Mahabharata

Mahabharata, sheet-
anchor of bharatiya
itihasa

Dr. S. Kalyanaraman
• Sarasvati Nadi Shodh
Prakalp
• Akhila Bharatiya Itihasa
Sankalana Yojana
• 26/3 Temple Avenue,
Srinagar Colony,Chennai
600015
kalyan97@yahoo.com
• http://hindu-tva.com

Eurasia during most extreme part of
full glacial conditions (17,000-15,000
14C y.a.)
This map concentrates on the time window slightly
after the LGM, when aridity seems to have
reached its most extreme point. Only slightly
moister conditions prevailed for most of the period
22,000-14,000 14C y.a. (25,000-15,000 calendar
years ago). A large area of extreme desert
conditions existed across central Asia (dark red),
surrounded by semi-desert (light red), under
conditions much colder than the present-day. In
the north, Siberia was colder and much more arid,
with steppe-tundra (pink) and polar desert (grey).
Ice masses (light grey) were present in north-
western Siberia. In China, colder more arid
conditions caused a retreat of forests, with
grasslands (yellow) and open woodlands
(medium green) in southern China and Japan.
Forest steppe (violet) and conifer forest (blue
green) may have predominated elsewhere. In
south Asia, rainforest (darkest green) retreated
and was replaced by grasslands (yellow) and
monsoon forests and woodlands (lime-green).
http://www.esd.ornl.gov/projects/qen/euras(2.gif
Scrub and open woodland (lighest green) probably
existed in presently moist forest climates of
Bangladesh and SW China. .

1
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Sapta Sindhu
(Nation of Seven
Rivers):
Theatre of
Pancajanaah,
Five Peoples

Marius Fontane, 1881, Histoire
Universelle, Inde Vedique (de 1800 a
800 av. J.C.), Alphonse Lemerre,
Editeur, Paris
3

Due to plate tectonics, Siwalik ranges shifted laterally creating
a gap near Paonta Saheb. Yamuna captured waters of Sarasvati
and took them to Ganga to create the Triveni Sangamam.
[Satellite image: NRSA, ISRO, Hyderabad]

2

Tamasa (with its Yamuna branch) flowed west, in
Pa_onta Sa_hab Dun; the west-flowing channels, now
called Ba_ta and Ma_rkanda join Sarsuti (with wide
channels). Metamorphic rocks from inner Himalaya are
found in two old terraces. [KS Valdiya, 2002, Fig. 3.3]

3

Dynamic Indian plate,
dynamic Himalaya
Manasarovar, Mt. Kailas summit

Plate X [c] Lingam in situ in
Trench Ai (MS Vats, 1940,
Excavations at Harappa, Vol.
II, Calcutta)

Formation of Gulf of Khambat, ca.
7500 BCE

4

Tirutturaipoondibe
ach (6000 years)

Kodiyakkarai

Manamelgudi

shoreline
(6000 years)

Thondi

Pamban
Devipattinam

Ramanathapuram
Talaimannar

Uchchipuli

Canyon below the ocean?
Question of stability of
any channel on this slope.

• Abstract Two suites of slumps from opposite
margins of the Gulf of Mannar, between Sri
Lanka and southern India, have met and
coalesced. The “Eastern Comorin” Slump is the
more coherent of the two with a length of 70 to
100 km. The “Colombo” side slump consists of
two to four blocks 15 to 35 km in length. Both
slump-suites decrease to the south. A
paleoslump underlies the western toe of the
East Comorin Slump at a depth of some 800
meters. To the south, an enlarging and
deepening submarine canyon marks the area of
slump coalescence. See William Vestal and Allen Lowrie, Geology and Geophysics Branch-Code
7220, U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office NSTL Station, 39522, MS

• http://www.springerlink.com /content/m602j3k746342lnl/

5

A volcanic canyon west of Rama Setu, 1 m to 3000 m slope

Location map.
Inset:
bathymetry map
of the Gulf of
Mannar
(reproduced
from Murty et
al., 1994)
http://www.Setusamudram.in/htm
docs/Articles/cp_rajendran_2.htm

Rama’s
hotspot
Heatflow in
Rama Setu
100 to 180
milliwatt per sq.
m. comparable to
Himalayan
hotsprings

Will dredging in
the area activate
these heat zones?.

