Ghadar Jari Hai. Angels and Demons in Indian Thought. The Revolt Continues. Vol. VI, No. 1, Jan-March 2012

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1 Ghadar Jari Hai The Revolt Continues Vol. VI, No. 1, Jan-March 2012 For private circulation only Contribution Rs 25/- Angels and Demons in Indian Thought

2 All opinions expressed in this issue are those of the author (s) and do not necessarily represent the views held by the publisher. Any part of this issue may be translated or reprinted with due acknowledgement to Ghadar Jari Hai. Address all your editorial correspondence to: S Raghavan jarihai@ghadar.in Printed and published by K. Madhusudhan, on behalf of Lok Awaz Publishers & Distributors. Printed at: New Print Cottage, B-74, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-2, New Delhi Published at: E-392, Sanjay Colony, Okhla Phase-II, New Delhi Editor: S Raghavan Layout and Design: Surkhraj Kaur, Santosh, Anand Cover: Panju Ganguli Our Website: Editorial Policy Ghadar Jari Hai is a platform for discussing Indian solutions to problems facing India. It is focused on understanding Indian history, philosophy and economic, political and other fields of knowledge, without the jaundiced eye of Eurocentrism. All serious views, of whatever hue, are welcome as long as the author substantiates his or her argument and does not indulge in labeling, name calling and ridicule. We are particularly interested in unraveling pre-british India and the changes brought about through British rule, since the colonial legacy continues to bear great significance for present-day Indian society. We believe that no shade of opinion has a monopoly over the truth and that if we all collaborate in this endeavour, we are quite capable of arriving at insights and solutions to our problems, much as our ancestors did. We seek to publish well researched articles in various fields, which at the same time are communicative and do not indulge in excessive technical jargon.

3 Contents Letters to the Editor 2 Editorial 3 Cover Story Angels and Demons in Indian Thought S. Raghavan 5 Book Confronting Colonialism: Resistance and Modernisation under Haidar Ali and Tippu Sultan Prakash Rao 9 Perspectives The Indus Civilization and Aryans D.P. Agrawal 11 Events Sufism: Path to Peace and Tolerance 20 Death anniversary: Rename chowk in honour of Bhagat Singh 21 1

4 Letters to the Editor Dear Editor, The issue of corruption has been much discussed in recent times. Large multinational companies are among the biggest crusaders against corruption at the present. The reason is that corruption inhibits global market expansion by enabling different rules (including no rules) for different competing business interests. Although institutionalised in the privilege based system of governance, it is an anachronism in the context of globalisation. Therefore there is a concerted effort led and funded by all the big (western) powers and big companies demanding more transparency i.e. rules-like-ours, predictability, and no changing rules in the middle of play (bribery). Thus corruption is a many dimensional thing. Everybody is against corruption and they are thinking about different things of course. Anna Hazare and team were tolerated as long as they spoke against corruption but not when they verged on talking about changing the governance system itself. Corruption is like volume control - can be turned up or down but music remains the same. The anger against corruption is indeed a moment of opportunity for those seeking to unveil the system and bring about change, but by itself the march that is purely against corruption can only walk into an andhi galli. Dear Editor, I enjoyed immensely Sri Raghavan s article on Kalki in your issue of Ghadar Jari Hai (Volume V No 3). He has really echoed the heartfelt feelings of millions of Tamilians scattered all over the world. His writings enthralled all (the intelligent and dull, man and woman, admirer and critic, capitalist and labour, educated and uneducated). Who can forget the inimitable characters like Vanthiyathevan, Kunthavai, Alwarkadian etc. It is said of great Vyasa that though he created lakhs of characters in his Mahabharata, each has some individual trait in it. To say that Kalki s characters also have their individuality is no exaggeration. Kalki was also tolerant of writers holding opposite views. He was a good critic. Once in the Kalki magazine he wrote a review of Sri Annadurai s drama Velaikari under the caption Kaliyin Karunai. He eulogized Sri Anna s dramatic talents and called him Bernard Shaw of Tamil Nadu. He pioneered the movement for singing of Tamil Songs in Kacheri (Musical Concerts). Millions of thanks for penning a true portrait of a great writer. M S Ramaswamy Thane West. Interesting to know that they discussed the problem 2000 years ago. Fantastic journey to discover our pasts. S Sharma Bengaluru 2

5 Editorial In this issue's cover story Angels and Demons in Indian Thought the author discusses the phenomenon of demonization of your enemy which portrays him as unalloyed evil while the protagonist is painted as an angel in self-righteous terms. If it were not the basis of a laughable piece of fiction with card board characters but concerted propaganda by powerful governments it would not be worth serious comment. But increasingly since the cold war days we have seen power conflict being painted as a great fight between pure evil and pure good by both camps. Wars and occupation against smaller countries were painted by the US and NATO as necessary for the defence of democracy, freedom, liberty, our way of life against the evil empire of oppressive totalitarianism. On the other hand the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact painted their aggressive adventures as solidarity with an oppressed people, liberation struggles and even socialist internationalism against feudalism, imperialism and tyranny. Indo-China, Korea, Africa, Latin America, Afghanistan, Iraq, Czechoslovakia and other conflicts and wars have been painted as such in the second half of 20 th century and in the 21 st century s own War against Terrorism. Leave alone a nation or religious community, can even a person be considered unalloyed good or evil? One has to be extremely one sided and unrealistic to agree to the proposition. However, selective reportage, power of modern media, endorsement by consensus from many intellectuals can disorient any one for a short period of time. But a story is only as credible as its teller. As people see the angels actually acting as demons in their own backyards then they start questioning even their propaganda about the enemy. But why are such vast resources poured into such unsustainable propaganda? It is to create short term numbness in their own populace so that any heinous crime can be committed against the designated enemy the evil to make immediate gains in geo-political and geo-economic terms, without a murmur of dissent, leave alone mass global condemnation and opposition. The cover story examines briefly the Indian epics Ramayan and Mahabharat to illustrate how Indian thought has never had a binary good-evil analysis but a nuanced understanding of human nature and its dynamics. How did the glorious civilisation of Harappa end? Was it an Aryan civilisation? Did Aryans invade and destroy this civilisation? And so many questions have plagued all of us since the Indus-Saraswati civilisation was archeologically excavated in the early 20 th century. Many misconceptions and misinformation exists regarding the Harappan civilisation. Dr Dharm Pal Agrawal, a renowned archaeologist and historian, has spent several decades exploring such questions. His article explains the existing knowledge about these questions in a lucid and accessible way. The questions regarding Harappa demanded a thoroughness in treatment and hence we decided to reproduce his article in its entirety at the cost of not including some other articles. Prakash Rao has reviewed a book on Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali as modernizers while being staunch anti-colonial fighters. The British portrayal, echoed by many Indian intellectuals too, has been contrary to this. The anti-colonial fighters were portrayed as rogues, pirates, thugs, tyrant feudals, at best brave but fool hardy, whereas the collaborators were painted as modernizers. The underlying assumption equated European colonialism with modernity another version of the infamous white man s burden. We hope you enjoy the issue. 3

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7 Cover Story Angels and Demons in Indian Thought By S. Raghavan Demonization is alien to Indian thought. Demonization is actually preparing the ground for justifying the most heinous acts against the designated demon and totally violating the widely accepted concept of a rule based dharmayuddha. It is no wonder that the so-called war on terror that demonizes various peoples is totally alien to everything that makes us Indian, says S Raghavan. In the best-selling mysterythriller novel by the American author, Dan Brown, called Angels & Demons, a Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon tries to stop the Illumaniti, a legendary secret society, from destroying the Vatican City. It is a typical plot, sensationally presented no doubt, about the eternal conflict between angels and demons, between good and evil. When this novel was made into a movie, the conflict looked even more sensational on the celluloid screen. But can humanity be differentiated into Angels and Demons as easily as we differentiate day and night, life and death? Is there something called pure good and pure evil? For an Indian, who has inherited values from his or her forefathers, handed over from generation to generation over the millennia, good and evil are relative terms, one of which cannot exist without the other. What is termed as good depends upon the existence of what we call evil, and evil exists only in relation to good. Being interdependent values they cannot be separated. If we try to make evil stand by itself as entirely separate from good, we can no longer recognize it as evil. Probably, according to Indian philosophers, the difference between good and evil is not one of kind, but of degree. For example, in that great Indian epic the Mahabharata, the Kurukshetra where the great war was fought is declared a dharmakshetra and the ensuing 18 day war as dharma yuddha not because the evil Kauravas representing adharma are faced with the noble Pandavas representing dharma, as is commonly understood. It is called dharmakshetra because the rules of engagement of war are said to have been followed in this epic war. No doubt there are many instances where both sides violate various rules of engagement. A pack of Kauravas ambush a lone Abhimanyu, Arjuna kills an unarmed Karna, the Pandavas play a trick on Drona regarding the death of his son Ashvatthaama; and Bhima gives a fatal illegal blow to Duryodhana below the waist, in the final gadaayuddha. But then the violators have to face the consequences. The chronicler Vyasa just records it. After all, Mahabharata is called itihaasa: this happened. The Kauravas led by Duryodhana suffer defeat and destruction because they went against an important principle of statecraft called coexistence or live and let live. Duryodhana s weaknesses like lack of control over hate and jealousy lead him not to accept the offer of coexistence that Pandavas had made through Krishna s diplomacy. Such a principle which was in the interest of humanity was rejected. He preferred to be the unchallenged sole ruler, an absolute monarch and did 5

8 Cover Story not let Pandavas live independently even in five villages. Unalloyed heroes and villains do not exist in the real world and hence they do not exist in Mahabharata. Vyaasa is not a hagiographer but an honest chronicler. Perhaps modern historiography has a lot to learn from him. For example, Duryodhana s virtue of valuing friendship above all else is hailed. The example given is that of his friendship with Karna. The moment Duryodhana recognised Karna s merits he embraced him crossing the Varna barrier (Karna was supposed to be a sutaputra, a shoodra) and declared him a Kshatriya and his own equal by making him the King of the region of Anga. Duryodhana was loyal to this friendship till the end and in fact when Karna is killed in the war he mourns for him even more than at the death of his own brothers. At the same time his hatred of Pandavas and his jealousy are immense and beyond his control. According to the epic that is what led to his down fall, since one should control one s senses and win over the six weaknesses: lust, anger, arrogance, jealousy, greed and infatuation for a fulfilled life. Nothing is permanently good or evil. People are not classified as saints and sinners, followers of God or Satan (who incidentally does not exist in Indian thought). At birth no one is good or evil. External circumstances may force an individual into evil ways, but it is up to the individual to make the right choice. According to Rg Veda, sin is conceived as a defilement clinging externally to somebody which can be expiated with external means. The concept of good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, Rju and Vrijan, is essentially external in nature. That is why Indians tend to avoid categorising someone as absolutely good or absolutely evil. Only when an individual has lived his entire life in virtue and breathed his last, when it is no longer possible for him to stray from this virtuous path, can he be called a good person. But what about expiation? Does a wrong doer redeem himself or is his fate sealed? Despite a common understanding of Indian culture as fatalistic Indian world outlook and darshan is full of discussion of the dialectic between fate and individual human effort or individual choice. What is considered fate is actually the forces that one individual or even the whole human kind cannot control. These are the objective laws of nature and society, what Engels called necessity. ( freedom is the recognition of necessity -F Engels). For example, Duryodhana violated the law that for social harmony there should be coexistence or diversity just as it is expressed in nature too. After that a devastating existential war became inevitable. GOOD EVIL To reiterate, Indian thought does not consider anyone an eternal sinner. It is possible for him to make amends and turn a new leaf. Kedar Nath Tiwari argues in his book, Classical Indian ethical thought, that the Indian scriptures say that man can expiate his sin through the attainment of knowledge. This emphasis on knowledge is often noted in the Brahmanas such as He who has this knowledge conquers all directions. In verses such as He who has knowledge becomes a light among his own people. The emphasis of Upanishads on knowledge for the attainment of the highest good is marked. The story of Prajapati 1 is very enlightening in this respect. According to the story based on the Vedas, there was a great saint called Kasyapa Prajapathi. The Devas, Asuras as well as men were his children. He one day called them and told them, The time has come for you to learn from me. But for that you should get prepared. Preparation meant studying books, learning from teachers, and discussing with peers. Once they were prepared, Prajapati called the Devas and told them, Da and asked them, did you understand? They replied, Yes, sir we have understood. The Devas understood Da as meaning Daama that is to exercise control over oneself. Prajapati repeated the exercise with the Asuras with the same word. But the Asuras understood, Da as Daana, which meant charity. When Prajapati did the same to humans, they interpreted Da as Dayaa which meant Mercy. Prajapati recognised that Devas, Asuras and humans had both 1 6

9 Cover Story strengths and weaknesses in them. He taught whatever they needed to overcome their shortcomings. Since they had come prepared to learn, the words meant different things to each of them. The Devas needed self-control and humility of pride, the powerful Asuras needed to become charitable and the men needed to be merciful. The moral of the story seemed to be that good and evil exists everywhere. One can overcome this evil by learning to address what causes that evil. This is true for individuals and nations. My son was grappling with an essay on Villains Traditional and Modern. He had many villains lined up for his essay Othello s Iago, Prof Moriarty, the archenemy of Sherlock Holmes, Lex Luthor of Superman fame, Batman s nemesis Joker, and so on. You might have guessed by now that he is studying in a cool English medium school and naturally even his examples would be Anglo- American! But when I mentioned to him about the villains from Indian epics he was struck. The villains in Indian epics were good and bad, compassionate and cruel, humble and arrogant, all at the same time. Even more of a problem the heroes in Indian epics were also two-faced! Take Ravana, the most wellknown demon-king, for example. Valmiki describes him as the greatest devotee of Shiva. According to many folk versions of the epic such as Ram-kathas and Ram-kiritis, Ravana is believed to have composed the Rudra Stotra in praise of Shiva. He designed the lute known as Rudra-Vina using one of his ten heads as the lute s gourd, one of his arms as the beam and his nerves as the strings! The image of Ravana carrying Mount Kailash, with Shiva s family on top, is an integral part of Shiva temple art. He is an even bigger hero in the South. It is not uncommon to see folk forms in the Tamil countryside that celebrate Ravana as a hero and Rama as the villain who treated women unfairly. In the Tamil version of the Ramayana, the Kamba Ramayanam, Ravana is highly venerated as a Vedic scholar, a connoisseur of music, a warrior, and an epitome of everything moral. In fact, a vedic scholar told me that Ravana created a mnemonic to remember the Vedic shlokas and it is used to this day by students of Vedas! In short, Ravana is a tragic hero, not a villain. While Rama questioned Sita s chastity leading to her agnipariksha, Ravana is seen as the man who never violated her although he abducted her and took her away to his kingdom in Lanka. The beheading of Tadaka, the killing of Shambhooka a shoodra who was engaged in Tapasya, the banishing of Sita, the killing of Vali, are considered as instances of Rama s own wrong doings. Here is a story by Devdutt Patnaik 2 that somewhat tries to interpret this struggle between good and evil in a more enlightened way. The story goes that after firing the fatal arrow on the battlefield of Lanka, Ram told his brother, Lakshman, Go to Ravana quickly before he dies and request him to share whatever knowledge he can. A brute he may be, but he is also a great scholar. The obedient Lakshman rushed across the battlefield to Ravana s side and whispered in his ears, Demon-king, do not let your knowledge die with you. Share it with us and wash away your sins. Ravana responded by simply turning away. An angry Lakshman went back to Ram, He is as arrogant as he always was, too proud to share anything. Ram comforted his brother and asked him softly, Where did you stand while asking Ravana for knowledge? Next to his head so that I hear what he had to say clearly. Ram smiled, placed his bow on the ground and walked to where Ravana lay. Lakshman watched in astonishment as his brother knelt at Ravana s feet. With palms joined, with extreme humility, Ram said, Lord of Lanka, you 2 7

