AMERICA - THE SANSKRIT CONNECT TO ITS NAME

The etymology of the word America has long been debated, but intriguing voices from the late nineteenth century suggested a far older and more sacred origin. In 1888, Helena. P. Blavatsky stated in her book, ‘Isis Unveiled', “The same may be said of the name of America, which may one day be found more closely related to Meru, the sacred mount in the centre of the seven continents, according to the Hindu tradition, then to Americus Vespucius, whose name by the bye, was never Americus at all, but Albericus, a trifling difference not deemed worth mentioning till very lately by exact history.” 

In the same book, Blavatsky quotes Dr Alexander Wilder (1823-1909), an American physician and Neoplatonist who, in his writings, had commented earlier, “It is most plausible that the state of Central America, where we find the name Americ signifying (like the Hindu Meru we may add) great mountain, gave the continent its name.”  In Vedic texts, Meru is a mountain of gold that stands in the centre of the universe. It is so high that it reaches the heavens, and the Pole Star shines directly above it. 

Blavatsky's contention is not far-fetched, considering that legends similar to that of the Rig Vedic Mt. Meru were not unknown in the Meso-American and Mayan traditions of South America. In fact, if we research the Mayan culture, we find that the legend of Mt. Meru is deeply embedded and entrenched in its culture and tradition. If one analyses place names and deity names of Mayan and Aztec culture through the Sanskrit lens, a whole new world of information emerges that establishes that the American links to the name Meru of the Vedic culture are far more deeply entwined than most people will be comfortable accepting.

The Vedic Meru-danDa, or the spinal axis of the world
runs from North America to South America
gives the name to A-Mer-ica.

+But first, we must take a look at the naming of America in popular literature. In popular literature, three sources of the name America have generally been put forth. One states that America was named after the Christian name of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454- 1512), whose name goes by many variations, one such being Amerrigo Vespucius, which was mentioned by Blavatsky. The second source of its etymology emerges from the name of the Amerique mountain chain. The Amerique chain runs like a spine across the Mayan territories of Central America, beginning at the northwest and culminating at the southeast end at the Mosquito Coast. The third source states that America derives from the Mayan word 'amerique', which means a country of perpetually strong wind, or the Land of the Wind.

1. The name of explorer Americus Vespucius as the source of the name America is widely popular, but many doubts have been raised about its authenticity by serious scholars. For example, French geologist Jules Marcao (1824-1898), in his paper ‘The Naming of America’, had put forth the view that Americus Vespucius’s name in the oldest records was mentioned as Alberigo Vespucci and not Americus Vespucius. Marcao also states that his name-change from Alberigo to Americus had happened only subsequent to his return to Europe from the Americas, after he had interacted with the native tribes who introduced him to the name Amerrique. This implies that the name Amerrique already existed in the Native American tradition, much before the arrival of the European invaders into Mayan territories. 

A second important point is that places in Central and Latin America, which were named after Spanish invaders, were conventionally done so in the family or surnames of the explorers, rather than their Christian names. Why then would the tradition be broken for one particular explorer? 

Though Vespucci had worked to make the name America known in Europe after he returned from his voyages, the authenticity of Vespucci’s exploration record was found to be questionable because he had amalgamated the myths and legends of South America with a distortion of his own name. In other words, the name America was brought back to Europe from the New World, where the name had originated, and Vespucci had changed his name from Alberigo to Amerigo to reflect the name of his discovery. 

In the late 1970s, in an essay written by Guyanese novelist and educator Jan Carew (1920-2012), titled ‘The Caribbean Writer and Exile’, Carew had stated, “Alberigo Vespucci, and I deliberately use his authentic Christian name, was undoubtedly a Florentine dilettante, an extraordinarily clever one. Why would he otherwise have changed his Christian name after his voyages to the Americas?"

Jan Carew cited Marcou in support of his argument. In an article published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1875, and later in his work published in the ‘Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution’ dated 1890, Marcou had mentioned that, “…in the archives of Toledo, a letter from Vespucci to the Cardinal dated December 9, 1508, is signed Amerrigo with the double 'r' as in the Indian Amerrique … and between 1508 and 1512, the year in which Vespucci died, at least two other signatures with the Christian name Amerrigo were recorded." The argument was that Alberigo Vespucci had gradually changed his own name to fit in with the name of this newly founded territory around the Amerrique chain in Central America. About Christopher Columbus’s travels to the Americas, Carew stated that they were largely fiction, “characterised, with few exceptions, by romantic evasions of truth and voluminous omissions."

Carew summed up his view by making the statement that, “robbing peoples and countries of their indigenous names was one of the cruel games that colonisers played with the colonised…. To rob people or countries of their names is to set in motion a psychic disturbance which can, in turn, create a permanent crisis of identity. As if to underline this fact, the theft of an important placename from the heartland of the Americas and the claim that it was a dilettante's Christian name robs the original name of its elemental meaning."

2. A simplistic explanation of the naming of America is problematic, as it overlooks the long history and rich culture of the Americas. The rich heritage of indigenous civilisations demands consideration and must be explored to uncover the true origins of the name 'America.'

In his research paper ‘The Naming of America: Fragments we have Shored against Ourselves’, which was published in 2014, author Jonathan Cohen says that for both the explorers, Columbus and Vespucci, the words Amerique and gold were synonymous. The object of Columbus’s travel, as well as the later explorers, to the Amerique region was finding the gold mines at the foot of this mountain range, especially at Veragua, Carambaru and Cariai. The Native Americans had led Christopher Columbus and other explorers to the gold mines on the River Mico in Veragua. In his account, Columbus had observed, “It is the custom in this territory of Veragua to bury the chief men with all the gold they possess,” thus establishing his interest in the gold-rich land of Amerique.

That brings us to Blavatsky’s contention that the name America, and its source word Amerique, may have more to do with Mt. Meru than anything else. In the Rig Veda, the 'heavenly summit' of Mt. Meru is described as a 'mountain of gold or a 'mountain filled with gold'.  Blavatsky therefore indicated that it would not be a surprise if it is found that the gold-filled mountains of Honduras bear the name Amerique for this reason. Referring to the information collected from Native American Indians, Marcou had also remarked, “It is possible that the name Amerique was then spoken of as a tribe of Indians, and a country rich in gold, for it is the only gold area of that part of the coast of Honduras.”

Apart from the legend of Mt. Meru itself, one other link to the Rig Vedic tradition emerges if one were to analyse the legends of Mayan and Aztec cultures. To elaborate on the above point, one may once again mention the American French geologist Jules Marcou, who, in his paper, ‘The Naming of America’, had introduced to the world the name of Ramas, a Native Indian tribe, which belonged to the gold-rich Nicaraguan district of Amerique. According to Marcou, Amerique had been visited by both Columbus and Vespucci in their quest for the riches of this region, greatly facilitated by the members of the Ramas tribe who lived in this region. Rama, as we know, is the name of the Hindu god King, the protagonist of the Hindu epic, Ramayana, which also carries the descriptions of Mt. Meru.

3. A vast wealth of information about indigenous South American culture can be uncovered through the study of Rig Vedic connections. Like many others, Jan Carew was not actively promoting a Rig-Vedic Sanskritic link to the name Amerique or America. However, he inadvertently highlighted a connection rooted in the Sanskrit word 'Marut' (meaning 'wind'). To elucidate the elemental meaning of Amerique, Carew referenced Marcou's correspondence with Augustus Le Plongeon, an anthropologist who studied Mayan culture in Yucatan, where Le Plongeon had stated, "The name America or Amerrique in the Mayan language means a country of perpetually strong wind, or the Land of the Wind. Sometimes, the suffix '-ique' or '-ika' can signify not only wind or air but also a spirit that breathes—life itself." Interestingly, Vedic scriptures support Carew’s interpretation.

