While in our timeline Vedas are usually associated with Hinduism in this alternate timeline the vedic Aryans donot migrate down to the Indian subcontinent but instead stay put in central Asia and expand into the central steppes and latter into the pontic Steppes. The Aryans latter Aryanize their neighbouring ethnic groups including the eastern Slavs which in our time line was the exact opposite
Introduction and historical background
In our timeline (otl) the cradle of indo Iranian culture being The Bactrian Margiana culture or bronze age Oxus civilization(BAMC)which lasted from 2300-1700 BC located in modern day northern Afghanistan , southern Turkmenistan, parts of Uzbekistan which latter spread to inlcude large parts of present day northern iran and most of mordern day afghanistan .There is evidence to suggest that the farming settlement of these region had a common culture as evidenced by pottery ,jewelry etc indicating that there was interaction between diffrent settlement.The culture was quite advanced for its time ,the people of this culture parctised settled agriculture and had knowledge of extensive irrigation but the main occupation of the people was pastorialism but was gradually replaced by agriculture. It is believed that the capital of this culture was situated in mordern day gonur the evidence in this regrad is the excavation of large fortifications and temples and palaces.There are signs of proto urbanization were also noticed in excavations and it is belived that urbanization preaked around 2000bc .The people of this culture traded with the people of Indus valley civilization and trade it is believed was extensive as a lot Indus valley seals and ivory was found . The people of this culture also traded with people as far as the Elamite kingdoms in mordern day Iran.They also had good knowledge of metal and metallurgy .Horses ,camel, cows were domesticated and the people had knowledge of chariots.
The culture in and around 2000 BC came into contact with the andronovo culture to its north .The Andronovo culture was nomadic but after contacts with BAMC The people of this culture began to practice settled agriculture particularly around the delta of river amu Darya and this sub culture was named tazabagyab sub culture. There is evidence to indicate that the andronovo culture influenced the BAMC as the Pottery of that culture was found along side the pottery of BAMC and in the course of time the pottery found had a synthesis of both the culture. Further evidence of the fusion of culture is found in the kurgan of highland of Bactria .
Mordern day archeologist are convinced that the BAMC is related to the indo Iranian people and that the people of this culture went of to form the cultures in indian subcontinent and Iran respectively. While there is disagreement as to how the culture became indo Iranian. Arguments put forward by Soviet archeologist sarianidi proposes that the inhabitants of this culture were indo Iranian in origin but arguments put forward by other archeologists which is more acceptable to the wider archeological community is that the culture was initially started by neolithic farmers and was subsequently indo Iranianized by the andronovo culture to its north .Whatever the origin its accepted that proto indo Iranian culture originated in this area as the tribes of andronovo moved south into the Oxus civilization
The BAMC suddenly disappeared in the late bronze age and in its place yaz culture came up in 1300 BC during the early iron age .The people of yaz culture followed the early Zoroastrianism .This time gap of nearly 500 years suggest that a large scale migration took place and it corresponds to the time period in which the indo Iranian people moved to Iran and India respectively.
The story begins
This alternate history exercise aims to explore the course of events which would take place had the vedic indo Aryans stayed put in central Asia instead of moving into the subcontinent of south Asia .In this time line all indo Iranian people move out of central Asia including the non Vedic indo Aryans into Iran and the indian subcontinent.The vedic indo Aryans who in this time line will be referred to as vedic Aryans remain in central Asia and use the knowledge of the BAMC which they have absorbed to start up a civilization in central Asia
The reason why as to why Vedic Aryans stayed put in central Asia can be attributed to a point of difference in this timeline . In our time line the indus valley civilization collapsed due to a lot of catastrophic events caused by change in the course of the river Indus and the deflection of monsoon rains . The civilization decended into civil war and a lot of people died ,cities and villages were abandoned as a result and most of its fromers residents moved east into the gangetic river valley. This climatic change also had impact in central Asia as it caused indo Iranian people to move out of central Asia during the late bronze age with the vedic indo Aryans coming into the subcontinent and settled down in modern day Sindh and Punjab province of Pakistan from where they expanded to the rest of India by 500 BC .
In this time line the indus valley civilization survived in a much better shape by adopting to the change , though de population does occur but not in the massive scales as we see in our time line ,this may be due to the strong central authority that prevented the civilization from decending into civil war and by solving most of their problems by expanding into the gangetic river valley to relieve the massive population pressure on land . With no free land available in iran as it is occupied by their cousins and with the prospect of facing a formidable opponent in the south Asia the vedic Aryans decided to stay put in central Asia .
Another major point of difference is that vedic Aryans in this timeline are more of settled agriculturist rather than being pastorialist as they were in our time line .The vedic Aryans had knowledge of agriculture and irrigation from oxus river valley civilization and so in this time line settlement and proto urbanization takes place around amu Darya and syr Darya where the vedic Aryans practice settled agriculture and the Fergana valley along with the river valley of amu darya andasyr darya becoming the cradle of vedic Aryan faith
Outside these river valley the vedic Aryans practiced pastorialism . There were sings of proto urbanization along the river and in the Fergana valley.By 1200 BC the civilization extended from the Pamir mountains to the banks of the Caspian sea .
The vedic Aryans did face threats from other tribes some of whom were other indo Iranian people while the rest were other people groups including indo European tribes to the north but the threats were not significant and most of them were absorbed by the vedic Aryan tribes.
The various vedic Aryan tribes did not expand further north for quite some time due to the dry climate of the central steppe caused due to the dry period of 2nd millenium bc which caused the movement of the indo iranian people from the central steppes into central Asia . The period from 1800 to 1000 BC was characterized by population growth and development of Vedas and other aspects of vedic relegion .
Trade was conducted along this area which brought much needed revenue to the vedic Aryans.
By 1000 BC the vedic Aryans had consolidated their lands south of syr Darya and they began to expand into mordern day kazakhstan and the central steppes . Settlements were formed in and around the many lakes and rivers of Kazakhstan . It was during this time that The vedic Aryans began to encounter other indo Iranian peoples who in our time line were called Scythians by the Greeks or sakas by the Iranians .These were actually a collection of diffrent groups of indo Iranian peoples .The Scythians in our time line were the first nomadic empire in central Asia .They also played an important role in the politics of middle East . The scythians had controled the medes for a brief period of 20 years and they also played a crucial role in the destruction of the neo Assyrian empire .The western Branch of the scythians well came in conflict with the greeks and were defeated by the Macedonians in fourth century BC and were finally conquered by sarmatians . While not many details are known about the various sakas ,it is however clear that they were composed of many tribes one of which formed the indo Scythian empire .
In this time line the expansion of vedic Aryan and scythians will inevitably lead to wars and conflicts and while Scythians established their domination over central Asia by 600 BC in this time line it will be the vedic Aryans who defeat the sakas and assimilate the various Scythian tribes into the vedic Aryan fold. While some of the Scythians did settle down to become settled farmers in the vast the central steppes there were many who remained nomadic in the vast Steppes of the central steppes as well as the pontic Steppes . With the defeat of the Scythians the vedic Aryans entered what we call the pontic Steppes where they encountered the Cimmerians who occupied the fringe of the pontic Steppes .The cimmerians have moved to the region to avoid the conflicts between the scythians and vedic Aryans . The Cimmerians too are incorporated into the vedic Aryan fold but a large number of them migrate to Thrace and Cappadocia.
The vedic Aryans as a result have control territory which in our time line would include ukraine, Volga Russia,southern Russia ,the greater cacusaian mountain, the whole of central steppes, southern Kazakhstan , Uzbekistan and the whole of the Fergana valley