10 Cover Story A modern Indian would not easily subscribe to the view, as various presidents of USA have propounded at various times, that there is an axis of evil which has to be eliminated by the civilized world in the interests of our way of life no matter what it costs. abducted my wife, a terrible crime for which I have been forced to punish you. Now, you are no more my enemy. I bow to you and request you to share your wisdom with me. Please do that for if you die without doing so, all your wisdom will be lost forever to the world. To Lakshman s surprise, Ravana opened his eyes and raised his arms to salute Ram, If only I had more time as your teacher than as your enemy. Standing at my feet as a student should, unlike your rude younger brother, make you a worthy recipient of my knowledge. I have very little time so I cannot share much but let me tell you one important lesson I have learnt in my life. Things that are bad for you seduce you easily; you run towards them impatiently. But things that are actually good for you, fail to attract you; you shun them creatively, finding powerful excuses to justify your procrastination. That is why I was impatient to abduct Sita but avoided meeting you. This beautiful story gives an excellent perspective on good and evil. The demon-king is full of wisdom. And the man-god wants to benefit from it! In Indian culture, which not only tolerates diversity but celebrates it, there are very few binary answers. Every conclusion and judgement which in itself is very rare has to be qualified with context and many caveats that are full of relativisim. Certainty that can lead to absolutism is looked at with suspicion and tentativeness is more the norm. The parable of our search for truth (understanding reality) as the attempt of blind men trying to understand and describe the elephant is a very humbling one for anyone who thinks he has got it all! Fundamentally the Indian mind sees change as a fundamental characteristic of the world around us and tries to grapple with it. It reacts to change, motion and development all around us. It reacts mostly with wonder and at times it tentatively theorises through phenomenological models. The same applies to judging a person. After all Indian theory of human nature (svabhaava) does not start with the binary theory of good and evil but with an empirical observation of coexistence of three broad characteristics (guna) namely satva, rajas and tamas in all individuals. It observes that proportion of these three gunas can change and manifest itself differently at different phases of the dynamic of the life of the individual. There is inheritance and nature as well as modification by the environment (sanga satsanga and dussanga) or nurture. Does a realistic conception of good and evil exist only in ancient Indian texts? Does it have relevance in the modern world? D D Kosambi, the famous historian, mathematician, Indologist, used to say that in reconstructing the past India had a tremendous advantage in that even today cultural survivals from the ancient past exist all over the country. I would say that this is true of ancient Indian thought also. A modern Indian would not easily subscribe to the view, as various presidents of USA have propounded at various times, that there is an axis of evil which has to be eliminated by the civilized world in the interests of our way of life no matter what it costs. Why go so far? Similar attempts at unalloyed demonization have been made by various organs of Indian state at various times regarding whoever they were trying to suppress unjustly or even physically eliminate within India or outside our borders This practice of demonisation has led to wars of aggression and wars against terrorists and fundamentalists and the killings of innocent people the most unjust and unjustifiable of all wars, while painting the act as dharmayuddha, carried out under the most extraordinary conditions of fighting pure evil. An Indian who has been taught to be self-critical would not subscribe to this self-righteous, absolutist approach. An Indian is constantly reminded since childhood that when one is pointing a finger at others, the remaining fingers are pointing back at oneself. Criticism and self-criticism are ingrained in the Indian ethos. Demonization is alien to Indian thought. Demonization is not just a difference in philosophical approach but actually preparing the ground for justifying the most heinous acts against the designated demon and totally violating the widely accepted concept of a rule based dharmayuddha. It is no wonder that the socalled war on terror that demonizes various peoples is totally alien to everything that makes us Indian. 8

11 Book Confronting Colonialism: Resistance and Modernisation under Haidar Ali and Tippu Sultan By Prakash Rao This book consists of a collection of papers relating to the rule of Haider Ali and Tippu Sultan brought out by the Indian History Congress in 1999 on the occasion of the 200th year of the martyrdom of Tippu Sultan and the colonization of Mysore by the British colonialists. The collection has been edited by the historian by Irfan Habib (Editor) Publisher: Anthem Press (Jul 2002) Irfan Habib. The papers in these collections have been written by various historians, based in large part on contemporary records of those times. During the Great Ghadar of 1857, many patriots took inspiration from the life and work of Tippu Sultan and his heroic struggle against advancing colonial rule. The conquest of Bengal by the colonialists a century back in 1757 in the Battle of Palassey, and the final conquest of South India in 1799 after the death of Tippu, deeply affected the minds The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had been the last Emperor who had fought with determination to defend and expand his empire. Aurangzeb knew how to keep the British under check, and he successfully did so with military expeditions (as when he subjugated the British post in Bombay), whenever they dared to question his authority or violated trade agreements. of all Indian revolutionaries in The papers in this collection on the activities of Haider and Tippu in different fields in their short reigns throw light on why this was the case. During the times of Haider and Tippu, the Mughal Empire was in decay, and the Emperor in Delhi was unwilling to fight the British colonialists anywhere. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had been the last Emperor who had fought with determination to defend and expand his empire. Aurangzeb knew how to keep the British under check, and he successfully did so with military expeditions (as when he subjugated the British post in Bombay), whenever they dared to question his authority or violated trade agreements. In the period of the decline of the Mughal Empire, there were three major power centers developing in India in contest with each other, and with the foreign British colonialists. The three Indian centers were the Peshwa-Maratha Kingdoms, Ranjit Singh s Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Mysore. These three were growing powers. They were all forward looking in terms of representing the hitherto working masses, as well as influenced by the Sufi and Bhakti movements. 9

12 Book The book under review suffers from not bringing out the influence of Bhakti Sufi philosophy on Haider Ali and Tippu Sultan, and instead goes into the British colonialist imposed discourse of debating whether some ruler was secular or communal. To judge our historical figures from this colonialist perspective does great damage. Of the three Indian forces mentioned above; it was only the Mysoreans under the rule of Haider and Tippu who were consistent fighters against the colonialists with an Indian vision! Why is it that the Maratha Peshwas, the followers of the great fighter Shivaji, and the Sikhs, the followers of the Ten Gurus, did not emulate this, but instead stuck to narrow visions, and compromised with the British at various times, contributing to the complete colonization of our motherland? These questions were of course outside of the purview of this Book under review. The book brings out the internationalist and pan Indian vision of Tippu Sultan. He recognized like his father, that the main threat to India was British colonialism. He fought like a tiger, inspiring his people. He tried his utmost, like his father, to mobilize the Marathas and the Nizam of Haiderabad, the two great power centers in the Deccan, to join hands to fight the British. He failed on this front, as Marathas proved to be extremely narrow minded and short sighted, and the Nizam decided to remain in the British camp and accepted its humiliating terms at every stage. It brings out the efforts of Tippu to become a sovereign power center, stretching across both the West and East of Southern India, independent of the Mughals, once he realized that they were not going to fight the British. His efforts to build relationships with Turkey, Afghanistan, France etc are significant politically and diplomatically, if not militarily. Turkey was a declining power, and France was in the throes of revolution. These factors ensured that the international alliance he was trying to build to fight the British did not work. The Book attempts to bring out Tippu Sultan's efforts on the front of advancing manufacture, as well as his attention to take care of interests of the farmers. Of particular note to this reviewer was a paper by one of the contributors describing how, when a dam on Cauvery near Srirangapatnam, Tippu s capital, was being built in the early 20th century, a foundation stone was found showing that Tippu too was There was one integral struggle going on in our country forward looking forces were fighting against the threat of colonial rule, as well as actual colonial rule, while the backward forces were uniting with the colonialists against their own motherland for selfish and short term goals. Most standard history unfortunately has portrayed the fighters against colonialism as backward, and the collaborators as modernizer. planning to build a dam in the same place! This showed, as the author of the paper said, that the engineering acumen developed in Tippu s time was very advanced, as proved nearly 130 years later. The book would have been more complete, according to this reviewer, if there was a paper in it that placed the life and struggle of Haider and Tippu in the context of the other developments in Southern India. Just like the 1857 Ghadar was inspired by the heroism of Haider, Tippu and other freedom fighters, so too were Haider and Tippu part of a larger South Indian war against colonialism, which raged in the period since 1757 (Battle of Palassey in Bengal) till the death of Tippu (1799). One cannot forget the deeds of heroes like Veera Pandiaya Kattabomman, in Tirunelveli. There was one integral struggle going on in our country forward looking forces were fighting against the threat of colonial rule, as well as actual colonial rule, while the backward forces were uniting with the colonialists against their own motherland for selfish and short term goals. Most standard history unfortunately has portrayed the fighters against colonialism as backward, and the collaborators as modernizer. This is because standard history has been written by the victors the colonialists, as well as those influenced by them. Historians should also bring out the real meaning of events, and what they point to the future. The book under review is tantalizing on this question.it does arouse an appetite. Perhaps that is what its aim was. But it does not satisfy. This is perhaps for the better, as it puts the challenge before future historiographers. 10

