Thing of the past

Hey all you history buffs. i am gonna talk something about history after a long time.

what we all read in school about history is that there were prehistoric settlements in india dating back to 70,000 BC. chee, thats a long way back. maybe our jackal was a young man then.

however, civilized history of india as was taught to us in schools began with indus valley civilization way back in 3200 BC. this civilization lasted a few thousand years until its decline and eventual collapse in 1700 BC. when we studied, the history of india, it was taught to us that it began from 3200 BC.

however, archaeological excavations done in Pakistan, post independence have unearthed a older civilization which could be considered to be advanced as compared to the others cultures that existed during that time. the name of that particular civilization is called mehrgarh as it has been discovered in and around a village by the same name in the province of baluchistan in the young country of pakistan.

mehrgarh lies on the "Kachi” plain of Balochistan, Pakistan, and is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats) in South Asia.

Located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River valley and between the present-day Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi, Mehrgarh was discovered in 1974 by an archaeological team directed by French archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige, and was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986.

this discovery as mentioned is pretty recent. there are evidences of advanced techniques of farming being practiced which sets it apart from its contemporaries of that time.

we always studied in history that the Mesopotamian civilization was the oldest civilization in the world, starting around 3600 BC. The Egyptian civilization was next which started around 3300 BC. Next were the Indian and Chinese civilizations starting around 3200 BC and 3000 BC respectively.

However, in the light of the new evidence, don’t we think the above should be revised, considering that mehrgarh has been discribed as an advanced civilization and culture. Well, I know there are other known tribes that were located in other parts of the world and are also thought to be civilized and which are thought to have preceded the meso civilization. But there is no conclusive evidence to back these. There has been no strong evidence to say that these cultures were civilized, there is only speculation, though mind you, there is no question on the existence of these cultures, the question is merely that whether these were indeed civilized or not.

While we ponder and debate on this aspect, there is one more thing I would like to raise. In the light of this new evidence, shouldn’t mehrgarh civilization be included in the Indian history books. Even if there are questions regarding how advanced they really were, there can quite clearly be no questions about their very existence. Hence, these deserve to find their names in the history books.

Well for those not so familiar with history, if you are pondering over the question that if mehrgarh was unearthed in baluchistan, a Pakistani province, then how can it be called Indian history, shouldn’t it be called Pakistani history and hence lead to the conclusion that Pakistan dates back to 7000 BC? Well, what I got to say to you guys is, the first take a note of the fact that Pakistan as a nation was born in 1947, though it existed in the minds of its creators some 15 years earlier than that. Before 1947, there was no country on the world map ever by the name of Pakistan. Hence what ever happened in Pakistan Punjab or sindh and other provinces of Pakistan before 1947 is a happening on Indian soil, as it was India then. Hence, there is no question that mehrgarh was an Indian civilization.

Well that’s the comfort of being an Indian history buff, anything that happens in paki soil and dates before 1947 is a happening on Indian soil. However, paki rats will then claim that the taj mahal, red fort, qutub minar, charminar etc are Pakistani creations as they were built by sub continental muslim kings and Pakistan is a sub-continental muslim country. Where they are making is mistake is that they are laying their claim on anything that is remotely related to muslim architecture as theirs, totally forgetting the fact that Pakistan maybe an Islamic nation, however India is a secular country, not a hindu country as many seem to assume. It is the third biggest muslim country in the world if we go by the number of muslims living in it, forget the fact that the hindus outnumber them by one to 10. lol. Hence, the taj is very much Indian, though the pakis wish shahjahan’s capital was near Lahore and he built the taj on their soil, but sorry folks, he built it near his capital in agra, miles away from you guys. And on the same lines, harappa and mohanjodaro are Indian.

The mehrgarh civilization ultimately disappeared and was then replaced by the Indus valley civilization around 3200 BC, making bharat varsh a very old civilization.

The other aspect that could be pondered upon is, what kind of religion did there people practice. What were the customs and traditions during that time. There is enough to read about the religion practiced by the Indus valley people. It seems it was very close to Hinduism as some of their deities resemble some hindu deities. They worshipped earth, wind, water, sky and fire, very similar to hindus, especially the ancient ones. Hence there is evidence that the religion practiced there was close to Hinduism though not the same. For those who don’t know, the Indus valley civilization precedes Hinduism, which was born around 1700 BC through intermixing of Aryans and the natives of the land.

Hence, it would be really interesting to unearth what kind of religion did these people practice, as this civilization would really predate Hinduism. The questions that I am asking is was it close to Hinduism just like Indus valley or was it very different. It would answer my questions about the religion practiced by the people of this land before the oldest surviving religion in the world was born, which is one of the questions that have always intrigued me. Well, I guess more research needs to be done to answer these questions. Well there are more answers to be got yet. However, considering the situation in that country at the moment, it seems it will take some time before more intricate research could be done as no foreigner would like to travel to that country at the moment and I don’t think a body like the paki archeological survey exists. We know a lot about the religion practiced in specific countries before the advent of Christianity and islam in the world, but we know very little about the kind of religion that was practiced in India before the advent of Hinduism, though I know that Hinduism was not born on a particular day, it was something that gradually developed and became a part of peoples lives.

To conclude, I would like to say that, I personally like a few others, know a great deal about what happened in India since modern humans started inhibiting this land. I know about the action that this land has seen and the invaders that have come and gone, the Settlers who have come in from far corners of the world, about the experience that its people have had throughout the times. The intermixing and blending that has happened through out the years. But what also intrigues me is where this land and its inhabitants are headed. Will this land become an economic power house that it was in the past. That is for science fiction writers I guess considering the inflation that has set upon this country.