ORIGINS OF KOREA

ORIGINS OF KOREA:

As we watch the 2018 Korean winter Olympics, the history of King Sure-the iron king, and his wife Gauri from Ajodhya, India, bears mentioning.

The world first heard about this story when a delegation of 100 high-level government officials from South Korea came unexpectedly to India in the year 2000. They traveled to what used to be Ajodhya in ancient times and looked for a Mr. Mishra. They were searching, they said, for a descendent of King Mishra of Ajodhya from about 50 AD. When they found the unsuspecting poor farmer, they showered him with lavish gifts, and millions of dollars. They told him that he was the direct descendant of King Mishra of Ayodhya from about 50 A.D, who was their ancestor, and the ancestor of the largest group of Koreans!

They also gifted over 40 million dollars to make Ayodhya a Sister City to the City of Kimhae, Korea. They asked Mr. Mishra to travel back and forth between Ayodhya and Korea as their ambassador.

Their story is as follows: King Mishra of Ayodhya was an extremely wealthy, powerful, and pious King of ancient India. Ayodhya was the capital of Lord Ram, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu. King Mishra had one daughter whose name was Gauri. Gau is the Sanskrit word for Cow.  The name Gauri denotes the qualities of being gentle and pure.

One morning the King awoke from a dream, in which he was ordered by God, so he related, that he should send his daughter by ship to a small hitherto unknown island to the East. There she should marry the head of the tribal people. King Mishra’s court and his family were shocked that the King would send his only daughter, the heir to his powerful throne, faraway to an island not even neighboring his kingdom.

But the pious king obeyed his dictate and made arrangements to send his 16-year-old daughter Princess Gauri across the seas. She was escorted by her brother and a powerful naval fleet of seven ships. Gauri’s brother, a Prince himself, had an escort of many valiant warriors along with them.

King Mishra also sent teachers of various academic subjects and martial arts. Many lavish and opulent gifts were sent to the island along with his daughter. She took with her various stones from Ayodhya to “calm the waters of the oceans” She also brought with her plants of tea. And the Ayodhya Seal of the Royal Mishra family - two twin fish kissing each other. These items were later among the clues to identify where Princess Gauri originally came from. 

King Mishra told his daughter to marry the chief of the tribes there. Gauri was only 16 years old.

Interestingly, at the same time, on the island, the prince of the people was a young man named Suro (later known as King Suro). His people had been asking the prince to get married to one of the local girls for quite a while as they felt he was getting old. (he was around 16 at the time) He had hitherto refused  to marry any local girl, to the dismay of all around him. He proclaimed that God had come to him in a dream and had told him that his wife would come to him from across the seas and he should wait for her.

One day, many people ran to him with information that a great armada was coming across the horizon. When the armada came to the beachhead, they reported to Prince Suro that indeed among them was a Princess -as he had predicted. He ordered that the Princess and her escorts be brought before him.

To his surprise, the 16-year-old sent a message back to him that she expected the respect that was due her as a woman and a Princess. She expected a royal escort. Amazed and impressed, King Suro sent his men to build a camp with tents outside his fort for Gauri and her warrior-escorts. After they were settled, he formally invited and escorted them into his abode. They were soon married. The country then became known as Gauriya, and now it is known as Korea.

The King and Queen, who was called Queen Huh or Queen Heo, in Gauriya, had 10 sons and two daughters. There are now six million descendants from this Princess of Ayodhya, India. This is the largest clan of Koreans and extremely well known and respected. They are the prominent leaders of Korea. They are well known in Korea as the Kimhae Kims or the Kimhae Huhs. They include past President Kim Dae Jund and Prime Minister Jong Pil Kim.

REFERENCES: Iryeon, pages 161 to 164.

Samyak – Yusa, Seoul. Yonsei University Press.

ISBN 8971410175.

Times of India 15-05-2005.

India Abroad 14-05-2000.

 This story was fascinating to me because it shows how, no matter how different we look or how different cultures maybe after thousands of years, ultimately it will be shown that we all come from the same cradle Perhaps the future generations can use this knowledge to work together as a united world among brothers and sisters.

Ayodhya is now the sister city of Incheon or Kimhae. In 2007 the Korean government declared Ayodhya and Kimhae as sister cities.

Princess Heo Hwang-ok is known to have come from Ayuta (Ayodhya)

Ayodhya is the city of Lord Rama‘s birthplace. There is a memorial on the West Bank of the Sarayu river. This was erected by the Korean government. The twin fish is the state symbol of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and is commonly found on ancient buildings in Ayodhya. The twin fish symbol was the Royal seal of the Mishra royal family in Ayodhya, also known as the Gaya kingdom.

The Atharva Veda said that Ayodhya was a city built by the Gods themselves and was as prosperous as paradise itself.

Professor Byung Mo Kim of Hanyang University is a national archaeologist in Korea. He said “I share my genes with the royal family of Ayodhya “. “For the last 40 years I have traced the route taken by the princess between Ayodhya and Kimhae City “