Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate

Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate is a book by Koenraad Elst. The book discusses various aspects of the Indo-Aryan migration debate.

It was published in 1999 by Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi (ISBN 8186471774).

In the preface to the book, K. Elst writes that "it hurts to release a book in mid-debate, knowing that much of it will be dated by the time a new consensus will have evolved", since "every hypothesis which is now carrying the day may be blown away by a new discovery tomorrow."

In this book, Koenraad Elst points out that the theory of an Aryan invasion of India has not been proven by prevalent standards and that all relevant facts can just as well be explained with alternative models. In the last chapter of the book, Koenraad Elst writes: "One thing which keeps on astonishing me in the present debate is the complete lack of doubt in both camps. Personally, I don’t think that either theory, of Aryan invasion and of Aryan indigenousness, can claim to have been “proven” by prevalent standards of proof; eventhough one of the contenders is getting closer. Indeed, while I have enjoyed pointing out the flaws in the AIT statements of the politicized Indian academic establishment and its American amplifiers, I cannot rule out the possibility that the theory which they are defending may still have its merits."

Contents

Political aspects of the Aryan Invasion Debate

• 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

Astronomic Data and the Aryan Question

• 2.1 Dating the Rig Veda
• 2.2 Ancient Hindu Astronomy
• 2.3 The Precession of the Equinox
• 2.4 Additional Astronomical Indications
• 2.5 Conclusion

Linguistic aspects of the Indo-European Urheimat Question

• 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

Miscellaneous aspects of the Aryan Invasion Debate

• 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

Some new Arguments

• 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

Departing thoughts

• 6.1 Some false problems
• 6.2 Things to do
• 6.3 The Non-invasionist Model

External links

• Online version, [1]
• Petty Professorial Politicking in the Indo-Aryan controversy (19 October 2005)
• Rewiew by N.S. Rajaram