Fossils and myths in North India:
Is there a connection between
the Siwalik Hills and the Mahâbhârata?
by Alexandra van der Geer (1), Michael Dermitzakis (1)
and John de Vos (2)
1) Museum of Palaeontology and Geology,
National and Kapodistrian University of
Athens, Greece
2) National Museum of Natural
History Naturalis, Leiden, the
Netherlands
The Siwalik Hill range of Pakistan and northern India:
famous for its mammal fossils
Kurukshetra (Haryana), plain at the foot of
the Siwalik Hills, stage for the Mahabharata
What is a fossil?
Fossils are the petrified traces of life forms from
before the end of the last ice age (Holocene)
I) Remains of the animal or plant, or the
imprint it left. Such as: bones, teeth, skin
impressions, hair, shells, impressions of
animals or plants in the sediment
II) Remains of something that was made by
the animal while it was living (“trace
fossils”). Such as: footprints, burrows,
coprolites, eggs
Fossils are proof for historical
value of narratives: fossils
are bones and teeth of
giants, dragons, monsters,
saints, heroes
Fossils are also seen as
sacred objects and amulets
Fossils are even used as
medicines
All based upon similarity in morphology, shape, colour
Geological phenomena in the landscape as evidence
Krishna’s butter ball near
Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu)
Holy stone along the Sutlej
river bank(Tibet)
Everywhere, fossils are seen as evidence for a myth
or legend
Siwalik Hills, foothills of the Himalayas: rich fossil
bone beds at the surface. The abundant fossils
found here also confirmed a legend
The legend of Kurukshetra, plain at the foot
of Siwalik Hills, stage for the Mahabharatawar
The fossil evidence raised the story to
mythological scale, and kept the
memory alive
© A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The Mahâbhârata, the third largest epic in the
world. It tells the history of the descendants of
Bharata, divided into 18 books
The Bhagavadgita is just one of its
chapters, but became the most important
The Mahâbhârata was spread further to the
east: Cambodja, Thailand, Vietnam,
Indonesia
Angkor Vat, © ASI 1900-1920
The epic is based upon oral tradition,
and grew into its present form between
c. 400 BCE to 400 CE
Composed by the seer Vyasa, who is
also one of the major dynastic
characters within the epic itself
Ganesa wrote the story down, while
Vyasa recited it. Once, the pen failed,
and Ganesa broke off one of his tusks
as a replacement
The main core of the Mahâbhârata is the
battle of Kurukshetra. Originally described in
a much shorter work: Jaya (Skt.: victory)
War between two branches of North Indian
Bharata dynasty: Pandavas and Kauravas
The war is difficult to date. Based upon
astronomical events described in the epic,
two options. First, the war took place
around 3,106 BCE (= during Indus valley
civilization period)
Second option: 1,478 BCE. Seen the use
of horse and chariot and war elephants,
this option is the most likely
© Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Arjuna stops Krsna from attacking Bhishma
"Kurukshetra's plain is strewn with the corpes of kings"
"The ground is rugged with heaps of elephant's corpses like huge
boulders. On every side are vultures' nests"
"The ground is soaked with the blood of horses, men, and elephants,
wounded and slain. There is a confused mass of torn mail, skins,
umbrellas, chowries, javelins, arrows, spears, and armour mixed with
headless trunks, and a litter of every sort of weapon"
"Rivers of blood are crossed by bridges of elephant's corpses"
"The earth shows clearly all around in the pitiless rays of the sun
slaughtered warriors and kings, elephants and chargers; it seems to
support a host of fallen stars, covered as it is with darts and lances,
arrows, javelins, and swords"
"Duryodhana's muscular shoulders, hard as the trunk of Indra's elephant,
are torn open"
"Bhîma, matchless in battles, huge as a mountain, ........ sinks on the earth
like the Golden Peak (= peak in Himâlayas) struck by a thunderbolt"
The stage for the Mahabharata is set on the plains of what is now the state of
Haryana (North India), in the Kurukshetra district
The region is bordered by the foothills of the
Himalayas; the Siwalik Hill Range
Kurukshetra, a pilgrimage landscape
Brahma Sarovar, or
Kurukshetra tank
About 360 sacred sites (tirthas) in and around Kurukshetra, yearly
visited by thousands of pilgrims
Some sites are linked to Mahabharata’s battle: Bhishmakunda (Skt.
Bhishma’s cremation place), and Asthipura (Skt. bone-town). Most
important is Kurukshetra’s link with the Bhagavadgita, part of the
Mahabharata
Gita-dvar, with statue of Arjuna’s battle-chariot
Kurukshetra and the Sarasvati river
Once, the Sarasvati river was an important river. It got glacial waters from the
Yamuna and Sutlej rivers. Tectonic changes in the Siwalik ranges caused major
migrations in the rivers, and the Sarasvati river became a seasonal, rain-fed
stream. For a large part, it flows below the surface. Satellite images reveal its
former location. Along the former channel, large settlements are excavated.
