The Rigveda and the Avesta: The Final Evidence

264 Pages·2016·1.97 MB·English

CONTENTS

Bibliography.

Preface.

Section I.
Chronology and Geography of the Rigveda.

Ch.1. The Relative Chronology of the Rigveda — I
Personal Names in the Avesta.
1A. The Early Rigveda ― Rigvedic Names.
1A-1. The Early Books.
1A-2. The Avesta.
1A-3. The Middle and Late Books.
1A-4. Certain Basic Words.
1B. The Early Rigveda ― Iranian Names.
1C. The Middle Rigveda.
1D. The Late Rigveda.
1D-1. Composer Names.
1D-2. Names in the Text.
1D-3. Other Words in the Text.
1E. Three ―BMAC‖ words in Rigvedic Names.
1F. What the Evidence Shows.
1G. Footnote: An ―Iranian‖ Vasiṣṭha?

Ch.2. The Relative Chronology of the Rigveda — I (contd).
The Evidence of the Meters.
2A. The Rigvedic Meters.
2B. The Chronology of the Dimeters.
2C. The Chronology of the Other Meters.
2D. The Avestan Meters.

Ch.3. The Geography of the RV.
3A. The Eastern Region: the Sarasvatī River and East.
3B. The Western Region: the Indus River and West.
3C. The Central Region: Between the Sarasvatī and the Indus.
3D. Summary of the Data.
3E. Appendix 1: Other Geographical Evidence.
3E-1. Climate and Topography.
3E-2. Trees and Wood.
3E-3. Rice and Wheat.
3E-4. The Traditional Vedic Attitude towards the Northwest.
1
3F. Appendix 2. The Topsy-turvy Logic of AIT Geography.
3F-1. The Sarasvatī.
3F-2. The Gangā.

Ch.4. The Internal Chronology of the Rigveda.
4A. The Late Books as per the Western Scholars Themselves.
4B. Can This Evidence be Refuted?
4C. Appendix I: The Internal Order of the Early and Middle Books.
4C-1. The Early vis-à-vis the Middle Books.
4C-2. The Early Books.
4C-3. The Middle Books.
4D. Appendix II: ―Late‖ Hymns.
4D-1. Facts.
4D-2. Testimony.
4D-3. Deductions.
4D-4. Speculations.

Ch.5. The Relative Chronology of the Rigveda — II
The Mitanni Evidence.
5A. Witzel‘s Fraudulent Arguments.
5B. The Actual Evidence.
5C. Footnote: Edward W. Hopkins.

Ch.6. The Absolute Chronology of the Rigveda.
6A. The Mitanni Evidence.
6B. The Additional Chronological Evidence.
6C. The Implications.

Section II.
The Indo-European Homeland in India.

Ch.7. The Evidence of the Isoglosses.
7A. Hock‘s Linguistic Case.
7B. Hock‘s Case Examined.
7C. The Evidence of the Isoglosses.
7D. The Evidence in Perspective.
7D-1. The Early Dialects.
7D-2. The European Dialects.
7D-3. The Last dialects.
7E. The Last Two of the Last Dialects.
7E-1. The Textual Evidence.
7E-2. The Uralic Evidence.
7F. The Linguistic Roots in India.
7G. Appendix: Witzel‘s Linguistic Arguments against the OIT.
2
Ch.8. The Archaeological Case.
8A. The Archaeological Case Against the OIT.
8B. The Case for the OIT.
8B-1. The PGW (painted grey ware) Culture as the Vedic Culture.
8B-2. The Harappan Civilization as the Rigvedic Culture.
8C-3. The Indo-European Emigrations.
8C. The Importance of the Rigveda.

Postscript: Identities Past and Present.

3
BIBLIOGRAPHY

AMBEDKAR 1990: Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, volume 7.
Ambedkar, B.R. ed. Vasant Moon, Education dept., Government of Maharashtra
Publications, Mumbai 1990.

ARNOLD 1897: Historical Vedic Grammar. Arnold, E.V. In JAOS (Journal of the
American Oriental Society), New Haven, Connecticut.

