IIanδaih and sita: on the historical background of the Sanskrit epics.

• Author: Parpola, Asko

THE MAHABHARATA AND THE MEGALITHS

THE RGVEDA WAS MOSTLY COMPOSED in the Punjab c. 1500-1200 B.C. The focus of the MBh is in the upper Ganges Valley, c. 900-700 B.C. (Buitenen 1973: xxiv). In Valmiki's R, the hero's domicile is in the middle Ganges Valley, and the old core is dated to c. 750-500 B.C. (Goldman 1984: I, 23) or c. 500-300 B.C. (Brockington 1998: 379). The texts reflect a gradual eastward move of the cultural center of the Indo-Aryan speakers (cf. Brockington 1998: 198).

King Janamejaya Pariksita's horse sacrifice is glorified in AB 8,21,3 = SB 13,5,4,2 = SSS 16,9,1, one of the rare samples of "proto-epic" verses recited in Vedic royal rituals (cf. Weber 1891; Horsch 1966). According to its own testimony (1,40ff.), the MBh was first recited at King Janamejaya's snake sacrifice (sarpasatrra), in which snakes were victims thrown into fire. In the Vedic sarpasattra, kings and princes of the snakes in human form officiated as priests, and Janamejaya was one of the two adhvaryus, and the Brahman priest was Dhrtarastra Airavata (PB 25,15; BaudhSS 17,18). In the MBh, Dhrtarastra is not only a Kuru king, but also an ancestor of the snakes sacrificed at the sarpasattra (1,52,13). The MBh thus both preserves and distorts Middle Vedic traditions connected with Janamejaya and Pariksit, whose descendants are referred to in BAU 3,3,1-2 as a vanished dynasty (Weber 1852: 121, 177; 1891: 774; Buitenen 1973: I, xxivf.; Shulman 1980: 120f.; Minkowski 1989; Brockington 1998: 6).

The culture distinguished by the use of iron, horse, and Painted Grey Ware (PGW) (c. 1000-350 B.C.) is found lowest at all major sites associated with the main story of the MBh. It thus offers a suitable archaeological correlate to the earliest layers of the MBh (cf. Lal 1981; 1992; Buitenen 1973: I, 11f.; Erdosy 1995: 79ff.; Brockington 1998: 133, 159-62). I have suggested that the early PGW culture with few and small towns (c. 1000-700 B.C.) represents the Middle Vedic culture and its Kuru kingdom, and the late PGW culture with many more towns including Mathura (c. 700-350 B.C.) the Pandava period (Parpola 1984: 453ff.).

King Pandu and the five Pandavas are never once mentioned in any Vedic text (Weber 1853: 402f.; Hopkins 1901: 376, 385, 396; Horsch 1966: 284; Brockington 1998: 6). The Pandavas, therefore, have arrived on the scene only after the completion of Vedic literature. They could crush the Kurus by making a marriage alliance with the Kurus' eastern neighbors, the Pancalas. To consolidate their rule, the victorious Pandavas let themselves be grafted onto the Kuru genealogy and be represented as cousins of their former foes (Lassen 1847: I, 589-713; Weber 1852: 130-33; 1853: 402-4; Schroeder 1887: 476-82; Hopkins 1889: 2-13; 1901: 376).

The war was over and the epic in existence by c. 400-350 B.C.: Panini refers to the joint worship of Vasudeva and Arjuna (4,3,98), and mentions also Yudhisthira (8,3,95), Hastinapura (6,2,101), Andhaka-Vrsnayah (6,2,34), and Mahabharata (6,2,38) (Weber 1852: 176; Hopkins 1901: 385, 390f.; Jaiswal 1981: 64f.; Brockington 1998: 257).

Apart from the absence of their mention in Vedic texts, there are other indications pointing to the foreign, and specifically Iranian, origin of the Pandavas (cf. Parpola 1984). Their polyandric marriage, which shocked the people present (MBh 1,197,27-29; Hopkins 1889: 298f.), can be compared to the customs of the Iranian Massagetae (Herodotus 1,216). Hanging their dead in trees (MBh 4,5,27-29; Brockington 1998: 227) resembles the Iranian mode of exposure of the corpse to birds.

Foreign, northerly origin is suggested by their pale skin color, which the MBh (1,100,17-18) connects with the name of Pandu, literally 'pale'; the name Arjuna likewise means 'white' (Lassen 1847: I, 634, 641-43). Sanskrit pandu, pandura-, pandara- 'white, whitish, yellowish, pale', attested since c. 800 B.C. (SB, SA), are loanwords going back to the same Dravidian root as Sanskrit phala- 'fruit' (cf. Tamil palam 'ripe fruit') and pandita- 'learned' (differently Mayrhofer 1996: II, 70f., 201f.), namely pal- / pand- 'to ripen, mature, arrive at perfection (as in knowledge, piety), change color by age, (fruit) to become yellow, (hair) to become grey, to become pale (as the body by disease [esp. leukoderma])' (cf. DEDR 4004; Parpola 1984: 455).

