Origin of the Indians

By Pro. Navin Kabra from X on 15 July 2024

Who are Indians descended from? Aryans from Europe? Dravidians who’ve been “here” forever? The Indus valley civilization? A controversial question for 150+ years, but now we have DNA evidence that answers these questions with a high degree of certainty.
印度人是谁的后裔？来自欧洲的雅利安人？永远 “在这里 “的达罗毗荼人？印度河流域文明？这个问题 150 多年来一直存在争议，但现在我们有了 DNA 证据，可以非常肯定地回答这些问题。

印度人迁徙地图

The controversy originated with the (now discredited) “Aryan Invasion Theory” which began as a respectable theory of how Indian, European, and Persian languages all have a common ancestry: but was quickly adopted by racist white Europeans.
这一争议起源于 “雅利安人入侵说”（现已名誉扫地）。”雅利安人入侵说”最初是一个重要的理论，说明印度语、欧洲语和波斯语都有共同的祖先，但很快就被种族主义的欧洲白人所采用。

This group of people was called the “Aryans” from the word “arya” that is found in both, Sanskrit and ancient Persian.
这群人被称为 “雅利安人”，”雅利安 “一词在梵文和古波斯文中都能找到。

Racist Europeans loved this idea: A “superior” race of white Europeans (“caucasians” aka “Aryans”) migrated to Iran/India and subjugated the “inferior” local races. What’s not to like?
种族主义的欧洲人喜欢这种想法：一个 “优越 “的欧洲白人种族（”高加索人”，又称 “雅利安人”）移民到伊朗/印度，征服了当地的 “劣等”种族。这有什么不好呢？

Some of them also argued that these people originated around the Mount Ararat area in the Caucasus mountains. Why Mount Ararat? Because, according to the Bible, that’s where Noah’s Ark is supposed to have landed after the flood ended!!
其中一些人还认为，这些人起源于高加索山脉的亚拉腊山一带。为什么是亚拉腊山？因为，根据《圣经》记载，洪水结束后，诺亚方舟应该就降落在那里！

In the later part of his life, Max Müller tried hard to point out that a group of people who speak a languge is not the same as a “race”. But it was too late and enough racists had jumped on this bandwagon: giving rise, ultimately, to Hitler and the Nazis.
马克斯-缪勒晚年曾竭力指出，说一种语言的群体与 “种族 “不同。但为时已晚，已经有足够多的种族主义者加入了这一行列：最终，希特勒和纳粹应运而生。

This theory is discredited because modern evidence shows: 1. the locals were not primitive (Indus Valley Civilization was quiet advanced), 2. there was no invasion, and 3. the “Aryans” didn’t “take over”
这一理论已被推翻，因为现代证据显示：1.当地人并不原始（印度河流域文明非常先进），2.没有入侵，3. “雅利安人 “没有 “征服 “印度河流域文明。

Before we get to what really happened, let’s cover another discredited theory. Hindutva nationalists hate the Aryan Invasion theory so much that they have gone to the other extreme: The Out of India Theory which states that everything originated in India
在了解真实情况之前，让我们先来了解一下另一种已被唾弃的理论。印度教民族主义者非常憎恨雅利安人入侵理论，因此他们走向了另一个极端：”印度之外 “理论，该理论认为万物起源于印度。

According to their theory, Aryans originated in India more than 7000 years ago. They invented Sanskrit, the most perfect of all languages, and wrote the Vedas, the most perfect of all books. And then spread out to the rest of the world, giving rise to Persians and Europeans
根据他们的理论，雅利安人起源于 7000多年前的印度。他们发明了所有语言中最完美的梵文，写下了所有书籍中最完美的《吠陀经》。然后传播到世界其他地方，产生了波斯人和欧洲人

Nobody in academia takes this theory seriously—there’s zero evidence for it. The archeological evidence, the genetic evidence, the linguistic evidence, the anthropological evidence, and the literature (stories and myths) all point to migration in to India and not the other way.
学术界没有人认真对待这一理论，因为它没有任何证据。考古学证据、遗传学证据、语言学证据、人类学证据和文学作品（故事和神话）都表明是外部向印度迁徙的，而不是向相反方向迁徙的。

