Ancient India
The History of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization and the coming of the Aryans. These two phases are generally described as the pre-Vedic and Vedic periods. The earliest literary source that sheds light on India's past is the Rig Veda. It is difficult to date this work with any accuracy on the basis of tradition and ambiguous astronomical information contained in the hymns. It is most likely that Rig Veda was composed between 1,500 B.C. and 1,000 B.C. In the fifth century, large parts of India were united under Ashoka.
The 6th Century B.C. was a period of great tumult in India. The kingdom of Magadha, one of the 16 great Janapadas had become paramount over other kingdoms of the Ganges Valley. This period also saw the emergence of various heterodox sects in India. This was the time when Buddhism and Jainism emerged as popular protestant movements to pose a serious challenge to Brahmanic orthodoxy.
This period was followed by the Mauryas of whom the most famous was Ashoka the Great. The boundaries of his empire extended from Kashmir and Peshawar in the North and Northwest to Mysore in the South and Orissa in the East - but his fame rests not so much on military conquests as on his celebrated renunciation of war.
For the next four hundred years (after the great Mauryas), India remained politically disunited and weak. It was repeatedly raided and plundered by foreigners. Stability was restored by the Guptas. The Gupta age was the period of peace and prosperity and witnessed an unprecedented flowering of art, literature and the sciences. This period also saw the beginning of Hindu temple architecture.
After the Guptas there was only a brief afterglow, in the time of Harshavardhana of Kannauj. A Chinese traveler, Huen-tsang visited India from (629 - 645 A.D.) during the reign of Harshavardhana. His account gives us an opportunity to note the changes that had taken place in the lives of the Indian people since the days of the Guptas.
Ancient Indian Art
Each era is unique in its distinctive culture. In the same way Indian art forms have continuously evolved over thousands of years. In ancient India, various art forms like paintings, architecture and sculpture evolved. The history of art in ancient India begins with prehistoric rock paintings.
Ancient Indian Geography
India and its surrounding countries are so similar in culture and climatic conditions that the region is sometimes called the Indian sub-continent. In ancient times the geography of India was a little different than what it is today. In the northern part of India stand the Himalayan Mountains and the Hindu Kush stand in the North West.
Ancient Government
In the beginning of the Vedic age people did not have a settled life and were nomads but with development in agriculture people started to settle down in groups. The organization was mainly tribal and the head of the tribe was supposed to be the raja or the King, though the concept of King had yet not developed.
Ancient India Religion
The predominant religion in ancient India was Hinduism. The roots of Hindu religion can be traced back to the Vedic period. Hinduism is believed to be the oldest of major religions and originated in northern India. Early Aryan, or Vedic, culture was the early Hinduism whose interaction with non-Aryan cultures resulted in what we call Classical Hinduism.
Ancient India Facts
According to Greek philosophers slavery did not exist in ancient India. Aryabhatta, the great astronomer and scientist, discovered zero. The number system was also invented in ancient India. The Indus valley civilization was one of the most advance civilizations in terms of town planning etc. During the ancient period there were many famous and important centers of learning in India- Taxila and Nalanda, where thousands of students from all over studied different subjects.
Ashoka
Asoka was one of the most powerful kings of the Indian subcontinent. A ruler of the Mauryan Empire, Ashoka ruled over the country from 273 BC to 232 BC. The reign of Emperor Asoka covered most of India, South Asia and beyond, stretchingfrom present day Afghanistan and parts of Persia in the west, to Bengal and Assam in the east, and Mysore in the south.
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of the Maurya Empire in India. He is credited with bringing together the small fragmented kingdoms of the country and combining them into a single large empire. As per the Greek and Latin accounts, King Chandragupta Maurya is known as Sandracottos or Andracottus.
Harshavardhan
Harshavardhana was an Indian Emperor, who ruled over the northern parts of India for a period of more than forty years. His empire was spread over the states of Punjab, Bengal, Orissa and the entire Indo-Gangetic plain, lying to the north of the Narmada River.
