Who Are Brāmhaṇa ?

Ilāvr̥tavarṣa spread around the Mērū massif was the centre of the Purāṇa world; according to Valdiyathat corresponds to modern day ‘Ferganavalley with its beautiful landscape straddling across Uzbekistān, Tājikistān and Kyrgyzstān’. [Valdiya, 2012 : 105] Here lived Dēv or Dēvatā. The men of this ethnic group were ‘tall with splendid physique, fair skin with pinkish hue on faces, and the women were very pretty, with pink cheeks, lotus like eyes and blonde hair’. [Valdiya, 2012 : 107, quoting fromMatsyaPuranam, Ch. 114] Valdiya postulates that Dēv migrated to Bhāratavarṣa in search of fresh pastures – literally and figuratively. Archaeological remains of fire altars (yajñakuṁḍa) in Afghanistān, Turkmenistān and Tājikistān in the basins of rivers SyrDaryā and Amu Daryā, suggest that agnī worship similar to the vedic rituals prevailed there as well. [Verma, 2008 :191] Both Valdiya and Verma are of the firm opinion that the people of Sindhū - Sarasvatī -Gangā plains - who called themselves Aryans – had emigrated from this territory, now named the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. [Valdiya, 2012 : 113] BMAC culture is dated between 2,100 and 1,750 BCE. [Verma, 2008 : 193] The Late Harappan Period is dated circa 1,900–1,300 BCE. The dates are suggestive.