Indo-Aryan invasion

[Paul (Kekai) Manansala]

On Tue, 3 Mar 1998, N. Ganesan wrote:

>
> B) Place Names:
> ***************
>
> The vast databank of Indian settlement names is under-researched.
> Lot more work can be done. For example, I give a section of an old posting
> in Indology. Old names from inscriptions should be special, in this regard.
>
> MICHIGAN-LAUSANNE INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
> "ARYANS AND NON-ARYANS IN SOUTH ASIA :
> EVIDENCE, INTERPRETATION, AND IDEOLOGY"

In examining this question we should not forget the possibility of other
"pre-aryan" language influences.  Suniti Kumar Chatterji conducted a study
on East Indian place names that is old but still valuable (In: Pre-Aryan and
Pre-Dravidian in Sanskrit, P.C. Bagchi, ed.).  One of the most interesting
suggestions was that the name, Ganga, is of Austric origin.

I do not know if subsequent investigation of placenames has been carried on
further west, but there is an Austric influence in some of the western most
Himalayan languages.  And the latter also have to be studied particularly
since many of the older placenames in the western Himalayan region seem to
come from these languages.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala