No comments. Context, OIT. Linguistic notes of Igor Tonoyan-Belyayev comparing Indus Script & Rigveda, Tibetan & Sanskrit

July 5, 2018, 8:10 am

≫ Next: Ancient Maritime Trade 3rd m BCE and Indus Script, mlecchita vikalpa documentation. Dilmun, Bahrain in Persian Gulf links with Sarasvati Civilization

≪ Previous: Meluhha, 3rd m BCE, of Indus Script Inscriptions of metalwork catalogues is a Proto-Indo-Aryan or a Proto-Asianic language

Igor Tonoyan-Belyayev has posted some monographs on the portal academia.edu I invite attention of these monographs to those interested in the evolution of Indo-European languages with possible links to Tibetan and in the writing system of Indus Script. Igor Tonoyan Belyayev suggests that it is possible to differentiate the Harappan phonemes from Rigvedic.

Without any comments, I provide below some links to Igor Tonoyan-Belyayev's monographs:

Rigvedic and written Mature Harappan --- PART 2 (2018)

Classical Sanskrit (and Vedic) sandhi system as compared with the expected sandhi system of the w... more

Rigvedic and written Mature Harappan -- PART 1 (2018)

Usually, it is taken for granted that the Rigvedic dialect is not much differing from other Vedic... more (Some notes on the original Rigvedic language in context of the OIT (or, Out of South Asia) Theory of the Indo-European Urheimat

TIBETAN bya rgod and rgod ma vs SANSKRIT garuda and ghota (a sketch) - 2018

S. Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Centre

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Ancient Maritime Trade 3rd m BCE and Indus Script, mlecchita vikalpa documentation. Dilmun, Bahrain in Persian Gulf links with Sarasvati Civilization

July 5, 2018, 7:05 pm

≫ Next: Archaeological and anthropological studies on the Harappan cemetery of Rakhigarhi, India -- Vasant S Shinde et al (2018)

≪ Previous: No comments. Context, OIT. Linguistic notes of Igor Tonoyan-Belyayev comparing Indus Script & Rigveda, Tibetan & Sanskrit

https://tinyurl.com/yccgkq3q

Message on one cuneiform text: "In the account of Selmun Ea-nasir, one huge shipment from Dilmun weighed more than

13,000 minas of copper (~18 metric tonnes, or 18,000 kg, or 40,000 lbs)."

I suggest that researchers of Sarasvati Civilization should get involved in the study of the most authentic documentary evidence provided by over 8000 Indus Script inscriptions. Of these, as many as 2000 are from the Persian Gulf sites, west of Dholavira and Lothal. Indus Script hypertexts are also found on Dong Son/Karen Bronze drums evidencing emphatic links of Ancient India with Ancient Far East. Did the four pure tin ingots weighing ca. 25 kgs. each found in a shipwreck in Haifa (three of which had Indus Script inscriptions) come from the largest belt of the globe, Ancient Far East? The inscriptions on tin ingots read rebus in Meluhha: ranku, 'antelope'ranku'liquid measure' PLUS datu'cross' PLUS muh'face' which together read rebus: ranku'tin'dhatu'mineral ore'muh'ingot'. This is an example of mlecchita vikalpa (lit. alternative messaging by mleccha, meluhha), i.e., 'Indus Script Cipher' mentioned by Vātsyāyana as one of the 64 arts to be learnt by youth (vidyā samuddeśa'objective of education').

Tin mineral was highly valued in trade transactions during the ancient Tin-Bronze Revolution, from ca. 4th millennium BCE. Tin-Bronzes replaced the arsenical bronzes which were in short supply. The largest tin belt of the globe is in the basins of Himalayan rivers Mekong, Irrawaddy, Salween which ground down granite rocks and created abundant placer deposits of cassiterite (tin) ores.

A Harappa potsherd with Indus Script inscription is dated to ca. 3300 BCE. The hypertext reads: kolmo'three' rebus: kolimi'smithy, forge' PLUS tagaraka'tabernae montana' (hair fragrance flower) rebus: tagara'tin'

Kalyanaraman

Dilmun: Mesopotamian Paradise on the Persian Gulf

The Paradisaical Trade Center in Bahrain

Main Courtyard, Dilmun Culture, Fort Bahrain. Chris Price

by K. Kris Hirst

Updated February 24, 2018

Dilmun is the ancient name of a Bronze Age port city and trade center, located in modern-day Bahrain, Tarut Island of Saudi Arabia and Failaka Island in Kuwait. All of these islands hug the Saudi Arabia coastline along the Persian Gulf, an ideal location for international trade connecting Bronze Age Mesopotamia, India, and Arabia.

Dilmun is mentioned in some of the earliest Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform records from 3rd millennium BCE.

In the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, probably written in the 2nd millennium BCE, Dilmun is described as a paradise, where people lived after surviving the Great Flood.

Chronology

While praised for its paradisiacal beauty, Dilmun began its rise in the Mesopotamian trade network during the late 3rd millennium BCE, when it expanded to the north. Dilmun's rise to prominence was as a trading center where travelers could obtain copper, carnelian, and ivory which originated in Oman (ancient Magan) and the Indus Valley of Pakistan and India (ancient Meluhha).

2200–2000 BCE (Period I)—social elites emerge
2150–2050 BCE (Ia)—copper industry begins, Qala'at al Bahrain grows to a city with a stone wall
2050–2000 (Ib)— the emergence of vast mound cemeteries with elite tombs, strong influence from Indus Valley, ~34% population increase in Dilmun
2000–1800 (Period II)—abandonment of Magan's large central settlements, increase in Barbar temple, large public buildings, city wall around the capital, connection with Amorites (contemporary political power in Mesopotamia)

1800–1650 (Period III)—Bahrain mostly abandoned, Failaka in Kuwait continues

Debating Dilmun

Early scholarly debates about Dilmun centered around its location. Cuneiform sources from Mesopotamia and other polities in the region seem to refer to an area of eastern Arabia, including Kuwait, northeastern Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.

Archaeologist and historian Theresa Howard-Carter (1929-2015) argued that the earliest references to Dilmun point to al- Qurna, near Basrah in Iraq; Samuel Noah Kramer (1897–1990) believed, at least for a while, that Dilmun referred to the Indus Valley. In 1861, scholar Henry Rawlinson suggested Bahrain. In the end, archaeological and historical evidence has agreed with Rawlinson, showing that beginning about 2200 BCE, the center of Dilmun was on the island of Bahrain, and its control extended to the adjacent al-Hasa province in what is today Saudi Arabia.

Another debate concerns the complexity of Dilmun. While few scholars would argue that Dilmun was a state, evidence of social stratification is strong, and Dilmun's location as the best port in the Persian Gulf made it an important trading center if nothing more.

Textual References

Dilmun's existence in Mesopotamian cuneiform was identified in the 1880s, by Friedrich Delitzsch and Henry Rawlinson. The earliest records referring to Dilmun are administrative documents in the First Dynasty of Lagash (ca. 2500 BCE). They provide evidence that at least some trade existed at the time between Sumer and Dilmun, and that the most important trade item was palm dates.

Later documents suggest that Dilmun held a key position on trade routes between Magan, Meluhha, and other lands. Within the Persian Gulf between Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) and Magan (present-day Oman), the only suitable harbor is on Bahrain island. Cuneiform texts from southern Mesopotamian rulers from Sargon of Akkad to Nabonidus indicate that Mesopotamia partially or completely controlled Dilmun beginning about 2360 BCE.

Copper Industry in Dilmun

Archaeological evidence indicates that there was a substantial copper industry operating on the beaches of Qala'at al-Bahrain during Period 1b. Some crucibles held as much as four liters (~4.2 gallons), suggesting the workshop was substantial enough to require an institutional authority operating above the village level. According to historical records, Magan held the copper trade monopoly with Mesopotamia until Dilmun took it over in 2150 BCE.

In the account of Selmun Ea-nasir, one huge shipment from Dilmun weighed more than 13,000 minas of copper (~18 metric tonnes, or 18,000 kg, or 40,000 lbs).

There are no copper quarries on Bahrain. Metallurgical analysis showed that some but not all Dilmun's ore came from Oman. Some scholars have suggested the ore originated from the Indus Valley: Dilmun certainly had a connection to them during this period. Cubical weights from the Indus have been found at Qala'at al-Bahrain from the beginning of Period II, and a Dilmun weight standard corresponding to the Indus weights emerged at the same time.

Burials at Dilmun

Early (~2200–2050 BCE) Dilmun burial mounds, called Rifa'a type, are shaped like a pill-box, a crudely built central chamber covered with rock fill forming a low, tabular mound at most 1.5 meters (~5 feet) in height. The mounds are primarily oval in outline, and only vary in that the larger ones had chambers with recesses or alcoves, giving them an L-, T- or H-shape. Grave goods from the early mounds included late Umm an-Nar pottery and Mesopotamian vessels of late Akkadian to Ur III. Most are located on the central limestone formation of Bahrain and the Dammam dome, and about 17,000 have been mapped to date.

The later (~2050–1800) type of mound is generally conical in form, with a stone-built chamber with capstone slabs covered by a high, conical mound of soil. This type is 2–3 m (~6.5–10 ft) in height and 6–11 m (20–36 ft) in diameter, with a few very large ones. About 58,000 of the later type of mound have been identified so far, mostly in ten crowded cemeteries containing between 650 to over 11,000 interments.

These are spatially restricted, on the western side of the central limestone dome and a rise between the cities of Saar and Janabiyah.

Ring Mounds and Elite Tombs

Some ob both burial mound types are "ring mounds," encircled by a stone wall. Ring mounds are all limited to the northern slopes of Bahrain's limestone dome. Early types are found alone or in groups of 2-3, located on elevated plateaus in between wadis. Ring mounds increase in size over time between 2200–2050 BCE.

The latest type of ring mound is only found on the northwestern side of the Aali cemetery. All of the late mounds with rings are larger than the regular mounds, with mound diameters ranging between 20–52 m (~65-170 ft) and outer ring walls 50–94 m (164–308 ft) in diameter. The original height of the largest known ring mound was 10 m (~33 ft). Several had very large, two-story inner chambers.

Elite tombs are in three separate places, eventually merging into one principal cemetery at Aali. Tombs began to be built higher and higher, with outer ring walls and diameters expanding, reflecting (possibly) growth of a dynastic lineage.

Archaeology

The earliest excavations on Bahrain include those of E.L. Dunnand in 1880, F. B. Prideaux in 1906–1908, and P. B. Cornwall in 1940–1941, among others. The first modern excavations were undertaken at Qala'at al Bahrain by P.V. Glob, Peder Mortensen and Geoffrey Bibby in the 1950s. Recently, Cornwall's collection at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology has been a focus of study.

Archaeological sites associated with Dilmun include Qala'at al-Bahrain, Saar, Aali Cemetery, all of which are located in Bahrain, and Failaka, Kuwait.

Sources

Alexis, T. Boutin, et al. "Face to Face with the Past: Reconstructing a Teenage Boy from Early Dilmun." Near Eastern Archaeology 75.2 (2012): 68–79. Print.
Ashkanani, Hasan J., and Robert H. Tykot. "Interregional Interaction and Dilmun Power in the Bronze Age: A Provenance Study of Ceramics from Bronze Age Sites in Kuwait and Bahrain Using Non–Destructive Pxrf Analysis." Archaeological Chemistry VIII. Eds. Armitage, Ruth A. and James H. Burton. Vol. 11472013. 245–67. Print.
Connan, Jacques, and T. Van de Velde. "An Overview of Bitumen Trade in the near East from the Neolithic (c.8000 BC) to the Early Islamic Period." Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy21.1 (2010): 1–19. Print.
Hasan, J. Ashkanani, and H. Tykot Robert. "Interregional Interaction and Dilmun Power in the Bronze Age: A Provenance Study of Ceramics from Bronze Age Sites in Kuwait and Bahrain Using Non–Destructive Pxrf Analysis." Archaeological Chemistry VIII. Vol. 1147. Acs Symposium Series: American Chemical Society, 2013. 245–67. Print.
Højlund, Flemming. "The Dilmun Temple on Failaka, Kuwait." Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 23.2 (2012): 165–73. Print.
Højlund, Flemming, et al. "Late Third–Millennium Elite Burials in Bahrain." Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 19.2 (2008): 144–55. Print.
Laursen, Steffen Terp. "The Decline of Magan and the Rise of Dilmun: Umm an–Nar Ceramics from the Burial Mounds of Bahrain, C.2250–2000 BC." Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy20.2 (2009): 134–55. Print.
–––. "Early Dilmun and Its Rulers: New Evidence of the Burial Mounds of the Elite and the Development of Social Complexity, C. 2200–1750 BC." Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy19.2 (2008): 156–67. Print.
–––. "Mesopotamian Ceramics from the Burial Mounds of Bahrain, C.2250–1750 BC." Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 22.1 (2011): 32–47. Print.
Morgan, Colleen L., et al. "Old Bones, Digital Narratives: Investigating the Peter B. Cornwall Collection in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum." UC Berkeley Postprints (2010). Web. July 25, 2012.
Porter, Benjamin W., and Alexis T. Boutin. "The Dilmun Bioarchaeology Project: A First Look at the Peter B. Cornwall Collection at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology." Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 23.1 (2012): 35–49. Print.
Sparavigna, Amelia Carolina. "The Symmetries of the Icons on Ancient Seals." International Journal of Sciences 2.08 (2013): 14–20. Print.
Tews, Sophie. "Seals in Dilmun Society: The Use and Value of Bronze Age Seals from Saar, Bahrain." Universiteit Leiden 2011. Print.

https://www.thoughtco.com/dilmun-mesopotamian-paradise-trading-culture-170732

Author:

Geoffrey Bibby

OCLC:

870599112

Buy:

Amazon India

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Geoffrey Bibby was a Cambridge-educated oil executive, who got caught up, against-all-odds, with the tiny Danish Prehistoric Museum of Aarhus, with barely any resources, that nonetheless has emerged as a powerhouse in ancient Dilmun studies, thanks in part to Bibby's initial efforts. As he writes in this book from 1969, "Four thousand years ago the "Lost Civilizations" of Dilmun dominated the road to the Indies, the tradeways between Mesopotamia and the civilizations of the Indus Valley. And for fifteen years it has dominated my life."
He tells of days when Landrovers were borrowed from oil companies, when Aramco staff went "pot-picking" in the desert along ancient mounds, well before the great oilfields were discovered. Tiny teams and planes scoured vast deserts, unexpectedly turning up once flourishing ancient towns from a civilization, Dilumn, only known from Mesopotamian texts. He describes the excitement of finding the buried snake pots and bones that corroborated myths about Dilmun in these texts, or turning up seals with Indus signs. The first Indus archaeologists did not leave these kinds of personal memoirs behind (with the exception of Sir Mortimer Wheeler's Still Digging in 1956), so it is a pleasure to read this volume, and share in the author's discovery. Then the ruling Sheikhs lived in tents, and sometimes went along on archaeological expeditions; they knew little of a pre-Islamic past but still managed to set up the first authorities and archaeology departments, often with Bibby's advice, that are leading continuing discoveries in the area rapidly changing Bronze age studies. Imagine, as Bibby did, watching movies projected with a generator on a screen in the desert with Sheikh Zayid of Abu Dhabi, until 2 a.m., "when they begged to show a second film we threw in our hands, and begged Sheikh Zayid that we be excused. We were to be up early the next day, we explained, in order to see what Buraimi had to offer of archaeological remains. Zayid smiled and nodded. 'I shall come fetch you at seven o'clock,' he said. That was in less than five hours time [and] . . . promptly at seven two open jeeps roard up before our ziggurat, with Zayid himself, looking spruce and wide awake, driving the leading vehicle." Bibby went on to excavate in the mounds of Buraimi, outlining the Umm An-Nar culture whose pottery shows marked similarities with that of southwestern Iran, Balochistan and the ancient Indus valley.
There is a lot connecting Bibby's story of discovery with the ancient Indus, including finding the first local round seals with Indus letters and figures, or another seal from Falaika of a man holding a monkey, imported as pets from ancient Meluha as it was known then [Image 2]. Easy to read, with many illustrations and reflections on Dilmun that are still being sorted out, but will likely cast much light on the Indus civilization with whom the ancient Dilmunians see to have had a lot in common. The tight economic bond that seems to be forming again today between the Gulf and South Asia is nothing new.
Bibby concludes Looking for Dilmun with the pointers others have taken up since then: "The tale of our search for Dilmun ends in mid-air. We have found Dilmun. Where fifteen years ago there was only the mystery of the hundred thousand undated burial mounds of Bahrain there are now cities and temples, dated and documented, along 250 miles of cost and islands from Kuwait to Bahrain and (a discovery of the 1969 campaign, added during printing) extending sixty miles into the interior of Saudi Arabia, to the oasis of Hofuf" (p. 381).

Image 2 below: Right: A single Seal from Falaika Bears an Inscription in the Unread Indus Script. Left: From one of the Falaika Seals. A Man Holds a Monkey at Arm's Length; Monkeys were Imported as Pets from Meluha. (Bibby, pp. 253, 211).
https://www.harappa.com/content/looking-dilmun

The Story of the Gulf Type Indus Seal

May 23rd, 2017

A very interesting paper by Steffen Terp Laursen, an expert on Dilmun, or the civilization in Bahrain contemporaneous with the ancient Indus civilization, suggests that the round, so-called [Arabian] "Gulf seal", often found with Indus signs and creatures like the short-horned bull and standard, developed from ancient Indus seals and representatives moving westward. Later these types of seals followed their own development trajectory and their Indus iconography. The westward transmission of Indus Valley sealing technology: origin and development of the ‘Gulf Type’ seal and other administrative technologies in Early Dilmun, c.2100–2000 BC is a fascinating example of how, once again, very careful analysis, indeed microanalysis of even small objects like seals, can indicate different styles and traditions that speak to larger issues like different maker communities or craftsmen. They shed light on how a technology and style moves across place and time, changing along the way to fit a different cultural equation. It also reinforces the great likelihood that seals in the ancient Indus, just like in neighbouring civilizations in Mesopotamia and Dilmun with whom Indus traders interacted, were primarily economic instruments.
Laursen writes of the Gulf seal, which "come from a vast geographical area encompassing Bahrain, the Indus Valley (Mohenjo-daro and Chanh-Daro), Iran (Kerman, Luristan, Susa and the eastern Iranian plateau), Kuwait (Falaika), Mesopotamia (Ur, Girsu, Babylon and others unspecified) and the U.A.E. (Tell Apraq)," that "the Indus inscriptions on the seals are investigated with particular emphasis on the abnormal occurrence of prefixed ‘twins’ signs in the western inscriptions. The hypothesis that a language different from that of the Harappans was used on these seals is reconfirmed on the basis of a newly found seal with a particular instructive pseudo-inscription. The writer "concludes that breakaway Harappans operating in the western orbit invented the Gulf Type seals but that the type from around 2050 BC became practically synonymous with the merchant communities in Dilmun."
The paper lists all of the Gulf seals found, including a number of new ones, and meticulously goes through the research, the facts known about them and how this could fit into the political and economic trajectory of the area. Laursen is the co-author of the forthcoming (this month!) Babylonia, the Gulf Region and the Indus, which looks like it will be a new, comprehensive study of the evidence around Indus contacts with sister civilizations.

https://www.harappa.com/blog/story-gulf-type-indus-seal

Seals, mercantile protocol of Indus Valley Civilization, evidence in ANE. Book (2017) by Steffen Laursen and Piotr Steinkeller Book on Indus Seals by Parveen Talpur

Archaeological and Textual Evidence for Contact in the Third and Early Second Millennia BC

by Steffen Laursen and Piotr Steinkeller

Mesopotamian Civilizations - MC 21

Eisenbrauns, 2017

List Price: $59.50

Description

During the third millennium BC, the huge geographical area stretching between the Mediterranean in the west and the Indus Valley in the east witnessed the rise of a commercial network of unmatched proportions and intensity, within which the Persian Gulf for long periods functioned as a central node. In this book, Laursen and Steinkeller examine the nature of cultural and commercial contacts between Babylonia, the Gulf region, and Indus Civilization. Focusing on the third and early second millennia BC, and using both archaeological data and the evidence of ancient written sources, their study offers an up-to-date synthetic picture of the history of interactions across this vast region. In addition to giving detailed characterizations and evaluations of contacts in various periods, the book also treats a number of important related issues, such as the presence of Amorites in the Gulf (in particular, their role in the rise of the Tilmun center on Bahrain Island); the alleged existence of Meluhhan commercial outposts in Babylonia; and the role that the seaport of Gu’abba played in Babylonia’s interactions with the Gulf region and southeastern Iran.

Product Details

Publisher: Eisenbrauns Publication date: 2017 Bibliographic info: Pp. x + 141 Language(s): English		Cover: Cloth Trim Size: 7 x 10 inches ISBN: 1-57506-756-0 ISBN13: 978-1-57506-756-8

Write-up about the book

This is a very important book by two scholars who have spent years studying ancient Mesopotamian cultures (Steinkeller, Harvard University) or leading explorations of more recently discovered Gulf Arab cultures (Laursen, Moesgaard Museum Denmark). The authors summarize and integrate previously-known textual data, primarily from ancient Mesopotamia, with “the dramatic increase of archaeological data, in particular on Tilmun and Makkan [ancient civilizations contemporaneous with the ancient Indus in the Arabian Gulf], in recent decades.” In their words, “following many e-mail exchanges about various points related to the archaeology and history of the Persian Gulf region during the third millennium BC, we concluded that, because of the great accumulation of new data and persistence of many misconceptions, there was a pressing need to produce an up-to-date synthetic evaluation of this subject” (p. 1, ix).

Laursen and Steinkeller rigorously review textual and archeological data. One comes away with a sense of how delicate the ebb and flow of trade between Oman [Makkan], Bahrain [Dilmun], Marhasi [southeastern Iran], the Indus civilization [Meluha], and Mesopotamia was in the 3rd millennium. Intense periods of contact and exchange were followed by fallow ones. One can infer that trade relationships were dependent on political, religious, tribal, or navigational ties that were fragile and subject to disruption. For example, Laursen points out that “sometime in the late ED III or early Sargonic period (ca. 2350 BCE), the trading post on Umm an-Nar island was abandoned, possibly after a fire had destroyed the ‘warehouse’ for the second time.” (p. 28).

Connections between Makkan [Oman] and Marhasi [southeastern Iran] seem to have been stronger than between the latter and Dilmun [Bahrain] despite their greater proximity. With such small populations on all sides of the Gulf, connections between places would have been transformative as well as tenuous. There is no doubt about how important trade was to these early civilizations; the authors show that the goal of the Sargonic kings of Babylonia was not so much annexation and conquest as “the control of critical nodal points . . . [and] to set the terms of trade and to provide protection for Babylonian traders, who lived in extra territorial commercial settlements in the periphery or simply conducted business there . . .. The main function of the empire’s political and military apparatus was to ensure that the entire commercial network worked smoothly, with the merchandise flowing from one end of the system to the other without any disturbances or interruption” (pp. 31-32). Across such large areas, this kind of integration was a big step in human history.

Indus civilization may have had similar trading objectives though the homogeneity across its territory seems to have been greater.

If we know what Meluha exported to Mesopotamia, we know little about what was sent in return. Nothing definitive from the region has turned up in graves (of which there are precious few Indus ones), where Bronze Age civilizations tended to hoard goods from other cultures.

Most archaeologists assume goods exported to the Indus valley were perishable. The items listed in Appendix I as exports from Babylonia to the Gulf region based on textual records would bear this out if the same goods were also exported to Meluha. These most often consisted of oils (including sesame and perfumed oils), wool and textile garments, leather objects and barley. Interestingly, while we think textiles were important economic products of Indus civilization, the book reminds us that this was also the case in ancient Mesopotamia, with many pages on the major textile production center and port of Gu’abba. Did the two civilizations exchange distinctive textile products? The fact that Mesopotamian ruling clans liked to be buried with Indus goods like carnelian and lapis suggests that foreign goods were important prestige objects.

Nowhere do cultural linkages appear as clearly as in the Indus contributions sketched both here (and in other papers by Laursen) to the rise of civilization in the area centered on what is now Bahrain island. “Approximately halfway through the 21st century BC,” write the authors, “Tilmun society suddenly underwent a series of major reorganizations that are concordantly suggestive of an explosion in both social complexity and economic prosperity. . . . The temporary segregation from the Meluha trade, which Tilmun had been subjected to, comes to a conspicuous end. Most important in this respect is the introduction in Tilmun of major urban innovations associated with the organization and administration of trade, each of which clearly are inspired by the mercantile protocol of the Indus Valley civilization.”

“The first Indus-inspired circular stamp seals of “Gulf-type” appear in the layers at Qala’at al-Bahrain concurrent with the construction of the city wall ca. 2050 BC. The synchronous introduction of Indus “writing” is suggested by the occasional presence in the Gulf seals of short inscriptions written in the characters of the Indus script. The distribution of this class of inscribed ‘Gulf Type’ seals ranges as far as Babylonia in the west to Sindh and Gujarat (Dholavira) in the east. By all appearances, this first series of stamp seals native to the Gulf is connected with a league of Tilmun-associated merchants that was now actively involved in the Meluha trade.”

“The introduction of sealing technology was accompanied by the introduction of a formal weight system, as evidenced in the cubical and spherical stone weights that correspond perfectly to the standard weight units of the Harappans. In Babylonia, Tilmun’s newly adopted Meluhan weight system became known as the Tilmun norm (na Tilmun) (UET 5 796)” (p. 50).

It may be worth noting that this flowering of Indus cultural influence was followed by the decline of Indus civilization in both in the homeland and in the Gulf. Could its blossoming in Dilmun have been associated with some population of Meluhans trying to get away and establish a new presence in another place?

There are hints of Meluha participating in external conflicts – the authors note that “the conflict with Marhasi continued into the reign of Sargon’s son Rimus, who successfully fought a major Marhasian coalition, one of whose members was, very revealingly, Meluha” (p. 35). There are tantalizing references to the ancient land of “Kupin,” which may have been present-day Balochistan and the Makran coast, between Meluha and Marhasi, and could be related to the so-called Kulli culture that preceded the Indus civilization.

However inconclusive the evidence is, there is much to be learned about the ancient Indus civilization outside of the region directly, in its relationships with other civilizations. There are many Mesopotamian texts in archives that still remain to be read that may have clues to, for example, Meluhan rulers, as all the areas around them seemed to have rulers, and why should Meluha be an exception? This book is an excellent and critical marker on the long journey of discovery ahead.

https://www.harappa.com/content/babylonia-gulf-region-and-indus-archaeological-and-textual-evidence-contact-third-and-early

Indus Seals (2600-1900 Bce) Beyond Geometry: A New Approach to Break an Old Code by [Talpur, Parveen]

Indus Seals (2600-1900 Bce) Beyond Geometry: A New Approach to Break an Old Code Kindle Edition

by Parveen Talpur (Author), G.A. Allana (Foreword), & Subhash Kak (Foreword 2)

$27.92

A Sindhi writer and scholar examines the manifold relationships between Indus artifacts and elements of Sindhi culture that still exist or did so in the near past; she also speculates on how Indus religious traditions – like the stupa crowning the ruins of Mohenjo-daro – may have survived in later Buddhist and Jain traditions. A wide-ranging discussion that brings up a lot of issues and possible connections and points the way for further research into pre- and post- Indus practices, words and beliefs. Her emphasis on trying to find surviving threads of Indus culture in contemporary Sindh is fertile ground for investigation; she quotes the writer N.A. Baloch: "Even if we were to presume that the language of the Indus civilization had died away as a spoken language like Sumerian, Assyrian, Sanskrit, Latin and others, it must have left behind some words, names of persons and their castes or ethnic groups, names of trees, plants, herbs and shrubs, animals, household goods, and building materials. There is a possibility that some of the words used by people of the Indus Civilization could still be prevalent among the inhabitants f the remote areas of Sindh where external influences have not been in abundance." (p. 127).
Abstract
“Indus Seals (2600-1900 BCE) Beyond Geometry: A New Approach to Break an Old Code” is a pioneering work which draws attention to the languages and culture of the Indus region for a better understanding of its ancient Indus seals. The signs and symbols inscribed on the seals are considered to be an ancient script which is yet to be deciphered. However, the seals are also imbued with images of animals, humans, deities, trees and unidentifiable objects. Hence, apart from depicting the script they also symbolize an assortment of social, cultural and ideological content which requires a holistic approach for its interpretation. This book looks for clues in three latent sources to establish the socio-cultural context of the seal images: it seeks ancient words retained in the Sindhi language and relates them to the seal images; it highlights the symbols of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism on the seals and traces the roots of the philosophy of nonviolence in ancient Indus cities; and it examines the geometric principles and patterns of seals to study the significance of geometry in the Indus Civilization. The book, through a few examples, demonstrates that these seemingly diverse means can eventually converge to present a clearer picture of a small fraction of the seal iconography. Hence, the book also emphasizes to explore more sources to understand the multiple facets of the seals. “Indus Seals (2600-1900 BCE) Beyond Geometry: A New Approach to Break an Old Code” is Talpur’s third book on the Indus Civilization. It is a companion to her last book “Moen jo Daro: Metropolis of the Indus Civilization (2600-1900 BCE)” and it is an update to her previous research covered in “Evidence of Geometry in Indus Valley Civilization,” her first book on this subject.

https://www.harappa.com/content/indus-seals-2600-1900-bce-beyond-geometry-new-approach-break-old-code

The westward transmission of Indus Valley sealing technology: origin and development of the ‘Gulf Type’ seal and other administrative technologies in Early Dilmun, c.2100–2000 BC

Steffen Terp Laursen

A very interesting and informative article that starts bringing the adjacent ancient state of Dilmun on the Arabian Gulf (many of the finds have been in present day Bahrain) to light, and what must have been a very rich trade and cultural relationship with ancient Indus cities, as we are finding Oman.
From the abstract
The Indus inscriptions on the seals are investigated with particular emphasis on the abnormal occurrence of prefixed ‘twins’ signs in the western inscriptions. The hypothesis that a language different from that of the Harappans was used on these seals is reconfirmed on the basis of a newly found seal with a particular instructive pseudo-inscription. The paper concludes that breakaway Harappans operating in the western orbit invented the Gulf Type seals but that the type from around 2050 BC became practically synonymous with the merchant communities in Dilmun.
First published in Arabian archaeology and epigraphy, 2010: 21: 96-134.

The_westward_transmission_of_Indus_Valle.pdf

Symbols of Dilmun’s royal house – a primitive system of communication adopted from the late Indus world

Steffen Terp Laursen

Perhaps some of the best clues to deciphering Indus seals may lie in the Arabian Gulf, where inscribed seals seem to have arrived and taken root just as they disappeared in Indus cities around 2000 BCE. "The Harappan sealing tradition, however, continued in Dilmun long after it had vanished from the Indian subcontinent and lived a vibrant life of its own," writes Steffen Laursen. Indeed, "the new sealing technology was apparently still conceived as something of a novelty by Dilmun's general public." This leads to one of the most surprising findings in Dilmun, that of "pseudo-string-and-sealing appliques" on Dilumn pottery, in other words, representations of seals and cords drawn on pottery [Images 1,2]. This is apparently found nowhere else in the world!
"Besides being a symbolic and ornamental function it is clear that they did not serve any practical purpose," writes Laursen. Although most of his careful speculations are fairly drawn from evidence, on this point one wonders whether the representations were there to remind the receiver to check for a sealing? If it is was something new, to seal pottery vessels with clay stamped token, could this not make sense? Or could they serve, as they often do now on goods, as a symbol of quality, a brand of some sort?
Laursen's paper pulls together many facts nicely, and opens the question of whether seals may have functioned similarly in ancient Indus cities and places. Fortunately in Bahrain [Dilmun], seal representations and signs have been found associated with royal burial mounds, allowing him to relate some signs to temple institutions or offering stands, with the palm strand in particular playing a role in a royal inscription that can be translated as "Palace of Rimum, servant of Inzak of Agaru(m)," with Rimum possibly being a local ruler, Inzak the local deity, and "Agaru(m) the indigenous name used for Dilmun or parts thereof." (p. 15).
This seems entirely reasonable – look at the economic prowess of temples and shrines today in the subcontinent. Business is a matter of relationships, enforced privileges, ownership of land and of manufacturing facilities, then and now, and these were likely communicated through seals and sealings. An excellent read.
Originally published in Arabian archaeology and epigraphy 2016: 27: 2-18.

Laursen-2016-Arabian_Archaeology_and_Epigraphy.pdf

Ancient Indus Weights

July 3rd, 2017

"The weights are precisely made, well polished and systematic (though unfortunately not inscribed with any Indus characters, which would have helped scholars to decipher the script's numerical system). Unique in the ancient world, the Indus weight system does not correspond to any of the weight systems used in Mesopotamia or Egypt. It has left a remarkable legacy in India. It provided the weight standards for the earliest Indian coins, issued in the seventh century BC. It was identical with the system used by the first Gangetic kingdoms around 300 BC (just prior to the reign of Asoka). And it still functions, in the third millennium AD, for weighing small quantities in traditional markets in both Pakistan and India." (Andrew Robinson, The Indus, p. 64).
Indus weight images copyright and courtesy Jameel Center for Islamic and Asian Art, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
https://www.harappa.com/blog/ancient-indus-weights

Steffen terp Laursen

Curator, Moesgaard Museum, Denmark

Bekræftet e-mail på moesgaardmuseum.dk
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=l_Cwd9IAAAAJ&hl=da

Target Online publication November 2017 ISBN 9781108160186

Edited by Sarah Jarmer Scott, Wagner College , Sarah Kielt Costello, University of Houston-Clear Lake , Marta Ameri, Colby College, Maine , Gregg Jamison, University of Wisconsin-Waukesha

Studies of seals and sealing practices have traditionally investigated aspects of social, political, economic, and ideological systems in ancient societies throughout the Old World. Previously, scholarship has focused on description and documentation, chronology and dynastic histories, administrative function, iconography, and style. More recent studies have emphasized context, production and use, and increasingly, identity, gender, and the social lives of seals, their users, and the artisans who produced them. Using several methodological and theoretical perspectives, this volume presents up-to-date research on seals that is comparative in scope and focus. The cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach advances our understanding of the significance of an important class of material culture of the ancient world. The volume will serve as an essential resource for scholars, students, and others interested in glyptic studies, seal production and use, and sealing practices in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Ancient South Asia and the Aegean during the 4th-2nd Millennia BCE.

Article by Steffen Terp Laursen, SEALS AND SEALING TECHNOLOGY IN THE DILMUN CULTURE: THE POST-HARAPPAN LIFE OF THE INDUS VALLEY SEALING TRADITION

Abstract

The seals and sealing of the Dilmun Culture represent one of the most understudied glyptic traditions of the old world. Based on the extant data from the Early Dilmun period (ca. 2250–1650 BCE) the present contribution provides an introduction to the all-pervasive “Gulf” and “Dilmun Type” stamp seals and evaluates the range of their chronological and geographical distribution. Above all, Bronze Age Dilmun is seen as a key context for understanding the sealing traditions of the Old World because it represent a melting pot in which hybrid forms of glyptic art developed under the influence of her major trade partners in the Indus Valley, Babylonia, and beyond. In the present study, rectangular Dilmun seals and cylinder seals carved in the Dilmun style are investigated as cardinal examples in Dilmun art of such creative translations. The study additionally introduces evidence that applies to the symbolic and practical function of the seals as bureaucratic devices in an ideological and administrative system. The latter includes impression on sealings and cuneiform tablets but also address a small group of so-called tokens stamped with Dilmun-related seals, and sealing symbolism expressed on pottery vessels.

https://moesmus.academia.edu/SteffenTerpLaursen

Epigraphia Indus Script documents accounting/trading entries of Tin-Bronze Age metalwork wealth-creating activities of artisans and seafaring Meluhha merchants. See: Epigraphia Indus Script – Hypertexts & Meanings (3 Volumes) by S. Kalyanaraman (2017)

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2017/10/seals-mercantile-protocol-of-indus.html

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Archaeological and anthropological studies on the Harappan cemetery of Rakhigarhi, India -- Vasant S Shinde et al (2018)

July 5, 2018, 9:52 pm

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Archaeological and anthropological studies on the Harappan cemetery of Rakhigarhi, India

Published: February 21, 2018
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192299

Abstract

An insufficient number of archaeological surveys has been carried out to date on Harappan Civilization cemeteries. One case in point is the necropolis at Rakhigarhi site (Haryana, India), one of the largest cities of the Harappan Civilization, where most burials within the cemetery remained uninvestigated. Over the course of the past three seasons (2013 to 2016), we therefore conducted excavations in an attempt to remedy this data shortfall. In brief, we found different kinds of graves co-existing within the Rakhigarhi cemetery in varying proportions. Primary interment was most common, followed by the use of secondary, symbolic, and unused (empty) graves. Within the first category, the atypical burials appear to have been elaborately prepared. Prone-positioned internments also attracted our attention. Since those individuals are not likely to have been social deviants, it is necessary to reconsider our pre-conceptions about such prone-position burials in archaeology, at least in the context of the Harappan Civilization. The data presented in this report, albeit insufficient to provide a complete understanding of Harappan Civilization cemeteries, nevertheless does present new and significant information on the mortuary practices and anthropological features at that time. Indeed, the range of different kinds of burials at the Rakhigarhi cemetery do appear indicative of the differences in mortuary rituals seen within Harappan societies, therefore providing a vivid glimpse of how these people respected their dead.

Introduction

Harappan Civilization, named after the first site discovered close to the village of Harappa (Punjab, Pakistan), has been examined and appreciated since the early twentieth century because this is the earliest complex society known from ancient South Asia. The cultures of the Harappan Civilization can generally be subdivided into Early (3300~2600 BCE), Mature (2600~1900 BCE), and Late (1900~1700 BCE) periods [1]. Recent excavations in the Ghaggar Basin (or RgVedic Saraswati) sites, including Bhirrana, Girawad, Farmana, and Rakhigarhi, have pushed the date for the beginning of the Harappan Civilization back to 5500 BCE [2]. The significance and geographical extent of this civilization are now clearer than ever as it encompassed a vast area spanning southeastern Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the northwestern and western states of India [3].

According to the relevant previous literatures [3,4], this civilization was originally formed as the result of the gradual development of indigenous farming communities. Their eventual unification was the beginning of a complex urban society. Because of extensive inter-community trade networks, Harappan people shared a common cultural tradition characterized by life in well-planned and organized towns or cities. They boasted multiple hallmarks of an advanced civilization such as copper-bronze metallurgical techniques, a standard measurement system, shared ceramic idioms, a written language and so on. To date, five major urban sites (Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Ganweriwala, Rakhigarhi, and Dholavira), each originally surrounded by a vast rural landscape and small settlements, have been identified as regional centers of Harappan Civilization [3,5].

Over the last 100 years, archaeologists have uncovered a number of Harappan cemetery sites (Fig 1), including Harappa [6,7], Kalibangan [8], Farmana [9,10], Rakhigarhi [11], and Sanauli [12]. However, the data from these sites are currently too incomplete to describe how the Harappan people treated their dead in the cemeteries [13–15]. Archaeological efforts on known Harappan cemeteries have also been limited because of their remote locations and the apparently random nature of sites. A further complicating factor has been the action of hydrological and wind erosion flattening the soil pits of burial mounds. As a result, the majority of the archaeological surveys completed on more than 2,000 sites so far have been focused mainly on Harappan cities and towns, while relatively few cemetery sites have been addressed [3].

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Fig 1. Harappan sites where skeletons were discovered (indicated by dots).

Red dot: Rakhigarhi site; dashed dot: skeletons from non-cemetery area; black dots: cemetery sites other than Rakhigarhi.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192299.g001

Despite these difficulties, some pioneering interdisciplinary studies successfully reconstructed the people’s lives of Harappan Civilization, with the data from mortuaries and skeletal remains of particular interest to archaeologists and anthropologists [16–18]. Briefly speaking, the biological relationships between Harappan societies and their neighboring civilizations were revealed in previous works [19,20]. Isotopic analysis elucidated individual migration life histories linking city populations to hinterland groups [21]. Dietary [22,23] and pathological [24–27] features have also been the subject of interdisciplinary researches. Paleopathological studies were done on the teeth and mandibles of the Harappan people [26,27]. Schug et al. [24] compared the cranial traumas seen in historical populations at Harappa burials to evaluate whether the society was characterized by a peaceful heterarchy [24]. Schug [28] speculated that the presence of non-normative burials as well as traumatic injuries and leprosy in skeletal remains might have related to differences among the dead at Harappa. Other recent publications have dealt with the significance of mortuary behavior in the sociocultural dynamics of Harappan Civilization [21,26–30].

Excavations over three consecutive years (between 1997 and 2000) carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) uncovered the evidences of a well-established road, drainage system, large rainwater storage facility, and additional city infrastructure in Rakhigarhi site [31–33]. The ASI thus established that Rakhigarhi, once surrounded by fertile cropland and numerous settlements, was the provincial capital of the eastern region of the Harappan Civilization [34]. Although this preliminary ASI fieldwork paved the way for future investigations, the majority of graves within the cemetery still remained untouched except for 11 burials in a trench within the cemetery area (RGR 07) [11]. This subsequent lack of archaeological and anthropological focus on the cemetery area has been unfortunate, especially since the Rakhigarhi site was one of the greatest political and economic centers of the Harappan Civilization.

Our investigations carried out between 2013 and 2016 at Rakhigarhi cemetery might therefore prove meaningful. By the excavation of a salvage trench in 2013–14, we were able to reveal the general features of this cemetery. We continued our excavation in the following year (2014–15), and extended its range further in the year after (2015–16). The results of this three-year study have enabled us to conjecture how the people of Harappan Civilization were buried and how their graves were managed within the necropolis. The numerous novel aspects about Harappan mortuary customs are also discussed in this paper.

Materials and methods

Archaeology

Rakhigarhi is an ancient megacity site located about 150 kilometers from Delhi in India’s Haryana state. Its necropolis area (N29°17′52.9″/E76°06′51″) is situated in what is now an agricultural field (ASI designation: RGR 07) (Fig 2). We differentiated the area into three distinct localities: RGR 7.1 (for salvage-trench), RGR 7.2 (northern section), and RGR 7.3 (southern section) (Fig 3). In each locality, we numbered trenches and burial pits in their order of excavation (S1 Fig). We put one salvage-trench (S1 Fig) in RGR 7.1, and three (A1 to A3) and two (B1 to B2) trenches in RGR 7.2 and 7.3, respectively.

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Fig 2. Aerial view of Rakhigarhi.

Mounds 01–06: Archaeological mounds of Harappan city; Mound 07: cemetery area. The blue and green rectangles indicate the currently excavated trenches (2014–16) and salvage investigation area (2013–14), respectively.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192299.g002

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Fig 3. Distinct localities of Rakhigarhi excavation site.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192299.g003

The investigation was conducted under the permission of the Archaeological Survey of India (approval number: F/15/1/2010 EE). During the excavation of the necropolis area, very large numbers of potsherds and animal bones, as suggestive of the complex mortuary activities in the cemetery area, were found around burial pits. Outside the burial pits within the trenches, common Harappan objects like hopscotch, sling balls and shell objects were collected though in small quantities. It is quite likely that these are indications of the rituals practiced by the Harappans as part of their burial ceremonies. Photos and videos were taken during and after the excavation of each burial pit. Two drones (Phantom3 Standard; Professional, DJI, Shenzhen, China) were deployed for acquisition of the aerial views of the site.

