Vedic Period

The Vedic Period: Political, Social, Economic, and Religious Life

The Vedic period, spanning roughly 1500 to 500 BC, is conventionally divided into the Early (or Rig) Vedic Age (1500–1000 BC) and the Later Vedic Age (1000–500 BC) — a division that captures the profound transformation of early Indian society, from a mobile, pastoral, tribal order into a more settled, agrarian, and increasingly stratified one. This article surveys that transformation across four dimensions of Vedic life — political, social, economic, and religious — tracing, in each case, how institutions and practices rooted in kinship and pastoralism gradually gave way to territorial kingship, varna-based social stratification, sedentary agriculture, and an increasingly elaborate sacrificial religion.

Political Life

The Early Vedic Age (1500–1000 BC)

Administrative Divisions

• The basic unit of political organisation was the kula, or family.
• Several families joined together, on the basis of kinship, to form a village, or grama — the leader of the grama was known as the gramani.
• A group of villages constituted a larger unit, called a visu, or district, headed by a vishayapati.
• The highest political unit was the jana, or tribe. There were several tribal kingdoms during the Rig Vedic period, such as the Bharatas, Matsyas, Yadus, and Purus.
  • The head of the kingdom was called the rajan, or king.

Form of Government

• It was a tribal system of government, in which the military element was strong.
  • There was no civil system or territorial administration, since people were in a stage of perpetual expansion, migrating from one area to another.
• The administrative machinery of the Aryans in the Rig Vedic period worked with the tribal chief at the centre, called the Rajan.

The King (Rajan/Chief)

• The king enjoyed a position of pre-eminence within the tribe. He was appointed as king by the priest, in the “Abhisheka” ceremony.
• It seems that, by the Rig Vedic period, the king’s post had become hereditary.
  • However, the rajan was a kind of chief, and did not exercise unlimited power, since he had to reckon with the tribal organisation.
  • There are traces of the election of the king by the tribal assembly, called the samiti — succession within one family was known, but this was not based on the rule of primogeniture.
• The king was the protector of his tribe — he protected its cattle, fought its wars, and offered prayers to the gods on its behalf.
  • He was required to be like Indra in valour, Mitra in kindness, and Varuna in virtue.
  • The maintenance of law and order was his principal duty, which he discharged with the help of the Purohitas.

Officials

• In the work of administration, the king was assisted by a number of functionaries, including the Purohita (priest), the senani (general), the gramani (village headman), and the spasa (spies).
• The Purohita (priest) was the most important officer of the state.
  • Two priests who played a major role during the Rig Vedic period were Vasishtha and Vishvamitra — Vasishtha was conservative, and Vishvamitra was liberal.
  • The priests inspired the chief to action, and lauded his exploits in return for handsome rewards in cows and women slaves.
• The Senani: The next important functionary was the senani, or commander of the army.
  • The army mainly consisted of patti (infantry) and rathins (chariots). The sena, or army, was not a permanent fighting group, but consisted of able-bodied tribesmen, mobilised at the time of war.
  • Takshan, the carpenter, and rathakara, the chariot-maker, were responsible for making chariots.
  • The weapons used by soldiers included bows, arrows, swords, axes, and spears.
• There is no official mentioned as a collector of taxes. The people offered to the chief what was called bali — this was a voluntary contribution made by ordinary tribesmen on special occasions.
• The Rig Veda does not mention any officer for administering justice.
  • But it was not an ideal society — there were cases of theft and burglary, especially the theft of cows, and spies were employed to keep watch on such anti-social activities.
• The officer who enjoyed authority over a large pasture ground was called the Vrajapati.
  • He led the heads of families, called kulapas, or the heads of fighting hordes, called gramanis, into battle.

Popular Assemblies

• The Rajan was helped in his tasks by tribal assemblies, called sabha, samiti, vidatha, gana, and parishad.
  • Of these, the sabha and samiti were the most important. The former seems to have been a council of elders, and the latter, a general assembly of the entire people.
• All aspects of life were discussed in these assemblies — including wars, the distribution of the spoils of war, and judicial and religious activities.
  • Thus, these assemblies, in a way, limited the powers of the chiefs.
  • Interestingly, women were also allowed to participate in the deliberations of the sabha and samiti.