Indus Valley Civilisation
Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization that thrived in the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys, now in Pakistan, along with the northwestern parts of India, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The civilization, which is also known as Harappan Civilization, lasted from 3300 BC to 1700 BC. The discovery of the Ancient Indus River Valley Civilization was made, when the Harappan city, the first city of Indus Valley, was excavated.
Vedic Age
The Vedic Period or the Vedic Age refers to that time period when the Vedic Sanskrit texts were composed in India. The society that emerged during that time is known as the Vedic Period, or the Vedic Age, Civilization. The Vedic Civilization flourished between the 1500 BC and 500 BC on the Indo-Gangetic Plains of the Indian subcontinent.
Indus Valley Civilisation
Duration: 3300 BC to 1700 BC
Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization that thrived in the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys, now in Pakistan, along with the northwestern parts of India, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The civilization, which is also known as Harappan Civilization, lasted from 3300 BC to 1700 BC. The discovery of the Ancient Indus River Valley Civilization was made, when the Harappan city, the first city of Indus Valley, was excavated.
Discovery
The first description of the ruins of Harappa is found in the Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan and Punjab of Charles Masson. It dates back to the period of 1826 to 1838. In 1857, the British engineers accidentally used bricks from the Harappa ruins for building the East Indian Railway line between Karachi and Lahore. In the year 1912, J. Fleet discovered Harappan seals. This incident led to an excavation campaign under Sir John Hubert Marshall in 1921-1922. The result of the excavation was discovery of Harappa by Sir John Marshall, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni and Madho Sarup Vats and Mohenjodaro by Rakhal Das Banerjee, E. J. H. MacKay, and Sir John Marshall.
Further Excavations
Even though most of the Mohenjodaro city had been unearthed by 1931, the excavation campaigns continued to be undertaken. Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the then director of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), led one such campaign in 1944. After the partition of India in 1947, the area of the Indus Valley Civilization was divided between India and Pakistan. In 1949, Sir Mortimer Wheeler conducted excavations as the Archaeological Adviser to the Government of Pakistan. The next three decades were full of discoveries of the remnants of civilization.
Geography
The Ancient Indus River Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat and from the east of the river Jhelum to Rupar. Some time back, a number of sites were also discovered in Pakistan's NW Frontier Province. Harappan Civilization covered most of Pakistan, along with the western states of India. Even though most of the sites have been found on the river embankments, some have been excavated from the ancient seacoast and islands as well. As per some archaeologists, the number of Harappan sites, unearthed along the dried up river beds of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries, is around 500. Apart from that, those along the Indus and its tributaries are approximately 100 in number.
Phases
The three main phases of the Indus Valley Civilization are:
Early Harappan (Integration Era)
Mature Harappan (Localization Era)
Late Harappan (Regionalization Era)
Early Harappan Phase
The Early Harappan Phase lasted from 3300 BC to 2800 BC. It is related to the Hakra Phase, identified in the Ghaggar-Hakra River Valley. The earliest examples of the Indus script date back to 3000 BC. This phase stands characterized by centralized authority and an increasingly urban quality of life. Trade networks had been established and there was also domestication of crops. Peas, sesame seeds, dates, cotton, etc, were grown during that time. Kot Diji represents the phase leading up to Mature Harappan Phase.
Mature Harappan Phase
By 2600 BC, Indus Valley Civilization had entered into a mature stage. The early Harappan communities were turning into large urban centers, like Harappa and Mohenjodaro in Pakistan and Lothal in India. The concept of irrigation had also been introduced. The following features of the Mature Phase were more prominent:
Cities
Approximately 1052 cities and settlements belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization have been excavated till date, mainly in the general region of the Ghaggar and Indus Rivers and their tributaries. The artifacts discovered in these cities suggest a sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture. The concept of urban planning is also widely evident. There is also the existence of the first urban sanitation systems in the world. the sewerage and drainage system found in the each and every city of Indus Valley comes across as even more efficient than those in some areas of Pakistan and India today.
Dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms and protective walls have been found in almost all the cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. The evidence suggests that most city dwellers were traders or artisans, who lived with others belonging to the same occupation in well-defined neighborhoods. Social equality seems to be widely prevalent in the cities of Indus Valley, though there are some houses that are bigger than the others.
Science
The people of Indus Valley are believed to be amongst the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. Their smallest division was approximately 1.704 mm. Decimal division of measurement was used for all practical purposes. The brick weights were in a perfect ratio of 4:2:1. The numerous inventions of the Indus River Valley Civilization include an instrument used for measuring whole sections of the horizon and the tidal dock. The people of Harappa evolved new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead and tin. They also had the knowledge of proto-dentistry and the touchstone technique of gold testing.
Arts and Culture
Various sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry and figurines in terracotta, bronze and steatite, etc, have been excavated from the sites of the Ancient Indus Valley Civilization. Other crafts that have been unearthed include shell works, ceramics, agate, glazed steatite bead making, special kind of combs, etc. There is also evidence of seals, toys, games and stringed musical instruments in the Indus Valley.
Trade and Transportation
Trade seems to the major occupation of the people of the Harappan Civilization. The main forms of transport include bullock carts and boats. Archaeologists have also discovered an enormous, dredged canal and docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal. The pottery, seals, figurines, ornaments, etc, of the civilization show great similarities with those of Central Asia and the Iranian plateau, indicating trade with them. Then, there are signs of maritime trade network between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations also.
Agriculture
The major cultivated cereal crop was naked six-row barley, a crop derived from two-row barley. However, not much information is available on the farmers and their agricultural methods.
Symbol System
As many as 400 distinct Indus symbols have been found on seals, ceramic pots and other materials excavated from the Indus Valley. Typical Indus inscriptions are, at the most, four or five characters in length and quite small. The longest inscription on any object is 26 symbols long. Indus symbols have been found on ritual objects also, many of which were mass-produced.
Religion
The large number of figurines found in the Indus Valley Civilization suggests that the Harappan people worshipped a Mother Goddess, who symbolized fertility. Some of the seals of that time also have the swastikas engraved on them. Then, there are some others in which a figure is seated in a yoga-like posture and is surrounded by animals. The figure is quite similar to that of Lord Pashupati, the Lord of Creatures.
Late Harappan Phase
The signs of a gradual decline of the Indus River Valley Civilization are believed to have started around 1800 BC. By 1700 BC, most of the cities were abandoned. However, one can see the various element of the Ancient Indus Valley Civilization in later cultures. Archaeological data indicates the persistence of the Late Harappan culture till 1000-900 BC. The major reasons of the decline of the civilization are believed to be connected with climate change. Not only did the climate become much cooler and drier than before, but substantial portions of the Ghaggar Hakra river system also disappeared.
Ashoka
Asoka was one of the most powerful kings of the Indian subcontinent. A ruler of the Mauryan Empire, Ashoka ruled over the country from 273 BC to 232 BC. The reign of Emperor Asoka covered most of India, South Asia and beyond, stretching from present day Afghanistan and parts of Persia in the west, to Bengal and Assam in the east, and Mysore in the south. However, the Battle of Kalinga changed King Asoka completely. From a power hungry emperor, he turned into a Buddhist follower and started preaching the principles of Buddhism throughout the world. Read on this biography to know more about the life history of 'Ashoka the Great':
Early Life
Asoka was born in 304 BC, to Mauryan Emperor Bindusara and a relatively lower ranked queen, Dharma. The legend associated with the emperor goes that his birth had been predicted by Buddha, in the story of 'The Gift of Dust'. Buddhist Emperor Ashoka had only one younger sibling, Vitthashoka, but, several elder half-brothers. Right from his childhood days Ashoka showed great promise in the field of weaponry skills as well as academics.
