2. COMING OF ARYANS
Sayyed2
COMING OF THE ARYANS
This prosperous and flourishing civilization (Indus Valley) was brought to an
end by the savage invasions of the Aryans about 1,500 B.C. These warlike nomads
had encountered a very sophisticated civilization that of the Indus Valley.
Large number of skeletons discovered in Harappa, Meonjo Daro and other places
shows that the local people put up stiff resistance and died fighting
valiantly. There are traces of widespread devastation caused by the
invaders in the entire Pakistan. A scorched earth policy seems to have been
followed which extinguished almost all traces of civilization in the region.
"Evidence from Baluchistan, Sind and the Punjab is reasonably consistent in
implying that at some period likely to have been before 1,500 B.C., to use a
convenient round figure, the long established cultural traditions of
north-western India (i.e., Pakistan) were rudely and ruthlessly interrupted by
the arrival of new people from the West. The Aryan advent was in fact the
arrival of Barbarians into a region already highly organized into an empire
based on a long established tradition of literate urban culture."7
"In the hymns of the Rigveda, the invasion constantly assumes the form of an
onslaught upon the walled cities of the 'aborigines'...... It is not indeed
impossible that the name of Harappa itself is concealed in the Hari-Yupia which
is mentioned in the Rigveda as the scene of a battle."8
However, the Aryans during their stay in Pakistan picked up much from the Indus
Civilization which stood them in good stead during their settled life in India.
"Aryans entered and Aryanized the middle country of the Ganges Doab afier
picking up ideas of craftsmen in the Indus Valley and the Baluch borderland."9
According to some authors Chandragupta Maurya and his dynasty were the ghosts
of the Harappa Empire. "To the complex pattern of the Indian
Middle Ages the ancient urban civilization of the Punjab and the Indus surely
contributed not a little. And this was a contribution not Only in the sphere of
religious speculation or in traditions of ritual and ceremonial observances:
The whole character of medieval Hindu society and the structure of its polity
and government seem inevitably a reflection of the civilization of Sind and the
Punjab.10
Some modern historians even link the great Ajanta art to the Indus Valley
Civilization because "the Vedic Hindu culture which prevailed before the
Buddhistic culture in north India is not known to have had any painting worth
the name."11
The Aryan tribes which occupied Pakistan have been identified as Sivas, Parsas,
Kayayas, Vrichivants, Yadus, Anus, Turvasas, Dratyus and Nichyas. The Sivas
Aryans had their capital at Sivistan which is supposed to be modern Sehwan.
It may be of interest to mention here that so long as the Aryans stayed in
Pakistan, they did not evolve that particular religion called 'Hinduism' with
its caste system and other taboos. It was only when they crossed the Sutlej and
settled in the Gangetic Valley that this abomninable system was evolved. "While
settled in the Punjab the Aryans had not yet become Hindu.... The distinctive
Brahmanical System appears to have been evolved after the
Sutlej had been passed. To the east of Sutlej the Indo-Aryans were usually safe
from foreign invasions and free to work out their own rule of life undisturbed.
This also explains the absence of Hindu holy cities and temples in Pakistan."1
2
"The castes were hardened by the time the Aryans occupied the middle land i.e.,
the Gangetic Valley and distinguished themselves from their brethern in Sind
and the Punjab who were despised by them for not observing the rules of caste..
and for their non-Brahmanical character."1 3
"While the Aryans had by now expanded far into India, their old home in the
Punjab, Sind and the north-west was practically forgotten. Later Vedic
literature mentions it rarely, and then usually with disparagement and
contempt, as an impure land where the Vedic sacrifices are not performed."14
However, the one redeeming point that emerges from the Aryan occupation of
Pakistan for over five hundred years from 1,500 B.C. te 1,000 B.C. is that
during this entire period this countly again led a separate existence. It had
hardly anything to do yet with the rest of the sub-continent and continued the
traditions of cultural and political independence inherited from the Indus
Valley Civilization. As such, even under Aryan occupation, Pakistan was
an independent country separate from India.
