Indo-Aryans: Encyclopedia II - Indo-Aryans - Contemporary Indo-Aryans

Indo-Aryans - Contemporary Indo-Aryans

Contemporary speakers of Indo-Aryan languages are spread over most of the northern Indian Subcontinent. The largest group are the speakers of the Hindi and Urdu dialects of the Republic of India and Pakistan, together with other dialects also grouped as Hindustani, numbering at roughly half a billion native speakers, constituting the largest community of speakers of any Indo-European language. Other Indo-Aryan communities are in Nepal, Bangladesh, the disputed territories of Kashmir, and parts of Afghanistan. Of the 23 national languages of India, 16 are Indo-Aryan dialects (see also languages of India). The only Indo-Aryan branch surviving outside the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas is the Romany language, the language of the gypsies. The word does not have any racial connotation, and the skin color of the modern Indo-Aryan peoples varies from very fair, approaching that of the "white race", to very dark, approaching that of the "negroes". Similarly many modern scholars have also disputed earlier claims about the early Indo-Aryans' racial characteristics, who were earlier thought to be the "tall, blond, white race". Unfortnately for the Hindus, today the word Aryan has become a stereotype for the white supremists.

Indo-Aryans - South Asia

Hindustani is an umbrella term for various dialects descended from the Prakrits of medieval India. The largest of these are the Hindi and Urdu languages. Hindustani speaking peoples inhabit Pakistan, the north-western part of the Republic of India, the Kashmir and Nepal. During the British Raj, this region was identified as "Hindustan", the Farsi for "Land of the Indus" (hence also "India"). Related languages are spoken all over South Asia, from Bengal to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

See also: Demographics of Nepal, Demographics of Pakistan, Demographics of Bangladesh

Indo-Aryans - Roma and Sinti

The Roma people, and the closely related Sinti are traditionally nomadic. They are believed to have left India in about 1000 AD and to have passed through what is now Afghanistan, Persia, Armenia, and Turkey. People recognizable by other Roma as Roma still live as far east as Iran, including some who made the migration to Europe and returned. By the 14th century, the Roma had reached the Balkans, by the 15th century they appeared in Western Europe, and by the 16th century, they had reached Scotland and Sweden. Peoples with some similarity to the Roma still exist in India, in particular in the desert state of Rajasthan. Roma immigration to the United States began in colonial times, and larger scale immigration began in the 1860s with groups from Britain. The largest number of immigrants came over in the early 1900s. A large number also moved to Latin America.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Contemporary Indo-Aryans", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki