Africa has many beautiful rivers and one of them is the Gambia as it snakes its way for some 700 miles across the Republic of Senegal towards the Atlantic Ocean and all along this river we find what appears to be many Sanskrit place names.

 

Mansa Kunda, Sese Kunda, Baja Kunda, Yamal Kunda, Sara Kunda, Sankuli Kunda, Kantale Kunda, Kuta Kunda, Koli Kunda, Tanda Kunda, Jonka Kunda, Bara Kunda, Sandala Kunda, Kamyama Kunda, and Saba Kunda, all place names on either side of the river Gambia and all Sanskrit names.

 

And the list continues Mora Kunda, Morta Kunda, Farin Kunda, Foley Kunda, Tomba Kunda, Baro Kunda, Kuoba Kunda, Damfa Kunda, Mane Kunda, Giroba Kunda, Yoro Beri Kunda, Fula Kunda, Kirleh Kunda, Nja Kunda, Sere Kunda, Chau Kunda, Era Kunda, Dubo Kunda and Demba Kunda, all names which appear on either side of the Gambia river.

 

 

Kunda is formed from 'ku' a root from the language of Sanskrit whose original meaning is 'twisted' 'crooked' 'bent' which then becomes 'kunda' whose primordial meaning is 'depression' 'curvature' 'declivity' and which then comes to mean a 'bowl' a 'basin' a 'lake'.

As place names within the lands of India we see kunda expressed as either a 'lake' or a 'hill' as seen within the lakes of 'Radha Kunda' and 'Shyama Kunda' and as can be seen within 'Nagarjuna Konda' whose meaning is the hill ( kunda ) of nagarjuna.

Within the local language of Gambia we find that kunda means 'place' or 'city' and as Gambia is a place of flat topped hills and valleys upon which these towns have sprung its perfectly reasonable to suggest that a 'kunda' once described a high ground or a hill.

 

 

Above we see a section of an 18th century map of the river Gambia which shows Morta Kunda, Yamal Kunda and Mora Kunda and we find that Morta Kunda means the place ( kunda ) of death ( morta ) a place name which possesses the African 'mauti' meaning 'death' which is cognate with both 'mortal' and 'marta' words from Latin and Sanskrit meaning 'death'.

 

Morta Kunda means 'place of death' and as we proceed along the map we encounter 'Yamal Kunda' whose name 'yamal' is a Sanskrit word meaning 'twins' as in 'Yama' the god of death and 'Yami' his sister, and there further along the river in big bold letters is the region of 'Yami'.

 

As well as being the sister of the god of death, Yami, is also the sacred river of India known as the 'Yamuna' and if we look on the map and locate 'Yami' we find directly below it the region of 'Yamina' almost a mirror image of the Sanskrit and Vedic Yamal, Yami and Yamuna.

 

 

As further evidence we see that just below the regions of 'Yami' and 'Yamina' is the river 'Indea' and nearby on the left is the river 'Sanjali' and directly below the river Indea we find the river 'Kalamina' and if that is not Indian, Sanskrit and Vedic, i am not sure what is.

 

Sanjali is a compound from the language of Sanskrit which is formed from the word 'Anjali' whose meaning is to 'join the palms of the hands in reverence' and 'San' whose meaning is 'together' as in one who joins the palms of the hands ( anjali ) together ( san ) in reverence. Its not an ordinary word which is likely to appear by coincidence and it may be describing the river as it joins the river Gambia.

 

Kalamina not only sounds Sanskrit but there is evidence it was once the name of at least one city which could be found within the lands of India and so to find so many names such as Morta, Yamal, Yami, Yamina and nearby the rivers Indea, Kalamina and Sanjali seems beyond the realms of coincidence.

 

Above, a little further along the river as it enters into the Sea we see the region of 'Mansa Kunda' which is just above 'Mora Kunda' on the extreme left and this name is similar to the Sanskrit 'manasa' meaning 'mind' and 'soul' as we find in the sacred lakes of India such as 'Manasa Sarovar' and 'Manasa Ganga'.

 

Mansa is a royal title meaning 'emperor' and 'king' also seen in 'mansab' denoting a position of authority, yet we find no reason why mansa should mean "king". African kings of Ancient times were seen as divine representatives of God and dispensers of law and justice and the Sanskrit 'manasa' meaning 'that which thinks' 'that which is spiritual' and 'that which has mental powers' seems quite appropriate.

 

A speculation of course and one which can only be made accompanied by more evidence, but that is what we actually have where all along the river we find names such as Yamal Kunda, Morta Kunda, Sesa Kunda, Baja Kunda, Sara Kunda, Sankuli Kunda, Tanda Kunda, Bara Kunda, Saba Kunda and Kantale Kunda, all Sanskrit names accompanied by 'kunda' a word from the language of Sanskrit.

 

 

As we travel along the Gambia river observing all these different kundas, many of which are accompanied by obvious Sanskrit words such as Yamal Kunda, Sara Kunda and Kuta Kunda, we travel on through Senegal, through the lands of Mali until we reach Nigeria and the river Niger.

 

As the map above shows, our first encounter is the town of 'Kanika' a word from Sanskrit whose meaning is 'grain' and 'seed' and from there we encounter towns such as 'Balaba' a word from Sanskrit meaning 'strength' and the town of 'Calamana' a word from Sanskrit meaning 'black'.

 

The next town is 'Gangu' which considering the circumstances is most probably named after the sacred river Ganges and to confirm this the very next town is 'Yamina' the very same name we saw upon the river Gambia and considering that the Yamuna and Ganga are both sacred rivers and Yamuna is a tributary of Ganga, its appropriate to consider that these names are related and finally a few stops along the river we encounter the town of 'Kamalia' a word from Sanskrit whose meaning is 'lotus'. 

 

 

As one stands upon the tip of Cape Comorin one observes the vast Indonesian ocean and the Indo/chinese peninsula whose very DNA is formed from the ancient culture of Vedic India and countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bali, Java, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Sumatra all possess a history which was once part of the Ancient Vedic culture.

 

As one observes these lands we should ask if the Ancient culture of Vedic India were incapable of looking to the right. As one considers the blanket Vedic influence to the left of Cape Comorin one must conclude that a similar influence must have taken place to the right.

 

Vedic culture once pervaded Afghanistan and was spread throughout the lands of Iran and the Middle East and on throughout Egypt and the Kingdom of Africa and although its not as obvious, the evidence is there from the Meru of Vedic India to the Meru of Tanzania and the Meroes of Egypt, and from the Nagas of India to the Nagas of Ethiopia and as we have seen the Kundas of India to the Kundas of Africa.

 

 

"That the interior, and remote Africans, have to a great geographical extent, been Hindus, I am, from these premises, disposed to suggest : and I expect, when we shall become better acquainted with those little known regions, to find my view confirmed by the discovery of Hindu remains, in architecture, excavations, sculptures, inscriptions, or some equally unequivocal evidence, in addition to that of names." Oriental Fragments, Edward Moor (1771-1848)

 

"They came ( Ethiopians ) in ancient times from the River Indus, established themselves in Egypt between the Nile and the sea, towards the south, in the equatorial regions." St. Isidore  -  Etymologiarium (IX.2.128)

 

"Of the cursory observations on the Hindus, which it would require volumes to expand and illustrate, this is the result, that they had an immemorial affinity with the old Persians, Ethiopians and Egyptians, the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Tuscans, the Scythians, or Goths, and Celts, the Chinese, Japanese, and Peruvians." Indologist and Sanskritist Sir William Jones - Asiatic Researches, Volume I.