Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – from Archaeology to Technology, but reaching race and eugenics (5)

Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – from Archaeology to Technology, but reaching race and eugenics (5)

The European and American struggle against race: The myth of race originated among the whites of the European countries and with them, it spread to the USA also, with “Pilgrim Progress”. Under the guise of scientific studies, such race researches were encouraged and then debunked [1] them as “Man’s most dangerous myth.” It is now generally acknowledged that the term ‘race’ entered English early in the 16^th century. This was also the time when the term was acquiring currency in other European languages, for example ‘rassa’ and ‘race’ in French, ‘razza’ in Italian, ‘raca’ in Portuguese, and ‘raza’ in Spanish. By the middle of the 16^th century, one common meaning was beginning to gain ground. The Europeans were dividing themselves based on common ancestry, common language, common faith, etc.. Race began to refer to family, lineage, and breed. In modern times also, they pursued such unscientific hypotheses and theories to prove the “white man’s burden.” Even after debunking the race, it has been resurrected through genetics in the sophisticated laboratories. The race hypotheses and theories with related factors of skin colour, skull shape-size, morphology and others are briefly reviewed in the context.

The Caucasian, Europid or Europoid race: The Caucasian race (also Caucasoid, Europid, or Europoid) is a racial classification of humans based on a now-disproven theory of biological race. The Caucasian race was historically regarded as a biological taxon which, depending on which of the historical race classifications was being used, usually included ancient and modern populations from all or parts of Europe, Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa. Introduced in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen school of history, the term denoted one of three purported major races of humankind (those three being Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid). In the United States, the root term Caucasian is still in use as a synonym for white or of European, Middle Eastern, or North African ancestry and now it is used by the Indian researchers also.

Nordic race, Nordicism etc: The Europeans also started to find out which nationality was more pure than others with identifiable morphological features. Thus, the concept of Nordic race originated in 19^th-century anthropology. It was once considered a race or one of the putative sub-races into which some late-19^th to mid-20^th century anthropologists divided the Caucasian race, claiming that its ancestral homelands were Northwestern and Northern Europe, particularly to populations such as Anglo-Saxons, Germanic peoples, Balts, Baltic Finns, Northern French, and certain Celts, Slavs and Ghegs. The supposed physical traits of the Nordics included light eyes, light skin, tall stature, and dolichocephalic skull; their psychological traits were deemed to be truthfulness, equitability, a competitive spirit, naivete, reservedness, and individualism. In the early 20th century, the belief that the Nordic race constituted the superior branch of the Caucasian race gave rise to the ideology of Nordicism.

The Nazis claimed that the Nordic race was the most superior branch of the “Aryan race” constituting a master race (Herrenvolk): The belief that the Nordic phenotype is superior to all others was originally embraced as “Anglo-Saxonism” in England and the United States, “Teutonicism” in Germany, and “Frankisism” in Northern France. The notion of the superiority of the “Nordic race” and the superiority of the Northwestern European nations that were associated with this supposed race influenced the United States’ Immigration Act of 1924 (which effectively banned or severely limited the immigration of Italians, Jews, and other Southern and Eastern Europeans) and the later Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, and it was also present in other countries outside Northwestern Europe and the United States, such as Australia, Canada, and South Africa. By the 1930s, the Nazis claimed that the Nordic race was the most superior branch of the “Aryan race” and constituted a master race (Herrenvolk). The full application of this belief system—the invasion of Poland and further conquest in the pursuit of Lebensraum, ‘living space’—was the immediate catalyst for World War II and led directly to the industrial mass murder of six million Jews and eleven million other victims in what is now known as the Holocaust. Thus, it is amply evident that the Europeans were responsible for the creation of such racial myths leading to the World Wars. Now, again the Europeans and Americans have been trying to match such ideology ith their genetic studies. How the race factors were developed are studied briefly.

The four categorizations of race continue: Natural taxonomic categories of the human species were considered by Linnaeus in 1758 for the classification of race. He differentiated Homo sapiens afar and Homo sapiens Europeans and added four geographical subdivisions of humans:

1. White Europeans,
2. red Americans,
3. yellow Asians, and
4. black Africans.

Although Linnaeus intended an objective classification, he used both biological and cultural data in his subdivision descriptions.

Blumenbach. in 1775, categorized humans into five “races,” which is similar to Linnaeus’s classifications. Coon in 1962, on the basis of phenotypic physical features, further refined classification into five races; he called the races as –

1. Caucasoid,
2. Mongoloid,
3. Australoid,
4. Negroid, and
5. Capoid.

Despite disagreement among anthropologists, this classification remains in use by many researchers, as well as lay persons.

1. Caucasoids,
2. Mongoloids,
3. Negroids, and
4. Australoids (Australian aborigines) are four major groups considered in the world.

Even today, these four categories are faithfully and strictly followed by the genetic engineers, hereditary experts and inherent scientists.

Genetic interpretation of race: The conception of “race” here proposed is based upon the following fundamental postulates:

• that the original ancestral species population was genetically relatively heterogeneous;

• that by migration away from this original ancestral group, individual families became dispersed over the earth;

• that some of the groups thus dispersed became geographically isolated from one another and remained so isolated for more or less considerable periods of time;

(4) that upon all these isolated groups several of the following factors came into play as conditions leading to evolutionary change:

(a) the genetic drift or inherent variability of the genotypic, materials composing each individual member of the group;

(b) physical change in the action of a gene associated, in a partial manner, with a particular character, that is, gene mutation.