Accession to the Throne
Asoka quickly grew into an excellent warrior general and an astute statesman. His command on the Mauryan army started growing day by day and because of this, his elder brothers became suspicious of him being favored by Bindusara as the next emperor. The eldest son of Bindusara, Prince Susima, convinced him to send Asoka to Takshashila province (in Sindh) to control an uprising caused by the formation of different militias. However, the moment Ashoka reached the province, the militias welcomed him with open arms and the uprising came to an end without any fight. This particular success of Asoka made his elder brothers, especially Susima, more insecure.
Susima started inciting Bindusara against Ashoka, who was then sent into exile by the emperor. Asoka went to Kalinga, where he met a fisherwoman named Kaurwaki. He fell in love with her and later, made Kaurwaki his second or third wife. Soon, the province of Ujjain started witnessing a violent uprising. Emperor Bindusara called back Ashoka from the exile and sent him to Ujjain. The prince was injured in the ensuing battle and was treated by Buddhist monks and nuns. It was in Ujjain that Asoka first came to know about the life and teachings of Buddha. In Ujjain, he also met Devi, his personal nurse, who later became his wife.
In the following year, Bindusura became seriously ill and was literally on his deathbed. A group of ministers, led by Radhagupta, called upon Ashoka to assume the crown. In the fight that followed his accession, Ashoka attacked Pataliputra, now Patna, and killed all his brothers, including Susima. After he became the King, Ashoka launched brutal assaults to expand his empire, which lasted for around eight years. Around this time, his Buddhist queen, Devi, gave birth to Prince Mahindra and Princess Sanghamitra.
The Battle of Kalinga
The battle of Kalinga (now Orissa) became a turning point in the life of 'Asoka the Great'. The exact reason for the battle is not known. However, it is believed that one of Ashoka's brothers took refuge at Kalinga and this enraged Asoka, who launched a brutal assault on the province. The whole of the province was plundered and destroyed and thousands of people were killed.
Embracing & Spreading Buddhism
t is said that after the battle of Kalinga was over, King Asoka went on a tour of the city. He could see nothing except burnt houses and scattered corpses. This was the first time in his life that Emperor Ashoka realized the consequences of wars and battles. It is said that even after he had returned to Patliputra, he was haunted by the scenes he saw in Kalinga. Even his queen, Devi, who was a Buddhist, left him after seeing the brutality at Kalinga.
It was during this time that he embraced Buddhism under the Brahmin Buddhist sages, Radhaswami and Manjushri. After adopting Buddhism, Asoka started propagating its principles throughout the world, even as far as ancient Rome and Egypt. Infact, he can be credited with making the first serious attempt to develop a Buddhist policy.
Policy
Buddhist Emperor Asoka built thousands of Stupas and Viharas for Buddhist followers. One of his stupas, the Great Sanchi Stupa, has been declared as a World Heritage Site by UNECSO. The Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath has a four-lion capital, which was later adopted as the national emblem of the modern Indian republic. Throughout his life, 'Asoka the Great' followed the policy of nonviolence or ahimsa. Even the slaughter or mutilation of animals was abolished in his kingdom. He promoted the concept of vegetarianism. The caste system ceased to exist in his eyes and he treated all his subjects as equals. At the same time, each and every person was given the rights to freedom, tolerance, and equality.
Missions to Spread Buddhism
The third council of Buddhism was held under the patronage of Emperor Ashoka. He also supported the Vibhajjavada sub-school of the Sthaviravada sect, now known as the Pali Theravada. He sent his missionaries to the following places:
Kashmir - Gandhara Majjhantika
Mahisamandala (Mysore) - Mahadeva
Vanavasi (Tamil Nadu) - Rakkhita
Aparantaka (Gujarat and Sindh) - Yona Dhammarakkhita
Maharattha (Maharashtra) - Mahadhammarakkhita
"Country of the Yona" (Bactria/ Seleucid Empire) - Maharakkhita
Himavanta (Nepal) - Majjhima
Suvannabhumi (Thailand/ Myanmar) - Sona and Uttara
Lankadipa (Sri Lanka) - Mahamahinda
His missionaries also went to the below mentioned places:
Seleucid Empire (Middle Asia)
Egypt
Macedonia
Cyrene (Libya)
Epirus (Greece and Albania)
Death
After ruling over the Indian subcontinent for a period of approximately 40 years, the Great Emperor Asoka left for the holy abode in 232 BC. After his death, his empire lasted for just fifty more years.
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of the Maurya Empire in India. He is credited with bringing together the small fragmented kingdoms of the country and combining them into a single large empire. As per the Greek and Latin accounts, King Chandragupta Maurya is known as Sandracottos or Andracottus. During his reign, the Maurya Empire stretched from Bengal and Assam in the East, to Afghanistan and Balochistan in the West, to Kashmir and Nepal in the North and to the Deccan Plateau in the South. Read on this biography cum life history of Chandragupta Maurya to know more about the great king:
Conflicting Views about His Lineage
Chandra Gupta Maurya was born in 340 BC. However, there is not much information about his ancestry. Some of the historians believe that he was an illegitimate child of a Nanda prince and his maid, Mura. Others believe that Chandragupta belonged to Moriyas, a Kshatriya (warrior) clan of a little ancient republic of Pippalivana, situated between Rummindei (Nepali Tarai) and Kasia (Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh). Two other views are that he belonged either to the Muras (or Mors) or to the Kshatriyas of the Indo-Scythian lineage. Last but not the least, it is also claimed that Chandragupta Maurya belonged to the Assakenoi or Ashvaka Kshatriya clan of Swat/Kunar valley.
Early Life
There is not much information about the childhood days of King Chandragupta Maurya. As per the traditional records, Chanakya, a teacher at Takshila University, found him in the Magadha kingdom. Thereafter, Chanakya brought Chandragupta to Takshila, where he took him under his guidance. Further reports state that Chandragupta once met Alexander the Great and told him on his face that the ruling of the Nanda Empire was faulty.
Foundation of the Maurya Empire
A major part of the credit for the building of the Maurya Empire goes to Chanakya. He was a teacher at the Takshila University when Alexander started invading India. Since the King of Takshila and Gandhara had surrendered to Alexander, Chanakya sought help from other kings to unite and fight against him. Porus (Parvateshwar), a king of Punjab, challenged Alexander at the Battle of the Hydaspes River. However, he got defeated in the battle. Chanakya also sought help from Dhana Nanda, the ruler of Nanda Empire, but was refused. After this incident, he started instilling the idea of building an empire that could fight against foreign invasion into his disciple, Chandragupta. Chanakya became his chief adviser or prime minister.
Conquests
Chandragupta Maurya defeated the Macedonian satrapies in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent in 317 BC. Thereafter, he turned his attention towards Northwestern India. Chandragupta allied with the Himalayan king Parvatka and launched an attack against Dhana Nanda of the Nanda Empire. The battle ended around 321 BC, with the siege of the capital city of Kusumapura and the conquest of the Nanda Empire. Thus was born the powerful Maurya Empire in Northern India.
Conquest of Seleucus' Eastern Territories
After the conflict with Seleucus in 305 BC, Emperor Chandragupta Maurya extended his empire towards Seleucid Persia. Through a treaty sealed in 305 BC, Seleucus gave up the country around the Indus River to Chandragupta, including the Hindu Kush, present day Afghanistan and the Balochistan province of Persia. In return, he received five hundred war elephants, increasing his military strength.
Southern Conquests
After annexing the eastern Persian provinces Seleucus, Chandragupta's empire stretched across the northern parts of Southern Asia, from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. Thereafter, began his conquests in south, beyond the Vindhya Range and into the Deccan Plateau. Most of the Southern Asia got united under the rule of Chandragupta Maurya.
Death
It is believed that in the last days of his life, King Chandragupta Maurya gave up his throne and adopted asceticism under the Jain saint, Bhadrabahu Swami. He breathed his last in 298 BC at Shravanabelagola (in present day Karnataka), ending his days of self-starvation. A small temple marks the cave (called Bhadrabahu Cave) where he died.
Successors
Chandragupta Maurya's son Bindusara succeeded him to the throne. He gave birth to Asoka, who went on to become one of the most powerful kings of the Indian subcontinent.
Harshavardhan
Harshavardhana was an Indian Emperor, who ruled over the northern parts of India for a period of more than forty years. His empire was spread over the states of Punjab, Bengal, Orissa and the entire Indo-Gangetic plain, lying to the north of the Narmada River. Get more information of the life history of King Harsha Vardhan with this biography:
King Harshavardhana was born in 590 BC to Prabhakar Vardhan. His elder brother was Rajyavardhan, the king of Thanesar. He was instrumental in consolidating the small republics and small monarchical states that had sprung up in North India after the downfall of the Gupta dynasty. Harsha Vardhan united the small republics from Punjab to Central India and they accepted him as their king in 606 AD. Though Harsha was only sixteen years old when he ascended the throne, he proved himself to be a great vanquisher as well as a competent administrator.
After his accession, King Harshavardhan united the two kingdoms of Thanesar (now Kurukshetra) and Kannauj. He also shifted his capital from Thanesar to Kannauj. The next aggression faced by the king was from Sasanka, the ruler of Bengal. He defeated Sasanka and also took over Eastern Punjab (present day Haryana), Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Thereafter, he occupied Dhruvasena and Ganjam, a part of the modern Orissa State. In 630 BC, Harshavardhana faced defeat at the hands of Pulakesi II, the Chalukya King of Vatapi, in Northern Karnataka. The defeat resulted in a truce between the two kings, with Harsha accepting River Narmada as the southern boundary for his kingdom.
Patronizing Buddhism and Literature
King Harshavardhan was a Shaivite. However, he was tolerant towards all other religions and supported them fully. Some time later in his life, he became a patron of Buddhism also. King Harshavardhana propagated the religion by constructing numerous stupas in the name of Buddha. He believed in supporting art and literature and even made several donations to the Nalanda University. Harsha Vardhana also wrote three Sanskrit plays, namely Nagananda, Ratnavali and Priyadarsika. In 641 BC, he sent a mission to China, which helped in establishing the first diplomatic relations between China and India.
Death of Harsha
King Harshavardhana left for the holy abode in the year 647 AD, after ruling over the Indian subcontinent for more than 41 years. However, since he did not have any heirs, his empire rapidly disintegrated and collapsed into small states again.
Vedic Age
Duration: 1500 BC to 500 BC
The Vedic Period or the Vedic Age refers to that time period when the Vedic Sanskrit texts were composed in India. The society that emerged during that time is known as the Vedic Period, or the Vedic Age, Civilization. The Vedic Civilization flourished between the 1500 BC and 500 BC on the Indo-Gangetic Plains of the Indian subcontinent. This civilization laid down the foundation of Hinduism as well as the associated Indian culture. The Vedic Age was followed by the golden age of Hinduism and classical Sanskrit literature, the Maurya Empire and the Middle Kingdoms of India.
Vedic Texts
Linguistically, the texts belonging to the Hindu Vedic Civilisation can be classified into the following five chronological branches:
Rigvedic
The oldest text of the Vedic Period, Rig Veda has many elements that are common with the Indo-Iranian texts, both in language and in content. One cannot find such similarity in any other Vedic text. It is believed that the compilation of the Rig Veda had stretched over a number of centuries. However, there is a conflict as to the completion date of the Rig Veda. Some historians believe it to be 1500 BC, while the others believe it to be 3000 BC. This time period coincided with the Indus Valley Civilization.
Mantra Language
The period of the Mantra Language includes the time of the compilation of the mantra and prose language of the Atharvaveda (Paippalada and Shaunakiya), the Rigveda Khilani, the Samaveda Samhita and the mantras of the Yajurveda. Though derived from the Rig Veda, all these texts experienced wide scale changes, in terms of language as well as at the time of reinterpretation. This time period coincided with the early Iron Age in northwestern India and the Black and Red Ware culture.
