FOREWORD The proto and pre-history of India over last few centuries has been subject to intense discussions and immense controversies. Listed below are a few questions that have led to emotional outbursts, political and religious mass movements and a general atmosphere of mistrust and discontent amongst the vast multitude of Indian populace. 1. Were the Aryans who created Rig-Veda natives of India or invaders from North-West? 2. Did the Indus culture belong to Dravidians? 3. Was Indra, the Vedic God a destroyer of Indus culture? 4. Are the books Ramayana and Mahabharata a part of ancient Indian history or are they a result of poetic imagination? 5. Were the `Shudras' driven into slavery by the invading Aryan Race? This ancient past has somehow managed to extend its tentacles over thousands of years and is still capable of grappling the Indian mind. Till the advent of British Raj, the average Indian was blissfully unaware of these issues. Colonial political and religious interests with the help of modern science attempted to rewrite this history to suit their interests. This rewriting was done on the basis of evidences which often were dubious and occasionally very flimsy. A reaction from the modern, educated Hindus was expected and was not long in coming. Swami Vivekanand was amongst the first few, who attacked the very concept of Aryan invasion and appealed to the Indians to understand their own scriptures and depict their own history. The debates continued and over the last few decades have become a topic of bitter contest. Historical, linguistic and archaeological evidences are often scanty and are subject to various interpretations. Sadly, consensus even on a broad outline does not emerge. Dr. Edwin Bryant in the introductory chapter to his book, "THE VEDIC CULTURE," writes, "The alien power opposed by the anti-imperialist voices of the Indigenous Aryan school is intellectual; it consists of the construction of early Indian history by western scholars using their "superior technology" in the form of linguistics, archaeology, anthropology, philology and so forth. The version of historical events arrived at by these means was then imposed on the native population in hegemonic fashion. Indigenous Aryanism, from this perspective, is an attempt to adopt this same technology to challenge the colonial power (or the heritage it has left behind), to test its foundation, to see how accurate the Aryan migration hypothesis actually is by examining it with the same equipment, the same disciplines of archaeology, and so on, that were used to construct it in the first place. Obviously, in so doing it has been co-opted into a western critical paradigm and has adopted the vocabulary and conceptual structures of the discourse (indeed, all of the arguments considered here are from English medium publications). It is nonetheless an attempt to reclaim control over indigenous affairs - in this case the writing of Indian history - from the power of scholars who are perceived as being motivated and untrustworthy in their scholarship due to their status as imperialists, colonizers, and rulers (and from the heirs of such scholars). In Gramscian terms, colonial intellectuals are seen as the "functionaries," the "deputies," of the coercive dominant power..." A scholar can perhaps be described best as a student who is motivated to seek the truth! He can also be labeled as brilliant or average. The passage quoted above indicates that in the present case, the division of scholarship is on a different set of parameters. A deep schism has separated the two branches of scholars and a mutual mistrust exists. This, indeed, is a sorry state of affairs. Dr. Bryant notes that the Indian scholar has by and large adopted "western critical paradigm and has adopted the vocabulary and conceptual structures of the discourse (indeed, all of the arguments considered here are from English medium publications)." It appears that Dr. Bryant expects something different from the Indian scholar including the language in which he desires to publish his/her research. What really are the means that an Indian scholar has in this quest for truth? Dr. Bryant further adds, "Not all the scholars referred to herein are necessarily schooled in the same intellectual environments, versed in the State-of-the-art academic rhetoric and vocabulary, or familiar with the latest conceptual structures current in western academia. Nor do all scholars in India have anywhere near as much access to the latest cutting-edge scholarship or even, sometimes, basic seminal material as their Western colleagues...." This line of thinking makes the situation very awkward for the Indian scholar. He is to use the western methods of science, western language without having any benefits like access to relevant data and the cutting edge scholarship! The funny part of it is that he is supposed to disprove a theory for which no substantial proof exists. Dr. Bryant writes further, "I am one of a long list of people who do not believe that the available data are sufficient to establish anything conclusive about an Indo-European homeland, culture, or people... Coupled with the problems that have been raised against all homeland candidates, these issues have caused me conclude that, in the absence of radically new evidence or approaches to the presently available evidence, theories on the homeland of the Indo-European speaking peoples will never be convincingly proven to the satisfaction of even a majority of scholars." It is comforting to note that Dr. Bryant adds his name to a `long list' of people. These are the people who are earnest in seeking the truth