The Indus & the Nile - Cradle of great Civilizations    *

 

For the majority of people, especially non-specialists, the predominant idea is that the Indo-Egyptian relations were born within the womb of the twentieth century, during their struggle against common imperialist enemy, the British. They also think that this relation has flourished in the fifties dring the era of two leaders, Nehru and Nasser through the Non-Alignment Movement. Yet history offers sufficient evidence that this relation had started and intensified thousands of years ago since the days of the Pharaohs.

 

Throughout the coming pages, we shall make an attempt to trace the development of the relation between two of the greatest and ancient civilizations in the world to throw the light on its mutual benefits, material or cultural. These are the civilizations of the Nile valley and the Indus Valley.

 

More than two thousand years ago, in the second century B.C, an Indian sailor was found close to death on one of the beaches of the Red Sea. He was transferred to Alexandria to be presented before the authorities. There, the sailor offered to guide the Egyptians to the shortest maritime route to India in return for releasing him to return back to his country. Since any voyage at that time to the Eastern lands would take a long time and a strenuous effort, The offer appealed to the then Egyptian Ruler Patlimos Porgetas, who found the deal worthwhile. He ordered a Greek sailor called Youdoxi to sail across the sea to India accompanied by this Indian sailor. This voyage represented the first direct contact and commercial exchange between Egypt and India.

 

There is ample evidence that this contact had taken place much earlier, when in the third millenium B.C, three river-based civilizations had dawned on the world. These are the Egyptian civilization, the civilization of the land between the two rivers and the Indian civilization on the banks of the Indus river. Discovering the plant of “Dapania” inside the Pharaoh tombs in Egypt  proves that herbs at that time had a pivotal role in Indo-Egyptian relations. This plant which resembles what we know today as coriander was originally imported from India by the ancient Egyptians, who also brought cloth from India, as indicated by the quality of cloth in which the Egyptian mummies are draped. Yet this interaction between the Egyptians and Indians at this point of history depended on indirect routes through the West Asia. The vast distance separating  the two countries discouraged at that time any sustainable contact between them. Egypt realized indeed the value of Asia when, in the fourth century B.C, Alexander the Great marched with his armies across Asia to invade both countries. This had paved the way for closer relations and direct interaction between Egypt and India which was to increase in the following century when the Indian Emperor Ashoka started with peerless enthusiasm to call for Buddhism. He sent his messengers to the great rulers of the old world including Ptolemy the Second the ruler, of Egypt who sent in turn an emissary to the palace of the Indian Emperor.

 

In addition to these diplomatic relations, commercial relations too must have intensified as indicated by the historical and literary proofs about that period. The manuscripts and sculptures found in both Egypt and India refer to the presence of Indians in the city of Alexandria as well as in other parts of Egypt, while some Greeks of Alexandrian origin lived on the West coast of India. It is believed that the Egyptian mentality was influenced at that time by the Indian mysticism, especially the belief in re-incarnation.

 

Relations between the two countries got deeper under the Roman rule when the Red Sea was rid of the piracy. Voyagers sailed safely toward Egypt from the ports of the Arab Peninsula and the island of Sokotra on the Red Sea. Until that time, the Indian ships used to unload its merchandise in the ports of the Arab Peninsula where the Arabs  would  carry it by land to Egypt. In the year 44 B.C the nature of relations between the two countries acquired a new form following the discovery of the possibility of using the seasonal winds to overcome the risks involved in the maritime voyages. This has so tremendously increased the volume of Indo-Egyptian commercial exchange that the number of ships sailing to India to bring ivory, herbs and precious stones to Egypt had reached 120 ships. This form of trade had flourished over the next two centuries. The city of Alexandria played the role of the intermediary and the focal point between the lands overlooking the Mediterranean and the countries such as India and China. Yet, trade shrinked again in the third century following the disintegration of the political power of Rome, and this commercial boom was soon to cease. This state of affairs had lasted for a number of centuries.

 

With the Islamic rule in Egypt, the Egyptian imports from the Indian cloth had increased again where these cloth were found in the city of Fustat, Egypt’s capital under the Islamic rule. The artistic records that India was famous for during the period between the 12^th and the 15^th century confirm these contacts. There is a possibility that the Egyptians imported the Indian cloth tin exchange for food stuff and other imports from some African countries. It seems that the city of Fustat was Egypt’s commercial centre in spite of the gradual shrink of its political rule. It is ironical that the ruins of this Egyptian city, which was established by Caliph Amr Ibn El-A’as, still retains some Indian artistic forms of which no trace exists.

In the 10^th century B.C, when Egypt was under the Fatimid rule, India witnessed the arrival of some Egyptian merchants to conclude some transactions for buying condiments. Some of these merchants remained in India for long periods away from their families to spread Islam. Those condiment merchants were called “Buhar” which is a word of Indian origin meaning condiments and is still attached to the descendants of the Indians who have embraced Islam at the hands of those merchants.

Although trade has dominated the Indo-Egyptian relations, it opened the way for other forms of interaction, namely the cultural and intellectual exchange. Admittedly, this aspect of exchange is not adequately documented or explored, which require a painstaking and constant effort to do. As a first step toward this goal, Cairo hosted in September 1991 a symposium to conduct a dialogue on the various aspects of relations between Egypt and India from its start up to the present. The Inauguration ceremony for this symposium was attended by Mr. Farouq Hosni, Egypt’s Minister of Culture and Dr. Najma Hebat Allah- Deputy Chairman of the Council of Rajiya Sapha in the Indian Parliament. The discussion conducted over three years revealed amazing aspects of uniformity and variety in the culture and history of the two time-honoured countries. The papers of the symposium has shed light on the markedly noticed similarity in the cultural heritage of both countries, especially with regard to their ancient myths, religious rituals, artistic and literary figuration and architecture as well as in music and popular theatre.  The Symposium did not also ignore the roads of Commerce between the two countries and the contemporary trends in their literatures. It even tackled the image of woman and the social change as reflected by both the Egyptian and Indian literature. The dialogue also tackled the impact of imperialism on both countries and the conception of non-alliance as adopted by Nehru and Nasser in the 50s of the this century.

It is worth-mentioning that this initiative which was entitled “ Egypt and India: Cultural and Historical Relations”, has discussed over 3 days 25 papers. The Indian scholar Jeti Saif presented one of these papers which dealt with the aspects of similarity in the mythology of both countries. Another researcher, Mr. Mustafa El-Abbadi, discussed the close co-relation between the commercial interests and geographical explorations in Egypt, from the middle of the third Millenium BC, up to the end of the third century P.C.  In his paper, Dr. Al-Abaadi clarified the importance of Queen Hatshbsut’s naval campaign to the land of Pont, as well as the explorations reached later on by Alexander the Great as part of his military campaign. The researcher did not miss the explorations achieved under the Ptolemies and the Romanian Rule, which boosted the commercial activities and subsequently the cultural interaction. That same period was the subject of another paper by Mr. M.K. Dahavalikar who explored the similarities between the pillows, the types of beads and dices at the time of the ancient Egyptian civilization and the civilization of the Hindus valley. He also cited literary and monumental indications which proof the presence of Indians in Egypt and vice versa.

Another paper dealt with the nature of the Indo-Egyptian interaction during the period from 969-1571 P.C when the fatimid and Memluke successively ruled Egypt. At that period, contacts took place between Egyptian Caliphs and Indian Sultans. As Researcher Sohair Abdul Aziz Salim states, the call to Islam in India was one of the main pivots of the Egyptian trade to India. Doubtless this symposium represents a mile stone and a good step towards tracing the roots of the Indo-Egyptian relations and the credit for proposing it goes to H/E the Indian ex-Ambassador. B.Alan Nazarith  (1989-1992), which was also supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.

This symposium which was hosted by the Egyptian Opera House was followed by organizing tourist visits to the Indian researchers to the Egyptian monuments and museums in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan. These visits had the greatest impact on the Indian guests who were even more impressed by the history and culture of the Nile valley civilization.

Myths woven on the banks of two rivers

What secret lies behind this unique similarity between the ancient and Egyptian myth, and how to explain the creativity of man in both civilizations in depicting his distinguished world and his vision of his reality and its metaphysical aspects. To start with, we should stress that myths are not sacred phrases or heavenly revelations. They are rather images and anecdotes worded by man himself to bind between his small world and the bigger world- between earth and heaven. These myths lay a system to which man and Gods themselves should be bound by loyalty, which to some extent enables its innovator to foretell the march of life. They (the myths) took root in the mind of the ancient Egyptian and Indian man and formed his great hopes in a future which goes beyond his material physical existence. In the same way, the artist formulated his vision on the stone to deepen his understanding of his surrounding world. All these tools were used by our ancestors to depict their conceptions of themselves and the rhythm of their life, the frequency of seasons, of day and night, the movement of the Sun and the Moon, birth and death, and resurrection. These conceptions have extended to include the zoological life and flora and they were all interwoven and interrelated in an extremely vital and eloquent manner. The lotus has a special place in the life of the ancient Egyptian as well as the ancient Indian since it was the sacred flower of Buddha and Azores. This flower with its five stalks stand for man’s five limbs and his head. It even stands for man’s fives senses, and for the five bases of the pyramid and its zenith. It stands for many other symbols as myths are rarely simple and cannot be aimless or void of content. Since the first drawings of this flower, it has been associated in the minds with “Sari” the Goddess of fertility who later turned into Lakshmy- the Goddes of richness and growth who is worshipped by the Buddhists and Hindus alike.

In Egypt the blue lotus appears on the wall drawings of the sixth dynasty in the step-pyramid of Zoser and its funeral plateaus. It appears as a present carried by some hands as a present to the dead which suggest that it was believed to have the ability to bring the dead back to life. We also find this flower among the funeral treasures of Taut Onkh Amun sculpted beside the golden hawk and the sun, both of which symbolize The God Horus. Thus, the lotus stands for the continuity of water, the Sun, the Earth and the sky, which means fertility and growth. This was the idea which took root in the minds of the Egyptians and Indians when they believed through their agricultural societies that the seeds of lotus stand for the cycle of birth, weakness, death and then resurrection.

On the other hand, life in both India and Egypt were bound by the two rivers of Ganga and Nile subsequently, and it was thanks to them that civilization flourished in both countries. No wonder then that they should bestow upon them a sort of glorification and holiness. Those two rivers were, therefore,  the background for all the Egyptian and Indian myths

 

The water of Ganga river flows for 2500 Km from its fountainhead at the Hamalaya mountains up to the Bungholes gulf, going through the fertile area of Arivarta, the most populated area in India nowadays According to myths,. This river has sacral origins as its waters have descended from the sky in response to the supplications of Sage Pahgerath to bring forth the forces of fertility in the earth which had been thirst for water for thousands of years. An almost 50 feet granite plateau, which embodies this epic, decorates the port of Mah Paliboram in South India. There is a watercourse in this granite rock which allows for the flow of rainwater to symbolize the origins of this river. This huge plateau also contains images of snakes, fishers and forest animals all looking happy and jubilant over the flow of this sacred river as it stretches out its hand of rescue and life to the human race. Myths were also used to link man to the environment around him. They also indicate deep awareness of the importance of environmental balance. This myth tells us how the steam of the sea goes up to the sky and then falls again on the earth in the form of this sacred river whose waters flood and flows into the Hamalaya mountains to flow anew into the ocean. This myth takes another dimension which shows the value of this river and its importance to the dead. The Hindus believe that visiting the holy city of Panariz purifies man from his sins and even dripping a few drops of Ganga river on the tongue of man as he dies ensures his salvation. Panariz is considered the greatest holy city because of its association with Ganga river. This city is the avenue of a unique festival, “Akasa Deap”, which is held following the fall of rain, when it is believed that the spirits of the dead start visiting the earth at that time. The same concept and symbol extends to the Nile river where the ancient Egyptians used to visualize it as a human being. A sculpted tablet in the temple of Ramsis the second portrays Hapi, the God of the Nile in carrying in his hands the stalks of a blue lotus and from his right arm dangles the key of the Nile, the symbol of life for the ancient Egyptian. Unlike Ganga, the God of the Nile is male even though he has a breast as a symbol to his role in growth, as the flow of his waters means life to the humans.

 

This river (the Nile) has great importance to those living on its banks. Its course stretches for over 6000 Km, throughout 1200 Km of which it is called the Blue Nile. Many of the ancient Egyptians’ beliefs whether in this life or in the thereafter revolved around this river, as indicated by the myth of Auzoris, the God of the dead. According to this myth, Auzoris, his twin Isis, his brother Sitt and his sister Nevisis were sons to the Goddess of Sky Nut and her husband Jabe, the God of the Earth. At that time Auzoris bestowed upon the human beings the arts of civilization, foremost amongst which is agriculture, architecture, writing, astrology and almanac. While the tame Isis taught them weaving, preparing food, music, dance and engraving. Yet at this early stage of the history of humanity, human grudges surfaced. The myth sys that Nefisis, the wife of Sitt was childless, and on one pitch dark night she seduced the Noble Auzoris into having an affair with her in order to father her son Anubis.

When Sitt knew this story, he decided to take revenge. He, therefore, held a banquet to which he invited many guests. He then showed his guests a coffin and asked his guests to lie one after the other in it. When Auzoris turn came, 72 men hurried to close the coffin and throw it into the Nile. Isis was overcome by sorrow and melancholy over the fate of her husband. She sought everywhere for her husband till she finally found him dead inside the coffin, where a tree with an aromatic scent had soon grown nearby to shadow him. When the story spread, she was allowed to return accompanied by the coffin of her husband in a Pharonic procedure staggering over the Nile. Thus, she was again linked to the eternal river and she has since suggested to the ancient Egyptians the habit of putting models of ships inside their tombs in preparation for the journey of death.

Then she hid the coffin of her husband in one of the Nile bushes, in fear of the tyranny of Sitt, who did discover it when he went out one day for hunting rhinoceros. Motivated by his grudges, he cut the body of his brother Auzoris into 14 pieces and scattered them all over the earth. Isis again started her journey to gather the pieces of her husband. She did find all of them except one, and she was able through his miraculous powers to have a child from him who came in the form of Horus whose head looks like the head of a hawk. Horus is described as the son of Ra’a, the greatest God of the Sun and the origin of all Gods.

 

This myth remains eternal since the dawn of history, as it symbolizes overwhelming feelings, excessive desires and diabolic anger and revenge as well as boundless grief and renewed hope represented by the birth of Horus. The myth also retains its eternal enchantment since it is a genuine product of the Egyptian soil and life on the banks of the immortal river. It can be briefly said that Isis stands for the fertile plains of Egypt which grows more fertile every year with the flood of the Nile. Auzoris stands for the Nile, he departs from Isis at the hands of Sitt who stands for the sterile desert and the forces of darkness. According to the myth, Hurs, the son of Auzoris, who was born after his father had been killed, takes revenge for his father by killing Auzoris. Yet he loses one of his eyes in a his fierce battle with Sitt. Hurs offers this eye as an oblation to his father who goes beyond the cycle of life and death goes into immortality by turning into the God of death and eternal growth.  It is noted that an eye appears on every coffin in ancient Egypt. This eye also appears in “ The book of the dead”, and on the walls of temples as it dangles over Hurs, the God with a hawk-like head who also symbolizes the God of the Sun.

 

There are some aspects of similarity between the myth of Ausoris and some Indian myths: For example, the God fishno incarnates sleeping in the bed of the ocean in the same way that Ausoris was found dead in his coffin. Also, a stalk of lotus springs out of the pack of the Greatest God fishno symbolizing as it does life and growth. And the God Brahama appears sitting on lotus flowers, having created the world around him. Then we see Krishna, the embodiment of the God fishno battling and overcoming the snake king, Kalya,  in the same way that we see the young Hurs battling with a poisonous snake his uncle Sitt has sent to kill him. Krishna and Hurs resemble each other in that each one of them had a sacred mission, which is to fight his wicked uncle,  rid the earth from his tyranny and restore love and harmony.

