Master Chief
Trusted Member
Great post, and I agree that the aryans/vedics were actually successful in their quest. They did impose themselves upon Pakistan moreso than upon the lands east of the Indus. Harappan remnants lost out decisively to vedic influence. Also, please note that it is not necessarily something for any of us to lose sleep over - the vedic overrunning was simply part of this nation's historical journey.I have to agree and disagree with some of your points here. DNA evidence shows us that the steppe input (Aryan) in South Asia peaks in Afghanistan/Western Pakistan and then gradually tapers off the further eastwards and southwards you move.
Ancient ancestral South Indian (the mixture of the indigenous South Asian population with neolithic farmers from further west) meanwhile peaks in South and East India. In Pakistan meanwhile this heritage forms only 10-40% of the total DNA makeup suggesting that the genetic impact of the Aryans was most widely felt in Pakistan/Afghanistan + parts of NW India (especially their Brahmin class)
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I do however agree with you on the matter of Hindu nationalists being concerned about increased interest for ancient regional history in Pakistan, as they today have a monopoly on its instruction and modern interpretation.
Pakistani nationalism due to the nature in which it came into existence has ceeded the pre-medieval historical phases of regional history to Hindu nationalists. This in turn has allowed them to bastardize our history for their own benefit.
The history of the Indus in many ways is unique to the experience of Aryan migration compared to the Gangetic plains as strict ethnic and racial dogma did not seem to impact the Indus culture in the same way that it did in the Ganges. This can be most clearly be shown by the lax attitude of locals towards the developing caste system. We know from Buddhist scriptures (Majjhima Nikaya) that the Buddha said to a Brahmin:
The key here is Kamboja which in this time period roughly relates to N Punjab+ KPK. We know that a large part if not majority of Sindh and lower Punjabs population at the time of Bin Qasims invasion was Buddhist. Buddhism peaked and survived in areas of South Asia where the caste system was least rigid.
There are many aspects of our ancient history whose presence we can still feel to this day. When Pakistan ranks as one of the least racist countries in the world and we witness travel vloggers from all kinds of backgrounds witnessing the hospitality of Pakistani culture, we need to remember that our ancient ancestors seemingly developed a culture that had some clear differences from the culture that developed in the Gangetic plains. Since we have ceeded ancient history to the Hindu nationalsits however, we are not able to make convincing arguments otherwise.
Pakistanis are altogether more circumspect regarding historical influences than Hindustanis, hence the mental gymnastics Hindustanis have to engage in to forgive one migrant for "non-native influence" but curse any other (vedics good but the rest of them bad!).
We are not actually in disagreement.
My intention is to highlight the disingenuous and hypocritical ancestor worship of modern Hindustanis for a group of migrants who rode into the subcontinent from the coastline of the Black Sea.
The genetic conversation/mapping is more complex as AASI, ASI and ANI are more relevant descriptors of "population proxies" in south Asia, perhaps better elaborated on in a separate thread.






