Notes and References


Part III: Notes and References Notes [1] There is also a minority view that IA (or other IE) languages entered India much earlier. For instance, Renfrew suggests that IE languages could have left Anatolia towards India around 6000 BCE [Renfrew 1987:189-197, 206]. Renfrew’s views have come in for sharp criticism because they are opposed to the standard paradigms of the Indo-European studies. Jose Carlos Calazans, a Portuguese scholar also opines that the PIE homeland was in Central Asia, whence the IA languages entered India around 3000 BCE. See Koenraad Elst’s message on the Indology List dated 14 July 2000, available at URL http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind0007&L=indology&P=R16562 In such scenarios, IVC is considered a Sanskritic culture, or at least a culture wherein IA speakers formed a dominant membership of its milieu. Calazans’ work on the decipherment of the IVC script is said to be under publication by the Oxford University Press, per the information provided by Koenraad Elst (on 7 February 2000) in an article at the URL http://pws.the-ecorp.com/Chbrughmans/articles/Indusscr.html Diametrically opposed to the view of the intrusion of IE or IA languages into India from Central Asia, is the view that the PIE homeland was in India. I propose to deal with the different varieties of this view elsewhere. In addition, there are AIT skeptics (but non-believers in OIT) like Koenraad Elst. The question of Aryan Invasions is still open. As an Indo-Iranist, George Thompson states [1997:424]: ..it is clear that the problem of Aryan origins remains essentially intractable, for largely political reasons. While the linguistic origins of Sanskrit, and its genetic relationship with Indo-European, can sacredly be denied, the conception of an Aryan invasion of the subcontinent at some unspecifiable time in prehistory remains a matter of continuing controversy…. [2] Archaeologists like Jim Shaffer and D. A. Lichtenstein [1999] completely reject the notion of transfer of IA languages into South Asia as a result of migrations and invasions, and speak in terms of cultural shifts and diffusion of cultural traits. They do however, acknowledge a population shift from the IVC area to East Punjab and Gujarat [1999:256]: That the archaeological record and significant oral and literature traditions of South Asia are now converging has significant implications for regional cultural history. A few scholars have proposed that there is nothing in the “literature” firmly placing the Indo-Aryans, the generally perceived founders of the modern South Asian cultural traditions(s), outside of South Asia, and now the archaeological record is confirming this…. Within the context of cultural continuity described here, an archaeologically significant indigenously significant discontinuity was a regional population shift from the Indus valley, in the west, to locations east and southeast, a phenomenon also recorded in ancient oral traditions. As data accumulate to support cultural continuity in South Asian prehistoric and historic periods, a considerable restructuring of existing interpretative paradigms must take place. We reject most strongly the simplistic historical interpretations, which date back to the eighteenth century, that continue to be imposed in South Asian culture history. These still prevailing interpretations are significantly diminished by European ethnocentrism, colonialism, racism, and anti-Semitism. Surely, as South Asia studies approaches the twenty-first century, it is time to describe emerging data objectively rather than perpetuate interpretations without regard to the data archaeologists have worked so hard to reveal. [3] An online review of Koenraad Elst’s book by Navaratna Rajaram is available at http://voi.org/reviews/rev-uaid.html [4] See Hock [1999:149-156] and Vaidya Ramagopal Shastri’s monograph Veda mein Arya dasa yuddha sambandhi paschatya mata ka khandana (Ramalal Kapoor Trust; Sonepat, Haryana). See also the following on-line article by Koenraad Elst on the literary evidence for http://members.nbci.com/koenraadelst/articles/vedicevidence.html [5] Recently however, Michael Witzel has proposed that the Saptasindhu region was most probably inhabited by the ‘para-Mundas’, an Austro-Asiatic speaking group. He points out that the Dravidian loan words are extremely rare in the earlier strata of the Rigveda, and start appearing only in the middle and late levels of the text. See his online article named ‘Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan’ available on-line in 4 parts at http://northshore.shore.net/%7Eindia/ejvs/issues.html [6] Romila Thapar was one of the first Indian historians who rejected the AIT in favor of migration scenarios – a viewpoint to which she still subscribes. She opposes all attempts to equate IVC with the Vedas vehemently. [7] Professor Shireen Ratnagar is a Professor of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology at the Centre for Historical Research in New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The JNU is considered a bastion of Marxist thought in India. Ratnagar holds that the migration of Aryans into India took in such a manner that no archaeological evidence of these migrations should be expected [1999]. I have explained her views within this web page itself. [8] An on-line review of Talageri’s book by Navaratna Rajaram is available at http://voi.org/reviews/rev-trha.html\ [9] R. N. Dandekar is the famous compiler of the multi-volume ‘Vedic Bibliography’. He has served on the editorial board of the Indo-Iranian Journal (Netherlands) for several years. [10] Recently, Witzel [2000:183-188] sees the homeland of the Aryans in the ‘Greater Ural Region’. [11] It is actually unclear if Dandekar, a mainstream Indologist, is an invasionist or a proponent of Migrations. Talageri clearly considers him an invasionist, offering plenty of proof from Dandekar’s writings [Talageri 2000:Chapter 8] [12] Available at URL http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind0104&L=indology&D=1&O=A&P=19960 [13]An on-line review of Rajesh Kochhar’s book by Koenraad Elst is available at following URL: http://members.nbci.com/koenraadelst/articles/kochhar.html Another review by K. Chandra Hari is available on-line at the URL: http://sarasvati.simplenet.com/book_review1.htm [14] A laudatory overview of the conference, where these remarks were made by Victor Mair, is available in a webpage (http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mt26i.html) maintained by Michael Witzel [15] In a similar manner, Kuiper [2000] speculates on the Munda origins of the Kanva priests, who have contributed numerous hymns to the 8th and other Mandalas of the Rigveda. [16] Available at the URL http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind0002&L=indology&D=1&O=A&P=16129 [17] Available at the URL http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind0012&L=indology&D=1&O=A&P=4854 [18] Available at the URL http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind0104&L=indology&D=1&O=A&P=12411 [19] See message number 2735 dated 11 December 2000 at the Indic Traditions Discussion list at the URL http://groups.yahoo.com/group/indictraditions/ [20] See also Witzel [2000:291] [21] I want to emphasize very strongly that I am not denying the role that chariots have played during Bronze-Age warfare in general, as discussed by Drews [1993:104-134]. However, the notion of an elite overpowering an entire culture merely by merely migrating to that area is too romantic. I shall discuss this viewpoint elsewhere. For details in the functions and ritual uses of the Vedic chariot, refer Sparreboom [1985]. Kulkarni [1994:15-33] has described the Vedic chariot in the Samhitas, Brahmanas and Sutras quite exhaustively, proceeding on with the later descriptions of chariots in the Indian tradition. For a recent scholarly and up-to-date work on IE linguistics and chariots/horses, refer Raulwing [2000]. [22] It appears sometimes that T. Elizarenkova is still an invasionist. In a recent publication for instance [1995:41], she flip-flops between ‘entered’ and ‘invaded’, and says: “The role of the forests in the RV might also have bearings on the studies of the prehistory of the Aryan tribes that invaded India”. (emphasis added) [23] An on-line review of this volume by Koenraad Elst is available at the following URL: http://members.nbci.com/koenraadelst/articles/hock.html Abbreviations: IA = Indo-Aryan IE = Indo European IIr = Indo-Iranian IVC= Indus Valley Civilization PIE= Proto Indo-European RV = Rigveda References: Adams, W. Y.; 1968; ‘Invasion, Diffusion, Evolution?’; in Antiquity, XLII:194-215 Agarwal, Vishal; 2000; The Aryan Migration Theory – Fabricating Literary Evidence. Available on-line at http://vishalagarwal.voiceofdharma.com/articles/indhistory/amt.htm Allchin, F. R.; ‘Language, Culture and the Concept of Ethnicity’; in The Archaeology of the Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States, Allchin, F. R. et al. (ed.), pg. 41-53; Cambridge University Press; Cambridge; 1995 Allchin, Raymond and Allchin, Bridget; 1997; Origins of a Civilization – The Prehistory and Early Archaeology of South Asia; Viking; New Delhi Bronkhorst, Johannes and Deshpande, Madhav M. (eds.); 1999; Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia – Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology; Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora Vol. 3; Harvard University; Cambridge Bryant, Edwin (Ed.); The Aryan Migration Debate- Quest for the Search of the Roots of the Vedic Civilization; Oxford University Press; Cambridge; April 2001 Burmeister, Stefan; 2000; ‘Archaeology and Migration’; in Current Anthropology, vol. 41.4; pg. 539-553 Chakrabarti, Dilip, K.; 1985; ‘The Issue in the Indian Iron Age’. Pp. 74-88; in S. B. Deo and K. Paddayya (eds.), Recent Advances in Indian Archaeology; Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute; Poona ________.;1999; India- An Archaeological History, Paleolithic Beginnings to Early Historic Foundations; Oxford University Press; New Delhi Dales, George F.; 1961-62; ‘The Mythical Massacre at Moheno-Daro’; in Journal of Oriental Research, 31:32-39; Madras Dandekar, R. N.; 1997a; ‘Reflections on Vedic Mythology’ – Lecture delivered on the occasion of the re-conferment of the Doctorate (1938) by the Heidelberg University, on June 10, 1988; in Indological Miscellanea (Select Writings 5); Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute; Pune ___________.; 1997b; ‘Historiography of Ancient India’ (ABORI 75, viii-xvi). 