Keezhadi - Musings on the origins of Indian Civilisations and Writing Systems

I have a fascination for ancient Indian history and in particular for languages and scripts that have eluded decipherment over the centuries. It's a strictly amateurish interest though. I have no new research to offer. Only a combination of recorded history and speculation. My earlier article on the Saraswati river elicited a lot of interest so here's the next one almost 10 years later!

When I started writing this article, I wasn't sure where it was going. It seems to have meandered along between the origins of homo sapiens to the Iron Age and arrived at my favourite hobby horse - ancient scripts! 

Enjoy the read.  

The small town of Keezhadi (also written as Keeladi) is situated on the bank of the Vaigai river near Madurai in Southern Tamil Nadu. The ASI (Archeological Survey of India) commenced excavations in 2013, barely 10 years ago. Subsequently, the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department has taken over with excavations continuing to date. The findings have been interesting and controversial too! 

To explore further, we need to rewind into prehistory - to the time when homo sapiens developed in Africa and started migrating outwards. 

Though the migration of primitive humans out of Africa started very early, it is generally accepted that the 'recent dispersal' of humans out of Africa around 50,000 - 70,000 years ago led to stable human populations around the world. There seem to have been two streams of population that moved into India. One that entered through North West India and moved across the Indo Gangetic plain towards South East Asia and the second a stream that entered India along the western coast and moved southwards and then back up the east coast. The two streams merged in eastern Indian and moved together thereafter.

                                   

Paleolithic (early stone age hunter gatherers dating from 500,000 - 10,000 BCE) sites have been found in various parts of India including Tamil Nadu (Attirampakkam) pointing to widespread development of stone tools and weapons. Some of these societies progressed into a Neolithic culture with the development of agriculture, pottery and finer stone tools. Neolithic cultures have been observed in several sites in Tamil Nadu as well. The dates here range from 2800 - 1500 BCE

The next significant human development has been the ability to use metal, starting with copper and bronze. India entered the Bronze Age with the Harappan Culture in around 3000 BCE. Interestingly, there does not appear to be any evidence of Neolithic cultures transiting to the Bronze Age anywhere else in India. Rather, in places like Tamil Nadu, Iron Age cultures have appeared without evidence of an intervening Bronze Age at all. One such example is Keezhadi.

However, before we come to that, one significant point that does strike me is that the Paleolithic and subsequent Neolithic cultures that came up in India in various places came up independently. There does not appear to be a link between them and there is no one 'mother culture' or primal site that came up first and the others followed. Secondly, Paleolithic cultures came up in all parts of India implying that both streams of migration out of Africa (Coastal and Indo Gangetic) were productive insofar as future development of mankind is concerned. These inferences are very important for the subsequent analysis in this article.

The traditional Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) postulates that the invading Aryans defeated the inhabitants of the Harappan civilisation who were the original Dravidians and forced them to disperse southwards. This happened suddenly in around 1200 BCE. Thus, the Bronze Age Harappans dispersed carrying with them the knowledge of smelting of Bronze that they had been using over the years. One would have expected them to use that knowledge in their new homelands and set up Bronze Age settlements elsewhere but surprisingly that did not happen. The Harappan script also did not make an appearance in any of the places where the people had allegedly moved to. The purpose of the foregoing is not to suggest a solution to the mystery of the Harappan civilisation but rather to postulate that there does not appear to have been a significant (sudden or on a big scale in a short period) level of contact between the Harappan civilisation and other burgeoning civilisations in India. The alternate view that there was no dramatic AIT and that due to a change in weather patterns and the drying of the rivers like the Saraswati, the inhabitants of the Harappan Civilisation gradually dispersed into the subcontinent, primarily into the fertile Indo Gangetic plain and their language and technology largely withered away.  

Coming back to Keezhadi

There is an excellent museum near the archaeological site that explains the findings in a simple fashion. It is clear that Keezhadi was an Iron Age settlement from the third Sangam period in Tamil Nadu. The dates have been well established by radiocarbon dating as 580 BCE to 300 CE. There are many iron artifacts such as sickles, nails and rods and remnants of furnaces and ore that clearly establish that it was indeed an Iron Age site. Interestingly, gold bars and jewelry have also been found so it is clear that the inhabitants had an understanding of other metals as well. Perhaps, the use of Bronze may have been for a short period or not at all. I was unable to find any references to the use of Bronze at Keezhadi though. There is also ample evidence of seafaring trade with the middle East and even Europe as there are many Roman coins that have been unearthed. 

The question is whether Keezhadi developed independently as an Iron Age site or was there movement of Harappan Civilisation people southwards consequent to the Aryan Invasion that led to its establishment? 

Frankly, the idea that the Harappans populated Keezhadi strains credibility. Amongst ample evidence of Paleolithic and Neolithic sites in the vicinity and the direct development of iron working that the Harappan Civilization never had it appears highly unlikely that the Harappans trekked thousands of km southwards and developed iron working skills along the way to set up Keezhadi. It is far more likely that this is an independent development. 

The most interesting thing from my perspective was the use of the Tamil Brahmi script at Keezhadi. The script is referred to as Tamili locally indicative perhaps of a desire to appropriate an indigenous origin to the script. Tamil Brahmi is clearly recognizable as Ashokan Brahmi with a few alterations/additions to accommodate sounds not commonly used in North India. 

Fragments of potsherds with Tamil Brahmi writing have been found at Keezhadi that have been dated to 580 BCE via radiocarbon dating. 

The date presents a problem. As of now, the earliest examples of Brahmi inscriptions are from Emperor Ashoka's time 268 - 232 BCE. Tamil Brahmi is said to have evolved via interaction with the Mauryan kingdom, not the other way round. So did the script emerge first in Tamil Nadu and then travel Northwards? There is a controversy around this point. Many archeologists question the methodology that was used for radiocarbon dating at Keezhadi pointing to 580 BCE as the earliest date for when the settlement came into being, not when the potsherds were inscribed with Tamil Brahmi letters A similar controversy exists around Sri Lankan Brahmi with findings from Anuradhapura allegedly predating Ashokan Brahmi. 

The dating controversy notwithstanding, it is clear that Brahmi was in universal use in India around 250 BCE with several languages using a common script. There are 3 alternative theories pertaining to Brahmi's origins as follows:

1. Brahmi emerged as an adaptation of a Semitic script. Trade contacts with the Phoenicians existed for a long time in both North and South India. The script candidates from which Brahmi is said to have been derived include Aramaic and Kharosthi.  
2. Brahmi evolved out of the Harappan Script. 
3. Ashoka created Brahmi and enforced it as a script for universal use

The Harappan Script had died out by 1200 BCE while Brahmi emerged around 250 BCE. Hence there is a gap of 1000 years in between. Some scholars point to an evolution from Harappan to Brahmi in inscriptions at Bet Dwarka and Daimabad but these claims are unsubstantiated as indeed the decipherment of the Harrapan script itself is still elusive. Scholars also remain indecisive about the derivation of Brahmi from a Semitic script. The differences appear to be more than the similarities.

That essentially leaves us with the enigmatic and powerful Mauryan emperor Ashoka. Did he decree the creation of a Script (Dhamma Lipi) for his edicts that was simple and easy to read? It is not beyond the realms of possibility as there was no script available in India at that time. Perhaps he looked at the plus points from Semitic scripts and modified them to create Brahmi. This amazing script led to the evolution to writing systems throughout Asia and it is estimated that today as many as 198 scripts are derived from it. After the collapse of the Mauryan empire, local scripts continued to evolve but as late as the Gupta period, almost 700 years later an educated person could still read Ashokan Brahmi.

So ending on an optimistic and wishful note. Perhaps India needs to consider bringing back a universal script that could be used by all languages (and what better candidate than Brahmi?). This would facilitate the ability to read all Indian languages even if you can not understand the words. A similar situation prevails in Europe and even Turkey adopted the Roman script under Ataturk. 

Perhaps the long arm of Emperor Ashoka can still reach out and bless us with the benediction of a universal, nation wide script.

