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A close reading of the Rg-vedic passages in which terms meaning white or light and dark or black are employed in reference to human beings convinces me that a racial interpretation of these terms is not required by textual evidence.

— Hans Henrich Hock

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More quotes by Hans Henrich Hock

“Indo-Europeanists must exercise caution, lest they unwittingly support ideologically motivated agendas”!

A few things can be established with certainty, others with a good degree of likelihood, and yet others remain entirely uncertain.

He emphasizes an approach where truth is the “ultimate goal”, but “truth is always conditional, to be superseded by better evidence or interpretation of evidence” (HOCK 2005:282).

Geldner's interpretation of [RV 9.73.5 , 10.116.4 ] strike me as even more arbitrary, given the limited context; Grassmanns' interpretation that the reference is to darkness or a dark cloud is at least equally possible.

In the case of Pirak, however, it must be admitted that the cultural innovations do not appear to be clearly Indo-European. Perhaps there was only indirect contact via other ethnic groups in Seistan. (244)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Hans Henrich Hock (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.