Annotation: The author reconsiders some well-known facts about Dark Ages and offers a consistent picture of the events in the history of Eurasia. According to the received picture, the Buddhist's role in the events of The Migration Period (German loanword Völkerwanderung) was underestimated.
Emperor of the Maurya dynasty Ashoka the Great, who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from 268 to 232 BC,[1] established the relationship between Buddhism and the state.
According to the Mahavamsa,[2] in the 17th year of his reign, at the end of the Third Buddhist Council, Ashoka sent Buddhist missionaries to nine parts of the world (eight parts of Southern Asia, and the “Country of the Yonas[3]”) to promote Buddhism.
From the 2nd century AD, onwards — since the reign of Kanishka the Great, an emperor of the Kushan dynasty, state ideology based on Buddhist doctrines has dominated in Central Asia.
Andrey Zelinsky: “Having received initiation from the Kashmiri[4] teacher Sudarshana, Kanishka did not cease to be an Emperor, a despot and a conqueror, but became a defender of Buddhists. Buddhism, without ceasing to be a doctrine of mercy, acquired the features of a militant Church”.
Until the end of the 3rd century, the multi-million Kushan Empire of Buddhists flourished, and Buddha's teachings were spread by kushans all over the world.
Boris Stavisky: “A Chinese spy in Indochina, describing the political situation in the twenties of the 3rd century, noted that the whole world is divided into three parts, subordinated to the three "Sons of Heaven" (emperors): Chinese, Roman and Kushan… At this time, Buddhism was widely spread from India, its homeland, to the countries of Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the Far East.
It was in the Kushan period that Great Silk Road — the first transcontinental route in the history of our planet was laid. It stretched from the Han Empire, through the lands of the Kushan and Parthian kingdoms, to the Roman Mediterranean…
At that time, contacts were also established between Central Asia, the tribes of the Urals and near the Urals and the population of the Northern Black Sea region”.
Thus the teaching of Buddha enjoyed unlimited support of one of the three world powers of the Ancient World for several centuries.
Pent Nurmekund: “The spread of Buddhism in China continued unabated throughout the Kushan era. In the history of China it corresponds to the periods of the Late Han (to 221) and Six Dynasties (from 222 to 589).
Translation of the Buddhist Canon from Sanskrit into Chinese has put forward the need for transliteration of untranslatable terms.
The idea of phonetic writing arose in this connection for the first time in the history of the Chinese language and writing”.
Pliny the Elder: “Of all the kinds the palm is to the Seric iron.
The Seres send this with their textile fabrics and skins.
The second place is to the Parthian, and there are no other kinds of iron which are tempered into the true steel for they are mixed with other elements”.[5]
In the first centuries of the new era, a special silk market was in Rome.
A pound of silk was worth a pound of gold,[6] the body shone through the silk robes.[7]
Women in ancient Rome loved to buy silk.
Yevgeny Lubo-Lesnichenko: “Countless caravans brought silk to West from far Serika”.
Smooth silk fabric sericae were made in Xiyù (literally the “Western border”, — area of Gansu and Shanxi).
In the same region are located the main monuments of Mature Buddhist art — rock temples The Yungang Grottoes (Shanxi) and The Longmen Grottoes (Henan).
The Buddhist pilgrim Faxian described (in 4th cen.) the then silk-growing center of Khotan (Sanskrit name: Kustana[8]) as an amazing city where the cult of Buddha flourished.
The production of such silk quantities and the creation of great monuments certainly attracted thousands of people familiar with the teachings of the Buddha.
Steel, praised by Pliny, was produced in the middle part of Yenisei River basin, where archaeologists have unearthed traces of a large mining and metallurgical industry, called the Tagar[9] culture.
Archaeologists distinguish two types of bronze products made by Kushan metallurgists: Tagar, associated with the continuity of the inventory of the previous period, and the Huns, widespread at this time throughout the belt of the Asian steppes — except for the Middle Yenisei in Transbaikalia, Mongolia and Ordos (Compare to Latin Ordo).
The nomads supplied the Kushan furriers with raw materials for the skins mentioned by Pliny.
Now the Tarim basin is a depopulated desert.
From 3rd to 5th century millions of Buddhists disappeared from Xinjiang, Northern India and the Yenisei River basin.
But simultaneously out of the blue in Eastern Europe appeared millions of Slavs who had steel tools: axes, hoes, cleavers and sickles.
