As we have already written, the earliest scientific hypothesis called India the homeland of the Aryans. The first to put forward it was the German linguist Friedrich Schlegel. His assumption was based on the fact that since the most archaic written language is Sanskrit, then its speakers could not move far from their ancestral home without significant changes in the language.
All the same, other Aryan peoples, on the contrary, during their migrations changed their languages under the influence of the languages of the tribes through whose territory they passed. However, this hypothesis was rejected shortly after the Harappan civilization was discovered and it was revealed that the Harappan appearance was Dravidian, not Indo-European. Another serious objection was the linguistic discovery - the law that the ancestral home of a language family is the region in which the largest number of languages of this family are known. Consequently, Sanskrit, which found itself on the outskirts of the territory occupied by the Aryan languages, could not indicate the ancestral home of the Aryans. In contrast, the lands of the greatest diversity of the Aryan languages are located in Eastern Europe. This law was opposed by the Indian researcher Lachmi Dhar Kalla, who believed thatthat the diversity of the Aryan languages in Europe is a consequence of the influence of foreign-speaking peoples, and the ancestral home of the Aryans should be sought where the influence of the languages of other families is minimal.
This hypothesis is also supported by some European scientists, such as, for example, the Flemish Indologist Konrad Elst, the Greek author Nicholas Kazanas, as well as the English geneticist, professor at the University of Cambridge, Thomas Kivisild.
Konrad Elst suggested that about 8 thousand years ago the Aryans lived in the north Indian state of Punjab. Over the course of several millennia, he argues, the Aryans settled in large territories - from Central Asia to Cambodia, and then moved to neighboring regions - on the Caspian coast, penetrated into Northwestern China. The Caspian tribes, continuing their way to the West and passing through the Caucasian ridge and the Armenian Highlands, settled around 2000 BC. e. on the territory of modern Turkey, and from there - along the Balkan Peninsula, they moved to Europe. Another branch of the Aryans was driven out of Mesopotamia and settled in Iran. While these Aryan tribes settled in the Old World, another, sedentary part of the Aryans created the urban civilization of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
The supporters of this hypothesis, as well as the hypothesis of the Vologda ancestral home of the Aryans, call for toponymy help. So, the Indian scientist Shrikant Talageri believes that it is the Aryan languages that are the oldest source of place names in North India, which means, he suggests, the Indo-Aryans were the oldest documented population of the region. However, another linguist, Francisco Villard, showed that, if desired, Aryan roots can be seen even in toponymy [8] of the Basque Country, although the Basques themselves are not Aryans, and the origin of their language is still the subject of heated debate among scientists.
Another argument of the supporters of the Indian hypothesis is the mighty Saraswati River, which is repeatedly mentioned in the Rig Veda, which flows "from the mountains to the Indian Ocean." She, according to Shrikant Talageri, "is mentioned much more often than Indus, and plays such an important role in the entire Rig Veda that she is worshiped as one of the three great goddesses." Historians and geologists have confirmed that a mighty river actually flowed on the Indian subcontinent in ancient times, which disappeared several millennia ago as a result of a tectonic catastrophe, and its two largest tributaries (Satluj and Yamuna) changed their course, and now Satluj flows westward and flows into the Indus. and Yamuna to the east into the Ganges. Researchers date this disaster differently. According to some, the drying up of Saraswati took place between 2100 and 1750 BC. e., and this fits into the theory of the Aryan aliens,others consider this event more ancient and date it to the middle of the 4th millennium BC. e., and this means that already at this time the Aryans should have dwelt in India.
Devanagari manuscript of the Rig Veda, early 19th century.
The Indian hypothesis is also supported by the absence in the Rig Veda of any mention of the arrival of the Aryans in India, and this happened, as supporters of other Aryan ancestral homelands claim, shortly before the time when the Rig Veda was written down. A direct analogy is the description of the legendary migration of the Jews from Egypt to Canaan. However, opponents of this hypothesis believe that the analogy with the biblical description of the resettlement is inaccurate, because the Rig Veda is not a historical work like the Book of Exodus, which describes the resettlement of the Jews, but a collection of liturgical hymns.
