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Machine transcription
225
settlers for the first time took to a settled life and
laid the foundation of a rudimentary form of
democratic government (about 3000 B.C.)
c. 2500 to
c. 1500 B. C.
General migration of the Aryans from Northern
Afghanistan to India, Media, Fars and other parts
of the world.
c. 2000 to
c. 1400 B. C :
Rigvedic hymns composed in the Indus valley.
The Indo-Aryans at the time when the hymns of
Rigveda arose had not yet spread over the plains
of Northern India; rather we find them still
domiciled in the valleys of the Indus Basin.
That the home of the Indo-Aryans at the time of
the composition of the early hymns of the
Rigveda was the region indicated above is
further borne out (1) by topographical
consideration, foremost among these being the
names of the rivers mentioned in the Rigveda,
such as the Kubha (Kabul), the Suwasti (Swat),
the Krumu (Kurram) the Gomati (Gomal) and
the Sindhu (Indus) ; and (2) by climatic consi-
derations and the flora and fauna of the
country mentioned in these poems. The animal
and plant worlds of Rigveda are quite differ-
ent from those of India.
c. 1000 B.C. :
It was during the reign of Gustasp (about 1000
B.C.) that legends place the death of Spitama
Zarathushtra, whom we speak of as Zardusht or
Zoroaster, and whom most of the classical and
Oriental writers agree was a native of Bactria
(modern Balkh).
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.