Commonalities of Vedic Gods with The Middle East
Other evidence to bolster the ‘Aryan Invasion Theory” lies in certain common names/references and features of some Vedic Gods that appear to be Pan-West Asian. While this might suggest a certain ancient link between the North Indian nobility and the nobility of Persia and Western Asia, it does not substantiate the claim that the “Aryans” were Europeans or Caucasians. Moreover, there are many different ways in which such commonalities may have developed.
Since there are references in the Manusrnriti to ruling clans who were clearly of non-Indian origin, there is no doubt that various foreign tribes/clans must have entered India as migrants or invaders. There are references to Greeks, Persians as well as Chinese amongst India’s ruling “Aryan” families. But there are also references to South Indian or “Dravidian” “Aryan” clans. To conflate these royals “Aryans” exclusively with European invaders would be clearly inappropriate. Moreover, to iden the timing of such an invasion with the period of the Rig Veda would also be entirely speculative.
This is not to say that India could have never been invaded by Caucasian or other clans, but rather that even if such invasions may have taken place, these invasions would have been neither unique nor decisive in shaping Indian history
While it is not inconceivable that some of the ruling clans described in the Rig Veda may have entered India as invaders, the notion that the ‘Aryans” were exclusively outsiders, and that too European, and brought with them the entire text of the Vedas, and hence, laid the foundations of Indian civilization is what is most untenable, and is easily exposed if developments in Indian culture and philosophy are adequately studied in-depth and with unbiased eyes.
As Indian critics of the Aryan invasion theory have demonstrated, (apart from the few common gods that are also referenced_ outside India) much of the imagery of the Vedas is indigenous.
To many Indians – the references to plants and animals, and the climactic and geographical descriptions suggest a connection to Indian soil. Some of the spiritual values (and cultural mores and traditions) that emerge from the Rig Ved seem to have distinctly Indian sources that many Indians can identify with intuitively and instinctively
