Indo-Aryan is an
ethno-linguistic term referring to the wide collection of peoples united as native speakers of the
Indo-Aryan branch of the family of
Indo-European languages. Today, there are over one billion native speakers of Indo-Aryan languages, most of them native to
South Asia, where they form the majority. They trace their ancestry to a branch of the
Indo-Europeans known as
Indo-Iranians.
Origins
The separation of Indo-Aryans proper from the
Iranians is commonly dated, on linguistic grounds, to roughly 1800 BCE. 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. 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 spread of Indo-Aryan languages has been connected with the spread of the
chariot in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Some scholars trace the Indo-aryans (both Indo-Aryans and European aryans) back to the
Andronovo culture (2nd millennium BCE). Other scholars 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 and Southern countries like Sri Lanka and the Maldives
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). Therefore he prefers to derive the Indo-Aryans from the intermediate stage of the
BMAC culture, in terms of a "
Kulturkugel" model of expansion. Likewise,
Asko Parpola (1988) connects the Indo-Aryans to the BMAC. But although horses were known to the Indo-Aryans, evidence for their presence in the form of horse bones is missing in the BMAC. 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 (1999) 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.
Antiquity
An influx of early Indo-Aryan speakers over the
Hindukush (comparable to the
Kushan expansion of the first centuries CE) together with
Late Harappan cultures 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.
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. The
Maeotes and the
Sindes, the latter also known as "Indoi" and described by
Hesychius as an "an Indian people".
Middle Ages
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
Romani people (also known as Gypsies) are believed to have left India around 1000 CE.
Contemporary Indo-Aryan peoples
Contemporary Indo-Aryans are spread over most of the northern, western, central and eastern regions of the
Indian subcontinent,
Hyderabad in southern India, and in most parts of
Sri Lanka and the
Maldives. Non-native speakers of Indo-Aryan languages also reach the south of the peninsula. The largest groups are the
Hindi,
Bengali and
Urdu (
Hindustani) speakers of
India,
Bangladesh 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. Of the 23 national languages of India, 16 are Indo-Aryan languages (see also
languages of India).
Genetic studies
A study headed by geneticist S.Sharma et al.(2009), collated information for 2809 Indians (681 Brahmins, and 2128 Tribals and schedule castes). The results showed "no consistent pattern of the exclusive presence and distribution of Y-haplogroups to distinguish the higher-most caste,
Brahmins, from the lower-most ones, schedule castes and tribals". In its conclusions, the study proposed "the autochthonous origin and tribal links of Indian Brahmins" as well as the origin of R1a1* in the Indian subcontinent
In a study led by Mukherjee et al.(2001), the
R1a lineage was found to form around (35)–(45)% among all the castes in North Indian population.
Contradicting these findings, however, a genetic study in
Andhra Pradesh state of India found that the upper caste Hindus were closer relatives to Eastern-Europeans than to Hindus from lower castes.
A study conducted by the
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in
2009 (in collaboration with
Harvard Medical School,
Harvard School of Public Health and the
Broad Institute of Harvard and
MIT) analyzed half a million genetic markers across the genomes of 132 individuals from 25 ethnic groups from 13 states in India across multiple caste groups. The study asserts, based on the impossibility of identifying any genetic indicators across caste lines, that castes in South Asia grew out of traditional tribal organizations during the formation of Indian society and that the Indian population derives largely from two groups, with the "ancient north indian" group predating the advent of the Indo-Aryan languages. According to Kumarasamy Thangarajan, "The initial settlement took place 65,000 years ago in the Andamans and in ancient south India around the same time, which led to population growth in this part...At a later stage, 40,000 years ago, the ancient north Indians emerged which in turn led to rise in numbers here. But at some point of time, the ancient north and the ancient south mixed, giving birth to a different set of population.". However, this study fails to explain the presence of R1a1 in significant frequencies (About 30% average over all of India) in the Indian population, given that R1a1 originated no more than 17,000 years ago.
List of Indo-Aryan peoples
Historical
Contemporary
