Author: R S Sharma
Publisher: Orient Longman
Year: 1996
Language: English
Pages: 106
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8125006311
Description
This Cameo is essential reading for those interested in Indian history and culture.
Who were the Aryans? Where did they come from? Did they always live in India?The Aryan problem has been attracting fresh attention in academic, social and political arenas.
This book identifies the main traits of Aryan culture and follows the spread of the cultural markers. Using the latest archaeological evidence and the earliest known Indo-European inscriptions on the social and economic features of Aryan society, the distinguished historian, R S Sharma, throws fresh light on the current debate on whether or not the Aryans were the indigenous inhabitants of India.
CONTENTS: Introduction / The Problem of the Horse / Language and Inscriptional Evidence / Aryan Rituals ' Social and Economic Aspects Towards a Conclusion / Notes and References + Bibliography + Maps
Contents
Preface
Maps
Spoked wheel sites in north Eurasia
Domesticated horse sites in north Eurasia
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The Concept of Arya
Reconstruction of the Early Material Culture
CHAPTER II
THE PROBLEM OF THE HORSE
Textual References
Absence of the Domesticated Horse in India before c. 2000 BC
Earliest Domestication between the Dnieper and the Volga
Linguistic References to Chariots
Archaeological Traces of Wheels and Spokes
The Horse in India and the North-Western
Neighbourhood in c. 2000 BC
Archaeology of the Horse in the Gangetic Plains
Wheels and Spokes in the Gangetic Plains
The Horse and non-Indo-Europeans
The Significance of the Use of the horse
CHAPTER III
LANGUAGE AND INSCRIPTIONAL EVIDENCE
CHAPTER IV
ARYAN RITUALS
Animal Sacrifice
The Horse Sacrifice
The Fire Alter
The Soma Cult
Cremation
CHAPTER V
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS
Male Dominance
Economic Activities
CHAPTER VI
TOWARDS A CONCLUSION
The Aryans and the Harappan Culture
summing up
Notes and References
Bibliography