New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday quoted the ancient ‘Saraswati-Sindhu civilization’ to applaud India’s 4,000 BCE-old commerce and trade industry.
Presenting Union Budget for financial year 2020-21, Sitharaman said, “The guilds of Saraswati-Sindhu Civilization and the Harappan seals are remarkable. The civilization is about 4000 BCE and they belong to 3300 BCE.”
She spoke on the words deciphered from the Indus script. “The words from the Indus script which are all hieroglyphics have been deciphered. Interesting words we need to know commerce and trade related industry. The words show how India for millennia has been a continuing civilization, with rich skills in metallurgy and trading and so on. Shreni found in seals which means guild, seti found in seals which means wholesale merchant. This is Sindhu-Saraswati civilization,” the minister said, adding that this was the important thing in her speech.
“Huddar is a phrase of metal into treasury. India is a continuing maritime power in terms of commerce and industry, shakarakhorni is using work of blacksmithry, irons and tin-smithery existed that time.”
“So India’s industry in such material existed over the millennia. It is unique to India have existed and continue to exist over the millennia. So entrepreneurship strength of India.”
The moment the finance minister mentioned the term ‘Sindhu-Saraswati civilzation, a group on Twitter erupted in joy and hailed her for making the mention for the first time in the budget speech.
The narrative counter to the Indologists show how Saraswati plays an important role in painting ancient India of Vedic Aryans and outward migration. This view of Sindhu-Saraswati civilization brings the Vedic people on par with the Harappans.