By: Moulana Aneesur Rahman Nadvi

India is a country which has been the cradle of many races and civilizations since ancient times. In different periods, people belonging to various cultures and civilizations moved to the subcontinent and settled here permanently. The cultural diversity that is found in India today is the result of the cultural diversity of these ancient migrations.

For a long time, an intense debate was going on among the academic circles in India about the origins of Aryans and Dravidians. No aspect of ancient Indian history and historiography has been so shadowy on the hearts and minds of historians and incredibly disturbing to them as the ‘Aryan problem’. But the new researches in the field of modern genetic genealogy seems to be settling the most important mysteries of ancient Indian history. The riddles of ancient history and civilizations that have engaged the best minds of the times for centuries are being resolved by the modern science in a decisive and convincing way.

An Introduction to Genetic Genealogy
Before we proceed to the main topic, it is imperative to give a brief introduction to genetic genealogy through which humans are today able to trace back their forgotten history and write a new and accurate one with the help of science. This new source of human history is humans own DNA. Human cell is the smallest unit of life and the basic building block of human body. DNA is found inside the nucleus of the cell, which contains hereditary information that is passed to each person from his/ her parents generation after generation. In fact, the DNA of any human being is a vast sea of information about him, which contains all of his physical properties, as well as his entire history, right from the first man on Earth Adam to him. It contains all of his ancestor’s information as well. So it is possible now to obtain information about any person’s ancestors, his race, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of any two persons or two races, his period, geographical location and other information related to him through his DNA. The human body is composed of an average of 37.2 trillion cells. If all the genetic data contained in a human DNA is stretched out, it will form a thread of more than 10 billion kilometers.

There are two types of genetic material found in humans. One is Y-chromosome (Y-DNA) and the other is X-chromosome (mtDNA). The Y-DNA is passed from father to son, while the mtDNA is passed from the mother to both her son and daughter. The paternal lineage is known from the Y-DNA, while the maternal lineage can be obtained through the mtDNA. From this perspective, genetic genealogy is extremely important branch of knowledge. It has historical, social and cultural significance in addition to its importance from theological point of view. It is nature’s imprint in our DNA. The knowledge obtained from human DNA is compact, precise and accurate which has no scope for argumentation as compared to our written history, provided it should be studied and analysed without racial and cultural bias. It is a new branch of science that came into existence only two decades ago. It has witnessed considerable progress in the last 5-6 years. In the following pages, we will discuss the latest genetic researches on ancient Indian history and at last we will shed some light on these researches from theological point of view.

Hollow Claims of Hindutvas
The linguistic researches conducted on the Sanskrit language by the colonial British government in the 18th century, revealed the fact for the first time that Sanskrit is an Indo-European language suggesting that Hindi-speaking northern Indian population are of European descent, who came to India from Europe several thousand years ago. Since this idea was contrary to the Hindutva’s own imagination of India, they too proposed new competitive theories. They even claimed that all the Hindus of India today are the descendants of the first man who settled on the Indian sub-continent thousands of years ago. The Hindutvas completely deny the idea of Aryan invasion on India. Some of them even proposed a new concept called “Out of India theory” which says that Indo-European people originated in Northern India and later spread to the Indo-European regions through a series of migrations, that is why Aryan DNA matches with Europeans and Central Asians. Similarly, they made false claims that the Indus valley civilization was an Aryan and Vedic civilization. They even resorted to false genetic researches to back their claims.

Perturbation of Hindutva’s
But now a new research by 92 scientists from around the world has dismissed the fallacious claims of Hindutva’s, finally settling the centuries-old dispute, sending shockwaves in the Hindutva ranks. After the publication of this new research, the world media described it as one of the most important genetic researches on ancient India, which will rewrite its ancient history. But at the same time the results of this study were misinterpreted by the Indian media. It was reported by a newspaper in the following words “(This new data) completely sets aside the Aryan Invasion Theory”, while the opposite is the case. The BJP’s Subramanian Swamy even called the new research as “damned lies and fabrications”. India Today made the cover story of its September 2018 issue on the topic:

“4500-year-old DNA from Rakhigarhi reveals evidence that will unsettle Hindutva nationalists”

Rakhigarhi is a village in Haryana state of India from where the remains of Harappan civilization were discovered. The first study of DNA obtained from 4500 year old human remains from this site helped scientists understand the ancient history of India. These findings are being discussed here in detail.

A New Genetic Research
As stated above, contradictory genetic claims have been made so far in connection with the genetic makeup of South Asian people, leaving their origin unclear and suspicious. But in March 2018, a new and joint genetic study was published on the genetic formation of South and Central Asian populations by 92 scientists from around the world, led by Harvard University researcher David Reich, providing decisive answers to some of the most important and complex questions about ancient Indian and South Asian history and civilization.