BHAGWANSINGH 1995: The Vedic Harappans. Bhagwan Singh. Aditya Prakashan,
New Delhi, 1995.

BHARGAVA 1956/1971: India in the Vedic Age: A History of Aryan Expansion in
India. Upper India Publishing House Pvt. Ltd. Lucknow, 1956.

BLAŽEK 1998: Is Indo-European *Hekwo ‗horse‘ Really of Indo-European Origin?
Voclav Blažek. In Studia Indogermanica Lodziensia (Sigl), Vol.II, Lodz, 1998.

4
BRYANT 1999: Linguistic substrata and the indigenous Aryan debate. Bryant,
Edwin F. pp. 59-84, in ―Aryan and non-Aryan in South Asia: evidence, interpretation,
and ideology‖ (proceedings of the International Seminar on Aryan and non-Aryan in
South Asia, Univ. of Michigan, October 1996).

CARNOY 1919: Pre-Aryan Origins of the Persian Perfect. pp. 117-121 in The Journal
of the American Oriental Society, Vol.39, 1919.

CHANG 1988: Indo-European Vocabulary in Old Chinese: A New Thesis on the
emergence of Chinese Language and Civilization in the Late Neolithic age. Chang,
Tsung-tung. Sino-Platonic Papers Number 7, January 1988. Department of Oriental
Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1988.

CHATTERJEE 1970: The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, Pt.I.
Chatterjee, S.K. George, Allen and Unwin Ltd. (first published by Calcutta University,
1926), London, 1970.

CHILDE 1926: The Aryans: A study of Indo-European Origins. Childe, V. Gordon.
Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner & co. Ltd., London, 1926.

5
DESHPANDE 1995: Vedic Aryans, non-Vedic Aryans, and non-Aryans: Judging the
Linguistic Evidence of the Veda; Deshpande, Madhav. pp. 67-84 in ―The Indo-Aryans
of Ancient South Asia‖, ed. George Erdosy. Walter de Gruyter. Berlin, 1995.

DYEN 1970: The Case of the Austronesian Languages. Dyen, Isidore, in ―Indo-
European and Indo-Europeans‖, ed. by George Cardona, H.M.Hoenigswald and Alfred
Senn, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1970.

ELST 1999: Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate. Elst, Koenraad. Aditya Prakashan,
New Delhi, 1999.

ELST 2001: The Saffron Swastika. Elst, Koenraad. Voice of India. New Delhi, 2001.

ERDOSY 1989: Ethnicity in the Rigveda and its Bearing on the Question of Indo-
European Origins. Erdosy, George. pp. 35-47 in ―South Asian Studies‖ vol. 5. London

ERDOSY 1995: Preface to ―The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: language, material
Culture and Ethnicity‖, edited George Erdosy, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin-NY, 1995.

FRANCFORT 2001: The Archaeology of Proto-historic Central Asia and the
Problems of Identifying Indo-European and Uralic-speaking Populations. Francfort,
6
H.P. pp. 151-163 in ―Early Contacts between Uralic and Indo-European: Linguistic and
Archaeological Considerations‖, ed. Carpelan, Parpola, Koskikallio Suomalais-
Ugrilainen Seura, Helsinki, 2001.

GAMKRELIDZE 1995: Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction
and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture. Gamkrelidze,
Thomas V. and Ivanov, V.V. Mouton de Gruyter, 1995, Berlin, New York.

GNOLI 1980: Zoroaster‘s Time and Homeland: A Study on the Origins of Mazdeism
and Related Problems. Gnoli, Gherardo. Instituto Universitario Orientale, Seminario di
Studi Asiatici, Naples, 1980.

GOLDMAN 1977: Gods, Priests and Warriors: The Bhṛgus of the Mahābhārata.
Goldman, Robert P. Columbia University Press, New York, 1977.

GRIFFITH 1889: The Hymns of the Rig-Veda. (tr.) Griffith, Ralph T.H. Munshiram
Manoharlal, rep. 1987, Varanasi.

