The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture

This book is a study of how various Indian scholars, over the course of a century or more, have rejected the idea of an external origin of the Indo Aryans by questioning the very logic, assumptions and methods upon which the theory is based.

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Western scholars have argued that Indian civilization must have been the joint product of an invading "Indo-European" people - the "Indo-Aryans" - and indigenous non-Indo-European peoples. Although Indian scholars have consistently and vehemently rejected this European reconstruction of their country's history, Western scholarship has given little heed to their arguments. This work is a study of how various Indian scholars, over the course of a century or more, have rejected the idea of an external origin of the Indo-Aryans, by questioning the very logic, assumptions and methods upon which the theory is based. In the process, Bryant presents an exposition and analysis of views from within mainstream academic circles addressing the issue of Indo-Aryan origins.