AUTHOR: Shekhar Bodhakar
ARYANS/ARIYANS & MOOL-NIVASIS..
These are my conclusions with my personal views based on my findings.. I revise my views based on what else new I discover for myself. Asking to elaborate or clarify a certain point is perfectly acceptable.
1) ARYA /ARIYA /ARYANS /ARIYANS:
I’m against the use of the term “Videshi Aryas” and tend to avoid using the word Arya (Eng. Aryan) altogether, unless it’s used as a Pali word with it’s original meaning.
There never was a clan /tribe / specific group of people called the Aryas (or Ariya).
This Pali word was used to describe someone noble in thought and deed, eg the Ariya Buddha or someone who is on the path to (Ara)hat-hood.
Taking this as the meaning, who wouldn’t want their ancestors to be called Aryas (Eng. Aryan), especially the Brahmins? Those with impure thoughts and actions were called ANARIYA.
(Attached images: BAWAS Vol 16 is Pali Dictionary compiled by Dr. Ambedkar)
Buddhists rightly say their ancestors were Ariya(n)s. Understandably, so do the Dravidians, Tribals, Iranians and so did Hitler. With the entry of Sanskrit, it eventually changed in meaning (like most Sanskritised words usually do) to it’s current understanding as some sort of “Pure Race”, a proper noun.
I would like to see the use of this word completely banned from our vocabularies, except when used in the original Pali sense. It just causes useless, senseless, baseless arguments. It’s just like the word Hindu and means different thing to different people with differing agendas.
There is no census of any country in the world recognising “Aryan” as a race. How many belong to the Aryan “Race” in India?
(You can do a quick search on the net to see how many races there are and their names)
Let’s call a spade a spade. If you mean Vedic Brahmins or Varnadharmis, say Brahmins or Varnadharmis or Vedics.. not Aryans or Hindus. These words just causes unnecessary diversion.
So, yes to Dr Ambedkar’s observation that there could not have been an ‘Aryan’ invasion. How could people noble in thought and deed invade others?
But there certainly was a gradual influx of migrants to the land that we today call India. So I’m not too fussed with the term “Videshi Brahmin” but “Videshi Arya” is definitely out of the question.
NOTE:
A) Prior to @900 CE, hardly anything is known about the ancestors of Varnadharmi Janeudhari Shudras, the modern day Brahmin /Dwij. Archeological evidence and absence of evidence of their language (Sanskrit) suggests they don’t have Indian history, older than just over approx 1.2 thousand years ago.
B) Also, never confuse the spoken Sanskrit language created by Brahmins with Devanagri script which is believed to be evolved from Dhammalipi. Even the script (Devanagri) was taken over by Vedic Brahmins who added a few more symbols so that “Sanskrit words” could be written and pronounced.
2) MOOL-NIVASIS:
Again, just like Arya, the word Moolnivasi is not a name of any group /tribe /clan /race. It’s simply a word meaning indigenous people and there are indigenous people all over the world. EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD is an indigenous person, a Moolnivasi of some place or another on this planet.
There are moolnivasis of regions in America, Canada, Australia, Africa, the Eskimos and more ..
But this is interesting..
Does the statement, “We are the moolnivasis of Asia” make sense?
Maybe not, because Asia is huge. The moolnivasis of China (in Asia) are not the same as Srilankan moolnivasis, who also are in Asia.
Similarly, does the statement, “we are moolnivasis of India,” make sense?
With the same reasoning, as is with the moolnivasis of Asia, NO! The moolnivasis of the sub-continent India doesn’t make any sense.
The moolnivasis of Maharashtra (in Western India) are the indigenous people of Maharashtra. They are not the indigenous people of Assam, Nagaland or Bengal in the East. Similarly the moolnivasis of Kashmir or of Punjab in Northern India are not the moolnivasis of Tamil Nadu in the South and vice-versa.
When the indigenous people of any land unite, they remain and unite within the boundaries of their ancestral land.
“We are the moolnivasis of India” is just as senseless as “We are Moolnivasis of Asia.” Moolnivasi of a particular region/state in Asia /India, which is much smaller, makes more sense.
BTW.
How long, or for how many generations does a person have to live in a particular area for them to be qualified as moolnivasis of that land and who decides that length of time?
Anthropologists tell us once upon a time all our ancestors came from Africa. So we wouldn’t be entirely wrong if we say, “none of us are moolnivasis of this great mass of land called India or any state in India.”
ADDENDUM:
Comment: Books by Brahmins tell me Brahmins are Aryas/Aryans.
Response: Brahmins may have migrated to India but they were never Aryas (according to the original Pali meaning). Brahmins are Brahmins. Brahmins will choose all the grand names for themselves to show themselves to be high and mighty, pure, noble, the Aryas. They play around with original words, alter their pronunciation, change their meanings and CONTROL. They call themselves Aryas and the innocent fall for it. It’s just like they’ve claimed the word Sanatan (from Pali Sanatano) and gave it a new meaning.
Brahmins are Brahmins and they are Vedic Varnadharmis –period. Even according to their own philosophy, today’s Brahmins are not Brahmin but are Janeudhari Shudras because all Varnadharmis are born as Shudra and remain so until their thread wearing ceremony, the Upanayanam.
In the past they called themselves gods and people believed them.
Even Rahul Sankrityayan, a Buddhist scholar and author, was fooled by the word Aryan. He promoted Buddhism and praised Dr Ambedkar but being born in a Brahmin family and by virtue of his upbringing in the Brahmin community, he too must have subconsciously picked up on the language of the Brahmins with their intended meanings. This is evident from his book ‘From Volga to Ganga”.
The ANARYA Brahmins made the untouchables forget that before they became untouchable, their ancestors were the REAL ARIYAS, the truly noble and pure humans, walking on the path of the great Ariya Buddha.
