Non- violent silk in Vedic times?

(Continued from the previous post

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/02/silk-in-indian-tradition_03.html )

There are little traces of 'silk making' as an industry in Indian until recently.

Sericulture was introduced only 400 years ago.

However, words denoting silk are found in Sanskrit and Tamil texts.

At many places in Valmiki Ramayana, silk is mentioned as 'Kausheya'.

Sita wore Kausheyam.

Here are a few verses on kausheyam, from Valmiki Ramayana.

Sita was sighted by Ravana as wearing a silk sari.

(from Aranya khanda)

sa taam padma palaasha akSiim piita kausheya vaasiniim |
abhyagacChata vaidehiim hR^iSTa cetaa nishaa caraH || 3-46-13

Here, 'piita kausheya vaasiniim' means "ochry, silks, wearing".

Sita was wearing Kausheya at the time of abduction.

“tapta aabharaNa varNa angii piita kausheya vaasanii |
raraaja raaja putrii tu vidyut saudaamanii yathaa ||” ( 3-52-14)

piita kausheya vaasanii= ocherish, in silks, dressed;

(meaning :-.That princess Seetha scintillated like the oblique flashes of lightning in a cloud, owing to her golden coloured body which is muffled up with jewellery of pure gold, and added with a golden coloured ocherish silky dress, while traversing in the sky.)

In Kishkindha khandam,

Sampathi describes to the vanaras the abduction of Sita.

He mentions that Sita was wearing superior kausheyam.

“suurya prabhaa iva shaila agre tasyaaH kausheyam uttamam |
asite raakSase bhaati yathaa vaa taDit a.mbude ||” ( 4-58-17)

tasyaaH uttamam kausheyam= her, best, ochry silk sari;

(meaning :- Upper fringe of Seetha's silk sari with golden glitter is upheaved in the sky, and with the reddish hue of sun in red heat of midday it beamed forth like a reddish cloud. )

Sits dropped the jewels wrapped in her upper garment of kasuheyam while she was being abducted.

“teSaam madhye vishaalaakSii kausheyam kanaka prabham |
uttariiyam varaarohaa shubhaani aabharaNaani ca || 3-54-2
mumoca yadi raamaaya sha.mseyuH iti bhaaminii |”

(meaning :- 2, 3a. vishaalaakSii= broad-eyed one; varaarohaa= curvaceous lady; bhaaminii= lady with resentment; kanaka prabham kausheyam uttariiyam= golden, in hue, silk sari, upper cloth; shubhaani aabharaNaani ca= auspicious, ornaments, also; raamaaya= to Rama; shamseyuH yadi= they indicate, if [they may]; iti= thus [on thinking]; teSaam madhye mumoca= their, amid, released - dropped.

That broad-eyed and curvaceous lady with resentment Seetha, inwrapping her auspicious ornaments in the upper-fringe of her sari, dropped in the midmost of those five Vanara-s with a thinking that 'these creatures may perhaps indicate them to Rama.' [3-54-2, 3a])

We find in Valmiki Ramayana a valuable information on silk of another kind.

This is about a silk-cotton tree. In the same chapter on abduction, Sita curses Ravana that he will be doomed to hell for abducting her. There is 'asi patra vana' in the hell, having silk-cotton trees with throny iron projections. Ravana will be doomed to embrace that tree in hell.

Here the term 'kausheya' is not used to indicate the silk

But the tree is mentioned as "shaalmali" - which is the term in sankrit for silk-cotton tree.

tapta kaa.ncana puSpaam ca vaiduurya pravara cChadaam || 3-53-20
drakSyase shaalmaliim tiikSNaam aayasaiH kaNTakaiH citaam |

(meaning:- 20b, 21a. tapta kaancana [tapta] puSpaam ca= molten, gold, [melting] flowered, also; [tapta] vaiduurya pravara cChadaam= [melting] lapis gemlike, best, shrouded [by lapis like leaves]; aayasaiH kaNTakaiH citaam= with iron, thorns, encrusted; tiikSNaam shaalmaliim= sharp, silk-cotton tress; drakSyase= you will see.

"You will see silk-cotton trees flowered with molten gold, shrouded with lapis gemlike melting leaves, and enshrouded with sharp irony thorns in hell. [3-53-20b, 21a])

In this way it can be seen that Kausheya was used in specific places to indicate a specific meaning. And there was in existence silk-cotton trees too from which silk was made.

The root of kausheya is kosha or kausha. It means – among other ones – the sheath covering the silk worm. This is nothing but the 'pupa'. The pupa is called kausha or kOsha.

The derived meaning of the term kausheya is 'cloth made from the cocoon shell'.

Some of the meanings of kOsha are given here:-

kṓśa— 'bucket', 'case, cover', 'sheath', 'storeroom' , 'seed-vessel', 'inner part of breadfruit'

kōsa— 'box, sheath, storeroom, cocoon, praeputium';

kosa 'seed vessel of jackfruit', 'silkworm cocoon';

G. kuśeṭɔ, °śīṭɔ m. 'silkworm cocoon';

kośeṭā m., °ṭī f. 'fine pellicle round the stone of a fruit';

koslā m. 'cocoon'; — M. kośerā 'dry scab of a wound, cocoon'.

An interesting correlation can be found in Tamil lexicon.

There is a word in Tamil, "kOsigam" which means silk.

Kosigam is that which is derived from kOsakaaram.
kOsakaaram is an ancient Tamil word for silk moth. Since kausheyam is the silk worm's pupa stage in Sanskrit, it is understood that kOsigam is derived from the Sanskrit word. It is also known as kausigam in Tamil.

In spite of the prevalence of these words related to silkmoth in Vedic and Tamil culture, we hardly come across any trace of sericulture in ancient texts.

For example we find a spate of professions and terms related to various jobs done by ancient Tamils in Purananuru. But there is absolutely no mention of domesticating silkmoths and cultivating cocoons for drawing silk threads.

Since we come to know from texts that silk clothes were used, we must look at other ways of making silk.

One such method is collecting the cocoons in the wild.

This is a high probability, because anything of some value that is found in the forests was collected and taken to the treasury. This explains why only the Kings had worn silk dresses in those days.

The cocoons of the wild moth variety comes under the category of 'dravyam' or riches of the forest. In Tamil, a separate term exists for that – 'kaadu-padu diraviyam'

In Ramayana times too, such a practice had existed.

