Saraswati's Disappearance-Act I: Sid Harth
navanavonmilita
Sarasvati River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sarasvati River (Sanskrit: सरस्वती नदी sárasvatī nadī) is one of
the chief Rigvedic rivers mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The
Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda (10.75) mentions the Sarasvati between
the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic
texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata
mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert. The goddess Sarasvati
was originally a personification of this river, but later developed an
independent identity and meaning.
Etymology
Sarasvatī is the Devi feminine of an adjective sarasvant- (which
occurs in the Rigveda[1] as the name of the keeper of the celestial
waters), derived from Proto-Indo-Iranian sáras-wn̥t-iH (and earlier,
PIE *séles-wn̥t-ih2), meaning "with (many) pools".
Sanskrit saras- means "pool, pond"; the feminine sarasī́ means
"stagnant pool, swamp".[2] Cognate to Greek ἕλος "swamp", the Rigvedic
term refers mostly to stagnant waters, and Mayrhofer considers
unlikely a connection with the root sar- "run, flow".[3]
Sarasvatī is cognate to Avestan *Haraxwaitī, which has been
speculated[4] to refer to Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā, the Avestan
mythological world river, which would point to an already Proto-Indo-
Iranian myth of a cosmic or mystical *Sáras-vn̥t-iH River. In the
younger Avesta, Haraxvaitī is identified with a region described to be
rich in rivers, and the Old Persian cognate Hara[h]uvatiš was the name
of the Helmand river system, the origin of the Greek name Arachosia.
In the Rigveda
The Sarasvati River is mentioned in all books of the Rigveda except
the fourth. It is the only river with hymns entirely dedicated to it:
RV 6.61, RV 7.95 and RV 7.96.
Praise
The Sarasvati is praised lavishly in the Rgveda as the best of all the
rivers: e.g. in RV 2.41.16 she is called ámbitame nádītame dévitame
sárasvati, "best mother, best river, best goddess". Other verses of
praise include RV 6.61.8-13, RV 7.96 and RV 10.17. In some hymns, the
Indus river seems to be more important than the Sarasavati, especially
in the Nadistuti sukta. In RV 8.26.18, the white flowing Sindhu 'with
golden wheels' is the most conveying or attractive of the rivers.
RV 7.95.2. and other verses (e.g. RV 8.21.18) speak of the Sarasvati
pouring "milk and ghee." Rivers are often likened to cows in the
Rigveda, for example in RV 3.33.1,
Like two bright mother cows who lick their youngling,
Vipas and Sutudri speed down their waters.
The phrase sárasvatī saptáthī síndhumātā of RV 7.36.6 has been
rendered as " Sarasvati the Seventh, Mother of Floods" in a popular
translation.[5] While this takes a tatpurusha interpretation of
síndhumātā, the word is actually a bahuvrihi.[6].
Course
The late Rigvedic Nadistuti sukta enumerates all important rivers from
the Ganges in the east up to the Indus in the west in a clear
geographical order. Here (RV 10.75.5), the sequence "Ganga, Yamuna,
Sarasvati, Shutudri" places the Sarasvati between the Yamuna and the
Sutlej, which is consistent with the Ghaggar identification.
Verses in RV 6.61 indicate that the Sarasvati river originated in the
hills or mountains (giri), where she "burst with her strong waves the
ridges of the hills (giri)". It is a matter of interpretation whether
this refers only to the Himalayan foothills like the present-day
Sarasvati (Sarsuti) river.
RV 3.23.4 mentions the Sarasvati River together with the Drsadvati
River and the Āpayā River. RV 6.52.6 describes the Sarasvati as
swollen (pinvamānā) by the rivers (sindhubhih).
While RV 6.61.12 associates the Sarasvati River with the five tribes;
and RV 7.95-6 with the Paravatas and the Purus; in RV 8.21.18, a
number of petty kings are said to dwell along the course of
Sarasvati,
Citra is King, and only kinglings [rājaka] are the rest who dwell
beside Sarasvati.
In RV 7.95.1-2, the Sarasvati is described as flowing to the samudra,
a word now usually translated as ocean.
This stream Sarasvati with fostering current comes forth, our sure
defence, our fort of iron.
As on a chariot, the flood flows on, surpassing in majesty and might
all other waters.
Pure in her course from mountains to the ocean, alone of streams
Sarasvati hath listened.
Thinking of wealth and the great world of creatures, she poured for
Nahusa her milk and fatness.
As a goddess
Painting of Goddess Saraswati by Raja Ravi Varma
Main article: Saraswati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswati
In the Rigveda, the name Sarasvati already does not always relate to a
river and its personification exclusively; in some places, the goddess
Saraswati is abstracted from the river.
The Sarasvati is mentioned in 13 hymns of the late books (1 and 10) of
the Rigveda.[7] Only two of these references are unambiguously to the
river: 10.64.9, calling for the aid of three "great rivers", Sindhu,
Sarasvati and Sarayu; and 10.75.5, the geographical list of the
Nadistuti sukta. The others invoke Sarasvati as a goddess without
direct connection to a specific river. In 10.30.12, her origin as a
river goddess may explain her invocation as a protective deity in a
hymn to the celestial waters. In 10.135.5, as Indra drinks Soma he is
described as refreshed by Sarasvati. The invocations in 10.17 address
Sarasvati as a goddess of the forefathers as well as of the present
generation. In 1.13, 1.89, 10.85, 10.66 and 10.141, she is listed with
other gods and goddesses, not with rivers. In 10.65, she is invoked
together with "holy thoughts" (dhī) and "munificence" (puraṃdhi),
consistent with her role as a goddess of both knowledge and fertility.
Other Vedic texts
In post-Rigvedic literature, the disappearance of the Sarasvati is
mentioned. Also the origin of the Sarasvati is identified as Plaksa
Prasravana.[8][9]
Yajur Veda
In a supplementary chapter of the Vajasaneyi-Samhita of the Yajurveda
(34.11), Sarasvati is mentioned in a context apparently meaning the
Sindhu: "Five rivers flowing on their way speed onward to Sarasvati,
but then become Sarasvati a fivefold river in the land."[10] According
to the medieval commentator Uvata, the five tributaries of the
Sarasvati were the Punjab rivers Drishadvati, Satudri (Sutlej),
Chandrabhaga (Chenab), Vipasa (Beas) and the Iravati (Ravi).
Brahmanas
The first reference to the disapparance of the lower course of the
Sarasvati is from the Brahmanas, texts that are composed in Vedic
Sanskrit, but dating to a later date than the Veda Samhitas. The
Jaiminiya Brahmana (2.297) speaks of the 'diving under (upamajjana) of
the Sarasvati', and the Tandya Brahmana (or Pancavimsa Br.) calls this
the 'disappearance' (vinasana). The same text (25.10.11-16) records
that the Sarasvati is 'so to say meandering' (kubjimati) as it could
not sustain heaven which it had propped up.[11]. The Plaksa Prasravana
(place of appearance/source of the river) may refer to a spring in the
Siwalik mountains. The distance between the source and the Vinasana
(place of disappearance of the river) is said to be 44 asvina (between
several hundred and 1600 miles) (Tandya Br. 25.10.16; cf. Av. 6.131.3;
Pancavimsa Br.[12]
Late Vedic
In the Latyayana Srautasutra (10.15-19) the Sarasvati seems to be a
perennial river up to the Vinasana, which is west of its confluence
with the Drshadvati (Chautang). The Drshadvati is described as a
seasonal stream (10.17). The Asvalayana Srautasutra and Sankhayana
Srautasutra contain verses that are similar to the Latyayana
Srautasutra.
Post-Vedic texts
The Mahabharata
According to the Mahabharata, the Sarasvati dried up in a desert (at a
place named Vinasana or Adarsana);[13] after having disappeared in the
desert, reappears in some places;[14] and joins the sea "impetuously".
[15] MB.3.81.115 locates Kurukshetra to the south of the Sarasvati and
north of the Drishadvati.
Puranas
Several Puranas describe the Sarasvati River, and also record that the
river separated into a number of lakes (saras).[16] In Skanda Purana,
five distributaries of the Sarasvati are mentioned.[17]
In the Skanda Purana, the Sarasvati originates from the water pot of
Brahma and flows from Plaksa on the Himalayas. It then turns west at
Kedara and also flows underground.
According to Vamana Purana 32.1-4, the Sarasvati rose from the Plaksa
tree (Pipal tree).[18]
Smritis
In the Manu Smriti, the sage Manu, escaping from a flood, founded the
Vedic culture between the Sarasvati and Drishadvati rivers. The
Sarasvati River was thus the western boundary of Brahmavarta: "the
land between the Sarasvati and Drishadvati is created by God; this
land is Brahmavarta."[19]
Similarly, the Vasistha Dharma Sutra I.8-9 and 12-13 locates Aryavarta
to the east of the disappearance of the Sarasvati in the desert, to
the west of Kalakavana, to the north of the mountains of Pariyatra and
Vindhya and to the south of the Himalaya. Patanjali's Mahābhāṣya
defines Aryavarta like the Vasistha Dharma Sutra.
The Baudhayana Dharmasutra gives similar definitions, declaring that
Aryavarta is the land that lies west of Kalakavana, east of Adarsana
(where the Sarasvati disappears in the desert), south of the Himalayas
and north of the Vindhyas.
Triveni Sangam
According to Hindu tradition, the Sarasvati flows in a subterranean
channel and joins the Yamuna and the Ganga in the "Triveni Sangam" at
Prayag (Allahabad).
Identification
The Sarasvati River of late Vedic and post-Vedic times is generally
identified with the Ghaggar River. But the implication of a river of
substantially greater volume makes the same identification of the
early Vedic references problematic: either the Ghaggar was a more
powerful river in earlier times, or the early Vedic Sarasvati was
located elsewhere[citation needed].
Ghaggar-Hakra River
Main article: Ghaggar-Hakra River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghaggar-Hakra_River#Ghaggar_River
Evidence from survey fieldwork and recent satellite imagery have been
adduced to suggest that the Ghaggar-Hakra system in the undetermined
past had the Sutlej and the Yamuna as tributaries, with the Rann of
Kutch as the likely remains of its delta. In this scenario, geological
changes diverted the Sutlej towards the Indus and the Yamuna towards
the Ganga, following which the river did not have enough water to
reach the sea any more and dried up in the Thar desert. It has been
proposed that the Sarasvati of the early Rigveda corresponds to the
Ghaggar-Hakra before these changes took place (the "Old Ghaggar"), and
the late Vedic end Epic Sarasvati disappearing in the desert to the
Ghaggar-Hakra following the diversion of Sutlej and Yamuna.
However, geologists' estimates of this change are no later than some
time between 5000 and 3000 BCE.[20] This would have been before the
Mature Harappan period and exceeds even high estimates of the age of
the Rigveda[citation needed].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghaggar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlej
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamuna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rann_of_Kutch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_delta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thar_desert
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mature_Harappan#Mature_Harappan
Helmand river
Main article: Helmand River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmand_River
Suggestions for the identity of the early Rigvedic Sarasvati River
include the Helmand River in Afghanistan, separated from the watershed
of the Indus by the Sanglakh Range. The Helmand historically besides
Avestan Haetumant bore the name Haraxvaiti, which is the Avestan form
cognate to Sanskrit Sarasvati. The Avesta extols the Helmand in
similar terms to those used in the Rigveda with respect to the
Sarasvati: "the bountiful, glorious Haetumant swelling its white waves
rolling down its copious flood".[21]
Kocchar (1999) argues that the Helmand is identical to the early
Rigvedic Sarasvati of suktas 2.41, 7.36 etc., and that the Nadistuti
sukta (10.75) was composed centuries later, after an eastward
migration of the bearers of the Rigvedic culture to the western
Gangetic plain some 600 km to the east. The Sarasvati by this time had
become a mythical "disappeared" river, and the name was transferred to
the Ghaggar which disappeared in the desert.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanglakh_Range
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avestan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghaggar
The identification of the Helmand with the early Rig Vedic Sarasvati
is not without difficulties. For example, the Helmand flowing into a
swamp in the Iranian plateau (the extended wetland and lake system of
Hamun-i-Helmand) would not match the Rigvedic description of samudra,
which is generally taken to mean "ocean"[citation needed].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_plateau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamun-i-Helmand
Present-day Sarasvatis
Sarsuti is the present-day name of a river originating in a submontane
region (Ambala district) and joining the Ghaggar near Shatrana in
PEPSU. Near Sadulgarh (Hanumangarh) the Naiwala channel, a dried out
channel of the Sutlej, joins the Ghaggar. Near Suratgarh the Ghaggar
is then joined by the dried up Drishadvati river.
Sarasvati is the name of a river originating in the Aravalli mountain
range in Rajasthan, passing through Sidhpur and Patan before
submerging in the Rann of Kutch.
The Saraswati River in Bengal, formerly a tributary of the Hooghly
River, has dried up since the 17th century.
Notes
^ e.g. 7.96.4, 10.66.5
^ e.g. RV 7.103.2b http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RV_7
^ Mayrhofer, EWAia, s.v.; the root is otherwise often connected with
rivers (also in river names, such as Sarayu or Susartu); the
suggestion has been revived in the connection of an "out of India"
argument, N. Kazanas, "Rig-Veda is pre-Harappan", p. 9.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EWAia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_India
^ by Lommel (1927); Lommel, Herman (1927), Die Yašts des Awesta,
Göttingen-Leipzig: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht/JC Hinrichs
^ Griffith
^ Hans Hock (1999) translates síndhumātā as a bahuvrihi, "whose mother
is the Sindhu", which would indicate that the Sarasvati is here a
tributary of the Indus. A translation as a tatpurusha ("mother of
rivers", with sindhu still with its generic meaning) would be less
common in RV speech.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatpurusha
^ 1.3, 13, 89, 164; 10.17, 30, 64, 65, 66, 75, 110, 131, 141
^ Pancavimsa Brahmana, Jaiminiya Upanisad Brahmana, Katyayana Srauta
Sutra, Latyayana Srauta; Macdonell and Keith 1912
^ Asvalayana Srauta Sutra, Sankhayana Srauta Sutra; Macdonell and
Keith 1912, II:55
^ Griffith, p.492
^ http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/CheminDuCiel.pdf; for
discussion; for maps (1984) of the area, p. 42 sqq.
^ D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic
Saraswati 1999. According to this reference, 44 asvins may be over
2600 km
^ Mhb. 3.82.111; 3.130.3; 6.7.47; 6.37.1-4., 9.34.81; 9.37.1-2
^ Mbh. 3.80.118
^ Mbh. 3.88.2
^ D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic
Saraswati, 1999, p.35-44
^ compare also with Yajurveda 34.11, D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna,
B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Saraswati, 1999, p.35-44
^ D.S. Chauhan in Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic
Saraswati, 1999, p.35-44
^ Manusmriti 2.17-18
^ Valdiya, K. S., in Dynamic Himalaya, Educational monographs
published by Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Studies, Bangalore,
University Press (Hyderabad), 1998.
^ Yasht 10.67 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avesta
See also
Sapta Sindhu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapta_Sindhu
Saraswat Brahmins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswat_Brahmins
Saraswati River (Bengal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswati_River_(Bengal)
References
Bryant, Edwin (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture.
Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513777-9.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Bryant_(author)
Gupta, S.P. (ed.). 1995. The lost Saraswati and the Indus
Civilization. Kusumanjali Prakashan, Jodhpur.
Hock, Hans (1999) Through a Glass Darkly: Modern "Racial"
Interpretations vs. Textual and General Prehistoric Evidence on Arya
and Dasa/Dasyu in Vedic Indo-Aryan Society." in Aryan and Non-Aryan in
South Asia, ed. Bronkhorst & Deshpande, Ann Arbor.
Keith and Macdonell. 1912. Vedic Index of Names and Subjects.
Kochhar, Rajesh, 'On the identity and chronology of the Ṛgvedic river
Sarasvatī' in Archaeology and Language III; Artefacts, languages and
texts, Routledge (1999), ISBN 0-415-10054-2.
Lal, B.B. 2002. The Saraswati Flows on: the Continuity of Indian
Culture. New Delhi: Aryan Books International
Oldham, R.D. 1893. The Sarsawati and the Lost River of the Indian
Desert. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 1893. 49-76.
Puri, VKM, and Verma, BC, Glaciological and Geological Source of Vedic
Sarasvati in the Himalayas, New Delhi, Itihas Darpan, Vol. IV, No.2,
1998 [1]
Radhakrishna, B.P. and Merh, S.S. (editors): Vedic Saraswati:
Evolutionary History of a Lost River of Northwestern India (1999)
Geological Society of India (Memoir 42), Bangalore. Review (on page 3)
Review http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/feb102000/BOOKREVIEWS.PDF
Shaffer, Jim G. (1995). Cultural tradition and Palaeoethnicity in
South Asian Archaeology. In: Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia. Ed.
George Erdosy.. ISBN 3-11-014447-6.
S. G. Talageri, The RigVeda - A Historical Analysis chapter 4
http://www.tri-murti.com/ancientindia/rigHistory/ch4.htm
External links
Is River Ghaggar, Saraswati? by Tripathi,Bock,Rajamani, Eisenhauer
http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/oct25/articles20.htm
Saraswati – the ancient river lost in the desert by A. V. Sankaran
http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/oct25/articles20.htm
The Saraswati: Where lies the mystery by Saswati Paik
http://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/archaeology/site/archs0001.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarasvati_River
Saraswati – the ancient river lost in the desert
A. V. Sankaran
NEARLY ten thousand years ago when mighty rivers started flowing down
the Himalayan slopes, western Rajasthan was green and fertile. Great
civilizations prospered in the cool amiable climate on riverbanks of
northwestern India. The abundant waters of the rivers and copious
rains provided ample sustenance for their farming and other
activities. Some six thousand years later, Saraswati, one of the
rivers of great splendour in this region, for reasons long enigmatic,
dwindled and dried up. Several other rivers shifted their courses,
some of their tributaries were ‘pirated’ by neigbouring rivers or
severed from their main courses. The greenery of Rajasthan was lost,
replaced by an arid desert where hot winds piled up dunes of sand. The
flourishing civilizations vanished one by one. By geological
standards, these are small-scale events; for earth, in its long 4.5
billion years history, had witnessed many such changes, some of them
even accompanied by wiping out of several living species. But those
that occurred in northwest India took place within the span of early
human history affecting the livelihood of flourishing civilizations
and driving them out to other regions.
The nemesis that overtook northwestern India’s plenty and prosperity
along with the disappearance of the river Saraswati, has been a
subject engaging several minds over the last hundred and fifty years.
However, convincing explanations about what caused all the changes
were available only in the later half of the current century through
data gathered by archaeologists, geologists, geophysicists, and
climatologists using a variety of techniques. They have discussed and
debated their views in symposia held from time to time, many of which
have also appeared in several publications. Over the last thirty
years, considerable volume of literature have grown on the subject and
in this article some of the salient opinions expressed by various
workers are presented.
