History of the horse in the Indian subcontinent



The horse has been present in the Indian subcontinent from at least the middle of the second millennium BC, more than two millennia after its domestication in Central Asia.

A

 * The word ashva must originally have implied strength or speed or both before it came to be applied to a horse.
 * Sri Aurobindo, The Upanishads, quoted in The horse and the aryan debate, by Michel Danino (Journal of Indian History and Culture of the C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar Institute of Indological Research, Chennai, September 2006, No.13, pp. 33-59.)


 * The cow and horse, go and ashva, are constantly associated... A study of the Vedic horse led me to the conclusion that go and ashva represent the two companion ideas of Light and Energy, Consciousness and Force.
 * Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda quoted from THE HORSE AND THE ARYAN DEBATE by Michel Danino* (Published in the Journal of Indian History and Culture of the C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar Institute of Indological Research, Chennai, September 2006, No.13, pp. 33-59.)


 * From early historical times forward we know that horses have been regularly imported to South Asia. We also know the Indus had a long tradition of trade with centres to the west and north. Would it be surprising therefore if horses were occasionally acquired through trade, ultimately reaching the Indus world by land or sea? This would account for the occurrence of a small number of their bones in various contexts without the need to assume their presence must necessarily be associated with profound cultural change.
 * Bridget Allchin (1977), quoted in Bryant, E. F. (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture : the Indo-Aryan migration debate. Oxford University Press. chapter 9


 * When I wrote this report, I least expected that it might spark off a controversy and land me in the witness box before the Indian historians' jury. . . . I was apprised of the gravity of the situation when I began to get letters asking me for clarification of the situation against the prevalent belief that the horse is a non-indigenous species and was introduced into India only by the (invading) Aryans. . . . To make my position clear, I wrote in my article . . . that whatever may be the opinion expressed by archaeologists, it cannot either deny or alter the find of a scientific fact that the horse was present at Hallur before the (presumed) period of Aryan invasion. . . . I have only declared the findings that horse bones were traced in the faunal collection from Hallur and am responsible to that extent only.
 * K. R. Alur's reply to the controversy generated by Alur's report, which insisted that horse remains were present at Hallur.
 * K.R. Alur, (1992) "Aryan Invasion of India, Indo-Gangetic Valley Cultures." In New Trends in Indian Art and Archaeology (561-566). Ed. B. U. Nayak and N. C. Ghosh. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. quoted in Bryant, E. F. (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture : the Indo-Aryan migration debate. Oxford University Press. chapter 9

W

 * It is likely enough that camel, horse and ass were in fact all a familiar feature of the Indus caravan.
 * Mortimer Wheeler (1953) The Cambridge History of India. Supplementary Volume: The Indus Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.page 92. quoted in Bryant, E. F. (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture : the Indo-Aryan migration debate. Oxford University Press. chapter 9..

From Hindu texts

 * The four and thirty ribs of the strong steed, Kin of the gods, the axe meeteth; Skilfully do ye make the joints faultless; Declaring each part, do ye cut it asunder.
 * From the , as translated by A. B. Keith, The Veda of the Black Yajus School, Part II (1914), p. 379


 * The birthplace of the horse, indeed, is the sea, its kindred is the sea.
 * From the , as translated by A. B. Keith, The Veda of the Black Yajus School, Part II (1914), p. 637