Vedic

Civilization
HISTORY

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Vedic Age (1500 BC—600 BC)

Start of Early End of Early Vedic Age & End of Later

Vedic Age Start of Late Vedic Age Vedic Age

1500 BC 1000 BC 600 BC

The term Vedas means “superior knowledge” in Sanskrit. Vedas were compiled by Ved
Vyasa. The Vedic Age was started from 1500 BC to 600 BC. This is the following
significant civilization that happened in antiquated India after the decrease of the Indus
Valley Civilization by 1400 BC. The Vedas were created in this period and which gives
this age the name. The Vedas are also the core source of knowledge about this age.
After the decline of Indus Valley civilization by 1500 BC, the next wave of civilization
began to take shape in form of Aryan occupation of Indo - Gangetic plain. The
civilization laid down the foundation of Hinduism as well as the associated Indian
culture. The Vedic Age was trailed by the brilliant time of Hinduism and old style
Sanskrit writing, the Maurya Empire and the Middle Kingdoms of India.

Devanagari Script of vedas

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Origin of The Aryans

The word ‘Aryan’ is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Arya’, meaning noble and
unordinary.

 It is agreed that they spoke the Indo-Aryan Language, Sanskrit.

 They led a rural life, as compared to an urban lifestyle of Harappans.

 The age of Aryans is known as the Vedic Age, as the four major Vedas were created
during this era.

 The Aryans were skilled warriors. Their experience as dairy cattle herders made
them capable horsemen.

Scholars and their opinions about origin of Aryans

Balgangadhar Tilak Taranath

Believed Aryans came from Believed that Aryans came from
Arctic Region, following their Tibet
astronomical calculations

Max Muller
Claimed that Aryans came from
Central Asia (Central Asia–
Iran, Afghanistan, Sapta
Saindhava Pradesh)

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Classes of Vedas
It consists of three classes of literary production.

 The Samhitas or  The Brahmanas—  The Aranyakas and

Mantras— These a kind of Primitive Upanishads—they
are collections of theology and are partly included in
hymns, prayers, philosophy of the Brahmanas or
charms, litanies, Brahmanas. attached thereto &
sacrificial formulas. partly exist as
separate work.

Vedic Literature
The most important Vedic scriptures are Vedas. Vedas were called Apaurusheya (Not
created by man, but God gifted)and ‘ritya” (existing in all eternity).

Four major Vedas constitute the Vedic Literature:

 Rig Veda

 Sama Veda

 Yajur Veda

 Atharva Veda

Rigveda, Yajurveda and Samveda are known as Vedatrayi (Trio of Vedas) and
the Atharvaveda is the newest and added later.

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Rig-Veda Sama-Veda
 The oldest Veda.  Book of chants
and songs.
 Collection of
Lyrics.  Indian Classical
Music has sprung
 Has 10 Mandals, from it.
1028 hymns in
praise of God.

Atharva-Veda Yajur-Veda
 Book of magical  Book of Sacrificial
spells. Prayers.
 Contains magic,  Only Veda
spells and charms. compiled in prose
and poetry.

Literature of vedic tradition comprises of six literary works:

2. Smritis
1. Vedangas / Sutras Dharmashastras

3. Mahakavyas (Epics) 4. Puranas

5. Upvedas 6. Shad—Dharshnas

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Vedas

Rig Veda
 Six Mandals (02 to 07) are called Gotra or Vansa Mandal.

 The 01st and 10th mandal are said to have added later, the 10th mandal contain the
famous Purushasukta, which explain the famous Verna system
 Brahmin
 Kshatriya
 Vaishya
 Shudra

Besides the four Vedas, Brahmanas, Upnishads, Aryankas, and epics— Ramayana and
Mahabharata were other noteworthy literatures of this era.

 Brahmanas – write about vedic hymns, rituals and philosophies.

 Aryankas – Deals with mysticism, rites and rituals, there are 7 Aryankas.

 Upnishads – Philosophical texts dealing with soul, mysteries of nature, it is the last
part of vedas, because of this it is known as Vedant, there are 108 Upnishads out of
which 11 are important

 Ramayana - Authored by Valmiki ji

 Mahabharata - Written by Ved Vyasa ji.