These scientists studied the DNA of a total 612 individuals, including DNA of 362 ancient individuals (spanning over eight thousand years) for the first time, including Iran, Turan (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan), Kazakhstan and people from South Asia. This research is the largest study of DNA research ever done on ancient humans. According to these scientists, comparative study of the DNA of these ancient people with the DNA of existing populations in South Asia helped to decipher the mysteries of ancient Indian history and determine their genetic formation. Another paper by the same researchers was released in September 2019, in which more important findings were presented in this regard. In the following pages, we will discuss some important points of these two papers.

History of Ancient India
According to this research, about four thousand years before present, the population of South Asia consisted of three groups. The first were the Dravidian people who have been named in this study as the Ancient Ancestral South Indians (AASI). Secondly, individuals belonging to the Indus Valley civilization, and finally, the Steppe population, who were previously known as Aryans. The use of the traditional terms of “Dravidian” and “Aryan” has been deliberately omitted in this research for reasons unknown.

This study found that the Dravidians or the AASI are the oldest people of the subcontinent. These people inhabited the Indus Valley as well as other parts of the subcontinent. These people were dwelling in the subcontinent for at least ten thousand years. The Indus civilization consisted of the Dravidian people and Iranian shepherds who migrated from Iran to Sindh around 3,000 years BC.

The most important revelation of this research is that the Aryan DNA didn’t originate in the sub-continent, instead it has European roots. The Aryan people migrated from Pontic Steppe or Eastern Europe (present-day Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan) and settled in the subcontinent. Their migration from Eastern Europe began around 5800 years before present (3800 BC), passing through Iran, and Sindh, they finally burst into India between 2,000 BC and 1,500 BC. The Sanskrit language was introduced in the subcontinent by Aryans. During the same period when the Aryan race migrated to India from the southeast Europe, some people from the same region (southeast Europe) also migrated to Europe. Today, the DNA of the Aryans is found in about 60-100% of the population of Western Europe, and 30-60% of the population of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Iran.

Another important revelation of this research is that Aryan DNA has not been found in the people of Indus civilization. This means that Indus civilization was not an Aryan or Vedic civilization, it was comprised of Iranian shepherds and Dravidian people. This new research has also completely rejected the “Out of India theory” (the idea that the Europeans have originated in India and later migrated to Europe), since there was no genetic evidence to support this claim.

Other Migrations to the Subcontinent
To put it in a nutshell, the Dravidian or AASI people are the oldest inhabitants of the subcontinent who migrated from African continent to India. It is the first human population to settle down in India. Aryans migrated to India between 2000 BC and 1500 BC. Around the same time, the Tibeto-Burman people migrated from East Asia and Southeast Asia into the Brahmaputra Valley (North-eastern parts of India). About 60% of the current population of Assam belong to this community. Before the Tibeto-Burman people, Austro-Asiatic people too migrated to the same region, but these people later merged with the Tibeto-Burman people.

This is the summary of the various migrations that took place in ancient India from different parts of the world. Dravidians and Aryans are the two primary and major races currently dwelling in the subcontinent. Now comes the issue of Muslims. It is clear from the details given above that there is no mention of Muslims. However, during the eight hundred years of Muslim rule over India, various Muslim ethnic dynasties established magnificent empires throughout its territories, including Arabs, Turks and Mongols. It is commonly believed that on these occasions, the above mentioned Muslim ethnic groups might have migrated from their countries of origin and have settled in the subcontinent in large numbers as is the case of other races in ancient times. A number of genetic studies have been conducted on Indian Muslims till now to solve this issue. These studies came out with surprising results that the DNA of most Indian Muslims today is indigenous. It doesn’t belong to Arabs, Turks or Mongols. A detailed discussion on this topic will be presented later in this article.

Present Day Population of India
According to the above research, the current Indian population is divided into two groups based on their ancestral Y-DNA. The first is the Dravidian people of southern India, also known as the Ancestral South Indian (ASI) and the other is the Aryans or Ancestral North Indian (ANI). Today, the Dravidian and the Aryan population have spread throughout India. Nevertheless, scientists differentiate between them on the basis of majority. That is, the proportion of people belonging to ANI is higher in northern India, while the proportion of people belonging to ASI is higher in the southern Indian.

Around 17.5% of current Indian male lineage has been found to belong to ANI ancestry. Only their men are Aryans, while their women are indigenous (Dravidians). We will discuss this issue later in detail. On the other hand, 65% of current Indian population belong to ASI of Dravidian ancestry. These people are basically descendants of those people who have inhabited the subcontinent for at least 10,000 years.

