Mleccha - Wikipedia Mleccha For the dynasty of Kamarupa, see Mleccha dynasty. Mleccha ( from Vedic Sanskrit mleccha, meaning `` non-Vedic '', `` barbarian '' ), also spelled Mlechchha or Maleccha, is a name, which referred to people of foreign extraction in ancient India. Mleccha was used by the ancient Indians originally to indicate the uncouth and incomprehensible speech of foreigners and then extended to their unfamiliar behaviour, and also used as a derogatory term in the sense of `` impure and / or `` inferior '' people. In ancient India, this term was also applied by the ancient Indian kingdoms to foreigners. The word Mleccha was commonly used for ' outer barbarians of whatever race or colour '. The Indians referred to all alien cultures that were less civilized in ancient times as ' Mlechcha ' or barbarians. Among the tribes termed Mlechcha were Sakas, Hunas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Pahlavas, Bahlikas and Rishikas. The Amarakosha described the Kiratas, Khasas and Pulindas as the Mleccha - jatis. Indo - Greeks, Scythians, and Kushanas were also mlecchas. Contents 1 Name 2 Language 3 Territory 4 Cultural behavior 5 Literature describing the Mleccha 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading Name The Vayu, Matsya and Brahmanda Purana s state that the seven Himalayan rivers pass through mleccha countries. The Brahmana s place mlecchas outside the varna system. Southworth suggests that the name comes from miḻi - `` speak, one 's speech '', derived from one of the Dravidian languages and related to the etymology of the word Tamiḻ. Asko Parpola relates it to Meluhha, the name for the Indus Valley known from Sumerian sources. Pali, the older Prakrit used by Theravada Buddhism, uses the term milakkha. It also employs milakkhu, a borrowing from a Dramatic Prakrit. The term Mencha, probably a tadbhava, was also used by the medieval Marathi saint Samarth Ramdas. Language Some explanations of the name `` mleccha '' suggest that the word was derived from the Indo - Aryan perception of the speech of the indigenous peoples. Namely, `` mlech '' was a word that meant `` to speak indistinctly. '' As such, some suggest that the Indo - Aryans used an onomatopoeic sound to imitate the harshness of alien tongue and to indicate incomprehension, thus coming up with `` mleccha ''. Early Indians spoke Sanskrit, which evolved into the various local modern Sanskrit - derived languages. Sanskrit was believed to include all the sounds necessary for communication. Early Indians would therefore dismiss other languages as foreign tongue, `` mleccha bhasha ''. As the Sanskrit word itself suggests, `` mlecchas '' were those whose speech was alien. `` Correct speech '' was a crucial component of being able to take part in the appropriate yajna s ( religious rituals and sacrifices ). Thus, without correct speech, one could not hope to practice correct religion, either. The notion of being Arya suggested a knowledge of Sanskrit in order to effectively perform ritual hymns ; thus suggesting the importance of language. Parasher discusses the importance of knowing the correct speech in order to perform sacrifice and ritual in the religion of the brahmanas. Parasher continued that : `` The best experts of the sacrificial art were undoubtedly the various families of the brahmanas who, placed in a hierarchy within the Indo - Aryan social system, became the upholders of pure and best speech ''. Historians note that early Indo - Aryans believed Sanskrit to be the superior language over all other forms of speech. As such, mleccha or barbarian speech was said to have meant any of the following : `` 1 ) a language which was not necessarily alien, but the speech of the person or persons was improper because it was either hostile or vulgar ; 2 ) a language, and here most probably Sanskrit, that was mispronounced and, thereby, incomprehensible : 3 ) finally, any foreign tongue which was naturally incomprehensible because it was unintelligible to those who did not understand a particular language ''. Territory Historians have stated that the notion of foreigners in ancient India -- those living outside of the Indian subcontinent -- was often accompanied by the idea that one was a barbarian. Still, it seemed that groups who did not come from outside of these areas, as well as foreigners, were designated by the term mleccha, which carried with it a barbarian connotation. Thus another distinction that was made between the mlecchas and non-mlecchas was area of habitation. Though they were considered a marginal group, the area characterize as the mleccha - desa ( the natural border that separated their lands from that of the Aryans ) was never permanent. Instead, it was defined by the changing ideas about the Āryāvarta. Parasher noted that `` the only consistent areas dubbed as mleccha desa were those regions inhabited by ' primitive tribes ' who for long periods of time did not come under the sway of the brahmanical, Buddhist or Jaina influence ''. Though the area of the aryas expanded with time, the notion that was held over all of the land was that of `` purity. '' As Vedic literature refers only to the places and territories that were familiar to the Indo - Aryans, these lands eventually became part of the Āryāvarta. Parasher thus indicates that the Āryāvarta was designated as `` ( t ) he region where the river Sarasvati disappears is the Patiala district in the Punjab. The Pariyatra mountains belong to the Vindhya range, probably the hills of Malwa. The Kalakavana is identified with a tract somewhere near Prayaga. '' Still, other interpretations of the Āryāvarta refer to those areas where the black antelope roams, for these areas are fit for the performance of sacrifice. Early Vedic literature focused on defining the area of habitation of the aryas for this land was considered pure ; yet there is no actual reference to the mleccha country or behavior. Wherever the territory, though, the implications of naming such lands as the Aryavarta is that any lands excluded from that area were considered impure. Further, there is evidence that Indians of the Vedic period actually had contact with people outside of the subcontinent, namely the Persians. The Persians, who ruled over the Indus river valley during this time ( 522 -- 486 BC ) were not designated as mleccha, perhaps because they did not interfere with the brahmanical way of life. Later Vedic literature speaks of the western Anava tribes as mlecchas and occupying northern Punjab, Sindh and eastern Rajasthan. The tribes of the north were mlecchas either because they were located on the frontiers such as Gandhara, Kashmira and Kambojas and therefore both their speech and culture had become contaminated and differed from that of Āryāvarta, or else, as in the case of southern India, they were once Aryas but having forsaken the Vedic rituals were regarded to mleccha status. Cultural behavior The word mleccha emerged as a way for the ancient Indians to classify those who did not subscribe to the `` traditional value system, '' though the characteristics of the so - called system were ambiguous. In sum, though, the idea was that the mlecchas were peoples who did not conform to what was culturally acceptable. Early writings refer to these foreign peoples as `` half - civilized, unconverted people who rise or eat at improper times. '' They stated that monks and nuns should avoid certain areas of habitation because they were unsafe. Namely, that `` the ignorant populace might beat, harass, rob them under the impression that they were spies from hostile villages. '' Further, while some of these non-mlecchas, such as those of the Jaina faith, had established contact with people of the forest tribes, they were automatically designated as mlecchas. Such was the typical attitude of people from the plains who took pride in their norms of settled agricultural and urban lifestyles. Historians note that there were also systems in place to determine the validity -- or `` purity '' -- of certain customs, which would ultimately be judged by the brahmanas. As such there were intricate rules in place to define purity from impurity, laws of behavior, as well as rituals and customs, in an effort to educate the members of the brahmanical system. Namely, these advisors took great pains to ensure that peoples of the brahmanical system did not subscribe to any mleccha customs or rituals. The sanskritizing of names was a common feature among both indigenous and foreign mlecchas who slowly tried to move away from their status of mleccha. Very often, in the case of ruling families, it took one to two generations to make a transition. One of the most direct forms of the expression of the brahmanical ritual purity was the form and type of food which a brahman could eat. He was forbidden to accept cooked food from any nonbrahman. Thus when the Punjab became a mleccha area the staple food was given a lower place in the food - ranking. By the twelfth century AD wheat was described in one lexicon as ' food of the mlecchas ' and rice became the ' pure ' cereal. Onions and garlic were also regarded as the food of the mlecchas and therefore prohibited to the brahman. Mlecchas drank alcohol and ate flesh of the cow, and this in later periods was strictly forbidden to an Indian. The decline of society and dissolution of values is typically associated with the notion of being overrun by barbarians, leading to the collapse of civilization. This situation is described in The Mahabharata : `` And the whole world will be filled with mleccha behaviour and notions and ceremonies, and sacrifices will cease and joy will be nowhere and general rejoicing will disappear. (... ) And, O Yudhishthira, the whole world will be mlecchified. And men will cease to gratify the gods