After unearthing of skeletons at the excavation site, we recorded the relevant archaeological information. During the fieldwork, we wore protective gloves, masks, gowns and caps in order to reduce sample contamination to the minimum (Fig 4; S2 Fig). We also took steps to prevent damage to skeletons, especially by limiting access to them. For future bio-anthropological experiments, the genetic profiles of every researcher’s hair sample were obtained to compare with those of ancient specimens. The human and cultural remains retrieved from each burial pit finally were transported to the Laboratory at the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute (Deemed University), Pune, India.

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Fig 4. Fieldwork.

Note the protective clothing worn to minimize contamination of samples.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192299.g004

The specimens discussed in this paper are housed in the collections of the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College, Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune, India. For the skeletons, access is available to bona fide researchers on request. The review of Institutional Review Board (IRB) for this study was exempted by Seoul National University Hospital (exemption number: 2013–004; 2017–001).

Choosing the burial classification system

Classification is the basis of archaeological analysis. Mortuary excavation, for example, yields a wide variety of evidence reflective of practices that have to be classified systematically in terms of shared attributes and differences [35]. Concerning the archaeological aspects of disposal of the dead, early studies on ancient South Asia employed ambiguous terminology based on the assumption of the duality of burial, either inhumation or cremation [36]. We had to reject this protocol for classification of burials discovered at Harappan cemeteries, as inhumation and cremation were not mutually exclusive in practice.

Singh [37] suggested the following system of burial-type classification for South Asia: (1) burial of complete body: inhumation in pits or urns; (2) burial of selected bones after cremation: post-cremation burial, and (3) burial of selected bones after excarnation: post-excarnation burial. Although an improvement on the former protocol, this classification system cannot be considered the standard for field archaeology either, as it neglects some burial cases (e.g. a cenotaph or empty grave for commemoration of the deceased) due to the technical limitations at the time. Next, Sprague [38,39] classified body disposal into simple (primary inhumation irrespective of aquatic, superterranean or subterranean disposals) and compound (involving a reduction process before final disposal) cases. Although these definitions are consistent with primary and secondary burials, respectively, they are nonetheless too ambiguous for classification of every grave in the archaeological context of South Asia.

Nowadays, Harappan archaeologists prefer a classification system accounting for primary, secondary, and symbolic burials, each sub-categorized by the difference in the means of disposal of the body (full, fractional or absent body) [9,10,40]. This classification yields a comprehensive set of mutually exclusive categories. Primary burial indicates any method whereby the full body is interred (e.g., underground pit, built-grave, ship-burial, hanging burial, etc.) as the final stage of burial. Secondary burial represents burial of a fractional part or parts of the body that were collected after artificial or natural decomposition. Symbolic burial covers the practices whereby the grave is built at a location other than the burial place of the dead body. This classification system is beneficial to field archaeologists, as it is also applicable to other historical mortuary-archaeological contexts of the Indian subcontinent (e.g. Iron Age megalithic burial) [41]. In consideration of the aspects and advantages above-noted, we adopted this system for classification of mortuary customs evidenced in our study of Rakhigarhi cemetery.

Specific individuals, communities and societies have their own normative methods of burial. What was or were the Harappan Civilization’s normative form or forms of body disposal remains unclear to us. And indeed, we have to allow for the possibility that diverse groups within the broader Harappan society had distinctive mortuary customs [3,5,18,42]. Such uncertainty as to what practices were normative for the Harappan Civilization make our classification fundamentally etic. We thus sub-categorized the Rakhigarhi cemetery’s primary burials into typical and atypical cases. Typical cases, entailing burial of supine-positioned bodies inside of a plain pit (Fig 5A), were found in much greater numbers than were atypical, exceptional cases such as brick-lined graves (Fig 5B), multiple bodies or prone-positioned burial. The Harappan people’s common practice was, at least as far as Rakhigarhi cemetery indicates, the burial of the body without any process of reduction.

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Fig 5.

(A) Primary typical interment (A2/BR 36) at Rakhigarhi cemetery. (B) Primary atypical burial (A2/BR 22) with brick-lined grave architecture.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192299.g005

As for secondary burial, the term is somewhat problematic due to its ambiguous usage among archaeologists. Darvill [43] defined it as involving a grave dug into a pre-existing barrow or burial at any time after its initial construction. Knüsel [44] defines secondary burial as the relocation of the body of a primary burial to another site. South Asian archaeologists, meanwhile, have their own definition of secondary burial: the final disposal of the body parts long after death, regardless of inhumation or cremation, decomposition, or earlier relocation [9,10,40]. In our study, we adopted this South Asian definition of secondary burial.

We also categorized as symbolic burials cases in which the body was not placed inside the burial at the time that the grave was first constructed. An example is a cenotaph, a type of monument that functions as a symbolic burial to commemorate an individual whose body was missing (e.g. who died far from home) [45]. We performed careful examinations to rule out the possibility that the body had disappeared due to taphonomic agents or processes. We classified cases as symbolic when human bones were not discovered whereas sacrificed-animal bones or other grave goods were (Fig 6). Also, we classified cases as unused pit chamber when the grave had been elaborately built but absolutely no bones or artifacts were found.

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Fig 6. Symbolic grave (BR16).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192299.g006

Anthropology

Anthropological studies were conducted on skeletal remains obtained from respective burial pits in order to shed light on some of the bio-anthropological characteristics of the Rakhigarhi population. During the analyses at Deccan College, archaeologists and anthropologists exchanged opinions with each other for more comprehensive understanding of the data. While the archaeologists analyzed the characteristics of each burial and grave artifacts, the anthropologists assigned the information obtained from the individual skeletons to the burial inventory archaeologists summarized.

Sex and age estimations were performed on the skeletal remains using methods described in Standards for Data Collection [46]. The sex estimation of the individuals was carried out by macroscopic assessments of the pelvis and skull. The primary indicators included the greater sciatic notch and pre-auricular sulcus of the pelvis. When the pelvic elements were not dispositive, the glabella, supraorbital margin, nuchal crest, and mastoid process of the skull and mandibular mental eminence were examined [46,47]. Age at death was estimated with reference to degenerative changes of the auricular and pubic symphyseal surfaces of the pelvis [48], the degrees of palatal and ectocranial suture closure [49,50], and dental wear [51]. All of the adult individuals were categorized into three age groups: young adult (18~35 years), middle-aged adult (36~50 years), and old adult (over 50 years). For immature individuals, approximate age was determined based on dental development and epiphyseal closure [52].

Statistics

The individual’s sex, age and burial type as well as the number of votive pots were tabulated and subjected to statistical analysis using R version 3.4.0 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria). To determine statistical difference between two independent groups, we first tested all data for normality (Shapiro-Wilk test). Next, to compare variances, we performed an F test for normally distributed groups, using Welch's t-test when the variances were not equal to each other and, in cases where they were equal, the pooled estimate of the variance. The Wilcox rank sum test for non-parametric statistical hypothesis was applied to non-normally distributed data. A P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant (confidence interval: 95%). We drew boxplots to visualize the results by group. We also utilized Strip Charts for drawing of individual variables in a single plot. In order to detect burial outliers by the number of votive pots, we defined the inner fence as follows: Q3 + 1.5 x interquartile range (IQR). When a burial’s pot number was outside the inner fence, we regarded it as an extreme case (i.e., too divergent from the others).

Results and discussion

Information on excavation site

We performed a series of archaeological and anthropological analyses on the Rakhigarhi cemetery area for three consecutive seasons (2013–2016): the first season (2013–2014) for RGR 7.1, and the next two seasons (2014–2016) for full-scale excavations of RGR 7.2 and 7.3. Radiocarbon dates (determined by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) for charcoal samples from different depths at the Rakhigarhi site were previously reported by the Inter University Accelerator Center (Delhi, India). The carbon dating of the samples at the depths of 9.1 and 20.6 meters yielded calibrated dates of 2273±38 years BCE and 2616 ±73 years BCE, respectively [53].

By surface survey and interview with village seniors (April, 2014), we were able to obtain stratigraphic information on the RGR 7.1 site. We learned, for example, that the local people had already leveled much of the mounds (about 1 meter) for farming purposes. We estimated, by surface survey of the area and its remaining portions of mounds, that the present extent of the cemetery was approximately 1 ha. In the following season (2014–15), we resumed systematic excavation of a trench (A1–10 × 10 m) in RGR 7.2, finding 6 burials (A1/BR 01–06) therein. In 2015–16, we extended the excavation area, designating a large trench (A2; 20 × 20 m) next to A1, and discovering a total of 36 burials. A small trench A3 (5 × 5 m) was assigned to check the stratigraphy of the locality. By this means, we were able to determine that the cemetery inclined from north to south at the time that the Harappan people were actively constructing graves there. The burials in the trenches within the northern locus generally remained closer to the soil surface. In the B1 to B2 trenches assigned to the southern locality (RGR 7.3), we found 11 burials: 3 in the RGR7.3 B1 trench and 8 in the B2 trench. The general information is summarized on the conceptual map of the excavation site (Fig 7).

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Fig 7. Map of excavation site at Rakhigarhi necropolis.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192299.g007

Most of the burial pits were rectangular in shape, with vertically cut sides and flat bottoms. We also found some oval or square pits specially used for non-primary burials. Although each primary burial pit had a slightly different orientation, all were generally arranged on the north-south axis with the head to the north. The pottery and any other artifacts from all of the excavated graves belonged to the Mature Harappan period. Because the shapes of the graves and typologies of the burial goods did not much differ from each other, detailed burial chronology proved difficult.

Even so, from the information obtained by the archaeological excavations, we could classify the Rakhigarhi burials into three distinct groups (I, II and III). Group I, the earliest burials, included only two graves (BR 16 and 36) within the A2 trench. Both were found around 1.1 meters below our Datum Point. We speculate that the A2 locality might have been chosen by the Rakhigarhi people at the initial stage when the surface of the area was around -1.1 meters. There was no evidence of anthropogenic activity below this phase. The localities A1 (BR 02) and A2 (BR17A/B, 19, 22, 30, 31 and 34) became a cemetery when the surface layer was between -0.75 to -1.0 meters, at which time Rakhigarhi people were increasingly buried there. The Group II graves were found to be neatly arranged, becoming the possible ritualizing place that was constructed elaborately.

Lastly, within the A1 and A2 as well as B1 and B2 trenches and above the Group II burials, the Group III graves were found. These Group III burials showed that the cemetery had been extended to other localities (B1 and B2) beyond the earlier, focal locality (A1 and A2) where the Groups I and II burials were found. Haphazard encroachments against previously built graves (BR08 and 09 against 07, BR 13 and 15 against 14, BR 20B and C against A, BR 10A against B, BR 25 against 29, BR 18A against B) was observed to have occurred during this phase. Such carelessness, according to previous reports on other Harappan cemeteries at least, was not uncommon [7]. In summary, we conjecture that the A2 locality was chosen during the Group I phase as the first burial place, and that subsequently, during the Group II phase, the same locality (A2) became the site of greater ritualization. In the Group III phase, a well-established necropolis covering a much wider area extending beyond the A2 locality was established by the Harappan people in Rakhigarhi.

The burials at Rakhigarhi

In the course of our three-season excavation of Rakhigarhi burials (n = 53), we deemed cases to be primary burials when the full skeleton was discovered inside a grave and there were no signs of any reduction process. These primary burials were the most commonly identified type (n = 41, 77.4%) at the Rakhigarhi necropolis.

Among the primary interments, we found both typical (34/53, 64.2%) as well as atypical (7/53, 13.2%) burials. The typical burials had one characteristic in common: a singular individual buried supinely inside a simple (plain) grave. Among the primary atypical burials, on the other hand, unique patterns were exhibited, such as brick-lined grave architecture, and multiple or prone-positioned individuals inside a pit. The present study’s box plots of votive pot numbers (Fig 8A) revealed that atypical graves had significantly more votive pots than did typical graves (Wilcoxon rank sum test, W = 173.5, p = 0.0009399). Similar atypical cases were also reported from the cemetery at Harappa [7] (R-37, Mature Harappan period).

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Fig 8.

Box and scatter plots of votive pot numbers for (A) primary typical and atypical as well as (B) primary typical, secondary and symbolic graves from Rakhigarhi cemetery.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192299.g008

We also found, at the same cemetery, uncommon burials including secondary (5/53, 9.4%) and symbolic (6/53, 11.3%) graves (Table 1). Good examples of secondary burial at Rakhigarhi cemetery are bones inside pots buried in a circular pit (A2/BR 21) (S3 Fig). They must not have been cremated prior to burial, as they exhibited no burn marks. In most of the secondary burials, animal bones (buffalo or cattle, goat or sheep etc.) were found, either in a dish-on-stand or some other arrangement, suggesting that meat might have been offered to the dead. Additionally, there was also one unused pit chamber (1/53, 1.9%).

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Table 1. Classification of the Harappan burials discovered in Rakhigarhi cemetery.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192299.t001

The votive pot numbers found in each burial group are depicted in a box plot (Fig 8B). The difference in pot numbers between the primary typical and secondary burials was statistically insignificant (Wilcoxon rank sum test: W = 66.5, p-value = 0.2341). However, we found that the pot numbers for symbolic burials were significantly higher than those for primary typical graves (Wilcoxon rank sum test: W = 158, p-value = 0.007606).

Unlike the cases of symbolic burials, nothing was discovered inside A2/BR30: no human or animal bones, and no grave goods. We suspected that A2/BR30 might have been built in preparation for a funeral but was eventually abandoned for reasons as yet unknown. If this actually is as we conjecture, an unused pit chamber, it is a very rare case in the field of Harappan archaeology. Only one similar case, from Farmana cemetery, previously has been reported [10].

Skeletons

Among the various graves excavated in Rakhigarhi cemetery, human remains were found only in primary and secondary burials, not in any presumptive symbolic or unused pit chambers. Well-preserved bones were found, as is typical, mainly in primary graves; skeletons were found also in cases of secondary burial, though their conservation status was generally poor.

Overall, our excavation at Rakhigarhi cemetery revealed at least 46 sets of complete or partial skeletal remains. Of them, 41 (89.1%) were discovered in primary burials, and 5 (10.9%) in secondary burials. In the primary burials, though the individuals were generally placed in supine positions, prone-positioned individuals were also found in a few exceptional cases (A2/BR33, B1/BR01A and B2/BR02A1).

After excluding the cases of only fragmentary or incomplete skeletal remains, only 37 individuals were finally subjected to anthropological examination. Overall, there were 9 individuals with more than half of the skull preserved; in 14 individuals meanwhile, the pelvic bones remained. In the age estimation, we found 8 subadults (under 18 years old) and 17 adults; fully 12 cases were indeterminate due to skeletal incompleteness or poor preservation. Among the 17 adults, 5 seem to have died at young age, 11 at middle age, and only one at old age (Table 2). We also sub-divided the age at death of the children. Two children (A2/BR10A and A2/BR17A) seem to have died at 2–4 years and one child (A1/BR03) at 3–5 years. For A2/BR20B, though the skeleton was judged to be that of a child, the age could not be estimated (Table 2).

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Table 2. Anthropological profile of the skeletons from Rakhigarhi cemetery.

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As for the individuals’ sex, we estimated that there were 7 males and 10 females. For all of the children (n = 4), some of the adolescents (n = 2) and adults (n = 4) and most of the age-indeterminate individuals (n = 10), we could not estimate the sexes. In the light of the anthropological information obtained, we tried to interpret the archaeological data collected from Rakhigarhi cemetery. The data are summarized in Table 3.

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Table 3. The archaeological and anthropological details of the burials in Rakhigarhi cemetery.

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Graves for subadults

When we depicted the votive pot numbers of subadult (under 18) and adult graves, the former's burials included significantly fewer votive pots than did the latter (Fig 9). The difference between them was statistically significant by Wilcoxon rank sum test (W = 58.5, p-value = 0.03874). In general, according to particular cultures, subadults’ deaths are dealt with quite differently. Some cultures did not make graves for their dead children at all, while others constructed children’s graves as good as or even better than adults' [54]. As fewer votive pots were found in the subadults’ burials than in the adult graves, the Rakhigarhi people might have treated their children's deaths in a somewhat different way from adults’.

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Fig 9. Box and scatter plots of votive pot numbers found in subadult and adult graves.

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Graves for women

The votive pot number found in atypical graves was higher than in typical graves (Fig 8A). As the number of votive pots in those graves somewhat differed by sex (higher in males’ graves than females’) (Fig 10), there might have been, among some Rakhigarhi people at least, discriminatory attitudes toward women with respect to the construction of graves. In a statistical analysis of the votive pots from atypical burials, however, we failed to find any significance for difference by sex (Pooled variance t-test, t = -2.5266, df = 4, p-value = 0.0649), possibly due to the insufficient sample size. Our estimates will be firmer as reports from similar cases become available.

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Fig 10. Box and scatter plots of votive pot numbers in typical and atypical graves according to sex.

M_ and F_ means male and female, respectively.

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Multiple individuals inside the pit

While the great majority of interments in Rakhigarhi cemetery contained only one individual, interestingly enough, five individuals (A1/A2/B/C1/C2 of B2/BR02) were found to be have been placed together inside the same pit. According to the archaeological context, we conjecture that all of those individuals had been buried together at the same time. Among them, B2/BR A1 and C1 were primary burials, whereas B2/BR A2, B and C2 were secondary. While only bone fragments were found inside the secondary burials, the skeletons discovered in primary burials showed an excellent preservation status. The skeletons from the primary burials were determined to be males; the age estimations were 21–35 yrs for B2/BR A1 and 16–18 yrs for C1 (Fig 11). In this multiple-individual grave, the number of grave goods was far numerous than in any of the other primary graves; moreover, various types of bowls rarely found in other burials were discovered here.

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Fig 11. Five individuals buried together inside the same pit.

A prone-positioned male (B2/BR 02A1) and a supine-positioned male (B2/BR 02C1) were found together.

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In two primary burials (B2/BR A1 and C1), we found the same kind of small pot positioned in the same way under the knees (S4 Fig). In Rakhigarhi cemetery, there were two other graves very similar to B2/BR A1 and C1. In the A2/BR13 and 15 burials, we found that a similarly shaped shell spoon had been placed in the same way inside the small pots (S5 Fig). The manner of arrangement of grave goods is very important, as it sometimes suggests that the two individuals buried together had a close relationship in life. Even so, as there have been very few reported parallels in the Harappan funerary context, this kind of burial remains enigmatic to us.

Ornaments of the buried bodies

Among the anthropologists’ sex-determined cases, we found that only the females (n = 7) wore bangles. These ornaments were also found in burial A2/BR35, for which we discovered a young individual (12–16 years old, sex not determined) wearing necklaces and bangles made of copper, shell and gemstones (Fig 12A and 12B). Initially, we conjectured that this individual might have been of a high social class. However, this hypothesis had to be abandoned later, as the grave architecture of A2/BR35 was too humble to be comparable to other, elaborate graves found in Rakhigarhi cemetery. This case is a good example of how care must be exercised when making social-status determinations for Harappan burials based on only a limited number and/or variety of artifacts.

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Fig 12.

(A) Young individual (A2/BR35) discovered wearing necklaces and bangles. (B) The necklace worn by the A2/BR35 individual.

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Brick-lined graves

Actually, exotic items, such as inscribed seals or ritual objects (e.g. terracotta Mother goddesses) have never been found in any Harappan-period graves, not even in elaborate ones [7,8,10,11]. Likewise, the burial structures and grave goods of the Rakhigarhi necropolis have all been determined to be generally humble in nature. It was easy for us to conjecture as to a common pattern among primary typical burials in the cemetery: for example, only one individual was interred supinely in a plain grave. Even so, when we come to the details of each burial, differences possibly reflective of ritual status and/or the dynamic situation prevailing at the time of the individual’s death seem to have determined grave structures or offering goods discovered in various burial cases. Among the atypical primary interments, we noted brick-lined graves (A2/BR19, 22, 31, and 33) as an example of such unique burials found in Rakhigarhi cemetery. Our box and scatter plots show that the brick-lined graves included more votive pots than did typical interments. This difference was found to be statistically significant (Wilcoxon rank sum test, W = 111.5, p-value = 0.01074) (Fig 13).

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Fig 13. Box and scatter plots depicting votive pot numbers from primary typical, brick-lined and prone-position graves.

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The brick-lined graves showed the following features.

A2/BR19: A rich variety of grave goods was identified. We discovered the skeletons of a young woman (21–35 years old). The bricks had been crushed into small pieces and mixed with lime for strengthening. The brick-lined wall was found only at the head of the buried individual.

A2/BR22: This grave was made with great care. A young woman (21–35 years old) was found inside. The individual wore copper bangles on both arms. A brick-lined wall was confirmed to be present near the head of the individual.

A2/BR31: The burial wall was made with a mixture of burnt bricks and lime. A large number of pots was found inside the grave. The individual was estimated to be an old female (> 50 years) (Fig 14).

A2/BR33: Bricks were found in the burial wall. A large amount of pottery was found inside. The individual was a female (21–35 years old).

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Fig 14. Brick-lined burial at Rakhigarhi cemetery.

A large quantity of grave goods was found inside A2/BR31.

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Brick-lined graves also have been reported for other Harappan cemeteries (i.e., Harappa, Kalibangan, Farmana, and Lothal) [7]. These burials were assumed to have been for important men and to be representative of the intra-variability of social and ritual status, due to their impressive and unique elaborateness [7,8]. Correspondingly, at Rakhigarhi cemetery, the brick-lined burials were among the most elaborately constructed graves, implying a high social or ritual status for the deceased. Notwithstanding the many similarities, there were also some differences between the brick-lined burials in Rakhigarhi and similar graves of other Harappan cemeteries. While the former used a mixture of crushed burnt bricks and lime, the latter were made mainly of mud bricks; and whereas the Rakhigarhi graves built the brick-lined wall only near the head of the individuals, the other, similar cases at other cemeteries had walls constructed that completely surrounded the graves.

We note that every individual discovered in a brick-lined burial was likely, by anthropological examination, to have been female. Therefore, if we accept the hypothesis that the people buried in the brick-lined graves actually belonged to the dominant group in Rakhigarhi society, we must reconsider the social role of some Harappan females at that time.

Prone-positioned individuals

Although approximately 600 prone-positioned cases have been reported from archaeological sites over the past several decades [55], such individuals remain very rare. Then, what was prone-positioning for? It has been thought that, traditionally, prone-positioned burials represented a way to treat the bodies of individuals who had been shamans (or witches), disabled individuals, and/or those who had been ostracized for any reason (e.g., criminality, religious nonconformity) from the community [56–59]. Most prone-positioned individuals have been revealed to be males, and the grave goods found inside such graves have been very few [55].

In our study, we found prone-positioned individuals in some of the graves of Rakhigarhi cemetery (A2/BR33, B1/BR01A and B2/BR02A1). Details on each burial are summarized as follows.

A2/BR33: A brick-lined, atypical burial. A large amount of pottery was found inside the grave. The individual was a female (21–35 yrs.). She was buried in a prone position while looking left(Fig 15A).

B1/BR01A: Traces of funeral rituals (burnt ashes, animal bones, a large jar) were identified inside the grave at the northeast. Fine silt soil had been piled up as if for a makeshift bed. The young adult male (aged 21–35 yrs.) was in the prone position, facing to the left side. The quantitative and qualitative features of the votive pottery (Fig 15B) were more remarkable than in typical interments.

B2/BR02A1: A male (aged 21–35 yrs.) was found prone-positioned and facing to his left side. The disposers had arranged large numbers of votive pots inside the grave (Fig 11). Next to him, upon a higher elevation, a male individual (B2/BR 02C1, aged 16–18 yrs.) also lay in the supine position. We wondered why the two individuals had been placed in different positions. Arcini [55] speculated that the prone position might have symbolized a submissive posture. If this was the case, the prone-positioned B2/BR 02A1 individual might have been arranged in such a way as to pay homage to the supine-positioned C1 individual. Although this seems a strong hypothesis, we will need to reconsider the present case, particularly because in the same Rakhigarhi cemetery, there were other prone-positioned individuals (A2/BR 33 and B1/BR 01A; Fig 15) who had been buried alone, in the absence of higher status individuals.

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Fig 15.

Prone-positioned individuals in (A) A2/BR33 and (B) B1/BR 01A.

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In Rakhigarhi cemetery, what stands out in prone-position graves is that the individuals appear unlikely to have been social deviants. We could not find any evidence of physical restraint such as intentional bending at the knees and/or tying of the feet to the buttocks. Neither were there any signs that any of the individuals had been social deviants. It is also interesting that among the Rakhigarhi individuals that were found lying in prone position, some were not, as is typical around the world, facing down [55–59] (so as to block their view of the sky and indeed to prevent their ever breathing again), but rather looking to the left.

We conjecture that those prone-positioned individuals might actually have belonged to the upper classes of Rakhigarhi society, principally because they were given elaborate burials and interred with a large number of grave goods. Our box and scatter plots clearly depict that the votive pot quantity in the prone-positioned burials is significantly greater than in the primary interments of the same cemetery (Wilcoxon rank sum test, W = 93, p-value = 0.005024) (Fig 13). However, we admit that in order for this hypothesis to be generally accepted, more research into similar cases from other Harappan cemeteries is required.

Burial on bed of pottery

We finally comment on the presence of burials on beds of pottery. In Rakhigarhi cemetery, we found graves (A2/BR33 and B2/BR02C1) wherein the soil had been built up with pots like a bed upon which the body was laid. Considering the grave architecture and amounts of grave goods inside them, burials A2/BR 33 and B2/BR 02C1 seem to have been of high-ranking people in Rakhigarhi society.

A similar burial on bed of pottery was reported for another Harappan grave. In Kalibangan cemetery, the prone-positioned individual of No. 29 grave had been laid down on stacked votive pots [8]. This report did not attract much attention at the time of the report. However, we noticed that this Kalibangan No.29 burial (S6 Fig) shared many features (grave structure, votive pots, and prone-positioned posture) with our Rakhigarhi grave A2/BR33 (Fig 15A). The similar finding was also reported at Harappa, the type site of the Harappan Civilization [7]. A recent report from a 7th century Anglo-Saxon cemetery is also suggestive to us, because it indicates that a real bed had been put in the grave, not a platform made of soil and pots, and that the individual had been a high-ranking female [60]. Although the discovery of similar burials has been very rare to date, we could not rule out the possibility that such a funeral custom might have been followed over a much wider area than we had initially considered.

Conclusion

In principle, there was always a high probability and expectation that cemeteries would be discovered in the vicinity of Harappan cities or towns. However, with respect to Harappan megacity sites, Harappan cemeteries have not been reported in sufficient numbers to date. The lack of a cemetery within the Mohenjo-daro area, for example, represented a serious inconsistency between the archaeological data and the literature. The only relevant discoveries there were a disorganized scattering of 43 skeletal remains within the city district [18] and a few isolated graves and skeletons at construction sites outside of the city [7]. Ganweriwala, another large Harappan city, has not been properly excavated yet, as it is situated in a volatile area near the India–Pakistan border. A large cemetery area was identified at the Dholavira site, but only a few graves have been excavated so far [61].

Of the five megacities of the Harappan Civilization, an actual cemetery district (area: ca. 0.8–1.2 ha) has been discovered only at the Harappa site. Several excavations in recent years have provided extensive data on approximately 280 burials [7]. In the cemetery (R-37) at Harappa, archaeologists have found many unique cases [7] that were matched in our current report on Rakhigarkhi cemetery. Reports on cemeteries have also been made from the smaller Harappan towns of Lothal [62], Kalibangan [8], and Farmana [9]. While this archaeological data, in sum, still falls short of a comprehensive accounting of Harappan cemeteries, we can summarize it as follows.

In brief, Harappan-period cemeteries were generally built on the periphery of residential settlements. Most burials included only one individual. The body was fully extended in the supine position, with the head to the north. A number of votive pots were placed in the graves at the head end. While some graves had no or few pottery, certain burials included various kinds of pots. Overall, people over vast areas covering the Northwestern parts of South Asia might have shared common burial practices and heritages during the Mature Harappan period.

Like the other cemetery sites in the Ghaggar Basin, Rakhigarhi cemetery is representative of the Mature Harappan period, date-estimated to 2,500–2,000 BCE. By our three-year survey, we obtained scientific information from the graves of the cemetery. We found that various types of graves co-existed in different proportions. Primary interments were identified most commonly in the cemetery, followed by secondary, symbolic, and unused (empty) graves. There were significant differences in mortuary rituals especially between primary typical and atypical graves. Prone-positioned individuals are another noteworthy finding for Rakhigarhi cemetery, because we need to reconsider the validity of the common pre-conception about prone-positioned burials in archaeology, at least as far as the Harappan Civilization is concerned.

In this study, systematic analysis of Rakhigarhi cemetery was successfully achieved by close collaboration between archaeologists and anthropologists. Although the general patterns of burial and mortuary practice at the Rakhigarhi necropolis look similar to those of other Harappan cemeteries, there was also much concrete information acquired that is unique to the present investigation. All in all, the current report provides a rare glimpse into the Harappan people’s practices and rituals relating to burial of their dead. But more work remains to be done.

Supporting information

S1 Fig. Examples of naming of burial pits at RGR 7.2/A2.

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S2 Fig. Investigations ongoing at Rakhigarhi cemetery.

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S3 Fig. Secondary burial (A2/BR 21) at Rakhigarhi cemetery.

The pot burial was placed in a circular pit. Adult human skull and a few long bones were kept inside a jar. The skeletons might have been buried temporarily in one place before finally being moved for a pot burial. Note the animal bones placed on the dish.

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S4 Fig.

Same kind of small pots was found in the same way under individuals’ knees at two different primary burials: (A) B2/BR A1 and (B) B2/BR C1.

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S5 Fig.

Pottery set for one individual’s grave was similar to those of two adjacent burials: (A) A2/BR13 and (B) A2/BR 15. The shell spoons were found inside the small pots.

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S6 Fig. Drawing of burial No. 29 found in Kalibangan cemetery.

The grave structure of this burial is very similar to our Rakhigahi A2/BR33 case. The figure is here redrawn from the original of the previous report [8].

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Acknowledgments

First four authors (VSS, YJK, EJW, NJ) contributed equally to this study. VSS and DHS were in charge of every academic or related work in India and South Korea, respectively, under the MOU between Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute (Pune, India) and Institute of Forensic Science, Seoul National University (Seoul, South Korea).

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http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0192299

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Indus Script is based on spoken dialects of Proto-Indo-European -- inferred from Robin Bradley Kar

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Note:

Robin Bradley Kar concludes that people of Sarasvati Civilization spoke dialects of Proto-Indo-European. I infer that the Indus Script Corpora of 8000+ inscriptions are rendered in such dialects. Hence, the Corpora constitutes mlecchita vikalpa, cipher writing by mleccha,Meluhha-speakers, who spoke dialects of Proto-Indo-european. The Corpora of Inscriptions in Indus Script are wealth accounting ledgers, metalwork catalogues.

S. Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Centre

On the Proto-Indo-European Language of the Indus Valley Civilization (and Its Implications for Western Prehistory)

The Sindhu-Sarasvati Civilization: New Perspectives (Essays in Honor of Dr. S.R. Rao) (2014)

Posted: 6 Aug 2012 Last revised: 22 Nov 2017 Read the full article in the book cited below:

https://www.amazon.in/Sindhu-Sarasvati-Civilization-Perspectives-Shikaripur-Ranganatha/dp/8124607435

Robin Bradley Kar

University of Illinois College of Law

Date Written: August 4, 2012

Abstract

Many of our attempts to understand the basic causes and conditions of legal, social, political and economic development in the West have been shaped by a particular view of human prehistory, which places the origins of certain key traditions in ancient Greece, Rome and Israel. The developments in ancient Greece and Rome are, moreover, typically pictured as phylogenetically distinct from some of the very first human transitions from hunter-gatherer forms of life into larger-scale urban civilizations that have been found in the archaeological record. Although the so-called "Indus Valley" Civilization (a.k.a. the "Harappan" or "Sindhu-Sarasvati" Civilization) represents one of the very first such successful transformations in our natural history as a species, and although the Indus Valley Civilization long predates similar developments in ancient Greece, Rome or Israel, most scholars deem these early developments irrelevant to Western prehistory because of a specific linguistic proposition: they believe that the Indus Valley Civilization spoke a non-Indo-European language and that its traditions are therefore phylogenetically unrelated to the larger family of Indo-European civilizations that show up in the subsequent historical record (first in ancient Persia, Greece, Rome and India - and then much later in Western Europe and Russia). If this traditional linguistic assumption is wrong, however, then many of our modern attempts to understand the basic causes and conditions of Western development are being shaped by a fundamental misunderstanding - and often to their detriment.

This article argues that, despite certain well-known and long-standing controversies over the issue, we are already in a good enough position to conclude - and with a very high degree of confidence - that the Indus Valley Civilization spoke dialects of Proto-Indo-European. My arguments for this conclusion will be new, and will draw upon a body of evidence that has so far been overlooked in these discussions. A growing number of people have, however, begun to acknowledge this possibility, and I will be suggesting that there are sufficient signs now of a coming paradigm shift with regard to our understanding of early human prehistory to warrant serious attention. If - as I believe - we are in the midst of such a paradigm shift, and if this paradigm shift is like any other, then we should also expect many fruitful discoveries to be emerging from this new perspective.

The arguments in this article have been split into five sections. Section 1 develops a contemporary model of prehistoric linguistic expansion (the "riverine-agricultural model of linguistic expansion"), which suggests that certain major riverine topographies have played a critical role in producing all of the world's major language families - including the Indo-European language family. This model suggests that, during the height of the Indus Valley Civilization, the languages spoken in this region would have almost certainly represented one of the most important and monumental linguistic phenomena ever to have arisen within our natural history as a species. Section 2 then argues that if we assume (plausibly) that significant pockets of this language family should therefore remain in the northwestern portions of the Indian subcontinent, then the Indus Valley Civilization must have spoken dialects of Proto-Indo-European.

Section 3 then considers the objection that tries to reject this last conclusion by rejecting its guiding assumption (i.e., that significant pockets of the Indus Valley Civilization’s language family should still remain in the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent). According to this objection, small groups of Indo-Aryan invaders or migrants from the steppes could have simply eradicated the pre-existing language (or languages) of the Indus Valley Civilization by converting the prior populations to Indo-Aryan languages beginning in about 1500 BC. In order to assess this possibility, Section 3 engages in a comprehensive examination of patterns of linguistic replacement from around the world and over the course of world history. This examination reveals an important fact: once a major linguistic phenomenon has reached equilibrium around a major riverine topography in accordance with the riverine-agricultural model of linguistic expansion, there is not one recorded case anywhere in this extensive world historical record where the language family in question has been completely replaced in one of these riverine regions by a different language family through a process of linguistic conversion. We therefore have strong empirical reasons to reject this objection.

Section 4 discusses another common source of resistance to the claim that the Indus Valley Civilization might have spoken dialects of Proto-Indo-European. This objection is based on the perception that this linguistic claim carries with it certain necessary implications about Indo-European prehistory that can be hard to square with the broader body of evidence relevant to this larger topic. In order to address this concern, Section 4 embeds the linguistic claim within a broader narrative concerning Indo-European prehistory that is - I argue - actually better able to explain (or at least render coherent) this broader body of evidence than its main competitors. Hence, the current linguistic proposal - once properly construed - can be understood as the beneficiary of a much broader and more extensive form of evidentiary support.

Section 5 ends, finally, with a direct response to some of Michael Witzel’s important and influential work, which purports not only to establish that Indo-European languages and cultures were first brought to the Indian subcontinent from the Eurasian Steppes sometime between 1500 to 1200 BC but also to trace with some precision the exact timing and path of the Indo-Iranian groups who (in his view) carried these languages and cultures with them. Witzel is one of the most pre-eminent Indologists alive today, and he has collected an important body of evidence relevant to these topics. I will nevertheless argue that Witzel's evidence ultimately underdetermines the choice between his traditional theory and the newer one developed here. In construing his evidence to support his theory uniquely, Witzel has therefore, in effect, mistaken a failure of theoretical imagination for a set of inferences that are required by his evidence. Once our full theoretical options have been made explicit, Witzel's evidence can, moreover, be seen to slightly favor the current theory. The choice between these two theories will, however, become even clearer once Witzel's evidence is harmonized with all of the other evidence relevant to these topics (including all of the new considerations discussed in this article). Based on this entire combined body of evidence, we now have compelling reasons to think that the Indus Valley Civilization spoke dialects of Proto-Indo-European.

Suggested Citation:

Kar, Robin Bradley, On the Proto-Indo-European Language of the Indus Valley Civilization (and Its Implications for Western Prehistory) (August 4, 2012). The Sindhu-Sarasvati Civilization: New Perspectives (Essays in Honor of Dr. S.R. Rao) (2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2124180
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2124180

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Most frequently used Indus Script hypertext, young bull, lathe-furnace

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https://tinyurl.com/y9z555bu

Meluhha:The device1.sangada ‘lathe’ rebus: sangarh ‘fortification’;2.kamaṭa ‘portable furnace’rebus:kammaṭa ‘mint’ Animal bos primigenius indicus kõda 'young bull' rebus:konda ‘furnace’, kõdā 'turner' kundaṇa'fine gold'. Fortified mint,goldsmithy guild.

The field symbol has two composite hieroglyphs called hypertexts: 1.Young bull with pannier, rings on neck, one horn; 2. lathe/gimlet upon portable gold furnace. Such a composition is called सांगड sāṅgaḍa m f (संघट्ट S) f A body formed of two or more (fruits, animals, men) linked or joined together. Rebus sangarh 'fortification' samgaha 'collection, catalogue'.

Dotted circles are hypertexts

Dotted circle is dhāv, dāya 'one in dice' + vaṭṭa 'circle' rebus धावड dhāvaḍa 'red ferrite ore smelter'

dhāī˜ (Lahnda) signifies a single strand of rope or thread.

I have suggested that a dotted circle hieroglyph is a cross-section of a strand of rope: S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f. Rebus: dhāˊtu n. ʻsubstance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour)ʼ; dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ(Marathi) धवड (p. 436) [ dhavaḍa ] m (Or धावड) A class or an individual of it. They are smelters of iron (Marathi). Hence, the depiction of a single dotted circle, two dotted circles and three dotted circles (called trefoil) on the robe of the Purifier priest of Mohenjo-daro.

The phoneme dhāī˜ (Lahnda) signifying a single strand may thus signify the hieroglyph: dotted circle. This possibility is reinforced by the glosses in Rigveda, Tamil and other languages of Baratiya sprachbund which are explained by the word dāya 'playing of dice' which is explained by the cognate Tamil word: தாயம் tāyam, n. < dāya Number one in the game of dice; கவறுருட்ட விழும் ஒன்று என்னும் எண்.

The semantics: dāya 'Number one in the game of dice' is thus signified by the dotted circle on the uttariyam of the pōtṟ पोतृ,'purifier' priest. Rebus rendering in Indus Script cipher is
dhāˊtu n. ʻsubstance ʼ RV., m. ʻ element ʼ MBh., ʻ metal, mineral, ore (esp. of a red colour)ʼ; dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ(Marathi) dhatu 'ore' (Santali)

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High-frequency Indus Script Hypertext, daybook, wealth-accounting ledger of metalworker, brazier, scribe, supercargo

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The hypertext inscribed on scores of Indus Script tablets (many in bas-relief on copper tablets) is a high frequency message of three hieroglyphs.

The metalworker called kã̄sāri ʻpewterer, brazier, coppersmithʼ (Bengali) is of such profound significance in Ancient India that many heroes in narratives carry metalwork connotations in the context of explaining the daśāvatāra, ten incarnations of Viṣṇu, Supreme Divinity. Matsya is related to aya 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'alloy metal'. Turtle relates to kamaṭha'turtle' rebus: kammaṭa 'mint, coiner, coinage'. Varāha is related to barāh 'boar', baḍhia = a castrated boar, badhia 'rhinoceros' , a hog; rebus: badhoe 'worker in wood and iron' baḍhi 'carpenter, 'a caste who work both in iron and wood' bari, barea 'merchant' బత్తుడు battuḍubáḍḍhiवर्धकि, vaḍlaṅgi, baṛhaï, baḍaga, baḍhi, bāṛaï, varāha, 'title of five artisans'.

Metalwork, furnce-work in particular with purification of minerals/metals is seen as a metaphor for battle. daśāvatāra narratives include metalwork metaphors in the names of heroes like kamsa, 'bell-metal', hiraṇyakaśipu,'gold litharge', hiraṇyākṣa हिरण्याक्ष, 'golden-eyed'. A synonym for Gaṇeśa, the guild-master is tri-dhātu'three minerals'. The cobra hood which adorns Śiva and Gaṇeśa is फडा phaḍā f (फटा S) The hood of Coluber Nága Rebus:phaḍa फड, paṭṭaḍa 'metals manufactory, company, guild'. panja'feline paw' rebus: panja'furnace, smelter,kiln'. A descriptive name of Skanda in Swamimalai (a place renowned for cire perdue metal castings of five metals) is Eraka Subrahmaṇya; the word eraka signifies 'molten cast'; eraka, arka'copper, gold'.

The message signifies kasērāʻmetal workerʼ kãsārɔ, kas° m. ʻ coppersmith (Gujarati); P. kaserā m. ʻ worker in pewter ʼ (both ← E with -- s -- ); N. kasero ʻ maker of brass pots ʼ; Bi. H. kaserā m. ʻ worker in pewter ʼ.kāṁsyakāra m. ʻ worker in bell -- metal or brass ʼ Yājñ. com., kaṁsakāra -- m. BrahmavP. [kāˊṁsya -- , kāra -- 1]N. kasār ʻ maker of brass pots ʼ; A. kãhār ʻ worker in bell -- metal ʼ; B. kã̄sāri ʻ pewterer, brazier, coppersmith ʼ, Or. kãsārī; H. kasārī m. ʻ maker of brass pots ʼ; G. kãsārɔ, kas° m. ʻ coppersmith ʼ; M. kã̄sār, kās° m. ʻ worker in white metal ʼ. kancu kantsu. n. Bell metal.కాంస్యము kāṃsyamu kāmsyamu. [Skt.] n. Bell metal. కంచు. (Telugu)

karṇaka 'scribe, karṇī'supercargo responsible for overseeing the cargo and its sale'. kharaḍa खरडें 'daybook, wealth-accounting ledger.'

A vivid example of the wealth creation by Bronze Age Meluhha artisans and seafaring merchants, is provided by a unique hieroglyph string of three hieroglyphs on Indus Script Corpora inscriptions.

This is the most frequently used hypertext expression (with an occurrence on over 50 inscriptions) on Indus Script Corpora. This string is composed of three hieroglyphs: 1. currycomb; 2. rim of jar'; 3. backbone, spine (of four strokes) to signify:

1. kharādī 'turner'

2. kanka, karṇaka ‘rim of jar’ Rebus: karṇaka ‘account scribe’;

kārṇī m. ʻsupercargo of a ship ʼ(Marathi)

3. gaṇḍa'four' rebus: kaṁḍa 'implements'. Thus, bell-metal implements.

Rebus reading of h1827A: khareḍo = a currycomb (G.) Rebus: kharādī ' turner' (Gujarati) karNika, kanka 'rim of jar' rebus: kaṇḍa kanka 'smelting furnace account (scribe), karṇī , supercargo'

Pk. kaṁḍa -- m. ʻ backbone ʼ(CDIAL 2670) is the Meluhha word for 'spine, backbone' given the semantics registered in the lexical repertoire of Bharatiya sprachbund. Hieroglyph: karaṁḍa -- m.n. ʻ bone shaped like a bamboo ʼ, karaṁḍuya -- n. ʻ backbone ʼ (Prakrit) Rebus: करडा [karaḍā] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. (Marathi)Rebus signifies 'implements in general' as in the reduplicated expression: கண்டானுமுண்டானும் kaṇṭāṉumuṇṭ- āṉum, n. Redupl. of கண்டானும். Household utensils, great and small, useful and useless; வீட்டுத் தட்டுமுட்டுகள். கண்டானு முண்டானும் இத் தனை எதற்கு? Loc.

The specification that the metal ingots were made of alloyed hard metal was signified by hieroglyphs which were shaped like a skeleton-backbone:

Rebus-metonymy layered readings of these hieroglyphs are:

Hieroglyph: dōkkū skeleton (Kuwi) ḍogor peṛeka backbone (Go.)

Text 4589 points to the possibility that two distinct glosses are associated with two distinct hieroglyphs

. Orthographically, Sign 47 may signify a 'skeleton' while Sign 48 may signify a 'backbone' or rib cage.

khareḍo 'a currycomb' (Gujarati) rebus: kharaḍa, 'daybook'; खरडें 'daybook, wealth-accounting ledger' kharaḍa f (खरडणें) A hurriedly written or drawn piece; ...खरडें 'daybook, wealth-accounting ledger' kharaḍa f (खरडणें) A hurriedly written or drawn piece; a scrawl; a mere tracing or rude sketch. खरडणें (p. 113) kharaḍaṇēṃ v c To scrape or rub off roughly: also to abrade or graze. 2 To rub up; to grub up; to root out (grass, weeds &c.) by pushing the instrument along. 3 To shave roughly, to scrape: also to write roughly, to scrawl: also to jot or note down; to make brief memoranda: also to draw roughly; to plough roughly; to grind roughly &c. &c. 4 To break by rubbing between stones; to bruise (peppers &c.) 5 (More frequently खरड काढणें) To abuse or revile vehemently and coarsely. खरडनिशी kharaḍaniśī f Scrawling, scribbling, bad writing. खरडनीस kharaḍanīsa c खरडनिशा a (खरड & P) A scrawler or bad writer. खरडा kharaḍā खरडें n A rude sketch; a rough draught; a foul copy; a waste-book; a day-book; a note-book.A spotted and rough and ill-shaped pearl: also the roughness or knobbiness of such pearls.खरड्या kharaḍyā a (खरडणें) That writes or shaves rudely and roughly; a mere quill-driver; a very scraper.

kanda kanka 'rim of jar' कार्णिक 'relating to the ear' rebus: kanda kanka 'fire-trench account, karṇika 'scribe, account' karṇī 'supercargo',कर्णिक helmsman'.

Note: Hieroglyph: कर्ण [p= 256,2] the handle or ear of a vessel RV. viii , 72 , 12 Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa ix (कात्यायन-श्रौत-सूत्र)&c Rebus: कर्ण the helm or rudder of a ship R. कर्णी f. of °ण ifc. (e.g. अयस्-क्° and पयस्-क्°) Pa1n2. 8-3 , 46" N. of कंस's mother " , in comp. Rebus: karṇī, 'Supercargo responsible for cargo of a merchant vessel'.

Sign 48 is a 'backbone, spine' hieroglyph: baraḍo = spine; backbone (Tulu) Rebus: baran, bharat ‘mixed alloys’ (5 copper, 4 zinc and 1 tin) (Punjabi) Tir. mar -- kaṇḍḗ ʻ back (of the body) ʼ; S. kaṇḍo m. ʻ back ʼ, L. kaṇḍ f., kaṇḍā m. ʻ backbone ʼ, awāṇ. kaṇḍ, °ḍī ʻ back ʼH. kã̄ṭā m. ʻ spine ʼ, G. kã̄ṭɔ m., M. kã̄ṭā m.; Pk. kaṁḍa -- m. ʻ backbone ʼ.(CDIAL 2670) Rebus: kaṇḍ ‘fire-altar’ (Santali)
bharatiyo = a caster of metals; a brazier; bharatar, bharatal, bharataḷ = moulded; an article made in a

mould; bharata = casting metals in moulds; bharavum = to fill in; to put in; to pour into

(Gujarati) bhart = a mixed metal of copper and lead; bhartīyā = a brazier, worker in metal; bhaṭ,

bhrāṣṭra = oven, furnace (Sanskrit. )baran, bharat ‘mixed alloys’ (5 copper, 4 zinc and 1 tin) (Punjabi)

Sign 48. kaśēru ‘the backbone’ (Bengali. Skt.); kaśēruka id. (Skt.) Rebus: kasērā ʻmetal workerʼ (Lahnda)(CDIAL 2988, 2989) Spine, rib-cage: A comparable glyptic representation is on a seal published by Omananda Saraswati. In Pl. 275: Omananda Saraswati 1975. Ancient Seals of Haryana (in Hindi). Rohtak.” (I. Mahadevan, 'Murukan' in the Indus Script, The Journal of the Institute of Asian Studies, March 1999). B.B. Lal, 1960. From Megalithic to the Harappa: Tracing back the graffiti on pottery. Ancient India, No.16, pp. 4-24.

Image result for nisha yadav triplet indus script

Source: Yadav, Nisha, 2013, Sensitivity of Indus Script to type of object, SCRIPTA, Vol. 5 (Sept. 2013), pp. 67-103

The associated hypertexts are: Hieroglyph: baṭa'rimless pot' rebus: bhaṭa 'furnace' PLUS two linear strokes: dula 'two' rebus: dul 'metal casting'; three linear strokes: kolmo 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge'; four linear strokes: gaṇḍa 'four' rebus: kaṇḍa 'implements'. Thus, the message signifying daybook of brazier, metalworker, scribe, supercargo gets sematically expanded by suggesting the types of cargo: 1. furnace output (ingots of metal); metalcasting (perhaps cire perdue) output; metal implements.

The wealth-accounting ledger as a daybook related to metalwork catalogues thus explains the raison d'etre for almost all the Indus Script Inscriptions.
Image result for nisha yadav triplet indus script

Clustering Indus Texts using K Means https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ae59/4ab5e260c95276dee351191eb531cd593cab.pdf

Semantic expansions

Sign 17 Hieroglyph: warrior: kṣatríya ʻ ruling ʼ RV., m. ʻ one of the ruling order ʼ AV. [kṣatrá -- ]Pa. khattiya -- m. ʻ member of the Kṣatriya caste ʼ, °yā<-> f., Pk. khattia -- m., °ti -- m.f., °tiṇī -- , °tiyāṇī -- f., L. khattrī m., °rāṇī f., P. khattrī m.; Si. käti ʻ warrior ʼ.(CDIAL 3649) Rebus: khātī m. ʻmember of a caste of wheelwrightsʼ.

Hieroglyph: spinner karttr̥2 m. ʻ spinner ʼ MBh. [√kr̥t2]H. kātī f. ʻ woman who spins thread ʼ; -- Or. kãtiā ʻ spinner ʼ with ã from verb kã̄tibā < *kr̥ntati2.(CDIAL 2861) Ta. katir spinner's spindle. Ma. katir id. Ka. kadir, kadaru, kaduru id. Tu. kadůrů, kadirů, kadrů id. Te. kaduru id. Ga. (S.3) kadur an instrument used to spin threads from cotton.(DEDR 1195)

Rebus: carver,wheelwright: kṣattŕ̊ m. ʻ carver, distributor ʼ RV., ʻ attendant, door- keeper ʼ AV., ʻ charioteer ʼ VS., ʻ son of a female slave ʼ lex. [√kṣad]Pa. khattar -- m. ʻ attendant, charioteer ʼ; S. khaṭrī m. ʻ washerman, dyer ʼ; H. khātī m. ʻ member of a caste of wheelwrights ʼ; G. khātrī m. ʻ do. of Hindu weavers ʼ.(CDIAL 3647)

खातें khātēṃ n An account (with an individual or of the outlay upon any concern or business) as appearing upon or as drawn and framed from the daybook: also the paper or leger exhibiting such distinct account. 2 fig. The range or reach, the sphere or compass (of rule, sway, government, inclusion, comprehension). Ex. किल्ल्याचे खात्यांत मुलूक आहे; हा गांव मुंबईखात्याखालीं मोडतो. 3 Province; proper office or business: also department; particular sphere of labor or work: as बिगारखातें, खैरातखातें, खर्चखातें; also गांवखातें or मुलकीखातें Civil department; लशकरीखातें Military department; पैमाशखातें Survey-department; न्यायखातं Judicial department; खातें पोतें khātē mpōtēṃ n (खातें & पोतें The account and the purse.) Dealings with; business with (of buying and selling).खातेवही khātēvahī f The book framed from the daybook, containing the distinct accounts of individuals.(Marathi) kṣatrá n. ʻ might, rule ʼ RV. [√kṣi1]Pa. khatta -- n. in cmpds. ʻ rule, authority ʼ; A. khāt ʻ estate administered at a distance ʼ, khātā ʻ account book ʼ; B. khātā ʻ plot of agricultural land, party, account book ʼ; Or. Bi. H. khātā m. ʻ account book ʼ (→ Ku. N. L. khātā m., S. khāto m., P. khāttā m.); G. khātũ n. ʻ administrative department, subject, account, account book ʼ, M. khātẽ n.(CDIAL 3684)

Reverse Text message:

Hieroglyphs: backbone + four short strokes

Signs 47, 48: baraḍo = spine; backbone (Tulu) Rebus: baran, bharat ‘mixed alloys’ (5 copper, 4 zinc and 1 tin) (Punjabi) + gaṇḍa ‘four’ Rebus: kaṇḍ ‘fire-altar’. Thus, Sign 48 reads rebus: bharat kaṇḍ ‘fire-altar’, furnace for mixed alloy called bharat(copper, zinc, tin alloy), Pk. karaṁḍa -- m.n. ʻ bone shaped like a bamboo ʼ, karaṁḍuya -- n. ʻ backbone ʼ.( (CDIAL 2670) rebus: karaDa 'hard alloy'.

bhāthī m. ʻ warrior ʼ bhaTa 'warrior' Rebus: bhaTa 'furnace', thus reinforcing the smelting process in the fire-altars. Smelters might have used bhaThi 'bellows'. bhástrā f. ʻ leathern bag ʼ ŚBr., ʻ bellows ʼ Kāv., bhastrikā -- f. ʻ little bag ʼ Daś. [Despite EWA ii 489, not from a √bhas ʻ blow ʼ (existence of which is very doubtful). -- Basic meaning is ʻ skin bag ʼ (cf. bakura<-> ʻ bellows ʼ ~ bākurá -- dŕ̊ti -- ʻ goat's skin ʼ), der. from bastá -- m. ʻ goat ʼ RV. (cf.bastājina -- n. ʻ goat's skin ʼ MaitrS. = bāstaṁ carma Mn.); with bh -- (and unexpl. -- st -- ) in Pa. bhasta -- m. ʻ goat ʼ, bhastacamma -- n. ʻ goat's skin ʼ. Phonet. Pa. and all NIA. (except S. with a) may be < *bhāsta -- , cf. bāsta -- above (J. C. W.)]With unexpl. retention of -- st -- : Pa. bhastā -- f. ʻ bellows ʼ (cf. vāta -- puṇṇa -- bhasta -- camma -- n. ʻ goat's skin full ofwind ʼ), biḷāra -- bhastā -- f. ʻ catskin bag ʼ, bhasta -- n. ʻ leather sack (for flour) ʼ; K. khāra -- basta f. ʻ blacksmith's skin bellows ʼ; -- S. bathī f. ʻ quiver ʼ (< *bhathī); A. Or. bhāti ʻ bellows ʼ, Bi. bhāthī, (S of Ganges) bhã̄thī; OAw. bhāthā̆ ʻ quiver ʼ; H. bhāthā m. ʻ quiver ʼ, bhāthī f. ʻ bellows ʼ; G. bhāthɔ,bhātɔ, bhāthṛɔ m. ʻ quiver ʼ (whence bhāthī m. ʻ warrior ʼ); M. bhātā m. ʻ leathern bag, bellows, quiver ʼ, bhātaḍ n. ʻ bellows, quiver ʼ; <-> (X bhráṣṭra -- ?) N. bhã̄ṭi ʻ bellows ʼ, H. bhāṭhī f.Addenda: bhástrā -- : OA. bhāthi ʻ bellows ʼ .(CDIAL 9424) bhráṣṭra n. ʻ frying pan, gridiron ʼ MaitrS. [√bhrajj]Pk. bhaṭṭha -- m.n. ʻ gridiron ʼ; K. büṭhü f. ʻ level surface by kitchen fireplace on which vessels are put when taken off fire ʼ; S. baṭhu m. ʻ large pot in which grain is parched, large cooking fire ʼ, baṭhī f. ʻ distilling furnace ʼ; L. bhaṭṭh m. ʻ grain -- parcher's oven ʼ, bhaṭṭhī f. ʻ kiln, distillery ʼ, awāṇ. bhaṭh; P. bhaṭṭhm., °ṭhī f. ʻ furnace ʼ, bhaṭṭhā m. ʻ kiln ʼ; N. bhāṭi ʻ oven or vessel in which clothes are steamed for washing ʼ; A. bhaṭā ʻ brick -- or lime -- kiln ʼ; B. bhāṭi ʻ kiln ʼ; Or. bhāṭi ʻ brick -- kiln, distilling pot ʼ; Mth. bhaṭhī, bhaṭṭī ʻ brick -- kiln, furnace, still ʼ; Aw.lakh. bhāṭhā ʻ kiln ʼ; H. bhaṭṭhā m. ʻ kiln ʼ, bhaṭ f. ʻ kiln, oven, fireplace ʼ; M. bhaṭṭā m. ʻ pot of fire ʼ, bhaṭṭī f. ʻ forge ʼ. -- X bhástrā -- q.v.bhrāṣṭra -- ; *bhraṣṭrapūra -- , *bhraṣṭrāgāra -- .Addenda: bhráṣṭra -- : S.kcch. bhaṭṭhī keṇī ʻ distil (spirits) ʼ.*bhraṣṭrāgāra ʻ grain parching house ʼ. [bhráṣṭra -- , agāra -- ]P. bhaṭhiār, °ālā m. ʻ grainparcher's shop ʼ.(CDIAL 9656, 9658)

The following examples are of 8 copper tablets recovered in Harappa by HARP project. A third glyph on these tablets is an oval sign -- like a metal ingot -- and is ligatured with an infixed sloping stroke: ḍhāḷiyum = adj. sloping, inclining (G.) The ligatured glyph is read rebus as: ḍhālako = a large metal ingot (G.) ḍhālakī = a metal heated and poured into a mould; a solid piece of metal; an ingot (G.) The inscription on these tablets is in bas-relief:

Copper tablet (H2000-4498/9889-01) with raised script found in Trench 43. Slide 351 harappa.com

Copper tablets with Indus script in bas-relief, Harappa. The three glyphs on the ingots are read in sequence: ḍhālako kasērā kaṇḍa kanka 'metal ingot, metal work, furnace scribe'.

H94-2177/4999-01: Molded faience tablet, Period 3B/3C

kanka, karṇaka ‘rim of jar’ Rebus: karṇaka ‘account scribe’.

kārṇī m. ʻsuper cargo of a ship ʼ(Marathi)
khareḍo = a currycomb (Gujarati) खरारा [ kharārā ] m ( H) A currycomb. 2 Currying a horse. (Marathi) Rebus: 1. करडा [karaḍā] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. (Marathi) 2. kharādī ‘ turner’ (Gujarati)

Hieroglyph: 1. dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting' PLUS mũh 'face' (Hindi) rebus: mũhe 'ingot' (Santali) mũhã̄ = the quantity of iron produced at one time in a native smelting furnace of the Kolhes; iron produced by the Kolhes and formed like a four-cornered piece a little pointed at each end; mūhā mẽṛhẽt = iron smelted by the Kolhes and formed into an equilateral lump a little pointed at each of four ends; kolhe tehen mẽṛhẽt ko mūhā akata = the Kolhes have to-day produced pig iron (Santali) muhA 'the quantity of iron produced at one time in a native smelting furnace' (Santali. Campbell)

A pair of 'lozenges infixed with spots or notches' together with a skeleton-backbone hieroglyph: They may signify a pair of खडा [ khaḍā ] m A small stone, a pebble (Marathi) rebus: kaṁḍa 'implements' -- a semantic determinant of the central hieroglyph 'spine, backbobe' which is . kaṁḍa ʻbackbone' rebus: 'implements'.Dotted oval hieroglyph: goTa 'round' rebus: khoTa 'ingot' PLUS baraDo 'spine' rebus: bharata 'alloy of pewter, copper, tin' PLUS karṇī 'supercargo' PLUS third hieroglyph (illegible, could be karNaka 'rim of jar' rebus: karṇī 'supercargo' ).

1. ḍhālako ingots were signified by the ox-hide shaped ingots

2. mũhe ingots were signified by the cargo of cast metal out of a furnace

Sign 176 + Sign 342 + Sign 48 khareḍo = a currycomb (G.) Rebus: kharādī ' turner' (G.)

karNika, kanka 'rim of jar' rebus: kaṇḍa kanka 'smelting furnace account (scribe), karṇī, 'supercargo,a representative of the ship's owner on board a merchant ship, responsible for overseeing the cargo and its sale.'
baraḍo 'spine' Rebus: भरत 'alloy of pewter, copper, tin'. (Frequency of occurrence 41) Note: Frenquency is in reference to Mahadevan corpus. The occurrences will be more if HARP discoveries are reckoned. The string of three hieroglyphs signifies भरत 'alloy of pewter, copper, tin'.ready as supercargo (for seafaring merchants) and for turners in smithy.

Many examples of such smultiple inscriptions on Harappa tablets have been noted by Meadow and Kenoyer (Meadow, Richard H. and Jonathan Kenoyer, 1997, The ‘tinysteatite seals’ (incised steatitetablets) of Harappa: Some observations ontheir context and dating in: Taddei, Maurizio and Giuseppe de Marco, 2000, South Asian Archaeology, 1997, Rome, Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente.After Fig. 3, p.12 Harappa 1995-1997: Mounds E and ET; molded terracotta tablets)

kāˊṁsya ʻ made of bell -- metal ʼ KātyŚr., n. ʻ bell -- metal ʼ Yājñ., ʻ cup of bell -- metal ʼ MBh., °aka -- n. ʻ bell -- metal ʼ. 2. kāṁsiya -- . [kaṁsá -- 1]1. Pa. kaṁsa* -- m. (?) ʻ bronze ʼ, Pk. kaṁsa -- , kāsa -- n. ʻ bell -- metal, drinking vessel, cymbal ʼ; L. (Jukes) kã̄jā adj. ʻ of metal ʼ, awāṇ. kāsā ʻ jar ʼ (← E with -- s -- , not ñj); N. kã̄so ʻ bronze, pewter, white metal ʼ, kas -- kuṭ ʻ metal alloy ʼ; A. kã̄h ʻ bell -- metal ʼ, B. kã̄sā, Or. kãsā, Bi. kã̄sā; Bhoj. kã̄s ʻ bell -- metal ʼ, kã̄sā ʻ base metal ʼ; H. kās, kã̄sā m. ʻ bell -- metal ʼ, G. kã̄sũ n., M. kã̄sẽ n.; Ko. kã̄śẽ n. ʻ bronze ʼ; Si. kasa ʻ bell -- metal ʼ. 2. L. kã̄ihã̄ m. ʻ bell -- metal ʼ, P. kã̄ssī, kã̄sī f., H. kã̄sī f.kāṁsyakara -- , kāṁsyakāra -- , kāṁsyakuṇḍikā -- , kāṁsyatāla -- , kāṁsyabhāṇḍa -- .Addenda: kāˊṁsya -- : A. kã̄h* also ʻ gong ʼ, or < kaṁsá -- . kāṁsyakara ʻ worker in bell -- metal ʼ. [See next: kāˊṁsya -- , kará -- 1]L. awāṇ. kasērā ʻ metal worker ʼ, P. kaserā* m. ʻ worker in pewter ʼ (both ← E with -- s -- ); N. kasero ʻ maker of brass pots ʼ; Bi. H. kaserā m. ʻ worker in pewter ʼ.kāṁsyakāra m. ʻ worker in bell -- metal or brass ʼ Yājñ. com., kaṁsakāra -- m. BrahmavP. [kāˊṁsya -- , kāra -- 1]N. kasār ʻ maker of brass pots ʼ; A. kãhār ʻ worker in bell -- metal ʼ; B. kã̄sāri ʻ pewterer, brazier, coppersmith ʼ, Or. kãsārī; H. kasārī m. ʻ maker of brass pots ʼ; G. kãsārɔ, kas° m. ʻ coppersmith ʼ; M. kã̄sār, kās° m. ʻ worker in white metal ʼ, kāsārḍā m. ʻ contemptuous term for the same ʼ.kāṁsyakuṇḍikā ʻ bell -- metal pot ʼ. [kāˊṁsya -- , kuṇḍa -- 1]N. kasaũṛi* ʻ cooking pot ʼ.kāṁsyatāla m. ʻ cymbal ʼ Rājat. [kāˊṁsya -- , tāla -- 1]Pa. kaṁsatāla -- m. ʻ gong ʼ; Pk. kaṁsālā -- , °liyā -- f. ʻ cymbal ʼ, OB. kaśālā, Or. kãsāḷa; G. kã̄sāḷũ n. ʻ large bell -- metal cymbals ʼ with ã̄ after kã̄sũ ʻ bell -- metal ʼ; M. kã̄sāḷ f. ʻ large cymbal ʼ; -- Si. kastalaya ʻ metal gong ʼ (EGS 40) is Si. cmpd. or more prob. ← Pa.kāṁsyabhāṇḍa ʻ bell -- metal pot ʼ. [kāˊṁsya -- , bhāṇḍa -- 1]Pa. kaṁsabhaṇḍa* -- n. ʻ brass ware ʼ; M. kāsã̄ḍī, °sãḍī f. ʻ metal vessel of a partic. kind ʼ.(CDIAL 2987 to 2992)

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Philology and Criticism: A Guide to Mahābhārata Textual Criticism by Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep Bagchee

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A tour de force. A tribute to Sukthankar is also a tribute to the dedication with which the great epic has been studied by Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep Bagchee. जीवेम शरदः शतम् protecting dharma. You are Bharata Nidhi.

Philology and Criticism: A Guide to Mahābhārata Textual Criticism by Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep Bagchee is now available @academia!

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Indian Classical Economic Science -- VR Panchamukhi (2018)

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K. Venkatagiri Gowda Memorial Lecture at the Institute of World Culture, Bangalore, on 27-6-2018.delivered by VR Panchamukhi; 1. Slides of Power Point Presentation; 2. Text of lecture; 3. Article by VR Panchamukhi titled, "Meemaamsa Rules of Interpretation".

Panchamukhi makes a distinction between Western Economic Science (WES) and Indian Classical Economic Science (ICES) with the following:framework:

Focus of WES is on a rational economic man, maximization of materialistic economic benefits (self-interests) only.

ICES is a blend of materialism and spiritualism; the latter stands for values, ethical norms, contentment, and faith in the divinity, commitment to traditions and culture. Focus of ICES is on a Holistic man, Economic benefits and Non-economic rewards.

Mimamsa Rules of Interpretation

Vachaspati. Dr. V.R.Panchamukhi

Chancellor, Sri Gurusarvabhouma Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Mantralayam.

and Former Chancellor, Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth (Deemed University), Tirupati.

Preamble:

The purpose of this article is to describe as to how the Mimamsa Principles of interpretation are useful in the Judiciary system, in addition to its usefulness for interpretation of Vedic Texts and Vedantic discourses and also in the context of the interpretation of the Smriti prescriptions, of injunctions and prohibitions (Vidhis and Nishedhas).

The article is divided into four parts. In the first part, the preamble of Vedas, Brahmasutras, Madhva Bhashya, TatvaPrakashika and its commentary Tatva Prakashika and the sub-commentary of Tatparya Chandrika are described, to set the context of discussion of the Mimamsa Rules. The second Part describes in brief, as to how the Mimamsa Principles are utilised in the Tatparya Chandrika, for deriving the interpretations of Madhva Siddhanta and for refuting the interpretations of the opponent schools of Thought. The Third Part sets the Mimamsa Principles of Interpretations, in their general setting and gives some practical illustrations of the use made in the Judicial System in India, for interpreting the Legal Rules and for giving Judgments by quoting the use of the Mimamsa Principles.

The last part gives some concluding remarks on the Subject.

BrahmaSutra Bhashya, Tatva Prakashika and Tatparya Chandrika:

BrahmaSutras constitute the most important Treatise in the domain of Brahma Mimamsa Shastra. Their main aim is to facilitate correct interpretation and understanding of the meanings of the Vedas. They are regarded as an aide for VedarthaNirnaya. They have Four Adhyayas, each Adhyaya categorised into four Padas and a number of Adhikaranas. There are 564 BrahmaSutras. The four Adhyayas are termed respectively, as, Samanvayaadhyaya, Avirodhadhyaya, Sadhanadhyaya, and Phaladhyaya, as per their contents. In Samanvayaadhyaya,it is argued that allthe words are supposed to ultimately describe the attributes of Paramatma, thus depicting Him as Sarvagunaparipurna. The Avirodhadhyaya is aimed at removing all apparent contraditions in the different parts of the Shrutis. Thus, it is demonstrated that Paramatma is sarvadosha vidura. The third Adhyaya is supposed to spell out the instrumentalities for realising the Ultimate Goal, viz.Mukti. these instrumentalities include, the modalities, such as, Vairagya, Bhakti, Upasana and Jnana,Finally, the last Adhyaya is supposed to describe the contours of the Ultimate Goal, viz. Moksha. After understanding the modality of Sadhana Marga, one is supposed to follow them and realise the same.

Sutras are enigmatic statements, giving some clues for interpretation of a particular portion of the Shrutis. (अल्पाक्षरमसंदिग्धं सारवद्विश्वतोमुखमस्तोभमनवद्यं च सूत्रं सूत्रविदो विदुः) They are 564 in number.

Inthe ancient literature, the approach of Sutras is common. There are Panini's Vyakarana Sutras, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, Jaimini's Nyaya Sutras, etc. Brahma Sutras are the only Sutras which are referred to as simply Sutras, without anyspecifications, i.e. mention of the authors.(निर्विशेषितसूत्रत्वं ब्रह्मसूत्रस्यचाप्यतः)।

To understand the meanings of the Brahmasutras, we need Bhashyas. Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya had composed Bhashyas on the Brahmasutras and presented their own interpretations. That is how Advaita, and Visishtaadvaita schools of thought originated. There are supposed to be 21 Bhashyas on the Brahmasutras, giving different Variants of interpretations of the Shrutis. Madhvacharya wrote the 22nd Bhashya, after refuting the contents of the earlier 21 wrong Bhashyas (कुभाष्य).After Madhva Bhashya was written, the Vedavyasa's true interpretation became known and it has been termed as Dwaita Siddhanta, or Tatva Vaada.

Madhva Bhashya is very crypt, short and suggestive. In any case, it is difficult to be understood by the uninitiated and the less scholarly. Therefore, further Commentaries (Tikas) and Sub-Commentaries (Tippanies) have become necessary. Such Tikas and Tippanies are written by many celebrated scholars of Madhva Lineage.

Jayatirtha Muni- commonly called as Tikacharya, came on the space of Madhva Philosophy, as an illustrious Commentator on Madhva Granthas, and thereby, illuminating the many subtle hidden meanings of Madhvacharya. It is often stated that if Tikacharya had not come on the scene, Madhva Granthas would have remained like a riddle.

Tikacharya wrote a comprehensive commentary on Madhva Bhashya on Brahma Sutras, which is called as Tatvaprakasika. Tikacharya's commentaries- or Tikas are quite elaborate and insightful. But some more elucidation is required to comprehend the inner meanings of TatvaPrakashika also.

Sri Vyasatirtha wrote the famous Tatparya Chandrika as a sub-commentary on Tatva Prakasika. And Raghavendra Tirtha also wrote a sub-commentary on Tatva Prakasika, called Bhavadipa. There are many other sub-commentaries on Tatva Prakasika.

Tatparya Chandrika:

Vyasaraya wrote three major treatises on Madhva Philosophy. They are: Nyayamruta, Tarka Tandava and Tatparya Chandrika. In Guruguna Stavana of Vadindra Tirtha, these three Treatises are described as the three eyes of Lord Narasihma named Madhva Siddhaanta for understanding Madhva Siddhanta:

मायातंत्रारिस्मयमपनयतो मध्वसिद्धांतनाम्नो ।

नेत्राणीव त्रयोऽपि त्रिजगति नृहरेरिंधते यत्प्रबंधाः ॥

यद्वागद्वैतविद्याचलकुलकुलिश प्रौढिमाढौकते सः ।

श्रेयो भूयो विदध्यात्सुमहितमहिमा संप्रति व्यासराजः ॥

Tatparya Chandrika is distinct from Nyayamruta and TarkaTandava, in so far as the latter two have specialised in refuting oppenents schools of Thougts, Tatparya Chandrika has the feature of elucidating the meanings of the different Sutras, compiling at one place the viewpoints expressed in many other important Treatises, refuting the Advaitins, Visishtadvaitins, Using Mimamsa Rules extensively to refute the othe other's viewpoints and asserting Madhva Siddhanta etc.

In the Mangala slokas of Bhavadipa, Raghavendra Tirtha writes as follows:

तत्वप्रकाशिकाकूतं चन्द्रिकातः प्रकाशितम्।

अपि मंदकृते सर्व विषया च कृतिर्मम ||

नूतनैरुदिता ये तु दोषास्तेषामलग्नताम् ।

संप्रदर्शयितुं चातः प्रसन्नाः संतु सज्जनाः ॥

The inner meaning of Tatvaprakaasika has been brought out by the Tatparya Chandrika of VyasaTirtha; but for the sake of the intellectually less endowed persons, this work- Bhavadipa is meant for providing insights into all the subjects of Tatva Prakaashika.Further, many new objections and blemishes are imposed by some new critiques and this Bhavadipa is meant to refute all these new allegations and demonstrate that Tatvaprakasika is a blemishless commentary.

Thus, Raghavendra Tirtha, clearly states that Tatparya Chandrika is a profound Treatise, not easily understood by the common students of Philosophy.

Somnath Kavi, the illustrious Poet, who was contemporary of Sri Vyasatirtha and who was honoured by Vyasatirtha in his Gurukula, writes a very charming sloka, in his famous Champu Kavya- Vyasa Yogi Charitam- the most celebrated Sanskrit Composition, as follows:

...भगवान् स तपोनिधिः........सकलधर्मजीवातवे तत्वमतस्थापनाय तात्पर्यचन्द्रिकातर्कतांडवन्यायामृतप्रमुखानि ...महनीयार्थगर्भितानि द्रूढपदबंधनानि .....अलीकवादिमर्मभंजनानि भूयांसि क्रमेण व्यरीररचत् ।

विसृमरजगन्मिथ्याज्ञानांधकारभिदाकृता ।

महितविभवं संतन्वत्या च मध्वमतांबुधेः ॥

विमलितमभूद्योगिव्यासाननेंदुसमुत्थया ।

सपदि भुवनं सर्वं तात्पर्यचंद्रिकया तया ॥

One question comes to my mind, incidentally. Somanath Kavi, the contemporary of Sri Vyasatirtha, categorically mentions that the compositions of Vyasatirtha, were Tatparya Chandrika, Tarka tandava and Nyayamruta, in that order. The traditional belief is that Nyayamruta was composed before Chandrika, since references are there to Nyayamruta, in Chandrika. Without commenting anything further, this raises a debatable point. Are the so-called references to Nyayamruta, interpolations? Anyway, this issue is besides the main theme of our article.

Mimamsa Nyayas in Chandrika:

Sri Vijayindra Tirtha has done an invaluable service to the students of Philosophy by compiling at one Place the Mimamsa Nyayas quoted in Nyayamruta and Chandrika, in the Treatises, named, respectively as"Nyayamrutodahruta Jaiminiya NyayaMala" and "Chandrikodahruta Jaiminiya Nyaya Mala".

In the beginning ofChandrikodahruta Nyayamala, Sri Vijayindra Tirtha states as follows:

ये न्यायाः पूर्वतंत्रीयाः चंद्रिकावागुदाहृताः ।

गुरुपादैः क्रमात्तेषां विषयाद्यंगपूर्वकम् ॥

शरीरं विजयींद्राख्यभिक्षुणेह प्रदर्श्यते ।

सुखेन प्रतिपत्यर्थमतत्तंत्रविदामपि ॥

Those purva Mimamsa Rules, that are quoted in the Tatparya Chandrika, are being presented in this grantha, by Vijayindra Tirtha, in their details, for the benefit of easy understanding by the students.

We have no intention of going into the details of the applications of Mimamsa Nyayas in resolving some issues of Philosophy. We will only illustrate only with 1-2 examples.

In the beginning itself, the issue that the Vedas have the blemish of being anuvadaka, since they describe the Siddha Chaitanya, who is already established. is taken up. By taking the Purva Mimamsa Nyaya, it is argued that anuvadakatva is no problem. वायुर्वै क्षेपिष्टादि वाक्यवत्, , विद्वद्वाक्यवत्.

In the context of establishing that रूढिis superior to यौगिकार्थ or लाक्षणिकार्थ; that ओंकार is applicable in जन्माद्यस्ययतः, and onwards; thatउपसंहारis superior to उपक्रम; and establishing many such Theses useful in Vedanta, Mimamsa principles have been utilised. Vijayindra Tirtha has done greatest service to the students of Tatparya Chandrika, by bringing these usages of Nyayas in Chandrika. Those, who are interested in this subject should study "चंद्रिकोदाहृत जैमिनीयन्यायमाला"under the guidance of a Guru.

The Mimamsa Principles -General Setting and Examples of Applications in the Judiciary*:

The Mimamsa Principles distinguish between obligatory statements and non-obligatory statements. The main obligatory rule is called a Vidhi (or a Pratishedh, if it is in negative form). Vidhis are of 4 types, (1) Utpatti Vidhi, or a substantive injunction (e.g. 'perform the agnihotra'), (2) Viniyoga Vidhi, or applicatory rules (e.g. 'with curdled milk perform the agnihotra'), (3) Prayog Vidhi, or rules of procedure, and (4) Adhikara Vidhis (rules regarding rights and personal competence). Apart from these Vidhis proper (mentioned above) there are also certain quasi Vidhis called niyamas and parishankhyas, but it is not necessary to go into details here. Vidhis are found in Brahmanas.

The main non-obligatory statement is known as an Arthavada. An Arthavada is a statement of praise or explanation. Most of the Vedas proper consist of Arthavadas as much of the Vedic hymns are in praise of some god, and do not lay down any injunction. Arthavada is like the preamble or statement of objects in a statute. Six axioms of interpretation have therefore been developed for the interpretation of shastras. They are:

(1) The Sarthakyata axiom, which means that every word and sentence must have some meaning.

(2) The Laghava axiom (Gauravah doshah), which states that that construction which makes the meaning simpler and formation shorter is to be preferred.

(3) The Arthaikatva axiom, which states that a double meaning should not be attached to a word or sentence occurring at one and the same place. Such a double meaning is known as a Vakyabheda, and is a fault (dosh).

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* The material in this and the next sections is drawn from the Tagore Memorial Law Lectures delivered by K.L.Sarkar, entitled " Mimamsa Rules of Interpretation" delivered in Calcutta, in 1905 and from the Introduction to a Book entitled with the same caption edited by Justice Markandeya Katju.

4) The Gunapradhan axiom, which states that if a word or sentence purporting to express a subordinate idea clashes with the principal idea the former must be adjusted to the latter, or must be disregarded altogether.

(5) The Samanjasya axiom⁴ which states that all attempts should be made at reconciliation of apparently conflicting texts. Jimutvahana has applied this principle for reconciling conflicting texts of Manu and Yajnavalkya on the right of succession.

(6) The Vikalpa axiom, which states that if there is a real and irreconcilable contradiction between two legal rules having equal force, the rule more in accordance with equity and usage should be adopted at one's option. Thus where one of the rules is a higher legal norm as compared to the other, e.g. a Shruti in relation to Smriti, by the Badha principle⁵ the former prevails.

It may be mentioned here that the Mimamsakas made every effort to reconcile conflicts, and held that Vikalpa was to be resorted to only if all other means of reconciliation failed, for Vikalpa had eight faults (dosh).

Apart from the above mentioned axioms of interpretation there are the four well-known general principles of interpretation in Mimansa, viz.:

(1) the Shruti Principle, or the literal rule. This is illustrated by the well-known Garhapatya maxim. There is the Vedic verse "Aindra garhapatyam Upatishthate" (with the Indra verse one should worship Garhapatya). Now this Vidhi can have several meanings e.g. (1) One should worship Garhapatya (the household fire) with a verse addressed to Indra, (2) One should worship both Indra as well as Garhapatya, (3) One should worship either of the two. The correct interpretation, according to the Shruti principle, is the first interpretation.

(2) the Linga principle (also called Lakshana artha) or the suggestive power of words or expressions. This principle can be illustrated by the decision of the Supreme Court in U.P. Bhoodan Yagna Samiti v. Brij Kishore, where the words "landless person" were held to refer to landless peasants only and not to landless businessmen.

(3) the Vakya Principle, or syntactical arrangement, and

(4) Prakarana, which permits construction by referring to some other text in order to make the meaning clear.

The first principle (Shruti) is to be resorted to if (1) the meaning of the text is clear, and (2) it accords with the intention. But there are texts whose meaning seems to be clear, but to give that literal meaning would totally undermine its intention. The modern method of interpretation is to seek the intention rather than to follow the literal rule. The Mimamsakas were great intention seekers, and the Linga, Vakya and Prakarana principles all aim at finding the intention of the law.

Only the broad outlines have been indicated above, but it has to be noted that the Mimamsa Principles go into minute details and systematically arrange the principles of interpretation into categories and sub-categories with all their ramifications. For example, the Vakya principle (mentioned above) include adhyahara and anusanga (supplying of missing words and expressions), upakarsha and apakarsha (transference of clauses up or down in the sentence), etc.

To give an illustration of the anusanga principle (elliptical extension) it is interesting to see how Jimutavahana interpreted the text of Manu which states "Of a woman married according to the Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Gandharva and Prajapatya form, the property shall go to her husband, if she dies without issue. But her wealth, given to her on her marriage in the form called Asura, Rakshas and Paisacha, on her death without issue shall become the property of her parents". Jimutavahana employing the anusanga principle interpreted this text to the effect that the words "wealth given to her on her marriage" should also be inserted in the first sentence after the words "the property".

Utilization of Mimamsa Principles in the Judiciary:

Knowledge of Mimamsa Principles enables one to creatively develop the law. A few examples of utilization of Mimamsa Principles in some of the judgments is given below:

1. In Sardar Mohammad Ansar Khan v. State of U.P. the controversy was as to which of two clerks appointed on the same day in an Intermediate College would be senior, and hence entitled to promotion as Head Clerk. Now there is no rule to cater to this situation. However, Chapter 2, Regulation 3 of the U.P. Intermediate Education Regulations states that where 2 teachers are appointed on the same day, the senior in age will be senior. Using the Atidesh Principle of Mimansa, it was held that the same principle which applies to teachers should be also applied to clerks, and hence the senior in age would be senior. The Atidesh principle originated in the practical difficulty of performing certain yagyas. There are some yagyas (e.g. agnihotra, darshapurnamani, etc.) whose method of performance is given in detail in the Brahmanas. These are known as prakriti yagyas. However, there are other yagyas whose rules are not given any where, and these are known as vikriti yagyas. The question arose how these latter are to be performed. The atidesh principle was created to resolve this difficulty, and according to this principle, the vikriti yagya is to be performed according to the rules of the prakriti yagya belonging to the same genus.

2. In Tribhuwan Misra v. D.I.O.S. (supra) the Samanjasya principle was used to reconcile 2 apparently conflicting Division Bench rulings. This technique avoided reference to a Full Bench which would have tied up 3 or more Judges for several days in resolving the conflict. No doubt this decision (as a Single Judge) curtailed the full effect of the 2 Division Bench decisions, but that was done on the authority of the maxim of the lost horse; and burnt chariot (Nashtashva Dagdharatha Nyaya). This is based on the story of two men travelling in their respective chariots. One of them lost his horses and the other's chariot was burnt through the outbreak of fire in the inn, where they were spending the night. The horses that were left were harnessed to the remaining chariot, and the two men pursued their journey together. Its teaching is union for mutual advantage, which has been quoted in the 16th Vartika to Panini, and is explained by Patanjali. It is referred to in Kumarila Bhatta's 'Tantravartika'.

3. The Anusanga Principle of Mimansa has been used in a case in UP. The conclusion reached in this decision could not have been reached by any principle of Western Jurisprudence, and this illustrates the great use which can be made of Mimansa Principles to make the statute more democratic and equitable.

4. The Laghava Principle has been used in Vinay Khare v. State of U.P. The controversy in this case was that if in a competitive examination two candidates got equal marks whether the candidate who got more marks in the oral interview should be placed higher in the select list or the candidate who got more marks in the written test. It was held in this case that the candidate who got more marks in the written test should be placed higher because to interpret general suitability on the basis of marks in the written test is a short and simple interpretation and provides a clear objective test, whereas the criteria in the oral interview involves consideration of the candidate's personality, dress, physique, etc. which is complicated and in which there are more chances of favouritism and arbitrariness.

5. Laxana Principle. In yet another Legal Battle, Laxana Principle has been utilised for issuing Judgement. That is the case concerned with the matter of controversy in interpreting the Rules of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in giving Compensation for a person whose right leg and hand was paralysed in an accident. The rule stated that Full Compensation should be given only when the person is disabled due to the amputations. The LIC had refused the compensation on the ground that paralisation was not included in the Compensation Rules. The Court took the stand that with Laxana Principle,Paralysis should also be included in the meaning of disability, in addition to imputation, and then ordered Full compensation to the Victim.

Concluding Remarks:

Mimamsa has been categorised as Purva Mimamsa and Uttara Mimamsa. The latter is often referred to as Brahma Mimamsa or Vedanta. The former , viz. Purva Mimamsa is concerned with Karma Kanda viz. performance of Yajnas and other Karmas. Jaimini muni, disciple of Lord Vedavyasa, composed the famous Nyayas, or principles, useful in resolving the conflicts in the interpretations of the rules of performance of Yagnas. These Rules are so universal, that their applicability to interpret the Shruti Vakyas was discovered by Vedantins. In the Smriti granthas, such as ManuSmriti, Yajnavalkya Smriti, also their applications are found useful

In recent years, the Jurists in India have found their usefulness in interpreting the Legal Acts, and given judgements by quoting the Mimamsa Principles in their Judgments.

The purpose of this article is to provide the insights into the use of the Mimamsa Rules made in Vedanta, in particular in Chandrika and to bring out, with some illustrations as to how they are used in the Judgments in the Indian Judiciary system. The scholarly Judiciary has discovered that Mimamsa Rules/Principles of Interpretations are superior to the Western rules, of Maxwell etc, and more comprehensive than the latter.

I hope that the inquisitive Sanskrit students, who are normally, not familiar with the applications in the Judiciary system, would get interested in this wider perspectives and appreciate the relevance of Sanskrit Shastras, to the problems of the modern times.

Development Paradigm: Where we should go?

Vachaspati

Dr. V.R.Panchamukhi

Former Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research,

(ICSSR) New Delhi

And Former Chancellor, Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth

(Deemed University), Tirupati;

Currently Chancellor, Sri Gurusarvabhouma Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Mantralayam.

Professor K. Venkatagiri Gowda Memorial Lecture

At the Conference Hall of

Institute of World Culture, Bangalore

27th June, 2018

Development Paradigm: Where we should go?

By.

Vachaspati

Dr. V.R.Panchamukhi

Former Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research,

(ICSSR) New Delhi

And Former Chancellor, Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth

(Deemed University), Tirupati;

Currently Chancellor, Sri Gurusarvabhouma Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Mantralayam.

Introduction:

I consider it as my proud privilege for having got the opportunity of delivering this year’s, Dr. Venkatagiri gouda Memorial Lecture, at the prestigious Venue of the Institute of World Culture. I feel doubly honoured by this occasion. First Honour is the Invitation for delivering the Dr. Venkatagiri Gouda Memorial Lecture. The Second Honour is that this event is being presided over by the most venerable personality, viz. Justice Venkatachalaiah, former Chief Justice of India, whom I hold in the highest esteem.

I am privileged to have had close contact with Justice Venkatachalaiah, while he was judge, Supreme Court of India and later Chief Justice of India, in New Delhi. Justice Venkatachalaiah, is known for his knowledge of the Laws and the Judiciary Systems, of different countries of the world, and also for his knowledge of the Indian Heritage and Culture, in particular, the Haridasa literature of the Indian Philosophical System. Justice Venkatachalaiah, was also known for his uprightness, perceptive insight into and comprehensive over-view of the judicial cases that come for his scrutiny.

Dr. Venkatagiri Gouda has been a personality of unique capabilities and strong convictions. Though a Teacher by profession and genuine interest, he has had stints as Member of Loka Sabha, and member of political Parties. He was prolific writer and frank and spirited advocate of his convictions and crusader against corruption and pettiness in public Life. What I have appreciated in his career, is his genuine love for mother land and serving the mother land, even though he had many opportunities to go abroad and settle on a cosy life there.

Even though so much has been said about my career, I would like to describe myself as a totally indigenous product and a genuine efficient import-substitute. I have never failed in competition with the so called foreign-trained scholars. I have a special respect for those who have lived in India, to serve the profession, even though they could have had many opportunities for settling abroad. To name only some such scholars, I could mention, the names, of Professors V.K.R.V Rao, D.M. Nanjundappa, P.R.Brahmananda, S. Chakrabarty, D.T.Lakdawala, A.K.Dasgupta, and of course, Venkatagiri Gouda.

I am grateful to the organizing committee of this Memorial Lecture, in particular,Dr. Ramu B.K, Chairman, Dr. R. Nisarga, , Secretary and Dr. Rekha Jagannath, Member of this committee, whose persuading power did not leave any scope for me to deny the Invitation despite my indisposition. I hope that I would prove worthy of the faith that they have reposed in me.

I had had a dream of delivering a lecture or attending a lecture at the Institute of World Culture. I feel delighted that my dream is coming true today by the opportunity of delivering a lecture at IWC.

Choice of a Theme for my Lecture:

I have chosen a Theme concerned with the Development Paradigm pursued in India, in its historical and future perspectives. I am sorry that I have deviated from the field of Monetary and Fiscal Economics, which was the main field of interest of Professor Venkatagiri Gouda. Since policies are in a way part of the Development Paradigm, I decided to deal with the more fundamental Issue of the Choice of Development Paradigm.

In this brief paper, I raise the basic question as to whether the Development paradigm that is normally pursued in India or elsewhere, is based on the framework of Economic Science, which truly reflects the world in reality.

Since I am speaking in the Conference Hall of the Institute of World Culture, I would like to relate my presentation to the roots of our cultural heritage, which has been heralded as the Guru for the World Culture.

Civilization and Culture:

I make a distinction between Civilization and Culture. The former refers largely to the material progress while the latter refers to the Values and Ethical foundations of a Society. To possess a high-tech car, is a symbol of Civilizational progress, while observing the traffic rules is the symbol of Culture. Possessing the most sophisticated Watch is the sign of civilizational advancement, while maintaining timeliness is a symbol of Cultural nicety. Thus we have to blend the Values of life with Materialistic Progress. This idea provides the conceptual foundation for my lecture today*.

This perception highlights the supremacy of the Indian Thought Heritage to that of the rest of the world, because India has always conceived the supremacy of Values and Ethical Norms to the materialistic development. The paper begins by recounting some of the Development Paradigms, that are pursued in the past years. It raises the question as to whether the development processes have raised the welfare levels of the people.

*Some quotes on the distinction between Civilization and Culture: Defining civilization MacIver and Page (1962) said, ‘by civilization we mean the whole mechanism and organization which man has designed in his endeavour to control the conditions of life’.

Culture relates to the inner qualities of society like religion, customs, conventions, etc., while civilization relates to the outer form of society such as TV, radio, fans, etc.

Culture is more stable than civilization—cultural change takes place in years or in centuries but civilization changes very rapidly.

William F. Ogburn (1964), in his theory of social change, pointed out two aspects of culture, viz., material and non-material. For him, material aspect represents civilization and the non-material aspect is the culture proper. Gillin and Gillin (1948) designated the material or tangible part of culture as civilization or culture equipment which man in his endeavor has modified from environment. Mukund Hambarde; National Informatics Centre Culture is the set of values that shapes the behavior of the society at different levels while civilization is apparent in the physical development in form of man-made environment. Culture is the mind of society and civilization is the body.

Information, Knowledge and Wisdom:

I make a distinction between Information, Knowledge and Wisdom. Information refers to vast mass of materials that becomes available to us, when we sit before the computer and open the Net, or when we read a common News Paper, or when we last heard a learned Man’s Lecture. We are now in an Information Age where flood of Information of all sorts is submerging us. We are wrongly calling this period as Knowledge Age.

To convert Information into Knowledge, we need special skill development efforts. In the absence of the skills to convert Information into Knowledge, the vast Information is of no use. We have created a society where such vast unused and unusable Information becomes a burden on the mind.

In contrast to Information and Knowledge, we identify Wisdom, which refers to the faculty of sifting the right from the wrong, and separating the good from the bad, desirable from the undesirable. This is called as Viveka inthe vernacular jargon. What we need to do today is to create a society of Wise people and not just Information-Loaded or Knowledge-Loaded people as is happening today.

We experience that the world has been moving from one Crisis situation to the others, with the mirage of Improvement of welfare of the people, at large, when Paradigms shift with focus on Materialistic advancement!! We start doubting as to whether the Economic Science which provide the basis for these paradigms is the correct one reflecting the realities of the worldly life.

Thus we should move towards a Paradigm of Development, which creates materialistic Growth along with fostering of Culture and Wisdom, in the people of the nation.

The listeners of my lecture or the readers of my paper, would realize the import of my statement, only after full listening to my lecture or full reading of my paper.

Holistic Development:

Let me introduce the concept of Holistic Development to make clear as to what is the main message of my lecture.

The Holistic Development consists of three Components:

(i) Optimum level of Growth of GDP;

(ii) Social Aspects of Development, including, goals of employment creation, reduction of inequities, increase in empowerment of deprived sections of the society, etc.;

(iii) Fostering of Values and Ethical Standards of life.

In recent times, we are giving excessive focus on Growth of GDP alone as the target. I advocate in this lecture that the most desirable Development Paradigm, to which we should move is one of Holistic Development.

Let me now elaborate on my propositions.

I would first present the Development Paradigms and the Global Monetary and Financial order, in their historical perspective to bring home the point that shifts in them have generated a series of new crisis situations, instead of fully resolving the earlier crisis situations.

Development Paradigms: Historical Perspective:

If we consider the shifts in Development paradigms, pursued in India since independence, we find lot of varieties. We started our development paradigm, with focus on import-substitution and quantitative restrictions on imports and industrial activities. It was in 1962, that we inducted some focus on export promotion and adoption of price-based policies, explicit in the devaluation of Rupee in 1966 and relaxation of some quantitative restrictions. It was in 1977-78 that we moved towards a paradigm of liberalization in trade policies and removal of industrial licensing and quantitative restriction on economic activities. This shift was prompted by the recommendations of the Alexander Committee (for which I had had the privilege of being Member-Secretary and that of drafting the Report) and it was recognized as the beginning of the Liberalisation Era. Many initiatives were launched, to remove the paradigm of quantitative restrictions and adoption of that of price-based policies. It was in 1991 that the second phase of liberalization was launched with complete elimination of quantitative interventions and the elimination of quotas and physical controls in the framework of trade and industrial Policies. This phase also coincided with the emergence, globally, of Market-based Policies, heralded as a policy package of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation (LPG Paradigm). It was perceived that with the adoption of LPG Paradigm, all countries would experience rapid increase in Growth Rates of GDP, reduction of intra and inter-countries inequalities, spread in industrial development culture, reduction in un-employment rates, increase in the efficiency in resource use, improvement in the empowerment of deprived sections of the society. Financial Liberalisation at the national and the Global Levels, etc. also accompanied, the policy package LPG. This was expected to ease the supply of Funds for Investment.

In contrast to these perceived outcomes, in practice, the opposite results have emerged, after initial spurt of the perceived results. The nation and the world have been experiencing slowing down of the Growth process. Both, intra-national and international inequities have widened. There is no substantial increase in employment rates. Efficiency increase has been at the cost of employment expansion, since efficiency is measured in terms of efficiency of Capital. Perceived expansion of Industrial activity has been at the cost of small and medium industries, which were employment-intensive. Further, the expansion of industrial activity and urbanization have taken place, at the cost of environmental factors, thereby causing non-sustainability of the development process. The over-emphasis on Growth alone strategy has been such as to destroy the indigenous life styles and traditional Values of the Society. Empowerment of the deprived sections of the society has not occurred satisfactorily.

In view of these failures of the perceived results, the paradigm of LPG has been discredited and a search for a new paradigm of development has now been launched all over the world. Instead of outright Globalisation, limited extent of Globalisation is being advocated. Reversal of the strategy of total trade liberalization and adoption of selective protectionism, so as to suit the domestic interests, are being pursued by the very countries, which were strong advocates of Trade Liberalisation. It is now being increasingly recognized thatsome sort of regulation of the private industry and the private capital flows is required to avoid the uncertainties of the Private sector’s behavior, in regard to the goals of fostering of social welfare. Further, volatility in private capital flows introduces lot of uncertainty in the foreign investment scenario of the host country, thereby adversely affecting the monetary and financial stability, as also the exchange rate stability of the economy. Thus, unrestrained liberalization and privatization are not cherished as desirable policy options.

Global Monetary and Financial Order:

Along with the shifts in the framework of Development Policies, there have been radical shifts in the Global Monetary and Financial Order.

The first major disturbance in the global order began with the two oil-price hikes in 1973 and 1979. With the beginning of the Petrodollars, the financial center shifted to OPEC countries, in particular, to the Middle East Countries. Europe entered the unprecedented stagflation situation.

It was in 1974 that there was a UN resolution to evolve a new International Economic Order, (NIEO), with the renewed focus on the development of the developing countries. But this Resolution was never implemented due to the vested interests.

There was a strong demand for a New Financial Architecture, in response to the failures of the established Institutions of the Global Financial Institutions, like IMF, IBRD, Asian Bank. Since there was growing demand for regulating the uncontrolled flow of private Capital Funds, due to the instabilities that such a phenomenon was creating, there was a proposal to have Tobin Tax on the indiscriminate Transaction of foreign Exchanges.* Tobin Tax, though a brilliant idea, was never implemented.

The world is still gripped with financial instabilities, due to inaction of the identification of a new Financial Architecture, due to the prevalence of Vested Interests.

It was in the early part of the 1980’s that the Asian developing countries became the Growth-leaders of the world. The survival of the developed countries was possible with the increasing import-demands in the Asian countries,

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*Tobin suggested his currency transaction tax in 1972 in his Janeway Lectures at Princeton, shortly after the Bretton Woods system of monetary management ended in 1971.^[2] Prior to 1971, one of the chief features of the Bretton Woods system was an obligation for each country to adopt a monetary policy that maintained the exchange rate of its currency within a fixed value—plus or minus one percent—in terms of gold. Then, on August 15, 1971, United States President

Richard Nixon announced that the United States dollar would no longer be convertible to gold, effectively ending the system. This action created the situation whereby the U.S. dollar became the sole backing of currencies and a reserve currency for the member states of the Bretton Woods system, leading the system to collapse in the face of increasing financial strain in that same year. In that context, Tobin suggested a new system for international currency stability, and proposed that such a system include an international charge on foreign-exchange transactions.

In 2001, in another context, just after "the nineties' crises in Mexico, Southeast Asia and Russia,"^[3]which included the 1994 economic crisis in Mexico, the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, and the 1998 Russian financial crisis, Tobin summarized his idea:

The tax on foreign exchange transactions was devised to cushion exchange rate fluctuations. The idea is very simple: at each exchange of a currency into another a small tax would be levied - let's say, 0.5% of the volume of the transaction. This dissuades speculators as many investors invest their money in foreign exchange on a very short-term basis. If this money is suddenly withdrawn, countries have to drastically increase interest rates for their currency to still be attractive. But high interest is often disastrous for a national economy, as the nineties' crises in Mexico, Southeast Asia and Russia have proven. My tax would return some margin of manoeuvre to issuing banks in small countries and would be a measure of opposition to the dictate of the financial markets.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Though James Tobin suggested the rate as "let's say 0.5%", in that interview setting, others have tried to be more precise in their search for the optimum rate.

in particular, Asian Tigers- (Korea, Hongkong, Singapore China Taiwan) and the Asian Cubs ( Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia). But this scenario soon got frustrated due to economic and financial crisis in the Asian Economies. Indonesian Crisis, South-East Asian Crisis, Japanese Property Market crisis etc.

The nature of Capital flows shifted from official transfers to private capital flows. There was intensive debate on the need for evolving a system of global free trade and the result was the creation of World Trade Organisation with pressure for similar free flow of Capital through an Global Agreement on Investment Flows. (Multilateral Agreement on Investment).

Now the time has come for discrediting all these initiatives and looking for some new Paradigm of International Trade and Capital Flows.

The Underlying Economic Science is Faulty:

In view of the above-given reflections, I would argue that not just the Economic Policy framework or the Policy paradigm is faulty but that the Economic Science, on which the choice of policies is based, is also faulty.

I have to make a distinction between, Western Economic Science, (WES) on which all the received paradigms are based and what one may call as Indian Classical Economic Science (ICES), which provides an alternative premises. In the following paragraphs, I would elaborate on these premises to bring home the point that the Indian Classical Economic Science provides hitherto more appropriate premises for making choice of appropriate Development or Policy Paradigms. The sources of Knowledge about the Indian Classical Economic Science/Thoughts are couched in Sanskrit. Since we have lost touch with Sanskrit, we are unable to perceive the contours of ICES and benefit by its more relevant thoughts and paradigms for Human Welfare. Forgive me if I occasionally give quotations from the original Sanskrit Literature

This is what Macaulay wanted the Indians to be reduced to. He wanted that the Indian should lose their contacts with their own rich Cultural and Knowledge Heritage and become subservient to the British Supremacy. The following quote from his famous speech in British Parliament, in 1835, is worth recalling: (I am aware that the genuineness of this quote, though viral on social media and quoted by even Honourable Abdul Kalam ji is sometimes questioned!!!)

Lord Macaulay’s address to the British Parliament in 2 February, 1835:

"I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation."

I would like to bring out the distinctions between the two premises, under the following heads or Themes: (i) Economic Man vs Holistic Man; (ii) Holistic Goals of Development; (iii) Determinants of Activities, in a Holistic Framework; (iv) Focus on Human Resources as against that Capital and Technology;(v) Attitude Towards Consumption; (v) Growth Rates of GDP alone is not sufficient; (vi) Gross National Welfare Product as against Gross National Materials Product; (vii) Foundations of Socialistic Principles; (viii) An Integrated View of Environment; (ix) Labour Market and Work Culture; (x) Classification of Assets; (xi) Life Style and Resource Balance; (xii) An Integrated Paradigm of National Welfare.

Even though these themes are disjoint and unconnected, a brief discussion on them would bring out the distinctive features of ICES in contrast to the features of WES.

Let me briefly deal with each one of these Themes.

Economic Man vs Holistic Man:

WES conceived Man- the focus of analysis as the Rational Economic Man, there by making materialistic self interest as the basic Goal for Human Behaviour. The ICES has conceived Man in a holistic framework, as a blend of Materialistic Man and what one may call as Spiritualistic Man. Thus, the goals of life become a blend of materialism and values and ethical norms.

Holistic Goals of all activities:

It is worth noting that Goals of activities as per the WES is to maximize or optimize the realization of material Benefits like, Income, Profits, Exports etc. all in the materialistic framework. However, as the ICES, the Goals are mentioned in a four-fold frameworkas, Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. It should be noted that Dharma has been wrongly understood as Religion and rituals. Dharma stands for Values, Ethics, Commitment to one’s own prescribed Duties etc. DharaNaat Dharma ucchyate; Swa Swa vihitavRuttyaa bhaktyaa bhagavadaaraadhanameva paramo DharmaH, tadviruDDhaH sarvo api adharmaH etc. Artha stands for Capital Formation or Materialistic Wealth, Kamameans, fulfillment of one’s basic Needs, Moksha means freedom from all prejudices and biases which adversely affect efficiency. Thus, the four-fold framework, implies, optimum realization of Material wealth and fulfillment of Basis Needs of all the needy ones, in a framework of Values and Ethical Norms and in the premises of maximum efficiency of human behavior. This Holistic Framework of Goals is to be applied in every activity of Human life.

Holistic Determination of Activity:

The WES describes the Theory of Activity in the forms of Production Functions with Labour, Capital and Technology as the determinants of an Activity. As against this, the ICES model sets out a Holistic Model on the Determination of Activities. Its contours are laid down in Bhagavadgita as follows:

(1)Adhisthaanam- Initial Conditions, (2) Performer, (3) different Instruments or Means of activity, (4) Their interse interactions and (5 The Imponderble factor of Divinity are the five determinants of any activity).

Focus on Human Resources:

Karta or the Performer holds the key position. There are three types of Performers. Satvika Karta, Rajasa Karta nad Taamasa Kartaa. Of these Satvika Kartaa is the one who possesses the following attributes: Dispassionate commitment, Not appropriating the Credit to Himself, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and equanimity in situations of successes or Failures. All performers should endeavour to possess the attributes of a Satvika Karta. The proper efficiency in a value-based framework would be realized.

The ICES distinguishes itself from the WES, in so far it focuses on the purity and efficiency of Human Resources. Capital and Technology are secondary inputs, while the attributes of Human Resources determine efficiency of an activity. All Philosophy focuses in advocating the appropriate attributes of Human Resources.

Attitude towards Consumption:

WES is based on the premises of Maximisation of Consumption at the individual level. Development Paradigm is such as to ensure maximization of Consumption Demand. As against this, ICES advocates the restraints on personal consumption with a view to making the resources available to a large number of individuals whose basic needs could be fulfilled. Today’s consumerism is the root cause for adverse consequences, such as Global Warming, un -sustainability of the development. Sustainable consumption can alone lead sustainability of Development. Sustainable Consumption is advocated in the ICES.

Five Types of Growth should be avoided:

The WES advocates maximisation of Growth Rates of GDP. There is a tendency to measure the rate of progress only in terms of GDP Growth Rates, which is very misleading. The UNDP’s Human Development Report had advocated that the following Five types of Growth of GDP should be avoided: (i) Jobless Growth---Growth, which does not generate additional job opportunities; (ii) Ruthless Growth- Growth, which increases income inequalities; (iii) Future-less Growth --- Growth which generates non-sustainability; (iv) Voice less Growth—Growth, which does not enhance the empowerment of the deprived sections of the society; and finally, (v) Root-less Growth –Growth profile, which destroys the roots of culture, traditional faiths, cherished Values of the society.

The recent tendency to condemn the growth process which implies lower growth rates compared to other countries, has distorted our assessment practices for the development experiences. Moreover, Professor VKRV Rao, the great expert on National Incomes has decried the tendencies to compare the growth rates across countries arguing that such comparisons are not tenable and not advisable.

Gross National Welfare Product:

The ICES advocates the need for measuring the Development Experiences, not in terms of Gross National Materials Products, only, as is the case in the WES, but in terms of a Holistic Framework, as Gross National Welfare Product. Gross National Welfare product= Gross National Materials Product + Gross Values Product. The latter to be measured through parameters of commitment to Values and Moral Standards of the people of the Nation. Gross National Welfare Product is an extension of the approach of Gross National Happiness Index, which is pursued in some countries, such as Bhutan.

Foundations of the Socialistic Principles:

The ICES has laid down the foundations of the Socialistic Principles. Isavaasya Upanishad has laid down that ownership of all resources lies with the Almighty and not with any individual. It advocates that that one should have access only to that much of the Resources that are legitimately required for his existential purposes. The rest should be earmarked for the rest of the society. What a wonderful principle of Socialism, denying even the ownership of excess resources of production!!!

Karl Marx denied only excessive ownership of income or wealth, while ICES denies even ownership of the means of production.

An Integrated View the Environmental Problems:

The WES conceives Environment as consisting of Earth,(prithvi), Water (Up), Fire (Tejas), Air (vaayu), and Ether (AAkaaSa); Pollution of any of these is regarded as the source of environmental Pollution. But the concept of Environment, in ICES, is much wider in scope and content. In addition to the above, the concept of Environment includes Time (kaala), Direction or Space (Dik), Conscience (Atma) and Mind (Manas). If consideration of Timeliness is disturbed then that means that Time as a resource is polluted. If proper concerns for Directions are not shown then, Dik as a factor is polluted. If actions are done against our conscience, then Atma is polluted. If, more than anything else, Mind is polluted, thereby generating perverted Thoughts, then, all the other factors become polluted. Today, we are suffering from the pollution of the Mind. Hence, even if the other five elements of the Nature are freed from pollutions, and if the Mind is polluted, then pollutions of the other factors would be repeated.

Labour Market and Work Culture- ICES’s Holistic View:

The most important distinction between WES and ICES arises due to the approach towards Labour and the Work Culture. While the Labour’s response to work is a function of wages and salaries as also of the threats of punishments (Carrots and Sticks), in the WES, but in the ICES it is a function of labour’s commitment to duties and its aptitude to perform his duties, with a mind-set of dispassionate service to God, without expectations about the Rewards. (NiShkamaKarma Approach). This work culture prescribes performance of one’s duties, without any expectations about the rewards or returns. In is unfortunate that the concept of Nishkaama Karma has been ridiculed as an exploitative Labour Policy. By not recognising the fundamental principles of this approach, we have ended up in a tendency of encouraging the approach of Nishkarma Kaama- i.e. a tendency of expecting to have desires fulfilled without doing any work. By this perversion in thinking our work-culture has been one of laziness, passing on the responsibility to the others, thus not caring for the efficiency in resource use.

Classification of the Assets by the attributes of the owners of the Assets:

The WES has the tendency of classifying the Assets or Capital, by the Rate of Returns on the Assets/Capital. As per the WES, the Asset or Capital is considered as a Non Performing Asset (NPA), when the rate of Return on the Asset is low or negative. But as per the ICES, the Assets are classified as Daivi Sampat/Asuri Sampat,

( Divine Capital/Demonish Capital), depending upon the nature of the attributes of the Owners of the Assets/Capital. Bhagavadgita narrates the list of these attributes in great details.

To give an example, Take for instance, the simple example of a Cell Phone. If it is held by a person with Divine attributes, this asset would be used for communication purposes and hence productive asset. If the owner is having attributes of evil design, he may use it for triggering an explosive device. Then the same asset becomes a destructive Asset.

One can predict about the nature of the assets by examining the attributes of the owners of the assets- as potentially productive or potentially unproductive or non-performing. Thus ICES provides a more meaningful classification of the Assets.

If the owners have tendencies of corruption and evil designs of using the assets for their personal benefits (For example, the software Company of Hyderabad, which became non-performing, due to corrupt practices of its owner),, the asset becomes non-performing.

Life Styles and Resource Balance:

The ICES provides an interesting approach to structural transformation of a Society, which ensures Resource Balance.

The society is classified into a four*four matrix classified by Four Professional categories, as Brahmana (Those engaged in Learning, Knowledge and Research), Kshatriya (Those engaged in defence and police activities), Vaisya (Those engaged in trading, production and commerce activities) and Sudra (Those engaged in Service activities). And Four Life Style Systems, viz. Brahmacharya (Initial situations of life of discipline and Restraint on claim on resources), Grihastha (Married and Household Situation, implying considerable demand for resources), Vanaprastha (Situation of withdrawal from normal consumption Situation implying less than normal demand for resources) and Sanyasa (Total Withdrawal from worldly activities, implying negligible demand for resources).

Ideally, the classifying the population into 4*4 matrix, implied balance between demand and supply of resources.

In my view, what one called as Varnashrama system, was meant for evolving a configuration of the society, which ensured resource demand match with resource supply. The figures in the enclosed Table give the configuration of Population, at a particular time, in the 4*4 matrix. The figures in the bracket give the net Resource Balance created by the population in a cell of the matrix. The configuration is such that there is a resource surplus of 2 units on the whole. It is possible to have a configuration in such a way that total Net Resource Balance could be negative or Zero, which means that there is a Resource Balance.

There is a voluntary shift of the Population in such a way that there is a Resource Balance in the Economy as a whole.

Table

Composition of a population of One Lakh, into professional categories and Life styles

(figures in brackets in hundreds, the rest in Thousands)

Profession/Life Life Style Life Style Life Style Life Style Style_______|______ I________II______III______IV____

1. Education, Health 2 3 2 3 10

And R&D activity: (1) (2) (-1) (4) (18)

2. Defence, Adm.n 5 7 6 2 20

And Governance (-2) (0) (-3) (0) (-28)

3. Production Trade 10 20 8 2 40

And Commerce (-1) (-2) (4) (-1) (-20)

4. Service Activities 8 11 10 1 30

(0) (1) (2) (1) (32)

Total 25 41 26 8 100

(-18) (-23) (32) (11) (2)

(Figures in the Brackets give per capita Net Resources Rate (resource regeneration rate- resource demand rate) of a particular category of the population). The figures in Brackets in the last column and last Row give the Net Resources generated (in Lakhs) by the particular configuration of the Population. The figure in the south-east corner gives the total Net resource situation. In this Table, it is Rs. +2 lakhs as the final Net Resource Situation.

For example, For Profession 1, Net Resources generated =100*2000+200*3000+(-100)*2000+400*3000=1800000 i.e Rs 18 lakhs. Similarly for other Rows, i.e. Professional categories.

Any other configuration of Population, there could be a situation of Negative or Balanced Resource situation. Thus, by manipulating the configuration of the Population, we can derive the desired results on the Net Resource Situation.

In the traditional system, there were continuous shifts in the configuration of the Population by free will and conventions. For example, aged persons and even Kings, moving to Vanaprastha, i.e. Life Style III, voluntarily. Hence Resource Balance was ensured by the shifts in the Population structure, and not by taxes and subsidies.

Thus the Varnashrama System was such that the Resource deficit could be avoided at any cost.

My argument is the Varnashrama System is not equivalent to Caste System, meant for dividing the society. But it was a system for ensuring Resource Balance without Taxes and Subsidies. Unfortunately, it has been reduced to that derogatory status, by those who have not understood its significance in our lives.

An Integrated Model of Human Welfare:

Kautilya’s Artha Sastra gives an Integrated Model of Human Welfare. It runs as follows:

Sukhasya Mulam DharmaH; Dharmasya Mulam ArthaH; Arthasya Mulam Raajyam; Rajyasya mulam indriya JayaH; IndriyaJayasya Mulam VinayaH; Vinayasya Mulam vRuddhopasewa; vRuddhopasevayaH Mulam vijnaanam; vijnaanen aatmaanam vindet.

The first factor for generating Happiness and Welfare is the Value System. Dharma does not mean Religion or Rituals. It is a set of Values and Ethical Norms. For being able to generating a good framework of Values, one needs a good Capital formation. Capital or Investment is not the primary Factor for generating the right kind of Happiness. For generating a good System of Capital Formation, one requires a good political System and Governance System. For realising a rewarding Political and Governance System, one requires Leadership, which is selfless and free from corruptive tendencies. For generating such a System, one would need Leaders who are modest and willing to learn from others. For generating such an attribute, one would need an aptitude of respecting the elders and the knowledgeable. For that aptitude to grow as a natural phenomenon, one would need deeper knowledge of the people and the Nation. It is only through such a Knowledge and Wisdom, One can become truly accomplished and productive.

The above Model is multi-disciplinary, incorporating Economics, Political Science, Ethics and Morality, Social Principles, and Governance.

Choice of a Development Paradigm:

Finally, our message is that we should pursue the prescriptions of the Holistic Principles of Indian Classical Economic Science. Western Economic Science has done the damage of giving stress only on the Materialistic aspect of life, without caring for the value-based spiritual Dimensions of Human Being. This has distorted the path of Development, there by generating forces of Instabilities and sowing the seeds for a sequence of Crisis situations. There is need for a paradigm of sustainable consumption and over-emphasis on Growth alone strategy, would destroy the very fabric of development for Human Welfare.

The subtle need for paradigm shift would require deliberate efforts and conscious initiatives, on the part of the Intellectuals, Politicians, Practitioners and the general public at large. Shall we hope that we would rise to the occasion of New Challenges and seize the opportunity of playing a leadership role, in the present juncture, when we are in search of a New Paradigm of Development?

Finally I would like to thank the organizers of this lecture, for giving me this opportunity. My Thanks are also due to you for your patient hearing. I would like to request you to view the lecture, with a Hamsa-Ksheera Nyaya, by accepting the Milk and discarding the Water in it.

Om ShantiH, ShantiH, ShantiH.

↧

New burial sites and Treasures at Rakhigarhi

July 8, 2018, 5:50 am

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This is an addendum to:

Archaeological and anthropological studies on the Harappan cemetery of Rakhigarhi, India -- Vasant S Shinde et al (2018)

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2018/07/archaeological-and-anthropological.html

See: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/mysteries-of-rakhigarhis-harappan-necropolis-in-burials-from-4000-years-ago-women-both-exalted-condemned-5111253/

New burial sites at Rakhigarhi

T. S. SUBRAMANIAN

1 / 16

Archaeologists and scientists of Deccan College, Pune, examining a full-length skeleton of a male excavated from a Harappan burial site in Rakhigarhi in March.

2 / 16

Pottery photographed in situ from a Harappan burial site.

3 / 16

The skeleton of a woman found with the customary ritual pottery.

4 / 16

A series of burials with pottery excavated from a mound at Rakhigarhi in the midst of a vast expanse of wheat fields.

5 / 16

Pottery which was found with the remains of a skeleton in a burial pit in the Late Harappan site of Chanayan in Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh, in December 2014. These include pots, deep bowls and flasks and might have contained cereals, milk, butter, etc., as part of some religious ceremony for the dead. Photo: ASI

6 / 16

Remains of the Harappan grid-planned settlement at Farmana. The picture shows circular pits with post holes in which the Early Harappans lived.

7 / 16

Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor of Deccan College, Pune, and director of the excavations at Rakhigarhi and Farmana.

8 / 16

Nilesh P. Jadhav, Research Assistant, Deccan College, and co-director of the excavation at Rakhigarhi.

9 / 16

A pear-shaped potter's kiln built of clay and plastered on the inner side with fine silt, at Farmana. Its flat bottom and the sides are burnt red because of prolonged usage. Inside the circular portion of the kiln is a large brick, probably meant to support pots to be fired in it.

10 / 16

A fire altar excavated at Farmana.

11 / 16

A perfectly ribbed pot belonging to the Early Harappan phase excavated from one of the trenches at RGR-6 in Rakhigarhi.

12 / 16

Pottery found in profusion at Rakhigarhi.

13 / 16

A view of the excavated burials which are adjacent to one another at Farmana. All the 70 burials here belong to the Mature Harappan phase.

14 / 16

A broken copper crown with carnelian and faience beads, found at Chandayan village, Uttar Pradesh, in August 2014. Photo: ASI

15 / 16

An array of artefacts, including triangular and circular terracotta cakes, terracotta figurines, chert blades and beads made of semi-precious stones, found in RGR-4 and RGR-6 at Rakhigarhi.

16 / 16

A seal with the carving of a tiger and the impression of a similar one on a "terracotta sealing". Such seals were used for trade.

https://www.frontline.in/arts-and-culture/article7197274.ece

Rakhigarhi's treasures

1 / 31

Excavation in the trenches on mound number four (RGR-4) at the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi. Beyond it lies the mound RGR-2.

2 / 31

Archaeology students of Deccan College, Pune, who were part of the excavation team.

3 / 31

Professor Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor/Director, Deccan College, with a student, Pranjali Waghmere, in a trench.

4 / 31

Students of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, and Deccan College sieving the soil for artefacts.

5 / 31

A drainage structure, a washing platform (top) and other structures of a residential complex unearthed in RGR-4. This mound could have housed the citadel where the ruling elite lived.

6 / 31

Mound number nine, discovered by the Deccan College team in January 2014. This is about 20 hectares in size, but half of it has been destroyed for farming. The presence of burnt clay clots and circular furnaces here indicates that this mound might have been the industrial area of the Harappan site at Rakhigarhi.

7 / 31

A three-centimetre seal with the Harappan script. It has no engraving of any animal motif.

8 / 31

The soak jar and bathing platform of a residence of the mature Harappan period (2600-1900 B.C.)

9 / 31

A granary built of mud bricks. It has seven small chambers, the walls of which are lined with lime and decomposed grass to absorb moisture and ward off insects.

10 / 31

Broken lids, miniature pottery, perforated jars and other artefacts excavated from RGR-4 between January and April 2014.

11 / 31

Ritual pottery excavated from a symbolic burial at Rakhigarhi.

12 / 31

Beautifully painted potsherds found in the trenches in RGR-4.

13 / 31

Terracotta artefacts such as animal figurines, bangles, cakes and lids, and beads made out of carnelian, lapis lazuli and agate unearthed from RGR-4.

14 / 31

A concrete shed for buffaloes built on top of RGR-4, which the ASI had fenced off as a protected area.

15 / 31

A mechanised ploughshare used by a wheat field owner to dig up mud to make bricks. In the process, many Harappan burials got destroyed. Adjacent to the ploughshare is the symbolic Harappan burial excavated by the Deccan College team, which yielded ritual pottery.

16 / 31

Sheep being herded by a shepherd after grazing on mound three (RGR-3). A dargah sits on top of this fenced-off mound.

17 / 31

A section of the wall that would have surrounded the residential complex in RGR-4. Exposed to the vagaries of nature, it is now eroded, and very few of the original mud bricks remain. Pigeons and parakeets nest in its niches. The wall belongs to the mature Harappan period, circa 2600-1900 B.C.

18 / 31

Life goes on as usual in Rakhigarhi. An old woman sweeps the lane in front of her house.

19 / 31

Ovens used today by the villagers are similar to the ones Harappans used more than 4,500 years ago.

20 / 31

Schoolchildren of Rakhigarhi.

21 / 31

A woman making cow dung cakes, which are used as cooking fuel. Heaps of them arranged in pyramidal shapes dot the protected mound of RGR-4

22 / 31

Mound number two (RGR-2), which was excavated by Amarendra Nath of the Archaeological Survey of India between 1997 and 2000.

23 / 31

At a pond situated at the edge of the village. Buffaloes and cows roam the lanes and alleys of Rakhigarhi.

24 / 31

Elderly residents of a village, on the way to Rakhigarhi.

25 / 31

A Rakhigarhi resident surveys RGR-2, which has a periphery dotted with houses. This makes it difficult to excavate the site completely.

26 / 31

Wheat fields in Rakhigarhi.

27 / 31

Beads made out of various semi-precious stones.

28 / 31

Wazir Chand Saroe with the terracotta figurine of a bull, whose head can be separated and manipulated by a string passing through the neck and the head.

29 / 31

Painted potsherds of the mature Harappan period.

30 / 31

Terracotta figurines of various animals from Wazir Chand Saroe's collection.

31 / 31

Khyali Ram Saroe showing a Harappan brick with the footprints of an animal on it.

https://www.frontline.in/arts-and-culture/heritage/article6043732.ece

↧

Svastika Indus Script Hypertext signifies pewter, zinc on wealth accounting ledgers

July 8, 2018, 8:02 am

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ttps://tinyurl.com/ya2wp86w

Metawork ledgers. Tiger with open mouth is an Indus Script hypertext व्यो-कार, व्योकरः bogāṟa 'blacksmith' dhollu 'drummer' dul 'metal casting' sattuva 'svastika glyph' sattuva'pewter, zinc' panca 'five' panja 'kiln, smelter' kola 'tiger' kolhe 'smelter' kol 'working in iron'Ta. karaṭi, karaṭi-ppaṟai, karaṭikai a kind of drum (said to sound like a bear, karaṭi). Ka. karaḍi, karaḍe an oblong drum beaten on both sides, a sort of double drum. / Cf. Skt. karaṭa- a kind of drum. (DEDR 1264) rebus: karaḍā खरडें 'daybook, wealth-accounting ledger करडा [karaḍā] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. (Marathi)

↧

Jain āyāgapaṭa from Kankali Tila, Mathura is Indus Script Hypertext metalwork catalogue, wealth accounting ledger

July 8, 2018, 5:50 pm

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https://tinyurl.com/y7rgmufu
भारतीय वास्तुकला(Wonderful Indian Architecture)‏ @wiavastukala 8 hours ago
Jain āyāgapaṭa from Kankali Tila, Mathura Dated: ~1st century CE Whole relief is carved in a square frame much like a Mandala. Note spiral Svastika pattern. Its fish-tailed wing is disgorging lotus. Tirthankara is depicted at the centre of Mandala flanked by 4 trishula(?).
(Note by S. Kalyanaraman: Tirthankara is flanked by 4 śrivatsa hypertexts which are composed of fish-fins)

The central orthograph motif which recurs on the āyāgapaṭa is the fish-fin which is an Indus Script hypertext. Four śrivatsa hypertexts around Tirthankara.

A pair of fish-fins with a palm fond on either end

tāḷa 'palm frond' rebus: ḍhāḷako 'large ingot'

khambhaṛā 'fish-fin rebus: kammaṭa 'mint, coiner, coinage'.

dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting' PLUS ayo 'fish' rebus: aya 'iron' ayas 'alloy metal'

Thus, together, the hypertext Meluhha rebus message is: mint for alloy metal ingots. The expression used in Mahavamsa is: Mahavamsa, XXV, 28, ayo-kammata-dvara, "gate for iron mint " (of a city), as shown on Sanchi and Bharhut torana-s.

Four fish-fins disgorge lotus hieroglyph; four associated hypertexts are: 1. pair of fishes; 2. portable furnace; 3. svastika; 4. molluscs+fish+tying rope:

molluscs + fish+ tying rope

svastika

Portable furnace

Pair of fishes + disgorged lotus + fish-fin + drop (oval- or lozenge-shaped ingot)

Variant orthograph on āyāgapaṭa-s

Comparable hypertext orthographs from Begram ivories

Hieroglyph on a Begram ivory plaque: a pair of molluscs tied with a chisel.

Hackin 1954, p.169, figs.18 Ivory? Size: 10.6 x 15.8 x 0.4 cm Begram rectangular plaque depicting three palmettos with curled-up ends, held together by rings made up of lotus petals. Between the palmettos elongated fruit is shown . This scene is bordered by a band depicting a series of four-leaved flowers set in a square frame. In this hieroglyhphic multiplex, there are three distinct orthographic components:

Mollusc 1. mollusc (snail) pair depicted by a pair of antithetical S curved lines: sã̄khī Rebus: sã̄kh ʻconch-shell-cutterʼ
Palmetto or Spathe 2. spathe of a palm or palmetto: sippī f. ʻspathe of date palmʼ Rebus: sippi 'artificer, craftsman'. It could also be seen as a chisel:śaṅkula Rebus: sangin 'shell-cutter'.
Tied together, cord 3. a thread or cord that ties the mollusc pair and spath in the centre together into a composite orthographic unit. dām ʻropeʼ Rebus 1: dhā̆vaḍ 'smelter' Rebus 2: dhamma'dharma' dham̄a ʻemployment in the royal administrationʼ.

khambhaṛā 'fish-fin rebus: kammaṭa'mint, coiner, coinage'.

dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting' PLUS ayo'fish' rebus: aya 'iron'ayas'alloy metal'

mū̃h 'ingot' (Santali) mũhã̄ = the quantity of iron produced at one time in a native smelting furnace of the Kolhes; iron produced by the Kolhes and formed like a four-cornered piece a little pointed at each end; mūhā mẽṛhẽt = iron smelted by the Kolhes and formed into an equilateral lump a little pointed at each of four ends; kolhe tehen mẽṛhẽt ko mūhā akata = the Kolhes have to-day produced pig iron (Santali.lex.) kaula mengro ‘blacksmith’ (Gypsy) mleccha-mukha (Skt.) = milakkhu ‘copper’ (Pali) The Sanskrit loss mleccha-mukha should literally mean: copper-ingot absorbing the Santali gloss, mũh, as a suffix.

kamaṭamu, kammaṭamu = portable furnace for melting precious metals (Te.) Rebus: kammaṭīḍu = a goldsmith, a silversmith (Te.) kampaṭṭam coinage coin (Ta.); kammaṭṭam kammiṭṭam coinage, mint (Ma.); kammaṭa id.; kammaṭi a coiner (Ka.)(DEDR 1236)

Svastika hieroglyph: sattva 'svastika' glyph సత్తుతపెల a vessel made of pewter

त्रपुधातुविशेषनिर्मितम् Glosses for zinc are: sattu (Tamil), satta, sattva (Kannada) jasth जसथ् त्रपु m. (sg. dat. jastas ज्तस), zinc, spelter; pewter; zasath ्ज़स््थ््or zasuth ज़सुथ्।रप m. (sg. dat. zastas ुज़्तस),् zinc, spelter, pewter (cf. Hindī jast). jastuvu; ।रपू्भवः adj. (f. jastüvü), made of zinc or pewter (Kashmiri).

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Scientists create recording of a monkey speaking English. A tool to detect PIE.

July 9, 2018, 7:55 pm

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CkUl5WbTKk (0:41) Scientists create recording of a monkey speaking English

The Telegraph

Published on Dec 9, 2016

A valuable resource for those in search of Proto-Indo-European

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A Note of Objection on the film “Searching For Saraswati” -- D.K.Hari & D.K.Hema Hari (July 10, 2018)

July 9, 2018, 11:39 pm

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https://tinyurl.com/y87mudy2

Superb rebuttal marshalling an impressive body of evidence. This rebuttal must reach NYT and The Hindu. Hope NYT/The Hindu see reasoned argument in the rebuttal and express their regrets for a hastily drawn Op-ed conclusion. No wonder, Pres. Trump calls NYT Fake News. It is time NYT and The Hindu owe a public apology to their readers

S. Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Center

A Note of Objection on the film “Searching For Saraswati”

From D.K.Hari and D.K.Hema Hari, Bharath Gyan

Background This note expresses objection to the comments made, conclusions drawn and opinions expressed through the New York Times commissioned, 20 minute, documentary film “Searching For Saraswati”, as published in the article “Going with a Mythical Flow”, in The Hindu, dated Sunday, July 8, 2018, namely,

 that, the river Sarasvati is a “mythical” river that had never existed,  as there has been no proper and scientific research done that can prove its existence  and hence belief in its identity is a sign of unreason, blind faith and religious propaganda  as well as efforts to revive it must necessarily stem from a hidden, religious, commercial and political agenda.

This note has been drafted to highlight the tenuous and flawed nature of the above messages conveyed by the film makers though this film and their published interview comments, as well as to place the right perspective one has to take with regards to the River Sarasvati.

The Flaws This film, “Searching for Saraswati” as reported in the article, is based on a 3 week shooting done in 2 villages –

1. Mughalwali 2. Adi Badri.

Looking at the approach taken for this “search”, brings to fore the following incongruity.

How can one search for

 a wide and long river,  a mountain to ocean going river,  a mighty river that had flowed in all its magnificence,  with an average width of about 6 to 8 kms or even more,

with research from

 a small sample of 2 villages  by talking to a few villagers, politicians and local officials alone  without taking into account any of the research published so far?

There seems to be

1. Flaw in methodology – Range of respondents in the survey done, besides locals, should ideally have spanned across a spectrum of experts from fields such as science, arts, humanities, archaeology, hydrology, geology, ecology, literature, administration etc. 2. Flaw in survey sample - Sample size of 2 villages is too small and woefully inadequate for such a long mountain to ocean going river and especially one that dried up more than 4000 years ago.

From these flaws seems to stem the bias in the conclusions drawn and opinions made in the said film, as reported in the article.

Or perhaps, has the approach in this film been taken to specifically fit an already preformed, unfounded, biased opinion?

The Objection The film, according to the report, is centred around the faith of the villagers in looking forward to the flow of the erstwhile Sarasvati river. However from the discussion of the film and comments of the filmmakers as mentioned in this report, one can clearly see

1. a scorn for the heritage of India which has been dubbed as “ancient unverified mythology”. 2. a holier than thou attitude when the well founded belief and vision of most of the villagers in the 2 villages is disregarded and dubbed instead as villages “hypnotized by blind faith”. 3. a desperate attempt to paint everyone in those villages, in administration, in politics and in religion as being wrong and a stumbling block for “livelihood and progressive scientific thought” since all these people’s belief and work towards reviving a scientifically traced and mapped, dried up river goes contradictory to the filmmakers’ preconceived, baseless conclusion that the river was a myth. 4. a cynicism directed at the hopes of many Indians, especially the same villagers, that the dried up river can be restored and flow again but covered as a “courageous pursuit of truth” by a “sympathetic lens”. 5. an underlying prejudiced intention of the filmmakers in wanting to propagate a perception that the effort to prove the historicity of the river Sarasvati and to trace and revive it, is necessarily arising out of hidden agendas of many since in their opinion, “there is no river ofcourse”. 6. a sweeping nonchalance that any “Indian” effort to showcase the proven, worldwide known and well accepted facts of India’s success in various disciplines in the past, is but part of a larger, religion based propaganda and the scientifically undertaken efforts to trace and revive a “river” called Sarasvati which had been one of the lifelines of ancient India’s prosperity are also “part of such a propaganda, disguised as a historical fact”.

2. One can clearly see the craftiness with which, in a single sweep of 20 minutes, using the film makers’ prejudiced opinions of a political party, all the present day research and efforts to revive the river have been debunked along with the glory of ancient India, by unilaterally, irrationally and blindly declaring that the river is “mythical” and had never existed just like everything else that this civilization claims it had in the past, right from a scientific temper, technological achievements and a glorious heritage.

3. Makes one wonder, who really has a misplaced “blind faith” that India had “nothing” in the past?

4. What comes through from their comments is an obsession to cling to a view that anything positive in the history and glory of India has to be untrue and even if true, “is a single, narrow version of history” which in their opinion is “dangerous” to democracy.

5. Makes one wonder as to what is really more dangerous to a nation – damning it based on biased, unfounded views or fabricating a story of danger to its democracy?

6. From their comments, one gets to see how their film has been founded and clouded by the filmmakers’ opinion of other earlier, unconnected events and comments involving just one political party.

7. If such casual, petty opinions are allowed to be funded, filmed and screened, it makes one wonder about the quality and intention behind New York Times’ Op Doc project?

8. Makes one wonder if this is a film to really report on the efforts towards searching and reviving river Sarasvati or to deceitfully gain an opportunity and a media to carry out a proxy political and religious war?

9. Makes one wonder as to who really has hidden agendas?

10. Such a portrayal of a subject which is fundamental to the identity and roots of the billion plus Indians, irrespective of their present faiths, especially in International forums, can cost this nation dearly in terms of

11. 1. its cultural fabric 2. its image in the sphere of research and preservation of heritage as well as 3. the progress that can be made in the regions around this belt.

12. Such a portrayal of this subject, the river Sarasvati, is objectionable as it reduces the identity, history and root of every individual Indian to a “myth”, without giving sufficient grounds for the same.

A Researched Contention The unanimous faith of the villagers in the erstwhile existence of the river, criticized by the filmmakers as “blind faith”, stems from the fact that there indeed was a Sarasvati river, a mighty river at that, flowing in those parts of the land, as recently as about 4800 years ago.

How can one say this emphatically?

Evidence for River Sarasvati Drying Up In the Mahabharata text, which is dated to be about 5100 years ago, there is clear mention of the then flowing Sarasvati river. In the texts that immediately succeed the Mahabharata, there is mention of a series of Bhukampa, earthquakes, which led to the drying up of this river Sarasvati.

Adi Badri is key to the Sarasvati river. For, it is at Adi Badri that the Sarasvati river entered the plains from the Shivalik hills, just like how the Ganga river enters the plains from the hills, at Haridwar.

It is at Adi Badri too, that a portion of the Shivalik range hills slid because of the earthquake that occurred 4800 years ago. All these tectonic movements blocked the arterial path of the river.

Due to the consequence of the same series of earthquakes, there also developed a tear in the Himalaya and a tributary of the Sarasvati river, then known as Tamasa, turned direction to the South East and joined the then flowing Yamuna river to become a larger Yamuna. This can be seen in the satellite map of the Yamuna tear through which the Yamuna river flows now.

So the waters of the Tamasa, which were flowing into the Sarasvati and eventually draining into the Arabian Sea, now turned direction South East through the Yamuna tear and flowed into the Bay of Bengal instead, by joining Yamuna and later Ganga.

The Sarasvati in the Vedic texts had one more tributary called Shutudru. During the same earthquakes, due to which the gradient of the land turned westwards, Shutudru took a westward turn near the city of Ropar. This river is now known as Sutluj.

Thus, with the arterial path of the river Sarasvati getting blocked by hill slide and its 2 main tributaries also flowing away, one to the east and one to west, to join other rivers, the once mighty Sarasvati dried up.

Path of River Sarasvati This once, mighty Sarasvati river had flowed almost parallel to the east of the Indus / Sindhu river through Haryana, Rajasthan and drained in the Rann of Kutch. The Rann of Kutch which is a marshy land, is looked at as an unfinished delta of the Sarasvati river.

Near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, the erstwhile Sarasvati river was a mighty river 10 to 11 kms wide as can be seen in the linear trough stretching in a northeast – southwesterly direction.

The satellite map of ISRO also clearly shows a subterranean river along the same linear path which is the trough now on the ground.

Evidences For River Sarasvati

In Thar In Rajasthan, during the Pokhran I and Pokhran II atomic tests in the Thar desert, when they were looking to drill deep dry shafts, they kept encountering perennial flow of Himalayan waters as a subterranean flow instead. Through considered research they came to the conclusion that it was the subterranean flow of the erstwhile Sarasvati river.

At Jaisalmer Near Jaisalmer, on two ends of the trough we find a series of boating berths on either side of the trough, about 8 to 10 kms apart. Why would there be a series of boating berths on either side of a dry trough of sand?

It obviously implies that there was such a wide river and the boating berths on either side ensured connectivity between its 2 banks. A telling point indeed!

In Pathan The Rani ki Vav in Pathan in Gujarat is a exquisite marvel of architecture. It is a stepwell built in a desert like place. Where does such a big Vav get its water from?

If we trudge a couple of kms along its feeder canals we come to a huge semi-circular, L shaped manmade tank. If we trudge further another km, we find that this in turns draws water from the Sarasvati river bed. The trough of the bed is clearly visible there with farming happening there. It is about 6 to 7 kms wide.

This Rani ki Vav was constructed about 1000 years ago, which shows that even 1000 years ago, there was regular flow of water in this river’s network, for it to be tapped through an exquisitely designed canal.

From Traveller Accounts When Albiruni had visited India about 1000 years ago, he speaks about the Sarasvati river in his book Kitab ul Hind, calling it Sarsuti and the region itself as Sarsuti.

When Ibn Batuta came here 700 years ago, he is amazed to see sugarcane being grown in the Thar desert in the trough of sand. We all know that sugarcane is a crop that needs copious amounts of water. In this region without rains, this could not have been possible unless there was a subterranean flow of water nourishing the sugarcane crop. Of all the deserts in the world, it is the Thar desert which is most populated both with humans and livestock. This has come about due to the subterranean water flow of the Sarasvati river.

Century Long Archaeological Findings Right from 1881, European archaeologists such as Marius Fintane, R.D.Oldham, C.F.Oldham, Auriel Stein etc. and later, their Indian and Pakistani counterparts such as Dr.B.B.Lal, Dr.Ahmad Hasan Dani, R.S.Bisht, Dr.K.S.Valdiya etc. have consistently, for a century and more identified and traced its path on the map.

All these archaeological excavations have uncovered as many as close to 2000 sites along the banks of the Sarasvati river, corresponding to a timeframe from 5000 years ago, when the river was indeed flowing as per the Mahabharata texts.

Scores of books based on detailed, authentic research too have been published in the last century.

Continuous Path From Continuous Maps If a river was flowing, then it must be on the ground, local maps too. For the last century and more, right from Adi Badri to the Arabian Sea, the Sarasvati river bed has found place in village map after village map, called the Patwari maps. These Patwari maps are the basic unit for forming the map of India. So they are an important, legal document.

When these individual maps are joined, one is able to see the flow of the entire river. This shows that the river bed, even though dry, has existed village after village after village on the ground and is known to the locals, so.

Literary Evidences In literature, both the historical legends of India, the Itihasa, Ramayana and Mahabharata, speak about the Sarasvati river repeatedly.

During Ramayana period, 7100 years ago, Bharata crosses the Sarasvati river when he returns from his grandfather’s house in Kekeya.

In Mahabharata, the Kurukshetra battle takes place on the banks of the Sarasvati river, 5100 years ago.

In Veda too, last recompiled 5100 years ago, Sarasvati river finds mention about 72 times.

Right Faith and Rightful Aspiration Given so many consistent evidences through the ages, is it any wonder that the local people along the banks of this erstwhile river have been nurturing faith all these years that the river existed and can be made to flow again.

It is also little wonder that the Haryana Government and other state and central Governments too are efforting to revive this ancient river so that it can bring back greenery to this belt.

The very word Haryana is closely associated with Haryali, the greenery that the Sarasvati river had once bestowed on this land.

Credentials To Comment Who are we to raise objection and comment on this subject?

Identity Firstly, we are Indians who are proud of our antiquity and rich heritage which we have found to be founded on scientific reasoning based on data found locally and globally.

Second, we are also concerned Indians who have taken 20 long years of intense efforts to collate and analyse data, evidences and myths regarding the Indian civilization from a scientific, logical, rational, interdisciplinary and integrated perspective and have published the findings in 27 books on the same, 4 documentary films of 1 hour duration each, over 150 short films, 500 plus articles and many eBooks, besides giving over 300 public talks over the last 2 decades.

Agenda Our efforts to demystify and trace Sarasvati river and help with its revival has not stemmed from any deceit nor any hidden religious, political or commercial agenda.

Our agenda very clearly has been to trace the roots of India, her heritage and assess rationally, her disregarded claim to knowledge, fame and glory, which we have found to be valid indeed based on facts, not just from India but from across the world.

Data With regards to the facts based on which we firmly believe in the glorious past of India and capacity for a glorious future too, further details can be had from our website www.bharathgyan.com.

With regards to this subject, “Sarasvati River” specifically, we have an ebook called “Sarasvati River Found” on the same website.

In our book Historical Krishna, volume 2, #FootprintsOfKrishna, we have dealt with the flow and evidences of this river.

In one of the books in our Autobiography of India series, namely, “Breaking The Myths, volume 1, About Identity,” we have dealt with how the identity of the river Sarasvati has been discussed from various aspects and by various peoples.

“Sarasvati River Found”, our 1 hour documentary film is in the making as also our detailed book on the Sarasvati River.

Spirit Behind This Note Sarasvati river is not only key to the history of India but is also critical to developments in world history and demography. With a 5000 year long time window since her drying up, this river provides the best platform to study migrations arising out of natural disasters and socio-anthropological issues that can arise therefrom.

In present times, the revival of Sarasvati river holds the key to rapid development of the presently dry belts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Any effort to thwart this by painting it in a religious or political colour will only prove to be detrimental to the nation, to not just this generation but for generations to come.

Based on all the above, as Indians and in the spirit of ensuring that the right information about our civilization gets propagated in local and international forums and to enable people to take well informed and right decisions, we have taken the effort to put out this note, in public forum.

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New Grain Theory. Rice domestication in India, 7th millennium BCE

July 10, 2018, 12:45 am

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https://tinyurl.com/ybupkz38

06 July 2018
New Grain Theory

New Grain Theory (Illustration: Saurabh Singh)

There are signs that the Harappans consumed rice

There are signs that the Harappans consumed rice (Photo: Alamy)
Biswajeet Thakur

Biswajeet Thakur (Photo: Pawan Kumar)

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/science/new-grain-theory

Lhendup G Bhutia

Saurabh Singh

Fresh evidence shows how India pipped China to rice cultivation about nine millennia ago

BANDANA SAMANT LOOKED through a powerful microscope at a sample of ancient dinosaur faeces to find something remarkable. This was a few years ago. Samant, a bespectacled professor at Nagpur University, was part of a team of international researchers that was exploring the excreta of dinosaurs, excavated a few kilometres away from a tiny village in Maharashtra, to put together the dietary habits of these giant reptiles. There in the dung, from a species identified as Titanosaurus, considered to be among the largest dinosaurs, visible through the microscope, was evidence of digested rice.

For several years, Pisdura, the tiny village a few kilometres from Nagpur, has thrown up a vast number of dinosaur fossils, eggs and bones. But what has been most striking here is the surfeit of coprolites or dinosaur excreta among them. It has been theorised that lava from volcanoes in this part of India flowed over dinosaur bodies, bones and their excreta for thousands of years, fossilised them, and has now turned this village into such an important palaeontology site.

Analysing the dung from Pisdura, researchers had already established that dinosaurs were picky eaters: the dung contained far less plant residue than the fossilised plant residues in nearby sediments, and closer examination revealed that the beasts, at least in these parts, preferred soft plant tissue instead of the hard and woody. Also, that they consumed grass, which was interesting because grass has long been considered a relatively young evolutionary group but this discovery pushes its origin back to at least 65 million years ago. And now, Samant and her team had discovered that dinosaurs also ate wild rice. “All this is very controversial. Most people believed wild rice probably emerged 25 million years ago in eastern Asia. But we had found something very, very different,” she says. “Nobody had looked at whether grass or rice was consumed by dinosaurs. Because grass is believed to have emerged long after dinosaurs vanished.”

Here, however, was wild rice as microscopic silica bodies in a 65-million-year-old remnant of dinosaur excreta, proof not just that wild rice was around back then, but also part of the diet of fussy dinosaurs. Note that 65 million years ago, India was not a part of Asia. It was a large island still south of the equator, having just broken off from modern-day Madagascar and moving northward to eventually collide into the landmass that we now know as Asia. Could it be that wild rice did not originate in eastern Asia, as previously believed, but that it was already growing on the drifting land mass now called the Indian Subcontinent, and that after its collision into the Asian land mass, rice and other types of grasses dispersed from here to the rest of the continent? For palaeobotanists and scientists trying to trace the origins of rice, such a possibility is the equivalent of a wet dream.

The origin of rice, both as a wild plant and domesticated crop, is hidden in a fog of obscurity. We do not know with certainty when it first emerged as a wild plant, and, more crucially, when and where exactly it was first planted and grown by humans. The crop has been scrutinised by archaeologists, researchers and genetic scientists for years, all of who have offered a wide variety of claims and counter-claims, but no theory has yet come close to offering absolute clarity.

The interest is understandable. Rice is arguably one of the most important crops in human evolutionary history. This single variety of grain transformed hunter-gatherers into agricultural farmers in Asia. It led to the earliest urban centres; it transformed landscapes. Wherever might be the location of its first domestication, the crop spread across the world. It travelled to Persia, Mesopotamia and Turkestan. It travelled with Arab caravans to Egypt, Morocco, Spain and the rest of Europe, and from there, onboard ships to European colonies in Africa. And from Africa, it is believed, it made its way to America. When Alexander the Great invaded India in the fourth century BCE, some say, one of the prized possessions he carried back with him was rice.

Finding the birthplace of this crop isn’t just an academic pursuit. It is also a matter of pride. As Jennifer Bates, an archaeobotanist specialising in South Asian archaeology, and Cameron Petrie, a researcher specialising on the archaeology of India, Pakistan and Iran, both from the Department of Archaeology in Cambridge, say, where and when rice was first domesticated ‘is a huge question, and difficult to answer simply’. ‘Questions surrounding whether modern rice stemmed from a single origin... to multiple origins... have relied heavily on genetic evidence,’ they say over email. ‘However, due to the hybridizing nature of rice and its subsequent genetic complexities, this picture remains difficult to resolve...’

The general consensus currently points to a place somewhere either in modern-day China or India between 8,200-13,500 years ago where rice or Oryza sativawas first domesticated from wild grass. There is another cultivated species, Oryza glaberrima, but that was grown much later in West Africa. Some have posited other places as the birthplace of rice, like one study that claimed to have found evidence of 15,000-year-old burnt rice grains in South Korea, but these have been viewed with scepticism.

Between India and China, the latter has been the favourite, with several researchers contending that rice agriculture began in the lower stretches of the Yangtze River Valley in the country’s east. Some have suggested the Pearl River Valley in southern China could be another site. Others have argued that Oryza sativa, and both its two main subspecies, japonica, the short-grained rice prevalent in the subtropical and temperate regions of East Asia, and indica, the long-grained variety common in tropical regions like India, came from a single domestication event that occurred between 8,200 and 13,500 years ago along the Yangtze river. Others have argued that it happened multiple times and independent of each other both in China and India. A few point the other way around, arguing that rice was first grown in India, before it made its way to China.

Genetic studies have so far not been able to settle the debate. Some studies on the subspecies indica and japonica have found that the two are more closely related to distinct wild varieties than they are to each other, pointing to two separate domestication events, the japonica in China and the indica in India. Other genetic studies have pointed to a shared history. In 2006, an article in Nature mentions a study identified a gene variation, sh4, in both japonica and indicasubspecies of domesticated rice that prevents rice grains from shattering. Other papers have found similar such gene mutations, and these have often been found to have arisen in an ancestor of japonica rice first before showing up in indica. Have all modern rice subspecies thus emerged from a single domestication event? Or, were there many such events with no link to each other?

There are signs that the Harappans consumed rice. Impressions of its grains have been observed in artefacts dug up by archaeologists at ancient Indus Valley sites

The journal Current Sciencerecently published a study conducted by three researchers from Lucknow’s Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences that finds far older dates of rice cultivation than any discovered in China. According to the study, rice was being cultivated in India as far back as 9,250 years ago. The evidence was found in the form of diatoms—unicellular micro-organisms that usually occur in water-bodies and which when present in a paddy field, for instance, carry a unique signature of that history. The diatoms were discovered close to an archaeological site that in the past has thrown up, according to the researchers who found it, evidence of charred rice grains close to 8,500 years old.

The current evidence, 9,250-year-old diatoms, however, was found at the bed of a lake. The archaeological site close to it is Lahuradewa in the Sant Kabir Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. But how do diatoms get deposited in lake-bed sediments? According to Biswajeet Thakur, who along with Anju Saxena and Inderbir Singh made the discovery, the shores of the lake were probably used to grow crops. During the monsoons, they argue, the water body would probably expand and paddy would be transplanted to marshy patches. After the end of the monsoon, once those margins dried, the crop would be harvested. “But when there would be floods (during the monsoons), sediments along with microcharcoal, rice phytolith and paddy field diatoms would be transported into the deeper part of the lake,” he says.

AS THAKUR EXPLAINS, diatoms are usually of four major types: those that occur in paddy fields (paddy field diatoms), those caused by high pollution (anthropogenic diatoms), those that form in free-floating water bodies, like lakes (planktic), and those that live on sediment surfaces (benthic diatoms). Thakur and his colleagues dug a 2.8-metre deep trench in the eastern part of the lake, collecting samples from different depths for radiocarbon dating, each progressive depth signifying an earlier time period. At the depth that was equivalent to about 9,250 years earlier, Thakur says, a large number of paddy field diatoms started showing up. “There was also human activity near the lake leading to an organic pollution of lake water during this period. Because we also begin to notice anthropogenic diatoms (caused by pollution) flourishing and increasing,” he says, indicating that cultivation might have been occurring leading to the pollution.

Thakur has been working on diatoms for the last 12 years. He is interested in using diatoms to study the period around 11,000 years ago in India, he says, when early farming practices probably started being adopted around fertile river banks, like the Ganga’s. “We know very little about this period. Were there settlements in India as early as others? Were there migrants who settled into these parts?” he asks. “We are beginning to find all sorts of things around this time in these parts—evidence of things like anthropogenic activity in the form of micro-charcoals, evidence of (agricultural) activities like slash-burning (where forest land is cleared and vegetation burned to provide land for agriculture) about 15,000 years old in the Gangetic plains.”

According to Thakur, there is now sufficient proof to believe that rice domestication took place in India independently, and, as his study suggests, before its cultivation elsewhere. “We have the oldest dates. I think there is a big chance that it was first domesticated here,” he says.

Thakur points to the 2008 study where nearly 8,500-year-old charred rice grains from Lahuradewa were found to buttress his study’s findings. Then, the grains were claimed to have been of a domesticated variety. Other researchers are not fully convinced, pointing out that the grain length, width and thickness ratios of these grains significantly overlap with those of wild grains, and that the findings probably point to the beginnings of a long history of wild rice cultivation.

Some researchers are sceptical about Thakur’s latest findings. ‘This paper talks about evidence for paddy at Lahuradewa, but it is not clear what they have found. The argument hinges on the microfossil data (diatoms and phytoliths) from cores taken at the edge of a lake, but it is not clear that it is possible to establish paddy from diatoms alone in lake contexts, or whether the phytoliths are from domesticated rice,’ Bates and Petrie say. ‘This paper does, however, represent a fascinating addition to the prehistory of rice in South Asia.’

Thus if the latest findings from the lake and even the nearly 8,500-year-old charred rice grains discovered at Lahuradewa point not towards domesticated rice but simply to the exploitation of wild rice, the only conclusive evidence we have so far of the earliest dates of cultivated rice in India is from the Gangetic region of Mahagara in UP, where proof of such rice crops dating back to 1800 BCE have been found.

What then of the intervening period, which happens to be that of the Indus Valley Civilisation? Were their meals as sophisticated as the rest of their civilisation? Did rice, which had surely been domesticated by then—in China if not India—figure in their diet?

Over the years, there has been significant evidence which indicates that rice was consumed by Harappans. Impressions of rice grains have been observed, for instance, in pottery at sites in Gujarat and Rajasthan and actual rice grains have also been recovered from some sites. But these have not been securely dated, and the chronology presented in the reports, as researchers point out, is opaque.

Biswajeet Thakur has studied ancient microbes to argue for the rice crop's Indian origin

Thus a consensus seems to have developed which argues that either rice was available as a crop in the Indus Valley region but it was unimportant and not adopted, and its importance rose probably only towards the Late Harappan period in 1900 BCE (this is also around the speculated time when japonica is said to have arrived from China), or that the role of rice changed from a secondary crop in the late Mature Harappan (2600-1900 BCE) to become a staple either in the Late Harappan periods (1900-1300 BCE), or the period immediately after.

But Bates and Petrie, who have been studying the role of rice in the Indus Valley period, have found something else entirely. According to them, far from being a scarce resource, rice was present in Early, Mature and Late Harappan phases and in large proportions relative to other popular cereals. They argue that rice was one of the staple crops and part of a complex multi-cropping strategy. The two found evidence for a different domestication process here, likely based on the wild species Oryza nivara leading to the local development of a mix of ‘wetland’ and ‘dryland’ agriculture.

BATES AND PETRIE point to a 2017 study conducted by JY Choi on the genetics of indica, aus and japonica subspecies that argued for a single domestication event but with gene flow into multiple other populations of wild rice species, resulting in what they term a multiple origin, single domestication model. ‘Their model states that domestication in its full sense only occurred in japonica rice, from wild rufipogon, starting in China... and this resulted in later introgressive hybridisation with populations of what they term ‘proto-indica’ and ‘proto-aus’. (Introgressive hybridisation is the movement of a gene from one species into gene flow of another by repeated backcrossing of an inter-specific hybrid with one of its parent species.) These ‘proto’ species resulted from wild populations of other rice species such as nivara in India. The hybridisation led to gene flow in domestication alleles into proto-indica... and proto-aus... and to full domestication of these rice species,’ the two say. ‘(Dorian) Fuller (an archaeobotanist)… has similarly argued that the ‘independent rice tradition in north India… never… proceeded on its own to full domestication’.... These findings demonstrate the ongoing process of domestication, rather than the final stages of domestication, suggesting that the proto- indica hypothesis, demonstrating that rice was undergoing a local domestication process... and was at least semi-domesticated before japonica arrived… and hybridised with the local proto-indica to make rice as we know it today.’

What makes matters interesting is the possibility that much of early rice cultivation in South Asia centred around the wild Oryza nivara. This species is different from the Chinese wild rice, rufipogon. While rufipogon is a grass that grows only in permanently wet soil, often far from shore, and produces less seed in unpredictable yields from year to year, nivara is an annual grass of seasonally monsoon-inundated ponds, which produces high yields with little need for interference or manipulation of the environment or plant. It could thus be effectively exploited in its wild state, discouraging intensive cultivation and the selective pressures that would eventually lead to domestication.

According to Petrie and Bates, one of the problems in the discussion on rice domestication is that wild rice is often inextricably linked with simple cultivation, while domesticated rice is linked with more complex forms of agriculture. Whereas in reality, they say, the Indus populations may have been exploiting semi-domesticated or even domesticated nivara or indica subspecies in a managed agricultural system.

‘[All the] data… suggests that when… japonica was introduced around 2000 BCE,’ according to Petrie and Bates, ‘It arrived in an area that was already familiar with domesticated rice cultivation and a range of cultivation techniques.’

The Rice Line: A brief history of growing paddy

A study finds wild rice in dinosaur excreta, at least 65 million years old, in India, evidence that dinosaurs consumed them. Wild rice, and even grass, have never been considered to be this old. 65 million years ago, India was an island that had broken off from Madagascar and was yet to collide with Asia. Could wild rice have originated in India, and after its collision, spread into Asia?
Another study finds evidence of domestic rice cultivation 9,250 years ago in a small village in India. An older study close to the area found charred rice grains estimated to be over 8,000 years old. Others argue both studies have probably found evidence of wild rice, not domesticated rice
It is widely believed that rice, or Oryza sativa, was first domesticated by humans from wild grass in a single event along the Yangtze River Valley in eastern China at least 8,000 years ago. Others argue rice cultivation began multiple times, independently of each other, both in China and India. A few believe rice was first grown in India before it made its way to China as an agricultural crop
Another domesticated rice variety was developed in Africa, Oryza glaberrima, probably along Niger River in West Africa, a few thousand years after Asian farmers
Rice seems to have been a staple crop in Indus Valley across its various phases. The domestication process here was probably of the wild species Oryza nivara. When japonica arrived from China around 2000 BCE, this area in India was already familiar with domesticated rice cultivation
Genetic studies have found similar gene mutations in both major subspecies of Oryza sativa, with the mutation first occurring in an ancestor of japonica, commonly found in China, before appearing in indica, found in India, suggesting a single domestication event in China.
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/science/new-grain-theory

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Tantra Yukti-- Research Methodology in Sanskrit & Tamil -- Lecture by Jayaraman Mahadevan

July 10, 2018, 4:39 am

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2JzqYjCjMU&t=3476si (57:59 to 1:39:00)
Tantrayukti -Tandiravutti, an ancient Pan-Indian trans-lingual text construction manual.

A brilliant presentation which bridges Tamil and Sanskrit research mthodologies over the ages.
Context: Swadeshi Indology

SI 3 Paper Presentations - Track 2 - Session 3 - Roadmap for the Future, June 16, 2018

↧

Rescue of all 12 boys, football coach from Thailand cave. Hope they, SEALS & British divers will travel to watch the Football World Cup Finals

July 10, 2018, 5:21 am

≫ Next: Zoroastrianism and Hinduism -- Himanshu Bhatt

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11 rescued from Thailand cave, some boys asked for ‘bread and chocolate spread’

Two more were still inside the Tham Luang cave in Thailand but authorities were confident of getting them out by Tuesday evening though a network of flooded tunnels.

worldUpdated: Jul 10, 2018 16:51 IST

AFP
Mae Sai

Thai soldiers walk into to the Tham Luang cave area as the operations continue for those still trapped inside the cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province.(AFP File Photo)

Three more people were rescued from a flooded Thai cave on Tuesday, officials said, bringing to 11 the number saved and raising hopes all members of the young football team who became trapped 18 days ago would survive.
Two more were still inside the cave but authorities were confident of getting them out by Tuesday evening through a claustrophobic network of tunnels that in some places were completely filled with water.
“(They) will be extracted today,” rescue chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters on Tuesday morning.
The hoped-for final chapter in an ordeal that has gripped the world came after elite foreign divers and Thai Navy SEALs escorted eight members of the “Wild Boars” football team out of the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand on Sunday and Monday.
Then on Tuesday afternoon multiple sources involved in the operation said three more had been escorted out. However it was not clear if the 25-year-old coach was among them or if he remained inside.
The 12 boys, aged from 11 to 16, and their coach, ventured into the cave on June 23 after football practice and got caught deep inside when heavy rains caused flooding that trapped them on a muddy ledge.
They spent nine harrowing days trapped in darkness until two British divers found them.
Authorities then struggled to devise a safe plan to get them out, mulling ideas such as drilling holes into the mountain or waiting months until monsoon rains ended and they could walk out.
With oxygen levels in their chamber falling to dangerous levels and complete flooding of the cave system possible, rescuers pushed ahead with the least-worst option of having divers escort them out through the extremely narrow and water-filled tunnels.

Thai soldiers stand guard outside the Tham Luang cave area as rescue operations continue for those still trapped inside the cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in the Mae Sai district. (AFP Photo)

The ups and downs of the rescue bid has entranced Thailand and also fixated a global audience, drawing support from celebrities as varied as US President Donald Trump, football star Lionel Messi and tech guru Elon Musk.
The emergence of the second batch of four boys on Monday evening was greeted with a simple “Hooyah” by the SEAL team on their Facebook page, an exclamation that lit up Thai social media.
Positive medical reports on the rescued group further fuelled the sense of joy and optimism.
“All eight are in good health, no fever... everyone is in a good mental state,” Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk, permanent secretary of the public health ministry, said at Chiang Rai hospital where the boys were recuperating on Tuesday morning.
However the boys will remain in quarantine until doctors were sure they had not contracted any infections from inside the cave.
Experts warned that drinking contaminated water or otherwise being exposed to bird or bat droppings in the cave could lead to dangerous infections.
But the early signs on the initial eight were promising, with X-rays and blood tests showing just two had signs of pneumonia and that they were in a “normal state” after taking antibiotics, Jedsada said.
Some had even asked for “bread and chocolate spread”, he added.
Final push
Following a similar pattern as the previous two days, the divers ventured back into the cave at 10:00am (0700 GMT) on Tuesday, Narongsak told reporters.
However, unlike Sunday and Monday when only four were brought out each day due to logistical constraints, rescuers would try to extract all of the remaining five in one operation, Narongsak said.
A doctor and three SEALS who had stayed with the footballers would also come out on Tuesday, he added.
The escape route was a challenge for even experienced divers. The boys had no previous diving experience so the rescuers trained them how to use a mask and breathe underwater via an oxygen tank.

This handout photo released by the Royal Thai Navy shows a group of Thai Navy divers in Tham Luang cave during rescue operations. (AFP Photo)

One fear had been that they would panic while trying to swim underwater, even with a diver escorting them.
Although there have been no major reported complications during the initial rescues, the death of a former Thai Navy SEAL diver who ran out of oxygen in a flooded area of the cave on Friday underscored the dangers of the journey.
“I cannot understand how cool these small kids are, you know? Thinking about how they’ve been kept in a small cave for two weeks, they haven’t seen their mums,” Ivan Karadzic, who runs a diving business in Thailand and has been involved in the rescue mission, told the BBC.
“Incredibly strong kids. Unbelievable almost.”

All 12 boys, football coach rescued from Thailand cave as rescue operations end

The “Wild Boars” soccer team and their coach got trapped on June 23 while exploring the cave complex in the northern province of Chiang Rai after soccer practice and a rainy season downpour flooded the tunnels.

worldUpdated: Jul 10, 2018 17:34 IST

Reuters, CHIANG RAI, Thailand

This handout photo released by the Royal Thai Navy on July 7, 2018 shows a group of Thai Navy divers in Tham Luang cave during rescue operations for the 12 boys and their football team coach.(AFP File Photo)

All 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped for more than two weeks deep inside a flood Thai cave have been rescued, a Thai navy SEAL unit said on Tuesday, a successful end to a perilous mission that has gripped the world.
“The 12 Wild Boars and coach have emerged from the cave and they are safe,” the Thai navy SEAL unit said on its official Facebook page.
The “Wild Boars” soccer team and their coach got trapped on June 23 while exploring the cave complex in the northern province of Chiang Rai after soccer practice and a rainy season downpour flooded the tunnels.
British divers found the 13, hungry and huddled in darkness on a muddy bank in a partly flooded chamber several kilometres inside the complex, on Monday last week.
After pondering for days how to get the 13 out, a rescue operation was launched on Sunday when four of the boys were brought out, tethered to rescue divers.
Another four were rescued on Monday and the last four boys and the coach were brought out on Tuesday.
Celebrations will be tinged with sadness over the loss of a former Thai navy diver who died last Friday while on a re-supply mission inside the cave in support of the rescue.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/ninth-boy-rescued-from-thailand-cave-report/story-2BcjX9r9phlr6uRDpn4YSK.html

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Zoroastrianism and Hinduism -- Himanshu Bhatt

July 10, 2018, 7:31 pm

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Zoroastrianism and Hinduism

By Himanshu Bhatt

Inception of both the Religions

Coins issued by Hindu Kushan Dynasty's kings of ancient Afghanistan. These coins display Mazdaen-worshiped deities, because the Hindu kings were tolerant of social diversity and wanted to promote harmony between them. Even in Dunhang city of the ancient Tarim Basin one can see Zoroastrian and Hindu figures.[1]

Both Zoroastrianism and Hinduism have similar origins, pay homage to the same spiritual seers, venerate the same gods and even have the same verses throughout the early scriptures. Mazdaen scholars Zubin Mehta and Gulshan Majeed[2] had noted a similarity of Kashmiri customs with Zoroastrian ones. In the modern era, some Mazdaen clerics had visited Kashmir, who include Azar Kaiwan[3] and his dozen disciples[4], and Mobad Zulfiqar Ardastani or Sasani[5] who compiled the Dabistan-e Mazahib.

Zarathustra was definitely a Kashmiri Brahman from India as he was an Atharvan[6], who called himself a zaotar[7], manthran[8] and datta.[9] He was referred to as an erishi[10] and ratu[11].[12] He also wore the sacred thread and dressed like a traditional Kashmiri Pandit, compiled Gāthās containing Vedic verses, worshiped Varuna (Ahura Mazda) and venerated other holy Vedic Asuras. He lived as an ascetic in a cave[13]for some time and also had other traits similar to that of an Indian Brahman, not to mention other customs similar to those of Kashmiri Hindus. The geographical description of his birthplace in the Mazdaen scriptures match Kashmir's Diti (Daitya) and Indus (Veh) rivers and Urni Jabbar (Jabr) Mountain within Baramulla district. In addition, the descriptions of neighboring regions adjacent to Airyanem Vaeja, such as Ataro-Patakan, Kohistan, Kangdez and Panjistan match those of places surrounding Kashmir. Ancient scholars, such as Clement of Alexandria and Ammianus Marcellinus, connecting Zarathustra to Brahmans can definitely be seen, and even in modern times Godfrey Higgins had called him "Zerdusht the Brahmin[14]."

Similarities

Zoroastrianism originated in India

Zarathustra's name

"Zarathustra became a generic name for 'great prophet' so several Zarathustras arose in the period 6000 to 600 BC the Avesta Y.XIX.18 named a hierarchy of five leaders, the supreme being called Zarathustrotema." - Duncan K. Malloch[15]

Just as the pseudonyms Gautama Buddha, Vardhman Mahavira, and Guru Nanak are reflective of the sages' names and titles, so too is the case of Zarathustra Spitama. 'Zarathustra' is a name that relates his devotion to Ahura Mazda.

	There are the master of the house, the lord of the borough, the lord of the town, the lord of the province, and the Zarathustra (the high-priest) as the fifth.
—Avesta Yasna 19.18.50 [16]

There was "the Armenian Zoroaster, grandson of Zostrianus" ("Zostriani nepos"), who was the Pamphylian friend of Cyrus the Great. There was also a "Zoroaster" of Babylon whom Pythagoras had written of meeting. Further, the Changragach-Nameh and the Zarathusht-Nameh were written by Zarathusht Behrairi Pazdu, while Zaratusht Bahram was an important Mobed.

Zarathustra's surname Spitama comes from his ancestor Spiti. This name traces its roots to the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh, just south to Kashmir. This is also supported by the fact that Zarathustra had taken solitude at age 15 to Mt. Ushidaran which the Greater Bundahishn identifies as Mt. Kāf.[17] Today is a village in the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh named Kāf.

Spitama itself has the Vedic Sanskrit attribute of containing 'tama', like the gotra patronyms of Gautama and Girghtama(s), as well as the titles of hiranya-vasi-mat-tama, rathi-tama, ratna-dha-tama, and sasvat-tama.

Background of erishis

According to the Rig Veda, Vasiśṭha Rṣi was the son of Mitra-Varuna by Urvashi. Vayu Purana[18] and Brahmanda Purana[19] mention that Shukra, Bhrgu, and Angirasa were born from the sacrificial fire of Brahma. The Jaiminiya Brahmana[20] and Satapatha Brahmana[21] mention that Bhrgu and Angirasa were born this way. Aitareya Brahmana [22] mentions this of Bṛhaspati, and Gopatha Brahmana[23] to that of Atharvan.

Athravans were Atharvans from India

See also: Veneration of Shukra Acharya in Mazdayasna, Shukra Acharya

"These were probably at first identical with the Vedic Atharvans (fire-priests), as indeed Zoroastrianism is merely an advanced stage of Brahmanism."[24] - Chambers' Encyclopedia

Although some western depictions falsely show him as European-looking with brown hair and eyes, and white skin, the Bahram Yasht declares Athravans are black-haired[25].

A mural of Zarathustra in a Tehran temple. Unlike his western depictions, here his skin is depicted dark brown like many Indians.

Zarathustra was of the Athravan (Atharvan) priestly caste. The Avesta declares that Zarathustra was an Athravan.

	Hail to us! for he is born, the Athravan Spitama Zarathustra. Zarathustra will offer us sacrifices with libations and bundles of baresma with libations and bundles of baresma and there will be the good Law of the worshipers of Mazda come and spread through all the seven Karshvares of the earth.
—Avesta 24.94[26]

The Atharvans are as ancient as the Rig Veda. It mentions that Brahmā taught the knowledge of Brahman to his eldest son Atharvan.[27] Further, the Atharvans are associated with fire symbolizing it to be as sacred to them as it was to the later Athravans. Bharadvaja says to Agni that Atharvan has churned Agni out from the lotus, from the head of everything.[28]Vitahavya also says that the Atharvans have brought Agni from the "dark-ones" (i.e., nights.)[29]

Angras are Angirasas

Further, Zarathustra in his Gāthās alludes to "old revelations"[30], and praises the Saoshyants[31] (fire-priests), and even exhorts his party of attendees to praise the Angras[32]. Hindu scriptures know the Angirasas (descendants of Rṣi Angiras) as the composers of the Atharva Veda, or as the "Atharvangirasa" and the Veda is also known as the Angiras Veda. (Angras are in no way connected to Angra Mainyu, the opposer of Ahura Mazda whose name means Dark Spirit.) Hence, those Angras mentioned by Zarathustra are also Vedic rṣis. He is referred to by some rṣis in the Rig Veda as their "father".[33] Angira is a son of Varuna, as are Bhargava and Vasiśṭha. Angirasas are sacerdotal families with ceremonial practices in the Atharva Veda.[34] Their connection to the sacred fire is such that the Rig Veda also names Agni as Angiras[35], and that the sons of Angiras were born of Agni[36]. In the RV, Angirasas were called "Sons of Heaven, Heroes of the Asura."[37]

The fact that Bhargavas are, like their subgroup Angirasas and the Athravans, also descendants of Vasiśṭha is established in Puranas.[38] Hence, Kava Uṣan (Shukra Acharya the Bhargava) is venerated and included as one of the holiest sages in Mazdayasna because he was also from Vahiśta (Vasiśṭha.)[39]

Sraosha of the Avesta is Bṛhasa (Bṛhaspati) of the Vedas who was the son of Angiras[40], so Sraosha is also of the category of Angras mentioned in the Avesta.

Zarathustra was of Vasiśṭha Gotra

The Denkard scripture specifically mentions that Zarathustra was a descendant of the law-giving immortals (Amesha Spentas, to which the Vahiśtas belong), as well as of "King Jam"[41] Mazdaen scriptures mention Vahiśta (Vasiśṭha) within the Avesta, wherein he is an Amesha Spenta[42] mentioned as Asha Vahiśta. In Mazdayasna, Asha Vahiśta is a divine lawgiver[43] and guardian of the Asha.[44]Vasiśṭha is a law-giver sage in many instances within the scriptures and is even quoted by other rṣis, such as Bhṛgu and Manu, when they prescribe societal laws.[45] Asha Vahiśta is also closely associated with the sacred fire in several Avestan passages[46][47], just as Vasiśṭha is.

The Atharvans are descended from Vasiśṭha Rṣi.[48] Vasiśṭha's dedication to Atharvan is demonstrated in the Rig Veda wherein after being filled with anger, he calms himself by reading the Atharva Mantra.[49]Vedic scholar Mallinatha writes in his commentary of the Kiratarjunya that the Śāstras declare that the mantras of Atharva Rṣi are preserved by Vaśiśṭha.[50] Just as there are several Vaśiśṭhas[51] within the community, the Avesta acknowledges that there are several Vahiśtas,[52] and refers to them as the "Lords of Asha." Even in the Vahistoistri Gāthā,[53] Francois De Blois notices that it consists of verses with a variable number of unstressed syllables.[54]

Avestan as a dialect of Sanskrit

"Slowly and gradually, it dawned upon them that the language of the Gathaand Zendavesta has very great kinship with the Sanskrta language; when the grammar of Panini, Katyayana, and Patanjali was applied then the Gatha and Zendavesta came to be understood by the westerners. The lesson from this amazing fact is clear that once the Iranians of the Gatha and Zendavesta and the Indo-Aryans of the Vedas formed one single race, speaking language akin to Samskrta." - Yaqub Masih[55]

It is known that both Vedic Sanskrit and the Zhand Avestan languages were very close. In fact, some scholars have even stated that "the Parsi was derived from the language of the Brahmans"[56] like various Indian dialects. This view point was supported by "Zend language was at least a dialect of the Sanskrit."[57] Max Muller, William Jones[58] and Nathaniel Brassey Halhed[59] put forward this viewpoint.

Erskine Perry also was in the view that Avestan was a dialect of Sanskrit and was exported to ancient Persia from India but was never spoken there and his reasoning for this is that of the seven languages of ancient Persia mentioned in the Farhang-i-Jehangiri, none of them is referring Avestan language. Another scholar perpetuating the viewpoint of Avestan being a Sanskritic/Prakritic dialect was John Leyden.[60]

List of some Sanskrit and Avestan words

Zarathustra portrayed on a pillar of the Shakta-Vaishnava Birla Mandir, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Hinduism's pluralistic tradition recognizes the pious sage as a saint in the list of the world's spiritual gurus.

Zarathustra portrayed on a mural of the Shree Saibaba Satsang Mandal, Surat, Gujarat. He is shown next to Jalaram (left) and Vivekananda.

Word	Sanskrit	Avestan
gold	hiranya	zaranya
army	séna	haena
spear	rsti	arsti
sovereignty	ksatra	khshathra
lord	ásura	ahura
sacrifice	yajñá	yasna
sacrificing priest	hótar	zaotar
worship	stotra	zaothra
sacrificing drink	sóma	haoma
member of religious community	aryamán	airyaman
god	deva	deva
demon	rákshas	rakhshas[61]
cosmic order	rta	arstat/arta

List of some Sanskrit and Avestan names for gods

Sanskrit	Avestan	Status within Mazdayasna	Function
Apām Napāt	Apam Napat	Yazata	Son of water, a god
Aramati	Armaiti	Amesha Spenta	Archangel of immortality
Baga	Bagha	Yazata	A sun god
Ila	Iza	Yazata	Goddess of sacrifice
Manu	Manu(shchihr)	Ancestor	Son of Vivanhvant
Marut	Marut	Yazata	Cloud god
Mitra	Mithra	Yazata	A sun god
Nābhānedista	Nabanazdishta	Ancestor	Name of Manu
Narasansa	Nairyosangha	Yazata	A fire god
Surya	Hvara	Yazata	A sun god
Trita	Thrita	Yazata	God of healing
Twastra	Thworesta	Yazata	Artificer of the gods
Usha	Ushah	Yazata	The Goddess Dawn
Varuna	Varuna	Ahura Mazda (one of his 101 names[62])	The Wise Lord, creator of all
Vayu	Vayu	Yazata	A wind god
Vivasvant	Vivanhvant	Yazata	A sun god
Vritrahan	Verethragna	Yazata	Slayer of Verethra
Vasiśṭha	Vahiśta	Amesha Spenta	Archangel and lawgiver to humanity
Yama	Yima	King	A pious king of Airyanem Vaeja

Apart from the gods that are common to both Zoroastrianism and Hinduism, names of some other Hindu gods are carried by even modern day Persian speakers. For example, the names 'Śiva' (Charming) and variations of 'Rāma' (Black)[63] are used by Iranic speakers, such as Persians and Pashtuns. King Ram is also added in names such as 'Shahram' (King Rām) and 'Vahram'/Bahram' (Virtuous Rām), which was the other name of Verethragna mentioned in the Bahram Yasht of the Avesta. The Sassanian kings took the Vahram title, such "Vahram I" (ab. AD 273-276.)[64] Toponyms as well include 'Ram'/'Raman' in their syntax, such as Ramsar in Iran.

Daēvā does not mean Deva

Whereas the root of the Avestan word 'daēvā' is "daē" meaning god, of 'deva' it is "div", which means light. Zarathustra wrote in his Gāthās, "daēnāe paouruyae dae ahura!"[65] Hence, the word for religion in Avestan is daēnā.[66]

That deva carries positive connotations is seen in Gāthā 17.4 Yasna 53.4 wherein Ahura Mazda is said to be a "devaav ahuraaha."

As Airyanem Vaeja is in Kashmiri, the Avestan and Kashmiri vocabulary are similar. Dai is still used by Kashmiris to refer as god.

Many Avestan verses are from Vedas

The Rig Veda is believed to have been the oldest scripture in the world. In it are verses that are identical to ones within the Zhand Avesta, except the dialect of the Avesta is in Avestan. Ahura Mazda, whom the Mazdaens worship as the Supreme Lord is the Avestan equivalent to Vedic Sanskrit's Asura Medhira or Asura Mada. These terms mean "Wise Lord" and in the Rig Veda this phrase appears in a few places, in one verse being "kṣayannasmabhyamasura".

	With bending down, oblations, sacrifices, O Varuna, we deprecate thine anger: Wise Asura, thou King of wide dominion, loosen the bonds of sins by us committed.[67]
—Rig Veda 24.14

There are several passages in the Vedas (especially the Atharva Veda) and Avesta that are identical, with the only difference that they are in the different dialects of Avestan and Vedic Sanskrit.

There are two sets of Mazdaen scriptures; the Zhand Avesta[68] and the Khorda-Avesta.[69] The Zhand contains 3 further sets of writings, known as the Gāthās[70] compiled by Zarathustra, and the Vendidad, and Vispered. (Not surprisingly, Hindu scriptures also have collections known as Gāthas, such as the Vasant Gātha and Theragātha.) The Khorda contains short prayers known as Yashts. They are written in a metre much like the Vedas. Normally they contain 15 syllables known in Sanskrit as Gayatri asuri) like hymns of the Rig Veda, or Ushnih asuri such as in the Gāthā Vohu Khshathrem[71] or of 11 syllables in the Pankti asuri form, such as in the Ustavaiti Gātha.

Some scholars also note that there is a connection between Bhargava Rṣi and Zoroastrianism, as the Atharva Veda portion composed by him is known as Bhargava Upastha and the latter word is the Sanskrit version of the term 'Avesta'.[72]

"The Avesta is nearer the Veda than the Veda to its own epic Sanskrit." - Dr. L. H. Mills

Some identical verses from Vedas and the Avesta

Scripture	Sanskrit	Avestan	English
Rig Veda (10.87.21) / Zhand Avesta (Gāthā 17.4 Yasna 53.4)	mahaantaa mitraa varunaa samraajaa devaav asuraaha sakhe sakhaayaam ajaro jarimne agne martyaan amartyas tvam nah	mahaantaa mitraa varunaa devaav ahuraaha sakhe ya fedroi vidaat patyaye caa vaastrevyo at caa khatratave ashaauno ashavavyo	O Ahura Mazda, you appear as the father, the ruler, the friend, the worker and as knowledge. It is your immense mercy that has given a mortal the fortune to stay at your feet.
Atharva Veda 7.66 / Zhand Avesta (Prishni, Chapter 8, Gāthā 12)	yadi antareekshe yadi vaate aasa yadi vriksheshu yadi bolapashu yad ashravan pashava ud-yamaanam tad braahmanam punar asmaan upaitu	yadi antareekshe yadi vaate aasa yadi vriksheshu yadi bolapashu yad ashravan pashava ud-yamaanam tad braahmanam punar asmaan upaitu	O Lord! Whether you be in the sky or in the wind, in the forest or in the waves. No matter where you are, come to us once. All living beings restlessly await the sound of your footsteps.
Rig Veda / Zhand Avesta (Gāthā 17.4, Yasna 29)	majadaah sakritva smarishthah	madaatta sakhaare marharinto	Only that supreme being is worthy of worship.
Atharva Veda / Zhand Avesta (Yasna 31.8)	vishva duraksho jinavati	vispa drakshu janaiti	All (every) evil spirit is slain.
Atharva Veda / Zhand Avesta	vishva duraksho nashyati	vispa drakshu naashaiti	All (every) evil spirit goes away.
Atharva Veda / Zhand Avesta	yadaa shrinoti etaam vaacaam	yathaa hanoti aisham vaacam	When he hears these words.

Why Zarathustra's teachings are called Zhand Avesta

The Avesta is also known as the Zhand Avesta. Zhand is the Avestan equivalent of Chhand.

	O Kshatriya, the verses that were recited by Atharvan to a conclave of great sages, in days of old, are known by the name of Chhandas. They are not be regarded as acquainted with the Chhandas who have only read through the Vedas, without having attained to the knowledge of Him who is known through the Vedas. The Chhandas, O best of men, become the means of obtaining Brahm(Moksha) independently and without the necessity of anything foreign.
—Mahabharata Udyoga Parva Chapter 43:4[73]

The word Avesta comes from Sanskrit 'Abhyasta', which means Repeated. Hence, the Avesta (Abhyasta) is basically a repetition of Zarathustra's teachings.

Zarathustra was born in Kashmir

Zarathustra is always shown wearing a dhoti, (Indian-fashioned garment), unlike the Balkhans to whom he preaches.

The birthplace of Zarathustra has been a subject of dispute ever since the Greek, Latin and later the Muslim writers came to know of him and his teachings. Cephalion, Eusebius, and Justin believed it was either in Balkh (Greek: Bactria) or the eastern Iranian Plateau, while Pliny and Origen thought Media or the western Iranian Plateau, and Muslim authors like Shahrastani and al-Tuabari believed it was western Iran. [74]While Zarathustra's place of birth has been postulated in various places even in modern times, including within areas not historically included by authors, such as in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, a few scholars have believed that he was born in Kashmir. Shrikant G. Talageri[75] and T. Lloyd Stanley[76] were proponents of this Kashmiri Airyanem Vaeja viewpoint. Mazdaen scriptures[77] mention repeatedly that Zarathustra was born in Airyanem Vaeja, also known as Airyanam Dakhyunam. However, Zarathustra moved from there to Balkh, where he was given sanctuary by its king and he had become a royal sage. The Mazdaen scriptures further say that many other people of Airyanem Vaeja had moved out with the dramatic climate change whereby snow and cold weather became much more frequent. Zarathustra was regarded as a pious Godman for the Balkhan administrators of his time and India was recognized as a center of spiritual and scientific wisdom. This is why Mazdaean scriptures show that King Vishtaspa's court was already familiar with the Indian Brahman adviser Changragach who was teacher to minister Jamaspa, even before Zarathustra's arrival to Balkh. The Brahman Byas was also welcome in King Vishtaspa's court and met and had become a disciple of Zarathustra. King Vishtaspa (Greek: Hystaspes) was the father of King Darius I of the Balkh Kingdom and he had studied astronomy amongst the Brahmans of India.[78]

There are similarities noticed by scholars such as Subhash Kak and Zubin Mehta which are described by them between Mazdaen practices of Kashmiri Hindus. These include the sacred thread for women (called aetapan in Kashmiri) and the sacred shirt (sadr.) The festival of Nuvruz[79] in commemoration of King Yima is known as Navreh in Kashmir which is celebrated by Kashmiri Hindus. Furthermore, the folklore of Kashmir too has many tales where devas[80] are antagonists to both devas and asuras. As the title Zarathustra has many variations, such as 'Zartust' and 'Zardost', the Sanskrit equivalent of his title is 'Haritustra Svitma'. The 'p' in 'Spitama' corresponds to a 'v' in Sanskrit just as Avestan 'Pourusarpa' is 'Purusarva' is Sanskrit. Whereas the consonant 's' of many Sanskrit words becomes 'h' in Avestan, 'Svitama' maintains its letter because it is followed by a 'v', just as how the 's' in Sanskrit 'asva' (horse) becomes 'aspa' (i.e., 'Dhruwaspa' means She who possesses strong horses, and animals within nameswere more common, such as Yuvanasva and Vindhyasva.) As 'Spitama' means white, the Sanskrit word for the color-based name is 'Svitama'. Svita is a metaphorical characteristic associated with purity and normally associated with Brahmans in the Vedas. For example, the Rig Veda[81] describes the Vasiśṭha ṛṣis as 'svityam' (white), 'svityanco' (dressed in white)[82] and white-robed. Zarathustra dresses in white as well Mazdaen priests also dress up in white. The connection between Vasiśṭha ṛṣi with Atharvan Rṣi is a very close one.

Identification of Avestan sacred places in Kashmir

See also: King Yama's Kingdom was in Kashmir, Rig Vedic rivers, India is the homeland of Indo-Europeans

Kashmir itself has taken on various endonyms and exonymns, which can make pinpointing whether an author is talking about the region. In this case, the Mazdaen scriptures refer to it as Airyanem Vaeja and Anu-Varshte. In addition to these, the region has been called Kashmar, Kashir, Kasherumana, Katche-yul, Kasperia, and Kipin, and it together with Balawaristan is known as Hari-varṣa, Naishadha-varṣa, Uttara-Patha, and Deva-Kuru. It has symbolic and historic association with rishis, and has been known as Rishivaer/Rishi-wara (Land of Rishis.) Even Persian literature has mentioned the words Reshi, Reshout, and Rea-Shivat when speaking about Kashmir.[83] Firdaus (Paradise) is another Persian word that has been used to describe Kashmir. The word Airyanem within the phrase Airyanem Vaeja means Of the Aryans. Jain mantras use the term in the salutations, such as "Namo Airiyanam" in the Namokar Mantra, and "Om Hreem Namo Airiyanam" as an astrological mantra for Jupiter.

Why Airyanem Vaeja is also called Anu-Varshte

The Avesta mentions 'Anu-varshte daēnāyai'[84], meaning "religion of Anu-land." This prayer requests the help of Ardvisura to help Zarathustra able to convince King Vishtaspa to accept the 'religion of Anu-Varshte.' The Anu tribe, also known as Anavas in many Hindu scriptures, were based in Kashmir. There's even a village called Ainu Brai after them within Pahalgam tehsil of Anantanag in Kashmir. That they later annexed nearby lands, including Balkh in Afghanistan, is evident from scriptures such as that of Panani's that tells us of Anava settlements.

In the Anava lineage, 7th in descent from Anu were brothers Usinara and Titikshu. The territories gained by the Anavas was split by these brothers wherein Usinara had grasped Kashmir and the Punjab[85] while Titikshu gained rulership over eastern territories of Anga (Bihar), Vanga (Bengal), Suhma, Pundra, and Kalinga (Orissa.)

Because Kashmir has prehistorically been the Anava stronghold, even during the Dasarajna War as the Rig Veda mentions, it is acknowledged as such both in Hindu scriptures such as the Atharva Veda[86] and in the Mazdaen Avesta.

One of the reasons why historically Balkh and some other regions of modern Afghanistan were Indianized (and hence, referred to as Ariana) is because the Anavas also held areas of Afghanistan under their suzerainty. In Vrtlikara[87], Sage Panini (from Afghanistan himself) mentions that there are 2 Anava settlements of the Usinara called Ahvajala and Saudarsana. Even scholarly Chinese visitors to ancient India, Fa Hien and Yuan Chwang describe the story of a certain King Usinara told at Udyana (modern Swat Valley where people are mostly ethnically Afghans) that sacrificed his life to save that of a dove's.

To little surprise the Kurma Purana[88] mentions Anava being 1 of the 7 sons (Saprtarṣis) of Vasiśṭha, meaning that Vasiśṭha had married within the royal family. Within the same Manavatara era another son of Vasiśṭha was Shukra, meaning that Vasiśṭha had likely married multiple women.

Jabr Mountain is Urni Jabbar Mountain

Zarathustra's birthplace Urni Jabbar (Avesta's Jabr Mountain) and his city of residence Raihan Bag (Avesta's Rai.)

Zarathustra was said to have been born in the village of Raji[89] by the Dareja[90] River near the Jabr Mountain[91]. In Vendidad 1.16 where the city of Ragha is referred to the Pahlevi commentators add that it is in Ātaro-Pātakān. In Kashmir, there is a village of similar name, Renji in Sopore district[92]. There are other villages and towns bearing 'Rai' in their names. These are Raipura, Raika Gura, Raika Labanah, Raika Mahuva, Rainawari, and Rai'than. Kashmir bears the villages Raj Pora Thandakasi[93] Dareja is also mentioned to be where Zarathustra's father lived[94], hence, Zarathustra lived there too. Today in Kashmir there are the 2 rivers Darga Burzil and Darga Rattu that merge to form the larger Astore River.[95]

Amui (Amar) is Amartnath in Kashmir

	The sorcerer (Zandak), who is full of death, founded a city of Amui (Amar), and Zardusht, descendant of Spitama, was of that place.
—Satroiha-i Airan 59

This verse is saying that Zarathustra was of this place, meaning he likely spent a significant portion of his life there. This is also the opinion Carl Bezold and Louis Herbert Gray.

Amarnath pilgrimage is Anantanag district, bordering Baramulla district, where Zarathustra was born.

Rai is Raihan Bag in Kashmir

	Zarathustra was of that place (Rai.)
—Vendidad[96]

This village is very close to the Urni Jabbar mountain, it is in Uri tehsil and, like the mountain, is in the Badgam district.

Daitya River is the Jhelum

Arapath (Diti) rises in Hairbal Ki Galli and flows southward until it merges with Bring, which in turn merges with Lower Jhelum near Danter village.[97]

Scriptures mention the original homeland of the religion and of Zarathustra, but due to placename changes, the exact location has been hard to pinpoint. Daityas are also mentioned (as are Danavas) in ancient Mazdaen texts as good beings. It is believed that the homeland of the Aryans is located by the Daitya River[98] as said in this Avesta quote, "Airyanem Vaejo vanghuydo daityayo", which Darmesteter translates as "the Airyana Vaejo, by the good (vanghuhi) river Daitya."[99] In later scriptures, the river is known as 'Veh Daiti' wherein the Veh refers to the Daiti being its tributary. Veh in the Bundahishn is mentioned as the Indus River. Bundahishn mentions that Veh is also called Mehra by Indians, and surely enough Mehra is a town along the Indus. Veyhind (Udabhānḍapur, modern Hund) is also a town reflecting Indus' Veh-name. Further, Vahika was the name of a kingdom around the Indus and its meaning is Land of the River.[100] (Here was Arattadesa or Panchanada.) Kashmir has a river named Ditiwhich is said to have been an incarnation of Diti, mother of the Daityas.[101] Daityas have been mentioned in Hindu Epicsas staunch Asuras. This river is also popularly called as Chandravati, Arapath or Harshapatha.[102] The Arapath Valley begins where the Arapath (Diti) stream stems out of Jhelum.[103] Because the Diti becomes the Jhelum at their stem, the Mazdaen scriptures just call the entire Jhelum as Daitya River. They also refer to it as the Veh Daiti because the Jhelum itself merges into the Indus, which the Bundahishn calls 'Veh'. (The entire Jhelum is certainly known by many names in India.[104].) Just as the Bundahishn calls the Daitya "the chief of all streams"[105], scholars note the Jhelum has more streams than any other Indus tributary.

Zarathustra used to bathe in the Dareja affluent of the Daitya. In the same way, Hindus are encouraged to bathe in it among rivers of Kashmir.

	After that on the 14th of the dark-half of the month, one should take bath, before sun-rise, in the cool water of the Vitasta or the Visoka or the Candravati or the Harsapatha or the Trikoti or the Sindhu or the holy Kanakavahini or any other holy river or the water-reservoirs and the lakes.
—Nilamata Purana, verses 501-503

King Vishtaspa used to perform sacrifices along the Dareja. In the same way, Hindus are encouraged to perform execute the Rajasuya ceremony along the Diti.

	By bathing in Harsapatha, one is honoured in the world of Sakra and by bathing in Candravati one gets the merit of (giving) ten cows. Holy is the river Harsapatha and so also is Candravati. The wise say that there accrues (the merit of the performance of) Rajasuya at the confluence of these two.
—Nilamata Purana, verse 1349-1350

Dareja is an affluent of Daitya River

The (Dareja) Lower Jhelum River coming out of Wulur Lake.

The Dareja is the lower Jhelum from which stretches from Hairbal Ki Galli to Muzaffarabad to join the other part of the Jhelum that stretches Mangla Reservoir to Muzaffarabad. Today this stream is known as the Lower Jhelum.

	For the occurrence of the seventh questioning, which is Amurdad's, the spirits of plants have come out with Zaratust to a conference on the river Dareja's high ground on the bank of the waters of the Daiti.
—Zadsparam 22.5.12[106]

	Of those eighteen principal rivers, distinct from the Arag river (Amu Darya) and Vêh river (Indus), and the other rivers which flow out from them, I will mention the more famous: the Arag river, the Vêh river, the Diglat river (Yarkhun) they call also again the Vêh river, the Frât river, the Dâîtîk river (Jhelum), the Dargâm river, the Zôndak river, the Harôî river (Harirud), the Marv river, the Hêtûmand river (Helmand), the Akhôshir river, the Nâvadâ river, the Zîsmand river, the Khvegand river, the Balkh river (Balkhab), the Mehrvâ river they call the Hendvâ river (Indus), the Spêd river, the Rad river which they call also the Koir, the Khvaraê river which they call also the Mesrgân, the Harhaz river, the Teremet river, the Khvanaîdis river, the Dâraga (Jhelum's stream Lower Jhelum) river, the Kâsîk river, the Sêd ('shining') river Pêdâ-meyan or Katru-meyan river of Mokarstân.
—Bundahishn, Chapter 20.7[107]

Bundahishn's Kohistan is Kohistan of Karakoram Range

Gurjistan is 1 of the ethnic regions of Kashmir, and is mentioned in Mazdaen scriptures as possessing the Daitya River. Here, Gurji is the predominant language.

	The Daitik river (Datya) rises in Airan-vej and flows through Kohistan.
—Bundahishn 20.13

Kohistan is also referred in the Pazhand transcription of the Bundahishn as Gurjistan.[108] The Gurjistan that is referred to is the Gurez Valley in Kashmir. Gurez is acknowledged by V. R. Raghavan as to have come from 'Gurj' and 'Gurjur'.[109]

Gopat, also known as Gopistan is another name for Kohistan.

	The land of Gopat has a common border with Eran Vez on the banks of the river Datya.
—Bundahishn 11.A.7[110]

Subdastan is also a demonym of Kohistan.

	The river Datya comes from Eran Vez and goes to Subdastan.
—Bundahishn

Bundahishn's Panjistan is Panjistan of Punjab

Haro River has 2 streams. Zend is its northern branch.

Panjistan is mentioned as possessing the Zend River. The name in present-day is used to refer to a region of northeastern Punjab region. Even the language spoken there is called Panjistani.

The Pahlavi word 'Zend' (referring to a city, not the Zhand Avesta) is the translation of local 'Jand' within the Punjab. There are cities and towns throughout the region named Jand. Hence, the river is called Jand (Zend.)

	The Zend River passes through the mountains of Panjistan, and flows away to the Haro River.
—Bundahishn 20.15

Hara Mountains are Himalayas and the river Aravand is Sarasvati

Mountains across the northwestern Himalayas contain 'Hara' within their names, such as Haramukh Mountain[111] and Haramosh Mountain nearby in Gilgitstan. Hara is the shortened form of the mountain range's name Hara-Berezaiti.

Hara's most sacred peaks are known as Us-Hindava (Pahlevi: Usindam) and the Hukairya (Pahlevi: Hugar.) In the Avesta, Us-Hindava Mountain (which means Upper Indian Mountain) is also spoken of as Usindam and Usinda Mountain and it receives water from a "golden channel" from Mt. Hukairya (Of good deeds[112].)

Hari is the name for a series of mountains as well as villages[113] that have "Hara" as their names. Today Hara Parvat is revered by Hindus as a sacred mountain.

Further, the Ardvi Sura River that the Avesta writes about, is the Sarasvati River of the Rig Veda is said to flow from Hara into the Vourukasha Sea[114] (Indian Ocean.) Sarasvati flowed from Hardikun Glacier (West Harhwal Bandarpanch Masif) and took its coarse into the Indian Ocean. To further, that Avestan Ar was in Kashmir is that it mentions god Sraoesa (Avestan name of Bṛhaspati) living in the Hukairya mountains. There is a praśasti dedicated to Sarasvati inscribed in Madhya Pradesh, which states that Sarasvati lived in heaven together with Bṛhaspati.[115]

Also, the Avesta speaks of the Aravand River, which is another name for Ardvi Sura, and it is the Avestan translated name of Amaravati River, Sarasvati's other name.

Mount Kāf is Mount Meru

Mt. Kāf is the same mountain that Zarathustra is believed in legends to have gone into recluse. In Mazdaen sources it is usually called Ushidarena. In Hindu sources a Kashmiri mountain called Ushiraka (also referred to as 'Darva' and 'Abhisara') is mentioned as a place where people are sent for solitude. It is also mentioned in Buddhist texts as Ushiraddhaja and Ushira-giri, and as Ushinara-giri in the Kathasaritsagara.

Alberuni mentioned that this is the same mountain that Indians call Lokaloka.[116]

The modern K2 mountain is Mt. Meru. It is in the boundary between the Karakoram and the Himalayas. The Karakoram (Black Mountains) are also known as Krishnagiri (Black Mountains) in Sanskrit. As a lot of places around Kashmir and Balawaristan contain 'giri' or 'gir' within their names.

Scholars like Charles Hamilton Smith and Samuel Kneeland had identified that the Kāf mountain or mountains are just north of the Indus River.[117] The K2 is just north of Indus River.

Mount Cinvat is Mount Cṛṅgvāt

A mountain mentioned in Mazdaen scriptures is Cinvat. In Hindu texts there is a mountain associated with Meru because the latter's waters flow through the Cṛṅgvāt (also known as Tri-Cṛṅga.)

The meaning of the Sanskrit word 'Cṛṅgvāt' is summit peak, and 'Cṛṅgi' is used in general for the placenames of peaks of the Himalayas[118] and of Sringaverapura (modern Allahabad), Srisringa, Chirtasringa, and Hiranyasringa.

More identifiers of Kashmir

The Bundahishn divides Kashmir into 2; Inner and Outer. Inner it calls Kashmir-e andaron. Other scholars, such as Dimashql, have noted this distinction as well when writing of the region. Geographer Al-Mas'udi wrote that Inner Kashmir was founded by Kai Kaus. Historically in India Kashmir has been written of as two; Kamraz (Kramarajya) and Maraz (Madvarajya.)

"If India were the original home of Indo-Europeans, it must also be the birth place of Zarathushtra. If the Zoroastrians had migrated out of India, they would have carried memories of the geography they left behind. Avestan literature is not familiar with the Indus. In fact, it believes Indus and Oxus to be the same. In contrast, Avesta itself refers to the features in Afghanistan." - Rajesh Kochhar[119]

Rajesh Kochhar's statement that Zarathustra would have had to have been born in India for it to have been the Indo-European homeland holds true, because the Avesta indeed mentions toponyms of features in northern India, mainly from Kashmir. The reason why most places in the Avesta are of Afghanistan is because Zarathustra, who was not from the Balkh Kingdom and had migrated there as most scholars agree, had only composed the Gāthās of the Avesta, whereas the rest of it was composed by his converts in Balkh. It is believed that the time gap between the Gāthās and the rest of the Avesta are centuries.[120] Scholars believe that this can be seen from "the poor grammatical condition of the language" of the Vendidad portion of the Avesta.[121] Kochhar also says Mazdaens who migrated would have to carry the memories of India with them, because the first Mazdaens were Zarathustra's family including his cousin Maidhyomaongha, also known as Maidhyoimah or Medhyomah, brother-in-laws Frashaoshtra and Jamaspa,[122] wife Hvovi, his daughters named Freni, Thriti and Pourushista, and his three sons which migrated with him, Zarathustra was the only compiler of the Avesta out of them. Apart from Zarathustra and his family, the first community of adherents was founded by King Vishtaspa[123]Interestingly enough, the king converts[124] after recognizing Zarathustra's holyness, when the prophet healed his paralyzed horse[125] just like the Sant Kabir and Sant Namdev [126] brought back a cow to life to earn the faith of kings. So because Kochhar asserts that India must be the Indo-European homeland by meeting his criteria, then India is Airyanem Vaeja.

India in general is overlooked by modern scholars who study the Mazdaen scriptures. Of importance is Mithra, who is associated with the Indian Subcontinent. His dominion is geographically described in the Mihir-Yasht as extending from eastern India and the Hapta Hindava to western India and from the Steppes of the north to the Indian Ocean. The Avesta mentions Four Waters, which are four rivers of paradise. Kashmiri poets have written of "four rivers of paradise" in their works. The Four Waters of paradise according to the Avesta are:[127]

The Azi
The Agenayo
The Dregudaya
The Mataras

The water of these has a trait that they contain honey or honey-sweet water: "Two crossing canals that joined in a pond and which symbolized the four rivers of Paradise where milk, honey, wine and water flow."[128] This same bed of four rivers is the one referred to in the Rig Veda. The Veda mentions waters filled with honey-sweet water as the greatest work of nature: "The noblest, the most wonderful work of this magnificent one (Indra) is that of having filled the bed of the four rivers with water as sweet as honey."[129] The river of Kashmir which has four streams is the Jhelum and its four branches are Arapath (the Diti River), Vishau, Rimiyara and Lidar.[130] As Airyanem Vaeja is said to have been the birthplace of the first set of humans, the Kashmiris too state the human origin story about Kashmir.

"Aryana Vaeja has been placed in Media by inhabitants of Persia and Media. But this is only a transfer...which has nothing primitive and has only originated in consequence of the real site being forgotten."[131]

Zoroastrianism's scholars have written about the origins of the Mazdaens from India. Max Muller had said that, "The Zoroastrians were a colony from northern India."[132] M. Michel Break wrote, "The Zoroastrians were a colony from Northern India."[133]

Also identified in the Mazdaen scriptures are people such as Yima (Yama) and Manushchihr (Manu),[134]who have traditionally been strongly associated with Kashmir. Manushchihr in the Avestan Yasht[135] is mentioned as "the holy Manushchihr, the son of Airyu."

	Zardasht is said to have planted, under auspicious circumstances, two cypress-tress, one in Kashmir and the other in Farumad-tus, and the Majusi (Magi) believe that he brought the cypress from paradise when he planted it in those places.
—Farhang-i-Jehangiri

Both the Farhang-i-Jehangiri and the Shahnameh mention that Zarathustra had planted a cypress tree at a place named Kashmar. This place in the prior text is named also as Kashmir. The composers of the Rehbar-i-Din-i-Zarthoshti (Dastur Erachjee Sorabjee Meherji Rana) and Dabistan (Mohsan Fani), believed this to be the Kashmir in India. Though the Kashmar/Kashmir in the story is actually a town in Khorasan, one can see that the etymological derivation of 'Kashmar' is from the more ancient region of Indian Kashmir. It's quite possible that the seeds to grow the tree came from Kashmir. Certainly, cypress tress exist in Kashmir, and the local species is known as Cupressus cashmeriana.

Zarathustra learning from and preaching to other Vedic scholars

Ancient Greek scholars, such as Clement of Alexandria and Ammianus Marcellinus[136], had written that Zoroaster had studied with the Brahmans of India. We know from Mazdaen literature that in his youth, Zarathustra's preceptor's name is Burzin Kuru(s), and the Kurus were a dynasty that had then dominated in parts of North India and in Afghanistan. Kashmir of course, is historically known as a part of Deva-Kuru. Further, even today there is the Burzahom Neolithic site next to Baramulla district in Kashmir, and the Draga Burzil stream in Kashmir, only further showing that the name Burzin has a connection to Kashmir. Ammianus had written that the Magi derived some of their most secret doctrines from the "Indian Brachmans" (i.e., Brahmans.)[137] Arabian writers have given a lot of information concerning the learning which Zoroaster acquired from the Indian Brahmans.[138] Ammianus also states in his 23rd Book of History that Prince Gushtasp (King Vishtasta's brother) went deep into the secluded areas of northern India and having reached a forest for retreat of the most exalted Brahmans, he learned spiritual knowledge from the Brahmans there and then returned back to his domain to preach this newly acquired wisdom to the Magi.[139] Par Thomas Maurice believed and wrote that Zarathustra had studied with Brahmans in India.[140] Kashmiri Brahmans are known synonymously as Kashmiri Pandits or simply as 'Pandits' (Scholars) and Anquetil du Perron believes that the Mazdaen scripture the Dhup Nihang mentions Mazdaen Pandits. The 8th century CE scripture refers to three Dasturs called 'Pandits' whose names were Bio Pandit, Djsul Pandit and Schobul Pandit.[141] Their names appear in the prayers of that scripture.[142] Interestingly enough, the word 'Dastur' is used in Kashmiri to mean custom.[143]Furthermore, Ibn al-Athir too and written that Zarathustra had been in India at one point.[144]

According to the Canda's Persian text, the Changragach Nameh, an Indian Brahman was called to King Gushtasp's palace to discuss with Zarathustra the Mazdaen religion. The Brahman after his discussion had became a preacher of the religion and went back to India where he established followers and temples.[145] Changragacha's name bares similarity to a placename, 'Chandrabhāga'. Another known Brahman that was a disciple of Zarathustra was a sage from India named Byas (in the lineage of Vyas)[146], and likely Nāidyāongha Gautama (a sage in the lineage of Nodhasa Gautama.) According to the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, the Magi had first settled on the Chandrabhāga.[147] This account also coincides with Timur's finding "fire-worshipers" in Punjab. Further, Aristoboulos, when visiting Taxila,[148] had stated that the dead were "thrown out to be devoured by vultures."[149] This practice is still observed in parts of western Tibet.[150] Further, within Taxila had existed a great Jandial fire temple mentioned by Philostratus.[151] In the 1079 CE century, Sultan Ibrahim the Ghaznavid had attacked a community of Mazdaens at Dehra (probably Dehra Dun.) Then from Timur's invasion of India, among his captives of both Mazdaens and Hindus from Tughlikpur, some were Mazdaens who offered fierce resistance. In 1504 CE, Bedauni mentioned that Sultan Sikander destroyed fire-altars.[152]

Relationship between the Magi and Indian Hindu Priests

The Magi being Athravans were accepted as Brahmans and they settled in Punjab first when they were brought by Samba (son of Kṛṣṇa) and they spread from there to other parts of the Indian Subcontinent including Karnataka and Nepal which are also known as the Magacharya or Maga Brahman today.

Where nations speak Avestan-like languages today

As Zarathustra had spoken Avestan, the language likely would have been spoken in a place where it was popular. Today, Kashmiri (Koshuri) is closest language to Sanskrit and hence to Avestan that is spoken by a linguistic group very similar to Rig Vedic Sanskrit. In addition, languages very close to Sanskrit which are also spoken in regions adjacent to Kashmir, showing only that the Sanskritic-Avestan homeland would at least include Kashmir. The neighboring nations which speak Sanskrit-like languages are the Kalashi, Shina, Gawar Bati, Dameli, Pashayi, Kohistani, Palula and Nuristani. Just as in Avestan, 'zarat' means golden and 'ustra' refers not only to camel[153] but also to wild animals such as cows and sheep in general[154], as well as buffalos. 'Ustra' is used a few times in the Atharva Veda), displaying the point that camels and buffalos were very familiar and common amongst where the Veda's compilers and where Zarathustra lived.

Why Zarathustra left for Balkh

Map from Aelianus' De natura animalium.

"That this Magian language was Zend is surely no forced hypothesis, since from those Brahmins seated in Bactria, we long after find Zoroaster bringing the same religious system and employing their Zend terms for it: a fact which no one can deny." - John George Cochrane[155]

Map of the ancient Silk Route, which connected major cities and peoples of the ancient world.

In ancient time, Indian Brahmans had a great amount of influence over the kingdoms adjacent to India or ones that extended from India to other places like Gandhara, Kakeya, and Kamboja. The fact that Athravans are the chief priests of Mazdaean in Afghanistan implies that Brahmans were already established in the region before Zarathustra's arrival there. In the Vedic Era, King Atyarāti Jānaṃtapi conquered Uttara-Kuru (Afghanistan), thus bringing more Indian influence there. In the 3rd century BCE it was Asoka who had it under his dominion, and in the 8th century CE, it was Kashmiri king Lalitaditya Muktapida that had suzerainty over it. Balkh was known to have a Brahmans within the court of its king as well. Historically in India, Brahmans and other spiritual teachers have sought royal patronage to institutionally aid their religions such as in preaching beliefs to society and building temples. They would become rajyagurus (royal teachers) or rajpurohits (royal sacerdotal priests.) Zarathustra had become the chief spiritual adviser of the Balkhan court and his family members who were the first Mazdaens and also had similar positions within the court. Ancient Greek historian Aelianus in De natura animalium,[156] also mention that there were "Indian Arianians" and there is some suggestion that control of Ariana fluctuated between Indian and Arian Arianians. This infers that Indians in Ariana had political influences.

"A Rishi went to another country, to try and get his name famous there as a Rishi, but he got less celebrated than before (in his own country.) O Rishi, you left your home without a cause."[157] - A Kashmiri Proverb

Kashmir being Land of Rishis was abundant in rishis and it was normal for a monarch of ancient Balkh and other regions of Afghanistan to have Brahman teachers or ministers from India. For example, Nagasena had become the preceptor of the Balkhan King Menander, while Aśvaghośa of Balkhan King Kaniṣka[158]who after his conversation held the Fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir. Buddhayasas was a Kashmiri and had become the preceptor of Dharmagupta the king of Kashgar in 5th century CE. Gunavarman was a prince of Kashmir but was missionary for much of his life and became the royal adviser to the kings of East China, Java, and Sri Lanka in the 4th century CE. Bilhana was a royal sage of Panchal's King Madanabhirama in the 9th century CE. Even the Hindu Shahi Dynasty was established in the 9th century CE by the Turki Shahi Dynasty's Brahman minister Kallar. Kashmir was influential to both Indian and adjacent regions.[159] In ancient history, Kashmir has been part of various kingdoms that had included regions of Afghanistan. Even in the Buddha's time, Gandhara was a Mahajanapada[160] and in many periods of history, Kashmir was a part of the Gandharan Kingdom.

The presence of Indian Brahmans in various places, including neighboring ones, such as Gandhara and Balkh, was recorded in ancient times; Edict 13 of the 14 'Rock Edicts of King Asoka' reads, "There is no country, except among the Greeks, where these two groups, Brahmans and ascetics are not found and there is no country where people are not devoted to one or another religion..." Along the ancient Silk Route the Kashmiri gateway is at Kunjerab Pass and the Balkhan gateways on the pathway are Balkh and Shahrisabz.

Areas of Afghanistan being under the influence of Indian dynasties made Balkh a friendly place for Zarathustra to be a Brahman priest in.

Identification of other places in India

Ātaro-Pātakān of the Avesta is not the Azerbaijan of Caucasus

Ātaro-Pātakān means Keeper of the Fire, which Sanskrit scriptures have used as 'Pāthaka Pitta'. Pāthakām is Sanskrit has meant to be a canton wherein spefically priests live.

Ātaro-Pātakān is in Dardistan and Swat. It is known for having the Asnavand Mountain and the city of Rak from where Zarathustra's mother was from. In modern Gilgitstan exists the Rakaposh Range where bears the title Rak. The Avestan Vendidad[161], it is Rak, whereas in Pahlevi scriptures it's Rag or Arak.

Arrian [162], Strabo[163], Pliny[164], and Justin had stated that Atropatene in Media was named after its Satrap Atropatos declared independence after Alexander's death. He ruled the region under Alexander of Macedon from 328-327 BCE.

Because the Avesta predates Satrap Atropatos, the region of Atropatene is not the Avestan Ātaro-Pātakān (Protector of the Fire.) The Avestan Ātaro-Pātakān is in Persian known by 'Adar-bigan'. Hence, when the kingdom of lower Media took on the name Atropatene, it's Persian-equivalent name also began being used, and in the predominant Turkic language there it became known as Azerbaijan.

That Ātaro-Pātakān borders Airyanem Vaeja is seen in multiple sources, including the Bundahishn.[165]

	Zarathustra's father was of the region Adarbaijan; his mother whose name was Dughdo came from the city of Rai.
—Shaharastani

Aredvisur (Sataves) River is Sutlej

	And Sataves itself is a gulf (var) and side arm of the wide-formed ocean, for it drives back the impurity and turbidness which come from the salt sea, when they are continually going into the wide-formed ocean, with a might high wind, while that which is clear through purity goes into the Aredvisur sources of the wide-formed ocean.
—Zadsparam 6.16[166]

Sataves' fluvial properties are also elaborated when Bundahishn and Vendidad Fargard[167] state that Sataves controls the tides of Vouru-Kasha.

Just as how the Daiti being a tributary of the Indus is called Veh-Daiti, so too is the Aredvisur called the Veh-Aredvisur as the Sutlej is also an Indus tributary.

Gaokerna is Gokarna

Mazdaean scriptures mention the Gaokerna tree of immortality, which is the same as the Hindu Gokarna.

There are said to be 2 Gokarna places; A northern and a southern.

The Varaha Purana refers to Gokarna, as a region where the shrine of Lord Gokarna was installed at the confluence of the Sarasvati and the Yamuna.

Kangdez is Gangdise (beside Kashmir)

Detailed map of Tibet showing the mountainous Gangdise region and Mt. Lionbo Kangri A.K.A. Kangdez.

From the geography of Mazdaen scriptures it is easy to determine the location of Airyanem Vaeja in Kashmir because the regions around Airyanem Vaeja are mentioned too. The part of Tibetan Plateau west of the Indus River and Brahmaputra is even today called Gangdise. Mazdaen scriptures and the Shahnameh mention Kangdez.

In the Dadestan-i-Menog-i-Khrad[168], the location of Kangdez is described as "Kangdez is entrusted with the eastern quarter, near to Satavayes on the frontier of Airan-vego." Since Kangdez is the Gangdise region, this excerpt also supports Kashmir being Airyanem Vaeja.

Turkish historian Al-Biruni writes that he cannot locate Kangdez and that both Yamakoti and Tara are cities there. Yamakoti is also mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam.

	It is said that Bhadrasva-varṣa extends from the city of Yamakoti up to the Malyavat Mountain.
—Srimad Bhagavatam

The prominent mountain associated with this continent is Malyavat Mountain. It is the modern-day Muztag (7,282m) because the Mahabharata identifies Meru as being between the Malyavat and Gandhamadana.[169]

Apart from the Mt. Meru (Mazdaen Hara), Mt. Kailash is also revered in Mazdayasna as "Kangri". It is the abode of Peshotan (Chitro-maino), son of King Vishtaspa, and Khwarsheed-chihr (Khursheed-chehr), son of Zarathushtra, who will gather their righteous army there before the final battle against Ahriman and his creatures, according to the Bundahishn[170], Denkard[171], Zand-i-Wahman Yasn[172].

Kangdez means "Fortress of Kang." In Ferdowsi's epic Shahnameh, Kangdez is named as Gangdez.

Kangdez's name is related to Kangha mentioned in the Avestan Yasht 5.54, the Aban (Ardvisur) Yasht. Antar Kanga is part of a list of mountains in Yasht 19.4. Antar Kanga is the chief mountain on which Kangdez bases its name, and is the largest mountain in the Gangdise, Mt. Kailash.

Kangdez is Rasātāla

Just as Vasuki is mentioned as the ruler of Rasātāla, the children of Vaesaka are mentioned in the Shahnameh as rulers of Kangdez. Just as Vasuki is of a serpent tribe, Vaesakas are written of as worshiping serpents.

	To her did Yoista, one of the Fryanas, offer up a sacrifice with a hundred horses, a thousand oxen, ten thousand lambs on the Pedvaepa of the Rangha.
—Aban Yasht 20.81

Pedvaepa river, an affluent[173] of the Ranhā is the Pedak-miyan of the Bundahishn.

	The Pedak-miyan, which is the river Katru-miyan, is that which is in Kangdez.
—Bundahishn 20.31

Ranhā is Rasā: See also: Areas of Asura control

The Avesta mentions Ranhā (Sanskrit: ' Rasā', another name for Rasātāla), which is the "sixteenth of the best lands created by Ahura Mazda." This land is based around the sources of the Ranhā River which is the Rig Vedic Rasā River. This river is identified with the modern-day Brahmaputra River because the scriptural traits of the Rasā mentioned align with those of the Brahmaputra. Rasātāla, being populated by many Daityas (i.e., Ahuras) would be of significance to Mazdaens and it always appears on the lists of 7 main abodes of the Asuras. Here a major battle between Asura and Deva took place, the battle of Hiranyakṣa and Varāhā.

Two Avestan Fragards mention that Ranhā is the largest river that they know. This is true because Ranhā (Brahmaputa) is 3,848km while Veh (Indus) is 3,610km.

Three affluents of the Ranhā are named in the Yashts; Aodhas[174], Sanaka[175], and Gaudha[176]. The Brahmaputra passes through Gauda (Bengal) region and hence, a Ranhā tributary would be named Gaudha. This is likely the Jamuna River.

	We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, ....sleepless, and ever awake; Whose long arms, strong with Mithra-strength, encompass what he seizes in the easternmost river and what he beats with the westernmost river ("Hindu"), what is by the Sanaka of the Rangha and what Is by the boundary of the earth.
—Khorda Avesta 27.104[177]

Frazdanava is Lake Rakshasa Tal

The Frazdanava contains the word Danava, implying its connection with the "Danavo" whom are mentioned as villainous. It is also where King Vishtaspa performs spiritual ceremonies. Danavas in many cases of Indian history were Rakshasas.

This area was sacred for ceremonies not just for King Vishtaspa, but also Indians since it is in the Indian Subcontinent and because rṣis lived here.

	Vaisampayana said,--"Then Maya Danava addressed Arjuna, that foremost of successful warriors, saying,--'I now go with thy leave, but shall come back soon. On the north of the Kailasa peak near the mountains of Mainaka, while the Danavas were engaged in a sacrifice on the banks of Vindu lake, I gathered a huge quantity of delightful and variegated vanda (a kind of rough materials) composed of jewels and gems.
—Mahabharata Section 3

Avestan Mainakha is Vedic Mainaka

As the names are almost identical they are the same mountain. The Mahabharata claims it was north of Mt. Kailash.[178] It is known as Mt. Kangrinboqe Feng (6,656m) in Tibet, north of Mt. Kailash (7,694m.)

Vouru-Kasha is Indian Ocean

Its other names in Mazdaen scriptures are the Frakhvkard and Varkash. Both the names Vourukash and Varkash are reflective of the other name for Indian Ocean city Bharuch, Varukaksha.[179]

Just as the Indian Ocean in Hindu scriptures is referred to as the "Sea of Salt" so to the Khorda Avesta[180] calls the Vourukasha, the "deep sea of salt waters."

Practice of similar customs

Sathya Sai Baba with a Mazdaen priest during a child's Navjot ceremony (left), and a Mazdaen priest with a child performing the Navjot ceremony (right.)

There are customs that are typically unique to the Mazdaens, but were practiced in India. Some of the customs within the Mazdaen community are similar to those of the Hindu Brahmans. For example, the Navjot and vegetarianism.

Spiritual initiation

"The investure with the Kosti, as described in the Yesht Sade, and alluded to in several places of the Vendidad, appears to be nothing more than the Kaksha, or girdle of the Hindus, blended with some notion of the cord, or Upavita." - The Quarterly Oriental magazine, review and register[181]

Navjot which means new birth is the initiation of a Mazdaen and they are given a sacred thread to wear similar to that of the Yajnopavita ceremony for many Hindus.

Just as the Mazdaen ceremony marks a 'new birth', the Hindu one also does the same. Hence, anyone who receive the Hindu ceremony is called a 'dwija' (twice-born.)

Vegetarianism

A medieval painting of Gayomard and living beings, displaying that humans and animals lived in harmony.

A large section of Parsis[182] are vegetarian and during weddings/navjyots, there is always a "Parsi vegetarian" menu. There are four days in a month where all Mazdaens, even the non-vegetarians are expected not to eat meat in a practice called parhezi which means abstinence. They are Bahman, Mohar, Ghosh, and Ram roj. Meat is also not eaten for three days after a relative passes away.

	Be plant-eaters ('urwar khwarishn', i.e., vegetarian), O you people, so that you may live long. And stay away from the body of useful animals. As well, deeply reckon that Ohrmazd the Lord, has for the sake of benefiting useful animals created many plants.
—High Priest Atrupat-e Emetan (Adarbad, son of Emedan) who officiated after the Arab invasion states in the 11th century CE, Book 6, Denkard

Third century CE Greek biographer, noted in the prologue to his Biography[183] that the Magi priests of Persia "dress in white, make their bed on the ground and have vegetables, cheese and coarse bread..."

The modern Ilm-i Khshnum movement in India advocated vegetarianism too.

Dr. Kenneth S. Guthrie believed that Zarathustra promoted vegetarianism.[184]

Usage of plants in worship

Both Mazdaens and Hindus use plants in their worship. During group and individual praying, Mazdaens hold a plant. Also, in the Haoma ceremony of Mazdaens, they use the ephedra in the ritual.[185]

Venerating the same persons

In Mazdayasna, Ahura Mazda is the Supreme Lord and the other supernatural beings are yazatas.[186] As there are several with a similar name in both Mazdayasna and Hinduism, there are also others whose names are different but are the same persons, such as Sraoesa, who is Bṛhasa of Hinduism.

Varuna: See also: Varuna

"Ahura Mazda has created asha, purity, or rather the cosmic order; he has crested the moral and the material world constitution; he has made the universe; he has made the law; he is, in a word, creator (datar), sovereign (ahura), omniscient (mazdao), the god of order (ashavan). He corresponds exactly to Varuna, the highest god of Vedism."[187] - Arthur Lenormant

In the Rig Veda, though Varuna remains a god, his influence lessened as many gods took the side of Indra as their king and many humans took him as their chief god.

	Many a year I have lived with them; I shall now accept Indra and abjure the Father Varuna, along with his fire and his soma (haoma) has retreated. The old regime has changed. I shall accept the new order.
—Rig Veda 10.12.4

Varuna	Ahura Mazda
"I made to flow the moisture-shedding waters."	"Rain down upon the earth to bring food to the faithful and fodder to the beneficial cow."
Rig Veda	Vendidad

The Vendidad is called in Pahlevi the Zhand-I Jvit Dev Dat. Here the 'Dev Dat' portion of the title refers to the conch of Ahura Mazda. The Dev Dat is mentioned in Hindu scriptures as the conch of Varuna.

There is a strong connection in Hindu scriptures between Varuna and Asuras. For example, the Mahabharata mentions that he receives homage in his palace by asuras. He is also said to live in the ocean with Nagas, and his residence there is known as Asuranam Bandhanam. Then according to the Valmiki Ramayana, Ravana had invaded Rasātāla where lived Varuna, his sons, Nagas, and Daityas. According to the Srimad Bhagavatam[188], Hiranyaksha visted Varuna to seek his advice on whether to fight Vishnu or not (in which Varuna advised the Daitya king to do so to earn Vishnu's grace by being slain by him.) Hiranyaksha there had called Varuna "Adhiraja" (Supreme Lord!) The Mahabharata claims that Varuna governs Rasātāla, 1 of the major strongholds of the Asuras. Hiranyapur, another stronghold (where Prahlad Maharaj governed from) was also affiliated with him. Further, Varuna is the one of the few gods that have Asuras as administrators. Varuna's are Meghavasas in his assembly, and another named Sunabha.

	O Yudhishthira, without anxiety of any kind, wait upon and worship the illustrious Varuna. And, O king, Vali the son of Virochana, and Naraka the subjugator of the whole Earth; Sanghraha and Viprachitti, and those Danavas called Kalakanja; and Suhanu and Durmukha and Sankha and Sumanas and also Sumati; and Ghatodara, and Mahaparswa, and Karthana and also Pithara and Viswarupa, Swarupa and Virupa, Mahasiras; and Dasagriva, Vali, and Meghavasas and Dasavara; Tittiva, and Vitabhuta, and Sanghrada, and Indratapana--these Daityas and Danavas, all bedecked with ear-rings and floral wreaths and crowns, and attired in the celestial robes, all blessed with boons and possessed of great bravery, and enjoying immortality, and all well of conduct and of excellent vows, wait upon and worship in that mansion the illustrious Varuna, the deity bearing the noose as his weapon.
—Section IX, Mahabharata[189]

While the Rig Veda directly calls gods out as Asuras, it also indirectly refers to Varuna as an "Asura of heaven"[190], and latter verse heaven itself is called 'asura'[191]. Also in a verse in which Asura is mentioned, it reads, "our father pours down the waters."[192] Further, the RV says that Agni is born from his (the Asura's) womb.[193] This is important in showing that Agni is a child of Varuna just as the Holy Fire (Atar) is mentioned as the son of Ahura Mazda in the Avesta.

Ahura Mazda's connection to Vahiśta goes back to Varuna's relation to Vasiśṭha from Hindu scriptures. For example, The Ramayana mentions that Vasiśṭha was a son of Varuna through Urvashi born at Varunalaya (modern Barnala, Punjab.) He was also said to have turned his son Vahiśta into a scholar by simply accompanying him on a boat trip. Varuna had taught what is called "Bhrgu-Varuni Vidya" to his son Bhrgu of which the essence was "Brahm (God) is nothing but joy."

The name 'Zarathustra' means Golden buffalo, which is because the animals involved in sacrifices to Varuna were usually buffaloes[194]. This is akin to Hindus being named after a vehicle of god, such as Basava or Nandi, the bull of Shiva. These names reflect devotion and subordination as servants of gods.

Kavi Uṣana

An Ahura of Mazdayasna is known as an Asura in Hinduism. It is then no surprise that we also find Śukra Acharya or Kavi Uṣana, the Guru of the Asuras, being venerated as one of the most holy beings. His connection to Varuna in Hindu scriptures is that he is Varuna's devotee in many instances as seen in Satapatha Brahmana[195]. In the Avesta he is known as Us and later in the Bahram Yasht as Kavi Uṣa.[196]

	This one is known to me here, who alone heard our precepts: Zarathustra, the Holy, he asks from Us, Mazda, and Asha, assistance for announcing, I will make him skilful of speech.
—Yasna 29, Avesta

Kavi Uṣa is also called Kava Uṣan and Ashvarechao, which means full of radiance just like how his Hindu name Śukra means radiant and how scriptures like the Yoga Vasiśṭha[197] describes him as "radiant young Śukra", or Ramayana[198] describes "Śukra, radiant as the sun, departed."

The Avesta doesn't refer to him as Śukra because that name is reserved as an epithet for Ahura Mazda, who is invoked as, "athra sukhra Mazda"[199] (Kavi Uṣana has many titles.)

Uṣana is also given importance because he descends from Angiras. Mahabharata reads that Kavyas descendants from Kavi.[200] Manu Smriti establishes a Kavi as a descendant of Angiras.[201] Like how Uṣana is a regent constellation in Hindu astrology, he is a star included among the Great Bear constellation, in the Hapto-iringas of the Avesta.[202]

King Ram: See also: Rama

Mazdaen scriptures mention a righteous monarch named Ram, whom it addressed Ram Khshatra. Though it doesn't dive into details about the yazata, it usually mentions him together with Mithra. In Hinduism, he is known a Raja Ram, a noble king, "Arya that cared for the equality of all", descendant of Mitra.

	Rama, descendant of the sun ("Mitra"), became friends ("mitra") with Sugriva, son of the sun ("Mitra.")
—Ramayana, 15.26

There is even one passage in the Avesta that mentions Ram together with Vahiśta, which is symbolic of the relationship in the Ramayana that Ram has with his guru Vasiśṭha[203]. It also shows the relationship between Mithra and yazata Ram.

	We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures; we sacrifice unto Rama Hvastra. We sacrifice unto Asha-Vahiśta and unto Atar, the son of Ahura Mazda.
—Khorda Avesta 2.7

[204]

Sacredness of the sun

The sun is like fire, a holy symbol of Ahura Mazda. The Avesta declares:

	This Mithra, the lord of the wide pastures, I have created as worthy of sacrifice, as I, Ahura Mazda, am myself.
—Avesta

[205]

Mitra is a god often paired with Varuna in Vedic hymns. There are many Hindus today who worship God Almighty in the form of the sun and they are known as Sauras. The Māga Brahmaṇas are very closely associated with the sun-worship in Hinduism.

Just as the Rig Veda declares that the sun is the "Eye of Varuna"[206], the Avesta[207] it also declares that Mitra is the eye of Ahura Mazda.[208]

Prayer terminology

Just as Hindus include the word namo in their mantras, such as 'Namo Varunaya'[209][210] or 'Namo Jinanam', Mazdaens too apply the term in the phrases 'Namo Ahurai Mazdai', 'Namo Zarathushtrahe Spitaamahe', 'Namo Amesha Spenta' and 'Namo Heomae'.

'Nemase-te' is another term used by Mazdaens which is the equivalent of Sanskritic Namaste.

'Neueediem' has the Sanskritic equivalent 'nivedayami', which has been used in Hindu verses like "Om Owing Saraswatai nivedayami."

Praying ceremony for departed ancestors

Both Mazdaens and Hindus offer prayers for their ancestors, and the procession meant solely for their well-being is known as the 'Dhup Nirang' (Gujarati for ritual of offering of frankincense) or 'Nirang-e Rawan-e Guzashtagan' (Persian for Ceremony for the souls of departed ones) amongst Mazdaens[211] and as 'Śrāddha' amongst Hindus.

Corresponding festivals of Mazdaens and Kashmiri Hindus

Just as Mazdaens celebrate Ahura Mazda (Varuna) and King Jamshed, so too do Kashmiri Hindus. The Mazdaen calender new year, celebration Nuvruz, is the same festival as that of the Kashmiri Hindus, Navreh.[212]

During the festivity of Tararatrih, on the 14th of the dark half of Magha, King Yama is worshiped.[213] On Varuna Panchami, Varuna is worshiped.[214] Varuna is worshiped again on the 5th day of the festivity of Yatrotsava, whereby Hindus are encouraged to visit his 'abodes' or temples.[215]

Celebrating god Mitra has historically also been a part of Kashmiri culture. Till the 11th century CE, the Kashmiri Pandits celebrated Mitra (Mithra) Punim, on the fourteenth or full moon night of the bright fortnight (Śukla Pakṣa) of the Hindu autumn month of Ashvin or Ashwayuja. Similarly, the Mazdaens celebrate Yalda as the birth of Mithra.[216]

Usage of fire in ceremonies

Ateshgah of Baku fire temple in Baku, Azerbaijan which was utilized by Hindu priests from India.

Fire is used in processions of both Mazdaens and Hindus. Their temples use fire altars for performing the rituals. Fire altars have been discovered in the Indus Valley city of Kalibangan in northern Rajasthan state, showing that even the ancient society then revered fire as sacred.

Ceremonies

"Although sacrifices are reduced to a few rites in the Parsi religion now-a-days, we may discover, on comparing them with the sacrificial customs of the Brahmans, a great similarity in the rites of the two religions." - Martin Haug[217]

In addition to the ceremonies of Navjot and praying for ancestors, there are other similar ones for the Mazdaens and Hindus.

Mazdaen	Hindu	Entails
Afrigan	Apri	The ceremony is meant to invite persons; during Afrigan a deceased person or an angel, and during the Apri a god.
Darun	Darsha Purnama	During the Darun, sacred bread is offered, whereas on the Darsha Purnama the sacrificial cakes are offered.
Gahanbar	Chaturmasya Ishti	Gahanbar involves offering sacrifices 6 times a year, whereas the Chaturmasya entails sacrifices given 4 times.
Yajishn (Ijashne)	Jyotishthoma	The both, the twigs of sacrificial plant ('Homa'/'Soma') itself are brought to the sacred spot where the procession occurs and the juice is extracted during the recital of prayers. The Yajishn (Ijashne) implements a plant that grows in Iran whereas the Jyotishthoma implements the Putika.

Mouth covering of priests

Mazdaen priests wear the padam over their mouth just as many Jain monks wear the mohapatti. The purpose of the Mazdaen clad is to prevent pollution through the products of the mouth when handling the sacred fire.

Purification before worship

Because yazatas (venerable spirits) are pure, to pray to them it is encouraged that the worshiper be clean, and so devotees wash their hands and faces.

Hindus, although they pray in several occasions and environments, normally they perform puja in the morning after having bathed.

Footwear removal before entering temples

Mazdaens are in most temples required to remove their footwear because the temple is very sacred and because of its sanctity it is not to be contaminated with either spiritual or material filth.

Hindu temples too require the visitor to remove footwear for the same reason.

Astrology

Zarathustra has been written in Mazdaen scriptures of having practiced the science and the Kitāb al-mawalid (also known as the Kitāb Zardusht), an astrological scripture, is attributed to a 'Zardusht' in the scripture itself, and certain modern scholars believe that this Zardusht may in fact be the original Zarathustra.

Just as several Brahman priests of India have historically practiced astrology, and to this day many still do, the priests in Zarathustra's time applied the science too. When Zarathustra was in the womb, his mother had a frightful dream, so she consulted an astrologer that assured her she had no reason to fear for his birth and he predicted the baby's glorious future.[218]

Hindu astrological similarities to that of Mazdaen texts translated by Theophilus have been noticed by Pengree who believe this was likely because Hindu Brhadyatra and other works by Varahamihira were translated into Persian, which were the ones Theophilus had read.[219]

Sky burials

In one period of history, even feeding corpses to vultures as opposed to either cremating them or burying them was the norm in parts of the Punjab region. Aristoboulos, when visited Taxila,[220] had stated that the dead were "thrown out to be devoured by vultures."[221] This practice is still observed in parts of western Tibet which is modern-day Avestan Ranha or Vedic Rasātāla.

Raghunath Rai discusses that leaving corpses for birds and beasts was historically one way that Indians since ancient times had disposed of the dead.[222] He also leads to the conclusion that this was practiced by Indus Valley Civilization residents of Mohenjo Daro because skeletons have been found in public places and within a room.

In the Mahabharata King Astaka mentions three different kinds of corpse-disposal; cremation (dahyate), burial (nikhanyate), and decay (nighrsyate).[223] Vidura then mentions 2 modes; cremation on a funeral pyre or the body is left for birds to consume.[224] King Virata after he was slaughtered by the Kauravas had his corpse offered to vultures by Dronacharya.

Even in South India, decomposition by vultures wasn't unheard of in certain places. The author of the Manimekalai writes of exposure of the corpse to be devoured by vultures and jackals as 1 of 5 decomposition methods.[225]

Zarathustra as a cave mendicant

Ancient Greek writers Eubulus, Porphry and Dio Chrysostom had written of Zarathustra's time living in a mountainous cave wherein he is said to have lived for ten years. The way in which he lived is of a similar description to that of Brahmans of that time. This was "Mount Kāf [which is the] mountain Usihdatar,..."[226]

The Vessantara Jātaka gives this description of Brahman ascetics: "looking like a Brahman with his matted hair and garment of animal skin with his hook and sacrificial ladle, sleeping on the ground and reverencing the sacred fire".

Why Zarathustra wore knotted-hair and a turban

Kashmiri Pandits in traditional white phiran (tops), shall, and turban wear sporting a beard. This strikingly resembles Zarathustra's fashion.

The turban is mentioned in the Atharva Veda as an ushnisha.[227]

Vasiśṭha is associated with the turban more than other Vedic sages. In the village of Vashisht in Himachal Pradesh during the birthday of Vasiśṭha his statue in the main temple of the village is adorned with a white dhoti and turban.[228]

In the Rig Veda and Kathaka Grhya Sutra, Vasiśṭha wears a kapardin or knotted-hair.

Applying ash to forehead

Mazdaean many times in their ceremonies apply Rakhya ash from a ceremonial fire on their foreheads just as Hindus many times in rituals mark foreheads with tilaks of either ash or paint.

Bull statues in front of temples

Some Mazdaean temples have Bahman Ameshaspand winged-bulls at temple entrances just as many Hindu temples have Nandi (or Vasava) bulls at entrances.

Depicting figures as animal-headed

Lion-headed Zurvan from Mithraic Mazdaen temple.

Like many Hindu icons, in Mazdaen ones too, gods are depicted as animal-headed sometimes.

Social classification

Whether castes in any Mazdaen society, apart from the Brahman one (Athravan), existed or not is certain. However, we know that the laborforce of society in Mazdaean scriptures is categorized like the one that exists in India; Athravan/Sodalen (Priest), Rathaestar/Ritter (Warrior), and Vastrya-fsuyant/Varazana/Dragu/Driyu (Agriculturalist.) In fact, Zarathustra's 3 sons were said to be the heads of these classes ('pistra') — Isatvastra of the priests, Urvatatnara of the warriors, and Khvarechithra of the agriculturalists. Eventually, a Huiti (Artisan) class came to be recognized.

The Mahabharata mentions that in Sakadwipa (Iranian Plateau and Central Asia but more specifically, Balkh) there are four castes; "They are the Mrigas (Brahmans), the Masakas (Kshatriyas), the Manasas (Vaisyas), and the Mandagas (Sudras.)"[229]

Symbolisms

Dualism

See also: Dvaita

Mazdayasna views the universe as a place of mingling between Asha (good) and Druj (evil.) Known in Sanskrit as Dvaita, it relates to how the universe is divided into matter and spirit. Matter is ignorance and an illusion (Maya) and corrupts souls, while spirit is holy and true.

Some modern scholars have compared this dualism in Mazdayasna to the ideas of Purusha and Prakriti wherein the former is spirit and the latter is matter. S. Taraporewala for example, in the early 20th century had used the terms Purusha and Prakriti to explain the dualism of good and evil.

Four ages of humanity

There are 4 ages according to Zoroastrianism[230], much like Hinduism's 4 yugas, with the first being the most righteous of times in both religions and then as the ages succeed, they become worse than the preceding age. Finally in the last age, a godly figure arises and vanquishes the most evil people of the world. In Zoroastrianism, the messianic figure is Shaosyant,[231] while in Hinduism it is Kālki.

Ahura as Buddha

Ahura Mazda has many names. In the Khordeh Avesta he is given 101 names, including Varuna.

	Ahum cha daenam cha Baodhas cha.
—Khordeh Avesta[232]

The translation is that Ahura Mazda declares that he is religion (Mazdayasna) and Buddha. Buddha is used here because it means that Ahura Mazda and his religion are perfect, as Buddhahood is the state of perfection.

Ahura Mazda has also been called Buddha Mazda, specifically in Afghanistan where Buddhism was a major religion.

Reincarnation

Reincarnation is mentioned in Zarathustra's Gāthās.

	"But evil-rulers, evil-doers, evil-speakers, those of evil-egos, evil-thinkers, and followers of falsehood, the souls of all such, because of the fouling of their original lustre, will return (or go forth — "paiti yeinti") to the Abode of Falsehood (Drujo Dgmane) where, in truth, their existence shall be."[233]
—Yasna 49.11

In the passage above, "will return" refers to impure souls having to take rebirth because inability to attain heaven due to their sins.

Sangelaji in his Eslam va Mousiqi writes that the Ghollat class of religious scholars from Iran believed in reincarnation.[234] This means that the knowledge of reincarnation was passed down to the Ghollats by the early Mazdaens.

Some Mazdaen scriptures refer to rebirth as tanasokh. 'Farhangsar' is from a transmigration from a human body to another human body, 'nangsar' is from human to animal, and 'tangsar' is from human to plant. Sometimes 'sangsar' is referred to where a soul goes from a human body to that of a mineral.

The Magi were reported by Porphyry in 3rd century to be vegetarian because they believed in reincarnation[235] (i.e., harming an animal leads to rebirth as a animal.)

Interestingly enough, an indirect usage of 'rebirth' is applied for the Navjot (new birth) ceremony.

Symbolic representation by figures

Apart from the persons, such as gods and sages, what they represent in Zoroastrianism is similar in Hinduism. Just as in Hindu scriptures there are 33 gods (Traytrimsha Devas) that uphold the universe, so too are there is a group of 33 gods in Zoroastrianism.

	And I announce and complete (my Yasna) to all those who are the thirty and three lords of the ritual order, which, coming the nearest, are around about Hâvani, and which (as in their festivals) were inculcated by Ahura Mazda, and were promulgated by Zarathustra, as the lords of Asha Vahiśta, who is Righteousness the Best.[236]
—Yasna 1.10, Avesta

Dharmachakra

Four-armed Anahita sitting on lion while holding the sun in the form of a chakra in her right hand. (A 4th century Sassanian Dynasty silver bowl.)

See also: Dharmachakra

The wheel is a sacred symbol in Zoroastrianism as in Hinduism. The Avesta speaks of "turning of the wheel", which Max Muller himself thinks "smacks of Buddhism" as he writes.[237]

Religion referred to 'Law'

Both Mazdaens and Hindus refer to religion as 'Law'; 'Daena' for Mazdaens and 'Dharma' for Hindus.

The Mazdaens also call Mazdayasna 'Daena Vanghui' (Good Religion) while Hindus call their's Arya Dharma (Noble Religion.)

Fire trial

Taking the "test of fire" is an allegory in both Mazdayasna and Hinduism for proving one's innocence through penances.[238]According to the Valmiki Rāmāyaṇa, Sita had taken an Agni Parikṣā[239] to prove her fidelity to Rama. In the ShahnamehSiyavash had passed through fire to prove he was truthful.[240][241]

"It is added, that he passed twenty years in the desert and the love of wisdom and justice obliged him to retire from the world to a mountain where he lived in solitude; but when he came down from thence there fell a celestial fire upon it, which perpetually burned; the king of Persia accompanied with the greatest lords of his court, approached it for the purpose of putting up prayers to God; that Zoroaster came out from these flames unhurt;..."[242]

Piousness of fire

Fire is used in both Mazdaen and Hindu ceremonies as it is believed to be holy by both the communities. It is invoked and prayers exist wherein fire itself it adorated even when fit is not physically not being venerated. Ceremonies that involve fire are of initiation[243] and sacrifices.[244]

Sacredness of cows

See also: Animal rights

	"Here am I, one who has touched the corpse of a man, and who is powerless in mind, powerless in tongue, powerless in hand. Do make me clean." If they will not cleanse him, he shall cleanse his body with gomez and water; thus he shall be clean.
—Fargard VIII.104, Avesta

The Avesta declares that Gomez[245] (Vedic 'Gomedha') is an important sacrifice, which involves cow urine. The cow is very sacred. In the 9th chapter of the of the Vendidad of the Avesta, the purification power of cow urine is dilated upon.[246] It is declared to be a panacea for all bodily and moral evils. It is drunk as well as applied externally just like the Hindus also.[247] Urine of the bull, called "nirang" is brought to the house of an orthodox Parsi every morning and is applied to the face, hands and feet like the cow's milk.[248]

Sacredness of the environment

Both Mazdaens and Hindus regard the environment as an important resource like animals which cannot be abused. Yasna Haptanghaiti[249] declares, "apo at yazamaide" or "We worship the waters." Mazdaens often offer libations to the rivers just as they do to the sacred fire, similar to how Hindus do by placing oil lamps or flowers into a river sometimes during their worship.

Apart from the Mt. Meru (Mazdaen Hara), Mt. Kailash is also revered in Mazdayasna as "Kangri". There are also many other mountains that are considered sacred, and they are mentioned in the Avesta.

Humans born from sacrifice of a super being

According to Mazdaen stories, Gayomard was a great being, upon whose self-sacrifice were born the first pair of humans and vegetation.[250] This story is similar to the Rig Vedic lore of self-sacrifice of the cosmic Puruṣa from whose sacrificed body came all the parcels of the universe.

Immortality of souls and souls of animals

Mazdayasna believes that animals have souls and the phrases used for describing an animal's soul are 'pasu urvan'[251] and 'geush urvan'.[252] Geush urvan is another phrase for the souls of animals, because the cow here is used as a metaphor for animals in general just as in Hindu societies a 'goshālā'[253] refers to animal shelters.

Days of the week relating to gods and planets

The gods and planets which represent the days of the week are the same for the Mazdaens and Hindus.

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Planet	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn
Hindu deity	Ravi	Soma	Mangala	Buddha	Guru	Shukra	Shani
Mazdaen deity[254][255]	Mithra		Vrarayna	Tiriya	Ahura Mazda	Ardvi Anahita Sura	Kayvanu

Scriptural verses and styles

As Zarathustra was a Brahman, he was familiar with the Vedas and wrote Vedic verses to be revered. This portion of the Avesta is known as the Gāthās meaning Songs, just as Hindus scriptures are often either Gāthās or Gitās. The Brahmana scriptures refer to gāthās and abhiyajnagāthās as the verses of the Vedas.[256]

Incarnations

See also: Avatāra

An incarnation is known as an avatār. The Avesta[257] reads that there were ten forms of Verethraghna, whose equivalent Sanskrit name is 'Vritrahana', which appeared to Zarathustra, similar to the ten major forms:[258]

Mazdaen	Hindu
Wind	Vāyu
Bull	Ṛṣabha (the ascetic whose name means Bull)
Horse	Hayagriva (whose name means Horse-headed)
Camel
Boar	Varāhā (whose name means Boar)
Youth	Vāmana (the child avatār)
Raven	Garuda
Ram
Buck
Man	Rama, Kṛṣṇa, Parshurama, etc.

In modern times Mazdaen scholars have inquired more into the idea of incarnations, and some have written of Zarathustra himself to have been one of an angel. The Ilm-i Khshnum occult movement belief was that Zarathustra was an avatar of an Amesha Spenta.

Division of Earth into seven continents

See also: History of ancient geography

According to the Avesta the world consists of seven continents wherein the one in which Zarathustra lived is Khvaniratha with Mt. Hara at the center just as Hindu scriptures mention Jambudvipa as the Indian Plateau and some adjacent regions with Mt. Meru at its center.

