A Civilization Around River Sarasvati
The great sage Vyasa dictated the Mahabharata to Ganesha, on the banks of the River Sarasvati. While dictating, the sage asked the river goddess to flow more gently. She didn't listen and that is when Ganesha cursed her that she will one day completely vanish. Thus, the disappearance of the river is also there in Hindu scriptures.
Sarasvati originated amid the Aravalli mountain range in Rajasthan, as a tributary of the Alaknanda River, which has an origination point near Badrinath in Uttarakhand. The river passed through Patan and Sidhpur before merging with the Rann of Kutch. The remains of the river are there in the Mana village, the last village on the Ind0-Tibetan border in the Chameli district, located around 4.4km from Badrinath. The river Sarasvati is mentioned in both the Rig Veda and Manusmriti, and it is important for India to prove the Aryan invasion theory is just humbug.
In the year 1886, Moniere Williams made the process of translating Sanskrit to English easier by the publication of Sanskrit to English and English to Sanskrit dictionaries. Earlier, William Jones had "discovered" that Sanskrit was similar to many other European languages and almost "founded" comparative linguistics. In 1786, in his address to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Jones said: "The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is a wonderful structure, more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin and more exquisitely refined than either: yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident". Thus, a diabolic design to invent the "Aryan invasion and civilization" was born. (1)
In 1794, after the Manusmriti (Law Code of Manu) was "discovered" and translated by Jones, the Rig Veda, the most ancient work of Indian philosophy that predated Manusmriti, was translated by Max Muller in 1856. (2) Both texts open the doors to ancient India.
Both the Rig
Veda nor Manusmriti had not been written down when they were
composed. The people of ancient India did not use a
writing system to preserve the texts or ancient compositions. They never wrote on paper or wood or another medium, in the heat of tropical India. Though many wooden boats were
constructed by the people living in ancient India, none has survived until today or yet been found by archaeologists excavating the remains of the cities of ancient India. (3)
Maybe they wanted to control the flow of information for political or
religious reasons. A different method of preserving knowledge was invented- memorization. Certain
individuals dedicated their life to memorising long passages of information: a type of poetry or
hymn was easy to memorise if chanted to a particular rhythm. There are individuals in India today who memorise many of these hymns, especially Rig Veda, recite them every
day and teach them.
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| Geography of Rig Veda |
The Europeans found some support for their theories, in the Rig Veda itself: In the Rig Veda, there are many
references to battles between forces, especially the "Arya versus the
Dasyu." But, several scholars of today point out that it was not a battle between the white and the black, but a reference to a never-ending fight between good and evil, since the Veda is a spiritual text.
The Aryan invasion theory, developed by many European scholars said that powerful warriors called "Aryans"
from outside of the northwest of India, perhaps southern Russia, invaded India in about
1500 BCE, developed the Sanskrit language and compiled the Rig-Veda in
1200 BCE. Though the sophistication of Sanskrit shows that it took many years to develop, the '"Aryan invasion theory" said that no other type of modernism was
developed in ancient India until Alexander came with his army in about
326 BCE. Now, in light of scientific discoveries, we are certain that the Aryan invasion theory is a myth.
It is difficult to believe that mighty warriors who
had travelled thousands of miles and conquered India would suddenly tum their
swords into ploughshares and switch from war to spirituality. It is also difficult to
believe that these "linguistically sophisticated warriors" would
never mention in their (?) compositions like the Rig Veda their nativity or native language prior to their supposed invasion of India. There is no mention of how they easily developed the complicated Sanskrit. There is no mention of how they pressurised the native population to learn complicated Sanskrit, giving up their native one, recruiting large numbers of uncivilised native people to dedicate their lives to learning,
memorizing, reciting and teaching the difficult foreign language.
