ॐ Hindu Of Universe
“God’s light is within you, It never leaves you.”
Aryan Festival
Who Were the Aryans?
The Aryans were semi-nomadic Nordic Whites, perhaps located originally on the steppes of southern Russia and Central Asia, who spoke the parent language of the various Indo-European languages.
Latin, Greek, Hittite, Sanskrit, French, German, Latvian, English, Spanish, Russian etc. are all Indo-European languages; Indo-European, or more properly Proto-Indo-European (PIE), is the lost ancestral language from which those languages ultimately derive. The “Proto” indicates that the grammar and vocabulary of this long extinct language, probably spoken up until 3000 BC, are a hypothetical reconstruction by modern philologists. Just as Romance languages like Italian and Spanish derive from Latin, so Latin derives from PIE.
Indo-European philology traditionally used “Aryan” both to denote a people, understood racially or ethnically, and the language group itself (“Aryan speech”), irrespective of the race or ethnicity of the people speaking its various branches. In the wake of National Socialist Germany’s defeat, the term fell out of general scholarly use in both senses, and “Indo-European” (IE) became the preferred designation of the language group, “Indo-Europeans” of both the people who occupied the original Aryan homeland and their descendants, who gradually spread out across Europe, much of the Indian sub-continent, and parts of the Near East. Racial nationalists are not, of course, obliged to adopt the timid PC-lexicon of contemporary scholarship, but we should be aware of imprecision of “Aryan” as a racial or ethnic classification.
Arya, meaning “noble,” appears in various Indo-European languages. Its plural form (Aryas=”nobles”) was probably the name the Aryans used to describe themselves prior to their dispersal, and it may survive in Eire (Ireland) and certainly survives in Iran (Airyanam vaejo=”realm of the Aryans”). The discovery of thousands of such cognate words in widely separated languages, along with similar grammatical structures, led philologists to conclude, early in the nineteenth century, that most European languages had evolved from a common proto-language spoken millennia ago by a distinct people who gradually left their original homeland in a series of migrations, carrying their language with them.
Traditionally Greek, Latin and Sanskrit were considered the closest languages to PIE, and much of the reconstructed Aryan proto-language is based on them. Modern Lithuanian, however, is the most archaic living language, closer to the original Aryan speech than any other. There is even an IE language, Tocharian, attested in Chinese Turkestan, which indicates that Aryans must have made an appearance in the Far East, a long-standing piece of linguistic evidence which has been recently confirmed by the discovery of the physical remains of a blond-haired people in China.
One Model of Indo-European (“Aryan”) Migration
Perhaps the most famous proof for the prehistoric existence of PIE is the word for king: rex in Latin, raja in Sanskrit, ri in Old Irish, along with a host of other cognates. All are obviously variants of a common word for king. Since none of the peoples speaking these various languages were in physical contact with one another during the historical period — i.e. at a time for which written records exist — comparative philologists inferred that their respective languages must have evolved from a single proto-language, which is the only way of explaining the presence of the same word for “king” among such widely dispersed peoples. The Romans clearly didn’t borrow rex from the Irish or the Indo-Aryans; each had instead inherited their own word for “king” from a common ancestral language.
Philologists can also, moreover, safely conclude that the Aryans must have had kings prior to emigrating from their original homeland in southern Russia. In fact a fairly detailed body of evidence about prehistoric Aryan political organization, marriage practices, and religious beliefs can be reconstructed on the basis of the survival of common vocabulary in the various extant Indo-European languages: They worshiped a sky-god, they traced descent through the male line, they raised cattle, they drank meed, they used horse-drawn chariots (which they probably invented) as weapons of war, etc. Even the red, white and blue/green that appears in so many modern flags may have an Aryan pedigree. It is likely a survival from the Aryan tripartite social division of their communities into priests (white), warriors (red), and herders and cultivators (blue/green).
Aryans, or more specifically Indo-Aryans, make their first notable appearance in history around 2000-1500 BC as invaders of Northern India. The Sanskrit Rig Veda, a collection of religious texts still revered by modern Hindus, records (often enigmatically) their gradual subjugation of the dark-skinned inhabitants, the Dasyus: e.g. “Indra [=Norse Thor, Celtic Taranis] has torn open the fortresses of the Dasyus, which in their wombs hid the black people. He created land and water for Manu [=Aryan man]”; “lower than all besides, hast thou, O Indra, cast down the Dasyus, abject tribes of Dasas”; “after slaying the Dasyus, let Indra with his white friends win land, let him win the sun and water”; “Indra subdued the Dasyu color and drove it into hiding.” With all-outstripping chariot-wheel, O Indra,
Thou, far-famed, hast overthrown the twice ten kings …
Thou goest from fight to fight, intrepidly
Destroying castle after castle here with strength. (RV 1.53)
The Aryans were remarkably expansionist, and almost everywhere they went they conquered and subjugated the indigenous peoples, imposing their languages and (to varying degrees) their religious beliefs on the natives, and receiving in turn contributions from the peoples whom they conquered. Aryan invasions — or more accurately, a long sequence of different invasions by speakers of Indo-European languages — swept across Old Europe beginning as early as the fourth millennium BC, and over time the conquerors and the conquered melded into specific peoples with distinctive languages. Most of the contemporary inhabitants of Europe, along with their respective early national cultures, are the result of interaction between successive waves of Aryan invaders and culture of the particular White people that they conquered and with whom they later intermarried, and as a result almost all modern European languages are members of the Western branch of the IE family tree.
The birth of a European culture, however, predates the arrival of the Indo-Europeans: The cave art of Lascaux, which some have identified as the first flowering of Western man’s creative genius, was the work of Old Europeans, as were Stonehenge in the North and the Minoan Palace culture of Crete in the South. A pan-European religious symbolism had already evolved, much of which was later incorporated into IE mythologies, including various regional adaptations of the ubiquitous Old European reverence for the Mother Goddess. Many of the principal figures in Greek mythology predate the arrival of Aryans, and during the course of ancient history Old European religious beliefs and practices continually reasserted themselves. [Image: Minoan snake goddess, from the Palace of Minos, circa 1600 BC]
Europe is European because the conquerors and the conquered were members the same White race, different branches on the same family tree; India is a morass of poverty because the bulk of the conquered, with whom the Indo-Aryans eventually intermarried, were non-White Veddoids. The lesson is obvious. Even today high-caste Hindus can still be identified by their Caucasian features and light skin, and the poorest and most backward parts of India are generally the darkest.
As an aside, recent genetic studies have indicated that the Basques of Aquitaine and the Pyrenees are probably the purest form of Old Europeans as they existed prior to the arrival of Indo-European invaders. They evidently emerged from the invasions of Europe unconquered, and they remained sufficiently isolated to retain their own unique, non-IE language.
Who Are Aryans?
The ancient Aryans were a group of people who spread into northern India, bringing with them India’s caste system of hierarchical classes and the Vedic religion that shaped modern Hinduism. The arrival of Aryans in India is thought to have resulted in or followed the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization, one of the earliest human civilizations. The Aryans are thought to have originated in central Asia and be related to the earlier settlers of the European continent, as well as Iran. As can be expected with an ancient people, much is not fully understood about the Aryans.
Etymology and History
The term Aryan was first used in reference to the Indo-Iranian people. The name Iran is related to the term Aryan. The term was likely used by the ancient Aryans to describe themselves and is thought to be related to the word for southerner or perhaps kinsman or noble. There is debate among linguists as to the origin of this term. When Aryans settled in northern India and in Persia, they continued to identify themselves as Aryan in their languages of Old Persian and Vedic Sanskrit. These people brought their language, culture, and religion.
Aryan Caste System
When the Aryans first arrived in India, they crafted a hierarchical system wherein they ruled over the indigenous people. Eventually, new classes, or castes, were added to reflect the different occupations held by people. These castes have evolved over the course of hundreds and thousands of years and were shaped by many different factors. Their exact origin and history are subject to historical debate. However, one can delineate a small number of distinct castes originating from the Aryans:
Aryan Religion and Culture
As mentioned previously, the Aryan religion was a polytheistic religion. It has common origins with the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian polytheistic religions. The Aryan religion, as well as the Aryan rituals and culture are shaped by the Vedas, which are collections of religious hymns. There are four Vedas:
Aryan Features and Racism
In the 19th century, the ancient Aryans became attached to European ideas of racial supremacy. According to European racists, such as Arthur de Gobineau, the ancient Indo-European peoples, who they called Aryans, were a superior race to others. They attributed all the successes of human civilization to this race and its descendants, among them the Europeans of that day.
Lesson Summary
The ancient Aryans were a group of people who were originally from central Asia. Three thousand years ago, these Aryans settled in India, where they established the language of Vedic Sanskrit, founded the Vedic religion, and established a caste system of hierarchical classes. There were the Brahmin, educated, elite priests; the Kshatriya, warriors and rulers; the Vaishya, tradesmen; the Shudra, servants and laborers; and the Harijan who were outcasts. The Vedic religion was based on the Vedas, a series of hymns that laid out the laws, customs, religious practices, and morality that governed life. Among these Vedic deities was the god Indra. There were four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Samaveda, the Yajurveda, and the Atharvaveda. These ancient Aryans have a lasting legacy that continues in the form of modern Indian culture and religion.
