Yazidis are in news for a gravesituation in northern Iraq. They
are being literally exterminated
by the Islamic State Jihadis. Only
7,00,000 or so Yazidis remain on
the planet today and most of them
are in the northern provinces of
Iraq near Kurdistan. 1000s have
died already this year and their
mass killing via siege, starvation
and other means is gut wrenching.
The world is watching without
doing much to save this extremely
rare race. #SaveYazidis cry on
the social media is not having much effect as 10s of 1000s of them are on the verge of
extinction or capture into slavery by the extreme radicals of ISIS. The situation of
women and children starving to death has created an uproar across the world, but
not much help is coming forward.
While researching into who these Yazidi people are, I stumbled upon some
unmistakable similarity with Hindus of India. Two hours back, I didn't know
much, but after putting these side by side, I am almost getting convinced that
these Yazidis are a lost tribe linked to ancient Hindus of India. The overlapping
features are clearly not some coincidences that you will find among pre-Abrahamic
religions of the world.
Yazidis kiss a peacock shaped lamp.
Hindus light a peacock shaped lamp.
Yazidis temples have pyramid shaped gopura just like Hindu temples.
Yazidis symbol is a wing spread peacock, just like Hindu god Shiva's son,
Subrahmanya's mount. The most important point to note is that peacock, the national
bird of India, is a native of south and south east Asia or Africa. Not found in the area
of Iraq or Syria at all.
Yazidi mural on wall of their holy Lalish temple is unmistakably Hindu. You can
see saree, which is an unofficial national dress of India.
Yazidi temple at Lalish has snake symbol at the entrance. You won't find this among
other tribes of Arabia or Mesopotamia. For Hindus, Subrahmanya is the other avatara
of snakes and worshiped very closely for all snake related pujas like Naga Panchami.
Yellow sun Yazidi symbol 21 rays.
Number 21 is sacred to Hindus (Ganesha). Offerings are in 21 count like Modaka
(sweet).
Yazidi marry within their castes like Murids, Sheikhs and Pirs.
Hindus marry within castes. Yazidis could have something like Gotra system
(researching).
Any Hindu with even basic understanding of aarti plate, will see Yazidis as their own.
Yazidis believe in continuous rebirth and reincarnation.
Same as Hindu Punar Janma concept.
Yazidis do not circumcise, a very rare thing in the middle east.
Hindus do not circumcise.
Yazidis pray with folded hands. Hindus pray very similarly to their Gods and Goddesses.
Yazidis pray at sun rise and sun set, just like Hindus. Both face the rising or setting
sun when praying to sun.
Yazidis have a symbol similar to Bindi or Tilak during temple prayer, very similar to
Hindu forehead custom.
For big celebrations, lighting lamp by females common to both Yazidis and Hindus.
Yazidis men worship Melek Taus by lighting fire in temples.
Hindus' do similar fire based worship to their Gods, with high regard for agni the fire.
As I read and browse, there are more similarities popping up. The trident
(Shiva's trishula), the vessels used during worship (kalasha), the sound
(something like dhol and shankha), sun worship methods and much more..
I am convinced that they ARE deeply connected to ancient Hindu civilization.
Whether through Zoroastrian connection in Persia (today's Iran) or directly
via migration, has to be researched. If you find credible sources, please share
them in the comments.
And most importantly, please put pressure on the Indian, Iraqi, US, EU and
other governments to save
them. They have just a few days between life and death, at the current barbarism
level of ISIS. Let this
very rare and ancient tribe of our earth survive.
Pictures used in this blog entry are from these websites. All credits to original
copyright holders:
thehindu.com, www.iisd.ca, china-iraq.org, Wikipedia.com, middle-east-online.com,
himavanti.org, alokmu.blogspot.com, metrography, demotix.com, indiandacoit.com,
flickr.com, ibtimes.co.uk,
mangalorean.com, stuartfreedman, blessingsonthenet.com and vox.com.
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The Yezidis are a small
community (about 6 Lakhs in number). They believe in reincarnation, pray
in the direction of the rising and setting sun, and consider fire as a
sacred element used in their ceremonial worship.
The Yezidis consider trees as sacred, and revere "blue" as the colour of their Supreme Deity (who is represented by a Peacock). They claim descent from Indians who migrated westward a few thousand years ago.
Their spiritual masters lead celibate lives. They teach their spiritual tenets to their disciples by oral tradition.
Their temples have familiar shikara/gopuram-like shapes, while images of "serpents" guard their temple doorways. Their society is composed of endogamous castes.
More about their current plight here: https://www.youtube.com/
Their genocide by Islamists is ongoing for the past 1400 years and has reached the final stages now: http://www.yeziditruth.
Last week, 500 Yezidis were killed, 400 women taken as sex-slaves and 200,000 driven out of their villages by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Northern Iraq.
About 50,000 Yezidis are dying of starvation, heat and thirst on a remote mountaintop in Sinjar.
------------------------------
Here is a recent Facebook post by:
The Yezidis consider trees as sacred, and revere "blue" as the colour of their Supreme Deity (who is represented by a Peacock). They claim descent from Indians who migrated westward a few thousand years ago.
Their spiritual masters lead celibate lives. They teach their spiritual tenets to their disciples by oral tradition.
Their temples have familiar shikara/gopuram-like shapes, while images of "serpents" guard their temple doorways. Their society is composed of endogamous castes.
More about their current plight here: https://www.youtube.com/
Their genocide by Islamists is ongoing for the past 1400 years and has reached the final stages now: http://www.yeziditruth.
Last week, 500 Yezidis were killed, 400 women taken as sex-slaves and 200,000 driven out of their villages by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Northern Iraq.
About 50,000 Yezidis are dying of starvation, heat and thirst on a remote mountaintop in Sinjar.
------------------------------
Here is a recent Facebook post by:
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Last pagans of Iraqi nation
BYSANJEEV SANYAL | AUGUST 09, 2014 , 6 : 22 PM GST
| ||
 With US President Barack Obama belatedly ordering air strikes and humanitarian airdrops of food and relief supplies to refugees in northern Iraq, the world is finally taking action against the Islamic State. Within a few months, the extremist group, which until recently called itself the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, has taken control of large parts of both countries, where it has proclaimed a new "Caliphate." But the real reason to fear the Islamic State is not its lust for power; it is the systematic, cold-blooded way in which its members are erasing the region's social, cultural, and demographic past. Within a few weeks, the Islamic State has virtually eliminated an entire section of Muslim and Christian populations from the areas it controls. The city of Mosul, home to one of the world's oldest Christian communities, no longer has any Christians left. Priceless Assyrian artefacts have been publicly destroyed in a campaign against idolatry. Indeed, the Islamic State has not even spared the co-religionists who do not adhere to their extreme interpretation of Islam. A number of revered shrines have been demolished, including one said to be the Tomb of Jonah. As terrible as all of this is, the worst of the persecution has been aimed at the Yezidi, an ancient religious group that lives among the Kurds. They number less than a half-million, and two-thirds of them live around Mosul in northern Iraq. The rest are scattered across neighbouring countries like Syria, Armenia, and Turkey. More recent immigrant communities are to be found in Germany and the United States. Although influenced over the centuries by Christianity and Islam, the Yezidi religion has ancient pagan roots that go back at least to the late Bronze Age. Interestingly, their beliefs have many similarities with Hinduism — for example, they believe in reincarnation, say their prayers facing the sun at sunrise and sunset, and even have a system of castes. They also worship Tawûsê-Melek, the peacock angel — a bird that is found in the Indian sub-continent but not in Yezidi lands. While the origins of the Yezidi are uncertain, cultural and genetic evidence suggests that they may be remnants of Indian tribes that migrated west in the second millennium BC. There is considerable evidence of Indian links with the Middle East during the Bronze Age. For example, Zoroastrianism, the religion of ancient Iran — to which Yezidi religious beliefs have been linked — is closely related to early Hinduism. Over the centuries, the Yezidi have been dubbed as "devil worshippers," and have suffered relentless persecution, which was especially extreme under the Ottoman Turks in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A series of massacres killed hundreds of thousands and almost led to their extinction. Under Saddam Hussein, the Yezidi were not subjected to overt religious persecution, though they remained under pressure to Arabize their culture. Matters have since taken a turn for the worse. In April 2007, gunmen dragged 23 Yezidi men from a bus and shot them dead. Four months later, a series of coordinated car-bomb attacks killed at least 300 more, including women and children. The Yezidis now face their greatest crisis ever. The Islamic State gave the Christians of Mosul the choice to convert, pay the jizya or leave. The Yezidi have been given no such choice and are killed on sight as "devil worshippers." The Yezidi heartland around Mosul is now largely under the Islamic State's control. The small town of Sinjar, the only place in the world with a Yezidi majority, fell in the first few days of August as Kurdish fighters were forced to withdraw. Reports of large-scale massacres are trickling in. Many refugees escaped into the mountains, where they are trapped in shrinking enclaves. Hundreds are said to have died already of thirst and starvation. The most sacred Yezidi pilgrimage site at Lalish runs the risk of being demolished. Sadly, there has been little media outrage at the predicament faced by the Yezidi. Perhaps the US airdrops and promised strategic interventions, together with a possible coordinated operation by Kurdish forces (rearmed by the US), may rescue the survivors, but it appears unlikely that they will be able to return to their homes soon. Centuries ago, the last Zoroastrians fled to India to avoid persecution. Their descendants, the tiny Parsi community, still live there. Today, who will give refuge to the last pagans of Iraq? - Project Syndicate |
||
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From: http://ajitvadakayil.
From: http://ajitvadakayil.
Their symbol is a lamp with a peacock on top.
Below: Hidden Yazidi temple
Below: This same type lamp was used in my wedding 30 years ago .
Below video: Check out their holy relic of a lamp with a peacock on top -- exactly the same as the lamp I am lighting above-- only difference it is smaller, and they have to bend to kiss it .
------------------------------
Tracey SheltonAugust 3, 2014 19:35
There are reports of the Islamic State executing dozens of Yazidis
The Yazidis in northern Iraq are used to being persecuted, but this
attack was bad. The Islamic State captured Sinjar, forcing thousands
from their homes.
The Yazidis in northern Iraq are used to being persecuted, but this
attack was bad. The Islamic State captured Sinjar, forcing thousands
from their homes.
Internally
displaced persons from Sinjar arrive in Lalish, northern Iraq, after
the Islamic State invaded their city on Aug. 3, 2014. (Tracey
Shelton/GlobalPost)
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6 August 2014
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- 4 August 2014
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4 August 2014
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LALISH, Iraq — Sunday afternoon, they began to arrive.
Just
hours after Al Qaeda-inspired extremists, known as the Islamic State,
invaded their hometown Sinjar in northern Iraq, a steady flow of newly
displaced families poured into the holy city of Lalish.
Sinjar is a predominantly Yazidi town which had been under Kurdish control since the Iraqi army fled in June. The semi-autonomous Kurdish territory in Iraq now shares a border with the self-declared caliphate under Islamic State control.
Yazidis,
who have been persecuted for centuries, adhere to a pre-Islamic faith
linked to Zoroastrianism. Their religion is shrouded in mystery, but
most Muslims consider them “devil worshippers.”
On
Sunday, one man sat in the courtyard of a temple in Lalish, his face
expressing anguish. He was unable to speak. The man next to him
explained: “They captured his whole
family,” he said. “They made his wife and daughters cover their hair and
faces. Then they made them renounce their religion and swear allegiance
to Mohammed. After that, they killed them all.”
The
man had been away from his home at the time of the attack. When he
tried to return, he was informed of the executions by his companion who
dragged him from the scene as thousands fled to the homes of relatives
or to the temple, which is now sheltering thousands.
The United Nations says 200,000 civilians, most of them Yazidis, have fled Sinjar and warned of a burgeoning "humanitarian tragedy." While the majority of Sinjar’s population is Yazidi, there are also some Arabs and Assyrian families.
The
Islamic State (IS) began shelling Sinjar and several surrounding
villages in the early hours of Sunday. By midday they had entered the
city. Many of the men from Sinjar stayed to fight, while locals say the Kurdish peshmerga forces, who had been protecting the city, fled.
An
estimated 600,000 Yazidis remain in Iraq. Lalish, which houses the tomb
of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, the main figure of the Yazidi faith, is
normally a place of pilgrimage and worship. Today, it became a camp for
internally displaced people.
While Kurdish
media reported that peshmerga reinforcements were on their way, Islamic
State members tweeted their victory over the towns of Zumar, Sinjar and
Wana.
“IS
will extend to Bashika, and Shahan — cities of the Satan worshippers —
and Qaraqosh, Tul Kef in the next few hours God willing,” read one tweet
shared with the hashtag #_ولاية_ نينوى.
The victories mark the second straight day of losses in the area for Kurdish forces, who had seized control in June after the Iraqi army fled.
“The IS attacked us by mortars and bombs,” said one woman in Lalish, who asked not to be named.
“When
they entered the city they were covering their faces. They killed so
many people. I saw the bodies. I saw so many people die …” she said,
trailing off in tears.
Those arriving in Lalish said all the women and children who were able to fled.
“They
are killing everyone,” said 16-year-old Evan. “The Sunnis are OK, but
the Shia and Yazidis they are killing, even women and children.”
“Some
families escaped to the Sinjar mountains, but they hit them with
mortars. I think they are all dead now. I saw the explosions,” Evan
said.
Arian, a young boy from the city of Bashika, said many of the families were fleeing his city fearing they may be next.
“My
aunt was in Sinjar. They were coming here by car but the IS blew out
their tires. I’ve been trying to call her back, but she is not answering
her phone,” he said frantically.
Local media are so far reporting 100 deaths, including 30 executed in Sinjar city.
Anger over the abandonment by Kurdish forces was high.
“They told us they would send reinforcements,” said one man, himself a member of the peshamerga forces. “All the Kurds left and it was just us trying to fight. No one came. We had no choice but to run too.”
In the village of Asyan, fleeing families took shelter in the homes of friends and relatives.
A man who had served as the bodyguard of the head of the Iraqi police
force in Mosul, before the IS takeover there, said most Yazidis had
already fled the city due to almost annual mass killings of Yazidis
carried out by Sunni extremists. Of the handful of families that
remained, he said all managed to escape with their lives.
“When
the IS came, we had to escape in secret,” he said, adding that
personally they wanted him dead on two counts, for his religion and his
work. “We left all our weapons, uniforms and vehicles behind so we
looked like civilians. We know the back streets and managed to escape.”
The
conversation was interrupted by a frantic Skype call — a sister living
abroad, pleaded for the family to leave the entire district and flee to
Erbil.
"In
every home there are two or three families," said Dilshad Sluyman, a
resident of Asyan who is also hosting Yazidis who fled Sinjar. "They all
left everything behind, but the worst thing is not the killing but
forcing us to become Muslim. This is worse than death."
Sluyman
said many of those who fled said women were being forced to convert and
then kidnapped by the IS. Man were executed directly.
“But
this attack is not new for us. It has happened 72 times already," he
said, referring to both modern and ancient history. The Yazidi community
was almost wiped out by massacres at the hands of Ottoman Turks and
Muslim Kurdish in the 19th century.
In
April, 2007, a bus carrying workers from a textile factory in Mosul was
Hijacked. Muslims and Christians were released. The 23 remaining Yazidi
passengers were executed. In August that same year, two trucks loaded
with explosives almost wiped out two entire Yazidi villages killing more
than 500.
In August, 2009, two suicide bombers targeted a cafe in Sinjar, killing 20 and wounding 30 more.
The
Yazidi faith, which predates Islam, is a closed religion. Converts are
not accepted, and neither is intermarriage with other faiths. They
revere the archangel Melek — who Muslims identify as Shaitan or Satan —
who refused to bow down to God. But unlike the Satan of Christian and
Muslim faiths, their Melek was not renounced by God and they believe
evil exists only the hearts of wrongdoers, not in the form of a fallen
angel.
As IS continues to push forward through the night, the Yazidi community is bracing for the worst.
"All
people are sad for those killed and disturbed also because no one knows
what will happen. We hear from many people they may be here in three or
four hours. We are afraid they will destroy our temple," said Dilshad
Sluyman.
