Aryan

Aryan is a term in Nazi ideology that denotes people of the Caucasian race who were not of the Jewish descent. It is also a dated term for Indo-Iranian or Proto-Indo-European. It also denotes someone or something of or relating to a people speaking an Indo-European language, who, it is believed by several European scholar, invaded northern India in 2nd millennium BC and displaced the Dravidian and other aboriginal peoples.

In fact, there was never a people of Aryan race. The idea that there was an "Aryan" race was proposed by certain writers of the 19th century Europe. Max Muller had only suggested a category of parent Indo-European language which he called "Aryan" with a warning that the word should not be used to denote an Aryan race. Nevertheless, the idea that there was an "Aryan" race corresponding to the parent language was popularized which was taken up by Hitler and other proponents of racist ideology. However, it has generally been rejected by scholars. In Sanskrit, 'arya' means 'noble', and it was in this sense of the term Aryan was primarily used to denote the language. In Sanskrit literature one can find numerous examples of use of the term for a noble or civilized person.