Swaraj Prakash Gupta

Swaraj Prakash Gupta, better known as S.P. Gupta, (1931 – 2007) was an Indian archaeologist and historian.

Quotes

• Generally speaking, a temple is a 'Place of Worship'. It is also called the 'House of God'. However, for a Hindu, it is both and yet still more. It is the whole cosmos in the miniature form.
  • Elements of Indian Art (2002)

• Indian art has been the product of Indian culture as the Greek art has been the product of Greek culture or the Roman art has been the product of Roman culture. Indian culture, however, has been the product of two streams of thoughts and practices, one, the Folk, belonging to the oral traditions operating at the folk level, in the villages, and, the other, classical, belonging to the sophisticated literary traditions, the former is sometimes called 'Lower Tradition' and the latter 'Higher Tradition'.
  • Elements of Indian Art (2002)

• With regard to the problem of communalism whether it be Hindu- Muslim, Vaishnava-Saiva or Shia-Sunni it may be assumed that the people of India have come of age. If that is so the historians of India should neither look for forces of communal synthesis nor for those of conflict; they should just look for facts as they unfold themselves in the historical process. If they only look for facts supporting synthesis they may be good nationalists but they would at the same time be inverted communalists. Let history be our psychoanalyst. Once we are able to accept ourselves for what we are we will be able to give the right direction to our present and future. … A historian’s commitment to history must remain untouched by his loyalties, political, religious or others.
  • S.P. Gupta “A Critique of R.S. Sharma’s In Defence of “Ancient India’”, printed by the National Museum, New Delhi. quoted in Rosser, Yvette Claire (2003). Curriculum as Destiny: Forging National Identity in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. University of Texas at Austin.

• The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization is found extending for more than 1600 km from north to south and equally from east to west, covering an area of about 2.5 million sq. km and more. The northernmost site known to us so far is Manda, located on the River Beas near Jammu; the southernmost site is Bhagatrav on the RiverTapti in Gujarat; the easternmost site is Bhorgarh in east Delhi and Alamgirpur in district Meerut; and the westernmost site is Sutkagendor, located on the ancient shore of the Arabian Sea, near the eastern border of Iran. The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization was, therefore, around four times more in area coverage than any contemporary civilization, including the Egyptian and the Mesopotamian.
  • From 'The dawn of Indian civilization (up to c. 600 ec)', in G.C. Pande (ed.) (History of Science, Philosopby and Culture in Indian Civtltration, ed., D.P. Chattophadhyaya, vol. I Part I) (New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations, 1999), pp. 27~. 339-51, 366-75.J . quoted in Thomas R. Trautmann (editor) - The Aryan Debate (Debates in Indian History)-OUP India (2005)

• All this clearly shows that, in the process of the formation of the Indus-Sarasvati Civilization, which was typically a lowland cultural phenomenon, not one but several regions were directly or indirectly involved, as has been pointed out by Mughal. The usual American perception (of scholars like Possehl) that the highland Baluchi cultures, such as the Quetta culture with roots in Iranian Neolithic cultures of the Zagros mountains, and the Iranian Bronze Age cultures were primarily responsible for the birth and early growth of the Indus- Sarasvati Civilization, therefore, requires serious reconsideration since the pre-4000 BC cultures leading to the 4000 BC settlements are now locally available in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, particularly at Harappa, where a four-metre deposit of handmade black painted red ware with mud-brick houses was found in early 1996.
  • From 'The dawn of Indian civilization (up to c. 600 ec)', in G.C. Pande (ed.) (History of Science, Philosopby and Culture in Indian Civtltration, ed., D.P. Chattophadhyaya, vol. I Part I) (New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations, 1999), pp. 27~. 339-51, 366-75.J . quoted in Thomas R. Trautmann (editor) - The Aryan Debate (Debates in Indian History)-OUP India (2005)