Rivers constitute the lifeline for any country and some of the world’s
great civilizations (Indus Valley, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian) have
all prospered on banks of river systems. Hindus consider rivers as
sacred and have personified them as deities and sung their praises in
their religious literature, the Vedas (Rig, Yajur and Atharva),
Manusmriti, Puranas and Mahabharata. These cite names of several
rivers that existed during the Vedic period and which had their origin
in the Himalayas. One such river Saraswati, has been glorified in
these texts and referred by various names like Markanda, Hakra,
Suprabha, Kanchanakshi, Visala, Manorama etc.1,2, and Mahabharata has
exalted Saraswati River as covering the universe and having seven
separate names2. Rig veda describes it as one of seven major rivers of
Vedic times, the others being, Shatadru (Sutlej), Vipasa (Beas),
Askini (Chenab), Parsoni or Airavati (Ravi), Vitasta (Jhelum) and
Sindhu (Indus)1,3,4 (Figure 1). For full 2000 y (between 6000 and 4000
BC), Saraswati had flowed as a great river before it was obliterated
in a short span of geological time through a combination of
destructive natural events.
Judged in the broader perspective of geological evolution,
disappearance or disintegration of rivers, shifting of their courses,
capture of one river by another (river piracy), steady decline of
waters culminating in drying up of their beds, are all normal
responses to tectonism (uplift, faulting, subsidence, tilting),
earthquakes, adverse climate and other natural events. Such
catastrophic events overtook Saraswati river in quick succession,
within a short geological span in the Quaternary period of the
Cenozoic era (Figure 1) leading to its decline and disappearance.
Similar changes to drainage of rivers have occurred during earlier
geological periods also, much before human evolution. A few of the
south Indian rivers like the east-flowing Pennar, Palar and Cauvery
draining into the Bay of Bengal and west-flowing Swarna, Netravathi
and Gurupur draining into the Arabian Sea are known to have changed
their courses or got dismembered due to uplift of land. Today, their
former courses or palaeochannels can be seen as dry beds5–8.
Saraswati – evolution and drainage
The river Saraswati, during its heydays, is described to be much
bigger than Sindhu or the Indus River. During the Vedic period, this
river had coursed through the region between modern Yamuna and Sutlej.
Though Saraswati is lost, many of its contemporary rivers like
Markanda, Chautang and Ghaggar have outlived it and survived till
today. All the big rivers of this period –
Saraswati, Shatadru (Sutlej), Yamuna derived their waters from
glaciers which had extensively covered the Himalayas during the
Pleistocene times. The thawing of these glaciers during Holocene, the
warm period that followed, generated many rivers, big and small,
coursing down the Himalayan slopes. The melting of glaciers has also
been referred in Rigvedic literature, in mythological terms, as an
outcome of war between God Indra and the demon Vritra1,9. The enormity
of waters available for agriculture and other occupations during those
times had prompted the religiously bent ancient inhabitants to
describe reverentially seven mighty rivers or ‘Sapta Sindhu’, as
divine rivers arising from slowly moving serpent (Ahi), an apparent
reference to the movement of glaciers3.
According to geological and glaciological studies11,13, Saraswati was
supposed to have originated in Bandapunch masiff (Sarawati-Rupin
glacier confluence at Naitwar in western Garhwal). Descending through
Adibadri, Bhavanipur and Balchapur in the foothills to the plains, the
river took roughly a southwesterly course, passing through the plains
of Punjab, Haryana,
Rajasthan, Gujarat and finally it is believed to have debouched into
the ancient Arabian Sea at the Great Rann of Kutch. In this long
journey, Saraswati was believed to have had three tributaries,
Shatadru (Sutlej) arising from Mount Kailas, Drishadvati from Siwalik
Hills and the old Yamuna. Together, they flowed along a channel,
presently identified as that of the Ghaggar river, also called Hakra
River in Rajasthan and Nara in Sindh1,11 (Figure 2). The rivers,
Saraswati and Ghaggar, are therefore supposed to be one and the same,
though a few workers use the name Ghaggar to describe Saraswati’s
upper course and Hakra to its lower course, while some others refer
Saraswati of weak and declining stage, by the name Ghaggar12.
Considerable philological debate has taken place about the roots of
the nomenclature ‘Saraswati’, which is referred to by the name
Harkhaiti or Haravaiti (in Avesta) in regions further west of India.
The contentious point debated is whether the syllable Ha in the
river’s name changed to Sa, later in India or Sa to Ha outside India.
The choice of the name, Saraswati or Harkhaiti, depended upon whether
one considered Aryans, the ancient inhabitants along this riverine
system, as indigenous people who, upon their migration, carried the
name Saraswati westwards where linguistic growth changed Sa soon to
Ha; or, whether they were migrants from west of India who brought with
them the name Harakhaiti which changed to Saraswati once they settled
here2. Apart from the nomenclature, the riverine systems of the period
draining northwestern India had generated considerable discussion
among the scholars about the positions (hierarchy) of the other feeder
rivers, big and small, their sources and causes for their shifts which
affected the supply of waters to the main rivers hastening their
disintegration, e.g. Saraswati and its major tributary, Drishadvati.
Hindu mythology records several legends and anecdotes that are
intertwined with the river’s geologically brief existence. Every
aspect of the river’s life, right from its birth to its journey down
the Himalayas and over the plains towards the Sindhu Sagara (ancient
Arabian Sea), have found mention in one religious text or other, like
Rigveda, Yajurveda, Atharvaveda,
Brahmana literature, Manusmriti, Mahabharata and the Puranas1–3. These
descriptive legends have often proved helpful in cataloguing some of
the natural events of the period and linking some of them with the
river’s perturbations. For example, the graphic description of a war
between Gods and demons detailed in one of these texts and use of fire
(Agni) in the destruction of a demon hiding in the mountains which
trembled under the onslaught may possibly refer to volcanic and
seismic episodes of the period2. Today, more than 8000 years since the
Vedas came into existence, some of the rivers mentioned therein have
become defunct or have shifted from their original path. In the
earlier years of study, their erstwhile courses were mainly inferred
from archaeological evidences. These included sites of ancient
settlements (some 1200 are known) of Harappan, Indus or Saraswati
civilizations along river banks, the scripts and seals left behind,
and references in Hindu mythology to river-bank Ashrams and Yagnya
Kundams preserving evidences about the ritual worship practiced by the
ancient inhabitants3,10–13.
