Did Krishna lead the Yadavas from Indus Valley to Yisrael?

Did Krishna lead the Yadavas from Indus Valley to Yisrael?

Krishna| Yadavas| Indus Valley| Yisrael| Israel: Arjuna came to Dwarka after he came to know that the Yadavas had been destroyed at Prabhasa. At this time Vasudeva said to him: Your friend [Krishna] spoke to me as follows after sons, grandsons, brothers and friends were killed by each other: “I will live… in some pure place and following the rules will wait for my end.” Krishna has left towards an unknown direction after leaving me with the children.i

The texts do not tell what this “unknown direction” could be. Our hypothesis available at www.commonprophets.com is that Krishna was the same person as Moses. Moses had led the Hebrews to Yisrael out of a place named “Mitsrayim” to Yisrael. We show that “Mitsrayim” could be the Biblical name for the Indus Valley. Thus Krishna leaving in an unknown direction could be the same as Moses leading the Exodus from the Indus Valley. In this post we show that the Biblical descriptions of the Exodus match more with Moses having led the Exodus from Indus Valley. We examine the evidences provided by James K. Hoffmeier.ii Hoffmeier admits that “despite over a century of archaeological excavations in Egypt, proof of the dramatic Exodus has not been found.”

However, he adduces various secondary evidences to conclude that the “Biblical description of entry into Egypt, the enslavement and the Exodus are all plausible.”

I provide another possibility. The Exodus happened from the Indus Valley where corroborating archaeological evidence is available. This suggestion is part of a larger hypothesis that Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses all lived in the Indus Valley and Moses led the Exodus from here to Yisrael. Details of this hypothesis are available on my website.iii In this article we restrict ourselves to a comparative assessment of the beginnings of the Exodus from the Indus Valley.

Semites in Egypt| Slavery| Oppression| Yaduhi| Yadavas| Joseph| Shatrughna| Pharaoh| Kamsa| Mitsrayim| Mathura: Hoffmeier shows that “Asiatics (‘amu),” Bedouins, or “Apiru/Habiru” had come down to Egypt (Page 6-7). He says these could be the Semites. In order to place this evidence in perspective we may recapitulate the relevant Biblical narrative. The Pharaoh had put Joseph in authority over all the land of Egypt (Genesis 41:41). Subsequently Jacob migrated from Shechem to Mitsrayim.

Then a new tyrannous king came to power over Egypt (Exodus 1:8). He put foremen over the Hebrews to oppress them with hard labour (Exodus 1:11). At this time Moses was born (Exodus 2:2). Thus, the Hebrews were oppressed only, say, for a generation before Moses was born. Till that time the Hebrews were comfortable in Egypt: “We remember the fish we used to eat freely in Mitsrayim, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic (Numbers 11:5). The narrative indicates that the Hebrews were comfortable in Mitsrayim from the time of Joseph until about a generation before Moses.

They began to be oppressed just before Moses was born.

The evidence presented by Hoffmeier tells of foreigners entering Egypt at various times in the second millennium BCE. He tells of a long period of slavery: 1457-1425 BCE: Egyptian taskmasters are shown with sticks, supervising foreign worker making mud bricks… (Page 8).

1275 BCE: (An) officer… complains that… “there are no men to make bricks nor straw in the neighbourhood” (Page 8).

Late Egyptian: Another papyrus reports that “the ‘Apiru… are dragging stone to the great pylon of [///]” for the construction of a palace (Page 9).

New Kingdom: Studies… reveal… that foreigners, typically POWs, are depicted herding cattle and doing various types of field work” (Page 9).

These descriptions tell of foreigners being oppressed at various times during the second millennium BCE. The Biblical narrative, on the other hand, tells of only a short period of oppression beginning with the “new king” coming to power.

Now we discuss the Hindu narrative. Our suggestion is that Moses was known as Krishna to the Hindus. He was born at a place named Mathura. We suggest this could be the Biblical Mitsrayim. The two names have common consonants “M,” “t,” and “r.” We give below the four periods of rulers at Mathura along with their possible Biblical equivalents.

Period 1: Mathura was ruled by a demon named Madhu. This could be equivalent to the Pharaoh who ruled Mitsrayim before the entry of Joseph.

Period 2: Shatrughna conquered the land of Mathura.iv Shatrughna could be the same person as Joseph who entered and ruled over Mitsrayim in the Biblical narrative.

Period 3: The line of Shatrughna became extinct. Then Mathura was ruled by Surasena and Ugrasena who belonged to the Yadava clan. These may be the

descendants of Jacob who lived in Mitsrayim. The Jews are also known as Yahudi.v The names Yahudi and Yadava have common sounds “Ya” and “d.”

This could be the Biblical period till the “new king” came to power in Mitsrayim (Exodus 1:8).

Period 4: Kamsa, the son of Ugrasena, usurped the throne by imprisoning his father.vi He was tyrannous towards the Yadavas. Kamsa could correspond to the Biblical “new king.”

The Hindu narrative matches with the Biblical narrative. It tells of a short period of oppression whereas the evidence from Egypt adduced by Hoffmeier above tells of a long period of oppression of foreign slaves.

A possible contradiction in these equivalents is that the Hindu narrative tells of the Pharaoh and the “new king” coming from the same clan of Yadavas in which Moses was born. Bible is silent on the lineage of the Pharaoh hence we cannot dismiss this possibility.

Bricks| Straw| Mud Bricks| Baked Bricks: Hoffmeier provides the quote given above from an officer from the Ramesside period saying “there are no men to make bricks nor straw in the neighbourhood” (Page 8). We now make a comparative assessment whether the Biblical narrative matches with Egypt or the Indus Valley on this point.

Straw is used as a binding substance in the making of mud bricks and as fuel in making baked bricks. The Biblical Archaeology Society Staff says that only 0.6 per cent straw by weight is added as a binder in making mud bricks.vii In comparison, my discussions with brick kiln owners in India indicate that about one-half of the cost of production of making baked bricks consists of straw.

Figure 1 gives picture of baked brick from Chanhu Daro. Error! Reference source not found. gives picture of baked bricks being made with straw in the State of Rajasthan in India.

Mud bricks made in Egypt “rarely added straw temper,” and baked bricks were used only sparingly.viii In comparison, baked bricks were the main construction material in the Indus Valley, including at the site of Chanhu Daro, which we suggest was the Biblical Mitsrayim.ix The conflict over collection of straw is, therefore, more likely to have happened in the Indus Valley. The baked bricks made here required large amounts of straw.

Place names| Mitsrayim| Mathura| Rameses| Rameshwar| Succoth| Sukkur: Hoffmeier tells of certain Egyptian place names that are similar to the place names mentioned in the Bible: Ramesses: Pi-Ramesses, capital of Egypt during the 13th–12th centuries.

Goshen: Egypt’s north-eastern Delta.

Hoffmeier does not discuss the Biblical name for Egypt: “Mitsrayim.” We supplement these suggestions with those given by David A. Falk: Etham = pr-tm Pi-Hahiroth = pr-ḥwt-ḥrt

Baˁal Zephon = bˁr-ḏȜpn Migdol = mˁktir Yam suf = ṯwfyx

Now we make a comparative assessment of finding of these names in Egypt and the Indus Valley. The place named “Mitsrayim” is mentioned in the narratives of Abraham, Jacob and Moses and multiple times in the latter two narratives. This name does not appear to be attested in ancient Egypt. Those people called themselves “Kmt” through the 14th century BCE.xi In comparison “Mathura” is mentioned in the Hindu narratives of Shatrughna, Surasena, Ugrasena, Kamsa and Krishna.

