Facts which cast serious doubt on the Aryan
Invasion Theory
• There is no evidence of an Aryan homeland outside
of India mentioned anywhere in the Vedas. On the contrary, the Vedas speak of
the mighty Sarasvati River and other places indigenous to India. To date, no
evidence for a foreign intrusion has been found, neither archaeological,
linguistic, cultural nor genetic.
• There are more than 2,500 Archaeological sites,
two-thirds of which are along the recently discovered dried up Sarasvati River
bed. These sites show a cultural continuity with the Vedic literature from the
early Harrapan civilization up to the present day India.
 
The archaeological sites along the
dried up Sarasvati River basin are represented by black dots.
• Several independent studies of the drying up of
the Sarasvati River bed, all indicate the same time period of 1,900
B.C.E.
• The significance of establishing this date for
the drying up of the Sarasvati River is, that it pushes the date for the
composition of the Rig Veda back to approximately 3,000 B.C.E., as
enunciated by the Vedic tradition itself.
 •
The late dating of the Vedic literatures by indologists is based on speculated
dates of 1,500 B.C.E. for the Aryan Invasion and 1,200 B.C.E. for the Rig Veda,
both now disproved by scientific evidence.
  Max Muller, the
principal architect of the Aryan Invasion theory, admitted the purely
speculative nature of his Vedic chronology, and in his last work published
shortly before his death, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, he wrote:
"Whatever may be the date of the Vedic hymns, whether 15 hundred or 15,000
B.C.E., they have their own unique place and stand by themselves in the
literature of the world."
The Vedic Culture is indigenous to
India
It can be scientifically proven that the Vedic
Culture is indigenous, through archaeology, the study of cultural continuity, by
linguistic analysis, and genetic research.
For example, the language and symbolism found on
the Harappan seals are very Vedic. We find the Om symbol, the leaf of the
Asvatta or holy banyan tree, as well as the swastika, or sign of auspiciousness,
mentioned throughout the Vedas. Om is mentioned in the Mundaka and
Katha Upanisads as well as the Bhagavad Gita.
 The Holy Asvatta
tree is mentioned in the Aitareya and Satapata
Brahmanas as well as the
Taittiriya Samhita and
Katyayana Smrti.
The
pictoral script of these Harappan seals has been deciphered as consistently
Vedic and termed "Proto-brahmi," as a pre-sanskrit script.
 This piece of pottery from the lowest level of Harappan excavations
with pre-harappan writing is deciphered as ila vartate vara, referring to
the sacred land bounded by the Sarasvati River, described in the Rig
Veda.
Additionally, other archaeological finds are
culturally consistent, such as the dancing girl, whose bracelets are similar to
those worn by women of Northwest India today as well as
the three stone Siva Lingas found in Harappa by M.
S. Vats in 1940. The worship of the Siva Linga is mentioned in the Maha
Narayana Upanisad of the Yajur Veda and is still ardently practiced
today.
The Vedas were maligned by early indologists
because of their disagreement with their Eurocentric colonialists world view, a
view which produced and depended on the Aryan Invasion Theory. The fact that the
Aryan Invasion Theory has been seriously challenged recently by scholars and
indologists, adds credence to the Vedas as viable, accurate and indigenous
sources of information.
Satellite imagery of the Dried Up Sarasvati
River Basin
Using modern scientific methods, such as satellite
imagery and dating techniques, it can be shown that the ancient statements of
the Vedas are factual, not mythical as erroneously propagated. High resolution
satellite images have verified descriptions in The Rig Veda of the descent of
the ancient Sarasvati River from it's source in the Himalayas to the Arabian
Sea.
"Pure in her course from the mountains to the
ocean, alone of streams Sarasvati hath
listened."
The mighty Sarasvati River and it's civilization
are referred to in the Rig Veda more than fifty times, proving that the drying
up of the Sarasvati River was subsequent to the origin of the Rig Veda, pushing
this date of origin back into antiquity, casting further doubt on the imaginary
date for the so-called Aryan Invasion.
