By Sunil Kumar
Rivers of Rgveda: A Geographic Exploration is a fascinating insight into the hoary mysteries of India’s glorious past that is shrouded by time and legend.
Changes in geology, numerous invasions and a skewed intellectual framework have certainly not aided in unravelling a more comprehensive picture. To that end, the author Jijith Nadumuri Ravi has made an earnest, meticulously researched attempt. To paraphrase a television show, the truth will still be out there. But, this book by the author will certainly assist researchers and serious students of the past to delve deep into the numerous probabilities and the possibilities of ancient India and its Vedic and Puranic dialectic.
I had read David Frawley, Subhash Kak and Shrikant Talageri to some extent in the past as well the other side that fervently advances the Aryan Invasion and genetic ingress/difference theory with a vengeance. Mr. Talageri had also addressed a query on the AIT theory made by me after a virtual lecture very logically. The author of this book has brought much-needed analytical depth and a scientific tabulated framework into the narrative.
The chronology of the Mandalas in the Rig Veda, the Avestan connect and the pivotal importance of the battle of the Dasarajna(10 kings) were some fascinating points which I learnt after reading this book. The subject is a highly specific one, but even beginners with a certain level of knowledge and interest can gain some much-needed perspective.
The colonial view of the past has left us with a jaundiced legacy. Even pre-independence, luminaries such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak searched for an Arctic home for the Vedas.
In contemporary India, we have the excesses of sections of Western Indology and some of their local acolytes that dismisses the other side with undisguised contempt and tarnished broad brush-strokes, as well as certain traditionalists that regard any attempt to question scripture as sacrilege.
The author has managed to maintain a fine balance and most of his contentions sound very logical and convincing. Skepticism is quite critical in the scientific approach and more analysis is certainly needed for anybody to evolve a more nuanced view.
The migration of the Anus to the West, the importance of the Sarasvati River, the Ikshvaku clan and the location and nomenclature of the Sarayu are some topics that the author touches on frequently. I had read about the Mittani/Hittites and their Sanskritized Ramayana sounding names elsewhere, but this book has widened the canvas with a more detailed list that includes the Parthians, the Tocharians and the Celts. Even Egypt and the foundation myths of the Greeks are discussed.
Sun-worship in ancient India and Mithraism which was at its peak in the Roman empire are missing probably as the main focus is on the Rigvedic rivers.
Anthropomorphism of the rivers in the form of divine deities is very familiar to anybody acquainted with Indic stories.
The Indra-Vritra story and the famous Shantanu-Ganga tale in the Mahabharata are also discussed albeit with a different twist.
However, Talageri and the author differ on the aspect of the geographical origin of the Ikshvakus, the location of the Sarayu and the importance of the Rigvedic Saraswati culture in the Out-of-India hypothesis. Also, as per Shrikant Talageri, the evolution of present-day Sanatana Dharma is eclectic and diverse incorporating a lot of local tradition rather than ‘mono-centric’.
What happened to the Indus Valley/Harappa civilization, the mystery of genetic admixtures as well as inhabitants of various parts of the subcontinent and their differing language families are still persistent mysteries with differing opinions on the table.
Coming back to the text, there are a lot of tables and data and restating the arguments that the author has put in for a cogent, readable narrative.
The book raises a lot of questions for the diligent researcher, inquisitive academic or even a lay person interested and attempting to get a lay of the land and the landscape/mindscape of the past
