Friend,
You have rightly nailed the issue in head.
Chronology is important and chronological order could only be finalized if some clues are collected from several Deva-asura battles alluded to in the traditions of India and Iran of the yore.
If main participants[Devas/Asuras and their priests] in all these Yudhas/or at least some of them, could be identified and the regions recognised where they resided at that point of time, the migration/immigration of the Indo-Aryans which happened in several waves could be settled to an extent.
As per information gleaned from various sources, 'Aryan Devas' and 'Aryan Asuras' are ascribed to common lineage of Manu and as such his descendants. Asuras are said to be senior and thus became rulers. The Devas tried to contest their right to claim ruling rights which they were denied and this led to eruption of fight between the two groups of the proverbial Aryan stock of the Pre historic and proto-historic times. These wars led to their scattering in various directions from their earliest kingdom from time to time. As their places of successive abodes changed, so gradual changes were injected in their habits, traditions, language and religious beliefs. [See, for details of our earlier attempts [posts with references earliest section of this thread] towards identification of men and places related with Devaloka and Pitri Loka [including of course, uttar Kurus].
If, one accepts to verify the authenticity of the Deva Asura power struggle known as Sangramas]Yuddhas in various Puranas, Mahabharata and, of course by implication in Rigveda, then and only then the issue could be settled once for all times to come, otherwise, endless discussion or debates would lead one nowhere.
Cooperation of all participants to dig the issue out is solicited.
We have at least 2 archaeological/geological certainties which tell us that Rig Ved should be dated much earlier than 1500 BCE:
i) iron has been dated to 1800 BCE or earlier in India in the Indo-gangetic plains,
ii) Saraswati river which has been mentioned in RigVed the most, has also been dated to have dried earlier than 2000 BCE. In Rig-ved times, it was flowing uninterrupted.
I am not sure if we should focus too much on Dev-asur sangram. Sometimes early symbolism takes historical shape later on. For a little digression, here is my thought about Dev-Asur (using Dr. Bhagwan Singh's book, The Vedic Harappans, as a reference) -
To focus only on Dev-asur is not correct. Lets look at all such pairs that find mention in Rig-Ved:
सुर - असुर or sur(dev)-asur,
देव - अदेव or dev-adev (enlightenment-unenlightenment),
स्नात - अस्नात or snat-asnat (initiated-uninitiated),
मेधावी - मूरा or medhavi-mura (wise-foolish),
आर्य - दास or arya-dasa (master-servant),
ज्योति - तम: or jyoti-tama (light-darkness),
रितविक - म्रीद्रावच or rtavak-mrdhravac (good in speech-corrupt in speech)
BTW - Most of the above words are still in use in present day India.
Most of these dev-asur
conflicts seem to be symbolic and should also be seen in context as advice of good आचरण to follow to deal with or overcome specific asurs or fears. People were probably overcoming their डर या भय (asur) and they also performed rituals where they were helped by Agni (fire), Indr (rain) etc. So Agni and Indra became Dev to people but sometimes when they also caused destruction, they became Asur as well.
Some Vedic dieties that are regarded as Dev were also Asur in Rig Ved. Agni is asur (III.3.4, IV.2.4, X.15.1) as it emits smoke, Varun is asur (I.24.14, II.27.10) as he is the lord of the night, Rudr is asur too (I.122.1, II.1.6) as he is related to smoldering fire.
Lets look at some of ways Dev conquered Asurs:
Dev killed Namuci and other demons with foam, they killed Asur through sacrifices, they killed Vrtra with offerings (oblations).
These opposite good-bad forces of Rig Vedic times probably took life form in late texts. It is quite possible that certain tribes or group of people were probably categorized based on their आचरण and behavior (here we get a hint of morality and ethics perhaps) in later texts that you have mentioned previously such as Puraan and Mahabharat, where dev or sur were good people and asur were bad people but in earlier text it does not appear to be so.
However, better scholars can always educate me.