The Sarasvati, a small
river today
At some archaeological sites
around Kurukshetra, Painted Grey
Ware (PGW) pottery is found.
These sites are Raja Karan Ka
Tila, Asthipura, Bhor Saidan,
Bhagpura and Daulatpur. This
PGW is related to the Vedic
culture, and is dated c. 1050-450
BCE
Falconer (19th century CE) collected over 300 large
fossil bones in a single day in the Siwalik Hills
These very rich fossiliferous deposits are
nowadays exemplary for a much larger area, found
from Pakistan up to Indonesia. They are very clear
and thick in the Punjab, run eastwards and
disappear at the Godavari river, but they reemerge in Sri Lanka.
© P.D. Gingerich, Michigan
In Haryana (Markanda valley, Kurukshetra,
and surrounding areas), the fossil fauna
belongs to the Late Siwaliks, dated to
about 2.48 million years ago (Late
Pliocene)
Some elements of this fauna are not too
different from present-day animals, except
for their larger size, strange tusks, strange
dentition. Such as a stegodont (Stegodon
ganesa), mammoths (Mammuthus
planifrons), elephants (Elephas namadicus),
horses (Hipparion, Equus hysudricus, E.
sivalensis), rhinoceroses (Rhinoceros
sivalensis, R. palaeoindicus), a camel
(Camelus sivalensis), a sabre-toothed tiger
(Paramachairodus), pigs, crocidiles, deer
Stegodon ganesa at the Siwalik Gallery of the
Geological Survey of India, Indian Museum
From fossil to myth
Bones, skulls and tusks of stegodons, mammoths, elephants are not too
different from the now living Indian elephant, except for their size; the
same applies to the horse bones. These are remains of war horses and
huge war elephants
Indian elephant (E. maximus)
Elephas antiquus, Museum am Löwenthor, Stuttgart
, the short-necked giraffids
with impressive horns
(Sivatherium, Samotherium,
Giraffokeryx),
Giraffokeryx, Frick
Collection (AMNH,
New York)
Sivatherium, Frick collection
(AMNH, New York)
, and the giant tortoises
(Geochelone atlas).
Others are nowadays found only
elsewhere, such as
hippopotamuses (Hexaprotodon
namadicus)
© Central Fossil
Repository Unit,
Geological Survey of
India, Kolkota
Reconstruction of
the giant tortoises.
© Saketi Fossil Park,
H.P.
Other Siwalik fossils look very
different from present-day
animals, like the ancestors of
the sea-mammals (Cetacea) of
today (dolphins, whales etc.),
Pakicetus attocki, Howard University,
Geological Survey of Pakistan
Ambulocetus natans, Ohio University, USA
Bones and skulls of horned
giraffs, sabre-toothed cats, giant
tortoises, and hippos are
unknown. These are remains of
giants and heroes. Their isolated
hippo incisors, giraf horns,
tortoise carapaces and feline
canines can be seen as darts,
javelins, shields
Complete skeletons are not
found. Scattered, isolated and
fragmentary remains of various
large vertebrates, isolated
tusks and carapaces instead.
It is just a small step to make
these abundant fossils remains
of war elephants, horses,
heroes, shields and javelins
From myth to reality
Archaeological remains
from Vedic times (Painted
Grey Ware culture) have
been found in the same
region. Rakhigarhi, e.g.
was a large city, larger
than Harappa (Pakistan)
Rakhigarhi (Haryana)
In the Siwalik deposits stone
tools of prehistoric people
have been found too, known
as Soanian artefacts. They
belong to a paleolithic
culture
The Sarasvati river and
its rich, fertile plains
were mythical, but simply
dried up and
disappeared, together
with the towns along it
Remains of titans and giants, killed by the gods in battle,
can be found on the Peloponnesos, Greece
© Pergamon Museum,
Berlin
Siwalik Hills: remains are found of the
demonic râkshasas who were killed
by epic heroes
© A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
This could refer to the
victory of Krishna over
Banasura (king Bana of
Sonitapua), or over
Naraka. But there are
many more heroic
killings of râkshasas
known, not in the least
place the war between
the Devas and Asuras
Conclusion
Once, the Sarasvati river was an important river. In the towns along the
river, Harappan ware and later Painted Grey Ware was made.
At some time, a war took place between two branches of the Bharata family.
The war was remembered in the epic Mahabharata, and rose to
mythological proportions.
The river shrunk, deprived of glacial waters. The towns along it lost their
importance.
Nothing reminded of the once glorious days of the PGW culture and the war.
Except for petrified remains of the battlefield, found nearby.
This was reason enough to keep the story alive, till it was finally written down
(c. 400 BCE).