JULY 2015 | WWW.WISHESH.COM 73
WWW.WISHESH.COM | JULY 2015 72
Indian HISTORY
ANCIENT INDIAN H ISTORY
Earliest historical evidence of Mehargarh (Northwest Indian
sub-continent) shows the beginning of the civilization in India at
around 6500 B.C. It is the earliest and the largest urban site of
that period in the world. This site has yielded enough evidence for
the earliest domestication of animals, evolution of agriculture and
as well as arts and crafts. The horse was first domesticated in
Hindustan at around 6500 B.C. There is a progressive process of the
domestication of animals, particularly cattle.
The development of agriculture, began with barley and then later
wheat and rice. The use of metal, began with copper and culminating
in iron, along with the development of villages and towns.
It has been suggested by some historians that an Aryan Invasion
in the Indian subcontinent took place around 1500-1000 B.C.
However, current archeological data do not support the existence of
any Indo Aryan or European invasion into the South Asia at any time
in the pre or proto-historic periods (David Frawley). The people in
this tradition were the same basic ethnic groups as in India today,
with their same basic types of languages.
Two important cities were discovered, Harappa on the Ravi river
and Mohenjodaro on the Indus during the excavations in 1920. The
remains of these two cities were part of a large civilization and
well developed ancient civilization, which is now called by the
historians as Indus Valley Civilization or Saraswati Civilization.
Harappan (Sarasvati) civilization of 3100-1900 BC exhibits massive
cities, complex agriculture and metallurgy, sophistication of arts
and crafts and precision in weights and measures.
They built large buildings, which are mathematically-planned.
The city planning in those ancient cities is comparable to the best
of our modern cities. This civilization had a written language and
was highly sophisticated. Some of these towns are almost three
miles in diameter having thousands of residents. These ancient
municipalities had granaries, citadels and even household
toilets.
In Mohenjodaro, a mile-long canal has connected the city to the
sea and trading ships sailed as far as Mesopotamia. The Indus
civilization extended for over half a million square miles across
the Indus river valley and though it existed at the same time as
the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Sumer, it far outlasted
them. This Sarasvati civilization was a center of trade and for the
diffusion of civilization throughout south and west Asia, which
often dominated the Mesopotamian region.
Mehrgarh, Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Kalibangan and Lothal are
peripheral cities of the great Sarasvati civilization with more
than 500 sites along its banks awaiting excavation.
The year 4500 B.C. marks Mandhatrs defeat of Druhyus, driving
them to the west into Iran. 4000-3700 B.C. was the Rig Veda period.
In 3730 B.C. the Battle of Ten Kings occurred. That was the age of
Sudas and his sage advisors, Vasistha and Visvamitra. From 3600 to
3100 B.C. was the late Vedic age during which Yajur, Sama, and
Atharva Vedas were composed. 3100 B.C. is the probable date of the
Mahabharata, composed by Vyasa. At this time, a tectonic plate
shift resulted in river Yamuna, which was a tributary of river
Saraswati shifted its course and Saraswati became smaller. It was
the beginning of Kali Yuga.
In 1900 B.C., another tectonic plate shift made Saraswati lose
Sutlej. This dried up Sarasvati, causing a massive exodus of people
towards the Ganga valley in the east. Whence arose the classical
civilization of India. Post-Harappan civilization 1900-1000 BC
shows the abandonment of the Harappan towns owing to ecological and
river changes, but without a real break in the continuity of the
culture.
There was a decentralization and relocation in which the same
basic agricultural and artistic traditions continue, along with a
few significant urban sites like Dwaraka. This gradually develops
into the Gangetic civilization of the first millennium BC, which is
the classical civilization of ancient India, which retains its
memory of its origin in the Saraswati region through the Vedas.
DAVID FRAWLEY AND OTHER EMINENT SCHOLARS PROPOSE:
1. 6500-3100 BC, AS PRE-HARAPPAN, EARLY RIG VEDIC
2. 3100-1900 BC, AS MATURE HARAPPAN 3100-1900, PERIOD OF THE
FOUR VEDAS.
3. 1900-1000 BC, AS LATE HARAPPAN, LATE VEDIC AND BRAHMANA
PERIOD