The Common mtDNA of Dravidians and Aryans
We have mentioned above that there are two types of genetic data found in humans: First is the Y-DNA which is found only in men. It passes from father to son, and the other is mtDNA which is passed from mother to her both male and female children. Y-DNA is used to obtain paternal ancestry, while the mtDNA is used to obtain maternal lineage.

The mtDNA of Indians was investigated first, as their Y-DNA was not available. A separate study performed on mtDNA of Indians suggested that there was little external infusion into the Indian gene pool over the last 12,500 years or so and it remained intact throughout this period. The mtDNA of both Dravidians and Aryans have been found to be 98% common. But when their Y-DNA was studied, it was found to be different: one European and another native. It showed that the genetic difference between the Dravidians and Aryans are found only in men not women suggesting that the Aryans who had invaded India predominantly comprised of men and not women. Hence after arriving here, they married indigenous women, and their later generations were born from these local (Dravidians) women . Records of mtDNA of this period found to be same in Aryans, Dravidians, and even in the present-day lower castes and the isolated tribal groups.

The above research on the mtDNA of Indians was conducted by Harvard Medical School, Boston, in collaboration with KCSIR, Hyderabad (funded by the Govt. of India) involved the study of mtDNA of Brahmins, tribal population and lower castes of India. Brahmins include Andhra Brahmin, Karnataka Brahmin, Maharashtra Brahmin, Punjabi Brahmin, Uttar Pradesh Brahmin, West Bengal Brahmin, Shatria and Rajput. The lower castes include Kapu, Madiga, Relli, Yadhava and Mala. The tribes include Pradhan, Andh, Naikpod, Chenchu, Koya, Lambadi, Pardhi, Thoti, Koragas, Kuruchian, Mullukrunan, Yerava and Kota. Therefore the mdDNA lineage from Brahmans to the lowest caste and tribals has been found to be same in all these castes.

It is also important to note here that on the basis of existence of common mtDNA in Aryans and Dravidians, Hindutvas claimed that they too are indigenous people like that of Dravidians. But they did not know how the Almighty God is going to unlock the mystery about the most important secret of ancient Indian history through the demonstration of resemblance in their mtDNA and difference in their Y-DNA. This is also a sign for those people who by claiming the superiority and supremacy of their race subjugated the local population for 4 thousand years, are actually born out of the wombs of the same subjugated women.

When did the Caste System Originate in India?
The above research also reveals that the Aryans kept on marrying local women for only a short period of time after their arrival in India. After a certain period, this custom dissolved. And a rigid caste system was established in the place. David Reich describes this scenario in the following words:

“This genetic data tells us a three-part cultural and historical story. Prior to about 4000 years ago there was no mixture. After that, widespread mixture affected almost every group in India, even the most isolated tribal groups. And finally, endogamy set in and froze everything in place.”

That is, until the arrival of the Aryan people in India, i.e., until 4,000 before present, the mtDNA of the Dravidians and Aryans was isolated. After the arrival of the Aryans, they inter married, and their mtDNA was mixed for a short time. And then after a short period, it was separated again. Since then, both these streams have been flowing separately. This is definitive proof that the caste system was introduced in India by the Aryans after their arrival in the subcontinent. Before that this caste system was not present.
The Aryan population in their early years in India reconciled with the locals of the subcontinent, socialized with them and married their women. But as their ethnicity grew and they settled here, they introduced the caste system to strengthen their hold on society. In this caste hierarchy, they chose higher status for themselves and placed the local population in the lower strata. This caste system is in place till date. After the caste system came into existence, endogamous marriages, marriage within the caste, began to occur. According to a genetic research, the transition in India from free intermarriage to endogamy took place about 70 generations ago.

Historically, it is a controversial issue as to when the caste system came into existence in India? Some historians, especially the Hindutvas believe that this caste system existed in India long before the arrival of the Aryans. However, others believe that Aryans introduced this system in India after their arrival here. Now this new research from Harvard University has eliminated this centuries-old controversy by seal certifying the second opinion. (to be cont.)

References:
1- The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, Spencer Wells, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2002.
2- The Genomic Formation of South 1 and Central Asia, David Reich et. all, 2018.
3- Genetic affinities among the lower castes and tribal groups of India, Ismail Thanseem et. all, 2006.
4- 4500-year-old DNA from Rakhigarhi reveals evidence that will unsettle Hindutva nationalists, India Today, Sept 2018.
5- Hindu How genetics is settling the Aryan migration debate, Tony Joseph, The Hindu, 16 June 2017.