A sad consequence of the colonialist historiography of the 19th century

Indologists is the comparative neglect of India’s interaction with Africa. Cyril

Hromnik’s Indo-Africa 1 (1981) is the only book on the Indian contribution
to the history of sub-Saharan Africa that I am aware of, but it is just an
exploratory study. The story of India’s interaction with Egypt is better
known, if only to scholars. Two important figures in this story are the Mi-
tanni king Tushratta and the New Kingdom pharaoh Akhenaten. But even
this encounter between the Indoaryan speaking Tushratta and the Egyptian
Pharaoh is not well understood although it was to have far-reaching impli-
cations for world history.

The Sun King Akhenaten of Egypt (ruled 1352-1336 BC according to the

mainstream view) was a son-in-law of Tushratta, the Mitanni king of North
Syria, through queen Kiya. 2 (The name Tushratta is spelled Tuisrata in the
Hittite cuneiform script, which does not distinguish between “d” and “t”
very well. Some have suggested that the Sanskrit original is Dasaratha, a
few others that it is Tvesaratha (having splendid chariots), a name which is
attested in the Rgveda. Letters exchanged between Akhenaten and Tushratta
have been found in Amarna in Egypt 3 and other evidence comes from the
tombs of the period, which have been discovered in excellent condition.

The Amarna age is one of the best-known and most romantic periods
of ancient Egypt. Akhenaten was revolutionary in his religious beliefs, and
many argue that his ideas mark the beginnings of the Western monotheistic
tradition. This period also saw the fabulously beautiful Nefertiti, Akhen-
aton’s first queen who came from a mixed Mitanni family, palace intrigues,
artistic triumph and great personal tragedy.

In this essay, I shall investigate the question whether the worship of the

Sun introduced by Akhenaten might have had connections with the Indie
beliefs of the Mitannis. Implications of this early encounter between the
Indie and the Western worlds will also be examined in view of the widely
accepted opinion amongst biblical scholars that Akhenaten’s beliefs were the
model for the later Jewish and Christian beliefs. 4 I shall present evidence
indicating that the famous hymn to Aten by Akhenaten which is seen as a
precursor to Psalm 104 of the Bible was influenced by the “Vedic” hymns
that were a part of the Mitanni heritage.