Student Activity
Warm-Up Activity
What Do You Know About Indian History?
This lesson deals with a theory about the
history of ancient India. Whenever you start
to learn something about a time in history, it
helps to think first of what you already know
about it, or think you know. You probably
have impressions. Or you may have read or
heard things about it already. Some of what
you know may be accurate. You need to
be ready to alter your fixed ideas about this
time as you learn more about it. This is what
any historian would do. To do this, study this
illustration and take a few notes in response
to the questions below it.
This is a photograph of one of the most
famous buildings in India, the Taj Mahal.
What do you know about it, who built it,
and why it was built?
The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor
Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife.
It is a fine example of Mughal architecture.
This style of architecture combines Persian,
Indian, and Islamic styles. In fact, Shah
Jahan was a Muslim, even though most
Indians were Hindus. Does knowing this
surprise you? What else do you know
about the role of Islam in India’s history?
Many historians say that long before Islam
and Muslims came to India, another group
called Aryans arrived—perhaps as long ago
as 1700 BCE or even earlier. According
to these historians, the Aryans brought
religious rituals and beliefs that led to
Hinduism itself. In India, however, many
people argue about this “Aryan invasion
theory.” What do you know about this
argument? Why do you think Indians argue
about it?
Ancient India: Was There an Aryan Invasion? | The Historian’s Apprentice
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Introductory Essay
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The Aryan Invasion Theory: Myth or Reality?
Being a historian is often like being a detective,
in that you have a mystery to solve. To solve it,
you need clues. The clues are evidence you hope
will show who committed the crime. Clues are
sometimes few and far between, often hard to find,
and their meaning is not always all that clear. If you
find enough clues, you can come up with a theory
about who did it. However, theories are not always
correct; sometimes they are not much more than
educated guesses. Often new clues force you to
change your theory. Moreover, not all mysteries can
be solved.
Here’s a mystery: Did Aryans in horse-driven
chariots invade India from the northwest in the
second millennium BCE? Did these Aryans bring
with them their Vedic rituals and an early form of
India’s Sanskrit language? The Aryans and the
rituals are described in the hymns of the Rig Veda.
The hymns were memorized, delivered orally, and
were only written down many centuries later. The
Rig Veda, written in Sanskrit, is the oldest sacred
text of Hinduism, perhaps first composed around
1500–1000 BCE.
Were the Aryans indeed the founders of Hinduism
and all Indian civilization to follow? This is a theory
historians were sure of in the 19th century, but new
clues forced them to change the theory. Today they
are not so sure about who the Aryans actually were,
or that they invaded and conquered India. Some
say they may have migrated slowly, sometimes
fighting groups they met, sometimes simply trading,
cooperating, and intermarrying with them. It is very
hard to tell, as there are just too few clues.
The first clues that led to the Aryan invasion theory
had to do with language. In the late 18th and
early 19th centuries, some European scholars in
India began to study Sanskrit. They noticed many
words and word forms that were similar to those in
Latin, Greek, English, Celtic, Persian, and a whole
group of other languages. Soon they began to
call these “Indo-European” languages. Who were
the speakers of the first Indo-European language,
the one from which all these others developed?
Many historians think they must have been from
somewhere in Central Asia or the steppes of what is
10
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now the Ukraine and southern Russia. In this view,
these original Indo-European speakers were horseriding herders of cattle and sheep who invaded
and conquered India. Others moved into Persia
and northern Syria; still others spread westward
throughout Europe.
As for India, the Rig Veda does seem to describe
people with horses, chariots, and fire rituals at which
animal sacrifices were carried out. These were rituals
to please the Aryans’ gods—Indra, Mitra, Agni,
Varuna, and others. The names of these gods, or
similar ones, are found in a few other places where
Indo-European languages spread. However, it has
not been easy for historians to find actual physical
evidence that links all these language clues to actual
places and material objects. Exactly where were the
ruins, chariot wheels, horse bones, weapons, and
villages and cities of the Aryan invaders? They have
been hard to find, at least inside India.
Then in 1922, an entire Indian civilization was
discovered—the Indus Valley civilization that runs
along the Indus River in what is now Pakistan.
However, it reached its height around 2600–1900
BCE, well before the Aryans were thought to have
shown up. Among its hundreds of villages were
some larger cities, such as Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa, that were highly organized, with large
stone temples or palaces, storage structures, public
baths, homes, and complex drainage systems. We
know little about their customs, religious rituals,
or political system because no one has ever been
able to decipher their written symbols, which were
found on stone artifacts and seals. Whatever their
language was (if it even was a language), it does not
seem to be any form of Sanskrit.
Among the many mysteries about the Indus Valley
civilization is what happened to it. It declined and
disappeared sometime after about 1800 BCE.
At first, historians said the Aryans conquered it.
However, this is unlikely: The Aryans were originally
thought to have conquered weak, smaller tribes
in India. How could they have conquered such a
mighty civilization as that of the Indus Valley? If they
did conquer it, why has no physical evidence of
such a conquest been found? Also, why does the
Debating the Documents | Ancient India: Was There an Aryan Invasion?
Student Handout
Rigveda not describe such a civilization? In fact, the
discovery of the Indus civilization only added to the
mysteries about the Aryans. (Historians now think a
change in climate and economic factors may have
led to the decline of the Indus Valley civilization.)
While historians still debate these mysteries, a
different and far more emotional debate has also
gone on among political groups in India. The debate
has even sparked deadly riots: Many people in India
found the original Aryan invasion theory insulting.
When the British controlled India in the 19th century,
they often used the theory to prove that a superior
Aryan “race” conquered India long ago. To the
British, this race brought the seeds of all of India’s
great cultural accomplishments, and seemed to say
that India itself had done nothing creative.
Historians long ago decided this view was incorrect.
There was no single “race” of Aryan people. The
Indo-European languages were spread by many
ethnic groups who did not share a single physical or
racial identity. In India, the Aryan invasion theory in its
early racial form still causes huge conflicts. Speaking
out most are advocates of Hindutva, which means
“Hinduness.” The conflicts involving Hindutva often
get confused with the more scholarly debates
historians have about this issue. For example,
Hindutva advocates often claim that India’s Hindu
culture only arose inside India, from within the Indus
Valley civilization. However, few historians think this
is the whole truth.
So there are two debates about the Aryans—the one
among historians and the one between Hindutva
nationalists and others in India. The two are related,
but differ greatly. It’s important to keep these
differences in mind. The sources for this lesson will
help you better understand both kinds of debate
about the Aryan invasion theory.
Points to Keep in Mind
Historians’ Questions
The Primary Source Evidence
This lesson actually deals with two debates
about the Aryan invasion theory. First, linguists,
archaeologists, and historians argue about why
Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, developed
in India. Who first spoke this language? How did
it spread from Central Asia and what is now Iran
into India? Why is there so little material record of
who these early Indo-European speakers were?
Why is it hard to find evidence of them in the major
ancient Indian civilization we do know (the Indus
Valley civilization)? These scholars no longer accept
the racist theory that a separate, superior race of
“Aryans” entered India. (The Rig Veda does use
the term, but apparently to mean only “the noble
ones.”) However, most historians do accept that
outside Indo-European speakers did play a key role
in India’s early history.
For this lesson, you will study ten primary source
documents on early India and the Aryan invasion
theory. Some are about ancient Indian civilization.
Some are about the Indo-European languages
and their spread. Some are about 19th- and
20th-century arguments about the Aryans that are
still going on today. These sources give you plenty
of evidence to help you better assess the Aryan
invasion theory and the two kinds of debates about
it taking place today. The sources will also help you
make informed judgments of your own as to what
two historians say about all this.
Meanwhile another debate goes on in magazines
and on hundreds of Web sites. It is led by Hindutva
nationalists, who still argue against the older, racist
view of Aryan superiority. Most of them claim that
no one from outside India influenced its early Vedic
Hindu culture. Most historians do not accept this,
nor do they agree with several other Hindutva
views. It is important to learn how these two
debates overlap and how they differ.
Do not do:
Secondary Source Interpretations
After studying and discussing the primary sources,
you will read two short passages by two different
historians. The historians who wrote these passages
agree about most of the facts, but they reach
different overall judgments about what historians
do and do not know about this topic. You will use
your own background knowledge and your ideas
about the primary sources as you think about
and answer some questions about the views of
these historians.
Ancient India: Was There an Aryan Invasion? | The Historian’s Apprentice
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