W’end Links: Saraswati, a 27-year war & spin doctors

Start your weekend with Sandhya Jain’s review of Prof BB Lal’s latest book which traces the continuity of Indian culture since the dawn of the Saraswati-Sindhu civilisation. Excerpts from Discovery of India by Sandhya Jain (emphasis mine):

Barely seven years after Prof BB Lal penned The Sarasvati Flows On: The Continuity of Indian Culture (2002), the defiantly-in-denial UPA has been forced to admit the existence of the Vedic Saraswati. In response to a parliamentary question, the Government revealed that a study by scientists of ISRO, Jodhpur, and the Rajasthan Government’s Ground Water Department has found irrefutable evidence of palaeo-channels and archaeological sites of pre-Harappan, Harappan and post-Harappan ages, indicating the existence of a mighty river matching descriptions of the Saraswati in Vedic literature.

Now, once again taking the bull by the horns, Prof Lal thunders that the Harappan or Indus-Saraswati civilisation is not only archaeologically the oldest civilisation of India, but that it is the material counterpart of the Vedic texts! Supporting this bold hypothesis is powerful evidence from hydrology, geology, literature, archaeology and radiocarbon dating. A picture clearly emerges of a vibrant material civilisation with profound metaphysical insights in the north-western region, which bequeathed us the unity and continuity that are the hallmarks of Indian tradition.

Amazingly, every little aspect of our civilisation can be traced back to the dawn of our religion and culture in the Saraswati basin. At Nausharo in pre-Partition India (now Pakistan), French excavator Jean-Francois Jarrige found a small terracotta figurine of a woman, hair painted black, and red paint in the medial parting indicating the sindoor worn by Hindu married women to this day. Carbon dating traces the levels where the image was found to be of circa 2800-2600 BCE. Similarly, the famous bronze statuette of the dancing girl, found at mature Harappan levels of Mohenjo-daro, reveals the continuity of the practice of wearing serial bangles on the upper arms in parts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, the very regions where Harappan culture most thrived*.

…Far more startling is the continuity in agriculture, which sustained this rich civilisation and the arts and crafts that in turn created a flourishing overseas trade, and wealth that made India a coveted prize for adventurers in the centuries that unfolded. Excavations at Kalibangan in Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan, from the early Harappan circa 2800 BCE, show fields ploughed wide apart from north to south (for tall mustard plants) and shorter east-west furrows (for gram), so that the multiple crops share the winter sunshine and do not cast shadows upon each other. This pattern endures in Indian fields to this day. This era also created the ploughshare and spoked wheel, the tandoor and roti, chulha and chapatti, and pots and pans and other vessels of daily use!

If these seem like small drops in a civilisation as vast as the ocean, the finding of terracotta figurines in various Yogic asanas, which take the Astanga yoga of Panini (2nd century BCE) back to Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, must make us pause. It is staggering material evidence of spiritual quest accompanying great wealth, unmatched in any ancient civilisation. It is convincing proof, if proof be needed, that the material wealth desired in Vedic mantras refers simultaneously to a deeper metaphysical quest.

This is augmented by the famous limestone statuette of the Mohenjo-daro priest-king, with his eyes introvert and eyelids half-closed, a meditative form later associated with Buddhist tradition, especially in Tibet and China. Yet this form of dhyana is mentioned in the Bhagvadgita (Ch 6, verse 13) which states that the gaze should be fixed on the tip of the nose!

The famous seals of the Saraswati civilisation reflect later developments in Hindu religion and culture — the worship of Siva as a linga; Pasupati seated in yogic posture surrounded by animals; buffalo sacrifice; worship of the sacred pipal; the crucial role of agni in the havana or yajna; the fire altars for individual and communal worship; the kamandalus of the sadhu; the sacred swastika… I could go on.

Town planning, especially given the chaos in our cities today, will remain ancient India’s greatest contribution to civilisation. Be it Kalibangan, or Sisupalgarh near Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, the grid pattern with streets running north-south and east-west was the rage. This, it is pertinent, was an era in which Egypt or Mesopotamia (the West’s favourite ‘cradle’ of civilisation) had no notion of such town planning. The idea, it must be conceded, was original to India. To cap it all, there were covered drains and manholes for discharge of sullage.

Bricks were kiln-fired, and there was bonding, with bricks laid out in alternate courses — length-wise and breadth-wise — for strong walls, way back in the third millennium BCE. And clay floors were soled with fragments of terracotta nodules and large pieces of charcoal — to absorb moisture, prevent dampness travelling up the walls, and inhibiting termites!

…But who were these Vedic people — were they Aryan invaders as we were taught in school, or indigenous ancestors whose achievements were ‘stolen’ by ascribing them to so-called Aryans, a people who have left no traces of like achievements in any of the lands from where they supposedly descended upon the Indian plains.

