Origins of anti-hindu phobia rooted in American State-sponsored subversion funding: Ford Foundation, CIA linked USCIRF, Wendy Doniger, evangelism -- Arvind Kumar

May 2, 2015, 6:32 pm

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Arvind Kumar January 21, 2015 cia

The Religious Crusades of the CIA

Among the murkier chapters in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency, the attempt to destabilize societies around the world using religion warrants attention. Allen Dulles, who headed the CIA in its early years, was responsible for using religious groups as cover for intelligence activities. He had used them for spying even when he was part of the Office of Strategic Services which was CIA’s predecessor.

After the creation of the CIA , Christian missionaries played a very important role in destabilizing various countries and in carrying out espionage activities on behalf of the CIA. The most recent high profile example of the US using religious missionaries as Trojan horses to cause disturbances in India was in the case of the agitation against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. This agitation came after a cable to the CIA from the US Consulate in Mumbai (Wikileaks cable 06MUMBAI1803_a) informed the agency that “we feel that the USG must move forward to enable our companies to compete in the next stage of India’s nuclear future. Otherwise we may have to watch bitterly as third countries become the first to benefit commercially from the environment that our diplomacy has created.”

The CIA-church connection had been one of the topics of an investigation conducted by the US Senate in 1975. Coincidentally, it came to be known as the Church Committee as it was headed by Senator Frank Church, and according to the report of this Committee, the CIA had informed them of at least “a total of 14 covert arrangements which involved direct operational use of 21 individuals” who were American clergy or missionaries. The report went on to state that a few of them “were current in August 1975, and according to the CIA, they were used only for intelligence collection, or, in one case, for a minor role in preserving the cover of another asset.”

The following excerpt from the Church Committee report speaks for itself and highlights the dangers of allowing foreign missionaries into India.

“[T]he CIA paid salaries, bonuses, or expenses to the religious personnel, or helped to fund projects run by them. Most of the individuals were used for covert action purposes. Several were involved in large covert action projects of the mid-sixties, which were directed at “competing” with communism in the Third World….

Of the recent relationships, the most damaging would appear to be that of a U.S. priest serving the CIA as an informant on student and religious dissidence.

Of the earlier cases, one exemplifies the extent to which the CIA used confidential pastoral relationships. The CIA used the pastor of a church in a Third World country as a “principal agent” to carry out covert action projects, and as a spotter, assessor, asset developer, and recruiter. He collected information on political developments and on personalities. He passed CIA propaganda to the local press.

According to the CIA’s description of the case, the pastor’s analyses were based on his long-term friendships with the personalities, and the agents under him were “well known to him in his professional life.” At first the CIA provided only occasional gifts to the pastor in return for his services; later, for over ten years, the CIA paid him a salary that reached $11,414 annually.”

After the creation of the CIA , Christian missionaries played a very important role in destabilizing various countries and in carrying out espionage activities on behalf of the CIA.

The figure of $11,414 in this excerpt gives us a clue that the country in question is most likely India as this amount translates to a nice round figure of one lakh rupees using the currency exchange rate of the day. In addition to being a round figure, it was also a substantial amount of money in the 1970s in India.

The CIA used opposition to communism in the Third World as the excuse to fund churches in Kerala and this interference in Indian politics came to light in 1978 when the former ambassador to India, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, published the information his book A Dangerous Place. Apart from interfering in Kerala, American churches have provided extensive support to the terrorists in Nagaland whose stated aim is “Nagalim for Christ.” These terrorists receive overt help from the American establishment in the form of so-called human rights reports and public statements of support from high profile politicians such as Jimmy Carter.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the US establishment keenly pushed their religion and Western values as the standard for the entire world. Feminism and sex were used as weapons against countries where the bond of family was strong and stood as a line of defense against the actions of those who wanted to create instability in society.

In a speech before the Fund for Peace Conference in 1974, CIA head William E. Colby admitted that the CIA had funded several groups around the world to propagate their point of view and named the famous feminist Gloria Steinem as a recipient of such funds. According to Colby, “The record is clear that the assistance given to these institutions by the CIA was to enable them to participate in foreign activities; there was no attempt to interfere in internal American domestic activities. CIA aid helped such groups as the National Students Association to articulate the views of American students abroad and meet the Communist-subsidized effort to develop a panoply of international front organizations. I might quote Ms. Gloria Steinem, one of those assisted, who commented that the CIA “wanted to do what we wanted to do – present a healthy, diverse view of the United States” – I never felt I was being dictated to at all.”

Another women’s group named Redstockings had uncovered Gloria Steinem’s CIA connections and included the information in their book Feminist Revolution but the publishing firm Random House removed the chapter before publication and called it an “abridged edition” as they faced immense pressure to suppress this information from several quarters including the president of Ford Foundation. The news about this suppression became public when it was published in Village Voice in May 1979.

In 1957, Gloria Steinem had visited Kerala and worked with an American Protestant missionary and helped his group reach out to women. While in India, she gathered information about plantations in Kerala, and a few Wikileaks cables show that the American establishment was eager to present her in later years as a thought leader who had to be emulated and included meetings with her as part of programs organized for visiting foreign dignitaries. Gloria Steinem’s visit to India had been funded by what was called the Chester Bowles scholarship which was named after the ambassador to India, but this scholarship, which had been created in the year of Gloria Steinem’s visit to India, was curiously discontinued immediately after she and another student were funded for their trips to India.

One religious organization that has received money from USAID and has been outed as a front for the CIA is the Summer Institute of Linguistics (now SIL International) which was set up to translate the bible into various languages and distribute them around the world. Together with its sister organization, the Wycliffe Bible Translators, and its subsidiary, the Jungle Aviation and Radio Services (JAARS) which operates several aircraft and radio stations, SIL became a very powerful and destructive force in the world.

In the 1970s, several Latin American countries including Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru held SIL responsible for advancing the interests of the American intelligence agencies (see Wikileaks cables 1975BOGOTA06132_b, 1975MEXICO05045_b,1975LIMA08739_b and 1976LIMA01274_b) and Brazil expelled SIL’s missionaries from the country for acting as cover for geologists searching for mineral deposits in the Amazon basin. SIL’s clout in the American establishment was such that they were able to bypass the diplomats and directly seek helicopters from the military to carry out their mission in Papua New Guinea (see Wikileaks cable 1973CANBER02655_b).

SIL has been accused of drug trafficking, smuggling emeralds and uranium, and even waging germ warfare that destroyed many native tribes. In their book THY WILL BE DONE, The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil, the authors Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett document the extensive connections of Wycliffe Bible Translators with Nelson and John D. Rockefeller and their takeover of the resources in the Amazon basin countries.

SIL’s partner in India is the Indian Institute of Cross Cultural Communication based in Nashik. An example of the kind of work executed by this institute can be found on the resume of Wayne Dye who is on the faculty of the Graduate Institute of Linguistics and who worked at the IICCC as a consultant for SIL. According to his own description, he conducted seminars “for Indians engaged in cross-cultural church planting” while at the IICCC.

Things take a bizarre turn in the context of SIL and its connection to drugs. When LSD was first synthesized by the Swiss drug firm Sandoz, it was clear that there was no medicinal use for it, but the CIA was interested in it as part of its mind control program and its aim of controlling of societies in general. The CIA even set up a project named MKULTRA to research “behavioral modification.” According to a Senate hearing in 1977, CIA used many unwitting persons for experimentation as part of this project.

Over the years, they infiltrated many groups and distributed narcotic and psychedelic drugs with the twin aims of observing their effects and weakening the groups they were targeting. Among the Hindu groups that were suspected of being victims of infiltration by CIA agents were Rajneesh’s ashram, ISKCON and the Ananda Marg.

Unlike Christian churches, Hindu outfits were not conducive to being taken over by replacing the spiritual head while retaining the followers, and hence the only option available to their opponents was to destroy such groups. Rajneesh’s followers had also gone one step further and built up a self-sustaining commune that did not depend on the government. This was sure to attract the hostility of the American establishment which has repeatedly demonstrated intolerance for independent communities and individuals regardless of their race or religion. In contrast, the centralized nature of Christianity was helpful to the American government. According to Colby and Dennet, the Summer Institute of Linguistics not only converted the local people in Latin America from their indigenous faiths to Christianity, but also ‘used the Bible to teach indigenous people to “obey the government, for all authority comes from God.”‘ The idea that all authority comes from God is part of the biblical verse Romans 13:1.

It is in CIA’s use of drugs to control others that R. Gordon Wasson and SIL come into the picture. Wasson was the author of an article titled Seeking the Magic Mushroom in Life magazine in 1957 and the article is considered a path breaking one in the ‘psychedelic movement.’ He was close to CIA’s Director Allen Dulles and had gone on an expedition to Mexico in search of the “Magic Mushroom” with funds from the CIA. Wasson has acknowledged at the end of his article that he collaborated with missionaries belonging to the Summer School of Linguistics. John Marks, a former State Department official who worked at the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, discusses Wasson in his book The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, but as in the case of most books authored by ex-spooks, one must expect critical information to be covered up and not hope to get the full extent of Wasson’s participation, especially as Marks sought Wasson’s feedback for the draft of the book.

Sometime in 1962, Gordon Wasson recruited a young lady named Mrs. Arthur Gudwin to dig out information about the source of soma from Sanskrit texts. Mrs. Gudwin, also known as Wendy Gudwin, was the daughter of Lester Doniger, a wealthy scam artist who deceived ordinary people into parting with money by threatening them that their credit rating would be affected if they did not pay him money. Among the many false representations Lester Doniger made to his victims, he created and used the fictitious name of Mail Order Credit Reporting Association along with a letterhead for this fake organization on which he sent out his threats (see p. 785 of Federal Trade Commission rulings for April-June 1964).

Among the Hindu groups that were suspected of being victims of infiltration by CIA agents were Rajneesh’s ashram, ISKCON and the Ananda Marg.

A fervent believer in converting people to Christianity, Lester Doniger actively helped evangelical churches achieve this goal. Together with his brother Simon Doniger, he published two journals – Pulpit Digest and Pastoral Psychology – in order to help the Christian churches become more powerful and efficient in their operations. The New York Times dated 26 February 1949 reported that Pulpit Digest honored an evangelist radio series and that Lester Doniger, before presenting the award, pointed out that “the program had 6 million listeners weekly and there were approximately 70 million without church affiliations toward whom the program was directed.”

There were other fronts on which Lester Doniger was involved with the activities of the American establishment. Closely tied to the feminist movement was the issue of sex education, and in 1964, the US got UNESCO to focus on disseminating information related to sex around the world. A new organization named Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) was soon set up and Lester Doniger became the president of SIECUS within a few years. Under his stewardship, SIECUS was funded by Steven Rockefeller and James Warburg of the influential banking family, two key people who have helped shape US foreign policy and bankrolled several overt and covert American government programs. The US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara also supported SIECUS and yet another source of funds for the organization was the Ford Foundation.

Other members of Lester Doniger’s family too have strange antecedents that seem like too many coincidences to dismiss them out of hand. His wife, Rita Doniger, once sold tickets for an event of the Marxist group National Council of American Soviet Friendship, putting her in a prime position to spy on who was attending the event. Gathering such information was one of the common activities carried out by the American intelligence agencies and this is the most plausible reason for a person from a family tied to the establishment volunteering to help organize the event. Yet another family member, Dennis M. O’Flaherty, another husband of Wendy Doniger, was a Russian language expert whose doctoral thesis was related to propaganda in Russia. He was sent to Moscow during the cold war with a grant from the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), a government aided organization that was set up as a public-private partnership in 1967 to take over the responsibilities of the Inter-University Committee on Travel Grants (IUCTG). The Soviet Union had accused professors and scholars sent by the IUCTG of working for the CIA and expelled a few of them over the years.

IREX scholars too were accused of espionage activities (for example, by Yugoslavia) and IREXcontinued to be part of the American national security plans after the Soviet-Eastern European Research and Training Act of 1983 was passed. During the Congressional hearings before the act was passed, one of the supporters of the act who taught at Columbia University made the pointthat research in universities on the Soviet bloc countries should be treated as “utmost importance to the national security of the United States.” More recently, Jim Leach, former Congressman and former Chairperson of the National Endowment of the Humanities, admitted in a speech that there were “connections between the humanities and national security.”

The “research” of Mrs. Wendy Gudwin nee Doniger who is now a professor at the University of Chicago must be viewed in the light of this background combined with her work with Gordon Wasson. None of her so-called research is original, and as a pliant assistant, she has merely propagated the views of those for whom she has worked. Perhaps this explains the inconsistency in her writings and the shallowness in her scholarship. For example, she has claimed that the authors of the Rigveda were “invading Indo-Aryans” but has also written elsewhere against the Aryan Invasion Theory. She treats the myth of a conversation between Jesus and Thomas as a historical fact and even assigns a date to the purported event. It is in the understanding of Indian religious traditions that she demonstrates a clear lack of depth when she claims that Hindu and Buddhist mendicants abandon their material lives because they are driven by Wanderlust.

Even the idea of mixing up sex and religion did not originate with her. Her uncle Simon Doniger had published a book titled Sex and Religion Today. After helping Gordon Wasson buttress his claims on soma, Wendy Doniger continued where Simon Doniger had left off and her work was aligned with the message of Christian missionaries and SIECUS packaged in academic verbiage and style.

Christian missionaries routinely attack Hindu beliefs by attacking Krishna and this behavior is accurately depicted in RK Narayan’s novel Swami and Friends in which the teacher of the scripture class attempts to foist Christianity on the students by preaching,“Oh, wretched idiots! …Did our Jesus go gadding about with dancing girls like your Krishna? Did our Jesus go about stealing butter like that arch-scoundrel Krishna? Did our Jesus practise dark tricks on those around him?”

In the works of Lester Doniger’s daughter and other American professors, the same kind of attack on Hindus can be found in a more sophisticated form complete with footnotes and citations in order to appear pedantic. After working for Gordon Wasson, Lester Doniger’s daughter was placed at Harvard University where her guide, Daniel Ingalls, was a known intelligence agent who had spied against Indian freedom fighters. She then spent time in Oxford, and strangely, her adviser RC Zaehner too was an intelligence agent. Zaehner, who was also a racist, had headed the failed British attempt in 1951 to overthrow the Mossadegh government in Iran and put the Iranian oilfields in the control of the British.

Earlier, in 1963-64, Wendy Doniger had been sent to India for a year on a $6000 fellowship (this was thirty percent more than the median annual income in the US) to the American Institute of Indian Studies which would eventually come to be known as a CIA front. The US had set up many front organizations in the academia as part of the National Defense Education Act of 1958 and AIIS was one such institution.

Christian missionaries routinely attack Hindu beliefs by attacking Krishna and this behavior is accurately depicted in RK Narayan’s novel Swami and Friends

The links of AIIS to the intelligence community was very strong during the days of Wendy Doniger’s association with the organization. Its Director in 1964 was Richard D. Lambert who had been stationed in India as part of the counterintelligence department during the second world war. He was succeeded by Thomas Simons who was also part of the intelligence community and who had headed the South Asian branch of the Office of Intelligence Research in the US Department of State. A key member of the founding group of AIIS was Richard Park who went on to become the India scholar at AIIS. Park was also part of the infamous Asia Foundation.

Despite earlier denials, it was revealed in 1967 that the Asia Foundation had received funds from the CIA and it had in turn funneled money to Indian groups in the guise of funding cultural and educational programs. This revelation led to an outcry in the Indian parliament on the role of AIIS and other groups. Even the journal Seminar which was published by the brother of the Marxist professor Romila Thapar devoted an entire issue to the topic of “Academic Colonialism,” but that was before Romila Thapar received money and titles from the American establishment and started supporting them.

Indira Gandhi’s government asked Asia Foundation to cease its operations and leave India. One of the projects that was terminated by the Indian government was based in the Himalayan foothills and its personnel collected information on land ownership and the political situation in both India and Nepal. This project had received funds from multiple sources including the AIIS and the Department of Defense.

By 1972, the situation had become so severe that Indira Gandhi had to keep out foreign scholars from India. The New York Times dated 5 August 1972 carried an editorial headlined ‘India Closes its Doors’ in which it stated, “India no doubt has been victimized by some sloppy and even malicious scholarship. On that basis alone New Delhi has some justification for seeking a measure of control over the hordes of scholars and would-be scholars who descend on the subcontinent annually, attracted by India’s rich cultural diversity and historic fascination.”

Even before the National Defense Education Act, the first program that focused on India had been set up at the University of Pennsylvania to serve the military during the second world war. In the following years, similar centers were set up at other universities with the faculty members carefully chosen so that they believed in the superiority of Western Christianity. The fact that most American programs related to studying India grew out of the intelligence and military departments which sought to shape public opinion in other countries through the media and academia explains the strange phenomenon of American faculty members hating their own area of research and expressing hostility towards the culture they claim to study. This behavior is at complete odds with that of of real researchers who pursue an academic field, not out of hate, but out of love for the chosen subject.

The intertwining of the academia with CIA’s operations manifested itself in the 1990s during the process that resulted in the passage of the International Religious Freedom Act leading to the setting up of the Office of International Religious Freedom and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Although the Office of International Religious Freedom now operates behind the thin veil of ‘religious freedom,’ which is really an euphemism for the propagation of Christianity using government resources, the veil was off before the passage of the International Religious Freedom Act. Contrary to commonly held views, this law was not the brainchild of any Congress member.

In 1996, the then Secretary of State Warren Christopher created the Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad in order to “facilitate effective partnerships between the U.S. Government and a broad range of religious communities, academic institutions, and advocacy groups to advance religious freedom.” That the Committee was packed with Christians and had Jewish and Muslim representation while having no Hindu on it was a clear message that its purpose was to facilitate effective partnerships to propagate Christianity around the world by primarily targeting India. The following year, the State Department also came out with a report titled “United States Policies in Support of Religious Freedom: Focus on Christians,” a title that clearly underscores the religious bias of the State Department’s agenda.

The fact that most American programs related to studying India grew out of the intelligence and military departments which sought to shape public opinion in other countries through the media and academia explains the strange phenomenon of American faculty members hating their own area of research and expressing hostility towards the culture they claim to study.

Not long after the publication of the report portraying Christians as victims of violence around the world, the advisory committee made interim recommendations, and in their own words a few years later, “The Advisory Committee is pleased to acknowledge that several of these recommendations have been implemented. Among the most important recommendations to have been achieved was the creation of a new Office on International Religious Freedom within the Department of State.” Before the advisory committee came up with its recommendations, it went through the motions and appeared to take public input, but that such hearings were merely part of a charade for public consumption can be gauged from the fact that members of the advisory committee as well as some of those who made presentations before the committee went on to become Commissioners of the USCIRF.

Among those on the Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad was Barnett Richard Rubin of the highly influential Council on Foreign Relations which has had many CIA Directors and Secretaries of State as its members. Rubin’s focus area in policy related issues was the Indian subcontinent and this should have set off alarm bells ringing in India. Another member of the committee was an anti-Hindu Harvard Professor and a Christian named Diana Eck who at one time worked for the World Council of Churches which openly calls for evangelism. This group is an umbrella organization for church groups and a key person in its creation was John Foster Dulles who went on to become the US Secretary of State and who was also the brother of Allen Dulles. In 1967, the organization’s American affiliate, the National Council of Churches, admitted that they had received money from the CIA. Ramparts magazine had broken a story on NSA and CIA front groups leaving them with little choice but admit their relationship with the CIA. The World Council of Churches alsoworks with the Summer Institute of Linguistics. The World Council of Churches was not Diana Eck’s only connection to a front group of intelligence agencies. She had also obtained her Master’s degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, an institution with a reputation of being infested with British intelligence agents.

Hindus are constantly under attack by the US State Department today, but have been the main target of Americans ever since they started their evangelical activities. The first evangelical missionaries from USA went to India and it was to India that one of America’s earliest missionaries Adoniram Judson led a group of evangelists in 1812. When Jimmy Carter wanted to open his charity group Habitat for Humanity in India, his intentions were clearly to proselytize Hindus. That is why Rajiv Gandhi forced him to sign an agreement not to indulge in religious conversions. That kind of vigilance is required at all levels of government and society. After all, in the words of the Church Committee, “Agency-funded foundations serve as conduits of funds for a variety of purposes, including clandestine activities and contributions to scholars conducting research which supports United States foreign policy positions.”

Another angle covered by the Church Committee was the use of journalists and media organizations by the CIA. According to their report, “approximately 50 U.S. journalists” and “more than a dozen United States news organizations and commercial publishing houses” worked for the CIA. In one case, according to the report, the New York Times carried a book review written by a CIA writer for a book brought out by the CIA. The relationship of the New York Times with the CIA runs very deep. In an in-depth cover story that appeared in the Rolling Stone in 1977, Carl Bernstein pointed out that Arthur Hays Sulzberger, the publisher of the New York Times, had even signed a formal agreement with the CIA. His nephew, C.L. Sulzberger, too maintained extensive contacts with the CIA and even published a briefing paper given to him by the CIA almost verbatim under his byline. Carl Bernstein’s story quotes a CIA official as saying, “We gave it to Cy as a background piece and Cy gave it to the printers and put his name on it.”

It is also not uncommon for the CIA to instruct the editors of the newspaper on which stories they had to publish and which stories they had to suppress. In 1975, A.M. Rosenthal, the managing editor of the New York Times who had also served as their foreign correspondent based in India,acted on orders from the CIA and suppressed a story related to the raising of a sunken Soviet submarine. According to Wayne Biddle, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who worked as a reporter under A.M. Rosenthal and who is now a visiting faculty member at Johns Hopkins University, Rosenthal used to refer to the CIA as “the Company,” a term used by CIA insiders.

With the debate on religious conversions in India picking up steam, certain journalists and foreign media outlets are now outing themselves as messengers of the American establishment. In a display of truly bizarre behavior indicating that their ideas were not original but had been handed down to them, at least three Western media outlets had nothing to say on the topic of religious conversions for three weeks after several Muslims embraced Hinduism at Agra in early December, but they have now suddenly made the same point at the same time. They have all demanded that Narendra Modi not remain silent on the issue of religious conversions even though the topic is under the jurisdiction of the state governments.

While Andrew Rosenthal, an India baiter and the son of the late A.M. Rosenthal, made the demand along with other editors in an editorial in the New York Times, an identical demand appeared in an article written by a writer for Bloomberg. A similar criticism of Modi also appeared in a piece by Amy Kazmin of the Financial Times whose former Washington bureau chief worked for a senior official in the Bill Clinton administration. The crudest of the three demands was by Amy Kazmin who has described conversions by Christians as “freedom of conscience” and conversions by Hindus as “ugly.” Her position is consistent with the tradition of many American journalists who support fellow white Americans like Billy Graham in their proselytizing activities in India.

Interestingly, some of the language used in the American press against India constitutes verbatim repetition of the language used by the US State Department. For example, the dishonest phrase “1,000 people, mostly Muslims” that is repeatedly used by the New York Times staff to suppress the deaths of Hindus during the riots in Gujarat in 2002 was coined and first used by the US State Department in their Human Rights report of 1998 to describe the victims of riots that occurred after the events at Ayodhya in 1992.

It is extremely important that the American media, academia, think-tanks and grant making foundations be viewed in the context of the Church Committee report. Their twisted view of India as the American version of Dar-al-Harb must not be taken lightly. Instead of collaborating with them and giving them a free run to create American agitprop with Indian money and support, India should curb their activities. Whether Narendra Modi is capable of the strong action taken by Indira Gandhi remains to be seen, but what is clear is that any attempt by foreign forces to either shape public opinion in India or change the religious demographics of the country must be resisted. If India follows the example of South America where the Summer Institute of Linguistics was successful in its efforts, India too will become a Christian nation with the people taught to obey a government that is permanently subservient to foreign powers.

[The author can be reached at arvind@classical-liberal.net.]

Arvind Kumar

Arvind Kumar is a writer and an activist who focuses on politics, economy and civilizational issues. He can be reached at arvind at classical-liberal dot net.http://indiafacts.co.in/religious-crusades-cia/

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Trail of blood money -- Kumar Chellappan reviews Gerald Posner's non-fiction thriller, God's bankers. Vatican, ban conversion violence.

May 2, 2015, 6:37 pm

≫ Next: Samskritam fever grips Germany. Students clamour for Samskritam courses in 14 German universities

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TRAIL OF BLOOD MONEY

Sunday, 03 May 2015 | Kumar ChellappanGod’s Bankers

Author : Gerald Posner

Publisher : Simon and Schuster, Rs899

The Vatican has a number of skeletons in its cupboards, ranging from money laundering, drug trafficking, sex scandals and paedophilia. Gerald Posner investigates the death of Pope John Paul I, operations of the Catholic Church and its nexus with politics and organised crime. God’s Bankers is more thrilling than Mario Puzo’s Godfather, writes KUMAR CHELLAPPAN

The Catholic Church is a subject of interest to millions of non-Catholics all over the world mainly because of the secrecy associated with the functioning of the world’s largest religious congregation. The Iron Curtain which shields this church will put both the former Soviet Union as well as the Italian Mafia to shame. The Vatican City, world’s smallest sovereign country (area 110 acres and population 842) and abode of the Pope, the spiritual head of the Catholics, wields tremendous influence in global politics.

The younger generation in India may not be aware of the influence wielded by the Catholic Church in India. The role it played in getting the EMS Namboodirippadu-led Kerala Government (world’s first democratically elected communist regime) dismissed in 1959 was revealed by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the former US diplomat in his book A Dangerous Place. The CIA too helped the church in Kerala, financially as well as morally, to get the communists removed from its path. The church feared that the communists would take over the vast stretches of landed properties and educational institutions owned by it.

Such is the power of the Catholic Church in India that many people attribute it to the fall of the Janata Party Government in 1979. The Freedom of Religion Bill introduced in Parliament by OP Tyagi resulted in the disintegration of the Morarji Desai Government with Mother Teresa, the queen of proselytisation herself coming out to stage protest march against the Bill.

When the Catholic Bishops Council of India, the most powerful body of the church in the country, came out against the Narendra Modi Government questioning its “indifference” to vandalisms perpetrated by “Sangh Parivar” activists on churches, all hell broke loose in India. Cardinal Cleemis, the CBCI chief, was vocal in his criticism of the Modi Government and alleged that minorities have become unsafe under the present BJP dispensation at the Centre. With law enforcement agencies unravelling the details of each and every attack on the Churches, the Cardinal has become somewhat silent.

The Catholic Church has overturned Governments and regimes in South America, Africa as well as in Europe which were not of its likings. Vatican has a number of skeletons in its cupboards. It ranges from money laundering, drug trafficking, sex scandals and cases of pedophiles. A lot of wealth under the dispensation of the church is said to be dirty money and the curia (the bureaucracy in Vatican City) has a lot to shield from public scrutiny, reportedly.

God’s Bankers, authored by Gerald Posner, the attorney-turned-investigative journalist is a well-researched chronicle about the history of money and power at the Vatican. The book has brought out hitherto unheard accounts and mysteries associated with the church and the death of Pope John Paul I in 1978. Not only the death of the Pope; many investigating officers, prosecutors and crucial witnesses who could have thrown much light into the shady deals of the powerful people in Vatican were either bumped off or killed in staged accidents.

A shocking revelation made by Posner is about a woman who was present in the official residence of John Paul I in the Vatican the night he breathed his last. The Vatican has never revealed to the outside world about this fact as it would have given rise to many uncomfortable questions about the Pope’s celibacy. John Paul I, whose real name was Albino Luciani reigned for just 33 days. He was elected Pope following the death of Pope Paul VI on August 6, 1978. According to a communique issued by the Vatican, Pope John Paul I was found dead on September 29 around 5:30 am by John Magee, his private secretary.

But Posner’s investigations are based on the secret files in the archives in the Vatican and interviews with people who had inside information and first hand access to the interiors of the papal palace and has thrown out some shocking facts which may put a shadow on the Vatican’s claims of puritanism. It was Vincenza Taffarel, a nun who had been with Albino Luciani for more than 20 years as the head of his household who first found him dead. Vincenza ran to John Magee’s bedroom and roused him from a deep sleep. Magee sprinted to John Paul’s private chamber and put his hand on the pontiff’s cheek.

Villot, the secretary of state, who decided to cover up the presence of Vincenza and drafted the version that it was Magee who found out the Pope dead. Villot also summoned two morticians to prepare the Pope’s dead body for public display. “The morticians took out a small rope from a canvas bag. They tied some around the corpse’s ankles and knees. Then they straightened his legs and secured the rope to each end of the bed’s frame. The morticians looped it around John Paul’s chest and both pulled his arms and torso until the corpse was flat,” says Posner in his account.

Though the Vatican officials described “myocardial infarction” as the cause for John Paul’s death, there were many accounts which said that the Pope was poisoned to death. One of the morticians attending to the Pope found that there were clotting around the Pope’s neck. But the group of cardinals who reached the Vatican immediately after the pontiff’s death ruled out the possibility of any autopsy which sabotaged the chances of getting any lead for the investigators.

What went unnoticed was an attempt on the life of the Pope which happened days before he was found dead. Metropolitan Nikodim, the second-ranking prelate of the Russian Orthodox Church called on John Paul immediately after his installation as the Pope. “Nikodim sipped coffee from a cup the Pope had just poured. Then the bishop dropped his cup and saucer. He clenched at his throat as he gasped for air, and fell over backward, smashing a small table as he slammed into the floor. Luciani (the Pope) called for help and dropped to his knees to administer the last rites. By the time Dr Renato Buzzonetti, the deputy chief of the Vatican medical service arrived a few minutes later, the 48-year-old Nikodi was dead”, says Posner in the book.

Strangely no autopsy was performed. A conspiracy theory swept through the Vatican; a poisonous brew that had been intended for the new Pope had killed Nikodim. This incident as well as the unexpected death of John Paul in a gap of few days are similar to the murders and mayhem carried out by the dreaded Mafia.

Much has been written about the death of John Paul 1. The book In God’s Name by David Yallop has given an entirely different account about the murder. Kunhanandan Nair, an Indian journalist, who covered the death of John Paul and the subsequent election of the next Pope, has said in his reports that the Pope was murdered by a cartel consisting of certain cardinals, politicians and mafia dons who wanted him out of the scene as they feared the Pope would throw out those responsible for money laundering and financial embezzlement worth hundreds of crores of dollars from the Church owned Bank of Vatican (Banco Ambroziano).

Immediately after assuming the throne, the Pope had ordered a thorough probe into the financial irregularities committed by this cabal of cardinals, bishops, bankers and mafia dons with money drawn from Banco Ambroziano, owned by the Vatican. The Catholic Church today is the world’s largest capitalist holding company with lot of financial, commercial and political interests.

The Banco Ambroziano was one of the largest private banks in Italy and was owned by the church. Roberto Calvi, chairman and managing director of this bank was found hanging from the London Bridge on June 18, 1982, four years after the death of Pope John Paul I. Though the coroner in London declared it as a suicide, in 2002, it was scientifically proved that Calvi was murdered and hanged from the London Bridge. Why? Posner answers this question and many other hitherto unasked and unanswered queries which are not music to the ears of the church.

But why all these shady deals and operations? The church authorities have the answer themselves: “You can’t run the Church on Hail Marys”, a bishop is reported to have told the author. Posner has given a chilling account of the activities of the Catholic Church with special focus on Italy. One cannot help laughing when Catholic bishops and cardinals in India describe the BJP, RSS and other Hindutva forces as fascists. The Vatican City, the abode of the Pope itself is a gift of the Fascist Mussolini to the Catholic Church.

The church was with Hitler and Mussolini during the Second World War. Even today, the Church is run on blood money. Blood money from where? By whom? Well, the details are in God’s Bankers. It is a must read for all those who love action-packed and suspense -filled real life incidents. God’s Bankers is more thrilling than Mario Puzo’s Godfather.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/sunday-edition/agenda/books/trail-of-blood-money.html

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Samskritam fever grips Germany. Students clamour for Samskritam courses in 14 German universities

May 3, 2015, 7:03 am

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≪ Previous: Trail of blood money -- Kumar Chellappan reviews Gerald Posner's non-fiction thriller, God's bankers. Vatican, ban conversion violence.

Sanskrit fever grips Germany: 14 universities teaching India's ancient language struggle to meet demand as students clamour for courses

By ADITYA GHOSH

22:24 GMT, 14 April 2015 |

Will Germans be the eventual custodians of Sanskrit, its rich heritage and culture? If the demand for Sanskrit and Indology courses in Germany is any indication, that’s what the future looks like.

Unable to cope with the flood of applications from around the world, the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, had to start a summer school in spoken Sanskrit in Switzerland, Italy and - believe it or not - India too.

“When we started it 15 years ago, we were almost ready to shut it after a couple of years. Instead, we had to increase strength and take the course to other European countries,” said Professor Dr. Axel Michaels, head of classical Indology at the university.

The summer school in spoken Sanskrit at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, is attended by students from all over the world

In Germany, 14 of the top universities teach Sanskrit, classical and modern Indology compared to just four in the UK. The summer school spans a month in August every year and draws applications from across the globe.

“So far, 254 students from 34 countries have participated in this course. Every year we have to reject many applications,” said Dr. Michaels.

Apart from Germany, the majority of students come from the US, Italy, the UK and the rest of Europe.

Professor Dr. Axel Michaels, Head of Classical Indology at the University of Heidelberg, says students from 34 countries have taken the course

Linking Sanskrit with religion and a certain political ideology was “stupid” and “detrimental to the cause” of its rich heritage, the professor said.

“Even the core thoughts of Buddhism were in the Sanskrit language. To better understand the genesis of oriental philosophy, history, languages, sciences and culture, it’s essential to read the original Sanskrit texts as these are some of the earliest thoughts and discoveries,” he added.

Francesca Lunari, a medical student who has been studying Sanskrit at Heidelberg University, agreed.

“I am interested in psychoanalysis and must know how human thoughts originated through texts, cultures and societies. I will learn Bangla also to decipher the seminal works of Girindra Sekhar Bose, a pioneer of oriental psychiatry who has hardly been studied – even in India. Learning Sanskrit is the first step,” she said.

Languages such as Bangla, in which Bose had written his theories challenging Freud, might face a crisis similar to Sanskrit because of the onslaught of English if these languages aren’t preserved within households, felt Dr Hans Harder, head of the department of modern South Asian languages and literatures (modern Indology), Heidelberg University.

“A significant part of the global cultural heritage will become extinct if major languages like Hindi and Bangla fall prey to Indian English which, in the process, has only got poorer,” he added.

An expert in Bangla, Hindi and Urdu apart from European languages, Harder cautioned against such a disaster as more upwardly mobile families stop teaching their own language to their children.

Studying ethno-Indology helps contextualise and link subjects to ancient texts.

“One can better understand evolution of politics and economics by studying Arthashastra by Chanakya,” said Dr. Michaels.

So this semester the institute is offering a course on ‘human physiology and psychology in the early Upanishads’ by Anand Mishra, an IIT mathematics graduate who took up the study of Sanskrit for his research on evolving a more grammatically suitable computing language.

PM Narendra Modi with German Chancellor Angela Merkel

“Working on Panini’s Sanskrit grammar, I realised it could be a great tool in computing language,” said Mishra.

Dr. Michaels feels that instead of indulging in a political and religious debate, Indians should try to preserve their heritage.

“Don’t we conserve a rare, old painting or sculpture? This is a live language…and rich cultural heritage which might become the casualty of neglect just as great civilisations like Hampi, the art of Ajanta and temples of Konark got buried in oblivion. It was up to the British to discover them later. Sanskrit, along with its culture, philosophy and science might become similarly extinct,” he claimed, adding: “On the other hand, there is so much yet to discover through Sanskrit…details of Indus Valley civilisation, for example.”

Germany has already been a storehouse of Sanskrit scholars to the world.

“The majority of Sanskrit scholars, including those at Harvard, California Berkeley and the UK, are Germans,” he said.

But why?

“Probably because we never colonised India and maintained a romantic view about it,” quipped Dr. Michaels.

'Language cannot shake secularism'

India's secularism is not so weak that it will be shaken just because of a language, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said in the backdrop of a row over Sanskrit replacing German in government-run schools in India.

Addressing a reception for the Indian community on Monday, Modi referred to a time decades ago, when German radio had a news bulletin in Sanskrit.

“In India, there was no news bulletin in Sanskrit at that time because perhaps it was thought that secularism would be endangered,” the prime minister said.

Modi said India’s secularism is not so weak that it will be shaken just because of a language. One should have self-confidence.

Self-confidence should not be shaken, he added.

The prime minister did not elaborate, but his veiled comments assume significance as these came months after a row over replacing of German as third language in government-run Kendirya Vidyalaya schools with Sanskrit. -PTI

Experts bat for Sanskrit in schools

By Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi

Even as the row over replacing German with Sanskrit in Kendriya Vidyalays partly resurfaced in far away in Berlin, educationists back home feel that it is very important to introduce Sanskrit at the school level to enable students have a better understanding of the subject.

“Sanskrit is an essential part of every Indian soul. Without the language, the society loses its identity. From Raja Ram Mohan Roy to Mahatma Gandhi, everyone was inspired by the language. The whole renaissance period was based on Sanskrit literature,” Professor Ramesh Bharadwaj, head of the Sanskrit department at Delhi University, told Mail Today.

Educationists feel it is important to introduce Sanskrit at school level as it will enable students to have a better understanding of the subject

Historians, meanwhile, feel that successive governments have taken no initiatives to promote the language among the people.

“The central and state governments, which came to power after Independence, have not extended their support to the language. Our country is known for its culture, religion and philosophical ideas. One cannot treat religious sentiments and Sanskrit separately,” Bharadwaj added.

Recently, the Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry’s internal enquiry into the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Germany, making German the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas, has revealed that neither the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghathan (KVS) nor the ministry realised that the move was a violation of the three-language formula.

According to the three-language formula, schools are required to teach Hindi, English and a modern Indian language in schools. Sanskrit, however, is said to be a popular option in northern states.

“We want all Indian languages to be promoted because only five to six per cent of people in India understand English. Most of them, even today, work in their regional language. No other language can be understood if there is no proper understanding of Sanskrit,” the HoD of the Sanskrit department said.

Meanwhile, while on his tour to Germany, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s secularism is not so weak that it could be shaken because of a language.

Experts feel that Modi’s statement is in accordance with the Indian Constitution. Though Modi did not elaborate on the issue, his comments are being seen in context with his government’s decision to replace German with Sanskrit in over 500 schools.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3038926/Sanskrit-fever-grips-Germany-14-universities-teaching-India-s-ancient-language-struggle-meet-demand-students-clamour-courses.html

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Sarasvati's children to come alive at Rakhigarhi

May 3, 2015, 7:18 am

≫ Next: Delhi LG asks Ministers, officials to refer all files to him. If AAP Kejriwal refuses, NaMo should bring Delhi under President's rule.

≪ Previous: Samskritam fever grips Germany. Students clamour for Samskritam courses in 14 German universities

Published: May 3, 2015 00:00 IST | Updated: May 3, 2015 05:53 IST CHENNAI, May 3, 2015

Virtual Harappans to come alive

T.S. SUBRAMANIAN

Two of the four skeletons — dating back to the 4500-year-old Harappan era — found recently in a burial mound at Rakhigarhi village in Haryana.— Photo: AFP

Marriage of genetic and software tech to project their likeness

Using the DNA to be extracted from the four full-sized skeletons excavated from a Harappan site at Rakhigarhi in Haryana and a novel software developed in South Korea, archaeologists of the Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune, are confident of projecting, in a few months, how the Harappans looked like 4,500 years ago — their build, the colour of their skin or hair, their facial features and so on.

In a joint excavation, archaeologists of the Deccan College, a deemed university, and Haryana’s Department of Archaeology excavated the skeletons in March. They belonged to the Mature Harappan period (2600 BCE-1900 BCE). The skeletons were those of two men, one woman and a child.

The tests will be done by the college staff and forensic scientists of Seoul National University, South Korea.

Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor of the college and director of the Rakhigarhi excavation, said: “We want to study the DNA of the Harappan people and try to find out who they were. So we excavated the skeletons scientifically at Rakhigarhi … There was no contamination. All the four skeletons are in good condition. The facial bones of two skeletons are intact. We are going to show the world how the Harappan man looked like. This will happen in July. It will be a breakthrough in Harappan studies.”

Rakhigarhi is a big Harappan site, 25 km from Jind in Hisar district. Twenty-one trenches, besides four burial pits, were dug during the excavation that began on January 23 and lasted till April-end.

