Genesis of the Aryan Dravidian Myth: Rajiv Malhotra
A very interesting talk by Sri Rajiv Malhotra where he explores the history behind the creation of the concocted version of the so-called Aryan and Dravidian races. How the discourse starts in one part of the world and travels to another part.
In the early 1800s Germans created the Aryan identity to boost their low self image when compared with the French (the inheritors of the Renaissance), the English (who were the custodians of the British Empire) or the Italians (who inherited the Roman legacy). The discovery of Sanskrit and its closeness to German made the Germans study Sanskrit a lot and this gave them an opportunity for them to create a German identity different from the identity of barbarians that the other Europeans had given them.
He goes on to talk about how this divide is now being used by American Evangelists to Christianize Indians in South India by telling them that their origins are different from that of the Sanskrit speaking Hindus – which is a completely concocted theory.