Caucasus and the Tamils

Tamils constitute the Indo-Dravidian races of South India. Ancient foreign contacts with the Tamils are well documented in the works of Strabo, Megasthenes, Sangam anthology Aganaanooru. This research article proposes that Tamil civilization is based on the Graeco-Colchic and Armenian ones. The exodus of people from Cappadocia, Colchis and Cilicia provided the majority of settlers in Tamil Nadu. The Georgian origin of the Tamil script attains significance in view of the fact that Tamil is the focal point from which Dravidian languages have diverged. The community pattern of the ancient Tamils resembled the Greek model with Panar, Idaiyar groups being prevalent on both sides. The Caucasian ancestral origin of the Tamils makes them possibly the lone surviving group of Indo European races in South India.


Caucasus and the Tamils
Murugesan Sendil, Madurai Kamaraj University Tamils constitute the Indo-Dravidian races of South India.Ancient foreign contacts with the Tamils are well documented in the works of Strabo, Megasthenes, Sangam anthology Aganaanooru.This research article proposes that Tamil civilization is based on the Graeco-Colchic and Armenian ones.The exodus of people from Cappadocia, Colchis and Cilicia provided the majority of settlers in Tamil Nadu.The Georgian origin of the Tamil script attains significance in view of the fact that Tamil is the focal point from which Dravidian languages have diverged.The community pattern of the ancient Tamils resembled the Greek model with Panar, Idaiyar groups being prevalent on both sides.The Caucasian ancestral origin of the Tamils makes them possibly the lone surviving group of Indo European races in South India.
Tamils are a widely distributed race comprising population of about 75-80 million.The hypothesis on the Eurasian lineage of the Tamils is based on the archaeological and literary evidences available.A homology analysis on the map of South India and the Caucasus reveals crucial information between these distant regions.Names of regions like Colchis, Adana are redundant.Korkai (Greek:Κολχίς) or Colchis was the capital of Tamil Pandian dynasty during 500 BC (Schoff, 1912, p. 211).Korkai was later ravaged by tsunami like waves forcing the shift of capital city to the inward Madurai.Muziris became the principal trading port of the Tamils after silting reduced Colchis port's operability.During the 1AD, Romans traded extensively in Muziris and they were called as Yavanas (Aiyangar, 2013, p.314).Muziris's Georgian counterpart is Musiri, the country between Armenia and Cilicia which is mentioned as Mizraim in Bible.Bati was a village in Tamil Nadu and has it's Georgian precursor as Batumi.It is located south of Poti and was a Greek locality.
Pandion was the heroic Greek king of Athens belonging to the attic tribes.The preference for pandion among Greek gods while establishing the first dynasty in Tamil Nadu, reflects the hierarchy of Ionian Greeks among the settler's group.This should also be seen in the context of modelling pandian kingdom on the lines of legendary Athens city.During Alexander's invasion of North India, Greek colonies were established.They did not possess the names of ancient cities in Greece with the exception of Pandoi.Pandeia was the daughter of the sky-god Zeus.Due to Cilician connections, Chola's capital was named after the river Orentes as Uranthai in Puranaanooru (Hart, 1999, p.45).

Matching of Social Strata
Social hierarchy of the ancient Tamil society was identical in structure to the Greeks.Thudiyars are mentioned as one of the four castes that existed during the Sangam age.This term seems to be acquired from the name Tudhaliya, the founder of Hittite empire.Panes were primeval gods of dense mountain regions and grasslands.The following verses illustrate the occupation of Panes.When we look for a Tamil equivalent of Panes it is positively identified as the Paner tribes.The Paner tribes are described in Tamil epics as a musical community.The famous Paner king Evvi is positively identified with the Greek god Evvi.

Puranānūru-70 Poet KōvūrKilār
Which is translated as "Honey like mellifluous music is produced from the strings of your harp,'o' Paner (Hart, 1999)."Similiar narration echoes in Greek tales also "The Panes have their cithern and their melodious tootling pipes [as gifts from Dionysos]; the Satyroi (Satyrs) have the round rattling tomtom from your patron Dionysos; even the mountain ranging Bassarids ride on the backs of lions."(Nonnus,Dionysiaca 11. 113 ff) Kuravars are depicted as hill dwelling, gypsies like people (Hart, 1999).