Slavic pioneers used slash and burn system of agriculture.
Buddhists cut down and then burned virgin forests (taiga) under the arable land for those who followed them.
It was hard work. Then they sowed the cleared areas with millet, peas and hemp.
Only by the 7th century Kushan (Russian “кушак” [kushak]) metallurgists established iron production in the new West lands. However, it was of poor quality for a long time. The weapons were still delivered from the East.
The outflow of population from the Kushan Empire went not only to Eastern Europe.
Oleg Gutsulyak: “Indian lands southeast of Kandahar are called Kambodia or Yona-Kamboja. G. Bongard-Levin and G. Ilyin deduced this name from the Greek-Aramaic version of the name Kandahar (given, according to Al-Biruni, by the natives of Gandhara). Kambodia migrated South to Gujarat, South India and Sri Lanka, and later also to Bengal and Cambodia (Khmer: Kampuchea)”.[10]
Resettlement continued for several hundred years up to the 5th century.
However, Cambodia was unable to accommodate all internally displaced persons. The uninhabited lands of Eastern Europe accepted them.
Dramatic historical events always leave a mark on the speech of the people in question.
For example, due to the Cold War the world with the word “Kalashnikov” (Калашников) spread into almost all world languages.
The Slavs’s resettlement and the war against Europe in the fifth century led by the Huns of Attila is no exception.
The Huns were a military Alliance of men who came from Central Asia in the 3rd–5th centuries.
Attila (Compare to Latin Atta) — the leader of the Huns from 434 to 453 — united the tribes from the Rhine River to China.
Neil Archbishop of Yaroslavl: “Parents of Attila wandered along the banks of the Yenisei”.
The multi-tribal and multi-lingual personnel the Attila’s army was called up from the military contingents in the territories that were parts of the Kushan Empire.
Fighters and commanders of his army were familiar with the essentials of Buddha's doctrine from their childhood.
The European center for settlement of the Huns was in Pannonia (Hungary), where the Ugrian-Hungarians later settled.
The co-ruler of the Huns and brother of Attila is known by the names Buda, Beda and Bleda of which Buda was given to the city Budapest (the capital of Hungary).
There is important common Slavic word that reminds of Buddha — Bhaga-Бог [Bog] (“Donator, God”, in Modern English: Bog, Big, Boss, Box etc.), which was among the titles attributed to Ashoka, Kanishka and Buddhas.
This word remains in the languages of Slavs to refer to the Lord-Creator.[11]
The first Gothic historian Jordan in his 6th century's work “De origine actibusque Getarum” (“The Origin and Deeds of the Getae/Goths”) reports about the Slavic Boz's (Rex Antorum[12]) murder by the Goths in 375:
“He [Vithimiris-Vinitharius][13] rivalled the valor of his grandfather Vultuulf, although he had not the good fortune of Hermanaric. But disliking to remain under the rule of the Huns, he withdrew a little from them and strove to show his courage by moving his forces against the country of the Antes. When he attacked them, he was beaten in the first encounter. Thereafter he did valiantly and, as a terrible example, crucified their king, named Boz, together with his sons and seventy nobles, and left their bodies hanging there to double the fear of those who had surrendered” (translation by Charles C. Mierow).[14]
Boz (Bog) was the Buddha to whom the Slavs still attribute the creation of their language.
In his work “Die Goten: Sprache und Kultur”, Piergiuseppe Scardigli shows that in Europe in those days the word “Goth” (Russian гад [gad]) was not a designation of a tribe, but of heroes, condottieri, and mercenaries.
The Slavs fought together Attila's mercenary soldiers and used to call them “немцы” ([nemtsi], from “немые” — dumb, speechless).
This was because the mercenaries came from different tribes and did not speak Slavic languages.
The “Nemtsi” became the progenitors of the modern speakers of Germanic languages.
Following the works of G. Vernadsky, P. Scardigli made a conclusion that the penetration of Buddhists in Dacia (Romania) happened at the end of the 2nd century, and not at the beginning of the 3rd century.
The basis for the conclusion — the inscription found in the Buddhist crypt near Pune mid-2nd century.
The inscription also mentions Gata, perhaps in reference to Goths.
One of the main concepts of Buddha's doctrine — The Kalachakra (Sanskrit: कालचक्र, “Wheel of Time”) — is described in Lamaism and Tibetan Buddhism.
