Birthplace of the Vedas

7/23/2019 Birthplace of the Vedas

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The Birthplace of the Vedas

Rudra Chakraborty

Honors Thesis



“The Birthplace of the Vedas”

Rudra Chakraborty

Abstract/Overview:

In Indo-European studies, a question has encompassed much of scholarly debate ever since Western

Scholarship discovered the nature of Sanskrit and proposed a common ancestral tongue !ho !ere the

original Indo-Europeans" Where did they come from" #rom Central Europe, to India, to even China,

possible locations have been proposed and shot do!n by the linguistic and anthropological

communities$ %he truth may never be kno!n for sure, but the research has generated a number of

fascinating questions that are in equal parts interesting to reflect upon and challenging to ans!er$ We

e&plore one set of questions as !e attempt to trace the roots of the composition of the early 'edas, the

core te&ts of the (indu #aith$ We start !ith a brief overvie! of )roto Indo-European *)IE+ %heory, and

move on to the Indo-Iranians, comparing the 'edas !ith the end vesta$ We also point out issues of

date and linguistic aberrations that may point to the birthplace of the 'edas lying some!here beyond

the Indian Subcontinent, !ith potential additions and tackings on that may have been added throughout

the years$

On the foundings of the Proto-ndo !uropean Theor":

%he idea of relation bet!een languages, and comparisons thereof, occurred in European (istory since

ancient times$ Roman Scholars noted the similarities bet!een .atin and /reek, and believed their

tongue an offshoot of /reek, perhaps prompting or at least enlivening the (ellenophile tendencies of

Roman academia$ While ultimately erroneous in their assumptions, their ideas at least sho!ed to

demonstrate that language comparison !as e&tant in Western Scholarship, even in antiquity$



%he idea of a common ancestor bet!een .atin, /reek, and Sanskrit began to arise !hen Western

philologists began to study the tongues of the east$ %hey *perhaps shockingly to them+ uncovered the

similarities bet!een a number of Sanskrit !ords and their 0classical1 counterparts, and began positing

a relation$ %he follo!ing is an oft cited quote from Sir William 2ones, nglo-Welsh philologist, made

important because his discourse is oftentimes hailed as the birth of the comparative method and of

Indo-European linguistics

0%he Sanscrit language, !hatever be its antiquity, is of a !onderful structure3 more perfect than the

Greek , more copious than the Latin, and more e&quisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of

them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly have

been produced by accident3 so strong indeed, that no philologer could e&amine them all three, !ithout

believing them to have sprung from some common source, !hich, perhaps, no longer e&ists3 there is a

similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and the Celtic, though

blended !ith a very different idiom, had the same origin !ith the Sanscrit 3 and the old Persian might

be added to the same family$14

%he languages named by 2ones did indeed come to be the 0core languages1 of the Indo-European

family$ With the proof of a common tongue, the scholarship of the day naturally supposed that there

must have been an original homeland !hereat this common tongue !as spoken, and perhaps a 0)roto-

ryan1 physical appearance as !ell$ /erman philologists *in the spirit that came !ith the 05e!

/erman1 identity of the 46th 7 48th centuries, thought that /erman !as the ancestral tongue of all

Europeans, giving rise to the term 0Indo-/ermanic languages1 *a term still found in some comparative

te&ts today+$ 9nfortunately, this 05ordic1 original man that came !ith this linguistic supposition gave

4 2ones, Sir William *46:;+$ Discourses delivered before the Asiatic Society: and miscellaneous aers! on the reli"ion!

oetry! literature! etc#! of the nations of $ndia$ )rinted for C$ S$ rnold$ p$ :6



rise to a great deal of racially loaded rhetoric and unfortunately yet undeniably pre<udiced research

promoting /ermanic Superiority, !hich !e do not e&pound upon due to these facts and its ultimate

irrelevance to our purposes:$

In spite of the controversial research done by those seemingly interested in political agenda over

empirical analysis, Western research into all three of the aforementioned fields !rought a number of

interesting theories3 t!o of !hich !ill be detailed in the follo!ing section$

The #earch for the Trun$ of the %an" Branches:

%ut of $ndia! The &$ndi"enous Aryan' Theory:

9pon the discovery of Sanskrit and its linguistic ties to Europe, a theory arose that India !as the cradle

of Indo-European civili=ation, supplanting 0biblical theories1 common to .ate Renaissance cademia$

%he metaphysicist Schelling stated 0What is Europe really but a sterile trunk !hich o!es everything to

>riental grafts"1 *?ryant 46+$ %he theory seemed to hold up for quite some time *and is in truth still

staunchly defended by some Indic scholars+$ Sanskrit !as at the time the most seemingly 0archaic1 of

the ancient tongues, bearing the most 0elaborate1 grammatical system and retaining a !ealth of )roto

Indo-European phonology lost in other IE daughter branches$

dding to its case !as the reconstruction of IE at the time !as largely based upon the sounds of

Sanskrit$ %he case !as even made that Sanskrit !as the root !hence all other European languages !ere

: rthur @e /obinaeu and his 0Essay on the Inequality of the (uman Races1 is one of the many scientists !ho founded

the school of 5ordicism$ While the 0Corded Ware Culture1 found from 5ordic research is one of the theories on )IE

origin, !e shall not touch it here due to its controversial status and the fact that it is !holly unrelated to the Indo-Iranian

birthplace !e aim to investigate in this paper$



born$A %he idea that )IE language and roots !ere in India came to be called 0Indigenous ryanism1$

(all of $ndi"enous Aryanism:

%his 0Indophile1 phase of Western Scholarship, ho!ever, !as not to last, largely and perhaps ironically

due to the same linguistic enquiries that it had !rought$ %he tongue of the (ittite Civili=ation !as

deciphered at the onset of the :B th Century; and !as by the comparative method linked to Indo-

European soon after$ %his discovery of demonstrably older te&t !as a strong blo! to the Indigenous

ryan theory$ #urther discredit came due to the lack of ostensible @ravidian influence on other

daughter branches3 !hich opponents argued should be the case had all )IE culture sprung from India$

s one quotes, 0$$$India is most peculiar$$$and it !ould be very ine&plicable that no traces of these

Indian peculiarities should have been preserved by any Celtic Race in later times, if they all had lived

in India$$$1 *?ryant :B D4;+$ %he linguistic evidence blent !ith geographical arguments came to mean

the undoing of the Indian (omeland %heory$ With this position seemingly debunked, Western Scholars

turned to ne! insights on the homeland and tongue of the Indo-Europeans$

Gimbutas and The )ur"an Theory:

)erhaps the most !ell kno!n and documented hypothesis of )roto Indo-European beginnings is !hat

has come to be kno!n as the urgan (ypothesis *kur"an being Slavic for 0barro!1+$ #irst populari=ed

by Fari<as /imbutas, the theory posits that the first )IE culture !as a group of seminomadic mounted

!arriors from the steppes of 9ral, !ho having tamed the horse turned their ne!found martial

A ?ryant pg 483 he himself quoting 'ans ennedy *46:6+, ?lavatsky *48G+, (alhed *letter to /$ Costard quoted 48GB+

; (a!kins, 2$ @$ %he r=a!a .etters in Recent )erspective, *ritish +useum Studies in Ancient ,"yt and Sudan# 4;, pp$

GA-6A *:BB8+

)arpola, sko$ HStudy of the Indus scriptH, %ransactions of the Bth International Conference of Eastern Studies, %okyo

%he %h /akkai, pp$ :67DD$ :BB



advantage to the conquest of Europe$ %his hypothesis has been controversial from the beginning, even

aside from the dearth of solid linguistic methodology used in her deductions, as /imbutas !as beyond

reasonable doubt !riting !ith a strong feminist slant3 naturally calling into questionability her

suppositions that Europe !as once a matriarchal, egalitarian, peaceful land !hich had come to be

ruined by the violent upheavals of the patriarchal, !arlike urgans and their !arhorses$

s the name suggests, the urgan Culture *also called the -amna Culture or )it /rave Culture+ is a

culture !hose buried and unearthed artifacts date from around the late Copper to Early ?ron=e ge,

found around the Caspian-)ontic Steppe$ Evidence suggests the culture !as largely nomadic !ith some

hillforts as the hypothetical urgans are said to have beenD$ Interestingly, the area in the South of 9ral

is a seemingly ideal point of diaspora of )IE cultures to both Europe and %he Fiddle East *and sia by

virtue+, and its centrali=ed location seems on paper to be the strongest candidate for the hailing point of

)IE language and culture$ %here is also evidence of climate change around /imbutas proposed periods

of migration, adding some degree of strength to her claims$

(o!ever, the urgan (ypothesis quickly !a&es questionable !hen archaeological evidence alone

sho!s evidence of !alled cities and !eapons of !ar in this supposedly peaceful Europe3 !e need look

no further than Classical /reece and Rome to kno! that a society !hich does not e&pect repeated

invasion and attack does not construct elaborate fortifications, and one can naturally assume that a

society that does not make !ar should not make tools therefor$ #urthermore, many of her suppositions

specifically about the deforestation and geographical ruin that stemmed from 0urgan upheaval1 can

be e&plained by natural e&pansionJmigration patterns and overall climate change *?ryant A6-8+$

#rom a linguistic standpoint, @olgopolsky *488B-8A+ argues that contact evidence bet!een the IE and

D Fallory, 2)$ 0Kamna Culture1, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture$ #it=roy @earborn, 488G



