Art and Culture with Devdutt Pattanaik | Aryans did not invade Harappa; they came much later

The Harappan civilisation was the eastern end of the Bronze Age Trading Network (BATN) nearly 4,500 years ago. Tin and copper came from Central Asia, and blue lapis lazuli from Afghanistan was taken down the Indus River, turned into beads in Harappan cities, collected at Dholavira in Gujarat, and then transported along the Makran coast to Oman and Mesopotamia. This was in 2500 BC when Egypt was building its pyramids. 

Before 2500 BC, there were many regional cultures in the Greater Indus region (Sindh, Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana), with their own artifacts and agricultural patterns. During 500 years of the Harappan civilisation’s Mature Phase (2600–1900 BC), there was much collaboration between farmers, herders, craftsmen and traders, and standardisation of cultural expression, resulting in fewer regional styles. 

Decline of the Harappan Civilisation

After 2000 BC, the system collapsed, regional diversity resumed, and new localised cultures emerged. Trade patterns and cultural expressions changed. The cities were gone, but villages continued.

The reason for the collapse was most probably falling demand from the Sumerian civilisation, climate change resulting in shifting river patterns, and the bypassing of Harappan cities by trade routes that went through the Oxus River directly via Iran to Mesopotamia. There was no Aryan invasion. 

By 1200 BC, even the western end of the BATN came to an end following earthquakes, and volcanoes, resulting in civil strife in Egypt and Phoenicia. This led to the collapse of trade and an increase in raids. After this time, a new world was emerging, one where artworks displayed horse-drawn chariots. These were seen everywhere: in Egypt, Asia Minor, the Near East, and Mesopotamia. 

No such artworks have been found in India. At Sinauli, Uttar Pradesh, a wagon with solid wheels and no animal was found, dated to 1800 BC, and linked to the Oxus civilisation. But by 1500 BC, elaborate hymns describing horses, chariots, horse-riders, and even horse sacrifice were being composed. We can be sure of this date as the gods mentioned in these hymns have been recorded in a Syrian clay tablet dated to 1300 BC. 

Arrival of Aryans 

These were Vedic hymns, composed by men for their sons. These men had come from north of the Himalayas with their horses and their new chariot technology, and they had married local women. They passed on genes which allowed their children to digest milk. They were clueless about the great urban civilisation that once thrived in the land.

They spoke the Proto-Indo-Iranian language and unlike other Indo-Europeans, they called themselves Arya. They had access to a special drink called Soma made from ephedra stalks found in the Hindu Kush mountains. This word Arya has been found only in two texts: the Vedas of India and Avesta of Iran. Nowhere else. 

As per horse DNA evidence, horses were fully domesticated only around 2100 BC, north of the Capsian and Black Seas. Those who domesticated the horses were nomadic people of Eurasian Steppes who spoke the now-lost PIE (Proto-Indo-European) language. Early horses were too small to be ridden and too weak to pull a wagon with a solid wheel. This led to the invention of the spoked-wheel chariot, which could be drawn by two or more horses. The earliest such chariots have been found in burial sites in Sintashta culture of Southern Russia, around 1900 BC.  

The Aryan influence 

While all this was happening north of the Himalayas, the Harappan civilisation was undergoing the rise and fall of its Mature Phase, south of the Himalayas. The entire Harappan civilisation encountered neither Aryas nor horses. They came much later. The immigrant Aryans encountered post-Harappan villages. We know this from DNA studies. Most of the Steppe DNA that appears in India after 1500 BC is the male Y chromosome. This means the immigrant men married local women. 

Stories in the Mahabharata speak of sages like Richika who came with horses, seeking wives from local kings. The encounter with these folks may have inspired the Vedic hymns related to Urvashi, Lopamudra, Apala and Indrani. The Vedic language shows a mix of Proto-Indo-Iranian and local sounds (retroflex) and even local words from Dravidian and Munda languages.

The men composed hymns for their children about the adventures of their god, Indra, who fought demons like Vritra and Vala for cows, for light, for heat, and for water. They sang of Varuna, who brought order and friendship. They sang of Manu, their ancestor, who sent an eagle to the east that crossed the uncrossable mountains (Hindu Kush?), and brought back Soma, a heat-giving, energizing plant much loved by Indra. The children also added memories from their mother of ocean going vehicles which used birds to locate the coastline. 

Post Read Questions

Were Harappan cities ever invaded by the Aryans?

What do archaeological, linguistic, and genetic studies suggest about the arrival of Aryans in India?

What were the main reasons for the collapse of the Harappan civilisation?

Who were the people that first domesticated horses, and what language did they speak?

What does the presence of Steppe DNA in India after 1500 BC indicate about marriage patterns?

(Devdutt Pattanaik is a renowned mythologist who writes on art, culture and heritage.)

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