[vedic-culture] New findings on Vedic History

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Beyond Decipherment: Message Of The Indus Seals

(Based on The Deciphered Indus Script by N.Jha and N.S. Rajaram)

Navaratnam S. Rajaram

(Presented by David Frawley)

 

Background

The year 1996-97, the fiftieth year of Indian independence, was

important in more respects than one. In that year Natwar Jha published his

monograph Vedic Glossary on Indus Seals containing a complete decipherment of

the Indus script along with more than a hundred deciphered readings. Shortly

after its publication, I began my collaboration with Jha leading to our soon to

be published book The Deciphered Indus Script. In our book, we present

deciphered readings of well over five hundred texts with Vedic references and

explanations. Since many of the messages are repeated on different seals, they

probably cover between 1500 and 2000 seals, or about half the known corpus. We

have read more that are not included in our book for reasons mainly of

logistics.

The main conclusion to follow from our work is that the Harappan

Civilization, of which the seals are a product, belonged to the latter part of

the Vedic Age. It has close connections with Vedantic works like the Sutras and

the Upanishads. The style of writing reflects the short aphorisms found in Sutra

works. The imagery and symbolism are strongly Vedic. The vocabulary depends

heavily on the Vedic glossary Nighantu and its commentary by Yaska known as the

Nirukta. The name of Yaska is found on at least two seals - possibly three.

There are references to Vedic kings and sages as well place names. Of particular

interest are references to Plakshagra - the birthplace of the Sarasvati River,

and Sapta Apah or the Land of the Seven Rivers.

This means that the Rigveda must already have been quite ancient by the

time of the Harappan Civilization. Since the Harappan Civilization was known to

be flourishing in the 3100 - 1900 BC period, the Rigveda must have been in

existence by 4000 BC. This now receives archaeological support following R.S.

Bisht's investigation of the great Harappan city of Dholavira. Bisht (and other

archaeologists) have concluded that the Vedic Aryans of the Sarasvati heartland

were the people who created the Harappan cities and the civilization associated

with it. Our deciphered readings tell us the same thing.

Message of the Indus seals

I will not present the decipherment here which both Jha and I have

discussed in detail at other places. I will only note that the script is a

highly complex hybrid that includes (1) an alphabetical subset; (2) a large

number of composite signs; and (3) numerous pictorial symbols. The language of

the Harappan texts is Vedic Sanskrit, and the script itself is heavily

influenced by the rules of Sanskrit grammar and phonetics. It is clear that the

later Brahmi script is a derivative of the Harappan that evolved borrowing

heavily from its alphabetical subset. In fact, there exist examples of writing

that combine features of both. It is therefore reasonable to call the Harappan

script Old Brahmi or Proto Brahmi. Its decipherment was the result of more than

twenty years of research by Jha - a Vedic scholar and paleographer of

considerable distinction.

As previously observed, Jha and I have read close to 2000 seals; for

most of these we have also found references in the Vedic literature,

particularly the Nighantu and the Nirukta of Yaska. With this body of material,

we are now in a position to take a broad look at what these seals have to say

about the people who created them. This is particularly necessary in the light

of a couple of highly publicized claims over the contents of the seals made in

the last few months. One linguist (Malati Shengde) has claimed that the language

of the Harappans was Akkadian, a West Asiatic language. This claim, made without

being able to read the writing, is not supported by our decipherment. The

language of the seals is Vedic Sanskrit, with close links to Vedantic works like

the Upanishads. For instance, we have found and deciphered a seal which contains

the word shadagama (shat agama) - a reference to the six schools Vedantic

knowledge. This shows that they must already have been in existence before 2000

BC. (Most of the seals were created in the 3100 - 1900 BC period.)

Another recent claim by a retired archaeologist (M.V. Krishna Rao)

relates to the career of Sri Rama. According to Krishna Rao, the Harappan seals

tell us that Rama was born not in Ayodhya, but in the present state of Haryana.

He further claims that according to his study of the seals, Rama invaded Babylon

and defeated and killed the famous Babylonian ruler Hammurabi whom he equates

with Ravana! This account, if true, would call for a radical revision of both

Indian and Babylonian history. Hammurabi is a well-known historical figure. He

is known to have died in 1750 BC of natural causes and not killed in battle. His

date therefore is too late to have found mention in the Harappan seals.

We have no such sensational findings to report. Our fairly extensive

readings indicate that the seals contain little in the way of history. To begin

with, the writings on the seals are brief, with an average length of five to six

characters. This makes them unsuitable for recording historical details.

