Indo-Aryan peoples

Indo-European ethnolinguistic groups primarily concentrated in South Asia

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Indo-European topics

Languages

* * *

* List of Indo-European languages

* * *

Extant

* Albanoid
* Albanian
* Armenian
* Balto-Slavic
* Baltic
* Slavic
* Celtic
* Germanic
* Hellenic
* Greek
* Indo-Iranian
* Indo-Aryan
* Iranian
* Nuristani
* Italic
* Romance

Extinct

* Anatolian
* Tocharian
* Paleo-Balkan
* Dacian
* Illyrian
* Liburnian
* Messapic
* Mysian
* Paeonian
* Phrygian
* Thracian

* * *

Reconstructed

* Proto-Indo-European language

* Phonology: Sound laws, Accent, Ablaut

* * *

Hypothetical

* Balkanic
* Daco-Thracian
* Graeco-Albanian
* Graeco-Armenian
* Graeco-Aryan
* Graeco-Phrygian
* Indo-Hittite
* Italo-Celtic
* Thraco-Illyrian

* * *

Grammar

* Vocabulary
* Root
* Verbs
* Nouns
* Pronouns
* Numerals
* Particles

* * *

Other

* Proto-Albanian
* Proto-Anatolian
* Proto-Armenian
* Proto-Germanic (Proto-Norse)
* Proto-Italo-Celtic (Proto-Celtic · Proto-Italic)
* Proto-Greek
* Proto-Balto-Slavic (Proto-Slavic · Proto-Baltic)
* Proto-Indo-Iranian (Proto-Iranian)

Philology

* Hittite inscriptions
* Hieroglyphic Luwian
* Linear B
* Rigveda
* Avesta
* Homer
* Behistun
* Gaulish epigraphy
* Latin epigraphy
* Runic epigraphy
* Ogham
* Gothic Bible
* Bible translations into Armenian
* Tocharian script
* Old Irish glosses

Origins

* Homeland
* Proto-Indo-Europeans
* Society
* Religion

* * *

Mainstream

* Kurgan hypothesis
* Indo-European migrations
* Eurasian nomads

* * *

Alternative and fringe

* Anatolian hypothesis
* Armenian hypothesis
* Beech argument
* Indigenous Aryanism
* Baltic homeland
* Paleolithic continuity theory

Archaeology

Chalcolithic (Copper Age)

Pontic Steppe

* Domestication of the horse
* Kurgan
* Kurgan stelae
* Kurgan culture
* Steppe cultures
* Bug–Dniester
* Sredny Stog
* Dnieper–Donets
* Samara
* Khvalynsk
* Yamnaya
* Mikhaylovka culture
* Novotitarovskaya culture

Caucasus

* Maykop

East Asia

* Afanasievo

Eastern Europe

* Usatovo
* Cernavodă
* Cucuteni

Northern Europe

* Corded ware
* Baden
* Middle Dnieper

* * *

Bronze Age

Pontic Steppe

* Chariot
* Yamnaya
* Catacomb
* Multi-cordoned ware
* Poltavka
* Srubnaya

Northern/Eastern Steppe

* Abashevo culture
* Andronovo
* Sintashta

Europe

* Globular Amphora
* Corded ware
* Bell Beaker
* Únětice
* Trzciniec
* Nordic Bronze Age
* Terramare
* Tumulus
* Urnfield
* Lusatian

South Asia

* BMAC
* Yaz
* Gandhara grave

* * *

Iron Age

Steppe

* Chernoles

Europe

* Thraco-Cimmerian
* Hallstatt
* Jastorf

Caucasus

* Colchian

India

* Painted Grey Ware
* Northern Black Polished Ware

Peoples and societies

Bronze Age

* Anatolian peoples (Hittites)

* Armenians
* Mycenaean Greeks
* Indo-Iranians

Iron Age

Indo-Aryans

* Indo-Aryans

Iranians

* Iranians

East Asia

* Wusun
* Yuezhi

Europe

* Celts
* Gauls
* Celtiberians
* Insular Celts
* Cimmerians
* Hellenic peoples
* Italic peoples
* Germanic peoples
* Paleo-Balkan/Anatolia
* Thracians
* Dacians
* Illyrians
* Paeonians
* Phrygians
* Scythians

Middle Ages

East Asia

* Tocharians

Europe

* Albanians
* Balts
* Slavs
* Norsemen/Medieval Scandinavians
* Middle Ages

Indo-Aryan

* Medieval India

Iranian

* Greater Iran

Religion and mythology

Reconstructed

* Proto-Indo-European mythology
* Proto-Indo-Iranian paganism
* Historical Vedic religion
* Ancient Iranian religion

