>Yuyutsu Ho at 18:39, 25 May 2021

2021-05-25T18:39:01Z

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[[File:Horse drawn chariot Darasuram.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Horse-drawn [[chariot]] carved onto the ''[[mandapam]]'' of [[Airavatesvara Temple]], [[Darasuram]], c. 12th century.]]
[[File:Krishna and Arjun on the chariot, Mahabharata, 18th-19th century, India.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|[[Krishna]], [[Arjuna]] at [[Kurukshetra]], 18th- to 19th-century painting.]]

[[Odd-toed ungulate|Odd toed ungulate]], or hoofed mammals, such as [[horse]]s, rhinos, and tapirs, may have their evolutionary origins in [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref group=web name="Patterson2020"/> While horse remains and related artifacts have been found in Late Harappan (1900-1300 BCE) sites, indicating that horses may have been present at Late Harappan times,{{sfn|Bryan|2001|p=270-271, 273}} horses did not play an essential role in the Harappan civilisation,{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=273}} in contrast to the Vedic period (1500-500 BCE).{{sfn|Reddy|2006|p=A93}} The importance of the horse for the Indo-Aryans is indicated by the Sanskrit word ''[[Ashva]]'', "horse," which is often mentioned in the Vedas and [[Hindu scriptures]].

== Paleolithic ==
[[Odd-toed ungulate|Odd toed ungulate]], or hoofed mammals, such as horses, rhinos, and tapirs, may have their evolutionary origins in the Indian Subcontinent.<ref group=web name="Patterson2020"/> Remains of the ''[[Equus namadicus]]'' have been found from [[Pleistocene]] levels in India.{{sfn|Kennedy|2000}} The ''Equus namadicus'' is closely related to the ''Equus sivalensis''.<ref group=web name="Sonakia1998"/> The ''[[Equus sivalensis]]'' lived in the Himalayan foothills in prehistoric times and it is assumed it was extinct during the last [[Ice Age]].

==Domestication==
{{Main|Domestication of the horse}}

Domestication of the horse before the second millennium appears to be confined to its native habitat, the [[Great Steppe]]. An increasing amount of evidence supports the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the [[Eurasian Steppe]]s approximately 3500 BCE.{{sfn|Matossian|2016|p=43}}<ref group=web name="IMH"/><ref group=web name="cbc.ca"/> Recent discoveries in the context of the [[Botai culture]] suggest that Botai settlements in the [[Akmola Province]] of [[Kazakhstan]] are the location of the earliest domestication of the horse.{{sfn|Outram|2009}}

Use of horses spread across [[Eurasia]] for transportation, [[draft horse|agricultural work]], and [[horses in warfare|warfare]]. The horse only appears in [[Mesopotamia]] from around 1800 BC as a ridden animal and acquires military significance with the invention of the [[chariot]].

==Indus Valley Civilisation==
Proponents of [[Indigenous Aryanism]] believe that the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] was Aryan and Vedic.{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p="It is claimed that the Aryans created the Harappan culture."}} There are two common objections against such a correlation: "the ''Rg Vedic'' culture was pastoral and horse-centered, while the Harappan culture was neither horse-centered nor pastoral";{{refn|group=note|R.S. Sharma (1995), as quoted in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001}}}}{{sfn|Reddy|2006|p=A93}} and "the complete absence of the horse (''equus caballus'')."{{refn|group=note|Parpola (1994), as quoted in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001}}}} Support for the idea of an indigenous Indo-Aryan origin of the Indus Valley Civilisation mostly exists among Indian scholars of [[Hinduism|Hindu religion]] and the history and archaeology of India,{{sfn|Bryant|2001}}{{sfn|Bryant|Patton|2005}}{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=186}}<ref name="Elst_2016"/> and has no support in mainstream scholarship.{{refn|group=note|name="no support"}}

The paucity of horse remains in pre-Vedic times could be explained by India's climatic factors which lead to decay of horse bones. Horse bones may also be rare because horses were probably not eaten or used in burials by the Harappans.{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=194}}<ref>S.P. Gupta. The dawn of civilization, in G.C. Pande (ed.)(History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, ed., D.P. Chattophadhyaya, vol I Part 1) (New Delhi:Centre for Studies in Civilizations, 1999)</ref> Remains and artifacts ascribed to domesticated horses are limited to Late Harappan times{{sfn|Bryant|1991|p=173}}{{sfn|Reddy|2006|p=A93}}{{refn|group=note|name="Harappan"|The finds include deposits at [[Mahagara]] near [[Allahabad]], dated to around 2265 BC to 1480 BC, described as ''Equus ferus caballus'' Linn;{{refn|group=note|Sharma et al. (1980) p.220-221, as cited in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=170}}}} [[Hallur]] in [[Karnataka]], c.1500 - 1300 BC, described as ''Equus ferus caballus'';{{refn|group=note|Alur 1971 p.123, as cited in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=170}}}} [[Mohenjo-Daro]];{{refn|group=subnote|Sewell and Guha (1931), as cited in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=270}}}} [[Harappa]] ("small horse");{{refn|group=note|Bholanath (1963), as cited in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=270}}}} [[Lothal]], a terracotta figurine and a molar horse tooth, dated to 2200 BC;{{refn|group=note|Bholanath (1963), as cited in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=270}}}}<ref>S.R. Rao (1985) Lothal - A Harappan Port Town</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Horse Head|url=http://museumsofindia.gov.in/repository/record/nat_del-LM-17977-10838|access-date=2020-11-12|website=Museums of India|language=en}}</ref> [[Kalibangan]];{{refn|group=note|Sharma 1992-1993, as cited in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=271}}}} and [[Kuntasi]], dated to 2300–1900 BC.{{refn|group=note|Sharma (1995) p.24, as cited in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=271}}}}

An alleged clay model of a horse has been found in [[Mohenjo-Daro]] and an alleged horse figurine in [[Periano Ghundai]] in the Indus Valley.{{refn|group=subnote|{{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=171}}, with reference to Mackay 1938 and Piggott 1952.}} According to Erwin Neumayer, [[Daimabad]] bronze "chariot" had "a yoke fit for the neck of horses rather then cattle."<ref group=web name="Neumayer"/> According to Pigott (1970), various copper vehicle toys having animals with arched neck, described as bulls by some scholars, possibly are of horses.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Piggott|first=Stuart|date=1970|title=Copper Vehicle-Models in the Indus Civilization|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25203212|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|issue=2|pages=200–202|issn=0035-869X}}</ref> Several [[chalcolithic]] period scenes depicted in rock art of India show chariot driven by horses as well. A daimabad cylinder seal dated to 1400-1000 BC depicts a horse driven cart.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sali|first=S. A|title=Daimabad : 1976-79|url=http://www.indianculture.gov.in/daimabad-1976-79-masi83|access-date=2020-08-12|website=INDIAN CULTURE|page=499|language=en}}</ref><ref name="singh">{{cite book|last=Singh|first=Upinder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&q=Daimabad&pg=PA229|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|publisher=[[Pearson Education]]|year=2008|isbn=978-81-317-1120-0|location=[[Delhi]]|pages=229–233}}</ref><ref name="asi">{{cite web|title=Excavations - Important - Maharashtra|url=http://asi.nic.in/excavations-important-maharashtra/|access-date=1 September 2010|publisher=[[Archaeological Survey of India]]}}</ref>}} indicating that horses may have been present at Late Harappan times,{{sfn|Bryan|2001|p=270-271, 273}} "when the Vedic people had settled in the north-west part of the subcontinent."{{sfn|Reddy|2006|p=A93}} It can therefore not be concluded that the horse was regularly used, or played a significant role, in the Harappan society.{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=273}}

Horse remains from the Harappan site [[Surkotada]] (dated to 2400-1700 BC) have been identified by A.K. Sharma as ''Equus ferus caballus''.{{refn|group=subnote|Sharma (1974), as cited in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=271}}}} The horse specialist Sandor Bökönyi (1997) later confirmed these conclusions, and stated the excavated tooth specimens could "in all probability be considered remnants of true horses [i.e. ''Equus ferus caballus'']".{{refn|group=subnote|Bökönyi (1997), as cited in {{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=272}}}} Bökönyi, as cited by [[B.B. Lal]], stated that "The occurrence of true horse (''Equus caballus'' L.) was evidenced by the enamel pattern of the upper and lower cheek and teeth and by the size and form of incisors and phalanges (toe bones)."{{refn|group=subnote|{{harvnb|Lal|1998|p=111}}, quoted from Bökönyi's letter to the Director of the Archaeological Survey of India, 1993-12-13.}} However, archaeologists like Meadow (1997) disagree, on the grounds that the remains of the ''Equus ferus caballus'' horse are difficult to distinguish from other equid species such as ''Equus asinus'' ([[donkey]]s) or ''Equus hemionus'' ([[onager]]s).{{sfn|Bryant|2001|pp=169-175}}

