In continuation of the information on the International conference on The Sindhu- Sarasvati Valley Civilization to be held on 21 and 22 February, 2009 in Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, California as already written in http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/02/international-conference-on-sindhu.html, here are some additional information:-
Prominent scholars particularly archaeologists, linguists, anthropologists, historians, religious specialists and geneticists would be participating in this conference in order to debate and understand the nature of the interrelation between the Indus or Sindhu and the Sarasvati or Vedic culture(s) from about 3000 B.C. to 1000 B.C. They would also be attempting to bridge the chronological, linguistic and racial gap between the material and literary cultures of the Indus civilization and Vedic civilization. It is understood that the main focus of this International conference will be on the issues raised by the following questions:
- Who were the people of Ancient India Civilizations?
- Were they Vedic Aryan or Indo- Aryan, Indo- Iranian or Dravidians?
- Has archaeological evidence confirmed the existence of common features of Vedic and Indus culture(s)?
- Is there an indigenous continuity of the culture in India and Pakistan or did the people come from outside the subcontinent?
- How does the scientific evidence of the drying of the River Sarasvati play a role in the interpretation of the history and chronology of the civilization?
- How is the genetic evidence corroborated with archaeological evidences especially regarding the antiquity of the Indian gene?
The discussion themes would include the following:
1 .Time: Chronology of Indus Valley and Vedic Cultures.
2. People: Linguistic Relationship
3. Place: Geographical location: The Saraswati and the Indus cultural habitats
4. Patterns of Cultural Interactions: Trade, Religion, Polity.
5. Origins: Homeland, Migration. Etc.
6. Continuities: Biological, Ethnological
According to Dr Nalini Rao, one of the organizers of the conference, the interpretations by scholars in the conference will be rooted in Scientific scholarship and presented with clarity and brevity for the sake of the educated public. They will touch upon areas of consensus and contentions with a tentatively conclusive interdisciplinary understanding upon the topics like Indus and Sarasvati, Ecology and culture, Indus and Aryan: Race and Language, The Indus Script/Language, Population: Migration and Settlement, Socio-political Organizations and DNA and Astronomical evidences.
The following are the areas of research as suggested by Dr Kalyanaraman:-
1. The emphatic continuity of the Sarasvati Civilization evidenced by cultural markers all over India and the neighbouring regions;
2. The formation and evolution of languages in a linguistic area of the Sarasvati civilization proved by the decoding of the Indus script (Sarasvati hieroglyphs)
3. Language and culture have to be viewed as intertwined, continuing legacies. In this context the following aspects have to be further explored:
- Legacy of architectural forms
- Legacy of puskarini in front of mandirams; as in front of Mohenjodaro stupa
- Legacy of metallurgy and the writing system on punch-marked coins
- Legacy of continued use of cire perdue technique for making utsava bera (bronze murti)
- Legacy of the writing system on Sohgaura copper plate
- Legacy of glyphs continuing on astamangalahara
- Legacy of the writing system on Bharhut ligatures
- Legacy: srivatsa glyph metaphor; srivatsa and srisuktam
- Legacy: Engraved celt tool of Sembiyan-kandiyur with Sarasvati hieroglyphs: calling-card of an artisan
- Legacy of acharya wearing uttariyam leaving right-shoulder bare
- Form of addressing a person respectfully as: arya, ayya (Ravana is also referred to as arya in the Great Epic Ramayana)
- Gautama the Buddha refers to esa dhammo sanantano; Mahavira refers to 'ariya' dhamma (arya meaning 'right conduct, respectful')