Over a 3000 year-long period since the Vedic times (Figure 1), the
drainage pattern of many rivers had changed much from that described
in the earlier religious literature. The decline of Saraswati appears
to have commenced between 5000–3000 BC, probably precipitated by a
major tectonic event in the Siwalik Hills of Sirmur region. Geologic
studies14 indicate destabilizing tectonic events had occurred around
the beginning of Pleistocene, about 1.7 my ago in the entire Siwalik
domain, extending from Potwar in Pakistan to Assam in India, resulting
in massive landslides and avalanches. These disturbances, which
continued intermittently, were all linked to uplift of the Himalayas.
Presumably, one of these events must have severed the glacier
connection and cut off the supply of glacier melt-waters to this
river. As a result, Saraswati became non-perennial and dependent on
monsoon rains. All its majesty and splendour of the Vedic period
dwindled and with the loss of its tributaries, major and minor,
Saraswati’s march to oblivion commenced around 3000 BC. Bereft of
waters through separation of its tributaries15, which shifted or got
captured by other neighbouring river systems, Saraswati remained here
and there as disconnected pools and lakes and ultimately became
reduced to a dry channel bed. Lunkaransar, Didwana and Sambhar, the
Ranns of Jaisalmer, Pachpadra etc., are a few of these notable lakes,
some of them highly saline today, the only proof to their freshwater
descent being occurrences of gastropod shells in these lake beds16–19.
With the decline and disappearance of Saraswati, the ancient
civilizations, that it supported, also faded.
Inferences from geologic, remote sensing and geophysical surveys
Considerable tectonic activity connected with Himalayan orogeny
continued during the Holocene and later times although uplifts to
heights of 3000–4000 m were at their peak during 0.8–0.9 my span. The
high elevation of the mountains perturbed the wind circulation
patterns and induced climatic changes. Moderate terrain of earlier
times became rugged and hilly affecting the channels of rivers14. That
was the scenario of the Himalayan region when Saraswati emerged as a
major river about 9000 y ago20 and flowed in all splendour during the
vedic times till its decline to an impermanent monsoon dependent state
some 4000 y later.
Bulk of earlier studies on Saraswati pertain more to the civilizations
that flourished along its banks and many of the reasons attributed for
the decline of this river were speculative. The impacts of middle to
late Quaternary geologic events on the river systems in this region,
however, had received only cursory attention. Awareness to the
potentialities of geologic, meteorologic, climatic and other cyclic
events, basically triggered by plate tectonism, earth’s orbital and
tilt variations and similar global phenomena came up much later.
Attempts to investigate their roles over the decline and desiccation
of Saraswati began only since close of nineteenth century21–23 and
gained momentum during the last three decades. Oldham23, a geologist
of Geological Survey of India, was one of the first to offer as early
as 1886, geological comments about Saraswati. According to him, the
present dry-bed of Ghaggar River represents Saraswati’s former course
and that its disappearance was precipitated when its waters were
captured by Sutlej and Yamuna. This view differed from that of several
others who felt that Saraswati vanished due to lack of rainfall.
However, later-day meteorological research about palaeoclimates11,24–
27, oxygen isotopic studies36, thermouminescenct (TL) dating28 of wind-
borne and river-borne sands in the Thar desert region, radiocarbon
dating of lake-bed deposits48 and archaeological evidences29,30 have
all indicated that during early to middle Pleistocene period this
region had enjoyed wetter climate, heavy rainfall and even recurring
floods and that increase in aridity commenced by mid-Holocene (5000–
3000 BC) only.
Intense investigations during the last thirty years have yielded
fruitful data obtained through ground and satellite based techniques
as well as from palaeoseismic, and palaeoclimatic records all of which
had enabled a good reconstruction of the drainage evolution in
northwestern India. In addition, TL-dating of dry-bed sands and
isotopic studies of the groundwater below these channels provided
useful links in these reconstruction efforts. The observed river-
shifts and other changes could also be correlated with specific
geologic, seismic or climatic event that occurred during the mid- to
late-Quaternary period. Particularly helpful were the information
gathered from LANDSAT imagery about location of former river courses
in the plains and beneath the Thar desert upto the Rann of Kutch,
about existence of palaeo-river valleys and identifying major
structural trends (lineaments) in the region3,16,18,31–34. In spite of
a large volume of such data, the chain of natural events during the
Quaternary period has given rise to different interpretations about
the former river courses.
Mainly, Indus and Saraswati, were the two major river systems of
northwestern India during the Vedic period but the network of their
tributaries, some of which are known to have deviated from their
initial course or become non-existent today, have given scope for
grouping these rivers into convenient classifications. Sridhar et al.
18 have classified the rivers into four main groups (Figure 2) – (i)
Sindhu (Indus) and its tributaries Vitasta (Jhelum) and Askini
(Chenab); (ii) Shatadru (Sutlej) and its two major tributaries Vipasa
(Beas) and Parasuni or Iravati (Ravi); (iii) Saraswati and its three
tributaries Markanda, Ghaggar and Patialewali, in its upper reaches
and a major tributary in its middle course; (iv) Drishadvati and
Lavanavati. Baldev Sahai19 grouped them into Sutlej, Ghaggar and
Yamuna systems while Yash Pal and co-workers32 recognized only two
major systems –
the Sutlej and the Ghaggar.
Detailed evaluation of data obtained from remote sensing, geophysical,
isotopic and other studies by various workers32,33,35–40 have been
instrumental in sorting out many of the earlier speculative inferences
and unsolved aspects of Saraswati river. Yash Pal et al.32 have traced
the palaeochannel of this river through Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
They found that its course in these States is clearly highlighted in
the LANDSAT imagery by the lush cover of vegetation thriving on the
rich residual loamy soil along its earlier course. According to their
findings, the river disappears abruptly in a depression in Pakistan,
instead of in the sea, an observation shared by a few others also.
But, digital enhancement studies35 of satellite IRS-1C data launched
in 1995, combined with RADAR imagery (from European Remote Sensing
satellite ERS-1/2) could identify subsurface features and thus
recognize palaeochannels beneath the sands of Thar Desert. These
channels are seen to extend upto Fort Abbas and Marot in Pakistan and
appear in a line with present dry bed of Ghaggar (Figure 3). This
river continues as Nara River in Sindh region and opens into the Rann
of Kutch34. Another study33 of satellite derived data has revealed no
palaeochannel link between Indus and Saraswati confirming that the two
were independent rivers; also, the three palaeochannels, south of
Ambala, seen to swerve westwards to join the ancient bed of Ghaggar,
are inferred to be tributaries of Saraswati/ Ghaggar, and one among
them, probably Drishadvati (Figure 4). The latter disappeared along
with Saraswati due to shifts of its feeder streams from Siwalik and
Aravalli ranges as well as due to the onset of desertification of
Rajasthan15.
