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> Many Indians today believe in the Aryan invasion theory That's because it's almost certainly true! it's why Indians speak Indo-European languages, and why th

> Many Indians today believe in the Aryan invasion theory That's because it's almost certainly true! it's why Indians speak Indo-European languages, and why the same Y-chromosome haplogroup (R1a) is common among (for example) Indian Brahmins and Norwegians. > This theory is often connected with a view that fairer-skinned people represent "true" Indian culture The Hindu religion in its most ancient form (see e.g. the Rig Veda) derives from the Proto-Indo-European religion, parts of which have been reconstructed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology (Obviously modern India culture comes from a lot of other sources too!) > including the Aryans who are said to have invaded India. You phrase it that was as if to imply that it didn't happen. But I think the evidence that it did: linguistic, genetic, archeological, is very strong.

cmrdporcupine 5y ago
Sure, but likely by the time the Aryans got to that region they were not "fair skinned." There was an intervening millennia of hanging out in the Caspian / Bactria / Central Asia before entering the subcontinent [1]. Nor were the Yamnaya people ever really "fair skinned" ; they were likely dark haired and olive skinned. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactria%E2%80%93Margiana_Archaeological_Complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactria%E2%80%93Margiana_Archa...
Mediterraneo10 5y ago
> That's because it's almost certainly true! Actual Indo-Europeanists today eschew the label "Aryan invasion theory" in favour of e.g. “Aryan migration theory”. While genetic evidence makes a (limited) case for presence of force and population movement in the spread of the Indo-European languages to India, the bulk of the spread was through language shift whereby the indigenous inhabitants gradually adopted Indo-European languages as higher prestige.

cmrdporcupine 5y ago

Sure, but likely by the time the Aryans got to that region they were not "fair skinned." There was an intervening millennia of hanging out in the Caspian / Bactria / Central Asia before entering the subcontinent [1]. Nor were the Yamnaya people ever really "fair skinned" ; they were likely dark haired and olive skinned. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactria%E2%80%93Margiana_Archaeological_Complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactria%E2%80%93Margiana_Archa...

Mediterraneo10 5y ago

> That's because it's almost certainly true! Actual Indo-Europeanists today eschew the label "Aryan invasion theory" in favour of e.g. “Aryan migration theory”. While genetic evidence makes a (limited) case for presence of force and population movement in the spread of the Indo-European languages to India, the bulk of the spread was through language shift whereby the indigenous inhabitants gradually adopted Indo-European languages as higher prestige.