Of origins and migrations

One of the most interesting theories I came up across very recently was that of the Indo-Iranian civilization, and the subsequent Indo-Aryan migration. I have always been wanting to read up about this, mainly due to the multitude of Dravidian claims that Aryans are truly invaders, and are ones who eventually ended up surpressing the true owners of the country, as the Dravidians called themselves! There was also a widespread call in the city to boycott Sanskrit, which was "believed" to be one among the Indo-European languages.

On these lines, I started reading up about origins, and further migrations into the future amidst other stuff. It points majorly to the fact that all these topics of discussion date back to the days when Asia and Europe were one landmass. An older and more undeformed picture of earth's tectonic plates. The civilization we talk about was actually supposed to be a successor of the Indus Valley Civilization. Indus Valley Civilization spoke a language which was majorly Elamo-Dravidian. Elamo refers to the Iranian region, which in some way means, with the "entry" of the invaders into Northern India, people from here have been pushed further south into places such as Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, where the ideal mix of the Aryan Sanskrit and Dravidian Tamil still exists in great measure. The seat of power, just post the Indus Valley Civilization seems to lie in Iran. Iran, the name comes from the land of the Aryans. Sanskrit, in a very crude form, was the language of the early Aryans, who lived around Iran, Baluchistan and streched across up until well into North-India. There seems to have been no clear divide till the advent of the Jewish and the Parsis in Greater Iran. It was around this period that migration happened more towards the Indus river. The Indus valley civilization disintegrated and human life moved further down south, down until places like Lothal in Gujarat and Mohenjadaro in Rajasthan.

The most fascinating influence all this hurry-burry has had is on religion, especially on that of Hinduism. For instance, the Shiva of the Aryans, the Pashupathi of the Indus Valley, and the Rudra of the Dravidians, is very similar in multiple aspects, right from having a cow for vehicle, to the trishul. Though Shiva is described as a meditating ascetic, while Rudra is an angry destructive god, Pashupathi is the all-embodying and ever providing merciful lord. What we see today in modern-day Hinduism is an amalgam of the three gods of the three civilisations. The linga worship which began in Aryan regions, is representative of the male-female union, and the potent energy existing in this union. The Dravidians, still did worship the Ardhanareeshwara, who represented the same thing. Islam, which gained its roots out of Iran, is also said to worship the Kaaba, a stone, which is identical in form to a lingam, so this gives us an estimate of how religion has moved out of one common source. Another thing it tells us is, religion is a medium to attain the ultimate purpose of human-hood, which is to gain salvation, and the form of worship, or the path we follow, doesn't really matter. Just like how, irrespective of travelling by air, or by sea, you may reach a destination you wish to. Though of course, according to the same analogy, some path may lead you faster than the others to the same destination.

Essentially what the Indian society or religious scenario developed into, was a vision of Adi Shankara's, one who compiled the like ideas in all these "god-forms", and on the basis of the Vedas, made the Sanatana Dharma, the way of life, which came to eventually be known as Hinduism. Irrespective of people agreeing on ideas spewed on this thread, one thing I can assure you about is, a read through the ways of all this history is one fascinating one! :)