Indo-Aryans
Total population
1. 045 Billion
Regions with significant populations
India  Pakistan  Bangladesh  Nepal  Sri Lanka  Maldives
Languages
Indo-Aryan languages
Religions
Primarily Indian religion and Islam

The Indo-Aryans are a wide collection of peoples united by their common status as native speakers of the Indo-Aryan branch of the family of Indo-European languages. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and ( Bengali: বাংলাদেশ inc-Latn Bangladesh) officially Nepal (नेपाल) is a Landlocked country in South Asia. Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ( Sinhalese:, இலங்கை known as Ceylon before 1972 is an Island The Maldives ( or, or Maldive Islands) officially the Republic of Maldives, is an Island nation consisting of a group of atolls stretching The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic) are a branch of the Indo-European language family Indian religions, also called Dharmic religions, are the related religious traditions that originated in the Indian subcontinent, namely Hinduism, For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic) are a branch of the Indo-European language family Today, there are slightly over approximately one billion native speakers of Indo-Aryan languages, most of them native to South Asia, where they form the majority. Their cultural influence, from early on in the 1st millennium CE, reached as far east as modern Cambodia and Vietnam (Khmer and Champa kingdoms) as well as Indonesia, where it survives in Bali and in the Philippines. The Kingdom of Cambodia ( formerly known as Kampuchea (, transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in South East Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially The Khmer Empire was the largest empire of South East Asia based in what is now Cambodia. The kingdom of Champa ( Chăm Pa in Vietnamese or Chiêm Thành in Hán Việt records was an Indianized kingdom and controlled what Bali is an Indonesian Island located at, the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to Modern migration gave rise to Indo-Aryan minorities on most continents. A non-resident Indian (NRI is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country a person of Indian origin who is born outside India or a person of

Contents 1 Pre-Vedic Indo-Aryans 2 Antiquity 3 Middle Ages 4 Contemporary Indo-Aryans 5 List of Indo-Aryan peoples 5.1 Ancient 5.2 Modern 6 Notes 7 References 8 See also

Pre-Vedic Indo-Aryans

Indo-European topics
Indo-European languages
Albanian · Armenian · Baltic Celtic · Germanic · Greek Indo-Iranian (Indo-Aryan, Iranian) Italic · Slavic   extinct: Anatolian · Paleo-Balkans (Dacian, Phrygian, Thracian) · Tocharian
Indo-European peoples
Albanians · Armenians Balts · Celts · Germanic peoples Greeks · Indo-Aryans Iranians · Latins · Slavs historical: Anatolians (Hittites, Luwians) Celts (Galatians, Gauls) · Germanic tribes Illyrians · Italics  · Sarmatians Scythians  · Thracians  · Tocharians Indo-Iranians (Rigvedic tribes, Iranian tribes)
Proto-Indo-Europeans
Language · Society · Religion
Urheimat hypotheses
Kurgan hypothesis Anatolia · Armenia · India · PCT
Indo-European studies

Main article: Indo-Aryan migration

The separation of Indo-Aryans proper from Proto-Indo-Iranians is commonly dated, on linguistic grounds, to roughly 2000 BCE. Albanian (sq ''Gjuha shqipe'' ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million peoplewhile others claim that it derives from Daco - The Armenian language (hy հայերեն լեզու hajɛɹɛn lɛzu —, conventional short form) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic) are a branch of the Indo-European language family The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily Indo-Iranian. The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European language family's Centum branch The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages The Anatolian languages are a group of extinct Indo-European languages which were spoken in Asia Minor, the best attested of them being the Hittite language The Paleo-Balkan languages were the Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkans in Ancient times. The Dacian language was spoken by the ancient inhabitants of Dacia. The Phrygian language was the Indo-European language of the Phrygians a people from Thrace who later migrated to Asia Minor. The Thracian language was the Indo-European language spoken in ancient times by the Thracians in South-Eastern Europe Tocharian or Tokharian is one of the branches of the Indo-European language family. } Albanians (Shqiptarët are an Ethnic group and a Nation, in the sense of sharing a common Albanian culture speaking the Albanian language The Armenians (Հայեր Hayer) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands A large The Balts or Baltic peoples (People who live by the Baltic Sea) defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European Modern Celts are those peoples who are speakers of Celtic languages, or who consider themselves or have been considered by others to participate in a Celtic culture This is a list of Germanic peoples. Classical philosophy The Greeks assigned names to populations they considered distinct based on the city-state ( The Greeks ( Greek: Έλληνες) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions The Iranian people are a collection of Ethnic groups defined along linguistic lines as speaking Iranian languages. Latin European peoples are those who speak Romance languages, descended from Vulgar Latin, spread during the time of the Roman Empire. Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established Luwian (sometimes spelled Luvian) is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic Illyrians has come to refer to a broad ill-defined " Indo-European " group of peoples who inhabited the western Balkans ( Illyria, roughly Ancient peoples of Italy are all those peoples that lived in Italy (including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia) before the Roman domination The Sarmatians, Sarmatae or Sauromatae ( Old Iranian Sarumatah 'archer' Σαρμάτες The Scythians or Scyths (Σκύθες Σκύθοι were an Iranian speaking people of horse-riding Nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic "Thracians" also refers to modern inhabitants of Thrace, regardless of ethnicity The Tocharians were the Tocharian -speaking inhabitants of the Tarim basin, making them the easternmost speakers of an Indo-European language in antiquity Indo-Iranian peoples consist of the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples that is speakers of Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rigveda are described as semi- Nomadic pastoralists subdivided into temporary settlements ( vish, viś and headed Ancient Iranian peoples who settled Greater Iran in the 2nd millennium BC first appear in Assyrian records in the 9th century BC. The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, who likely lived around 4000 BC, during the Copper Age and the The society of the Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE existed during the Bronze Age (roughly fifth to fourth millennium BC and has been reconstructed The existence of similarities among the deities and religious practices of the Indo-European (IE peoples allows glimpses of a common Proto-Indo-European The question of the homeland ( Urheimat) of the Proto-Indo-European peoples and their Proto-Indo-European language has been a recurring topic in Indo-European The Kurgan hypothesis (also theory or model) is a model of early Indo-European origins, which postulates that the Kurgan culture of the Pontic steppe The Anatolian hypothesis is also called Renfrew's NDT; it proposes that the dispersal ( Discontinuity) of Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in Neolithic The Armenian hypothesis of the Proto-Indo-European Urheimat, based on the Glottalic theory suggests that the Proto-Indo-European language The Out of India theory ( OIT, also called the Indian Urheimat Theory) is the proposition that the Indo-European language family originated in The Paleolithic Continuity Theory (or PCT,Italian La teoria della continuità) is a Hypothesis suggesting that the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies is a field of Linguistics dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct Models of the Indo-Aryan migration discuss scenarios of Prehistoric migrations of the early Indo-Aryans to their historically attested areas of settlement ( North Proto-Indo-Iranian, is the reconstructed Proto-language of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European. ^[1] The Nuristani languages probably split in such early times, and are classified as either remote Indo-Aryan dialects or as an independent branch of Indo-Iranian. The Nuristani languages are a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian language family, spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan. By the mid 2nd millennium BCE early Indo-Aryans had reached Assyria in the west (the Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni) and the northern Punjab in the east (the Rigvedic tribes). The 2nd millennium BC marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age. Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture Some theonyms proper names and other terminology of the Mitanni exhibit an Indo-Aryan Superstrate, suggesting that an Indo-Aryan Punjab ( ਪੰਜਾਬ پنجاب, पंजाब پنجاب also Panjab (پنجاب meaning "Land of the Five Rivers") (c The Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rigveda are described as semi- Nomadic pastoralists subdivided into temporary settlements ( vish, viś and headed ^[2]

The spread of Indo-Aryan languages has been connected with the spread of the chariot in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. The chariot is the earliest and simplest type of Carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples Some scholars trace the Indo-Iranians (both Indo-Aryans and Iranians) back to the Andronovo culture (2nd millennium BCE). Indo-Iranian originspng|thumb|300px|Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian migrations (after EIEC) Other scholars^[3] have argued that the Andronovo culture proper formed too late to be associated with the Indo-Aryans of India, and that no actual traces of the Andronovo culture (e. g. warrior burials or timber-frame materials) have been found in India or Mesopotamia. ^[4]