Skin Color: Actually, it is because of colour that the Europeans started postulating the race hypothesis slowly developing into a theory. When the European explorers started visiting other countries or the people of other countries visiting their countries, they could notice the change in the skin colours of the Africans and the Asians. Later they could note the colour difference of the Chinese and Americans. While the North Americans appeared reddish, the South American were brownish. Thus, the five colours also formulated to match. Human populations obviously differ in average skin colour. Many people consider skin colour the most important indicator of “race,” and they sometimes treat others differently solely on this basis. But anthropologists, in addition to being critical of prejudice, also note that skin colour is not a good indicator of ancestry. For example, dark skin is commonly found in sub-Saharan Africa. However, natives of southern India have skin as dark or darker than that of many Africans. Yet these people are not closely related to Africans, either genetically or historically. The amount of melanin in the skin seems to be related to the climate in which a person lives. Next to the skin colour, the head played a crucial role in identifying a race.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

21-06-2024

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[1] Montagu, MF Ashley. Man’s most dangerous myth: The fallacy of race. Columbia University Press, 1945.

Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – RUSA project – from Archaeology to Technology, but moving to race (4)

Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – RUSA project – from Archaeology to Technology, but moving to race (4)

The claim of Industrialized Urban civilization: The Keeladi related news, reports and related papers published papers mentioned about “Industrialized Urban civilization.” It is evident that to compare and equate with the IVC, this type of overstated claims are made. In fact, when they claim what the civilization was about “Industrialized,” what types of industries were there, tools and machinery used, goods manufactured, workers and experts engaged etc., the related details have to be explicitly provided. Similarly, for the status of about “Urban,” also just like IVC, they have to produce evidence of town planning, plumbing, drainage system etc,. With a few examples, they cannot jump to a conclusion and finalize that the Porunai River civilization[1] was as much or more civilized than that of IVC[2].  One has to prove how most of the civilized processes of the people were industrialized i.e, mechanized using specific apparatus, instruments, gadgets, appliances, tools, machines, machinery etc., just verbose would not help to prove such status during 1000 BCE or 2000 BCE.

How to read IVC signs with Tamizhi?: Sangam, Sangam literature, Sangam era, Sangam civilization and such other terms and expressions are repeatedly and interchangeably used in the news, reporting and other narratives. But, they forget the implications of script, language and literature.

1. All the IVC signs, symbols, pictograms etc., should be equated with Tamizhi and read accordingly.
2. When they believe or accept the “Out of Africa” theory, then, all the migration including from the Central Asia have to be correlated with the Sangam period.
3. As pointed out Pichappan pointed out three migrations of “Dravidians” into India.
4. When the internal evidences of the literature point to certain dates and chronology, based on these datings, they cannot be pushed back to such dates, as literary factors do not co-operate.

Position about the race of the people as on April 2023: It may be noted that the forensic bio-archaeological investigations conducted by experts G Pathmanathan, Raghavan Pathmanathan, and T Satyamurthy, on the 169 skeletons collected from Adichanallur, have implied that three major racial groups –

1. Caucasoid,
2. Mongolriver 3,200 years ago. The Chief Minister said that it was confirmed by AMS carbon dating which was done abroad, and
3. Negroid (Australoid) — may have existed in Adichanallur[3].

As per FORDISC analysis[4], some skeletons reflect mixed racial traits and very few of them display similarities with the contemporary Tamil ethnic group, they said.

The racial affinities of skeletal remains recovered from Adichanallur have been further classified into –

• 30% Mongoloids,
• 35% Caucasoids,
• 16% Negroids,
• 6% Australoids,
• 8% ethnic Dravidian, and
• 5% mixed trait populations[5].

They published a paper in 2010, in which they briefed[6], “Adichanallur, a remote village situated near Thirunelvelli city in Tamil Nadu (South India), lies near Tutucorin harbor. It has a long and continuous history of human occupation, including a three-tier prehistoric cemetery covering an area of slightly more than 200 acres. It is one of the largest and the oldest early Iron Age cemeteries of South Asia. The recent excavation (2004-06) of this site by the Archaeological Survey of India has yielded primary burials of 85 human skeletons placed in a squatting position in giant, monochrome or dual-coloured clay urns. This paper discusses the geology of the site and the cranial morphology, with a focus on the racial affinities, of the recovered skeletons.” Meanwhile, a reply from the Department of Archaeology said genomic studies are underway at the Ancient DNA Laboratory in Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) in association with Harvard University’s David Reich Lab. Thus, the experts under the guise of genetics or DNA, again going back to old race and racial classification.

Why more emphasis is given to race?: Thus, it is evident that the experts involved appeared to have more bothered or worried about the race question of the people rather than other factors.

• FORDISC is a software program created by Stephen Ousley and Richard Jantz. It is designed to help forensic anthropologists investigate the identity of a deceased person by providing estimates of the person’s size, ethnicity, and biological sex based on the osteological material recovered.
• In 2012 research was presented at the 81^st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, which concluded FORDISC ancestry determination was not always consistent, and the programs’ recommended acceptance criteria did not separate correct and incorrect determinations.
• The authors concluded that the program does not perform to expectations and should be used with caution.

So naturally, the question arises – why the whole research is directed towards race, when the historians categorically deny that there is no race. Of course, as pointed out elsewhere, the UN also passed a resolution condemning race throes that were pseudoscientific. Now also using scientific methods, laboratory and other technologies, the research is directed to determine the race of the people. So again, the blood, oesteology, craniometry, morphology etc., are measured only with different or modern terminology, but the same old concepts. 

