Fwd: Arvarata and Aryans

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Aryavarta (Sanskrit:, " abode of the Aryans " ) is the ancient name for

northern and central India , where the culture of the Indo-Aryans was

based. It is erroneous to give this name to the whole of India , since

the borders of Aryavarta have been described differently in sources

from different times.

The Manu Smriti (2.22) gives the name to " the tract between the

Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the eastern to the western sea " .

The Vasistha Dharma Sutra I.8-9 and 12-13 locates Aryavarta to the

east of the disappearance of the Sarasvati in the desert, to the west

of Kalakavana, to the north of the mountains of Pariyatra and Vindhya

and to the south of the Himalaya. Baudhayana Dharmasutra (BDS)

1.1.2.10 gives similar definitions and declares that Aryavarta is the

land that lies west of Kalakavana[1], east of Adarsana[2], south of

the Himalayas and north of the Vindhyas. In BDS 1.1.2.11 Aryavarta is

confined to the Ganga - Yamuna doab, and BDS 1.1.2.13-15. Some sutras

recommend expiatory acts for those who have crossed the boundaries of

Aryavarta. Baudhayana Srautasutra recommends this for those who have

crossed the boundaries of Aryavarta and ventured into far away places [3]

Patanjali's MahÄbhÄá¹£ya defines Aryavarta like the Vasistha Dharma Sutra.

Aryavarta may thus have different definitions. In some later texts,

Northwest-India (which earlier texts consider as part of " Aryavarta " )

is even seen as " impure " , probably due to invasions. The Karnaparva

43.5-8 states that those who live on the Sindhu and the five rivers of

the Punjab are impure and dharmabahya

 

 

 

Aryan is an English word derived from the Sanskrit " Ārya " meaning

" noble " or " honorable " .[1][2] The Avestan cognate is " Airya " and the

Old Persian equivalent is " Ariya " . It is widely held to have been used

as an ethnic self-designation of the Proto-Indo-Iranians[citation

needed]. Since, in the 19th century, the Indo-Iranians were the most

ancient known speakers of Indo-European languages, the word Aryan was

adopted to refer not only to the Indo-Iranian people, but also to

Indo-European speakers as a whole[citation needed].

In Europe, the concept of an Aryan race became influential in the late

19th and early 20th centuries as linguists and ethnologists argued

that speakers of these Indo-European languages constitute a

distinctive race, descended from an ancient people, who were referred

to as the " primitive Aryans " , but are now known as Proto-Indo-Europeans.

In linguistics, Aryan is most often used in the context of the

sub-branch of Indo-Iranian languages referred to as Indo-Aryan languages.

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *ar-yo-, a yo-adjective to a root *ar " to

assemble skillfully " , present in Greek harma " chariot " , Greek aristos,

(as in " aristocracy " ), Latin ars " art " , etc. Proto-Indo-Iranian

*ar-ta- was a related concept of " properly joined " expressing a

religious concept of cosmic order..

The adjective *aryo- was suggested as ascending to Proto-Indo-European

times as the self-designation of the speakers of the

Proto-Indo-European language itself. It was suggested that other words

such as Éire, the Irish name of Ireland, and Ehre (German for

" honour " ) were related to it, but these are now widely regarded as

untenable,[3] and while *ar-yo- is certainly a well-formed PIE

adjective, there is no evidence that it was used as an ethnic

self-designation outside the Indo-Iranian branch. In the 1850s Max

Müller theorized that the word originated as a denotation of farming

populations, since he thought it likely that it was related to the

root *arh3, meaning " to plow " ; thus Aryans would be those who plow.

Other 19th century writers, such as Charles Morris, repeated this

idea, linking the expansion of PIE speakers to the spread of

agriculturalists. Most linguists now consider *arh3 to be unrelated.

The Proto-Iranian form *AryÄna- appears as ÆryÄnam VäejÄh " expanse of

the Aryans " in Avestan, in Middle Persian as Ä'rÄn, and in Modern

Persian as ĪrÄn. Similarly, Northern India was referred to by the

tatpurusha Aryavarta " Arya-abode " in ancient times.

Semantics of Sanskrit arya

Main article: Arya

According to Paul Thieme (1938), the Vedic term arya- in its earliest

attestations has a meaning of " stranger " , but " stranger " in the sense

of " potential guest " as opposed to " barbarian " (mleccha, dasa), taking

this to indicate that arya was originally the ethnic self-designation

of the Indo-Iranians. Arya directly contrasts with Dasa or Dasyu in

the Rigveda (e.g. RV 1.51.8, ví jÄnÄ«hy âryÄn yé ca dásyavaḥ " Discern

thou well Aryas and Dasyus " ). This situation is directly comparable to

the term Hellene in Ancient Greece. The Middle Indic interjection

arÄ " !, rÄ " ! " you there! " is derived from the vocative arí! " stranger! " .

The Sanskrit lexicon Amarakosha (c. AD 450) defines Arya as mahÄkula

kulÄ«nÄrya " being of a noble family " , sabhya " having gentle or refined

behavior and demeanor " , sajjana " being well-born and respectable " , and

sÄdhava " being virtuous, honourable, or righteous " . In Hinduism, the

religiously initiated Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishyas were arya, a

title of honor and respect given to certain people for noble

behaviour. This word is used by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and

Zoroastrians to mean noble or spiritual.[4], for example, Four Noble

Truths (Pali: CattÄri ariyasaccÄni, Sanskrit: CatvÄri ÄryasatyÄni),

and Noble Eightfold Path (PÄli: Ariyo aá¹­á¹­haá¹…giko maggo; Sanskrit: Ä€rya

'ṣṭÄá¹…ga mÄrgaḥ).

Max Müller and other 19th century linguists theorized that the term

*arya was used as the self-description of the Proto-Indo-Europeans,

who were often referred to at this time as the " primitive Aryans " . By

extension, the word came to be used in the West for the Indo-European

speaking peoples as a whole. Besides Müller for example H. Chavée in

1867 uses the term in this sense (aryaque), but this never saw

frequent use in linguistics, precisely for being reserved for

" Indo-Iranian " already. G. I. Ascoli in 1854 used arioeuropeo, viz. a

compound " Aryo-European " with the same rationale as " Indo-European " ,

the term now current, which has been in frequent use since the 1830s.

Nevertheless, the use of Aryan as a synonym for Indo-European became

widespread in non-linguistic and popular usage by the end of the

nineteenth century.

Use of " Aryan " for " Indo-European " in academia was obsolete by the

1910s: B.. W. Leist in 1888 still titles Alt-Arisches Jus Gentium

( " Old Aryan [meaning Indo-European, not Indo-Iranian] Ius Gentium " ).

P. v. Bradke in 1890 titles Methode und Ergebnisse der arischen

(indogermanischen) Altterthumswissenschaft, still using " Aryan " , but

inserting an explanatory bracket. Otto Schrader in 1918 in his

Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde under the entry Arier

matter-of-factly discusses the Indo-Iranians, without any reference to

a possible wider meaning of the term.

According to Michael Witzel in his paper Autochthonous Aryans? The

Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts, " the use of the word Arya

or Aryan to designate the speakers of all Indo-European (IE) languages

or as the designation of a particular race is an aberration of many

writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and should be

avoided. " [5]

The most probable date for Proto-Indo-Iranian unity is roughly around

2500 BC. In this sense of the word Aryan, the Aryans were an ancient

culture preceding both the Vedic and Avestan cultures. Candidates for

an archeological identification of this Indo-Iranian culture are the

Andronovo and/or Srubnaya Archeological Complexes. India, Anatolia and

Central Asia have also been suggested as possible homelands for this

culture.

In linguistics, the term Aryan currently may be used to refer to the

Indo-Iranian language family. To prevent confusion because of its

several meanings, the linguistic term is often avoided today. It has

been replaced by the unambiguous terms Proto-Indo-European,

Proto-Indo-Iranian, Indo-Iranian, Iranian and Indo-Aryan.

The Proto-Indo-Iranian language evolved into the family of

Indo-Iranian languages, of which the oldest-known members are Vedic

Sanskrit, Avestan and another Indo-Iranian language, known only from

loan-words found in the Mitanni language.

There is evidence of an Indo-Aryan language in Mesopotamia around 1500

BC in the form of loanwords in the Mitanni dialect of Hurrian, the

speakers of which, it is speculated, may have once had an Indo-Aryan

ruling class[citation needed]. At around the same time, the

Indo-Aryans associated with the Vedic civilization, which dates back

to the same period. They are sometimes called Vedic Aryans because it

is believed that they brought the Vedas to the Indian

subcontinent[citation needed] after the Aryans migrated into that

region (this theory is contrary to the Out of India Theory). In

ancient India, the term Aryavarta, meaning " abode of the Aryans " , was

used to refer to the northern Indian subcontinent[citation needed].

Indo-Aryans are spread over most of the northern, eastern, western and

central parts of the Indian subcontinent and in the islands of Sri

Lanka and the Maldives. Indo-Aryan languages that exist outside the

Indian subcontinent include Romani, the language of the Roma people,

often known as " Gypsies " , Parya, used in Tajikistan, Jataki, used in

Ukraine, and Domari which is used in the Middle East.

Since ancient times, Persians have used the term Aryan as a racial

designation in an ethnic sense to describe their lineage and their

language, and this tradition has continued into the present day

amongst modern Iranians [6].. In fact, the name Iran is a cognate of

Aryan and means " Land of the Aryans. " [7] [8] [9] However, many of

these usages are also intelligible if we understand the word Aryan in

its sense of " noble " or " Spiritual " .

