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History of India Vedic


Civilization
ArticlesharedbyBaldevBishnoi

By 1750 BC the urban phase of the Harappan


Civilisationhaddeclined.Anditwasontherelicsofthe
Harappan monuments that the foundation of an
entirely new civilization, better known as the Vedic
Civilisation, was laid by Aryans, a vast community of
people from outside who passed into India just when
thegloryofHarappawasonthewane.

ImageSource:stephenknapp.com/images/Pvc.jpg

Aryans arrived not in one but in many phases, which


startedinBC1500BC1600andcontinuedtillBC1000.
During this period Aryans settled in the northwestern
partoftheIndiansubcontinent.AfterAryanssettledin
the region, they composed a series of religious hymns,
which were later on compiled into the earliest of the
four sacred Vedas, called the Rigveda. Apart from its
great spiritual significance as the holiest scripture of

Hinduism,thetextformsmainsourceofknowledgeof
Aryans.
ThewordAryan does notdenote nameofanyrace or
tribe. As German scholar Max Muller (18231900) has
opined, the term Aryan, in scientific language, is
utterly inapplicable to race. It means language and
nothing but language. In 1786, Sir William Jones on
phoneticsandlinguisticbasisshowedadefiniterelation
between the Vedic Sanskrit and some of the principal
Asian and European languages. On this basis it has
beensurmisedthatthepeoplewhospokethecommon
language and shared the common home, dispersed or
emigratedtovariouspartsoftheworld,includingIndia.
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EarlyVedicPeriod(BC1500BC1000)

OriginoftheAryans
Opinionsdifferregardingtheoriginalhomelandofthe
Aryans. The most accepted view is that the region
betweenPolandtotheCentralAsiamighthavebeenthe
homes of Aryans. They were said to be seminomadic
people, who started moving from their original
homeland towards the west, sough and east. The
branch,whichwenttoEurope,wastheancestorofthe

Greeks, Romans, Celts and Teutons. Another branch


went to Anatolia. The great empire of the Hittites
evolvedfromthemixtureoftheseimmigrantswiththe
original people. The branch, which remained, was the
ancestors of the Slavonic people. The group, which
moved south, came to conflict with the west Asian
civilisation.Incourseoftheirjourneytowardstheeast
or south a group of Aryans had settled in Iran. They
crossed the Hindukush and entered Indian through
Afghanistan and captured the greater part of the
northernIndia.TheycametobeknownasIndoAryans
to distinguish them from the others who spoke a
language different from those who settled in western
AsiaandEurope.
The IndoAryans entered Punjab and Northwestern
parts of India. They moved towards south0east and
eastwardsintoGangesValley.TheAryanswerepastoral
Nomads. The region which the Aryans occupied was
knownasSaptaSindhu.Movingfurthereastwardsthey
settledalongtheGangaYamunadoab.Induecourseof
timethewholeofnorthernIndiawasunderthecontrol
of the Aryans were divided into many tribes. A few
among them are Anus, Druhyus, Yadus, Turvasas and
Purus.TheysettledoneithersideoftheriverSaraswati.
They were involved in fighting among themselves.
besidesthesetribalwarfare,theAryanswereengagedin
struggles with the darkskinned people Dasyus. The
Dasyus were the Dravidians who occupied the regions
of the Harappan Civilisation. The superiority of the
Aryans resulted in the Dravidian submission and
retirementtothesouth.
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A number of scholars, both archaeologists and


historians, have suggested that the Aryans, or the
peoplewhocomposedtheRigveda,wereresponsiblefor
thedestructionofHarappanCivilisation.Thisviewwas
based on both literary and archaeological evidence.
However, the archaeological evidence of an invasion
hasbeenfoundtobeparticularlyweak,andatpresent
this theory rests solely on literary evidence, which
includes description of the Vedic god Indra as a
destroyer of forts (Pyrabdara) and less clear
indicationsofthepossibledestructionofembankments
which might have disrupted the irrigation network
necessaryfortheHarappaneconomy.
While the Vedic people need not have necessarily
destroyed the Harappan urban centers, there is no
denying that, at least in material terms, the contrast
between the Harappans and the Vedic people was
striking.Tostartwith,asnotedearlier,Rigvedicsociety
appearstohavebeenprimarilypastoral.Whileanimal
rearing was certainly known to the Harappans, their
economy as a whole was much more complex with an
agricultural base capable of supporting large non
agriculturalurbanpopulationsandsubstantialevidence
for long distance trade and craft specialization. The
Vedic people, on the other hand, had a limited
familiarity with agriculture and do not seem to have

