Free The Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi Page A

Saini. ‘It’s from the book of Genesis in the Bible. Almost all flood tales are frequently linked by common elements that parallel the Biblical account—the preevent warning, the construction of a ship or barge, the saving of animals, and the releasing of birds to check if the flood had receded. The incredible pattern shared by flood myths from around the world is an indication that they were all referring to a historical event that had been passed down by word of mouth over several generations and over several lands.’
    ‘You’re not going to tell me that Noah’s ark was built in India!’ said Chhedi jokingly.
    ‘Actually, yes,’ said Saini. ‘The story of Noah is almost identical to a Sumerian legend called The Epic of Gilgamesh and I’ve already told you that the Sumerians were simply Vedic inhabitants who had migrated westwards after the drying up of the Sarasvati.’
    ‘So Noah was from India?’ asked Chhedi incredulously.
    ‘Not Noah, but the historical event upon which the story of Noah’s ark was based. Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk—modern-day Iraq—who fortified the walls of his kingdom,’ explained Saini. ‘In the epic we have Gilgamesh te at St Stephen’s College in New Delhi. that b scriptureslling a ferryman that the walls of Uruk had actually been built by seven sages. The concept of the seven sages—or the saptarishi —is as old as Vedic civilisation itself! The Gilgamesh story was essentially a recounting of the flood that engulfedDwarka that future waves of Vedic inhabitants carried with them into new lands such as Sumeria. Just take the name Noah and flip the two vowels in the middle. What do you get? Naoh —the Hindi word for boat! Even the very concept of man’s creation is from India. The English word man is derived from the Sanskrit root manus —which is also the root of the Indian name Manu, the mythological progenitor of the Hindus.’
    Chhedi and Priya were stumped. Saini seized the moment. ‘For a moment, if we take the biblical Noah story literally, it’s evident that the ark built by Noah would have had to be pretty large, right? In fact the Bible specifies the dimensions of the ark. It had a length of three hundred cubits, breadth of fifty cubits and height of thirty cubits. That’s huge! It would have been taller than a three-storey building and would have had a deck area the size of thirty-six tennis courts. Which shipyard of that time would have been able to construct such a vessel?’ asked Saini.
    Priya caught on immediately. ‘There was only one ancient port that could have dealt with that size—Lothal!’ she said, warming rapidly to Saini’s revelations.
    ‘Precisely! Lothal’s dockyard is the world’s earliest known. It was the only shipyard that was capable of producing a ship of that magnitude in ancient times. In fact the word “navigation” is derived from the Sanskrit word “navgati” —the science of sailing,’ said Saini. ‘Lothal was the point from where massive ships would have plied the trade route into the Persian Gulf. The other possibility was Dholavira. Both Lothal and Dholavira were extremely close to Dwarka—in fact all three cities had close links.’
    ‘In what way were they connected?’ asked Chhedi.
    ‘Dholavira was originally discovered in the 1960s by Jagat Pati Joshi and was excavated in the 1990s under the direction of R. S. Bisht,’ said Saini. ‘Bisht discovered that the city’s length and width were precisely in a ratio of 5:4. The main castle’s proportions also followed the city’s ratio of 5:4. Both ratios adding up to the sacred number nine.’
    ‘But what does that have to do with Lothal?’ asked Priya irritably.
    ‘Here’s where it gets really interesting,’ said Saini, rubbing his hands in childlike excitement. ‘Dholavira’s unit of measurement is exactly equal to 108 Lothal angulas. See the Vedic mathematical connection once again?’
    ‘Be that as it may,’ said Priya, attempting to regain