The Arian Witness

TJie original settlement of. the Arians — the Cmpians and

In presenting our contemplated Arian Evidence, we shall follow the well-known Indian method of inquiring into a Witness's name, pedigree, home, age, and his relation to the subject on which his testimpny is proposed to be recorded. The first four questions in our present case, we shall consolidate into one — the question of the Witness's original settlement, which will itself involve the discussion of the other points. This will probably detain us somewhat longer than ' might be anticipated at first sight. Many eminent scholars have fixed his primitive seat in the vicinity of the Hindoo Kush. With this conclusion we have never been satisfied. To us it. seems there is a mixture of an ' anachronism and a non-sequitur lurking in Uieir argument. The name " Airyana Vaejo" of the Zend Avesta they refer to Manu's " Ariavarta." The one, according to its own authorized interpreters, is an ««- geog^pliical place,' the other is definitely placed between the Vindhya and Himalayan ranges. But, irrespective of the confiision of sites involved in this reference, Manu lived more than a thousand years after the Arians' entrance into India. He must have contemplated his ancestors' Indian residence, when he named it " Ariavarta." If he had any idea of their emigration from the other side of the Indus, he could not have identified the Indian Ariavarta with their home in Central Asia. Ariavarta or Ariadesa, is a term which was unknown before the age of Manu. The Rig Veda is altogether ignorant of it.

We shall therefore have to re-open the whole question and review every point connected with it. This ■will necessarily postpone for awhile the principal inquiry indicated hy the title we have chosen for our work, but we hope this prolonged investigation

' Btinsen (cited by Bleeck ycA i, p. 9) thus annotates on " Airyana Vaejo."

" The name of the first conntry is Airyanem Yaejo. By this is to be understood the original Arian home, the paradise of the Iranians. The ruler of this happy land was King Jima, the renowned J'emshid of Iranian legend. Ahura-Mazda and Zarathustra here adore the celestial source of wafer, the Ardvf pfirS anahif a (It. 5, 1 7, 104). Here Zarathustra prays to the Drv&ppS (the patroness of horses, It. 9, 25) and to Ashi (17, 245) Thus Airyana Vaejo becomes altogether a mythical country, the seat of gode and heroes -where there is neither flickness nor death, frost nor heat, as is the case in the realm of Jima. In the chapter before us, however, we may still discover the historical background."

"We do not deny there may be a " historical background," but this we shall discuss in a future chapter, of the preliminary question will not be irrelerant as far as our main object is concerned, and our undertaking will perhaps in the end escape the charge of a mmiomer.

Strabo cites Eratosthenes whogives the boundai'ies of Ariana to be the river Indus in the East, " the great sea" in the South, the Paropamisus and the further mountain range up to "the Caspian gates" in the North, and the same line in the West which separates Parthia from Media, Karmania from Paraetacene and Persia. Strabo himself, however, appears somewhat indistinct. Considering that India, which, long before his time, had become the most important of Arian countries, was ignored in the East, and that Media which, as we shall see afterwards, was the original seat of the Arian family, was excluded in the West, the word Ariana used by the geographer must have been meant dis-. tinctively for Irania or "/ran," though Persiti itself seems to have been put out of the enclosure. Aria, as noticed by Arrian, was of itself not so extensive, and there must have been some confusion in the terminal lines given. On the whole we believe that the Greek geographer intended to give the Iranian territory of the time under the name of Ariana.

The omission of India will not, however, affect the present inquiry after the original home of the Arians, which must, in any case, have been outside the limits of India. The boundaries given by Eratosthenes may be regarded as the limits of the Iranian influence, as the author conceived it, in his own age. Media had probably then ceased to be reckoned Arian, and the immigration to India was evidently unnoticed and unthought of by Greek writers.

Before proceeding further, we feel it right to make a few observations suggested by the *' Caspian gates" aa among the boundaries oftheAriana of Eratosthenes. The Caspii, though living on the borders of Ariana, and otherwise an insignificant people, were, however, an integral portion of the Arian Family. In their primitive state, they could scarcely have been absolutely an unimportant nation, when they gave the name, with almost universal assent, to the groat inland sea of Asia. Herodotus groups them twice in the satrapies of Darius, once with the Pausicse, the Pantimathi, and the Daritse in the eleventh,^ and again with the Sacans in the fifteenth.* Some learned critics were puzzled at this double grouping, and had suspected the correctness of the reading in reference to the latter satrapy. The Caspii of the eleventh group they had no difficulty in referring to the people after whom the Caspian Sea was Called. Those of the fifteenth satrapy, however, they conjectured to have been either the Casii or the Caspeiri, albeit both were people far too remote from the Persian empire, and from the nation with whom they were closed in the 15th satrapy, to justify the probability of the conjecture. Prof. Rawlinson considers the more Eastern Caspii as the original branch of the Arian stock, and the Westerns, who had given the name to the sea, as a colony from the Easterns. To

U3, however, the reverse appears probable, as we shall afterwards see in due course.

