Little Brother: What is AIT, brother?

Big Brother: Ohhh! AIT means Aryan Invasion Theory. You know, it is a theory.

Little Brother: What is a theory, brother?

Big Brother: A theory is, you know, an idea or a hypothesis that can be used to explain an event. Like Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, or the Big Bang Theory, which explains the origin of the universe, is also a theory. Sometimes, after further research, some theories have had to be discarded, such as Dalton’s Atomic Theory, or the theory of a Heliocentric Universe, which said that the Sun was the centre of the universe. These were discarded when new information came to light.

Little Brother: Oh, I see! So, brother, what does this AIT theory say?

Big Brother: Well! This Aryan Invasion Theory tries to explain why there are two groups of languages in India. According to it, the ‘Aryan-speaking’ people of the North and the ‘Dravidian-speaking’ people of the South were two different peoples. Since the Aryan languages of the North were similar to European languages, the theory proposed that the ‘Aryans’ had come to India from outside.

Little Brother: Brother, that’s strange! Dravidian languages could have developed in India, but the ‘Aryan’ languages could not! What kind of logic is that? On what basis was it decided that the ‘Aryan-speaking’ people were outsiders?

Big Brother: You see, the Bible says that Noah’s three sons spread across the world from Mesopotamia. So it became necessary to bring their descendants—in other words, the speakers of Indo-European languages—to Europe and India. [13] Therefore, sometime around 1500 BCE, these Aryans who spoke Indo-European languages were brought into the Gangetic plains. These tribes brought Sanskrit and the ‘caste system’ with them. Over the next thousand-odd years, they went on to write the Vedas and so on.

Little Brother: Then who lived in India before 1500 BCE?

Big Brother: Oh, at that time, the Gangetic plains were inhabited by tribes of dark-skinned Dravidian-speaking people. They were uncivilized, rural, primitive people! They were driven south, and the advanced white, Aryan-speaking people settled in the Gangetic plains. (Theory of 1876 CE)

Little Brother: Oh! But, brother! Excavations were carried out at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. And there, they found an advanced civilisation dating back to 3000 BCE. Then what? (In 1922 CE)

Big Brother: Yes, all that archaeological evidence did create a bit of a problem. So the Aryan Invasion Theory had to be changed. Now it said —the Dravidian people lived in the Indus Valley in ancient times. But they did not have proper chariots and horses! You know? So what happened! Around 1500 BCE, the advanced Aryans invaded those backward Dravidians. They drove the indigenous Dravidians there to the South and the Aryans settled in North India.

Little Brother: But just now the Dravidians were living in the Gangetic plains, weren’t they? And they were primitive, uncivilized people! Now they are living in Indus area, and they are people building a civilization! What kind of theory is this!! Tch! Your AIT changes its colors like a chameleon. Never mind. Tell me why these Aryan-speaking people arrive around 1500 BCE? Why couldn’t they have come earlier?

Big Brother: Well, you see, the Bible says that the Earth was created in 4,000 BCE. After that, the events such as – Adam and Eve, Noah’s flood, Moses and all that needed time to occur. Also the Aryan tribes had to discover fire, invent the wheel and make chariots, domesticate horses and harness them to the chariots. That must have taken at least 2,500 years. So by the time they set out riding in their chariots to India, the year 1500 BCE had arrived. Got it?

Little Brother: But, brother! We were taught in school that the Earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago! There seems to be some serious mix-ups in the understanding of the people who came up with this theory, brother!

Big Brother: Oh, go away! If you want to ask something else, ask.

Little Brother: Brother, did these Aryan people actually fight the Dravidians, shouting ‘I N V A S I O N’?

Big Brother: Of course! During the excavations at Mohenjo-daro, 37 skeletons were found scattered in one place. Based on that, Sir Mortimer Wheeler said that these were the very Dravidians whom the Aryan tribes had killed, driven away, and whose villages they had captured. [16]

Little Brother: But, brother, later, when these skeletons were studied, it was shown that those skeletons belonged to different periods. And they had not been killed in an attack or anything like that; some of them had probably drowned. There was no evidence of a massacre. (1965 CE)

Big Brother: Oh dear! There seems to have been a bit of a mix-up. You see, actually, no convincing archaeological evidence of any war was found. So, we modified AIT, again. We said that these Aryans came to India in fast chariots drawn by horses, bringing their women, children, and old people with them. There was no war or anything of that sort.

Little Brother: Oh, come on! Then what kind of ‘invasion’ is that? That is migration.

Big Brother: Hmm! What you say is correct. Let us change the name of the theory! Instead of ‘Invasion’, we will call it ‘Migration’. Aryan Migration Theory!

Little Brother: But do you know, brother? When MtDNA—that is, Mitochondrial DNA inherited from the mother—is studied, it becomes clear that Indian women themselves are the mothers of the people here, and not women from outside.

Big Brother: Is that so? Wait, wait! Let us make one more change to the theory. Let us say that only men migrated here. There were no women in their caravans. Anyway, that will also be convenient later for declaring them patriarchal. [10]

Little Brother: What?! But brother, the Indus civilisation was one of the largest and most populous settlements in the world at that time. To drive away the people of that settlement, wouldn’t the number of men who had to come have to be enormous? Was there any other settlement with that many young men?

Big Brother: That is a very sharp question, indeed. Wait, let me change the theory once again. Let us say that the Aryan males kept arriving in waves over hundreds of years. Migration in waves.

Little Brother: Brother, what kind of theory is this of yours, changing with every question? Anyway, tell me, what did the Aryans do after they arrived?

Big Brother: They drove away several hundred thousand Dravidians from many well-fortified, prosperous cities.

Little Brother: Brother! How can the local people who built fortified, well-planned cities be ‘primitive’, while the wandering Aryans ‘advanced’?

Big Brother: Now we have a problem, don’t we?! Never mind. Let us change the theory again. We will say that the Aryans were barbaric people and the Dravidians were advanced. Okay? Is that better?

Little Brother: This theory is certainly very flexible! Anyway. Those barbaric Aryans really had it easy. They wandered around, enduring sun, wind, rain and storms; crossing rivers, streams, mountains and valleys, poor things. But once they came here, they got well-planned cities and ready-made houses to live in!

Big Brother: No way! The Aryans never lived there in the first place! Once the Dravidians left, all the cities and towns were abandoned.

Little Brother: Huh!! Then where did the Aryans go?

Big Brother: I am completely baffled myself now!

Little Brother: Fine, let that go too! Brother, tell me, if the Dravidians went South, where did they drive away the people who were already living in the South?

Big Brother: Oh, go away! You ask far too many questions!

Little Brother: Fine then! Let that question be! Which route did these Aryans take to come here, brother?

Big Brother: You see, they moved out from Central Asia to different places. Some tribes went to Iran. Some tribes went to Europe. And some tribes came south-east to India, crossing the Hindu Kush mountains.

Little Brother: Whoa! So AIT has become a global question, brother! Where did these Aryans drive away the indigenous people of Europe and Iran? Do the indigenous people of Iran and Europe, who were wronged by this invasion, raise their voices against it even today?

Big Brother: No! No! There was no Aryans versus indigenous people issue in Persia or Europe!

Little Brother: Then they must have been had the ‘caste system’ problem brought by the Aryans, right?

Big Brother: No, the Aryans brought their ‘caste system’ only to India. They did not take it anywhere else!

Little Brother: Oh, okay, okay! So only Indians were divided because of caste and language? And we only came to know of this division after the British arrived! How convenient!

Anyway! Brother, tell me, a chariot is a vehicle meant for plains. How on earth did the Aryans cross the huge mountainous region of the Hindu Kush in chariots?

Big Brother: Oh, come on! We do not answer questions like that. We simply call anyone who asks such a question a ‘Hindutva-vadi’!

Little Brother: Fine, let that go too. Let us assume they somehow arrived with their chariots. But tell me, the remains of chariots dating to 2,000 BCE have been found in the village of Sinauli. From the shape and construction of the chariots, it is clear that they were harnessed to horses. That means both chariots and horses existed here even before the Aryans arrived. Then what? [4]

Big Brother: You see, we simply label those Sinauli chariots to be bullock carts! [16]

Little Brother: But the shape of that vehicle, and the length of the yoke does show that it was a chariot pulled by horse.

Big Brother: But Chhotkya, not a single seal from the Indus civilisation has a picture of a horse. So that proves that they did not know about horses!