When Sita wanted to own the golden deer, she rationalized the hunting of it on two grounds. One was that she wanted to have the rare animal to be her plaything in the forest.

On the other hand, if the golden deer could not be taken alive, its skin could be taken to their Treasury in Ayodhya. She said that its skin was a precious looking one. Such precious and rare looking objects must belong to the Royal treasury. If the deer could not be caught alive, its skin could be taken to their kingdom when they returned.

So the practice could have existed of collecting the discarded (or even live) cocoons in the wild and making silk out of them.

From the interesting discussion that is currently taking place in http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/Indo-Eurasian_research/

it is possible to assume that the silk strands found in Harappan sites were of non-violent or ahimsic variety – that is, taken out, after the moth had left.

Silk making from such a source would be laborious and such products must belong to the Royal family only. That perhaps explains why Ramayana makes a specific mention of kausheya – how the cloth was made – whenever it describes the cloths of the Royal persons.

Since specific mention is made of 'kausheya', it can be assumed that silk from other sources (plant) also could have existed.

More on them in the next post.

(to be continued)

********************************************

From

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Indo-Eurasian_research/message/12004

Re: Indus silk

First, the earliest Chinese evidence is unfortunately fraught with uncertainty,
ambiguity and controversy. I hope in the near future to have an
opportunity to clarify at least some of the evidence. I must confess
that we can only assume Bombyx mori was domesticated in China, though
its wild ancestor certainly did have a range that included the
northern part of south Asia. It is indeed the only case of a
domesticated insect, as by definition it cannot survive without human
intervention. The B. mori is unable to fly. Yes, the Indian silks so
far found are of other species, wild, one of which can be reeled
rather than spun without harming the insect, as it has a built-in hole
for the moth to escape, so the cocoon is not ruined after
metamorphosis.

The use of this type so early was a significant
surprise to me, as it really does seem to hint at a sort of conceptual
understanding of silk that is related to Chinese sericulture, and
specifically addresses (later Vedic) taboo issues.

On the other hand,
it may well be that they would specifically be harvested (by walking
through the forest, and picking them up from tree branches, or the
ground) to use as very fine strong thread for beads (microbeads,
actually) as a special type of fiber for this purpose. The reeled silk
usually means silk taken from cocoons that did require killing the
moth; and my evidence for reeling is indeed from the thread structure,
not any found cocoons.

There is virtually no spin angle on the threads
in the Chanhu-daro example. I had lots of thread to look at. There are
no found cocoons that I am aware of in the archaeology of third or
second millennium BC south Asia.. I absolutely agree with you that
this is a fine skill mastered by the Chinese (I do remember the
'drawing silk' exercise in my qigong class!) and that reeling, if it
was truly practiced in early south Asia, it was most likely on a small
scale, and probably specifically for tiny applications such as
necklaces made of microbeads. Incidently, I don't see that it was
necessarily a luxury item in this context.

Of course, all archaeological knowledge is cumulative. If or when new
evidence comes to light to show us they were using silk for cloth as
well at such an early date, we will know. Until then, I don't assume so.


Best wishes,

Irene

From

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Indo-Eurasian_research/message/12033

Re: Indus silk

Dear Per,

As a related question, the etymology of silk more generally is a
fascinating tale in and of itself. Here is a short draft extract from
a current paper I am writing:

"Early documents in Vedic, Avestan, Middle Persian and Classical
Sanskrit each contain hints of early knowledge of silk in India, Iran
and Central Asia from prior to the Han trade in the late third century
BC. The ancient Hindu Laws of Manu, for example, prescribe the
treatment and wearing of certain silks (Manu v. 120; Kane 1941). These
instructions indicate knowledge of boiling cocoons. These laws were
recorded in the later first millennium BC, still several hundred years
before the 'secret' supposedly leaked out of China. The 'mukta' silks
were used by Jains and Hindus to avoid contact with de-gummed silk
from stifled cocoons. The Gautama Dharmasutra, which may date as early
as the 5th century BC (Olivelle 1999), explicitly rules against the
sale of silk.

This very important delineation may lead us to understand the
beginnings of silk use, and of knowledge of what are traditionally
considered to be Chinese methods of degumming (and reeling) silk.
Furthermore, the etymology of all words relating to silk and silkworms
in these early texts is of a non-Chinese signifying etymology (i.e.
not sere-) (Balkrishna 1925; McGregor 1993). Although no specific term
'silk' has yet been discovered in the Gathas or the Younger Avestan
texts, there are several investigative avenues to follow for
ascertaining the Old Iranian derivation for silk, which is also non-
Chinese (Bailey 1931, 1979; Mayrhofer 1996; Hassandoust 1964). For
example, there is a Middle Persian term 'kirm-i abreshom' for
silkworm. This is an early indication of Iranian knowledge of silk's
source. These various sources hint at early knowledge of silk outside
of China." [this was written recently and acknowledgement has been
given to Michael Witzel, Oktor Skjaervo and Asko Parpola on this
matter].

Anyone on the list is welcome to add to this- as I have mentioned in
previous posts I draw the line at comparative linguistics in my
domain of expertise !

Irene

“ Silk” in Indian tradition

The break-through evidence from the Harappan excavations that silk had been known in India as early as 2000 BCE was posted in

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/01/was-india-home-for-silk-production.html

This was no surprise to us because the use of silk-cloths had been mentioned in many places in Valimiki Ramayana.

What silk was used in Ramayana times?

The 'kausheyam' or 'kausheya vaasam' was worn by Rama and Sita.

Kusheyam means made of 'cocoon' or 'pupa'

This gives an impression that reeling silk from the cocoon as it is done nowadays – (a method borrowed from China) could have been known to people even as early as Ramayana times.

At the same time a question arises whether 'himsic' method was used in making that silk – as it is done now.

It is also difficult to think that the avatara purusha used cloths made of himsic ways.

"Ahimsa paramO dharma" is the injunction.

Ahimasa is the supreme dharma.

So 'Himsa' is a highly adharmic

Vedic society did not allow himsa, except for the purpose of vedik purpose.

The injunction on where to allow 'himsa' is found only at one place – in the last verse of Chandoghya upanishad where it is said that one
desirous of moksham is allowed to do 'himsa' only as approved by
scriptures. This is interpreted by scholars and elders as approval
for animal sacrifice in yajnas only.

