Tag Archives: Kangdez

Atlantis Parallels: When Myths Echo Plato’s Lost Island

2 October, 2025BookAhuras, Asuras, Atlantis, Atlas, Austronesian, Baruna, Book of the Dead, Comparative mythology, Critias, Eden, Egyptian priests, Flood myths, Garden of Eden, Gilgamesh, Gosong Gia, Java Sea, Kangdez, Kumari Kandam, Land of Punt, Mount Nisir, Neserser, Nusasura, Osiris, Plato, Poseidon, Sais Egypt, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Sundaland, Ta Netjer, Timaeus, Varuna, VourunaDhani Irwanto

A research by Dhani Irwanto, 2 October 2025

Plato’s tale of Atlantis, told in Timaeus and Critias, has fascinated readers for over two millennia. Yet Plato was not writing in a vacuum. Across the world, from India to Mesopotamia, from Egypt to Tamil traditions, we find stories that sound strangely familiar. These are not “proofs” of Atlantis, but parallels—echoes of catastrophe, paradise, or vanished lands.

Kumari Kandam (Tamil Memory of a Sunken Land)

The Tamil tradition speaks of Kumari Kandam, a lost landmass once ruled by the Pandyan kings. Ancient Tamil texts like Silappatikaram and Kaliththokai describe Sangam academies—gatherings of poets—some of which were said to have been drowned by the sea. Later Puranic texts placed Kumari Kandam in the deep south, now swallowed by the ocean.

It was imagined as a vast territory divided into 49 regions, crossed by mountains with 48 peaks, irrigated by channels from four great rivers. Mining of gems and gold was central. Eventually, the land was said to have been “swallowed by the sea” (Katalkol).

In modern times, revivalists fused this myth with the Victorian hypothesis of Lemuria, a now-abandoned scientific theory about a sunken Indian Ocean continent. Tamil nationalists embraced it as ancestral memory. In my earlier article on Lemuria, I showed how Kumari Kandam became conflated with Lemuria and even Mu, giving the myth a global spin.

Atlantis echo: A golden civilization, irrigated plains, gem mines, destroyed by rising seas.

Kangdez (Iranian Fortress-Paradise)

Iranian epic literature preserves the memory of Kangdez (Fortress of Kang). In the Shāhnāmeh and Bundahishn, Kangdez appears as a miraculous walled city in the Far East. Slides highlight its placement: “at the far eastern ocean, about six months to a year’s voyage from Iran, near the equator, outside China, east of India.”

Descriptions of Kangdez include concentric rings of walls layered with metals and precious stones, plentiful waters, eternal springs, and places of play, silver and gold towers, and a great plain influenced by the sea’s tides with rivers flowing south from volcano-studded mountains.

Atlantis echo: Both traditions emphasize concentric fortifications, gleaming metals, abundance of water, and a paradisal yet precarious geography.

Neserser (Egypt’s Island of Osiris)

In the Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Nu), we encounter Neserser—“the Island of Fire” in the far East, where the sun rises. It is the dwelling place of Osiris (Ausares, Asar) and Thoth. The imagery is vivid: Osiris enthroned in the center of six or seven concentric circles on a sacred lake, a volcanic-like “island and lake of fire” dedicated to Ra, floods that reshape the landscape, and Thoth residing nearby, keeper of divine knowledge.

Later Egyptologists described these circles as “hidden after the flood.”

Atlantis echo: Here again are concentric circles, a sacred island, a great flood, and divine kingship.

Mount Nisir (Mesopotamian Flood Memory)

The Epic of Gilgamesh recounts a great flood, where Utnapishtim builds an ark. After seven days, the boat grounds on Mount Nisir. Slides add color: the land in the Far East was like paradise, with forested mountains, rivers, vast plains, noisy birds, cicadas, and monkeys screaming in the trees.

This imagery is tropical—not the dry Mesopotamian steppe, but a lush, equatorial realm. Some scholars note that “Nisir” is phonetically close to “Neserser” and even “Nusasura.”

Atlantis echo: The flood, the grounding of survivors on a mountain, the paradise-like tropical plain.

