1 a EE OO
2 24 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
3 “honourable,” or the “ruling.” The word is derived from a root signifying
4 ploughing, from which it is to be inferred that, being given to agricultural -
5 pursuits, they adopted the word as their tribal designation. In the Rig Veda
6 the word Arya always indicates Brahminical tribes, in contradistinction to the
7 Anarya, or “the ignoble” race, who surrounded the Aryas, or “the noble.
8 The remembrance f The recollections of frost and snow peculiar to their mountainous country
9 their mountainoss seem to have been so pleasing to them that, generations after their migra-
10 Bio sty ADs: tion into this country, they would ask their gods no boon short of one
11 hundred winters. They bore the closest relation to the inhabitants of the
12 tableland of Irdn, who also called themselves Arya, Airya or Ariyas.
13 Darius, in one of his cuneiform inscriptions, styles himself “an Aryan and
14 of Aryan descent.” The Greeks called them Ariori.
15 The affinity of tho The language of the Aryas is very closely connected with that of the
16 ee Twa A yesta, the sacred book of the fire-worshippers of Iran, and it bears a close
17 analogy to the language of the monuments of Darius and Xerxes, in the
18 western half of that country. The religious notions of the Irdnians and
19 Indians exhibit striking marks of similarity. According to the author* of
20 the Dubistan, so often quoted by Sir William Jones in his excellent work,
21 2 powerful monarchy had been established in Persia before the accession of
22 Cayumus. It was called the Mahabal, or Meha Beli, dynasty, and it raised
23 the Persian Empire to the zenith of human glory. The Persians, who
24 profess the faith of Hoshang, distinguished from that of Zeratusht, maintain
25 that the first monarch of Irdn and of the whole earth was Mahabdd (a
26 Sanskrit word), and that he divided the people into four orders, the religious
27 the military, the commercial and the servile, the same as were, in long after
28 times, recognised in India. From these facts, Sir William expresses his firm
29 Rrhinintsm tho conviction that the religion of the Brahmins (the ancient Aryas) prevailed
30 pat rasien of in’ Persia before the accession of Cayumus, whom the Parsfs, from respect
31 to his memory, consider as the first of men, although they believe in a uni-
32 versal deluge before his reign. Hundreds of Parsi nouns are pure Sanskrit,
33 and the language of the Zendis is a dialect of the latter language. The
34 characters of the inscriptions on the ancient ruins of the palace, now called
35 the throne of Jamshed, at Istakhar, or Persepolis, the capital of ancient
36 Persia, bear a close analogy to the inscriptions of Indian sculpture at Ele-
37 phanta in Bombay, and the staff of Firozshah in Delhi. They are all Deva
38 Niagri, or characters very much resembling it, and establish, beyond doubt,
39 the common origin of the Aryas of India and those of Persia.
40 aotapiegst the eee adn erga fat imited to tho regions ofthe Tadus and
41 i ciny Aryan 7AG One am Pats i lent scripture, mention is frequently made of the
42 ee ete ae ae : ve This fact establishes, beyond doubt, that the
43 eSuniry-6f : he Tn 3 ing ve ie heights of the Caucasus, first occupied the
44 Eee eran ror oe eae ue cae a ve tributary streams. Their great rivers were,
45 Pr UO Ame Ge Bliny Sade Ai tATY. streams. Their prayer was: “ May Sindhu
46 eRe Nee oa : S er; from syand, to flow), the renowned bestower
47 pa ie aaeicne i ertilize our broad fields with water! The Greeks
48 WWedstern Eur 4 Tr great river from the Aryans and passed it on to
49 (ae Heme Marien: mention in the Avesta of the land Hafta Hindw
50 : y refers to the regions of the Panjab. In the inscrip-
51 tions of Darius, the population on the 1 dus i 2
52 so ace render these names as Indos and Indoi. pe oN Re eee
53 ; : The period when the Ar
54 Some suppose it to h
55 ore Muhammad Muhsin
56 vate Fani, a natiy 4 : °
57 ‘atic Persian recorde, »anative of Kishmir, who compiled his valuable work from old
58 yans first penetrated into India is uncertain.
59 ave been about the time of the exodus under Moses.
60 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com