Did Krishna lead the Yadavas from Indus Valley to Yisrael?

Krishna| Yadavas| Indus Valley| Yisrael| Israel:

Arjuna came to Dwarka after he came to know that the Yadavas had been
destroyed at Prabhasa. At this time Vasudeva said to him:
Your friend [Krishna] spoke to me as follows after sons, grandsons, brothers and friends were killed by
each other: “I will live… in some pure place and following the rules will wait for my end.” Krishna has
left towards an unknown direction after leaving me with the children.i

The texts do not tell what this “unknown direction” could be. Our hypothesis
available at www.commonprophets.com is that Krishna was the same person
as Moses. Moses had led the Hebrews to Yisrael out of a place named
“Mitsrayim” to Yisrael. We show that “Mitsrayim” could be the Biblical name
for the Indus Valley. Thus Krishna leaving in an unknown direction could be the
same as Moses leading the Exodus from the Indus Valley. In this post we show
that the Biblical descriptions of the Exodus match more with Moses having led
the Exodus from Indus Valley. We examine the evidences provided by James K.
Hoffmeier.ii Hoffmeier admits that “despite over a century of archaeological
excavations in Egypt, proof of the dramatic Exodus has not been found.”
However, he adduces various secondary evidences to conclude that the
“Biblical description of entry into Egypt, the enslavement and the Exodus are
all plausible.”
I provide another possibility. The Exodus happened from the Indus Valley
where corroborating archaeological evidence is available. This suggestion is
part of a larger hypothesis that Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses all lived in
the Indus Valley and Moses led the Exodus from here to Yisrael. Details of this
hypothesis are available on my website.iii In this article we restrict ourselves to
a comparative assessment of the beginnings of the Exodus from the Indus
Valley.

Semites in Egypt| Slavery| Oppression| Yaduhi| Yadavas| Joseph|

Shatrughna| Pharaoh| Kamsa| Mitsrayim| Mathura:
Hoffmeier shows that “Asiatics (‘amu),” Bedouins, or “Apiru/Habiru” had come
down to Egypt (Page 6-7). He says these could be the Semites. In order to place
this evidence in perspective we may recapitulate the relevant Biblical
narrative. The Pharaoh had put Joseph in authority over all the land of Egypt
(Genesis 41:41). Subsequently Jacob migrated from Shechem to Mitsrayim.
Then a new tyrannous king came to power over Egypt (Exodus 1:8). He put
foremen over the Hebrews to oppress them with hard labour (Exodus 1:11). At
this time Moses was born (Exodus 2:2). Thus, the Hebrews were oppressed
only, say, for a generation before Moses was born. Till that time the Hebrews
were comfortable in Egypt: “We remember the fish we used to eat freely in
Mitsrayim, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic
(Numbers 11:5). The narrative indicates that the Hebrews were comfortable in
Mitsrayim from the time of Joseph until about a generation before Moses.
They began to be oppressed just before Moses was born.
The evidence presented by Hoffmeier tells of foreigners entering Egypt at
various times in the second millennium BCE. He tells of a long period of
slavery:
1457-1425 BCE: Egyptian taskmasters are shown with sticks, supervising foreign worker
making mud bricks… (Page 8).
1275 BCE: (An) officer… complains that… “there are no men to make bricks nor straw in
the neighbourhood” (Page 8).
Late Egyptian: Another papyrus reports that “the ‘Apiru… are dragging stone to the great
pylon of [///]” for the construction of a palace (Page 9).
New Kingdom: Studies… reveal… that foreigners, typically POWs, are depicted herding
cattle and doing various types of field work” (Page 9).
These descriptions tell of foreigners being oppressed at various times during
the second millennium BCE. The Biblical narrative, on the other hand, tells of
only a short period of oppression beginning with the “new king” coming to
power.
Now we discuss the Hindu narrative. Our suggestion is that Moses was known
as Krishna to the Hindus. He was born at a place named Mathura. We suggest
this could be the Biblical Mitsrayim. The two names have common consonants
“M,” “t,” and “r.” We give below the four periods of rulers at Mathura along
with their possible Biblical equivalents.
Period 1: Mathura was ruled by a demon named Madhu. This could be
equivalent to the Pharaoh who ruled Mitsrayim before the entry of Joseph.
Period 2: Shatrughna conquered the land of Mathura.iv Shatrughna could be
the same person as Joseph who entered and ruled over Mitsrayim in the
Biblical narrative.
Period 3: The line of Shatrughna became extinct. Then Mathura was ruled by
Surasena and Ugrasena who belonged to the Yadava clan. These may be the
descendants of Jacob who lived in Mitsrayim. The Jews are also known as
Yahudi.v The names Yahudi and Yadava have common sounds “Ya” and “d.”
This could be the Biblical period till the “new king” came to power in Mitsrayim
(Exodus 1:8).
Period 4: Kamsa, the son of Ugrasena, usurped the throne by imprisoning his
father.vi He was tyrannous towards the Yadavas. Kamsa could correspond to
the Biblical “new king.”
The Hindu narrative matches with the Biblical narrative. It tells of a short
period of oppression whereas the evidence from Egypt adduced by Hoffmeier
above tells of a long period of oppression of foreign slaves.
A possible contradiction in these equivalents is that the Hindu narrative tells of
the Pharaoh and the “new king” coming from the same clan of Yadavas in
which Moses was born. Bible is silent on the lineage of the Pharaoh hence we
cannot dismiss this possibility.