Dr. Shinde, who is a specialist in Harappan civilisation and has excavated Harappan sites at Farmana, Girawad and Mitathal, all in Haryana, said the chemical tests would be done on the bones to find out what kind of health the Harappans enjoyed, the diet they had and the causes of their death. The four burial pits with the skeletons had a variety of ritual pottery.

The 21 trenches yielded typical Harappan painted pottery, including goblets, terracotta figurines of wild boar and dogs, and furnaces and hearths that provided evidence of a bangle- and bead-making industry.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/virtual-harappans-to-come-alive/article7165745.ece?homepage=true

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Delhi LG asks Ministers, officials to refer all files to him. If AAP Kejriwal refuses, NaMo should bring Delhi under President's rule.

May 3, 2015, 4:14 pm

≫ Next: Westward Ho! Indo-aryans. Panjnad and Saptasindhu, identifying five and seven rivers and navigation channels of 3rd millennium BCE, of Pañcanjanah five peoples, Meluhha seafaring merchants

≪ Previous: Sarasvati's children to come alive at Rakhigarhi

DELHI LG ASKS MINISTERS, OFFICIALS TO REFER ALL FILES TO HIM

Sunday, 03 May 2015 | PTI | New Delhi

Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung today strictly directed ministers and officials of Delhi Government to refer to him all files on various issues as is stipulated under the Constitution, GNCTD Act and Transaction of Business Rules.

The direction came following news reports of Chief Minister Kejriwal instructing all departments not to route files through the Lieutenant Governor's office. Referring to the Constitution, The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act, 1991 and Transaction of Business Rules, Jung said the role of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers is to aid and advise him.

"The Lt. Governor has informed the Chief Minister, drawing his attention to the relevant provisions of the Constitution, the GNCTD Act 1991 and Transaction of Business Rules 1993, which underscore the relationship between the Lt. Governor's and the Chief Minister's office... "...That the role of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers is to aid and advise the Lt. Governor where the latter is entitled to act solely on his own discretion and all files relating to matters for which Legislative Assembly can make law should come to the Lt. Governor for final approval," a statement from the LG's office said.

It also said, "The Lt. Governor has instructed that the directions issued to the officers be withdrawn. He has made it incumbent on all officers to follow the Constitution, GNCTD Act 1991 and the Transaction of Business Rules 1993, in letter and in spirit."

As per news reports, the Chief Minister had asked all departments of the Delhi government not to "bother the office of the LG" by sending all files to him. With respect to reserved subjects like public order, land and police, the files should be sent to LG through ministers concerned and through the Chief Minister's Office, Kejriwal had directed.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/top-stories/delhi-lg-asks-ministers-officials-to-refer-all-files-to-him.html

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Westward Ho! Indo-aryans. Panjnad and Saptasindhu, identifying five and seven rivers and navigation channels of 3rd millennium BCE, of Pañcanjanah five peoples, Meluhha seafaring merchants

May 3, 2015, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: PM Modi at International Buddha Poornima Diwas Celebration. Jeevema s'aradah s'atam, NaMo. Create Indian Ocean Community. (1:50:45)

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Westward Ho! Indo-aryans. Panjnad and Saptasindhu -- five and seven rivers --navigation channels of 3rd millennium BCE, of Pañcanjanah five peoples,
Meluhha seafaring merchants

Mirror: https://www.academia.edu/12216053/Westward_Ho_Indo-aryans._Panjnad_and_Saptasindhu_--_five_and_seven_rivers_--navigation_channels_of_3rd_millennium_BCE_of_Pa%C3%B1canjanah_five_peoples_Meluhha_seafaring_merchants

The context is geographic, hydrology studies of northwest Bhāratam, archaeo-metallurgical evidence of Ancient Near East and Indus Script Corpora which validate the metalwork of mleccha (meluhha) seafaring merchants and artisans -- a group of Indo-aryans of Indian sprachbund called bhāratam janam, lit.'metalcaster folk'. Mleccha (meluhha), Proto-Prākritam was parole, vernacular speech (vāk) evidenced in hieroglyphs of Indus Script Corpora which deploy rebus-metonymy layered cipher for Meluhha speech; while chandas of Rigveda was literary, prosodic Samskritam by philosphers of fire and of knowledge systems.

The monograph also reinforces the imperative of further PIE/IE studies based on this reality and trade/cultural contacts of Meluhha (Indo-aryans) in Tocharian-speaker areas and Ancient Near East: Westward Ho! of migrations of Meluhhan group of Meluhha metalcasters called bhāratam janam into Ancient Near East as Meluhha seafaring merchants.

This monograph validates the evidence and views of Shrikant G. Talageri (2000, 2008) and Nicholas Kazanas (2012) on the westward migration of Indoaryans and relative early chronology of Vedic diction.

Shrikant G. Talageri, 2008, Rigveda and the Avesta: The final evidence, Delhi, Aditya Prakashan
http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/article:rigveda-and-avesta-the-final-evidence

Shrikant G. Talageri, 2000, Rigveda: A historical Analysis, Delhi, Voice of India.

http://www.trueindianhistory.org/ppt/History%20of%20Rigveda.pdf

Satellite image map overlayed with site indicators clearly evidences flusters of sites along the Vedic River Sarasvati flowing from the foothills of Himalayas into Rann of Kutch sites, Bet Dwarak and sites of Saurashtra in Gujarat. This riverine navigable channel together with the Persian Gulf facilitated navigation by seafaring Meluhha merchants of Sarasvati-Sindhu (Hindu) civilization transacting with interaction areas in Makan, Dilmun, Mesopotamia/Sumer/Elam and beyond through Tigris-Euphrates river navigation into the Mediterrarean (Haifa, Israel).

Panjnad, Punjab

"Panjnad River (Urdu/Punjabi Shahmukhi: پنجند, Punjabi Gurmukhi ਪੰਜਨਦ) (panj = five, nadi = river) is a river at the extreme end of Bahawalpur district in Punjab, Pakistan. Panjnad River is formed by successive confluence of the five rivers of Punjab, namely Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. Jhelum and Ravi join Chenab, Beas joins Sutlej, and then Sutlej and Chenab join to form Panjnad 10 miles north of Uch Sharif, lit. 'holy high place' in Bahawalpur district. The combined stream runs southwest for approximately 45 miles and joins Indus River at Mithankot. The Indus continues into the Arabian Sea." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panjnad_River A dam constructed in 1925, on the Panjnad just after the Sutlej’s junction with the Chenāb is part of the Sutlej Valley (irrigation) Project. It provides irrigation channels for Punjab and Sindh provinces south of the Sutlej and east of the Indus rivers.

Harappa is an archaeological site on the westbank of Ravi river.

The 400 archaeological sites of Cholistan of Bahawalpur province, explored by Rafique Mughal are watered NOT by the Panjnad or Sutlej but by Hakra river, an extension of Ghaggar flowing from Thar desert (Marusthali). This Hakra river which flowed into Arabian Sea, is now dry. The archaeological sites of Cholistan were continuously inhabited from 4th millennium BCE, thus constituting an Early Sarasvati-Sindhu (Hindu) civilization area.

Bahawalpur, Pakistan is on the present-day channel of Sutlej River before river joins Panjnad river. Source: http://manaz.8m.net/

Panjnad river (before it joins River Sindhu) is joined by five rivers (hence, the name panjnad lit. 'five rivers'): the five rivers are from east to west: Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum [which in Rigveda are called: S'utudri (Sutlej), Vipasa (Beas), Asikni (Chenab), Parus'ni (Ravi), Vitasta (Jhelum).]

Saptasindhu

Map of Sapta Sindhu (Nation of Seven Rivers): Theatre of Panchajanaah, Five Peoples by Marius Fontane, 1881, Histoire Universelle, Inde Vedique (de 1800 a 800 av. J.C.), Alphonse Lemerre, Editeur, Paris Source: http://www.newsnfo.co.uk/images/saptasindhu.jpg

The expression used in vedic texts sapta-sindhu or sapta-sindhavah lit. sapta (“seven”) and sindhu (“streams or rivers”) gave rise to the glosses recognized historically: Indus and Hindu (RV 2.12; RV 4.28; RV 8.24). A cognate is Avestan hapta həndu. This expression suggests that in Rigvedic times the Punjab (or Panjnad) as we know it today did not exist.

In RV 6.61.10, Sarasvati is called "she with seven sisters" (saptasvasā) indicating that the eighth river may be Drishadvati.or Apaya (RV 3.23.4, Mahabharata Apaga.)

What existed was a region watered by seven rivers (sapta-sindhu) which, in addition to the five rivers of S'utudri (Sutlej), Vipasa (Beas), Asikni (Chenab), Parus'ni (Ravi), Vitasta (Jhelum), included Sindhu river in the west and Sarasvati river in the east.

Rigveda refers to three rivers, naming Sindhu, Sarasvati and Sarayu, thus clearly distinguishing Sindhu and Sarasvati apart from other five rivers: S'utudri (Sutlej), Vipasa (Beas), Asikni (Chenab), Parushni (Ravi), Vitasta (Jhelum)

Let the great streams come hither with their mighty help, Sindhu, Sarasvati, and Sarayu with waves. Ye Goddess Floods, ye Mothers, animating all, promise us water rich in fatness and in balm. (RV 10.64.9)

Rigveda refers to Sarasvati as Sindhumaataa, mother of rivers: आ यत साकं यशसो वावशानाः सरस्वती सप्तथी सिन्धुमाता | याः सुष्वयन्त सुदुघाः सुधारा अभि सवेन पयसा पीप्यानाः || aa yata saakam yazaso vaavas'aanaah sarasvatii saptathii sindhumaataa yaah sushvayanta sudhaaraa abhi savena payasaa peepyamaanaah (RV 7.36.6) Trans. May the seventh (stream), Sarasvati, the mother of the Sindhu and those rivers that flow copious and fertilizing, bestowing abundance of food, and nourishing (the people) by their waters, come at once together.

This is an elucidation of Sarasvati as the best of rivers: ambitame naditame devitame sarasvati apras’astA iva smas’I pras’astim amba nas krudhi (RV. 2.41.16) best of mothers ... best of rivers ... give us fame, recognizing that we are without fame. Ascertaining the wishes of the great sages the best of rivers (the Saras vati) incorporated AruNA with her own body; formerly the flow (of the AruNA) was hidden. Afterwards (the Sarasvati) inundated the divine AruNA wih its own waters.

इमं मे गङगे यमुने सरस्वति शुतुद्रि सतेमं सचता परुष्ण्या | असिक्न्या मरुद्व्र्धे वितस्तयार्जीकीये शर्णुह्यासुषोमया || Trans. Favour ye this my laud, O Ganga, Yamuna, O Sutudri, Parushni and Sarasvati (RV 10.75.5)

With Asikni, Vitasta, O Marudvrdha, O Arjikiya with Susoma hear my call.(RV 10.75)

Vishnu Purana mentions Drishadwati, Vipasa, Iravati, Vitasta: Bahuda 6; the satadru, Chandrabhaga, and great river Yamuna; the Drishadwati 7, Vipasa 8, and Vipapa, with coarse sands; the Vetravati, the deep Krishnaveni, the Iravati 9, Vitasta 10, Payoshni 11, (VP 2.3)

The region of saptasindhu (lit. seven rivers) of Rigvedic times can be reconstructed showing the ancient hydrological map of northwest Bharatam (India): 1. Sindhu (Indus), 2. Vitasta (Jhelum); 3. Asikni (Chenab); 4. Parus'ni or Airavati (Ravi); 5. Vipasa (Beas); 6. S'utudri (Sutlej); 7. Sarasvati. (Map after KS Valdiya, 1996)

Consistent with the explanation of Bharatam Janam as lit. 'metalcaster folk' who lived in the region of seven rivers, the people are divided into 5 categories of artisans or metalworkers: goldsmith, blacksmith, engraver, carpenter, smelter, as attested in a Tamil gloss:
பஞ்சகம்மாளர் pañca-kammāḷar, n. < pañcantaṭṭāṉ, kaṉṉāṉ, ciṟpaṉ, taccaṉ, kollaṉ; தட்டான், கன்னான், சிற்பன், தச்சன் கொல்லன் என்ற ஐவகைப் பட்ட கம்மாளர். (சங். அக.)(Tamil)

In RV 6.61.9, 12, the five Vedic people (Anu, Turvasa, Druhyu, Puru and Yadu) are proclaimed to have spread out beyond the Seven rivers:

सा न विश्वा अति द्विषः स्वसॄ अन्याऋतावरी अतन्नहेव सूर्यः

saa na vizvaa ati dvishah svasR anyaa RtaavarI atannaheva suuryah

Trans. She (Sarasvati) has spread us all beyond the other (7) sister (-rivers) as the sun spreads out days. (RV 6.61.9,12)

Five Vedic people expanding beyond Saptasindhu (After Fig.2 Nicholas Kazanas, Rigvedic all-comprehensiveness,"...George Dales published in 1966 his seminal article showing that there had never been an invasion nor fighting and destruction in Saptasindhu. All expert archaeologists of the ISC (=Indus-sarasvati civilisation) insist now on the unbroken continuity of the culture there...As we saw earlier RV 6.1.9,12 says: The five tribes spread beyond the Seven Rivers. Other hymns state that the sages and their ancestors had always been 'here' (Angiras family 4.1.3; Vasishtha 7.76.4). And the vast Vedic corpus does not contain one single reference to an immigration, not one memory of a different previous habitat unlike the Hebrews who, in their Old Testament, record previous homelands, sojourns into other lands and other people met on the way to their historical habitat. On the contrary, apart from Rigvedic references of Aryan sages and laws spreading abroad, Baudhayana Srautasutra 18.14 says, there were two migrations of the Aryans: the eastern one called Ayava moving into the Gangetic plains and further; the western one Amavasa engendering the Gandharis, Parsus (=Persians) and Arattas (=people of Ararat, by the Black sea, or Urartu, just south of Ararat). Note, that the Iranians record in Avesta that they had passed from Haptahendu (=Saptasindhu) and Haraxvaiti (=Sarasvati) whereas the Indo-Aryans do not mention any travel from Iran into Saptasindhu, nor, more important, from northwestern regions into Iran. Back in 1997 Joahna Nichols, an accomplished linguist and by no means a supporter of Indo-Aryan indigenism, had calculated on linguistic types of evidence (loanwords, isoglosses etc.) that the area of dispersal was in Bactria. She probably would be very pleased to know that Vedic and Avestan literary sources provide historical evidences as well for her conclusions. Yes, from Saptasindhu proper the Indo-Aryans spread west and north but it was from Bactria, the much wider Saptasindhu, that they dispersed even farther." (p.21, pp.34-35) http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/svimarsha/v6/c2.pdf

Indoaryan migrations, eastward and westward. After Fig. 5 Nicholas Kazanas ibid.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/264009611/Rgvedic-All-comprehensiveness-Nicholas-Kazanas-2012

पञ्चन् pañcan num. a. (Always pl., nom. and acc. पञ्च) Five. पञ्चजनः 1 a man, man- kind. -2 N. of a demon who had assumed the form of a conch-shell, and was slain by Kṛiṣṇa; तस्मै प्रादाद्वरं पुत्रं मृतं पञ्चजनोदरात् Bhāg.3.3.2. -3 the soul. -4 the five classes of beings; i. e. gods, men, Gandharvas, serpents and pitṛis; यस्मिन् पञ्च पञ्चजना आकाशश्च प्रतिष्ठितः Bṛi. Up.4.4.17. -5 the four primary castes of the Hindus (ब्राह्मण, क्षत्रिय, वैश्य and शूद्र) with the Niṣādas or barbarians as the fifth (pl. in these two senses); (for a full exposition see Sārirabhāṣya on Br. Sūtras 1.4.11-13) (TS. S'Br.). (-नी) an assemblage of five persons. -जनीन a. devoted to the five races. (-नः) an actor, a mimic, buffoon, one who is devoted to the pentad viz. singer, musician, dancer, harlot and a jester; गायकवादक- नर्तकदासीभण्डरतः खलु पञ्चजनीनः Bhāsāvritti on P.V.1.9. (Samskritam.Apte) पञ्चजन 'five elements'; 'assemblage of 5 persons' (Monier-Williams, p.576).

हिन्दुः hinduḥहिन्दुः also हिन्दू. N. of the people of Hindusthan or Bhāratavarṣa. The name appears to have been derived from Sindhu, the name of the celebrated river where the Vedic Āryans recited their Vedic mantras. In the Avesta स् is pronounced as ह्; so सप्तसिन्धु was pronounced by the Persians as हप्तहिन्दु. The Bhaviṣya-Purāṇa speaks of हप्तहिन्दु. Here are a few references in a few Kośas and the Purāṇas :- (1) The Kālikā-Purāṇa says, "कलिना बलिना नूनमधर्माकलिते कलौ । यवनैर्घोरमाक्रान्ता हिन्दवो विन्ध्यमाविशन् ॥" (2) The Merutantra of the 8th century A. D.-- "हिन्दुधर्मप्रलोप्तारो जायन्ते चक्रवर्तिनः । हीनं च दूषयत्येष हिन्दूरित्युच्यते प्रिये ॥" (3) The Rāmakośa--"हिन्दुर्दुष्टो ना भवति नानार्यो न विदूषकः । सद्धर्मपालको विद्वान् श्रौतधर्मपरायणः ॥" (4) The Hemantakavikośa-- "हिन्दुर्हि नारायणादिदेवताभक्तः" (5) The Adbhutarūpakośa-- "हिन्दुर्हिन्दूश्च पुंसि द्वौ दुष्टानां च विघर्षणे ।"

"Beyond the confluence of Indus and Panjnad rivers, the Indus river was known as Satnad (Sat = seven) carrying the waters of seven rivers including Indus river, which is believed to be in earlier times the Saraswati/Ghaggar/Hakra river which eventually dried and became a seasonal river due to seismic shifts in the glacial region of Himachal Pradesh where it originated and later on Kabul river and the five rivers of Punjab".http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panjnad_River

The chronological changes in the hydrology of Northwest Bharatam related to the seven rivers have been subjected to many geological, glaciological and archaeological studies.

The consensus which emerges is that a little earlier than ca. 5000 Before Present, a series of plate tectonic events resulted in river migrations: First, eastward migration of Yamuna due to Yamuna tear caused by the lateral shift in Siwalik ranges and transfer of Bata valley (Sarasvati waters from Tamasa-Giri tributaries) waters into Yamuna; second, westward migration of Sutlej at Ropar and gradual depletion in flowsx of glacier waters into Sarasvati River (Ghaggar-Hakra-Nara-Wahind channels).

Until the final shift of Sutlej river migration westwards from Ropar towards Panjnad and Sindhu occurred (i.e. ca. 5000 BP), there were navigable channels available on the Sarasvati River system to facilitate transactions by seafaring Meluhha merchants from sites such as Harappa, Rakhigarhi, Ropar, Banawali, Kalibangan, Bhirrana, Dholavira, Khirsara, Surkota, Kanmer, Shikarpur, Bet Dwarka, Ganweriwala, c. 400 Cholistan sites (on the banks of Ghaggar-Hakra), Chanhudaro, Mohenjo-daro, Lothal.

When did Sutlej cease to be a tributary of River Sarasvati (Ghaggar-Hakra)? ca.5000 BP says Prof. KS Valdiya

It appears that there are three dates for Sutlej ceasing to be a tributary of River Sarasvati (Ghaggar-Hakra).

Rafique Mughal suggests 2500 BCE based on the presence of about 300 archaeological sites in Cholistan -- NOT on the banks of present-day Sutlej or Panjnad -- but on paleochannels of Hakra (extension of Ghaggar). These channels link up with the fork of Ghaggar at Anupgarh (shown by LANDSAT image), with another fork flowing southwards towards Jaisalmer.

KS Valdiya suggests 5000 BCE a date which explains sites like Ropar, Banawali, Kalibangan, Bhirrana as sites on Sutlej-Ghaggar channels, consistent with the naiwals south of Ropar and consistent with the archaeological attestation of these sites as close to navigable waterways.

Clift et al suggest 10000 BP based on Pb-Zircon studies of present-day channels of Sutlej -- "no later than 10 ka. Capture of the Yamuna to the east and the Sutlej to the north rerouted water away from the area of the Harappan centers..." (Clift, P. D., A. Carter, L. Giosan, J. Durcan, A. R. Tabrez, A. Alizai, S. VanLaningham, G. A. T. Duller, M. G. Macklin, D. Q. Fuller, and M. Danish, U-Pb zircon dating evidence for a Pleistocene Sarasvati River and Capture of the Yamuna River, Geology. v. 40, 3, p. 212-215, doi:10.1130/G32840.1/
2012_Clift_etal_Geology.pdf)

We seem to be dealing with two plate tectonic events here: 1. eastward shift of Yamuna caused by the Yamuna-tear by lateral shift on Siwalik ranges; 2. wesward 90-degree shift of Sutlej at Ropar. Maybe, the two events occurred on two different dates, with the Yamuna-tear occurring at an earlier date, maybe 10 ka. But, the date of Ropar 90-degree shift seems to be a date later than 10 ka.

This surmise is based on the fact that there are NO archaeological sites on the present-day channel of Sutlej west of Ropar, but there are archaeological sites of the riverine civilization 1. south of Ropar -- sites such as Ropar, Banawali, Kalibangan, Bhirrana, Ganweriwala; and along Ghaggar-Hakra paleochannel in Cholistan, over 300 archaeological sites identified by Rafique Mughal which are NOT on the banks of the present-day channels of Sutlej or Panjnad. It also appears that the riverine/seafaring contacts with Mesopotamia across the Persian Gulf ceased after Sutlej waters gradually shifted westwards at Ropar and finally ceased flowing into Sarasvati River (Ghaggar-Hakra), ca. 2000 BCE

The argument and evidence

Yashpal et al studied the LANDSAT imagery of palaeochannels (Refer – “Remote sensing of the Lost Sarasvati River (1980)” and deciphered these as under :-

[Present river system and the major palaeochannels as deciphered from LANDSAT imagery (after YashPal et at-1980)]– pg 123 of Memoir 42 of GSI, Bangalore.

The study led to the description of present drainage system and palaeochannels of Sarasvati and its tributaries and it supported the following conclusions :-

(i) The Sutlej once flowed into the present Ghaggar (Sarasvati) river bed and was probably joined by the Yamuna.

(ii) The Sutlej has a sharp westward right-angled bend near Ropar suggestive of its diversion due to change in the river course.

(iii) There is a sudden widening of narrow Ghaggar valley at Shatrana (25 Km south of Patiala) indicative of a major river joining Ghaggar bed here.

(iv) Another channel which corresponds to the Drishadvati (present Chautang) joins Sarasvati (Ghaggar) near Suratgarh.

(v) That the Yamuna probably flowed into the ancient Sarasvati before joining Ganga through Chambal.

(vi) Physiographically, there is depression westward (elevation less than 230 m msl) and a corresponding uplift eastward (elevation more than 250 m msl) of the old Sutlej bed, which might have forced its westward migration.

(vii) Near Anupgarh Sarasvati bifurcates and both channels come to an abrupt end at Marot and Beriwala (in Bahawalpur Distt of Pakistan) from where Sarasvati is likely to have extended through the Hakra/Nara bed to the present Runn of Kachchh.

Landsat image showing the bifurcation of River Sarasvati at Anupgarh -- one channel flowing westward into Bahawalpur province and paleochannel flowing southwards towards Jaisalmer.

4.13: Palaeo-drainage map of Thar desert region using IRS P3 WiFS satellite image

4.16: Simplified map of Vedic Saraswati River from Manasarovar to Dwarka in northwest India

NEARCHUS reconstructed the Water Network Map of Hakra Channel (Yamuna-Sarasvati-Sultej) in 1875 as under after conducting extensive geographical/geophysical surveys.

[Reconstruction of water network in the region of the Hakra channel (Yamuna-Sarasvati-Sutlej)-1874 – pg. 101 of Memoir 42 of GSI,Bangalore.

Thus, even in 1874 when drainage and palaeochannels network was reconstructed on the basis of geological surveys, Sutlej and Drishadvati were shown as the tributaries of Sarasvati, whereas Ghaggar and Hakra were described as its dried up palaeochannels, corroborating the satellite imagery.

Archaeological Finds :

Archaeological excavations and research reports further corroborate the geological findings and satellite imagery. More than 1200 ancient settlements on Sarasvati river basin have been dug out giving clinching evidence of existence of a mighty river, which sustained maritime civilization and metal-based economy prior to 3000 BC (S.Kalyanaraman in journal of Geological Society of India No.42, 1`999 PP 25-33). It has been concluded that it was possible to travel on the Sarasvati river from the gulf of Khambat to Mathura via Lothal, Dholavira, Granweriwala, Kalibangan, Banawali, Paonta-Doon, Rakhigarhi and Indraprastha. Based on the evidence gathered through exacavations, the Arachaeologists have concluded that between 7000 BC to 2500 BC an advanced civilization, vedic in nature, was flourishing along Sarasvati and Indus rivers. When Sarasvati started drying up, Vedic Aryans moved towards west beyond Indus, east beyond Ganges & south beyond Godavari. It was the continuation of Sarasvati-Indus Civilization, which was given the name ‘Harappan’ probably because the first town excavated was Harappa. Archaeological Survey of India has dug out more than 2400 settlements at the ancient Indus-Sarasvati river basins but no ancient settlements have been found along the present day course of Sutlej (west of Ropar).

As per V.S.Wakankar, who is known as ‘Bhisham Pitamah’ of Archaeology, extensive excavations carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India have revealed that :

(i) Harappan and Pre-Harappan Civilizations developed along ancient Sarasvati and therefore these may be more appropriately described as part of Sarasvati-Indus Civilizations.

(ii) Most of the Rishi Ashrams described in Ramayana and Mahabharata were lined along Sarasvati river.

(iii) Perforated pottery jars and fire altars (µÖ–ÖãÓ›) are found in most of the 1200 settlements excavated along Sarasvati river indicating that civilization which flourished was vedic.

(iv) Land was fertile and barley etc were cultivated in the Sarasvati region even 7000 years back and same style of cultivating the fields continues till date in areas like Rajasthan & Haryana. [Atharvaved (6:30:1)]

(v) It is unhistoric and unscientific to say that Vedic Aryans migrated from any other region to India. They belonged to India & compiled Vedas in settlements along Sarasvati River.

The same culture and civilization continues till date, as has been convincingly described by Dr. B.B.Lal, Director General (Retd.) of Archaeological Survey of India, in his book “The Sarasvati Flows on – the continuity of Indian Culture”.

http://factsfootprint.blogspot.in/2012/09/mystery-of-sarsavati-river-missing-of.html

Sarasvati river sites in North India (Punjab and Haryana)

Sarasvati River sites in Bahawalpur Province (Mughal, 1984, p.515)

The Cemetery H related sites of the late Harappan period in Cholistan (circa 2000-1500 BCE)

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/04/drishadvati-ghaggar-hakra-river.html Drishadvati-Ghaggar-Hakra River archaeological evidence points to ca. 2500 BCE as the start date for the desiccation of Vedic River Sarasvati

Fig. 1: Simplified map of the terranes through which the Saraswati River flows in northwestern India. The faults shown by thicker lines have influenced the course of the Saraswati. Broken double lines show the ancient course of the Saraswati. (From Valdiya, based on works of S. Sinha Roy, AB Roy and SK Biswas).

The triangular area between Ropar (where the River Sutlej abruptly turns west) and Ferozepur and Bathinda in the south represent an ancient fan deposit.

Evidence for Sutlej-Sarasvati as a Himalayan river system. Visit Ropar. A suggestion to Liviu Giosan et al.

From tectonically to erosionally controlled development of the Himalayan orogen
Thiede et al. Geology 2005 33 (8), p. 689

Rasmus C. Thiede, J Ramon Arrowsmith, Bodo Bookhagen, Michael O McWilliams, Edward R. Sobel and Manfred R. Strecker Geology 2005; 33; 689-692, The Geological Society of America

Abstract

Whether variations in the spatial distribution of erosion influence the location, style, and magnitude of deformation within the Himalayan orogen is a matter of debate…The locus of pronounced exhumation defined by the apatite fission-track (AFT) data correlates with a region of high precipitation, discharge, and sediment flux rates during the Holocene. This correlation suggests that although tectonic processes exerted the dominant control on the denudation pattern before and until the middle Miocene; erosion may have been the most important factor since the Pliocene…

Geological setting of the Northwestern Himalaya

Sustained Eurasian-Indian convergence since the continental collision ca. 50 Ma has caused persistent lateral and vertical growth of the Himalaya, which has been accommodated by progressive motion along a series of major crustal fault systems: the Southern Tibetan detachment, the Main Central thrust, the Main Boundary thrust, and the Main frontal thrust. These orogen-parallel fault systems bound the main Himalayan tectonostratigraphic domains, which are underthurst by the Indian plate along the basal Main Himalayan thrust.

…Although the southern Himalayan front is affected by heterogeneous erosion at the million year time scale, the topography forms a nearly perfect arc. Focused erosion is thus compensated by self-organized thrust activation resulting in heterogeneous distribution of rock uplift and exhumation. Rapid rock uplift in tur may keep the longitudinal river profiles steep, forcing the rivers to further incise. For example, the removal of the 10-15-km thick High Himalayan Crystalline nappe, which today is replaced by Lesser Himalayan Crystalline rocks forming the Larji-Kulu-Rampur window, indicates pronounced removal of crystalline rocks along the Sutlej River network…

The development, however, toward synchronous exhumation of both crystalline nappe systems may suggest that when a critical mass removal threshold is exceeded, the orographic barrier may play a fundamental role in intercepting moisture and focusing discharge, erosion, and sediment transport along an orogenic front. To compensate the erosional loss, the orogen is forced to internally reorganize, and therefore erosion may control the distribution of exhumation and rock uplift. For the past 10 m.y., the Himalayan deformation front has migrated only 20-50 km. southward. Therefore internal rock uplift and focused exhumation concentrated orogenic deformation in this internal sector, rather than propagating the deformation front southward.

Read the full text pdf document here:https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4BAzCi4O_l4bXFJREpFSjR6VU0/edit?usp=sharing

Sutlej Valley from Rampur c. 1857

In the early 18th century, it was used to transport devdar woods for Bilaspur district, Hamirpur district, and other places along the Sutlej's banks.

The Sutlej, along with all of the Punjab rivers, is thought to have drained east into the Ganges prior to 5 mya. There is substantial geologic evidence to indicate that prior to 1700 BC, and perhaps much earlier, the Sutlej was an important tributary of the Ghaggar-Hakra River (thought to be the legendary Sarasvati River) rather than the Indus, with various authors putting the redirection from 2500-2000 BC,( Mughal, M. R. Ancient Cholistan. Archaeology and Architecture. Rawalpindi-Lahore-Karachi: Ferozsons 1997, 2004) from 5000-3000 BC,( Valdiya, K. S., in Dynamic Geology, Educational monographs published by J. N. Centre for Advanced Studies, Bangalore, University Press (Hyderabad), 1998.) or before 8000 BC.( Clift et al. 2012. "U-Pb zircon dating evidence for a Pleistocene Sarasvati River and capture of the Yamuna River." Geology, v. 40. [2]) Geologists believe that tectonic activity created elevation changes which redirected the flow of Sutlej from the southeast to the southwest.( K.S. Valdiya. 2013. "The River Saraswati was a Himalayan-born river". Current Science 104 (01). ) If the diversion of the river occurred recently (about 4000 years ago), it may have been responsible for the Ghaggar-Hakra (Saraswati) drying up, causing desertification of Cholistan and the eastern part of the modern state of Sindh, and the abandonment of Harappan settlements along the Ghaggar. However, the Sutlej may have already been captured by the Indus thousands of years earlier.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlej

Today’s Sutlej is a tributary to the Indus.

It was in ancient times, thanks to the orogeny (growth of the Himalayas due to plate-tectonics) a tributary of the River Sarasvati.

Thiede et al’s article (2005) embedded above points to the high rate of erosion caused by the modern Sutlej river which has influenced the local faulting and rapidly exhumed rocks above Rampur.

Cattle grazing on the banks of the river inRupnagar, Punjab, India

Crossing the Sutlej near Simla upon inflated animal skins

Sutlej river is 1,450 km. long, raising in the Manasarovar Kailas range, SW Tibet region. In the Punjab it receives the Beas river and forms part of the Indo-Pakistan border and continues into Pakistan.

Bhakra dam (229 m) impounds part of the water of Sutlej. The mean flow rate at Rupar is approximately 500 cu m per sec, and the maximum is about 20,000 cu m per sec.

“Major irrigation canals from the Sutlej include the Dipalpur, Pakpattan, Panjnad, Sirhind, and Bikaner canals. During floods, the canals carry 100 to 300 cu m of water per sec. During high water, the Sutlej is navigable in some parts. The large Bhakra-Nangal hydraulic engineering complex has been built in India at the point where the river emerges from the mountains. The major cities on the Sutlej are Nangal and Phillaur in India and Bahawalpur in Pakistan.” (AP Muranov). http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Sutlej+valley

Any study related to the history of evolution and secular desiccation of the River Sarasvati has to take into account the migration of River Sutlej recorded at Ropar (Rupanagar).

Ropar is a very important archaeological site of Indus-Sarasvati civilization. A site museum is also organized at this place and shoule be visited by any explorer or researcher evaluating the causes for the ‘drying up’ of River Sarasvati .

This is the abrupt shift of Sutlej river westwards near Ropar, cutting off waters to River

Sarasvati. (http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/oct25/articles20.htm)This virtual 180 degree turn has to be explained by the incision caused by the Himalayan river (Sutlej) near Ropar which gives the appearance of a Grand Canyon today. This may answer the concern of some researchers to look for incisions along the paths of tributaries, to define Sarasvati as a Himalayan-sourced river.

Sutlej river. Ropar.

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/01/incisions-of-sutlej-and-90-degree-turn.html

JAN

Incisions of Sutlej and 90 degree turn at Ropar. Giosan et al should visit the Ropar Archaeological museum

See the blogpost: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/01/sarasvati-was-himalayan-river-ks.html Sarasvati was a Himalayan River -- KS Valdiya (2013) rejects Giosan et al arguments.

I hope Giosan et al would carefully evaluate evidence and arguments provided by Prof. Valdiya and revise their findings about Sarasvati river system..

On one issue, some evidence exists even today. The issue concerns upstream of the alluvial plains and alleged "lack of large-scale incisions' in the Ghagghar-Hakra"..

Ghagghar-Hakra stream is not far from Ropar where River Sutlej takes a 90 degree turn, a tell-tale indication of tectonics resulting in river migration, Sutlej migrating westwards to join the Sindhu (Indus).

Figure 10 (loc.cit. Valdiya). Block diagram by Sinha et al.42 shows the palaeochannels of the Saraswati – including the one abandoned by the Satluj – and the extent of fluvial sediments filling their channels.

Explaining the palaeo-channels of Sutlej into Sarasvati River system.

One key issue not adequately evaluated by Giosan et al relates to the migration of River Sutlej which is a Himalayan river. This river was feeding into the Sarasvati River system. Giosan et al, looking into incisions? Here are some present-day images.

Hill erosion near river Sutlej, Ropar. Ropar is the location where River Sutlej takes a 90 degree turn weswards to join the River Sindhu (Indus).

Hill view near River Sutlej.

http://travelingluck.com/Asia/India/Punjab/_1258042_Ropar+Headworks.html

A canal carrying industrial effluents merges with the river Sutlej near Ropar international wetland
http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=7&sectid=edid=&edlabel=TOIPU&mydateHid=24-08-2009&pubname=&edname=&articleid=Ar00700&publabel=TOI

The River of the Roaring Bull (bhatto) Tags: india river satluj rampurbushair satlujgorge

Rampur Bhushair Sutlej gorge.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63783963@N00/17386820 (Source: http://flickrhivemind.net/flickr_hvmnd.cgi?method=GET&page=1&photo_number=50&tag_mode=all&search_type=Tags&originput=river,satluj&sorting=Interestingness&photo_type=250&noform=t&search_domain=Tags&sort=Interestingness&textinput=river,satluj)

Satluj Valley enroute to Powari (Indianature3) Tags: india mountains nature river hp april himachal himalayas 2012 himachalpradesh kinnaur satluj sutlej indianature satlujvalley snonymous

Sutlej en route to Powari. http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8002/7203725524_8c034b82a7_m.jpg

Giosan et al should visit the Ropar (Rupnagar) Archaeological Museum which celebrates Ropar as a 'Harappan' site. Why did the river Sutlej take 90 degree turn here? Where was it flowing, southwards before this 90 degree turn?

This museum at Ropar is a cute, beautiful museum. I would strongly urge all researchers of Sarasvati River basin and study of Hindu civilization history should visit this Museum and see the Indus script seals excavated from the site and kept there. The excavations were carried out by Dr. Y.D. Sharma of the Archaeological Survey of India."At Ropar excavations at the lowest levels yielded Harappan traits belonging to Period 1. Findings include a steatite seal with Indus scriptprobably used for trading goods, impressions of seals on a terracotta lump of burnt clay, chert blades, copper implements, terracotta beads and bangles and typical standardised pottery of the Indus Valley civilization. The earliest houses at Ropar were built with river pebbles available in abundance but soon they made use of cut slabs of lime with the same ratio of 4:2:1. Sun baked bricks were sometimes used in the foundations." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupnagar

Ropar 1,Text 9021(One side of the tablet has two incised circles; the other side has three glyphs of Indus script).

The occurrence of this archaeological site at Ropar and its identification as an early Indus site (Period 1) has to be evaluated in the context of geo-hydraulics of the times. Is it not notable that there are no major site locations identified on the present-day banks of River Sutlej as it moves westward to join River Beas? Maybe, during the 'mature' phases of the civilization, the path of the river was NOT westward? It may be helpful if a comprehensive provenance study is carried out on this stretch of River Sutlej, of the type of study done on Luni river system by Bajpai et al (as mentioned by Prof. Valdiya).

Museum - Ropar

Archaeological Museum, Ropar (Punjab)

The Archaeological Museum is situated about 40 kms north east of Chandigarh on the Rupnagar – Chandigarh highway on the bank of sutlej river. It was opened to public in the year 1998.

Opened to public in the year 1998, the museum houses the archaeological remains of excavated site near Ropar, the first Harappan site excavated in Independent India. The excavation revealed a cultural sequence from Harappan to medieval times. Important exhibits include antiquities of Harappan times, Painted Grey ware culture, Saka, Kushana, Gupta times such as Vina Vadini (lady playing on vina), steatite seal, copper and bronze implements, ring stone, yakshi image, gold coins of Chandragupta. Besides, the visitors can have a glimpse of important protected monuments of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and World Heritage monuments.

Timings of visit: 10.00 am to 5.00 pm.
Closed on - Friday
Entrance Fee: Rs. 2.00
(Children up to 15 years free) http://asi.nic.in/asi_museums_ropar.asp

Discussion

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/05/24/1112743109

I think Dr. Giosan et al have, in particular, to explain the date when Sarasvati ceased to be a himalayan-fed river. The archaeological evidence is emphatic that west of Ropar (Rupanagar) where River Sutlej took a 90-degree turn to abandon feeding into Sarasvati-Ghaggar-Hakra system, there are NO archaeological sites. There is evidence for sites such as Kunal, Banawali, Kalibangan on the palaeo-channels of Sutlej linking Ropar with Ghaggar.

See image: http://tinyurl.com/burrxq2 (Posted also on the blogpost of Jan. 2013)

This indicates that Sutlej as a himalayan-fed tributary of Sarasvati system did contribute to the sustenance of the sites at Kunal, Banawali, Kalibangan.

I am sure that the deliberation on scientific issues will help identify and explain the navigability of the channels on Sarasvati river system which facilitated trade links with Mesopotamia, navigating across the river channels, and the Persian Gulf. Navigability may explain the find of a cylinder seal at Kalibangan with glyphs comparable to those found in the sites of Tigris-Euphrates river basin, perhaps created by sea-faring merchants from Meluhha.

