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Self-appellation of a group of nomadic peoples speaking languages of the Indo-European family of languages, who fanned out from their original homelands in the 3rd millennia BC. In due course, they entered Iran, northern India and Europe. Particularly widespread is the hypothesis of their origin from the steppes in the south of Russia (from the Dniester to the River Urals). Archaeologists associate Aryas with the Andronovo culture (Volga Region, Trans-Urals) and to some extent with the Srub (timber framework) culture (south-east Europe and elsewhere).

Arya as ethnonym underlies such place-names as Eyre (Ireland), Ariana (Afghanistan), and Aryavarta (northern India). Iranians and the so-called Indo-Aryans went their separate ways not later than the beginning of the 2nd millennia BC. The 14th-13th century BC saw the Arya tribes penetrating into South Asia. On the territory of South Asia, the term Arya is not used in the ethnic sense. It came to designate 'noble' or 'free' applied, to people of noble descent, in distinction to those of low social status or slaves. It is believed that the Arya people mixed with the local Australoids, Dravida and Munda peoples, who assimilated their language and came to regard the Aryas' direct descendants as people of higher social status. These notions gave rise to the division of the Varnas into 'twice-born' and 'once-born', and also into Aryas and Malecchas.

The Arya made an important contribution to the establishment and development of subcontinental civilization. They are credited with the writing of the Rigveda, the first book of the Indo-European cultures, and the entire Vedic literature. Arya mythology formed the basis of the Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana; the Aryas' religion, known as Vedism, gave birth to the later version of Hinduism. Sanskrit was developed on the basis of Aryan languages (the literary language of antiquity).
In the Rigveda, in addition to its original meaning, 'Arya' also designates a social status as opposed to that of the aliens, enemies, and slaves (dasyu). In the late Vedic literature of the Arya, three Varnas of the 'twiceborn' (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas) have the right to perform Upanayana and read the Vedas, in distinction to Shudras who could not be initiated into Vedic cults. Sometimes the term' Arya' is only applied to Vaishyas. In the Arthashastra and certain other Sanskrit texts, the term 'Arya' is applied to all the Varna Indians, as opposed to Maleccha, i.e., untouchables and slaves. In the Buddhist texts, 'Arya' indicates nobility of spirit and knowledge of Buddha's teaching. In Sanskrit and Pali, the word 'Arya' often means personal freedom, sometimes master, slave-owner. It is uzsed as a respectful form of address, e.g. a wife addressing her husband.