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{{Indo-European topics}} | {{Indo-European topics}} | ||
'''Indo-Iranian peoples''', | '''Indo-Iranian peoples''', or as '''Arya''' or '''[[Aryan]]s''' from their self-designation, is a group of [[Indo-European peoples]] who brought the [[Indo-Iranian languages]], a major branch of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]], to major parts of [[Eurasia]] in waves from the first part of the 2nd millennium BC onwards. They eventually branched out into [[Iranian peoples]] and [[Indo-Aryan peoples]], predominantly in the [[Subregion|geographical subregion]] of [[United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern_Asia|Southern Asia]]. | ||
==Nomenclature== | ==Nomenclature== | ||
The term ''[[Aryan]]'' has long been used to denote the ''Indo-Iranians'', because ''Arya'' is indeed the self-designation of the ancient speakers of the [[Indo-Iranian languages]], specifically the [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] and the [[Indo-Aryan peoples]], collectively known as the Indo-Iranians.<ref>The "Aryan" Language, Gherardo Gnoli, Instituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente, Roma, 2002.</ref><ref>. Schmitt, "Aryans" in Encyclopedia Iranica: Excerpt:"The name "Aryan" (OInd. ā́rya-, Ir. *arya- [with short a-], in Old Pers. ariya-, Av. airiia-, etc.) is the self-designation of the peoples of Ancient India and Ancient Iran who spoke Aryan languages, in contrast to the "non-Aryan" peoples of those "Aryan" countries (cf. OInd. an-ā́rya-, Av. an-airiia-, etc.), and lives on in ethnic names like Alan (Lat. Alani, NPers. īrān, Oss. Ir and Iron.". Also accessed online: [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aryans] in May, 2010</ref> | The term ''[[Aryan]]'' has long been used to denote the ''Indo-Iranians'', because ''Arya'' is indeed the self-designation of the ancient speakers of the [[Indo-Iranian languages]], specifically the [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] and the [[Indo-Aryan peoples]], collectively known as the Indo-Iranians.<ref>The "Aryan" Language, Gherardo Gnoli, Instituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente, Roma, 2002.</ref><ref>. Schmitt, "Aryans" in Encyclopedia Iranica: Excerpt:"The name "Aryan" (OInd. ā́rya-, Ir. *arya- [with short a-], in Old Pers. ariya-, Av. airiia-, etc.) is the self-designation of the peoples of Ancient India and Ancient Iran who spoke Aryan languages, in contrast to the "non-Aryan" peoples of those "Aryan" countries (cf. OInd. an-ā́rya-, Av. an-airiia-, etc.), and lives on in ethnic names like Alan (Lat. Alani, NPers. īrān, Oss. Ir and Iron.". Also accessed online: [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aryans] in May, 2010</ref> Despite this, some scholars use the term Indo-Iranian to refer to this group, though the term "Aryan" remains widely used by most scholars, such as [[Josef Wiesehofer]],<ref>Wiesehofer, Joseph: ''Ancient Persia''. New York: 1996. I.B. Tauris. Recommends the use by scholars of the term Aryan to describe the Eastern, not the Western, branch of the Indo-European peoples (see "Aryan" in index)</ref> [[Will Durant]],<ref>Durant, Will: ''Our Oriental Heritage''. New York: 1954. Simon and Schuster. According to Will Durant on Page 286: "the name Aryan first appears in the [name] ''Harri'', one of the tribes of the [[Mitanni]]. In general it was the self-given appellation of the tribes living near or coming from the [southern] shores of the [[Caspian sea]]. The term is properly applied today chiefly to the [[Mitanni]]ans, [[Hittites]], [[Medes]], [[Persian people|Persians]], and [[Indo-Aryans|Vedic Hindus]], i.e., only to the ''eastern'' branch of the Indo-European peoples, whose ''western'' branch populated [[Europe]]."</ref> and Jaakko Häkkinen.<ref name="Häkkinen2012a">{{cite book |last=Häkkinen|first=Jaakko|title=Per Urales ad Orientem (Festschrift for Juha Janhunen on the occasion of his 60th birthday on 12 February 2012) |year=2012|publisher=Finno-Ugric Society|location=Helsinki|isbn=978-952-5667-34-9 |url = http://www.sgr.fi/sust/sust264/sust264_hakkinenj.pdf |editor=Tiina Hyytiäinen |editor2=Lotta Jalava |editor3=Janne Saarikivi |editor4=Erika Sandman|access-date=12 November 2013 |chapter=Early contacts between Uralic and Yukaghir }}</ref><ref name="Häkkinen 2012b">{{cite web |last=Häkkinen|first=Jaakko|title=Problems in the method and interpretations of the computational phylogenetics based on linguistic data – An example of wishful thinking: Bouckaert et al. 2012|url=http://www.alkuperasivusto.fi/Problems_of_phylogenetics.pdf|work=Jaakko Häkkisen puolikuiva alkuperäsivusto|publisher=Jaakko Häkkinen|access-date=12 November 2013|date=23 September 2012}}</ref> [[Population genetics|Population geneticist]] [[Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza]], in his 1994 book ''The History and Geography of Human Genes'', also uses the term Aryan to describe the Indo-Iranians.<ref>{{Citation |first1= Luigi Luca |last1= Cavalli-Sforza |author-link= Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza |first2= Paolo |last2= Menozzi |first3= Alberto |last3= Piazza |title= The History and Geography of Human Genes |year= 1994 |publisher= [[Princeton University Press]] |location= [[Princeton, New Jersey]] |isbn= 978-0-691-08750-4 |page = See "Aryan" in index }}</ref> | ||
==History== | ==History== | ||
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The early Indo-Iranians are commonly identified with the descendants of the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]] known as the [[Sintashta culture]] and the subsequent [[Andronovo culture]] within the broader Andronovo horizon, and their homeland with an area of the [[Eurasian steppe]] that borders the [[Ural River]] on the west, the [[Tian Shan]] on the east (where the Indo-Iranians took over the area occupied by the earlier [[Afanasevo culture]]), and [[Transoxiana]] and the [[Hindu Kush]] on the south.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=49}} | The early Indo-Iranians are commonly identified with the descendants of the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]] known as the [[Sintashta culture]] and the subsequent [[Andronovo culture]] within the broader Andronovo horizon, and their homeland with an area of the [[Eurasian steppe]] that borders the [[Ural River]] on the west, the [[Tian Shan]] on the east (where the Indo-Iranians took over the area occupied by the earlier [[Afanasevo culture]]), and [[Transoxiana]] and the [[Hindu Kush]] on the south.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=49}} | ||
Based on its use by Indo-Aryans in [[Mitanni]] and Vedic India, its prior absence in the Near East and Harappan India, and its 19th–20th century BC attestation at the Andronovo site of [[Sintashta]], Kuzmina (1994) argues that the chariot corroborates the identification of Andronovo as Indo-Iranian.{{NoteTag|[[Leo Klejn|Klejn]] (1974), as cited in {{Harvcolnb|Bryant|2001|p=206}}, acknowledges the Iranian identification of the Andronovo culture, but finds the Andronovo culture too late{{Clarify|reason=Even if all the premises and datings given by Bryant are granted, and they can be questioned, how exactly is the Andronovo culture 'too late' to be the origin of the Indo-Iranians in the Ancient Near East then? With their horses and chariots, the Indo-Iranians were highly mobile – they wouldn't have needed centuries to move across and beyond the steppe.|date=July 2019}} for an Indo-Iranian identification, giving a later date for the start of the Andronovo culture "in the 16th or 17th century BC, whereas the Aryans appeared in the Near East not later than the 15th to 16th century | Based on its use by Indo-Aryans in [[Mitanni]] and Vedic India, its prior absence in the Near East and Harappan India, and its 19th–20th century BC attestation at the Andronovo site of [[Sintashta]], Kuzmina (1994) argues that the chariot corroborates the identification of Andronovo as Indo-Iranian.{{NoteTag|[[Leo Klejn|Klejn]] (1974), as cited in {{Harvcolnb|Bryant|2001|p=206}}, acknowledges the Iranian identification of the Andronovo culture, but finds the Andronovo culture too late{{Clarify|reason=Even if all the premises and datings given by Bryant are granted, and they can be questioned, how exactly is the Andronovo culture 'too late' to be the origin of the Indo-Iranians in the Ancient Near East then? With their horses and chariots, the Indo-Iranians were highly mobile – they wouldn't have needed centuries to move across and beyond the steppe.|date=July 2019}} for an Indo-Iranian identification, giving a later date for the start of the Andronovo culture "in the 16th or 17th century BC, whereas the Aryans appeared in the Near East not later than the 15th to 16th century BC.{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=206}} Klejn (1974, p.58) further argues that "these [latter] regions contain nothing reminiscent of Timber-Frame Andronovo materials."{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=206}} Brentjes (1981) also gives a later dating for the Andronovo culture.{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=207}} Bryant further refers to Lyonnet (1993) and Francfort (1989), who point to the absence of archaeological remains of the Andronovans south of the Hindu Kush.{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=207}} Bosch-Gimpera (1973) and Hiebert (1998) argue that there also no Andronovo remains in Iran,{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=207}} but Hiebert "agrees that the expansion of the BMAC people to the Iranian plateau and the Indus Valley borderlands at the beginning of the second millennium BC is 'the best candidate for an archaeological correlate of the introduction of Indo-Iranian speakers to Iran and South Asia' (Hiebert 1995:192)".{{sfn|Parpola|2015|p=76}} Sarianidi states that the Andronovo tribes "penetrated to a minimum extent".{{sfn|Bryant|2001|p=207}}}} {{Harvcoltxt|Anthony|Vinogradov|1995}} dated a [[chariot burial]] at [[Krivoye Lake]] to about 2000 BC, and a [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|Bactria-Margiana]] burial that also contains a foal has recently been found, indicating further links with the steppes.<ref name="Bryant chariot origin references">{{Harvcoltxt|Anthony|Vinogradov|1995}}; Kuzmina (1994), Klejn (1974), and Brentjes (1981), as cited in {{Harvcoltxt|Bryant|2001|p=206}}</ref> | ||
Historical linguists broadly estimate that a continuum of Indo-Iranian languages probably began to diverge by 2000 BC | Historical linguists broadly estimate that a continuum of Indo-Iranian languages probably began to diverge by 2000 BC,<ref name=jpm>{{Harvcolnb|Mallory|1989}}</ref>{{rp|38–39}} preceding both the [[Vedic civilization|Vedic]] and [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] cultures which emerged later. The earliest recorded forms of these languages, [[Vedic Sanskrit]] and [[Gathas|Gathic]] [[Avestan]], are remarkably similar, descended from the common [[Proto-Indo-Iranian language]]. The origin and earliest relationship between the [[Nuristani languages]] and that of the Iranian and [[Indo-Aryans|Indo-Aryan]] groups is not completely clear. | ||
