The Lost River: On The Trail of Saraswati

by Michel Danino

  V. The Aryan Problem (in the Indian context)

  Agrawal, Ashvini, (ed.), In Search of Vedic-Harappan Relationship, Aryan Books International, New Delhi, 2005

  Bhargava, P.L., India in the Vedic Age: A History of Aryan Expansion in India, D.K. Printworld, third edn, New Delhi, 2001

  Bryant, Edwin, The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001

  Bryant, Edwin F. & Patton, Laurie L., (eds), The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, Routledge, London & New York, 2005

  Chakrabarti, Dilip K., Colonial Indology: Sociopolitics of the Ancient Indian Past, Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi, 1997

  Chakrabarti, Dilip K., The Battle for Ancient India, an Essay in the Sociopolitics of Indian Archaeology, Aryan Books International, New Delhi, 2008

  Danino, Michel, L’Inde ou l’invasion de nulle part: Le Dernier Repaire du Mythe Aryen, Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 2006

  Danino, Michel, The Dawn of Indian Civilization and the Elusive Aryans, forthcoming Dhavalikar, M.K., The Aryans: Myth and Archaeology, Munshiram Mahoharlal, New Delhi, 2007

  Elst, Koenraad, Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1999

  Elst, Koenraad, Asterisk in Bharopiyasthan: Minor Writings on the Aryan Invasion Debate, Voice of India, New Delhi, 2007

  Feuerstein, Georg, Kak, Subhash & Frawley, David, In Search of the Cradle of Civilization, Quest Books, Wheaton, U.S.A, 1995; Indian edn, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1999

  Frawley, David, Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1993

  Frawley, David, The Rig Veda and the History of India, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 2001

  Kochhar, Rajesh, The Vedic People: Their History and Geography, Orient Longman, Hyderabad, 2000

  Lal, B.B., The Homeland of the Aryans : Evidence of Rigvedic Flora and Fauna, Aryan Books International, New Delhi, 2005

  Rajaram, N.S. & Frawley, David, Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization: A Literary and Scientific Perspective, Voice of India, third edn, New Delhi, 2001

  Sethna, K.D., The Problem of Aryan Origins, Aditya Prakashan, sec. edn, New Delhi, 1992

  Sharma, Ram Sharan, Advent of the Aryans in India, Manohar, New Delhi, 2001

  Singh, Bhagwan, The Vedic Harappans, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1995

  Thapar, Romila, et al., India: Historical Beginnings and the Concept of the Aryan, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 2006

  Trautmann, Thomas R., Aryans and British India, Vistaar, New Delhi, 1997

  Trautmann, Thomas R., (ed.), The Aryan Debate, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2005

  Tripathi, D.N., (ed.), A Discourse on Indo-European Languages and Culture, Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi, 2005

  VI. Vedic Texts and Studies

  Aurobindo, Sri, The Secret of the Veda, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1972

  Bhattacharya, N.N., A Cultural Index to Vedic Literature, Manohar, New Delhi, 2007

  Eggeling, Julius, The Satapatha Brāhmana, vol. 12 in Sacred Books of the East, 1882; republ. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 2001

  Gonda, Jan, The Vision of the Vedic Poets, Mouton, The Hague, 1963; Indian edn, Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi, 1984

  Gonda, Jan, Vedic Literature (Samhitās and Brāhmanas), Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1975

  Griffith, Ralph T.H., (tr.), The Hymns of the RgVeda, sec. edn 1896; republ. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1973

  Griffith, Ralph T.H., (tr.), Hymns of the Atharvaveda, 1884; republ. Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi, 2002

  Kak, Subhash, The Astronomical Code of the Rgveda, sec. edn, Munshiram Mahoharlal, New Delhi, 2000

  Kazanas, Nicholas, Indo-Aryan Origins and Other Vedic Issues, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 2009

  Keith, A.B., A History of Sanskrit Literature, 1928; reprinted Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1993

  Macdonell, A.A. & Keith, A.B., Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, 2 vols, 1912; reprinted Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1958-2007

  Miller, Jeanine, The Vedas: Harmony, Meditation and Fulfilment, Rider, London, 1974

  Müller, F. Max, A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, Allahabad, 1859; reprint Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1993

  Müller, F. Max, Vedic Hymns, part I, vol. 32 in Sacred Books of the East, 1882; reprint Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 2001

