Death of the Aryan Invasion Theory

iVarta.com ^ | December 12, 2005 | Prof. Dipak Basu

[SunkenCiv]

Significance of Mayiladuthurai find -- Links between Harappa and Neolithic Tamil Nadu
The Hindu | May 01, 2006 | T.S. Subramanian
Posted on 04/30/2006 6:01:01 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1624277/posts

[SunkenCiv]

Parpula's two volumes of photographs covering the collections of India and Pakistan, which appeared in 1987 and 1991... and his 1994 sign list, containing 386 signs (as against Mahadevan's 419 signs), are generally recognized as fine achievements, not least by Mahadevan... This is a significant figure. It is too high for a syllabary like Linear B... and too low for a highly logographic script like Chinese. the nearest comparison... are probably the Hittite hieroglyphs with about 500 signs and Sumerian cuneiform with perhaps 600+ signs... Most scholars therefore agree that the Indus script is likely to be a logosyllabic script like its west Asian contemporaries. [pp 281-284]

These Dravidian speakers are presumably remnants of a once-widespread Dravidian culture submerged by encroaching Indo-Aryans in the 2nd millennium BC... The Indo-Aryan hymns, the Vedas... recount tales of conquest of the forts of the dark-skinned Dasa or Dasyu... the Vedas repeatedly mention the horse in their descriptions of warfare and sacrifice, and this animal was clearly a vital part of Indo-Aryan society... But there is not horse imagery at all in the Indus Valley civilization and virtually no horse remains have been found by archaeologists. Hence the Indus civilizations is unlikely to have been Indo-Aryan. [pp 290-291]

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Lost Languages: The Enigma Of The World's Undeciphered Scripts by Andrew Robinson

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Robinson mentions "a substantial inscription found at Dholavira near the coast of Kutch in 1990, which appears to have been a kind of sign board for the city." [p 295]

Uncracked Ancient Codes
(Lost Languages reviewed)
by William C. West

Sanskrit and early Dravidian, the ancient languages of India, seem to be the keys to deciphering the highly challenging script of the Indus Valley civilization of the third millennium b.c. in what is now Pakistan and northwest India. As with other languages, a photographic corpus of drawings, a sign list and a concordance must be compiled before decipherment will be possible. Work has proceeded along these lines for inscriptions on some 3,700 objects from the Indus Valley, most of them seal stones with very brief inscriptions (the longest has only 26 characters)... Robinson's descriptions of such analysis, and his accounts of both successful and unsuccessful decoding attempts, are clear, provocative and stimulating.

One sees what one wants to
by Iravatham Mahadevan

I agree with Rajaram that it is time we put this 'horse business' behind us and look at the decipherment itself. I have done so. The Jha-Rajaram 'decipherment' is completely invalid. It is, in fact, a non-starter for the simple reason that the direction of reading adopted by the authors is wrong, as demonstrated by Witzel and Farmer (Frontline, October 13, box item at p.12). The 'decipherment' makes as much sense as you would get out of this page if you try to read it from a mirror reflection.

Of Rajaram's 'Horses', 'decipherment', and civilisational issues
by Asko Parpola

It is sad that in South Asia, as elsewhere in the world, linguistic and religious controversies are the cause of so much injustice and suffering. We should remember that from the very beginning, Aryan and non-Aryan languages and associated cultures, religions and peoples have intermingled and have become inextricably mixed. Every element of the population has contributed to the creation of Indian civilisation, and every one of them deserves credit for it.

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Deciphering the Indus Script by Asko Parpola	Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. by Iravatham Mahadevan

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[SunkenCiv]

Uh, yeah, the date is not for two days. It's the issue date. :')

Cloning History, Marxian Style
by Dr S.P. Gupta
July 02, 2006

Commenting on it the expert committee while quoting Man and Environment, 1994 Volume XIX, Nos. 1-2) says, "That, beef eating was widely practiced in early India is widely accepted and has been mentioned by various historians, not just non-Indian historians. Among the most respected historians who wrote on this theme are Rajendra Lala Mitra, whose The Indo Aryans (1891) has a chapter on the prevalence of this practice, and P.V. Kane, whose Definitive History of Dharmasastra also cited passages concerning beef eating and cow slaughter. Additionally, the literary and archaeologist evidence for beef eating was discussed by the most wellknown archaeologist of post-Independence India, H.D. Sankalia (Seminar, 93, 1967). Since then, two other Indian archaeologists, P.K. Thomas and P.P. Joglekar, have summarized the data on cattle bones that are found at archaeological sites in India and have drawn attention to the substantial contribution of cattle in the form of meat, apart from their uses as draught animals and in agricultural operations."

The defense against the generally accepted idea of ancient Indians eating cattle is one worthy of Bill Clinton.

[Dustbunny]

Wish there were some arial photos.

[blam]

"Wish there were some arial photos."

Aerial photos would be nice too. (Ahem)

[Dustbunny]

Geeze..... LOL.... proves I should never type when in the throws of a migraine.

Now I need to go lie down.

[Defiant]

Uh, no. What explains dark skin and European features is that Indo-Europeans conquered India about 2500 years ago. The archaeological, historical and linguistic evidence makes the sequence of events quite clear. Indo-European cultures did not come from India, they spread from wherever they originated (which is still the subject of debate, but probably central asia) via several migrations. The tribes that made it to India got there by way of Persia first, hence the similarity between "Aryan" and "Iranian" tribes. There were offshoots that went south, through Anatolia and thence to Greece and southern Europe, and that went North, to spawn the German, Russian and Celtic civilizations.

Trust me, this theory is whacky. But not whackier than Scientology or Islam, and lots of people believe that, too.

[ApplegateRanch]

accuse me of being Anti-Hindu or something worse

Now what are you Harappan about? What a halva way to start an otherwise fine weekend. What are you, cous-cous?

Would you care to explain your beef with the Hindus more fully?

You won't curry any flavors around here with that sweet-sour attitude.

[shuckmaster]

It fits the timeline for the flooding of the Black Sea.

[Graymatter]

I thought the scientific community had generally concluded that Yonaguni is a natural formation.

[dread78645]

Wish there were some arial photos.

Coding style sheets lately?

[Dustbunny]

See post 26.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Mayo on a burger?

That is heresy!

[GoLightly]

Sorry, I live alone and since men don't use mayo, the mayo got trashed when the last ex left.

Plbththt! Mayo is a guy thing... blech!

[tet68]

Not Mayo.......MIRACLE WHIP!
It's what real men eat.

[GoLightly]

Where do the Slavic tribes fit in w/that?

[GoLightly]

From what I've seen, archeology $ heresy are common bedfellows. Sone day, many centureies in the future, cheeseheads, Mickey Mouse ears & "Precious Moments" figurines will share a single common purpose... Some distant (timewise) archeologist will determine they are/were items of worship, cuz we all know that the people of the past were more "'simple" & superstious.

[Defiant]

When I said "Russian" I should have said "slavic". The Slavs entered history a little later than the Germans, originating near the Russia/Ukraine area, but spreading down into the Balkans after the fall of the Roman Empire, displacing Greek, Roman and Germanic populations.

[after dark]

This is old news.It is still interesting.India does seem to have cast a long shadow.

[SunkenCiv]

Mustard, mayo, nickel slice of raw.