What kind of evidence can exist for things that happened thousands of years ago? Let’s take the example of DNA evidence. In the last 15 years we’ve managed to do DNA sequencing of human remains from various archaeological sites.
几千年前的事情能有什么样的证据呢？让我们以 DNA 证据为例。在过去的 15 年里，我们成功地对来自不同考古遗址的人类遗骸进行了 DNA 测序。

For each such human, we have gene sequences consisting of up to 600000 genetic markers per person; and in addition, we also have the approximate date when they lived, via carbon-dating.
对于每一个这样的人，我们都有由多达 600000 个遗传标记组成的基因序列；此外，我们还通过碳年代测定法，知道了他们生活的大致日期。

Consider this toy example. Assume it represents DNA sequences found in human remains in 2 regions, across 7000 years. B,C,D,E,P,Q,R & S represent clumps of DNA material (“nucleotides”). Clearly, this tells us that some people migrated from region A to B between 7000BC and 6000BC
请看这个小示例。假设它代表的是 7000 年间在两个地区的人类遗骸中发现的 DNA 序列。B,C,D,E,P,Q,R 和 S 代表成块的 DNA 物质（”核苷酸”）。显然，这告诉我们，在公元前 7000 年到公元前 6000 年之间，一些人从 A 地区迁移到了 B 地区。

基因的痕迹

There is similar archaeological evidence: Pottery methods, pottery designs, different materials used for tools, types of tools all have such examples that can be used to deduce migration in one direction and not the other. Same with linguistic evidence.
考古学上也有类似的证据：陶器制作方法、陶器设计、工具使用的不同材料、工具的类型都有这样的例子，可以用来推断移民的方向。语言学证据也是如此。

And we have hundreds of such papers across the different types of evidence (archaeological, linguistic, anthropological, genetic, etc). And dozens of papers with genetic DNA evidence in the last 15 years. And the history they reveal is fascinating.
在不同类型的证据（考古学、语言学、人类学、遗传学等）中，我们有数百篇这样的论文。在过去的 15 年里，还有几十篇关于基因 DNA 证据的论文。它们所揭示的历史令人着迷。

We’ll focus primarily on a 2019 paper in Nature, Narasimhan et al, with 100+ authors from 18 countries, including from Indian colleges. They studied DNA sequences of 800+ human remains from 269 different dates between 12000BCE to 1 BCE in 19 different locations.
我们将主要关注 2019 年发表在《自然》（Nature）上的一篇论文，Narasimhan 等人的 100 多位作者来自 18 个国家，其中包括印度高校。他们研究了来自 19 个不同地点、269 个不同日期（公元前 12000 年至公元前 1 年）的 800 多具人类遗骸的 DNA 序列。

And the results of the DNA analysis from this paper is consistent with most of the results from other papers doing other kinds of analysis.What does it say about the origin of Indians?
而这篇论文的 DNA 分析结果与其他论文进行其他类型分析的大多数结果是一致的。这对印第安人的起源有何启示？

Modern Indians have DNA from races that came in 3 waves:

• Ancient hunter-gatherers from Africa 65K years ago
• Middle-Eastern Pre-farmers from 6k-4k BCE
• Steppe Herders from Ukraine/Kazakhstan 1800-1500BCE

From these we got: Aryans, Indus Valley, Dravidians, Modern Indians

现代印度人的 DNA 来自分三波迁徙而来的人种：

• 65K 年前非洲的古代狩猎采集者
• 公元前 6k-4k 年的中东前期农民
• 公元前 1800-1500 年乌克兰/哈萨克斯坦的草原牧民

由此我们得到了雅利安人、印度河流域人、达罗毗荼人、现代印度人

All humans originated in Africa. These ancient hunter-gatherers started migrating out. They crossed the red sea, then Arabia, then Iran, then Afghanistan, Pakistan and came to India. They continued their migration and went on to Andaman islands, Indonesia, and Australia.
所有人类都起源于非洲。这些古老的狩猎采集者开始向外迁徙。他们穿越红海，然后是阿拉伯、伊朗、阿富汗、巴基斯坦，最后来到印度。他们继续迁徙，来到安达曼群岛、印度尼西亚和澳大利亚。

These people reached India approximately 65000 years ago and stayed here. In academia, they are called the Ancient Ancestral South Indians, or AASI. They are the OG Indians.
(This DNA is still found in Andamanese tribes)
这些人大约在 6.5 万年前到达印度，并一直居住在这里。在学术界，他们被称为古代祖先南印度人，或 AASI。他们就是 OG 印度人。
(这种 DNA 在安达曼部落中仍然存在）。

Then, around 6000 to 4000 BCE, pre-farmers from modern day Iran area, started moving towards India. They weren’t yet sedentary farmers, but knew how to grow wheat and barley. These are called “Iranian Farmers” in academia
然后，大约在公元前6000到4000年间，来自现代伊朗地区的前农耕民族开始向印度迁移。他们还不是定居的农民，但知道如何种植小麦和大麦。这些人在学术界被称为 “伊朗农民”。

The Iranian farmers settled near the river valleys of northwest Indian subcontinent. AASI hunter-gatherers where already living in that area at this time. The Iranian farmers co-existed with AASI for a while, traded, intermarried, and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization
伊朗农民定居在印度次大陆西北部的河谷附近。此时，AASI狩猎采集者已经生活在这一地区。伊朗农民与AASI人共存了一段时间，进行贸易、通婚，并产生了印度河流域文明

The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) hit its peak between 2600BCE to 1900BCE. Then the IVC began to decline. We don’t know for sure why this happened, but this decline happened before any of the “Aryans” showed up on the scene. Probably because the rivers dried up.
印度河流域文明（IVC）在公元前 2600 年至公元前 1900 年间达到顶峰。随后，印度河流域文明开始衰落。我们并不清楚衰落的原因，但衰落发生在 “雅利安人 “出现之前。可能是因为河流干涸了。

Yes, it is possible that this is the famed “Saraswati” river which dried up. Or maybe it is not. We’re just not sure. But we know that around this timeframe existing rivers dried up and the land became dry and we suspect that this led to the Indus Valley cities dying
没错，这可能就是著名的 “萨拉斯瓦蒂 “河，它已经干涸了。也可能不是。我们也不确定。但我们知道，大约在这个时间段，现有的河流干涸了，土地变得干燥，我们怀疑这导致了印度河流域城市的消亡

The Indus Valley (IVC) people (who were the result of a few thousand years of Iranian farmer DNA mixing with AASI DNA) started moving into the Indian subcontinent. At this time, the OG AASI were still living in India.
印度河流域（IVC）人（他们是几千年来伊朗农民 DNA 与 AASI DNA 混合的结果）开始迁入印度次大陆。此时，OG AASI 人仍生活在印度。

Now the IVC started trading and intermarrying the AASI. Since the IVC people were moving in from northwest India, it is easy to see why there were more IVC people in North India and their numbers reduced as we move South.
现在，IVC 人开始与 AASI 人进行贸易和通婚。由于 IVC 人是从印度西北部迁入的，这就不难理解为什么北印度有更多的 IVC 人，而当他们向南迁移时，他们的人数就减少了。

This mixing over the next thousand years gave us two groups: Ancestral North Indians (ANI), in the gangetic plains of North India, with more IVC and less AASI DNA, and Ancestral South Indians (ASI), in the land South of the Vindhyas: less IVC DNA and more AASI DNA
在接下来的一千年里，这种混合产生了两个族群：祖先北印度人（ANI）生活在北印度的恒河平原，他们的 DNA 中 IVC 含量较多，AASI 含量较少；祖先南印度人（ASI）生活在梵蒂亚山脉以南：他们的 DNA 中 IVC 含量较少，AASI 含量较多。

