Section - B: The Invalidity of the ARYAN INVASION THEORY
Geographic mentions in the Rig Veda - the first among the surviving Vedas - refer to almost the same regions of the Sarasvati-Sindhu belt as the archaeological sites. However, the gods and the primary economic mode differ starkly.
Again, what happened of the urban civilization remained an enigma during the time it was discovered. Even before the discovery of the Sindhu sites, there were ‘scholarly' theories of an invasion of the ‘natives' by a more powerful ‘Aryans'. When the site was discovered, the Invasion theory was strengthened to provide an explanation to the death of the civilization. It also presented a ‘racial' discriminatory platform to divide the subcontinent into the native ‘Dravidian' and the foreign ‘Aryan'.The Aryan Invasion Theory was reinforced at the time of the discovery of the site as the reason responsible for the ‘sudden death' of the civilization. This has been largely ruled out now as many things do not fall in place, among the foremost being that there are evidences that the civilization did not die out suddenly but declined over several hundreds of years (the link I have provided here provides anthropological evidence of there being no sudden or large scale genetic changes in the region).
There are also many other reasons that the author wishes to present here.
- 1. The pastoral immigrants who arrived (possibly) from Central and/or West Asia and/or East Europe, did not value land as asset as they were nomadic. They merely moved their herds to greener pastures. They did not conform to the urban culture.
- 2. They did not have a developed money economy and did not value precious commodity that were possessed or traded by the inhabitants of the Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization. Therefore, it seems presumptive that they had a reason to destroy an urban settlement that apparently posed no threat to them.
- 3. Until very recently, nomadic tribes of India have successfully led lives of cultural isolation. It seems highly probable that the immigrants simply moved around the cities and villages and were culturally isolated from the civilized world until some of them gradually settled down and learnt agriculture and other advanced sciences from the hosts while assimilating and integrating the culture, language and philosophy of the two.
- 4. The idea of the rich and the servile1 was present prior to the arrival of the immigrants. The archaeological sites show distinct settlements for different classes of people. This, very obviously, continued even after the immigrants began a settled life. The ‘Aryans' and ‘Dasus' referred to in the literary texts simply mean the ‘noble one' or ‘Master' and ‘servant' respectively.
- 5. Reference to ‘Dravida' is clearly not racial. One explanation often quoted is that it could be linguistic that is presently South Indian. However, one senses that it could refer to a learned class as in ‘Druid' of Europe. Here is the explanation in detail:
It has been hitherto argued that Dravida is the root to the word ‘Thamizha' and explained as Dravida --> Dramila --> Thamila --> Thamizha. [One has this urge to provide the simile of the letter-change word-change that is often part of aptitude tests: ship-->slip-->slap-->clap-->clan but would ‘ship' therefore be the same as ‘clan' by the previous derivation?] One sees not even a single common letter between Dravida and Thamizha (when written in Tamil).
On the other hand, see the proximity of Dravida and Druid.
The reasoning is clear: The geographical connectivity of the regions to the South, the West and the North-West of the Himalayas makes it highly probable for peoples, cultures and languages to coalesce. Within this area, it seems very unlikely that the stark similarity in the names of two peoples is simple coincidence.
- 6. Going by the above two points, Dravida was the learned class (not necessarily lineage based initially).
They comprised of (or later split into) two streams - the ascetic Sramanas (the Shamans) and the settled teacher-priest Brahmana (children of Brahma, of creation and learning; Abraham in the Middle East).
As well known, the Brahmanas were held in reverence for their knowledge and intellect. Often holding the advisory posts to the rulers, they wielded great amounts of power and privilege and this made them a feared people. The Druids were just as powerful in the Western world.
The Sramanas - the ones that exerted themselves to great extents - were held in high reverence and were the wandering teachers. Most of the great philosophies were crystallised by the Sramanas. They were the healers of body-mind-soul and lived a life of extreme self-deprivation. The similarity between Sramanas and the Shamans cannot be ignored.
The proximity in the roles of the Brahmana (Dravida) and the Sramana and correspondingly the roles of the Druid and the Shaman are highlighted and compared.
