The Vedic Period Class 9 icse Notes

The Vedic Period Class 9 icse Notes

•The Coming of Indo Aryans

The Aryans originally lived in Central Asia and the region around the Caspian Sea. Forced by shortage of food and fodder, they left their original home. Some of them went to Europe while others came to India through the passes of Hindukush around 1500 BC. Those who came to India came to be known as Indo-Aryans. The Aryans first settled in Punjab. The civilisation developed during this age came to be known as Vedic Civilisation.

The most important sources of the Vedic civilisation are the Vedas. Veda means “knowledge”. The Vedas are neither any individual religious work nor a collection of definite number of books compiled at a particular time. The Vedic literature had grown in the course of many centuries and was handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. It consists of three successive classes of literary creations. Some of these still exist, but many have been completely lost forever.

THESE THREE CLASSES ARE :
1. The Veda : A collection of hymns, prayers, charms, litanies and sacrificial formulae. There are four Vedas, namely :

(i) Rigveda : It is a collection of hymns. It has about 1028 hymns. These hymns highlight the political, social, economic and religious conditions of the Rig Vedic India.

(ii) Samveda : It is a collection of songs mostly taken from Rigveda.
(iii) Yajurveda : It is a collection of sacrificial formulae.
(iv) Atharvaveda : It is a collection of spells and charms. A study of Atharvaveda reveals that with the passage of time, the Aryans discarded nature-worship and developed the worship of spirits.

The Vedas formed the earliest segment of Vedic literature and amongst them vadas, Rigveda is the oldest.

2. The Brahmanas : These are prose texts which contain details about the meaning of Vedic hymns, their applications, stories of their origins, etc. In a way these contain details about rituals and philosophies.

3. Aranyakas and Upanishads : The concluding portions of the Brahmans are known as Aranyakas. They deal with philosophy and mysticism.

The literal meaning of Upanishad is ‘to sit down near some one’. It denotes pupil's sitting near his guru or teacher for the purpose of a confidential communication of the secret doctrine.

•Archaeological Sources Iron and Pottery

Along with Vedas many archaeological sources have been discovered in different parts of India . As discussed earlier the Aryans moved south-east, and finally settled in the areas shown in the map as pastoral - agricultural communities and kingdoms. For these people, transformation from pastoral to settled agricultural communities took between 1000 to 1500 years, the period lasting until about 700-600 B.C.

• For the Aryans, the period of transition from pastoral to agricultural communities was characterised by war and strife against the local population. They were constantly in search of agricultural land, mineral deposits and ores and they cleared dense forests for these purposes.

• In the Rigvedic period, the Aryan groups were always on the move and in constant strife with each other or with the local non-Aryans. Therefore, they did not have enough opportunity to develop science and technology.

• The movement of the Aryans towards southeast is supported by the discovery of Red Ware also known as Northern Black Polished Ware found almost all over western Uttar Pradesh. The pottery was made of well - levigated clay with little tempering material and had a strikingly lustrous surface.

Yajurveda speaks of ploughs drawn by teams of twelve oxen. Such ploughs were indispensable for driving deep furrows and turning over heavy soil which would not otherwise yield well or retain its fertility. The strong plough could be made of wood trimmed down by bronze tools, but the ploughshare for cultivating strong soil had to be of iron. Where did the iron come from? Copper may have been available in Rajasthan, but iron deposits lay much farther away in the east i.e at the eastern end of the Gangetic plain in south-east Bihar. Evidences like copper harpoons, shoulder celts and semihuman figures dated about 1000 B.C., have been found all over the Gangetic plain especially in Ataranjikhera, Kausambi near Allahabad, Jakhera in district Etah, in Uttar Pradesh and Hallur in Karnataka.

At Jakhera(Rajasthan), apart from wheat, barley, rice, cattle, pig and horse a large number of iron implements have been discovered. The most frequently reported finds are arrowheads (both barbed and leaf-shaped) and spearheads. Axes with shaft hole are reported from Noh and Atranjikhera. Atranjikhera has also yielded iron tongs.

•Early Vedic Age (Rig Vedic Age)

The period during which the Vedas and other Vedic literature were written is known as the Vedic Age. During this period, the Aryans permanently settled down in India, and gave birth to the Vedic Civilisation. It is called Vedic Civilisation, because our knowledge about this civilisation comes chiefly from the Vedas.

The Social Conditions

1. The village : The Aryans lived in well planned villages. A village consisted of a number of joint families. The village was called a gram. It was rectangular in shape. There was usually a stockade around the village.

There was one main entrance gate in a village. It had well laid out streets. The houses were constructed in a systematic way. These houses were made of wood, bamboo, straw and reeds. These were, in fact, thatched huts, tied together by ropes, barsand pegs.

The king interfered very little in village life. Every village had, what we today call, local self government, or something similar to it.

2. The family and status of women : The family was the primary unit of society. There was the joint family system. Often three generations lived together – the father, the grandfather and the grandchildren. The eldest male member was the head of the family. He was called grihapati. He had full authority over all the members of the joint family. It was also his duty to look after the family members. Thus, it was a patriarchal system of family, a system in which the male head held the final authority.

3. Division of the society : The Aryan society was divided into four classes, namely, the Brahmanas, the Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas and the Sudras. These were, in fact, occupational groups of people. The occupations of these classes were as under :
• The Brahmanas learnt the Vedas and performed religious ceremonies and taught the people.
• The Kshatriyas were the ruling and the warrior class. Their function was to govern and defend their land.
• The Vaisyas followed the occupation of agriculture, cattle-rearing and trade.
• The Sudras were the class who made their living by doing manual and other unskilled jobs to serve the other three classes.

4. Food and food habit : The Aryans ate simple but nourishing food. Wheat, maize and barley were their staple diet. They also took milk and milk products such as butter, ghee, curd and cheese. They also consumed wild honey, fruits, vegetables and meat. They even served special food to special guests on special occasions. Among drinks, they took soma juice and sura juice, which were intoxicating strong drinks. The former drink was even offered to gods in religious ceremonies.

Later Vedic Age (The Epic Age)

From the Sapt Sindhu region, the Aryans pushed forward and slowly occupied the whole of Northern India. They settled in the valleys of rivers Ganga and Yamuna. The period during which they found new settlements is known as the Later Vedic Period. The span of this period is considered to be roughly between 1000 BC and 600 BC. Most of our knowledge about this period is drawn from the later Vedic literature produced during this period. These include the Sutras, the Vedangas, the Upavedas, the six Darshanas (schools of Indian philosophy), the Puranas, the Dharma-shastras, and especially the two great epics, namely the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Because these great epics were written during this period, this age is also described as the Epic Age. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata clearly depict the life and Civilisation of this period.

•The Impact of Aryan Civilization

The Aryans have left a great impact. They gave to India Sanskrit language, its grammar, phonetics and derivations. Sanskrit remained the unifying force in the sub-continent for centuries together. It also served as the mother of many vernacular and regional languages.

The Aryans cleared the forests and gave an agrarian base to Indian economy, which remains so till today.

The philosophy of the Vedas, the Upanishads and the ideals set forth by the two Epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata) are the foundations of present day Hindu religion and life. The gods of the Later Vedic Period like Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Rama and Krishna are worshipped till today. Yajnas are performed in Hindu ceremonies. The teaching of Lord Krishna in the Bhagvad Gita continues to inspire people with its philosophy of selfless action. Thus the Later Vedic Period with its later Vedic  literature and the value system contained in it, has left great impact on present-day life and society.