The Asuras and the Ahuras

In early Vedic India, the Asuras were not evil—Varuna, guardian of cosmic law and the waters, was chief among them. Later texts, however, cast the Asuras as enemies of the Devas, while Varuna retained dignity as a god of oceans.

In Iranian religion, the cognate term Ahura (as in Ahura Mazda) was elevated as the supreme god, while the Daevas (same root as Devas) became demons.

India (early Vedas): Asuras = powerful lords, led by Varuna

India (later): Asuras = demons
Iran: Ahuras = good, Daevas = bad
Assyria: Ashur = supreme deity
Egypt: Osiris (Asar, Asari) = supreme deity with concentric-circle symbolism

Atlantis echo: The Atlantean kings were “Poseidon’s sons.” Poseidon parallels Varuna/Baruna, lord of seas and boundaries. The name “Atlas” recalls “Asura/Ashur/Osiris.” We glimpse a very old naming web that Solon may have repurposed.

“Atlas” and “Poseidon” as Borrowed Names

Plato openly said he borrowed names “to make the tale intelligible to his audience.” Thus Atlas and Poseidon may be Greek masks for older gods.

Atlas: The mountain-bearing Titan in Greek myth; but also linked to the root “Asura/Asar.”

Poseidon: God of seas and quakes, mirroring Varuna/Baruna/Vouruna—Indo-Iranian lords of waters and oaths.

These echoes suggest that Solon translated Near Eastern deities into Greek equivalents. The concentric rings, sacred kingship, and sea-lord all survive the translation.

The Garden of Eden

Finally, the Garden of Eden—a paradise watered by a river dividing into four: Tigris, Euphrates, Gihon, and Pishon. Genesis places Eden in the East, yet beyond ordinary geography. Some scholars argue Eden reflects older Mesopotamian “Dilmun” traditions—a far-off, pristine land. My 2015 article even suggested Kalimantan as Eden’s real-world counterpart.

Atlantis echo: Eden shares the archetype of a paradise lost—an ordered, fertile place destroyed or closed off after human transgression.

Gosong Gia and Nusantara Echoes

Slides mention Nusasura—possibly the “original name of Atlantis.” It combines nusa (island) and Asura. Old maps show names like Nusasira or Nisaira, perhaps distorted echoes. The Gosong Gia reef in the Java Sea is suggested as a drowned remnant. Even the people of Bawean Island hold myths of a sunken land.

Atlantis echo: If Atlantis lay in the Java Sea, Nusantara traditions like Nusasura may be its local survival in name.

Neserser, Punt, and Southeast Asia: The Egyptian Connection

Plato insists that his Atlantis story came from Egyptian priests at Sais, who told Solon the tale. If so, then the Egyptian worldview—their maps of trade, geography, and sacred memory—shaped what Plato inherited.

The Egyptians had firsthand knowledge of Southeast Asia, preserved in their accounts of the Land of Punt. Punt, described as the Ta Netjer or “land of the gods,” was not a vague myth but a real destination of repeated voyages, from Khufu to Rameses III. The great expedition of Hatshepsut (c. 1493 BCE) is famously carved on her temple walls, showing Egyptian ships sailing to Punt’s harbors.

Punt was, I argue, Sumatra:

Products: Gold, camphor (kapur barus), benzoin (kemenyan), cinnamon, ebony, nutmeg, short-horned cows, elephants, and macaques—all endemic to Sumatra and neighboring islands.
Architecture: Puntite houses on stilts match Sumatran and Enggano traditions.
People: Puntites depicted with lighter skin, straight noses, and Malay-style dress, jewelry, and weapons.
Names: Chief Parehu resembles Enggano names (Paraúha, Puríhio). His wife Ati recalls common Indonesian nicknames.

This is not coincidence—it is a cultural fingerprint.

Now let’s place this beside Neserser. The Book of the Dead speaks of Osiris enthroned at the center of six or seven concentric circles, on an island-lake in the far East. The imagery of circles, water, divine enthronement, and flood resonates directly with Plato’s Atlantis.

