SARASWATI CIVILIZATION

Saraswati civilisation 

By Bharat Jhunjhunwala
The Pioneer
Monday, October 13, 2003
 
The Government of India is taking up a project to
excavate a large number of sites along the "lost"
Saraswati river. Satellite images have shown that once,
three rivers flowed from the Himalayas into the Arabian
Sea through Pakistan which have since dried up. The
fourth, Ghaggar, still flows westward during the
monsoons. It is possible that one of the dried up rivers
is the ancient Saraswati on the banks of which the Rig
Vedic culture prospered. A nation's self-esteem depends
upon its present and past achievements hence it is
necessary to know about this dimension of our history.
The Vajpayee Government should be commended for this
undertaking.

One of the most widely discussed questions in relation to
our history is regarding the "Aryan invasion". The
archeological remains of the Indus Valley civilisation
were found in early 20th century. Sir Mortimer Wheeler
had excavated Harappa and Mohenjodaro. He came across
some evidence that those cities had been burnt down or
otherwise destroyed in what appeared to be a violent
conflict. This discovery matched beautifully with the Rig
Vedic descriptions of Indra destroying many cities. He is
called Purandara. Putting the two facts together, Wheeler
put forth the thesis that some nomadic Vedic people had
invaded the Indus civilisation and destroyed it. This was
the origin of the idea that the Rig Vedic people
originally came from Central Asia. The implication was
that modern Indian "Vedic" civilisation need not feel
proud of its achievements because these were made by
Central Asians.

Other historians are of the view that the Vedic
civilisation may have arisen along the Saraswati, which
has since been lost. Indra of the Saraswati civilisation
may have destroyed the cities of the Indus civilisation.
There could be several other possibilities. There are
many arguments and counter-arguments on this question,
which we need not go into here. The point is that
excavations along the lost Saraswati may provide
conclusive evidence whether the Vedic civilisation was of
indigenous or foreign origin. It is possible that
artefacts such as yajna vedi may be found which will
prove that the Vedic civilisation was indigenous.

This idea is not palatable to many historians who cannot
get out of their Western thinking. Sadly, they are mostly
relying on the fact that no evidence of Vedic habitation
has been found in the Saraswati valley. DN Jha of Delhi
University says "Extensive surveys in Haryana and the
neighbouring areas where the Ghaggar is an important
river have revealed that there is no evidence of the
Harappan culture in Ambala and Sirsa districts." Shireen
Ratnagar of Jawaharlal Nehru University says: "We have no
means of proving that a certain channel was a particular
Vedic river."

These statements belie a strange poverty of scholarship.
One of the basic principles of archeology is that we
cannot argue from what has not been found because
evidence may be found in the future. Two hundred years
ago the existence of Harappan civilisation too was not
known. It could have been said at that time "India has no
ancient achievements because no archaeological evidence
has been found". One can be led into making such false
claims by relying on absence of evidence. The origin of
the Vedic civilisation might be settled by excavating the
sites along the Saraswati river. To oppose excavations
because no evidence has been found till date is
astounding.

The basic problem here is that in the process we are
being distracted from the more important teaching of our
history. The Indian approach to history is low on facts
and heavy on teachings. The Valmiki Ramayana, for
example, tells us nothing about the date of birth of
Bhagirath, the location of Mount Gokarna where he
undertook austerities, the location of Bindusarovar where
the mighty Ganga descended and many other details of his
reign. The story is focused on the fact that King
Bhagirath did not have any sons yet he undertook penance
to bring the Ganga from the Himalayas for providing water
to his people; and to the ashes of his ancestors.

Bhagirath could have undertaken penance for begetting a
son. Instead he undertook penance for bringing water to
his people. This is the message. The purpose of history
in our tradition is not to collect millions of "facts"
but to put forth knowledge that is beneficial for the
present. It matters little whether Bhagirath was born in
4000 BC or 3000 BC, whether Gokarna is located in the
Shivaliks or Garhwal. What was more important was his
commitment to secure the welfare of his people. 

It is for this reason that our historians take great
liberty with facts. It might be true that Lord Krishna
did not actually make the sun move backward. Who knows?
But our historians asked themselves whether social good
will be secured by saying this? The message that was
conveyed alone was important.

The danger is that by focussing on archaeological
investigations we would be playing on the turf of the
Western historians for whom the value of history lies in
collection of facts. We may win. We may be able to prove
that the Vedic civilisation was indeed based along the
Saraswati river. But that victory would yet be defeated
because the basic purpose of history would have been
lost. Instead of drawing lessons useful for our present,
we would get entangled in facts which may be meaningless.

We should realise that self-respect ultimately comes from
our present achievements. We can be considered to be a
great people only if we can stop the United States from
invading Iraq; stop Saddam Hussein from tyrannising his
people; land our astronauts on the moon; and lead the our
people into prosperity and so on. The fact of our having
a great past might be useful only if it helps us make
these achievements in the present. Egypt has a great
past. They made wonderful use of geometry to make the
pyramids. They cultivated the Nile Delta. But these facts
have not provided them with much self-respect. Similarly,
Iraq had a grand past. The Sumerian civilisation
prospered there. That fact did not help it to face the US
invasion. We should certainly be aware of our past. But
that is incidental. The real test is the present. The
past is useful only if it helps us make a beautiful
present.

There is a wealth of information about governance,
economy, astrology and other issues in our scriptures.
Our first love must be to study those sciences so that we
can give better direction to our future. It matters
little if we prove that Indra was an Indian and that
there was no Aryan invasion. That would merely be good
intellectual gymnastics for a conference of historians,
no more.

The Western historians have cleverly distracted us. They
have made baseless charges regarding date, place, etc. of
the Rig Vedic people. We have got drawn into that debate.
We are spending our energies in challenging their wrong
allegations. Even if we win, we would have been
distracted from the basic task of making a better future.
Thus we should focus first on reading the teachings of
our scriptures and involve in debates surrounding the
Saraswati river later. 

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Jai Maharaj
Jyotishi, Vedic Astrologer
Creator of newsgroups alt.jyotish, alt.language.hindi, alt.religion.hindu
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti

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