The land of Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, lay near Mitsrayim according to the Bible. Hoffmeier assumes this refers to the north-eastern delta of Egypt without adducing any evidence from parallel Egyptian names. In comparison we find the name “Gokul” in the Hindu narrative. The clan of Yadavas lived at Gokul. The names Goshen and Gokul begin with the common root “go,” which means cow in Sanskrit.xii Both the Hebrews and the Yadavas practiced the profession of cattle rearing. We recognize that this parallel to the name is weak since it is based on the single common consonant “G.” “Rameses” is mentioned in the narratives of Jacob as well as Moses. The name “Pi-Ramesses” is attested in Egypt while the name “Rameshwar” is attested in the Hindu texts.xiii All the three names carry the consonants “R,” “m” and “s.”

Succoth is mentioned in the narratives of Jacob as well as Moses. David A Falk suggests this could be mentioned in the Egyptian texts as “tkw.” We do not know of a similar place name in the Hindu texts. However, we do find a place named “Sukkur” in the Indus Valley. We do also not find parallel Hindu names for the following places mentioned by Falk: Etham, Pi-Hahiroth, Baal Zephon, Migdol and Yam suf.

Now we make a comparative assessment of the parallels of names between the Bible; and Egyptian and Hindu literatures in the Table below.

We have placed five names at the fifth row together since they are found in the single narrative of Moses. All other place names are found in multiple narratives in the Bible. We find that the names “Mitsrayim” and “Goshen” find parallels in the Hindu narrative while the names “Etham, Pi-Hahiroth, Baal Zephon, Migdol, Yam suf” find parallels in Egypt. This suggests that the parallels are evenly poised.

Summary: Secondary Evidence: We now summarize the three secondary evidences put forth by Hoffmeier. The Bible tells of a short period of oppression of the Hebrews in Mitsrayim. The evidence from Egypt tells of a long period of oppression of foreign workers while the Hindu narrative tells of only one generation of oppression at the time of Krishna. The Bible tells of conflict over collection of straw in Mitsrayim. The main construction material in Egypt was mud bricks requiring less than one percent straw. The main construction material in the Indus Valley was baked bricks that involves about 50 percent cost in straw. The parallels to place names are evenly poised between Egypt and Indus Valley. Thus, on secondary evidences, the Indus Valley is a stronger candidate for locating Mitsrayim.

Primary Evidence| Mitsrayim in the Indus Valley| Stagnant River| Chanhu Daro| Krishna: Hoffmeier says that primary evidence for the Exodus has not been found from Egypt. The question is what would constitute of primary evidence? We suggest that this could constitute of: 1

Geography: Whether a stagnant river as indicated in the first plague is found here?xiv

2 3

Archaeology: Whether the place was inhabited at the time of the Exodus?xv Life Events: Do we have a person who lived at the same time, and has events similar to those of Moses?

Geography| Stagnant River| Yamuna| Hakra The first plague brought by Moses upon Mitsrayim is usually understood as the water of the river having become “blood.” It is difficult to believe that water may have turned into blood. An alternative meaning of the Hebrew word “dam,” used for “blood,” is “silent or still.”xvi The fact that the water became stagnant suggest that it was flowing earlier.

Egypt is dominated by the Nile River. To the best of our knowledge the Nile could not have become stagnant.

We suggest that Mitsrayim could be located at the site of Chanhu Daro on the west bank of the now-dry Hakra River as shown in Error! Reference source not found.. This river is known

as Yamuna in her upper reaches.

Error! Reference source not

found. shows that the Yamuna River migrated eastward in the second

millennium BCE.xvii This could have led to a reduced flow in the downstream Hakra River. The Hakra may have turned into a series of stagnant ponds at Chanhu Daro. That may be the situation described in the Bible that the water became stagnant.

