Aryan myths

This book and the recent studies will dismay the Hindutva supporter who sees in India and its Vedic period as something pure

Which of Us are Aryans?

Rethinking the Concept of Our Origins 

Romila Thapar, Michael Witzel, Jaya Menon, Kai Friese and Razib Khan

Aleph, Rs 499, 224 pages

A few hundred years ago, European travellers to India noticed that Indian words had something in common with their own languages. The words for integers and mother and father, for instance, and tooth (“daant”) and such other basic words seemed similar. 

Servants of the East India Company concluded that Sanskrit was part of a wider school of linked languages descended from a common origin. A little after this period came a wave of German nationalism. This was powered