Horse in Mesopotamia and ancient India

[Sn. Subrahmanya]

At 02:52 AM 7/27/98 +0400, Yaroslav V. Vassilkov wrote:
>
>        Yes, and this "influence" is so evident: the practice of chariot
>warfare first appears in Gurgan region and BMAC, and THEN in Vedic India.
>Could you refer to any evidence of such practice in Indus/Sarasvati
>Civilization? I do not mean simply the acquaintance with horse and the
>presence of horse remains.

AFAIK, there is no evidence of any sudden increase
of the horse or chariots from 1800BC when the Aryans are supposed to have
trickled in. All the papers by archeologists that I have seen
say that the Harappan and the later Historic sites are a continous local
development  (no dark ages) If you think other wise, please give the references.

>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>        OK, and who were the "Dasas, Dahyu and Panis"? According to Parpola,
>whom you refer to, they were Aryans - though not Indo-Aryans, but Eastern
>(or Northern) Iranians, proto-Scythians (Aryans all the same)!
>

This is what an indeginist would argue...the migration of the Dasa,Dasyu,PaNis
was from the BMAC area westwards.

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>       Now most archaeologists seem to agree that BMAC emerged as a result
>of a synthesis in which an ancient local culture interacted with Aryan
>newcomers (probably, two waves of them: Indo-Aryans from the West and then
>Eastern Iranians from the North) - under strong influences from Elam,
>Syria/Mesopotamia and Indus/Sarasvati.

Again, AFAIK, the BMAC was a local development. Migrationists try to explain
this away by coming up with bloodless coups executed by the Aryans!!!
Please give the references  to your above statements, then I can look it up
and we would be in a better position to discuss it later.

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>       By the way, the discovery of BMAC just makes true the "heretical"
>suggestion offered as early as in the 1940-ies and early 1950-ies by
>R.N.Dandekar who wrote that the ancestors of Vedic Indians and Avestan
>Iranians had lived together in the "region around Balkh" for a pretty long
>time before their final separation (see e.g. his article on "VritrahA Indra").
>

Maybe this is yet another example: that what was heresy yesterday becomes
standard history tomorrow - and also note that for a long time many in the west
would not even acknowledge the viewpoints from India!!

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Onto your second message:

Regarding the Akhalteke, This horse is unique and is one of the oldest breeds.
Since you have already spoken to Prof.Masson, I would like to request you to get
Masson's opinion on the following questions:
1. Is the AkhalTeke native to Turkmenistan ?
2. Are the unique physical features of the Akhalteke because
   of the Turkmen climate and geography ?
3. Is the AkhalTeke one of the four original types that has
   contributed to the modern horse ?
4. Since when has the Akhalteke been present in Turkmenistan ?.
These questions will be important in knowing whethar the Harappans knew
about horses or not .
Also it would be most interesting know the opinions of experts like Meadow on
the Akhalteke.  Also, linguists might want to take a look at the name
Akhalteke itself.


Regards,
S.Subrahmanya