Monday 6 August 2012

GAMBIA - THE INDIC SANSKRITIC CONNECTION TO THE NAME GAMBIA

In Gambia life centres around the river Gambia after which the country is named. Many theories have been postulated regarding the origin and the meaning of the name Gambia but none are satisfactory.

One theory says Gambia is a Portuguese corruption of the local word Ba-Dimma, meaning river. Some other sources say that the river´s name comes from the Portuguese word cambio, meaning exchange, or trade. However, there is one name of the Gambia river, 'Gambara' that has been recorded by the first explorers. This name predates the arrival of the Portuguese, and even before the start of any known significant trade between the two countries.

As recorded in their book, "An Universal History: From the Earliest Accounts to the Present Times ...', Part 2, Volume 14 compiled by George Sale, George Psalmanazar, Archibald Bower, George Shelvocke, John Campbell, John Swinton in 1781, from information collated from local sources, it is stated thus about the name of the river, " .. it is commonly known as Gambia to the Englishman, which in fact is a corruption of Gambra, this we shall retain....". 

They further add information recorded by Alvise Cadamosto (1432-1488), a Venetian explorer and slave trader, who was hired by the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator and who undertook two known journeys to West Africa in 1455 and 1456. Cadamosto and his companions are credited with the discovery of the Cape Verde Islands and the points along the Guinea coast, from the Gambia River to the Geba River in Guinea-Bissau. Cadamosto's accounts of his journeys, including his detailed observations of West African societies, have proven invaluable to historians. 

Quoting from his writings, authors George Sale, George Psalmanazar, Archibald Bower, George Shelvocke, John Campbell and John Swintonstate state," The vast river Gambia was formerly known by the name of Gambro; an appellation still retained by the French. Cadamosto, the first writer who speaks of the river,, always gives it this name. Marmol says, that by the Negroes it is called Gambu, but he sometimes writes it as Gambra, and at other times Gamboa. "

So where does the name 'Gambra' stem from? Since the word Gambra has no appropriate meaning in the local or European languages one must look further away. 

In his book, "Oriental Fragments" which was published in the 1850's, author and researcher Edward Moor wrote, "It may be doubted if all of France, Germany, Russia, England, Italy, could furnish so many places with Indian names ....... as may be gathered from Africa". Edward Moor saw an Indic link in these names. 

He states further, "Jonaka-kunda, Tendi-Kunda, Koota-kunda, Tatti-konda, Barra-konda, Seesekund, Maria-counda, Tandacunda, Fatte-kunda, Mauraconda. On these class of names what I have said before touching kunda, a hill, and kund, a pool or lake applies here and may suffice. Such terminations are common in India, and are almost always I believe, found attached to hills or pools, or to their immediate vicinity. Some instance I will note: Golconda; or as I conjecture Kalkunda, Gurumkonda, Ganeshkunda, Kailkunda, Inaconda... Penekunda, Curacunda. Many others might be added..... I am deposed to refer them all to the Sanskrit Kund or Kunda...". Click here for more about his views on 'kund' and 'kunda'.

However far-fetched it might appear, the fact remains that no other language decodes the place names in Gambia including the name Gambara better than Sanskrit. 'Gamb' (गम्ब्) is 'go or move', 'Gambara' means that which is 'going, moving or flowing'. Sanskrit not only provides a meaning for the word Gambia, it aso provides acultutral context to which we shall come to a little later.

What is important is that many of the place names on the river Gambia, whether they lie in Sierre Leone or in Senegal or Gambia seem to have Sanskritic origins. A very common suffix for place names on the Gambia, as Moor had observed,  is 'kunda'. So is it in India 'kunda'. In South India places located on a hill have the suffix 'kunda' (कुन्डा) which is Sanskrit for 'hill'. And phonetically slightly different  'kund' (कुन्ड्) means 'pool'.  Places close to a pool or a lake often have this suffix. 

There is one more cognate in Sanskrit 'khanda'. The use of the name 'Kunda' in Africa may even regarded as  a distortion of the 'khanda' (खंड), meaning a 'region'. In fact, in the local Mandinka language 'kunda' is said to mean 'place'.

