2.5 Conclusion

2. Astronomical data and the Aryan question

2.5. CONCLUSION

The astronomical lore in Vedic literature provides elements of an absolute chronology in a consistent way. For what it is worth, this corpus of astronomical indications suggests that the Rg-Veda was completed in the 4th millennium AD, that the core text of the Mahabharata was composed at the end of that millennium, and that the Brahmanas and Sutras are products of the high Harappan period towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC. This corpus of evidence is hard to reconcile with the AIT, and has been standing as a growing challenge to the AIT defenders for two centuries.

Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate

Koenraad Elst

Chapters

Preface 1.1 Politicizing a Linguistic Theory 1.2 The Aryan Invasion Theory in Indian Politics 1.3 Politicization as an Obstacle to Research 1.4 A Case Study in AIT Polemic 1.5 Some Red Herrings 1.6 Conclusion 2.1 Dating the Rg-Veda 2.2 Ancient Hindu Astronomy 2.3 The Precession of the Equinox 2.4 Additional Astronomical Indications 2.5 Conclusion 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Origin of the Linguistic Argument 3.3 Direct Geographical Clues 3.4 Exchanges with other Languages Families 3.5 Conclusion 4.1 Demographical common sense 4.2 Textual Evidence 4.3 Where did the Kurgan People come from? 4.4 The Horse Evidence 4.5 Vedic Aryans in West Asia 4.6 Memory of the Urheimat 4.7 Indra and Shiva 4.8 Invasionist terms in the Vedas 4.9 The Evidence from physical anthropology 5.1 A Remarkable book 5.2 Evidence provided by physical anthropology 5.3 The Archaeological Evidence 5.4 Linguistic Arguments 5.5 The Evidence from Comparative Religion 5.6 Conclusion 6.1 Some false problems 6.2 Things to do 6.3 The Non-invasionist Model