 

Another striking resemblance in the Indian myth is when Satti the wife of Shifa decides to attend the oblation of fire offered by her father though she has not been invited to. When she feels humiliated as a result, she jumps into the holy fire and burns alive. Her husband Shifa then arrives to carry her corpse over his shoulder and dances with it the dance of destruction. Then the remains of Satti’s body are scattered everywhere, and a mausoleum is built on every spot her remains falls on. The myth goes on to say that the eye of Satti falls on the holy city of Pinariz which overlooks Ganga river and it takes the form of Fishalakshi temple.

 

The Nile and the Indus.

 

History records that the first civilizations ever in history have appeared on the banks of three rivers: the Nile, Deggla and Phurates and Andus. Yet many do not pay heed to an important fact, that is interaction and interconnections between these civilizations. One reason which helped the civilization in between the two rivers (Deggla and Phurates) to flourish is that the city of Babil, previously known as the two cities of Akada and sommar, was lying on a vital land road. This road extended from the Mediterranean Sea (including Egypt) up to Iran and India, and it served as a meeting point for the three civilizations.  There is evidence that Hamorapi, the ruler of Babil from 1792-1750 B.C (who is also known for his laws) had direct contacts with the rulers of both the Egyptian and Indian relations. India also owes much of its knowledge about mathematics and astrology to the civilization in between the two rivers. These connections continued under the  Ashoryan and Babilian rules which were to follow, where Nififya the capital of the Ashoryan state has turned into a lighthouse of civilization with the same status which Alexandria was to occupy four or five centuries later. Those three civilizations exchanged knowledge in such areas as astronomy, agriculture and mathematics. The great historian Arnold Twinby described the civilization in between the two rivers as the meeting point for all the civilizations which arose at that time. If the Assyrians had invaded Egypt in 671 B.C, King Tohtumus the first (1525-1495 B.C, goes down in history as the king who  entered the land between the two rivers during his conflict with the Heksus and he dismissed them from Egypt. King Tohumus the Third (1490-1436 B.C, also extended his military campaigns to this fertile area. Yet, whether at times of war or peace, contacts between Egypt and the countries between the two rivers centered on the cultural field. Whereas trade was the basis of contacts between India and these countries. The countries between the two rivers were also the meeting point and interaction between Egypt and India. Herudet, the renowned historian mentioned that the Emperor of Persia, Dariushad  sent, one of his men in an exploratory voyage to  the Indus river, prior to his invasion of India in the 6^th century B.C. This voyage took thirty months and went through Africa, Asia and Europe. When the Persians grew in power about 500 years B,C, they annexed parts of Egypt and India to their vast empire. The Persian culture has thus left its impact on both countries during the 5^th and 6^th centuries B.C. In 343 B.C the Nile valley became part of the Persian empire. There was nothing to suggest that there were not contacts between Egypt and India at that time when both of them were under the Persian rule. The great Macedonian leader,   Alexander the Great, intentional or unintentionally, played an important role in bringing the Persian, Apejian, Egyptian, and Indian civilizations together. An important meeting point for these civilizations was the city of Alexandria which he built in 331 B.C in the Nile Delta. At the entrance of this city a lighthouse towered high in the sky to guide the ships. Alexandria also included, among many other things, a museum and a library, which was an inexhaustible source of knowledge. This library attracted more than 100 scholars and scientists from all over the world to explore its treasures of  knowledge on anthropology and the various genres of sciences. The question to ask is were there Indians among these scientists and scholars? And were there any Inian Manuscrpits in the library of Alexandria before it had been burnt. The Potalemese and Romans were not merely sponsors of sciences, but they themsevles have rather achieved a high place in sciences and knowledge. In fact, their Emperor, Cludius Patelemos (151 P.C.) has authored a book which was the basis for the sciences of astronomy, Universe and almanac until Koprinex, the great Astronomer  came up with his theories.

 

It is certain that the researches of the shcolars of alexandira in atronomy and mathematics have found their way to India in someway or another.