Genes Archaeology Language

1

Genes, archaeology and language

(Compilation of resources by M. Kelkar, 24 March 2009).Thanks to P. Manansala for the Abstract.J Hum Genet. 2009 Jan 9. [Epub ahead of print] Links

The Indian origin of paternal haplogroup R1a1(*) substantiates theautochthonous origin of Brahmins and the caste system.

Sharma S

,

Rai E

,

Sharma P

,

Jena M

,

Singh S

,

Darvishi K

,

Bhat AK

,

Bhanwer AJ

,

Tiwari PK

,

Bamezai RN

.[1] 1National Centre of Applied Human Genetics, School of Life Sciences, JawaharlalNehru University, New Delhi, India [2] 2Department of Human Genetics, Guru NanakDev University, Amritsar, India.Many major rival models of the origin of the Hindu caste system co-exist despiteextensive studies, each with associated genetic evidences. One of the major factorsthat has still kept the origin of the Indian caste system obscure is the unresolvedquestion of the origin of Y-haplogroup R1a1(*), at times associated with a male-mediated major genetic influx from Central Asia or Eurasia, which has contributed tothe higher castes in India. Y-haplogroup R1a1(*) has a widespread distribution andhigh frequency across Eurasia, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, with scantyreports of its ancestral (R(*), R1(*) and R1a(*)) and derived lineages (R1a1a, R1a1band R1a1c). To resolve these issues, we screened 621 Y-chromosomes (of Brahminsoccupying the upper-most caste position and schedule castes/tribals occupying thelower-most positions) with 55 Y-chromosomal binary markers and seven Y-microsatellite markers and compiled an extensive dataset of 2809 Y-chromosomes(681 Brahmins, and 2128 tribals and schedule castes) for conclusions. A peculiarobservation of the highest frequency (up to 72.22%) of Y-haplogroup R1a1(*) inBrahmins hinted at its presence as a founder lineage for this caste group. Further,observation of R1a1(*) in different tribal population groups, existence of Y-haplogroupR1a(*) in ancestors and extended phylogenetic analyses of the pooled dataset of 530Indians, 224 Pakistanis and 276 Central Asians and Eurasians bearing the R1a1(*)haplogroup supported the autochthonous origin of R1a1 lineage in India and a triballink to Indian Brahmins. However, it is important to discover novel Y-chromosomalbinary marker(s) for a higher resolution of R1a1(*) and confirm the presentconclusions.Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication, 9 January 2009;doi:10.1038/jhg.2008.2.Full paper:http://www.scribd.com/doc/11517386/jhg20082a Dear Kalyanaraman Ji,Thanks for sharing the message with us. This is not a new case, this comes often when aperson who don't know A,B,C,D of Genetics starts making comments on Genetics!!!! Themolecular clock is now more or less standerdised and in so many studies it has given theexact result as it was mentioned in the history e.g. about european Gypsies and Siddipopulations of India.For molecular clock see the recent study:

PDF Created with deskPDF PDF Writer - Trial :: http://www.docudesk.com

2

http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/172/1/373In most of the views I read comments/questions about the molecular clock. They say that it isnot possible to map the time scale of recent migrations because of a wide error margin!!!!! Butit is not true, nevertheless, if one use a large sample size and high resolution analysis geneticsis the best tool to predict the prehistory. The studies mentioned here are very old and heshould read some of the new studies!! At this level I would say that e vidence from the Ychromosome and autosomal markers is less clear about the exact timing and extent of (recent) gene flow to India from outside. Yet, none of the genetic systems explored thus farwould be consistent with a major genetic contribution attributable to the hypothetic Aryaninvasion from Central Asia or Europe. The discovery of downstream markers of M17 will alsomake soon the picture more clear about Y chroromosome. I copy/paste below thestraightforward comments of Dr Nicole Boivin (who is a Cambridge based reseracher) aboutold studies supporting Aryan invasions---In reading the genetics literature on South Asia, it is very clear that many of the studiesactually start out with some assumptions that are clearly problematic, if not in some casescompletely untenable. Perhaps the single most serious problem concerns the assumption,which many studies actually start with as a basic premise (e.g., Watkins 1999; Roychoudhuryet al. 2000; Bamshad et al. 2001; Quintana-Murci et al. 2001), that the Indo-Aryan invasionsare a well-established (pre)historical reality. The studies confirm such invasions in large partbecause they actually assume them to begin with. Thus Bamshad and colleagues state as apremise of their study that:… Indo-European-speaking people from West Eurasia entered India from the Northwestand diffused throughout the subcontinent. They purportedly admixed with or displacedIndigenous Dravidic-speaking populations. Subsequently they may have established theHindu caste system and placed themselves primarily in castes of higher rank. (Bamshad etal. 2001: 1).The fact that Bamshad et al. then go on to establish an Indo-Aryan migration, as outlinedabove, is thus less surprising. One clear reason that the assumption of Indo-Aryan invasionsis repeatedly made in the literature undoubtedly relates to the fact that little archaeologicalliterature is referenced, and that which is, is generally at least some twenty if not thirty ormore years out of date. Thus we find statements like:The origins of the nearly one billion people inhabiting the Indian subcontinent andfollowing the customs of the Hindu caste system are controversial: are they largelyderived from Indian local populations ( i.e. tribal groups) or from recent immigrants toIndia?

