Written by London swaminathan

 

Date: 17 March 2017

 

Time uploaded in London:- 8-05 am

 

Post No. 3731

 

Pictures are taken from various sources; thanks.

 

contact; swami_48@yahoo.com

 

 

 

Enki – River Ganges in Sumerian Culture

 

Holy River Ganga (Ganges) is so famous and so holy that wherever Hindus went they named at least one river after Ganga. We see Ganga in River Mekong (Ma Ganga) in South East Asia, Maveli Ganga in Sri Lanka, Congo in Central Africa etc. Sumerians also named God Enki after River Ganga.

 

Enki is the Sumerian god of the waters and wisdom. Akkadians called it Ea.

 

Both Enki and Ea are corrupted Sanskrit words:

Enki= Ganga

Ea – Toyam/water

 

But Enki is a male god in Sumerian; His abode was subterranean sweet water ocean Apsu.

Apsu is also a Sanskrit word for water (Apa= Apsu).

 

In Mesopotamian flood myths, Enki appears as the protector of humanity. Lot of stories are linked to Enki in course of time. This is because the local gods got mixed up with Enki. More over various cultures layered one over the other and people thought all are same.

 

Enki was worshipped in Iraq (Mesopotamia) between 3500 BCE and 1750 BCE. Hindu migration started towards Europe and West Asia 8000 years ago according to the latest Genetic research. Cave paintings in Bhimbetka and other parts of India proved that human occupation was there as early as 50,000 years ago in the heart of India (Madhya Pradesh etc).

Sumerians believed that Enki fills the Iraq rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Enki is perceived to fill the two rivers with sacred sweet water. This Sumerian belief is a typical Hindu belief. Hindus believe that all the rivers in India gets Ganga water on holy days. On Deepavali (Diwali) day, all the waters in any part of India is considered Ganga water. Tamils exchange greetings in the morning “have you had Ganges bathing today?” This is a traditional greeting for Deepavali.

 

When Kumbamela is celebrated every four years, Ganges visits different rivers in India. Mahakumbamela is celebrated every 12 years at Prayag (also known as Allahabad).

 

Whenever they dip in any water they recite the Punya Nadhi (River Hymn) sloka. Ganga Sindhusca Kaveri, Yamuna ca Saraswati……… The meaning is seven rivers are sacred and Ganga stands first. Hindus always keep Ganges water at home and mix it with other waters. Just by adding a drop of Ganga water they consider the whole water is from the Ganges. Sumerians also believed that Enki floods the rivers in Iraq (old Mesopotamia).

 

 

Enki is associated with Creation myth in Sumerian Civilization. Though the special meaning was Ganga , the common meaning was water for Enki. No wonder water is associated with creation. All the major cultures have the Flood Myth.

 

He is usually represented as a figure in typical horned head dress and tiered skirt with two streams of water springing from his shoulders or a vase and including leaping fish. This is again a Hindu story. Ganges is coming from the head of Lord Shiva and is depicted in all the pictures. Since Hindus migrated to Sumerian lands thousands of years ago, they had only vague memories. Fish stands for the Fish Avatar (Matsyaavatar) of Lord Vishnu.

 

The water coming from a vase is also a typical Hindu story. Hindus believe that the South Indian River Kaveri came from the vase of a great sage named Agastya. Ganges is also represented in a vase in every Hindu house.

 

Some of the images in Sumerian would remind any Hindu the penance done by the King Bhageeratha to bring the celestial Ganges to earth. This is a story about geology and a great engineering marvel. Around 1800 or 2000 BCE, big natural catastrophes happened in the Himalayan region. As a result of this great Saraswati river disappeared; Ganges changed its course; Indus valley civilization disappeared because of drought and floods. At that time Bhageeratha,who was a great engineer diverted the Ganges towards bay of Bengal via the modern Gangetic plain.

