Historicity of the Indian mythology: Some observations

Ancient Indian Chronicles or Puranas and Epic stories present an endless pa norama of cities with palaces and temples, kingdoms, and countries with lon g lists of people and kings. The immense geographical data have so far defi ed all scholarly attempt to identify people or place in an orderly and comp rehensible manner for lack of historicity. The recent discovery of the link of Canaanite vocabulary to non-Sanskrit words in ancient Pall, Prakrit, as well as in some modern Indian dialects for the first time permits use of s ome new methods. They help highlight the hidden similarities of numerous my thological names with ancient Near Eastern names of places, people, and div inities. The article exemplifies how these similarities can transfer the my thical beings into historical people of hoary past, and turn the mythical i slands of the Puranic cosmogony into real geographical lands in the heart o f ancient world civilization.