13 Perspectives The Indus Civilization and Aryans D. P. Agrawal, examines what the Indus Civilization bequeathed us and discusses the complex processes in operation in its phase of decline. At times, archaeology does record the sudden fury of floods, fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and even human invasions, but mostly it betrays the gradual process of technological evolution. In a historical perspective, a geographical area becomes a cultural cauldron in which history mixes different incoming ingredients. Sometimes the signatures of the various cultural streams can be discerned; more often they commingle. Cultural influences use diverse means to travel: human migrations, invasions, religious monks, ancient seers and philosophers, as also missionary zealots. For example, Buddhism travelled all over Asia through monks and religious philosophers. Even Hinduism reached South East Asia through religious teachers. The Indonesian culture and religion have a strong Hindu substratum. Buddhism even today is a vibrant and living religion all over East and South-east Asia. It was through Buddhist monks that medical science and even zinc technology reached China. The Indus Civilization (archaeologists prefer to call it Harappa Culture, after the site where it was first noticed) represents a glorious chapter in India s past and we have to bow to our Harappan ancestors for what they achieved in the IV-III millennia BCE, and for the rich cultural legacy they bequeathed. Does it really matter by what label we call them? Besides the classical reports by Mackay, Marshall and Vats on Mohenjodaro and Harappa excavations, recent years have seen a plethora of books on Indus Civilisation.Unfortunately, the reports on the major excavations of the Harappans sites in India at Banawali, Dholavira, Kalibangan, and Rakhigarhietc are yet to see the light of the day. The Indus civilisation is remarkable for its uniformity and standardisation in weights, measures, ceramics, architecture, town planning and in arts and crafts, though there is variation in ceramics, town plans, and perhaps religious beliefs. This uniformity appears all the more imposing when one considers that the culture extended over more than a million sq. km, an area more than that of Pakistan today. Recent studies, however, are bringing out a good deal of regional variation too. In a Third Millennium context, when communication and transport must have been difficult, the credit for unifying the north and west of the subcontinent goes to the Harappans. They were the first to achieve this unification of a society with so much of diversity. The location of their main metropolitan towns in a peculiar network of intersecting circles may have provided impetus for travel to these far-flung areas of the Harappan state. In later times, it was achieved by locating the main pilgrimage centres at the farthest points of the country: from Amarnath and Badrinath in the north, Dwarka in the west, Puri in the east, to Rameshwaram in the south. More enigmatic is the decline and devolution of the Indus Civilization and requires a multi-disciplinary approach to unravel this phase of India s past. I personally feel that the Aryan = Harappans equation is both a divisive and diversionary controversy. More important is the study of the complex processes of the multi-dimensional transformations that were taking place at the turn of the II Millennium BCE. Let us now see what the Indus Civilization bequeathed to us and try to understand the complex processes in operation in its phase of decline. We would examine the archaeological, technological, and environmental, evidence to try to understand the processes involved in the transformation of the great Indus Tradition. In this essay, I would concentrate on these transformations. A. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE The Harappan legacy is not only its city life, but also the rural technologies or peasant science, knowledge that was within the control and experience of the ordinary household 11

14 Perspectives or village elements of culture that had been internalised and passed down the generations within the family and the community (Ratnagar 2000: ). But in a traditional society like ours, hoary traditions continue along with newly acquired fashions and technologies. A closer look clearly shows an old, Harappan sub-stratum, on which the edifice of the present Indian culture stands. Let us recapitulate and re-emphasise some of these cultural traits. The Hindu religion is basically iconic and not animistic as that of the Aryans. The pasupata, yogisvara, trimukha aspects of the famous seals have been identified as proto-siva, or even proto-mahisa, and to us it appears to be strong evidence, though Ratnagar thinks that the Harappan religion was shamanistic. The nandi-bull worship has to be traced to the Harappans and perhaps the sacredness of the cow too. Some of the seals suggest animal sacrifice, so does the terracotta cake from Kalibangan. The linga (phallus) worship can only be traced to the Harappans; even if the phallus-like objects are only few and some scholars do not believe that the proto-siva seal shows an ithyphallic god. The importance of pipal (Ficusreligiosa), swastika, and water ablutions in today s religion can be traced back to the Harappan preoccupation with water rituals (the Great Bath, the associated water structures with the Kalibangan fire altars, the row of bathing platforms at Lothal etc.), and the emphasis on the pipal motif do suggest a continuity of the religious beliefs. The enigmatic terracotta figures suggest yoga-like postures. Even secular objects like the typical Harappan house plan of a central courtyard surrounded by rooms (it has been found by air-conditioning experts to be best suited for Indian climate) seems to have continued from the Harappan times. The binary system of weights of the Harappans followed 1, 2, 4, and 8, 16, 32, (X), with fractions in one-thirds. Till recently, the Indian 1 seer = 16 chattacks and 1 rupee = 16 annas basically followed the same system. Even the Arthasastra s (angula millimetres) seems to have been derived from the Harappan measuring unit of 17.7 mm. What the present Indian culture owes to the Indus Civilisation will perhaps never be known fully as the intangible heritage that we got from the Harappans cannot be fully traced to their Harappan origins, unless one day one finds long decipherable texts of the Harappans (Agrawal 1993: ). On the other hand, Steve Farmer (Harvard Round Table 2001) says, the Indus symbols were not capable of encoding human speech or long texts, and that the thousands of short inscriptions seen on Indus seals, tablets, copper plates, potsherds, and other durable goods were non-linguistic in nature. It is interesting to note here that many of the Harappan items reappear with the second urbanization (I Millennium BCE) in the Northern Polished Ware times in north India. (Did these artefacts in some way relate to the state?) Pande (1987) points out that cultural items of everyday life of the Mature Harappans disappear in later cultures: antimony rods, terracotta masks, weights and measures, metal pots and pans, even some motifs like knot designs. For the first time, the lota and thali are introduced in the Indian crockery by the Kayatha Culture and continue to this day. Now burials come right into the houses: the dead of the Chalcolithic cultures are buried below the house floors, unlike the Harappan cemeteries located outside settlements. These markers, in diet, in subsistence, in script and literate tradition, in daily items of use, which suddenly disappeared after the Harappans, are obviously conveying the message that the cultural tradition broke down. The break of tradition is writ large on the evidence. No more planned towns: in fact, no more towns. The ones that were there lose their character and population. It does not mean that populations were decimated, but with lack of control from the metropolitan centres, the provincial towns degenerated and changed. There was an abandonment, or severe depopulation, of the cities and a number of important settlements including KotDiji, Balakot, Allahdino (in Pakistan), Kalibangan, Ropar, Surkotada, Dholavira, Desalpur, and Lothal (in India). Long distance trade was reduced and the production of luxury items was curtailed. Settled farmers largely abandoned Sindh and Cholistan and there was an increase in the number of settlements in the Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, and northern Rajasthan, though Gujarat seems to have remained relatively stable. There were shifts in the subsistence regime with their ability to sustain double cropping with the use of millets, resulting in growth of population. Average site size goes down, but there is little change in the total settled area. There was significant reshuffling of the population over the landscape and interesting shifts in subsistence, trade and the economy. The Mature Harappan style in architecture and material culture 12