In the 19th century, European racists used the name Aryan to describe the white race as a whole, as the ancient Aryans were related to the Indo-Europeans who settled in Europe. Nazi racial theory, in particular, called the white race Aryans; therefore, the ancient Aryans have, in the modern-day, become associated with the atrocities of Nazism motivated by defunct theories of racial supremacy.
What does the term Aryan means?
The term Aryan refers to the Indo-Europeans who settled in India. They called themselves Aryan, whose exact meaning is unknown, but many theories have been proposed. The term could mean southerner, kinsman, or noble.
Who did the Aryans worship?
The Aryans worshipped many deities, among them the god Indra. Indra continues to be worshipped in modern-day India alongside other deities that were established at later points.
Who are the ancient Aryans?
The ancient Aryans were a group of people from central Asia who settled in Northern India. There they established the Vedic religion which continues in the form of Hinduism.
India Aryan Civilization
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Essential Themes:
- Geography: Why do people move and live where they do?
- Beliefs: Why do people live the way they do?
- Government: How do humans organize their societies, and why do they organize them the way that they do?
- Conflict & Cooperation: How has warfare shaped human history?
- Culture: How do we know what we know about human history?
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Aryan Civilization – Daily Life, 1500 BCE – 500 BCE
The Red Dot on Foreheads: Have you ever wondered why Indian women place a red dot on their foreheads, between their eyes? The “tilak” or “bindi,” as the red dots are called, are an ancient Indian tradition that goes back to Aryan times.
In ancient times, a groom used to apply a spot of his blood on his bride’s forehead in recognition of wedlock!
At one time, the tilak, or bindi was a sign of a happily married woman. A single woman, or one who was a widow, did not wear the mark. While it remains a very old tradition and a sign of marriage, today it is much more of a fashion accessory. Today, the bindi can be any color, any shape or size, and women often wear more than one.
The transformation in the use of the bindi is evidence that even old traditions can change over time. Things certainly changed in the Indus Valley when a new group called the Aryans arrived.
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Review: What is a nomad?
Who Were the Aryans? In Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-European language, the word Aryan refers to “the noble ones.” The Aryans migrated from their ancestral home near the Caucusus mountains, north of the Black Sea in Central Asia (near modern day Russia). They entered the Indus Valley through the fabled Khyber Pass. The Khyber Pass cuts through the Hindu Kush Mountains in Pakistan, India’s neighbor to the northwest.
In contrast to the city-dwelling Harappans, the Aryans were nomads who raised livestock, rode chariots, and loved to gamble. They lived in simple homes. They grouped in clans, and herded sheep and goats. They were ruled by warrior chiefs called rajas.
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What is migration?
The Aryans fought with long bows and arrows and bronze axes. They rode into battle on chariots. Their history is one of constant war among themselves, between their various clans. Did Aryan warriors in chariots conquer the walled cities and force the Harappans to flee? Until recently, that’s the story that History books told. New research, however, suggests that when the Aryans arrived in the Indus Valley, Harappan cities had already laid in ruin for over 200 years.
Archaeologists are just now beginning to discover evidence that can tell us about the Aryan migration. Until science offers us more insight to the lives of the Aryans before they entered the Indus Valley, we have something else we can use to learn about them. The Aryans created marvelous stories, stories they told or sang for centuries.
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Left, the Khyber Pass forms the bridge between Central and South Asia. It has long been one of the most important trade routes and strategic military locations in the world. Alexander the Great marched his army through the Pass in an unsuccessful attempt to capture India in 326 BC. Around a thousand years earlier, the Aryans migrated through the Pass to settle in India. Later, it became a primary conduit for Silk Road trade.
What are the Vedas?
The Vedas: Aryan beliefs, rituals, and daily life are described in the four Vedas. The Vedas, written in Sanskrit, are a collection of poems and sacred hymns, composed in about 1500 BCE. Veda means knowledge.
Hinduism is a religion with ancient roots. It developed as Aryan and native Indian beliefs merged. Today, Hinduism is India’s dominant religion and is still practiced by over 80% of the population. The basics tenets of Hinduism can be found in the Vedas. Notice that you can see the word “Indus” contained within “Hinduism.”
on the pocket-sized edition of the Vedas above to hear the Rig Veda chanted.
