“Buddha’s bones on display to public”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=309383
bq. The bones were found during the 1958-1962 excavation by noted archaeologist AS Altekar of a Buddhist monastery at Vaishaligarh, 35 kilometres from Patna, capital of the Bihar state. “The bones of Lord Buddha were found in a casket made of a stone along with a gold plate, zinc coin and glass beads,” Ms Aggrawal said. The bones have been authenticated by archaeologists.
Did not know that they had discovered Buddha’s bones.

“Ancient site discovered in Bihar”:http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Ancient+site+discovered+in+Bihar&id=37419
bq. They have found a 3500-year-old site in Pandavsthan village and some 2,000 artifacts that are said to date to around 1500-2000 B.C. Pandavsthan’s residents always believed their village got its name from the Mahabharata and that the Pandavas spent some time here.
Continue reading “3500 years back” →

Politics Seldom Far From Ancient India
bq. Those who are on the side of the Hindu fundamentalists have been misusing archaeology to push back the antiquity of Indian civilization
This statement was made by Dr. D N Jha. His gripe is against the present Government which has decided to do archeological excavations in search of the river Saraswati. What is at stake here is the reputation of many scholars who advovate the Aryan Invasion Theory.
As per AIT, India was inhabited by a bunch of dumbos. One day a fine group of Sanskrit speaking horse riding Europeans came, invaded and drove the people of India to the south. The Europeans then taught the natives the Vedas, Internet, and the use of toilet paper.
“India’s ‘miracle river'”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2073159.stm
bq. Through satellite photography, scientists have mapped the course of an enormous river that once flowed through the north western region of India. The images show that it was 8 km wide in places and that it dried up 4,000 years ago.
If the Saraswati excavations are successful, there is a possibility that it can be proved that Hinduism predated the invasion and the culture was local to India. Again, this is a possibility. This is causing worries in the AIT. The stand taken is not, “Let the excavations continue and we shall evaluate what turns up”. No sir, even if archeology proves that Saraswati civilization predated the so called Aryan Invasion, since the excavations were done when the democratically elected BJP Govt. is in power, it will be wrong.

Kartikeyan has three albums of images of Hampi, the capital of the Vijayanagar Empire, also famous as the place where a really bad movie called Agnivarsha was filmed.

When was the Mahabharata war fought ? Depending on whom you ask you
will get various answers. One answer is around the year 3000BC. This
comes from the “following logic”:http://www.encyclopediaofauthentichinduism.org/articles/51_the_bhartiya_chronology.
bq. Lord Krishn ascended to His Divine abode at the end of dwaparyug
and immediately kaliyug started in 3102 BC. Krishn lived for over 125 years. He descended on the earth planet in 3228 BC. The Pandavas, after winning the Mahabharat war, ruled for 36 years and 8 months. Accordingly, the date of Mahabharat war comes to 3139 BC.
What was happening in the world at that time. The Sumerians had
invented the wheel. The Egyptians had started mummification, had
started writing and built the first ships. There were settlements in
the Indus Valley by then. But there is no archeological proof for this
date.
In “Finding The Past”:http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SEC20030329055837&eTitle=Columns&rLink=0 Nandita Krishna writes about the archeological work done in search of Krishna.
bq. Iron objects numbering 135, and which included arrow and spearheads, shafts, tongs, hooks, axes and knives indicate the existence of a vigorous industry. There are indications of brick-lined roads and drainage systems, and an agro-livestock based economy. The PGW of Hastinapura has been assigned to 1100-800 BC. The events of the Mahabharata probably occurred around 1000-900 BC.
What was happening in the world at that time ? According to Encarta(c)
bq. Indigenous religious traditions emerge in Southeast Asia. Primarily animistic, they share a fundamental belief that a spiritual dimension beyond human senses also animates the material world. Therefore, places and objects possess a real spiritual identity and meaning. That was also the time of King Solomon (961 – 922 BC). The first documented historical figure of India, Buddha, would not appear for another 400 years.
I am glad that there is someone doing archeological excavations to
study our ancient stories. Using science to find the reality behind
mythology is exciting.

N. Rajaram in his article in The Hindu says that philology (a
discipline devoted to the reconstruction of history and culture based
on the comparative study of ancient languages such as Sanskrit, Greek,
Latin and others.) was used as the main tool in writing Indian
History, which gave you the Aryan Invasion Theory. He says that we
should use various other techniques such as Geo-Archeology and not
take the opinion of philologists as the final word.
Continue reading “Science and Archeology” →