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Aryans were the same as late Harappans, says anthropologist

The age-old theory that the late Harappans were conquered by the vedic Aryans might be untrue if one goes by what M K Dhavalikar, an anthropologist from Pune, has to say.

Speaking at a national seminar on the 'river valley cultures of India' at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya in Pune recently, he said literary evidence from the Rigved indicates that the Aryans' focus of activity was the Saraswati basin. The Saraswati river was considered the most important as it housed their settlements.

Intensive explorations, both in India and Pakistan, have brought to light numerous Harappan settlements in the Saraswati basin.

But on closer analysis, Dhavalikar said, it becomes apparent that a majority of early and mature Harappan sites were situated in the lower basin of the river whereas the upper basin was home to the late Harappans.

In his paper, Dhavalikar has tried to prove that the late Harappans were, in fact, the vedic Aryans, a claim that, he says, is backed by circumstantial evidence.

The Rigvedic Aryans, who can be assigned to the 2nd century BC, were rural folk living in a subsistence economy dependent on agriculture and stock-raising. The most distinguishing feature of this period was the presence of the horse and the spoked wheel, Dhavalikar said.

Since the late Harappan phase was characterised by these features, and no other culture in the Saraswati basin had similar features, there was a strong possibility that the late Harappans were themselves the vedic Aryans, he contended.

Evidence of human skeletal remains was also supportive, Dhavalikar asserted, adding that since the river dried up in the lower basin, the early Harappan culture there declined and in the later phase the vedic Aryans migrated to the upper basin.

V H Sonawane of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda maintained that north Gujarat could no longer be considered the backwaters of the Harappan culture, a theory that prevailed until two decades ago.

The region was regarded as ill suited for occupation by the chalcolithic communities because of its hostile environment. But a series of intensive explorations since 1979 by the department of archaeology and ancient history of M S University has helped in the discovery of more than 100 chalcolithic sites with different degrees of affiliation to the Harappan culture in the region, he said.

UNI

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