Post No. 13,908
Date uploaded in London – 20 November 2024
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Tamil and Sanskrit names are found in the inscriptions in Yemen near Saudi Arabia. Brahmi letters were used by the Hindu merchants who travelled towards Egypt 2000 years ago.
WilliAm Dalrymple gives very interesting details about 219 inscriptions found in one place called Socotra , a place in Yemen near Saudi Arabia. Surprisingly only two Greek inscriptions are there and none in Latin. That means Romans did not do the trade and a very few Greeks involved in the trade.
Tamil and other South East Asian scripts have been derived from Brahmi and we have even Sanskrit inscriptions in the virgin forests of Borneo (Indonesia).
Other interesting details are the names found are Vishnu, Skandabhuthi etc which shows Hindus were the merchants. One more interesting thing is they have drawn Swastika, Trisula of Shiva symbols in the caves in Socotra. That shows they were God fearing Hindu merchants.
Here is what William Dalrymple says in his book The Golden Road (year 2024)
“At the height of the Indo-Roman trade Socotra seems to have functioned as a refuelling stop, as well as a source of Dragon’s Blood, i.e.red Indian cinnabar resin. Over the centuries many of the merchants who pulled in to take water and food supplies carved their names into the walls and stalagmites of the caves in a variety of languages: Persian, Palmyrene, Aramaic, Ethiopic, Aksumite, Arabian, and Nabatean. But most of the graffiti have been left by Indians, mainly Gujaratis from Barygaza (Broach or Bharuch); out of 219 inscriptions dating from second century CE to fifth century CE, 192 are written in the Indic Brahmi script and one each in Bactrian and Kharosthi. In contrast there are just two inscriptions in Greek and none in Latin.
“They give names that are clearly and unquestionably Indian: Vishnu, son of merchant Ganja, Skandabhuti, the sea captain or the nicely laconic ‘Bhadra arrived’. They appear to come from differing levels of Indian society Kshatrias and Vaisyas . There are images of Stupas, Swastikas, Trisulas , Syrian Christian Crosses and pictures of large three masted Indian ships , as well as prayers to Krishna and Radha, invocations of the Buddha and Triratna symbol inscribed by a Buddhist monk . Even the name of the island itself derives from Sanskrit Sukhadhara Dwipa, the blissful island.”
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Tamil Inscription in Egypt
Berenike is a port in Egypt. Tons of Indian finds including gems and pearls, woven mats and baskets teak from Kerala, and even bones of monkeys and elephants – specifically rhesus and bonnet macaques from India are discovered. Indeed, a steady stream of finds from the Indian trading community had been emerging from the stretch of Egyptian desert sand for some time. A great many finds of cotton weave have turned up in Berenike, which the archaeologists believe to be of a variety grown in Gujarat and Indus delta.
A Tamil pottery graffito was written by a Tamil visitor who called himself Chieftain Korran, while Prakrit inscriptions recorded the visits of other South Indians. Deposits of rice, dal, coriander, coconuts and tamarind show that these South Indian merchants preferred their own deliciously peppery cuisine to that of Egypt”.
(Sanskrit inscriptions in Brahmi script are found in many South East Asian countries from second century CE. From Egypt to Indonesia we see Sanskrit names such as Vishnu, Mulavarman, Skanda bhuti etc. Tamil inscriptions are also found in Malaysia).
–Subham—
Tags- Brahmi script, Tamil Sanskrit names, Socotra ,Berenike, Egypt, Indonesia, 219 inscriptions, Gujaratis, The Goden Road
Tamil and Vedas 