The document discusses how European colonialists imposed biblical stories as historical facts to dominate non-Western cultures. It describes how biblical myths like Noah's flood, the curse of Ham, and the Tower of Babel were applied to interpret societies in Africa and India. Key figures like William Jones mapped Sanskrit literature onto biblical narratives to establish Indian history within a biblical framework and justify European rule. This led to the construction of the "Aryan race" and legacy of colonial indology that shaped the racialization of Asian and African peoples.
The document discusses how Biblical myths were imposed as historical facts by European colonists to interpret and dominate non-Western cultures like India and Africa. It describes how the Biblical story of Noah's flood, the curse of Ham, and the Tower of Babel were used to map unfamiliar populations into a Biblical framework and justify the mistreatment of black Africans and Indians. It also examines how early Indologists like William Jones fitted Sanskrit literature and Indian history into a Biblical timeline to establish colonial dominance and the notion of Aryan invasion. The legacy of this "Imperial evangelism" still shapes the colonial Indological infrastructure and view of Indian communities through a Biblical lens.
This chapter discusses how colonial administrators and evangelists invented racial identities and histories to divide populations in India. It explains how the concept of a distinct "Dravidian race" was fabricated by combining linguistic separatism, missionary interests, and ethnolinguistic scholarship. Key figures like Francis Whyte Ellis, Alexander Campbell, and Bishop Robert Caldwell promoted ideas that Tamil and other South Indian languages were unrelated to Sanskrit and belonged to non-Aryan Dravidians who were oppressed by invading Aryans. This helped establish a Dravidian identity and the notion of Aryan oppression. The chapter examines how Tamil literature and traditions like the Thirukural and Saiva Siddhanta were selectively appropriated and revised to link
This document discusses class and caste systems in ancient China, India, and Rome. In China, society was divided into elite officials, landlords, peasants, and merchants. The civil service was open to all males but favored the wealthy. In India, the rigid caste system divided society into hereditary social groups based on occupation. The system justified social inequality through Hindu concepts. In Rome, slavery was widespread and the backbone of the economy, with slaves making up over 30% of the population in some areas. Resistance was generally nonviolent but the rebellion led by Spartacus showed the potential for open revolt. Overall, the document examines how different societies organized and stratified social class and hierarchies.
This document discusses how Christianity has been assimilating elements of Hinduism in South India through a process called "Dravidian Christianity". It provides 3 key ways this has been done:
1. Fabricating a myth that St. Thomas visited South India and influenced Tamil classics, claiming this was an early form of Christianity rather than Hinduism. Archaeological evidence debunks this myth.
2. Aligning with the Dravidian movement starting in the 1900s to portray Hinduism as imposed by "evil" northern Aryans, while presenting Christianity and an imagined "Dravidian" spirituality as similar.
3. Christianizing elements of Tamil culture like festivals, art forms, and the popularization
The document provides information on several historical topics. It discusses the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Byzantine Empire. It then covers the origins and teachings of Islam, the development of early Chinese dynasties, and civilizations in medieval Africa and Japan. It also summarizes medieval Europe, the Americas, and the Renaissance period in Europe. The document compares the Aztec, Inca, and Maya cultures and discusses how the Aztec and Inca Empires were conquered by the Spanish.
The Mayan Temple of the Great Jaguar in Tikal, Guatemala was built in the 8th century AD to serve as the tomb for ruler Chan K'awill. The 144 foot tall temple has a steep pyramid shape with nine large steps and hundreds of small steps, topped by a temple with a roof featuring carvings. While its explicit purpose was as a tomb, it also served to accentuate the ruler's power and status by widening the physical distance between those at the top and bottom of the structure.
1. The document provides an overview of ancient Greek history from 3500 BCE to 100 BCE, covering major periods and developments.
2. It describes the rise and fall of early Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations on Crete and the mainland, followed by the emergence of city-states and the polis system.
3. The height of Greek classical culture is examined, including the conflicts with Persia, growth of Athenian democracy and arts, and flourishing of philosophy with thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
The document discusses how Biblical myths were imposed as historical facts by European colonists to interpret and dominate non-Western cultures like India and Africa. It describes how the Biblical story of Noah's flood, the curse of Ham, and the Tower of Babel were used to map unfamiliar populations into a Biblical framework and justify the mistreatment of black Africans and Indians. It also examines how early Indologists like William Jones fitted Sanskrit literature and Indian history into a Biblical timeline to establish colonial dominance and the notion of Aryan invasion. The legacy of this "Imperial evangelism" still shapes the colonial Indological infrastructure and view of Indian communities through a Biblical lens.
This chapter discusses how colonial administrators and evangelists invented racial identities and histories to divide populations in India. It explains how the concept of a distinct "Dravidian race" was fabricated by combining linguistic separatism, missionary interests, and ethnolinguistic scholarship. Key figures like Francis Whyte Ellis, Alexander Campbell, and Bishop Robert Caldwell promoted ideas that Tamil and other South Indian languages were unrelated to Sanskrit and belonged to non-Aryan Dravidians who were oppressed by invading Aryans. This helped establish a Dravidian identity and the notion of Aryan oppression. The chapter examines how Tamil literature and traditions like the Thirukural and Saiva Siddhanta were selectively appropriated and revised to link
This document discusses class and caste systems in ancient China, India, and Rome. In China, society was divided into elite officials, landlords, peasants, and merchants. The civil service was open to all males but favored the wealthy. In India, the rigid caste system divided society into hereditary social groups based on occupation. The system justified social inequality through Hindu concepts. In Rome, slavery was widespread and the backbone of the economy, with slaves making up over 30% of the population in some areas. Resistance was generally nonviolent but the rebellion led by Spartacus showed the potential for open revolt. Overall, the document examines how different societies organized and stratified social class and hierarchies.
This document discusses how Christianity has been assimilating elements of Hinduism in South India through a process called "Dravidian Christianity". It provides 3 key ways this has been done:
1. Fabricating a myth that St. Thomas visited South India and influenced Tamil classics, claiming this was an early form of Christianity rather than Hinduism. Archaeological evidence debunks this myth.
2. Aligning with the Dravidian movement starting in the 1900s to portray Hinduism as imposed by "evil" northern Aryans, while presenting Christianity and an imagined "Dravidian" spirituality as similar.
3. Christianizing elements of Tamil culture like festivals, art forms, and the popularization
The document provides information on several historical topics. It discusses the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Byzantine Empire. It then covers the origins and teachings of Islam, the development of early Chinese dynasties, and civilizations in medieval Africa and Japan. It also summarizes medieval Europe, the Americas, and the Renaissance period in Europe. The document compares the Aztec, Inca, and Maya cultures and discusses how the Aztec and Inca Empires were conquered by the Spanish.
The Mayan Temple of the Great Jaguar in Tikal, Guatemala was built in the 8th century AD to serve as the tomb for ruler Chan K'awill. The 144 foot tall temple has a steep pyramid shape with nine large steps and hundreds of small steps, topped by a temple with a roof featuring carvings. While its explicit purpose was as a tomb, it also served to accentuate the ruler's power and status by widening the physical distance between those at the top and bottom of the structure.
1. The document provides an overview of ancient Greek history from 3500 BCE to 100 BCE, covering major periods and developments.
2. It describes the rise and fall of early Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations on Crete and the mainland, followed by the emergence of city-states and the polis system.
