Harappan-Vedic relationship debate
Topic: Harappan (Sindhu-Sarasvati) Civilisation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Bricks, Beads and Bones"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"
Meaning
This debate asks whether the Harappans and the people who composed the Rig Veda were different peoples or the same. The older view, held by Wheeler in 1947, said that invading Aryans, led by Indra, destroyed Harappan cities. That view has been rejected. NCERT notes that some scholars now argue the two were the same people. It says the question needs more research and is not settled.
Example
Two lines of argument are used against an invasion. The first is George Dales's 1964 work, which showed there was no massacre at Mohenjo-daro. The second is the Rakhigarhi DNA study of 2019, which NCERT says rules out a large-scale "Aryan" migration. On the other side, the Rig Vedic god Rudra does not match the "proto-Shiva" seal, which shows how hard it is to link the two cultures.
Don't confuse with
- Aryan invasion theory: this is one older answer to the debate, now rejected. It is not the debate itself.
Related concepts
- Daya Ram Sahni
- Rakhal Das Banerji
- John Marshall
- B.B. Lal
- Archaeogenetics
- Rakhigarhi DNA study
- Vasant Shinde
- Rakhigarhi icon site