Old NCERT Summary (RS Sharma): The Later Vedic Period - History for UPSC CSE

Expansion in the Later Vedic Period (C.1000 - 500B.C.)

• The history of the later Vedic period is based mainly on the Vedic texts which were compiled after the age of the Rig Veda. The collections of the Vedic hymns or mantras were known as the Samhitas. For purposes of recitation, the prayers of the Rig Veda were set to tune, and this modified collection was known as the Sama Veda Samhita.
  
• In addition to the Sama Veda. in post-Rig Vedic times two other collections were: composed. These were - the Yajur Veda Samhita and the Atharva Veda Samhita. The Yajur Veda contains not only hymns but also rituals which have to accompany their recitation. The Atharva Veda contains charms and spells to ward off evils and diseases. The Vedic Samhitas were followed by the composition of a series of texts known as the Brahmanas. These are full of ritualistic formulae and explain the social and religious meaning of rituals.
• All these later Vedic texts were compiled in the upper Gangetic basin in circa 1000-500 B.C. These are called Painted Grey Ware (PGW) sites because they were inhabited by people who used earthern bowls and dishes made of painted grey pottery. They also used iron weapons. With the combined evidence from the later Vedic texts and PGW ironphase archaeology we can form an idea of the life of the people in the first half of the first millennium B.C. in western Uttar Pradesh and adjoining areas of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
  Painted Grey Ware Culture
• The texts show that the Aryans expanded from Punjab over the whole of western Uttar Pradesh covered by the Ganga-Yamuna doab. The Bharatas and Purus, the two major tribes, combined and thus formed the Rum people. In the beginning they lived between the Sarasvati and the Drishadvati just on the fringe of the doab. Soon the Kurus occupied Delhi and the upper portion of the doab, the area called Kurukshetra or the land of the Kurus. Gradually they coalesced with a people called the Panchalas, who occupied the middle portion of the doab. 

• The authority of the Kuru-Panchala people spread over Delhi, and the upper and middle portion of the doab. The authority of the Kuru-Panchala people spread over Delhi, and the upper and middle parts of the doab. They set up their capital at Hastinapur situated in the district of Meerut. The history of the Kuru tribe is important for the battle of Bharata, which is the main theme of the great epic called the Mahabharata. This war is supposed to have been fought around 950 B.C. between, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, although both of them belonged to the Kuru clan. As a result practically the whole of the kuru clan was wiped out. Towards the end of the later Vedic period, around 600 B.C. the Vedic people spread from the board further east of Koshala in eastern Uttar Pradesh and videha in north Bihar. Although Koshala is associated with the story of Rama, it is not mentioned in Vedic literature.

• Around 1000 B.C. iron appears in Dharwar district in Karnataka. Excavations show that iron weapons such as arrow-heads and spear-heads came to be commonly used in western Uttar Pradesh from about 800 B.C. onwards. With iron weapons the Vedic people may have defeated the few adversaries that may have faced them in the upper portion of the doab. Towards the end of the Vedic period knowledge of iron spread in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Videha. The earliest iron implements discovered in this area belong to the seventh Century B.C., and the metal itself is called Shyama or Krishna ayas in the later Vedic texts.
• Although very few agricultural tools made of iron have been found, undoubtedly agriculture was the chief means of livelibood of the later Vedic people. The Shatapatha Brahmana speaks at length about the plough in grituals. According to ancient legends, janaka, the king of Videha and father of Sita, lent his hand to the plough. In later times ploughing came to be prohibited, for the members of the upper vernas.
• The Vedic people continued to produce barley, but during this period rice and wheat became their chief crops. In subsequent times wheat became the staple food of the people in Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh. For the first time the Vedic people came to be acquainted with rice in the doab. It is called vrihi in the Vedic texts, and its remains recovered from Hastinapur belong to the eighth century B.C. The use of rice is recommended in Vedic rituals, but that of wheat only rarely.
• Agriculture and various crafts enabled the later Vedic people to lead a settled life. Excavations and explorations give us some idea about settlements in later Vedic times. Widespread Painted Grey Ware sites are found not only in western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, which was the Kuru-Panchala area but also in the adjoining paras of Punjab and Haryana, which was the Madras area and in those of Rajasthan, which was the Matsya area. Also we can court nearly 700 sites, mostly belonging to the upper Gangetic basin.
• Although the term nagara is used in later Vedic texts we can trace only the faint beginnings of towns towards the end of the later Vedic period. Hastinapur and Kaushambi near Allahabad can be regarded as primitive towns belonging to the end of the Vedic period. They may be called proto urban sites.

• In later Vedic times Rig Vedic popular assemblies lost importance, and royal power increased at their cost, the vidatha completely disappeared. The sabha and samiti continued to hold the ground, but their character changed. They came to be dominated by chiefs and rich nobles. Women were no longer permitted to sit on the sabha, and it was now dominated by nobles and brahmanas.
  
