Harappan Horseplay: The real story 
Dr. N.S. Rajaram
http://www.pragna.org/Art21001.html

"Charges of ‘Hindutva propaganda’ and ‘fraud’ are part of a diversionary campaign meant to save the collapsing Aryan invasion version of history and Indology. This is compounded by the larger problem of the decline of humanities in the West", says Dr. N.S. Rajaram in his response to the Frontline criticism.

Background: Horse and Hindutva

In an extraordinary article that appeared under the name of Harvard Indologist Michael Witzel and independent writer Steve Farmer, the authors go on to suggest that the book "The Deciphered Indus Script" by N. Jha and N.S. Rajaram (Aditya Prakashan, Delhi) is not really about the decipherment at all— it is ‘Hindutva propaganda’. (See ‘Horseplay in Harappa’, Frontline, October 13, 2000.) According to them, this propaganda campaign is carried out by distorting a Harappan seal containing the image of a bull to make it look like a horse. But why bother with one unimportant seal when the book gives a complete methodology and one hundred tables of deciphered readings covering over fifteen hundred Harappan seals? To discredit the likes of Witzel and other supporters of the ‘Aryan Invasion’ who have always told us that the ‘non-Vedic’ Harappans did not know the horse, which was brought into India by the invading Aryans. So, according to them, the book presents a faked horse on a Harappan seal to discredit the work of scholars who for more than a century have argued for an ‘Aryan invasion’ of India that destroyed the ‘non-Aryan’ Harappan civilization.

This is the main theme of their ‘refutation’ of our decipherment. No matter that the photo of the seal in question — actually they give two — support our identification of it as a horse. (See photo.) But that is beside the point, for our book is about the Indus script, not any horse. In a book of nearly 300 pages, there are just two footnotes about the horse. (The article by Witzel and Farmer occupies ten pages of small print followed by a two-page article by ‘eminent historian’ Romila Thapar.) And their position is endorsed by Romila Thapar who writes: “History as projected by Hindutva ideologues, which is being introduced to children through textbooks… precludes an open discussion of evidence and interpretation. Nor does it bear any trace of the new methods of historical analyses… Such history is dismissed by the Hindutva ideologues as Western, imperialist, Marxist or whatever… The article by Witzel and Farmer is a serious critique of the claims that have been made by Rajaram and Jha about the Aryan identity of the Indus civilization and the decipherment of the Harappan script.” (Emphasis added.)

By the extraordinary nature of the article — from its frenzied tone to sweeping charges — it is clear that the stakes must be very high indeed for the protagonists Witzel and Thapar. (Farmer, who is neither an Indologist nor an academic, is a peripheral figure.) To understand their real concern we need only to look at Romila Thapar’s column, especially the highlighted part in the above quote. Her fear is “The Aryan (Vedic) identity of the Indus civilization”, which she and other like minded scholars have been fighting for over a decade. It is now a reality. The Frontline article is part of the campaign to somehow save the crumbling edifice of the Aryan invasion version by creating diversions and raising the spectre of ‘Hindutva propaganda’. The real agenda is clear: protect their discredited Aryan invasion/migration version and the non-Indian origin of the Vedic civilization by labeling opponents as ‘Hindutva propagandists’. The rest is diversion.

But there is more, for what is at stake is the survival of Western Indology itself, with its roots in European colonialism and Christian missionary propaganda. It was Indologist W.W. Hunter who said: “Scholarship is warmed with the holy flame of Christian zeal.” And Bishop Caldwell, who created the Aryan-Dravidian theory, admitted that his linguistic theories were of “vast political and moral importance”— meaning they served British colonial and Christian missionary interests. Men like Witzel are successors to these colonial-missionary scholars, while Indians like Thapar and her tribe, are their camp followers. Our book exposes this. So their tactic is to discredit the book by attacking us personally. This is exactly what the ‘Secularists’ did to the distinguished archaeologist B.B. Lal when he exposed their lies at Ayodhya. More things change, more they remain the same.

Many horses at Harappa

When we get past the polemics, the rhetoric and the charges, the basic issue becomes clear. It is the Vedic identity of the Harappan civilization that is the real issue. The rest, as just pointed out, is no more than diversion. The crumbling of their theories began with the discovery of the Vedic Sarasvati River, which they are careful to avoid. The decipherment is the last nail in the coffin. (Of late there is a tendency to call it the Aryan Migration Theory or the AMT, but this is a distinction without a difference. It still tries to keep the Vedic and Harappan civilizations separated.) What I will do in this section is demonstrate that Harappan civilization was Vedic without appealing to the decipherment. This, I shall do by highlighting several Vedic features found at Harappan sites.

First, let us look at the horse. The fact is that horses have been found in ancient India going back to Harappan and even pre-Harappan times. Several archaeologists, including such distinguished ones as S.R. Rao, have identified both horse remains and clay horses. (For this Rao has been dubbed a ‘Hindu communalist’.) The seal photo in the Frontline article also suggests that it is probably a horse— but people are free to disagree. I have displayed a plate that shows several clay figures from Harappan sites like Lothal.

A crucial point to note is that all these are artifacts, not anatomical specimens. So difference of opinion is natural. At the same time, presence of the horse at Harappa — both artifacts and bones — is no secret. It is freely discussed by archaeologists. In fact, as far back as 1928, John Marshall, Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India had written about Harappan sites: “Among the domesticated animals were— the humped long horned Indian bull (Bos Indicus) (of which to judge by the frequency of the remains large herds must have been maintained), the sheep, pig, dog, horse and the elephant.” And he is quite specific about the horse: “The horse in the Indus Valley was the small ‘equis cabalus’ near akin to the Indian countrybred.”

These smaller ‘country-bred’ horses — inferior to the thoroughbreds later favored — are still found in India. But later this story was changed to accord with the Aryan Invasion Theory, leading to the slogan ‘No horse at Harappa’. This is remarkably similar to the Ayodhya story. Early writers made no secret of the temple destruction, but later, Secularists including Romila Thapar changed the story trying to negate the Islamic record of temple destructions.

But there is something far more significant: the smaller Indian horse, like the horse of Southeast Asia, is a different variety from the Central Asian or the Eurasian horse. Here is what one expert (Paul Kennai Manansala) has to say:

“Deep in the specialized literature on horse classification, we can find that Indian and other horses extending to insular Southeast Asia were peculiar from other breed. All showed anatomical traces of admixture with the ancient equid known as Equus Sivalensis. …However, like that equid, the horse of southeastern Asia has peculiar zebra-like dentition. Also both were distinguished by a pre-orbital depression. The orbital region is important because it has been demonstrated as useful in classifying different species of equids. Finally, and most importantly in relation to the Vedic literature, the Indian horse has, like Equus Sivalensis, only 17 pairs of ribs.” (Emphasis added.)
In contrast, the Central Asian and the European varieties had 18 pairs of ribs. So the horse of India and Southeast Asia — the one described by John Marshall as present at Harappan sites — is a distinct variety native to the region. This means the Indian horse could not have been brought into India by any invading people from the northwest— Aryan or not. But what is amazing and most significant is that this horse with 34 ribs (or 17 pairs) is what is described in the Rigveda during the Ashvamedha sacrifice. Here is verse 18 from hymn I.162, which is devoted to the sacrifice (author’s translation):

The horse of victory has thirty-four ribs on the two sides that face threat in the battle. O skilled men, treat these uninjured parts with skill, so they may recover their energy! (RV, I. 162.18)

So all the hue and cry — and the diversion — about the horse seal misses this crucial point. To re-emphasize the point, the Indian horse, the one described in the Rigveda, is a different animal that could not have been brought to India by any invaders from Central Asia.

The Vedic Harappans

Even this is only part of the story, for Harappan artifacts themselves show that it was Vedic, which is the real issue. This is best done with the help of a few photographs. The first plate shows a couple of swastika symbols. They are quite common at Harappan sites. The Rigveda contains a famous mantra known as the svasti mantra, which begins: svasti nah indro vriddhashravah… The second plate shows the famous omkar seal along with its line drawings. The first line drawing shows the om sign in the Harappan script. The second drawing shows the same rotated by 90 degrees. One can clearly see that the rotated symbol is nothing but ‘om’ in the Devanagari (Sanskrit) script. Witzel claims that it is not ‘om’ but an African religious symbol! This is how far they have to go to protect their theory.
The third plate is also remarkable. It contains photos of several clay figures in yogic postures (yogasanas). They were recovered from Harappan sites like Lothal. This means that the Harappans practiced yoga. This again demonstrates the Vedic-Harappan connection. So the conclusion is obvious: the Harappan civilization was Vedic. No amount of rhetoric or charges of fraud or claims of ‘Hindutva propaganda’ is going to change any of this.

The ‘White Man’s Burden’

To return to their charges, anyone reading the Frontline article will naturally wonder— why a prominent Western academic like Mike Witzel should devote so much time and effort to attack two relatively unknown persons like this writer and Natwar Jha, especially when Witzel himself dismisses me as one whose academic career in America was undistinguished and Jha as a ‘provincial religious teacher’. (This is neither accurate nor relevant. Jha was not a provincial religious scholar. Also the greater part of my career has been spent in industry and as an independent researcher and not in academia.) Nor are we his only targets. He had earlier denounced Shrikant Talageri’s important work as of  “political motivation … [and] devoid of scholarly value.” What is interesting here is that Witzel had not even seen Talageri’s book much less read it. (He had earlier dismissed our decipherment also without reading our book.)

