Rakhigarhi

[Michael Witzel]

At 20:39 -0700 9/19/99, S. Kalyanaraman wrote:
> THE TRIBUNE, Sept. 18, 1999 ...
> recent excavations at the village of  Rakhigarhi,...
>Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) acquired the 224 hectares

I am curious to know how the ASI "acquired" the site in 1995; it must
have been very expensive since it is almost completely covered by the
modern village.   (which  I have mentioned for other Indus cities earlier,
tehy often are coverd by modern settlements  -- and which some members  did
not believe; what about Harappa itself?)

Journalistic licence about acquiring "the site" ? Remember the BBC etc.
"quotes" of R. Meadow on early Harappan writing?

>This is a revolutionary discovery. If Rakhigarhi were
>the first site to have been excavated ..  it would straightaway have been
>declared ...  as the SARASVATI RIVER CIVILIZATION
>since Rakhigarhi is on the banks of the river.

I am afraid that in Harappan times (during the Indus civilization)
the Sarasvati was called something like
*Vipaazh or *Vi<sham>baaL.

If we *really* want to rename the Harappan (Indus civilization), we should
not call it, anachronistically,  the Indus-Sarasvatii, ....
but the Sende-VibaaL Civilization.


>Rakhigarhi  ... the focal point of continued
>arguments on the nucleii of the civilization among
>urban settlements of the extensive domain ca. 3500 BC.
>The Rakhigarhi site holds high promise to unravel many
>missing links...

let's wait and see the *published* Excavation Report, not newpaper stories
(see above) !

>The links may have been with Iran (BMAC) via
>Kashmir...

Via KASHMIR? who wants to climb the Pir Pantsaal pass each time when moving
from Bactria to the Indus, ... when there are the easier and more more
directly situated  Khyber  (and Bolan, etc.)  passes?

Just curious....


 ==========================================================================
Michael Witzel                          Elect. Journ. of Vedic Studies
Harvard University                  www1.shore.net/~india/ejvs
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