Date :- 10th November, 2021

Assignment
Topic: - Vedic Age in Ancient India: Origin, Spread, Religion and Society

The Vedic period, or Vedic age (1500 - 500 BCE), is the period in the late Bronze Age and
early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas was
composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the end of the Urban Indus Valley
Civilisation and a second urbanisation which began in the central Indo-Gangetic
Plain 600 BCE. The Vedas are liturgical texts which formed the basis of modern
day Hinduism, which also developed in the Kuru Kingdom. The Vedas contain details of life
during this period that have been interpreted to be historical and constitute the primary
sources for understanding the period. These documents, alongside the corresponding
archaeological record, allow for the evolution of the Vedic culture to be traced and inferred.
The Vedas were composed and orally transmitted with precision in this period. The Vedic
society was patriarchal and patrilineal. Early Indo-Aryans were a Late Bronze Age society
centred in the Punjab, organised into tribes rather than kingdoms, and primarily sustained
by a pastoral way of life. The Vedic period saw the emergence of a hierarchy of social
classes that would remain influential. Vedic religion developed into Brahmanical orthodoxy,
and around the beginning of the Common Era, the Vedic tradition formed one of the main
constituents of Hindu synthesis.

ORIGIN AND SPREAD

The early Vedic age is historically dated to the second half of the second millennium BCE.
Historically, after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which occurred around
1900 BCE, groups of Indo-Aryan peoples migrated into north-western India and started to
inhabit the northern Indus Valley. The Indo-Aryans represented a sub-group that diverged
from other Indo-Iranian tribes at the Andronovo horizon before the middle of the
2nd millennium BCE, The Indo-Iranians originated in the Sintashta culture, from which arose
the subsequent Andronovo horizon. The Indo-Aryans migrated through the adjacent Bactria
Margiana area (present-day northern Afghanistan) to northwest India, followed by the rise
of the Iranian Yaz culture at 1500 BCE, and the Iranian migrations into Iran at 800 BCE.
Some Indian writers and archaeologists have opposed the notion of a migration of Indo-
Aryans into India, and argued for an indigenous origin of the Indo-Aryans. In this view, the
Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to the earliest
period of the Sindhu Sarasvati tradition 7000 or 8000 BCE.
The knowledge about the Aryans comes mostly from the Rigveda-Samhita, i.e., the oldest
layer of the Vedas, which was composed 1200 - 1000 BCE. They brought with them their
distinctive religious traditions and practices. The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-
classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the
Indo-Iranian religion.

RELIGION
Texts considered to date to the Vedic period are mainly the four Vedas, but
the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and the older Upanishads as well as the oldest Srautasutras are
also considered to be Vedic. The Vedas record the liturgy connected with the rituals and
sacrifices performed by the 16 or 17 Srauta priests and the purohitas.
The rishis, the composers of the hymns of the Rigveda, were considered inspired poets and
seers. The mode of worship was the performance of sacrifices (Yajna) which included
the chanting of Rigvedic verses, singing of Samans and mumbling of sacrificial mantras.
Yajna involved sacrifice and sublimation of the havana samagri (herbal preparations) in the
fire accompanied by the chanting of the Vedic mantras. The sublime meaning of the word
yajna is derived from the Sanskrit verb yaj, which has a three-fold meaning of worship of
deities (devapujana), unity (saogatikarana) and charity (dana). An essential element was the
sacrificial fire, the divine Agni, into which oblations were poured, as everything offered into
the fire was believed to reach God. People prayed for abundance of rain, cattle, sons, long
life and gaining heaven.
Vedic people believed in the transmigration of the soul, and the peepul tree and cow were
sanctified by the time of the Atharvaveda. Many of the concepts of Indian philosophy
espoused later like Dharma, Karma etc., trace their root to the Vedas.
The main deities of the Vedic pantheon were Indra, Agni (the sacrificial fire), and Soma and
some deities of social order such as Mitra Varuna, Aryaman, Bhaga and Amsa, further
nature deities such as Surya (the Sun), Vayu (the wind) and Prithivi (the earth). Goddesses
included Ushas (the dawn), Prithvi and Aditi (the mother of the Aditya gods or sometimes
the cow). Rivers, especially Saraswati, were also considered goddesses. Deities were not
viewed as all-powerful. The relationship between humans and the deity was one of
transaction, with Agni (the sacrificial fire) taking the role of messenger between the two.
Strong traces of a common Indo-Iranian religion remain visible, especially in the Soma cult
and the fire worship, both of which are preserved in Zoroastrianism. Ethics in the Vedas are
based on the concepts of Satya and Rta. Satya is the principle of integration rooted in the
Absolute. Whereas, Ṛta is the expression of Satya, which regulates and coordinates the
operation of the universe and everything within it. Conformity with Ṛta would enable
progress whereas its violation would lead to punishment.