* * *

Historical

* Hittite

Indo-Aryan

* Vedic
* Hinduism
* Buddhism
* Jainism
* Sikhism

Iranian

* Persian
* Zoroastrianism
* Kurdish
* Yazidism
* Yarsanism
* Scythian
* Ossetian

Others

* Armenian

European

* Paleo-Balkan (Albanian · Illyrian · Thracian · Dacian)
* Greek
* Roman
* Celtic
* Irish
* Scottish
* Breton
* Welsh
* Cornish
* Germanic
* Anglo-Saxon
* Continental
* Norse
* Baltic
* Latvian
* Lithuanian
* Slavic

Practices

* Fire sacrifice
* Horse sacrifice
* Sati
* Winter solstice/Yule

Indo-European studies

Scholars

* Marija Gimbutas
* J. P. Mallory

Institutes

* Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European

Publications

* Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture
* The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
* Journal of Indo-European Studies
* Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch
* Indo-European Etymological Dictionary

* v
* t
* e

Ethnic group

Indo-Aryan peoples

1978 map showing geographical distribution of the major Indo-Aryan languages. (Urdu is included under Hindi. Romani, Domari, and Lomavren are outside the scope of the map.) Dotted/striped areas indicate where multilingualism is common.

Central

Dardic

Eastern

Northern

Northwestern

Western

Southern

Total population
~1.5 billion [citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
India| over 911 million[1]
Pakistan| over 190 million[2]
Bangladesh| over 160 million[3]
Nepal| over 26 million
Sri Lanka| over 14 million
Afghanistan| over 2 million
Mauritius| over 725,400
Maldives| over 300,000[4]
Bhutan| over 240,000
Languages
Indo-Aryan languages
Religion
Indian religions (Mostly Hindu; with Buddhist, Sikh and Jain minorities) and Islam, Christians and some non-religious atheist/agnostic

Indo-Aryan peoples are a diverse collection of peoples speaking Indo-Aryan languages in the Indian subcontinent. Historically, Aryans were the Indo-Iranian speaking pastoralists who migrated from Central Asia into South Asia and introduced the Proto-Indo-Aryan language.[5][6][7][8][9] The early Indo-Aryan peoples were known to be closely related and belonging to the same Indo-Iranian group that have resided north of the Indus River; an evident connection in cultural, linguistic, and historical ties. Today, Indo-Aryan speakers are found south of the Indus, across the modern-day regions of Bangladesh, Nepal, eastern-Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and northern-India.[10]

## History

[edit]

### Proto-Indo-Iranians

[edit]

Main articles: Indo-Iranians, Proto-Indo-Europeans, Aryan, Indo-European migrations, and Indo-Aryan migrations

Further information: Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia and Peopling of India

Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian migrations (after EIEC). The Andronovo, BMAC and Yaz cultures have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The GGC, Cemetery H, Copper Hoard, OCP, and PGW cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryan migrations.

The introduction of the Indo-Aryan languages in the Indian subcontinent was the result of a migration of Indo-Aryan people from Central Asia into the northern Indian subcontinent (modern-day Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). These migrations started approximately 1,800 BCE, after the invention of the war chariot, and also brought Indo-Aryan languages into the Levant and possibly Inner Asia.[citation needed] Another group of Indo-Aryans migrated further westward and founded the Mitanni kingdom in northern Syria;[11] (c. 1500–1300 BC) the other group was the Vedic people.[12] Christopher I. Beckwith suggests that the Wusun, an Indo-European Caucasoid people of Inner Asia in antiquity, were also of Indo-Aryan origin.[13]

The Proto-Indo-Iranians, from which the Indo-Aryans developed, are identified with the Sintashta culture (2100–1800 BCE),[14][15] and the Andronovo culture,[citation needed] which flourished ca. 1800–1400 BCE in the steppes around the Aral Sea, present-day Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Proto-Indo-Aryan split off around 1800–1600 BCE from the Iranians,[16] moved south through the Bactria-Margiana Culture, south of the Andronovo culture, borrowing some of their distinctive religious beliefs and practices from the BMAC, and then migrated further south into the Levant and north-western India.[17][5] The migration of the Indo-Aryans was part of the larger diffusion of Indo-European languages from the Proto-Indo-European homeland at the Pontic–Caspian steppe which started in the 4th millennium BCE.[5][18][19] The GGC, Cemetery H, Copper Hoard, OCP, and PGW cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryans.

