SONGS FROM PREHISTORY: Mantras are the oldest obsession in hindu culture. They are transmited from father to son orally. When we look deep into them they have two component 1) rhythm2)rituals. These two aspects have a meaning only in the later human development. Earliest music and rituals had only psychological connotations and rational explanations to them were added only later. In the form of a system and text these practices can be traced to an archaic religion. In Indian state of kerala there still a family of Brahmin priests who claim to be purest among the vedic settlers in india still perform a ritual. The ceremony has mantras which contains often only sounds and there are no words at stretches. Thus the mantras have only elaborate repetition of sounds only. Computerized comparison of these sounds have a similarity only to a form of bird songs. That is these rituals are a continuing heritage that was passed from a time prior to the acquisition of languages by man. These early ritual practices had their origins in the early humans who migrated to india from Africa and they were incorporated into the vedic rituals by admixture with the new comers.
These are from Michael Wood's BBC documentary. I have been searching for his descriptions through anthropologists, historians and Vedic scholars. They do not concur with Wood's opinion. Apparently it appears to be just Michael Wood's opinion. I think Wood just spiced up his presentation.
Interestingly the same Y-chromosome haplogroup is shared by both the Bhat brahmin community (Mangalore region; >60%) and Adivasis (18%) in Madya Pradesh. Similar studies have emerged for communities in other states of India. The picture we get is at a molecular level we are a blended group, yet exhibit outward differences. The body of information regarding Y-chromosome (the project started just five years ago, but an earlier study goes back to 1992) is still evolving, and in a few years we would have a much richer knowledge of human migration patterns.
BTW, the so called Y-M9 was found in Theni (west of Madurai) which is shared by the Australian aborigines. It was a major discovery when announced a few years ago, linking Africa to Australia.