Samhita Prose
The period of Samhita Prose represents the compilation and codification of a Vedic canon. The linguistic changes of this time include the complete loss of the injunctive, the subjunctive and the aorist. The commentary part of the Yajurveda belongs to the Samhita Prose period. During this time, the Painted Grey Ware culture was evident.
Brahmana Prose
This period signifies Brahmanas proper of the four Vedas, along with the oldest Upanishads.
Sutra Language
The last division of the Vedic Sanskrit can be traced upto 500 BC. During this time, a major portion of the Srauta Sutras, the Grihya Sutras and some Upanishads were composed.
Epic and Paninian Sanskrit (Post Vedic)
In the post-Vedic Period, the compilation of Mahabharata and Ramayana epics took place. The Classical Sanskrit described by Panini also emerged after the Vedic Age. The Vedanta and the Pali Prakrit dialect of Buddhist scripture belong to this period. During this time, the Northern Black Polished Ware culture started spreading over the northern parts of India.
The end of the Vedic Period Civilization in India was marked by significant changes in the field of linguistics, culture and politics. With the invasion of the Indus valley by Darius I, in the 6th century, outside influences started creeping in.
Early Vedic Period (Rigvedic Period)
The Rigvedic Period represents the time period when the Rig Veda was composed. The Rig Veda comprises of religious hymns, and allusions to various myths and stories. Some of the books even contain elements from the pre-Vedic, common Indo-Iranian society. Some similarities are also found with the Andronovo culture and the Mittanni kingdoms. Thus, it is difficult to define the exact beginning of the Rigvedic period. The prominent features of the Rigvedic period are given below:
Political Organization
The political units during the Rigvedic or the early Vedic period comprised of Grama (village), Vish and Jana. The biggest political unit was that of Jana, after which came Vish and then, Grama. The leader of a Grama was called Gramani, of a Vish was called Vishpati and that of Jana was known as Jyeshta. The rashtra (state) was governed by a Rajan (King) and he was known as Gopa (protector) and Samrat (supreme ruler). The king ruled with the consent and approval of the people. There were four councils, namely Sabha, Samiti, Vidhata and Gana, of which women were allowed to attend only two, Sabha and Vidhata. The duty of the king was to protect the tribe, in which he was assisted by the Purohita (chaplain) and the Senani (army chief).
Society and Economy
Numerous social changes took place during the early Vedic period. The concept of Varna, along with the rules of marriage, was made quite stiff. Social stratification took place, with the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas being considered higher than the Shudras and the Vaisyas. Cows and bulls were accorded religious significance. The importance of agriculture started growing. The families became patriarchal and people began praying for the birth of a son.
Vedic Religious Practices
Rishis, composers of the hymns of the Rig Veda, were considered to be divine. Sacrifices and chanting of verses started gaining significance as the principal mode of worship. The main deities were Indra, Agni (the sacrificial fire), and Soma. People also worshipped Mitra-Varuna, Surya (Sun), Vayu (wind), Usha (dawn), Prithvi (Earth) and Aditi (the mother of gods). Yoga and Vedanta became the basic elements of the religion.
Later Vedic Period
The later Vedic Period commenced with the emergence of agriculture as the principal economic activity. Along with that, a declining trend was experienced as far as the importance of cattle rearing was concerned. Land and its protection started gaining significance and as a result, several large kingdoms arose.
Political Organization
The rise of sixteen Mahajanapadas, along with the increasing powers of the King, comprise of the other characteristics of this period. Rituals like rajasuya, (royal consecration), vajapeya (chariot race) and ashvamedha (horse sacrifice) became widespread. At the same time, the say of the people in the administration diminished.
Society
As far as the society is concerned, the concept of Varna and the rules of marriage became much more rigid than before. The status of the Brahmanas and Kshatriyas increased greatly and social mobility was totally restricted. The proper pronunciation of verses became to be considered as essential for prosperity and success in war. Kshatriyas started amassing wealth and started utilizing the services of the Brahmins. The other castes were slowly degraded. Around 500 BC, the later Vedic Period started giving rise to the period of the Middle kingdoms of India.
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