Bricks| Straw| Mud Bricks| Baked Bricks:

Hoffmeier provides the quote given above from an officer from the Ramesside
period saying “there are no men to make bricks nor straw in the
neighbourhood” (Page 8). We now make a comparative assessment whether
the Biblical narrative matches with Egypt or the Indus Valley on this point.
Straw is used as a binding substance in the making of mud bricks and as fuel in
making baked bricks. The Biblical Archaeology Society Staff says that only 0.6
per cent straw by weight is added as a binder in making mud bricks.vii In
comparison, my discussions with brick kiln owners in India indicate that about
one-half of the cost of production of making baked bricks consists of straw.
Figure 1 gives picture of baked brick from Chanhu Daro. Error! Reference
source not found. gives picture of baked bricks being made with straw in the
State of Rajasthan in India.

Mud bricks made in Egypt “rarely added straw temper,” and baked bricks were
used only sparingly.viii In comparison, baked bricks were the main construction
material in the Indus Valley, including at the site of Chanhu Daro, which we
suggest was the Biblical Mitsrayim.ix The conflict over collection of straw is,
therefore, more likely to have happened in the Indus Valley. The baked bricks
made here required large amounts of straw.

Place names| Mitsrayim| Mathura| Rameses| Rameshwar| Succoth|

Sukkur:
Hoffmeier tells of certain Egyptian place names that are similar to the place
names mentioned in the Bible:
Ramesses: Pi-Ramesses, capital of Egypt during the 13th–12th centuries.
Goshen: Egypt’s north-eastern Delta.
Hoffmeier does not discuss the Biblical name for Egypt: “Mitsrayim.” We
supplement these suggestions with those given by David A. Falk:
Etham = pr-tm
Pi-Hahiroth = pr-ḥwt-ḥrt
 Baˁal Zephon = bˁr-ḏȜpn
Migdol = mˁktir
Yam suf = ṯwfyx
Now we make a comparative assessment of finding of these names in Egypt
and the Indus Valley. The place named “Mitsrayim” is mentioned in the
narratives of Abraham, Jacob and Moses and multiple times in the latter two
narratives. This name does not appear to be attested in ancient Egypt. Those
people called themselves “Kmt” through the 14th century BCE.xi In comparison
“Mathura” is mentioned in the Hindu narratives of Shatrughna, Surasena,
Ugrasena, Kamsa and Krishna.
The land of Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, lay near Mitsrayim according to
the Bible. Hoffmeier assumes this refers to the north-eastern delta of Egypt
without adducing any evidence from parallel Egyptian names. In comparison
we find the name “Gokul” in the Hindu narrative. The clan of Yadavas lived at
Gokul. The names Goshen and Gokul begin with the common root “go,” which
means cow in Sanskrit.xii Both the Hebrews and the Yadavas practiced the
profession of cattle rearing. We recognize that this parallel to the name is
weak since it is based on the single common consonant “G.”
“Rameses” is mentioned in the narratives of Jacob as well as Moses. The name
“Pi-Ramesses” is attested in Egypt while the name “Rameshwar” is attested in
the Hindu texts.xiii All the three names carry the consonants “R,” “m” and “s.”
Succoth is mentioned in the narratives of Jacob as well as Moses. David A Falk
suggests this could be mentioned in the Egyptian texts as “tkw.” We do not
know of a similar place name in the Hindu texts. However, we do find a place
named “Sukkur” in the Indus Valley. We do also not find parallel Hindu names
for the following places mentioned by Falk: Etham, Pi-Hahiroth, Baal Zephon,
Migdol and Yam suf.
Now we make a comparative assessment of the parallels of names between
the Bible; and Egyptian and Hindu literatures in the Table below.
We have placed five names at the fifth row together since they are found in
the single narrative of Moses. All other place names are found in multiple
narratives in the Bible. We find that the names “Mitsrayim” and “Goshen” find
parallels in the Hindu narrative while the names “Etham, Pi-Hahiroth, Baal
Zephon, Migdol, Yam suf” find parallels in Egypt. This suggests that the
parallels are evenly poised.

