View source for Indo-Aryan peoples

{{Short description|Ethnolinguistic groups in South Asia}}
{{pp-pc1}}
{{Original research|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Indo-Aryan peoples
| image            = [[File:Indo-Aryan language map.svg|240px]]
| caption          = 1978 map showing geographical distribution of the major Indo-Aryan languages. ([[Urdu]] is included under Hindi. [[Romani language|Romani]], [[Domari language|Domari]], and [[Lomavren language|Lomavren]] are outside the scope of the map.) Dotted/striped areas indicate where [[multilingualism]] is common.{{hidden| |
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
{{legend|#fe933c|[[Central Indo-Aryan|Central]]}}
{{legend|#fd15ac|[[Dardic languages|Dardic]]}}
{{legend|#effe27|[[Eastern Indo-Aryan languages|Eastern]]}}
{{legend|#ad27fe|[[Northern Indo-Aryan languages|Northern]]}}
{{legend|#274ffe|[[Northwestern Indo-Aryan languages|Northwestern]]}}
{{legend|#3bed69|[[Western Indo-Aryan|Western]]}}
{{legend|#fe1e1e|[[Southern Indo-Aryan languages|Southern]]}}
{{div col end}}
}}
| population       = '''~1.4 billion'''{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}
| popplace         = 
| region1          = India
| pop1             = Over 911 million
| ref1             = <ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/india/ |title=India |work=The World Factbook |date=16 November 2021}}</ref>
| region2          = Pakistan
| pop2             = Over 180 million
| ref2             = <ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/pakistan/ |title=Pakistan |work=The World Factbook |date=4 February 2022}}</ref>
| region3          = Bangladesh
| pop3             = Over 170 million
| ref3             = <ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/bangladesh/ |title=Bangladesh |work=The World Factbook |date=4 February 2022}}</ref>
| region4          = Nepal
| pop4             = Over 26 million
| region5          = Sri Lanka
| pop5             = Over 14 million
| region6          = Afghanistan
| pop6             = Over 2 million
| region7          = Mauritius
| pop7             = Over 725,400
| region8          = Maldives
| pop8             = Over 300,000
| region9          = Bhutan
| pop9             = Over 240,000
| ref8             = <ref name=UNHCR1>{{cite web |url =http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,MARP,,BTN,,469f386a1e,0.html |title=Population of Lhotshampas in Bhutan |year=2004 |publisher=[[UNHCR]] |access-date=23 March 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121016143502/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country%2C%2CMARP%2C%2CBTN%2C%2C469f386a1e%2C0.html |archive-date=16 October 2012 }}</ref>
| langs            = [[Indo-Aryan languages]]
| rels             = Predominantly [[Hindu]] and [[Muslim]]<br/>Large minority : [[Buddhism|Buddhist]], [[Sikh]], [[Jain]], [[Christianity|Christian]] and some non-religious [[atheist]]/[[agnostic]]
| related          = [[Iranian peoples]]
}}
{{Indo-European topics}}{{Distinguish|Indian people}}
'''Indo-Aryan peoples''' (also known as '''Indic peoples''' in the context of [[Indo-European studies]]) are a diverse collection of [[people]]s predominantly found in [[South Asia]], who (traditionally) speak [[Indo-Aryan languages]]. Historically, [[Aryan]]s were the [[Pastoralism|pastoralists]] who spoke Indo-Iranian languages, [[Indo-Aryan migrations|migrated]] from [[Central Asia]] into South Asia, and introduced the [[Proto-Indo-Aryan language]].{{sfn|Anthony|2007}}{{sfn|Erdosy|2012}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46616574|title=How ancient DNA may rewrite prehistory in India|publisher=bbc|date=23 December 2018|access-date=23 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/theres-no-confusion-the-new-reports-clearly-confirm-arya-migration-into-india/article61986135.ece|title=New reports clearly confirm 'Arya' migration into India|publisher=thehindu|date=13 September 2019|access-date=23 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/aryans-or-harappans-who-drove-the-creation-of-caste-system-dna-holds-a-clue/686393/|title=Aryans or Harappans—Who drove the creation of caste system? DNA holds a clue|publisher=theprint|date=29 June 2021|access-date=23 November 2022}}</ref> The early [[Indo-Aryan migrations|Indo-Aryan peoples]] were known to be closely related to the [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] group that have resided west of the [[Indus River]] on the [[Iranian Plateau]]; an evident connection in cultural, linguistic, and historical ties. Today, Indo-Aryan speakers are found south of the Indus, across the modern-day regions of [[Bangladesh]], [[Nepal]], [[Pakistan]] (east of [[Indus River]]), [[Sri Lanka]], [[Maldives]] and northern half of [[India]].<ref>{{cite book |url= |title=The Indo-Aryan Languages |page=2 |year=2007 |author=Danesh Jain, George Cardona|publisher=Routledge}}</ref>