Hinduism began along the banks of the Indus River roughly 4000 years ago. Hinduism teaches that there is one supreme God who is in everything. In many Hindu families, children are shown a glass of water and told the following story:
Svetaketu always came proudly home from school each day. One day his father asked him about God but Svetaketu didn’t know anything. His father sent for a glass of water and asked Svetaketu to put some salt in it. The next day he asked where the salt was. Svetaketu could not see the salt but he could taste it in the water in the glass. “That’s a bit like God in the world,” said his father. “God is invisible, but is there in everything.”
The Vedas are composed of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. That is why the period from roughly 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE is called the Vedic Period. It is named after the Vedas.
The Ramayana & the Mahabharata: Around 1000 BCE, the Aryans started to create two marvelous epics. We know about daily life during this period from these famous epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. These epics are stories about Aryan life, wars, and accomplishments. School kids in India today know these stories well. They’re great stories!
The Ramayana tells a story in which the (good) Aryan king Rama destroys the (evil) pre-Aryan king Ravana. To the right is an illustraton of Rama battling Ravana’s demons.
The other epic, the Mahabharata, tells of Aryan wars where two clans battle it out, and one emerges victorious. The battles waged in the Epics symbolize the victory of good over evil and, like myths, taught the Aryans about such things as honor, courage, and proper behavior.
This is why the period from roughly 1000 BCE to 500 BCE is called the Epics Period. It is named after these two great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
How did the Aryans live? The Aryan clans or tribes, a collection of people, settled in different regions of northwestern India. The chief of each tribe was a hereditary job. If your father was a chief, someday, you would be chief. It was the only way to become a chief. The chief made decisions after listening to a committee, or perhaps even to the entire tribe. People had a voice, but the chief was the boss.
Aryan Houses: The people in the Vedic period lived in straw and wooden huts. Some homes were made of wood, but not until later, during the Epics Period.
Social Activities: What did they do when they were not working or fighting each other? The Aryans loved to gamble. As nomads, they were excellent horsemen. They introduced the horse to ancient India and enjoyed racing chariots. They played fighting games. They loved to tell stories. The ancient Aryans were proud and fierce, and deeply religious. They were polytheistic, which means that they had many gods and goddesses.
What is a caste?
Jobs: As the Aryans settled in and began to grow crops, their society was organized into classes: warriors, priests, and commoners. In each tribe, people belonged to one of four groups:
- Brahmins (priests, scholars, teachers)
- Ksatriya (warriors, nobles, rulers)
- Vaisya (traders and farmers)
- Sudra (workers and artisans)
In the beginning, these were just occupations. As Indian society became more complex, however, these classes developed into what was later known as the caste system. A caste is a social class whose members are identified by their job. Early on, you could move from group to group. That changed over time, however, until a person’s occupation or group depended upon birth.
If your father was a farmer, you had to be farmer. Moving from one group to another became very difficult. This was the beginning of the caste system. Over time, the caste system added one more group – the Untouchables. The Untouchables exist at the bottom of the social ladder. In time, social norms dictated that people could not even talk to someone outside their group.
The entire caste system can be summarized in an old Hindu proverb that states, “It is better to do your own job poorly than to do someone else’s job well.”
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Education: Kids were taught by a guru (a teacher). Even sons of the chief had to obey the guru. All students followed a rigorous course of studies, which were imparted orally. Writing was done on bark and leaves, and hence was perishable. As a result, we have very few artifacts to tell us what they studied or what they wrote.
Yagna: The life of the tribal Aryans was focused around the central fireplace called the Yagna. Dinnertime was social time. The tribe would gather around the central fireplace, and share news, and the day’s happenings. Those who tended the central fireplace also cooked for the rest of the tribe. This was a very special job. The fire tenders were the middle-man between the fire god and the people. These fire tenders, later on, formed the caste of priests. The Aryans ate meat, vegetables, fruit, bread, milk, and fish. The word for guest was Go-Ghna or eater of beef.
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Holi: Holi, the festival of color, is a very old festival and probably dates from Aryan times. The festival of Holi is still celebrated in India today as part religious festival and part social gathering. The festival marks the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring and symbolizes the triumph of good over evil.
Holi is celebrated over two days. The festival’s first evening includes a large, public bonfire that represents the purification of the spirit. Today, weeks before the arrival of Holi, gangs comb the neighborhood and collect all the waste-wood and old wooden furniture they can lay their hands on. After weeks of preparation, judiciously combined with activities that come close to pillaging, assorted pieces of wood are piled up to be lit on the evening of the festival day. On the second day people throw colored powder and water at each other.