A committee formed by the culture ministry has suggested that efforts should be made to find correlation between ancient Indian history and the epics, Ramayana and the Mahabharata, government sources said today.
The committee on 'holistic study of origin and evolution of Indian culture since 12,000 years before present and its interface with other cultures of the world' was formed in November 2016 and had a tenure of one year. It wrapped up its proceedings in November 2017. The committee consisted of bureaucrats, archaeologists and academics.
"The committee's mandate was to trace Indian culture from way back and compare it with other cultures across the world. It has got nothing to do with Hinduism or Islam. It is about our civilisation," Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma told PTI.
According to the minutes of a meeting of the 14-member committee, its chairman and former Archaeological Survey of India's Joint Director General K N Dikshit spoke about recent researches that have thrown new light on ancient civilisations.
He also said that the Rig Veda, which was earlier believed to have composed around 1,500 BC, was now being assigned to the Harappan civilisation period by many scholars, thus indicating a co-relation between the two.
Sources in the culture ministry say that the committee's report has been received and the views of the members are being collated for a final decision on the issue.
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