The memory of the spread of Kalachakra's concept is evident in the languages of the people who participated in Attila’s wars.
The idea of Kalachakra was preserved in the words калач, калаш [kalach, kalash])[15], калка [kalka] (калить [kalit’], “heating”), and карачун [karachun].[16]
Karachun — is a common Turkic word understood as kara (“black”) + chun (“soul or ghost”) — black (dark) spirit.
Hungarian (Finno-Ugric language) Karácsony — “Yuletide”, “Christmas”.
Karachun — common Slavic word with the main meaning of “Death” and “Yuletide, Christmas”;
Belarusian, Malorussian — Karačun (Карачун);
Old Russian — Koročunŭ (Корочунъ);
Russian — Koročun (Корочун) or Karačun (Карачун);
Bulgarian — Kračon (Крачон) or Kračunek (Крачунек);
Macedonian — Kračun (Крачун);
Ruthenian — K(e)rečun (К(е)речун) or G(e)rečun (Ґ(е)речун);
Serbian — Kračun (Крачун);
Slovak — Kračún;
Romanian (Romanic language) — Crăciun.
Until the 18th century, Russian folk-tales character of Slavic mythology Koschei[17] was usually called Karachun.
The origin of the Angles and Saxons from Central Asia is now undisputed. The Anglo-Saxon concept of “Culture” is more clearly understood through the concept of Kalachakra, and not directly from the Latin colo.
In modern Russia, some followers of “Slavic Native Faith” (Rodnovers) argue that the Russian name of the swastika is kolovrat (Russian: коловрат, literally “Recurrence”, “Spinning Wheel”).
The swastika is considered to symbolize the auspicious footprints of the Buddha. It is an aniconic symbol of the Buddha in many parts of Asia and homologous with the “Dharma Wheel”.
After the killing of Boz (Buddha) with his angels-disciples and archangels-teachers in 375 by the Goths, there was no one left to explain the complex concept of Kalachakra in Europe.
Nemtsi, in particular Goths, from the army of Attila in their own way comprehended Kalachakra and enriched a number of Slavic languages with its new meaning — heart.
In Deutsch (Germanic language) “Heart” is Herz, in Spanish (Romanic language) — Corazón, in Russian (Slavic language) — Cердце [Serdče].
Horsa — was the name of the legendary first Anglo-Saxon King in Britannia, who died in 455.
Eastern Slavs called the god of the young sun after Yuletide (Christmas) — Xors (Хорс, Horse, Horos, C(H)arse).
The Kālacakra Tantra (Sanskrit: कालचक्र तन्त्र, “Wheel of Time Tantra”) in Tibetan tradition is considered to be the pinnacle of Mahāyāna’s Vajra-yāna.
Vajradhatu Temple at Karchung was established in Tibet in 8th century (sKar chung rgya sde lha khang). The Tibetian “sKar chung” stands for a “little star”.
The self-name of the Slavs — славяне (slavjani-slavyani), as the word Mahā-yāna, is deconstructed into two roots and is understandable in Latin as Salvus Janus, salv-jani, slav-jani.
Slavs brought to Europe not only the concept of Kalachakra.
Migrants from Central Asia spread across the East European Plain by land and water.
Thousands of undersized steppe horses — savraski — were used for overland travel.
To navigate rivers Slavs built ships, drawings of which may be found in Central Asia.
The Latin word mare (Russian море) is absent in Indo-Iranian and Germanic languages (See). Romans went to the East using the words corbis (basket), corbula (basket, box).
Izmail Sreznevsky: “Every Slavic dialect uses this word as its own… e. g. korab, korabi — exists as people's words. Bulgarian кораб, Czech korab, Polish korab and Serbian кораб stand for ship, boat, box”.
In Russian fairy tales the frog Vasilisa (Greek Βασίλισσα, The Queen) went to Ivan (Yavan) in a box (коробченка, korоbtsenka).
The Latin word corbis, was transformed into Slavic and then into Russian корабль (ship): κάραβος = карбас (the boat)[18] and in Late Latin: carabus;[19] Spanish carabella, Portuguese caravella, Arabic carab and gurab.
After the campaigns of Attila, Buddhist traditions of the Slavs slowly faded.
However, in 18th century Nikolay Karamzin — author of the 12-volume “History of the Russian State” — mentions the Northern Dalai Lama, who ruled Lithuania, Prussia, Kurland and Letland until the introduction of Christian fables in the end of the 11th century.