3. The height of Greek classical culture is examined, including the conflicts with Persia, growth of Athenian democracy and arts, and flourishing of philosophy with thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
The document provides a detailed overview of the geography, history, and culture of India. It describes the Indian subcontinent's diverse terrain, including the Himalayan mountains, the Ganges river valley, the Indus river valley, and coastal plains. It traces the development of early civilizations like the Indus Valley civilization as well as the later arrival and settlement of Indo-European peoples known as Aryans. The Aryans established Vedic religion and Sanskrit, and introduced social hierarchies like the caste system. Major empires that rose and fell in India are also summarized.
Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian literature were among the earliest in the world. Egyptian literature dates back to pharaonic Egypt and was written in hieroglyphs on stone monuments and papyrus. The most extensive work is the Book of the Dead. Mesopotamian literature originated with the Sumerians in cuneiform script on clay tablets. Major works include the Epic of Gilgamesh about a king who seeks immortality, and flood stories resembling the biblical account. Both cultures produced religious texts, histories, letters, and stories that provide insight into their ancient civilizations.
This document provides an overview of African societies and kingdoms from 1000 BCE to 1500 CE. It discusses Africa's geographical diversity and how this shaped different cultures. The Bantu migration spread Bantu languages across eastern and southern Africa. Trans-Saharan trade introduced Islam to West Africa and stimulated urban growth. Major kingdoms like Ghana, Mali, and the Christian kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia developed. Aksum engaged in trade on the Red Sea and was the first African society to document its history in writing. The document examines the complex relationships between Christian and Muslim populations in Africa.
This document summarizes the origins and cultures of various indigenous peoples of the Americas, including their locations, subsistence patterns, and some key cultural aspects. It discusses groups such as the Inuit in the Arctic, Pacific Northwestern peoples in coastal areas, Mound Builders in eastern North America, Iroquois and Plains peoples, Anasazi in the Southwest, Mayans and Aztecs in Mesoamerica, and Incas in the Andes Mountains of South America. For each group, it provides brief details about their environments, ways of life, and some notable cultural achievements.
1. Asia is the largest continent geographically, with varied terrain and over half the world's population.
2. Several early civilizations developed in Asia, including along the Tigris-Euphrates, Nile, Indus, and Yellow Rivers, characterized by organized political systems, specialized labor, writing, trade, and religious beliefs like Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism.
3. Powerful empires and dynasties rose in Asia, such as the Persian Empire under Cyrus and Darius, the Indian Mauryan Dynasty under Chandragupta Maurya, and trade networks expanded between Asia, Europe, and within Asia.
The document provides an overview of the emergence of early civilizations. It describes how early humans lived as hunter-gatherers and then developed agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution around 10,000 years ago. This allowed for permanent settlements and the rise of civilizations along major river valleys, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. These early civilizations made advances in areas like irrigation, government, religion, and writing systems. The document also discusses the ancient Hebrews and the development of the monotheistic religion of Judaism.
The document provides an overview of Chinese history from the emergence of civilization around 4000 BCE to the unification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE. It describes the major dynasties including the Shang Dynasty which ruled from around 1500 BCE and was characterized by a rigid class structure with the king holding total power. The Zhou Dynasty then overthrew the Shang in 1050 BCE and instituted a feudal system which eventually broke down and led to the Warring States period where seven states fought for dominance until the Qin unified China in 221 BCE.
The document provides information on important figures and periods in ancient Indian history. It discusses Chandragupta, who unified northern India in the 4th century BCE and defeated the Persian general Seleucus. It then covers the Maurya Empire founded by Chandragupta from 321-185 BCE and important rulers like Asoka who promoted Buddhism. Next, it outlines the Gupta Empire from 320-647 CE, noting its economic prosperity and cultural achievements under rulers like Chandra Gupta II. It concludes with the invasion of the White Huns signaling the decline of the Guptas and the fragmentation of North India into separate kingdoms.
Classical civilizations such as Greece and Rome made many contributions. In Greece, Athens and Sparta developed different forms of government - Athens becoming a direct democracy while Sparta formed an oligarchy. Greek culture spread during the Hellenistic period after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Rome grew to become a vast empire through its military strength and establishment of roads, with Latin becoming a dominant language across its territories.
The document provides information about ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. It discusses how they were river civilizations along fertile lands around major rivers. It also describes the development of cities and empires in Mesopotamia and the different periods of rule in ancient Egypt. Key aspects of their societies, religions, and arts are outlined as well.
The document discusses the 10 oldest civilizations in the world. It begins by defining civilization as an advanced stage of social development and organization reached by a society. It then lists the civilizations chronologically from oldest to most recent. The three oldest are the Mesopotamian civilization, Indus Valley civilization, and Ancient Egyptian civilization. It provides brief descriptions of each civilization's origins, locations, and some key aspects of their cultures and achievements.
The document provides an overview of the chapter on Ancient Egypt, including sections on the Nile Valley, Egypt's Old Kingdom, the Egyptian Empire, and the civilization of Kush. It describes how the Egyptian civilization began along the fertile Nile River valley, protected by natural barriers. During the Old Kingdom, powerful pharaohs ruled and the Egyptians built pyramids as tombs. They had a polytheistic religion and believed in an afterlife.
Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the Fertile Crescent. The rivers' seasonal flooding deposited silt that nourished agriculture, allowing civilization to develop. The Sumerians built the first Mesopotamian cities like Ur and Uruk by 3000 BC and invented cuneiform writing and the wheel. Their theocratic city-states were later conquered by the Akkadians and Hammurabi's Babylonian Empire. Key developments included Hammurabi's Code of Laws and the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The document discusses trade routes between 500-1500 CE. It focuses on the Silk Roads between China and Europe, the Indian Ocean sea routes, and trans-Saharan land routes. Along these routes, goods like silk and spices were traded, religions spread, and diseases transmitted. Merchants accumulated wealth and cities like Srivijaya rose to prominence by controlling strategic choke points. West Africa developed larger states and cities due to trans-Saharan trade and the influence of Islam. Networks of interaction differed in the Americas, being oriented north-south and within civilizations rather than between them like in Eurasia.
The document provides an overview of China's history, culture, and people. It discusses China's many dynasties from 2000 BCE to present day and how they developed classical Chinese civilization. It also describes China's ethnic groups including the Han majority and Tibetans and Mongolians. Additionally, it summarizes China's rapid modernization and urbanization in recent decades as well as the country's one-child policy and its effects on demographics.
The document provides background information on India and Southeast Asia between 1500 BCE and 1025 CE. It describes the geography, crops, and early civilizations of India, including the development of Hinduism. In Southeast Asia, it outlines the formation of early states like Funan and the maritime Srivijayan Kingdom, which dominated regional trade routes until its decline in the 11th century.
Asian civilizations embrace, learn from, and respect one another with the objective of common progress and prosperity, resulting in the flourishing of individual civilizations as well as the establishment of a "community with shared future for mankind" where countries come together and join.
Geography isolated Greek cities, allowing independent development. The Minoans and Mycenaeans were early Mediterranean civilizations, with the Mycenaeans conquering mainland Greece. Athens and Sparta emerged as powerful city-states with different governments: Athens established a direct democracy while Sparta focused on its military with a rigid social structure.
Lesson 4 - Western Discourse on India's Fragmentcisindus
The document discusses how Western academics and organizations work to fragment and undermine India through distorting perceptions of Indian society and culture. It describes how they promote atrocity literature portraying India negatively, encourage separatist identities along linguistic, caste and other lines, and intervene inappropriately in India's domestic affairs. The overall aim seems to be dividing, destabilizing and weakening India through these means while ignoring pro-India perspectives.