==History==
=== Proto-Indo-Iranians ===
{{main|Indo-Iranians|Proto-Indo-Europeans|Aryan|Indo-European migrations|Indo-Aryan migrations}}

{{Further|Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia|Peopling of India}}

[[File:Indo-Iranian origins.png|thumb|right|Archaeological cultures associated with [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian migrations]] (after [[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|EIEC]]). The [[Andronovo]], [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]] and [[Yaz culture]]s have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The [[Gandhara grave culture|GGC]], [[Cemetery H]], [[Copper Hoard culture|Copper Hoard]], [[Ochre Coloured Pottery culture|OCP]], and [[Painted Grey Ware culture|PGW]] cultures are candidates for cultures associated with [[Indo-Aryan migration]]s.]]

The introduction of the [[Indo-Aryan languages]] in the Indian subcontinent was the outcome of a [[Indo-Aryan migrations|migration of Indo-Aryan people]] from Central Asia into the northern [[Indian subcontinent]] (modern-day [[Bangladesh]], [[Bhutan]], [[India]], [[Nepal]], [[Pakistan]], and [[Sri Lanka]]). Another group of Indo-Aryans migrated further westward and founded the [[Mitanni]] kingdom in northern Syria{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=454}} (c. 1500–1300 BC); the other group was the Vedic people.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=33 note 20}} According to [[Christopher I. Beckwith]], the [[Wusun]] people of [[Inner Asia]] in [[Ancient history|antiquity]] could have been of Indo-Aryan origin.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=376}}

The [[Indo-Iranians|Proto-Indo-Iranians]], from which the Indo-Aryans developed, are identified with the [[Sintashta culture]] (2100–1800 BCE),{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=390 (fig. 15.9), 405–411}}{{sfn|Kuz'mina|2007|p=222}} and the [[Andronovo culture]],{{CN|date=August 2023}} which flourished ca. 1800–1400 BCE in the steppes around the [[Aral Sea]], present-day Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Proto-Indo-Aryan split off around 1800–1600 BCE from the Iranians,{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=408}} moved south through the [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|Bactria-Margiana Culture]], south of the Andronovo culture, borrowing some of their distinctive religious beliefs and practices from the BMAC, and then migrated further south into the [[Levant]] and north-western India.<ref>George Erdosy (1995). "The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity", p. 279</ref>{{sfn|Anthony|2007}} The migration of the Indo-Aryans was part of the larger diffusion of [[Indo-European languages]] from the [[Proto-Indo-European homeland]] at the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] which started in the 4th millennium BCE.{{sfn|Anthony|2007}}<ref>Johannes Krause mit Thomas Trappe: ''Die Reise unserer Gene. Eine Geschichte über uns und unsere Vorfahren.'' Propyläen Verlag, Berlin 2019, p. 148 ff.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/all-indoeuropean-languages-may-have-originated-from-this-one-place/ |title=All Indo-European Languages May Have Originated From This One Place |website=IFLScience |date=24 May 2018 |access-date=26 December 2019}}</ref> The [[Gandhara grave culture|GGC]], [[Cemetery H]], [[Copper Hoard culture|Copper Hoard]], [[Ochre Coloured Pottery culture|OCP]], and [[Painted Grey Ware culture|PGW]] cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryans.