Little Brother: There is no picture of a cow on their seals either. There are no pictures of dogs or cats on the seals either. So should we say they did not know these animals? Anyway! What did the Aryans do next?

Big Brother: Over the next thousand years, until the birth of the Buddha, these Aryans developed the Sanskrit language. They composed hundreds of branches of the four Vedas, several Upanishads, six Shastras, numerous Sutra texts, grammar, prosody, astronomy and all sorts of other things. To preserve the oral tradition, they developed various methods of memorisation, and committed all this knowledge to memory.

Little Brother: That’s quite something! So these wandering people suddenly became completely civilised! How did they suddenly give up their barbarism and turn to poetry, music, philosophy and all that? And in just 1,000 years? How on earth did they manage it, brother? Because the comparatively tiny Hebrew Bible took 1,500 years to be written.

Big Brother: You certainly have a lot of doubts! They wrote all this sitting on the banks of the Saraswati River. Say that the Goddess of Knowledge blessed them, if you like, Mr Hindutva-vadi! Then will that do?

Little Brother: But brother! The Saraswati River system had declined long before 1500 BCE—that is, according to AIT, long before the Aryans came! Then why on earth did the Aryans sit on the banks of a dry river and sing the praises of the Saraswati River?

Big Brother: You ask all sorts of unnecessary questions. Forget that! What about the fact that the R1a haplogroup is found in the DNA of Indians? Is that for nothing? That is solid proof that the Aryans came to India.

Little Brother: Brother! Going by your Aryan theory, R1a should be found only among the Northern, urban people of the higher castes. But R1a is found not only among the people of North, belonging to the so-called higher castes; but also found among the forest-dwelling people, Dravidians and Dalits whom AIT calls ‘indigenous’.

Big Brother: Oh, come on! AIT says that the Aryans who had R1a in their DNA came here bringing the Sanskrit language. Got it?

Little Brother: But what does language have to do with DNA? You speak English now—does that mean English is in your DNA?!

Big Brother: But, but what about the fact that R1a was not found in the DNA of that Rakhigarhi skeleton? What about that? Tell me, what about that?

Little Brother: The Rakhigarhi skeleton was that of a woman! Obviously she would have no Y-chromosome nor R1a! But that skeleton does tell it has no steppe ancestery! And how do you know that R1a did not travel out of India? [5][6] Because in the very same paper, the 11 skeletons found in ancient graves in Iran and Turkmenistan show Indus-related ancestery [14] …an evidence of movement out of India, not into India!

Big Brother: Oh, come on! How am I supposed to explain to you now what AIT is?

Little Brother: Wait, now I’ll tell you! AIT is a theory which, when read, allows Indian people to be divided into any two opposing groups—upper caste-Dalit, high-low, Aryan-Dravidian, North-South, foreigner-indigenous, urban-forest-dweller, sharp-nosed flat-nosed, fair-dark—and hatred can then be created between them. That theory is called AIT!

Big Brother: Wow, wow! Look at Mr Nationalistic here! That is completely wrong!

Little Brother: Fine then! Let me give you another definition—AIT is a theory which, when read, causes a person to start seeing strange and bizarre visions. And he begins babbling like a delusional person: “The Islamic and European invasions that took place in India during the historical period were absolutely insignificant compared to the alleged invasions of the Aryans! Aurangzeb, Tipu Sultan, Timur, the Khiljis, the Mughals, the Portuguese, the British and all those people were as cute as kittens compared to those violent Aryans!” That theory is called AIT! [11]

Big Brother: Oh, go away! Who is going to listen to your opinion? Are you some intellectual like me? [12] We will not invite you to any conference. If you write a paper, we will not publish it. If published, we will not take any notice of it. We will not appoint you to any university. And if you continue talking like this, we will condemn you at the global level. So what will you do?!! [12]

Little Brother: Oh! If you are a true intellectual, you will look at that theory with open eyes and correct its mistakes!

Big Brother: Wow! So now you are going to correct history, are you? What a Rightist you are! [12]

Little Brother: Ohhh! Weren’t you the one who said at the very beginning that this theory—which creates fights between brothers—is nothing but a game of imagination?

