Mahabharata Quiz - 62

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Question – 62

Has the devastation at Mohenjo-Daro been dated? Is there any evidence that it occurred during the period of the Mahabharata?

Answer:

Four sites in the Lower Town of Mohenjo-Daro have borne the brunt of the cosmic event. So far none have dated the massacre site, but it was thought to be anterior to the Mature Harappan Phase when the Great Bath came up in 2800 BCE. Research by Hemphill offers a strange sight of all the four sites coming in the same line, which is highly probable in the case of a shower of meteors.

All the sites falling in a straight line.

From the map of the Lower town in a paper by the researcher Dale, it is found that the site is aligned to the North. From Southwest, a group of fragments had fallen on the western part of the Lower Town. The direction concurs with the Southwest wind mentioned in the narrative.

These places are likely to be manufacturing units, with people working at the time of the fall. Varāha (unicorn) seal was found on one of victims. During the Mahabharata period, this region was under the rule of the Sindhu King Jayadratha, the son-in-law of Dhritarashtra. He had ‘Varāha’ as his insignia. Hemphill proposes that the victims were squatter population. They must have been migrant workers given the Varāha seal for work-authorization.

Unicorn seal found in one of the skeletons

That none of the dead were cared for, shows that they were not locals. No locals were willing to do the last rites for the outsiders dying in a calamity. The site must have become a ghost town that none ventured into the place. The site was ignored and started getting filled up with mud and dust which made the locals call it ‘the mound of the dead’ – which is what Mohenjo-Daro means.

The crash site is very close to the Great Bath site and it appears that the new settlers had consciously avoided this site and built the Great Bath and other structures next to this site. It must be noted that there is no evidence of a crash in the Great Bath site. The crash was localized in the Lower Town long before the Great Bath was built. The cosmic event of 3136 BCE and the change in the direction of flow of the river Sindhu from east west bear testimony to this crash. The Sindhu river running east-west in the location of Mohenjo-Daro adds credence to our claim.

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