Updated 27 June 2010 6:45PM -  The 78 page conference schedule is online at the wctc2010 site for those that want to use data to test MSS Pandian’s assertions that i refer below.

Updated 27 June 2010 6:45PM: Several people asked me how much time it took to do the research. The hypothesis was published on this blog as a post . I had formulated the hypothesis a few months before publishing. It took me nearly a year from then to collect the evidences needed, although the paper is only 5 pages long.

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My paper presentation

It was  a great honor for me to present at this conference. My presentation was alongside Asko Parpola, the man who won the Classical Tamil award from the government.  I presented my paper on 25th June 2010 at the conference. As it turned out, the prior track in the same room was delayed by 20-30 min and i got allotted 10-12 min by Session Chair Dr. Iravatham Mahadevan. Fortunately, i had prepared the previous night to deliver it in 10 min anticipating such schedule issues. On the day i managed to finish it in 9 min 30 seconds.

I had recorded my talk and have uploaded the slides with audio to slideshare and it is embedded below.

Session Chairman’s comments

Mahadevan Sir mentioned in his closing comments that as a 81 year old he was passing the baton to young researchers like me, which made me swell with pride. Another proud moment – later after we got down from the dais, he said “we have been looking at the seal for 40+ years and you are the first one to find the differences in the bangle in the same seal”.

Thank you all

A thank you to all my colleagues and twitter pals and my family for encouraging me every step of the way in the conduct of my research. As a newbie researcher into the IVC (just over 2 years), it is a huge honor for me that my paper was selected for the conference amongst the 1000s of papers that were submitted.

Responding to Right Wing Criticisms Hurled at the Conference

Before i begin, i want to make sure you all know that i have no political connections to the DMK party or its members.

The first set of criticisms come from the right wing Hindutva folks for whom any linguistic pride in anything other than Sanskrit or Hindi is Chauvinism. This is pure unadulaterated bullshit. That India should speak one language and have one religion is based upon very very outdated theories on nation-building. One would think that with the demise of the Soviet Union that such outdated theories will be in the dustbin. Not so for our right wing which still wants to cling to it.  

Obviously due to the fact that the conference is about Tamil’s antiquity, several paeans to Tamil was sung. Any one with a half a brain engaged in research can easily tell that Tamil’s antiquity is well-supported by incontrovertible evidence. And that the Dravidian language family is likely older than Sanskrit and Indo Aryan Languages in the Indian Subcontinent. There is enough evidence to support this claim as well for those who will look with an open mind.

Responding to Scholarly Criticism

Some scholars that i respect have also criticized the conference.  This article by MSS Pandian of N Delhi is an example. Some of his criticism about the extravagance is probably reasonable. In all fairness to the TN Govt,  any event of such scale where several lakhs of people attended, is bound to raise questions of extravagance.  But we expect more from a scholar like Pandian. Let us look at this statement from his article:

The academic sessions, which are going to be intellectually enervating, have no less than 20 papers on Karunanidhi and five on his daughter Kanimozhi. If Karunanidhi has claimed that about 5000 scholars from all over India are participating in the conference, he has his own standards of scholarship.

I doubt if Pandian even cared to look at the conference agenda. I have the agenda with me and i looked through it. There were approximately 1200 papers and i could count 6 or 7 papers dealing with MK’s and Kanimozhi’s literary works [Not to mention that MK is a serious and legit Tamil scholar]. Let us give the benefit of doubt to Pandian and assume it is 25 papers.  25 out 0f 1200 comes to 2%. I personally attended several paper presentations and the amount and the high quality of research being discussed is just mind-boggling. To dismiss all the 1200 papers because 25 are potentially tainted is ridiculous.  We expect better from people like Pandian.

My Own  Impresions

There were 2 parts to the conference – the public part and the research part. The public part drew several lakh people and was chaotic much like any tourist trade fair. The agenda was also quite political to further the interests of the DMK party.  The research part is where i spent most of my time. It was a spectacular conference with all the arrangements nearly flawless. Students from local colleges were the volunteer force and they did a very good job of running the conference. the food/sanitation arrangements were extremely good. The CODISSIA hall is world class. I hope all of the facilities are not temporary. It doesn’t look like they were but i wasn’t sure. On the whole, i think the TN Govt must be congratulated for putting up such a grand event. Wonder why such a  research conference doesn’t take place atleast once in 2 years.

Conclusion

I believe that India’s strength is its diversity. Language is a key element of that diversity. I wish all the major languages of India hold such research conferences and encourage true research in the respective languages so that we don’t lose the priceless heritage available in every language.

Additional Notes & References:

1. Asko Parpola’s acceptance speech. The Hindu has uploaded his entire dissertation online.

2. Asko Parpola presented his theory on the Wild Ass just before my presentation. It was a brilliant presentation with the depth of research that is stupendous. You can read Parpola’s Op Ed on the subject in The Hindu.

2. Madhan Karky has uploaded some pictures from the event.

3. You can read the coverage of the event on twitter by several people including myself at the hashtag #WCTC.

Prolog

As mentioned in my previous post , I am pleased to announce that my first paper jointly authored with Priya Raju and NK Sreedhar got published by the International Institute of Tamil Studies.

Background

In 2004, Farmer, Sproat & Witzel released their controversial paper titled [PDF] “The Collapse of the Indus Script Thesis: The Myth of a Literate Harappan Civilization” . The paper made the claim that the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was illiterate in a forceful and strident manner.

Since then, a number of attempts have been made to disprove this paper. Most of the attempts have tried to use interesting methods – [PDF] statistical techniques, [PDF]conditional entropy , [PDF 7.7MB] markov chain model etc to prove that the Indus inscriptions encode speech.  We had previously covered Asko Parpola’s effort to counter FSW.  Parpola’s efforts were not accepted by FSW.

We found that, to our surprise, many years after FSW, no one actually had published a comprehensive analysis of all the points made by FSW.  We decided to do just that in our paper.

Illiterate Indus?

As a newbie researcher, i found the FSW paper very useful to understand the state of the Indus research. As we researched every point FSW makes, we learnt even more about the IVC.

It was a long grind to get the paper published after several iterations. We are grateful to the International Institute of Tamil Studies for publishing our paper.

Special thanks to Michel Danino, Iravatham Mahadevan, Bryan Wells, M Meenakshisankar, PK Karthik and some reviewers who want to be anonymous  for their painstaking reviews. Iravatham Mahadevan, my guide at the Indus Research Center, went through the paper line by line 3 or 4 times to make it into an academic quality paper.  Special mention goes to Priya Raju for making the paper readable after Michel Danino’s critical review, not to speak of her contribution to the actual research which is quite significant. NK Sreedhar has made several contributions to the paper including the key one on the Singletons.

Thanks to JK at Varnam blog for introducing me to Michel Danino.

Epilog

With all due respect to FSW, we reached the conclusion that most of their arguments can be refuted. The paper can be downloaded at Response_to_FSW2_Paper_v3.1-Final .  If you are really interested in the IVC research, i strongly recommend that you read the FSW paper as well as our response to it. Please chime in with your comments.

Prolog

Many of you know that i began researching the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) formally about 10 months ago. I am happy to say  i have made reasonable progress – my first paper (written jointly with Priya Raju & NK Sreedhar) countering FSW’s arguments is going to be published shortly. My paper on the Bangle Hypothesis has been selected for the Classical Tamil Conference set to happen in June 2010 in Coimbatore. 

Rig Veda

I had already showed how the Rig Veda couldn’t have been written by the IVC people.   Over time, I realized that the Rig Veda (RV) is a veritable treasure trove to divine the Real History of India. I started looking at who the Vedic people called as demons or enemies and any references to gods of the enemy people.

