Celebrating 4 years of blogging!
Celebrating 4 years of blogging!Updated July 10, 2008 : This post has been Desipundited. Thanks a lot Patrix.
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Prolog
I generally avoid milestone posts, but i could not resist this one. Last week, on June 27, 2008, we completed 4 years on this blog. During that time, we have written 497 posts and received 2,851 comments. Just 3 posts away from the 500 post milestone!
Unbelievable Journey
It is a journey that started 4 years ago as a humble experiment amongst a bunch of people struggling to keep in touch with each other. What a fun-filled, emotion-laden journey it has turned out to be - i have made so many friends, blogging has become a cornerstone of my career completely unexpectedly, learnt an order of magnitude more than all that i had learnt prior to blogging. More than all that, as most members would agree, the SAST Wingees of today is a thriving community that exchanges wisdom of a kind that is quite unique in the blogosphere.
Learnings
Caveat emptor: most of these learnings may not be applicable if you are trying to build an A-list blog 
1. In the initial days of blogging, i used to frequently check the visitor stats – where the visits are coming from etc. The traffic was nothing much to write home about. It was a complete waste of time not to speak of the depressing feeling i had. But then, as luck would have it, around that time, i realized that i was not writing for traffic or comments but for my own pleasure. I stopped looking at the stats and i have never looked back.
2. I would react to some post written by the A-list bloggers and then email them to let them know in the foolish hope that they would link to our blog, which as i realized painfully, the same thing a zillion other z-list bloggers like me did Over time, i realized that i should build my own voice on the Internet and that is when i found the true joy of blogging.
3. Once i was off the chasing-the-a-list treadmill, the biggest joy for me has been to read lesser-known bloggers, exchange comments/ideas with them. By switching to techmeme.com, i have mostly eliminated the a-list from my feed reader except for a few that i really like. That has freed up a lot of time for me to read these lesser known bloggers and i should say, i have learnt so much more in this process. I got the sense of community, only after taking this step.
4. Most people talk about blogging as a conversation. In my view, blogs are a community. I have always believed that a single author blogging strategy would make it harder to build a community. This blog has vindicated that with the kind of community that it has managed to pull together.
5. Another thing, that most pro bloggers advise is to write a blog around focused topics. While that may be a good way to build an A-list blog, i felt that, it didn’t really match the personality of our community. We have wide-ranging interests and the blog should be a reflection of that. Also, topic blogs tend to run out of steam after sometime or the author starts getting bored with the topic – how long can one keep writing on the same topics day after day, year after year?
6. Blogging is a true meritocracy. Many people talk about this, but to experience it is truly humbling. There are no big shots, your standing in the industry or your position in the company is not relevant. Your post or comment is as good as any one else’s. If you believe that power corrupts and want to avoid that trap, blogging can put some serious humility into you.
7. The biggest secret of blogging is commenting on other blogs. If you discover this secret, you will have a successful blog.
Thank You
It is a momentous occasion for this blog and we would not be here without the contributions of several people: First on the list is Ganesh, he has been on the journey from day one, encouraged me every step of the way, and continues to be a key contributor; Priya Raju, my wife, who has encouraged me at every instance and is now a regular contributor of this blog; Sujatha Manivasagam, NK Sreedhar, Sibu Kutty and Sridhar Iyer, who have written several posts on this blog.
Our regular commenters - the indefatigable Senthil, my friend Archana Raghuram, PK Karthik, Subba Muthurangan, Vamsi Poondla, Saraswathi, Jaskirat, Ananth, April Holladay and many others.
Patrix and the Desipundit team for recognizing and linking to some important posts over the years.
John Keegan, one of the best customer service professionals i have ever come across. He runs Pressharbor which hosts our blog today.
Congrats to the Sast Wingees group for successfully completing 4 years of blogging. It has been a pleasure reading the different posts on this blog. Blogging is the best platform to share our views, learn from others and understand what other people think about similar topics.
I totally agree with all the points mentioned about the “learnings” from the blog especially the 5th one.
Wishing the Sastwingees group a wonderful journey ahead!!!
Sukumar & co,
Congratulations on completion of 4 years and now when you mentioned it I realized that I crossed it a month earlier
! And good that you stopped chasing-the-a-list-bloggers to read the lesser known blogs….incidentally thats what I do too and I think they are more interesting and passionate!
