Monday, 15 January 2024

JORDAN AND PETRA, THE SANSKRIT SOURCE OF THE NAMES

In mainline literature it is said that the country Jordan gets its name from the river Jordan. The origin of the name 'Jordan' is traced to the ancient Semitic word 'Arda'. 'Arda' in turn comes from the Hebrew 'Yorad' which is derived from the Aramaic 'Yarden' or 'Jarden' meaning 'downflowing' or 'that which descends'. It is generally believed that the suffix "den" is linked to the Akkadian word dannum which means "powerful".

Let's go a step further and check out the obvious Sanskrit connection to the words mentioned above in the context of the etymology of Jordon. In Sanskrit, the word for 'flowing down' is 'jharat' (झरत्) and the root word is 'jhara' (झर) which means 'sprinkling' or 'waterfall' and is used to describe water bodies or rivers, not only in the Indian subcontinent but around the world. As for the suffix 'den' in the word Jordon, as well as the Akaddian 'dannum' to which the word Jordon is sometimes associated, both of these can be explained by either the Sanskrit 'dhunI' (धुनी), a word which means river, or by 'dhuni' (धुनि) which means roaring or shaking.

But this association of the word Jordon to Sanskrit does not occur in isolation. There are many rivers around the world which have names that are cognates of the Sanskrit jhara. Examples include the Jari of South America, which is the northern tributary of the River Amazon, the River Jara in Melbourne, the Jara River of Romania which is a tributary of the Susita River, or Lake Jara in New Mexico; not to mention the Amazon, whose ancient most known name is Maranon, perhaps a variation of jharadana. There is a valid reason for this argument. Even today some of the tributaries of the Amazon retain names such as Jari, Jurua and Jhavary; and there must have been many more such names in the past. All of these world rivers therefore in all likelihood have the same Sanskritic name source as the river Jordon does.

Now, let's look at the Jordanian archaeological site of Petra. Petra is the home of Jordan's most ancient race - the Nabataeans, who arrived here in around the 4th century BC. The site, however, is known to have been inhabited from as early as 9000 BC. 

Petra is a city carved in a mountain - its rocks are mostly red or pink in hue. It appears that at the Temple of Petra, the Vedic god Shiva was well known owing to the presence of a carved Shivalinga in a rock wall. This structure is sometimes identified as the Greek 'Omphalos'. Though the Greek word phalos  is the same as the Sanskrit linga, the etymology of Om is untraceable in Greek, unlike in Sanskrit where the word Om (ओम) represents a sacred sound, syllable, mantra, and an invocation. Its written representation, (ॐ), is one of the most important symbols of Hinduism. It is variously said to be the essence of the supreme Absolute consciousness -  defined variously as Atman, Brahman, or the Cosmic World. The Vedic obelisk or the shivalinga is also associated with the symbol Om, also called Omkara.

The Omphalos or Shiva-Linga of
Petra Temple, Jordan.
Lord Shiva is a Vedic God. Om is a Vedic symbol.

The Petra shivalinga is not the only obelisk at Petra. At Jebel al-Madhbah, meaning 'mountain of the altar', there is a large Nabataean ritual site on the summit centered around an altar reached by a rock-cut staircase. This site was first identified by the French Middle East historian Maurice Sartre who had observed that beneath the peak of Mt. Madbah were two gigantic sacred stones. Around it, were cisterns fed by rainwater. Though this altar is often believed to have been a sacrificial altar, it is likely that this too was used for shivalinga worship, as cisterns with water are an integral part of the ritual involved with shivalinga worship. This idea is not in any way far-fetched,  for in neighboring Saudi Arabia, in the pre-Islamic Era, obelisks were widely worshipped and were known as Al Acara. For more on shivalinga worship in Saudi Arabia click here.

The obelisks of Mt. Madbah, Petra

It is said that the name Petra derives from the Greek word 'pietra' which means 'stone', a reference to the rocky landscape of the area, a name given to the site when the Greeks arrived here.  However, Petra is not the ancient most name of the site though it may easily be connected with the Sanskrit 'prastara' (प्रस्तर), which means 'rock' and distorts to 'patthar' in Hindi, it is not the source of the site name. 

The Biblical Manuscript or the 'Dead Sea Scrolls' say that the original name of Petra was 'Rekim Geya' or 'Rekem'. The name 'Rekem' was inscribed at the Petra temple on the passage wall called the Siq or Sic. This inscription was visible until a couple of decades ago when a bridge was built over the passage-wall such that sadly, the inscription is no longer visible. The inscription was embedded in the bridge structure and was not removed to a museum for some reason.

So, what is the etymology of the names Rekem and Gaya? As mentioned above Petra is believed to have been built by the Nabateans. It was known to the Syriacs as Rekem, which meant ‘holy’ in their language. In Aramaic too, Rekem meant ‘holy’. Petra was also known as Kadesh Barnea and this name too carries the meaning equivalent to 'holy'. Evidently, it was a holy site, but not much more can be interpreted from these manuscripts.

What sheds some light on all of these names is the Rig Veda. The name Rekem is closely linked to the Rig Vedic concept of Rta (ऋत). In the Vedic texts, Rta and Rtam, a close Sanskrit cognate of the Aramaic 'rekim', is translated as "universal law" or "cosmic order". It is from the concept of 'rta' that stem the concept of riti (रीति), or rites.

