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by Jayaram V
The European Bias
"Down upon the Dravidians farming in the north
came sudden surprising attacks from ruddy tribes driving chariots with
that newly mastered animal, the horse. They were fierce and stalwart
men hardened on the bracing tablelands of Central Asia, whose
relatives were turning west into Europe to be our ancestors, but who
themselves - Aryans o the Vedic days - chose the eastern course down
into India, the beginning of a long adventure." 1
Such was the vision of the Aryans, the Europeans conjectured, while
writing
about the ancient Indians who lived in the northern plains of
India and practiced a tradition that had hardly any resemblance with any
other outside the Indian subcontinent. The concept of the Aryan invasion
and their subjugation of the local tribes was made popular by European
scholars such as Abbe Dubois and Max
Muller. In his book which was
originally written in French and translated into English as "Hindu
Manners Customs and Ceremonies (1897), Abbe Dubois rejected the notion
of Egyptian and Arabian migration of people to India in favor of
Caucasus migration. He proposed that after the great deluge the early
settlers came to India from the north and settled down. Although
his hypothesis rested on a really shaky foundation, Max Muller found
merit in the work of Abbe Dubois and declared it as a
"trustworthy authority". In
his "Lectures on the Science of Languages", Max Muller
went ahead with his hypothesis that the ancestors of the Indians, Greeks, Persians, Romans,
Germans and the Celts lived together originally before migrating to
different regions. He suggested that the Aryans of Europe came to India
through the North-West passage by a southern route through Asia Minor,
Greece and Italy. 2
The Distortion of Indian History
The theory of Aryan invasion of India and the connection between the
early inhabitants of India and of Europe both racially and
linguistically stretched the imagination of many Indo European historians. It led to a great deal of confusion and distortion of Indian
history
in the backdrop of British imperialism. The theory trivialized the
achievements of the early inhabitants of India in the field of religion,
astronomy, metallurgy, medicine, architecture, urban planning, sea
faring, ship building, transportation, literature and mathematics and
projected a picture of white man's continuing burden of educating the
pagan races and introducing them to the nuances of an advanced
civilization. It was as if the British conquest of India was like
history repeating itself. The early inhabitants were described as dark
skinned, barbarous, irreligious and unclean people in contrast to the
horse riding, fierce, warrior like, civilized, religious, fair skinned
Aryans. The theory also distracted many historians by creating a mindset
that encouraged the search for alternative homelands of Aryans and their
possible migratory routes. It established a frame work of Indian history
in the academic circles that
attempted to trace all the early achievements of the civilization to the
so called vedic Aryans. It precluded the exploration of the
country's social diversity and religious plurality from a historical
perspective through anthropological studies of populations patterns,
habits and customs. It also contributed in some ways, unfortunately, to
the racist dogmas of Hitler's Germany and the eventual segregation of
that nation into Aryan and non Aryan groups.
The Pros
The theory of Aryan invasion is based on certain assumptions and
beliefs, some of which are listed below
- The close resemblance of sounds and similarity of some root words
in Greek, Latin and
Sanskrit suggest to their common origin and close affinity.
- The Aryans used chariots and horses. They were unknown in the subcontinent
before their arrival.
- The Aryans brought with them their Vedas and
rituals and
introduced a new religion. They Aryanized India and contributed to the
development of a rich religious tradition in the country.
- Through their political power, they enforced their social and
religious life upon the native people. They absorbed the vanquished
tribes as lower castes in their social order and excommunicated the most savage
and reticent tribes as Chandalas or the lowest of the lowly.
- The flora and fauna and some geographical descriptions mentioned in
the Rigveda are not found in the subcontinent. They allude
to an earlier homeland that existed in a different climatic zone far
away from the subcontinent.
- The chief deity of Rigveda was
fire (Agni). It was a tradition of the
early Aryans to keep a fire place in their homes and keep it alive
uninterruptedly. It was because the early Aryans lived in a cold
region where a fire place was a physical necessity.
- Some Rigvedic passages refer to the division of a year into nine
months (navagaas) or ten months (dasagvas) and only five seasons instead of the
familiar six. This was
because the early Aryans lived in a colder climate where the sun was not visible
for several months and the seasons were fewer.
- There is no mention of the river Ganges in the earliest Vedic
hymns which means the early Aryans were not familiar with the Indian
territory east of Punjab.
- The Vedas speak of Indra as the destroyer of fortified cities. The
decline of the Indus valley civilization and the abrupt desertion of
its settlements could be attributed to the Aryan invasion. The Aryan
invaders attacked these cities and drove
away the natives forcing them to migrate eastwards and southwards.
The Cons
The theory of Aryan invasion was hotly debated for long. While the
linguistic evidence suggested a possible relationship between the Vedic
people and some inhabitants of ancient Europe, certain inconsistencies
in the theory led to its criticism and disapproval. Most of the
assumptions, upon which the theory rests, have been
challenged and proved to be wrong. Based on the new evidence
emerging out of the archeological and anthropological studies, it is now
believed that the Vedic tradition was introduced in India much earlier
than what Max Muller suggested and that it developed mostly within the
subcontinent alongside other traditions. Some of the arguments put
forward against the theory of Aryan invasion are mentioned below:
- The native Indian were familiar with horse before the supposed
invasion of Aryans.
- There is no evidence of large scale invasion of the Aryans.
- The urban settlements of Indus valley were deserted due to the
changes in the climate and the course of the Indus. It does not make
sense that having conquered the cities, the Aryans would have left
them empty and reverted back to their pastoral and nomadic
existence.
- The racial types prevailing in ancient India were the same as
those of today. The skeletons found in the excavations do not suggest
the arrival of a new racial type.