Changes in the Later Vedic Period

• The nature of chiefship changed considerably in this period.
  • Chiefship had become hereditary, and the idea of the divine nature of kingship now gets a mention in the literature of this period.
  • The post generally went to the eldest son, though this succession was not always smooth — the Mahabharata tells us that Duryodhana usurped power, which led to war; the Bharata battle shows that “kingship knows no kinship.”
  • However, we still find some traces of the election of the chief or king in Later Vedic texts — the one considered best in physical and other qualities was elected raja.
• The territorial idea gained ground. Many janas, or tribes, were amalgamated to form janapadas or rashtras in the Later Vedic period.
  • Hence, royal power increased along with the increase in the size of kingdoms, and the dominant tribes gave their names to territories.
• The people gradually started to lose their control over the chief, and the authority of the popular assemblies started waning.
  • The Vidatha completely disappeared.
  • The sabha and samiti continued to exist, but their character changed — they came to be dominated by chiefs and rich nobles.
  • Women were no longer permitted to sit in the sabha, which was now dominated by nobles and Brahmanas.
• The king’s influence was strengthened by rituals, and the performance of many sacrifices, which provided legitimacy to the king:
  • The Rajasuya sacrifice was supposed to confer supreme power on him.
  • The Ashvamedha sacrifice meant unquestioned control over an area in which the royal horse ran uninterrupted.
  • The Vajapeya, or the chariot race, in which the royal chariot was made to race against kinsmen.
  • All these rituals impressed the people with the increasing power and prestige of the king.
• The chiefs of this period belonged to the kshatriya varna, and, in league with the Brahmanas, tried to establish complete control over the people in the name of dharma.
• During this period, the collection of taxes and tributes seems to have become common — these were probably deposited with an officer called the sangrihitri.
  • The epics tell us that, at the time of big sacrifices, large-scale distributions were made by the princes, and all sections of people were fed sumptuously.
• In the discharge of duties, the king was assisted by the priest, the commander, the chief queen, and a few other high functionaries.
  • At the lower level, the administration was possibly carried on by village assemblies, which may have been controlled by the chiefs of the dominant clans.
• A rudimentary army too emerged as an important element of the political structure during this period. But even in Later Vedic times, the king did not possess a standing army — the tribal army was still mustered in times of war, and, according to one ritual for success in war, the king had to eat along with his people (vis) from the same plate.

Tribal Conflicts in the Later Vedic Period

• The nature of intra-tribal and inter-tribal conflict also changed.
  • Fights were no longer mere skirmishes over cattle — the acquisition of land was now an important element in these disputes, connected with the growth of population within the tribes.
  • Iron weapons and light, wheeled chariots driven by horses raised the efficiency of the fighters.
  • The Mahabharata depicts an intra-clan warfare between the Kauravas and the Pandavas of the Kuru clan.
• However, none of these elements show that a fully-fledged janapada, or territorial state — with all its attributes, such as a standing army and bureaucracy — had emerged in the Later Vedic period; but the process had begun, and soon after the Vedic period, in the sixth century BC, we see the rise of the sixteen mahajanapadas in northern India.

Social Life

The Early Vedic Age (1500–1000 BC)

• Early Vedic society was a tribal society, in which social relations based on kinship ties were predominant.
  • Membership of a tribe was based on birth, not on residence in a certain area — thus, members of the Bharata tribe were known as the Bharatas, which implied no particular territory.
  • People gave their primary loyalty to the tribe, called the jana. The term jana occurs at about 275 places in the Rig Veda, while the term janapada, or territory, is not used even once — reflecting that people were attached to the tribe, since territory or kingdom was not yet established.

Family

• The family was regarded as the basic social and political unit — the nucleus of the social life of the early Aryans.
  • It was patriarchal in nature, headed by the father.
  • The birth of a son was the common desire of the people — the importance given to male members is reflected in the hymns, where the desire for a son is a constant prayer, and people prayed to the gods for brave sons to fight their wars. In the Rig Veda, no desire is expressed for daughters.
• The Aryans had joint families, comprising not only mother, father, and children, but also nephews, grandsons, cousins, and others.

Position of Women

• In the Early Vedic age, women enjoyed an honoured place in society.
  • In all religious ceremonies, a woman participated with her husband. The education of girls was not neglected.
  • The Rig Veda mentions the names of learned women, such as Vishvavara, Apala, Lopamudra, and Ghosha, who composed mantras/hymns and attained the rank of Rishis — indicating that they had equal opportunities to men for spiritual and intellectual development.
  • Women could attend assemblies. The purdah system was not prevalent in society, nor was the practice of sati.

Institution of Marriage

• Monogamy was the usual norm of marriage. Polygamy was practised, but confined mostly to chiefs.
  • Women could choose a husband of their own choice — the practice of “Swayamvara” was also prevalent.
  • There was no child marriage; girls were married after attaining puberty. After marriage, the wife went to her husband’s house.
• There is also some evidence of polyandry — for example, the Maruts are stated to have enjoyed Rodasi, and the two Ashvin brothers are represented as living with Surya, the daughter of the sun god.
  • We also notice the practice of levirate and widow remarriage.
• There are some indications of matrilineal traces — some examples of sons being named after their mother, as in the case of Mamateya.
  • However, women were always thought to be dependent on their fathers, brothers, or husbands.

Social Divisions

• Rig Vedic society was a simple and largely egalitarian society.
  • However, certain differences did exist, on the basis of the physical appearance of people during this period.
  • Varna, or colour, was the basis of initial differentiation between the Vedic and non-Vedic people — the Vedic people were fair, while the non-Vedic, indigenous people were dark in complexion, and spoke a different language.
  • Colour may have provided an identity marker for social orders, but its importance has been exaggerated by Western writers who believed in racial distinctions.
• The factor that contributed most to the creation of social division was the conquest of the indigenous inhabitants by the Aryans.
  • The dasas and dasyus, conquered by the Aryans, were treated as slaves and shudras — thus, the Rigveda mentions arya varna and dasa varna.
  • The Dasas are described as dark, full-lipped, snub-nosed, worshippers of the phallus, and of “hostile speech.”
• Certain practices during this period — such as the concentration of a larger share of war booty in the hands of chiefs and priests — resulted in the creation of social inequalities within a tribe, during the later part of this Vedic phase.
  • This contributed to the rise of princes and priests, at the cost of the common tribal people.
  • Gradually, tribal society divided into three groups — warriors, priests, and the people.
  • A fourth division, the shudras, appeared towards the end of the Rig Vedic period — it is mentioned for the first time in the tenth book of the Rig Veda, the latest addition to the text.
• We also learn of another people called the Panis, who were wealthy in cattle treasures. The term “Pani” came to be associated with merchants and wealth in subsequent ages.
• There was no caste division. Occupation was not based on birth, and members of a family could adopt different occupations.
  • We hear of a family in which a member says: “I am a poet, my father is a physician, and my mother is a grinder. Earning livelihood through different means, we live together…”
  • Since the economy was mainly pastoral, and not food-producing, the scope for collecting regular tributes from the people was very limited. We do not find gifts of land, and even gifts of cereals are rare.
  • We find domestic slaves, but not the wage earner.
• The tribal elements in society were strong, and social divisions based on the collection of taxes or the accumulation of landed property were absent.
  • Various occupational groups — weavers, smiths, carpenters, leather workers, chariot-makers, priests, and others — are also mentioned.
  • The chariot-makers occupied a special social status. There are no references to beggars, wage-earners, or wages in the Rigveda.

Slaves

• We repeatedly hear of slaves who were given as gifts to priests — mainly women slaves, employed for domestic purposes.
  • It is clear that, in Rig Vedic times, slaves were not used directly in agriculture or other producing activities.

Dress and Ornaments

• The Aryans wore dresses made from cotton, wool, and deer skin.
  • Both men and women wore gold ornaments — women used earrings, necklaces, bangles, and anklets, sometimes studded with precious stones.
  • Both men and women oiled and combed their hair.

Food and Drink

• The Aryans ate both vegetable and animal foods.
  • Rice, barley, beans, and sesamum formed the staple food. They also ate bread, cake, milk, ghee, butter, and curd, together with fruits.
  • Fish, birds, goats, rams, bulls, and horses were slaughtered for food.
  • The slaughter of the cow seems to have been prohibited, though there is evidence of cow sacrifice and beef-eating.
  • They also drank an intoxicating liquor known as sura, a brandy made from corn and barley, and the juice of the soma plant.

Amusements

• Rig Vedic people spent their leisure time in various amusements, such as gambling, war-dancing, chariot racing, hunting, boxing, dancing, and music.

Changes in the Later Vedic Age

• In the Later Vedic period, agriculture had become an important activity of the people, so there occurred a transformation of the pastoral society into a sedentary agrarian society.
• The most important change was the rise and growth of social differentiation, in the form of the varna system.
  • Society came to be divided into four varnas — Brahmanas, Rajanyas (or Kshatriyas), Vaishyas, and Shudras.
  • A hymn describes the origin of these four varnas from the body of the universal creator, Prajapati — this hymn, for the first time, describes the origin of the four varnas. It states:
    • “When they divided the Man, into how many parts did they divide him? What was his mouth, what were his arms, what were his thighs and his feet called? The Brahman was his mouth, of his arms was made the Kshatriya, his thighs became the Vaishya, of his feet the Shudra was born.”
  • The symbolism projected in this hymn is that the Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra are limbs of society — however, these “limbs” did not have equal status.
• The growing number of sacrifices and rituals during the period made the Brahmanas very powerful.
  • They conducted various rituals, including those related to different stages of agricultural operations, which made them all the more important.
• The Kshatriyas, next in the social hierarchy, were the rulers — they, along with the Brahmanas, controlled all aspects of life.
• The Vaishyas, the most numerous varna, were engaged in agriculture, as well as in trade and artisanal activities.
  • The Brahmanas and Kshatriyas were dependent on the tributes (gifts and taxes) paid to them by the Vaishyas.
• The Shudras, the fourth varna, were at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
  • They were ordained to be in the service of the three upper varnas, and were not entitled to the ritual of upanayana samskara (investiture with the sacred thread, necessary to acquire education).
  • The other three varnas were entitled to this ceremony, and hence were known as dvijas (“twice-born”). This can be construed as the beginning of the imposition of disabilities on the Shudras, as well as the beginning of the concept of ritual pollution.

The Concept of Varna

The system of varna had the following features:

• Status determined by birth.
• A hierarchical ordering of the varnas (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra), with the Brahmana at the top and the Shudra at the base.
• Rules of endogamy and ritual purity.

The Varnadharma System

• The varna system is further tied to the concept of dharma — universal law — and varnadharma was an attempt to establish a social law for the systematic functioning of society.
• However, the varnadharma system was not properly developed in Later Vedic society:
  • The division of social groups was based on occupation alone, and society was still flexible, in that one’s occupation did not depend on birth.
  • Even in post-Vedic times, varnadharma described the ritual status (not actual status) of each group.
  • The varna system did not prevent non-Kshatriyas from claiming Kshatriya status and becoming rulers (as with the Nandas and the Mauryas), nor Brahmanas from claiming political suzerainty (as with the Sunga kings).
  • Thus, the theoretical model of the varna system could never be rigidly enforced in the post-Vedic period.

The Jati System

• The term jati occurs in a Later Vedic text, used in the sense of an extended family — the stress on kinship ties was further emphasised by the use of this word.
  • While varna decided the ritual status of a person, jati decided the actual status.
  • Jati slowly became the gauge of a more precise assessment of the socio-economic status of a group.
  • Later, it was used in the sense of caste, implying an endogamous kinship group with specialised occupations and service relationships, reflecting an increase in social stratification.
  • In course of time, each jati came to have its own religious observances.
• During the Later Vedic period, with the shift in geographical focus, the Vedic people encountered many non-Vedic tribes, and considerable interaction must have helped in the formation of a composite society.
  • The Atharvaveda, at least, depicts a host of non-Vedic religious practices, which were sanctioned by the priests.
  • However, tribal endogamy, enforced through strict marriage rules, remained the aim, in order to maintain the purity of the tribe.
  • The growing importance of the Kshatriyas and Brahmanas in society also made it imperative to maintain their exclusive superior status, compared to the rest.

Habitations

• People continued to live in wooden or thatched houses, with walls plastered with clay. The better houses had a store-room, a ladies’ room, a men’s general living room, and a hall for fire-worship.
• During the Later Vedic period, however, the concept of varna was still rudimentary in nature, and varna distinctions had not advanced very far.
  • The notion of untouchability, for instance, is entirely absent. There were several rituals in which the Shudras participated.
  • Certain sections of artisans, such as the rathakara (chariot-maker), enjoyed a high status, and were entitled to the sacred thread ceremony.

The Family in the Later Vedic Period

• The family remained the basic unit of Vedic society, though its composition underwent a change.
  • The patriarchal family was well established, and the grihapati (householder) acquired a special status.
  • The increasing power of the father is visible — he could even disinherit his son.
  • Since the householding economy was gaining predominance, the position of the householder also acquired economic importance. Rights over land were based on usage, and communal ownership of land prevailed.
  • The grihapatis were wealthy, and their ritual role was that of a yajamana (one who commissions a sacrifice). Their wealth did not come from gifts, but was produced through their own efforts.
    • Through yajnas, which they were bound to perform to gain merit, a part of their wealth was channelled to the Brahmanas.
  • The rows of hearths discovered at Atranjikhera and Ahichchhatra (both in western Uttar Pradesh) show that these were meant for communal feeding, or for cooking the food of large families.
• In princely families, the right of primogeniture was getting stronger, and male ancestors came to be worshipped.
  • Despite the presence of some women philosophers, and references to a few queens participating in coronation rituals, women were generally considered subordinate to men, and were not involved in any major decision-making within the family.
• The institution of gotra developed in this period — meaning that people sharing a common gotra were understood to descend from a common ancestor.
  • As against tribal endogamy (marriage within the tribe), people now practised gotra exogamy (marrying outside the gotra) — no marriage between members of the same gotra could take place.
  • Monogamous marriages were preferred, even though polygamy was frequent.

Position of Women Declined

• There was a marked deterioration in the status of women during this period.
  • Certain restrictions on women appeared — in one text, women have been counted as a “vice,” along with dice and wine; in another, a daughter has been said to be “the source of all sorrows.”
  • Women had to stay with her husband at his home after marriage.
  • The participation of women in public meetings (the Samiti) was restricted.
  • Women had no right to inherit property — thus, they became mere dependents of their fathers, husbands, or sons.

Varnashrama Dharma

• Another important institution that began to take shape was ashrama, or the different stages of life.
  • It prescribed the four ashramas, or stages of life: the Brahmachari (student), the Grihastha (householder), the Vanaprastha (hermit), and the Sanyasi (ascetic).
  • Only three ashramas are mentioned in Later Vedic texts — Brahmacharya, Grihastha, and Vanaprastha.
    • Sanyasa (complete retirement from active participation in the world), the fourth stage, was added later — it was not known until the time the Upanishads were written.
  • Together with varna, this system came to be known as varna-ashrama dharma.

Changing Food, Dress, and Related Habits in the Later Vedic Period

• Food habits: These remained largely the same as in Early Vedic times — rice, porridge made of grain, barley, milk, curds, ghee, sesame, and meat were the common foods.
  • Meat was generally eaten only on festive occasions. The drinking of sura was condemned, being seen as goading men towards a vicious path.
• Dressing sense: Dress usually consisted of three garments — an undergarment (nivi), a garment proper (vasas), and an over-garment (adhi-vasas).
  • The turban was worn both by men and women.
• Diseases and cures: Knowledge of medicine was anything but elementary.
  • The use of medicinal herbs in combination with magical spells betrayed the primitive system of curing diseases.
  • The use of sandbands to stop bleeding is interesting. An accurate observation in the Shankhayana Brahmana notes that sickness was particularly prevalent at the time of a change of season — showing the unmistakable influence of nature on human physical constitution.

Economic Life

The Early Vedic Age (1500–1000 BC)

• The early Vedic Aryans were pastoralists. Cattle-rearing was their main occupation — they reared cattle, sheep, goats, and horses for milk, meat, and hides.
  • A pastoral society relies more on its animal wealth than on agricultural produce; pastoralism is a subsistence strategy adopted by people living in areas where large-scale agriculture is not feasible, owing to environmental — and, to some extent, cultural — constraints.
• We arrive at this conclusion after analysing the literary evidence in the Rigveda:
  • A large number of words are derived from the word go, meaning “cow.” A wealthy person was known as gomat, and a daughter was called duhitri, meaning “one who milks the cow.”
  • The terms used for conflicts and battles in this period included gavishti (literally, “to search for cows”), and gavesana, gavyat, and so on — the word gaveshana literally means “search for cows,” but also came to mean “battle,” since many battles were fought over cattle.
  • The raja, or chief, is called the gopati, or “one who protects cows.” In the Rigveda, godhuli is used as a term for a measure of time, and distance is called gavyuti. Kinship units are labelled gotra.
  • All these terms, derived from gau (cow), suggest that social relations and all important areas of Rigvedic life centred around the rearing of cows. Literary references to pasture lands, cow pens, dairy products, and domesticated animals are also found in most hymns and prayers.
• Cows were thought of as providers of everything — prayers were offered for an increase in the number of cattle.
  • The Panis, enemies of the Vedic people, are said in the Rigveda to have hidden their wealth, mostly cows, in the mountains and forests; the god Indra was invoked to release these cattle. This reference suggests that cattle raids were common.

Agriculture in the Early Vedic Age

• The Aryans did have some knowledge of agriculture. However, the evidence for agriculture, compared with pastoral activities, is meagre in the earlier portions of the text, and mostly appears in later insertions.
  • A few references show that they had knowledge of agriculture, and practised it to supplement their food requirements.
  • The ploughshare is mentioned in the earliest part of the Rig Veda, though some consider this an interpolation — this ploughshare was possibly made of wood.
  • They were acquainted with sowing, harvesting, and threshing, and knew about the different seasons.
  • Apart from yava (barley), no other grains are mentioned. Agriculture was also well known to the pre-Aryans who lived in the area associated with the Vedic people.
  • Ploughed land was known as urvara or kshetra.

Why was agriculture not a prominent activity?

• The early Vedic people did not use iron technology. Copper, with which they were familiar, did not have as much value for agricultural operations as iron implements.
  • Stone tools (like axes) were used, and are mentioned in the Rigveda.
  • Fire was used to burn down forest cover, and shifting agriculture was practised — the hoes, sickles, and axes mentioned in the texts were probably used for slashing purposes, or for shifting cultivation.
• Further, the region under discussion receives low rainfall, and all the rivers mentioned in the Rigveda — the Sutlej, Indus, Ghaggar, Ravi, and others — are known to change their courses frequently.
  • Without large-scale irrigation, which was not developed in this period, the alluvial lands near the rivers could not be cultivated on a permanent basis.
• The evidence of pastoralism, as well as shifting cultivation, suggests that the people were either nomadic or semi-nomadic.
  • They moved out of their villages with their herds for a certain period, in order to feed their cattle. Both literary and archaeological sources show that people did not lead a fully sedentary life.
  • The mobile character of the population is seen in the term “vis,” which also implied a settlement. The suffixes punar (vis), upa (vis), and pra (vis) were constantly used, and the settlements qualified by these terms meant settling near, re-entering, or coming back to a settlement.

Gift Exchange, Redistribution, and Other Occupations

• Gift exchange and redistribution had an important economic role in society.
  • Tribal conflicts led to the payment of tributes — bali — to victorious chiefs, by the defeated or subordinate groups.
  • The rest of the clansmen of the victorious tribe had a share in the spoils and booty won in war. Redistribution also occurred during sacrifices and rituals.
• There was no concept of private property based on land ownership — whenever we hear of gifts made to priests, these usually consisted of cows and women slaves, never of land.
• Evidence of trade and commerce in Early Vedic society is meagre; we have no clear evidence of the existence of regular trade.
  • The Rig Veda mentions artisans, such as carpenters, chariot-makers, weavers, and leather-workers, and potters, indicating that these crafts were practised.
  • The term ayas, used for copper or bronze, shows that metal-working was known.
  • The Vedic people were more acquainted with land routes, since the word samudra, mentioned in the Rig Veda, mainly denotes a collection of water. They probably introduced the spoked wheel, which first appeared in the Caucasus area around 2300 BC.
• In the Rig Vedic age, people did not live in cities.
  • Houses were made of wood and bamboo, with thatched roofs and clay floors.
  • The hymns of the Rig Veda refer to pura — it seems that puras were fortified places, serving as refuges in times of danger from invasion, though these are yet to be satisfactorily identified by archaeologists.
  • People were also familiar with caves in the mountains.
  • There was an absence of the word nagara (city) in the hymns of the Rig Veda.
• The gramani was the chief of the village, looking after both civil and military affairs. There was also another officer known as the Vrajapati, who led the kulapas (heads of families) into battle.
• The Rig Vedic phase coincides with a pre-iron phase of the Painted Grey Ware (PGW) culture.

Changes in the Later Vedic Age

• In the Later Vedic phase, agriculture became the mainstay of the Vedic people.
  • This growth was made possible by the availability of vast tracts of fertile alluvial land, in the Ganga-Yamuna doab and the middle Ganga valley — an area slowly settled throughout the first millennium BC.
  • Later Vedic texts speak of ploughing with yokes of six, eight, twelve, and even twenty-four oxen to the plough — this may be an exaggeration.
  • Ploughing was done with a wooden ploughshare, which would possibly have worked in the light soil of the upper Gangetic plains.
  • Enough bullocks could not always be available, because of cattle slaughter in sacrifices — therefore, agriculture was primitive, though there is no doubt about its wide prevalence.
• The furrow (sita) was known, and many rituals were introduced to initiate the process of agriculture.
  • The Shatapatha Brahmana, for instance, speaks at length about ploughing rituals, and classifies agricultural operations as “ploughing, sowing, reaping, and threshing.”
  • The use of manure was well understood, for increasing production.
  • Many kinds of grain were grown, including barley, rice, wheat, beans, sesamum, and masura (lentils). There were two harvests in a year.
• In those days, even kings and princes did not hesitate to take up manual labour — according to ancient legends, Janaka, king of Videha and father of Sita, lent his hand to the plough, and Balarama, the brother of Krishna, is called Haladhar, “wielder of the plough.”
  • But, in later times, ploughing came to be prohibited for members of the upper varnas.
• The buffalo had been domesticated for agricultural purposes, and was extremely useful in ploughing swampy land.
  • The god Indra acquires a new epithet — “Lord of the Plough” — in this period.
• The items of dana and dakshina (gifts and priestly fees) now included cooked rice — with the beginning of food production, agricultural produce began to be offered in rituals.
  • The twelve sacrifices prescribed in the Atharvaveda, for acquiring material benefits, recommend gifts of cows, calves, oxen, gold, cooked rice, thatched houses, and well-cultivated fields to the Brahmanas — clearly indicating the growing importance of sedentary settlement and agriculture.
• Agricultural activities in this phase were not labour-intensive.
  • The sites where rice remains are found in excavations are located in the elevated areas of the doab — suggesting that wet rice cultivation, which is labour-intensive, was not yet practised.
  • The number and variety of plant foods increased. Apart from barley, people now cultivated wheat, rice, pulses, lentils, millet, and sugarcane.
  • Both archaeological and literary sources suggest that rice became the chief crop and staple diet of the people.
    • The PGW and Banas cultures yield charred grains of rice from excavated sites; the Vedic people, for the first time, became acquainted with rice, in the doab region.
    • Vedic texts mention vrihi, tandula, and sali, all denoting rice.
    • The 8th-century BC settlements at Hastinapur and Atranjikhera have remains of rice.
  • Vedic texts also mention the use of wheat; barley continued to be produced, and various kinds of lentils were grown.
  • Tila (sesame), from which the first widely used vegetable food-oil was derived, increasingly came to be used in rituals.

The Beginning of the Use of Iron

• This period was marked by the extended use of metals — gold (hiranya), silver (rajata), bronze (ayas), iron (krishnayas), copper (red ayas), and lead (sisa). Gold and silver were used to make ornaments.
• The main factor in the expansion of Aryan culture during the Later Vedic period was the beginning of the use of iron, around 1000 BC.
  • The Rigvedic people knew of a metal called ayas, which was either copper or bronze. In Later Vedic literature, ayas was qualified with shyama or krishna (“black”) — shyama ayas or krishna ayas — to denote iron.
  • Archaeology has shown that iron began to be used around 1000 BC, which is also the period of Later Vedic literature.
  • Around 1000 BC, iron appears in the Dharwar district of Karnataka, though how it spread from there is not clear.
  • From the same time onwards, iron was used in eastern Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
  • Excavations show that iron weapons, such as arrowheads and spearheads, came into common use in western Uttar Pradesh from around 800 BC onwards.
  • Towards the end of the Vedic period, knowledge of iron spread to eastern Uttar Pradesh and Videha. The earliest iron implements discovered in this area belong to the 7th century BC.
• The northern and eastern parts of India, to which the Aryans later migrated, receive more rainfall than the north-western part of India — as a result, this region is covered with thick rain forests, which could not be cleared by the copper or stone tools used by the Rigvedic people.
  • The use of iron tools now helped people clear the dense rain forests more effectively, particularly the huge stumps left after burning.
  • Large tracts of forestland could be converted into cultivable land in relatively less time. The iron plough could turn the soil from deeper down, making it more fertile.
  • Later Vedic texts also refer to eight, twelve, and even twenty-four oxen yoked to the plough — though the number may be symbolic, this reference suggests that plough cultivation was familiar during this period.
  • This process seems to have begun during the later part of the Rigvedic period, but the effects of iron tools and implements became evident only towards the end of the Later Vedic period.