The Satellite image (above) clearly shows the
Indus-Sarasvata river system extending from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea.
Here the Indus River is on the left, outlined in blue, while the Sarasvati River
basin is outlined in green. The black dots are the many archeological sites or
previous settlements along the banks of the now dry Sarasvati
River.
  The drying up of the
Sarasvati River around 1900 B.C.E. is confirmed archaeologically. Following
major tectonic movements or plate shifts in the Earth's crust, the primary cause
of this drying up was due to the capture of the Sarasvati River's main
tributaries, the Sutlej River and the Drishadvati River by other
rivers.
 Although
early studies, based on limited archaeological evidence produced contradictory
conclusions, recent independent studies, such as that of archaeologist James
Shaffer in 1993, showed no evidence of a foreign invasion in the Indus Sarasvata
civilization and that a cultural continuity could be traced back for millennia.
In other words, Archaeology does not support the
Aryan Invasion Theory.
 Evidence for the Ancient Port City of Dvaraka
Marine archaeology has also been utilized in India
off the coast of the ancient port city of Dvaraka in Gujarat, uncovering further
evidence in support of statements in the Vedic scriptures. An entire submerged
city at Dvaraka, the ancient port city of Lord Krishna with its massive fort
walls, piers, warfs and jetty has been found in the ocean as described in the
Mahabharata and other Vedic
literatures.
This sanskrit verse from the Mausala Parva of the
Mahabharata, describes the disappearance of the city of Dvaraka into the
sea.
"After all the people had set out, the ocean
flooded Dvaraka, which still teemed with wealth of every kind. Whatever portion
of land was passed over, the ocean immediately flooded over with its
waters."
 Dr. S. R.
Rao, formerly of the Archaeological Survey of India, has pioneered marine
archaeology in India. Marine archaeological findings seem to corroborate
descriptions in the Mahabharata of Dvaraka as a large, well-fortified and
prosperous port city, which was built on land reclaimed from the sea, and later
taken back by the sea. This lowering and raising of the sea level during these
same time periods of the 15th and 16th centuries B.C.E. is
also documented in historical records of the country of
Bahrain.
Amongst the extensive underwater discoveries were
the massive Dvaraka city wall, a large door-socket and a bastion from the fort
wall.
Two rock-cut slipways of varying width, extending
from the beach to the intertidal zone, a natural harbor, as well as a number of
olden stone ship anchors were discovered, attesting to Dvaraka being an ancient
port city.
The three headed motif on this conch-shell seal
(above), found in the Dvaraka excavations, corroborates the reference in the
scripture Harivamsa that every citizen of Dvaraka should carry a
mudra or seal of this type.
All these underwater excavations add further
credibility to the validity of the historical statements found in the Vedic
literatures.
Thirty-five Archaeological Sites in North
India
Apart from Dvaraka, more than thirty-five sites in
North India have yielded archaeological evidence and have been identified as
ancient cities described in the Mahabharata. Copper utensils,
iron, seals, gold & silver ornaments, terracotta discs and painted grey ware
pottery have all been found in these sites. Scientific dating of these artifacts
corresponds to the non-aryan-invasion model of Indian
antiquity.
Furthermore, the Matsya and Vayu
Puranas describe great flooding which destroyed the capital city of
Hastinapur, forcing its inhabitants to relocate in Kausambi. The soil of
Hastinapur reveals proof of this flooding. Archaeological evidence of the new
capital of Kausambi has recently been found which has been dated to the time
period just after this flood.
  
Kurukshetra
Similarly, in Kurukshetra, the scene of the great
Mahabharata war, Iron arrows and spearheads have been excavated and dated
by thermoluminence to 2,800 B.C.E., the approximate date of the war given within
the Mahabharata itself.
The Mahabharata also describes three cities
given to the Pandavas, the heroes of the Mahabharata, after their
exile:
 Paniprastha, Sonaprastha & Indraprastha, which
is Delhi's Puranaqila. These sites have been identified and yielded pottery
& antiquities, which show a cultural consistency & dating consistent for
the Mahabharata period, again verifying statements recorded in the Vedic
literatures.
Renowned Thinkers Who Appreciated the Vedic
Literatures
Although early indologists, in their missionary
zeal, widely vilified the Vedas as primitive mythology, many of the worlds greatest thinkers admired the Vedas
as great repositories of advanced knowledge and high thinking
Arthur
Schopenhauer, the famed German philosopher and writer, wrote that: I
"...encounter [in the Vedas] deep, original, lofty thoughts... suffused with a
high and holy seriousness."
 The
well-known early American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, read the Vedas daily.
Emerson wrote: "I owed a magnificent day to the
Bhagavat-Gita"
 Henry David
Thoreau said: "In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous philosophy
of the Bhagavad Gita... in comparison with which... our modern world and
its literature seems puny and trivial."
So great were Emerson and Thoreau's appreciation of
Vedantic literatures that they became known as the American transcendentalists.
Their writings contain many thoughts from Vedic Philosophy.
 Other
famous personalities who spoke of the greatness of the Vedas were: Alfred North
Whitehead (British mathematician, logician and philosopher), who stated that:
"Vedanta is the most impressive metaphysics the human mind has
conceived."
 Julius
Robert Oppenheimer, the principle developer of the atomic bomb, stated that "The
Vedas are the greatest privilege of this century." During the explosion of the
first atomic bomb, Oppenheimer quoted several Bhagavad-gita verses from the 11th
chapter, such as:
 "Death I am, cause of destruction of the worlds..."
When Oppenheimer was asked if this is the first
nuclear explosion, he significantly replied: "Yes, in modern times," implying
that ancient nuclear explosions may have previously occurred.
Lin
Yutang, Chinese scholar and author, wrote that: "India was China's teacher in
trigonometry, quadratic equations, grammar, phonetics... " and so forth.
 Francois Voltaire stated: "... everything has come
down to us from the banks of the Ganges."
From these statements we see that many renowned
intellectuals believed that the Vedas provided the origin of scientific
thought.
The Iron Pillar of Delhi
 The Vedic
literatures contain descriptions of advanced scientific techniques, sometimes
even more sophisticated than those used in our modern technological world.
Modern metallurgists have not been able to produce
iron of comparable quality to the 22
foot high Iron Pillar of Delhi, which is the largest hand forged block of iron
from antiquity.
 This pillar stands at mute testimony to the highly advanced
scientific knowledge of metallurgy that was known in ancient India. Cast in approximately the 3rd century B.C., the six
and a half ton pillar, over two millennia has resisted all rust and even a
direct hit by the artillary of the invading army of Nadir Shah during his
sacking of Delhi in 1737.
Vedic Cosmology
 
Vedic Cosmology is yet another ancient Vedic science
which can be confirmed by modern scientific findings and this is acknowledged by
well known scientists and authors, such as Carl Sagan and Count Maurice
Maeterlinck, who recognized that the cosmology of the Vedas closely parallels
modern scientific findings.
Carl Sagan stated, "Vedic Cosmology is the only one in which the time
scales correspond to those of modern scientific cosmology."
Nobel laureate Count Maurice Maeterlinck wrote of: "a Cosmogony
which no European conception has ever surpassed."
 French astronomer
Jean-Claude Bailly corroborated the antiquity and accuracy of the Vedic
astronomical measurements as "more
ancient than those of the Greeks or Egyptians." And that, "the movements of the
stars calculated 4,500 years ago, does not differ by a minute from the tables of
today."
 The ninety foot tall
astronomical instrument known as Samrat Yantra, built by the learned King Suwai
Jai Singh of Jaipur, measures time to within two seconds per
day.
 Cosmology and other
scientific accomplishments of ancient India spread to other countries along with
mercantile and cultural exchanges. There are almost one hundred references in the Rig
Veda alone to the ocean and maritime activity. This is confirmed by Indian
historian R. C. Majumdar, who stated that the people of the Indus-Sarasvata
Civilization engaged in trade with Sooma and centers of culture in western Asia
and Crete.