Semitic language families makes an origin point in the steppes of 9ral highly unlikely$ While the

urgan hypothesis posits that the (ittites *0oldest1 of the )IE tongues+ established their presence in

natolia around :BBB ?C, Semitic contact !ith the tongue could suggest an earlier migratory period at

the very least if not a hailing point shifted further to!ards the Fiddle East$ %he urgan (ypothesis

also becomes !eaker !hen one notes that the 0linguistic paleontology1 method used by /imbutas is a

fla!ed concept3 as it can be used to back any homeland theory !ith similar or equal fortitude3 thus

making it ineffectual as a modus of validating linguistic evidence$ Whatever the truth of the matter may

be, !e shall abandon the matter as it pertains to )IE and return to ryanist scholarship$

Ar"anist &ebuttals fro' (ithin and (ithout:

In the face of these emerging Western %heories that oftentimes blatantly dismissed andJor

countermanded traditional liturgical !isdom3 ryanist Scholarship, then a curious assortment of

faithful 'edicists, Indian 5ationalists, and fringe Westerners !ere quick to mount a number of

rebuttals$ Fany Westerners *perhaps !ith some degree of insight+ pointed out the racial bias and

natural reluctance of the West to admit to 0the English Solider sharing blood !ith the @ark ?engalese1

*?ryant AA+$ %he native scholarship !as, as one might imagine, resentful of !hat they perceived as

foreign corruption and denigration of their traditional beliefs, and perhaps also resentful of the reignited

tensions bet!een 5orth and South India *linguistically divided by Sanskrit and @ravidian offshoot

tongues+$ s such, they launched impassioned rebuttals at 0Western Revisionist1 scholarship$ While

seemingly unable to add legitimacy or strength to their o!n belief that the ryan folk had al!ays been

native to the Indian Subcontinent, they did succeed in enumerating the variety of !eaknesses that lay in

competing Western %heories springing up at the time$



>ne of the first rebuttals came from an ghorechandra Chattopadhyaya, !ho pointed out the

interesting fact that the hypothesi=ed )IE could give rise to such impressive civili=ation yet leave no

remnants of themselves, and the seemingly contradictory idea that they !ere nomadic tribesmen yet

had an original homeland *?ryant 6-8+$

>ne might also point out that the 'edic te&ts do not refer to any sort of hailing point or invasion, and

that !ere it to e&ist, ancestral memory of this hailing point !ould not be so readily !iped out in the

period of divergence bet!een 'edic and vestan dialects$ %he Indigenous ryanist cro!d used

arguments like these to back up their hypothesis that the Indian peoples must have been al!ays native

to India, but their o!n arguments are <ust as readily used against them, especially coupled !ith

compelling linguistic evidence$ Regardless of their successes or lack thereof in ans!ering the )roto

Indo-European question, their research enables us to shed some light on the birthplace of the 'edas and

perhaps to speak !ith more strength on the origins and divergence of the Indo-Iranian culture$

“On the Proto ndo-ranians”

(aving e&plained and detailed the discourse about the hypothesi=ed Indo-European culture, !e may

no! at long last turn our attention to one of the cultures it is said to have spa!ned, the Indo-Iranians$

%he earliest attestation of this culture is said to be the 0Sintashta Culture1, located upon the border of

Eastern Europe and Central sia$ %he culture is said to have e&isted around :4BB-46BB ?CE, used

chariots in !arfare, kno!n smelting of copper and bron=e, and made fortified settlementsG$ %hose that

embrace the urgan (ypothesis !ould posit them to be migrators from 9ral, those that back ryanism

*as it pertains to India and not the 5ordic (ypothesis !e declined to detail earlier+ !ould likely say

they came up from the 5orthern )un<ab$ (o!ever, there are a number of problems !ith both of these

G nthony, @$W$ 0%he Roles of Climate Change, Warfare, and .ong-@istance %radeH$ In (anks, ?$3 .induff, $ Social

Comle.ity in Prehistoric ,urasia: +onuments! +etals! and +obility$ Cambridge 9niversity )ress$ pgs$ ;G7GA$ :BB8



theories, as !e have already detailed in part and shall e&pound upon further and in more specificity

later in this paper$

%he )roto Indo-Iranian tongue is unattested through any kno!n inscriptions or corpora, but is

reconstructed from the earliest attested forms of its offshoot tongues, 'edic Sanskrit and /athic

vestan, and possibly from referents found in (ittite and Fittani records that !e shall discuss further

later on *Fallory A6 7 A8+$ %he t!o tongues are said to have diverged around the period of the

Sintashta culture, !ith the 'edic speakers establishing themselves in India, the vestan in Fodern @ay

