Dr N S Rajaram Speaks on Genetics and Migration in History

[Guest guest]

Dr. N. S. Rajaram Speaks on Genetics and Migration in History in Bangalore

Press Release

 

BANGALORE, INDIA, March 31, 2004: Dr. N. S. Rajaram sends this summary of

his coming talk on "Genetics on Migrations in History" at the Mythic

Society, Nripatunga Road, Bangalore, 560 001, on Friday, April 2 at 6:00 pm.

 

As George Santayana said: "History is always written wrong, it needs always

to be rewritten. But first we need to identify the people who gave rise to

the history.

 

When we examine the accounts of ancient India as given in history books

still in use against the background of empirical data and the primary

(literary) sources, we find fundamental mismatches between data and

historical theories. These mismatches are both qualitative and quantitative.

 

Qualitative mismatches

1. There is no archaeological record of any invasion and/or massive

migration from Eurasia in the Vedic period. If anything we find traces of

movement in the opposite direction-- to West Asia and even Europe.

2. The geography described in the Rigveda corresponds to North India in the

fourth millennium BC and earlier and not Europe or Eurasia.

3. The flora and fauna described in the Vedic literature, especially those

found in the sacred symbols, are tropical and subtropical varieties and not

temperate or from the steppes.

4. The climate corresponds to that found in North India.

 

Quantitative mismatches:

 

There is huge time gap--exceeding a thousand years--between the dates

assigned to significant features and what we actually find. These include:

1. Indian writing is supposed to be based on borrowings from the

Phoenicians, but the Indus (Harappan) writing is more than a thousand years

older than the oldest Phoenician examples known.

2. Naturalistic art with realistic depictions is supposed to have been

brought to India by the Greeks, but we find superb realistic depictions in

Harappan remains. As John Marshall said: "The Indus artist anticipated the

Greek artist by more than 2000 years."

3. Indian astronomy is claimed to be a borrowing from the Greeks, but the

Vedanga Jyotisha cannot be dated later than the 14th century BC. The name

Vedanga indicates it is later than the Vedas, so the astronomical references

in the Vedas must be older.

4. Migrations: The major migration or invasion is supposed to have taken

place after 2000 BC, but the genetic evidence shows that the people of India

have lived where they are for tens of thousands of years.

 

It is clear that we need a serious re-examination of history-- both of the

chronology and the descriptive accounts. Two fundamental tasks suggest

themselves: (1) establishing independent chronological markers that connect

literary accounts and physical features; (2) determining the identity of the

people of India on scientific grounds, independent historical and/or

linguistic theories. The present talk will address the second question-- on

what recent findings in population genetics have to say about the origin and

identity of Indians.

 

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