Aryan Invasion Theory: Facts Checked

"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." 

Such was the vision of the Aryans, the Europeans conjectured, while writing about the ancient people who lived in the northern plains of India and practiced a tradition that had hardly any resemblance with any other one outside the Indian subcontinent. The concept of the Aryan invasion and their subjugation of the local tribes was proposed and made popular by European scholars such as Abbe Dubois and Max Muller.

What is the Aryan Invasion Theory?

The Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) states that during the era of 2000 B.C. , Aryans, a racial group from central asia invaded Indus Valley civilization, primarily inhabited by Dravidians, the native Indian race. The story is that a technologically superior race called Aryans created a super-language that spread all over Europe and Asia. It is imagined that Aryans originated in an area somewhere between Europe and Asia and fanned out like spokes of a wheel riding on chariots pulled by horses, conquering and imposing their language on Europe and India. Those languages became “Indo-European languages” spoken between Ireland and India.

Why is the topic so Important?

In a major challenge to the popular “Aryan Invasion” theory, an Indo-US team of researchers on September 5, 2019, presented scientific evidence from the Harappan era to argue that such a large-scale migration from central Asia to India never happened. 

The research – published in Cell, one of the world’s top journals – not only sets aside the Aryan migration theory but also notes that the hunter-gatherers of Southeast Asia changed into farming communities of their own and were the authors of the Harappan Civilization.

Why does it matter?

Unfortunately, it matters most only to Indians because it erases and discards ancient Indian history. It does nothing to European history and European philologists (historical linguists) and historians have no problem with it. For them, it is a minor quibble that is being raised by a bunch of right-wing Hindus. It discards and denies Indian history on many counts. AIT claims that an Indian origin source, the Rig Veda mentions a people called “Aryans” who used to wage wars on chariots driven by horses. This is false. The adjective “Arya” meaning noble in the Veda has been modified to the noun “Aryan” — to indicate a race of people. The racial connotation has been denied but never erased. It is claimed this race could only have come from Eurasia where horses and chariots have been found in antiquity as compared to the sparse findings of the same in India.

Points to be kept in Mind Before Moving Ahead:

1. Dharmic traditions have the idea of intrinsic God as part of them. This dea was never present in polytheistic pagan traditions. Pagans didn't have an overarching idea of all their Gods being a manifestation of the very same thing.
2. This idea is unique to subcontinental traditions alone.
3. All Indian languages have the exact same deep architecture. Right from exact same maatras (the idea of ‘e', ‘E', ‘ooh' and ‘oooh') all indic languages have the exact same matraas. Then there is ‘ah, aah, e, Ee, ooh, oooh, eh, eeeh etc, all more or less common in Punjabi, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil etc. So, Brahmi as a script has morphed into these local sub cultures. Moreover ,sentence construction is remarkably similar between all Indic languages. There is no European equivalent of the same nor any empirical evidence to support this wild claim.
4. The Vedas themselves describe the flora and fauna which is distinctly subcontinental. The river systems, the mountains, the life forms that the mountains sustain, the herbs that are available all point to the geography of the Indian subcontinent.
5. The history of India begins from the north, covers east and west and indeed the south. Again, no room for any European reference here.
6. The term “Arya putraha” simply means the ‘Right person at the Right place’.

Some Loopholes in Aryan Invasion Theory:

1. Aryans are supposed to be nomadic wanderers from the Caspian steppe, alleged to have invaded into Indus valley around 2000 BCE. No proof given by the 'inventors' of this theory. It is pure assumption on the part of Europeans who did not want to give any credit to Indians!
2. Archaeology categorically disproves that they brought horses. Horses existed in Saraswati river civilization much before that. The Saraswati river civilization had trade ties with almost every part of the world and acquiring horses would not be a difficult feat as made out!
3. Equestrian Chariot. Rig Veda talks about ‘Trivanthura’ space for three people and ‘Ashtavanthura’ space for eight people (mini bus) made of local timbre and drawn by oxen, horses or antelope. Saraswati river civilization was the pinnacle civilization at that time and it is ridiculous to say that they did not know how to use the wheels!
4. Genetic studies worth mentioning have categorically proved that there was no gene influx in to India from the west after 9000 BCE. Rakhigarhi DNA from one skeleton.
5. The caste system existed even before the alleged Aryan Invasion! Varnashrama system was practiced in the Saraswati river culture even before the alleged Aryan visit. The present caste system is only a distortion of the Varnashrama Dharma practiced in the banks of Saraswati during the Vedic period. It is ridiculous to claim that the Aryans brought the caste system.

Some More Facts:

There were separate groups of people with one coming after the other. These two races are ASI (ancestral south Indians) and ANI (ancestral north Indians).

The ASI came first in the initial migrations out of Africa. They are completely distinct from any other group of people, and exclusive to the Indian subcontinent.

Thousands of years later, ANI migrated into the subcontinent, this took place around 20,000 years ago. They were another group of the Indo-Europeans. Hence why Indo-Aryan languages are part of the Indo-European language family.

Due to mountains and things these two groups were isolated together in the subcontinent for 20,000 years. As a result by the time the Indus valley civilization started in 3,500bc, they were completely mixed and no longer existed in their pure forms. Even if you go to the most rural village in Pakistan, Assam, Tamil nadu, or Sri Lanka. The people there will have both ANI and ASI in them.

Conclusion

Aryan invasion theory was envisaged by British 200 years ago. It was a part of larger British plan to create division among Indians. Many Orientalist Historians arose who gained popularity just by translating Bhagwad Geeta and Puranas. Our History was recreated to match the expansionist ambitions of the Britishers who were at that time already ruled accross several continents. Thus created many fabricated facts to create a rift among us. Most of the facts have already been prooved wrong including the DNA study which has come out recently.Their main aim was to create rift among Indians based on class,religion, caste and region.