Aryans

Collective name of a group of Indo-European tribes that migrated from central and northern Europe (or possibly Asia Minor or the southern steppes—the precise location is uncertain) around the start of the second millennium bce, possibly due to ecological or climatic changes and the need to seek new pastures for their animals. Whether the tribes belonged to a single ethnic group is unclear, but even if they did, the Indo-Aryan languages they spoke, of which Sanskrit is a descendant, may have ceased to be associated with any defined racial type at an early age. Two main routes of migration were followed: one to western Europe, and the other to Iran (which derives its name from the word Āryan), and India. In India, the Āryans colonized the northern part of the country and according to some accounts subjugated the indigenous Dravidian peoples, who came to comprise the lowest of the four castes of Āryan society, although this claim is controversial. The religious beliefs of the Āryans are recorded in ancient Hindu scriptures written in Sanskrit known as the vedas, and involved the worship (pūjā) of a plurality of divine beings, many of whom are personifications of natural phenomena such as the sun, moon, and atmospheric phenomena like lightning, thunder, and storms. In Buddhism, the term Ārya is used in the sense of ‘noble’ or ‘venerable’, and takes on a specific meaning in connection with the ‘noble ones’ who have attained various stages of spiritual progress. See ārya-mārga; Four Noble Truths.

The Aryans (Sanskrit: ārya; Old Iranian: airya) were Indo-European tribes who migrated from Eastern Europe to Central Asia in the third millennium BCE. They were patriarchal warriors who brought powerful male gods with them as they migrated eventually into Greece, Anatolia, the Fertile Crescent, Iran, and India. For some time (c. 2200–2000 BCE), the ancestors of the Vedic (after the Vedas—later Indian) and Iranian (Avestan—after the Avesta) Aryans lived together in the same region—probably around Balkh, and developed the religious positions that were the source for Zoroastrianism and Hinduism (see Zoroastrian entries, see Hindu entries). The Aryans who invaded India and Iran in the second millennium BCE were, therefore, closely related to each other. Thus we have the term Indo-Iranian, which is often used synonymously with Aryan. The Indo-Iranian gods were divided into Asuras (Ahura in Iran) and Devas (daeva in Iran). The protoreligion was based on a universal law that became the Vedicṛta (see Vedas) and the Avestan asa (see Avesta). The Vedic supervisor of the law was Vaṛuna (see Varuṇa) and the Avestan head god was Ahura Mazda (see Ahura Mazda). During the migration to India and the wars involved with it, the cult of Indra (see Indra) as king of the gods developed. Fire worship was central to the Aryans and to their Vedic and Avestan expressions, as was the tradition of the holy drink—the Vedic soma (see Soma) and the Avestan haoma. Powerful sacred verses or mantras (see Mantra) and hymns were important to both groups. There was the hope of an afterlife (see Afterlife) and there were sacrificial rituals. Aryans generally looked down on the darker-skinned “barbarian” peoples they conquered—especially in India. The mytho-religious system of the Indo-Aryans is revealed by what we now call the Vedic texts, the best known of which is the ṛg Veda (see ṛg Veda). Hinduism developed from the Vedic tradition in India and Zoroastrianism out of the early Aryan religion and mythology expressed eventually in the Avesta in Iran.