Cheers
Raj
Sukumar,
Congratulations. Your quest/passion for knowledge and the inclination/enthusiasm to share it with others shines through via your posts and response to comments. I have certainly learnt a lot from your posts. Besides the content, I am truly impressed with your patience while responding to comments
I thank you for (re)kindling my interests in areas such as management, History of India and anthropology.
Keep up the great work!!
Ganesh
Sastwingees has really morphed from a blog for BITSian friends to the community it is now. I’m glad that this evolution happened – it has given me a medium to voice my zillion opinions.
You make an excellent point about avoiding the rat race. We all have to find our very own place under the sun. What matters more is, whether we remain true to ourselves.
Thanks Saraswathi. You are right blogging is one of the best platforms to express our views right now as well as understand other’s views directly.
Raj,
Thanks. Congrats to you too on completing 4 years. you are right, the lesser known bloggers are possibly more passionate.
Ganesh,
Thanks for your kind words as well as your support and encouragement through the years. I am glad we are able to rekindle interest in those topics. I should say, the conversations on this blog help me increase my curiosity on several topics.
Thanks Priya for the support and encouragement. You are right, we have to remain true to ourselves. That is the only way to make blogging an authentic experience.
Sukumar and team
Congratulations to Sastwingees.org and all of you. I wish this journey will continue for many more years and make more passionate bloggers.
Thanks
Subba
Congratulations Sukumar. Sastwingees has always been a very open forum which i think is the big reason for this great success. I take this opportunity to thank you for giving me an oppotunity to be a part of this wonderful blog, i enjoyed reading every single post and commenting on all your posts.
Very nicely written and useful learnings Sukumar! And congrats on the landmark that you and team and achieved! And keep going for the 1000 mark!!!
Hi Sukumar,
Congratulations on reaching this milestone. The variety and depth of the topic covered in this blog is awesome. Wishing that this blog will reach many more milestones
Congrats on the milestone Sukumar. I think the biggest acheivement of this blog is the number of people who have been inspired by it. Being a blogger myself, I know how hard it is to sustain the interest of the readers and your blog has been able to do it amazingly well. The conversations are mind blowing.
Its been a pleasure visiting your blog and meeting many interesting people with varied interests.
Sukumar,
Until I stumbled upon you blog, I had different perspective of a blog. May be the kind of blogs I subscribed were not my time. They had more “I” than “WE”. Your synopsis of making it a community is correct.
Thanks for giving me an opportunity to understand topics like Anthropology which I always admired but never found very interesting.
Thanks Sujatha for the kind words and your contributions.
Thanks a lot Jeeves. At this rate 1000 may take another 5 years
Ananth,
Thanks a lot for your kind words and your wishes.
Archana,
Thank you so much. we are glad that this blog serves as an inspiration to others. that is such a lofty thing to say. we are flattered. thanks again.
Vamsi,
Thanks a lot for the kind words. I am glad you found our posts enlightening.
You said it sukumar! Hackneyed perceptions just dont work. You need to establish your identity, after all your blog is all about your opinions! Been a pleasure reading sastwingees! I should be thanking you guys!
/** the indefatigable Senthil **/
May be.. but that could have caused many to fatigue
.. Like our <a href=”http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/04/20/the-real-history-of-india-part-10-the-abominable-caste-system-indian-fact-or-british-fiction/#comment-3221″
..
Vamsi who have gone to the extent of gentle warning that “my next comment would be the last one” , unable to bear me any more
It was a learning for me, for i moved from understanding to realisation that “sometimes Relenting does lot of goodness, eventhough i may not agree still..”
Some of the best learnings for me are from sukumar on “how to express keeping off emotion” .. and the patience to bear commenters like me, even though many times the comment has been silly..
And it has been always worthwhile reading this blog all these days.. great going sukumar..
Congrats Sukumar!!! what a milestone….its realy awesome
thanks a lot Jass and Karthik for your kind words.
Senthil,
Thanks a lot for your kind words. On emotional issues, it is hard to keep off the emotions. I try really hard to do that. I am glad you agree that i do it. Thanks again.
Sukumar and Priya!!!
. I have enjoyed reading priya and your posts. especially the egypt series is my favorite!!
CONGRATULATIONS on this milestone. 497 posts in 4 years is no mean feat and the pleasure has completely been ours!!
Keep writing!!
Thank you so much for mentioning me. It was so kind of you, I am flattered and honored. We wish you continued success and pleasure here at your blog, and hope that your community continues to share their joy and wisdom at your site.
