Indus Valley – Neev Community for Self Inquiry & Sustainability

The Upanishads and the Axial Age: Rigvedic People – Invaders, Immigrants or Indigenous? – Part 3

For generations, ancient India’s narrative was dominated by the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT), later refined as Aryan Migration Theory (AMT). These 19th-century theories depicted external “Aryans” arriving around 1500 BCE, bringing Vedic traditions and Sanskrit, supposedly subjugating the indigenous Harappans. This framework, the article argues, became a potent political tool, fostering a divisive “Aryan-Dravidian” split and undermining Indian heritage.

However, the Out of India Theory (OIT) offers a compelling counter-narrative: the Indo-Aryan people and their Vedic culture originated within India, with the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) being the Vedic Civilization. OIT proponents cite the absence of invasion evidence at Harappan sites, highlighting profound cultural continuity. New archaeological and genetic findings increasingly support indigenous origins, even suggesting westward migrations from India.

This isn’t just an academic debate; it’s a vital quest to “reclaim India’s national identity.” By challenging ingrained historical distortions, OIT aims to re-establish India’s place as a “Cradle of Civilization,” predating Mesopotamia and Egypt, affirming a deep, unbroken cultural lineage.

The Upanishads and the Axial Age: Religion in Pre-Historic India – Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, I traced the quiet birth of the Upanishadic vision against the backdrop of one of humanity’s great turning points—the Axial Age. In Part 2, the focus turns to the Indian subcontinent itself—not yet Vedic, but already in motion. I will trace the social, political, and religious changes unfolding in pre-historic and proto-historic India, which together form the cultural soil from which later Vedic and eventually Upanishadic thought would emerge. I also show that evidence increasingly points to a profound continuity between the Harappan (Indus-Sarasvati) civilisation and later Indian culture, suggesting the Harappans themselves may have been the authors of the Rigvedic tradition that gave rise to the Upanishads.