15 Perspectives disappeared, along with the stamp seals and the system of writing. The Post-urban times witness a return to a cultural mosaic not unlike the one found during the Pre-urban Phase. Yet, in spite of these changes, there is a strong line of cultural and historical continuity throughout the Harappan region. The period between c and 600 BCE may not have been dark but it certainly was a regression. From the state the society went back to chiefdoms. Between the distinctly organized societies of the Harappans and of the later Ganga civilization, the interregnum was perhaps a bit of a chaos and disorganization. While in Sindh and Baluchistan, there is clear evidence of eclipse of the Harappan Civilization, in the East and in Gujarat, there were strong lines of continuity through the early centuries of the second millennium, with little, if any, of the trauma that affected Sindh. By Post-urban times the centre of settlement had shifted to the Punjab, Haryana, northern Rajasthan, and western Uttar Pradesh, as well as Gujarat. I think that it simply indicates that the Post-Harappans were seeking greener pastures and were moving to eastern region of higher rainfall, compared to Sindh. LATE HARAPPANS The Harappan cultural tradition, in its diversity and uniformity, continued for a long time and probably laid the basic substratum of the present day Indian Civilization. But towards the beginning of the II millennium BCE, a drastic change is writ large all over the Harappan zone. Was it the end of the Indus Civilisation, a transformation, or merely a change? These processes require a careful examination of the data. We would address these questions region-wise below. Let us examine the Late Harappan scenarios in the five geographical areas: 1. Cemetery H related cultures of the Punjab and the Gandhara Grave Culture of northern Pakistan; 2. Jhukar related cultures in Sindh; 3. Rangpur and Lothal late cultures in Gujarat; 4. BMAC (Bactria -Margiana Archaeological Complex) related cultures, and Complex B assemblages of Baluchistan; and 5. Rajasthan and other Chalcolithic cultures. 1. Punjab With recent research, it is becoming clear that new elements were making their appearance in the Harappa region and they were not localized. The Cemetery-H and Jhukar (names after the sites) are no more localized aberrations but occupy large areas. From about 1700 BCE, cemeteries and villages in Swat (period IV) had a material culture which seems to have been a curious amalgam of elements from South Asia, north-east Iran (grey burnished pottery, violin - shaped figurines, the horse) and China (jade pendants, stone harvesters, and ornate bone pins). In time Swat, too, would receive steppe elements from Tadjikistan, via north Bactria. As regards connections with China, it needs to be said that these are visible in Bactria too: in four graves at Sapalli-tepe ( BCE) there is evidence that the dead were wrapped in silk. Was this Chinese silk? It is evident that connections with northeastern Iran-Turkmenia and the BMAC are manifest both at major Harappan centres and on the fringes of the Harappan heartland. While during the Mature Harappan period contacts between the plains of the Indus and the hills of Baluchistan were meagre and there were few inhabited villages in the western mountains, pottery of the type found at Pirak and Nausharo now occurs at Ispelnji north of Kalat, at Dabarkot in Loralai and at Sulaimanzai on the Quetta plateau. 2. Sindh At Jhukar there is a clear cultural overlap and commingling of cultures; and in the artefacts new tastes, but perhaps the old artisans, seem evident. At Jhukar now the goblet is painted with Jhukar motifs. So if one is looking for elements in the archaeological record of new people, the Jhukar and Cemetery-H cultures with their larger distribution appear to be claimants to that title. At Mohenjodaro, both the Warehouse and the Bath were abandoned even before the eventual abandonment of the city. In the desertion of these two facilities can be seen the initial outward signs that the Harappan Civilization was deeply troubled. The documentation of settlement in Sindh during the Jhukar period, the Post-urban there, seems to record significant change. The drop from 86 to 6 sites is important, but so too, is the abandonment, or virtual abandonment, of Mohenjodaro, the premier urban centre. There is now archaeological evidence of new Central Asian elements appearing in the Harappan zone. The bronze cosmetic flagon known at Hissar, Altyn-depe and in Bactria also occurs at Chanhudaro as a beautifully fluted piece, in a prob- 13

16 Perspectives able Jhukar Culture context. Round bronze mirrors with tangs for fitting into wooden handles, as at Hissar, Altyn-depe, Gonur I, Sapalli, Dashly, Shahdad and Khinaman, and Mehi some of them with a handle shaped as a human body also occur at Harappa and Mohenjodaro. Twelve such mirrors occurred in graves at Harappa and one in a Kalibangan (Rajasthan) grave. The beautifully cast, socketed adze-axe (Socketed axes were not part of the typical Harappan repertoire) of Gonur I has counterparts at Hissar, Shahdad, Khinaman and also Mohenjodaro. Harappa and Chanhudaro each have a single bladed socketed axe. Exquisite bronze animal-headed pins or wands at Dashly and Hissar have a counterpart in the latest stratum of Harappa in an antimony stopper rod surmounted by the figure of a dog biting the ear of a goat; and at Mohenjodaro where a rod is surmounted by an antelope. There are also compartmented seals whose faces bear raised geometric designs, from Mohenjodaro, and the white steatite stepped seal with a stylised eagle from Harappa has Bactrian connexions. We do need to highlight the relevance of the happenings in this region to the Harappan centres, which suggest some inter-connection between the series of Harappan settlement desertions and colonizations, and events in the western region. 3. Gujarat Region In this period in Gujarat the number of sites drops by one-third and there is a significant drop in the average size of sites. Total settled area, as determined from the settlement surveys, is reduced to half. These are definite indicators of deep change in the system of settlement and, probably, subsistence and the socio -cultural system generally. But there is another theme in the transformation process in Saurastra. At Rojdi the site was expanded and rebuilt just at the time Mohenjodaro was being abandoned, and Harappa came to an end as an urban centre. Thus, while we have evidence for fewer and smaller villages, at least some of those that survived have signs of a sound economic base and did not depend on the Harappan economy. At about 1900 BCE, the signs of manufacturing and trade disappeared, and Lothal shrank to a squatter s settlement. A similar fate befell Kuntasi. Both indicate the collapse of the urban authority in Sindh. It was during the Late Mature Phase that the Harappan settlement at Kuntasi was developed into an industrial centre and a port. The structure complex unearthed at Kuntasi is unique and the evidence allows us to identify the Harappan settlement as an industrial centre for manufacturing pottery and a variety of beads as also probably copper artefacts. But at about 1900 BCE Kuntasi settlement, like Lothal, also shrank in size and signs of craft activity and trade were reduced. The Late Harappan occupation at Kuntasi betrays a marked degeneration in the economic activity. People lived in flimsy structures with rubble foundation, mud walls and thatched roofs. Only a few artisans were working. In Gujarat, Lothal, Kuntasi, and Dholavira were essentially colonies of the Sindhi Harappans, which made them vulnerable to severe change at the beginning of the Post-urban Harappan. Rojdi and other places that were farming communities, not deeply involved in the acquisition and processing of materials or in the transport that was part of the commerce, were insulated from the catastrophic changes in Sindh. But places such as Dholavira, Kuntasi and Lothal succumbed. 4. Baluchistan Region In Baluchistan there are three places with signs of human activity: Mehi, Kulli, and the Elite Burial in Quetta City. These are places where the so-called Bactria -Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) has been found. The signs of human activity that are present are not settlements in the conventional sense. One is an internment: a cenotaph. The others are stray artefacts and signs of cremation within an uncertain, probably much disturbed, context. The BMAC extends onto the plains in Kachi at the Sibri Cemetery and DaudaDamb. Together, these archaeological signatures seem to reflect the presence of mobile, nomadic peoples of the early second millennium whose home might well have been Bactria and Margiana far to the north. Group movements, also affected the Kacchi plain, on the frontier between the Indus valley and Baluchistan. Western contacts re-appear at Nausharo after the Harappan period. The famous Neolithic site of Mehrgarh near Dadhar has a South Cemetery with ordinary graves, cenotaphs devoid of human remains but with offerings, and grave goods interred in pits. At this cemetery grave goods of international currency include steatite kidneyshaped containers (as in Bactria), a stone sceptre as in sites of the BMAC and eastern Iran, a bronze cosmetic flagon, mirror, and pins with double volutes or bird-shaped heads. Also 14