1994; in Indological Miscellanea (Select Writings 5); Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute; Pune Danino, Michel and Nahar, Sujata; 2000; The Invasion that Never Was, 2nd ed.; The Mother’s Institute of Research; New Delhi Deshpande, Madhav; 1995; ‘Vedic Aryans, non-Vedic Aryans, and non-Aryans: Judging the Linguistic Evidence of the Veda’; in George Erdosy (ed.), The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: 67-84; Walter de Gryuter; Berlin Drews, Robert; 1988; The Coming of the Greeks – Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East; Princeton University Press; Princeton _______.; 1993; The End of the Bronze Age – Changes on Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C.; Princeton University Press; Princeton (New Jersey) Drower. M. S.; 1968; ‘Ugarit’; in I. E. S. Edwards ed.; The Cambridge Ancient History; University Press; Cambridge Elizarenkova, T. Y.; 1995; Words and Things in the Rigveda; BORI; Pune Elst, Koenraad; 1999; Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate; Aditya Prakashan; New Delhi. Available on-line at http://www.voi.org/books/ait ______.; 2000; The Vedic Harappans in Writing – Remarks in Expectation of a Decipherment of the Indus Script. Available on-line at the URL http://pws.the-ecorp.com/Chbrughmans/articles/Indusscr.html Erdosy, George; 1995; ‘The Prelude to urbanization: ethnicity and the rise of Late Vedic chiefdoms’; in The Archaeology of the Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States, Allchin, F. R. et al (eds.), pg. 75-98; Cambridge University Press; Cambridge; 1995 Erhet, Christopher; 1988; ‘Language Change and the Material Correlates of Language and Ethnic Shift’; in Antiquity, vol. 62:564-574 Halbfass, Wilhem; 1988; India and Europe, An Essay in Understanding; State University of New York Press; Albany (New York) Hock, H. H.; 1999; “Through a glass darkly: Modern “racial” interpretations”; in Madhav M. Deshpande and Johannes Bronkhorst (eds.), pp. 145-174, Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia – Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology; Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora Vol. 3; Harvard University; Cambridge Jha, D. N.; 1998; Ancient India in Historical Outline; Manohar; Delhi Kazanas, Nicholas; 1999; ‘The Rgveda and Indo-Europeans’; in Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, vol. LXXX:15-42; Poona Kenoyer; Jonathan Mark; 1998; Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization; Oxford University Press; Karachi Kennedy, Kenneth A. R.; 1982; ‘Skulls, Aryans, and Flowing Drains’; in Gregory L. Possehl (ed.). Harappan Civilization – A Contemporary Perspective, pp. 289-295; Oxford and India Book House; Delhi _______.; 2000; God-Apes and Fossil Men, Paleoanthropology of South Asia; The University of Michigan Press; Ann Arbor Kochhar, Rajesh; 2000; The Vedic People – Their History and Geography; Orient Longman; New Delhi Kosambi, D. D.; 1950; ‘On the Origin of the Brahmin gotras’; in Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society NS; 26:26-80 Kuiper, F. B. J.; 2000; “A bilingual Rsi (RV X.106)”; pp. 157-160 in Anusantatyai, ed. by Eva Tichy and Almut Hintze; J. H. Roll; Germany Kulkarni, R. P.; 1994; Visvakarmiya Rathalaksanam – A Study of Ancient Indian Chariots; Kanishka Publishers, Distributors; New Delhi Kulke, Hermann and Rothermund, Dietmar; 1997; A History of India; 3rd Ed.; Routledge; London and New York Lal, B. B.; 1954-55; ‘Excavations at Hastinapur and other Explorations in the Upper Ganga and Sutlej Basins, 1950-52’; in Ancient India, no. 10-11 Lal, M; 1986; ‘Iron Tools, Forest Clearance and Urbanization in the Gangetic Plains’; Man and Environment, 10:83-90 Mair, Victor; 1998; ‘Priorities’; pg. 4-41 in The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern Central Asia, vol. I (ed. By Victor Mair); The Institute for the Study of Man, Washington D.C. (in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Museum Publications, Philadelphia); 1998 (Journal of the Indo-European Studies Monograph No. 26 Mallory, Robert; 1998; ‘A European Perspective on Indo-Europeans in Asia’; pg. 175-201 in The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern Central Asia, vol. I (ed. By Victor Mair); The Institute for the Study of Man, Washington D.C. 