Introduction
In the previous post we saw that with the arrival of nomadic Aryans, India moved into the Vedic Period. This is considered to be the time between 1750-500 B.C.E. when the Aryans started to settle around the Indus valley and the plains around Ganga. The history of this period is linked to the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures of the Sanathana Dharma or Hinduism. The Vedas are classified into four parts, Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Yajurveda, and Samaveda. A look into what each of these Vedas convey is for another post. There are various unanswered questions on the origin of Vedas.
- Did the Aryans bring the knowledge of Vedas when they entered India?
- Did they compose it after interaction with the Dravidians?
- Was this common knowledge in Dravidian culture and Aryans were mere translators, penning it down in Sanskrit?
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The four Vedas |
Why are Vedas such a mystery?
According to few texts of the Hindu mythology (like Matsya Purana), Shraddhadeva, a Dravidian king is considered to be the progenitor of the human race. This text and the fact that two of the holy-trinity of Hinduism, Vishnu and Shiva, have a higher number of temples in South India than the North are also reasons for questions being raised on the origin of Vedas. For a long time it was believed that the Vedas were created by Aryans.
Early Vedic Period
This is the time between 1750-1200 B.C.E., where the nomadic Aryans were transitioning towards agriculture. Domesticated animals such as sheep, goats, and cattle were raised by many people and were also considered as a symbol of wealth. Aryans were organized in tribes, and the chief of the tribe was known as rajan. Various councils were also part of this tribe which kept the autonomy of the rajan in check. The Aryans were known to pass down religious knowledge generation over generation either orally or using scriptures written in Sanskrit.
These tribes used to have frequent conflicts over land and resources. The most notable conflict is the battle between the Bharatas tribe and a confederation of ten tribes. The Bharatas led by Sudas emerged victorious and formed the union with the Purus tribe. This tribal union was named Kuru. Is India also called Bharat because of the Bharatas? Bharatas were ruling majority of regions during this time, and the land was referred to as Bharata.
In the early vedic period, the tribes that followed the writings of Vedas or the Santhana Dharma worshiped the deities Indra (King of Gods), Agni (God of Fire), Surya (Sun), Vayu (God of Wind), Prithvi (Earth), and Aditi (Mother of Gods).
Later Vedic Period
This is the time between 1200-500 B.C.E., when agricultural improvements were taking place due to increasing use of iron tools such as axes and ploughs. The Aryans cultivated wheat, rice, and barley. They also implemented certain crafts such as carpentry, tanning, textile dying, and leather work. This expansion led to increase in trade and a high competition among tribes for resources.
A lot of conflicts arose and political unions started to form. It is believed that many Dravidians were impacted by this and started moving towards the south. The increased number of conflicts and unions, saw the conversion of tribal unions into kingdoms. A total of sixteen kingdoms were formed during this time and are called the Mahajanapadas, translated as "the great foothold of people". A detailed overview of each kingdom can be found at Venkataramani's blog. It is intriguing that these names are commonly used in the Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
- Anga
- Asmak
- Avanti
- Chedi
- Ghandhara
- Kamboja
- Kashi
- Kosala
- Kuru
- Magadha
- Mathsya
- Malla
- Panchala
- Surasena
- Vrijji
- Vatsa
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Mahajanapadas |
In the later vedic period, people arrived at a consensus that the universe is run by three deities (trimurti) - Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva each responsible for a specific role. Brahma is responsible for the creation of the world and its creatures, Vishnu is the preserver of life, and Shiva's role is to destroy life in order to recreate. The spouses of the trimurti were also worshiped, Saraswati (spouse of Brahma) is the Goddess of knowledge, Lakshmi (spouse of Vishnu) is the Goddess of wealth, and Parvathi (spouse of Shiva) is the Goddess of power.
References of North East
In my quest for north-eastern history during these periods, I found that in the Hindu epics, north-eastern India is referred to as Pragjyotispur which translates to "City of Eastern Astrology". Pragjyotispur, which later came to be known as Kamarupa, is considered to have covered a land on the both sides of Brahmaputra from Himalayas till Tripura covering parts of Nepal.
What's next in the series?
There is a lot of ambiguity on the origin of Vedas, but no confusion regarding what they mean. We need to look into what each of them talks about and know about the infamous caste system, the Varnas in the next post . Also moving forward in the timeline, two religions originate out of India - Jainism and Buddhism.
Foot notes
The information provided here is based on my research of various sources. If you feel like this information is inaccurate, let me know and I would love to correct myself and learn more. In my encounter with various books I have seen that the history of India is mainly concentrated around the Indus valley and Delhi and very little information is provided of the southern and north-eastern parts, in this series I plan to cover all parts of India equally to the best of my efforts.
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Also let me know what topics you would want me to cover in the comments below. :)
- Aniruth
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