INDIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 162, 24 March 1939, Page 1

INDIA AND NEW ZEALAND

SIMILARITY OF PEOPLES The similarity of the mythology of the Maori people and the people of India was described by the Bishop of Aotearoa, the lit. Rev. F. A. Bennett, in an address to the Hastiligs Rotary Club. The bishop recently returned from the inter-denominational missionary conference in India.

It was believed that the Alaori was descended from people who migrated from India many centuries ago, said the bishop. In the legends of the Maori wore to be foundi stories of a great land to the north, the higher levels of which were covered with snow. The southern part was fiat and the climate very hot. The name given lty the .Maori people to this land was similar to the word India.

There were a number of points of similarity in the- traditions of the countries, which provided a definite link between them, said His Lordship. According to Indian mythology the first man was made from red soil, which composed large tracts of the country. The Indians had an eel-god named Tuna, corresponding with the same Tuna-god of the Maori. Languages Similar. ’The hisliop said there \Vere many points in the two languages that were similar, but the fact that more than 200 languages were spoken in India made the comparison difficult. The Maori people had ;> very clear conception of coming from a far off country and in the tangi words often arose which they must have adopted in their long journey south. The bishop’s use of the word “Arawa” aroused the interest of the Indian people, who wished to know its meaning aud how it came into use. On inquiry the bishop found' that Arawa was an old tribal name in India, which dated hack for many centuries.;