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Selected Books on the Aryan Migration Theory (AMT)
Debate Note: This section does not discuss the political
aspect of the AMT Debate. Although the political aspect is admittedly
important, particularly regarding the politics of identity, it is, in the
final analysis, a modern debate. The modern political use to which the AMT
has been, and is being put, is ultimately a different topic than the
investigation of the ancient origins of the Indo-Europeans. Indo-European and
Indo-Aryan origins should be determined using only objective methodologies
such as archaeology and linguistics and such research should be free from any
modern political pressures. A) Pro-AMT The
most vocal defender of the AMT is Michael Witzel, Professor of Sanskrit at Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts, EJVS 7-3, 2001. http://users.primushost.com/~india/ejvs/issues.html This is one of the few internet resources in
this section which focuses on books. It is included because of its
importance. Internet resources are in the internet section (coming soon.) Another valuable resource is the two issues in the Journal of Indo-European Studies devoted to this topic. Although it was originally announced that it would present the positions of both sides, it turned out to be almost entirely AMT-centered with only one OIT proponent and one (or perhaps two) in the middle. Journal of Indo-European Studies vol. 30 Journal
of Indo-European Studies vol. 31 B) In-between The
best detailed introduction of the OIT and other indigenist positions is
actually written by someone in the middle of the debate: Edwin Bryant,
Associate Professor in Hinduism at In Quest of the Origins
of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Invasion Debate He
has also recently edited, with Laurie Patton, Professor of Early Indian
Religions at The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History C) Pro-OIT Some
of the leading proponents of the OIT side of the debate include the following
authors. Unfortunately many of them do not have professional scholarly
training in this area so, while their ideas may be thought-provoking at
times, many of their proposals are out of date or uninformed about some of
the important technical details critical to a scholarly discussion on the
subject. Talageri's books are among the most comprehensive in scope. He takes into account important evidence that many other indigenists do not: like linguistics and philology. Unfortunately, he is not a professionally-trained scholar so there are some lacunae in his presentation. 1) Aryan Invasion Theory (A Reappraisal) and 2) The Rigveda: A historical analysis by Shrikant Talageri Also of
interest is the following response to Witzel from Talageri: http://shrikanttalageri.voiceofdharma.com/ Sethna is another supporter of the indigenist position who takes into account some of the linguistic and historical evidence 1) The Problem of Aryan Origins: From an Indian Point of View and 2) Karpasa in prehistoric India: A chronological and cultural
clue By K.D. Sethna Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate by Koenraad Elst Elst
is a professionally-trained scholar who deals with many of the important
technical issues from areas such as linguistics and archaeology. . Gods, Sages
and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization by David Frawley David Frawley is a Doctor
of Ayurveda and widely published author on Ayurveda, Vedic Astrology, and
indigenist Indology. These three authors clearly present some of the
evidence in favor of the indigenist position. In Search of the Cradle of Civilization by Feuerstein, Kak, and Frawley by
Michel Danino A short summary of some
of the major OIT positions.
A) Indology and Interdisciplinary Two important anthologies by mainstream scholars who are, therefore,
mostly pro-AMT 1) Aryan and Non-Aryan in India eds.
Madhav Deshpande and Peter Hook 2) The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material
Culture and Ethnicity ed.
George Erdosy Three important books by
mainstream scholars who, although not specifically concerned with the AMT-OIT
debate, raise some important issues regarding the foundations of the AMT
paradigm by
Ronald Inden by
Thomas Trautmann 3) The Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalistic
Ideas In Europe by Leon
Poliakov Colonial Indology: Sociopolitics of the Ancient Indian
Past by Dilip
Chakrabarti Chakrabarti is an by
Bhagavan Singh Indigenist supporter
Singh claims to locate references to Harappan culture in the Rig Veda B) Archaeology The question of whether the Harappan
Civilization (c. 2500-1900 BCE) was Vedic (OIT position) or non-Vedic and
significantly pre-Vedic (AMT position) has become an important issue in the
debate because of the indigenist claims of remarkable continuity in the
archaeological evidence of the Harappan and Vedic periods. The following two books written by
archaeologists are probably the best in-depth introductions to the Harappan
Civilization. Although they do not generally address the AMT-OIT debate, they
generally accept the mainstream AMT position. 1) The Indus Civilization : A Contemporary Perspective (2003) by Gregory Possehl This is the most recent in-depth book on the subject;
nicely illustrated. 2) Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization
(Paperback) by
Jonathan Mark Kenoyer Beautifully illustrated
and, although older than Possehl's book, it is still very valuable eds.
Jansen, Mulloy, Urban This beautifully produced
European publication is difficult to get but has valuable articles by various
scholars. The following two Indian archaeologists
identify archaeological continuity between the Harappan and Vedic cultures. 1) S.P.
Gupta (Chairman of the Indian Archaeological Society) The Indus-Saraswati Civilization: Origins, Problems, and
Issues 2) B.B. Lal (Lal is the Retired Director General of the
Archaeological Survey of India. He originally supported the AMT and some of
his early articles are still cited by AMT supporters. He has since changed
his opinion as reflected in these books:) A) Earliest Civilization of South Asia B) India 1947-1997: New light on the Indus civilization C) The Sarasvati flows on: The continuity of Indian culture Two good general
overviews of Indian archaeology 1) The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan by
Bridget and Raymond Allchin 2) The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia : The
Emergence of Cities and States by
Raymond Allchin C) Indo-European The AMT-OIT debate is a part of the larger debate over
the homeland of the Indo-European language family In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology,
and Myth by J.P.
Mallory This excellent and
readable overview of the Indo-European question supports the preferred
mainstream homeland of the Pontic-Caspian region. by
Gamkrelidze and Ivanov These two linguists
propose alternatively that the Indo-European languages originated in the Archaeology and Language : The Puzzle of Indo-European
Origins by Colin
Renfrew Renfrew proposes an
Anatolian homeland for the Indo-Europeans and that the language spread at a
much earlier date than most other theories along with the advance of
agriculture. D) Linguistics The AMT originated in linguistics and understanding
this field is still critical to the debate. Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction by
Robert P. Beekes A popular introduction to
Indo-European linguistics -- it's shorter than most. Principles of Historical Linguistics by Hans
Henrich Hock Possibly the best
in-depth book on the subject by Hans
Henrich Hock & Brian D. Joseph An valuable in-depth
introduction to Comparative Linguistics that serves as a good stepping-stone
to the more in-depth texts listed here. Two important in-depth
books on the languages of by Colin
Masica ed.
George Cardona The Aryan Problem: A Linguistic Approach by S.S.
Misra By the only major
professional linguist on the indigenist side by
Thomas Burrow The Indus Age: The Writing System by
Gregory Possehl Valuable overview of the
numerous attempts to decipher the Various scholar's theories about the language of the The Indus script: Texts, concordance, and tables by
Iravatham Mahadevan It's Dravidian. The Decipherment of the Indus Script by S.R.
Rao It's Indo-Aryan
(Vedic-derived.) Deciphering the Indus Script (Hardcover) by Asko
Parpola No, it's Dravidian. E) More AMT vs. OIT, Indology and
Interdisciplinary The Vedic People: Their History and Geography by
Rajesh Kocchar This book argues that a major part of the Rigveda was
composed in south Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar ed.
Frits Staal In-depth coverage of the Vedic fire sacrifice and
articles by other Vedic scholars by
F.B.J. Kuiper Classic text often cited
by AMT authors by R.S.
Sharma The Meaning of Pur in Vedic literature by
Wilhelm Rau Rau's book is widely
cited to support the idea that the Vedas do not know cities ('pur') and so
cannot be Harappan Archaeology and Language I; Theoretical and Methodological
Orientations Archaeology and Language II; Archaeological Data and
Linguistic Hypotheses Archaeology and Language III; Artefacts, Language and
Texts Archaeology and Language IV; Language Change and Cultural
Transformation Series
ed. Roger Blench Early contacts between Uralic and Indo-European:
Linguistic and archaeological considerations eds.
Carpelan & Parpola Three books by OIT writer N.S. Rajaram: Aryan Invasion of India: The Myth and the Truth Politics of History, Aryan Invasion Theory and the
Subversion of Scholarship The Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization These authors claim the
Harappan script is Vedic. The Deciphered Indus Script: Methodology, Readings,
Interpretations by Purana Text of the Dynasties of the Kali Age by
Frederick E. Pargiter Classic but dated text on
the Indian historical, or quasi-historical, documents, the Puranas F) More
Archaeology/Anthropology A Peaceful Realm : The Rise And Fall of the Indus
Civilization by Jane
McIntosh This is a beautifully
produced book by an archaeologist with some interesting perspectives Two authors who are often
cited because of their evidence that there was no major population influx
during the time postulated for the Aryan Migration 1) The People of South East Asia: Biological Anthropology of
India, Pakistan and Nepal ed. by
John Lukacs 2) God-Apes and Fossil Men : Paleoanthropology of South Asia by
Kenneth A.R. Kennedy Chronologies in Old World Archaeology, Vols. 1& 2 by
Robert Ehrich Useful chronological
overview of the ancient cultures of the by
Gregory Possehl A massive book on the
origins of the Harappan civilization. by S.R.
Rao Urbanisation in Early Historic India ed.
George Erdosy The Bronze Age & Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern
Central Asia ed.
Victor Mair History of Civilizations in Central Asia -- Vol. 1 eds.
Masson, Dani & Harmatta The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the
Earliest Peoples from the West by James
Mallory and Victor Mair Bronze Age Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe by
Marija Gimbutas Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967-1975, (Volume III),
The Third Millennium by
Potts, Pittman, Kohl, and Lamberg-Karlovsky Mesopotamia & the East: An Archaeological &
Historical Study of Foreign Relations 3400-2000 BC by
Timothy Potts The Earliest Wheeled Transport from the Atlantic Coast to
the Caspian Sea by
Stuart Piggot One of the points in the
AMT debate is the Rig Vedic 'Chariot'. This books gives background on the
larger issue of the development of wheeled vehicles. The following books are
older collections of articles on Harappan archaeology 1) Harappan Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective (1982) ed.
Gregory Possehl 2) Ancient cities of the Indus (1979) ed.
Gregory Possehl 3) Frontiers
of the Indus civilization: Sir Mortimer Wheeler commemoration volume ed. B.B.
Lal ed. G.C.
Pande Old Problems and New Perspective in the Archaeology of
South Asia These 3 books were
written by the original excavators decades ago. 1) Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization (3 Volume Set) by John
Marshall by M.S.
Vats 3) Further Excavations at Mohenjo-daro by
E.J.H. Mackay G) More Linguistics Historical and Comparative Linguistics by Raimo
Antilla Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics by Oswald Szemerérenyi Theoretical Bases of Indo-European Linguistics ed.
Winfred Lehmann The Harappan Civilization and Its Writing: A Model for the
Decipherment of the Indus Script by
Walter Fairservis F) More Indo-European Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture ed. J.P.
Mallory by
Robert Drews The Greek side of the
Indo-European expansion If you
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