Cultural Continuity since Vedic and Epic Eras on 1st Nov 2014

CONFERENCE-CUM-WORKSHOP
on
"Cultural Continuity since Vedic and Epic Eras:
Scientific Reconstruction of the History of Holocene Period"

Organised in CSOI by

I-SERVE, Delhi Chapter
Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas

With the noble mission of establishing synergy between the scientific wisdom of ancient India and modern scientific inventions, I-SERVE was established on 21st June 2004 and Hon'ble Late Shri R. Venkataraman, former President of India, was its Patron-in-chief. Shri K.V. Krishna Murty is its Chairman and Managing Trustee.

The main objectives of I-SERVE are:

To identify, collect and study Vedic and Post Vedic Indian Literature with the object of deciphering and discovering scientific theories, techniques and knowledge contained therein.
To co-relate ancient scientific wisdom with modern scientific inventions to provide nature-friendly and pollution-free technologies, particularly in the fields of agriculture, energy, metallurgy, medicine etc.
To undertake scientific dating of astronomical references in ancient Sanskrit Manuscripts to scientifically determine dates of such occurrences/events to generate shared pride amongst all Indians in our heritage.

In pursuit of the third objective, the I-SERVE Delhi Chapter undertook research on the Scientific Dating of Ancient Events from Rigveda to Aryabhatiyam and the scientific reconstruction of the origin, development and continuity of culture for the last ten thousand years. The methodology and approach adopted are as under -

Extract planetary references from ancient books and determine their exact astronomical dates by generating the sky views, and making use of planetarium software.
Extract references to fluctuating water volumes of rivers like Saraswati, Indus, and Ganga, from Vedas and Epics and trace the period of such fluctuations by correlating these with reports from Remote Sensing, Geology and Hydrology.
Extract references to houses, bricks, boats, pottery, terracotta figurines etc. and correlate with archaeological reports of these objects dated as belonging to the last 10000 years, particularly those which go back earlier than 3500 BP.
Extract information about flora and fauna from Vedas and Epics and determine the dates of the dates of their existence in the Indian subcontinent by making use of Archaeo-botany, Genetics and climatic studies.
Extract references to weaponry and metallurgy and trace the development by using modern information and tools.
Prepare genealogy charts of ancient dynasties, list the tribes mentioned in Epics and Puranas and correlate with modern DNA / Genome studies.
Trace the origins and development of language, literature, music, dance, sciences etc. since the Vedic and Epic eras.

The studies carried out so far using modern scientific tools and research reports, by the members and advisors of I-SERVE have revealed that indigenous civilization has been developing in India for the last 11000 years (during the Holocene). The objective of this Conference-cum-Workshop was to bring experts from different departments and different backgrounds, e.g., Sanskrit scholars, astronomers, archaeologists, geologists, linguists, space scientists, anthropologists, artists etc. on one forum so that different viewpoints are taken into account and research is more holistic and integrated.

Hon'ble Dr Sudershan Rao, Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), delivered the Inaugural address. Dr. Sonal Mansingh (Padma Vibhushan) presided over the Inaugural Session. Shri K V Krishnamurthy, Chairman of I-SERVE, delivered the welcome address. While welcoming Dr Sudershan Rao, Shri Krishnamurthy admired his knowledge of Indian history and informed him about the efforts made by him to determine astronomical dates of references in Mahabharat. Dr. Sonal Mansingh was welcomed as an iconic cultural personality, who has mastered multiple Indian dance forms like Odissi, Bharatnatyam, and Kuchipuri and had the distinction of conducting dance workshops in 91 countries of the world!

