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. The earliest uncontroversial evidence of horse remains on the Indian Subcontinent date to the early Swat culture (around 1600 BCE). While horse remains and related artifacts have been found in Late Harappan (1900-1300 BCE) sites, indicating that horses may have been present at Late Harappan times, horses did not play an essential role in the Harappan civilisation, in contrast to the Vedic period (1500-500 BCE). The importance of the horse for the Indo-Aryans is indicated by the Sanskrit word Ashva, "horse," which is often mentioned in the Vedas and Hindu scriptures.

Paleolithic
During the Late Pleistocene, a species of equine, Equus namadicus, was native to the subcontinent, but it was extinct by the start of the Holocene. Equus namadicus is considered a "stenonine horse", meaning that it is probably more closely related to zebras and asses than to true horses.

Domestication
Domestication of the horse before the second millennium BC appears to be confined to its native habitat, the Great Steppe. There is increasing evidence that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes around 3500 BC. Recent discoveries in the context of the Botai culture suggest that Botai settlements in the Akmola Province of Kazakhstan are the location of the earliest domestication of the horse.

Use of horses spread across Eurasia for transportation, agricultural work, and warfare. The horse only appears in Mesopotamia from around 1800 BC as a ridden animal and acquires military significance with the invention of the chariot.

Indus Valley Civilisation
Proponents of Indigenous Aryanism believe that the Indus Valley civilisation was Aryan and Vedic. There are two common objections against such a correlation: "the Rg Vedic culture was pastoral and horse-centered, while the Harappan culture was neither horse-centered nor pastoral"; and "the complete absence of the modern horse (equus caballus)." Support for the idea of an indigenous Indo-Aryan origin of the Indus Valley Civilisation mostly exists among Indian scholars of Hindu religion and the history and archaeology of India, and has no support in mainstream scholarship.

The paucity of horse remains in pre-Vedic times could be explained by India's climatic factors which lead to decay of horse bones. Horse bones may also be rare because horses were probably not eaten or used in burials by the Harappans. Remains and artifacts ascribed to domesticated horses are limited to Late Harappan times indicating that horses may have been present at Late Harappan times, "when the Vedic people had settled in the north-west part of the subcontinent." It can therefore not be concluded that the horse was regularly used, or played a significant role, in the Harappan society.

Horse remains from the Harappan site Surkotada (dated to 2400-1700 BC) have been identified by A.K. Sharma as Equus ferus caballus. The horse specialist Sandor Bökönyi (1997) later confirmed these conclusions, and stated the excavated tooth specimens could "in all probability be considered remnants of true horses [i.e. Equus ferus caballus]". Bökönyi, as cited by B. B. Lal, stated that "The occurrence of true horse (Equus caballus L.) was evidenced by the enamel pattern of the upper and lower cheek and teeth and by the size and form of incisors and phalanges (toe bones)." However, archaeologists like Meadow (1997) disagree, on the grounds that the remains of the Equus ferus caballus horse are difficult to distinguish from other equid species such as Equus asinus (donkeys) or Equus hemionus (onagers).

Colin Renfrew (1999) remarked that "the significance of the horse [...] has been much exaggerated."

Vedic period


Sites such as the BMAC complex are at least as poor in horse remains as the Harappan sites. The earliest undisputed finds of horse remains in South Asia are from the Gandhara grave culture, also known as the Swat culture (c. 1400–800 BCE), related to the Indo-Aryans and coinciding with their arrival in India. Swat valley grave DNA analysis provides evidence of "connections between [Central Asian] Steppe population and early Vedic culture in India".

Horses were important in the lifestyle of the Indo-Europeans. Ashva, a Sanskrit word for a horse, is one of the significant animals referred to in the Vedas and several other Hindu scriptures, and many personal names in the Rigveda are also centered on horses. Derived from asva, its cognates are found in Indo-European languages like Sanskrit, Avestan, Latin and Greek (such as hippos and equus). There are repeated references to the horse in the Vedas (c. 1500–500 BCE). In particular, the Rigveda has many equestrian scenes, often associated with chariots. The Ashvamedha or horse sacrifice is a notable ritual of the Yajurveda.

As horses were difficult to breed in the Indian climate, they were imported in large numbers, usually from Central Asia, but also from elsewhere. Horse traders are already mentioned in Atharvaveda 2.30.29. A painting at Ajanta shows horses and elephants that are transported by ship. Trautmann (1982) thus remarked that the supply and import of horses has "always" been a preoccupation of the Indians, and "it is a structure of its history, then, that India has always been dependent upon western and central Asia for horses."