Ancient Vishnu Idol found in Russia

sirensongs

Moscow, January 4: An ancient Vishnu idol has been found during excavation in an old village in Russia's Volga region, raising questions about the prevalent view on the origin of ancient Russia.
The idol found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to VII-X century AD. Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovsk region was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so far believed to be the mother of all Russian cities.

full story, From ExpressIndia.com here.

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capt_mahajan

Very interesting.

ranjan154

There must be some traveller who might carried it all the way.. i guess..

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batistuta

Either that or that the Indian civilization had spread to farther regions than previously thought.

aadil

If it was a whole region under Indian influence then there should have been more such idols found in most of the cities but that is not the case here.

Cheers,
Aadil.

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batistuta

Or more regions surrounding this place needs to be excavated?.

Cheers,

Nick-H

Was there any evidence that the excavation was the site of an ancient Kashmiri shop?

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batistuta

seeing that the man who conducted the excavation says that every square inch of the surroundings of the town is filled with antiques it must be quite a big kashmiri shop if evidence is indeed found that there was one .

capt_mahajan

Part of some loot after a Central Asian invasion?
As far as I know, there was not much movement the other way around.

machadinha

I'm not sure if this short article is telling us very much. It's interesting in that quaint sort of way alright. I also have my doubts if the 7th-10th centuries should be considered very "ancient," but I'll admit the term is sufficiently ambiguous.

I'm pretty sure trade between the Far East and Russia and even Scandinavia has been traced to prehistoric times, with artifacts having been found along the route. This Wikipedia article on the silk road (to be taken with all the usual precautions) is interesting in itself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road .

Following up on that, the Volga region in question is served by the Caspian Sea which seems to have been a part of this trail.

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ananda2193

As it's been proven, you can't believe anything you read on Wikipedia. So people should never use it as a source of fact's!!!!

sirensongs

Very true. At least, Wikipedia should be used with a grain of salt.

LOL! Someone bought it at the Kashmiri shop and it was just too heavy to carry farther, or pay luggage fees on....;-)

Yet another scenario: it was planted by the saffronistas in hopes of extending Hinduism's provenance yet further (farther??).

It would be nice to see another, constrasting source for this story; but new things are being discovered all the time and it is just possible that trade and travel did go to places heretofore unknown.

wichy

Some more info - from our Russian sources
The picture of idol (they gave the illustration - but cant say for sure if it's THE founded idol - it looks too good for the thing which was laying about 1000 years in earth) :

Central archeological institute's concluded that the idol was made about 1000 years ago and it's a temple's item - so there should be a temple somewhere near. But it's difficult to search a temple as the idol was found near the ancient village which is under the water now.

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Nick-H

Thank you. it's beautiful...

machadinha

I think my point was that this has exactly been the case, and not at all unknown. The only way the article can make sense is if we are willing to accept that people in "ancient" times (which the middle ages were not) were isolated by definition and bound to national identities that it remains to be seen even existed at the time. I don't.

I provided the usual disclaimer with Wikipedia for good reason, it makes for easier public reference than my personal encyclopedia however. I still suggest reading that article and its further links, plenty food for thought.

I've googled around for the article and possible other sources for it, all I find are copies of it, apparently eagerly distributed on hindutva-type sites as I had figured.

In the light of Russian nationalism and its sometimes funny links to theosophy and the likes I'd be very wary of scholars claiming to have found the "original land of Ancient Rus," with or without the Indian links. In any case and as the good man says, "This is a hypothesis, but a hypothesis, which requires thorough research." I'd be very surprised if we ever hear from the international conference alluded to again, let alone the radically changed viewpoints produced by it in premonition.

btw I'm sure the guy has discovered something, looks more like the usual ill-prepared let's-get-this-to-the-press-now journalistic hastework. Discovering the origins of some primordial Russia (which, just as in the Indian case, I doubt ever existed) would merit more than 7 short paragraphs don't you think.