Indian themes in Assyrian history
Western dating gone completely awry?
In the heavens ...
Apart from commissioning an authoritative study on planet Venus ('probably the earliest example' of astronomy), Ammisaduqua /Ammisaduqa /Ammizaduga is known for cancelling debts. Was he named Ammisaduqua /Ammisaduqa because he understood the 'true suffering' of the people.
The discovery of clay tablets at the Kuyunjik mound in mid 19th century, at Sippar, in modern Iraq, (ancient Niniveh), in the palace of Ashurbanipal (668-635 BC), in the 19th century, was the most complete set of tablets recovered, of the study first commissioned by Ammisaduqua. The name of the scribe of these tablets has been variously deciphered as Ku-Aya, Nur-Aya, Ipiq-Aya - and most interestingly as Kasap-Aya, the same as the famous Indian rishi Kashyapa, ऋषि कश्यप. Enuma Anu Enlil, the 70 clay tablet series, by astronomer-astrologers in Mesopotamia, recovered from the ruins of Ashurbanipal's Library, at Niniveh, contains 'careful records of celestial events for centuries' - with an inventory of 7000 omens.
Enuma-Anu, could also be spelt as Anumaanu. And अनुमान anumana, which in Sanskrit is, estimate, infer, deduce, close (not exact) calculation. Enlil is the Assyrian God of Winds and Skies. Anil अनिल is also the modern Sanskrit word for air, wind.
What Enuma Anu Enlil, then means is Calculation of the Winds and Skies - which is what it is. It has been noticed that there is "evidence that the earliest layers of this vast collection go back to lunar eclipse omens from the Dynasty of Akkad and Ur III late in the third millennium."
To the seas ...
The earliest extant account we get of the Flood, (pralaya प्रलय in Indian texts) Atra-hasis is also ascribed to the Ammisaduqua reign - which can be gauged by the scribal colophon marks. The Atra-hasis is the world's first account of the Flood (as per Western history) - which is recounted also in the Bible. This account of the Flood, the Atra-hasis, written by Atra, possibly by a scribe named after Rishi Atri, ऋषि अत्रि, one of the writers of the Rig Veda. The scribe writes, "at-ra-am-ha-si", which in Sanskrit will read as अत्री अहम्सी "Atri am I".
Since (deciphered) Akkadian language, in which these tablets were composed, works on presumptive vowels, (deciphered) vowels are a matter of guesswork, opinion and such. To give the benefit of doubt, most Assyriologists have little or poor knowledge of Indian texts and Sanskrit, which comes in the way of making some of these connections.
But wonder turns to puzzlement, when one comes to a Babylonian king called Kandalanu (647-627 BC) - or alternatively, Kundalin(i). Kundali कुण्डली in Sanskrit means circle - of seasons, life, fortune, etc - and janam kundali is made. The measurements of Saturn during Kandalanu's reign of 20-odd years are important to understanding Mesopotamian astronomy. Saturn in Indian astronomy is Shani शनि. In Indian astrology, Shani casts a dark and baleful shadow on which ever zodiac sign it moves into.
It is speculated that the Kandalanu was the throne name for Ashur-bani-pal - at whose library the above clay tablets were found. Historians have have mixed opinions about Kandalanu and Ashurbanipal being the same person.
Its gotta be the Greeks ...
Oh no! Not again!!
Babylonian astronomy (encompassing Assyrian, Mesopotamian, Sumerian, Akkadian) is closely allied with Indian developments in direction, purpose and history. This challenges modern history, caught between the 'Greek Miracle' as history school, which has stuck to the Egypt->Greece->Rome->Europe–>West-Is-The-Greatest Axis. For long, the West has systematically suppressed Indian achievements in various spheres - largely for reasons of colonial propaganda.
Western historians trace Indian own significant achievements in astronomy to 'import' from Babylon - via Greece! David Brown, an 'expert', on Mesopotamian astronomy and astrology, goes further and asserts that the "evidence for transmission to Greece and thence to India in the Hellenistic period was overwhelming." (from Learned antiquity By Alasdair A. MacDonald, Michael W. Twomey, G. J. Reinink).
What is this 'overwhelming' evidence that he presents? Nothing, but the usual dating mix ups. Considering "it unlikely that it was the work of one person' , analysts are surprised, 'considering its internal consistency".
Worried, Mr.Brown? There is more, where this from, Mr.Brown.
Surely, if Indians needed to learn, would it not have been easier and simpler, Mr.Brown, for Indians to have learnt this directly, from the Babylonians - instead of getting of it second hand from the Greeks.