Though the Rig Veda doesn't contain the word Aryan, (it has only Arya), the European evangelists called the invaders '"Aryan" and their native
enemies "Dasa" or '"Dasyu". The enemies of the Vedic
king, Sudas, are described in the Rig-Veda as being both Aryas and Dasas. Why not the Aryan Invasion theorists found this confusing? Dasyus are sometimes described as dark-skinned, and this came in handy for the Aryan invasion theorists. They were quick to reason that if the enemies were "dark", that could refer to the native population of India. Conversely, the Europeans in India claimed to be more directly related to the white "Aryan civilised invaders".
It is evident that the Rig Veda never meant skin
colour. The darkness of Dasyus and the lightness of Arya in the Rig Veda speak of a symbolic battle between light and
darkness, good and bad. (4)
The word, Arya is defined by Monier-Williams in his Sanskrit
to English dictionary as: "a respectable or honourable or faithful man, an
inhabitant of Aryavarta; one who is faithful to the religion of his country; Name of
the race which immigrated from Central Asia into Aryavarta (opposed to {anArya}, {dasyu}, {dAsa} .. a man highly esteemed, a respectable, honourable man...
a master, an owner; a friend...of a good family; excellent; wise... [see Old German
{era}; Mod(ern) Germ(an) {Ehre}; Irish {Erin}.] (5)
Thus, Williams invented a meaning for Arya, a "politically-correct" invention, designed to drive a wedge between the people of India, the upper and lower rungs of society, to divide and rule, or divide and destroy. So, what does Arya really mean?
Each Sanskrit letter
actually is a root sound (dathu) that makes up simple words and the roots of more complicated words. In the case of Arya, it comes
from the following Sanskrit letters (there are two possibilities for
spellings using one of two different "R" sounds): (6)
A-a ... prefix of verbs, near, near to, towards
R-...in heaven, to go, move, rise, tend upwards (or)
ra- acquiring...giving...fire, heat, love, brightness, splendour
ya- joining, restraining... attaining
Taken together, the roots indicate: "one who is near
towards acquiring and joining splendour or is rising upwards to attain heaven",
which could mean spiritual or special or
"heaven-oriented" people. It will never mean white foreign warriors.
The composers of Rig Veda often referred to themselves as "Arya". The Westerners took it as "Aryan" and translated the word as being "white-skinned", just because in Rig Veda, the enemies of the Aryas were sometimes described as "dark". As we have seen, the names of the "dark" enemies of the "Aryas" were "Daasas" or "Dasyus". After World War II, Western scholars found scholars from India, like Sri Aurobindo, more credible- he believed that Daasas were not human beings at all, but "dark" spirits versus spirits of light; even the British Indologists Arthur MacDonnell and Arthur Keith said that the word "Dasyu" is applied to "superhuman enemies" and that the word "Daasa sometimes denotes enemies of a demoniac character in the Rig Veda". (7) In Rig Veda, the god of fire, "Agni", is often portrayed as a bringer of the Light, one who killed the Dasyus, the dark (spirits). (8) Rig Veda, Book V, Chapter 14, Verse 4, says: "Agni (the god of fire) shone brightly when born, with light killing the Dasyus and the dark. (9)
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| Vedic Rivers |
In Rig Veda 1.96.3, the term "aria" is used, not "Arya", it is "viza ArIrAhutam", even though it is translated in English as "Aryan": "Praise him, ye Aryan folk"; the correct word should be "aindra", which means "belonging to or sacred to (the Vedic god) Indra, coming or proceeding from Indra. (13) Monier Williams defines "ari" as "attached to faithful; a faithful or devoted or pious man" and "ArI" as "to pour, let drop, to trickle or flow upon; to flow over." This is very different from "light-skinned" or "white-skinned" invaders called Aryans.
In 1919-1920, two extremely old archaeological sites were found by R D Banerji of the Archaeological Survey of India and
excavated by a team led by K N Dikshit during 1924-1925, and John Marshal during 1925-1926, in northwest India, the ancient cities of Mohenjodaro and Harappa near
the Indus River. The civilization was called the Indus or Harappa Civilization or (14) Indus/Harappa Civilization and was dated to about 2500 BCE or about 4500 years ago. This was a setback for the Aryan invasion theorists. They no
longer could claim that the native population of India was uncivilised in 2500 BCE. There was conclusive proof of carefully planned out cities with streets that ran according to directions, North-South and East-West, with bathrooms in every house and advanced waterways and drainage systems.
