birthplace of the vedas
TRANSCRIPT
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The Birthplace of the Vedas
Rudra Chakraborty
Honors Thesis
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“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$
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%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
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rise to a great deal of racially loaded rhetoric and unfortunately yet undeniably pre<udiced research
promoting /ermanic Superiority, !hich !e do not e£ 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$
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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
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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
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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$
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>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
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theories, as !e have already detailed in part and shall e£ 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
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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
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/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$
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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+
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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&le, 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
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/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
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%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&le 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
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*@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$
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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
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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
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#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
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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#
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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 $ndic +yth thou"h
investi"ation /ithin this aer itself unfortunately "oes beyond our uroses s
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#ources:
(istorical %e&ts %he Sins of Fadu!atta, %he vesta, %he 'edas, ikkuliOs (orse %rainers Fanual
?ryant, Ed!in$ 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;