 

 

The Iranian necklace was excavated from Gilean, Iran (1st millennium

BCE, National Museum of Iran). Because of evidence of its use in

several Indo-European cultures the swastika came to be identified as

" the oldest Aryan symbol " by several writers in the late 19th century.[10]

Darius the Great, King of Persia (521†" 486 BC), in an inscription in

Naqsh-e Rustam (near Shiraz in present-day Iran), proclaims: " I am

Darius the great King… A Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, having

Aryan lineage... " , although Herodotus claims that it was the Medes who

were the Aryans, having changed their name after the arrival of Medea

and potentially her son Medus[11] on the Iranian plateau.[12] He also

calls his language the " Aryan language, " commonly known today as Old

Persian. According to the Encyclopedia Iranica, " the same ethnic

concept was held in the later centuries " and was associated with

" nobility and lordship. " (p. 681)

The word has become a technical term in the theologies of

Zoroastrianism, but has always been used by Iranians in the ethnic

sense as well. In 1967, Iran's Pahlavi dynasty (overthrown in the 1979

Iranian revolution) added the title Ä€ryÄmehr " Light of the Aryans " to

those of the monarch, known at the time as the Shahanshah (King of Kings).

The term " Airya-shayana " (abode of the Aryans) has also been used in

the Avesta referring to all the lands where the Aryans dwell.

" Iranian Glory " (Airyana Khvarenah) occurs in the Avesta 23 times.

The term also remains a frequent element in modern Persian personal

names, including Arya and Aryan (boy's and girl's name), Aryana (a

common surname), Iran-Dokht (Aryan daughter, a girl's name),Aryanpour

(or Aryanpur, a surname), Aryamane, Ary among many others. The terms

" Aryan " and " Iranian " are sometimes used interchangeably, as in the

Iranian bank chain, Aryan Bank.

Because of ethnolinguistic arguments about connections between peoples

and cultural values, " Aryan " peoples were often considered to be

distinct from Semitic peoples. By the end of the nineteenth century

" Aryan " was used as a synonym for Indo-European, and this popular

usage persists even after some academic authors have condemned such

usage because of its negative connotations derived from the Nazi era.

In linguistics, it is still used in the context of the sub-branch of

Indo-Iranians referred to as Indo-Aryans, all though that usage has

also been condemned and proposed to be replaced by the term Indic

languages.

The " Aryan race " was a term used in the early 20th century by European

racial theorists who believed strongly in the division of humanity

into biologically distinct races with differing characteristics. Such

writers believed that the Proto-Indo-Europeans constituted a specific

race that had expanded across parts of Europe, Iran and small parts of

northern India. This usage tends to merge the Sanskrit meaning of

" noble " or " elevated " with the idea of distinctive behavioral and

ancestral ethnicity marked by language distribution.

From the late 19th century, a number of writers had argued that the

Proto-Indo-Europeans had originated in Europe. Their opinion was

received critically at first, but was widely accepted by the end of

the nineteenth century. By 1905 Hermann Hirt in his Die Indogermanen

(Hirt consistently used Indogermanen, not Arier, to refer to the

Indo-Europeans) claimed that the scales had tilted in favour of the

hypothesis, in particular claiming the plains of northern Germany as

the Urheimat (p. 197) and connecting the " blond type " (p. 192) with

the core population of the early, " pure " Indo-Europeans. This argument

developed in tandem with Nordicism, the theory that the " Nordic race "

of fair-haired north Europeans were innately superior to other

peoples. The identification of the Proto-Indo-Europeans with the north

German Corded Ware culture bolstered this position. This was first

proposed by Gustaf Kossinna in 1902, and gained in currency over the

following two

decades, until V. Gordon Childe who in his 1926 The Aryans: a study

of Indo-European origins concluded that " the Nordics' superiority in

physique fitted them to be the vehicles of a superior language " (a

belief which he later regretted having expressed).

The idea became a matter of national pride in learned circles of

Germany, and was taken up by the Nazis. According to Alfred

Rosenberg's ideology the " Aryan-Nordic " (arisch-nordisch) or

" Nordic-Atlantean " (nordisch-atlantisch) race was thus a master race,

at the top of a racial hierarchy, pitted against a " Jewish-Semitic "

(jüdisch-semitisch) race, deemed to be a racial threat to Germany's

homogeneous Aryan civilization, thus rationalizing Nazi anti-Semitism.

Nazism portrayed their interpretation of an " Aryan race " as the only

race capable of, or with an interest in, creating and maintaining

culture and civilizations, while other races are merely capable of

conversion, or destruction of culture. These arguments derived from

late nineteenth century racial hierarchies. Some Nazis were also

influenced by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine (1888)

where she postulates " Aryans " as the fifth of her " Root Races " , dating

them to about a million years

ago, tracing them to Atlantis, an idea also repeated by Rosenberg,

and held as doctrine by the Thule Society. Such theories were used to

justify the introduction of the so-called " Aryan laws " by the Nazis,

depriving " non-Aryans " of citizenship and employment rights, and

prohibiting marriage between Aryans and non-Aryans. Though Mussolini's

fascism was not originally characterised by explicit anti-Semitism, he

too eventually introduced laws pressed upon him by Hitler, prohibiting

mixed-race marriages between " Aryans " and Jews.

Because of historical racist use of Aryan, and especially use of Aryan

race in connection with the propaganda of Nazism, the word is

sometimes avoided in the West as being tainted, in the same manner as

the swastika symbol. Currently, India and Iran are the only countries

to use the word Aryan in a demographic denomination. Aryan is also a

common male name in India, Afghanistan, and Iran.

 

 

 

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