[[Colin Renfrew]] (1999) remarked that "the significance of the horse [...] has been much exaggerated."{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=120}}{{refn|group=note|Renfrew's statement refers to his own [[Anatolian hypothesis]], which is criticized by mainstream scholarship on similar grounds.}}

== Vedic period ==
[[File:Early Vedic Culture (1700-1100 BCE).png|thumb|right|Early Vedic Period.]]
{{Main|Indo-Aryan migrations|Vedic period}}

Sites such as the [[BMAC]] complex are at least as poor in horse remains as the Harappan sites.{{sfn|Bryant|2001}}{{refn|group=note|[[Hastinapur]] (8th century BCE) is likewise poor in horse remains, even though it is considered as Indo-Aryan.{{sfn|Thapar|1996|p=21}}}} The earliest undisputed finds of horse remains in South Asia are from the [[Gandhara grave culture]], also known as the Swat culture (c. 1400-800 BCE),{{sfn|Reddy|2006|p=A93}} related to the Indo-Aryans{{sfn|Kennedy|2012|p=46}} and coinciding with their arrival in India.{{sfn|Narasimhan|Patterson|Moorjani|Lazaridis|2018}} Swat valley grave DNA analysis provides evidence of "connections between [Central Asian] Steppe population and early Vedic culture in India".{{sfn|Narasimhan|Patterson|Moorjani|Lazaridis|2018}}

Horses were of significant importance for the lifestyle of the Indo-Europeans.{{sfn|Reddy|2006|p=A-93}} ''[[Ashva]]'', a [[Sanskrit]] word for a [[horse]], is one of the significant animals finding references in the Vedas and several [[Hindu scriptures]], and many personal names in the Rig Veda are also centered on horses.{{sfn|Reddy|2006|p=A-93}} Derived from ''asva'', its cognates are found in Indo-European languages like Sanskrit, Avestan, Latin and Greek.{{sfn|Reddy|2006|p=A-93}} There are [[Ashva#Vedas|repeated references to the horse]] in the [[Veda]]s (c. 1500-500 BC). In particular the [[Rigveda]] has [[Ashav#Usage in Vedas and Hindu mythology|many equestrian scenes]], often associated with [[chariot]]s. The [[Ashvamedha]] or horse sacrifice is a notable ritual of the [[Yajurveda]].

The difficulty of breeding large numbers of horses in the Indian climate meant they needed to be imported in large numbers, usually from [[Central Asia]], but also elsewhere. Horse traders are already mentioned in Atharvaveda 2.30.29. A painting at [[Ajanta Caves|Ajanta]] shows horses and elephants that are transported by ship.<ref>Himanshu Prabha Ray, Early Coastal Trade in the Bay of Bengal, In: Julian Reade (ed.) The Indian Ocean in Antiquity. London: Kegan Paul Intl. 1996</ref> Trautmann (1982) thus remarked the supply and import of horses has "always" been a preoccupation of the Indians and "it is a structure of its history, then, that India has always been dependent upon western and central Asia for horses."{{sfn|Bryant|2001}}

== See also ==
*[[Ashvamedha]]
*[[Ashvins]]
*[[Early Indians]]
*[[Domestication of the horse]]
* [[Horses in East Asian warfare]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|35em|refs=


{{refn|group=note|name="no support"|No support in mainstream scholarship:
* {{harvnb|Thapar|2006}}: "there is no scholar at this time seriously arguing for the indigenous origin of Aryans".{{sfn|Thapar|2006}}
* Wendy Doniger (2017): "The opposing argument, that speakers of Indo-European languages were indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, is not supported by any reliable scholarship. It is now championed primarily by Hindu nationalists, whose religious sentiments have led them to regard the theory of Aryan migration with some asperity."<ref group=web name="Doniger_2017">Wendy Doniger (2017), [https://inference-review.com/article/another-great-story "Another Great Story"]", review of Asko Parpola's ''The Roots of Hinduism''; in: ''Inference, International Review of Science'', Volume 3, Issue 2</ref>
* Girish Shahane (September 14, 2019), in response to Narasimhan et al. (2019): "Hindutva activists, however, have kept the Aryan Invasion Theory alive, because it offers them the perfect strawman, 'an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument' ... The Out of India hypothesis is a desperate attempt to reconcile linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence with Hindutva sentiment and nationalistic pride, but it cannot reverse time's arrow ... The evidence keeps crushing Hindutva ideas of history."<ref group=web name="Shahane_2019">Girish Shahane (September 14, 2019), [https://scroll.in/article/937043/why-hindutva-supporters-love-to-hate-the-discredited-aryan-invasion-theory ''Why Hindutva supporters love to hate the discredited Aryan Invasion Theory''], Scroll.in</ref>
* Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016): "Of course it is a fringe theory, at least internationally, where the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) is still the official paradigm. In India, though, it has the support of most archaeologists, who fail to find a trace of this Aryan influx and instead find cultural continuity."<ref name="Elst_2016">Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016), Koenraad Elst: "I am not aware of any governmental interest in correcting distorted history", ''Swarajya Magazine''</ref>
* {{harvnb|Witzel|2001|p=95}}: [the] "indigenous Aryans" position is not scholarship in the usual sense, but an "apologetic, ultimately religious undertaking":{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=95}}}}
}}
{{reflist|group=subnote|30em}}

== References==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
;Printed sources
{{refbegin}}

*{{cite book |last=Bryant |first=Edwin |year=2001 |title=The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-513777-9}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bryant |first1=Edwin F. |last2=Patton |first2=Laurie L. |date=2005 |title=The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History |publisher=Routledge}}

*{{cite journal |last=Coomaraswamy |first=Ananda |title=Horse Riding in the Rgveda and Atharvaveda |author-link=Ananda Coomaraswamy |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=62 |issue=2 |date=1942}}

*Falconer H. and Cautley, Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis, Being the Fossil Zoology of the Siwalik Highlands in the North of India, 1849, London.

* {{Citation | last =Kennedy | first =Kenneth A.R. | author-link=Kenneth A.R. Kennedy | year =2000 | title-link =God-Apes and Fossil Men | title =God-Apes and Fossil Men: Palaeoanthropology of South Asia | location =Ann Arbor | publisher =University of Michigan Press}}
* {{Citation | last =Kennedy | first =Kenneth A.R. | year =2012 | chapter =Have Aryans been identified in the prehistorical skeletal record from South Asia? Biological anthropology and cocnepts of ancient races | editor-last =Erdosy | editor-first =George | title =The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity | publisher =Walter de Gruyter}}

* {{cite book |last =Lal | first =B.B. | year =1998 | title =New Light on the Indus Civilization | publisher =Aryan Books | place =Delhi}}
* {{Citation | last =Lal | first =B.B. | year =2005 | title =The Homeland of the Aryans. Evidence of Rigvedic Flora and Fauna & Archaeology | place =New Delhi | publisher =Aryan Books International}}

* {{Citation | last =Matossian | first =Mary Kilbourne | year =2016 | title =Shaping World History | publisher =Routledge | isbn =978-1-315-50348-6 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=84KTDAAAQBAJ}}

* {{Cite journal|last=Narasimhan|first=Vagheesh M.|last2=Patterson|first2=Nick J.|last3=Moorjani|first3=Priya|last4=Lazaridis|first4=Iosif|last5=Mark|first5=Lipson|last6=Mallick|first6=Swapan|last7=Rohland|first7=Nadin|last8=Bernardos|first8=Rebecca|last9=Kim|first9=Alexander M.|date=2018|title=The Genomic Formation of South and Central Asia|url= https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/03/31/292581|journal=bioRxiv|language=en|pages=292581|doi=10.1101/292581|doi-access=free}}</ref>

* {{Cite journal | last1 =Outram | first1=Alan K.| title=The Earliest Horse Harnessing and Milking | journal=Science | volume=323 | pages=1332–1335 | date=2009 | doi=10.1126/science.1168594 | issue=5919|display-authors=etal | pmid=19265018| bibcode=2009Sci...323.1332O| s2cid=5126719}}

* {{Citation | last =Reddy | first =Krishna | year =2006 | title =Indian History | publisher =Tata McGraw-Hill Education}}

* {{Citation | last =Singh | first =Upinder | year =2009 | title =History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century | publisher =Longman | isbn =978-8131716779}}

* {{Citation | last =Thapar | year =1996 | title =The theory of Aryan race and India | publisher =Social Scientist | location =Delhi}}
* {{cite book |last=Thapar |first=Romila |date=2006 |title=India: Historical Beginnings and the Concept of the Aryan |publisher=National Book Trust |isbn=9788123747798 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sDBuAAAAMAAJ&q=indigenous+aryans&dq=indigenous+aryans}}
* {{Citation | last =Trautmann | first =Thomas | year =2005 | title =The Aryan Debate in India | isbn =0-19-566908-8}}

* {{cite journal |last=Witzel |first=Michael E. J. |author-link=Michael E. J. Witzel |title=Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts |journal=Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=1–115 |date=2001 |url= http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/EJVS-7-3.pdf}}
{{refend}}

;Web-sources
{{reflist|group=web|refs=


<ref group=web name="cbc.ca">{{cite news |title=Horsey-aeology, Binary Black Holes, Tracking Red Tides, Fish Re-evolution, Walk Like a Man, Fact or Fiction |url=http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2009/03/07/horsey-aeology-binary-black-holes-tracking-red-tides-fish-re-evolution-walk-like-a-man-fact-or-ficti/|work=Quirks and Quarks Podcast with Bob Macdonald |publisher= [[CBC Radio]] |date=2009-03-07}}</ref>


<ref group=web name="IMH">{{cite web |url=http://www.imh.org/exhibits/online/what-we-theorize-when-and-where-domestication-occurred |title=What We Theorize – When and Where Domestication Occurred |access-date=2015-01-27 |work=International Museum of the Horse |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160719000140/http://www.imh.org/exhibits/online/what-we-theorize-when-and-where-domestication-occurred |archive-date=19 July 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>


<ref group=web name="Neumayer">[https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/WHEELS%20in%20Indian%20Rock%20Art%20Erwin%20Neumayer.pdf Chariots in the Chalcolithic Rock Art of Indian A Slide Show, Neumayer Erwin]</ref>


<ref group=web name="Patterson2020">{{Cite web|last=Patterson|first=James M.|date=2020-11-07|title=Archaeology: Indian fossils support new hypothesis for origin of hoofed mammals|url=https://www.tunisiesoir.com/science/archaeology-indian-fossils-support-new-hypothesis-for-origin-of-hoofed-mammals-25492-2020/|access-date=2020-11-12|website=Tunis Daily News|language=en-US}}</ref>


<ref group=web name="Sonakia1998">{{cite report |author1=Arun Sonakia |author2=S. Biswas |name-list-style=and |title=Antiquity of the Narmada Homo erectus, the early man of India |year=1998 |place=Nagpur, India |publisher=Palaeontology Division, Geological Survey of India |url=http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/aug/articles21.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524181131/http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/aug/articles21.htm |archive-date=2011-05-24}} (Note 12. Biswas, S., Rec. GSI, 1988, 118, 53–62.)</ref>
}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite journal|ref=none |author=Sandor Bököni |title=Horse Remains from the Prehistoric Site of Surkotada, Kutch, Late 3rd Millennium BC |journal=South Asian Archaeology |year=1997 |volume=13 |pages=297–307}}
*{{cite book|ref=none |last=Dallapiccola |first=Anna |title=Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend |isbn=0-500-51088-1}}
*{{cite book|ref=none|last1=Kak|first1=Subhash|author-link=Subhash Kak|title=The Aśvamedha: The rite and its logic|publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]]|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ORuGLCLc7OkC}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://sambali.blogspot.com/2005_10_19_sambali_archive.html The Asvamedha Horse of India]
* [http://www.hinduonnet.com/op/2002/07/02/stories/2002070200110200.htm From Harappan horse to camel], R. Nagaswamy in [[The Hindu]]

{{HinduMythology}}
{{Equine}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Horse In South Asia}}
[[Category:Horse history and evolution]]
[[Category:Social history of India]]
[[Category:Horses in India]]

History of the horse in the Indian subcontinent - Revision history

>Yuyutsu Ho at 18:39, 25 May 2021