"Science" in India

[Samira Sheikh]

>The reason I raised Prof. Thapar's name is that in Frontline,
>she said that she had proposed the rejection of the old Aryan
>invasion theory, way back, in 1968. The only reference she
>provides is a talk at ICHR, the proceedings of which are
>quite inaccessible.

Professor Thapar's remarks are available in the annually published
Proceedings of the Indian History Congress (not ICHR, which is the Indian
Council for Historical Research), which are to be found in most major South
Asian Studies libraries. As she patiently points out (Frontline, Sept 30-Oct
13), the theory that the Indus Valley cities were destroyed by a single
devastating Aryan invasion has been discarded long ago and any mention of it
is like flogging a dead horse. Gradual cultural acculturation is
considerably more plausible as a hypothesis. Why does it have to be a matter
of nationalistic pride to deny any influence from outside present national
borders? Surely the abundant energies of amateur Indologists could be turned
towards more worthy causes than reiterating the same unproven assertions in
the hope that they will miraculously become fact.


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