Shri K. V. Krishnamurthy also gave a brief description of the objectives and activities of I-SERVE and explained the research projects taken up by the Institute including –

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Extracting and interpreting medicinal references in Atharvan Veda and Astadas Purana.
Study of Anti-Microbial Properties and immunomodulatory effects of Patoladi Kashaya and make it user-friendly
Developing computerized word search engines for Charak Samhita and Sushruta Samhita
Publication of the Telugu version of Vriksha Ayurveda
Study of Vedic knowledge on cosmology, earthquake forecasting environmentally friendly agricultural techniques etc.
He also explained that the I-SERVE Delhi Chapter has been working on a research project titled, "Scientific Dating of Ancient Events from Rigveda to Aryabhatiyam: Through Astronomical Dating of Planetary References by Making Use of Planetarium Software and Corroboration with Archaeological, Anthropological, Palaeobotanical, Geological, Ecological, Oceanographic and Remote Sensing Evidences." The outcomes of this research have provided credible scientific evidence which pushes back the history of civilization in the Indian subcontinent by 3-4 millennia and provides very credible evidence of the continuity of Vedic Culture for the last 10000 years.

Hon'ble Dr Sudershan Rao, Chairman of ICHR, while delivering the inaugural address, said that the true and credible history of civilization and culture of ancient India, of Vedic and Epic Eras, still has to be written.

DR Rao opined that the history, knowledge and wisdom of ancient India deserve to be explored exhaustively. Dr Rao expressed the view that even astronomical dating can arrive at different dates of historical events while taking note of the fact that different scholars have arrived at different astronomical dates of references in Ramayana and Mahabharat. We need to study, understand, and spread awareness about the achievements of our ancestors. He advised that both scientific evidences as well as beliefs have to be duly recognized. He lauded the efforts made by I-SERVE for correlating various scientific evidences to reconstruct the history of our glorious ancient past and emphasized the need for minimizing the differences, and contradictions.

Dr. Sonal Mansingh, through her presidential address, came across as a storehouse of knowledge of ancient traditions of dance and music in India. She explained that in Rigveda, dawn (Usha) is described as a dancing female, whereas Natya Shastra is the ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written before the Christian Era and much before the Mughal Era. She invited the attention of scholars to the temples, palaces and cave structures, which are outstanding examples of art and architecture created by several kings who ruled before and after King Ashoka but their names are hardly mentioned in History books. These included Sisungas, Nandas and Shungas of Magadh, Satavahanas, Shakas and Kushans of the South of the pre-Christian era and Guptas, Chalukyas, Pallavas, Rashtrakutas, Cholas and Hoysalas, who ruled during 1st century AD to 10th century AD.

For more information and videos on the subject visit -

https://www.youtube.com/c/RigvedatoRobotics/videos

They all gave great importance to music and dance, which is evident from the fact that in various cave architectures, Rajguru, Rajnartaki and Rajnayak have been seated in one line. India needs to discover, compile, disseminate and carry forward its ancient art and culture, especially in the fields of dance and music. She opined that separating the Department of Culture from the Ministry of Education (HRD) is a retrograde step and this error deserves to be corrected.

Smt. Saroj Bala, the Chief Research Coordinator, briefed the participants about the outcomes of the research carried out so far.

Smt. Saroj Bala informed about the immense success of the previous seminar titled: "Scientific Dating of Ancient Events before 2000 BC" held in July 2011, inaugurated by H.E. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and its outcome in the form of the book 'Historicity of Vedic and Ramayan Eras: Scientific Evidences from the Depths of Oceans to the Heights of Skies'. Pointing to a lot of inconsistencies in the modern writings on India’s heritage, she said that serious injustice has been done to our understanding of the antiquity and richness of India’s cultural heritage by scholars having a colonial mindset. She gave the example of books that place the time of Mahabharat earlier than Ramayana. To dispel this belief, she drew attention to ‘An Index of Names in Mahabharat, by S. Sorensen, 1904’, which lists more than 600 references to Ramayana and its characters, spread over thirteen Parvas of Mahabharat.