Even this is not the full story. The article also raises the issue that many of us who are working on the revision of history are immigrants and NRIs. Why should this concern Witzel and Farmer? Who are they — both foreigners — to bring it up? Upon reflection, one realizes that Romila Thapar has long been a critic of NRIs and their devotion to Indian tradition. This suggests that the article simply expresses her objection while using Witzel’s name to give it more authority. This is the sign of a slavish mind steeped in Macaulayite conditioning— that it takes a foreigner to give her view some legitimacy.

Again, why now this long article attacking us? According to Witzel and Farmer it is to save India and her scholarship: “Hindutva propagandists like Rajaram do not belong to the realm of legitimate historical scholarship. …they falsify history to bolster national pride.” What concern is it of this German-American duo? Can’t Indians think for themselves? Apparently they cannot, because according to them, they need to caution people: “We fear for India and for objective scholarship.” So Witzel and Farmer have to save India and Indians from being corrupted by devilish ‘heathens’ and ‘natives’ like Rajaram, Jha and Talageri! This is pure colonial-missionary conceit that resurrects the White Man’s Burden.

No one can believe such sanctimonious claims. Surely, there must be other reasons why someone like Witzel should go to such length to attack two writers who he himself dismisses as of no consequence. One reason is probably emotional. Witzel is a German Romantic. His heroes still are nineteenth century German Indologists like Bothlingk and especially Oldenberg. So it is natural that he should be attached to nineteenth century German ideas like the ‘Aryan nation’ and the ‘Aryan invasion’. But there is a more serious concern: fear of academic survival in the face of ‘downsizing the humanities’ at American universities. The collapse of the Aryan Invasion model of history, which our work records, and which is receiving wide notice, could not have come at a worse time for the likes of Witzel. Their careers and reputations are at stake. This is what one needs to understand.

‘Downsizing the humanities’

American universities operate much like businesses. Programs that are unproductive are ruthlessly cut. Due to uncontrolled expansion for over three decades, most universities have too many humanities professors (like Witzel) while there is severe shortage in fields like computer science and business. Also, many humanities programs have reached absurd limits, consuming money that could be put to better use. To take just one example, The University of Illinois at Chicago, supports one Professor Stanley Fish to the tune of $230,000 of taxpayer’s money a year for his research in ‘para-proletariat studies’ that according to him will study “body parts, excretory functions, the sex trade,… bisexuality,… and lesbian pornography,” and other things that I do not care to reproduce here. This is irresponsible to say the least.

There is now an inevitable reaction leading to what educational experts are calling ‘downsizing the humanities’. Students no longer want to study them and administrators are looking for ways to cut such programs. Harvard is no exception. This has had the effect of sending humanities scholars (like Witzel) scrambling for funds. For Indology departments, which have particularly low priority in the humanities, the last thing they can afford is any threat to the status quo coming from new knowledge. As universities cut budgets, their hope is to find sponsors in the wealthy NRI community. Though impressed at first by their academic credentials, NRIs are beginning to see that these Indologists are only rehashing outdated colonial and even racist ideas as ‘research’. Some NRIs also feel that these ‘scholars’ are little more than parasites of India and her civilization but affecting superiority over it. For example, Witzel and his associates have contributed nothing that enhances our understanding of Vedic India. (Hardly anyone had heard of him until he began his ‘Harappan horse’ campaign, patronized by Frontline.) As a result, some NRI sponsored faculty positions at US universities have been terminated and plans for new ones are being shelved.

So the frustration behind the rage is easy to understand. Days of a comfortable academic life with little or no accountability are coming to an end. Neither Indians nor Americans are interested in their work. As a result, what is really at stake in all this is neither learning nor concern for India nor objective scholarship, but only continued survival. As the brilliant American writer Tom Wolfe put it in the context of such humanities scholars: “It’s a simple business at the bottom. All the intellectual [Sic: Indologist] wants, in his heart of hearts, is to hold on to what was given to him in a magical moment a century ago. He asks for nothing more than to remain aloof, removed …from the mob...”

Sri Shankaracharya said the same thing centuries ago: udara-nimittam bahu-krita vesham (To fill the stomach, many poses are assumed). That is what is really at the bottom of this ‘horseplay’ — not any concern for India or her scholarship. 

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