Aryan: Difference between revisions

In the 1850s, the term '[[Aryan race|Aryan]]' was adopted as a [[Historical race concepts|racial category]] by French writer [[Arthur de Gobineau]], who, through the later works of [[Houston Stewart Chamberlain]], influenced the [[Nazism and race|Nazi racial ideology]].{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=9–11}} Under [[Nazi Germany|Nazi rule]] (1933–1945), the term applied to most inhabitants of Germany excluding [[History of the Jews in Germany|Jews]], [[Romani_people|Roma]], and [[Slavs]] such as [[Czechs]], [[Polish people|Poles]] or [[Russians]].<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=Gordon|first=Sarah Ann|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9946459|title=Hitler, Germans, and the "Jewish Question"|date=1984|publisher=Princeton University Press|others=Mazal Holocaust Collection|isbn=0-691-05412-6|location=Princeton, N.J.|pages=96|oclc=9946459}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Longerich|first=Peter|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/610166248|title=Holocaust : the Nazi persecution and murder of the Jews|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280436-5|location=Oxford|pages=83,241|oclc=610166248}}</ref> Those classified as 'non-Aryans,' especially Jews,<ref>{{cite web|date=2020|title=Aryan {{!}} Arian, adj. and n.|url=https://oed.com/view/Entry/11296|url-status=live|website=Oxford English Dictionary|quote=Under the Nazi régime (1933–45) applied to the inhabitants of Germany of non-Jewish extraction. cf. 1933 tr. Hitler's ''Mein Kampf'' in ''Times'' 25 July 15/6: "The exact opposite of the Aryan is the Jew." 1933 Education 1 Sept. 170/2: "The basic idea of the new law is that non-Aryans, that is to say mainly Jews..."}}</ref> were [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|discriminated against]] before suffering the [[Genocide|systematic mass killing]] known as [[the Holocaust]].<ref name=":7" /> The atrocities committed in the name of [[Aryanism|Aryanist]] supremacist ideologies have led academics to generally avoid the term 'Aryan', which has been replaced in most cases by '[[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian]]', although the South Asian branch is still known as '[[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]]'.<ref name=":6" />

The [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] word ''ā́rya'' ([[wiktionary:आर्य|आर्य]]) was originally an ethnocultural 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').{{sfn|Schmitt|1987}}{{Sfn|Witzel|2001|pp=4, 24}} By the time of the [[Buddha]] (5th–4th century BCE), it took the meaning of 'noble'.{{Sfn|Witzel|2001|p=4}} In [[Old Iranian languages]], the [[Avestan]] term ''airya'' ([[Old Persian]] ''ariya'') was likewise used as an ethnocultural self-designation by ancient [[Iranian peoples]], in contrast to an ''[[Aneran|an-airya]]'' ('non-Arya'). It designated those who belonged to the 'Aryan' (Iranian) ethnic stock, spoke the language and followed the religion of the 'Aryas'.<ref name=":5">{{harvnb|Bailey|1987|ps=: "It is used in the ''Avesta'' of members of an ethnic group and contrasts with other named groups (Tūirya, Sairima, Dāha, Sāinu or Sāini) and with the outer world of the ''An-airya'' 'non-Arya'."}}</ref><ref name="Gnoli">{{harvnb|Gnoli|2006|ps=: "Mid. Pers. ''ēr'' (plur. ''ērān''), just like Old Pers. ''ariya'' and Av. ''airya'', has an evident ethnic value, which is also present in the abstract term ''ērīh'', 'Iranian character, Iranianness'."}}</ref>

[[Vedic Sanskrit]] speakers viewed the term ''ā́rya'' as a religious–linguistic category, referring to those who spoke the Sanskrit language and adhered to Vedic cultural norms, especially those who worshipped the Vedic gods ([[Indra]] and [[Agni]] in particular), took part in the sacrifices and festivals, and practiced the art of poetry.<ref>{{harvnb|Kuiper|1991|p=96}}; {{harvnb|Witzel|2001|pp=4, 24}}; {{harvnb|Bryant|2001|p=61}}; {{harvnb|Anthony|2007|p=11}}</ref>

