The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see discussion on the talk page.

The controversial Aryan invasion theory is a historical theory first put forth by the German Indologist Friedrich Max Müller and others in the mid nineteenth century in India. These scholars noticed similarities between languages in India such as classical Sanskrit, and with European and Iranian languages such as Latin, Classical Greek, and Old Persian. Other major language groups later shown to be a part of this "Indo-European" family include the Germanic, Celtic, and Slavic language families, as well as some now extinct groups discovered after the formulation of the theory, such as the Hittite and Tocharian languages. The most common view held by linguists and historians is that all these languages descend from what is termed "Proto-Indo-European", a reconstructed language based on various common features of its known descendant languages. This proto-language, and to a certain extent culture and religion, is believed to have been spread by the expansion of a people known as the Proto-Indo-Europeans that existed north of the Black Sea around about 3500 BCE. According to the most common version of the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT), the Aryans were an eastern tribe of these Proto-Indo-Europeans who originated in the Eastern Ukraine, from where they invaded or migrated to Iran and India through Central Asia. This is the accepted view of most linguists and historians. There are others, however, who take a completely different view, and do not accept that there was any specific Aryan migration from the west to India. These people tend to see a reverse migration from Western India to Central Asia, and from there into Europe. They claim either that the Proto-Indo-European language originated in India, or that Sanskrit was the actual proto Indo-European language and that it was the source of all later Indo-European languages. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... The Anatolian languages are a group of extinct languages, either Indo-European or (in some classifications) closely related to Indo-European, which were spoken in Asia Minor, including Hittite. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Balto-Slavic languages are an Indo-European language family, consisting of the (possibly genetically related) Baltic languages and Slavic languages. ... Celtic languages are the languages spoken by the ancient Celts and their modern descendants, the Gaels, Welsh, Cornish and Bretons. ... Indo-Iranian languages (also called Aryan languages) are the eastern-most group of the living Indo-European languages. ... The Italic subfamily is a member of the Centum branch of the Indo-European language family. ... Tocharian is one of the most obscure branches of the Indo-European language group. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) were a patrilineal society of the Bronze Age (roughly 5th or 4th millennium BC), probably semi-nomadic, relying on animal husbandry. ... This article is about Bronze Age burial mounds and the Kurgan culture. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Yamna (from Russian яма pit) or pit grave culture is a prehistoric culture of the Bug/Dniester/Ural region, dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC. The culture was predominantly nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers and a few hillforts. ... Approximate extent of the Corded Ware horizon with adjacent 3rd millennium cultures (after EIEC). ... Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics, dealing with the Indo-European languages. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Indology refers to study of India. ... Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (December 6, 1823 – October 28, 1900), more commonly known as Max Müller, was a German Orientalist, one of the founders of Indian studies, who virtually created the discipline of comparative religion. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ... The Iranian languages are a part of the Indo-European language family. ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The History of Greece extends back to the arrival of the Greeks in Europe some time before 1500 BC, even though there has only been an independent state called Greece since Turkey, Italy and Libya. ... Sketch of the first column of the Behistun Inscription Old Persian is the oldest attested Persid language. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... Celtic languages are the languages spoken by the ancient Celts and their modern descendants, the Gaels, Welsh, Cornish and Bretons. ... The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages), a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia. ... The Hittite language is the dead language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who once created an empire centered on ancient Hattusa (modern BoÄŸazköy) in north-central Turkey. ... Tocharian is one of the most obscure branches of the Indo-European language group. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... Map of the Black Sea. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ...

The theory itself has a complex history — initial acceptance, subsequent modifications, and currently new challenges in terms of counter theories. No single conclusive theory now prevails. Rather, combinations of theories are generally accepted.

Overview

The word 'Arya' was usually translated as 'Noble man'. Even in South India, the lower caste land lords were referred to as 'Ayya'. In the upper caste society, wives used to call their husbands 'arya'. Higher class ladies were referred to by their servants as 'Arya'. Thus the word itself was understood to mean 'Noble'. The historians proposed that Upper castes of India came from the 'North west'. They were looking for a word in the vedas that would denote such a race. The word 'arya' was found suitable. In this manner, 'arya' came to denote the 'Aryan' race. The theory thus talks about the invasion or migration of this Aryan race. The best-known form of the theory was developed by European historians in the late nineteenth century. As expressed, for example, by Charles Morris in his 1888 book "The Aryan Race," this theory holds that a Caucasian race of nomadic warriors known as the Aryans, originating in the Caucasus mountains in Southeastern Europe, invaded Northern India and Iran, somewhere between 1800 and 1500 BC. The invaders entered the Indian subcontinent from the mountain passes of the Hindu Kush, possibly on horseback, bringing with them the domesticated horse. The theory further proposes that this race displaced or assimilated the indigenous pre-Aryan peoples and that the bulk of these indigenous people moved to the southern reaches of the subcontinent or became the lower castes of post-Vedic society. The Aryans would have brought with them their own Vedic religion, which was codified in the Vedas around 1500 to 1200 BC. Upon arrival in India, the Aryans abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and mingled with the native peoples remaining in the north of India. The victory of the Aryans over the native civilization was quick and complete, resulting in the dominance of Aryan culture and language over the northern part of the subcontinent and considerable influence on parts of the south. The initial theory was built primarily on linguistic grounds, since there is no mention of an actual invasion or migration into India in the Vedic texts, and the Vedic texts do not refer to a homeland of the Hindus outside of India, in contrast to the Avesta, which mentions an exterior homeland Airyanem Vaejah of the ancient Zoroastrians. A map of South India, its rivers, regions and water bodies. ... Caucasian is originally a geographical term, meaning relative or pertaining to the Caucasus region of Eastern Europe and West Asia. ... Communities of nomadic people move from place to place, rather than settling down in one location. ... Aryan is an English word derived from the Indian Vedic Sanskrit and Iranian Avestan terms ari-, arya-, ārya-, and/or the extended form aryāna-. The Old Persian ariya- is a cognate as well. ... The Caucasus , a region boardering Asia Minor, is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus mountains and surrounding lowlands. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... (17th century BC - 16th century BC - 15th century BC - other centuries) (1600s BC - 1590s BC - 1580s BC - 1570s BC - 1560s BC - 1550s BC - 1540s BC - 1530s BC - 1520s BC - 1510s BC - 1500s BC - other decades) (3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC) Events 1700 - 1500 BC -- Hurrian conquests... Composite satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia. ... The Hindu Kush or Hindukush (هندوکش in Persian) is a mountain range in Afghanistan as well as in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. ... The Vedas (also referred to as Vedam) are part of the Hindu Shruti; these religious scriptures form part of the core of the Brahminical and Vedic traditions within Hinduism and are the inspirational, metaphysical and mythological foundation for later Vedanta, Yoga, Tantra and even Bhakti forms of Hinduism. ... (17th century BC - 16th century BC - 15th century BC - other centuries) (1600s BC - 1590s BC - 1580s BC - 1570s BC - 1560s BC - 1550s BC - 1540s BC - 1530s BC - 1520s BC - 1510s BC - 1500s BC - other decades) (3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC) Events 1700 - 1500 BC -- Hurrian conquests... (14th century BC - 13th century BC - 12th century BC - other centuries) (1300s BC - 1290s BC - 1280s BC - 1270s BC - 1260s BC - 1250s BC - 1240s BC - 1230s BC - 1220s BC - 1210s BC - 1200s BC - other decades) (3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC) Events 1295 BC - End of the... See Avesta Municipality for the Swedish town Yasna 28. ... The Airyanem Vaejah (Aryan Expanse) was the legendary home of the Indo-Iranian people, as described in writings in the Avestas and the Rig Veda. ...

The theory was first proposed on linguistic grounds, following the discovery that Sanskrit was related to the principal languages of Europe (the Indo-European language group). It was assumed that Northern India, in which languages derived from Sanskrit were spoken, must have been occupied by migrants speaking Indo-European languages. The dominant languages in Southern India, known as "Dravidian", were assumed to have been spoken by autochthonous pre-Aryan peoples, who had been displaced southward. Hence the Aryans were said to have supplanted the Dravidians in the north of the subcontinent. The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... Dravidian may refer to: A group of people who came through Arabia to settle on the Asian mainland at the Straight of Hormuz and on the Indus river in what is now Afghanistan. ... Indigenous peoples are: Peoples living in an area prior to colonization by a state Peoples living in an area within a nation-state, prior to the formation of a nation-state, but who do not identify with the dominant nation. ...

Initially Max Müller assumed that the migrants would have been farmers, but later writers envisioned an invasion by nomadic warriors. The vedic literature however does not mention the Aryans to be nomads. It was proposed, on the basis of passages in the Rig-Veda and assumptions about surviving racial hierarchies (see Dasa), that these invaders were light-skinned people who had subdued darker aboriginal people and then mixed with them. The theory fit some existing ideas that justified contemporary European colonization. Initially, the aboriginal 'Dravidian' occupants of India were assumed to have been primitive, and the achievements of ancient India were credited to the descendants of the Aryan invaders. In the 1920s, however, the Indus Valley Civilization was discovered. It was obviously advanced for its time, with planned cities, a standardized system of weights and bricks, etc, and it was understood that if the Aryans had invaded, then, regardless of their later achievements, they had in fact overthrown or at least supplanted a civilization more advanced than their own. Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (December 6, 1823 – October 28, 1900), more commonly known as Max Müller, was a German-born British Philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of Indian studies, who virtually created the discipline of comparative religion. ... The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit á¹›c praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ... The Dasa are a tribe identified as the enemies of the Aryans in the Rig-Veda. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Colonialism. ... Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America as the Roaring Twenties. // Events and trends Technology John T. Thompson invents Thompson submachine gun, also known as Tommy gun John Logie Baird invents the first working television system (1925) Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to fly... The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. ...

Questioning the theory

Accepted generally when it was first propounded, this theory has since been questioned on two fundamental grounds: firstly, whether the Aryans came through bloody invasions or through peaceful migration, and secondly, whether the Aryans came from outside the Indian subcontinent at all. Invasion is a military action consisting of troops entering a foreign land (a nation or territory, or part of that), often resulting in the invading power occupying the area, whether briefly or for a long period. ... Migration occurs when living things move from one biome to another. ...

The issues raised by these lines of questioning are discussed in the subsequent paragraphs.

Theory of migration rather than invasion

The first responses to the Aryan invasion theory accept the basic premise that the Aryans came from outside India but speculate and differ on the nature of their ingress. The proponents of this camp are of the opinion that there is very little archaeological evidence for an invasion. For the invasion theory to be viable, the Aryans would have had to discover mountain passes among the treacherous Hindu-Kush mountains, most of which are snow free only three months a year. The Aryan invaders, being a nomadic people would be far smaller in number to the Indus Valley civilization, which was spread over an area greater than 1.8 million km², with an estimated population greater than the combined populations of all the other river civilizations at that time except ancient China. They would then have to quickly and completely rout an advanced civilization living in fortified cities over a large geographic area and impose their culture, language, cosmology and religion on the local population without leaving any physical traces of themselves. Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... The Hindu Kush, HindÅ« KÅ«sh, Hindoo Koosh or Hindukush (هندوکش in Persian) is a mountain range in Afghanistan as well as in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. ... The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. ...

In addition, there are practically no archaeological signs of an invasion, such as carbonized layers in the Indus Valley city sites. Nor are there oral or written legends of an invasion. It seems much more likely that Aryan migrants found mountain passes and entered the subcontinent during the snow-free months and settled within or close to the Indus Valley civilization. Multiple waves of migration are possible, causing a mingling of the immigrant and local populations. There may have been significant exchange and assimilation of culture and language on both sides. The immigrants may have travelled back and forth to their original lands taking language and culture to other Indo-European peoples, especially Ancient Persia. Human skeletal remains excavated from sites of the Indus Valley civilization show a mixed ethnic composition similar to the present, showing support for migration rather than an invasion. Thus the idea of "invasion by barbarian Aryan hordes" has been replaced by "immigration and acculturation by a small group of linguistically Indo-European people". ... The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. ...

Theory that Vedic Aryan culture originated in India

In recent times a different, and highly contentious, viewpoint has been proposed--a complete inversion of the old theory that, despite its voluble adherents, most scholars see as thin, tenuous and resting on little else but empty radicalism. In its extreme version, it proposes that no such Aryan migration or invasion occurred; that the Indus Valley civilization was the civilization described in the Vedas; and that the Aryans originated in India. This theory is generally propounded by radical brahmin fringe groups considered as a coopting technique to harness history. Some advocates of this position propose that the proto-Indo-European language actually originated in India, from which its earliest speakers spread westwards. Others believe that the Indo-European languages originated outside India, but that they spread into India before the development of the Indus Valley Civilisation. On this view, the Indo-Aryan sub-branch of the IE languages evolved within India, along with the beliefs that became Vedic culture. The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... The adjective Vedic may refer to The Vedas, the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan texts. ...

The invasion theory can be said to have given the world a dramatised narrative that conformed to — if not indirectly bolstered — the colonial enterprise.

Based on recent discoveries of what are interpreted as Vedic elements in the Harappa and Mohenjodaro sites, as well as newly excavated cities in Gujarat and off the coastlines of Eastern and Western India, the counter-theory proposes that the great Vedic Saraswati River is the dry river bed that has been identified in Northwestern India and that the 'Aryan race' is nothing more than those Indian tribes considered 'noble' for adherence to Vedic principles, not for their racial characteristics or lineage. This theory of the Aryan culture being indigenous sometimes proposes Vedic Indian culture coming into being as early as 5000 BC, and slowly developing till around the time of the dissolution of the Harappa and Mohenjodaro cultures, whose disappearance is linked to the drying of the Saraswati River. This bears significance because the Rig Veda talks mainly of River Saraswati. While many historians have tried linking this River to a river in Afghanistan,the supporters of the Indigenous Origin theory have tried showing that Saraswati actually flowed in North Western India. The problem is that Saraswati is a dead river. The folk tales, as well as later vedic literature, describe a drying 'Saraswati'. People still talk of places where the river was supposed to have flowed. The supporters of Indigenous origin theory also claim that the satellite pictures of an ancient river bed that had dried in North Western India actually belonged to the River Saraswati. The historians who believe in the aryan migration theory cannot also prove that Saraswati was some other river outside India. This is a big problem for them, as then the whole theory would need to be completely reformulated. They thus continue to believe that Saraswati was a river flowing outside Indian subcontinent. Harappa is a city in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, located beside a former course of the Ravi River; about 35km southwest of Sahiwal. ... Mohenjo-daro (literally, mound of the dead), like Harappa, was a city of the Indus Valley civilization. ... Gujarat (ગુજરાત in Gujarati) is the most industrialized state in India after Maharashtra and is located in western India, bordered by Pakistan to the northwest and Rajasthan to the north. ... The Hindu Vedas mention a river named Sarasvati. ... Harappa is a city in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, located beside a former course of the Ravi River; about 35km southwest of Sahiwal. ... Mohenjo-daro (literally, mound of the dead), like Harappa, was a city of the Indus Valley civilization. ... The Hindu Vedas mention a river named SarasvatÄ«. In Sanskrit saras means a pool or water body, and vatÄ« (from vnt-Ä«, the female form of the -vant suffix) means she having lots of pools. Sarasvati was the biggest and most important of the seven holy rivers of the Rig Veda. ... The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ...