That the Caspii were of the Arian stock appears from their very name. According to Pott (EtymologischeForschungen) that name is *' derived from the Old Persian 'u (which ia the Sanskrit m, the Zend ^m, and the Greek ts) '* good," and a^pa, a " horse." Prof. Rawlinson, who cites the above in a note,* expresses a doubt whether in such a case a x instead of a K should not have been the initial of Caspii.

A X might doubtless have been reasonably expected under the circumstances, for the «, like the Latin c,'is most frequently found to correspond to the Sanskrit palatial sibilant n; but examples are not wanting of its answering to the dental sibilant w also. The word i^p^i is derived from yw>"s for " voice," which in Sanskrit is ^ttj ai^d tlie word is often used in the Rig Veda in a heraldic sense, as in I. xviii. 1. And the Latin, com or con constantly stands for the Sanskrit sam or saw,'

The substitution of a non-aspirated consonant for its corresponding aspirate is also frequently noticed among dialectic peculiarities in Greek, and therefore the absence of the aspirate in the word Caspii cannot vitiate the above etymology. We shall see presently that an aspirate was introduced in the name by certain parties.

A curious story, found in the Rig Veda, gives fur- 'tljer confirmation to tbe above etymology,- and points to a closer connexion of the Caspii with the Indian Arians. There is a certain similarity of sound be* tween Caspia and Kasiapa, which by a metathesis may be considered as identical vocables. There is an Indian myth which makes Kasiapa, a progenitor of huge noxious animals^, singularly corresponding to the classical myth about the Caspian Sea producing similar specimens of animal monstrosity. This, however, is a single coincidence of myths on which alone no historical reliance can be placed. But there is alsa an Indian Pauranic legend that Kasiapa was the father of tJm sun, and among synonyms of the solar luminary is a patronymic signifying a " son of Kasiapa."'

This patronymic is still used in ceremonial obeisances to the sun.' Now the Rig Veda relates an anecdote of a king, who was also a/aMcr of the sun, and his name

• Sajah Eadh ale ant's Sahda Kalpa druma, eummarizes varioas legends, and makes Kasiapa father of serpents by his wife Krodha- TBsa, of wild beasts by Sarama, of aquatic monsters by Timi, of nagaa by Kadru. Diodorus Sieulus attributes a similar prolific power to the Caspian Sea. " In that sea are said to be produced many serpents of immense size and fishes of all kinds widely differing in color from those of our country," xvii. 75.

" I make obeisance to the maker oE day, the great luminary, brilliant like the Hibiscus, the son ol Kasiapa, the enemy of darkness, and the destroyer of oU sin."

18, according to Pott, etymologically identical with Caspa. The Pauranic legend and the Vedic story may be fairly supposed to refer to the same individual as " father of the sun," and we shall now show how this consideration tends to confirm that etymology, and to connect Kasiapa with the Caspians.

Rosen thus translates it:

" Illi utique istud compositum eat horuin sacrifieaTi- Hum carmen, quod iUe elegit, unus multae opulentiae dominus; Etasam, cum Sdrya, Suasvae filio, dimicantem, libamina parantem, adjuvit Indras."

Sayana's commentary on the same is to the following effect:

" The second hemistich refers to the following story. There was a king named Suaswa. He was desirous of having a son, and worshipped the sun with a view thereto. The sun himself became his son. With him a great Rishi named Etasa had a fight. That is here spoken of. This Indra, defying the sun who was the son of Suaswa, protected the Rishi of that name (Etasa), eminent for his libations of the soma."'

The word " Suaswa," the name of the above king,

&ther of tlie sun, is compounded of " su," good, and *' aswa," horse. The Zend sp is always represented in the Sanskrit by sw, as vispa and viawa, and " aspa" itself is well known to be synonymous with "aswa." " Suaswa" is therefore equivalent to " Suaspa," and by eliminating the u and substituting C for S in Romanizing the name " Suaspa, father of the sun," we get " Caspa," or the same that Pott's Etymology gives us. If we add to this the legend of Kasiapa already mentioned, the two characters may be fairly identified, and we can need no further apology for connecting the Caspii, or if we may Arianize the word, the CaspaSf with our ancient Bishi Kasiapa.

