 The Aryans Now when I say Aryans, you might think of... Robbers blonde men with pointed chins, pointed noses for a complexion riding horses, killing everyone in their path. Well, historically speaking that might not necessarily be true. The first inscription mentioned of the word Arya is found at Beheston, Afghanistan, and an inscription by the Persian king Darius I. Unlike a current understanding of the word Arya, where we use it to refer to a specific community of people, the word comes from the Sanskrit language and means noble. So, Aryans equals nobles. Problem solved, right? No. History is never that easy. Now, the meaning of the word is clear, but how and when did this whole confusion about the origins of the Aryan people start? For that, we must go back to 18th century India. It all started with William Jones, who was a philologist from England. He was the one who noticed the similarities between the classical European languages like Latin and Greek and the Indian Sanskrit language. He proposed a theory that these languages must have had a mother language, which all our ancestors spoke and later migrated to various parts of the world. Thomas Young termed these sister languages as Indo-European languages. One of the biggest controversies of human history was created. This concept established a connection between the people living in the regions of India and Europe. And it was believed that the Indian people were descendants of Aryans who came to India some 2000 years ago. So that was about the origins of the controversy of the origins of the controversial Aryans. Now, let's take a look at the sources that mention these Aryan people. The word Arya is mentioned in Rigveh many times, which is generally considered the oldest of the four Vedas. Now, as is the requirement with any historic record, we first need to date this literary text. The Rigveh is considered to have been compiled between 10,000 BC to 1500 BC. They found an inscription at the Bogasquay site in Turkey, which mentions four Vedic deities. And this inscription has been proved to have been created in about 1360 BC. Based on this inscription, we can say that there were some followers of Vedic deities in the Bogasquay area during 1360 BC. This also lets us conclude that the Rigveh must at least be older than 1360 BC. The Rigveh says that these people lived in the Saptasindu region, that is the land of seven rivers. The rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Gomati, Kurram, Kabul, Swat and Oxes are also mentioned in this text. So, it's pretty clear that these people, residents of Saptasindu region, created the Rigveh or the people mentioned in it, lived in the Swast region now known to Indians as the Northwestern Frontier. Just like the word Arya, several other words are mentioned in the Rigveh like Das, Dasya and Pani. They are called Anarya and they are not so noble or painted in a villainous role in the Rigveh. As per the Rigveh, their lips are like bulls, they are Ayadnya, Avrata, phallus worshippers and basically not the followers of Indra. These Dasas, Dasyus and Pani's were basically clans of a big tribe. Dasas were farmers, Dasyus were laborers and Pani's were rich merchants and traders. That brings us to our next point, Rigvedic tribes. The major event that is mentioned in the Rigveh is the Dashradnya war. Vishwamitra was a royal priest to King Sudas of the Bharat clan. But when the king replaced him with Sejh Vashishtha, Vishwamitra decided to take revenge on him and gathered ten kings of ten clans. This war was fought on the banks of Parushnirvar. King Sudas and the Bharatas won this war and expanded their territory. The conquerors moved further and settled on the banks of the Kanganya Munaripur. Now we know enough about the Aryans, their tribes, the war, the Rigveh etc etc etc. So now let's talk about the big question. Were these Aryans indigenous or foreign invaders? First, the Aryans in the Rigveh believed the region of Saptasindu was created for them by the gods. It is considered an evidence that they believed themselves to be from that region. Another theory suggests that the Aryans were indigenous people who were the descendants of their Mesolithic ancestors but later became traders and merchants and built great cities of the Indusvala civilization and after its decline they turned to God and created Rigveh. Aryan Invasion Theory This theory suggests that these people probably migrated from the Eurasian steppes around 5000 BC and they arrived at the borders of India on their horses and chariots in around 2000 BC. Scholars like Bijit Tilak traced the origins of the Aryans in the Arctic region. This conclusion was drawn from the astronomical mentioning in the Rigveh. And last but not the least, Indra, who is a major Rigvethic god, is called Purandar which means destroyer of fortified cities. Scholars like Sir Robert Eric Mortimer-Feeler relate this concept of Purandar with the foreign Aryans destroying cities built by the indigenous people. So the conclusion to this Aryan issue? Well first of all, most of these problems lie in misinterpretation of facts. There were no Aryan people as such, just the people living in the Saptasindu region who called themselves Aryans. Also it can be said there were no wars or the so called Aryan invasion didn't actually take place because we don't have any evidence of it. Yes, the migration of Aryans in other communities is certainly possible. Whatever may have happened, we now know that around 1500 BC these people, whether of indigenous or foreign origins, settled on the banks of Seven Rivers and later settled on the banks of Ganga and Yamuna rivers. They were warrior clans and pastoral communities who later became farmers. They formed small states called Mahajanapadas. But more on that in our next episode.