Only conclusive evidence regarding the location of the Saraswati River, whether geological, archaeological or astronomical, can settle the debate over the two remaining theories. The Hindu Vedas mention a river named Sarasvatī. In Sanskrit saras means a pool or water body, and vatī (from vnt-ī, the female form of the -vant suffix) means she having lots of pools. Sarasvati was the biggest and most important of the seven holy rivers of the Rig Veda. ...

Evidence relating to the theory

Over two thousand Indus Valley sites have been identified, but only five percent of them have been excavated. The ongoing investigation of the Aryan question involves:

1. archaeology of a large area and a long period of time;
2. archaeogenetic evidence from the existing population;
3. linguistics involving Indo-European branches, Vedic Sanskrit and Dravidian;
4. hermeneutics involving Indian and other scripture (Vedas, Puranas and the Avesta);
5. geography of the areas involved.

It is hard to be an expert in all the above disciplines over such a large area and over such a long time period, so observations or claims made by any person may show accuracy and thoroughness in one area but faulty analysis or oversight in another. Hermeneutics (Hermeneutic means interpretive), is a branch of philosophy concerned with human understanding and the interpretation of texts. ...

The opponents of continuity primarily focus on showing that the Rig-Vedic culture is pastoral, external to the Indian subcontinent, and that a chronological gap exists between the Indus Valley and Rig-Vedic cultures.

Also, strong similarity of ideas between early Indian culture and other ancient cultures make scholars suspect that the cultures might have been originated somewhere in Central Asia and then migrated in different directions. For instance, the attack Homer describes in Iliad against city of Troy, where soldiers hide in the body of a horse, has a strikingly similar counter-instance in Sanskrit where playwright Bhasa writes about capturing an enemy king by luring him to an elephant hunt where enemy soldiers are hiding inside the stomach of a wooden elephant. Bust of Homer in the British Museum For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... The Iliad (Greek Ἰλιάς, Ilias) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Walls of the excavated city of Troy (Turkey) This article is about the city of Troy / Ilion as described in the works of Homer, and the location of an ancient city associated with it. ...

Proponents of continuity focus on stressing that the Rig-Vedic culture is native to the subcontinent, urban in nature, makes constant references to bodies of water (Central Asian nomads would not have been exposed to seas) and a chronological peer of the Harappan culture, and that perhaps they are the same culture.

The individual arguments may focus on linguistics, use of metals, domestication of horses or differences in described geography, but the basic focus is to identify the Rig-Vedic culture with or against the Indus Valley civilization.

Archaeology

Only five percent of the known Indus Valley sites have been excavated, so one can expect a constant stream of archaeological evidence to be unearthed in the future. Unlike hermeneutic evidence, there are very few issues with archaeological evidence, primarily due to the reliability of Carbon-14 and Thermo-luminescence dating. Radiocarbon dating is the use of the naturally occurring isotope of carbon-14 in radiometric dating to determine the age of organic materials, up to ca. ... Thermoluminescence (TL) dating is the determination by means of measuring accumulated radiation dose of the time elapsed since crystalline mineral materials were either heated (lava, ceramics) or exposed to sunlight (sediments). ...

The discovery of the Harappa and Mohenjo-daro sites changed the theory from an invasion of implicitly advanced Aryan people on an aboriginal population to an invasion of nomadic barbarians on an advanced urban civilization. Recent DNA evidence showing changes in the ethnic makeup of the people in the subcontinent, once between 6000BC and 4500 BC and again between 800 and 200BC, caused Romila Thapar to state that the Aryans were already a mixed bunch when they arrived in India.

Among the archaeological signs claimed to support the theory of an invasion are the many unburied corpses found in the top levels of Mohenjo-daro. Some interpret these as victims of a conquest of the city, while others suggest that they were victims of an epidemic, left unburied as a result of the breakdown of city sanitation.

An important piece of archaeological evidence mentioned in support of the invasion theory was the absence of horses in the Indus Valley civilization, while the Vedas make frequent mention of the horse. Though the earliest domestication of the horse is widely agreed to have occurred in the grasslands of Central Asia, the first use of horses in South Asia is a topic of great dispute. The horse specialist Sandor Bökönyi (1997) believed that excavated teeth from the Harappan site Surkotada could "in all probability considered remnants of true horses [i.e. Equus caballus]", but others like Meadow (1997) disagree, because remains of the Equus caballus horse are difficult to distinguish from other horse species like Equus asinus (donkeys) or Equus hemionus (onagers). However, terra-cotta figurines claimed to represent horses, and faunal remains were excavated from the sites at Lothal, Surkotda, and Kalibangan. The identity of these objects is, however, disputed. The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The Horse (Equus caballus) is a sizeable ungulate mammal, one of the seven modern species of the genus Equus. ... There are a number of theories regarding the domestication of the horse. ... Composite satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Binomial name Equus asinus Linnaeus, 1758 The donkey or ass (Equus asinus) is a domesticated animal of the horse family, Equidae. ... This article is about the horse species. ...

Similar weight has been placed on differences in the types of metals used in either civilization; the importance of the bull to the Indus Valley civilization as evidenced by imagery in seals and pottery, in contrast to the Vedic cow-worship; the importance of the tiger in the Indus Valley civilization and its absence in the Vedic texts; the absence of the six spoked Aryan wheel and the heavy consumption of fish by the Indus Valley dwellers in contrast to the virtual absence of fish in the Vedas.

Proponents of a continuous civilisation point out that the bull is mentioned numerous times in the vedas (next only to the horse), for example verses comparing Soma to the bull [Rig Veda 1:32, 9:92] and Exploits of Indra [Rig Veda 1:33, 7:24, 10:86]. The sacred place of the cow is not Vedic; it originated in later Hinduism during the time of Krishna the cowherd. There are no verses in the Vedas that speak about the need to refrain from cow-slaughter. Verses mentioning fish do exist in the Rig Veda (7:18, 10:68) and the tiger is mentioned in the Yajur Veda (4:4, 5:3, 6:2, 7:7). Terra-cotta figurines excavated are claimed to show chariots with spokes painted (at KaliBangan) or shown in relief (at Banawali). The adjective Vedic may refer to The Vedas, the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan texts. ... Hinduism (सनातन धर्म; also known as Sanātana Dharma, and Vaidika-Dharma ) is a worldwide tradition that encompasses several religions and ideologies. ... Lord Krishna Krishna (कृष्ण, Sanskrit for black), is, according to common Hindu tradition, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. ... The Yajur Veda यजुर्वेद is one of the four Hindu Vedas; it contains religious texts focussing on liturgy and ritual. ...

Recently, the excavation of Dholavira in the Gujarat province of India is claimed by the same camp to show a city that is consistent with Vedic principles of city planning: arameshthina, madhyamesthina and avameshtina or upper, middle and lower cities [1].

Physical Anthropology

Brian E. Hemphill and Alexander F. Christensen's study (1994) of the migration of genetic traits does not support a movement of Aryan speakers into the Indus Valley around 1500 BC. According to Hemphill's study, "Gene flow from Bactria occurs much later, and does not impact Indus Valley gene pools until the dawn of the Christian era."

Kenneth Kennedy (1984), who examined 300 skeletons from the Indus Valley civilization, concludes that the ancient Harappans “are not markedly different in their skeletal biology from the present-day inhabitants of Northwestern India and Pakistan”(p.102). 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Kennedy in a later study (1995) takes the view that if an Aryan invasion took place in the conventional time-frame it did not take the form of an intrusion by a distinct "biological entity", since there are no dramatic discontinuities in skeletal remains. The two discontinuities that Kennedy finds in the prehistoric skeletal record do not correspond with a period around 1500 BC. The first of these discontinuities occurred between 6000-4500 BCE (a separation of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic inhabitants of Mehrgarh), and the second occurred between 800-200 BCE. He concludes that "if Vedic Aryans were a biological entity represented by the skeletons from Timargarha, then their biological features of cranial and dental anatomy were not distinct to a marked degree from what we encountered in the ancient Harappans.” Comparing the Harappan and Gandhara (eastern Afghanistan) cultures, Kennedy remarks that: “Our multivariate approach does not define the biological identity of an ancient Aryan population, but it does indicate that the Indus Valley and Gandhara peoples shared a number of craniometric, odontometric and discrete traits that point to a high degree of biological affinity.” 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mehrgarh was an ancient settlement in South Asia and is one of the most important sites in archaeology for the study of the earliest neolithic settlements in that region. ... The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River and the Vedic Sarasvati River in present-day Pakistan. ... Buddhas First Sermon at Sarnath, Kushan Period, ca. ...

Genetics and Archaeogenetics

The recent advances in Archaeogenetics have some interesting results for the Aryan invasion theory but are still in the early stages. Genetic study shows that Indian population as a whole has little similarity to other areas of supposed Indo-European settlement, indicating there was no mass settlement. Indian maternal DNA is generally similar right across the country indicating that the mass of population has been in place there for a long period. Archaeogenetics, a term coined by Colin Renfrew, refers to the application of the techniques of molecular genetics to the study of the human past. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... Space-filling model of a section of DNA molecule Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life (and many viruses). ...

More recent results (Kivisild et al. 2003b; Cordeaux et al. 2003) show that the combined results from mtDNA, Y-chromosome and autosomal genes indicate that "Indian tribal and caste populations derive largely from the same genetic heritage of Pleistocene southern and western Asians and have received limited gene flow from external regions since the Holocene" (Cordeaux et al. 2003). Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is DNA which is not located in the nucleus of the cell but in the mitochondria. ... The Pleistocene Epoch is part of the geologic timescale, usually dated as 1. ... The Holocene Epoch is a geologic period that extends from the present back about 10,000 radiocarbon years. ...

The haplogroup R1a has been previously linked with the ancient Kurgans and/or Indo-Europeans of Southern Russia/Ukraine, who supposedly migrated to Europe, Central Asia and India between 3000 and 1000 BC (Passarino et al. 2001; Quintana-Murci et al. 2001; Wells et al. 2001). However, the high frequency of R1a found in Punjab and in the South Indian Chenchu tribe, together with a highter R1a-associated STR diversity in India and Iran compared with Europe and Central Asia, indicates that R1 and R1a differentiation may have originated in Southern or Western Asia (Kivisild 2003b). The defining M17 mutation has also been found in several South Indian tribes (Kivisild 2003b; Ramana et al. 2001; Wells et al. 2001). Stephen Oppenheimer, who reports upon the results of the Human Genome Diversity Project in his book "The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey out of Africa", comments that, "For me and for Toomas Kivisild, South Asia is logically the ultimate origin of M17 and his ancestors ... thus undermining any theory of M17 as a marker of a 'male Aryan Invasion of India'" (p. 152). Oppenheimer further believes that it is highly suggestive that India is the birthplace of the Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups which he calls the Eurasian Eves. He believes that it is highly probable that nearly all human maternal lineages in Europe (and similarly in East Asia) descended from only four mtDNA lines that originated in South Asia 50,000-10,000 years ago. This article is about Bronze Age burial mounds and the Kurgan culture. ... Stephen Oppenheimer is a well known expert in the field of synthesizing DNA studies with archaeological, anthropological, linguistic and other field studies. ... Toomas Kivisild, born on august, 11 1969 in Tapa, is a Estonian geneticist. ... Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is DNA which is not located in the nucleus of the cell but in the mitochondria. ...

The neolithic spread of farmers to Europe from Levant/Middle East has also been linked to 12f2 (haplogroup 9) and the markers M35 (haplogroup 21) and M201. But while M35 is present in Europe, Anatolia, South Caucasus and Iran, Indians generally do not have the Alu insertion in their Y chromosomes. The lack of YAP+ chromosomes in India suggests that M35 appeared in the Middle East only after a migration from Iran to India had taken place, but earlier than the later migration of Near and Middle Eastern farmers to Europe (Kivisild 2003a).

Virtually all Central Asian haplogroups of M seem to belong to the Mongolian rather than the Indian type of haplogroup M, which indicates that no large-scale migration from the present Turkish-speaking populations of Central Asia to India could have occurred (Kivisild 2000).

A 2001 examination of male Y-DNA by Indian and American scientists indicated that higher castes are genetically closer to Western Eurasians than are individuals from lower castes, whose genetic profiles are similar to other Asians. According to [Bamshad et al. (2001)], higher caste Telugus have a higher frequency of haplogroup 3 (R1a1) than lower castes. Haplogroup 3 is also characteristic of Eastern Europeans. In the study, Bamshad and his team wrote, "Our results demonstrate that for biparentally inherited autosomal markers, genetic distances between upper, middle, and lower castes are significantly correlated with rank; upper castes are more similar to Europeans than to Asians; and upper castes are significantly more similar to Europeans than are lower castes." 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Space-filling model of a section of DNA molecule Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life (and many viruses). ... The term Eurasian refers to the cultural ties and linkages between those in a wider view of the Eurasian continent, centering on the Silk Road, and Central Asia. ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... An autosome is a non-sex chromosome. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Varna (Vedic). ... This article is about the continent. ... The term Asian in a geographical sense simply refers to something or someone from Asia. ...

The genetic study involves the analysis of genetic material known as the Mitochondrial DNA which is only passed maternally and so it is used to study female inheritance. The male-determining Y chromosome is passed along paternally and is therefore used to study male inheritance. The evidence implies that a few millennia ago, a group of males with (Eastern) European affinities invaded the Indian subcontinent from the northwest. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA, or less popularly, mDNA) is DNA which is not located in the nucleus of the cell but in the mitochondria. ... Female symbol Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces egg cells. ... For other uses, see inheritance (disambiguation). ... The human Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes, it contains the genes that cause testis development, thus determining maleness. ... Composite satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia. ...

The researchers went on to state that the genetic variation between the upper and lower castes is evidence of the origin of the caste system. The people who were either migrating into or invading the sub-continent had male descendants largely in the higher castes. The researchers state that these invading or migrating people might have instituted the caste system. The word Caste is derived from the Portuguese word casta, meaning lineage, breed or race. ...

In the abstract to their paper the researchers stated, "In the most recent of these waves, Indo-European -speaking people from West Eurasia entered India from the northwest and diffused throughout the subcontinent. They purportedly admixed with or displaced indigenous Dravidic-speaking populations. Subsequently they may have established the Hindu caste system and placed themselves primarily in castes of higher rank." Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... African-Eurasian aspect of Earth Eurasia is the landmass composed of the continents of Europe and Asia. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, and eastern and central India. ... A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural system of Bharat (India). ...

The study also revealed another classic anthropological observation, that of women being significantly more mobile in terms of caste and hierarchical class than men, who are barely socially mobile at all in terms of caste and hierarchical class. Genetic evidence reveals that over millennia men have married women from lower castes but women have rarely married men from lower castes. Thus the researchers imply that caste and class to a large extent is perpetuated by women and has also thereby contributed to the minimal mixing of Aryan blood with the natives. Anthropology (from the Greek word άνθρωπος = human) consists of the study of humankind (see genus Homo). ... Image of a woman on the Pioneer plaque sent to outer space. ... This article concerns how a man differs from women. ... Social class describes the relationships between people in hierarchical societies or cultures. ...

In a recent research paper in Current Biology, Cordaux et. al. (2004) confirm the Bamshad (2001) results and conclude that the paternal lineages of Indian caste groups are primarily descendants of Indo-European speakers who migrated from Central Asia about 3,500 years ago.

However, other studies (Kivisild 2003a; Kivisild 2003b) have revealed that a high frequency of haplogroup 3 occurs in about half of the male population of Northwestern India and is also frequent in Western Bengal. These results, together with the fact that haplogroup 3 is much less frequent in Iran and Anatolia than it is in India, indicates that haplogroup 3 among high caste Telugus did not necessarily originate from Eastern Europeans. The high diversity of haplogroup 3 and 9 in India suggests that these haplogroups may have originated in India (Kivisild 2003a). (See also Colin Renfrew [2].) Andrew Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn (born 25 July 1937), English archaeologist, notable for his work on the radiocarbon revolution, the prehistory of languages, archaeogenetics, and the prevention of looting of archaeological sites. ...

Genetics, Aryans, and caste...is there a link?

Most of the pro-invasionist papers imply that R1a1 is the genetic marker that is representative of an invasion, due to its high frequency in Eurasia. But an equally likely genetic marker is haplogroup L. This haplogroup is present in Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, Iranian, Central Asian, and Indian populations (and Europe, see Kivisild). This marker is found in locations where written sources record the presence of Indo-European languages and people: i.e. Greeks, Hittite, Mitanni, Iranians and Indians. Its peak frequency is found in Indo-Iranian populations. The 'Western Eurasian' components that are found in Indian mtDNA show a distribution closer to that found in the Southern Caucasus and Middle East than to that found in Eastern Europe. There is also the question of why one should assume only one Y haplogroup is representative of the Aryan gene pool. R1a1, R1b, J2, L and H - all of which are present in India and Central and West Asia - are all possibilities. However, haplogroup L has a very low level of diversity in the Punjab. This is suggestive of a recent migration or expansion event in the area, and is supported by the fact that the diversity of R1a1, J2 and haplogroup C is higher in the region. Haplogroup C is supposed to be the remmants of the "Out of Africa" migration of humans, but still retains a high level of diversity. Haplogroup L is also found in South India at relatively high freqencies and has been associated by some (along with J2) with the spread of farming and Dravidian languages. The Hittites is the conventional English-language term for an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language and established a kingdom centered in Hattusa (the modern village of Boğazköy in north-central Turkey), through most of the second millennium BC. The Hittite kingdom, which at its height controlled central... Mitanni or Mittani (in Assyrian sources Hanilgalbat, Khanigalbat) was a kingdom in northern Syria. ... Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is DNA which is not located in the nucleus of the cell but in the mitochondria. ...

Interestingly, studies show that there has been very little mixing of the male line between castes/clans for some time. They show distinct haplotypes even though many clans within a region have similar haplogroups. For instance, Northwest Indians exhibit mainly haplogroups R1a1, R1b, J2 and L, yet there is very little sharing of haplotypes with other castes/clans in the same region. In fact according to the yhrd.org database, Jats (mainly Punjabi Sikhs) have more haplotypes in common with Germans, Balts, Slavs and Iranians (2%-10%, 1-5 haplotypes, mainly R1a1) than with some neighbouring castes in India and Pakistan. The question arises, if Aryans came from outside India and Pakistan, how is it that they were able to separate into distinct clans without any of the clans sharing a considerable percentage of haplotypes? [3] (Also, note that most Indo-European-speaking people exhibit a mixture of R1a1, R1b, J2 and L. The Hindu text the Laws of Manu states that Punjabis are no longer Aryans since they do not follow the caste system. It would be interesting if this is reflected in the genetics. This page refers to the Jat people of India and Pakistan. ... Punjab, 1903 Punjab Province, 1909 The Punjab (Meaning: Land of five Rivers) (also Panjab, Gurmukhi: ਪੰਜਾਬ, Shahmukhi: پنجاب) is a region straddling the border between India and Pakistan. ... A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a religious faith originating in the Punjab. ...

Linguistics

The linguistic facts of the situation are little disputed; however, their historical interpretation is contentious. Most linguists interpret them as implying an Aryan migration into India; the linguistic arguments provide no data that would determine whether this migration was peaceful or invasive, and different linguists have argued for either, or for a combination of both, on extra-linguistic grounds. Conversely, some historians advocate either an Indian origin for the speakers of proto-Indo-European or a more ancient advent of its Indo-Aryan branch. Broadly conceived, linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ...

Most of the languages of North India belong to a single family, the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European family of languages. The languages of South India belong to a different linguistic family, the Dravidian languages, which has not been proven to be linked with any other language family. While Dravidian languages are primarily confined to the South of India, there is a striking exception: the Brahui (which is spoken in parts of Baluchistan), the linguistic equivalent of a relict population, indicating that Dravidian languages were formerly much more widespread and were supplanted by the incoming Indo-Aryan languages. The Elamite language, an extinct language of Southwestern Iran, has also often been linked to Dravidian (in a proposed Elamo-Dravidian or Zagrosian family); if this turns out to be true, it would even more strongly imply a more northerly former distribution of the Dravidian languages. The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, and eastern and central India. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, and eastern and central India. ... The Brahui language is mainly spoken in Balochistan, Pakistan, although also in Afghanistan and Iran. ... Baluchistan (or Balochistan), also known as Greater Baluchistan is an arid region of south Asia, presently split between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, and eastern and central India. ... Elamite is an extinct language, which was spoken in the ancient Elamite Empire. ... The Elamo-Dravidian languages are a hypothesised language family which includes the living Dravidian languages of India and Pakistan, in addition to the extinct Elamite language of ancient Elam, in what is now southwestern Iran. ...

Linguists have several rules of thumb they use to gauge the place of origin of a family. One is that the area of highest linguistic diversity of a language family is usually fairly close to the area of its origin; thus, for example, while most speakers of Germanic languages live in the United States, the highest diversity of Germanic languages is found in northern Europe. By this criterion, India seems to be an exceedingly unlikely candidate for the origin of the Indo-European languages — it has only one Indo-European subfamily, Indo-Aryan, not counting recent introductions of European languages — and eastern Europe appears much more promising; conversely, the highest diversity in Dravidian is found among its Northern branches. However, extinctions of unrecorded languages may affect this measure. The Germanic languages form one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) language family. ... World map showing location of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ...

Another linguistic rule of thumb is that the earliest members of the family to diverge are usually found near the place of origin; the earliest member of Indo-European to diverge appears to have been the Anatolian languages, as Hittite grammar's many peculiarities (including an animate/inanimate gender system which appears to predate the three-gender system reconstructed for the rest of Indo-European) show. The second major divide is often considered to be the centum versus satem divide, a sound shift affecting palatals. Both types are found in Europe, but only satem languages appear to be found in India (with the possible exception of Bangani; see below.) For reasons such as these, most linguists believe Indo-European to have originated somewhere around the Black Sea: a favorite candidate is the Kurgan culture. The Anatolian languages are a group of extinct languages, either Indo-European or (in some classifications) closely related to Indo-European, which were spoken in Asia Minor, including Hittite. ... The Hittite language is the dead language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who once created an empire centered on ancient Hattusa (modern Boğazköy) in north-central Turkey. ... Centum is the collective name for the branches of Indo-European in which the so-called Satem shift, the change of palato-velar *k^, *g^, *g^h into fricatives or affricates, did not take place, and the palato-velar consonants merged with plain velars (*k, *g, *gh). ... The Satem division of the Indo-European family includes the following branches: Indo-Iranian, Baltic and Slavic, Armenian, Albanian, perhaps also a number of barely documented extinct languages, such as Phrygian, Thracian, and Dacian (see: Indo-European languages). ... Map of the Black Sea. ... This article is about Bronze Age burial mounds and the Kurgan culture. ...