The Indo-Aryans were united by shared cultural norms and language, referred to as ''aryā'' 'noble'. Over the last four millennia, the Indo-Aryan culture has evolved particularly inside India itself, but its origins are in the conflation of values and heritage of the Indo-Aryan and indigenous people groups of India.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Avari |first=Burjor |url= |title=India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from c. 7000 BC to AD 1200 |date=2007-06-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-25161-2 |pages=xvii |language=en}}</ref> Diffusion of this culture and language took place by patron-client systems, which allowed for the absorption and acculturation of other groups into this culture, and explains the strong influence on other cultures with which it interacted.

Genetically, most Indo-Aryan-speaking populations are descendants of a mix of Central Asian steppe pastoralists, Iranian hunter-gatherers, and, to a lesser extent, South Asian hunter-gatherers—commonly known as Ancient Ancestral South Indians (AASI). Dravidians are descendants of a mix of South Asian hunter-gatherers and Iranian hunter-gatherers, and to a lesser extent, Central Asian steppe pastoralists. South Indian Tribal Dravidians descend majorly from South Asian hunter-gatherers, and to a lesser extent Iranian hunter-gatherers.{{sfn|Reich et al.|2009}}{{sfn|Narasimhan et al.|2019}}<ref name="Yelmen_2019">{{Cite journal |last1=Yelmen |first1=Burak |last2=Mondal |first2=Mayukh |last3=Marnetto |first3=Davide |last4=Pathak |first4=Ajai K |last5=Montinaro |first5=Francesco |last6=Gallego Romero |first6=Irene |last7=Kivisild |first7=Toomas |last8=Metspalu |first8=Mait |last9=Pagani |first9=Luca |date=5 April 2019 |title=Ancestry-Specific Analyses Reveal Differential Demographic Histories and Opposite Selective Pressures in Modern South Asian Populations |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msz037 |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=36 |issue=8 |pages=1628–1642 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msz037 |issn=0737-4038 |pmc=6657728 |pmid=30952160}}</ref> Additionally, Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burmese speaking people contributed to the genetic make-up of South Asia.{{sfn|Basu et al.|2016}}

[[Indigenous Aryanism]] propagates the idea that the Indo-Aryans were indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, and that the Indo-European languages spread from there to central Asia and Europe. Contemporary support for this idea is ideologically driven, and has no basis in objective data and mainstream scholarship.{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=95}}{{sfn|Jamison|2006}}{{sfn|Guha|2007|p=341}}{{sfn|Fosse|2005|p=438}}{{snf|Olson|2016|p=136}}

== List of historical Indo-Aryan peoples ==
{{See also|List of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes}}
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Anga]]
* [[Bahlikas]]
* [[Bharatas (tribe)|Bharatas]]
* [[Buli (tribe)|Buli]]
* [[Cedī (tribe)|Caidya]]s
* [[Dewa (people)|Dewa]]
* [[Gandhāra (kingdom)|Gāndhārī]]s
* [[Gangaridai]]
* [[Gupta Empire|Gupta]]
* [[Kambojas]]
* [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]]
* [[Kasmira kingdom|Kasmira]]
* [[Kekaya]]
* [[Khasas]]
* [[Kikata kingdom|Kikata]]
* [[Koliya]]
* [[Kosala]]
* [[Kuru kingdom|Kurus]]
* [[Licchavi (tribe)|Licchavi]]s
* [[Madra kingdom|Madra]]
* [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadhis]]
* [[Malavas]]
* [[Malla (tribe)|Mallaka]]s
* [[Matsya (tribe)|Mātsyeya]]s
* [[Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni|Mitanni]]
* [[Moriya (tribe)|Moriya]]
* [[Nāya]]
* [[Nishadha kingdom|Nishadhas]]
* [[Odra kingdom|Odra]]
* [[Pakthas]]
* [[Pala Empire|Pala]]
* [[Panchala]]
* [[Pundra kingdom|Paundra]]
* [[Puru (Vedic tribe)|Puru]]
* [[Salva (India)|Salva]]
* [[Salwa kingdom|Salwa]]
* [[Saraswata kingdom|Saraswata]]
* [[Sindhu-Sauvīra|Sauvira]]
* [[Shakya]]
* [[Shunga Empire|Shunga]]
* [[Sindhu-Sauvīra|Sindhu]]
* [[Sudra kingdom|Sudra]]
* [[Surasena]]
* [[Trigarta kingdom|Trigarta]]
* [[Utkala kingdom|Utkala]]
* [[Vanga kingdom|Vanga]]
* [[Vatsa]]
* [[Vidarbha kingdom|Vidarbha]]
* [[Videha]]
* [[Vrishni]]
* [[Yadavas]]
* [[Yadu]]
* [[Yaudheya]]
{{div col end}}

