Rarh: The Cradle of Civilization
Prabhat Ranjan SarkarRichard Gauthier's Abstract: (https://richardgauthier.academia.edu/research). Merged PDF of P1-4 |
P1: Ch 1-9 (of 31). P2: Ch 10-18; P3: Ch 19-28 & a short article on the history & dialects of Ráŕh; P4: Ch 29-31.
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (a.k.a. Shri Shri Anandamurti; 1922-1990), was the spiritual guru or Yogic Preceptor of Ananda Marga in the tradition of Shiva & Krishna. Sarkar describes Ráŕh, an ancient land in eastern India, as the “Cradle of Civilization” & as one of the points where human beings first appeared on Earth about a million years ago. He also claims that the historical Shiva visited Ráŕh about 7500 years ago, stimulating the explosive development of its culture & civilization. According to Sarkar: (1) the language of Ráŕh today is Bengali, or Báḿlá, which comes from Púrvii Ardha-Mágadhii; (2) there are 12 main Bengali dialects, of which the Ráŕhi dialects are Mid-Ráŕhii Báḿlá, Kolkata Báḿlá, etc; however (3) all dialects have a high percentage (92%) of Sanskrit-related words that are used in the “colloquial language of the remote outpost of Ráŕh”, which Sarkar suggests is proof that Sanskrit was neither foreign nor had any relation to the influx of the Aryans. Recognizing the immense contributions of Ráŕh to human civilization as well as undertaking major efforts towards remediation of poverty & socio-economic-exploitation of the Ráŕhis will do much