Sanskrit - the only preserved and the most ancient of all languages, generally proclaimed as language of the gods. According to Indian tradition, Sanskrit has neither beginning nor an end. It is eternal. It is everlasting. Historically, the Sanskrit was adopted, developed and refined by the invading Aryans in the Indus Valley, during 1500 BC. Sanskrit survived as the language of religion, literature and Hindu philosophy for over 3,357 years, dating from about 1500 BC to a close AD 1857. The term Aryans, Indo-Europeans and Indo-European Languages ? frequently used by historians is misleading; it is not correct that the Aryans or the Indo-Europeans were part of a great civilized nation. Aryan is a term that refers to migrants who settled in the Indus Valley; they were a mixed people; wanderers, criminals, mercenaries from the areas now known as Afghanistan, Iran, the tribal areas of Pakistan and Central Asia down to the Caspian Sea. In modern terms they can be identified as Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara, Kamboja, Yusufzai, Afridi, Khilji and the other Turkic tribes. The present-day Talibans and most of the people affiliated with Al-Qaeda are also the descendants of the Aryans.