Friday, November 22, 2019

Recent paper on Sarasvatī in nature.com demolishes Mr Nilesh Oak’s date of Mahabharata & Ramayana!

The research paper by Chatterjee, A., Ray, J.S., Shukla, A.D. et al tilted “On the existence of a perennial river in the Harappan heartland” in nature.com offers a new dimension to prove Mr Nilesh Oak’s date of Mahabharata as wrong. According to this research the river Sarasvatī was perennial between 9ka and 4.5ka and was receiving sediments from the Higher and Lesser Himalayas. This period “can be attributed to the reactivation of the river by the distributaries of the Sutlej.” It was within this period Mr Nilesh Oak has located his date of Mahabharata war!

His date, 5561 BCE falls at a time when the river Sarasvatī was well fed by stronger monsoonal waters whereas the river was missing at Udapana and Vinasana in its course downstream, according to Mahabharata. This means that at the time of Mahabharata the river was not flowing continuously in full strength until it reached its estuary.  

Taking exception to the findings of this research, Mr Nilesh Oak posted the following in twitter, which contrary to what he wanted to do - that is, reject the research findings - turned out to be an acceptance of the traditional date of Mahabharata!


The last point (within box) acceding to intensification of monsoon until 4500 BCE and abrupt drying by 3000-2000 BCE augurs well for the traditional date of Mahabharata (3136 BCE) and not for his date at 5561 BCE! Sarasvatī was brimming at his date of Mahabharata war.

Let me reproduce below the figure furnished by the authors linking the Harappan settlements with sediment provenance to prove that the settlements of Mahabharata characters such as Jayadratha and other Sindhu kings in the Indus region could not be dated earlier than 5.8 ka (=3800 BCE)

{Evolution of the Ghaggar from changes in sediment provenance and the Harappan settlement dynamics. (A) Stratigraphic changes in sediment Sr-Nd isotopic compositions in the Ghaggar alluvium during last 20 ka. Symbols and abbreviations are as in Fig. 1. (B) Evolution of the Harappan civilization in north-western India and eastern Pakistan as inferred from the settlement dynamics through ages (9.0-3.5 ka)7,10,47,48. Modern and inferred former courses (dashed lines) of the major Himalayan rivers are also shown. I: Indus; J: Jhelum; C: Chenab; B: Beas; S: Sutlej; SS: Saraswati (Ghaggar); Y: Yamuna; G: Ganga}.

The bottom figure at right (B) shows absence of settlements in Mr Oak’s date of Mahabharata. But there were settlements at the time of Mahabharata in the Indus region. The Indus region was occupied by Jayadratha and 10 other kingdoms stretching upto Afghanistan at the time of Mahabharata. It presupposes beginning of occupation in the Indus region sometime before Mahabharata times. It had started only from 5.8ka (3800 BCE) which goes well with the traditional date of Mahabharata and not Mr Oak’s date.

The Pandavas did not cross the river Sindhu at that time as known from Yudhishthira’s words during the dice game, when he referred to Parsana at the east of Sindhu as the western limit of his kingdom. The second figure from the bottom of B matches with this description. Most settlements were along Sarasvatī, but some were around the Sindhu and its tributaries, the regions of Sindhu kings. With early Harappan coinciding with the traditional Mahabharata date, this research is proof of traditional date and not Mr Nilesh Oak’s date.

The research findings are consistent with Valdiya’s paper published in Current Science highlighting the periods of heavy rainfall. The figure reproduced from his paper shows “heavy rains at 15,300, 14,700 and 11,500–10,800 yrs BP and very heavy rains between 9500 and 5500 yrs BP.” The rains must have occurred due to Western Disturbance (WD). The dynamics of WD is such that it was heavy following the end of Glacial Maxima.


The rains peaked between 9500 BP to 5500 BP and this matches with the results of the current research of testing the sediments for dating. It was only after this period Sarasvatī started drying up, that coincided with Mahabharata times. In contrast Mr Nilesh Oak’s date at 5561 BCE had seen heavy rains followed by a thousand year long very heavy rains that kept the lakes of Thar desert filled with water all the time. Would he call this also a ‘weak claim’ by Singhvi and Kale?

Mr Nilesh Oak’s date of Ramayana debunked by this research.

The above figure also unsettles his date of Ramayana located at 12K+ BCE. The period was dry at that time which is contrary to Ramayana description of Sarayū overflowing in rainy season (told by Rama. VR 4-28-56).

The name Sarayū like Sarasvatī is also traced to the root word, Saras, the pond. Valmiki Ramayana (1.24.10) says that Sarayū originated in Manasa Lake (near Mt Kailash). This means de-glaciation had started before that time which is impossible for Mr Oak’s date of Ramayana. His Ramayana date occurs at Pleistocene, when the Himalayas and most of north India were wrapped under extreme cold conditions giving no scope for formation of Manasa Lake near Mt Kailash. Under such conditions, from where did Sarayū originate?

