56. Assimilation of Indo –Aryans

The Indo-Aryan invasion hypothesis needs to be mended and modified in the light of recent scientific data! The fact is that Indo-Aryan immigrants did not invaded India as proposed earlier. The number of Indo-Aryans who immigrated was quite few.
The Y-chromosomal genetic data compiled by Sanghamitra Sahoo et al (2006) suggested a minor influx, of people of the Indo-Aryan language family from regions north and west of India. The Vedas were composed a group (about a dozen in number) of sages. With time the Vedic sages apparently had marital relations with natives and were gradually absorbed and assimilated into the pre-existing lingo-cultural fabric of India.
S. Sharma et al. (2007) in their recent paper (“The Autochthonous Origin and a Tribal Link of Indian Brahmins: Evaluation Through Molecular Genetic Markers “- abstract-cited in Dienekes anthropological blog) reported as follows:
“..we screened 621 Y-chromosomes (of Brahmins, Dalits and Tribals) with fifty-five Y-chromosomal binary markers and Y-microsatellite markers and compiled a data set of 2809 Y-chromosomes (681 Brahmins, 2128 Tribals and Dalits) for conclusions. Overall, no consistent difference was observed in Y-haplogroups distribution between Brahmins, Dalits and Tribals, except for some differences confined to a given geographical region.
A peculiar observation of highest frequency (upto 72.22%) of Y-haplogroups R1a1* in Brahmins, hinted at its presence as a founder lineage for this caste group. The widespread distribution and high frequency across Eurasia and Central Asia of R1a1* as well as scanty representation of its ancestral (R*, R1* and R1a*) and derived lineages across the region has kept the origin of this haplogroup unresolved. The analyses of a pooled dataset of 530 Indians, 224 Pakistanis and 276 Central Asians and Eurasians, bearing R1a1* haplogroup resolved the controversy of origin of R1a1*.
The conclusion was drawn on the basis of: i) presence of this haplogroup in many of the tribal populations such as, Saharia (present study) and Chenchu tribe in high frequency, ii) the highest ever reported presence of R1a* (ancestral haplogroup of R1a1*) in Kashmiri Pandits (Brahmins) and Saharia tribe, and iii) associated averaged phylogenetic ages of R1a* (~18,478 years) and R1a1* (~13,768 years) in India. The study supported the autochthonous origin of R1a1 lineage and a tribal link to Indian Brahmins.”
Brahmin-ization
The cited genetic study suggests that the native Indian tribes evolved in the land since 11 to 16 thousand years BC. The study also points to brahmin-ization of native tribes. And this could have happened ca.800-600BC, the magic period when Indo-Aryans and Early Dravidians entered the Indian mainland from the northwest. The Vedas were composed by a group of Indo-Aryan immigrants to NW Indian subcontinent ca 1900 to 800 BC. The Indo-Aryan immigrants were few in number as they immigrated into the Indian mainland and they gradually culturally assimilated with the natives. Select natives must have been absorbed into Vedic schools and were educated in Sanskrit.
The native tribes had evolved pockets of well developed religions and cultures. Some of them joined the Vedic tradition and contributed their talents in composing the great Puranas and Epics of India. Many examples exist in the legends in support of this theory. Valmiki who compiled and composed Ramayan was a bhil, a native archer. Sage Agasthya was a former washer-man (dhobi) from the fold of natives. Jabali was originally from the native tribes. Vedavyasa, the famed dark-skinned (‘Krishna’ Dwaipayana) and talented composer of Mahabharata was born to a woman of lower caste.
Therefore the Early Indian caste system (500-300 BC) was created out of the evolved fraction of native groups.
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