)ersia$ Ket the t!o tongues are remarkably similar, and as a matter of fact it is from them that !e get

the term 0ryan1, from their !ord 0rya1 an vestan 'edic self referential term meaning something

loosely akin to 0our community, of our people1$ %heir holy te&ts have similar structures, speaking of

geography, history, creation, and !ar$ ?efore making these comparisons, ho!ever, !e should first

detail each of the respective te&ts from !hich !e are making our deductions, and then comparing the

similaritiesJdivergences of the t!o$

“The Vedas”

%he !ord itself believed to be derived from )IE Lvid *0to kno!1, .atin video 0I see1, English /it +, the

'edas are the thesis of the (indu #aith, four core te&ts detailing their rituals, !ay of life, history, and

geographical layout$ Current scholarly belief *Fallory A8+ places the date of their composition in

!ritten form sometime around 4BB 7 4:BB ?CE, though they in all likelihood e&isted in some oral

tradition centuries before that$ %hey are divided into the Rigveda, Ka<urveda, Samaveda, and

tharvaveda6$ %hey share some stan=as in common, but are recited for different rituals, and have slight

differences and redactions !hich enable us to roughly place them in order of composition$ #or the

6 %he 'edas, available online as of this !riting here httpJJ!!!$sacred-te&ts$comJhinJinde&$htm

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm



purposes of our analysis, !e shall focus most upon the Rigveda *the eldest+, and tharvaveda *the

youngest+$

“The Avesta”

lso kno!n as the 0end1Avesta *from a version !ith nnotationJCommentary+, the vesta is the basic

te&t of the oroastrian faith, detailing the dictations of Ahura +a2da *the /reat .ord+ unto his prophet

oroaster *also kno!n as arathustra+$ Similar to the 'edas, the vesta is divided into an >lder vesta

*hymns believed to be composed by oroaster himself or possibly even older+, and a Kounger vesta

consisting of later appends to the te&ts8$ lso like the 'edas, it is very likely that they e&isted in an oral

form far predating their point of first being !ritten do!n by human hand$ #or our analysis, !e

predominately !ill focus on the /athas, !hich are believed to be the oldest collection of hymns, and

the 'endidad3 due to their similarity in language and structure !ith the Rigveda and tharvaveda

respectively$

“A Brief )inguistic and #tructural *o'parison of the Veda and Avesta”

%he parallels bet!een the 'eda and vesta have been remarked upon since the discovery of the vesta

by Western Scholarship in the 46th Century4B$ >ne could devote an entire book to it and not begin to

cover the depths of the sub<ect matter, but !e shall attempt to give a general gist !ithin a fe! short

paragraphs$

%hematically speaking, the concepts of dualism and fire-!orship are at the center of early 'edic and

8 #rom a direct analysis of the vesta, available online as of this !riting here httpJJ!!!$avesta$orgJyasnaJyasna$htm

*/athas+, httpJJ!!!$avesta$orgJvendidadJvdMtc$htm *'endidad+

4B #rom Ch$ 4 of Sacred *ooks of the ,ast: vol $3# The 0end1Avesta# pgs$ &iv - &viii Edited by Fa& FNller, first published

by >&ford 9niversity )ress 466B

http://www.avesta.org/yasna/yasna.htm


http://www.avesta.org/vendidad/vd_tc.htm


http://www.avesta.org/vendidad/vd_tc.htm



/athic te&t$ %he Rigveda opens !ith hymns to gni *Sanskrit 0fire1, cognate to .atin &i"nis', both

from )IE 4h₁n5 "6nis 0fire, animate noun1+ the divine embodiment of fire, the /athas !ith dedications to

hura Fa=da, the god of the Sun and #ire$ #rom the te&t itself, it can be deduced that both the Rigveda

and Kasna *!hereof the /athas are part+ !ere meant to be recited by a head priest !ho !ould open a

session of !orship$ %his obeisance to sacred flames is one seen in both vestan and 'edic belief

systems44, and sho!s the import of fire in their rituals$

s divine and disconnected as the Rigveda and /athas are, the younger counterparts, those being the

tharvaveda and 'endidad, are centered upon the !orldly and everyday affairs$ While containing

spells and incantations, they both deal !ith social issues, la!, family, kinship, and sacrifice$ .ike the

'edas, the vesta also make no clear reference to an ironclad caste system, yet both seemingly have a

priestJ!arriorJherder social stratification4:, suggesting that the solidifications of caste are later

developments in both cultures$ %he most interesting point is the common term 0rya1 to designate

community and kinfolk *Skt$ aryaman! v$ airyaman, meaning 0ryanhood, *person+ of the ryans1+$

%he 'edas have an opposing term dasa to denote 0those that do not make the proper sacrifices14A,

!hich !ill become very important in later sections of the paper$ #or no!, !e shall directly move on to

cognate terms, !hich cast a very interesting light on the 'edas and vesta 4;

