Summary:
1. The pre-Greek inhabitants of Greece were known as Pelasgis who had migrated from Palakshakhanda (Bihar) of India.
2. The Pelasgis came to be known as Philistines by the time they poured into Canaan (Present day Israel) from Greece.
3. The Pelasgis also came to be known as Pala over time, which corrupted to Pale later.
In his article 'The Land of Pales, an Overview of Ancient Palestine', in the World History Encyclopedia, Dr. Joshua Mark, Professor of Philosophy at Marist College, New York, states, "The name 'Palestine’ is thought to derive from either the word plesheth (meaning `root palash’, an edible concoction carried by migratory tribes which came to symbolize nomadic peoples) or as a Greek designation for the nomadic Philistines".
So where did this concoction of the root of 'palash' come from? And why would that name matter? For an answer to this question, one must turn to the pre-Greek civilization of the land that later came to be known as Greece. The name Pelasgians was used by classical Greek writers to refer to the predecessors of the Greeks, or sometimes to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergence or arrival of the Greeks.
In his research on the Pelasgis, German historian Ludwig Heeran (1760-1842) stated, "We can distinctly trace an overland communication between India & Greece, at an age long before the historic period." Heeran quotes an earlier historian Baron Cuvier here and says, "The Pelasgi were originally from India, of which the Sanskrit root words that occur abundantly in their language, do not permit us to doubt."
Baron Cuvier traces the route that the early Pelasgians from Indians might have taken to Greece. He was of the opinion that, "... they by crossing the mountains of Persia penetrated as far back as the Caucasus and then from there instead of continuing by land, they embarked on the Euxine Sea and made a descent upon the coast of Greece." The Euxine Sea is more commonly known as Black Sea and the Caucasus region encompasses the land that lies between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which holds Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and south-eastern Russia.
Another historian, Reverend Thomas Richard Brown, Vicar of Southwick, states in his work, 'Grammar of the Hebrew Hieroglyphs applied to the Sacred Scriptures, published in 1840, "It is generally allowed by historians, that the most ancient inhabitants of Greece were the Pelasgians. They were probably, originally settled somewhere in India, and from the fate of war, or an overflowing population, obliged to seek habitations elsewhere."
But why were they known as Pelasgians. The Pelasgians got the name from their leader Pelasgus. In turn he got his name from the land he originally hailed from. States Brown, "Here again we have, in true probability, the etymology from the Sanscrit". He adds, "पलाशं palasham is the ancient name of Behar (Bihar) in India and पलाशखंड Palshkhanda, is the district of Behar, so named from the Palasha tree growing there in great abundance."
That Palasha-khanda was the name of ancient Bihar, more specifically, the kingdom of Magadha, is attested in all Sanskrit dictionaries such as the most authentic of them 'The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary' by Vaman Shivarama Apte. In fact, author E. Pococke traces the name Macedonia to Magadha via Makadonia in his book "India in Greece' published in 1852.
The above-mentioned names still exist on the map of India. There is the village of Palasi in Bihar, which was called Pallasey by the British and was the location of the battle of Palassey. There is a Palashkhanda in Orissa, there is another in West Bengal, ana one in Bangladesh. The name Meghadh never went away. It was the name of the empire of Emperor Ashoka whose reign is well documented.
Author E. Pococke wrote in his book India in Greece, in 1852, "Pelasa, the ancient name for the province of Bahara (Bihar) is so denominated from the Pelasa, or 'Butea Frondosa'. Pelasha is a derivative form of Pelasa, hence the Greek 'Pelasgos' ".
'Butea Frondosa' is the botanical name for what is known in Sanskrit as the 'Palasha' (पलाश) tree, commonly called 'the Flame of the Forest' in English. Decoctions are made from all parts of this tree in India since ancient times and it has been used has for the treatment of many conditions because it has well known anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, diuretic, analgesic, antitumor and astringent properties.
It is this word 'Palasha' that distorted into the word 'plesheth', the syrup of which the Pelasgis carried as they made their way from Palshakhanda in India to Causcasus, and then to Greece. And it is this 'plesheth' that Dr. Joshua Mark is referring to as the source of the name Phillistines or Palestinians.
There are many scholars who have arrived at the conclusion that the Palestinians had a Greek origin. It appears that the Indic Pelasgians kept moving and arrived at the land of Cannan. Linda Sue Grimes states in her Literary Works, "Some historians claim that Palestinian history traces back to the Philistines. But the Philistines were not Semites nor were they Arabs. They were likely Greek in origin and came in several waves from Greece to the Israel/Palestine area in the Middle East." It is is for this reason that the word 'pleseth' took on the meaning of 'migratory'.
Greek philosopher Herodotus (484-425 BCE) was the first one who called the Cannans as Phillistines. The term `Palestine’ does not appear in any written records until the 5th century BCE in the Histories of Herodotus. After Herodotus, the term `Palestine’ came to be used for the entire region which was formerly known as Canaan. The Biblical meaning of Philistia was "land of sojourners".
This view is further supported by the following fact. Author and researcher Linda Sue Grimes says, "The Philistines had no ethnic, linguistic, or historical connection to Arabia. The name applied by Arabs to the area "Falastin" was not, in fact, an Arabic name. This term is derived from Plesheth meaning migratory, as in having migrated to that area from Greece, and the term likely harkened back to the "Philistine" invasion along the coast."
It appears that the Pelasgis, kept moving and entered into ancient Egypt too. The name Plesheth, which had its source in the Sanskrit 'palash', took on the meaning of 'migratory' along with the movement and spread of the Pelasgis, who were now known as Phillistine or Palestinians. Its earlier meaning of 'decoction' faded in usage.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic records from the New Kingdom Kingdom (16th-11th century BCE) period list a group of the Sea Peoples called the Peleset or Pulasti, as invading Egypt in the mid-13th century BC. About a century later, pharaoh Ramesses III boasted of having defeated the Peleset, and allegedly relocated them to the southern abandoned coast of Canaan. The Pulsati are also generally identified as the Philistines.
Suggested Readings and sources:
2.The ‘Land of Pales’, an Overview of Ancient Palestine – Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas
3. Palestine - World History Encyclopedia
4. Soak in the Goodness of Palash This Season- The New Indian Express
5. A grammar of the Hebrew hieroglyphs applied to the sacred Scriptures - Thomas Richard Brown - Google Books
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