The document discusses the emergence and evolution of the Aryan debate theory over time. There were two main theories: 1) Aryans originated in Central Asia and invaded India, and 2) Aryans originated in India and later migrated west. The first theory proposed by Max Mueller of an original Aryan homeland in Central Asia was later adapted differently by missionaries, Hindu nationalists, and others to suit their social and political agendas. Archaeological evidence from the Indus civilization challenged this theory, and it is now understood that widespread contacts existed between northwestern India, Iran, and Central Asia in ancient times without a massive migration or invasion.
The document provides an overview of the history of Islam presented in an Asian studies class. It discusses:
1) The monotheistic roots of Islam in Judaism and how Muhammad established the religion's core beliefs and practices.
2) The political uncertainty following Muhammad's death over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community.
3) The expansion and influence of Islam in its early centuries, referred to as the Golden Age of Islam.
The document provides a detailed overview of the geography, history, and culture of India. It describes the Indian subcontinent's diverse terrain, including the Himalayan mountains, the Ganges river valley, the Indus river valley, and coastal plains. It traces the development of early civilizations like the Indus Valley civilization as well as the later arrival and settlement of Indo-European peoples known as Aryans. The Aryans established Vedic religion and Sanskrit, and introduced social hierarchies like the caste system. Major empires that rose and fell in India are also summarized.
Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian literature were among the earliest in the world. Egyptian literature dates back to pharaonic Egypt and was written in hieroglyphs on stone monuments and papyrus. The most extensive work is the Book of the Dead. Mesopotamian literature originated with the Sumerians in cuneiform script on clay tablets. Major works include the Epic of Gilgamesh about a king who seeks immortality, and flood stories resembling the biblical account. Both cultures produced religious texts, histories, letters, and stories that provide insight into their ancient civilizations.
This document provides an overview of African societies and kingdoms from 1000 BCE to 1500 CE. It discusses Africa's geographical diversity and how this shaped different cultures. The Bantu migration spread Bantu languages across eastern and southern Africa. Trans-Saharan trade introduced Islam to West Africa and stimulated urban growth. Major kingdoms like Ghana, Mali, and the Christian kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia developed. Aksum engaged in trade on the Red Sea and was the first African society to document its history in writing. The document examines the complex relationships between Christian and Muslim populations in Africa.
This document summarizes the origins and cultures of various indigenous peoples of the Americas, including their locations, subsistence patterns, and some key cultural aspects. It discusses groups such as the Inuit in the Arctic, Pacific Northwestern peoples in coastal areas, Mound Builders in eastern North America, Iroquois and Plains peoples, Anasazi in the Southwest, Mayans and Aztecs in Mesoamerica, and Incas in the Andes Mountains of South America. For each group, it provides brief details about their environments, ways of life, and some notable cultural achievements.
1. Asia is the largest continent geographically, with varied terrain and over half the world's population.
2. Several early civilizations developed in Asia, including along the Tigris-Euphrates, Nile, Indus, and Yellow Rivers, characterized by organized political systems, specialized labor, writing, trade, and religious beliefs like Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism.
3. Powerful empires and dynasties rose in Asia, such as the Persian Empire under Cyrus and Darius, the Indian Mauryan Dynasty under Chandragupta Maurya, and trade networks expanded between Asia, Europe, and within Asia.
The document provides an overview of the emergence of early civilizations. It describes how early humans lived as hunter-gatherers and then developed agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution around 10,000 years ago. This allowed for permanent settlements and the rise of civilizations along major river valleys, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. These early civilizations made advances in areas like irrigation, government, religion, and writing systems. The document also discusses the ancient Hebrews and the development of the monotheistic religion of Judaism.
The document provides an overview of Chinese history from the emergence of civilization around 4000 BCE to the unification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE. It describes the major dynasties including the Shang Dynasty which ruled from around 1500 BCE and was characterized by a rigid class structure with the king holding total power. The Zhou Dynasty then overthrew the Shang in 1050 BCE and instituted a feudal system which eventually broke down and led to the Warring States period where seven states fought for dominance until the Qin unified China in 221 BCE.
The document provides information on important figures and periods in ancient Indian history. It discusses Chandragupta, who unified northern India in the 4th century BCE and defeated the Persian general Seleucus. It then covers the Maurya Empire founded by Chandragupta from 321-185 BCE and important rulers like Asoka who promoted Buddhism. Next, it outlines the Gupta Empire from 320-647 CE, noting its economic prosperity and cultural achievements under rulers like Chandra Gupta II. It concludes with the invasion of the White Huns signaling the decline of the Guptas and the fragmentation of North India into separate kingdoms.
Classical civilizations such as Greece and Rome made many contributions. In Greece, Athens and Sparta developed different forms of government - Athens becoming a direct democracy while Sparta formed an oligarchy. Greek culture spread during the Hellenistic period after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Rome grew to become a vast empire through its military strength and establishment of roads, with Latin becoming a dominant language across its territories.
The document provides information about ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. It discusses how they were river civilizations along fertile lands around major rivers. It also describes the development of cities and empires in Mesopotamia and the different periods of rule in ancient Egypt. Key aspects of their societies, religions, and arts are outlined as well.
The document discusses the 10 oldest civilizations in the world. It begins by defining civilization as an advanced stage of social development and organization reached by a society. It then lists the civilizations chronologically from oldest to most recent. The three oldest are the Mesopotamian civilization, Indus Valley civilization, and Ancient Egyptian civilization. It provides brief descriptions of each civilization's origins, locations, and some key aspects of their cultures and achievements.
The document provides an overview of the chapter on Ancient Egypt, including sections on the Nile Valley, Egypt's Old Kingdom, the Egyptian Empire, and the civilization of Kush. It describes how the Egyptian civilization began along the fertile Nile River valley, protected by natural barriers. During the Old Kingdom, powerful pharaohs ruled and the Egyptians built pyramids as tombs. They had a polytheistic religion and believed in an afterlife.
Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the Fertile Crescent. The rivers' seasonal flooding deposited silt that nourished agriculture, allowing civilization to develop. The Sumerians built the first Mesopotamian cities like Ur and Uruk by 3000 BC and invented cuneiform writing and the wheel. Their theocratic city-states were later conquered by the Akkadians and Hammurabi's Babylonian Empire. Key developments included Hammurabi's Code of Laws and the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The document discusses trade routes between 500-1500 CE. It focuses on the Silk Roads between China and Europe, the Indian Ocean sea routes, and trans-Saharan land routes. Along these routes, goods like silk and spices were traded, religions spread, and diseases transmitted. Merchants accumulated wealth and cities like Srivijaya rose to prominence by controlling strategic choke points. West Africa developed larger states and cities due to trans-Saharan trade and the influence of Islam. Networks of interaction differed in the Americas, being oriented north-south and within civilizations rather than between them like in Eurasia.
The document provides an overview of China's history, culture, and people. It discusses China's many dynasties from 2000 BCE to present day and how they developed classical Chinese civilization. It also describes China's ethnic groups including the Han majority and Tibetans and Mongolians. Additionally, it summarizes China's rapid modernization and urbanization in recent decades as well as the country's one-child policy and its effects on demographics.
The document provides background information on India and Southeast Asia between 1500 BCE and 1025 CE. It describes the geography, crops, and early civilizations of India, including the development of Hinduism. In Southeast Asia, it outlines the formation of early states like Funan and the maritime Srivijayan Kingdom, which dominated regional trade routes until its decline in the 11th century.
