Vedic Period (Summary)
RIG-VEDIC OR EARLY VEDIC
* The Vedic Period is Divided into the Rig- Vedic or Early Vedic Age.
* It covers roughly between 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE and later Vedic covers the period between 1000 BCE and 500 BCE.
* They called themselves Aryans.
* They spoke Sanskrit and Worshipped a group of God led by Indra.
* Chief sources of information of Aryans in India is the Vedas.
* The Vedas includes- Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda.
* Aranyakas (forest books) is attached to each Vedas which is complimented by commentaries called Upanishads.
* The early Aryans were pastoral and did not developed any political structure.
* The administrative machinery worked with the tribal chief at the Centre.
* The Chief (Rajan) he rule over his tribe (Jana).
* The chief was aided by the tribal assemblies called the sabha (council of elder members of the tribe) and the samiti ( general tribal assembly) which discharged judicial and political functions.
* The other important functionaries includes the purohita (priest), senani (head of the army).
* The chief receives a voluntary offerings called bali from the people.
* The king did not maintain any standing army.
* There was no hereditary system of chieftainship.
LATER VEDIC
* There was a transition from tribal polity to territorial state.
* The power chief/king increase.
* The king's influences was strengthened by rituals. He performed the rajasuya sacrifice (cattle raid and game of dicing)
* The king also perform a vajapeya or the chariot race to win the race against his kinsmen.
* The character of sabha and samiti changed and now dominated by the warriors and the brahmanas.
* Election of chief or the king appear in the later Vedic period.
* When Aryans came to India, they were divided into three classes- the warriors, the priests and the common people.
* Division on the basis of colour varna began in the later vedic period.
* The society was divided into- the Brahmana, Rajanya or Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.
* However, varna system had not advanced very far during this period.
* Polygamy was practiced by the princes and polyandry was not unknown.
* The origin of sati can be traced back to later Vedic period.
* Women stop participating in the Sabha.
* They were expert in horse and chariot.
* The Rig Veda mentions only one metal called ayas (bronze).
* Private ownership of land was not yet effective.
* Pastoral and semi nomadic form of living was replaced by agriculture which became the primary source of living.
* Cereals such as barley (yava), wheat (godhuma) and rice (vrihi) are mentioned while the early Vedic people cultivated only barley.
* It is suggest that the use of iron in agriculture was prevalent in Indo-Gangetic divide and the upper and middle Gangetic valley of the post Vedic time.
* The later Vedic people were acquainted with four types of pottery: black-and-red-ware, black-slipped ware, Painted-Grey ware and red-ware.
* Iron are still rare to find in the later Vedic literature.
* Indra, Varuna, Agni, Savitri and Pushan were an important God . Aditi and Ushas were not prominent in the Rig Vedic Period.
* Indra and Agni lost their former importance. Prajapati became the important deity in the later pantheon.
* * Towards the end of the Vedic period, there is a strong reaction against priestly domination and against cults and rituals.
* Thus, the compilation of religious texts like the Upanishads came into existence. (It criticized the rituals and laid stress on the value of right belief and knowledge.
* The Upanishadic thought centres around the idea of soul (atman) and not sacrifice (yajna).
POST VEDIC PERIOD
* Post-Vedic period in the 6th century is marked by many new developments in different aspects of life.
* There was widespread use of iron and iron technology.
* Emergence of territorial states became a common feature by 500 BCE.
* There was an emergence of socio-economic classes in North-India.
* There was a transition from cattle rearing to agriculture as a primary occupation.
* Towns has also came into existence.
* Artisan were organized into guild called 'Shreni'.
* The Buddhists texts describe vanijja (trade) as one of the high occupation.
* The social vocabulary of the early Pali texts reflects the economic and social changes that took place in north India in the 6th century BCE.
* In Vedic literature, gahapati was used to mean the head of a household.
* Setthi was another social group during this time.
* Towards the end of the Vedic period, a few janapadas arose. However with the progress in agriculture and settlement they became a common feature by 500 BCE.
* Two kinds of states are included in the list of mahajanapadas, namely monarchies rajyas and non-monarchical states known as ganas and sanghas.
* The term bhaga shows that the king was entitled to his share and the term kara shows that he could collect taxes from the people.
* Among the mahajanapadas, the Magadha emerged as the most powerful and succeeded in the founding the first empire in India.
* The Post-Vedic period also witnessed the rise of Heterodox Sects.
* Reason for the emergence of heterodox sects was due to the rise urban settlements in India around 600 BCE.
* The Brahmanical attitude towards trade was not very encouraging.
* The traders were looked down in the Brahmanical society.
* The Dharmashastra did not favor the practices of trade because trade and money gave rise to money-lending of loan for interest.
* Thus, in the 6th century BC, there emerged many new religious teachers who preached against Vedic religion in the Gangetic valley.
* Buddhism and Jainism became the most important which survived till today.
* The new religious sects attracted many people of the lower classes because they could even became a monk or attained nirvana.
* In the 4th century BCE, the Greeks and the Iranians fought for the supremacy of the world.
* The Greek campaign in north-western India lasted for about two years.
* The important outcome of the Macedonian or Alexander's invasion was the establishment of direct contact between India and Greece.
[Next topic will be Mauryan Empire]
0 Comments