[world-vedic] Sarasvati Aryans

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>From Rediff

 

Aryans were the same as late Harappans, says anthropologist

 

The age-old theory that the late Harappans were conquered by the vedic

Aryans might be untrue if one goes by what M K Dhavalikar, an

anthropologist from Pune, has to say.

 

Speaking at a national seminar on the 'river valley cultures of India'

at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya in Pune recently, he

said literary evidence from the Rigved indicates that the Aryans' focus

of activity was the Saraswati basin. The Saraswati river was considered

the most important as it housed their settlements.

 

Intensive explorations, both in India and Pakistan, have brought to

light numerous Harappan settlements in the Saraswati basin.

 

But on closer analysis, Dhavalikar said, it becomes apparent that a

majority of early and mature Harappan sites were situated in the lower

basin of the river whereas the upper basin was home to the late

Harappans.

 

In his paper, Dhavalikar has shown that the late Harappans were, in

fact, the vedic Aryans, a claim that, he says, is backed by strong

evidence.

 

The Rigvedic Aryans, were rural folk living in a subsistence economy

dependent on agriculture and stock-raising. The most distinguishing

feature of this period was the presence of the horse and the spoked

wheel, Dhavalikar said.

 

Since the late Harappan phase was characterised by these features, and

no other culture in the Saraswati basin had similar features, there was

a strong possibility that the late Harappans were themselves the vedic

Aryans, he contended.

 

Evidence of human skeletal remains was also supportive, Dhavalikar

asserted, adding that since the river dried up in the lower basin, the

early Harappan culture there declined and in the later phase the vedic

Aryans migrated to the upper basin.

 

V H Sonawane of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda maintained

that north Gujarat could no longer be considered the backwaters of the

Harappan culture, a theory that prevailed until two decades ago.

 

The region was regarded as ill suited for occupation by the

chalcolithic communities because of its hostile environment. But a

series of intensive explorations since 1979 by the department of

archaeology and ancient history of M S University has helped in the

discovery of more than 100 chalcolithic sites with different degrees of

affiliation to the Harappan culture in the region, he said.

 

UNI