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{{distinguish|Aryabhatta}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
[[File:Late Vedic Culture (1100-500 BCE).png|thumb|The approximate extent of ''Āryāvarta'' during the late [[Vedic period]] (ca. 1100-500 BCE). ''Aryavarta'' was limited to northwest India and the western Ganges plain, while [[Greater Magadha]] in the east was habitated by non-Vedic Indo-Aryans, who gave rise to Jainism and Buddhism.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007}}{{sfn|Samuel|2010}}]]
[[File:Painted_Grey_Ware_sites_map_1.svg|alt=|thumb|Cemetery H, Late Harappan, OCP, Copper Hoard and Painted Grey ware sites]]

'''Āryāvarta''' ([[Sanskrit]]: आर्यावर्त, lit. "abode of the [[Aryans|Aryas]]",{{efn|The [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] word ''ā́rya'' ([[wiktionary:आर्य|आर्य]]) was originally a cultural term designating those who spoke [[Vedic Sanskrit]] and adhered to Vedic cultural norms (including religious rituals and poetry), in contrast to an outsider, or ''an-ā́rya'' ('non-Arya').By the time of the [[Buddha]] (5th–4th century BCE), it took the meaning of 'noble'.}}<ref group=web>[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/2014/web/webtc/indexcaller.php?input=HK&output=SktRomanUnicode&citation=AryAvarta Aryavarta], Monier Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary (1899)</ref><ref group=web>{{Cite web|url=https://dsalsrv04.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/apte_query.py?page=356|title=Revised and Enlarged Edition of Prin. V. S. Apte's The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary|last=Apte|first=Vaman Shivaram|date=1957|access-date=1 November 2018}}</ref> {{IPA-sa|aːrjaːˈʋərtə}}) is a term for northern parts of the [[Indian subcontinent]] in the ancient [[Hindu texts]] such as [[Dharmasastra|''Dharmashastras'']] and ''Sutras'', referring to the area of the Indian subcontinent settled by [[Indo-Aryan peoples|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 [[Brahmanism|Brahmanical ideology]] spread eastwards in post-Vedic times.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2011|p=4}}<ref>{{Cite book|title=Handbuch der Orientalistik: Indien|last=Scharfe|first=Hartmut|publisher=BRILL|year=1989|isbn=9004090606|pages=12|language=en}}</ref>

==Geographical boundaries==

===Ganges-Yamuna doab===
[[File:GangesValley&Plain.jpg|thumb|right|Course of the Ganges river; Ganges-Yamuna doab western part of the green area.]]
[[File:DoabUnitedProvincesIGI1908.jpg|thumb|right|The Ganges-Yamuna doab.]]

The [[Baudhayana sutras|Baudhayana ''Dharmasutra'' (BDS) 1.1.2.10]] (perhaps compiled in the 8th to 6th centuries BCE) declares that Āryāvarta is the land that lies west of Kālakavana, east of Adarsana, south of the [[Himalayas]] and north of the Vindhyas, but in BDS 1.1.2.11 Āryāvarta is confined to the [[doab]] of the [[Ganges]]-[[Yamuna]]. BDS 1.1.2.13-15 considers people from beyond this area as of mixed origin, and hence not worthy of emulation by the Aryans. Some sutras recommend expiatory acts for those who have crossed the boundaries of Aryavarta. Baudhayana ''Srautasutra'' recommends this for those who have crossed the boundaries of Aryavarta and ventured into far away places.<ref>Agarwal, Vishal: ''Is there Vedic evidence for the Indo-Aryan Immigration to India''</ref>

The ''[[Kalpa (Vedanga)#Dharmasūtras|Vasistha Dharma Sutra]]'' (oldest sutras ca. 500–300 BCE) I.8-9 and 12-13 locates the Āryāvarta to the east of the disappearance of the [[Sarasvati River]] in the desert, to the west of the Kālakavana, to the north of the [[Pariyatra Mountains]] and the Vindhya Range and to the south of the Himalayas.{{sfn|Neelis|2010|p=194}}

[[Patanjali]]'s {{IAST|[[Mahābhāṣya]]}} (mid 2nd century BCE) defines Āryāvarta like the ''Vasistha [[Dharmaśāstra|Dharmasutra]]''.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}} According to Bronkhost, he "situates it essentially in the Ganges plan, between the [[Thar desert]] in the west and the confluence of the rivers Ganges (Ganga) and Jumna (Yamuna) in the east."{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2011|p=4}}

===From sea to sea===
{{See also| Sanskritization|Hindu synthesis}}

The ''[[Manu Smriti|Manusmṛti]]'' (dated between 2nd cent. BCE to 3rd cent. CE) (2.22) gives the name to "the tract between the [[Himalayas|Himalaya]] and the [[Vindhya Range|Vindhya ranges]], from the Eastern Sea ([[Bay of Bengal]]) to the Western Sea ([[Arabian Sea]])".<ref>{{cite book|title=India through the ages|url=https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada|last=Gopal|first=Madan|year= 1990| page= [https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada/page/70 70]|editor=K.S. Gautam|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}</ref><ref>[[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]] (2014), ''Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective'', Princeton University Press, p.68: "Aryavarta [...] is defined by Manu as extending from the Himalayas in the north to the Vindhyas of Central India in the south and from the sea in the west to the sea in the east."</ref>

The ''Manava Dharmasastra'' (ca.150-250 CE) gives ''aryavarta'' as stretching from the eastern to the western seas, reflecting the growing sphere of influence of the Brahmanical ideology.{{sfn|Brinkhorst|2011|p=4}}

===Loss of northwest India===
The post-Vedic period of the Second Urbanisation saw a decline of Brahmanism.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=37-39}}{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2017|p=363}} With the growth of cities, which threatened the income and patronage of the rural Brahmins; the rise of Buddhism; and the [[Indian campaign of Alexander the Great]] (327-325 BCE), the rise of the [[Mauryan Empire]] (322-185 BCE), and the [[Indo-Scythians|Saka]] invasions and rule of northwestern India (2nd c. BC - 4th c. CE), Brahmanism faced a grave threat to its existence.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2016|p=9-10}}{{sfn|Michaels|2014}}

The decline of Brahmanism was overcome by providing new services{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2015|p=2}} and incorporating the non-Vedic Indo-Aryan religious heritage of the eastern Ganges plain and local religious traditions, giving rise to the [[Hindu synthesis]].{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2016|p=9-10}}

==Other regional designations==
These texts also identify other parts of the Indian subcontinent with specific designations. The ''Manusmṛti'' mentions ''[[Brahmavarta]]'' as the region between the rivers [[Saraswati River|Saraswati]] and [[Drishadwati]] in north-western India. The text defines the area as the place where the "good" people are born, with "goodness" being dependent on location rather than behaviour.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Mlecchas, Yavanas and Heathens: Interacting Xenologies in Early Nineteenth-Century Calcutta |first=Dermot |last=Killingley |title=Beyond Orientalism: The Work of Wilhelm Halbfass and Its Impact on Indian and Cross-cultural Studies |editor1-first=Eli |editor1-last=Franco |editor2-first=Karin |editor2-last=Preisendanz |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=2007 |isbn=978-8-12083-110-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tv-4tyO9u_QC&pg=PA125 |page=125}}</ref> The precise location and size of the region has been the subject of academic uncertainty.<ref name="Scharfe">{{cite book |title=The State in Indian Tradition |first=Hartmut |last=Scharfe |publisher=BRILL |year=1989 |isbn=900-4-09060-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA12 |page=12}}</ref> Some scholars, such as the archaeologists [[Bridget Allchin|Bridget]] and [[Raymond Allchin]], believe the term ''Brahmavarta'' to be synonymous with the [[Aryavarta]] region.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan |first1=Bridget |last1=Allchin |first2=Raymond |last2=Allchin |author-link1=Bridget Allchin |author-link2=Raymond Allchin |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-52128-550-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4s-YsP6vcIC&pg=PA250 |page=250}}</ref>

''[[Madhyadesa]]'' extended from the upper reaches of the [[Ganges|Ganga]] and the [[Yamuna]] to the [[confluence]] of the two rivers at [[Triveni Sangam|Prayaga]], and was the region where, during the time of the [[Mahajanapadas]], the [[Kuru Kingdom|Kurus]] and the [[Panchala|Panchalas]] existed. The entire region is considered sacred in the [[Hindu mythology]] as gods and heroes mentioned in the two epics, the ''[[Ramayana]]'' and ''[[Mahabharata]]'', lived here.

==Rulers==
The [[Gurjara-Pratihara]] king in the tenth century was titled the ''Maharajadhiraja of Aryavarta''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Al-Hind: Early medieval India and the expansion of Islam, 7th-11th centuries|author=André Wink|publisher=BRILL|year=2002|isbn=978-0-391-04173-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m7_R5P2oAC&pg=PA284|page=284}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Names of India]]
*[[Bharata Khanda]]
*[[Airyanem Vaejah]], its [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] counterpart
*[[History of India]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
;Printed sources
{{refbegin}}

* {{Cite book| last =Bronkhorst | first =Johannes | date =2007 | title =Greater Magadha: Studies in the Culture of Early India | publisher =BRILL | isbn =9789004157194}}
* {{Citation | last =Bronkhorst | year =2011 | first =Johannes |title =Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism | publisher =BRILL | url =https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294688170}}
* {{Citation | last =Bronkhorst | first =Johannes | year =2017 | title =Brahmanism: Its place in ancient Indian society | journal =Contributions to Indian Sociology 51, 3 (2017): 361-369 | doi =10.1177/0069966717717587 | url =https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319562898}}

* {{cite book |last=Michaels |first=Axel |year=2004 |title=Hinduism. Past and present |place=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press }}

* {{Cite book | last =Samuel | first =Geoffrey | year =2010 | title =The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century | publisher =Cambridge University Press }}
{{refend}}

;Web-sources
{{reflist|group=web}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=Kane|first=Pandurang Vaman|author-link=Pandurang Vaman Kane|title=History of Dharmaśāstra: (ancient and mediaeval religious and civil law in India)|year=1962|publisher=Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute}}
* {{cite book|last=Neelis|first=Jason|title=Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB-JV2eOr2UC|date=19 November 2010|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-18159-5}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aryavarta}}
[[Category:Ancient Indian geography| ]]
[[Category:Vedic period]]
[[Category:Locations in Hindu mythology]]
[[Category:Ancient India]]

Āryāvarta - Revision history

Sylvester41C: further improve details for clarity and updated info

>Joshua Jonathan: Undid revision 1048302539 by 157.33.54.166 (talk)incorrect

imported>Joshua Jonathan: Reverted 1 edit by Cooler1469 (talk): Not an error