The Heliodorus Column and Cultural Links to
India
An example of these exchanges is found in the
inscriptions on the Heliodorus Column, erected in 113 B.C.E. by Heliodorus, a Greek
ambassador to India, and convert to Vaisnavism, as well as the 2nd century
B.C.E. Coins of Agathocles, showing images of Krishna and Balaram. These
artifacts stand testimony that Sanatan Dharma predates
Christianity.
This also confirms the link between India and other ancient
civilizations such as Greece and shows that there was a continuous exchange of
culture, philosophy and scientific knowledge between India & other
countries. Indeed the Greeks learned many wonderful things from India.
Vedic Mathematics
 Voltaire, the famous
French writer and philosopher) stated that "Pythagoras went to the Ganges to
learn geometry." Abraham Seidenberg, author of the authoritative "History of
Mathematics," credits the Sulba Sutras as inspiring all mathematics of
the ancient world from Babylonia to Egypt to Greece.
As Voltaire & Seidenberg have stated, many
highly significant mathematical concepts have come from the Vedic culture, such
as:
The theorem
bearing the name of the Greek mathematician Pythagorus is found in the
Shatapatha Brahmana as well as the Sulba Sutra, the Indian
mathematical treatise, written centuries before Pythagorus was born.
The Decimal system, based on powers of ten, where the
remainder is carried over to the next column, first mentioned in the
Taittiriya Samhita of the Black Yajurveda.
The
Introduction of zero as both a numerical value and a place marker.
 The
Concept of infinity.
The Binary number system, essential for computers,
was used in Vedic verse meters.
A hashing
technique, similar to that used by modern search algorithms, such as Googles,
was used in South Indian musicology. From the name of a raga one can determine
the notes of the raga from this Kathapayadi system. (See Figure at left.)
For further reading we refer you to this excellent
article on Vedic Mathematics.
Vedic Sound and Mantras
 The
Vedas however are not as well known for presenting historical and scientific
knowledge as they are for expounding subtle sciences, such as the power of
mantras. We all recognize the power of sound itself by it's effects, which can
be quite dramatic. Perhaps we all have seen a high-pitched frequency shatter an
ordinary drinking glass. Such a
demonstration shows that Loud Sounds can produce substantial
reactions
It is commonly believed that mantras can carry
hidden power which can in turn produce certain effects. The ancient Vedic
literatures are full of descriptions of weapons being called by mantra. For
example, many weapons were invoked by mantra during the epic Kuruksetra War,
wherein the Bhagavad-gita itself was spoken.
 The ancient deployment of
Brahmastra weapons, equivalent to modern day nuclear weapons are described
throughout the Vedic literatures. Additionally, mantras carry hidden spiritual power,
which can produce significant benefits when chanted properly. Indeed, the Vedas
themselves are sound vibrations in literary form and carry a profound message.
Spiritual disciplines recommend meditational practices such as silent
meditation, silent recitation of mantras and also the verbal repetition of
specific mantras out loud.
 A Clinical Test of
the Benefits of Mantra Chanting was performed on three groups of sixty-two
subjects, males and females of average age 25. They chanted the Hare Krsna Maha
Mantra twenty-five minutes each day under strict clinical supervision.
Results showed that regular chanting of the Hare
Krsna Maha Mantra reduces Stress and depression and helps reduce bad habits
& addictions. These results formed a PhD Thesis at Florida State
University.
Spiritual practitioners claim many benefits from
Mantra Meditation such as increased realization of spiritual wisdom, inner peace
and a strong communion with God and the spiritual realm. These effects may be
experienced by following the designated spiritual path.
Conclusion
Most of the evidence given in this presentation is
for the apara vidya or material
knowledge of the Vedic literatures. The Vedas however, are more renowned for
their para vidya or spiritual knowledge. And even superior is the
realized knowledge of the Vedic rsis or saints — that which is
beyond the objective knowledge of modern science — knowledge of the eternal
realm of sat, cit ananda, eternality, blissfullness and full knowledge.
But that is another presentation.
http://www.archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/scientific-verif-vedas.html
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These
early Indologists:
