Thursday, May 27, 2004
History's biggest hoax - The Aryan Invasion Theory!
THE ARYAN INVASION THEORY
The main idea used to interpret the ancient history of India, which we still find in history books today, is the theory of the Aryan invasion. According to this theory, northern India was invaded and conquered by nomadic, light-skinned RACE of a people called 'ARYANS' who descended from Central Asia around 1500 BC, and destroyed an earlier and more advanced civilization of the people habitated in the Indus Valley and imposed upon them their culture & language. These Indus Valley people were supposed to be either Dravidian, or AUSTRICS or now-days' Shudra class etc.
Basis of the Aryan Invasion Theory
We should first note that the Aryan invasion theory is totally foreign to the history of India, whether north or south, which has no literary or historical record of any such event. Prior to the invention of the idea by 19th century European scholars, there was no tradition of an Aryan invasion anywhere in India, in either contemporary or ancient records.
The Aryan invasion theory is based upon the idea that Aryan represents a particular group of people. In the classical view of the Aryan invasion the Aryans are a particular ethnic group, speaking a particular language. However in Vedic literature Aryan is not the name of the Vedic people and their descendants. It is a title of honor and respect given to certain groups for good or noble behavior. In this regard even the Buddha calls his teaching Aryan, Arya Dharma; the Jains also call themselves Aryans, as did the ancient Persians. For this reason one should call the Vedic people simply the "Vedic people" and not the Aryans. If one takes Aryan in the Vedic sense it would not be like talking of the invasion of good people, as if goodness were a racial or linguistic quality!
The Development of the Aryan Invasion Idea
European scholars following Max Muller in the 19th century decided that the Vedic people whom they called the Aryans after a misinterpretation of that Vedic term - invaded India around 1500 BC. They were said to have overthrown the primitive and aboriginal culture of the time, which was thought to be Dravidian in nature, and brought a more advanced civilization to the land (though they themselves were still regarded as barbarians). The indigenous aborigines were identified as the Dasyus or inimical people mentioned in the Vedas.
The rationale behind the late date for the Vedic culture given by Muller was totally speculative. Max Muller, like many of the Christian scholars of his era, believed in Biblical chronology. This placed the beginning of the world at 400 BC and the flood around 2500 BC. Assuming to those two dates, it became difficult to get the Aryans in India before 1500 BC!
It is important to examine the social and political implications of the Aryan invasion idea:
1. It served to divide India into a northern Aryan and southern Dravidian culture which were made hostile to each other.
2. It gave the British an excuse in their conquest of India. They could claim to be doing only what the Aryan ancestors of the Hindus had previously done millennia ago.
3. It served to make Vedic culture later than and possibly derived from Middle Eastern cultures. With the proximity and relationship of the latter with the Bible and Christianity, this kept the Hindu religion as a sidelight to the development of religion and civilization to the West.
4. It discredited not only the 'Vedas' but the genealogies of the 'Puranas' and their long list of the kings before Buddha like Rama and Krishna were left without any historical basis. The 'Mahabharata', instead of the great war, became a folk lore. In short, it discredited the most of the Hindu tradition and almost all its ancient literature. It turned its scriptures and sages into fantacies and exaggerations.
5. It served a social, political and economical purpose of domination, proving the superiority of Western culture and religion.
However today, after nearly all the reasons for its supposed validity have been refuted, even major Western scholars are at last beginning to call it in question. I am highlighting some of the more important evidence that have come through in the recent past that clearly refutes and negates the Aryan Invasion theory.
1. New excavations - Harappan Civilization:
After the formulation of the Aryan invasion theory, archeology did not stop. New finds continued. These however have gradually undermined the invasion theory.
Harappan civilization (3100-1900 BC) was the largest in the world up to its time. Harappan sites have now been found as far west as to the coast of modern Iran, as far north as Turkestan on the Amu Darya river (a region usually identified with the Aryans), as far northeast as the Ganges, and south to the Godavari river. A site has even been found on the coast of Arabia. Thousands of sites have been found with several cities, like Ganweriwala on the Sarasvati river and Dholavira near the ocean in Kutch, as large as the first two major cities found, Harappa and Mohenjodaro. Most sites remain unexcavated and new explorations are likely to push the boundaries of this civilization yet further. A civilization of this size could not have been quickly or easily overrun by either migration or invasion.
Further, given the facts that there was no destruction of Harappa and no evidence of any large scale migrations of people, the latest form of "the Aryans coming from the outside" (as for example, represented by Romila Thapar, who is a well-known Marxist historian generally opposed to Vedic culture) is of a gradual migration of small groups pastoral peoples during the same period of the second millennium BC.
