List of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes

Last updated

This is a list of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes that are mentioned in the literature of Indian religions.

Contents

From the second or first millennium BCE, ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes turned into most of the population in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent – Indus Valley (roughly today's Punjab), Western India, Northern India, Central India, and also in areas of the southern part like Sri Lanka and the Maldives through and after a complex process of migration, assimilation of other peoples and language shift. [1] [2] [3]

Ancestors

Map 1: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony Indo-European Migrations. Source David Anthony (2007), The Horse, The Wheel and Language.jpg
Map 1: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony
Map 2: Sintashta-Petrovka culture (red), its expansion into the Andronovo culture (orange) during the 2nd millennium BC, showing the overlap with the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (chartreuse green) in the south and also with the Afanasievo culture in the east. The location of the earliest chariots is shown in magenta. Several scholars associate Proto-Indo-Iranians with Sintashta-Petrovka culture. These scholars also may associate some mentions in the Avesta (sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism), like the Airyan@m Vaejo - "Aryans' Expanse", as distant memories that were retained by oral tradition of this old land of origin. There are also mentions of Aryavarta - "Aryans Abode" (in sacred Hindu scriptures such as Dharmashastras and Sutras), the Hindu counterpart of Airyan@m Vaejo, although it refers to Northern India and they are later. Andronovo culture.png
Map 2: Sintashta-Petrovka culture (red), its expansion into the Andronovo culture (orange) during the 2nd millennium BC, showing the overlap with the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (chartreuse green) in the south and also with the Afanasievo culture in the east. The location of the earliest chariots is shown in magenta. Several scholars associate Proto-Indo-Iranians with Sintashta-Petrovka culture . These scholars also may associate some mentions in the Avesta (sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism), like the Airyanəm Vaēǰō – "Aryans' Expanse", as distant memories that were retained by oral tradition of this old land of origin. There are also mentions of Āryāvarta – "Aryans Abode" (in sacred Hindu scriptures such as Dharmashastras and Sutras), the Hindu counterpart of Airyanəm Vaēǰō , although it refers to Northern India and they are later.
Map 3: The extent of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), according to the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. The BMAC culture and peoples influenced migrating Indo-Iranians that came from the north. BMAC.png
Map 3: The extent of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), according to the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture . The BMAC culture and peoples influenced migrating Indo-Iranians that came from the north.
Map 4: The approximate extent of the Vedic period Aryavarta is highlighted in pale yellow Map of Vedic India.png
Map 4: The approximate extent of the Vedic period Āryāvarta is highlighted in pale yellow
Map 5: This detailed map shows the locations of kingdoms and republics mentioned in the Indian epics or Bharata Khanda. EpicIndia.jpg
Map 5: This detailed map shows the locations of kingdoms and republics mentioned in the Indian epics or Bharata Khanda.

Vedic tribes

Pancha Jana (Five tribes)

(पञ्च जना – Páñca Jánāḥ / Pancha-janah ) The pancha Jana are five tribes inexplicitly listed together during the (Āryāvarta of this time, c. 1700–1500 BCE, roughly corresponds with the Punjab and closer regions) (see the map of Early Vedic Period)

Early Janapadas (c. 1700–1100 BCE)

Map 6: Early Vedic Culture (1700-1100 BCE) and location of early Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes Early Vedic Culture (1700-1100 BCE).png
Map 6: Early Vedic Culture (1700–1100 BCE) and location of early Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes

After roughly 1700 BCE Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes were swiftly expanding through ancient northern India, therefore the number of peoples, tribes and clans was increasing (as well as the number of Indo-Aryan language speakers) and Āryāvarta was becoming a very large area (see the map on the right side).

  1. Guṅgu [35]
  2. Iksvaku [36] (Pratichya Āryāvarta – Western Āryāvarta)

Late Janapadas (c. 1100–500 BCE)

Map 7: Late Vedic era map showing the boundaries of Aryavarta with Janapadas in northern India. Beginning of Iron Age kingdoms in India-- Kuru, Panchala, Kosala, Videha. Late Vedic Culture (1100-500 BCE).png
Map 7: Late Vedic era map showing the boundaries of Āryāvarta with Janapadas in northern India. Beginning of Iron Age kingdoms in India— Kuru, Panchala, Kosala, Videha.

From roughly 1100 to 500 BCE Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes expanded even further throughout ancient northern India (see the map 6).

According to political scientist Sudama Misra, the Kalinga janapada originally comprised the area covered by the Puri and Ganjam districts. [44]

Mahajanapadas (c. 500 BCE)

Map 8: Mahajanapadas roughly in 500 BCE. Mahajanapadas (c. 500 BCE).png
Map 8: Mahajanapadas roughly in 500 BCE.

महाजनपद – Mahajanapada Shodasa Mahajanapadas (Sixteen Mahajanapadas) The Mahajanapadas were sixteen great kingdoms and republics that emerged after the more powerful political entities (initially based on the territories of peoples and tribes) had conquered many others. According to the Anguttara Nikaya , Digha Nikaya , Chulla-Niddesa (Buddhist Canon)

According to the Vyākhyāprajñapti / Bhagavati Sutra (Jain text)

Mentions by Ancient Greek authors

Map 9: Ancient regions of Iranian Plateau and part of South Central Asia showing ancient Iranian peoples and tribes; this map also shows ancient peoples of the Indus Valley in Northwest Ancient India. The Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography by Samuel Butler, Ernest Rhys, ed. (1907, 1908).jpg
Map 9: Ancient regions of Iranian Plateau and part of South Central Asia showing ancient Iranian peoples and tribes; this map also shows ancient peoples of the Indus Valley in Northwest Ancient India.

Northwest Ancient India – Indus River Basin

Other regions of Ancient India (India Intra Gangem)

Indo-Aryan or other tribes (possible)

Hypothetical Indo-Aryans

See also


Notes

  1. ↑ For example: RV 1.108.8; 7.18; 8.10.5; 6.46.8

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vindhya Range</span> Series of mountain ranges and highlands in north-central India

The Vindhya Range is a complex, discontinuous chain of mountain ridges, hill ranges, highlands and plateau escarpments in west-central India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Aryan peoples</span> Indo-European ethnolinguistic groups primarily concentrated in South Asia

Indo-Aryan peoples are a diverse collection of peoples speaking Indo-Aryan languages in the Indian subcontinent. Historically, Aryans were the Indo-Iranian speaking pastoralists who migrated from Central Asia into South Asia and introduced the Proto-Indo-Aryan language. The early Indo-Aryan peoples were known to be closely related to the Indo-Iranian group that have resided north of the Indus River; an evident connection in cultural, linguistic, and historical ties. Today, Indo-Aryan speakers are found south of the Indus, across the modern-day regions of Bangladesh, Nepal, eastern-Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and northern-India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Āryāvarta</span> Historical landscape

Āryāvarta is a term for the northern Indian subcontinent in the ancient Hindu texts such as Dharmashastras and Sutras, referring to the areas of the Indo-Gangetic Plain and surrounding regions settled by Indo-Aryan tribes and where Indo-Aryan religion and rituals predominated. The limits of Āryāvarta extended over time, as reflected in the various sources, as the influence of the Brahmanical ideology spread eastwards in post-Vedic times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahajanapadas</span> Kingdoms in the Indian subcontinent (c. 600 BCE–c. 345 BCE)

The Mahājanapadas were sixteen kingdoms and aristocratic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE, during the second urbanisation period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khasas</span> Ancient Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group

Khasas were an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe and a late Janapada kingdom from Himalayan regions of northern Indian subcontinent mentioned in the various historical Indian inscriptions and ancient Indian Hindu and Tibetan literature. European sources described the Khasa tribe living in the Northwest Himalayas and the Roman geographer Pliny The Elder specifically described them as "Indian people". They were reported to have lived around Gandhara, Trigarta and Madra Kingdom as per the Mahabharata.

Sudaios Paijonides alias Sudās Paijavana was an Indo-Aryan tribal king of the Bharatas, during the main or middle Rigvedic period. He led his tribe to victory in the Battle of the Ten Kings near the Paruṣṇī in Punjab, defeating an alliance of the powerful Puru tribe with other tribes, for which he was eulogized by his purohita Vashistha in a hymn of the Rigveda. His victory established the ascendency of the Bhārata clan, allowing them to move eastwards and settle in Kurukshetra, paving the way for the emergence of the Kuru "super-tribe" or tribal union, which dominated northern India in the subsequent period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuru kingdom</span> Ancient Indo-aryan Vedic union

Kuru was a Vedic Indo-Aryan tribal union in northern Iron Age India of the Bharata and Puru tribes. The Kuru kingdom appeared in the Middle Vedic period, encompassing parts of the modern-day states of Haryana, Delhi, and some North parts of Western Uttar Pradesh. The Kuru Kingdom was the first recorded state-level society in the Indian subcontinent.

Madra kingdom was a kingdom grouped among the western kingdoms in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. Its capital was Sagala in the Madra region. The Kuru king Pandu's (Pāṇḍu) second wife was from Madra kingdom and was called Madri. The Pandava twins, Nakula and Sahadeva, were her sons. Madri's brother Shalya was the king of Madra. Though affectionate to the Pandavas, he was tricked to give support to Duryodhana and fought against the Pandavas during the Kurukshetra War. He was killed by Yudhishthira, the eldest Pandava. Other than the Madra kingdom with Sagala as its capital, it is believed that there was a Western Madra and a Northern Madra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kikata kingdom</span> Kingdom in ancient India

Kīkaṭa was an ancient Indian kingdom in what is now India, mentioned in the Vedas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andhras</span> Ancient non-Aryan tribe

The Āndhras were an ancient non-Aryan tribe of south-central Indian subcontinent, whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. Andhras were mentioned in the ancient Hindu scriptures such as the Aitareya Brahmana, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas. The kingdom inhabited and ruled by Andhras was called Āndhra or Āndhradeśa, and was based in the Deccan region. The modern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, derives its name from this historic tribe and region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puru (Vedic tribe)</span> Tribe mentioned in the Regveda

The Poureai alias Purus were an Indo aryan tribal alliance or a confederation of tribes that existed between c. 1700–1400 BCE. There were several factions of Purus, one being the Bharatas. The Purus and the Bharatas were the two most prominent tribes in most of the Rigveda. The chief of tribe was called Rajan The Purus rallied many other groups against King Sudas of the Bharata, but were defeated in the Battle of the Ten Kings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pahlavas</span> Ethnic group mentioned in historic Indian texts

The Pahlavas are a people mentioned in ancient Indian texts. According to Patrick Carnegy, a Raj-era ethnographer, the 4th-century BCE Vartika of Katyayana mentions the Sakah-Parthavah, demonstrating an awareness of these Saka-Parthians, probably by way of commerce. Knowledge of the Pahlavas is distilled from the literary references in texts like the Manu Smriti, various Puranas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Bṛhat Saṃhitā.

The Battle of the Ten Kings was first alluded to in the 7th Mandala of the Rigveda (RV) and took place between a king of the Bharatas named King Sudas versus a confederation of tribes. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Bharatas and subsequent formation of the Kuru polity. The Battle of the Ten Kings, mentioned in the Rigveda may have "formed the 'nucleus' of story" of the Kurukshetra War in the Mahabharata.

The Bharatas were an early Vedic tribe that existed in the latter half of the second millennium B.C.E. The earliest mentioned location of the Bharatas was on the Sarasvatī River. Led by the tribal king Divodāsa, the Bharatas moved through the Hindu Kush mountains and defeated Śambara. Divodāsa's descendant, Sudās, won the Battle of the Ten Kings against a Pūru-led coalition, after which the initial compilation of hymns of the R̥gveda was carried out. After the battle, the Bharatas and other Pūru clans eventually formed the Kuru kingdom, which was the first attested state in Indian history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vedic period</span> Ancient South Asian historical period

The Vedic period, or the Vedic age, is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas, was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the end of the urban Indus Valley Civilisation and a second urbanisation, which began in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain c. 600 BCE. The Vedas are liturgical texts which formed the basis of the influential Brahmanical ideology, which developed in the Kuru Kingdom, a tribal union of several Indo-Aryan tribes. The Vedas contain details of life during this period that have been interpreted to be historical and constitute the primary sources for understanding the period. These documents, alongside the corresponding archaeological record, allow for the evolution of the Indo-Aryan and Vedic culture to be traced and inferred.