SOCIETY
While Vedic society was relatively democratic or unbaised in the sense that a distinct
hierarchy of socio-economic classes or castes was absent, the Vedic period saw the
emergence of a hierarchy of social classes. Political hierarchy was determined by rank,
where rajan (tribal king) and rajanya (tribal nobility) stood at the top, the vis (the common
people) in the middle, and the dasa and dasyu (non-Indo-Aryan servants) at the bottom. The
words Brahamana and Kshatriya occur in various family books of the Rigveda, but they are
not associated with the term varna. The words Vaishya and Shudra are absent. Verses of
the Rigveda, such as 3.44-45, indicate the absence of strict social hierarchy and the
existence of social mobility.
The institution of marriage was important and different types of marriages such as
monogamy, polygyny and polyandry are mentioned in the Rigveda. Both women sages and
female gods were known to Vedic Aryans. Women could choose their husbands and could
remarry if their husbands died or disappeared. The wife enjoyed a respectable
position. People consumed milk, milk products, grains, fruits and vegetables. Meat eating is
mentioned, however, cows are labelled aghnya (not to be killed). Clothes of cotton, wool
and animal skin were worn. Soma and sura were popular drinks in the Vedic society, of
which soma was sanctified by religion. Flute (vana), lute (vina), harp, cymbals and drums
were the musical instruments played and a heptatonic scale was used. Dancing, dramas,
chariot racing and gambling were other popular pastimes.
The emergence of monarchical states in the later Vedic age led to a distancing of
the rajan from the people and the emergence of a varna hierarchy. The society was divided
into four social groups, Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. The later Vedic texts
fixed social boundaries, roles, status, and ritual purity for each of the groups.
The Shatapatha Brahmana associates the Brahmana with purity of parentage, good conduct,
glory, teaching or protecting people. Kshatriya with strength, fame, ruling, and warfare.
Vaishya with material prosperity and production-related activities such as cattle rearing and
agriculture. Shudras with the service of the higher varnas. The effects of Rajasuya sacrifice
depended on the varna of the sacrificer. Rajasuya endowed Brahmana with lustre, Kshatriya
with valour, Vaishya with procreative power and Shudra with stability. The hierarchy of the
top three varnas is ambiguous in the later Vedic texts. The Purusha sukta visualised the
four varnas as hierarchical, but inter-related parts of an organic whole. Despite the
increasing social stratification in the later Vedic times, hymns like Rigveda suggest some
amount of social mobility.
Household became an important unit in the later Vedic age. The variety of households of
the Vedic era gave way to an idealised household which was headed by a grihapati. The
relations between husband and wife, father and son were hierarchically organised and the
women were relegated to subordinate and docile roles. Polygyny was more common than
polyandry and texts like Tattiriya Samhita indicate taboos around menstruating women.
Various professions women took to are mentioned in the later Vedic texts. Women tended
to cattle, milked cows, carded wool were weavers, dyers, and corn grinders. Women
warriors such as Vishphala, who lost a leg in battle, are mentioned. Two female philosophers
are mentioned in the Upanishads. Patrick Olivelle, in his translation of the Upanishads,
writes that ‘the fact that these women are introduced without any attempt to justify or to
explain how women could be engaged in theological matters suggests the relatively high
social and religious position of at least women of some social strata during this period.’