Asian civilizations embrace, learn from, and respect one another with the objective of common progress and prosperity, resulting in the flourishing of individual civilizations as well as the establishment of a "community with shared future for mankind" where countries come together and join.
Geography isolated Greek cities, allowing independent development. The Minoans and Mycenaeans were early Mediterranean civilizations, with the Mycenaeans conquering mainland Greece. Athens and Sparta emerged as powerful city-states with different governments: Athens established a direct democracy while Sparta focused on its military with a rigid social structure.
Lesson 4 - Western Discourse on India's Fragmentcisindus
The document discusses how Western academics and organizations work to fragment and undermine India through distorting perceptions of Indian society and culture. It describes how they promote atrocity literature portraying India negatively, encourage separatist identities along linguistic, caste and other lines, and intervene inappropriately in India's domestic affairs. The overall aim seems to be dividing, destabilizing and weakening India through these means while ignoring pro-India perspectives.
The document discusses the emergence and evolution of the Aryan debate theory over time. There were two main theories: 1) Aryans originated in Central Asia and invaded India, and 2) Aryans originated in India and later migrated west. The first theory proposed by Max Mueller of an original Aryan homeland in Central Asia was later adapted differently by missionaries, Hindu nationalists, and others to suit their social and political agendas. Archaeological evidence from the Indus civilization challenged this theory, and it is now understood that widespread contacts existed between northwestern India, Iran, and Central Asia in ancient times without a massive migration or invasion.
The document provides an overview of the history of Islam presented in an Asian studies class. It discusses:
1) The monotheistic roots of Islam in Judaism and how Muhammad established the religion's core beliefs and practices.
2) The political uncertainty following Muhammad's death over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community.
3) The expansion and influence of Islam in its early centuries, referred to as the Golden Age of Islam.
Aryans Invaded India. Fabricated history.nidhi1509
The document discusses how the Aryan invasion theory was fabricated by European historians and the British to belittle Indian history and society. It provides evidence from archaeological findings, literature, and DNA studies that show India had a developed civilization long before the supposed Aryan invasion, and that there is no historical or genetic basis for distinguishing Indians along Aryan and Dravidian lines. The document argues the theory was promoted for political purposes to divide and control the Indian population under British colonial rule.
The document provides a wide-ranging overview of the history of visual communications and the interconnected developments across cultures and civilizations that enabled modernity. It traces the origins and spread of key inventions from China like paper, printing, and gunpowder that allowed Europe's rise to global dominance while noting China's overlooked contributions. The document also discusses the rise of Islam and the intellectual flowering under Islamic rule that facilitated the European Renaissance while incorporating influences from many conquered lands.
The document provides a wide-ranging overview of the history of visual communications and the interconnected developments across cultures and civilizations that enabled modernity. It traces the origins and spread of key inventions from papermaking and printing in China to their adoption in Europe, alongside parallel developments in Islam and how the exchange of ideas contributed to the rise of global empires.
The document provides a wide-ranging overview of the history of visual communications and the interconnected developments across cultures and civilizations that enabled modernity. It traces the origins and spread of key inventions from China like paper, printing, gunpowder and the compass that allowed Europe's rise to global dominance, while noting China also contributed to Europeans developing disease resistance.
Contents
Introduction
I. A fictional concept: the origin of the fraud
II. A construct based on posterior textual sources
III. The deceitful presentation
IV. 5th century BCE texts found in 15th c. CE manuscripts do not make 'History'.
V. Abundant evidence of lies and deliberate distortions attested in the manuscript transmission
VI. Darius I the Great, the Behistun inscription, and Ctesias
VII. The historical Assyrian Queen Shammuramat and the fictional Queen Semiramis of the 'Ancient Greek sources'
VIII. The malignant intentions of the Benedictine liars: from the historical Darius I the Great to the fictional Semiramis
IX. The vicious distortions of the Benedictine liars: from Ctesias to Herodotus
Question 1.1. Which of the following accurately describes the so-f.docxIRESH3
Question 1.1. Which of the following accurately describes the so-far accepted scientific theory explaining the original population of North America, as well as the new alternative theory based on newly discovered evidence? (Points : 4)
The discovery of Folsom (Clovis) arrowheads and spear points in the Southwest and throughout the West in the early 1900s, similar in material and style to those discovered much earlier in Siberia, led to a theory that Asiatic hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic Period migrated across a land bridge (Beringia) that linked Sibera with Alaska during the last millennia of the Ice Age, around approximately 15,000 BCE. Art and artifacts collected in Central and South America have led some archeologists to theorize that Paleolithic seafarers from South Asia migrated across the South Pacific through Polynesia toward North and South America approximately 5,000 years earlier. These people are referred to as the Solutrean People.
The discovery of Folsom (Clovis) arrowheads and spear points in the Southwest and throughout the West in the early 1900s, similar in material and style to those discovered much earlier in Central Africa, led to a theory that African hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic Period migrated by sea across the Atlantic Ocean during the last millennia of the Ice Age, around approximately 15,000 BCE. Art and artifacts collected in Central and South America have led some archeologists to theorize that Paleolithic seafarers from South Asia migrated across the South Pacific through Polynesia toward North and South America approximately 5,000 years earlier. These people are referred to as the Solutrean People.
The discovery of Solutrean arrowheads and spear points at Cahokia near present-day St. Louis, Missouri led to a theory that Neolithic seafarers migrated across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe around approximately 20,000 BCE. Recently discovered evidence casts doubt on the dating of those artifacts, which may possibly be Clovis points dating them at no earlier than 10,000 BCE.
The discovery of Folsom (Clovis) arrowheads and spear points in the Southwest and throughout the West in the early 1900s, similar in material and style to those discovered much earlier in Siberia, led to a theory that Asiatic hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic Period migrated across a land bridge (Beringia) that linked Sibera with Alaska during the last millennia of the Ice Age, around approximately 15,000-10,000 BCE. Cruder arrowheads and spear points recently discovered in eastern North America have led some archeologists to theorize that Paleolithic seafarers from Southwestern Europe migrated across the North Atlantic to North America approximately 5,000 years earlier. These people are referred to as the Solutrean People.
None of the above describes either theory.
Question 2.2. When did Archaic hunter-gatherers of the Eastern Woodlands begin to develop agriculture?(Points : 4)
Approx. 60 ...
The early Christian conception of history viewed events as part of God's divine plan for humanity, with disasters representing divine punishment and prosperity indicating favor. For historians like Eusebius, the Roman Empire provided conditions for Christianity's spread. Augustine divided history into six eras and argued that Rome's fall was not due to Christianity but humanity's divided nature. Early Islamic historians like al-Tabari and Rashid al-Din produced universal histories linking Islamic and other traditions. Ibn Khaldun analyzed history's inner meanings and causes rather than just chronicling events.
The document discusses the origins and history of the Knights Templars and their connection to Freemasonry. It claims that the Templars discovered esoteric teachings during their time in Jerusalem that turned them away from Christianity. They grew extremely wealthy and powerful through banking and trade before being arrested for heresy. Though officially dissolved, the Templars survived secretly and went on to establish Freemasonry, imparting their symbols, rituals and beliefs. Many similarities are cited between Freemasonry and the medieval Knights Templar organization.
Project Report on Indo Aryan Invasion theory ValidationVijay Raj Yanamala
The document is a seminar report on the Indo-Aryan invasion theory presented by a student. It summarizes archaeological evidence from the Indus Valley civilization that links the Indus Valley culture to the later Vedic culture. It also examines chronological evidence that refutes the notion of an Aryan invasion and instead indicates that Indo-Aryan peoples coexisted with Dravidians in India for thousands of years. Genetic evidence from autosomal DNA, mitochondrial DNA, and Y-chromosome testing of populations is presented that supports intermixing and common ancestry between groups rather than distinct races.