If the Egyptians already connected their cosmology to the far East—to Sumatra, the “land of origin”—then the parallels between Neserser and Atlantis may not be abstract at all. They may reflect Egypt’s sacred geography projected upon Southeast Asia.

The Thread of Transmission:

Egypt knew Sumatra as Punt—the source of incense, gold, and sacred products.
Neserser represented a circular, island-paradise of Osiris in the East.
Atlantis, as told by priests to Solon, may have drawn on this same Eastern sacred memory.

In this light, Atlantis is not a purely Mediterranean invention. It may encode Egypt’s knowledge of Southeast Asia, filtered through myth, memory, and Plato’s philosophy.

Later Egyptologists described these circles as “hidden after the flood.”

Atlantis echo: Here again are concentric circles, a sacred island, a great flood, and divine kingship.

Connecting the Dots: A Discussion

The parallels between Plato’s Atlantis and global myths—from Tamil Kumari Kandam to Mesopotamian Nisir, from Iranian Kangdez to Biblical Eden—show a striking pattern of shared motifs: floods, lost paradises, concentric sacred cities, and divine kingship.

Among these, the Egyptian contribution is the most critical. Plato himself acknowledged that the story came from Egyptian priests. Their sacred geography included Neserser, the concentric island of Osiris in the far East, and their historical voyages reached as far as Punt—identified with Sumatra, the ‘Land of Origin.’

When we combine Neserser’s sacred concentric circles with Punt’s real-world geography and resources, a powerful connection emerges: Egypt not only imagined an eastern paradise, but had knowledge of one. Atlantis may be the philosophical echo of Egypt’s long memory of Southeast Asia.

Thus, the Atlantis story can be seen as a tapestry woven from many threads—myths of lost lands, religious cosmologies, and Egypt’s own encounters with Southeast Asia. Connecting these dots allows us to glimpse Atlantis not as an isolated legend, but as part of a wider human memory of catastrophe, paradise, and rebirth.

Conclusion: When Myths Rhyme Across Oceans

Kumari Kandam, Kangdez, Neserser, Nisir, Asuras, Atlas, Eden—each speaks in its own voice, yet the chorus is familiar. Lost lands, floods, circular cities, divine kings, and paradise destroyed.

Plato may have woven a Greek philosophical tale. But the motifs he used—perhaps borrowed, perhaps remembered—echo far older and wider. Atlantis may not be alone; it may be part of a global pattern of mythic memory of catastrophe and rebirth.

Comparative Snapshot: Parallels at a Glance

A concise table to visualize recurring motifs and where Southeast Asia fits in the Egyptian knowledge frame.

Tradition/Source	Core Setting	Key Motifs	Flood/Collapse	Concentric/Sacred Center	Sea-Lord/Lawgiver	SE Asia Link
Kumari Kandam (Tamil)	Southern drowned land	Golden age, irrigated plains, gem mining, lost coasts	Yes – land swallowed by sea	No explicit circles (ordered realms)	Implied righteous kingship	Indirect (Indian Ocean south)
Kangdez (Iranian)	Fortress in the Far East, near equator	Concentric walls, metals, springs, tidal plain, volcanoes	Implied peril at sea’s edge	Yes – concentric fortifications	Sovereign order (Iranian epic)	Points East; equatorial hints
Neserser (Egypt)	Island-lake in the Far East	Osiris enthroned; 6–7 circles; ‘lake of fire’	Yes – flood imagery; ‘hidden’ after	Yes – canonical concentric circles	Osiris/Ra as sacral law & kingship	Conceptual East (sunrise); bridge to Punt
Mount Nisir (Gilgamesh)	Mountain of grounding	Paradise-like East; forests, birds, monkeys; great flood	Yes – global flood narrative	No (mountain refuge)	Divine warning & survival order	Tropical imagery resonates with SE Asia
Asuras/Ahuras (Indo-Iranian)	Cosmic moral order	Waters, oaths, boundaries (Varuna/Ahura Mazda)	Not central	Symbolic circles (order)	Yes – sea-lord/lawgiver archetype	Cultural substrate across Indo-Iran
Atlas/Poseidon (Greek)	Atlantean kingship; sea-quake god	Names tied to sea power, metals, concentric city	Yes – sudden destruction	Yes – Atlantis capital rings	Poseidon (cf. Varuna/Baruna)	By proxy via Indo-Iran → Egypt
Garden of Eden (Genesis)	Eastern paradise, 4 rivers	Pristine garden, moral test, exile	Yes – loss/expulsion (not flood)	No circles; central river hub	Implied divine law	ANE roots; not specific to SE Asia
Nusasura/Gosong Gia (Java Sea)	Shoal/reef & island lore	Name echoes (nusa + asura); local sunken-land myths	Yes – submergence memory	Reef annuli (natural rings)	Asura/Baruna name web	Direct Java Sea locus
Egyptian Punt = Sumatra	‘Land of Origin’ at sunrise	Incense (benzoin), camphor, cinnamon, gold; stilt houses; macaques	No collapse; active trade	Sacred east; gardens/temples receive	Egypt’s sacred economy	Direct – Egyptians knew Sumatra

