Ingenious methods are adopted to push Indian history to a later period than its rightful place.
That the date of Rigveda at 5114 BC and the dating of Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas and Tamil classics is wrong has been explained in my articles.
Now I find references to Chariot,about which Indian history abounds in the Vedas, Puranas , Ramayana, Mahabharata and Tamil classics,that try to trace the origin of chariots to Mesapotamia.
This attempt is to post date Indian antiquity,conveying by inference,that references to Chariots as fantasy!
Let’s look at facts.
Chariots are mentioned in the Vedas,Puranas.
The worship of Sun is found in the Vedas.
Sun is described to be on a chariot driven by seven horses.
The movement of Sun , traveling by his chariot is taken as the reference point for Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice.
Movement of Sun to Tropic of Cancer is marked as Uttarayana and to Capricorn as Dakshinayana.
There are Sukthas for Dawn.
It also describes chariots.
Ramayana, Mahabharata,Puranas mention chariots being used for royal occasions and for war.
The first world war was the Dasarjanerya yuddha,where chariots were used.
Kings of ancient India from the ancestors of Rama to latest Tamil kings had their military based on the following divisions.
Ratha, chariot,
Gaja, Elephants,
Thuraka,Horses and
Pathathi,Soldiers.
Read the clever misinformation that Chariots came to India from Mesapotamia and Hittites.
They are from Indian and Tamil civilization.
Please refer my articles on this.
Please
Veda references to Chariot.
Ratha (Sanskrit: रथ, rátha, Avestan raθa) is the Indo-Iranian term for a spoked-wheel chariotor a cart of antiquity. Its equivalent term in the Dravidian languages is taer...
Chariots figure prominently in the Rigveda, evidencing their presence in India in the 2nd millennium BCE. Notably, the Rigveda differentiates between the Ratha (chariot) and the Anas (often translated as “cart”).Rigvedic chariots are described as made of the wood of Salmali (RV 10.85.20), Khadira and Simsapa (RV 3.53.19) trees. While the number of wheels varies, chariot measurements for each configuration are found in the Shulba Sutras.
Chariots also feature prominently in later texts, including the other Vedas, the Puranasand the great Hindu epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata). Indeed, most of the deities in the Hindu pantheon are portrayed as riding them. Among Rigvedic deities, notably Ushas(the dawn) rides in a chariot, as well as Agni in his function as a messenger between gods and men. In RV 6.61.13, the Sarasvati river is described as being wide and speedy, like a (Rigvedic) chariot.
At Harappa in modern-day Pakistan we find evidence for the use of terracotta model carts as early as 3500 BC during the Ravi Phase at Harappa.
During the Harappan Period (Harappa Phase, 2600…1900 BC) there was a dramatic increase in terracotta cart and wheel types at Harappa and other sites throughout the Indus region. The diversity in carts and wheels, including depictions of what may be spoked wheels, during this period of urban expansion and trade may reflect different functional needs, as well as stylistic and cultural preferences. The unique fonns and the early appearance of carts in the Indus valley region suggest that they are the result of indigenous technological development and not diffusion from West Asia or Central Asia as proposed by earlier scholars.
..The earliest chariot remains that have been found in India (at Atranjikhera) have been dated to between 350 and 50 BCE. There is evidence of wheeled vehicles (especially miniature models) in the Indus Valley Civilization, but not of chariots.
Source.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratha#Textual_evidence
First ever” physical evidence of chariots dating 2000 BC – 1800 BC have been found by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) during a trial excavation in Sanauli village near Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh.
Decorated with copper motifs, the findings of the Copper-Bronze age have opened up further research opportunities into the area’s civilisation and culture.
…
HIGHLIGHTS
- Findings shed light on progress of Indian civilisation back then
- Relics make Indian civilisation at par with the 2000 BC Mesopotamia
- Swords, daggers, shields and a helmet confirmed the existence of a warrior population
The “first ever” physical evidence of chariots dating 2000 BC – 1800 BC have been found by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) during a trial excavation in Sanauli village near Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh.
Decorated with copper motifs, the findings of the Copper-Bronze age have opened up further research opportunities into the area’s civilisation and culture.
The three-month long excavation, which started in March this year, has unearthed eight burial sites and several artifacts including three coffins, antenna swords, daggers, combs, and ornaments, among others.
The three chariots found in the burial pits could remind one of the familiar images of horse-drawn carriages from mythological television shows.
The relics suggest the existence of a two-wheeled open vehicle that may have been driven by one person.
“The wheels rotated on a fixed axle linked by a draft pole to the yoke of a pair of animals. The axle was attached with a superstructure consisting of a platform protected by side-screens and a high dashboard,” S K Manjul, director of Delhi-based Institute of Archaeology, said.
The wheels and the pole have been found decorated with copper triangles, symbolic of the rays of the sun.
Manjul termed the digging drive a “path-breaking” one, also because of the copper plated anthropomorphic figures — having horns and peepal-leafed crowns — found on the coffins, that indicated a possiblity of “royal burials.
Source.
Related.
The first reference to charioteers in the civilized world comes from Syriaaround 1800 BCE. Over the course of the next four centuries, chariots advanced into civilization, either by direct migration of steppe people or by diffusion, and it quickly came to be the preferred elite weapon.
Hittites established their first kingdom with the help of chariots c. 1700 BCE, and thereafter used them intensely; Hurrians, from somewhere near the Caucasus, penetrated in the Middle East and carved a kingdom for themselves that was to play an important role in that region, Mitanni, around 1500 BCE; Egypt’s north was taken by charioteers called Hyksos c.1650 BCE, who established their own dynasties; in China the first dynasty appeared, the Shang (starting c. 1600 BCE), with an aristocracy of charioteers; Mycenaeans adopted the chariot in Greece, which likely helped them invade their more sophisticated Minoan neighbours (c. 1400 BCE); tribes called Kassites appeared driving chariots from Iran and took Babylonia, establishing their own dyansty (c. 1570 BCE), which was to last four centuries; and the steppe dwelling Aryans, charioteers as well, from c. 1500 BCE migrated south to what today is Iran, Pakistan and India, profoundly influencing the local culture, particularly establishing the basis for Hinduism.
Ramanisblog 