Archaeologists at Rakhigarhi in Haryana hope their excavations throw up an answer to this and more, unlocking the mysteries of the people of ancient India. Continue reading Who were the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation? The Mystery of Mound 4
Tag Archives: Indus Valley Civilization
Indus Valley Civilization
An introduction to the civilization contemporaneous with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia that inhabited the region around the Indus River in modern day Pakistan and northwestern India.
Courtesy: YouTube
Indus era at least 8,000 years old; ended because of weaker monsoon
Experts have found evidence of the Indus Valley Civilization being at least 8,000 years old and not 5,500 years old.
Due to a recent revelation made by scientists from IIT-Kharagpur and Archaeological Survey of India, time has arrived to rewrite history textbooks. Experts have found evidence of the Indus Valley Civilization being at least 8,000 years old and not 5,500 years old, taking root well before the Egyptian (7000BC to 3000BC) and Mesopotamian (6500BC to 3100BC) civilizations. What’s more, the researchers have found evidence of a pre-Harappan civilization that existed for at least 1,000 years before this. As per a report published in Times of India, this may force a global rethink on the timelines of the so-called ‘cradles of civilization’. The scientists called climate change the reasson behind the ending of the civilization 3,000 years ago.
“We have recovered perhaps the oldest pottery from the civilization. We used a technique called ‘optically stimulated luminescence’ to date pottery shards of the Early Mature Harappan time to nearly 6,000 years ago and the cultural levels of pre-Harappan Hakra phase as far back as 8,000 years,” said Anindya Sarkar, head of the department of geology and geophysics at IIT-Kgp.
Read more » http://www.mysteryofindia.com/2016/05/indus-era-8000-years-old.html
The Indus Valley Civilization en-composed all of Pakistan.
The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilization (3300-1300 BCE; mature period 2600-1900 BCE) extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia it was one of three early civilizations of the Old World, and of the three the most widespread It flourished in the basins of the Indus River, one of the major rivers of Asia, and the Ghaggar-Hakra River, which once coursed through northwest India and eastern Pakistan.
Read more » Crystalinks
See more » http://www.crystalinks.com/induscivilization.html
The Folktales of Sindh – An introduction – Words Without Borders
The Folklore and Literature Project, the forty-two-volume Sindhi folklore collection compiled by the scholar, philologist, and folklorist Nabi Bakhsh Khan Baloch (1917–2011) and published by the Sindhi Adabi Board, is one of the great treasures of world heritage. This literature spans the historic land of Sindh, home to the Indus Valley Civilization (3300–1300 BCE), situated in present-day Pakistan. It is likely that in the folktales preserved in the Sindhi language, we can find the structures and traces of the earliest stories from the Indus Valley Civilization
Baloch divided this literature into several broad categories: “Fables and fairy-tales; pseudo-historical romances; tales of historical nature; folk-poetry; folk songs; marriage songs; poems pertaining to wars and other events; riddles; proverbs; wit and humor; and folk customs.” Of this collection, seven volumes were dedicated to folktales: The Tales of Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses (vol. 21), Tales of Kings, Viziers, and Merchants (vol. 22), Tales of Fairies, Giants, Magicians, and Witches (vol. 23), Tales of Kings, Money-lenders, Wise-Men, Thugs, and the Common People (vol. 24), Children’s Tales (vol. 25), Fables of Animals and Birds (vol. 26), and Even More Folktales (vol. 27).
Collected from both the oral tradition of the villagers and written records, the stories were gathered and compiled over five years from 1957 to 1961. A network of field workers stationed in each district transcribed the folktales from the oral accounts of villagers in different parts of Sindh. The field workers were instructed to transcribe the tales exactly as they heard them. At the compilation stage, different versions of the same tale were compared, the variants noted, and a final version prepared for publication. Where only a single version for a folktale was found, it was retained with minimum verbal modification necessary to make it readable.
Continue reading The Folktales of Sindh – An introduction – Words Without Borders
Proud on Sindhi Topi and Ajrak
LONDON, DECEMBER 2, 2009. World Sindhi Congress expressed its full support and intended participation in “Sindhi Topi and Ajrak Day” (Sindhi Cap and Scarf Wearing Day) being celebrated all over the world on December 6th, 2009. International cultural get-togethers are already planned in London, Manchester, Bristol and Scotland as well as in New York.
Sindh, currently within the geo-political boundaries of Pakistan and homeland to 35 million Sindhi people, has an aboundingly rich culture, heritage and language dating back thousands of years. Since its inclusion in Pakistan, six decades ago, the indigenous people of Sindh have suffered systematic and institutionalized marginalization of their language and culture.
Hindu Methodology
The roots of Hindu methodology is deeply imbedded in the Indus valley civilization. Hindu methodolgy recognizes one supreme God, one divine entity who is both at one with the universe and transcends it at the same time. In Hindu methodology, it is believed that the one and only divine entity to exist as three separate parts: 1. Brahma, the Creator, who perpetually creates new realities, 2. Vishnu, or Krishna, the Preserver and the protector, 3. Shiva, the Destroyer. In Hindu belief everything comes from nothing and goes to nothing, in cycle after cycle. Therefore, Brahma creates the universe, Vishnu takes over as its caretaker and then Shiva destroys it so that Brahma can begin the cycle again.
Hinduism is such an ancient religion; there are many divisions and variations in tradition and custom. Hindu sects are enormously tolerant of each other, and to other religions, believing as there are many paths to the one true omnipotent God.
The crow had a key role in the sea trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, says Dr Manzur Ejaz
Please note- Dr Manzur Ejaz taught at the Punjab University, Lahore, for many years and now lives in Virginia
Courtesy and Thanks: Friday Times, February 20-26,2009 -Vol.XX1,No.1 & Wichaar.com
From time immemorial, legend has it that love sick girls would wait for the crow to bring the good news of a lover’s arrival. The crow’s chatter on the roof was a sure sign that the lover was on his way. In folk songs like “Maey ni kag banairay uttay bolia” (O mother, the crow has spoken), and in many other such songs, idioms and parables, the crow plays a central role as the keeper of secrets.
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