HVK Archives: The Aryan issue
The Aryan issue - The Times of India
Shrikant G Talageri
()
9 September 1996
Title : The Aryan Issue
Author : Shrikant G Talageri
Publication : The Times of India
Date : September 9, 1996
This refers to the report entitled `Saamna hits back at
Phadke for criticising violence culture' (August 27). In
this, Vidhydhar Date refers to my book Aryan Invasion
Theory and Indian Nationalism, which is being translated
by the State Board for Literature and Culture, as "a book
supporting the pet Hindutva theory that the Aryans were
the original inhabitants of India".
In the first place, the proposition is incorrectly
phrased: we do not claim that "the Aryans were the
original inhabitants of India" but that they were
"originally inhabitants in India (neither have we said
that "the original homeland of the Aryan or Indo-European
family of languages was in India"). There happens to be a
fundamental semantic difference between the two
propositions.
Furthermore, howsoever phrased, it is incorrect to brand
it a "pet Hindutva theory".
The ideological forefathers of Hindutva, Lokmanya Tilak
(in his book Arctic Home in the Vedas) and Swatantra Veer
Savarkar (in his book Hindutva) fully supported the
theory that the Aryans were invader/immigrants into India
from outside. On the other hand, it was Dr Babasaheb
Ambedkar who rejected this theory in strong terms (`Dr'
Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches,' Volume 7,
`Who were the Shudras?' Chapter 4-6).
In fact, one quotation from the above book must be noted:
"The Aryan race theory is so absurd that it ought to have
been dead long ago. But far from being dead, the theory
has a considerable hold upon the people. There are two
explanations which account for this phenomenon. The first
explanation is to be found in the support which the
theory receives from Brahmin scholars." The reason for
this, according to Dr Ambedkar, is that "the Brahmin...
claims to be the representative of the Aryan race and he
regards the rest of the Hindus as descendants of the non-
Aryans. The theory helps him to establish his connection
with the European races... He likes particularly that
part of the theory which makes the Aryan an invader and a
conqueror of the non-Aryan native races." (p.80)
If the Indian homeland theory is to be branded a "pet
Hindutva theory", may we call the foreign homeland
theory, supported by Tilak and Savarkar as well as Phadke
and Date, a "pet Brahmin theory"?
Shrikant G Talageri
Mumbai
Our Correspondent replies: Mr Talageri seems to be
needlessly worked up over a single paragraph in my
report. He cannot deny that the main concern of the
Hindutva forces on the Aryans were originally the
inhabitants of India. It is very important to them
politically. I was referring to the Hindutva forces of
today. The view of Tilak and Savarkar cited by Mr
Talageri are irrelevant in this context.
Editor
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