Hinduism: Details about 'Indo Aryans'
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The Indo-Aryans are the ethno-linguistic descendents of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-Iranians. The earliest records of Indo-Aryans are in the Rigveda, and in references to the Mitanni rulers. The Indo-Aryans inhabiting northern India, the bearers of the Vedic civilization are sometimes called Vedic Aryans, precursors of modern Hinduism. The term derives from the Sanskrit word "Arya".
Pre-Vedic Indo-Aryans
The separation of Indo-Aryans proper from Proto-Indo-Iranians is commonly dated, on linguistic grounds, to roughly 1800 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 and the Punjab in the east. 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 nothern 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" (Edwin Bryant. 2001). 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. Vedic Aryans
The first undisputed horse remains in India are found in the Bronze Age Gandhara Grave culture context from ca. 1600 BC (although there are claimsnephpscripte/admin/php//index.php/India" title="India">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 Indo-European language. 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 Romany language, the language of the Roma (gypsies). The word does not have any racial connotation, and the skin color of the modern Indo-Aryan peoples varies from very pale to very dark, comparable to the full range of skin pigmentation found in humanity as a whole. Similarly many modern scholars have also disputed earlier claims about the early Indo-Aryans' racial characteristics, who were earlier thought to be the "tall, blond, white race". Unfortunately for the Hindus, today the word Aryan has become a stereotype for the white supremacists. Indian subcontinent
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 Farsi for "Land of the Hindus". Related languages are spoken all over Indian subcontinent, from Bengal to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indo-Aryan peoplesHistoric
Present-day Indo-Aryans
ReferencesSee also
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