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She referred to the second seminar organized by I-SERVE on 23-24 February 2014 titled, “Determining Cultural Continuity since Vedic and Epic Eras: Through Sequential Dating of Astronomical References and Other Corroborating Scientific Evidences”, the Inaugural address for which was delivered by Hon'ble Dr. Karan Singh, Member of Rajya Sabha and Chairman, ICCR. During this Seminar, besides the astronomical dating of references in Rigveda, Valmiki Ramayan, and Mahabharat, the presentations included human Genome studies of ancient populations, Geological and Seismo-tectonic evidence, Archaeological findings on human settlements, Radio-carbon dating, Paleo-botanical studies, Remote-sensing studies of paleo-channels of Vedic River Saraswati, continuity in arts and crafts through ages and development of Science and Technology since Vedic times. She presented an overview of the presentations which were to be made during the conference-cum-workshop on 1st November to establish the underlying connection in the minds of scientists and scholars who belonged to diverse and varied backgrounds.

Shri Ashok Bhatnagar, Technical Director, I-SERVE (Former Director, Positional Astronomy Centre and Addl. DG, India Meteorological Department) made a presentation on ‘Astronomical Dates of References in Vedas and Epics with Special Emphasis on Mahabharat'.

Shri Bhatnagar narrowed down the search for Mahabharat dates to the period 2150 BCE to 1280 BCE by tying up Kartik month to autumn season as described in great detail in the Epic. The calendric details on Winter Solstice as given in the text were used to determine the precession in the longitude of Magha (α Leonis). The sky simulation with these details provided the unique date for the Winter Solstice occurring on Magha Shukla Ashtami in the year -1792, i.e, 20th December (1793 BCE), from where the rest of the sequence of events in Mahabharat fell in place accurately. Accordingly, Shri Bhatnagar determined 14 October, -1792 (1793 BCE, Gregorian) as the date of the beginning of the Mahabharat war and concluded that the sky simulations of astronomical and seasonal events show that these must have been observed sequentially and recorded in Mahabharat.

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Shri Bhatnagar also explained that the astronomical and calendric framework that evolved from the Vedic times through Mahabharat has survived until the present and forms the backbone of Indian cultural life to this day. He also pointed out that if we go by Aryabhata, the Bharat war took place 36 years before the Kali Era which commenced in 3102 BC. Shri Bhatnagar did display a near assemblage of the Moon and five bright planets above the rising Sun which occurred on the eastern horizon on 13th January, 3104 BC, 25 days after the Winter Solstice (not on Vernal equinox day) and again on 22 January, 3102 BC in the daytime, which was 31 days after the winter solstice. The examination of the dates around the year 3102 BC to 3140 BC to see the Kali era conjunction's connection with the Mahabharat war, did throw up the date 18 December 3140 BC, being Magh Shukla Saptami, a day before the date of Bhishma's demise. As per Mahabharat (5.142.18), after the failure of Krishna's peace mission, Krishna had said that the war could begin after one week on Kartik Amavasya. Purnima on 31 August, 3140 occurs near Krittika Nakshatra and does show a lunar eclipse, The following Amavasya does occur in Jyestha on 14 September 3140 BC, on which date there was also a solar eclipse, to which there is a reference in Mahabharat. If we interpret Lord Krishna's statement about war beginning on Kartik Amavasya to mean the declaration of war and subsequent alignment/movement of forces from all over India towards Kurukshetra, then obviously it would have taken more than a month for the movement of armies at such a big scale as is described in Udyog Parvan, then the war would have begun around 13th October, about 68 days before Bhishma's demise. However, Shri Ashok Bhatnagar was of the view that this date sequence has other inconsistencies with references to seasons and other events mentioned in Mahabharat, therefore he considered dates in 1792 BC as more credible.

Next, Dr Kapil Kapoor explained the process of the evolution of thought processes since Vedic times and pointed to the continuity of knowledge/wisdom in India for thousands of years

Dr Kapoor related this continuity of knowledge with the great wisdom found in the most common Indian. He remarked that the Vedic way of thinking and living is deeply ingrained in the day-to-day life of ordinary and even illiterate Indians. He therefore felt that there may not be much need for finding scientific evidence of the continuity of Vedic culture, as such continuity is so real that it cannot be denied.