National seminar on Reflections on Cultural Development – An Archaeological Perspective November 2023: The Department of Archaeology conducted a national seminar on Reflections on Cultural Development – An Archaeological Perspective on November 23 and 24, 2023 on the occasion of Muthamizh Arignar Kalaignar Centenary celebrations at Madurai. The proceedings were also published in which the paper, “Ancient Genomic Investigation of the Archaeological Human, Animal, Plant and Microbial Remains from Tamil Nadu, India” authored by some 23 experts[7] including Kumaresan Ganesan, Sivanantham Ramalingam, and Rajan K. However, about the dating of the biological samples, they have not committed anything categorically. The rough or relative dates already given are repeated with the tag, “Of these, about 35 samples predominantly from Kondagai, and Adichanallur were identified to have potential skeletal remains to proceed further for extracting ancient DNA and being investigated at the dedicated ancient clean lab facility established at Madurai Kamaraj University.” The proceedings of the seminar can be viewed and listened to from this video[8]. R. N. Pichappan stuck to his topic on 23-11-2023, “Birth place of Dravidians Linguistic and NRY[9] study.” Though, he started with the assertion that “Dravidian” is a linguistic, cultural transformation and subdivided gene group, he proceeded to racial connotation.

“Dravidians” came from Africa and some settled down in western ghats.

• Dravidian originated in Tamil Nadu / Western Ghats
• By demic expansion, dispersed to Northern India
• Central Asia arrival restricted the Dravidian to pockets in North India – language replacements.

This is how he concluded. So “Dravidians” came from Africa, and settled down at the western ghats. By demic expansion (demic = characteristic of or pertaining to a people or population), the expanded to Northern India i.e., went out of India. Then, again they entered from Central Asia, thus found at some pockets in North India and then, finally settling down in Tamilnadu.

Genetic studies and dating: As the genetic experts directly or indirectly follow the same old method and principles of race etc, they also faithfully take the C-14, TL and other dating of the objects associated with the organic remains and construct a table as follows:

Dating method	Material dated	Age range dated
Carbon-14 to nitrogen-14 (radiocarbon)	Organic remains, archaeological artefacts	Up to 60,000 years ago
Luminescence	Tephra, loess, lake sediments	Up to 100,000 years ago
Fission track	Tephra	10,000 to 400 million years ago
Potassium-40 to argon-40	Volcanic rocks	20,000 to 4.5 billion years ago
Uranium-238 to lead-206	Volcanic rocks	1 million to 4.5 billion years ago

With this, the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Megalithic and related metallic cultures are also studied. Without any definiteness about the “monogenetic” or “heterogenetic” origin of the human race, the genetic experts debate about “Out of Africa” or European Neanderthal. Even the disease-related studies boil down to eugenics and race leading to an old problem.

• Men cannot be made as mere samples or subjects for their vested and interested studies and research.
• The pharmaceutical laboratories have been using African and Asian people for their drugs and formulations.
• The Corona period also revealed how the loopholes in the research laboratories could play havoc. Now, the side effects of vaccine are discussed.
• Therefore, connected experts should have patience and not to interpret the data and information to divide people.
• Science and technological men and machines should be useful to humanity and world peace.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

20-06-2024

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[1] Director, Porunai River Civilization (in Tamil), Tamilnadu State Archaeology Department Chennai, 2021.

Click to access porunai_text.pdf

[2] The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin told the state assembly on September 9, 2021, that the paddy and soil that came out of an urn unearthed during an excavation in Sivakalai in the Tuticorin district in the state has confirmed that civilization had flourished on the banks of Porunai or Thamirabarani y US lab Beta Analytic. As per the historians, the graffiti found in the Indus Valley Civilization and the one encountered in South India is about 80% identical. It suggests that there may be some form of linguistic connection between the Indus Valley Civilization, South India, and Sri Lanka.

[3] Indian Express, Archaeologists compare DNA samples to affirm Adichanallur early inhabitants were ancestors of present populace, S Godson Wisely Dass, Updated on: 30 Apr 2023, 6:49 am.

[4] FORDISC is a software program created by Stephen Ousley and Richard Jantz. It is designed to help forensic anthropologists investigate the identity of a deceased person by providing estimates of the person’s size, ethnicity, and biological sex based on the osteological material recovered.

[5] https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2023/Apr/30/archaeologists-compare-dna-samples-to-affirmadichanallur-early-inhabitants-were-ancestors-of-present-populace-2570626.html

[6] Pathmanathan, R., Pathmanathan, G., Satyamurthy, T., & Talwar, I. (2010). Secrets of a Cemetery: The Geology and Forensic Skeletal Biology of the Ancient Maritime People of Adichanallur, Tamil Nadu. Quaternary Australasia, 27(1), 2-7.

[7]  G. Kumaresan et al, Ancient Genomic Investigation of the Archaeological Human, Animal, Plant and Microbial Remains from Tamil Nadu, India, in  Reflections on Cultural Development – An Archaeological Perspective , Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology, 2023, pp.177-206.

[8] IN COMMEMORATION OF THE CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF MUTHAMIZH ARIGNAR KALAIGNAR NATIONAL SEMINAR .4, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiMTfAjUR94

[9] Along ∼95% of its length the Y chromosome is male-specific and effectively haploid, since it is exempt from meiotic recombination. Therefore, this Y-chromosome segment where X-Y crossing over is absent has been designated as the non-recombining region of the Y chromosome or NRY.

Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – RUSA project – from Archaeology to Technology (3)

Antiquity and Peopling of the Deccan – an Ancient DNA approach – RUSA project – from Archaeology to Technology (3)

Paddy known in 2020 and husk thereafter in the excavations: The details given by the leading dailies (The Hindu, Times of India, Deccan Herald) continue as follows: When the MKU teams informed that the excess production of rice prompted the settlers to set sail in the seas to far-away land that are chronicled in several literature, the ASI report, which is yet to be made public, such reports were in circulation in the media. Therefore, it is evident that the excavators or some persons were leaking out findings partly, partially or otherwise for sensation or publicity. While carbonised paddy was found on the stratified surface at Agaram, it was found in an offering pot at Sivagalai[1]. These are to be sent to labs for carbon dating and identification of the grains – whether they are rice or millet or any other type of grain, and whether they were local grains or imported grains, as this will throw more light upon the life of the people during that period[2]. It may be recalled that it was the carbon dating done on a carbonised paddy grain in Sivagalai, which helped determine the age of the Porunai River civilization to 3200 years old, dating to 1155 BC[3].

Husk or hull of paddy of rice or millet – to be decided: However, it can be noted that the word paddy is used and it is related to rice only. Detailed analyses of plants and soil from Keeladi, a Sangam-era archaeological site near Madurai in Tamil Nadu, have shown that surplus production of rice in the area might have paved the way for the increase in trade 2,000 years ago, even as artefacts unearthed show that an industrialized urban civilization existed on the banks of River Vaigai[4]. However, certain researchers have already concluded this point and started publishing their papers also. The above finding by the French Institute of Pondicherry will be part of the final report of the first two phases of excavation at Keeladi, 12 km southeast of Madurai, conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 2014 and 2015[5]. As many as 5,800 artefacts were unearthed during the first two phases, but the ASI withdrew from the excavations after it announced that there was no “significant finding” in the third phase.

The press reporting was intriguing: The Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA) took over in 2017 and has conducted five phases of excavation so far. It is likely to launch the ninth round next year. Sources in the know told (Deccan Herald) that analyses conducted by a leading palaeontologist for the past few months have concluded that there was surplus rice production in and around Keeladi. “Artefacts found from Keeladi have indicated that trade ties flourished between inhabitants of Keeladi and other countries in the form of coins and other items. And the results of the analyses serve as further proof of the trade ties, and excess rice production played a crucial role,” the source added. Archaeologists who worked in Keeladi at different times told DH that overwhelming evidence of industries based on beads and terracotta having existed there were unearthed in the past eight years. “Surplus rice production might have flourished those industries as the inhabitants set out in the sea to unfurl their flag in far-away nations,” another source said. Here, that, “leading palaeontologist” has not been named and the “source” not revealed, yet, all these are appearing in the public domain.

Genetics liking Tamil merchants with Mesopotamia: Few researchers have already started publishing papers about the existence of Tamil merchants at Mesopotamia based on genetic interpretation[6]. They conclude, “Taken together, our mtDNA analysis shows that mtDNAs of these ancient Mesopotamians probably originated from Indian merchants. This, thus rules out the hypothesis that these samples comprise an ancient component (Upper Paleolithic) of macrohaplo group M involved in the founding of the Mesopotamian civilization. Therefore, the present study sheds new insights on the understanding of the origins of ancient Mesopotamian macrohaplogroup M lineages and the influence of Indian-Tamil merchants to Mesopotamian gene pool during trans-oceanic trade.” Had the “Dravidians” included Telugu, Kannada, Malayala and other languages, then, such merchants must have also existed there.  Perhaps, soon such claims be added.

The date of the rice husk awaited: The findings are significant as carbon dating of artefacts found in the fourth phase date back to 600 BCE, pushing the Sangam Era behind by three centuries than it was thought and making it contemporaneous with the Gangetic Plains Civilisation of north India. Rice husks found in burial urns at Konthagai, the burial site of Keeladi, over the three phases have also been sent for DNA analysis[7]. It may be noted that rice husks found in an urn in Sivagalai, another excavation site, dated back to 3,200 years[8] or 1155 BCE. Refusing to share any details, ASI’s Superintending Archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna told DH in December 2022, that the report on the first two phases of the Keeladi excavation was in the final stages and is likely to be completed in a couple of months. “We have finished 90% of the work, but the report compilation is taking time. The diagrams are ready, and they have been incorporated into the report. We are exercising utmost caution and not rushing because of the sensitivities attached to the issue. One thing I can assure you is the report will be comprehensive,” Ramakrishna said.

The gap between IVC and Sangam to be narrowed down: The second source quoted said 23 samples have been sent for carbon dating analysis to Beta Analytical Lab in Florida, US and other institutes in the country and added that results of almost all of them have arrived except for a few. Nearly 18,000 artefacts, including over 2,200 from the latest phase, have been unearthed from Keeladi, bearing testimony to the rich urban life ancient Tamils had lived, thereby providing further archaeological evidence to the Sangam Literature. The archaeological findings have created a buzz with researchers and archaeologists in Tamil Nadu, calling them significant as they “narrow down” the gap between the Tamil urban settlements and the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC). However, they say “more evidence” should be forthcoming, while experts outside Tamil Nadu say there is no link between Keeladi and IVC. The latest excavation phase has led to the discovery of several artefacts, including dice made of ivory, an ivory gamesman, an iron knife, an antimony rod, copper pendants, ring wells, structures, rectangular-shaped ivory dice, beads, and terracotta figurines. The dating of all recovered objects have not been revealed.

