Exploring the Complex History of Aryans and Dravidians

        In contemporary discourse, the term "Aryan" is a relatively rare occurrence, except in the context of ancient India. Following its unfortunate misuse by Germanic demagogues during the 1930s, it's not surprising that it has fallen out of favor. While it might have linguistic connections with words in non-Indian Indo-European languages, recent comparative philological research has cast doubt on some of these relationships, such as Irish "Eire," German "Ehre," and Latin "arare." The one unequivocal relative of this Indian word is Old Persian "Airiya," which evolved into Modern Persian "Iran." Thus, we can reasonably assert that a powerful group of Indo-Iranians in the early second millennium B.C. identified themselves with a name similar to "Aryan." The branch that migrated to India became the Aryans par excellence.

Pottery with Mother Goddess and Snake Paintings


**Aryan Invaders: Myth vs. Reality** 
    In popular imagination, Aryans are often portrayed as tall, upright, relatively fair-skinned nomads—tough and aggressive. They are envisioned riding through the northwestern passes in horse-drawn chariots, striking fear into the conservative and sedentary non-Aryan inhabitants of the Indus Valley. While the view put forth by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, suggesting that the Aryans destroyed the cities of the Harappa culture, has lost popularity in light of theories proposed by Raikes and Dales, the Aryans still feature prominently in most standard histories of India as a martial and dynamic people, in stark contrast to the priest-dominated "Dravidians" they supposedly overcame and upon whom they imposed their culture.
Hindu Mythological character

**The Fusion of Cultures: Aryan-Non-Aryan Interaction** 
    Traditionally, the cultural history of India post-Aryan invasion has been interpreted as a fusion of Aryan and non-Aryan elements over a span of three thousand years. In the 19th century, this process was sometimes seen as degeneration—the vibrant, adventurous invaders from the steppes gradually losing their lively character due to subtropical and tropical conditions, the infusion of foreign blood, and the absorption of alien ideas. However, the 20th century witnessed a growing realization among Indologists that ancient India was more than just a land focused on mystical gnosis and moksha; it was more complex than previously thought. 


**Tracing Ancient Roots: The Puzzle of Early Indian History** 
    The data regarding the early racial history of India, especially since the arrival of those who called themselves Aryans, is not entirely satisfactory. Cremation customs, prevalent among the Aryans and the peoples they assimilated, have left few skeletal remains in northern India after about 1000 B.C. Therefore, our understanding of the early interactions between Aryans and non-Aryans in South Asia largely depends on linguistic and literary evidence, illuminated by archaeological and ethnological insights.
Cover of The Rig Veda, An Anthology, One Hundred and Eight Hymns

**Diverse Ethnic Types and Linguistic Complexity** 
    India is known to harbor three major ethnic types—Proto-Australoid, Palaeo-Mediterranean, and Indo-European. Modern ethnologists categorize the latter two as branches of the broader "Europoid" or "Caucasoid" type. India also boasts three major linguistic groups—Munda, Dravidian, and Indo-Aryan. While there isn't a one-to-one correlation between these social types and language groups, some have attempted to connect them in their origins. According to this theory, the Munda languages represent the speech of India's earliest inhabitants, possibly present in the subcontinent since Palaeolithic times. The Dravidian languages, on the other hand, were introduced by Palaeo-Mediterranean migrants who arrived during the Neolithic period, bringing with them the practice of agriculture. Lastly, the Indo-Aryan languages arrived with the Aryans in the second millennium B.C.

Yaja and Upayaja Performing Sacrifice for Dhrishtadyumna's Emergence - Adi Parva


  **Dravidian Legacy: Linguistic and Cultural Influence** 
    While this interpretation may oversimplify the complex history, recent evidence suggests with reasonable certainty that Dravidian and Indo-Aryan were indeed brought to India by migrants, with the former arriving considerably earlier. This is supported by linguistic and archaeological evidence. The theory of a remote relationship between Dravidian and Finno-Ugrian languages, proposed over a century ago by Caldwell and revived by Burrow, has gained support. Moreover, the theory connecting Dravidian to Elamite, put forth by McAlpin, appears convincing and reveals an important aspect of Dravidian origins. Together, these theories suggest a group of agglutinating languages spanning from the Mediterranean to the borders of the Indian subcontinent in prehistoric times, with Proto-Dravidian being the most eastern member. 


