Genetics issues in ancient India (Tantrism)

[Satya Upadhya]

Steve,
thanks for that info. I have not read the two papers cited in the article,
so i am not in a position to argue with u on this. Note, however, that one
of the researchers in these studies directly told the writer of this "news
item" that an Aryan "invasion" had taken place. Since there are conflicting
expert opinions on this matter, i won't say more for now.

As an aside, i would like to know whether any recent studies on Tantrism
have been done? Is it not true that concrete relics of Tantrism have been
found in the Harappan region? Further, is it not true that there have been
two traditions in Hindu culture--the Vedic and the Tantric--the former
corresponding to the pastoral nomads who migrated into North Western India
and had a patriachal culture; and the latter being the original inhabitants
of the land, who were agriculturists following a matriachal culture.

As another aside, is it not true that Tantrism was materialistic in nature,
in its original form (some have claimed, for example, that the Charvaka
philosophers in ancient India were actually Tantriks[this is what some
medieval philosophers like Gunaratna say]), and only later did it become
infused with spiritualistic elements.

Thanking you,
Satya



>From: Steve Farmer <saf at SAFARMER.COM>
>Reply-To: Indology <INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK>
>To: INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK
>Subject: Re: Genetics issues in ancient India
>Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 11:52:35 -0800
>
>Satya Upadhya writes:
>
> > Here is an interesting article (from the San Francisco Chronicle) on
>this
> > problem:
> >
> > www.dalitstan.org/holocaust/invasion/histgene.html
>
>This "news" item, which originally appeared in Newsday, is a good
>example of the kind of wild distortion that we've been talking
>about. When you compare the article with the two research papers
>on this topic written by this  group, you will find no evidence
>that even vaguely justifies such a sweeping interpretation. For
>one of those original papers, see:
>
>http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/62000214/START
>
>Cf. also with their short earlier piece in Nature, for which no
>abstract exists:
>
>Nature 1998 Oct 15;395(6703):651-2. Female gene flow stratifies
>Hindu castes.
>Bamshad MJ, Watkins WS, Dixon ME, Jorde LB, Rao BB, Naidu JM,
>Prasad BV, Rasanayagam A, Hammer MF.
>
>The papers by Kivisild & Distell (cited in earlier posts) have
>been wildly misinterpreted to show that no Aryan migration ever
>occurred. The work of Bamshad and the rest of his group have been
>wildly misinterpreted to show not only that a migration occurred,
>but that it was in fact a full-blown Aryan Invasion of the old
>Mortimer Wheeler style.
>
>None of these papers by geneticists were written with cognizance
>of any of the complex acculturation processes involved in this problem.
>
>Steve Farmer

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