The presence of retroflex consonants (including L) in Vedic Sanskrit is generally taken by linguists to indicate the influence of a non-Indo-European speaking substratum population, since these sounds are found throughout Dravidian and Munda and are reconstructed for proto-Dravidian and proto-Munda, but are not reconstructable for proto-Indo-European — nor even proto-Indo-Iranian — and are extremely rare among other Indo-European languages (they phonetically emerged in Swedish and Norwegian only in recent centuries, as a result of combinations with r.) This argument is strengthened by the presence of words with Dravidian and Munda etymologies in Sanskrit, argued to be borrowings from a previous Dravidian and Munda population, or substratum; some of these etymologies have been challenged, though most have not. retroflex plosive Retroflex consonants cover two points of articulation. ... Munda Languages are spoken in north east India. ... Indo-Iranian can refer to: The Indo-Iranian languages The prehistoric Indo-Iranian people, see Aryan This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Munda Languages are spoken in north east India. ... In linguistics, a substratum is a language which influences another one while that second language supplants it. ...

While, to many, all of this may clearly suggest an Indo-European migration into India, critics of the Aryan invasion theory note that this does not automatically imply a migration around 1500 BC from the Northwest. Any migration could have occurred much earlier and may not have resulted in any conflict; see Colin Renfrew. They also argue that the "substratum" influences from Dravidian and Munda could equally well be adstratum influences through mutual contact without conquest. Andrew Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn (born 25 July 1937), English archaeologist, notable for his work on the radiocarbon revolution, the prehistory of languages, archaeogenetics, and the prevention of looting of archaeological sites. ... The term adstratum refers to a language which is equal in prestige to another. ...

The presence of words describing a temperate climate in proto-Indo-European — such as a root for "snow" — has also been taken as evidence against the theory of Indian origin for Indo-European; however, this argument is weak, since the Himalayan foothills have a temperate climate.

The argument from the centum/satem divide has been challenged: in the 1980s, Claus-Peter Zoller announced the discovery of apparent traces of a centum language in the Bangani language of the western Himalayas. However, George van Driem and Suhnu Sharma later went there to do further fieldwork [4], and claim that it is in fact a satem language, and that Zoller's data were flawed. Zoller does not accept this [5][6], and claims that their data was flawed. The question is unlikely to be resolved without further fieldwork. Perspective view of the Himalaya and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ...

Indo-Europeanists note that the names of several temperate-climate flora and fauna — for instance the salmon and the beech tree — seem to be reconstructible for proto-Indo-European; critics note that the meaning of these words varies from branch to branch, and consider the exact referent of the terms to be as yet unestablished. Proponents of the claim that Indo-European originated in India note that Sanskrit names of purely Indian animals have IE etymologies: mayUra for peacock; vyAghra for tiger; mahiSa for buffalo; pRshatI for spotted deer; iBha and hastin for elephant. Critics note that these names appear to be derived rather than basic words — for instance, hastin is Sanskrit for "having a hand" (i.e. its trunk) — and that they cannot be reconstructed for proto-Indo-European (unsurprisingly, since one would expect such words to have been lost by people traveling to regions without peacocks and elephants). The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ... In English the word trunk has a number of uses. ...

However, the early formation of political states also affects the distribution of languages. The Punjab was in historical times settled by Iranians (Zoroastrian texts state Iranian (Aryan) lands stretched from Iran to the Punjab and Sind), Greeks, Kushans (replacing Greeks and their language), and Huns, yet Indo-Aryan languages dominate, probably due to the dominance of later Indian empires and states. Hence in regions where Persian and Indian empires dominated many languages died out. This process can be seen in the elimination of Saka and Tocharian languages through the influence of Persians, Buddhism (spreading Prakit language), and Turks. Zoroastrianism was adapted from an earlier, polytheistic faith by Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) in Persia very roughly around 1000 BC (although, in the absence of written records, some scholars estimates are as late as 600 BC). ... Punjab, 1903 Punjab Province, 1909 The Punjab (Meaning: Land of five Rivers) (also Panjab, Gurmukhi: ਪੰਜਾਬ, Shahmukhi: پنجاب) is a region straddling the border between India and Pakistan. ... Sindh (Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. ... Boundary of the Kushan empire, c. ... Many historians consider the Huns (meaning person in Mongolian language) the first Mongolian and Turkic people mentioned in European history. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Tocharian refers to an Indo-European culture that inhabited the Tarim basin in what is now Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwestern Peoples Republic of China. ...

Hermeneutics

A major hurdle with the hermeneutics of the Vedic age is the complexity of the scripture and the Vedic language itself. At the least, a passing knowledge of Vedic Sanskrit is required and scholars who rely solely on translations inherit mistranslations and any prejudices that may be present in the translator's commentaries. Fortunately, the Rig Veda is easy to understand with some knowledge of classical Sanskrit. Hermeneutics (Hermeneutic means interpretive), is a branch of philosophy concerned with human understanding and the interpretation of texts. ... The Vedas (also referred to as Vedam) are part of the Hindu Shruti; these religious scriptures form part of the core of the Brahminical and Vedic traditions within Hinduism and are the inspirational, metaphysical and mythological foundation for later Vedanta, Yoga, Tantra and even Bhakti forms of Hinduism. ... The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ... The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ...

A major argument offered against identifying the Indus Valley civilization with a continuous, indigenous Vedic civilization is that the society described in the Vedas is primarily a pastoral one, whereas the Indus Valley civilization was heavily urbanized, and that few of the elements of such an urban civilization (e.g., temple structures, sewage systems) are described in the Vedas. However, proponents of continuity note that the Rig Veda does contain some phrases referring to elements of an urban civilization: city's lord [Rig Veda 1:173], shrine [Rig Veda 9:113], ship with a hundred oars [Rig Veda 1:116] and iron forts [10:101]. Frequent references to the ocean and large tracts of water are also suggested as indicating the idea of continuity, since the most obvious route for IE-speakers to have entered India by would have been through the sea-less inland areas of Afghanistan; although the steppes of Russia (often proposed as an origin for Indo-European) border on two seas, and Central Asia contains two seas, proponents of continuity argue that the people would have forgotten such ideas on their route. They also note that a primarily pastoral society does not exclude the existence of urbanisation, especially since the Vedic books appear to have been composed over a long period of gradual change, rather than being a snapshot of society at one particular moment. The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ...

Proponents of continuity state that evidence in the Vedas points to a considerably earlier dating of the text. As an example, they argue that the positions of stars described in the Vedas occurred in 3500 to 4000 BC and point out that there is no account in the text of an invasion, of a great migration, or of an ancestral homeland in Central Asia. (36th century BC - 35th century BC - 34th century BC - other centuries) (5th millennium BC - 4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC) Events ? - Formation of the Sahara Desert 3450 (?) - Stage IId of the Naqada culture in Egypt Significant persons Inventions, discoveries, introductions ? _ Irrigation in Egypt ? - First use of Cuneiform (script) Categories... (5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – 3rd millennium BC - other millennia) Events City of Ur in Mesopotamia (40th century BC). ...

There is, as well, considerable description of a river Saraswati. Recent geological evidence (taken from satellite photographs) has uncovered the existence of a dry riverbed — the Hakra River — going through the Punjab area in the Indian subcontinent. The Hindu Vedas mention a river named Sarasvati. ... The Hakra is the dried-out channel of a river in Pakistan that until about 2000 BC - 1500 BC was the continuation of the Ghaggar River in India. ... Punjab, 1903 Punjab Province, 1909 The Punjab (Meaning: Land of five Rivers) (also Panjab, Gurmukhi: ਪੰਜਾਬ, Shahmukhi: پنجاب) is a region straddling the border between India and Pakistan. ...