Geophysical surveys carried out by the Geological Survey of India to
assess groundwater potential in Bikaner, Ganganagar and Jaisalmer
districts in western Rajasthan desert areas have brought out several
zones of fresh and less saline water in the form of arcuate shaped
aquifers similar to several palaeochannels elsewhere in the State.
That these subsurface palaeochannels belong to ancient rivers has been
confirmed through studies37 on hydrogen, oxygen and carbon isotopes
(d2H, d18O, 14C) on shallow and deep groundwater samples from these
districts. The isotopic work has also indicated that there is no
direct headwater connection or recharge to this groundwater from
present day Himalayas. Though the antiquity of these waters and
probable links to ancient rivers are thus established, the subsurface
palaeochannel route beneath the desert sands obtained from
hydrogeological investigations, however, differs from that derived
through satellite based studies 16,35,38.
The waning period of Vedic civilization around 3700 BC was also the
period that disrupted both Saraswati and Drishadvati18. Several
evidences indicate that rivers of this area changed their courses
often in the last 5000 y (ref. 32) and one detailed study40 about
Saraswati has identified at least four progressive westward shifts in
Rajasthan, due to encroaching sands. In their evaluation of the
palaeochannel imagery obtained from LANDSAT, Yash Pal et al.32
observed a sudden widening of Ghaggar near Patiala which, they argue,
can take place only if a major tributary had joined it. According to
them, ancient Shatadru or Sutlej must have been this tributary and
possibly ancient Yamuna (palaeo-Yamuna) also flowed into Ghaggar, a
conclusion they claim is strengthened by archaeological findings of
active life that existed at one time on their banks. During a
subsequent period, Shatadru (Sutlej) swung suddenly westwards near
Ropar (Figure 4) to join Indus (as also Vipas/Beas and Parasuni/Ravi,
its two tributaries), deserting its earlier channel to the sea. This
sudden diversion of Sutlej as well as depletion of waters from
Drishadvati due to loss of its feeding streams15, appear to be major
events that heralded the drying up of Saraswati. Several workers
attribute this event to tectonism involving rise of Delhi-Hardwar
ridge and uplift in the Aravallis11,15,16,18,32. Capture of Shatadru
(Sutlej) by a tributary of Beas through headward erosion or due to
diversion of Shatadru (Sutlej) through a fault are also considered as
possible reasons32. Structural control over the migration of Saraswati
river is also evident from studies41,42 in the Great Indian desert and
adjacent parts of western Rajasthan. This area is dissected by several
lineaments, some of which (e.g. Luni–Sukri lineament) were reactivated
during Pleistocene–Holocene period bringing about alignment of
Saraswati with Ghaggar.
Saraswati and the palaeodelta of the Great Rann
Considerable debate has taken place about Saraswati’s entry in the
northern part of the Great Rann. Scholars have pointed to references
in Rigveda, Manusmriti and Mahabharata about Saraswati disappearing in
the sands at Vinäsana and not in the sea; but at the same time, there
is also reference in some of these ancient texts about a narrow sea,
possibly a creek, coming right upto Bikaner, but which disappeared
during the Vedic times10,22. Rigvedic and archaeological references
describe how Saraswati supported inland and marine trade and travel
and that, around 3000 BC, there was continuous flow of this river upto
even the Little Rann13.
The topography at the Great Rann is typically deltaic, developing
usually at the mouth of rivers, confirming entry of a few rivers in
the sea at this place. Neotectonism, reactivating faults and
lineaments which are seen criss-crossing this region, as well as
frequent seismicity, apart from Holocene sea-level changes all appear
to have influenced development of a peculiar drainage topography in
this area. The tilting and sinking of land resulting from the tectonic
events have carved characteristic uplands (locally called Bets)
representing areas of river mouth deposits, and lowlands which are
sites of distributary channels17,28. Satellite imagery, as well as
detailed mapping, have revealed network of distributaries and
extensive graded deposits, products of Holocene marine regression17.
It appears that Indus (Sindhu), Shatadru (Sutlej), Saraswati,
Drishadvati (palaeo-Yamuna) and Lavanavati (possibly an ancestor of
present day Luni river) had independent courses and opened into the
Rann separately. According to Malik
et al.17, at least three rivers – proto-Shatadru (Hakra), Saraswati
and Drishadvati must have drained into the Rann around 2000 BC, of
which only Sindhu (Indus) has survived. The original delta complex
with relict channels, including that of Nara, a continuation of
Ghaggar, is today better preserved on the western side but covered by
wind-borne deposits on the eastern part of the Great Rann17,43,44.
Yash Pal et al.32 argue that though in the satellite imagery Saraswati/
Ghaggar appear to debouch into the sea or a lake near Marot or
Beriwala (Pakistan) (Figure 3), this place is far interior, and
unlikely to be a palaeo-seacoast, even allowing for rise of sea level
during the Holocene marine transgression. In fact studies about coast
line changes along the west coast have shown a much lower sea level
some 12,000 y back which rose to the present level only later and had
remained there for the last 7000 y. These findings, therefore,
discount the possibilities of a seacoast at this place45,46 though
they do not rule out the river’s entry into the sea that must have
existed further south of this site in those times. It may be mentioned
that Quaternary neotectonism has submerged vast areas of palaeodelta
complex, possibly along with palaeochannels. In this context, it is
relevant to take note of the observation that Saraswati’s ancient
course in this region is in continuity with another dry river bed–
Hakra or Sotra which can be traced through Bikaner to Bhahawalpur and
Sind in Pakistan, and finally upto the Rann of Kutch. Such a course
appears likely if we backtrack the delta distributaries inland, when
it is noticed they connect up with the existing palaeochannels there.
Some of these are actually extensions of relict channels seen beneath
the sands of Thar Desert, as found out by geophysical and
hydrogeological surveys16,17,35,38.
While tectonism had certainly a major role in shaping the fate of
Saraswati and other rivers, this could not have been the only agent
bringing about various changes that led to its downfall. Even though
the role of climate on the disappearance of Saraswati system was
underestimated by some of the earlier workers, undoubtedly it must
have exercised considerable sway during the Holocene, a period during
which major climatic swing has been noted globally26,27,36,47. It is
well known that variation in earth’s orbit and tilt of earth’s axis
affect the earth’s climate (Milankovitch and albedo forces). A drastic
weather change related to these phenomena had peaked around 7000 BC26.
Recent studies have shown that the onset of an arid climate occurred
in two pulses –
at 4700–3700 and at 2000–1700 BC26, both of which had fairly wide
impact not only in India in the desertification of western Rajasthan
but in other countries also, like Africa in the development of Saharan
and Nubian deserts. The desertification is thought to have occurred
5400 y ago (3400 BC) and its onset greatly affected the monsoon rains
and consequently the river systems too. The change from wetter to arid
condition destroyed steadily the vegetation, which in turn affected
soil moisture, its evaporation, atmospheric circulation and
precipitation, all important links in the monsoon evolution chain and,
ultimately the climate over the region. However, a recent study48 of
water-table fluctuations and radiocarbon estimates from the Lunkansar
Lake deposit do not support the views about aridity around 3500 BC,
the period when Saraswati and Indus Valley culture were thought to
have collapsed. The chronology emerging from these studies show that
the once perennial lakes had ceased to be so and they had dried and
desiccated more than 1500 y before the dated collapse of the
civilization.
Computer based climate simulation studies26, to reproduce the changes
to solar heating of the atmosphere due to variations in earth’s tilt
and orbit have shown that climate-induced weakening of monsoons over
India and north Africa led to desertification in a span of just 300
years. Needless to point out, when one traces the topographic
evolution of a place, the influence of a combination of many natural
phenomena can be recognized in its build up. It becomes, therefore,
very difficult to point out any one reason for some of the major
changes to the topography or river systems. The climatic swing that
led to sweeping changes in northwestern India was triggered by
variations in earth’s orbit and tilt and these departures are known to
recur periodically. The latter should, therefore, rise the
possibilities for a favourable orientation of these parameters of
earth at some future time to initiate climatic conditions for a re-
greening of the
Rajasthan desert, rejuvenation of the dry river beds and, hopefully,
for a rebirth of Saraswati, like Phoenix out of the ashes.
1. Chauhan D. S., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 35–45.
2. Bhardwaj, D. P., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 15–24.
3. Radhakrishna, B. P., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 5–13.
4. Bhargava, M. L., in The Geography of Rigvedic India, The
Upper India Publishing House, Lucknow, 1964.
5. Subrahmnya, K. R., Tectonophysics, 1996, 262, 231–241.
6. Radhakrishna, B. P., J. Geol. Soc. Ind., 1992, 40, 1–12.
7. Vaidhyanathan, R., J. Geol. Soc. Ind., 1971, 12, 14–42.
8. Sankaran, A. V., Curr. Sci., 1997, 72, 160–161.
9. Murthy, S. R. N., in Geological foundation of Vedic
civilization, Manthan, New Delhi, 1995, p. 132.
10. Wakankar, V. S., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 53–56.
11. Valdiya, K. S., Resonance, May 1996, 19–28.
12. Kochhar, R., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 47–51.
13. Kalyanaraman, S., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 25–33.
14. Valdiya, K. S., in Dynamic Geology, Educational monographs
published by J. N. Centre for Advanced Studies, Bangalore, University
Press (Hyderabad), 1998.
15. Kar, A. and Ghose, B., Geograph. J., 1984, 156, 221–229.
16. Bakliwal, P. C. and Grover, A. K., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999,
42, 113–119.
17. Malik, J. N., Merh, S. S. and Sridhar, V., Geol. Soc. India,
Mem., 1999, 42, 163–174.
18. Sridhar, V., Merh, S. S., and Malik, J. N., Geol. Soc. India,
Mem., 1999, 42, 187–204.
19. Sahai, B., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 121–141.
20. Radhakrishna, B. P., Key note address, Seminar on Drainage
evolution of NW India with particular reference to the lost river
Saraswati, Baroda, 1997.
21. Stein, A., Geogr. J., 1942, 99, 172–182.
22. Oldham, C. F., Royal Asiatic Soc. (NS), 1893, 34, 49–76.
23. Oldham, R. D., Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 1886, 55, 322–343.
24. Ramaswamy, C., Nature, 1968, 217, 628–629.
25. Wilhelmy, H., Mem. Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 95–111.
26. Claussen, M., Kubatzki, C., Braovkin, V., Ganopolski, A.,
Hoelzmann, P. and Pachur, H. J., Geophys. Res. Lett., 1999, 26, 2037–
2040.
27. Street-Perrott, F. A., Mitchell, J. F. B., Marchand, D. S. and
Brunner, S., Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburg (Earth Sciences), 1990, 81, 407–
427.
28. Jain, M., Tandon, S. K., Bhatt, S. C., Singhvi, A. K. and
Sheila, M., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 273–295.
29. Rajaram, N. S., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 63–69.
30. Kosambi, D. D., Culture and Civilization in Ancient India in
Historical Outline, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1996.
31. Radhakrishna, B. P., J. Geol. Soc. Ind., 1998, 51, 134–138.
32. Yash Pal., Sahai, B., Sood, R. K., and Agrawal, D. P., Proc.
Ind. Acad. Sci (Earth Planet. Sci.), 1980, 89, 317–331.
33. Rao, D. P., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 237–244.
34. Rajawat, A. S., Sastry, C. V. S. and Narain, A., Geol. Soc.
India, Mem., 1999, 42, 259–272.
35. Rajawat, A. S., Narain, A., Navalgund, R. R., Pathak, S.,
Sharma, J. R., Soni, V., Babel, M. K., Srivastava, K. S. and Sharma,
D. C., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 245–258.
36. Divakar Naidu, M., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 303–314.
37. Nair, A. R., Navada, S. V. and Rao, S. M., Geol. Soc. India,
Mem., 1999, 42, 315–319.
38. Satyamurthy, K., Sharma, J. K. and Paul, P. C., in Reviews and
Scope of Geophysical Surveys in the Desert of Rajasthan, Misc.
Publication, 1982, vol. 49.
39. Ahmad, K. S. and Abbasi, A. A., Geogr. Rev., 1960, XV, 38–49.
40. Ghose, B., Kar, A. and Hussain, Z., Geog. J. London, 1979, 145,
446–451.
41. Ramasamy, S. M., Geol. Soc. India, Mem., 1999, 42, 153–162.
42. Bakliwal, P. C. and Grover, A. K., Rec. Geol. Surv. India, 1988,
116, 77–86.
43. Gupta, S. K., Ind. J. Earth Sci., 1975, 2, 163–175.
44. Juyal, N., Pant, R. K., Bhushan, R. and Somayajulu, B. L. K.,
Geol. Soc. India, Mem, 1995, 32, 372–379.
