Myth Busting the Aryan Invasion of India

The study of the “Cradle of Civilization” is interwoven with references to the Aryan Invasion of India. For years, Western historians such as Max Mueller have propagated the theory of Aryan Invasion of India. It has also made its way to the history curriculum of schools that teach students about ancient India. The Aryan Invasion has been reexamined recently by erudite historians who question its actuality. This paper will explore the two sides of the argument and provide copious facts based on a thorough review of literature. The Aryan theory advocates cite references in the Vedas[1], artifacts found in excavations and writings of scholars like Max Mueller to prove their theory. However, many researchers dispute the veracity of such an invasion, or a profound impact made by them in the history of India. These scholars also use numerous evidences in the Vedas, study of vernacular linguistics, the study of DNA samples of indigenous inhabitants, and believe that Max Mueller and other theory advocates misinterpreted them. They further believe that the Aryan Invasion Theory was propagated by Europeans and white supremacists, who wanted to invade, colonize and control India. Their strategy was to divide and conquer by making the Indians believe that the indigenous dark-skinned Dravidians[2] were inferior to their light-skinned Aryan counterparts. After carefully examining and analyzing many scholastic and research publications, it is apparent that the Aryan Invasion of India did not happen.

The Aryan Invasion theory can be defined as follows; a light skinned, nomadic race from Central Asia, perhaps near present-day Iran, invaded, conquered and destroyed the pre-existing towns and cities near the Indus River Valley around 1500 BCE (Agarwal). With them they brought Sanskrit, a language which was known to be “more perfect than the Greek and more copious than the Latin” (Mueller). These barbaric nomads came to India in horse-drawn chariots and fought with superior battle tactics (Frawley). Many evidences in excavations, however, disprove this ideology.  

Mueller was an Oxford scholar and a very significant invasionist and Sanskritist. He analyzed the Vedas and also introduced the word ‘Arya’ to the European world as a denotation of race and a linguistic group. In his book he wrote, “I have declared again and again that if I say Aryas, I mean neither blood nor bones, nor hair, nor skull; I mean simply those who speak an Aryan language…” (Mueller). This word’s meaning has been exploited over the years as a racial phenomenon of whites. The most famous example is Adolf Hitler wanting to have a master race of ‘Aryans’. Max Mueller stated that Sanskrit was one of many Aryan languages. According to Mueller, the Sanskrit word ‘Arya’ meant cultivator, and was derived from “-ar” which meant “plough” or “cultivate”. This, however, was a misinterpretation of the Sanskrit word, since ‘Arya’ referred to someone who was noble and righteous (Giri). But, many European scholars still viewed Max Mueller as a prodigious scientist who shed new light about the Aryans and their invasion into India (Poliakov).

To Hindus, the Vedas are the epitome of knowledge. They refer to ancient cultures, timeless revelations and divine incarnations of God. The Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva) have a very strategic goal and structure. Unlike most religious texts, the Vedas were not written by few individuals. Its knowledge was acquired by the great Vedic Rishis[3] through immense tapas[4] and devotion to God. They received the ‘divine truth’, which later was written and codified as the Vedas. The Vedas have been on this earth since the beginning of time, but was only written down by these Rishis around 3000 BCE (Giri). This knowledge was also presented in a systematic way so it would not be lost in the modern age. The teachings of the Vedas are meant to help man understand that “he is not an independent entity; rather he is a part of a universal body, depending on many higher forces” (Dasa).

Many invasionists believe that the Rig Veda described the Gods as ‘destroyer of cities’. They also used this description to believe that nomads invaded, conquered and brought the Vedas to India. Because of this, European scholars first believed that the Vedas were just primitive poems and uncivilized plunders (Frawley). Max Mueller initially stated that “Vedas were worse than savage. India must be conquered again by education. Its religion is doomed” (Vishnu). European scholars also believed that the Vedas were compiled after 1500 BCE and the natives started worshiping the Vedic gods around 1700 BCE (Agarwal).

Conversely, this was extremely different from what the non-invasionists believe. There are no references to the Aryan Invasion in the Vedas. Also in the Vedas and other religious scriptures, the word ‘Arya’ is nowhere denoted as a race or language. Finally, non-invasionists believe that Vedas were compiled no later than 3500 BCE and there are astronomical references that were analyzed from the Rig Veda that helped prove this (Rajaram). It can be argued that the Europeans scholars misinterpreted the Vedas to make them seem more primitive. They also wanted to control and convert many Hindus to Christianity. In this Crusade, they stated that the Vedas (the most important scriptures of Hinduism) were mythological and were brought to India by foreigners. By doing this, Europeans made many Hindus ashamed of their culture (Vishnu).

The Saraswati River and the discovery of the lost city of Dwaraka are very influential evidences that disprove the Aryan Invasion theory. The Saraswati River is mentioned numerous times in the Vedas (Chakladar). Though the river is now dry, archaeologists have charted the period of the river’s flow and also its path. The river had changed its course many times. Based on scientific calculations, the path of the Saraswati River, which was similar to what was specified in the Vedas, was flowing long before 3000 BCE. Logically, if the river was flowing at that time, the Vedas must have been written before this date (Agarwal). This was a major flaw in the invasionist’s theory. Scientific and historical evidence of the Saraswati River, and its multiple references in the Vedas, prove that the Vedas existed as early as 3500 BCE, long before the supposed Aryan Invasion propagated by Max Mueller (Frawley).

On the contrary, the Aryan Invasion theory advocates stated that the Indus and Ganga rivers were far more important than the Saraswati River. Many European scholars used Biblical chronology to date time. They stated that the creation of civilization was around 4000 BCE with Noah’s flood, and thus stated that the Aryans could not have invaded India before 1500 BCE (Giri). For European scholars, to accept that there was a very sophisticated and advanced civilization outside Europe, long before the time of the Patriarchs, Abraham and Moses, was a concept that was very hard to grasp (Giri).

Other evidences the theory advocates cite is that there were many treaties between kings with Aryan names in Central Asia and the Middle East. There are also various references to Vedic gods in West Asian texts. Theory advocates state that these are traces of the migratory paths that the Aryans took to conquer India. However, non-invasionists counter this statement by pointing out that various Hindu Puranas[5] and Ithihasas[6] dated prior to the Aryan invasion have references to lands such as Bali (Indonesia) and Kishkinta (Lanka). India and the neighboring lands such as Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka belonged to a highly organized Hindu civilization.

            The artifacts found in excavations near the ancient cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa pose very debatable arguments and results. According to the invasionists, the Aryans were primitive nomads who came from Central Asia to India on horse-drawn chariots and overthrew the pre-existing civilization with their superior battle tactics and iron weaponry. However, archaeological excavations failed to find even a single chariot in these sites. Furthermore, iron weaponry was very rarely found in the excavation sites. Archaeologists also found no horse skeletons in these excavation sites, which makes us wonder if horse-drawn chariots were used in this part of the world at that time. Moreover, the non-invasionists argue that if indeed a group of nomads came from Central Asia to India, they could not have used chariots because the route was very mountainous and chariots could have only been used in flat terrain (Giri).

The claim that the Aryans killed and destroyed numerous civilians while invading India is another major topic of dispute. If this were true, then a plethora of skeletons and weaponry should be found while excavating the ancient cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa near the Indus River Valley. However, there were very few skeletal parts and weaponry found in these sites. To the non-invasionists, this disproved a war or mass killing of the pre-existing civilization of the Indus Valley (Frawley).

Archaeologists have excavated many Harappan seals that revealed some interesting facts about the ancient civilization. There are many seals with illustrations that look similar to the ‘Vedic gods’. Some examples of these seals had drawings that represented the Hindu Trimurti[7] and many different animals. These seals, therefore, were very “Vedic”. Since Harappa was a city that existed before the ‘Aryan Invasion’, these seals were used as another notion to debunk the theory that the Aryans brought these Vedic ideas and beliefs to India (Sastri).

The genetic makeup of modern day Indians has been examined to explore the possibility of an Aryan ancestor. Originally, all modern humans descended from Africa. Slowly, these primitive humans migrated out of Africa to the rest of the world. Genetic markers are used to find sequences in DNA that can be traced to find specific traits and chromosomes. The genetic marker M130 showed that the first inhabitants of India came from the coast of Africa almost 60,000 years ago. The M20 marker is likely to be a Middle Eastern marker that migrated into India about 30,000 years ago. The most controversial genetic marker is M17 which proved that Europeans did indeed once migrate into India. This genetic marker was first found about 15,000 years ago near Southern Russia. However, this does not prove that these people were actually the infamous ‘Aryans’ (Hari).

Having reviewed the above mentioned arguments that are for and against the Aryan invasion theory, it can be deduced that the Aryan invasion and supremacy was a myth propagated by Westerners to control local Indians. A fascinating observation many non-invasionists provide is that, if the Aryan invasion did actually happen, why didn’t the ‘Aryans’ inhabit these cities after they destroyed the pre-existing civilians (Vishnu)? Historians have concluded that after the civilians of the ancient cities disappeared, nobody inhabited these areas. Therefore, what was the point of the Aryans conquering the lands, if they do not live in them? Another point the non-invasionists make is that if Aryans were invading nomads who brought the Vedas to India, why doesn’t the Vedas mention an ‘Aryan homeland’? All the sacred and divine places stated in the Vedas are in India (Vishnu). This is truly fascinating because these questions have helped non-invasionists analyze the data and provide plentiful proof that the Aryan invasion did not exist.

Forcing the Indians to believe that the Aryans invaded India and brought the Vedas with them created a deep sense of inferiority and shame among Indians. Indians were taught to believe that their vast heritage and rich culture came from foreign soil. India is known for its culturally rich heritage and to say that it was brought to India by foreigners is completely wrong. We now know, through facts substantiated by archeologists that the Aryan invasion did not happen and the culture and heritage of India, actually originated in India itself. 

Reading many different sources, both from an invasionist and non-invasionist’s point of view, one can find the extreme differences in how each group analyzes data. The European invasionists are notorious for misinterpreting the Vedas and other literary works to suit the Aryan Invasion theory (Vishnu). One such example of the invasionists misinterpreting the Vedas is with the simple word “samudra”. According to the European scholars, samudra meant “a large body of water”. However, it has been clearly mentioned several times in the Rig Veda that samudra means “ocean” (Frawley). Saying that samudra was a large body of water helped invasionists determine and prove that the Indus and Saraswati rivers were examples of samudras.

A false theory was made a fact by European scholars and white supremacists who wanted to control and conquer India. These individuals fabricated a way to make the dark-skinned Dravidians feel inferior to the light-skinned Aryans. They stated that all of India’s culture and heritage was from foreign soil. Thus by making Indians feel ashamed of their culture, Europeans were able to conquer India. In spite of the abundance of evidence that disproves the Aryan invasion theory, the school curriculums, including the North Carolina world history curriculum, still teaches that the Aryans invaded India. This research paper is a modest, but sincere effort to correct the misinterpreted history of the great Indian civilization.

In conclusion, the Aryan invasion is a cleverly manipulated theory created by Europeans scholars and white supremacists. Because of this theory, Indians are denied credit for their culturally rich heritage and recognition for being the oldest civilization in the world. Influential European scholars like Max Mueller misinterpreted references within the Vedas to prove his theory. Max Mueller also brought the word ‘Arya’ as a denotation for a racial and linguistic group.  However, references to the Vedas, the study of vernacular linguistics, the study of DNA samples of indigenous Indians and the abundance of artifacts found in excavations help us with bountiful evidence that the Aryan invasion did not happen.

                            Works Cited

Agarwal, Dinesh. Demise of the Aryan Invasion Theory. n.d. 20 October 2012. .

Chakladar, Haran Chandra. Aryan Occupation of Eastern India. Calcatta: Quality Printers & Binders, 1962.

Dasa, Atma-tattva. What are the Vedas. 2002. 5 November 2012. .

Frawley, David. "The Myth of the Aryan Invasion of India." The India Times 1994.

Giri, Swami B.V. The myth of the aryan invasion. n.d. 18 10 2012. .

Hands, Davers. The Frazer Lectures. Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1922-1932.

Hari. History of India: The First Indians. 22 July 2010. 10 November 2012. .

Mueller, Max. Biographies of Worlds and the Home of the Aryas. New York: Longmans, Green, 1888.

Poliakov, Leon. The Aryan Myth. New York: Basic Book Inc., 1974.

Rajaram, N. S. "Aryan Invasion Theory is a Hoax: History Revisited." Times of India 22 August 1993.

Sastri, K. N. The New Light on the Indus Civilizations. Delhi: Atma Ram & Sons, 1957.

Talageri, Shrikant and S.R. Rao. Aryan Invasion Theory (A Reappraisal). Aditya Prakashan, 1993.

Thapar, Romila. 11 October 1999. 22 October 2012. .

Vishnu, B.B. "aryan-invasion-theory-proven-false_news." n.d. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xeo2qx_aryan-invasion-theory-proven-false_news. 2012.

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[1] Vedas-Oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism

[2] Dravidians- a term used to refer to the diverse groups of people who natively speak languages belonging to the Dravidian language family, mostly found in Southern India

[3] Rishi- a sage or seer

[4] Tapas- a process of purification by which you make yourself more mature

[5] Puranas- Narrative stories of history

[6] Ithihasa- Epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata

[7] Hindu Trimurti- Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva