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INTRODUCTION
According to some scholars, the culture that existed between 1500 BC and 600 BC in Northern India is known as Vedic Culture. This is yet to be come into consensus as the dating varies from 1L BP to 5000BP. It is called Vedic Culture because the Vedic literature are the chief source of information. Vedic Culture was broadly classified into two stages, Rigvedic Period and Later Vedic Period. In the initial stage the settlements were limited to a geographical extent and subsequently in the latter stage the people have migrated to different region of the Indian sub- continent. Substantial and scientific evidence like the dimensions of skeletal remains found in the Indus Valley sites, pottery, Some set of scholars believe that Vedic poeples came to India a little earlier than 1500 BC, They came in waves, a group after group. They were resisted by the dark skinned local people called Dasyus by the Vedic poeples in the Vedic literature. However, the local people were overpowered by the Vedic poeples due to better weapons and chariots driven by horses. Vedic people lived in thatched houses in rural areas and depended extensively on cow and horse. People were divided into four varnas : Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras. They believed that gods would be pleased with religious sacrifices (yagnas) conducted by priests. They personified force of nature and worshipped them as Vayu (air), Maruts (storm), Indra (rain), Varuna (water), Surya (sun), Agni (fire), Prithvi (earth), Aranyani (forest) etc. "The multiplicity of the manifestations of the Indian genius as well as their fundamental unity gives India the right to figure on the first rank in the history of civilized nations. Her civilization, spontaneous and original, unrolls itself in a continuous time across at least thirty centuries, without interruption, without deviation." - Sylvain Levi French Orientalist.
Tribes, Polity and Social
Structure
The term vis has been used repeatedly in the Rig Veda in reference of tribes, which were divided into gramas, that are essentially smaller groups. Family, or kula was the elementary unit of society, a group of which formed a grama. The several words used to denote a household unit, like griha, gaya, kshiti, etc. signify that there might have been a variety of households. The tribes had a leader termed as rajan (literally, “king”), who didn’t possess any absolute power. The rajan was merely a chieftain whose primary purpose was to protect the tribe, the cattle (that earned him the title of gopati) as well as win victories in war. While in war, a priest, or purohita, the tribal “medicine-man” joined the rajan whilst reciting prayers and performing rituals to boost chances at victory. The rajans were not associated with divinity or religion, except to conduct and order sacrifices for the general benefit of his tribe. Although judiciary functions are expected from a king, there is no particular mention of them in the Rig Veda although it is assumed that there would
assemblies that tended to have influence on both, the selection of their rajan, as well as his activities post his accession. The sabha was a smaller assembly, consisting of mostly the noble and the elite, while the samiti was rather large, comprising of heads of the general tribal families and clans. A vidhata, on the other hand, was another assembly, where the booty from raids and conquests was distributed amongst the tribe. Although there was no particular system of taxation, the term bali was used to address obligatory gifts and ‘offerings’ to the gods, which were directed to the rajan.
“grihapati”. The Aryans had joint families. The father had great authority over the children. Though the father was kind and affectionate yet at times he became cruel towards his children. From Rig-Veda we come to know about a father who blinded his son for his extravagance. Position of women: In the early Vedic age women enjoyed an honored place in the society. The wife was the mistress of the household and authority over the slaves. In all religious ceremonies she participated with her husband. Prada system was not prevalent in the society. Sati system was also not prevalent in the Vedic society.
The education of girls was not neglected. The Rig- Veda mentions the names of some learned ladies like Viswavara, Apala and Ghosa who composed mantras and attained the rank of Rishis. The girls were married after attaining puberty. The practice of ‘Swayamvara’ was also prevalent in the society. Monogamy was the general Practice. Polygamy was,
known as ‘adhivasa’, ‘atka’ ‘dropi’. The garments were also embroidered with gold. Both men and women wore gold
ornaments. The women used ear-rings, neck-lace, bangles, anklets. These ornaments were sometimes studded with precious stones. Both men and women oiled and combed their hair which war plaited or braided. The men kept beard and moustache but sometimes also shaved them. Caste system: The priests and rulers were members of distinct classes. Along with two others, this comprised the basis of the caste system, another part of Vedic India that has survived to modern day. The Sanskrit word for caste is varna, meaning 'color,' and the division of the castes may have had something to do with keeping the Vedic poeple people separate from the conquered natives. This theory is supported by the fact that the names of the upper three castes are of Indo-Vedic origin, while the name of the fourth caste is of non-Vedoc origin. Whatever the reasons for the caste system may be, the system pervaded the society of Vedic India. There were four major castes: the Brahmins, or priestly caste; the Ksatriyas, or warrior/noble caste; the Vaishyas, the farmer and tradesman caste, and the Shudras, a caste containing servants and menial workers. It was believed that these castes arose from the dismembered body of the god Purusa.
Religion
The religion of Vedic India was sacrifice based, taking as its example the primordial sacrifice of the god Purusa. Because of the importance of sacrifice, the gods Soma and Agni were among the most important in the Vedic pantheon. Agni was the god of the sacrificial fire, and Soma the god of the sacred drink and the moon. 'I invoke Agni, in his role of official of this cult, god of sacrifice, officiant, oblator who confers treasures beyond measure. Agni is worthy to be invoked by the ancient prophets, just as by the present ones; may he escort the gods here.' (Comte p. 26) Thus it is written in the Rg Veda, the most important of the four Vedas. Most offerings were burnt, and so Agni attained utmost importance, for without him, the all important sacrifices could not be performed. He was the agent of communication between heaven and earth and the 'mouth of the gods', who consumed their share of the offering through him. He was the god of all fire as well, including the fire of life and inspiration. , the Vedic poeple peoples failed to comprehend certain aspects of nature such as rain, mountains, rivers, seas and celestial bodies like the sun and moon. Their fascination with these natural phenomena led them to gather that the nature was not unplanned nor unregulated and wasn’t disorder, but cosmos. This cosmos was divided into three segments – sky (dyu), earth (prithvi) and the middle realm (antariksha). To explain this, the Vedic poeples regarded
the aspects of nature as divine powers and personified them with human characteristics. This led to the belief in various divinities, deities and gods whom they worshipped. Nymphs called apsaras,