External resources

References

Jump up↑ P. 149 Uygur Patronage In Dunhuang: Regional Art Centres On The Northern Silk Road By Lilla Russell-Smith
Jump up↑ The Frove: A Connecting Link Between Zoroastrianism and Kashmir was a book written by him
Jump up↑ P. 32 Journal, Issues 17-24 By K.R. Cama Oriental Institute
Jump up↑ P. 35 Journal, Issues 17-24 By K.R. Cama Oriental Institute
Jump up↑ P. 64 Indo-iranica, Volume 28 Iran Society
Jump up↑ Atharvan is a descendant of Vasiśṭha
Jump up↑ Yasht 33.6; Zaotar means fire-priest and its Vedic Sanskrit equivalent is hótar
Jump up↑ Manthran means the mantra-maker-and-reciter.
Jump up↑ Datta means given.
Jump up↑ Yasht 31.5.10; Sanskrit 'Rṣi' meaning seer
Jump up↑ Sanskrit 'Ratu' meaning guide
Jump up↑ The Vedas: An Introduction to Hinduism’s Sacred Texts By Roshen Dalal
Jump up↑ Mount Ushidaran, where he lived on a diet of plants
Jump up↑ P. 391 Anacalypsis: An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil of the Saitic Isis; or An Inquiry into the Origin of Languages, Nations, and Religions, Volume 1 By Godfrey Higgins
Jump up↑ P. 65 Christ and the Taurobolium: Lord Mithras in the Genesis of Christianity By Duncan K. Malloch
Jump up↑ P. 48 The Zend Avesta By F. Max Muller
Jump up↑ Greater Bundahishn Chapter IX.3
Jump up↑ Vayu Purana 2.4.34-48
Jump up↑ Brahmanda Purana 2.3.1.34-48
Jump up↑ Jaiminiya Brahmana 3.263
Jump up↑ Satapatha Brahmana 4.5.1.8
Jump up↑ Aitareya Brahmana 3.34
Jump up↑ Gopatha Brahmana 1.1.1-9
Jump up↑ P. 677 International Cyclopaedia: A Library of Universal Knowledge, Volume 15 By Dodd, Mead and Company
Jump up↑ Khordad Yasht IV.10: "O Zarathustra! let not that spell be shown to any one, except by the father to his son, or by the brother to his brother from the same womb, or by the Âthravan to his pupil 6 in black hair, devoted to the good law, who, devoted to the good law, holy 7 and brave, stills all the Druges."
Jump up↑ P. 202 The Sacred Books of the East, Volume 23 edited by Friedrich Max Müller
Jump up↑ A Treasury of Indian Wisdom: An Anthology of Spiritual Learning By Karan Singh
Jump up↑ RV 6.16.17; P. 33 The Bharadvājas in Ancient India By Thaneswar Sarmah
Jump up↑ RV 6.15.17; P. 33 The Bharadvājas in Ancient India By Thaneswar Sarmah
Jump up↑ Yasna 46.6
Jump up↑ Yasna 46.3; 48.12
Jump up↑ Yasna 43.15
Jump up↑ Rig Veda 1.31.17; 1.45.3; 1.139.9
Jump up↑ Atharva Veda 7.50.1
Jump up↑ Rig Veda 1.1.6
Jump up↑ Rig Veda 10.62.5
Jump up↑ Rig Veda HI: 53: 7
Jump up↑ Markandeya Purana 73.13; Kurma Purana 12
Jump up↑ Within the 14th Manavatara 1 of the Saptarṣis will be "Shukra Vasiśṭha"; Narasimha Purana
Jump up↑ Rig Veda 10.67; Matsya Purana 217-218
Jump up↑ P. 502 Encyclopedia Iranica, Volume 14, Part 5 By Ehsan Yar-Shater
Jump up↑ (Yima.) It means archangel.
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Jump up↑ She is Rta.
Jump up↑ P. 328 The Vyavahára Mayúkha, in Original, with an English Translation, Parts 1-2 By Vishwanath Narayan Mandlik
Jump up↑ Avesta Yasht 17.20; P. 254 The Esoteric Codex: Zoroastrianism By Gerardo Eastburn
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Jump up↑ P. 408 The Journal of the Bihar Purāvid Parishad, Volumes 7-8 by Bihar Puravid Parishad
Jump up↑ P. 96 Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and Progress of the Religion and Institutions of India, Volume 1edited by John Muir
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Jump up↑ Yasna 3.11, Avesta, THE YASNA ADVANCES TO THE NAMING OF THE OBJECTS OF PROPITIATION
Jump up↑ Vahistoistri Gāthā, Yasna 53
Jump up↑ P. 44-45 Persian Literature - A Bio-Bibliographical Survey: Poetry of the Pre-Mongol Period, Volume 5 By Francois De Blois
Jump up↑ P. 21-22 A Comparative Study of Religions By Y. Masih
Jump up↑ P. 106 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal edited by The Secretaries
Jump up↑ P. 106 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal edited by The Secretaries
Jump up↑ P. 409 The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism edited by Michael Stausberg, Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina
Jump up↑ P. 409 The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism edited by Michael Stausberg, Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina
Jump up↑ P. 318 4 Vedas and Other Sacred Texts of the East By Anonymous
Jump up↑ Avesta Yasna 90.5; P. 249 The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31) By L.H. Mills
Jump up↑ 101 Names of God, Sad-o-yak nâm-i-khodâ
Jump up↑ Iran Names
Jump up↑ P. 71 Israel and Hellas III: The Legacy of Iranian Imperialism and ..., Volumes 1-3 By John Pairman Brown
Jump up↑ Gāthā 46.6 P. 68 The hymns of Zoroaster usually called the Gathas By Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie and Henry Howard Linton
Jump up↑ [https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol_master_gloss/aveol/16 Old Iranian Online Avestan: Master Glossary]
Jump up↑ RV 24.14
Jump up↑ It is the Translated Avesta.
Jump up↑ It is the Small Avesta.
Jump up↑ Gāthās are the Songs or Yasnas meaning Sacrifices.
Jump up↑ Shasta Yasna 51
Jump up↑ P. 262 The Aryan Ecliptic Cycle: Glimpses Into Ancient Indo-Iranian Religious History from 25628 B.C. to 292 A.D. By Hormusjee Shapoorjee Spencer
Jump up↑ Mahabharata Udyoga Parva Chapter 43:4
Jump up↑ P. 17 The Zoroastrian Faith: Tradition and Modern Research By Solomon Alexander Nigosian
Jump up↑ Rig-Veda A Historical Analysis By Shrikant G. Talageri
Jump up↑ P. 118 An Outline of the Future Religion of the World: With a Consideration of the Facts and Doctrines on Which it Will Be Based By T. Lloyd Stanley
Jump up↑ Avesta Yasna 9.13-14 and 17
Jump up↑ P. 586 Antiquity Unveiled: Ancient Voices from the Spirit Realms By Jonathan M. Roberts
Jump up↑ It means New Year.
Jump up↑ It is the term for devils in Zoroastrianism.
Jump up↑ Rig Veda VII.33.1; 83.8
Jump up↑ Rig Veda tr. By Ralph T.H. Griffith; P. 16 Rigvedic Society By Enric Aguilar i Matas
Jump up↑ P. 45 Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali (Nund Rishi) By G. N. Gauhar
Jump up↑ "...anumatae daēnāyai anuxtae daenayai anuvarshte daenayai." - Ardvisur Yasht (Yasht 5.105)
Jump up↑ Western Anavas were Yaudheyas, Ambasthas, Shibis, Sindhus, Sauviras, Kaikeyas, Madras, Vrsadarbhas
Jump up↑ "tram jayanto nv asademagnina veyo anu varta" (Atharva Veda 18.8)
Jump up↑ Vrtlikara 4.2.118
Jump up↑ Kurma Purana 12
Jump up↑ It is later written of as 'Ragha', and even later as 'Rai'.; Pahvali Vendidad Chapter 1, "Zartusht min Zak Zinak Yehvunt"
Jump up↑ Bundahishn 20.32 and 24.15; It was later called as 'Darji'.
Jump up↑ Vendidad chapter 19.4; P. 4 Cultural and Religious Heritage of India: Zoroastrianism edited by Suresh K. Sharma, Usha Sharma
Jump up↑ Sopore tehsil
Jump up↑ In Kreeri Tehsil, Rampora Rajpur, Raj Pora in Tangmarg tehsil
Jump up↑ Bundahishn 20.32
Jump up↑ Himalayan Frontiers of India: Historical, Geo-Political and Strategic Perspectives edited by K. Warikoo
Jump up↑ "Zartusht min zak zinak yehvunt."
Jump up↑ P. 58 Medical Geography By Ishtiaq A. Mayer
Jump up↑ Vendidad 19.4
Jump up↑ P. 362 The Arctic Home in the Vedas: Being Also a New Key to the Interpretation of Many Vedic Texts and Legends By Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Jump up↑ P. 254 Sources of the history of India, Volume 5 By Siba Pada Sen
Jump up↑ P. 77 The Nīlamata Purāṇa: A critical edition & English translation By Ved Kumari
Jump up↑ P. 279 Prabuddha Bharata: Or Awakened India, Volume 110 By Vivekananda (Swami), Advaita Ashrama
Jump up↑ P. 467 Kalhana's Rajatarangini: a chronicle of the kings of Kasmir, Volume 2 By Kalhana
Jump up↑ Adpal, Bahuda, Virnag, Vitasta/Veda-Vitasta, Vyeth/Veth, Hydaspes of Alexander's historians, Bidaspes of Ptolemy
Jump up↑ Bundahishn 24.14
Jump up↑ Zadsparam 22.5.12; P. 162 Pahlavi Texts, Volume 47 By Edward William West
Jump up↑ P. 76-77 Pahlavi Texts, Part I (SBE05) By E.W. West, tr. [1880]
Jump up↑ P. 79 Part 1, Note 1 Pahlavi Texts By Dr. West; Civilization of the Eastern Irānians in Ancient Times By Wilhelm Geiger, Darab-Dastur Peshotan Sanjānā
Jump up↑ P. 254 Conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir: Impact on Polity, Society and Economy By V R Raghavan
Jump up↑ Bundahishn 11.A.7 (no. 1)
Jump up↑ Haramukh Mountain in Kashmir
Jump up↑ Yasht 10.88; P. 71 The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History By Touraj Daryaee
Jump up↑ such as Hari Pora and Harji Gund of Budgam Tehsil, Siri Hari Gund Ghat of Sonawari tehsil, Hara Treth, Harhand Pora, and Harnara in Pattan tehsil, Hardu Chanam in Rafiabad tehsil, Chera Har and Hardushuo in Sopore tehsil, Hara Treth, Bali Haran, Harhand Pora, Harnara, and Tunj Haran in Pattan tehsil, Hardu Bani, Hardu Madam, Hardu Shuru, Hari Utnu, Haripora, Harnow Kawachak in Tangmarg tehsil and Hardu Kamal Koote in Uri tehsil
Jump up↑ P. 136 A History of Zoroastrianism: The Early Period edited by Mary Boyce
Jump up↑ P. 77 Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India By Dineschandra Sircar
Jump up↑ "The mountain Kāf, as it is called by our common people, is with the Hindus the Lokaloka.", I.249 India: An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws, and Astrology of India about A, Volumes 1-2 By Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Bīrūnī
Jump up↑ "Where this great stream, by the natives called the Sind and Neelab (names of the Indus), breaks from the north through the mountain gorge, commences Hindu-Koh, the real Caucasus and Imaus of the ancients, Kaf, or Kauf, of Arabian writers, a region so elevated that the greater portion is covered with permanent snow.", P. 363 The Natural History of the Human Species: Its Typical Forms, Primeval Distribution, Filiations, and Migrations By Charles Hamilton Smith, Samuel Kneeland
Jump up↑ Mahabharata verse 12,795: "Sringam Himavatah param"
Jump up↑ Ṛgvedic people not Harappans, Naditama Saraswati is Helmand in Afghanistan: Rajesh Kochhar By Nithin Sridhar - December 16, 2015
Jump up↑ P. 200 The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia By Mehrdad Kia
Jump up↑ P. 112 The Age of the Parthians edited by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Sarah Stewart
Jump up↑ Both of them obtained high positions within King Vishtaspa's court.
Jump up↑ Avesta Yasna 29.11, 44.11, 46.14, 51.16; P. 13 Zoroastrian Faith: Tradition and Modern Research By Solomon Alexander Nigosian
Jump up↑ Yasht 9.26, 13.99-100; P. 13 The Zoroastrian Faith: Tradition and Modern Research By Solomon Alexander Nigosian
Jump up↑ Denkard 7.4.40; P. 13 The Zoroastrian Faith: Tradition and Modern Research By Solomon Alexander Nigosian
Jump up↑ The Bhaktavijaya; P. 69 Mapping Histories: Essays Presented to Ravinder Kumar edited by Ravinder Kumar, Neera Chandhoke
Jump up↑ The Natural Genesis, Volume 2 By Gerald Massey
Jump up↑ INDIA and my Persian garden By Barbara Athanassiadis
Jump up↑ P. 460 The Contemporary Review, Volume 40
Jump up↑ P. 248 A Vocabulary of the Kashmírí Language: In Two Parts : Kashmírí-English, and English-Kashmiri By William Jackson Elmslie
Jump up↑ P. 461 The Contemporary Review, Volume 40
Jump up↑ P. 97 Cultural and Religious Heritage of India: Zoroastrianism edited by Suresh K. Sharma, Usha Sharma
Jump up↑ P. 224 The Indian Evangelical Review, Volume 6 By Missionary Throught and Effort
Jump up↑ They are the people whose name means Descendant of Manu.
Jump up↑ Zhand Avesta, Part II: Farvardin Yasht, 131; P. 49 The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia By Mehrdad Kia
Jump up↑ P. 321 Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin Literature By Albert F. de Jong
Jump up↑ THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (All 6 Volumes) By Edward Gibbon
Jump up↑ P. 431 The History of the Arts and Sciences of the Ancients By Charles Rollin
Jump up↑ P. 276 History of the Early Kings of Persia, from Kaiomars, the First of the Peshdadian Dynasty to the Conquest of Iran by Alexander the Great By Mīr Hwānd
Jump up↑ P. 223 Indian antiquities or Dissertations By Par Thomas Maurice
Jump up↑ P. 173 Parsiana, Volume 4
Jump up↑ Parsis in India and the Diaspora edited by John Hinnells, Alan Williams
Jump up↑ P. 132 The Adventures of a Lady in Tartary, Thibet, China, & Kashmir. With an Account of the Journey from the Punjab to Bombay Overland, Volume 2 By Mrs. Hervey
Jump up↑ P. 35 Journal of the K.R. Cama Oriental Institute, Issue 39 By K.R. Cama Oriental Institute
Jump up↑ P. 479-480 'Men Whom India Has Known: Biographies of Eminent Indian Characters By J. J. Higginbotham
Jump up↑ P. 285 Zoroaster: The Prophet of Ancient Iran By Abraham Valentine Williams Jackson
Jump up↑ It falls on Chenab River.
Jump up↑ It was around ca. 326–325 BCE.
Jump up↑ P. 177 Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia By Christopher I. Beckwith
Jump up↑ It is modern day Avestan Ranhā or Vedic Rasātāla.
Jump up↑ Philostratus' Life of Apollonius; P. 88 A Guide to Taxila By John Marshall
Jump up↑ P. 212 Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Tha'na (2 pts.)
Jump up↑ P. 1950 Encyclopaedia of Hinduism, Volume 7 By Nagendra Kr Singh
Jump up↑ P. 276 The critical and cultural study of the Śātapatha Brāhmanam By Satya Prakash
Jump up↑ P. 138 The Foreign quarterly review [ed. by J.G. Cochrane]. edited by John George Cochrane
Jump up↑ De natura animalium 16.16
Jump up↑ "Rish gayov pardesh dweah Rishih nav tatih kuthios tamih nishih. Na-hakkah, rishe, gari druk."; P. 181 A dictionary of Kashmiri proverbs, explained By J.H. Knowles By Kashmiri proverbs
Jump up↑ P. 173 Encyclopedia of Religions, Volume 1 By John G. R. Forlong
Jump up↑ Kashmir under Karkota Dynasty's rule had annexed neighboring areas of Punjab and Afghanistan and even after Karkota rule Takshshila was virtually a tributary to Kashmir; P. 59-60 Kashmir and It's People: Studies in the Evolution of Kashmiri Society By M. K. Kaw
Jump up↑ Anguttara Sutta
Jump up↑ Spiegel, Chapter I, P. 10; P. 88 Proceedings and Transactions of the ... All-India Oriental Conference ..., Volume 10 By All-India Oriental Conference
Jump up↑ Anab 4.18.13
Jump up↑ Strabo 11.13.1 C523
Jump up↑ Pliny 6.42; P. 21 The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information, Volume 18 By Encyclopaedia Britannica Company
Jump up↑ Bundahishn 29.12
Jump up↑ P. 172 Sacred Books of the East: Pahlavi texts, pt. 1 By F. Max Muller
Jump up↑ Bundahishn 2.7, xiii; Vendidad Fargard 5.8.19
Jump up↑ Dadestan-i-Menog-i-Khrad 62.1
Jump up↑ Mahabharata Shantiparva Section VI: "Beyond Malyavat northwards is the mountain called Gandhamadana. 4 Between these two (viz., Malyavat and Gandhamadana) is a globular mountain called Meru made of gold."
Jump up↑ Bundahishn 29.6, 33.28
Jump up↑ Denkard 7.5, 12
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Jump up↑ Yasht xiii.19.19; xv.27
Jump up↑ XII.18
Jump up↑ XII.19
Jump up↑ XV.27
Jump up↑ Khorda Avesta 27.104
Jump up↑ Mahabharata Section 6: "Immediately to the north of Kailasa and near the mountains of Mainaka there is a huge and beautiful mountain called Manimaya endued with golden summits. Beside this mountain is a large, beautiful, crystal and delightful lake called Vindusaras with golden sands (on its beach)."
Jump up↑ Amavant By Akhilesh Upadhyay
Jump up↑ Khorda Avesta 5:8
Jump up↑ P. 182 The Quarterly Oriental magazine, review and register
Jump up↑ They are at the west coast Indian Mazdaens.
Jump up↑ Biography of Eminent Philosophers Prol. 7
Jump up↑ P. 108 From Chrishna to Christ By Raymond W. Bernard
Jump up↑ Zoroastrianism: An Introduction By Jenny Rose
Jump up↑ They are the people worthy of worship.
Jump up↑ History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil from the Earliest Times to the Present Day By Paul Carus
Jump up↑ Srimad Bhagavatam 3.17.27
Jump up↑ Section IX, Mahabharata
Jump up↑ Rig Veda 5.41.3
Jump up↑ Rig Veda 1.131.1
Jump up↑ Rig Veda 5.83.6
Jump up↑ Rig Veda 3.29.14
Jump up↑ Maitrayani Samhita 3,14,10; Vajasaneyi Samhita 24,28
Jump up↑ Satapatha Brahmana 4.1.4.2; P. 42 The Plight of a Sorcerer By Georges Dumézil
Jump up↑ P. 35 The Arian Witness, Or, The Testimony of Arian Scriptures: In Corroboration of Biblical History and Rudiments of Christian Doctrine Including Dissertations on the Original Home and Early Adventures of the Indo-Arians By Krishna Mohan Banerjea
Jump up↑ P. 148 Vasistha's Yoga By Swami Venkatesananda
Jump up↑ P. 547 The Ramayana of Valmiki: Yuddha kanda. Uttara kanda By Vālmīki, Hari Prasad Shastri
Jump up↑ Yasna 51.9; P. 52 A Hymn of Zoroaster: Yasna 31 edited by Abraham Valentine Williams Jackson
Jump up↑ Mahabharata Adi (Sambhava) Parva 76
Jump up↑ Manu Smriti 2.151
Jump up↑ Albiruni's India, Sachau's translation volume 1, P. 394
Jump up↑ Ramayana 2.110.1; 2.111.1
Jump up↑ Avesta: Khorda Avesta
SIROZA 2.
Translated by James Darmesteter, From Sacred Books of the East, American Edition, 1898.
Jump up↑ P. 1xi The Zend-Avesta: The Sîrôzahs, Yasts, and Nyâyis edited by James Darmesteter, Lawrence Heyworth Mills
Jump up↑ RV I.50.6
Jump up↑ Avesta Yasht 1.11; 3.13; 7.13
Jump up↑ P. 94 The Gāthās of Zarathushtra: Hymns in Praise of Wisdom By Piloo Nanavutty
Jump up↑ Vajasaneyi Samhita 8.23
Jump up↑ Mahanarayana 5.1
Jump up↑ P. 153 A Persian Offering: The Yasna : a Zoroastrian High Liturgy By Firoze M. P. Kotwal, James Waldemar Boyd
Jump up↑ Kashmiri Pandit Festivals
Jump up↑ P. 314 Kashur The Kashmiri Speaking People By Mohini Qasba Raina
Jump up↑ P. 318 Kashur The Kashmiri Speaking People By Mohini Qasba Raina
Jump up↑ P. 320 Kashur The Kashmiri Speaking People By Mohini Qasba Raina
Jump up↑ P. 198 The Joy of Family Traditions: A Season-by-Season Companion to Celebrations By Jennifer Trainer Thompson
Jump up↑ P. 279-280 Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsis By Martin Haug
Jump up↑ P. 582 Antiquity Unveiled: Ancient Voices from the Spirit Realms By Jonathan M. Roberts
Jump up↑ P. 725 Islamic Cultures, Islamic Contexts: Essays in Honor of Professor Patricia Crone edited by Asad Q. Ahmed, Behnam Sadeghi, Robert G. Hoyland, Adam Silverstein
Jump up↑ It was around ca. 326–325 BCE.
Jump up↑ P. 177 Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia By Christopher I. Beckwith
Jump up↑ Themes in Indian History: for class 12th By Raghunath Rai
Jump up↑ Mahabharata 1.85.17
Jump up↑ Mahabharata 5.40.14-15
Jump up↑ P. 28 Dravidian India By T. R. Sesha Iyengar
Jump up↑ Greater Bundahishn Chapter IX.3
Jump up↑ Atharva Veda xv.2.1
Jump up↑ 'P. 74 'European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, Issues 29-31 By Südasien Institu
Jump up↑ Mahabharata, Bhumi Parva Section XI
Jump up↑ P. 748 Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology, Volume 6
Jump up↑ Avesta Yasht 45.8-11; P. 121 The Gathas of Zarathushtra: Hymns in Praise of Wisdom By Piloo Nanavutty
Jump up↑ Amavant By Akhilesh Upadhyay
Jump up↑ P. 44 Man, Soul, Immortality in Zoroastrianism By Dastur Framroze Ardeshir Bode
Jump up↑ Shi'i Reformation in Iran: The Life and Theology of Shari’at Sangelaji By Ali Rahnema
Jump up↑ P. 148 The Lost Data on the Chariots of the Elohim By Martha Helene Jones
Jump up↑ Yasna I.10; The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31), L.H. Mills, tr. [1886]
Jump up↑ P. 153 The Sacred Books of the East, Volume 23 edited by Friedrich Max Müller
Jump up↑ Penances means tapasya.
Jump up↑ It means Fire Test.
Jump up↑ P. 42 The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia By Mehrdad Kia
Jump up↑ THE EPIC OF SHAHNAMEH FERDOWSI: CHAPTER 9-SAIAWOSH (SIAVASH)
Jump up↑ P. 145 BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA. ZOROASTER, THE SON OF OROMASIUS, FIRST INSTITUTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY FIRE, AND MAGIC By Francis Barrett
Jump up↑ It is done by Yoganavita of Hindus and Navjot of Mazdaens.
Jump up↑ Sacrifices means Homa, Havan.
Jump up↑ P. 285 Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsis By Martin Haug
Jump up↑ Bhandarkar, P. 72 Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture
Jump up↑ Bhandarkar, P. 72 Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture
Jump up↑ Bhandarkar, P. 72 Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture
Jump up↑ Yasna Haptanghaiti 38.3
Jump up↑ P. 353 The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3 edited by E. Yarshater
Jump up↑ It means animal soul.
Jump up↑ It means cow soul.
Jump up↑ It means cow shelter.
Jump up↑ P. 253 The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism By Michael Stausberg, Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina, Anna Tessmann
Jump up↑ P. 37 Persian Architectural Heritage: Architecture, Structure and Conservation By Mehrdad Hejazi, Fatemeh Mehdizadeh Saradj
Jump up↑ P. 28 The History of Indian Literature By Albrecht Weber
Jump up↑ 14.2.7 Bahram Yasht
Jump up↑ "Daṣāvatāra" of Viṣṇu.

http://www.hindupedia.com/en/Zoroastrianism_and_Hinduism

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Tracing the roots of Croatia from Sarasvati Civilization -- DK and Hema Hari. Croatia & Bharat are partners in Bronze Age metals revolution from 5th m. BCE

July 11, 2018, 5:14 pm

≫ Next: Translating the trefoil Indus Script hypertext on Mohenjo-daro priest's garment 'iron smelter'

≪ Previous: Zoroastrianism and Hinduism -- Himanshu Bhatt

https://tinyurl.com/ycxdrnkk

Congratulations to DK and Hema Hari for a succinct narrative on Sarasvati Civilizational History. Let me point out the abiding link of Croatia with Sarasvati Civilization. Ancient Bharatam was the epicentre of a Metals Age during the Tin-Bronze revolution of ca. 5th millennium BCE over Eurasia. Bharatam mediated this revolution by linking Ancient Far East with Ancient Near East (Mesopotamia) by nurturing an Ancien Maritime Tin Route which linked Hanoi (Vietnam) and Haifa (Israel) along the Indian Ocean Rim and the Himalayan riverine waterways along the Himalayan ridge. (See map). This Ancient Maritime Tin Route attested by Indus Script Corpora predated the Silk Road by two millennia. A surprising evidence for the Croatia-Sarasvati link comes from the word used for 'metal'. The word for iron in Indian sprachbund (speech union) is phonetically linked with: मृदु mṛdu, mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'metal, iron' (Sanskrit, Santali.Munda. Ho). In Slavic languages, the word for copper is: med and phonetic variants.

This word occurs as a hieroglyph on hundreds of Indus Script inscriptions, read rebus (mlecchita vikalpa, rū paka, 'metaphor or similar sounding words in Indus Script Cipher). See:

Indian sprachbund & Slavic language affinities; Indus Script mẽṛhẽt 'iron' (Santali) meď 'copper' (Slovak)

https://tinyurl.com/y847wwue The Slavic words for copper are:

Slavic glosses for 'copper'

Мед [Med]Bulgarian

Bakar Bosnian

Медзь [medz']Belarusian

Měď Czech

Bakar Croatian

KòperKashubian

Бакар [Bakar]Macedonian

Miedź Polish

Медь [Med']Russian

Meď Slovak

BakerSlovenian

Бакар [Bakar]Serbian

Мідь [mid'] Ukrainian[unquote]

http://www.vanderkrogt.net/elements/element.php?sym=Cu

Miedź, med' (Northern Slavic, Altaic) 'copper'.

One suggestion is that corruptions from the German "Schmied", "Geschmeide" = jewelry. Schmied, a smith (of tin, gold, silver, or other metal)(German) result in med ‘copper’.

[quote]The Slavic languages are a group of languages that together form the second most common language group in Europe. The most common language group would be the Germanic languages, and the third most common is the Romance language group. You can find Slavic languages spoken throughout Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Balkans and some parts of Asia. The Slavic language you are probably the most familiar with is Russian, but there are at least 14 Slavic languages spoken today.To better understand the Slavic languages, here are three important facts about them:1. There are three branches of Slavic languagesThe Slavic languages can be divided into three different branches. The first branch is the East Slavic branch, which includes Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian. The West Slavic branch is made up of Czech, Slovak, Polish, and more. The third branch is the South Slavic branch, which is further divided into Eastern and Western categories, where you can find Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian, among others. Some linguists believe that there may have been a North Slavic branch at some point in time, but they aren’t sure yet. Most languages within the same branch have a good level of mutual intelligibility.2. All Slavic languages descended from the same languageThe parent language for all of the Slavic languages is Proto-Slavic. It was spoken up to the 5th century AD in the same areas you can know find Slavic languages spoken. There is no written record of Proto-Slavic, which is common for proto languages.[unquote]

https://alphaomegatranslations.com/foreign-language/3-things-to-understand-about-the-slavic-languages/

India – Croatia – Sarasvati Connect

Posted on July 11, 2018 by bharathgyanblog

Croatian Roots

The origins of the Croatians can be found to be intertwined with the river Sarasvati that used to flow through India.

The land of Croatia has been called Hrvatska and language Hrvati for long after the river Sarasvati in whose memory and honour, the present day river Helmand in Afghanistan was earlier called Harauvati / Harahvaiti by them as they migrated out of their original homeland. The Sa and Ha had been interchanged.

Of significant interest to India, is the paper by Mato Marcinko in the 1998 Zagreb Symposium, which discusses the origin and gradual evolution of the Croats as they migrated from their “Indian Homeland” to Persia, to Caucasus and finally upto the Adriatic.

Mato further traces this evolution from India in the following linguistic and geographical sequence:

From Vedic Sarasvati to
Harahvaiti and Harauvati in ancient Iran and Afghanistan, to
Hurrwuhe and Hurravat in Armenia and Kurdistan, to
Horouathos in Azov and Black Sea, to
Medieval harvati and Horvati, to
Hrvati in Croatia today.

This shows how linguistically, Sa changed to Ha through Persia and further Ha to Ca, a guttural Ca sound with air expelled as in Ha, closer to the Adriatic and Greece.

Evidence of India being the original homeland of the Croats also lies in the name Harauvati they gave for the river flowing through Afghanistan. It flows even today as Helmand. It is obvious that the Croats carried memories of life along Sarasvati as they moved.

Infact, this river Sarasvati, Harauvati and the land around it is called Arachosia by the Greek, showing a morphing of Ha to Ca as well as the dropping of the Ha in the beginning, just as they did to “Hind” to make it “Ind”.

Following many searches and researches, the recent administrations in Croatia have accepted and made official that the origin of the Croats or Hrvats as they call themselves, lies in the Indo-Iranian belt. So much so that, their internet domain has always been .hr just like India’s is .in.

Researchers such as Dr.Samar Abbas, who have been studying Iranian history, clearly show a philological, cultural and traditional connect between Croats, Serbs and the Jats of India.

For others it may be Croatia, but for the Croats, it is Hravtska, Hrvati from Harauvati aka Sarasvati.

The other, black and white, clear connect of the Croats with Indo-Iran comes from a highly unexpected evidence.

Croatian Coat of Armour

The Croats show their memories of their Indo-Iranian past in the chessboard like coat of arms in the flag of Croatia. Chess is after all a game that went from India to Persia. Who knows, perhaps it was these Croats or Hrvats who took it with them as they moved from their Indian homeland and later from their Iranian homeland.

Croatian Coat of Arms, older and not later than 1494, from the remains of Church of St. Lucija, Jurandvor near Baska, island of Krk

Source – www.croatianhistory.net

Regni Sigillum, State Stamp of the Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia from 1527 with the display of the Croatian coat of arms, stamp of the Cetinski Parliament Source – http://www.croatianhistory.net

Flag of Croatia today

Many Croatian historians trace this flag to their ancestry from the counsellor of the Sassanid king Khosrau I called Bozorgmehr. Bozorgmehr, Buzurgmihr or Dadimihr as he was variously called to denote his elderliness, was indeed mentioned in Persian literature and paintings as the one who exchanged Indian Chaturanga and Persian Nard between India and Iran.

The roots and migration of the Croats, confirms the roots and migration of Chess.

More on the Indo-Croatian Connect in our book, Autobiography Of India – Brand Bharat – Roots In India.

Image result for autobiography of indian root in india

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Translating the trefoil Indus Script hypertext on Mohenjo-daro priest's garment 'iron smelter'

July 11, 2018, 7:57 pm

≫ Next: High-tin bronze mirror from Aranmula, Kerala

≪ Previous: Tracing the roots of Croatia from Sarasvati Civilization -- DK and Hema Hari. Croatia & Bharat are partners in Bronze Age metals revolution from 5th m. BCE

https://tinyurl.com/yd23kfzc

See:

Mohenjo-daro Priest statue is R̥gveda Potr̥'purifier priest', Indus Script dhāvaḍ'smelter'

http://tinyurl.com/llvrtwu Three types of dotted circles are shown, ending up with the recurrent trefoil or three dotted circles fused together. So, the words used for the hieroglyphs are semantically related to 'dot' PLUS 'circle'.

The dotted circle hypertext also is shown on the fillet worn on the forehead and on the right shoulder of the priest. The neatly shaven and trimmed beard of the priest shows that some metal razor may have been used to trim the beards of Sarasvati's artisans.

Single strand (one dotted-circle)

Two strands (pair of dotted-circles)

Three strands (three dotted-circles as a trefoil)

Dot

dāya 'one in throw of dice' signifies dhāi 'strand' mlecchita vikalpa dhāi 'red mineral ore'.

Circle

vr̥ttá ʻ turned ʼ RV., ʻ rounded ʼ ŚBr. 2. ʻ completed ʼ MaitrUp., ʻ passed, elapsed (of time) ʼ KauṣUp. 3. n. ʻ conduct, matter ʼ ŚBr., ʻ livelihood ʼ Hariv. [√vr̥t1]1. Pa. vaṭṭa -- ʻ round ʼ, n. ʻ circle ʼ; Pk. vaṭṭa -- , vatta -- , vitta -- , vutta -- ʻ round ʼ(CDIAL 12069)

Source:

Translation: dhāū, dhāv m.f. ʻ a partic. soft red stone ʼ (whence dhā̆vaḍ m. ʻ a caste of iron -- smelters ʼ, dhāvḍī ʻ composed of or relating to iron ʼ) (Marathi)(CIAL 6773)

Hieroglyph: dhāˊtu n. *strand of rope ʼ (cf. tridhāˊtu -- ʻ threefold ʼ RV., ayugdhātu -- ʻ having an uneven number of strands ʼ - S. dhāī f. ʻ wisp of fibres added from time to time to a rope that is being twisted ʼ, L. dhāī˜ f. (CDIAL 6773)

Thus, together, dot + circle read: dhāvaḍ ‘iron smelter’.

The closest, phonetically related words are:

पोतृ प्/ओतृ or पोतृ, m. " Purifier " , N. of one of the 16 officiating priests at a sacrifice (the assistant of the Brahman ;
= यज्ञस्य शोधयिट्रि Sa1y. ) RV. Br.S3rS. Hariv.; N. of विष्णु L. पोत्री f. N. of दुर्गा Gal. (cf. पौत्री).

Ta. pottu (potti-) to light (as a fire). Kurub. (LSB 1.12) potte a torch of leaves. Ko. pot- (poty-) to light (as a fire); pot torch made of a bundle of thin sticks. Ka. pottu to be kindled, catch fire, flame; be burnt (as rice, etc., at the bottom of the vessel), be boiled or baked too much; n. flaming; pottige flaming, flame. Tu. pottuni to burn (intr.); pottāvuni, pottāḍruni to light, kindle, burn; potta hot, burning; potturuni, potruni to kindle, set fire, incite to a quarrel. Go. (A. Y.) pot-, (Tr.) pattānā, (Ch.) patt-, (Mu.) pat-/patt-, (Ma.) pot- to burn, blaze; (Tr. Ph.) pacānā to make a bright light; (SR.) potusānā to light (Voc. 2384). (DEDR 4517)

Again, the relationship with burning, blazing smelter is explained with this vocabulary. Fire-work, metal-work have always been venerated from the days of R̥gveda, veneration of the eight vasu-s, wealth metaphors.

Potala Palace (Tibetan: ཕོ་བྲང་པོ་ཏ་ལ་, Wylie: pho brang Potala) in Lhasa of Dalai Lama may certainly relate to the work of Potr̥, 'purifier priest' in R̥gveda. cf. പോത്തി Malayalam 'priest' போற்றி pōṟṟi போத்தி pōtti , n. < போற்றி. 1. Grandfather; பாட்டன். Tinn. Brahman temple-priest of Malabar; கோயிற் பூசைசெய்யும் மலையாளநாட்டுப் பிராமணன்.

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High-tin bronze mirror from Aranmula, Kerala

July 12, 2018, 1:40 am

≫ Next: Ratha yatra Ahmedabad. Drone guard

≪ Previous: Translating the trefoil Indus Script hypertext on Mohenjo-daro priest's garment 'iron smelter'

See:

https://www.academia.edu/8224419/Srinivasan_and_Glover_Aranmula_mirror_article_in_Current_Science

Mirrored here: https://www.scribd.com/document/363076105/Skilled-mirror-craft-of-intermetallic-delta-high-tin-bronze-Cu31Sn8-32-6-tin-from-Aranmula-Kerala-Srinivasan-Sharada-and-Ian-Glover-2007
Srinivasan, Sharada and Ian Glover, 2007, Skilled mirror craft of intermetallic delta high-tin bronze (Cu31Sn8, 32.6% tin) from Aranmula, Kerala, in Current Science, Vol. 93,No. 1, 10 July 2007, pp. 35-40

The Ultimate Souvenir

25 December 2015

Charmy Harikrishnan

Charmy Harikrishnan is a Kerala-based journalist

The art and alchemy of the magic mirror from Kerala

This is the most unlikely place for magic that you will ever see. I squeeze past sacks spilling over with charcoal in a narrow corridor and climb three flights of stairs to a grubby rooftop washed with morning light. A pair of frayed jeans and a few worn shirts hang from a rope. There is a huge pile of broken clay tiles in a corner. A small mound of mud sits on one end. A black scorpion skitters into a shadow. A few old grinding stones seem to stretch on their backs. There is a furnace waiting to be lit. Grey asbestos sheets propped on poles shield this area from wind and rain. This is a drab smithy for a mysterious alchemy. It is here, on this bare floor, that 42-year-old Selvaraj AK, wearing a shirt in the exact shade of copper, and a few men turn metal into mirror. They miraculously convert opaque belts of copper and silvery nuggets of tin into shimmering discs where you glimpse yourself with a clarity and depth that you don’t find in your everyday glass mirrors. This is where the unusual Aranmula metal mirror is fashioned by hand every day.

The Aranmula mirror is a disc that varies usually from two inches to six inches in diameter and sometimes more, up to 12 and even 18 inches. It is held in a brass frame that is in the shape of a tapering peepal leaf or a sinuous swan or the orb of a sun. It is the ultimate souvenir: it fuses art and science, culture and technology. Its backstory is tantalising. There is the enigmatic folklore of its origin in the 18th century and a secret formula of metallurgy passed down generations. It is local and handmade in an age that prizes both. There can be, come to think of it, nothing simpler than a handheld mirror and yet there can be few things more complex than the one that is smelted and moulded and burnished in any of only 19 units in the villages of Aranmula and Mallapuzhacherry in Pathanamthitta, about 100 km from Thiruvananthapuram, in Kerala.
When Narendra Modi came to the state, on his first visit as Prime Minister, in December, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy gave him an Aranmula mirror in a conch frame. When Modi went to Britain in November, he gifted First Lady Samantha Cameron an Aranmula mirror along with Pashmina stoles. When Finance Minister Arun Jaitley came to Thiruvananthapuram in September, he was seen admiring one. When cricketer Sachin Tendulkar came over for the Kerala Blasters FC, he was presented with one. “The Aranmula mirror is like the state souvenir,” says Selvaraj. It has become so ubiquitous that you could easily forget the magic that forges it with bare essentials, or miss the fact that just a handful of people in and around Aranmula know how to make it.
A two-storey building in Aranmula junction functions three ways. It is Selvaraj’s workshop where he labours away for about nine hours a day with his elder brother Gopalakrishnan and six other craftsmen. It serves as their shop, Parthasarathy Handicrafts Centre, where the end product—the mirror—is sold. A few rooms therein are his home, where he lives with his wife Sandhya and their two kids.
A huge board placed outside warns customers against fake Aranmula mirrors. The Vishwa Brahmana Aranmula Metal Mirror Nirman Society got a Geographical Indication certificate in 2005. This means that only mirrors made by its 19 members are considered authentic. In 2005, there were just seven units making these mirrors. The Society has now expanded, allowing experienced apprentices to learn the secret formula and make the mirror. Selvaraj is the president of this Society, the inheritor of a legacy handed down by his father and grandfather.
Selvaraj is about 5 ft 4 in tall. His face, in spite of the beard, is lean. He speaks softly and only when necessary, but his fingers, with a navaratna ring adorning a finger of his right hand, are nimble. He begins the magic show.
First he unfurls a thick belt of gleaming copper: it stretches like a ribbon of sunset in the room. He places it against a huge head of a hammer and gently taps it with the sharp edge of a chisel. He then places the copper band under his big toe and bends it to break it—it goes on, the sound of metal on metal, until he has enough strips. He then gets hold of hoary chunks of tin. He weighs them behind closed doors: the proportion is a carefully guarded secret and is at the heart of the alloy.
Scientists have been trying to decipher the composition of the Aranmula mirror for a long time. Sharada Srinivasan, who is on the advisory board of the Institute for Archaeo- Metallurgical Studies, London, and a professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has been researching it ever since she came to Aranmula in 1990. She explains its uniqueness: “The Aranmula mirror has a very high and excellent reflectance [effectiveness in reflecting radiant energy] across the spectrum, brilliantly reflecting colours. This is because of the nature of the metal alloy used to make the mirror. My research findings show that the mirror is uniquely made of bronze of a high tin content—around 32-33 per cent.” This is close to what is called the delta phase of bronze which has 32.6 per cent tin. “The delta phase of bronze is ideal for making a mirror because it is silvery-white with very high reflectance. It is harder than steel and hence it can take a very high degree of polishing to get the best possible mirror surface. Silver too has a high reflectance, but it is very soft and bends and scratches easily, resulting in distorted images. Due to its hardness, delta bronze will not distort images once it is polished.”
Selvaraj has known this trick for the past 24 years. He was a 14-year-old boy, just out of school, when he began helping his father, VK Arjunan Achari. He hung around the workshop doing minor jobs: preparing the furnace, adding coal and coconut husk to the fire, breaking the alloy into bits. He shows old newspapers with photographs of his father: a gaunt man with thick black spectacles polishing his metal mirrors. “When I was 18, my father fell sick. One day, he asked me to measure the metals for smelting,” recalls Selvaraj of the day he learnt the secret ratio of copper to tin. There was nothing particularly extraordinary about that moment, he would say. There was nothing ordinary about it, either.
The process is elemental: earth, water, fire and air. Selvaraj first mixes earth and water to make clay. He gets the earth from a nearby hillock across the paddy fields, painstakingly flaking it off and then carrying it in gunny sacks to the workshop. “We have always used this local mud,” he says. He mixes it with broken bits of tiles and water to make rectangular slabs which are then fired in kilns. When two of these slabs are bound together, with a 3-mm gap in between, they act as the mould into which the lava-like alloy will be poured and cooled. But let us not jump ahead. First Selvaraj uses this clay and bricks to create a hearth. An oval-shaped smelting pot made of cast-iron is lowered into it. Chunks of burning coal surround the cauldron, and a fire begins to burn bright, thanks to Gopalakrishnan operating a manual blower without a pause. About 25 minutes later, Selvaraj drops the copper bands into the blazing pot. Another 25 minutes, and the copper strands begin to turn golden, then they glower and rage red-hot. Then chunks of tin are thrown into the smouldering vessel. The metals smelt to form a bubbling liquid fire.
No one keeps time about how long the metals should be heated. No one measures with any instrument what the temperature should be or when this magma-like alloy should be taken off the fire. Selvaraj relies on his trained eye and unerring instinct. He dips a long ladle into the cauldron and pours a bit of the fiery liquid on to a brick and watches it hiss and spread on the surface to estimate the viscosity. When the thickness seems just right, he removes the vessel with a pair of tongs and pours the boiling alloy into a pan resting on a hollow in the mud. When the alloy cools, it is the colour of dull silver. Selvaraj sprinkles a little water on it: a fault line forms and the alloy breaks in an instant, revealing a white silvery metal within. The mirror is still a few processes away. You have to be patient, like Selvaraj and his workers. They wait, having changed into their grimy work clothes that were hanging on the rope, for each step to conclude.
All the workers in the 19 smithies that make the Aranmula mirror belong to the Vishwakarma caste. They were, under the caste system, artisans: goldsmiths, carpenters, blacksmiths and masons. “We lost our other trade to other castes. We want to keep at least the art of metal mirror-making to ourselves,” says Selvaraj, about the exclusionist caste system that still prevails in the workshops of Aranmula. They possess not only an old art but also an ancient smear.
Kannan L polishes copper rings in which the mirrors will be placed. He, like the other five workers in Selvaraj’s smithy, was a goldsmith. When big jewellery brands stormed into the cities and small towns of Kerala and their machine-made bangles and necklaces glinted in shop windows, traditional goldsmiths lost out. Like Kannan, Murugan PL, Rajeev Kumar and Ratheesh Kumar were once goldsmiths. Even as machines took over their earlier trade, they realised that a handmade metal mirror was growing in popularity—and happily found work there. Kannan makes about Rs 15,000 a month: “It is enough for my family,” he says, “enough to send my son to an English-medium school nearby. I don’t know how long handicrafts will survive, though.”
The mirror is at once the great realist and the mischievous deluder. It is in the mirror that you encounter yourself, and yet that image is not you, but a lateral inversion of you. When you look into the Aranmula mirror, you see more than yourself. You see myths floating like slag. You see kings and wars and blood dripping down the streets 300 years ago. You see a shrine, the Parthasarathy Temple, embellished with a legend that is as old as the Mahabharata: its idol, the story goes, was worshipped by Arjuna when the Pandavas went on a pilgrimage after the coronation of Parikshit. The dark-green Pamba River, on whose bank lie the temple and the Aranmula village, carries stories as well as sunshine on its waves.
If the craftsmen are to be believed, their story begins in 18th century Travancore, as southern Kerala was then known. It was a patchwork of minuscule kingdoms. P Gopakumar, a craftsman of Aranmula mirror, claims King Marthanda Varma of Travancore brought a few families of artisans from Sankarankovil in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, to make bronze vessels at the Parthasarathy temple. The backstory that the Aranmula artisans have now agreed upon goes something like this: when the region’s craftsmen became lazy, an irate king withdrew all financial assistance to them. To win back the favour of his majesty, the artisans one day created a crown that was resplendent like glass. That, they say, was the beginning of the Aranmula mirror. There are no records to back this story which seems to exist in the twilight zone between reality and a marketable myth.
What we know is this: King Marthanda Varma (1729-58) rode out of Thiruvananthapuram for a 20-year-long military campaign in Travancore—a distance that can now be easily covered in three hours on an express train. The powerful sovereign was, however, racked with remorse after the bloody battle of Aranmula. “The battle of Aranmula was in 1749,” says Sreerenganathan KP, who is working on the local history of the place. “The king of Thekkumkoor, a small kingdom, arrayed unarmed Brahmins against the Nair warriors of Travancore. The Thekkumkoor king hoped that [the warrior] Nairs would not commit the great sin of killing Brahmins. When the Nairs refused to fight, Marthanda Varma got together Maravars (fishermen) to attack the Brahmins.” They slaughtered these Brahmins who thought they could get away by throwing stones and flinging curses at the enemies. A victorious Marthanda Varma marched on to the next battlefield, but the bloodshed of the Brahmins hung heavily on his conscience.
“In November 1752, according to the contemporary poem Aranmulavilasam Hamsappattu, a contrite Marthanda Varma came to the Parthasarathy temple for a 12-day bhajana (prayers),” says Sreerenganathan. “That is when he decided to renovate the temple.” It is possible that Marthanda Varma, who brought courtesans and musicians from Tamil Nadu, got craftsmen too to his kingdom. Scientist Srinivasan says she has found an Aranmula mirror with a Travancore emblem that probably dates back to the 18th century.
In his workshop, Selvaraj moves on to the next—and most crucial—part of mirror-making. He breaks the cooled-down alloy into tiny silvery shards. To the rectangular mould that has already been made—two baked clay slabs that is bound together, leaving a 3-mm gap—he attaches a cup-shaped crucible with a small hole that acts as a neck between the two parts. He fills the cup with fragments of the alloy and seals the entire thing with clay. He then puts the mould upside down into the hearth, with the cup holding the alloy deep in the fire. This will ensure that the metal melts. Once the mould glows a deep-red, he fishes it out of the fire and lets it stand upright. Now the melted alloy flows into the mould, spreading evenly across it. This alloy has to cool for a day. When Selvaraj breaks the mould, he will find a 3-mm thick material that looks like opaque slate. This is what will become the mirror after many hours, sometimes days, of polishing, but you wouldn’t know it when you see it.
Srinivasan, who has written several papers on the metallurgy of South India, and co-authored one on the Aranmula mirror with Ian Grover of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, in the journal Current Science, says this is the clincher: “The skill of the artisans lies in the fact that they were able to devise a process of casting in a closed crucible, which minimised the brittleness of the alloy by creating a very thin mirror blank. It cooled faster, thus minimising inhomogeneities and reducing brittleness. It can now take a very high degree of polishing to get the best possible mirror effect. Also, in glass mirrors, there is slight refraction. Unlike glass mirrors, if you place the end of a pencil on an Aranmula mirror, the points of the pencil and its image will seemingly ‘touch’ each other, with no gap. In that sense, it is an ideal mirror-making material.”
The slate-like slab is broken into desired circular sizes and then attached to a wooden slab with a handle to be gripped when it is buffed-up. This is polished over hours: first it is rubbed on water paper of varying thickness to remove blemishes. If you look at the disc now, you just see a shimmer of sunlight, nothing more. A few more hours, and you see a blurred image of yourself.
The disc, coated with oil, is eventually polished on velvet spread on a sheet of glass kept on a gunny sack, and then the velvet is replaced by something as mundane as white cotton T-shirts. Hours of labour later, you will see the glint of the burnished mirror. You look at it and it looks back at you, mouth agape, and then you break into an astonished smile— and your image smiles back. That, there, is magic.
“It is auspicious. Every home should have one,” says Gopakumar. When I hold the mirror high in the first floor of the building where Selvaraj works, I see reflected in it a world far removed from this smithy that still moves to 18th century measurements: there is Aranmula Cooperative Bank, English Drug House, Mammas Bakers selling cakes and achappam, Greenland with its Nokia and Samsung phones, an aluminium and stainless steel fabrication shop, a Western Union money transfer outlet, a shop repairing laptops, a CITU flag fluttering next to a peepal tree that acts as the natural centre of a roundabout. This is the modern landscape of any village in Kerala, consuming electronic goods and packaged food with equal relish. When I ask around, most of these shopkeepers shake their heads and say: “No, we don’t have an Aranmula mirror in our home. We have gifted it though.” It is a souvenir for a faraway land.
Steve and Elizabeth, two tourists from England, walk into Selvaraj’s smithy. They buy a two-inch mirror for Rs 2,000. A six-inch one will cost over Rs 10,000 and a 12-inch one will set you back by over Rs 1 lakh. Elizabeth exclaims, “We don’t have anything like this back home.”
Yet, all civilisations had this—the metal mirror—before the cheap, silver-coated glass mirror became common in Europe in the 19th century and reflected faces everywhere, including in British India. Srinivasan says: “China is especially famous for its metal mirrors, but their bronze contains 25 per cent tin along with several percentages of lead. The lead might have been added to make the bronze less brittle, but lead, being an opaque material, would have resulted in a less reflective surface than the delta bronze used in the Aranmula mirror. The mirrors from ancient Egypt and Harappan period are likely to have less tin content: maybe 5 to 10 per cent. Not many examples of mirrors have been analysed from India, although 19th century British explorer JW Breeks, in his account of metal artefacts uncovered from the Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu, mentions a bronze mirror with 30 per cent tin. But it has not been analysed by more precise contemporary methods.”
So that mural of a resplendent green yakshi admiring herself on the wall of the Pundareekapuram temple in Kottayam was definitely looking at a metal mirror.
The Aranmula mirror will never let you forget its true nature: that it is metal, not glass. The mirror will stain and tarnish easily, and needs to be handled with great care. It has to be cleaned and polished at regular intervals, and tucked away in a plastic cover. No, don’t even think of hanging it in your bathroom and brushing before it.
Selvaraj washes his hands and looks out into the fields. It is the site for the proposed Aranmula airport, which is met with stiff opposition from environmentalists. “If the airport comes up, I will lose the earth I have always used to make my moulds. I will lose this workshop. I will lose my mirrors,” he says. “The airport will do Aranmula a lot of good, but I will have to move out of [here]. And if I move out of Aranmula, I lose the right to make the Aranmula mirror. What will I do then?”
In a room away from the smithy, Selvaraj has put up his elder son Sarath’s school project on a wall: ‘Different Kinds of Work,’ it says. A farmer is working in the fields. There is a mason laying the bricks. A woman is working on a computer. There is research going on for satellite weather forecasting. It is impressive work by a young boy. He doesn’t have, though, a picture of barefoot magicians turning metals into mirrors.
“I can’t ask my children to follow in my footsteps. They should want to do this. It is too early for them to decide,” says Selvaraj of his sons, Sreejith, 7, and Sarath, 11, as I look around the house.
No, there is no Aranmula mirror in Selvaraj’s house.

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/voices/the-ultimate-souvenir