===Expansion=== | ===Expansion=== | ||
[[File:IE expansion.png|300px|thumb|Indo-European migrations | [[File:IE expansion.png|300px|thumb|Indo-European migrations {{Circa|4000}} to 1000 BC according to the [[Kurgan hypothesis]]. Magenta indicates the assumed ''[[Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses|Urheimat]]'' ([[Samara culture]], [[Sredny Stog culture]]), red the area which may have been settled by Indo-European-speaking peoples up to {{Circa|2500 BC}}, and orange the area to 1000 BC.<ref>Christopher I. Beckwith (2009), ''Empires of the Silk Road'', Oxford University Press, p.30</ref>]] | ||
[[File:Indo-Iranian origins.png|thumb|right|300px|Archaeological cultures associated with [[Indo-Iranian migration]]s (after [[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|EIEC]]). The Andronovo, [[BMAC]] and Yaz cultures have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The [[Gandhara grave culture|GGC]], Cemetery H, Copper Hoard and [[Painted Grey Ware culture|PGW]] cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryan movements.]] | [[File:Indo-Iranian origins.png|thumb|right|300px|Archaeological cultures associated with [[Indo-Iranian migration]]s (after [[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|EIEC]]). The Andronovo, [[BMAC]] and Yaz cultures have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The [[Gandhara grave culture|GGC]], Cemetery H, Copper Hoard and [[Painted Grey Ware culture|PGW]] cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryan movements.]] | ||
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Arqaim.jpg|thumb|275px|[[Arkaim]] in [[Russia]] is believed to have been constructed by [[Indo-Iranian]] tribes some 4000 years ago.<ref> Gening, V.F. The Cemetery at Sintashta and the Early Indo-Iranian People. Journal of Indo-European Studies 7, 1979, 1–29; cf. Gening, Mogil'nik Sintashta i problema rannikh Indoiranskikh plemen. Sovietskaya Arkheologiya 1977, 53–73 </ref>]] --> | <!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Arqaim.jpg|thumb|275px|[[Arkaim]] in [[Russia]] is believed to have been constructed by [[Indo-Iranian]] tribes some 4000 years ago.<ref> Gening, V.F. The Cemetery at Sintashta and the Early Indo-Iranian People. Journal of Indo-European Studies 7, 1979, 1–29; cf. Gening, Mogil'nik Sintashta i problema rannikh Indoiranskikh plemen. Sovietskaya Arkheologiya 1977, 53–73 </ref>]] --> | ||
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====First wave – Indo-Aryans==== | ====First wave – Indo-Aryans==== | ||
{{main|Indo-European migrations}} | {{main|Indo-European migrations}} | ||
Two-wave models of Indo-Iranian expansion have been proposed by Burrow (1973){{sfn|Burrow|1973}} and {{Harvtxt|Parpola|1999}}. The Indo-Iranians and their expansion are strongly associated with the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Proto-Indo-European]] invention of the [[chariot]]. It is assumed that this expansion spread from the [[Proto-Indo-European homeland]] north of the [[Caspian | Two-wave models of Indo-Iranian expansion have been proposed by Burrow (1973){{sfn|Burrow|1973}} and {{Harvtxt|Parpola|1999}}. The Indo-Iranians and their expansion are strongly associated with the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Proto-Indo-European]] invention of the [[chariot]]. It is assumed that this expansion spread from the [[Proto-Indo-European homeland]] north of the [[Caspian Sea]] south to the [[Caucasus]], [[Central Asia]], the Iranian plateau, and the [[Indian subcontinent]]. {{main|Indo-Aryan migrations}} | ||
=====The Mitanni of Anatolia===== | =====The Mitanni of Anatolia===== | ||
{{main|Mitanni}} | {{main|Mitanni}} | ||
The Mitanni, a people known in eastern [[Anatolia]] from about 1500 BC, were of possibly of mixed origins: | The Mitanni, a people known in eastern [[Anatolia]] from about 1500 BC, were of possibly of mixed origins: An indigenous non Indo-European [[Hurrian]]-speaking majority was supposedly dominated by a non-Anatolian, [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] elite.<ref name=mm>{{Harvcolnb|Mallory|Mair|2000}}</ref>{{rp|257}} There is linguistic evidence for such a [[superstrate]], in the form of: | ||
* a [[horse training]] manual written by a Mitanni man named [[Kikkuli]], which was used by the [[Hittites]], an [[Ancient Anatolian|Indo-European Anatolian people]]; | * a [[horse training]] manual written by a Mitanni man named [[Kikkuli]], which was used by the [[Hittites]], an [[Ancient Anatolian|Indo-European Anatolian people]] who spoke a non Indo-Iranian language; | ||
* the names of Mitanni rulers and; | * the names of Mitanni rulers and; | ||
* the names of gods invoked by these rulers in treaties. | * the names of gods invoked by these rulers in treaties. | ||
In particular, Kikkuli's text includes words such as ''aika'' "one" (i.e. a cognate of the Indo-Aryan ''eka''), ''tera'' "three" (''tri''), ''panza'' "five" (''pancha''), ''satta'' "seven", (''sapta''), ''na'' "nine" (''nava''), and ''vartana'' "turn around", in the context of a horse race (Indo-Aryan ''vartana''). In a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, the [[Ashvins|Ashvin]] deities [[Mitra]], [[Varuna]], [[Indra]], and [[Nasatya]] are invoked. These [[loanwords]] tend to connect the Mitanni superstrate to Indo-Aryan rather than [[Iranian languages]] – i.e. the early Iranian word for "one" was ''aiva''. | In particular, Kikkuli's text includes words such as ''aika'' "one" (i.e. a cognate of the Indo-Aryan ''eka''), ''tera'' "three" (''tri''), ''panza'' "five" (''pancha''), ''satta'' "seven", (''sapta''), ''na'' "nine" (''nava''), and ''vartana'' "turn around", in the context of a horse race (Indo-Aryan ''vartana''). In a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, the [[Ashvins|Ashvin]] deities [[Mitra]], [[Varuna]], [[Indra]], and [[Nasatya]] are invoked. These [[loanwords]] tend to connect the Mitanni superstrate to [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] rather than [[Iranian languages]] – i.e. the early Iranian word for "one" was ''aiva''.{{cn|date=September 2022}} | ||
=====Indian subcontinent – Vedic culture===== | =====Indian subcontinent – Vedic culture===== | ||
The standard model for the entry of the Indo-European languages into the Indian subcontinent is that this first wave went over the Hindu Kush, either into the headwaters of the [[Indus River|Indus]] and later the [[Ganges]]. The earliest stratum of [[Vedic Sanskrit]], preserved only in the [[Rigveda]], is assigned to roughly 1500 BC.<ref name="mm"/>{{rp|258}}<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9063686 Rigveda – Britannica Online Encyclopedia<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> From the Indus, the [[Indo-Aryan languages]] spread from | The standard model for the entry of the Indo-European languages into the Indian subcontinent is that this first wave went over the Hindu Kush, either into the headwaters of the [[Indus River|Indus]] and later the [[Ganges]]. The earliest stratum of [[Vedic Sanskrit]], preserved only in the [[Rigveda]], is assigned to roughly 1500 BC.<ref name="mm"/>{{rp|258}}<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9063686 Rigveda – Britannica Online Encyclopedia<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> From the Indus, the [[Indo-Aryan languages]] spread from {{Circa|1500 BC|500 BC}}, over the northern and central parts of the subcontinent, sparing the extreme south. The [[Indo-Aryans]] in these areas established several powerful kingdoms and principalities in the region, from south eastern [[Afghanistan]] to the doorstep of [[Bengal]]. The most powerful of these kingdoms were the post-Rigvedic Kuru (in Kurukshetra and the Delhi area) and their allies the Pañcālas further east, as well as [[Gandhara]] and later on, about the time of [[the Buddha]], the kingdom of [[Kosala]] and the quickly expanding realm of [[Magadha]]. The latter lasted until the 4th century BC, when it was conquered by [[Chandragupta Maurya]] and formed the center of the [[Maurya Empire]]. | ||
In eastern [[Afghanistan]] and some western regions of [[Pakistan]], [[Indo-Aryan languages]] were eventually replaced by [[Eastern Iranian languages]]. Most Indo-Aryan languages, however, were and still are prominent in the rest of the [[Indian subcontinent]]. Today, Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Nepal]], [[Sri Lanka]], Fiji, [[Suriname]] and the [[Maldives]]. | In eastern [[Afghanistan]] and some western regions of [[Pakistan]], [[Indo-Aryan languages]] were eventually replaced by [[Eastern Iranian languages]]. Most Indo-Aryan languages, however, were and still are prominent in the rest of the [[Indian subcontinent]]. Today, Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Nepal]], [[Sri Lanka]], Fiji, [[Suriname]] and the [[Maldives]]. | ||
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==== Second wave – Iranians ==== | ==== Second wave – Iranians ==== | ||
The second wave is interpreted as the Iranian wave.<ref name="jpm" />{{rp|42–43}} | The second wave is interpreted as the Iranian wave.<ref name="jpm" />{{rp|42–43}} | ||
The first Iranians to reach the [[Black Sea]] may have been the [[Cimmerians]] in the 8th century BC, although their linguistic affiliation is uncertain. They were followed by the [[Scythians]], who are considered a western branch of the Central Asian [[Saka]]s. [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] tribes, of whom the best known are the [[Roxolani]] (Rhoxolani), [[Iazyges]] (Jazyges) and the [[Alans|Alani]] (Alans), followed the Scythians westwards into Europe in the late centuries BC and the 1st and 2nd centuries AD (The [[Age of Migrations]]). The populous Sarmatian tribe of the [[Massagetae]], dwelling near the Caspian Sea, were known to the early rulers of Persia in the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] Period. At their greatest reported extent, around 1st century AD, the Sarmatian tribes ranged from the [[Vistula River]] to the mouth of the [[Danube]] and eastward to the [[Volga]], bordering the shores of the [[Black Sea|Black]] and [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] seas as well as the [[Caucasus]] to the south.{{NoteTag|[[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius]] (''[[Argonautica]]'', iii) envisaged the ''Sauromatai'' as the bitter foe of King [[Aietes]] of [[Colchis]] (modern [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]).}} In the east, the Saka occupied several areas in Xinjiang, from Khotan to Tumshuq. | [[File:East-Hem 1000bc.jpg|thumb|270px|Eurasia around 1000 BC, showing location of the Iranians and their neighbors]] | ||
The first Iranians to reach the [[Black Sea]] 'may' have been the [[Cimmerians]] in the 8th century BC, although their linguistic affiliation to Iranians is uncertain. They were followed by the [[Scythians]], who are considered a western branch of the Central Asian [[Saka]]s. [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] tribes, of whom the best known are the [[Roxolani]] (Rhoxolani), [[Iazyges]] (Jazyges) and the [[Alans|Alani]] (Alans), followed the Scythians westwards into Europe in the late centuries BC and the 1st and 2nd centuries AD (The [[Age of Migrations]]). The populous Sarmatian tribe of the [[Massagetae]], dwelling near the Caspian Sea, were known to the early rulers of Persia in the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] Period. At their greatest reported extent, around 1st century AD, the Sarmatian tribes ranged from the [[Vistula River]] to the mouth of the [[Danube]] and eastward to the [[Volga]], bordering the shores of the [[Black Sea|Black]] and [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] seas as well as the [[Caucasus]] to the south.{{NoteTag|[[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius]] (''[[Argonautica]]'', iii) envisaged the ''Sauromatai'' as the bitter foe of King [[Aietes]] of [[Colchis]] (modern [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]).}} In the east, the Saka occupied several areas in Xinjiang, from Khotan to Tumshuq. | |||
The [[Medes|Medians]], [[Persian people|Persians]] and [[Parthia]]ns begin to appear on the [[Iranian plateau]] from | The [[Medes|Medians]], [[Persian people|Persians]] and [[Parthia]]ns begin to appear on the [[Iranian plateau]] from {{Circa|800 BC}}, and the [[Achaemenid]]s replaced the language isolate speaking [[Elamites]] rule over the region from 559 BC, although the Iranic peoples were largely subject to the [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] speaking [[Assyrian Empire]] until the 6th century BC. Around the first millennium AD, Iranian groups began to settle on the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau, on the mountainous frontier of northwestern and western [[Pakistan]], displacing the earlier [[Indo-Aryans]] from the area. | ||
In [[Eastern Europe]], the Iranians were eventually decisively assimilated (e.g. [[Slavicisation]]) and absorbed by the [[Proto-Slavs|Proto-Slavic]] population of the region,<ref>{{cite book |quote = "(..) Indeed, it is now accepted that the Sarmatians merged in with pre-Slavic populations." |title = The Sarmatians, 600 BC-AD 450 |first1= Richard |last1=Brzezinski |first2=Mariusz |last2=Mielczarek |publisher= Osprey Publishing |year = 2002 |page=39 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote="(..) In their Ukrainian and Polish homeland the Slavs were intermixed and at times overlain by Germanic speakers (the Goths) and by Iranian speakers (Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans) in a shifting array of tribal and national configurations." |title = Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture |first = Douglas Q. |last = Adams |publisher= Taylor & Francis |year = 1997 |page=523 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote="(..) Ancient accounts link the Amazons with the Scythians and the Sarmatians, who successively dominated the south of Russia for a millennium extending back to the seventh century B.C. The descendants of these peoples were absorbed by the Slavs who came to be known as Russians." |title = Women in Russia |first = Dorothy |last = Atkinson |publisher = Stanford University Press |year = 1977 |page=3 |display-authors=etal }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote="(..) For example, the ancient Scythians, Sarmatians (amongst others), and many other attested but now extinct peoples were assimilated in the course of history by Proto-Slavs." |title = Slovene Studies |publisher= Society for Slovene Studies |volume = 9-11 |year = 1987 |page=36 }}</ref> while in Central Asia, the [[Turkic languages]] marginalized the [[Iranian languages]] as a result of the [[Turkic expansion]] of the early centuries AD. Extant major Iranian languages are [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Pashto language|Pashto]], [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], and [[Balochi language|Balochi]] besides numerous smaller ones. [[Ossetian language|Ossetian]], primarily spoken in [[North Ossetia]] and [[South Ossetia]], is a direct descendant of [[Alans|Alanic]], and by that the only surviving Sarmatian language of the once wide-ranging East Iranian dialect continuum that stretched from Eastern Europe to the eastern parts of Central Asia. | In [[Eastern Europe]], the Iranians were eventually decisively assimilated (e.g. [[Slavicisation]]) and absorbed by the [[Proto-Slavs|Proto-Slavic]] population of the region,<ref>{{cite book |quote = "(..) Indeed, it is now accepted that the Sarmatians merged in with pre-Slavic populations." |title = The Sarmatians, 600 BC-AD 450 |first1= Richard |last1=Brzezinski |first2=Mariusz |last2=Mielczarek |publisher= Osprey Publishing |year = 2002 |page=39 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote="(..) In their Ukrainian and Polish homeland the Slavs were intermixed and at times overlain by Germanic speakers (the Goths) and by Iranian speakers (Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans) in a shifting array of tribal and national configurations." |title = Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture |first = Douglas Q. |last = Adams |publisher= Taylor & Francis |year = 1997 |page=523 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote="(..) Ancient accounts link the Amazons with the Scythians and the Sarmatians, who successively dominated the south of Russia for a millennium extending back to the seventh century B.C. The descendants of these peoples were absorbed by the Slavs who came to be known as Russians." |title = Women in Russia |first = Dorothy |last = Atkinson |publisher = Stanford University Press |year = 1977 |page=3 |display-authors=etal }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote="(..) For example, the ancient Scythians, Sarmatians (amongst others), and many other attested but now extinct peoples were assimilated in the course of history by Proto-Slavs." |title = Slovene Studies |publisher= Society for Slovene Studies |volume = 9-11 |year = 1987 |page=36 }}</ref> while in Central Asia, the [[Turkic languages]] marginalized the [[Iranian languages]] as a result of the [[Turkic expansion]] of the early centuries AD. Extant major Iranian languages are [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Pashto language|Pashto]], [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], and [[Balochi language|Balochi]] besides numerous smaller ones. [[Ossetian language|Ossetian]], primarily spoken in [[North Ossetia]] and [[South Ossetia]], is a direct descendant of [[Alans|Alanic]], and by that the only surviving Sarmatian language of the once wide-ranging East Iranian dialect continuum that stretched from Eastern Europe to the eastern parts of Central Asia. | ||
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[[Archaeological culture]]s associated with Indo-Iranian expansion include: | [[Archaeological culture]]s associated with Indo-Iranian expansion include: | ||
* Europe | * Europe | ||
** [[Poltavka culture]] ( | ** [[Poltavka culture]] (2500–2100 BC) | ||
** [[Abashevo culture]] (2300–1850 BC) | |||
** [[Srubna culture]] (1850–1450 BC) | |||
* Central Asia | * Central Asia | ||
** [[ | ** [[Sintashta culture|Sintashta]]-Petrovka-Arkaim (2050–1750 BC) | ||
** | ** [[Andronovo]] horizon (2000–1450 BC) | ||
*** Alakul (2100–1400 BC) | *** Alakul (2100–1400 BC) | ||
*** Fedorovo (1400–1200 BC) | *** Fedorovo (1400–1200 BC) | ||
*** Alekseyevka (1200–1000 BC) | *** Alekseyevka (1200–1000 BC) | ||
** [[Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex]] (2200–1700 BC) | ** [[Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex]] (2200–1700 BC) | ||
** [[Yaz culture]] (1500–1100 BC) | ** [[Yaz culture]] (1500–1100 BC) | ||
* Indian subcontinent | * Indian subcontinent | ||
** [[Ochre Coloured Pottery culture]] (2000–1500 | ** [[Ochre Coloured Pottery culture]] (2000–1500 BC) | ||
** [[Cemetery H culture]] (1900–1300 BC) | ** [[Cemetery H culture]] (1900–1300 BC) | ||
** [[Swat culture]] (1400–800 BC) | ** [[Swat culture]] (1400–800 BC) | ||
| Line 90: | Line 91: | ||
|1900–1700 BC | |1900–1700 BC | ||
|BMAC | |BMAC | ||
|"Proto-Dasa" Indo-Aryans establishing themselves in the existing BMAC settlements, defeated by "Proto-[[Rigveda|Rigvedic]]" Indo-Aryans around 1700 | |"Proto-[[Dasa]]" Indo-Aryans establishing themselves in the existing BMAC settlements, defeated by "Proto-[[Rigveda|Rigvedic]]" Indo-Aryans around 1700 | ||
|- | |- | ||
|1900–1400 BC | |1900–1400 BC | ||
| Line 139: | Line 140: | ||
==Religion== | ==Religion== | ||
{{See also|Ancient Iranian religion|Historical Vedic religion|Proto-Indo-European religion}} | {{See also|Ancient Iranian religion|Historical Vedic religion|Proto-Indo-Iranian paganism|Proto-Indo-European religion}} | ||
Despite the introduction of later [[Hinduism|Vedic]] and [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] scriptures, Indo-Iranians shared a common inheritance of concepts including the universal force ''*Hṛta-'' ([[Sanskrit]] ''[[rta]]'', [[Avestan]] ''[[asha]]''), the sacred plant and drink ''*sawHma-'' (Sanskrit ''[[Soma (drink)|Soma]]'', Avestan ''[[Haoma]]'') and gods of social order such as ''*[[mitra]]-'' (Sanskrit ''[[Mitra]]'', Avestan and Old Persian ''[[Mithra]]'', ''Miθra'') and ''*bʰaga-'' (Sanskrit ''[[Bhaga]]'', Avestan and Old Persian ''Baga''). Proto-Indo-Iranian religion is an archaic offshoot of [[Indo-European religion]]. From the various and dispersed Indo-Iranian cultures, a set of common ideas may be reconstructed from which a common, unattested proto-Indo-Iranian source may be deduced.<ref name="Gnoli">{{cite web |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-iranian-religion |title= | Despite the introduction of later [[Hinduism|Vedic]] and [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] scriptures, Indo-Iranians shared a common inheritance of concepts including the universal force ''*Hṛta-'' ([[Sanskrit]] ''[[rta]]'', [[Avestan]] ''[[asha]]''), the sacred plant and drink ''*sawHma-'' (Sanskrit ''[[Soma (drink)|Soma]]'', Avestan ''[[Haoma]]'') and gods of social order such as ''*[[mitra]]-'' (Sanskrit ''[[Mitra]]'', Avestan and Old Persian ''[[Mithra]]'', ''Miθra'') and ''*bʰaga-'' (Sanskrit ''[[Bhaga]]'', Avestan and Old Persian ''Baga''). Proto-Indo-Iranian religion is an archaic offshoot of [[Indo-European religion]]. From the various and dispersed Indo-Iranian cultures, a set of common ideas may be reconstructed from which a common, unattested proto-Indo-Iranian source may be deduced.<ref name="Gnoli">{{cite web |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-iranian-religion |title=Indo-Iranian Religion |last=Gnoli |first=Gherardo |date=March 29, 2012 |website=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |access-date=July 10, 2018 }}</ref> | ||
