I haven't read the whole thing yet but it looked interesting.
I haven't read the whole thing yet but it looked interesting.
The theory of an ancient Aryan invasion of the Indian subcontinent was first proposed by William Jones, a British philologist in the 18th Century. At the time a stunning and original theory, Jones proposed a common root language to European languages and Sanskrit, writing that:
The Sanscrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists. [1]
Observing what he took to be two distinct Aryan and non-Aryan lineages in India, Jones proposed an Aryan conquest of indigenous Indian tribes, bringing the Indo-European Sanskrit language with them. The theory became more popular in the 19th Century, propounded by well-known philologists like Max Müller. It fell out of favour with the end of British colonial rule in India and the mood of anti-racism that gripped intellectuals the world over after WWII.
The theory of an ancient Aryan invasion of the Indian subcontinent was first proposed by William Jones, a British philologist in the 18th Century. At the time a stunning and original theory, Jones proposed a common root language to European languages and Sanskrit, writing that:
> The Sanscrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists. [1]
Observing what he took to be two distinct Aryan and non-Aryan lineages in India, Jones proposed an Aryan conquest of indigenous Indian tribes, bringing the Indo-European Sanskrit language with them. The theory became more popular in the 19th Century, propounded by well-known philologists like Max Müller. It fell out of favour with the end of British colonial rule in India and the mood of anti-racism that gripped intellectuals the world over after WWII.
(post is archived)