Summary: Secondary Evidence:

We now summarize the three secondary evidences put forth by Hoffmeier. The
Bible tells of a short period of oppression of the Hebrews in Mitsrayim. The
evidence from Egypt tells of a long period of oppression of foreign workers
while the Hindu narrative tells of only one generation of oppression at the time
of Krishna. The Bible tells of conflict over collection of straw in Mitsrayim. The
main construction material in Egypt was mud bricks requiring less than one
percent straw. The main construction material in the Indus Valley was baked
bricks that involves about 50 percent cost in straw. The parallels to place
names are evenly poised between Egypt and Indus Valley. Thus, on secondary
evidences, the Indus Valley is a stronger candidate for locating Mitsrayim.

Primary Evidence| Mitsrayim in the Indus Valley| Stagnant River|

Chanhu Daro| Krishna:
Hoffmeier says that primary evidence for the Exodus has not been found from
Egypt. The question is what would constitute of primary evidence? We suggest
that this could constitute of:
1 Geography: Whether a stagnant river as indicated in the first plague
is found here?xiv
 2 Archaeology: Whether the place was inhabited at the time of the
Exodus?xv
3 Life Events: Do we have a person who lived at the same time, and has
events similar to those of Moses?

Geography| Stagnant River| Yamuna| Hakra

The first plague brought by Moses upon Mitsrayim is usually understood as the
water of the river having become “blood.” It is difficult to believe that water
may have turned into blood. An alternative meaning of the Hebrew word
“dam,” used for “blood,” is “silent or still.”xvi The fact that the water became
stagnant suggest that it was flowing earlier.
Egypt is dominated by the Nile River. To the best of our knowledge the Nile
could not have become stagnant.
We suggest that Mitsrayim could be located at the site of Chanhu Daro on the
west bank of the now-dry Hakra River as shown in Error! Reference source not
found.. This river is known

as Yamuna in her upper reaches. Error! Reference source not

found. shows that the Yamuna River migrated eastward in the second
millennium BCE.xvii This could have led to a reduced flow in the downstream
Hakra River. The Hakra may have turned into a series of stagnant ponds at
Chanhu Daro. That may be the situation described in the Bible that the water
became stagnant.

Archaeology| Time of Habitation:

Egypt was habited at the time of Moses c. 1500 BCE. The habitation at Chanhu
Daro began at c. 2500 BCE and ended at c. 1500 BCE.xviii The habitation was
“massive” though declining at c. 1500 BCE.xix

