Journey of Civilization: From Indus to Vaigai

Chennai: Journey of Civilization: From Indus to Vaigai, written by R Balakrishnan, has been released here at the Anna Centenary Library Auditorium. The book was published by the Roja Muthiah Research Library, Chennai. Hon’ble Justice R. Mahadevan of Madras High Court released the book and the first copy was received by Mr. Tony Joseph, author of the best seller, ‘Early Indians’.

Other eminent personalities present include former Chief Election Commissioner of India Mr. N Gopalaswami, Mr. Subroto Bagchi, Chairman, Odisha Skill Development Authority, Mr. T. Udaychandran IAS., Commissioner of Archaeology, Government of Tamilnadu, eminent archaeologists K.Rajan and P. J. Cherian. The function was attended by eminent dignitaries, authors, writers, researchers and others.

Mr. Sudarshan Patnaik stole the limelight with his brilliant portrayal of the book in Sand Art.

The book seeks to establish common grounds and connecting threads that link the riddles of Indology, namely the authorship and language of the Indus Valley Civilization and the origins of Dravidian language speaking people in general and Old Tamil traditions in particular. The author considers these issues to be not only interconnected but two sides of the same coin.

This book also places new evidence about the Dravidian affiliation with the language of the Indus people and positions the ancient Sangam Tamil corpus as a proto-document that is relevant for understanding Tamil pre-history which had probable connections to the Indus Civilization. The spatial and temporal distances between the Indus Valley Civilization and ancient Tamilakam cannot be a restricting factor to tracing remnants of the Dravidian in the northwestern geographies and its legacy markers in the Sangam texts.

Using technological tools such as Geographic Information System (GIS), the author has analyzed what he calls the ‘Journey of a Civilization’ and argues that place-names are reliable markers to track ancient migrations. The book celebrates the plural foundations of Indian culture and prefers a narrative of the ‘Rain Forest’ instead of the popular ‘melting pot’ metaphor. As P. J. Cherian observes, Balakrishnan has provided a road map for future research with far-reaching consequences.

R Balakrishnan is a researcher, writer and poet. He received his postgraduate degree in Tamil Literature and is the first student of Tamil literature to clear the Civil Services exam. He joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1984 from Odisha cadre. His postings in the tribal areas of Odisha triggered his interest in Indology, Anthropology and Place-name Studies. He has published several research papers on Place-name Studies, Odisha’s cultural history and its plural foundations. The author has expressed his gratitude to the tribes of Odisha for having a lasting influence on him. He studied their lifestyle and culture closely and it was from them that he learned his first lessons on pluralism, diversity, inclusiveness and the beauty of coexistence. Those initial lessons have been his anchoring and guiding spirit, he says.