44 %his in all likelihood has roots in )roto Indo-European culture, !hen one considers the importance of deities like theRoman 'esta, goddess of the hearth, and the import the Romans gave to her eternal flame$

4: #rom the Encyclopedia Iranica Class System httpJJ!!!$iranicaonline$orgJarticlesJclass-system-i4A Could possibly also be translated as &ritual', as sacrifices !ere <ust a general part of both rituals$ %he figurative

implications are tragically, yet naturally lost to time$

4; Interesting things to note are vestan common nouns being used as proper nouns in Sanskrit as !ell as proper nouns

commonly occuring in both vestan and 'edic te&ts$



A Small Table of Co"nate Terms:

Sanskrit vestan /loss *Sanskrit, vestan if

different+

aryaman airyaman 0ryanhood, *person+ of the

ryans *community+1

asura ahura 0.ord1 *.ater @emonic shift in

Sanskrit, @eity in vestan+

ahi a2i 0Serpent, @ragon, @emon

Snake1

deva! daeva deva! daiva 0@ivine ?eing1 *@eity in

Sanskrit, .ater @emonic Shift in

vestan+

Sarasvati Hara.vati 0/oddess of the River1 *lso a

river denoted both in the vesta

and 'edas, but held to be

fictitious by scholarship+

+itra +ithra 0/od of Covenants1 *supposedly

developed independently,

thought to be from a )II noun

Lmitra meaning 0contract,

binder1+

3rtra 3erethra 0>bstacle, ?locker1 *personified

in Sanskrit and vestan, again in

different roles+



ya7na yasna 0Worship, Sacrifice, >blation1

/iven the close genetic relation bet!een 'edic Sanskrit and /athic vestan, there are likely boundless

numbers of cognates !hich !e could include in this table, !hich !ould be equally relevant to our

purposes$ (o!ever, !e have selected these ones due to their sho!ing of common concepts for !orship,

family, geographical locations, and divinity4$ Where the terms are alike is understandable, but !here

they shift is incredibly interesting$ #or e&ample, consider the Sanskrit deva and vestan daeva, in

addition to the Sanskrit asura and vestan ahura$ While in early te&ts all four terms are cross-

linguistically synonymous !ith divine beings, they gradually begin to shift, such that by the later 'edic

and vestan period Sanskrit asura and vestan daeva both mean an e&clusively malevolent or demonic

figure as opposed to a divine figure in general$ @oubly interesting, 'edic /ods appear as vestan

@emons and vestan @emons ppear as 'edic /ods4D$ /iven the likelihood of continued linguistic

contact, the fact that these terms inverted in such a manner is curious, and has implications that !e

shall come to in follo!ing sections$

Fomentarily abandoning direct comparison of common terms, the evidence of continued contact is

found in the geographical referents of the 'eda and vesta$ %he 'edas point to a group of rivers called

the 0Sapta Sindhu1 *!ith 0(apta (indu1 being an e&tant parallel term in the vesta+, describing !hat

are considered to be the good rivers, geographically located to the north!est from the point of

composition$ %raditional scholarship takes this to mean the Sindh river and its many tributaries in the

province of )un<ab *the )un<ab of modern day )akistan and not 5orth!est India+$ (o!ever, one may

also note that the rivers described in the vesta are seemingly southeast of the point of composition$

4 Citation given here for readibility$ %able constructed from 2ackson, n vesta /rammar$$$ pgs$ : 7 ;, also Surhone,.ambert F$, %ennoe, Fariam %$, (enssono!, Susan #$ H)roto-Indo-Iranian ReligionH *:B4B+

4D %he 'edic /od Indra appears in the 'endidad as one of si& primary demonic figures$ >ne might also compare the

deified ryman and iryaman of the 'edas and vesta respectively$ ryaman is initially referred to in the Rig 'edas as

an sura, proving that the term archaically did not have demonic connotations



/iven the linguistic and structural similarities !hich suggest contact at some point before or during

composition, !e might shift the 'edic point of composition further north, perhaps even outside of the

Indian Subcontinent$ ?efore !e look at arguments for doing so, let us first take a look at the map

provided by one Shrikant %alageri *!ho supports the >ut of India hypothesis+, and his comparison of

'edic and vestan placement of the rivers

#igure : 7 4 %alageriOs Fap of 'edic and vestan Rivers3 from The Ri" 3eda: A Historical Analysis



%here are, ho!ever, a number of issues !ith %alageriOs map and the placement of the rivers$ #irst, !ere

the 'edic rivers to be located in that area, 'edic Civili=ation should have lain in the heartland of the