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The Archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World; University Museum Monograph, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology, Volume 16; Pgs. 153-175; The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia Rajaram, Navaratna Srinivasa; 1995; The Aryan Invasion Theory and the Subversion of Scholarship; Voice of India; New Delhi Ratnagar, Shireen; 1999; ‘Does Archaeology Hold the Answers’; pg. 207-238 in Madhav M. Deshpande and Johannes Bronkhorst (eds.); Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia: Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology; Harvard Oriental Series, HOS Opera Minora vol. 3; Cambridge _______,; 2000; The End of the Great Harappan Tradition; Manohar; New Delhi Rau, Wilhelm; 1976; The Meaning of Pur in Vedic Literature; Abhandlungen der Marburger Gelehrten Gesellschaft; Munich Raulwing, Peter; 2000; Horses, Chariots and Indo-Europeans; Archaeolingua Foundation; Budapest Renfrew, Colin; 1987; Archaeology and Language - the Puzzle of Indo-European Origins; Jonathan Cape; London. Republished by Cambridge University Press, New York, in 1988. Renfrew Colin and Bahn, Paul; 1996; Archaeology – Theories Methods and Practice, 2nd ed.; Thames and Hudson; New York Schlanger, S and Wilhusen, R.; 1993; ‘Local Abandonments and Regional Conditions in the North Western Southwest’; in C. Cameron and S. Tomka (eds.); Abandonment of Settlements and Regions: 85-98; University Press; Cambridge Schmidt, E. F.; 1937; Excavations at Tepe Hissar Damghan; University Museum; Philadelphia Shaffer, J. G.; 1986; Cultural Development in Eastern Punjab; pp. 195-235 in Studies in the Archaeology of India and Pakistan, ed. by J. Jacobson; Oxford & IBH Publishing Co.; New Delhi Shaffer, J. G. and Lichtenstein, D. A.;; 1999; Migration, Philology and South Asian Archaeology; in Madhav M. Deshpande and Johannes Bronkhorst (eds.), pp. 239-260, Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia – Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology; Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora Vol. 3; Harvard University; Cambridge Sharma, Ram Sharan; 1996; The State and Varna Formation in the Mid-Ganga Plains – An Ethnoarchaeological View; Manohar; New Delhi _______.; 1999; Advent of the Aryans in India; Manohar; New Delhi Sparreboom, Max; 1985; Chariots in the Veda; E. J. Brill; Leiden Talageri, Shrikant; 2000; The Rigveda – A Historical Analysis; Aditya Prakashan; New Delhi. The book is available on-line at http://voi.org/books/rig Thapar, Romila; 1984; From Lineage to State: Social Formations in the Mid-First Millennium B.C. in the Ganga Valley; Oxford University Press; Bombay _______.;1999; The Aryan Question Revisited; Lecture Delivered on 11th October 1999 at the Academic Staff College, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi). The Transcript is available online at http://members.tripod.com/ascjnu/aryan.html _______.; 2000; ‘Imagined Religious Communities? Ancient History and the Modern Search for a Hindu Identity’; pg. 60-88 in History and Beyond; Oxford University Press; New Delhi Thompson, George; 1997; Review of Allchin 1995 (see above); pp. 423-424 in International Journal of Hindu Studies, vol. 1.2 (August 1997) Weiss, H. and Young, T. C.; 1975; ‘The Merchants of Susa’; in Iran, XIII:1-17 Wheeler, R. E. M.; 1947; ‘Harappa 1946: The Defenses and Cemetery R37’; in Ancient India, 3:58-130 Witzel, Michael; 1989; ‘Tracing the Vedic Dialects’; in Dialectes dans les literatures indo-aryennes; Publications de l’Institute de Civilization Indienne, Serie in-8, Fascicule 55, ed. by C. Caillat; Diffusion de Boccard; Paris ________.; 1995; ‘Early Indian History: Linguistic and Textual Parameters’; in George Erdosy (ed.), The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: 85-125; Walter de Gryuter; Berlin ________.; 1995a; “Rgvedic History: Poets, Chieftains and Politics”; in George Erdosy (ed.), The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia:307-352; Walter de Gruyter, Berlin _______.; 1999; “Aryan and Non Aryan Names in Vedic India – Data for the Linguistic Situation, c. 1900 – 500 BC”; pg. 337-404 in Madhav M. Deshpande and Johannes Bronkhorst (eds.); Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia: Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology; Harvard Oriental Series, HOS Opera Minora vol. 3; Cambridge _______.; 2000; “The Home of Aryans”; pp. 283- 338 in Anusantatyai, ed. by Eva Tichy and Almut Hintze; J. H. Roll; Germany Witzel, Michael; Lubotsky, A; M. S. Oort, M. S. (Eds.); 1997; F. B. J. Kuiper- Selected Writings on Indian Linguistics and Philology; Rodopi; Amsterdam/Atlanta (Note: The introduction to the text, which alone is cited in this webpage, has Witzel as the sole author).
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