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<b>BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT :Sarasvati River and the Vedic Civilization by Dr.N S Rajaram </b>
The discovery of the Sarasvati River, lauded in the Vedas as the greatest river, and the decipherment of the 5000-year old Indus script are the two most important breakthroughs in Indian history to have taken place in recent decades. The story of Sarasvati’s rediscovery in our time is also the story of the rediscovery of Vedic India. Here is a book on these epoch making developments by one who has been at the center of these developments.

The book shows unequivocally— Harappan civilization was Vedic. Harappan archaeology represents the material remains of the culture and civilization described in the Vedic literature, and flourished in the same geographic regions.

In the present book, N.S. Rajaram, a scientist as well as historian, marshals evidence from a wide range of sources, from archaeology and astronomy to the newly deciphered Indus seals, to shed light on the origins and the achievements of probably the most important civilization in world history. He goes beyond current theories and highlights important facts about natural history and population genetics that point to climate changes in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions rather than invasions from Central Asia or Eurasia as holding the keys to understanding the origins of the Vedic civilization.

In the process he settles important questions like the “Aryan invasion” and the “Harappan horse” by exposing the political currents and the personalities that gave rise to the brand of history imposed on the children of India by colonial authorities and their present day followers. To place it in the historical context, the book includes a summary of the current state of these politically motivated moves, including the recent controversy over textbooks used in California schools.

Contents

Foreword by David Frawley
Preface: Science in the service of history

1. Introduction: Science and belief
2. Vedic Sarasvati: River lost and found
3. Cobwebs of colonialism: The Aryan problem
4. History and politics: Subversion of scholarship
5. Vedic people: Image of the ocean
6. The language puzzle: India and Europe
7. Vedic Age: On the banks of the Sarasvati
8. Birth of writing: Harappan language and script
9. Beyond the invasion: Looking south and east

Epilogue: ‘History is always written wrong’

Supplement I: The current state of Aryan theories
Supplement II: Science in Ancient India
Supplement III: Date of the Mahabharata War

Bibliography
Index
About the author
Dr. Navaratna S. Rajaram is a mathematician, linguist and historian who after a twenty-year career as an academic and industrial researcher in the United States turned his attention to history, in which he has several notable achievements. He collaborated with the renowned Vedic scholar Dr. Natwar Jha on the decipherment of the 5000 year old Indus script leading to their epoch making work The Deciphered Indus Script. In May 1999, Rajaram deciphered the newly discovered sample of what has been called the “world’s oldest writing,” showing it to be related to the Rigveda. Most recently, by a detailed study of human population genetics, he has shown that the people of India are not recent immigrants but have lived in the region for tens of thousands of years. He sees history as an extension of natural history rather than as a field for political and social theories.

Publisher: Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi; Availability: June 2006