- Most of the descriptions of the flora and fauna, the geography and
climate mentioned in the Rigveda
suggest to their connection with the
Indian subcontinent rather than a colder arctic climate.
- The river systems, the constellations mentioned in the Rigveda
suggest to the existence of the Vedic culture in the Indian subcontinent
long before the assumed invasion of the Aryans.
- The excavations at the Indus valley urban
settlements and the ancient site of Dwaraka point to the
continuity of an ancient prehistoric native culture rather than an
abrupt interpolation or super imposition of a foreign culture.
- The battles mentioned in the Rigveda such as the battle of ten
kings were not fought between Aryans and non-Aryans but among different
Aryan groups.
- It is difficult to believe that the Sanskrit language of the
Rigvedic people evolved entirely outside the Indian
subcontinent and brought here by the invading Aryans along with their scriptures. There
is no evidence of any ancient European tribe or nation ever
speaking Sanskrit language. There is also no evidence of any
European group reciting vedic mantras
or practicing vedic rituals based on the hymns contained in the
Vedas.
- India was having a well developed urban civilization long before
the supposed invasion of the Aryans. It is difficult to believe that a
group of nomadic and pastoral people would have brought an urban
civilization on their horsebacks and chariots and introduced it to an
already advanced civilization.
Racial Types in Prehistoric India
The most plausible theory seems to be that long before the supposed
Aryan invasion, the Indian subcontinent was inhabited by diverse groups
of peoples who migrated from different parts of the world. The first
wave of migration took place probably about 100000 years ago from Africa
to the Mediterranean and from there into southern Asia and finally into
the Indian subcontinent3. It was followed by several waves of migration
from Africa, Asia and Europe resulting in the formation of a multiracial
and heterogeneous society by 4000 BC that is characteristic of India
even today. Anthropological studies of the prehistoric races based on
skeletal studies confirm that many races existed in prehistoric India.
Sir Herbert Ripley identified seven racial types4 ,
while Dr. B.S. Guha identified six main races that
migrated to the Indian subcontinent in ancient times5 . They were the
Negrito, the Proto-Australoid, the Mongoloid, the Mediterranean, the
Western Brachycephale and the Nordic. There is no evidence to suggest
that a new racial type of Caucasian origin had been added to the subcontinent
through an Aryan invasion subsequent to
the decline of the Indus Valley civilization.
A New Theory on The Origins of Early Vedic Community
Long before the decline of the Indus valley civilization, ancestors
of the early vedic
people might have migrated from the mountainous
terrain of either the Alps or the Himalayas or some other mountainous
territory of a colder climatic region, speaking a language that was
unknown in ancient India. In course of their wanderings they stumbled
upon the river Saraswathi in northwestern India and settled there. Their
descendents lived along the banks of the river Saraswathi as a minority
group of professional priests. They specialized in the knowledge of
magic and ritualism that was uniquely their own. They enjoyed a good
reputation as a priestly class who could invoke divinities using their
magical chants and seek protection against the destructive forces of nature.
The local rulers invited them to their courts on special occasions and
sought their help to resolve some personal or political issues. In
return for their services, they rewarded them amply with gifts of
cattle and wealth. The group practiced a unique tradition that was a
mixture of incantations, magic and ritualism. They maintained a great
secrecy and kept the knowledge within themselves by not revealing it to
any one outside their group and by limiting its teaching to certain
qualified children within their group only. They also maintained the
purity of their community by evolving a strict code of social and
religious conduct that discouraged marriage and free mingling with
people belonging to other traditions and communities. There were no
castes within the group but only gotras (family lines) as they all
belonged to the same priestly class but carried out different priestly
duties depending upon their family lineage which also served them well
in arranging marriages within the group.
The Spread of Vedism
Certain political upheavals or climatic changes such as the drying up
of the river Saraswathi, forced the group to migrate to other parts of
subcontinent and seek the patronage of new rulers belonging to diverse
traditions. This necessitated certain compromises within their own
tradition, adjustments with other traditions and introduction of new
rules of social conduct and caste divisions to preserve the purity of
each lineage and the secrecy and purity of their unique
tradition. They enforced these rules with the help of the rulers whom
they served and whose confidence they gained.
Thus in all probability the vedic religion spread in the subcontinent not
through a powerful invasion of foreigners or subjugation of the natives, but through a peaceful migration
and dispersion of a minority group of priestly families whose
influence grew over a period of time supported by a class of rulers who
saw an opportunity in the new alliance to consolidate their own power by
elevating themselves to the status of divine rulers and tracing their
lineage to the gods. Vedism spread to the rest of India, making
compromises here and there, integrating other cultures and divinities
wherever required, spreading its influence among the country's free
thinkers and by the gradual dispersal of once monolithic community to
various parts of country ably supported by the political power of
passionate rulers who believed in the new tradition, made it their own
and wanted their subjects to follow.
Suggested Further Reading
Foot Notes
1. Indian Gods and Kings, The Story of a
Living Past, by Emma Hawkridge, Houghton Mifflin Company 1935
2. It is not the author's intention to
suggest that either Abbe Dubois or Max Muller had any ulterior motives in
proposing their theories. As academicians they were probably motivated
by the prospects of a new discovery rather than any racist bias.
It is another thing that the theory developed political undertones in
the British imperial India supported by a self-serving ruling class.
3. Concise History of the World, An
Illustrated Time Line, the National Geographic
4. Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Turko-Iranian,
Scytho-Dravidian, Aryo-Dravidian, Mongoloid and Mongolo Dravidian
5. Racial Elements in the Population by
Dr.B.S.Guha
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