About Vedic Period in Ancient history of India

 Vedic Period 

Rig vedic Period (1500-1000 BC)

. The Aryans were semi-nomadic pastoral people and originally believed to live somewhere in the steppes stretching from Southern Russia to central Asia. 

. The whole region in which the Aryans were first settled in India, called the Land of 7 Rivers or Sapta Sindhawa.

Political organisation 

. The Dasrajan war Battle of 10 kings against Sudas (Bharata king of Tritsus) on the bank of river Parushni. Sudas emerged victorious. It was mainly tribal system of government in which the military element was strong.

. Tribal was known as jan and its king as Rajan.

. Traces of election of the king by the assembly, called Samiti.

. Villages were headed by Gramini.

. In day-to-day administration, king was assisted by Purohita (most important), a Senani and Vrata, Gana, Grama and Sardha (tribal groups performing various military functions).

Society 

People were loyal to tribe, called Jana (mentioned 275 times in Rigveds) as kingdom/territory was not yet established. Women enjoyed freedom and respect.

Religion 

. Worshipped Nature, India (also called Purandara-breaker of forts) was the most important divinity.

. Soma was considered to be the God of plant. 

. People worshipped mainly for Praja(children), Pashu (cattle), food, health and wealth. No temple or idol worship. 

Economy 

No regular revenue system, kingdom maintained by voluntary tribute called Bali and booty won in battles. 

. Aryans' main occupation-mainly pastoral people agriculture being secondary.

. Cow was standard unit of exchange. Gold coins-Nishka, Krishnal and Satmana.

. The staple crop was yava (barley).

Regvedic Terms 

Terms        meaning 

Dasyus       Original inhabitant of India 

Ayas            Copper/ Bronze 

Vajrapati    Officer enjoying authority 

Kalapas       over large tract of land 

Garmini       Head of the village 

Gavisthi       Fighting hordes, search for 

                      Cows/war for cows 

Rigvedic Rivers  

River               Name in Rigveda 

Indus              Sindhu 

Jhelum           Vitasta 

Chenab          Asikni 

Ravi                Parushini 

Beas                Vipasa 

Sutlej               Sutudri 

Gomati             Gomal 

Saraswati         Sarasvati 

Ghaggar            Prishadavati 

Later Vedic Period

 (1000-500) 

. In this period, Aryans expanded from Punjab over the whole of Western Uttar Pradesh covered by the Ganga-Yamuna Doab. 

Political organisation 

. King (samrat) became more powerful and tribal authority tended to became territorial.

. King's position strengthened by rituals like Ashwamedha and Vajapeya Yajnas.

Society

. Society clearly divided into four varnas-Brahmans, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.  Position of women deteriorated. The institution of Gotra (descent from common ancestors) appeared for the first time.

Economy 

. Beginning of town and settled life.

. Agriculture was the main livelihood.

. Wheat and rice (called vrihi in later Vedic text)became the staple crop.

. Occupation like ironsmith, coppersmith, ewel workers and weaving (reserved for women).

Religion 

. Prajapti became the supreme God followed by Rudra  (animal God), Vishnu ( preserver and protector of people).

. Idolatry worship began in this period.

. Pushan who looked after cattles  was 'God of Shudras'.

. Sacrifices rather than prayers became more important. 

Vedic Literature 

The Vedic 

. Rigveda The oldest Indo-European language text is a collection of hymns. Contains 1028 hymns and 10 mandalas. 10th Mandalas contains four varns or Purushukta whereas 3rd Mandalas contains Gyantri mantras dedicated to Sun God.

Samaveda Collection of melodies: contains Dhrupad raga.

. Yajurveda Contains hymns and rituals/sacrifices. 

. Atharvaveda Charms and spell to ward-off evils and diseases.

The Brahmanas 

. Contains ritualistic formulae and explains the social and religious meaning of rituals. Each veda has several Brahmanas attached to it.

Rigveda                    Kaushitaki and Aitareya 

Yajurveda               Taittiriya and Satappatha 

Samaveda               panchvish and Jemineya 

Atharvaveda           Gopatha

The Aranyakas 

The words Aranya means the forest. Works were called Aranyakas because they were written mainly by the hermits and students living in jungle.

The Upanishads 

. Philosophical texts emphasising value of right belief and knowledge; criticised rituals/sacrifices; and are 108 in number. Brihadarayaka is the oldest upanishads.

Smritis 

Explains rules and regulations in vedic life. These are Manusmriti (the first law book); Naradsmriti, Yagyavalkya-smriti and Parasharsmriti.

Vedangas 

These are Limbs of Vedas  and six in number. 

. Shiksha (Pronunciation)

. Kalpa (Rituals)

. Nikrukta (Explanation)

. Chhandra (Metrics)

. Jyotish 

Darshans 

There are six schools of Indian philosophy called Shad-Darshans.

These are

Nyaya Darshana                Gautam 

Vaisheaika Darshana         Kanada Rishi 

Sankhya Darshana             Kapila 

Yoga Darshana                    Patanjali 

Purva  Mimansa                  Jamini 

Uttara Mimansa                 Badrayn or Vyasa 

Upavedas 

There are four Upavedas 

Upaveda            Deals with         Upavedas 

Dhanurveda         Art of warfare        Yajurveda 

Gandharav           Art and music         samaveda      veda 

Shilpaveda            Architecture         Atharvaveda 

Ayurveda               Medicine                Rigveda 

Epics

Mahabhararata by Vyasa also called Jaya Samhita and Satasaharsi Samhita has Ramayana, written by Valmiki  which has 29000 verses.

 

Mahajanpadas 

Mahajanapada           Capitals 

            Kashi                                     Varanasi 

            Anga                                       Champanagri 

            Vajji                                         Vaishali 

           Chedi                                         Shuktimati 

           Kuru                                           Hastinapur 

        Matsya                                           Viratnagar 

        Assaka                                               Budanya 

     Gandhara                                                Taxila 

         Kosala                                              Shravasti 

         Magadh                                       Rajagriha 

         Malla                                       Kushinagar                                                         

          Vatsa                                         Kaushinagar 

        Panchala                                        Ahichhatra 

        Surasena                                           Mathura 

          Avanti                                              Ujjain 

         Kamboja                                          Rajpur 

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