Such drainage systems did not come again for another 2000 years until
the time of Roman urban planners.
After the cities of Mohenjodaro and Harappa were '"discovered", the Aryan invasion theory was changed: these cities were constructed by some
other prior invaders who built the cities, and then either left or were defeated by outsiders!
Now, after careful study for a century, there is no evidence of the Aryan invasion or any other such invasion. The Indus/Harappa Civilization died out from over-use of the land, earthquakes
which dried up the large river next to the Indus River, the River Sarasvati, and a
drop in foreign trade. (15 )
The duties of Aryas are described in Manusmriti.
They are not worldly but spiritually-oriented individuals. They are not foreign fighters:
Manusmriti, Chapter 2, verse 108: "Let an Arya who has been
initiated, (daily) offer fuel in the sacred fire, beg food, sleep on the ground and do
what is beneficial to this teacher, until (he performs the ceremony of) Samavartana
(on returning home). Chapter 2, verse 165: An Arya must study the whole
Veda together with the Rahasyas, performing at the same time various kinds of
austerities and the vows prescribed by the rules (of the Veda). (16)
River Sarasvati
Both the Rigveda and Manusmriti hint at a cradle of civilization, on the banks of the River Saraswati.
The term "Cradle of civilization" means the first location and time in human history where nomadic
hunter-gatherers switched to farming and produced sufficient crops to allow some
members of the society to work on developing a civilization. The hunter-gatherers noticed
wild grains growing without human help, usually on the fertile land of a large river
that regularly overflowed, depositing soil rich in nutrients for wild grains, near
the river. The seeds of wild grains were deposited on this rich and fertile soil by
birds picking up the seeds in their beaks, flying to the fertile ground and dropping
the seeds to be planted without human intervention to grow "naturally". The wind
also performed this task, thus enabling the wild grains to sprout in the fertile land
and grow.
At several places throughout the world, at different times, the switch to
farming came next, when the people gradually stopped hunting-gathering to
picking wild grains and planting them in the fertile soil. After some period of
time, there were sufficient excess food
crops to allow some of the members of the farming community to tum their
attention to other pursuits, such as trading excess food crops. This was followed by the development of
towns and cities, the division of labour and the beginning of "civilization".
The phrase "fertile crescent" means the crescent-moon-shaped area in the Middle East that incorporated
ancient Mesopotamia (mostly modern-day Iraq), the Levant, and in some cases, ancient Egypt. But, there existed other large rivers in the world that regularly overflowed
and had a type of crescent shape, a "fertile
crescent" or a "past fertile crescent". These were the
sites of ancient farming communities, some of which later became towns, cities
and later civilizations, in China and India, two areas other than what
Westerners called the "cradle of civilization" in the Middle East. The one pre-1900
BCE surrounding the Sarasvati River in northwest India, the Indus/Harappa civilization is a fertile crescent.
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| The route of Sarasvati |
The River "Sarasvati" in India is also a historical marker. Both the Rig Veda and Manusmriti refer to the Sarasvati River as a "great and mighty river" in the present tense. Rig Veda says, it "flowed from the mountains to the sea". It is evident that both the Rig Veda and Manusmriti were composed before the Sarasvati River dried up in 1900 BC; So, Manusmriti was composed prior to 1900 BC and therefore is the oldest law code in the world.
The Nadistuti hymn in the Rig Veda (10.75) mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, while hymn 7.95.1-2, describes the Sarasvati as flowing to the Samudra, a word now usually translated as 'ocean', but which could also mean "lake." (17) Later Vedic texts such as the Tandya Brahmana and the Jaiminiya Brahmana, as well as the Mahabharata, mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert.
In the seventh "mandala" (chapter), of Rig Veda, Hymn 95, verses 1 and 2, the River
Sarasvati is spoken of as "surpassing...all other waters...pure in her course from
mountains to the ocean...(18)
The Sarasvati river was revered and considered important for Hindus because it is said that it was on this river's banks, along with its tributary Drishadwati, in the Vedic state of Brahmavarta, that Vedic Sanskrit had its genesis, (19) and important Vedic scriptures like initial part of Rig Veda and several Upanishads were supposed to have been composed by Vedic seers. In the Manusmriti, Brahmavarta is portrayed as the "pure" centre of Vedic culture.
In the 1970s, space satellite pictures of the earth showed the dried-up path of the River Sarasvati, which flowed in ancient India from the "mountains to the sea". Sarasvati, due to earthquakes, got completely dried up by about 1900 BCE. The river was structurally controlled by en echelon faults; hence, even minor tectonic movements caused big changes in the configuration of the palaeo-channels. (20) The term 'en echelon' in Geology refers to closely-spaced, parallel or subparallel, overlapping or step-like minor structural features in rock (faults, tension fractures), which lie oblique to the overall structural trend. Extensional stresses create fractures that can infill with calcite. When rocks deform in a brittle manner, the fracture pore can subsequently infill with some form of cement, such as calcite. Typically, crystals will nucleate on the fracture wall and grow into the opening.
Mehrgarh, the cradle of civilization
The change in perception that was brought out by the excavations of
Mohenjodaro and Harappa, was made more pronounced by the discovery and
excavation of the even-more-ancient city of Mehrgarh. Mehrgarh was located in
ancient India not too far from the Indus/Harappa Civilization city of Mohenjodaro
(present-day Pakistan), and archaeologists dated Mehrgarh to about 8500 BCE. Merhgarh changed the idea of the grand and exquisite civilization that existed in the Indian
subcontinent. Mehrgarh is now called the "Cradle of
Civilization". According to Asko Parpola, the culture migrated into the Indus Valley and became the Indus Valley Civilization of the Bronze Age. (21)
Mehrgarh is a Neolithic archaeological site situated on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan in Pakistan. It is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River and between the modern-day Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi. The site was discovered in 1974 by a team led by the French archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige and his wife, Catherine Jarrige. Mehrgarh was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986, and again from 1997 to 2000. Archaeological material has been found in six mounds, and about 32,000 artefacts have been collected from the site. The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh—located in the northeast corner of the 495-acre site—was a small farming village dated between 7000 BCE and 5500 BCE.
Evidence of the world's first dental drilling of
tooth decay, approximately 7,000 to 9,000 years ago, has been found in
Mehrgarh (22), as well as the first use of cotton fibre (6th millennium BC). (23)
It was in 2001, archaeologists studying the remains of nine men from Mehrgarh discovered that the people of this civilization knew proto-dentistry. In April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first early Neolithic) evidence for the drilling of human teeth in a living person was found in Mehrgarh. According to the authors, their discoveries point to a tradition of proto-dentistry in the early farming cultures of that region. "Here we describe eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Pakistan that dates from 7,500 to 9,000 years ago. These findings provide evidence for a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry in early farming culture." (24)
The oldest known example of the lost-wax technique comes from a 6,000-year-old wheel-shaped copper amulet found at Mehrgarh. The amulet was made from unalloyed copper, an unusual innovation that was later abandoned. (25) The oldest ceramic figurines in South Asia were found at Mehrgarh. Many of the female figurines are holding babies, and were interpreted as depictions of the "mother goddess". However, due to some difficulties in conclusively identifying these figurines with the "mother goddess", some scholars prefer using the term "female figurines with likely cultic significance". (26)
Merhgarh was found to
have sophisticated artefacts that were sophisticated, and there is enough evidence of long-distance trading.
