The Languages of Harappa - People Fas Harvard

This leaves no choice but to assume that speakers of Dravidian entered into the orbit
of the gvedic tribes only during the middle RV period, -- most likely from their stronghold
in more southern territories, in Greater Sindh, where their presence is still revelealed by
certain place names (Sindh, Gujarat and Maharastra). This scenario explains why the c. 300
foreign words of the RV (in the Panjab) with their (agricultural) vocabulary are relatively
free of Drav. influence.
It seems that the speakers of Indo-Aryan entered the Panjab and acquired local
words from the Northern dialect (śaa, lågala, vrīhi, godhūma, kagu, Gandhåra), and
that the Dravidians entered Sindh at or about the same time and acquired the related words
from the southern dialect (gōnu, ñåñcil, variñci, godī, kaku/kampu). Perhaps it was them
who made horses statues at Pirak (1700 BCE), not the IA(?) Bhalånas. Obviously, use of
horses is not linked to speakers of an IA language.
The Middle RV period, therefore, is of great interest: it witnesses the emergence of a
new coalition of tribes, that of the Bharata led by king Sudås, who overcomes the older
loose confederation, led by the Pūru, of the older gvedic tribes, the 'Five Peoples': Anu-
Druhyu, Yadu-Turvaśa (Witzel 1995, 1997a). The Bharata and their Kuru successors, a new
group of IA immigrants from the other side of the Indus (such as Vasiha RV 7, cf. JB 3.238-
9 §204), apparently brought with them a slightly divergent, sometimes more Iranian
looking, and more modern form of Vedic that became the standard in the post-RV texts
(Witzel 1989).
In general, this is a period of great unrest and changes on all levels of society and
religion (Witzel 1997a). Importantly, it is only in this period that the 'forth class', the
Śūdra, first appear; they are added to but not included into the traditional list of three Ārya
classes (Brahman poets/priests, Katriya noblemen, and Viś/Vaiśya 'the people'). That not
all, and perhaps not even the majority, of the local people and of the incoming Dravidians
were automatically included into the Śūdra class is clear from the many names of 'kings'
(chieftains), noblemen, poets and priests that are not Indo-Aryan (Balbūtha, Bbu, Varo
Suåman, Kåva, Kavaa, etc., Witzel 1999.) The last mentioned is of great interest as he is
the main poet/priest on the side of the Pūru, and his third generation descendant Tura
Kåvaeya becomes one of the main protagonists and 'reformers' of the new solemn Śrauta
ritual (Proferes 1999) under the Kuru.
In sum, it is during the middle RV period (c. 1450-1300 BCE) that acculturation of
elements of IA, Para-Munda, Drav., took place, along with a restructuring of society into
Ārya and Śūdra, centered on Kuruketra in the Haryana region. The late gvedic Kuru
confederation, supplanting the 50-odd gvedic clans and tribes, became the cultural center,
with a new society and a new elite, its 'status kit' being that of Vedic orthopraxy. This
culture is characterzied by pastoralism (cattle, horse, sheep, goat), IA ritual and
acculturated customs, IA religion and ritual, but also post-Indus type agriculture (barley,
wheat, rice, millet) and local artisans (potters, etc.). The new culture then spread eastwards
into the Gangetic plains, and ultimately to Bihar, and along the Chambal, towards the
Vindhyas.
It remains to be seen what Archaeology can add to or contradict of this sketch. One
could, for example, expect some well-preserved "Indo-Aryan" camp sites in the drier parts
of the Ghaggar-Hakra system), such as the camps signaled by Rafique Mughal (1995), not to