Frontline – August 02, 2019

BOOKSin review

E

VERsincesimilarities
betweenSanskritand
the classical Europeanlan-
guages,namelyGreekand
Latin,werenoticedanda
commonorigin for their
speakers wasproposed,the
“Aryans”werelookedupon
as foundationalto Indian
civilisation.Thetheoryof
the“Aryanrace”hasbeen
mostconvenient to nearly
everybody. The colonial
mastersusedit to justify
theirruleoverIndia.It was
somethinglikeasoothing
ointment for the newly
emerging Indian middle
class,whichwaslickingthe
woundsof colonialdegrad-
ation. Keshub Chandra
Senwentto theextentof
describingthecomingof
theEnglish to Indiaas a
“reunionofpartedcous-
ins”.Forthenationalists,
the “wonder” that was
“Aryan”India,withall that
theSanskritlanguagehad
produced,wassomething
to whichtheycouldturn
for inspiration.
In regional politics,
too, it was useful: the
Dravidian movement in
Madras presidency drew
its sustenancelargelyfrom
thetheoryof the“Aryan
race”andits “other”,the
Dravidiangreatness.The
Dalit movement spear-
headedby MahatmaPhule
usedit to showhowthe in-
vading“Aryans”haddis-
possessed the rightful

one side, therewas no

denyingthe nationalismof

Tilak;on the other,itwas a

happythingto losethe ori-

ginalhomeof the precious

“Aryans”, even if it was

Tilakwhocausedit. M.S.

Golwalkarfoundaway out:

the Arctic, the original

homeof the“Aryans”,was

in India, in theregionof

modernOdishaandBihar.

It wastheNorthPolethat

tookazigzagcoursein a

northerly direction while

the Aryans stayed back!

Howdo youlikeit?

Thefirst jolt to the idea

that the “Aryans” were

foundational to Indian

civilisation came when

evidenceofthe Harappan

civilisation was brought

out in the 1920s.It wasnot

only“non-Aryan”butalso

“pre-Aryan”.Whilethe dis-

coverywascelebrated by

many,includingthosewho

lookeduponthe “Aryan”as

invaderswhodispossessed

therightfulownersofthe

land,thosewhoinsistedon

the “Aryan”foundationsof

Indiancivilisationstarted

graduallyfeeling uncom-

fortable.Theylookedfor

waysto claimtheHarap-

pan civilisation for the

“Aryans”.To beginwith,it

wasonlyafad that would

bringasmileto the reader’s

face, but eventually, the

comicalitywithwhichthe

Arctic home thesis was

tweaked repeated itself:

computer-enhancedim-

agesof thehorsestarted

turningup and Sanskrit

wasreadin theHarappan

seals, literally, left and

right. Depending on the

partyin power,theGov-

ernment of India spent

hugesumsofmoneyin at-

temptsto provethatit was

notIndusValleycivilisa-

tion(whyshouldyouhand

it overto those horrible

Pakistanis?) butSarasvati

Valleycivilisation(authen-

ticallyIndian, claimingan-

tiquity from the Vedic

literature)and,therefore,

“Aryan”.Onethingabout

thatdiscourse is clear:In-

diancivilisation owesitself

to the“Aryans”andthat

the “Aryans”are,to the last

person,bornandraisedin

India.If yousaidanything

different,youwouldbe an

anti-national.

Tony Joseph’s Early

ownersof the land.Athe-

ory”thatexplainednearly

everythingwas,by defini-

tion,an impeccabletheory.

Theonlydifficultythat

asectionof theadvocates

of the greatness of the

“Aryan”in Indiasawwas

thattheycamefromout-

side:howcanit be thatthe

foundationsofIndian

civilisation were impor-

ted?Forthosewhoinsisted

thatthepitrubhumiand

punyabhumiof all authen-

tic Indians should lie

withinthe nationalbound-

aries—pray, which na-

tion?—it was

self-defeatingto saythat

the“Aryans”,supposed to

be the buildersof the great

civilisation,wereoutsiders

likethe Muslims.

Therewasadilemma

whenBal GangadharTilak

wrote about the Arctic

Homeof the Vedas:on the

Of India’s geneticroots

wnersofthelandA“the one s

Aremarkablyaccessiblebookabouttheethnicfoundationsof the

Indianpeople,densewithevidencefromarchaeology,linguistics,

ancienttextsandtherecentstudyof ancientgenes.BYKESAVANVELUTHAT

EarlyIndians

TheStoryofOur

AncestorsandWhere

WeCameFrom

ByTonyJoseph

JuggernautBooks,

2018

Pages: 288

Price:Rs.699