One does not know where any of these originated, but it was a pan South Asia-South-East Asia-Europe establishment but which Europe and South-East Asia lost consequent to the Christian and other subsequent persecutions.
Aryan was the rich warrior/trading class.
Dasu was the poor servile class.
Later these crystallised into Brahmana (Dravida), Kshatriya and Vaishya (Aryan) and Shudra (Dasu).
In short, these were all mere class/professional caste distinctions.
- 7. Arya means ‘Noble one' in Sanskrit. Ayya means the same in the South Indian languages and is used commonly in names by even those that have no exposure to any language outside their own. Why would one (lovingly) call a ‘Dravidian' an ‘Aryan' if Dravida and Arya were (antagonistic) race mentions?
The above points along with evidences that there was no abrupt decline of the civilization point to the fact that there was no ‘Aryan Invasion' of any kind and the immigrants did not discriminate against the earlier inhabitants. Rather, the two integrated successfully into a megaculture.
References:
1 Harappan Civilization, Prabhat Kumar Basant (Ancient India - A Source book for Civil Services Examination - Publications Division, March 1995)

written by P. Desikan, 2008-07-21 11:29:56
i know I am capable of a few typos as well as the next person, but it appears my keyboard helps out as well.
In my reply to you, 'genetic' must have become 'getic' courtesy the kb.
'seekers' became 'speakers' by my own carelessness.
Regards. Partha
written by P. Desikan, 2008-07-21 10:41:32
I agree with your opinion
'Indian population is the result of multiple waves of human migrations over thousands of years and it is difficult to piece together the social, cultural, and migratory history of Indian people. (Only settled issue is that Vedas were revealed to Indians in pre-partitioned India.)
The desire to give caste a biological foundation is usually political.'
I have no doubt that with our gates wide open and having been one of the most desirable places to live in in the past, we should have had everybody from everywhere crossing and selectively also settling. To give getic markings to castes is truly foolish apart from being political.
Your statement in parenthesis too appears true to me. I too believe in some knowledge always being 'revealed to speakers. I do not know which partition you are referring too, but the vagueness reinforces the truth. before can include long long ago to just before.
Warm regards. Partha.
written by Raju, 2008-07-21 09:56:46
Indian population is the result of multiple waves of human migrations over thousands of years and it is difficult to piece together the social, cultural, and migratory history of Indian people. (Only settled issue is that Vedas were revealed to Indians in pre-partitioned India.)
The desire to give caste a biological foundation is usually political. Lower caste will use such results to unite against higher castes while higher caste may justify their belief of inherent superiority to legitimize caste. It is for this reason it is always important to examine closely various caste and genetics studies. It is important to know hypothesis, scope, sample size, research methodology of such studies.
Here are two interesting studies on this subject.
Caste in the genes
A new genetic study of ethnic communities and population groups in India has debunked the theory that the caste system came with the Aryans. G.S. Mudur reports
Ref: http://www.telegraphindia.com/...203802.asp
Genetics of Castes and Tribes of India: Indian Population Milieu
By M. K. Bhasin
Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi 110 007, India
ABSTRACT
South Asia, constituting mainly the Indian sub-continent, is a panorama of social diversities, racial differences and rich cultural heritage. However many facets of history, race and culture of this area are still relatively unexplored. Debates and doubts centering around the autochthonous status of the early settlers continue - it is very difficult to ascertain how human groups and settlements were formed in the pre-historic times, whether they were the original inhabitants or migrated from some other place and if they migrated, which route did they take. However, the infiltration and admixture of new racial and cultural elements, from time to time, have made the Indian population more diverse and heterogeneous.
Ref:
http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/IJHG/IJHG-06-0-000-000-2006-Web/IJHG-06-3-177-280-2006-Abst-PDF/IJHG-06-3-233-274-2006-000-Bhasin-M-K/IJHG-6-3-233-274-2006-000-Bhasin-M-K-Text.PDF
Regards,
Rajendra Rajput
written by dwai, 2008-07-20 13:16:55
I do agree that the discussion is very lively and I am enjoying the discussion. Just to add to the saffron color comment. As saffron may have been tainted by some political agenda, there are also political miscreants from saffron color (true from saffron color or any color or no color) who are adding to the mistrust.
