Some tribes who lived for many centuries among the peaks surrounding the Plateau of Iran came to be called Aryans; they moved into India around 1500 BC.

 

These events as described by the historians are not supported by actual physical conditions as existed then.

 

The close of the last Ice-Age took place around 10,000 years ago when the world population was estimated to be 5 million (The Economist supplement - The Proper study of Mankind, Dec. 24, 2005). It reached 200 million when the Lord appeared on this earth in the name of Jesus (The World Almanac).

During the Ice-Age, most areas at higher latitudes and altitudes were covered with ice. The areas near the ice-sheet supported a meager population. The populated areas were near and around the rivers (History of World Peoples).

In addition to the extremities of the Ice-Age, the receding of the ice-sheet produced further calamities such as the Great Flood of the Bible and the rise in sea-level submerging coastal areas around the world.

 

The Great Flood of the Biblical times occurred in 2350 BC (Bishop Ussher). Around that time the archaeologists tell us that great civilizations existed along the banks of Saraswati-Sind river, which flooded and silted these civilizations’ villages and towns. The rise in sea-level too, the Oceanographic Dept of India tells us, that the Dwarika Nagari of the Lord has been located submerged in the sea.

 

These events occurred around 4-5000 years ago. For the historians of the West, Bishop Ussher's findings of the year of creation (4004 BC), the year of the Great Flood (2350 BC), and the time the Tower of Babel was built as well as the dispersal of humanity all over the place, were important historical markers.

 

During the Great Flood, only Noah and the Clan members were saved, where as all the miscreants were destroyed. The Biblical story has taken into account of the meager population, boat-load of people, that existed then.

 

Of course, the Great Flood eventually subsided, Noah and the Clan members came down to the plains of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and proceeded to building Caspian Sea and at the foot-hills of Caucasus where Mount Ararat is situated, were unfit areas for habitation.

 

The Biblical dispersal of tribes around 2000 BC, moving to the areas around the Caspian Sea, and then onwards to the peaks around the Plateau of Iran, took some centuries, bring us to a year 1500 BC, when the Aryans entered India.

 

The population of the world in 1500 BC was no more than 100 million, concentrated near the river plains and deltas, such as Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, Nile in Egypt, Sindhu and Ganges in India and Hwang-Ho and Yangtze in China.

 

There were hardly any tribes living in the cold inhabitable climate of the Caucasus or the mountain peaks in Iran, to produce waves of tribal migration into India.

 

Was it the intention of the people to go to India? Did they have any prior knowledge about the long route to India? Were there no pasture lands in between the land of the Nordics and India or was it the culture of India that attracted them? They took their family with them wherever they went, along with the cattle, cart and horses. The journey must have been slow and tedious over the mountains and terrains, and number of them must have perished on their long journey. Some of them must have decided to settle en route. How many joined in these waves of migration and how many reached the Indus Valley?

Your guess is as good as mine. There never was migration of Aryans as there were no Aryans, it only existed in the imagination of the historians.

 

Bhikhu Patel is a contributor to India Tribune's opinions column and India West's letters to the editor. Here at ICC, Bhikhu is an active participant in the Rangmach Senior program. Born in Tanzania and educated in the UK, Mr. Patel is an accountant by profession, but is an amateur historian by passion.