Archaeological

and linguistic

evidence support the latter hypothesis

, whereasrecent genetic data seem to favor the former hypothesis. (Cordaux et al. 2004a: 231; myemphasis)............................-----The assumption of Indo-Aryan invasions into the subcontinent is so entrenched thatwhen genetics findings contradict the notion of invasions, geneticists generally see it asproblematic, and often try to interpret it away. Thus, Cordaux and colleagues are sowedded to the idea of a full-fledged Indo-Aryan invasion that they explain thecontradictory mitochondrial evidence, indicative of a high indigenous contribution, asresulting from combined practices over the centuries since invasion of hypergyny andpreferential female infanticide, the latter apparently at rates as high as 30%-80% (thisrange is based, it should be pointed out, on the general sociobiological literature ratherthan any South Asian historical or ethnographic sources, undoubtedly since they arecompletely lacking) (Cordaux et al. 2004a).I hope this would help to understand them to know the power of genetics more clearly.PranaamGyaneshwer

PDF Created with deskPDF PDF Writer - Trial :: http://www.docudesk.com

3

BioEssays, Volume 29, Issue 1 , Pages 91 – 100, Published Online:

22 Dec 2006

Peopling of South Asia: investigating the caste-tribe continuum in India

Gyaneshwer Chaubey

1 *

, Mait Metspalu

1

, Toomas Kivisild

1 2

, Richard Villems

1

Department of Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu and Estonian Biocentre, Tartu, Estonia

2

Leverhulme Centre of Human EvolutionaryStudies, The Henry Wellcome Building, University of Cambridge, UK email: GyaneshwerChaubey ( gyanc@ebc.ee)

*

Correspondence to Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Tartu University and Estonian Biocentre, Riia 23, Tartu, 51010, Estonia.ABSTRACTIn recent years, mtDNA and Y chromosome studies involving human populations from SouthAsia and the rest of the world have revealed new insights about the peopling of the world byanatomically modern humans during the late Pleistocene, some 40,000-60,000 years ago,over the southern coastal route from Africa. Molecular studies and archaeological record areboth largely consistent with autochthonous differentiation of the genetic structure of the casteand tribal populations in South Asia. High level of endogamy created by numerous socialboundaries within and between castes and tribes, along with the influence of severalevolutionary forces such as genetic drift, fragmentation and long-term isolation, has kept theIndian populations diverse and distant from each other as well as from other continentalpopulations. This review attempts to summarize recent genetic studies on Indian caste andtribal populations with the focus on the information embedded in the socially defined structureof Indian populations. BioEssays 29: 91-100, 2007Some excerpts:…Language shift. Language shift is a cultural process in which an expanding populationchanges their language of that of a surrounding population with only a minor contribution of that population genes. (25) This process makes for discordance between languages and genesand that largely hampers the journey of gene with language. An important process that hasshaped the present (spatial) distribution of languages in South Asia is language shift byindigenous populations. The Mushar community is one of the best examples of language shiftin India. This community is dispersed mainly in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarhand Madhya Pradesh and is known to have spoken the Mundari dialect of the Austro-Asiaticlanguage family in the recent past. (91) But now they have by and large adopted Indo-European language from the surrounding populations. (Mushar literally means mouse eatersHindi; Mus- 'Mouse', her-'eater'). Some of them are still hunters and gatherers and continue tospeak the Mundari language. Y chromosome and mtDNA studies on this population andneighboring Indo-European populations revealed an almost impermeable genetic boundarybetween them. This suggests that the cultural process in India is one where differentcommunities live side by side, interchanging ideas, foods and goods but not genes. In certainareas, however, the juxtaposed communities are more or less independent of one another,kept separate by the hierarchal category in the caste system...The ongoing debate . . . The origin of the Indian caste system and the Indo-Aryan speaking populations is a matter of intense academic debate with its history going back to Sir William Jones, who, as a judge inthe Presidency of Bengal, originally reported striking similarities between Sanskrit, Greek andLatin at the end of the 18 th century. He suggested a common source for all these languages,while MaxMu¨ ller, another distinguished orientalist, added, a half century later, the argumentthat the Aryans might have migrated to India around 1500 BC. More than two centuries of extensive interdisciplinary scholarship, in particular after the 20 th century discovery of theIndus Valley Civilization and the establishment of the main facts about the neolithization of South Asia, has greatly widened and enriched the panorama of the understanding of thepeopling of South Asia in the global context. The study of classical markers put South Asia in

PDF Created with deskPDF PDF Writer - Trial :: http://www.docudesk.com