The document provides historical context on the development of linguistic ideas in Arabic and Hebrew traditions as well as during the Middle Ages in Europe. It discusses how Arabic grammarians sought to explain and preserve the perfection of the Qur'an, leading to analysis of morphology. For Hebrew grammarians, the focus was establishing the biblical text, with translation bringing linguistic study. In the Middle Ages, Latin dominated and Bible translation influenced work on universal grammar and linking language to reality through Modistae theological analyses.
American Literature: Prose BEGINNINGS: THE 1500S AND 1600SAnisa Asharie
American literature in its early centuries consisted primarily of exploration narratives, histories of settlement and religion, reflecting the growth of the colonies. Native American oral traditions predated European settlement and addressed similar purposes to biblical stories. Early works included letters and maps from explorers like Vespucci and Columbus. By 1600, accounts of discoveries had been published by Raleigh, Hakluyt, Harriot and White. Histories recorded events like John Smith's leadership in Jamestown and his claimed rescue by Pocahontas, while religious writings debated doctrine and sought to understand indigenous peoples. The Salem witch trials of 1692 saw 20 executed for alleged witchcraft. Figures like Roger Williams and Thomas Hooker established religious freedom and new settlements
The document summarizes early North American literature from the colonial period. It discusses how Puritan writings in New England reflected their religious worldview and focused on topics like sermons, biographies, and diaries rather than fiction. Notable Puritan writers mentioned include William Bradford, Anne Bradstreet, Cotton Mather, and Jonathan Edwards. Their works helped establish American identity and independence from British literature during a time of religious freedom and settlement of the new land.
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The document provides an overview of the origins and history of Judaism and Christianity. It discusses the key periods and events in Jewish history from the patriarchs to the exile and return. It also covers the life of Jesus and the early Christian church established by Paul. The Bible served as the central text that shaped Western culture and values through its emphasis on monotheism, ethics, and influential stories and figures.
1. In the 18th century, the term "Aryan" was adopted to refer to ancient Indo-European language speakers as a whole, including groups across Europe and India.
2. Models of Indo-Aryan migration discuss scenarios of early Indo-Aryans migrating to northwest India, with linguistic and some genetic evidence supporting migration claims.
3. More recent genetic studies found no evidence that castes in South Asia resulted from an Aryan invasion or subjugation of Dravidian people, suggesting castes developed from traditional tribal organizations during Indian society formation.
The Indigenous Aryans theory, also known as the Out of India theory, proposes that the Indo-European languages, or at least the Indo-Aryan languages, originated within the Indian subcontinent, as an alternative to the established migration model which proposes the Pontic steppe as the area of origin of the IndoEuropean languages.
The indigenist view sees the Indo-Aryan languages as having a deep history in the Indian subcontinent, and being the carriers of the Indus Valley Civilization.
This view proposes an older date than is generally accepted for the Vedic period, which is generally considered to follow the decline of Harappan culture.
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The indigenist view sees the Indo-Aryan languages as having a deep history in the Indian subcontinent, and being the carriers of the Indus Valley Civilization.
This view proposes an older date than is generally accepted for the Vedic period, which is generally considered to follow the decline of Harappan culture.
The document discusses key concepts related to postcolonial literature and theory. It defines colonialism, imperialism, and postcolonialism and discusses their historical contexts. It notes that colonialism involved violence and the marginalization of non-European cultures and literatures. Postcolonial literature seeks to address this and find modes of resistance, retrieval, and reversing the erasure of pre-colonial pasts. It is a literature of protest that aims to understand history to plan for the future.
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1. 1.1. Imperial Evangelism
Shapes Indian Ethnology
Biblical stories were imposed as historical facts
to impose cultural and theological dominance.
2. The first section of this chapter will explain :
Biblical Indology based on Biblical Myths
• The Noah’s Deluge
• The Curse on Ham
• The Tower of Babel
Application of Biblical Myths
• Application to Africa
• Application to India
Indological Legacy
3. Biblical Framework
When European colonialists captured various parts of the
world, their missionaries and merchants encountered
unfamiliar non-western cultures.
Very soon, European accounts were constructed to fit all
the populations of other cultures into the Biblical
framework.
5. Mosaic Ethnology / Biblical Narrative
Biblical myths were used to interpret Asian and African
societies.
The Noah’s Deluge
The Curse on Ham
The Tower of Babel
6. 1. The Noah’s Deluge
Great Flood of the Bible.
Descendants of Noah repopulated the earth.
Noah’s three sons were Ham, Shem and Japheth.
European mapping of unfamiliar non-western cultures with the Biblical
framework.
Debate to assign non-European community the status as per Biblical
hierarchy.
The narratives of natives were dismissed as ‘myths’ and ‘superstitions’.
The Europeans considered it their moral authority, and indeed, responsibility,
to compose the ‘true history’ of all cultures.
7. 2. The Curse on Ham
Noah’s three sons were Ham, Shem and Japheth.
Ham was cursed because he laughed on the nudity of Noah.
He was cursed to live in servitude to the descendants of the other two
sons.
This Biblical account - accepted as veritable history in Europe.
The descendants of Ham – all dark-skinned peoples.
Hamitic culture - barbaric, uncivilized and immoral.
8. Stephen R Haynes
on The Curse on Ham
For over two millennia, Bible readers have blamed Ham and his
progeny for everything from existence of slavery to serfdom to
the perpetuation of sexual license and perversion, to the
introduction of magical arts, astrology, idolatry, witchcraft and
heathen religion. They have associated Hamites with tyranny,
theft, heresy, blasphemy, rebellion, war and even deicide.
9. Martin Luther
on The Curse on Ham
Ham and his descendants were possessed by ‘Satanic and
bitter hatred’.
Using the physical attributes of the body as the basis for
moral degeneration and justification for servitude.
10. Origen of Alexandria (185–254 CE)
on The Curse on Ham
Look at the origin of the race and you will discover that their
father Ham, who had laughed at his father’s nakedness
deserved a judgment of this kind that his son Chanaan should
be servant to his brothers, in which case the condition of
bondage would precede the wickedness of his conduct. Not
without merit, therefore, does the discolored posterity imitate the
ignobility of the race.
12. The Bible’s Hamitic myth, in which the
descendants of Ham were cursed by Noah into
perpetual slavery, was used by the Europeans as
the established truth to interpret the skin color of
Blacks and justify the institution of slavery.
Africa witnessed armed expeditions as well as
slave raids from Europe, transferring large
numbers of captured African peoples to distant
lands.
The institution of slavery became a major
constituent of European and American
economies.
Application to Africa
13. Application to Africa
Between 1517 and 1840, it is estimated that twenty-million
Africans were captured, transported to the Americas, and
enslaved in a manner that can only be considered a holocaust.
The Hamitic myth - provided justification for slavery.
Respected professionals such as doctors, lawyers, politicians,
clergymen and professors’, regarded the ‘Curse of Ham’ as
historical fact.
14. Africans accepting Biblical Narrative
The slave and black poetess, Phyllis Wheatley, wrote in 1773:
‘Remember Christians, Negroes black as Cain may be
refined and join the angelic train’.
15.
16. William Jones
Jones mapped Indians as the offspring of Ham, Arabs as the offspring of
Shem, and Tartars as the offspring of Japheth.
