Coimbatore : The monthly lecture series of Vanavarayar Foundation witnessed a special lecture, today on 'Indus Valley Civilization' by renowned researcher on civilization , Dr.R. Balakrishnan, Honorary Consultant, Indus Research Centre, Chennai who was also the Chief Guest for the day.
Coimbatore : The monthly lecture series of Vanavarayar Foundation witnessed a special lecture, today on 'Indus Valley Civilization' by renowned researcher on civilization , Dr.R. Balakrishnan, Honorary Consultant, Indus Research Centre, Chennai who was also the Chief Guest for the day.
Addressing the gathering, he recalled about his research articles on Indus Valley Civilization presented first during 'Semmozhi Maanaadu' held in Coimbatore in the year 2010.
He evoked that September 20, 1924 is an important date for Indian archaeology. "We all owe to Sir John Hubert Marshall, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1928. Sir John introduced the Indus Valley Civilization' to the World. Without which, the history of Indian Civilization' would have been a different one", he added.
"Mohenjo-Daro was the Manhattan of Indus Valley Civilization, dating back to 4500 years. We had the most urbanized cosmopolitan Civilization", he lauded.
Throwing light on Sangam literature, Dr. Balakrishnan said "Among several unique features, the Sangam literature was the only literature which honored Women. Often literatures glorified a woman's beauty by comparing her to a flower, moon, birds and other nature related things but our Sangam literature glorified and compared a woman's beauty with the structural beauty of the city", he revealed.
"Ah, look at the beauty of her eyebrows, it is sharp and bent like the street", he cited an example.
"Around 52 Sangam literatures have idolized and worshipped Women. The prominence of women in Sangam literature shows how civilized people of the Indus Valley Civilization were", he claimed.
He also cited literature from Silapathigaram and Pattinapaalai which extolled the beauty of the cities and the life of the people.
Revealing the names of prominent cities in the Indus Valley Civilization, he said cities like Banawali, Lothal is a proof for urbanized living, even in the bygone era. People of Indus valley traded even with other ancient civilisations like Sumeria and Mesopotamia. They were way ahead of their days, they were way ahead of what we know about them, he added.
He also briefed on how people migrated from one place to another and how their history, culture, work, food, and names traveled along with them. “Tamil travelled wherever Tamilians travelled”, he added
Briefing on Keezhadi excavation, Dr. Balakrishnan said there is a long way to go. "More surprises and secrets awaits as we dig further".
"TAMIL is the language of a civilization not a language of a state or a group of people. We will fight until this message is instilled among people", he opined.
'Journey of a Civilization' a comprehensive book on my research works will be released soon", he concluded.