(1500-600 BC)
·
Aryans are said to be propounders of Vedic
civilization.
·
They spoke a language called arya which was similar to later days
Sanskrit. Hence, they are called Aryans.
·
Central Asian theory of Max Muller is widely
accepted theory of the origin of Aryans.
·
The source of knowledge about the Aryans is the
Vedic literature, of which Vedas are the most important. Veda means knowledge.
·
The Vedas are not an individual religious work.
The Vedic literature had grown in the course of many centuries and was handed
down from generation to generation by word of mouth. Hence, they are called shruti.
·
The Vedas are also called apaurusheya which means man did not compose them; and nitya which
means they were existing in all eternity.
VEDIC LITERATURE
·
Vedic literature consists of f ours classes of
literary creations, viz. Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads.
·
The Vedas are collection of hymns, prayers,
charms, litanies and sacrificial formulae. These are four in number.
The Vedas
Rigveda………………………………A collection of hymns
Samaveda……………………………. A collection of songs
Yajurveda………… A Collection of Sacrificial formula
Atharvaveda……… A collection of spells and charms
1. Rigveda
·
It was compiled around 1500-1000 BC.
·
The literal meaning of the word rig is ‘to
praise’.
·
It is a collection of hymns in praise of gods.
·
It has been divided into ten volumes called
Mandals.
·
Mandal II to VI are the oldest books. They are
also called family books because these are attributed to families of rishis.
·
Mandal VIII and IX belong to middle time.
·
Mandal I and X are the last to be compiled.
·
Mandal III contains the Gayatri Mantra which was
compiled in the praise of sun god Savitri.
·
Mandal IX is dedicated only to Soma god, the
Lord of Plants.
·
Mandal X contains a hymn called Purusha Sukta in which origin of varna
system is discussed.
·
Those rishis who were experts in Rigveda were
called hotra or hotri.
·
The Rigveda has many things in common with
Avesta, which is the oldest text in Iranian language.
2. Samaveda
·
It is a collection of songs mostly taken from
the hymns of Rigveda and set to tune.
·
It is a book of chants.
·
The experts in the knowledge of Samaveda were
called udgatri.
·
Compilation of Samaveda is known to be the
beginning of Indian music.
·
Samaveda consists of 1810 hymns.
3. Yajurveda
·
It is a collection of sacrificial formulae.
·
It describes the rituals to be followed at the
time of recitation of Mantra.
·
The experts in the knowledge of yajurveda were
called adhvaryu.
·
It is found in both prose and poetry.
·
It consists of two parts, viz. Krishna Yajurveda
and Shukla Yajurveda.
4. Atharvaveda
·
It is collection of charms and spells.
·
It contains magical hymns to get relief from
diseases.
·
Indian medicinal science called Ayurveda has its origin from
Atharvaveda.
5. The Brahmanas
·
These are prose texts which contain details
about the meaning of Vedic hymns, their applications, stories of their origins,
etc.
·
The Aitareya or Kaushitaki Brahmanas are
assigned to the Rigveda; Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas to Samaveda; Taittireya
and Shatpatha Brahmanas to the Yajurveda; and Gopath Brahmans to the
Atharvaveda.
·
Tandya Brahmana is the oldest of all the
Brahmanas.
·
Shatapatha Brahmana is the most voluminous among
all the Brahmanas.
6. The Aranyakas
·
These are the concluding portions of the
Brahmanas.
·
These were called Aranyakas because the mystical
and philosophical character of their content required that they should be
studied in the solitude of aranya (forest).
·
They initiated a changeover from materialistic
religion to spiritual religion. Thus, they formed a tradition that culminates
in the Upanishads.
·
Aranyakas are like a bridge between Vedas cum
Brahmanas and Upanishads.
7. The Upanishads
·
These are the last phase of Vedic literature.
·
Upanishads deal with metaphysics i.e.
philosophy.
·
These are also called Vedanta because these were
the last books to be compiled in the series of Vedic literature.
·
These contain subject matter about soul,
Brahman, rebirth, theory of karma, etc.
·
Upanishads emphasized the path of knowledge.
·
The literal meaning of Upanishad is ‘to sit near
the feet of’.
·
The most important Upanishads are Chhandogya
Upanishad and Brahadaranyaka Upanishad.
·
The other important Upanishad are Katha
Upanishad, Isha Upanishad, Prasna Upanishad, Mundaka Upanishad, etc.
·
The conversation of yama and Nachiketa is the
subject matter of Katha Upanishad.
·
The word satyameva jayate in the National Emblem
is taken from Mundaka Upanishad.
VEDANGAS
·
The period after 600 BC is called Sutra period
Vedangas were compiled during his period. Hence, they are called Sutra
literature.
·
These are known as limbs of the Vedas, hence
called vedangas.
·
These are six in number namely:
(i) Shiksha –
Phonetics or science of pronunciation
(ii) Kalpa - Rituals and ceremonies
(iii) Vyakarana-
Grammar
(iv) Nirukta-
Etymology (origin of words)
(v) Chhanda- Metrics,
rules of poetic composition
(vi) Jyotisha-
Astronomy
Upvedas
Name
Contents
Gandharvaveda……………… Dance, drama, music
Ayurveda…………………………………………… Medicine
Shilpaveda……………………….. Art and Architecture
Dhanurveda………………………………. Art of warfare
Ancient Rivers
Rigvedic Names Modern Names
Sindhu………………………………….. Indus
Vitasta…………………………………. Jhelum
Askini………………………………….. Chenab
Parushni………………………………. Ravi
Vipasa…………………………………..Beas
Satudri…………………………………. Sutlej
Drishadvati………………………….. Ghaggar
Krumu…………………………………. Kurram
Gomal…………………………………. Gomati
EARLY VEDIC ARYANS
1. Geographical area
·
The early Aryans lived in the geographical area
covered by eastern Afghanistan, North-West Frontier Province, Punjab and
western Uttar P radish.
·
As per the Rigveda, the whole region in which
the Aryans first settled in the Indian subcontinent is called saptasindhava
region or the Land of the Seven Rivers.
·
The Nadisukta hymns of Rigveda mentions 21
rivers serially beginning from east (Ganga) to the west (kubha or Kabul).
·
Rigveda also mentions about the Himalayas,
Mujavant mountains and Samudra (ocean).
·
Rigveda mentions Saraswati and Sindhu falling in
the ocean. Saraswati was the most revered river in the Rigveda.
·
Rigveda mentions four rivers of Afghanistan i.e.
Kubha, Kruma, Gomati and Suvastu.
·
As per the Rigveda the Battle of Ten kings
against Sudas (Bharata king of Tritsu family) was fought on the bank of river
Parushni (Ravi) in which Sudas emerged victorious.
·
Brahmavarta is the region between Yamuna and
Sutlej, the Indus and its five t ributaries and the Saraswati.
·
Ganga and Yamuna were not the important rivers
in the Rigvedic period.
2. Polity
·
The polity of the early Vedic Aryans was
basically a tribal polity with the tribal chief in the centre.
·
The tribe was called jana and the tribal chief
was called rajana.
·
Rajana looked after the affairs of the tribe
with the help of other tribal members and two tribal assemblies called Sabha
and Samiti.
·
Sabha was consisted of elder members of the
tribe where as the Samiti which mainly dealt with policy decisions and
political business included common people.
·
Women were allowed to participate in the
proceedings of Sabha and Vidatha.
·
In the day to day administrations, the king was
assisted by a Purohit. Vasishtha and Vishwamitra were the two important
Purohitas.
·
The king did not maintain any regular army or
bureaucracy as there was no kingdom as such.
·
Rajana used to get a voluntary offering called
Bali.
·
Rigvedic king did not rule over a kingdom, but
over a tribe.
3. Economy
·
The economy was a semi-nomadic pastoral economy
based on pasture lands.
·
Cattle’s rearing was the main occupation of the
early Vedic Aryans. However, agriculture was also practiced as a secondary
occupation.
·
Barely was the most important crop which was
called yava. Wheat was a secondary crop.
·
Cow was the most important animal Rigvedic
Aryans.
·
Ranjana was also called Gopa which means
protector of cows
·
The cow was the most important from of wealth.
Thus, the medium of exchange was cow. Cow was called aghnya 9not to be killed).
·
No currency was prevailing in the Rigvedic
period.
·
Rigvedic Aryans used the horses on a large scale
which were absent in the Harappan culture.
·
The term ayas used for copper or bronze shows
that metal working was known.
4. Religion
·
The most important divinity in the Rigveda is
Indra; who is called Purandar (breaker of forts).
·
Indra played the role of a warlord and he is
also considered to be the rain god. 250 hymns are devoted to him in Rigveda.
·
Agni was only next to Indra. He is the fire god to which 200 hymns are
devoted. Agni acted as a kind of intermediary between the gods on the one hand,
and the people on the other
Rigvedic
Gods
Diti……………………………………. Mother of the Daityas
Usha…………………………………. Goddess of Dawn
Savitri……………………………….. Stimulator or god of light
Varuna……………………………… God of water, clouds, oceans, river and moral
governor of deities
Aditi…………………………………. Goddess of Eternity
Agni………………………………….. Priest of God, Intermediary between God and Man
Maruta……………………………… God of Storm
Soma………………………………… God of plants
Indra………………………………... Distroyer of enemies
·
The third important position is occupied by
Varuna, who personified water.
·
Soma was considered to be the god of plants and
an intoxicating drink was named after him. The Rigvedic gods can be classified
into three categories. Namely Dyutsthana (celestial), Antarikshasthaa (aerial)
and Prithivisthana (terrestrial).
·
The Rigvedic Aryans did not worship gods for
their spiritual uplift or for ending the miseries of existence. They asked
mainly for praja (children), pashu (cattle), food, wealth, health, etc.
5. Society
·
Society was patriarchal and the eldest male of
the kutumba was the head of the family.
·
Rigvedic society comprised of four varnas based
on occupation of individuals
·
Varna system based on birth was not prevailing
in this period.
·
The four varnas (brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya
and Shudra) were mentioned for the first time in the Purushsukta of Mandal X of
Rigveda.
·
Every member of same family was free to take any
occupation.
·
The smallest unit of society was family which
was primarily monogamous and patriarchal.
·
The niyoga system provided a childless widow
could remarry the younger brother of her deceased husband for the sake of
progeny.
·
Child marriage was not in vogue.
·
The father property was inherited by son. The
daughter could inherit it, only if the she was the only child or her parents.
·
The system of joint family prevailed.
·
Gayatri mantra
is addressed to Savitri.
·
Vishnu
was a less important god in early vedic period.
·
Agni is
the only god who is regarded as present among all the categories of god.
LATER VEDIC ARYANS
1. Geographical area
·
The later Vedic Aryans expanded from Punjab over
the whole of western Uttar Pradesh covered by the Ganga- Yamuna doab.
·
They entered the dense forest of the eastern
region, cleared them and reached the modern day Bihar.
2. Polity
·
The political system of the later Vedic Aryans
shifted towards monarchy.
·
The king now ruled over an area of land called
janapada.
·
The king starting maintaining army and the
bureaucracy also got developed.
·
The kingship was being given the status of
divine origin. There was also emerging the concept of king of kings.
Expressions like adhiraja, rajadhiraja, samrat and ekrat are used in most of
the texts.
·
Atharvaveda defines ekrat to be the paramount
sovereign.
·
The vaidatha completely disappeared. However the
sabha and samiti continued to hold ground.
·
Women were no longer permitted to sit in the
sabha and it was now dominated by nobles and Brahmans.
·
King performed the rajasuya sacrifice which was
supposed to confer supreme power on him.
·
He performed the ashvamedha sacrifice which
meant unquestioned control over an area an area in which the royal horse ran
uninterrupted.
·
He also performed vajapeya sacrifice or chariot
race, in which the royal chariot was made to win the race against his kinsmen.
·
He started asking for tax which was deposited
with an officer called Sangrihitri.
3. Economy
·
Agriculture became primary occupation in later
vedic times, though cattle rearing continued as secondary occupation.
·
Shatapatha Brahmana speaks at length about the
ploughing rituals.
·
Rice (vrihi) and wheat (Godhuma) became the
chief crops of the later Vedic Aryans, though they continued to produce barley
(yava).
·
Few agriculture tools made of iron were used.
Later Vedic texts speak of six, Wight, twelve and even twenty four oxen yoked
to the plough.
·
The plough was known as sira and the furrow was
known as sita.
·
Cow dung was used as manure.
·
A new metal iron was introduced in the Vedic
age.
·
It was known as shyam ayas and copper was known
as lohit ayas .
·
Weaving was confined to women but was practiced
on a wide scale. Leather work, pottery and carpenter’s work made great
progress.
·
The later vedic people were acquainted with four
types of pottery-black and red ware, black slipped ware, painted grey ware and
red ware. The peasants produced enough to maintain the themselves and they
could also spare a marginal part of their produce for the support of chiefs,
princes and priests.
·
Due to surplus production trading activities
developed further. The system of
borrowing and lending started in items of commodities only.
·
The medium of exchange was the cow and some
types of jewellery.
·
Atharvaveda mentions that drought and excess
rain threatened agriculture.
·
Guilds of craftsman came into existence.
Shreshthi was the head of guild.
4. Society
·
In later vedic period varna came to be birth
based rather than profession based.
·
The society came to be divided into four varnas
called brahmanas, rajanyas or kshatriyas, vaishyas and shudras.
Occupation
Based Four Varnas
Teacher
and priests…………………………….. Brahmanas
Rulers,
Administrators………………………… Kshatriyas
Farmer, Merchant, Bankers………………… Vaishyas
Artisan
and Labourers………………………… Sudras
·
All the three higher varnas were entitled to
upanayana or investiture with the sacred thread according to the vedic mantras.
·
The fourth Varna (shudra) was deprived of the
sacred thread ceremony and the recitation of the gayatri mantra.
·
Women were generally given a lower position.
They lost their political and religious t\rights during this period.
·
The institution of gotra appeared in later vedic
times. Gotra signified descent from a common ancestor. People began to practice
gotra exogamy.
·
In later vedic period four ashramas came into
being viz. brahmachari (student), grihastha (householder0, vanprastha (hermit)
and sanyasin (ascetic) who completely renounced the wordly life.
·
Incidents of polygamy and child marriage
increased as compared to early vedic period.
·
Joint families gave way to nuclear families
which were male dominated.
5. Religion
·
The two outstanding Rigvedic gods, Indra and
Agni lost their former importance.
·
The concept of trimutri emerged by which
Prajapati (creator), Rudra (god of animals) and Vishnu (preserver and
protector) came into being.
·
Sign of idolatry appeared in later vedic period.
·
Pushan, who was supposed to look after cattle,
came to be regarded as the god of the shudras, although in the age of Rigveda
cattle rearing was the primary occupation of the Aryans.
·
People worshipped gods for the same material
reasons in this period as they did in early vedic period.
·
Prayers continued to be recited, but they ceased
to be the dominant mode for placating the gods. Sacrifices became far more
important.
·
Sacrifices involved the killing of animals on a
large scale and specially the destruction of cattle wealth.
·
The brahamanas claimed a monopoly of priestly
knowledge and expertise.
·
In the later part of later vedic period began a
strong reaction against the priestly domination against cults and rituals.
·
Around this time the Upanishads were compiled
which criticized the rituals and laid stress on the value of right belief and
knowledge.
·
Upanishads emphasized that the knowledge of the
self or atman should be acquired and the relation of atman with brahma should
be properly understood.
Hindu Schools of Philosophy
·
Sankhya is the oldest of all six systems of
philosophy. It teachers the existence of 25 basic principles (tattva), prakriti
(matter) being the first of all the principles. Kapila propounded the system of
Sankhya.
·
Yoga is probably the best known Hindu
philo-sophical system in the world. Patanjali propounded the system of Yoga.
·
The vaishesika system is a realistic, analutic
and objective philosophy of the world. It classified all the objects under five
elements, viz. earth, water, air, fire and other. Kannada propounded the system
of Vaishesika.
·
Nyaya system says salvation is attained through
the acquisition of knowledge. Gautama propounded the system of Nyaya.
·
Mimansa system recognises Vedas as the final
authority in determining the duties of man. It is classified into two groups’
viz. Purva Mimansa of Jaimini and Uttara Mimansa of Vyasa.
Important terms of Vedic Age
Anaju………………………………………………..
A girl who live life long unmarried
Charvan........……………………………………….
Blacksmith
Gavisti………………………………………………
Fights for cow
Govikartana………………………………….……… keeper of Games and Forests
Hiranyaka……………………………...……………. Goldsmith
Kulala……………………………………………….
Potter
Vrihi……………………………………………..….. Rice
Usta……………………………………………..….
Camel
Sarabha…………………………….………………… Elephant
Vrajapati……………………………………..……….. officer-in-charge of pasture land
Jivagribha………...........………………………………
Police officials
Palagala…………......…………………………………. Messenger
Sangahitri………………………………………………
treasurer
Duhitri……………………………………..…………….
Daughter
Gopa………………...………………………………… King
Gomat……………………………….………………… Wealthy man
Goghna……………...…………………………………. Guest
