In ancient Indian texts, a term referring to non-Aryan peoples or those outside the Indo-Aryan social and cultural system, often used to classify outsiders or lower castes.
From Sanskrit 'an-arya', where 'an-' means 'not' and 'arya' refers to Aryan peoples. The term appears in Vedic literature and was used historically to distinguish between Indo-Aryan groups and other populations.
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