Folks it is important to kill all the lies and fabrications that even modern scholars are adding to the Aryan Invasion Theory AIT - the modern AIT Nazis.
In this connection I want to bring up the subject of a relatively new book - by one David Anthony called "Horse, Wheel and Language" alluded to several times in the early pages of this thread, with many refs posted by ManishH.
Shri Anthony says that the "Sintashta graves" found in Centarl Asia were of a people so similar to the people who composed the Rig veda that they are one and the same and that the culture that was found in those graves in Central Asia represented Rig Vedic culture, and therefore those people migrated to India and composed the Rig Veda - singing about the horses they lived and died with in Central Asia. The horse was important to them Domesticated horse bone evidence has been found there. And the horse was domesticated in that region. Only, the moved to India and then left a memory of their Central Asian culture in the form of the Rig Veda.
If we ignore obvious the absurdity of finding graves in one place and claiming that the grave represent the people who composed poems in some other area 200 km away we are still left with the fact that this absurdity being passed off as scholarship still needs to be countered if it is not to be passed off as the "best available theory"
We have seen plenty of evidence of the horse in India from that era. Also RajeshA has serendipituously pointed out that those central Asian cultured depended on mare's milk and not a single shred of evidence can be found of mare's milk in or out of the Rig Veda despite the comparisons between the Rig Veda and some central Asian graves.
But I want to make one more point relating to the horse in the Rig Veda versus the Central Asian graves and point out how David Anthony has bluffed in a book that is being widely quoted as a scholarly work.
Her is what David Anthony says:
Sintashta and Potapovka-Filatovka grave pits, which had wooden plank
roofs supported by timber posts and plank shoring walls. The horse sacri-
fice at a royal funeral is described in RV 1.162: "Keep the limbs undam-
aged and place them in the proper pattern. Cut them apart, calling out
piece by piece." The horse sacrifices in Sintashta, Potapovka, and Ftlatovka
graves match this description, with the lower legs of horses carefully cut
apart at the joints and placed in and over the grave. The preference for
horses as sacrificial animals in Sintashta funeral rituals, a species choice
setting Sintashta apart from earlier steppe cultures, was again paralleled
in the RV. Another verse in the same hymn read: "Those who see that the
racehorse is cooked, who say, 'It smells good! Take it away!' and who wait
for the doling out of the flesh of the charger-let their approval encourage
us." These lines describe the public feasting that surrounded the funeral of
an important person, exactly like the feasting implied by head-and-hoof
deposits of horses, cattle, goats, and sheep in Sintashta graves that would
have yielded hundreds or even thousands of kilos of meat.
The key here is what Rig Veda 1.162 says
Rig Veda 1.162 refers to Book 1, Poem number 162.
Out of over 1,000 poems in the Rig Veda this one refers to the sacrifice of a horse. First I want to point out how
1. Griffiths Translation to English of an older German translation of the Rig Veda is itself faulty
2. David Anthony has further corrupted the faulty translation and made it fit his needs to make the Rig Veda people appear in Central Asia.
Let me start with Griffiths. Here is the original Sanskrit verse 162.19 and its accurate Hindi translation. Below that is griffiths mistranslation. Any Hindu who has lost a loved one or has attended the memorial ceremony of a deceased person will know that "pinda" is a food offering to the Gods that is not eaten by humans. It is placed outside to be eaten by animals
Here is an image of the original sanskrit and the Hindi translation. The English translation by Griffiths totally misses the point and refers to a mysterious "Tvastar"! There is no Tvastar in the text. There is a "Ritu" which indicates the auspicious time at which a sacrifice is to be made. Griffiths translation is utter nonsense.
19 Of Tvaṣṭar's Charger there is one dissector,—this is the custom-two there are
who guide him.
Such of his limbs as I divide in order, these, amid the balls, in fire I offer.
Now we come to verse 12 of RV 1.162.
David Anthony says:
"Those who see that the
racehorse is cooked, who say, 'It smells good! Take it away!' and who wait
for the doling out of the flesh of the charger-let their approval encourage
us."
Griffiths says:
12 They who observing that the Horse is ready call out and say, the smell is
good; remove it; And, craving meat, await the distribution,—may their approving help promote
labour.
The original says
Those who smell the aroma of the horse and say "Offer it to the Gods", and those beggar/mendicants who expect an offering, may their pledges be ours
Here is the original+Hindi translation
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/k56 ... -hindi.jpg
The point that Griffiths and all western commentators miss in all this is that this is a horse sacrifice that is made primarily to the Gods. Verse 14 of the same poem indicates that it is part of the Ashvamedha Yaga ritual - a rare, one off event. Every verse indicates how anything associated with that horse is first and foremost and offering to the Gods and not your common everyday lunch.
One more misleading concoction by David Anthony is:
The horse sacrifice at a royal funeral is described in RV 1.162: "Keep the limbs undam-aged and place them in the proper pattern. Cut them apart, calling out piece by piece." The horse sacrifices in Sintashta, Potapovka, and Ftlatovka graves match this description, with the lower legs of horses carefully cut apart at the joints and placed in and over the grave.
Rig Veda 1.162 has no mention of any royal funeral it is pure horse sacrifice related to the Ashwamedha Yaga. And there is no mention of a grave,. In every case the parts of the horse are offered to Agni (fire) Verse 20 makes this clear . This verse pleads that the man who carves the horse does it carefully so that the Horse does not lose its parts by careless dissection.
Finally I want to stress that of all the food items mentioned in the Rig Veda, horse meat in the diet appears in only poem 162 as part of a sacrifice. This is is stark contrast to the Sithashta culture where horse meat formed 20-30 % of the diet. No wonder they found so many bones
David Anthony "Horse Wheel and Language"
With up to eight horses sacrificed for a single funeral,
Sintashta feasts would have fed hundreds, even thousands of guests . Feast-
hosting behavior is the most common and consistently used avenue to
prestige and power in tribal societies.
Google Books
Horse meat constituted 20-30% of Andonovo Meat consumption
Also many Indians seem to write for this journal!!!