indusvalley civilization

In contrast to the findings of Farmer, Sproat and Witzel, work by the principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Farrak, West Bengal Natwar Jha (1996; see also Jha and Rajaram, 2000) on the seals has identified the language as a form of Vedic Sanskrit. His work also challenges the commonly accepted theory that the numeral system is of Arabic origin, since he identifies both an alphabet and a numeral system in the inscriptions.

He argues that Babylonian and Egyptian mathematics owe a debt to the Indus Valley. His book, Vedic Glossary on Indus Seals argues that Greek evolved from old-Brahmi, which developed originally from the Indus Valley script. This reverses the accepted theory that both European languages and Sanksrit developed from a common proto-language and says that this was from a source closer to Europe—probably Iran (hence Aryan).

Dr. Var's work is extremely significant since it also challenges the idea that the Indus Valley Civilization was pre-Aryan and that the Aryans invaded or migrated from the European zone. In the view of some Indian historians, such as N.S. Rajaram (2nd ed. 1997), no such invasion took place and the Aryans were indigenous to India. This alternative view to the “Aryan invasion” theory has been called the “cultural transformation hypothesis.”

The distinction and idea of mutual antipathy between the darker-skinned Dravidians and the lighter-skinned Aryans was, according to Rajaram, a European invention to help legitimate their own rule, since they too were Aryans. He argues that “Aryan” simply means cultures, and can be claimed by people from any racial group. Sanksrit has no word for race. What Rajaram arguably does is reject one ethno-centered theory that favors Europe as the origin of civilization and replaces it with a theory that favors another ethnicity.

Identity politics lies behind both views. In his view, the world owes the alphabet, numerals and much more besides to India, whose civilization is the most ancient and significant of them all. What this new theory does not explain is why what, from its artifacts, was obviously a flourishing civilization simply ceased, and remained forgotten for so long. Rajaram uses other arguments to explain North-South cultural differences.