Beyond the Aryan Invasion Theory: In Quest of the Vedic Horse

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"It is incredibly exciting to go through the pages of this book which can be considered the outcome of research of archaeologists and Indologists brought into an invaluable compendium by Maj. Gen. Bakshi in formulating the unique perspective of earliest Indian civilisation having both. Vedic knowledge system and material culture along the River Sarasvati, together from 8th millennium BCE onwards. Piecing together the evidence from tradition and archacology, as incorporated in the book, suggests there was no Aryan invasion, no absence of horse, no eastward migration, rather presence of Vedic deities in west Asia in 14th century BCE or earlier, evidence of Baudhayana Srauta Sutra suggesting westward migration and above all the continuity in Indian Civilisation."

Maj. Gen. GD Bakshi, SM, VSM (Retd.) Military Historian and decorated combat veteran is an author of nearly 40 books, including bestselling Sarasvati Civilisation, and over 400 research papers in major journals. A graduate of the National Defence Academy, he has a PhD from the University of Madras. He was honoured with the Chandra Shekhar Azad Rashtriya Award for his contributions in the military, social and literary fields.

Colonial historiography had injected huge and deliberate distortions in ancient Indian history to justify foreign rule in India. The most significant distortion was the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT), which decreed the Aryans as alien invaders from Central Asia. Max Muller had whimsically dated the Aryan advent and composition of the Vedas to 1200 BCE, without a shred of empirical evidence. When the Harappan civilization was subsequently discovered in 1920s, based on this Max Muller Fatwa, it was decreed as Pre-Vedic and more importantly Non-Vedic Mortimer Wheeler later souped up this thesis by theorizing about Aryan genocide of "indigenous" Dravidian inhabitants of the Indus Valley.

Today we have access to empirical data from diverse fields which establish that the Harappan and Vedic civilizations were identical, and the Aryans were indigenous not alien. To refute this, the colonial historians cited the virtual absence of war horses and chariots in the Harappan civilization. "No Horse-No Aryan" was their abiding mantra. Today, a war chariot has been discovered at Sinauli.

The quest for the Horse is what this book is about. It seeks to establish the historicity of the mythical Sarasvati River. With 80 per cent of Harrapan settlements on its banks, this was the real cradle of not just the Indian civilization but perhaps the original Aryan Homeland (Urheitmat) The Bhirrana township there has been carbon dated to 9,500 years BP making it one of the oldest in world history. If it was Vedic, where is the Vedic horse? This book goes to the Bhimbetka caves (dated 11,000-8,000 BP) in search of clues. These abound in paintings of Horses being used in battle and for hunts Were these the Narmada Horse (Equus Namadicus) that flourished in the late ice age and early Holocene period? Was that the Vedic horse? It is time to revisit and revise India's ancient history in the light of host of new facts.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages