Foreword by Swami Vidyadhishananda Giri

The general academic consensus has long placed the dawn of Indo-European civilizations around 3000–2400 BCE, an era often indirectly aligned with the biblical flood narrative. Most academic studies place the upper limit at about 4000 BCE. However, the research presented in the ensuing chapters decisively challenges this restrictive view. This approach calls for a more open-ended inquiry driven by corroborative evidence drawn from multiple scientific and historical domains — unbound by faith-based assumptions. The study of ancient history stands at a crossroads today. The author envisages a way forward based on a multidisciplinary methodology that integrates traditional sources, archaeology, linguistics, epigraphy, archaeoastronomy, and the burgeoning field of archaeogenetics. “Chronology and Origins of Indo-European Civilizations” sets the tone for a pioneering investigation by questioning the assumptions underlying conventional chronological models. It critiques the misplaced confidence in archaeological metal-based periodization (the Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages) and the undue reliance on the ‘absence of evidence’ as ‘evidence of absence’.
This book exposes how even scientific data is not immune to presuppositions when scientific methods can be influenced by human bias. Carbon-14 (C-14) dating can misrepresent actual results when calibration curves leave a range of dates open to interpretation based on flawed historical timelines. Through careful literary analysis and reinterpretation of ancient texts, author Vedveer Arya argues in favour of an antiquity for Indo-European civilizations, tracing their roots to at least the Younger Dryas period (10700–9700 BCE) and potentially earlier.
The evidence includes tangible artefacts and ruins, such as submerged human settlements found in the Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat, Poompuhar in Tamil Nadu as well as archaeological sites like Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, and Bhirrana, Mehrgarh, and Rakhigarhi in north and northwestern India. The iron-smelting findings at Sivagalai in Tamil Nadu, India, date to 3345 BCE. These are all physical finds but there are also intangible yet invaluable gems of information to be found, such as Vedic references to a now extinct equine species with 34 ribs— Equus sivalensis— suggesting the Rigvedic period predated the Younger Dryas period.
The author further strengthens this thesis by engaging in the debate over the original homeland of Indo-Europeans. He meticulously reviews and critiques the four dominant hypotheses— the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, Anatolian, South of the Caucasus, and Caucasus-Lower Volga theories— each representing a competing narrative in the field. Where these theories falter due to limitations in dating methodologies or incomplete alignment with ancient literary records, this book presents a robust and coherent conclusion: India, particularly its northwestern region, was the cradle of the Indo-European linguistic, genetic, and civilizational heritage.
What distinguishes this work is not merely its provocative assertions but the empirical and methodological rigour that underpins them. Drawing upon ancient literary sources, such as the Rigveda, post-Vedic literature, and the Avesta, corroborated by archaeoastronomical dating, the author reconstructs a timeline that places the origins of Indic civilization around 14400 BCE.
This timeline is not a speculative stretch of the imagination but is substantiated by archaeoastronomical evidence presented by the author. Studies in archaeogenetics also support the long reach of peoples of Indic origin, including mitochondrial DNA lineages (notably haplogroups M and U) and genetic divergence from the Iranian plateau over 12,000 years ago.
Vedveer Ayra’s work outlines a critical period for the development of humankind that occurred in phases after the Last Glacial Maximum. The author establishes that the reconstructed chronology, when juxtaposed with the development of agriculture and the post-glacial intensification of the southwest monsoon in the Indian subcontinent, defines a unique period in the history of human civilization. Though we would call these civilizations ancient, this era of development is a very short evolutionary period compared to the nearly two million years of human evolution since Homo erectus first walked on Earth. Evolution tends to meander slowly but the relatively short span of about 16,000 years covered in this book speaks volumes about the civilizational fast track of Homo sapiens.
Scientific evidence indicates that significant climate changes occurred in distinct phases after the last major ice age. Indian monsoon patterns are considered to have had three accelerated phases of development: 16,100-14,600 years Before Present (BP), 13,600-13,000 years BP, and 12,400-10,400 years BP. Thereafter, the monsoon cycles attained regularity around 8,000 years BP. Among the distinct accelerated monsoon phases, a crucial phase in the Indian subcontinent was the time period between the two mini ice ages of Older Dryas (12800-12500 BCE) and Younger Dryas (10700-9700 BCE). The author is able to match the phases with his reconstructed chronology, coinciding with the development of Sanskrit and the simultaneous agrarian revolution that included the plant-based diet of an organized, agriculture-based civilization. Incidentally, Vedic Sanskrit transitioned into post-Vedic Sanskrit following the period of the Younger Dryas and the disappearance of the Vedic Sarasvati River, ushering in a period of post-Vedic Sanskrit literature for 2,000 years (9400-7400 BCE), when no more Vedas were composed.
This book outlines the civilizational developments arising from the dominant meteorological conditions that intensified the annual summer monsoon in India around 15000 BCE. Summer monsoon rain is a weather pattern we can still see today in large parts of India and Asia. The favourable summertime southwest monsoon fostered the preconditions for agriculture to develop in India. Starting during the same period, the Sanskrit language emerged in India, developing a structure based on over 2,400 distinct root sounds, the majority of which are found in other languages, primarily among the Indo-European language groups.
The author’s research verifies the long-held thesis based on my own unbroken monastic oral history that the two developments were interrelated as agriculture and plant-based dietary options provided the basis for sustaining settlements and organized human civilizations, while a sophisticated language structure provided the means to communicate abstract ideas.
Linguistic research has shown that Indo-European languages evolved in an area where agriculture developed. While an all-encompassing epistemological model with data from multiple fields remains to be scientifically validated, a clear pattern of evidence has emerged, showing that farming and the roots of Indo-European languages evolved together in India. Names of indigenous plants, trees, and vegetables from early farming in India are thought to have contributed words to Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages.
My monastic oral history claims that India was the place of origin of the first ever agriculture-based economy that helped bring society together into an organized civilization. Vedveer Arya’s book gives the historical context for this long-held thesis, opening a fascinating line of inquiry that could further explore whether the onset of agriculture and the integration of a plant-based diet brought about faster evolutionary advances for the Homo sapiens species.
Vedveer Arya makes a strong claim that Rigveda, the oldest written piece of literature in the world, was codified in written form between the Older and Younger Dryas, which is prior to 10700 BCE, except for minor additions. Recitation of Sanskrit verses meant the wisdom of the Vedas could be preserved through the ages based on an oral tradition. Many of the long-held beliefs of my monastic and Sanskrit lineages correlate closely with the timelines proposed in this book for ancient India and the period of codification of the Vedic Sanskrit literature.
Sanskrit’s structured grammar and the composition of rhythmic verses, channelled through the sages, were devised to facilitate the sure transmission of knowledge and ancient wisdom. The author himself is a Sanskrit scholar with a firm grasp of the vast expanse of ancient Sanskrit texts and manuscripts. He combines this understanding with an in-depth investigation using archeoastronomy based on the scientific mapping of the movements of celestial bodies. Vedveer Arya grasps the mathematics involved for the simulations and calculations when going back in time using astronomy software. Consequently, when crossing the threshold between dates in the Common Era (CE) and Before Common Era (BCE), it is essential to count the year zero (0 CE). Thus, Vedveer Arya brings a unique perspective by combining his understanding of archaeoastronomy with insights into the nuances of Sanskrit and traditional Indic history.
The avid reader will find that this book primarily addresses the chronology and migrations as they relate to the peopling of Eurasia after the last major ice age, after the Older Dryas, and subsequently after the Younger Dryas. Even though between 25000 and 18000 BCE the Indian subcontinent hosted a large human population, the author is focusing on the timeline of migrations from about 16000 BCE onward.
Vedveer Arya’s conclusions about migrations align with the genetic data to a large extent. Genetic research suggests that key human haplogroups (mitochondrial DNA U, R5; Y-chromosomal DNA R*) originated in India, implying prehistoric migrations from India to Siberia and Europe. Y-chromosomal DNA haplogroup R1a has been found to be prevalent in India, Central Asia, and Europe. In addition, high R1a1 and R2 diversity in India is indicative of the place of origin and does not support the hypothesis of migration to India from Central Asia or from any other outside region.
Furthermore, the author reaffirms that R1a (M17) evolved in India and then spread out of India about 16,000-15,000 years BP by migrations through Iran, South of the Caucasus, and Anatolia to Europe. Genetic study of West Asian Y-chromosome DNA aligns well with the conclusions that there was a human migration from India to West Asia indicated by the presence of Indic genes in the West Asian population (haplogroups: F*, L1, H [M-69], K2, C5, C*, R1a [M-17]), whereas West Asian genes (haplogroups: J1, G, I & R1b3) are not found in India.
Another main lineage which expanded after the Last Glacial Maximum, the haplogroup J2 (M172), is found principally in the Fertile Crescent and areas with good rainfall. The research and findings presented in this book align well with the assertion of genetic studies that the J2 haplogroup originated in India, possibly diversifying after the Last Glacial Maximum, 18,000 years BP. The J2 haplogroup being present in all segments of Indic society is considered to have spread through migrations out of India.
Vedveer Arya concludes that before 13000 BCE, the Danavas (Danaans) migrated from Sapta Sindhu to regions like Anatolia and onward to Greece. Archaeogenetic evidence, such as the discovery of the R1b haplogroup in Villabruna man (skeletal remains dated to 14,000 years ago, found in Italy), supports the direction of this early “Out of India” migration.
These migrations also spread the Proto-Indo-European (or more precisely Proto-Indo-Eurasiatic) language, connected with the roots of Vedic Sanskrit, archaic Tamil, and Proto-Anatolian— essentially the Proto-Indo-European tongue. Southeast Asia’s R1a presence and Austro-asiatic linguistic-genetic ties confirm Indic ancestry.
A second major migration occurred around 11200 BCE during the Rigvedic era, leading to Indian and Iranian population divergence. Genetic evidence indicates a substantial contribution of Indian mitochondrial DNA to the Iranian gene pool. Iranian legends also echo these migrations. By 9500 BCE, early Turks emerged from Indo-Scythian and Iranian interactions.
Vedveer Arya’s book explores the origins and chronology of the Sumerian and Mesopotamian civilizations among others. The author’s revised timeline introduces the intriguing possibility that agrarians of Indic origin contributed to the development of Fertile Crescent agriculture and even the emergence of the Sumerian civilization, as they spread westward in ancient times. There is plenty of circumstantial evidence from traditional sources and genetic studies to suggest that Indian agriculture predates that of many other organized agrarian civilizations.
Migrations out of India happened in many waves, as elucidated in Volume 2. Between 7400–6200 BCE, Greek traditions recall Indian-origin migrations of peoples such as Yavanas, Sakas, and Shuras who helped to shape Anatolian, Hurrian, and European civilizations. These waves deeply influenced the genetic, linguistic, and cultural foundations of Eurasian populations and Indo-European languages, highlighting India’s central role in human history, especially in relation to the branches of the Proto-Indo-European languages.
”Chronology and Origins of Indo-European Civilizations” revisits the “Out of India” theory, tracing multiple waves of Indo-European expansion westward from the Sapta Sindhu region between 14000 and 6000 BCE. These include the migrations of the Danavas or Danaans to Anatolia and Greece, the Asuras to Persia and the Caucasus, and subsequent groups influencing the rise of civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Europe. Supported by genetic markers such as haplogroups R1a and R1b, whose earliest known presence in Europe is linked to Indic origin, this account defies the entrenched assumption that civilization flowed solely from the West and Central Asia to the East.
Recent genetic studies challenge the long-held assumption that haplogroup R1a1a (R-M17) originated solely in the Eurasian Steppe. High diversity and deep-rooted lineages of R1a1a, particularly within its Z93 branch, have been documented in India, suggesting an alternative origin narrative. Research studies have identified several basal and regionally distinct R1a subclades in India that either predate or are not represented in Europe or Central Asia.
Notably, the R1a-Z93 lineage— prevalent in India, Iran, and Central Asia— is virtually absent in Europe. Downstream markers like Z94 and L657 dominate Indian R1a samples, with some ancestral forms found exclusively in the subcontinent. Ancient DNA (aDNA) from the Eurasian Steppe does not show R1a presence prior to ~2000 BCE, whereas Indian lineages indicate diversification possibly as early as 6,000–8,000 years ago. These findings suggest that R1a-Z93 and its derivatives likely originated or diversified substantially within India, contradicting the conventional model of an influx of R1a to India from outside around 1500 BCE. This emerging consensus repositions India as a possible primary centre of R1a-Z93 evolution and diversification, warranting a significant re-evaluation of Indo-European genetic and migratory models.
One of the boldest assertions made in this book is its recontextualization of the biblical chronology, particularly the influence of the Ussher-Lightfoot model, which dated the creation of the world to 4004 BCE and became a de facto benchmark for centuries of Western historical thought. Through a forensic historical analysis, Vedveer Arya reveals how Enlightenment thinkers and academicians, such as Isaac Newton — despite their rationalist credentials — were still tethered to a chronology that was neither secular nor accurate.
Despite his scientific brilliance in defining the laws of motion, Newton’s work on chronology in the early 1700s was built on faulty assumptions by aligning the start of the Common Era (formerly known as the Christian Era) with an unverified date of Jesus’s birth (in 1 CE). This became a pivotal date that overruled past eras and traditional timelines causing Newton and other Christian scholars to distort the dating of events in pre-Christian civilizations such as those in Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. This distortion, in turn, limits the ability of modern scholars to integrate new archaeological, genetic, or linguistic discoveries into a coherent historical framework.
A compelling argument woven through the chapters is that traditional literary sources— often dismissed as mythology— must be re-examined not as mere fiction but as vessels of encoded historical memory. The rejection of ancient sources such as the Sumerian King List, Indian Puranic literature, or Greek epics, perhaps simply due to their poetic or theological embellishments, undermines their historiographical validity. Instead, the author advocates for a balanced interpretation of the mythological narratives, extracting consistent genealogical and chronological successions that echo across cultures and can be validated through archaeoastronomical, genetic, and linguistic evidence.
