saraswati civilisation

[George Thompson]

Koenrad Elst appears to be more familiar with satellite photography than with
Vedic, so it does not surprise me when he says:

> I find it a bit odd that those Vedic poets described Indian flora, fauna,
rivers, mountains, tribes, in a language brimful of loanwords from Indian
languages, yet lived along a non-Indian river.

As a matter of fact, the Vedic Sarasvati resided neither in Afghanistan nor
in India but in heaven, and Vedic Sarasvati is a goddess. No satellite has
been invented which can tell us where such goddesses live.

As for the Vedic word, *sa'rasvatI*, it is identical with the Avestan word
*harahvaiti* and the Old Persian word *harahuvati* -- all of which are
adjectives meaning something like  "rich in ponds", and which are liable to
be applied to ANY earthly river whatsoever with the appropriate features.
There never was ONE *sa'rasvatI* on this earth, but rather a number of local
avatAras.

I am prepared to defend my view by citing sUkta and mantra from the RV. If
Koenrad Elst is not prepared to do the same, perhaps he should stick to
satellite photography, and not express surprise with regard to what the RV
RSis say. Where in the RV is it said that the Sarasvati nourishes large
cities such as those of the Indus Valley Civilization?  Exactly what loan
words from Indian languages do you find in the RV?

Let us not wait for science to come to us. Let us do science ourselves. That
is what this is list is supposed to be for, and it seems to me that that is
why the list owner has allowed himself to express his dismay once again at
those who choose to ignore the explicit aims of the list

Best wishes,

George Thompson.

In a message dated 12/7/99 2:48:18 PM Eastern Standard Time,
koenraad.elst at PANDORA.BE writes:

> Dear Mr. Eric Robert,
>
>  Given the prohibition on discussing the Vedic-Harappan nexus on this list,
>  I'll take the risk of informing you
>  that your question about the Harappan cities along the the Vedic river
>  Saraswati threatens to violate this prohibition.  But as long as we
>  don't mention either "Aryan" or "invasion" (I hope "theory" is still OK), I
>  guess we can get away with the following.
>
>  Satellite photography has allowed the tracing of the course of the
>  once-mighty Saraswati.  Along its course, cities of Harappan culture and
age
>  have been found, in some places also post-Harappan settlements on the
former
>  river bed.  It is by no means far-fetched to infer a causal relation
between
>  the decline of the Harappan civilization and changes in the water-system
>  including the drying of the Saraswati.  I've seen very slightly conflicting
>  estimates for the drying between 2100 and 1500 BC, at any rate roughly
>  synchronous with the end of the Harappan high culture.  Let's count on
>  Science to provide more details in the near future.
>
>  In reading around about this topic, you may well come across the theory
>  recently publicized by astrophysicist Dr. Rajesh Kochar, that the Vedic
>  Saraswati was really in Afghanistan, being the Harahvaiti/Helmand river
>  (where no such cities
>  have been found).  I find it a bit odd that those Vedic poets described
>  Indian flora,
>  fauna, rivers, mountains, tribes, in a language brimful of loanwords from
>  Indian languages, yet lived along a non-Indian river.
>
>  Yours sincerely,
>  Koenraad Elst
>  http://members.xoom.com/KoenraadElst/