Rig Vedic Civilization Chapter 2

In my previous article, I talked about the Rig Vedic Civilization there I shared the divisions of Vedic Scriptures and traditions that belong to it. Today I will continue the same topic and discuss the next part of it. But today I will use the Itihas Ved methodology in this article, which is called Samvad Vidhi, Samvad means Communication, and Vidhi means technique or method. In simple terms, it is called a QnA session or Question and Answer session.

So the first question is.....

Q. Why does this civilization call Rig Vedic Civilization?

Answer:- So, according to the experts and scholars of History and Vedic parampara Rig Ved is the first written book or scripture by scholars of this era. As I told in my previous article that in the beginning, this Vedic Parampara used to be a Shruti Parampara( Oral Tradition ), and between 1500 BC to 1000 BC this book came into written format. Rig Ved along with the other Vedas namely Yajur Ved, Sam Ved, and Atharva Ved have been composed and categorized by Maharishi Bhagavan Krsna Dwipayan Ved Vyas, whom scholars consider as a Gyan Avatar of Supreme Consciousness of this Creation. But these Vedas are not developed by him rather many different Rishis ( Both Males and Females ) contributed to this development process at different times depending upon the need of the System; So, the nature of the development of Vedas was discrete. Because Rig Ved is the first written book by humans so, this civilization was named Rig Vedic Civilization by the Historians.

Brahmavadinis

In the beginning, there used to be one single Veda known as Shruti and Brahman and Ved sometimes. Later, because of its large size and diversity, Maharishi Bhagavan Krsna Dwipayan Ved Vyas was composed and categorized this Ved into four different sections depending upon three categories. Which were.....

1. Gaddya (Prose format)

2. Paddya (Poetry format)

3. Gayan (Melody format)

Rig Ved acknowledges Gaddya Format, Yajur Ved acknowledges Paddya Format, and Sam Ved acknowledges Gayan Format and the 4th Ved which is known as Atharva Ved has a combination of all three formats in its mantra compositions.

Now moving onto the next set of questions.....

Q.2 Was Rig Vedic Civilization started in 1500 BC with the Aryan invasion or it was there even before that? 

Q.3 What was this Indus Valley Civilization popularly known as Harappan Civilization? 

Q.4 Was it an ancestral civilization of Rig Vedic Civilization or it was a completely different civilization that existed before the Rig Vedic Civilization?

Answers...….

First, let me tell you what Indian school books say about this topic; because I believe that school books are the basis of the country's education. In India, NCERT( National Council of Educational Research and Training ) books are considered as best books because it is not only studied by school students but the top Government Job aspirants also read these books to have a strong foundation over the Examination syllabus.

So, let's start from the beginning.....

According to School books, the Indus Valley civilization came into existence before the Rig Vedic era of periods. Now allow me to share proven facts about Indus Valley Civilization which can be found in School books also. 

Fact 1:- The Indus Valley Civilization was established around 3300 BC. It flourished between 2600 BC and 1900 BC. It started declining around 1900 BC.

Fact 2:- This is also called Harappan Civilization after the first city to be excavated, Harappa (Punjab, Pakistan). Pre-Harappan civilization has been found in Mehrgarh, Pakistan which shows the first evidence of cotton cultivation.

Fact 3:- Geographically, this civilization covered Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Western Uttar Pradesh. It extended from Sutkagengor in Baluchistan in the West to Alamgirpur Western Utter Pradesh in the East; and from Mandu Jammu in the North to Daimabad Ahmednagar, Maharashtra in the South. Some Indus Valley sites have also been found as far away as Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.

Fact 4:- The Indus Valley cities show a level of sophistication and advancement not seen in other contemporary civilizations. Most cities had similar patterns. There were two parts: a citadel and the lower town. Most cities had a Great Bath. There were also granaries, 2-storied houses made of burnt bricks, closed drainage lines, excellent stormwater, and wastewater management system, weights for measurements, toys, pots, etc. A large number of seals have been discovered.

Fact 5:- Agriculture was the most important occupation. The first civilization to cultivate cotton. Animals were domesticated like sheep, goats, and pigs. Crops were wheat, barley, cotton, ragi, dates, and peas. Trade was conducted with the Sumerians. Metal products were produced including those with copper, bronze, tin, and lead. Gold and silver were also known. Iron was not known to them. No structures like temples or palaces have been found.

Fact 6:- The people worshipped male and female deities. A seal which was named ‘Pashupati Seal’ has been excavated and it shows an image of a three-eyed figure. Sir John Hubert Marshall believed this to be an early form of Lord Shiva. Excellent pieces of red pottery designed in black have been excavated. Faience was used to make beads, bangles, earrings, and vessels.

Pashupati Seal

Fact 7:- Civilization also was advanced in making artworks. A statuette named ‘Dancing Girl’ has been found from Mohenjodaro and is believed to be 4000 years old. A figure of a bearded Priest-King has also been found from Mohenjodaro. Lothal was a dockyard. Disposal of the dead was by burial in wooden coffins. Later on, in the H Symmetry culture, bodies were cremated in urns. The most important of all facts is that the Indus Valley script has not yet been deciphered.

Dancing Girl Sculpture

The civilization was first discovered during an excavation campaign under Sir John Hubert Marshall in 1921–22 at Harappa following the discovery of seals by J Fleet. Harappan ruins were discovered by Marshall, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni, and Madho Sarup Vats. Mohenjodaro ruins were excavated for the first time by R.D. Banerjee, E. J. H. MacKay and Marshall.

In India Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Lothal, Dholavira, Rangpur, Surkotda (Gujarat), Banawali (Haryana), Ropar (Punjab). In Pakistan: Harappa (on river Ravi), Mohenjodaro (on Indus River in Sindh), Chanhudaro (in Sindh) are the sites where traces of this civilization already excavated.

These are the known facts about the Indus Valley civilization and now, I will briefly share the Aryan Invasion theory...….

This theory was emerged at the beginning of the 19th century by then Western European scholars who had begun translating, and often misinterpreted, Sanskrit texts. Because their ideology was based upon a "light-skinned (Caucasian) superiority" perspective; so they associated the word "Aryan" with ethnicity. 

                   This concept was popularized by the Anglo-Welsh philologist Sir William Jones (1746-1794 CE) in 1786 CE who claimed there was a common source for these languages which he called Proto-Indo-European. Sir William Jones’ claim inspired later writers to identify this “common source” and encouraged the French elitist Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (1816-1882 CE) to develop the racist theories concerning “Aryan Blood” and White Supremacy which would become popularized in Germany through the works of Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855-1927 CE).

Sir William Jones’ claim would also influence the work of the German philologist Max Muller (1823-1900 CE) who, in attempting to identify this “common source” via the Rig Ved and the history of the Indus Valley Civilization, created the myth of an Aryan Invasion of the region which claimed light-skinned Aryans conquered darker-skinned indigenous people and established high civilization; an interpretation of his work which Muller himself repudiated later. 

                  But, a sheer fact of human society is that once a perspective takes birth with a definite motive to accomplish then there should be a lot of people behind it who are employed by the central power to acknowledge and spread that perspective around the society in a convincing way. And when that central power has political and administrative strength with it then these sorts of myths spread like wildland fire. The same thing happens here also.

Now, let me share with you the valid information about the word "Aryan"...…

                             It is thought that the migratory band of peoples later referred to as Indo-Iranians and Indo-Aryans came originally from the area of modern-day Kazakhstan near the Ural River and moved slowly toward the Iranian Plateau where they arrived sometime prior to the 3rd millennium BC. Whatever they may have called themselves at this time is unknown, but they would later self-reference as Aryans, designating a class of people who were free, noble, and civilized as contrasted with those who did not share their values. There is no evidence of a racial difference, only a class difference. The term seems to have been used in the same way one today might differentiate between high or low-class individuals.

Scholar Kaveh Farrokh comments: The word Aryan means “Noble”, “Lord”, or “Freeman” in Old Iranian languages and has very little to do with Eurocentric doctrines of Nordic racial supremacy, these being first formulated by 19th-century racialist philosophers such as Chamberlain.

