RAMAYANA TATTOOS

History shows there was extensive contact between Greece and kannada country. The Contacts between Present Maharastra (then kannada country) and Greece is well documented. Let us see the present Karnataka and Greece contacts.

Aritophanes and Euripides (4th century BC)

The Great Greek dramatists of the 4th century BC., particularly Euripides and Aristophanes, appear to have been familiar with the Kannada country and the Kannada language, and had actually used Kannada phrases and expressions in the dialogues of their characters along with Persian and Punic. This shows a far more intimate contact of the Greeks with Kannada culture than with Indian Culture elsewhere.

Alexandria (Egypt) (3rd century BC)

Mr. Doddarange Gowda claimed Kannada word “Ooralli” (which means in a village) written on a huge wall constructed in Alexandria by ancient Greek ruler Alexander the Great in third century BC. “The Kannada word ‘Ooralli’ is part of the remnants of 36,000 palm manuscripts that had been burnt in an accidental fire during Alexander’s time. When the accidental fire destroyed much of the palm manuscripts, Alexander ordered his commanders to erect a huge wall so that the remnants can be magnified and reproduced on it. The palm manuscripts contained texts written not only in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, but also Sanskrit and Kannada.

Ptolemy (150 AD)

A Greek Geographer Ptolemy mentions in his work places such as Badiamaioi(Badami), Inde(indi), Kalligeris(kalkeri), Modogoulla(mudagal), Petrigala (Pattadakal),Hippokoura(Huvina Hipparagi), Nagarouris(Nagur), Tabaso (Tavasi), Tiripangalida (Gadahinglai),Soubouttou or Sabatha(Savadi), Banaouase(Banavasi), Thogorum ( Tagara), Biathana (Paithan), Sirimalaga (Malkhed) , Aloe (Ellapur) and Pasage (Palasige) showing prosperous trade between Egypt , Europe and Karanaka. And also mentions Pounnata (punnata) and refers to beryls ie.the vaidurya gems of that country. He Mentions Malippala ( Malpe) sea coastal town of Karnataka. He also mentions Larika and Kandaloi , identified as Rastrika and Kuntala. The Peripelus states that the Egyptians exported woollen and linen cloth , wine and bullion to India and inturn received spices ,gems silk, pepper, Ivory, cotton , betel and tortoise shell.

Ptolemy states that in the midst of the false mouth and the Barios , there is a city called Maganur (Mangalore). Ptolemy speaks of Inland centres of pirates called Oloikhora (Alavakheda). He mentions Ariake sadinon meaning aryaka satakarni and Baithana as capital of siro(e) P(t)olmaios , ie Sri pulimey clearly indicates his knowledge of satavahana kings. The word Pulimey means one with body of Tiger in Kannada bears to the testimony of kannada origin of Satavahana kings.

Pliny ( 23AD)

Pliny talks about pirates between Muzaris and Nitrias(Netravati River). He also mentions Barace (Barcelore).

Charition Mime(150 AD)

In 1899 extensive excavations were carried out at oxyrhynchus in Egypt at the Instance of Biblical archaeological association to further biblical research. Excavations revealed a large collection of ancient Manuscripts inscribed on strips of Papyrus. Selected Papyri was published in Five Volumes. The Third Volume, Literary PapyriL Poetry, contains texts translated by D.L Page with Exhaustive notes. In this volume is a play described as a low sort of music-hall performance by an anonymous writer. The title of the play is charition and It is ascribed to the late 1^st to early 2^nd century AD. The plot occurs on the coast of a barbarian country (Karnataka) on the Indian Ocean. The Play contains some lines in a Barbaric (Kannada) Language. Hultzch(1904) Identified the Language to be Kannada. Dr. Sama Shastri(1926) gave translation of the Passages. Barnett and Dr.Keith said the the chief source of amusement are the humour of clown and gibberish of the savages and the ancient audience would not have understand a syllable. B.A Saletore with Pandit K.B. Ramakrishnayya translated the Gibberish to English and proved that they are infact Kannada. P. S . Rai Claimed that they are Tulu. However Saletore explanation of the locale of the story and Dr. Shastri analysis of Language proved that it is Kannada. The point to be noted is that any nonsense gibberish could have been passed by the author as the language being spoken by chiefs , but he sticks to the words from Kannada, which shows that the audience knowledge of kannada was good and he cant just bluff. There should have been large population of kannada speaking people or the local population should have knowledge of kannada, either case shows the extend of influence of kannada in the region.

Story

Beautiful young girl called charition was kidnapped and sold to Nayaka as flute girl in coastal Karnataka. The nayaka dedicated her to temple of Moon God Situated near Malpe. Her brother Dionysis rescued her giving wine to the nayaka and his party ,and rescued the girl when he was drunk. Which escaping the clown who came along with rescuers advised her to steal some of the valuables made to the goddess but refuses to do so citing devotion to the diety. The Kannada passages appear while the clown is with the nayakas (chiefs) serving wine.

Labels: Alexandria, Aristophanes, Charition, Euripides, Greece, Papyrus, Pliny, Ptolemy