The pre-Islamic religion of the [[Nuristanis|Nuristani people]] and extant religion of the [[Kalash people]] | The pre-Islamic religion of the [[Nuristanis|Nuristani people]] and extant religion of the [[Kalash people]] is mostly based on the original religion of the Indo-Iranians. [[Michael Witzel]] theorises that these religions might share some elements with [[Shinto]], one of the national religions of [[Japan]], which according to him may contain some Indo-Iranian influence owing to contact presumably in the steppes of [[Central Asia]] at around 2000 BC. In Shinto, traces of these can be seen in the myth of the storm god [[Susanoo-no-Mikoto|Susanoo]] slaying a serpent [[Yamata-no-Orochi]] and in the myth of the dawn goddess [[Ame-no-Uzume]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Witzel|first=Michael|title=The Origin of the World's Mythologies|year=2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Witzel|first=Michael|title=Vala and Iwato: The Myth of the Hidden Sun in India, Japan, and beyond|year=2005|url=https://www.onmarkproductions.com/monkey-mythology-compare-india-japan-by-michael-witzel.pdf}}</ref><ref name="people.fas.harvard.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/KalashaReligion.pdf|author=[[Michael Witzel]]|access-date=14 March 2022|title=Kalash Religion|via=[[Harvard University|HUIT]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217221646/https://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/KalashaReligion.pdf|archive-date=17 February 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> | ||
Most Indo-Iranians today follow [[Abrahamic]] and [[Dharmic]] religions. | |||
===Development=== | ===Development=== | ||
Beliefs developed in different ways as cultures separated and evolved. For example, the cosmo-mythology of the peoples that remained on the Central Asian [[steppes]] and the Iranian plateau is to a great degree unlike that of the Indians, focused more on groups of deities (''*daiva'' and ''*asura'') and less on the divinities individually.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}} Indians were less conservative{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} than Iranians in their treatment of their divinities, so that some deities were conflated with others or, conversely, aspects of a single divinity developed into divinities in their own right. By the time of [[Zoroaster]], Iranian culture had also been subject to the upheavals of the Iranian Heroic Age (late Iranian Bronze Age, 1800–800 BC{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}), an influence that the Indo-Aryans were not subject to.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} | Beliefs developed in different ways as cultures separated and evolved. For example, the cosmo-mythology of the peoples that remained on the Central Asian [[steppes]] and the Iranian plateau is to a great degree unlike that of the Indians, focused more on groups of deities (''*daiva'' and ''*asura'') and less on the divinities individually.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}} Indians were less conservative{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} than Iranians in their treatment of their divinities, so that some deities were conflated with others or, conversely, aspects of a single divinity developed into divinities in their own right. By the time of [[Zoroaster]], Iranian culture had also been subject to the upheavals of the Iranian Heroic Age (late Iranian Bronze Age, 1800–800 BC{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}), an influence that the Indo-Aryans were not subject to.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} | ||
Sometimes certain myths developed in altogether different ways. The [[Rigveda|Rig-Vedic]] [[Sarasvati]] is linguistically and functionally cognate with Avestan [[Aredvi Sura Anahita|*Haraxvaitī Ārəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā]]{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}. In the Rig-Veda (6,61,5–7) she battles a serpent called Vritra, who has hoarded all of the Earth's water. In contrast, in early portions of the Avesta, Iranian *Harahvati ''is'' the world-river that flows down from the mythical central Mount Hara. But *Harahvati does no battle | Sometimes certain myths developed in altogether different ways. The [[Rigveda|Rig-Vedic]] [[Sarasvati]] is linguistically and functionally cognate with Avestan [[Aredvi Sura Anahita|*Haraxvaitī Ārəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā]]{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}. In the Rig-Veda (6,61,5–7) she battles a serpent called Vritra, who has hoarded all of the Earth's water. In contrast, in early portions of the Avesta, Iranian *Harahvati ''is'' the world-river that flows down from the mythical central Mount Hara. But *Harahvati does no battle – she is blocked by an obstacle (Avestan for obstacle: ''vərəθra'') placed there by [[Angra Mainyu]].<ref name="Gnoli"/> | ||
===Cognate terms=== | ===Cognate terms=== | ||
[[File:1500-1200 BCE Rigveda, manuscript page sample i, Mandala 1, Hymn 1 (Sukta 1), Adhyaya 1, lines 1.1.1 to 1.1.9, Sanskrit, Devanagari.jpg|thumb|right| | [[File:1500-1200 BCE Rigveda, manuscript page sample i, Mandala 1, Hymn 1 (Sukta 1), Adhyaya 1, lines 1.1.1 to 1.1.9, Sanskrit, Devanagari.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.6|''Rigveda'' manuscript page (1.1.1–9)]] | ||
[[Image:Bodleian J2 fol 175 Y 28 1.jpg|thumb| | [[Image:Bodleian J2 fol 175 Y 28 1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Yasna 28.1 (Bodleian MS J2)]] | ||
The following is a list of [[cognate]] terms that may be gleaned from comparative linguistic analysis of the [[Rigveda]] and [[Avesta]]. Both collections are from the period after the proposed date of separation (c. 2nd millennium BC) of the Proto-Indo-Iranians into their respective Indic and Iranian branches.<ref name="Gnoli"/><ref name=Mmm>{{cite book |last1=Muesse |first1=Mark W. |title=The Hindu Traditions: A Concise Introduction |date=2011 |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-1-4514-1400-4 |pages=30–38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VlQBfbwk7CwC&q=hinduism+and+zoroastrianism&pg=PA30 |access-date=21 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Ror>{{cite book |last1=Griswold |first1=H. D. |last2=Griswold |first2=Hervey De Witt |title=The Religion of the Ṛigveda |date=1971 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishe |isbn=978-81-208-0745-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vhkt5K1fw2wC&q=dev+asura+arya+persian&pg=PA21 |pages=1–21 |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref> | The following is a list of [[cognate]] terms that may be gleaned from comparative linguistic analysis of the [[Rigveda]] and [[Avesta]]. Both collections are from the period after the proposed date of separation (c. 2nd millennium BC) of the Proto-Indo-Iranians into their respective Indic and Iranian branches.<ref name="Gnoli"/><ref name=Mmm>{{cite book |last1=Muesse |first1=Mark W. |title=The Hindu Traditions: A Concise Introduction |date=2011 |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-1-4514-1400-4 |pages=30–38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VlQBfbwk7CwC&q=hinduism+and+zoroastrianism&pg=PA30 |access-date=21 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Ror>{{cite book |last1=Griswold |first1=H. D. |last2=Griswold |first2=Hervey De Witt |title=The Religion of the Ṛigveda |date=1971 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishe |isbn=978-81-208-0745-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vhkt5K1fw2wC&q=dev+asura+arya+persian&pg=PA21 |pages=1–21 |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref> | ||
{| class="wikitable collapsible sortable" | {| class="wikitable collapsible sortable" | ||
|- | |- | ||
! [[Vedic Sanskrit]] !! [[Avestan]] !! Common meaning | ! [[Vedic Sanskrit]] !! [[Avestan]] !! Common meaning | ||
|- | |- | ||
| Line 166: | Line 169: | ||
| ''Asura Mahata/Medha'' (असुर महत/मेधा) || ''[[Ahura Mazda]]'' || "The Supreme Lord, Lord of Wisdom"<ref>{{cite book |title=The Sacred Books of the East: The Zend-Avesta, pt. I |date=1880 |publisher=Clarendon Press |page=LVIII |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8yFNAQAAMAAJ&q=ahura+mazda+asura+medha&pg=PR58 |access-date=12 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mani |first1=Chandra Mauli |title=A Journey Through India's Past |date=2005 |publisher=Northern Book Centre |isbn=978-81-7211-194-6 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSoE8qR-5BgC&q=ahura+mazda+asura+mahat&pg=PA10 |access-date=15 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref> | | ''Asura Mahata/Medha'' (असुर महत/मेधा) || ''[[Ahura Mazda]]'' || "The Supreme Lord, Lord of Wisdom"<ref>{{cite book |title=The Sacred Books of the East: The Zend-Avesta, pt. I |date=1880 |publisher=Clarendon Press |page=LVIII |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8yFNAQAAMAAJ&q=ahura+mazda+asura+medha&pg=PR58 |access-date=12 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mani |first1=Chandra Mauli |title=A Journey Through India's Past |date=2005 |publisher=Northern Book Centre |isbn=978-81-7211-194-6 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSoE8qR-5BgC&q=ahura+mazda+asura+mahat&pg=PA10 |access-date=15 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''[[rta]]'' || ''[[asha|asha/arta]]'' || "active truth", extending to "order" | | ''[[rta]]'' || ''[[asha|asha/arta]]'' || "active truth", extending to "order" and "righteousness"<ref name=Ror/><ref name=Mmm/> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''[[atharvan]]'' || ''āθrauuan, aθaurun'' ''[[Atar]]''|| "priest"<ref name=Mmm/> <!-- Controversial: athravan is not related to Avestan fire (Boyce, Gershevitch, Humbach, Bailey,...). See also Boyce, Encyclopedia Iranica: | | ''[[atharvan]]'' || ''āθrauuan, aθaurun'' ''[[Atar]]''|| "priest"<ref name=Mmm/> <!-- Controversial: athravan is not related to Avestan fire (Boyce, Gershevitch, Humbach, Bailey,...). See also Boyce, Encyclopedia Iranica: | ||
| Line 183: | Line 186: | ||
| ''sarvatat'' || ''[[Haurvatat|Hauruuatāt]]'' || "intactness", "perfection"<ref name=Ost/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bonar |first1=Horatius |title=The Life and Work of the Rev. G. Theophilus Dodds: Missionary in Connection with the McAll Mission, France |date=1884 |publisher=R. Carter |page=425 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AehDAAAAYAAJ&q=sarvatat&pg=PA425 |access-date=3 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref> | | ''sarvatat'' || ''[[Haurvatat|Hauruuatāt]]'' || "intactness", "perfection"<ref name=Ost/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bonar |first1=Horatius |title=The Life and Work of the Rev. G. Theophilus Dodds: Missionary in Connection with the McAll Mission, France |date=1884 |publisher=R. Carter |page=425 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AehDAAAAYAAJ&q=sarvatat&pg=PA425 |access-date=3 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''[[Sarasvati River|Sarasvatī]]'' (Ārdrāvī śūrā anāhitā, आर्द्रावी शूरा अनाहिता) || ''Haraxvati|Haraxvaitī'' ([[Aredvi Sura Anahita|Ārəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā]]) || a controversial (generally considered mythological) river, a river goddess<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kainiraka |first1=Sanu |title=From Indus to Independence | | ''[[Sarasvati River|Sarasvatī]]'' (Ārdrāvī śūrā anāhitā, आर्द्रावी शूरा अनाहिता) || ''Haraxvati|Haraxvaitī'' ([[Aredvi Sura Anahita|Ārəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā]]) || a controversial (generally considered mythological) river, a river goddess<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kainiraka |first1=Sanu |title=From Indus to Independence: A Trek Through Indian History |volume=I: Prehistory to the Fall of the Mauryas |date=2016 |publisher=Vij Books India |isbn=978-93-85563-14-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LJqCwAAQBAJ&q=saraswati+haraxvati&pg=PT79 |access-date=3 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kala |first1=Aporva |title=Alchemist of the East |date=2015 |publisher=Musk Deer |isbn=978-93-84439-66-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVoCCwAAQBAJ&q=saraswati+haraxvati&pg=PT89 |access-date=3 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''sauma, [[soma (drink)|soma]]'' | | ''sauma, [[soma (drink)|soma]]'' || ''[[haoma]]'' || a plant, deified<ref name=Ror/><ref name=Mmm/> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''[[Surya|svar]]'' || ''[[Hvare-khshaeta|hvar]], xvar'' || the Sun, also cognate to Greek ''[[helios]]'', Latin ''sol'', Engl. Sun<ref name=Ost>{{cite book |last1=Muir |first1=John |title=Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, Their Religion and Institutions |date=1874 |publisher=Oricntal | | ''[[Surya|svar]]'' || ''[[Hvare-khshaeta|hvar]], xvar'' || the Sun, also cognate to Greek ''[[helios]]'', Latin ''sol'', Engl. Sun<ref name=Ost>{{cite book |last1=Muir |first1=John |title=Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, Their Religion and Institutions |volume=2 |date=1874 |publisher=Trübner<!--Given on info page and previously cited as "Oricntal" which is presumably a typo/OCR error for "Oriental", but contradicted by the title page which clearly shows Trübner--> |page=224 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wkkzAQAAMAAJ&q=svar+surya&pg=PA224 |access-date=3 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''[[Tapati]]'' || ''tapaiti'' || Possible fire/solar goddess; see [[Tabiti]] (a possibly Hellenised [[Scythian]] theonym). Cognate with Latin | | ''[[Tapati]]'' || ''tapaiti'' || Possible fire/solar goddess; see [[Tabiti]] (a possibly Hellenised [[Scythian]] theonym). Cognate with Latin {{lang|la|tepeo}} and several other terms.<ref name=Ost/> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''[[Vrtra]]-/Vr̥tragʰná/Vritraban'' || ''verethra, vərəθra'' (cf. [[Verethragna]], Vərəθraγna) || "obstacle"<ref name=Ror/><ref name=Mmm/> | | ''[[Vrtra]]-/Vr̥tragʰná/Vritraban'' || ''verethra, vərəθra'' (cf. [[Verethragna]], Vərəθraγna) || "obstacle"<ref name=Ror/><ref name=Mmm/> | ||
| Line 199: | Line 202: | ||
| ''[[Gandharva]]'' || ''Gandarewa'' || "heavenly beings"<ref name=Ror/> | | ''[[Gandharva]]'' || ''Gandarewa'' || "heavenly beings"<ref name=Ror/> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''[[Nasatya]]'' || ''Nanghaithya'' || | | ''[[Nasatya]]'' || ''Nanghaithya'' || "twin Vedic gods associated with the dawn, medicine, and sciences"<ref name=Ror/> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''Amarattya'' || ''[[Ameretat]]'' || "immortality"<ref name=Ror/> | | ''Amarattya'' || ''[[Ameretat]]'' || "immortality"<ref name=Ror/> | ||
| Line 217: | Line 220: | ||
| ''[[Bhoot (ghost)|Bhuta]]'' || ''Buiti'' || "ghost"<ref name=Ror/> | | ''[[Bhoot (ghost)|Bhuta]]'' || ''Buiti'' || "ghost"<ref name=Ror/> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''[[Mantra]]'' || ''Manthra'' || "sacred spell"<ref name=Ror/> | | ''[[Mantra]]'' || ''[[Mantra (Zoroastrianism)|Manthra]]'' || "sacred spell"<ref name=Ror/> | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ''Aramati'' || ''[[Spenta Armaiti|Armaiti]]'' || "piety" | | ''Aramati'' || ''[[Spenta Armaiti|Armaiti]]'' || "piety" | ||
| Line 258: | Line 261: | ||
==Genetics== | ==Genetics== | ||
[[R1a1a]] (R-M17 or R-M198) is the sub-clade most commonly associated with Indo-European speakers. Most discussions purportedly of [[Haplogroup R1a|R1a]] origins are actually about the origins of the dominant R1a1a (R-M17 or R-M198) sub-clade. Data so far collected indicates that there are two widely separated areas of high frequency, one in the northern [[Indian subcontinent]], and the other in [[Eastern Europe]], around [[Poland]] and [[Ukraine]].{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} The historical and prehistoric possible reasons for this are the subject of on-going discussion and attention amongst population geneticists and genetic genealogists, and are considered to be of potential interest to linguists and archaeologists also. | [[R1a1a]] (R-M17 or R-M198) is the sub-clade most commonly associated with Indo-European speakers. Most discussions purportedly of [[Haplogroup R1a|R1a]] origins are actually about the origins of the dominant R1a1a (R-M17 or R-M198) sub-clade. Data so far collected indicates that there are two widely separated areas of high frequency, one in the northern [[Indian subcontinent]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Afghanistan]], eastern and southern parts of [[Iran]] and the other in [[Eastern Europe]], around [[Poland]] and [[Ukraine]].{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} The historical and prehistoric possible reasons for this are the subject of on-going discussion and attention amongst population geneticists and genetic genealogists, and are considered to be of potential interest to linguists and archaeologists also. | ||
Out of 10 human male remains assigned to the Andronovo horizon from the Krasnoyarsk region, 9 possessed the [[Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA)|R1a]] Y-chromosome [[haplogroup]] and one [[Haplogroup C-M130 (Y-DNA)|C-M130]] haplogroup (xC3). mtDNA haplogroups of nine individuals assigned to the same Andronovo horizon and region were as follows: U4 (2 individuals), U2e, U5a1, Z, T1, T4, H, and K2b. | Out of 10 human male remains assigned to the Andronovo horizon from the Krasnoyarsk region, 9 possessed the [[Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA)|R1a]] Y-chromosome [[haplogroup]] and one [[Haplogroup C-M130 (Y-DNA)|C-M130]] haplogroup (xC3). mtDNA haplogroups of nine individuals assigned to the same Andronovo horizon and region were as follows: U4 (2 individuals), U2e, U5a1, Z, T1, T4, H, and K2b. | ||
A 2004 study also established that during the Bronze Age/Iron Age period, the majority of the population of [[Kazakhstan]] (part of the Andronovo culture during the Bronze Age), was of west Eurasian origin (with mtDNA haplogroups such as U, H, HV, T, I and W), and that prior to the 13th–7th century BC, all Kazakh samples belonged to European lineages.<ref>{{Cite journal |pmc = 1691686|year = 2004|last1 = Lalueza-Fox|first1 = C.|title = Unravelling migrations in the steppe: Mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient central Asians|journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences|volume = 271|issue = 1542|pages = 941–947|last2 = Sampietro|first2 = M. L.|last3 = Gilbert|first3 = M. T.|last4 = Castri|first4 = L.|last5 = Facchini|first5 = F.|last6 = Pettener|first6 = D.|last7 = Bertranpetit|first7 = J.|pmid = 15255049|doi = 10.1098/rspb.2004.2698}}</ref> | A 2004 study also established that during the Bronze Age/Iron Age period, the majority of the population of [[Kazakhstan]] (part of the Andronovo culture during the Bronze Age), was of west Eurasian origin (with mtDNA haplogroups such as U, H, HV, T, I and W), and that prior to the 13th–7th century BC, all Kazakh samples belonged to European lineages.<ref>{{Cite journal |pmc = 1691686|year = 2004|last1 = Lalueza-Fox|first1 = C.|title = Unravelling migrations in the steppe: Mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient central Asians|journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences|volume = 271|issue = 1542|pages = 941–947|last2 = Sampietro|first2 = M. L.|last3 = Gilbert|first3 = M. T.|last4 = Castri|first4 = L.|last5 = Facchini|first5 = F.|last6 = Pettener|first6 = D.|last7 = Bertranpetit|first7 = J.|pmid = 15255049|doi = 10.1098/rspb.2004.2698}}</ref> | ||
A 2022 study found that modern [[Iranian peoples]], especially [[Tajiks]] and [[Yaghnobis]], display strong genetic continuity towards [[Iron Age]] Indo-Iranians, and were only marginally affected by outside geneflow, while modern [[Turkic peoples|Turkic-speaking peoples]] derive significant amounts of ancestry from a 'Baikal hunter-gatherer' source (mean average ~50%), with the remainder being ancestry maximized in Tajik people. Historical Indo-Iranians showed high genetic affinity towards European hunter-gatherers and Iranian Neolithic farmers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Guarino-Vignon |first=Perle |last2=Marchi |first2=Nina |last3=Bendezu-Sarmiento |first3=Julio |last4=Heyer |first4=Evelyne |last5=Bon |first5=Céline |date=2022-01-14 |title=Genetic continuity of Indo-Iranian speakers since the Iron Age in southern Central Asia |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8760286/ |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=12 |pages=733 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-04144-4 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=8760286 |pmid=35031610}}</ref> | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| Line 287: | Line 292: | ||
<!-- B --> | <!-- B --> | ||
* {{Citation | last=Bryant | first=Edwin | author-link = Edwin Bryant (author) |year=2001 |title = The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate | publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn = 978-0-19-513777-4 }} | * {{Citation | last=Bryant | first=Edwin | author-link = Edwin Bryant (author) |year=2001 |title = The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate | publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn = 978-0-19-513777-4 }} | ||
* {{citation |last = Burrow |first = T. |title = The Proto-Indoaryans |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |year = 1973 |volume=105 |issue=2 |pages=123–140 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00130837 |jstor=25203451 }} | * {{citation |last = Burrow |first = T. |title = The Proto-Indoaryans |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |year = 1973 |volume=105 |issue=2 |pages=123–140 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00130837 |jstor=25203451 |s2cid = 162454265 }} | ||
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* {{Citation | last1=Diakonoff | first1=Igor M. | author-link=Igor Diakonov | year=1995 | title=Two Recent Studies of Indo-Iranian Origins | periodical=Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume=115 | issue=3 | pages=473–477 | doi=10.2307/606224 | jstor=606224 | publisher=American Oriental Society | last2=Kuz'mina | first2=E. E. | last3=Ivantchik | first3=Askold I. |ref=none }}. | * {{Citation | last1=Diakonoff | first1=Igor M. | author-link=Igor Diakonov | year=1995 | title=Two Recent Studies of Indo-Iranian Origins | periodical=Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume=115 | issue=3 | pages=473–477 | doi=10.2307/606224 | jstor=606224 | publisher=American Oriental Society | last2=Kuz'mina | first2=E. E. | last3=Ivantchik | first3=Askold I. |ref=none }}. | ||
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* Guarino-Vignon, P., Marchi, N., Bendezu-Sarmiento, J. ''et al.'' Genetic continuity of Indo-Iranian speakers since the Iron Age in southern Central Asia. ''Sci Rep'' '''12,''' 733 (2022). <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04144-4</nowiki> | * Guarino-Vignon, P., Marchi, N., Bendezu-Sarmiento, J. ''et al.'' Genetic continuity of Indo-Iranian speakers since the Iron Age in southern Central Asia. ''Sci Rep'' '''12,''' 733 (2022). <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04144-4</nowiki> | ||
* Vasil'ev, I. B., P. F. Kuznetsov, and A. P. Semenova. "Potapovo Burial Ground of the Indo-Iranic Tribes on the Volga | * Vasil'ev, I. B., P. F. Kuznetsov, and A. P. Semenova. "Potapovo Burial Ground of the Indo-Iranic Tribes on the Volga" (1994). | ||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
* [http://www.arizonapersian.com/iran/_disc4/00000759.htm The Origin of the Pre-Imperial Iranian People] by Oric Basirov (2001) | * [http://www.arizonapersian.com/iran/_disc4/00000759.htm The Origin of the Pre-Imperial Iranian People] by Oric Basirov (2001) | ||
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=x5J9rn8p2-IC The Origin of the Indo-Iranians] Elena E. Kuz'mina. Edited by J.P. Mallory (2007) | * [https://books.google.com/books?id=x5J9rn8p2-IC The Origin of the Indo-Iranians] Elena E. Kuz'mina. Edited by J.P. Mallory (2007) | ||
Latest revision as of 08:43, 22 July 2023
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Indo-Iranian peoples, or as Arya or Aryans from their self-designation, is a group of Indo-European peoples who brought the Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, to major parts of Eurasia in waves from the first part of the 2nd millennium BC onwards. They eventually branched out into Iranian peoples and Indo-Aryan peoples, predominantly in the geographical subregion of Southern Asia.
Nomenclature[edit | edit source]
The term Aryan has long been used to denote the Indo-Iranians, because Arya is indeed the self-designation of the ancient speakers of the Indo-Iranian languages, specifically the Iranian and the Indo-Aryan peoples, collectively known as the Indo-Iranians.[1][2] Despite this, some scholars use the term Indo-Iranian to refer to this group, though the term "Aryan" remains widely used by most scholars, such as Josef Wiesehofer,[3] Will Durant,[4] and Jaakko Häkkinen.[5][6] Population geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, in his 1994 book The History and Geography of Human Genes, also uses the term Aryan to describe the Indo-Iranians.[7]
History[edit | edit source]
Origin[edit | edit source]
The early Indo-Iranians are commonly identified with the descendants of the Proto-Indo-Europeans known as the Sintashta culture and the subsequent Andronovo culture within the broader Andronovo horizon, and their homeland with an area of the Eurasian steppe that borders the Ural River on the west, the Tian Shan on the east (where the Indo-Iranians took over the area occupied by the earlier Afanasevo culture), and Transoxiana and the Hindu Kush on the south.[8]
Based on its use by Indo-Aryans in Mitanni and Vedic India, its prior absence in the Near East and Harappan India, and its 19th–20th century BC attestation at the Andronovo site of Sintashta, Kuzmina (1994) argues that the chariot corroborates the identification of Andronovo as Indo-Iranian.[note 1] Anthony & Vinogradov (1995) dated a chariot burial at Krivoye Lake to about 2000 BC, and a Bactria-Margiana burial that also contains a foal has recently been found, indicating further links with the steppes.[12]
Historical linguists broadly estimate that a continuum of Indo-Iranian languages probably began to diverge by 2000 BC,[13]:38–39 preceding both the Vedic and Iranian cultures which emerged later. The earliest recorded forms of these languages, Vedic Sanskrit and Gathic Avestan, are remarkably similar, descended from the common Proto-Indo-Iranian language. The origin and earliest relationship between the Nuristani languages and that of the Iranian and Indo-Aryan groups is not completely clear.
Expansion[edit | edit source]
First wave – Indo-Aryans[edit | edit source]
Two-wave models of Indo-Iranian expansion have been proposed by Burrow (1973)[15] and Parpola (1999). The Indo-Iranians and their expansion are strongly associated with the Proto-Indo-European invention of the chariot. It is assumed that this expansion spread from the Proto-Indo-European homeland north of the Caspian Sea south to the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Iranian plateau, and the Indian subcontinent.
The Mitanni of Anatolia[edit | edit source]
The Mitanni, a people known in eastern Anatolia from about 1500 BC, were of possibly of mixed origins: An indigenous non Indo-European Hurrian-speaking majority was supposedly dominated by a non-Anatolian, Indo-Aryan elite.[16]:257 There is linguistic evidence for such a superstrate, in the form of:
- a horse training manual written by a Mitanni man named Kikkuli, which was used by the Hittites, an Indo-European Anatolian people who spoke a non Indo-Iranian language;
- the names of Mitanni rulers and;
- the names of gods invoked by these rulers in treaties.
In particular, Kikkuli's text includes words such as aika "one" (i.e. a cognate of the Indo-Aryan eka), tera "three" (tri), panza "five" (pancha), satta "seven", (sapta), na "nine" (nava), and vartana "turn around", in the context of a horse race (Indo-Aryan vartana). In a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, the Ashvin deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya are invoked. These loanwords tend to connect the Mitanni superstrate to Indo-Aryan rather than Iranian languages – i.e. the early Iranian word for "one" was aiva.[citation needed]
Indian subcontinent – Vedic culture[edit | edit source]
The standard model for the entry of the Indo-European languages into the Indian subcontinent is that this first wave went over the Hindu Kush, either into the headwaters of the Indus and later the Ganges. The earliest stratum of Vedic Sanskrit, preserved only in the Rigveda, is assigned to roughly 1500 BC.[16]:258[17] From the Indus, the Indo-Aryan languages spread from c. 1500 BC – c. 500 BC, over the northern and central parts of the subcontinent, sparing the extreme south. The Indo-Aryans in these areas established several powerful kingdoms and principalities in the region, from south eastern Afghanistan to the doorstep of Bengal. The most powerful of these kingdoms were the post-Rigvedic Kuru (in Kurukshetra and the Delhi area) and their allies the Pañcālas further east, as well as Gandhara and later on, about the time of the Buddha, the kingdom of Kosala and the quickly expanding realm of Magadha. The latter lasted until the 4th century BC, when it was conquered by Chandragupta Maurya and formed the center of the Maurya Empire.
In eastern Afghanistan and some western regions of Pakistan, Indo-Aryan languages were eventually replaced by Eastern Iranian languages. Most Indo-Aryan languages, however, were and still are prominent in the rest of the Indian subcontinent. Today, Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Suriname and the Maldives.
Second wave – Iranians[edit | edit source]
The second wave is interpreted as the Iranian wave.[13]:42–43
The first Iranians to reach the Black Sea 'may' have been the Cimmerians in the 8th century BC, although their linguistic affiliation to Iranians is uncertain. They were followed by the Scythians, who are considered a western branch of the Central Asian Sakas. Sarmatian tribes, of whom the best known are the Roxolani (Rhoxolani), Iazyges (Jazyges) and the Alani (Alans), followed the Scythians westwards into Europe in the late centuries BC and the 1st and 2nd centuries AD (The Age of Migrations). The populous Sarmatian tribe of the Massagetae, dwelling near the Caspian Sea, were known to the early rulers of Persia in the Achaemenid Period. At their greatest reported extent, around 1st century AD, the Sarmatian tribes ranged from the Vistula River to the mouth of the Danube and eastward to the Volga, bordering the shores of the Black and Caspian seas as well as the Caucasus to the south.[note 2] In the east, the Saka occupied several areas in Xinjiang, from Khotan to Tumshuq.
The Medians, Persians and Parthians begin to appear on the Iranian plateau from c. 800 BC, and the Achaemenids replaced the language isolate speaking Elamites rule over the region from 559 BC, although the Iranic peoples were largely subject to the Semitic speaking Assyrian Empire until the 6th century BC. Around the first millennium AD, Iranian groups began to settle on the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau, on the mountainous frontier of northwestern and western Pakistan, displacing the earlier Indo-Aryans from the area.
In Eastern Europe, the Iranians were eventually decisively assimilated (e.g. Slavicisation) and absorbed by the Proto-Slavic population of the region,[18][19][20][21] while in Central Asia, the Turkic languages marginalized the Iranian languages as a result of the Turkic expansion of the early centuries AD. Extant major Iranian languages are Persian, Pashto, Kurdish, and Balochi besides numerous smaller ones. Ossetian, primarily spoken in North Ossetia and South Ossetia, is a direct descendant of Alanic, and by that the only surviving Sarmatian language of the once wide-ranging East Iranian dialect continuum that stretched from Eastern Europe to the eastern parts of Central Asia.
