hattusili’s (Sathyaseela) wife was Pudushepa (may be Padmashiva in Sanskrit). She was a Hurrian (Suryan; belongs to Surya Kula of Hindus)

Hindu Vahanas in Yazilikaya, Turkey

65 deities and Vahanas

10)Hindu Gods and goddesses have Vahanas (mounts or vehicles) until today. Hittites’ gods always ride vahanas. North west of Hattusa is  Yazilikaya which is described as the most impressive of all Hittite religious structures. Here on the wall, storm god and his consort Hepatu were shown. There are 65 deities on the walls of the rocks. There were big festivals and ceremonial processions with the King and the Queen along with festival sports such as races, wrestling, stone throwing contests and boxing.

Hindu Goddess Durga is described as riding a deer in Tamil epic Silappadikaram and Thevaram of Saivite saints (Kalaiyathurthi in Tamil). We could not see such statues nowadays in India. But in the Hittite world we see deer riding gods!

11)Like Hindus Hittites cremated the bodies. Scholars believe that one of the galleries in Yazilikaya contained the urn with the ash of Tudhaliya, son of Hattusili and Pudushepa. They have identified two figures by hieroglyphs. The larger is the God Sharruma, the smaller is Tudhaliya IV. The relief depicts Sharruma, son of Storm God of Heaven and the goddess Hepatu.

12)Among the Hittites, when a king died it was said that he became God, and the relief may represent a celebration of of Tudhaliya’s entrance in to the Hittite pantheon. Hindus believed that their king was god and in the heaven they were waiting to receive them. Sangam Tamil verse says that Indra was waiting to welcome Tamil chieftain Ay Andiran. Sanskrit literature has such references too.

13)Manu’s Law Code: Hittites had very strict law like Hindu Law book Manu Smriti. Disobedience to the king was one of the few offences punishable by death – not just the offender but of his family as well. A Tamil king who was praised as Manu Neeti (smrti) Choza crushed his own sun under the wheels of his chariot because he crushed to death a calf. And the cow itself came to his palace and rang the Calling/enquiry Bell.

 

Vedic Prayer

14)What we read in Hindu Atharva Veda is also in the Hittites: From the tablets we have precise descriptions of various rituals: to counteract sorcery, to end pestilence, to engage the help of protective demons, to patch family quarrels, even to cure impotence. One tablet contains words of Muwatalli, the king who fought at Kadesh, concerning what must be said to the gods “when things get too much for a man”.

15)Their prayer was similar to Vedic paryers; one of the Hittite prayer runs like this, “Hattian Storm God, my lord, ye gods, my lords! It is only too true that man is sinful. My father sinned and transgressed against the word of the Hattian Storm god, my lord. But I have not sinned in any respect. It is only too true, however the father’s sin falls upon the son. So my father’s sin has fallen upon me…. Take pity on me and drive the plague out of the Hatti land”. This echoes the Hindu prayers. This is the prayer of Mursili II, a king who ruled near the end of 14^th Century BCE. On the annual sacred thread changing day (Upakarma) of the Hindu Brahmins, the priest recites a long list of sins (in fact an amazing list of sins done in seven generations) and begs for pardon.

16).Lion and Double Headed Eagle

Hittites monuments have huge lions carved at the entrance of the Place gate. They depict double headed eagle. Both of them figure in Hindu scriptures. Please see my articles Double headed Eagle: India –Sumeria connection (posted on 18 December 2011) and Vedic Lion around the world (posted on 9 November 2014) . I have dealt with them in detail.

17)Rings with emblems and seals: Ramayana says Dasaratha sent the coronation invitations to all kings of the land with eagle emblem engraved on the invitation. Sanskrit dramas like Sakuntalam, Mudra Rakshasam are based on rings with emblems. We have such rings and seals in Hittite world. Hittite craftsmen fashioned elaborate seals for stamping official and commercial documents and correspondence.  The five sided stone seal depicted religious scenes. The seal was hanging around the neck of the king. Hieroglyphs on the gold signet ring identify it as that of the son of a king. In India all such ancient rings were melted and made into new ornaments.

18).A goddess with disc shaped headdress sits on a throne holding an infant on her lap. We have such goddess in Hindu pantheon. Her name is Hariti. Hariti ma is worshiped in Swayambunath temple in Nepal. Neplaese Newars worship her Ajima. She is praised as the protector of children. A Hindu deity later taken by Buddhists went up to Japan. Chinese worship her as Kishimojin and Japanese worship her as Kariteimo (=Hariti Ma). She was said to be a child devouring demon and later converted by Buddha. Since Buddhism had no duties and Buddha never spoke about deity worship, all these must have gone from Hinduism.

19)Scholars have found several similarities between Greek mythology and Hittite mythology. This brings them closer to the Hindus because Greek mythology is nothing but the corrupted form Hindu mythology according to Max Muller and Edward pocoke.

20)Hittites were often attacked by Kaska people from the North. During the reign of Muwatalli, in the late 14^th century BCE, Kaska ttacked Hattusa and set it ablaze. Muwatalli fled, taking his court and the Hittite cult gods with him. His son Uri-Teshub, returned to Hattusa and restored the city as Imperial capital.

21)Huge storage jars were discovered in the Great Temple complex, probably stored oil or grains. One of them had the capacity to store 3000 litres!

Yazilikaya sculptures on huge rocks

A.Kalyanaraman’s Research

22.A Kalyanaraman in his book Aryatarangini has done a very detailed research into West Asian Hindu Civilizations and found out all Sanskrit names behind the corrupted West Asian names. He was very reasonable in arriving at the names. I am very much convinced because even in London, Sri Lankan Tamils corrupt all Indian Sanskrit names. Kanaga Durga Temple is called Kanaka Turka and Ganesh is called Kanesh, Damayanti is called Tamayanti. We see such corruptions in Mauritius Hindu community because of French influence. In South East Asian countries all the Ramayana names are corrupted beyond recognition.Ravana became Rab and Dhanajaya became Tenemjya, Nara Uttama became Nordom Sihanuk. So Kalyana Raman is right in identifying the names with Sanskrit equivalents. Here is the list:

Hittite =Hatti= Kshatriya=Kheta (in Bible)

Hattusas =Sathwasa = My reading is Sathya vacha

(In Tamil we have Vay Mozi Kosar=Truthful Kosar and Athiyaman=Sathyavan=Sathyaputra in Asoka’s inscription)

Anittas = Anitha = son of Pitkhana

Hattusilis = Sathva sila = my reading is Sathyasila

Mursilis = murasila

Telepinus= Dilipa

Tudhaliya – Dugdalaya

Suppiluloma = he of the golden hair

Tusratha = Dasaratha

Aranawanda= Arna Bandha

Now that lot of Hittite tablets are translated and books published, we can compare these and find some supporting documents.

So far as Mitannis are concerned the Sanskrit names are crystal clear. So we have archaeological proof from 1400 BCE for kings with Sanskrit names and Sanskrit numbers in the Horse Training manual of Kikkuli in Turkey/Syria area.

Let us continue our research with Kassites in another article.

Pictures are used from Splendors of the Past, Published by National Geographic Society;thanks.