[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Aryans
The Aryan Invasion Theory is of great interest and relevence to all of us.
I have been interested in it for some time now.I sincerely believe that the
theory is flawed.
Firstly,there is no proof that the word 'Aryan'is used as an indication
of race anywhere in the Vedas.The only reason why it has a racial connotation
today is because the western "scholars" who "interpreted" the Vedas said so.
If the Vedas were to be read carefully,it would be evident that all the
various groups of people of those times have been at some stage or other refered
to as Aryan or as descendents of Aryans.'Aryan' has been used as an indication
of respect to culture rather than as a racial label.We can cite many loopholes
in these widely accepted theories.
For example,Ramayana has been pictured to be a battle between an Aryan
king(RAMA) and a Dravidian king(Ravana) where Rama ultimately overcomes Ravana.
But,Ravana who is an 'Asura',thus un-aryan and considered by many 'Dravidians'
to be their hero was also a Brahmin(Considerd Aryan)and though a fervent
devotee of Shiva,was also a great Vedic scholar.This tells us two things.
1.Brahminism and vedic culture were not exclusivel owned by an 'Aryan' race.
2.Shiva is not an seperate non-vedic God of the Dravidians as believed.
Though India has many different races,they have been assimilated
through the ages peacefully.The fair skinned people of the north who are
mistakenly referred to as belonging to 'Aryan'race are people who came to India
long before composing the Vedas.They are a part of the rich vedic culture and
not exclusive owners of a culture that they monopolized.The 'Aryans' are the
ones with the attribute of culture,Not race. There is no indication of any
racial discrimination anywhere.It is only the Europeans,with their inability
to comprehend the subtlity of these texts that equated them to their 'racial
supremacy' theories.It only shows how narrow minded and egocentric they were to
interpret these profound ancient texts as a simple white against black war.
It also shows how ignorant we are of our own culture that the Europeans
had to tell us our own history,and we accepted it.It is a shame on all of
us for being so ignorant of our own culture.Something somewhere in history has
gone terribly wrong with us.The only way to correct it is to make everyone
aware of our rich heritage.This should start in school.I don't know how many of
you are aware of this,but I vividly remember being taught that Idol worship is
inferior,that Aryans are a foreign race,etc.,These are ideas that remain in
your subconscious for the rest of your life.The text books that children are
being taught today are still the same and contain those same old outdated
colonialistic ideas.Everything revolves around and stinks of colonialism.
It is high time we got over it and did something to push this stupid
attitude out of our country and inculcate some real pride in the coming
generations.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Moderator: Ajay Shah Submissions: srh@rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu
Administrivia: srh-request@rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu
Archives: http://rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu:8080/soc_hindu_home.html
Follow-Ups: