India, or rather, Indian subcontinent, is the birth-child of great Indic Civilization, which developed over thousands of years. But the question as to who are the original inhabitants of India is rather futile, because all the members of our species have their roots in Africa.
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It is now firmly established that all the people inhabiting the earth today are the descendants of people occupying Eastern Africa some 2,00,000 years ago. It was when they migrated out of Africa due to various reasons – most notably climate change – that they came to occupy different continents. Scientists have mapped the most probable migration routes of out of Africa migration by genetic study.
Migration routes of out of Africa migration – Video
Thus, the people that came to inhabit Indian subcontinent are essentially immigrants from outside, who entered India at different points of time, following different routes. This led to development of various civilizations in different parts of the subcontinent, obviously, at different periods. All these peoples and their civilizations intermingled with each other, resembling the proverbial melting pot, to establish the great Indic Civilization spanning throughout this land.
Hence, we must drag ourselves out of all the unproductive political debates and unfounded claims over this land, and objectively look into the journey of this civilization.
Original Inhabitants of India – Major migrations which contributed most in the composition of present-day Indian population:
First Indians: Out of Africa migrants:
Early humans, who were hunters and gatherers, were confined to African continent. However, with climate change and the resultant decline in prey population in that region, these early humans, mostly in search of more food, migrated out of Africa some 1,00,000 years ago.
One branch of these out of Africa migrants traversed the Arabian Peninsula and entered the Indian subcontinent some 65,000 years ago. These were the people who first occupied this land and can be regarded as First Indians.
West Asia and South East Asia migration:
At around 10,000 BCE, in the south west of Iran, there was an Elam Civilization. A section of these Elamite people entered the Indian subcontinent around 7000 BCE. As per linguistic and archaeological evidences, the roots of Dravidians are traced to these Proto Elamite immigrants. The Dravidian Languages have similarities with the language of Elamite civilization.
Further, it is said, these proto-Elamite immigrants mixed with then inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, and laid the foundation of Indus Valley Civilization (IVC). In fact, the genetic studies of remains of Indus Valley people reveal that in the ancient DNA of dwellers of IVC, apart from ancient Iranian people, there are genetic traces of ancient Southeast Asian hunter gatherers as well, which show an immigration from Southeast Asia.
After the decline of IVC due to climate change, its people spread to other parts of Indian subcontinent, including south India, where they blended with inhabitants of those areas and laid the foundation of Dravidian Culture and literature.
Aryans:
Aryans were a sub group of Indo-European language family. They entered north west India from Indo Iranian region around 2000 to 1500 BCE. In India they came to be known as Indo Aryans.
From north west India they gradually spread across the Indo Gangetic plain, and by 6th century BCE they spread across entire North India, which came to referred as Aryavarta.
Aryans were mostly cattle and horse rearing pastoralists and were mainly in search of Pastures. These Indo-European language speaking Indo Aryans intermingled with the then inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, and it led to the development of Sanskrit, Vedic Literature and the Vedic Culture.
Some details about Indo European language Family:
In the 18th century, a colonial Judge William Jones recognized similarities between Sanskrit language of India, and Latin and Greek Languages, and proposed that all these languages have a common ancestor, which was called Proto-Indo-European Language. The first speakers of this Proto-Indo-European Language, known as Kurgans, were mainly pastoralists. They migrated to other parts of Europe and Asia, taking their language with them.
Thus, the ancestor language, Proto-Indo-European Language, evolved into many European and Asian languages. Almost half of the world now speaks an Indo-European language.
The schematic tree of Indo-European family of languages is given below. The Indian sub group of this family, which is linked to Indo-Aryans, evolved into languages such as Sanskrit, Bengali, Urdu, Hindustani, Punjabi and other modern Indian languages.
Original Home of Aryans:
The original home of Aryans is a long-debated question and different scholars have put forth different regions as original home of Aryans, including Arctic region, southern Russia, central Aisa and Germany.
However, the genetic studies have traced the oldest signature of Y Chromosome Haplo Group R1a-M417 (which is considered genetic marker of Aryans) and its sub clade R1a-Z93 (which represents Aryans occupying Central and South Asia), to Ukraine and southern Russia, belonging to 5000 to 3500 BCE. Thus, it is now widely accepted that original home of Aryans was in Southern Russia and Ukraine.
Others:
Bactrian Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas also came in around 3rd century BCE, 1st century BCE and 1st century CE respectively. Each of these contributed their might to shape Indic civilization and culture.
Islamic and European Colonialism
The Islamic Invasions in India, which mainly began in 11th and 12th century CE, and the establishment of Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire in Indian subcontinent, which finally ended in 19th century, was nothing but colonialism, just like the European, or more specifically, British Colonialism in India. The chief characteristics of both these variants of colonialism were economic exploitation, overt or covert religious conversion, and suppression of indigenous identity and culture.
Aryan v/s Davidian Debate in the realm of Original Inhabitants of India discussion
The debate as to whether Aryans or Dravidians are original inhabitants of India has been a hot topic in the political discourse of this country for many decades now. Its roots lie in the “Aryan Invasion Theory” propounded by Max Muller in 1850s.
According to the “Aryan Invasion Theory”, Aryans from outside Invaded India from north west and destroyed Indus Valley Civilization, and drove the Dravidian Tribal indigenous people towards southern India. They later developed Vedic culture to civilize these indigenous barbaric tribals.
The “Aryan Invasion Theory” theory was extensively used and propagated by British colonialists to justify their occupation of India, to ‘civilize’ the uncivilized Indians.
This theory has been proved wrong comprehensibly by archaeological and genetic evidences. As per these studies, Aryans came to India in around 2000 – 1500 BCE which was after the decline of mature Phase of IVC, which began around 3000 – 2500 BCE. Also, the decline of IVC was due to climatic reasons and there are no evidences of any conflict between Indo Aryans and people of IVC.
Hence let us rise above this debate of original inhabitants of India. It is futile not only in the sense that it is unanswerable, but more so, because it is unimportant. As all peoples who came to occupy this land, at some point of time, came from outside, it is not important who came first and who, later. What really matters is that all these peoples underwent a great fusion process and gave birth to a great civilization of our motherland.
India – A Civilizational nation
Indian society has emerged as a multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic society, resulting from blending of peoples of different race, ethnicity and religion. The resultant fusion culture, which has developed over thousands of years, is what represents the common Indian way of life.
Thus, India as a nation is not defined by a single race, ethnicity or religion, like most other countries. Rather, it is the composite culture and common way of life, that binds the diverse citizens of this country into one nation. Indian nation state, pluralist and united, rests on the shoulders of a great civilization.