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| Mehgarh painted pottery, 3000-2500 BCE |
International trade and investment began in India thousands of years ago because of foreign objects found in India and Pakistan and Indus/ Harappa Civilization remains found in Egypt and Iraq. Mehrgarh shows evidence of being a large city of about 30,000 people. Foreign objects found in Mehrgarh are dated even prior to that of the Indus/Harappa Civilization of 4300 - 3200 BCE in the Indus/Harappa chalcolithic period (Copper Age). There exist ceramic similarities (clay pots and other vessels) in Mehrgarh and the Indus/Harappa Civilization with southern Turkmenistan and northern Iran, which suggest considerable mobility and trade. River Sarasvati was an often-used transportation route for shipping Indus/Harappa Civilization goods internationally to Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Archaeologists have found the remains of stone anchors from shipwrecks
that relate to ancient India (Indus/Harappa Civilization) in the Gulf States, such as
in Bahrain. One type is the "ring-stone" anchor, which is a large
stone shaped like a doughnut. These anchors have also been found off the coast of
India and in the sister city of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro.
Ancient India (Indus/Harappa Civilization) was famous for its boats and
international trade. One boat was called the Dhow, a popular boat
in ancient India. The Dhow was originally built in India, with the wood used for
the making of the boat cultivated and grown in India. (27) Later on, some of the wood grown in India was exported to Mesopotamia and Egypt and the boats were made
there.
The Dhow is actually a "sewn boat", that is, the planks of wood are
actually sewn or lashed together, not nailed, even though nails were available at
that time. After the River Sarasvatii dried up in 1900 BCE, international trade
originating in India also fell off for more than 1500 years. The Dhow then became
associated with Arab traders. (28)
Procopius, a Greek historian writing in the sixth century CE, recorded that ships used in the Indian Seas are not covered with pitch or any
substance, and the planks are fastened together, not with nails but with cords.
Other indications of international trade by Ancient India (Indus/Harappa
Civilization) involve "weights and measures". Weights and measures of ancient
India were either derived from other parts of
the then-known world or given to other parts, and were a
direct product of the international trade of India. Two different sets of weights have been found at some Indus/Harappa Civilization sites, one set for trade within the
Indus/Harappa Civilization and one set for international trade, outside the Civilization. It appears that the
weights from the Manusmriti were similar.
It is in the southern part of the Indus/Harappa Civilization, in the current Indian
state of Gujarat, that the now dried-up Sarasvatii
River ran into the sea. One of the ancient places where an important port city of
the Indus/Harappa Civilization was found in Gujarat, is now called
Lothal. In the Indus/Harappa museum in Lothal, there are ancient stone cubes of standard weights. Lothal was
one of the Indus/Harappa Civilization sites that had another series of weights
conforming to the heavy Assyrian standard for international trade.
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| Mother goddess, Mehrgarh, 3000-2500 BCE |
This is evidence that the Indus/Harappa Civilization conducted international trade. William Jones was of the view that the Hindus must have been navigators in the age of composing Manusmriti because it mentions bottomry, the lending of money for marine insurance.
When Alexander invaded India in 326 BCE, he took along
historians who documented in writing his campaigns. Since the Westerners relied on those writings, it is no
surprise that they believed that India had no civilization prior to
the campaign of Alexander. (29) But now, scholars realize that the
"Indus/Harappa Civilization" made substantial contributions to the progress of
man in the material and perhaps, spiritual fields.
