Aryans and British India

Aryans and British India PDF Author: Thomas R. Trautmann
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520917928
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
"Aryan," a word that today evokes images of racial hatred and atrocity, was first used by Europeans to suggest bonds of kinship, as Thomas Trautmann shows in his far-reaching history of British Orientalism and the ethnology of India. When the historical relationship uniting Sanskrit with the languages of Europe was discovered, it seemed clear that Indians and Britons belonged to the same family. Thus the Indo-European or Aryan idea, based on the principle of linguistic kinship, dominated British ethnological inquiry. In the nineteenth century, however, an emergent biological "race science" attacked the authority of the Orientalists. The spectacle of a dark-skinned people who were evidently civilized challenged Victorian ideas, and race science responded to the enigma of India by redefining the Aryan concept in narrowly "white" racial terms. By the end of the nineteenth century, race science and Orientalism reached a deep and lasting consensus in regard to India, which Trautmann calls "the racial theory of Indian civilization," and which he undermines with his powerful analysis of colonial ethnology in India. His work of reassessing British Orientalism and the Aryan idea will be of great interest to historians, anthropologists, and cultural critics.

Aryans and British India

Aryans and British India PDF Author: Thomas R. Trautmann
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520917928
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Aryan," a word that today evokes images of racial hatred and atrocity, was first used by Europeans to suggest bonds of kinship, as Thomas Trautmann shows in his far-reaching history of British Orientalism and the ethnology of India. When the historical relationship uniting Sanskrit with the languages of Europe was discovered, it seemed clear that Indians and Britons belonged to the same family. Thus the Indo-European or Aryan idea, based on the principle of linguistic kinship, dominated British ethnological inquiry. In the nineteenth century, however, an emergent biological "race science" attacked the authority of the Orientalists. The spectacle of a dark-skinned people who were evidently civilized challenged Victorian ideas, and race science responded to the enigma of India by redefining the Aryan concept in narrowly "white" racial terms. By the end of the nineteenth century, race science and Orientalism reached a deep and lasting consensus in regard to India, which Trautmann calls "the racial theory of Indian civilization," and which he undermines with his powerful analysis of colonial ethnology in India. His work of reassessing British Orientalism and the Aryan idea will be of great interest to historians, anthropologists, and cultural critics.

Which of Us are Aryans?

Which of Us are Aryans? PDF Author: Romila Thapar
Publisher: Rupa Publications
ISBN: 9789388292382
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
The question of which of us is Aryan is one of the most contentious in India today. In this eye-opening book, scholars and experts critically examine the Aryan issue by analysing history, genetics, early Vedic scriptures, archaeology and linguistics to test and debunk various hypotheses, myths, facts and theories that are currently in vogue.

The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia

The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia PDF Author: George Erdosy
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110816431
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description


Aryans, Jews, Brahmins

Aryans, Jews, Brahmins PDF Author: Dorothy M. Figueira
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791487830
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
In Aryans, Jews, Brahmins, Dorothy M. Figueira provides a fascinating account of the construction of the Aryan myth and its uses in both India and Europe from the Enlightenment to the twentieth century. The myth concerns a race that inhabits a utopian past and gives rise first to Brahmin Indian culture and then to European culture. In India, notions of the Aryan were used to develop a national identity under colonialism, one that allowed Indian elites to identify with their British rulers. It also allowed non-elites to set up a counter identity critical of their position in the caste system. In Europe, the Aryan myth provided certain thinkers with an origin story that could compete with the Biblical one and could be used to diminish the importance of the West's Jewish heritage. European racial hygienists made much of the myth of a pure Aryan race, and the Nazis later looked at India as a cautionary tale of what could happen if a nation did not remain "pure." As Figueira demonstrates, the history of the Aryan myth is also a history of reading, interpretation, and imaginative construction. Initially, the ideology of the Aryan was imposed upon absent or false texts. Over time, it involved strategies of constructing, evoking, or distorting the canon. Each construction of racial identity was concerned with key issues of reading: canonicity, textual accessibility, interpretive strategies of reading, and ideal readers. The book's cross-cultural investigation demonstrates how identities can be and are created from texts and illuminates an engrossing, often disturbing history that arose from these creations.

The Aryans

The Aryans PDF Author: Vere Gordon Childe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Indo-Aryans
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description


The Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization

The Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization PDF Author: Navaratna Srinivasa Rajaram
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : India
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description


Aryans in the Rigveda

Aryans in the Rigveda PDF Author: Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper
Publisher: Rodopi
ISBN: 9789051833072
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description


The Homeland of the Aryans

The Homeland of the Aryans PDF Author: Braj Basi Lal
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788173052835
Category : India
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


March of the Aryans

March of the Aryans PDF Author: Bhagwan S Gidwani
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 8184756844
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 654

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Book Description
In a remarkable feat of imagination and research, bhagwan S. Gidwani takes us back to the dawn of civilization (8000 BCE) to vividly recreate the world of the Aryans. He tells us why the Aryans left India - their native land - for foreign shores and shows us their triumphant return to their homeland. Here are characters like the gentle god Sindhu Putra, spreading his message of love; the hermit Bharat, who inspired the dream of unity, equality, human rights and dignity for all; the physician - sage Dhanawantar and his wife Dhanawantari; peace-loving Kashi after whom the holy city of Varanasi is named; and Nila who gave his name to the rive Nile. Vast and absorbing, with a cast of thousands, March of the Aryans is a gripping tale of kings and poets, seers and gods, battles and romance, and the rise and fall of civilisations, from the bestselling author of The Sword of Tipu Sultan.

In Search of "Aryan Blood"

In Search of Author: Rachel E. Boaz
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9639776505
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Contrary to sustained efforts, the search for the 'Aryan' blood did not materialise into the racial utopia that the Nazi officials had dreamed. This book portrays how the personal motivations of blood scientists influenced their professional research, ultimately demonstrating how conceptually indeterminate and politically volatile the science of race was under the Nazi regime.