2-THE VEDIC PERIOD Course content Syllabus and its Focus: SOURCES: Vedas and Epics (brief mention); Iron Artifacts and Pottery. A brief comparative study of Early and Later Vedic society and economy. The coming of Indo-Aryans - The Aryans originally lived in Central Asia and region around the Caspian Sea. - Forced by shortage of food and fodder, they left their original home - Some went to Europe while others came to India around 1500BC. - Those who came to India are known as Indo-Aryans - Aryans first settled in Punjab. The civilisation developed during this age came to be known as Vedic Civilisation. The source of Vedic civilisation came from Vedic literature, The Vedas. Vedas means knowledge Vedas are not an individual religious work or collection of books compiled at a particular time. Vedic literature was handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. - It consists of three classes 1. The Veda: A collection of hymns, prayers, charms, litanies and sacrificial formulae. There are four Vedas: a. Rigveda: It is a collection of hymns. It has about 1028 hymns These highlight the political, social, economic and religious conditions of Rigvedic India.
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2-THE VEDIC PERIOD
Course content Syllabus and its Focus:
SOURCES: Vedas and Epics (brief mention); Iron Artifacts and Pottery. A
brief comparative study of Early and Later Vedic society and economy.
The coming of Indo-Aryans
- The Aryans originally lived in Central Asia and region around the Caspian Sea.
- Forced by shortage of food and fodder, they left their original home
- Some went to Europe while others came to India around 1500BC.
- Those who came to India are known as Indo-Aryans
- Aryans first settled in Punjab. The civilisation developed during this age
came to be known as Vedic Civilisation.
The source of Vedic civilisation came from Vedic literature, The Vedas.
Vedas means knowledge
Vedas are not an individual religious work or collection of
books compiled at a particular time.
Vedic literature was handed down from generation to
generation by word of mouth.
- It consists of three classes
1. The Veda: A collection of hymns, prayers, charms, litanies and
sacrificial formulae. There are four Vedas:
a. Rigveda:
It is a collection of hymns.
It has about 1028 hymns
These highlight the political, social, economic and religious
conditions of Rigvedic India.
b. Samveda:
c. Yajurveda:
It is a collection of
songs taken from
RigVeda
It is a collection of
sacrificial formulae
d. Atharvaveda:
It is a collection of
spells and charms
2. The Brahmanas:
These are prose texts which contain details about the meaning of
Vedic hymns, their applications, stories of their origins, etc.
3. Aranyakas and Upanishads
The concluding portions of the Brahmans are known as Aranyakas.
They deal with philosophy and mysticism.
Literal meaning of Upanishads is ‘to sit down near someone’. Denotes
pupil sitting near teacher for the purpose of confidential
communication of secret doctrine.
Archaeological Sources-Iron and Pottery
- Along with many Vedas many archaeological sources have been discovered in different
parts of India.
- Aryans moved south east and finally settled on areas mentioned in the map as pastoral -
agricultural communities and kingdoms.
- transformation from pastoral to settled agricultural communities took between 1000 to
1500 years
For the Aryans, the period of transition was characterized by war and strife
against the local population. Therefore they did not have enough opportunity
to develop science and technology.
They were constantly in search of agricultural land, mineral deposits and ores
and they cleared dense forests for these purposes.
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- Yajurveda speaks of ploughs drawn by teams of twelve oxen.
- The strong plough could be made of wood trimmed down by bronze tools, but the
ploughshare for cultivating strong soil had to be of iron.
- Where did the iron come from?
o Copper may have been available in Rajasthan, but Iron deposits lay much
farther away in the east i.e at the eastern end of the Gangetic plain in south-
east Bihar.
- Evidences like copper harpoons, shoulder celts and semi human figures dated
about 1000 B.C., have been found all over the Gangetic plain especially in
Ataranjikhera, Kausambi near Allahabad, Jakhera in district Etah, in Uttar Pradesh
and Hallur in Karnataka.
- The tools and artefacts lead us to surmise that these were peddled by Aryan
traders.
- These objects imply that Aryans knew copper refining by controlled fire using
good kilns.
- The demand for high grade iron increased tremendously with time. As a result,
Aryans explored new deposits of iron all over the country, going as far as Andhra
and Mysore by about 200 to 100 B.C.
- Knowledge of the metallurgy of iron, copper, silver and tin continued to be
developed by the Aryans till well into the Mauryan period.
- At Hastinapur in Uttar Pradesh copper objects have been unearthed apart from
glass beads and bangles, bone disc, etc.
