Cakra-varti Rajah

[Bjarte Kaldhol]

Those interested in these and similar speculations might enjoy reading an
article by Gordon Whittaker in GOETTINGER BEITRAEGE ZUR SPRACHWISSENSCHAFT,
Heft 1, Goettingen 1998, entitled "Traces of an Early Indo-European
Language in Southern Mesopotamia". Whittaker attempts to show that the
Sumerians were preceded by an IE people in the area. He connects Sumerian
UMBIN, "wheel", with Sanscrit nabhi-, "navel", and OHG naba-, "wheel hub",
and Sumerian GIGIR(A), "chariot, wagon", with PIE *kwekwlo- and Skt.
cakra-. Some other parallels are:

AB, "sea", Skt. ap-
TEMEN, "foundation, cornerstone", Skt. dha:man-
DIRIG, "glide away", Skt. dhrajati
MAH(A), "great, grand", Skt. maha-
PA(TE), "lord, ruler", Skt. pati-

A similar attempt has been made by Douglas R. Frayne in "Indo-Europeans and
Sumerians: Evidence for their Linguistic Contacts" in BCSMS, 25, 1993.
Frayne relates Sum. TEMEN to Greek temenos and GIGIR to *kwekwlo- and
cakra-.

Best wishes,
Bjarte Kaldhol,
Oslo

----------
> From: Gunthard Mueller <gm at ANTHOSIMPRINT.COM>
> To: INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK
> Subject: Re: Cakra-varti Rajah
> Date: 2. februar 2001 12:24
>
> Dear Dr Iyer,
> afraid I have to disagree with you on your etymology of Indo-European
> *kwe-kwl-o- (unfortunately no way yet to represent the correct IE
> transliteration characters on an HTML list).
> This word is documented in many Indo-European branches far away
> from Mesopotamia. It is generally considered to be of Indo-European
> origin, formed according to a well-known IE system of Ablaut and
> reduplication. The linguistic and areal spread of the word makes the
> IE origins of this word the simplest model, and therefore by ar the most
> acceptable one.
> Further, the use of the wheel, just like other features such as the use
> of horses for human purposes, are cultural features that suit the
> reconstructed nomadic origins of early Indo-European cultures very
> well. This, coupled with the documented spread of artwork including
> wheels and wheel-like abstractions seem to bolster the Indo-European
> reconstruction of this word.
>
> Your link with Sumerian gilgul is fascinating, though, because there
> may well be a link there, i.e. Sumerian taking over this word in an
> early stage of contact with Indo-European nomads. I wonder if some
> comments can be elicited from Sumerian and IE linguists?
>
> Yours,
> Gunthard Mueller
>
> gm at e-ternals.com
>
> Venkatraman Iyer wrote:
>
> > In the Monier-Williams dictionary, Caturvarti is not present.
> >
> > Wheel is gilgul in Sumerian > IE *kwe-kwl-o is said
> > to be related to Vedic cakra. Aryans have also borrowed
> > the term cakra that ultimately goes back to Mesopotamia.
> >
> > Indian use of chakravartin is very late compared to
> > Naram-Sin. See the Jaggayapeta stupa panel of the
> > Cakravarti Rajah at Govt. Museum, Chennai which
> > is usually dated to First century BC. Published,
> > for example, Roy C. Craven, Indian art, Thames
> > & Hudson, p. 76.
> >
> > Best wishes.
> >
> > ------------------
> > Mr. Narayan Joshi wrote:
> >
> > Naram-Sin(2291-2255 BCE) in his reign chose the path of war and, at
> > least for a while, was rewarded by success. To the title of 'King of
> > Agade', he could proudly add those of 'King of the four regions(of
> > the World)'(shar kibrat 'arbem) and 'King of Universe' (shar
> > kishshati). Here the word 'shar' means a king. Is not this title
> > similar to the title of the ancient Indian kings, namely Cakra-varti
> > Rajah or Catur(four)-varti Rajah? It appears that kibret means four
> > (Catur)and kishshati means Universe (Cakra-varti). [snip] Now the
> > Indian title Cakra-varti cannot be Dravidian because to the best of
> > my knowledge sound combination like 'Cr' as in Cakra does not
> > appear in Dravidian. So it appears that the title Cakra-varti was
> > brought to India by Aryans. In that case Dravidians who knew
> > Middle-east countries did not learn anything. It appears that they
> > simply were faceless traders without any kings or titles like
> > Cakra-varti Rajah. Could there be any explanation different from
> > this? Thanks.
> >
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