We may make bold to add that the Puranas appear to identiiy Kasiapa, still more circumstantially, with the Vedic character *' Suaspa" or Kaapa. They relate the same story with reference to Kasiapa'" which

Sayana relates about Suaepa — Vishnu being only substituted for the sun. This story, again, is connected with the subjugation of Bali, an " Asura" or Iranian, perhaps Assyrian, by means of three strides, thus extending Kasiapa's connection to the very neighbourhood ofCaspia, where conflicts may be easily conceived to have taken place between "the devas," who were chiefs of the future emigrants to India, and *' the Asuras" i. e. Iranian, or, more probably, Assyrian followers of Ahura Mazda.

It must be remembered that the Vedic word Bali is different from the ordinary Sanskrit " Balin," or Bali with a long i. And as the individual, indicated by it in the Satapatha Brahmana, is called an Asura, the mind is involuntarily led to the quarter where both those vocables are found like household

Kasiapa, eon of Mariclii, replied: Sinless lord, become the eon of Aditi and myself. Slayer of the Asuraa, hecome the younger brother of Indra." Samayatia {Muir's Sanskrit Texts, vol. iv, p. 116,

(Visbnu eays to Narada) '' The great Asura Bali, the strong son of Virochana, shall be indestructible by all beings, including gods, Asuras, and Basaeas. He shall oiist Sakra (Indra) from his kingdom. When the three worlds have been taken by Bali, and tho lord of Sachi (Indra) has been put to flight, I shall be born as the twelve Aditya^, the son of Kasiapa and Aditi." Mahihharata Si'mtiparva.

" So when the Vaiwasvata manvantara was arrived, Vishnu was bora as a dwarf, the son of Aditi and Kasiapa By this great being after he had conquered these worlds by three paces,' the three worlds were given to Purandara (Indra), their enemy being destroyed." ■ Vishnu Purana iii. Wilson's translation (Muir'a Sansiiit texts, ciilizedbv Google

words. Barring: pronouns and particles, no two words occur so often in the Cuneiform Inscriptions, _a8 " Assur biliya," or " Assur bil-ya," Assur my lord,^^ " Bili" comes evidently from Bel, which is found in the Inscriptions in the varying senses of a i/od^ a ktnff, a lord. '* Bali" may be easily compared with either, and clearly appears to be an Assyrian prince.

The " three strides" of Vishnu are noticed in the Rig Veda, in language which clearly points to the place whence the Arians commenced their migratory march to India, perhaps under the guidance of Vishnu himself. The Hymnist deprecates a return to the quarter of the world from whence Vishnu made his start with ki$ three strides. " May the gods save us," says he, *' from that place of the earth from whence Vishnu made his start! Thrice did he take a step."'*

We thus find that an important branch of the Arian stock, noticed in the Vedas, and connected with, if not descended from, a patriarch of great Indian celebrity, lived on the south-western coasts of the great inland sea of Asia, called after their own name. The myth about Kasiapa or Caspa, being father of the sun, probably meant nothing more than that he had originated or patronized the worship, or peculiar glorification, of the solar luminary in Asia. Perhaps this was also the secret of the Indian solar dynasty of yore.

There is iu the book of Ezra a curious reference to the place *' Casiphia," which the Vulgate and the Syriae versions had evidently identified with Caspia, each reading it Chasphia. " And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days:... And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo, the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God." (Ezra viii. 15, 17.)

Many eminent authors have followed the same identification, but later scholars of equal or even greater weight have rejected that idea, because Caspia is not in the direct route from Babylon to Jerusalem. They have not, however, found any other place or river corresponding to those mentioned in Ezra. We do not know whether Ahava can be the same as the river Azaba of the Cuneiform inscriptions. [Norris p. 22.)

The argument for rejecting the identification suggested by the Vulgate and the Syriae versions is (1) that Ezra must have taken the direct route from Babylon to Jerusalem, and (2) that as he had reached Ahava in only nine days from Babylon (vii. 9, viii. 15, 31,) his halting stage must have been too far trom Caspia to allow a deputation to have travelled to and fro within three days. There is doubtless great force in this argument, but we are still not quite satisfied that it is conclusive as against the above versions.

In the first place there is no absolute necessity for holding that Ezra went straightway to Jerusalem without any detour for picking up stragglers or persona who may have, by eluding the vigilance of guards, escaped from captivity, to places which might have been known to their own countrymen, though of course unknown to the officers of Babylon. The time that Ezra took in his journey to Jerusalem would probably allow such detours. The question of a journey from Babylon to Ahava, and of a deputation from thence to Caspia and back, within three days, is undoubtedly beset with almost insuperable difficulties. Ezra, how* ever, was not in want of money and other resources for quick journeys, and we are not satisfied that in the mouth of a Jew the word Babylon could never have a wider sense than the hundred-gated city itself, especially as the record of the decree of Cyrus, which Artaserxes renewed and which Ezra was going to enforce, was " found at Achmetha (Eebatana) in the palace that is in the province of the Medes." (Ezra vi. 3). A *' province of Babylon" is also mentioned in vii. 16.

But whether Casiphia stood for Caspia or not,, whether its situation was nearer to Babylon than to the Caspian mountains, it is clear that the Yulgate and the Syriac identified it with Caspia, reading it Chasphia. This confirms Pott's etymology and supplies the desideratum of an aspirate felt by Professor Rawlinson. Supposing, however, that the identification is wrong, and that there was another place called " Casiphia" within a moderate distance from Babylon, the word thereby assimilates with our Kasiapa still more closely, and in either case we find two other expressions in the Scriptural narrative corroborative of our view of

Arian connexion, south-west of the Caspian. These are the original Hehrew words, (1) for " ministers/' and (2) for the name of the chief himself, " Iddo." They seem to be both connected with Arian vocables. The word for " ministers," is musharathim. Radically it is " sharath," the " mu" and the " im" being respectively the verbal prefix, and the plural affix, of the Hebrew grammar. Now "sharath" is the same as the Zend " zarath" (the initial element in Zoroaster's own name), and the Sanskrit "jarata"or "jarita," constantly used in the sense of a minister of the choral service at the Altar." The Septuagint renders Musharathim ^Sovras or " singers" for the house of God, and the Arabic version, (to use the words of its Latin translator) lectores ad domum Dei nostri. The Vulgate and the Syriac both render it " ministers." And the name for the. chief "Iddo" is a remarkable expression here. The name itself, as represented in the Roman character, is not uncommon in Hebrew. But it is generally spelt with an initial Ain — once with a Yod, and once with a Fot? followed hy an Ain — ■ and thrice with a terminal Alif}^ In the instance before us, however, it is spelt without any Ain or Tod.

Its initial is only an AHf with ft hiruci, representing a simple vpoal »', withovit any guttural or semivowel, and being exactly equivalent to the Sanskrit i. And "Iddo," thus spelt, stands probably for " Indo," on the same principle ou which " Hoddu" stands indisputably for "Hondu" (Esther i- I). Now "Indo" ia eertaiuly an Arian and a Brahminical name, whethw we compare it with "Indu" (moon) or "Indra," in which (according to the 8atapath» BrdhmaaaJ the r i& gn arUtrarj/ interpolation.^^ " This breath which ia in the midst is Indra. He by his might kindled these Itreatha in the midst: inasmuch as he kindled them, be is the kindler flndhaj^. They call Indha " Indra" imperceptibly \j>arokabarn\: for the gods love that which is imperceptible. fDr* Muir's tranalati&n, Sanskrii Texti, v«l. iv.,^. 30.)

"Wo have already seen that the name " Suaswa" (Zendice Smtpa or rather Suaspa) etymologically corresponds with " Caspa." We must now add that tho same character is celebrated in the Khordah- Aveata, iu the following terms: " The Fravashi of the pure Svaspoi praise w©.'"* And the same vocable is tvlso in the Big Veda constantly used as an adjective, or attribHtiye, in the sense of connected withy or possessed <if good horsee, and applied to gods, Bishis, men, and thinga.

We often find in ita pages mll-harsed ehariaU, wellhorsed men, well-horted Indra, well-horsed ftishis, well'- horsed Agni.'* We also find pious men praying for well' horsed aons.'^ Sonietimes, again, the word ia "Suas* wia" correaponding exactly with Oaspia, in the same or a similar sense. We hare suaswia wealthy suaswia Indra, suaswia hoona.^^ In one place we actually have " suaswia sindhu" or Caspia 8ea.^ Sayana makes it a " river rich in horses," but the word "sindhu" also stands for a aea.^ Its present signification is

" The car that is swifter than thought and teell-lurted &c."

" When the soma liqnors flow into Indra like waters into the sea or canals into a lake &c."

almost exclusively a sea or ocean. Its primary meaning in the Veda is flowiag wafer, and, as it applies to a river, because it is a stream, so it is applicable to a sea because of its tidal rise under the influence of the moon.'* " Suaswa sindha" may therefore stand for the Caspian sea, or a river.of the name of Sindon which falls into the Caspian.'"

** Big V. ix. 86-19 %Til.. HiTWT f^^rat " The moon is tlie canae of Uie flowing of waters."

** Thd presence of " Sindicue" and some other maritime places bearing similar names beyond the Caspian and on the Euxine has been noticed by historians. Bean gives in his Classical Atlas a river " Sindone" falling into the Caspian. Its Assyrian inscriptions also inform ns of a city Hindanu on the banks of the Euphrates, Norris's Assyrian Dictionary, pp. S45 and 434. We likewise read of a Hayanti, son of Q^abbar, who vaa chief of " Hiadan" near the Euphrates. Ibid, p. 417.