Origins of Sanskrit + The Aryan Invasion Theory: Fact or Fiction?

Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages of the world, comparable to Ancient Egyptian and Chinese. Sanskrit also gave rise to most of the languages in Northern India, and it heavily influenced the languages and scripts of most of South and Southeast Asia. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, India’s predominant religion, and was a veritable factory of ancient literature. When European powers colonized India, though, they noticed similarities between Sanskrit (and its daughter languages Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, etc.), Farsi/Persian, and various European languages such as English, German, and French. Words like ‘mater’, ‘pitr’, ‘naam’, ‘bhratr’, ‘dwar’, as well as many other words were strikingly similar to their counterparts in English: ‘mother’, ‘father’, ‘name’, ‘brother’, ‘door’.

This led to the grouping of Indo-European languages, which combines most of the languages of Europe as well as the languages of North India and greater Iran. This discovery would lead to many advancements in the field of linguistics, but it would also push forward a theory that has been used both to decry and to empower racial, spiritual, and cultural agendas, and yet holds a controversial place in history. This theory was (and still is) called the Aryan invasion theory. In our modern world the word ‘Aryan’ understably has a LOT of negative connotations, presumably due to the fact that failed art student and animal-lover Adolf Hitler used it in his rallying speeches to empower the common German people. He also appropriated the Swastika, a holy symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism as well as a good sign in many cultures across the world. However, in its original form, the word ‘Aryan’ means ‘noble’. The Aryan invasion theory was used to explain the divergence of Indian populations as well as the caste system. It was also used to further British propaganda as to how they were racially similar to the higher castes that already ruled India. Let’s take a look at the first people that came to India.

The first inhabitants of South India were genetically similar to the Andamanese peoples and not much is known about them other than they were probably hunter gatherers and there were very few of them. It is unknown what language they spoke, but it may have been related to one of the Andamanese languages or to Vedda, a language isolate spoken by the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. The first civilization in India, however, is the Indus Valley civilization in Northwest India and Pakistan, situated around the Sindhu (Indus) and Saraswati River. While they left behind writings and other artifacts, it is unknown what language they spoke. It is likely that they spoke Proto-Dravidian, whose descendants are primarily spoken in South India today. However, Brahui, a language which is spoken in the area around the western Indus Valley Civilization, is distantly related to the Dravidian languages of South India. It is very likely that the Dravidian languages originated from the Indus Valley Civilization.

The Indo-European languages descended from one common ancestor known as Proto-Indo-European, which was spoken by the people of the Pontic Steppe in what is now Russia and Central Asia. These people were semi-nomadic, were very warlike, and had a deep connection to horses. They also believed in a polytheistic religion with the sky god and earth goddess as the first gods and their children the sun, moon, and the divine twins. These motifs are seen in many ancient Indo-European religions, such as Greek, Norse, and Aryan myths. The Aryans were a group that split out from the steppes and went south into India in various migrations. There were many clans that fought with each other in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, as seen by the Rigveda and other texts. Interestingly, the Avesta (the holy text of Zoroastrianism, the Iranian religion) says that gods are called ‘ahuras’ and demons or ‘rejected gods’ are called ‘daevas’. In the Rigveda (the most sacred text of the Aryan religion and Hinduism) and modern day Hinduism the benevolent celestials are called Devas and the malevolent ones are called asuras.

The Aryans came into North India or the Sapta Sindhu (Seven Rivers, or Hapta Hendu in Avestan, the old Iranian language). They called themselves Arya and while they had a connection to the Iranians they regarded themselves as distinct. The Aryans split into two main cultures; one based in the lower Gangetic Plain the kingdoms of Magadha, Kosala, and Anga. This culture led to the Sramana movement and gave rise to Buddhism and Jainism. It also contributed to the Tantric practices of modern-day Hinduism. These people spoke Vedic Sanskrit, the ancestor of all Indo-Aryan languages and sister to the Avestan language. The other culture was based in the center and included the powerful kingdoms of Kuru and Panchala, who conquered many of the surrounding Aryan clans and practiced the Vedic religion, which forms a part of modern-day Hinduism. During this time, the Indus Valley Civilization disappeared and its people either intermixed with the Aryans or went further south where they intermixed with the indigenous peoples. During this time, tribes from Southeast Asia also made their way to Eastern India, again mixing with the Aryans and the Proto-Dravidian people.

During this mixing of populations, the varna system was born. The Aryan priests (Brahmins) now found themselves in a position of power and in an effort to spread their religion and win wealth for themselves. Those who preached their religion (Aryan or not, but usually with more Aryan ancestry) were also called Brahmins. Their supporters were installed as Kshatriya rulers. These rulers were allowed to have relations with the Brahmins. Trading, which was seen as materialistic and sinful was given to the once-‘Mlecchas’ or Dravidians. Mleccha meant one who didn’t speak Sanskrit and they were seen as less than Aryans, even if they followed the Vedas. Shudras or serfs (also once-Mlecchas) were the farmers, workers, and artisans as well as servants in this society. The untouchables, Dalits, or Harijas formed a group outside the varna system but separate from the Nisadhas and other forest-dwelling tribes. They would carry out only the most demeaning tasks like sewage cleaning, corpse-preparation, etc. These were formed from the tribes that lived outside Aryan cities who had lost their livelihoods of hunting and gathering as the land around them became more and more urbanized. The caste system was a bit flexible at first and was mainly based on occupation and not on ethnicity. However, as time went by the caste system solidified and with it all the jatis or clans came into being. Jatis went one step deeper than the varna system, as it was based on clan, geographical region, and specific profession, such as armor-wearer (Varma) from varman (scale armor) or Ezhava (Sri Lankan) from Eezham (Lanka in Tamil). During this process Brahmins brought Sanskrit to all the corners of India. Even in the Dravidian languages much of the formal vocabulary is from Sanskrit. Sanskritization was the name of this process, and it also resulted in the integration of the beliefs of the Indus Valley Civilization and the Sramana movement to form modern-day Hinduism. The caste system heavily discriminated against Vaishyas and Shudras, and completely abused Dalits. Many temples only allowed upper castes to enter. In many areas, people of lower castes were not permitted to even approach Brahmins. While caste-based discrimination is legally prohibited, it still occurs in many places in India and is a reminder of the shameful pieces of our past.

Back in the day the British thought that the Aryans conquered the Indus Valley civilization. This is now thought to be false, even though relations were not overly friendly; some were actually hostile. The IVC probably disintegrated because of problems with the Saraswati River, which both they and the Aryans relied on. Today, Hindutva nationalists refute the Aryan invasion theory based on their wish to promote Indian oneness. However, genetic tests have refuted that and we know that populations in North and South India do have different genetics. We also know that before the caste system was solidified there was a lot of admixture between various peoples and that the difference is not extremely big. While I have no problem with being nationalistic, in a country as diverse as India, we shouldn’t classify ‘Indian’ by race, class, creed, ethnicity, or religion. Rather, the oneness of being Indian and the struggle that all of India went through for independence should be the point for all citizens of India to converge upon.

Finally, to recap; the Aryans did come from and at that same time the native civilization collapsed. After a period of vast admixture, those with more Aryan heritage and customs subjugated those with less Aryan heritage which led to modern-day Hinduism and the caste system. It also led to the modern-day Indian culture as well as the religions of Buddhism and Sikhism.

Next time, I’ll talk about the influence of Sanskrit in Southeast Asia and the writing system they propagated.