Subject: Modern History

A reconnaissance survey in the sea off the coast of Korkai in Thoothukudi district where Tamiraparani River joins the sea, which finds mention in Sangam literature, will be undertaken by the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department.

About Tamiraparani River

• The Thamirabarani or Tamraparni or Porunai is a perennial river that originates from the Agastyarkoodam peak of the Pothigai hills of the Western Ghats.
• It flows through the Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts of the Tamil Nadu state of southern India into the Gulf of Mannar.
• It was called the Tamraparni River in the pre-classical period, a name it lent to the island of Sri Lanka.
• The old Tamil name of the river is Porunai.

Its history

• Its many name derivations of Tan Porunai include Tampraparani, Tamirabarni, Tamiravaruni.
• Tan Porunai nathi finds mention by classical Tamil poets in ancient Sangam Tamil literature Purananuru.
• Recognised as a holy river in Sanskrit literature Puranas, Mahabharata and Ramayana, the river was famed in the Early Pandyan Kingdom for its pearl and conch fisheries and trade.
• The movement of people, including the faithful, trade merchants and toddy tapers from Tamraparni river to northwestern Sri Lanka led to the shared appellation of the name for the closely connected region.
• One important historical document on the river is the treatise Tamraparni Mahatmyam.
• It has many ancient temples along its banks. A hamlet known as Appankoil is located on the northern side of the river.

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Back2Basics: Keeladi Civilization

• The Keeladi tale began to unravel in March 2015 when first round of excavation was undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• It unearthed antiquities providing crucial evidence to understanding the missing links of the Iron Age [12th century BCE to 6th century BCE] to the Early Historic Period [6th century BCE to 4th century BCE].
• Further excavations threw up strong clues about the existence of a Tamil Civilization that had trade links with other regions in the country and abroad.
• This civilization has been described by Tamil poets belonging to the Sangam period.
• Results of carbon dating of a few artifacts traced their existence to 2nd century BCE (the Sangam period).

Key findings in excavations

• These included brick structures, terracotta ring wells, fallen roofing with tiles, golden ornaments, broken parts of copper objects, iron implements, terracotta chess pieces, ear ornaments, spindle whorls, figurines.
• It also had black and redware, rouletted ware and a few pieces of Arretine ware, besides beads made of glass, terracotta and semi-precious stones.

 

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Prime Minister has declared that December 26 shall henceforth be marked as Veer Baal Diwas to pay homage to the courage of the Sahibzades, four sons of Guru Gobind Singh, the last Sikh guru.

What is the legend of Sahibzades?

• The word “Sahibzada” means “son” in Punjabi and is a term commonly used to refer to the 4 sons of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru.
• The week of 21 to 27 December is celebrated as the Sacrificial Week in memory of the four Sahibzadas who made sacrifices for the protection of Sikhism and Hinduism.
• Sahibzada Ajit Singh, Jujhar Singh, Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh got martyrdom while saving their religious faiths against forceful conversion.

Their martyrdom: A backgrounder story

• After the establishment of the Khalsa Panth, Guru Gobind Singh left the fort of Sri Anandpur Sahib with his family on 20-21 December 1704 to fight the invasion by Aurgangzeb.
• The elder sahibzade Ajit Singh, Jujhar Singh stayed with Guru ji, while the younger sons Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh were with Mata Gujri ji.
• Subedar Wazir Khan of Sirhind arrested the two Sahibzades subsequently and lured them for religious conversion.
• In the end, it was announced to get them elected in the living walls.
• The rest two sahibzades got assassinated in the battle of Chamkaur (1705).

Implications of their martyrdom

• When the news of this reached Guruji, he wrote a zafarnama (letter of victory) to Aurangzeb, in which he warned Aurangzeb that the Khalsa Panth was ready to destroy your empire.
• Baba Banda Singh Bahadur took revenge for the martyrdom of Guruji’s Sahibzadas.
• He punished Wazir Khan for his deeds in Sirhind and established Sikh hegemony over the entire area.
• The result of this sacrifice was that later a large Sikh empire emerged under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

A historic event in Indian History

• This event is an important part of Indian history and the occasion of their martyrdom is remembered and commemorated both with great vigor and sorrow.
• The names of Sahibzades are reverently preserved and are recalled every time Ardas (prayer) of supplication is recited at a congregation or privately by an individual.

 

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The Delhi Assembly has passed an amendment Bill to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1971, recognizing Takht Damdama Sahib as the fifth Takht of Sikhs.

What is a Sikh Takht?

• A Takht, which means a throne, is a seat of temporal authority for Sikhs.
• There are five Sikh Takhts, three in Punjab and one each in Maharashtra and Bihar.

(1) Akal Takht

• Located in Amritsar, it is the oldest of the Takhts, and considered supreme among the five.
• It was set up in 1606 by Guru Hargobind, whose succession as the sixth Guru after the execution of his father, Guru Arjan Dev, is considered a turning point in Sikh history.
• The Akal Takht, a raised platform that he built in front of the causeway leading to the sanctum sanctorum of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple).
• It symbolised the coming together of the temporal authority and the political sovereignty of the Sikh community (miri) with the spiritual authority (piri).
• It is seen as the first marker of Sikh nationalism.

The other four Takhts are linked to Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru.

(2) Takht Keshgarh Sahib

• Located in Anandpur Sahib in Punjab. It was here that Guru Gobind Singh raised Khalsa, the initiated Sikh warriors, in 1699.

(3) Takht Patna Sahib

• Guru Gobind Singh was born here in 1666.

(4) Takht Hazur Sahib

• In Nanded, where Guru Gobin Singh spent time and where he was cremated in 1708.

