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'''Ann Miller''' was born on [[April 12]], [[1923]] (some sources still indicate [[1919]]) and died on [[January 22]], [[2004]]. She was an American dancer, singer and actress, who was christened '''Johnnie Lucille Collier''' in [[Chireno, Texas]] (some sources cite [[Houston, Texas]]).
The '''Aryan Invasion''' is a theory first put forward by British [[Indologist]] [[Frederick Max Muller|Frederick Max Müller]] and others in the late [[19th century]]. The theory states that a race of light-skinned nomadic warriors known as Aryans (although this name is etymologically incorrect, see [[Aryan]]) originating in the [[Caucasus]] mountains invaded [[India]] and [[Iran]] somewhere between 1800 and 1500 B.C.E, displacing the indigenous [[Dravidian]] people and their [[Indus Valley Culture]]. The Aryans brought with them their own [[Vedas|Vedic]] religion, which were codified in the Vedas around 1000 B.C.E. Upon arrival in India the Aryans abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and intermixed with the Dravidians in the north of India.
She was considered a child dance prodigy. She was given a contract with [[RKO]] allegedly at the tender age of thirteen (she had told them she was eighteen). She became famous for her roles in films such as [[Kiss Me, Kate]], [[Easter Parade]] and [[On the Town]]. Miller was famed for her speed in [[tap dancing]]; she claimed to be able to tap 500 times per minute.
The theory was built off scant archaeological evidence, and many of the dates were based on calculations made from Müller's belief that the world was created in the [[4th millennium BC|4th millenium B.C.E]]. However, the theory was buttressed by the undisputable linguistic split between North and South Indian languages, with [[Sanskrit]] from the North belonging to the [[Indo-European languages]].
Her father (from whom she would become estranged due to his infidelities to her mother) insisted on the name Johnnie because he had wanted a boy, but she was often called Annie. She took up dancing to help exercise her legs to help her [[rickets]]. Her film career effectively ended in [[1956]], but she remained active in the theatre. In [[1979]] she astounded audiences in the [[Broadway]] show [[Sugar Babies]]. In 1983 she won the [[Sarah Siddons Award]] for her work in [[Chicago]] theatre. In 2001 she took her last role as "Coco" in auteur director [[David Lynch]]'s movie [[Mulholland Drive (film)]].
At the moment most historians accept the theory, although the idea of a large-scale invasion that was alive around 1900 has made place for the idea of a much more modest invasion, where the Aryans either merged in with the existing population or formed its upper layer. However, a recent generation of archaeologists and historians, mostly from India, has challenged the hypothesis and is convinced that the Vedas point to a presence of the peoples who originally wrote them in India long before the presumed date of the Aryan invasion (ca. 1700 BCE).
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Ann Miller has a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] at 6914 Hollywood Blvd.
==Arguments of Opponents==
She died at the age of 80 (or 84) from cancer that had spread to her lungs and was interred in the [[Holy Cross Cemetery]] in [[Culver City, California]].
Opponents of the theory state that evidence in the Vedas points to a considerably earlier dating of the text (for example, the positions of stars described occurred in [[3500 BC|3500]] to [[4000 BC|4000 B.C.E.]]), and there is no account in the text of an invasion, of a great migration, or of an ancestral homeland in Central Asia. There is, however, considerable description of a river [[Vedic Saraswati River|Saraswati]]. Recent geological evidence (taken from satellite photographs) has uncovered the existence of a dry riverbed -- the [[Hakra River]] -- going through the [[Punjab]] area in the Indian subcontinent. Some historians believe this river, which at some points may have been five miles wide, and may have been as vast as the [[Amazon River]] in its heyday, is the Saraswati described in the Vedas. Many of the archaeological Indus Valley sites lie along the remains of this riverbed, indeed far more than lie along the Indus (which the Vedas name the [[Sindhu]] river), suggesting that the Indus Valley civilization may have flourished between the two rivers. Around 1900 B.C.E., however, the river appears to have dried up (due to earthquakes and the shifting of the path of the tributary Yamuna river, which turned from feeding the Saraswati to feeding the Ganges), causing the decline of the Indus Valley civilization.
In addition to the above archaeological evidence, much of Vedic culture is inconsistent with a nomadic lifestyle, like the use of metallurgy. This suggests that, contrary to the Aryan invasion theory, the Indus Valley civilization was in fact the Vedic civilization and both Aryan and Dravidian were indigenous to north and south India respectively, and that no conflict between Aryan and Dravidian or any Aryan invasion ever occurred.