Sama Veda

 The Samaveda Veda comprises of melodies and chants.

 It is an old Vedic Sanskrit text, and part of the scripture writings of Hinduism.

 One of the four Vedas, it is a ritualistic book which comprises of 1,549 verses.
Everything, except 75 verses have been taken from the Rigveda.

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Yajur Veda
 It is a collection of sacrificial formula.

 It comprises 40 mandals.

 There are two types of Yajur Veda in particular. "Sukla Yajur Veda" and "Krishna
Yajur Veda".

 The Sukla Yajur Veda contains the genesis.

 The Krishna Yajur Veda depicts the "Vasya" or Philosophy.

Athrava Veda
 It is a collection of songs and spells.

 It contains 20 'mandalas' with 731 'stutis'.

 It deals with magic, hypnotism, enslavement with the help of mantra.

 It is respected on a lower level than the other three Vedas

Vedangas
There are six Vedangas:

S.No. Vedangas Example

1. Shiksha (phonetics) “Pratikshaya”- the oldest text on phonetics.
2. Kalpa Sutra (Rituals) Shrauta Sutras/ Shulva Sutras deals with sacrifices,
Ghriya Sutras deals with the family ceremonies, Dharma
Sutras deals with varnas, Ashramas etc.
3. Vyakarana (Grammer) ‘Ashtadyayi’ (panini) the oldest grammer of the world.

4. Nirukta (Etmology) ‘Nirukta’ based on ‘Nighantu’ -a collection of the difficult

vedic words.
5. Chhanda (Metrics) ‘Chhandasutras’ Famous text.
6. Jyotisha (Astronomy) ‘Vedanga jyotisha’ the oldest famous text.

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Smritis Dharmashastra
There are six famous smritis :
1. Manu Smriti
2. Yajnvalkya Smriti
3. Narda Smriti
4. Parashara Smriti
5. Brihspati Smriti
6. Katyayana Smriti

Mahakavyas (Epics)
1. Ramayana (Valmiki) : It is known as ‘Adi Kavya’ ( the oldest epic of the world). It
consists of 24,000 shlokas i.e., verses in 7 kandas.
2. Mahabharta (Ved Vyas) : The longest epic of the world. It consists of 1,00,000
shlokas i.e., verses in parnavs

Mahabharata

Ramayana

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Puranas
 The Purana means “ the old”.

 There are 18 famous puranas.

 The Matsya Purana is the oldest puranic text.

 The other important puranas are the Bhagavata, The Vishnu, The vayu and The
Brahamnda

 Puranas describes genealogies of various royal dynasties.

Upvedas

 Auxillary themes of the Vedas are Upvedas.

 The Upveda of RigVeda, YajurVeda, SamaVeda and Atharv Veda are Economics,
Military Science, Music and Dance and Medical Sceinces respectively.
 There are 5 Upveda that can be traced in some meaningful form

Upvedas Associated With

Ayurveda (Medicine) Rigveda

Gandharvaveda (Music) Samaveda

Dhanurveda (Archery) Yajurveda

Shilpveda / Atharvaveda
Atharvaveda
(Science of Craft)

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Shad - Darashanas

 These Shad-Darshans are the six instruments of true teaching or the six
demonstrations of Truth.
 Each of these schools of philosophies differs in one way or the other in terms of its
concepts, phenomena, laws and beliefs.
 Each philosophy has developed, systematized and correlated the various parts of
the Vedas in its own way. Each system has its Sutrakara, i.e., the one great
Rishi.

Darshana Founder

Sankhya Darshana Kapil

Yoga Darshana Patanjali

Nyaya Darshana Gautama

Vaishesika Darshana Ulaka Kanada

Purva Mimansa Jaimini

Uttara Mimansa Badarayana

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Classification Of Vedic Period

The Vedic Period (1500 BC to 600 BC) is divided into two parts:

 Early Vedic Period (1500 BC to 1000 BC) also called as Rig Vedic Period

 Later Vedic Period (1000 BC to 600 BC)

Early Vedic Period (1500 BC to 1000 BC)

Political Organization in Early Vedic Period

 Kula was the basic unit of political organization, leader of the Kula was
Kulapa.

 Multiple families together of kinship formed a Gram, leader of Gram was Gramani

 Group of Grams were called Visha, headed by Vishapati.

