Who were the Aryans?
·
Aryans said to be originally resided in
steppes field of Russia to Central Asia.
·
Aryans were mainly pastoral and agriculture was their secondary occupation.
·
Aryan Society was male dominated.
·
Horse was the main domesticated animal
for the Aryans.
·
Before India, Aryan first appeared and
lived in Central Asia and Iran, where the Indo Iranians lived for a long time.
·
Main reason behind success of Aryan in
Indo-Europe is the chariots driven by Horse.
·
Chariots were introduced by Aryans for
the first time in West Asia and India.
·
Probably the Aryans introduced spoked wheel for the first time in
India.
·
Aryans soldiers were probably had coats
of mall (varman) and had better arms made up of bronze.
·
Aryans used Socketed Axes, bronze dirks
and swords, discovered in North-Western India.
·
Rig
Veda
gives the accounts of Aryans in India.
·
The term “Arya” meaning a cultural community appears 36 times in the Rig Veda.
Rig Veda and the Rig Vedic Gods
·
The Rig Veda is the Earliest Text of
Indo-European Language.
·
Rig Veda is a Collection of hymns and prayers
composed by various families of poets or sages offered to gods.
·
Rig Veda Consists of Ten Mandallas / Books.
·
Books
/ Mandallas 2 to 7 is the earliest portion of the
Rig Veda.
·
Mandallas
1 and 10 seems to have been latest portion of the Rig Veda.
·
The most important god mentioned in the
Rig Veda is Indra who was a God responsible for Rain and played the
role of warlord in War.
·
Indra is called as Purandar-The Breaker of Fort.
·
250 hymns mentioned in the Rig Veda are
devoted to Indra.
·
The second
most important god was Agni-the Fire
God. 200 hymns are devoted to
Agni.
·
In Vedic times, Agni acted as intermediary between god and peoples.
·
Varuna
personified as water was the third most
important god responsible for natural order and whatever happened in the
world thought to be his desire.
· Soma
was god of plants and an intoxicating drink Somarash is named after him. The plant by
which the Somarash was made has been not identified so far.
·
The god Maruts personify storm.
·
Aditi
and Usha were female gods who represented the appearance of
the dawn.
Advent of the Aryans in India
·
Aryans entered India in about 1500 B.C.
and came to be known as Indo-Aryans. They spoke the Indo-Aryan language,
Sanskrit.
·
Aryans first settled in Indian
Subcontinent in the region called “The
Land of Five Rivers” i.e. Sindhu and its five branches which is mentioned
in Rig Veda.
·
River Sindhu is Identical with Indus
River. Sindhu River was par excellence (Important/better than other) of the
Aryans.
·
Sarswati River is called Naditarna i.e. Best of the Rivers in Rig Veda. This river is identical with Ghaggar - Hakra channel in Haryana and
Rajasthan.
Tribal Conflict within and with original Inhabitant
·
Aryans were in conflict with both
Pre-Aryan and among themselves.
·
Indigenous inhabitants were called as Dasas and Dasayus. Dasas seems to have been branch of early Aryans.
·
Possibly the Dasyus in the Rig Veda represent the original inhabitants of the country. Aryan chief who overpowered
Dasyus was called Trasadasyu. Ancient
Iranian text also mentions Dasas.
·
The term Dasyuhatya meaning slaughter of Dasyus is repeatedly mentioned in
Rig Veda.
·
The Dasyus possibly worshipped phallus and did not keep cattle for
Dairy products.
·
According to traditions, the Aryans were
divided into five tribes called Panchajana.
·
The Bharat
and Tritsu were the ruling Aryan Clans and supported by priest Vasishtha.
·
India
is named Bharatvarsha after the Bharat
Tribe. Bharat tribe appears first in the Rig Veda.
·
The Rig Veda mentions defeat of Sambara by Divodasau, a tribal chief of Bharat
Clan.
· “The Battle of Ten Kings” was fought
between Bharatas and 10 chiefs (5 Aryan and 5 Non-Aryan chief) on
the bank of Parushni River (Ravi River).
This battle was won by Sudas and
thus supremacy of Bharat Clan was established. Among the defeated tribes, Purus Tribe was most important.
· Later Bharat Clan and Puru clan
joined to form new ruling tribe Kuru Clan which later joined with Panchalas and thereafter together ruled in
the Upper Gangagetic plane.
·
Most of the wars were fought for the
sake of cows. Gavisthi is the term
used for wars. It means search for cows.
Social Life of Rig Vedic Aryan
·
Aryan Society was male dominated.
·
The word Samudra mentioned in the Rig
Veda denotes mainly a collection of Water. It means Aryans were more acquainted
with land routes.
