Political and Social Ramifications

In closing, it is important to examine the social and political implications of the Aryan invasion idea:

First it served to divide India into a northern Aryan and southern Dravidian culture which were made hostile to each other. This kept the Hindus divided and is still a source of social tension. It created the ideas of an Aryan and a Dravidian "race" in India as two distinct entities, even though there never was any real scientific basis for this idea.

Second, it gave the British an excuse for their conquest of India. They could claim to be doing only what the Aryan ancestors of the Hindus had previously done millennia ago. This same justification could be used by the Muslims or any other invaders of India.

Third, it served to make Vedic culture later than and possibly derived from the Middle Eastern. It made the ancient civilization of India fragmented, with the Harappan culture mysteriously disappearing without a trace, making the development of civilization in India appear broken. With the proximity and relationship of Middle Eastern civilization with the Bible and Christianity, this kept the Hindu religion as a sidelight to the development of religion and civilization in the West.

Fourth, it allowed the sciences of India to be given a Greek basis, as any Vedic basis for sciences like astronomy was largely disqualified by the primitive nature of the Vedic culture (even though the Vedas commonly mention sophisticated mathematical and astronomical data). This served to make Indian culture subservient to that of Greece and Europe.

Fifth, it gave the Marxists a good basis for projecting their class struggle model of society on to India, with the invading Brahmins oppressing the indigenous Shudras (lower castes). Even today the invasion theory is used to inflame the sentiments of the backward classes in India against the Brahmins who, by this idea, originally invaded India and conquered and enslaved the indigenous population and turned them into Shudras.

The Aryan invasion theory discredited not only the Vedas, but the genealogies of the Puranas, and their long lists of kings before the Buddha or Krishna were left without any historical basis (or somehow turned into pre-Vedic or non-Aryan people). The Mahabharata, instead of a civil war in which all the main kings of India participated as it is described, became a local skirmish among petty princes that was later exaggerated by poets. In short, the Aryan invasion theory discredited the most of the Hindu tradition and almost all its ancient literature. It turned its scriptures and sages into fantasies and exaggerations.

This served a social, political and economic purpose of domination, proving the superiority of Western culture, religion, or political systems and the Aryan invasion theory was often quoted for this purpose. It makes Hindus feel that their culture is not the great thing that their sages and ancestors had said it was. It causes them to feel ashamed of their culture - that its basis is neither historical nor scientific but only imaginary, while being actually rooted in invasion and oppression. It makes them feel that the main line of civilization was developed first in the Middle East and then in Europe and that the culture of India is peripheral and secondary to the real development of world culture. Such a view does not appear to be good scholarship or archaeological proof but only cultural imperialism. Western Vedic scholars did in the intellectual sphere what the British army did in the political realm - discredit, divide and conquer the Hindus.

Unfortunately those challenging the theory, even on the most objective archeological grounds like the rediscovery of the Sarasvati river, have been accused of political motives, often by the very groups who have been using the invasion theory for their own political advantage, like Marxists thinkers in India. Those rejecting the Aryan invasion may even be called "communal" for bringing out evidence that may give pride to the majority community in India.