It is now generally agreed that the decline of Harappan urbanism was due to environmental changes of various kinds, to political pressures and possible break in trading activities, and not to any invasion. Nor does the archaeological evidence register the likelihood of a massive migration from Iran into north-western India on such a scale as to overwhelm the existing cultures
2. The Rediscovery of the Sarasvati River:
The retreat of the Aryan invasion theory has been accompanied by the rediscovery of the Sarasvati river of Vedic fame (by the American satellite, Landsat). Recent excavation has shown that the great majority of Harappan settlements were east, not west of Indus. The largest concentration of sites appears in an area of Punjab and Rajasthan along the dry banks of the Sarasvati (now called the Ghaggar) in the Thar desert. Hundreds of sites dot this river, which appears to have been the breadbasket of the culture. Mohenjodaro and Harappa, the first large Indus sites found, appear to be peripheral cities, mere gateways to the central Sarasvati region. Infact, it has been suggested that the Indus Valley civilization be renamed as the "Sarasvati vedic Civilization" in view of these findings.
It is well known that in the Rig Veda, the honor of the greatest and the holiest of rivers was not bestowed upon the Ganga, but upon Sarasvati, now a dry river, but once a mighty flowing river all the way from the Himalayas to the ocean across the Rajasthan desert. The Ganga is mentioned only once while the Sarasvati is mentioned at least 60 times. Extensive research has shown that the Sarasvati changed her course several times, going completely dry around 1900 BC. However, as per the the Aryan Invasion Theory, the so-called Aryan invasion took place in 1500 BC.
If so, how could the Vedic Aryans know of this river and establish their culture on its banks if it dried up before they arrived?
This clearly establishes that Rig Veda must have been in existence long before the the supposed-aryan invasion.
3. Indus seal:
The Vedic culture was thus said to be that of primitive nomads who came out of Central Asia with their horse-drawn chariots and iron weapons and overthrew the cities of the more advanced Indus valley culture, with their superior battle tactics. It was pointed out that no horses, chariots or iron was discovered in Indus valley sites.
This was how the Aryan invasion theory formed and has remained since then. Though little has been discovered that confirms this theory, there has been much hesitancy to question it, much less to give it up.
However,further excavations have discovered horses not only in Indus Valley sites but also in pre-Indus sites. The use of the horse has thus been proven for the whole range of ancient Indian history. Evidence of the wheel, and an Indus seal showing a spoked wheel as used in chariots, has also been found, suggesting the usage of chariots.
Moreover, the whole idea of nomads with chariots has been challenged. Chariots are not the vehicles of nomads. Their usage occured only in ancient urban cultures with much flat land, of which the river plain of north India was the most suitable. Chariots are totally unsuitable for crossing mountains and deserts, as the so-called Aryan invasion required.
Ancient History Revised
We have examined the Aryan invasion theory and seen how it has continually failed to prove itself. Therefore we must look at the history of India and the world in the light of the collapse of the invasion theory. The acceptance of a Vedic nature to Harappan and pre-Harappan civilization creates a revolution in our view of history, not just of India but of the entire world.
Now, based on what has been presented above, following facts about an ancient and glorious period of India clearly emerge:
1. The Aryan Invasion and Racial theories, and Aryan-Dravidian conflicts are a 19th century fabrication by some European scholar. They are being exploited even now for political reasons.
2. The hymns of Rigveda had been composed and completed by 3700BC, this can be scientifically proved.
3. The language of the Indus script is related to Sanskrit, the language of Vedas.
4. The Indus valley civilization should be aptly called as Sarasvati Vedic civilization, as the new evidences and right interpretation of the archaeological findings indicate.
5. There is now strong evidence that the movement of the ancient Aryan people was from east to west (and not the other way), and this is how the European languages have strong association and origin in the Vedic Sanskrit language.
6. The ending of Indus Valley and the Sarasvati civilization was due to the constant floods and drought in the Indus area and the drying up of the Sarasvati river. This had caused a massive emigration of the habitants to safer and interior areas of the Indian subcontinent and even towards the west (East to West movement).
7. There was no destruction of the civilization in the Indus valley due to any invasion of any barbaric hordes.
8. The Vedic literature has no mention of any invasion or destruction of a civilization.
9. There is no evidence in any of the literature which indicate any Aryan-Dravidian or North-South divide, they were never culturally hostile to each other.
10.The population living in the Indus valley and surrounding the dried up Saraswati river practiced the Vedic culture and religion.
The above, clearly, establishes the need for re-writing our history textbooks - which has been majorly influenced by Nehru's "History of India" (that subscribes to the Euro-centric view of Indian history), and severly twisted by the post-independence Socialists / Marxists.
