By 1500 BC the Aryans migrated into the Indian subcontinent from central Asia.
Lokmanya Tilak in his book “The Arctic Home in the Vedas” propounded that North Pole was the original home of Aryans during pre-glacial period.
Swami Dayanand Saraswati propounded that the original home of the Aryans was Tibet. Logic given was that sun and fire was worshipped in Tibet due to extreme cold.
Aryan invasion led to a language and cultural shift in northern Indian subcontinent.
Urbanised civilisation gave way to rural-agro economy.
The Vedic Period is the period when the Vedic Sanskrit texts were composed in India.
The Vedic literature consists of the four Vedas - Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharava Veda.
The Rig Veda is the oldest of the four Vedas and it consists of 1028 hymns.
Hymns were sung in honour of various gods.
It refers to Sapta Sindhu or the land of seven rivers including the five rivers of the Punjab, namely Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej along with the Indus and Saravati.
The period of Rigveda in is known as early vedic age during the early vedic age the caste system was not rigid which was based on profession and not by birth. But in the later vedic age cast system became by birth.
The Yajur Veda consists of various details of the rules which must be adhered at the time of sacrifice.
The Sama Veda is a set of melody for chanting during sacrifices the origins of Indian music can be traced in to it.
The Atharva Veda contains details of rituals of worship.
It paved way for black magic and Tantricism in Hinduism Buddhism and Jainism.
Political Organization : The basic unit of political organization was Kula or family.
Several families came together to form a village or Grama.
The leader of the Grama was known as Gramani.
A group of villages constituted a larger unit called visu, headed by vishayapati.
The highest political unit was called Jana or tribe.
There were two popular bodies called Sabha (Council of Elders), Samiti (General Assembly).
Social Organization: The society was clearly divided into four varnas: bhahmanas, Kshatriyas, vaisyas and sudras in the Vedic period.
Each Varna was allowed well-defined jobs, it was emphasized that Varna was based on birth and two higher varna were given much privileges.
Religion: The Vedic Aryans worshipped the forces of nature such as Earth, Fire, Wind, Rain and Thunder.
Major god was Indra/Purandara To whom the maximum slokas vere devoted.
There were no temples, and no idol worship in the period.
Elaborate rituals were followed during worship.
Economic Condition: The Rig Vedic Aryans were a pastoral people
their main occupation was cattle rearing.
When they finally settled in Northern India, they began the practice of agriculture.
They were able to clear forests and bring more land under cultivation.
Carpentry is another very important profession.
Carpenters made chariots and plough.
Workers of metal made a variety of products with copper and bronze.
Spinning was another important profession and cotton and woolen fabrics were made.
Vedic literature;Examples of early works written in Vedic Sanskrit include the Sulba Sutras, which are some of the earliest texts on geometry.
The Vedic and post vedic literature is broadly divided into two categories viz. Shruti and Smriti.
Shruti describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism viz. Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, & Upanishads is canonical, consisting of revelation and unquestionable truth
Smiriti literally means “that which is remembered,” comprises Vedanga, Shad darsana, Puranas, Itihasa, Upveda, Tantras, Agamas, Upangs are supplementary and may change over time.
There is another class of Sanskrit literature called Epics which includes Ramayana and Mahabharta.
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