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Question – 59
What is the evidence of meteor / asteroid hit in
Mohenjo-Daro?
Answer:
The most credible evidence of the cosmic impact exists
in the Sindhu region but has been mired with controversies for nearly
100-years. This comes from the skeletons strewn around in a street under ashes
and debris in Mohenjo-Daro. Nearly 40 skeletons were found scattered in the
streets and houses in the Lower Town Area away from the Great Bath. When
they were discovered 100 years ago, the researchers of that day believed that
it was evidence of Aryan invasion. The dead ones were the Dravidians living
there who were massacred by the invading Aryans, they thought. They were even
given the name “massacre victims” of the invading Aryans. But now with
more evidence on natural causes for the decline of the Indus civilization, no one
can claim that they were ‘Massacre victims’ of Aryans.
They were victims of an asteroid hit. There was none
to cremate them and thus the corpses were lying for all ages. In course of time,
that region with the dead bodies was covered with dust and mud such that the
region started looking like a mound – which people of surrounding regions
started calling as ‘Mound of the dead’.
Mohenjo-Daro in the local language means Mound of the Dead. The Great Bath and
other complexes came up away from this spot in due course of time. Only after a
long passage of time, when people had almost forgotten what had happened here, did
new settlers build their homes on top of this mound. This happened in Late Harappan,
after 1900 BCE but the initial devastation occurred in 3136 BCE when Krishna
was traveling from Upaplavya to Hastinapura.
