Revising Vedic History

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Letter: On Revising the History of Vedic Civilization

By Rithvik. S. Vinekar

Having read on the Internet an article in Sunrise on the Mahabharata,

I would like to bring to your attention a book I just read which

relates to ancient India: Gods, Sages, and Kings: Vedic Secrets of

Ancient Civilization by Dr. David Frawley. Although there are many

books on this subject, this one was written with the international --

particularly American or European -- reader in mind, who has no

previous knowledge of Hindu mythology or history.

 

In this work Dr. Frawley relates the history and mythology of almost

all the ancient world to the Vedic culture which developed on the

banks of the now dry Saraswati River. Geological, literary, and

archeological data suggest that long ago this mighty river flowed

from Lake Manasarowar in Tibet to the sea through present-day

Rajasthan. Manasarowar is linked with Manu, the first man according

to Vedic tradition. Leaving his golden ship on a high Himalayan peak

after the great flood, he is said to have come down to the plains,

carrying with him the seeds of life, in order to establish his

kingdom on the fertile banks of the Saraswati. The author suggests

there may be a linkage of this event with Plato's Atlantean deluge

near the end of the ice age, while cautioning the reader that the

boat or ark may be only a metaphor. Although this date may seem

irrational from the viewpoint of accepted academic history, more and

more archeological evidence from the Indus-Saraswati Valley

civilization, geological evidence of the existence and fate of the

Saraswati River, and astronomical dating of events recorded in the

Vedas, show the antiquity of this ancient civilization. They also

contradict the standard Western theory, formed in the 18th and 19th

centuries, of Vedic civilization beginning with an Aryan invasion of

northern India around 1500 bc.

 

 

 

The Indus-Saraswati Valley civilization is now found to be a

collection of nearly 2,500 settlements of various periods along the

Saraswati and other rivers, some of which date earlier than 6000 bc.

These sites show sure signs of having cultural elements in common

with later Vedic culture. The Indus script was first dismissed as

imagistic, but has since been found to be very similar to the later

Brahmi script, and is possibly related to early Semitic scripts from

which the present-day alphabet developed.

 

The historicity of Vedic religion and its scriptures was once

dismissed, in part because it praised very highly the supposedly

mythical Saraswati River. Satellite and geological evidence show,

however, that although the Saraswati changed its course many times

over several thousand years before disappearing, long ago it was as

described in the Vedas. Fortunately, some scholars are beginning to

interpret history taking into account the geography of the region in

the past. In light of new and growing evidence, an objective

reexamination of existing data and reinterpretation of ancient

history is necessary today.

 

(From Sunrise magazine, June/July 2000; copyright © 2000 Theosophical

University Press)