• The formation of bigger kingdoms made the chief or the king more powerful. Tribal authority tended to become territorial. Princes or chiefs ruled over tribes, but the dominant tribes gave their names to territories, which might be inhabited by tribes other than their own. In the beginning each area was named after the tribe which settled there first. At first Panchala was the name of a people, and then it became the name of a region. The term rashtra, which indicates territory, first appears in this period.
• Traces of the election of the chief or the king appear In later Vedic texts. Other qualities was elected raja. He received voluntary presents called bali from his ordinary kinsmen or the common people called the vis. But the chief tried to perpetuate the right to receive presents and enjoy other privileges pertaining to his office by making it hereditary in his family; the post generally went to the eldest son. However, this succession was not always smooth.
• The kings influence was strengthened by rituals. He performed the raja suya sacrifice, which was supposed to confer supreme power on him. He performed the ashvamedha, which meant unquestioned control over an area in which the royal horse ran uninterrupted. He also performed the vajapeya or the chariot race, in which the royal chariot was made to win the race against his kinsmen. All these rituals impressed the people with the increasing power and prestige of the king.
• During this period collection of taxes and tributes seems to have become common. They were probably deposited with an officer called sangrihitri. In the discharge of his duties the king was assisted by the priest, the commander, the chief queen and a few other high functionaries. At the lower level, the administration was possibly carried on the village assemblies, which may have been controlled by the chiefs of the dominant clans.

Social Organisation

• The later Vedic society came to be divided into four vernas called the brahmans, rajanyas or kahatriyas, vaishyas and shudras. The growing cult of sacrificed enormously added to the power of the brahmanas.
  
• The vaishyas constituted the common people, and they were assigned to do the producing functions such as agriculture, cattle - breeding, etc. Some of them so worked as artisans. Towards the end of the Vedic period they began to engage in trade.
• The vaishyas appear to be the only tribute payers in later Vedic times, and the brahmanas and kahatriyas are represented as living on the tributes collected from the vaishyas. This was done with the help of the priests who also fattened at the cost of people or the vaishyas. All the three higher varnas shared one common feature: they were entitled to upanayana or investiture with the sacred thread according to the Vedic mantras. The fourth varna was deprived of the sacred thread ceremony and the recitation of the gayatri mantra and with this began the imposition of disabilities on the shudra.
• Generally the later Vedic texts draw a line of demarcation between the three higher orders on the one hand, and the shudras on the other. There were, nevertheless several public rituals connected with the coronation of the king in which the shudras participated, presumably as survivors of the original Aryan people. Certain sections of artisans such as rathakara or chariot maker enjoyed a high status, and were entitled to the sacred thread ceremony. Therefore, even in later Vedic times varna distinctions had not advanced very far.
• In the family we notice the increasing power of the father, who could even disinherit his son. In princely families the right of primogeniture was getting stronger. Male ancestors came to be worshipped. Women were generally given a lower position. Although some women theologians took part in philosophic discussion and some queens participated in coronation rituals, ordinarily women were thought to be inferior and subordinate to men.
• The institution of gotra appeared in later Vedic times. Literally it means the cow-pen or the place where cattle belonging to the whole clan are kept, but in course of time it signified descent from a common ancestor. People began to practise gotra exogamy. No marriage could take place between persons belonging to the same gotra or having the same lineage.

• Ashramas or four stages of life were not well established in Vedic times. In the post Vedic texts we hear of four ashramas-that of Brahmachari or student, grihasth or householder, vanaprastha or hermit and sannyasin or ascetic who completely renounced the worldly life. Only the first three are mentioned in the later Vedic texts; the last or the fourth stage had not been well established in later Vedic times though ascetic life was not unknown. Even in post-Vedic times only the stage of the housholder was commonly practised by all the varnas.

• The two outstanding Rig Vedic gods, Indra and Agni, lost their former Importance. On the other hand, Prajapati the creator, came to occupy the supreme position in the later Vedic pantheon. Some of the other minor gods of the Rig Vedic period also came to the forefront. Rudra, the god of animals, became important in later Vedic times, and Vishnu came to be conceived as the preserver and protector of the people. In addition, some objects began to be worshipped as symbols of vidinity; signs of idolatry appear in later Vedic times. Pushan, who was supposed to look after cattle, came to be regarded as the god of the shudras.
• People worshiped gods for the same material reasons in this period as they did in earlier times. However, the mode of worship changed considerably. Prayers continued to be recited. Sacrifices became far more important, and they assumed both public and domestic character.
• Sacrifices involved the killing of animals on a large scale and, especially the destruction of cattle wealth. The guest was known as goghna or one who was fed on cattle. Sacrifices were accompanied by formulae which had to be carefully pronounced by the sacrificer. The sacrificer was known as the yajamana, the performer, of yajna, and much of his success depended on the magical power of words uttered correctly in the sacrifices.
• In addition to cows, which were usually given as sacrificial gifts, gold, cloth and horses were also given. Sometimes the priests claimed portions of territory as dakshina, The Shatapatha brahmana states that in the ashvamedha, north, south, east and west all should be given to the priest.
• Towards the end of the Vedic period began a strong reaction against priestly domination, against cults and rituals, especially in the land of the Panchalas and Videha where, around 600 B.C., the Upanishads were compiled. These philosophical texts criticized the rituals and laid stress on the value of right belief and knowledge. They emphasised that the knowledge of the self or atman should be acquired and the relation of atman with Brahma should be properly understood.