The Sinauli Chariots.

An Analysis
Archaeologists of ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) under the leadership of Dr
Sanjay Manjul excavated Sinauli in 2018. He discovered 116 burials there. It is
Asia's largest burial site excavated as of now. It provided the first ever ancient
chariot discovered in Bhāratavarṣa. This chariot is now dated to 2100 BCE to 1900
BCE. It is a solid wheel chariot but contains triangular shaped radial reinforcements
made of copper (a different kind of spokes), making it better than the spoked wheel
fast chariots unearthed in other parts of the world, avoiding quick breakage of the
wheels, while moving fast. The 3000 BCE and 2500 BCE solid wheel chariots
unearthed from other cultures of the world like Mesopotamia pales in comparison
with this advanced chariot unearthed from Sinauli. Placing this newly discovered
Sinauli chariot in the same category as a solid wheel chariot in comparison to these
1000 to 500 years older chariots, is an injustice to the Sinauli chariot.

Figure 1: The Sinauli Chariot (2100 BCE to 1900 BCE): Artist’s Reconstruction
(Image courtesy: - The Secrets of Sinauli Documentary).
Figure 2: Old Sumerian Chariots

Figure 3: Spoked Wheel Chariots

The Sinauli Chariot has a pole situated towards the front portion of the chariot box.
The passenger uses this pole to keep themselves steady as the chariot moves fast.
The most important aspect of the chariot are the wheels. After a lot of back and forth
since 2018, it is confirmed that it is a solid wheel chariot. But it will be wrong to
immediately categorize it as a primitive chariot. The chariots of 3000 BCE and 2500
BCE unearthed from Mesopotamia are solid wheel chariots but very primitive
compared to this Sinauli chariot by many counts. The Sinauli Chariot has copper
triangular reinforcements on the wheels, which can be vaguely called as spokes
(ārā), though not the kind of spokes understood in the spoked wheel chariots. These
copper triangles give good integrity to the wheels and make it durable and are not
meant for mere decoration. Using the technology evolution of the mobile phones as
an analogy, it would be like the Nokia 3310 mobile phone launched in 2000 CE
verses the Samsung Galaxy S1 phones of 2010.
How close it is to the chariot of Arjuna?
Arjuna's chariot as described in the Mahābhārata is a little more advanced. It would
be like the Samsung Galaxy S8 released in 2018, if we use the mobile phone
analogy. It had the provision to yoke four horses. Sinauli chariot doesn't look like it
can yoke more than two animals. Arjuna's chariot clearly had a driver seat. Sinauli
chariot doesn't have it. Hence, the driver had to be within the cabin along with the
warrior.

Figure 4: Close approximation to Arjuna’s chariot mentioned in the Mahābhārata

How close it is to the chariots of Kurukṣetra War, in general?

Spokes are mentioned in the Kurukṣetra War chariots. But if we interpret the spokes
as the copper triangles like the ones seen in the Sinauli chariot, that poses no
problems in the identification.
The excavated Sinauli chariot is missing the umbrella and the pole to keep the
banner of the warrior. The colour of umbrella, the colour of the banner (flag) and the
sign printed in the banner are vividly described in Mahābhārata for each warrior.
Warrior Arjuna had an ape symbol in his banner. Warrior Drona had the pot symbol
and so on.
It is possible that these parts are lost in these excavated chariots. The banner can be
affixed atop the pole situated towards the front portion of the chariot box. May be the
umbrella too is affixed on top this same pole, with the flag-post and the flag affixed
atop the umbrella. The umbrella is made of silk or other type of cloths. Since these
are not made of durable material, it can disintegrate and get lost easily in 4000+
years.
But a better explanation is that these chariots are a slightly older version, and
prepared for the burial rituals as a sub category of the Soma carts corresponding to
the 10th Maṇḍala burial related hymns.

A possible Ṛgvedic Connection

The Ṛgvedic hymn 15 in the 10th Maṇḍala speaks about both burying the dead
(anagni-dagdha) and cremating them (agni-dagdha). The hymn 18 of the 10th
Maṇḍala talks about a burial house (gṛha) often compared to a womb (yoni) where
ghee (clarified butter) is kept in pots. This matches with the 116 burial houses
unearthed at Sinauli. They contain many earthen pots which could have been used
to fill offerings like ghee, butter and medicines. The Ṛgvedic hymn 18 of the 10th
Maṇḍala mentions about taking the bow from the hand of the dead. The bow of the
warrior taken from his hand is placed beside the dead-body of the warriors in
Sinauli. Along with the bow, other weapons of the warrior like the shields and swords
are kept. Their chariots too are kept in the burial house.

Figure 5: The pair of chariots that are buried with the chief / king. The pots containing
the offerings are seen. The Coffin (Catuṣpadī) is also seen. (Image courtesy: - The
Secrets of Sinauli Documentary).
A pair of chariots are seen in one of the Sinauli burial house possibly belonging to a
king or a chief. This is close to the descriptions of the pair of Soma Carts mentioned
in the Ṛgveda (Hymn 13 of the 10th Maṇḍala). One of them represents mortality
(Yamayāna) and another immortality (Devayāna). The pair, Yama and Yami, are the
overseers of death since Yama, the son of Vivasvat, chose mortality instead of
immortality and hence is the first mortal. The hymn compares the deceased with
Yama and Yami pair and urges them to choose mortality instead of immortality for
the sake of the devatas and for the sake of their offspring. The hymn talks about the
five steps (pañca padāni) to climb the mount (rupa) and to ascend the four-legged
bed (Catuṣpadī) as per the ritual injunctions. These four-legged death beds or
coffins, where the dead body is placed are found in the Sinauli burials. The mount
mentioned in the verse may be referring to the burial mounts.

Figure 6: Catuṣpadī another view. A copper sheathed male coffin for burial. For
female burial coffins, steatite is used instead of copper for sheathing and decoration.
(Image courtesy: - The Secrets of Sinauli Documentary).
The Ṛgveda 10th Maṇḍala hymn 15 also talks about ritual offerings of Soma, butter
and ghee (clarified butter) to the forefathers inside the burial house. The ritual pots
found inside the Sinauli burials indicate offerings made to these forefathers. Thus,
the Sinauli burial sites resemble very closely with the descriptions of the funeral
hymns in the 10th Maṇḍala of Ṛgveda.
Some individuals are mentioned in the Ṛgveda Anukramaṇi (as authors of hymns)
with the suffix Yāmāyana indicating that they are deceased with some significant
death ceremonies given for them. Śaṅkha Yāmāyana (RV 10.15), Damana
Yāmāyana (RV 10.16), Devaśravas Yāmāyana (RV 10.17), Saṃkusuka Yāmāyana
(RV 10.18), Mathita Yāmāyana (RV 10.19), Kumāra Yāmāyana (RV 10.135) and
Ūrdhvakr̥śana Yāmāyana (RV 10.144). The name of the king or chief who is buried
with the two chariots in the Sinauli burial site, could be any of these names. Kumāra
and Ūrdhvakr̥śana are not directly related to the funeral though related to death.
Devaśravas is an ancient king ancestral to Divodāsa and ancient than the oldest
Maṇḍalas like 3, 7 and 6 and hence can be excluded. Mathita too can be excluded
as the narrative is not close to funerals but to cows. Damana is cremated instead of
buried as the corresponding hymn (RV 10.16) urges the fire (Agni) to be gentle with
his body as it burns. The hymn of Śaṅkha too leans towards cremation.
Saṃkusuka is surely buried as indicated by the corresponding hymn (RV 10.18).
Hence this burial with two chariots could as well be that of Saṃkusuka. The hymn
urges the earth to be gentle, be soft as wool, to his body as he is buried.
उप सप मातरम् भूिमम् एताम् उ चसम् पृिथवीं सुशेवाम् |
ऊण दा युवितर् दि णावत एषा ा पातु िनरृतेर् उप थात् ||

Can Sinauli burials be non-Vedic?