Archaeology| Time of Habitation: Egypt was habited at the time of Moses c. 1500 BCE. The habitation at Chanhu Daro began at c. 2500 BCE and ended at c. 1500 BCE.xviii The habitation was “massive� though declining at c. 1500 BCE.xix

Life Events| Tyrannous King| Basket on River| Plagues| Illomens| Killings: In this section we show that time and events relating to Krishna are similar to those of Moses. The Open Bible says that the Exodus took place at 1445 BCE.xx Moses was 80 years old at this time.xxi Therefore, we place his birth at 1525 BCE. A large number of astrologers have suggested various dates for Krishna based on planetary positions given in the texts. The work of S B Roy stands out among these. He has developed a continuous chronology from Vaivaswat Manu to Krishna. He has placed the birth of Krishna between 1445 and 1124 BCE.xxii Thus the time of Moses matches with the time of Krishna.

Their life events run parallel. The narrative of Moses begins to unfold with a new king coming to power in Mitsrayim. The new king was tyrannous towards

the Hebrews and embittered their lives with hard work.xxiii Scholars have suggested that the phrase “new king” indicates the beginning of a new era or a “radically changed situation.”xxiv The Hindu narrative says that the effective power in the Kingdom of Mathura at the time of King Ugrasena was vested in a Council of Elders.xxv Kamsa imprisoned Ugrasena and became the King himself.xxvi Then Kamsa started “destroying” the Yadavas.xxvii Kamsa could be the “new king” mentioned in the Bible.

The Pharaoh ordered the Mitsrite midwives to kill all the newborn sons of the Hebrews at Goshen.xxviii Kamsa ordered demoness Putna to do the same. She “used to roam in the villages and settlements of the cowherds to kill the male children.”xxix The Bible says that his mother was not able to hide baby Moses from the Mitsrites. She put him in a basket and laid the basket by the bank of the River of Mitsrayim.xxx The Pharaoh’s daughter recovered the basket. She gave Moses to her biological mother to bring him up.xxxi Krishna as likewise born in a jail with Kamsa wanting to kill him. However, his father Vasudeva managed to come out of the prison and carried infant Krishna in a basket placed above his head across the swirling waters of River Yamuna.xxxii Nanda and Yashoda brought up Krishna at Gokul as his foster parents.xxxiii Moses joined the Pharaoh’s household after becoming an adult. Similarly Krishna was summoned to Mathura by Kamsa after he became an adult.xxxiv Moses killed a Mitsrite who was beating a Hebrew. Similarly Krishna killed Kamsa who was tyrannizing the Yadavas.xxxv Moses left for Midian and joined the household of Jethro the Priest after killing the Mitsrite. Similarly Krishna left to study under Sage Sandipani at Avantipur after killing Kamsa.xxxvi Moses went from Rameses to Mitsrayim and asked the Pharaoh to release the Hebrews from bondage. The Pharaoh, however, refused. Then Moses brought ten plagues from God onto Mitsrayim. Finally the Pharaoh gave permission to the Hebrews to leave. Moses then returned to Rameses and led the Hebrews to Yisrael. In a parallel narrative, the Hindu texts tell of “ill omens” appearing at Dwarka and Krishna leading the Yadavas away from the city.

The Hebrew were encamped at Mount Sinai. Moses went atop the mountain to worship and delayed coming down. At this time his brother Aaron molded a calf of gold and the Hebrews began to dance around it. Moses was angered

when he returned and saw the calf and the dancing.xxxvii He took the calf, burnt it in a fire, ground it to powder, mixed the power in water and made the Hebrews drink it.xxxviii Then Moses said to them: Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, kill his companion, and every man his neighbour. xxxix

The Hindu narrative tells that the sages pronounced a curse that a particular iron pestle would lead to the destruction of the Yadava clan. The Yadavas ground the pestle to powder and dispersed the powder into the sea.xl They left Dwarka soon thereafter and camped at Prabhasa. Here they drank liquor and a terrible quarrel arose among them. Then: Son killed father, brother killed brother, nephew killed uncle, grandson killed grandfather, friend killed friend… When their arrows were exhausted and weapons were broken, they started pulling out reeds from the seacoast. This grass grew out of the powder of the pestle. xli

We see that in both stories a metal object was ground to powder and became the cause of the Hebrews/Yadavas killing each other.