 The highest political and administrative group was Jana or Tribe, headed by Rajan,
there were several tribal domains – Bharatas, Matsyas, Yadusand Puru.

 The Rig Vedic polity was not hereditary monarchy but select among clan their ability.

 There were two bodies - Sabha (Council of elders) and Samiti (General assembly of
people).

 Prayers were offered to gods for rewards.

Society in Early Vedic Period

 The Rig Vedic society was basically patriarchal.

 Women had equal chances as men for their spiritual and intellectual growth. As
Apala, Viswavara, Ghosaand , Lopamudra were women poets.

 Women could attend the popular assemblies.

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 No evidence of child marriage, sati practice.

 Social divisions were not rigid.

Economic Conditions in Early Vedic Period

 The Rig Vedic Aryans were pastoral, cattle rearing individuals, after they
permanently settled in North India they started agriculture.

 Carpenters produced chariots and ploughs.

 A variety of articles with copper, bronze and were made by workers.

 Spinning was an important job/ work – cotton and woolen fabrics.

 Goldsmiths made ornaments.

 The potters made many kinds of vessels for domestic use.

 Trade was conducted by barter system in starting but later shifted to use of gold
coins called ‘Nishka‘ for large trade.

 Rivers acted as means of transport.

Religion in Early Vedic Period

 Rig Vedic Aryans worshiped natural resouces like earth, fire, wind, rain and thunder
by personifying them into many gods

 Some important Rig Vedic gods –Prithvi (Earth), Agni (Fire), Vayu (Wind), Varuna
(Rain) and Indra (Thunder).

 Indra was most popular among all the gods.

 Agni – an intermediary between the gods and the people

 Varuna – The upholder of natural order

 Goddess – ‘Aditi’ and ‘Ushas’.

 No temples and no idol worship.

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Later Vedic Period (1000 BC to 600 BC)

Political Organization in Later Vedic Period

Larger kingdoms by amalgamation formed ‘Jana Padas’. Therefore, the power of king
increased and he done different religion customs and sacrifices to make his position
strong like Rajasuya (consecration ceremony), Asvamedha (horse sacrifice) and
Vajpeya (chariot race).

Society Organization in Later Vedic Period

 The Varna system became prevalent - four divisions of society: Brahmin, Kshatriya,
Vaisya and Sudra.

 Brahmin and Kshatriyas have a higher position than others.

 Various sub-castes on the basis of occupation emerged.

Brahmins (Priests)

Aryans Kshatriyas (Warriors)

Vasiyas (Herders, Farmers,
Merchanys)
Sudras (Farm workers, Serv-
Non Aryans
ants)

Economy in Later Vedic Period

 Agriculture became the chief job/ work of people growing barley, rice and wheat.

 Industrial activity became specialized with metal work, leather work, and Carpentry
and pottery advancement. Iron was found.

 Internal trade as well as foreign trade also became on large - scale (they traded with
Babylon through sea).

 Hereditary merchants (vaniya) came in the front as a different class.

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 Vaisya indulged in trade and commerce organized themselves into guilds known as
‘Gana’.
 Coins: ‘Nishka’, ‘Satamana’ – gold coins and ‘krishnala’ – silver coins were also
used as a medium of exchange.

Religion in Later Vedic Period

 Indra and Agni lost their importance.

 Praja pathi (the creator), Vishnu (the protector) and Rudra(the destroyer) became
important God.
 Sacrifices and the rituals became more elaborate, but the significance of prayers
declined.
 Priesthood became a hereditary profession. They dictated the rules for these rituals
and sacrifices.
 Therefore, by the end of this age there was a strong reaction against this priestly
domination (also against elaborate sacrifices and rituals). This led to the rise of
Buddhism and Jainism.

Rivers Related to Vedas

Rivers have had considerable significance in Indian civilization and culture. Perhaps
this is why we also called it the Indian social culture as ‘Ganga-Jamuni
culture’ or ‘Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb’.

Rigvedic River Modern Name

Sindhu Indus
Vitasta Jhelum
Askini Chenab
Vipasa Beas
Parsuhni Ravi
Sutudri Sutlej
Krumu Kurram
Kubha Kabul

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