Jones used his newly discovered Sanskrit materials to claim that the
Hindus had the character of Ham, and that Sanskrit literature was linked to
Biblical events.
Thus, Indian linguistics was mapped onto Biblical ethnology.
17. Mapping Sanskrit literature onto
Biblical master narrative
Ram – Raamah
Kusa – Cusa (the grandson of Ham)
Manu – Adam
Narasimha – Nimrod
18. Biblical time-scales
God had created the world in 4004 BCE, and the flood of Noah had taken place in
2349 BCE.
Indian yugas had to be rejected because they involved huge time-spans running
into millions and billions of years.
Mythology - Sanskrit texts that did not fit into the Bible,
History - Whatever could fit Bible.
Vedic and Puranic texts were digested into Biblical chronology.
To establish his dates for the so called Aryan invasion of India, which influences
scholars to this day.
19. Eurocentric constructions of Indian
history.
William Jones’s philology became a theological project to fit Hindu
texts into a Biblical mythology.
Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva as the degraded version
of the Christian Trinity.
Appropriator of Hinduism in order to enhance the credibility of
Christianity.
The chronology of events found in non-western texts had to fit the
time-periods mandated by the Christian officials.
22. Indological legacy
The earliest speakers of Sanskrit belonged to the Aryan ‘race’.
Initial Aryan invasion from Europe to the Indian subcontinent had
brought an infusion of civilization, the Indians had later
degenerated.
Europeans were needed to lift the degraded Indian brothers to their
past glory – then and now.
23. Indological institutions
These Indologists set up various institutions in India in order to
interpret India from colonial perspective.
They employed Indians as collaborators.
Many of these institutions were created to weaken the Indian
civilization and strengthen the British side.
Colonial Indology was based on collaborations between Western
academics and Indian scholars.
24. Indian ethnology shaped by Imperial evangelism
Colonial Indological infrastructure perpetuates
Mosaic ethnological categories
• Indian communities viewed through biblical prisms
transformed to ethnicities
• Justification of British colonialism
•1784 Asiatic Society, Calcutta
•1800 College of Fort Williams, Calcutta
•1806 East India College, England (Charles Grant had key role)
•1818 Serampore Seminary, Calcutta
•1827 Establishment of Boden Chair for studying Sanskrit (Oxford)
•1862 Haileybury and Imperialist Service College
•1883 Indian Institute at Oxford (Set up by Monier-Williams)
Asia/India
25. Monier Williams (1819 - 99)
Col Boden stated most explicitly in his will (dated Aug. 15, 1811)
that the special object of his munificent bequest was to promote
the translation of the scriptures into Sanskrit; so as to enable
his countrymen to proceed in the conversion of the natives
of India to the Christian religion.
26. Monier Williams (1819 - 99)
When the walls of the mighty fortress of Brahmanism are
encircled, undermined, and finally stormed by the soldiers of the
cross, the victory of Christianity must be signal and
complete.
28. Idealized & romantic view of India
The Sanskrit language . . . is of a
wonderful structure; more perfect than
the Greek, more copious than the
Latin, and more exquisitely refined
than either, yet bearing to both of
them a stronger affinity . . . than could
possibly have been produced by
accident.
William Jones
29. The second section of this chapter will explain
:
How the West’s interpretation and treatment of the Indic
materials shaped the study of Sanskrit, and
Churned out the ‘Aryan’ racial construct, which itself would
undergo dramatic transmutations in the Western psyche.
Devolutions of European needs and politics, rather than the
result of an objective academic study of the ‘Orient
Resulting in ethnic conflicts and genocidal wars.
30. 1.2.1. The Study of India
European intellectual history concerning India
31. Euro-centric Colonial Construct : Aryan EUROPE
Study of India
European Romanticists Colonial Indologists
AryanPro- India
European U-Turn from
glorifying to demeaning
India
Aryan race
German Identity need
Race science
Nazism
Holocaust
World War-II
Rejection of Aryan race
theory in European
context
32. European Romanticists -
to escape the rigid framework of Judeo-Christian monotheism due to new challenges from the
modern period.
India was discovered, and quickly became the premier vehicle for this search for their own golden
origin.
Indologists –
historicized classical India in a way that served colonial needs as well as the needs of the emerging
nation-states in Europe.
Created the notion of Aryans as harbingers of civilization to all humanity.
A glorified European ancestry was traced to these idealized Aryans.
The European Aryans were seen as racially pure and blessed with the spiritually superior Christianity.
A Master Aryan Race -
German nationalist thinkers.
European anti-Semitism used the Aryan construct to separate Europeans from Jews.
The notion of ‘Aryan Christ’ became popular in Europe.
33. India inspired European
academic activity
1) Sanskrit : The discovery of Sanskrit had liberated Europeans
from their exclusive focus on the Mediterranean area as the
source of their cultural heritage.
2) Obsession for an Aryan race : Search for the origin of the
Aryans and the Hebrews, the imagined speakers of the Aryan
and Semitic language-groups.
34. The Translations of Sanskrit Texts
The translations of the Zend Avesta, the Zoroastrian seminal
text, and the Bhagavad Gita (in the late 1700s) : first
approach to an Indian text
The 1789 English translation of Kalidasa’s Shakuntala by
William Jones.
Retranslated into German influenced many prominent
intellectuals such as Herder, Goethe, and Schiller.
37. The birth of Philology & Quest for
Origin
The birth of new academic discipline - Philology - was born, and
essentially owed its beginnings to Sanskrit studies.
How these languages are connected? It provided a great impetus to
the European quest for the origins of peoples.
The discovery of Sanskrit had liberated Europeans from their exclusive
focus on the Mediterranean area as the source of their cultural
heritage.
Quarrel over ancestry - Aryans, lndo-Germans, Indo-Europeans, and
Caucasians.
38. Sanskrit revolutionized the social
sciences
Thanks to the discovery of the ancient
language of India, Sanskrit as it is called
. . . and thanks to the discovery of the
close kinship between this language
and the idioms of the principal races of
Europe . . . a complete revolution has
taken place in the method of
studying the world’s primitive
history.
Friedrich Max Muller
39. Sanskrit revolutionized the social
sciences
Europe’s ‘discovery’ of India
was a ‘re-discovery’ of
Europe’s own foundation it had
forgotten. Using this trajectory,
the East was not the ‘other’ of
the West, but its origin.
Herder ( 1744 – 1803 )
40.
41. India was the mother of all
advanced civilizations
Sanskrit was the mother of Indo-European languages
42. Aryans (or Indo-Europeans) as
the most powerful race.
Philology to hunt the ‘birthplace of the world’s most powerful race
47. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829)
Germans vs France rivalry
France – A Renaissance nation – inheritor of
Greco-Rome Civilization
Germans – A barbarian tribes
Schlegel wanted to prove Germans as highly
civilized nation.
The origin of Germans from India.
48.
49. Intellectual Fashion
Romanticism & Pantheism
European Politics
German-French enmity
F. Schlegel’s Second Indological U-Turn (1804-12)
Start: India was mother of all civilizations; Germans migrated from India; French are degraded
versions of Indian migrants
End: Abandons the Indian origins of all civilizations and the superiority of Indian civilizations.
Germans did not originate in India.
F. Schlegel’s First Indological U-Turn (1802-5)
Start: India superior to Greco-Roman culture and to Christianity
End: Indian religion misunderstood the original Revelation; Indian ascetics are self-destructive,
superstitious and appalling.
