The Problem Of Aryan Origins

SUPPLEMENT IV

Probable Historical Implications of the Archaeological work at Dwaraka

Reports have been appearing at various times in Indian newspapers about the archaeological work of Dr. S.R. Rao. One of them, after touching on his past discoveries, says:¹

"His recent discovery centres around the excavations at Dwaraka, the famed city mentioned in the MahaBhārata, which interests the historian, scientist and common man alike. While Dwaraka arouses reverence in the common man, it also inspires curiosity among scientists and historians, who wish to know whether there really existed a port town... Did it really get submerged as has been mentioned in the epics? What was the cause of its submergence?...

"In the 'Mausala Parva' of the MahaBhārata, Krishna tells Arjuna that when the latter reaches Dwaraka, it will be under the sea. When he reaches there, Arjuna warns the residents to evācuate the area. As people flee, the sea rises steadily and Dwaraka is submerged...

"Digging beneath the alternate layers of sand and habitation deposits of two distinct periods, the archaeologist discovered evidence which pointed out that the first township of Dwaraka was destroyed by 1500 B.C. and the second township by about 900-1000 B.C. ...

"From the limited off and on-shore exploration the island of Bet Dwaraka shows the same degree of sophistication as an urban centre and as a port specialising in overseas trade, metal and shell working, defence architecture, etc., as has been made out in the Puranic texts..

"Rubble walls, running over a length of 25 metres and as much as 30 feet in thickness, were traceable in some cliff sections, which might have served as the peripheral boundary walls of the submerged town. The wares found in

1, The Indian Express, Magazine, January 19, 1986, p. 4, "The Sunken Treasures of Dwaraka" by Radha Venkataraman.

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stratified deposits were also found to belong to the 14th century B.C. ...

"A study of sediment and pinnacles now under the sea shows that earlier the sea-level must have been several metres lower. The rise in sea level by four to six metres, as indicated by the 'in situ' wall on the wave cut bench during the last 2,400 years provides a datum line in sea-level fluctuation. Interestingly, the submergence of the coast and port during this period is not a phenomenon confined to India. Instances of submergence in Bahrain and the Aegean islands have also been reported."

Further light is shed by a later report:

"The fourth marine archaeological expedition led by Dr. S.R. Rao and sponsored by the Union Department of Science and Technology, has claimed more discoveries connected with the legendary Dwaraka site during the underwater excavation in the Arabian Sea in April [1986]...

"Dr. Rao said... that the expedition found the remains of a temple, a stone-built jetty and perforated stone anchors. This led the expedition to conclude that Dwaraka was a major port on the west coast (deserving the appellation Dwara, meaning Gateway), and it extended up to Rupen Sandar. Hundreds of building blocks were found lying in an area of 500 x 300 metres at five to six metres water depth up to a distance of 800 metres seaward of the temple of the Sea God at the mouth of the Gomati river.

"While the temple remains were said to belong to the first century B.C. the perforated stone anchors were of much earlier age. These trapezoid three-holed anchors each weighing 150 kg recovered with great difficulty were almost identical to those found in the bronze age sites of Ugarit in Syria in the 14th-13th century B.C. ...

"According to Dr. Rao the ceramic and inscriptional evidences from Bet Dwaraka support a late second millennium date for the Dwaraka port. The votive jar of Bet Dwaraka found in the previous expedition is inscribed in the post-Harappān script. The inscription reads 'Mahakacha shah-pa'

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conveying the sense 'Lord of the sea, protect'. Epigraphists at the XII annual congress of the Epigraphical Society of India, held in February [1986] at Jabalpur examined this and hailed it as not only providing the link between the Indus and the Brahmi scripts but also throwing light on the evolution of alphabetic writing..."²

One more report may be cited, referring to the fifth marine archaeological expedition of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO):

"Accoring to Dr. B.N. Desai, Director of NIO, a wrecked ship and iron anchors were also found.

"As a major port in the 14th and 15th centuries B.C. as indicated by the jetty and perforated stone anchors, Dwaraka was really the 'gateway' of ancient India, he said...

"The protohistoric bastion of a fortification wall extant in three courses was found at a working depth of eight metres. Four perforated stone anchors weighing 74 to 260 kg of the type used in 14th and 12th centuries B.C. in Cyprus and Syria were also found. Deeper digging with airlift in consolidated single layer yielded a chert blade and shards of protohistoric pottery, Dr. Desai said.

"Dr. Desai said the second phase of structural activity was indicated by two ruined buildings, also in situ, at 4.5 metres depth. At least one of them was assignable to the early centuries of the Christian era.

"The iron anchors and wooden ribs of wrecked ships found here confirm that more than a thousand years after the first town was submerged, Dwaraka became once again a busy port. Another massive iron anchor and wooden hull of a ship suggest Dwaraka being a port of call in the medieval period also. Among important finds from the seabed excavation are five perforated stone anchors of varying sizes and a large plate of metal alloy yet to be analysed.

"The earlier excavations in Bet Dwaraka waters yielded a late Indus type seal, an inscribed jar and the stone-mould of

2. The Hindu, May 28. 1986, p. 7. "Expedition throws more light on Dwaraka site".

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a coppersmith. Lumps of resinous material found in excavation this year suggest the use of bitumen either for waterproofing wooden boats or for sealing cargo as in ancient Mesopotamia, Dr. Desai said.

'The expedition was led by Dr. S.R. Rao, archaeologist of the NIO, he added."

What Rao considers to have been found in the first place is that the Mahabharata story of the submergence of Dwaraka is correct. This submergence he dates on firm archaeological grounds to about 1400 B.C. The Mahabharata associates the submergence with the time of the traditional Krishna who took part in the Bharata War which that epic recounts. If there is no reason to doubt the historicity of Krishna and of the War in which he participated - historicity in however legend-shorn a form - they are dated to c. 1400 B.C. by the date ascertained scientifically for Dwaraka's disappearance in the sea. As Krishna and the War are posterior by quite a number of centuries to the period of the Rigveda, the Aryans of that scripture could not have flourished around 1500 B.C. They should go back to a remote antiquity, precluding thereby the possibility of the alleged Aryan invasion at the end of the Harappa Culture and creating the near-certainty of the Rigveda's being anterior to this culture which had its run in the same Indus Valley where that scripture was composed.

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