  Ranade, H.G., Illustrated Dictionary of Vedic Rituals, Aryan Books International, New Delhi, 2006

  Staal, Frits, et al., AGNI: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar, Asian Humanities Press, Berkeley, 1983, 2 vols; reprinted Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 2001

  Staal, Frits, Discovering the Vedas, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2008

  Talageri, Shrikant G., The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 2000

  Talageri, Shrikant G., The Rigveda and the Avesta: The Final Evidence, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 2008

  Winternitz, M., A History of Indian Literature, 3 vols, 1907; reprinted Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1981

  Copyright Acknowledgements

  Figs 1.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 6.1, 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 9.1, 9.2, 9.9, 9.11, 9.13, 10.1, 10.4, 10.5, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 10.11, 10.14, 10.15 and 10.18 are reproduced with the permission of the Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi (ASI). The copyright rests with the ASI.

  Figs 3.6 and 3.7 are reproduced with the kind permission of Dr A.K. Gupta, Regional Remote Sensing Service Centre, Indian Space Research Organization, Jodhpur; the copyright rests with the RRSSC / ISRO.

  Figs 1.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.6, 6.3, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 8.1, 8.2, 9.3, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.14, 9.18, 10.16, 12.1, 12.2 and 12.3 were prepared by the author. Figs 2.1 and 7.10 are the author’s. The copyrights for these maps, charts and photographs rest with the author.

  Figs 3.2 and 3.3 were prepared by the author by combining satellite views from various sources and applying contrast and other standard enhancement methods.

  For other illustrations, see corresponding Notes, if any.

  Fig. 1.2. A 1950 view of Bhatner’s massive fort in today’s Hanumangarh, on the bank of the Ghaggar river. The fort was built by the Bhatti Rajputs, probably in the twelfth century. (© ASI)

  Fig. 1.4. The first page of R.D. Oldham’s paper of 1886 in the Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal.

  Fig. 1.6. The first page of Surgeon-Major C.F. Oldham’s anonymous paper of 1874.

  Fig. 2.1. A statue of goddess Sarasvatī (Gangaikondacholapuram temple, Tamil Nadu); the kamandalu (water pot) in her upper left hand symbolizes the river, while the palm-leaf manuscript in her lower left hand represents the Veda, the inspired Speech (vāch).

  Fig. 5.4. A part of Lothal’s drainage system; from the individual bathing platforms, used waters flowed out of the town. (© ASI)

  Fig. 5.5. A typical Harappan cylindrical well with trapezoid bricks (Mohenjo-daro). (© ASI)

  Fig. 5.7. A Harappan painted pot with motifs of intersecting circles, pipal leaves, birds and hatching (Harappa, cemetery R 37). (© ASI)

  Fig. 5.8. The ‘dancing girl’, a bronze figurine from Mohenjo-daro. (© ASI)

  Fig. 5.9. Kalibangan’s 4800-year-old ploughed field. (© ASI)

  Fig. 5.10. A possible ancestor of the game of chess, found at Lothal. (© ASI)

  Fig. 6.1. A view of Kalibangan’s mounds from the Ghaggar’s bed (photo taken during A. Ghosh’s expedition of 1950). (© ASI)

  Fig. 6.2. Marc Aurel Stein. (© ASI)

  Fig. 6.4. A view of the Ghaggar’s wide bed at Anupgarh, as Aurel Stein must have seen it (photo taken in 1950 during A. Ghosh’s expedition). Note the bank on the right. (© ASI)

  Fig. 6.5. The expedition team in the Sarasvatī Valley in 1950. From left to right: Debala Mitra, Amalananda Ghosh, Ballabh Saran and Shruti Prakash.27 (© ASI)

  Fig. 6.6. A map of the sites explored during the 1950 survey. All the sites plotted are locate
d on the edges of the Sarasvatī’s bed, or in it. (© ASI)

  Fig. 7.2. Banawali’s fire temple, with the apsidal altar in the centre.

