Multi-disciplinary researches lead to an understanding of the importance attached to River Sarasvati in Hindu civilization traditions which recognize that Sarasvati is vaak (speech). She is the embodiment of jnaana (knowledge). She is vidyaa devi (Divinity of education). Vaacas (derived from vaak) refers to a dialect. From an early text of Manu, two forms of dialects are recognized and attributed to the same people knows as dasyu:
The characteristics which distinguish these two forms of vaacas (dialect) are that
The two forms of the same language led to the formation and evolution of a linguistic area in Sarasvati river basin from very early times, exemplified by common terms for agricultural practices (flora and fauna), metallurgical technique (minerals, metals, alloys and furnaces). These substratum terms are still extant in many early forms of present-day languages of India, the extended linguistic area. This leads to the possibility of unraveling the code of the so-called Indus script as mlecchita vikalpa 'cryptographic writing system' or use of Sarasvati hieroglyphs to denote the repertoire of a smithy or a mint. The linguistic area was also an area where early metallurgical inventions of alloying and trading in the alloyed tools and weapons necessitated the invention of a writing system to facilitate long-distance trade in a maritime, riverine civilization. Sarasvati is seen in three forms in Rigveda in a rica of Rishi Gritsamada establishing the link between the Sarasvati river basin (saptasindhu region) and the cultural continuum in Hindu civilization from ca. 5th millennium BCE: ambitame -- best of mothers
The horse and the Aryan debate -- Michel Danino (Sept. 2006) Domestication of the donkey: timeline, processes and indicators: Stine Rossel et al (2007)
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