SOURCE: IGNOU
v The period which you are going to study now extends roughly
from 1000 B.C. to 600B.C.
v By this period some of Vedic tribes had moved from the
'Sapta Sindhava' region to the upper Ganga Valley and other adjacent regions.
v During the period of this shift a number of changes in their
social, political, economic and religious structure took place. In this unit we
shall be discussing the major aspects of these changes.
SOURCES:
Literary sources:
v The later additions specially the 10th Mandala to the Rigveda Samhita and the Sama, the Yajur and the
Atharva Veda samhitas are the other vedic texts which are assigned to the later
vedic phase.
v The Sama Veda
samhita is a book of prayers and chants which are from the Rigveda, modified and
set to tune for the explicit purpose of singing them during rituals.
v The Yajurveda elaborates
the rituals which accompany the recitation of hymns.The rituals and the hymns
in this samhita document the social and political milieu of this period.
v The Artharvaveda
contains the folk tradition of this period and represents popular religion. It
is a good source for understanding the socio-religious conditions of the common
people.
v Series of texts called the Brahmanas, which are commentaries on the Vedas. They explain the
social and religious aspects of the rituals and throw light on the Vedic
society.
Archaeological Sources:
v The literary sources repeatedly refer to the areas of
Western U.P., Haryana and Rajasthan.
v The period assigned to the later vedic phase is circa 1000
B.C. to 600B.C.
v These communities used a particular kind of pottery called
the Painted Grey Ware (PGW).
v More than 700 PGW sites have been found
along the Upper Ganga Basin.
v The Rigveda mentions
"ayas" which may refer to
Iron, though the archaeological evidence relates iron to the Later Vedic period.
v The Yajurveda qualifies "ayas" as Syama ayas, and the Brahamanas speak of
Krishna ayas.
v Both the words refer to a black metal which means Iron.
IRON TECHNOLOGY AND ITS IMPACT:
v The evidence of the Later Vedic period suggests a transition
from a pastoral society to a sedentary agrarian society.
v It was earlier suggested that the socketed axes made of iron were
extensively used to clear the forests and the Gangetic Doab for permanent cultivation.
v It was also believed that iron tipped ploughshares and hoes increased the
efficiency of the agricultural implements which furthered agricultural
activities.
v Thus scholars believed that the knowledge of Iron technology
was an important factor for the development of agrarian economy.
v However, we now know that the Later Vedic period was neither
purely agrarian, nor was it well advanced in iron technology.
THE NATURE OF THE ECONOMY :
v Both archaeological and literary sources document the
introduction of rice as the staple diet of the people.
v The PGW and Banas
culture (located in the Banas basin in Rajasthan ) yield charred
grains of rice from the excavated sites.
v The Vedic texts mention Vrihi, Tandula and Sali, all
denoting rice. It appears that cropping was practised now, and the fields grew
both barley and rice.
v The twelve sacrifices prescribed in the Atharvaveda for
acquiring material benefits recommend the gifts of cows, calves, oxen, gold,
cooked rice, thatched houses and well cultivated fields to the brahmanas.
v The items of the offerings are a clear indication of the
growing importance of sedentary settlements and agriculture. Later Vedic texts
also refer to eight, twelve and even twenty four oxen yoked to the plough.
v This reference suggests that plough cultivation was familiar in this period.
Importance of Pastoralism Declines :
v Pastoralism was no longer the main subsistence activity of
the people as it was in the Early Vedic period.
v Mixed farming which included cultivation and herding was the occupational
norm of this period.
v Agricultural activities in this phase were not labour intensive.
Changes in
the Functions of the Rituals:
Early Vedic society:
v In the Early Vedic society rituals were performed to bring
about the welfare of the entire tribe.
v Gods were worshipped for ensuring victory over other tribes,
granting
cattle and sons. It was also an
occasion for the chiefs to distribute wealth.
Later Vedic society:
v In the Later Vedic society the function of the rituals
underwent a subtle change. Rituals became much more complicated which could
continue for years.
v Thus only the rich could perform them. The spirit of
collectivity was reduced. Sacrifices were performed to ensure control over rest
of the tribe.
v Gifts were no longer given to the entire tribe rather the
chief gave gifts to the Brahmans who performed sacrifices for him.
v Thus, the rituals became a mechanism for ensuring the material
and spiritual superiority of the chiefs and the Brahmans.
Emerging Importance of Land :
v Land was cultivated through family labour and the help of
domestic servants and slaves.
v In this period, initially land was owned by the clan or the
vis. When clan ownership gradually changed to family ownership the grahapati or
householder became a man of wealth.
v The vaisyas
(those who originally belonged to the vis ) were the producing class in the society and they became
the source of wealth and subsistence for the Kshatriyas and the Brahmanas who
did not actively participate in food production.
v The vaisyas had to give prestations to the Kshatriyas in
lieu of the latter protecting their lands, and dana and dakshina to the
priests for their moral upliftment.
POLITY AND SOCETY:
Polity:
v Jana was used in the sense of people or tribe in the Rigvedic period, but
now the concept of janapada emerged.
