Continuity of Sarasvati Civilization in Hindusthana

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"S.Kalyanaraman" <kalyan97@g...> wrote:

There is considerable discussion in the Eurocentric

archaeological circles that a "Black Hole" exist in

Indian History between 1700-500 BC. These researchers

claim that during this period three things occurred

that make it clear that urbanism declined during this

period. They are:

1) shifts in location of settlements;

2) few sites can be called cities; and

3) discontinuity between earlier cultural traditions

and cultural traditions during this period of India

history.

Although this is the opinion of these researchers,

it is not supported by the archaeological evidence.

Archaeologists have failed to see continuity in Indian

history because of two reasons 1) failure to study and

understand Dravidian civilization; 2) the desire to

deny the Indo-Aryan invansion, so as to "White Out"

the Dravidian presence in the Indus Valley, and thus

show continuity between the ancient Indus Valley

people and contemporary Indo-Aryan speakers presently

living in the area.

Firstly, we must understand that the founders of

Harappan civilization were Dravidian speaking people,

predominately Tamilian.

Archaeological and linguistic evidence indicates

that the Dravidians were the founders of the Harappan

culture which extended from the Indus Valley through

northeastern Afghanistan, on into Turkestan. The

Harappan civilization existed from 2600-1700 BC. The

Harappan civilization was twice the size the Old

Kingdom of Egypt. In addition to trade relations with

Mesopotamia and Iran, the Harappan city states also

had active trade relations with the Central Asian

peoples.

The Dravido-Harappans occupied over 1,000 sites in the

riverine Indus Valley environments where they had soil

and water reserves. The Harappan sites are spread from

the Indus Valley to Ai Kharnoum in northeastern

Afghanistan and southward into India. In Baluchistan

and Afghanistan Dravidian languages are still spoken

today. Other Harappan sites have been found scattered

in the regions adjacent to the Arabian sea, the

Derajat , Kashmir and the Doab. Except for the Indus

Valley sites of Harappa , Lothal and Mohenjo Daro,

most of the sites associated with this culture were

small scale habitation centers: villages and towns.

To compensate for the adverse ecological conditions,

the Harappans first settled sites along the Indus

river. (Fairservis 1987:48) The Dravido-Harappans

occupied over 1,000 sites in the riverine Indus Valley

environments where they had soil and water reserves.

The Harappan sites are spread from the Indus Valley to

Ai Kharnoum in northeastern Afghanistan and southward

into India. In Baluchistan and Afghanistan Dravidian

languages are still spoken today. Other Harappan sites

have been found scattered in the regions adjacent to

the Arabian sea, the Derajat, Kashmir, and the Doab.

The Indus region is an area of uncertain rains because

it is located on the fringes of the monsoon. Settlers

in the Indus Valley had to suffer frequent droughts

and floods. Severe droughts frequently occurred in the

Indus Valley so the people dug wells to insure for

themselves a safe supply of water.

To compensate for the adverse ecological conditions,

the Harappans settled sites along the Indus river.

The Mature Harappan civilization is divided into two

variants the Sorath Harappan and the Sindhi Harappan.

The Sindhi Harappan sites are sites characterized by

elaborate architecture, fired brick construction,

sewage systems and stamp seals. The Sindhi Harappan

styles have been found in Gujarat, Kutch, the Punjab,

Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The major Sindhi cities

include Mohenjodaro, Lothal, Rangpur, Harappa,

Rangpur, Desalpur, Shirkotada, Manda, Ropar,

Kalibangan and Chanhudaro.

The Sindhi Harappans possessed writing, massive brick

platforms, well-digging a system of

weights-and-measures, black-and-red ware (BRW), metal

work and beads. (Possehl 1990:268) The Harappans were

masters of hydraulic engineering.

They were a riverine people that practiced irrigation

agriculture. They had both the shaduf and

windmills.(Fairservis 1991) In the Harappan sites

domestic quarters and industrial areas were isolated

from each other.

The Sorath Harappan sites lack stamp seals, ornaments

and elaborate architecture. Sorath is the ancient name

for Saurashtra. The Sorath Harappan sites are located

in Saurashtra, Kulli, and the Harappan style of

Baluchistan and Gujarat .

Granted, there was a lot of shifting in the

population of India during the Bronze Age. This shift

in population and urban living coincided with climatic

changes across the ancient world during this period.

Testomony to these climatic changes is evident at

Harappa. Two recent books on this topic provide

detailed accouns of the climatic changes that swept

across many countries during the Bronze Age, see: H.N.

Dalfes, G. Kukla, and H. Weiss (eds.), _Third

Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse_,

Berlin/Heidelberg, Springer Verlag, 1997; and B.J.

