The Aryans come to India
So far we have discussed very, very old times. We shall now see how man developed and what he did. All these old times are called pre- historic, that is before history, as we have no real history of that period. We have to guess a lot. We are now on the verge or edge of history. Let us see what happened in India first. We have already seen that in the very old times India, like Egypt, had a civilization. There was trade, and ships carried Indian goods to Egypt and Mesopotamia and other countries. In those days the people who lived in India were called Dravidians. They are the people whose descendants live in South India now, around Madras.
The Dravidians were invaded by the Aryans from the north. There must have been enormous numbers of these Aryan peoples in Central Asia and not finding enough food there for all, they spread out to other countries. They went in large numbers to Persia and even to Greece further west. They also came to India in crowds over the mountains near Kashmir.
The Aryans were a strong fighting people and they drove the Dravidians before them. Wave after wave of the Aryans must have come to India from the north-west. Perhaps, at first, the Dravidians stopped them, but when more and more came they could not be stopped. For long, the Aryans remained in the north, only in Afghanistan and the Punjab. Then they came further down to what are now called the United Provinces, where we live. They went on spreading till they came to the Vindhya mountains in central India. It was difficult to cross these as there were thick forests. So for a long time the Aryans remained on the northern side of the Vindhya mountains. Many of them managed to cross them and went to the south, but crowds could not go, and so the south remained chiefly Dravidian.
It is very interesting to study the coming of the Aryans to India. You can find out a lot about them from our old Sanskrit books. Some of these, like the Vedas, must have been written about that time. The oldest Veda is the Rig Veda and you can form some idea from it of the part of India which the Aryans occupied then. From the other Vedas and other old Sanskrit books like the Puranas we find how the Aryans went on spreading. Perhaps you do not know much about these ancient books. When you grow up you will know more. But even now you know many stories which have come out of the Puranas. Much later came the great book the Ramayana, and later the Mahabharata.
From these books we find that when the Aryans lived only in the Punjab and in Afghanistan they called this part 'Brahmavarta'. Afghanistan was then called 'Gandhara'. Do you remember Gandhari in the Mahabharata? She was called so because she came from Gandhara or Afghanistan. Afghanistan now is a separate country from India, but in those days both were one country. When the Aryans came further down to the plains of the Ganga and J umna they named all northern India 'Aryavarta'. Like the other people of olden times, they settled down in cities on the banks of rivers. Kashi or Benares, Prayag and so many other cities are situated on river banks.
Source: http://indiragandhi.in/en/philosophy/letters/4
The Dravidians were invaded by the Aryans from the north. There must have been enormous numbers of these Aryan peoples in Central Asia and not finding enough food there for all, they spread out to other countries. They went in large numbers to Persia and even to Greece further west. They also came to India in crowds over the mountains near Kashmir.
The Aryans were a strong fighting people and they drove the Dravidians before them. Wave after wave of the Aryans must have come to India from the north-west. Perhaps, at first, the Dravidians stopped them, but when more and more came they could not be stopped. For long, the Aryans remained in the north, only in Afghanistan and the Punjab. Then they came further down to what are now called the United Provinces, where we live. They went on spreading till they came to the Vindhya mountains in central India. It was difficult to cross these as there were thick forests. So for a long time the Aryans remained on the northern side of the Vindhya mountains. Many of them managed to cross them and went to the south, but crowds could not go, and so the south remained chiefly Dravidian.
It is very interesting to study the coming of the Aryans to India. You can find out a lot about them from our old Sanskrit books. Some of these, like the Vedas, must have been written about that time. The oldest Veda is the Rig Veda and you can form some idea from it of the part of India which the Aryans occupied then. From the other Vedas and other old Sanskrit books like the Puranas we find how the Aryans went on spreading. Perhaps you do not know much about these ancient books. When you grow up you will know more. But even now you know many stories which have come out of the Puranas. Much later came the great book the Ramayana, and later the Mahabharata.
From these books we find that when the Aryans lived only in the Punjab and in Afghanistan they called this part 'Brahmavarta'. Afghanistan was then called 'Gandhara'. Do you remember Gandhari in the Mahabharata? She was called so because she came from Gandhara or Afghanistan. Afghanistan now is a separate country from India, but in those days both were one country. When the Aryans came further down to the plains of the Ganga and J umna they named all northern India 'Aryavarta'. Like the other people of olden times, they settled down in cities on the banks of rivers. Kashi or Benares, Prayag and so many other cities are situated on river banks.
Source: http://indiragandhi.in/en/philosophy/letters/4
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