06-14-2007, 11:42 PM
http://www.tifr.res.in/~vahia/10-paper-abstracts.pdf
10) The Harappan Question
Mayank Vahia
Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 2006
One of the major problems of interpretation of early Indian history has been the
inconsistencies between the Harappan (Indus Valley) civilisation and the
Rigvedic literature. Problems arise from the fact that the Harappan Civilisation
was at its peak around second millennium BC (Allchin and Allchin, 1989 page
131). The period of creation of the Rigveda has also been put around 4000 to
2000 BC, though the writing down of the text has been dated to a much later
period around 2000 BC or later. The Rigvedic literature and its subsequent
developments have also been in the Indian subcontinent. There has therefore
been a strong temptation to connect the Harappans to the Vedic Civilisation.
However, there are several problems with this association, most graphically
portrayed in the `horse problem' (Thapar, 2003). Horses are integral to most
Rigvedic ritualistic customs while they are absent in the Harappan sites. There
are several other problems also. We re-visit this controversy in the light of some
recent developments and suggest that the Harappans belonged to the ancient
Homo sapiens who separated from the humans migrating from Africa as early as
sixty thousand years ago and travelled along the coast of the Arabian Sea (Wells,
2003). This group lost touch with the group that migrated to the Mediterranean
and evolved independently of them. We suggest that it was this group that set up
the Harappan civilisation. We suggest that the group that went to the
Mediterranean eventually moved east at the end of the Ice ages and passing
through northern Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan entered India (the Indo  Iranians)
where they met the earlier migrants who had come along the seas. They met at
the Harappan sites sometime around two and a half thousand years BC.
We
base this suggestion on new data on the genetic make up of aboriginal Indian
tribes (Thangaraj et al., 2002) and other studies of human migration, dating of
separation of languages (Gray and Atkinson, 2003) and broad based studies of
prehistoric human evolution (Mithen, 2003) as well as other evidence about the
appearance of horses in Asia, etc. We propose that the Vedas were composed by the Indo Iranian but they included upon the learning of the Harappans and this
mix of knowledge is also visible in the Vedic literature, especially in the
astronomical information in the literature.
10) The Harappan Question
Mayank Vahia
Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 2006
One of the major problems of interpretation of early Indian history has been the
inconsistencies between the Harappan (Indus Valley) civilisation and the
Rigvedic literature. Problems arise from the fact that the Harappan Civilisation
was at its peak around second millennium BC (Allchin and Allchin, 1989 page
131). The period of creation of the Rigveda has also been put around 4000 to
2000 BC, though the writing down of the text has been dated to a much later
period around 2000 BC or later. The Rigvedic literature and its subsequent
developments have also been in the Indian subcontinent. There has therefore
been a strong temptation to connect the Harappans to the Vedic Civilisation.
However, there are several problems with this association, most graphically
portrayed in the `horse problem' (Thapar, 2003). Horses are integral to most
Rigvedic ritualistic customs while they are absent in the Harappan sites. There
are several other problems also. We re-visit this controversy in the light of some
recent developments and suggest that the Harappans belonged to the ancient
Homo sapiens who separated from the humans migrating from Africa as early as
sixty thousand years ago and travelled along the coast of the Arabian Sea (Wells,
2003). This group lost touch with the group that migrated to the Mediterranean
and evolved independently of them. We suggest that it was this group that set up
the Harappan civilisation. We suggest that the group that went to the
Mediterranean eventually moved east at the end of the Ice ages and passing
through northern Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan entered India (the Indo  Iranians)
where they met the earlier migrants who had come along the seas. They met at
the Harappan sites sometime around two and a half thousand years BC.
We
base this suggestion on new data on the genetic make up of aboriginal Indian
tribes (Thangaraj et al., 2002) and other studies of human migration, dating of
separation of languages (Gray and Atkinson, 2003) and broad based studies of
prehistoric human evolution (Mithen, 2003) as well as other evidence about the
appearance of horses in Asia, etc. We propose that the Vedas were composed by the Indo Iranian but they included upon the learning of the Harappans and this
mix of knowledge is also visible in the Vedic literature, especially in the
astronomical information in the literature.