Aryan آریایی ها

IN The Name of WHOM,

That creates us in different Tribes, Races… just to know each other better

Preface:

Aryan means noble, an English language loanword come from the Sanskrit ārya and Persian Airyana. Today the terms like Indo-Iranian and Indo-European, and Aryan or Indo-Aryan Indicate to the people who speak with same route languages. Aryans were the people who lived about 2000 BCE in their homelands in the north borders of “Great Persia” in the regain that named Transoxiana; a territory around the Caspian sea. They called in the Zoroastrian holy book Avesta as Airyana Vaeja and Arya Varta in the Hindu holy book Vedas [1]. The Aryan flourished when they migrate to new lands, their big-historical migration to the south-lands and building at least two great and enormous civilizations in Iran and India are the indicator of it.

Prosperous socio-culture, advanced iron weaponized armies, plus facilities that they had at that time, were the great reason of their domination over aboriginal people in Iran and India, the two major civilized territories that they reached to them at the beginning of their journey. The Aryan were aware of their ability and richness, so they classified himself as top and aboriginal as lower classes in social fixed ranks. They affected world culture and human history for long time and even now; therefore in this article we will have a look to this civilization-builder people.

Aryan’s main tribe’s name and their homelands:

The Aryan people, as it mentioned in Vendidad (the Zoroastrian text), were sixteen tribes who lived in different places; listed in the chart below:

Vendidad Name

Alternative Spelling

Old Persian/ Pahlavi

Greek / Western

Present Name

 

1. Airyanem Vaejo

Airyana Vaeja

Airan Vej (Phl.)

 

Iran

 

2. Sukhdho
(also Tuirya)

Sughdha
Turan

Suguda (OP)

Sogdiana

Sugd, Northwest Tajikistan,
Samarkand (SE Uzbekistan)

 

3. Mourum

Mouru

Margu (OP)

Margiana

Marv / Merv,
South Turkmenistan

 

4. Bakhdhim

Bakhdhi

Bakhtrish (OP)

Bactria

Balkh,
North Afghanistan

 

5. Nisaim

Nisaya

Parthava (OP)

Parthia

N. Khorasan (NE Iran) & Nisa
South Turkmenistan.
Bordering Balkh and Marv

 

 

6. Haroyum

Haroyu

Haraiva (OP)

Aria

Hari Rud (Herat),
Northwest Afghanistan

 

 

7. Vaekeretem

Khnenta Vaekerata
/ Vaekereta

Kalpul (Phl.)

Sattagydia

Kabul,
Eastern Afghanistan

 

 

8. Urvam

Urva

Uvarazmiya/Uvarazmish

Khvarizem

Chorasmia

Khorezm, Uzbekistan

 

 

9. Khnentem Vehrkano

Vehrkana

Varkana (OP)

Hyrcania

Gorgan, Golestan,
North-northeast Iran

 

 

10. Harahvaitim

Harahvaiti

Harauvatish (OP)

Arachosia

Kandahar & Oruzan
South Central Afghanistan

 

 

11. Haetumantem

Haetumant

Zraka (OP)

Drangiana

Helmand - SE Afghanistan &
Sistan - E. Iran

 

 

12. Rakham

Ragha

Raga (OP)

Ragai

Rai, Tehran & S. Alburz,
North Iran

 

 

13. Chakhrem

Kakhra

   

Uncertain: Either Ghazni, SE Afghanistan or just west of Rai, N. Iran

 

 

14. Varenem

Varena

Patashkh-vargar or Dailam (Phl.)

Western Hyrcania

W. Mazandaran, Gilan & Northern Alburz (land of Mt. Damavand) North Iran

 

 

15. Hapta Hendu

Hapta Hindu

Hindava (OP)

Indus

Northern valley of the seven Indus rivers** (Upper Indus Basin)
Gandhara (Waihind)***, Punjab and Kashmir in N. Pakistan & NW India

 

 

16. Ranghaya

Rangha

later part of Arvastani Rum (Phl.) i.e. Eastern Roman empire

 

Lake Urmia, Upper Tigris, Kurdistan, Eastern & Central Turkey

 

 

                           

 

 

 

Aryan’s reason to migration:

Based on the Zoroastrian Avesta and the Hindu Vedas and other texts in this regard, the Aryans migrated to out of their homeland, because of the Aryans increased in size for the following reasons:

Ø An increase in population during the Jamshidi era

Ø  Climate changes, so they face harsh winters and short summers.

