Re: Indo-European Studies
Raghu Seshadri (seshadri@cup.hp.com)
7 Jul 1995 17:39:55 GMT
Ori Pomerantz (ori) wrote:
: >why is it that the authors of the veda make no mention
: >of this most important part of their lives, namely,
: >this long migration from half a world away ? Shouldn't
: >this have been the most significant aspect of their
: >history, and wouldn't their sagas give this prominence ?
: >
: >There is NO mention of any area outside India in the Veda,
: >nor any mention of the Aryan trek thru those places !
: >How do YOU explain this ?
: How long were the Vedas written after the migration? Even if I were
: to write a text on spiritual enlightment today in Israel I might not mention
: immigration, despite the fact all of my grand parents came from aboard. Wait
: another 6 generations, and the immigration will become history, which may be
: considered largely irrelevant to everyday life. And it would still me merely
: two centuries from the immigration.
This is because you know others have written extensively
on migration, so you don't have to repeat it. If you
knew you were the only person writing about Israel,
I am sure you'd take care to document the circumstances
of its birth.
Note that the Veda does talk about the migration of the
people within India; for eg when the Rig Veda was written,
Bengal is mentioned as alien territory. Later Vedas
describe the settlement in Bengal. Therefore the authors
of the Veda were not only writing a spiritual text; it
was also a saga of their community. Therefore it is strange
that this prodigious march from half a world away is
not even mentioned.
: Another possibility is that the Vedas are invention of the pre-Aryan
: population, TRANSLATED to the ruling class's Sanskrit. That would also
: explain the lack of Aryan cultural influence.
But there are more than enough accounts told from the
Aryan point of view (" Help us kill the snub-nosed,
dark-skinned dasyus, O Indra, and lets shower their
cities with fire" ) to make this theory unlikely.
RS
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