Aryan, or Arya in Proto-Indo-Iranian, is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood in contrast to nearby outsiders, whom they designated as non-Aryan. In ancient India, the term was used by the Indo-Aryan peoples of the Vedic period, both as an endonym and in reference to a region called "Aryavarta", where their culture emerged. Similarly, according to the Avesta, the Iranian peoples used the term to designate themselves as an ethnic group and to refer to a region called "Airyanem Vaejah", which was their mythical homeland. The word stem also forms the etymological source of place names like Alania and Iran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulinda</span> Ancient Mlechha tribe

Pulinda were an ancient non-Ayran tribe of south-central Indian subcontinent, whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. Pulindas were mentioned in Aitareya Brahmana of the Rigveda as descendants of Sage Vishvamitra, along with Andhras, Pundras, Sabaras, and Mutibas.

<i>Rigveda</i> First sacred canonical text of Hinduism

The Rigveda or Rig Veda is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (sūktas). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (śruti) known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janapada</span> Major realms of Vedic India, c. 1100–600 BCE

The Janapadas were the realms, republics (ganapada) and kingdoms (sāmarājya) of the Vedic period in the Indian subcontinent. The Vedic period reaches from the late Bronze Age into the Iron Age: from about 1500 BCE to the 6th century BCE. With the rise of sixteen Mahajanapadas, most of the states were annexed by more powerful neighbours, although some remained independent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epic-Puranic chronology</span> Timeline of Hindu mythology based on the Hindu Epics and the Puranas

The Epic-Puranic chronology is a timeline of Hindu mythology based on the Itihasa and the Puranas. These texts have an authoritaive status in Indian tradition, and narrate cosmogeny, royal chronologies, myths and legendary events. The central dates here are the Kurukshetra War and the start of the Kali Yuga. The Epic-Puranic chronology is referred to by proponents of Indigenous Aryans to propose an earlier dating of the Vedic period, and the spread of Indo-European languages out of India, arguing that "the Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to the earliest period of the Sindhu-Sarasvati Valley traditions ."