The Rig Vedic 'God of Wind,' Marutta (मारुत), derives his name from the Sanskrit term for 'breath' or 'wind' (मारुत). This aligns with the Mayan interpretation of Amerique as 'the Land of Wind.' Additionally, a variation of the Sanskrit word, 'marut' (मरुत्), means 'gold.' Thus, whether referring to the gold-rich lands of Amerique or its identity as the 'Land of Wind,' the connections are intrinsically interwoven. This linkage also suggests a deep connection between Sanskrit and the Mayan languages, pointing to a historical exchange or interaction robust enough to transmit scriptural texts and legends to Mayan lands. One could even argue that the Mayans were familiar with both the Hindu concept of Mt. Meru and the Rig Vedic 'God of Wind.'

There are a few other reasons that scholars such as Blavatsky and Wilder have made the connection between Mt. Meru and the Amerique mountains. Tormod Torfæus (or Torfæus), a known historian who authored Historia Rerum Norvegicarum (History of Norway), a significant work on Norwegian history, had recorded the travels of the Northmen to the Americas in the 10th century. They recorded the name of the region as Markland, in which the r had a rolling sound as in marrick. Blavatsky states, "A similar word is found in the country of the Himalayas, and the name of the World Mountain, Meru, is pronounced in some dialects as Meruah, the letter h being strongly aspirated. The main idea is, however, to show how two peoples could possibly accept a word of similar sound, each having used it in their own sense, and finding it applied to the same territory". From Meru were derived both America and Markland. One may note here that India's ancient name Meluhah may itself be a distortion of Meru.

The Christian missionaries of Europe neither had the information nor the inclination to study the Mayan and Aztec civilisations, let alone analyse their links with the Rig Vedic civilisation. Their intention was quite the opposite. Their mission was to establish a Christian state in the New World. Their endeavour included the eradication of the very traces of the ancient civilisation of the Americas, which unfortunately they vastly succeeded in doing, rather than the study of its depths and propagation of the information about its greatness and its links to other civilisations.

There is a lot more evidence still available to provide proof of a Vedic Indic link with the Mayans in spite of the intentional destruction of, and distortion brought in, to the Mayan culture by the Spanish invaders. Despite the destruction by the invaders and erosions brought on by time, what we have today is still potent enough to establish the Rig Vedic-Mayan connection. Here is a look at that evidence:

1. Martin Myrick states in his book ‘The Book of the Last Trumpet Vol 3’, “In the Mayan Bible, the Popul Voh, the story of the creation of mankind by gods, centres around the World Mountain, Paxil. In the beginning, the Mayan Gods raised up the earth as a mountain which lay below the Cosmic Waters, drawing comparison to the rising of Mt. Meru by Hindu Gods & Mt. Mashu by Sumerian gods.” 

We may add here that the second syllable in the name  ‘Paxil’, that is ‘xil’, may be decoded with the Sanskrit shila (शिला), which means ‘stone’, 'rock’ or ‘mountain’. and appears in many Meso-American names such as Yaxcillan. 

2. In Vedic texts, quite often Meru represents the middle-point of the axis or spine of the earth; one end of the axis is known as Sumeru, the other end as Kumeru.  In Sanskrit, 'meru' also has the meaning 'spine'. That adds one more detail to the naming of the Amerique chain. The Amerique mountain chain runs like a central spine of Nicaragua and is part of the Central American Range, which extends throughout central Nicaragua for about 700 km from Honduras in the northwest to Costa Rica in the southwest.

The Amerique mountain chain runs like a central spine, which extends throughout central Nicaragua for about 700 km
from Honduras in the northwest to Costa Rica in the southwest.
Meru (मेरु) is Sanskrit for spine.

When we look at the continents of North and South America, we see that the Rocky Mountains, beginning in Canada, stretch down through the United States, forming a dramatic and continuous spine. This chain merges into the Sierra Madre ranges in Mexico and extends further southward into Central America. Crossing through Nicaragua and continuing into the Andes Mountains of South America, this uninterrupted mountainous backbone defines the geography of the Americas.

If ever there were continents to be named after a geographical feature like the Vedic axis of the world, Mt. Meru, it would be the Americas. This 'spine of the Americas' not only links the north and south but also embodies the profound interconnectedness of the natural world, echoing the symbolic centrality of Meru in Hindu cosmology. Geographically and conceptually, the Americas align with the essence of a feature as enduring and unifying as Meru itself."

