The Elusive Aryans

The Elusive Aryans PDF

Author: Shrinivas Vasudeo Pradhan

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2014-08-11

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1443865923

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The question of the original home of the Aryans and their migrations to India is only part of the problem of their “elusiveness.” Their subsequent assimilation and nativization in India also contributed to this elusive quality. This socio-cultural process can be traced through a study of their gods, rituals, and philosophy. Thus changes in the nature and function of Ṛgvedic gods; the appearance of upstart gods in the late Ṛgvedic period; the elaboration of the soma ritual with elaborate supplementary rituals; the introduction of the new ritual of Agnicayana; the rise of the eschatology of “punarjanma” (rebirth) and “saṁsāra” (eternal return) based on “karma”; and the ideal of “mukti”, or liberation from life, in place of the former ideal of a life of “śaradaḥ śatam” (a hundred autumns) are symptoms of, as well as a witness to, the transformation of the original identity of the Aryans as revealed in the Family Books of the Ṛgveda. This cultural transformation is no less significant than the “Yakṣa praṣṇa” (knotty question) of their original home and their “indubitable” archaeological traces. The book addresses itself to both these questions, and, for that purpose, takes another look at some of the archaeological material and Aryan life and thought as reflected in Vedic literature.

The Elusive Aryans

The Elusive Aryans PDF

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13:

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Annotation The question of the original home of the Aryans and their migrations to India is only part of the problem of their "elusiveness." Their subsequent assimilation and nativization in India also contributed to this elusive quality. This socio-cultural process can be traced through a study of their gods, rituals, and philosophy. Thus changes in the nature and function of ásgvedic gods; the appearance of upstart gods in the late ásgvedic period; the elaboration of the soma ritual with elaborate supplementary rituals; the introduction of the new ritual of Agnicayana; the rise of the eschatology of "punarjanma" (rebirth) and "saáusÄura" (eternal return) based on "karma"; and the ideal of "mukti", or liberation from life, in place of the former ideal of a life of "Å>aradaá Å>atam" (a hundred autumns) are symptoms of, as well as a witness to, the transformation of the original identity of the Aryans as revealed in the Family Books of the ásgveda. This cultural transformation is no less significant than the "Yaká£a praá£á++a" (knotty question) of their original home and their "indubitable" archaeological traces. The book addresses itself to both these questions, and, for that purpose, takes another look at some of the archaeological material and Aryan life and thought as reflected in Vedic literature.

Looking for the Aryans

Looking for the Aryans PDF

Author: Ram Sharan Sharma

Publisher: Orient Blackswan

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 9788125006312

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Who were the Aryans? Where did they come from? Did they always live in India? The Aryan problem has been attracting fresh attention in academic, social and political arenas. This book identifies the main traits of Aryan culture and follows the spread of their cultural markers. Using the latest archaeological evidence and the earliest known Indo-European inscriptions on the social and economic features of Aryan society, the distinguished historian, R. S. Sharma, throws fresh light on the current debate on whether or not the Aryans were the indigenous inhabitants of India. This book is essential reading for those interested in the history of India and its culture.

The Aryans

The Aryans PDF

Author: Madhukar Keshav Dhavalikar

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13:

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Illustrations: 20 B/w Illustrations and 8 Maps Description: Book: The Aryans: Myth And Archaeology The Aryan problem is probably the most controversial in human history. Numerous scholars have attempted to trace the homeland of Vedic Aryans but no solutions is in sight in spite of the vast mass of literature. However, archaeological evidence of great significance has recently become available which throws a flood of light on the problem as it corroborates to a considerable extent the literary testimony and is even supported by that of the human skeletal biology. It has therefore become possible to locate the original homeland of the Aryan, the period of their migrations, the data of the composition of Rgveda, the flowering of the Vedic culture and finally their diaspora in different directions, not only in India but beyond its frontiers. The study thus represents a unique blend of the archaeological, literary and anthropological evidence. About Author : M.K. Dhavalikar was formerly Professor of Archaeology and Director, Deccan College Post-Graduate Research Institute, Pune. He has carried out several excavations in different parts of the country and his publications include: Cultural Imperialism: Indus Civilization in Western India (1994), Indian Protohistory (1997), Historical Archaeology of India (1999), Environment and Culture: A Historical Perspective (2002), and Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, Vol. III (in press), besides excavation reports. Contents : List of Figures Preface Abbreviations Elusive Aryans Culture of the Rgveda Archaeological Traces of the Aryans Ancestros of Vedic Aryans Aryan Diaspora Bibliography Index The Aryan problem is probably the most controversial in human history. Numerous scholars have attempted to trace the homeland of Vedic Aryans but no solutions is in sight in spite of the vast mass of literature. However, archaeological evidence of great significance has recently become available which throws a flood of light on the problem as it corroborates to a considerable extent the literary testimony and is even supported by that of the human skeletal biology. It has therefore become possible to locate the original homeland of the Aryan, the period of their migrations, the data of the composition of Rgveda, the flowering of the Vedic culture and finally their diaspora in different directions, not only in India but beyond its frontiers. The study thus represents a unique blend of the archaeological, literary and anthropological evidence. About Author : M.K. Dhavalikar was formerly Professor of Archaeology and Director, Deccan College Post-Graduate Research Institute, Pune. He has carried out several excavations in different parts of the country and his publications include: Cultural Imperialism: Indus Civilization in Western India (1994), Indian Protohistory (1997), Historical Archaeology of India (1999), Environment and Culture: A Historical Perspective (2002), and Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, Vol. III (in press), besides excavation reports. Contents : List of Figures Preface Abbreviations Elusive Aryans Culture of the Rgveda Archaeological Traces of the Aryans Ancestros of Vedic Aryans Aryan Diaspora Bibliography Index