·
Aryans did not lived in cities. Possibly
they lived in some kind of fortified mud settlements.
·
Iron instruments/objects and Cereal of
this period was not found.
·
At Bhagwanpura, Haryana a thirteen
roomed mud house have been discovered (Dating is not confirmed).
Economic Life of Rig Vedic Aryan
·
Rig Vedic Aryans were mainly pastoral by occupation and agriculture was their secondary occupation.
·
Horse was the main domesticated animal for the
Aryans.
·
Rig Vedic People had better knowledge of
Agriculture. Ploughshare is mentioned in the earliest part of Rig Veda.
·
The Ploughshare was probably made of
wood. During Rig Vedic Period Land did not form a well established type of
property.
·
During Rig Vedic Period craftsmen such
as Carpenter, Chariot maker, the weaver, the leather worker, the potter etc
were prevalent.
·
Rig Vedic people were acquainted with
metal working. Ayas is the term used
for Copper/Bronze.
Political Life of the
Rig Vedic Aryan
·
A tribal chief called “Rajan” was the central point of the
administration.
·
In Rig Vedic period the post of king
became hereditary.
·
Kings were also chosen by election by
the tribal assembly called “the Samiti”.
·
Sabha, Samiti, Vidatha, Gana were tribal
clan based assemblies mentioned in Rig Veda.
·
The two most important assemblies were the Sabha and the Samiti.
·
Women in Rig Vedic period attended the
Sabha and the Vidatha assemblies.
·
The most important functionary of king
was Purohita /Priest.
·
Two priest viz. Vasistha and Vishwamitra
played major part during Rig Vedic period.
·
Vasistha was conservative and
Vishwamitra was liberal.
·
Vishwamitra
composed the Gayatri Mantra to widen
the Aryan world.
·
Senani
who used spears, axes, swords etc was the next important functionary.
· No particular functionary of Tax
collection was noticed. However, the chiefs received voluntary offering from
the people called Bali.
·
Rig Veda doesn’t mention any officer for
administering justice.
·
Rig Vedic period was not an ideal
society. Cases of theft and burglary were noticed in this period, especially
the theft of cows.
·
The Officer who enjoyed authority over a
large land or pasture ground is called Vrajapati.
·
Vrajapati was the heads of the families
of Kulapas.
·
Kulapas were heads of the fighting
hordes called Graminis.
·
Gramini was head of a village. However,
initially Gramini was just head of a small tribal fighting Unit.
·
In course of time Gramini became identical
with Vrajapati.
Tribe and Family
·
People gave their primary loyalty to the
tribe which was called Jana.
·
The term Jana occurs at about 275
times in the Rig Veda.
·
The term Janapada or Territory was not
used even once in the Rig Veda.
·
The word Vis/Visu has been mentioned 170
times in the Rig Veda. It stands for tribe.
·
Probably the Vis was divided into grama
or smaller tribal units meant for fighting.
·
The clash of Gramas was called as Sangrama or War.
· Kula i.e. family mentioned rarely in the
Rig Veda. Kula comprises not only mother, father, sons etc but also many other
people,
· In the Rig Vedic period the term for family
was used is Griha, which frequently occurs in the Rig Veda.
· The society of Rig Vedic people was
patriarchal headed by father like Roman Society.
· The desire for children and cattle is a
recurrent theme in the hymns of the Rig Veda, especially for male child/son.
However, no desire is expressed for daughters.
· Women could attend assemblies and could
offer sacrifices along with their husbands.
· During Rig Vedic phase, instance of five
women who composed hymns were noticed. Later texts mention 20 such women. Hymns
were composed orally.
·
The Institution of marriage was
established.
·
Some instance of practice of Polyandry was noticed.
·
Practice of Levirate marriage and widow
remarriage is mentioned in the Rig Veda.
·
No mention of child marriage/Sati was noticed
in the Rig Veda.
Social Division during
Rig Veda
·
The term Varna is mentioned for colour
in Rig Veda.
·
It seems that Dasas and the Dasyus, who
were conquered by the Aryans were treated as slaves and Shudras.
·
Rig Veda mentions Arya Varna and Dasa
Varna.
· Gradually tribal chiefs and priest got
rich and the unequal distribution of wealth created division in the society
i.e. group divided into warriors, priests and the people on the same pattern as
in Iran.
·
Fourth
Division i.e. Shudra appeared for the first time in the 10th
Book/Mandalla in the end of the Rig Veda.
·
In the age of Rig Veda social division
based on occupation was appeared.
· The division was not very sharp. As
there is example of a family, in which a member says “I am a poet, my father is
a physician and my mother is a grinder”.
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