Chapter Info (Click Here)
Book No. – 11 (History)
Book Name – India: The Ancient Past (Burjor Avari)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. Understanding the Aryans
1.1. Sanskrit scholarship and the linguistic context
1.2. The understanding of Indian chronology after the Harappan excavations
1.3. The Indo-Iranian dimension
1.4. Racialisation: perceptions of Aryans as a unique race
1.5. A critique of Hindu nationalist versions of revisionism
2. The Aryan expansion
3. The Vedic world of the Indo-Aryans
3.1. Pastoralism, farming and trades
3.2. Pottery and iron: the material base as evinced from archaeology
3.3. The patriarchal family
3.4. Political power and social differentiation
3.5. The religion of the sacrifice
3.6. Vedic literature and learning
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LANGUAGE
Who were the Aryans?
Chapter – 4
Table of Contents
Timeline/Key Dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| c. 2000 BCE | A branch of Indo-Europeans, the Aryans, migrate towards Iran from the European steppe lands |
| c. 2000–1700 BCE | Aryan bards compose the RigVeda |
| c. 1700 BCE | The beginnings of the Aryan migration into north-west India |
| c. 1400 BCE | The arrival of the Rig-Vedic Aryans in India |
| c. 1000 BCE | The beginnings of the Iron Age in India |
| c. 900 BCE | Aryans advance into the Gangetic valley: the Battle of Ten Kings |
| c. 900–600 BCE | Aryan cultural advance into south India |
| c. 600 BCE | Completion of early Vedic literature |
| CE 1786 | Sir William Jones postulates the concept of the Indo-European family of languages |
| CE 19th and early 20th centuries | ‘Scientific racism’ acquires popularity in Europe, and the term ‘Aryan’ is misused by race-conscious European historians and scholars |
- There are about 6,000 languages in the world, classified into major language families.
- The dominant language family in the northern Indian subcontinent is Indo-Aryan, part of the Indo-European family.
- Sanskrit is the oldest language in the Indo-Aryan family, and other modern Indo-Aryan languages evolved from it.
- The term Indo-Aryan also describes the evolution of Indian culture after the decline of the Harappan civilisation.
- Nomadic tribes from eastern and southern Afghanistan began migrating to the Indian subcontinent around 1700 BCE.
- Around 1400 BCE, a subgroup calling themselves Arya (meaning “noble”) entered, bringing the Rig-Veda.
- The Rig-Vedic Aryans are the authors of the earliest hymns in Sanskrit or Old Indic.
- Other tribes of the period, not identifying as Arya, are also considered Aryans by historians.
- The new society that emerged mixed pre-Aryan and Aryan cultural elements, with the Rig-Vedic Aryans becoming dominant.
- The culture that developed is called Vedic culture, which remains central to Hindu religious, social, and cultural life in India.
- Vedic refers to the Veda, sacred hymns, including the Rig-Veda and other collections.
- The chapter addresses three issues: 1) origins of the Aryans and related controversies, 2) Aryan domination in the Indian subcontinent, and 3) Indo-Aryan society and culture.
Understanding the Aryans
- Swastika today is feared in the Western world for its association with the Nazis during the 1930s and 1940s.
- The swastika became a Nazi symbol representing the superiority of the so-called Aryans.
- Under Hitler, Aryans were considered a race with extraordinary mental, spiritual, and physical attributes.
- Segregation in Nazi Germany classified people as Aryans or “inferior” races, such as Jews, Gypsies, black people, and homosexuals.”
- After 1945, the defeat of Hitler and Hitlerism led scholars to marginalize the use of the term Aryan to prevent neo-Nazi exploitation.
- This marginalization was intended to stop neo-Nazis from glorifying Hitler’s ideas.
- In India, the swastika represents divinity, happiness, peace, and prosperity.
- For Hindus, the Aryans were not genocidal but a noble group of ancient Indians.
- Aryan origins are debated, and scholars cannot avoid using the term when studying the history of the Indian subcontinent.
- The passage will examine the Aryans through five lenses: scholarship, chronology, comparative religion, racialization, and Hindu nationalist revisionism.
Sanskrit scholarship and the linguistic context
- To understand the term ‘Aryan’ in Indian history, we start with the study of languages, specifically Sanskrit.
- Sanskrit is considered the mother language of almost all languages in north India.
- Sir William Jones (1746–94) studied Sanskrit and concluded that it is related to several refined European languages, such as Greek, Latin, and Persian.
- Jones believed Sanskrit was superior to Greek and Latin, showing a strong linguistic affinity with these languages.
- He emphasized the idea of a common source for these languages, suggesting a fundamental unity in human thought despite linguistic differences.
- Jones’s work influenced linguistics, philology, and studies of interconnections between world languages.
- In the 19th century, scholars concluded that Proto-Indo-European was a common ancestor for the Indo-European languages.
- Proto-Indo-European speakers likely came from a homeland around the European steppe, near the Black Sea and Caspian Sea.
- Evidence of this migration is gathered through archaeology and oral traditions, showing gradual migration rather than violent conquest.
- Migrants, speaking various dialects, adapted their language to new environments, incorporating new words and expressions.
- The most widely accepted migration model is the Kurgan hypothesis, developed by Marija Gimbutas in the 1950s.
- The Indo-Iranian language family, the oldest branch of Indo-European languages, consists of two sub-groups: Indo-Aryan and Iranian.
- Around 2000 BCE, Indo-Iranian groups migrated southward from the Eurasian steppe, reaching Central Asia, Iran, and Afghanistan.
- The Aryan language group, possibly an early form of Sanskrit, reached the Indus River as early as 1700 BCE, where it blended with local languages.
- The first use of the word ‘Aryan’ is linked to the context of language families.