The Problem of Aryan Origins from an Indian Point of View

The Problem of Aryan Origins from an Indian Point of View PDF

Author: Kaikhushru Dhunjibhoy Sethna

Publisher:

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 474

ISBN-13:

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This volume takes up ?from an Indian Point of View? a cluster of important historical questions about India?s most ancient past and formulates fresh answers to them in great detail with the temper of a scrupulous scholar.This edition, extensively enlarged with five supplements,demonstrates for the period after 1980 at still greater length ? with the same tools of widespread scholarship the validity of the first edition?s thesis.

Aryans, Jews, Brahmins

Aryans, Jews, Brahmins PDF

Author: Dorothy M. Figueira

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0791487830

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In Aryans, Jews, Brahmins, Dorothy M. Figueira provides a fascinating account of the construction of the Aryan myth and its uses in both India and Europe from the Enlightenment to the twentieth century. The myth concerns a race that inhabits a utopian past and gives rise first to Brahmin Indian culture and then to European culture. In India, notions of the Aryan were used to develop a national identity under colonialism, one that allowed Indian elites to identify with their British rulers. It also allowed non-elites to set up a counter identity critical of their position in the caste system. In Europe, the Aryan myth provided certain thinkers with an origin story that could compete with the Biblical one and could be used to diminish the importance of the West's Jewish heritage. European racial hygienists made much of the myth of a pure Aryan race, and the Nazis later looked at India as a cautionary tale of what could happen if a nation did not remain "pure." As Figueira demonstrates, the history of the Aryan myth is also a history of reading, interpretation, and imaginative construction. Initially, the ideology of the Aryan was imposed upon absent or false texts. Over time, it involved strategies of constructing, evoking, or distorting the canon. Each construction of racial identity was concerned with key issues of reading: canonicity, textual accessibility, interpretive strategies of reading, and ideal readers. The book's cross-cultural investigation demonstrates how identities can be and are created from texts and illuminates an engrossing, often disturbing history that arose from these creations.

Ancient Pakistan - An Archaeological History

Ancient Pakistan - An Archaeological History PDF

Author: Mukhtar Ahmed

Publisher: Amazon

Published: 2014-10-18

Total Pages: 477

ISBN-13: 1496082087

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This is the fourth volume of the Ancient Pakistan - An Archaeological History. It deals with a number of issues of the Indus Civilization, which are primarily of theoretical importance. The main topics that have been discussed are the social and political organization of the Harappan society, the Harappan religion, the Indus script and language, the beginning and the end of this vast civilization, and the recent attempts in creating some myths around the Indus Civilization. Since this volume is primarily dedicated to the theoretical and the abstract, descriptive material is kept to a minimum.

Origin of Hindu Second Part Arya Never Was Aryan

Origin of Hindu Second Part Arya Never Was Aryan PDF

Author: Dibyendu Chakraborty

Publisher: BookRix

Published: 2021-04-12

Total Pages: 163

ISBN-13: 3748762747

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It has been observed in the previous book titled ‘Origin of Hindu √ The Name’ that the dictum of going, moving forward became the central tenet of a huge number of human beings who essentially were the residents of India. Those people were termed as Hindu. Even when the root of that concept is logically proven, then also a question crops up and remains unanswered. Why did the act of going, moving forward become so important that a large number of people needed to accept it as the guiding principle of their lives? No tangible evidence has been found of any coercive actions on the part of the propagators of that way of life, not even in the folklores or in the legends. The adherence in all probability was voluntary and self-imposed. For that happening, two broad categories of influences may be credited to: physical and/or cerebral. The physical environment of the land in reference was set by the actions and interactions of the geological forces. Cerebral input must have come from some knowledge base. Structured and recorded knowledge base that is unique to India is found in the Vedas and its annotations. The period, during which the geological timeline shows that that land was becoming ready for human inhabitation, was the time around which the trace of the oldest literature of that land may be found. A little later, the world came to know about the existence of a human settlement in that land, which was more splendorous than anything known to the Greeks, who were the most advanced ones in the known world up to that time. This book finds the relationship between the geological formation of the Ganga Plain and the propagation of a new way of life that would be known as ‘Hindu’ religion in later time. It has been established that the word ‘Arya’ is a Sanskrit word that means ‘the son of the Rishi’ and no large human movement that may be termed as invasion, migration etc. needed to be introduced to explain what have happened in that land duri