by offerings of Sraddhas. And no one will listen to the words of others and no one will be regarded as a preceptor by another. And, O ruler of men, intellectual darkness will envelop the whole earth. '' Literature describing the mleccha In the Mahabharata, some Mleccha warriors are described as having `` heads completely shaved or half - shaved or covered with matted locks, ( as being ) impure in habits, and of crooked faces and noses They are `` dwellers of hills '' and `` denizens of mountain - caves. Mlecchas were born of the cow ( belonging to Vasishtha ), of fierce eyes, accomplished in smiting looking like messengers of Death, and all conversant with the deceptive powers of the Asuras ''. Swami Parmeshwaranand states the mleccha tribe was born from the tail of the celestial cow Nandini, kept by Vashishta for sacrificial purposes when there was a fight between Vishvamitra and Vasistha. The Mahabharata gives the following information regarding them : Mleccha who sprang up from the tail of the celestial cow Nandini sent the army of Viswamitra flying in terror. Bhagadatta was the king of mlecchas. Pandavas, like Bhima, Nakula and Sahadeva once defeated them. Karna during his world campaign conquered many mleccha countries. The wealth that remained in the Yagasala of Yudhishthira after the distribution as gifts to Brahmins was taken away by the mlecchas. The mlecchas drove angered elephants on the army of the Pandavas. `` This shows mlecchas were against Pandavas ''. The term is not attested in the Vedas, but occurs for the first time in the late Vedic text the Shatapatha Brahmana. The Baudhayana sutras define a mleccha as someone `` who eats meat or indulges in self - contradictory statements or is devoid of righteousness and purity of conduct ''. Mleccha could refer to any being who follow different teachings than Vedic beliefs. In the Indian history some indigenous rulers in Assam were called the Mleccha dynasty. In the Bhagavata Purana, the term is used in the context of meat eaters, outcastes. Medieval Hindu literature, such as that of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, also uses the term to refer to those of larger groups of other religions, especially Muslims. In medieval India, a foreign visitor al - Biruni ( died 1048 ) noted that foreigners were regarded as ' unclean ' or ' Mleccha ' and Hindus were forbidden any social or matrimonial contact with them. See also Barbarian Meluhha Dasa Pala dynasty ( Kamarupa ) References Jump up ^ Basham, A.L. ( 1954 ) The wonder that was India, pages 145 -- 146, Sidgwick and Jackson, London. Jump up ^ http://www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/mleccha Jump up ^ Mudrarakshasha by Kashinath Trimbak Telang introduction p12 ( 1 ) Jump up ^ National geographer, 1977, p 60, Allahabad Geographical Society -- History. Jump up ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=yltjAAAAMAAJ&q=gurjara+were+mleccha&dq=gurjara+were+mleccha&hl=en&ei=G9iSTcjHLs7zcZKgqIkH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBA Jump up ^ Language multiplicity and ancient races in India Jump up ^ Thapar, Romila ( 1978 - 01 - 01 ). Ancient Indian Social History : Some Interpretations. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 9788125008088. Jump up ^ Thapar, Romila ( 1978 - 01 - 01 ). Ancient Indian Social History : Some Interpretations. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 9788125008088. Jump up ^ Sharma 1978, p. 152. Jump up ^ Nath, Vijay ( 2002 ). `` King Vena, Nisāda and Prthu : A Recurrent Purānic Myth Re-Examined ''. Indian Historical Review. 29 : 59. doi : 10.1177 / 037698360202900203. Jump up ^ Southworth, Franklin C. ( 1998 ), `` On the Origin of the word tamiz '', International Journal of Dravidial Linguistics, 27 ( 1 ) : 129 -- 132 Jump up ^ Parpola, Asko ; Parpola, Simo ( 1975 ), `` On the relationship of the Sumerian toponym Meluhha and Sanskrit mleccha '', Studia Orientalia, 46 : 205 -- 238 Jump up ^ Witzel, Michael ( 1999 ), `` Substrate Languages in Old Indo - Aryan ( Ṛgvedic, Middle and Late Vedic ) '' ( PDF ), Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, 5 ( 1 ), p. 25 Jump up ^ `` search ''. Pali - English Dictionary. Pali Text Society. Retrieved 24 July 2015. Jump up ^ Savant 2011, p. 83. Jump up ^ Thapar, Romila ( October 1971 ). `` The Image of the Barbarian in Early India ''. Comparative Studies in Society and History. 13 ( 4 ) : 409 -- 410. doi : 10.1017 / s0010417500006393. Jump up ^ Thapar, Romila ( October 1971 ). `` The Image of the Barbarian in Early India ''. Comparative Studies in Society and History. 