Harvard Medical School, US experts at Madurai February 2023: Tamil Nadu’s first Ancient DNA Lab at the Madurai Kamaraj University has opened its doors for a team from the world-renowned David Reich Lab to assist it in extracting DNA from 30 human samples collected from burial urns unearthed during excavations with “minimal damage” as part of the efforts to provide scientific evidence to archaeological findings[9]. The team led by Kendra Sirak[10], Senior Staff Scientist at David Reich Lab of the prestigious Harvard Medical School, US, is camping in the temple town of Madurai since February 13 2023, to help the new lab analyse the samples collected from Konthagai, Sivagalai, Adichanallur, Mayiladumparai, and Kodumanal[11]. Konthagai is the burial site of Keeladi, the urban habitation site that is believed to have existed between 800 BCE to 300 CE as per a recent report submitted by Archaeological Survey 2014 and 2016. The new date derived by the ASI pushes the Sangam Era behind by another 500 years than it was earlier thought to be.

Migration and admixture of races: Whether one or three, 50, 100 or more than 100 experts on the genetic studies, they come back to the same race hypotheses and theories. One such >100 experts summarize[12], “By sequencing 523 ancient humans, we show that the primary source of ancestry in modern South Asians is a prehistoric genetic gradient between people related to early hunter-gatherers of Iran and Southeast Asia. After the Indus Valley Civilization’s decline, its people mixed with individuals in the southeast to form one of the two main ancestral populations of South Asia, whose direct descendants live in southern India. Simultaneously, they mixed with descendants of Steppe pastoralists who, starting around 4000 years ago, spread via Central Asia to form the other main ancestral population. The Steppe ancestry in South Asia has the same profile as that in Bronze Age Eastern Europe, tracking a movement of people that affected both regions and that likely spread the distinctive features shared between Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic languages.”

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

19-06-2024

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[1] The Hindu, Carbonised paddy from excavations could shed more light on a variety of activities in Iron Age, say experts, T. K. Rohit, Published – September 08, 2020 12:16 pm IST – CHENNAI

[2] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/carbonised-paddy-from-excavations-could-shed-more-light-on-a-variety-of-activities-in-iron-age-say-experts/article32549834.ece

[3] Times of India, Tamil Nadu: Paddy husk found in burial urn at Keeladi, TNN / Updated: Sep 17, 2022, 08:49 IST

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/paddy-husk-found-in-burial-urn-at-keeladi/articleshow/94258143.cms – :~:text=It%20may%20be%20recalled%20that,old%2C%20dating%20to%201155%20BC.

[4] Deccan Herald, 2k yrs ago, surplus rice boosted trade in Keeladi, ETB Sivapriyan DHNS Last Updated : 18 November 2022, 00:38 IST DHNS Last Updated : 18 November 2022, 00:38 IST.

[5] https://www.deccanherald.com/india/2k-yrs-ago-surplus-rice-boosted-trade-in-keeladi-1163389.html

[6] Palanichamy, M. G., Mitra, B., Debnath, M., Agrawal, S., Chaudhuri, T. K., & Zhang, Y. P. (2014). Tamil merchant in ancient Mesopotamia. Plos one, 9(10), e109331.

[7] Times of India, Tamil Nadu: Paddy husk found in burial urn at Keeladi, TNN / Updated: Sep 17, 2022, 08:49 IST.

[8] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/paddy-husk-found-in-burial-urn-at-keeladi/articleshow/94258143.cms

[9] Deccan Herald, Harvard team helps Tamil Nadu lab with ancient DNA extraction and analysis, ETB Sivapriyan DHNS Published 16 February 2023, 22:51 IST; Last Updated: 17 February 2023, 09:38 IST DHNS Last Updated : 17 February 2023, 09:38 IST.

[10] Kendra Sirak, Senior Staff Scientist – https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/people/kendra-sirak

[11] https://www.deccanherald.com/india/harvard-team-helps-tamil-nadu-lab-with-ancient-dna-extraction-and-analysis-1191996.html

[12] Narasimhan, V.M., Patterson, N., Moorjani, P., Rohland, N., Bernardos, R., Mallick, S., Lazaridis, I., Nakatsuka, N., Olalde, I., Lipson, M. and Kim, A.M., 2019. The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia. Science, 365(6457), p.eaat7487.

The “Ariyar” in the Sangam literature and the Dravidian problem – a relook into the old issues (3)

Maxmuller who created “Aryan” and Robert Caldwell who manufactured “Dravidian” out of linguistics!

The Dravidian problem: . But, surprisingly, none of these words – Dravid, viz., Dravida, Dravidi, Dravidam, Damila, Dramila, Dravida, dravida and their derivatives – is found in the ‘sangam literature’, generally represented by Pattuppattu, ettuttogai and Padinkizhkanakku.

Even in Tevaram[1], only ‘Tamizhan’ was used in the expression, “Seen Aryan, seen Tamizhan”. Only Tayumanavar of 18th century uses the word “Dravidam”, that too, to denote the Tamil language[2].

 “Nama thipa nikhandu”[3], a Tamil lexicon assigned to 7, 8 or 11^th century mentions ‘dravidam’ as one of the words used for Tamil.

“Senthan Divakaram”, another Tamil lexicon of 9^th century mentions that ‘Dravidam’ as one of the eighteen languages spoken.

A later work “Kanthanthu Upadesa Kandam” mentions that Lord Shiva revealed to Agastya the grammar of proud language ‘Dravidam’. The authors of “Prayoga Vivegam”  explain that the Sanskrit word “Tramilam” had been changed to “Tamil”, but the modern (Dravidian) scholars refute this strongly and assert that only the word ‘Tamil’ had been pronounced and used as ‘Dravida’ by the Sanskrit scholars.

