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Indo-Aryan peoples
	1978 map showing geographical distribution of the major Indo-Aryan languages. (Urdu is included under Hindi. Romani, Domari, and Lomavren are outside the scope of the map.) Dotted/striped areas indicate where multilingualism is common. Central Dardic Eastern Northern Northwestern Southern Western
Total population
	~1.3 billion
Regions with significant populations
India	over 933 million
Pakistan	over 166 million
Bangladesh	over 157 million
Nepal	over 26 million
Sri Lanka	over 14 million
Myanmar	over 1 million
Maldives	over 300,000
Bhutan	over 240,000
Languages
	Indo-Aryan languages
Religion
	Indian religions (Mostly Hindu; with Buddhist, Sikh and Jain minorities) and Islam, Christians and some non-religious atheist/agnostic

The Indo-Aryan peoples or the Indic peoples are a diverse collection of ethnolinguistic groups speaking Indo-Aryan languages, a subgroup of the Indo-European language family. There are over one billion native speakers of Indo-Aryan languages,^{[not verified in body]} most of them native to the Indian subcontinent and presently found all across South Asia, where they form the majority.^{[note 1]}

History

Some of the theories proposed in the 20th century for the dispersal of Indo-Aryan languages are described by linguist Colin Masica in the chapter, "The Historical Context and Development of Indo-Aryan" in his book, The Indo-Aryan Languages.^[5]

A recent Indo-Aryan migration theory^{[note 2]}--proposed by anthropologist David W. Anthony (in The Horse, The Wheel and Language) and by archaeologists Elena Efimovna Kuzmina and J. P. Mallory--claims that the introduction of the Indo-Aryan languages in the Indian subcontinent was a result of a migration of people from the Sintashta culture^[7]^[8] through the Bactria-Margiana Culture and into the northern Indian subcontinent (modern day India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan). These migrations started approximately 1,800 BCE, after the invention of the war chariot, and also brought Indo-Aryan languages into the Levant and possibly Inner Asia. It was part of the diffusion of Indo-European languages from the Proto-Indo-European homeland at the Pontic steppe, which started in the 5th to 4th millennia BCE, and the Indo-European migrations out of the Eurasian steppes, which started approximately 2,000 BCE.^[]

The theory posits that these Indo-Aryan speaking people may have been a genetically diverse group of people who were united by shared cultural norms and language, referred to as ary?, "noble." Diffusion of this culture and language took place by patron-client systems, which allowed for the absorption and acculturalisation of other groups into this culture, and explains the strong influence on other cultures with which it interacted. The Proto-Indo-Iranians, from which the Indo-Aryans developed, are identified with the Sintashta culture (2100-1800 BCE),^[9] and the Andronovo culture,^[10] which flourished ca. 1800-1400 BCE in the steppes around the Aral sea, present-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The proto-Indo-Iranians were influenced by the Bactria-Margiana Culture, south of the Andronovo culture, from which they borrowed their distinctive religious beliefs and practices. The Indo-Aryans split off around 1800-1600 BCE from the Iranians,^[11] whereafter the Indo-Aryans migrated into the Levant and north-western India.^[12]

The alternate Indigenous Aryans theory places the Indo-Aryans languages as being entirely indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and later they spread outside the subcontinent; this theory is rejected by mainstream scholarship.^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17]

List of Indo-Aryan peoples

Historical

Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian migrations (after EIEC). The Andronovo, BMAC and Yaz cultures have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The GGC, Cemetery H, Copper Hoard and PGW cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryan migrations.

Contemporary

Notes

^ According to Reich et. al (2009), while the Indo-Aryan linguistic group occupies mainly northern parts of India, genetically, all South Asians across the Indian subcontinent are a mix of two genetically divergent ancient populations namely Ancestral North Indian (ANI) population and Ancestral South Indian (ASI) population. 'Ancestral North Indians' (ANI) is genetically close to Middle Easterners, Central Asians, and Europeans, whereas the other, the 'Ancestral South Indians' (ASI) is not close to any large modern group outside the Indian subcontinent. The mixing occurred between substructured populations instead of homogeneous populations, and at multiple times and at multiple geographic locations within a span of over thousands of years to produce the current South Asian population. Indo-Aryan speakers and traditionally upper castes have higher ANI ancestry than Dravidian speakers and traditionally middle, lower castes.
^ The term "invasion" is only being used by opponents of the Indo-Aryan Migration theory.^[6] The term "invasion" does not reflect the contemporary scholarly understanding of the Indo-Aryan migrations,^[6] and is merely being used in a polemical and distractive way.

