The modern history of the Jews begins with their first patriarch Abraham who was married to Sarai, his half sister. The Jews were conquered by the Assyrians in 732 BC. Ten of the twelve tribes were taken captives and exiled. The said tribes disappeared from the face of history and are known in Jewish lore as the “lost tribes”. Attempts have been made down the ages to trace their whereabouts. Modern DNA tests have been done on various peoples including the Afghans and the Kashmiris but with negative results.
There has however been, over a considerable period from colonial times, a theory that the Brahmins in India are the descendants of at least some of the “lost tribes”. There appears to be mounting, and impressive evidence in support of this thesis. Let us have a look.
The “lost tribes” would have to travel around three thousand miles to reach India from Palestine which would take several centuries considering the mode of travel in those early times. Over this considerable distance and time one can easily see “Abraham” mutating to “Brahma” and “Sarai” to “Saraswati”. We all know that the Hindu God ‘Brahma’ is married to ‘Saraswati’. The birth of Saraswati is attributed to Brahma going into meditation and splitting into male and female forms. Brahma then married his other half Saraswati. Abraham it may be noted has married his half sister Sarai.
For the Hindu the demon or anti god is known as ‘asura’. The asuras are shown as harmful persons out to destroy the Hindu and to avoided. This dislike of the ‘asuras’ could be a natural derivative of the fact that the lost tribes of the Jews were captured and exiled by the “Assyrians”. Is it not possible that the ‘asuras’ are the same as the Assyrians who had enslaved the lost tribes ?
The Biblical account of the flood: God gives instructions to Noah to build a waterproof vessel that would house his immediate family, along with a sample of animal life. The vessel is an ark made of gopher wood covered in pitch inside and outside. The ark was to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, and have an opening for daylight near the top, an entrance on its side, and three decks. God told Noah that he, his sons, his wife, his sons’ wives, and two of each kind of beast — male and female — would survive in the Ark. After the flood, the Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
Puranic Account : “It was then that He (Lord Matsya), revealing Himself, informed the King of an all-destructive deluge which would be coming very soon. The King built a huge boat which housed his family, 9 types of seeds, and animals to repopulate the earth, after the deluge would end and the oceans and seas would recede. At the time of deluge, Vishnu appeared as a horned fish and Shesha appeared as a rope, with which Vaivasvata Manu fastened the boat to horn of the fish. His boat was perched after the deluge on the top of the Malaya Mountains.”
Is it difficult to believe that the Biblical and the Puranic floods are the same events and Noah and Manu are the same persons ?
The Jews are a community that are scattered all over the world. One thing that stands out about them is that no matter what the circumstances, the Jews always prosper and thrive something which is disliked by native communities. The Jewish success in business and intellectual activities is greatly disproportionate to their numerical strength. Consequently, the Jews have come to be hated throughout history and are blamed for various ills. And precisely the same thing happens in respect of the Brahmins in India who attract the same sort of public distaste and for the same reasons.
The Jews are described in the Bible as God’s chosen people and something that the Jews believe strongly and have over several millennium, maintained their separate identity. The Brahmins likewise have always claimed to be God’s chosen people and other Hindus can approach God only through the Brahmins. The similarity cannot be just incidental but indicative of the common descent of the Jews and the Brahmins.
The devotion of the Hindu to the cow is too well known to need elucidation here. However what is not well known is the worship of the cow by the ancient Jews. I quote, {1 Kings 12:28-33 New International Version (NIV)}.
“After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.”
We all know that when Moses descended from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments he found the Jews worshipping the golden calf. Why should the Jews and the Brahmins who are separated by thousands of miles of land worship the same Gods unless there is a link between them ?
A detailed study of the common links between the Jews and the Brahmins was made by Prof.Madan Mohan Shukla and published in the Vishveshvaranand Indological Journal in 1976.
Prof.Shukla notes, the similarities in customs between the two communities:
"It may also be mentioned here that like a devout Jew, a devout Hindu is also required to pray three times a day, morning, afternoon and evening (traikalika-sandhya).
Here it is worthwhile to note: (a) Though turned largely vegetarians now, the Brahmins of India present almost similar scenes of eating hastily in their religious and ritual grand-feasts.
(b) Like Hebrews, the Hindu womenfolk also sit in seclusion to eat their share in their public feasts.
(c) There is a strong case to suspect or speculate that either the Hebrews really belong to a branch of Vedic Aryans, or that they had been in direct touch with the latter at some remote and unrecorded period of their history.
Here it is worthwhile to note: (a) Though turned largely vegetarians now, the Brahmins of India present almost similar scenes of eating hastily in their religious and ritual grand-feasts.
(b) Like Hebrews, the Hindu womenfolk also sit in seclusion to eat their share in their public feasts.
(c) There is a strong case to suspect or speculate that either the Hebrews really belong to a branch of Vedic Aryans, or that they had been in direct touch with the latter at some remote and unrecorded period of their history.
The Gaud Saraswat Brahmins in Goa have always claimed that they are not natives to the soil but arrived here from the banks of the river Saraswati, the actual location of which is a matter of dispute. But the fact remains that the Saraswats are migrants. Were they originally one of the ‘lost tribes’ ? All these questions may be answered with some degree of certainty through DNA testing. And there is a strong case for such a test.
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