In my post a few months ago, I had written about why Indus Valley Civilization be better termed as Saraswathi-Sindhu Civilization, and it’s relation with the people who composed the Vedas.
Recently, I listened to a lecture of Dr R Ganesh on the topic of the Myth of Aryan Invasion – A myth that was the brainchild of colonialists of the 19th century to best suit their beliefs of those times – but unfortunately carried down even to this day, when all the scientific evidence shows otherwise.
This lecture was held at Rasadhwani Kalakendra, Benagluru, and I thank the organizers for agreeing to share the recording. The lecture is in Kannada and runs for about two hours.
Here is a link to to download the lecture for your listening pleasure. : The Myth of the Aryan Invasion of India by Shataavadhani Dr R Ganesh
If you have Google Chrome Apps such as DriveTunes or TwistedWave, you can listen to the lecture online as well from the same link.
You can get in touch with the people at Rasadhwani Kalakendra at rasadhwani.kalakendra@gmail.com, or by going to their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/rasadhwani.kalakendra) for information about their future
events and lectures.
Here is a video link for the lecture:
-neelanjana
10 comments
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ಜುಲೈ 25, 2013 at 8:42 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
Shiva Bhat
Thank you very much. I will listen to it later, as it will need more time and attention.
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ಜುಲೈ 26, 2013 at 1:38 ಫೂರ್ವಾಹ್ನ
CanTHeeRava
hello neelanjana, It is true that geological evidence has pointed towards the existence of an ancient river in the Thar landscape. That does not prove anything. The Indus valley cilvization vanished at least 1000 years before the Veda period. There was no contact between the two. The question of aryan invasion (if it did or didn’t happen) is irrelevant to Indus discussions. Veda is not the most ancient written text in the world. That is absurd.
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ಜುಲೈ 29, 2013 at 10:30 ಫೂರ್ವಾಹ್ನ
Pramod
Reddit has history experts. We can post our questions to this “hive mid” forum
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians
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ಜುಲೈ 30, 2013 at 11:56 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
neelanjana
CanTHeRava,
If the geological evidence of the river matches a textual tradition, then that is a strong pointer to say that the texts were composed when the river was in existence. How can you come to the conclusion that Indus valley civilization vanished a thousand years before Vedas? Are you going by Max Muller’s dating? Come on ! We all know how ‘scientifically’ he came to those conclusions.
As far as I know, vedas are the most ancient surviving text – but I can stand corrected if you tell me what else dates before them!
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ಆಗಷ್ಟ್ 3, 2013 at 2:09 ಫೂರ್ವಾಹ್ನ
CanTHeeRava
Well what can I say! Have you heard of the mesapatonian epic called Gilgamesh? it is just one among many texts that predates Vedic period by a many hundreds of years. I don’t understand the urge in some people (including some experts) to rewrite Indian history to make it the most ancient living culture. I am sorry, it is not so and I don’t think it diminishes its richness because of that. It is true that some form of civilized human life has colonised the subcontinental landscape for at least 3000 years (mind you I use subcontinent and not India) but it was not a single lineage. There were many. Some overlapped, some came in succession, some interacted and many did not know the others’ existence. If you can get hold of it, read a leading story on Indus valley civilization published in Frontline sometime in the year 2000. It highlights the lunacy of some so called experts. I don’t go by names.
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ಆಗಷ್ಟ್ 7, 2013 at 12:31 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
neelanjana
CanTHeeRava,
Gilgamesh coming before Veda texts is hinged upon the 1500 BC dating for Veda. And that is the crux of the matter.
I am not one of those who would like to make India the oldest living culture. If that is true, so be it – but that does not make a huge difference. Also, whether you use the word “subcontinent” or India, it does not make a huge difference either. We all know the boundaries were drawn rather recently.
I definitely recall reading the Frontline article you mention – Additionally I have read much more that what that article covered. And, I don’t go by names either. Be it Max Muller/Mike Witzel/Romila Thapar or Mike Danino/Narahari Achar/R Ganesh!
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ಆಗಷ್ಟ್ 7, 2013 at 7:35 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
CanTHeeRava
The word ‘subcontinent’ just implies that there was no single civilization. Boundaries or no boundaries the land where modern nations (India and co) exist, has always been a laboratory of cultural invention and synthesis. I am glad atleast we agree that Vedas need not be the most ancient text.
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ಅಕ್ಟೋಬರ್ 21, 2014 at 5:43 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
Kaushik
The link to audio files is broken. Can you please upload the files again?
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ಮಾರ್ಚ್ 21, 2016 at 4:05 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
Indus Civilization – A Book Review | ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ
[…] https://neelanjana.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/the-myth-of-aryan-invasion/ […]
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ಮಾರ್ಚ್ 21, 2016 at 4:34 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
neelanjana
Here is a video link for the lecture:
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