As stated above, in Gambia all three, the Sanskrit 'kunda',  'kund', and 'khanda' are appropriate as suffix of place names. It is a country of flat-topped hills that alternate with valleys or depressions where little towns appear, and the Sanskrit meaning 'kunda' (hill) appears apt here. In other places which are close to the river, which is in reality the entire country, 'kund', 'water pool' or 'lake' is meaningful. 

We may also now look at some of the pre-fixes attached to the word 'kunda' in Gambian place names. One of them is 'manas' - as in  Mansa-kunda located in the region of Kumb.  This names appear in the well known map by Captain John Leach dated to 1732. Though 'manas' is explained locally as having been derived from the name of King Manasa Musa (born 1280s) of the Keita dynasty and is said to mean 'king of kings', the word predates the birth of Manasa Musa. We see this Mandinka word  in the name of the Mansa Loma peak in the Guinea Highlands Range. 

Once again it is the Sanskrit  'manasa' (मानस) which means both 'with your heart' or 'willingly' or 'dwelling on a lake' that explains the prefix in the name Manasakunda. Kumb is the name of the region where Manasakunda is located and 'kumbh' (कुम्भ) means 'water carrier' in Sanskrit and Kumbh is not some obscure word in Sanskrit.  And it is here that we find that all these names are tied in a cultural context.

Kumbh is the name of the biggest congregation in the world, a congregation that takes place yearly on the banks of the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna, when hundreds of thousands of devotees take a holy dip in the River Ganges in India. 

The name Gambia, more specifically its ancient most known name today, that is Gambara is also the name of a confluence of three rivers: the Vitasta (Jehlum), the Visoka IVisau) and the Rembyar (Ramanyatavi) in India. The place is known as Gambhira-Sangama. Sangama was not an unknown name on the Western coast of Africa.

In 'The New London Universal Gazetteer, Or Alphabetical Geography of the World' (1826), Jedidiah Morse* listed the name Sangama, a river in Africa. He stated simply without much detail, "Sangama - A river of Africa which falls into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Formosa". Cape Formosa is located in the territories of Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau on the north-western coast of Africa.


A Map of the River Gambara by Captain John Leach, dated 1732


The largest city in Gambia is SerrekundaThe prefix Serre in Serrekunda  maybe derived from 'shir' (शिर) meaning 'head' or 'top most' or it may be derived from 'sara' (सर)  which is 'pool' or 'lake'. Two places around the Gambia river are named Tambakunda and Dembakunda. 

It may seem implausible that Gambia, which is so far away from India should have so many place names which have a link to Sanskrit. But many scholars have made this observation and found it to be true in their research. 

There are other examples of Indic names in Gambia which includes Janjunbureh. In the old maps of Gambia the name was written as Jajenbureh - a close cognate of the Sanskrit 'Jayan-Puri'. 'Jayan' is 'victory' (जयन), 'puri (पुरी) is a very common Sanskrit word, the equivalent of 'place, town, city'. Another cognate is jhanjhanpura, 'jhanjhan' (
झञ्झन्) or 'gleaming' fits the description of Janjunbureh. It is an island town located  on the Gambara. 

The antique maps of Gambia list some other very interesting names which have now vanished from the geography of Gambia. One example a river by the name Kabata - probably a distortion of Sanskrit 'kavana' (कवन) meaning 'water'. 
Two of the tributaries of Gambhara that go by the names Sanjalli and Indea . Sanjalli is a Sanskrit word which means 'hands hollowed and joined together' like when holding water.


A section of Captain John Leach's map of the Gambara River dated 1732. The River Gambara flows through the region of Kumb close to Manaskunda in Gambia.  Gambara, Kumb and Manaskunda are all Sanskrit words.

Another section of Captain John Leach's map of the Gambara River dated 1732. Here the River Gambara flows through the region of Yami.  The Tributaries that flow here are called the Sanjalli and Indea . Sanjalli is a Sanskrit word which means 'hands hollowed and joined together' like when holding water.


Suggested Readings:

1. Oriental Fragments - by Edward Moor
2. Mandinka.pdf
3. An Universal History: From the Ancient to the Present

No comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Archive