HENNING 1978: The First Indo-Europeans in History. Henning, W.B., pp.215-230 in
―Society and History ― Lectures in Honour of Karl August Wittfogel‖, edited G. L.
Ulmen, Mouton Publishers, The Hague-Paris-New York, 1978.
7
HOCK 1999a: Out of India? The linguistic evidence. Hock, Hans H. pp.1-18, in
―Aryan and non-Aryan in South Asia: evidence, interpretation, and ideology‖
(proceedings of the International Seminar on Aryan and non-Aryan in South Asia, Univ.
of Michigan, October 1996).

HOCK 1999b: Through a glass darkly: Modern ―racial‖ interpretations vs. textual
and general prehistoric evidence on ārya and dāsa/dasyu in Vedic society. Hock,
Hans H. pp.145-174, in ―Aryan and non-Aryan in South Asia: evidence, interpretation,
and ideology‖ (proceedings of the International Seminar on Aryan and non-Aryan in
South Asia, Univ. of Michigan, October 1996).

HOPKINS 1896a: Prāgāthikāni. Hopkins, Edward W. pp. 23-92 in JAOS (Journal of the
American Oriental Society), Vol. 17.

HOPKINS 1896b: Numerical Formulae in the Veda. Hopkins, Edward W. in JAOS
(Journal of the American Oriental Society), Vol.16.

HOPKINS 1898: The Punjab and the Rig-Veda. Hopkins, Edward W. pp. 19-28 in
JAOS (Journal of the American Oriental Society), Vol. 19, July 1898

8
HUMBACH 1991: The Gathas of Zarathushtra and the Other Old Avestan Texts,
Part I: Introduction, Texts and Translation. Humbach, Helmut. Carl Winter,
Universitätsverlag, Heidelberg (Germany) 1991.

KUZMINA 2001: Contacts Between Finno-Ugric and Indo-Iranian Speakers in the
light of Archaeological, Linguistic and Mythological Data. Kuzmina E. E. in ―Early
Contacts between Uralic and Indo-European: Linguistic and Archaeological
Considerations‖. Ed. Carpelan, Parpola, Koskikallio. Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura,
Helsinki, 2001.

LAMBERG-KARLOVSKY 2005: Archaeology and Language ― The case of the
Bronze Age Indo-Iranians. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Carl C., pp 142-177 in ―The Indo-
Aryan Controversy — Evidence and Inference in Indian history‖, ed. Edwin F. Bryant
and Laurie L. Patton, Routledge, London & New York, 2005.

LAROUSSE 1959: The Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology, tr. by Richard
aldington and Delano Ames from Larousse Mytholgie Generale, ed. Felix Guirand. Auge,
Gillon, Hollia-Larousse, Moreau et Cie, the Librairie Larousse, Batchwork Press Ltd.,
1959.

9
LUBOTSKY 2001: The Indo-Iranian Substratum. Lubotsky, Alexander, in ―Early
Contacts between Uralic and Indo-European: Linguistic & Archaeological
Considerations‖, Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, Univ. of Helsinki, Helsinki, 2001.

MACDONELL 1963: Vedic Mythology. Macdonell, A.A. Indological Book House,
Varanasi. 1963 (reprint).

MAIR 1998: Die Aprachamöbe: An Archeolinguistic Parable. Mair, Victor H., in
―The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern Asia‖, Vol.II. (ed. Mair, Victor
H.) The Institute for the Study of Man (in collaboration with) The University of
Pennsylvania Museum Publications, 1998 (Journal of Indo-European Studies,
Monograph no twenty-six in two volumes).

MAJUMDAR ed.1951/1996: The Vedic Age. General Editor Majumdar R.C. The
History and Culture of the Indian People. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Mumbai, 1951.

MALLORY 1989: In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and
Myth. Mallory J.P. Thames and Hudson Ltd., London 1989.

MALLORY 1997: Encyclopaedia of Indo-European Culture. Mallory J.P. and Adams
D.Q. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. London and Chicago, 1997.
10