Archaic roots of traditional culture of the the Russian North. (Collection of scientific articles). Svetlana Vasilievna Zharnikova
by the great river Sindhu (Don) in a grove located near a mountain and washed by a river. So the descendants of Bharata lived for a long time, settled in a fortress. And when they lived there for a thousand years, the great sage Vasistha visited the descendants of Bharat. And when he lived there for the eighth year, the king himself turned to him: «Be our house priest, for we seek the kingdom.» And Vasistha gave his consent to the descendants of Bharata. Further, we know that he appointed the descendant of Puru the autocratic king over all the ksatriyas (warriors), throughout the earth.
And he again took possession of the capital, which was previously inhabited by Bharat and made all the kings pay him tribute. The powerful lord of the country Ajamidha, having taken possession of the whole earth, then made sacrifices.»
This is what Mahabharata tells about the affairs of days gone by. But when and where did this happen?
The reign of Samvaran refers, according to the chronology adapted in the Mahabharata, to 6.4 thousand BC. Then, after defeat and exile, the people of Samvarana live in the basin of the Don River in the fortress of Ajamidha for a thousand years, up to 5.4 thousand BC. All this millennium in their native lands is dominated by other conquering people and alien’s panchals. But after 5.4thousand BC the kauravas conquer their homeland from the Panchals and again live on it.
It would seem that the veracity of this ancient tradition cannot be confirmed or refuted these days.
But this is what modern archaeological science tells us. L.V. Koltsov writes: «Butovo culture was one of the major cultural manifestations in the Mesolithic of the Volga-Oka interfluve. The localization of the described monuments of Butovo culture in the western part of the Volga-Oka interfluve is noteworthy. The absolute chronology of the early stages of the Butovo culture is determined by the framework from the middle of the 8th millennium BC until the second half of the 7th millennium BC» (this is the time of the reign of King Samvarana – 6400 BC).»
In the second half of the 7th millennium BC another group of the Mesolithic population invades the Volga-Oka interfluve which is located in this region, in its western part, leaving an archaeological culture that we call Yenevsky.
With the advent of aliens, the population of Butovo culture first departs to the east and south of the region. Under the pressure of the Yenev culture, the Butovo population probably split into several isolated groups.
Some of them, apparently, even left the Volga-Oka basin, as evidenced by the facts of the appearance of typically Butov elements in other neighboring regions. Such are the monuments with Butovo elements in the Sukhona basin or the Borovichi site in the Novgorod region.«As for the Jenevites, their origin seems to archaeologists» is not entirely clear“. They note that: „Apparently, somewhere in the second half of the boreal period (6.5 thousand BC), part of the population of the Upper Dnieper moved to the northeast and settled part of the Volga-Oka interfluve, ousting Butovo tribes.
But «the isolation of the Yenevsky population, lack of peaceful contacts with surrounding cultures, ultimately led to a decline in culture and its reverse crowding out by strong Butovites. Thus, at the end of 6 thousand BC «the Late Butov population again begins to «reconquista "– the re-seizure of its original territory».
So, «Yenev culture, hostile to Butovo and having lost touch with the «mother» territory, apparently degenerated which subsequently led to facilitating the movement of Butovites back west and their assimilation of the remnants of the Yenevites. In any case, in the early Neolithic Upper Volga culture, formed in the region in the 5th millennium BC, we almost no longer find elements of the Yeni culture. Butovo elements dominate sharply.
When comparing the text of the epic and the data of archeology, the coincidence of both the chronology of the entire event and its individual episodes is striking. And a logical question arises: whether the descendants of the Puru-paurava are hiding behind the Butovites, and behind the «Yenevites» – their enemies are panchals?
Especially since it’s not strange but over these events time was not dominant.
And today, at the source of the Don (by the river Donets), near the cities of Kimovsk and Epifan, on a hill stands a tiny village retained its ancient name – Ajamki. Maybe someday archaeologists will find here the ruins of the ancient fortress of King Samvarana – Ajamidha.
But in this case, we can assume that the names of other settlements of ancient Aryans have survived to this day.
So at the confluence of the Upa and Plava rivers is the city of Krapivna. But one of the books of Mahabharata tells about the city of Upaplava – the capital of the Matsyev people who lived in the kingdom of Virata. And the word «virata» in Sanskrit means – «bast plant, nettle».
The greatest of the seven sacred cities of the ancient Aryans was the city of Varanasi – the center of learning and the capital of the kingdom of Kashi, which is, «shining.» The epic claims that Varanasi was founded in antiquity, with the grandson of the great-ancestor of the people of Manu, who escaped from the flood. According to the astronomical chronology of Mahabharata, Varanasi as a capital existed already 12 thousand 300 years before our days. Its name is produced either from the word «monitor», which means «forest elephant» (mammoth), or from the name of the rivers Varana and Asi, on which this city stood, or it’s possible that it comes from the combination «vara-nas», which means «our circle (fortress)».
If you look at the banks of the Vorona River, then we will not see such a city there. However, we recall that until the 18th century the present Voronezh River was called the Great Vorona, was navigable and even more full-flowing of the upper Don. Today, the largest city in southern Russia, Voronezh, stands on this river. When it is founded, we do not have any exact data. Voronezh is mentioned both under 1177 and in 1237. It is believed that the fortress of Voronezh was restored in 1586. In the 17—18 centuries the city was wooden, about however, as far back as 1702, there were ruins of some stone structures in its line, called locals «kazarskie». Now in Voronezh there are at least, four ancient Russian fortifications. There are monuments of previous eras. But could Voronezh be ancient Varanasi?
This question should be answered positively.
Firstly, the very name Voronezh is closer to the ancient Aryan Varanasi (Varanashi), than modern Indian Ben-Ares (Ares city), especially since in the 16th century the fortress was called Voronets.
Secondly, the ancient Aryan epic indicates a number of geographical objects in the Varanasi region, absent in India. In addition to the Varana River (Great Vorona), the Asi, Kaveri, and Deval rivers flowed near Varanasi. But near Voronezh itself the rivers Usman, Kaverye, Devitsa still flow. Not far from Varanasi were the Vai-durya reservoir («durya» – a mountain) and the Deva-sabha Mountains («sabha – a hill). But even now, the Bai-Gora (Bai-mountain) river flows in the Voronezh and Lipetsk regions, and the hills south of Voronezh, near the Sosny and Don rivers, are called Devogorye (Devo-hill).
One of the books of Mahabharata speaks of Varanasi as a city in the region of Videha. But the epic country of Videha with the capital Mithila was located at the edge of the seven estuaries of the Ganges (Volga) and thousands of lotus lakes and as Sanskrit commentators thought, had nothing to do with the kingdom of 15 Kasha. (By the way, even now, many lotuses are growing in the Volga delta, and 5—6 thousand years ago, the level of the Caspian Sea was 20 meters lower than the modern one and the Volga delta merged with the deltas of the Terek and Ural rivers into one huge lake region). This apparent contradiction is simply explained.
At Voronezh, the Veduga River flows into Don, by whose name as it appears, and the region of Videha was named.
Near the city of Varanasi as Mahabharata testifies, the city of Khastin was located, which became the capital of the Aryans after the battle of Kurukshetra (Kursk Field) in 3102 BC. And what? Next to Voronezh is the village of Kostenki (a city in the 17th century), famous for its archaeological sites, the oldest of which date