  (© ASI)

  Fig. 7.4. A tiled floor in a house at Kalibangan. (© ASI)

  Fig. 7.5. An artist’s impression of Lothal (Gujarat). Note the dockyard in the foreground and the warehouse on the left. The lower town is in the background. (Not to scale.) (© ASI)

  Fig. 7.6. Lothal’s huge baked-brick basin, almost 220 m long, thought to have been a dockyard. (© ASI)

  Fig. 7.8. A room in the eastern gate of the castle’s fortifications at Dholavira. Note the two square bases of stone pillars and one circular segment. (© ASI)

  Fig. 7.9. A stone well in Dholavira’s castle. (The woman at the bottom gives the scale.) Note the grooves on the stone slab, made by sliding ropes. (© ASI)

  Fig. 7.10. Dholavira: a huge rock-cut reservoir (‘SR3’), south of the castle.

  Fig. 8.1. Seven studies pointing to an arid environment during the Mature Harappan phase: (1) Geyh and Ploethner on the Hakra; (2) Rao and Kulkarni in the Jaisalmer region; (3) Enzel, et al. at Lunkaransar; (4) M.A. Courty in Haryana and north Rajasthan; (5) Gurdip Singh on Rajasthan lakes; (6) Bryson and Swain on Rajasthan lakes; (7) McKean at Balakot. Compare with Fig. 8.2.

  Fig. 8.2. Seven studies pointing to a wetter environment during the Mature Harappan phase: (1) Wasson, et al. at Didwana; (2) Naidu in the Arabian Sea; (3) von Rad, et al. off Karachi; (4) Phadtare in the Garhwals; (5) Staubwasser, et al. in the Indus delta; (6) Gupta, et al. in the Northwest; (7) Wright around Harappa. Compare with Fig. 8.1.

  Fig. 8.3. A curve of the water level of Didwana Lake, Rajasthan (adapted from R.J. Wasson, et al.).

  Fig. 9.1. Kaushambi’s fortifications, with a revetment of baked bricks. (© ASI)

  Fig. 9.2. An apsidal temple at Atranjikhera (c. 200 BCE). Compare this with Banawali’s apsidal temple, Fig. 7.2. (© ASI)

  Fig. 9.3. Dholavira’s plan with the principal ratios at work.

  Fig. 9.4. Overall plan of the mahāvedi.

  Fig. 9.5. Dholavira’s dimensions expressed in terms of a unit equal to 1.9 m.

  Fig. 9.6. Proportions and units of major buildings of Mohenjo-daro’s acropolis (D = 1.9 m).

  Fig. 9.7. Verifying that the distance between the sun (or moon) and the earth is 108 sun (or moon) diameters.

  Fig. 9.8. Dimensions of the Delhi Iron Pillar expressed in terms of D = Dholavira’s dhanus (1.9 m), A = Dholavira’s angula (1.76 cm).

  Fig. 9.9. Plan of a part of Sirkap, Taxila, excavated by Marshall. Note the regular spacing of the side streets perpendicular to the main north-south street. (© ASI)

  Fig. 9.10. Sketch of a few Harappan dice.

  Fig. 9.11. An anklet on a broken bronze figurine from Mohenjo-daro. (© ASI)

  Fig. 9.12. Sketches of two tablets depicting Harappan river boats.

  Fig. 9.13. A few examples of Indus writing on seals. (© ASI)

  Fig. 9.14. From the Indus to the Brāhmī scripts (in BCE dates).

  Fig. 9.15. A few of the similarities between animal symbols on Indus signs and punch-marked coins pointed out by C.L. Fabri.

  Fig. 9.16. A few symbols common to the Indus script and punch-marked coins, adapted from Fabri.

  Fig. 9.17. A few symbols common to the Indus script and punch-marked coins, adapted from Savita Sharma.

  Fig. 9.18. Examples of possible composite signs (left column) and diacritical marks (right column) in the Indus script.

  Fig. 10.1. The swastika on a Harappan tablet (left), and on pottery of the early historical era (top right: Rupar; bottom right: Ahichchhatra). (© ASI)

  Fig. 10.2. The Harappan ‘endless knot’ (left), and the same symbol on an historical inscription3 (right).

  Fig. 10.3. The Harappan tree (left), and its historical counterpart (right).

  Fig. 10.4. The famous ‘Pashupati’ seal. Inset: A nandipada symbol from Mathura.9 (© ASI)

  Fig. 10.5. A humped bull on an Indus seal. (© ASI)

  Fig. 10.6. Sketch of two mother goddesses : from the third millennium BCE (left) to the second century BCE (Mathura style, right).

  Fig. 10.7. A Harappan female ‘centaur’ (cylinder seal from Kalibangan); she watches two warriors who appear to be competing for a woman. (© ASI)

  Fig. 10.8. A Harappan god (left) under an arch of pipal leaves; Shiva (right) under an arch of fire. (© ASI)

  Fig. 10.9. A potsherd from Lothal: two crows and an envious fox. (© ASI)

  Fig. 10.10. Lingas found at Harappa (left) and Kalibangan. (© ASI)

  Fig. 10.11. A seal depicting the same deity as in Fig. 10.4. (© ASI)

  Fig. 10.12. Sketch of a tablet from Harappa.

  Fig. 10.13. Sketch of the ‘Divine Adoration’ seal.

  Fig. 10.14. An Indus seal depicting a unicorn facing a ritual stand. (© ASI)

  Fig. 10.15. A square fire altar at Lothal, with a painted jar in front. This altar was located on Street 9, suggesting a public function. (© ASI)

  Fig. 10.16. Comparison between Lothal’s altar (top) and the square altar of the Shulbasūtras (bottom). (The scale applies to Lothal’s altar alone.)

  Fig. 10.17. Sketch of a terracotta figurine from Harappa.

  Fig. 10.18. Sketch of the ‘priest-king’ found at Mohenjo-daro.

  Fig. 10.19. A peacock painted on a Cemetery H urn at Harappa: a recumbent human can be seen inside the bird.

  Fig. 11.1. Louis Flam’s proposed continuity between the Hakra (flowing through Derawar Fort) and the Nara.76

  Fig. 12.1. Proposed reconstruction of the hydrography of the Sarasvatī basin in its first stage, during the Early Harappan phase.

  Fig. 12.2. Proposed reconstruction of the Sarasvatī basin’s second stage, during the Mature Harappan phase: the Sarasvatī loses the Yamunā, but is still fed by a branch of the Sutlej.

  Fig. 12.3. Proposed reconstruction of the Sarasvatī basin’s third stage, during the Late Harappan phase: the Sarasvatī’s central basin has gone dry.

  MAPS

  Fig. 1.1. A portion of the Northwest, with today’s cities, towns and rivers. Note that unlike the Indus and its tributaries, the Ghaggar-Hakra system is now dry, except for a meagre seasonal flow in its upper reaches.

  Fig. 1.3. A detail from an 1862 British map of India.32 (Bottom:) The Sarasvatī region: south of the Sutlej, the ‘Guggur’ (Ghaggar) flows past ‘Umballa’ (Ambala) and beyond ‘Bhatneer’ (Hanumangarh); note its tributary the ‘Soorsutty’ (Sarsuti).

  Fig. 1.5. Robert Sivewright’s map (1907): ‘Cutch and Adjacent Islands, with the Mainland at the Time of the Arab Conquest of Sind 712 A.D.’ On the Rann’s northern shore is the Shāgāra Estuary, that of the Mihran and Hakra (see enlarged area). Note also the ‘Karir Island’ (today spelt Khadir), where the Harappan site of Dholavira will be discovered in 1966.

  Fig. 1.7. C.F. Oldham’s 1893 map ‘shewing courses of Hakra’.56Existing rivers are drawn in continuous lines, and former rivers in dotted lines. The Sarasvatī is shown as a tributary of the Ghaggar; further downstream (above Sirsa), we read ‘Gaggar or Old Saraswati R.’, and below, ‘Chitrang or Drishadwati R.’

  Fig. 2.2. The chief Rig Vedic rivers, numbered in their order of appearance in the Nadīstuti sūkta. The land between the Indus and the Sarasvati was the ‘Land of the Seven Rivers’, Saptasindhava. (Note that the rivers are shown here in their present courses, but some of them have shifted their beds since Vedic times.)

  Fig. 2.3. Detail of a map by A. Cunningham showing the Sarasvatī and neighbouring rivers.57 (Names in capital letters refer to kingdoms mentioned by the Chinese pilgrim Hsüan-tsang.)

  Fig. 2.4. Map of the ‘Sapta Sindhu (Land of the Seven Rivers)’ published in an 1881 French book, Vedic India, with the Sarasvatī identified with the Ghaggar and located between the Yamunā and the Sutlej. (The map adds the rivers’ Sanskrit and Greek names.)

  Fig. 2.5. A detail of Pargiter’s map of clans in the time of the Mahābhārata. The Sarasvatī is shown flowin
g south of the Sutlej, and stopping in the middle of the desert.77