Migrations have had a role in forming the economies and cultures of practically all countries. Their nature and effects must be studied objectively. In her lecture delivered in October 2020 in memory of Professor Satish Chandra, Professor Romila Thapar discusses the nature and effects of three migrations, distant from each other in time, viz. the Aryan, (second millennium BC), the Kuṣāṇa (early centuries AD) and Arab (tenth century onward). These migrations contributed to both economic change and cultural evolution. These were fundamentally different in nature from migrations accompanying colonial conquests and the forced shifting of people in the colonial era. The current prejudice against migrants, by those who claim this to be an expression of nationalism, should not cloud our judgement of earlier migrations into India and their role in our history and culture

移民在几乎所有国家的经济和文化的形成中都发挥了作用。必须客观地研究它们的性质和影响。在 2020 年 10 月为纪念 Satish Chandra 教授而发表的演讲中，Romila Thapar 教授讨论了三种迁移的性质和影响，这些迁移在时间上彼此相距甚远，即。雅利安人（公元前第二个千年）、Kuṣāṇa（公元初世纪）和阿拉伯人（十世纪以后）。这些移民对经济变化和文化演变都有贡献。这些在性质上与伴随殖民征服和殖民时代人民被迫迁移的移民有着根本的不同。那些声称这是民族主义表达的人目前对移民的偏见，