Impermanence

Indians have been conditioned to seek stability and 'permanence' in everything we do. Family relationships, especially stable marriages are the bedrock of our society. Jobs and careers follow the same pattern. The sturdy middle class always sought government jobs as ones that were not run by pernicious capitalists and offered a stable, albeit  somewhat stultifying future for young aspirants. The pinnacle, of course, was the IAS or one of the central services.

This entire mindset has gone through a seismic change in the recent past. Some examples would serve to illustrate the point:

1. Marriages are not as stable as they used to be. It's another matter that marriages in the past may not have been stable either but there was a strong social stigma attached to divorce that prevented them from falling apart altogether. There is no such thing now. Divorce rates amongst the middle class (the labour class anyway has had a fairly relaxed approach in this context) and above have skyrocketed and a single woman divorcee does not attract the same societal opprobrium as earlier. Second and third marriages are fairly common and the 'yours, mine and ours' concept for children is becoming far more visible.
2. The most striking aspect of impermanence is clearly the attitude towards jobs. Not so long ago a young man or occasionally woman, was lucky enough to land a respectable government job soon after they graduated. This would form the basis of an honourable livelihood for the rest of his professional life. It would also define his social status, friends circle and the kind of people whom his children got married to. The first transition was to a private sector job instead of a government one. This was bad enough but it was compounded by increasing opportunities in a rapidly growing economy. The temptations of new opportunities and more money has led to a roller coaster of new jobs every few years or even months.
3.  A man no longer treasures his first scooter or car that he acquired after a long wait and much penny pinching. Ownership is increasingly passé. Ubiquitous Ubers and Olas have made car ownership unnecessary and even burdensome in our crowded cities. Even if you do decide to own a car, leasing is becoming the preferred option rather than buying. This is aided by rapidly evolving technology that constantly tempts you to move up to the next best thing. Mobile phones are a classic example of this. If you do change every two years to the latest shiny Apple and Samsung, do you stop to think that the cost of the hardware is likely much more than the service that we constantly complain about. It may be food for thought that if we were willing to pay a little more for better service and kept the same phone for 4 years we would be probably be far happier with the outcome.
4. The fact that rental yields are abysmally low may just be finally sinking in. At a 2% return on the replacement value, it makes far better sense to rent a house rather than buying one. In the previous generation, people struggled to buy their first homes with expensive bank loans and sacrificed holidays and what little luxuries they could afford for the stability that home ownership offered. The 'here and now' is much more important today and young people would rather spend on a holiday abroad than be tied up to a low yield asset.

This list could go on. As of now all this sounds depressingly familiar as it follows the track that most western countries have been on for quite some time. 

So does the concept of 'impermanence' have an Indian idiom? Will Indian society inexorably follow the path that the west has been on? 

The idea of impermanence is deeply embedded in Indian philosophy. One of the most striking examples of this is the way that Hindus treat the body after death. There is no burial and after burning the ashes are immersed in the Ganga. There is no attachment to the body. The atma is immortal and depending on what your karma specifies you could have a rebirth or attain moksha. Does this thinking permeate our daily lives?  

Interestingly, it does not. 

Hindus, and I dare say, Indians in general believe in the impermanence of the body yes, but not the impermanence or rather instability in the process of living. 

I feel that adoption of western concepts and ways of life tends to follow a kind of a S curve in India. Adoption starts slowly and then accelerates upto a point but then it flattens out. I may be sticking my neck out here but I would hazard a guess that divorce rates, for example, will not reach western levels in India even in heavily urbanised and westernised parts of India. Adoption of western food items like breakfast cereals have also followed this kind of pattern. Eventually idlis and parathas will prevail over breakfast cereal. There are many MNCs who have learnt the hard way that India will not mirror western market constructs and that one has to learn the Indian way if you are to succeed in this market.

One may argue that the leap from breakfast cereals to a metaphysical concept like impermanence is a tenuous one. Suffice it to say that most Indians are grounded in a reality that has been a long time in the making and one that is not easily shaken. There is something about a 5000 year old, unbroken civilisation in each one of us. World thought leaders? Mais non! But self confident in one's own skin, certainement!