From: "vrnparker" <vrnparker@yahoo.com>
Mailing-List: list vediculture@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 11:21:08 -0000
Subject: [world-vedic] bbc on aryan invasion theory

THIS IS ALL I COULD FIND ON BBC'S WEBSITE ON THE AIT.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/history5.shtml

Controversy

The 'traditional' view of Hindu history, as described in this section, 
has been challenged by modern scholars.

In particular, various scholars have advanced the following theories:

Hindu religion pre-dated 3000BCE 
'Aryan', a Sanskrit word meaning 'noble', does not refer to an 
invading race at all 
The Aryans did not invade but migrated gradually 
The Aryans were native to the area, or found there long before the 
alleged invasion 
Hinduism originated solely in India 
There is ongoing controversy over which version of Hindu history is 
the correct one.

--- In indicjournalists@yahoogroups.com, "N.S. Rajaram" 
<nsrajaram@v... wrote:
This is what I received on another egroup. Sorry there is no URL. 
Perhaps someone can help.
 
NSR
 
The Aryan Invasion Theory
 
One of the most controversial ideas about Hindu history is the Aryan 
invasion theory.
 
This theory, originally devised by F. Max Muller in 1848, traces the 
history of Hinduism to the invasion of India's indigenous people by 
lighter skinned Aryans around 1500 BCE.
 
The theory was reinforced by other research over the next 120 years, 
and became the accepted history of Hinduism, not only in the West but 
in India.
 
There is now ample evidence to show that Muller, and those who 
followed him, were wrong.
 
Why is the theory no longer accepted?
 
The Aryan invasion theory was based on archaeological, linguistic and 
ethnological evidence.
 
Later research has either discredited this evidence, or provided new 
evidence that combined with the earlier evidence makes other 
explanations more likely.
 
Modern historians of the area no longer believe that such invasions 
had such great influence on Indian history. It's now generally 
accepted that Indian history shows a continuity of progress from the 
earliest times to today.
 
The changes brought to India by other cultures are not denied by 
modern historians, but they are no longer thought to be a major 
ingredient in the development of Hinduism.
 
Dangers of the theory

The Aryan invasion theory denies the Indian origin of India's 
predominant culture, but gives the credit for Indian culture to 
invaders from elsewhere.
 
It even teaches that some of the most revered books of Hindu scripture 
are not actually Indian, and it devalues India's culture by portraying 
it as less ancient than it actually is.
 
The theory was not just wrong, it included unacceptably racist ideas:
 
* it suggested that Indian culture was not a culture in its own right, 
but a synthesis of elements from other cultures
 
* it implied that Hinduism was not an authentically Indian religion 
but the result of cultural imperialism
 
* it suggested that Indian culture was static, and only changed under 
outside influences
 
* it suggested that the dark-skinned Dravidian people of the South of 
India had got their faith from light-skinned Aryan invaders
 
* it implied that indigenous people were incapable of creatively 
developing their faith
 
* it suggested that indigenous peoples could only acquire new 
religious and cultural ideas from other races, by invasion or other 
processes
 
* it accepted that race was a biologically based concept (rather than, 
at least in part, a social construct) that provided a sensible way of 
ranking people in a hierarchy, which provided a partial basis for the 
caste system
 
* it provided a basis for racism in the Imperial context by suggesting 
that the peoples of Northern India were descended from invaders from 
Europe and so racially closer to the British Raj
 
* it gave a historical precedent to justify the role and status of the 
British Raj, who could argue that they were transforming India for the 
better in the same way that the Aryans had done thousands of years 
earlier
 
* it downgraded the intellectual status of India and its people by 
giving a falsely late date to elements of Indian science and culture.