6

Tsuanmi of Dec. 26, 2004
Result of plate tectonics in Sunda plate

7

Ramayana-Mahabharata Itihasa continuum
• English word ‘bund’ comes from Bharatiya word: bandha
• Valmiki describes the construction of Sethu in detai (85 shlokas).
hastimaatraan mahaakaayaaH paaSaaNaamshca mahaabalaaH
parvataamshca samutpaaTya yantraiH parivahanti ca Valmiki
Ramayana 2-22-58
Vaanara having huge bodies, with mighty strength uprooted elephant-
sized rocks and mountains and transported them by mechanical
contrivances (yantraih).

• Vedavyasa refers to Nalasetu
nalasetur iti khyāto yo 'dyāpi prathito bhuvi rāmasyājñāṃ puraskṛtya
ā ā ā āā ṛ
ā ṃ ḥ
dhāryate girisaṃnibhaḥ MBh. 3.267.45
.... which even today, popular on earth as Nala's bridge, mountain-like, is
sustained out of respect for [Lord] Rama's command. (Nala was son of
Vis’wakarma) Kalidasa's Raghuvams’a (sarga 13): Rama, while returning
from SriLanka in pushpaka vimaana: quot;Behold, Sita, My Sethu of
mountains dividing this frothy ocean is like the milky way dividing the sky
into two partsquot;

Kaavya in Prakrit by Setubandha Kavya by the King Damodara Sen (5th
Century).
King Pravarasena II (550-600 CE) called “Setu bandha or Ravanavaho,
Dasamuha Vadhaquot;

Hanuman at As’okavanam
Ganesha as Lipikaara
• Hanuman speaks in jaati bhaasha
• Ganesha writes the Mahabharata

8

9

Kilakkarai and other places produce s’ankha, a cultural
symbol venerated in Bharatiya traditions (West Bengal
Dev. Corpn. In Kilakarai has an annual turnover of Rs. 100
crores to procure s’ankha from Rama Setu coastal zone)

Only Bharatam coastline produces
s’ankha

10

Sri Rama and s’ankha naadam
Vishnu’s fight
Vishnu’
with the
Rakshasas led by
Malyavaan, Maali
Malyavaa Maa
and Sumaali as
Sumaa
narrated in the
Uttarkanda of the
Ramayana
(Canto VI-VIII)
VI- A
Terracotta Panel from Bhitargaon Showing a
Ramayana Scene By P. Banerjee
Banerjee
http://ignca.nic.in/pb0020.htm

S’ankha is unique
to Bharatam
coastline, not
found anywhere
else in the world
Date of the
woman’s burial
with ornaments
6500 Years
Before Common
Era.

Wide shell-
bangle and shell
22
ornaments
22

11

The war as shown on an
18th century (?) manuscript.

War
began
on
Nov.
22,
3067
BCE

12

Bharatam of
Mahabharata
times

Episodes from Ramayana –
a part of Mahabharata,
Aranyaka parva

13

Sri Krishna-Arjuna samvadam -- Rashtrapurusha

Sarasvati civilization sites: Vedic
River Sarasvati after KS Valdiya,
2002

14

Ancient courses of River Sarasvati: ISRO
images
Sarasvati Sarovar, Adi Badri
Reborn Sarasvati, Mohangarh

Schwartzberg Atlas, p. 7, 8
Sarasvati cultures, 3200-900 BCE, p. 9, 10

15

Sarasvati culture, artefacts

Munda architecture
Apsidal Temples, also called Gajaprishtakriti in Sanskrit
means an elephant's rump. The first sight of the Chalukyan
Apsidal temple of Durgi Gudi at Aihole, fills one with awe and
wonder at its perfect apsidal shape. Here Durgi probably
refers to a fortified masonry defence structure and Gudi
means a temple, probably of Durga, in ancient times.
Punch-marked coins found in Karur of the Sangam Age
contain symbols taken from Sarasvati hieroglyphs. The
Western Chalukya built the Durga temple at Aihole in apsidal
shape (ca. 7th century CE).
Where does the shape come from?
The roof of a Toda house in Nilagiri hills of Bharatam, a
building in the marshes of Iraq (called mudhif reed-house) or
on entrances of Bhaja (Pune, Maharashtra) caitya man-made
cave (ca. 150 BCE) in Bharatam.

These architectural forms are comparable to the arched-roof shown in the impression
of a cylinder seal from Mesopotamia. Note the unicorns (one-horned bulls and
heifers) emerging out of the mudhif. A cognate set of lexemes for ‘reed’ is: muli
thatching grass (Tu.); mliu a reed-like grass (Kui); mali a kind of reed of which arrow
shafts are made (Malt.)(DEDR 4984).

Mudhif is a reed-house in Iraq marshes.
Chaitya, Bhaja, 2nd century BCE
Durga temple, Aihole, Bijapur.
Golden apsidal dome, Chidambaram temple

16

Tirthasthanas
Defining
punyabhumi

Rishi as’rama for rishi tarpan.am and annual melas:
Balarama’s tirthayatra along
• Cyavana: Candi
Sarasvati: S’alyaparva MBh.
• Kapila: S’rikolayatji
• Yajnavalkya, s’aunaka: Jageri, Bikaner
• Vasishtha: Pehoa (Pr.thudaka)
• Markandeya: Markanda nadi
• Samkhya-Kapila – Kalayat
• Galava - Guldera
• Salihotra-Asva Shastra –Sarsa
• Lomaharsha –Lohar Majra
• Shringi –Saghan
• Vyasa-Vyasasthali
• Gautama-Gondar
• Jamadagni –Jalmana
• Yayati Tirtha and Surya Kund, Kalwa

17

Kapila tirtha, Kalayat

18

19

Akkadian. Cylinder seal Impression. Inscription records that it belongs to ‘S’u-ilis’u,
Meluhha interpreter’, i.e., translator of the Meluhhan language
(EME.BAL.ME.LUH.HA.KI) The Meluhhan being introduced carries an antelope on his
arm. Musee du Louvre. Ao 22 310, Collection De Clercq3rd millennium BCE. The
Meluhhan is accompanied by a lady carrying a kaman.d.alu. Since he needed an
interpreter, Meluhhan did not speak Akkadian. Antelope carried by the Meluhhan is a
hieroglyph: mlekh ‘goat’ (Br.); mr..eka (Te.); me_t.am (Ta.); mes.am (Skt.) Thus, the
goat conveys the message that the carrier is a Meluhha. A phonetic determinant.

Tin ingots found in a ship-wreck, Haifa incised
with Sarasvati hieroglyphs

• ran:ku = tin (Santali)

• ran:ku = liquid measure (Santali)
• ran:ku a species of deer; ran:kuka (Skt.)(CDIAL 10559).
See middle glyph on copper plates m0522 & m0516
• ba_t.a = road (Te.); bat.a = kiln (Santali)
• Da_t.u = cross (Te.); dhatu = mineral (Skt.)

• [New evidence for sources of and trade in bronze age tin, in: Alan D. Franklin, Jacqueline S. Olin, and
Theodore A. Wertime,
• The Search for Ancient Tin, 1977, Seminar organized by Theodore A. Wertime and held at the
Smithsonian Institution and the
• National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C., March 14-15, 1977].

20

Bhirdana
• pottery
• some semi-precious stones
• Structures made of Sun-dried
bricks

21

Bhirdana
• The excavators have also discovered a
2.4-metre-wide wall considered to be the
fortification wall of the township on the
excavation site.
• clinching evidence of the township was
that the earth outside the wall comprised
of virgin soil while the one inside the
fortification wall had all the evidence of
structures

Material Cultural of Haryana
Potteries of Kunal C.3rd millenium BCE

22

Source: The Indians And The Amerindians - By Dr. S. Chakravarti

Indian Shipping: High Vessels - Pearl, fishers' Grabs and
Catamarans - From quot;Les Hindousquot; French early 19th century
work.