DR R S Bisht, an archaeologist of Dholavira fame, spoke on the subject “A succession of Cultures in Indian Subcontinent leading to Harappan Civilization: Input from Archaeology”

DR Bisht explained that the succession of Cultures in the Indian Subcontinent leading to the Harappan Civilization makes it abundantly clear that the Harappan Civilization did not belong to an isolated period of 2500-2000 BC but its birth and development was a logical culmination of a long cultural process, which started in 8th / 7th millennium BC. This cultural process originated and flourished in the upland valleys of Baluchistan and the Greater Indus plains. Forces of rapid integration brought about an overriding unity in the mid-3rd millennium BC under the mighty Harappans, who had developed and standardized: village/city Settlement planning, monumental buildings, impressive architecture, water structures, sanitation, stamp seals, weights and measures, pottery, art in the forms of terracotta, bronze, stone, etc. They also standardized Jewellery made of gold, silver, copper, bronze, ivory, shell, bone, clay, semi-precious stones, steatite, implements made of metals, stone, shell, bone etc.

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By taking the example of Mehrgarh, Shri Bisht reconstructed the cultural sequence of North-western India as under-

Early Village Farming: Stage I: Aceramic - c. 7000 – 5500 BC
Early Village Farming: Stage II: Ceramic - c. 5500 – 4500 BC
Start of Copper Age - c. 4500 – 3800 BC
Compact Village Economy & expansion - c. 3800 – 3200 BC
Regionalization: Beginnings of urban system - c. 3200 – 2600 BC
Integration Era: Harappan Civilization - c. 2600 – 1900 BC
Localization Era: Break-up of urbanism - c. 1900 – 1200 BC

In 7000-5500 BC, these (Vedic) Harappans had started growing wheat, barley and cotton and had started living in mud-brick houses, with paintings in some houses. They had developed lithic tools and were making ornaments of Steatite beads, Lapis lazuli and sea shells. During the next 1700 years (5500-3800 BC), they developed new varieties of wheat and barley, invented the potter's wheel and made exquisite designs of pottery. They had developed copper technology and gold jewellery. During the next 1200 years i.e. up to 2600 BCE, there was a tremendous increase in the number of settlements and they had developed storage jars, pucca brick houses, canal irrigation, grape cultivation etc. Needless to add, almost all these things have been mentioned in Vedas and Epics, indicating the continuity of culture since the Rigvedic period.

Shri K N Dikshit, Chairman of the Indian Archaeological Society, presented a paper on the “Origin and Development of Harappan Cultures in Sarasvati Valley from 8th to 2nd millennium BC: Recent Archaeological Evidence.”

Shri Dikshit explained that 'Saraswati’ was the name of a great river on the banks of which the Rigvedic sages composed the hymns. The problem has been in correlating these literary references with evidences of Rigvedic rivers on the ground. In recent years archaeology has come forward to prove it with the discovery of a large number of the Harappan sites on the old banks of the dried-up course of the Saraswati. Recent excavations of a few sites in the 21st century revealed cultures earlier to Harappa civilization thereby suggesting that indigenous Indian Civilization evolved in this region. A pre-Early Harappan level was confirmed in excavations at Kunal, Bhirrana, Girwad, Farmana and Rakhigarhi.

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Shri Dikshit added that the excavations at Bhirrana and Kunal in the ‘Lost’ Saraswati plain in India, provided for the first time a stage of cultural development from dwelling pits to the primary stage of a settled life whose antiquity based on radio-metric dates goes back to the time bracket ranging in date between c. 7380 – 6201 BCE. This data compares well in the Indo-Pak sub-continent only with similar neolithic levels at Mehrgarh (c. 6500 - 4500 BCE). Shri Dikshit gave the chronology of culture in Saraswati valley, taking an example of carbon dating from Bhirrana as under-

7570-6201 BCE Period I (Neolithic) IA - C. 7500-6000 BCE
6200-4775 BCE Period IIA (Transitional Period) IB - C. 6000-4500 BCE
4714-27000 BCE Period IIB (Early-Harappan) IIA - C. 4500-3000 BCE
2920-1980 BCE Period III (Mature-Harappan) IIB - C. 3000-1800 BCE

Shri Dikshit displayed pictures of several antiquities excavated from Sites in Saraswati valley and displayed their similarity with those of Mehrgarh in the Indus Baluchistan region and their connection with references in Vedas.

Dr Divya Tripathi, who has authored a post-doctoral thesis on 'Relevance of Ancient Indian way of Life to Modern Times', spoke on continuity of Samskaras,

Dr Tripathi explained that Dincharya, Education System and Varnashram etc, have been dealt with in detail in ancient Sanskrit books. She explained that sixteen Samskaras, which include Naamkaran, Upanayan, Vivah, and Anteyashti Samskaras, remain an integral part of the Indian way of life to date. She also explained that society continues to be divided into four Varnas (Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra). The meaning of Varna was never taken as caste nor was it meant to be hereditary. In Mahabharat, it has been clearly suggested that Varna-dharma should be determined through karmas, and not through birth.

The next paper was on 'Relevance of Ancient Indian Chemistry to modern times', presented by Dr Suryanarayana, Chief Scientist (retd.) from CSIR and an Advisor to I-SERVE.

He elaborated that ancient India had advanced knowledge of the chemistry of medicinal plants. They had known about several metals and their multi-purpose formulations. He also claimed they have come across Ghataarava Iron mentioned in Loha Tantram and Vaimanika Sastra of Bharadvaja, which can absorb all the sounds. Its constituents as well as the composition formula to make this alloy have been described in detail. He said that currently, experiments are going on to develop the product as per the prescribed formula.

Dr G V Rama, another Scientific Advisor to I-SERVE, who had retired from ISRO, made a presentation on 'Evolvement of Knowledge of Meteorology since Vedic Times'.

Dr Rama talked of ancient techniques of - astrometeorology, which laid down that weather is influenced in general by the signs occupied by the planets and the aspects made between them. If watery planets are strongly placed in water signs like Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces, it would certainly be reasonable to predict more precipitation. On the other hand, if hot planets like Sun, Mars and Saturn are found in fire signs like Aries, Leo and Sagittarius in a strong position and if indications for rain are weak, one is pretty safe in predicting very hot and drought-like conditions. He was of the view that this method could be used to supplement and complement other modern scientific techniques of weather forecasting.

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Dr. Ishwar V. Basavaraddi, Director of Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, enlightened the participants on the 'Tradition of yoga since ancient times and their scientific relevance'.

He explained that the objective of yoga is self-realization and its ultimate goal is the union of the individual self with the supreme self. He elucidated that the history of yoga in India is at least as old as Rigveda. There are references to yogic practices in all four Vedas, Brahmans, epics, Buddha and Jain literature. Detailed compilation had been done subsequently by Maharishi Patanjali. In modern times various forms of yoga described in Vedic and Post Vedic literature are being practiced by millions and millions of people living all over the world.

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Prof. Shrawan K. Sharma of Gurukula Kangri University spoke on indigenous knowledge coming from ancient times to modern days.

He elucidated how ancient Rishis visualized the whole world and laid down some basic principles of knowledge and wisdom. He opined that our ancient books are very rich in knowledge of scientific principles as well. Each such principle, infect every important word written in these manuscripts/books can itself become the subject matter of a research project.

The next presentation was on 'The Saraswati River system, its revival and the latest developments' made by Shri Prashant Bhardwaj of Saraswati Nadi Shodh Sansthan.