References

^ "India". The World Factbook.
^ "Pakistan". The World Factbook.
^ "Bangladesh". The World Factbook.
^ "Population of Lhotshampas in Bhutan". UNHCR. 2004. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 2016.
^ Masica, Colin P. (9 September 1993). "The Historical Context and Development of Indo-Aryan". The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge University Press. pp. 32-60. ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2.
^ ^a ^b Witzel 2005, p. 348.
^ Anthony 2007, pp. 408-411.
^ Kuz'mina 2007, p. 222.
^ Anthony 2007, p. 390 (fig. 15.9), 405-411.
^ Anthony 2009, p. 49.
^ Anthony 2007, p. 408.
^ George Erdosy(1995) "The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity.", p.279
^ Witzel 2001, p. 95.
^ Jamison 2006.
^ Guha 2007, p. 341.
^ Fosse 2005, p. 438.
^ Olson 2016, p. 136.

Sources

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.
Beckwith, Christopher I. (16 March 2009). Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. ISBN 1400829941. Retrieved 2014.
Bryant, Edwin (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513777-9.
Fosse, Lars Martin (2005), "ARYAN PAST AND POST-COLONIAL PRESENT. The polemics and politics of indigenous Aryanism", in Bryant, Edwin; Patton, Laurie L. (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Controversy. Evidence and inference in Indian history, Routledge
Guha, Sudeshna (2007), "Review. Reviewed Work: The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History by Edwin F. Bryant, Laurie Patton", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, 17 (3): 340-343
Jamison, Stephanie W. (2006). "The Indo-Aryan controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian history (Book review)" (PDF). Journal of Indo-European Studies. 34: 255-261.
Kuz'mina, Elena Efimovna (2007), J. P. Mallory (ed.), The Origin of the Indo-Iranians, Brill, ISBN 978-9004160545
Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (1999). The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge University Press. pp. 87-88. ISBN 0-5214-7030-7. Retrieved 2013.
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.
Trubachov, Oleg N., 1999: Indoarica, Nauka, Moscow.
Olson, Carl (2016). Religious Ways of Experiencing Life: A Global and Narrative Approach. Routledge.
Witzel, Michael (2001), "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts" (PDF), Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, 7 (3): 1-115
Witzel, Michael (2005), "Indocentrism", in Bryant, Edwin; Patton, Laurie L. (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Controversy. Evidence and inference in Indian history, Routledge

External links

[5] According to Reich et. al (2009), while the Indo-Aryan linguistic group occupies mainly northern parts of India, genetically, all South Asians across the Indian subcontinent are a mix of two genetically divergent ancient populations namely Ancestral North Indian (ANI) population and Ancestral South Indian (ASI) population. 'Ancestral North Indians' (ANI) is genetically close to Middle Easterners, Central Asians, and Europeans, whereas the other, the 'Ancestral South Indians' (ASI) is not close to any large modern group outside the Indian subcontinent. The mixing occurred between substructured populations instead of homogeneous populations, and at multiple times and at multiple geographic locations within a span of over thousands of years to produce the current South Asian population. Indo-Aryan speakers and traditionally upper castes have higher ANI ancestry than Dravidian speakers and traditionally middle, lower castes.

[8] The term "invasion" is only being used by opponents of the Indo-Aryan Migration theory.^[6] The term "invasion" does not reflect the contemporary scholarly understanding of the Indo-Aryan migrations,^[6] and is merely being used in a polemical and distractive way.

[1] "India". The World Factbook.

[2] "Pakistan". The World Factbook.

[3] "Bangladesh". The World Factbook.

[UNHCR1-4] "Population of Lhotshampas in Bhutan". UNHCR. 2004. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 2016.

[6] Masica, Colin P. (9 September 1993). "The Historical Context and Development of Indo-Aryan". The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge University Press. pp. 32-60. ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2.

[FOOTNOTEWitzel2005348-7] Witzel 2005, p. 348.

[Anthony_2007_pp._408-411-9] Anthony 2007, pp. 408-411.

[Kuz'mina_2007_p._222-10] Kuz'mina 2007, p. 222.

[FOOTNOTEAnthony2007390_(fig._15.9),_405-411-11] Anthony 2007, p. 390 (fig. 15.9), 405-411.

[FOOTNOTEAnthony200949-12] Anthony 2009, p. 49.

[FOOTNOTEAnthony2007408-13] Anthony 2007, p. 408.

[14] George Erdosy(1995) "The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity.", p.279

[FOOTNOTEWitzel200195-15] Witzel 2001, p. 95.

[FOOTNOTEJamison2006-16] Jamison 2006.

[FOOTNOTEGuha2007341-17] Guha 2007, p. 341.

[FOOTNOTEFosse2005438-18] Fosse 2005, p. 438.

[FOOTNOTEOlson2016136-19] Olson 2016, p. 136.

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