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Rig Veda and the Phoenicians PDF Print E-mail
Written by Rajeswar Gupta   
Ancient Phoenician Gold Coin
Ancient Phoenician Gold Coin

To what nation or race did the Panis belong, if they were really men? You say they were Phoenicians. A good many proofs are wanted before the statement can be accepted. That the Phoenicians always came to ancient India by the land route: that they quarreled and fought with the Indian Aryans, and that the latter knew them as Panis: or, that the Phoenicians have in their own works mentioned the Aryans living on the banks of the Indus -- these are conclusions which require to be amply demonstrated. I do not say that your theory is a groundless one, but still it is only a theory for the present.

Phoenicians on the Waves
Phoenicians on the Waves
The Rig Veda A History Showing how the Phoenicians had their earliest home in India, A Bengali Essay on the Subject by Rajeswar Gupta, 1902

Two eminent scholars of the day have already expressed their opinion of the subject of this treatise regarding the historical aspect of the vedas. I append them below as they may encourage others like me in this interesting study.

1. Translation of a letter in Bengali addressed to the author by Mr. R. C. Dutt, member of the Indian Civil Service:

I have read your assay on the Panic War. I am glad to see the scholarship and research you have brought to bear on the subject.

I see nothing improbably in the theory that there was a race called Pani or Panis, that the Indian Aryan seized their cows and that many of the suktas of the Rig Veda were composed to record historical events. In fact your exposition seems more plausible than that of Prof. Max Muller. But I am unable to decide which of these two expositions is correct: indeed I cannot say if it is possible to come to a decision on the subject after so many thousand years.

Comparison of Modern Middle Eastern Women with Ancient Phoenician Womaen
Comparison of Modern Middle Eastern Women with Ancient Phoenician Womaen
To what nation or race did the Panis belong, if they were really men? You say they were Phoenicians. A good many proofs are wanted before the statement can be accepted. That the Phoenicians always came to ancient India by the land route: that they quarreled and fought with the Indian Aryans, and that the latter knew them as Panis: or, that the Phoenicians have in their own works mentioned the Aryans living on the banks of the Indus -- these are conclusions which require to be amply demonstrated. I do not say that your theory is a groundless one, but still it is only a theory for the present. Hundreds of hill tribes inhabited Afghanistan, and it s not improbable that they quarreled with the Indian Aryans for cattle (cows), and that some of them were referred to as the Panis in the Suktas of the Vedas.

I cannot accept your meaning of the word Saramá as correct. It may be taken to mean the Dawn even if the word Pani signifies some hill tribe or a trading people -- "at dawn of day the Aryans discovered the concealed cows and recovered them with the help of Indra."

There can however be no doubt that the word go means cows if your interpretation of the word Pani be correct.

Sd. Romesh Chunder Dutt
May 1, 1902

Phoenician Alphabet
Phoenician Alphabet
[The Phoenicians dwelt in some part of Afghanistan long before they colonised Phoenicia, and the wars described in the Vedas refer to those days. Defeated in those wars or for some other reasons they migrated westward and founded the colony of Phoenicia. Or it may be that Phoenicia was their principal colony in those remote Vedic days, and after their defeat in the wars referred to in the sacred books they removed there for good. Mr. Dutt's suggestion, therefore, that the Phoenicians came to India by land, is not borne out by my conclusions -- Author.]

2. The following appeared in the columns of the Indian Mirror (Calcutta), of the 22nd May 1902, from the pen of the eminent Sanscrit scholar Prof. Satis Chandra Acharya Vidyabhusan M. A. of the Presidency College (Calcutta):

Phoenician Pottery
Phoenician Pottery
" It was nearly ten years ago that I marked with surprise several passages in the Rig Veda (as for instance, in Mandala VI, Sukta 53) where the word Pani repeatedly occurred. Looking into the commentary of Sayanacharya, I found the word Pani interpreted as Vaninj, a merchant. In the Chapter on Unádi suffixes in Panini's Sanskrit Grammar, the word Vanij was found to be derived from the root Pan. I then suspected that the word Pani, meaning a merchant and occurring in the Rig Veda, might refer to the Phoenician race. Eventually I gave expression to the fact in several places, and lately in the introduction to my edition of Kachchayana's Pali Grammar. I expressed my view on the subject With great diffidence. Now I am very glad to find my view confirmed by our learned friend; Babu Rajeswar Gupta, Head Master of the Rangpore Normal School, and Editor of Anjali, who has published a long and interesting article on the subject in the Chaitra number of his journal. The article is an admirable one and is a product of deep researches into the Vedic literature. It reflects great credit on the scholarship of the writer and has brought to light some very important facts of earliest history."

Published by Jogendra Mohan Guupta, 1904.
Printed by Sanyal and Co. at the Bharat Miihir Press
25, Roy Bagan Street
Calcutta
India

http://phoenicia.org/rigveda.html
 
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