On Identifying Rg Vedic Yakṣu people
Witzel notion of Yakṣus to be Yadus is farfetched.
The word Surālaya had been giving me nightmares, it turned out to be the lost geography of Yakṣu people.
Yakṣu is mentioned, once in the singular and once in the plural, in the hymn of the Rigveda vii. 18, 6. 19 which celebrates Sudās battle with the ten kings. Who they were and what part they played in that conflict is quite uncertain. They seem, from the wording of the text, to have taken part in two conflicts, as Zimmer says — one on the Paruṣṇī (Ravi) dasarajna war, and one on the Yamunā (Jumna) — with the aid of the Ajas and Śigrus, under the leadership of Bḥeda. It is, however, at least possible that in the former passage Yadu should be read for Yakṣu, or, at any rate, Yakṣu be deemed a contemptuous substitute of the name of a possibly un-Āryan or unimportant tribe (as their allies, the Ajas and Śigrus, clearly were) for the name of the certainly famous Yadus, as is suggested by Hopkins.3 Cf. Turvaśa. — Lexicon
There is a mention of Surālaya — The land of Surā — The land of Surā waters in one of the astronomy texts- Laghubhāskarīyam.
लङ्कावत्स्यपुरावन्तीस्थानेश्वरसुरालयान्।अवगाह्य स्त्थिता रेखा देशान्तरविधायिनी॥२३॥लघुभास्करीयम्.
That line which passes through Laṅkā, Vātsyapura, Avantī, Sthāneśvara, Surālaya is known as the International Meridian line. — Laghubhāskarīyam
We find the river named Sura in Russia from which the Volga appears. There is no doubt that the two names viz Sura(Suraa) and Volga (Valgati-leap, spring, bound etc) are originally the Sanskrit words. (Kindly refrain from PIE analysis for these original sanskrit words). Volga is known as Ῥᾶ by Ptolemy Ῥᾶς by Agathemeros, and Raha by Persians. It appears that river Rasa was Volga itself.
There is yet another name Syr Darya, which appears to be a distortion of name Sura itself, some 1800 km away from the River Sura, covering the area of Tajikistan, which originates from Kyrgystan. I have identified the Uttarakuru region with the regions of Issyk Kul
Syr Darya is remebered as Oxus-historically known as the Jaxartes by Greeks. Ptolemy rendered as Jaxartes and Aristobulus in the fuller form Orexartes ( Ar — yaxartes , the river Jaxartes) this being , says Aristobulus , the name given it by the local natives, read here. One can easily identify the Yakshu in Yaxartes. Both the words, Oxus and Yaxartes may have come from the Sanskrit original word Ukṣati- sprinkle or scatter.
Issyk Kul; Issyk-Kol, gives us the original word Ysyk Köl, Ysyk appears to be a distortion of Yakṣu itself.
There thus it appears that the Yakṣus were the people living by the side of Syr darya- river Sura, and they were the real people during the Rg vedic times. They were different from the Yadus who are themselves mentioned in Rg veda distinctly. I thus disqualify lexicon Monier williams and Witzel for identifying Yakṣus used as pun for the Yadus. I identify them belonging from Syr Darya’s any region.
This particular place possibly belongs to Kurus of Uttara-Kuru as well, where the gods live, (Sura=god) and that quest is yet another quest, which is mentioned as Surālaya in Laghubhāskarīyam —Is it just a coincidence that the prime meridian Longitude passes from Issyk Kul lake and Thanesar lake, or did the Rgvedic time people had sense of latitude and longitude?
How old are these Surālaya people, who were they? Did I identify the Yakṣu people correctly?
