Saturday, December 17, 2016

The Myth of Aryan Invasion of India



The Myth of Aryan Invasion of India

Dr Vivek Arya

"Aryavarta or Āryāvarta is the ancient name of our country. Āryāvarta is the oldest one but not much in common use these days. In ancient texts, there is sufficient usage of the word "Aryavarta".
Aryavarta refers to the Land of Aryas means the land of Noble People.

Swami Dayanand in his magnum opus Satyarth Prakash writes the definition of Aryavrata as "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the eastern side Bay of Bengal to the Western side the Arabian Sea. Manusmriti 2/22

Here the Vindhya range is considered up to the southern tip of the Indian peninsula not up to the
Deccan plateau.

Āryāvarta means the land of Aryans or Arya.

The word Arya do not indicates for any specific race or tribe named as Aryans. The word Arya defines a person who has integrity, courage, honesty, gentleness, compassion, eagerness for knowledge and respect for the wise and learned. The Arya is one who is humane, dedicated to doing good to the world through the use of truth, love, protection of the weak and absolute fairness between men and men and nations and nations. He strives to overcome all outside him and within him that stands opposed to advancing justice, freedom and meritocracy in society. Self-conquest is the first law of his nature. He overcomes the mind and its habits and does not live in a shell of ignorance based on inherited prejudices, fashionable customs and hedonism. Instead he knows how to be pure, to be large and flexible in intelligence as well as being firm and strong in his will. The Aryas a worker and a warrior.

Sri Aurobindo also supports the same stand on definition of Arya.

One confusion comes regarding Aryan Invasion theory (AIT)

Aryan invasion theory is a fake theory coined by western indologists to divide our country. Still today many politicians are promoting this theory for their vested interests.Until today no evidence of any invasion have been found to prove Aryan Invasion Theory. Swami Dayanand was first to reject Aryan Invasion Theory.

Even Dr B.R.Ambedkar rejected Aryan Invasion theory (AIT).

He concluded: "the Brahmins and the untouchables belong to the same race."

In his book Who were the Shudras? in 1946 B. R. Ambedkar famous for his work on the Indian
Constitution, as well as his campaign in support of the Harijans, studied the Vedas. He devoted a complete chapter - Shudras versus Aryans -to an examination of the issue.

Citing extensively the Vedic sources which suggest that the distinction between an Arya and Dasa/Dasyu was not a racial distinction of color and physiognomy and thus the origin of Sudra could not have anything to do with race, Ambedkar conclusion are unequivocal, though regrettably they are largely ignored. This is what he said:

"The theory of invasion is an invention. This invention is necessary because of a gratuitous assumption that the Indo-Germanic people are the purest of the modern representation of the original Aryan race. The theory is perversion of scientific investigation. It is not allowed to evolve out of facts. On the contrary, the theory is preconceived and facts are selected to prove it. It falls to the ground at every point. '

Dr. Ambedkar concludes:

"The Vedas do not know any such race as the Aryan race.There is no evidence in the Vedas of any invasion of India by the Aryan race and its having conquered the Dasas and Dasyus supposed to be the natives of India.There is no evidence to show that the distinction between Aryans, Dasas and Dasyus was a racial distinction. The Vedas do not support the contention that the Aryans were different in color from the Dasas and Dasyus....". "If anthropometry is a science which can be depended upon to determine the race of a people...(then its) measurements establish that the Brahmans and the Untouchables belong to the same race. From this it follows that if the Brahmans are Aryans the Untouchables are also Aryans. If the Brahmans are Dravidian's, the Untouchables are also Dravidian's...."

Ambedkar was aware of the hold of this theory over the masses and scholars alike. He offered a succinct explanation.

"why the Aryan race theory is not dead because of the general insistence by European scholars that the word varna, means color and the acceptance of that view by a majority..."

"The British were visualized as being the last of the invaders in a chain beginning with the Aryans. He could clearly see the implications of such ill-founded hypotheses which colonial Indology imposed on India and which Indian scholars went on repeating ad nauseam.

(Source: The Invasion That Never Was - By Michel Danino and Sujata Nahar and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches. Reprint of Pakistan or The Partition of India. Education Department. Government of Maharashtra 1990 Vol. 7 p.302). Refer to chapter on First Indologists and European Imperialism.

Thus, Āryāvarta is the land of Aryans means noble people.







No comments:

Post a Comment