Rig Veda has references to river Sarayū on par with Sarasvatī. “Let the great Streams come hither with their mighty help, Sindhu, Sarasvatī, and Sarayū with waves” says Rig Veda 10.64.  Another verse brings out the malevolence of Sarayū in causing hardship to Arya Citraratha. This verse is from 4th Mandala, verse number 30-18. The 4th Mandala is one of the oldest according to Mr Oak that he places it before 22k+ BP.


Per this, the mighty Sarayū that washed away Arya Citraratha can be dated at before 22ka! That was the time of Last Glacial Maxima with ice sheets spread all across the Himalayan region and Tibetan plateau. This wipes out any chance for the formation of Manasa Lake in the Himalayas in which Sarayū had originated. There is no scope for monsoonal rains either to feed Sarayū. The global sea level at that time was below 125 metres than it is now which means the Indian monsoons (South west and North east) had not yet started. From where did Sarayū get its furiously flowing waters at 22ka + at  the time this verse was composed in Mr Oak’s opinion?

Rig Vedic verses on Sarasvatī concur with Holocene rains.

The peak monsoon running for thousands of years after the start of Holocene matches well with Rig Vedic description of Sarasvatī.

The Rig Vedic description, “Pure in her course from mountains to the ocean” (Rig Veda 7.95.2), “Seven sistered-, sprung from threefold source” (Rig Veda 6.61.12) and “swelling with streams” (Rig Veda 7.96.6) on her way to the ocean match well with Sutlej and other tributaries in North West feeding into Sarasvatī.

The description of Vājasaneyi Samhita (Book 34- verse 11) on how Sarasvatī flowed in her early days (See Griffith 1899:281): “Five rivers flowing on their way speed onward to Sarasvatī, but then became Sarasvatī a fivefold river in the land” had happened at early Holocene when monsoon peaked. This verse implies that the five rivers of the Sindhu joined with Sarasvatī in the place of their origin. It was a fused water body of enormous size at that time – perhaps the ‘Saras’ (pond) from which Sarasvatī flowed down. The Rig Vedic hymns on Indra were aimed at getting relief from the destructive rains and subsequent floods.

Turning a Nelson’s eye to the excellent synchronisation of Rig Vedic verses to the incidence of rainfall found out in the research, Mr Nilesh Oak has pushed the date of Rig Veda to 22+ ka when LGM peaked. Only South East Asia was warm and Sundaland was kicking with life then.  

Genesis of Harappan Unicorn from Sarasvatī

The image of Unicorn (Varaha), the most widely found symbol of the Harappan settlements holds the key to tracing continuity from Rig Vedic Sarasvatī in the ‘lake’ from the rainy period around 9ka to the Harappan phase that coincides with post Mahabharata date.

The first ever reference in Rig Veda to Varāha comes in the context of battering by heavy rains. ‘Vṛtra’, the boar (Varaha) was lying in the water, put to sleep by the mighty thunder of Indra (Rig Veda 1.121.11). When water subsided in course of time and the land forms arose, it was a manifestation of Varāha. It was personified as though Varāha lifted up Mother Earth (Bhū Devī) and kept her on its lap. The first ever place that was lifted up, perhaps came to be identified as the root or origin of Varāha and hence came to be called as Varāhamūla (Baramulla). This place was on the ridges close to Jhelum River, the highest point of the huge body of water that was Kashmir. This was the first place that became visible when water receded.

Entire region was once under water extending upto Jhelum in the west.

The presence of Mānasarāwar lake (presently known as Manasbal Lake, an ox-bow of Jhelum) and Kailāś ranges[1] in this part of Himalayas in Kashmir (Drew 1875:312-313) and the reference to Sarasvatī as originating from Mānasa lake (Figure 13) in the hymn of Vasiṣṭha (MB 9.40) match well with the description of her origins in Saras.  

Lake Mānasa and Kailāś range in Kashmir

The once flooded Sarasvatī (and then gone dry) started getting dotted with land mass with a number of lakes forming in her upper course in Kashmir. The exposed or lifted lands rich with sedimentary soil gave good sustenance for vegetation and living. Glorification of Varāha  in this region must have started with this. The occupants of this region (Sindhu Kings) continued to hold Varaha in high esteem. Varaha was the royal emblem of the Sindhu King Jayadratha of Mahabharata fame.

The presence of Unicorn (Varāha) seal found only in this region, (Harappan) can be justified from the above account. Whoever later adapted Varāha can be said to have originated from the people of this region. But what remains in the final analysis is that the concept of Varaha that came up with the rising of land forms from the once battered- by- rains regions of Sindhu- Sarasvatī had continued to remain with Sindhu occupants before and after Mahabharata times (as Harappan) and as relics at our times, enabling us to trace back its history to the beginning of Holocene when Sarasvatī was a bountiful river – a feature established again by the recent research.









[1] Francis Drew quotes the location of Kailāś from Cunningham’s book ‘Ladakh’. It was a ridge behind Leh, between the Indus and Shayok and was called Kailāś  or Gangri range. The name Kailāś was taken from a peak near Mānasarāwar  lake, presently known as Manasbal lake in J&K.

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