Sarasvati was a Himalayan River -- KS Valdiya (2013) rejects Giosan et al arguments

Saraswati was a Himalayan River (Valdiya, KS, Current Science, Vol. 104, No. 1, January 2013)

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 104, NO. 1, 10 JANUARY 2013, Pages 42 to 54.

http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/104/01/0042.pdf

Abstract

Giosan and co-workers contend that the ‘mythical’ Saraswati River was not a glacier-fed Himalayan river. Questioning the findings of Indian archaeologists and geologists, they postulate that the Saraswati was a monsoonal river originating in the foothills of the Siwalik Hills and did not water the heartland of the Harappan Civilization. Reduction in its discharges due to weakening of the monsoon rains resulted in its drying up, leading to the demise of the Harappa Civilization. I have put forth a number of evidences gathered in the last 10–15 years to show that their arguments are not acceptable and by giving eloquent examples have asserted that the climate is not the only cause of all changes occurring on the surface of the Earth, and that there are other factors, some more powerful, which bring about changes.

Read on...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/120120964/Saraswati-as-Himalayan-River-Valdiya-2013

Saraswati as Himalayan River Valdiya 2013 by kalyan974696

Mirror:
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SaraswatiasHimalayanRiverValdiya2013

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Sutlej

The Sutlej originates from the Rakas Lake, which is connected to the Manasarovar lake by a stream, in Tibet. Its flows in a north-westerly direction and enters Himachal Pradesh at the Shipki Pass, where it is joined by the Spiti river. It cuts deep gorges in the ranges of the Himalayas, and finally enters the Punjab plain after cutting a gorge in a hill range, the Naina Devi Dhar, where the Bhakra Dam having a large reservoir of water, called the Gobind Sagar, has been constructed. It turns west below Rupar and is later joined by the Beas. It enters Pakistan near Sulemanki, and is later joined by the Chenab. It has a total length of almost 1500 km.

http://www.nih.ernet.in/rbis/india_information/rivers.htm

Clift, P.D. and Blusztajn, J., Reorganization of the western Himalayan river system after five million years ago. Nature, 438, 1001–1003, doi:10.1038/nature04379. Click here to listen to the relatedpodcast.

http://www.geol.lsu.edu/pclift/pclift/Publications_files/2012_Clift_etal_Geology.pdf

Indus River

Published: February 24, 2012, 12:00 am

Updated: April 22, 2012, 10:20 am

Author: C Michael Hogan

Indus River at flood stage near Sukkur from satellite. Source: NASA

The Indus River is one of the major rivers of the world that drains one of Asia's chief catchment basins, and is the locus of some of the earliest known human civilizations.

Source: World Wildlife Fund

The Satluj River, the eastern most tributary of the Indus River, as it passess through the state ofHimachal Pradesh in India shortly after it crosses the border from China. Source: Sanyam Bahga

The Indus Basin measures 399.000 square kilometers, ranked as the twelfth largest river basin on Earth.

Headwaters of the river can be traced to the Tibetan Plateau, thereafter flowing through Indiaand Pakistan to discharge to the Arabian Sea.

Flow of the perennial Indus is dominated by: (a) meltwaters from the Tibetan ice field, the third largest ice sheet formation in the world; (b) snowfall and snowmelt from higher elevation of the watershed; and (c) episodic monsoonal rains that lead to periodic flooding in the basin.

The Indus River supplies essential ingredients for human life for many urban areas including the Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi. This freshwater supply has been in long term decline for decades due to the human population explosion of this region and upriver withdrawals in both Pakistan and India.

In the Indus River there are a number of aquaticorganisms, notably the endangered species Indus River dolphin. There are also numerous demersal fish species present in the Indus mainstem and its tributaries.

Geological history

Evidence of prehistorical flows of the Indus River is exhibited by sediment deposition in the Arabian Sea, and also to an earlier delta created by eastward flow to merge with the Ganges River at a point in time older than five million years ago. At an even earlier date of around 50 to 45 million years before present, there is evidence of a proto Indus River delta emerging into the Arabian Sea. Thus this great river has had a major change of course and direction at least twice in the most recent fifty million years.

Hydrology

Major tributaries of the Indus rise in the Himalayan Mountains and the Hindu Kush; these influent rivers include the Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi and Sutlej.

The Indus mainstem rises on the Tibetan Plateau and flows generally westward; interestingly, Asia's largest river, the Yangtze River also rises on the east side of the Tibetan Plateau and flows eastward through China.

One major tributary of the Indus rises in Afghanistan: the Kabul River.

Generally the Indus sustains slower velocities with a wider channel as the river approaches its delta on the Arabian Sea. The Indus transports massive amounts of silt generated by human disturbances in its watershed as well as the torrential monsoonal rain events.

Principal flow is carried by the western tributaries: chiefly the Chenab, Jhelum and mainstem Indus, which combine to contribute about 179 billion cubic meters of flow per annum; however, approximately 120 to 130 billion cubic meters of this flow are diverted form agricultural uses in the basin. Another roughly ten billion cubic meters are lost to evapotranspiration and floodwater loss from the channel, before the Indus waters reach the delta.

Since ancient times local peoples have established temporary dams and diversions for the purpose of agriculture and human domestic use. These holding structures, termed barrages, are sufficiently large that they are readily seen from space platforms (NASA. 2009)

Tributaries of the Indus River. Source: Creative Commons based on based on The Times Atlas of the world (Family edition)

Water quality

Water quality issues in the Indus Basin have historically been dominated by sediment loading in a watershed which is subject to high natural erosivity, and early disturbance by sedentary agriculture on the floodplains and valleys. Beginning in the twentieth century, water pollution has been aggravated by massive water withdrawals for agriculture that have then concentrated pollutants. The Green Revolution has exacerbated water pollution by considerable additions of nitrate to promote crop growth. Other aggravating factors have included increasing amounts of herbicides and pesticides, as pressures to increase crop production expand. Salinity levels in downriver areas is also a concern, as agricultural return waters and concentration of salts from water withdrawals places pressure on salinity.

Aquatic biota

Giant devil catfish can attain a length of over 2.4 meters. @ Thomas Henry SullivanThe largest aquatic faunal species is theendangered marine mammal Indus River dolphin. There are a number of native high trophic leveldemersal (fish living on or near the bottom) fish species present in the Indus, including the mottled loach (Acanthocobitis botia), the 244 centimeter (cm) giant devil catfish (Bagarius yarrelli), silond catfish (Silonia silondia), the 180 cm Long-whiskered catfish (Sperata aor), the 150 cm giant river-catfish (Sperata seenghala) and the 150 cm near threatened clown knifefish (Chitala chitala), the last three of these species being very large fish, that often mature at over one meter in length; the measurements given are the species typical maximum length by each taxon in the Indus River.

Benthopelagic fish inhabit the water column niche immediately above the bottom, feeding on benthos and zooplankton. There are a number of moderate sized native benthopelagic fish taxa that are found in the Indus River system including: the 70 cm scaly osman (Diptychus maculatus), the 30 cm reba (Bangana ariza), the 30 cm Indus snowtrout (Ptychobarbus conirostris), the 30 cm Kunar snowtrout (Schizothorax labiatus), the 35 cm false osman (Schizopygopsis stoliczkai), the 47 cm Chirruh snowtrout (Schizothorax esocinus), and the 40 cm Sattar snowtrout (Schizopyge curvifrons).

Braided channels of the Indus River delta, fringing on the Arabian Sea. @ NASA

Delta

The delta of the Indus River consists of an area of approximately 41,400 square kilometers, about one seventh of which is active as a sediment deposition zone. The climate of this area is quite arid, with typical annual precipitation averaging 250 to 500millimeters. Correspondingly, this is one of the most arid mangrove ecosystems on Earth. The earliest recorded history of the Indus delta derives from Alexander the Great mooring the Macedonian fleet here circa 325 BC., with attendant tsunami damage to his fleet.

Since approximately 1970 the flow rate to the delta has diminished sharply, due to upriver diversions and dramatic population growth in the basin. As of 1994 the delta freshwater inflow was estimated at approximately 43,000,000,000 cubic meters, containing about 100,000,000 metric tons of silt.

Terrestrial ecosystems

The Idus basin includes a wide range of ecosystems between its headwaters in the Tibetan Plateau Himalayan Mountains and its delta on the Arabian Sea.

1.Indus River Delta-Arabian Sea mangroves
2. Northwestern thorn scrub forests
3. Baluchistan xeric woodlands
4. Indus Valley desert
5. Sulaiman Range alpine meadows
6. East Afghan montane conifer forests
7. Central Afghan Mountains xeric woodlands
8. Thar Desert
9. Western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests
10. Himalayan subtropical pine forests
11. Western Himalayan broadleaf forests
12. Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows
13. Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe
14. Central Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe

Ecoregions of the Indus Watershed. Source: World Wildlife Fund

Several of the ecoregions in the Indus watershed have their salient characteristics summarized in the following:

Central Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe

The Central Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe is the ecoregion near the headwaters of the Indus River. The Tibetan Plateau, treeless except in the southeastern river valleys, supports a gamut of alpine vegetation types that includes meadow, steppe, cold desert and sub-nival cushion plant communities at elevations ranging from 3500 to nearly 6000 meters. Dry, cold, and expansive, the Tibetan Plateau possesses an alpine landscape of complex zonation with a general trend from moist alpine scrub to steppe vegetation gradating to high, cold desert along a transect from southeast to northwest.

Dominant vegetation is a sparse steppe of purple feathergrass (Stipa purpurea), a hardy species for which this ecoregion is the center of distribution. Total plant cover seldom exceeds 20 percent. Some cushion plants and woolly alpine forbs like Leontopodium, Saussurea, Arenaria bryophylla, and Thylacospermum caespitosum also grow here and owe their distinctive morphology to the rigors of the alpine environment, including a short growing season, persistent winds, high potential evapotranspiration, and intense solar radiation. As the climate across the Changtang becomes colder and drier on a transect from southeast to northwest, dominant plant species change along a sequence of Kobresia pygmaea (a turf-forming sedge),Stipa purpurea, Carex moorcroftii (a sedge), and cushion forbs such as Ceratoides compacta.

Indus River Delta-Arabian Sea mangroves

Avicennia marina, prevalent mangrove species of the Indus delta.This mangrove ecoregion occupies most of the delta of the Indus River at the discharge region to the Arabian Sea. High salinity levels are prevalent in the sloughs of the Indus River Delta-Arabian Sea mangroves because of the highevaporation rates and the salts that are washed down by the river, which flows through a highly saline area. Climatic conditions are extreme. Ambient temperatures range from near-freezing temperatures in the winter to higher than 50 degrees Celsius during the summer. All rainfall is associated with the July to September southwest monsoon, which brings a mere 100 to 500 millimeters (mm) of precipitation.

Mangroves in general are not diverse compared with most other terrestrial ecosystems, and undisturbedmangrove forests have a dense canopy with little stratification and an undergrowth made up of seedlings and saplings from the canopy trees. The Indus River mangroves are even less diverse, being comprised of nearly monospecific stands of Avicennia marina, a species that is highly resistant to high salinity levels and capable of surviving the region's extreme conditions. Other species that are sometimes associated with theAvicennia include Rhizophora apiculata and Acanthus ilicifolius, with occasional smaller patches ofRhizophora mucronata and Ceriops tagal scattered throughout. The former usually are found closer to braided creeks within the delta.

Thar Desert

Thar Desert viewed from space. Source: NASAThe Thar Desert, which lies along much of the southeastern boundary of the Indus River, displays habitatinfluenced by the extreme climate. The sparse plantlifeconsists of xerophilious grasslands of Eragrostis spp.Aristida adscensionis, Cenchrus biflorus, Cympogon spp.,Cyperus spp., Eleusine spp., Panicum spp., Lasiurus scindicus, Aeluropus lagopoides, and Sporobolus spp. Scrub vegetation consists of low trees such as Acacia nilotica, Prosopis cineraria, P. juliflora, Tamrix aphylla, Zizyphus mauritiana, Capparis decidua, and shrubs such as Calligonum polygonoides, Calotropis spp., Aerva spp.,Crotalaria spp., and Haloxylon salicornicum. Haloxylon recurvum are also present.

In spite of the extremely hot climate, several species haveevolved to survive the conditions of the Thar Desert. Among the mammalian fauna, the blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), chinkara (Gazella bennettii), caracal (Felis caracal), and desert fox (Vulpes bengalensis) inhabit the open plains, grasslands, and saline depressions known as chappar or rann in the core area of the desert. The entire mammalian fauna consists of forty-one species, none of which areendemic to the ecoregion; however, the blackbuck is a threatened species whose populations take refuge in this harsh environment.

Among the 141 birds known in this ecoregion, the great Indian bustard (Chirotis nigricaps) is a globally threatened species whose populations in this ecoregion have rebounded in recent years. A migration flyway used by cranes (Grus grus, Anthropoides virgo) and flamingos (Phoenicopterus spp.) cross the Thar on their way to the Rann of Kutch further to the south.

Ancient history

Ruins of the Bronze Age city Moheno-daro.The Indus River Valley boasts one of the earliest locales transitioning to sedentary agriculture, with evidence in the early Holocene of wheat, barley and sheep farming as early as 11,000 years ago. At Mohenjo-daro in the Indus basin circa 4600 years before present, a population of around 40,000 was present, whose works include the building of a platform under its citadel requiring an estimated 300 to 400 thousand man days of labor. These data imply vast discretionary time for humans generated by sedentary agriculture. (McIntosh.2008) Mohenjo-daro was thought to be the largest city in south Asia of its era. Total land area at Mohenjo-daro (including agricultural use) was approximately 150,000 acres, and the human population was about 40,000. Farther upriver at Harappa, another early Bronze Age culture emerged slightly later, evincing additional evidence that the Indus basin was one of the earliest world regions to establish advanced agriculture as well as urbanization.

References

Peter D.Clift and Jerzy Blusztajn (December 15, 2005). Reorganization of the western Himalayan river system after five million years ago. Nature 438 (7070): 1001–1003
A.H.Dani. 1992. Critical Assessment of Recent Evidence on Mohenjo-daro. Second International Symposium on Mohenjo-daro, February, 1992
Avijit Gupta, ed. 2008. "The Geographic, Geological and Oceanographic setting of the Indus river".Large Rivers: Geomorphology and Management. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470723715.
Kumar Jain, Pushpendra K. Agarwal, Vijay P. Singh. 2007. Hydrology and water resources of India. 1258 pages Google eBook
M.Rajesh Kumar, A.S.Rajawat and T.N.Singh. 2005. Applications of remote sensing for educidate the Palaeochannels in an extended Thar desert, Western Rajasthan, 8th annual International conference, Map India 2005, New Delhi.
J.M.Kenoyer. 1997. Trade and Technology of the Indus Valley: New insights from Harappa Pakistan, World Archaeology, 29(2), pp. 260-280, High definition archaeology
J.MacKinnon. 1997. Protected areas systems review of the Indo-Malayan realm. Canterbury, UK: The Asian Bureau for Conservation (ABC) and The World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC)/ World Bank Publication.
Jane McIntosh. 2008. The ancient Indus Valley: new perspectives. ABC-CLIO. 441 pages
Monirul Qader Mirza and Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad. 2005 Climate change and water resources in South Asia. 322 pages Google eBook
Tim McNeese and Shane Mountjoy. 2004. The Indus River. books.google.com 110 pages
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 2009. Seasons of the Indus River. NASA Earth Observatory Program
Plutarch of Chaeronea. 79 AD. Life of Alexander, 356-323 BC, translated by John Dryden.
G.V.Skogerboe and D.J.Bandaragoda. Towards environmentally sustainable agriculture in the Indus Basin Irrigation System. Final report. IWMI

Citation

Hogan, C. (2012). Indus River. Retrieved from http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/173762

http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/173762/

2015

Ferrier, K.L., Mitrovica, J.X., Giosan, L., Clift, P.D., 2015. Sea-level responses to erosion and deposition of sediment in the Indus River basin and the Arabian Sea. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 416: 12–20. 2015_Ferrier_etal_2015.pdf

2014

Clift, P. D., and Giosan, L. 2014, Sediment fluxes and buffering in the post-glacial Indus Basin, Basin Research 25, , 1–18, DOI: 10.1111/bre.12038. 2014_Clift_Giosan_Basin Res.pdf

Clift, P.D., Giosan, L., Henstock, T. and Tabrez, A.R., 2014. Sediment Storage and Reworking on the Shelf and in the Canyon of the Indus River-Fan System since the Last Glacial Maximum. Basin Research, 26, 183–202. 2014_Clift_etal_Basin Res.pdf

Wu, F. Y., W. Q. Ji, J. G. Wang, C. Z. Liu, S. L. Chung, and P. D. Clift, 2014, Zircon U-Pb and Hf isotopic constraints on the onset time of India-Asia collision, American Journal of Science, 314, 548 –579, doi10.2475/02.2014.04. 2014-Wu-etal.pdf

2013

Clift, P.D. and Sun, Z., 2013. Introduction to special collection on geology, tectonics and hydrocarbon systems of SE Asia. Marine Geophysical Research, 34: 153–158. doi:10.1007/s11001-013-9206-4.

Draut, A.E. and Clift, P.D., 2013. Differential preservation in the geologic record of intraoceanic arc sedimentary and tectonic processes. Earth Science Reviews 116, 57–84, DOI:10.1016/j.earscirev. 2012.11.003. 2013_Draut_Clift_ESR.pdf

2012

Wan, S., Clift, P.D., Li, A., Yu, Z., Li, T. and Hu, D., 2012. Tectonic and climatic controls on long-term silicate weathering in Asia since 5 Ma. Geophysical Research Letters 39(L15611), doi:10.1029/2012GL052377. 2012_Wan_etal_2012.pdf

Alizai, A., Hillier, S., Clift, P.D. and Giosan, L., 2012. Clay mineral variations in Holocene terrestrial sediments from the Indus Basin; a response to SW Asian Monsoon variability. Quaternary Research 77(3), 368–381, doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2012.01.008. 2012_Alizai_etal_QuatRes.pdf

Giosan, L., Clift, P. D., Macklin, M. G., Fuller, D. Q., Constantinescu, S., Durcan, J. A., Stevens, T., Duller, G. A. T., Tabrez, A., Adhikari, R., Gangal, K., Alizai, A., Filip, F., VanLaningham, S., and Syvitski, J. P. M., 2012, Fluvial Landscapes of the Harappan Civilization: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 87(52), OS14A-04. 2012_Giosan_etal_PNAS.pdf

Limmer, D. R., P. Boening, L. Giosan, C. Ponton, C. M. Köhler, M. J. Cooper, A. R. Tabrez, and P. D. Clift. 2012. Geochemical Record of Holocene to Recent Sedimentation on the Western Indus continental shelf, Arabian Sea, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 13, doi:10.1029/2011GC003845.2012_Limmer_etal_G-Cubed.pdf

Clift, P. D., A. Carter, L. Giosan, J. Durcan, A. R. Tabrez, A. Alizai, S. VanLaningham, G. A. T. Duller, M. G. Macklin, D. Q. Fuller, and M. Danish, U-Pb zircon dating evidence for a Pleistocene Sarasvati River and Capture of the Yamuna River, Geology. v. 40, 3, p. 212-215, doi:10.1130/G32840.1/ 2012_Clift_etal_Geology.pdf

Alizai, A., Hillier, S., Clift, P. D., and Giosan, L., 2012, Clay mineral variations in Holocene terrestrial sediments from the Indus Basin; a response to SW Asian Monsoon variability: Quaternary Research, v. 77, 3, p. 368–381, doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2012.01.008/ 2012_Alizai_etal_QuatRes.pdf

2011

Alizai, A, Clift, P.D., Giosan, L., VanLaningham, S., Hinton, R., Tabrez, A.R., Danish, M., 2011. Pb Isotopic Variability in the Modern-Pleistocene Indus River System measured by Ion Microprobe in detrital K-feldspar grains. Geochimca et Cosmochimica Acta, 75, 4771-4795, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2011.05.039. 2011_Alizai_etal_GCA.pdf

2010

Calves, G., A. M. Schwab, M. Huuse, P. D. Clift, and A. Inam (2010), Thermal regime of the northwest Indian rifted margin - Comparison with predictions, Marine and Petroleum Geology 27, 1133-1147, doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2010.02.010.

2009

Clift, P.D., Schouten, H., and Vannucchi, P., 2009. Arc-continent collisions, subduction mass recycling and the maintenance of the continental crust, in Cawood, P. and Kroener, A., eds., Earth Accretionary Systems in Space and Time, Geological Society of London, special publication, 318, 75–103.

2008

Calves, G., Huuse, M., Schwab, A. and Clift, P.D., 2008. 3D seismic analysis of high-amplitude anomalies in the shallow subsurface of the Northern Indus Fan: sedimentary and/or fluid origin.Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, B11103, doi:10.1029/2008JB005666.

2007

Wu, F.Y., Clift, P.D., and Yang, J.H., 2007. Zircon Hf isotopic constraints on the sources of the Indus Molasse, Ladakh Himalaya, India. Tectonics, 26, TC2014, doi:10.1029/2006TC002051.

2005

Clift, P.D. and Blusztajn, J., Reorganization of the western Himalayan river system after five million years ago. Nature, 438, 1001–1003, doi:10.1038/nature04379. Click here to listen to the relatedpodcast.

Garzanti, E., Vezzoli, G., Andò, S., Paparella, P., and Clift, P.D., 2005. Petrology and mineralogy of Indus River sands : a key to interpret erosion history of the Western Himalayan Syntaxis, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 229, 287–302.

2003

Clift, P.D. and Molnar, P., 2003. Drilling of submarine fans in the Indian Ocean. EOS, 84 (42), 442–443.

2002

Clift, P.D., Gaedicke, C., Edwards, R., Lee, J.I., Hildebrand, P., Amjad, S., White, R.S., and Schülter, H.U., 2002. The stratigraphic evolution of the Indus Fan and the history of sedimentation in the Arabian Sea. Marine Geophysical Researches, 23 (3), 223–245.

Clift, P. D., Carter, A. Krol, M. and Kirby, E., 2002. Constraints on India-Eurasia Collision in the Arabian Sea Region taken from the Indus Group, Ladakh Himalaya, India. In, Clift, P.D., Kroon, D., Craig, J., and Gaedicke, C. (Editors), The Tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian Sea Region, Geological Society of London special publication, 195, 97-116.

Clift, P. D., 2002. A brief history of the Indus River. In, Clift, P.D., Kroon, D., Craig, J., and Gaedicke, C. (Editors), The Tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian Sea Region, Geological Society of London special publication, 195, 237-258.

2001

Clift, P.D., 2001. The Indus Fan: Climate tectonic interactions in the western Himalaya. Geoscientist , 11 (12), 4-9.

Clift, P.D., Shimizu, N., Layne, G., Gaedicke, C., Schlüter, H.U., Clark, M. and Amjad, S., 2001. Development of the Indus Fan and its significance for the erosional history of the western Himalaya and Karakoram. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 113, 1039-1051.

1993

Najman, Y.M.R., Clift, P.D., Johnson, M.R., and Robertson, A.H.F., 1993. Early Tertiary foreland basin evolution in the Lesser Himalaya. In Searle, M.P., and Treloar, P. (Eds.), Himalayan Tectonics. Geological Society Special Publication, 74, 541-558.

ASI Museum - Rupnagar

The Archaeological Museum is situated about 40 kms north east of Chandigarh in Rupnagar town situated on the bank of sutlej river. It was opened to public in the year 1998.

Opened to public in the year 1998, the museum houses the archaeological remains of excavated site near Ropar, the first Harappan site excavated in Independent India. The excavation revealed a cultural sequence from Harappan to medieval times. Important exhibits include antiquities of Harappan times, Painted Grey ware culture, Saka, Kushana, Gupta times such as Vina Vadini (lady playing on vina), steatite seal, copper and bronze implements, ring stone, yakshi image, gold coins of Chandragupta. Besides, the visitors can have a glimpse of important protected monuments of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and World Heritage monuments

Rupar, Ropar (300 58; 76O 32'), Dt Rupnagar, Punjab

Lying on the left bank of the Sutlej. The excavations yielded a sequence of six Periods: I (Harappa, c. 2100 to 14OOB.C,); II (PGW, c. 1000 to 600 B.C.); III (NBPW or early historical, c. 600 to 200B.C.); IV (middle to late historical, c. 200 B.C. to A.D. 700); V (late historical, c. 700-1200); and VI (medieval, c.l200-1700). Some of these Periods are divided into-Sub Periods. There are three mounds at Ropar, n., S., and w. The s mound is occupied by the present-day town. Excavations were confined to the n. and w. mounds, the latter concealing a Harappa cemetery. Ropar has the distinction of being the site where the remains of the Harappa civilization were excavated for the first time in post-partition India.

Apart from mature Harappa objects named above, mention may also be made of beads and bangles of faience triangular terracotta cakes and chert weights. Compared with the mature Harappa as asemblage at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, it is the absence of the goblet with pointed base and terracotta figurines including the mother goddess which strikes one most. In I A levels only one mud-brick wall of three

courses has been encountered. The bricks are irregular in size but have a uniform thickness of 10 cm. The only wall noticed in I B at RPR-2 is built of river pebbles. Phase I C is however rich in housing remains with seven structures assignable to five phases. The building material consists of kankar stone, mud brick and kiln-burnt brick. One of the well-built houses has foundations of kankar stone and superstructure of mud brick. The kiln burnt bricks measure 20x 10x40 cm.

A single Harappa seal found in RPR-1 in I C levels is made of steatite and bears three familiar symbols on the obverse and two concentric circles on the reverse. It is thin and small without any holding device. Another burnt clay lump with a hole to pass a string through bears impressions of three typical seals with bull motif and legend in the familiar script. Graffiti on pottery include the Indus script.

A cemetery of the Harappa, recalling Cemetery R-37 of Harappa, lies to the w. of the n. mound. It has been considerably disturbed by later occupants, mainly by the users of the row, but some of the burials are sufficiently intact to give an adequate idea of the method of burial. The body is laid in a grave pit, measuring 2.45 x .91 m and 60 cm in depth. The head is placed usually on the n.-w. Most of the burials contain an assemblage of typical pots, and some of them also reveal personal ornaments, such as bangles of faience or shell, beads of faience and semiprecious stones and ring of copper. A faience bangle was intact on the left wrist of the wearer and a copper ring on the middle finger of the right hand. A single grave pit contained the skeleton of a dog at the bottom and that of a human being, presumably its master, above it. There is very little Bara pottery in the the graves and it is not known if the cemetery was common for both the Harappa and the Bara folks.

Among the animal bones of Period I are Chitra indica Gray, Gallus sp., Canis familiaris Linn. (the Domestic Dog), Rattus rattus Linn. (the common Indian Rat), Elephas maximus Linn. (the Indian Elephant), Bos indicus Linn. (the Zebu or Domesticated Humped Cattle of India), Bubalus bubalis Linn. (the Indian Domesticated Buffalo), Capra hircus aegagrus Em. (the Domestic Goat), Ovis aries dolichura Duerst (the Domestic Sheep) and Sus scrofa cristatus Wagner (the Domestic Pig).

Information on town layout and house-plans is lacking at Ropar, since the concerned levels were reached overan extremely limited area. The s. mound with its present habitation could not be probed, and one does not know if Ropar too did have twin settlements in the Harappa days as at Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi and Banavali. The excavators of Kalibangan date Kalibangan I to c. 2400-2250 B.C. on uncorrected 14C basis. With Kalibangan I pottery lying overlapped with the Harappa at the bottom layers of Ropar, c. 2100 B.C. could be thought of as the safest date for the beginning of Period I with an average thickness of over 2 m a span of 700 years, ending at c. 1400 B.C. appears reasonable. The evidence of Bhagawanpura where Bara and PGW cultures are found interlocked would also lend an indirect support to this date, for the Bara complex at Bhagawanpura appears to be only a devolution of the Sutlej complex.

Period II. After a long break the site was occupied by the users of the row, identified with the early Aryans by some and with the contemporaries of the later Vedic texts by others. Wheel-turned from well-levigated fine- grained clay, the PGW is sometimes self-slipped orcovered with grey wash, but often it seems to have no surface treatment. After it is painted with designs in black it is subjected to even and gradually reduced tem- perature. The sagger-based dish with incurved side and deep bowl with straight side are the most common shapes in the PGW. The painted designs comprise bands, grouped verticals, oblique and criss-cross lines, Z sigmas, svastikas, apirals, chains, rows of dots and dashes and concentric circles or semicircles. Apparently; the PGW was mainly used for purposes of dining. The discovery of a PGW water-pot (lotii) at Ropar completes ,the normal set of dining utensils, consisting of a plate or dish (thali) bowl (katori) and a water-pot (loti). The design is sometimes whitish-grey, which is obtained by blocking the design from the application of the slip. Other associated wares in these levels are plain grey ware, Black-slipped Ware and dusty-red ware. The former two cover the same shapes as the PGW, but the vessels of the dusty-red ware are largely used for cooking and storage, such as the frying pan, cooking pot (handi), large bowl basin, water pitchers and storage jar.

Period. III The introduction and disappearance of the NBPW define the span of Period III. Ropar was sufficiently removed from the Ganga plains of e. U.P. and Bihar, where the NBPW had its beginnings, yet over 450 sherds recovered from the limited excavated depths here proclaim its great popularity. It must have reached here obviously through pilgrinls and traders. That it was not locally manufactured and was a treasured piece of pottery is clear from the fact that broken NBPW vessels are often found joined with copper wire.Period III may be divided into Sub-Periods, m A and m B. In trench RPR-2, out of nearly 300 NBPW sherds 85% occur in III A and only 15% in m B, which, however, is richer in structural remains.

Period IV. The beginnings of Period IV are identified more easily by the terracotta art forms than by new fabrics and types in pottery, although these do exist. The long span of Period IV, from c. 200 B.C. to A.D. 700, is divided into four Sub-Periods corresponding roughly to the rule of the Sungas (IV A), Saka-Kushans (IV B), Guptas (IV C) and the post-Guptas (IV D). Nude yaksha figures with wearing rich ornaments and beautifully modelled figures of yakhas standing under trees are among the terracotta cult images of the the Sunga period. Plain red ware and some grey ware are typical of Period IV A. The pear-shaped vase with rim section approximating to a vertical lozenge and pitcher with fluted neck and out-rurned rim are among the popular ceramic types. Potter stamped with motifs like svastika, nandi-pada, tri-ratna, human figure, fish, conch, etc., appears but becomes more prolific in the succeeding Sub-Period. Coinage now comes fully onto its own. A coin of the Indo-Bactrian Antialcidas, another of the nameless, possibly Indo-Parthian,ruler with the title of Soter Megas and a clay mould made from a coin of Apollodotus II bespeak at least contact with the dominions of the Indo-Bactrians and Indo-Parthians. Contemporary tribal coinage is represented by the coins of the Kudindas and Audumbaras, the latter in a fair frequency, suggesting that Ropar may have been a centre of the Audumbara authority.

The Ropar seal is a Meluhha metalwork catalogue.

Rebus reading of Ropar seal:

aḍar ‘harrow’; rebus: aduru ‘native metal, unsmelted’; aduru = gan.iyinda tegadu karagade iruva aduru = ore taken from the mine and not subjected to melting in a furnace (Kannada)

The word for a 'set of four' is: gaṇḍa (Santali); bar gaṇḍa poesa = two annas; pon gaṇḍa aphor menaka, there are 16 bunches of rice seedlings; gaṇḍa guṇḍa to be broken into pieces or fragments; fragments; gaṇḍa guṭi to dive, to make up an account; the system of 'gaṇḍa guṭi' is to put down a pebble, or any other small object, as the name of each person entitled to share is mentioned. Then a share is placed alongside of each pebble, or whatever else laid down. (Santali) Thus, the complex glyph is read: aduru ayo kaṇḍ 'native metal furnace'.

ayo, hako'fish'; a~s = scales of fish (Santali); rebus: aya = iron (G.); ayah, ayas = metal (Rigveda) PLUS gaṇḍa ‘four' Rebus: kaṇḍ = altar, furnace (Santali) Rebus: ayaskāṇḍa 'metal furnace'; “a quantity of iron, excellent iron” (Pāṇ gaṇ)

kāmsako, kāmsiyo = a large sized comb (G.) Rebus: kaṁsa 'bronze' (Telugu)

S. Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Center

May 4, 2015

Rgvedic All comprehensiveness (Nicholas Kazanas, 2012)

↧

PM Modi at International Buddha Poornima Diwas Celebration. Jeevema s'aradah s'atam, NaMo. Create Indian Ocean Community. (1:50:45)

May 3, 2015, 11:40 pm

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UUsR6s-Wa8

PM Modi at International Buddha Poornima Diwas Celebration Started on May 4, 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at International Buddha Poornima Diwas Celebration in Delhi
Narendra Modi ‏@narendramodi  3 hours ago
बुद्ध पूर्णिमा के अवसर पर देशवासियों को हार्दिक शुभकामनायें।भगवान बुद्ध के सत्य, अहिंसा और शांति के संदेश हमे सदैव प्रेरित करते रहेंगे।
Narendra Modi ‏@narendramodi  3 hours ago
Greetings to everyone on the auspicious occasion of Buddha Purnima.

PMO India ‏@PMOIndia  16 seconds ago
In times like these, where will the message of Karuna come from? The answer lies in Buddha: PM @narendramodi
PMO India ‏@PMOIndia  13 seconds ago
Without Buddha this century cannot be Asia's century: PM @narendramodi
PMO India ‏@PMOIndia  18 seconds ago
It is said that the 21st century will be Asia's century. There is no disagreement on that: PM @narendramodi

PMO India ‏@PMOIndia  2 minutes ago
Imagine the courage and conviction to leave everything, money, power and work towards Manav Kalyan: PM @narendramodi
PMO India ‏@PMOIndia  6 minutes ago
If we want freedom from Yudh, it can be through the Marg of Buddha: PM @narendramodi
PMO India ‏@PMOIndia  9 minutes ago
Today is a special day yet we feel a bit burdened. That is because Nepal, a land we all love is facing difficulty: PM @narendramodi

↧

How Arun Jaitley wins friends and influences people -- Praveen Donthi, Caravan, May 2015. NaMo, restitute kaalaadhan, nation trusts you.

May 4, 2015, 12:05 am

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https://www.scribd.com/doc/264019421/How-Arun-Jaitley-wins-friends-and-influences-people-Praveen-Donthi-Caravan-May-2015

How Arun Jaitley wins friends and influences people (Praveen Donthi, Caravan, May 2015)

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Modi leaves for China. Let’s not be in a hurry to resolve border dispute with China: Arun Shourie

May 4, 2015, 5:45 am

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Let’s not be in a hurry to resolve border dispute with China: Arun Shourie

Arun Shourie, Narendra Modi, Modi government, PM foriegn visit, Modi China visit, Narendra Modi China,

'I certainly cannot say how he sees China. But the fact is that, while Pakistan is the immediate problem, China is the principal challenge in the long run.'

Written by Rakesh Sinha | New Delhi | Updated: May 4, 2015 6:54 am

China sees India as a potential nuisance, let’s not be in a hurry to resolve the border dispute when the distance is as vast as it is now, Arun Shourie tells National Editor (News Operations) Rakesh Sinha in an interview days before Narendra Modi leaves for China.

How do you view the Prime Minister’s forthcoming visit to China?

Arguably the principal achievement of Mr Narendra Modi has thus far been the energy and the clear focus he has brought to foreign policy. A distinguished academic was pointing out the other day that the backdrop of each of the PM’s visits abroad has been China: those to Japan, to Fiji, to Australia, to the two Pacific Powers — US and Canada; the fact that our President was in Vietnam on the eve of President Xi’s visit to India; the Prime Minister’s visits to countries in the Indian Ocean. The GCF — the Greatest Common Factor — in these has been one: China. Hence, a clear focus.

Does this suggest that he sees China as the main problem for India?

I certainly cannot say how he sees China. But the fact is that, while Pakistan is the immediate problem, China is the principal challenge in the long run — and in part Pakistan is a problem because of China. China’s great skill has been the manipulation of power and the symbols of power. It has a definite view of its place in the world: that it must be the dominant power in Asia now, and the principal power in the world tomorrow.

And don’t forget the success that they have already achieved towards these goals. China is the most significant factor in international calculations today: its economy is five times that of India; its foreign exchange reserves are ten times ours; its defence spending is three-and-a-half times that of Japan. No country in Asia, and much farther afield, takes a decision without factoring in China’s likely reaction. On the contrary, even allies of the USA are only too willing to head for the Chinese door disregarding reactions of the US: look how 42 countries have already signed up for the Infrastructure Bank that will be dominated by China.

But isn’t the Chinese economy facing deep problems today?

Indeed, it is: the property and stock markets have swollen as bubbles. Local governments have been on a building spree through “shadow banking”. And so on. But China’s problems are not going to solve ours: all they can do is that they may give us a little more time. More important, who knows how China will react if it really landed in serious problems: will it lunge for external belligerence to divert attention of its people?

And please remember, nor is it just that they have acquired capacity, they have acquired the necessary reputation: that they are entirely capable of using force to enforce their interests and claims; that—the complete opposite of the US— China will stay the course: its territorial claims vis a vis countries that it regards as its rivals — Japan — or mere “squatters”— as it sees the countries with claims to the Spratly Islands, say.

Where does India fit into its worldview?

A fundamental objective of China’s strategic doctrine has been to “manage the periphery” — this originally meant the areas from which hostile hordes could descend and wreak defeats on the Chinese. But in general it means all areas from which China’s interests can be hurt: today, with the advance of technologies, etc., the US can affect China’s interests; and so, the US too must be managed. We, in any case, are literally on its periphery.

It views India as a potential nuisance—one that must be kept busy in South Asia. And it has a willing instrument in Pakistan to do so. The Wiles of War, a Chinese war-classic, advises, “Murder with a borrowed knife”! Second, the Chinese establishment has long felt that Indians are a docile people who will always be doing somebody’s bidding: first they did what the British wanted; then India was under the tutelage of the Soviet Union; now, in their assessment, it is becoming the instrument of the Americans.

Trade with China has grown to $70 billion today. Won’t this so enmesh the interests of India and China that China will come to value India’s partnership?

That is a complete delusion — the delusion that trade, and even economic interests in the large will deflect China from its central objective, of power, of domination. The Japanese leadership reasoned the same way twenty years ago. And see what they are experiencing at the hands of China today. Second, we must look at the nature of our trade with China: we are exporting raw materials — iron ore, bauxite — and importing finished goods: so many of our companies, for instance in electronic items, have become just traders in Chinese goods. Isn’t that precisely the kind of trade against which Indian nationalists, from Dadabhai Naoroji on, protested? And then, before going gaga over that figure of $70 billion, remember that is the total value of trade: it is made up of $15 billion of exports from India to China, and $5 billion imports from China into India!

What about soliciting Chinese investments, especially in what is one of the main priorities of this government, infrastructure?

Two points. First, assume a contract is given to a Chinese firm to lay a rail track: won’t that involve the same problems—land acquisition, etc.—that an Indian firm would have to face? And if you are prepared to clear the way for that Chinese firm, why not for an Indian firm? Second, several types of projects and infrastructure have security implications: power, for instance, telecom infrastructure certainly. And China’s record in penetrating networks, for instance computer networks, has been documented time and again: you just have to read the Munk Center’s report on how China penetrated computer networks of over a hundred countries — including India, of course — and used this to send key data from these in real time to Chinese bases; or the earlier Cox Committee’s report to the US Congress: you just have to glance through these and you will see what we will be opening ourselves to if we were to allow them entry into infrastructure in sectors like telecom. So, my response would be: extreme wariness.

You imply that India isn’t able to meet the Chinese challenge or threat on its own. What should it do?

First, as we are not able to equal China’s acquisition of influence, yes, we must seek common ground with all countries that are apprehensive of China today—for sharing intelligence and assessments; for coordinating positions in international organisations and negotiations; for technology acquisition, etc. For instance, we must exert ourselves to the maximum to make common cause with countries along the Mekong that are as worried by the steps that China is taking to divert waters. But we must always remember that, just as we will not go to war to safeguard anybody else’s interests, no one will go to war with China, or even sacrifice any vital interest of its own because China has grabbed more territory in Ladakh or Arunachal, or because they are diverting Tibetan waters to the east and north of China.
Look at the way NATO has remained paralysed over Ukraine. Hence, the first point is: closer relationships with other countries, most certainly; but there is no substitute for building what the Chinese call Comprehensive National Strength.

Second, true, there is a substantial backlash against China’s overt aggressiveness—from East and Southeast Asia to Africa to Latin America — but we have to be able to and adroit enough to take advantage of it. The first requisite is to follow up on the Prime Minister’s visits we talked of earlier: execute the projects that have been announced or agreed with those countries. We also have a reputation for forgetting about the agreements and announcements that were made and the MoUs that were signed, once the visit is over.

