Lecture Abstract

[Kamal Adhikary]

Dear Colleagues:

        Please find the lecture astract by Prof. Michael Witzel, Harvard
 University.  You can view the maps and charts that go with the abstract
at: http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/SthAsiaSemFall98.html


Michael Witzel                                          Austin, Sept. 17,
1998
Harvard University



                        TOWARDS A HISTORY OF ETHNOGENESIS
                           AND SETTLEMENT OF SOUTH ASIA


(1) The prehistoric period

 * list of S.Asian languages and substrates
* the Indus civilization
* end of the Indus civ.: return to the villages


(2) The Rgvedic period

        * RV evidence: two waves of immigration
early immigration & acculturation:
Yadu-Turvasa, Anu-Druhyu
 the second wave: Puru and Bharata

        * Language "x", (Para-)Munda, not Dravidian substrate

        * Later RV: Immigration of Drav. speakers:
                amalgation of Indo-Aryans and Dravidians,
                stratification: the Purusa hymn


(3) The Kuru Realm

        * Emergence of the Kuru tribe:
                restructuring of society, ritual, texts:
                planned Sanskritization, amalgamation of all
                elements present, under brahma-ksatra leadership

        * Kuruksetra/Madhyadesa base, Painted Gray Ware Civilization;
                expansion towards East and South
                emergence of Pancala tribe and shift towards U.P.

(4) The east

        * the linguistic situation: Indo-Aryan (with Indus
        and language "X" substrates and Drav.adstrate);
        Munda and Tib.-Burmese adstrates;
        late Vedic immigration: Brahmins, Malla, Vrji (Vajji), Sakya

        * Sanskritization of the East: Videgha Mathava legend,
                Vasistha and the eastern tribes;
                'Aryanization' of the east; canon formation

        * background for the Buddha and Mahavira
                not the 'static' society of the Kuru-Pancala, but
                a fluid situation; second urbanization

(5) Results

        * no simple solutions, no black/white picture

        * many distinct (micro-)processes lead to innovations

        * necessity for many more detailed investigations of
        substrates, dialect variants, social setup & developments, the
        economy & archaeology of the areas concerned
        before a definite history of the period can be writen
        At present, we have only models.

======================================================
Michael Witzel              witzel at fas.harvard.edu
                                     www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm
Wales  Prof. of Sanskrit
Harvard University                   www.shore.net/~india/ejvs
2 Divinity Avenue                    (Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies)
Cambridge MA 02138, USA

phone: 1- 617 - 495 3295 (voice & messages), 496 8570, fax 617 - 496 8571



 _______________
Kamal R. Adhikary, Ph.D.
Asian Studies,UT, Austin
Email:kamal at asnic.utexas.edu