The idea of India in ancient Indian texts: āryāvarta, jambudvīpa, bhāratavarṣa and the relation with non-āryas

Abstract

This article reflects on the idea of India and its inhabitants in ancient South Asian sources, starting from the concept of ārya opposed to dāsa, dasyu, śūdra and mleccha in its different senses (social, ethnic/linguistic and moral/spiritual) in Brahmanical, Jain and Buddhist contexts. We analyze then the notion of āryāvarta or abode of the āryas in Vedic Dharmasūtras and Manusmṛti (proposing parallels with archaeological cultures), and the analogous concept of āryāyatana and Central Region in Buddhist texts. In the second paragraph we consider a later notion comparable to that of modern India, that of Jambudvīpa and especially Bhāratavarṣa, with its unique characteristics in ancient Indian cosmology when compared with other regions of the world. In the third paragraph we observe how the land of the āryas was seen as a model of universal conduct, and also as the place of origin of barbarian peoples regarded as degraded Kṣatriyas, and finally we will consider how the ancient ethnic and geographical concepts can help us about the question of the origins of Indo-Aryans.