Conclusion: The secondary evidences of a short period of oppression and conflict over collection of straw support the identification of Biblical Mitsrayim with Chanhu Daro in the Indus Valley. The secondary evidence of parallel names is evenly poised between Egypt and the Indus Valley.

The primary evidences of a stagnant river and the time and life events of a person parallel to Moses also support the identification of Biblical Mitsrayim in the Indus Valley. The primary evidence of time of habitation is evenly poised between Egypt and the Indus Valley.

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Mahabharata, Mausala Parva 6:17, 24-25.

Hoffmeier, James K., “Out of Egypt,” in Ancient Israel in Egypt and the Exodus, Biblical Archaeological Society, 2012. ii

iii

www.commonprophets.com.

iv

Mani, Vettam, Puranic Encyclopedia, Motilal Banarasidas, Delhi, 1979, Page 768.

v

This is considered by some to be an incorrect rendering. See, John, “Etymology of the Scripture Words Yahudi [Jew] and Goy [Gentile],” www.Eliyah.Com/Forum2/Forum1/Html/000250.Html, Sep 7, 1998, Retrieved October 21, 2018. vi

Mani, Puranic…, Page 768.

vii

Half pound of straw is to be added to one cubic foot mud to make mud bricks. (Biblical Archaeology Society Staff, How to Make a Mudbrick, http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/daily-life-andpractice/how-to-make-a-mudbrick/, May 1, 2014, Retrieved March 6, 2017.) The weight of one cubic foot mud is 34 kilograms. Half pound straw weighs 227 grams. The straw added works out to 0.6% by weight. viii

Baked bricks were used only as paving slabs (Capaldi, Xavier, Ancient Egyptian Mud Brick Construction: Materials, Technology, and Implications for Modern Man, 01 April 2011, https://dataplasmid.wordpress.com/.../ancient-egyptian-mud-brick-construction-materi..., Retrieved July 27, 2016). ix

“Most of the large cities of the IVC, i.e. Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Kot Diji, Ganeriwala, Rakhigarhi, and Lothal were built from both mud and baked brick… (However,) most villages and towns in the IVC were built from stones and mud bricks. The few exceptions are Jalilpur, Kalibangan, and Chanhudaro, where also baked bricks were used… Chanhudaro stands out in this list, as there is no preceding mud-brick only phase for this site” (Khan, Aurangzeb and Carsten Lemmen, Bricks and urbanism in the Indus Valley rise and decline, HelmholtzZentrum Geesthacht, Germany, February 27, 2013, Page 4, arxiv.org/pdf/1303.1426, Retrieved July 29, 2015). x

Falk, David A, What We Know about the Egyptian Places Mentioned in Exodus, https://thetorah.com/whatwe-know-about-the-egyptian-places-mentioned-in-exodus/ Retrieved October 23, 2018. xi

Islamic Awareness, On the Use of Miṣr in the Qur'ān, 22nd June 2012, www.islamicawareness.org/Quran/Contrad/External/misr.html, Retrieved October 23, 2018. Indeed, the Akkadian Empire located on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Ancient Iraq used the name “Misrii” for its border areas beginning around 1950 BCE (M. Civil, I. J. Gelb, A. L. Oppenheim, E. Reiner (Eds.), The Assyrian Dictionary Of The Oriental Institute Of The University Of Chicago, 1977, Volume 10, Part 2, p. 113). The Amarna Tablets indicate that the communications between the Akkadians and Egyptians referred to Egypt as Misrii beginning 1363 BCE. xii

Monier-Williams, Monier, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Southern Publications, Madras, 1987, Page 363.

xiii

Skand Purana Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Samvat 2064, 382:1123. This reference relates to Hindu Rama, who we suggest was the same person as Biblical Abraham. xiv

The first plague was of the water of the river becoming “blood” (Exodus 7:20).The Hebrew word “dam” is derived from the word “damam” which means to be “dumb…, to stop; to perish; to cease, to be cut down, to rest, to be silent, to be still…” (Strong’s 01818, 01826). xv xvi

The Exodus took place at 1445 BCE (The Open Bible, Page 1, 52).