17 Perspectives in the Kacchi, near Nausharo, was a small (1 ha) and short-lived settlement, Sibri. This could have been the settlement of a small group of migrants who came down the Bolan Pass from Central Asia: among the finds occur a polished stone column, two flat, violin-shaped figurines, compartmented seals, a bronze ornamental pin and a bronze shafthole axe-adze. There is also evidence of copper/bronze industry at the site, which is comparatively rich in metal. It is important to note that Sibri offers not only Central Asian elements but also Harappan ceramic traits and Indus characters on an amulet, thus the chronological coincidence between the later phase of the Harappan civilization and the momentous happenings to its west are established. At Pirak, 11 km south of Sibri on a tributary of the Bolan, a 9-ha settlement was founded around 1700 BCE. The material culture house forms, hearths, pottery, bone and stone tools and grain storage methods presents a contrast to the Harappan material culture. Moreover, at Pirak the horse and the two -humped Bactrian camel (probably domesticated, centuries earlier in Turkmenia) are represented by their bones. Among artefacts there are Murghab type stone seals. Not only were there movements of groups of people, social transformation was also involved. While centres like Altyn-depe with their social stratification, elaborate cult centres, and varied metal alloys were clearly urban, the settlement forms in Margiana and Bactria, according to the early excavators are totally different, with each arm of the Murghab settled by an individual tribe, and separate families occupying each settlement. Perhaps the BMAC was a short-lived (say two-century) phenomenon, collapsing between 1900 and 1700 BCE, and followed by migration to eastern Iran and the Kacchi. 5. Rajasthan and other Chalcolithic cultures During the transition between the III and II millennia BCE, in the valleys of Sarasvati, the population thins down drastically. Later on, iron starts appearing; so do the grey wares. Rice, pig and buffalo become prominent in the subsistence record. In the Chalcolithic cultures, lentils and leguminous plants appear and assume importance in the diet; they were conspicuous by their absence in the Harappan record. The literate tradition breaks; no script anymore. Use of ground water and wells is given up, along with the burnt bricks. B. TECHNOLOGICAL EVIDENCE Archaeologists identify two early farming transformations in South Asia: One after the Indus Civilisation declined and the other in the Neolithic times. When viewed on a broad basis, two distinct agricultural revolutions can be identified for the northwestern region of South Asia during the pre- and protohistoric period. The first involved the establishment by the sixth millennium BCE of a farming complex based principally on the rabi (winter sown, spring harvested) crops of wheat and barley and on certain domestic animals like zebu cattle, sheep, and goats. The second transformation saw the addition during the early second millennium BCE of kharif (summer sown, fall harvested) cereals including sorghum, various millets, and rice along with new domestic animals including the camel, horse, and donkey. These agricultural innovations might partly explain the obvious changes in settlement patterns.it has been suggested that the introduction of the summer-sown cereal crops, when combined with the new means of animal-based traction, transport, and communication, facilitated widespread settlement in areas previously marginal to food production as well as to a realignment of settlement in already occupied areas of northwestern South Asia. C. ENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE There were many causes of the Harappan decline: aridification (for which there is now impeccable data from Rajasthan and elsewhere from India and globally too; water-logging in the Indus; tectonic disorganization of perennial rivers like the Sarasvati and their eventual drying up; the inability of the Harappan culture to cope up with the monsoonal ecology of the Doab; and finally, any culture at some stage has to die out. The process of birth, growth, decay and death governs organisms as well as cultures. Thus man-environment relationship in Rajasthan is determined by three main factors: 1. Change in rainfall 2. Change in palaeochannels caused by neo-tectonics. 3. Limited capacity of semi-arid ecology to sustain large sedentary populations. Singh et al had carried out pollen studies on the cores raised from the saline lakes of Didwana, Lunkaransar and Sambhar in Rajasthan. The neotectonic movement of lineaments in Rajasthan has resulted in changes in the courses of 15

18 Perspectives Satluj, Ghaggar and Drishadvati as indicated by both the distribution of archaeological sites and satellite imageries. As a result of these tectonic changes, the Satluj joined the Indus System and the Drishadvati the Yamuna drainage. The ancient Harappan settlements of Kalibangan and other smaller sites were on the banks of the Ghaggar, which eventually dried as its main tributary joined the Indus system. The third factor one has to take into account is the limited sustainability of semi-arid ecology for large sedentary populations. Despite the mid-holocene climatic amelioration, Rajasthan remained a semi-arid ecology. It could not sustain large towns for any length of time. The ecology had to give way once a threshold was crossed, till it regenerated again. We see this phenomenon in Rajasthan. The Harappans appear around 2500BCE and wither away around 1800BCE. The PG Ware culture again appears around 800BCE and disappears a few centuries later. So also the Rangmahal Culture, which appears around 2-3 Centuries AD and withers away in a couple of centuries. We thus see that in Rajasthan, it s not only the changing precipitation that affects habitation but also the changing loyalties of the rivers and the sustainability thresholds of semi-arid ecology to allow large sedentary populations for long periods of time. All these trends are superimposed on each other in Rajasthan. Now let s go to the more controversial issue of the Indo-European languages and the Aryan problem. D. THE ELUSIVE ARYANS I am not much interested in labelling the authors of the Indus Civilization. They achieved great heights and as their descendents we owe them a great deal, irrespective of what label we put on them. The Indus Civilization does provide the basic substratum of today s Indian Civilization. But one cannot also avoid the eternal problem of the elusive Aryans either. I would prefer to discuss the recent archaeological evidence, which does seem to indicate some new elements, which appear in the wake of the decline of the Harappans. Sir Mortimer Wheeler had once asked, What destroyed this firmlysettled civilization? "Climatic, economic, political deterioration may have weakened it, but its ultimate extinction is more likely to have been completed by deliberate and large-scale destruction. It may be no mere change that at a late period of Mohenjodaro men, womenand children appear to have been massacred. On circumstantial evidence, Indra stands accused. There are very few takers for the Aryan invasion theory now. We discussed above an array of data, new and old, to understand the end of the Harappa culture. It may be emphasized here that not a single cause but several contributed towards the decline and the disappearance of the mighty Harappan civilization. We have looked at the evidence mainly inside the Indian sub-continent; now let us have alook beyond its borders. We summarise the arguments below: 1. The termination of Bronze Age occupation of northeastern Iran is inevitably linked to the migration of speakers of Indo-Iranian languages. Historical linguists have asserted that such a migration occurred. 2. On the basis of common words, reconstruction of the cultural context of PIE (Proto-Indo-European), and the Indo-European relationships with other language groups, the ancestral homeland of this parent language is said to have been the vast grasslands or steppes of southern Europe and Central Asia. 3. The Finno-Ugric ancestors must have derived their knowledge of agriculture from the Indo-Europeans, as several words like those for grain, grass, and goat are derived from Indo-European, as in their very early history these two language families shared an extensive common border. There are grammatical affinities as well. 4. The ancestral Indo-European homeland culture involved agriculture and animal herding, and simple metallurgy, with great importance being given to the horse. The horse was embedded in the culture of the early Indo- Europeans and all the related languages used a term derived from PIE ekwos, for horse. The horse is important in the Rgveda, with two entire hymns devoted to its praise; it is associated with the Iranian deity Mithra; horse sacrifice was important in ancient India and Rome. The horse is also evidenced at TepeHissar, in Turkmenia in the Namazga VI period, in Bactria and Margiana, and in the Kacchi, generally after 2000 or 1800 BCE. This animal, Equuscaballus, it is certain, was a native of the Eurasian steppes and nowhere else: the wild ancestor from whom it was domesticated belongs to these steppes. 5. The Indo-Iranian languages (Avestan- Old Persian, Vedic Sanskrit, and the language of 16

19 Perspectives a few texts from the Mitannian kingdom of northern Syria) all derived from one branch, an undivided parent, which linguists call Indo-Iranian. This branch had split off from Indo- European somewhere in the eastern part of the homeland (probably the north-east Iran- Turkmenia-Bactria steppes), and this split was a separate process from the branching off of Hittite, a language very close to PIE that gained currency in Anatolia between 1600 and 1200 BCE. 6. Linguistic groupings are not necessarily coextensive with material culture groupings. In fact, an archaeological culture cannot be assumed to represent one people, or a tribe. 7. The movement of a language into a new homeland certainly requires that its speakers move, but this is not tantamount to mass movements of hordes of tribes, much less a sequence of destruction and trails of settlement desertions along the way. Aramaic did not become the lingua franca of western Asia due to mass migrations. Even in the case of the Sea Peoples of 1200 BCE, it has been stressed that they were groups of marauders and adventurers but not an army. There was no movement of population as such. In fact, decades ago Father Heras had asserted that Indo-Aryans came into South Asia in small numbers and intermarried with the natives, and that consequently Dravidian speakers became bilingual. Thus, even though Indo- Aryan languages did not originate in South Asia, we cannot suggest that the Aryans are a cause of the end of the Indus Valley Civilisation. 8. It was the nature of pastoralism, as it had developed on the steppe by 2000 BCE, which gave rise to repeated out-migrations. Once a rider could control the horse, the mounted herder could cover long distances in a day, and scout for good pastures and stray animals. In a positive feedback mechanism, it would lead to yet more geographically extensive pastoral circuits and larger flocks. This, coupled with rainfall variability, scarcity of ground water, would mean a precarious balance between people, animals, and the land, necessitating periodic out-migration. 9. Paropla connected the Tarim basin mummies with the Indo-Aryans basing on the evidence of Ephedra, identified with Soma. And Hemphill finds Craniometric affinities between Tarim and Timargarh skeletal material. Parpola says, The Soma cult may actually have its origin in the Afanas evo culture of southern Siberia and Xinjiang (c The movement of a language into a new homeland certainly requires that its speakers move, but this is not tantamount to mass movements of hordes of tribes, much less a sequence of destruction and trails of settlement desertions along the way BCE), which, with good reasons, has been identified with the Proto-Tocharians (the Tocharian texts of the sixth to eighth centuries AD come from the Tarim Basin). Small parcels containing twigs of Ephedra have in several instances been found on the chests of bodies buried in shaft pit graves of the Afanas evo /early Andronovorelated Gumugou I culture in the Lopnor region of the middle Tarim basin in Xinjiang (c BCE; Chen and Hiebert 1995, quoting the excavator Wang Binghua) Therefore, it may well be in Xinjiang that the Andronovians, here assumed to be ancestors of the Rgvedic Aryans, adopted the Soma cult, and the same applies to the Saka- Haumavarga, who in 500 BCE occupied the area around Ferghana. Unresolved Problems in Identifying Vedic Aryans with the Harappans: 1. If the Aryans and the Sarasvati-Indus Civilisation are both indigenous to India, there is no continuity of cultural development from the Neolithic to the Harappa Culture in the Sarasvati Valley. 2. The continuous growth is evidenced only in Baluchistan right from the Upper Palaeolithic to Harappans and also their decline. Could that be the area of Aryavarta (India) of the Vedic Aryans? 3. The horse is so important an animal in the Vedas but is conspicuous by its absence in the Harappan seals and icons. 4. There is no archaeological evidence to show that the Indus 17

