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'''Aryan''' is an English word derived from the [[Sanskrit]] ''ārya'' meaning "noble" or "distinguished" | '''Aryan''' is an English word derived from the [[Sanskrit]] ''ārya'' (meaning "noble" or "distinguished") used by the ancient Indo-Iranian tribes to refer to themselves. In Theosophical literature this term is used to designate the fifth [[Root-Race]]. | ||
[[H. P. Blavatsky]] | == General definition == | ||
The Sanskrit word ''ārya'' is the self-designation used by the Vedic Indic people who migrated into the Indian subcontinent around 1500 BCE. This term has a cognate in the Iranian word ''arya'', which is also a self-designation, connected to the source of the country-name "Iran," from a phrase meaning "Kingdom of the Aryans."<ref>''Ancient History Encyclopedia.'' Published on 06 April 2018 by Cristian Violatti at https://www.ancient.eu/Aryan</ref> | |||
After the misuse of this word in Nazism, present-day academia prefers the terms "Indo-Iranian" and "Indo-European" to "Aryan." The latter is now mostly limited to its appearance in the term "Indo-Aryan," to represent speakers of North, West and Central Indian languages. | |||
== Theosophical usage == | |||
During the 19th century it was proposed that the term Aryan was not only the Indo-Iranian tribal self-designation, but also the self-designation used by the ancestors of all Indo-Europeans (a theory no longer accepted.) [[H. P. Blavatsky]] protested about this interpretation at the time: | |||
<blockquote>Ârya (Sk.) Lit., “the holy”; originally the title of Rishis, those who had mastered the “Âryasatyâni” (q.v.) and entered the Âryanimârga path to Nirvâna or Moksha, the great “four-fold” path. But now the name has become the epithet of a race, and our Orientalists, depriving the Hindu Brahmans of their birth-right, have made Aryans of all Europeans.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 32.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>Ârya (Sk.) Lit., “the holy”; originally the title of Rishis, those who had mastered the “Âryasatyâni” (q.v.) and entered the Âryanimârga path to Nirvâna or Moksha, the great “four-fold” path. But now the name has become the epithet of a race, and our Orientalists, depriving the Hindu Brahmans of their birth-right, have made Aryans of all Europeans.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 32.</ref></blockquote> | ||
However, Blavatsky followed the usage of academics of her time and reluctantly denominated the fifth [[Root-Race]] as "Aryan." | |||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
<references/> | <references/> | ||
Revision as of 20:03, 9 January 2020
Aryan is an English word derived from the Sanskrit ārya (meaning "noble" or "distinguished") used by the ancient Indo-Iranian tribes to refer to themselves. In Theosophical literature this term is used to designate the fifth Root-Race.
General definition
The Sanskrit word ārya is the self-designation used by the Vedic Indic people who migrated into the Indian subcontinent around 1500 BCE. This term has a cognate in the Iranian word arya, which is also a self-designation, connected to the source of the country-name "Iran," from a phrase meaning "Kingdom of the Aryans."[1]
After the misuse of this word in Nazism, present-day academia prefers the terms "Indo-Iranian" and "Indo-European" to "Aryan." The latter is now mostly limited to its appearance in the term "Indo-Aryan," to represent speakers of North, West and Central Indian languages.
Theosophical usage
During the 19th century it was proposed that the term Aryan was not only the Indo-Iranian tribal self-designation, but also the self-designation used by the ancestors of all Indo-Europeans (a theory no longer accepted.) H. P. Blavatsky protested about this interpretation at the time:
Ârya (Sk.) Lit., “the holy”; originally the title of Rishis, those who had mastered the “Âryasatyâni” (q.v.) and entered the Âryanimârga path to Nirvâna or Moksha, the great “four-fold” path. But now the name has become the epithet of a race, and our Orientalists, depriving the Hindu Brahmans of their birth-right, have made Aryans of all Europeans.[2]
However, Blavatsky followed the usage of academics of her time and reluctantly denominated the fifth Root-Race as "Aryan."
Notes
- ↑ Ancient History Encyclopedia. Published on 06 April 2018 by Cristian Violatti at https://www.ancient.eu/Aryan
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 32.