Abstract
The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) existed from 3000 to 1500 BCE. The River Hakra along which the eastern half of the civilization was located went dry between 2000 and 1500 BCE. This led to migration of those people southward to Peninsular India, Eastward to the Ganges Basin and Westward to Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Israel. These people carried the culture of the Indus Valley with them to these places. The Tamil language in Peninsular India appears to have its origins in the IVC. The Yadava Community of the Eastern Ganges Basin claims it has origins in the Indus Valley duly supported by genetic studies. The Zoroastrian and Biblical religions in the west have many cultural parallels with the IVC. This paper focuses on the last of these migrations i.e., the westward migrations and explores the cultural parallels between the IVC and Zoroastrian and Biblical religions. The exploration considers religious practices, archaeological finds, language borrowings, ethnographic evidence and more. We seek to understand whether and to what extent the Zoroastrian and Biblical religions may have borrowed from the IVC.
Presenters
Bharat JhunjhunwalaAssistant Professor, Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Management, Uttaranchal, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Indus, Zoroastrianism, Bible, Migration, Archaeology, Etymology, Ethnography