Shastras say, "vaidee himsa, na himsa"

If the Himsa is done for vaideeka (vedic) purpose, it is not himsa.
That silk is meant for vaideeka purpose is not to be found in
scriptures. The only type of himsa found is animal sacrifice, which is
invalid in kali yuga. Pramana exits for this too.

In the light of this injunction on ahimsa,

it must be deduced that the silk mentioned in Ramayana must have been the 'ahimsic' silk, drawn from the cocoon after the moth-fly had left.

There is a probability that both the ways of himsic and ahimsic silk making had existed. But those persons who were inclined on moksha dharma and those who were following Vedic way of life would not have used himsic silk.

Silk from plants?

Silk could have been made by another method too.

This is like making cotton from cotton tree.

There exists in Sanskrit names of silk- trees, giving rise to the notion that silk was made from silk trees.

As far as I know, Sanskrit lexicon contains names of two trees,

'ahikA' and 'apUraNI'

for silk making.

ahikA= the silk-cotton tree (Salmalia Malabarica);
apUraNI = the silk cotton tree (Bombax Heptaphyllum).

The silk found in Harappan sites must be analysed in the light of himsic, ahimsic and plantation sources.

There is another plant source for silk.

It is the fiber of plants.

Until a couple of generations ago, 'naar-pattu' was in vogue in Tamilnadu.

This is said to have been made from the plantain tree.

Naar pattu was used while doing pooja.

Silk in auspicious functions.

As far as I have enquired with the Vedik scholars whom I have come across, I have
been told that specifications have been given in sastras regarding
every detail of different ceremonies and this also includes the type
of vasthram to be used. It is mentioned at many
places that the cotton vasthram has to be used.

But the custom of using or gifting silk vEshti in marriage and
upanayanam has come into vogue, perhaps to flaunt the affluence and
affordability. If one digs up what the satras say about most of the
ceremonies, it will be shocking know that most of what is
being bought or gifted have not been mentioned by satras and silk has
no sastric sanction.

For instance, in the upanayanam ceremony, where it is customary for
the maternal grand father / maternal uncle to bring / buy 2 silk
vasthrams, there is no scope to wear them during the ceremony. That
is, nowhere it is mentioned that the silk vasthram is to be used.

The boy does not wear the silk veshti during any time in the ceremony.

But in a wish to somehow use it, people started using it to cover the boy and the couple at the time of Brhamopadesam

The usage of the silk vEshti during Brhamopadesam is a later
development, but it is not without a flaw. If the rules were to be
strictly followed, the 4-muzham silk Veshti is not sufficient to cover
the agni, the Brahma, the couple and the boy. But people desirous of
using these silk vEshti cover only the couple, at times the father and
son only with the Purohit peeping inside. This is not as per sastras.

Silk for Gods.

Looking for textual evidence,

wherever there is a mention of vasthram for God,

there it is about yellow vasthram or golden vasthram.

Shastras say about using 'noothana vasthu' for Gods, but nowhere it
has been said that 'rEshme' vasthram (silk vasthram) is a noothana
vasthram or to be used for adorning Gods.

We can see in a number of places, the term pIthambharam as the vasthram of
God. PIthambharam means, a vasthram of "peetha sahitham" - with yellow
colour. The yellow dye is made from turmeric powder which will
stick to cotton vasthram effectively and not to silk vasthram.
Therefore the cloth mentioned in slokas and scriptures is cotton cloth soaked in turmeric.

Yellow is symbolic of Gold
Gold is also yellow in colour and this again is symbolic Lakshmi.

(refer Sri sookhtham)
The sapeetha vasthram mentioned in slokas is therefore defined as golden vasthram.
Sapeetham is 'samyatha peetham'. It is yellow in colour, and the yellow is indicative of gold. Even the silk offered in Purna ahuthi in a homa is not silk, but 'pon-aadai', golden vasthram in those days.

By adorning the Lord in peetha vasthram and sapeetha vasthram, we are
seeing Him with the inseparable Lakshmi!

We do find a mention of "kausheya vaasam" in the dhyaana sloka of Vishnu sahasranama.

It is difficult to believe that himsic silk was used to adorn God in olden times.

Detailed explanation on this is covered in the next post.

But a story exists that silk from China (Cheenamshuk)

– the himsic silk – was brought to India only within the last couple of millenia.

It was brought for pooja by the highly ahimsic Jain people unknowingly.

The story is given below.

Without the knowledge of how that silk is made,

silk has entered temples too and for adorning gods.

Anything that is costly or rare is supposed to belong to the Royalty and God

or be dedicated to kings and gods.

In that sense, himsic silk might have come into use in the temples.

(to be continued)

*******************************

From

http://72.14.235.132/custom?q=cache:1BOjzViu-zEJ:www.jaina.org/educationcommittee/education_material/D01_Ahimsa%2520-%2520Nonviolence/A16%2520Story%2520of%2520Silk%2520.doc+Silk&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1

Pramoda Chitrabhanu

Jain Meditation International Center

Story of Silk

How many people know that the silk one wears or uses involves violence and that one wears it with great pride in the places of worship? It is sad that one follows traditions blindly without questioning the origination or it's making process.

It all started around 1133 AD at the time of King Kumarpal, the King of Gujarat, a state in Western India. During his rule he was greatly influenced by a great Jain teacher Acharya Hemchandra. The King was so inspired by his teachings of Ahimsa (nonviolence) and Compassion that he declared in his entire state to stop killing for food, sport or fun.

It is said that he was further inspired by the saint to lead a religious life and perform puja (a symbolic worship to an idol in the temple) everyday to show his devotion to Lord Mahavir. The King decided to wear the best, the most expensive and new clothes to perform the puja and so he ordered the best of the material to be obtained. His men went and purchased the most costly, fine and soft material from China for their King. At that time the King did not know that the material purchased for him was imported silk, made from killing silkworms, which involved sheer violence. If he knew that he would not have used silk for puja. But since then the tradition continues.

Unfortunately even today people wear silk clothes in religious rituals justifying that King Kumarpal used it.

It is time one wakes up to the fact and knows the true story of silk. Beauty Without Cruelty organization in India has done a great work in this field and brought to light the cruelty involved in making silk.

Soft, smooth and shimmering silk is perhaps the most attractive textile ever created. More than two thousand years ago, this beautiful fabric was imported from China known as "Chinanshuk" in Sanskrit language. The method and source or its production was a very highly guarded secret -may be because it involved the killing of millions of lives.

