An Aryan Journey by Harsh Mahaan Cairae is a fascinating book, tracing the journey of the Aryans. The author relies on several ancient texts, mainly the Rig Veda and the Avesta, the holy book of the Zoroastrians. He theorises that the split in the Indian and Iranian Aryans happened within the same tribe, and most likely because of differences in the way of worship. He argues that the sacrifices performed by one faction troubled the other, considering it was wasteful and profane. So much so that the second faction moved to the other extreme, attempting to maintain purity of the elements (without even befouling fire and water with cremations).
It is a heavy read, as long sections of the ancients texts are analysed, but the author has done a lot of research in finding complementary versions on both sides. He points out how perspective changes depending on the texts that are being read, and how the villain of one is the hero of the other. Cairae believes the Aryans came from the Arctic Circle, a theory first put forward by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He says they began migrating south after the Ice Age (they survived because they had already adapted to the cold).
The book traces this interesting journey. It argues that the sapta sindhu of the Vedic texts was not the Indus, but a set of rivers in Central Asia. He theorises about the plant from which the legendary somras was extracted. It is only towards the end, when there are fewer textual references, that the journey starts staggering a bit. The author's reasonings of how the Aryans intermingled with the Indus Valley Civilisation and how a thriving urban culture took a rural form do not seem convincing. But it is a fascinating read, nonetheless.
