Fwd: The rediscovery of Saraswati -- Vijaya Rajiva

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hinducivilization , "S. Kalyanaraman" <kalyan97 wrote:*The rediscovery of SaraswatiCivilisational advantage of being a Hindu**By Dr Vijaya Rajiva August 23,2009<http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content & pa=showpage & pid=305>*The rediscovery of the Saraswati revitalises the foundations of Vedicthought. The name Saraswati which the Vedic seers bestowed on the ancientriver, which along with the Sindhu, has captured the hearts and imaginationof millions of Hindus, also gives new meaning to the later deification ofthe Goddess Saraswati.The Rig Veda, comprising some 1008 hymns, was composed approximately 5,000years ago, and is the oldest of the Hindu Scritpures and much loved byHindus and much acclaimed by the rest of the world, not only for its beautyand spiritually inspirational verses, but for its ancient lineage. In theRig Veda there is special mention of the river Saraswati as a mighty riverand as one that sustained life for peoples. The Saraswati is mentioned 72times. The seers of the Rig Veda hailed it as best among rivers and asflowing from the mountains to the sea. It is therefore, natural to assumethat the river existed and that the Rig Vedic hymns were composed along itsbanks and the surrounding river basin.However, shortly after the Rig Vedic period, the river disappeared and it isbelieved that it dried up owing to natural causes such as techtonic shifts.Recent archeological discoveries and evidence from a variety of disciplinessuch as satellite photography show that the dried-up bed of a large riverexisted once. The inference then is that the Rig Veda must have beencomposed before the disappearance of the Saraswati. This dating of theriver’s existence and its disappearance shed light on what is acontroversial topic today, the date of the Rig Veda and the identity of thepeople who composed these immortal hymns.Colonial scholars since the 19th century and their present day followershave created a tradition (somewhat dubious at this stage of Indic studies)that maintains that the Rig Veda was composed circa 1,500 B.C. at theearliest and that it was the work of the Indo Europeans/Aryans who invadedIndia or immigrated from the Steppes there shortly before that period. Theirfurther belief was that the Rig Veda was composed along the banks of theSindhu (Indus), some even arguing that it was composed partially, furthernorth. Readers will be familiar with the phrase Aryan Invasion Theory.In the last two decades both Indian and foreign scholars (who can bedescribed as the New Theorists) have challenged this tradition and reclaimedthe Veda as the product of indigenous people, native to the Indiansubcontinent. On this new theory the Sanskrit people, the Dravidians and thetribal people who spoke the Munda language were the natives of India andamalgamated loosely into a conglomerate of peoples. Further, that they werethe peoples of what has been till recently called the Indus ValleyCivilisation and which is now called the Saraswati Sindhu Civilization.Based on the evidence provided by geneticists that all non African peoplesmigrated out of Africa some 90,000 years ago and one branch travelling alongto the Indian subcontinent, and a further movement of peoples from south tonorth in India some 40,000 years ago, it is argued by the New Theorists thatthe Veda was composed in India by indigenous peoples and not by invadersfrom outside the subcontinent. The linguistic evidence also points to theclose affinity of the various peoples of the Indian subcontinent. This isdescribed by Dr S Kalyanaraman in his paper Indian Lexicon: An Overview, llMay, 1998 (www.hindunet.org). His later paper Saraswati - Vedic river andHindu civilisation (2008) is also a remarkable account of the topic.The results of this new thinking have been ably presented in the last twodecades in books, lectures, papers and conferences. The most recent one washeld in November 2008 at an international conference held in October 2008 inNew Delhi. The theme of the conference was: The Vedic River Sarasvati andHindu Civilisation.A compendium of papers presented at this conference has been published underthe title The Vedic River Saraswati and Hindu Civilisation (Aryan BooksInternational, New Delhi, 2008, editor Dr. S. Kalyanaraman). Theparticipants in the conference were scholars, scientists and researchers intheir respective fields.The literature on the indigenous creation of the Veda and the identificationof the Indus Valley Civilisation as proto Vedic is growing. The works S.Kalyanaraman, N.S. Rajaram, David Frawley and Subash Kak are some of thatnew thinking.The rediscovery of