Ø Trading with neighboring and settlement of significant populations in these lands.

Ø Establishment of kingdoms through settlement.

Ø Inter-Aryan wars. The schism (division) between the deva and Mazda worshippers cf. reign of King Vishtasp and life of Zarathushtra.

Ø Establishment of the Persian Empire that included the original federation of kingdoms as well as additional lands.

New lands for Aryan, in the Vedas:

The Hindu Vedas state that the land gain by Yama (King Jamshid as in Avesta) became the homeland of the Hindus. The Hindu Rig and Atharva Vedas state:

“Worship with oblation Yama the King, son of Vivasvat, the assembler of people, who departed from the deep to the heights, and explored the road for many. Yama was the first who found for us the route. This home is not to be taken from us. Those who are now born, (go) by their own routes to the place where unto our ancient forefathers emigrated. (Atharva Veda xviii.1.49 & Rig Veda x.14.1)”...they cross by fords the mighty streams which the virtuous offerers of sacrifice pass (Atharva Veda xviii.4.7)”

Aryan came from left or right side of the Caspian Sea:

There are different theories about the Aryan homeland but most of them show the Aryan homeland were somewhere around Caspian Sea on the left or right side. Some theories say they lived in Transoxiana and some theories say they came from the Caucuses region; both are locate around the Caspian Sea.

 In about 1500 BCE, a big group of the Aryans passed through the Khyber Pass into the Indus valley. They came from the region north of the Black & Caspian seas called Eurasia (where Europe ends & Asia begins).  The Aryans were nomadic pastoralists, herding cattle & sheep and their use of the horse allowed them to migrate into the Indian subcontinent. The Aryans settled along the Ganges River alongside the natives in India, called the Dravidians.

The Aryans soon began to dominate the Indus and then Gangetic Plain; and aboriginal people who know as Dravidians, and developed their own government, in the cities of the Indus and then Gangetic Plain. A prince (rajah) ruled each city as an independent kingdom. The Rajah acted as a military leader, chief priest, lawmaker and judge. By 1000 BCE, 16 separate Aryan kingdoms emerged on the Indian subcontinent. For hundreds of years, the Aryan kingdoms enjoyed peace & independence. The Aryan’s religion was written in books called the Veda so there are so many holy books that Rigveda, Yajorveda, Atharvaveda, Samaveda… a collection of religious rituals and hymns. They were written in Sanskrit, their religious language.  The word “Veda” means “knowledge” or “wisdom” in Sanskrit. Only 4 major collections of the Vedas survive -the greatest of the Vedas is the Rig Veda, which contains 1028 hymns of praise. The Vedas are so important to the history of India that, the period from 1500 - 1000 BCE call as the Vedic Age. Aryans believed in one supreme God and had lesser gods & goddesses that were a part of this supreme god, each representing a different force of nature.  Aryans believed that after death, the Supreme God either thrust a soul into a dark pit of punishment or raised it into a heaven filled w/joy.  Through proper actions & repeated rituals, a soul could reach this heaven.  No temples existed. Only priests who knew the complicated rituals & could read Sanskrit could actually perform the rituals.

Aryan Social and Economical Classification:  

Class divisions began to form after the Aryan migration.  Several physical and social differences existed between the Aryans and the native Indians (Dravidians) that they ruled over.  The Aryans were light skinned while the Dravidians were dark skinned.  The Aryans were in the minority but believed in maintaining a separate identity and therefore passed laws prohibiting marriages between Aryans and the Dravidians.   The most important people in Aryan society were the religious priests, called Brahmins or Brahmans.

Aryan Social and Economical changes: 

When the Aryans migrated to the Indus and then Gangetic Plain, they abandoned their nomadic ways and herding and instead embraced farming and a settled lifestyle.  They raised barley as their main crop.  Each village in each kingdom divided its land among its families, but the whole village shared the responsibility for irrigation.  Land could not be sold to outsiders and could be passed on only to male heirs. 