The filament of silk is what a silkworm spins for its cocoon. The cocoon is constructed as its shell to protect itself during its cycle of growth from caterpillar to chrysalis to moth.

The female moth lays about 400-600 eggs. The eggs hatch in about 10 days and the larvae (1/12 inch in length) emerge. They are fed on mulberry leaves for 20-27 days till they are fully grown (3-3 1/2 inches length).

A fully-grown caterpillar emits a gummy substance from its mouth and wraps itself in layers of this filament to form a cocoon in 2 to 4 days. The caterpillar develops into a moth in about 15 days. To emerge it has to cut through the cocoon - thereby ruining the filament of the cocoon. In order to save the filaments from being broken, the chrysalis are either immersed in boiling water or passed through hot air or exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, thus killing the lives inside. The filaments of the cocoons are then reeled.

To produce 100 grams of pure silk, approximately 1,500 chrysalis have to be killed. Certain chrysalis are chosen and kept aside to allow the moths to emerge and mate. After the female moth lays eggs, she is crushed to check for diseases. If she has any disease, the eggs laid by her are destroyed.

Generation after generation of inbreeding has taken away the moth's capacity to fly. After mating, the male moths are dumped into a basket and thrown out.

India produces four varieties of silks obtained from four types of moths. These are known as Mulberry, Tussar, Eri and Muga. Mulberry is also produced in other silk-producing countries: China, Japan, Russia, Italy, South Korea, etc. but Eri and Muga are produced in India only.

The other materials that look somewhat like silk are from man-made fibers known as artificial silk (art silk). Of these, rayon (viscose) is of vegetable origin; where as nylon and polyester (terrene) are petroleum products. Silk, once woven is known by different names depending on the weave, style, design and place where it is woven. Materials like boski, pure crepe, pure chiffon, pure gaji, pure georgette, khadi silk, matka silk, organza, and pure satin are 100% silk. Saris from Calcutta, Gadhwal, Madurai and Shantiniketan can be in 100% silk or 100% cotton.

Irkal saris from Narayan Peth (Andhra Pradesh) can be of 100% silk or part silk and part cotton yarn.

Venkatgiri saris may be in all cotton or part silk/cotton. Chanderi, Tissue, Poona, Ventakgiri and Maheshwari Saris of Madhya Pradesh have silk yarn in warp and cotton yarn in weft.

Manipuri Kota and Munga Kota have both silk and cotton yarn. Matka silk is also 100% pure silk. In this, the yarn in warp is the usual silk yarn, whereas the yarn in weft is obtained from the cocoons that are cut open by the moth to come out. Later these moths are crushed to death after they lay eggs.

Materials like crepe, chinon, chiffon, gaji, georgette, satin etc. can be made from man-made fiber called artificial silk. Cheaper quality of Tanchhoi can contain silk yarn in warp and artificial yarn in weft.

The Japanese and Indian materials known as "China Silk" (not Chinese Silk) is not pure silk but polyester.

Those who would like to know what yarn is used in particular materials, can test in the following way:

To identify silk, you must burn some yarn (a few from warp as well as weft). Since human hair also burns like silk, it will be easier to learn by burning a strand of hair. Take some fallen hair, hold it with a tweezers and burn it. See how it burns. When it stops burning, a very tiny (pinhead size) ash ball is formed. Take it between your fingers and rub it. Smell the powdered ash. The smell of burnt hair, silk, wool and leather will be the same and the way it will burn (to form an ash ball), will also be the same. If it is cotton or rayon yarn, it will burn in flames and will not form any ash ball nor will it smell like silk. If it is a petroleum product like nylon or polyester, it will burn forming a tiny, hard glass like ball.

100% Silk Materials: Boski, Pure crepe, Pure chiffon, Pure gaji, Pure georgette, Khadi silk, Organza, Pure satin, Raw silk, Matka silk and many more that we may not be aware of."

Gotras & common genetic ancestry of all Indians.

-->

The link given at the end of this article, provides the genetic analysis aimed at establishing the roots of Indians, in the light of theories of Aryan invasion (that a 'superior' race of Aryans came to India from Middle Asia / Europe) and also to explore the differences between castes in India.

As with other researches on these issues, this research also has established that Indians were indigenous to the Sub-continent. The Indian Sub-continent had served as an incubator to many ancient lineages.

The interesting findings are that

(1) the Kashmiri and Himachal Brahmins were more ancient – giving rise to the theory that further descendents of India sprang from them - and

(2) the Brahmins were in no way different from the ancient tribes – implying that they both traced their lineage to a common ancestry and that there are no genetic differences between the castes.

This is a great news for those of us convinced of the Sanatana dharma as the one and only Universal Law operating in the world.

One of the basic tenets of this Dharma is that the Creator Brahma facilitated the birth of humans through his Maanasa putras, the saptha rishis and other rishis who are known as Gotra pravarthakas.

All the human beings have sprung from these Gotra rishis only.
Even today the Gotra identification continues in our country, across all the sections of people. A person of one gotra does not marry the person of the same gotra. The reason is precisely, what the genetic research is going after – the Y-chromosome.

Persons born in the same Y chromosome family (as identified by a gothra) become Sa-gotris (siblings) and marriage within them can not result in genetic variations (variations are needed for further growth of Human race). Such sa-gotris exist in India cutting across the barriers of place, language and habits.

It will give rise to better insights if the genetic research is done gothra-wise and to find out variations between different gothras.

The antiquity of Kashmiri and Himachal Brahmins can be understood in the light of the ancient notion on Manu as the progenitor. The Himachal connection strengthens my opinion that the people of Manaali in Himachal Pradesh, (Manaali was originally known as Manu-aalay – the house of Manu) may be the oldest of all people and may even bear signs as ancestors to all the other people of India.

A gotra indicates patrilineal kinship. In a literal sense, gotra means 'cow-shed'. In Atharvana veda it is referred to a clan.

This perhaps indicates a group of persons who have sprung in a common place. Further descendants have sprung up from them.

The descendants were identified based on their 'varna' or attitude or nature, though they all sprang from a same Gotra.

The varna has now become the mis-understood and maligned concept.

In contrast to 'varna', 'Jathi' was identified as a simplistic concept of having just two distinct types. They are male and female.

The term Jathi is derived from "jatha:" – the one who is formed. Only two such formations are there - male or female. So the Jathis were only two.

Only these three concepts (gotra, varna and jathi) were there in ancient Bharath.

