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Ancient Indian peoples’ race and caste character is still troubled terrain. Once some clarity comes with careful study of their early racial, civilisational, and cultural character, modern Indian society’s roots and their connection to Shudra/Dalit/Adivasi ancient history can be understood.

Understanding the Harappan civilisation builders is the key to re-evaluating Indian racial roots. Reading the Sanskrit texts written after the settlement of Aryan migrants, starting with Rigveda, does not give us any clues to the nature of ancient Indian society. All the Sanskrit books deal only with the lives of Brahmins and Kshatriyas, and both these castes belong to one Aryan race. Neither food producers nor builders of the animal economy nor technological innovators exist in those books. No trace of skin colours or other racial characteristics comparable to those of present day Shudras, Dalits, or Adivasis can be found in those books. Even the most popular Ramayana, the Mahabharata, reflects only Brahmin and Kshatriya life, culture, and colour. Only a few, e.g., Srirama and Srikrishna, are even shown as mixed race. This we can see in paintings or idol images of Rama and Krishna, though in very modern Indian dress.

Rakshas/Vanaras, another category of characters in those books, also do not engage in food production, animal husbandry, or tool-making. Thus, no ancient Sanskrit books reflect the real racial and caste origins of the people who founded Indian civilisation, or how the later imposition of the caste system stunted economic and cultural development in India.

Painted or illustrated ancient humans

The most prominent mythological images of ancient men and women are the paintings and illustrations of Raja Ravi Varma, a South Indian Kshatriya, who mapped his contemporary ruling family images, dress codes, colour, and body type according to his understanding of the Kshatriya and Brahmin families of his time. He seems to have relied on textual descriptions in depicting the subjects of his paintings. Consequently, his images of supposedly ancient mythological figures, both male and female, do not manifest any ancientness. They instead appear fashionably modern. Their clothing, ornaments and houses do not represent ancient Indian economic, civilisational and cultural environments at all. His people of Krita Yuga or Treta Yuga look like modern Kshatriyas or Brahmins – mostly of North India.

Similar characteristics are found in Indian temple idols and cinematic characters. We find no ancientness in them. For example, the Ramayana is said to date back to Krita Yuga and the Mahabharata to Dwapara Yuga, but we cannot locate them in any time frame of ancient civilization. If we compare their dress, body and facial images to those of our freedom fighters, the freedom fighters look more like ancient people than Ramayana and Mahabharata figures.

The texts and associated images are inconsistent with what we know of material production in ancient times. The people of Krita Yuga or Dwapara Yuga had not developed technologies for producing the clothes, ornaments, shoes, chappals, or other fashionable commodities depicted in Varma’s images.

In the societies portrayed in the Ramayana and Mahabharata, was there tillage agriculture using buffalo-bulls? Was there irrigation? Were there crop-harvesting systems? Was there social........

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