Share and RT this thread..

Many people mistakenly think "dasas" "dasyus" of the Rigveda were dark-skinned aboriginal "dravidians" –– this is definitely not true. Most philological research suggests they were an Iranic tribe.

Most people need to learn this is a myth.

Let's start with early attestations. Strabo (11.9.2) mentions Arsaces, a Scythian of the Parni, a tribe of the Dahae who lived in Margiana on the banks of the Oxus river.

Here, we find a clear indication of a movement from east to west. How does it correlate w dasas? let's see

The Dahas/Dahae & Parni correspond to the Dāsa and the Paṇi of the Rigveda. Remember, Iranian "h" is Sanskrit "s"

It's the reason Sindhu became Hindu. Paṇi are a commonly mentioned tribe in the Rigveda, who are considered misers, impious.

There is a district called Dahistān on the east coast of the Caspian Sea till date. These people (Scythian of Parni of the tribe Daha/Dahae) migrated from east (in Margiana) to the west and established the Arsacid Empire.

You might ask.. doesn't dasa mean "servant" in sanskrit?

It's quite likely the term dasa was used by the Iranic tribes to describe themselves & meant something else but because of subsequent vedic domination over them in the Indus region.. the term dasa came to be identified as "Slave"

We have a modern example of this...

The real life example comes from the actual word "slave" itself... The word slave comes from the ethnonym for the slavonic/slavic people. So many of them were sold into slavery that the literal ethnic name "slav" became synonymous with a servant in chattel. A "slave"

So the word dasa was an ethnonym these iranics used for themselves.. Do we have a possible etymology for dasa in any iranic tongue?

Khotan Saka "daha" , Vakhi δay < *daha, "man, manly hero"
Ossetic läg "man" – may go back to Alanian *dahaka-

What about things like them being "nose-less" ?

The word anāsa was constructed by Max Muller wrongly as "nose-less"

Sayanacharya constructs it as "an-ās" meaning "mouth, face less"

Sayana said this means they had defective speech organs so anarya speech. Not "Snub nose"

What about their supposed "dark skin" ? kRSNA tvac used here to translate as "Swarthy skin" is a symbolic expression for darkness. The Rig is poetry, full of metaphors and symbols. It's not a history book describing anthropology of races. Battle of good vs evil, light vs dark.

It's important not to draw anthropomorphic references from divinical metaphors. Rudra is often described as golden, tawny hair but w brown skin & golden arm. Which blonde hair, brown skin golden arm humans exist that were anywhere near subcontinent? (not even melanesians)

Further evidence comes from the fact that the dasa are always described in terms of being non-worshippers of indra, anindra (without indra), anyavrata (different rites), avrata (without arya rites)... so on and so forth

Clearly, a war of religion is being fought here. NOT race