The Invasion That Never Was

by Ravi Raman on July 6, 2008

 

I just finished reading a short book, The Invasion That Never Was, by Michel Danino and Sujata Nahar.

The book calls into question (OK, outright refutes!) the invasionist history that most of us were taught in school. That is, that an “Aryan” people invaded India from the Northwest corridor (through present day Pakistan and Afghanistan) and conquered native tribes in the Indian Subcontinent.

That whole theory never made sense to me anyway. If this was really the case, why is the culture of South India (a seat of Hindu culture) so unique from that of other parts of central Asia and even North India?

The makes the case that this invasion theory was concocted by philologists with a weak understanding of Indian culture (and Sanskrit) but a strong desire to device India people so as to make it easier to profit through trade and spread alternative religious beliefs.

Any Indian who is curious as to the real history of the region should take a look at this book.

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