What we have bequeathed now are distortions and deterioration of these concepts with the passage of Time.

There are 49 established gotras. Here is given the list of 20 gotras with respective pravaras. The pravaras are further sub-division of Gotra rishi. As they have sprung from the same rishi, marriage within the pravaras also is not advised.

Gotra – rishi / Pravaram

1. BARADWAJA / ANGIRASA-BARHASPATYA-BARADWAJA  

2. SHADAMARSHANA / ANGIRASA-BOWRUKUTSA-TRASTASYA 

3. ATREYA / AATREYA -AARCHANANASA-SYAAVASASVA 

4. VADOOLA / BARGAVA-VAITHAHAVYA-SAAVEDASA  

5. SRIVATSA / BARGAVA-SYAAVANA-AAPNAVANA-OURVA-JAAMADAGNYA                  

6. KOUSIKA / VISVAMITRA-AGAMARSHANA-KOUSIKA                                           

7. VISVAMITRA / VISVAMITRA-DEVARATHA - OUTHALA     

8. KOUNDINYA / VAASISHTA-MAITRAAVARUNA-KOUNDINYA

9. HARITHA / AANGIRASA-AMBARISHA-YUVANASAVA                                             

10.MOUDGALYA / AANGIRSA-PARMYASVA-MOUDGALYA (OR)DAARKSHYA-                                  

BARMYASVA-MOUDGALA (OR)ANGIRASA-DHAAVYA MOUDGALAYA

11. CHANDILYA  / KASYAPA-AAVATSARA-CHANDILYA (OR)KASYAPA-AAVATSARA – DAIVALA         

12. NAITRUVAKAASYAPA / KASYAPA-AAVATSARA-NAITRUVA      

13. KUTSA / AANGIRASA-MAANDATRA-KAUTSA                                         

14. KANVA / AANGIRASA-AJAMIDA-KAANVA (OR)AANGIRASA-KAURA-KAANVA     

15. PARASARA / VASISHTA-SAAKTYA-PAARASARYA      

16. AGASTYA /  AGASTYA-DARTYACHYUTA-SOUMAVAHA 

17. GARGI / ANGIRASA-BARHASPATYA-BARADWAIA- ORAANGIRASA                          

               -SAINYA- GARGYA

18. KAASYAPA / KAASYAPA-AAVATSARA-DAIVALA    

19. BADARAYANA / AANGIRASA-PARSHADASVA-RATHEETARA                                           

20. SANKRITI / AANGIRASA-GOWRAVITA-SAANKRUTYA (OR)SAADHYA-                                          GOWRAVITA- SAANKRUTYA   

If one does not know the gotra, it is said that one can adopt either the gothra of Jamadagni or Kaasyapa.

SvagOtra pravara ajgjnaanE Jamadagnim UpaasrayEt / NirNayasindu
Gotra naase Tu kasyapa:?. Kasyapa gOtrasya Sarva saadhaaraNatvaat /
(Smriti Chandrika)

It is because these two maharishis are said to be universal progenitors of human race.
They have been eulogized in the yajur hymns of Sun (AruNam).
They may not be human beings in the exact meaning of the term.
According to the metaphorical meaning of the hymn,
they seem to signify some energy level from which creation proceeded.
It is possible that in accordance with uninanimity of name, shape and works theory,
the rishis of that name were possessed of such energies.


There is another method to know one's gotra, if one does not know what his gotra is.
This is as per astrology that one can adopt the gotra indicated by the star in which one is born.
In Jyothisha, Gothras are recognized on the basis of Saptha rishis who are said to rule 28 stars
(including Abhijit) of the zodiac.


The Saptha rishi gotra stars are as follows:

(1) Marichi: Aswini, Pushya, Svati, Abhijit.
(2) Vasishta: Bharani, Ashlesha, Vishakha, Shravan.
(3) Angiras: Krittika, Magha, Anuradha, Dhanistha.
(4) Atri: Rohini, Purvaphalguni, Jyestha, Shatabhishakam.
(5) Pulastya: Mrgashirsha, Uttaraphalguni, Mula, Purva Bhadrapad.
(6) Pulaha: Ardra, Hasta, Purvashadha, Uttarabhadrapad.
(7) Kratu: Punarvasu, Chitra, Uttarashadha, Revati.


Persons born in the stars of the same Rishi are prohibited to marry within themselves.
The rationale of this must be explored to find out the common thread among them.
Astrologically, it appears that the distance between the stars is inimical to compatibility and friendship.


In Vaastu sastra, this arrangement of stars (in gotra varga) is 8th from the other.
The 8th varga signifies death and destruction.
In other words, the 1st and 8th in a group of 8-vargas don't go well each other.
Like this, we can pin point few other issues of non-match within the stars
that come under the same rishi.

The commonly accpeted rationale for prohibition of marriage within same gotra
is that the progeny will not be hale and healthy.



The links to genetic research:-

The Indian origin of paternal haplogroup R1a1* substantiates the autochthonous origin of Brahmins and the caste system

by Swarkar Sharma et al., Journal of Human Genetics (2009) 54, 47-55

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11517386/jhg20082a


http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/palaeolithic

Related articles:-

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/01/genetic-study-on-aryan-non-invasion.html

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/06/first-man-originated-in-manaali-hp.html

http://www.boloji.com/astro/00324.htm

Kaun banega Slumdog Millionare? (sample questions)

Here are some questions on Slumdog Millionaire model.

Sure to win Oscars!!

From

http://www.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCC/2009/01/31/ArticleHtmls/31_01_2009_008_007.shtml?Mode=0#

Multiple choices in a poor man's world. By Farrukh Dhondy

The set is a cage, a metal affair which suggests that knowledge has moved out of the musty age of parchment and into the instant world of infotech.

The Master of Ceremonies, a man whose face combines accommodative kindness, encouragement, the play of wit and a debonair handsomeness, sits on a high stool before a computer. The studio is packed with a responsive audience. The music announces the entry of the contestant, a young man in the sort of designer jeans and top one buys on the pavements of Indian cities.

Applause. He takes his seat.

MoC: Welcome Awaaraji. Are you ready to play Kown Banega Badda Bakra?

Contestant: Meheheheheh!

MoC: Oh, we have a comedian here!

Applause.

MoC: Are you ready?

Contestant: My neck is on the block.

MoC: Right. Whose economic policies are going to save the world?