Indus 'alley Civili=ation *also kno!n as the (arappan Civili=ation+$ #rom the te&ts, there is no

evidence of the 'edic tribes settling in the ruins of the civili=ation, constructing the cities, or even

having been a!are of the civili=ation at all$ >ne linguistically compelling piece of evidence against

such settlement is that rice !as kno!n to have gro!n and be cultivated by the (arappan civili=ation 4G,

yet no reference of rice cultivation appears until later in the 'edic te&ts$ s a matter of fact, the

Sanskrit !ord for rice, vrihi, does not appear any!here in the Rigveda *a=anas 4A+$ /iven the import

of rice in later (indu rituals, it seems unlikely that it !ould have no mention in earlier te&ts !ere it to

be around !here the early 'edas !ere composed$

side from rice, the terms for silver, ra7ata hiranyam *literally 0!hite gold1+ does not appear until post

Rigvedic te&ts, the !ord ra7ata only in the conte&t of 0gleaming horses1 *a=anas 4A+$ Silver, like rice

is generally attested in the (arappan Civili=ation, so it is like!ise suspicious at best that the Indic te&ts

make no mention of them up until a later point$

With regards to the location of the river Sindh, !e kno! for a fact that it is not uncommon for settlers

of a ne! area to name geographical features of that area !ith familiar names *take 05e! Kork1 as

e&ample enough+$ Combined !ith absence of kno!n and attested Indic Elements and 'edic

geographical descriptions being similar to vestan ones, !e have some degree of backing to suggest

that much if not all of the Rigveda !as composed outside of the Indian Subcontinent$ /iven the similar

absence of any homeland being mentioned or invasion stories !hich are unlikely to be left out by a

civili=ation of conquerors, !e can also perhaps suggest that the ryan Invasion %heory populari=ed by

0urganists1 !herein fairskinned ryans rode in on chariots and drove the darkskinned 0@asas1

4G ahn, Charles$8orld History: Societies of the Past# )ortage P Fain )ress$ :BB



*@ravidians+ further south, becoming lords and masters of the continent and creating an oppressive

caste system in order to preserve their rule *a=anas 4+$ ?oth ryanists and urganists ho!ever seem

haunted by the notion that either one side or the other is right, %alageri even outright saying that either

the linguists or the hymns are correct *then suggesting that the linguists must turn to the hymns for

vindication+46$

(o!ever, as !e deduced before, 0Invasion1 settlement theories can be oftentimes <ust as readily

e&plained by peaceful settlement and natural e&pansion of cultures$ /iven that there is no referent to

any outright invasion or conquering, a settlement of India by natural e&pansion seems likely and

seemingly blends much of both competing theories !ithout overly offending the beliefs of either$ It

seems unlikely that a people !ould record it in their eternal histories every time they moved do!n the

proverbial street$ %his ho!ever begs the question !ho !ere the 0@asas1 described in the Rigveda"

nd !hy did the 'edic and vestan cultures diverge in the manner they did" %he ans!ers could lie in

the ma<or battle event the 'edas do describe, the Dasara7na *Q?attle of %en ings+$

“On The +asara,na and Vedic-Avestan &ivalr"”

%he @asara<na, as it appears in the 'edas is said to be a battle bet!een a ing Sudas of the %ritsu tribe,

guided by the Sage 'ashishta48, and 4B ingsJ%ribes guided by the rival Sage 'ish!amitra:B,

enumerated as follo!s

4$ %urvasa *led by a )urodas+ G$46$D

:$ ?hrigu *?hargava in other referents+ G$46$D

46 See Aendi. $$$: +isinterretations of Ri"vedic History

48 %he name possibly appears in vestan as Asha 3ahishta 0%ruthful 'ahishta1 *Sanskrit JsJ vestan JhJ+$

:B %he rivalry bet!een the families of 'edic Composers is !ell documented in the 'edas, the one bet!een 'ashishta and

'ish!amitra seems to have been particularly fierce$



A$ @ruhyu G$46$D

;$ )aktha G$46$G

$ ?halana

D$ lina

G$ Siva

6$ 'isanin

8$ Fatsya G$46$D

4B$ )uru

number of hymns in the Gth ?ook of the Rigveda deal !ith this battle:4$ %o briefly summari=e the

battle, Sudas is pitted against the horde of these 4B tribal kings, yet manages to defeat them by crossing

a river *)arusni+ that the rival armies could not successfully ford3 in addition the god Indra !as said to

himself have stepped in and intervened on the behalf of Sudas$ %he tribal armies !ere dro!ned or

slaughtered by the men of Sudas, numbering D, DDD in their casualties$ s it tends to be !ith the victor

