Genetics Deliver Another Blow to Battered Aryan-Dravidian Theory

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Genetics Deliver Another Blow to Battered Aryan-Dravidian Theory

 

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Aryan-Dravidian-divide-a-myth-Study/articleshow/5053274.cms

HYDERABAD,

INDIA, September 25, 2009: The great Indian divide along north-south

lines now stands even more blurred. A pathbreaking study by Harvard and

indigenous researchers on ancestral Indian populations says there is a

genetic relationship between all Indians and more importantly, the

hitherto believed theory that Aryans and Dravidians signify the

ancestry of north and south Indians might after all, be a myth.

 

“This paper rewrites history… there is no north-south divide,†said

Lalji Singh, former director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular

Biology (CCMB) and a co-author of the study.

 

Senior CCMB scientist Kumarasamy Thangarajan said there was no

truth to the Aryan-Dravidian theory as they came hundreds or thousands

of years after the ancestral north and south Indians had settled in

India.

 

The study analysed 500,000 genetic markers across the genomes of

132 individuals from 25 diverse groups from 13 states. All the

individuals were from six-language families and traditionally diverse

castes and tribal groups. “The genetics proves that castes grew

directly out of tribe-like organizations during the formation of the

Indian society,†said Thangarajan, who noted that it was impossible to

distinguish between castes and tribes since their genetics proved they

were not systematically different.

 

The study was conducted by CCMB scientists in collaboration with

researchers at Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health

and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. It reveals that the

present-day Indian population is a mix of ancient north and south

bearing the genomic contributions from two distinct ancestral

populations - the Ancestral North Indian (ANI) and the Ancestral South

Indian (ASI) — both indigenous to the sucontinent.

“The initial settlement took place 65,000 years ago in the Andamans

and in ancient south India around the same time, which led to

population growth in this part,†said Thangarajan. He added, “At a

later stage, 40,000 years ago, the ancient north Indians emerged which

in turn led to rise in numbers here. But at some point of time, the

ancient north and the ancient south mixed, giving birth to a different

set of population. And that is the population which exists now.â€

 

This finding could challenge the prevailing view of a northern

route of migration of man out of Africa via Middle East, Europe,

south-east Asia, Australia and then to India.