“They believe that if they kill one of us it’s like an automatic visa to heaven.”
--------------------
Visit The Holy City Of The Iraqi Religious Minority That ISIS Is Threatening With Destruction
Stringer/Reuters
The Islamic State, otherwise known as ISIS, currently has the Yazidi people at their mercy. As many as 40,000 people, most of which are from Iraq's Yazidi religious minority, are trapped atop Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq.
The U.S. has reponded to the crisis with limited air strikes against ISIS targets.
The mountain is cut off from food
and water. Although the U.S. intervention changes the calculus, there's
still a danger that starvation or dehydration will ravage the Yazidis trapped on the mountaintop.
Some Yazidis who managed to flee the area have taken refuge in the city of Lalish — an important place of pilgrimage for members of the faith.
Lalish is an intense and deeply spiritual holy city. Here are pictures of one of the most important places for a religious group threatened with genocide.
This Yazidi cleric walks through the main temple in Lalish. The Yazidi faith dates back thousands of years, and the religious group is no stranger to persecution.
Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters
Here is the same Yazidi temple from the outside.
Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters
These Yazidi women wash their faces with holy water from a spring within the Lalish temple.
Sasa Kralj/Reuters
This woman kisses a monument in front of the Yazidi temple. During the Yazidi summer feast festival, 15,000 people typically make the pilgrimage to Lalish.
Sasa Kralj/Reuters
A Yazidi worshipper is blessed by a cleric during the fall festival of Eid al-Jamma.
Stringer/Reuters
Yazidi worshippers engaging in a prayer ceremony during Eid al-Jamma.
Stringer/Reuters
Here, Yazidis pay their respects within the Lalish temple. The Yazidis were victims of the worst terror attack of last decade's Iraq War, when suicide bombings killed more than 400 Yazidis in 2007.
Stringer/Reuters
'They have vicious plans for them': Fears for hundreds of Yazidi 'slave' women captured by ISIS fanatics in Iraq
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.
Already dozens of Yazidis - whom ISIS have denounced as devil-worshippers because of their ancient beliefs which predate both Christianity and Islam - have been murdered since the extremist fighters overran the town of Sinjar yesterday.
Up
to 50,000 terrified Yazidis - half of them children - have sought
refuge from the bloodshed in the barren mountain range to the north of
their hometown as their hunters close in.
But there they face an impossible dilemma - try to get to the
Turkish border and risk being captured and killed by insurgents, or
remain on Mount Sinjar without food or water in the searing heat, hoping
aid will somehow get through.
Many have already died of hunger and thirst as they struggle to
survive on just the food they could carry in temperatures exceeding 42C.
Photographs
have emerged of Yazidi men carrying the limp bodies of dozens of young
children either too exhausted to continue or killed by ISIS militants,
who in turn have posted pictures online of themselves posing next to
dead Yazidi men.
The dead men's wives were reportedly kept as trophies to be gifted to unmarried jihadist fighters.
Innocent:
Yazidi Iraqis on Mount Sinjar carry the limp bodies of children as they
flee their ISIS hunters. Up to 50,000 terrified Yazidis - half of them
children - have sought refuge from the bloodshed in the barren mountain
range to the north of their hometown. But there they face an impossible
dilemma - try to make it to the Turkish border and risk being captured
and killed by insurgents, or remain on the mountain without food or
water in the searing heat in the hope that aid will somehow get through
Ruthless:
An ISIS fighter poses next to a dead Yazidi. ISIS have denounced the
Yazidis as devil-worshipers on account of their ancient set of beliefs
and have issued them with an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay a
religious fine, flee their homes or face death
--------------------
The ISIS should be exterminated now to stop this genocide. The world had become hard hearted after seeing the genocide of Tamils in Sri-Lanka in May 2009 when about 150000 Tamil civilian minorities were massacred by the majority Sinhala army in front of the UN. The whole scenario was broadcast by Channel 4 Killing fields of Sri-Lanka. Mr Callum Macray produced this award winnable TV show. He should step in to held this Yazidi people as well. Please do. Expose the genocide.
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