Indeed. But that is not because they are "from saffron color" but they have hijacked/abused the color (and what it signifies). But we must be careful as to not throw out the baby with the bath-water. There are many political issues that the existence of these political entities highlight. We can go into this if the members of this forum are interested (although I think we should really be discussing the politics of things on the forum side of the house).
Even though in Medhajournal, all the Medhavis are discussing and interacting for purely intellectual pursuits with absolutely no political agenda, it could be an assumption by many as otherwise, just for the fact people have always been fed by political agenda of some sort, be in right, left, limbo kinds!!
Your fears are well justified, but for the reason I mentioned in my previous comment. Just because someone questions the established locus standii does not make them party to some hidden agenda. I've seen this time and again on the sulekha discussions (back in the day). Where Gentleman scholars such as Dr. Subhash Kak, Rajiv Malhotra have been accused of being saffronites simply because they tend to analyze and write with a pro-Indic leaning. So, by virtue (or lack of it thereof) of not toeing the "approved" line, these people automatically get painted as Saffronites! If people who read Medha Journal have any doubts in their minds about the political leanings of the community (which is and rightfully should be a personal predilection imho), they should voice their opinion. Let them put their thoughts across (without resorting to name-calling) and let the strength or weakness of their view-point decide the natural result of such debates.
I think we all would agree that TMJ exists to give voice to cogent debate and help get any earnest message across in the public realm.
written by Sreeparna, 2008-07-20 11:39:10
Yet, I dont have a political agenda but am a normal person with opinions on issues. How's that? Thanks for removing the taint from the colour saffron. This colour - often the 'kaavi' shade is supposed to induce the mind to renunciation...now see how negatively it is seen...
I do agree that the discussion is very lively and I am enjoying the discussion. Just to add to the saffron color comment. As saffron may have been tainted by some political agenda, there are also political miscreants from saffron color (true from saffron color or any color or no color) who are adding to the mistrust.
Even though in Medhajournal, all the Medhavis are discussing and interacting for purely intellectual pursuits with absolutely no political agenda, it could be an assumption by many as otherwise, just for the fact people have always been fed by political agenda of some sort, be in right, left, limbo kinds!!
written by dwai, 2008-07-19 09:52:24
I wanted to bring out in the discussion that there were opposing representations in the wikipedia link. Also to add the opposing ideas in the wikipedia article.
These opposing ideas/views are actually quite lopsided in their balance of voice and power. The AIT/AMT theorists (with their associated neo-colonial baggage) have the advantage of adhering to a theory that has been carefully and methodically engineered to subjugate Indians over a period of 300 years (starting with the European Philologists such as Max Mueller). They naturally (by virtue of their blind acceptance in academia all over the world (including India)) have a larger mass of followers.
The people who are questioning this are very conveniently painted in the Hindutva/Saffronist brush (there is nothing wrong with saffron, except the media-fabricated image of it being an undesirable color, guilt by association with some fringe elements of Indian politics) -- read that Wikipedia article for instance. You must read our own Nitin Bhai's co-edited book "Invading the Sacred" (http://www.invadingthesacred.com for your edification.
written by Sreeparna, 2008-07-19 09:39:04
No genetic markings are relevant to Indian castes, period.. There was no ulterior indication in my comment, and so I said the article in wikipedia has opposing ideas.
I wanted to bring out in the discussion that there were opposing representations in the wikipedia link. Also to add the opposing ideas in the wikipedia article.
Political debate and implications
The debate over such a migration, and the accompanying influx of elements of Vedic religion from Central Asia is politically charged and hotly debated in India. Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) organizations, especially, mostly remain opposed to the concept. Outside India, the perceived political overtones of the theory are not pronounced, and it is discussed in the larger framework of Indo-Iranian and Indo-European expansion.
