[INDOLOGY] Mleccha

[Lyne Bansat-Boudon]

I have always considered the term mleccha to be of onomatopoeic origin, as is also the Greek 'bar-bar' or the French 'bla-bla'—in other words, imitating babbling, stammering, mumbling, or an inarticulate foreign elocution (in the Dhātupāṭha, the root mlech is given 'in the sense of inarticulate speech', avyaktāyāṃ vāci). A paradigmatic example of this sociological segregation, initially justified on linguistic grounds, is to be found in the episode of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, where the Asuras are defeated due to faulty elocution leading, precisely, to a 'barbarism'. This is why the Paspaśāhnika draws this conclusion intended to promote the study of grammar: mlecchā mā bhūma ity adhyeyaṃ vyākaraṇam.
It should be noted that Sanskrit retains the term barbara in the sense of mleccha, which is to say, the foreigner who speaks a language other than Sanskrit or who mangles it. See Aloka Parasher-Sen, Mlecchas in Early India: A Study in Attitudes towards Outsiders up to AD 600 (1991), and Romila Thapar, 'The Image of the Barbarian in Early India' ( in Comparative Studies in Society and History, 1971).

Best,

Lyne


Lyne Bansat-Boudon

Directeur d'études pour les Religions de l'Inde

Ecole pratique des hautes études, section des sciences religieuses

Membre senior honoraire de l'Institut universitaire de France

________________________________
De : INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> de la part de Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Envoyé : lundi 24 août 2026 15:11
À : Patrick Olivelle <jpo at austin.utexas.edu>
Cc : INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Objet : Re: [INDOLOGY] Mleccha

Dear Patrick,

I remember reading a few articles connecting the word Mleccha ultimately to the word Meluhha appearing as the name of the Indus region/people in the Mesapotamian sources. One may need to search for these articles.

Madhav

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]


On Mon, Aug 24, 2026 at 5:30 AM Patrick Olivelle via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
Dear All:

A colleague in India who is not a member of this list asked me for secondary works, as well as primary sources, for the concept of “mleccha” in ancient India. The work by Parasher-Sen is well known. But are there others? With thanks and best wishes,

Patrick

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