Aryans: Who were they?
January 15th 2007 07:05
One of the great discoveries of nineteenth century was the fact that a lot of human languages from Latin to Sanskrit were so closely related that they could be counted as one family. This eventually came to be known as the Indo-European family. Further studies revealed that the people who spoke these languages also shared a remarkable similarity in religion, mythology and general culture. Were they at some point in time one people who latter differentiated into many peoples?
The people who made these connections at the time were European and white and they saw in this remarkable unity, a chance to find the original Aryan ancestors and the original home of the white race. It also gave rise to remarkable range of mysticism around the globe, not the least the attraction Aryanism had for the nazis. This inevitably lead to nativist reaction in many parts around the world; most importantly, in India where an Out of India theory developed.
For all the vicissitudes in scholarship from those early neo-grammarians to the anthropologists of today, the question refuses to go away. The current claimant to the throne is the so called Kurgan hypothesis proposed by Zimbuthas. The Indo-Europeans were supposed to have originated in the Kurgan culture, in Ukrainian steppe.
There is certainly no dispute that there is a deep affinity among a widespread cultural and linguistic artefacts and that this affinity is remarkable. What I found unusual is that the affinity continued even when the supposedly single race differentiated into many peoples. For example, Zeus and Indra, both of them patriarchal thunder storm gods, became equally concupiscent at the fag end of their careers before being supplanted by younger gods. Why such an ignoble demotion for both of them? This similarity in the fate of the gods is perhaps an indication that more than a common heritage, we may also share a common imagination.
The people who made these connections at the time were European and white and they saw in this remarkable unity, a chance to find the original Aryan ancestors and the original home of the white race. It also gave rise to remarkable range of mysticism around the globe, not the least the attraction Aryanism had for the nazis. This inevitably lead to nativist reaction in many parts around the world; most importantly, in India where an Out of India theory developed.
For all the vicissitudes in scholarship from those early neo-grammarians to the anthropologists of today, the question refuses to go away. The current claimant to the throne is the so called Kurgan hypothesis proposed by Zimbuthas. The Indo-Europeans were supposed to have originated in the Kurgan culture, in Ukrainian steppe.
There is certainly no dispute that there is a deep affinity among a widespread cultural and linguistic artefacts and that this affinity is remarkable. What I found unusual is that the affinity continued even when the supposedly single race differentiated into many peoples. For example, Zeus and Indra, both of them patriarchal thunder storm gods, became equally concupiscent at the fag end of their careers before being supplanted by younger gods. Why such an ignoble demotion for both of them? This similarity in the fate of the gods is perhaps an indication that more than a common heritage, we may also share a common imagination.
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Comment by Anonymous
So what is your take on the Aryan Myth?