According to Sanatana Dharma / Hinduism (which has undeniably contributed the most to the study of consciousness), elephants too have an Atman. Now can atman be translated to a soul? Probably not, but there is no English equivalent for Atman, which is the consciousness that all living beings possess. All Atman is part of the eternal blissful consciousness of the Universe, called Sat-Chid-Ananda & collectively it is called the Brahman. That is why we say "Aham Brahmasmi" meaning, "I am Brahman / I am of Brahman". It is very well described in the Upanishads (One of the ancient scriptures of Hinduism) & has been even explained by Erwin Schrödinger as one of the few (only) ways to understand consciousness.
Please do us all a favor & avoid wikipedia to read & understand this stuff.
Mueller's theory was very fake & driven by his own nefarious agenda to put down any greatness that may have come out from the Indian subcontinent. Iranians were Persians, nothing to do with "Aryans".
What civilization is yours that has come to threat?
Are you one of those peddlers of the fake & totally debunked Aryan Invasion Theory & that the so-called Aryans came & destroyed the so-called Dravidians? Just so you know I'm from S.India & a non-Brahmin & AIT is the worst game to have been played on a group of unsuspecting people.
The only reason minorities are protected in India is because of Hindus — also the only reason India is secular.
I do not know what satisfaction these people get by demonizing hinduism every where they go. People like Dravidian think it is okay to have Christian nations, Islamic nations, Buddhist & Jewish nations, but just calling India a "Hindu nation" puts their panties in a tight knot. Hinduism / Sanaatana Dharma (Eternal Dharma) is not just a religion, it is a full culture, philosophy to unite mankind (not divide) & it has given many things to the world, but such people wish to destroy it & make it like the violent middle east or the materialistic west.
India & Hindus have always been hurt & invaded & there is no evidence for Hindus to have invaded other lands or committing the types of harm on mankind. Even in war, victorious Hindus rulers never touched civilians & especially defeated women were treated with utmost respect. People like Dravidian are shameless, but I cannot blame these people entirely. India has been facing this onslaught from Muslim invaders, Christian (Portuguese, French, British etc) invaders for more than 1000 years & since independence we have had a government that forbade study of hinduism in schools, yet allows Christo-Islamic studies. The result is the emergence of ignorant people like Dravidian who wish to break India. Such people are also called Urban Naxals. Very unfortunate indeed.
That's quite unreasonable to say the least. In any case, I am not familiar with the term "Vedism". Vedas are not the only concept but a very critical pillar of Sanatana Dharma.
I can speak to the Vedic dates. Those are contested but only due to their novelty, meaning they are MUCH older than what western media gives them credit for. And the Vedic civilization exists to this day in India as Sanatana Dharma followers or as the ancient Greeks & the modern Western world calls it - Hindus.