New Paper on the Aryan Invasion Theory

From: mkelkar2003
Message: 48859
Date: 2007-06-05

now modified as the Aryan Trickle in Theory

Found because of F. Brighenti

"Abstract of the paper:

http://tinyurl.com/3btw5z

<< MANAS‚ RATHAKAARA
Frits Staal
University of California at Berkeley, USA

"A combination of old and new information demonstrates that the
speakers of Indo-Aryan who entered the Punjab did not invade or
conquer, but trickled across the mountains in small groups. They
were tribals, who met other tribals that were already there, leading
to battles, alliances and exchanges of information, some of it of a
specialized nature. The latter included knowledge of the
construction of chariots with spoked wheels. It is demonstrated by
the detailed technical vocabulary found in the R.gveda and other
Vedic compositions. The term rathakaara makes its first appearance
in Yajurveda Braahman.as. Its late explicitness proves little. In
the battle of ten chieftains (RV 7.18), ratha may be presupposed but
the term does not occur. We know that light horse chariots with
spoked wheels replaced carts with solid wheels, pulled by oxen,
during the first half of the second millennium BCE in many parts of
Eurasia. All came from regions further north. India may be anomalous
in that chariots were not carried across mountains. They were not
created by poets either, though the R.gveda is concerned with their
imagery and symbolic significance. The fact remains that experts
were able to make them. My paper is about these people. They were
few in number, brought their knowledge with them in their minds, and
acquired a high social status – and palatial residences –- long
before anything like a caste system existed. >>"

M. Kelkar