German Barbarian Complex
•Renaissance made France superior
•Germans declared barbarians
50. Rejection of Reason, Reformation, Protestantism, Enlightenment
Conversion to Catholicism
Rejection of Pantheism
Rejection of Indian Religion
F. Schlegel’s First Indological Project
Passion for India as Mother of all Civilizations
52. Aryan origins and superiority.
A favored race, blessed with ‘innate
beauty’ and ‘gifts of intelligence
53.
54. Adolphe Pictet (1799 -1875)
Aryan mind was monotheism.
In Europe - Aryans marched towards perfect monotheism.
In India - Lapsed into polytheism in India.
Christianity - reviving the seed of monotheism in India.
Justification for colonization of India. It is ethical.
Civilization has to spread through Christian colonization.
55. Aryans as the most powerful
race.
Philology to hunt the ‘birthplace of the world’s most powerful race
58. Ernest Renan and Aryan Christ
Jesus was decoupled from Judaism; Christianity was declared to
be ‘less purely Semitic’.
Jesus is Aryanized Christ
Renan used philology to put Christianity on a scientific footing, by
discarding superstition and integrating it with the Enlightenment.
59. The danger of favoring Aryans
was that Christ
would be forgotten.
R.F. Grau (1835–93)
60. R.F. Grau (1835–93)
Emphasizing the Semitic inheritance of Christianity
Semites as the sole link between God and his new-chosen
people, the Christian faithful.
Without Christian monotheism, the unbridled dynamism or
uncontrolled creativity of Aryans would descend into chaos.
61. R.F. Grau (1835–93)
‘…The marriage between Semitic spirit and Indo-
Germanic nature is sealed in heaven’. Separately,
neither had the backbone supposedly provided by
Christianity, but thanks to this wedding, they were
destined to rule the world…’
63. Arya Becomes a Race in Europe
The word ‘Aryan’ was first coined as the name of family of
languages and peoples by Max Mueller.
The British used the Aryan race concept to legitimize British
rule over Indians as a sort of family reunion or love affair in
which the superior British were trying to help the inferior
Indians.
In less than a century, philology turned into a source of
racism.
64. Joseph Arthur Comte
de Gobineau (1816–82)
Three races – white yellow and black.
Whites were at the top - ability to create and
spread culture.
Superiority of the white type and, within that
type, of the Aryan family.
Aryans invasion to explain the caste system.
65. Gobineau :
Caste and Race Science
All civilizations emerged from the White race, but declined
everywhere because of intermarriages, except northern Europe.
European Aryans, after invading India, had become debased by
mixing with the darker native races.
In India this degeneration was slow because the invading Aryans
created caste system which prevented the racial bastardization
and degeneration of Aryans.
Caste was made by pure whites to slow down the intermixing of
their race with inferior peoples. Indian Brahmins were degraded
Aryans.
66. H S Chamberlain:
linking Caste with Race
. . . wherever the Aryans went they became
master. The Greek, the Latin, the Kelt, the
Teuton, the Slav – all these were Aryans: of
the aborigines of the countries which they
overran scarcely a trace remains. So too
in India, it was ‘varna’ colour which
distinguished the white conquering
Arya from the defeated black man, the
Dasyu, and so laid the foundation of
caste.
67. Anthropologist Kenneth A.R. Kennedy :
Both Gobineau and
Chamberlain transformed the
Aryan concept, which had its
humble origins in philological
research conducted by Jones
in Calcutta at the end of the
eighteenth century, into the
political and racial doctrines
of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.
68. Ever-Shifting Aryan construct –
from noble to race to caste
“During Gobineau’s lifetime, the old theory of the Asian origin of the European
languages and traditions, and of cultural movements from the East to the
West, increasingly gave way to speculations on primeval movements from
the West to the East, and on Aryan migrations from Europe, specifically
Northern Europe, or even the North Pole, to India. According to these
speculations, the European or Northern invaders gave their superior
culture to the Indians and then lost their superiority through mixing with the
local inhabitants and perished in a climate for which they were not suited. In
1903, E. de Michelis summarized this view by stating that Asia, and India in
particular, was not the ‘cradle’, but the ‘grave of the Aryans’.”
William Halbfass
69. Cradle of Civilization ???
Mining Indology to build histories of civilizations and races
in a manner that fit European supremacy.
70. Nazis and Aryans
A journal called Ostara
1908 - two issues : dedicated to Manusmriti
and race cultivation among the ancient ‘Indo-
Aryan’.
Hitler - a reader of journal. Veritable textbooks
for the Third Reich.
‘India is invoked in order to articulate and justify
ideas and programs of unparalleled arrogance
and destruction’
71. Blaming the Indian Civilization for
Nazism
Shifting the blame from Europeans to Indians.
‘high Brahminism’ as represented by the
Mimamsa school, contributed to the ‘ideological
formations of precolonial India’, and
Nazism tried implementing this ‘at home’ in
Germany.
Led to the ‘legitimation of genocide’.
72. ‘deep Nazism’ or ‘deep Mimamsa’?
Would it not be equally permissible
to identify this underlying structure
as ‘deep Nazism’ or ‘deep
Mimamsa’? And what will prevent us
from calling Kumarila and William
Jones ‘deep Nazis’ and Adolf Hitler a
‘deep Mimamsaka’?
73. After the Second World War, European
academic and social institutions made a great
effort to exorcize the Aryan race theory from
the European psyche, but they still continue to
apply these ideas to
the study of India.
75. In this part :
Race Science and Nasal Index
Emergence of Race Science in Europe
Based on vague Biblical reference points.
Imposing it on regional and linguistic communities in India.
Max Muller’s interpretation of Vedic literature - two racial groups -
physical features - nose-length.
Herber Hope Risley – Nasal Index – tool for Race Science
Separating Aryans from Non-Aryans (= black workers)
77. On Jati :
Before Max Muller
Jati is a highly localized & intricately organized social structure.
Dynamic nature – allowing social mobility as well as occupational
diversification.
More horizontally organized than vertically stratified.
Distinctions based on traditional or inherited social status derived
from work roles.
Gandhi - model of ‘oceanic circle’ for the ideal Indian village society,
rather than the Western pyramidal model.
The jati-varna system not connected with any race, ethnicity, or
genetics.
78. Max Muller
on Caste
(caste). . . which has hitherto
proved an impediment to
conversion of the Hindus, may
in future became one of the
most powerful engines for the
conversion not merely of the
individuals, but of whole
classes of Indian society.
80. Max Muller’s Work
on Anasa
He made only one incidental reference to physical differences –
that noses were described differently for different tribes in the Rig
Veda.
He based this notion on a single Sanskrit word, anasa (Rig Veda:
V.29.10), that was used infrequently.
81. Max Muller letter to Risley
…It may be that in time the classification of skulls, hair, eyes,
and skin may be brought into harmony with the classification of
language. We may even go so far as to admit, as a postulate,
that the two must have run parallel, at least in the beginning of
all things.
85. Sir Herbert Hope Risley (1851–1911)
Aryans ‘often spoke’ of the noses of the
aborigines.
Vedic nose-reference as the centerpiece
of his racist ethnology of India.
Risley became the leading authority on
Indian ethnology.
In 1910, Risley became president of the
Royal Anthropological Institute.
86. Risley’s Race Science
He adopted the popular Race Science
measurement methods.
Anthropometry, which measured various parts
of the head to characterize different peoples.
The ‘gradations of type’ - the ‘gradations of
social preference’.
“Scientific method” to detach non-Aryans from
the general body of Hindus’.
87. Risley’s Nasal Index
1891 - measured Bengali heads and
noses.
Dravidians, Santhals, and other
communities, based on nose dimensions.
Graded various castes according to the
Nasal Index.
88. Risley’s Nasal Index
Jatis as Hindu, and tribes as non-
Hindu.
Vedas were interpreted – Aryan vs
Aborigines
Aborigines – Vedic Dasas and Dasyus
White vs Black Race
North – South Divide : South America
/ South Africa
89. Thomas Trautmann
“…The racial theory of Indian civilization
alludes to racial attitudes of whites
towards blacks, found in the segregated
southern United States after the Civil War
and in South Africa, as a constant of
history, or rather as a transcendent fact
immune to historical changes that is as
operative in the Vedic period as it is
now….”
90. Aryan vs Dravidians
Seven Races
Aryan at the top
Dravidian at the bottom
Aryan intermixing with
Dravidian leading to the Caste
System
91. Risley:
A hierarchy was constructed and made official.
He became commissioner of the 1901 census of India
Wrote on caste in Imperial Gazetteer of India. It became Template
for academicians & colonial administrators.
Indians - 2,378 main castes and tribes (with sub-castes), and 43
races.
Hierarchy of castes - ‘social preference’ based on his evaluation
of ‘native public opinion’.
Translating the dharma of Jatis as ‘race sentiment’. American
Slavery is his framework.
93. Ambedkar Demolishes Nasal Index
Racism
‘…The measurements establish that the
Brahmin and the Untouchables belong to
the same race. From this it follows that if
the Brahmins are Aryans, the
Untouchables are also Aryans. If the
Brahmins are Dravidians the
Untouchables are also Dravidians. If the
Brahmins are Nagas, the Untouchables are
also Nagas. Such being the facts, the
theory . . . must be said to be based on a
false foundation….’
Editor's Notes
Pg.37
Pg. 39 – 40 ----- The idea of a hierarchal ‘family tree’ structure for the races has a long history in the western mind. Moses is traditionally considered to be the author of the Book of Genesis, which describes nations and races that originated from the descendants of Noah. Trautmann refers to this idea as ‘Mosaic Ethnology’. Aristotle’s ‘scale of civilizations’, when combined with Mosaic Ethnology, prepared the West to embrace a hierarchy with the white man naturally placed at the apex. This became the normative European paradigm from about 1780 to approximately 1850 CE, as successive colonial Indologists theorized and debated how best to map the Non-Europeans onto the Biblical framework.
Pg. 39 - 40
Pg. 40
Pg. 40
Pg. 40
Pg. 38
Pg. 41
Pg. 41
Pg. 43
Pg. 43 ----- Through the extrapolation of coincidental syllabic similarities, Jones related the Hindu deity Ram to the Biblical Raamah, and Ram’s
son Kusa to the Biblical Cusa the grandson of Ham, and so forth. Using similar-sounding names and other accidental homophones, Jones
attempted to extrapolate their Biblical origins. His theory was that soon after Noah’s flood, Rama reconstituted Indian society. India was
therefore one of the oldest Biblical civilizations. His project extracted Biblical correlations to verify Hindu concepts and terms. He intended
to prove that the Sanskrit texts confirmed the truth of Moses’ narrative in the Bible.
Pg. 44 ----- Those Indian elements that did not naturally fit into the Bible were either distorted to force them to fit, or simply rejected.
Pg. 44 -45-46 ----- He perceived that all these civilizations were descendants of Ham who had fallen into idolatry. Ultimately, the Greco-Romans
were saved by European Christianity, but the Hindus remained pagan.
Application to Africa : Myth of Ham and African Colonizers
Africa witnessed armed expeditions as well as slave raids from Europe, transferring large numbers of captured African peoples to distant lands. The institution of slavery became a major constituent of European and American economies. The Bible’s Hamitic myth, in which the descendants of Ham were cursed by Noah into perpetual slavery, was used by the Europeans as the established truth to interpret the skincolorof Blacks and justify the institution of slavery. This Hamitic myth was merged with Aryan invasion theories, and then becamethe dominant explanation for ethnic diversity in India. Appendix C traces the centrality of the Hamitic myth in the narrative that led to the recent African genocides.
Application to India : Babel Myth and Indologists
The leading Indologist of the late 1700s, Sir William Jones, explained the relationship between Sanskrit and European languages through the
Biblical story of the Tower of Babel. Hindu mythologies and scriptures were classified as corruptions of ‘Christian Truth’, and the original
peoples of India were described as descendants of Ham who went to India after Noah’s deluge. This Biblical myth became the blueprint
from which later racial stereotypes and racist interpretations of Indian society were constructed. It also justified the British rule in India as
a civilizing mission to rescue the Indians, who had corrupted the ‘original Biblical truth’.
Pg. 47 -48 Established overarching categories and presumptions about India
Pg. 47 -48
Pg. 49
Pg. 50
Pg. 50
This chapter explains how the West’s interpretation and treatment of the Indic materials shaped the study of Sanskrit, and churned out the ‘Aryan’ racial construct, which itself would undergo dramatic transmutations in the Western psyche.
first, the growth and evolution of German national identity which was competing with other nascent European ethnic and nation-state identities; and
second, European colonialism, particularly the British, with an overlay of missionary agendas
Pg. 13
Pg. 16 -----The identities of these two ancient (but partly imaginary) civilized peoples set in motion several intellectual and political tidal waves, whose ultimate impact shaped Europe and beyond.
Pg. 15
Pg. 15
Pg. 17 ------ The study of Sanskrit revolutionized the social sciences, from history to mythology to comparative religion to ‘Race Sciences’, European
identity politics was transformed forever, in ways far removed from what could have been imagined at that time.
Pg. 18
Pg. 27
Pg. 19
Pg.20-21 -------- While most historians identified the ancient Germans as the barbarian destroyers of classical Greco-Roman civilizations, Schlegel’s myth proposed that the
Germanic tribes were actually ‘noble savages’ who lived in a state of natural innocence in the wilderness of Europe, defending their freedom against the decadent Romans. The nobility of their ancestral character came from their Indian Aryan roots. This played well in Schlegel’s nationalistic call to fight against injustices of Napoleonic France.
Pg. 27 -28 ----- In this process, people in India who were the descendants of the ‘early Aryans’, and who represented the original homeland, had now
become colonized by the Euro-Aryans to receive the ‘beneficent influence’ of modern civilization. The Euro-Aryans were fraternity brothers of
the Indo-Aryans, and were bringing them ‘religious illumination and universal progress’. Pictet glorifies European colonization of India.
Hidden slide
Pg. 16 and Pg. 23 ----Chart Pg. 25 (Fig 3.3)
Pg. 24 and 25
Pg. 29
Pg. 28-29
Pg. 28-29
Pg. 30 -
Pg. 30 -
Pg. 32
Pg. 34
Hidden slide
Pg. 34-------Such theories continued to develop further throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and were very influential in political
and intellectual fringe-movements around 1900. They selectively took information from Indology to build histories of civilizations and races
in a manner that fit European supremacy.
Pg. 35
Pg. 36
Pg. 13
Pg. 52
Pg. 52
Pg. 52 ----- Nevertheless, the colonial imposition of the hierarchical view, coupled with distortions of jati in order to fit it into a racial framework, grossly
distorted the characteristics of jati and greatly amplified its negative features.
Pg. 53
Pg. 53
Pg. 54 ----- Risley took the casual Vedic nose-reference in Muller’s writings, and turned it into the centerpiece of his racist ethnology of India.