The Indo-Aryans were united by shared cultural norms and language, referred to as aryā 'noble'. Over the last four millennia, the Indo-Aryan culture has evolved particularly inside India itself, but its origins are in the conflation of values and heritage of the Indo-Aryan and indigenous people groups of India.[20] Diffusion of this culture and language took place by patron-client systems, which allowed for the absorption and acculturation of other groups into this culture, and explains the strong influence on other cultures with which it interacted.

Genetically, most Indo-Aryan-speaking populations are descendants of a mix of Central Asian steppe pastoralists, Iranian hunter-gatherers, and, to a lesser extent, South Asian hunter-gatherers—commonly known as Ancient Ancestral South Indians (AASI). Dravidians are descendants of a mix of South Asian hunter-gatherers and Iranian hunter-gatherers, and to a lesser extent, Central Asian steppe pastoralists. South Indian Tribal Dravidians descend majorly from South Asian hunter-gatherers, and to a lesser extent Iranian hunter-gatherers.[21][22][23] Additionally, Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burmese speaking people contributed to the genetic make-up of South Asia.[24]

Indigenous Aryanism propagates the idea that the Indo-Aryans were indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, and that the Indo-European languages spread from there to central Asia and Europe. Contemporary support for this idea is ideologically driven, and has no basis in objective data and mainstream scholarship.[25][26][27][28][29]

## List of historical Indo-Aryan peoples

[edit]

See also: List of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes

* Anga
* Bahlikas
* Bharatas
* Caidyas
* Dewa
* Gāndhārīs
* Gangaridai
* Gurjara-Pratihara
* Gupta
* Kambojas
* Kalinga
* Kasmira
* Kekaya
* Khasas
* Kikata
* Koliya
* Kosala
* Kurus
* Licchavis
* Madra
* Magadhis
* Malavas
* Mallakas
* Mātsyeyas
* Moriya
* Nishadhas
* Odra
* Pakthas
* Pala
* Panchala
* Paundra
* Puru
* Salva
* Salwa
* Saraswata
* Sauvira
* Shakya
* Shunga
* Sindhu
* Sudra
* Surasena
* Trigarta
* Utkala
* Vanga
* Vatsa
* Vidarbha
* Videha
* Yadava
* Yadu

## Contemporary Indo-Aryan people

[edit]

* Assamese people
* Awadhi people
* Banjara people
* Bengali people
* Bhil people
* Bhojpuri people
* Bishnupriya Manipuri people
* Brokpa people
* Chakma people
* Deccani people
* Dhivehi people
* Dogra people
* Garhwali people
* Gujarati people
* Halba people
* Haryanvi people
* Jaunsari people
* Kalash people
* Kashmiri people
* Khas people
* Kho people
* Kohistani people
* Konkani people
* Kumauni people
* Kutchi people
* Magahi people
* Muhajir people
* Maithil people
* Marathi people
* Marwari people
* Nagpuria people
* Odia people
* Palula people
* Pashayi people
* Pahari people
* Punjabi people
* Rajasthani people
* Romani people
* Rohingya people
* Sadan people
* Saraiki people
* Saurashtra people
* Shina people
* Sindhi people
* Sinhalese people
* Thari people
* Tharu people
* Thori people
* Tirahi people
* Torwali people
* Warli people

## See also

[edit]

* Proto-Indo-Europeans
* Indo-Iranians
* Dardic peoples
* Aryan
* Indo-Aryan languages
* Indo-Aryan migrations
* Indigenous Aryanism
* Aryan race
* Aryavarta
* Dasa
* Dravidian peoples
* Early Indians
* South Asian diaspora
* Northern South Asia