Let’s talk about the PM’s visit. What do you think he should bear in mind?

First and foremost, he must bear in mind how the Chinese swept Panditji off his feet. They zeroed in on his intense desire to be a world leader. Remember how Chou En-lai — one of the 20th Century’s great masters of diplomacy — dissimulated as an eager student: asking Panditji about Indochina, about world affairs. Soon, Panditji was asking him whether, in addition to what Chou had asked, he would not also like to know about the Arabs, about U Nu, about the difference between the two types of Buddhism… The next day, Panditji wrote to Krishna Menon that he had found Chou to be not well informed about world affairs, but that after their meeting he was better equipped! And how the Chinese completely bowled him over during his visit to China — with uncountable crowds, and the rest. So much so that, after a strenuous day, Panditji was writing a long letter to Edwina Mountbatten: a wave of freedom has swept over China because of my visit, he wrote . . . What a tragedy.

At the least, we should not fool ourselves. When President Hu Jintao came to India in 2006, the then Foreign Minister told our Parliament that, as a result of the talks, China supported India’s case for becoming a member of the Security Council. There was absolutely nothing to that effect in the Joint Declaration. In fact, China was even then blocking and continued to block all attempts to enlarge and reform the Security Council.

I would go further. As Mr Shyam Saran reminded us in his K Subramaniam Lecture, the Prime Minister must remember that the Chinese regard deception, double-talk to be just elements of statecraft, and would be astonished, even offended, if you held the deceptions against them. He recalled how, on his visit to Peking, Mr R K Nehru had told Chou en-Lai that China’s statements on Kashmir seemed to call into question India’s position in regard to J&K being a part of India. Chou had asked, “Has China ever said that India’s position on J&K is wrong?” We had taken this to be endorsement of our position. On a subsequent visit, R K Nehru drew Chou’s attention to the fact that by then Chinese statements had begun mirroring Pakistan’s position even more closely. He reminded Chou of what Chou had said on their last interaction: “Has China ever said that India’s position on J&K is wrong?” Chou now asked in return, “But has China ever said that India’s position on Kashmir is correct?”

The same sequence had been played out with Panditji directly. Panditji had remonstrated with Chou how Chinese government maps showed vast swathes of India to be part of China. Chou had said that these were “old Kuomintang maps” and the Chinese government had not had the time to check them for accuracy. Panditji had taken this to be an endorsement of our position in regard to the border with China. When some years later, Panditji pointed to the maps, and reminded Chou of what he had said earlier, Chou turned around and said in effect, “Indeed, these are old maps. We have checked them. They set out the border correctly.”

And now the same thing has been happening in regard to the agreement on principles for settlement of the border dispute that was signed in 2005.

Does this mean that India remains suspicious forever, does nothing to solve the border dispute?

Not at all. We should, of course, explore whatever measures can be taken to minimise incidents on the border. But we really should, one, not be in a hurry to “solve” the dispute — especially not when the distance between China and India is as vast as it has become; two, always remember that an agreement is worth something only if you can make it expensive for the other side to violate it.

But what if some local commander in Ladakh takes it into his head to take a swipe? Decides to thrust a thousand Chinese soldiers into Ladakh at the very time their President is in Delhi? Are relations between two great countries to be mortgaged to local commanders?

It will be worse than foolish to make-believe that the foray at the border or the reiteration of the claim to Arunachal is the work of some local commander, or some PLA general. The PLA has always been subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party. President Xi is the chairman of the Military Commission also. And especially these days, the PLA leadership is very much on the defensive because of the anti-corruption drive: a very large number of generals and other senior officers are under investigation.

Therefore, do not fool yourself into believing that what happens is without direction from the high leadership of China. And look, not at what they are saying, look at what they are doing. One of our wisest strategic thinkers, General V Raghavan, tells us how they lull others by talking “strategic reassurance”, even as they foment “tactical turbulence”. And in our case, they are moving fast to reinforce not just tactical but strategic inequality: from Arunachal to the ring of ports, to the projects they are executing in PoK; from the planned railway line to Kathmandu to the militarisation of Tibet; from blocking ADB loan for a mere technical study for a project in Arunachal to preventing reform of the Security Council; even as they forcibly alter the rules of international order in the South China Sea and in regard to the Air Notification Zone in East Asia . . .

So in your view what should the government be doing?

First and foremost, we must speak clearly to the Chinese about our concerns: about their assertions that Arunachal is just a part of “Southern Tibet”; about infrastructure projects they are executing in PoK [even before the latest announcements in Pakistan, there were already 35 of these]; about the transfer of arms, of atomic and missile know-how to Pakistan; about incursions across the border; about diversion of Tibetan waters; about the military bases in Tibet; about naval bases around India.

Won’t raising these issues guarantee a failure of the talks?

Josh Malihabadi put it well: Badi kartaa hai dushman aur hum sharmaye jaatey hain! The adversary rains evil and we cringe in shyness.

Raising issues apart, what more should the government do?

We must do everything possible to speed up development of the Northeast—and that does not mean just throwing money at the region; and ensuring that people from the region feel welcome and esteemed everywhere in India. Beware of opening up the border towards Kunming: that will only clear the gates for China to suck the Northeast into the Chinese “sphere of prosperity”. Second, we must reflect on what reconciling ourselves to Chinese occupation of Tibet has cost us. Our interests, our security are deeply intertwined with those of Tibet. There are several reasons why China is now fabricating and pressing its claims in regard to Arunachal. But one reason clearly is that it is preparing itself for the post-Dalai Lama time: that no reincarnation may be claimed to have taken place in Tawang, for instance, as is said to have happened in the case of the Sixth Dalai Lama. The slightest easing on such matters will have catastrophic consequences. Whatever the Chinese say, we must leave no one in any doubt that we will continue to support the Dalai Lama, and his successors.

We should go further and think in terms of a Buddhist civilisational challenge to China: careful observers of China report that large numbers of Chinese are turning again to dharma: including relatives of very high personages of the current government of China. But to do so, we must learn about Buddhism. We must revere those who practise it: especially the masters who are in India itself. Everyone will see through our efforts if we just use Buddhism as a device to attract tourists. Nor can we convince anyone that we are the land of the Buddha, that we greatly treasure the teachings and memory of the Buddha, and simultaneously try to snatch the Bodh Gaya temple from Buddhists.

What if you were asked to suggest just one or two things to the PM?

Don’t worry; I am not going to be asked. But if I were asked, I would say: one, do not disregard the institutional memory of the Ministry of External Affairs; more than that, two, spend time with those — persons like General Raghavan and Shyam Saran whom I mentioned — who have spent years and years studying China, and its methods. When you meet them, reflect carefully on views and assessments that are contrary to your instincts: remember the consequences that flowed from the heavy hand by which Panditji throttled the views which he said were contrary to his world view—those of the Counsel General in Lhasa, the Political Officer in Gangtok… to say nothing of the letter of Sardar Patel.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/at-the-least-we-should-not-fool-ourselves-arun-shourie/99/

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Announcing the end of a Colonial Era -- Lecture by Prof. MD Nalapat delivered in Sept. 2013 (40:45)

May 4, 2015, 9:10 am

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What is remarkable about this lecture by MD Nalapat is that this was delivered in September 2013 clearly anticipating the onset of true Swarajyam in May 2014 elections.

Now that NaMo is heading Swarajyam Bharatam, I hope NaMo and all the members of his Cabinet listen to Nalapat's lecture delivered straight from the heart of a patriotic Indian.

A wide-ranging spectrum of issues in global polity are covered but the central message is an announcement of the end of Colonial Era and colonial mindset.

NaMo and his team can introspect on Nalapat's views and create a free nation governed by Indian ethos, as Nalapat puts it.

Nalapat refers with pride to Vivekananda as the mascot of the nation. Vivekananda saw that the nation of Bharatam had a destiny to fulfill in world polity.

Kudos, Nalapat.

Kalyanaraman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2XYR5_MwCw&feature=youtu.be

Prof. MD Nalapat at the Global Patriotic Tweeples Meet in Mumbai #GPTCMum2013 Published on Sep 14, 2013

Thanks to

for posting this remarkable lecture.

Kalyanaraman

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Civilisational connections: Indian Ocean Community, land of the Buddha. NaMo, work to create Indian Ocean Community

May 5, 2015, 7:42 pm

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CIVILISATIONAL CONNECTIONS

Wednesday, 06 May 2015 | Pioneer | in Edit

Modi’s Buddhist pitch is not just diplomatic PR

While other empires were built by kings and soldiers who conquered vast swathes of territory, the Indian civilisational empire, it can be said, has been raised by saints and seers who found a place in our souls. Unfortunately, in the recent past, India has failed to acknowledge, leave alone develop, those spiritual ties of yore with its friends and neighbours. This is partly the result of the misguided policy perspectives of some post-Independence leaders, who confused secularism with irreligiosity, (if not willfully undermined it through minority appeasement), and also partly the result of the public's own detachment from its civilisational history. It is against this backdrop that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's heartfelt address on Buddha Poornima, highlighting Lord Buddha's relevance in the contemporary world, must be viewed.

This is the first time in recent memory that Buddha Poornima has been celebrated on such a massive scale by the Government with a message for audiences abroad and at home. In the first case, Mr Modi's Buddhist pitch reaches out to our South Asian neighbours such as Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan, and our friends across Asia, from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar to China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore and Mongolia. It highlights India's civilisational connect with these countries and its undisputed position as an Asian powerhouse. Hopefully, these efforts to underline India's soft power will bring in, apart from more tourists, also diplomatic leverages in the years ahead.

Those who have sought to dismiss the Buddha Poornima speech as publicity gimmick for Mr Modi’s upcoming China trip, should keep in mind that Buddhism has been an important leitmotif of Mr Modi's diplomacy. In Japan last year, he prayed at the Toji and Kinkakuji Buddhist temples, and in Sri Lanka this March, he addressed Buddhist monks at Colombo's Mahabodhi Temple and worshipped the Mahabodhi tree in Anuradhapura. In China, later this month, he is expected to visit the Great Wild Goose pagoda, dedicated to famous Buddhist pilgrim Huen Tsang.

On the domestic front, the speech marks a rare outreach to the Buddhist community which, though tiny, is still about eight million-strong. Moreover, after centuries of decline, Buddhism is on the rise in the land of its birth, primarily due to the migration of Tibetan Buddhists and the conversion of Hindu Dalits. Also, the Prime Minister's focus on Lord Buddha as a social reformer was a message to his domestic constituencies. It is too soon to predict with certainty but the Buddha Poornima speech could be an important indicator of how the Modi Government, often derided as a Hindu-majoritarian force, hopes to shape the debate on religion and secularism, nationalism and identity. Indeed, it is to be hoped that through more such measures, the Modi Government will take its historic mandate to a different level and refurbish that elusive ‘Idea of India'.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/edit/civilisational-connections.html

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A machine to convert plastic to oil (5:08) Japanese with English sub-titles

May 5, 2015, 8:05 pm

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https://www.youtube.com/embed/qGGabrorRS8?rel=0

Man invents machine to convert plastic into oil Uploaded on Aug 20, 2010
Source: http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/plastic-to...

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Archaeometallury and Meluhha linguistics link Ancient Far East and Ancient Near East on Tin Road

May 5, 2015, 10:25 pm

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Archaeometallury and Meluhha linguistics link Ancient Far East and Ancient Near East on Tin Road

Mirror: https://www.academia.edu/12254845/Archaeometallury_and_Meluhha_linguistics_link_Ancient_Far_East_and_Ancient_Near_East_on_Tin_Road

This monograph expands on Le Minh Kha's insight on the presence of unique Meluhha hieroglyphs of water buffalo, elephant and zebu in Ancient Far East (Annex A) and on Wilhelm G. Solheim's hypothesis of a trade/culturfal link between Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean (Annex B).

Two of the most significant advances in the history of metals occurred with 1. the invention of cire-perdue (lost-wax method) castings of metal alloys and 2. discovery of tin-bronzes as a deliberate alloying to replace scarce, naturally-occurring arsenical-copper. Alloys of copper such as brass (copper plus zinc) and tin-bronze (copper plus tin) resulted in marked changes to ductility and malleability of natural mineral ores and resulted in hardness and sharpness needed for using alloys to make tools and weapons. This archaeometallurgical advance was possible because of the properties of tin or zinc as mineral ores.

Embedded are Meluhha glosses related to hard alloys, metalwork and hieroglyphs which point to the selection of hieroglyphs used to denote hard alloys in Meluhha speech. Further researches will help trace the glosses into Austro-Asiatic dialects of Southeast Asia.

Michael O. Schwartz et al note in their monograph on the 'Southeast Asian Tin Belt' that the world's largest resource zone for tin is Southeast Asia: "The Southeast Asian Tin Belt is a north-south elongate zone 2800 km long and 400 km wide, extending from Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand to Peninsular Malaysia and the Indonesian Tin Islands. Altogether 9.6 million tonnes of tin, equivalent to 54% of the world's tin production is derived from this region.Most of the granitoids in the region can be grouped geographically into elongate provinces or belts, based on petrographic and geochronological features.- The Main Range Granitoid Province in western Peninsular Malaysia, southern Peninsular Thailand and central Thailand is almost entirely made up of biotite granite (184–230 Ma). Tin deposits associated with these granites contributed 55% of the historic tin production of Southeast Asia."(Schwartz, Michael O et al., 1995, The Southeast Asian tin belt - ResearchGate. Available from: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/223354060_The_Southeast_Asian_tin_belt

How did this tin reach as far as Haifa, Israel where two pure tin ingots were discovered in a shipwreck? A hypthesis is posited that there was a Tin Road which facilitated the transfer of tin mineral from the Southeast Asian Tin Belt with intermediation by seafaring Meluhha merchants who had invented the Indus Script and established their presence in Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age.

Bronze artifacts discovered in Ban Chiang, Thailand (Southeast Asia) are dated to 2100 BCE and provide the framework for further analysing the contibutions made by artisans of Southeast Asia to the spread of tin-bronzes upto the Mediterranean. ("Bronze from Ban Chiang, Thailand: A view from the Laboratory"Expedition, 43/2, pp.7-8. Museum.upenn.edu. http://penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/43-2/Science.pdf).

A development as significant as the discovery of tin-bronzes was the development of a writing system called Indus Script. This has been shown to be based on rebus-metonymy layered cipher in Meluhha language (of Indian sprachbund). The Indus Script Corpora provide an array of hieroglyphs which were used to provide inscriptions on metalwork. Some of these hieroglyphs occur in Archaeometallurgical artifacts of Southeast Asia pointing to the possibility of presence of or contacts between Southeast Asian people and Meluhha speaking people and Meluhha artisans.

Archaeometallurgy and linguistics together provide a framework

for a study of "interactions between metals and societies" -- a research discipline suggested Thornton and Roberts in the context of the 73rd meeting of the Society for American Archaeology held in Vancouver, Canada, on 26th–30th March 2008. (Thornton C, and Roberts B. 2009. Introduction: The Beginnings of Metallurgy in Global Perspective. Journal of World Prehistory 22(3):181-184.) .

Gordon Childe argued for the emergence of complex societies led by the roles of ‘itinerant metal smiths’ and bronze production in Ancient Near East and Eurasia. [Childe, V. G. (1939). The Orient and Europe. American Journal of Archaeology, 43(1), 10–26; Childe, V. G. (1944). Archaeological ages as technological stages. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 74, 7–24.)]

With the decipherment of Indus Script Corpora as metalwork catalogues, the focus shifts to the contributions made by Meluhha metalworkers to the diffusion of metallurgy to Ancient Near East -- with possible links to the Ancient Far East which has the world's largest tin belt mineral resource --, because many hieroglyphs of Indus Script continue to be used in Ancient Near East archaeological artifacts and cylinder seals and perhaps also on the Bronze Đông Sơn and Ngoc Lu drums of Vietnam of 1st millennium BCE cast by the cire perdue method and inscribed with hieroglyphs, evoking Meluhha hieroglyhph tradition of earlier millennia. [The drums, cast in tin-bronze use the lost-wax casting method are up to a meter in height and weigh up to 100 kilograms (220 lb).]

The transactions of seafaring merchants of Meluhha along the Tin Road are matched by DNA studies which point to migrations into the Ancient Far East of Austro-Asiatic speakers out of India.

S. Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Center

May 6, 2015

Tin provinces of the world. From Taylor (1979) (After Fig. 1 in Schwartz, Michael O. et al

Pinnow-map of Austro-Asiatic language speakershttp://www.ling.hawaii.edu/faculty/stampe/aa.html

Some Bronze Age sites, Far East. (After Fig. 2.2 in Higham, Charles, 1996, The bronze age of Southeast Asia, Cambridge Univ. Press

Stannifrous areas of the world (From RG Taylor, Geology of Tin Deposits, Amsterdam 1979, 6, fig. 2.1)

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/02/maritime-meluhha-tin-road-links-far.html

Bronze Age sites of eastern Bha_rata and neighbouring areas: 1. Koldihwa; 2. Khairdih; 3. Chirand; 4. Mahisadal; 5. Pandu Rajar Dhibi; 6. Mehrgarh; 7. Harappa; 8. Mohenjo-daro; 9. Ahar; 10.Kayatha; 11. Navdatoli; 12. Inamgaon; 13. Non Pa Wai; 14. Nong Nor; 15. Ban Na Di and Ban Chiang; 16. Non Nok Tha; 17. Thanh Den; 18. Shizhaishan; 19. Ban Don Ta Phet [After Fig. 8.1 in: Charles Higham, 1996, The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia, Cambridge University Press].

Haifa tin ingot 1: Inscribed tin ingot with a moulded head, from Haifa (Artzy, 1983: 53). The Meluhha hieroglyphs catalog and certify that this is a tin ingot: Hieroglyph: mũhe ‘face’ (Santali) Rebus: mũh ‘ingot’ (Santali). The three hieroglyphs are: ranku 'antelope' Rebus: ranku 'tin' (Santali) ranku 'liquid measure' Rebus: ranku 'tin' (Santali). dāṭu = cross (Te.); dhatu = mineral (Santali) Hindi. dhāṭnā ‘to send out, pour out, cast (metal)’ (CDIAL 6771). [The 'cross' or X hieroglyph is incised on Haifa tin ingots 2&3.]

Migration of Haplogroup O-M175 (~35,000 years ago) explains 1) the Tin Road transactions of tin-bronzes between Vietnam and the Mediterranean and 2) spread of some glosses of Indian sprachbund languages into Southeast Asia (Northern Vietnam)

The archaeometallurgical revolution created by tin-bronzes and other metal alloys in the Levant and Ancient Near East points to an area which constitutes the largest tin-belt of the world: Southeast Asia (Ancient Far East) and zawar zinc mines. Tin plus copper alloy yielded bronze; zinc plus copper alloy yielded brass. These alloys together with the archaeometallurgical invention of cire perdue (lost-wax) method of alloy metal castings revolutionized the Bronze Age. It is notable that almost all the Dong Son bronze drums are made using the cire perdue (lost-wax) method of alloy casting together with inscription on the drums and other artifacts of hieroglyphs commonly deployed on Indus Script Corpora to signify metalwork.

The migration of Haplogroup O-M175 may explain the link between Dong Son culture of Vietnam and Sarasvati-Sindhu Civilization studies which point to a Tin Road linking Hanoi, Vietnam and Haifa, Israel during the Bronze Age. This explanation is consistent with the possible occurrence of Meluhha hieroglyphs (of Indus Script Corpora) on Dong Son Culture artifacts. The typical hieroglyphs of Indus Script Corpora which also occur on Dong Son culture artifacts and Dong Son Bronze drums are: tiger, elephant, peacock, zebu, buffalo, fish, frog, sun. These hieroglyphs have been read as descriptive elements of metalwork catalogues, using rebus-metonymy layered cipher. It is likely that the same readings may be applied to the Dong Son culture artifacts with such hieroglyphs, ASSUMING that the Meluhha metalwork artisans had migrated to northern Vietnam. Such an assumption is consistent with the new light of October 2007, focussed on Southeast Asia archaeology studies by Wilhelm G. Solhem II (Annex B)

In molecular evolution, a haplogroup (from the Greek: ἁπλούς, haploûs, "onefold, single, simple") is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor having the same single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutation in all haplotypes. Haplogroup O-M175 is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup of Southeast Asian and East Asian lineage. It descends from Haplogroup NO.
Haplogrupo O (ADN-Y) edit.png

Possible time of origin	28,000-41,000 years BP (Scheinfeldt 2006)
Possible place of origin	Southeast or East Asia
Ancestor	NO
Descendants	O-MSY2.2, O-M268, O-M122
Defining mutations	M175, P186, P191, P196

Edited map to reflect 62/96 = 65% O-M175 total in Barito River basin (incl. Banjarmasin) of southeastern Borneo as per Capelli et al. 2001, Kayser et al. 2003 (cf. Melton et al. 1995 in regard to geographical origin of "Southern Borneo" sample), and Hurles et al. 2005.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_O-M175

These contributions by Meluhha metalworkers -- in terms of new metal alloys, includin tin-bronzes, evolved and methods of metalcastings using cire perdue (lost-wax) methods -- are seen by matching archaeometallurgical studies with studies of Meluhha linguistics.

"Archaeometallurgy is an interdisciplinary and international field of study that examines all aspects of the production, use, and consumption of metals from ∼8000 BCE to the present..." (Killick D, and Fenn T. 2012. Archaeometallurgy: The Study of Preindustrial Mining and Metallurgy. Annual Review of Anthropology 41(1):559-575

http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145719

Archaeometallurgy is essentially metals history which recounts human exploration of the earth's resources triggered by attractions to metals such as gold and silver. Long-distance trade in such metals is a record of such metals history.. Evidence is provided by archaeometallurgical studies related to metals trade along the Tin Road from Hanoi, Vietnam to Haifa, Israel.

Archaeometallurgy is an "interdisciplinary endeavor in which soft science scholars such as archaeologists, historians, numismatists, and philologists find themselves consorting with hard scientists such as geologists, materials scientists, chemists, physicists, botanists and toxicologists, as well as mining engineers, blacksmiths, and goldsmiths." (Hirst, K. Kris, 2012, Archaeometallurgy) http://archaeology.about.com/od/metallurgy/tp/Metal-History.htm

Cyril Stanley Smith, a historian of science and technology noted that the first properties of metals which were most relevant to their users were color, luster, ductility and tonality; it was not until the metals were treated (cast, alloyed and/or exposed to heat) that metals became suitable as tools and weapons.

"Cyril Stanley Smith retired from MIT in 1969, as professor emeritus of the History of Science and Technology, professor emeritus of Metallurgy and Humanities and Institute Professor Emeritus (“a title reserved for only a few whose work transcends the boundaries of traditional departments and disciplines”). His three emeritus titles “reflected the facets of his rich and varied career in science, technology, history and the arts.” He was “recognized as an authority on the historical relationships between people from the beginning of human history and the materials they came to understand and use. Smith was a pioneer in the application of materials science and engineering to the study of archaeological artifacts."

http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/Dexter%20Papers/SmithDexterBioJJB.pdf

Sequential elements of Dong Son tradition multiple pictorial band drums (After Fig. 3, Kouko, 2010)

Dong Son bronze axe (2) Rìu đồng Đông Sơn

The comon hieroglyphs on Dong Son bronzes are:

peacocks
feathered dancers, some shown as seafaring merchants on boats
cranes (egrets, herons) in flight
fish
sun (with 12 point emanating rays)
warriors wielding swords,spears and shields
aquatic birds
round and flat roofed houses
pairs of standing figures pounding rice
platforms containing drummers beating time with sticks and
parading musicians
frogs surrounding the tympanum
zebu
frogs
elephant
tiger

Hieroglyph: zebu: पोळ [ pōḷa ] m A bull dedicated to the gods, marked with a trident and discus, and set at large. pōḷī, ‘dewlap, honeycomb’

Rebus: pola (magnetite)

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/09/catalogs-of-pola-kuntha-gota-bichi.html

Hieroglyph of a worshipper kneeling: Konḍa (BB) meḍa, meṇḍa id. Pe. menḍa id. Manḍ. menḍe id. Kui menḍa id. Kuwi (F.) menda, (S. Su. P.) menḍa, (Isr.) meṇḍa id. Ta. maṇṭi kneeling, kneeling on one knee as an archer. Ma.maṇṭuka to be seated on the heels. Ka. maṇḍi what is bent, the knee. Tu. maṇḍi knee. Te. maṇḍĭ̄ kneeling on one knee. Pa.maḍtel knee; maḍi kuḍtel kneeling position. Go. (L.) meṇḍā, (G. Mu. Ma.) Cf. 4645 Ta.maṭaṅku (maṇi-forms). / ? Cf. Skt. maṇḍūkī- (DEDR 4677)

Hieroglyph: frog: maṇḍa -- 5 m. ʻ frog ʼ .<menDaka>(A) {N} ``^frog''. *Hi.<mE~dhak>, Skt.<maNDu:kam>. #21820. <poto menDka>(Z) {N} ``^toad''. |<poto> `?'. ^frog (which lives out of water). *Loan?. #27302. <o~ia mendka>(Z),,<oJa mendka>(Z) {N} ``^bullfrog''. |<o~ia> `id.'. ??RECTE D? #24562 (Gorum)

Rebus: meḍ 'iron, metalwork, metal castings'(Ho.Mu.)

Hieroglyph: kola 'tiger' Rebus: kol 'kolhe, smelters'; 'working in iron'

Hieroglyph: ibha 'elephant' Rebus: ib 'iron' (Santali) ibbo 'merchant' (Des'i)

Hình thuyền trên một trống đồng Điền (nguồn 1).

See: http://www.vietnamvanhien.net/trongdongbsquang.html

Dong Son Bronze artiface. Zebu and a rider.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3677155474/in/photostream/

Elephant + riders.Den Dong.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3677153678/in/photostream/

Bronze cross bow in Vietnam (nỏ đồng)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3676338647/in/photostream/

Bronze bell with elephant hieroglyph. Hieroglyph: ibha 'elephant' Rebus: ib 'iron' ibbo 'merchant' (Des'i)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3677153152/in/photostream/

Bronze Sword in Dong Son culture (kiem ngan)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3677153606/in/photostream/

Dong Son weapons (Vũ khí)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3677152938/in/photostream/

The flying birds engraved on this drum motif are called "Chim Lac Viet"

Dong Son boat Thuyen Dong Son

Nhung vi than Dong Son (Dong Son deities)

Patterns on Vietnam's hallmark Dong Sonbronze drum Tuoi Tre

Bronze dagger collection

Dong Son bronze axe

See: http://baotanglichsu.vn/subportal/en/News/90-years-of-dong-son-culture/2014/08/3A924156/

Một phần mặt trống Điền vẽ một cảnh sinh hoạt nhân sinh thường ngày với lối vẽ tự nhiên (nguồn: 3)

Một vật đựng vỏ ốc sứ diễn tả một cảnh hiến tế người có ba trống đồng nhỏ chồng lên nhau diễn tả Trục Thế Giới thân trống nối dài (nguồn 1).

Một trống đồng Điền trưng bầy cảnh nhẩy múa hát ca. Mặt trống không có các trang trí và mặt trời thường thấy (nguồn 1).

Một vật đựng vỏ ốc sứ trên nắp diễn tả một cảnh tế lễ phóng lớn, Viện Bảo Tàng Tỉnh Vân Nam (ảnh của Michelle Mai Nguyễn).

Left to right: house depicted on a Dongson drum, Toraja houses in Sulawesi, depiction of a Tien house in Yunnan

Vật đựng vỏ ốc sứ hình thạp trụ tròn hay trống đồng hình trụ ống Nguyễn Xuân Quang II, Bảo Tàng Viện Tỉnh Vân Nam (ảnh của tác giả).

Vật đựng vỏ ốc sứ trên nắp có các hình tượng diễn tả một cảnh hiến tế (206 BC-25 AD, khu mộ Số 20, Trại Thạch Sơn) (1).

Vật đựng vỏ ốc sứ do hai trống đồng Cây Nấm Vũ Trụ chồng lên nhau, Bảo Tàng Viện Tỉnh Vân Nam (nguồn 1).

Trang trí hình người mang âm tính (có thể là Mẹ Đời sinh tạo hay âm thần sinh tử) (1 và ảnh của tác giả).

Chim rắn thấy ở một cán rìu đồng (nguồn 1).

Cán kiếm thờ mạ vàng đầu rắn (nguồn 1).

Figure II: Dong Son Drum (left) and ShizhaishanDrum (right)[28]

Bronze bell. TRAN VAN TOT; Introduction a l'Art ancien du VietNam, in Bulletin

Artifacts. Dong Son culture.

Trống đồng Đông Sơn (Dong Sonbronze drum) Dong Son Tambour. The tambour is also depicted on celtic metal artifacts of bronze stands (British Museum).

What was the bronze drum called in ancient times? Tanbur?

Tanbur, a long-necked, string instrument originating in the Southern or Central Asia (Mesopotamia and Persia/Iran)

Iranian tanbur (Kurdish tanbur), used in Yarsan rituals

Turkish tambur, instrument played in Turkey

Yaylı tambur, also played in Turkey

Tanpura, a drone instrument played in India

Tambura (instrument), played in Balkan peninsula

Tamburica, any member of a family of long-necked lutes popular in Eastern and Central Europe

Tambouras, played in Greece

Tanbūra (lyre), played in East Africa and the Middle East

Dombra, instrument in Kazakhstan, Siberia, and Mongolia

Domra, Russian instrument

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/02/maritime-meluhha-tin-road-links-far.html

Cyprus castings of bronze stands with Meluhha hieroglyphs. AN391894001 AN258515001 British Museum. Bibliographic reference

Matthäus 1985 Cat. no. 704, pp. 314-315; pl. 102

Kiely 2011a M.12
Macnamara & Meeks 1987 p. 58, no. 2
Catling 1964 pp. 205-207, no. 34; pl. 34

Giorgos Papassavas argues convincingly that the cyprus bronze-stands of this type were cast using the lost wax method. The Meluhha hieroglyphs (Indus writing) of reed and tambura player are read rebus.

Hieroglyph: kã̄ḍ reed Rebus: kāṇḍa 'tools, pots and pans, metal-ware'.

Hieroglyph: tanbūra 'lyre' Rebus: tam(b)ra 'copper'.

Dao Thinh bronze jar dated back to 2.500 years ago. It is the largest ever known jar in Viet Nam, using an enormous amount of bronze of up to 760 kg. This jar is a typical object in domestic utensils, with mainly functioning as food container. The jar is a unique ancient art object bearing decorative carvings carrying a message of the material life and sexual reproduction conception of the Dong Son people in the past.

http://news.chinhphu.vn/Home/Dong-Son-Culture-forms-part-of-VNs-ancient-culture/20142/20134.vgp

Hieroglyph: Ko.geṇḍ kaṭ - (kac-) dog's penis becomes stuck in copulation. Ka.geṇḍe penis Go. (Tr. Ph.) geṭānā, (Mu.) gēṭ to have sexual intercourse; (Mu.) gēṭ sexual intercourse (Voc. 1181).(DEDR 1949). Rebus: khāṇḍa 'tools, pots and pans, metalware' (Marathi) kāṇḍa id. (Gujarati)

See: https://www.academia.edu/10153387/Meluhha_hieroglyphs_and_Candi_Sukuh_hieroglyphs_related_to_metalwork

http://www.vietnamheritage.com.vn/pages/en/1351381034968-When-making-l-ove-was-exalted.html

Quote

On the cover of a bronze jar excavated in Đào Thịnh Village, Yen Bai Province and dated 500 BCE, there is the design of the sun radiating its rays from the centre and four figurines of human couples in the position of intercourse in the four directions; at the bottom of the jar there is a bas-relief with a circle of interlinking boats with the bow of the following one touching the stern of the preceding one and the dragons-crocodiles on them are also locked into a mating posture. Images of birds, animals, and toads in intercourse are also present. We should take notice of the symbolism of the toad as a form of prayer for rainfall and good harvest and the intercourse image of toads is clearly significant in fertility cults.

See: http://vietrealm.com/index.php?topic=4186.0

People on Dong Son bronze jar

People on Dong Son bronze drum

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/sets/72157621598852916/

Source: http://nhimfashion.blogspot.in/2011/05/designs-on-dong-son-brass-drum.html

Dong Son bronze drum in Alor, Indonesia

Frog Drum detail. Trống đồng tượng cóc

Dong Son drum from selayar? Note: hieroglyphs of elephant, trees and peacocks
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/1528885793/in/album-72157621598852916/

Hieroglyph: mora 'peacock' moraa 'peafowl' (Hindi) Rebus: morakkhaka loha 'a kind of coper, grouped with pis'aacaloha' (Pali); moraka 'a kind of steel' (Samskritam)

See: https://www.academia.edu/10153387/Meluhha_hieroglyphs_and_Candi_Sukuh_hieroglyphs_related_to_metalwork

Dong Son bronze drums, Dong Son culture, Bao Thinh jar

Cambodian bronze drum

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3773672518/in/album-72157621598852916/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3772864653/in/album-72157621598852916/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3772864387/in/album-72157621598852916/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3772863893/in/album-72157621598852916/

Boat people and fishes

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3773670296/in/album-72157621598852916/

Song Da Drum (known as he Moulie Drum) Vietnam, Song Da basin

Song Dong Son II culture, 1st millennium BCE (mid) Bronze 61 x 78 cm Former Moulié collection P 243

"This drum is composed of a resonant top resting on a flared torus, a cylindrical case, and a sawn-off cone base; four double handles link the upper part to the central section. The whole instrument has a plane decoration of alternating geometrical motifs and stylized figurative images. The top is embellished with a central star around which are disposed various concentrically arranged scenes, no doubt related to long vanished fertility rites. These depict feather-decked warriors marching towards the dwelling of the deceased: a house on piles with a platform on which other figures are pounding grains of rice into drums. On the case, "ships of the dead", decorated with heads and tails of birds, carry away warrior-spirits while similar warrior-spirits alternate with geometrical motifs on the vertical body of the instrument.

Cast in bronze using either a compartment mould or cire perdue technique, such drums are found in the tombs of high-ranking figures. Also known as "rain drums", they were apparently widely used, not only in certain fertility cults but perhaps also in the majority of communal or clan rituals.

Large bronze objects occupy a particularly significant place in Dong Son art and their style, essentially featuring geometric and animal motifs, displays great homogeneity. This culture, the name of which derives from the eponymous Dong Son site, emerged during the late Bronze and early Iron Age and its powerful influence extended as far as the Indonesian archipelago. Its social organization was based around large, rice-growing, village communities, apparently linked together in a tribal confederation. These drums attest to well-organized trade and political networks enabling the chiefs to procure the necessary materials involved in their making.

...

Dong Son culture and Cuu Chan districts in Hung Kings time:

Dong Son relics of the Bronze age in the present-day Ham Rong precinct, Thanh Hoa city, is the most important site in Vietnam archeology and well-known in the world.

Vietnam

culture in the period of 2820 years ago or so was named after it. For the first time in

Vietnam

, there had been a culture covering a nation-size area from Hoang Lien Son to

South Vietnam

, it was Dong Son culture. In Thanh Hoa alone, Dong Son brassware was found everywhere and by July 1986, 85 relics were discovered. Before the creation of machines, Dong Son brassware had already been diversified, ranging from tools, weapons to musical instruments of contemporary peasants. On the surface are cast and carved designs depicting of cultural activities of Vietnamese people at the time. During Dong Son time, fabric weaving flourished turning out high quality products, of which some still exist until today. The brass sword hilt which was a whole statue depicting a women was both beautiful and convenient. Dong Son brass drum is the biggest and finest musical instrument which sounds the most beautifully among relics of the Bronze Age. 80 percent of the brass drums in

Vietnam

and the world were discovered in Thanh Hoa.

...

Historians agree in the point that Vietnam possesses an extensive culture community, which back-stretches itself up to the center of the Millenniums before Christus. This culture community, which is called Dong Son culture, reached its high point in the middle centuries of the Millenniums A.D. Different trends, which were conditioned locally (delta of the Red River, the Ma and Ca River), united to the community of the Dong Son culture. The Dong Son culture was more developed than the others in the region at this time. It possessed still also thing in common with them, which is characterized as the Austro-Mongolian and water rice culture. This was also the time, in which the primitive nation form formed from communities of villages and/or village combinations, together with it and in order to repel itself against the hostile attacks both the intruders and nature."

	Dong Son Editions, 1989

The Bronze Dong Son Drums

Nguyen van Huyen

Description

Dong Son Culture, which lasted about 1000 years from the 7th to 2nd centuries BC, is considered the peak of metallurgical technique in the Vietnam history. Dong Son Drums, or the Heger I Bronze Drum according to the classification of the Austrian archaeologist, Franz Heger, are divided into three parts: a bulging shoulder, a slim body, and an expanding base. This volume is the first extensive compilation of surveys on this bronze drum, the symbol of the roots of the Vietnamese people. This publication includes clear illustrations of each item, along with a full analysis by well-known Vietnamese scholars.

Source: http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~dnthao/index_files/Bronze_Drum.html

Height 22.5 cm. (25 cm. with frogs). Diameter 33 cm.

Dong Son Frog Drum (2) Trống đồng tượng cóc

Dong Son bronze drums, Dong Son culture, Bao Thinh jar, national treasure, vietnam history museum

This bronze item, called Bao Thinh Jar, is a national treasure. It was discovered in the town of Yen (Yen Bai Province).

A bronze drum named Lac, which was discovered in Lac Village, Nghe An Province.

Subtle patterns on the surface of a bronze drum discovered in Coc Leu, Lao Cai Province.

Tung Lam bronze drum found in Chuong My, Ha Noi.

Motifs on the bronze drum found in Dong Xa, Hung Yen Province.

A ceramic vase.

Floral motifs on a bronze bell discovered in Moc Son, Thanh Hoa.

Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/art-entertainment/116959/11-dong-son-bronze-drums--vietnam-treasures.html 11 Dong Son bronze drums: Vietnam treasures

VietNamNet Bridge – Ancient drums and hundreds of antiques of the Dong Son culture were on display at the National History Museum in Hanoi in November 2014.

Trống đồng Sông Đà (Song Da bronze drum)

The early production of bronze drums was in Yunnan, Guangxi and Northern Vietnam. There was a southward expansion of the distribution indicating long distance trade of bronze drums. It is possible that one drum was cast by the lost-wax method in Thailand. Extremely large drums also came from Burma and from small islands of Eastern Indonesia such as Sangeang, Salayar, Alor, Roti, Leti and Kur and as artifacts of exquisite artisanship and in some cases show feathered dancers arranged in double rows. What languages or dialects did the hieroglyphs represent?

Kouko notes: 'The changes in the distribution of bronze drums reveal that prehistoric and early historic Southeast Asia and Southern China was not a mere agglomeration of isolated small worlds but a network linked areas more or less in unison.'

400+ examples of drums have been reported from Burma, Cambodia, southern China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, central and southern Vietnam, thus covering an interaction area of 10 million square kms. These finds are matched by other artifacts such as high-tin bronze bowls, leaded high tin-bronze mirrors, agate, carnelian, glass and nephrite ornaments and distinctive regional pottery types, all of which point to a trade interaction area from mid-1st millennium BCE.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doremon360/3772864141/in/album-72157621598852916/

I suggest that Meluhha seafaring merchants accounted for this distribution activity of Dong Son bronze drums and other metalwork, lapidary crafts of semiprecious stones.

The hieroglyphs are: solar representations, naturalistic amphibian figurines on the tympanum, stylized human dancers, birds, musical instruments, ships or boats on the mantle. The key in validating this hypothesis is to decipher the hieroglyphs on Dong Son bronze drums so vividly displayed.

Vietnamese antiques on display

Updated 15:59, Friday, 27/07/2012 (GMT+7)

The National Museum of History coordinated with the Thang Long Antique Association and antique collectors to co-organize an exhibition named “Vietnamese antiques” on July 25.

In recent years, many associations of antique collectors have been formed in various localities, which opens a legal playground for those who have compassion for antiques. Their activities also help preserve and promote Vietnam’s cultural values.

Over 50 special items were selected for display from members of the Thang Long Antique Association. The following are some of them.