Some analysts are dismissing Sinauli as un related to Vedic culture or Samskṛtī
because the people are buried instead of cremated. It is sure cremation is popular in
Sanātana Dharma, but burials are also present in our tradition. Burials are also
mentioned in Ṛgveda as one of the ways in which the dead individuals are treated,
as we have already seen. Another doubt that has arisen is due to the design of the
head-gears. The head-gear of some of the warriors contains horns. In the current
depictions of our ancient people, the horned-headgear is associated with the Daityas
and the Dānavas. It will be misleading to conclude that Sinauli is non-Vedic based on
these factors alone.
The Bharatas and their ancestors were an admixture of the Ādityas, the Daityas and
the Dānavas.
Figure 7: The composite linage of the Yādavas and the Kurus.
The ancestral king Yayāti had two wives Devayāni and Ṡarmiṣthā. Devayāni, is the
daughter of Daitya Guru Ṡukrāchārya. She is the mother of Yadu and Turvaṡa, the
eldest sons of Yayāti. Ṡarmiṣthā is the daughter of the Daitya king Vṛṣaparvā. She is
the mother of Anu, Druhyu and Pūru, the younger sons of Yayāti.
The mother of all the Yadavas is Devayāni and the mother of Pūru, the founder of
the Pūru dynasty is Ṡarmiṣthā, both Daitya women. The Bharatas descended from
the Pūrus and the Kurus like the Pāndavas and Kauravas descended from the
Bharatas. Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma and other Vṛṣnis descended from the Yadavas. The
Dānavas like Maya were allies of the Paṇḍavas who gave them many weapons and
chariots.
The chariot of Arjuna came from Varuṇa, who is revered by the Bhargava sages like
the Asura Guru Sukrachārya and by the sages in the lineage of Vasiṣṭha and
Agastya. Vasiṣṭha was the priest of Sri Rama. Vyasa was the descendant of
Vasiṣṭha and the grandfather and guide of the Paṇḍavas.
The Ṛgveda mentions many wars and the Purāṇas render them as the wars
between the Devas and the Asuras. But if we analyse the Ṛgveda closely, these
wars are fought between the people who worship Indra (like the Purus and the
Bharatas) and the other people who don't worship Indra (like the Anus and the
Druhyus). The Purāṇas portrayed the people who do not worship Indra as the
Asuras, categorizing them as Daityas and Dānavas. The word used by Ṛgveda for
the non-Indra worshipers is anindra (those who are without Indra) and avrata (those
who don't have any devotion to Indra). The Sinauli settlement with their burial
practices and horned head-gears can as well belong to the groups affiliated to the
Daitya-Dānavas like Maya Dānava.
But this doesn't make them non-Vedic, because Dānavas like Maya do have a place
in our Veda, Itihasa Purāṇas.

The Analysis of the Place Names

The place Sinauli falls in the Kuru Rāṣtra, or the Kuru Janapada, the region between
Ganga in the east and Sarasvati in the west and divided by Yamuna into two parts. A
place named after Maya viz. Mayastali or Mayarāṣtra (Meerut, 52 km away) is close
to Sinauli. The places mentioned in the Mahābhārata like the Vyāghra-prasta
(Baghpat, 25 km away), Svarna-prasta (Sonipat, 29 km away), Paniprasta (35 km
away), Varanavati (21 km away) are close to Sinauli. Hastinapura is 75 km to the
east and Indraprasta is 55 km to the south of Sinauli. Paruṡurāma Kṣetra (now
Alamgirpur, the eastern most Harappan settlement, 3300-1300 BCE) is 33 km away
from Sinauli, where Paruṡurāma taught weaponry to Bhīṣma. The region around
Sinauli is dotted with places resembling chariot construction such as Rathora
(Rathakāra - chariot-maker, 6 km away) and Luhara (Lohakāra - metal worker, 2 km
away).
The name Sinauli is likely a derived form of Sina-sthali, similar to the other place-
names in Kuru Rashtra ending with the suffix 'sthali' (meaning - a place) like Bastali
(Vyasa-sthali), Bamanauli (Brahmana-sthali). The place names in Kuru Rashtra,
contains suffixes like Prasta, Sthali and Kṣetra. The word 'sina' means a 'store’,
'garment' 'fetter', 'bond', 'body' etc, implying that it is one of the places associated
with making chariots and weapons. Probably the people who lived in this Sinauli
settlement were a warrior class of men and women supplying weapons to the army
of the kings.

