The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE.

[7] After the

collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which ended ca. 1900 BCE,[8][9] groups of Indo-Aryan
peoples migrated into North-western India and started to inhabit the northern Indus Valley.[10]
The Indo-Aryans were a branch of the Indo-Iranians, which originated in the Andronovo culture[11] in
the Bactria-Margianaera, in present northern Afghanistan.[12] The roots of this culture go back further
to the Sintashta culture, with funeral sacrifices which show close parallels to the sacrificial funeral
rites of the Rig Veda.[13] The Indo-Aryans split-off around 18001600 BCE from the
Iranians,[14] where-after they were defeated and split into two groups by the Iranians,[15] who
dominated the Central Eurasian steppe zone[16] and "chased them to the extermities of Central
Eurasia."[16] One group were the Indo-Aryans who founded the Mitanni kingdom in northern
Syria[12] (ca.15001300 BCE). The other group were the Vedic people, who were pursued by the
Iranians "across the Near East to the Levant (the lands of the eastern Mediterranean littoral), across
Iran into India."[17]
The knowledge about the Aryans comes mostly from the Rigveda-samhita,[18] which was composed
between ca. 15001200 BCE.[19][20][12] They brought with them their distinctive religious traditions and
practices.[21] The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the
hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion,[22][23] and the Indo-Iranian religion.[24] According to
Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact
zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran.[25] It was "a
syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements",[25] which borrowed
"distinctive religious beliefs and practices"[26] from theBactriaMargiana Culture.[26] At least 383 nonIndo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the godIndra and the ritual
drink Soma.[27] According to Anthony,
Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god of might/victory, Verethraghna, were transferred to the
adopted god Indra, who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. Indra was the
subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity
with Soma, a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from Ephedra) probably borrowed from the BMAC
religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers.[12]