In 1850s, the theory of Aryan invasion in India was built up by English administrators, scholars and missionaries like Lathani, Dr. Chevers and Reverend John Wilson. The theory has dominated the research in ancient Indian chronology. This theory had its origin in the findings of one Italian trader, Philippo Sasetti, He came to India at the end of the 16th century and found a sort of similarity between some English and Sanskrit words, like father-Pitru, mother-Matru, etc. Sir William Jones 200 years later, in 1788 AD, made a statement that Sanskrit, Latin and Greek must have been the offspring of some unknown common language which might have ceased to exist. The language and the speakers of this unknown extinct common language were called Aryan and many conjectures were made about their original habitat. It was said that they might have lived somewhere in Central Eurasia i.e., from Germany to South Russia. They were described as having fair features and white skin. They were also portrayed as having conquering capacities.

Max Mueller dated the first Aryan invasion, of India in 1500 BC, which was just a conjecture. According to him, the Buddhist religion was a reaction to the Brahmanical one i.e., Vedic. The Western scholars had arrived at 483 BC , as the date of Buddha nirvana. Hence the Vedic literature consisting of Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and Upanishads and the epics must have been compiled just before the fifth century BC, the date of the Buddha. According to him, the language of these four types of literature is different and for the development of the language at each stage must have taken about 200 years. Thus, he decided that the first type, the Samhita literature (like Rigveda) must have been compiled in 1200 BC.

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