References

  1. 1 2 3 Anthony 2007.
  2. 1 2 Mallory & Adams 1997.
  3. ↑ Parpola, Asko (2015), The Roots of Hinduism. The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization, Oxford University Press
  4. ↑ Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Delhi: Pearson Education. p. 187. ISBN   978-81-317-1120-0.
  5. 1 2 Jamison & Brereton 2014, p. 54.
  6. 1 2 3 Witzel 1999.
  7. 1 2 Witzel 2001.
  8. ↑ Witzel 1995a.
  9. ↑ Witzel 1995, p. 262.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Witzel 1995, p. 235.
  11. 1 2 Jamison & Brereton 2014, p. 605, 695.
  12. 1 2 Witzel 1995, pp. 222, 262.
  13. 1 2 Jamison & Brereton 2014, p. 829.
  14. 1 2 Witzel 1995, p. 237.
  15. ↑ Witzel 1995, p. 239.
  16. ↑ Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Delhi: Pearson Education. p. 187. ISBN   978-81-317-1120-0.
  17. ↑ Witzel 1995, p. 204.
  18. 1 2 Witzel 1995, p. 236.
  19. ↑ Witzel 1995, p. 136.
  20. ↑ Bremmer, Jan N. (2007). The Strange World of Human Sacrifice. Peeters Publishers. p. 158. ISBN   978-90-429-1843-6 . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  21. ↑ Macdonell & Keith 1995, p. 317.
  22. ↑ Witzel 1995, p. 234.
  23. 1 2 Talageri, Shrikant G. (2005). "The textual evidence: The Rigveda as a source of Indo-European history". In Edwin F. Bryant; Laurie L. Patton (eds.). The Indo-Aryan controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian history (PDF). London; New York: Routledge. pp. 332–340. ISBN   978-0-700-71463-6.
  24. ↑ Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992). "Anu". Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen (in German). Vol. 1 (Band 1). Heidelberg: Winter Verlag. p. 74. ISBN   978-3-8253-3826-8.
  25. ↑ Bloomfield, M. (1899). "The Myth of Purūravas, Urvaçī, and Âyu". Journal of the American Oriental Society, 20, 180–183.
  26. ↑ Zimmer, S. (1986). "On a special meaning of jána- in the Rgveda". Indo-Iranian Journal, 29 (2), 109–115.
  27. ↑ Macdonell & Keith 1995.
  28. ↑ Weller, H. (1937). "Who Were the Bhriguids?". Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 18 (3), 296–302.
  29. ↑ Hopkins, E. W. (1893). "Problematic passages in the Rig-Veda". Journal of the American Oriental Society, 15, 252–283.
  30. ↑ Macdonell & Keith 1995, I 395.
  31. ↑ Le Roux, Françoise; Guyonvarc'h, Christian-J (1982). Les Druides (in French). Paris: Ouest-France. p. 37.
  32. ↑ "druid | Etymology, origin and meaning". Etymonline. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  33. ↑ Raje, Sudhakar (15 February 2006). "Sanskrit in English". IndiaDivine.org.
  34. ↑ Warraich, M. Tauqeer Ahmad (January–June 2011). "Gandhara: An appraisal of its meanings and history". Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan. 48 (1). PDF link  –via University of the Punjab.
  35. ↑ Grassmann, H. (Ed.). (1876). Rig-veda (Vol. 1). FA Brockhaus.
  36. ↑ Pincott, Frederic (October 1887). "The First Maṇḍala of the Ṛig-Veda". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 19 (4): 598–624. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00019717. Art. XIX.
  37. ↑ Wilson, H. H. (Horace Hayman) (1857). Rig-veda Sanhitá: A collection of ancient Hindu hymns. Vol. 3: Constituting the Third and Fourth Ashtakas of the Rig-Veda. London: Trübner; W.H. Allen & Co.
  38. ↑ Pike, Albert (1930). Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig Veda. Council of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. [Kessinger Publishing (reprint) 1992.]
  39. ↑ Perry, E. D. (1885). "Indra in the Rig-Veda". Journal of the American Oriental Society, 11, 117–208.
  40. 1 2 The Rig-Veda. Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith. 1896.
  41. ↑ Muller, F. M. (1869). Rig-veda-sanhita (Vol. 1).
  42. ↑ Witzel, Michael (1999b). "Aryan and non-Aryan names in Vedic India: Data for the linguistic situation, c. 1900–500 B.C.". In Johannes Bronkhorst; Madhav Desphande (eds.). Aryan and non-Aryan in South Asia: Evidence, interpretation and ideology. Proceedings of the International Seminar on Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia, University of Michigan – 25–27 October 1996. Harvard Oriental Series: Opera Minora III. Cambridge, Mass. (US): Harvard University; South Asia Books. doi:10.11588/xarep.00000112. ISBN   9781888789041.
  43. 1 2 Frawley 2001.
  44. ↑ Misra, Sudama (1973). Janapada state in ancient India. Vārāṇasī: Bhāratīya Vidyā Prakāśana. p. 78
  45. 1 2 Ian Worthington 2014, p. 219.[ incomplete short citation ]
  46. 1 2 Peter Green 2013, p. 418.[ incomplete short citation ]
  47. 1 2 Macdonell & Keith 1995, I 39.
  48. ↑ Talageri, Shrikant G. (2000). The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. pp. 397–408.
  49. ↑ Attwood, Jayarava (2012). "Possible Iranian Origins for the Śākyas and Aspects of Buddhism". Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. 3: 47–69.
  50. ↑ Beckwith, Christopher I. (2016). "Prologue: Scythian Philosophy – Pyrrho, the Persian Empire, and India". Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia. Princeton University Press. pp. 1–21. doi:10.23943/princeton/9780691176321.003.0001. ISBN   978-0691166445.

Sources

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.