"The evidence of the Rig Veda shows that during the centuries when the Aryans
were occupying the Punjab and composing the hymns of the Rig Veda, the
north-west part of the subcontinent was culturally separate from the rest of
India. The closest cultural relations of the Indo-Aryans at that period were
with the Iranians, whose language and sacred texts are preserved in the various
works known as the Avesta, in inscriptions in Old Persian, and in some
other scattered documents. So great is the amount of material common to the Rig
Veda Aryans and the Iranians that the books of the two peoples show common
geographic names as well as deities and ideas."15
When the Aryans conquered India and migrated from Pakistan in about 1,000 B.C.,
the latter country again became independent and did not conform to the system
that began to be evolved in the Gangetic Valley by its conquerers. Except for
the Rigveda, the remaining three Vedas and other religious books of the Hindus
such as Upanishads, Shastras, Aranyakas, Brahmanas, the two epics of Ramayana
and Mahabharata etc., on which their social and cultural
system rests, were written outside Pakistan.
For the next about five hundred years from 1,000 B.C. to 500 B.C. little is
known about Pakistan. Many of the Aryans had left this country (and many
remained) and the only point clear is that these areas had again become
independent, were averse to the religious system evolved by the Aryans in
India, leading to a rift between the two. The Aryans were extremely unhappy at
this revolt by the people of Pakistan and had begun to despise and abhor them
placing them outside their fold.
Mo
R.K.
Hello,
There never was any Aryan invasion. The only invasion India had in
ancient times was the grazing of India by Alexander the Macedonian. Nowhere
in the Rg Veda is there any mention of an invasion, nor is there anything to
suggest that the home of the Vedic Indians is anywhere but the Indian
subcontinent. Excavations at Kurukshetra, Dwarka, and what was once
Hastinapur will validate the historicity of the Mahabharat civilization. And
your dating of the Vedas is totally off. This is the clinching evidence of
the ancientness of the Vedas. The Rg Veda is wholly concerned with the
Saraswati River, which dried up around 3000 BC, as that French satellite
team revealed recentlty. I am sure you read about their research. Now, the
Ganga river is not mentioned at all, maybe once, in the Rg. Veda. This shows
that the Vedic period was a time when the Saraswati was a glorious and
large, and existent river. Most archaeologists agree that the Rg. Veda dates
to approximately 3700-3500 BC. The Mahabharat describes how the Saraswati
River dried up. And the Vedas may be even more ancient. A bronze bust of
Vasishta's head was dated to 4000 BC, approx, using the best dating methods
in the States and in Switzerland. Plus all the excavations in Gujurat
reveal all these lost ancient towns, like Lothal and Dwarka. And Aryan
tribes in India include many more than you mentioned. And they were
prosperous, and were not overly warlike. The Indus Valley Civilization was
Aryan itself. The Archaeological Survey and S.R. Rao recently showed how the
Indus script mentions certain Vedic Rishis, such as Atri and Kasyapa. Plus,
an icon of Lord Krishna was found in Mohenjo Daro, which dates back to
approx 2000 BC. There was no invasion of Aryans. Aryans are not white
skinned; they are not a race. They are those who believed in the Vedas.
Krishna was dark skinned, his name means 'dark'. Arjuna was also dark
skinned, his nickname 'Krishna', Draupadi and Veda Vyasa also were dark
skinned, to name a few. Plus there are records in Turkish annals about how
dark skinned Aryans from India journeyed across the deserts for trade
purposes. The reason why the Harappan civilization ended was because of a
severe drought around 2000 BC. Actually there was a drought across the Mid
East to India at that time. There is no evidence of any invasion. Modern
Hinduism is a result of many factors: The ancient Vedic ways, Buddhism,
Jainism, and more recent cults have all helped evolve Hinduism. Hinduism is
ancient, but that ancient Aryan civilization, which saw its peak in the
Mahabharat era, is much more ancient.
Don't read Indology books written by the English historians of last
century. The Aryan Invasion Theory also serves as propaganda to show that
Indians are as much strangers to India as the English were. Thats all crap
though. There is no racial difference between South Indians and North
Indians. Again, no Aryan invasion. You should read books by Indian
archaeologists. Of course, their research is not well known in India itself,
because the govt is scared of religious conflicts with those crazy Muslims.
And they are correct. But several notable Indian archaeologists have written
books on findings of the last century. Right now excavations are being held
in Gujurat and other places in NE India. Read books by people who have not
been influenced by ignorant British Indology.
Later,
D.Viswanathan
Mo <11305...@compuserve.com> wrote in message
<68dq3q$ei4$4...@eros.clara.net>...
Truth
S Singh
Aryans are a spin off the Hurrians.... which are considered the oldest
hindus because the vedas were found with them. Hurrians are not
dark-skinned...