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Meaning of ‘Arya’ in Rig Veda

February 24, 2013 in Linguistics - Sanskrit - Russian | Tags: Arya, etymology, Indo-Aryan, sanskrit

It is well known that in Iranian languages airiia- / airya- had a clear ethnic meaning which is reflected in the modern
name of the country Iran.

However, in Sanskrit, this word had a more general meaning: ‘a good worthy family man who respects the traditions of
his country, who is a good housekeeper and duly performs the rites of yajña’:

This is how ārya is translated in the MW dictionary:

(H1) ā́rya [p= 152,2] [L=26533] m. (fr. aryá , √ṛ) , a respectable or honourable or faithful man , an inhabitant of
āryāvarta
[L=26534] one who is faithful to the religion of his country
[L=26535] N. of the race which immigrated from Central Asia into āryāvarta (opposed to an-ārya , dasyu , dāsa)
[L=26536] in later times N. of the first three castes (opposed to śūdra) RV. AV. VS. MBh. Ya1jn5. Pan5cat. &c
[L=26537] a man highly esteemed , a respectable , honourable man Pan5cat. S3ak. &c
[L=26538] a master , an owner L.
[L=26539] a friend L.
[L=26540] a vaiśya L.
[L=26541] Buddha
[L=26542] (with Buddhists [pāli ayyo , or ariyo]) a man who has thought on the four chief truths of Buddhism (» next
col.) and lives accordingly , a Buddhist priest
[L=26543] a son of manu sāvarṇa Hariv.
(H1B) ā́ rya [L=26544] mf(ā and ā́ rī)n. Aryan , favourable to the Aryan people RV. &c
(H1B) ā́ rya [L=26545] mf(ā and ā́ rī)n. behaving like an Aryan , worthy of one , honourable , respectable , noble R.
Mn. S3ak. &c
(H1B) ā́ rya [L=26546] mf(ā and ā́ rī)n. of a good family
(H1B) ā́ rya [L=26547] mf(ā and ā́ rī)n. excellent
(H1B) ā́ rya [L=26548] mf(ā and ā́ rī)n. wise
(H1B) ā́ rya [L=26549] mf(ā and ā́ rī)n. suitable
(H1B) ā́ ryā [L=26550] f. a name of pārvatī Hariv.
(H1B) ā́ ryā [L=26551] f. a kind of metre of two lines (each line consisting of seven and a half feet ; each foot containing
four instants , except the sixth of the second line , which contains only one , and is therefore a single short syllable ;
hence there are thirty instants in the first line and twenty-seven in the second) ; ([cf. Old Germ. êra ; Mod. Germ. Ehre ;
Irish Erin.])

One conclusion which can be drawn from the above is that the widespread translation of ārya only as ‘noble’ or
‘distinguished’ (e.g. in Encyclopædia Britannica) is clearly a simplification. Also the meaning ‘of the race which
immigrated from Central Asia into āryāvarta (opposed to an-ārya , dasyu , dāsa)’ my originate in the specific
interpretation of Rig Veda by the 19th century European (mostly German) scholars. The key to understanding the
primordial meaning of ārya could be in the cardinal meaning of the root but there is a problem with its identification.

The ār may be considered as a separate root but it may also be a vṛddhi of the verb ṛ having lots of meanings : ‘to go,
move, rise, tend upwards; to advance towards a foe, attack, invade; to put in or upon, place, insert, fix into or upon,
fasten; to deliver up, surrender, offer, reach over, present, give’ etc. Such conflicting meanings is an indication that there
could be several separate verbs merged in this root.

Such a wide range of meanings is a source of conflicting explanations of arya / ārya. Somehow it is often overlooked
that there is an obscure verb ār – *āryati ‘to praise’ which may be connected to ṛ. This verb has been poorly attested
only tree times in RV as 3 P, pl. āryanti (RV 8.016.06 & RV 10.048.03 (twice)) but there is also a prominent noun
arka ‘praise, hymn, song; one who praises, a singer’ which may be related here. The final -ka is a
diminutive/comparative suffix (much used in forming adjectives; it may also be added to nouns to express diminution,
deterioration, or similarity e.g. putraka, a little son; aśvaka, a bad horse or like a horse) having clear parallels in
Slavonic ( e.g. Rus. znat‘ ‘to know’ > znajka ‘one who knows’ etc.). Interestingly, in Rus. dialects there is a verb
arkat’ ‘to cry, speak loudly’. From this perspective ārya could have originally meant simply ‘the praised one = good
respectable person’ being synonymous to śravya ‘worth hearing, praiseworthy’ (cp. also śravaḥ ‘glory, fame, loud
praise’ and its Rus cognate slava ‘fame, glory’).

In Rig Veda ārya is met about 30 times. I looked at two RV verses which are often cited in the literature on this
topic and tried to translate them as close as possible to the text.

