Indo-Aryans
The
Indo-Aryans are the ethno-linguistic descendents of the
Indic branch of the
Indo-Iranians. The earliest records of Indo-Aryans are in the
Rigveda, and in
Hittite and
Assyrian references to the
Mitanni rulers. The Indo-Aryans tribes who engendered the
Vedic civilization are sometimes referred to as
Vedic Aryans, their
Vedic religion being the precursor of modern
Hinduism.
The compound term Indo-Aryan specifies the "Indic" branch of Indo-Iranian which was formerly known as "
Aryan" in linguistic terminology, "Aryan" deriving in turn from the
Sanskrit word
arya.
Today, there are close to a billion native speakers of Indo-Aryan languages, mostly on the
Indian Subcontinent, but with minorities on all continents.
The separation of Indo-Aryans proper from
Proto-Indo-Iranians is commonly dated, on linguistic grounds, to roughly 2000 BC. The
Nuristani languages probably split in such early times, and are either classified as remote Indo-Aryan dialects, or as an independent branch of Indo-Iranian. It is believed that by 1500 BC, Indo-Aryans had reached
Assyria in the west (the
Mitanni) and northern
Afghanistan in the east (the
Rigvedic tribes).
The spread of Indo-Aryan languages has been connected with the spread of the
chariot in the first half of the
second millennium BC. Some scholars trace the Indo-Iranians (both Indo-Aryans and Iranians) back to the
Andronovo culture (2nd millennium BC). Other scholars like Brentjes (1981), Klejn (1974), Francfort (1989), Lyonnet (1993), Hiebert (1998) and Sarianidi (1993) have argued that the Andronovo culture cannot be associated with the Indo-Aryans of India or with the
Mitanni because the Andronovo culture took shape too late and because no actual traces of their culture (e.g. warrior burials or timber-frame materials of the Andronovo culture) have been found in India or
Mesopotamia (Edwin Bryant. 2001). The archaeologist
J.P. Mallory (1998) finds it "extraordinarily difficult to make a case for expansions from this northern region to northern India" and remarks that the proposed migration routes "only gets the Indo-Iranian to Central Asia, but not as far as the seats of the
Medes,
Persians or Indo-Aryans" (Mallory 1998; Bryant 2001: 216).
Other scholars like
Asko Parpola (1988) connect the
BMAC with the Indo-Aryans. But although horses were known to the Indo-Aryans, evidence for the presence of horse in form of horse bones is missing in the BMAC (e.g. Bernard Sergent. Genèse de l'Inde. 1997:161 ff.). Asko Parpola (1988) has argued that the
Dasas were the "carriers of the
Bronze Age culture of Greater
Iran" living in the
BMAC and that the forts with circular walls destroyed by the Indo-Aryans were actually located in the BMAC. Parpola's hypothesis has been criticized by
K.D. Sethna (1992) and other scholars.
The first undisputed horse remains in India are found in the
Bronze Age Gandhara Grave culture context from ca. 1600 BC (although there are claims of horse bones found in
Harappan and even pre-Harappan layers). This likely corresponds to an influx of early Indo-Aryan speakers over the
Hindukush (comparable to the
Kushan expansion of the first centuries AD). Together with indigenous cultures, this gave rise to the
Vedic civilization of the early
Iron Age. This civilization is marked by a continual shift to the east, first to the
Gangetic plain with the
Kurus and
Panchalas, and further east with the
Kosala and
Videha. This Iron Age expansion corresponds to the
black and red ware and
painted grey ware cultures.
See also: History of India, History of PakistanThe Vedic
Kuru and
Panchala kingdoms in the first millennium became the core of the
Mahajanapadas, archaeologically corresponding to the
Northern Black Polished Ware, and the rise of the
Mauryan Empire, and later the medieval
Middle kingdoms of India.
Contemporary speakers of Indo-Aryan languages are spread over most of the northern
Indian Subcontinent. The largest group are the speakers of the
Hindi and
Urdu dialects of the
India and
Pakistan, together with other dialects also grouped as
Hindustani, numbering at roughly half a billion native speakers, constituting the largest community of speakers of any of the
Indo-European languages. Other Indo-Aryan communities are in
Nepal,
Bangladesh and parts of
Afghanistan. Of the 23
national languages of India, 16 are Indo-Aryan dialects (see also
languages of India). The only Indo-Aryan branch surviving outside the
Indian Subcontinent and the
Himalayas is the
Romani language, the language of the
Roma people (Gypsies).
Hindustani communities
Hindustani is an umbrella term for various dialects descended from the
Prakrits of medieval India. The largest of these are the
Hindi and
Urdu languages. Hindustani speaking people inhabit modern-day
Pakistan and
northern India. During the
British Raj, this region was identified as "Hindustan", the
Persian for "Land of the
Hindus". Related languages are spoken all over
Indian subcontinent, from
Bengal to
Sri Lanka and the
Maldives.
Roma and Sinti
 |
Roma family in Smyrne, Turkey, photographed in 1904. |
The closely related
Roma and
Sinti people, also known as "Gypsies", are traditionally
nomadic. They are believed to have left India in about 1000 AD and to have passed through what is now
Afghanistan,
Persia,
Armenia, and
Turkey. People recognizable by other Roma as Roma still live as far east as Iran, including some who made the migration to Europe and returned. By the 14th century, the Roma had reached the
Balkans, by the 15th century they appeared in
Western Europe, and by the 16th century, they had reached
Scotland and
Sweden. Peoples with some similarity to the Roma still exist in India, in particular in the desert state of
Rajasthan.Roma immigration to the
United States began in colonial times, and larger scale immigration began in the 1860s with groups from
Britain. The largest number of immigrants came over in the early 1900s. A large number also moved to
Latin America.
Ancient
*
Mitanni*
Vedic Aryans*
Kurus*
Chalukyas*
Licchavis*
Gandharis (During the
Mahabharata period the present
Kandahar province of
Afghanistan used to be called as Gandhar)
*
Shakya*
Magadhis*
Kambojas (Originally
Iranian, later Indianized)
*
Angas*
Kasis*
Kalingas*
SatavahanasContemporary
*
Assamese*
Bihari people*
Bengali people*
Chhettris
*
Chittagonians
*
Gujarati people*
Jats*
Lohanas*
Malikun*
Marathas*
Marathi people*
Marwaris*
Muhajirs
*
Nepalis
*
Oriya people*
Punjabi people*
Rajputs*
Roma people*
Seraikis*
Sinhalese*
Sindhi people*
Sinti*
Tarkhans
*
Unnithan*
*Mallory, JP. 1998. A European Perspective on Indo-Europeans in Asia. In: The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern and Central Asia. Ed. Mair. Washingion DC: Institue for the Study of Man.
*
Aryan*
Arya*
Aryavarta*
Aryan race*
Indo-Aryan migration*
Dasa*
Kshatriya*
Proto-Indo-Europeans
