8. Later Vedic Period

Expansion in the later Vedic period (c. 1000-600 B.C.)

• The history of Vedic period is based mainly on the Vedic texts compiled after the age of Rig Veda. The Rig Veda Samhita is the oldest Vedic text, for the purpose of singing, its poems were set to tune and collected in the Sam Veda Samhita.
• In addition to Sam Veda there were Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. 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.
• All these later Vedic texts were compiled in the upper Gangetic basin in circa 1000-600 B.C. And digging and exploration have brought to light more than 500 sites called the Painted Grey Ware(PGW) sites.
• These sites were called so because they were inhabited by people who used earthen bowls and dishes made of painted grey pottery and used iron weapons.
• The Kurus occupied Delhi and the upper portion of the doab, the area called Kurukshetra or the Land of the Kurus. From traditions we learnt that Hastinapur was flooded and the remnants of Kuru clan moved to Kausambi near Allahabad.
• In western UP, they had to contend against the people who used pots of Ochre or red colour and copper implements and in eastern UP and north Bihar with people using copper implements and black and red earthen pots.
• The Vedic people succeeded in the second phase of their expansion because they used iron weapons and horse-driven chariots.

 

The PGW-Iron Phase Culture and Later Vedic Economy

• From around 1000 B.C. Iron was used in the Gandhara area in Pakistan found with the dead bodies discovered and in western UP around 800 B.C. And the metal was called syama or krishna ayas in Vedic texts.
• The Vedic people continued to produce barley, but during this period rice and wheat became their chief crops and other kinds of lentils were also produced by them.
• The later Vedic period saw the rise of diverse arts and crafts, there were smiths and smelters and copper was one of the first metals used by them used mainly for war and hunting and for ornaments.
• Weaving was confined to women, leather work, pottery, and carpenters work made great progress.
• They were acquainted with 4 types of pottery: black and red ware, black-slipped ware, painted grey ware and red ware.
• People lived in mud-brick houses or in wattle and daub houses erected on wooden poles and led a settled life but since they used wooden ploughshare, they could not produce enough for feeding those who were engaged in other occupations, hence towns didn't came up.
• The pastoral and semi-nomadic forms of living were relegated to the background, agriculture became the  primary source of livelihood and life became settled and sedentary, supplemented by diverse arts and crafts.

 

Political Organisation

• In later Vedic times popular assemblies lost their importance and became to be dominated by princes and rich nobles, women were no longer permitted in the sabha and came to be dominated by nobles and brahamanas.
• Princes rules over tribes but their dominant tribes became identical with territories which might be inhabited by tribes other than their own.
• During this period collection of taxes and tribute seems to have become common. At the lower level administration was carried out by village assemblies headed by chiefs of dominant tribes.
• But even in later Vedic times, the king didn't possess a standing army and tribal units were mustered in times of war.

Social Organisation

• The later Vedic society came to be divided into 4 varnas called brahamanas, Kshatriyas, vaisyas and sudras and from the end of Vedic period the first two cooperated with each other to rule the rest of society.
• The vaisyas constituted the common people and were assigned the functions of agriculture, cattle-breeding, trade and artisans etc.
• All the three higher varnas shared one common feature; they were entitled to upanayama or investiture with the sacred thread according to Vedic mantras, while the fourth varna was derived of it.
• Generally the later Vedic texts draw a line of demarcation between the three higher orders and the sudras on the other but some artisans like chariot-makers were entitled to sacred thread ceremony and enjoyed a higher status.
• Families were mainly patriarchal and women were generally given lower position.
• The institution of gotra  later appeared in Vedic times. People began to practice gotra exogamy.
• Asramas or four stages of life were not well established in Vedic times and only three were mentioned which are brahamchari or student, grihastha or householder, vanaprastha or partial retirement and the fourth one of samyasa or complete retirement was later established in later Vedic times.

 

Gods, Rituals and Philosophy

• The 2 outstanding Rig Vedic gods, Indra and Agni lost their importance and Prajapati, the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Rudra came to occupy the supreme position in the later Vedic period.
• In addition, some symbolic objects began to be worshipped and we notice signs of idolatry in later Vedic times.
• The mode of worship changed considerably as sacrifices became far more important and they assumed both public and domestic character.
• Some rituals performed by the Vedic Aryans are common to the Indo-European peoples, but many rituals seem to have developed on the Indian soil.
• The brahamanas claimed the monopoly of priestly knowledge and expertise. They invented a large number of rituals some of which were adopted from the non-Aryans.
• Towards the end of the Vedic period we notice a strong reaction against priestly domination against cults and rituals in the lands of Panchalas and Videha around 600 B.C., when Upanishads were compiled.
• These philosophical texts criticised the rituals and laid stress on the value of right belief and knowledge. They emphasised that the knowledge of the self or atma should be acquired and the relation of atma with Brahma should be properly understood.
• Emphasis on changelessness, indestructibility and immortality of atma served the cause of stability which was needed for rising state power.
• The later Vedic period saw certain important changes such as beginning of territorial kingdoms and wars being fought not on the possession of cattle but for territory.
• The tribal pastoralists came to be transformed into peasants who could maintain their chief with frequent tributes. Chiefs grew at the expense of tribal peasantry and handsomely rewarded the priests who supported their patrons against the common people called the vaisyas.
• The sudras were still a small serving order. The tribal society broke up into varna-divided society.
• In spite of support from brahamanas, the Kshatriyas could not establish a state system as a state can't be set up without a regular system of taxes and a professional army, which again depends on taxes.
• But the existing mode of agriculture did not leave scope for taxes and tributes in sufficient measure.