Later Vedic Age

Later Vedic Age 

 This age is also called the Painted Greyware phase.

The history of this phase is based on the later Vedic texts which include Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda, the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and the Upanishads.

During this phase the Aryans had thoroughly subdued the North Indian fertile plains and had also crossed the Vindhyas.

Polity - the popular vedic assemblies lost their importance at the cost of royal power.

Polity now dominated by chiefs and rich nobles.

Kingship made hereditary and the post generally went to the oldest son.

• Even now the king did not possess a regular army. But now wars were fought not for cows but for territorial ambitions.

• Rituals like Rajsuya (royal consecration, conferment of supreme power to the king), Vajpeya (drink of strength, chariot race) and Aswamedha (horse sacrifice) performed by kings.

• Eastern kings were called Samrat, Western kings - Svarat, Northern kings - Virat, Southern kings - Bhoja, Kings of middle country - Raja. The term 'Rashtra' meaning 'territory' first appeared in this period.

A rudimentary taxation system with Bhagaduga as the Collector of taxes and Samgrahitri as the Treasurer.

Economy - With the discovery of iron agriculture became the main source of livelihood.

Rice (vrihi) and wheat became their main crops.

Faint beginning of towns - 'Nagara' - towards the end of the Later Vedic period. Hastinapur and Kaushambi (near Allahabad) earliest examples.

Iron was found around 1000 B.C. at Gandhar, Dharwad district (Karnataka), Baluchistan, Eastern Punjab, Western U.P. and Rajasthan. Iron was called Shyama or Krishna Ayas.

Rise of diverse arts and crafts. Four types of pottery: Painted Grey Ware - most distinctive, Red ware - most popular, Black and Red ware, Black Slipped ware.

Later Vedic period mentions Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.

Satpatha Brahmana mentions money lending and ploughing rituals.

Units of exchange were Niska, Satamana and Krishnala.

Organisation of merchants into guilds.

Society - The Later Vedic society came to be divided into four varnas.

Family continued to remain the basis of society but the power of the patriarch increased (who could now disinherit his son).

Position of women declined. They could not attend Sabha or Samiti.

Institution of 'gotra' appeared (first mentioned in the Atharva Veda).

Caste system became rigid. Outside the regular castes, 2 imp. bodies of men:

Vratyas-Aryans outside the pale of Brahmanism, spoke Prakrit, did not follow Brahminical rules.

Nishadas-Non-Aryans, identified with modern Bhils.

• The four Ashrams or four stages of life viz., Brahmchari (student), Grihastha (householder), Vanaprastha (hermit) and Sanyasi (ascetic) mentioned in the Jabala Upanishad.

Types of Marriage: Eight types of marriages mentioned for the first time.

Anuloma Marriage - marriage of a man of a higher varna to a woman of lower varna. Sanctioned by the sacred texts.

Pratiloma marriage - marriage of a man of a lower Varna to a woman of higher varna. Not sanctioned by the sa cred texts.

A total of 8 types of marriages are mentioned in Gautama Dharmasutra:

Brahma,

Marriage of a duly dowered girl to a man of the same varna with vedic rites and rituals.

Daiva

Father giving his daughter to the priest as 'dakshina'.

Arsa

A token bride-price of a cow and a bull is given.

Prajapati :

Marriage without dowry and bride price.

Gandharva:

Marriage by the consent of the two parties, often clandestine. A special form of it is swayamvara.

Asura

Marriage by purchase.

Paisacha

Seduction of a girl while asleep, mentally deranged or drunk.

Rakshasa

Marriage by capture.

➤ Of these, first four, were generally approved and were permissible to Brahmins. These were religious marriages and were indissoluble.

Religion - The two important gods Indra and Agni lost their importance.

Prajapati (the creator god), Vishnu (preserver and protector of people) and Rudra (the destroyer god) became all important.

The simple ceremony of worship gave way to elaborate cult

of sacrifices involving killing of animals on large scale.

Signs of idolatory first appeared. People now worshipped god for fufilment of material desire.

• Towards the end of Later Vedic period the Upanishads led a strong reaction against this ritualistic and sacrificial religion.

The Karma Theory - deeds of one life affected the next - took shape.

❖ Towards the end of the 6th C. B.C. a large no. of non-vedic sects (62 sects) appeared. 2 important of these sects were :

• Ajivikas - by Gosala Maskariputra in Shravasti.

The believed in fate (Que Sera Sera).

• Lokayatas - Materialism - propounded by Charvaka.

Ajita Kesakambalin, a contemporary of Buddha, was an important teacher of complete materialism.

Tattvopaplavasimha - a text on materialist philosophy, written by Jayarasi.

The real cause of rise of new religions - introduction of a new agricultural economy in North-East India