Note: I attempted to contact the publishers about this to correct the footnote, but received no response.
On page 83 of the Second Coming of Christ, by Paramahansa Yogananda, published by SRF in 2004 (Hardcover Edition), there is a section of footnotes supposedly giving references on the age of India’s civilization.
The very first one is from a book published by two co-authors, who are well known for publishing fraudulent archeological claims.
The footnote reads:
” ‘On the basis of archaeology, satellite photography, metallurgy, and ancient mathematics, it is now clear that there existed a great civilization — a mainly spiritual civilization perhaps — before the rise of Egypt, Sumeria, and the Indus Valley. The heartland of this ancient world was the region from the Indus to the Ganga — the land of the Vedic Aryans,’ state N.S. Rajaram and David Frawley, O.M.D., in Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization (New Delhi: Voice of India, 1997).”
There are a several problems with this footnote.
- They claim that the civilization was “a mostly spiritual civilization perhaps”. I’m not sure on what basis they are making this claim. The Harappan Civilization is known as a civilization of merchants, traders, and artisans.
- They’re claiming that their “mostly spiritual civilization” existed before the Indus Valley / Harappan Civilization. There’s no evidence of a large civilization in India prior to the Harappan Civilization, unless you’re counting farmers and hunter-gatherers.
- The claim that the Harrapan / Indus Valley Civilization is “the land of the Vedic Aryans”. The Harrapan Civilization (3300 BCE to 1300 BCE) preceded the Vedic period(c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE). Most evidence points to the Vedic / Aryan culture entering India from the central Asian Steppe region starting around 2000 BCE.
- The claim that this pseudo Vedic-Harappan culture preceded Sumeria and Egypt. The planned cities of Harappan culture span between 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE while the Egyptian Early Dynastic Period begins around 3100. Uruk, the oldest city in the world, formed around 4000 BCE.
Now let’s look at the authors themselves. Neither of them are historians, archaeologists, or linguists. Their books are published directly to the general public without peer review. Both are known for spreading Hindutva propaganda and falsifying archeological evidence.
N.S Rajaram – An Indian academic and former Nasa Scientist. Falsely claimed to have “found” a horse seal and to have deciphered the Harappan script. The “horse” was a computer edited image based on a broken “unicorn-bull” seal. Read the Article: Horseplay in Harappa: the Indus valley decipherment Hoax
David Frawley, O.M.D – The “O.M.D” refers to his “Doctor of Oriental Medicine” degree taken through a correspondence course from the International Institute of Chinese Medicine, Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a mostly self-taught “scholar” of sanskrit, and often debates against outdated theories such as the “Aryan Invasion Theory”. In a detailed response on Quora to the question “What do you think of David Frawley”, the writer observes that Frawley, in one of his books, has erased a human head on a stool from a Harappan seal because it does not support his theory that the Harappan Civilization is Vedic. Frawley is a prominent figure in the Hindutva movement.
Please see my Links page for further reading/watching.
Sources:
Horseplay in Harappa: the Indus valley decipherment Hoax
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilisation
https://www.chronoflotimeline.com/timeline/shared/4392/Ancient-History-Timeline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Aryan_migrations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._S._Rajaram
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