[[File:Passing_of_the_Great_Race_-_Map_2.jpg|thumb|280x280px|"Expansion of the Pre-Teutonic Nordics" — Map from ''[[The Passing of the Great Race]]'' by [[Madison Grant]], showing hypothesized migrations of Nordic peoples]]

Through the works of [[Houston Stewart Chamberlain]], Gobineau's ideas influenced the [[Nazism and race|Nazi racial ideology]], which saw the "[[Aryan race]]" as innately superior to other putative racial groups.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=9–11}} The Nazi official [[Alfred Rosenberg]] argued for a new "[[Blood and soil|religion of the blood]]" based on the supposed innate promptings of the Nordic soul to defend its "noble" character against racial and cultural degeneration. Rosenberg believed the [[Nordic race]] to be descended from [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Proto-Aryans]], a hypothetical [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] people who dwelt on the [[North German Plain]] and who had ultimately originated from the lost continent of [[Atlantis]].{{refn|group=note|[[Alfred Rosenberg|Rosenberg, Alfred]], "[[The Myth of the 20th Century]]". The term "Atlantis" is mentioned two times in the whole book, the term "Atlantis-hypothesis" is mentioned just once. Rosenberg (page 24): "''It seems to be not completely impossible, that at parts where today the waves of the Atlantic ocean murmur and icebergs move along, once a blossoming land towered in the water, on which a creative race founded a great culture and sent its children as seafarers and warriors into the world; but if this Atlantis-hypothesis proves untenable, we still have to presume a prehistoric Nordic cultural center.''" Rosenberg (page 26): "''The ridiculed hypothesis about a Nordic creative center, which we can call Atlantis – without meaning a sunken island – from where once waves of warriors migrated to all directions as first witnesses of Nordic longing for distant lands to conquer and create, today becomes probable.''" Original: Es erscheint als nicht ganz ausgeschlossen, dass an Stellen, über die heute die Wellen des Atlantischen Ozeans rauschen und riesige Eisgebirge herziehen, einst ein blühendes Festland aus den Fluten ragte, auf dem eine schöpferische Rasse große, weitausgreifende Kultur erzeugte und ihre Kinder als Seefahrer und Krieger hinaussandte in die Welt; aber selbst wenn sich diese Atlantishypothese als nicht haltbar erweisen sollte, wird ein nordisches vorgeschichtliches Kulturzentrum angenommen werden müssen. ... Und deshalb wird die alte verlachte Hypothese heute Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass von einem nordischen Mittelpunkt der Schöpfung, nennen wir ihn, ohne uns auf die Annahme eines versunkenen atlantischen Erdteils festzulegen, die Atlantis, einst Kriegerschwärme strahlenförmig ausgewandert sind als erste Zeugen des immer wieder sich erneut verkörpernden nordischen Fernwehs, um zu erobern, zu gestalten."}} Under Rosenberg, the theories of [[Arthur de Gobineau]], [[Georges Vacher de Lapouge]], Blavatsky, [[Houston Stewart Chamberlain]], [[Madison Grant]], and those of [[Hitler]],<ref>Mein Kampf, tr. in The Times, 25 July 1933, p.&nbsp;15/6</ref> all culminated in [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|Nazi Germany's race policies]] and the "[[Aryanization (Nazism)|Aryanization]]" decrees of the 1920s, 1930s, and early 1940s. In its "appalling medical model", the annihilation of the "racially inferior" ''[[Untermensch]]en'' was sanctified as the excision of a diseased organ in an otherwise healthy body,<ref>{{citation|last=Glover|first=Jonathan|chapter=Eugenics: Some Lessons from the Nazi Experience|editor-last=Harris|editor-first=John|editor2-last=Holm|editor2-first=Soren|title=The Future of Human Reproduction: Ethics, Choice, and Regulation|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1998|pages=57–65}}</ref> which led to the [[Holocaust]].[[File:ArnoBrekerDiePartei.jpg|thumb|220x220px|[[Arno Breker]]'s sculpture ''Die Partei (The Party)'', depicting a Nazi-era ideal of the "Nordic Aryan" racial type.|left]]According to [[Nazism and race|Nazi racial theorists]], the term "Aryans" (''Arier'') described the [[Germanic peoples]],<ref>Davies, Norman (2006). ''Europe at War: 1939–1945 : No Simple Victory'', p. 167</ref> and they considered the purest Aryans to be those that belonged to a "[[Nordic race]]" physical ideal, which they referred to as the "[[master race]]".