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 [get] 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). James Patrick Mallory is an Irish-American archaeologist and Indo-Europeanist. The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia Therefore he prefers to derive the Indo-Aryans from the intermediate stage of the BMAC culture, in terms of a "Kulturkugel" model of expansion. The Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (or BMAC, also known as the Oxus civilization) is the modern archaeological designation for a Bronze Age Cultural diffusion, as first conceptualized by Alfred L Kroeber in his influential 1940 paper Stimulus Diffusion, or trans-cultural diffusion in later reformulations Likewise, Asko Parpola (1988) connects the Indo-Aryans to the BMAC. Asko Parpola is a professor emeritus of Indology and South Asian Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. But although horses were known to the Indo-Aryans, evidence for their presence in the form of horse bones is missing in the BMAC. ^[5] 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. Dasa ( IAST dāsa) is a Sanskrit term Under the primary meaning 'enemy' sometimes relates to tribes identified as the enemies of the Aryan The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. Parpola (1999)^[6] elaborates the model and has "Proto-Rigvedic" Indo-Aryans intrude the BMAC around 1700 BCE. He assumes early Indo-Aryan presence in the Late Harappan horizon from about 1900 BCE, and "Proto-Rigvedic" (Proto-Dardic) intrusion to the Punjab as corresponding to the Swat culture from about 1700 BCE. The Cemetery H culture developed out of the northern part of the Indus Valley Civilization around 1900 BCE in and around the Punjab region which is located on the The Gandhara grave (or Swāt) culture emerges from ca 1600 BC, and flourishes in Gandhara, Pakistan ca

Antiquity

See also: Vedic period, Rigvedic tribes, Iron Age India, Mahajanapadas, and Maurya Empire

An influx of early Indo-Aryan speakers over the Hindukush (comparable to the Kushan expansion of the first centuries AD) together with Late Harappan cultures gave rise to the Vedic civilization of the Early Iron Age. The Vedic Period (or Vedic Age) is the period in the History of India during which the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, were being The Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rigveda are described as semi- Nomadic pastoralists subdivided into temporary settlements ( vish, viś and headed The Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent succeeds the Late Harappan (Cemetery H culture also known as the last phase of the Indus Valley Tradition Mahajanapadas ( Sanskrit: महाजनपद Mahājanapadas) literally "Great Kingdoms" (from Maha, "great" and Janapada The Maurya Empire ( 322 – 185 BCE) ruled by the Mauryan dynasty was a geographically extensive and powerful political and military The Hindu Kush is a Mountain range located between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Kushan Empire (c 1st &ndash 3rd centuries) was a Bactrian state that at its cultural zenith Circa 105 &ndash 250 The Cemetery H culture developed out of the northern part of the Indus Valley Civilization around 1900 BCE in and around the Punjab region which is located on the The Vedic Period (or Vedic Age) is the period in the History of India during which the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, were being This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. 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. The Indo-Gangetic Plain also known as the Northern plains and the North Indian River Plain is a large and fertile plain encompassing most of northern and eastern India, Kuru ( Sanskrit: कुरु was the name of an Indo-Aryan tribe and their kingdom in the Vedic civilization of India, and later a For the Genus of Gossamer-winged butterflies, see Panchala (butterfly. Kosala ( Sanskrit: कोशल was an ancient Indian region corresponding roughly in area with the region of Oudh in the present day Uttar Pradesh Videha was the kingdom of the royal sage Seeradhwaja Janaka. He is the father of Sita the wife of Raghava Rama. This Iron Age expansion corresponds to the black and red ware and painted grey ware cultures. The black and red ware culture (BRW is an early Iron Age Archaeological culture of the northern Indian subcontinent. The Painted Grey Ware culture (PGW is an Iron Age culture of Gangetic plain, lasting from roughly 1100 BC to 350 BC.

For Hellenistic times, Oleg N. Trubachev (1999; elaborating on a hypothesis by Kretschmer 1944) suggests that there were Indo-Aryan speakers in the Pontic steppe. Oleg Nikolayevich Trubachyov (Оле́г Никола́евич Трубачёв 22 October 1930, Volgograd - 9 March 2002 Paul Kretschmer ( May 2 1866 – March 9 1956) was a German linguist who studied the earliest history and interrelations of the The term Pontic-Caspian steppe summarizes the vast Steppelands stretching from north of the Black Sea as far as the east of the Caspian Sea, from central The Maeotes and the Sindes, the latter also known as "Indoi" and described by Hesychius as an "an Indian people". Maeotae or Mæotæ or Maeotici ( Greek:) were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis (to which they lent their name in antiquity The Sindi ( Greek:, Herod iv 28 were an ancient people in the Taman Peninsula and the adjacent coast of the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea in the district ^[7]

Middle Ages

Further information: Middle Indic, Middle Kingdoms of India, and History of Hindustani

