Uttara Kuru

[Erik Seldeslachts]

Dominique.Thillaud wrote:
>
> >Does anyone here have opinions on the location of Uttara Kuru?
> >Please give your proposed boundaries and why you think that
> >way.  I'm interested mainly in theories placing it somewhere near
> >the subcontinent and not in Siberia, the North Pole or the Western
> >hemisphere.
>
> The Uttarakurus are clearly a mythical people (long life,
> happiness, &c.) and searching their exact location would be pointless,...

This is not entirely true. In Greek and Latin sources Uttarakuru is rendered Ottorokora (and
variants). In the Geography of Ptolemy Ottorokora is a city, Ottorokoras is a river and
Ottorokorai a people, all of them situated in the southern part of Serike. Serike, which is
definitely not China as is often thought, included not only extensive parts of Central Asia
including Tibet, but very probably also Assam and adjacent areas.
The Attacori of Pliny might also refer to the Uttarakuru people and are explicitly identified
by him with the Hyperboraeans. His description of their country as a valley secluded by
mountains and enjoying a beneficial climate (like the Hyperboreans) as well as the rest of his
geographical indications seem to me to point in the direction of Assam.


Erik Seldeslachts
Universiteit Gent
Gent, Belgium