AIT, NEW genetic evidence

[Vishal Agarwal]

----Original Message Follows----
From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan <vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM>
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2000 22:58:47 PST

"David Salmon (Kettenpom)" <dsalmon at SALMON.ORG> wrote:

>Even so, one wonders what the ratio of women to men were in those "Aryan"
>tribal excursions into India.  Were they like the Greek onslaught on Troy,

Vidya:That is precisely what the Aryan migrations into India were NOT,
according to contemporary scholars.
_____________

I think the confusion has arisen because Vidyasankar has understood the word
'migration' in the conventional sense. The Indologists rather have the
following definition of this 'migration':

"The immigrating group(s) may have been relatively small one(s), such as the
Normans who came to England in 1066 and who nearly turned England into a
French speaking country......the immigrating clans may have looked like
Bactrians, Afganis or Kashmiris, and must have been racially submerged
quickly in the population of the Punjab, just like the later immigrants
whose staging area was in Bactria as well: the Saka, Kusana, Huns etc.-
However, the introduction of the horse and especially of the horse drawn
chariot was a powerful weapon in the hands of the Indo-Aryans. It must have
helped to secure military and political dominance even if some of the local
elite were indeed quick to introduce the new cattle based economy and the
weapon, the horse drawn chariot,- just as the Near Eastern peoples did on a
much larger and planned scale."

Michael Witzel on pg. xxii of "F. B. J Kuiper: Selected Writings on
Linguistics and Philology; Ed. by Michael Witzel et al; 1997"

Of course, one is free to take the above description of a migration as a
euphemism of the now out of fashion 'invasionist' theories.
Apparently the Dravidian (or Munda) speakers of north India were over awed
when they say the chariots of fair skinned Indo Aryans hurtle down the
mountain ranges, and they must have welcomed these immigrants as their new
leaders. Another case of the 'white man's burden'?




______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com