Archaeology[edit | edit source]
Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian expansion include:
- Europe
- Poltavka culture (2500–2100 BC)
- Abashevo culture (2300–1850 BC)
- Srubna culture (1850–1450 BC)
- Central Asia
- Sintashta-Petrovka-Arkaim (2050–1750 BC)
- Andronovo horizon (2000–1450 BC)
- Alakul (2100–1400 BC)
- Fedorovo (1400–1200 BC)
- Alekseyevka (1200–1000 BC)
- Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (2200–1700 BC)
- Yaz culture (1500–1100 BC)
- Indian subcontinent
- Ochre Coloured Pottery culture (2000–1500 BC)
- Cemetery H culture (1900–1300 BC)
- Swat culture (1400–800 BC)
- Painted Gray Ware culture (1200–600 BC)
- Iranian Plateau
- Early West Iranian Grey Ware (1500–1000 BC)
- Late West Iranian Buff Ware (900–700 BC)
Parpola (1999) suggests the following identifications:
| Date range | Archaeological culture | Identification suggested by Parpola |
|---|---|---|
| 2800–2000 BC | late Catacomb and Poltavka cultures | late PIE to Proto–Indo-Iranian |
| 2000–1800 BC | Srubna and Abashevo cultures | Proto-Iranian |
| 2000–1800 BC | Petrovka-Sintashta | Proto–Indo-Aryan |
| 1900–1700 BC | BMAC | "Proto-Dasa" Indo-Aryans establishing themselves in the existing BMAC settlements, defeated by "Proto-Rigvedic" Indo-Aryans around 1700 |
| 1900–1400 BC | Cemetery H | Indian Dasa |
| 1800–1000 BC | Alakul-Fedorovo | Indo-Aryan, including "Proto–Sauma-Aryan" practicing the Soma cult |
| 1700–1400 BC | early Swat culture | Proto-Rigvedic |
| 1700–1500 BC | late BMAC | "Proto–Sauma-Dasa", assimilation of Proto-Dasa and Proto–Sauma-Aryan |
| 1500–1000 BC | Early West Iranian Grey Ware | Mitanni-Aryan (offshoot of "Proto–Sauma-Dasa") |
| 1400–800 BC | late Swat culture and Punjab, Painted Grey Ware | late Rigvedic |
| 1400–1100 BC | Yaz II-III, Seistan | Proto-Avestan |
| 1100–1000 BC | Gurgan Buff Ware, Late West Iranian Buff Ware | Proto-Persian, Proto-Median |
| 1000–400 BC | Iron Age cultures of Xinjiang | Proto-Saka |
Language[edit | edit source]
The Indo-European language spoken by the Indo-Iranians in the late 3rd millennium BC was a Satem language still not removed very far from the Proto-Indo-European language, and in turn only removed by a few centuries from Vedic Sanskrit of the Rigveda. The main phonological change separating Proto-Indo-Iranian from Proto–Indo-European is the collapse of the ablauting vowels *e, *o, *a into a single vowel, Proto–Indo-Iranian *a (but see Brugmann's law). Grassmann's law and Bartholomae's law were also complete in Proto-Indo-Iranian, as well as the loss of the labiovelars (kw, etc.) to k, and the Eastern Indo-European (Satem) shift from palatized k' to ć, as in Proto–Indo-European *k'ṃto- > Indo-Iran. *ćata- > Sanskrit śata-, Old Iran. sata "100".
Among the sound changes from Proto-Indo-Iranian to Indo-Aryan is the loss of the voiced sibilant *z, among those to Iranian is the de-aspiration of the PIE voiced aspirates.
Religion[edit | edit source]
Despite the introduction of later Vedic and Zoroastrian scriptures, Indo-Iranians shared a common inheritance of concepts including the universal force *Hṛta- (Sanskrit rta, Avestan asha), the sacred plant and drink *sawHma- (Sanskrit Soma, Avestan Haoma) and gods of social order such as *mitra- (Sanskrit Mitra, Avestan and Old Persian Mithra, Miθra) and *bʰaga- (Sanskrit Bhaga, Avestan and Old Persian Baga). Proto-Indo-Iranian religion is an archaic offshoot of Indo-European religion. From the various and dispersed Indo-Iranian cultures, a set of common ideas may be reconstructed from which a common, unattested proto-Indo-Iranian source may be deduced.[22]
The pre-Islamic religion of the Nuristani people and extant religion of the Kalash people is mostly based on the original religion of the Indo-Iranians. Michael Witzel theorises that these religions might share some elements with Shinto, one of the national religions of Japan, which according to him may contain some Indo-Iranian influence owing to contact presumably in the steppes of Central Asia at around 2000 BC. In Shinto, traces of these can be seen in the myth of the storm god Susanoo slaying a serpent Yamata-no-Orochi and in the myth of the dawn goddess Ame-no-Uzume.[23][24][25]
Most Indo-Iranians today follow Abrahamic and Dharmic religions.
Development[edit | edit source]
Beliefs developed in different ways as cultures separated and evolved. For example, the cosmo-mythology of the peoples that remained on the Central Asian steppes and the Iranian plateau is to a great degree unlike that of the Indians, focused more on groups of deities (*daiva and *asura) and less on the divinities individually.[citation needed] Indians were less conservative[citation needed] than Iranians in their treatment of their divinities, so that some deities were conflated with others or, conversely, aspects of a single divinity developed into divinities in their own right. By the time of Zoroaster, Iranian culture had also been subject to the upheavals of the Iranian Heroic Age (late Iranian Bronze Age, 1800–800 BC[citation needed]), an influence that the Indo-Aryans were not subject to.[citation needed]
Sometimes certain myths developed in altogether different ways. The Rig-Vedic Sarasvati is linguistically and functionally cognate with Avestan *Haraxvaitī Ārəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā[citation needed]. In the Rig-Veda (6,61,5–7) she battles a serpent called Vritra, who has hoarded all of the Earth's water. In contrast, in early portions of the Avesta, Iranian *Harahvati is the world-river that flows down from the mythical central Mount Hara. But *Harahvati does no battle – she is blocked by an obstacle (Avestan for obstacle: vərəθra) placed there by Angra Mainyu.[22]
Cognate terms[edit | edit source]
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The following is a list of cognate terms that may be gleaned from comparative linguistic analysis of the Rigveda and Avesta. Both collections are from the period after the proposed date of separation (c. 2nd millennium BC) of the Proto-Indo-Iranians into their respective Indic and Iranian branches.[22][26][27]
| Vedic Sanskrit | Avestan | Common meaning |
|---|---|---|
| āp | āp | "water," āpas "the Waters"[27] |
| Apam Napat, Apām Napāt | Apām Napāt | the "water's offspring"[27] |
| aryaman | airyaman | "Arya-hood" (lit:** "member of Arya community")[27] |
| Asura Mahata/Medha (असुर महत/मेधा) | Ahura Mazda | "The Supreme Lord, Lord of Wisdom"[28][29] |
| rta | asha/arta | "active truth", extending to "order" and "righteousness"[27][26] |
| atharvan | āθrauuan, aθaurun Atar | "priest"[26] |
| ahi | azhi, (aži) | "dragon, snake", "serpent"[27] |
| daiva, deva | daeva, (daēuua) | a class of divinities |
| manu | manu | "man"[27] |
| mitra | mithra, miθra | "oath, covenant"[27][26] |
| asura | ahura | another class of spirits[27][26] |
| sarvatat | Hauruuatāt | "intactness", "perfection"[30][31] |
| Sarasvatī (Ārdrāvī śūrā anāhitā, आर्द्रावी शूरा अनाहिता) | Haraxvaitī (Ārəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā) | a controversial (generally considered mythological) river, a river goddess[32][33] |
| sauma, soma | haoma | a plant, deified[27][26] |
| svar | hvar, xvar | the Sun, also cognate to Greek helios, Latin sol, Engl. Sun[30] |
| Tapati | tapaiti | Possible fire/solar goddess; see Tabiti (a possibly Hellenised Scythian theonym). Cognate with Latin tepeo and several other terms.[30] |
| Vrtra-/Vr̥tragʰná/Vritraban | verethra, vərəθra (cf. Verethragna, Vərəθraγna) | "obstacle"[27][26] |
| Yama | Yima | son of the solar deity Vivasvant/Vīuuahuuant[27] |
| yajña | yasna, object: yazata | "worship, sacrifice, oblation"[27][26] |
| Gandharva | Gandarewa | "heavenly beings"[27] |
| Nasatya | Nanghaithya | "twin Vedic gods associated with the dawn, medicine, and sciences"[27] |
| Amarattya | Ameretat | "immortality"[27] |
| Póṣa | Apaosha | "demon of drought"[27] |
| Ashman | Asman | "sky, highest heaven"[30] |
| Angira Manyu | Angra Mainyu | "destructive/evil spirit, spirit, temper, ardour, passion, anger, teacher of divine knowledge"[27] |
| Manyu | Maniyu | "anger, wrath"[27] |
| Sarva | Sarva | "Rudra, Vedic god of wind, Shiva"[30] |
| Madhu | Madu | "honey"[27] |
| Bhuta | Buiti | "ghost"[27] |
| Mantra | Manthra | "sacred spell"[27] |
| Aramati | Armaiti | "piety" |
| Amrita | Amesha | "nectar of immortality"[27] |
| Amrita Spanda (अमृत स्पन्द) | Amesha Spenta | "holy nectar of immortality" |
| Sumati | Humata | "good thought"[30][27] |
| Sukta | Hukhta | "good word"[27] |
| Narasamsa | Nairyosangha | "praised man"[27] |
| Vayu | Vaiiu | "wind"[27] |
| Vajra | Vazra | "bolt"[27] |
| Ushas | Ushah | "dawn"[27] |
| Ahuti | azuiti | "offering"[27] |
| púraṁdhi | purendi[27] | |
| bhaga | baga | "lord, patron, wealth, prosperity, sharer/distributor of good fortune"[27] |
| Usij | Usij | "priest"[27] |
| trita | thrita | "the third"[27] |
| Mas | Mah | "moon, month"[27] |
| Vivasvant | Vivanhvant | "lighting up, matutinal"[27] |
| Druh | Druj | "Evil spirit"[27] |
| Ahi Dasaka | Azhi Dahaka | "biting serpent"[34] |
Genetics[edit | edit source]
R1a1a (R-M17 or R-M198) is the sub-clade most commonly associated with Indo-European speakers. Most discussions purportedly of R1a origins are actually about the origins of the dominant R1a1a (R-M17 or R-M198) sub-clade. Data so far collected indicates that there are two widely separated areas of high frequency, one in the northern Indian subcontinent, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, eastern and southern parts of Iran and the other in Eastern Europe, around Poland and Ukraine.[citation needed] The historical and prehistoric possible reasons for this are the subject of on-going discussion and attention amongst population geneticists and genetic genealogists, and are considered to be of potential interest to linguists and archaeologists also.