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "India". The World Factbook. 16 November 2021.
2. ^ "Pakistan". The World Factbook. 4 February 2022.
3. ^ "Bangladesh". The World Factbook. 4 February 2022.
4. ^ "Population of Lhotshampas in Bhutan". UNHCR. 2004. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
5. ^ a b c Anthony 2007.
6. ^ Erdosy 2012.
7. ^ "How ancient DNA may rewrite prehistory in India". bbc. 23 December 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
8. ^ "New reports clearly confirm 'Arya' migration into India". thehindu. 13 September 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
9. ^ "Aryans or Harappans—Who drove the creation of caste system? DNA holds a clue". theprint. 29 June 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
10. ^ Danesh Jain, George Cardona (2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 2.
11. ^ Anthony 2007, p. 454.
12. ^ Beckwith 2009, p. 33 note 20.
13. ^ Beckwith 2009, p. 376-7.
14. ^ Anthony 2007, p. 390 (fig. 15.9), 405–411.
15. ^ Kuz'mina 2007, p. 222.
16. ^ Anthony 2007, p. 408.
17. ^ George Erdosy (1995). "The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity", p. 279
18. ^ Johannes Krause mit Thomas Trappe: Die Reise unserer Gene. Eine Geschichte über uns und unsere Vorfahren. Propyläen Verlag, Berlin 2019, p. 148 ff.
19. ^ "All Indo-European Languages May Have Originated From This One Place". IFLScience. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
20. ^ Avari, Burjor (11 June 2007). India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from c. 7000 BC to AD 1200. Routledge. pp. xvii. ISBN 978-1-134-25161-2.
21. ^ Reich et al. 2009.
22. ^ Narasimhan et al. 2019.
23. ^ Yelmen, Burak; Mondal, Mayukh; Marnetto, Davide; Pathak, Ajai K; Montinaro, Francesco; Gallego Romero, Irene; Kivisild, Toomas; Metspalu, Mait; Pagani, Luca (5 April 2019). "Ancestry-Specific Analyses Reveal Differential Demographic Histories and Opposite Selective Pressures in Modern South Asian Populations". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 36 (8): 1628–1642. doi:10.1093/molbev/msz037. ISSN 0737-4038. PMC 6657728. PMID 30952160.
24. ^ Basu et al. 2016.
25. ^ Witzel 2001, p. 95.
26. ^ Jamison 2006.
27. ^ Guha 2007, p. 341.
28. ^ Fosse 2005, p. 438.
29. ^ Olson 2016, p. 136.

## Sources

[edit]

* Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World. Princeton University Press.
* Basu A, Sarkar-Roy N, Majumder PP (February 2016). "Genomic reconstruction of the history of extant populations of India reveals five distinct ancestral components and a complex structure". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 113 (6): 1594–9. Bibcode:2016PNAS..113.1594B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1513197113. PMC 4760789. PMID 26811443.
* Beckwith, Christopher I. (16 March 2009). Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1400829941. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
* Bryant, Edwin (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513777-9.
* Erdosy, George, ed. (2012), The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity, Walter de Gruyter
* Fosse, Lars Martin (2005), "ARYAN PAST AND POST-COLONIAL PRESENT. The polemics and politics of indigenous Aryanism", in Bryant, Edwin; Patton, Laurie L. (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Controversy. Evidence and inference in Indian history, Routledge
* Guha, Sudeshna (2007), "Review. Reviewed Work: The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History by Edwin F. Bryant, Laurie Patton", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, 17 (3): 340–343, doi:10.1017/S135618630700733X, S2CID 163092658
* Jamison, Stephanie W. (2006). "The Indo-Aryan controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian history (Book review)" (PDF). Journal of Indo-European Studies. 34: 255–261.
* Kuz'mina, Elena Efimovna (2007), J. P. Mallory (ed.), The Origin of the Indo-Iranians, Brill, ISBN 978-9004160545
* Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (1999). The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge University Press. pp. 87–88. ISBN 0-5214-7030-7. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
* 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.
* Narasimhan, Vagheesh M.; Patterson, N.J.; Moorjani, Priya; Rohland, Nadin; et al. (2019), "The Formation of Human Populations in South and Central Asia", Science, 365 (6457): 7487, doi:10.1126/science.aat7487, PMC 6822619, PMID 31488661
* Olson, Carl (2016). Religious Ways of Experiencing Life: A Global and Narrative Approach. Routledge.
* Reich, David; Thangaraj, Kumarasamy; Patterson, Nick; Price, Alkes L.; Singh, Lalji (2009), "Reconstructing Indian population history", Nature, 461 (7263): 489–494, Bibcode:2009Natur.461..489R, doi:10.1038/nature08365, ISSN 0028-0836, PMC 2842210, PMID 19779445
* Trubachov, Oleg N., 1999: Indoarica, Nauka, Moscow.
* Witzel, Michael (2001), "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts" (PDF), Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, 7 (3): 1–115
* Witzel, Michael (2005), "Indocentrism", in Bryant, Edwin; Patton, Laurie L. (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Controversy. Evidence and inference in Indian history, Routledge

## External links

[edit]

* Horseplay at Harappa – People Fas Harvard – Harvard University (PDF)
* A tale of two horses – Frontline

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