More precisely, the Sanskrit 'rich' (ऋच्), written as ṛc , refers to a praise, or to a sacred verse of the Rig Veda recited as an obeisance to a deity, as opposed to a saman (सामन्) or verses which were chanted during Vedic yagya or fire rituals. 'Rich' (ऋच्) also refers to sacred texts, or the collection of the verses of praise in the Rig Veda. It is this word that emerges as 'asa' in Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrian practices emerged from and were deeply influenced by Vedic practices. The Rig Vedic concept of Rta, the Yajur Vedic concept of fire worship etc, the Vedic ritual of preparing Soma, known as Hoama to the Zoroastrians, are all parts of Zoroastrian practices derived from the Vedas. It is therefore quite possible that the Vedic rites of birth and death were also practised in ancient Zoroastrianism.

In an earlier posit the possibility that Rekem Geya gets its name from Gaya of India was also discussed. 

Today, Zoroastrianism is still practised in the neighbourhood of Jordon, especially in Iraqi Kurdistan and by the Parsis of Iran, and of course by the Parsis, who immigrated to India from Iran 1000 years ago when Islam was making inroads into Iran and Iraq.

In India, the city of Gaya, located on the Niranjana River, also called the Phalgu, is an ancient Vedic-Hindu pilgrimage site in Bihar.  It is a sacred site where the cremation and the last rites of the people who have passed on are performed to this day. Gaya has been a pilgrimage centre and a spiritual site where rites were performed for those who had passed since the Ramayanic times. It is here that Sri Rama famously performed the ritualistic rites of his father Dasaratha, after his death. It is this name that appears in the Nabataean records.

The Nabataeans of Jordon prayed to a god they called Dushara. Though the name is said to translate as 'that who lives in the stones', the name Dushara bears an uncanny similarity to the name Dasaratha. As per E. Pococke, the author of 'India in Greece', ancient Indian tribes that migrated westward from Bihar (then called Magadh) all the way to Greece are known to have built many temples and other sacred sites en-route and given them Vedic names. Rekem Geya was probably one of them.

The ritualistic rites for those who have ascended heaven are performed at Gaya during what is known as 'Pitra Paksha', pitra (पितृ) ancestors, paksha (पक्ष) 'fortnight'- the fortnight of the ancestors. In India the name Gaya is tied with 'pitra'. It is for this reason that Sri Rama had performed the ritualistic rites for his departed father at Gaya.

So was the name Petra, earlier known as Rekem Gaya, derive its name from 'pitra' or 'ancestors'. Petra was a cultic site for the Nabateans who it is said built the city in honor of their dead. The Nabateans are known to have performed sacrificial rites here for the soul of their dead ancestors. It is said of the site that those who entered here no longer had any need of worldly possessions. It was the Nabatean realm of the dead. It was a necropolis with no quarters for the living. Those who came to visit the departed souls took shelter in the caves. It indeed was a site for the 'pitra' of the Nabateans.

Temple of Petra,
also called Rekem-Geya seems to have some 
Links to the Gaya of India.

The area around the temple around Petra Temple was full of water springs, the site itself lacked water.  Water was brought into the Temple mainly from one water spring which was located at what is now called Wadi Musa through channels built here. The main water channel was called the Siq or Sic*and in spite of this rocky site having complex geological features, the channel brought and distributed water at many places within the temple. In Sanskrit 'sic' (सिच्) means to soak or irrigate. The Siq is now dry and serves as the main entrance to the site, but it once appears to have also carried the pilgrims to the main site in boats.

It is Moses who is credited with extracting water from below the red rocky arid area that is called Petra today. Until then, say the Aramaic texts, the site of Rekem-Geya was known as 'kadesh'. 'Kadesh' or 'Ku-desh' (कुदेश) in Sanskrit means 'Bad-Land' or 'Inhospitable Land', though it carries the meaning of 'holy' in Hebrew.

In some texts the region is also known as Barnia-Kudesh. 'Bhurni' (भूर्णि) in Sanskrit means 'desert' or 'distant'. 'Kudesh' as mentioned above means 'inhospitable'. By the time of the Aramaic translation of the Torah, Petra was known as Rekem Gaya or the Holy Ravine. Rekem Gaya is the Hebrew or Aramaic equivalent for the Sanskrit 'rtam kheya' (ऋतम् खेय) or the Divine Ravine.

The second highest mountain peaks in Jordon, which is a few kilometres away from Petra, is known as 'Jabal Ram'. The valley around it is known as Wadi Ram, though it is pronounced as Ram, it is mostly written as Rum. The highest mountain in Jordon is known as Umm ad Dami. Um is perhaps the truncated form of Ram or Rum. Dami means red and refers to the colour of the mountain. The name Ram reappears many times in place names in and around Jordan. Rama in the Indic lore is the son of Dasharatha. There appears to be a link between the two names in the Nabatean culture too in the names Dusara and Jabal Ram. 

Jabal Ram Peak at the centre,
the second highest point in Jordan


NOTES
1. The name Macedonia is traced to Magadh, the ancient name of Bihar, by E. Pococke.  To read more about the link of Gaya and Magadh to Greece click here.
2. The name Dushara is also a close cognate of the Sanskrit 'Dasraha'. Dasraha was a king of the Yadu family. He was so famous that his descendants were called the Daśārhas. As Śri Krishna was born as a descendant in the line of Dasraha, Sri Krishna is sometimes called Dsarha in certain places.

3. There are other Sanskrit links to the name Rekem Geya. 'Recin', pronounced rechin (रेचिन्), means red-powder, the hue of the stone in Petra. Rekem-Gaya translates as 'Red-Gaya' from Sanskrit.  


Citations:
1. "Is Petra an Ancient Shiva Temple"?: Click Here
2. 'Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalams' of India: Click Here
3. From Bharata to India: Chrysee the Golden by M.K. Aggarwal
4. 20 Images of Petra That Show Just How Incredible It Is (matadornetwork.com)

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