participated in long0distance exchanges. The evidence


for craft specialization within Vedic society is also,
likewiselimited.
PoliticalOrganization
Family served as the basis of both social and political
organizations. Families together formed the grama or
villages Villages together formed the janas. The
community was patriarchal and each tribe was under
thechiefwhosepositionwashereditary.Therastrawas
ruledbykingwhichwasnormallyhereditary.Theking
led the tribe in battle and protected the people. The
purobita was one of the important functionaries. He
was the sole associate of the king his friend,
philosopher and guide. The gramani the head of the
village.Themaindutyofthekingwastheprotectionof
his subjects, property, defense and maintenance of
peace.Thekingwasnotanautocratand,wascontrolled
by two popular assemblies, Sabha and Samiti. These
assemblies brought forth the peoples view on various
issues The Sabha also discharged legal duties like
providingjustice.Individualownershipofpropertywas
recognized. The land was a property owned by family.
The property passed on in a hereditary manner from
fathertoson.
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EconomicCondition
The Aryans who were seminomadic people also
domesticated animals which helped them in the
activitiesofagricultureandotherpastoralandhunting
acts. Animal rearing was the major economic activity.
However, towards the end of Rigvedic period
agriculture formed the major share of the economy.
Canalstoprovideirrigationwasasignificantfeatureof
this occupation. Coins were unknown and trade was
through the barter system. Craft was not a popular
profession. The lack of good roads might have
hampered trade, but river navigation was existing.
Specialization in areas such as carpentry, smithy,
weaving,poetry,etc.,hadbeentakingplace.
Religion
The religion of the Vedic Aryans was a form of nature
worship. Natural phenomena were conceived as the
expression of some spiritual beings manifestations of
various gods. For the different appearances of the sky
different deities were imagined. However, Indra, the
king of Vedic gods also known as the god of war and
god of thunder, was the most prominent among the
Vedic gods and as many as 250 Rigveda hymns are

devoted to him, Agni, Soma, Varuna, Surya, Vayu,


Mitra, Dyus, etc., were other popular deities of the
Rigvedicperiod.
ClassificationofVedicGods
Type
NameofGods
Prithvisthan(Terrestrial)
Prithvi,Agni,Soma,BrihaspatiandRiverGods
Antarikshathan(Aerial)
Indra, Vishnu, Aditya, Rudra, Vayuvata, Parajanya,
Apah,etc.
Dyusthan(Celestial)
Varuna,Mitra,Pushan,Ushas,Asvins,etc.
LiteratureintheVedicPeriod

The Vedas : The four Vedas were the sources of


reconstructing the Vedic period. Among these, the
oldest is the Rigveda while the others in the order of
their composition are Samveda, Yajurveda and
Atharvaveda. The Samveda contains the verses from
theRigveda.Thehymnsinitwererelevanttothesoma
sacrifice. The Yajurveda also consists of hymns from
the Rigveda, of which more than half are in prose to
facilitate the performance of sacrifices. It depicts the
social and religious condition of this period. The
Atharvaveda

contains

philosophic

popularcultsandsuperstitions.

speculations,

The Brabmanas : They are prose of the sacrificial


ceremonies. These are explanatory treatises of Vedas
which lay emphasis on ritualism. They mark the
transitionfromVedictoclassicalSanskrit.Italsomarks
theperiodwhichmarkstheadvanceoftheAryansfrom
thePanchlacountrytoVideha(NorthBihar)
The Vedangas and the Upavedas : These are said
to the supplementary sections of the Vedic literature.
ThesegiveusideaboutJyotish(astronomy),Ayurveda
(medicine),

Dhanurveda

(war),

Gandharvaveda

(music),etc.
TheVedanta: It is the philosophy taught in most of
theUpanishads.
TheUpanishads:Thesetextscontainthe main idea
that constitutes the intellectual aspect of the Hindu
philosophy. They do not lay emphasis on rites,
ceremonies and austerities. The Upanishads are dated
betweenBC800andBC500.TheUpanishadsaremore
than 100 in number. The Brahadaranyaka Upanishad,
Chandogva Upanishad, Aitreya Upanishad are a few
importantones.TheUpanishadreflecttherichnessand
universality of the Indian culture. They are said to be
thethinkingpoweroftheBrahmanasandKshatriyas.
LaterVedicPeriod(BC1000BC600)

The later Vedic period is said to have begun after the


composition of the Atharvaveda, Yajurveda and
Samveda. This period indicated changes in political,
social, economic and religious conditions of the life of
theAryans.Thesechangesweredifferentfromthosein
the early Vedic period during the composition of the
Rigveda.

