Introduction

The plurality of the Arya, however, seems well recognized in certain informed writings. However, differentiation within the Arya ranks may have surfaced as new peoples joined in and replenished the cult in their own way like in the case of all major religions of the world. Although conflicts between the Arya and their enemies centred around the politics of space and influence, the dividing line was always a religious one. Judging by the geographical information furnished in the Rgveda, the homeland of the Aryas of the Rgveda stretched from Haryana and Rajasthan in the east to Afghanistan on the west and from the vale of Kashmir in the north to Kutch, Sindh and Baluchistan in the south. Except for the vale of Kashmir and certain parts of Afghanistan, this area was also the home of the Greater Indus Valley civilization.