Wooden Buddha Statute of 4-6th century

Buddha and Hindo statutes

Vishnu Statute of 12-13th century

http://english.baoquangninh.com.vn/photo-news/201207/Vietnamese-antiques-on-display-2172924/

Meluhha glosses related to hard alloys, metalwork and hieroglyphs

करडा (p. 137) [ karaḍā ]Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c (Marathi)करडा (p. 137) [ karaḍā ] m The arrangement of bars or embossed lines (plain or fretted with little knobs) raised upon a तार of gold by pressing and driving it upon the अवटी or grooved stamp. Such तार is used for the ornament बुगडी, for the hilt of a पट्टा or other sword &c. Applied also to any similar barform or line-form arrangement (pectination) whether embossed or indented; as the edging of a rupee &c. करड्याची अवटी (p. 137) [ karaḍyācī avaṭī ] f An implement of the goldsmith. A stamp for forming the bars or raised lines called करडा. It is channeled or grooved with (or without) little cavities. खरडबरड (p. 197) [ kharaḍabaraḍa ] a Stony and sterile--land.(Marathi) கரடு¹ karaṭu, n. [K. M. karaḍu.] 1. Roughness, ruggedness, unevenness; முருடு. ஈண்டுரு காக் கரடு (அருட்பா, iv, பத்தி. 6). 2. Churlish temper முருட்டுக்குணம். (Tamil)

காரடையாநோன்பு kāraṭaiyā-nōṉpu, n. < காரடை + ஆம் +. A ceremonial fast observed by women when the sun passes from Aquarius to Pisces, praying for the longevity of their husbands; மாசியும் பங்குனியும் கூடும்நாளில் தம் கணவ ரின் தீர்க்காயுளைக் கருதிக் காரடையை உணவாகக் கொண்டு மகளிர் கைக்கொள்ளும் ஒரு விரதம். (Tamil)

खरड्या (p. 197) [ kharaḍyā ] m or खरड्यावाघ m A leopard.(Marathi. Molesworth)

Ta. karaṭi, karuṭi, keruṭi fencing, school or gymnasium where wrestling and fencing are taught. Ka. garaḍi, garuḍi fencing school. Tu. garaḍi, garoḍi id. Te. gariḍi, gariḍī id., fencing. (DEDR 1262)

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)

Ta. karaṭu ankle, knot in wood. Ma. karaṇa knot of sugar-cane; kuraṭṭa knuckle of hand or foot. Ka. karaṇe, kaṇṇe clot, lump. Te. karuḍu lump, mass, clot. (DEDR 1266)

Ta. karaṇṭi spoon or ladle. Ma. karaṇṭi spoon. Te. garĩṭe, gaṇṭe, geṇṭe spoon, ladle. Kol. (SR.) gāṭe spoon; (Kamaleswaran). Kuwi (S.) garti (brass) spoon.(DEDR 1267)

<kakOrO>(MP) {N} ``^dew''. {ADJ} `` ^cold''. *O.<kakOrO>P, L.<kAkkAr> `ice', Sk.<kArkArA> `hard, firm'. %15901. #15791.<kaRia>(P) {N} ``^hard''. *H.<kARa->, B.<kORa> `rough'. %16471. #16351.

Ta. karaṭu roughness, unevenness, churlish temper; karaṭṭu rugged, uneven, unpolished; karaṇ uneven surface in vegetables and fruits, scar; karuprong, barb, spike; karumai, karil severity, cruelty; karukku teeth of a saw or sickle, jagged edge of palmyra leaf-stalk, sharpness. Ma. karaṭu what is rough or uneven; kaṟu rough; kaṟuppu roughness; karuma

sharpness of sword; karukku teeth of a saw or file, thorns of a palmyra branch, irregular surface; karukarukka to be harsh, sharp, rough, irritating; karikku edge of teeth; kari-muḷ hard thorn; projecting parts of the skin of custard-apples, jack-fruits, etc.; kari-maṭal rind of jack-fruits. Ko. karp keenness or harshness (of wind); ? kako·ṭ hoe with sharp, broad blade (for -ko·ṭ, see 2064). Ka.karaḍu that is rough, uneven, unpolished, hard, or waste, useless, or wicked; kaṟaku, karku, kakku, gaṟaku, garaku, garku, garasu a jag, notch, dent, toothed part of a file or saw, rough part of a millstone, irregular surface, sharpness. Tu. karaḍů, karaḍu rough, coarse, worn out; wastage, loss, wear;kargōṭa hardness, hard-heartedness; hard, hard-hearted; garu rough; garime severity, strictness; gargāsů a saw. Te. kara sharp; karagasamu a saw;karakasa roughness; karusu rough, harsh; harsh words; kaṟaku, kaṟuku harshness, roughness, sharpness; rough, harsh, sharp; gari hardness, stiffness, sharpness; (B.) karaṭi stubborn, brutish, villainous; kakku a notch or dent, toothed part of a saw, file, or sickle, roughness of a millstone. Go. (Ma.)karkara sharp (Voc. 543). Kur. karcnā to be tough, (Hahn) be hardened. ? Cf. 1260 Ka. garasu. / Cf. Skt. karaṭa- a low, unruly, difficult person;karkara- hard, firm; karkaśa- rough, harsh, hard; krakaca-, karapattra- saw; khara- hard, harsh, rough, sharp-edged; kharu- harsh, cruel; Pali kakaca-saw; khara- rough; saw; Pkt. karakaya- saw; Apabhraṃśa (Jasaharacariu) karaḍa- hard. Cf. esp. Turner, CDIAL, no. 2819. Cf. also Skt. karavāla-sword (for second element, cf. 5376 Ta. vāḷ) (DEDR 1265) khára2 ʻ hard, sharp, pungent ʼ MBh., ʻ solid ʼ Pān., ʻ hot (of wind) ʼ Suśr. [Cf. karkara -- 1, karkaśá -- , kakkhaṭa -- ]Pa. Pk. khara -- ʻ hard, rough, cruel, sharp ʼ; K. khoru ʻ pure, genuine ʼ, S. kharo, L. P. kharā (P. also ʻ good of weather ʼ); WPah. bhad. kharo ʻ good ʼ, paṅ. cur. cam. kharā ʻ good, clean ʼ; Ku. kharo ʻ honest ʼ; N. kharo ʻ real, keen ʼ; A. khar ʻ quick, nimble ʼ, m. ʻ dry weather ʼ, kharā ʻ dry, infertile ʼ,khariba ʻ to become dry ʼ; B. kharā ʻ hot, dry ʼ, vb. ʻ to overparch ʼ; Or. kharā ʻ sunshine ʼ; OAw. khara ʻ sharp, notched ʼ; H. kharā ʻ sharp, pure, good ʼ; G. khar ʻ sharp, hot ʼ, °rũ ʻ real, good, well parched or baked, well learnt ʼ; M. khar ʻ sharp, biting, thick (of consistency) ʼ, °rā ʻ pure, good, firm ʼ; Ko.kharo ʻ true ʼ; Si. kara -- räs ʻ hot -- rayed, i.e. sun ʼ. -- Ext. Pk. kharaḍia -- ʻ rough ʼ; Or. kharaṛā ʻ slightly parched ʼ. <-> X kṣārá -- 1: Or. khārā ʻ very sharp, pure, true ʼ. <-> X paruṣá -- 1: Bshk. khärúṣ ʻ rough, rugged ʼ; Si. karahu ʻ hard ʼ.kharapattrā -- , kharayaṣṭikā -- , *kharasrōtas -- .WPah.kṭg. (kc.) khɔ́rɔ ʻ great, good, excessive ʼ; J. kharā ʻ good, well ʼ; OMarw. kharaü ʻ extreme ʼ.(CDIAL 3819) karkara1 ʻ hard, firm ʼ Mālatīm. [Prob. same as karkara -- 2; cf. karkaśá -- , kakkhaṭa -- , *kakkaṭa -- 2, khára -- 2]Pa. kakkaratā -- f., °riya -- n. ʻ roughness, harshness ʼ; Pk. kakkara -- ʻ hard, firm ʼ; Tir. kaṅgará, Paš. kaṅgarāˊ m. ʻ ice ʼ (→ Psht. kaṅgal, karaṅg ʻ ice ʼ IIFL iii 3, 95); K. trakoru ʻ hard, rough ʼ < *krak -- FestskrBroch 149; L. kakkar m. ʻ frost, raw thong ʼ; P. kakkar m. ʻ frost ʼ; WPah. khaś. kakru ʻ ice ʼ; Or.kākara, kã̄k° ʻ dew ʼ; G. kakrũ ʻ rough ʼ.(CDIAL 2819)

kṣará ʻ melting away ʼ ŚvetUp., m. ʻ cloud ʼ, n. ʻ water ʼ lex. 2. *kṣarā -- f. (after sarāˊ -- ?). [~ jhara -- . -- √kṣar]1. Pa. khara -- m. ʻ water ʼ; Pk. khara -- ʻ wasting away ʼ; Dm. c̣har ʻ rapids in a stream ʼ, Gaw. c̣hār NTS xii 165, čhār (c̣h?) NOGaw 33; Phal. c̣hār ʻ waterfall ʼ, Sh. c̣har m.; A. khar ʻ dysentery ʼ.2. K. char f. ʻ a sprinkle of water etc. from the fingers ʼ; S. chara f. ʻ an expanse of water ʼ.(CDIAL 3662).

karaka2 m., °kā -- f. ʻ hail ʼ lex. Pa. karaka -- m., °kā -- f., Pk. kara -- , °raya -- m., °raā -- f.; Or. karā ʻ hailstone ʼ; G. karā m. pl. ʻ hail ʼ. Ko. karo ʻ hail ʼ, cf. M. gārā ʻ hail ʼ?(CDIAL 2782) *gaḍa3 ʻ dropping ʼ. [√gaḍ]Pa. gaḷa -- m. ʻ a drop ʼ, gaḷāgalaṁ gacchati ʻ goes from fall to fall ʼ; S. g̠aṛo m. ʻ hail ʼ, L. (Ju.) g̠aṛā m., P. gaṛā m. (cf. galā < gala -- 1); -- Pk. gaḍa -- n. ʻ large stone ʼ?(CDIAL 3969)

kaṇṭa1 m. ʻ thorn ʼ BhP. 2. káṇṭaka -- m. ʻ thorn ʼ ŚBr., ʻ anything pointed ʼ R.

1. Pa. kaṇṭa -- m. ʻ thorn ʼ, Gy. pal. ḳand, Sh. koh. gur. kōṇ m., Ku. gng. kã̄ṇ, A. kāĩṭ (< nom. *kaṇṭē?), Mth. Bhoj. kã̄ṭ, OH. kã̄ṭa. 2. Pa. kaṇṭaka -- m. ʻ thorn, fishbone ʼ; Pk. kaṁṭaya<-> m. ʻ thorn ʼ, Gy. eur. kanro m., SEeur. kai̦o, Dm. kãṭa, Phal. kāṇḍu, kã̄ṛo, Sh. gil. kóṇŭ m., K. konḍum., S. kaṇḍo m., L. P. kaṇḍā m., WPah. khaś. kaṇṭā m., bhal. kaṇṭo m., jaun. kã̄ḍā, Ku. kāno; N. kã̄ṛo ʻ thorn, afterbirth ʼ (semant. cf. śalyá -- ); B. kã̄ṭā ʻ thorn, fishbone ʼ, Or. kaṇṭā; Aw. lakh. H. kã̄ṭā m.; G. kã̄ṭɔ ʻ thorn, fishbone ʼ; M. kã̄ṭā, kāṭā m. ʻ thorn ʼ, Ko. kāṇṭo, Si. kaṭuva.1. A. also kã̄iṭ; Md. kaři ʻ thorn, bone ʼ.2. káṇṭaka -- : S.kcch. kaṇḍho m. ʻ thorn ʼ; WPah.kṭg. (kc.) kaṇḍɔ m. ʻ thorn, mountain peak ʼ, J. kã̄ḍā m.; Garh. kã̄ḍu ʻ thorn ʼ.(CDIAL 2668) கரடு¹ karaṭuHillock, low hill (Tamil)

Pk. karaṁḍa -- m.n. ʻ bone shaped like a bamboo ʼ, karaṁḍuya -- n. ʻ backbone ʼ.( (CDIAL 2670) *kaṇṭa3 ʻ backbone, podex, penis ʼ. 2. *kaṇḍa -- . 3. *karaṇḍa -- 4. (Cf. *kāṭa -- 2, *ḍākka -- 2: poss. same as káṇṭa -- 1] 1. Pa. piṭṭhi -- kaṇṭaka -- m. ʻ bone of the spine ʼ; Gy. eur. kanro m. ʻ penis ʼ (or < káṇṭaka -- ); 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 ʼ; P. kaṇḍ f. ʻ back, pubes ʼ; WPah. bhal. kaṇṭ f. ʻ syphilis ʼ; N. kaṇḍo ʻ buttock, rump, anus ʼ, kaṇḍeulo ʻ small of the back ʼ; B. kã̄ṭ ʻ clitoris ʼ; Or. kaṇṭi ʻ handle of a plough ʼ; H. kã̄ṭā m. ʻ spine ʼ, G. kã̄ṭɔ m., M. kã̄ṭā m.; Si. äṭa -- kaṭuva ʻ bone ʼ, piṭa -- k° ʻ backbone ʼ.2. Pk. kaṁḍa -- m. ʻ backbone ʼ. CDIAL 2670). karaṅka m. ʻ skull, head ʼ Kathās., ʻ any bone of the body ʼ lex.Pk. karaṁka -- m.n. ʻ bone, skeleton, receptacle for betel, begging bowl ʼ; Kho. kroṅg ʻ interior of the chest ʼ BelvalkarVol 92; S. karaṅgho, kaṇgho m. ʻ backbone, ridgepole ʼ; L. karaṅgā m. ʻ partly consumed carcase (of cattle) ʼ; P. karaṅg m. ʻ skeleton ʼ (→ H. karaṅg m. ʻ skull, rib ʼ); N. karaṅ ʻ rib, rafter ʼ, karaṅge ʻ like a skeleton ʼ;with unexpl. ā: P. kāraṅgā m. ʻ framework of a thatched roof ʼA. karaṅgan (phonet. kɔrɔṅɔn) ʻ thigh -- bone ʼ AFD 186.(CDIAL 2784)

karkara2 m.n. ʻ stone ʼ, m. ʻ bone ʼ lex. [Prob. same as karkara -- 1: for semant. development ʻ ice ~ hail ~ stone ʼ cf. aśáni -- , úpala -- ]Pk. kakkara -- m. ʻ stone, pebble ʼ; S. kakiro m. ʻ stone ʼ, °rī f. ʻ stone in the bladder ʼ; L. kakrā m. ʻ gravel ʼ; A. kã̄kar ʻ stone, pebble ʼ; B. kã̄kar ʻ gravel ʼ, Or. kāṅkara, kaṅ°; Bi. kãkrāhī ʻ gravelly soil ʼ; OAw. kāṁkara ʻ gravel ʼ; H. kã̄kar, kaṅkar, °krā m. ʻ nodule of limestone ʼ, kã̄krī, kaṅk° f. ʻ gravel ʼ; G.kã̄krɔ m. ʻ pebble ʼ, °rī f. ʻ small pebble, sand ʼ, kākriyũ ʻ abounding in pebbles ʼ, n. ʻ stony field ʼ; M. kaṅkar m. ʻ pebble, gravel' S.kcch. kakro m. ʻ pebble ʼ.(CDIAL 2820).

<taTia>(M),,<tatia>(P) {N} ``metal ^cup, ^frying_^pan''. *Ho<cele>, H.<kARahi>, Sa.<tutiA> `blue vitriol, bluestone, sulphate of copper', H.<tutIya>. %31451. #31231.

<kaDamaru uDaG>(Z) [kaRamaru uRaG] {N} ``^eagle, ^White-bellied_Sea-eagle''. |<kaDamaru> `?', <uDaG> `a large bird'. ^bird. #15420. <kenDelaG>(P),,<keNDlaG>(M) {N} ``kite (%Milvus govinda)''. *Sa., Mu.<kuri-da>, Sa., Ho<kui-Da>, So.<kondidi-aG-An>, ~<aRaG/-aG>?, Pal.<kla:G>, Khs.<kliG>, Pang.<kAraG> `kite', Khm.<khlEG> `milan', Bahn.<kla:G> `id.', ~<kla:G-ko> `heron', Sre<klaG> `aigle (%Halioetus leucXryphXs)', Sem.<kAlaG> `white-headed eagle', Nic.<kAla:G> `white-bellied sea-eagle (%Cuncuma leucogaster) ??'. %16931. #16811.

garuḍá m. ʻ a mythical bird ʼ Mn.Pa. garuḷa -- m., Pk. garuḍa -- , °ula -- m.; P. garaṛ m. ʻ the bird Ardea argala ʼ; N. garul ʻ eagle ʼ, Bhoj. gaṛur; OAw. garura ʻ blue jay ʼ; H. garuṛ m. ʻ hornbill ʼ, garul ʻ a large vulture ʼ; Si. guruḷā ʻ bird ʼ (kurullā infl. by Tam.?). -- Kal. rumb. gōrvḗlik ʻ kite ʼ??(CDIAL 4041)

suparṇá ʻ having beautiful wings ʼ, m. ʻ any large bird of prey, a mythical bird ʼ RV. [su -- 2, parṇá -- ]Pa. supaṇṇa -- m. ʻ the bird Garuḍa ʼ, Si. suvan.(CDIAL 13476) Rebus: suvárṇa 'gold' 13519 suvárṇa ʻ of bright colour, golden ʼ RV., n. ʻ gold ʼ AV., suvarṇaka -- ʻ golden ʼ Hariv. 2. saúvarṇa- ʻ golden ʼ ŚrS., n. ʻ gold ʼ MBh. -- In many cases it is impossible to distinguish whether a NIA. form is derived from suvárṇa -- or saúvarṇa -- : they are therefore listed below together. [su --2, várṇa -- 1]1. Pa. suvaṇṇa -- ʻ of good colour ʼ, n. ʻ gold ʼ, soṇṇa<-> ʻ golden ʼ, n. ʻ gold ʼ; NiDoc. suv́arna ʻ gold ʼ; Pk. su(v)aṇṇa -- , soṇṇa -- n. ʻ gold ʼ, suvaṇṇia -- ʻ golden ʼ.

2. Pa. sōvaṇṇa -- , °aya -- ʻ golden ʼ; Pk. sō(v)aṇṇa -- n. ʻ gold ʼ, Ap. sōvaṇa -- n.
1 or 2. Gy. gr. sovnakáy, wel. sōnakai, rum. somnakáy m. ʻ gold ʼ, Ḍ. son m.; -- (Kaf. forms ← Ind. NTS ii 276) Ash. sun, Wg. sū̃n, Kt. sun f., Pr. sü; <-> Dm. sōn, Paš.lauṛ. sū˘wan, Gmb. sōʻ n, Gaw. sōṇ, sūṇ, (→ Sv. son NOPhal 47), Kal. sū̃ṛa, sū̃ŕä, Phal. suāṇ, Sh.gil. so̯n m., koh. sonŭ m., gur. son m., dr. jij.sōṇ m., pales. lēlo swã̄ṛə ʻ gold ʼ, gil. (Lor.) sōno ʻ golden ʼ, koh. gur. sōṇṷ ʻ beautiful ʼ; K. sŏn m. ʻ gold ʼ, rām. sōnu, kash. pog. sŏnn, ḍoḍ. sŏṇṇā, S. sõnum. ʻ gold ʼ (sõnõ ʻ golden ʼ), L. sonā m., P. sonā, soinā, seonā, siūnā m., WPah.bhad. sunnō, khaś. sɔnnu n., jaun. sūnō, Ku. suno, gng. sun, N. sun, A. xon,xonā, B. sonā, Or. sunā, Mth. son, sonā, Aw.lakh. sonu, Bhoj. H. sonā m., OMarw. sauno, OG. sovana, sonaüṁ n., G. sɔnũ n., M. sonẽ n. (sonā ʻ golden ʼ), OSi. (Brāhmī) sovaṇa, Si. suvan -- na. -- Early ← Sk.: Paš.chil. swāren ʻ gold ʼ, dar. surun, Shum. suárin, Kho. sórum (with -- m from droxum ʻ silver ʼ; → Yid. suwōrum).1. WPah.kṭg. súnnɔ, kc. suno m. ʻ gold ʼ.2. saúvarṇa -- : Garh. sonu ʻ gold ʼ, OMarw. sonaü m.(CDIAL 13519) suvarṇakāra m. ʻ goldsmith ʼ Mn. [suvárṇa -- , kāra -- 1]Pa. suvaṇṇakāra -- m. ʻ goldsmith ʼ, NiDoc. suv́arnakara, Pk. suvaṇṇaāra -- , suṇṇaāra -- , °ṇāra -- m., Sh. (Lor.) suniār m., K. sŏnar, sŏnuru m., S.sonāro m., L. sunārā m., awāṇ. suniārā, P. suneār, °rā m., Ku. N. sunār, A. xonāri, Or. sunāra, °ri, Bi. Mth. Bhoj. Aw.lakh. sonār, H. sonār, sun° m., G. M. sonār m., Ko. sonāru; -- Si. suvaru < *suvanaru? WPah.kṭg. (kc.) sənār m. ʻ goldsmith ʼ, Garh. sunār; -- Md. sunāru ← G. M.(CDIAL 13520)

gāruḍa ʻ relating to Garuḍa ʼ MBh., n. ʻ spell against poison ʼ lex. 2. ʻ emerald (used as an antidote) ʼ Kālid. [garuḍá -- ]1. Pk. gāruḍa -- , °ula -- ʻ good as antidote to snakepoison ʼ, m. ʻ charm against snake -- poison ʼ, n. ʻ science of using such charms ʼ; H. gāṛrū, gārṛū m. ʻ charm against snake -- poison ʼ; M. gāruḍ n. ʻ juggling ʼ.2. M. gāroḷā ʻ cat -- eyed, of the colour of cat's eyes ʼ.(CDIAL 4138)

<karaD>(Z),,<kanaD>(Z) {N} ``^sheaf of ^straw''. #16160.

*gaḍḍa2 ʻ bundle, sheaf ʼ. 2. *giḍḍa -- .1. S. gaḏo m. ʻ bundle of grass &c. ʼ, °ḍ̠ī f. ʻ small do. ʼ; L. gaḍḍā m. ʻ armful of straw ʼ, °ḍī f. ʻ sheaf ʼ; P. gaḍḍā m. ʻ handful of sticks ʼ, °ḍī f. ʻ load of rice in straw ʼ, WPah. bhal. gaḍḍi f.(CDIAL 3982)

करडूं or करडें (p. 137) [ karaḍū or ṅkaraḍēṃ ] n A kid.कराडूं (p. 137) [ karāḍūṃ n (Commonly करडूं) A kid. (Marathi. Molesworth) Phal. grhēmiṇo m.,°ṇi f. ʻ kid one year old ʼ(CDIAL 4398) Or. gāraṛa, gaṛera, °ṛarā ʻ ram ʼ,gāraṛi ʻ ewe ʼ, garaṛa ʻ sheep ʼ;*gaḍḍa4 ʻ sheep ʼ. 2. gaḍḍara -- , °ḍala -- m. Apte. [Cf. gaḍḍārikā -- f. ʻ ewe in front of a flock ʼ lex., gaḍḍālikā<-> f. ʻ sheep ʼ → Psht.gaḍūrai ʻ lamb ʼ NTS ii 256]1. Ash. gaḍewä m. ʻ sheep ʼ, °wī f.; Wg. gáḍawā, goḍṓ ʻ ram ʼ, guḍsok ʻ lamb ʼ; Paš. giḍīˊ f. ʻ sheep ʼ; L. gaḍ m. ʻ wild sheep ʼ.2. Pk. gaḍḍarī -- f. ʻ goat, ewe ʼ, °riyā -- f. ʻ ewe ʼ; Woṭ. gaḍūre ʻ lamb ʼ; B. gāṛal, °ṛar ʻ the long -- legged sheep ʼ; H. gāḍar f. ʻ ewe ʼ; G. gāḍar, °ḍrũ n. ʻ sheep ʼ. -- Deriv. B. gāṛle ʻ shepherd ʼ, H. gaḍariyā m.gaḍḍara -- : S.kcch. gāḍar m. ʻ sheep ʼ.(CDIAL 3983) ګډوريَ gœḏḏo-raey, s.m. (1st) A lamb. Pl. يِ ī. ګډورئِي gœḏḏo-raʿī, s.f. (6th) An ewe lamb. Sing. and Pl. (Pushto)

<gaDra>(ZA) [gaDra],[gaDRa] {N} ``male ^goat(Z), male ^kid(A)''. *Des. #10090.

<lupu gadra>(A) {N} ``^billy ^goat''. |<lupu> `big'. ??d/D (cf. D below). #21082.<lupu gadra>(A) {N} ``^billy ^goat''. |<gaDra> `male goat, male kid'. ??d/D (cf. D below). #21080.

<kara beLO>(M) {N} ``^noon''. |<kara> `sunshine, heat of the sun'. %3812. #3772.<kara dinO>(P) {N} ``^summer, the ^hot ^season''. |<kara> `sunshine, heat of the sun'. %8782. #8702.<kara>(KMP) {N} ``^sunshine, ^heat of the sun, ^summer''. {ADJ} ``^hot''. *O.<khOra>; B.<khOra> `hot', Sk.<khArA>. %16381. #16261. <kara dinO>(P) {N} ``^summer, the ^hot ^season''. |<dinO> `time'. %8783. #8703. <kara beLO>(M) {N} ``^noon''. |<beLo> `sun, day, time'. %3814. #3774.

<hanuN>(P),,<aNu>(MP) {N} ``the Langur or Hanuman ^monkey''. *Sa.<hAR~u>, H.<henUmanA>, O.<hOnUmanO>; cf. So.<karu:-n>, Rog.<kra>, Mal.<kAra>. %12551. #12451. <sakOe>(KM),,<sakOi>(P) {N} ``red-faced ^monkey''. *Sa.<gAR~i>, Ho<ga~i>, H., Kh.<sakoi>(P), So.<karu:-n>, Mal.<kAra>, Bes.<sikar>, Bedu.??<si:kah>, Mal.<sikah>, ~<tekah>, Mu., Ho<sara'>, So.<a:rsi:-n>, Gu.<gusa:>, Khm.<sva>. %28331. #28131.

<-kaD>(:) {NCF of <kaRaD>(P), <kaLaD>(M)} ``^crab''. *Kh.<khaGkRa>(B), ~<khaGkhaRa>(A), Sa.<kaTkom>, MuN<kaTkOm>, MuH<kaRkOm>, Ho<kaTkom>, ~<kaTO'b>, So.<k+nad/kad>; O.<kO~kOra>, ~<kOrkOTO>, H.<kekARa>, Sk.<kArkATA>; cf. <karOG> `fish', Kh.<kaDoG>, So.<Oyo:-n>, Sa.<hako>, MuN, Ho<haku>, MuH<hai>, Ku.<kaku>, cf. Pal.<ka:>, Nic.<ka:A>, Nic.Car<ka:'>. %15611. #15501. <kaLaD>(M),,<kaRaD>(P),,<kaRar>(K) {N} ``^crab''. *Kh.<khaGkRa>(B), ~<khaGhaRa>(A), Sa.<kaTkom>, MuN<kaTkOm>, MuH<kaRkOm>, Ho<kaTkom>, ~<kaTO'b>, O.<kO~kOra>, ~<kOrkOTO>, H.<kekARa>, Sk.<kArkATA>; cf. Ju.<tutukaD>. %15921. #15811.<kaRaD>(P),,<kaRar>(K),,<kaLaD>(M) {N} ``^crab''. *Kh.<khaGkRa>(B), ~<khaGkhaRa>(A), Sa.<kaTkom>, MuN<kaTkOm>, MuH<kaRkOm>, Ho<kaTkom>, ~<kaTO'b>, O.<kO~kOra>, ~<kOrkOTO>, H.<kekARa>, Sk.<kArkATA>; cf. Ju.<tutukaD>. %16391. #16271. <tutukaD>(P) {N} ``^crab''. |<tu.tu> ?, <-kaD> NCF of <kaRaD>(P), <kaRar>(K) `crab'. *So.<k+nad/-kad> `crab'. %32901. #32661. <kaLatutukaD>(M) {N} ``^scorpion''. %32910. #32670. <tutukaD>(P) {N} ``^crab''. %32920. #32680. khaGkaRa>(A),,<khaGkRa>(BD) {NA} ``a big ^crab''. *@. ??VAR. #15351. ``^crab'':So. k+naD/ kad `crab'.

Kh. kaGkaRa `crab'.Sa. kaTkOm `crab'.Mu. kaTkOm  ~ kaRkOm `crab'.Ho kaTkom  ~ kakom `crab'.Ku. katkom  ~ kekade `crab'.@(V059a)

<kara~it>(B) {NA} ``the ^krait, a kind of poisonous ^snake''. #15541.

<kaLasamOGgO>(M) {N} ``^lizard''. !But cf. <karsa mOGgO> !. %16400. #16280.

<kaLa-tutu-kaD>(M) {N} ``^scorpion''. |. %15635. #15525.+<-kaD>(:) {NCF of <kaRaD>(P), <kaLaD>(M)} ``^crab''. *Kh.<khaGkRa>(B), ~<khaGkhaRa>(A), Sa.<kaTkom>, MuN<kaTkOm>, MuH<kaRkOm>, Ho<kaTkom>, ~<kaTO'b>, So.<k+nad/kad>; O.<kO~kOra>, ~<kOrkOTO>, H.<kekARa>, Sk.<kArkATA>; cf. Ju.<tutukaD>; cf. <karOG> `fish', Kh.<kaDoG>, So.<Oyo:-n>, Sa.<hako>, MuN, Ho<haku>, MuH<hai>, Ku.<kaku>, cf. Pal.<ka:>, Nic.<ka:A>, Nic.Car<ka:'>. ??#.

<tutu-kaD>(P) {N} ``^crab''. |. %15624. #15514.

<kaLa-tutu-kaD>(M) {N} ``^scorpion''. |. %15636. #15526.

<kaDu>(MP),,<kODu>(:) {N} ``^bracelet, ^wristlet, ^bangle''. Cf. <gaDua>. *So.<kaddu:-n>, Kh.<karam>(D), ~<kaRam>(AB) `wrist [D], bracelet [ABD]', H.<kARa> `bangle', O.<kORa>, Guj.<kADU~>, cf. Kh.<kaDu'-> `to embrace'. %15721. #15611. <kaDu iti>(P) {N} ``^wrist''. |<iti> `hand'. *$So.<kaddu-si>. %13843. #13743. <kODu>(:),,<kaDu>(MP) {N} ``^bracelet, ^wristlet, ^bangle''. Cf. <gaDua>. *So.<kaddu:-n>, Kh.<karam>(D), ~<kaRam>(AB) `wrist [D], bracelet [ABD]', H.<kARa> `bangle', O.<kORa>, Guj.<kADU~>, cf. Kh.<kaDu'-> `to embrace'. %17781. #17651. <kaDu iti>(P) {N} ``^wrist''. |<iti> `hand'. *$So.<kaddu-si>. %13844. #13744. <kODu maLi>(M) {N} ``^ornaments, lit. ^bracelet (and) ^necklace''. |<maLi> `necklace'. %15733. #15623.<karam>(D),,<kaRam>(AB) {NI} ``^bangle, wrist or ankle ^bracelet''. *@. ??VAR. #15571.

kará1 ʻ doing, causing ʼ AV., m. ʻ hand ʼ RV. [√kr̥1] Pa. Pk. kara -- m. ʻ hand ʼ; S. karu m. ʻ arm ʼ; Mth. kar m. ʻ hand ʼ (prob. ← Sk.); Si. kara ʻ hand, shoulder ʼ, inscr. karā ʻ to ʼ < karāya. -- Deriv. S. karāī f. ʻ wrist ʼ; G. karã̄ n. pl. ʻ wristlets, bangles ʼ.(CDIAL 2779).

<kOrOtO>(P),,<kOrta>(K) {N} ``^saw''. *Sa., Ho, Sad., ~<kOrOt>, H.<kAra~tA>, B.<kOratO>, O.<kOrOtO>, Sk.<kArApAttrA>. %18951. #18811.

<kaRasa>(P) {N} ``an earthen ^pot, a small earthen ^pitcher''. *H.<kArAcha> `a large-bowled spoon or ladle', O.<kOLOsI> `pitcher'. %16431. #16311.

karaka1 m. ʻ water vessel ʼ MBh.Pa. karaka -- m., Pk. karaya -- m., kariā -- f. ʻ cup for serving spirituous liquor ʼ; Paš. karā ʻ a well ʼ IIFL iii 3, 96; Bi. karaī ʻ spouted water vessel ʼ; H. karaīf. ʻ small earthen pipkin ʼ. -- With -- uka -- (cf. gaḍḍuka -- ): P. Ku. karuā ʻ spouted water vessel ʼ; N. karuwā ʻ small brass waterpot with a spout ʼ; Bi. karwāʻ pot for pouring water on plaster ʼ; Mth. karwā ʻ waterpot with a spout ʼ, H. karuā. -- Bi. Mth. karnā ʻ earthen vessel for milk or curds ʼ; -- M. karhā m. ʻ waterpot (esp. that used in the marriage ceremony) ʼ.(CDIAL 2781)

<karahi>(B),,<kaRahi>(B) {NI} ``^frying_^pan''. *@. ??VAR. #15491.

<kaRia>(K),,<kaLia>(MP) {ADJ} ``^black; ^dirty''. *Sad.<kArIya>, H.<kala>, O.<kOLa>, Sk.<kalA>. %16461. #16341. <kaLia-rai>(P) {ADJ} ``^spotted''. |<-rai> ??. %15982. #15872.

<kaLia-mOD>(M) {NB} ``^pupil (of ^eye)''. |<-moD> `eye'. %10174. #10094.

G. garāḍ, °ḍɔ m. ʻ pit, ditch ʼ (< *graḍḍa -- < *garda -- ?);*gaḍḍa1 ʻ hole, pit ʼ. [G. < *garda -- ? -- Cf. *gaḍḍ -- 1 and list s.v. kartá -- 1] Pk. gaḍḍa -- m. ʻ hole ʼ; WPah. bhal. cur. gaḍḍ f., paṅ. gaḍḍṛī, pāḍ. gaḍōṛ ʻ river, stream ʼ; N. gaṛ -- tir ʻ bank of a river ʼ; A. gārā ʻ deep hole ʼ; B. gāṛ, °ṛāʻ hollow, pit ʼ; Or. gāṛa ʻ hole, cave ʼ, gāṛiā ʻ pond ʼ; Mth. gāṛi ʻ piercing ʼ; H. gāṛā m. ʻ hole ʼ; Si. gaḍaya ʻ ditch ʼ. -- Cf. S. giḍ̠i f. ʻ hole in the ground for fire during Muharram ʼ. -- X khānĭ̄ -- : K. gān m. ʻ underground room ʼ; S. (LM 323) gāṇ f. ʻ mine, hole for keeping water ʼ; L. gāṇ m. ʻ small embanked field within a field to keep water in ʼ; G. gāṇ f. ʻ mine, cellar ʼ; M. gāṇ f. ʻ cavity containing water on a raised piece of land ʼ (LM 323 < gáhana -- ).WPah.kṭg. gāṛ ʻ hole (e.g. after a knot in wood) ʼ.(CDIAL 3981) gaḍa1 m. ʻ ditch ʼ lex. [Cf. *gaḍḍa -- 1 and list s.v. kartá -- 1]Pk. gaḍa -- n. ʻ hole ʼ; Paš. gaṛu ʻ dike ʼ; Kho. (Lor.) gōḷ ʻ hole, small dry ravine ʼ; A. garā ʻ high bank ʼ; B. gaṛ ʻ ditch, hole in a husking machine ʼ; Or.gaṛa ʻ ditch, moat ʼ; M. gaḷ f. ʻ hole in the game of marbles ʼ.(CDIAL 3967)

káraṇḍa1 m.n. ʻ basket ʼ BhP., °ḍaka -- m., °ḍī -- f. lex.Pa. karaṇḍa -- m.n., °aka -- m. ʻ wickerwork box ʼ, Pk. karaṁḍa -- , °aya -- m. ʻ basket ʼ, °ḍī -- , °ḍiyā -- f. ʻ small do. ʼ; K. kranḍa m. ʻ large covered trunk ʼ, kronḍu m. ʻ basket of withies for grain ʼ, krünḍü f. ʻ large basket of withies ʼ; Ku. kaṇḍo ʻ basket ʼ; N. kaṇḍi ʻ basket -- like conveyance ʼ; A. karṇi ʻ open clothes basket ʼ; H. kaṇḍī f. ʻ long deep basket ʼ; G. karãḍɔ m. ʻ wicker or metal box ʼ, kãḍiyɔ m. ʻ cane or bamboo box ʼ; M. karãḍ m. ʻ bamboo basket ʼ,°ḍā m. ʻ covered bamboo basket, metal box ʼ, °ḍī f. ʻ small do. ʼ; Si. karan̆ḍuva ʻ small box or casket ʼ. -- Deriv. G. kãḍī m. ʻ snake -- charmer who carries his snakes in a wicker basket ʼ.(CDIAL 2792)

खरड (p. 197) [ kharaḍa ] f (खरडणें) A hurriedly written or drawn piece; a scrawl; a mere tracing or rude sketch. 2 Vehement reviling or abusing. v काढ g. of o. निघ g. of s. 3 The ashes and earth which gather about an ingot of metal during its formation. So called because to be detached they must be scraped off.खरडघाशा (p. 197) [ kharaḍaghāśā ] m (खरड & घासणें) A term of abuse for a bad writer, barber, carpenter &c.; quill-driver, scraper, chips.खरडणें (p. 197) [ 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 (p. 197) [ kharaḍaniśī ] f Scrawling, scribbling, bad writing.खरडनीस (p. 197) [ kharaḍanīsa ] c खरडनिशा a (खरड & P) A scrawler or bad writer. खरडपट्टी (p. 197) [ kharaḍapaṭṭī ] f (See under पट्टी) Vehement reviling, abusing, scolding, rating, vociferous vituperation. v काढ, निघ, g. of o. or s. 2 Inflicting a loss or damage upon. v काढ, निघ g. of o. or s. खरडा (p. 197) [ kharaḍā ] m (खरडणें) Scrapings (as from a culinary utensil). 2 Bruised or coarsely broken peppercorns &c.: a mass of bruised मेथ्या &c. 3 also खरडें n A scrawl; a memorandum-scrap; a foul, blotted, interlined piece of writing. 4 also खरडें n A rude sketch; a rough draught; a foul copy; a waste-book; a day-book; a note-book. 5 A spotted and rough and ill-shaped pearl: also the roughness or knobbiness of such pearls. 6 A variety of musk-melon. 7 Heat in stomach and bowels during small-pox, measles &c. 8 A leopard. 9 C Small but full heads of rice. 10 Grass so short as to require grubbing or rubbing up. 11 A medicament consisting of levigated or pounded (nutmeg, or anise-seed, or मुरडशेंगा &c.) fried in clarified butter. It is given to check diarrhœa. 12 Reduced state, i. e. such scantiness as to demand scraping. v लाग, पड. Ex. पाण्याचा ख0 लागला or पडला The water (of the well &c.) is so scanty that it must be scraped up (with a नरेटी &c.) धान्याला ख0 लागला; पैक्याला ख0 लागला. खरडें घासणें To fag at the desk; to drive the quill. 2 (With implication of indifference.) To write: answering to To pen it; to scribble away &c.खरडी (p. 197) [ kharaḍī ] f (खरडणें) Vehement and coarse scolding or abusing. v काढ g. of o. v निघ g. of s. 2 A sort of drum. 3 A fibre of काथा (fibrous integuments of the cocoanut).खरड्या (p. 197) [ kharaḍyā ] a (खरडणें) That writes or shaves rudely and roughly; a mere quill-driver; a very scraper.(Marathi. Molesworth)

karaṭa1 m. ʻ crow ʼ BhP., °aka -- m. lex. [Cf. karaṭu -- , karkaṭu -- m. ʻ Numidian crane ʼ, karēṭu -- , °ēṭavya -- , °ēḍuka -- m. lex., karaṇḍa2 -- m. ʻ duck ʼ lex: see kāraṇḍava -- ]
Pk. karaḍa -- m. ʻ crow ʼ, °ḍā -- f. ʻ a partic. kind of bird ʼ; S. karaṛa -- ḍhī˜gu m. ʻ a very large aquatic bird ʼ; L. karṛā m., °ṛī f. ʻ the common teal ʼ.(CDIAL 2787) करढोंक or की (p. 137) [ karaḍhōṅka or kī ] m करडोक m A kind of crane or heron.(Marathi) கரடம் karaṭam

, n. < karaṭa. 1. Crow; காக்கை. (பிங்.)கரண்டம் karaṇṭam, n. < karaṇḍa. 1. Water-crow, coot; நீர்க்காக்கை. கரண்டமாடு பொய் கை (திவ். திருச்சந்த. 62)(Tamil)

karaṭa2 m. ʻ Carthamus tinctorius ʼ lex.Pk. karaḍa -- m. ʻ safflower ʼ, °ḍā -- f. ʻ a tree like the karañja ʼ; M. karḍī, °ḍaī f. ʻ safflower, Carthamus tinctorius and its seed ʼ.(CDIAL 2788)
*karaṭataila ʻ oil of safflower ʼ. [karaṭa -- 2, tailá -- ] M. karḍel n. ʻ oil from the seed of safflower ʼ.(CDIAL 2789). करडई (p. 137) [ karaḍī ] f Safflower, Carthamus. 2 Its seed.करडकूट (p. 137) [ karaḍakūṭa ] n (करडई & कूट) करडगूळ n (करडई & गुळीं) Chaff of करडई or Carthamus. करडी (p. 137) [ karaḍī ] f (See करडई) Safflower: also its seed.(Marathi)

करडणें or करंडणें (p. 137) [ karaḍaṇē or ṅkaraṇḍaṇēṃ ] v c To gnaw or nibble; to wear away by biting.(Marathi)

2790 káraṇa n. ʻ act, deed ʼ RV. [√kr̥1]Pa. karaṇa -- n. ʻ doing ʼ; NiDoc. karana, kaṁraṁna ʻ work ʼ; Pk. karaṇa -- n. ʻ instrument ʼ; N. dan -- karnu ʻ toothpick ʼ, kan -- karnu ʻ ear -- pick ʼ; B.karnā, kannā ʻ work, duty ʼ; M. karṇẽ n. ʻ action, deed ʼ; Si. karaṇa ʻ occupation, trade, copulation ʼ; -- P. karnī f. ʻ mason's trowel ʼ (B. D. Jain PhonPj 116 < karaṇḍa -- ); H. karnī f. ʻ mason's trowel ʼ, M. karṇī f.

karaṇīya 2791 karaṇīya ʻ to be done ʼ MBh. [Cf. karaṇi -- f. ʻ action ʼ Bālar., Pk. karaṇi -- f.: √kr̥1]
Pa. karaṇīya -- n. ʻ duty, business ʼ, Pk. karaṇīa -- , °ṇijja -- ; S. karṇī f. ʻ work, act ʼ, P. karnī f., Ku. karṇī; N. karni ʻ act, exp. the sexual act ʼ; Or. karaṇī ʻ work, authority ʼ; H. karnī f. ʻ act ʼ, G. karṇī f.; M. karṇī f. ʻ incantation ʼ.
Addenda: karaṇīya -- : WPak.kṭg. kɔrni f. ʻ act, action ʼ.

káraṇḍa 2792 káraṇḍa1 m.n. ʻ basket ʼ BhP., °ḍaka -- m., °ḍī -- f. lex.
Pa. karaṇḍa -- m.n., °aka -- m. ʻ wickerwork box ʼ, Pk. karaṁḍa -- , °aya -- m. ʻ basket ʼ, °ḍī -- , °ḍiyā -- f. ʻ small do. ʼ; K. kranḍa m. ʻ large covered trunk ʼ,kronḍu m. ʻ basket of withies for grain ʼ, krünḍü f. ʻ large basket of withies ʼ; Ku. kaṇḍo ʻ basket ʼ; N. kaṇḍi ʻ basket -- like conveyance ʼ; A. karṇi ʻ open clothes basket ʼ; H. kaṇḍī f. ʻ long deep basket ʼ; G. karãḍɔ m. ʻ wicker or metal box ʼ, kãḍiyɔ m. ʻ cane or bamboo box ʼ; M. karãḍ m. ʻ bamboo basket ʼ, °ḍām. ʻ covered bamboo basket, metal box ʼ, °ḍī f. ʻ small do. ʼ; Si. karan̆ḍuva ʻ small box or casket ʼ. -- Deriv. G. kãḍī m. ʻ snake -- charmer who carries his snakes in a wicker basket ʼ.
karaṇḍa -- 2 ʻ duck ʼ see karaṭa -- 1, kāraṇḍava -- .

கரண்டகம் karaṇṭakam , n. < karaṇḍaka. 1. Basket made of plaited coconut-leaves for carrying flowers for divine worship; தென்னை ஓலையால் முடைந்த பூக்குடலை. கரண்டகநீர் தரியாபோல் (ஞானவா. வைராக். 74). 2. Small metal box for keeping quicklime to be used with betel; சுண் ணாம்புச்செப்பு. Colloq.கரண்டம் karaṇṭam (Tamil) , n. < karaṇḍa. Jewel-box; அணி கலச்செப்பு. (பிங்.) Spoon, ladle; கரண்டி. (பிங்.) 4. Water-vessel used by ascetics; கமண்டலம். (அக. நி.)

கரண்டை¹ karaṇṭai. A mode in the flight of birds; பறவையின் கதிவிசேடம். (காசிக. திரிலோ. 6.).(Tamil)

karaṇḍa 2793 karaṇḍa3 ʻ Pistia stratiotes ʼ lex.
M. karaḍ āḍuḷsā m. ʻ a species of Justicia picta ʼ.

Pistia is a genus of aquatic plant in the arum family, Araceae. The single species it comprises, Pistia stratiotes, is often called water cabbage, water lettuce, Nile cabbage, or shellflower.

karatala 2794 karatala m. ʻ palm of hand ʼ R. [kará -- 1, tala -- ]Pa. karatala -- m.; OG. karayala ʻ hand ʼ.

karapattra 2795 karapattra n. ʻ saw ʼ Suśr., °aka -- n. lex. 2. *kara- parṇa -- . [By pop. etym. from kará1 -- and páttra -- (and parṇá -- ) EWA i 164 who connects with krakaca -- , krakara -- , Pa. khara -- , Pk. karakaya -- ʻ saw ʼ perh. ← Drav. T. Burrow TPS 1945, 96]1. Pk. karapatta -- n., S. karṭu m. (dissim. < *karṭru), L. kalvattar m., °trī f., awāṇ. kalvatrī f.; P. karvattar, °vat m. ʻ large iron blade for cutting a man in two ʼ; WPah. bhal. karoṭḷi f. ʻ small saw ʼ; N. karaũti, °rāti ʻ saw ʼ, A. karat, B. karāt; Or. karata ʻ saw ʼ, karāta ʻ goldsmith's saw ʼ; OAw. karavata m. ʻ saw ʼ; H. karaut, °tā, karã̄t m. ʻ saw ʼ, karautī f. ʻ small do. ʼ, OMarw. karavata m., G. karvat n., °vatī f., M. karvat m., °tī f., Si. karavata. -- Deriv. B. karātī ʻ sawyer ʼ, Or. karatī, H. karã̄tī m., G. karvatiyɔ m.; -- Or. karatibā ʻ to saw ʼ, M. karvatṇẽ.

2. Si. karavan ʻ saw ʼ.

2796 karapāla m. ʻ sword ʼ, °aka -- m., °ikā -- f. lex., karavāla -- , °aka -- , karabāla -- m. [At least by pop. etym. from kará -- 1, pālá -- cf. *bhujapāla EWA i 165]
Pa. karapālikā -- f. ʻ wooden sword, cudgel ʼ; Pk. karavāla -- m. ʻ sword ʼ; Bi. karuār ʻ paddle ʼ; H. karwāl, karuār, karwār, °rā m. ʻ oar, rudder, sword ʼ; G.karvāl f., °lũ n. ʻ sword ʼ with l, not ḷ.

39 akṣavāṭa -- , -- pāṭa -- m. ʻ wrestling ground ʼ lex. [lit. ʻ fence of poles ʼ or ʻ dicing ground ʼ ? -- akṣa -- 1 or 2, vāṭa -- 1]Pa. akkhavāṭa -- m. ʻ fence round wrestling arena ʼ; Pk. akkhavāḍaga -- m. ʻ wrestling ground ʼ, akkhāḍaga -- , °aya<-> m. ʻ dicing ground ʼ; L. mult.akhāṛhā, khāṛ(h)ā m. ʻ wrestling ground, place where indigo is dried, cattletrack through waste land ʼ; awāṇ. khāṛā m. ʻ wrestling ground ʼ, P. akāṛhā, °ṛā,kāṛhā, °ṛā m.; A. ākharā ʻ practising dancing and singing ʼ; B. ākhaṛā ʻ wrestling ground ʼ, ākhaṛāi ʻ rehearsal ʼ; Or. ākhaṛā ʻ meeting place for dancing and singing ʼ; H. akhāṛā m. ʻ wrestling ground ʼ (→ K. akahār m., N. akhāṛā, M. akhāḍā m.); G. ākhāṛɔ, akh° m. ʻ wrestling place, monastery ʼ.S.kcch. ākhāṛo m. ʻ gymnasium ʼ.

kárṇa m. ʻ ear, handle of a vessel ʼ RV., ʻ end, tip (?) ʼ RV. ii 34, 3. [Cf. *kāra -- 6]
Pa. kaṇṇa -- m. ʻ ear, angle, tip ʼ; Pk. kaṇṇa -- , °aḍaya<-> m. ʻ ear ʼ, Gy. as. pal. eur. kan m., Ash. (Trumpp) karna NTS ii 261, Niṅg. kō̃, Woṭ. kanə, Tir.kana; Paš. kan, kaṇ(ḍ) -- ʻ orifice of ear ʼ IIFL iii 3, 93; Shum. kō̃ṛ ʻ ear ʼ, Woṭ. kan m., Kal. (LSI) kuṛō̃, rumb. kuŕũ, urt. kŕãdotdot; (< *kaṇ), Bshk. kan, Tor.k*lṇ, Kand. kōṇi, Mai. kaṇa, ky. kān, Phal. kāṇ, Sh. gil. ko̯n pl. ko̯ṇí m. (→ Ḍ kon pl. k*lṇa), koh. kuṇ, pales. kuāṇə, K. kan m., kash. pog. ḍoḍ. kann, S. kanum., L. kann m., awāṇ. khet. kan, P. WPah. bhad. bhal. cam. kann m., Ku. gng. N. kān; A. kāṇ ʻ ear, rim of vessel, edge of river ʼ; B. kāṇ ʻ ear ʼ, Or. kāna, Mth. Bhoj. Aw. lakh. H. kān m., OMarw. kāna m., G. M. kān m., Ko. kānu m., Si. kaṇa, kana. -- As adverb and postposition (ápi kárṇē ʻ from behind ʼ RV.,karṇē ʻ aside ʼ Kālid.): Pa. kaṇṇē ʻ at one's ear, in a whisper ʼ; Wg. ken ʻ to ʼ NTS ii 279; Tir. kõ ʻ on ʼ AO xii 181 with (?); Paš. kan ʻ to ʼ; K. kȧni with abl. ʻ at, near, through ʼ, kani with abl. or dat. ʻ on ʼ, kun with dat. ʻ toward ʼ; S. kani ʻ near ʼ, kanã̄ ʻ from ʼ; L. kan ʻ toward ʼ, kannũ ʻ from ʼ, kanne ʻ with ʼ, khet.kan, P. ḍog. kanē ʻ with, near ʼ; WPah. bhal. k*lṇ, °ṇi, keṇ, °ṇi with obl. ʻ with, near ʼ, kiṇ, °ṇiã̄, k*lṇiã̄, keṇ° with obl. ʻ from ʼ; Ku. kan ʻ to, for ʼ; N. kana ʻ for, to, with ʼ; H.kane, °ni, kan with ke ʻ near ʼ; OMarw. kanai ʻ near ʼ, kanã̄ sā ʻ from near ʼ, kã̄nī˜ ʻ towards ʼ; G. kane ʻ beside ʼ.kárṇaka -- , kárṇikā -- , karṇín -- ; karṇakaṇḍū -- , *karṇakāṣṭhaka -- , *karṇakīla -- , karṇadhāra -- , karṇapattraka -- , karṇapuṭa -- , *karṇapuṣya -- , *karṇamarda -- , karṇamūla -- , *karṇavaṭikā -- , karṇavēdha -- , *karṇavyādhikā -- , karṇaśūlá -- , *karṇasphōṭikā -- , *karṇākṣi -- ; ākarṇayati, utkarṇa -- ; ajakarṇa -- , gōkarṇa -- , catuṣkarṇa -- , lambakarṇa -- . S.kcch. kann m. ʻ ear ʼ, WPah.kṭg. (kc.) kān, poet. kanṛu m. ʻ ear ʼ, kṭg. kanni f. ʻ pounding -- hole in barn floor ʼ; J. kā'n m. ʻ ear ʼ, Garh. kān; Md. kan -- in kan -- fat ʻ ear ʼ (CDIAL 2830)

kárṇaka m. ʻ projection on the side of a vessel, handle ʼ ŚBr. [kárṇa -- ] Pa. kaṇṇaka -- ʻ having ears or corners ʼ; Wg. kaṇə ʻ ear -- ring ʼ NTS xvii 266; S. kano m. ʻ rim, border ʼ; P. kannā m. ʻ obtuse angle of a kite ʼ (→ H. kannām. ʻ edge, rim, handle ʼ); N. kānu ʻ end of a rope for supporting a burden ʼ; B. kāṇā ʻ brim of a cup ʼ, G. kānɔ m.; M. kānā m. ʻ touch -- hole of a gun ʼ.(CDIAL 2831)

kárṇikā f. ʻ round protuberance ʼ Suśr., ʻ pericarp of a lotus ʼ MBh., ʻ ear -- ring ʼ Kathās. [kárṇa -- ]Pa. kaṇṇikā -- f. ʻ ear ornament, pericarp of lotus, corner of upper story, sheaf in form of a pinnacle ʼ; Pk. kaṇṇiā -- f. ʻ corner, pericarp of lotus ʼ; Paš. kanīˊ ʻ corner ʼ; S. kanī f. ʻ border ʼ, L. P. kannī f. (→ H. kannī f.); WPah. bhal. kanni f. ʻ yarn used for the border of cloth in weaving ʼ; B. kāṇī ʻ ornamental swelling out in a vessel ʼ, Or. kānī ʻ corner of a cloth ʼ; H. kaniyã̄ f. ʻ lap ʼ; G. kānī f. ʻ border of a garment tucked up ʼ; M. kānī f. ʻ loop of a tie -- rope ʼ; Si.käni, kän ʻ sheaf in the form of a pinnacle, housetop ʼ.(CDIAL 2849)

karṇadhāra m. ʻ helmsman ʼ Suśr. [kárṇa -- , dhāra -- 1]Pa. kaṇṇadhāra -- m. ʻ helmsman ʼ; Pk. kaṇṇahāra -- m. ʻ helmsman, sailor ʼ; H. kanahār m. ʻ helmsman, fisherman ʼ.(CDIAL 2836)

kṣārá1 ʻ corrosive ʼ R., m. ʻ alkali ʼ Yājñ., n. ʻ any cor- rosive substance ʼ lex. [NIA. ch forms mean ʻ ashes ʼ, kh forms mostly ʻ alkali ʼ. -- ~jhāla -- 2: √kṣai]Pa. khāra -- m. ʻ alkali, potash ʼ, °raka -- ʻ sharp or dry ʼ, °rika -- ʻ alkaline ʼ; Pk. khāra -- ʻ biting, alkaline ʼ, khāra -- , chāra -- , °aya m. ʻ alkali, ashes ʼ; Gy. eur. čar, SEeur. čhar ʻ ashes ʼ, rum. čar ʻ sand ʼ, as. čar ʻ dust ʼ; Tir. čār ʻ earth, dust ʼ, K. khāra ʻ saline ʼ ← Ind.; S. khāru f. ʻ alkali ʼ, °ro ʻ brackish ʼ,chāru f. ʻ ashes ʼ (gender after vārī ʻ sand ʼ?); L. khār f. ʻ potash, the plant Salsola griffithsii (from which it is made) ʼ, °rā ʻ brackish ʼ; P. khār m. ʻ alkali ʼ,°rā ʻ brackish ʼ; P. WPah. jaun. Ku. chār m. ʻ ashes ʼ; Ku. gng. khār ʻ anger, ashes ʼ; N. khār ʻ alkali, pungent fumes from burning ghee ʼ, chār ʻ pungent fumes ʼ; A. khār ʻ potash ʼ, sār -- khār ʻ destroyed ʼ; B. khālāṛi ʻ salt factory ʼ, chār ʻ ashes ʼ, chār -- khār ʻ reduced to ashes, destroyed ʼ; Or. khāra ʻ potash, ashes of dried bark, ashes ʼ, khāri, °riā ʻ saline ʼ, chāra -- khāra ʻ reduced to ashes ʼ; Bi. khārī ʻ land impregnated with sodium sulphate ʼ, Mth. kharwā ʻ id. ʼ, khariā ʻ saline ʼ, chāro ʻ weeds burnt as manure ʼ; Bhoj. khār ʻ caustic alkali ʼ, chār ʻ ashes ʼ; OAw. khārā ʻ bitter ʼ, chāra f. ʻ ashes ʼ; H. khār m. ʻ alkali, saltness ʼ, °rā, °rī, °rū ʻ alkaline ʼ, °rī f. ʻ salt water ʼ, chār ʻ caustic ʼ, f. ʻ alkali, ashes ʼ, chārā m. ʻ id. ʼ, non -- chār m. ʻ brine ʼ; Marw. khāro ʻ bitter ʼ; OG.khāra m. ʻ envy ʼ, G. khār m. ʻ salt ʼ, °rũ ʻ saline ʼ, °rɔ m. ʻ carbonate of soda ʼ, °rī f. ʻ salt (from boiling sea -- water) ʼ; M. khār m. ʻ alkali ʼ, °rā ʻ saline ʼ; Ko. khāru ʻ salt ʼ; Si. kara ʻ salt (of water), infertile (of land) ʼ. -- X khára -- 2 q.v.
*kṣārakūṭa -- , *kṣāradhānikā -- , *kṣāramr̥tti -- ; *utkṣāra -- ; ṭaṅkaṇakṣāra -- , yavakṣāra -- .
Addenda: kṣārá -- 1: S.kcch. khāro m. ʻ saline earth (for washing clothes) ʼ, adj. ʻ salty, pungent, bitter ʼ; WPah.kṭg. ċhāˊr m. ʻ ashes ʼ, J. chā'r f., Garh.khāru, chār ← H.; <-> OP. pāchāru m. ʻ dust under the feet ʼ (< *pādakṣāra -- ) C. Shackle.(CDIAL 3674).

khaḍaka ʻ *erect ʼ, m. ʻ bolt, post ʼ KātyŚr. 2. *khaḍati ʻ stands ʼ. 3. *khāḍayati ʻ makes stand ʼ. [Cf. khadáti ʻ is firm ʼ Dhātup.] and *khalati2 1. K. khoru ʻ standing ʼ, ḍoḍ. khaṛo ʻ up ʼ, pog. khaṛkhuṛ ʻ erect ʼ; S. khaṛo ʻ standing erect ʼ, P. khaṛā, WPah. paṅ. khaṛā, bhad. khaṛo, Or. B. khāṛā, H.khaṛā (→ N. khaṛā), Marw. khaṛo, G. khaṛũ; M. khaḍā ʻ standing, constant ʼ.

2. K. pog. khaṛnu ʻ to stand ʼ, rām. khaṛōnu, ḍoḍ. khaṛōnō; WPah. bhal. caus. khaṛēṇu ʻ to fix ʼ; -- G. khaṛakvũ ʻ to make a heap ʼ. 3. K. khārun ʻ to make ascend, lift up ʼ.*khaḍati ʻ stands ʼ see khaḍaka -- .Addenda: khaḍaka -- : WPah.kṭg. khɔ́ṛɔ ʻ erect, upright ʼ; khɔ́ṛhnõ, kc. khɔṛiṇo ʻ to stand, rise ʼ, J. khaṛuwṇu.(CDIAL 3784)

khaḍū1 m. ʻ bier ʼ lex. 2. khaṭṭi -- m. lex. [Cf. kháṭvā -- ] 1. B. khaṛu ʻ bier ʼ.2. B. khāṭi ʻ bier ʼ, Or. khāṭa.(CDIAL 3785)

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.OA. bhāthi ʻ bellows ʼ AFD 206.(CDIAL 9424)

*pratikkhara ʻ harsh against ʼ. [khara -- 2 with anal. -- kkh -]

Pk. paḍikkhara -- ʻ cruel ʼ; M. paḍkhar ʻ rude ʼ (LM 361 with misprint paḍikkhāra

wrongly < *pratikṣāra -- ).(CDIAL 8549) prakṣara m. ʻ iron armour for horse or elephant ʼ lex., pra(k) khara -- m. lex. [Sanskritization of MIA. pakkhara<-> < *praskara -- , cf.prakīrṇa -- m. ʻ horse ʼ lex. (< ʻ saddled, accoutred ʼ?); LM 364 < upaskara -- . -- √kr̥1]Pa. pakkhara -- m. ʻ bordering or trimming (of a carriage) ʼ; Pk. pakkhara -- m., °rā -- f. ʻ horse -- armour ʼ; S. pakhara f. ʻ dress given by faqir to layman ʼ; H. pākhar m. ʻ armour for elephant or horse ʼ (→ P. L. pākhar m. ʻ saddle with its gear ʼ); G. pākhar f. ʻ net of flowers for bed -- cover, horse -- armour ʼ (whence pākhariyɔ m. ʻ a species of horse ʼ); M. pākhar f. ʻ caparison of a horse ʼ.(CDIAL 8452)

*kharabhaka ʻ hare ʼ. [ʻ longeared like a donkey ʼ: khara -- 1?]N. kharāyo ʻ hare ʼ, Or. kharā, °riā, kherihā, Mth. kharehā, H. kharahā m(CDIAL 3823) ``^rabbit'':Sa. kulai `rabbit'.Mu. kulai `rabbit'.KW kulai @(M063)

The casting of the bronze drums of Dong Son is a complex process requiring high order of techniques and artistic skills.

It was first necessary to produce a hollow clay core to minimise weight and ease its manipulation.

Separate clay pattern moulds would then be prepared, circular for the tympanum and rectangular for sections of the mantle.

The surface of the clay received ornamentation in more than one way. It could be impressed with a patterned old to create the panels of geometric ornament, or for more individual motifs or decorative elements, it could be incised with a stylus.

This pattern old would then have been filled with molten wax, such that the wax filled and duplicated the chosen decor.

It would then have been necessary to transfer the sheets of cooled wax to the clay core, having first place the bronze spacers strategically into the wax until they reach the surface of the pattern old.

This procedure resulted, in effect, a wax drum over a clay core.

Investment of the wax in a layer of very fine clay followed before the assemblage was covered in a coarse clay coat. It was then necessary to melt out the wax, and preheat the clay old. The critical point was then reached for the pour, in the case of larger examples, of nearly 100 kg of molten bronze into the conduits to reproduce in metal the wax image of the drum.

References: The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia, Charles Higham, 1996

http://www.viettouch.com/pre-hist/dongson_casting.html

In contrast to most other drums of the Dong Son, the tympanum bears three concentric panels, which depict animals or humans, interleaved with bands of geometric or circular patterns. The innermost panel appears to be a self-referencing depiction, as it is decorated with pictures of humans who appear to be performing a ceremony involving the drums themselves. Other musical instruments and rice growing and harvesting activities are also shown. The two outer panels are decorated with scenes of deer, hornbills and crane egrets.

The inner panel repeats itself, despite the presence of minor variations. The scenes are the subject of multiple interpretations, but a prominent motif is that of a row of figures who appear to be male. They are plumed, and led by a man holding a spear that is directed towards the ground. He is followed in the line by five more men, at least two of whom appear to playing musical instruments. One appears to be playing a khen and either cymbals or bells, while another holds a wand-like object in his left hand. The men are wearing a type of kilt and highly feathered headgear, which includes a figure in the shape of a bird's head.

There is also a scene where one standing person and three seated people are brandishing long poles that appear to be used to strike a row of drums placed in front of them. This scene is repeated with a few variations. In one scene the drums are all of identical size, while in the others their sizes are sequenced. One percussionist uses one striking device, while another uses two for each hand. There are further variations of this scene with seated and standing percussionists.Ahead of the leader, there is some sort of a structure that is supported by stilts with either decorated timber walls or some sort of streamers held at the eaves. A board of gongs is being percussed by a person wearing a kilt, but is not wearing a feathered headdress. Three people depicted beyond the house also do not have any headwear, with two having long hair and another with bun-tied hair. Two of the people are depicted threshing rice with a pole ornamented with feathers, while the other is shooing away a hornbill. A house is depicted beyond them which has decorated posts erected at a sharp angle, close to vertical, which is decorated with what appears to be feathers or streamers. The ends of the gables are further decorated with birds' heads. There are three people depicted inside the house, possibly playing percussion instruments.

Archaeologists are agreed that the scene is likely to depict a festival or ritual of some kind, with the musicians appearing to be part of a parade. The feathered men contrast with those depicted in the house, who have unkempt hair and appear to be female. The decoration on the mantle of the drum depicts plumed warriors in a procession of elegant pirogues with decorated timbers. Birds' heads are found on their headgear, the ends of their water transport vessels and even the rudder. (Higham, Charles (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge World Archaeology, p.124)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%E1%BB%8Dc_L%C5%A9_drum

Bronze figurine, Đông Sơn culture, 500 BC-300 AD. Thailand.

Annex A: Excerpt from Le Minh Kha's SE Asian History Blog

Sexual Intercourse, Water Buffalos, Elephants, Daggers

and Đông Sơn Culture

10 jan 15

So I visited the History Museum in Hanoi a few weeks ago where they currently have a small (but wonderful) exhibit marking 70 years since the discovery of the first Đông Sơn artifacts.

On the one hand, it was fantastic to be able to stand next to a bronze drum and to examine it closely.

On the other hand, as I looked closely at some of the artifacts on display, I felt as if I had been betrayed by the scholars who have written about Đông Sơn culture, as there is obviously so much more to say about Đông Sơn culture than scholars have discussed to date.

For instance, while apparently some scholars have noted that there are images of people engaging in sexual intercourse on some Đông Sơn bronze artifacts, I never realized that those images were on burial jars.

This is incredibly significant because this links the Đông Sơn culture to a larger (non-Việt) world, as in as late as the twentieth century (and perhaps today as well) Austronesian-language speakers like the Jarai placed similar images on their tombs.

Another image that surprised me was the presence of water buffalo on bronze drums.

A great deal has been written about the images of birds on bronze drums, and numerous Vietnamese scholars have argued that these birds represent the “totem” of the “Lạc” people, a people whom Vietnamese scholars claim were the original inhabitants of the Red River delta. But there are water buffalo on bronze drums too, so why don’t people talk about the water buffalo as a totem of the “Lạc” people?

I was also surprised to find beautiful bells.

The elephant image on this bell is exquisite.

The Chinese characters on this bell, meanwhile, lead to interesting questions.

As Han Xiaorong pointed out years ago, Vietnamese and Chinese scholars have spent much of the past half century claiming that the bronze drums (and by extension, Đông Sơn culture) were “Vietnamese” or “Chinese” (“Who Invented the Bronze Drum? Nationalism, Politics, and a Sino-Vietnamese Archaeological Debate of the 1970s and 1980s,” Asian Perspectives, 43.1 (2004): 7-33.). The historical reality, however does not match current national borders.

The couple engaging in sexual intercourse on a funerary jar, the water buffalo, the elephant, and Chinese writing all indicate this. Instead, what we find on bronze objects in the area stretching from the Yangzi to the Cả River is evidence of an elite cultural world where members of the elite across this vast region interacted and exchanged objects (and perhaps ideas) with each other.

This article by Wei Weiyan, Shiung Chung-Ching- “Viet Khe Burial 2: Identifying the Exotic Bronze Wares and Assessing Cultural Contact between the Dong Son and Yue Cultures,” Asian Archaeology 2 (2014): 77-92 – makes this point.

These authors find that there are objects in a tomb in an area near what is today Hải Phòng that clearly came from areas to the north, but that one can also find a dagger like those in the images above and below that was representative of the Đông Sơn culture that has been found in a tomb in Hunan.

So what all of this indicates is that there was a world in the first millennium BC that was sophisticated, but which was neither “Vietnamese” nor “Chinese” and which was not the “origin” of “Vietnamese” or “Chinese” history.

It is a past world that has disappeared. While we can never fully recover that past world, we can still learn a lot about it if we put aside the need to find “Vietnamese” or “Chinese” history at this time, and if we just look at the water buffalos, the elephants, the daggers and the people engaging in sexual intercourse on their own terms. See Annex A: Excerpt from Le Minh Kha's SE Asian History Blog which discusses the presence of buffalo, elephant and explicit sexual intercourse hieroglyphs which are also explained in the context of Meluhha metalwork catalogs of Indus Script Corpora.

https://leminhkhai.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/sexual-intercourse-water-buffalos-elephants-daggers-and-dong-son-culture/

Annex B: New Light On A Forgotten Past By Wilhelm G. Solheim II, Ph.D. Professor Of Anthropology, University Of Hawaii Posted on 25 Oct 2007

[quote]Migrating Peoples and "Waves of Culture"

For purposes of prehistory, what we usually think of as Southeast Asia must be expanded somewhat to include related cultures. Prehistoric Southeast Asia, as I use the term, consists of two parts. The first is "Mainland Southeast Asia," which extends from the Ch'in Ling Mountains, north of the Yangtze River in China, to Singapore, and from the South China Sea westward through Burma into Assam. The other I call "Island Southeast Asia," an are from the Andaman Islands, south of Burma, around to Taiwan, including Indonesia and the Philippines...

Robert Heine-Geldern, an Austrian anthropologist, published in 1932 the traditional outline of Southeast Asian prehistory. He suggested a series of "waves of culture" that is, human migrations--which brought to Southeast Asia the major peoples who are found there today.

His most important wave --people who made a rectangular stone tool called an adz-- came from northern China into Southeast Asia, he said, and spread from there through the Malay Peninsula into Sumatra and Java, and then to Borneo, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan.

Later, Heine-Geldern dealt with the coming of bronze to Southeast Asia. He theorized that the original source of the Southeast Asian Bronze Age was a migration from eastern Europe about 1000 B.C. The people in this migration, he believed, moved east and south, entering China during the Western Chou Dynasty (1122-771 B.C.). They carried with them not only a knowledge of bronze working but also a new art form. That is, they decorated their bronze with geometric patterns, spirals, triangles, and rectangles, as well as with scenes or pictures of people and animals.

As applied to Southeast Asia, both Heine-Geldern and Bernhard Karlgren, a Swedish scholar, called this culture Dong Son, after Dong Son, a site in North Viet Nam south of Hanoi, where large bronze drums and other artifacts had been unearthed. Both men felt that the Dong Son people brought bronze and the geometric art style into Southeast Asia.

Prehistorians, for the most part, have followed this traditional reconstruction, but there were some facts that did not quite jibe. A few botanists who studied the origins of domesticated plants, for example, suggested that Southeast Asia had been a center of very early plant domestication.
In 1952 Carl Sauer, a U.S. geographer, went a step further. He hypothesized that the first plant domestication in the world took place in Southeast Asia. He speculated that it was brought about by people much earlier than the Dong Son period, people whose primitive culture was known as Hoabinhian. Archeologists did not immediately take up Sauer's theory.

Dams Add an Element of Urgency

The existence of a Hoabinhian culture had first been proposed in the 1920's by Madeleine Colani, a French botanist turned paleontologist and then archeologist. She based the idea on excavations of several cave and rock-shelter sites in North Viet Nam, the first of which was found near the village of Hoa Binh.

Typical artifacts in these sites included oval, circular, or roughly triangular stone tools flaked on only one side, leaving the original surface of the rock on the other. Neat grinding stones were found in most sites, and many stone flakes. Upper levels usually held pottery and a few somewhat different stone tools, with the working end ground to a sharp edge. Animal bones and large quantities of shell were usually present.

Archeologists felt that the pottery was associated accidentally with the Hoabinhian tools and had been made by more advanced people living nearby, possibly farmers who had migrated from the north. They also felt that the edge grinding of the stone tools had been learned from these outsiders. But no sites of tile northern farmers have ever been found.

...

Puzzle Begins to Fit Together

In view of the new excavations and dates I have summarized here, and others, perhaps equally important, that I have not, it is interesting to speculate on how the prehistory of Southeast Asia may someday be reconstructed. In a number of published papers I have made a start on this. Most of the ideas I have proposed must be labeled as hypothesis or conjecture. They need a great deal more research to bear them out--or refute them. Among them are these:

* I agree with Sauer that the first domestication of plants in the world was done by people of the Hoabinhian culture, somewhere in Southeast Asia. It would not surprise me if this had begun as early as 15,000 B.C.E

* I suggest that the earliest dated edge-ground stone tools, found in northern Australia and dated by carbon 14 at about 20,000 B.C.E, are of Hoabinhian origin.

* While the earliest dates for pottery now known are from Japan at about 10,000 B.C., I expect that when more of the Hoabinhian sites with cord-marked pottery are dated, we will find that pottery was being made by these people well before 10,000 B.C.E, and was possibly invented by them.

* The traditional reconstruction of Southeast Asian prehistory has had migrations from the north bringing important developments in technology to Southeast Asia. I suggest instead that the first neolithic (that is, late Stone Age) culture of North China, known as the Yangshao, developed out of a Hoabinhian subculture that moved north from northern Southeast Asia about the sixth or seventh millennium B.C.E

* I suggest that the later so-called Lungshan culture, which supposedly grew from the Yangshao in North China and then exploded to the east and southeast, instead developed in South China and moved northward. Both of these cultures developed out of a Hoabinhian base.

* Dugout canoes had probably been used on the rivers of Southeast Asia long before the fifth millennium B.C. Probably not long before 4000 B.C. the outrigger was invented in Southeast Asia, adding the stability needed to move by sea. I believe that movement out of the area by boat, beginning about 4000 B.C., led to accidental voyages from Southeast Asia to Taiwan and Japan, bringing to Japan tare cultivation and perhaps other crops.

* Sometime during the third millennium B.C. the now-expert boat-using peoples of Southeast Asia were entering the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines. 'They brought with them a geometric art style--spirals and triangles and rectangles in band patterns-that was used in pottery, wood carvings, tattoos, bark cloth, and later woven textiles. These are the same geometric art motifs that were found on Dong Son bronzes and hypothesized to have come from eastern Europe. ? The Southeast Asians also moved west, reaching Madagascar probably around 2,000 years ago. It would appear that they contributed a number of important domesticated plants to the economy of eastern Africa.
* At about the same time, contact began between Viet Nam and the Mediterranean, probably by sea as a result of developing trade. Several unusual bronzes, strongly suggesting eastern Mediterranean origins, have been found at the Dong Son site.

Past May Help to Light Up the Present

The new reconstruction of Southeast Asian prehistory I have presented here is based on data from only a very few sites and a reinterpretation of old data. Other interpretations are possible. Many more well-excavated, welldated sites are needed just to see if this general framework is any closer to what happened than is Heine-Geldern's reconstruction. Burma and Assam are virtually unknown prehistorically, and I suspect that they are of great importance in Southeast Asian prehistory.
Most needed are many more details about small, definable areas. By intensive investigation in a small area, it will be possible to work out the local cultural development and ecological adaptation to see how living people fit in with the framework of prehistory. After all, it is people we want to understand, and this information may give us some insight into their interaction with each other and with their changing world in Southeast Asia.[unquote]

http://www.vlink.com/culture/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1193293707&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&

https://www.scribd.com/doc/264221581/Distribution-of-bronze-drums-of-the-Heger-I-and-Pre-I-types-temporal-changes-and-historical-background-Keiji-Imamura-2010

Distribution of bronze drums of the Heger I and Pre-I types: temporal changes and historical background (Ke...

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Sarasvati creek project, Yamunanagar: water strikes at 7 feet depth

May 6, 2015, 5:22 am

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https://www.scribd.com/doc/264379965/Sarasvati-Creek-Project-News-06-05-20151

Posted at: May 6 2015 12:35AM

Saraswati no more a myth, water strikes at 7-feet depth

Deputy Commissioner SS Phulia and District Development and Panchayat Officer Gagandeep Singh undertake digging work at Mughalwali village on Tuesday. A tribune Photograph

Truth unravelled

The team working on reviving the Saraswati River in Yamunanagar district found strong water current on reaching a depth of seven-feet
Water struck at nine points when the creek of the river was being dug at Mughalwali village
Assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal Gurjar had inaugurated the excavation work of 'Saraswati Revival Project' at Rullaheri village on April 21
The river length in Yamunanagar would be 55 km and would pass through 43 villages.
It is believed that the river passes underground through Kurukshetra, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts before entering Rajasthan and Gujrat.
The project would promote eco-tourism, pilgrimage tourism, water conservation and improve ecological balance

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Yamunanagar, May 5

It was a joyous moment for the team working on reviving the Saraswati River in Yamunanagar district as they found strong water current on reaching a depth of seven-feet today.

This has raised hopes for the entire project, which was receiving criticism from various planks who termed it an RSS ambition.

Assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal Gurjar had inaugurated the excavation work of ‘Saraswati Revival Project’ at Rullaheri village in Yamunanagar district on April 21.

After inauguration, the District Development and Panchayat Department had undertaken digging work in two-and-a-half-km area. Water struck at nine points when the creek of river was being dug at Mughalwali village on Tuesday.

“The water is potable, fresh in taste and sweet,” said Deputy Commissioner SS Phulia, after a visit to the Mughalwali village.

The delighted people of the village offered prayers to Goddess Saraswati and distributed sweets amongst themselves and workers involved in the digging work.

District Development and Panchayat Officer Gagandeep Singh, who is coordinating the Saraswati Revival Project, said the river length in Yamunanagar district would be 55 km.

Earlier, plan was to dig the river till seven feet deep. However, now, they were planning to dig it till 10 feet deep for good natural flow of water. The river would pass through 43 villages of the district.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has already announced Rs 50 crore for this project.

The credit to bring the Saraswati River on ground goes to 88-year-old RSS veteran Darshan Lal Jain. He had formed Saraswati Nidi Sodh Sansthan in 1999 and since then, has been struggling for its revival.

“Some people thought it to be a mythological fantasy but water found at 7-feet -deep in its creek has proved that the Saraswati River is flowing below the earth,” said Darshan Lal Jain.

The river originates from Adi Badri in Yamunanagar. It is believed that the river passes underground through Kurukshetra, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts before entering Rajasthan and Gujrat.

The DC said the project would prove to be a milestone in the development of this area as it would promote eco-tourism, pilgrimage tourism, water conservation and improve ecological balance.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/community/saraswati-no-more-a-myth-water-strikes-at-7-feet-depth/76786.html

http://epaper.bhaskar.com/yamunanagar-bhaskar/139/06052015/cph/1/

http://epaper.amarujala.com/pdf/2015/05/06/20150506a_00113f.pdf

http://epaper.bhaskar.com/yamunanagar-bhaskar/139/06052015/cph/1/

Sarasvati Creek Project News 06.05.20151)

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Lost Sarasvati, Found Sarasvati -- Michel Danino (2012, 2015). What language did Sarasvati's children speak?

May 6, 2015, 6:24 pm

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The background resources, 2 links given below, are topical in the context of opeds by Irfan Habib and Michel Danino:

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/misinterpretations-in-searching-for-saraswati/article7123050.ece (Michel Danino, April 21, 2015)

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/irfan-habib-search-for-mythical-saraswati-river/article7109916.ece (Irfan Habib, April 17, 2015)

Links:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/264449683/The-Lost-River-Michel-Danino-Pioneer-21-10-2012

The Lost River - Michel Danino (Pioneer 21-10-2012)

https://www.scribd.com/doc/264449823/Michel-Danino-Interview-With-Sarika-Sharma-26-04-15-Chandigarh-Edn-Lr

What language did Sarasvati's children speak?

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/04/tracing-meluhha-in-rigveda-and.html Tracing Meluhha in Rigveda and Cuneiform texts of Ancient Near East

cf. On Indus Script and Meluhha: Trilogy, three books published --

Indus Script Cipher -- Hieroglyhphs of Indian Linguistic Area(2010)
Indus Script: Meluhha metalwork hieroglyphs (2014)
Philosophy of Symbolic forms in Meluhha cipher (2014)

Author: S. Kalyanaraman

Publisher: Sarasvai Research Center, Herndon, VA, USA

Michel Danino Interview With Sarika Sharma 26-04-15 (Chandigarh Edn) Lr

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War for Eurasia and ISIS/ISIL -- Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

May 6, 2015, 6:42 pm

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The ISIL is in Ukraine: America’s “Agents of Chaos” Unleashed in Eurasia

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

on 07 May 2015

0 Comment

Is the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/ Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) /Islamic State (IS) /Al-Dawlah Al-Islamiyah fe Al-Iraq wa Al-Sham (DAISH/DAESH) active in post-EuroMaidan Ukraine? The answer is not exact. In other words, the answer is both yes and no.

Then again, what is the ISIS /ISIL /IS /DAISH /DAESH? It is a loosely knit band of militias, just like its predecessor Al-Qaeda. Included in its network are groups from the Caucasus, which have been fighting in Syria and Iraq. Now they are in Ukraine and using it as a steppingstone into Europe.

The Agents of Chaos and the War for Eurasia

The conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen are all fronts in a multi-dimensional war being waged by the US and its allies. This multi-dimensional war aims to encircle Eurasia. China, Iran, and Russia are the main targets.

The US also has an order of operations with which to takeout these countries. Iran is first, followed by Russia, with China as the last part of the Eurasian set comprised of this “Eurasian Triple Entente”. It is no coincidence that the conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen are near the borders of Iran and Russia, because Tehran and Moscow are the nearer term targets of Washington.

In the same vein as the interlinked nature of the conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen, there is also a connection between the violent, racist, xenophobic, and sectarian forces that have been unleashed as “agents of chaos”. It is no mere coincidence that Newsweek had a headline saying “Ukrainian Nationalist Volunteers Committing ‘ISIS-Style’ War Crimes” on September 10, 2014. [1] Whether they know it or not, these deviant forces, whether they are the ultra-nationalist Pravy Sektor militias in Ukraine or the head-cutting gangs of Al-Nusra and the ISIS /ISIL /IS /DAISH /DAESH in Syria and Iraq, all serve one master. These agents of chaos are unleashing different waves of constructive chaos to prevent Eurasian integration and a world order that is free of US dictates.

The “constructive chaos” that is being unleashed in Eurasia will eventually wreck havoc in India. If New Delhi thinks that it will be left alone, it is foolishly mistaken. The same agents of chaos will plague it as well. It too is a target like China, Iran, and Russia.

Strange Alliances: Alliance between the ISIL/DAESH and Ukraine’s Ultra-Nationalists?

It should not come as a surprise that the different agents of chaos are loosely aligned. They serve the same master and they have the same enemies, one of which is the Russian Federation.

It is in this context that Marcin Mamon has reported about the ISIS /ISIL /IS /DAISH /DAESH connection in Ukraine. He even explains that some of the fighters from the Caucasus feel that they have a debt to Ukrainians like Oleksandr Muzychko. [2]

Mamon is a Polish documentary filmmaker who has produced a number of documentaries about Chechnya, such as The Smell of Paradise with Mariusz Pilis in 2005, for the British Broadcasting Corporation’sStoryville program. He is also openly sympathetic to the cause of the Chechen separatists against Russia in the North Caucasus.

Mamon’s travels to Afghanistan and his interaction with Chechen separatist fighters have resulted in the Polish filmmaker having contacts with the ISIS /ISIL /IS /DAISH /DAESH inside Syria and Turkey. This extraordinarily led him down a new path to Ukraine.

“I didn’t even know, at that point, whom I was meeting. I knew only that Khalid, my contact in Turkey with the Islamic State [ISIS /ISIL /IS /DAISH /DAESH], had told me his ‘brothers’ were in Ukraine, and I could trust them”, he writes about his meeting in a “potholed street in Kiev, east of the Dnieper River, in an area known as the Left Bank”. [3]

In an earlier article Mamon explains that these so-called “‘brothers’ are members of ISIS and other underground Islamic organizations” who “are on every continent, and in almost every country, and now they are in Ukraine, too”. [4] He also explains that “Khalid, who uses a pseudonym, leads the Islamic State’s underground branch in Istanbul. He came from Syria to help control the flood of volunteers arriving in Turkey from all over the world, wanting to join the global jihad. Now, he wanted to put me in touch with Ruslan, a ‘brother’ fighting with Muslims in Ukraine”. [5]

Ukrainian ultra-nationalists like Muzychko also became so-called ‘brothers’ and accepted into this network. Mamon explains that the Chechen fighters accepted him “even though he never converted to Islam” and that “Muzyczko, along with other Ukrainian volunteers, joined Chechen fighters and took part in the first Chechen war against Russia” where they “commanded a branch of Ukrainian volunteers, called ‘Viking,’ which fought under famed Chechen militant leader Shamil Basayev”. [6]

Why is the ISIL manning Private Battalions in Ukraine?

What does it say when Chechen separatists and the transnational network of so-called ‘brothers’ tied to the ISIS /ISIL /IS /DAISH /DAESH are being recruited or used to fill the ranks of private militias being using by Ukrainian oligarchs? This is a very important question. It also clearly demonstrates how these elements are agents of chaos.

Marcin Mamon travelled to Ukraine to meet the Chechen fighter Isa Munayev. Munayev’s background is explained thus: “Even before he arrived in Ukraine, Munayev was well-known. He fought against Russian forces in both Chechen wars; in the second, he was the commander of the war in Grozny. After the Chechen capital was captured by Russian forces between 1999 and 2000, Munayev and his men took refuge in the mountains. He fought from there until 2005, when he was seriously injured and went to Europe for treatment. Munayev lived in Denmark until 2014. Then war broke out in Ukraine, and he decided it was time to fight the Russians again”. [7]

The above is an important passage, because it illustrates how the US and EU have supported militants fighting against Russia. In the US and the EU, the refuge that Denmark gave Isa Munayev is not questioned, whereas the allegations levelled against Moscow for supporting the soldiers of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic are seen as criminal. Why the double standards? Why is it okay for the US, EU, and NATO to support separatist movements and militias in other parts of the world, but criticized and forbidden for other countries to do the same?

“An older man in a leather jacket introduced me to Munayev. ‘Our good brother Khalid recommended this man,’ the man said. (Khalid is today one of the most important leaders of the Islamic State. Khalid and Munayev knew each other from years spent fighting together in Chechnya),” Marcin Mamon explains about the connections between the Chechen separatists and ISIS /ISIL /IS /Daish/Daesh. [8]

Munayev has come to Ukraine to establish “one of what would become several dozen private battalions that sprang up to fight on the side of the Ukrainian government, operating separately from the military”. [9] His militia was named the Dzhokhar Dudayev battalion, which was named after the separatist president of Chechnya.

NOTES

[1] Damien Sharkov, «Ukrainian Nationalist Volunteers Committing ‘ISIS-Style’ War Crimes,» Newsweek, September 10, 2014.

[2] Marcin Mamon, «In Midst of War, Ukraine Becomes Gateway for Jihad,» Intercept, February 26, 2015.

[3] Marcin Mamon, «Isa Munayev’s War: The Final Days of a Chechen Commander Fighting in Ukraine», Intercept, February 27, 2015.

[4-6] Marcin Mamon, «In Midst of War,» op. cit.

[7-9] Marcin Mamon, «Isa Munayev’s War,» op. cit.

This article was originally published by the Strategic Culture Foundation on May 3, 2015.

Courtesy GlobalResearch.ca

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-isil-is-in-ukraine-americas-agents-of-chaos-unleashed-in-eurasia/5446989

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Celebrating Narada, scholar-jounalist -- KG Suresh. Suggestion: Narada Jayanthi should be celebrated in Bharatam every year as Journalists' Day.

May 7, 2015, 1:17 am

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An excellent piece.

Of course Narada is the arch journalists in the Indian tradition. But we should also remember that he is beyond human (not a maharshi) but a devarshi. He is greater than Vishvamitra, Valmiki or Vyasa.

He is a manas-putra of Brahmaa.

You forget to mention that Narada alone had the privilege of kicking

Vishnu on His chest. This paradigm should be remembered by journalists.

It speaks for their right which is accepted in the Bhaartiiya tradition.

Vishnu, for all times to comes bears the mark of Narada's feet/kick on his chest.

A reminder to kings that they should respect the legitimate anger of intellectuals and their right to reprimand the ruling classes (something our modern legislators and even the political parties and social organisations have long forgotten).

At the same time Narada was duped by Vishnu (for which Narada kicked Him)

because Narada himself had fallen into the trap of worldly attachment and was

beginning to desire a way of life not permitted for the thinker, the way of

comfort and convenience. A reminder to the intellectuls that they cannot

lust for things not meant for them, that is power and position.(Again something the Indian intellectuals, whether of Right or Left, have forgotten at present).

svasti bhavatu,

Bharat Gupt May 7, 2015

Narada Jayanthi is the birth anniversary of Narada Muni, Maanasa Putra of Brahma in Hindu tradition.

Narada Jayanthi is observed on Vaishakha Bahula Pratipada (South Indian calendar) or Jyeshtha Krishna Paksha Pratipada (North Indian calender).

Narada Jayanthi was on May 5, 2015.

This day should be celebrated as Journalists' Day in Bharatam. So, maybe from 2016 onwards. Thanks to KG Suresh for a brilliant account of the Hindu tradition venerating Devarshi Narada Muni.

S. Kalyanaraman May 7, 2015

NARADA JAYANTI : A BEACON LIGHT FOR THE MEDIA IN CRISIS

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Intro: Narada stands out as a beacon light to the media fraternity as it passes through a turbulent phase marked by sharp decline in values and ethics, commercialisation and commodification, sensationalism, pessimism, materialism, corruption, immaturity, irresponsibility, immorality, arrogance, ideological fanaticism, lack of scholastics, courage, conviction, mission and vision.

In Chapter 10, Shloka 26 of the Bhagavad Gita, the song celestial, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna, “Of all trees, I am the holy fig tree, and amongst sages and demigods, I am Narada…

Today, when many nationalist media organisations and people celebrate the birthday of Narada, the world’s first journalist, the inventor of Veena and the mediator par excellence, the so-called progressive and secular intellectuals project it as an attempt by the Sangh Parivar to saffronise the media. But the growing popularity of the event across the country reflects the increasing realisation about the relevance of the philosophy of the Divine Sage in the contemporary media scenario.

With Marxist historians dismissing virtually the entire Hindu cultural history as mythology, it was but natural that from films to television serials, Narada, one of the ‘Saptarishis’ and ‘Prajapatis’, the Chief of the Gandharvas or the divine musicians, was always projected as a comic character who indulged in gossip and created differences between the Devas and Asuras. But what was lost sight of, of course deliberately, were the principles of communication this universe trotter enunciated as he traversed the heavens, the earth and the netherworld, in the pursuit of truth.

To begin with, while Narada’s narrative might have led to clashes between the good and the evil forces, his ultimate objective was ‘Vishwa Kalyan’ (welfare of the world) and if a conflict was required to achieve that, so be it. He was not a gossip monger but a conveyer of facts. There are several instances where he has praised demon kings much to the discomfort of the Gods including Lord Indra. When mankind, including sages, was harassed by the evil forces, he would dutifully draw the attention of the divine beings including the Holy Triumvirate (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) to remedy the situation forthwith and provide relief to the masses. Speed, accuracy and objectivity, the cardinal principles of journalism were articles of faith for him.

Simple to the core, he traversed the three worlds tirelessly without any ostentation. He was the ultimate field reporter relying more on seeing events personally before reporting them as against the current trend of desktop journalism. A gossip monger would always act opportunistically to obtain information shifting his loyalties at the drop of a hat. But Narada never hid his loyalties to the Lord, relentlessly chanting his name, yet he won the confidence of even the enemies of the gods, who revealed to him their innermost secrets. He had the courage to tell the demons on their face about their wrong doings without earning their wrath. He never hesitated from forewarning the evil forces about their fate if they don’t mend their ways yet no powerful man or demon could influence him to compromise on his integrity. He pleaded for a fair trial and justice to even the most wicked and cruel yet never conducted a Kangaroo court (as we see now-a-days on prime time television) and punished the culprits. He never arrogated to himself the role of a judge. The Sage never pre-judged people but came to conclusions only after personal experience. There were no untouchables for him. He was accessible to everyone and had contacts cutting across the universal spectrum. It was for the Gods to punish. His task was only to inform and educate and where necessary, mediate; to juxtapose truth and falsehood, for the larger good of the universe (Lok Kalyan).

Narada was also an erudite scholar not a shallow, superficial journalist who carried tales. In fact, among the 18 Puranas, Narada Purana is perhaps the most significant as it was created by none other than the divine sage himself.

It is said, “Naradoktam Puraanam Tu Naardiyam Prachachhate” (Narad Purana is what emerged from the lips of Maharshi Narad). Initially it had a collection of about twenty-five thousand stanzas. But, the currently available version of Narad Purana contains not more than twenty-two thousand stanzas.

The Narad Purana has been divided into two parts. The first part contains four chapters including a dialogue between Suta and Shaunak, origin of the universe, salvation, birth of Shukadev, training of the mantras, worship rituals, provisions and the results of the various fasts observed on particular days in particular months while the second part encompasses beautiful stories related to various incarnations of Lord Vishnu, depiction and significance of pilgrimage centres and performing pilgrimage.

Sage Narada stands out as a beacon light to the media fraternity as it passes through a turbulent phase marked by sharp decline in values and ethics, commercialisation and commodification, sensationalism, pessimism, materialism, corruption, immaturity, irresponsibility, immorality, arrogance, ideological fanaticism, lack of scholastics, courage, conviction, mission and vision.

As regulatory bodies and media organisations including trade unions and universities struggle to evolve a widely acceptable code of conduct or ethics for the profession, there cannot be more worthy example to emulate than the persona of the ‘Adi Patrakar’ or the father of journalism, as explained elaborately by none other than Lord Krishna Himself.

Responding to a question from King Ugrasena on why he was so fond of Narada, thus spake Lord Krishna, “I bow down to that Narada who has been born from the lap of Brahma, who has no arrogance due to learning or good conduct, but whose learning and good conduct are well known. I bow down to that Narada who has none of these defects—absence of interest, anger, fickleness and fear. He is composed and free from (habitual) procrastination. I pay obeisance to that Narada who does not change his word (once uttered) either due to lust or to covetousness and who is conversant with the principles and goal of spiritual endeavour, who is forbearing, powerful and straightforward, who has conquered his sense organs and who speaks the truth.

“I bow down to that Narada who is full-grown and venerable in respect of splendour, fame, intellect, prudence, humility, birth, and penance, whose conduct and dress are pleasing and whose diet, behaviour, eyes and utterances are good, who is tirelessly engaged in altruism, who has no sin, who is enthusiastically engaged in bringing good to others, who always abides by the duties enjoined in the Vedas, Smritis and Puranas and who is free from either pleasure or displeasure, who is uninterested in food stuffs and other things, who is learned, who is never idle, who is a Brahmana of vast learning and whose narratives are charming, who has never erred before in respect of wealth, anger, and love, and by whom these defects have been eliminated, who is devoid of the defect of infatuation and fascination, who has unwavering devotion to God and Bhagawat Dharma, whose moral policies are supreme and who is of a reserved disposition, who is never contaminated by contacts, who is eloquent and who has no prolonged doubts, who never finds fault with any scriptural text, whose life is a personification of penance, who never spends his time without recollecting God and who always keeps his mind under control.

“I salute that Narada who puts in great efforts, who exerts his intelligence, who is never satiated with concentration, and meditation and who never errs in his efforts, who does not become elated by the acquisition of wealth, who does not become dejected on account of non-acquisition, who is richly endowed with all good qualities, who is efficient, pure and unafraid, who knows the proper occasions and is conversant with good policies.”

KG Suresh (The author is a Delhi-based Senior Journalist)

http://organiser.org//Encyc/2015/5/2/Narada-Jayanti---A-Beacon-Light-for-the-Media-in-Crisis-%EF%BB%BF.aspx

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Neolithic fertility feminine divinity, statue ca. 7000 years ago found in south-central Israel

May 7, 2015, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: Decipherment of Cholistan and Rakhigarhi seals as metalwork catalogs. New light on Mesopotamia erotica, Chandayan, Rakhigarhi, Dholavira sites, rediscovery of Ashoka.

≪ Previous: Celebrating Narada, scholar-jounalist -- KG Suresh. Suggestion: Narada Jayanthi should be celebrated in Bharatam every year as Journalists' Day.

A figurine from Mehrgarh, c. 3000 BCE. (Musée Guimet, Paris)

New archaeological finds challenge ideas of prehistoric Israel

Neolithic fertility goddess figure found in rescue dig could change thinking about ancient cultures.

By Nir Hasson| May 7, 2015 | 4:52 AM
The statue, in the form of a fertility goddess

A small statue most likely used as a ritual object could change the view of archaeologists about the beginnings of the period of human settlement in the Middle East. The statue, in the form of a fertility goddess, was found in a rescue dig being conducted before the Mekorot water company lays a new pipeline close to Moshav Beit Hilkia, near Gedera in south-central Israel.

Remains from three prehistoric periods were found in the dig. The oldest have been dated to about 7,000 years ago. during the Pottery Neolithic period. Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority also found a fired ceramic clay figurine of a full-figured woman.

The discovery brings the number of sites at which similar figures from the period have been found to nine, mostly around Sha’ar Hagolan. Of the 163 such figurines found so far, two were found elsewhere - one in Lod and the other at Horvat Ptora, a site near Kiryat Gat and the one found now as said, in Revadim, near Gedera.

These figures are mostly attributed to what is known as the Yarmukian culture that flourished mostly in northern Israel about 7,500 years ago. This is a different culture than has been found in digs close to Beit Hilkia, such as at Revadim, known as “Jericho 9.”

The differences between the cultures are best seen in the pottery they made. If in the past, archaeologists thought Jericho 9 replaced the Yarmukian culture, the more accepted theory today is that the two cultures existed at the same time, but in different areas: the Yarmukian in the north and Jericho 9 in the south.

The discovery of the figurines – clearly Yarmukian – accompanied by the other two found in the region raises the question of the relationship between the two cultures.

Mother Goddess clay Yarmukian Culture figurine found at the kibbutz Sha'ar Hagolan, south of the sea of Galilee. Photo by Wikimedia Commons

“I think that in the end this is one culture with differences in the way pottery is made,” said Dr. Edwin van den Brink, who was in charge of the excavation along with Yitzhak Mermelstein. It is a big deal for the archaeologists, he said – but for the people who lived back then the differences were not so important. “It seems they had a single system of beliefs.”

“The question is whether the figurines represent a single ritual world in which there is an image with a bountiful chest, wide hips and maybe pregnancy,” said Marmelstein. “The most important question is whether the figures were made in the south or brought from the north.”

The archaeologists are now planning to conduct chemical tests of the statue to determine the source of the clay – whether it is from the north or south of Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/life/archaeology/.premium-1.655240

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Decipherment of Cholistan and Rakhigarhi seals as metalwork catalogs. New light on Mesopotamia erotica, Chandayan, Rakhigarhi, Dholavira sites, rediscovery of Ashoka.

May 8, 2015, 1:14 am

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≪ Previous: Neolithic fertility feminine divinity, statue ca. 7000 years ago found in south-central Israel

Mirror: https://www.academia.edu/12289285/Decipherment_of_Cholistan_and_Rakhigarhi_seals_as_metalwork_catalogs._New_light_on_Mesopotamia_erotica_Chandayan_Rakhigarhi_Dholavira_sites_rediscovery_of_Ashoka

Cholistan seal: metalwork catalog

The Cholistan seal with the pictorial motif + two 'sign' text inscription is deciphered as a metalwork catalog of a coppersmith.

Cholistan seal. Goat with head turned back; short tail.

Decipherment of Cholistan seal

This composite hieroglyph on the text of the inscription is composed of: 1. Two long linear strokes; and 2. three short horizontal strokes linking the two linear strokes. Thus, the semantics signified are: 'two' and 'three'.

Numeral || dula ‘two’ Rebus: dul ‘cast metal’ Numeral ||| kolom ‘three’ Rebus:kolami ‘smithy, forge’. Thus the composite hieroglyph signifies: smithy for metalcasting.

koḍi ‘flag’ (Ta.)(DEDR 2049). Rebus 1: koḍ ‘workshop’ (Kuwi) Rebus 2: khŏḍ m. ‘pit’, khö̆ḍü f. ‘small pit’ (Kashmiri)(CDIAL 3947). The flag flies on a linear stroke: 'one'. Hierolyhph: koDa 'one' Rebus: koD 'workshop'. Thus, the semantics of 'workshop' are reinforced by the orthography of the 'flagpost'.

Ligature hieroglyph 'flag'

Sign 4: koḍi ‘flag’ (Ta.)(DEDR 2049). Rebus 1: koḍ ‘workshop’ (Kuwi) Rebus 2: khŏḍ m. ‘pit’, khö̆ḍü f. ‘small pit’ (Kashmiri. CDIAL 3947). + kāṭi 'body stature; Rebus: fireplace trench. Thus, furnace workshop.

Kur. xolā tail. Malt. qoli id. (DEDR 2135). [The ‘short-tail’ is a hieroglyph which is ligatured to an ‘antelope’ – as a hieroglyph read rebus. Such a ligatured-tail evolved into a ‘sign’ of the Indus script which appears on inscribed copper-tablets.] Rebus: kol ‘working in iron (metal), blacksmith (in this case, tin-smith)’.

The short tail is comparable to the goat shown on a Bhirrana seal.

Bhirrana. The hieroglyph in front of the goat is a sprout: hieroglyph: kolmo 'sprout' Rebus: kolami 'smithy, forge'. The six short strokes denote a pair of 'three'; thus these six short strokes are an allograph of the combined hierolyph which is a composite of two long linear strokes + three short strokes, i.e. a pair of three. The semantics are the same in both orthographic cipher rebus-metonymy layers: dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'cast metal' + kolom 'three' rebus: kolami 'smithy, forge'. Thus denoting smithy for metalcasting.

<gaDra>(ZA) [gaDra],[gaDRa] {N} ``male ^goat(Z), male ^kid(A)''. *Des. #10090. <lupu gadra>(A) {N} ``^billy ^goat''. |<lupu> `big'. ??d/D (cf. D below). #21082.<lupu gadra>(A) {N} ``^billy ^goat''. |<gaDra> `male goat, male kid'. ??d/D (cf. D below). #21080.

Rebus: करडा (p. 137) [ karaḍā ] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. (Marathi) G. karãḍɔ m. ʻ wicker or metal box ʼ,(CDIAL 2792) Allograph: Pk. karaṁḍa -- m.n. ʻ bone shaped like a bamboo ʼ, karaṁḍuya -- n. ʻ backbone ʼ.Tir. mar -- kaṇḍḗ ʻ back (of the body) ʼS. kaṇḍo m. ʻ back ʼ, L. kaṇḍ f.,kaṇḍā m. ʻ backbone ʼ, awāṇ. kaṇḍ, °ḍī ʻ back ʼ; P. kaṇḍ f. ʻ back, pubes ʼ(CDIAL 2670)

Hieroglyph: mlekh 'goat' Rebus: milakkhu 'copper' mleccha 'copper'. meḷh ‘goat’ (Br.) Rebus: meṛha, meḍhi ‘merchant’s clerk; (G.) meḍho ‘one who helps a merchant’ vi.138 ‘vaṇiksahāyah’ (deśi. Hemachandra). Cf. meluhha-mũh > mleccha-mukha ‘copper (ingot)’.

Hieroglyph of ‘looking back’ is read rebus as:

kamar 'artisan': క్రమ్మరు [krammaru] krammaru. [Tel.] v. n. To turn, return, go back. మరలు. క్రమ్మరించు or క్రమ్మరుచు krammarinṭsu. V. a. To turn, send back, recall. To revoke, annul, rescind.క్రమ్మరజేయు. క్రమ్మర krammara. Adv. Again. క్రమ్మరిల్లు or క్రమరబడు Same as క్రమ్మరు. krəm backʼ(Kho.)(CDIAL 3145) Kho. Krəm ʻ back ʼ NTS ii 262 with (?) (CDIAL 3145)[Cf. Ir. *kamaka – or *kamraka -- ʻ back ʼ in Shgh. Čůmč ʻ back ʼ, Sar. Čomǰ EVSh 26] (CDIAL 2776) cf. Sang. kamak ʻ back ʼ, Shgh. Čomǰ (< *kamak G.M.) ʻ back of an animal ʼ, Yghn. Kama ʻ neck ʼ (CDIAL 14356). Kár, kãr ‘neck’ (Kashmiri) Kal. Gřä ʻ neck ʼ; Kho. Goḷ ʻ front of neck, throat ʼ. Gala m. ʻ throat, neck ʼ MBh. (CDIAL 4070) Rebus: karmāra ‘smith, artisan’ (Skt.) kamar ‘smith’ (Santali)

Rakhigarhi seal: metalwork catalog

Rakhigarhi. Seal.

The broken seal signifies the pictorial motif of one-horned young bull.

Hieroglyph: khoṇḍ, kõda 'young bull-calf' Rebus: kũdār ‘turner’. कोंद kōnda ‘engraver, lapidary setting or infixing gems’ (Marathi)

kolmo 'three' Rebus: kolami 'smithy, forge'

kanac 'corner' Rebus: kancu 'bronze'

kuṭi = a slice, a bit, a small piece (Santali.lex.Bodding) Rebus: kuṭhi ‘iron smelter furnace’ (Santali) kuṭhī factory (A.)(CDIAL 3546)

Alternative: sal 'splinter' Rebus: sal 'workshop'

baTa 'quail' Rebus: baTa 'furnace'. Parenthesis is a way of splitting the ellipse: kanac 'corner' Rebus: kancu 'bronze' Hence, the composite hieroglyph signifies 'bronze furnace'.

The Sanskritization of Assamese bicā , deśī vachi is: vṛścika scorpion (RV); vicchika (Pali); vicchia, vim.chia (Pkt.); bich (Sh.); bichī (Ku.); bicā (A.); bichā (B.Or.); būch (Mth.); bīchī (Bhoj.Aw.H.); vīchī, vi~chī (G.); ucum (Pas’.); vichu~ (S.); vicchua, vim.chua (Pkt.); vichu~ (L.); bicchu~ (P.); bichu (Or.); bīchu (Mth.); bicchu~, bīchū (H.); vīchu (G.); viccu, viccua, vim.cua (Pkt.); byucu (K.); biccū (P.); biccū (WPah.); vīcū (M.); viccu, vim.cu (Kon.); bacchius large hornet (n.)(CDIAL 12081). Rebus: bica, bica-diri (Sad. bicā; Or. bicī) stone ore; meṛeḍ bica, stones containing iron; tambabica, copper-ore stones; samṛobica, stones containing gold (Mundari.lex.)

Hieroglyph: 'hook': kaḍī a chain; a hook; a link (G.); kaḍum a bracelet, a ring (G.) Rebus: kaḍiyo [Hem. Des. kaḍaio = Skt. sthapati a mason] a bricklayer; a mason; kaḍiyaṇa, kaḍiyeṇa a woman of the bricklayer caste; a wife of a bricklayer (G.)

Hieroglyph: 'cross': Hieroglyph: dATu 'cross' Rebus: dhatu 'mineral ore'

Hieroglyph: 'rim-of-jar': karNika 'rim of jar' Rebus: karNi 'supercargo, helmsman'

S. Kalyanaraman Sarasvati Research Center May 8, 2015

Chandayan (Inde): Human skeleton wearing crown discovered near Harappan site

Sandeep Rai

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

The accidental discovery of a human skeleton wearing what appears to be a copper crown with carnelian beads has generated a lot of curiosity in Chandayan village of Baghpat district. Beads of carnelian, a semi-precious stone, are generally associated with the Harappan civilization. However, a crown has never been found in any of the Indus Valley civilization sites.

Fragments of the crown (above) and skull (below) discovered in Chandayan village of Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district [Credit: Times of India]

Amit Rai Jain, director of Baraut-based Shehzad Rai Research Institute told, TOI on Thursday, "Diggers at a brick kiln at Chandayan village, 38 km from Baghpat, struck upon a human skeleton, a few pieces of terracotta pottery and a copper crown attached to the skull." The news spread like wildfire and a crowd of onlookers and treasure-hunters gathered at the site in no time. "By the time the police force could reach the site, villagers had ransacked the area in search of a possible treasure. What all we could gather were a few broken pieces of the crown and a few teeth," Jain said. An Archaeological Survey of India team that visited the site is, however, cautious on the issue. AK Pandey, superintending archaeologist, ASI, said, "Unless we do a thorough survey of the area and find related material which is generally found at Harappan sites, we cannot say with certainty that the discovery really relates to the Harappan age."

A Harappan-era necklace on display at a museum in Mumbai. Beads of carnelian, a semi-precious stone, are generally associated with the Harappan civilization. However, a crown has never been found in any of the Indus Valley civilization sites [Credit: Sanjay Hadkar/Times of India]

The ASI team will again be visiting the site in mid-August. Jain said, "Dr Rakesh Tiwari, DG, ASI, has taken up the project and will soon dig out trial trenches at the site." Dr AR Sankhayan, former senior anthropologist with Anthropological Survey of India, is optimistic though. "Initially, the discovery appears to be of copper age and is quite similar to what we found at the ancient burial site in Sinauli village, 20 km from this site. The excavation was undertaken by the ASI in 2005, during which Harappan age pottery and skeletons were unearthed. Because of the proximity of this site to Chandayan village, the link can be established. But even in Sinauli, no crown was found." Dr RS Bisht, former joint director general, ASI, who is credited with maximum work on the Harappan culture, said it was "indeed a beautiful crown but a bit of research is needed to establish its connection with Harappan culture." At present, the crown and set of teeth are in the possession of Satish Jain, an amateur archaeologist and a member of Paelio Research Society. "We will soon be sending the stuff to the Kolkata office of Anthropological Survey of India where the age of the skeleton will be ascertained," he said.

Rakhigarhi (Inde): The lost world of Hisar’s Mohenjo-daro

The unusual mounds in a Hisar village attracted attention a century back, though it was much later that Rakhigarhi’s Harappan link was recorded. Considered the Indus valley civilisation’s largest human settlement, the site, where four skeletons were excavated recently, however faces irreparable loss and neglect rather than the expected bevy of excitement.

Deepender Deswal

Source - http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/kaleidoscope/the-lost-world-of-hisar-s-mohenjo-daro/72296.html

2015 4 largeimg25 apr 2015 231910430

As archaeologists unfold the layers and turn the earth over at Rakhigarhi, 45 km from Hisar, the new findings are not only startling but also call for quick preservation efforts.

Nine mounds of Rakhigarhi village sit atop a huge slice of ancient Indian history — a human settlement spread well over 300 hectares dating back close to 5,000 years. Excavation led to its being described as the biggest of the nearly 2,000 sites of the Harappan era or the Indus village civilisation in the subcontinent. The Rakhigarhi site is considered bigger even than Mohenjo-daro, now in Pakistan. That, sadly, seems to be no big deal. Though the Archaeological Survey of India has declared mound numbers 1, 2, 3, 5 and parts of 4 as protected area and deployed a watchman, Haryana Archaeology Department’s Deputy Director Ranvir Singh says it is still owned by the village panchayat as the ASI has not acquired it. Mounds 6, 7, 8 and 9 remain under private ownership of farmers, who plough the land for a living.

Superintending archaeologist, Chandigarh circle, GN Srivastava, says there are several encumbrances in notifying the sites. “It features in UNESCO’s tentative list of proposed world heritage status sites, but encroachments on archaeological sites and monuments is a big issue in Haryana,” he adds. Global Heritage Fund, an international organisation working for the protection of endangered sites in the developing world, has included Rakhigarhi among Asia’s 10 most significant archaeological sites facing irreparable loss and destruction. “It is one of the largest and oldest Indus sites in the world, which is facing threat due to development pressures, insufficient management and looting,” it says.

Dr Amarendra Nath, former Director (Archaeology) of ASI, who carried out excavations at Rakhigarhi from 1997 to 2000, stresses the need for preservation, but adds: “We are not like Europe and America. They try to protect sites by preparing heritage plans and have specific laws and bylaws. Though we also have such bylaws, it’s not possible to implement it in a place like Rakhigarhi. The panchayat is the local body which is not capable to protect and preserve such kind of sites.” The vagaries of nature and encroachments, he says, are almost uncontrollable and result in damage. “There needs to be an administrative will to mend things at the government level. The locals are the stakeholders at such sites and their cooperation is a prerequisite,” Dr Nath maintains. Though a Punjab and Haryana High Court order of 2008 had directed the ASI to remove all encroachments from the ancient or protected monuments, including Rakhigarhi, and submit a report on a petition filed by Munshi Ram, a resident of Batala town in Punjab, the case is lingering with the affected persons (encroachers) getting the orders stayed. Dr Nath says it is difficult to dislocate residents even if they are offered a well-laid-out colony. “There is also no policy to rehabilitate people sitting atop these sites. It’s but natural for them to start utilising the open space for putting cow dung cakes, tying their cattle.”

Villagers like Vazir Singh Sirohi, the sarpanches of twin villages Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shahpur, Rajbir Malik and Rajbir Sheoran, and panch Dharampal Singh have been developing the site and lobbying with the state government for its preservation for many years. Rajbir’s son Dinesh Singh says 80 per cent of mound 6 — a residential site — and 7, a burial site where human skeletons were unearthed recently, have been destroyed due to cultivation and lifting of soil. “Though some villagers recover antiquities while ploughing, we ensure nobody destroys the site. Some people own the articles but don’t indulge in illegal trade,” he claims. A good part of the site has also been destroyed by soil erosion and illegal sand lifting. Vazir Singh, whose contribution to the excavation process has been immense, says successive governments have ignored the site. “A museum is a must. Archaeologists and residents are in possession of a huge volume of artefacts. The village would figure on the world tourism map only if the government is forthcoming,” he adds.

Haryana recently decided to preserve the site, with Director General of the Archaeology and Museum Department Ashok Khemka and ASI regional director TR Sharma inspecting the site. A tourist centre could be in the works, but nothing’s final.

Dated history of Rakhigarhi

Rakhigarhi’s historicity was noticed a century back, when the Survey of India mentioned the mounds in 1915. In 1969, Prof Suraj Bhan for the first time recorded the mature Harappan traditions in town planning, architecture, art and craft in a part of the site that was excavated. It was in 1997 that Dr Amarendra Nath, then Director (Archaeology) of the Archaeological Survey of India, started work at this site.

Last year, two more mounds were discovered. Till then, the archaeological remains spread across 300 hectares made Mohenjo-daro the biggest Harappan site, followed by Harappa, also in Pakistan. Dholavira in Gujarat was the biggest site in India. As archaeologists unfold the layers and turn the earth over at Rakhigarhi, new facts and findings are emerging that establish it as the largest town of the Harappan era. The ancient city had flourished along the banks of Drishadvati river, a tributary of the Saraswati. It is being termed a cosmopolitan city and a hub of trade and culture during the Harappan civilisation that extended over vast areas in the northwest of the subcontinent.

The site has gained prominence in view of its large size and the volume of antiquities and other startling facts that came up during the excavations, indicating it to be the most important of its time. Of the nine mounds, those numbering 1 to 6 are residential localities. Mound 7 is a cemetery, from where four human skeletons were dug out recently. The ASI has got carbon dating done of mounds 1, 2 and 6, which establishes the preformative age of 5,640 years Before Present (BP), and 5,440 (BP) from samples from mound number 6. Excavations prove the existence of wheat, barley in the mature Harappan era and seeds of “bathua” in the early Harappan period.

Dr Nath, who carried out the excavation from 1997 through 2000, claimed in his report to the ASI last year that Rakhigarhi made a substantial contribution in scientific and technical fields. He wrote: “The Harappans must have prepared a blueprint of the proposed town before providing all the civil amenities. The neatly laid out platforms, streets, drains, the provision of public wells, the separation of industrial area, houses in rows, erection of fortifications, walls in uniform width, and above all, the construction of a granary and religious podium suggest careful planning and efficient execution with precision.” The most interesting feature of the Harappan civilisation, he says, is its homogeneity — the uniform products of artistes that can be found in all cities and towns throughout the vast territory which came under its influence. “Rakhigarhi occupants produced tools, weapons and ornaments conforming to the standard in the Indus valley. The recovery of intaglio, seals, cubical stones, parallel-sided blades, gemstones, copper implements and earthware similar to Mohenjo-daro and Harappa is significant,” says the report. Commerce as an idea also existed. The archaeologists are excited that the site still remains largely unexplored and it would take time to touch the virgin soil. Pune’s Deccan College, along with the Haryana Archaeological Department, had resumed excavation in January. They have decided to embark on excavation on a larger scale from next year. Dr Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor of Deccan College and director of the excavation project, says many archaeologists from the US and Cambridge University have enquired about the site.

‘Mound of the Dead’

The ancient city of Mohenjo-daro (Mound of the Dead in Sindhi) sits on elevated ground in Larkana district of Sindh province in Pakistan. It’s spread out over 300 hectares on a series of mounds, which experts say grew as people kept building platforms for houses. The Indus valley civilisation emerged close to 5,000 years ago and thrived for a millennium. The occupants were skilled urban planners, with a bathing area and drainage system in every house. The wealth is evident in artefacts. The Indus river changing course probably resulted in the decline of the civilisation.

Korean expertise to the aid

2015 4 largeimg125 apr 2015 231822313gallery

2015 4 largeimg125 apr 2015 231822313gallery

Enthused over the recovery of four skeletons in Rakhigarhi, archaeologists hope forensic scientists will reconstruct the DNA extracted from bones to help decipher the history and origin of the human settlement. Pune’s Deccan College in collaboration with the Haryana Archaeology Department and Seoul National University, South Korea, have been carrying out excavation at the site since January 23. A forensic team from Seoul will arrive in July to process the sampling of the skeletons for obtaining the DNA. Prof Nilesh Jadhav, co-director of the project, along with his team of research scholars — Yogesh Yadav, Malavika Chatterjee and Shalmali Mali — recovered the skeletons at mound 7 in Rakhigarhi.

“The skeletons of two adult males, a female and a child have been found. With the help of forensic experts, we will try to reconstruct their DNA. We tried doing it with the help of a Japanese anthropologist five years ago, when a Harappan-era graveyard was discovered at Farmana village in Rohtak , but failed. Now, scientists from South Korea, equipped with advanced technology, will attempt to reconstruct the DNA,” says Prof Jadhav.

Ranvir Singh, deputy director, Haryana Archaeology Department, says 70 skeletons were recovered at the Farmana site, but they could not extract their DNA because the remains were damaged due to the presence of calcium in the soil. “The soil at Rakhigarhi is sandy so the skeletons are better preserved.”

The findings conclude that the disposal of the dead became an elaborate practice. The ASI report reads: “A higher number of earthenware was noted in female burials. Offerings were made of dish-on-stand, bowl-on-stand, goblet, beaker, globular jars, medium and miniature vases, dishes and basin, while the male dead were offered limited items.” However, the grave-pit of another female, which yielded no ornaments, indicated that widows or unmarried women were deprived of such adornments.

Bhirrana / Rakhigarhi (Inde): new Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report

Rohan Dua

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Haryanas-Bhirrana-oldest-Harappan-site-Rakhigarhi-Asias-largest-ASI/articleshow/46926693.cms

Asia's largest and oldest metropolis with gateways, built-up areas, street system and wells was built at the site of Haryana's two villages, including one on the Ghaggar river, according to a new Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) report.

The ASI report, submitted in December 2014, a copy of which is with TOI, has now also debunked the early research that the Indus Valley civilization's Harappan phase originated in Sind, in present-day Pakistan.

The report, based on C 14 radio-dating, has said the mounds at Bhirrana village, on the banks of Ghaggar river, in Fatehabad district date back to 7570-6200 BC.

The previous Pakistan-French study had put Mehrgarh site in Pakistan as the oldest in the bracket of 6400-7000 BC. Mehrgarh is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River valley and between the Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi.