20 Perspectives Civilization grew and spread from the Sarasvati Valley towards west; in fact, it grew in Baluchistan and spread eastwards! 5. The Vedic religion is animistic, in contrast to the Harappan religion, which is patently iconic. 6. At the turn of the II Millennium BCE, there is a break writ large in all aspects:agriculture; diet; burials; architecture; settlement pattern; new cultural elements (like Cemetery-H, Jhukar; BMCA artefacts etc). This all round break can perhaps be explained only by new people coming and dominating the scene. 7. The new DNA evidence shows that there is a significant male Eurasian element in the DNA of the Kshatriyas and the Brahmins, which again shows the possibility of the migration of a male dominated small population. 8. The decipherment of the Indus script could throw some light on this problem but it has so far defied all attempts and now some scholars seriously doubt if at all it was a script! CONCLUSION We have presented a variety of data above to emphasise the complexity of the processes involved in the decline and devolution of the Indus Civilization. This is a very important phase of India s history manifesting itself in terms of a multi-dimensional transformation. It is therefore necessary to take a multidisciplinary yet holistic approach to unravel the attendant processes. Whether the authors of the Indus Civilization were Aryans or they were part of the processes of its decline, I think it will remain difficult to resolve without definitive literary evidence. For The fact that Harappans existed cannot be disputed and their contribution to the Indian cultural legacy as also to the world of science and technology is also undisputed, so why worry about putting any labels on them? that we have to wait till the Indus Script is deciphered; if at all can be deciphered. I feel that efforts to equate the Harappans with the Aryans are still fraught with numerous problems, notwithstanding the creation of an ethnic divide between the South and the North India. On the other hand, the fact that Harappans existed cannot be disputed and their contribution to the Indian cultural legacy as also to the world of science and technology is also undisputed, so why worry about putting any labels on them? Of late a lot of effort is being directed to their nomenclature/ identification and less on extracting more data on this glorious phase of India s past. What is clear is that a drastically new settlement pattern emerges after the decline of the Harappans. In this process a variety of climatic and environmental changes, changes in drainage, new agricultural innovations, disorganisation of international trade, etc seem to have contributed. Bibliography Agrawal D. P Genesis of Harappa Culture. Puratattva 6: Agrawal, D.P The Archaeology of India. London: Curzon Press. Agrawal, D.P Man and Environment in India through Ages. Delhi: Books & Books. Agrawal D. P The Harappan legacy: break and continuity. In Harappan Civilization: a Recent Perspective (Second Revised Edition) (Ed) Gregory L. Possehl. New Delhi: American Institute of Indian Studies. Pp Agrawal. D.P Ancient Metal Technology & Archaeology of South Asia. Delhi: Aryan Books International. Agrawal D.P. and R.K. Sood, 1982.Ecological Factors and the Harappan Civilization. in Harappan Civilizaion, (Eds.) G.L. Possehl, Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi. Bhan, K.K Cultural development of the prehistoric period in north Gujarat with reference to western India. South Asian Archaeology 10: Bhan, Suraj Excavations at Mitathal-1968 and Other Excavations in the Sutlej-Yamuna Divide. Kurukshetra: Kurukshetra University. Bisht, R. S Dholavira and Banawali: two different paradigms of the Harappan urbis forma. Puratattva. 29: Bisht, R.S Harappans and the Rgveda: points of convergence. In Dawn of Indian Civilisation (Ed.) G.C. Pande. New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilisations. Bryson, Reid A What the climatic past tells us about the environmental future. In Earth 88: Changing Geographic Perspectives. Proceedings of the Centennial Symposium. Washington, D. C. : National Geographic Society. Pp Dani, A.H Timargarh and 18

21 Perspectives Gandhara Grave Culture. Ancient Pakistan 3: Dhavalikar, M.K., M.R. Raval and Y.M. Chitalwala Kuntasi: a Harappan Emporium on West Coast. Pune: Deccan College. Herman, C. F Harappan Gujarat: the archaeology-chronology connection. Palèorient 22(2): Jarrige, Catherine, Jean-Francois Jarrige, Richard H. Meadow, Gonzaque Quivron Mehrgarh: Field Reports From Neolithic Times to the Indus Civilization. Karachi: Department of Culture and Tourism of Sindh, Pakistan, Department of Archaeology and Museums, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Jarrige, J.-F. and M. Santoni Fouilles de Pirak. Paris: Diffusion de Boccard. Kennedy, Kenneth A.R Skulls, Aryans and flowing drains: the interface of archaeology and skeletal biology in the Harappan Civilization. In Harappan Civilization (Ed.) G.L. Possehl. Delhi: Oxford & IBH. Pp Kennedy, Kenneth A.R Southeast Asia: biological anthropology and concepts of ancient races. In: The Indo-Aryans of Ancient Southeast Asia Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. (Ed.) George Erdosy. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter. Pp Kenoyer, J. M Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp Lal, B. B., & S. P. Gupta Frontiers of the Indus Civilization. Delhi: Books and Books. Mackay, E.J.H Further Excavations at Mohenjodaro. Vol. I text, Vol. II plates. Delhi: Government of India Press. Mackay, E.J.H Chanhudaro Excavations New Haven, CN: American Oriental Society. Mackay, E.J.H Early Indus Civilisation. 2nd edition revised and enlarged by Dorothy Mackay. London: Luzac and Company, Ltd. Mallory, J.P In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth. New York: Thames and Hudson. Marshall, J Mohenjodaro and the Indus Civilization. Vol. I, II text, Vol. III plates. London: A. Probsthain. Meadow, Richard H The origins and spread of agriculture and pastoralism in northwestern South Asia. (Ed.) David R. Harris. In The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia. London: Institute of Archaeology, University College, London. Pp Mughal, M.R Ancient Cholistan: Archaeology and Architecture. Lahore: Ferozsons (Pvt) Ltd. Pp Pande, B.M Missing cultural components between Harappan and Early Historical periods: some observations based on microstudy. In Archaeology and History (Eds) Pande, B. M. & B. D. Chattopadhyaya. Volumes I & II, New Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan. Pp Parpola, Asko The formation of the Aryan Branch of Indo- European. In Combining Archaeological and Linguistic Aspects of the Past (Eds.) Roger Blench and Mattew Spriggs. World Archaeology and Archaeology and Language Series no. 34. London: Routledge. Pp Possehl, Gregory L. 1999a Prehistoric population and settlement in Sindh. In The Indus River: Biodiversity, Resources, Humankind (Eds.) Azra Meadows and Peter S. Meadows. Karachi: Oxford University Press. Pp Possehl, Gregory L. 1999b. Indus Age: The Beginnings. New Delhi & Calcutta: Oxford & IBH publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. Ratnagar, Shereen The End of the Great Harappan Tradition. Delhi: Manohar. Stacul, G Prehistoric and Protohistoric Swat, Pakistan. Rome: IsMEO. Sankalia, H.D New light on the Indo-Iranian or western Asiatic relations between BCE. Artibus Asiae 26: Shinde, V.S Padri and the Indus Civilization. South Asian Studies 8 : Singh, Gurdip The Indus Valley Culture: seen in the context of post-glacial climate and ecological studies in North-west India. Archaeology & Physical Anthropology in Oceania 6(2): Singh, G., R. J. Wasson and D.P. Agrawal Vegetational and seasonal climatic changes since last full glacial in the Thar desert. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 64: Sonawane, V. H and P. Ajitprasad Harappan Culture and Gujarat. Man and Environment 19(1-2): Vats, M. S Excavations at Harappa vol. I text, Vol. II plates. Delhi: Government of India Press. Wasson, R.J., G.I. Smith, D.P., Agrawal Late Quaternary Sediments, Minerals and Inferred Geochemical History of Didwana Lake, Thar Desert, India. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 46: 345. Wheeler, R.E.M. Mortimer The Indus Civilization (Ed. 3rd); Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 19