A few historians believe this river is the Saraswati described in the Vedas. Many of the archaeological Indus Valley sites lie along the remains of this riverbed, suggesting that the Indus Valley civilization may have flourished between these two rivers. Before or around 1900 BC, however, the Hakra river appears to have dried up (due to earthquakes and the shifting of the path of the tributary Yamuna river, which turned from feeding the Hakra to feeding the Ganges), causing the decline of the Indus Valley civilization. The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. ... (Redirected from 1900 BC) (20th century BC - 19th century BC - 18th century BC - other centuries) (3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC) Events Hittite empire in Anatolia 1829 - 1818 BC -- Egyptian-Nubian war 1818 BC -- Egyptian Campaign in Palestine 1813 BC -- Amorite Conquest of Northern Mesopotamia 1806 BC... The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. ...

Opponents of continuity argue that the identification of the Saraswati with the Hakra would lead to inconsistencies, and that the Saraswati is very probably a particular river in Afghanistan, which is known to have had a similar name. They also point to the linguistic and religious similarities between the Vedas and early Iranian sacred literature such as the Avesta, as well as the earlier Mitannian kings of Syria. The languages and the names of gods are very similar and both involve the ritual drinking of Soma. Proponents of continuity retort that it could have been Indian people that moved from India to Iran and interacted with, or founded, the Zoroastrians. The Vedas are part of the Hindu Shruti; these religious scriptures form part of the core of the Brahminical and Vedic traditions within Hinduism and are the inspirational, metaphysical and mythological foundation for later Vedanta, Yoga, Tantra and even Bhakti forms of Hinduism. ... See Avesta Municipality for the Swedish town Yasna 28. ... Mitanni or Mittani (in Assyrian sources Hanilgalbat, Khanigalbat) was a kingdom in northern Syria. ... Soma (Sanskrit), or Haoma (Avestan) (from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Sauma) was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the later Vedic and Iranian cultures. ...

The issue might be settled definitively by the deciphering of the many seals found at Indus Valley sites, which are written with an unknown script. If the language of these seals turned out to be Dravidian or Munda (or any other non-IE language group), this would confirm the theory that an indigenous culture was supplanted by an outside one. (However note the adoption of Aramaic as the official language of the historically IE speaking Persian empire without any such invasion/migration). If it were Indo-Aryan it would support the alternative claim. What the script says would also be of great significance, shedding new light on the Indus Valley culture and possibly on ancient movements within the Indian subcontinent. However, the Indus Valley script remains undeciphered; several decipherments have been proposed — the best-known being Parpola's which interprets it as Dravidian, although some others interpret it as an early form of Sanskrit — but none has been widely accepted among scholars, and the sparseness of the corpus makes it difficult to test such claims. Many writers now suggest that it may not have been a form of writing after all, but simply a set of signs [7]. Decipherment is the analysis of documents written in ancient languages, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost. ... Seal on envelope A seal is an impression printed on, embossed upon, or affixed to a document (or any other object) in order to authenticate it, in lieu of or in addition to a signature. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ... Composite satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia. ... The term Indus script refers to short strings of symbols associated with the Harappan civilization of ancient India, dating to ca. ...

Influence of politics

Like much of history, this question is immensely politically charged with ulterior motives being ascribed to proponents of both camps.

Supporters of the migration theory are faced with several accusations. The major one is that the British Raj and European Indologists from the 19th century to the present day promoted the Aryan Invasion hypothesis in support of Eurocentric notions of white supremacy. Assertions that the highly advanced proto-Hindu Vedic culture could not have had its roots in India are seen as attempts to bolster European ideas of dominance. The British Raj is an informal term for the British colonial administration of most of the Indian subcontinent, or present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, also included from 1886 was Burma. ... Eurocentrism is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing emphasis on European (and, generally, Western) concerns, culture and values at the expense of those of other cultures. ... White supremacy is an ideology which holds that the white race (variously defined) is superior to other races (also variously defined). ... The adjective Vedic may refer to The Vedas, the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan texts. ...

After Indian independence, Socialist and Marxist accounts of history proliferated in Indian universities. Opponents of the invasion theory contend that Marxists promoted the theory because its model of invasion and subordination corresponded to Marxist concepts of class struggle and ideology. Some modern opponents of the Aryan-Vedic continuity in India, like Romila Thapar, are Marxist. The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Class struggle is class conflict looked at from a Marxist, libertarian socialist, or anarchist perspective. ... The Elections and Parties Series Democracy Representative democracy History of democracy Referenda Liberal democracy Representation Voting Voting systems Ideology Elections Elections by country Elections by calender Electoral systems Politics Politics by country Political campaigns Political science Political philosophy Related topics Political parties Parties by country Parties by name Parties by... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ...

In contrast, the proponents of a continuous, ancient, and sophisticated Vedic civilization are seen by some as Hindu nationalists who wish to dispense with the foreign origins of the Aryan for the sake of national pride or religious dogma. Another motivation may arise from the desire to eradicate the problem associated with the Indian caste system; the hypothesis that it may originally have been a means of social engineering by the Aryans to establish and maintain a superior position compared to the Dravidians in Indian society may be a source of discomfort. Hindutva (Hinduness, a word coined by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his 1923 pamphlet entitled Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? ) is used to describe movements advocating Hindu nationalism. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Varna (Vedic). ...

Until legitimate and widely corroborated archeological evidence for either side of the argument emerges, ulterior motive rather than genuine scholarship will be seen as underpinning their respective theories.

Influence in theology

Certain modern theories of the origins of Hinduism and Buddhism as they are known today are based around the Aryan invasion theory. In particular there are theories that Soma and Amrita were plants which were used by tribes in the Russian steppes; that they were essential to the Aryan religion but did not grow in India; and that this absence led to the development of "spiritual" versions of the substances and a more organized religious system. Differences between 'Aryan' (north Indian) and 'Dravidian' (south Indian) religious practices have also been explained by reference to the theory. Soma (Sanskrit), or Haoma (Avestan) (from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Sauma) was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the later Vedic and Iranian cultures. ... In Hindu mythology and Buddhist Mythology, Amrita is the drink of the gods, which grants them immortality. ...

Some Hindu thinkers have reacted against the theory on spiritual rather than historical grounds, claiming it to be 'materialistic'. Sri Aurobindo denies the Aryan invasion theory in his works. He writes: "But the indications in the Veda on which this theory of a recent Aryan invasion is built, are very scanty in quantity and uncertain in their significance. There is no actual mention of any such invasion..."(Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda (Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1971; pp. 23-4) Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (August 15, 1872–December 5, 1950) was an Indian nationalist, scholar, poet, Hindu mystic, evolutionary philosopher, yogi and guru. ...