 

The archaeologist J.P Mallory states that “as an ethnic designation the word (Aryan) is most properly limited to the Indo-Iranians, and most justly to the latter where it still gives its name to the country Iran…the great Persian king Darius describes himself as Aryan”…The name “Iran” (literally meaning  Land of Aryans) is derived from Aryanam (the plural form in Avestan).

Avestan is the Early Iranian language in which the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta, are written, the earliest source for the origin and meaning of the term Aryan. That which is worth hearing and remembering in the Avesta is referred to as Arya; one who hears, remembers, and acts on these worthy precepts is an Aryan. The Early Iranian Religion and retained various aspects of it, so, most likely, the term was used the same way prior to the time of Zoroaster (1500-1000 BC) to mean one who adhered to the path of Light rather than Darkness. It sounds like a popular Upanishadic Mantra...…

ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय । तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।

    ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥ 

Pronunciation:- Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya | Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya | 

Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya | Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

Translation:

1: Om, Keep me not in hypothetical Reality, but make me go towards the indisputable Reality,

2: Keep me not in State of Darkness of ignorance, but make me go towards the Light wisdom of Infinity,

3: Keep me not in a state of Mortality, but make me go towards the state of Immortality,

4: Om, Peace, Peace, Peace.

This is called Pavamana Mantra and this mantra can be found in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.3.28). The same meaning of the term "Arya" was understood in India where it appears in the texts of Vedic Parampara, Buddhism, and elsewhere too.

    Scholar Jeffrey D. Long provides the standard Hindu definition of Aryan as Noble, cultured, “gentleman”, a term by which ancient Vedic peoples referred to themselves and their cultural and religious practices. It does not appear that the term Arya had any ethnic or racial connotations until 19th-century European scholarship thus interpreted it, on the false assumption of a correlation between culture and ethnicity. The term refers not to ethnic characteristics, but cultural and spiritual ones. This is a brief overview of this Aryan Invasion Theory and the moral of this is that this theory is developed by 19th-century scholars to prove their supremacy over natives of this land.

In the year 2014, a team of archaeologists led by Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor of Deccan College, Pune had executed a project at Rakhigarhi in the Haryana district of India with the following questions in their minds.....

1. Who built the Indus Valley civilization?

2. How did we come to be as we are — culturally, ethnically, and linguistically? 

3. What explains the way we are spread out geographically in the subcontinent?

Although these questions have always been asked, the correct answers to these have proved resistant to the wiles and charms of historians, archaeologists, linguists, and philologists for nearly a century, ever since Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were discovered in the 1920s. And in the excavation they recovered four skeletons from that site among those one skeleton belonged to a child, one belonged to a man and the other two belonged to a couple; these people lived roughly 4600 years ago when Indus Valley Civilization was in its mature stage. 

Skeletons of couple

Skeletons of Man and child

 In the three and a half years since its excavation, Professor Shinde has brought together scientists from Indian and international institutions like the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad (CCMB), Harvard Medical School, Seoul National University, and the University of Cambridge to work on different parts of the project, including extracting and analyzing DNA from these ancient people, reconstructing their faces, and studying the remains of their habitation to understand their daily habits and ways of life. The DNA analysis will also help figure out their height, body features, and even the color of their eyes. And after a long wait, this report finally came in the year 2019 September month. And this report told the following things.....

Q: Do their genes survive as a significant component in India's current population? 

A: Most definitely.

Q: Were they closer to popular perceptions of 'Aryans' or 'Dravidians'?

A: Dravidians not Aryans.

Q: Were they more akin to the South Indians or North Indians of today? 

A: South Indians.

So, this DNA report acknowledged the fact that there was no event happened which known as Aryan Invasion in the past and this Rig Vedic Civilization and Indus Valley Civilization were had some linked with each other and the annihilation of Indus Valley Civilization and beginning of Rig Vedic Civilization might be nothing but the mass evacuation of people from the Western part where Indus Valley Civilization mainly situated to Eastern and Sothern part of the Indian Subcontinent but this speculation demands more Research on this topic. Because if people of Indus Valley Civilization executed a Mass movement from one place to another then what were the reasons behind that and Why did they leave an urban livelihood and accepted an Agro-pastoralism lifestyle.

Thank You🙂🙏