Kangdez, an Iranian Myth

19 April, 2016BookAbu Mashar al-Balkhi, Afrasiab, al-Balkhi school, al-Biruni, Albumasar, ancient civilization, Aredvi Sura Anahita, Atlantis, Avesta, Bundahishn, Dadestan, Dadestan i-Denig, Dinkard, Eranvej, Gangdez, Iranian myth, Java Sea, Kangdez, Kay Khosrow, Pahlavi, Sassanid, Siavosh, Siyavakhsh, Sundaland, Turan, Vourukasha Sea, Yamakoti, ZoroastrianDhani Irwanto

A research by Dhani Irwanto, 19 April 2016

Kangdez refers to a mythical, paradise-like fortress in Iranian folklore, means “Fortress of Kang”. In Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, Kangdez becomes Gangdez.

The Middle Persian Pahlavi texts mention Kangdez as being founded by Siyavakhsh (Siavosh in the Shahnameh). In the Bundahishn and Dadestan i-Denig, Kangdez was conquered by Kay Khosrow. In Pahlavi Zoroastrian eschatological works, Kangdez is the abode of Peshotan, son of King Vishtasp, and Khwarsheed-chihr son of Zarathushtra, who will gather their righteous army there before the final battle against Ahriman and his creatures. In Dinkard the previous information is ascribed to the lost Sudgar Nask of the Sassanid Avesta.

In the Shahnameh, Siavosh, having fled from Kay Kavus to Turan, is granted by Turan’s King Afrasiab a pleasant piece of land, where Siavosh erects the castle Kangdez by miraculous power. In other Persian texts, the construction of Kangdez is attributed to Kay Kavus, Kay Khosrow and even Legendary King Jamshid. The region around the castle Kangdez is described as being rich in water and game, and knowing neither the frost of winter nor the heat of summer. It is thirty farsakh square in size (1 farsakh is about 6.2 kilometers). The walled city of Kangdez is also called Kang-e Siavosh, Kang-e Siyavakhsh, Siavoshgerd and Siyavakhshgerd, in different texts. The combination of urban structures and gardens within the city walls, the absence of heat and frost, as well as several (usually seven) walls or buildings made of different materials is a characteristic description of towns in Iranian lore.

According to the Bundahisn, the Kangdez was originally supported on the heads of dews (also in Pahlavi), but was placed on the ground by Kay Khosrow. It had seven ring walls made of gold, silver, steel, brass, iron, crystal, and lapis lazuli (Bundahisn); or stone, steel, crystal, silver, gold, chalcedony and ruby (Pahlavi). It also had hands and feet, and there was eternal spring. Its dimensions were so enormous that it took a man with horse and chariot fifteen days to drive from one of its fifteen gates to the next (Bundahisn), set 700 parasangs (about 3900 kilometers) apart (Pahlavi). Each gate was the height of fifteen men, and the castle itself was so tall that the arrow of the best archers might not reach the top (Pahlavi).

