Sarasvati (In 7 Volumes)

This septet constitutes a fitting homage to Babasaheb (Uma_ka_nt kes’av) Apte, particularly in the wake of the centenary celebrations planned for 2003 in memory of this patriot who wanted a presentation of the history of Bha_rata from a Bha_rati_ya socio-cultural perspective. The dream of the late Padmashri Vakankar, archaeologist is also partly fulfilled with the delineation of the peoples’ lives over 5,000 years on the banks of the Rivers Sarasvati and Sindhu. The Sarasvati Nadi Shodh Prakalp which is headed by Dr. Kalyanaraman under the guidance of Shri Haribhau Vaze, All-India Organizing Secretary, Akhila Bharateeya Itihaasa Sankalana Yojana should be complimented for bringing to successful completion this important phase of writing of the history of ancient Bha-rata. The River Sarasvati has not only been established as ground-truth (bhu_mi satyam), but the vibrant civilization which was nurtured on the banks of this river has been exquisitely unraveled in the five volumes, covering virtually all aspects of the lives of the pitr.-s, many of whose a_s’rama-s are venerated even today in many parts of Bha_rata. The seven volumes provide a framework for understanding the writing system evolved ca. 5,300 years ago to record the possessions and items traded by metal- and fire- workers, the bharata-s. The language spoken by the people is also becoming clearer, with the existence of a linguistic area on the banks of the two rivers – the substrata and ad-strata lexemes which seem to match the glyphs of inscribed objects are a testimony to this discovery. This calls for a paradigm shift in the study of languages of Bha_rata with particular reference to the essential semantic unity of all the language families, thanks to intense socio-economic and cultural interactions across the length and breadth of Bha_rata. Hopefully, this work should generate many more research studies of this kind to further study the impact of the civilization on the cultural unity of the nation.