Dr. Dinesh Agrawal says that the history of India is not just India's affair. It changes our view of history.
Most Indians grew up believing that ancient sages living near the Saptasindhu recorded their thoughts and experiences in Vedic literature. The Vedas have always been the source of knowledge for Hindus. Suddenly, in the 19th century, it was imposed on them that the Vedas are the writings of conquerors, and that even Sanskrit is not an Indian language.
AIT (Aryan Invasion Theory)
AIT is more of an assumption than a factual event. The roots of the Aryan Invasion Theory are not in India, but among European politicians and German nationalists. In the history of India, there are absolutely no data confirming this theory.
Most authors of the AIT were not even historians but missionaries. Max Muller was paid a salary by the East India Company.
Europocentrism and Christian Missionary Work
The Jewish nation is the oldest nation, and the world was created 6000 years ago:
In 1654, Archbishop Ussher of Ireland firmly stated that his studies of Scripture showed that the creation of the world took place in 4004 B.C.
For a person who believed that the world was created 6000 years ago, to believe that human history stretches 100,000 years into the past was difficult.
Western View of the Vedas
Max Muller on the Vedas:
(a) In a letter in 1866 (V Sam, 1923), he wrote to his wife:
"This edition of mine of the Veda will have much to tell on the fate of India, … it is the root of their religion and to show them what the root is, I feel sure, is the only way of uprooting all that has sprung from it during the last three thousand years." (Vol. 1., Ch. XV, Page 346.)
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya, a renowned Bengali scholar, said this about A. Weber:
"The celebrated Weber is doubtless a scholar, but I am inclined to think that India has been very unfortunate in his study of Sanskrita."
Western scholars were inclined to think that Indian history is very recent.
Monier-Williams: ‘Therefore Brahmanism must die out.’
"When the walls of the mighty fortress of Brahmanism are encircled, undermined, and finally stormed by the soldiers of the Cross, the victory of Christianity must be signal and complete."
In the West, Indian philosophy was long presented with preconceived hatred, as it conflicted with the Christian worldview. One can even find such expressions: "The curse of India is the Hindu religion. More than two hundred million people believe in a monkey-like mix of mythology, which strangles the nation." "He who seeks God in India soon loses his head, and also his heart." (Ripley’s ‘Believe it or Not’, Part I. page 14., 26th edition Pocket-books Inc New York.)
At the end of his life, Max Muller admitted that Aryan refers to a linguistic group, not a race of people. In his book "The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy", which was published shortly after his death, he writes: "Whatever may be the date of the Vedic hymns, whether 1500 or 15000 B.C., they have their own unique place and standing in the literature of the world." (Page 35)
Schopenhauer spoke about the true significance of the Vedas for the West. He said that "the discovery of Sanskrit literature is the greatest gift of our century", and also prophesied that the philosophy and knowledge of the Upanishads would become the cherished faith of Western philosophy.
(New archaeological discoveries in Kalibangan and Lothal, altars and yupas (for performing yajnas), discovery of Dwaraka, research on the Sarasvati riverbed)
Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) and its Contradictions
THEORY AIT Claims
- Light-skinned Aryans – a nomadic tribe invaded India and defeated the local, more developed civilization.
- Now they are Dravidians or Shudras.
- Skeletons discovered in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
- Aryan civilization was completely different from the Indus Valley civilization: no horse, worship of Shiva, chariots, racial differences, etc.
- Date of invasion 1500 B.C.
FACTS Contradictions
- In Vedic literature, there are no references to territories outside India.
- Cities that were conquered were not occupied.
- Rig Veda was written down 3000 B.C. (much older than the theoretical invasion).
- There is no cultural difference between South and North India, if the conquered people were Dravidians.
- Great South Indian thinkers (Shankara, Madhva, Ramanuja) commented on the Vedas and are revered in the North.
- Was South India uninhabited before the Aryan invasion? Where did those nations go?