22 Events Sufism: Path to peace and tolerance By Ahmad Shah Azami A theatre (stage drama) was organised in Peshawar by the Directorate of Culture, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from January 16 to January 18 to commemorate the great Pashto sufi poet, Rahman Baba. The theatre show aimed to give the message of love, peace and tolerance to the youth of the war-torn province, which is already widely debilitated by the extremists. The 17th century legendry mystic poet, Rahman Baba, is one of the most widely respected and read poets of Pashto. It would not be an exaggeration that all Pashtuns are familiar either with the name or poetry of Rahman Baba and have either listened to or read his poetry. It is said that his poetry addresses each and every member of society and everyone finds a relevant message for himself in it. His simple, sweet and heart-touching poetry has endeared Rahman Baba to all Pashtuns. He has always ignored materialism and has given the message of spiritualism and love to all human beings. Some Pashto poets call him the poet of humanity as his message is not only for a specific tribe, nation or society but for all human beings. His poetry has been translated into various languages, including English and Urdu. Following is a famous poem of Rahman Baba translated into English that has an inspiring message for humanity: Sow flowers so your surroundings become a garden, Don t sow thorns; for they will prick your feet, If you shoot arrows at others, Know that the same arrow will come back to hit you. Don t dig a well in another s path, In case you come to the wells edge, You look at everyone with hungry eyes, But you will be first to become mere dirt. Humans are all one body, Whoever tortures another, wounds himself. Sadly on March 5, 2009, militants set up remote control bombs and partially destroyed the shrine of Rah- From day one, Sufism taught the lesson of peace, reconciliation and humanity and worked for the well being of humanity across the world. Sufis always made it clear that peace can be spread in the world with love and brotherhood and bring close all the people of the world to one another. man Baba in Hazar Khawani, Peshawar. Later on, they bombed shrines of other famous sufis not only in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but also in Punjab and Sindh. Prominent amongst them were the shrines of Data Ganj Bakhsh, Baba Farid and Abdullah Shah Ghazi. Despite all bombings and threats, a large number of people still visit sufi shrines and participate in sufi festivals that shows the love of the people towards the moderate form of Islam as sufis have played a great role to spread the message of love, peace and tolerance in the subcontinent and Central Asia using no swords at all. Their way of preaching and convincing was quite different from the sharp-edged Islam of the Middle East. From day one, Sufism taught the lesson of peace, reconciliation and humanity and worked for the well being of humanity across the world. Sufis always made it clear that peace can be spread in the world with love and brotherhood and bring close all the people of the world to one another. In this way, they can do away with their internal feuds, greed and conflicts. Sufism has adopted the path of moderation from day one to attract man towards one s real self and let one know about the purpose of his creation. This is their way against the feuds to bring all human beings into the chain of love, peace and tolerance. 20

23 Events Sufis they kept themselves aloof from wars and taught others the lesson of peace and they can play the same role even today to show the peaceful form of Islam. They can show the world how the sufis kept society together with their message, and how the people having different views and following different religions were living in peace and coherence side by side. Sufism has become an indispensable part of the culture, music, folklore and architecture of the subcontinent. The tolerant and moderate behaviour of Sufism has endeared its followers vastly to various social groups of the region. This popular form of Islam is more widespread than the hardline and extremist version of Wahabiism, which is followed by today s Taliban and al Qaeda. Sufi literature is widely read in the region. On the other hand, Sufism has become an indispensable part of the culture, music, folklore and architecture of the subcontinent. The tolerant and moderate behaviour of Sufism has endeared its followers vastly to various social groups of the region. sufi shrines are not only holy spots but also cultural and social centres where people from various spheres of life assemble to seek spiritual satisfaction. Most of the people consider attacks on sufi shrines as an organised campaign against the tolerant, moderate and peaceful culture of the region. Sufism is not addressing an individual, country or religion. Its message is universal, focusing on the whole of humanity. In short, it welcomes and embraces people from all sects and spheres of life. Let me finish with a poetic piece of the mystic poet of the 13th century Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi who says: Come, come whoever you are... Wanderer, idolater or worshipper of fire... Come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times, Come and come yet again, Ours is not a caravan of despair. Source: pk/default.asp?page=2012\01\18\ story_ _pg3_3 Daily Times, Pakistan Wednesday, January 18, 2012 Death anniversary: Rename chowk in honour of Bhagat Singh The Shadman Chowk should be renamed to honour Bhagat Singh, who was hanged in Lahore on March 23, said World Punjabi Congress (WPC) chairperson Fakhar Zaman in a press statement issued in Islamabad on Thursday. The WPC, he said, has been trying to have a monument erected in Singh s honour for the past 20 years. Zaman termed Singh as the hero of Punjab and urged the Punjab government to rename the chowk to Bhagat Singh Chowk or name a road after him. Bhagat Singh, a revolutionary, along with two of his partners, was sentenced to death for conspiring to explode a bomb inside the Central Legislative Assembly of British India. He was hanged to death on March 23, Zaman also denounced the new formalities that make it impossible for an ordinary man to get visa for India or Pakistan. (Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2012.) Source: story/353710/death-anniversary-rename-chowk-in-honour-of-bhagatsingh/ 21

24 Printed and Published by K Madhusudhan on behalf of Lok Awaz Publishers and Distributors., Printed at: New Print Cottage, B-74, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-2, New Delhi , Published at: E-392, Sanjay Colony, Okhla Phase-II, New Delhi , Editor: S Raghavan Illusion and Reality By Kabir Jo Dise So To Hai Nahin, Hai So Kaha Na Jayee Bin Dekhe Parteet Na Aave, Kahe Na Koyee Patiyana Samajh Hoye To Rabeen Cheenho, Achraj Hoye Ayana Koi Dhyave Nirakar Ko, Koi Dhyave Aakaara Ja Bidhi In Dono Te Nyara, Jane Jananhara Woh Raag To Likhia Na Jayee Matra Lakhe Na Kana Kahat Kabir So Padhe Na Parlay, Surat Nirat Jin Jana Translation What is seen is not the Truth, What is cannot be said Trust comes not without seeing, Nor understanding without words The wise comprehends with knowledge, To the ignorant it is but a wonder Some worship the formless God, Some worship His various forms In what way He is beyond these attributes, Only the Knower knows That music cannot be written, How can then be the notes Says Kabir, awareness alone will overcome illusion Kabir is not easily categorized as a Sufi or a Yogi he is all of these. He is revered by Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs. He stands as a unique, saintly, yet very human, bridge between the great traditions that live in India. Kabir says of himself that he is, at once the child of Allah and Ram. He was born in Varanasi (Benares), India, probably around the year 1440 (though other accounts place his birth as early as 1398), to Muslim parents. Early in his life Kabir became a disciple of the Hindu bhakti saint Ramananda. His greatest work is the Bijak (the Seedling ), an idea of the fundamental one. His Hindi was a vernacular, straightforward kind, much like his philosophies. The major part of Kabir s work as a bhagat was collected by the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev, and incorporated into the Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib. Although Kabir labored to bring the often clashing religious cultures of Islam and Hinduism together, he was equally disdainful of professional piety in any form. This earned him the hatred and persecution of the religious authorities in Varanasi. Nearing age 60, he was denounced before the king and banished from the region. He subsequently lived a life of exile, traveling through northern India with a group of disciples. In 1518, he died at Maghar near Gorakhpur.