ARYANS

                

The most important, most discuss and most controversial part of the Indian history were ARYANS.

Who were Aryans?

Are they invaded / migrated to India?

The term "Aryan" has had a history filled with controversy. The source of the English word ‘Aryan’ comes from the Sanskrit word 'arya'. The Sanskrit term has a similar with the Iranian word 'arya', means the noble man in both languages.
                                                                                                               
When historians discuss about Aryans, they mention them as a ‘race’, which invaded / migrated from Persia to India, which followed the end of the Indus valley civilization. But some experts have different views.

According to Professor Max Muller who was philologist and expert in Vedic studies. This was what he said in his lectures on the Science of Language.

"In ar or ara, I recognize one of the oldest names of the earth, as the ploughed land, lost in Sanskrit but preserved in Greek as (era) so that Arya would have conveyed originally the meaning of landholder, cultivator of the land, while Vaishya from Vis meant householder, Ida the daughter of Manu is another name of the cultivated earth and probably a modification of Ara".

In his book Biography of words, he also mention:-

There is no Aryan race in blood; Aryan, in scientific language is utterly inapplicable to race. It means language and nothing but language; and if we speak of Aryan race at all, we should know that it means no more than ‘Aryan speech’.
Now the big question is whether the Aryans were outsiders. This question also has different opinions. The general thought is there is a large migration which seen as invasion. Some says migration happened but in small groups by some tribes. Some studies say that there was no migration / invasion done by the Aryans in India.

The big reason behind the Aryans migration / invasion thought is the difference between the Sanskrit (the Vedas language) which have the philological similarities to other Indo-European languages, such as Avestan in Iran and ancient Greek and Latin are different from the Southern Indian Dravidian language. So the scholars put the theory that by the period 1400BC Aryans migrated into the Indian subcontinent. Coming from central Asia, this large group of nomadic cattle herders crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains and came in contact with the Indus Valley Civilization. The cultural and power conflicts pushed natives towards southern peninsula.

Some of the scholars believe “Some settlements in the north-west and Punjab might have been subjected to raids and by the Aryans, such as are described in the Rig Veda.They also believe Aryan Migration happened around the time of the Rig Veda, and the migration of people was also accompanied by migration of names and places. “The Harahvati became Sarasvati, quite a distance away from Afghanistan to Punjab. The Harayu became Sarayu from Afghanistan to UP.”

Some scholars’ presented diluted migration theory. The migration was not done in large scale. It was done by small groups. These people brought their language and literature, with time they became influential.
As the time passed and more researched conducted new facts came forward, and experts came with totally opposite theory. Some migration / invasion theory supporter changed their views, and the migration / invasion theory collapsed.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar says:
“Why have the theory been failed? It is important to know the reasons why it has been failed? Anyone who cares to scrutinize the theory will find that it suffers from a double infection. In the first place, the theory is based on nothing but pleasing assumptions and inferences based on such assumptions. In the second place, the theory is a perversion of scientific investigation. It is not allowed to evolve out of facts. On the contrary the theory is preconceived and facts are selected to prove it. Most of the theory based on Vedic text and in those text there is nothing which says Aryans invaded to India.”

Recent scientific and genetic research throws some light on the migration / invasion theory. Samples taken for these studies are divided into two parts ANI (ancient north Indian) and ASI (ancient south Indian).

These genetic studies increasingly provide evidence that there is a high degree of ANI & ASI admixture in almost all Indian groups. But any major influx of genes from outside India happened in the distant past which is more than 12500 YBP (years before present) at least. This also point towards civilization continuity in India. It is quite likely that there has been gene flow both into & out of India over the last 65000 years. However, there is no evidence of a recent major influx into India during 3000 – 4000 YBP, which is a key pillar of the Aryan theory & which is also used to date the Rig Veda, Sanskrit etc. These results blow the invasion / migration theories.

Historical conclusions always drawn by logic, assumptions and sometimes influence by politics therefore it is necessary to be alert when we read something of this sort things.