Q. Which of the following statements regarding the features of Early Vedic social hierarchy are correct?
1.Early Vedic society was divided into four rigid, birth-based Varnas from the very beginning of the Rigvedic period.
2.Term Shudra appears for the first time in the 10th Mandala (Purusha Sukta) of the Rigveda.
3.Women enjoyed social rights, including participation in tribal assemblies such as Samiti and Vidatha.
4.Unequal distribution of war booty contributed to emerging social inequalities towards the close of the period.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Answer: C
Notes:
Explanation:
- Statement 1 is incorrect: Early Vedic society was largely flexible and divided into three broad functional groups (Kshatriya, Brahmana, Vis). It was not rigidly birth-based.
- Statement 2 is correct: The term Shudra appears only once in the Rigveda, in the Purusha Sukta of the 10th Mandala, which is considered a late addition.
- Statement 3 is correct: Women in the Early Vedic Age enjoyed a respectable status; child marriage was absent, and women participated in popular assemblies like the Samiti and Vidatha.
- Statement 4 is correct: Inequality grew towards the later phase because tribal chiefs (Rajan) and priests (Purohita) retained a disproportionate share of war booty (Bali and Samgrahana).
