The language connections of religion and culture.
You say Chist... I say Khristos...

Share This Site Vaishnavite Goddess is called Mahalaxmi in most parts of India, while she is often called Magalaxmi in south India. The consonant H in Mahalaxmi is replaced by consonant G in Magalaxmi when the word travels over to south. Does this mean that the two names are referring to two different Goddesses? No, right? The two names are referring to the same Goddess, even though there is a difference of a consonant between the two words.

But why did H get replaced by G in the south? That is because both H and G are guttural sounds, both are emitted from the throat; both are similarly pronounced sounds.

Siva's son is called Vinayak all over India; but he is called Vinayagar in South India -- G replaces K. The adjective for dumb is Mooka in one state of India, while it is Mooga in another state -- K replaces G. H, G, K -- all three are guttural sounds that often tend to replace each other within words, when those words travel over.

When words travel from one region to another, from one language to another, and from one religion to another, they tend to change. The first is that vowels in the word change, or get added or dropped -- Jesus is called Yuz (Yuz Asaf) in Islamic literature -- the vowel E in Jesus changed to vowel U in Yuz.

The second common change is that suffixes or prefixes are added or dropped -- people named after Krishna are often named as Krishnan in south India -- a suffix N has been added to Krishna to make it Krishnan.

Apart from these two common changes, the most important change that takes place is that consonants are replaced with similarly pronounced sounds when words travel over. When Mahalaxmi traveled over from north of India to its South, it became Magalaxmi; H was replaced by G because both H and G carry similar pronunciations; both are emitted from the throat. You would be surprised to observe how words travel all over the world, from its one corner to another. To check whether two words carrying similar meanings are derived from the same source or not, we need to drop the suffixes or prefixes, ignore the vowel changes between the two words, and then observe and see if the two words have only similarly pronounced consonants.

Consonant batches

There are a large number of consonants out there, but there are only a handful of consonant batches. H,G,K is one consonant batch, consisting of three consonants that often tend to replace each other when words travel over. There are other such batches. If you have a knowledge of these batches, and have knowledge of more than one language or religion, you would be amazed at the connections that can be drawn across regions, languages, or religions.

The word Canon, as in 'Jewish Canon,' is considered by linguists to have been derived from Greek Kanon, meaning measuring stick, measuring rule. Since religious body of literature is nothing but a set of rules or standards, linguists consider that Canon has been derived from Greek Kanon. I beg to differ. Canon has been derived from Indian Sanskrit word Gnan, meaning knowledge, especially the knowledge of the divine. This derivation of the word suits it much better than to equate it with some measuring stick or rule. G gave way to K, a similarly pronounced consonant; and with vowel adjustments, Gnan became Canon (pronounced Kanon). Kanon later gave way to Koran, the divine body of knowledge of Islam -- why ? Because N and R belong to the same consonant batch.

Brahma and Abraham

In Hinduism, Brahma is believed to be the father of the worlds, while his wife Saraswati is belived to be the mother of the worlds. Likewise, in Judaism, Abraham is believed to be the father of the nations, while Sarai is believed to be the mother of the nations. The etymological connection between Abraham and Brahma, and between Sarai and Saraswati, has already been recognized by historians.

The connection does not end there, however. Brahma's second wife Gayatri is portrayed as Keturah, Abraham's second wife, in Jewish Bible. G changed to K, and with vowel adjustments, Gayatri changed to Keturah. Hagar, the handmaiden of Sarai, is the same as the tributary of river Saraswati, the river by name Ghaggar in India! Ghaggar/Hagar -- the resemblance is overwhelming -- it is just that consonant G has been replaced by consonant H when the word traveled over, because H and G belong to same consonant batch. And the relations Hagar/Ghaggar have with Sarai/Saraswati are quite revealing in themselves.

Ghaggar is a tributary to river Saraswati and this relation of being tributary is being described as that of handmaiden. Saraswati is the mighty river and Ghaggar is small tributary to it. Similarly, Sarai is the real mistress holding all the powers while Hagar is just handmaiden under her. Not just these, the entire Hindu pantheon, right to the Vedic Gods, is listed out there, in the most prominent section of the Bible! What is the Hindu pantheon doing in the most prominent section of the Bible?

Christ and Khristos

The word Christ originated from Greek Khristos, meaning 'anointed' (as Savior). And where did Khristos originate from? Linguists are normally silent on this, despite an overwhelming similarity between words Khristos and Krishna, the latter referring to the Savior of Indians.

Given that both Christ and Krishna are considered as crucified saviors by Christ specialists, given that both the words Krishna and Khristos carry the meaning of being Savior, and considering that both are almost similar words, I am surprised that the etymological derivation has not been made until now.

In India, in south, people named after Krishna are very commonly named as Krishtiah, where T replaces consonant N. And people named as Krishna are very often addressed as Krishtiah, Kittiah, Krishta, Kishta, or even Kitta by their friends. Even though a person is named as Krishna, his friends or relatives are often seen addressing him as Krishta. That is because N and T belong to the same consonant batch.

The association between Christ and Krishna does not end there. At the time of Mahabharat war in India, the Supreme God Purusha (Purusha literally means man, God visualized as Cosmic Man) is believed to have incarnated on earth as Narayana (meaning Son of Man) and Nara (meaning eternal pervading spirit). Krishna was believed to be the Narayana and Arjun, Krishna’s devotee, was believed to be the Nara. So it is a trinity of Man, Son of Man, and Eternal Spirit. Alternately, it is the trinity of God, Son of God, and Holy Spirit. The association between Krishna and Christ concepts is so strong that you would wonder on why historians have not seen the etymological connection between Christ and Krishna.

What I have shown here is just the tip of the ice berg. The extent of connection between the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Hindusim, will make you wonder on whether these are all just different names given to the same archetypal religion.

Let me just show another small example before I close out -- that of Shalom, the holy name of God in Judaism. Shalom means, the name of God is peace. This is the same as Shanti OM of Hindus. For Hindus, OM represents the primal vibration of the supreme being, from which the universe emanated, while Shanti means peace. So Shanti OM means, the name of God is peace! Shalom has been derived from Shanti OM because the consonants L, N, T belong to the same consonant batch!

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Source: Excerpts from the book "19000 Years of World History: The Story of Religion" by Prithviraj R. Prithvi’s blog: http://19000years.blogspot.com

Source: Excepts from Prithviraj R's book on history -- 19000 YEARS OF WORLD HISTORY: The Story of Religon. He can be reached at prithvi.book@gmail.com.


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Reader's Comments:

I have a question. Could there be a rlationship between "El" and "Allah" since the consonants are the same? El is a very ancient name for God and Allah is a more recent. Are they the same?

Peter D.


To Peter D:

YES, Arabic Allah and Heberw El are cognate words, there is no question about that, anyone knowledgeable about Semitic languages will confirm this. Some of the identifications made in the article (Abraham/Brahma, etc.) are certainly open to question, but the El/Allah connection is well documented and indisputable.

I had heard the Abraham/Brahma and Sarah/Saraswati theory before, but I discounted it as an odd coincidence. The addition of Hagar as the "tributary" (which I hadn't heard before) does make it seem more likely, though, that there could be something to this.

Dan S.