!riting history, the tell of dead men on the side of ing Sudas is not given$ %he %en ings are given

the labels of dasa or dasyu, meaning that they !ere aya7yavah, or 0those that have not performed the

proper sacrifices1$ s !e discussed earlier, the e&act connotation of sacrifice is fairly ambiguous here,

as the !ord also can mean proper !orship or ritual$

%o return to our earlier suppositions, this battle of ten kings has interesting implications !hen

considering the divergence of the vestan and 'edic cultures$ #irst, the battle is said to have taken

place on opposite sides of a river$ Second, the rya and @asa distinction *sometimes hypothesi=ed to be

ryan @ravidian !arring::+ could likely be attributed to a priestly argument bet!een Indo-Iranian

priesthood on proper oblation, !ith one group preserving the tradition that !ould eventually come to be

:4 See R' (ymns 46, 48, and AA

:: See Encyclopedia ?ritannica, 44th Edition



the vesta, the other group the one that !ould eventually become the 'edas$ %his is lent validity !hen

you note that Indra, the god said to have lent aid to Sudas in the @asara<na *and in later 'edic %e&ts

eclipses gni *#ire+ as the Supreme /od+, is demoni=ed in the Kounger vesta$ %hese semantic shifts

coupled !ith the natural migration a!ay from eachother that t!o conflicting tribes are likely to do

!ould serve to e&plain the divergence of the 'edas and vesta and also the settlement of the 'edic

culture in the Indian Subcontinent$ .ater conflict !ith natives !ould perhaps serve to e&plain the

modern perception of the concept of dasyu, but at least the initial conflicts seem to be ryan upon

ryan$

“ndo-ranian &eferents ro' Be"ond The )inguistic &egion”

dding compelling evidence to Indo-Iranian residence or contact in pro&imity !ith natoliaJSyria is

the manual of ikkuli the Fittani, a Fittani horse trainer in the employ of the (ittites around the

period of the 5e! ingdom, the 4;th Century ?CE *Fallory AD-AG, Ra!ling 4+$ ikkuli uses the

follo!ing clearly Indic numerals to designate laps a horse makes around a track aika *4eka 0three1+,

tera *4tri 0three1+, an2a *4anca 0five1+, satta *4sata 0seven1+ and na *4nava 0nine+$ >ther (urrian

*the language of the Fittani+ te&ts have Indic !ords like marya *4marya 0!arrior1+ or babru *4babhru

bro!n+$ Fittani king in a treaty s!ears by the deities Indra, Fitra, and 'aruna *Fallory AD-G+$ %his

suggests contact !ith the Indo-Iranians in a region given in the follo!ing map



#igure A-4 Fap of the Fittani and their ad<acent neighbors, along !ith a reckoning of !here the

)roto Indo-Iranians *ryans here+ might have d!elt$ #rom $n Search of the $ndo1,uroeans$

#urther evidence to the idea of Indo-Iranian contact to!ards the region of natolia is found in the

(ittite Sins of +adu/atta dating to the 4th Century ?CE, !here the eponymous (ittite 9nderking

Fadu!atta is said to have been pursued by an ttariTTiya and nearly killed !ere it not for the

intervention of another ing$ ttariTTiya is said to be a (ittite rendition of the /reek UVXY *treus+,

but also has a similar sound to the name of a 'edic Composer, tri, said to be a famous sage and have a

rather large and prominent family, as !e see in the follo!ing subsection

9%n Attariiya and his may be %ri"ins9:

#rom !hat is kno!n about (ittite >rthography, !e can parse the name and attempt a hypothetical *and



hopefully some!hat phonologically sound+ reali=ation$

#irst off, (ittite orthography seemingly used the double consonant to note voiceless sounds, rather than

an actual double consonant in pronunciation$ #urthermore, (ittite orthography did not readily allo! for

consonant clusters and often appended vo!els to !ork around this, occasionally stripping consonant

clusters out entirely$ Conversely, vo!els !ere often represented by markings or left out, !ith needless

vo!els put in$

With these facts in mind, !e could analy=e the (ittite data thus

ttariTTiya

tariTiya *Removal of @ouble Consonants+

triTiya *Removal of OaO Epenthesis+

Jatrisi<aJ *(ypothetical Reali=ation+

%he above reali=ation has a parallel to a Sanskrit compound अत् िर - िरिसया *tri-Risiya+:A, meaning

HofJfrom the Sage triH *tri )5, Risiya FSC$S/$/E5 HofJfrom the sageH+$ %his !ould be poetically

reali=ed as HSon of triH$ pplying (ittite the earlier (ittite reductions in reverse, !e could also

account for the changes in >rthography

Jatririsi<aJ *Sanskrit Reali=ation+

Jatrisi<aJ *(ittite Reali=ation+"

atrisiya *Removal of >rthographic 'iolation+

:A As mentioned earlier! this /ould chronolo"ically fit! as the te.t is believed to date to the later arts of the ;<th Century *C,# This /ould be around /hen the 3edas /ere believed to be comosed! more secifically the Ri"veda /herein the

scholar Atri is first "iven name#



atarisiya *Second Removal of >rthographic 'iolation+

attarisiya *#irst doubling of Consonants, allo!s for alternate ttarTiya+

attarissiya *Second doubling of Consonants+

ttariTTiya *#inal (ittite >rthographic #orm+

#rom the analysis above, the idea of the ttarsiya of the (ittite te&t being someone affiliated !ith the

family of the scholar tri seems plausible:;$ /iven the references to places like Hindu/a and the river

