Need to find if any link existed between Vedic, Sindhu-Saraswati civilizations: Govt official

There was a need to delve deeper to find any commonality or connection between Vedic and Sindhu-Saraswati civilizations and this process can now be facilitated in a scientific way by an academic initiative at the IIT Gandhinagar, a top central government official said on Friday.

Secretary in Ministry of Culture Govind Mohan said the Vedas speak of a civilisation which was very advanced and evolved in various aspects, including women empowerment and respect for the environment.

Mohan was speaking at a function organised to establish the 'ASI Archaeology Chair' at the Archaeological Sciences Centre of the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN).

With an aim to boost scientific, multidisciplinary, fact-based approach to advance research in archaeological sciences, the Union Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India have established the 'ASI Archaeology Chair' at IITGN, a release by the institute said.

“The work that we are starting today is of great significance for the country from a cultural perspective. The Vedas are the oldest known works of human expression, and they also speak of a civilisation which was hugely advanced and evolved in various aspects, including women empowerment, respect for the environment, human ethos,” Mohan said.

The senior bureaucrat said the ancient Sindhu-Saraswati civilisation was known for meticulous urban planning and marvellous architecture.

“On the other hand, we have remnants of the Sindhu-Saraswati civilisation, whose urban planning and architecture, drainage system, trade routes etc were so marvellous that many advanced civilisations of today would be envious of them,” he said.

“So we need to delve deeper to find if there is any commonality or connection between these two spaces,” said the senior official.

The new initiative at IITGN will help find answers to these questions in a scientific way, he said.

“I am sure the Chair will help find answers to these questions in a scientific way by using state-of-the-art archaeological techniques. We will continue to work deeply with IITGN in order to uncover a lot of new paradigms and facts to help us understand fundamental questions for ourselves like who we are, where have we come from, and how have we evolved,” he further said.

A three-day international colloquium on “Emerging Perspectives of Harappan Civilisation” was also inaugurated on Friday along with the inauguration of the 'ASI Archaeology Chair' at IITGN.

Dr Alok Tripathi, Additional Director General, ASI, termed the conference and Chair at IITGN as a new chapter to find out more about Indian culture, history, civilisation, and their relation with the Vedic culture.

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