Mahabharata date. Was: Iron Age in India

[Anand M. Sharan]

On Mon, 18 Sep 2000 09:31:59 -0500, Hans Henrich Hock
<hhhock at UX1.CSO.UIUC.EDU> wrote:

>This dating of the Mahabharata is predicated on the assumption that
>the Sarasvati dried out in 1700 B.C. The assumption, however, is
>questionable as shown by Rafique Mughal's early and pioneering work
>on the dense archaeological sites along the old Sarasvati
>river--Mughal concludes that the final drying up took place late in
>the 2nd millennium BC or even early 1st millennium.  See also
>Possehl's more recent summary in "Indus Age: The beginnings".   Here
>as elsewhere it would be desirable to use sounder -- and more
>critical -- philological methodology before accepting ideologically
>inspired interpretations of the South Asian past, no matter what the
>ideology.
>
>Off the soapbox and back to work!  (That's an instruction to myself.)
>
>Hans Henrich Hock
>
>
>
>
>
>>If you go by the dates when they were written , which you correctly assign
>>a range between 400 BCE and some others ( Radhakrishnan -AROUND 200 bce )
>>when Brahmi script came into use , nothing can be established for any of
>>the epics . If this is so, how can one assign any date for the Vedas  such
>>as mention of iron ( ayas etc ) in them ?
>>
>>I had stated in  two parts, how the Mahabharat could be thought to have
>>taken place on or before 1700 BCE because the Saraswati river dried out at
>>that time. Mahabharat mentions about Balram 's pilgrimage along the
>>Saraswati river .  Fitzgerald mentions about the process used in making
>>steel, a high quality steel in the descriptions of Mahabharat .
>>Fitzgerald's finding appears very reasonable to me .
>>
>>Pl note that , to this date, no script has been found  where the events in
>>India could have been written even around 800 BCE . Does it mean nothing
>>very eventful happened in India before say, 1000 BCE ?
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>Anand M. Sharan
>>
>>So, how can one verify the authenticity of the dates ?
>
>--
>
>Hans Henrich Hock, Director
>Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
>220 International Studies Building, MC-489
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The following are my responses to those who have participated or interested
on this topic :

1. I have referred to Fitzgerald's work on the use of iron in Mahabharat,
not for dating Mahabharat .
2. The date of Mahabharat has been estimated to be earlier than 1700 BCE
based on drying up of the Saraswati river  which was mentioned in the
Mahabharat . Balram made a pilgrimage along the river just before the war .
3. The events prior to Mahabharat, Indus Valley civilization clearly shows
the state of development of non ferrous metallurgy during this civilization.
4. Events, much after, 5th Century BCE have shown the ferrous ( Iron -
Steel ) to be very well developed. The steel was exported from India. The
famous Damiscus steel technology was Indian.
5.India had the raw materials as well as the technology to step into the
Iron Age in the ancient times which many countries did not have.
6. The web site regarding the drying up of the Saraswati river is:
http://inic.utexas.edu/asnic/saraswatisindhucivization.html
One can cofirm the date of my statement as to when the Saraswati river
dried out .
7. The dates of Hitites , who are supposed to have started the Iron Age,
has been revised and ascertained to be more recent .
8 . This leaves India as one of the possible places where the Iron Age
began.9. This seems to be another Arabic Numeral debate as to where they
were used first.

Thanks in Advance.

Anand M. Sharan