Life Events| Tyrannous King| Basket on River| Plagues| Ill-

omens| Killings:
In this section we show that time and events relating to Krishna are similar to
those of Moses. The Open Bible says that the Exodus took place at 1445 BCE.xx
Moses was 80 years old at this time.xxi Therefore, we place his birth at 1525
BCE.
A large number of astrologers have suggested various dates for Krishna based
on planetary positions given in the texts. The work of S B Roy stands out
among these. He has developed a continuous chronology from Vaivaswat
Manu to Krishna. He has placed the birth of Krishna between 1445 and 1124
BCE.xxii Thus the time of Moses matches with the time of Krishna.
Their life events run parallel. The narrative of Moses begins to unfold with a
new king coming to power in Mitsrayim. The new king was tyrannous towards
the Hebrews and embittered their lives with hard work.xxiii Scholars have
suggested that the phrase “new king” indicates the beginning of a new era or a
“radically changed situation.”xxiv The Hindu narrative says that the effective
power in the Kingdom of Mathura at the time of King Ugrasena was vested in a
Council of Elders.xxv Kamsa imprisoned Ugrasena and became the King
himself.xxvi Then Kamsa started “destroying” the Yadavas.xxvii Kamsa could be
the “new king” mentioned in the Bible.
The Pharaoh ordered the Mitsrite midwives to kill all the newborn sons of the
Hebrews at Goshen.xxviii Kamsa ordered demoness Putna to do the same. She
“used to roam in the villages and settlements of the cowherds to kill the male
children.”xxix
The Bible says that his mother was not able to hide baby Moses from the
Mitsrites. She put him in a basket and laid the basket by the bank of the River
of Mitsrayim.xxx The Pharaoh’s daughter recovered the basket. She gave Moses
to her biological mother to bring him up.xxxi Krishna as likewise born in a jail
with Kamsa wanting to kill him. However, his father Vasudeva managed to
come out of the prison and carried infant Krishna in a basket placed above his
head across the swirling waters of River Yamuna.xxxii Nanda and Yashoda
brought up Krishna at Gokul as his foster parents.xxxiii
Moses joined the Pharaoh’s household after becoming an adult. Similarly
Krishna was summoned to Mathura by Kamsa after he became an adult.xxxiv
Moses killed a Mitsrite who was beating a Hebrew. Similarly Krishna killed
Kamsa who was tyrannizing the Yadavas.xxxv
Moses left for Midian and joined the household of Jethro the Priest after killing
the Mitsrite. Similarly Krishna left to study under Sage Sandipani at Avantipur
after killing Kamsa.xxxvi
Moses went from Rameses to Mitsrayim and asked the Pharaoh to release the
Hebrews from bondage. The Pharaoh, however, refused. Then Moses brought
ten plagues from God onto Mitsrayim. Finally the Pharaoh gave permission to
the Hebrews to leave. Moses then returned to Rameses and led the Hebrews
to Yisrael. In a parallel narrative, the Hindu texts tell of “ill omens” appearing at
Dwarka and Krishna leading the Yadavas away from the city.
The Hebrew were encamped at Mount Sinai. Moses went atop the mountain
to worship and delayed coming down. At this time his brother Aaron molded a
calf of gold and the Hebrews began to dance around it. Moses was angered
when he returned and saw the calf and the dancing.xxxvii He took the calf, burnt
it in a fire, ground it to powder, mixed the power in water and made the
Hebrews drink it.xxxviii Then Moses said to them:
Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp,
and let every man kill his brother, kill his companion, and every man his neighbour. xxxix

The Hindu narrative tells that the sages pronounced a curse that a particular
iron pestle would lead to the destruction of the Yadava clan. The Yadavas
ground the pestle to powder and dispersed the powder into the sea.xl They left
Dwarka soon thereafter and camped at Prabhasa. Here they drank liquor and a
terrible quarrel arose among them. Then:
Son killed father, brother killed brother, nephew killed uncle, grandson killed grandfather, friend killed
friend… When their arrows were exhausted and weapons were broken, they started pulling out reeds from the
seacoast. This grass grew out of the powder of the pestle. xli

We see that in both stories a metal object was ground to powder and became
the cause of the Hebrews/Yadavas killing each other.

