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For the first time in a single volume, this book presents the various arguments in the Indo-Aryan controversy. It also provides a kind of template for the basic issues involved in the debates by addressing four major areas. First, archaeologists focus on some of the recent findings and arguments in archaeological research, particularly the issue of the relationships between the Indus Valley and Aryan settlements. These articles strongly imply that there was more continuity between the two civilizations than has been assumed in previous work, but not enough evidence to establish a definitive scholarly consensus that the Indus civilization was actually Aryan. Second, scholars take on some of the linguistic issues in the debate, particularly those of linguistic borrowing and parent languages. The debate here rests on whether the traditional rules of linguistic derivation for Indo-European languages can really allow for the possibility of origins of Aryan languages within India. Moreover, authors debate whether contact between Aryan and non-Aryan languages (such as Dravidian or Munda) involves subsuming of one language by the dominant language, or mutual contact between those languages. Third, philological scholars take up the related concerns of interpretation of Vedic texts in their historical contexts. These involve the interpretation of astronomical data for the dating of the Veda, as well as geographical references in Vedic texts. Finally, intellectual historians contribute histories of the debates, and assessments of the state of the current arguments and their ideological roots. They stress the ways in which the theories remain influenced by the political currents, both in theearly debates in the nineteenth century as well as today. The volume ends with a plea for a return to civility in the debates which have become increasingly, and unproductively, politicized, and suggests a program of research and inquiry upon which scholars from all sides of the debate might embark.
Show moreFor the first time in a single volume, this book presents the various arguments in the Indo-Aryan controversy. It also provides a kind of template for the basic issues involved in the debates by addressing four major areas. First, archaeologists focus on some of the recent findings and arguments in archaeological research, particularly the issue of the relationships between the Indus Valley and Aryan settlements. These articles strongly imply that there was more continuity between the two civilizations than has been assumed in previous work, but not enough evidence to establish a definitive scholarly consensus that the Indus civilization was actually Aryan. Second, scholars take on some of the linguistic issues in the debate, particularly those of linguistic borrowing and parent languages. The debate here rests on whether the traditional rules of linguistic derivation for Indo-European languages can really allow for the possibility of origins of Aryan languages within India. Moreover, authors debate whether contact between Aryan and non-Aryan languages (such as Dravidian or Munda) involves subsuming of one language by the dominant language, or mutual contact between those languages. Third, philological scholars take up the related concerns of interpretation of Vedic texts in their historical contexts. These involve the interpretation of astronomical data for the dating of the Veda, as well as geographical references in Vedic texts. Finally, intellectual historians contribute histories of the debates, and assessments of the state of the current arguments and their ideological roots. They stress the ways in which the theories remain influenced by the political currents, both in theearly debates in the nineteenth century as well as today. The volume ends with a plea for a return to civility in the debates which have become increasingly, and unproductively, politicized, and suggests a program of research and inquiry upon which scholars from all sides of the debate might embark.
Show moreIntroduction Part 1: Archaeology 1. Culture Change During the Late Harappan Period at Harappa: New Insights on Vedic Aryan Issues 2. Aryan Invasion of India: Perpetuation of a Myth 3. South Asian Archaeology and the Myth of Indo-Aryan Invasions Part 2: Archaeology and Linguistics 4. The Cultural Counterparts to Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Uralic and Proto-Aryan: matching the Dispersal and Contact Patterns in the Linguistic and Archaeological Record 5. Archaeology and Language: The Case of the Bronze Age Indo-Iranians Part 3: Philology and Linguistics 6. The Date of the Rigveda and the Aryan Migration (Fresh Linguistic Evidence) 7. Linguistic Aspects of the Aryan Non-Invasion Theory 8. Philology and the Historical Interpretation of the Vedic Texts 9. Vedic Astronomy and Early Indian Chronology 10. The Textual Evidence: The Rigveda as a Source of Indo-European History 11. Indocentrism: Autochthonous Visions of Ancient India Part 4: Historiography 12. Aryan Origins: Arguments from 19th Century Maharashtra 13. Aryan Past and Post-Colonial Present: The Polemics and Politics of Indigenous Aryanism. Concluding Remarks
Edwin F. Bryant graduated from Columbia
University in 1997, where he taught Sanskrit and Hindi. He was the
lecturer in Hinduism at Harvard University for three years, and is
presently assistant professor in Hinduism at Rutgers University,
New Jersey. His publications include books on The Indo-Aryan
Invasion Debate and Hinduism.
Laurie L. Patton is Professor of Early Indian
Religions at Emory University and Winship Distinguished Research
Professor in the Humanities. She is the author of two books and
twenty five articles on early Indian myth and poetry, as well as a
book of poetry and a translation of the Bhagavad Gita.
'In her excellent introduction, coeditor Laurie Patton provides...a summary of the key issues involved in the debate...This monograph is an important step toward reappraising this field of enquiry and generating, as Patton suggests in her introduction, the sort of questions that could lead to rethinking the available evidence and structuring new field research.' - Traditional Yoga Studies
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