Even though it lies outside the mainstream academic consensus, an "Indian Urheimat" has its proponents, such as Elst (1999) and Kazanas (2001, 2002). "Out of India" scenarios locating the Indo-European homeland on the Indian subcontinent have had some currency in Hindu nationalism since the 2000s, but found no support in the academic community.[69][70]
written by dwai, 2008-07-19 09:24:30
This quote indicates that there is an indication of possible Aryan invasion/immigration to India..
What do you have to say about this?
How does this exclude the possibility that there was a migration out from India to the middle-east and Europe?
Read Subhash Kak, Georg Fuerstein and David Frawley's excellent book called "In search of the cradle of civilization" for a cogent and convincing explanation on a lot of these matters...
written by P. Desikan, 2008-07-19 08:57:02
In any such investigation, a portion of the investigation can indicate contra to the average based on larger sampling. And remember,
most investigations ignore the porosity of the Indian landmass also on the southeastern and northeastern sides, by sea from Austarlia and by land from ancient China in prehistoric times.
Import from China is as Asian as indigenous material, after all! You would have noticed that neither colour nor facial features are unique to any caste in any state of India, though as in the rest of the world, fair skin has been treated with deference all the time!
No genetic markings are relevant to Indian castes, period.
Regards. Partha
written by Sreeparna, 2008-07-19 01:29:16
Thank you for the interesting read about negating Aryan Invasion theory. I went to the wikipedia reference mentioned by Riverine. As first read of the link, I felt it was very contradictory and confusing. I am not sure how other Medhavis perceive..
There were opposing ideas based on genetic mapping;
However, Bamshad et al. (2001) state:
For maternally inherited mtDNA, each caste is most similar to Asians. However, 20%-30% of Indian mtDNA haplotypes belong to West Eurasian haplogroups, and the frequency of these haplotypes is proportional to caste rank, the highest frequency of West Eurasian haplotypes being found in the upper castes. In contrast, for paternally inherited Y-chromosome variation each caste is more similar to Europeans than to Asians. Moreover, the affinity to Europeans is proportionate to caste rank, the upper castes being most similar to Europeans, particularly East Europeans. [...] Analysis of these data demonstrated that the upper castes have a higher affinity to Europeans than to Asians, and the upper castes are significantly more similar to Europeans than are the lower castes. Collectively, all five datasets show a trend toward upper castes being more similar to Europeans, whereas lower castes are more similar to Asians.[27]
This quote indicates that there is an indication of possible Aryan invasion/immigration to India..
What do you have to say about this?
written by karigar, 2008-07-18 08:47:54
Regds evidence for Outbound, just remembered Subhash Kak writing a well researched piece on the Hitties & Mittani in the middle-east having comprehensive naming systems & language which obviously seem to be from the Indic area..
His implication seemed to be that the elite in these areas had Indic cultural backgrounds ( organic or adopted) which was different from the 'plebians' who had a more localized culture...
Am learning more & more about 'Tamizh' ( more accurate than 'Tamil' ? )...Thanks
written by narensomu, 2008-07-17 23:03:28
Interesting, neccessary or need of the hour article and discussions.
Tamizh ,I belive in its ancient form might have been a Sister to Sanskrit's ancient form [Veda Basha or is it Sandhas as the Kanchi Saint called it?].
The Pathanjali -Agastya-Shiva story seems very plausible to me.
I am reading Thiruvachagam and admiring the succinct lines .
But the Sanga Tamil is harder to understand.
A small bit of mainstream media news.
Last year Dina malar carried a para on what communist leader B Ramamurthy said abt the origin of languages.
"Sanskrit means "well made from " -it was made from existing regional languages and wily upper class people perfected it and used it!"
The paper also mentioned that he was a Brahmin.[ see, his commie view must be right abt Sanskrit]:-) line of thinking.
Avare sollitarupa-kind of acceptance.
As a person educated in the mainstream way, what knowledge would the leader have had in Sanskrit or Tamil? None.
But the TV watching, unthinking Tamilian would swallow this hook , line and sink-er.