and are not prejudiced. They accept the inadequacy of the data and the limitations of interpretation. It would have been so much better if all these theories put forth over last couple of centuries would have been labeled as hypotheses by their proponents. One such hypothesis adopting a new approach is put forth in the present book. The book is published in Marathi (a native Indian language) by Deshmukh and Company Publishers (Pvt.) Ltd., in January 2010. The book is titled "Vedancha to Arth" - "THE Meaning of Vedas." Vedas and other Vedic literature, which includes Brahmangranthas, Upanishadas, Aranykas and Sutra books is a vast collection. This literature describes and praises a large group of deities. It elaborates on the details of rituals of various yadnyas (sacrifices). Upanishadas address a few basic philosophical questions. The answer to Aryan Invasion/Migration problem perhaps is hidden in this vast body of literature. The most enigmatic of the Vedic Gods is Soma. Soma was not only a God; he was also the food of Gods. Not only that, he was also a plant/herb which had arrived from heaven! He was supposed to have intoxicating, hallucinogenic effects. And then Soma was lost, lost permanently. A vast number of substitutes were used. Despite all this, Soma was the centre of the institution of yadnyas. Extraction of Soma juice was a grand occasion. The ritual was described in details. The sacred hymns to be chanted on this occasion were listed. Apart from Soma, their were other Vedic Deities. Indra with a handful of Adityas, innumerable Maruts, terrible Rudra and the twins Ashvinikumar were the most prominent amongst them. They were called `DEVAS' in Sanskrit, which literally means `residents of sky.' No one really knew who these Gods were. Some of them were labeled as manifestations of natural forces, some scholars tried to give them an historical identity while others called them figments of imagination! An important point noted but not really understood was the connection that many of these Gods had with `autumn.' In Vedic times, the autumnal season was inevitably connected with destruction. Agni (Fire) was the mainstay of the institution of yadnyas. Agni was a messenger to the Gods and himself a God. However, what the Vedic seers envisaged by `Agni' was not a simple fire ignited for the purpose of sacrificing. There were many Agnis. Some of them were celestial, some were atmospheric and one of them was `The son of Waters.'! Vedic seers had devised different names for these Agnis. Matarisvan, Vaishwanara and Narashans were certainly celestial. Jatavedas was probably atmospheric and Apam-Napat, the son of waters was linked with Soma. This Agni was also lost with Soma. These various manifestation of Agnis were perhaps more enigmatic than Soma. Not much attention was paid to various attributes of Vedic Agni. The problem of the identity of Vedic Gods was as unresolved as the problem of Aryan Invasion/Migration. The two problems were obviously interlinked and a solution, if it existed had to be a single one. In reality, it existed all along in the vast mass of Vedic literature. The key to its decipherment was provided, not surprisingly, by modern astronomy. Fred Whipple, an American astronomer had put forth his hypothesis regarding the origin of `Taurids' and comet `Encke' in the year 1950. Victor Clube and Bill Napier had coined the term `Coherent Catastrophism in 1980s. Vedic literature can be interpreted as the historic documentation of this modern scientific theory. As Dr. Bryant has rightly pointed out, "...in the absence of radically new evidence or approaches to the presently available evidence, theories on the homeland of the Indo-European speaking peoples will never be convincingly proven to the satisfaction of even a majority of scholars." This book takes a radically new approach to the available evidence. It is true that a lot of courage was necessary to take this approach. State-of-the-art technology, latest conceptual structures current in western academia and cutting edge scholarship have had their say without any notable success. Perhaps this was the time for a real understanding of Indian culture and traditions that run back over a few millennia. Now is the time to understand "BRAHMA" in parables of modern science but with humility, intuition and a reasonable amount of common sense. Dr. M.S. Mate, retired professor of archaeology, Deccan College, Pune, accompanied and guided me over this journey which has taken almost five years. There were many obstacles, debates and quite a few sleepless nights. Dr. Mate was always patient, encouraging me when I was disappointed and skeptic when I was over-enthusiastic. The book is written with both the scholar and an average interested reader in mind. I am aware that what is put forth in this book is still a hypothesis. It needs to be proved by further analysis and interpretation of data. This will involve experts from various disciplines of science and can be more effective if carried out as a team work. If proven correct, a major stumbling block in understanding of the ancient human history will be removed. Thanks to my childhood friend and school-mate, Mr. Subhash Phadake, this English version is likely to be available in print. Mr. Phadake is a graduate textile engineer from Delhi IIT. He took it upon himself to translate my work so that the information contents would be available to a much wider range of readers. He was perhaps more convinced about the validity of my hypothesis than I ever was. Ravindra Godbole Survey No. 83/1, Parwati. Sahakar Nagar, Pune - 411009. India. E-mail: ravindragodbole@aquariustech.net