May 17, 2003
Niraj Mohanka: Amateur Historian and Indologist
“There was no Aryan ‘invasion’. Ever. Humankind began in Africa and there have been steady migrations ever since. The so called Aryans --actually people who had settled in the Caucasus-- migrated to India as they did to other parts of the world, as did other peoples. At any rate they all had been assimilated in India long before Vedic times. 
The theory of Aryan invasion was invented to deny India the nativity of a creative exuberance called the Vedas.” Who is asserting this? A right wing, polemical priest? No, it’s Niraj Mohanka, not yet forty, a high tech engineer and scarcely doctrinaire.
Niraj was born in London in 1966 where his father had gained his PhD in civil engineering. The family moved to the US when Niraj was two. He grew up in Utica, NY and went on to do his masters in electrical engineering and business administration. He has been in the high tech industry for over ten years, mostly working with start ups. He is clearly a specimen of that emerging class: an Indian mind outfitted by Western --mostly American-- education; a mind that combines rigour and depth. Now, why would he not dissolve in the affluent society and wash India out of his system? India’s gravitational pull it would seem acts hard and over long distances.
“Four years ago when my son was learning about Ancient Indian history in school, I realized the huge errors and gaps in what he was being taught,” recounts Niraj. “I remember being taught exactly the same falsehoods when I was growing up in upstate New York in the 1970s. I had assumed knowledge about India would have improved these past 30 years, but no, it had not.”
He found that no one had created a continuous outline of Indian history from the earliest pre-historical times (before 7000 B.C.E.) to today (2000 C.E. and later). “I decided then and there to create the best timeline of Indian History available - for my son, for myself and for the benefit of people everywhere.”
After 4 months of hard work [done alongside a full-time job], Niraj was able to complete his ‘Royal Chronology of India’ timeline. It was a multi-spreadsheet Microsoft Excel file that he posted at a number of Indian websites, before finally deciding to create his own website for others to freely download [see link below].
“I felt a great sense of satisfaction completing this timeline and then presenting it to my son’s school and to conferences such as the WAVES 2002 last year in Rhode Island. I feel a strong sense of mission to spread the truth about Indian history: that there was never any ‘Aryan Invasion’ .”
He asserts that Indian civilisation is an uninterrupted continuum going back 10,000 years when it acquired a distinct ‘Indian’ identity. His timeline is a tour-de-force not to be missed. The diligence, the presentation and the breathtaking amount of information he has packed in are truly worth your time. Whether or not you agree with him, you will find yourself asking some new questions.
Despite his awe for India’s antiquity he is a realist. He presents his timeline to various audiences, but says “ Most Indians still cling to their religious misinterpretation of the ‘Yuga’ [Eon; Epic; Age] concept and thus resist admitting that all civilizations are younger than 10,000 years.”
Niraj’s quest continues today as he works with Indologists from around the globe to update school curriculums to reflect the most complete understanding of Indian history. He welcomes correspondence.
“Many Indians assume that the next generation growing up here is ignorant of India or does not care,” he says. “ but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. My passion for Indology and specifically for Indian History and Sanathana Dharma is very strong. There is enough work in these fields to keep me busy for my entire life—and maybe the next too!”
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Niraj Mohanka
8 Deer Run Drive
Shrewsbury, MA 01545
To download the India History timeline, click this link and select “Royal Chronology” from the left column.