Are you an Aryan?

I have been searching the Internet inside out for some several weeks on one question - "Who are Aryans". I couldn't sotp myself to kill time this Sunday by writing what I've deduced out of a hundred sources*. I strongly suggest folks to not to get into this labyrinth of chaos that has been created on the very interpretation of the word 'Aryan', read this and thank me instead:)

Lemme start.
The word "Aryan" in Sanskrit means "One who is Noble". Perfect. Question answered. Who are Aryans? The ones who are noble! You, He, She, They, We and possibly I - are all Aryans. Then an army of questions invaded my empty mind: Why did Hitler have to use it for what he believed to be right? From where did the term Indo Aryans come? Are Aryans and Indians different? Are Indians Aryans? Where did this originate from? Am I an Aryan? and many more...

I have to go back to Evolution to make it a bit confusing:-) The first signs of human societies are discovered to have been around 3000 BC when Civilizations like Babylonian and Indus Valley (IVC) dwelt. Babylonia which is somewhere in present Iraq has been the cradle of civilizations and Indus Valley of course is along the river Indus epicentered in NorthWest India. This is also one of the hypothesis of the origination of the term 'Hindu' - to have derived from the Sanskrit word - Sindhu (river Indus). Contemporary civilizations started in other parts of the world.

The IVC lasted until around 1200 BC termed as Late Harappan period and then started to decline. One theory puts forth that there was an Invasion from the West and the natives of IVC were pushed down to the South who were/are later called Dravidians (more on this in another blog). The invaders settled in NW India and began extending their footprint. This is the time when Mahabharatha is said to have taken place** (800BC; coincidently, Homer wrote Odyssey and The Iliad at the same time). The chronology continues until the era of Mouryans (Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka, 300-250BC) who almost conquered Persia (Iran) and Babylon. Later on started a fresh set of Greek invasions in 180 BC and rest is history.

The mighty people who are said to have invaded India were supposed to be Aryans. Let me say that this theory has been largely contested and proved otherwise. One of the reasons is the lack of substantial evidence in any form. Over and above, the Vedic works do not cite any invasion of India from the West at this time.

To the second hypothesis (includes some of my own minute derivations as well):
Etymologists have long remarked a lot of similarties between Indian and European languages. It was the German Sprachforscher (Linguist) and many others who have proved this fact over and again. If we were to categorize the languages, they can be derived from a parent group called Indo-EU languages (This superset I guess includes the world's most of the most spoken languages)

As I mentioned already, the word Arya means 'Noble' in Sanskrit. It is also a word in Persian and some other variants as well. Because these languages had many more similar words (like Arya), one rule of thumb was to put them into a common subset "Indo Iranian or Indo Aryan" under the superset of Indo-EU languages. This is where it all begins and ends. Indo Aryans are a population who speak a language based on one or the other common substratum. This poulation speak languages like Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi, Konakni, Zazaki, Kurdish, Waziri and many others.
Going by this theory, an Aryan is one who speaks an Aryan language! Which means anyone can be an Aryan - irrespective of being noble or not:)

The word Arya henceforth took many forms and became an anchor for catastrophies like Nazi Germany, American civil war, Apartheid and British Raj. I guess there can be no better example for human (mis)interpretations, excellent thinking capacities and the blunders they create thereof.
We camouflaged history to our own vims and fancies and created a comprehensive color code to address and treat people likewise; brighter the better, rather nobler! Blacks the inferior and White, the super superior. Quite logical.

Thanks to great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, MK Gandhi and many others who lived the word "Aryan"; Kudos.



* The content pulished here contains extracts from sources that I believe runs into hundreds. I've not coiped anything in verbatim. It is more of a representation of what I've read and possibly understood from all of them
** Not to say that Mahabharatha was a result of the invasion