From: HinduKrantivir@...
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 12:47 PM
Subject: Origin of Indian Civilization Subject of US Conference
4. Origin of Indian Civilization Subject of US Conference
bsingh@...


DARTMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS, July 3, 2006: (HPI note: This is a press release
received from Bal Ram Singh (e-mail above), Ph.D., Director, Center for Indic
Studies, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth)

Comprehensive population genetics data along with archeological and astronomical
evidence presented at June 23-25, 2006 conference in Dartmouth, MA,
overwhelmingly concluded that Indian civilization and its human population is
indigenous. In fact, the original people and culture within the Indian
Subcontinent may even be a likely pool for the genetic, linguistic, and cultural
origin of most of the rest of the world, particularly Europe and Asia. Leading
evidences come from population genetics, which were presented by two leading
researchers in the field, Dr. V. K. Kashyap, National Institute of Biologicals,
India, and Dr. Peter Underhill of Stanford University in California. Their
results generally contradict the notion Aryan invasion/migratio n theory for the
origin of Indian civilization. Underhill concluded "the spatial frequency
distributions of both L1 frequency and variance levels show a spreading pattern
emanating from India," referring to a Y chromosome marker. He, however, put
several caveats before interpreting genetic data, including "Y-ancestry may not
always reflect the ancestry of the rest of the genome" Dr. Kashyap, on the other
hand, with the most comprehensive set of genetic data was quite emphatic in his
assertion that there is "no clear genetic evidence for an intrusion of
Indo-Aryan people into India, [and] establishment of caste system and gene
flow."

Michael Witzel, a Harvard linguist, who is known to lead the idea of Aryan
invasion/migration/influx theory in more recent times, continued to question
genetic evidence on the basis that it does not provide the time resolution to
explain events that may have been involved in Aryan presence in India. Dr.
Kashyap's reply was that even though the time resolution needs further work, the
fact that there are clear and distinct differences in the gene pools of Indian
population and those of Central Asian and European groups, the evidence
nevertheless negates any Aryan invasion or migration into Indian Subcontinent.
Witzel refused to present his own data and evidence for his theories despite
being invited to do so. He was nevertheless present in the conference and raised
many questions. Some of his commentaries questioning the credibility of scholars
evoked sharp responses from other participants.

Rig Veda has been dated to 1,500 BC by those who use linguistics to claim its
origin as Aryans coming out of Central Asia and Europe. Archaeologist B. B. Lal
and scientist and historian N.S. Rajaram disagreed with the position of
linguists, in particular Witzel who claimed literary and linguistic evidence for
the non-Indian origin of the Vedic civilization. Dr. Narahari Achar, a physicist
from University of Memphis clearly showed with astronomical analysis that the
Mahabharata war in 3,067 BC, thus poking a major hole in the outside Aryan
origin of Vedic people. Interestingly, Witzel stated, for the first time to many
in the audience, that he and his colleagues no longer subscribe to Aryan
invasion theory.

Dr. Bal Ram Singh, Director, Center for Indic Studies at UMass Dartmouth, which
organized the conference was appalled at the level of visceral feelings Witzel
holds against some of the scholars in the field, but felt satisfied with the
overall outcome of the conference. "I am glad to see people who have been
scholarly shooting at each other for about a decade are finally in one room,
this is a progress," said S ingh. The conference was able to bring together in
one room for the first time experts from genetics, archeology, physics,
linguistics, anthropology, history, and philosophy. A proceedings of the
conference is expected to come out soon, detailing various arguments on the
origin of Indian civilization.



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