A: President Obama, B: Gordon Brown, C: Raoul Castro D: The Credit-Crunch-VicharManch of Byculla.

Cut to exterior.

An Indian village. Day. A beautiful, fair-skinned peasant woman in a well-ironed but muddied sari faces a fat-bellied fellow with a huge moustache and cruel eyes. She is with her young children. The bright-eyed boy, 11, is clearly the young contestant of the KBBB game show.

Cruel man: If you don't pay the 5,000% interest, I shall take your bullocks away, sell your children into slavery and relax on my charpoy and watch you pulling the plough by yourself every day for entertainment — as there is as yet no TV in the world.

Woman: (Folding her hands) I can't pay off the mortgage, SubPrimeji, but I beg you don't take my son and daughter and sell them down the Ganges. I'll do anything…

Cruel man: Anything??? He waggles his eyebrows lustfully.

Cut back to the studio.

The contestant concentrates.

MoC: A, B, C, or D?

Contestant: (Mutters) Borrowing kills!

Er... D — the CreditCrunch-Vichar-Manch.

MoC: Computerji?

He presses a key. The suspense is "awesome". The bongs (as in percussive music) bong out.

MoC: D is correct! Applause.

Contestant wipes face with grubby hanky.

MoC: Ready for the next question?

Contestant: Keen as a sharpened knife!

MoC: Very good.

Now, who was Mahatma Gandhi Marg named after?

A: Marilyn Monroe, B: Mahatma Gandhi, C: Sir Hi Hello Goodbye Tata, D: Arundhati Roy

The contestant knits his brow. He is stumped.

Cut to interior.

A juvenile prison. Night. The urchin prisoners with the contestant, now 13, are asleep on ragged mats. He sits bolt upright in the silence. He has been dreaming. He rubs his eyes in disbelief. There in the corner of the cell, hovering above the sleeping boys, is the luminous figure of a little bald man in a dhoti with a scarf to cover the top half of his body and wearing John Lennon specs.

Luminous figure: Laggey raho Contestantji…

The figure fades into nothing. Was it really there?

Cut back to the studio

MoC: So, what is it to be?

The camera concentrates on the contestant's face.

Contestant: B.

MoC: Final answer?

Contestant: Final answer!

MoC: Final curtain?

Contestant: Final curtain.

MoC: Did you do it your way?

Contestant: I did it my way.

MoC: Computerji, your verdict. He presses a key. And the right answer is...

There is a dirty electronic belching noise as the panel lights up the correct answer in red neon. ...B!

Massive applause.

The MoC nods and smiles.

MoC: You are getting very close to the jackpot Awaaraji. Do you want to stop now and go back to sleeping on the pavements or does a little Dicky bird tell you to continue and meet your fate as the ultimate Badda Bakra?

Contestant: Umm, I'll go on.

MoC: OK!

Next question. If your shoes are Japanese, your trousers English, the cap on your head Russian, then what is your heart?

A: American, B: Nigerian, C: Hindustani, D: Korean

The contestant stares at the question on the panel.

He looks puzzled and then breaks into a smile.

Cut to interior.

A doctor's surgery.

Day. Two men, the first called Smoothie, dressed in a clinical white coat and the other, Blackie, dressed in black with gold jewellery around his neck and wrists and a large mouth with a flashy red tongue, have collected a group of urchins from the streets and are dispensing Japanese shoes, English designer trousers and red Russian baseball caps with a Soviet Star on them to the kids. Among them is the contestant now aged 14.

First Child: These are very good people. They are giving us these things free.

Second Child: There is no such thing as a free Masala Dosa.

Third Child: But these fellows are the mother f— best sister f— people I have met in my miserable existence. Much better than the NGOs who give you nothing and brainwash you about Aids.

Second Child: There is no such thing as a free Bhel Puri. A photographer comes in and starts taking pictures of each of the children.

First Child: You see? Photographs! Everyone, say "Paneer!" Blackie: No, no, no smiles. These are for passports. Suddenly a light goes on in our hero's head.

Contestant (aged 14): Stop! I know what's going on here — Why they have weighed us and taken our blood and DNA samples. They are dressing us up and taking us to some foreign country to surgically extract our hearts as organ transplants for rich foreigners. He picks up a bottle of acid and throws the liquid in Smoothie's face and then in Blackie's face and shouts to the others. Run, they are after Hindustani hearts because they are cheap! The children overpower the photographer.

Second child grabs his camera as a souvenir of these dreadful times and they all run out.

Cut back to studio.

Contestant: I choose C: Hindustani.

The MoC nods and presses the computer keys.

MoC: Yes!! The right answer – your heart is still Hindustani. Huge applause.

MoC: Now the final question.

In a TV quiz show who gets rich fast? A: The Contestant, B: The director of a film about the Quiz Show, C: The novel writer whose idea it was in the first place, D: The TV company.

As he says this the buzzer buzzes through the studio. Ohhh! The time is up. We shall have to continue next week with Awaaraji when we play Kown Banega Badda Bakra! Rapid titles.

*********

Related posts:-

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/01/slumdogs-or-indian-dogs.html

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/01/pchidambaram-on-slumdog-success.html

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/01/slumdog-no-this-is-not-india-i-would.html

Was India home for ‘Silk’ production? (Harappan findings)

My thanks to Dr S. Kalyanaraman for forwarding this wonderful article on the finding of 'silk' in the Harappan sites.

This article reveals that silk production was known to Indians even before the Chinese came to know of it. This knowledge has preceded the times of other places too where silk was found / used. This article gives details of all that.

But according to me, even without any archeological knowledge, we can say that Silk production was native to India, or Bharath or Aryavartha. Silk was used in Rama's times. Valimiki Ramayana mentions silk at many places. Generally the word "rEshme" vasthram in sankrit denotes 'silk'. But there is a specific usage, 'kaushEya vaasam' which translates as "the vasthram (cloth) made from pupa / cocoon". This word appears in Ramayana at many places.

How this silk was made – from a live pupa or from the shell after the silkmoth has left is an interesting question. But there is no clue to it in Valmiki Ramayana.

At the same time a reference to 'cloth from China' ( "cheenamshuka iva" ) by Poet Kalidasa, makes us wonder if the silk from China was different from what was indigenously made in India until then. This reference by Kalidasa is a bit misleading, making us think that silk has entered India from China. But mention of this in Ramayana makes us conclude that silk is very much native to India and might have gone
from here to China. Another possibility is that the silk of India was ahimsic, a non-violent silk, drawn from the cocoon after the moth has left.