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A significant proof of the fallacy of the Indian hypothesis is the difference in the external appearance of the Harappans, who, as we have already said, belonged to the Dravidian race. There is no trace of the use of the horse, the main Aryan domestic animal, in the Harappan culture, moreover, in ancient India there are no fossil species of ungulates, the domestication of which could give rise to horse breeding. Despite the fact that many Harappan cities have been perfectly studied by archaeologists, not a single carriage has yet been found on their territory, although carts are also considered an important element of Aryan culture. In addition, the Harappan economy is an agricultural economy, not a cattle-breeding one, like among the Aryans. The Harappa religion, as far as we can tell about it, shows no traces of veneration for the triads of male deities that are known in Aryan culture.
There are objections to the Indian hypothesis among linguists as well. For example, Thomas Barrow compiled a list of 500 words known in the Rig Veda, but borrowed from the Dravidian languages and the ancient Munda language [9], and Franciscus Kuyper found 383 such words in the Rig Veda, which, according to his calculations, is about 4 % of the Rig Veda dictionary. The similarity of Sanskrit with ancient Dravidian and ancient Munda, according to Kuiper, is not limited to borrowing words; there are other features that are alien to other Aryan languages.
But the most significant argument against the Indian hypothesis is … the "Rig Veda" itself, or rather what is not mentioned in it. The Harappan civilization was an urban civilization, but for some reason there is no mention of cities in the Rig Veda - neither about their assaults, nor about city life and crafts. The authors of the Rig Veda live in camps, fight with enemies “in an open field”, despise crafts, and regard war, herding cattle and serving the gods as the most worthy pursuits. Monumental buildings and altars, built of bricks, are a kind of hallmark of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, but not a single line of the Rig Veda mentions the word isuttaka (brick), it appears only in later texts. Vedic altars are small grassy recesses in the ground and cannot be compared to Harappan altars. It is knownthat the Harappians cultivated rice, its grains were found in the cities of Rangpur (2000-1500 BC), Lothal (2000 BC) and Mohenjo-Daro (2500 BC), however, the words`a for rice in the Rig Veda are also absent. There is no mention of cotton in the Rig Veda, neither as a cotton plant, nor as a cotton clothing, although cotton grains were also found in many Harappan cities. In addition, the "Rig Veda" completely lacks silver, known in India since 4 thousand BC. e. and widely used in the Harappan civilization.although cotton grains have also been found in many Harappan cities. In addition, the "Rig Veda" completely lacks silver, known in India since 4 thousand BC. e. and widely used in the Harappan civilization.although cotton grains have also been found in many Harappan cities. In addition, the "Rig Veda" completely lacks silver, known in India since 4 thousand BC. e. and widely used in the Harappan civilization.
The astronomical argument is even more significant. In Indian astrology, special systems of 27 or 28 lunar constellations are used - "nakshatras", which, according to astronomers' calculations, arose around 2400 BC. e during the heyday of the Harappan civilization. Nakshatras still play a huge role in the religious life of India, they determine the beginning of holidays and rituals, predict the fate of an individual and entire states, but nowhere in the "Rig Veda" is it said about the prescriptions or omens associated with them, only in the last and most recent The (tenth) mandala of the Rig Veda mentions constellations-nakshatras, but in this mandala there are no specific prescriptions and omens, and besides, there is no reason to assume that the word "nakshatras" in the tenth mandala of the "Rig Veda" does not mean constellations in general, but lunar constellations.
It is significant that all these elements missing in the Rig Veda appear already in Vedic texts - samhitas, Brahmanas and sutras: brick altars are described in detail in the Satapatha Brahmana, rice in the Atharva Veda, cotton in the Dharma Sutras.
Paradoxically, these facts, which testify against the hypothesis of the Indian exodus of the Aryans, are trying to use its supporters in their favor. They suggest that these facts just indicate that the Rig Veda was created in the pre-Harappan period. However, the pre-Harappan culture of India was just as little similar to the Aryan culture of the herders of the Rig Veda.
The most recent arguments against the Indian ancestral home of the Aryans have come from popular genetic studies of the past decade. It turned out that the DNA marker M-124, widespread in India, is found only in Central Asia. The exceptions are Roma, Kurds and Chechens. Gypsies, as you know, are from India, nomadic Aryans, partly mixed with the Dravidian Harappan population. It is likely that the Chechens and Kurds also mixed to some extent with the Dravidian population of the Middle East during their nomads.
From the book: “History of Humanity. Facts. Discoveries. People"