Foreword Unlike many other books on the Aryan invasion debate,
the present collection of papers does not promise to terminate the
debate with a final judgment. It merely puts on record a number of
arguments I developed in recent years, mostly in an actual debating
context. None of it is very eccentric, in fact it all remains
safely close to the mainstream save for a few details.
Unlike many Indian participants, I completely accept the notion
of a Proto-Indo-European language from which all the extant member
languages of the Indo-European (Bhropya) family have evolved. I
also accept the principle of reconstruction of hypothetical ancient
and unattested forms (marked with asterisk) from newer attested
ones. I even go along with the classical view, contested by some
postmodernists, that for a language to exist, it must be spoken by
an actual community of people, and that this community must have
lived somewhere. So yes, there was a Proto-Indo-European speech
community (no, I didnt say Aryan race), and there was a homeland
where that community flourished. There is no need to challenge
these basic assumptions even if one insists on challenging the
specific details about the whereabouts of this somewhere.
While we dont want to prejudge its location, we may
provisionally name it Bhropyasthn, Indo-European-Land. That is
merely the X, the unknown that we seek to turn into a known. I must
warn the impatient reader that at the end of this book, he will
still not know the location of Bhropyasthn for sure. The Urheimat
where the adventures of Asterisk took place, is still incognita.
But along with the reader, I do hope nonetheless that some false
trails will have been closed off, so that we can focus better on
more promising options.
In the last two decades, our knowledge on Indo-European and
ancient Indo-Iranian history has substantially increased. The
complete story still eludes us, but I trust we are advancing
nicely. And by we, I mean all those open-minded enough to learn,
whether in the Indocentric or the Eurocentric camp. This collection
is intended as a little contemplation of some achievements and
obstacles along the way.
For the title, I must acknowledge some debt of inspiration to
the Light from distant asterisks: towards a description of the
Indo-European religious heritage (Numen, Leiden, January 2002), an
enlightening paper on the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European
pantheon by Peter Jackson. More immediately, I owe a debt of
gratitude to Satinder Trehan, Gopi Maliwal, Arun Kothari, Ashok
Chowgule and many others for their hospitality and practical
support; and to my old friend and outstanding linguist Herman
Seldeslachts. Naturally, all shortcomings of this book are not
theirs but mine. Mortsel (Belgium), Armistice Day, 11 November 2006
Dr. Koenraad Elst
Foreword
