Genetic Tests against the fictional Aryan Race

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Telling the true

story of history

Genetic Tests against the fictional Aryan Race

By Sandhya

Jain

THE 'history' being

taught in Indian schools is factually wrong and ignores

convincing scientific evidence from the fields of

archaeology, geology, genetics, and archaeo-astronomy. It

is also contrary to ancient Indian literary evidence,

claims the world famous Vedic acharya, David

Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri), Director, American Institute

of Vedic Studies. During the course of a rather lengthy

visit to India earlier in the year, Frawley stressed the

need to thoroughly revamp Indian history by incorporating

recent discoveries within a multi-disciplinary framework

that incorporates all relevant data in a consistent

fashion.

In a paper co-authored with N. Rajaram,

Frawley points to recent articles in the British Journal Current

Biology, that have major implications for India.

Based on genetic tests, the articles note that a key

mitochondria DNA of the Western Eurasian strain accounts

for no more than 5.2 per cent in Indian populations, as

against over 70 per cent in European countries like

Germany. Simply put, this means that the supposed Aryan

invasion is contradicted by genetics. This means that

there was no 'Aryan invasion,' not even any

significant 'Aryan migration.'

 

What is more, the study shows that this

West Eurasian strain is present in roughly the same

proportion in North and South India. This means that

there is no genetic divide between the so-called

Dravidians and the Aryans in India. Hence, according to

the latest scientific evidence, both the Aryan invasion

and the Aryan-Dravidian dichotomy have no basis.Other evidence, says Frawley,

also points to the same conclusion. Archaeological

discoveries over the past fifty years have repeatedly

shown the Aryan invasion theory found in Indian history

books to be false. For instance, the course of the

ancient Saraswati river, discovered by the late V.S.

Wakankar and his associates, matches the geography of

North India as depicted in the Rig Veda's descriptions

of the ocean-going Saraswati before the river dried up

around circa 2000 BC. The Geological Society of India has

proved this point from various perspectives. That is why

most Harappan sites are located not on the Indus but on

the banks of the Saraswati, as it was their central

region.

The literary evidence

also challenges the Aryan invasion myth. Vedic literature

describes a maritime society with a vast cosmology of

many oceans and full of oceanic symbolism. The common

prayer is for safety in crossing the sea by ships.

Frawley points out that such a prayer is used by

navigators, not by nomadic invaders, and as such the Rig

Veda could not have been composed in land-locked

Afghanistan. Indeed, Indian cotton has been found at

sites in Mexico and Peru dating to 2500 BC and even

earlier, indicating maritime activity in ancient times.

Similarly, Vedic astronomy and calendar systems show a

sophisticated knowledge of observational astronomy,

including calendars of the Krittika equinox (Taurus

equinox) of about 2500 BCE. This fits in well with the

maritime nature of Vedic society, as navigation is

impossible without knowledge of astronomy.

A study of Harappan

archaeology and Vedic literature shows that Vedic

mathematical texts (Sulva Sutras) were used in the

design and construction of carefully planned cities of

the Harappan civilisation. The American mathematician, A.

Seidenberg, has established that both Old Babylonia

(1900-1750 BC) and the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2050-1800

BC) borrowed heavily from Vedic mathematics, which was

already well known in Harappan times. Natwar Jha's

decipherment of the Indus script shows that the Harappan

civilisation belongs to the later Vedic period. The

recent deciphering of the " World's Oldest

Writing " shows that the core of the Rig Veda

must already have existed by 3500 BC.

At the same time, there

is no evidence – physical or literary – of

invading hordes, horse-riding warriors from Afghanistan

with iron weapons, Eurasian skeletal types, destroyed

cities, or any of the standard images portrayed by the

Aryan invasion theory. The theory, Frawley states, was an

offshoot of a nineteenth century colonial mindset that

projected the experience of colonising Asia and Africa

onto Vedic times and called it 'history.' It

came into being when there was no data from archaeology,

but has persisted due to political and other

considerations.

Frawley points out that

the 'history' Indian children are being taught

is totally false and contrary to all scientific and

literary evidence. The Aryan invasion model is being

upheld by vested interests that have benefited from it

politically, who offer no evidence to support their

views, and instead accuse those who refute the theory of

" tampering with history. " Frawley laments at

this anti-intellectual bias among Indian academics, and

points out that most reputed Western archaeologists are

rejecting the Aryan invasion/migration scenario. He

believes that the present unsatisfactory state of affairs

in Indian humanities, particularly history, came about

because the generation of Indian scholars after

independence continued to look to the West for

inspiration, and persisted with the Euro-centric models

of the colonial period.

Indians, Frawley urges,

should take the initiative to rewrite their history

books, taking the latest findings and scientific methods

into account. It is imperative that children be told the

truth about their country's past. The first point to

note in re-writing history, he says, is that the ancient

Indians have left ample materials with which to

reconstruct the history of the Vedic period. There are

the Vedas, the Puranas, the epics and other literature,

which contain much in the way of history, though this is

often couched in symbolic language, as ancient texts are

throughout the world. However, this can be supplemented

by archaeology and what we have learnt about ancient

ecology, such as the drying up of the Saraswati.

The recently deciphered

Harappan seals provide inscriptional data to supplement

literary records. The seals deciphered so far show that

ancient figures like Rama, Sudasa, Krishna, Puru, etc.

were historical persons who lived long before 2000 BC.

The deciphered seals, therefore, provide a historical

context for both the Harappans and the Vedic people by

linking archaeology and Vedic-Puranic literature.

Naturally, everything should be based on science and

primary sources — not beliefs and prejudices.

India had an indigenous

and organic development of civilisation from 7000 BCE,

starting in sites like Mehrgarh. Frawley states that both

the pre-Harappan and Harappan cultures centred on the

Saraswati river. The main migration of peoples was from

the Saraswati to the Ganges when the Saraswati dried up

after 2000 BCE, though there were also some movements in

other directions, such as Europe and Central Asia. The

Saraswati culture continued, though in modified form,

with no intrusion of major populations from Central Asia.

While the Saraswati is mirrored in Vedic literature, the Puranas

reflect mainly the Ganges. Texts like the Mahabharata,

that speak of the Saraswati drying up in the desert

(Vinashana Saraswati) show the transitional period.

We thus have a vast body

of primary data authenticated by scientific methods. The

time is therefore ripe for Indians to take the lead and

rewrite their history. As Swami Vivekananda said more

than a century ago, " It is for Indians to write

Indian history. "

Finally, Frawley

asserts, the world as a whole will have to give due

recognition to Indian culture, with its spiritual and dharmic

background, as central to world civilisation. Its

importance both for India and the world should not be

underestimated. As India is the only civilisation of

antiquity to have survived, it is the responsibility of

Indians to discover not only their own history, but also

that of the world. Revamping the way history is taught in

Indian schools would be a major step in that direction.

This is a scientific and spiritual imperative, not only

for India, but for the whole world.