Kuyava

Interestingly, I found the term Kuyavan, who is a Dasa, who is killed by Indra. There are 6 occurrences of the Dravidian word Kuyava – RV.I.103.8, RV.I.104.3, RV.I.174.7, RV.IV.18.8, RV.VII.19.2, RV.II.1.104.3.

It turns out that,  i am the first researcher [Iravatham Mahadevan Sir has acknowledged this] to tie the RV demon Kuyava to the Dravidian word (DEDR 1762) , which means potter, obviously a very important profession for the IVC people.  Therefore, if one Dravidian person was identified as a Dasa (an enemy) by the RV people, it is likely there is more to it than meets the eye.

Alongside one of the mentions of Kuyava, there is a mention of Kuyava’s wives – Anjasi and Kulisi.  I was breaking my head on what these names could mean and i stumbled upon Kulici - a type of pot [well connected to the potter Kuyavan).  Yes, we could question how a type of pot could have become a name of Kuyava's wife.  However, if the Vedic people could take Kuyava, the name of a profession, as a name of a person, then this is also possible, right?  Given that the term Kuyava is found in the earliest sections of the RV, the error could be due to their unfamiliarity with the Dravidians, as they may have just arrived into the Indus Region.

I haven't yet figured out what Anjasi is? Is it also a type of pot?

Namuci

Namuci is the next demon name that got my attention. Namuci was some type of chieftain, not an ordinary enemy. Indra vanquishes him after a lot of difficulty (per the RV). After chasing several deadends, i pursued an idea Priya Raju gave me - is it connected to Padayachi, Pethachi etc. ?   The suffix achi is usually used to denote affection - ammucci, appucci, acchan (father in malayalam), or to denote respect - pethachi, padayachi.   When i looked at the etymology of ucci it struck a chord - it means head, summit etc. This means Namuci could be Nam + Ucci = where Nam = Our and Ucci = Head - in other words, Chief.

Susna Deva & Mura Deva

RV talks in a derogatory fashion about 2 native gods - Susna Deva and Mura Deva. Several scholars have translated Susna Deva to Phallic God and Mura Deva has been translated as Foolish God (because Mura is an alt. form of Muda which means foolish in Sanskrit).

I was not convinced about these translations. So i started digging into it and I found that in one of the references to Susna, RV talks about the Horn - Sringa in Sanskrit means Horn. Interestingly, Sringara in Sanskrit means passion.  That the Horn is a phallic symbol is quite obvious from this. Now we all know who the Phallic God is right? - Shiva. I am not yet able to find out what is the old Dravidian name for Shiva, because Shiva seems to be from Sanskrit.

That the Muradeva could be Muruga was postulated by the Bandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI, Pune in their Annals Volume XXIV from 1943).  Again i wasn't convinced and dug deeper. Interestingly, in one of the references to Muradeva, the RV says the god has bent neck.  If you look at Mahadevan Signs #47 & #48 [2nd sign from the right in this pic], which are thought to be symbols of Murugan, you can see the bent neck. The word Muruku in tamil has the meaning of crooked or twisted as well.

Epilog

As you can see, RV is filled with many clues as to the true nature of the peoples, the Vedic people conquered/merged with/assimilated – whatever is your favorite term.  What do you all think? Do you agree with me?  Do you have any thoughts/ideas that can help me?

Disclaimer – many of what i have said here needs to be taken as a hypothesis and not as a scientific proof. As in the Bangle Hypothesis, which i converted into a scientific 5 page paper, i will be converting this post also into a scientific paper.

It was a pleasant surprise when my friend from school days Richard invited my family and myself to ‘The Grand Hockey Dinner Dance’ at the St. Bede’s School Grounds on Saturday, the 9th January 2010. This dance was the culmination of a 2-day long hockey tournament of Anglo-Indian teams from all over the country.

I was not surprised that a dance would signal the end of the tournament because in all Anglo-Indian social occasions, dance plays a very crucial role. Whether it is a wedding or a community event or a party, great importance is given to the ball-dance, to the presence of an orchestra and the ambience of the dance floor. This expression of community spirit through dance is but a small fraction of the larger sense of gaiety, camaraderie and joyfulness that the Anglo-Indian community stands for – they are a colorful and proud people who trace their traditions to hundreds of years of the interaction between European and Indian civilizations.

