DU seminar on Vedas questions Aryan Invasion theory, challenges Marxist narrative of history

 Amid a raging debate over incorporation of Vedic education in curriculum, Sanskrit scholars from various universities on Saturday engaged over a discourse over the origin of the Rig Vedas and on the influx of Aryans in the country.

The scholars also questioned the period of composition generally ascribed to the Rig Veda which is about 1,500 BC, placing it after the decline of the Harappan Civilization, during the national symposium on "Chronology of Vedic Literature- A Reassessment" at Delhi University here. "The original date of Rig Veda has been debated for long.

The Marxists have gone all out to establish that Indus Valley civilisation is older than Rig Vedic era. The fact that Aryans came to the plains of India and pushed the Dravidians southwards is also not true," said HOD, DU's Sanskrit Department, Ramesh C Bharadwaj, in his keynote address. "Much before the Indus Valley civilisation, the plains of India had a flourishing culture of its own, which can be established through the Rig Vedic texts. The history needs correction and chronology needs to be fixed," he added.

Bhardwaj who has also submitted a project to Indian Council for Historical Research, seeking funding to conduct research on the subject, said, "Our dates do not match with the main stream dates established by the historians." The scholars also dismissed the view-upheld by historians and archaeologists and presented in textbooks - as Marxist and "Max Muellerist." Bhardwaj said there is evidence to suggest the Aryans never invaded but were indigenous and developed into the Harappan civilization.

"That is the only way to explain the highly evolved and urban culture of the Harappans. Marxist historians begin with Indus Valley but they can't provide information on what preceded the Harappan cities. This gap is filled by Vedic literature," he said. The three-day meet at DU, is being supported by HRD Ministry and organised in association with Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratisthan, Ujjain. 

Notable academicians including the Chairman of the Indian Archaeological Society, K N Dikshit, Director of Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology GC Tripathi, and scholars from Shantiniketan, Calcutta University and Benares Hindu University are among those attending the conference.

Talking about the agenda, Sushil Kumar, PhD scholar at the department said, "this is an issue of international importance. It is a first of its kind seminar that has been convened keeping in mind new findings in Aryan origin, and the department will use its resources to give a date and promote debate."

Another PhD student Hemant Joshi said, "For long we have been relying on Max-Mueller's concept of judging the age of a language by looking at the rate of its development. But a new method of taking Astrology as the base was proposed by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. This, I believe, is the right way. It changes our perceptions about the age of many languages including Sanskrit, and this is what this debate is about." The seminar assumes significance in light of the fact that there has been a renewed debate about saffronisation of education ever since Narendra Modi government came to power.

Various right-wing organisations have pressed for incorporating Vedic literature and Vedic maths in school curriculum, lamenting that the existing education pedagogy is heavily influenced by the colonial past.