 **Brahui: A Linguistic Fossil and Clues from the Harappa Script** 
    Brahui, a Dravidian language found in the remote northwest of the subcontinent, can be understood as a linguistic relic, the last vestige of numerous Dravidian languages spoken in protohistoric times in what is now Pakistan. Although deciphering the Harappa script remains elusive, several analyses suggest it aligns more with an agglutinating language than an inflected one. 


**The Dravidian Influence: From Vedic Texts to Contemporary Understanding** 
    Recent studies examining the language of the Rgveda and other Vedic texts,which represent the earliest surviving literary evidence of the Aryans in India, provide significant evidence of early Dravidian language presence in the northwest of South Asia. Scholars have demonstrated that Dravidian had a substantial influence on the phonology, vocabulary, and even the sentence structure of the Veda. This work has challenged earlier notions that Dravidian influence on Vedic Sanskrit was negligible.

Ghatotkacha and Three Demons in Pursuit of Bhagadatta - Bhishma Parva


**Shedding Racial Connotations: Aryan Identity Evolution** 
    The racial and linguistic landscape in ancient northwest South Asia was complex, and over the past fifty years, archaeology and linguistics have dispelled the simplified image of tall, fair Aryans spreading civilization among dark-skinned barbarians. While the distinction between Arya-varna and Dasa-varna in the Rgveda is emphasized in many sources, it has also been noted that some evidence from that text suggests occasional non-Aryan patronage of Vedic rituals. Thus, even in this early period, the term "Aryan" was beginning to shed its original racial connotations, which had been more distinct in the time of the Rgveda. 


 **The Ever-Evolving Significance of "Aryan" and "Dravidian"** 
    However, this doesn't mean the term became entirely meaningless. The Aryans who entered India brought with them a rich body of tradition and customs—religious, social, and cultural—along with a language or group of languages that would become the ancestor of almost all North Indian languages. This Aryan heritage was adopted and adapted to varying degrees by all the peoples of India, until by the time of the Pali canon, the term "Aryan" had come to signify characteristics akin to "good," "moral," "gentlemanly," and "well-bred." It had largely lost its racial connotation that had been prominent during the Rgveda period. The polarity of "Aryan" and "mleccha" in classical Sanskrit also had little to do with race and more to do with behavior; those excluded were deemed unworthy due to their practices, not their ethnicity. 


 **The Aryan-Dravidian Interplay: A Complex Narrative** 
    The Aryan-Dravidian polarity, often highlighted in recent discourse, may have held little significance in earlier eras. Even in Manu's time, Dravidians could be considered Aryans if they performed the necessary rituals and penances. Over time, respectable Dravidian individuals, who adhered to Brahminic norms, were accepted as Aryans, regardless of their complexion or certain irregular customs. In fact, the Dravidians themselves adopted the term "Aryan," which survives in colloquial Tamil as "aiyar," a moderately respectful form of address. 

- Research : Goutham Avarthi 

 **References** 

1. *The Indus Civilization,* supplementary volume to the *Cambridge History of India,* 3rd ed. 
2. Raikes, R. L. "The End of the Ancient Cities of the Indus." *American Anthropologist.* 
3. Author unknown. "The Mohenjo-Daro Floods." *Antiquity.* 
4. Author unknown. *Water, Weather and Archaeology.* London: Baker, 1967. 
5. Dales, G. F. "Harappan Outposts on the Makran Coast." *Antiquity.* 
6. Author unknown. "New Investigations at Mohenjo-Daro." *Archaeology.* 
7. Author unknown. "The Decline of the Harappans." *Scientific American,* May 1966. 
8. Mookerji, Radha Kumud. *Hindu Civilization.* Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1950. 
9. Caldwell, Robert. *A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages. * London: Harrison, 1856. 
10. Burrow, T. "Dravidian Studies." *Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.* 
11. Lahovary, N. *Dravidian Origins and the West.* Calcutta: Orient Longmans, 1963. 
12. Kuiper, F. B. J. "The Genesis of a Linguistic Area." *Indo-Iranian Journal,* The Hague. 
13. Rhys Davids, T. W., and William Stede. *The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary.* London: Pali Text Society, n.d., s.v. ariya. 
14. Manu. "Manu (x. 21-23) gives lists of vratya tribes and peoples descended from each of the three Aryan classes."

Comments

  1. Appagere D T LankeshSeptember 21, 2023 at 6:26 PM

    Very informative article sir. I need to know more about Dravidian languages.,

    ReplyDelete

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