{{refn|The ''American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' states at the beginning of its definition, "[it] is one of the ironies of history that ''Aryan''<!--source is in italics-->, a word nowadays referring to the blond-haired, blue-eyed physical ideal of [[Nazi Germany]], originally referred to a people who looked vastly different. Its history starts with the ancient [[Indo-Iranians]], peoples who inhabited parts of what are now <!-- THIS IS INSIDE A LITERAL QUOTATION --> [[Greater Iran|Iran]], [[Afghanistan]], Pakistan and India. <!-- THIS IS INSIDE A LITERAL QUOTATION -->"<ref name="AHD">{{citation|last=Watkins|first=Calvert|chapter=Aryan|title=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|edition=4th|year=2000|location=New York|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=0-395-82517-2|quote=...when [[Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel|Friedrich Schlegel]], a German scholar who was an important early [[Indo-European studies|Indo-Europeanist]], came up with a theory that linked the Indo-Iranian words with the German word ''Ehre'', 'honor', and older Germanic names containing the element ''ario-'', such as the [[Suebi|Swiss]] {{sic}} warrior [[Ariovistus]] who was written about by [[Julius Caesar]]. Schlegel theorized that far from being just a designation of the Indo-Iranians, the word ''*arya-'' had in fact been what the Indo-Europeans called themselves, meaning [according to Schlegel] something like 'the honorable people.' (This theory has since been called into question.)|url=https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7}}</ref>|group=note}} However, a satisfactory definition of "Aryan" remained problematic during [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>Ehrenreich, Eric (2007). ''The Nazi Ancestral Proof: Genealogy, Racial Science, and the Final Solution'', pp, 9–11</ref> Although the physical ideal of Nazi racial theorists was typically the tall, [[blond|blond haired]], and [[Eye color|light-eyed]] Nordic individual, such theorists accepted the fact that a considerable variety of hair and eye colour existed within the racial categories they recognised. For example, [[Adolf Hitler]] and many Nazi officials had dark hair and were still considered members of the [[Aryan race]] under Nazi racial doctrine, because the determination of an individual's racial type depended on a preponderance of many characteristics in an individual rather than on just one defining feature.<ref>"The range of blond hair color in pure Nordic peoples runs from flaxen and red to shades of chestnut and brown... It must be clearly understood that blondness of hair and of eye is not a final test of Nordic race. The Nordics include all the blonds, and also those of darker hair or eye when possessed of a preponderance of other Nordic characters. In this sense the word "blond" means those lighter shades of hair or eye color in contrast to the very dark or black shades which are termed brunet. The meaning of "blond" as now used is therefore not limited to the lighter or flaxen shades as in colloquial speech. In England among Nordic populations, there are large numbers of individuals with hazel brown eyes joined with the light brown or chestnut hair which is the typical hair shade of the English and Americans. This combination is also common in Holland and Westphalia and is frequently associated with a very fair skin. These men are all of "blond" aspect and constitution and consequently are to be classed as members of the Nordic race." Quoted in Grant, 1922, p. 26.</ref> In September 1935, the Nazis passed the [[Nuremberg Laws]]. All Aryan Reich citizens were required to prove their Aryan ancestry; one way was to obtain an ''[[Ahnenpass]]'' ("ancestor pass") by providing proof through baptismal certificates that all four grandparents were of Aryan descent.<ref>Ehrenreich, Eric (2007). ''The Nazi Ancestral Proof: Genealogy, Racial Science, and the Final Solution'', p. 68</ref> In December of the same year, the Nazis founded ''[[Lebensborn]]'' ("Fount of Life") to counteract the falling Aryan birth rates in Germany, and to promote [[Nazi eugenics]].<ref name="bissell">{{cite news |last=Bissell |first=Kate |title=Fountain of Life |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4080822.stm |access-date=30 September 2011 |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |date=13 June 2005}}</ref>

* Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016): "Of course it is a fringe theory, at least internationally, where the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) is still the official paradigm. In India, though, it has the support of most archaeologists, who fail to find a trace of this Aryan influx and instead find cultural continuity."<ref name="Elst_2016">Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016), Koenraad Elst: "I am not aware of any governmental interest in correcting distorted history", ''Swarajya Magazine''</ref>}} According to Michael Witzel, the "indigenous Aryans" position is not scholarship in the usual sense, but an "apologetic, ultimately religious undertaking".{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=95}} A number of other alternative theories have been proposed including [[Anatolian hypothesis]], [[Armenian hypothesis]], the [[Paleolithic continuity theory]] but these are not widely accepted and have received little or no interest in mainstream scholarship.<ref>{{cite document|title=Towards a generalised continuity model for Uralic and Indo European languages|year=2002| citeseerx=10.1.1.370.8351 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World|author=David W. Anthony|pages=300–400}}</ref>

* [[Arya (name)]]

* [[Airyanem Vaejah]]

* [[Arya Samaj]]

*{{Cite book|last=Anthony|first=David W.|title=The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0691058870|author-link=David W. Anthony}}

* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Witzel|first=Michael|editor-last1=Bryant |editor-first1=Edwin |editor-last2=Patton |editor-first2=Laurie |encyclopedia=The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History |title=Indocentrism: Autochthonous visions of ancient India |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-79102-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NDRRNGj17EMC |access-date=25 March 2021 }}

*{{cite web|url=https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.ca/&httpsredir=1&article=2330&context=ocj|title=A word for Aryan originality|work=A. Kammpier |ref=none}}

*{{Cite book| editor-last=Bronkhorst|editor-first=J.|editor2-last=Deshpande|editor2-first=M.M.|title=Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia: Evidence, Interpretation, and Ideology|publisher=Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University|publication-date=1999|isbn=1-888789-04-2|year=1999}}

* {{citation|last1=Fussmann|first1=G.|last2=Francfort|first2=H.P.|last3=Kellens|first3=J.|last4=Tremblay|first4=X.|title=Aryas, Aryens et Iraniens en Asie Centrale|date=2005|publisher=Institut Civilisation Indienne|isbn=2-86803-072-6 |ref=none}}

* {{citation|first1 =Vyacheslav V.| last1 =Ivanov|first2 =Thomas|last2 =Gamkrelidze|title =The Early History of Indo-European Languages|journal =Scientific American|volume =262|issue =3|pages =110–116|year =<!--March--> 1990|doi =10.1038/scientificamerican0390-110 |ref=none}}

* {{citation|last1=Lincoln|first1=Bruce|title=Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1999 |ref=none}}

* {{cite book|last1=Morey|first1=Peter|last2=Tickell|first2=Alex|title=Alternative Indias: Writing, Nation and Communalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hf0geg3kl7sC|year=2005|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=90-420-1927-1 |ref=none}}

* {{cite book|last=Sugirtharajah|first=Sharada|title=Imagining Hinduism: A Postcolonial Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aIX4JYZHW2MC|year=2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-63411-0 |ref=none}}

* {{citation|last=Tickell|first=A|year=2005|chapter=The Discovery of Aryavarta: Hindu Nationalism and Early Indian Fiction in English|title=Alternative Indias: Writing, Nation and Communalism|editor1=Peter Morey|editor2=Alex Tickell|pages=25–53 |ref=none}}