The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate

Contents......Page 10
Introduction......Page 16
1. Myths of Origin: Europe and the Aryan Homeland Quest......Page 26
Biblical Origins......Page 27
India, the Cradle of Civilization......Page 31
The Aryans and Colonial and Missionary Discourse......Page 34
German Aryanism......Page 43
Two Centuries of Homeland Theories......Page 48
Present-Day Homeland Hypotheses......Page 51
Conclusion......Page 56
2. Early Indian Responses......Page 59
Hindu Nationalist Responses......Page 60
The First Reactions: Hindu Religious Leaders......Page 64
Conclusion......Page 69
3. Vedic Philology......Page 70
The Racial Evidence......Page 72
The West-to-East Geographic Shift in Sanskrit Texts......Page 76
Conclusion......Page 80
4. Indo-European Comparative Linguistics: The Dethronement of Sanskrit......Page 81
The Law of Palatals and the Discovery of Hittite......Page 82
Objections from India......Page 85
Conclusion......Page 86
5. Linguistic Substrata in Sanskrit Texts......Page 89
Linguistic Innovations in Sanskrit......Page 91
Evidence of the Loanwords......Page 97
Terms for Flora in Indic Languages......Page 103
Place-Names and River Names......Page 111
Indo-Aryan, or Dravidian and Munda Migrations?......Page 115
Conclusion......Page 118
6. Linguistic Paleontology......Page 121
Flora and Fauna......Page 122
The Horse......Page 128
Criticisms of the Method......Page 133
Conclusion......Page 136
Semitic Loans in Indo-European: Nichols\'s Model......Page 137
Finno-Ugric Loans......Page 139
Other Traces of Indo-Aryan......Page 142
The Avestan Evidence......Page 143
The Mitanni Treaties......Page 148
Conclusion......Page 151
8. The Viability of a South Asian Homeland......Page 153
Center of Origin Method......Page 155
Dialectical Subgroupings: Gamkrelidze and Ivanov\'s Model......Page 158
Nichols\'s Sogdiana Model......Page 164
Conclusion......Page 167
Indra Stands Accused......Page 170
The Religion of the Indus Valley......Page 173
The Sarasvatī......Page 178
The Horse......Page 182
The Chariot......Page 188
The Indus Script......Page 190
Urbanity and the Rgveda......Page 197
Conclusion......Page 205
10. Aryans in the Archaeological Record: The Evidence outside the Subcontinent......Page 210
Identifying Aryans......Page 211
The Northern Route......Page 215
The Southern Route......Page 221
Two Wave Theories......Page 230
Conclusion......Page 233
11. Aryans in the Archaeological Record: The Evidence inside the Subcontinent......Page 237
Gandhara Grave Culture......Page 238
Jhukar Culture......Page 239
Painted Gray Ware Culture......Page 242
Aryans in the Skeletal Record......Page 243
Continuity and Innovation......Page 244
Conclusion......Page 249
12. The Date of the Veda......Page 251
Dating Proto-Indo-European......Page 252
Dating the Veda......Page 256
Astronomy and Vedic Chronology......Page 264
The Mathematics of the Śulvasautras......Page 275
Conclusion......Page 277
13. Aryan Origins and Modern Nationalist Discourse......Page 280
Nationalism and Historiography: General Comments......Page 281
The Aryans in Hindutva Ideology......Page 283
Stereotypes and Counterstereotypes......Page 288
Discourses of Suspicion......Page 299
Conclusion......Page 308
Conclusion......Page 311
Notes......Page 324
Works Cited......Page 362
B......Page 394
G......Page 395
I......Page 396
K......Page 397
P......Page 398
S......Page 399
Z......Page 400