The Dāsa are a tribe identified as the enemies of the
Aryan tribes in the
Rigveda. The word Dāsa, later acquired derogatory connotations, meaning 'servant', implying that they were subordinated by the Aryans. The identity of the Dasa has caused much debate, closely tied to arguments over
Indo-Aryan migration, the claim that the Indo-Aryan authors of the
Rigveda entered India from outside, displacing its earlier inhabitants. During the nineteenth century Western scholars identified the Dasa with dark-skinned
Dravidian-speaking peoples, but more recent scholars, notably
Asko Parpola, have claimed that they were fellow
Indo-Iranians of the
BMAC, who initially rejected Aryan religious practices but were later merged with them.
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Dasa (Sanskrit) The numerical adjective ten.