Publishers: Partridge Publishers

Important retailers:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Quest-Dates-Vedas-Comprehensive-Indo-European/dp/1482834251

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Book is the result of a multidisciplinary examination of materials on the topics of Indo-European migration and the dates of the Vedas, available in the fields of archaeology, geology, archaeo-botany, philology, ecology, genetics and the Vedic Samhita texts by a single person so as to make meaningful conclusions about the Aryan issue and the Vedic dates.

There is a lot of information in the Vedas which pose the time limits for each of the four Vedic Samhitas. The Rig-Veda does not have wheat, rice, millets, lentil, date-palm (Phoenix) and sesamum. These appear in the Yajur-Veda. From recent works in archaeology, we know that wheat and rice both were well cultivated in the Ghaghar-Hakra (Sarasvati) culture in the fifth millennium BC. Thus Rig-Veda must be before that time. Lentil was domesticated in West Asia, but arrived in India in the Bronze Age. Its absence from the Rig-Veda and presence in the Yajur-Veda speaks a lot about the dates of the two texts. Date-palm arrived in the region in the mid sixth millennium BC, as we can infer from the seed found from sixth century BC Mehrgarh. Date (kharjura) has not been mentioned in the Rig-Veda and has been mentioned in the Yajur-Veda. Willow and akva grass, the plants of watery climates were not there in Rig-Veda, but occur in the Yajur-Veda.

On the other hand there are trees and animals in thr Rig-Veda which do not occur in more humid climates and they are absent from the Yajur-Veda. This type of evidence constitutes one group of evidence to demonstrate that the Rig-Veda must have been composed between 8000 BC and 6000 BC, or the latest 5500 BC.

Similarly, the animals mentioned in the Rig-Veda and the Yajur-Veda are quite different. While lion, a grassland animal is present in the Rig-Veda, tiger which lives in dense forests has not been mentioned in the Rig-Veda. Tiger could have lived in northwest India only during the 5500 to 2500 BC period, the wettest time period for the region. Thus tiger has been depicted in the Harappan seals but not the lion, which must have become extinct from the forests of the region during this period. Tiger is mentioned in the Yajur-Veda as are crocodile, rhinoceros, tortoise and ajagara (Python) which can survive only in humid warm climates. However the lion continues to be mentioned in the Yajur-Veda. Probably it existed in the folk memory even after its extinction. Lion considered a glorious animal has been retained in the folklore etc even in South India where it never existed.

The book re-examines the philological exercises done by the linguists and detects the fatal flaws in them.

Witzel and others say that USTra is a Munda word which entered into Sanskrit after the arrival of the Indo-Aryans into India. They say so because they can find no cognate word of USTra in the European languages. But on re-examination this claim is not found to be true. A large number of cognates of USTra exist in the European languages applied to other animals examples being ostrich, avestuz etc. Similarly, Sanskrit dhumra (camel) is a cognate of Latin drŏmas (camel) and Portuguese dromedario (camel). This clearly proves that the homeland had the camel.

Similar exercises have been dome for pearl, oyster, conch, crab (cancer), tortoise, turtle, frog, toad, lizard, chameleon, otter, beaver, mongoose, mouse, hedge-hog, porcupine, shrew (sorex), crocodile, carp (fish, shafara), goat, sheep, pig, cow, horse, donkey, onegar, snake, papiha, shuka (parrot), pika, tittira, lion (keshari, simha, lahu), panther, leopard, wolf, fox, jackal, mosquito, fly, bee, wasp etc.

The published DNA studies for the domestication of cattle, goat, sheep, pig, horse, camel and domestic mouse have been presented in summarized forms which show that all of these had been actually domesticated in India.

