Aryan Invasion Theory - Debunked.
The concept of Aryan Invasion theory got its momentum in 1786 after Sir William Jones declared that Sanskrit and most of the European languages have a common origin. Subsequently, with the discovery, Hittitte and Mitanni documents in Syria, Iraq, and Turkey made the addition to the Indo-European language series. The Indo-European family of languages includes Germanic (including English) Celtic, Hellenic, Italic, Illyrian, Thraco-Phrygian, Baltic, Slavonic, Iranian, and the Popular languages of the Northern part of India beginning with Sanskrit, Marathi, Gujrati, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and Bengali.
A.I.T. & Scholastic Speculations
The Aryan invasion theory was discussed by a wide range of scholars, both western and Indian. John Marshall considered that the people of Indus valley were Non-Aryans. Mortimer Wheeler who excavated Harappa mentioned that the Aryans led by Indra destroyed the fortified city of Harappa which is mentioned as Hariyupiya in Rig Veda. This view was supported by one of Indra’s epithets as Purandra (the destroyer of forts). He pointed out the skeletal remains on the street of Mohenjadaro as an evidence of a massacre of non-Aryan people by the Aryan people. But later the excavations revealed that this massacre was a myth. Gorden Childe in his book ‘The Aryan: A study of Indo-European Origin (1926)’, considered Russia as the Home of Aryans. T. Burrow considered Turkistan as the home of Aryans and later they migrated to the south of Mesopotamia and plateaus of Iran.
Indian Scholars like A.C Das and P.L Bhargava completely rejects the concept of an external homeland for Aryans. In their book ‘Rigvedic India’ and the ‘India in the Vedic age’ respectively, considered Saptasindhu the banks of Indus river as the original Homeland of Aryans
Another scholars like N.R Varadapande in his book ‘Aryan Invasion - A Myth’ simply denies that the European languages are Aryan Languages at all. He takes the stand that the common words in Sanskrit and Germanic languages are not the evidence of the genetic relationship between these languages but the influence of Sanskrit language on originally non-Aryan languages. He also points out the Sanskrit words in Sino-Tibetan, Austric, and Austronesian language of South east Asia.
A.I.T - Archaeological Facts
Archaeologists like B. B Lal considered that Sapta Sindhu is the home of Aryans. He supported this view in the light of excavations at Kalibangan. Here he came across a ‘fire altar’ which is a part of the Vedic religious culture. He considered the Indus culture as the part of the Aryan culture. But the problem in his theory is that there are no horses in the Harappan civilisation reported. But the Aryans were the people with a horse !
Archaeologists have divided the Indus Civilization into the pre-Harappan, mature Harappan and late Harappan periods. Primitive stone age culture existed in the pre-Harappan period whereas sophisticated brick cities built on a grid system, with granaries and toilets flourished in the late Harappan period.
In 1931 when John Marshall, the first director of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), who oversaw the excavation at the Indus Valley Civilization, published his report on the Indus Valley Civilisation, he dated it around 3000 BC. It is worth noting that, though the discovery of Harappa and Mohenjodaro sites were made in 1922, Johh Marshall was not aware of this discovery till 1924. The discovery of Indus Valley Civilisation was done by R.D. Banerjee, a young Indian archaeologist who discovered chalcolithic remains underneath a Buddhist Stupa at Mohenjodaro, thus bringing to light an entirely new civilisation.
He submitted his first report to his boss John Marshall in 1926 complete with illustrations and photographs. John Marshall concealed this report for four years while he prepared and published his own report in 1930 crediting himself with the discover. This original report is now famously know as ‘ Mohenjodaro – the forgotten report.
In 1944, Mortimer Wheeler put the Indus Civilization between 2450 BC and 1900 BC. Those dates were also supported when Carbon-14 dates started to come from other parts of the world.”
But from 2003 to 2006, when Bhirrana, was excavated, in the Indian state of Haryana, Shri K.N. Dikshit, a former Jt. DG of ASI said that they recovered artifacts that provided 19 radiometric dates, out of which, six dates are of the time bracket from 7500 BC to 6200 BC. These excavations include pottery dating prior to the early Harappan period. This pottery complex is known as the Hakra ware culture named after the Gaggar/Hakra river, known in the Vedas as River Saraswati.
The radio-metric dates from Bhirrana, Rakhigarhi and Kalibangan completely changes the chronological scenario and shows the clear developmental stages of Harappa culture in Indian sub-continent, thereby suggesting Haryana and Rajasthan as the epicentre of early Harappan cultures dating back to the 8th millennium B.C.E
Thus the ‘Lost’ Saraswati / Hakra valley on the banks of the Rigvedic Sarasvati river with its epicentre in India laid a new foundation for urban life and set in motion one way or another, the status of Indus-Saraswati region as the cradle of South Asian civilization.
‘’People are talking that there was an Aryan invasion, then Aryan immigration, then horse theory — this theory, that theory. They are simply wasting their time.” - K. N. Dikshit – Archaelogist
