The Aryan Migration & Debunking “Out of India Theory”

It is important for every Pakistani to know where to stand on this debate. Many people have asked me to explain in detail about the Aryan migration and its importance to our history. However, before doing that lets first address some facts:

• The Aryan Migration Theory was put forth by Mortimer Wheeler in 1953, six years AFTER the British Raj ended. Hence, the theory was not proposed as a British conspiracy to justify colonial rule.
• The Aryan Migration Theory had nothing to do with the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler or Max Muller. Neither of them invented this theory; Muller died in 1900 when Hitler was 11, and Hitler himself died in 1945.
• Prior to excavations in the Indus Valley (specifically in Sindh and Punjab), it was suggested that “advanced Aryans” had moved into the Indus Valley to replace a “primitive culture”. These assumptions were made in the 19th century and was not referred to as an “Aryan Invasion”. Rather, the Europeans were undertaking a study of Sanskrit, which they found to be closer to European languages. The findings in the Indus Valley only reversed these suggestions and proved that an advanced civilization existed in the Indus Valley prior to the arrival of Aryans, who did not use Sanskrit and predated dig sites where Sanskrit writings were found. It was clear that the migrating Aryans were pastoral nomads who entered the region at a time when an advanced civilization in the Indus Valley was in decline.

What we know now clearly is the following:

• The Rig Veda was not describing the Indus Valley Civilization culture, people, religion and cities — the Vedas were written by the Indo-Aryans and compiled in a region they referred to as “Saptha Sindhu” (Punjab), which means this occurred AFTER the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization.
• The Indus language was not Sanskrit and not Tamil. To this day, the language used by the Harappans has not been deciphered. It is currently being studied at the University of Sindh’s Institute of Sindhology as well as by the National Fund For Mohenjo-Daro.
• The Rig Veda has been dated to between 1700 BCE and 1100 BCE, and shows similarities to the Iranian Zend Avesta which was written at the same time. Claims that the Vedas are more than 10,000 years old are exaggerated and complete nonsense.
• The period from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE is described as the mature Harappan period of the Indus Valley Civilization, not the Vedic civilization.
• There is no scientific evidence in support of the “Out of India theory”, which claims human beings entered the subcontinent from Africa, developed a culture in the Ganges plain and then moved to all parts of the world. Thus, this theory claims all humans in the world, except Africans, derive from Indians. This theory has been ridiculed as complete nonsense.
• There is no evidence to support that the descendants of the Indus Valley Civilization are Dravidian people. Although there is evidence that these two peoples may have come into contact, for the most part the Indus Valley held closer trade and cultural relations with the Mesopotamians in the Persian Gulf.
• The Saraswati River in the Rig Veda is mainly seen as a mythical river, not an actual river, since the exact location of the river, or even an approximate one, is not provided in any writing. Furthermore, if the Saraswati was supposed to be a tributary of the Indus, what’s the the third river that is supposed to meet Ganges and Yamuna at Allahabad?

The Aryan Migration Theory
This theory suggests that the nomadic Indo-European people (Aryans) migrated into the Indus Valley from Central Asia beginning in around 1800 BCE.

Indo-Europeans (Aryans)
The Aryans originally are said to have formed as a distinguishable culture at the Central Asian steppes north of the Caspian Sea as the Sintashta culture (2100–1800 BCE), in what is today Kazakhstan, and developed further as the Andronovo culture (1800–1400 BCE) around the Aral Sea. The Aryans then migrated southwards to the Bactria-Margiana Culture, from which they borrowed their distinctive religious beliefs and practices. The Aryans then split into two groups sometime between 1800 BCE to 1600 BCE in Bactria. One group migrated in a south-eastward direction over the Hindu Kush Mountains and into the Indus Valley via the Khyber Pass, while the other migrated in a southwestern direction and settled on the Iranian plateau.

Migration Into Indus Valley
The Aryan migrations was part of a slow diffusion of Indo-European people from the Pontic–Caspian steppe towards the Indus Valley that continued for hundreds of years from 1800 BCE until approximately 1500 BCE. By then, a unique culture had formed by the merging of Aryan people and culture with the remnants of the Harappan people and culture, giving rise to Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan culture (Vedic civilization) and Indo-Aryan language (Vedic Sanskrit). There is strong evidence to suggest the Indo-Aryans may have adopted and absorbed much of the remnants of the Indus Harappan culture. The merging of the Aryan and Harappan remnant cultures and languages took place by patron-client systems, which welcomed absorption and acculturation of other groups and explains the strong influence on other cultures with which it interacted. Some aspects of the Indus Valley Civilization culture seem to have been adopted by the Aryans, such as the use of swastika. On the contrary, the method of disposing dead bodies seems to have been adopted from Aryan culture, specifically its regional off-shoot called Cemetery H culture. Cemetery H culture corresponds to the first wave of migration of the Aryan people sometime around 1800 BCE. This was later succeeded by the second wave from 1700 BCE to 1400 BCE. The Aryans who entered the region around 1400 BCE in time absorbed the Cemetery H culture to create the Painted Grey Ware culture. According to archaeologists the Vedic culture that eventually formed (Indo-Aryans) was an amalgamation of Harappan culture, Gandhara grave culture , Ochre Coloured Pottery culture and Painted Grey Ware culture.

Indo-Aryans (Vedics) & Iranians (Avestans)
Contrary to popular belief, the Indo-Aryans in the Indus Valley were not modern-day Hindus and did not share much in commonality with those living in the Ganges plain, much to the displeasure of hardline Hindutva nationalists in Bharat (Republic of India) who insist on peddling this myth. Rather, the closest relatives to the Indo-Aryans were the Iranians, since both groups had a common ancestor. Indeed this can be seen in the similarities between both groups.

• Indo Aryans spoke Vedic Sanskrit, while Iranians spoke Avestan Persian. Both languages came from a common Indo-European language.
• Indo Aryans wrote the Rig Veda, while Iranians wrote the Zend Avesta. Both of these sacred texts share similar myths, ideas and gods. Today Sindhi Hindus, Kashmiri Pandits and Kalash continue to worship these ancient gods.

Author Norman Brown in his study “Pakistan and Western Asia” writes:

“The evidence of the Rig Veda shows that during the era of Aryans in the Punjab where the hymns of the Rig Veda were composed, the Indus region was culturally separate from the present day region of India [Ganges plain]. The closest cultural relations of the Indo-Aryans at that period were with the Iranians, whose language and sacred texts are preserved in the various works known as the Avesta, in inscriptions in Old Persian, and in some other scattered documents. So great is the amount of material common to the Rig Veda Aryans and the Iranians that the books of the two peoples show common geographic names as well as deities and ideas”.

Joel Brereton, a professor of Sanskrit and Religious studies, writes:

“There is no evidence in the Vedas for an elaborate, much-subdivided and overarching caste system.”

Ram Sharan Sharma, an eminent historian and academic of Ancient and early Medieval India writes:

“The Vedic society was neither organized on the basis of social division of labour nor on that of differences in wealth. “… [it] was primarily organized on the basis of kin, tribe and lineage.”

Author A. L. Stravrianos goes into more detail by writing:

“In Rig Veda, the gods of Dyaus is the same as the Greek Zeus (Roman Jupiter), Mitra is the same as the Graeco-Roman Mithras, Ushas is the same as the Greek Eos (Roman Aurora), and Agni is the same as the Graeco-Roman Ignis. Vedic Aryans worshiped elements of nature in personified forms, and idolatry was forbidden.

The image of the Aryans that emerges from Vedic literature is that of a virile people, fond of war, drinking, chariot racing, and gambling. Their god of war, Indra, was an ideal Aryan warrior: ‘he dashed into battle joyously, wore golden armor, and was able to consume the flesh of three hundred buffaloes and drink three lakes of liquor at one time’.”

When they first arrived in the Indus Valley, the Aryans were primarily pastoralists. Their economic life centered around their cattle and wealth was judged on the basis of the size of herds. As the newcomers settled in fertile river valleys, they gradually shifted more to agriculture. They lived in villages consisting of a number of related families. Several villages comprised a clan, and several clans a tribe, at the head of which was the king. The king’s authority depended on his personal prowess and initiative, and was limited by the council of nobles, and in some tribes by the freemen.”

The outstanding characteristics of this early Aryan society was its basic difference from the later Hinduism. Cows were not worshiped but eaten. Intoxicating spirits were not forsaken but joyously consumed. There were classes but no castes, and the priests were subordinate to the nobles rather than at the top of the social pyramid. In short, Aryan society resembled much more the contemporary Indo-European societies than it did Hinduism that was to develop in later centuries in the Gangetic Valley.”

Conclusion
By now you should clearly understand why the Aryan Migration Theory is a problem for Hindutva nationalists in the Republic of India (Bharat). Essentially, it puts holes in their “Out of India Theory” and also proves that modern-day Hinduism formed in the Ganges plain much later, and did not have a close relationship to the Vedic Indo-Aryans or the Harappans in the Indus Valley. In essence, the “Out of India Theory” allows Hindutva nationalists to usurp and appropriate our Indus history, whereas the Aryan Migration Theory protects our history from that.