Revs – Thanks. Ganesh has written more posts than me. Sukumar deemed me an honorary BITSian (I’m from GCT Coimbatore) & graciously permitted me to write in their BLOG only last year
Revs,
Thanks a lot for the kind words.
John,
You are welcome. Thanks a lot for your wishes.
Priya,
you are welcome. We now have atleast one more honorary BITSian – Sujatha Manivasagam.
Hi there,
This particular post brought back lots of memories. I started off my own blog more as a memoir of my B School Days, and as the URL suggests, it ended up boring quite a few people who it was actually intended for.
Then started off on a journey to become one of the most popular B School blogs in India, didn’t get anywhere near that. Tried linking to all sorts of blog directories to become a little more popular, didn’t quite work out as planned. Pretty much tried everything to make the URL just that little bit more popular, but nothing seems to work.
That’s when the ‘don’t look at the Stats Counter’ and ‘don’t worry about who reads mahabore’ dawned upon me. After that, I have pretty much started penning anything and everything that kind of pops into my mind every now and then. And man, have I been a happy blogger after that.
BTW, just checked out some of your earlier posts, and am really surprised that I didn’t quite stumble upon this blog in the ‘Information SuperHighway’ all this time. Anyways, you have another regular reader from now on.
Cheers……….Jam
Congratulations, Sukumar! Four years is a long time in blogging…I feel like a veteran even at two. I completely agree with some of the points you have made. I guess there are bloggers that want to make money or get fame, then there are those who just love writing or jotting down thoughts as they occur, or those who just want to make friends through this medium. Happy blogging!
I completely agree with all your points Sukumar.
As a strater, your post is very inspiring
Keep going!
Sukumar….
Like to add one more thing ..I feel all bloggers need a take into account point 1 and 2..Blog for ur pleasure and not for people to read are comment …Really wonderful thgt.I rembember Archana metioning in it blog…
Completely agree with this point of yours:
5. Another thing, that most pro bloggers advise is to write a blog around focused topics. While that may be a good way to build an A-list blog, i felt that, it didn’t really match the personality of our community. We have wide-ranging interests and the blog should be a reflection of that. Also, topic blogs tend to run out of steam after sometime or the author starts getting bored with the topic – how long can one keep writing on the same topics day after day, year after year?
Its a shame that more and more people chase to become an A-list blogger only to have their own thoughts drowned owing to external pressures.
Thanks Jairam for the kind words. I guess we are not the only ones to experience the “lowly” stats feeling. Nice movie reviews on your site. i am subscribed to yours as well.
Thanks a lot Shantanu. I guess we belong to the latter category that you allude to.
Thanks for the kind words Layman.
Karthik,
Thanks a lot. Yes, I think Archana mentioned it on her ch1blog, if i am not mistaken.
Dhimant,
Thanks a lot. You are absolutely right, by chasing the a-list, you end up drowning your own voice. It is best to create your own voice as our experience has shown.
Hey, This is great advice and Congratulations on your anniversary. I guess this post sums it up for a newbie Z-list blogger like me who had been on the A-list chasing wagon and recently had gotten out to read and recognize variety of other bloggers like me. There is a treasure out there and I am enjoying reading those lesser known bloggers and commenting/interacting with them.
Thanks a lot Dinesh for the kind words. I am very happy to see that our experiences are shared by so many bloggers.
Fantastic Post!
I can relate to a lot that has been said on this post, really! .. The bit about looking up stats initially.. and then not bothering about it.. (Although I must admit I have been blogging only for a year and a half and perhaps my blog is not half as widely read as SAST Wingees!).. but still..!
Also, Community blogging had always been on my mind. I had written a post on Community / Collaborative Blogging.. I think it is a great way to get people ‘in-sync’ to share and meditate on topics as a group! – Blogging breaks down barriers.. and reading this particular post by you brought back memories of the “Blogging Evangelist” speech you gave us at the Kolkata episode of UnConference 2008!
Thanks for the kind words Amit. You are right blogging breaks down barriers.
Hi,
Came across this blog through DesiPundit. First thing I want to mention is that I have been blogging for about 2 years now (very infrequent blogger), and have been through most of what you have mentioned – chasing the A-listers, being disappointed looking at the visitor stats .. etc. This applies to both my personal blog; and the group blog which I have started with my friends ( Blogsarovar ).
However, the take-away for me from this blog is – not to be disheartened; and to continue to blog for the primary reason we started to do so. Thanks for this invaluable insight.
I also fully agree with points regarding networking with lesser-known bloggers; and regarding comments being the secret to successful blogging. I am practicing both – lets see how it helps me
Thanks Kiran for visiting. I am glad you found the insights useful. Good luck with your blogging.
Sukumar, I hate to interrupt your post with this urgent question. I have been following your intuitive insights into IVC. And I am compelled to ask you a question.
*oh..by the way, I live in Phoenix.
What is the meaning of “dala” in your studies? Could Mary Magdalene have been
Maram Magdala Given that she might have had traditional roots/and oral roots from Magan?
PS…Please don’t laugh..even if is sounds odd….I am following another intuitive trail and stumbled quite wonderfully on your site.
Robin – I see that you are trying to piece together Magan + Dala = Magdala. The sound “Da” doesn’t exist in Tamil, the most archetypal Dravidian language. “Dala” in Sanskrit means Leaf, Petal etc. Not very useful, is it?
But Magdala – which means “Tower” in Aramaic – is “Migdal” in Hebrew & Al-Majdal in Arabic. I thought the village has already been identified in Israel, near the sea of Galilee?
Yes, it is useful, to a degree, if one does not accept the Hebrew/Christian traditional belief/construction of Magdala. The ancient tombs in Rome, from the early first century speak another language> The dolphins depicted in a few of the early Christian catacombs/the dolphins of Minoa/the dolphins of the Ganges are merely one, very small indicator, that the origins of much which has been “forgotten” in the patriarchal European culture, has roots in the same “forgotten” origins of the so called lost history of India which common sense would tell, the most intuitive minded person, is far more ancient and advanced.
What does Magan mean? Is it merely the name of a Place?
As for the sanskrit “leaf”, yes, this is very good. For one leaf from a “tree” Maram, would be
an apt description for MM.
Robin – Any recorded history of the Ganges will be after the Iron Age – you needed iron age tools to cut the dense forests & settle there. Per agreed upon wisdom, that’s when Aryans settled in the Gangetic plains. That’s not really the period covered in Sukumar’s post.
Whereas “Magan” is mentioned in Sumeria 1000-1300 years before the Iron Age. Sanskrit is a Indo-European language – which has no connection to Indus Valley or to Sumeria, but with Aryans (Indo-Iranians). Sanskrit is the language of a strong patriarchal culture.
We are talking about 2 very different periods in the history of India, so I don’t see any connection between Magan & Sanskrit.
Also, “Maram” is the Tamil word for “tree”. “Taru” is the Sanskrit word. You can see the Indo-European origin of Sanskrit right there. So, if you say “Mary Magdalene” = “Maram Magan Dala”, we have Tamil + Oman or Crete (Magan) + Sanskrit. Doesn’t seem probable.
Thank you for taking your time to answer my “illogical” questions. I am nearly certain that the first two, are correct, thanks to your intuitive research. The last term–dala, is not correct–
So, please understand that I have little knowledge in these areas, and I have followed your many posts with a very “dim” intellectual awareness, but an intuitive, one, which is a territory that
I must carefully guard against the notional. (my own)
So, what about the word “jala” which in Tibetan is ‘dzala. What is the meaning of Jala in Tamil?
Is jala, water?
Maram Magan-jala
Maram Magan-dzala
Maram Mag-dzala
Mary Magdala
Robin – Nope, “Jalam” is a Sanskrit word meaning Water. “Jaalam” means Magic. There are many loan words in Spoken Tamil & “Jalam” is one of them. Tamil words don’t end with the long “A”. Plus, there is no “J” in Tamil – that’s a loan phoneme.
My 2 cents – There’s no connection with India. India is very far away from Israel, where much of the action in the New Testament took place. As far as I remember, the only mention of India in the Bible is in the Book of Esther, as the boundary of Ahasuerus’s (probably Xerxes) territory.
Thanks Priya, for all you have done. Should I have told you that my studies were not in the
traditional Judeo/Christian model, as I would in no way imply that India would belong there.
No, no, no, not in the traditional would this ever be possible. But beneath the catacombs of Rome, before the repressions, there were the peacocks, the dolphins, the Orante. Before the misogynies of those such as Ambrose, there were the images, of beauty. This lasted but a short time. And then in time, the dolphins became a fish, and finally emerged as the “vesica piscis”
But not for many, many years.
And then, as always, the veil was drawn.
There are no dolphins in the Sea of Galilee, near Migdol. But the dolphins cover the walls
of Minoa (Magan).
You have been so kind, to me. I appreciate your time.
Interesting discussion Robin and Priya. Robin, Priya is much more knowledgeable about the Bible. My research is more around the period 2500-1000BC or so because of my interest in solving the riddle of IVC first and Minoa second.
After a long periods of research into this period, i am big believer in what Gimbutas uncovered. I have lot of supporting material for what she uncovered. Unfortunately, she took an extreme view that the partriarchal Indo-European culture massacred the old Matristic (as she calls it) and replaced it. I am of the view that the IE amalgamated cleverly with the Neolithic culture created what we see today. Christianity went through the same amalgamation strategies to fuse the Neolithic pagan religion into it and later discarded all the amalgamated add-ons to emerge as a pure form in protestantism. Now Mary Magdalene is very interesting from this perspective of both amalgamation as well as the eventual reduction in importance of the female force. In the IVC trinity, the goddess who is the earth goddess and represents the life force also known in Tamil as Mari (pronounced as Maari). Eventually as the IE forces amalgamated the religion with theirs, they replaced Mari with another male God and made the female just the wife of a God thereby making women subordinate to the males. This is where Gimbutas’ intuitive leap is spot on.
The connection that i see, but that i cannot prove is, Mari is Mary. The reason i can even point at this connection is, because Mother Mary is an amalgamated entity taking the Mother Goddess worship of the Celts. Now i believe as i have written the IVC religion was very closely resembled the Celtic religion. I am not able to figure out what the Celts called their Mother Goddess in ancient times. If you know, please let me know. of curse, Mary Magdalene is different from Mother Mary. But i just was talking about the Mother Goddess connection from the Neolithic to Christian.
BTW, do you agree that Minoa is Magan? I haven’t found any leading historian making this connection? Do you have any proof? I managed to write some, but i don’t think i have been able to come up with a convincing proof that that is the case.
Hello, my studies are intuitive and internal. I was struck, not long ago, by the cave paintings
at Lascaux, the “bull” and thus, I began..connecting the “art”. The imagery has a systemic language, as though much of what we may learn of the Mother Goddess is inarticulate, yet,fully representated in the “images” of those who have known her from times past. I began to understand that the difference between the patriarchal model and the hidden past, is:
Structural vs. systemic.
Articulation vs. Imagery
And, so by some accident (although) I do not believe, in this instance in such, I saw the
frescoes of Minoa, and something within my soul, “knew” that I was looking at the art of the
“lost” feminine. My theory then, is simple: What Man and History has Rewritten, Nature
does not forget. (I must tell you that this is merely a portion of the levels here)
For prior to this simple idea, I had studied Sheldrakes Theory of Morphic Resonance, and
noted that resonance may not only occur as a “current resonance” we have with our fellow
members of Humanity, but also, may occur with the “past”, as noted by Sheldrake in this
quote.
“Organic form is guided, Sheldrake proposes, by the formal and behavioral influence of “past organisms of the same species through direct connections across space and time.” DNA may “tune” these fields in the manner that a television receiver accepts and illustrates an electronic message. In this manner only can DNA be said to guide the production of protein and the growth of the body. Parental traits are not contained by genetic material, rather the genetic material receives and implements this resonance in a particular way. All living forms are enfolded within the memory of nature and within a past which is also present. In place of the information model of DNA, Sheldrake has substituted a much finer, but no less material medium, comparable to electromagnetic fields”
When I found your site, I believe that what you are “tracking” is the same suprasystemic
intuitional read of the “hidden” past. This as you know, is the dilemma of those who are trying
to recover their heritage, their inner light, their internal balance, their full and human truth, free from the aggression implemented by the patriarchy justified through religion, political structures, etymologies, exploitations, creating as we say in Arizona, a world out of balance. Koyaanisqatsi
While reading your site, I was immediately aware of your “correctness” even though I am nearly illiterate to your terminology. Your understanding of symbols, and connections, such as
the Labrys sp? , the mythos (oral storytelling) and the connection with Minoa, led me to ask
about another name for Mary Magdalene, as I am convinced that yes, it could be Mari, it could
be Maram, but not Mary, as derived from “bitter”.
I have been tracking the Dolphin, the trident, the peacocks, the rose, most symbols which do not appear in the New Testament, in ANY form. It came to me, that MM was probably of the tradition you have described as an oral tradition. These symbols were added to the Christian religion early on, to “incorporate” the lost elements of the earlier, and then overrun Mother-past.
The idea among most Christians, is just the opposite. They believe that Catholicism incorporated
the pagan in order to proselytize. Yet, the pagan symbols predate the Catholic church, and not the other way around. And what was the Pagan, but remnants of the Matristic model…
There is no doubt in my mind that the pagan beliefs were added to the early religion as a
means to preserve, the older matristic model. Since I am looking at more recent history, it is much easier to find. I believe that this was done, Consciously, by those, before us, who knew
the future. Leaving these Meta-gold signs and symbols so that we might find them. So far,
I have found evidence, in Pre-Christian era, 100-200 AD, 300-400 AD, I have also found these symbols in the very earlier Renaissance, and the “carriers” of them. However, the discarding of
the symbols began from the first century, on, long before protestantism.
It is nothing as in the Da Vinci code, or the current beliefs surrounding MM.
So when I found you, and Priya. I was compelled to write.
Yes, I believe by the “sound” and the reverberation in my soul, that Minoa, was Magan, that the first three letters in Magan, do match Magdalene..that this is no co-incidence. But I cannot find
the last four letters….although in the Celtic, dala, is a leaf, which matches the Sanskrit.
As for a Celtic Mari, I would presume there is one, since there is a Basque, one. I will study this.
I believe Gimbutas intuition is correct, but too global, leaving room for the intellectuals’ attacks.
“Symbols are seldom abstract in any genuine sense; their ties with nature persist, to be discovered through the study of context and association. In this way we can hope to decipher the mythical thought which is the raison d’etre of this art and its form.” Gimbutas
I believe Sukumar that we are like bells, and that we “ring” in resonance to that which is true.
I am deeply appreciate of your and Priya’s response. I am heartened, and compelled to carry on.
Thanks Robin. I remain very curious about the Basque people. You say they have Mother Goddess worship as well? Are there any pointers you can give me?
Sukamar, I will try, as best I can, to bring more information to you. Do you think I am
on a good track? What exactly are you looking for? (I believe however that it is you who can give me pointers!)
Also, what do you think of the theory, that prior to the “Aryan Invasion” that there was
another less aggressive migration of Turanians who brought the “sky God”, concept? Although the site has a great sense of nationalism, (understandable when one is searching for their own nations’ identity) I wonder if any of it rings true to you?
I found the site the other evening, as I am currently researching Turan, the Etruscan Goddess (of which little is known). Although I did not find anything about Turan I did find this interesting site. (below) I would like to know what you think of it. Following the site address is a quote:
http://www.kashghari.com/en/viewthread.php?tid=3&extra=page%3D
“Their name “DUR-AVIDI-AN” / “TUR-EVIDI-LER” tells it in plain Turkish. But writing the name in such a concatenated manner makes them unrecognizable as Turkish. This is a form of anagrammatizing or disguising of Turkish language names and titles.
There appears to be a deception being perpetrated which the scholars should take note of. We must note that the cleverly disguised word DR is nothing but the word DUR/TUR indicating the name of TUR/TURK peoples. Secondly the term AVIDI is nothing but the Turkish phrase EV-IDI meaning “It was the house of”.
Oh, I also found another little known Goddess: Found in the Netherlands, seems to have been a Celtic Goddess
The name Nehalennia may mean ‘Leader’ or ‘Steerswoman’ and her
iconography echoes often marine symbolism: ships, steering oar and
diffeeent kind of sea creatures (like DOLPHINS). In addition she is
often depicted with fertility symbolism and with the imagery of a dog
, often interpreted as a chtonic symbol.
Probably in about a week I will be heading to the Basques, (who are extremely interesting)
http://www.answers.com/topic/basque
You probably already know that Gimbutas found that there was still some Goddess worship even in these modern times.
Guess what, I found out that we have Basque communities in Idaho and Nevada. I will see what I can find out about Mari.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Robin,
The point about Turanians and the link you provided is very interesting.My current opinion is that the Indo Europeans (one of the splinter group) moved to Turkey/Greece area. The other theory that is popular mostly amongst Turkish nationalists is that it is the Turkish people who moved from Anatolia and populated other regions. This whole Turanian language and the anagrammatizing concept seems to be stem from that idea. Since i don’t believe in their original premise i am not able to agree with this. Having said that it is possible that Turanians migrated to the Indus Valley as well. I have not done research into that because most of my research currently is in the Indus Valley’s religion and script and i don’t think a turanian migration gives me special inputs for my research.
I didn’t realize Basques are in the US as well. I should have guessed. It will be great to know what you find about their ancient religion? Do they still practice it?