<span style='color:red'>CAUTION - PSEUDO SECULARIST WORLD VIEW</span>
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No Vedic roots here
Suraj Bhan
The article 'Grave Secrets of Sinauli' by Atul Sethi (Jul 3) gives important information about a late Harappan cemetery (1700-1300 BC) in western Uttar Pradesh. I visited the excavations and found that the cemetery belongs to post-Harappan but pre-Iron Age.
The significance of the discovery lies in the recovery of swords of copper generally associated with the pre-iron culture of the Ganga-Yamuna Doab. Animal remains along with human bodies are found in some of the graves.
The cemetery is rich in copper and gold ornaments of the Harappan tradition. Although 126 skeletons have been reported from the cemetery yet, it is not possible to say which of them are earlier and which are later.
It would be wrong to say on the basis of Sinauli's findings that Harappans were a part of the Vedic culture and followed prescribed Vedic practices. Such an assertion is based on a poor understanding of north Indian proto-history.
Archaeological investigations carried out in India in the last eight decades have revealed two distinct cultural traditions in north India between 3000 BC and 600 BC.
The earlier tradition is marked by the colonisation of the Indus plains by pastoral communities from Baluchistan, giving birth to the Indus civilisation at around 2500 BC.
The expansion of Harappan state resulted in the establishment of fortified cities there. By 2000 BC, the Indus civilisation declined and the cities were deserted.
<i>
This coincided with the migrations on a vast scale by peasant-pastoral communities of the Copper Age all over north India. The late Harappan regional culture filled the space in the Sutlej-Ganga plains.</i>
The second major movement in north Indian proto-history is distinguished by the advent of a new people in Swat, Kabul, NWFP, northern Punjab and the Bolan region in Pakistan from around 1600 BC.
These cultures were termed as the Gandhar Grave and the Pirak cultures. A related regional culture called the Painted Grey Ware culture occupied the Saraswati, Yamuna and Ganga plains. In course of time these cultures gave rise to early historic towns so famous in the Mahabharata.
A variant of the Painted Grey Ware culture termed Black Slipped Ware culture spread in the lower Doab and parts of Gangetic valley around 1000 BC. These people â using thin Grey, and Black Wares â had affinities with Gandhar Grave culture and penetrated further east around 800 BC.
In central India, around this time, the Painted Grey Ware culture intrudes into the Black and Red Ware levels at Ujjain, Vidisha near Bhopal, Kayatha and certain other sites in the Vindhyas.
This widespread expansion of new people had no genetic relationship with the Harappan, late Harappan or the later Chalcolithic cultures. North India was colonised by successive migrations by different people with different cultural identities.
The Vedic culture showed continuous growth and expansion ever since the advent of the Rig Vedic people in the Sapta Sindhu region, around the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.
The Vedic culture consolidated itself in the Madhya Desh and penetrated into the central and lower Ganga valley and central India a few centuries before the rise of early historic cities.
In contrast, around this time, the Indus civilisation finally declined and came to an end in the basins of Indus and Saraswati and the Ganga-Yamuna Doab.
But the characteristic features of the Indus civilisation like urbanisation, town planning, monumental architecture, long-distance trade, seals and the script, did not survive.
In the face of such clear evidence how could an archaeologist confuse the Harappan or late Harappan cultures with Vedic Aryans? The answer perhaps lies in the perspective of the scholars.
Adherents of the Hindutva ideology viewed Indian society and culture as a monolithic Hindu nation with a Hindu culture (Aryans being their ancestors). They viewed the mosaic of cultures of India's past not as it actually was, but as what they wanted to see in it.
To imagine Sinauli as a Vedic cemetery on the basis of a few selective references in the Sat Path Brahmn of a much later date (8th century BC) is part of this perspective.
The writer is member, Central Advisory Board of Archaeology.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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No Vedic roots here
Suraj Bhan
The article 'Grave Secrets of Sinauli' by Atul Sethi (Jul 3) gives important information about a late Harappan cemetery (1700-1300 BC) in western Uttar Pradesh. I visited the excavations and found that the cemetery belongs to post-Harappan but pre-Iron Age.
The significance of the discovery lies in the recovery of swords of copper generally associated with the pre-iron culture of the Ganga-Yamuna Doab. Animal remains along with human bodies are found in some of the graves.
The cemetery is rich in copper and gold ornaments of the Harappan tradition. Although 126 skeletons have been reported from the cemetery yet, it is not possible to say which of them are earlier and which are later.
It would be wrong to say on the basis of Sinauli's findings that Harappans were a part of the Vedic culture and followed prescribed Vedic practices. Such an assertion is based on a poor understanding of north Indian proto-history.
Archaeological investigations carried out in India in the last eight decades have revealed two distinct cultural traditions in north India between 3000 BC and 600 BC.
The earlier tradition is marked by the colonisation of the Indus plains by pastoral communities from Baluchistan, giving birth to the Indus civilisation at around 2500 BC.
The expansion of Harappan state resulted in the establishment of fortified cities there. By 2000 BC, the Indus civilisation declined and the cities were deserted.
<i>
This coincided with the migrations on a vast scale by peasant-pastoral communities of the Copper Age all over north India. The late Harappan regional culture filled the space in the Sutlej-Ganga plains.</i>
The second major movement in north Indian proto-history is distinguished by the advent of a new people in Swat, Kabul, NWFP, northern Punjab and the Bolan region in Pakistan from around 1600 BC.
These cultures were termed as the Gandhar Grave and the Pirak cultures. A related regional culture called the Painted Grey Ware culture occupied the Saraswati, Yamuna and Ganga plains. In course of time these cultures gave rise to early historic towns so famous in the Mahabharata.
A variant of the Painted Grey Ware culture termed Black Slipped Ware culture spread in the lower Doab and parts of Gangetic valley around 1000 BC. These people â using thin Grey, and Black Wares â had affinities with Gandhar Grave culture and penetrated further east around 800 BC.
In central India, around this time, the Painted Grey Ware culture intrudes into the Black and Red Ware levels at Ujjain, Vidisha near Bhopal, Kayatha and certain other sites in the Vindhyas.
This widespread expansion of new people had no genetic relationship with the Harappan, late Harappan or the later Chalcolithic cultures. North India was colonised by successive migrations by different people with different cultural identities.
The Vedic culture showed continuous growth and expansion ever since the advent of the Rig Vedic people in the Sapta Sindhu region, around the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.
The Vedic culture consolidated itself in the Madhya Desh and penetrated into the central and lower Ganga valley and central India a few centuries before the rise of early historic cities.
In contrast, around this time, the Indus civilisation finally declined and came to an end in the basins of Indus and Saraswati and the Ganga-Yamuna Doab.
But the characteristic features of the Indus civilisation like urbanisation, town planning, monumental architecture, long-distance trade, seals and the script, did not survive.
In the face of such clear evidence how could an archaeologist confuse the Harappan or late Harappan cultures with Vedic Aryans? The answer perhaps lies in the perspective of the scholars.
Adherents of the Hindutva ideology viewed Indian society and culture as a monolithic Hindu nation with a Hindu culture (Aryans being their ancestors). They viewed the mosaic of cultures of India's past not as it actually was, but as what they wanted to see in it.
To imagine Sinauli as a Vedic cemetery on the basis of a few selective references in the Sat Path Brahmn of a much later date (8th century BC) is part of this perspective.
The writer is member, Central Advisory Board of Archaeology.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->