Ever
since 10000 BCE there has been a steady migration of people to Indian
peninsula from northwest. The migrated people established themselves
into Indus-Sarswati basins. This civilization continued almost up to
1750 BCE. As water sources dried up in Indus-Sarswati basin, the
people settled there started migrations not only to south and east
but also by sea to seek new lands. A recent
finding shows that there was an Indian migration even to
Australia around 4230 years ago.
Where
did the Indus civilization people go and settle after leaving the
Indus-Sarswati basins, would be the logical question to ask. An
eminent archaeologist M.K.Dhawalikar, gives us a lead in his book
“Environment and Culture,” (pp. 133), when he explains about the
origin of Malwa culture as;
"
..but the origin of the chalcolithic culture of Malwa may perhaps
ultimately be traced to the early Harrapans -the people of Kalibangan
I, in Rajasthan."
The
migrating Harrapans did not stop in Malwa region forever, they moved
further south towards present state of Maharashtra. M. K. Dhawalikar
mentions about this migration in this book (pp.135) and I quote;
"The
Harrapans too had made inroads into the heart of Mahrashtra as is
clear from the Daimabad evidence ( Sali 1986). But the large scale
colonization of Maharashtra took place about 1800 BC when the Malwa
people located their settlements not only in the Tapi valley but as
far as south in Bhima valley."
Can we
conclude that Harrapans migrated only to Malwa region (part of
present Madhya Pradesh state) and Maharashtra? Possibly not! But
where else did they go? They perhaps spread over entire Gangatic
plains. But did they also migrate to the south in Karnataka, as one
interpretation of a new evidence claims?
The
ruins of Hampi in Karnataka state are one of the most important
remnants of medieval India. A large, relatively unknown Vishnu
temple stands midway to Vittala Temple from Kamalapura. A dirt road
leads to some Banana plantations from the temple. About two
kilometers down this road, there is an abandoned area with banana
plantations on one side and hills dotted with oversized boulders on
the other. On these hills, some ancient caves are known to exist. A
decade ago, KM Metry, a Kannada University professor of Tribal
Studies, Head and Dean, Social Sciences, Kannada University, Hampi,
was walking alone on this dirt road when he saw what he thought was a
light scribble on a rock in the distance. Professor Metry climbed the
hill on which the rock stood and cleaned the rock surface to get a
clearer look. Surprisingly, it was an ancient rock painting, drawn
with some form of vegetable oil and contained as many as 22 symbols.
He continued to discover similar rock paintings with different
symbols around Hampi after that.
In the
following years, his research on Gondi culture and visits to tribal
areas in Chhattisgarh region convinced him that the rock paintings
he had encountered in Hampi were actually Gondi symbols. Later he
came across a book that referred to yet- undeciphered script of the
Indus Valley Civilisation and realised that there existed a great
similarity between symbol characters of Indus civilization script and
Gondi script characters, he had discovered at Hampi. Professor Metry
says and I quote;
“This
is a major find,not only does it show that the Indus script is
connected to Gondi language and culture, it proves that the
modern-day Gond [Tribals] and South Indians are people of the Indus
Valley Civilisation. The Harappans migrated from the Indus Valley to
South India. ”
Gonds
form the largest tribal group in south Asia. They live all over
central India, and in the states of Maharashtra and Orissa as "hill
people" in the Deccan Peninsula. Gondi culture is a totemic
culture. Associated with its famous “Ghotul Schools” are many
such script symbols. Gondi language is also similar to Dravidian
languages (South Indian Languages).
A set
of 19 pictographs from a cave in Hampi were deciphered recently by
Prof. Metry and his associates. They came out with a sentence that
probably was written in the Gondi script of symbols in the Hampi
caves that says:
“On
the goddess Kotamma temple woollen market way there is a rocky roof
shelter for shepherds and sheep to stay at night up to morning.”
The
similarity between Indus civilization script and Gondi script, no
doubt is striking and definitely suggests a link and possible
migration of Indus civilization people to lands inhabited by Gond
tribal in central India. However Professor Metry's statement that the
Harappans migrated from the Indus Valley to South India seems to be
rather a tall order, because there is hardly any other evidence.
In
conclusion, we might be able to accept migrations of Indus
civilization people in lands of Gond tribals as they did in Malwa and
Maharashtra. However the idea that the Harappans migrated from the
Indus Valley to South India, appears to be a far fetched one.
24th
January 2014
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