method of dating RV, III

[S. Kalyanaraman]

> On Wed, 3 Jun 1998, Jan E.M. Houben wrote:

> Now to the date of 1900 BCE as the post quem of the Rgveda: > >
Evidence is there, once we place the Rgveda in a > > period before
1200 BCE, but the evidence is relatively one-sided. We > > have to
assume the Sarasv.Indus-civ. to be incompatible with the
> > indications in the Rgveda, etc. Texts seem to allow several
scenarios.

---Michael Witzel <witzel at FAS.HARVARD.EDU> wrote:

> Percentages aside, always sveral scenarios, with differing
probablilities.
>
> But: "assume" that RV was incompatible with the Indus Civ?  It must
be > shown that it *can* be compatible. RV simply does not refer to
Harrappan > towns (pur is a wild west style or mud rampart
fort)...There a no ocean
> going ships of Indus traders i teh RV. All bad philology (or teh
lack of > it, e.g. in the hundreds of *untranslated* "proof" passages
in > S.P.Gupta,The Indus Civilization,Delhi 1996, pp. 164-174). Cf.J.
Houben, > below, on 1000-pilared houses.
>
[snip]
> I do not think one can imagine IAs in the country-side, side by side
with > Indus farmers & cattle herders: something of this would have
transpired in > a few RV hymns... A simile or two: "this is like...
selling your lame > horses to...the muuradeva-s in town", or whatever.
>

Scenarios and percentages... Should RV be expected to contain
EVERYTHING as Subrahmanya had observed in another context?

George Thompson had observed earlier that, RV's 'internal'
philological evidence can be used as a touchstone for 'external' data.

Maybe, some rigour in methods should be discussed here, before
'fitting' RV texts and poesy with the 'external' evidence from other
disciplines such as archaeology, historical metallurgy or earth
sciences.

Take for example, the problem of 'locus' and the two sarasvati_s
scenario. Which sarasvati is referred to, in what context and what
time sequence (of, say, movement, if any, between haraqaiti and
dr.s.advati_-apaya_- sarasvati_) can be inferred from the texts?

Regards,
k.
==
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