The word “dam” is derived from the word “damam” which means to be “dumb…, to stop; to perish; to cease, to be cut down, to rest, to be silent, to be still…” (Strong’s 01818, 01826).

xvii

The Yamuna flowed west between 2500 and 1750 BCE, east between 1750 and 1100 BCE, westward during 1100 to 500 BCE, and eastward between 500 and 100 BCE (Chakrabarti, Dilip K and Sukhdev Saini, The Problem of Saraswati River and Notes on Archaeological Geography of Haryana and Indian Panjab, Aryan Books International, New Delhi, 2009, Page 27). xviii

E J H Mackay “found evidence for a considerable amount of craft activity at the site during the Harappan period (2500–1900 BC).” He “also investigated the Post-urban Harappan levels at the site (1900–1500 BC) and, in particular, his exposure of the remains of the Jhukar habitations…” (Possehl, Gregory L., “W. Norman Brown – Americans Excavating in British India” Expedition Magazine 50.2 (July 2008), Penn Museum, July 2008, http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/?p=8807, Retrieved November 27, 2015). xix

Miller, Heldi J, A New Interpretation of the Stratigraphy at Chanhu-daro and the Jhukar Phase, in South Asian Archaeology, edited by C Jarrige and V Lefevre, Page 253-256, ADPF, Paris, 2001. xx

The Open Bible, Page 1, 52.

xxi

Bible, Exodus 7:7.

xxii

Roy, S B, “Scientific (Astro-Dynastic) Chronology of Ancient India,” in C Margabandhu et. al., Editors, Indian Archaeological Heritage, Agamkala Prakashan, Delhi, 1991, Page 702-703. Other scholars place the war of Mahabharata in which Krishna had participated variously between 5500 BCE and 900 BCE (Vartak, P V, The Scientific Dating of the Mahabharat War, Ved Vidnyana Mandal, Pune, http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/mahabharat/mahab_vartak.html, Retrieved September 7, 2013; IGNCA, Dating The Kurukshetra War, http://ignca.nic.in/nl002503.htm, Retrieved September 7, 2013).

The range of 1445 BCE to 1124 BCE for the birth of Krishna suggested by Roy is within this larger range and we accept this. xxiii

Bible, Exodus 1:8, 13.

xxiv

Durham, John I, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 3, Exodus, Nelson Reference & Electronic, 1987, Page 7; Sarna, JPS, Exodus, Page 5. xxv

Qanungo, Kalika Ranjan, History of the Jats, Edited and annotated by Vir Singh, Delhi, Originals, 2003, http://www.jatland.com/home/History_of_the_Jats:Dr_Kanungo/The_legend_about_the_Yadu_Tribe, Retrieved April 7, 2016, Page 196. xxvi

Bhagwata Purana, Srimad Bhagwat Sudha Sagar, Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Samvat 2060, 10:1:69.

xxvii

Bhagwata Purana 10:1:17, 10:2:2, 10:5:19.

xxviii

Bible, Exodus 1:16.

xxix

Bhagwata Purana 10:6.2.

xxx

Bible, Exodus 2:3.

xxxi

Bible, Exodus 2:9.

xxxii

Bhagwata Purana, 10:3:47-50.

xxxiii

Bhagwata Purana 10:3:48-51.

xxxiv

Bhagwata Purana 10:41.

xxxv

Bhagwata Purana 10:44:38.

xxxvi

Bhagwata Purana 10:45:12, 31.

xxxvii

Bible, Exodus 31:18, 32:4, 32:19.

xxxviii

Bible, Exodus 32:20.

xxxix

Bible, Exodus 32:27.

xl

Bhagwata Purana 11:1:13-21.

xli

Bhagwata Purana 11:30:13, 19-21.