This appellation probably originated in Gujarat and Maharashtra, where there is considerable evidence of a strong Dravidian substratum (cf. Parpola 1994: 170ff.). The Pandavas' hiding in Viratanagara (Bairat near Jaipur), their alliance with Krnsa Vasudeva, and the location of their first kingdom in the wooded southern half of Kuruksetra suggest that they probably entered the subcontinent from the west, via Sindh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. The MBh (2,23-29) and early northern Buddhist texts (cf. Weber 1853: 403) speak of the Pandavas as marauders over wide areas, also in north India.

If the Pandavas were foreigners of Iranian affinity coming to India c. 800-400 B.C., do they have any counterpart in the archaeological record? In my opinion (cf. Parpola 1984), a good match is the "Megalithic" culture, first attested c. 800 B.C. at sites such as Mahurjhari and Khapa in Vidarbha in NE Maharashtra. These oldest graves are simple stone-circles, in which people were buried with weapons and horses; the horse-furniture especially has parallels in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and western Iran. The circular huts with wooden posts and a fireplace are similar to the yurts used by the nomads of Central and Inner Asian steppes.

After their arrival in western India, the carriers of the Megalithic culture adopted the Black-and-Red Ware pottery (of local Chalcolithic origin) and during the following several centuries spread over wide areas, mainly southwards to the Deccan, south India, and Sri Lanka. In many regions, folklore associates the megaliths with the Pandavas. Numerous iron tridents suggest a Saiva religion. Martial traditions of Megalithic origin still continue in the Deccan, where horsemen accompanied by dogs worship Saiva deities with tridents in yurt-like shrines (Sontheimer 1989: 26ff.). In Tamil Nadu the Megalithic culture continued till the second century A.D. and is reflected in the Old Tamil heroic poetry. (Cf. Deo 1973; 1984; Leshnik 1974; 1975; Allchin & Allchin 1982: 344f.; McIntosh 1985; Ghosh 1989: I, 110-30 and 243-51; Maloney 1975: 6ff.; Parpola 1984: 458f.)

THE RAMAYANA AND THE MEGALITHS

Most notable among the attempts to correlate archaeological cultures with the R (cf. Brockington 1998: 398-400) is that with the early Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW). This was suggested by B. B. Lal after excavating sites identified as being R's Ayodhya, Nandigrama, Srngaverapura, and Bharadvaja's asrama. George Erdosy (1995: 100-105) in his assessment of all radiocarbon dates places the early NBPW at 550-400 B.C., which nearly agrees with Brockington's date for the first phase of the R, 500-300 B.C.

Christian Lassen (1847: I, 535) proposed that the R "contains the legend of the first attempt of the Aryans to extend their power southwards by warring expeditions." Albrecht Weber (1871: 3-5) was inclined to accept this view, though it was clear to him (p. 29f.) that the poem was composed in north India and that its author did not have any exact knowledge of the southern parts of the subcontinent. Present-day research agrees on this relative ignorance of the south, which has led many scholars to locate Lanka somewhere in Madhya Pradesh; while John Brockington (1998: 420, 423) opts for this alternative, Robert Goldman (1985: 28) finds it unlikely, noting that "the poet knew of an island kingdom, whether real or mythical, said to lie some distance off the coast of the Indian mainland." Indeed, as early as the second or third century A.D., an Old Tamil poem (Akananuru 70) refers to Koti (= Dhanuskoti, the tip of mainland opposite to Adam's Bridge in Ceylon) as the place from which the victorious Rama crossed ov er to Lanka (cf. Hart 1975: 61f.).

The archaeology of early historical Sri Lanka, so far largely ignored in this connection, has become much Clearer than before only recently. Robin Coningham (1995: 159-69) gives a detailed analysis of the stratigraphy of Anuradhapura and a rapid survey of other sites (170ff.). The oldest, "Mesolithic" period is evidenced by locally manufactured stone tools. In the second, "Iron Age" period the habitation area of Anuradhapura was c. 18 hectares with circular huts indicated by postholes. People had "typical Black and Red burnished ware," iron, and cattle. Radiocarbon-based dates are c. 600-450 B.C., but the period may have started as early as c. 800 B.C. In the "Early Historic 1" period (c. 450-350 B.C.), the site and the circular huts are larger, and there are strong similarities with South Indian Megalithic burials. The pottery is still dominated by Black and Red burnished ware. Horse bones are found, and indications of a major expansion of trade and manufacturing of conch shell, iron ore, amethyst, and quartz. In the "Early Historic 2" period (c. 350-275 B.C.), the site is more than 66 hectares and surrounded by a defensive wall. Finds include mother of pearl, cowrie and conch shells, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, and carnelian from Gujarat, five Brahmi (!) inscriptions on potsherds, and, towards the end, coins stamped with a single arched hill or caitya. The "Early Historic 3 and 4" periods (c. 275-225 and 225-150 B.C.) have also yielded typically Hellenistic objects.

Widespread evidence covering the entire island suggests that Sri Lanka was inhabited only by tribes of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers until c. 800-600 B.C., when agriculture and cattle-raising were introduced by an Iron Age culture characterized by "Megalithic" burials and Black-and-Red Ware. It is so similar to the Iron Age Megalithic culture of the Indian mainland that its spread must be ascribed to actual movements of people. But where exactly did...