Vedic History of India

Duration: 1500 BC to 500 BC

According to the studies of the historians and the archaeologists, the Vedic period in India prevailed approximately from 1500BC

to 500BC. The cultural and spiritual eminence of India reached its high during this period. The most ancient and sacred texts of

Hinduism were the artifacts of this ancient era.The four Vedas - Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda and Yajur Veda were

composed and scripted during the later Vedic period. The Vedic period also saw the emergence of the Aryans in the ancient land

of India. There are various references of Aryans in the Rig Veda. It is possible that the Aryans were not a separate race, but

rather a reference to the educated class. It got a romanticised interpretation later, mostly by European historians and later

picked up by Indian scholars. The heart of the Vedic civilization was found to be established in the north and northwestern part

of India, near the river Saraswati.

The Aryan or educated class cleared the forests near the Gangetic plains and settled down to form the Vedic civilization. As

agriculture gained importance in the Vedic civilization, land and cattle became very important. With the growing value of land

and agriculture, society became stable along with the budding concept of personal property and power relation.

By the end of the later Vedic age, agriculture had become the main occupation of the Vedic civilization. Their involvement in

agriculture led to the formation of villages. Many villages together formed a kingdom or Mahajanapad. The Vedic age witnessed

the rise of many small kingdoms that were often at war with each other. These kingdoms later merged with each other to form

larger kingdoms.

According to the literature of this era, the Vedic age generally was referred to16 main kingdoms or Mahajanapads. The Vedic

civilization was highly organised at social as well as political level. The jana, vis and grama were political units during the Vedic

civilisation. While the kingdom or ‘rashtra’ was ruled over by a king or ‘raja’, the smaller political unit ‘vis’ was ruled by ‘vispati’

and ‘grama’ was ruled by a ‘gramini’. The priest and army chief assisted the king in ruling the kingdom. A ‘sabha’ or a popular

council also supported the king. It is possible that a type of electoral system had existed during the Vedic age, but there is no

strong proof of it. The power of the kings seems to have increased in the later Vedic age.

The caste system had emerged during the Vedic age and seems to be a corrupt cultural practice that was later formalized.

Initially, the caste system was not hereditary but later it became so. The Brahmins and Kshatriyas became very powerful in the

later Vedic period and regarded themselves to belong to the higher caste.

The Vedas were composed in an age when thoughts were not preserved in written form. Therefore the Vedas were passed down

from one generation to another depending upon the memory only. The Vedas were often referred to as ‘shruti literature’

because people only used to hear them.

ORIGIN
Various Aryan tribes migrated to the indian subcontinent in large hoards from what is present-day Iran through the famous Khyber Pass. They
rapidly spread to the area known as the Saptsindhu (the land of seven rivers), which included eastern parts of present-day Afghanistan, the Punjab
(in Pakistan and also in India), and fringes of western Uttar Pradesh.

The Aryans soon mingled with the local people and adopted an agrarian way of life after settling down in small, organized communities in
northwestern India. The knowledge of horse riding and a powerful cavalry was the main cause of the Aryans spreading rapidly into various regions
in India, as they could easily suppress their rivals.
VEDAS
The Vedic Age gets its name from the four Vedas or religious-philosophical hymns that were composed by the Aryan people, in Sanskrit language,
when they came to India. The Rig Veda is the oldest of the four Vedas and provides a vivid insight into the life of the early Vedic period. The other
three collections of hymns are the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda, and the Atharva Veda, which were written later.All the four Vedas, according to the
great poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore are "a poetic testament of a people's collective reaction to the wonders and existence…a people of
vigorous and unsophisticated imagination awakened at the dawn of civilization to a sense of inexhaustible mystery that is implicit in life." These
hymns with their social, religious and philosophical doctrines, laid the foundation of the Hindu way of thought and Hindu religion.

Rig Veda

The Rig Veda is the oldest of the four Vedas and it is also the oldest recorded Indian literature. The Rig Veda consists of

religious hymns dedicated to the deities. It has ten books or mandalas, a concept very central to the Buddhist religion.

Yajur Veda

The Yajur Veda contains prose mantras that were recited while performing sacrifices to God or Yagna. Each mantra was

required to accompany a sacrificial rite or ritual.

Sama Veda

Sama Veda is also known as the Veda of melodies. It contains hymns of Rig Veda that are tuned for singing. It served as the

songbook for priests.

Atharva Veda

The fourth Veda Atharva Veda contains spells to ward off the demons and diseases and is least related to rituals and sacrifices.

Other Vedas were also composed during this age. The current practice of Yoga exercises practiced all over the world are a

derivative of Vedic literature. All of the major peaceful religions of the world; Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism are

interpretations of Vedic literatures. The major theme of the Vedic literatures was that it recognised the place of mankind in the

entire universal scheme and sought to temper his ego accordingly. Vedic religions realized that not doing so can bring out the

animal instincts in mankind and turn them into destructive and selfish beasts.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE (EARLY VEDIC PERIOD)

The people of the early phase of the Vedic age were semi-nomadic and subsisted on large herds of domesticated cattle and farm animals. They
moved their settlements from one pastoral area to another and lived on agrarian and dairy products obtained from cattle. As the requirements and
needs of these communities grew with the gradual rise in population, they settled down as full-time farmers. They brought large tracts of fertile land
of North India under the plough, driven by oxen.

These communities were generally clan or tribe-based and were governed by a tribal chief. The office of the tribal chief was not hereditary and he
had to perform his duties in consultation with a group of wise men or the entire tribe. The strength of the Aryan tribes was derived from the Jana
(people) and not the Janapada (land). The tribal chief and the warriors under him protected the people, while the priest and his juniors catered to
the religious and ritual demands of the clansmen. Religious rituals were performed mainly to protect crops or cattle and to ensure victory in battle.

The early Vedic religion was based on nature worship. Sun, moon, wind, rain, and other natural phenomena were worshipped as gods. Prayers
were organized and gods were invoked by chanting of religious hymns and mantras. Animal sacrifice was a common practice. Ritual sacrifices and
prayers were offered to gods for the well being of people and cattle and to grant more wealth and to be kind to them. Cow was not considered a
sacred animal, but there were frequent struggles between various tribes over the control of cows.

The early Vedic people did not have rigid differences of caste; the only demarcation was between the Aryans (white-skinned people) and the non-
Aryans or the Dasa (slaves or dark-skinned people).