M. Summary

The Aryan Invasion Theory was proposed initially by a motley group of people including philologists to explain the presence of IA languages in India. With the commencement of archaeological excavations in India, these invasionist paradigms were adopted uncritically, and subscribed to by archaeologists for some time, even after the discovery of IVC. However, as the spade of these archaeologists did not unearth any sign of invasions, the theory was modified to AMT, and accordingly the interpretations of the Rigveda were also changed. The archaeological and biological record refused to offer proof even for large-scale migrations of Aryans into India and so complex models involving small scale initial migrations followed by ‘Aryanization’ of India via acculturation are now used. Language transfer via Elite Dominance (over IVC inhabitants) of IA speaking ‘migrants’ on horse driven chariots often plays a significant role in these ‘complex’ scenarios. Nevertheless, all these models remain just models with no conclusive evidence supporting them – despite claims to the contrary. The prior acceptance of these models is often used to ‘explain’ several features of the Indian civilization. In other words, assumptions are often taken as ‘results’ of these models.