Whatever historical information we do find is incidental. There are occasional

references to Vedic kings like Sudasa, Yadu and Puru, and to sages like Kutsa

and Paila. We find also references to ancient places like Plaksagra (birthplace

of the Sarasvati river), Sapta-Apah or the Land of the Seven Rivers referred to

in the Vedic literature. But such 'historical' seals are few and far between;

they probably do not exceed five percent of the total. Other historical

information has to be inferred from indirect messages like the one about the six

schools of Vedanta mentioned earlier.

References to Rama

We do find references to Rama, but they are nowhere near as dramatic as

his invasion of Babylonia and the killing of Hammurabi-Ravana. Seals speak of

kanta-rama or 'Beloved Rama', and kanta-atma-rama or 'Beloved Soul Rama'. One

seal in particular speaks of samatvi sa ha rama meaning 'Rama treated all with

equality'. All this finds echo in the Valmiki Ramayana as 'arya sarva

samashcaiva sadaiva priyadarshanah', or 'Arya to whom all were equal and was

dear to everyone.'

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 Rama's successful crossing of the sea which again touches

on the Ramayana. Of particular interest is the presence of 'Rama' 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 2500 BC. What is

interesting in all this is that Rama is treated as an ideal man and ruler loved

by everyone; nowhere have we found anything to suggest that he was regarded as

divine.

All this suggests that history books are in need of major revision. 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 five thousand

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 'historical' 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 'flows' (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

While historical references are rare, and many seals contain much

mundane material, a substantial number of seals have messages reflecting Vedic

symbolism. This symbolism can be quite profound, and one has to dig deep into

the Vedic and Vedantic literature in trying to interpret them. But once

understood, it helps to explain the symbolism of the images on the seals also.

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.

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.

We find numerous such seals with close links to the Vedic and Vedantic

literature; our book includes several such interpretations. The written messages

are brief in the form known as 'sutras' to Sanskrit scholars. These are short

formula-like aphorisms made famous by such works as Panini's grammar, and

Patanjali's celebrated Yogasutra. They invariably need elaboration. An example

is the message ishadyatah marah just described. The seals are products of the

same cultural, and, no doubt, historical milieu. Thus they confirm the earlier

findings of Sethna and this writer that the Harappan Civilization overlapped

with the Sutra period. This is what Frawley and I in our book have called the

'Sutra-Harappa- Sumeria equation'. (We have also found mathematical formulas on

a few seals.) All this provides a window on the Harappan world, and calls for a

complete revision of Vedic history and chronology.

Conclusion

In summary, one may say that the deciphered seals, while they may not

contain much in the way of history, they do provide a clear historical context

for the Harappans by establishing a firm link between Harappan archaeology and

the Vedic literature. Thanks to the deciphered seals, the Harappans, who until

now had been left dangling like the legendary king Trishanku, find at last a

place in history - in Vedic India. The Harappans were the Vedic Harappans. The

Rigveda therefore must go back well into the fifth millennium. If there was a

cradle of civilization, it was Vedic India, not Sumeria. This recognition is

bound to bring about a revolution in our understanding of history.

 

REFERENCES

Jha, N. (1996) Vedic Glossary on Indus Seals. Ganga-Kaveri Publishing House,

Varanasi.

Jha, N. and N.S. Rajaram (To appear) The Deciphered Indus Script: Methodology,

Readings, Interpretation.

Rajaram, N.S. (1996) 'Jha's Decipherment of the Indus Script', in the Quarterly

Journal of the Mythic Society (October-December 1996).

Rajaram, N.S. and David Frawley (1997) Vedic Aryans and the Origins of

Civilization: A Literary and Scientific Perspective, 2nd edition. Voice of

India, New Delhi.

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

vediculture, vedic108@h... wrote:

> Beyond Decipherment: Message Of The Indus Seals

> (Based on The Deciphered Indus Script by N.Jha and N.S. Rajaram)

> Navaratnam S. Rajaram

> (Presented by David Frawley)

I was so impress by the report. But the big problem in this paper,

that I would be the more happy of to know the misterys of Harappa

wittings. But the indilogist like M. Witzel from Harvard, had put

foward how the apparent deciphermen from Dr. Rajarama is no

satisfactory. I am take so much profit from Dr Rajaram, my by the Dr

S. R. Rao had more sucess in the taks. But well be very good that all

of your will be more critical with the extrapolations like Lord Rama

was a Harappa vasi etc... This is over evalute the evidence.

So with all respect I am invited to of all your by more search. If

If you don´t beleive, please susbscribet in the indological list and

send this founds and your will see.

With all respect.

Hare Krisna das.