References

• Bamshad, M., T. Kivisild, et al. (2001). "Genetic evidence on the origins of Indian caste populations". Virus Research 75 (2): 95-106. [8]
• Basu et al. (2003). "Ethnic India: a genomic view, with special reference to peopling and structure". Genome Research 13:2277-2290.
• Bryant, Edwin (2001). The quest for the origins of Vedic culture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195137779.
• Cann, R. (2001). "Genetic clues to dispersal in human populations: retracing the past from the present". Science 291:1742-1748.
• Cordaux, R., R. Aunguer, G. Bentley, I. Nasidze, S.M. Sirajuddin, and M. Stoneking (3 February 2004). "Independent origins of Indian caste and tribal paternal lineages". Current Biology 14:231-235.
• Elst, Koenraad (1999). Update on the Aryan invasion debate. Aditya Prakashan. ISBN 8186471774. [9], [10]
• Frawley, David (1995). The myth of the Aryan invasion of India. New Delhi: Voice of India. ISBN 8185199590.
• Hemphill & Christensen: “The Oxus Civilization as a Link between East and West: A Non-Metric Analysis of Bronze Age Bactrain Biological Affinities”, paper read at the South Asia Conference, 3-5 November 1994, Madison, Wisconsin; p. 13.
• Kennedy, Kenneth 1984. “A Reassessment of the Theories of Racial Origins of the People of the Indus Valley Civilization from Recent Anthropological Data.” In Studies in the Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology of South Asia (99-107).
• --- 1995. “Have Aryans been identified in the prehistoric skeletal record from South Asia?”, in George Erdosy, ed.: The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia, p.49.
• Kenyoer, J.M. : (1991b) "Urban Process in the Indus Tradition: A Preliminary Model from Harappa." In Harappa Excavations 1986-1990 (29-60)
• Metspalu, M. et al. 2004. Most of the extant mtDNA boundaries in South and Southwest Asia were likely shaped during the initial settlement of Eurasia by anatomically modern humans [11] and [12]
• Oppenheimer, Stephen; (2003) "The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey ouf of Africa" [13], [14]
• Sethna, K.D. 1992. The Problem of Aryan Origins. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.
• Shaffer, Jim : (1984), The Indo-Aryan Invasions: Cultural Myth and Archaeological Reality, in John R Lukacs (ed.) The People of South Asia: The Biological Anthropology of India, Pakistan and Nepal, New York, Plenum Press, pp. 77-88.
• Kivisild, Toomas et al. 1999a. "Deep common ancestry of Indian and western-Eurasian mitochondrial DNA lineages" [15]
• ---1999b. "The Place of the Indian mtDNA Variants in the Global Network of Maternal Lineages and the Peopling of the Old World" [16]
• ---2000a. "An Indian Ancestry: a Key for Understanding Human Diversity in Europe and Beyond" [17]
• ---2000b. "The origins of southern and western Eurasian populations: an mtDNA study"
• ---2003a. "The Genetics of Language and Farming Spread in India" [18]
• ---2003b. "The Genetic Heritage of the Earliest Settlers Persists Both in Indian Tribal and Caste Populations" [19], [20]
• Underhill, P. Inferring Human History: Clues from Y-Chromosome Haplotype [21]
• Wells, S.; (2003) 'The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey', Princeton University Press, January.
• Excavating Y-chromosome haplotype strata in Anatolia [22]
• Introduction to haplogroups and haplotypes [23][24]
• High-resolution analysis of Y-chromosomal polymorphisms reveals signatures of population movements from Central Asia and West Asia into India [25]
• The human Y chromosome: an evolutionary marker comes of age [26]
• Minimal Sharing of Y-Chromosome STR Haplotypes Among Five Endogamous Population Groups from Western and Southwestern India [27]
• Negligible Male Gene Flow Across Ethnic Boundaries in India, Revealed by Analysis of Y-Chromosomal DNA Polymorphisms [28]
• Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area [29]
• Written in blood. New Scientist vol 170 issue 2291 &mdasg; 19 May 2001, page 17.
• Y-Chromosomal DNA Variation in Pakistan [30]
• "Phylogeography of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup I Reveals Distinct Domains of Prehistoric Gene Flow in Europe" [31]

Edwin Bryant arrived in San Francisco by overland route in 1846, served as a lieutenant in Frémont’s Battalion, and in February 1847 succeeded Bartlett and Hyde as alcalde of San Francisco. ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dr. Koenraad Elst was born in Leuven, Belgium, on 7 August 1959, into a Flemish Catholic family. ... David Frawley (Sanskrit: वामदेव शास्‍त्री) (born 1950) is one of the few Westerners to be recognized by a major Hindu sect in India as a Vedacharya or teacher of the ancient wisdom. ... November 5 is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 56 days remaining. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Kenneth A.R. Kennedy is an anthropologist who studied at the University of California, Berkeley. ... Jonathan Mark Kenoyer is an archaeologist and professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin Madison. ... Stephen Oppenheimer is a well known expert in the field of synthesizing DNA studies with archaeological, anthropological, linguistic and other field studies. ... K.D. Sethna is an Indian author. ... Jim G. Shaffer is an archaeologist who studied at the Arizona State University and University of Wisconsin. ... Toomas Kivisild, born on august, 11 1969 in Tapa, is a Estonian geneticist. ... May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (140th in leap years). ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

See also

• Aryan
• Arya
• Aryan Race
• Aryavarta
• Tocharians
• Kushan Empire
• Yuezhi
• Kurgan
• Mitanni
• Sanskrit
• Indo-Iranian languages
• Indo-Aryan languages
• Proto-Indo-European
• Indo-European languages
• Dravidian languages
• Indus script
• Caste
• Iranian peoples
• Urheimat
• Hinduism
• Rig Veda
• Dasa
• Vedic Sarasvati River
• Indus Valley Civilization
• Vedic civilization
• Roma_people

Aryan is an English word derived from the Indian Vedic Sanskrit and Iranian Avestan terms ari-, arya-, ārya-, and/or the extended form aryāna-. The Old Persian ariya- is a cognate as well. ... Arya (árya-) is a Sanskrit term used by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and others. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The vedic name for India, meaning Categories: Indo-European language stubs ... The Tocharians were an Indo-European people who inhabited the Tarim basin in what is now Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwestern Peoples Republic of China from the 1st millennium BCE to the end of the 1st millennium CE. // Archaeology The Tarim mummies suggest that precursors of these easternmost speakers... Boundary of the Kushan empire, c. ... The migrations of the Yueh-Chih. ... This article is about Bronze Age burial mounds and the Kurgan culture. ... Mitanni or Mittani (in Assyrian sources Hanilgalbat, Khanigalbat) was a kingdom in northern Syria. ... The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ... Indo-Iranian languages (also called Aryan languages) are the eastern-most group of the living Indo-European languages. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. ... The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, and eastern and central India. ... The term Indus script refers to short strings of symbols associated with the Harappan civilization of ancient India, dating to circa 2600–1900 BC. They are most commonly associated with flat, rectangular stone tablets called seals, but they are also found on at least a dozen other materials. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Varna (Vedic). ... Iranian peoples are peoples who speak an Iranian language and/or belong to the Iranian stock. ... Urheimat (German: ur- original, ancient; Heimat home, homeland) is a linguistic term denoting the original homeland of the speakers of a proto-language. ... Hinduism (सनातन धर्म; also known as Sanātana Dharma, and Vaidika-Dharma ) is a worldwide tradition that encompasses several religions and ideologies. ... The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ... The Dasa are a tribe identified as the enemies of the Aryans in the Rig-Veda. ... The Hindu Vedas mention a river named SarasvatÄ«. In Sanskrit saras means a pool or water body, and vatÄ« (from vnt-Ä«, the female form of the -vant suffix) means she having lots of pools. Sarasvati was the biggest and most important of the seven holy rivers of the Rig Veda. ... The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan. ... The Vedic civilization is the Indo-Aryan culture associated with the Vedas, the earliest known records of Indian history. ... The Roma people (pronounced rahma; singular Rom; sometimes Rroma, Rrom), along with the closely related Sinti people, are commonly known as Gypsies in English. ...

External links

1. Update on the Aryan Invasion Theory Koenraad Elst's online book.
2. The Myth of the Aryan Invasion
3. Indus Valley Rig-Vedic Connection Archaeologist B.B.Lal presents visual evidence.
4. DMOZ listing
5. From A Tribute to Hindusim - compilation
6. The Aryan question revisited by Romila Thapar
7. Cache of Seal Impressions Discovered in Western India
8. Central Asia 2000-1000BC