The Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization
An examination is made of the relationship between the Indus Valley Civilization and Indo-Aryan origins, a topic that has received a tremendous amount of attention from Indian archaeologists and historians. The issue discussed is whether the Indo-Aryans preceded, succeeded, or co-existed with the inhabitants of the Indus Valley cities. The different sections of the chapter look at archaeological evidence on the religion of the Indus Valley, evidence on the decline of the river Sarasvatī (which is referred to many times in the Ŗgveda, the oldest of the Sanskrit Vedic texts), the absence of the horse from the Harappan record (although it played an important part in the Vedic-Aryan culture), evidence of the spoked-wheel chariot (which is fundamental to Aryan identification), the Indus script, and urbanization and the Ŗgveda.
Keywords: archaeological evidence, India, Indo-Aryan origins, Indus Valley Civilization
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