Archaeologists, Sanskrit scholars tie up to decipher Rigveda text

Archaeologists, Sanskrit scholars tie up to decipher Rigveda text

Sub: History

Sec: Ancient India

Context:

• In order to  establish a relationship between the Harappan civilisation and the people of the Vedic age, a group of archeologists are now collaborating with Sanskrit scholars to decipher the text of the Rigveda.

More on news:

• According to scholars, a clear understanding of what is mentioned in the Rigveda text is important in order to co-relate archaeological evidence unearthed by his team in excavations of Harappan settlements at Haryana’s Rakhigarhi and Banawali, at Kalibanga on the Haryana-Rajasthan border, and at Dholavira in Gujarat.

Key highlights:

NCERT new additions:

• The Harappan Civilisation’, based on DNA evidence from the 4,600-year old remains of a woman, indicating that the Harappans were an indigenous people.

Evidence from Rakhigarhi:

• While excavating the site of Rakhigarhi,evidence of ritual platforms and fire altars are found.
• Parallely, fire worship is mentioned in Rig Vedic texts.

Saraswati: a common thread:

• The mention of the river is recorded at least 71 times in the Rigvedic text.
• During archaeological excavations, scholars discovered a majority of Harappan settlements along the banks of river Saraswati.
• Of the nearly 2,000 known Harappan settlements spread over the Indus basin, Saraswati, and in Gujarat, of which almost two-thirds, at least 1,200 are located along the basin of the river Saraswati.

Cities and Towns life:

• DNA evidence now suggests that cities and towns first came into existence during the Harappan times, dating 4,500 to 4,600 years ago.
• They again later came into existence 2,400 years ago, by which time proofs of use of iron also emerged.
• In the middle, there seems to be a decline, where humankind reverted back to rural life.
• The later settlements were not along the banks of river Saraswati.
• The Rigveda talks about river Saraswati, and we only have proof of dense Harappan settlements there, dating back to 4,600 years ago.
• Rigvedic texts do not mention the use of iron, so co-relation with early historic settlements which came much later and are 2,400 year old ones (near the Ganga Basin and the Deccan region) is not possible.

A debate on animal bones:

• Another point of reference which may link the Harappans with Vedic times is a set of animal bones found and studied by two archaeo-zoologists in the Surkotada region of Kutch, Gujarat.
• Some terracotta figurines of horse-like animals have been excavated from the Harappan sites of Lothal and Mohenjo Daro.

Linkage with Modern Humans:

• Studies wrt to DNA analysis from the blood samples of 3,000 modern south Asians from different linguistic and religious groups were carried out.
• It was found that most of them were from the Andaman and Nicobar islands to Ladakh and Kashmir, and from Afghanistan to Bengal and  carried genetic similarities to the Harappan woman’s skeleton.

About Harappan Civilisation:

• Indus Valley Civilization was the first major civilization in South Asia,  which spread across a vast area of land in present-day India and Pakistan (around 12 lakh sq.km).
• The time period of mature Indus Valley Civilization is estimated between BC. 2700- BC.1900 ie. for 800 years.

Indus Valley Sites and Specialties:

Harappa

• Seals out of stones
• Citadel outside on banks of river Ravi

Mohenjodaro

• Great Bath, Great Granary, Dancing Girl, Man with Beard, Cotton, Assembly hall
• The term means ” Mount of the dead”
• On the bank of river Indus
• Believed to have been destroyed by flood or invasion(Destruction was not gradual).

Chanhudaro

• Bank of Indus river. – discovered by Gopal Majumdar and Mackey (1931)
• Pre-Harappan culture – Jhangar Culture and Jhukar Culture.

Kalibangan

• At Rajasthan on the banks of river Ghaggar, discovered by A.Ghosh (1953)
• Fire Altars
• Bones of camel
• Evidence of furrows
• Horse remains ( even though Indus valley people didn’t use horses).
• Known as the third capital of the Indus Empire.

About Rig Vedic Age or Early Vedic Period (1500–1000 BCE):

• In  the Rig Vedic period, the Aryans were mostly confined to the Indus region. 
• It  refers to Sapta Sindhu or the land of seven rivers.
• This includes the five rivers of Punjab, namely Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej along with the Indus and Saraswati.
• The Rigveda Samhita contains about 10552 Mantras, classified into ten books called Mandalas.
• Each Mandala is divided into several sections called Anuvakas. 
• Each Anuvaka consists of a number of hymns called Suktas and each Sukta is made up of a number of verses called riks

About Saraswati River:

• The Saraswati is called the Ghaggar-Hakra river and flows only during the monsoon season.
• It originates from the Shivaliks, the foothills of the Himalayas, then flows through Punjab, Haryana, and a part of Rajasthan before entering what is now Pakistan.
• The Indian part of the river is named the Ghaggar, while the one in Pakistan is the Hakra