R.Thapar/R.Prasannan on Aryans & Sarasvati

[Michael Witzel]

During my stint at the College de France in January,
my Paris colleagues drew my attention to an issue of the

Courrier international (Paris), vol. 534, Jan. 25-31, 2001, p. 40-41.

It deals with the Aryan Origins of the Indian Civilization (by Romila
Thapar) and
the Mystery of the Sarasvati (by R. Prasannan).

R. Thapar's article (Sur les origines aryennes de la civilization indienne)
is a French translation of her response to S. Farmer's and my paper in
FRONTLINE of Oct.1`3, 2000.

lead: "The Aryans, are they autochthonous or invaders? What were their
relations with the old cities of the Indus? Hindu nationalists try to
manipulate the facts in order to serve their territorial ambitions. The
Indian historian Romila Thapar answers them."

R. Prasannan's paper (D'Inde ou d'ailleurs? Le mystere du Sarasvati
demeure) is a translation of an article in THE WEEK (Cochin). It questions
the location of the Sarasvati (Arachosia or Kuruksetra).

lead: "For centuries, the archaeologists have been investigating the
disappeared course of the river Sarasvati, on whose banks the Rigveda
should have been written. Complex history of a national myth."


Those who want to read this may ask me, individually and off-list, for the
web address.
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Michael Witzel
Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138, USA

ph. 1- 617-496 2990 (also messages)
home page:  http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm

Elect. Journ. of Vedic Studies:  http://www1.shore.net/~india/ejvs