Indo-Aryan words in Hurrian

[Vanbakkam Vijayaraghavan]

On Sat, 11 Nov 2000 16:37:10 GMT, Venkatraman Iyer
<venkatraman_iyer at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>>There has been too much speculation based on theories of Aryan
superiority;
>Prof. Peter Schalk, Review of Tambiah, S. J.: Buddhism betrayed?
>Religion, Politics, and Violence in Sri Lanka, UChicago press, 1992
>Temenos, vol. 29, 1993, p. 183-9.
>

>the Aryan-Semitic debate in the late 19th century in Europe, although
>he himself regarded himself as speaking on behalf of pristine
>Buddhism. He applied the  Aryan-Semitic European debate on the
>relationship between the Sinhalese and the minorities of Tamils and
>Muslims.
>
>The Anagarika is the man who gave a racist base to Buddhism.


This modern equation of sinhalese = aryans and Tamils = Non-aryans seems to
have no basis in Sinhalese chronicles. If anything , the opposite seems to
be the case.Some years back, I read this post by a Sinhalese gentleman in a
newsgroup:

From: "Sereno A. Barr-Kumarakulasinghe" <sbarrkum at ic.sunysb.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka,soc.culture.tamil
Subject: Aryan & Sinhala Groupings


A current myth about Sinhalese and Tamils is that the origins/identity of
each group is Indo-Aryan and Dravidian respectively.  This myth is often
repeated in modern texts and credit given to the ancient chronicles of
Sri Lanka the especially the Mahavamsa and Culavamsa.  The truth is the
ancient chronicles record no such identity and infers to the contrary.
The Mahavamsa has only one reference to the word Ariya (Mahavamsa;
Chapter 5 verse 112-113). The reference to the Ariyas is in context of
the groups thera Upali (A incarnation of Lord Buddha) taught in
Valikarama.  On the other hand the reference in the Culavamsa
differeniates Ariya from the Sinhala (Culavamsa, XC 16).  In this passage
dated in the 13th century these Ariya soldiers who were mercenaries kill
Senapati Mitta in the presence of the Sinhala soldiers.  The Aryan
mercenaries are considered to be of Pandyan origin by Geiger.  It should
be noted that the Pandyan dynasty with its capital in Madurai was
considered be of Ariya descent.  The other references to the word Arya in
the Culavamsa are in context of the AryaChakravatis of the Jaffna
kingdom.  The Kings of Sri Lanka made no such claim to been Aryans.

As can be clearly seen the ancient chronicles indicate that the dynastys
associated with Tamils are of Arya descent and differentiates between
Aryans and the Sinhalese.   In addition the mercenaries from Pandaya in
the heart of Tamil Nadu are referred to as Aryans.
I would be extremely suprised to see any pre-15th Century chronicles
equating Sinhala=Aryan and Tamil=Dravidian.  Does the Tamil Yalpana
Vaipana Malai by Mylvaganam make the claim Tamil=Dravida.??.

barr-kum
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Any comments by anyone well versed in Sinhalese lore?