Krsna Archeology

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Sun, 30 Mar 2003 22:57:35 +0530

[world-vedic] finding a past

 

Finding a past

 

http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=3DSEC20030329055837&eTi

tle=3DColumns&rLink=3D0

 

Nanditha Krishna

 

Last week, at the C P Art Centre in Chennai, T K V Rajan,

archaeologist turned television producer, presented an exhibition

titled "In Search of Krishna", a well-documented collection of

material about the excavations conducted at the various sites

connected with the life of Krishna and the events of the Mahabharata.

In view of the ongoing excavations at Ayodhya, it is worthwhile to see

what the Mahabharata excavations revealed.

 

Over 35 sites of the Mahabharata have been identified in the North,

all of which have yielded material culture - painted grey ware (PGW)

pottery painted over with designs in black pigment, and antiquities in

uniform and identical levels. This pottery is made of a superior

quality of paste formed of well levigated clay and fine, well-burnt

fabric achieved by distributing heat in the kiln evenly. This

civilisation is also characterised by the use of iron, unknown to the

earlier Harappans.

 

Hastinapur, between Meerut and Mawana in Uttar Pradesh, is now a

forgotten village, but excavations in 1952 revealed the existence of

Vidur-ka-tilla (Vidura's palace), Draupadi-ki-rasoi (Draupadi's

kitchen) and Draupadi Ghat (for bathing), besides copper utensils,

iron seals, ornaments made of gold and silver, terracotta discs and

several oblong-shaped ivory dice used in the game of chauper.

 

Iron objects numbering 135, and which included arrow and spearheads,

shafts, tongs, hooks, axes and knives indicate the existence of a

vigorous industry. There are indications of brick-lined roads and

drainage systems, and an agro-livestock based economy. The PGW of

Hastinapura has been assigned to 1100-800 BC. The events of the

Mahabharata probably occurred around 1000-900 BC.

 

Later, according to the Matsya and Vayu Puranas, a heavy flood on the

River Ganga destroyed Hastinapura, and Nichakshu, the fifth king after

Parikshit (Arjuna's grandson) who ascended the throne after the

Kurukshetra war, shifted his capital to Kausambi, 50 kilometres from

Allahabad. There is definite archaeological evidence of a massive

flood level. The devastation by the Ganga is still visible in the

thick clay soil.

 

After their exile, the Pandavas asked for three villages: Paniprastha,

Sonaprastha and Indiraprastha, generally identified with modern

Panipat, Sonepat and Puranaqila in New Delhi. These sites have also

yielded the same pottery and antiquities. Building structures with

drainage systems and PGW were excavated at Purana Qila.

 

Kurukshetra, now in Haryana, was the site of the Kuru war. Excavations

here have yielded iron arrow and spearheads, dated by Thermoluminence

to 2800 BC. Today it is a town of bathing pools. At the Brahma

Sarovar, a large lake 3,600 feet by 1,500 feet, Krishna, Balarama and

Subhadra are said to have bathed after a solar eclipse. Bhishma lay on

his bed of arrows at Bhishma Kund. Arjuna shot an arrow into the earth

and a cool fountain of water flowed out directly into Bhishma's mouth,

creating the Ban Ganga pond. Eight kilometres away is the village of

Thanesar, the capital of Harsha Vardhana in the sixth century.

 

Yet, the excavations were stopped soon after these finds were

revealed, and were never resumed. Why?

 

The submergence of Dwaraka is described vividly in the epic. Arjuna

asked the residents to vacate the city immediately as it was going to

be submerged by the sea. Dvaravati, according to the Sabhaparva of the

Mahabharata, was heavily fortified. Dr S R Rao started excavating the

Dwarkadish temple till he hit the remains of 15th, 12th and 9th

century AD temples. He dug on, passing two earlier temples, until, at

a depth of 9.5 metres, they came to the remains of two towns destroyed

by the sea. From the earlier of the two they recovered the

characteristic lustrous red pottery of the period and region.

Encouraged by his findings, he decided to search for Dwaraka.

 

Underwater exploration yielded two gateways, fort walls, bastions and

a jetty at a depth of 10 metres off Dwaraka, in the Arabian Sea. Apart

from corresponding to the Mahabharata's description of the

architectural features of the city and the mode of its submergence, it

has directly fixed a date by TM for the pottery of Dwaraka at 3520

years BP (Before Present).

 

Other finds include pottery, bronze and iron implements, three-holed

triangular stone anchors at Dwaraka, a late Harappan type of seal made

of conch of a composite animal - a bull, unicorn and goat - and

lustrous red ware pottery at Bet Dwaraka, linking the site to the

Harappan culture, and thereby establishing its continuity.

 

Bet Dwaraka was an island frequented by Krishna who is said to have

visited its Shankhodara Temple. It also contains the only ancient

temple for Matsya, the epic saviour of the world at the time of the

Great Flood. The materials discovered at Dwaraka corroborate history

and myth, and fix a date for the inundation of the city - between 1500

and 1300 BC.

 

The most remarkable aspect of both epics is their geography. The

Mahabharata mentions many small villages, tanks and hills, which are

still identifiable.

 

What is the historicity of the Mahabharata? Our doubting historians

will never accept any of these finds unless they are supported by

inscriptions, which will never be forthcoming as the earliest Indian

inscriptions belong to 300 BC. So, do we treat the epic as myth till

they are satisfied?

 

Western scholars tried to establish a connection between Krishna and

Christ, claiming that the former was derived from St Thomas' teachings

about the latter, but literature and archaeology have proved

otherwise. The Chandogya Upanishad mentions that Krishna Devakiputra

was a student of Ghora Angirasa and the author of the Upanishad, which

repeats the teachings of the Bhagavat Gita word by word.

 

In the 4th century BC, Chanakya refers to the story of Krishna's

birth, while Megasthenes mentions that the Sourasenoi (Surasenas or

Yadavas) worshipped Herakles (Krishna). Their two great cities were

Methora (Mathura) and Kleisobora (Krishnapura?) on the navigable river

Yobares (Yamuna). He also mentions that Herakles (Krishna) sent his

daughter Pandaia to rule over the kingdom of Mathura (Madura) on the

southern sea. Was she a descendant of the Pandavas, and did the latter

re-emerge as the Pandyas, whose southern capital was named after

Krishna's capital, Mathura?

 

Panini, Patanjali and the Buddhist and Jain works also mention Krishna

and the events of the Kurukshetra war, while the Chinese traveller

Yuan Chang records that a great war was fought at Kurukshetra and the

bones of dead warriors lay buried under the soil.

 

In 180-165 BC, the Greek ruler Agathocles issued coins with images of

Vasudeva holding a chakra. Several inscriptions are available in the

first century BC: the Greek ambassador Bhagavata Heliodorus erected a

Garuda column to Vasudeva at Besnagar; the Mora Well inscription near

Mathura mentions the worship of the five Vrishni heroes, including

Vasudeva; stone enclosures (Narayana vatika) were built for Vasudeva

and his brother Shankarshana (Balarama) at Ghosundi and Hathivada.

 

The most controversial site is, of course, the temple at Mathura, the

birthplace of Krishna. I am not aware if any excavation has been done

here, but tradition and even eminent historians associate the site

with the birth of Krishna, which is why Aurangazeb consciously chose

to build a mosque over it.

 

Apart from knowing that vyuhas were army formations, I never really

understood their formation or penetration. Rajan has computerised them

to work out how the various Kaurava warriors were placed and how the

Pandavas entered and destroyed these vyuhas, increasing the

sophistication of what was always believed to be a primitive tribal

war.

 

Krishna's divinity is a matter of faith, established by his

identification with Lord Vishnu. But archaeology has conclusively

established the veracity of the Mahabharata and the existence of the

cult of Vasudeva-Krishna at a very early period. The epics form the

soul of India, and Rajan has done well to document and bring alive

ancient history.

 

Nanditha Krishna is Director, C P Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation and can

be reached at nankrishna (AT) vsnl (DOT) com

 

----

 

Although the given dates have pretty big range and the author

considers the Mahabharata events happening circa 2000 years after the

sastric date, the date '2800 BC' for Kuruksetra artifacts probably

scared the establishment scientists - it could support the sastras and

thus the whole Vedic civilization. That's why the excavations were

stopped, imho.

 

About Heliodorus's column you can read at

www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/connections.htm#4