According to the Pahlavi, the Kangdez was, apparently, at first in the other world, but was invited down to the earth by Kay Khosrow, who addressed it as his sister, since it had been made by his father (Siavosh). It came down in eastern Turan, in the area of Siavosh-kerd, and Kay Khosrow settled “the Iranians” in it, who would not leave it until the coming of Pisyotan (Wistasp’s eschatological son) at the end of time. It had a silver tower with golden crenellations, accommodating fourteen mountains and seven rivers in spate. After the end of the Kayanids, Pisyotan will be king and priest in the Kang until the final battles, which he goes out to fight, but then returns and stays until the Renovation.

Siavosh lived in Kangdez until he was cunningly killed by Afrasiab. When he learnt of his father’s murder, Siavosh’s son, Kay Khosrow, pledged vengance. When Kay Khosrow ascended the throne of Iranshahr, he launched a series of expeditions against Turan and Afrasiab, who he eventually defeated. Afrasiab fled to China and from there sails to Kangdez. Kay Khosrow pursues Afrasiab, puts together a naval force, and sets sail for Kangdez which he reaches after a six-month-long voyage, but Afrasiab has already secretly escaped. Kay Khosrow resides in Kangdez for one year and then sails back to Iran through Turanian territory.

Kangdez (2)

In the Sassanid Avesta, the Vourukasha Sea lies in the extreme East from which all waters come with the wind and clouds. It is described as the “deep sea of salt waters”. Reference is made to tides, of the “waters rising up and going down” and of a southern sea into which the Vourukasha empties and from which it refills causing the tidal ebb and flow. In the Vourukasha Sea is Eranvej, where the peak Hukairya is located. On Hukairya is the world spring and world river known as Aredvi Sura Anahita, the source of water for all the “world’s rivers”. Also on this peak grows the sacred “white haoma”.

In latter literature, Siavosh is said to have built Kangdez on the “frontier” of Eranvej. In the Vourukasha Sea is also mentioned the giant ox from whose back was taken the three sacred fires.

In the Dadestan i-Menog i-Khrad, the location of Kangdez is described as “entrusted with the eastern quarter, near to Satavayes on the frontier of Airan-vego”. Satavayes is a star or constellation. According to late Zoroastrian texts, Kangdez was located beyond Khotan (Hotan now) and China, a year’s voyage (six months for Kay Khosrow) to the East by sea from the Baluchi port of Makran. Arab geographer, al-Biruni, identifies Kangdez with another land of Yamakoti, the legendary easternmost town of the Indian oecumene.

The geographers who used Kangdez as the prime meridian belonged to what is known as the al-Balkhi school, after Abu Mashar al-Balkhi, known in the West as Albumasar. During the Middle Ages, Albumasar was the most renowned of Muslim astronomer/astrologers in Europe. His theories of historical cycles linked with the planets influenced many European astrologers including Nostradamus whose key work Revolutions was based on such concepts. Abu Mashar al-Balkhi placed the meridian in the far East, based his geographical canon on Kangdez as 0 degrees longitude. The reference to 0 longitude alludes to the concept that Kangdez is considered the centre of the earth. Al-Kashi in the 15th century places Kangdez at the extreme East or 180 degrees East longitude, and at the equator (0 degrees latitude).

Descriptions of Kangdez mentioned above, including its location at the extreme far east, in a sea (ocean) which could be reached from Iran by sea (a year or six-month’s voyage), situated around the equator, there was no snow, there were two seasons , outside of China, east of India (according to al-Biruni), many rivers, water and mountains, and there was a row of volcanoes ( “giant ox” where from whose back was taken the three sacred fires) indicate that Kangdez is most likely located in Sundaland. The descriptions of the fortress town of Kangdez, among others, consists of rings of walls coated with precious metals and stones, plenty of water and games, there were eternal springs, there was a tower of silver and gold, built by leaders who glorified (Siavosh or Kay Khosrow) with miraculous power, there were rivers and mountains, consists of plains influenced by sea tides, rivers were fed from the mountains and flow towards the south, and was in the marine environment, show that Kangdez approximately has characteristics similar to Atlantis.

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