Writing ancient history is like solving a jigsaw puzzle with many missing pieces. The most crucial piece in ancient Indian history is the Sarasvati river. Rig Veda Samhita has several references to a fully flowing Sarasvati river (between the Sutlej and the Yamuna), that reached the ocean. Existing evidence clearly shows that drying up of the river started around 3000 BCE. So, the Rig Vedic or Sarasvati civilization must have flourished before 3000 BCE.
Danino's (2010) "The Lost River: On the Trail of the Sarasvati" provides compelling evidence showing several common features of the Rig Vedic or Sarasvati civilization that flourished before 3000 BCE, and the later Harappan or Indus Valley civilization that flourished around 2500 BCE. The commonalities between the two substantiate that they should actually be referred to as one civilization, the Sarasvati-Indus civilization.
Lal's (2002) "Ancient India" explains how Sarasvati civilization was deleted and how Indian history was deliberately converted into falsehood, on account of three reasons :
1. Max Muller was a true Christian who believed in the Bible. He looked upon the creation given in the Genesis as simply historical, and that nothing existed before then. "Lacking any firm basis of his own and rejecting every Indian evidence, he arbitrarily dated" (page 10) the earliest Rig Veda Samhita to be of 1500 BCE, within the safe limits of Bishop Usher's creation date of 23 Oct 4004 BCE and the Great Flood of 2350 BCE. However, he eventually accepted that he was merely speculating, and explicitly stated that "whether the Vedic hymns were composed 1000, 1500 or 2000 or 3000 B.C., no power on earth will ever determine" (page 83). But, by then, the damage was successfully done.
2. There was strong motivation to "counter all the writing that were projecting India's past in terms of great civilization and Indian philosophy and thoughts indicating great antiquity for the origins of universe and human beings" (pages 10-11). Indian civilization is the oldest surviving civilization, and contributions of the Indian civilization to the world are immense. However, the Christian missionaries magnified India's flaws and portrayed the most developed nation as backward, to prepare the ground for evangelical activity.
3. Another factor which contributed to the distortion of Indian history was the British interests in India. India was the richest and most developed nation on earth. But, the British interpretations of Indian history served to denigrate Indian character and achievements, and justify the colonization of India. Successfully looting India was accelerated by creating all possible divisions in Indian society and creating animosity between the various groups. The fictitious Aryan migration theory (that Aryans of the Rig Vedic civilization invaded India around 1500 BCE) was created to achieve this goal.
Isn't it shocking how the history of a nation can be distorted and falsified to suit one man's personal beliefs, to facilitate Christian missionary activity, and to help some people loot that nation more effectively?
This resulted in the false narrative that pitted the Dravidians of the Harappan or Indus Valley civilization of 2500 BCE, against the Aryans of the Rig Vedic civilization who were baselessly claimed to have invaded India around 1500 BCE. Thus one integrated Sarasvati-Indus civilization was broken into two disparate civilizations to suit the divisive goals of Britishers. Knapp's (2012) "Advancements of Ancient India’s Vedic Culture: The Planet’s Earliest Civilization and How it Influenced the World" provides an excellent summary of the fictitious Aryan migration theory. The Aryan migration theory has been the foundation for all breaking-India forces till now. Max Muller, the creator of the Aryan invasion theory, later disowned it, but by then the falsehood was strongly established.
Many people have the unscientific habit of questioning new beliefs without questioning current beliefs. Even a new belief that has much more evidence backing it than the current belief has, will be simply resisted. So, when a powerful coalition of people establishes a narrative, it becomes nearly impossible to change or even question that narrative. Such is the fate of Indian history. Falsehood continues.
