The Vedic Ancestry Of Kashmir – Abode Of Learning And Fountainhead Of A Faith

“India has a long history of human settlements. Excavations at Attirampakkam in Tamil Nadu have conclusively shown the presence of Homo erectus in India at least 1.5 million years ago.”

 

“ ………. Early humans populated the whole of peninsular India and left behind their art and artefacts at Upper Palaeolithic sites like Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh), Patne (Aurangabad, Maharashtra) and Muchchatala Chintamani Gavi (Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh).” (Ref. 18).

 

(Author’s note: see Figs.9,10 and 11 below)

 

 

 

“If we consider the combined evidence of the above, which is hard scientific evidence, it would mean that indigenous archaic modern humans existed in India at least by 300,000 BP..”

 

“…….. there are many findings like Narmada Man skull (300,000 Before Present [BP]), Laterite Baby skull (150,000 BP) near Chennai and Rhodesia Man, which squarely contradict the OAT, and instead points to the origin of humans in Indian subcontinent. Starting from earliest times to 20,000 BP, Indians had spread to Europe, China, Australia and Americas and created human colonies and settlements.”(Ref. 19).

 

(Author’s note: OAT is “Out of Africa Theory of evolution, the popular theory stating that Africa is the cradle of civilisation).

 

“The earliest evidence of deliberate patterning of stone that had some symbolic purpose – dating to 300,000 to 150,000 years ago have been found in the sandstone caves of India; they appeared in Africa much later around 100,000 years ago.”(Ref. 9).

 

 

 

 

“Kalpi is a quiet town …… on the banks of the Yamuna River, between Jhansi and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, ……….. steeped in history. Kalpi’s story goes as far back as 45,000 years, to the Middle Palaeolithic Age (broadly, 300,000 to 30,000 years ago). It is one of the few sites in the Ganga-Yamuna doab where evidence of human settlement going back to the Stone Age has been found, (Ref. 20).

 

 

 

 

“ …… evidence of worship of Devi Mata (Mother Goddess), which continues in an unbroken tradition till today …. a shrine at Upper Palaeolithic/Epipalaeolithic site at Baghor I in Son Valley. (Misra, 2006)”, (Ref. 21).

 

 

“Bhimbetka Caves in Madhya Pradesh located in northern fringes of the ancient

 

Vindhyachal ranges are home to the extraordinary rock shelters and paintings. ……….. , the scenes usually depict hunting, dancing, horse and elephant riders, animal fights, honey collection, decoration of bodies, disguises, masks and different type of animals etc. Animals such as bison, tiger, rhinoceros, wild boar, elephants, monkeys, antelopes, lizards, peacocks etc. have been abundantly depicted (4).”

 

“Thus domesticated horse was known as early as 35,000 BP because there is a seated figure on a horse.”(Ref. 19). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The Y-chromosomal (patrilineal) haplogroup R1a1a (also known as R-M17), one of the most important global male lineages found in 15% of humanity, widespread in Europe, Russia and India …in fact originated in India around 15,000 BP or

earlier…”.(Ref. 21).

 

 

 

 

…..” the Sanskrit RigVeda is the oldest piece of literature in the world. Reverend Morris Philip, in his book ‘The Teaching of the Vedas (p 213), concludes,”….. we may safely now call the Rigveda is the oldest book not only of the Aryan community but of the whole world.” (Ref. 22).

 

The Rigveda has been dated from 7th millennium B C to before 10,000 B C, (Refs. 17, 23, 24 and 25).

 

 

“Dentistry as a medical science was quite common 9000 years ago, and ancient Indian dentists not only performed simple drilling, but also complex procedure to hollow out a cavity deep inside the tooth using sophisticated technological instruments like drills tipped with shards of flint.”

 

 

 

“ ….. by 6000 BCE there is evidence of organized agrarian societies and a granary. Rakhigarhi in Haryana, the largest Saraswati-Sindhu site, also shows continuous settlement from 6500 BCE.”

 

 

 

“Wild rice cultivation appeared in the Bolan and Ganges valley regions of northern India as early as 5000 BCE and by this period agricultural communities had become quite widespread in Kashmir region.”(Ref. 21).

 

 

“It is to be noted that the intellectual systems of traditional India, the ancient civilization that flourished around the river Sindhu have developed in the land of Kashmir. An Indian poet has the following to say about Kashmir:

“Samsare Bharatam saram tatrapi cha Himalayam Tatrapi cha Kasmiram!”

 

which can be translated as “Bharata is supreme-most in the world, Himalaya is the supreme-most in Bharata and Kashmir the supreme most in Himalaya”.(Ref. 2).

 

Among the multitude of ‘FIRSTS’ that have been covered here, it is obvious to the unbiased mind that from the very beginning after Her tumultuous birth, Bharat and the Vedic peoples of the Saraswati civilisation carved out a place, for posterity, as contributors and educators of the World, which WE MUST NEVER ALLOW TO BE FORGOTTEN, OR OVERLOOKED OR INDEED CONCEALED OR DISMISSED.

 

The fate of the Saraswati was closely linked to that of Kashmir; and this beautiful region of Bharat, in turn, played a key role in Her evolution, culture, spiritual and artistic development since Vedic times. Kashmir region of Bharat is closely tied as mentioned above to her place in our National evolution. I will cover this important aspect of Vedic ancestry of our Kashmir region in Part II of this article.

 

Find REFERENCES here;

 

 

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