- Iron tools including arrows and spearheads, chisels, axes and knives have been
found at at Atranjikhera(UP).
Movement of Aryans towards south east is supported by the discovery of
Red Ware known as Northern Black Polished Ware found almost all over
western Uttar Pradesh.
The pottery was made of well - leyigated clay with little tempering material and
had a strikingly lustrous surface
Craftsmen such as wood-workers, cabinet and chariot-makers, metal-
workers arid ship builders were free members of the tribe. Weaving and
spinning was done only by Women
- At Jakhera(Rajasthan), apart from wheat, barley, rice, cattle, pig and horse a large
number of iron implements have been discovered.
- The most frequently reported finds are arrowheads (both barbed and leaf-shaped) and
spearheads. Axes with shaft hole are reported from Noh and Atranjikhera.
- Atranjikhera has also yielded iron tongs.
EARLY VEDIC AGE (RIG VEDIC AGE)
- The period during which the Vedas and other Vedic literature were written is known as the
Vedic Age.
- During this period, the Aryans permanently settled down in India, and gave birth to
the Vedic Civilization.
- It is called Vedic Civilization, because Vedas are the chief source of our knowledge
about this civilization.
THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS
1. The village:
The Aryans lived in well-planned villages.
A village consisted of a number of joint families. The village was called a gram.
It was rectangular in shape.
There was usually a stockade around the village. There was one main entrance
gate in a village. It had well laid out streets. The houses were constructed in a
systematic way.
These houses were made of wood, bamboo, straw and reeds. These were, in fact,
thatched huts, tied together by ropes, bars and pegs
The king interfered very little in village life. Every village had, what we today
call, local self-government, or something similar to it.
A group of villages was called the vish.
2. The family and status of women:
The family was the primary unit
of society. There was the joint
family system.
Often three generations lived
together — the father, the
grandfather and the
grandchildren. The eldest male
member was the head of the
family. He was called grihapati.
He had full authority over all the members-of the joint family. It was also his
duty to look after the family members.
Thus, it was a patriarchal system of family, a system in which the male head
held the final authority.
This does not mean that women had no status in the family. They occupied an
honourable place.
They were given the opportunities to get education. Women composed the
Rigvedic hymns even. Women had also the right to choose
their husbands. Often swayamvaras were organized
3. Division of the society :
The Aryan society was divided into four classes, namely, the
Brahmanas, the Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas and the Sudras. These
were, in fact, occupational groups of people. The occupations of
these classes were as under:
The Brahmanas performed various rituals,
looked after religious or spiritual matters and recited prayers.
The Kshatriyas were the ruling and the warrior class. Their prime duty was to
govern and defend their land.
The Vaisyas followed
the occupation of agriculture, cattle-
rearing and trade.
The Sudras were the
class who made their living by doing
manual and other unskilled jobs to
serve the other three classes
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4. Food and food habit:
The Aryans ate simple but nourishing food.
Wheat, maize and barley were their staple diet. They also took milk and milk products
such as butter, ghee, curd and cheese.
They also consumed wild honey, fruits, vegetables and meat. They even served special
food to special guests on special occasions. Among drinks, they took soma juice and
sura juice, which were intoxicating strong drinks. The former drink was even offered to
gods in religious ceremonies.
5. Games and amusement:
Aryans also found time for games and amusements. Hunting, horse-racing, chariot-
racing, wrestling, dancing, music and dice gambling were their favorite recreations.
ECONOMIC LIFE
1. Agriculture:
- Aryans were primarily agriculturists.
- Their main occupation was the cultivation of land.
- They got water for irrigation from wells, canals and lakes. But mostly they depended upon
rains. They carried on cultivation of land with the help of a pair of oxen.
- Wheat, barley, rice, cotton and oilseeds were the main products from their fields.
2. Domestication of animals:
- Aryans were shepherds by occupation.
- Cattle-rearing was also common economic activity.
- The cattle were the measure of their wealth, property and status.
- Cow was the main and highly valued cattle. The status of a family was judged from the
number of cows it had.
- Cow was also used even as a medium of exchange of goods. The cow was called
Aghnya. Injuring or killing of cow was prohibited.
3. Trade and commerce:
- Some Aryans engaged themselves in trade and commerce.
- Trade was done mainly through barter system.
- The value of a thing was measured in terms of the cows.
- Thus cow was the standard value.
- Of course, a sort of coin, known as "Niska", was also in use during those days.
4. Other occupations:
- The Aryans made a lot of progress in different arts and crafts.
- So the Rigveda mentions about the potters, weavers, carpenters, jewellers, iron and