Central Asia as Aryan Home

Central Asia as Aryan Home
As per this, the original home of the Aryans was in the Eurasian steppes lands north and east of Black Sea and extending towards Caspian Sea Sometime during the third millennium BC, due to climatic and environmental changes, the groups of people from these areas migrated to variety of zones outside their original homelandMax Muller, a German scholar of comparative philology propounded the Central Asian home theory of Aryans Apart from philology, scant resources of archaeology and examination of oral traditions also support this theory These people domesticated horse and had developed wheeled vehicles so make the migration easier However, these people did not come in a mighty torrent to spread with force of arms The migration was slow, gradual and mostly peaceful They spoke a variety of languages and dialects When they settled into different areas, their language and culture mixed and original vocabulary was augmented and modified This theory also tried to explain the further expansion of Aryans in India In around 2000BC, there were two areas in which Aryans settled First was in Afghanistan from modern Kabul to Peshawar while second was Kandahar The Rig- Vedic Aryans moved from there about 1400 BC, crossing the various rivers and proceeding towards either the Swat valley or Punjab This entire region including Afghanistan, Swat valley, Punjab and Indo- Gangetic watershed is collectively referred once as Sapta Sindhava, the land of the seven rivers
The Rig-Veda – Avesta Link
It has been established that the between 1700 BC and 1400 BC, two peoples Avestan and Rigvedic co-existed in same area They represent the two most important arms of the Indo-Iranian tradition as a whole They had common culture, mythology and rituals before they separated They worshipped a number of Gods together Both shared the tradition of composing hymns in praise of their gods Both have revered the nature gods such as wind, sun, sky etc Some of the earliest prayers of both of them are similar Sanskrit is close to the language ofYashts, the earliest hymns of Avesta {sacred text of Zorastrians} Both groups shared a common habit of drinking juice of fertility plant {probably Ephedra spp) called Soma in Rig-Veda and Haoma in Avesta Similarly, the symbolic importance of fire in the rituals of both groups is also notable Thus, taking into account the similarities in mythology, language, religious practice, beliefs etc it can be safely concluded that the traditions of Avesta and Rig-Veda emerged from a single common source