(5) Takht Damdama Sahib

• In Talwandi Sabo of Bathinda. Guru Gobind Singh spent several months here.

What does the amendment to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act mean?

• Simply put, it adds one more ex officio member in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managament Committee (DSGMC) house.
• Earlier, there were four ex officio members in the house — the chiefs (jathedars) of the other four Sikh Takhts.

Is it the first time it has been recognised as the fifth Takht?

• It was back in 1999 that Takht Damdama Sahib was recognised as the fifth Sikh Takht by the Union Home Ministry.
• It included it as such in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 (Punjab Act VIII of 1925) with a notification dated April 23, 1999.
• Before that, an SGPC sub-committee had declared it the fifth Takht of Sikhs back in November 1966 after Punjab was carved out as a separate state through the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.

How politically significant is the move?

• It comes ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, where the, Delhi’s ruling party, has high stakes.

What is the role of the Sikh Takhts?

• The Takhts are known to issue hukumnamas (morality orders) from time to time on issues that concern the Sikh community.
• Akal Takht is supreme among them because it is the oldest and was created by a Sikh Guru himself, say Sikh scholars.
• Any edict or order concerning the entire community is issued only from Akal Takht.
• It is from Akal Takht that Sikhs found to be violating the Sikh doctrine and code of conduct are awarded religious punishment (declared tankhaiya).

Who appoints the jathedars of the Takhts?

• The three Takhts in Punjab are directly controlled by the SGPC, which appoints the jathedars.
• The SGPC is dominated by SAD members.
• It is widely understood that SAD puts the final seal on the appointment of these three jathedars.
• The two Takhts outside Punjab have their own trusts and boards.

 

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The 2022 calendar of the IIT, Kharagpur on the theme of “evidence” for “rebutting the Aryan invasion myth” has caused controversy.

What is the Aryan Invasion Theory?

• It has always been understood that the Aryans migration from the Steppe happened after 2000 BCE.
• In 1953 Mortimer Wheeler proposed that the invasion of an Indo-European tribe from Central Asia, the “Aryans”, caused the decline of the Indus Civilization.
• As evidence, he cited a group of 37 skeletons found in various parts of Mohenjo-daro, and passages in the Vedas referring to battles and forts.
• However, scholars soon started to reject Wheeler’s theory, since the skeletons belonged to a period after the city’s abandonment and none were found near the citadel.

Basis of this theory

• This was first propounded when linguistic similarities between Sanskrit and the major European languages were discovered by European scholars during the colonial era.
• This tool was used by the colonizers to legitimize their rule in India.
• The theory hypothesizes that during 2000BC Aryans from Europe invaded or migrated into the Asian subcontinent.
• It states these ‘invaders’ killed the original Dravidians and set up the Aryan race in the South-Asian subcontinent.
• The Aryan Invasion Theory claimed that these ‘invaders’ were the root of modern Indian civilization, not the Harappan civilization.

Its rebuttal

• Recent studies have debunked the theory after DNA samples from 5000-year old Harappan remains were proven to be similar to modern Indians’ DNA as part of the Rakhigarhi Project.

Who were the Harappans then?

• The Harappans who created the agricultural revolution in northwestern India and then built the Harappan civilization were a mix of First Indians and Iranians who spoke a pre-Arya language.
• The Arya were central Asian Steppe pastoralists who arrived in India between roughly 2000 BCE and 1500 BCE, and brought Indo-European languages to the subcontinent.
• The new study says the Iranians arrived in India before agriculture or even herding had begun anywhere in the world.
• In other words, these migrants were likely to have been hunter-gatherers, which means they did not bring a knowledge of agriculture.

Try this PYQ:

Q With reference to the difference between the culture of Rigvedic Aryans and Indus Valley people, which of the following statements correct?

1. Rigvedic Aryans used the coat of mail and helmet in warfare whereas the people of Indus Valley Civilization did not leave any evidence of using them.
2. Rigvedic Aryans knew gold, silver and copper whereas Indus Valley people knew only copper and iron.
3. Rigvedic Aryans had domesticated the horse whereas there is no evidence of Indus Valley people having been aware of this animal.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) Only 1

(c) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

 

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The Archaeological Survey of India is working on a preliminary roadmap to safely remove sand from the interiors of Odisha’s Sun Temple, which was filled up by the British 118 years ago to prevent it from collapsing.

Konark Sun Temple

• Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century CE Sun temple at Konark about 36 kilometres northeast from Puri on the coastline of Odisha, India.
• The temple is attributed to king Narasinga Deva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty about 1250 CE.
• Declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984 it remains a major pilgrimage site for Hindus, who gather here every year for the Chandrabhaga Mela around the month of February.

Its architecture

• Dedicated to the Hindu Sun God Surya, what remains of the temple complex has the appearance of a 100-foot (30 m) high chariot with immense wheels and horses, all carved from stone.

• Its architecture has all the defining elements of the Kalinga architecture – it includes Shikhara (crown), Jagmohana (audience hall), Natmandir (dance hall), and Vimana (tower).

• Also called the Surya Devalaya, it is a classic illustration of the Odisha style of Architecture or Kalinga Architecture.
• Once over 200 feet (61 m) high, much of the temple is now in ruins, in particular the large shikara tower over the sanctuary; at one time this rose much higher than the mandapa that remains.
• The structures and elements that have survived are famed for their intricate artwork, iconography, and themes, including erotic kama and mithuna scenes.
• The Jagamohan is the only structure that is fully intact now.

Earlier restoration efforts

• It had been filled with sand and sealed by the British authorities in 1903 in order to stabilize the structure, a/c to ASI.
• The sand filled in over 100 years ago had settled, leading to a gap of about 17 feet.
• However, the structure was found to be stable.

 

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