மொரிஆன்றுமடைதமக்குஉயர்கஎனக் கைவுள்தபணியகுறவர்மொக்கள் Puranānūru 143, Poet Kapilar
A tribe with the same characteristics existed in the Greek counterpart.They were called CURETES (Kourestes) Daktyloi Idaioi (Idaean Dactyls) and were primarily ironsmiths who lived in the mountains of Ida in Phyrigia.In Tamil communities, we come across a similar tribe called Idaiyar.These cow herdsmen are mentioned in the Kurunthogai poems.Idaiyar were also called khovle and a Georgian village called khovle existed.Grave steles and burial urns form the concluding part of the social strata are matching.Burial urns or amphorae were used to deposit the remains of dead persons (Tsetskhladze, 1999, p.79).Tamils called it Mudhumakkal thaazhi.Names of the dead found on the burial urns and Stele are in Vattezuthu or Tamil Brahmi inscriptions.They match with the Asomtavruli script in amphorae (Grant, 2008, p.53).Collective burials have been commonly practiced in Ergeta, Ureki settlements of Georgia, this is accomplished by reburial.Grave goods placed inside the urn indicate the economic status of the region and the dead.Gold earrings and silver rhyton were found along with daggers in Georgian burials (Vakhtang, 2007, p.2;Tsetskhladze, 1999, p.60).In Tamil Nadu, burial urns were found containing glazed copper beads and daggers.Linguistic Lineality: An Analysis Etymological findings imply that language acts a bridge between the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the Caucasus.The following evidence conclusively proves that Tamil language evolved on graeco-tzanic patterns.
Vattezhuthu and modern Tamil script have identical partners as Asomtavruli and Mkhedruli scripts respectively.The genesis of Caucasian languages begins with Kartvelian and Tzanic script developing concurrently during 7-6 th century BC The tzanic later branched out to form the Mingrelian and Laz scripts (Gamkrelidze, 1984).Asomtavruli is the precursor to Nuskhuri, Mkhedruli script.Asomtavruli consists of 38 alphabets and is used for writing in capital form.Analogous to Semitic script, a line is used as a basic entity from which other forms are developed.Nuskhuri shares a number of alphabet features with Tamil and those include zhan.gan,on.qar.tsan,un.On its part Mkhedruli script shares შ-un, ტ-tani, ს-san, ფ-pari, ჟ-zhani in a unique manner, to which no other script can be compared.Tamil script matching with the lately developed Mkhedruli indicates the time of migration.This theory becomes complicated due to fact that Vattezhuthu is also known as Tamil-Brahmi script.So any external influence on Tamil impacts the north Indian Brahmi also.Georgian linguist S. Gorgadze's viewpoint that kartuli script originated during 7-6 th century BC perfectly fits with our predicted migration period (David, 1996, p.231) Tamil-brahmi differs from brahmi due to the presence of 2 alphabets-S, ℧.These 2 deciding alphabet features are present in the Georgian script.(Fritz, 2014).This is an appellation for midwives who were involved with the birthing of children.

Metamorphosis of Ares into Murugan
Ares is symbolized as the great Olympian god of war, who ravages the enemies and indulges in war for the delight of destruction.Ares resided on Mount Olympus.He was consecrated in Colchis and accompanied by a hound and a vulture.
"Ares insatiable in battle, blazing like the light of burning fire in his armour and standing in his chariots... were lighted up by the dread god, Ares, himself and his armour, and the shining from his eyes was like fire... manslaughtering Ares screaming aloud, courses all over the sacred grove." Hesiod, Shield of Heracles 56 ff (trans.Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8 th or 7 th BC)

Comparative Study of Alphabets in Tamil and Georgian Scripts
Asomtavruli Murugan is the principal deity of the Tamils (Ramanujan, 1971, p.113;Manmohan, 2002, p.60) similar to Ares, he resides in hilly abodes; he is also called as velan, the one with the spear.The term vel has different connotations in Georgian language.It refers to veli or people of a region, language.Kartvelian's ancestry belong to the Kartu tribes.Murugan's savage violence mirrors Ares exploits.Kandaon is a title conferred on Murugan, where the initial moiety is from the indo-european root 'Kwon'-dog.This coincides with the companion of ares, the hound.

படிதயொர்த்தேய்த்ேபல்புகழ்த்ேைக்டக தெடுதவள்தபணேணிகுவள்இவள்என (Akanānūru 22, VeriPādiyaKāmakanniyār)
The poem mentions that Murugan kills those refusing to accept his divine superority.Ares attained significance in Tamil's religious order as Murugan due to his cult in Cappadocia.

Racial Heterogeneity of the Settlers
The beginning phase of the settlers was marked by a huge Georgian influence.Kingdoms, cities and rivers were named in ancient Georgian.One of the major pieces of evidence is Paluri-Nagutny culture and it thrived on sheep pastoralism in the mountain terrains.Paalaaru is a major river flowing through Northern Tamil Nadu.Paal means milk in Tamil and is connected with the sheep rearing culture.Tiraiyan Maran is mentioned as the king of Tuvarai; tuvarai or tuval is a transliteration of Tubal.The South Indian river Tamaraparani is coined by combining the names of two Georgian places namely Tamariani (თამარიანი) and Paranai.The towns of Kanchi and Vasavasamudram have an indelible Georgian authenticity to them.Khariogoli is another Georgian example reoccurring in the form of poet Inrndaiyur-Karuiigoli.Moschi and Akhaltsikhe follow suit.
But the late Chola reign is irrefutable evidence of Cilician culture, particularly of the Adiyaman and Adana regions.Adana was called as Antiochiaadsarum implying Antiochia on the Sarus (Ἀντιόχεια ἡ πρὸς Σάρον).Antiochia is synonymous with the Chera king Anthuvancheral.Illamcetcenni Nalankilli is regarded as the first emperor among Tamil kings and marks the continuation of Killi clan of kings like Nalankilli, Nedunkilli, Perunarkilli Killivalavan.In illamcetcenni nalankilli, the former element illamcetcenni indicates the Cennatae tribes.Cenni in Greek denotes hundred times exponentially the original, the latter killi refers to Cilicia (Kilikia, Greek-Κιλικία).This firmly establishes their Armenian ancestry.The greatest striking feature of all is the Velir king adiyaman.Adiyaman is the Southeast province in modern Turkey.Names of Tamil kings Adiyaman.Nedunchezhiyan possess the Greek words nedymos, adymmas as their base skeleton.
In Anatolia, koy refers to segregated parts of a district.Thus Adana contributes the most number of names to the Tamil vocabulary when compared to other regions.Pisiri was the king of Carkamesh and his name has been imparted to the renowned Tamil poet Pisaranthaiyar.Pisiri was the name of a town in the Pandion Kingdom.The last member of the group is the Mannaneans who lived near the lake Urmia in Northwest Persia.Mannan denotes king in Tamil.
The Greek influence stems from the settlements in Cappadocia.Ionian migrations occurred from the western coast of Anatolia to central Cappadocia (Tsetskhladze, 2008).The earliest recording of Katpatuka is from the Behistun cliffs during late sixth century.They had settled in Cappadocia during Mycenean period.Kapatapuram is the synonymous name used to denote the second capital of the Tamils during the 600s BC Patuka resonates further in literary texts like Malaipatukam in sangam literature.Seri refers to the place where Parayars (drummers) reside.This is a synonym for Kayseri or Caesarea in Cappadocia.The mighty Sargon II was slain in Cappadocia by the Cimmerians, triggering a Greek exodus.Jewish presence is strongly indicated by words like edom, vayitrotzetzu.In fact Tamil is predominantly Hebrewish in nature and Greek constitutes the remaining part.
The fundamental question arises, what caused the Graeco-Georgians, Cilicians to migrate and how did they join as a group (Hawkins, 2000, p.43).
The most plausible explanation is attributed to the Assyrian invasions during the reign of Sargon II and his successor Sennacherib (715-698).The time window of 696 BC is augmented by the absence of the word Egirisi from Tamil literary texts.Egirisi or Colcheti arose from the ruins of Colchis during the end of Seventh century BC (Murgulia, 2013, p.3).Therefore, the migrating group left the shores of Tarsus before Egirisi was established.Why was the second capital christened as Colchis or Korkai instead of Tarsus or Greek cities is a intriguing question that needs to be answered.
Map of Asia Minor showing the regions of Clicia, Cappadocia, and Colchis.Map courtesy: Andrew Andersen, George Partskhaladze, Putzgers, F.W., Histo-rische Schul-Atlas, Leipzig, 1929 Sargon II captured the Que fort in 715 BC but there is no recorded trail of destruction.Further Sargon II gave Cilicia as gift to Amris king of Tubal for marrying the formers'daughter (Tadmor, 1958, p.4 ).This leads to the obvious choice of Sennacherib conquest as a cause for triggering the exodus from Cappadocia's Tarsus regions (Dalley,p.73)Revolt by Kirua of Illubru turned Sennacherib's attention towards Tarsus and Anchiale.Illubru was formerly called Namrun.Kirua was captured and burnt alive while the city was set on flames (Hawkins, 2000, p.43).However Sennacherib restored the glory of Tarsus from its ruins by building a new city and renamed it Tarsin (Burstein, 1978, p.80).A section of Tarsus, Tubal residents escaped through a sea route and finally landed on the coasts of Tamil Nadu.

