CHANGES IN THE LATER VEDIC PHASE

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.

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