A little earlier, pastoralist herders from the Steppe grasslands of Central Eurasia (Ukraine/Kazakhstan) had started their migrations. One group migrated West to Europe. Another group went South and when they reached Tajikistan, split into two: one headed to Iran another to India
稍早之前，来自欧亚大陆中部（乌克兰/哈萨克斯坦）草原的牧民开始了他们的迁徙。其中一支向西迁徙到欧洲。另一支向南迁徙，到达塔吉克斯坦后，分成两支：一支前往伊朗，另一支前往印度。

According to the evidence, these people brought with them horses and chariots (which the locals did not have), an ancestor of Sanskrit, and an ancestor of the Vedic religion. What they didn’t bring with them, is their women!
根据证据，这些人带来了马匹和战车（当地人没有）、梵文的祖先和吠陀宗教的祖先。他们没有带来的是他们的女人！

Modern DNA allows us to track our male ancestry (via genetic markers on the Y-chromosome) separately from our female ancestry (via mitochondrial DNA which is inherited 100% from the mother and 0% from the father). What does this show?
现代 DNA 使我们能够分别追踪男性祖先（通过 Y 染色体上的遗传标记）和女性祖先（通过线粒体 DNA，100% 从母亲那里遗传，0% 从父亲那里遗传）。这说明了什么？

Most of the female DNA of most modern Indians has come from the AASI: the ancestral hunter gatherers that came from Africa. The amount of male DNA varies depending on two things: how far south you are and what caste you are.
大多数现代印度人的女性 DNA 都来自 AASI：即来自非洲的祖先狩猎采集者。男性 DNA 的数量取决于两点：你在南方多远以及你是什么种姓。

How do we know this? We have compared the genetic markers of these ancient humans with the DNA of 70 different groups of Indians from different regions of India, and different caste and jati groups. And we have some interesting findings!
我们是如何知道这一点的呢？我们将这些古人类的遗传标记与来自印度不同地区、不同种姓和贾蒂群体的 70 个不同印度人群体的 DNA 进行了比较。我们有了一些有趣的发现！

It shows that Steppe herders, mostly male, came to India and started mating with the locals around 1800-1300BCE. It wasn’t an invasion. They didn’t “take over”. In fact, the maximum amount of Steppe herder DNA in any Indian is not more than 30%. The rest is IVC and AASI DNA.
它表明，大约在公元前 1800-1300 年，草原牧民（大多为男性）来到印度，开始与当地人交配。这不是入侵。他们并没有 “占领 “印度。事实上，任何一个印度人身上的草原牧民 DNA 最多不超过 30%。其余的都是 IVC 和 AASI DNA。

Obviously, North Indians have more Steppe herder DNA (up to 30%) compared to South Indians (around 10% only). But more interestingly, upper castes in North India have more Steppe herder DNA compared to the other castes.
很明显，北印度人比南印度人（大约只有 10%）拥有更多的草原牧民 DNA（高达 30%）。但更有趣的是，与其他种姓相比，北印度的上层种姓拥有更多的草原牧民 DNA。

So, Steppe herders from Kazakhstan/Ukraine (not the Caucasus mountains) came into India, competed with the local men for the local women, and managed to become the upper castes.
因此，来自哈萨克斯坦/乌克兰（而非高加索山脉）的草原牧民来到印度，与当地男子争夺当地女子，并设法成为上层种姓。

To summarize: Modern Indians are:

• North Indians: 40% Iranian farmer DNA, 30% AASI African DNA, 30% Steppe herder DNA
• South Indians: 50% AASI African DNA, 40% Iranian farmer DNA, 10% Steppe herder DNA

And that’s male DNA. All female DNA is AASI.

总而言之：现代印度人是

• 北印度人40% 伊朗农民 DNA，30% 非洲 AASI 人 DNA，30% 草原牧民 DNA
• 南印第安人50% 的 AASI 非洲人 DNA，40% 的伊朗农民 DNA，10% 的草原牧民 DNA

这是男性的 DNA。所有女性的DNA都是AASI。

许可协议

本文为 gang/刚戈 撰写，采用 CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 许可协议，转载请注明出处。

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