Ancient Mantras Break Human Speech Patterns in Kerala, South India

I was watching a documentary called The Story of India, hosted by Michael Wood. In the beginning of the documentary, Michael Wood takes us to Kerala, a south Indian region where the first human group to migrate out of east Africa is thought to have settled.

In Kerala, there is an oral tradition of mantras (spiritual incantations) that has been passed down for centuries from father to son in an ancient brahmin clan. Only recently have outsiders been allowed to record and study these mantras.

But scientists were soon baffled by some of the mantras--not only are they in no known language, but there are entire episodes of these mantras that follow no known human speech patterns on earth. They follow certain rules and patterns, but no meaning can be derived from them. According to PV Bhattathiripad, a Kerala Brahmin, these mantras cannot even be written in any printable format. They can only be transmitted orally.

So if they follow no known human speech patterns, then where did they come from? Under scientific analysis, the patterns of these mantras are shown to be closest in resemblance to birdsong; these sounds are so old that they predate human speech.


4:05-6:42

The Dictionary According to Ambrose Bierce

"Dictionary, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic."

- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

Hawaiki

Hawaiki is the mythological homeland to which several Polynesian peoples trace their origins. It is considered a type of Utopia, the homeland of the ancestors. Hawaiki is also the place from which traditional Māoris believe they are born from, and also the place they return to after death. It is referenced in stories, songs, proverbs, and genealogies. Hawaiki has both mystical and real significance; It is revered as part of the Māori cycle of life and death, and it is also believed to be a real island located somewhere in Polynesia, normally indicated towards the east.

Throughout this post, I will use the Māori word “Hawaiki” in my own reference to this legendary place, though the word may vary in different Polynesian languages.

Māoris traditionally welcome a newborn child with this phrase:

“E taku pōtiki, kua puta mai rā koe i te toi i Hawaiki.”
“My child, you are born from the source, which is at Hawaiki."

On the occasion of death, the following is also orated:

“E ngā mate, haere ki Hawaiki,
Ki Hawaiki nui, ki Hawaiki roa, ki Hawaiki pāmamao.”
“To the dead, depart to Hawaiki,
To great Hawaiki, to long Hawaiki, to distant Hawaiki.”

You may read more about the Māori concept of Hawaiki at this website: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/hawaiki. It is a fascinating topic in itself, but I will stay on the topic of linguistics for this post (rather than veer off into cultural anthropology).

I first heard of Hawaiki in a charming New Zealand film called Whale Rider (I recommend watching this movie, which is based on the book by Witi Ihimaera). Because I am from Hawai‛i, this name immediately caught my linguistic attention.

Hawai‛i, the island chain located in the northernmost corner of the Polynesian “triangle,” was actually named after its largest island called Hawai‛i [w is pronounced as v in the Hawaiian language, and the ‛ or “‛okina” represents a glottal stop]. From many trips to Sāmoa during my childhood and teenage years, I had learned that Sāmoa’s largest island is also called Savai‛i (which is a cognate of “Hawai‛i;” many Polynesian words are mutually intelligible despite language differences).

Hawai‛i [Haw.] = Savai‛i [Sam.]—“s” stands in this Samoan word where “h” is in Hawaiian. “w” and “v” are pronounced the same in this case.

The Tongan word “hou'eiki,”meaning “chiefs,” is thought by some to be a cognate of Hawaiki. Some scholars further assert that the words/places Hawai‛i and Savai‛i were originally meant to denote chiefly rank rather than Hawaiki itself.

Hawaiki [Māori; mythilogical place] --> hou'eiki [Tong.; "chiefs"] --> Hawai‛i [actual place]

(Remember, the assertion of a link between Hawaiki and Hou'eiki is not a definite truth, but is at least suspected.)

Therefore (and assuming that the aforementioned assertion is factual),

Hawaiki [Māori] = Hawai’i [Haw.] (distantly)— the ’okina (glottal stop) stands in some Polynesian languages where “k” would stand in others; “w” is pronounced as “w” in Māori and as “v” in Hawaiian, so “w” and “v” sounds also correspond in the same way.

Hawaiki is thought to be related to the Cook Island Māori word for underworld, Awaiki, and thus Hawaiki itself is sometimes thought of as an underworld.

Hawaiki [Māori] = Awaiki [C.I. Māori; “underworld”]

On Easter Island, the Rapa Nui word for Hawaiki was Hiva, and was thought to lie eastward. In the Marquesas, the word “Hiva” denotes the names of several islands: Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa, and Fatu Hiva.

The Hawaiian word for the ancestral homeland is Kahiki. Kahiki is actually a cognate of Tahiti.

Kahiki [Haw.] = Tahiti [Tah.]

What is interesting to note is that Tahiti is sometimes identified as the location of the actual Hawaiki.

A Māori Saying:

“Ehara i te mea poka hōu mai: nō Hawaiki mai anō.”
“It is not a new thing done without proper cause: it has come to us all the way from Hawaiki.”

Thalassa (Θάλασσα)

Thalassa is the Greek word for sea. In Greek mythology, Thalassa was also a sea goddess and the personification of the Mediterranean Sea. She was the daughter of Aether and Hemera, and the mother of Halia and (according to one story) the nine Telchines. She was also sometimes thought of as the mother of Aphrodite, Uranus, and Zeus.



Some linguists suspect a linguistic tie between the Greek goddess Thalassa and the Babylonian/Sumerian Tiamat, a Babylonian sea goddess sometimes referred to as a "chaos monster." The Greek and Babylonian words for "sea" directly correspond to the names of sea goddesses in each respective language and civilization. Thalattē was another Babylonian variant of Tiamat. Thalattē, Thalatta, and Thalath were Greek variants of Thalassa.

Thalassa (gr.) = Thalatta (gr.) = Thalath (gr.) = Thalattē (gr./bab.) = Tiamat (bab.)

These linguistic ties are only theory, however they serve as a very convincing indication of cultural and linguistic cross-over.

Linguists Thorkild Jacobsen and Walter Burket further argue that there is a connection between Tiamat and tâmtu, the Akkadian word for sea. Tâmtu is derived from an earlier version, ti'amtum. Burket further argues for a linguistic connection to Tethys [background info: she was an aquatic goddess who in Greek mythology was considered the mother of major rivers such as the Nile, the Alpheus, the Maeander, and around three thousand daughters called the Oceanids (she was also the sister and wife of Oceanus, daughter of Uranus and Gaia)].

It is often thought that Tiamat and the the Hebrew תהום (tehom), meaning deep or abyss, share a common origin (Ugaritic t-h-m is also thought to be a cognate) The word tehom appears in the Torah/Hebrew Bible in Genesis 1:2:

"veharetz hayta tohu vavohu vekhoshekh al-pnei tehom veruach elohim merakhefet al-pnei hamayyim". "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.". (King James version)

Mesopotamian/Sumerian creation myths speak of a "mixing of waters" in what is now the Persian Gulf, where the mixing of fresh and salt water is a natural phenomenon even today (in these myths Tiamat represents saltwater and Apsu or Abzu represents fresh water). Another creation myth tells of the slaughter of Tiamat by the god Marduk (depicted below).

Koro-- A "Hidden" Language

"Koro belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family, which includes some 400 languages such as Tibetan and Burmese."

Please see the National Geographic video about Koro, a language that until recently was unknown to linguists. With only about 800 speakers left, Koro now ranks among the world's endangered languages.



Please also see:

Faces of Koro Photo-Article:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/photogalleries/101005-hidden-language-koro-india-new-science-pictures/

"Hidden" Language Found in Remote Indian Tribe: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/101005-lost-language-india-science/