Harappan fire rituals and the roots of Vedic ritualism
How old are the Vedic Hindu rituals? This note traces the roots of Vedic rituals in the light of evidence from archaeology. It looks into the supposed claims regarding evidence of the practice of Vedic rites in bronze age steppe cultures which are seen as original Indo-Iranian or ancestral ‘Aryan’ cultures before they invaded or immigrated into India by the majority of Indo-Europeanists. Based on the evidence from Vedic scriptures, the article also suggests that the existence of sacrificial fire worship reminding us of Vedic rituals in the bronze age Harappan or Sarasvati-Sindhu Valley Civilization, and thus the Vedic fire rituals being among the oldest surviving religious rituals practiced by mankind. Vedic rituals in the bronze age Eurasian Steppes? The mainstream Kurgan hypothesis endorsing Aryan invasion/immigration theory (AIT) places origins of Vedic culture at around 1500-1200 BCE with the composition of Rig Veda. Proponents of Kurgan hypothesis state that the ancestral form of ...