Janapada meant the area where the tribe settled.
v The word rashtra
was also used for the first time in the Later Vedic texts.
tribal
Chiefs and Warriors:
v The rajan or the chief was no longer involved only in cattle
raids but emerged as the protector of the territory where his tribesmen
settled.
v The rajanya which already was a superior lineage during the
Rig vedic period, now became the 'Kshatriya'
i.e. those who held power over dominions,
which is the literal meaning of the word 'Kshatriya'.
v Bali and Bhaga no longer meant prestations given
at will, but gradually assumed the forms of regular tributes and taxes.
Tribal Assemblies:
v The sabha became more important than the samiti during this period.
v The office of the raja or the chief was not based solely on
birth but the
choice
of raja was restricted to the Kshatriyas.
Raja's Legitimacy:
v In the absence of firmly established principles of heredity
and primogeniture, consecratory rituals became very important for the ruler in order
to assert this authority.
v Hence, ceremonial sacrifices like rajasuya, asvamedha and
vajapeya were performed on lavish scale. In the Rigvedic period, the asvamedha
yajna was a small affair. But in this period, this was performed to
subjugate other areas and
legitimize the ruler's hold over alien lands.
v The sacrificer was proclaimed as a raja in the course of the
rajasuya.
The Priest:
v With the rising importance of the rajanya Kshatriya, the
Brahmanas too became important since they legitimized the office of the ruler through
the consecratory- rituals.
Society:
v Society was thus composed of unequal groups.
v This hymn describes the origin of the four varnas, i.e. Brahmana,
Kshatriya, Vaisya and the Sudra, from the body of the universal creator, prajapati.
v The 'Hymn of the Primeval Man' comes
from the later portion of the Rigveda. Thus hymn for the first time describes the origin of the four
varnas. It says .......
"The
Brahman was his mouth, of his arms made trbie Kshatriya,
his thighs became the Vaisya,of his
feet the Sudra was born".
The
Sudras on the other hand performed menial tasks and included
slaves captured in wars.
Concept of Varna:
The
system of varna had the following features:
v status by birth,
v A hierarchical ordering of the varnas
(Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Sudra) with Brahmana at the top and Sudra at the base).
v Rules of endogamy and ritual purity.
v The Varna system is further tied with the concept of dharma i.e.
universal law, and the varna dharma was an
attempt to establish a social law for a systematic functioning of the society.
However, the varnadarma system was not properly developed in the Later Vedic
society.
Gotra:
v The institution of gotra
(literally meaning-cow pen) appeared
during this period. As
against tribal endogamy (marriage within tribe) people practised gotra exogamy
(marrying outside the gotra).
v Gotra signified descent from a common ancestor and marriages
could not take place between couples belonging to the same gotra.
Family :
v The patriarchal family was well established and the grihapati acquired a special status.
v Despite the presence of some women philosophers and the
references to a few queens participating in the coronation rituals, women were considered
subordinate to men, and were not involved in any major decision making.
Three stages
of life:
v Three ashramas, i.e. stages of life were prescribed and these stages
were represented by the brahmachari
(studentship), grihastha (householder), vanaprasthi (partial retirement
from house holding life by living in the forest).
v It seems that the fourth i.e. the sanyasa (or complete retirement from
active participation
in the world) stage of life was not known till the time that the upanishada were
written.
v The sanyasis or
the ascetics in
later periods were individuals who protested either passively or actively
against the Vedic social structure.
RELIGION :
The
texts of this period indicate two different religious traditions:
v the Vedic, which is documented in the Sama and Yajurveda.
samhitas and the Brahmans, and the non-vedic or perhaps the folk tradition
extensively documented in the Atharvaveda.
v Sacrifices became very important during this period and they
assumed both a public and private character.
v The public sacrifices e.g. the Rajsuyas, Vajapeya,Asvamedha
were conducted on a massive scale, where the whole community participated.
Priestcraft:
v Vidhis or
rules for performing the sacrifices were
formulated and the Vedic sacrifices no longer meant simple offering of
food/oblations in to the fire.
v The types of offering, types of, sacrifices etc. differed according to
the needs of the patron or the yajamana.
v Thus a class of priests became specialists in the
performances of Yajnas.
The Changing Gods :
v Two prominent Early Vedic gods, Indra and Agni lost their
importance. Prajapati the creator became important.
v Ruddra, a minor deity in the Rigveda, became important now and
Vishnu was conceived as thecreator and protector of the universe.
v Pushan who protected cattle in the former period now became
the god of the Sudras.
Folk Tradition
v The Atharvaveda is a mine of information regarding the folk
tradition.
v Its contents are radically different from the Vedic
sacrificial religion and it is concerned more with magic.
End of this period:
v Towards the end of this period, a strong reaction against
the priestly domination and against the complexities involved in the yajnas
resulted in the formulation of a philosophical doctrine which is enunciated in
the Upanisads.
v These texts emphasized the knowledge of the atma or the soul as against ritualistic
practices and the wasteful expenditure which accompanied sacrifices.
v Thus the materialistic aspect of the religion was discarded
and religion was raised to the realm of philosophy.