(RV text from Rigveda )

1.059.02

mūrdhā divo nābhir agniḥ

pṛthivyā athābhavad aratī
rodasyoḥ |
taṃ tvā devāso janayanta
devaṃ vaiśvānara jyotir id
āryāya||

Agni (is) the head of the Sky, the navel of the Earth. He became the messenger of the two worlds |
Such you were born by Gods. О, Vaishvanara! Indeed you are the (celestial) light for the Arya ||

7.005.06

tve asuryaṃ vasavo nyṛṇvan

kratuṃ hi te mitramaho juṣanta
|
tvaṃ dasyūṃr okaso agna āja
uru jyotir janayann āryāya||

Into you the Vasus have put the

power of an Asura for they appreciate the strength of your spirit, O, (you) great as Mithra |
You chased away the Dasyu from (his) abode creating the broad light for the Arya ||

Some general observations. Both verses are addressed to Agni and in both of them is mentioned the celestial light
jyotiḥ (cp. also Rus. žёlt ‘yellow’ which could be transcribed using Skr. translit. as jyolt ).

This word, which could be the key to understanding the verses, has the following meanings (in Vedic)
1) light (of the sun , dawn , fire , lightning , &c. ; also pl.), brightness (of the sky)
2) light appearing in the 3 worlds , viz. on earth , in the intermediate region , and in the sky or heaven
3) eye-light
4) the light of heaven , celestial world
5) light as the type of freedom or bliss or victory

In post-Vedic times it acquired an even more philosophical meaning: ‘human intelligence’ and ‘highest light or truth’.

The two verses, although they appear in different books of Rig Veda, are coined by the same template and could be
variations of the same invocation:
Agni is addressed with all fitting praises and epithets and thanked for giving the ‘light’:

in 1.059.02 : vaiśvānara [relating or belonging to all men, omnipresent, known or worshipped, everywhere, universal,
general, common] jyotir [light] id [indeed] āryāya [for the Arya (Gen. case)].

in 7.005.06: uru [wide, broad, spacious, extended, great, large, much, excessive, excellent] jyotir [light see above.]
janayann [creating] āryāya [for the Arya (Gen. case)].

As it is usually the case with ancient texts, these verses are subject to interpretations depending on what sense you put
into jyotiḥ and ārya . Note that in the second verse there are mentioned dasyu [enemy of the gods, impious man, any
outcast or Hindu who has become so by neglect of the essential rites]. However, it is important that both Dasyu and
Arya are mentioned in singular. Therefore, one can interpret them as ethnonyms but, in my view, keeping in mind that
the cardinal meaning of ārya in Vedic was ‘a good, faithful person’, this could be also interpreted as ‘an impious man’
vs. ‘a faithful man’. In modern terms it may be defined as ‘fidel’ vs. ‘infidel’. I am particularly inclined to understand it in
this way because Agni is not thanked for giving the land or cities of ‘Dasyu’ but for the ‘light’ in the broadest
philosophical sense and agree with Kuiper (Aryans in the Rigveda. Amsterdam; Atlanta: Rodopi, 1991, pp. 90–93) that
the creators of Rig-Veda considered as `aryas’ anybody who followed the Vedic traditions and performed the sacred
yajña rites. I would also like to quote Hans Hock

“Close examination of the textual evidence regarding the “white” vs. “black” distinction turns out strongly to
suggest that it refers, not to a distinction in skin, but to an “ideological” one between “bad” and “good”

(Hock, H. H., Bauer, B. & Pinault, G.-J. (Eds.), Did Indo-European linguistics prepare the ground for
Nazism? Lessons from the past for the present and future. Language in time and space: A festschrift for
Werner Winter on the occasion of his 80th birthday, de Gruyter, 2003, 167-187).

Reccomended further reading on this subject: No Racism in Rig Veda by by Kant Singh

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4 comments
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April 20, 2014 at 19:49 Reblogged this on Aditya KrishnaKumar.

Adityakrishna
Reply

October 20, 2014 at 01:46 Agree ~ Like the article the term arya
alex dew seems to be very misunderstood being
pigeon-holed into ethic/tribal divisions with a
touch of masters of the vorld connotations.

Although wouldn’t you think the closeness between the Rgveda and Avesta’s may
imply that the word really mean’t the same thing even in ancient Iran?
Declaring oneself Aryan could they be basically saying (in English) yeah I’m
trustworthy/honorable person and for the land of Airyanem Vaejah that land it’s
excellent/good(productive)?

Also the Russian word for peasant крестьянин I would like to believe it came
from the Byzantine Christians always coming and asking for money (just kidding),
but really can you tell me where it comes from?

Reply

November 1, 2014 at 11:25 Sorry for the delay in answering. I have

borissoff been travelling recently. As I wrote in my
post, the meaning of arya as “of noble origin >
ruling race” is clearly a product of the inflamed imagination of western nationalistic
romanticists. Interestingly, there are at least three words for “praised, worthy of
praise” in Skt: ārya, śravya and vanda. Does it ring the bell?
I cannot give a credible alternative etymology of krest’janin. This word is in my
plan. All I can say at this stage is that there are Skt. kṛṣṭi meaning `ploughing,
cultivating the soil’ and kṛṣaka `ploughman’.

Reply

January 5, 2015 at 06:22 It is plausible that the name Aaron has its
vasudha roots in the Vedic term “ARYA”.

Reply

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