Vendhya

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Vendhya is a country of the Hyborian Age.

Geography[]

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History and politics[]

Vendhya, more than anything else, resembles Vedic India. It is the cradle and stronghold of Asura worship. "Asura" is the Indian version of the Persian "Ahura", as in Ahura Mazda, father of the god Mithra (Mitra in the Indian version). This cult has spread westwards and is present for a long time, albeit often persecuted, in the Hyborian lands. In Aquilonia, Asura's followers find a protector in King Conan.

In the days of King Kull, a sage named Raamaa had much the same role as later Epimetrius the Sage to the Hyborians. The Hindu deity Rama, an earthly avatar of Vishnu the Preserver, was allegedly born in historical Ayodya - which is also the name of the capital of Vendhya. In the Kull story "The Altar and the Scorpion", the scorpion is a symbol for good. The one tradition where the scorpion is viewed favorably is in Buddhism, originally from India = Vendhya. There, a scorpion with its raised stinger is seen as the image of a spiritual warrior wielding the sword of truth. Perhaps Kaa-uu, spoken of in "By This Axe, I Rule!", is an old name of Vendhya. The Serpent Men are probably based on the Nagas, wise and often good serpent-like beings from Indian (Vendhya) mythology. These creature live under lakes, like the apparently-passive Serpent Men whom Kull encounters and befriends in "Delcardes' Cat". There, he learns how his earlier view was highly one-sided and probably abandons his wow for a final solution of the serpent man question. One may wonder how the Lemurian slaves, after thousands of years, suddenly were able to topple the evil empire in the far-east — unless having aid and support from outside or/and this empire were weakened after a previous conflict with an external enemy. In either case, Vendhya seems the likeliest. The same for the Hyborian barbarians being able to overthrow Acheron, a daughter kingdom of this evil empire - and perhaps Mu, also mentioned in "By This Axe, I Rule!". The moon-goddess riding a tiger from the Kull stories resembles Durga, a great Hindu goddess often identified with Kali, along with being the mother of the god Ganesha. Yag-Kosha from "The Tower of the Elephant" is reminiscent of Ganesha and once visited this kingdom. The dark priest Rotath in The Curse of the Golden Skull calls himself "of the Moonstone and the Asphodel". This Moonstone is arguably identical with "The Red Heart of the Night" = The Heart of Ahriman from The Hour of the Dragon. "Ahriman" means "The Destroyer" in Persian. The father of Ganesha was Shiva the Destroyer. The asphodel is a flower which the Greeks dedicated to Persephone, the queen of Hades (both the realm of the dead and its ruler). With time, the fields of Hades were thought to be covered with asphodel. In "The Scarlet Citadel", Conan saves the wizard Pelias from a diabolical flower allegedly rooted in Hell. This flower is said to stem from Yag, homeworld of Yag-Kosha. Overall, it seems likely for the feud between the earthly empire of the dark gods and the earthly kingdom of Asura goes back to the dawn of time. Perhaps more than ever now in the days of Conan - and the devi Yasmina. Perhaps Vendhya, like India in real life, is the cradle of unarmed combat and martial arts. Perhaps the Turanians are scions of the more high-ranking and privileged among the Lemurian slaves of the sons of ancient Mu, as opposed to the Hyrkanians - and, of course, Vendhya.

Population and culture[]

We have very little in this section just yet. You can help Conan Wiki by adding something. Vendhyans are brown-skinned as in Vedic India. In the only Howard story which takes place in Vendhya, "The People of the Black Circle", no caste-system is mentioned.

Stories set in Vendhya[]