My first interaction with Anglo-Indians was through my primary school teachers most of whom were Anglo-Indian women: the images of Mrs. Grant, Ms. Tina, Mrs. Johnston and Mrs. Devotta can never be forgotten for their dedication to the children whom they had under their care. One of the myths that is propagated about Anglo-Indians is that they are more European than Indian. Many have missed out the hyphenated identity “Anglo(-)Indian.” As a result of a lack of acceptance in mainstream Indian society and appropriate employment opportunities, there has been a mass migration of Anglo-Indians to places as far as Australia, Canada, England and the USA.

The history of the Anglo-Indian community is a testimony to the struggle of a sub-minority within India’s evolution as a post-colonial nation-state [Article 366(2) : Constitution of India]. While it is true that the earliest Anglo-Indian families were the by product of relationships between Europeans and Indians, the community has come a long way since. It is characteristically Indian in several ways while retaining some cultural traditions of yore. Most Anglo-Indian communities, it is famously known, lived near railway cantonments where many of them worked as engine drivers.

Again, sports like hockey, football etc had good Anglo-Indian representation. In many ways, Anglo-Indians were the backbone of the Indian educational system in the form of committed and strong educationists and teachers.

The Indian Constitution guarantees their right to retain English as their medium of instruction. Further, both the Lok Sabha and the State assemblies have place for nominated seats for the Anglos [Article 334]. With a dwindling population (almost like the Parsis), the Anglo-Indians struggle to retain their firmament in Indian society and not get completely marginalized or non-existent. A remarkable feature about the Anglo-Indians is their open-mindedness as a people, one dimension being several inter-marriages with other castes and communities in Indian society. Among the most famous Anglo-Indians of post-independent India was Frank Anthony, a Supreme Court lawyer (also a member of the Constituent Assembly) who represented Mrs. Indira Gandhi during most of her trials and tribulations. Other prominent Anglos on the national scene were/are A.E.T. Barrow (educationist and brain behind the ICSE board of education), Lt. Gen Henderson-Brook (who prepared a classified report on the Oct-Nov 1962 debacle), Roger Binny (cricketer), Diana Hayden (former Miss India), Leslie Claudius (hockey legend) and Ruskin Bond(writer).

Anglos in the wind is the name of a magazine edited by Harry MacLure whoalso led the organizational effort of the Hockey event. Being in the midst of the Anglos at The Grand Hockey Dinner Dance was a poignant experience.

Not only were there representatives of the community from places overseas mentioned above, there were Anglo-Indians from all over India at the dance, as it was an extension of the tournament. Many would have heard of the ‘Bow Barracks’ of Kolkata, an Anglo-Indian synonym for a place. Nowhere else have I seen the aged 50/60 and above take to the dance floor with such an enthusiasm and sustain it over long hours. Young and old were at it into the wee hours of the night.

Wishing that the moments with the Anglos on a Chennai Saturday night would last longer, not to miss their love of dance, I was reminded of the album Saturday Night Fever by the Bee Gees (1977). The following lines from that album were evocative:
“Here I am
Prayin’ for this moment to last
Livin’ on the music so fine
Born on the Wind
Making it mine “

What I was grateful to Richard for inviting me to the Grand Dance was that it gave me an opportunity to join one segment of India in its celebration of the nation. This is a beautiful community and that came across at The Grand Hockey Dinner Dance.

Chak De, Anglos !
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References:

1. Frank Anthony, Britain’s Betrayal in India: The Story of the Anglo-Indian Community (Paperback, 2007);
2. Hostages to India: or The Life Story of the Anglo Indian Race : by Herbert Alick Stark
3. These are the Anglo-Indians: James Reginald Maher
4. Bow Barracks Forever is a 2004 Indian film directed by Anjan Dutt (the real life story of a tiny but resolute Anglo Indian community right in the heart of bustling north Kolkata)

Updated 23 Aug 2009 2:50PM – added the Indus signs from Bryan Wells’ paper.

