HUBBALLI: About 6,000 years ago, some clans of forest settlers from South India set out on a great journey, which took them along the coast, traversing through several areas up North, and reaching as far as Gandhara (Kandahar in present-day Afghanistan). It is one of the great adventures involving movement of people, etched in India’s prehistory, at a time when even the wheel was not invented. Research has thrown light on certain facts, such as the families which embarked on the journey along the coast, crossed rivers either by boat, walk, or on the backs of animals.
Several such unknown intricate bits of knowledge on prehistoric India, dating back some 10,000 years, are now being preserved and compiled by noted linguistic anthropologist, and Padma awardee Ganesh N Devy. His book titled, ‘India Before History’, will be a 1,500-page documentation-orientated work, which will also involve close to 70 articles from the country’s eminent scholars.
Professor Devy’s project may be seen as a counter to the Central Government’s ambitious plan of documenting India’s history of the last 12,000 years. But through his research, he is aiming to present the scientific facets of pre- and protohistory of the Indian region.
According to Prof Devy, there are several myths and facts about this land, its people and their culture. But one has to look at them from the scientific point of view. There are several branches of studying prehistory, such as archaeology, carbon dating, geology and decoding ancient bones — to know what kind of illnesses existed around those periods, what type of diet the people had, and so on.
“My documentation about the prehistory of India is to prevent any kind of falsification about our past. The government-set committee to study the history of India has already run into controversy due to the choice of its members and the regions they represent. The initial opposition to the committee was that it had no women members and a lone scholar from South India. In fact, the study of history began from the Northern parts of Karnataka, following an excavation of stone-age tools,” Professor Devy explains.
“Scientific studies show that originally, human clans moved out of Africa some 60,000 years ago, and our original ancestors numbered about 700. They somehow managed to cross the sea and land in the American, Asian and Australian regions. But there are debates whether the Aryans came to India or went from here. There are theories which insist that Sanskrit-speaking people from India went from the region and settled in different parts of the globe, or the Sanskrit-speaking population came to India to settle. But there were no people called the Aryans at any given time in history, though there were languages,” he says. “Following the Ice Age, when the warming-up began, humans started thriving on the planet. Earlier, there were hunters and gatherers, who started developing tools. Slowly, humans began domesticating animals before moving to agriculture. Then came navigation and cultural changes, where paintings, crafts and poems were created. This is the time when the Vedas and Upanishads were composed, and then came the religious philosophies such as Buddhism and Jainism,” he says.
“Also, there has been an interesting documentation of the prehistory of India, where large populations from the South of this land set out on a journey, exploring other parts of the region. There have been documentations and evidence about their journey, the places they camped at, and the sites where they buried their dead during their travel,” he adds.
The book - India Before History - also speaks about how India became a major agricultural region, the early migrations, Harappan civilisation, and the current theories about findings, and many more. The genetics of this region, clans that survived on this land, before Gautama Buddha, their lifestyle, hunting and agricultural practices, are also covered.
The book is expected to hit the stands soon.
6,000 years ago, some clans of forest settlers from South India set out on a great journey, which took them along the coast, traversing through several areas up North, and reaching as far as Gandhara (Kandahar in present-day Afghanistan)
‘India Before History’, will be a 1,500-page documentation-orientated work, which will also involve close to 70 articles from the country’s eminent scholars
Professor Devy’s project may be seen as a counter to the Central Government’s ambitious plan of documenting India’s history of the last 12,000 years