Sinauli and the Kurukṣetra War

Whether the warriors buried in the Sinauli burials participated in the Kurukṣetra War
as one among the many small military units, depends on the chosen date of the
Kurukṣetra War. Sinauli excavations are dated to 2100 BCE to 1900 BCE.
One of the Kurukṣetra War dates close to it is 1793 BCE proposed by Shri Ashok
Bhatnagar. If we take this Kurukṣetra War as the basis, then the Sinauli warriors
were 100 to 300 years older to the Kurukṣetra War, placing them as part of the late
Ṛgvedic period, during the formative periods of the 1st, 5th, 8th, 9th or the 10th
Maṇḍalas, especially the 10th Maṇḍala. Several battles are mentioned in these
Maṇḍalas too, like in the older Maṇḍalas. With the Kurukṣetra War date at 1793
BCE, we can date Samtanu mentioned in the 10th Maṇḍala of Ṛgveda to around
1930 BCE. Samtanu is the youngest king in the lineage of the Bharata kings
mentioned in the Ṛgveda, who also appear as the ancestors of the Pāṇḍavas and
the Kauravas who waged the Kurukṣetra War.
In the linage of kings leading to the Pāṇḍavas, the Ṛgveda stops at Samtanu. In the
linage of sages leading to Vyāsa, the Ṛgveda stops at Parāṡara. Samtanu’s son
Vicitravīrya and Parāṡara’s son Vyāsa is in the future of Ṛgveda. Dhṛtarāṣtra and
Pāṇdu are the next generation of Vicitravīrya and Vyāsa. The Kauravas and the
Pāṇḍavas who took place in the Kurukṣetra War are in the next generation of
Dhṛtarāṣtra and Pāṇdu. Thus, this date 1793 BCE corroborates well with our
analysis that the chariot and the Sinauli burial sites belong to the 10th Maṇḍala
funeral hymns which speaks about the burials.
Another date of Kurukṣetra War 1952 BCE is from Shri Mohan Gupta. If we follow
this date, then this settlement falls right in the Kurukṣetra War period. The 3K
Kurukṣetra War dates of Shri Vedaveer Arya (3162 BCE) and Manish Pandit (3067
BCE) will make the settlement well into the future of the lifetime of the Kuru-
Paṇḍavas during the lifetime of their descendants named in the Purāṇas like Viṣṇu
Purāṇa. There is another date by Shri KK Ramamurthy at 1504 BCE and RN Iyengar
at 1478 BCE which will make this settlement part of the middle Ṛgvedic period
of Maṇḍala 2 and 4, closer to the lifetime of the sages like Gr̥tsamada and kings like
Sahadeva and Somaka or even to the early period of Maṇḍala 6, 3 and 7, closer to
the lifetime of the kings like Sudās and Divodāsa depending upon the variability in
the chronology of the Maṇḍala wise evolution of the Ṛgveda.

Is the Sinauli chariot driven by horses?

This aspect of the Sinauli chariot is not very clear because the excavators could not
find horse remains in the burial. The chariot’s design indicate that horses can be
yoked onto this chariot. We do have horse remains discovered in other sites.
Surkotada site contains horse remains dated to around 2000 BCE. As per A.K.
Sharma it is found in layers datable to 2100-1700 BCE. For a Ṛgvedic 10th Maṇḍala
dated to 2100 BCE to 1900 BCE this evidence is sufficient. Besides, the
Mahābhārata always mentions obtaining the horses from the north west countries
like Kāmboja, Kaṡmīra, Vanayu, and from the banks of Sindhu River (its Northern
course through J&K and Tibet). The horse always come as part of trade through
Uttarāpatha to the main Janapadas like Kuru and Pāncāla. It is not found in the local
forests, where only the elephants are found predominantly and used in warfare along
with the horses.
It seems, the Bhāratīya native born horses were weaker. It is likely that the Vedic
term ‘aṡva’ was broadly used to denote a wide range of equine animals from the
donkeys to these weaker horses born native to Bhāratavarṣa as well as to the better
horses in the north and west of Bhāratavarṣa. This explains why the English word
‘ass’ roughly translate as ‘donkey’ and the ‘smaller members of the equine-family’,
whereas the Samskṛt word ‘aṡva’ denote proper horses today, but likely referred to a
wider range of animals belonging to the equine-family.
The kings mentioned in the Mahābhārata in the Kuru and Pāncāla Janapadas sought
better quality horses from the north west and the kings in the north west like Aṡvapati
(literally owner of horses) supplied them. Regions of north-west is mentioned as
Aṡvaka and Aṡvalaya for that precise reason which are roughly the Afghanistan and
Central Asia of today. The Aṡva-Gaṇa-Sthāna (the domain of the people with the
horses) became Afghanistan, the place where big war quality aṡva (horse) is
available. All the great horses available in the Central Asia or its periphery were
collected and exchanged with the late Harappan / late Ṛgvedic people as well as
with the Kurukṣetra War era people through Afghanistan through the northern end of
Uttarāpatha at the north western periphery of SSC / IVC / Harappan civilization.

