Story of a mystical river

SARASVATI: S. Kalyanaraman; Babasaheb (Umakanta Keshav) Apte Smarak Samiti, Yadava Smruti, 55, First Main, Seshadripuram, Bangalore-560020. Rs. 1000.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES combined with literary and cultural tradition and earth or environmental sciences using modern satellite imaging technologies, can help present a new perspective in understanding the locus and focus of ancient history in an integrated manner.

The volume under review presents an encyclopaedic account in 1150 pages and 670 illustrations, the life-history of the River Sarasvati as the framework to present the ancient history of Indian civilisation. The volume demonstrates that the history of India's civilisation is closely intertwined with the life-history of the river. Out of nearly 2,600 archaeological sites of varying sizes, over 1500 archaeological settlements were found on the Sarasvati river basin; there are also major settlements which are larger than the settlements of Harappa and Mohenjodaro (100 ha. each), Lakhmirwala (Bhatinda) (225 ha.), Rakhigari (Hissar) (224 ha.), Gurnikalan One (Bhatinda) (144 ha.), Hasanpur (Bhatinda) (100 ha), Ganweriwala (Bahawalpur) (81.5 ha), Kotada (Jamnagar) (72 ha.), Nagoor (Sukkur) (50 ha.), Nindowari (Jhawalan) (50 ha), Tharo Waro Daro (Sukkur) (50 ha.), Mangli Nichi (Ludhiana) (40 ha.)

The evidence provided in the Rig Veda is cited extensively in the volume; it is perhaps the oldest human document dealing with cosmological issues, points to its compilation on the banks of River Sarasvati. Over 72 Riks are dedicated to River Sarasvati and only one Rik or hymn mentions River Ganga.

The volume details the exciting discoveries relating to the ancient courses of the river using satellite images and evidence provided by a variety of disciplines: glaciology, geology, geomorphology, environmental sciences, archaeology, inscriptions contained on many types of objects - weapons, bangles, seals, faience and copper tablets. Extensive references are cited from ancient texts and the ancient traditions of many parts of India celebrating the memory of Sarasvati as river, as mother and as goddess. Section two of the volume is titled ``River Sarasvati - ground truth'' and provides a comprehensive sketch on the scientific findings which point to the causes for the desiccation of the river in stages.

It is rarely that a historical project directly results in a developmental project which will benefit the present and future generations. The discoveries related to Sarasvati have been followed by the development of watershed management projects over the entire river basin stretching over a distance of 1,600 kms., from the Himalayas (Har-ki-dun valley, W. Garhwal, Uttaranchal) through the States of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan to Gujarat to benefit over 200 million people and provide employment opportunities to millions during implementation.

The first section of the volume outlines the project approved by the Central Government to inter-link the Himalayan rivers and peninsular rivers, including the revival of River Sarasvati by extending the Indira Gandhi (Rajasthan) Canal beyond Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to River Sabarmati in Gujarat. The project has been developed by the National Water Development Agency of the Union Ministry of Water Resources after 18 years of feasibility studies and include the transfer of surpluses from one river basin to the deficit areas of the country.

Section two includes a glaciological map of Asia and is based on a reconstruction of vegetation cover, 18000 Carbon-14 years ago. Similar maps are available on the Internet for the periods 1000 and 5000 Carbon-14 years ago. This map is based on the studies of a new emerging discipline called glaciology.

Section 3 deals with culture, art and crafts and presents the nature of economic activity recorded in ancient settlements, trade as recorded in Mesopotamian texts with Aratta, Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha (which is often identified with the Harappan civilisation sites), evidence of workers' quarters, fireplaces, weights, metal and lapidary workshops, production of bronze tools, bronze statuettes, ornaments of shell and beads.

The next section details the importance of gold and silver-smithy and advances a hypothesis that Soma (allegorically referred to in the Rig Veda as a commodity) may be electrum (gold-silver compound) and cites the evidence from the Khila Sukta of the Rig Veda about Ciklita-Soma, the Soma purchased for further processing in incessant fire. An interesting observation relates to an inscription found on a needle-like gold pendant found in Mohenjodaro; it was discovered only in 1998 that the pendant contained an inscription containing five signs. Based on this and other findings of inscriptions on metal weapons and copper plates, some leads are provided to promote further studies to decipher the script: the inscriptions were made by metal-smiths; the inscriptions were lists of personal property or possessions; some inscriptions served as lists for trade or as bills of lading; the legacy of recording inscriptions on copper plates was continued as a tradition in India during the historical periods to record property transactions. Given the evidence of sealed impressions with inscriptions the use of writing system in the context of trade thus gets reinforced in the context of the new technologies and new products developed during the evolving Bronze Age.

This section also points to a change in paradigm in identifying Soma in the Rig Veda. The suggestion made is that interpreting Soma as a purchased and processed commodity, it is related to gold and silver-smithy, a metallurgical process. Bronze constituted a technological revolution since the concept of alloying copper with tin resulted in the production of hard metal weapons and tools. The volume cites a Pali word, Meluhha, as meaning copper. Section five is a description of the Bronze Age of the civilisation impact area, exemplified by the pictures of armed warriors found in Mesopotamia, the emergence of Durga as the armed mother goddess, the celebration of Jaya (the early version of the great epic Mahabharata) as the creator of all weapons. It notes further that the ratha, chariot (evidence of which was found at Daimabad, though dated to a later date of c. 1400 BCE) and horse were found in the civilisation area, that tin was procured from Meluhha, and that the Sarasvati-Sindhu doab, ancient Iran and Mesopotamia constituted an actively interacting Bronze Age triangle.

One suggestion regarding the Indus script made is that most of the signs and pictographs of the script are explainable as metal weapons, arms and armour using the principle of rebus (that is, similar sounding words depicting pictographs such as fish, crocodile, animals, jars which also mean specific names of weapons such as axes, adzes, swords, knives, daggers, shields etc.). Using this approach, it is suggested that most of the inscribed objects are either property lists of weapons possessed by a warrior or bills of lading for trading in the products made by armourers. This framework is advanced in the context of fortified citadels found in almost all major archaeological settlements such as Dholavira, Lothal, Banawali, Kalibangan, Mohenjodaro and Harappa.

Section six underscores that further work needs to be done in delineating the features of what is called a ``linguistic area.''

The next section details the evolution of Sarasvati as a goddess and relates the finds of peacock imageries on pottery found at Kunal (Haryana). The funerary practices as found from the archaeological evidence are related to the Vedic texts and traditions of India. The references to Sarasvati in Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are described with textual quotations including the description of the pilgrimage undertaken by Balarama from Dwaraka through Somnath to Mathura along the banks of River Sarasvati (described in the Salya-Parva of the great epic).

Section eight is an attempt at providing some indications of chronology for the events described in Satapatha Brahmana. The skies near Delhi are presented using astronomy computer software and related to the various astronomical data provided in the great epic. The celebration of Mahavrata on the day of winter solstice as a Vedic tradition is seen in the context of cyclical time as distinct from the physical concepts of linear time.

The next section continues to deal with the problem of ancient chronology not in terms of absolute dates, but by postulating the relative chronologies between the Rig Veda and the Avestan tradition. It is also intimated that there are parallels between the Vedic society and Harappan culture in relation to metallurgy and presence of fortified settlements, citadels and weapons of war. The last section is titled Bharatam Janam connoting that the concept of the nation-state had evolved as early as in the days of the Rig Veda. The genealogy of Bharata is presented in brief together with the intriguing parallels found between the Pasupati images of the civilisation and the cauldron found at Gundestrup in northern Europe.

The research work on the Sarasvati provides an integrating framework to evaluate all cultural components of the variegated, vibrant, cultural and social history of Indian civlisation in its formative and mature phases.The volume is stated to be the first of a quintet on Sarasvati and the next four volumes will relate to script, language, technology (including archaeo-metallurgy, Soma) and the continuing tradition of the civilisation in India and many other parts of the world. There is reference to a website containing over 40,000 files at http://sarasvati.simplenet.com. There are colour frontispieces showing Sarasvati from a painting in a manuscript found in Jaisalmer, Svargarohini mountain in the Himalayas, the place of origin of River Sarasvati, a composite satellite image (IRS 1-C) showing the course of River Sarasvati in relation to River Sindhu and a map of India showing the proposed projects for inter- linking Himalayan and peninsular rivers, including the revival of River Sarasvati. The quality of production of the volume is notable with an exhaustive table of contents, an index and bibliography. It will help promote deeper studies and research on not only India's heritage but also opportunities for developing projects for better use of the country's glacial and other fresh- water resources; and thus relevant to scholars of civilisation studies, arts, culture, archaeology, history, religion and earth- scientists and hydrology experts.

K. V. RAMAN

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