13 ( 4 ) : 408 -- 409. doi : 10.1017 / s0010417500006393. Jump up ^ Parasher, Aloka ( 1991 ). Mlecchas in Early India : A Study in Attitudes toward Outsiders up to AD 600. New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt. Ltd. pp. 48 -- 49. Jump up ^ Parasher, Aloka ( 1991 ). Mlecchas in Early India : A Study in Attitudes toward Outsiders up to AD 600. New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt. Ltd. pp. 80 -- 81. Jump up ^ Parasher - Sen, Aloka ( 2004 ). Subordinate and Marginal Groups in Early India. Oxford : Oxford University Press. pp. 276 -- 277. Jump up ^ Parasher, Aloka ( 1991 ). Mlecchas in Early India : A Study in Attitudes toward Outsiders up to AD 600. New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 90. Jump up ^ Parasher, Aloka ( 1991 ). Mlecchas in Early India : A Study in Attitudes toward Outsiders up to AD 600. New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt. Ltd. pp. 94 -- 96. Jump up ^ Parasher - Sen, Aloka ( 2004 ). Subordinate and Marginal Groups in Early India. Oxford : Oxford University Press. p. 279. Jump up ^ Thapar, Romila ( 1978 ). Ancient Indian Social History : Some Interpretations. Orient Blackswan. p. 279. ISBN 978 - 81 - 250 - 0808 - 8. Jump up ^ Parasher, Aloka ( 1991 ). Mlecchas in Early India : A Study in Attitudes toward Outsiders up to AD 600. New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt. Ltd. pp. 76 -- 77. Jump up ^ Parasher, Aloka ( 1991 ). Mlecchas in Early India : A Study in Attitudes toward Outsiders up to AD 600. New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt. Ltd. pp. 101 -- 102. Jump up ^ Parasher, Aloka ( 1991 ). Mlecchas in Early India : A Study in Attitudes toward Outsiders up to AD 600. New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 114. Jump up ^ Thapar, Romila ( 1978 - 01 - 01 ). Ancient Indian Social History : Some Interpretations. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 9788125008088. Jump up ^ Ancient Indian Social History : Some Interpretations By Romila Thapar Jump up ^ Book 3, Section CLXXXIX ( 189 ). Jump up ^. `` Mlecchas in early India : a study in attitudes towards outsiders up to AD 600 Jump up ^ Mahabharata, Drona Parva, Section 92. Jump up ^ Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Puranas : ( A-C ) ; 2. ( D-H ) ; 3. ( I-L ) ; 4. ( M-R ) ; 5... By Swami Parmeshwaranand Jump up ^ Parmeshwaranand, Swami ( 2001 - 01 - 01 ). Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Puranas. Sarup & Sons. ISBN 9788176252263. Jump up ^ Vedabase Archived 16 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine... Jump up ^ Rizvi, S.A.A. ( 1987 ), The wonder that was India, volume II, pages 252 -- 253, Sidgwick and Jackson, London Sources Sharma, Tej Ram ( 1978 ). Personal and Geographical Names in the Gupta Inscriptions. Concept Publishing Company. GGKEY : RYD56P78DL9. Savant, Arvind ( 2011 ). Discovery of God. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4568 - 4518 - 6. Further reading Parasher, A ( 1991 ), Mlecchas in Ancient India, Munshiram Manoharlal, ISBN 978 - 81 - 215 - 0529 - 1 To learn more about the History of India, see http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia Tribes and kingdoms mentioned in the Mahabharata Abhira Andhra Anarta Anga Anupa Assaka Asmaka Avanti Ay Bahlika Bhārata Chedi Chera Chola Chinas Dakshina Kosala Dakshinatya Danda Dasarna Dasharna Dasherka Dwaraka Gandhāra Garga Gomanta Gopa Rashtra Hara Huna Heheya Himalaya Huna Kanchi Kasmira Kalakuta Kalinga Kamboja Karnata Karusha Kashi Kekeya Kerala Khasa Kikata Kirata Kishkindha Konkana Kosala Kuninda Kunti Kuru Lanka Madra Madraka Magadha Maha Chinas Mahisha Malla Malava Matsya Mekhalas Mleccha Mudgala Mushika Nasikya Nepa Niharas Nishada Odra Pallava Panchala Pandya Parada Parama Kamboja Parasika Parvartaka Parvata Paurava Pishacha Pragjyotisha Pratyagratha Prasthala Pundra Pulinda Saka Salva Salveya Salwa Saraswata Saurashtra Sauvira Shakya Sindhu Sinhala Sivi Sonita Sudra Suhma Surparaka Surasena Tangana Trigarta Tulu Tushara Ursa Uttara Kuru Uttara Madra Utkala Vanga Vatadhana Vatsa Videha Vidarbha Yavana Yaudheya Hinduism Aum Chakra Dharma Gurus and saints Karma Mantra Moksha Yoga Worship Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mleccha&oldid=849897627 '' Categories : Pejorative terms for people Ethnic and religious slurs Ethno - cultural designations Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Use dmy dates from December 2015 Use Indian English from December 2015 All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from March 2018 All articles with failed verification Articles with failed verification from November 2016 Articles with unsourced statements from August 2015 All articles with self - published sources Articles with self - published sources from December 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Español Français हिन्दी Bahasa Indonesia ಕನ್ನಡ Nederlands Norsk Português Русский தமிழ் Українська 中文 4 more Edit links This page was last edited on 12 July 2018, at 04 : 40 ( UTC ). 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Question: who could not speak sanskrit language were called mlecchas
Answer: those whose speech was alien