The various Prakrit vernaculars developed into independent languages in the course of the Middle Ages (see Apabhramsha), forming the Abahatta group in the east and the Hindustani group in the west. The Middle Indo-Aryan ( Middle Indic) languages are the early medieval dialects of the Indo-Aryan languages, the descendants of the Old Indo-Aryan dialects such as Middle kingdoms of India refers to the political entities in India from the 2nd century BC since the decline of the Maurya Empire, and the corresponding The history of the Hindi dialect continuum (including Urdu) i Prakrit (also transliterated as Pracrit) ( Sanskrit: prākṛta प्राकृत (from pra-kṛti प्रकृति according to one Abahatta (also Apabhramsa Avahatta, Apabhramsha Abahatta or Purvi Apabhramsa) is a stage in the evolution of the Eastern group of Indo-Aryan languages Hindustani (हिन्दुस्तानी ہندوستانی Hindustānī, hɪn̪d̪ʊst̪aːniː also known as " Hindi-Urdu," is a term covering The Roma people (also known as Gypsies) are believed to have left India around AD 1000. The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins

Contemporary Indo-Aryans

Contemporary Indo-Aryans are spread over most of the northern, western, central and eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, and in most parts of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia For geopolitical treatments see South Asia. Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ( Sinhalese:, இலங்கை known as Ceylon before 1972 is an Island The Maldives ( or, or Maldive Islands) officially the Republic of Maldives, is an Island nation consisting of a group of atolls stretching Non-native speakers of Indo-Aryans languages also reach the south of the peninsula. The largest group are the Hindi and Urdu (Hindustani) speakers of 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. Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Urdu ( ur '''{{Nastaliq اردو}}''' trans Urdū, historically spelled Ordu) is a Central Indo-Aryan language Urdu is a standardised Hindustani (हिन्दुस्तानी ہندوستانی Hindustānī, hɪn̪d̪ʊst̪aːniː also known as " Hindi-Urdu," is a term covering India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and Hindustani (हिन्दुस्तानी ہندوستانی Hindustānī, hɪn̪d̪ʊst̪aːniː also known as " Hindi-Urdu," is a term covering Of the 23 national languages of India, 16 are Indo-Aryan languages (see also languages of India).

List of Indo-Aryan peoples

Ancient

Rigvedic tribes Angas Kalingas Kambojas Kasis Kurus Licchavis	Gandharis Gangaridai Gupta Magadhis Maurya Nanda Pala Satavahanas Shakya Vanga

Modern

Assamese people Bengali people Bhils Bihari people Ravidasi Ramdasia Chamar Jatav Chhettris Chittagonians

Dhivehi people Dogras Dom people Garhwali people Gujarati people Gurkhas Hindkis Jat people Kambojs, Kambohs Konkani people Kumaoni people

Lohanas Manipuri people Marathi people Marwaris Mers Nepali people Oriya people Punjabi people Rajasthani people Romani people Seraikis Sinhalese Sindhi people

Notes

References

• Bryant, Edwin (2001). Edwin Bryant is an Author and Indologist. He received a PhD in religion from Columbia University in 1997 The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513777-9.  
• 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. Washington DC: Institute for the Study of Man.
• Trubachov, Oleg N. , 1999: Indoarica, Nauka, Moscow.

See also

• Aryan
• Arya
• Aryavarta
• Aryan race
• Iranian Peoples
• Indo-Aryan migration
• Dasa
• Kshatriya
• Proto-Indo-Europeans
• Indo-Aryan languages

Aryan is an English word derived from the Sanskrit " Ārya " meaning "noble" or "honorable" Ārya ( Sanskrit: (आर्य, ( Old Persian Ariya and Avestan Airya) is an ancient Sanskrit term for Hindus, Aryavarta ( Sanskrit: आर्यावर्त "abode of the Aryans quot is the ancient name for northern and central India, where the culture The " Aryan race " is a concept in European culture that was influential in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries The Iranian people are a collection of Ethnic groups defined along linguistic lines as speaking Iranian languages. Models of the Indo-Aryan migration discuss scenarios of Prehistoric migrations of the early Indo-Aryans to their historically attested areas of settlement ( North Dasa ( IAST dāsa) is a Sanskrit term Under the primary meaning 'enemy' sometimes relates to tribes identified as the enemies of the Aryan Kshatriya (क्षत्रिय kṣatriya from क्षत्र kṣatra) is one of the four varnas (social orders in Hinduism The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, who likely lived around 4000 BC, during the Copper Age and the The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic) are a branch of the Indo-European language family

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