Out of 10 human male remains assigned to the Andronovo horizon from the Krasnoyarsk region, 9 possessed the R1a Y-chromosome haplogroup and one C-M130 haplogroup (xC3). mtDNA haplogroups of nine individuals assigned to the same Andronovo horizon and region were as follows: U4 (2 individuals), U2e, U5a1, Z, T1, T4, H, and K2b.
A 2004 study also established that during the Bronze Age/Iron Age period, the majority of the population of Kazakhstan (part of the Andronovo culture during the Bronze Age), was of west Eurasian origin (with mtDNA haplogroups such as U, H, HV, T, I and W), and that prior to the 13th–7th century BC, all Kazakh samples belonged to European lineages.[35]
A 2022 study found that modern Iranian peoples, especially Tajiks and Yaghnobis, display strong genetic continuity towards Iron Age Indo-Iranians, and were only marginally affected by outside geneflow, while modern Turkic-speaking peoples derive significant amounts of ancestry from a 'Baikal hunter-gatherer' source (mean average ~50%), with the remainder being ancestry maximized in Tajik people. Historical Indo-Iranians showed high genetic affinity towards European hunter-gatherers and Iranian Neolithic farmers.[36]
See also[edit | edit source]
- Proto-Indo-Iranian language
- Proto-Dravidian language
- Satemization
- Ariana
- Aryavarta
- Dravidian peoples
- Aryanization
- Indo-Aryan migrations
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Klejn (1974), as cited in Bryant 2001:206, acknowledges the Iranian identification of the Andronovo culture, but finds the Andronovo culture too late[clarification needed] for an Indo-Iranian identification, giving a later date for the start of the Andronovo culture "in the 16th or 17th century BC, whereas the Aryans appeared in the Near East not later than the 15th to 16th century BC.[9] Klejn (1974, p.58) further argues that "these [latter] regions contain nothing reminiscent of Timber-Frame Andronovo materials."[9] Brentjes (1981) also gives a later dating for the Andronovo culture.[10] Bryant further refers to Lyonnet (1993) and Francfort (1989), who point to the absence of archaeological remains of the Andronovans south of the Hindu Kush.[10] Bosch-Gimpera (1973) and Hiebert (1998) argue that there also no Andronovo remains in Iran,[10] but Hiebert "agrees that the expansion of the BMAC people to the Iranian plateau and the Indus Valley borderlands at the beginning of the second millennium BC is 'the best candidate for an archaeological correlate of the introduction of Indo-Iranian speakers to Iran and South Asia' (Hiebert 1995:192)".[11] Sarianidi states that the Andronovo tribes "penetrated to a minimum extent".[10]
- ↑ Apollonius (Argonautica, iii) envisaged the Sauromatai as the bitter foe of King Aietes of Colchis (modern Georgia).
References[edit | edit source]
Citations[edit | edit source]
- ↑ The "Aryan" Language, Gherardo Gnoli, Instituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente, Roma, 2002.
- ↑ . Schmitt, "Aryans" in Encyclopedia Iranica: Excerpt:"The name "Aryan" (OInd. ā́rya-, Ir. *arya- [with short a-], in Old Pers. ariya-, Av. airiia-, etc.) is the self-designation of the peoples of Ancient India and Ancient Iran who spoke Aryan languages, in contrast to the "non-Aryan" peoples of those "Aryan" countries (cf. OInd. an-ā́rya-, Av. an-airiia-, etc.), and lives on in ethnic names like Alan (Lat. Alani, NPers. īrān, Oss. Ir and Iron.". Also accessed online: [1] in May, 2010
- ↑ Wiesehofer, Joseph: Ancient Persia. New York: 1996. I.B. Tauris. Recommends the use by scholars of the term Aryan to describe the Eastern, not the Western, branch of the Indo-European peoples (see "Aryan" in index)
- ↑ Durant, Will: Our Oriental Heritage. New York: 1954. Simon and Schuster. According to Will Durant on Page 286: "the name Aryan first appears in the [name] Harri, one of the tribes of the Mitanni. In general it was the self-given appellation of the tribes living near or coming from the [southern] shores of the Caspian sea. The term is properly applied today chiefly to the Mitannians, Hittites, Medes, Persians, and Vedic Hindus, i.e., only to the eastern branch of the Indo-European peoples, whose western branch populated Europe."
- ↑ Häkkinen, Jaakko (2012). "Early contacts between Uralic and Yukaghir". In Tiina Hyytiäinen; Lotta Jalava; Janne Saarikivi; Erika Sandman (eds.). Per Urales ad Orientem (Festschrift for Juha Janhunen on the occasion of his 60th birthday on 12 February 2012) (PDF). Helsinki: Finno-Ugric Society. ISBN 978-952-5667-34-9. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
- ↑ Häkkinen, Jaakko (23 September 2012). "Problems in the method and interpretations of the computational phylogenetics based on linguistic data – An example of wishful thinking: Bouckaert et al. 2012" (PDF). Jaakko Häkkisen puolikuiva alkuperäsivusto. Jaakko Häkkinen. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
- ↑ Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca; Menozzi, Paolo; Piazza, Alberto (1994), The History and Geography of Human Genes, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, p. See "Aryan" in index, ISBN 978-0-691-08750-4
- ↑ Anthony 2007, p. 49.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Bryant 2001, p. 206.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Bryant 2001, p. 207.
- ↑ Parpola 2015, p. 76.
- ↑ Anthony & Vinogradov (1995); Kuzmina (1994), Klejn (1974), and Brentjes (1981), as cited in Bryant (2001:206)
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Mallory 1989
- ↑ Christopher I. Beckwith (2009), Empires of the Silk Road, Oxford University Press, p.30
- ↑ Burrow 1973.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Mallory & Mair 2000
- ↑ Rigveda – Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- ↑ Brzezinski, Richard; Mielczarek, Mariusz (2002). The Sarmatians, 600 BC-AD 450. Osprey Publishing. p. 39.
(..) Indeed, it is now accepted that the Sarmatians merged in with pre-Slavic populations.
- ↑ Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 523.
(..) In their Ukrainian and Polish homeland the Slavs were intermixed and at times overlain by Germanic speakers (the Goths) and by Iranian speakers (Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans) in a shifting array of tribal and national configurations.
- ↑ Atkinson, Dorothy; et al. (1977). Women in Russia. Stanford University Press. p. 3.
(..) Ancient accounts link the Amazons with the Scythians and the Sarmatians, who successively dominated the south of Russia for a millennium extending back to the seventh century B.C. The descendants of these peoples were absorbed by the Slavs who came to be known as Russians.
- ↑ Slovene Studies. Vol. 9–11. Society for Slovene Studies. 1987. p. 36.
(..) For example, the ancient Scythians, Sarmatians (amongst others), and many other attested but now extinct peoples were assimilated in the course of history by Proto-Slavs.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Gnoli, Gherardo (March 29, 2012). "Indo-Iranian Religion". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
- ↑ Witzel, Michael (2012). The Origin of the World's Mythologies.
- ↑ Witzel, Michael (2005). Vala and Iwato: The Myth of the Hidden Sun in India, Japan, and beyond (PDF).
- ↑ Michael Witzel. "Kalash Religion" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022 – via HUIT.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 26.6 26.7 Muesse, Mark W. (2011). The Hindu Traditions: A Concise Introduction. Fortress Press. pp. 30–38. ISBN 978-1-4514-1400-4. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ↑ 27.00 27.01 27.02 27.03 27.04 27.05 27.06 27.07 27.08 27.09 27.10 27.11 27.12 27.13 27.14 27.15 27.16 27.17 27.18 27.19 27.20 27.21 27.22 27.23 27.24 27.25 27.26 27.27 27.28 27.29 27.30 27.31 27.32 27.33 27.34 27.35 27.36 Griswold, H. D.; Griswold, Hervey De Witt (1971). The Religion of the Ṛigveda. Motilal Banarsidass Publishe. pp. 1–21. ISBN 978-81-208-0745-7. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ↑ The Sacred Books of the East: The Zend-Avesta, pt. I. Clarendon Press. 1880. p. LVIII. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
- ↑ Mani, Chandra Mauli (2005). A Journey Through India's Past. Northern Book Centre. p. 10. ISBN 978-81-7211-194-6. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 30.5 Muir, John (1874). Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, Their Religion and Institutions. Vol. 2. Trübner. p. 224. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ↑ Bonar, Horatius (1884). The Life and Work of the Rev. G. Theophilus Dodds: Missionary in Connection with the McAll Mission, France. R. Carter. p. 425. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ↑ Kainiraka, Sanu (2016). From Indus to Independence: A Trek Through Indian History. Vol. I: Prehistory to the Fall of the Mauryas. Vij Books India. ISBN 978-93-85563-14-0. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ↑ Kala, Aporva (2015). Alchemist of the East. Musk Deer. ISBN 978-93-84439-66-8. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ↑ Braga, Teófilo (2013). Formação do Amadis de Gaula (in português do Brasil). Imprensa Portugueza. p. 36. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
- ↑ Lalueza-Fox, C.; Sampietro, M. L.; Gilbert, M. T.; Castri, L.; Facchini, F.; Pettener, D.; Bertranpetit, J. (2004). "Unravelling migrations in the steppe: Mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient central Asians". Proceedings. Biological Sciences. 271 (1542): 941–947. doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2698. PMC 1691686. PMID 15255049.
- ↑ Guarino-Vignon, Perle; Marchi, Nina; Bendezu-Sarmiento, Julio; Heyer, Evelyne; Bon, Céline (2022-01-14). "Genetic continuity of Indo-Iranian speakers since the Iron Age in southern Central Asia". Scientific Reports. 12: 733. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-04144-4. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8760286. PMID 35031610.
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- Guarino-Vignon, P., Marchi, N., Bendezu-Sarmiento, J. et al. Genetic continuity of Indo-Iranian speakers since the Iron Age in southern Central Asia. Sci Rep 12, 733 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04144-4
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External links[edit | edit source]
- The Origin of the Pre-Imperial Iranian People by Oric Basirov (2001)
- The Origin of the Indo-Iranians Elena E. Kuz'mina. Edited by J.P. Mallory (2007)