Technological Advancement In Sindhu-Saraswati Civilization

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The first urban culture of ancient India was developed in Sindhu- Saraswati region and Harappa was the first site who represents this culture, so that it was also named as Harappan culture. The Sindhu- Saraswati region extended in double the combined area of its two contemporary civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia. It is surprising to learn how the Harappan managed to climb so many rungs of the ladder of progress of human civilization. After the above given accounts we can undoubtedly say that the people of Sindhu-Saraswati region founded a great civilization about four to five thousand years ago. The book is an attempt to trace the technological advancement in Sindhu-Saraswati region right from its origin in the north-west of the sub-continent.

Dr. G. K. Lama, Professor, Department of AIHC & Archaeology, Centre of Advanced Study, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, having specialization in the field of Archaeology, Buddhism and Asian Studies, has 31 books in his credit namely Tibet Men Bauddha Dharma Ka Itihas-2004; Samyak Darshan -2004; Cultural Heritage of South-East Asia-2009; Indus to Ganges-2009; Pakkakot: Some New Archaeological Dimensions of Mid-Ganga Plain- 2012; Buddhist Cave Temples of Ancient India-2013; A Buddhist Universe-2016; An Archaeological Journey of Nalanda-2018; Art Heritage of Nalanda- 2018; India: A Journey from Lithic to Iron-2019; Footprints of the Buddha on the Roof of the World- 2020, Glimpses of North-East India-2021, Indian Culture through the Ages-2021, Revealing India's Past-2021, Buddhism on the Silk Route-2022, Mysterious World of Siddhas-2022, The Cult of Adamantine Path-2022, Buddhism A Living Spiritual Force-2022, Indian Archaeology Some New Perspectives-2022, Glimpses of Asian Art Heritage-2023, Indian History A Multidisciplinary Approach-2023, Fusion of Indian Culture on Asia- 2023, Unique Features of Buddhist Monasteries- 2023, Mahayana Sutra Samgraha-2023, Cultural Heritage of Nepal-2023, India in Chinese Travelogues-2023, Trans Himalayan Buddhism- 2023, The Sacred Ganga-2024, Prajna-Jyoti-2024, Yantra-Mantra-Tantra in Buddhism-2024 and Archaeological Excavations at Rukhegarh, Nalanda-2024.. He has presented 89 research papers in various National and International seminars and 113 research papers have been published in various reputed journals, edited books, conference proceedings and felicitation volumes. He has completed a Major Research Project entitled Archaeological Investigation in and around Nalanda, granted by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, which was submitted in 2014. The author has also completed 16 projects regarding archaeological investigations in Sikkim, Eastern and Western UP and Bihar with the kind permission of Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi. He has invited twice to Sri Lanka and once to Thailand to deliver special lectures.

The commonly taught history of India emphasizes mostly kings, invasions and conflicts. The history of Indian ideas, if taught at all, is limited to religion, philosophy and popular culture. It has become largely forgotten that India held its prominent economic position because of accomplishments in science and technology. What is being often ignored is the well- documented evidence of India's significant contribution to metallurgy, civil engineering and architecture, water harvesting, shipping and ship building, textiles, medicinal plants, agriculture, forest management, astronomy and linguistics, among other disciplines. It seems that history of science and technology in India has so far not been accorded the significance it deserves. Both leymen and students need to know and feel proud about the great achievements that were made in the past. This exercise should also help us to find out the cause which pushed us back and the West overtook us in its Industrial Revolution. In the western accounts of history of science and technology most of the important achievements are traced back to Greece thus giving these studies a Eurocentric bias. It is the need of the time to correct the Eurocentric distortions as also to provide authentic and detailed summaries of the main technologies and how they evolved through history. In recent years several laudable efforts have been made in compiling the Indian history of Science and Technology. There is a large amount of literature on these subjects but literary evidence is often prone to a variety of interpretations. It is therefore wise to place more reliance on material evidence available through archaeological excavations. To cover a vast country like India, with its regional variations, and several thousand years of evolution of science and technology is an immense undertaking.

The first urban culture of ancient India was developed in Sindhu- Saraswati Valley and Harappa was the first site who represents this culture, so that it was also named as Harappan culture. Although a number of sites were discovered related to this culture in Pakistan and Indian territory, but most of the archaeologists named the culture after its first site Harappa. There are about 2000 archaeological sites in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan related to Sindhu-Saraswati civilization. At its glory, this civilization flourished over two million square km, from Sutkagendor on the Makran coast of Balochistan to Alamgirpur in Uttar Pradesh, and from Manda in Jammu to Daimabad in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. Archaeologists and scholars such as, R. D. Banarjee, Daya Ram Sahni, Alexander Cunningham, John Marshall, Mortimer Wheeler, Clark, E. Mockller, Fritz, M. S. Vats, Hargreaves, Aurel Stein, E. J. Ross, Stuart Piggott, A. Ghosh, Y. D. Sharma, B. K. Thapar, Suraj Bhan, S. R. Rao, P. P. Pandya, J. P. Joshi, K. N. Dikshit, U. V. Singh, R. N. Mehta, R. S. Bisht, V. H. Sonawane, G. L. Possehl, Francfort, F. A. Khan, A. H. Dani, R. Mughal, F. A. Durrani, Farid Khan, Fairservis, Dales, Jarrige, Casal, Shaffer, Mark Kenoyer and so many others are involved to discover and analyze the findings of various sites located in India and Pakistan which shows the importance of this culture.

The Sindhu-Saraswati region extended in double the combined area of its two contemporary civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia. In fact, the people of Sindhu-Saraswati region were the first people who established a vast empire by uniting people of different types, where all were considered equal, respected one another and were economically prosperous.