It is now conclusively established that there was no Aryan invasion, or even migration (the current theory). What does remain, however, is a West-led mental resistance to accepting the indigenous origins of the Vedic (Hindu) religion, culture, and civilisation.

Next, some excerpts from Was Ancient Historian One Of The First Spin Doctors? (Hat Tip: Varnam; emphasis mine):

…The war between Athens and Sparta has long since become an allegory of modern conflicts like the Cold War, Vietnam, Iraq — even Afghanistan. Historians and students of Thucydides all draw comparisons back to that ancient conflict. Kagan says Thucydides was the first person to apply rigorous scholarship in the approach to storytelling…(but)…he (Thucydides) may not have always told the truth.

Thucydides was born around 455 B.C. to a noble Athenian family. During his youth, the Athenian empire was ruled by Pericles, who was something of a benign autocrat. But after Pericles’ death in 429 B.C., the governance of Athens was taken over by a group of self-proclaimed democrats — most likely an affront to Thucydides’ family, Kagan says, who would have had a deep skepticism of democracy.

In his history of the conflict between Athens and Sparta, Thucydides attempts to assign blame for Athens’ eventual demise on those democratic leaders.

…Kagan argue(s) that, at times, Thucydides is selective in the way he uses direct quotations and reconstructs events.

…In a sense all historians are revisionists, for each tries to make some contribution that changes our understanding of the past. When we use the term revisionist, however, we generally mean something more fundamental: a writer who tries to change the reader’s mind in a major way by providing a new general interpretation, one that sharply and thoroughly reexamines the established way of looking at a matter.

…If we grant that Thucydides had the instincts of a revisionist, what was there to revise? The answer is: the not yet fully formed or written opinions of contemporaries. In our own day these are easy to identify. Some of us still remember them from direct experience, and, in any case, modern revisionists usually confront and argue against their opponents. Thucydides’ method is different. He argues with no one by name and presents no labeled alternative views, even to refute them, but gives the reader only the facts and the conclusions distilled from them that he deems necessary after careful investigation and thought.

He has been so successful…that for more than twenty-four hundred years few readers have been aware that any other point of view existed. But a careful reading of Thucydides himself and other ancient sources shows that there were different opinions in Thucydides’ time and that his History is a powerful and effective polemic against them.

…and finally, excerpts from the first part of Kedar’s 7 -part series on the 27-year war that changed history (emphasis mine):

Schoolchildren in India learn a very specific blend of Indian history. This school version of history is stripped of all the vigor and pride. The story of Indian civilization spans thousands of years. However for the most part the schoolbook version dwells on the freedom struggle against British and important role played in there by the Indian National Congress. We learn each and every movement of Gandhi and Nehru, but not even a passing reference is made to hundreds of other important people and events.

…And thus it comes no surprise to me that rarely we talk about an epic war that significantly altered the face of Indian subcontinent. The war that can be described the mother of all wars in India. Considering the average life expectancy that time was around 30 years, this war of 27 years lasted almost the lifespan of an entire generation. The total number of battles fought was in hundreds. It occurred over vast geographical expanse spanning four biggest states of modern India- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. For time, expanse and human and material cost, this  war has no match in Indian history.

It started in 1681 with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s invasion of Maratha empire. It ended in 1707 with Aurangzeb’s death. Aurangzeb threw everything he had in this war. He lost it all.

It’s tempting to jump into the stories of heroics, but what makes the study of war more interesting is the understanding of politics behind it. Every war is driven by politics. Rather war is just one of the means to do politics. This war was not an exception.

…

…in September of  1681, after settling his dispute with the royal house of Mewar, Aurangzeb began his journey to Deccan to kill the Maratha confederacy that was not even 50 years old. On his side, the Mughal king had enormous army numbering half a million soldiers, a number more than three times that of the Maratha army. He had plentiful support of artillery, horses, elephants. He also brought huge wealth in royal treasuries. Teaming up with Portughese, British ,Siddis, Golkonda and Bijapur Sultanates he planned to encapsulate Marathas from all sides and to form a deadly death trap. To an outsider, it would seem no-brainer to predict the outcome of such vastly one sided war. It seemed like the perfect storm headed towards Maratha confederacy.

Enormous death and destruction followed in Deccan for what seemed like eternity. But what happened at the end would defy all imaginations and prove every logic wrong. Despite lagging in resources on all fronts, it would be the Marathas who triumphed. And at the expense of all his treasure, army, power and life, it would be the invading emperor who learned a very costly lesson, that the will of people to fight for their freedom should never be underestimated.

Read the entire series on Kedar’s blog.

* Some of you will find this post by Varnam fascinating (further underlining the continuity from the Harrapan times):  The Harappan angulam

Some more evidence on this (courtesy Dr Kalyanaraman-ji): http://www.docstoc.com/docs/135811781/Continuity-of-hindu-civilization or Continuity of Hindu Civilization (mirror)

Have a safe, restful weekend.  Past weekend readings are here.