From: selvakum@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (C.R.Selvakumar - Electrical Engineering)
Subject: Ancient Indian History
Keywords: Aryan, Dravidian, 4000 year old artifact, indus civilization
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 04:09:44 GMT


In article <cey9m_200VBC83ZX4o@andrew.cmu.edu>, "Arun K. Gupta" <ag3l+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
> 
> 
> In what sense is the Aryan invasion theory a myth and in what
> sense is it real ?
> 
> As bearers of a language group that is spread through Asia and
> Europe, some people almost certainly came into India from the
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> northwest.
^^^^^^^^^^^

      I too believe so!
      This is indisputable !


> 
> The usual claim is that these were the Vedic people -- i.e. composers
> of the Rig Veda.
> The other theory says that the composers of the Vedas were not
> Johny-come-latelies to India, but had been there for centuries,
> and had already begun assimilating into an Indian as opposed to
> an Indo-European culture (the Aryan Dravidian proponents call
> this Indian culture - Vedas = Dravidian).

      You have not addresed the two possibilities consistently, i think.
      [1]  These people who migrated to India by northwest ( probably
           not by invasion but more like peaceful influx).

     [2]  The second possibility you had given above leaves open 
          who the incoming  people is. If you meant the same vedic
          people BUT they composed their Vedas after settling there
          for a sufficiently long time, that would make sense too.

    I don't understand why either one of these two should be important.
    The fact nobody disputes is these vedic people have been living with 
    the rest of non-vedic people for 3500 plus years. Vedas were composed
    within India or not is NOT important for the issue at hand. The
    vedic people constitute less than 10% to day in India just as they were in
    more ancient period ( assuming equal fertility, no major selective
    calamities..). Vedic culture is a part of india's culture and NOT
    a foundational culture.

      I believe that this Dravidian-Aryan dichotomy is real and exists
      even today ( at least in psyche !) . It appears that 90% Indian
      culture minus Vedas = Dravidian would be a close description.

> 
> The whole controversy has new life because of the artifact found
> and dated to 4500-3000 BC.

     It is absolutely amazing how the new artifact can stir anything !!
     The artifact of 3000-4500 old human head has nothing to link with
     either dravidian or aryan and why should it give 'a new life'
     to a 'controvesy'? Well there were so many artifacts and scripts !!
     What is so special about this ? You found the nose more straight ?
     It somehow looks like an aryan to you ? It looks like a handsome
     Tamil king to *me* ! (-; (-; Who knows it could be the statue 
     of the Great Paandian King 'VeNdEr Sezhiyan' who is said to have 
     ruled 7,552 years ago ! Or he could be the Paandian King 
     MudaththirumaaRan who ruled 3852 years ago! 
     [ I am saying these in a lighter vein- just to joke
     about some equally baseless claims made by Prof. Kak in the
     Yoga Journal (-; (-; ]  [ However, it is true that names of these
     Kings are mentioned in a commentary written for a tamil work 
     called iRayanaar akapporuL (=> roughly dated to 300 A.D.) and the 
     dates quoted for the kings are approximately correct,
     but there is NO proof to substantiate any of these. 
     This is just a speculation except that the Tamil track record
     for factual statements is very high. ]
     
> 
> -arun

      Regards,
      Selva Selvakumar

Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian