Aryans: Migrants, Invaders, or Indigenes?

A Deep Dive with Genetics, Epigraphy, Zoology, Hydrology, and Astronomy

No other population group inspires the amount of ideological, social, and political hostility that the Aryans do. This is even discounting the uninvited genocidal connotations slapped to the name during WWII. The hot button here is its Urheimat or homeland. Hindu nationalists place it in India, their ideological adversaries, outside. An Indian homeland means they originated here and radiated outward, the Out of India Theory or OIT. A foreign homeland means they originated elsewhere and entered India either violently, the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT), or peacefully, the Aryan Migration Theory (AMT). AIT is no longer of import, hasn’t been for a while now ever since they discarded it in favor of AMT. Which leaves us with OIT and AMT. So which of the two is it? Without prejudice or ideological investment, let’s find out.

We shall start with paleogenetics, the study of prehistoric genetic artifacts. Among all the things that could settle the debate, this is the newest. And the most decisive, for genes don’t lie. One thing that evolves just like us living beings is language. Naturally, an examination of linguistics can offer a mighty useful clue in our search, so that’s what we’ll look at next. In the same vein, the next smoking gun we’ll examine is literature because texts composed by the men in question can be a breadcrumb trail leading straight to their elusive homeland. Next up is a mysterious potion that pretty much formed the centerpiece of our ancestors’ religious practices; if we could figure out what it was and where it came from, we should easily learn a great deal about where its consumers originated and where they went. With all that out of the way, we’ll go on to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. Somewhat literally this time. Horses and chariots are crucial Aryan mainstays and have much to offer to this investigation. After horses, we’ll talk hydrology, more specifically a river called Sarasvatī. Opinions stand divided on its existence and identity but the river wields a great deal of influence in the Hindu scripture. Which makes its location a very useful indicator of the original Aryan homeland. Lastly, we’ll examine astronomical and astrological clues hidden in Vedic and post-Vedic verses. Basically, letting the stars show us the way.