Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Questions pro Aryan Invasion Theorist never answer!

For long scholars have only looked at retrofitting all available evidence and some fictional ones to prove an Aryan invasion of India. The AIT is a very unidimensional approach which has been disproved on all counts. This article is to question AIT proponents what proof have they found elsewhere especially in Central Asia the supposed original homeland of the Aryans or in Western Europe where some of the Aryan tribes supposed to have migrated and settled.

In a very positive development last week respected and acknowledged historians and scientists from numerous fields like astronomy, archaeology and anthropology gathered for a seminar to confirm India’s rich past. Led by Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas (www.serveveda.org) and Indian Archeological Society they together reaffirmed the now widely held theory that there was no Aryan race or Aryan Invasion of India and the history books of India and the world have to be re-written to correct a gargantuan blunder.


The purpose of this post is not to go into what is already known and acknowledged world over about the non-existent Aryan invasion theory and a mountain of evidence has been provided as proof. The purpose of this post is to put the ball on the other side of the court starting with a few comments and questions.

1. If the Aryan invasion happened around 1500 BC starting from central Asia, one group moved West i.e. towards Europe and the other group south finally into India then what evidence is there of the group which went West and populated Europe?

2. If for a moment we believe that there was a migration of a body of people from central Asia, looking at human evolution and early migration patterns most communities settled around perennial sources of water in tropical or sub tropical areas where the sunshine and water is abundant and weather moderate. One would wonder why would anyone travel west into heavily wooded areas affording less pastures for their grazing animals and extreme cold weather for majority of the year allowing very small window for growing crops. If we look at recent history, Mongols the masters of the steppes only went where their horses could get grazing pastures and avoided heavily wooded areas. If nomadic horse riding Aryan herdsmen were anything like the nomadic Mongol herdsmen then they would probably do the same more so if they were chariot drivers. So my point being that even if there was a migration which is highly unlikely there was no migration west thus Europe never received any people from central Asian at that point in time. So Europeans should stop associating themselves with Aryans or any such race.

3. Has there been any archeological evidence of chariots from Bronze Age or from the period corresponding to Aryan invasion unearthed in Europe?

4. With the last Ice Age in the northern hemisphere early human population would naturally gravitate towards warmer climes, i.e. the Middle East and India. At the end of the Ice Age approximately 10,000 years BC with more lands available for occupation in the north precipitated by population pressure on existing land people would have been pushed northwards which probably explains why a lot of European languages have similar words or sounds to Sanskrit and not because of migration the other way around.

5. If the Vedas were created by the Aryans decidedly in an oral tradition then where are the traces howsoever faint of the Vedas in western civilisation. Has this proof been provided by the other side?

6. In Bronze Age or later age settlements unearthed in Europe has there been any discovery of the fire altar as per the Vedic tradition. Please bear in mind that the Vedic fire altar is a mathematically precise construction with each brick shaped on precise mathematical calculations?

7. If the primary Gods of the Aryans were Indra, Varuna and others, coincidence of similar Gods in Norse or Germanic mythology notwithstanding has there been any direct references to these Gods by same name in Europe?

8. What would inspire continental dwellers to have a name for the God of Sea, Varuna as they live thousands of miles away from the sea?

9. The word OM is a oft mentioned in the the Vedas, has there been any evidence of the word OM or its symbolism in Europe ? 

10. Lack of horse in Indian sites seems to have been a major point for the invasion theorist, which was proved to be patently false as horse remain have been found all over India since the Pleistocene, approximately 2.5 million years from the current era. Has the other side provided presence of horse in Europe for the period we are discussing? How come Roman and Greek records written starting 8th century BC i.e. 800 years before Christ and Roman war records written starting 5th century BC i.e. 500 years before Christ record battle engagements with northern barbarians i.e. present day Switzerland and Germany etc on foot. Even much after towards the day of the Roman Empire the northern tribes always fought on foot. Popular movies based on accurate historical research depict northern barbarians to be dressed in animal fur fighting on foot. So where is the evidence of horse in Europe during this period. 

This brings us to recorded history of travellers of antiquity. One such travelogue which has survived the ravages of time is the Indika by Megasthenes which became a reference guide even to later day travellers such as Arrian and Strabo. Megasthenes was the ambassador of Seleucus Nikator, Satrap (Governor) of Alexander the Great for middle east and Asia minor (Turkey) to the court of Indian Emperor Chandragupta Maurya and travelled extensively around India from 250 BC to 298 BC. In his book Indika Megasthenes minutely describes the people, customs, traditions, attire, food religion, laws, geography, fauna, flora and all other possible details that he ecounters while travelling around India from Pentapotamia (Greek for land of the five rivers present day Punjab) to Patalibotra (Patliputra, present day Patna) to Kanyakumari in the south to Serendib (Lanka).

In his description of the people of India he clearly states that they are tall but lightly built (lean) dark skinned with black long hair which they tie in a bun on top of their head and wear turbans with twisted cloth. All men have beards and shaving is not known among the Indians. Nowhere in his entire narration has he alluded to fair skinned Indians either in the North west, North or in the South lording over dark skinned people.

In fact in Megasthenes description of Chandragupta Maurya he notes the Emperors dark skin, medium build and pock marked face. He also goes into great detail about the Brahmanae caste (Brahmins) and their customs and traditions but does not make a remark on their skin colour as being lighter than the others and they lording over the others. In fact he mentions various instances where the Brahmins have been out casted for having broken a vow, law or tradition.

This description of India goes counter to the AIT theory of large, blue eyed, blonde haired white skinned Aryans lording over dark skinned natives. The description of the people of India by Megasthenes is around 1250 years after the supposed arrival of the Aryans i.e. 1500 BC and given that in the intervening period there may have been some intermingling of the people causing some of these racial attributes to be diluted but at any rate fair skinned people should have been present in some numbers and complete absence of any such mention in the text is a clear indicator that no such fair skinned invasion or migration of Aryans occurred. 

Thus we should allow the pro Aryan invasion theorist to prove the Aryan invasion of Europe conclusively first rather than prove the invasion of India through retrofitting evidence and sometimes concocted ones. 

4 comments:

  1. This question was persistently asked by me from my father after reading history and he used to scold me saying that if you want to pass then study whatever is written in bokks. I had no option but to conced.But when I had an opporunity to interact with scholars of JNU, they advised me refer some books available in library. My quest has almost ended today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've seen a lot of arguments in favor and against the AIT/AMT. But the 10 concise arguments placed here were very well put forth and simple worded for a novice like me to understand.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Could you please quote the source used for Megasthenes decriptions and Indica?
    Need more information on this.

    ReplyDelete