Sivagnana Yogi also mentions that Sanskrit scholars used the word “Dravidam” symbolically to denote “Ten mozhi” (the language of south), that is Tamil[4]. Therefore, it is evident that the forms of ‘dravid’ and their usage by Tamils and Tamil poets were not in vogue upto 18^th century. Thus, it is very clear that Tamils were not only unfamiliar with the usage of the word ‘Dravida’, but also started to denote it for their language only in the modern period, particularly about the advent of the European scholars in south India.

Anthropometry of ‘Dravidians’: Huxley (1871), Haeckal, Turner (1900), G. Oppoert, Risely (1908), E. Thruston (1909), Seligman, Sclater and others have given different and varying anthropometric data and descriptions about ‘Dravidian race’ (Table-B). They have tried to compare them with the Mediterranean, Negrito and Australoid races with the above racial parameters. Their stature / height varies from short to medium, skin / complexion from yellow brown / brown to black; head from mesocephalic to dolicocephalic; nore from broad to narrow and flat to narrow; eye colour from brown to black; hair from straight or wavy to curly but not woolly or frizzy; lips from thick to protruding and so on. If this is the racial picture of ‘Dravidians’, the picture given by the Tamil poets about the ancient Tamils is entirely different.

“Anthropometry” of the ancient Tamils: The Tamil poets have too meticulously described about head, eyes, hair, lips, ears, eyelids, hands, legs and body structure of the ancient Tamils at many places, but they never painted them with ‘black’ as has been done by the above ‘racist’ scholars. Indeed they have used different terminology for each characteristic e.g, uchi, talai, siram for head; kudimi, mayir, kundal, mudi, ori, alagam, ulai for hair; adi, siradi, sivanta adi, kal for feet; meni, uruvam, udal, agam, sariram, uru for body; euiru, muruval, pal for teeth; nodal, netri for forehead; kavul, tadai, movai for jaw; kannidazh, imai for eyelids; idazh, adaram, udadu for lips, these words are used with suitable adjectives to specify the physical characteristics of men and women. Each word is used appropriately to describe a morphological trait. Indeed, many poets, scholars and other personalities were named after a specific characteristic possessed by them,        e.g,

• Asiriyar Perungannan (the teacher with big eyes),
• Perungannan (a man with bigger eyes),
• Ilangannan (a man with youthful eyes),
• Sengannan (a man with reddish eyes),
• Nettimaiyar (a man with lengthy eye brows),
• Naraimudi nettiyar (a man with white hair and high stature),
• Irumbidattalaiyar (black colour haired headed man or a man with a strong head like a iron),
• Sittalai sattanar ( Sattanar with puss-head),
• Peruntalaiyar (a man with bigger head),

Pullatru eyitranar), Kazharkkiran eyitranar (men with characteristic teeth).

The ancient Tamil literature clearly mentions that the skin colour of the ancient Tamils were that of the ‘tender mango leaves’ (mamai). The kings had the colour that of Sun. The heroines have been described that they had bright colours body like ‘unsheathed sword’ with reddish hand and feet9. Interestingly, Kalittogai stresses that women should have big mons venris, shoulders and eyes and small forehead waist and feet, as such parameters were considered as good characteristics i.e, morphology.

Divergent theories about the origin of Dravidians: About the origins of ‘Dravidians’, Keans, Morries, Sclater, Turner, Ragozin, Caldwell, Perry, Smith, Hornell and Indian scholars including Kanakasabhai have propounded many interesting, but divergent hypotheses and theories based on mythology, philology, anthropometry, and other factors¹⁰. They can be broadly grouped and explained as follows:

1. Central Asian Origins: From the comparisons of morphological and some linguistic similarities, some scholars considered that Dravidians cam from Central Asia. Caldwell delved much on the ‘Scythian’ origins. Here, they coolly forgot the other famous hypotheses / theories that ‘Aryans’ also came from Central Asia. It is really surprising the if both “Aryans’ and ‘Dravidians’ come from ‘Central Asia’, then why they should have been pitted against each other for all Indian historical processes?

1. West Asian Origins: As the west Asia had several ancient civilizations, it was argued that ‘Dravidians’ must have been originated from one of such civilizations by intermixing or interbreeding.
2. Diffusion theory: Tracing all civilizations to an Egyptian and Mediterranean source, it was argued that ‘Dravidians’ were a branch of Mediterranean race evolved consequent to miscegenation of Mediterranean and West Asian elements.
3. North-Indian and Trans-Himalayan Origins: Before, the advent of ‘Aryans’, ‘Dravidians’ were living in the north including north-eastern ad western parts of India. When the ‘Aryans’ started occupying, the Dravidians had to spread towards south. The Trans-Himalyan origins locate ‘Dravidians’ beyond Himayalas like Tbert, from where they entered India from the north east. Here, how the ‘Aryan’ factor has also been taken into consideration to explain the advent of ‘Dravidians’ in India, can easily be noticed. Interestingly, however, no scholar has ever propounded the ‘Dravidian invasion’ hypothesis or theory so far.
4. Lemurian or Kumari continent Origins: To counter the above ‘out of India’ or ‘foreign’ origins, it was argued that ‘Dravidians’ came from the submerged ‘Kumari’ or ‘Lemuria’ continent.

