Mental subjugation

Sir, - Please permit me to comment upon the `distortions' pointed out by Mr. M.R.A. Xavier (letter, Nov. 25). He calls my assertion ``Aryans are indigenous people'' to be factually distorted.

Well let me put the record straight. At least for us Indians, for thousands of years we have lived here and we never had any such doubts in our minds till the mid-nineteenth century, when some European scholars told us that we too were outsiders. Our folklore, our classical literature and even the Vedas, a product of Aryan thought, do not carry any reference to this.

Hence our traditional history was thus supplanted by a few European scholars; if at all any distortion has occurred which needs to be corrected, it is this. Whether they had any political motive in doing so or not, it definitely helped in giving legitimacy to the British rule here.

Anybody questioning this could be retorted: yes, we are outsiders, so are you (today the same logic is being put forward by Christian missionaries and Islamists).

I personally feel, though we had been vanquished long ago, our mental subjugation started at this point of time.

This was so overwhelming that when Harappan excavations came to light no Indian scholar worth the name dared relating it to the Vedic period. Any self-respecting nation would have done this by default, but our own self-deprecation didn't allow this.

Since Mr. Xavier quotes from a few Western scholars, I wish to submit that there are an equal number of them who have successfully challenged the `Aryan invasion theory' (eminent archaeologists like Mr. Jim Shaffer, Mr. Mark Kenoyer). Even scholars who had earlier held this view have started questioning it (for eg. Mrs. Malati Shengde, an eminent historian).

As far as decipherment by Jha-Rajaram duo is concerned, several scholars have hailed it to have successfully unravelled the mystery of Indus Seals. (see Puratatva, an Indian journal of archaeology).

Finally, Mr. Xavier refers to an old argument that Dravidians were the original inhabitants of Indus Valley. The latest scientific research (referred to in my earlier letter also) on Mitochondrial DNA, the findings of which are now available, clearly demonstrates that no such Aryan-Dravidian divide exists and it has revealed that Indians as a whole share almost a common genetic lineage.

S. N. Krishna Prasad,

Bangalore

Sir, - This refers to the letter ``Distortion of fact'' by Mr. Xavier. It is unfortunate that those who hold the Aryan invasion theory as genuine are happy to call others who dispute this theory as fraud. When arguments fail, abuses begin.

Aryans or the Vedic people never came to India from outside. They were part and parcel of Indian society in all places in India.

The world's most ancient literature and grammar book in Tamil is Tholkappiam. As per late C. N. Annadurai the age of Tholkappiam is more than 5000 years. In that book there are lots of references to the existence of Vedic people along with their rituals and their Varna classification of society.

Dr. N. S. Rajaram after making scientific studies of the Harappan artefacts has come to the conclusion that Harappan civilisation is indeed indigenous Vedic civilisation.

K. Ramani,

Chennai

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