Written by London Swaminathan
swami_48@yahoo.com
Date: 23 December 2018
GMT Time uploaded in London – 16-23
Post No. 5819
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Greek, Chinese and Roman travellers or pilgrims visited India long ago. Later French, English and other Europeans visited India and gave their accounts. With the Muslim invaders came Arabic and Persian travellers. But Russian contacts with India was little and was not that popular.
Among the accounts of India, mention must be made of the ‘Voyage Beyond Three Seas’ by the Russian Afanasy Nikitin, a merchant from Tver (present name Kalinin). His historic journey took place from 1471 to 1474. It established direct contact between India and Russia.
Russians came to know about India through Iran and some western countries. Nikitin’s work was the first-hand account by a Russian. It was hailed widely and it was incorporated in Sofiskaya Chronicle. After Nikitin’s death in Smolensk, his manuscript was taken to Moscow in 1475; thus it was given state importance.
Nikitin sailed to Iran via Astrakhan. This was the usual route of the Russian merchants to the East. He then followed the trade from Iran to India. During his journey he carefully recorded what grows and where, how much things cost, where was found plenty of pepper and incense and the price of horses etc. The object of his journey was not merely commercial. He had a thirst for knowledge. He made a comparison of the Indian sculpture with the monument to emperor Justinian in Tsarsgrad (Constantinople). His remarks on Indian religion and the kingdoms of Vijayanagar and Bahmani are historically valuable. This is the first account of those kingdoms by a European.
Literary works
Indian literary motifs and stories infiltrated into Russia partly through the Wet and partly through Iran.
Romance of Barlaam and Joasaph was a transposition of the legendary life of Buddha.
Indian texts on the origin of castes came to Russian folklore tradition.
Knowledge of India poured into Russia through the following works
THE NARRATIVE OF MACARIUS OF ROME
VISIT OF ZOSIMA TO THE RAHMANS
NARRATIVE OF METHODIUS OF PATARA.
THE STORY OF THE INDIAN KINGDOM, based on the story of a letter from the Indian priest king John to Greek ruler Manuel Commenus. The letter in Greek appeared in the middle of the 12th century. Russian version appeared in the 13th century.
Alexandria (Alexander’s Romance) by pseudo Callisthenes is also another work.
Fables of Indian origin by Stephanitus and Ihnelates
Polish Chronicle of the Whole Word by M Bielski
Italian Cosmographia by G Botero
Flemish Cosmographia by G Mercator also has Indo -Russian contact information.
Archaeological finds in the form of coins and goods show relations between Kiev and India in 8th and 9th centuries.
In the 14 th century, Sultans of India maintained contacts with Russia. Indian gold coins of the 14th century were found in Volga region.
The ‘Tuglakhnama’ testifies to the service of Russians in the army of Ghiassudin Tughlak.
Babur sent an ambassador to Russian king Vassily Ivanovich
During the regime of Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584) commercial contacts were made. Indian goods reached Moscow through Iran. Indian merchants appeared in the Moscow market.
Gurumukhi Inscription
A bronze vessel with an inscription in Gurumukhi script of 16th century was found in Orsk (South Urals). India merchants appeared in Astrakhan in 1615.They amassed money by money lending business as well in addition to selling precious stones, medicines and incense.
During the rule of Shajehan and Aurangzeb, Russian ambassadors came.
Closer commercial contacts were established during the rule of Peter the Great (1689-1725)
Lebdev learnt Tamil and Sanskrit
In the academic field, lot of exchanges took place. A firm link was established by noted Russian Lebdev (1749-1817). He came to Madras in 1785 and learnt some Tamil. He went to Calcutta and learnt Bengali, Hindi and Sanskrit. He wrote extensively about Indian culture and religion.
Christ Visit to India
There is a tradition that Jesus Christ not only came to India but also studied in the Gurukulam in the Himalayas. He learnt Indian philosophy and the Upanishads from Hindu saints.
The Russian traveller Nicholas Notovich, on the basis of a manuscript discovered in Tibet, wrote in his book entitled Jesus Christ, that he spent twelve years in India.
Bible is silent about Jesus’ teenage years. After talking about birth and boyhood of Jesus it suddenly jumps to his later life. King Constantine was a Christian fanatic and he burnt all other versions of the Bible in the fourth century. Now there is an old Greek version in the British library. Scholars hesitate to reveal the contents because it contradicts the current Bible in hundreds or thousands of places!
TAGS- Nikitin, Russian traveler, Voyage beyond
–Subham–
Tamil and Vedas 