Nativity of the Settlers
There is only one piece of documented evidence about the settlers in Sangam Tamil texts and it describes Velir tribes as having their ancestry in Thouri.This has been wrongly interpreted by many historians as the city of Dwaraka in the Gujarat state of India, but actually Thourii refers to the Tubal kingdom.

Puranānūru 201, Poet Kapilar
These verses describe the Velirs who ruled Thourii, as having retained their glory for 49 generations.The joy of the settlers did not last long after the landing on the coasts of Tamil Nadu.They married the native Tamils and created a new kingdom in Tamil Nadu.It was called Kuadam (kua or kapatapuram) and this is a juxtapositioning of Cappadocia and que, Korkai was made the capital of kuadam and illustrates the equal proportions of influence among Graeco-Georgian, Armenian populations.However their joy was short-lived as a deluge swept through the new capital.Sangam text Kalithogai records that the Pandian king went on military conquests to recover the territorial losses due to flooding by sea waves.

Kalithogai-Mullaikkali poem 104:1-4
This is widely acknowledged as the deluge of kapatapuram which forced them to shift to the inward region of present day Madurai.The initial populations perished in this disaster and we can ascertain that Georgians suffered the most out of this natural calamity.This can be inferred from the declining Georgian and emerging Cilician influences afterwards.This catastrophe erased the initial footprints of the settlers like their arrival period, interaction with the native population, ratio of Georgians to Greeks in the settlers.The Submerging of Kuadam forced them to relocate to the inward region of Koodal.There they fought against the local tribal chieftain Aguthai and captured his territory and renamed it as Madurai (media).Chieftain's name aguthai (agathos-ἀγαθός) shows natives assimiliating Greek culture even in remote places.
a) Animal figurine excavated from Kodumanal, Tamil Nadu with Luwian inscriptions.

Discussion and Conclusions
This research article focused on identifying the evolution of Tamil race.Cities having cognate names function as unitary forces between the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Caucasus, Colchis or Korkai remains the foremost among the cities of this kind.Kotravai was a war goddess and was surrounded by wild spirits.Sangam anthologies depicts Murugan as son of kotravai and this concurs with Greek Kourotrophos, the cult figure associated with child rearing (Graf Fritz, 2014).Tamilian tribes such as idaiyar, Paner thudiyar have analogous groups in Greek societies also.Tamil language is a composite of Graeco-Georgian entities.Asomtavruli Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli scripts having identical partners in Vattezhuthu and modern Tamil lends credence to the Eurasian migration theory.This demonstrates the horizontal transfer of sign concepts between nostratic languages.Cappadocia and Cilicia became regions of significance due to being the motherland of the migrants.These Tamils called it Korkai (Georgian-kolkheti) instead of Colchis.From the Georgian side, Colchis represented the mythological saga of Jason & Argonauts.Identical names of cities in these ancient civilizations further proceeds with Pandians, Boe, Muziris & Comarin.Based on this evidence it can be postulated that Graeco-Georgian-Armenian migrations occurred and were triggered by the Assyrian invasions during 715-696 BC Madurai occupied utmost significance due to it being the capital city.It became the final capital of the Pandian Kingdom after earlier shifts due to natural disasters.Madurai is referred to as Mada Madurai due to its ancestral Armenian city Metsamor.Munster's Map of Tabula Asiae (1544 ca) showing the South Indian region of Tamil Nadu and its cities Pandiones, Colchis, and Bati.Photo credit -Barry Ruderman.Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. 7463 Girard Avenue La Jolla, CA 92037 (USA).
Nadukal or Grave Stele in Edattanur, Tiruvannamalai district, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.Inscriptions are in vattezhuthu or Tamil-brahmi script bordered by the fleur-de-lys symbol.(photo courtesy-Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu) regions experienced prolonged periods of turbulence because of the invasions of Assyrians.As Sargon and Sennacherib conquests pushed Cilicia into chaos, the city's residents fled in search of new safer lands.The naming of Tamil kings after Adana and Adiyaman provinces in Anatolia has the stamp of Cilician authority.Tamil kings Anthuvan Cheral and Adiyaman are the prominent names among them.Words like Singam, Kutaisi signify the Georgian ascendency after their arrival in the Tamil state.1) Names of the Kings Nedunkili, Kilivalavan is in congruence with Cilicia 2) Places like Pisiri, Anchiale leave a territorial imprint Settlers called their new established capital as Katputaka in remembrance of their ancestral Cappadocia.Sennacherib's military expeditions in of Cappadocia and Cilicia made the natives flee through a sea route.They probably landed exactly in Indian Tamil state by navigating through the Artic Ocean and not through the Arabian Sea route.Their second capital Kuadam, was an amalgamation of Que and Cappadocia.Further oceanic disturbances forced their relocation interiorly to the city of Mada Madurai.Before the arrival of settlers, Tamils might have been pastoral farmers who underwent overwhelming transformation in all spheres.Being exposed to the rich metallurgical skills of Colchians, military prowess of Greeks, and an advanced Tzanic script made the Tamils a force to reckon with in the South East Asia.
The etymological origin of ancient Tamil words is dominantly Hebrewish.It mostly shares closely related meanings if not the same ones.Khalkotauroi are mythical bull like creatures.Kalkuthirai which means stony horse in Tamil and they have the common feature as four legged creatures.This indeed opens a new dimension for the word kal.Kal means stone in Tamil.It remains closer to its Greek meaning as bronze, due to its sturdiness.Elaia represents the omnipresent olive-tree in Greek, whereas in Tamil, it refers to leaf.Thyia was the naiad nymph of a spring on Mount Parnassos.Tribal women who celebrated Dionysus's orgies were called Thyiades.It also meant sacrificing the nature of that person.Thai in Tamil refers to the all encompassing, compassionate mother.Eilithyia is another word in Greek with thiyai suffix

Table №1 .
Synonyms in phonetically similar words of Greek and Tamil.Two Greek words associated with moral values are shared in the Tamil vocabulary.Agathos (ἀγαθός) which means intrinsic goodness; in Tamil agathe has the closest literary meaning as purity of the inner soul.Arête (ἀρετή) is usually to symbolize a king's moral excellence.Aram in Tamil means righteousness.The greatest striking feature is Adiyaman, the Velir king of the Sangam age.Adiyaman is the Southeastern province in modern Turkey.Adiyaman and Nedunchezhiyan have the Greek words adymos, nedymos as their roots and have the proto indo European roots dhuh 2 mos which means in motion or smoke.The South Indian River Cauvery is derived from the twin Greek gods: Kabeiroi and Cabeiri.They officiated over the rituals in Samothrake Island.Samuthrake has an Colchian anecdote to it, since the Argonauts ship halted there (Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 916 ff).Since the river Cauvery pours into the Indian Ocean, the ocean is called Samuthiram in Tamil.This is in apparent reference to the deities Kabeiroi and Cabeiri residing on the island.Nereus was the elderly god of the sea and its companions.In Tamil, Neer means water and sea is called Muneer in ancient Tamil texts.It is obvious that Tamil neer corresponds to Nereus daughters the Nereids.Nerei in Tamil is used to denote water in its Verb form.The important nymphs of rivers and lakes, Naiades, coincides with the Tamil word for river nadhi.Pegaiai was the nymphs of springs.Poigai is a major spring in Tamil Nadu.They are religiously significant to the Tamils as lord Muruga was born in a natural spring called Saravanapoigai.The word kadal is derived from the Kedalion, the lemnion attendant of Hephaistos.We finally conclude our discussion on linguistic homology by stating that the Tamil alphabets are of Georgian origin while it's vocabulary is derived from Greek language.

Table №2 .
Comparative study of alphabets in Tamil and Georgian scripts.
Patterns of similarity are found between Georgian Asomtravuli and Vattezhuthu.Modern Tamil script shares similarities with Mkhedruli script and Nuskhuri.
. This hypothesis matches accurately with Eusebius version.According to the Eusebius chronicles, Sennacherib vanquished the Greek Ionians in Cilicia."Nowsoon thereafter he received word that the Greeks had come to the land of Cilicia to wage war.[Sennacherib] went there and deployed his troops, brigade by brigade.He triumphed over the enemy, despite the fact that many of his own troops were killed".[9] Alexander [Polyhistor] on the deeds and valor of Sennacherib (Eusebius's Chronicle, The Chaldean Chronicle).