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N.S. Rajaram, an aerospace engineer by profession explains his startling theory with regard to the Indus Valley Civilization to Mr R. Edwin Sudhir:
IT is an interest that could not be ignored. To the extent that it became a dominant force, compelling him to take a breather from the routine of aerospace engineering and devote himself full time to the exploration of the vistas of Indian history and test the very foundation of theories long held to be sacred.
The man is Dr N.S. Rajaram. The interest is history. And the theory is the Aryan invasion of the Indus valley.
"Nothing could be farther from the truth," Dr Rajaram emphasises, speaking of the prevailing theory which outlines the movement of the Aryans from Central Asia across northwest India, resulting in the settlements in the Indus valley.
He feels this theory has its origins in the attempts by 18th century European linguists to account for similarities in their native and Indian tongues. Based on linguistic and literary factors, one account pegs the invasion to about 1500 BC. Archaeological digs at Harappa and Mohenjadaro during the early part of this century threw up material which was seen to corroborate this theory.
Dr Rajaram feels the most important consequence of the Aryan invasion is fixing the period in which the Vedic literature came to be composed. According to the invasion theory, this would have to be placed at the end of the Indus civilization. But this, Dr Rajaram stresses, leads to many inconsistencies, going by evidence coming to the fore from diverse disciplines like ancient mathematics, astronomy, computer science and archaeology.
The Saraswati, he explains, was the most important river of Vedic times, adding that the focus shifted to the Ganga after the Saraswati dried up. He says that extensive work recently has shown that there were more than a thousand settlements along the Saraswati and not along the Indus as has been popularly believed. He cites the work done by Dr V.S. Wakankar, which indicates that the holy river altered course several times and dried up around 1900 BC. The Yamuna and the Sutlej, the two main tributaries were lost to Ganga and the Indus respectively, he surmises, attributing the death of the river to this phenomenon. It was then that the attention shifted to the Ganga. Landsat photographs confirm these archaeological findings, adds Dr Rajaram.
Other confirmation has come from a class of work in ancient mathematics, he adds. Known as the Sulba sutras or the Sulbas, these were originally devised to assist in building sacrificial altars in temple architecture. According to the work of the late American historian and mathematician A. Seidenberg, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, a comparison of the Vedic mathematics with the mathematics of Old Babylonia (1700 BC) and Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2000 to 1800 BC) has revealed that these Sulba sutras have been the font of inspiration. Vedic altars, built according to these calculations, have been found at sites such as Lothal and Kalibagan going back to 2500 BC.
He enthusiastically points out that, in essence, the Mastaba, the Egyptian flat topped pyramid is nothing but the turned around version of the Smashanacit, the sacrificial altar described in the Baudhayana Sulba sutra.
Dr Rajaram explains that another bit of supporting evidence has been the analysis of astronomical references in the Rig Veda which shows that Vedic Aryans were around in India well before 2500 BC.
Other evidence is out of the pages of history Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Hermann Jacobi in Bonn had independently concluded that parts of the Rig Veda were composed as early as 4000 BC. Recent computer based analysis by Subhash Kak of the astronomical codes puts paid to the cricism that Indian astronomy is a derivative of its Greek counterpart.
Kak, a specialist in computer aided cryptography, has worked on the orbital periods of the five major planets, explains Dr Rajaram. He has shown that the values outlined in the Rig Veda were remarkably accurate. This evidence, Dr Rajaram feels, speaks for the rigorousness of the ancient texts.
Linguistic evidence is another line of argument, feels Dr Rajaram. With respect to Indus seals, unless conclusive evidence shows that language to be Dravian totally unrelated to Sanskrit, he feels that Aryans and Dravidians were a single people divided only by modern academic theory. It is only for the convenience of European scholars that the entire "invasion" theory has been constructed, says Dr Rajaram.
"With the passage of time, more evidence comes to light and in that context, a new theory is proposed."...
Currently Dr Rajaram is working on putting all these observations together in a book to be titled 'Indus to Gangas: Ancient History in the New Light of Science'... He believes that we should never become a slave to accepted theories and discourage people who make an effort to question these and propose alternatives. A true reflection of the spirit of scientific inquiry alive and working at its best.
Pune: The archaelogical excavations and findings at Lothal in Gujarat, Kalibangan in Rajasthan, Harappa and Mohenjodaro in Sindh have completely disproved the European archaelogists' theory of an Aryan invasion of the Harappan and Mohanjodaro civilizations, the eminent Indian archaelogical researcher, Prof. SR Rao asserted yesterday.
The Aryan system of sacrificial altars, had been discovered by two researchers, while digging at Mohanjodaro, much after the initial excavations. Evidence in respect of the sacrificial animals being led to altars was unearthed by them, he said at a press conference here today.
The similarity and symmetry indicate the existence of a very strong resemblance of the Aryan culture, if not the same culture, and the only question that sceptics can now raise is whether the Harappans were of Aryan culture, but of different race, he averred.
While the hieroglyphics on earthenware at Harappa and Lothal was stated to be animal symbols by the earlier European scholars, on the basis of their theory of an Aryan invasion, Prof Rao has conclusively proved it to be a script of 64 signs, reduced to 24 alphabets.
The reducing of the animalistic signs to alphabets has obviously been a gift of the Aryans to the world, which in later millienia was picked up and emulated by the semitic civilization, Prof Rao asserted.
The inscription of seven letters on an earthen pottery deciphered by Prof Rao read as mahakutchshahapa (lord protector of the great seas). The archaelogical research carried out on the submerged Dwarka by a team headed by Prof Rao claims it has found incontrovertible evidence of the existence of iron implements' sea anchors in triangular and retectangular shapes and rock drilled posts for tying ocean going ships. Trade from Dwarka with Syria and Cyprus has been established.
The marine archaelogical methods used have been shown the existence of Dwarka, as the gate of the western sea board in around 1500 to 1600 BC, Prof Rao stated.
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