Conclusion: The present scientific genetic study of race or human origin tracing it to Africa, non-Africa, European-Neandarthal etc., has also been briefly explained. Skin colour, cephalometry (measurement of skull), craniometry, craniology (dolichocephalic, mesocephalic, brachycephalic), phrenology, hair colour, teeth measurement, lips, eyes colour, nasal index, blood and other factors were taken, studied in the laboratories and created race. In the same way, now cell, genes, chromosomes, mitochondria and other microbiological organisms is taken and studied to find out the human origin with purity or without any miscegenation. However, both scientific studies and methodologies applied appear to go back to same race, and racial superiority and thus, trying to differentiate and discriminate against humanity. Therefore, such studies can be avoided for the welfare of humanity.

In the study of ancient Tamil literature, with a view to find out the meaning and position of ‘Ariyar’ as mentioned in their context, it has been pointed out that ‘Ariyar’ were the people or kings of north of Tamizhagam and also of Tamizghagam considering the various descriptions of them. Literary evidences of ancient Tamizhagam with other epigraphic, numismatic and literary evidences of contemporary kings of Maurya, Kalinga and Satavahana show that the exploits of Tamil kings were perhaps restricted to the boundaries of the ancient Tamizhagam and the defeat of ‘Ariya’ or northern king or kings refers to the defeat of Andhra king or kings. The word ‘Ariya’ was also used as an honorific title to certain professionals, besides the generic usage to denote the people of the land with the boundaries of the Himalayas. As the names Kosar, Nandar, Moriar, Tondaiyar and Vadugar have been used to indicate individual groups of the north, and the name ‘Ariya’ is used to denote the people or kings who were living or ruling immediately in the north of Tamizhagam, it is very evident that no racial connotation was given to ‘ariyar’ by the ancient Tamils.

Many European scientists took much interest in Indian chronology, history, social institutions etc., the examples of Sir Isaac Newton and Joseph Priestley are given above.

In the case of ‘Aryan race’, Max Mueller confessed,

“I have declared again and again that if I say Aryan, I mean neither blood nor bones,, nor hair, nor skull, I mean simply those who speak an Aryan language……………To me an ethnologist who speaks of Aryan race, Aryan blood, Aryan eyes and hair, as great sinner as a linguist who speaks of a dolicocephalic dictionary or brachycephalic grammar”.

This type of ideological studies also do not bring any peace or harmony, but pit two groups of people against each and thus the dominant group would be threatening and exploiting the other one. Thus, all these studies have not been uniting people and humanity.

Note: There was a discussion for about 40 minutes, many questions asked and clarification given. For convenience and brevity, they have been included in the above write-up at the appropriate places and context. those who attended the lecture could find the difference and others read conveniently.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

12-06-2024

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[1] Tevaram of Tirugnana Sambandar, 6^th Tirumarai, 23^rd Padigam, Tirumaraikkadu-6479.

In another place, he says, “Aryan with chaste Tamil” – 46^th Padigam, Tirumarakkadu-6710.

Here, both ‘Aryan’ and ‘Tamizhan’ refer to God Shiva.

[2] சித்தர்கணம்.10:9.

[3] Sivasubramanya Kavirayar, NamaThipa Nikandu, Thanjavur University, 1985.

[4] Sabapathy Navalar, Dravida Prakasikai, Madras, 1899, p.7.

The “Ariyar” in the Sangam literature and the Dravidian problem – a relook into the old issues (1)

The  “Ariyar” in the Sangam literature and the Dravidian problem  – a relook into the old issues (1)

A talk on Aryans and Dravidians: As a part of the lecture series of the Indological Research Institute (IRI), on 08-06-2024, Dr K. V. Ramakrishna Rao IRS (Retd.,) spoke about the  “Ariyar” in the Sangam literature and the Dravidian problem. The lecture has been summarized and added with the points discussed after the lecture. Though, leading historians have also accepted the myth of racial Aryans, now the genetic experts, heritadary researchers and inherited pundits have revived the same pseudo-scientific race concepts in different forms. In 1989, Romila Thapar[1] also pointed out the fallacy of carrying over of these myths by Indian scholars and Educational curricula:

“The theory of Aryan race arose out of European preoccupations and preconceptions and was applied to the early Indian past during the period of the colonial interpretation of Indian history. It does not have its roots in Indian view of the past. Nevertheless, it has been accepted and has become an axiom of Indian historical interpretation. Whereas scholars working on the European past have questioned this theory, we in India hold fast onto it and those who attempt alternate interpretations of the sources are few and far between”.

However, later, she has been equivocal[2]. Earlier, during the 19^th and 20^th centuries, in spite of the fact that race and language were two separate entities, the race experts, racist historians and racialist scientists propounded about many races. Now in 21^st century also similar hypotheses are floated based on the DNA studies.

A brief on modern theory – Aryans and Dravidians discussed on the genetic studies: According to the “out of Africa” hypothesis, the human species, having evolved to its modern form in East Africa some 150,000 years ago, thereafter embarked on populating the entire globe in a stepwise migration process beginning about 70,000–90,000 BP.  However, the dates change depending upon the number of samples, such species found at different places in Africa, all humans share a relatively recent common ancestry, but the story in the deeper past is more complicated than our species evolving in just a single location or in isolation[3], the tools used etc. As the researchers have not been agreeing with each other, the debate continues generally focused on two models—recent African origin (Stringer and Andrews 1988[4]) and multiregional evolution (Wolpoff, Wu, and Thorne 1984[5]). A morphological advantage of the modern phenotype— possibly reducing childbirth mortality—is proposed as the cause of the transition[6].  The miscegenation always poses a challenge and they could not fix it, where it happened first and ten continued for the millions of years to settle down with some definite anatomy, morphology or any other anthropological factor. The debate of miscegenation continues with diffusion and migration leading to admixture and interbreeding.

