[Assam] aryan invasion theory and genetics

[Chan Mahanta]

>  >All theories that break current molds are
>idealogically motivated. Even the one about the earth
>being round as opposed to being flat.


*** Really?

Are we attempting to assign a new meaning to 'ideology' too, like to 
'secular' ( bearing a  different meaning in India than its English 
language meaning)?

Perhaps Saurabh could have used 'politically motivated' to be more to 
the point. But to lump the 'flat-earth' crowd with science is just 
like the Intellegent-Design (?) crowd's current crusade.










At 9:44 AM -0700 10/8/05, Rajib Das wrote:
>It may be useful to point out that the Aryan Invasion
>Theory was as much idealogically motivated when
>European scholars could not let go off their blinkers
>about the superiority of the white man. And therefore
>a hypothesis that supports that purported superiority.
>
>All theories that break current molds are
>idealogically motivated. Even the one about the earth
>being round as opposed to being flat.
>
>Even your statement that one needs to find out for
>yourself because otherwise genetic homogeneity might
>leave out the NE is an idealogical position.
>
>--- SP <saurav at sas.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
>>
>>  +  How does it matter ? Human kind originated in the
>>  water holes of Africa.
>>  +  We are all African's. It all depends how far back
>>  in time you want to go back.
>>  +  
>>  +   Utpal
>>
>>  utpal-da,
>>
>>  well, it does matter because some people are using
>>  scientific results
>>  selectively for ideological purposes.  tomorrow the
>>  out-of-africa
>>  theory could be challenged too, not scientifically,
>>  but
>>  ideologically.  therefore, we as laymen have no
>>  choice but to find
>>  for ourselves what the situation.
>>
>>  at present, the genetic evidence is still not
>>  conclusive.  but it is
>>  veering to the following position.  there is an
>>  inhomogenity in the
>>  y-chromosome (genetic material sons get from their
>>  fathers), with
>>  upper castes closer to central asians than tribals
>>  are.  otoh, there is a
>>  homegenity in the mitochondrial dna (genetic
>>  material from mothers).
>>  this evidence is discussed in the paper mentioned
>>  below. 
>>  http://tinyurl.com/dwbbb
>>
>>  the sulekha note mis-characterizes the present state
>>  of knowledge.
>>  it is important for us to educate ourselves and
>>  resist ideological
>>  positions, whatever they might be.
>>
>>  ideologically too the sulekha note is problematic.
>>  claiming genetic
>>  homogeneity as the basis of nationalism might leave
>>  the northeast
>>  out, for example:
>>
>http://www.eva.mpg.de/genetics/pdf/CordauxMBE2004.pdf
>>
>>  saurav
>>
>>
>>  ---------------------
>>  the paper below is short and quite readable for a
>>  layman.
>>  http://tinyurl.com/dwbbb
>>  Cordaux et al, Independent Origins of Indian Caste
>>  and Tribal Paternal Lineages,
>>  Current Biology, Volume 14, Issue 3, 2004, Pages
>>  231-235
>>
>>                          abstract
>>
>>          The origins of the nearly one billion people
>>  inhabiting the Indian
>>          subcontinent and following the customs of
>>  the Hindu caste system
>>          [1 and 2] are controversial: are they
>>  largely derived from Indian
>>          local populations (i.e. tribal groups) or
>>  from recent immigrants to
>>          India? Archaeological and linguistic
>>  evidence support the latter hypothesis
>>          [2, 3 and 4], whereas recent genetic data
>>  seem to favor the former
>>          hypothesis [5]. Here, we analyze the most
>>  extensive dataset of Indian
>>          caste and tribal Y chromosomes to date. We
>>  find that caste and tribal
>>          groups differ significantly in their
>>  haplogroup frequency distributions;
>>          caste groups are homogeneous for Y
>>  chromosome variation and more closely
>>          related to each other and to central Asian
>>  groups than to Indian tribal
>>          or any other Eurasian groups. We conclude
>>  that paternal lineages of
>>          Indian caste groups are primarily descended
>>  from Indo-European speakers
>  >         who migrated from central Asia ~3,500 years
>>  ago. Conversely,
>>          paternal lineages of tribal groups are
>>  predominantly derived from the
>>          original Indian gene pool. We also provide
>>  evidence for bidirectional
>>          male gene flow between caste and tribal
>>  groups. In comparison, caste
>>          and tribal groups are homogeneous with
>>  respect to mitochondrial DNA
>>          variation [5 and 6], which may reflect the
>>  sociocultural characteristics
>>          of the Indian caste society.
>>
>>
>>  +  How does it matter ? Human kind originated in the
>>  water holes of Africa.
>>  +  We are all African's. It all depends how far back
>>  in time you want to go back.
>>  +  
>>  +   Utpal
>>  + 
>>  +   umesh sharma <jaipurschool at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>  +   My belief has always been (since I got round to
>>  thinking about it) never to
>>  +   take anything on face value or just becos
>>  someone more well known said it - the
>>  +   following research by open minded Indians is a
>>  case in point.
>>  +   
>>  +    Umesh
>>  +  
>>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  + 
>>  +    DNA, GENETICS & POPULATION DYNAMICS:
>>  +    DEBUNKING THE ARYAN INVASION PROPAGANDA
>>  +  
>>
>http://www.sulekha.com/groups/PostDisplay.aspx?cid=637626&forumid=756919
>>  + 
>>  + 
>>  + 
>>
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>
>
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