== Contemporary Indo-Aryan people ==
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Assamese people]]
* [[Awadhi people]]
* [[Banjara|Banjara people]]
* [[Bede people]]
* [[Bengali people]]
* [[Bhil people]]
* [[Bhojpuri people]] 
* [[Bishnupriya Manipuri people]]
* [[Brokpa|Brokpa people]]
* [[Chittagonian people]]
* [[Deccanis|Deccani people]]
* [[Deshi people]]
* [[Dhakaiyas|Dhakaiya people]]
* [[Dhivehi people]]
* [[Dogra people]]
* [[Garhwali people]]
* [[Gujarati people]]
* [[Halba (tribe)|Halba people]]
* [[Haryanvi people]]
* [[Hindkowans|Hindki people]]
* [[Jaunsari people]]
* [[Kalash people]]
* [[Kashmiri people]]
* [[Khas people]]
* [[Kho people]]
* [[Kohistani people]]
* [[Konkani people]]
* [[Kumauni people]]
* [[Kutchi people]]
* [[Magahi people]] 
* [[Maithils|Maithil people]]
* [[Marathi people]]
* [[Marwari people]]
* [[Memon people]]
* [[Muhajir (Pakistan)|Muhajir people]]
* [[Nagpuria people]]
* [[Odia people]]
* [[Palula people]]
* [[Pashayi people]]
* [[Pahari people (Kashmir)|Pahari people]]
* [[Punjabi people]]
* [[Rajasthani people]]
* [[Romani people]]
* [[Rohingya people]]
* [[Sadan people]]
* [[Saraiki people]]
* [[Saurashtra people]]
* [[Shina people]]
* [[Sindhi people]]
* [[Sinhalese people]]
* [[Sylhetis|Sylheti people]]
* [[Thari people]]
* [[Tharu people]]
* [[Tirahi|Tirahi people]]
* [[Torwali people]]
* [[Warli|Warli people]]
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*[[Proto-Indo-Europeans]]
*[[Indo-Iranians]]
*[[Dardic peoples]]
*[[Aryan]]
*[[Indo-Aryan languages]]
*[[Indo-Aryan migrations]]
*[[Indigenous Aryanism]]
*[[Aryan race]]
*[[Aryavarta]]
*[[Dasa]]
*[[Dravidian peoples]]
*''[[Early Indians]]''
*[[South Asian diaspora]]
*[[Northern South Asia]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{refbegin|40em}}
<!-- A -->
* {{cite book |last = Anthony | first = David W. |year = 2007 |title = The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World | publisher = Princeton University Press }}
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* Mallory, JP. 1998. "A European Perspective on Indo-Europeans in Asia". In ''The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern and Central Asia''. Ed. Mair. Washington DC: Institute for the Study of Man.
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* {{cite book |title=Religious Ways of Experiencing Life: A Global and Narrative Approach |first=Carl |last=Olson |publisher=Routledge |year=2016}}
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{{refend}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/RAJARAM/Har1.pdf Horseplay at Harappa – People Fas Harvard – Harvard University] (PDF)
*[http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1723/17231220.htm A tale of two horses] – ''[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]]''
{{India topics}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indo-Aryan Peoples}}
[[Category:Indo-Aryan peoples| ]]
[[Category:Indo-Iranian peoples]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of India]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Nepal]]