The Image of the Barbarian in Early India
@article{Thapar1971TheIO, title={The Image of the Barbarian in Early India}, author={Romila Thapar}, journal={Comparative Studies in Society and History}, year={1971}, volume={13}, pages={408 - 436} }
The concept of the barbarian in early India arises out of the curious situation of the arrival of Indo-Aryan-speaking nomadic pastoralists in northern India who came into contact with the indigenous population (possibly the remnants of the urban civilization of the Indus) and regarded them as barbarians. The earliest distinction made by the Aryan speakers was a linguistic distinction and, to a smaller extent, a physical distinction. The Indo-Aryan speakers spoke Sanskrit whereas the indigenous…
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