Vedic Period (1500 BC - 500 BC)

Vedic period (1500 BC - 500 BC)

Index 1.    Vedic Period (1500 BC – 500 BC) a.     Early Vedic Period (1500 BC – 1000 BC) b.    Later Vedic Period (1000BC – 500 BC) 2.    Vedic Literature a.     Vedas (Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajurveda , Atharvaveda) b.    Upanishads, c.     Brahmanas, d.    Arankayas, e.     Vedangas, f.      Uppavedas, g.     Philosophies, h.    Puranas, i.       Epics, j.       Sutras, k.    Smritis.

Vedic period (1500 BC - 500 BC)

After the decline of Indus valley Civilization, Aryans period/Vedic age began. There are no clear references from where Aryans arrived to India.

A/c to Maxmuller – Aryans are the Inhabitants of Central Asia

A/c Bala Gangadhar Tilak- They Came from Arctic Region

Mostly acceptable theory by many historians is that Aryans came from Central India, Fought with the native rulers and occupied their territories, the famous war which were fought between the Aryans (includes Ten tribes- 5 Aryans and 5 non Aryans) and Bharatha King of Tritsu on the banks of parushni river, ravi sudas, It was won by Bharatha after killing their leader Purusukta. And the battle is famously known by the term “Dasaranja War”, the sub continent of present India is named as the “Bharathakandam” named after Bharata King

The period of Vedic age is (1500 BC -500 BC)

Which is again classified into?

• Early Vedic period (1500 BC - 1000 BC) (Rigveda)
• Later Vedic period (1000 BC -500 BC)
• Vedic vedic literature(Samaveda, Yajurveda, Atharvaveda)

For Examination Point of view we deal with the following Topics

Early Vedic period (1500 BC - 1000 BC)

Vedic literature (Rig Veda) Polity Society Economy Religion Rivers mentioned in Rig-Veda

Later Vedic Period (1000 BC - 600 BC)

Vedic literature (Sama veda, Yajur veda, Atharvaveda) Political organization Social organization Economy Religion

Vedic literature

Rigveda - Collection of 1028 Hymns (Divided into 10 mandalas) Samaveda Yajurveda Atharvaveda Upanishads, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Vedangas, Upavedas, Philosophies, Sutras, Puranas, Epics, Smritis.

Early Vedic period (1500 BC - 1000 BC)

Iron Discovered in this period, so this period is also known as “Iron Age”, The Aryans started invading India from 1700 BC first settled in Punjab and later spread to eastern part of India, the early life of Aryans was patriarchal; agriculture was secondary occupation which played an important role in their lives.

Early Vedic period (1500 BC - 1000BC) Vedic literature (Rig Veda) Polity Society Economy Religion Early Vedic Period Other aspects of this Period The word ved means knowledge. There are 4 vedas

Rig Veda (Early one)

• Collection of 1028 Hymns mostly prayers to God, used at the time of performing prayers and scarifies to gods
• The book has been divided into 10 chapters called as mandalas, of these chapters 2-7 are old and 1, 8, 9, 10 are NEW
• Rig Veda has many things in common with "Zend Avesta(Persian Book)"
• Ten mandals are highly important from the examination point of view. And have been asked in previous prelims papers.

Political organization

Political organization of Early vedic Age

Political Organization Early Vedic Period

In the above diagram everything regarding the political organizations was clearly explained. The green and underlined termed are highly important from exam point of view and this diagram also makes you clear to remember and understand.

• The society was divided called as Tribe or janas, contains many no.of villages and the head of village is called “Gramani”

• Villages clusters(groups) are called as Vis and the head of the group are called as Vishpati

• The kings powers controlled by councils “sabha and Samithi”

• King is assisted by Senanai(commander in Chief) and purohitas(to take decisions on important matters)

• The kings primary duty is to protect the cows of the tribes. As the cow is the main economy aspect of that time, many battles were fought to gain over the control of “COWS” The cow has much importance at that time

Society and Social organization 

The golden period of Indian history. The primary unit of the society is family which was also called as “Kula", patriarchal family structure was prevalent (patriarchal : male the Head of  the Family) and the head of the family is called by the term “Grihapati”.

Women has equal status to men as they were allowed to educate and develop in intellectual and other aspects, no child marriages and even no Sati system (Burning of women alive along with Husband dead body in the funeral).

Society was classified based on the profession not religion as

1. Brahmins: Who are engaged in teaching and Preaching
2. Kshatriyas: Rulers and Administrators
3. Vaishyas: Practices Agriculture
4. Shudras: Any Professions

Economy: 

The important economic aspect of this period is the “COW”, all the battles that were fought was for getting control over the Cows, this is referred to as “gavisthi” and the terms relating to cow are Gau- Cow, Goptai-Protector of Cows or Rajan, Godhuli –measure of time, Gavyuti – measure of Distance, Secondary occupation was agriculture. Barter System (Exchange system of goods and service) was prevalent at this time

Religion:

Rig vedic people believed in nature worship like fire, water etc, and not in erecting temples or idol worship, they performed yajnas in open areas

Soma was considered to be the god of plants and an intoxicating drink was named after him

The 9^th mandala of rigveda, i.e., soma mandala is attributed to soma

As we see in rigveda reference of many gods were made, agni, indra, soma and many others

Other Significant aspects of this period

Aryans have the knowledge of the Indian rivers as we see the names of the rivers are mentioned in their literature as follows

S. No	Rig Vedic Names of Rivers	Present Names
1	Sindhu	Indus
2	Vitasta	Jhelum
3	Askini	Chenab
4	Parushni	Ravi
5	Vipas	Beas
6	Sutlej	Sutudri
7	Gomati	Gomai
8	Krumu	Kurram
9	Ghaggar	Drishadvati
10	Suvastu	Swati
11	Kubha	Kabul
12	Naditara	Saraswathi
13	Sadanira	Gandak

Later Vedic period (1000 BC- 500 BC)

Vedic literature (Sama veda, Yajur veda, Atharvaveda) Political organization Social organization Economy Later Vedic Period (100BC -500 BC) Religion

                                   

  Later Vedic period

Political Organisation

• Janas become jannapada are the large portion of land divided and battle for land have begun

• Kingship became hereditary (Transfer of Kingdom to their sons). Assembly lost its importance, and royal lower increased at their cost

• The term Rashtra indicating territory, first appeared in the period

• Women were no longer permitted to attend assemblies

Social organization

The four-fold division of society become clearer, initially based on occupation clear, and later became hereditary, dominance of one on another is clearly visible.

1. Brahmin- The growing practices, rituals and sacrifices added more power to Brahmins
2. Kshatriyas - Constituted the warriors class
3. Vaishyas - They were the agriculturists, cattle rearers, traders, artisans and metal workers
4. Shudars - Lowest of all meant to serve the above three classes

Economy

1. As the Iron was discovered in this period and the transformation from Copper to Iron has seen here, where the main importance to agriculture and land holdings has given prominence than cow
2. With the use of Iron tools the large forest areas were cleared and agriculture was practiced
3. War were fought mainly for land

Religion

As the rituals and sacrifices became important to empower kings many practice are performed for well being of king (Aswamedha Yagas, Rajasuya etc)

1. Prajapathi – The creator become the Very important god and the gods Agni and Indra lost importance
2. Pushan – Became the god for Shudras (God responsible for protecting cattle’s)
3. Rudra and Vishnu Gods also became prominence

Vedic literature

Vedic literature are the Golden Treatise in the Indian History and are classified as follows Rigveda Samaveda Yajurveda Atharvaveda Upanishads, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Vedangas, Upavedas, Philosophy, Sutras, Puranas, Epics, Smritis.

Rig Veda (Early one)

Collection of 1028 Hymns mostly prayers to God, used at the time of performing prayers and scarifies to gods

Vedic Literature

The book has been divided into 10 chapters called as mandalas, of these chapters 2-7 are old and 1, 8, 9, 10 are NEW

Rig Veda has many things in common with Zend Avesta(Persian Book)

Ten mandals are highly important from the examination point of view. And have been asked in previous prelims papers.

1st Mandala – Contains 191 hymns in which hymn 1.1 addressed to God Agni, and the name Agni is the first word of Rig Veda. And other Hymns are addressed to gods Indra, Varuna, Vishnu and other gods

2nd Mandala - Contains 43 Hymns refers to gods Agni and Indra and mainly attributed to the Rishi Grtsamada Saunahotra

3rd Mandala - Contains 62 Hymns, refers to gods mainly Agni and Indra. The famous Gayatri mantra is found in this mandal Vishvedevas

4th Mandala - Contains 58 Hymns also refers to Gods Agni and Indra as well as other gods

5th Mandala - Contains 87 Hymns also refers to Gods Agni and Indra  and others

6th Mandala - Contains 75 Hymns also refers to Agni and Indra Gods and others

7th Mandala - Contains 104 Hymns refers to Agni, Indra, saraswati, Vishnu and others Gods

8th Mandala - Contains 103 hymns refers to various gods

9th Mandala - Contains 114 Hymns devoted to Soma. Famously know as Soma Mandala

10th Mandala - Contains 191 Hymns addressed to Agni God and other Deities

Nasadiya Sukta which talks about the origin of the Universe is in 10th Mandala.

The Samaveda

Contains melodies and chants of vedic times

The Yajurveda

Contains the ritual offerings formulas and Hymns that were to be recited by the priest while performing ritual actions (Yajna fire)

The Atharvaveda

Also called as veda of magical formulas to address superstitious anxiety, evil spirits etc

Upanishads

1. The term upanishada is knowledge, acquired by sitting close to the teacher.  Also called vedarita, because they denote the last phase of the vedic period
2. They are spiritual and philosophical in nature and reveal the aim of the Vedas.  They define the doctrine of karma, Atma (soul), Brahma (god), Origin of Universe
3. These Upanishads are 108 in number

Brahmnas

These are the prose commentaries on various vedic hymns.  They explain Vedas in an orthodox way. They explain the hidden meaning behind the hymns

The most important is the Satapatha Brahmana attached to yujurveda.  It recommends one hundred sacred paths

Arankayas

The sagas dwelling is the forest explained the Vedic scriptures to their pupils in the form of Aranyakas.  This has magical power and they form the concluding part of Brahmanas.

Vedangas

They are the limbs of the Vedas. These are treatises on science and arts.

1. Shiksha (Deals with pronunciation)
2. Kalpa (Deals with rituals)
3. Vyakarana (Grammar)
4. Nirukta (Etymology)
5. Chhanda (Metrics)
6. Jyotisha (Astronomy)
7. Panini wrote Ashtadhyayi (4^th century BC) on Vyakarana (grammar)

Upavedas

There are 4 Upavedas- 

1. Dhanuraveda (Upaveda of Yajurveda) - Deals with the art of warfare.
2. Gandhraveda (Upaveda of Samaveda) - Deals with art and music.
3. Shilpaveda (Upaveda of Atharaveda) - Deals with architecture.
4. Ayurveda (Upaveda of Rigveda) - Deals with medicine.

Philosophies

Six systems of philosophies, given by 6 philosophers of ancient India

S. No	Philosophies	Writers
1	Nyaya (Analysis)	Gautama
2	Sankhya (Enumeration)	Kapila
3	Yoga (Application)	Patanjali
4	Purva Mimansa (Enquiry)	Jaimini
5	Uttara Mimansa (Vedanta)	Vyasa
6	Vaisesika	Kannada

                                                                                          

Puranas

These include

1. Mythology
2. Cosmogeny
3. Stories of Various legends
4. Folk belief
5. Law codes and miscellaneous topics

It refers to the change in the mode of worship (from sacrifice to Idol worship) and visual appeal of deities as against the worship of ideas

Epics

The Mahabharata, written by Ved Vyas, is older than the Ramayana. Orginally Mahabharata consisted of 880 verses, and then it was raised to 24000 verses

Ramayana written by Valmiki, originally consisted 6000 verses, which was raised to 12000 and finally 24000 verses

Sutras

Sutra literature is divided into 3 classes

1. Srauta Sutra – Dealing with large Public Sacrifice
2. Griha Sutra - Dealing with rituals connected with Birth, naming and marriage
3. Dharma Sutra – Explains Social and Local Customs

 Smritis

Dharam shastra is the other name for smritis, which are the law books written in sloka form.  The important smritis are Manav Dharama shastra, Vishnu Dharama, Shatra, Yajnavalkya Smriti and Narada smriti, Manav Dharma Shastra or Manusmriti is the oldest, and most famous.  Manu is supposed to be the first king and law maker.