Testimony of M.S. Elphinstone (1841):
(First Governor of Bombay Presidency, 1819-27) in his "Magnum Opus, History of India" writes:
Hindu scriptures… "oppose the idea of their (Hindu) foreign origin, so that neither in the laws (of Manu), nor, I believe, in the Vedas, nor in any other book which is undoubtedly older than the laws, is there any reference to a previously inhabited territory or knowledge more detailed than merely the name of the country about other lands outside India."
True meaning of the word ARYA – noble
In 1853, Max Muller, creating the Aryan race theory, introduced the word "Aryan" into English and European languages, referring to a racial and linguistic group. However, in 1888 he himself refuted his theory and wrote: "I declare again and again that if I say Aryas, I mean neither blood nor bones, nor hair, nor skull; I mean simply those who speak an Aryan language..."
Arya means to cultivate or agriculture. This is completely opposite to the idea of nomads.
Racial Difference
Both North and South Indian inhabitants belong to the Caucasoid race. The difference between the two groups is not racial. "The History and Geography of Human Genes" by Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi and Alberto Piazza, Princeton University Press reveals that people living in the Indian subcontinent and nearby, as well as in Europe, all belong to one Caucasoid type race.
Conflicts described in Rig Veda (3 types):
- a) Story of Vritra and Indra.
- b) Struggle between Aryans and Iranians: Dahyus, Devas and Ahuras.
- c) Struggle for natural resources between local groups.
Skeletons in Mohenjo-Daro
According to AIT, Aryans conquered North India and pushed its inhabitants to the south. Fossils in Mohenjo-Daro allegedly testify to this. But how is it really?
Testimony of Prof. G.F. Dales (Berkeley University):
"The Mythical Massacre at Mohenjo Daro, Expedition Vol VI, 3:1964"
"What of these skeletal remains that deserve such unwarranted importance? Nine years of extensive excavations at Mohenjo-Daro (1922-31) – a city three miles in circuit – yielded a total of 37 skeletons, or parts thereof, that can be attributed with some certainty to the period of the Indus civilization. Some of these were found in contorted positions and groupings that suggest anything but orderly burials. Most of the skeletons are either without extremities or incomplete. All were found in the Lower Town – probably the residential area. Not a single body was found within the area of the fortified citadel, where one could reasonably expect the final defense of this flourishing capital city."
Comments by Colin Renfrew (Cambridge):
“Archaeology and Language : The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins”, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1988
"Many scholars have pointed out that the enemies frequently defeated in these hymns are the Dasyus. Some commentators have suggested that the Dasyus represent the original, non-Vedic inhabitants of the area, whom the Aryans, equipped with war chariots, displaced. Yet, as far as I can see, there is nothing in the hymns of the Rigveda to demonstrate that the Vedic-speaking population were intruders in that area: this comes rather from a historical assumption about the arrival of Indo-Europeans. It is certainly true that some gods aid the Aryans by destroying fortresses, but this does not substantiate that the Aryans themselves lacked forts. And the swiftness in battle provided by horses (which were primarily used to pull chariots) does not indicate that the authors of these hymns were nomads. Indeed, war chariots are not a vehicle especially associated with nomads. This was clearly a heroic society, glorifying battle. Some of these hymns, though repetitive, are very beautiful works of poetry and they are by no means merely warlike.
… When Wheeler speaks of the Aryan invasion of the Land of the Seven Rivers (the Punjab), he has no warranty at all, so far as I can see. If one checks the dozen references in the Rigveda to the Seven Rivers, there is nothing in them that to him would evoke the invasion. The land of the Seven Rivers is the land of the Rig Veda, the scene of action. Nowhere is it implied that the Aryans were strangers there. And nowhere is it stated that the inhabitants of the walled cities (among them the Dasyus) were any older than the Aryans themselves."
Self-Check Questions
- What is the 'Aryan Invasion Theory' (AIT) and what are the main arguments against it?
- Who was Max Muller and how did his views on the Vedas change toward the end of his life?
- What is the true Sanskrit meaning of the word Arya?
- Explain the significance of the Sarasvati river in dating the Vedic period.
- What does archaeological and genetic evidence suggest about the 'racial' difference between North and South Indians?