== Filmography ==
==Arguments of Proponents==
* ''[[Anne of Green Gables]]'' (1934)
* ''[[The Good Fairy]]'' (1935)
* ''[[The Devil on Horseback]]'' (1936)
* ''[[New Faces of 1937]]'' (1937)
* ''[[The Life of the Party]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Stage Door]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Radio City Revels]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Having Wonderful Time]]'' (1938)
* ''[[You Can't Take It with You]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Room Service]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Tarnished Angel]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Too Many Girls]]'' (1940)
* ''[[Hit Parade of 1941]]'' (1940)
* ''[[Melody Ranch]]'' (1940)
* ''[[Time Out for Rhythm]]'' (1941)
* ''[[Meet the Stars: Stars Past and Present]]'' (1941) (short subject)
* ''[[Screen Snapshots: Series 21, No. 1]]'' (1941) (short subject)
* ''[[Go West, Young Lady]]'' (1941)
* ''[[True to the Army]]'' (1942)
* ''[[Priorities on Parade]]'' (1942)
* ''[[Reveille with Beverly]]'' (1943)
* ''[[What's Buzzin', Cousin?]]'' (1943)
* ''[[Hey, Rookie]]'' (1944)
* ''[[Jam Session]]'' (1944)
* ''[[Carolina Blues]]'' (1944)
* ''[[Eadie Was a Lady]]'' (1945)
* ''[[Eve Knew Her Apples]]'' (1945)
* ''[[The Thrill of Brazil]]'' (1946)
* ''[[Easter Parade]]'' (1948)
* ''[[The Kissing Bandit]]'' (1948)
* ''[[Mighty Manhattan, New York's Wonder City]]'' (1949) (short subject)
* ''[[On the Town]]'' (1949)
* ''[[Watch the Birdie]]'' (1950)
* ''[[Texas Carnival]]'' (1951)
* ''[[Two Tickets to Broadway]]'' (1951)
* ''[[Lovely to Look At]]'' (1952)
* ''[[Small Town Girl]]'' (1953)
* ''[[Calamity Jane]]'' (1953) (bit part)
* ''[[Kiss Me, Kate]]'' (1953)
* ''[[Deep in My Heart]]'' (1954)
* ''[[Hit the Deck]]'' (1955)
* ''[[The Opposite Sex]]'' (1956)
* ''[[The Great American Pastime]]'' (1956)
* ''[[Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood]]'' (1976)
* ''[[A Century of Cinema]]'' (1994) (documentary)
* ''[[That's Entertainment! III]]'' (1994)
* ''[[Mulholland Dr.]]'' (2001)
== External links ==
On the other hand, certain contradictions between what is known of the Vedic civilization and the Indus Valley civilization have to be taken into account. There is little or no evidence of the use of horses in the Indus civilization, while the Vedas make frequent mention of the horse (a subject of great dispute). Similar weight has been placed on the type of metals used in either civilization, the interpretation of the Vedic people as pastoral in contrast to the urban Indus Valley dwellers, the worship of the bull in contrast to the Vedic cow-worship, the importance of the tiger in the Indus civilization and its absence in the Vedic texts, the heavy consumption of fish by the Indus Valley dwellers whereas fishing goes virtually unmentioned in the Vedas, etc.
* {{imdb name|id=0587900|name=Ann Miller}}
* [http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3422589.stm BBC obituary]
[[Category:1923 births|Miller, Ann]]
Proponents of the theory of Aryan invasion argue that the identification of Saraswati with the Hakra would lead to inconsistencies, and that the Saraswati must be identified with some other river, perhaps in Afghanistan. They also point to the similarities between the [[Veda]]s and early [[Iran]]ian literature such as the [[Avesta]].
[[Category:2004 deaths|Miller, Ann]]
[[Category:American actors|Miller, Ann]]
[[Category:U.S. stage actors|Miller, Ann]]
[[Category:American film actors|Miller, Ann]]
[[Category:Hollywood Walk of Fame|Miller, Ann]]
[[Category:Female singers|Miller, Ann]]
[[Category:Tap dancers|Miller, Ann]]
[[Category:People from Texas|Miller, Ann]]
The issue might be settled definitively by the deciphering of the many [[seal (device)|seals]] found at Indus Valley sites, which are written with an unknown script.
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==Politics==
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Like much of history, this question is immensely politically charged. Followers of [[Hindutva]] very much wish to dispense with the Aryan invasion theory in favor of a continuous, ancient, and sophisticated Vedic civilization. In contrast there are many South Indians who have adopted Dravidian as a matter of ethnic pride. Hindu rejection may also be based on suggestions that the Indian [[caste]] system would originally have been a religious means for the Aryans to establish and maintain a superior position in Indian society. On the other hand, the original formulation of the theory probably had a [[racism|racist]] background, bringing the Indian civilization back to a [[Caucasian]] source.
[[sv:Ann Miller]]
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