45. Merh, S. S., Proc. Indian Natl. Sci. Acad., 1992, 58, 461–472.
46. Hashimi, N. H., Nigam, R., Nair, R. R. and Rajagopalan, G.,
J. Geol. Soc. Indian, 1995, 46, 157–162.
47. Sirocko, F., Sarnthein, M., Erlenkeuser, H., Lnge, H., Arnold,
M. and Duplessy, J. C., Nature, 1993, 364, 322–324.
48. Enzel, Y., Ely, L. L., Mishra, S., Ramesh, R., Amit, R., Lazar,
B., Rangaraju, S. N., Baker, V. R. and Sandler, A., Science, 1999,
284, 125–128.
http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/oct25/articles20.htm
The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration
Debate is a book by Edwin Bryant published at Oxford University Press
in 2001 (ISBN 0-19-513777-9).
The book aims to present the theories of various scholars on the Indo-
Aryan migration debate in an evenhanded way, and examines the role of
the "Indigenous Aryan" model in then-recent Hindu nationalist
discourse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Aryan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_nationalist
J. P. Mallory commented on this book: "Edwin Bryant's The Quest for
the Origins of Vedic Culture ... systematically exposes the logical
weaknesses of most of the arguments that support the consensus of
either side. This is not only an important work in the field of Indo-
Aryan studies but a long overdue challenge for scholarly fair play."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Mallory
Table of contents
Introduction
1. Myths of Origin
2. Early Indian Responses
3. Vedic Philology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philology
4. Indo-European Comparative Linguistics
5. Linguistic Substrata in Sanskrit Texts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substrata_(linguistics)#Substratum
Substratum in Vedic Sanskrit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substratum_in_Vedic_Sanskrit
6. Linguistic Paleontology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleontology
7. Linguistic Evidence from Outside of India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics
8. The Viability of a South Asian Homeland
9. The Indus Valley Civilization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilization
10. Aryans in the Archaeological Record
11. Aryans in the Archaeological Record http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeological
12. The Date of the Veda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veda
13. Aryan Origins and Modern Nationalist Discourse
Conclusion
References
Edwin Bryant (2004), The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The
Indo-Aryan Migration Debate, Oxford University Press US, ISBN
9780195169478, http://books.google.com/books?id=Y2jfHlinW4UC&pg=PP10
http://books.google.com/books?id=Y2jfHlinW4UC&pg=PP10#v=onepage&q&f=false
Reviews
Asko Parpola (8 March 2002), "Search for common homeland?", Times
Higher Education, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=167613§ioncode=22
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asko_Parpola
External links
Site with abstracts of each chapter of the book
Book website, with introduction
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_Quest_for_the_Origins_of_Vedic_Culture"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quest_for_the_Origins_of_Vedic_Culture
The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration
Debate By Edwin Bryant
Book overview
Western scholars have argued that Indian civilization was the joint
product of an invading Indo-European people--the "Indo-Aryans"--and
indigenous non-Indo European peoples. Although Indian scholars reject
this European reconstruction of their country's history, Western
scholarship gives little heed to their argument. In this book, Edwin
Bryant explores the nature and origins of this fascinating debate.
Limited preview - 2003 - 416 pages -
Results 1-10 of 20
A comprehensive review of the topic
User Review - NPM - Amazon.com -
I am not an academic in this specific area but very interested in the
subject. With that in mind - I found the book fascinating. Wealth of
information, very comprehensive and informative. The language ...
Exhaustive summary of Indo-Aryan problem
User Review - Farseem Mohammedy - Amazon.com -
This is a primer to study the Indo-Aryan problem. You can learn all
the sources and their arguments for their pet theories, and their
opposition, their criticism etc.
Can You Be More Balanced?
User Review - Phillip Garland - Amazon.com -
Would it be possible to cover such a subject with more balance? I
don't think so. Bryant does not "pit 19th century linguistics
orthodoxy" against others.
A Monumental Effort by Mr. Bryant
User Review - Hemant Kumar - Amazon.com -
It is not an easy task to summarize approximately two hundred years of
research on the origins of Vedic Culture.
Aryan migrants and Bryant
User Review - Dr Gautam Sen - Amazon.com -
The DNA evidence on the likelihood of Aryan migration into ancient
India shows that the linguistic and archaeological evidence Bryant
painstakingly wasted his time surveying is...
Edwin Bryant's book on Vedic people.
User Review - Maruthi Peri - Amazon.com -
I am an Indian and a practicing Hindu. I respect all religions and
believe in the dictum "If you are a Christian, be a good Christian. If
you are a Muslim, be a good Muslim. If you are a Hindu, be a ...
Finally, light, not heat
User Review - S. Weaver - Amazon.com -
Edwin Bryant brings clear-eyed vision and thorough scholarship to a
topic that has lately seen more heat than light.
A much-need survey
User Review - Amazon.com -
By A Customer I found this book to be a remarkably even-handed and
clearly written overview of a subject that has, bizarrely enough,
produced much empassioned debate in the past several hundred years ...
Very flawed
User Review - Amazon.com -
The book is not properly conceived. It pits the 19th century
linguistics orthodoxy about the chronology of the Vedic people against
a diverse set of scholars.
Excellent book for someone looking for a balanced view
User Review - Udaybhaskar Vemuri - Amazon.com -
This is indeed a good book that attempts to provide a much-needed
acamedic update on this subject. Ever since India was left to deal
with this subject based on findings from its...
http://books.google.com/books?id=Y2jfHlinW4UC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Asko Parpola
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Asko Parpola (born 1941) is a Finnish Indologist and Sindhologist,
current professor emeritus of Indology and South Asian Studies at the
University of Helsinki. He specializes in the Indus script. Two
significant contributions of Parpola to the field of decipherment of
the Indus script are creation of the (now) universally used
classification of Indus valley seals and the proposed (much-debated)
decipherment of the language of the script[1] He is brother of the
Akkadian language epigrapher Simo Parpola.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindhology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Helsinki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_script
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkadian_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_Parpola
References
^ Mahadevan Interview: Full Text http://www.harappa.com/script/mahadevantext.html
^ Helsinki University http://www.helsinki.fi/~aparpola/
External links
Asko Parpola at Harappa.com http://www.harappa.com/script/parpola0.html
Kimmo 60 years
http://web.archive.org/web/20060926002738/http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/~fkarlsso/Kimmo_60_years.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asko_Parpola
http://navanavonmilita.wordpress.com/saraswatis-disappearance-act-i-sid-harth/
...and I am Sid Harth