Updated 22 Aug 2009 11:55PM – found the image of the single/double bangle.

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FTOTW [Fine Tastings of the Week]

Why we must focus on women for development – a brilliant/heart rending/uplifting article in NYT (Via Ganesh). Programmable Web – a great post on Google’s Pubsubhubub (via @raganesh ).

Prolog

As many of you know i started working on researching the IVC (Indus Valley Civilization), formally, a month or so back.  Since most researchers are concentrating on the script, i am focusing on the Symbology.

I am writing this post to collect the wisdom of the community  to make the hypothesis into a scientific proof which can pass muster with the research community.   In the Epilog,  I will explain, how you can all help me.

IVC Bangle Hypothesis

Here is my  hypothesis – unmarried women wore bangles only in one arm, whereas married women wore bangles in both arms. The iconography from the IVC is quite sparse but still there seems to be enough evidence for this hypothesis. The famous Dancing Girl of Mohenja Daro. You can see that the statuette has bangles only on one arm.

There is another piece of iconography where 2 men are having a fight ostensibly over the hand of a woman (wears bangles only on one arm).  In this piece, we have another woman, possibly mother goddess, wearing bangles on both arms.  Given that in the same piece of iconography both  bangles on one arm  and  bangles  on two arms are present, it is highly unlikey to be a scribal error [I am trying to find this image on the web for you all to review. Meanwhile Found the image below. Also take a look at the Fig Deity Seal at the bottom of this post - it has women wearing bangles in both arms].

There are some burials of women with shell  bangles on only the left arm [The authors of the book also seem to think that one-arm bangles signifies marital status (Via Priya Raju)  ].

I found another instance of this type of burial where the woman had bangles only on the left arm. Don’t know if they are both the same instance. I hope not.

Why does this bangle hypothesis matter?

In the inscriptions , there are several  which have a symbol of a man, having an implement in one arm or in both arms.  Sometimes the implement is seen on  one leg or both legs. For example, see page 71 [reproduced below, click on the pic to expand] of the Bryan Wells’ Indus Script Thesis [Caution: 12MB PDF]. My guess based on the bangle symbology, that having an instrument on one arm/leg signifies someone with less skills/expertise than the one who has it in both arms/legs.

How do we prove this hypothesis?

Even in modern day  India, bangles are an important part of a married women’s attire. The Shankha Pola tradition still continues in Bengal or the Valai Kappu ceremony which is still observed  in South India. However, given the distance in time and space from the IVC, we cannot use practices from modern India as proof. Additionally, we don’t have written records prior to 6th Century BCE, which leaves a gap of 1,000-1,200 years after the downfall of the IVC.

Assuming that tribals have been following their traditions for millennia, we need to find tribals in North Western India who have a similar bangle symbology.  That would be a good enough proof.

I found some tribals – Ekbahia and Ikbainha whose women wear bangles only in one arm. However, it does not seem to indicate marital status.

Thanks to Priya Raju, I found this practice amongst the Ahir Tribes:

These people belong to the Gujarati and Rajasthani families – Cherry thinks the woman pictured above is from the Ahir tribe. The bangles would have been gifted to her during the girl’s wedding – they do marry very young. The pastoral tribes cover their entire hand with broad plain bangles made of bone. The unmarried wear them only from the wrist to the elbow whereas the married wear them from the elbow upwards as far up as the underarm. Since these tribes are nomadic and they cannot keep their assets under safe keeping, they wear their saving in the form of jewellery on their person.

Epilog

From the above, it is quite evident that there is some symbology associated with bangles and marital status. But we still need to find the exact match for the hypothesis to stick.

Can you all help me uncover this? Please pass this to people that are familiar with folk/tribal customs in North Western India. Thanks in advance. Whoever helps me, i will acknowledge them in the paper formally.