--- In cybalist@..., Max Dashu <maxdashu@...> wrote:> It's very
hard to imagine how a spread of Indo-European from India could be
> explained: have any of the Indian-origin theorists tried to account
for it> in terms of the evidence, linguistically or archaeologically?
From what> I've seen, they all concentrate on trying to prove that
Vedic culture is> indigenous.
Three books have been published recently which carry forward the
research:
A. In Quest of the Origins of Vedic Culture Edwin E. Bryant ; ISBN:
0195137779
"Western scholars have argued that Indian civilization was the joint
product of an invading Indo-European peoplethe "indo-Aryans"and
indigenous non-Indo European peoples. Although Indian scholars reject
this European reconstruction of their country's history, Western
scholarship gives little heed to their argument. In this book, Edwin
Bryant explores the nature and origins of this fascinating debate."
amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195137779/qid=999312910/sr=2-
1/103-1819917-7498247
B. Sarasvato, Dr. S. Kalyanaraman, 2000, Babasaheb Apte Smarak
Samiti, Bangalore [Vol. 1 of a quintet]. ISBN: 8190112600
amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/8190112600/qid=999312824/sr=2-
3/103-1819917-7498247
Book review by Prof. KV Raman:
http://sarasvati.simplenet.com/review01.htm
C. Rig Veda and the History of India By David Frawley
Aditya Prakashan, 2001, New Delhi, 550 Rupies, Hardback 363 pages,
ISBN 81-7742-039-9
A few copies of the book available for sale in USA at the price of
$15.00, which includes shipping. Send payment to:
American Institute of Vedic Studies PO Box 8357, Santa Fe NM 87504-
8357 www.vedanet.com,
vedanet@...
Main Points
1. The Rig Veda is the record of the great kings and rishis of the
Bharata dynasty from its predecessors to the Panchalas as finally
modified by a Kuru influence. The Rig Veda is primarily a Bharata-
Panchala document.
2. The Bharatas were closely aligned with the Ikshvaku dynasty,
particularly King Trasadasyu and his descendants, together with which
they created a single culture. The Rig Veda in the broader sense is
thus a Bharata-Ikshvaku or Panchala-Trasadasyu document. The Kurus
also continued this long-standing alliance with the Ikshvakus.
3. Bharata and Ikshvaku kings can be harmonized with Puranic king
lists by a few simple but major correlations. The Puranic scribes
brought some confusion into the list, mainly owing to time changes
and the shift of Vedic culture from the Sarasvati river to Ganga.
This Vedic-Puranic concordance places most of the Rig Veda at an
early to middle period of the Vedic age, not at the earliest era (the
Manu-Yayati period), nor at the later phase of Kuru rule (though a
few hymns were added down to the time of the Mahabharata war).
4. The main Bharata kingdom was located from the Parushni (Ravi)
river in the west, where the Bharatas mixed with the Anus, to the
Ganga in the east (down to Kashi or Benares), where they mixed with
the Ikshvakus. The Bharata kingdom had the Sarasvati river as its
central region down to the ocean, where the Sarasvati entered into
the Arabian Sea. When the Sarasvati dried up in the Bharatas shifted
their center east to the Ganga.
5. The greater Bharata Empire extended from Afghanistan (Kabul and
Gandhara, or the Druhyus) in the west, which gave them access to
Central Asia, across the Sarayu river (Videha and Anga) in the east,
which gave them access to the Bay of Bengal. It extended from the
Himalayas in the north down to the Vindhyas and the Narmada river
(Yadu country) in the south. These border regions were areas of
conflict, expansion, colonization and trade.
6. The Rig Veda portrays both east-west conflicts (mainly Purus
versus Anus and Druhyus) and north-south conflicts (mainly Bharata-
Ikshvakus versus Yadus and Turvashas), with the two groups of enemies
sometimes aligned together. The east-west split, which is reflected
in Asura becoming a negative term in later Vedic texts, led
eventually to the migration of the Persians out of India and their
establishing of another Arya empire to the west in later ancient
times.
7. The main and older Rig Vedic struggle, however, was the north-
south conflict, the Turvashas and Yadus (the people of interior India
to the south) with the Vedic Purus of the Sarasvati River to the
north. It continued long after the period of the Rig Veda as Puranic
stories of Purus or Ikshvakus struggles the Yadus reveal. The
Turvashas and Yadus were also called Rakshasas and Yakshas.
8. This means that there were two large kingdoms in early ancient
India. The first was a northern kingdom dominated by the Purus and
represented by Vedic literature. It was located in the Indus,
Sarasvati and Gangetic plains. The second was a southern kingdom
dominated by the Yadus, located in the Vindhya mountains, the
Narmada, Maharashtra and Orissa, that eventually adopted a
Vedic culture. It extended as far as Lanka. The lower Gangetic delta
and eastern India were still too marshy and heavily forested and not
well populated until cleared by the Ikshvakus, Purus and Anus from
the west as well as perhaps by some Turvashas and Yadus from the
south.
9. The Rig Veda notes an earlier period of Turvasha-Yadu
predominance, which the Purus broke in order to become the dominant
people in the region. This was followed by Puru conflicts with the
Anus and Druhyus for supremacy among the northern peoples that
resulted in a split between northern peoples.
10. Therefore, the battle between the Vedic people and the Iranians
is not the main motif of the Rig Veda but only an important closing
theme. These conflicts are reflected in the Puranic idea that the
Purus were the youngest of the five Vedic peoples and inherited the
central kingdom last.
11. Vedic culture, including the Sanskrit language and its relatives,
was spread by various sages, kings and merchants from India,
sometimes with migrating bands of people who followed the Vedic
principle to make the entire world Arya (dharmic). There were
expansions both by land and sea and in all directions, not only north
and west but also east and south.
12. Ancient European Aryas like the Celts and the Greeks were part of
a cultural diffusion and migration of peoples from the northwest of
India and Afghanistan at an early period. The Europeans called
themselves 'Danavas', the sons of the Goddess Danu. Danava was
originally a positive term reflected in the name of the Maruts and
other Vedic Gods as Su-Danavas (good Danus). It became a negative
term later, probably owing to conflicts between the Indic and Proto-
European Aryas. In this case, it follows the same analogy as Asura
and Deva. This conflict between the Vedic people and the Proto-
Europeans was probably part of the struggles of the Purus with the
Anus and Druhyus.
13. The main Rig Vedic era ended no later than 2500 BCE by which time
the Sarasvati river was already declining, with the terminal point of
the river at 1900 BCE marking the end of the Vedic period proper.