The Law Book of Manu is an Aryan document describing proper moral and family behavior. Marriage took place by kidnapping, by purchase, or by mutual consent.  A woman considered it a great compliment to be stolen. To be bought and paid for was more flattering than to be married by consent.  Men could marry more than one woman and owned their wives and children. Aryans also believed that women should be subordinate to their fathers, husbands, and even their sons. The most important duties of a woman were to care for the home and produce sons who would help the father.  Fathers also expected their sons go to battle to bring honor to their families and to perform the correct rituals as their fathers’ funerals. 

Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.

The Indus and the Ganga, two main ancient civilizations in India:

Subcontinent’s main’s door is open from the Northwest of its border to Great Persian lands, so every invader who wanted to enter India should pass Iran lands to enter there; and the Aryan also did it the same; and they entered India from the Sind or Indus the territories; right now called Pakistan. So Aryans located in the Indus Valley and then separated in the North Ganga River plain, in all around north of India and then vast their domination in the south of this region. The Ganges , or In Hindi Ganga, is a river of India and Bangladesh with 2,525 km long, it rises from the western Himalayas in India, and enter into Bangladesh, then attend to the Bay of Bengal. It is the second largest river in the World. The Ganges plain is the most heavily populated, with over 400 million people. The Ganges is the most holy river to Hindus. It is worshipped as the goddess Ganga in India .It has also been important historically: many former provincial or imperial capitals such as Patliputra, Kannauj, Kara, Kashi, Allahabad, Murshidabad, Munger, Baharampur, Kampilya and Kolkata, have been located on its banks.

The Indus River is starts through western Tibet and northern India, the Indian Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, then Gilgit and Baltistan and then Pakistan and end into the Oman Sea near the port city of Karachi in the Sindh province. Its total length is 3,180 km so the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. Indus riches by waters near The Zanskar in Ladakh, then Chenab which itself has four major tributaries, namely, the Jhelum, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej. The Shyok, the Gilgit, the Kabul, the Gomal and the Kurram are added to it. Some water is beginning in a mountain in Nepal and fed with glaciers and rivers in the Himalayas. The Indus forms the delta of Pakistan; the Rig veda name it Sapta Sindhu and the Iranian Zend Avesta as Hapta Hindu (both terms meaning "seven rivers"). The river has been a source of wonder since the Classical Period, with King Darius of Persia sending Scylax of Caryanda to explore the river as early as 510 BC.

Aryan did not come from outside:

Some scholars believe that Aryan people didn’t come from outside of region [3] and they reject “South-North People divided theory” as Aryan-Dravidian considers two unrelated race. For instance Mr. Aurobindo (1872-1950), a scholar of Latin and Greek as well as of Sanskrit, studies shows the original connection between the Sanskrit and Tamil languages– See The Secret of the Veda, V 10, the Centenary Edition, p 36, 46.  Sri Aurobindo also noted that a large part of the vocabulary of the South Indian languages (Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam) is common with Sanskrit.

 An Aryan invasion of India from the outside around 1,500 B. C. did not take place. People of North and South India have lived together in peace as two branches of one family since antiquity.  People who talk of an Aryan occupation of India repeat back the 19th century British viewpoint and do disservice to the cause of unity of India.

 Advances in genetics have made it possible to trace ancient migrations. It is now generally accepted that modern man arose in Africa about 200,000 years ago and from there spread first into India and Southeast Asia by coastal migration that probably included some boat crossings. There are several estimates of the time when this spread into India took place. According to the geneticist Stephen Oppenheimer, settlements in India appear about 90,000 years ago. From India there were later northeastern and northwestern migrations into Eurasia and the Far East.

A research for “Iranian legacy in India” Subject

By: Dr Aziz Mehdi

 Researcher: Seyed Mostafa Mostafavi a M.A Student in Indian subcontinent studies

 World Studies Faculty – University of Tehran

Date: 7- October - 2013

Sources:

1-   http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/aryans/airyanavaeja.htm

2-   http://bhoffert.faculty.noctrl.edu/REL255/001.ReligiousFoundations.html

 

3-   “THE MYTH OF ARYAN INVASIONS OF INDIA” by Dr. MADAN  LAL GOEL - UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA -www.uwf.edu/lgoel

 + نوشته شده در شنبه بیستم مهر ۱۳۹۲ ساعت 10:29 شماره پست: 331

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