Editing Content :: Admin Scraper

Chapter

Content type

Position

Value

18 T HEMES IN INDIAN H ISTORY Source 3 Evidence of an “invasion” Deadman Lane is a narrow alley, varying from 3 to 6 feet in width … At the point where the lane turns westward, part of a skull and the bones of the thorax and upper arm of an adult were discovered, all in very friable condition, at a depth of 4 ft 2 in. The body lay on its back diagonally across the lane. Fifteen inches to the west were a few fragments of a tiny skull. It is to these remains that the lane owes its name. F ROM JOHN M ARSHALL, Mohenjodaro and the Indus Civilisation, 1931. Sixteen skeletons of people with the ornaments that they were wearing when they died were found from the same part of Mohenjodaro in 1925. Much later, in 1947, R.E.M. Wheeler, then Director-General of the ASI, tried to correlate this archaeological evidence with that of the Rigveda, the earliest known text in the subcontinent. He wrote: The Rigveda mentions pur , meaning rampart, fort or stronghold. Indra, the Aryan war-god is callepuramdara , the fort-destroyer. Where are – or were – these citadels? It has in the past been supposed that they were mythical … The recent excavation of Harappa may be thought to have changed the picture. Here we have a highly evolved civilisation of essentially non-Aryan type, now known to have employed massive fortifications … What destroyed this firmly settled civilisation? Climatic, economic or political deterioration may have weakened it, but its ultimate extinction is more likely to have been completed by deliberate and large-scale destruction. It may be no mere chance that at a late period of Mohenjodaro men, women, and children, appear to have been massacred there. On circumstantial evidence, Indra stands accused. FROM R.E.M. W HEELER, “Harappa 1946”, Ancient India, 1947. In the 1960s, the evidence of a massacre in Mohenjodaro was questioned by an archaeologist named George Dales. He demonstrated that the skeletons found at the site did not belong to the same period: Whereas a couple of them definitely seem to indicate a slaughter, … the bulk of the bones were found in contexts suggesting burials of the sloppiest and most irreverent nature. There is no destruction level covering the latest period of the city, no sign of extensive burning, no bodies of warriors clad in armour and surrounded by the weapons of war. The citadel, the only fortified part of the city, yielded no evidence of a final defence. F ROM G.F. DALES, “The Mythical Massacre at Mohenjodaro”, Expediton, 1964. As you can see, a careful re-examination of the data can sometimes lead to a reversal of earlier interpretations. In this respect, it is necessary to mention the recent archaeogenetic research carried out at the site of Rakhigarhi. The site, located in Hisar district of Haryana, is the biggest Harappan city, spread over an area of 550 Hectare. In order to study the genetic history of the Harappans, DNA was extracted from the skeletal remains excavated at Rakhigarhi. This research was carried out by The Deccan College Deemed University, Pune in collaboration with Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad and The Harvard Medical College. The analysis of the data indicates that the Harappans are the indigenous people of this region. The genetic roots of the Harappans go back to 10,000 BCE. The DNA of the Harappans has continued till today and a majority of the South Asian population appears to be their descendents. Due to trade and cultural contacts of the Harappans with distant regions there is a mixture of genes in small quantity. The continuity without any break in genetic history as well as cultural history rules out large scale immigration of thHarappan skeletal remains from so-called Aryans. This research also indicates that the people coming from bordering areas and distant regions were absorbed in the Indian Rakhigarhi - DNA was extracted society. At no stage, the genetic history of the Indians was either from this skeleton. discontinued or broken. As the Harappans started moving towards Iran and Central Asia, their genes also gradually spread in these regions. The same team of researchers reconstructed 3D features of the Harappan people. The reconstructed facial features of the Harappans, male and female, show remarkable similarity with the modern population of Haryana. Thus, this study has indicated unbroken continuity for 5000 years in this region. From Vasant Shinde, et.al., An ancient Harrapan genome lacks ancestry Reconstructed 3D facial features of from steppe pastoralists or Iranian farmers. Cell, 179 (3), 2019. Harappanmaleandfemalerespectively. Reprint 2026-27