The Female warriors found in Sinauli

We have got the material evidence of our female warriors from Sinauli from where
we got the shields of both men and women. The shields of the male warriors were
decorated with copper decors. The shields of the female warriors were decorated
with white steatite. No doubt our men dominated the wars, especially the Kurukṣetra
War which was an all-men war. But there were other wars where women warriors
are mentioned as a dominant force such as the wars of Kartikeya who fought with
the Asuras at Kurukṣetra. In Devī Bhāgavata and Skanda Purāṇa too such armies
with women warriors and women commanders are mentioned. From our Itihāsas,
like Rāmāyaṇa, we know that Kaikeyi participated in the war of her husband
Dasaratha, protecting him in his chariot while the battle was raging. From the
Harivamṡa of Mahābhārata, we know Satyabhāma fought alongside Kṛṣṇa during
the Narakāsura War. We know Subhadra rode the chariot while Arjuna fought with
the Yādavas as they eloped from Dwāraka to Indraprastha. We know the warrior
prowess of Draupadi and her ability to use lightweight swords, when Jayadratha tried
to abduct her. Durga and thousands of named female warriors are mentioned in the
Devī Bhāgavata. Hordes of female warriors are mentioned in Skanda Purāṇa, Devī
Bhāgavata and such texts. Onake Obavva, Rāṇi Velu Nachiyar, Rāṇi Abbakka, Bibi
Dalair Kaur, Nayakuralu Nāgamma, Jhānsi Rāṇi and many other female warriors are
recorded in our medieval history fighting against the European colonial invasions of
the Portuguese, British forces and the Mughal Islamic invasions.
Except in special categories like mace fight and heavy weight weaponry male and
female bodies are equally designed for warfare. Archery, lightweight swords, chariot
riding all suitable for men and women equally. Certain attitudes like those expressed
by Bhīṣma, that he won't fight with a women warrior, resulted in the Kurukṣetra War
to be an all-men war. In different versions of the Mahābhārata, Ṡikhaṇḍi is varyingly
described as a woman and as a neutral gender warrior. The Pāṇḍavas decided to
include Ṡikhaṇḍi as a main commander in their army, despite the objections of the
Kaurava army supreme commander Bhīṣma. In our recorded history, when the
Abrahamic culture spread to different parts of the world, they considered women as
mere property and reduced the value of women, forced them to disarm or didn't train
them in weapons. Women participation in warfare then declined compared to what
was existing in the pre-Abrahamic polytheist societies. However not all men or all
women possess warrior qualities. Hence many women choose to be non-warriors
and excelled in dance and fine arts like many men chose to be non-combatants and
excelled in trade, peasantry etc.
It is good to know that both in literature and now in this corroborated material
evidence at Sinauli we get evidence that our women participated in wars. The
presence of female warriors and the burial could indicate that these people
participated in the wars like that of Kārtikeya or Durga with high participation of
women, rather than the Kurukṣetra War where the presence of women is not well
attested in the literature.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the Sinauli chariots, the Sinauli burials and the Sinauli warriors of both
genders are going to revise our understanding of our pre-History and we will be able
to see a new narrative of Bhāratavarṣa emerging soon based on these remarkable
findings. This is a very significant discovery of our lifetime, led by Dr Sanjay Manjul
and his ASI team and well supported by the others like Prof BB Lal, Dr BR Mani and
Dr KN Dikshit.
About Author:

JIJITH NADUMURI RAVI is a former scientist of ISRO, who was part of many GSLV
launches and the Chandrayan 1 study phase. He is the founder of four Wiki sites
AncientVoice, Naalanda, Takshasila and RecentVoice containing a total of around
37,000 Wiki pages on Veda (Ṛgveda, Kṛṣṇa & Sukla Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda,
Atharva Veda), Itihāsa (Mahābhārata, Rāmāyana), Purāṇas (Viṣṇu Purāṇa), 18
Major Upaniṣads, the Greek Epics (Iliad & Odyssey), the Avestan Texts (Gāthās,
Yasts, Yazadas, Vendidād and Ziroza) and the Tamil Texts (SIlappatikāram and
Tirukkural). These were developed as an alternative to Wikipedia as a reference site
and contains many articles, lineage trees, geography maps and lists of 20,000 plus
nouns found in the Veda, Itihāsa, Purāṇas categorized into place names (kingdoms,
cities, towns, villages, holy-spots, rivers, lakes, seas, mountains, hills and so on),
people names (kings, sages, women, warriors and so on) and various Samskṛt terms
(astronomical, philosophical and so on). Currently he is working to create Dhārmic
Holograms of Devatas and Aitihāsic personalities through an initiative called Dharma
Digital, by combining ancient traditional knowledge with 21st century technology.