Shri Bhardwaj explained that in ancient times, the mighty Saraswati River system existed between the Indus and Ganga River systems, which had slowly dried up due to tectonic movements, draught and other circumstances. The westward movement of its tributary Sutlej and the eastward movement of Yamuna finally resulted in the disappearance of this mighty River, which had nurtured the Vedic civilization for thousands of years. He correlated the reference to the Saraswati River in ancient Sanskrit books with modern scientific evidence, which includes remote sensing imagery, and geological and hydrological research reports. The attention of the participants was invited to the rejuvenation of sub-surface drainages in the Rann of Kachchh area after the Bhuj earthquake on 26th January 2001 and the consequential oozing out of Saraswati water near Kapil Muni temple at Kalayat in Haryana. Since the paleochannels of the ancient Saraswati River system have now been fully traced from the Himalayas to Arab Sagar by several agencies like ISRO, CAZRI, BARC, ONGC, SGWB, Geological Society, ASI and several other research institutions, he advocated the need for the revival of this river system and emphasized on the priority which should be assigned to this project.

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Shri Madhukar Bhagat, an IRS officer, a reputed author and an eminent speaker, spoke on 'Socio religious influence of Vedic civilization on the ancient Mesopotamian civilization'.

He correlated the pictures clicked by him during the visit to the Museum of Mesopotamia with the description of certain characters in Vedas and epics, e.g., Lord Shiva and Mother Goddess. He expressed the view that ancient Vedic civilization had spread to other regions like Egypt and Mesopotamia in most ancient times.

Shri Come to Alexandre Carpentier, Convener of Editorial Board, World Affairs Journal, made a presentation on 'New data and perceptions of ancient history worldwide: need for rediscovering Vedic civilization'.

He said that it is difficult for a common man to understand scientific knowledge contained in Vedas without a basic minimum technical understanding. Therefore, our ancient intellectuals / Rishis described the difficult principles of scientific knowledge through anecdotes and fictional stories to enable easy understanding by the common people. By taking the example of Vimana Shastra, He explained that it may be disputed if they had made an aeroplane but the fact that they had visualized such an object and could describe some basic constituents in great detail remains undisputed and deserves to be appreciated.

Shri Francois Gautier, a French journalist who made India his home, enlightened the audiences about the ongoing construction of a Museum of True Indian History in Pune, the land for which was donated to FACT by H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji. The plan and architecture match the shape of a Swastik. He expressed his keen desire to put up an exhibition based on the Scientific reconstruction of the ancient history of India done by the Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas (I-SERVE). He displayed certain pictures extracted from the publication of I-SERVE titled Historicity of Vedic and Ramayan Eras. He was particularly interested in preparing the large panels of certain sky views of references in Rigveda and Ramayana and also wanted to give a pictorial view of archaeological, oceanographic, geological and other scientific evidence presented in this book.

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Smt. Poonam Saxena, former chairman of CBDT, made some valuable suggestions for carrying forward the research project of writing the ancient history of India based on multidisciplinary scientific research reports.

Smt Saxena opined that this challenging work can be completed only when it is taken in a mission mode, for which she made the following suggestions –

The presentations on astronomical dating and corroborating scientific evidence made during the Conference reveal that the history of civilization and culture in India is much older than what is normally believed. This study, therefore, deserves to be undertaken at a very large scale, which should also be supported by Govt. agencies, particularly by Ministries of HRD, Culture, Science and Technology and DoPT. Several books/chapters need to be written, including the ones for being introduced in schools and colleges.
Since inputs from many ministries like those of HRD, Culture, Science and Technology etc. are needed, the research project for rewriting the ancient history of India based on multi-disciplinary scientific research reports deserves to be owned up by the PMO because only the PMO can authorize the rewriting of History and is in a position to co-ordinate the research project in which so many departments of Govt. of India will have to be involved.

Universities be asked to modify their policy for allocating topics for PhD so that research scholars could take up multi-disciplinary research with Guides from different departments and a coordinator. They should be able to correlate research reports from different disciplines of sciences with references in Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit literature.
MoHRD and DoPT may extend the reach of the subject to Civil Services Training Institutions, IIMs, IITs Universities etc. Your cultural achievements in the remote past do have an impact on your self-esteem, which in turn influence your attitudes in future. The world needs to know that indigenous civilization developed in India during the Holocene and India had the first dockyard and first planned township in the world.
Departments of Culture, HRD, Science and Technology should sanction liberal funding in favour of NGOs and Institutions which take up components of this research project. As compared to popular exhibitions and Seminars, funding for such research be assigned greater priority.
I-SERVE will have to broad base its membership and activities. It will have to augment its financial resources. It will have to sponsor individual research. Some prizes may have to be announced for writing articles on individual components of the research project. Timelines be fixed for completing different components of this valuable work.

While summarizing the proceedings of the Conference-cum-Workshop Smt. Saroj Bala clarified that the studies carried out so far by the Members and Advisors of the Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas have revealed that:

Indigenous civilization and culture have been developing in India for the last 11000 years (during the Holocene). The astronomical dates of references in Vedas and Epics can be determined sequentially making use of planetarium software which relates to the period 9000 BP to 5000 BP.
Research reports from eight different sciences, including archaeology, geology, oceanography, palaeobotany, space imagery and genome studies, have corroborated such astronomical date sequence!
It has also been revealed that Dravidians, north Indians and tribals of India share their genetic profile; they all need to have shared pride in the antiquity and continuity of our culture and civilization during the last 10000 years.
Vedic culture and wisdom continue to regulate the lives of very ordinary Indians, but we are not aware of this because we did not try to disseminate the knowledge through schools and colleges. Many scientific researches which were already done in the Vedic era are not known and unfair credit is being given to Europeans of the medieval period. This lowers the self-esteem of all Indians.
The study deserves to be undertaken at a very large scale, which should also be supported by Govt. agencies. She opined that several books covering the scientific reconstruction of ancient history need to be written, including the ones for being introduced in schools and colleges.
Very special efforts need to be made to make these books interesting and readable, simultaneously ensuring that scientifically verified facts are neither ignored nor tampered with. In addition, a series of books also need to be written correlating knowledge contained in Vedas, Epics and Puranas with modern sciences covering astronomy, mathematics, medicine, surgery, plants and animals, warfare and weaponry, statecraft and diplomacy etc. An example of this approach and methodology has been adopted by I-SERVE while writing the book Historicity of Vedic and Ramayan Eras: Scientific Evidences from the Depths of Oceans to the Heights of Skies.

The valedictory address was delivered by Shri Dawid Frawley, alias Pandit Vaamadeva Shastri (Padma Bhushan), who is an American but made India his home and is generally described as the Vedic Rishi of modern times.

Hinduism has been the religion of his choice; he has written more than thirty books on topics such as the Vedas, Hinduism, Yoga, Ayurveda and Vedic astrology. He lauded the efforts made by I-SERVE for scientifically reconstructing the true antiquity of India’s civilization and culture and for putting across the facts relating to Vedic culture in a scientific manner. Technology today has revealed that Vedas were not only the past of mankind but they could also improve the future of mankind, particularly in areas like Ayurveda, Astronomy (Jyotish), and Architecture (Vaastu). He added that Vedas contain profound knowledge and wisdom passed on by seers of higher consciousness and we need to study and disseminate that knowledge for our own benefit and in our own interest.

In his concluding remarks, Shri Sudershan Rao expressed the view that true facts about India's remote ancient past need to be ascertained and compiled.

New researches and new findings should be circulated for discussions, which will throw up consensus. He also informed that he himself will take some initiatives in this direction as Chairman of ICHR. He complimented I-SERVE for taking such initiative. Shri K.V. Krishnamurthy proposed a vote of thanks.

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