According to ancient scholars, in Scythia there was an idea
that the land "rises" to the North. A similar opinion was
reflected in the ancient Indian epic "Mahabharata", which
speaks of "immeasurably high, unprecedented anywhere in
the worlds of Mount Meru", stretching across the entire
northern outskirts of the world. "The abode of the omnipotent
gods is located on it, and besides them, the Assuras, Kinaras,
Gandharvas, and the heavenly serpents live. Right above the
mountain in the center of the universe, Brahma strengthened
the stationary North Star. A day here lasts a year: six months
is a day, six months is a night." The divine bird Garuda tells
about all this in the Mahabharata. Strange story. How in the
southern part of Asia could they know about the polar day
and night, about the North Star, which is motionless only
above the North Pole?
In the written sources of Iran, in the oldest parts of the Avesta,
the authorship of which, as already noted, is attributed to
Zarathustra (Zoroaster), there are references to the sacred
mountains Khara Berezaiti - High Khara, where greatest
mythical heroes was made sacrifices. The peaks of Khara
Berezaiti, like the shining peaks of Meru and the Ripean
Mountains, are covered with gold. Zoroastrian sources report
lakes, rivers and streams flowing in golden channels in the
High Khara. From Khara, as well as from Meru, earthly rivers
originate. This is the general motive of the mythology of the
Indians, Iranians and Scythians: all the great earthly rivers
flow from the sacred northern mountains.
But where are such mountains located, stretching from west
to east? There is no such mountain range north of the Black
and Caspian Seas. The answer to the mysteries of ancient
myths was a major geographical discovery of the 20th century:
in 1948, during the air expedition "North", a huge ridge
named after MV Lomonosov was discovered at the bottom of
the Arctic Ocean. Further research showed that these
mountains stretch from the New Siberian Islands to Ellesmere
Island, passing through the center of the ocean near the pole.
The length of the system is about 1800 km, width from 60 to
200 m, height 3.3-3.7 km, minimum depth under the ridge 954 m.
Here it is - the address indicated by the ancients: high mountains
directly under the Pole Star, stretching from west to east.
Research carried out in the Arctic Basin is increasingly leading
scientists to believe that in the recent geological past, the land
of Arctida existed in the Arctic Ocean. Biological data, as well
as the routes of birds, testify in favor of the existence of Arctida
and the surface position of the Lomonosov Ridge: some of them
fly, crossing Central Africa in its equatorial zone. Scientists see
this as a habit, not erased by time, to the old, mastered in
antiquity routes of flight. Studies of the North Atlantic Ridge
named after Lomonosov by hydrobiologists give reason to believe
that it could finally submerge in water only 2.5 thousand years
ago, and before that time people probably lived there.
In the myths of the Indians and Iranians, it is said that healthy,
happy people live in the country behind the high mountains
stretching from west to east, right below the Pole Star. The climate
is temperate and the country is rich in fruits. But what kind of
fruits can grow under the North Star? It is known from the school
course in geography that during the existence of mankind, the
climate of our planet has repeatedly changed. The last warming
occurred 8.5-2.5 thousand years ago, and the warmest climate
(Holocene optimum) fell on the period from IV to II millennia
BC., and it was a time quite suitable for life in the Arctic.
Therefore, it is no coincidence, probably from the 4th millennium
BC. many scholars trace the path of the Indo-Europeans from
North-Eastern Europe to the south.
Vague ideas about the northern ancestral home were preserved
among many peoples. The "land of the blessed" in the Arctic
Ocean is mentioned in the Scandinavian sagas. The Finns, for
example, call it "Sarayas" - the northern house, and the ancient
Indians - "Jarayas". The Scythians believed that behind the dead
lands of the North lies a land that bears abundant fruits, and a
sacred happy people live in its groves. But where did the Scythians
themselves live?
Modern historians "place" the Scythians mainly in the northern
Black Sea steppes, and in fact the ancient authors, including
Herodotus, said that the Scythians live in the far north. This is
shown by ancient maps, among them is the map of Mercator, on
which in the region of the mouth of the Ob River we find the
inscription "Golden Woman". They have been looking for it for
many centuries. Why is this inscription exactly here, on the distant
northern Yamal Peninsula? There is information that the
"Golden Woman" was brought to those lands about 5 thousand
years ago from India, perhaps in order to erect a monument near
the once abandoned ancestral home?!
