History Quiz: Early & Later Vedic Civilization |30 Apr, 2021

Central Asia is the homeland of the Aryans – was propounded by Max Mueller.

• With the comparative study of the Avesta (Iranian text) and the Vedas, one finds striking linguistic relationship between them of not just words but of concepts too.
• The interchangeability between ‘h’ and ‘s’ and incredible consistency in this change as hepta hindu (sapta sindhu), Ahura (asura), haoma (soma), daha (dasa) further substantiate the claim.

Source: Poonam Dahiya

The Rig Veda is a collection of 1,028 hymns, divided into 10 Mandals (books).

• They are the earliest compositions and hence, they depict the life of the Early Vedic people in India.
• Recently, the Rig Veda has been included by the UNESCO in the list of literature signifying World Human Heritage.
• The priests related to the Rig Veda are Kotri or Motri, and the Upveda of the Rig Veda is the Ayurveda.

Source: Poonam Dahaiya

The Sama Veda is the collection of verses mostly taken from the Rig Veda, but arranged in a poetic form to facilitate singing.

• It is a collection of 1,810 melodies, and also contains the famous Dhrupada raga, later sung by Tansen.
• The Upveda of the Sama Veda is the (Gandharva Veda). Recensions (Shakhas) of the Sama Veda are Kauthuma, Jaiminiya (Talavakara), and Ranayaniya.

Source: Poonam Dahiya

The literal meaning of Upanishad is to sit near someone. There are 108 Upanishads, of which 13 are the most prominent.

• The Upanishads dwell on the Atman and Brahman, and focus a lot on the philosophy about life, universe, self, body, sacrifice, etc.
• They emphasize that the knowledge of the self or atman should be acquired and that the relation of the atman with the Brahman should be properly understood.

Source: Poonam Dahiaya

The main collections of Vedic hymns are called samhitas. The Rig Vedic Samhita is the earliest text. The Rig Veda is dated to between 1500 and 1000 BCE. The Rig Veda contains 10 books.

• Samhitas are ritualistic texts, and they explain the social and religious importance of rituals. Each samhita has added texts called brahmanas, which have commentaries on the hymns and rituals.
• Each brahmana has an aranyaka (forest text) and an upanishad. The aranyakas contain mystical ritual instructions to be undertaken in secret by the sages who live in the forests. Upanishads deal with philosophical enquiries.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11.

The Zend Avesta is a Persian/Iranian text of Zoroastrianism. This book speaks about the lands and gods of the people speaking the Indo-Iranian languages.

• It has references to the regions of northern and north-western parts of India. It has terms which show linguistic similarity with the Vedas.
• This text is indirect evidence that the early home of the Aryans was outside the Indian subcontinent.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11.

The burial system followed by the people of Neolithic period continued into the Megalithic period.

• A circular tomb using big stone slabs built upon the place of burial is known as a megalith. Such megaliths have been found in many parts of Tamil Nadu.
• The urn burial system was another type of practice and is evidenced in Adichanallur (present Thoothukudi district). Black-ware is peculiar to burial sites in Tamil Nadu.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11.

Cattle rearing were an important economic activity for the Aryans, although they practiced agriculture. Cattle were considered wealth.

• The term for war in the Rig Veda was gavishthi which means search for cows (which is the contemporary term (goshti) for factions as well).
• The donations to the priests were mainly cows and women slaves but not land, which reveals the importance of pastoralism. There was no private property in land.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11.

The polity of the Rig Vedic period was that of a tribal society. The chief of the tribe was the main political head and he was called rajan.

• The purohita or priest offered advice to the king. Vedic priests advised the kings, inspired them and praised their deeds. In turn they received rewards for their services.

• Senani was the chief of army.
• There is no evidence of tax collecting officers. Perhaps people made voluntary contribution called bali to the king. Some scholars say that bali was an imposed tax, and not voluntary.
• There is no reference to the administration of justice.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11.

In later Vedic phase, striking changes took place in the Varna System. There was an increase in the privileges of the two higher classes, the Brahmanas and the Kshatriyas at the cost of the Vaisyas and Sudras.

• In the Panchavimsa Brahmana, the Kshatriya is placed first, higher than the Brahmana but in the Satapatha Brahmana, the Brahmana is placed higher than Kshatriya.
• In later Vedic society the importance of the purohita (priest) is stressed, as mentioned in the Vedic texts.
• The Kshatriyas challenged Brahmanical supremacy and their exclusive privilege of entering the asramas, a regulated four stage life namely brahmacharya, grihasta, vanaprastha and sanyasa.
• The outcome of this was the birth of Jainism, Buddhism and Ajivakam.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11.