Siyanta in the te&t *Sins of Fadu!atta+, the idea of Indic peoples living far beyond !here they are

thought to have becomes a possibility that certainly should be raised and investigated further$

“*oncluding &e'ar$s”:

%he sub<ect matter herein is likely !orthy of a number of far lengthier dissertations, particularly the

links of Indo-Iranian that might connect to the natolian region$ 5onetheless, !e have succeeded in

pointing out the !eaknesses in a number of theories by sho!ing !hat they fail to e&plain, and also in

raising a question from the facts that arose from e&plaining said !eakenesses$ Sadly, !e have not yet

managed to ans!er the question of !here e&actly the birthplace of the 'edas lay !ith certainty, but !e

have pointed out a clear possibility !ith plenty of room for further research and investigation$

:; Assumin" this Sanskrit Comound! either should be Helleni2ed as =>?@ BAtreus# Given the uncertain etymolo"y of the Hellenic name! it is even ossible that the Atreus of Homer and his house may have some ties to $ndic +yth thou"h

investi"ation /ithin this aer itself unfortunately "oes beyond our uroses s



#ources:

(istorical %e&ts %he Sins of Fadu!atta, %he vesta, %he 'edas, ikkuliOs (orse %rainers Fanual

?ryant, Ed!in$ The Euest for the %ri"ins of 3edic Culture: The $ndo1Aryan +i"ration Debate# >&ford9niversity )ress :BB4%rautmann, %homas$ The Aryan Debate# >&ford 9niversity )ress :BBFallory, 2)$ $n Search of the $ndo1,uroeans 488GFallory, 2)$ &-amna Culture'! ,ncycloedia of $ndo1,uroean Culture$ #it=roy @earborn, 488G%he Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopedia ?ritannicaahn, Charles$8orld History: Societies of the Past $ )ortage P Fain )ress$ :BB

Sturtevant, Edgar ($ A Comarative Grammar of the Hittite Lan"ua"e$ 5e! (aven and .ondon, Kale9niversity )ress$ 484$Feier-?rNgger, Fichael$ $ndo ,uroean Lin"uistics$ Walter de /ruyter /mb( P Co$ , /, ?erlin$:BBA

a=anas, 5$ A Fe/ Date for the Ri" 3eda# >melos Feliton, :BB4

%alageri, Shrikant /$ The Ri" 3eda: A Historical Analysis$ @ate of )ublishing Fissing, >nline 'ersion

*httpJJ!!!$tri-murti$comJancientindiaJrig(istoryJinde&Rig(ist$htm +2ackson, braham 'alentine Williams$ An Avesta Grammar in Comarison /ith Sanskrit and the

Avestan Alhabet and its Transcrition$ W$ ohlhammer, Stuttgart$ 468:Wit=el, Fichael$ The Home of the Aryans# (arvard 9niversity )ress$*httpJJ!!!$people$fas$harvard$eduJZ!it=elJryan(ome$pdf +Facdonnel P eith$ 3edic $nde. of Fames and Sub7ects$ 486 *Reprint+?urro!, %$ The Sanskrit Lan"ua"e$ Fotilal ?anarsidass )ubl$ :BB4Surhone, .ambert F$, %ennoe, Fariam %$, (enssono!, Susan #$ H)roto-Indo-Iranian ReligionH *:B4B+#rom the Encyclopedia Iranica Class System httpJJ!!!$iranicaonline$orgJarticlesJclass-system-i)arpola, sko$ HStudy of the Indus scriptH, %ransactions of the Bth International Conference of Eastern

Studies, %okyo %he %h /akkai, pp$ :67DD$ :BB

(a!kins, 2$ @$ %he r=a!a .etters in Recent )erspective, *ritish +useum Studies in Ancient ,"ytand Sudan# 4;, pp$ GA-6A *:BB8+

nthony, @$W$ The Horse! The 8heel! and Lan"ua"e: Ho/ *ron2e A"e Riders from The ralic

Stees Shaed the 8orld# :BBG#ortson, ?en<amin$ $ndo1,uroean Lan"ua"e and Culture: An $ntroduction# :BB;

http://www.tri-murti.com/ancientindia/rigHistory/indexRigHist.htm

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/AryanHome.pdf

http://www.tri-murti.com/ancientindia/rigHistory/indexRigHist.htm

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/AryanHome.pdf

Documents

Birthplace of the Vedas