Beyond The Aryan Invasion theory cover
Historical Non Fiction

Beyond The Aryan Invasion theory

byMaj. Gen. G D Bakshi

In Quest of the Vedic Horse

Uses satellite data, carbon dating, and archaeological finds to challenge the colonial-era Aryan Invasion Theory and locate the Aryan homeland within India.

Buy on GarudaLifeShare
Language
English
Binding / Format
Paperback
ISBN
9798885750790
Pages
—
Published
—
Category
Historical Non Fiction

Overview

In the 1850s, Max Mueller assigned a date of 1200 BCE to the composition of the Vedas — not on the basis of evidence, but as a calculation convenient to the colonial framework he was building. When the Harappan civilisation was unearthed in the 1920s, that date became a decree: the civilisation was pre-Vedic and non-Vedic, its people the victims of an Aryan invasion from Central Asia. Mortimer Wheeler later added genocide to the theory. For a century, these claims shaped how Indian history was taught.

Maj. Gen. G.D. Bakshi dismantles that framework using the empirical data that has accumulated since. The identification of Sinauli's war chariot, the carbon dating of Bhirrana to 9,500 years BP, the Sarasvati River's course reconstructed from satellite imagery with 80 percent of Harappan settlements along its banks — these are not marginal findings. They point toward an indigenous Aryan homeland rather than a Central Asian migration. The central question the book pursues is the horse: the absence of war horses in Harappan sites was the cornerstone of the "No Horse, No Aryan" argument. Bakshi goes to Bhimbetka and asks whether the equid depicted there — the Narmada Horse — answers the question.

Anyone who learned Indian ancient history from textbooks shaped by the colonial consensus will find this book forces a serious reconsideration.

Colonial historiography had injected huge and deliberate distortions in ancient Indian history to justify foreign rule in India. The most significant distortion was the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT), which decreed the Aryans as alien invaders from Central Asia. Max Mueller had whimsically dated the Aryan advent and composition of the Vedas to 1200 BCE, without a shred of empirical evidence. When the Harappan civilization was subsequently discovered in 1920s, based on this Max Mueller Fatwa, it was decreed as Pre-Vedic and more importantly Non-Vedic. Mortimer Wheeler later souped up this thesis by theorizing about Aryan genocide of "indigenous" Dravaidian inhabitants of the Indus Valley. Today, we have access to empirical data from diverse fields which establish that the Harappan and Vedic civilizations were identical, and the Aryans were indigenous-not alien. To refute this, the colonial historians cited the virtual absence of war horses and chariots in the Harappan civilization. "No Horse-No Aryan" was their abiding mantra. Today, a war chariot has been discovered at Sinauli. The quest for the Horse is what this book is about. It seeks to establish the historicity of the mythical Sarasvati River. With 80 per cent of the Harappan settlements on its banks, this was the real cradle of not just the Indian civilization but perhaps the original Aryan Homeland (Urheitmat). The Bhirrana township there has been carbon dated to 9,500 years BP making it one of the oldest in the world history. If it was Vedic, where is the Vedic horse? This book goes to the Bhimbetka caves (dated 11,000-8,00 BP) in search of clues. Were these the Narmada Horse (Equus Namadicus) that flourished in the late ice age and early Holocene period? Was that the Vedic horse? It is time to revisit and revise India's ancient history in the light of host of new facts.

Author

Maj. Gen. G D Bakshi photo
Maj. Gen. G D Bakshi

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:- Major General (Dr.) G. D. Bakshi, SM, VSM (Retd.) is a combat veteran of many skirmishes on the LC and Counter-Terrorist operations in J&K and Punjab. He commanded his battalion in active operations in Kargil and was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal. Later, he commanded a brigade in Counter-Terrorist operations in the very rugged mountains of Kishtwar and was awarded the Sena Medal for his distinguished services. He subsequently commanded the reputed Romeo Force during intensive Counter-Terrorist operations in the Rajouri-Punch Districts of J&K in the wake of Op Sarp Vinash and succeeded in pacifying the area. In these repeated combat tenures, he became something of a turn-around specialist-turning defeat into victory. He has served two tenures at the highly prestigious Directorate General of Military Operations (during Op Pawan and Op Vijay) and was the first BGS (IW) at HQ Northern Command where he dealt with Information Warfare and Psychological Operations. He is a prolific writer-on matters military and non-military-and has published 45 books and over 400 papers in many prestigious research journals. His articles have also been published in various national newspapers. He taught at the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun, and at the Prestigious Defence Services Staff College at Wellington for three years each. He taught at the National Defense College at New Delhi for two years and retired from this prestigious assignment in June 2008. He holds a Masters degree in Defence Science and an M. Phil. in Strategic Studies from the University of Madras. He later completed his Ph.D. from the same University on "Limited Wars in South Asia." Post his retirement, he was a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulations at the USI and later served as Deputy Director Research at the Vivekananda International Foundation. He is currently the Editor of Indian Military Review. He was Senior Security Advisor (Consultant) to Reliance Industries Limited for five years. His major books include Afghanistan-the First Fault line War, War in the 21st Century, The Indian Art Of War, The Paradox of Pakistan, The Rise of Indian Military Power: Evolution of an Indian Strategic Culture and Limited Wars in South Asia. He has also written many books on Indian Philosophy-in both Hindi and English. He appears regularly on major TV News Channels as an expert on the subjects of terrorism and national security. He lectures frequently at the Army War College, the College of Defense Management, the College of Materials Management, The National Defence Academy and the National Police Academy and also at the IAS Academy Mussorie. He has been featured in innumerable documentaries and talk shows on television on issues of National Security. He is an acknowledged thought leader in this domain. He comes from a military family and his elder brother Capt. S.R. Bakshi was killed in action in the 1965 War. The road in Jabalpur (where their ancestral house is located) is named after his brother.

View Author Profile
WA