The Story of India - Errors

Notable Hindu organizations and noted Hindus like the Hindu American Foundation(HAF) and Dr. Subhash Kak have taken objections to some of the claims made by Michael Wood in his documentary "The Story of India" mentioned in our earlier post. The criticisms surround the oblique references made in the first episode of the documentary to the aryan invasion theory.

Studies published in 2006, in the highly reputed Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and American Journal of Human Genetics, demonstrate that Y-chromosomal data collected from dozens of Indian sub-populations and tribal areas confirmed a common ancestry between all caste groups and tribals. The scientists in both studies concluded that there was no genetic basis to a claim that any migration occurred from west of India, and in fact, theorized that a northward migration may have occurred from India, out to Central Asia.

In spite of this error, in their press release the HAF is supportive of Michael Wood’s efforts and writes :

"Michael Wood clearly admires India and its people, and this shows through in his passionate depiction of India," said Sheetal Shah, HAF’s Director of Development and Outreach .  "We are not seeking to discredit the "Story of India" in its entirety, but viewers should be aware that a major error was made in the documentary that fails scrutiny and should be corrected."

Dr. Kak lists seven problems with the aryan invasion theory that was postulated based on mention of the horse in the Vedic literature by asserting that the invading Aryans brought horses and chariots with them. This hypothesis was considered proven by claiming that the domestication of the horse took place not too much before 1500 BC.

1. The earliest Indian literature has no memory of any such entry from outside and its focus is squarely the region of he seven rivers, "Sapta Sindhu", with its centre in the Sarasvati valleys and covering a great part of north and northwest India ranging from Indus to Ganga to Sarayu.
2. Indian traditional king lists go back into fourth millennium BC and earlier; also, the more reliable lists of teachers in the Vedic books cannot be fitted into the Aryan invasion chronology.
3. It was contended that the beginnings of the vast Vedic literature needed a greater time horizon easily reaching back at least into the third millennium BC.
4. Astronomical references in the Vedic literature refer to events as early as the fourth millennium BC. The Puranas remember migrations out of India; such migrations were invoked to explain the reference to Vedic gods in treaties between kings and to other Indic names in West Asian texts and inscriptions in the second millennium BC; but the supporters of the Aryan invasion theory saw these West Asian Indic references as traces of the migratory path of the Aryans into India.
5. The Vedic literature nowhere mentions riding in battle and the horse was rare in Vedic times and the word "ashva" for horse was often used figuratively for speed.
6. There was no plausible process explaining how incursions by nomads could have overwhelmed the original languages in one of the most densely populated regions of the ancient world.
7. The Vedic literature spoke of the Aryans as living in a complex society with an important urban element; there is mention of cities, ocean-going ships, numerous professions, which is contradictory to the image of barbaric invaders from the north.

In his essay, Dr. Kak also shares new discoveries and insights that discredit the theory and provides alternative views.