Aryans Revisited

This book on Rgvedic history underlines the need for considerable fresh thinking in Vedic research rigorous stratification of textual materials, new methodology and discarding notional ideas derived from a selective view of the data, The idea that the family books of the Regveda constitute the earliest and homogeneous part of the text and that these represent the exclusive record of pastoral nomads is found to be too simplistic to meet the challenge of divergent and overlapping social processes. The book dispels the myth that the Aryans destroyed Harappan cities, that they were unfamiliar with the high-seas and sea faring and that the term Aryan always signified a fair complexioned people. Myths of a different kind resulting from bardic mix-up of unrelated information's also need careful shifting of data for delineation of historical or semi-historical episodes, related characters and geographical areas. Existing generalizations on polity also need questioning in view of valuable evidence bearing on territorial states and rituals legitimizing territorial sovereignty.