HARRAPA HAD HORSES AND WHEELS SO THEY WERE NOT EXPORTED FROM OUTSIDE INDIA

Primary evidence

In any field it is important to take into account all the evidence, especially evidence of a fundamental nature. This can be illustrated with the help of what we now know about the Vedic river known as the Sarasvati. The Rigveda describes the Sarasvati as the greatest and the holiest of rivers — as ambitame, naditame, devitame (best of mothers, best of rivers, best goddess). Satellite photographs as well as field explorations by archaeologists, notably the great expedition led by the late V.S. Wakankar, have shown that a great river answering to the description of the Sarasvati in the Rigveda (flowing `from the mountains to the sea') did indeed exist thousands of years ago. After many vicissitudes due to tectonic and other changes, it dried up completely by 1900 BC. This raises a fundamental question: how could the Aryans who are supposed to have arrived in India only in 1500 BC, and composed their Vedic hymns c. 1200 BC, have described and extolled a river that had disappeared five hundred years earlier? In addition, numerous Harappan sites have been found along the course of the now dry Sarasvati, which further strengthens the Vedic-Harappan connection. As a result, the Indus (or Harappan) Civilisation is more properly called the Indus-Sarasvati Civilisation.

The basic point of all this: we cannot construct a theory focusing on a few relatively minor details like the spoke-wheel while ignoring important, even monumental evidence like the Sarasvati river and the oceanic symbolism that dominates the Rigveda. (This shows that the Vedic people could not have come from a land-locked region like Afghanistan or Central Asia). A historical theory, no less than a scientific theory, must take into account all available evidence. No less important, a man-made theory cannot take the place of primary evidence like the Sarasvati river or the oceanic descriptions in the Rigveda. This brings us back to Einstein — "A theory must not contradict empirical facts." Nor can it ignore primary evidence.

harappa
archaeologyonline
http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/op/2002/03/05/stories/2002030500130100.htm

4300 YEAR OLD BRAIN SURGERY EVIDENCE IN INDIA-HARRAPAN CULTURE

The Harappan skull indicates,"trepanation"surgical practice done 4300 years ago in India.

Scientists at the Anthropological Survey of India claim to have found evidence of an ancient brain surgical practice on a Bronze Age Harappan skull.

The skull, believed to be around 4,300 years old, bears an incision that indicates an “unequivocal case” of a surgical practice known as trepanation, says a research paper published in the latest edition of Current Science. India is the place where plastic surgery was invented and Shushrut -Samhita was a surgical book describing many methods of surgery.

Trepanation, a common means of surgery practised in prehistoric societies starting with the Stone Age, involved drilling or cutting through the skull vault, often to treat head injury or to remove bone splinters or blood clots caused by a blow to the head.

Other instances

 

While evidence of the practice has been found from regions in Peru, Europe and Bronze Age Jericho of Palestine, this is the first time the trepanation has been found in the Harappa civilisation.

According to the research paper, a trepanated hole was found in a Harappan male skull that had been kept in the Palaeoanthropology Repository of the Anthropological Survey of India in Kolkata.

In the case of the Harappa skull, the trepanation was intended as therapeutic as there is a clear indication of cranial trauma in the form of a visible linear depression, probably resulting from a severe blow, says the study by A.R. Sankhyan and G.R. Schug.

There is evidence too of healing, “indicating that the victim survived for a considerable time after the operation,” the paper adds. “Scholars have recorded striking similarities in trepanation techniques across the continents, and therefore consider it as important evidence for prehistoric movements of people and for transfer of surgical skills from one society to another,” the authors say.

 THE HINDU NEWS PAPER

LINK HERE.

ANCIENT INDUS CIVILIZATION AND SARASWATI RIVER COLLAPSED DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

A new study combining the latest archaeological evidence with state-of-the-art geoscience technologies provides evidence that climate change was a key ingredient in the collapse of the great Indus or Harappan Civilization almost >4000 years ago. The study also resolves a long-standing debate over the source and fate of the Sarasvati, the sacred river of Hindu.
Indus valley civilization spread >1 million square kilometers across Indus River from the Arabian Sea to the Ganges, over what is now Pakistan, northwest India and eastern Afghanistan, the Indus civilization was the largest—but least known—of the first great urban cultures that also included Egypt and Mesopotamia. Harappans, named for one of their largest cities,lived close to river for fertile soil.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and lead author of the study published May 2012, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, establishes SARASWATI RIVER  EXISTED ABOUT 4900 YRS AGO BEFORE IT WAS DRIED UP per satellite images.

"Until now, speculations abounded about the links between this mysterious ancient culture and its life-giving mighty rivers."
This complex culture in South Asia with a population that at its peak may have reached 10 percent of the world's inhabitants, was completely forgotten until 1920's.
The new study suggests that the decline in monsoon rains led to weakened river dynamics, and played a critical role both in the development and the collapse of the Harappan culture, which relied on river floods to fuel their agricultural surpluses.

The archaeological sites along the dried up Sarasvati River basin are represented by black dots.

From the new research, a vast picture of 10,000 years of changing landscapes emerges. Before the plain was massively settled, the wild and forceful Indus and its tributaries flowing from the Himalaya cut valleys into their own deposits and left high "interfluvial" stretches of land between them.

Among the most striking features the researchers identified is a mounded plain, 20 meters high, > 100 kilometers wide, and running almost 1000 kilometers along the Indus, called"Indus mega-ridge," built by the river as it purged itself of sediment along its course.
The mega-ridge is a surprising indicator of the stability of Indus plain landscape over the last four millennia.
Journal reference:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Provided byWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution

INDUS VALLEY SEALS- MESSAGE OF RAMA INSCRIBED

References to Rama -Indus  Seals speak of kanta-rama or ŒBeloved Rama¹, and kanta-atma-rama or ŒBeloved Soul Rama¹. One seal in particular speaks of samatvi sa ha rama meaning ŒRama treated all with equality¹. All this finds echo in the Valmiki Ramayana as Œarya sarva samashcaiva sadaiva priyadarshanah¹, or ŒArya to whom all were equal and was dear to everyone.¹

There is also a reference to Rama performing a successful fire ritual (or launching a fire missile) which again is mentioned in the Ramayana. There is another reference to Rama¹s successful crossing of the sea which again touches on the Ramayana. Of particular interest is the presence of ŒRama¹ in at least one West Asiatic seal from pre-Sargon layer in southern Mesopotamia. We know from Zoroastrian scripture that Rama was well known in ancient West Asia. The readings suggest that this goes back to a period long before 3500 BC. The Aryan invasion stands shattered, the Proto Dravidians are found to be a myth, and the cradle of civilization ‹ assuming there was such a thing ‹ is not Mesopotamia but Vedic India. Also, a version of the story of Rama existed more than a millian years ago, and known both in India and West Asia. And the Sanskrit language ‹ at least the Vedic version of it ‹ is of untold antiquity; it was certainly not brought to India by invading nomads in the second millennium.
Floods and maritime activity
To return to the seals and their contents, such Œhistorical¹ seals are exceptional. A great majority of the seals are different in character and content. Often their texts can be quite mundane. We find a reference to a craftsman by name Ravi whose products last twice as long as those made by other craftsmen (dvi-ayuh). One inscription speaks of a short-tempered mother-in-law; there is even mention of relieving fever with the help of water from a saligrama (fossil stone) ‹ a remedy still followed in many Indian households. We find numerous references to rivers (apah) and Œflows¹ (retah), suggesting the existence of an extensive system of waterways. We have texts like a madra retah (flow to the Madra country), and a vatsa retah (flow to the Vatsa country) indicating their presence. The Vedic Civilization was of course largely a maritime one, as indeed was the Harappan ‹ a fact noted by David Frawley. The seals confirm it. There is recent archaeological evidence suggesting the presence of Indian cotton in Mexico and Peru dating to 2500 BC and earlier (Rajaram and Frawley 1997), which again suggests maritime activity. As noted earlier, archaeological evidence also supports the fact that the Vedic people (and the Harappans) engaged in maritime activity. References to floods are common, and can sometimes be quite vivid. There is a particularly dramatic inscription, which speaks of workers laboring all night by fire, trying to stem the floods. The readings suggest that the floods were due to the encroachment of seawater and not necessarily the rivers. These messages should be of interest to archaeologists who have noted the damage to sites due to floods and salination. The great Harappan city of Dholavira in Gujarat is a striking example.
Vedic symbolism
Many seals contain messages reflecting Vedic symbolism. This can be illustrated with the help of the famous Pashupati seal, alongside its deciphered text.
The seal contains a meditating horned deity surrounded by five animals. The animals are ‹ elephant, musk deer, buffalo, tiger and rhinoceros. These five animals are often identified with the five senses, and the five associated elements ‹ fire, water, space, wind and earth (or soil). These elements that go to make up the material universe are known in the Vedic literature as panca maha-bhutas or the Five Great Elements. The reading on the seal is ishadyatah marah. Mara is the force opposed to creation ‹ one that causes the destruction of the universe. The seal message means: Mara is controlled by Ishvara. The seated deity is of course a representation of Ishvara.(BUDDHA ALSO DEALT WITH MARA JUST BEFORE ENLIGHTENMENT)
Hindu cosmology holds that both creation and destruction of the universe result from the action of the Five Great Elements. So Mara, the destructive force, is also composed of the Five Great Elements. With this background, the deciphered message ishadyatah marah allows us to interpret the symbolism of the famous Pashupati seal. It expresses the profound idea, that, in every cosmic cycle, both the creation and the destruction of the universe are caused by the action of the panca maha-bhutas (Five Great Elements) under the control of Ishvara. This remarkable interpretation was decoded and brought to my notice by Jha.
CLICK TO READ MORE ABOUT DISAPPEARANCE OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION-
Collapse of Indus Valley.

Rare Ibex Seal of Indus Valley Era Unearthed in Pakistan

LAHORE: Pakistani archaeologists have discovered a rare Indus Valley civilization-era seal in steatite dating back to 2,500-2,000 BC from the Cholistan area of Punjab province.

The seal features the carved figure of an ibex with two pictographs. It has a perforated boss on the back and varies from the style of Harappan seals. The seal which is almost square in shape is slightly broken on the right side. The figure of the ibex is however almost intact. The muscles, genitalia, hooves and tail of the ibex were engraved artistically with a high degree of skill and craftsmanship.

It was found at Wattoowala, located near Derawar Fort and along the ancient bed of the Hakra river, by a six-member team of archaeologists led by Punjab University archaeology department chairman Farzand Masih.

The rare seal was found at Wattoowala, located near Derawar Fort and along the ancient bed of the Hakra river. It was discovered by a six-member team of archaeologists led by Punjab University archaeology department chairman Farzand Masih.

 [from Times of India, Feb. 8, 2012]