The sparsely written script of that civilization is not
yet completely deciphered. When William Jones translated Manusmriti, followed by the
translation of the older work, the Rig Veda, the Western
scholars coined a term, Vedic Culture, to describe the Rig Vedic civilization. At first, the Vedic Culture was praised by
many Europeans who postulated that India was the original cradle of civilization; then, colonial interests advanced
the Aryan invasion theory, which now has become discredited. (30)
Max Muller, who translated Rig Veda first, made a
guess that the age of Rig Veda was 1200 BCE. This was partly based on the
discovery by Western scholars that the Buddha was born in approximately 600
BCE. Soon after, many people in India took up Buddhism and therefore,
Rig Veda must have been written before. Muller died in 1900. Near the end of his life, he admitted
that no one knew if the Rig Veda or other Vedic hymns were composed in 1000,
2000 or 3000 BCE! (31)
Less than 25 years later, the
Indus/Harappa Civilization would be "discovered" and it would shatter the colonial mindset. Soon after the Indus/ Harappa civilization cities of Mohenjodaro and
Harappa were "discovered", a slightly different Aryan invasion theory was crafted and made popular by Westerners in
Germany prior to World War II. But the theory of "Aryan superiority" lost credibility, after Germany lost the War. Now, most scholars agree that probably the Indus/ Harappa Civilization died out
from over-use of the land, the earthquakes which dried up the River Sarasvati and
a corresponding drop in foreign trade. (32)
Thus, there is no direct evidence of an Aryan invasion of
India. The "Aryan invasion theory" is not recorded in any written document and is archaeologically invalid. (33)
______________________
1. Handa, Devendra, Vedic vis-a-vis Harappan Culture: Some Thoughts, n. 14, p. 75.8, in In Search of Vedic-Harappan Relationship, ed. Ashvini Agrawal, Aryan Books, 2005
2. Griffith, Ralph TH, Hymns of the Rigveda, (1889) Munishiram Manoharlal (1999)
3. Naegele, Charles J, History and Influence of Law Code of Manu, Golden Gate University of Law, California, 2008, p 6
4. Sethna, KD, The Problem of Aryan Origins, S&S Publishers (1980) p. 104, Aditya Prakashan Delhi
5. Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, n. 7
6. Naegele, Charles J, p 11
7. Sethna, KD, The Problem of Aryan Origins, p.104
8. ibid, p 109
9. Buehler, G., Laws of Manu, p 3
10. Singh, Bhagwan, The Vedic Harappans, Aditya Prakashan (1996) p. 27-29
11. Dhavalikar, MK, The Aryans Myth and Archaeology, Munshiram Manoharlal (2007) p. 46
12. Monier-Williams, n. 8
13. Shendge, Malati, The Aryas: Facts Without Fancy and Fiction, Abhinav Publications (1996) p. 26
14. Griffith, Ralph TH, Hymns of the Rigveda, (1889) Munishiram Manoharlal (1999)
15. Lal, BB, in Agrawal (editor), In Search of Vedic-Harappan Relationship, Aryan Books International
(2005) p. 3
16. Buehler, G., n. 3
17. Bhargava, M.L. (1964). The Geography of Rigvedic India. Lucknow. p. 5.
18. (1) This stream Sarasvati with fostering current comes forth, our sure defence, our fort of iron. As on a car, the flood flows on, surpassing in majesty and might all other waters.
(2) Pure in her course from mountains to the ocean, alone of streams Sarasvati hath listened.
19. Olivelle, Patrick, ed. The Law Code of Manu.2004. Oxford University Press. p. 24
20. Lal, BB, The Sarasvati Flows On, Aryan, (2002), p. 14
21. Parpola, Asko, The Roots of Hinduism, Oxford University Press, 2015, p. 17
22. Possehl GL (1999) Indus Age: The Beginnings. Philadelphia: Univ. Pennsylvania Press
23. Jarrige JF (2008) Mehrgarh Neolithic. Pragdhara 18: 136–15424. Coppa, A. et al. 2006. "Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry: Flint tips were surprisingly effective for drilling tooth enamel in a prehistoric population." Nature. Volume 440. 6 April 2006.
25. Thoury, M.; et al. (2016). "High spatial dynamics-photoluminescence imaging reveals the metallurgy of the earliest lost-wax cast object". Nature Communications. 7: 13356.
26. Upinder Singh (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Dorling Kindersley, 2008, pp. 130
27. Naegele, Charles J, p 19-20
28. Himanshu Prabha, The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia, p. 80-81, Cambridge
University Press (2003)
29. Lal, BB, The Sarasvati Flows On, n. 16, p. 25
30. Singh, Shivaji, Vedic Culture and its Continuity Paradigm and Dimensions, in Dube, Sita Ram,
Editor, Vedic Culture and Its Continuity, Pratibha Prakashan (2006) p. 22-23
31. Lal, BB, Search for Vedic-Harappan Relationship, n. 14, p. 132. Sethna, KD, Karpasa in Prehistoric India, n. 26, p. 7
33. ibid.
© Ramachandran
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