VEDIC AGE

Political Organization

Monarchial form, tribe was known as Jan and its King as Rajan. He was the leader in battle and protector of tribe. His office was not hereditary and was selected among the clan’s men. The Rajan was not an absolute monarchy, for the government of the tribe was in part the responsibility of the tribal councils like Sabha, Samiti, Gana and Vidhata. Even women attended sabha and Vidhata.

Many clans (Vish) formed a tribe. The basic social unit was the Kula or the family and Kulpa was the head of the family.

The king was assisted by a number of officers of which purohita wasthe most important. Next important functionary was the Senani (leader of the army), although there was no regular or standing army.

The Aryans succeeded everywhere because they possessed chariots driven by horses.

There was no regular revenue system and the kingdom was maintained by the voluntary tribute (Bali) of his subjects and the booty won in battle.

Villages were headed by Gramini who used to represent village in sabha and samiti. Later, Gramini was handed over the charge of Vrajapati also (an officer who enjoyed authority over the pasture ground).

Social Life:

When the Aryans entered India there was already a class division in their tribal structure.

As they settled among the dark aboriginals, the Aryans seem to have laid greater stress than before on purity of blood, and class divisions hardened, to exclude those dasas who had found a place in the Aryan society, and those Aryans who had intermarried whit the dasas and adopted their ways.

Gradually, the tribal society got divided into three groups Warriors, Priests and Commoners. Later, the fourth dasas or shudra was also added.

The term Varna was used for color, the Aryans being fair, the dasas dark.

Family was the basic unit of society. The family was patriarchal in nature. But women enjoyed equal power with men. Marriage was usually monogamous and indissoluble, but there are few instances of polyandry, levirate and widow=marriage. There are no examples of child-marriage. The marriageable age seems to have been 16 to 17.

Aryans were fond of Soma, Sura, Food and Dresses. Soma was drunk at sacrifices and its use was sanctified by religion.

The Aryans love music, and played the flute, lute and harp. There are references to singing and dancing, and to dancing girls. People also delighted in gambling. They enjoyed chariot racing. Both men and women wore ornaments.   

  

The Vedic Literature

The word Veda comes from the root vid, i.e. to known, signifying knowledge. The Sanskrit root vid also appears in the Latin Videre ‘to see’. The Vedas are said to been passed on from one generation to the next through verbal transmission and are, therefore, also known as Shruti (to hear) or ‘Revelation’.

          Categories:

The Term ‘Vedic Literature’ means the four Vedas in their Samhitas and the allied literature based on or derived from the Vedas. We classify the Vedic literature into the following categories:

1.      The four Vedas, i.e. the Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva and their Samhitas:

2.    The Brahmanas attached to each Samhita:

3.    The Aranyakas: and

4.    The Upanishads

The Vedas

 

Rig-veda

The Rigveda

 Of the four Vedas (the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvada), the Rig veda is the oldest religious  text in the world, and, therefore, is also known as ‘the first testament of mankind’. It must have been composed around 1700 BC. The first three Vedas are collectively known as Trayi or ‘Trio’. Initially, the Vedas were learnt by heart and then passed on from the teachers to the disciples until they were properly edited, written down and commented in South India during the second half of the fourteenth 14^th century AD. The last hymns were probably composed between 1500 and 1200 BC. The Rigveda is neither a historical nor a heroic poem but is mainly a collection of hymns by a number of priestly families. These were recited at the time of sacrificial rites and other rituals with utmost devotion. The Rigveda contains 1017 (1028, including 11 hymns of the Valakhilya recession) hymns (sukta) and is divided into ten mandals. The first and the tenth mandalas are said to have been added later as their language differs slightly from the other eight mandals. The tenth mandala contains the famous Purushasukta which explains that the four Varnas (Brahmana, Kshartiya, Vaishya and Shudra) were born from the mouth, arms, thighs and feet of the Primeval Being Bramha (Purusa).  Second to seventh mandal are earliest and are also called as family books. They are attributed to Gristsamada, Visvamitra, Vasudeva. Ambast. Bhardwaj, Vashishtha. Kanva and Angiras. The tenth mandal is dedicated exclusively to Soma. The famous Gyatri mantra comes from the third mandal.

 

Gyatri-mantra

Mandalas – 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Deities – Agni, Indra, Soma, Usha, Maruts, Ashvins, Rbhus, Pushan. Rudra, Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, Apam Napat.

Demons- Susna, Dasas, Danu, Danavas.

River – Sapta Sindhu, Nadistuti, Sarasvati, Sindhu Saryu, Rasa.

Rishi – Vishvamitra, Vamadeva, Atri, Angiras, Bharadvaja, Vasishta,

    Dirghatamas

The Samaveda

 

Sama-veda

The Samaveda derived from the root Saman, i.e. ‘melody’, is a ‘collection of melodies’. It has 1603 verses (Aundh edition) but except 99 all the rest of the hymns have been borrowed from the Rigveda. A lesser number of verses are found in certain other editions. In them we have 1549 verses and of these only 78 are not found in the Rigveda. These were meant to be sung at the time of Soma sacrifice by the Udgatri Priests.

The Yajurveda

Yajur-veda

The Yajurveda is a ritual Veda. It prescribes the rituals for performing different sacrifies. It was the manual of the Adhvaryus who prepared the ground and the altar, offered the sacrificial victims and poured out the libations. Two distinct forms of this Veda have come down to us. In the oldest, the instructions about rituals are mingled with the verses from the Rigveda. The chief recension of this is that taught by a school of teachers called the Taittiryans. At a later date other scholar called the Vajasaneyins separated the explanatory matter from the verse to be recited and hence were called ‘white’ (Shukta) Yajurveda, the other being called the ‘black’(Krishna) Yajurveda. Yajurveda contains the oldest prose literature of the Indo-Europeans.

The Atharva veda

 

Atharva-veda

The Atharva Veda is entirely different from the other three Vedas and is chronologically the last of the foru. It is important and interesting as it describes the popular beliefs and superstitions of the humble flok. For a very long time it was not included in the category of the Vedas. The Satapatha-Brahmana used the term trayi-vidya for the Rig.Sama and Yajur Vedas. The Atharva veda is found in two recensions, the Saunakiya and Paippalada. It is now considered as one of the four Vedas. It is divided into 20 Kandas (books) and has 711 hymns – most of which tells how to ward off the evil spirits.

Suktas

suktas

The hymns of the Vedas are also called Suktas: a term derived from su-uktas, i.e. ‘that which is well or properly recited’. This term is used for a vedic hymn as a whole as distinguished from a richa or single verse.