The archeological finds in Harappa must be studied from this angle too.

More on 'silk' from Tamil texts and based on other practices will be written in subsequent posts. Please keep following this thread!

-jayasree.

Related posts from this blog:-

(1) Silk” in Indian tradition

(2) Non- violent silk in Vedic times?

(3) Silk in Tamil tradition.

http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/silk

New evidence for early silk in the Indus civilization –

IL Good, JM Kenoyer, RH Meadow (2009)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11508384/Indussilk

The pieces of evidence for silk in Harappa and Chanhudaro are from threads to connect beads or bangle fragments.

http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/silk/ScreenShot270.bmp?attredirects=0 Fig. 3 Copper or copper-alloy wire ornament from Harappa c. 2200 BCE revealing intact thread. Photograph by JM Kenoyer.

http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/silk/ScreenShot271.bmp?attredirects=0 Fig. 6 Steatite (enstatite) microbead from Chanhu-daro showing slightly 'S' twisted single-ply thread. Photomicrograph by I. Good and R. Newman

[Note BC has been changed to BCE; AD has been changed to CE] Silk is an important economic fibre, and is generally considered to have been the exclusive cultural heritage of China. Silk weaving is evident from the Shang period c.1600–1045BCE though the earliest evidence for silk textiles in ancient China may date to as much as a millennium earlier. Recent microscopic analysis of archaeological thread fragments found inside copper-alloy ornaments from Harappa and steatite beads from Chanhu-daro, twoimportant Indus sites, have yielded silk fibres, dating toc.2450–2000BCE. This study offers the earliest evidence in the world for any silk outside China, and is roughlycontemporaneous with the earliest Chinese evidence for silk. This important new finding brings into question the traditional historical notion of sericulture as being an exclusivelyChinese invention.

BACKGROUND

The Indus Civilization, c. 2800–1900 bce, was one of the great urban riverine civilizations of the ancient world. Current understanding of this cultural phenomenon is that it emerged out of earlier diverse, regional cultures that interacted with each other economically and socially. Settlements of the Indus Civilization spread over a vast area, centred on the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river systems of Pakistan and northern India. From the Himalaya and Hindu Kush to the coastal regions of Kutch and Gujarat, westward into Baluchistan and eastward into northwestern India, sites identified with the Indus Civilization are distributed across an area larger than that of Mesopotamia or of Egypt. Harappa, a settlement near the river Ravi in what is now Punjab Province of Pakistan, was the first of the Indus cities to be discovered (Vats 1940). For more than a century excavations have been carried out in the eponymous city (for a recent overview, see Possehl 2002; see also Kenoyer 1998). The florescence of the Indus culture (2600–1900 bce) is sometimes designated Mature Harappa .

More than a few enigmas concerning the Indus Civilization still vex archaeologists, not least of which is the lack of substantive evidence for reciprocal exchange of commodities with Mesopotamia, where Indus-produced luxury materials such as etched and long biconical carnelian beads were found in the Early Dynastic III period royal graves at Ur (Zettler and Horne 1998).

Recent work at Harappa (e.g., Meadow and Kenoyer 2005, 2008) has been carried out by the Harappa Archaeological Research Project (HARP), directed by Richard H. Meadow (Harvard University), Jonathan Mark Kenoyer (University of Wisconsin at Madison), and Rita P. Wright (New York University) in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and Museums of the Government of Pakistan. A new study of artefacts recovered from the 1999 and 2000 seasons at the site has revealed the presence of silk. The silk is not degummed but contains sericin-coated twinned brins, or filaments, of fibroin.

Micromorphological study indicates that the silk derived from wild silkmoth species rather than Bombyx mori . To assess the culture-historical significance of these new silk finds we take into account several wild silkmoth species known to South Asia, understanding that the real nature and extent of sericulture in antiquity is at present unknown. It has been assumed that the wild ancestor to the Chinese silkmoth,

Bombyx mandarina (Moore) was domesticated into the well-known (and only domesticated) insect

B. mori in China (Kuhn 1982; Chang 1986), although B. mandarina (Moore) is also native to South Asia. The earliest evidence to date for silk in China comes from an isolated find possibly as early as c. 2570

Bce from the Liangzhou Neolithic site of Qianshanyang (Zhou 1980; see also Vainker 2004; Good, forthcoming). There is evidence for silk from a bead thread at Nevasa in peninsular India c. 1500 bce

(Gulati 1961; see also Good 1995; Janaway and Coningham 1995). This new evidence of silk from both the recent excavations at the site of Harappa and from the Chanhu-daro collection curated at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, indicates that silk threads were being produced nearly a millennium earlier than the Nevasa finds, and were being used in more than one Indus settlement during the height of Indus urbanism. This new discovery of silk in the Indus Valley pushes back the earliest date of silk outside of China by a millennium and is roughly contemporaneous with the earliest evidence for silk from within China.

Not only has early evidence for silk been assumed to be limited to China, but the techniques of degumming and reeling have also been considered exclusive Chinese silk industry 'secrets'. The process of degumming is one in which the sericin gum is removed from the silk, by submerging the cocoons into a weak alkaline solution. Reeling silk is a process by which the long silk strands (gummed or not) are collected on to a bobbin rather than needing to be twisted as short segments into a spun thread. These two important silkworking processes have been thought to be part of a 'package' of Chinese technology known only to China until well into the early centuries ce, although the evidence presented here indicates that wild

Antheraea silks were also known and used in the Indus area as early as the mid-third millennium

bce, and that reeling was practised. The implication of evidence for silk reeling is that the silkmoth was stifled, leaving the cocoon intact in order to be unravelled. When wild silk cocoons are collected on the ground, usually after the silkmoth has eaten its way out, the remaining silk fibres must be spun rather than reeled, as they are short. Specific contributions of the present paper include discussion of new silk finds from Harappa and Chanhu-daro along with SEM imaging of modern wild specimens of Antheraea assamensis and A. mylitta silk…

RESULTS

Harappa

In the course of excavations on Mound E at Harappa in 1999, a hollow copper or copper-alloy bangle fragment (H1999/8863-2) was recovered from domestic debris that dates to Period 3C (c. 2200–1900 cal bce).