the Saraswati revitalises the foundations of Vedicthought. The name Saraswati which the Vedic seers bestowed on the ancientriver, which along with the Sindhu, has captured the hearts and imaginationof millions of Hindus, also gives new meaning to the later deification ofthe Goddess Saraswati. She is the repository of learning, music and thearts. Great as was classical India’s achievements in all the arts andsciences (and these have been acknowledged as considerable) they could onlyhave come as the product of a riverine civilization that began with the thefour Vedas (the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the AtharvaVeda) and ended with the profound speculation of the forest treatises, theUpanishads and led the way for the achievements of classical, medieval andmodern Hinduism.What is the secret of the Rig Veda’s continued fascination for all who haveencountered it?Is it the deep devotion that everyday millions of Hindus who see it as theprofound beginnings of their culture’s wisdom and guidance? Is it thediligence down the centuries of scholars, savants, sages, saints and themillions of unsung and unknown priests and members of their community thathave kept the Rig Veda alive in the consciousness of the people of thesubcontinent? Is it simply the compelling beauty of Sanskrit as a languagewhich no one who has heard it can deny?Some of all of the above, would be an approximate answer. More importantly,for our times, it is about the core values of the Rig Veda, itsenvironmentalism and its emphasis on the unity of humankind, linked to thecosmic universe. Earth, heaven and the entire universe and humans inside it,are the subject of the Rig Veda. The Vedic civilization, along with thenative cultures of various parts of the world, especially the Americas,exalt the role of nature in their world view.The Dutch philosopher, Spinoza, said in the 17th century of the Christianera that Nature and God are one.Long before that, the Hindus saw Prakriti (Nature ) and Purusha (God) asaspects of the divine principle. This is the letimotif of Hinduism’sbeliefs, the basis of its pluralism, its all embracing tolerance. The divineprinciple is Infinite and therefore limitless. It is not ONLY this or ONLYthat. It can be worshipped in a variety of modes and the Rig Vedic mode seta precedent for Hinduism for all time to come.Hence, the inner connection between the Saraswati and Vedic thought is notto be limited to a geographical nexus. The rediscovery of the ‘lost’ riveris a joyful reaffirmation of the Vedic truths propounded on the banks of theSaraswati-Sindhu by sages and seers of the Veda.The current present day controversy around the Saraswati and the compositionof the Rig Veda by the indigenous people of India is a challenging and manyways a welcome one since Hindu/Indian scholars are tested in their mettle atthe deepest and foundational level of their culture and religion. Thediscovery of some 2000 sites of what is formerly called the Indus ValleyCivilisation, with almost 80 per cent of them being located at the site ofSaraswati may indeed be the clinching argument for the continuity of Vediccivilization with the Indus Valley Civilisation, and its identity with thatcivilization. The new theorists have not only pointed out varioussimilarities between the two cultures, but also the intimate connection ofvarious beliefs and cultural habits between the Indus Valley Civilisationand the Vedic, a connection which can be seen even today in the Indiansubcontinent.The controversy may rage on between the Aryanists and the New Theorists butwith the accumulating evidence centred round the rediscovery of theSaraswati, the latter seem to be winning out.What is of importance is the opportunity provided to contemporary Indians togive new meaning to the alternative names given to the subcontinent and itsrivers. Afterall, it was the Greeks who called the Sindhu, the river Indus.And Bharata Varsha, Hindustan and Bharat can be equally be used for the moremodern India. Further, there is the message of the Veda which can never beforgotten. This is the great civilisational advantage of being a Hindu andthat responsibility is upon Hindus, since they have inherited an ancient andnoble tradition that extols the importance of Bhu (Earth), and theinterconnected-ness of all life, cosmic and terrestrial.In the end, that is Saraswati’s message to all Hindus and all Indians whoare part of the Indian subcontinent. It is also the message for all humanityin the New Age.*(The writer taught Political Philosophy at a Canadian university.)**http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content & pa=showpage & pid=305 & page=7****http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/*