History (Ancient India History :- Later Vedic Period (1000 – 600 BC))

Ancient India History :- Later Vedic Period (1000 – 600 BC)

 *Advent of Iron Age

 *Origin of Sam Veda, Yajur Veda & Atharva Veda

 *Composition of Samhitas, Brahmanas & Upanishads

 *Marked by invention of PGW (Painted grey ware) for bowls & dishes

Samhitas: Collection of Vedic hymns & Mantras

Sama Veda

 *Book of chants

 *Origin of Indian music

 *For recitation, prayers of Rig Veda were set to tunes

 *Modified collection is known as Sama Veda

Yajur Veda

 *Contains hymns & rituals, sacrifices, Royal ceremonies

 *Rajsuya & Vajpeya mentioned for the 1st time

 *Written in verse and prose form

Atharva Veda

 *Origin of Indian medicine

 *Contains formulae, charms & spells to ward off evil & diseases

 *Composed by a non-aryan

- According to Satapatha Brahamana Rig veda, Sama Veda & Yajur veda constitutes Traya Veda & were composed by Aryans

Brahamanas

 *Prose commentaries of all four Vedas

 *18 in number

 *Most important is Satapatha Brahamanas

 *Full of ritualistic formulae & explains social and religious meaning of rituals & sacrifices

Aranyakas

 *Forest books → Composed in forests

 *Were meant to study in forests

 *Describes the lifestyle of Sanyasis in forests

Developments in Later Vedic Period

 *Satapatha brahamanas refers to expansion of Aryans into eastern Gangetic plains i.e. Aryans expanded from Punjab to whole of Uttar Pradesh covered by Ganga – Yamuna Doab

 *Soon Kuru occupied upper portion of the doab along with Delhi & set up their capital at Hastinapur

 *Kurus coalesced with Panchalas who occupied middle portion of the doab

 *This era marks the famous Mahabharata war at land of Kurus i.e. Kurukshetra

 *In later Vedic times, people hardly knew the use of burnt bricks as mud structures have been discovered at Hastinapur

 *From traditions we learnt that Hastinapur was thoroughly flooded and remnant of Kuru clan moved to Kaushambi near Allahabad.

- Later Vedic people succeeded in their second phase of expansion because of use of iron weapons & horse drawn chariots (Around 1000 BC iron appeared in Dharwar district of Karnataka & at Gandhar)

 *Iron was called shyama or Krishana Aya (Black metal)

 *Agriculture was now chief means of livelihood with rice & wheat main crops along with the use of wooden ploughshare → Predominantly pastoral society became agricultural

 *For the 1st time Vedic people came to be acquainted with Rice & called it Vrihi (in Vedic text recommended in Vedic rituals)

Later Vedic Period Crops Name

Whea :- Godhuma

Barley :- Yava

Rice :- Vrihi

Sugarcane :- Ikshu

 *Famous pottery of this age was ‘Painted Grey Ware’ and ‘Northern Black Polished Ware.

 *Term Rashtra (Territory) appeared for the 1st time in this period

Famous King’s ceremony of this age:

 *Rajasuya Sacrifice: Supposed to confer supreme power on him (To impress/influence people)

 *Vajapeya: Chariot race in which royal chariot was made to win the race against his kinmen

 *Ashvamedha: Unquestioned control over area on which royal horse ran uninterrupted

Later Vedic Period Administration

 *Popular assemblies lost their importance & royal power increased at their cost (Vidhata completely disappeared)

 *Sabha & Samiti continued to hold their ground but women were no longer permitted to sit on sabha & it was now dominated by nobles & brahamanas

 *Collection of taxes and tributes became common & responsibility for the same lied with officer called “Sangrihitri”

 *Even now king did not maintain a standing army & tribal units were mustered at the time of war

Societal Division in Later Vedic period

 *Later Vedic period was divided into four vernas:

Brahamanas     Kshatriyas / Rajanas     Vaishyas     Shudras

 *Growing practice of sacrifice greatly added to power of brahamanas

 *Vaishyas were placed in the category of Dvija or Twice born and regarded as only tribute payers; on which Kshatriyas & Brahamans lived

 *All 3 higher vernas shared one common feature : Upanayana or investiture with sacred thread according to Vedic mantras

 *Shudras were deprived of sacred thread ceremony & recitation of Gayatri Mantra

 *Certain sections of the artisans such as Rathkaras / Chariot makers enjoyed a higher status & were entitled to sacred thread ceremony

According to Aitareya Brahmana,

 *In relation with prince, Brahamana is described as seeker of livelihood & acceptor of gifts but removable at will

 *A vaishya is tribute payer, meant for being beaten & oppressed at will

 *Shudras as servant of another & meant for being beaten & made to work at will by another

- Institution of Gotra appeared in later Vedic times, literally it mean cow pen i.e. a place where cattle belonging to whole clan are kept, but in due time it signified as descent from a common ancestors. No marriage could take place between persons belonging to same Gotra or having the same lineage.

Later Vedic period refers to 3 divisions of India viz.

 *Aryavrata (Northern India )

 *Madhyadesha (Central India)

 *Dakshinpatha ( Southern India)

Later Vedic period mentions 4 Ashrams

 *Brahamchari → For Student

 *Grihastha → For householder

 *Vanaprastha →  Hermit (a stage of gradual detachment)

 *Sanyasin / Ascetic → Who renounced the world fully

 *Not applicable to women & people of lower varnas

  Gods of Later Vedic Period

 *Two outstanding Rig Vedic gods Indra & Agni lost their former importance & Prajapati (The creator) came to occupy the supreme position along with Rudra (The destroyer) & Vishnu (Protector of people)

 *Pushans (Supposed to look after cattles) became god of Shudras although in Rig Veda cattle rearing was primary occupation of Aryans

Asvins :- Protector of agriculture (Killer the rats)

Savitri :- To fix a place where a new home could be built

Surya :- Remove Demons

 *Signs of Idolatry appeared in later Vedic times & mode of worship changed considerably as sacrifices became far more important than mere prayers along with formulae(Mantras) carefully pronounced by sacrifier

 *Sacrifier was known as Yajamana (Performer of Yajna) & Guests were known as Goghna (Fed on cattle) →Sacrifices involved killing of animals at large scale especially cattles

 *These formulae, Rituals & sacrifices were invented & elaborated by priests called brahamanas who claimed monopoly of priestly knowledge but still territory was not given as gifts in post Vedic period

Status of Women in later Vedic period

- Status of women declined as primarily pastoral society now became agricultural & women which in pastoral time worked neck to neck with men for fetching milk & all, begin doing all household chores, with men going to plough the field & grow grains

 *Deprived to attend assemblies

 *Deprived of education

 *Deprived of Upanayana ceremony

 *Child marriage became common

 *Purdah and sati was not prevalent

Upanishads

 *Towards the end of Vedic period around 600 BC, a strong reaction against priestly domination, cults & rituals began especially in lands of Panchalas & Videha & upanishads were compiled.

 *Upanishads were mainly philosophical texts criticizing the rituals & laid stress on Right belief & Right knowledge of self-i.e. Relation of Atman with Brahma should be properly understood

 *Upanishads describes dialogues between guru & shishya and were probably written by Kshatriyas

 *Brahma emerged as supreme entity in Upanishads comparable to powerful kings of the era

 *Upanishads followed principle of Jnana i.e.

 *True knowledge for peace

 *Changelessness, Indestructibility & immortality of soul

 *Salvation

- End of Later Vedic Period marked the beginning of territorial kingdoms such as Panchala Janapada, Koshala Janapada etc. & wars were not fought only for cattles but also for territory.