Neandarthal versus “out of Africa” (OOA)?: Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) are archaic hominids, supposed to be most similar to modern humans. These hominids, extinct members of the Homo genus, populated Europe and parts of western and central Asia before their disappearance 25,000 years ago (Tattersall, 1995). Fossil evidence suggests that Neanderthals probably coexisted with anatomically modern humans (i.e. Cro-Magnon) for 20,000 years (Finlayson et al., 2006).

• Neanderthals have been shown to share more genetic variants with present-day non-Africans than Africans. Recent admixture between Neanderthals and modern humans outside of Africa was proposed as the most parsimonious explanation for this observation[7].
• Recent studies have found evidence of introgression from Neanderthals into modern humans outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Given the geographic range of Neanderthals, the findings have been interpreted as evidence of gene exchange between Neanderthals and modern humans descended from the Out-of-Africa (OOA) migration. 
• Further analyses suggest that these differences are likely due to recent non-African admixture in these populations. After accounting for recent non-African admixture, the results do not support the alternative model of older (e.g., >100 kya) admixture between modern humans and Neanderthal-like hominids within Africa[8].
• The claim of Neandarthal is revealed in other scientific interpretations also. Detecting archaic introgression in modern humans without using an unadmixed reference panel reveals higher Neanderthal ancestry in African individuals than previously seen and suggests that back-to-Africa migrations contributed to this signal.[9]

Genetic interpretation of race: The conception of “race” here proposed is based upon the following fundamental postulates:

(1) that the original ancestral species population was genetically relatively heterogeneous;

(2) that by migration away from this original ancestral group, individual families became dispersed over the earth;

(3) that some of the groups thus dispersed became geographically isolated from one another and remained so isolated for more or less considerable periods of time;

(4) that upon all these isolated groups several of the following factors came into play as conditions leading to evolutionary change:

(a) the genetic drift or inherent variability of the genotypic, materials composing each individual member of the group;

(b) physical change in the action of a gene associated, in a partial manner, with a particular character, that is, gene mutation.

Going back to old theories: Ever since the advent of “Ariyar” in Indian history, the word “Aryan” has assumed significance and far-fetching linguistic and racial connotations. Then came, the advent of “Dravidians”. Caldwell’s linguistic invention was given a racial twist by the Westerners and Indian scholars, though the concept of race and language are two separate entities. Leaving these hypotheses and theories aside, an attempt is made in this paper to study the word “Ariyar” as found in the ancient Tamil literature, popularly known as Tamil Sangam literature. In the ancient Tamil literature, the word “Ariyar”, “Ariyan”, “Ariya” etc., are found in various places with their other forms and have been used both as nouns and adjectives.

Natrinai: It is the heading the list of Ettuttogai and its general theme is love. The word “Ariyar” appears in the 170^th poem, sung by an unknown poet. The companion of the heroin of the poem wants that the hero might be seduced by the beautiful lonely dancing girl. She compares the victory of the Virali (the dancer), who came to a festival clad in a leaf-garment, over her group to the fact that the famous town of Mullur, the “Ariya” soldiers swarmed, but ran away before the lance-battalion of Malayan (a Cheran), who unsheathed a shining sword and attacked with his large army. From this, we can see that the people who came from the north to attack Cheras were known as “Ariyar”.

Kuruntogai: Literally meaning ‘a collection of short poems’, it comes next and its theme is also love. The word “Ariyar” appears in the verse 7, line 3. Here, it is described how “Ariyars” dance on a tied rope according to the beatings of a drum. “The forest full of bamboos were rattled the white ripe seeds of shivering vakai tree (Sirisa tree) tossed by the wind like the drumming of the “Ariyar” dancing on the rope”. Therefore, here it is evident that “Ariyar” refers to a group of jugglers or tumblers, who performed acrobatics.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

12-06-2024

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[1] Romila Thapar, Which of us are Aryans?, Seminar – 364, December, 1989, Nrew Delhi, pp.14-18.

[2] Thapar, Romila. “Can genetics help us understand Indian social history?.” Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology 6.11 (2014): a008599.

[3] Aaron Ragsdale, a population geneticist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, says to Reuters’ Will Dunham. Reported on May 25, 2023.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-suggests-modern-humans-emerged-from-several-groups-in-africa-not-one-180982242/

[4] stringer, c. b., and p. andrews. 1988. Genetic and fossil evidence for the origin of modern humans. Science 239: 1263–68.

[5] wolpoff, m. h., x. wu, and a. g. thorne, 1984. “Modern Homo sapiens origins: A general theory of human evolution involving the fossil evidence of East Asia,” in The origins of modern humans. Edited by F. H. Smith and F. Spencer, pp. 411–83. New York: Alan Liss.

[6] Eswaran, Vinayak. “A diffusion wave out of Africa: The mechanism of the modern human revolution?.” Current Anthropology 43.5 (2002): 749-774.

[7] Yang, Melinda A., et al. “Ancient structure in Africa unlikely to explain Neanderthal and non-African genetic similarity.” Molecular biology and evolution 29.10 (2012): 2987-2995.

[8] Wang, Shuoguo, et al. “Apparent variation in Neanderthal admixture among African populations is consistent with gene flow from non-African populations.” Genome biology and evolution 5.11 (2013): 2075-2081.

[9] Chen, Lu, et al. “Identifying and interpreting apparent Neanderthal ancestry in African individuals.” Cell 180.4 (2020): 677-687.