10/5/2016

Vedic Cafe : THE GARDEN OF EDEN, THE BIBLICAL LAND OF HAVILAH - LINKS TO INDUS RIVER AND INDIA

Saturday, 10 September 2016

THE GARDEN OF EDEN, THE BIBLICAL LAND OF HAVILAH - LINKS TO INDUS RIVER AND INDIA

One of the most frustrating issues with the Old Testament and
the Bible is the unknown etymology and the unknown meanings
of the names of protagonists as well as the names of the most
important places, rivers and mountains that occur in these texts.
Unlike the Vedic literature, where for the most part the meanings
of names, their etymology and sources are crystal clear, the Old
and the New Testaments provide no clear answers to such
questions.
Says Edward Pococke in his book 'India in Greece' (1852) - "Let it
be granted that the names given to mountains, rivers and towns
have some meaning. Let it be granted that the language of the
native name-givers will explain the meaning."
Why is it then that Aramaic, the original language of the Bible, is
unable to explain the meaning of the names of the rivers and
towns, places and protagonists. In fact why is that these words
do not directly exist in the Aramaic dictionary at all. It is quite
evident therefore that these names are distorted, having
travelled into the language from foreign sources; the Aramaic
writers merely recording the events of a distant land rather than
the history of their native geographical arena.
For example, the etymology of the name 'Eden' is unknown. The
name Eden is equated with 'delightful place', only because in the
Genesis Eden is described as a 'delightful place somewhere in
the east'.
Traditionally, the favored derivation of the name 'Eden' was from
the Akkadian edinnu. Edinnu is itself derived from
a Sumerian word meaning 'plain' or 'steppe'. In Sanskrit 'edhini'
() simply means 'earth' - and probably best fits into the
meaning of the verse.
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10/5/2016

Vedic Cafe : THE GARDEN OF EDEN, THE BIBLICAL LAND OF HAVILAH - LINKS TO INDUS RIVER AND INDIA

Genesis 2:10-12 states, "A river flowed out of Eden to water the
garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of
the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole
land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is
good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. In spite of a lot of
conjecture the meanings of the names Eden, Pishon and Havilah
are unknown, so is their location. What is known is that there is
no location in the vicinity of either Canaan or Mesopotamia which
is the source of four river systems or even four rivers. Also there
is no known place in Canaan or Mesopotamia that fits in with the
paradisical beauty of Eden.
Because the Genesis states that Eden was somewhere in the
east, many historians have looked towards the east for a site and
civilization that fits the description in the Genesis in a more apt
manner.
In his book, the Antiquities of the Jews, Roman-Jewish scholar
Flavius Josephus (37 - 100 AD) stated that the unidentified river
Pishon was either the Indus river or the Ganges, while the Gihon
was the Nile.
The researchers of the Asiatic Journal had a similar view. In Vol 8
of the Journal published in 1819 this matter is dealt with in detail
in the context of the origins of the Chinese civilization. It states,
"The river Indus which constitutes the western boundary of India
within the Ganges, may probably answer to the Pison river which
is said to encompass the whole land of Havilah, or India."
Again referring to the gold of the land the author states, "The
gold-sand washed by rivers from the sides of mountains is likely
to be the specimen of the metal first discovered in the primitive
ages anterior to the art of working mines; and as the provisions
of nature seem to have been pre-adjusted to the growth in the
knowledge of mankind and the progress of invention, it is
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10/5/2016

Vedic Cafe : THE GARDEN OF EDEN, THE BIBLICAL LAND OF HAVILAH - LINKS TO INDUS RIVER AND INDIA

reasonable to suppose that the rivers of India, many of which in

Sanscrit bear the epithet of golden-armed, were richer formerly
in gold dust than they are now, though many of the streams from
the Himalaya still afford it in some degree."
In her book 'Origins of Modern Witchcraft: The Evolution of a
World Religion' author Ann Moura Aoumiel states, "In Genesis,
the land of Havilah, where the gold is, through which the main
river of Eden flows, is a reference that definitely fits the irrigated
farmlands and the legendary wealth of the Indus Valley. One of
the great Indus cities has a name evocative of the strange name
(Havilah) used in the Bible - Harappa. India's rivers provide 90%
of the total gold production in India today, so that just when the
Genesis was written, these are rivers of gold. When we consider
the theory of consonantal shift, called Grimm's Law (1819), with
the softening of the consonants over time and the systematic
changes in words moving from one language to another, the
development of Havilah from Harappa is easy to see...".
However it is also true that Harappa's ancient name was not
Harappa - and is probably a distortion of an ancient Sanskritical
name such as 'Hara-Apa' ,i.e., 'Hara's river' or 'Hara-rupa' or
'having the form of Hara'. So the name Havilah must arise from
some other name, which is discussed ahead.
Gihon, the second of the four Biblical rivers, that supposedly
encompasses Ethiopia has been interpreted as the White Nile.
But neither the White Nile, nor the Red sea encompasses
Ethiopia. Ann Moura Auomiel states the Gihon is "more likely to
have bordered Kashmir...". She further adds that when the Bible
states that the Gihon encompassed the land of Cush, "...it was
referring to the passes of the Kush", or the mountain passes of
the Hindu-Kush range as they are called today. In Sanskrit
'Gahan' () means 'deep' or 'depth'.
The third river mentioned in the verse is the Hiddekel and is
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10/5/2016

