Swaveda
Indian history, plainly written.
A short daily post on Indian history — archaeology, genetics, historical linguistics, and the texts. Plus side-by-side translations of public-domain primary works. Plain language; no chest-thumping in either direction.
Plain language
Aimed at any curious reader, not the seminar room. Sanskrit / Pali / Tamil terms get a gloss on first use.
Tradition ≠ evidence
“The Mahabharata describes…” and “the Mahabharata war happened in…” are different sentences, and we don’t silently merge them.
Readers can edit
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The Bones of Harappa: How Richard Meadow's Zooarchaeology Reshaped the Indus Kitchen
Richard Meadow spent decades reading cattle teeth and butchered bones at Harappa. His death prompts a look at how animal remains, not seals or scripts, rewrote the Indus Valley's daily life.
Rohan Bhattacharya · Aug 2, 2026
The Decentered Frontier: What a Lapis Lazuli Outpost in Afghanistan Says About Harappan Trade
A remote Bronze Age outpost on the Oxus river, far from the Indus cities, suggests the Harappan world ran on deliberate, long-distance resource strategy rather than a single inward-looking core.
Rohan Bhattacharya · Aug 1, 2026
Beyond Currency: Reassessing the Eyyal Roman Coin Hoard
The Eyyal hoard's Roman denarii and aurei weren't small change in the Chera kingdom — they were bullion. Here's the evidence, and the scholarly fight over what "bullion" even means.
Devika Menon · Aug 1, 2026
Burzahom's Pit Dwellings: How Kashmir's Neolithic Farmers Built Below Ground
Pit dwellings at Burzahom (3000–1500 BCE) reveal how early Kashmir farmers adapted to cold climates. What archaeology shows about shelter, settlement, and survival in the mountains.
Rohan Bhattacharya · Aug 1, 2026
Kurukshetra: What Excavations Actually Found—and What the Mahabharata Claims
Archaeologists digging at Kurukshetra found settlements, pottery, and fortifications—but not a single battlefield. What the evidence shows vs. what the epic describes.
Dr. Anil Patel · Aug 1, 2026
Recent translations
All texts →Sanskrit
Arthashastra
Chapter 150 · Book 15, Chapter 1: Paragraphical Divisions of This Treatise
Updated Jul 26, 2026
Sanskrit
Arthashastra
Chapter 149 · Book 14, Chapter 4: Remedies against the Injuries of One's Own Army
Updated Jul 26, 2026
Sanskrit
Arthashastra
Chapter 148 · Book 14, Chapter 3: The Application of Medicines and Mantras
Updated Jul 26, 2026
A note on tone
Swaveda is curious, careful, and dry. There’s no civilizational chest-thumping in either direction here — no “Vedic India invented everything,” no “everything came from outside.” If we get something wrong, tell us. We fix it visibly, with a dated note.