How long are you going to keep making childish boasts about how you have “bought the little brother for a pittance”? How long are you going to keep lying to me, saying, “Your forefathers were thieves, plunderers and that they came here wandering around in gangs”?

Did you think I would remain fooled by such tall tales all my life? Hey, I have grown up too now, you know! I have understood very well by now that there is not a shred of truth in your imaginary accusations!

You grow up too. Stop chewing on that old AIT bone! Throw away that false theory and come, let’s go play together!

References –

1. Harappan site of Rakhigarhi: DNA study finds no Central Asian trace, junks Aryan invasion theory. – Economic Times, 13 June 2018
2. Genetic study dismisses Aryan invasion as myth – Times of India, Mirror (Pune), Jul 06 2015
3. New research debunks Aryan invasion theory – DNAIndia –  10 Dec 2011
4. Sanauli Find Challenges Aryan Invasion Theory and Could Re-write Indian History – Ancient Origins, 23 June 2018
5. “The genetic component which spread beyond India is significantly higher in India than in any other part of world. This implies that this genetic component originated in India and then spread to West Asia and Caucasus,” said Gyaneshwar Chaube of University of Tartu, Estonia. – India Today, 10 Dec, 2011
6. Genetics Might Be Settling The Aryan Migration Debate, But Not How Left-Liberals Believe – by  Anil Kumar Suri
   1. … the origin of the R1a is far from settled …
   2. … it is almost certainly the case – tribal communities with high proportions of R1a assimilated into the caste matrix over the millennia. So how correct is it to link the R1a with an Indo-European migration?
7. Genetics and the Aryan invasion debate – Koenraad Elst, June 2017.
8. Propagandizing the Aryan Invasion Debate: A Rebuttal to Tony Joseph – A. L. Chavda
   1. … The westward Indo-Aryan expansion is a plausible explanation for the male-mediated demic expansions of R1a1a (R-M17) into Europe beginning around 2,500 BCE, which, to a large extent, replaced indigenous European males and their Y-chromosome strata. It also explains R1a1a’s diversification into the European R1a-Z282 and Asian R1a-Z93 branches….
   2. …  large number of ancient Harappan DNA samples need to be tested…
9. The Climate Change and the Environmental basis for the Human migrations during Holocene. Dr. P. Priyadarshi, MD, FRCP Edin, 16 July 2016
   1. … Up to 6000 BC, Europe was inhabited by dark skinned meat-eating hunters, who were nearly completely replaced by the arriving light-skinned Asians…
   2. … The mtDNA of the southern Indian locations have ultimately spread all over India and have even migrated to Europe during the Iron Age…. 
10. How genetics is settling the Aryan migration debate – Tony Joseph, The Hindu, 16 June 2017
    1. … there was strong sex bias in Bronze Age migrations. In other words, those who migrated were predominantly male  …
11. 4500-year-old DNA from Rakhigarhi reveals evidence that will unsettle Hindutva nationalists – Kai Friese
    1.  …  AIT is of an entirely more impressive order than the relatively inconsequential Islamic or European colonial invasions …
    2. … India is composed of a large number of small populations …
12. Lies, deception and character assassination: Aryan invasion propaganda touches new low – Abhijit Chavda 7, Sep 2018
13. Orientalism and the Puzzle of the Aryan Invasion Theory – Marianne Keppens and Jakob De Roover
    1. … the idea of one common source for all languages, related to one original people, was embedded in ‘the biblical version of history, in which Noah’s three sons, Japhet, Shem and Ham, were generally accepted as being the progenitors of the whole of humanity’. Before Babel, there was ‘one human race speaking one language’, which was then divided and dispersed over the earth. ‘This theme, even when stripped of its biblical trappings, was to remain thoroughly imprinted in European consciousness until well into the twentieth century’….
14. Science Magazine paper – The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia – V. Narsimhan et al.
15.  Cell paper – An Ancient Harappan Genome Lacks Ancestry from Steppe Pastoralists or Iranian Farmers – Dr Vasant Shinde et al.
16. THE MYTHICAL MASSACRE AT MOHENJO-DARO –  George F. Dales
17. Putting the horse before the cart: What the discovery of 4,000-year-old ‘chariot’ in UP signifies – Shoaib Daniyal, Jun 14, 2018, scroll.in