Valmiki is Russian?

First, check out this phenomenally stupid article from Mint. The author, a former investment and commercial banker argues that the Pandavas and the Kauravas were actually invaders who pushed the original Indus Valley people a.k.a the Dravidians down south. He also states, with the certainty of an eye-witness, that the Dravidian people drank “Jhalam” (water) from a river of the same name. I assume he is talking about Jhelum. But he seems to forget that “jal” in Sanskrit means water too. In fact, the original Tamil word for water is “neer”. Not just that, the letter/sound “j” does not exist in Tamil. Ask any Tamil scholar and they will tell you. The “Jhalam” the author refers too is a brahminical usage, used almost exclusively by the Brahmins of Tamil Nadu.

Also, see this excellent, not-to-mention hilarious retort by Eroteme, who rebuts, point by point, and with great humour all the contentions that Mr. Ramaswami puts forward in his article. Mr. Ramaswami also claims, with the self-assurance of a fool, that historians have brushed this fact under the carpet because it would be tantamount to admitting that our mythical heroes were invaders who displaced an entire civilisation. What the !@#$?? What the hell were you smoking my dear Mr. Ramaswami? As Eroteme points out, there were figurines of horses and camels discovered during excavations in the Indus Valley. But it probably makes sense, as Mr. Ramaswami intelligently contends that these “barbarians” with no culture of their own adopted Vedic culture and civilisation and gave the Indus Valley Civilisation a second innings. So, they must have made those figurines right? Because they had horses!

During the course of my reading, I never understood one thing. The Aryan invasion theory contends that the Aryans came from Central Asia and pushed the indigenous populations out. The Dravidian point of view is that these indigenous peoples were pushed down south to parts of South India and eventually adopted a language that evolved gradually into Tamil. But, Mr. Ramaswami contends that the Kauravas and the Pandavas pushed out the indigenous people and adopted the Vedic culture that already existed as they had no culture of their own. Does that mean that the Dravidians were the original Vedic people? If so, the Dravidian argument takes a beating. Of the two related arguments, one of them must be false.

Among all these stupid arguments, one takes the cake.

“If we don’t accept the invasion theory, then the only other explanation is that both Mahabharat and Ramayan took place outside India, on the Russian steppes, and their stories have come down to us as oral histories through the horse-people, which were then refined to suit cultural and later ethnic, social and political agendas.”

Really, this kind of stupidity only reminds me of the old saying. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.