From this scriptural root of the name of Meru, we can also easily see how the Rig Veda made its way around the world. Traces of the name Meru are seen in all ancient cultures of the world. Here is a listing:

Sumer, the ancient Central Asian civilization is named after the Meru mountain. In Greece, the To-Maros mountains are located. In his book ‘India in Greece’, author E. Pococke argued that Tomaros is a corruption of the name Sumeru. On the Tomaros are situated the people of Cassiopaei. The Cassiopaei, he said, are the Cashyapa or Kashyapa tribe of Kashmir who had migrated from y-Elumyo-tis or the land of the river Yelum or Jhelum. Mt. Tomaros lies in the southwestern Ioannina region of the Pindus mountain range of Greece. Pococke traces the name 'Pindus' to the 'Pandava' clan of the great Sanskrit epic of ancient India, the Mahabharata.

Meroe is an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile in Sudan, extending into present-day Ethiopia. This city was the capital of the Kingdom of Cush from 530 BC to AD 350. Pococke made the connection of Meroe with Meru and stated, "Meroe was indebted for its civilisation to India." Tanzania, too, has a mountain by the name of Mt. Meru, the second-highest peak after Mt. Kilimanjaro.

According to the mythology of the Greeks, Bacchus was born from the thigh of Jupiter. In Greek, the word for thigh is 'meros', and hence Pococke stated that from this arose the confusion that Bacchus was born from the 'meros' or thigh of Jupiter. Pococke clarified that Bacchus's legend appeared from the Hindu legend of Mt. Sumeru. The 's' often changes to 't' in Greek, hence the Sanskrit 'Sumeru' that corrupted into 'Sumeros' ultimately changed to Tomaros'.

An even older form of this name can be found in the ancient name for Egypt, Mera or To-mera or Tomaras, loosely translated to mean “of the Pyramid” or ‘Land of Meru’.

In Assyria, Mt. Hermon was known as 'Sinieru', which again is a corruption of Sumeru. In Turkmenistan, the ancient city of Merv was located. Merv was a major oasis city located on the historical Silk Route, near today's city of Mary in Turkmenistan. In ancient Persian texts (that is, Avestan texts), Merv is mentioned as Mouru, which is a distortion of the Sanskrit Meru, the original name of the first city built on this site. The remnants of the most ancient sacred site of Merv still exist at 'Gonur Tepe'.

When early British settlers started arriving in Gympie, the site of the ancient Gympie pyramid in Australia in 1858, they recorded the name of Gympie as 'Meru'ndai'. This name was in usage with the Aboriginal Australian 'elders' who were known as the 'ngtja guru'.

It is therefore not surprising that Meru-like temples exist in Chichen Itza, Palenque, and Tikal in Guatemala and in other parts of Central and South America.

Other scriptural links between the Mayan civilisation and the Rig Vedic civilisation also exist. The Mayans had a concept of a double-headed turtle-god who had appeared at the dawn of creation and was known as the great Divine Lord. It was from the cracked shell of the double-headed turtle that the Mayan Maize God emerged. The maize God, who is the source of fertility, is also the central World Tree, an axial symbol equivalent to Mt. Meru.

In the Hindu mythology, Mt. Mandara, a spur of Mt. Meru, was torn out at the time of the churning of the oceans and was used as a churning stick. It was steadied at the bottom of the ocean by Lord Vishnu on his back in his incarnation as a tortoise or turtle called Kurma. In the Meso-American tradition, it is the World Tree that rests on the back of the turtle. For more on Vedic-Indic links to Mayan sites of Yaxha, Uxmal in Mexico and Ketumala in Belize, click here, here and here.

When the first Spanish chroniclers arrived with the conquistador Pizarro, the Incas explained that Tiahuanaco had been constructed by a race of giants called Huaris before Chamak-pacha, the “period of darkness,” and was already in ruins before their civilisation began. They said these giants had been created by Viracocha, also known as Kukulkan to the Maya and Quetzalcoatl to the Aztecs, and Amaru to the Peruvians, a god who came from the heavens. Once again, the name Amaru is a distorted form of Meru.