This paper was originally written in Russian by Dr. Aleksandr A. Semenenko, a historian based in Voronezh, Russia.
Dr. Semenenko is one of the few Western scholars who have defended the Out-of-India theory which purports to explain the spread of the Indo-European languages. His work is ground-breaking, because he relies not only on textual or linguistic proof, but also on archaeological and material evidence. His researches have now provided a very solid archaeological underpinning for the OIT.
Dr. Semenenko has recently presented summaries of his findings at Sangam Talks:
Steppe Route of Indo European Dispersal:Preliminary Findings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRdwkZnGqA)
The Tarimian Trace of the Indo European Dispersal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyY7EHotXto)
The Rigveda Chronology And The Indo European Homeland (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Bsm79cVvk)
Dr. Semenenko's original and far-reaching work has been endorsed by such pioneers of the OIT such as Shrikant Talageri and Koenraad Elst: see for example, the Sangam Talk "Getting serious about the "Aryan" debate" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDSy9gPAB3s)
The bulk of Dr. Sememnenko's work is in Russian. However, he has also written extensively in English as well, and interested readers can find his path-breaking papers at:
https://independent.academia.edu/AlexandrSemenenko/Articles-in-English
or at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aleksandr-Semenenko-2
In this monograph, which is the first of his papers to be published in India, Dr. Semenenko shows that Rigvedic hymns mentioning forts being besieged or stormed do not occur in the oldest layers of the Rigveda. The oldest mentions of forts occur in a peaceful context. Dr. Semenenko also decisively refutes the AIT, according to which the earliest hymns should have described the destruction of forts. The author demonstrates that the description of fortresses in the Rigveda and the Atharvaveda reflect a unique chain of archaeological events in the history of South Asia — wherein a period when fortified settlements were besieged and burned down was followed by a period when they existed peacefully. This sequence of events corresponds to a transition from the Early Harappan period to that of Mature Harappa, and was never repeated again. With this insight, Dr. Semenenko has succeeded in establishing an absolute chronology for the Rigveda (which was hitherto not possible).
The translator dedicates his translation to the memory of his late lamented Russian teacher, Dr. Ganesh.V. Marathe. This translation was rendered possible only owing to Dr. Marathe's charity towards a schoolboy who could not have afforded to pay for the Russian lessons.
Post