Conclusion:
The secondary evidences of a short period of oppression and conflict over
collection of straw support the identification of Biblical Mitsrayim with Chanhu
Daro in the Indus Valley. The secondary evidence of parallel names is evenly
poised between Egypt and the Indus Valley.
The primary evidences of a stagnant river and the time and life events of a
person parallel to Moses also support the identification of Biblical Mitsrayim in
the Indus Valley. The primary evidence of time of habitation is evenly poised
between Egypt and the Indus Valley.
For more information please visit here (http://www.commonprophets.com/)
like my FB Page One God One Religion (https://www.facebook.com/One-God-
One-Religion-506460813155133/?modal=admin_todo_tour )
Please Subscribe My Channel (One God One Religion
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN4sb3toJxNGPjmSubnwz_Q?view_as=s
ubscriber )

(एक ईश्वर
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzJ4pdc_q_ybj_Yb99rkUGg?view_as=su
bscriber )
Buy my book here (https://www.amazon.in/gp/offer-
listing/B078J61BST/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&con
dition=new&qid=&sr= )

i
Mahabharata, Mausala Parva 6:17, 24-25.
ii
Hoffmeier, James K., “Out of Egypt,” in Ancient Israel in Egypt and the Exodus, Biblical Archaeological Society,
2012.
iii
www.commonprophets.com.
iv
Mani, Vettam, Puranic Encyclopedia, Motilal Banarasidas, Delhi, 1979, Page 768.
v
This is considered by some to be an incorrect rendering. See, John, “Etymology of the Scripture Words Yahudi
[Jew] and Goy [Gentile],” www.Eliyah.Com/Forum2/Forum1/Html/000250.Html, Sep 7, 1998, Retrieved
October 21, 2018.
vi
Mani, Puranic…, Page 768.
vii
Half pound of straw is to be added to one cubic foot mud to make mud bricks. (Biblical Archaeology Society
Staff, How to Make a Mudbrick, http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/daily-life-and-
practice/how-to-make-a-mudbrick/, May 1, 2014, Retrieved March 6, 2017.) The weight of one cubic foot mud
is 34 kilograms. Half pound straw weighs 227 grams. The straw added works out to 0.6% by weight.
viii
Baked bricks were used only as paving slabs (Capaldi, Xavier, Ancient Egyptian Mud Brick Construction:
Materials, Technology, and Implications for Modern Man, 01 April 2011,
https://dataplasmid.wordpress.com/.../ancient-egyptian-mud-brick-construction-materi..., Retrieved July 27,
2016).
ix
“Most of the large cities of the IVC, i.e. Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Kot Diji, Ganeriwala, Rakhigarhi, and Lothal
were built from both mud and baked brick… (However,) most villages and towns in the IVC were built from
stones and mud bricks. The few exceptions are Jalilpur, Kalibangan, and Chanhudaro, where also baked bricks
were used… Chanhudaro stands out in this list, as there is no preceding mud-brick only phase for this site”
(Khan, Aurangzeb and Carsten Lemmen, Bricks and urbanism in the Indus Valley rise and decline, Helmholtz-
Zentrum Geesthacht, Germany, February 27, 2013, Page 4, arxiv.org/pdf/1303.1426, Retrieved July 29, 2015).
x
Falk, David A, What We Know about the Egyptian Places Mentioned in Exodus, https://thetorah.com/what-
we-know-about-the-egyptian-places-mentioned-in-exodus/ Retrieved October 23, 2018.
xi
Islamic Awareness, On the Use of Miṣr in the Qur'ān, 22nd June 2012, www.islamic-
awareness.org/Quran/Contrad/External/misr.html, Retrieved October 23, 2018. Indeed, the Akkadian Empire
located on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Ancient Iraq used the name “Misrii” for its border
areas beginning around 1950 BCE (M. Civil, I. J. Gelb, A. L. Oppenheim, E. Reiner (Eds.), The Assyrian Dictionary
Of The Oriental Institute Of The University Of Chicago, 1977, Volume 10, Part 2, p. 113). The Amarna Tablets