23

• Kakawin
Bharatayuddha
• First page of J.
G. H. Gunning,
1903, Bhârata-
yuddha:
Oudjavaansch
Heldendicht. ‘s
Gravenhage:M
artinus Nijhoff.
(Text edition in
Javanese
characters).

Collective memory:
Samudramanthanam, Suvarnaphum
Airport, Bangkok

24

Samudramanthanam: Angkor Wat,
Cambodia

Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park, Bali:
ancient sculpture, Sumatra; pedestal design

25

Vishnu.
From Phnom
Kulen. 9th
Century.
Musée Guimet

The first dates of the artefacts using the
thermoluminescence technique resulted in 4420 BC-
3400 BC dates, which would have made the site the
earliest ever bronze age culture of the world.

Bronze from Ban Chiang, Thailand

26

TYPES OF FURNACES
Large updraft kiln, Harappa
(ca. 2400 BCE), found in
Mound E, 1984. (After Fig.
8.8, Kenoyer, 1998).

A full-scale reconstruction of
the ancient Harappan kiln.
Harappa Archaeologcal
Research Facility used to fire
large storage jar, pottery and
figurine replicas. (After Fig.
8.9, Kenoyer, 1998)

Mohenjodaro, DK-B, C
dumps. View of the slag with
the coated sub-cylindrical
bowl enclosing the stoneware
bangles in central position.
(After Fig. 1, Massimo Vidale,
1984).

Furnace, Lothal

27

Raja Nal-ka-tila 3060 BP
Malhar 3540 BP
Dadupur 3430 BP
Lahurdewa 2940 BP
Jhulsi 2820 BP
http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/tewari/tewari.pdf

Iron artefacts

Chalcolithic-Iron
continuum, 1800
BCE

28

Map showing the probably diffusion of the black-and-red ware techniques and rice cultivation, based on
C-14 dates (given in brackets). The earliest appearance of the Black and Red ware is in Lothal (2200
BCE) and next comes Ahar (2000 BCE). The settlement evidence of this chalcolithic culture and the
continuity of the vedic traditions in all parts of India indicate an indigenous development of the
Black on red ware, Khiplewala, Bahawalpur province; Mughal, M.R., 1997,
civilization from ca. 3000 BCE to 650 BCE (Sonpur).
Ancient Cholistan, Pl.58

Bronze age sites and
Mleccha-speaker regions

29

Post-
harappa
iron age
pottery
sites

30

31

A journalist was sent
by Romila to ask Prof.
BB Lal: “You have
Lal:
shown the gudiya
` painted to show sindhur
at the parting of the
hair. It appears that the
gudiya are Hindutva
forgeries.” BB Lal
forgeries.”
replied: “The excavator
was a French
archaeologist, Jean Paul
Jarrige. The workers
Jarrige.
who discovered the
Nausharo: female figurine. Period
gudiya were Pakistani
1B, 2800 – 2600 BCE. 11.6 x 30.9
workers at Nausharo. I
Nausharo.
cm.[After Fig. 2.19, Kenoyer,
1998]. don’t think they are
don’
Hindu. Accept the fact
Red paint showing sindhur at the
that the gudiya show
parting of the hair;Hair painted
black;Necklaces the continuity of
Bharatiya Samskruti for
Painted golden. Painted pot of
the last 4500 years.”
years.”
Nausharo with hieroglyphs.

32

Terracotta toys show yogic asanas: 1-4, from Harappa; 5-6, from
Mohenjo-daro.

Namaste toy from Mohenjodaro, an abiding tradition of Hindu
civilization

Narayanam namaskritya naranchaiva narottaman
devim sarasvatinchaiva tato jayamudirayet.

33

Mahabharata

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