Vladimir Nikiphorov: “In the 9th century (simultaneously with the emergence of Kievan Rus and the departure of Buddhism from India), the powerful Cambodian Empire with its center in Angkor[20] flourished. The country was ruled by a monarch, whose personality was deified. Free inhabitants wore weapons and were foreigners”.
The same aliens became known in Europe under the name of Huns.
Hans (Russian: Ганс, Hun’s, English: gun) — in Dutch, Danish, Icelandic, German, Norwegian and Swedish the diminutive form of the male name Johann (Russian: Я — гунн (I’m Hun)).
There is a parallel to the recent history of this planet. In 1991, the Communist Bloc, united by a common ideology, ceased to exist due to the confusion of the minds of its leaders.
In 1992 Francis Fukuyama called the events, that followed, “End of history”.
However, the analogy with the events of The Migration Period (German loanword Völkerwanderung) gives reason to discuss the next “Wheel of Time” instead of the “End of history”.
Before the murder of Bog (Buddha) in 375 the Slavs were Buddhists. After this event, began the division of the Slavs.
There is unknowable necessity of the history: half a thousand years after the death of Slavs' living Buddha, the name Kalachakra began to designate the most deadly weapon on Earth — Kalashnikov assault rifle.
This situation is not satisfactory. The world stands on the threshold of Slavic Renaissance.
It will begin when the Slavs and their allies — the Nemtsi — remember their common Bog (God) — Buddha.
Annotations
[1] These generally accepted dates are questionable.
[2] XII, 1st paragraph.
[3] Compare to Latin Janus.
[4] Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent.
[5] Translation by Schoff W. H. The Eastern Iron Trade of the Roman Empire // Journal of the American Oriental Society. Vol. 35, 1915, P. 224–239; Plin. H. N. 34, 145: Ex omnibus generibus palma Serico ferro est. Seres hoc cum vestibus suis pellibusque mittunt. Secunda Parthico, neque alia genera ferri ex mera acie temperatur, caeteris enim admiscentur.
[6] Vopisc. Aurel. 45.
[7] Hor. Sat. 1, 2, 101.
[8] Compare with the name of the city in Kazakhstan Kustanay-Kostanoy (Кустаной, Костана́й).
[9] Compare to Latin Toga.
[10] Descendants of ancient kambojas are considered to be the tribe of Kambojas in Punjab and some tribes in the Afghan province of Nuristan.
[11] Compare to Polish Bóg (Pan, panowie), bóstwo, bożek.
[12] The Antes or Antae (Greek Áνται) were an early East Slavic tribal polity which existed in the IV–VII c. It name used by Byzantine writers in VI–VII.
[13] According to Jordanes Vinitharius (The Winner of the Aria) became the new king of the Greuthungi after the death of Ermanaric (Hermanaric). Ammianus Marcellinus reports that Ermanaric was succeeded by Vithimiris (Gotsk. Wiþimir, Widumers — Famous in woodland).
[14] Iordan. De origine actibusque Getarum. XLVIII. 247: Qui avi Vultulfi virtute imitatus, quamvis Hermanarici felicitate inferior, tamen aegre ferens Hunnorum imperio subiacere, paululum se subtrahens ab illis suaque dum nititur ostendere virtute, in Antorum fines movit procinctum, eosque dum adgreditur prima congressione superatus, deinde fortiter egit regemque eorum Boz nomine cum filiis suis et lxx primatibus in exemplum terroris adfixit, ut dediticiis metum cadavera pendentium geminarent.
[15] M. Fasmer raises to the source *kolo (wheeĺ).
[16] The non-distinction of sounds [r] and [l] is noted in early Sanskrit, Finno-Ugric and Chinese.
[17] Koschei (Russian: Коще́й, tr. Koshchey), often given the epithet «the Immortal», or «the Deathless» (Russian: Коще́й Бессме́ртный), is an archetypal male antagonist.
[18] Ка́рбас (Kа́rbas) also карба́с (Karbа́s), Vepsian karbaz — sailing and rowing vessel, one of the main in Pomors and other inhabitants of the North and Siberia.
[19] Saint Isidore of Seville: carabus is a small boat of woven rods, covered with leather.
[20] Compare to Latin Ancora (Slavic Ancona, Turkish Ancara etc.).
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