indicate that the communications between the Akkadians and Egyptians referred to Egypt as Misrii beginning
1363 BCE.
xii
Monier-Williams, Monier, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Southern Publications, Madras, 1987, Page 363.
xiii
Skand Purana Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Samvat 2064, 382:1123. This reference relates to Hindu Rama, who we
suggest was the same person as Biblical Abraham.
xiv
The first plague was of the water of the river becoming “blood” (Exodus 7:20).The Hebrew word “dam” is
derived from the word “damam” which means to be “dumb…, to stop; to perish; to cease, to be cut down, to
rest, to be silent, to be still…” (Strong’s 01818, 01826).
xv
The Exodus took place at 1445 BCE (The Open Bible, Page 1, 52).
xvi
The word “dam” is derived from the word “damam” which means to be “dumb…, to stop; to perish; to
cease, to be cut down, to rest, to be silent, to be still…” (Strong’s 01818, 01826).
xvii
The Yamuna flowed west between 2500 and 1750 BCE, east between 1750 and 1100 BCE, westward during
1100 to 500 BCE, and eastward between 500 and 100 BCE (Chakrabarti, Dilip K and Sukhdev Saini, The Problem
of Saraswati River and Notes on Archaeological Geography of Haryana and Indian Panjab, Aryan Books
International, New Delhi, 2009, Page 27).
xviii
E J H Mackay “found evidence for a considerable amount of craft activity at the site during the Harappan
period (2500–1900 BC).” He “also investigated the Post-urban Harappan levels at the site (1900–1500 BC) and,
in particular, his exposure of the remains of the Jhukar habitations…” (Possehl, Gregory L., “W. Norman Brown
– Americans Excavating in British India” Expedition Magazine 50.2 (July 2008), Penn Museum, July 2008,
http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/?p=8807, Retrieved November 27, 2015).
xix
Miller, Heldi J, A New Interpretation of the Stratigraphy at Chanhu-daro and the Jhukar Phase, in South Asian
Archaeology, edited by C Jarrige and V Lefevre, Page 253-256, ADPF, Paris, 2001.
xx
The Open Bible, Page 1, 52.
xxi
Bible, Exodus 7:7.
xxii
Roy, S B, “Scientific (Astro-Dynastic) Chronology of Ancient India,” in C Margabandhu et. al., Editors, Indian
Archaeological Heritage, Agamkala Prakashan, Delhi, 1991, Page 702-703. Other scholars place the war of
Mahabharata in which Krishna had participated variously between 5500 BCE and 900 BCE (Vartak, P V, The
Scientific Dating of the Mahabharat War, Ved Vidnyana Mandal, Pune,
http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/mahabharat/mahab_vartak.html, Retrieved September 7,
2013; IGNCA, Dating The Kurukshetra War, http://ignca.nic.in/nl002503.htm, Retrieved September 7, 2013).
The range of 1445 BCE to 1124 BCE for the birth of Krishna suggested by Roy is within this larger range and we
accept this.
xxiii
Bible, Exodus 1:8, 13.
xxiv
Durham, John I, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 3, Exodus, Nelson Reference & Electronic, 1987, Page 7;
Sarna, JPS, Exodus, Page 5.
xxv
Qanungo, Kalika Ranjan, History of the Jats, Edited and annotated by Vir Singh, Delhi, Originals, 2003,
http://www.jatland.com/home/History_of_the_Jats:Dr_Kanungo/The_legend_about_the_Yadu_Tribe,
Retrieved April 7, 2016, Page 196.
xxvi
Bhagwata Purana, Srimad Bhagwat Sudha Sagar, Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Samvat 2060, 10:1:69.
xxvii
Bhagwata Purana 10:1:17, 10:2:2, 10:5:19.
xxviii
Bible, Exodus 1:16.
xxix
Bhagwata Purana 10:6.2.
xxx
Bible, Exodus 2:3.
xxxi
Bible, Exodus 2:9.
xxxii
Bhagwata Purana, 10:3:47-50.
xxxiii
Bhagwata Purana 10:3:48-51.
xxxiv
Bhagwata Purana 10:41.
xxxv
Bhagwata Purana 10:44:38.
xxxvi
Bhagwata Purana 10:45:12, 31.
xxxvii
Bible, Exodus 31:18, 32:4, 32:19.
xxxviii
Bible, Exodus 32:20.
xxxix
Bible, Exodus 32:27.
xl
Bhagwata Purana 11:1:13-21.
xli
Bhagwata Purana 11:30:13, 19-21.