Those who question are Aryans anyways.:-))
I grit my teeth-Dinamalar may have been trying to make amends -considering the change in the political climate.
4. The SS is a culmination of material culture...rather a pioneering effort in materialism. Precisely because of this, the West is interested in studying it...kind of distracting the Indians into looking at the 'minds' that preceded/created it in the first place. The very same minds used mud/wood/clay etc. to make things earlier, but how do such things matter to those wanting to believe that only iron and bricks make a civilization?
You said it. The West has a narrow way of looking at issues-what we need to do is look at issues from a fresh point of view.
I am reminded of those parna saalas Lakshman built for his Brother and Sister in law in the jungle. A people whose aspirations weren't building pukka structures but whose aim was to build up their Medhavi account would do with parna salaas .
Agree with Partha's lines-no one way ticket this-out bound migration would have happened too.
Regards
ns
written by P. Desikan, 2008-07-17 20:06:40
1)a language of a protodravidian kind developed among the people assembled in SS in the very distant past.
2) SS has been there very long and was fertile enough to attract people to it from North and South by the mountain and sea routes and accessible enough in both directions.
3) Such inward migration stopped only when desertification sent Saraswati away and beneath after a cataclysmic event.
4) The Vedic language was revealed along with vedic knowledge only in the Himalayas and I am not limiting the time frame. Our legends clearly mention the movement of sages from the Northern forests to different river-bed locations, but substantially to SS and Ganga, over several hundreds, thousands of years. The protodravidian in the Ganga would have taken a lot of time to become different prakrits.
The sages themselves would have then created Sanskrit on the Vedabhasha model and Prakritic vocabular content.
Not being directly affected by these interactions, the south got a clear SS based language and rather recently,finished Sanskrit in lieu of Vedabhasha.
Do I make sense?
Regards. Partha.
written by P. Desikan, 2008-07-17 15:38:48
Agree with you. Wholeheartedly.
Dear Riverine, No right thinking person will assert that with the Bharatavarsha open to the rest of the world through mountain passes and the sea in those old times, that people would have only come in and not gone out.
There is however the irrefutable evidence of thick population even in old times, indicating more migration in than out.
Till very recently the industrial revolution and its results started converting Europe and its essentially white colonies into paradises on earth to which the lesser colonies could aspire to go.
But while more and more people travelled through the Himalayan passes and the shores west of the Western ghats to the Saraswati Sindhu paradise, cultural mores from there could travel both to elsewhere within the country and abroad, along with limited number of Indian wanderers and crisscrossing non Indians.
Let us have some Medhavis from SS going to the Himalayas and getting/creating the vedas and the vedic language.
Let some enterprising cultivators move through Gujarat to the south continuing to speak SS lingo.
Let some others move eastward to the Ganga basin and receive inputs from returning Medhavis modifying the SS lingo into Prakrits.
Let the Medhavis get together at various river camps and create a modified Vedic lingo related to the Ganga prakrits and call it Sanskrit. Meanwhile let the Prakrits flourish and evolve.
Let other Medhavis similarly civilise the SS lingo in the south to Tamil and other Dravidian tongues.
Let the criss crossing non Indians go back where they came from and coevolve Indo-this-ean and indo-that-ean languages. As for languages, so to for ideas, cultural mores, and whateverelse.
How do you like this very crude scenario?
If any of it was so, I had nothing to do with it.
Regards. Partha.
written by karigar, 2008-07-17 14:09:58
Well encapsulated refutation of AXT(X=Invasion/Migration/Tourism)...but you left out one gaping possibility / ; that of the 'Out Of India' variety
There is at lease as much real/hard evidence for Indian Emigration as for Indian Immigration...how 'bout that??
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I was referring to partition in 1947.
For bigger picture one may want to see following.
1) JOURNEY OF MANKIND - The Peopling of the World
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/
2) The Migration History of Humans: DNA Study Traces Human Origins Across the Continents
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-migration-history-of-humans
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=whole-genome-results
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=tracking-y-chromosomes-through-time
I think I will stop here. I may be moving away from topic.
Regards,
Rajput