Muslims all over the world believe that their Holy text Quran was given to Prophet Mohamed by God through angel Gabriel over a period of 23 years. The holy scripture binds together the faith of the global Muslim population. Any desecration to its text or Prophet is considered blasphemy. And quite often we see such issues raised in some parts and corners of the world.
Similarly, the Bible is a collection of text from 66 books written by more than 40 authors over a period of 1500 years. And people of Christianity faith hold them close to their lives.
Believers tend to say that their holy texts are monolithic and are true words spoken by their respective gods. It’s their faith.
We are not discussing the genuinity of these claims. But lets discern the power of a narrative that certain texts or beliefs are so sacrosanct because neither they had an origin nor they have an expiry date. They are divine, sacred and above everyone’s lives.
Such is a belief sown by far-right nationalism among its followers. Like religion, nationalism is a drug that makes them blind to facts and ultimately a simple truth – everyone is equal and has a right to live.
Enter the Grand Narrative
The brainwashed followers of India believe, like how Muslims and Christians believe that their holy text is sacrosanct, that Indians were born and have been occupying this land since time immortal and so their way of life and culture is more divine than any other divinity in the world.
In their narrative, the intruders are the Muslims, when Mughals invaded the country and ruled India for nearly 300 years. This is just another myth fed to the brains of the blind followers.
They also strongly believe that the invaders wanted to destroy their culture, religion and ‘Sanatan Dharma’ way of life.
Sanathan Dharma has been accused by rationalists as a system that divides the society into four hierarchies (plus the untouchables) based on their birth and restrict each category to their traditional occupation. In other words, it says education or access to knowledge is only for the top tier people and not for the others.
This Dharma is the way of life since Vedic Times and hence should be perpetuated till eternity, claims Hindu national Fascists. And whoever disagrees because of the Mughal influence should not call this country their abode.
As Hinduism is the oldest known religion to mankind, their divinity status becomes superior to every other divinity in the world.
The Original Indians: Diving into Origins
Excuse the phrase “The Original Indians” used here. The purpose of this article is not to find out who are the original Indians and make a call for the rest of the population to leave this country. But this is only to demystify the strongly held beliefs of selected ultranational Fascists so that this country can be called home by a diverse population.
Genetic studies have shown that the Indian population are the descendants of the following: migrants who came out of Africa, Iranian farmers related population, Austroasiatic Language Speakers and TIbeto Burman Language speakers. [Source: Early Indians: The Story of our ancestors and where we came from]
The inhabitants of this country can be divided into ANIs (Ancestral North Indians) and ASIs (Ancestral South Indians).
From the prehistoric times, three groups- Steppe pastoralists, Iranian farmers from the Zagros Mountains, and people of the Harappan Civilization – are all thought to have played a significant role in shaping the genetic diversity of the Indian population.
Steppe pastoralists arrived in India from Central Asia around 4,000 years ago. They brought with them a new language and culture, and their genes are thought to have mixed extensively with those of the indigenous Indian population.
Iranian farmers from the Zagros Mountains arrived in India around 3,500 years ago. They brought with them new agricultural technologies and crops, and their genes are thought to be particularly concentrated in northwestern India.
The people of the Harappan Civilization were the first known inhabitants of India’s Indus Valley region. Their civilization flourished from around 3300 to 1300 BC, and its people are thought to have been the ancestors of many modern-day Indians.
In fact, according to studies, Harappan civilization is a mixture of all cultures that migrated from Iran, Central Asia along with the original inhabitants of India.
When we say the original inhabitants, it doesn’t denote people who appeared, divinely, out of nowhere in India. All human beings came Out of Africa between 200, 000 and 60,000 years ago.
Since then human beings have been migrating across continents, oceans, and mountains. During sojourn they even mated with brethren of Homo sapiens species like Neanderthals, Homo erectus etc. Because, modern day humans have more than 2% of their genes from Neanderthals.
India is a melting pot of all the cultures that migrated left and right of this geography. Even the Vedic culture and their religion is a collection of ideas and principles borrowed together by people of different origins. Not one divine sect of people.
Having a religious mindset about who belongs to a nation is outdated barbarism. A good education on prehistoric times will help.
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