List of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes

This is a list of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes that are mentioned in old sources of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions (see sources). In these old sources, there are also Non-Indo-Aryan peoples that are mentioned but are not included in this list because of that.

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From an undetermined time in the Second or First Millennium BCE ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes turned into most of the population in the northern part of the Indian Subcontinent - Indus Valley (roughly today's Pakistan), Western India, Northern India, Central India, and also in areas of the southern part like Sri Lanka and the Maldives through and after a complex process of migration, assimilation of other peoples and language shift.[1][2][3]

Ancestors
Map 1: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony
Map 2: Sintashta-Petrovka culture (red), its expansion into the Andronovo culture (orange) during the 2nd millennium BC, showing the overlap with the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (chartreuse green) in the south and also with the Afanasievo culture in the east. The location of the earliest chariots is shown in magenta. Several scholars associate Proto-Indo-Iranians with Sintashta-Petrovka culture.[4] These scholars also may associate some mentions in the Avesta (sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism), like the Airyanəm Vaēǰō - "Aryans' Expanse", as distant memories that were retained by oral tradition of this old land of origin.[5] There are also mentions of Āryāvarta - "Aryans Abode" (in sacred Hindu scriptures such as Dharmashastras and Sutras), the Hindu counterpart of Airyanəm Vaēǰō, although it refers to Northern India and they are later.
Map 3: The extent of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), according to the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. The BMAC culture and peoples influenced migrating Indo-Iranians that came from the north.
Map 4: The approximate extent of the Vedic period Āryāvarta is highlighted in pale yellow
Map 5: This detailed map shows the locations of kingdoms and republics mentioned in the Indian epics or Bharata Khanda.

Pancha Jana (Five peoples / tribes)

(पञ्च जना - Páñca Jánāḥ / Pancha-janah) (Āryāvarta of this time, c. 1700-1500 BCE, roughly corresponds with the Punjab and closer regions) (see the map of Early Vedic Period)

Janapadas

Early Janapadas (peoples / tribes) (c. 1700-1100 BCE)
Map 6: Early Vedic Culture (1700–1100 BCE) and location of early Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes

After roughly 1500 BCE Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes were swiftly expanding through ancient northern India, therefore the number of peoples, tribes and clans was increasing (as well as the number of Indo-Aryan language speakers) and Āryāvarta was becoming a very large area (see the map on the right side).

  • Aja – (Madhya-desha Āryāvarta - Central Āryāvarta)
  • Ambaśṭha – (Madhya-desha Āryāvarta - Central Āryāvarta)
  • Aṅga – Prachya Āryāvarta - Eastern Āryāvarta (Madhya-desha and Prachya Āryāvarta - Central and Eastern Āryāvarta in Vamana).
  • Anu - is a Vedic Sanskrit term for one of the 5 major tribes in the Rigveda, RV 1.108.8, RV 8.10.5 (both times listed together with the Druhyu) and, much later also in the Mahabharata.[6] In the late Vedic period, one of the Anu kings, King Anga, is mentioned as a "chakravartin" (AB 8.22). Ānava, the vrddhi derivation of Anu, is the name of a ruler in the Rigvedic account of the Battle of the Ten Kings (7.18.13) and at 8.4.1 with the Turvaśa (tribe). The meaning ánu "living, human" (Naighantu) cannot be substantiated for the Rigveda [7] and may have been derived from the tribal name. (Pratichya Āryāvarta - Western Āryāvarta)
  • Āyu[8] -
  • Bhajeratha[9]
  • Bhalana - The Bhalanas were one of the tribes that fought against Sudas in the Dasarajna battle. Some scholars have argued that the Bhalanas lived in Eastern Afghanistan Kabulistan, and that the Bolan Pass derives its name from the Bhalanas.[6][10] (Pratichya Āryāvarta - Western Āryāvarta)
  • Bharadvāja – (Madhya-desha Āryāvarta - Central Āryāvarta)
  • Bhrigus[11]
  • Bheda – (Madhya-desha Āryāvarta - Central Āryāvarta)
  • Bodha – (Madhya-desha Āryāvarta - Central Āryāvarta)
  • Druhyu - The Druhyu were a people of Vedic India. They are mentioned in the Rigveda,[12] usually together with the Anu tribe.[13] Some early scholars have placed them in the northwestern region.[10]:I 395 The later texts, the Epic and the Puranas, locate them in the "north", that is, in Gandhara, Aratta and Setu. (Vishnu Purana IV.17) The Druhyus were driven out of the land of the seven rivers, and their next king, Gandhara, settled in a north-western region which became known as Gandhāra. The sons of the later Druhyu king Pracetas too settle in the "northern" (udīcya) region (Bhagavata 9.23.15-16; Visnu 4.17.5; Vayu 99.11-12; Brahmanda 3.74.11-12 and Matsya 48.9.). Recently, some writers[14] have ahistorically asserted that the Druhyu are the ancestors of the Iranian, Greek or European peoples, or of the Celtic Druid class.[15] The word Druid (Gallic Celtic druides), however, is derived from Proto-Indo-European vid "to see, to know' [16] It has also been alleged that the Rg Veda and the Puranas describe this tribe as migrating North,.[14][15] However, there is nothing of this in the Rigveda and the Puranas merely mention that the Druhyu are "adjacent (āśrita) to the North". (Pratichya Āryāvarta - Western Āryāvarta)
  • Gandharis[17] (Pratichya Āryāvarta - Western Āryāvarta)
  1. Guṅgu[18]
  2. Iksvaku[19] (Pratichya Āryāvarta - Western Āryāvarta)

Late Janapadas (peoples / tribes) (c. 1100-500 BCE)
Map 7: Late Vedic era map showing the boundaries of Āryāvarta with Janapadas in northern India. Beginning of Iron Age kingdoms in India— Kuru, Panchala, Kosala, Videha.

From roughly 1100 to 500 BCE Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes expanded even further throughout ancient northern India (see the map 6).

Mahajanapadas (c. 500 BCE)
Map 8: Mahajanapadas roughly in 500 BCE.

महाजनपद - Mahajanapada Shodasa Mahajanapadas (Sixteen Mahajanapadas) The Mahajanapadas were sixteen great kingdoms and republics that emerged after the more powerful political entities (initially based on the territories of peoples and tribes) had conquered many others. According to the Anguttara Nikaya, Digha Nikaya, Chulla-Niddesa (Buddhist Canon)

According to the Vyākhyāprajñapti / Bhagavati Sutra (Jain text)

Mentioned by Ancient Greek Authors (Classical Age)
Map 9: Ancient regions of Iranian Plateau and part of South Central Asia showing ancient Iranian peoples and tribes; this map also shows ancient peoples of the Indus Valley in Northwest Ancient India.

Northwest Ancient India - Indus River Basin

Other regions of Ancient India (India Intra Gangem)

Possible Indo-Aryan or other peoples / tribes / clans

Indo-Aryans or Hellenes (Greeks)

Indo-Aryans or Iranians

Indo-Aryans or Ancient Nuristani

Hypothetical Indo-Aryans
  • Mitanni Indo-Aryans (c. 1500-1300 BCE) - hypothetical ancient people of the northern Middle East in the Mitanni kingdom (part of today's far western Iran, northwestern Iraq, northern Syria and southeastern Turkey), that spoke the hypothetical Mitanni Indo-Aryan (a language that was superstrate of Hurrian, a non-Indo-European language) and merged with the Hurrians, many of them as a social elite, in the course of the Indo-Aryan migration (towards West in this case).

See also

References
  1. Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World, Princeton University Press
  2. Mallory, J.P.; Douglas Q. Adams (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5.
  3. Parpola, Asko (2015), The Roots of Hinduism. The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization, Oxford University Press
  4. Mallory, J.P.; Douglas Q. Adams (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5.
  5. Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05887-0
  6. Talageri, S. G. (2005). The Rigveda as a source of Indo-European history. The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, 332.
  7. Mayrhofer, Etym. Dict. 1986, pt. 1, p. 74
  8. Bloomfield, M. (1899). The Myth of Purūravas, Urvaçī, and Âyu. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 20, 180-183.
  9. Zimmer, S. (1986). On a special meaning of jána- in the Rgveda. Indo-Iranian Journal, 29(2), 109-115.
  10. A. A. Macdonell and A. B. Keith (1912). Vedic Index of Names and Subjects.
  11. Weller, H. (1937). WHO WERE THE BHRIGUIDS?. Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 18(3), 296-302.
  12. e.g. RV 1.108.8; 7.18; 8.10.5; 6.46.8
  13. Hopkins, E. W. (1893). Problematic passages in the Rig-Veda. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 15, 252-283.
  14. Talageri 2000
  15. Sanskrit in English
  16. F. Le Roux & C.-J.Guyonvarc'h, Les Druides, Paris 1982: 37
  17. Warraich, M. T. A. GANDHARA: AN APPRAISAL OF ITS MEANINGS AND HISTORY.
  18. Grassmann, H. (Ed.). (1876). Rig-veda (Vol. 1). FA Brockhaus.
  19. PINCOTT, F. ART. XIX.—The First Mandala of the Rig-Veda. By. Journal of the Boy. Asiat. Son, 16(Part II).
  20. Rig-Veda-Sanhitá: A collection of ancient Hindu hymns... Vol. 3. 1857.
  21. Pike, A. (1992). Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig-Veda. Kessinger Pub.
  22. Perry, E. D. (1885). Indra in the Rig-Veda. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 11, 117-208.
  23. Griffith, R. T. (2009). The Rig-Veda. The Rig Veda.
  24. Muller, F. M. (1869). Rig-veda-sanhita (Vol. 1).
  25. Witzel, M. (1999). Aryan and Non-Aryan names in Vedic India. Data for the linguistic situation, c. 1900–500 BC. Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia, Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University (Harvard Oriental Series: Opera Minora III).
  26. Frawley, D. (2001). The Rig Veda and the History of India: Rig Veda Bharata Itihasa. Aditya Prakashan.
  27. Ian Worthington 2014, p. 219.
  28. Peter Green 2013, p. 418.
  29. Ian Worthington 2014, p. 219.
  30. Peter Green 2013, p. 418.
  31. The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi 2000
  32. Jayarava Attwood, Possible Iranian Origins for the Śākyas and Aspects of Buddhism. Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 2012 (3): 47-69
  33. Christopher I. Beckwith, "Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia", 2016, pp 1-21

Further reading
  • Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World. Princeton University Press ISBN 978-0-691-14818-2
  • Frawley David: The Rig Veda and the History of India, 2001. (Aditya Prakashan), ISBN 81-7742-039-9
  • Mallory, J.P.; Douglas Q. Adams (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5
  • Misra, Sudama (1973). Janapada state in ancient India. Vārāṇasī: Bhāratīya Vidyā Prakāśana.
  • Pargiter, F.E. [1922] 1979. Ancient Indian Historical Tradition. New Delhi: Cosmo.
  • Parpola, Asko (2015), The Roots of Hinduism. The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization, Oxford University Press
  • Talageri, Shrikant: The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis 2000, ISBN 81-7742-010-0 [6]; --Aryan Invasion Theory and Indian Nationalism. 1993.
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