 

Like the Egyptians relocated Abu symbol  from the course of Nile river, Bhageertha removed a big blockage in the course of Ganges which was considered a big Engineering marvel. This is depicted in Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu Pallva Monuments) and other sculptures. Puranas say that Ganges comes from the head of Lord Shiva. Sumerians also has depicted this scene.

Enki and Egypt

Michael Rice, in his book Egypt’s making, writes,

“In Egypt the hieroglyphic symbol – ‘foot with a jar’ from which water is pouring, meant PURE, CLEAN.

The Pyramid text Utterance 513says,

“Be pure; occupy your seat in the bark of Re; row over the sky and mount up to the distant ones; row with the imperishable stars, navigate with the Unwearyingly Stars.”

(my comments: Hindus also place Ganges at two levels; one is Ganges on earth/Himalayas

and the second is Aakasa Ganga (Sky Ganga). The Milky Way galaxy that contains solar system is called Akasa Ganga in Sanskrit literature)

 

“One of Enki’s shrines is described as ‘the clean place’ and ‘pure’ and the idea of distant journeying is compelling, at least in the context of a review which started out on this voyage through the Egyptian perceptions of their island connections. The association with purity and water is also notable”.

(My comments: The words clean, pure etc show that they meant only Ganga; this confirms Enki is Ganga; Hindus sprinkle Ganges water on the day of Purity Ceremony known as Punyaaha Vachana)

 

Dictionary of Ancient Near East adds,

“Enki’s most important cult centre was the E-abzu at Eridu. As a provider of fresh water and a Creator God and determiner of destinies, Enki was always seen as favourable to mankind. In the Sumerian poem ‘Inana and Enki’, he controls the ‘me’ concerned with every aspect of human life and in ‘Enki and the World Order’, he has the role of organising in detail every feature of the civilized world. He also appears as a powerful and cunning deity in several Hittite Myths”.

 

New Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology adds:

“Enki or Ea, god of the Apsu, was the principal divinity of the liquid elements. But he had a daughter, the goddess NANSHE who shared his functions. She was the goddess of springs and canals. Like her father she ws particularly honoured in Eridu, the holy city, which was situated at the mouth of Apsu. She was also worshipped at Lagash each year, on a canal near the city, there was a procession of boats to escort the sacred barge in which the Goddess rode”.

(My comments: In addition to Sanskrit words used in the above (enki=Ganga, Ea=Toyam, Apsu=apa), note that Eridu is considered Gangotri of Sumerians. Lagash is Kailash. Sumerians vaguely remembered all the Indian place names and they changed or got corrupted in course of time. even today famous city Madurai in Tamil Nadu is called Marudai; no wonder Kailsh became Lagash! The boat festival is the Ganaga mata festival with Goddess Ganga on the boat.)

“Nanshe’s emblem was a vase in which a fish swam. Finally the rivers were deified. They were invoked not only as the creators of all things but also the instruments of the Gods’ justice”.

(My comments: India is the only country in the world where all the rivers are deified; even today they worship the rivers. There are even statues for all the River Goddesses and festivals around the year. They considered famines, droughts and floods are God’s punishments for their evil deeds; now environmental scientists agree with the Hindus: if we abuse Nature it punishes us!)

 

Ganges is praised in the Rig Veda. When Saraswati River existed Ganges occupied a secondary place. When Saraswati river disappeared, Ganga came to first place. So Ganges and Enki can be used to find out the periods of civilization. My guess is that Sumerian, Babylonian and Mesopotamian civilizations came when Ganga was considered most sacred. That means Rig Veda is earlier than all these civilizations. Nicholas Kazanas, greek scholar, proved that Rig Veda was composed before 3300 BCE through linguistic research. Herman Jacobi of Germany and BG Tilak of India have dated Rig Veda before 4500 BCE through astronomical data.

Now  the samples of underground Saraswati River proved scientifically that  the Vedic civilization was older than the previous conjectures.

–Subham–