PoliticalCondition
The Rigvedic Aryans were divided into several tribes.
There was frequent internal strife among them. The
weakertribeswereabsorbedintothestrongeronesand
thus the kingdoms and larger areas of residence
emerged.ThepoliticalinfluenceoftheAryansextended
towardstheeastandsouth.TheAryansnowestablished
a powerful kingdom in the Deccan, to the north of the
river Godavari. The mode of succession continued to
hereditary.Theexpansionoftheterritoryalsoresulted
in the increased domination of the king assisted by a
hierarchy of nobility. These nobles were assigned
official duties. Thus an administrative machinery
developed. The king now had a council of advisers
whichincludedthekingsrelatives,hiscourtiers,heads
of various department, The purohita (the priest),
senani(thecommander),thesuta(thecharioteer),etc.,
were the individuals which assisted in the kings
activities. The role of the popular assemblies was
important. A notable feature of this period was the
extinction of the Samiti. The Sabha transformed from
being a popular village assembly, continued as a court
orjudicialassembly.
SocialCondition
The need to perform the ceremonial yajnas required
theservicesofhighlytrainedpriestswhowereskilledin
religious matters, This group came to assume the title
of the Brahmanas. They occupied a high status and
wererespectedandhonoredbytheKing.Theconstant
intertribe fighting for establishing supremacy and
strugglewithtehoriginalinhabitantsgavebrithforthe
needofpersonsskilledinwarfare.Thusarosethenew
classoftheKshatriyas.RemainingpeopleintheAryan
society were called Vaisyas. The group who were not

Aryans were called Sudras. This separation in the


societywasonthebasisoftheprofessiontheypursued.
Gradually the Aryans were dived into the four varnas,
succession to these coruse of time became hereditary.
Thecastesystembecamerigid.Educationwasconfined
to the upper classes. An Aryans life was divided into
stages which began with Upanayana, which was the
inceptionofthepupiltoeducation.Afteraperiodof12
years study of the Vedas, Brahmanas, Upanishads,
Ithibasa,Puranas,Grammar,Ethics,etc.theindividual
could chose one of the four ashramas i.e.
Brahmacharya,Grihastha,Sanyasa,Vanaprastha.
ReligiousCondition
Religion and Philosophy in the later Vedic period
became more confirmed with elaborate sacrifices. The
doctrines of Karma, Maya, Soul, Mukti were
established. Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara became
theimportantgodswhowereworshipped.
LiteratureintheLaterVedicPeriod

TheEpics
They are the Ramayana and Mahabharata. They
introduceustoaperiodoftransformationinthesocial
and religious institutions of the Vedic age. The
RamayanawrittenbyValmikiispoeticlegendbasedon
mythology.ItportraystheidealmangodRamaandthe
idealwomenSita.Thesacrificesmadebythecharacters
for the preservation of truth appealed to the people.
ThiswaseditedbytheBrahmanasincourseoftimeto
convert it into a book of devotion. The Mahabharata,
which consists of 18 purvas (sections), contains about
1,00,000 verses. This is an encyclopedia of history,
moralsandreligion.

Puranas
Thesearelegendsconnectedwithepicsandlawbooks.
Thereare18mainPurnasandaremostlyrecognizedin
North India. The Visbnu Purnana treats five subjects
namely primary creations, secondary creations,
genealogies of gods and pattiarch reigns of various
manus and history of ancient dynasties. The
VayupuranaisoneoftheoldestPuranas.Itwasedited
duringtheageofGuptaswhentherewasagreatrevival
of the Sanskrit language. The other Puranas include
MatsyaandBrahmandawhichgiveusaccountofkings
up to the imperial Gupta dynasty with other
contemporaries.
LawsofManu
Also known as Manyu Dbaramshasta in Sanskrit, it
comprises of 2,684 couplets arranged in twelve
chapters. It is the earliest of law books. The laws of
Manu from the foundation of the court of law in India
under the name of Hindu Law. The book makes a
distinctionbetweenvarnasandjatis.Thevarnaswere
in the order of the occupations pursued by the people.
Thiswasgivenasbelow,
thelearnedliterateandpriestlyorder
thefightingorthegoverningclass
thetradingandagriculturalgroup
thecommonfolk,labourers
RiversAndTheirVedicNames

ModernName

VedicName

Indus

Sindhu

GhaggarHakra

Saraswati

Sutlej

Shatudri

Beas

Vipasha

Jhelum

Vitasta

Ravi

Parushni

Chenab

Ashikni

Kabul

Kubha

Kurram

Krumu

Gomal

Gomati

Gandak

Sadanitra

Swat

Suvastu

Chautang

Drishavati

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