"The C 14 dates of excavations at Bhirrana readily agree with the accepted chronology of the Harappan civilization starting from Pre-Harappan to Mature Harappan. But for the first time, on the basis of radio-metric dates from Bhirrana, the cultural remains go back to the time bracket of 7300 BC," said the report.

The C 14 dating was done at Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany in Lucknow over last 10 years.

Indus

The ASI report also said that that excavations done by its archaeologists between 1997 and 2005 reveal that a civilization site in Rakhigarhi village in Hisar district is spread over to 240 hectares.

While ASI stopped its excavation activity in Rakhigarhi, a team from Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute, Pune, which is carrying out further research, said the site's dimensions may go beyond 350 hectares with more excavations.

At this moment, Rakhigarhi has emerged as bigger in size than even the Mohenjedaro and Harappa sites in Pakistan and Dholavira in India's Gujarat with dimensions of 200, 150 and 100 hectares.

While the 356-page research on Rakhigarhi has been authored by former ASI's archaeology director Dr Amarendra Nath, the holistic study on Bhirrana has been compiled by ASI's former joint DG K N Dikshit and addtional DG B R Mani.

The archaelological excavations at Rakhigarhi and Bhirrana have revealed all the definite features of Indus civilization such as potter's kiln, an elaborate drainage system, a granary, ritualistic platforms and terracotta figurines.

Antiquities unearthed in Rakhigarhi village
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Figurines: Of animals and mythical characters and made of terracotta, these give a peak into the toy culture. A dog with a leash, an elephant calf, a four-horn deer, bulls, buffalo, unicorn, mini wheels, miniature lids and sling balls have been found, says Prof Nilesh Jadhav, co-director of the excavation by Deccan College, Pune.

Tools: Net sinker for fishing, copper arrow for hunting, sharp chert blades and bone sticks are among the finds.

Beads: Harappan women adorned themselves with articles made of lapis lazuli and carnelian; shell bangles; beads of ivory and jasper; and pendants made of basal and agate. They brought lapis lazuli from Afghanistan; carnelian beads and shell bangles from coastal areas; chert blades from Rohri in Pakistan; and sandstones from Rajasthan.

Skilled craftsmen: They knew how to polish beads to a high mirror shine and drill holes. Bead-makers were experts in etching, engraving and inlaying.

Manufacturing units: Having thousands of bead rough-outs, waste flakes and cores, tools, implants and bead polishers have also been found. Over 11,000 beads were found in 1997 from Rakhigarhi.

Refined pottery
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Earthen pots: Complete sets of fired earthen pots, both hand and wheel-made, have been found from the graves, indicating that the Harappans believed in rebirth

Terracotta cakes: These, says research scholar Malavika Chatterjee, are triangular and circular, to be used as tiles and for heating purposes

Mud-brick: Occupants lived in mud-brick houses and used fired bricks in foundation and drainage

Cholistan (Inde) : project “Sui-Vihar Excavations and Archaeological Reconnaissance of southern Punjab”.

Rare Indus seal discovered in Cholistan

Mansoor Malik

Source - http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/07/rare-indus-seal-discovered-in-cholistan.html

indus-seal.jpg

The archaeologists team leader said the excavation revealed a circular platform at Sui-Vihar built with sun-dried bricks and a number of supporting walls to hold the platform and the cylindrical structure. – File Photo

The Punjab University archaeology department has discovered a rare Indus seal in steatite material with carved figure of Ibex with two pictographs from Wattoowala, Cholistan, during a survey of different sites near Derawar Fort along the ancient bed of River Hakra.

The seal dates back to 2500-2000 BC.

The seal has been discovered by a six-member team of archaeologists headed by PU archaeology department chairman Dr Farzand Masih, who has just concluded a Unesco-funded US$26,000 project “Sui-Vihar Excavations and Archaeological Reconnaissance of southern Punjab”.

Dr Masih told Dawn that the discovery would open new dimensions for scholars. The seal has a perforated boss in the back with variant style from Harappan seals showing the regional influence and perhaps a separate identity in the Harappan domain. The seal is almost square in shape and slightly broken from the right side but figure of Ibex is almost intact. The muscles, genitalia, hooves and tail of the Ibex were engraved artistically with high proportion of skill and craftsmanship.

Under the project, Dr Masih said the PU team had also taken up the gigantic task of exploring the sites along the Hakra River in spite of the inhospitable climatic conditions. He said the team surveyed different sites including the Mihruband, Derawar Ther, Charoyanwala, Sunkewala, Pararewala, Sheruwala, Ganwariwala, Siddhuwala and Wattoowala. He said the cultural material collected from various mounds witnessed the presence of Early, Mature and Late Harappan settlements.

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Under the project, Dr Masih said the team also conducted excavations at Sui-Vihar, which was the only existing example of Sankhya doctrines in Pakistan. He said the tablet on the stupa consecrated by Balanandi in the 11th regnal year of Kanishka-I suggested that the Vihara was constructed to impart the philosophy of Sankhya/Samkhya to the devotees. He said the Sankhya was one of the six Hindu orthodox philosophy attributed to sage Kapila. The Sankhya doctrines were based on the renunciation of the worldly affairs and to undertake severe penances to perform yoga to attain the nirvana. The vedic cosmological-ritual, mysticism and the philosophical views of the six darsanas were the stages for the liberation (moksa) from the sequence of birth, death and re-birth (samsara).

The archaeologists team leader said the excavation revealed a circular platform at Sui-Vihar built with sun-dried bricks and a number of supporting walls to hold the platform and the cylindrical structure. He said the remnants of a votive stupa suggested that the place might had been converted to Buddhist establishment when Kanishka-I embraced Buddhism. In spite of this, he said, Kanishkas had great respect for other faiths and beliefs. There was religious toleration and fraternity amongst the believers of different religious cults. “The plan laid bare by the team is understudy and likely to shed more light on the architectural grandeurs of Kushana period,” he added.

Dr Masih said the team had also combed the Cholistan desert in the vicinity of Derawar Fort. Prior to that, he said, Sir Aural Stein and Henry Field had conducted the survey in 1941 and 1955, respectively. After the Independence, he said, Dr Muhammad Rafique Mughal had conducted an extensive survey during 1974-77 and discovered altogether 424 settlements on a 24-32 km wide strip on both sides of the dry bed of Hakra River.

He said the Mughals’ work in Cholistan had established a new dimension in the understanding of Indus cultures in Cholistan but unfortunately any indigenous or foreign scholar could not precede his work further even after three decades. Consequently, he said, the PU took the gigantic task of exploring the sites in spite of the inhospitable climatic conditions and surveyed some 25 sites in Cholistan Desert, which eventually led to the discovery of the rare Indus seal.

During explorations in Cholistan, the archaeology department chairman told Dawn that the team had also recorded flagrant violation of the Antiquities Rules to the cultural mounds which had been subjected to the worst human vandalism. “The land grabbers and other mafias have brutally murdered the cultural heritage while sinking tubewells on the mounds and ploughing the mounds to convert them into farm lands,” he said.

Dr Masih said the private land owners had sold the land including the cultural mounds and now the attitude of the new buyers towards the heritage was very hostile and it was feared that if no concrete steps were taken to safeguard the relics of the past, it might meet the fate of ruins of Harappa that suffered colossal damage during the laying of Lahore-Multan railway track.

“The entire scenario shows the dexterity of the investors and the pathetic attitude of the agencies responsible for cultural heritage of Pakistan,” he observed.

http://www.archeolog-home.com/pages/content/cholistan-inde-project-sui-vihar-excavations-and-archaeological-reconnaissance-of-southern-punjab.html

Dholavira (Inde):5,000-year-old Harappan stepwell found
Ankur Tewari
Well 1

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/5000-year-old-Harappan-stepwell-found-in-Kutch-bigger-than-Mohenjodaros/articleshow/44638220.cms

A 5,000-year-old stepwell has been found in one of the largest Harappan cities, Dholavira, in Kutch, which is three times bigger than the Great Bath at Mohenjo Daro.

Located in the eastern reservoir of Dholavira by experts from the Archaeological Survey of India working with IIT-Gandhinagar, the site represents the largest, grandest, and the best furnished ancient reservoir discovered so far in the country.

It's rectangular and 73.4m long, 29.3m wide, and 10m deep. Another site, the ornate Rani ki Vav in Patan, called the queen of stepwells, is already on Unesco list.
Well 1

The stepwell that was found during the excavation by ASI in Dholavira, Kutch.

"This is almost three times bigger than the Great Bath of Mohenjo Daro that's 12m in length, 7m in width, and 2.4m in depth," said V N Prabhakar, visiting faculty at IIT and superintending archaeologist, ASI.

"We will conduct spot analysis in December as various surveys have indicated other reservoirs and stepwells may be buried in Dholavira," Prabhakar told TOI.

"We also suspect a huge lake and an ancient shoreline are buried in the archaeological site that's one of the five largest Harappan sites and the most prominent archaeological site in India belonging to the Indus Valley civilization," he added.

Experts will investigate the advanced hydraulic engineering used by Harappans for building the stepwell through 3D laser scanner, remote sensing technology and ground-penetrating radar system.

"We will study how water flowed into the well and what was the idea behind water conservation," said Prabhakar. The IIT Gandhinagar team and ASI officials will also excavate various tanks, stoneware, finely furnished brick blocks, sanitation chambers and semi-precious stones hidden at the site.

Precious stones like carnelian were in great demand during the Harappan era. Gujarat was the hub of bead and craft manufacturing industries. "Agate carnelian beads were also coveted," Prabhakar said.

Siddharth Rai and V Vinod of IIT-Gn are working on characterization of internal structures of various forms of pottery unearthed from the site to identify the diet followed by Harappans. "Through pottery typology, we'll find out whether different communities lived in Dholavira," Rai said. The team will also analyze precious copper and bronze artefacts.

Rediscovering Ashoka

Vithal C Nadkarni

Source - http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-09/spiritual-destinations/30606797_1_emperor-ashoka-neem-tree-ancient-temple

Vithal C Nadkarni rediscovers the perennial relevance of the Ashokan credo of ahimsa and peace in Kanaganahalli.

Emperor Ashoka has stolen the show at the seminar on 'Future of the Past' in Mangalore. Participants are visibly excited when Manipal-based conservation architect Kailash Rao shows the first inscribed portrait of the Mauryan emperor ever found. This was unearthed from the ruins of a magnificent Buddhist stupa at Kanaganahalli near Gulbarga under dramatic circumstances! Imagine an ancient temple lashed by thunder and rain on a stormy night. Suddenly, the roof of the temple caves in. A giant statue of a fearsome goddess gets broken. As the pieces are removed, the base reveals a slab bearing Brahmi characters. An Archaeological Survey guard, who is among the volunteers, saves the tablet from being junked and alerts his bosses.

Treasure trove
Zoom to the code-breakers ( Shahrukh Khan, are you reading this?) who decipher Ashoka's long lost message of compassion and religious tolerance from the granite slab. It speaks of a great treasure called Adholoka Maha-Chaitya, the Great Stupa of Nether or the Southern World.

Cut to the dig, barely half a kilometre away from the temple, where archaeologists are racing against time to save the ruins of a spectacular Stupa from the rising waters of a newly built barrage on the Bhima River.

Now, a close-up of a limestone panel lying under a neem tree; it shows up Brahmi letters which simply say 'Rayo Ashoka', in Prakrit! From below the letters, emerges the exquisitely turbaned visage of one of the world's greatest emperors, surrounded by female attendants and his beautiful queens.

Ashoka has regained his face at last, in the 21st century. A few weeks later, when we visit Kanaganahalli, we find the portrait of yet another king beneath that of Ashoka under a parasol. This one has a great Satvahana king tugging off a necklace; a graphic evidence of Buddhism's proclaimed disdain for worldly wealth.

This comes across in the very first sentences of Ashoka's refurbished edict, which is prominently displayed today at the archeological site at Kanaganahalli: 'King Priyadarsi, the beloved of gods, respects equally the followers of other religions by offering worship and gifts,' the edict proclaims. 'But he does not accept them himself with the desire that the essence of each religion be increased among its followers.'

According to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, this testifies Ashoka's transformation "from a tough tyrant in the traditional mould into a ceaseless advocate of kindness and benevolence and into a public promoter of the social good. "This was not only a decisive moment in Indian history, it was also accompanied by Ashoka's reasoned reflections that were momentous at his time and remain very relevant to the problem-ridden world of today," says Sen.

Sen paid this tribute to Ashoka in the preface of Bruce Rich's ambitiously titled book, Upholding the World: The Message of Ashoka and Kautilya for the 21st Century. Rich travelled to Orissa in 1991 and gazed upon the rock edicts erected by the emperor at Dhauli over 2,200 years ago. Intrigued by the stone inscriptions that declared religious tolerance, conservation, nonviolence, protection of all species, and human rights, Rich was struck by their timeless relevance.

"Ashoka provides a unique example of a world ruler," Rich writes. "His empire at the time was arguably the world's largest, richest and the most powerful multi-ethnic state. He tried to put into practice a secular state ethic of nonviolence and reverence for life, which he also extended to international relations."

Where's the Buddha?

Similar sentiments are echoed by Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhist philosopher, educator and peace-builder: "Whenever I consider the psychic landscape of humanity (in this century), the image of Ashoka the Great, India's outstanding ancient sovereign comes inevitably to my mind."

Ikeda says modern humanism tends to emphasise dualism and conflict. This produces discrimination and rejection of others. One way of overcoming such schisms and divides is to embrace inclusive cosmologies as promoted by Ashoka's reign. "The dharma-based humanism that supported the emperor's reign is an excellent example of inclusion," he adds. "It is succinctly expressed in the two fundamental principles of Ashoka's rule: nonkilling and mutual respect."

Our excitement over finding Ashoka's likeness is tempered by the realisation that the Buddha himself is conspicuously absent from the carvings of Kanaganahalli. Instead, there are boldly carved empty seats shown on the limestone panels along with footprints. "This was a revolutionary concept way ahead of its times," says physicist Mayank Vahia. He organised the 'Future of the Past' meeting for the Tata Institute's Bangalore-based International Centre for Theoretical Studies.

"The Buddha himself proclaimed that the institution, the Sangha or the Dhamma, was bigger than the individual. This continues to remain extremely relevant for our own uneasy times."

To the informed layman, therefore, the emptiness of space that the Satvahana artists portrayed seems to pulsate with the Buddha's spiritual and moral authority.

Creative emptiness
However, Buddhist philosophers say emptiness (sunyata) must not be confused with nothingness. Emptiness is not nonexistence and it is not nonreality. "We can compare this Buddhist notion of creative emptiness to the thoroughly modern concept that physicists have of 'emptiness' of vacuum," Mayank Vahia elaborates. "They say, what we think of as a vacuum may not be empty at all. That emptiness is a veritable atomic cauldron seething with real and virtual particles and anti-counterparts spontaneously popping in and out of existence!" he says.

As we leave Kanaganahalli, the celebrated line from the Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra, commonly known as the Heart Sutra, comes to our mind: "Form is emptiness; emptiness is form."

Mésopotamie: 4,000-year-old erotica depicts a strikingly racy ancient sexuality

Clay plaques at The Israel Museum, made 1,500 years before the Kama Sutra, display graphically that Old Babylonian culture held an ‘exalted’ view of sex

Ilan Ben Zion

Source -http://www.timesofisrael.com/4000-year-old-erotica-depicts-a-strikingly-racy-ancient-sexuality/

Sexual intercourse between a woman and a man on a terra cotta plaque from Mesopotamia, early 2nd millennium BCE (photo credit: The Israel Museum)

Mseums are often misconstrued as dusty and lifeless — the least likely place to find something hot and steamy. But the Ancient Near East section in The Israel Museum’s Archaeology Wing features rare erotic art from the land between the rivers (Tigris and Euphrates), which predates India’s Kama Sutra by over 1,500 years. Such astonishingly intimate works reveal a side to the ancient Near East that contrasts sharply with the modesty prevalent in the modern Middle East

Two clay plaques, small enough to hold in your palm, depict couples copulating in remarkable detail. Dating from the early second millennium BCE, the Old Babylonian period, they come from a 300-year window when mass-produced terra cotta plaques were popular, including those that exhibit sexual acts.

Mesopotamian erotica was “really something racy,” Laura A. Peri, curator of Western Asiatic Antiquities, said when we met in the labyrinthine bowels of the museum. “It’s not all, you know, missionary and that’s it.”

The first plaque shows a man penetrating a woman from behind, while standing. The second, slightly smaller one, depicts a man and woman in a similar position, with the woman drinking beer through a straw from a jug.

According to Dr. Julia Assante, a Near Eastern social historian, the woman drinking beer from a straw was not just a reflection of lifelike sexual encounters, but was “undoubtedly a [visual pun].” The straw in the woman’s mouth and the man raising a cup of wine to his lips were symbolic of performing oral sex on their respective partners. The Babylonians, Assante writes, held “an exalted cultural view of sex as inducing an altered state of wonder.”

An Old Babylonian clay plaque on display at The Israel Museum depicts a couple having sex. (photo credit: The Israel Museum)

The terra cotta plaques from Mesopotamia yield numerous different sexual positions, but one of the most popular was what’s referred to technically by the Latin: coitus a tergo – from behind. While erotic Mesopotamian art doesn’t detail a specific means of entry, anal sex was deemed a popular means of contraception by ancient couples before the invention of prophylactics. The depiction of couples engaging in rear entry may be indicative of that practice. Other plaques show partners side-by-side, standing up (aka lleváme) and plain old missionary; some depict women with legs spread, squatting over a comically large phallus.

That the erotic clay plaques were found in temples, graves and private homes makes it difficult to generalize about their intended use, but is testament to their popularity. That excavators found the erotic artwork in high-traffic rooms of homes leads Assante to infer that they were accessible to men, women and children.

“It’s a kind of pop art, because it’s very cheap material and easy to make,” curator Peri said. She explained that sexuality was very prominent in ancient Sumerian and Babylonian art and literature, particularly in the late-third and early-second millennia. Cylinder seals — small cylinder-shaped stones etched with figures and cuneiform used as a signet — occasionally featured men and women in erotic poses. Peri, an expert in understanding the symbolism of the seals, noted that erotic scenes usually weren’t the central image, nor did those seals belong to the king or officials.

Ancient Mesopotamian texts were so graphic in their detailing of the erotic arts that “you can really reenact the actions — what they did between the sheets — according to the descriptions,” Peri explained when we met at her office in The Israel Museum.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, Mesopotamia’s great literary work, lauds sex as one of the carnal pleasures humans ought to indulge in during our brief tenure on this planet. Siduri, a divine alewife, tells the eponymous king of Uruk to “let your belly be full, your clothes clean, your body and head washed; enjoy yourself day and night, dance, sing and have fun; look upon the child who holds your hand, and let your wife delight in your lap! This is the destiny of mortals.”

Peri explained that “delight in your lap” was a common euphemism for sex in ancient Akkadian, the language in which Gilgamesh was written.

The Gilgamesh epic also describes sexuality as a potent force that distinguishes humans from beasts. Enkidu, the wild man who becomes Gilgamesh’s comrade-in-arms, is tamed by a temple prostitute who ensnares him with her sexual wiles: “She was not restrained, but took his energy. / She spread out her robe and he lay upon her, / She performed for the primitive the task of womankind.”

Israelite and Canaanite artwork, by comparison, typically had very little overt sexuality, only nude female figures that disappeared after the institutionalization of early Judaism in the eighth century BCE. A mid-second millennium BCE Canaanite scarab seal found at Tel el-Far’a — near the junction of the Israeli border with Egypt and the Gaza Strip — shows the figures of a man and woman in a standing posture similar to the clay plaque at The Israel Museum. Both figures are fully clothed, however, and there is no latent intercourse, only the suggestion of it.

Sketching of Canaanite scarab from Tel el-Far’a shows a man approaching a woman from behind. (photo credit: Courtesy of Dr. Daphna Ben Tor, curator of Egyptian Archaeology at The Israel Museum)

Siduri’s advice finds its way into the biblical literature, appearing in a toned-down version in Ecclesiastes 9:7-9. “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart,” Kohelet says among his many iterations of “under the sun.” But whereas the Mesopotamians spoke of enjoying sex, the Bible enjoins man to “Enjoy life with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity.”

The similarity between the two passages comes as little surprise. Ancient Israel was the land bridge connecting the two major civilizations of the ancient Near East, Egypt and Mesopotamia, and its culture was influenced heavily by both. A stark difference, however, was the difference in ancient Babylonian and Israelite perspectives on male homosexuality. The Babylonians, writes Prof. Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat in her book Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, “didn’t condemn this practice” and observed a live-and-let-live attitude in regard to male-male sex. The Book of Leviticus, on the other hand, bans lying “with mankind, as with womankind” as “an abomination.”

Artifacts from ancient Babylon exhibit latent — even shockingly graphic — sexuality, but the exact purpose of the plaques remains unclear. Dr. Ilan Peled of The Hebrew University said there’s a scholarly debate over what purpose the erotic art served, with some contending they were votive objects for the veneration of Ishtar, the love goddess. Assante argues they were apotropaic, like other terra cotta amulets from the era, meant to keep away evil spirits. Others say that the clay plaques ”portrayed prostitution, sexual relations conducted within a tavern, or sexual intercourse between a husband and wife,” with no particular context.

“It is possible that we merely face here a very early version of Playboy, Middle-Eastern style,” Peled said.

Rakhigarhi (Inde):Is Haryana home to older, larger Harappan-era site?

Jaideep Sarin

Source - http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/is-haryana-home-to-older-larger-harappan-era-site-113062400485_1.html

Is a village in Haryana sitting on top of a rare archaeological site that is older and larger than Mohenjo-daro, perhaps the best-known human settlement of the Indus Valley civilization?

Research and findings by archaeologists and officials in Haryana have indicated that this could indeed be true for Rakhigarhi village in Haryana's Hisar district, over 200 km from Chandigarh.

Located on the Jind-Hansi road, about eight kilometres from Narnaund town, the seven mounds in the area could change history related to the Indus Valley civilization (now referred to as the Harappan civilization), researchers say.

Vijai Vardhan, Haryana's principal secretary for archaeology and museums, told IANS: "This site could throw up new information about the Indus Valley civilization. Archaeologists who have been to Rakhigarhi say that the town underneath these mounds could be larger and even 500 years older than Mohenjo-daro."

"Excavations conducted at Rakhigarhi indicate that the settlement witnessed all the phases of the Harappan civilization - the early Harappan (3200-2700 BCE) as well as the Mature Harappan (2700-1800 BCE). This positions Rakhigarhi as a unique Harappan site which promises to reveal new civilization contours by pushing the Indus Valley civilization by a thousand years or more," said a latest publication of the department of archaeology and museums, authored by Vardhan.

The findings have revealed that while the archaeological sites of Mohenjo-daro (now in Larkana district of Pakistan), Harappa (in Pakistan) and Dholavira (Kutch region of Gujarat) were estimated at 200, 150 and 60 hectares respectively, the area and dimensions of Rakhigarhi, according to some archaeologists, is spread over 220 hectares.

"The present Rakhigarhi village stands on three of the seven mounds under which the archaeological site exists. Four mounds are clear for excavation while the present village will have to be moved to excavate the remaining three mounds," Vardhan said.

"The area and dimensions of Rakhigarhi make it possibly the largest Indus Valley civilization site in the Indian sub-continent," the publication said.

The excavation at the site so far has revealed all the defining features of the Indus Valley civilization - potters kiln, wheel-made pottery baked to red colour, Indus script on seals and other layout features and other traditions of the civilization.

Vardhan said that a coordinated effort of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Haryana government is needed to reveal the actual status of the Rakhigarhi site.

"Archaeologists have visited the site and from the finds so far and use of technology, they are of the opinion that the site should be excavated," he said.

The town of Mohenjo-daro was discovered in 1922 following the excavations at Harappa and other places. Mohenjo-daro was recognised as the earliest city of the Indian sub-continent.

Haryana itself is home to over 100 early Harappan sites (2500-2200 BCE). Most of these lie in Kurukshetra, Ambala, Hisar, Bhiwani, Sonipat, Yamunanagar and Rohtak districts.de-project-sui-vihar-excavations-and-archaeological-reconnaissance-of-southern-punjab.html

Rakhigarhi (Inde): Archaeological Site Could Answer Questions About The Enigmatic Indus Valley Civilization

Source - http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/december-2012/article/little-known-archaeological-site-could-answer-questions-about-the-enigmatic-indus-valley-civilization

Rakhigarhi structures and streets exposed in earlier excavations that have now been reburied. Courtesy Global Heritage Fund

Its remains rest almost unnoticeable near the small village of Rakhigarhi in northwest India. On the surface, its most visible features consist of well-ordered mounds of cow dung cakes, nature's fertilizer for the present-day local villagers' farming operations. Ox carts routinely transport their agricultural supplies over its ancient mounds and into the fields every day. Below the surface, however, lay an expansive network of ruins and artifacts that would betray an ancient city that would rival, and likely exceed, the enormity of the Indus Valley civilization's best known archaeological site, Mohenjo-Daro. At 224 hectares, Rakhigarhi can boast perhaps the largest known Harrapan (Indus Civilization) site in India.

Since 1997 the Archaeological Survey of India has undertaken a detailed investigation of the site, revealing not only its size but also numerous artifacts, including paved roads, a drainage system, a large rainwater collection system, a storage system, terracotta brick work, evidence of skilled metal working, jewellery, conch shells, gold, semi-precious stones, stamp seals, altars, and at least one burial site. Some of the artifacts and features are over 5,000 years old. The remains are scattered among five mounds, of which three can be excavated -- the other two underlie populated areas and agricultural plots. The Harappan culture, of which Rakhigarhi was a part, was one of the most advanced early civilizations and was an important trade partner with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Nonetheless, relatively little is known about it, making Rakhigarhi a key site for ongoing and future research and conservation.

Rakhigarhi mounds site as it appears today. Note the extensive use of the location for dung storage. Photo Credit: Sourav De, courtesy Global Heritage Fund

Artifacts on the surface of the site. Shown are redware pottery sherds, bangles and terracotta cakes. Photo Credit: Adam S. Green, courtesy Global Heritage Fund

But most of the available site area still remains unexcavated, and its archaeological integrity faces a number of serious threats, including urban encroachment, farming and erosion. To address these threats and protect and preserve the site for further investigation and future tourism, teams of experts, along with participants from the local community, will be implementing a number of planning and preservation steps to ensure its sustainability.

For example, The Global Heritage Fund (GHF), a U.S. non-profit organization based in Palo Alto, California, hopes to institute a holistic approach to protecting and developing the site by integrating planning, conservation, community development and strategic partnerships. It will do this in partnership with ongoing excavation efforts from archaeologists of India's Deccan College and experts and officials from other institutions, including the Archaeological Survey of India, the Government of the State of Haryana, the Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development, and the Indus Heritage Trust. Reports GHF management: "Once a management plan has been developed and excavation starts, Deccan College will begin site conservation and evaluate options for protective shelters and other intervention strategies to stabilize the exposed archaeology. As the ancient structures were built with mud brick, erosion can occur quickly following exposure, so it is imperative to begin conservation right away. The project will engage leading experts in mud brick conservation to ensure that the uncovered remains are stabilized and preserved. It is expected that as part of the site conservation, it will be necessary to construct protective shelters to provide a stable environment and protection from wind- and rain-induced erosion."[1]

Thus far, the GHF and its partners have already completed ground penetrating radar and electrical resistivity surveys of the site, conducted surface sampling surveys to identify activity areas and guide excavation, and have engaged the people of the local community in discussions on renewed archaeological work and related community development potential. The GHF and the Government of India hope that new economic benefits will accrue to the local communities that hold a stake in the development of the site as a cultural heritage center and tourist attraction. But for the scientific community, a treasure trove of new evidence and data that may shed valuable light on understanding a major early civilization awaits.

"In size, dimension, strategic location and unique significance of the settlement", reports GHF, "Rakhigarhi matches the major Harappan cities of Dholavira, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. In addition, the Early, Mature and Late phases of Harappan Culture are all represented at Rakhigarhi, providing an excellent and rare location in which to study the development and decline of this enigmatic ancient civilization".[1]

More information about Rakhigarhi and the site conservation and excavation efforts can be obtained at the Global Heritage Fund website.

_____________________________

[1] http://globalheritagefund.org/what_we_do/overview/investigations/rakhigarhi_india

Rakhigarhi (Inde): excavation on RGR 4, the fourth of the seven mounds

Once upon a time in Rakhigarhi

Priyanka Kotamraju

Source -http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/blink/know/article6039796.ece?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication

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The well preserved granary, built with mud bricks and lined with lime and grass to ward off insects and moisture. Photo: Ramesh Sharma

In Haryana lies the largest Harappan site which could also be the origin of the civilisation

A 10-foot-wide lane separates the twin Haryana villages of Rakhi-khas and Rakhi-shahpur. “Well, it is nine feet in some parts and 11 in others but mostly it’s 10 feet,” observes Wazir Chand Saraooe, a retired schoolteacher with a proclivity for precision. The hamlets are among the most important sites of the Harappan civilisation outside Mohenjodaro. Clubbed together as Rakhigarhi by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the area has also emerged as the largest Harappan site, spread over 350 hectares at last count. A recently concluded excavation has also gathered more evidence to support the theory that the origins of the 5,000-year-old civilisation can be found here.

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Rattles and toys. Photo: Ramesh Sharma

The four-month-long excavation, led by Professor Vasant Shinde of Deccan College, Pune, was carried out on RGR 4, the fourth of the seven mounds dug up in Rakhigarhi. Among the major finds of the dig, which wrapped up in April, are the discovery of a near-intact granary and artefacts from the early to late phase of the ancient civilisation. At the moment, however, there are few signs of the dig. The excavated mounds have been covered with fresh soil and ziggurats of dung cakes. The ASI fence running along its perimeter has stopped no one; villagers continue to cut across the seat of the Harappan civilisation to reach their fields and children unearth priceless artefacts to sell them for a few hundred rupees to the occasional tourist. The quarters designated for the ASI-appointed guards at the edge of RGR 1 lies locked and abandoned. “Addressing this (apathy/ignorance) was one of the objectives of the excavation,” says Shinde. While the process for acquiring a World Heritage tag has begun, including the construction of an onsite museum, the village has already made it to the list of endangered sites in Asia.

The research objective, on the other hand, was to collect evidence for the theory historians and archaeologists have come to support for a decade now. The findings at Rakhigarhi and other sites — Farmana, Banawali and Birhana — in Haryana have led them to believe that Harappan culture might have its roots here on the banks of the now-extinct rivers of Saraswati and Drishadvati. “Rakhigarhi is ideal to study the growth of the culture. We’ve found evidence for the beginning, dating back to 5,500 BC,” says Shinde. While archaeologists still have “little idea of the site”, it’s important to establish a “series of dates” from the early to late periods to arrive at conclusive evidence to bolster the theory.

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A collared, domestic cheetal. Photo: Ramesh Sharma

Since January, a team of 10 faculty members from Deccan College and 20-25 students had camped at a farmhouse, nearly 3km from the site. Life at the dig began early. “We woke up at 5am. Work started by 7am and continued till the evening,” says Shinde. Armed with knives and brushes, they chipped away, horizontally, at the soil, 5-6cm at a time. Data was collected in the form of seals, ornaments and pottery. The colour and composition of the soil roughly indicated the period of the culture. One of the most important markers of the phases, says Shinde, is its pottery. “The pottery of the mature phase of Harappan civilisation is more advanced and you can see that here.”

In the evenings, the faculty held classes. Post-dinner, the teams sifted and recorded the evidence at the local farmhouse, abuzz with debates and discussions late into the night. Unlike the mysteries of Agatha Christie, who conjured up murders most foul in the historic settings of Petra or in erstwhile Mesopotamia, life at Rakhigarhi was largely peaceful. “It is an exciting time to be here,” says Kim Yongjun, a scholar at Deccan College and Seoul National University, South Korea. Yongjun is part of a forensics team collecting DNA to establish the second part of the research puzzle: who were the Harappans? In 2006, Shinde and his team had discovered a burial site at Farmana, less than 50km away. Remains of 17 bodies were unearthed but most were in a state of decay. This time, in Rakhigarhi, another burial site has been found. “But we’ve exhumed only one body as the site is under a field of standing crops,” he says. The owner had been reluctant to let the archaeologists explore further but “he has agreed to allow access in December.”

The teams have also discovered a granary dating back to 2,500BC, crucial to understanding the lifestyle of the time. “We’ve unearthed seven rooms but there are more,” says Shinde.

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A necklace. Photo: Ramesh Sharma

Last week, when we visited Rakhigarhi, Wazir Chand, the 54-year-old resident historian, agreed to show us around. Despite the lack of formal training, Chand has been involved in every dig here. As a young lad he would accompany RS Bisht, a former ASI director, on excavations and bring back small artefacts. “My mother wasn’t very happy about it,” he laughs. While most of his priceless collection has found its way to the National Museum in Delhi, Haryana Archaeological Museum and Gurukul Museum at Jhajjar, a small room in his house still holds an extensive collection arranged in sealed glass cabinets. Holding forth on ancient history, Chand picks up a plastic plate scattered with stone beads and pendants and in under a minute fashions a layered Harappan necklace with them. Since the ’90s, Chand has waged a lone battle for Rakhigarhi, taking up matters with ASI and the government, holding classes for local children. Now, his 17-year-old son Khyaliram accompanies him on excavations and acts as a guide, often at the expense of his studies. “But I don’t want to be an archaeologist, there’s no money in it,” says Khyaliram, who's studying to be a doctor.

The archaeologists are set to return in December for another four-month stint. And while questions like ‘Who were the Harappans?’ remain unanswered, Shinde says, “Take a walk around Rakhigarhi. You’ll find you’re still strolling in a Harappan village.”

Rakhigarhi (Inde): Ancient granary found

T.S.Subramanian

Source - http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/ancient-granary-found-in-haryana/article5966952.ece

The granary, built of mud bricks, at the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi village in Haryana. Photo: Rakhigarhi Project/Deccan College, Pune

The site belongs to the mature Harappan phase from 2600 BCE to 2000 BCE

A “beautifully made” granary, with walls of mud-bricks, which are still in a remarkably good condition, has been discovered in the just-concluded excavation at Rakhigarhi village, a Harappan civilisation site, in Haryana.

The granary has rectangular and squarish chambers. Its floor is made of ramped earth and plastered with mud.

Teachers and students of the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute, Pune, and Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, excavated at Rakhigarhi from January to April this year.

Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor/Director, Deccan College, who was the Director of the excavation, said: “We excavated seven chambers in the granary. From the nature of the structure, it appears to be a big structure because it extends on all sides. We do not know whether it is a private or public granary. Considering that it extends on all sides, it could be a big public granary.” He called it “a beautifully-made structure.”

The excavating teams found several traces of lime and decomposed grass on the lower portion of the granary walls.

“This is a significant indication that it is a storehouse for storing grains because lime acts as insecticide, and grass prevents moisture from entering the grains. This is a strong proof for understanding the function of the structure,” explained Dr. Shinde, a specialist in the Harappan civilisation.

The discovery of two more mounds in Rakhigarhi in January this year led to Dr. Shinde arguing that it is the biggest Harappan civilisation site. There are about 2,000 Harappan sites in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. With the discovery of two more mounds, in addition to the seven already discovered, he estimated that the total area of Rakhigarhi was 350 hectares. It thus overtook Mohenjo-daro with about 300 hectares, in Pakistan, in laying claim to be the biggest Harappan site, he said.

Excavation at the Harappan site at Rakhigarhi in Haryana [Credit: Rakhigarhi Project/Deccan College, Pune]

The Rakhigarhi site belongs to the mature Harappan phase, which lasted from 2600 BCE to 2000 BCE. The teams have also found artefacts, including a seal and potsherd, both inscribed with the Harappan script.

Various artefacts recovered at the Harappan site at Rakhigarhi village in Haryana [Credit: Rakhigarhi Project/Deccan College, Pune]

In Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, granaries were found in citadels, where the ruling elite lived. So mound number four in Rakhigarhi, where the granary was found, could have been the settlement’s citadel, Dr. Shinde said.

Rakhigarhi is situated in the confluence of Ghaggar and Chautang rivers and it was a fertile area. “So Rakhigarhi must have grown a lot of food grains. They could have been stored in the granary to pay for the artisans or other sections of society or to meet any crisis,” said Dr. Shinde.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-

states/ancient-granary-found-in-haryana/article5966952.ece

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Shh-Aradha Kaalaadhan -- Devadeep Purohit & Sambit Saha. Bamboo Mamata and kaandh se kaandh. NaMo, restitute kaalaadhan, the nation trusts you

May 10, 2015, 6:20 pm

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≪ Previous: Decipherment of Cholistan and Rakhigarhi seals as metalwork catalogs. New light on Mesopotamia erotica, Chandayan, Rakhigarhi, Dholavira sites, rediscovery of Ashoka.

| Monday , May 11 , 2015 |

SHH-ARADHA

- THE VOLDEMORT OF SCAMS THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED

DEVADEEP PUROHIT AND SAMBIT SAHA

Ahead of the 2014 election, I had come to Bengal and I was attacking and there were attacks on me as well…. Check the newspapers during February, March and April... for reports on scams — coal scam, spectrum scam, water scam, land scam, sky scam... only onscams and scams

Narendra Modi, May 10, 2015, Burnpur

The shoulder, one of the largest and most complex joints in the human body, has replaced Saradha as the talking point in political Bengal.

If chief minister Mamata Banerjee sprang the "shoulder-to-shoulder ( kaandh se kaandh)" phrase on Saturday, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's turn to reciprocate on Sunday.

Referring to the unanimous parliamentary endorsement of the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh, Modi said in Burnpur in the presence of the chief minister: "Mamata Banerjee's Bengal government, along with the Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram governments, worked shoulder to shoulder with the government in Delhi as Team India and made it happen."
If imitation is the best form of compliment, Mamata has reason to be happy.
What else Modi and Mamata said on Sunday in Burnpur and what we heard:
MODI SAID
"Check the newspapers during February, March and April (2014). That time, they would carry reports on scams - Rs 1.77 lakh crore coal scam, spectrum scam, water scam, land scam, sky scam. Reports only on scams and scams."
What we heard
I am not mentioning the Saradha scam unlike on April 10, 2014, when I said in Siliguri: "We all know about the cheating by the chit fund that happened here, the Saradha scam. They even robbed poor people, who saved Rs 10 a day." I remember Rahul Baba (not ours in Bengal but the one I used to call Shehzada) had said more or less the same thing on April 19, 2014, in Behrampore and you had retorted that " chorer mayer bodo gala", which, I am told by our Rahul, means the thief's mother shouts the loudest.
I have lent you my shoulder. Now, it is your turn.
MODI SAID
"States like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan, Punjab have economically developed while the eastern region is lagging behind.... But we will make the east stronger. India cannot be strong unless Bengal and Calcutta also become strong."
What we heard
As on Saradha, so on Gujarat. Mamatadi, I know that if there is one thing other than the mention of the Saradha scam that gets your goat, it is the comparison between Gujarat and Bengal. In any case, I did not want to mention the obvious: Gujarat is one of the most industrialised states and I was CM there for 12 years. But I will help Bengal grow, be by my side.
MODI SAID
" Dal se bara desh hain (The country is bigger than the party)."
What we heard
Rise above party politics and help us pass the land bill.
MAMATA SAID
"When we work together, the country moves forward. When we divide, the country breaks up. We don't want division among people."
What we heard
Please ask the loony brigade in your Sangh parivar to shut up. My minority friends, please be reassured that I will not allow such elements to harm you just because I shared positive vibes with a leader I had once called " dangar mukh (the face of riots)".
MAMATA SAID
"Roshni chand se hoti hain, sitaron se nahin, kaam pyar mohabbat se hota hain, badnaami se nahin."
What we heard
If there is goodwill and support we can work together. Tell your party colleagues to stop maligning me and saying "Saradha" at the drop of a hat and " Bhaag, Mamata, Bhaag", etc. ( Evidently, the Prime Minister also heard what we heard. There was no mention of Saradha when Modi, who spoke after Mamata, delivered his address.)
MAMATA SAID
"The revival of IISCO was part of the Bengal package that we (Trinamul) sought from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government."
What we heard
Modiji, do not claim all the credit for reviving this industry. And don't forget I had shared power with Atalji, the Prime Minister who reminded you of " raj dharma" after the riots in the state you were ruling.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150511/jsp/frontpage/story_19366.jsp#.VVADV46qqko

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