Peiser, T. Palmer, and M.E. Bailey (eds.), _Natural

Catastrophes During Bronze Age Civilisations:

Archaeological, Geological, Astronomical and Cultural

Perspectives_, Oxford, Archaeopress, 1998 (British

Archaeological Reports S728).

When we study the archaeology of South India and

the Indus Valley we see that continuity existence

between these civilizations especially the social

technology of writing.

 

These Kushites used a common red-and-black ware that

has been found from the Sudan in Africa, across

Southwest Asia and the Indian subcontinent all the way

into China. The earliest examples of the black-and-red

ware of the Proto-Saharans date to the early Amratian

period 4000-3500 BC. (Hoffman 1979) It was after 3500

B.C., and especially 2500 B.C. ,that the Proto

-Saharans began to deeply affect the activities of the

Eurasian peoples.

The Amratian period of Middle Africa is the focal

point for the spread of BRW. There is affinity between

BRW found at Anau, in Russian Turkestan, and similar

pottery from southeastern Europe. Dr. J.G. Andersson

(l934) found a similarity between pottery fragments

found at Anau, and fragments discovered at Yangshao

sites in Henan and Gansu province.

Singh (1982) made it clear that he believes that the

BRW radiated from Nubia through Mesopotamia and Iran

southward into India. BRW is found at the lowest

levels of Harappa and Lothal dating to 2400BC. T.B.

Nayar in The problem of Dravidian Origins (1977)

proved that the BRW of Harappa has affinities to

predynastic Egyptian and West Asian pottery dating to

the same time period.

After 1700 BC, with the end of the Harappan

civilization spread BRW southward into the

Chalcolithic culture of Malwa and Central India down

to Northern Deccan and eastward into the Gangetic

Basin. The BRW of the Malwa culture occupied the Tapi

Valley Pravara Godavari and the Bhima Valleys. In

addition we find that the pottery used by the at

Gilund, Rajasthan on the banks of the Bana River, was

also BRW (see: Gilund,

at:http://bestindiatours.com/archaeology/harappan/Gilund.html

).

Archaeologists agree that Black and red ware (BRW) was

unearth on many South India sites are related to

Dravidian speaking people. The BRW style has been

found on the lower levels of Madurai and

Tirukkampuliyur.

B.B. Lal (1963) proved conclusively that the

Dravidians were genetically related to the C group of

Nubia, given the fact that both groups used 1) a

common BRW, 2) a common burial complex incorporating

megaliths and circular rock enclosures and 3) a common

type of rock cut sepulchre. The BRW industry diffused

from Nubia, across West Asia into Rajastan, and thence

to East Central and South India (Rao 1972:34).

Writing was never lost in India. The earliest

writing appeared on Indus ceramics. These signs are

the same as the Indus Valley signs.

Indus Valley type signs continued to be produced

throughout India, especially South India as evidenced

by the appearances of these signs on megalithic

pottery, burial urns and palm leaf manuscripts. The

evidence, when we considered, the cermaic scripts,

show an unbroken history of writing from Harappan to

contemporary times.

B.B. Lal found that 89% of the graffiti marks on

the megalithic red-and-black ware had affinity to

Indus Valley signs. In addition many symbols found in

the Indus Valley writing are also found on the Indian

Punch marked coins.

S. Gurumurthy in Ceramic traditions in South India

upto 300 AD, found , like B.B. Lal before him that the

graffiti on South Indian pottery was engraved with

Harappan signs. He found that the Tamil Nadu pottery

graffiti agrees with Brahmi letters dating back to

1000BC.

The archaeological and epigraphic evidence make

it clear that continuity does exist in relation to the

Dravidians in India. A study of the evidence makes it

clear that a Black Hole, does not exist in India if

you free your mind from the Eurocentric view of

history.

 

Clyde

 

References

 

Andersson,T.G. 1934. CHILDREN OF THE YELLOW

EARTH:STUDIES IN PREHISTORIC CHINA. London.

 

 

Lal,B.B. 1954 1955."excavations at Hastinapura and

other explorations in the Upper Ganga and Sutlej

Basins 1950 52."ANCIENT INDIA,10:5 .

 

_______.1960. "From Megalithic to the Harappan:Tracing

back the graffiti on pottery". ANCIENT INDIA,16.

 

______. 1963. "The Only Asian Expedition in threatened

Nubia:Work by an India Mission at Afyeh and Tumas".

THE ILLUSTRATED TIMES, 20 April.

 

Nayar, T. B.(19770 , The Problem of Dravidian Origins,

Linguistic,Anthropological Approach , Madras: Madras

University Press.

Rao,B.K.G. 1972.THE MEGALITHIC CULTURE IN SOUTH INDIA.

Mysore.

 

Singh,H.N. 1982. HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF BLACK AND

RED WARE. Delhi.

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