Gerry asked
> Gerry here: Thanks for the Urheimat link. Looks as though India's
> nationalism is ridding the linguistic world of an AIT (Aryan Invasion
> Theory). My husband works for an Indian owned company and last summer
> we had an opportunity to travel to Delhi; I felt this "nationalism"
> first hand. But rather than calling it "nationalism" I'd rather think
> of it in terms of "local pride" and a "desire to prove" what has been
> written in the sacred texts.
It is sad that linked to this "nationalism" has been a growing
intollerance of difference. The Ayuthayya temple-mosque struggle was a
start. The killing of Australian Christian missionaries was another.
The BJP has some pretty unsavoury allies (including links with the
Hindu fundamentalist grouping implicated in the assassination of
Mahatma Gandhi). The Hindu faith has been incredibly tollerant and
syncretic in its history, even in the Vijayanagar period, and it would
seem that in its efforts to distance itself from CongressI "modernism",
BJP is giving vent to a kind of exclusivism that was a feature of the
Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). The recent nuclear
tests are a similar attempt in which ethnicity-language-religion-politi
cs start to raise their ugly four-way head.
> And from my limited knowledge of the Rg-Veda, I do NOT think the texts
> support an Aryan invasion. Once an internal chronology of the Rg-Veda
> based on cross references between kings and poets is established, the
> question of Aryan invasion should finally be put to rest. But so far,
> THERE IS NO PROOF of a Vedic Aryan invasion from Central Asia (or
> anywhere else).
There is evidence that the Rg Veda knew that the Sarasvati had once
been a River and had dried out, shifting the centre of power to the
Ganges. Recent evidence has shown that this event, almost more than
any other caused the collapse of the Meluhha/Indus civilisation.
Another case of a civilisation exceeding the carrying capacity of its
local environment - possibly linked to the increase in world aridity
circa 1,900-1,600 BCE (the spread of the Amorites in Mesopotamia and
the second Interregnal Period in Egypt also seem to have corresponded
with this period).
> Furthermore, the Dasas, the enemy of the Vedic Aryans, were NOT the
dark
> skinned aboriginals enslaved by Aryan invaders, they were Iranian
tribes
> living in the area (Asko Parpola, 1996).
>
> But yes, the lightness of skin color does have a social advantage in
> India. The sophisticated male, dressed in western attire was always
of
> a lighter skin than the street beggar. I could perhaps make the same
> distinction for the women we met; however, all of them were dressed in
> Indian saris and to me they all looked darker skinned than me. The
sari
> attire, however, didn't return the woman to the traditional role --
> several of the young professional females jumped onto the backs of
> motorscooters (side saddle) as we navigated the crowded streets of
Delhi
> with our driver.
>
> You ask whether I know of Bernard Sergent. I am aware that he
supports
> the AIT (Aryan Invasion theory) and has published on the subject:
> "Genese de I'Inde", Paris, 1997.
>
> I am also aware that B.B. Lal, a supporter of the non-invasionist
school
> has also published "New Light on the Indus Civilization, Delhi,
1997".
>
> QUESTION: Do you know if any archaeological evidence supports an Aryan
> invasion? It seems to me that it shouldn't. And besides, how would
> archaeological evidence confirm an invasion? Arrows stuck in the
walls
> at Monenjo Daro?
In fact it was the presence of corpses lieing unburied in the streets
at the end of Mohenjo Daro that was taken to be evidence of the Aryan
Invasionist Theory. These bodies are now seen as a local factor (civil
war, ethnic uprising, peasant revolt, even earthquake) and have been
found in no other Indus site. No Aryan invasion here. The coming of
the Aryans into India, I would suggest is linked to the coming of
horses and the eight spoked chariot. Indo-Iranian (of the Indic
branch) names have been confirmed amongst the Mitanni-Hurrian royal
family, including the names Mitra, Nastayas, Agni and Varuna, and in
Hittite texts of the Empire Period (1,700-1,200) on horse training and
chariotry, Indic names have been found.
Rather than an invasion per se, I would suspect that the movement was
mostly peaceful of individual semi-pastoral tribes, seeking permission
from local agriculturists for access to pastures, gaining employment as
warriors, marrying local women and coming slowly into greater
prominence. This would have continued for a number of centuries.
Local elites, allying themselves with the new military caste of
warriors (kshatriya) in order to increase their own social
differentiation from the mass of agricultralists (Shudra, Vaiysha)
would have identified with the newcomers. Eventually, social status
would have acrued to those completely fluent in the new language
(Sanskrit), which would have been given prominence in the syncretic
religion which grew up. Thus eventually the Indo-European shamanic
group (Hindu)Brahmin=(Latin)Flamen=(Celtic)Filid, emerged as the fourth
varna caste.
The Sanscritisation of Hindu culture is thus not something that is
recent, but has been going on for many centuries. The origins of
caste, also has little or nothing to do with "invasion", but rather to
the institutionalisation of social status differences present in any
complex society.
> As far as Urheimat, I am aware that in the 18th century, India (along
> with China) was looked to as inspiration for European Culture; wasn't
it
> Voltaire who looked to the Orient? Then in the 19th century India was
> replaced by the Kurgan Culture (Russian Steppes) as Urheimat and
source
> of migrations into central and western Europe. The 20th century was
> confused as to the source of Urheimat and much bloodshed occurred
> although at the end of the century Sir Colin Renfrew looked to
Turkey.
> Now, at the beginning of the 21st century "Urheimat" continues to
raise
> it's ugly head. Do you know if anyone else has proposed a homeland?
I
> know that some folks wish to claim Bronocice and the salt mines as a
> source.
It is interesting how the fashions go. When Voltaire was writing,
Moghul and Jiang dynasties were at their height, European gold and
silver from the Americas flowed into Asia to buy their superior
manufactures for an insatiable European market. It was easy to look at
their cultures as examples to stimulate reform of European
"backwardness". Then with the European colonialism, the Aryan Invasion
Theory was created by racist British colonialists, who saw it, in part,
as a justification for their own invasion of the "dark skinned Asian".
With post-colonialism, there is once again a desire to escape from the
colonialist past with the revisionism and re-writing of history.
Indo-European studies seem to have flowed in the same directions from
Grimm to the modern day.
Warmest Regards
John