Arya See ARYAN.
Aryaman
Aryaman (friend or companion) is a Vedic divin-
ity listed among the ADITYAS. When invoked he
is usually paired with some other divinity. He is
chief of the “Fathers” or Manes, those who have
passed from this world and exist in heaven. There
are no MANTRAS in the Rig Veda that focus solely
on Aryaman.
Further reading: Paul Thieme, Mitra and Aryaman
(New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1957).
Aryan (Arya)
In the VEDAS, the earliest Indian texts, the SAN-
SKRIT word Arya had the sense of noble or worthy
person. It was used by the tribes or peoples who
recited the Vedas to distinguish themselves from
other peoples. Sometimes, in early Sanskrit the
term was used to refer to the “respectable” upper
three classes of the Indian tradition, to distinguish
them from the disreputable classes such as the
SHUDRAS and those below them, the untouchables.
Most Brahmins still refer to themselves as Aryas,
as do all Buddhists and Jains (see JAINISM).
The earliest text of the Vedic tradition, the RIG
VEDA, which is set in ancient India, has been dated
to around 1500 B.C.E. This rough estimate refers
to the time the text was compiled as an anthology.
Parts of the text may thus date back some centu-
ries earlier, an indication that the Aryas were in
India as early as c. 2000 B.C.E.
Vedic references to the Aryas are thus syn-
chronous with the theoretical migration of Indo-
European-speaking peoples into India from the
northwest. Much scholarship and speculation
have been focused on this issue since at least the
18th century, when it was discovered that Sanskrit
was an Indo-European language related to Latin
and Greek, while the languages of southern India
seemed unrelated. The term Arya also appears in
ancient Persian texts (it is reflected in the name of
the country Iran), and in Hittite inscriptions from
the Middle East around 1500 B.C.E. The name
Ireland may also reflect the word, which would be
evidence for a simultaneous Aryan migration to
Europe. Recent attempts have been made in India
to refute the notion that the Aryans arrived from
outside the country. It is prudent to say that the
issue is not yet settled.
Within India itself there are various different
understandings of the nature of the Aryans. The
linguistic term Dravidian, referring to the tongues
spoken in South India, was sometimes used in the
20th century to designate a people or race differ-
ent and distinct from the Aryans of the north. The
term Aryan was taken up in Europe in the 20th
century by the Nazis to designate a person of a
“superrace.”Further reading: Edwin F. Bryant, The Quest for the
Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration
Debate (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001); Mad-
hav Deshpande and Peter Edwin Hook, eds., Aryan and
Non-Aryan in India (Ann Arbor: Center for South and
Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan, 1979);
George Erdosy, ed., The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South
Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity (Berlin:
Walter De Guyter, 1995); J. P. Malory, In Search of the
Indo-European Language, Archaeology and Myth (Lon-
don: Thames & Hudson, 1991); Colin Renfrew, Archae-
ology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990).Arya Samaj (est. 1875)
The Arya Samaj, formerly known as Arya Pra-
tinidhi Sabha, is a reformist Hindu sect founded
in 1875 in Mumbai by Mul Shankara (1824–83).
It aims to synthesize ancient orthodox ritual
practice with modern anticaste and universalistic
principles.
Shankara was born a Brahmin and was edu-
cated into orthodox Brahminism in Gujarat state.
In 1948 he renounced ordinary life and tookArya Samaj 47 J