Preserved fibre forming a thread was found inside the hollow portion of the bangle. The thread samples removed comprise two fragments: one was recovered in disintegrated condition (designated 'A') and the other still retained some thread structure ('B'). These two samples are of the same thread, and are composed uniformly of the same type of fibre. Partial mineralization and fibre disintegration hampered a simple and straightforward identification of thread sample H99/8863-2. The thread itself is a slightly 'S' twisted (at about10°), two-plied thread with approximately 60–75 'Z'-spun strands in each ply.

Scanning electron micrographic survey at high resolution (1000 magnification and above) of various sites on both sample fragments 'A' and 'B' allowed morphological determination of fibres to be silk, and further determination of silk from the A. assamensis species (see Table 1 and Figs 1 and 2).

A second thread sample from Harappa (H2000/2242-1 lab 2000–1955) was recovered in the 2000 field season. It was found preserved inside a coiled wire ornament made of native copper or of a copper-alloy that was recovered from debris on the floor of a structure dating to late Period 3A or early Period 3B (c. 2450 cal bce). The ornament appears to be some sort of necklace made up of two strands of coiled wire strung with silk thread. This sample is also of a wild Antheraea silk, but appears to be from a different species, A. mylitta , as it has a distinctive striated fibre (Figs 3–5). The particular morphological characteristics of each type of silk are due to the unique shape of the silkworm's orifice when ejecting fibroin during cocooning. In this case, striations are characteristic of A. mylitta silk. These two species are indigenous to South Asia. A. assamensis is found in the high altitudes of the northeastern subcontinent,

And A. mylitta is found along the tropical west coastal region. However, both regions are at a considerable distance from the Indus Valley…

Chanhu-daro

Chanhu-daro is another significant site of the Indus Civilization, located on the west bank of the river Indus in what is now Sindh province of Pakistan. Chanhu-daro was excavated in the winter of 1935–36 by the first American Archaeological Expedition to India directed by Ernest Mackay and sponsored by of the American Oriental Society and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Mackay 1943). A recent survey of excavated small finds (principally copper or copperalloy artefacts such as razors and bowls) currently in the Boston MFA collections revealed several objects with either textile 'pseudomorph' or actual extant textile adhering to surfaces of objects. One object, a heat-fused cluster of microbeads made of enstatite (heated magnesium silicate, perhaps in the form of steatite) found inside a copper or copper-alloy bowl, had been published in Mackay's report (plate LXXIV, object 2391). The microbeads contained therein (object 2391B) were noted to include intact thread remains (see Figs 6 and 7).

The object dates somewhere between 2450 and 2000 bce . Microbead and thread samples from this object from Chanhu-daro were removed and analysed. The thread consists of a single ply of approximately 40–50 strands, with a slight 'S' twist (approximately 12–15°). Fibres from the thread were studied under SEM at 20 kVwithout sputtercoating. They appear partially gummed and partially twinned, characteristic of a reeled (but not degummed) silk. It is not certain at this stage of research from which species of silkmoth these fibres derived. The fibres may be from A. assamensis or possibly from a species of Philosamia (Eri silk)…

DISCUSSION

The formal exportation of silk from China took place around 119–115 bce during the reign of Han Emperor Wu-ti, who sought the fabulous blood-sweating 'celestial horses' of Ferghana (in modern day Uzbekistan). Yet archaeologists have puzzled over the early presence of silk in a late prehistoric Celtic site in Germany

C . 700 bce , as well as silk finds from several other sites in Europe, the Mediterranean, Egypt and Central Asia (see, for example, Richter 1929; Hundt 1971; Askarov 1973; Wild 1984; Braun 1987; Lubec et al.

1993). For decades, archaeologists have cited these findings as evidence for early contact between China and the West (for full discussion see Good 1995; see also Good in press). What has not been adequately considered in the literature, however, is the possibility that a non-Chinese (and de facto wild) species of silkworm that produced workable silk was known and used in antiquity, and that the rare instances of silk that have been discovered far outside of China, and that date to before Wu-ti's trade relationship with the West began, may have, in fact, been produced indigenously or imported from regions other than China. The evidence presented here now suggests that early sericulture did in fact exist in South Asia and was roughly contemporaneous with the earliest known silk use in China.

CONCLUSIONS

This research offers new insight on the extent and antiquity of sericulture. Specifically, these finds indicate the use of wild indigenous silkmoth species in South Asia as early as the mid-third millennium bce. Careful morphological study of highly degraded fibres through images derived from scanning electron microscopy allows subtle but distinct and diagnostic features of fibre surface and fibre shaft morphology to aid in moth species identification. At least two separate types of silk were utilized in the Indus in the mid-third millennium bce.

Based on SEM image analysis there are two thread forms in the samples from Harappa, which appear to be from two different species of silkmoth (Antheraeasp.). The silk from Chanhudaro may be from yet another South Asian moth species Philosamia spp. (Eri silk). Moreover, this silk appears to have been reeled. The variety in type, technology and thread forms of these few rare examples of silk offers us a glimpse into the extent of knowledge about sericulture in the Indus Civilization during the Mature Harappan phase. This knowledge helps to explain other early instances of silk in Eurasia outside of China, specifically from the mid-second millennium bc Deccan Peninsula of India (Gulati 1961) and contemporaneously in Bactria (Askarov 1973). By careful analysis of archaeological silk fibre surface morphology, one can distinguish between the source silkworm species. Through this type of study we can also begin to better understand the origins of silk use further to the East. The discoveries described here demonstrate that silk was being used over a wide region of South Asia for more than 2000 years before the introduction of domesticated silk from China. Earlier models that attribute the origins of silk and sericulture exclusively to China need to be re-examined and revised.

NOTE

Ages employed in this article for Harappa and Indus Civilization sites are based on calibrated radiocarbon dates, of which more than 100 come from Harappa. Other dates are those current in the literature…

Meadow and Kenoyer excavated the Harappa materials and identified samples with threads. Kenoyer conducted preliminary analyses on Harappa threads (the results of which are referred to in Kenoyer 2003, 2004). Meadow and Kenoyer provided Harappa samples to Good, who analysed and identified the threads both from Harappa and from Chanhu-daro. Good wrote the article, with contributions on Indus archaeology from Kenoyer and Meadow, and produced the images and figures, except Figures 3 and 4.

[Source: Good, I.L., JM Kenoyer and RH Meadow, 2009, New evidence for early silk in the Indus civilization, Archaeometry, 50,00 (2009), Univ. of Oxford]

Some glosses related to silk:

See at http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/silk