Vedic Cafe : THE GARDEN OF EDEN, THE BIBLICAL LAND OF HAVILAH - LINKS TO INDUS RIVER AND INDIA

equated with the Tigris. Matthew G. Easton,(18231894) a

Scottish Presbyterian preacher states in Easton's Bible
dictionary,"Hiddekel was called by the Accadians id Idikla; i.e.,
'the river of Idikla', the third of the four rivers of Paradise (Gen.
2:14)." many writers have assumed that the Hiddekel is the Tigris
which is linked to the word 'tiger' equated with 'rapid'. In any
case the word 'tiger' is derived from the Sanskrit 'vyagra' also
meaning 'tiger'.
But looking at the names Eden and Heddekel, or Idikla through
the Sanskrit lens, one finds that Eden and Idikla might be
related. The Sanskrit 'edhini' () and 'idika' ( ) both
mean 'earth' and are cognates of Eden and Idikla.
The fourth river is the 'Phrath' and has been equated with the
Euphrates.The Babylonians and Assyrians called Euphrates 'SuPurattu'. Fausset's Bible dictionary states that in the word
Euphrates, the first syllable Eu, is derived from the Sanskrit Su
(
) meaning 'good'.
Edward Pococke states in his book 'India in Greece' that the
name Euphrates is a distortion of 'Su-Bharata' which changed
into 'Su-Purattu', hence the Babylonian and Assyrian name.
'Bharat' ( )is the name of ancient Indian king after which India
was named 'Bharata' (). Bharata is known to have extended
his empire into Central Asia right up to the Mediterranean.
Vedic author and scholor Vinay Vaidya states, " 'Euphrates' could
be seen as 'avaprathas' ( )of Sanskrit, 'ava' () which
means 'low', 'prathas' ( )means flows, follows, moves. This is
...after careful treatment according to the Laws and rules of
Sanskrit structure and grammar and in the light of Vedic support,
with proper investigation."
Once again the author of the article "On the Origin of Chinese
nation", published in Vol 8 of the Asiatic Journal states, "The
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Vedic Cafe : THE GARDEN OF EDEN, THE BIBLICAL LAND OF HAVILAH - LINKS TO INDUS RIVER AND INDIA

country called Eden must mean some part of India celebrated as

the garden of the world, situated amongst the finest rivers and
abounding with everything rich and luxuriant."
About the location of Havilah, Tse Tsan-tai (1872-1938) one of the
earliest Chinese revolutionaries of the late Qing Dynasty wrote in
his book named 'The Creation, the Garden of Eden and the Origin
of the Chinese', published in 1914, that based on the
geographical description in the Bible it is evident that the Garden
of Eden was located in China and that Havilah was India. Here is
a map from his book:

Chines author Tese Tsan-tai identified Havilah as India , the rivers of Himalayas as the Biblical rivers
and Eden some where in the Himalayas

Though India was never known as Havilah it was known as the

land of Himalaya. If the four major river systems of the Himalaya
are the rivers of the Bible, three can be identified as the Indus,
Bramhaputra and the Ganges which all rise in the Himalaya. The
Ganges and the Bramhaputra fall into the Bay of Bengal forming
the largest delta in the word. The Indus falls into the Arabian Sea.
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10/5/2016

Vedic Cafe : THE GARDEN OF EDEN, THE BIBLICAL LAND OF HAVILAH - LINKS TO INDUS RIVER AND INDIA

The Indus, Bramhaputra and the Ganges, in a way surround the

Indian peninsula as they fall into the Arabian Sea and Bay of
Bengal. For a little more about the river Pishon click here.

The land of Himalaya may be the 'Havilah' mentioned in the Bible.

The three river systems of Indus, Bramhaputra and the Ganges fall into the
Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal which then surround the India Peninsula
to make the fourth water body.

Thus the Pishon that surrounds the land of Havilah or Himalaya,

is the coming together of the waters of the three major river
systems that arise in the Himalayas. The name Himalaya can
very easily distort into Havilah if the 'm' consonant changes to
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10/5/2016

Vedic Cafe : THE GARDEN OF EDEN, THE BIBLICAL LAND OF HAVILAH - LINKS TO INDUS RIVER AND INDIA

'v'. The Garden of Eden then is a paradisical region inthe

Himalayas, probably Kailasha and Mansarover, now in China.
It is interesting that many of the modern languages have been
traced back to Indo-European roots of Sanskrit, but history is not
yet ready to address the religious heritage of various cultures
around the world which too along with the languages are
embedded in Vedic culture and language of Sanskrit.
Suggested Readings:
1. Origins of Modern Witchcraft: The Evoloution of a World Religion by Ann Moura
Aoumiel
2. Heritage of Herappa Vol 1 by Lakshmi Chatterjee
3. Journal of Asiatic Researches Vol 8
Posted byNeeta Rainaat01:22

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