Indeed, by restoring the authority of classical sources such as the Purana and Itihasa historical chronicles of India, Manetho’s Aegyptiaca, Berossus’s Babyloniaca, the Sumerian and Assyrian King Lists, Megasthenes’s accounts of Indian kings, and the Frankish Table of Nations, this book opens new avenues for integrating traditional historical narratives with scientific insights.
These sources suggest a far longer timeline for the dynastic histories of India, Greece, Persia, Sumeria, and Egypt— one that aligns more closely with the genetic, epigraphic, and archaeoastronomical evidence than with the compressed timelines sanctioned by archaeological assumptions influenced by biblical literalism. This mismatch is why the author argues that a multidisciplinary approach to chronology is not only desirable but imperative.
This comprehensive work also offers a thorough explanation and reconciliation of a 1,381-year chronological discrepancy in the dating of Buddha’s closure of earthly life, as well as a 661-year discrepancy concerning the birth of Jesus. These discoveries do not call into question the teachings of these world religions, only the timing of the life of their figureheads.
The chronology of India has also become distorted. Traditional Indic chronology dates the beginning of the Gupta Empire to around 334 BCE, with inscriptions from Samudragupta referencing the Kushano-Sasanians (Devaputra Shahishahanushahi in Sanskrit). It is a well-established historical fact that the Huns invaded Persia and India during the reigns of the Sasanian dynasty in Persia and the Gupta dynasty in India.
The traditional chronology of India clearly indicates that Chandragupta, the first king of the Gupta dynasty, ruled approximately 600 years after Alexander the Great. Drawing on traditional sources such as inscriptions, the author makes the case that Alexander the Great and the Achaemenid kings of Persia should be placed 661 years earlier than the Gupta Empire. However, many Indic scholars during the last two centuries have mistakenly regarded King Chandragupta and his successor Samudragupta of the Gupta dynasty as contemporaries of Alexander the Great. This resulted from attempts to fit in with the chronology imposed from outside India, which fixed the date of 323 BCE for the death of Alexander the Great as an anchoring point, albeit without a solid foundation. Despite their best efforts, Indologists have failed to convincingly reconcile Indian and world chronologies. Vedveer Arya has previously published a comprehensive chronology of India, rectifying these discrepancies. In this latest book, he ambitiously cuts through the current confusion caused by a variety of timelines in order to piece together compatible chronologies of Indo-European civilizations.
The author not only identifies the 661-year discrepancy in Indian and Western chronologies, but also draws attention to inconsistencies in the timelines of Middle Eastern civilizations. Addressing a challenge that has long perplexed modern historians and Egyptologists, he proposes an absolute chronology of Egypt from King Djer to Cleopatra, as well as of Babylonia and Persia from Abraham to Alexander the Great.
It would be an oversight not to highlight the broader philosophical implications of this work. At stake is not merely the chronology of one civilization or another, but our collective understanding of the whole civilizational storyline. When history is misdated, migrations misunderstood, and lineages misrepresented, then cultural identities are reshaped, often to the detriment of those whose voices lie buried in misclassified eras. In correcting these timelines, this book seeks to restore factual integrity by giving due weight to non-Western traditions and knowledge systems that have long been marginalized or exoticized.
The fundamental flaw in most modern interdisciplinary studies is the unverified adoption of a reduced historical chronology. After all, chronology is not merely a scaffold for placing events; it is the epistemological foundation upon which interpretations of origin, identity, and continuity are built. Without re-evaluating this foundation, scientific models, regardless of their sophistication, risk building castles in the air.
“Chronology and Origins of Indo-European Civilizations” by Vedveer Arya is not only a scholarly contribution, but also a call for intellectual courage and honesty. It dares readers, researchers, and historians to question entrenched assumptions, revisit neglected sources and embrace the complexity of due diligence. It champions a vision of history that is pluralistic, layered, and truly global — a history where ancient India is not an outlier but a cornerstone, not a backwater of civilization but one of its primal fountains.
As historians, scientists, and seekers of truth, we stand at the cusp of a paradigm shift. This work provides the necessary scaffolding for that shift — not by tearing down the past, but by illuminating it with tools more refined, data more expansive, and perspectives more inclusive than ever before. Let this book be read not merely as a counter-narrative, but as a pioneering framework for a revised timeline of the ancient civilizations of Eurasia. Let us acknowledge the limitations of earlier methodologies and bravely reconstruct the chronology and origins of Indo-European civilizations in the light of emerging evidence from multidisciplinary research.
Swami Vidyadhishananda Giri, PhD., DLitt et Phil
President, Self Enquiry Life Fellowship (Hansavedas), Penn Valley, California, USA
President, Vedic Heritage Research Foundation (Vedanidhi), Varanasi, India
President, Sri Paramananda Ashram Trust (a consortium of institutions), Prayagraj, India
Vice President, Tripura Yogashram, Haridwar, India
28 August 2025, California

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