Still no trace of an Aryan Invasion

by Koenraad  Elst

Last night, 1 March 2011, I attended a lecture by Cambridge (UK) archaeologist Cameron Petrie on the state of the art in Harappan excavations and the emerging picture of the "Indus" civilization. Interesting, but no real news.

Just a few highlights in this modest blog report. Petrie showed a map of excavation sites used by Michel Danino in "a popular book" on the Indus-Saraswati civilization, next to his own map. Danino's map shows a high concentration of sites along the Ghaggar river, i.e. the remains of the once-mighty Saraswati; but Petrie's map shows a paucity of sites in the same region. That looks serious. But the very next item in his talk reversed this impression. He reported on a survey of Haryana by a Ph.D. candidate from Rohtak who during 2008-10 identified hundreds of as yet unexcavated Harappan sites. His map showed a concentration of "new" sites precisely in the "empty" Ghaggar region... So, this seems to confirm that the Saraswati was an important centre of Harappan civilization after all.

Incidentally, for the most common chronology proposed by the non-invasionist school, a non-urbanized Saraswati basin would not be such a problem. People like K.D. Sethna and Nicholas Kazanas date the Rg-Vedic age to the early Harappan and even pre-Harappan age, in conformity with the lack of an urban setting in the Rg-Veda. But the latter information could also be matched to a Harappan date but in a non-urbanised border region of the Harappan area, as Shrikant Talageri opines. The latter also points out that the Asuras, a term apparently referring in that context to the Iranians, the Vedic Indians' westerly neighbours, are often described as more advanced in material culture. So, locating the Vedic tribes outside the metropolitan area could make sense. And the impression of a west-to-east gradient in Harappan development, confirmed once more by Petrie, would therefore not be a problem for Talageri's position. But many scenarios remain possible.

Petrie purposely avoided the topic of the alleged Aryan invasion. His survey of Harappan history at no point necessitated such a hypothesis, for the story could apparently be told with reference only to purely internal developments. He only agreed to discuss it when asked by the chairman in question time, but remained non-committal. He said the question was so complicated that it would perhaps never be decided.

At that point I proposed to narrow the question down to a degree of simplicity where a field archaeologist would definitely be able to answer. He agreed that Prof. B.B. Lal had made his name in the 1950s and 60s by detailing our knowledge of the Painted Grey Ware and identifying it as characteristic of the invading Aryans moving eastwards, deeper into India; and that Lal had later repudiated any claims of an Aryan invasion and is now a leading light of the non-invasionist school. Lal now says that no archaeological trace of an Aryan invasion has ever been found or identified. Petrie also conceded that Harvard Sanskritist Prof. Michael Witzel had likewise admitted that "as yet" no such arcaheological evidence of an Aryan invasion has been discovered. So, a very simple question would be: did Cameron Petrie, as a field archaeologist fresh from the recentmost excavation, ever come across actual pieces of evidence for an Aryan invasion. He smiled and agreed that he too had no such sensational discovery to announce. So: as of 2011, after many decades of being the official and much-funded hypothesis, the Aryan Invasion Theory has still not been confirmed by even a single piece of archaeological evidence.

Link 

Aryan Invasion — History or Politics? - By Dr. N.S. Rajaram

The evidence of science now points to two basic conclusions: first, there was no Aryan invasion, and second, the Rigvedic people were already established in India no later than 4000 BCE. How are we then to account for the continued presence of the Aryan invasion version of history in history books and encyclopedias even today? 

Some of the results - like Jha's decipherment of the Indus script - are relatively recent, and it is probably unrealistic to expect history books to reflect all the latest findings. But unfortunately, influential Indian historians and educators continue to resist all revisions and hold on to this racist creation - the Aryan invasion theory. Though there is now a tendency to treat the Aryan-Dravidian division as a linguistic phenomenon, its roots are decidedly racial and political, as we shall soon discover. 

Speaking of the Aryan invasion theory, it would probably be an oversimplification to say: "Germans invented it, British used it," but not by much. The concept of the Aryans as a race and the associated idea of the 'Aryan nation' were very much a part of the ideology of German nationalism. For reasons known only to them, Indian educational authorities have continued to propagate this obsolete fiction that degrades and divides her people. They have allowed their political biases and career interests to take precedence over the education of children. They continue to propagate a version that has no scientific basis.


Read full article(link)

More Aryan Invasion Rubbish

I came across some typical crap coming from an American newspaper about the Aryan invasion through my RSS feed today(newsfeed, not the political party). A 1999 article was quoted to start off yet another pointless debate on the Aryan Invasion Theory on a forum. The signature of the person who started this topic says a lot about the mentality of people who buy into the Aryan Invasion Theory-  "Let's keep America beautiful by getting rid of niggers, spics, kikes, queers, and feminists!"

Defenders of the theory conveniently forget that haplogroup R1a1, which is most often associated with the Aryan Invasion, is prevalent amongst tribes as well as lower castes of India in very high frequencies and not restricted to the upper castes by any means. The age,diversity, variance and frequency of R1a is highest in South Asia - with the age and variance amongst tribals being higher than in upper castes, almost proving that the origin of Y-DNA haplogroup R1a1 is RIGHT HERE IN INDIA. The direct correlation of haplogroup R1a1 and R2(high/low freq and variance in the same areas across the country) further suggests that they cohabited throughout, and coincidence can almost be ruled out (R2 is exceedingly rare, whereas R1a1 is present in high frequencies in Europe). Indian society evolved from tribal groups over millennia. I won't even get into the fact that there is absolutely no archaeological evidence of any kind of invasion at the time the so called white Aryans "took the women and set up the caste system in India". Since '99 however, the Aryan Invasion Theory has almost totally lost ground due to research in many fields, including genetics. The current trend is to manipulate and model studies on Indo-European languages to suit arrogant western beliefs that 'Proto-Indo-European', the supposed precursor of all IE languages, originated in Europe or Central Asia. South Asia is always totally sidelined in these western studies even though it is a known fact that Sanskrit is still the most advanced language on earth and is still used in India. Why the obsession with Central Asia being the homeland of mankind outside Africa and the Middle East? It's was and still is quite an inhospitable place whereas South Asia was and is a country rich in resources - perfect for human habitation.

Aryan Invasion Theory supporters are alive and kicking till this day, flogging this dead horse regardless of countless studies disproving the theory. Many Indians themselves subscribe to AIT, maybe they love the idea of being partly European(it's common knowledge that most Indians look up to whites and white skin), however distant and  despite present day racist European supporters of this theory referring to ALL Indians as mongrels and half breeds who are literally 'bastards' - descendants of rape victims of the white invaders - not just North Indian 'Aryans'. All I can say is that I feel sorry for the low self esteem of these Indians. There are also many South Indians who love to support this theory because of their age old hatred of North Indians and possible inferiority complex due to their generally darker skin color(check out 'fair and lovely' sales in the south). The Brits also inferred that  since North Indian 'Aryans' are outsiders that stole the land and enslaved the local 'Dravidians' besides pushing them down south, they have every right to do the same. Also, after the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization, the very same proponents of the Aryan Invasion Theory(AIT) had to change their story overnight from the Aryans being a noble and intelligent lot, to them being savages that destroyed the Indus Valley Civilization(IVC), LATER settling down and writing the Vedas and inventing Sanskrit. Oh yes, and of course they quickly added that the IVC was 'Dravidian' - thereby giving South Indians yet another reason to hate the North.

It's time Indians woke up and realize that this is just a very outdated, racist and divisive idea instilled till this day in the minds of the gullible. In fact it is still being taught in schools all over India as fact, when it was always just a THEORY. AIT is a sham. Both South Indians, who believe they have been victimized by the North, and North Indians who believe they are superior due to alleged white European ancestry are losers at the end of the day. Neither of these things are true.  It's only the racist white man that will have the last laugh if Indians go on being deluded and continue being subservient to the west, buying hook line and sinker any horseshit that is fed to them.