Similar exercises in philology as well as archaeology and DNA studies have been presented for barley, millet, rice, wheat, etc. The forest trees have been too examined archaeologically and philologically as well as for their presence or absence in particular Veda. The plants studied include reed, willow, sugarcane, juniper, cedar, pine, Ficus species, oak, beech, birch, fraxinus, poplar, aspen, jamun (rose-apple), amla, apple, lotus, sesame, ber (jujube), date-palm, nard, Artemis, akva grass, etc have been done. They all indicate the time period for Rig-Veda as 8000-6000 BC, for Sama Veda 6000-5500 BC, for Yajur-Veda 5000-2500 BC and for the Atharva-Veda 1500-1300 BC.

Difficulties posed by mention of iron in Yajur-Veda and the presence of copper and horse in Rig-Veda have been sorted out by latest archaeological evidence as well as DNA studies for horse.

The Sarasvati river lost her connection with the Himalayan glaciers about 6500 BC. This aspect has has been well examined in the Vedic text itself. Although the Rig-Veda mentions the river as the largest and very powerful river, the Yajur-Veda mentions it simply as a great river. The Atharva-Veda mentions her as a goddess living in the heaven, and there is no mention of her river existence. Moreover the Rig-Veda clearly mentions that an earthquake shook the Himalayas leading to flooding of the desert region. This desert was clearly the Thar through which the Sarasvati passed. This fact establishes that Sarasvati was connected with the Himalayas in the Rig-Vedic period.

List of contents:

Chapter 1 Human Migration at the end of Glacial Period: The DNA studies ………..19
Chapter 2 Climate Change during the Early Post Glacial Period …23
Chapter 3 The Climate of the Rig-Veda ………………………………………27
Chapter 4 Periodization of the Rig and Yajur Vedas on the basis of some other features
……………………………36
Chapter 5 A General Account of the minor Flora of the Vedas
reflecting climate ……………………………………………………….49
Chapter 6 A General Account of the Forest Trees of the Vedas with understanding of the ecology of the respective periods ………………………………………….67
Chapter 7 Climatic Information Contained in the Sama-Veda ……78
Chapter 8 Fauna of the Yajur-Veda and their concordance in Harappa ……………81
Chapter 9 Athrva Veda and the arid Second Millennium BC of Indus-Sarasvati region
……………………………………………89
Chapter 10 Evidence of the Bronze Age Migrations Out of India …..96
Chapter 11 Indian Migrations to Central Asia and the Steppe during Bronze Age: Linguistic and Archeological Considerations ……………………………………….102
Chapter 12 Indian Migrations to West Asia during Bronze Age ….116
Chapter 13 Anatolian Origin Claim………………………………………….128
Chapter 14 The Homeland Debate and the Horse ………………………. 134
Chapter 15 The Golden Willow an extinct ancient Indian tree: References in the Vedic texts
……………………………………173
Chapter 16 Kustha, Kutsa and Nard (nalada) plants ……………………189
Chapter 17 Birch (Betula species) ……………………………………………….195
Chapter 18 Oak (Quercus) …………………………………………………….202
Chapter 19 Beech (Fagus sylvestica) ………………………………………….223
Chapter 20 Juniper, the Gymnosperm plant of the Indus Valley region before 3000 BC
………………………… 230
Chapter 21 Pine (Pinus) and Ash (Fraxinus) ………………………………..242
Chapter 22 Aspen and poplar in Indian archaeology and Vedic texts
…………………………………………………………248
Chapter 23 The Indian names of the Ficus Trees …………………………263
Chapter 24 Some Typical Indian Plants ………………………………………273
Chapter 25 Farming related flora …………………………………………… 284
Chapter 26 Aquatic and Semi-aquatic animals …………………………..291
Chapter 27 Smaller mammals, reptiles and birds ……………………… 309
Chapter 28 The Carnivores and other forest mammals ………………317
Chapter 29 Mosquitoes and Flies …………………………………………………326
Chapter 30 Domestic Animals …………………………………………………….328
Chapter 31 Camel (uṣṭra) ……………………………………………………355
Abbreviations ………………………………………………………….387
Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………389
Index ………………………………………………………………….. 445