Ancient Tamizh places in Pakistan and Afghanistan - Part 1 !!

Tamizh places in Pakistan and Afghanistan - Part 1 !!!

            Early Pandya kings of tamizhakam were the First rulers of Akand Bharat. The term Bharath was coined after them. Pandya kings had strong naval force, excellent sea explorers and expanded their kingdom to Greece in the West and Australia in the East. 

        Pandya kings had also ruled the North western regions of Akand Bharat, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria etc. In my previous posts, I have explained about Tamil civilization in Iran, Turkey, Syria. In this post, I will explain about the ancient tamil places in Pakistan and Afghanistan, that are not mentioned in the History of Akand Bharat. 

        

            There are many places in Pakistan and Afghanistan that were named in Tamizh, especially the places near the Sindhu / Indus River. Tamizh people were believed to be the first one to live near Indus Valley, Mohenja Daro, Harappa, Lothal, Rakhigarhi, Dholavira, Chanhu Daro, Bhagatrav and Mehrgarh. There are some places near Luni River in Rajasthan that were also named after Tamizh kings and places.

In this post, I will cover some of those ancient tamil places with appropriate references.

1. Quetta:

        There is a place in Pakistan called 'Quetta'. Quetta is derived from the tamil word 'Kotai', which means fortress. In ancient times, there was a big fort for King in that place and hence named that place as 'Raja Kotai'. The word Kotai is transformed to 'Kota' and then 'Quetta', a pashto word. 

       

             In TamilNadu, there are many places which were named using the word 'Kotai' and it's still in use.

Example:  Malai Kottai - means Rock fort, which is an ancient rock temple situated in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu.

        Likewise, there are many places in Pakistan which are named using this word  'Kota', such as 

1. Kot Diji Fort, which is at the edge of Thar desert and it's a pre Harappan civilization site.  

2. Kandhkot near Indus River, 

3. Rani kot etc

4. Kotai Kili

Quetta and Kot Diji are an ancient sites of Indus Valley civilisation. I have already published a post about Tamil civilization in Sindhu, that is Pre - Indus valley civilization. Reach out to the post below, for more information about tamils in Indus region,

https://divinediyaas.blogspot.com/2020/12/kumari-kandam-part-5-pre-indus-valley.html

2. Kotai Kili:

        Kotai Kili - this place is located near Tochi river in Pakistan, which is named in tamil. Kotai kili is a proper tamil word. Why these places has to be named in tamil, if there are no tamil civilization over there ??

In Tamil,

Kotai - means fort

Kili - means Parrot

        None of the history books and facts talks about Tamil civilization in Asian countries. But, this blog will reveal the list of regions ruled by kings of ancient Tamizhakam and Akand Bharath with proper references.. 

Agricultural places in Pakistan that are named in Tamil

         In Tamil Nadu, Kaveri river's delta region is called as Thanjavur / Thanjai. It is also called as Rice Bowl of Tamil Nadu. Tamil kings have named many places in Pakistan, in the same name (in tamil). 

Check the below picture for reference.....

In the above picture, 

3. Tajori: 

        

            Tajori - This name is derived from Thanjavur / Thanjai, rice bowl of TamilNadu. Tajori is situated in a delta region. Once upon a time, it was fertile land and flourished in agriculture. Like shown in the above picture, Thanjavur in Tamilnadu is also a Delta region and it's famous for Paddy farming. 

4. Kotkai: 

        Kotkai - is derived from Korkai. Korkai is an ancient and important port of Pandya kings. 

5. Mullazai:

         Mullazai - is derived from Mullai. Mullazai is also a group of tribal people in Pakistan, who resides in Balochistan province. 

How it is connected to Tamil ?

    Mullai - is a type of landscape mentioned in tamil sangam literature. Mullai - refers to forest regions landscape. Where is the forest in Pakistan ?

            Juniper forest is the Oldest forest of Pakistan and it's located in Balochistan province. Hence, as per Tamil sangam literature, the forest people of that region were called as Mullazai people and thus those tribal people were named after the landscape.

        

There are many such places in Pakistan which are named in Tamil. continue to read, to know more about the hidden history of Tamils....

6. Kokarai:

        Kokarai is a place in Pakistan. It is a proper tamil word. In Tamil,  it is spilt into , Ko + Karai

In Tamil, 

Ko - means King / God / tall / height. Here, it means landscape on a tall place.

Karai - means shore / land. 

7. Parrai:

    In Tamil, Parai - means drum. Those who beat drums and announce were called as Paraiyar, a caste / group in Tamil Nadu. 

        In the above picture, the instrument that the men are holding in their hands is called 'Parrai'.

    A type of fish which are abundantly available in this area is called as 'Parrai' fish.

8. Mehgarh:

        Mehgarh is one of the ancient site in Pakistan and it was also called as 'Pantinadu' (Pandi Nadu - meaning 'Pandya' country) during ancient times. This site is situated near place called Sibi.  

        A village called as 'Sangan' falls under Sibi district of Pakistan and Shewan place in Pakistan is earlier known as 'Sibistan'.

Sibistan - is named after Tamil King Sibi / Sembiyan. 

        King Sibi's full name is Sembiya Cholan, who have hailed from the solar race (Surya Vamsam) and also he had ruled North Western sides of Akand Bharat after defeating early Pandyas, who resided there. This has happened before the time period of Birth of Lord Rama (i.e) before the beginning of Treta Yuga. This proves that Pandyas had established their presence in Pakistan and Afghanistan before the arrival of King Sibi Chola Chakravati.

    
        Mehgarh which is near to Sibi was also under the control of King Sibi. Historical evidences suggests that Mehgarh were civilized 3000 years before the Indus valley civilization. Thus, Mehgarh is dated as 7000 BCE. Mehgarh was one of the far advanced civilization than history of Turkey and Egypt.  Mehgarh lies on the Kacchi plains of Balochistan, Pakistan, where the ethnic Brahui people lives. 

[Note: 

    Brahui tribe people are dravidian people who speak Brahui language which is a proto - dravidian language. It is none other than the early tamil language called as 'Tamili' / 'Damili'. 

    Tamil is the mother of all dravidian languages. There are many similarities between both the languages and does contain same meaing words in both the languages..]

     Mehrgarh is supposedly the most sophisticated, well developed, ingenuous and best planned ancient place of ancient India.

        There are mud brick houses and also granaries have been found. This is also closely related to Tamil culture according to ancient sangam literature (10000 BC).They also had cattle comprising of goats and sheep. They also had the techniques for fishing. Tamils were also good at these things according to Ancient Sangam Literature (10000 BC).

    The first use of cotton in the history of mankind has been found at Mehrgarh. It leaves archaeologists stunned that Mehrgarh natives also knew Fabric Weaving. Tamils were the one of the earliest exponents of use of cotton and Fabric Weaving.

What is the meaning of Karachi ?

 The root word of Karachi , 'Karai' is a tamil word - meaning sea shore. Many places in Tamilnadu is been named with 'Karai' as suffix. Example : Neelang Karai, Keela Karai etc....

Check Mt Kharchanai in the below picture, What is the meaning of Kharchanai ?

In Tamil, Kharchanai - means roaring. Kharchanai is a proper tamizh word.

What is Ghalanai that is circled in the above picture ?

    Truths behind Ghalanai and more tamil places in Pakistan and Afghanistan will be covered in next part...

- Aarthi Thiyagarajan