Dear Jijith Nadumuri Ravi,
My name is Agustin Aila and I´m from Argentina.
I write this email because when I was searching in google about my surname I found this page: http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/origins-of-aila-kings
Investigating I realised that in India was a lineage of kings named "Aila".I don´t know if my surname comes from India (my grandfather was italian and he always said that his grandfather was from a place in the otoman empire, but he didn´t know where) and I would like to learn more about that.
Is Aila a common surname there? Do you know where I can read more about that?
I will apreciate your help, I always wanted to know from where was my surname!
Best regards,
Agustin Aila
Dear Agustin
Your lineage is a blessed one. It is very special, especially from Indian point of view.
Aila was one among the ancient royal lineages mentioned in the Indian epic Mahabharata. Indian researches put a date of 3100 BC to Mahabharata (based on archeo-astronomy and traditional records) , while Indologists in Europe dates it at 800 BC (based on linguistic studies and AMT hypothesis). Anyway, in both cases this lineage is certainly older than Ottoman empire (1200 AD to 1800 AD).
The significance of your lineage (Aila lineage) is that the Kauravas and the Pandavas, the two sibling branches who fought in Mahabharata war trace their ancestry to Aila lineage. The Pandavas and Karuavas, both were considered as Kurus. (Aila > Puru > Bharata > Kuru). The Kurus were a branch of the Bharata royal lineage. The Bharatas were branched from the Puru lineage and the Puru lineage was a branch of the Aila lineage.
The first member of your lineage, who got mention in any recorded literature is thus a king named Pururavas. He is considered as the first king in the Aila lineage. Aila lineage is also known as the lunar race or Chandra Vamsa (also known as Soma Vamsa). Chandra and Soma means 'moon' and Vamsa means race. In India, the usage of the name Aila is not very common. Instead there are many who identifies themselves as belonging to Chandra Vamsa or to Soma Vamsa. So if you find an Indian with surname Chandra-vamsi or Soma-vamsi or Somani they are to be understood as belonging to Aila lineage.
Mythologically people of lunar race say they originated from the Moon or from the Moon-God (like kings mentioned in Mahabharata; Note that Islam also have lunar crescent as their symbol; Ottoman empire was an Islamic empire) , while people of solar race say they originated from the Sun or the Sun-God (like Rama of Ramayana, and many Egyptian kings). But these are just fables. Actually in ancient days people measured time based on the motion of moon or based on the motion of sun. Some kings declared that time is to be measured only based on moon. So they followed lunar-months and lunar-year (which is 355 days per year, adding an additional month after some years). Other kings declared that time is to be measured based on motion of sun. So they had solar months and solar year (360 days, adding additional days after some years). Later the kings who followed moon were known as descended from Moon and those who followed sun were known as descended from Sun.
Pururavas got the tribal name Aila from his mother Ila.. His father was Budha who was the son of Soma. Many think this Soma was the Moon-God. but actually he was a king who followed lunar calender instead of a solar calender.
You can read further on this topic (if you have not already read) from the links below:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailas
http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/origins-of-aila-kings
http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/mbh:aila (All reference of Aila in Mahabharata)
http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/mbh:aila-s
http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/mbh-category:king-aila (Aila Kings mentioned in Mahabharata)
http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/human-migration-and-india (Migratory path from Africa to India)
Regards
Jijith
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Dear Jijith,
I appreciate your info about my surname, I never think that it would come from India and I´m surprised.
Thanks for all…
Best regards,
Agustin Aila