The Debate Around Iron Technology and Its Impact

• An important question is whether the knowledge of iron led to any advancement in the metal technology of the period, and to what extent the introduction of a new technology changed the material milieu of society.
• In favour:
  • The evidence of the Later Vedic period suggests a transition from a pastoral society to a sedentary agrarian one.
  • It was earlier suggested that socketed axes made of iron were extensively used to clear the forests of the Gangetic doab for permanent cultivation.
  • It was also believed that iron-tipped ploughshares and hoes increased the efficiency of agricultural implements, furthering agricultural activities.
  • Thus, scholars believed that knowledge of iron technology was an important factor in the development of the agrarian economy.
• The opposing view:
  • However, we now know that the Later Vedic period was neither purely agrarian, nor well advanced in iron technology.
  • The rich iron ore mines of Bihar were still not exploited, and the technology of smelting iron was primitive.
  • From excavations, it appears that the use of iron was largely restricted to making weapons.
    • The objects found in excavations are mostly iron-tipped arrowheads and spearheads — the largest number coming from the Ahichchhatra excavations. Sickles, hoes, and axes are rarely found.
    • One ploughshare has been reported from Jakhera, which probably belongs to the end of this period.
  • Iron did not influence agricultural technology until the second half of the first millennium BC, when the marshlands and monsoon forests of the middle Gangetic valley were gradually cleared.
  • In the Later Vedic period, forest clearance by burning was carried out in the upper doab — we have the description of the burning of the Khandavavana in the Mahabharata, to establish the city of Indraprastha.
  • Iron-tipped weapons and horse chariots helped military activities, which were rampant in this period and extensively documented in the Mahabharata — however, in subsistence-related activities, iron technology had practically no role.

Coinage

• There was no regular system of currency or coinage. But some improvised forms of currency — Krishnala, Satamana, and nishka — made their appearance.
  • The Krishnala berry was a unit of weight, usually weighing one ratti, that is, 1.8 grains.
  • Satamana, a piece of gold equivalent to the weight of 100 Krishnalas, was used by merchants as currency.
  • The nishka replaced the cow as a unit of value.

The Decline of Pastoralism and the Rise of Sedentary Settlements

• Pastoralism was no longer the main subsistence activity of the people, as it had been in the Early Vedic period. Mixed farming, which included both cultivation and herding, was the occupational norm of this period.
• Mixed farming led to the rise of sedentary settlements.
  • PGW deposits are generally 2 to 3 metres deep, indicating that people were living in the same spot for a long time.
  • At Bhagwanpura and Jakhera, excavations show that the earlier phase of circular huts, made of wattle and daub or wood, was replaced in this period by more substantial houses with earth walls — showing the adoption of durable construction materials, owing to a sedentary lifestyle.

Changes in the Functions of Rituals

• In Early Vedic society, rituals were performed to bring about the welfare of the entire tribe — gods were worshipped to ensure victory over other tribes, and to grant cattle and sons; it was also an occasion for chiefs to distribute wealth.
• In Later Vedic society, the function of rituals underwent a subtle change, becoming much more complicated — sometimes lasting years — and could thus only be performed by the rich.
  • The spirit of collectivity was reduced: sacrifices were now performed to ensure control over the rest of the tribe, and gifts were no longer given to the entire tribe, but rather to the Brahmans who performed sacrifices for the chief.
  • The rituals were so complicated that they needed expert Brahmans to perform them, since a wrong incantation could bring disaster to the performer.
  • The performer of sacrifices was supposed to grant a super-human status to the chiefs — meaning that they were superior to the rest of the tribe. For this service, the chief passed on a large part of his wealth to the Brahman priest.
  • Thus, the rituals became a mechanism for ensuring the material and spiritual superiority of the chiefs and the Brahmans.

The Emerging Importance of Land

• In this period, land was initially owned by the clan, or the vis. When clan ownership gradually gave way to family ownership, the grihapati (householder) became a man of wealth.
  • The vaishyas (originally belonging to the vis) were the producing class in society, and became the source of wealth and subsistence for the Kshatriyas and Brahmanas, who did not actively participate in food production.
  • The vaishyas had to give prestations to the Kshatriyas, in return for the latter protecting their lands, and dana and dakshina to the priests, for their moral upliftment.
  • This vis/vaishya householding economy became the mainstay of the economy — prestations and dana to the non-producing classes helped in the distribution of subsistence goods.
• This textual pattern suggests communal ownership of land, over which the vis had major participatory rights — there are no references to the sale of land.
  • Vishvakarma Bhauvana, a ruler, was rebuked by Prithvi (the earth) when he tried to make a grant of land.

Service Groups and Diverse Arts and Crafts

• The Later Vedic period saw the rise of diverse arts and crafts. The expansion of the Aryans, coupled with an increase in material prosperity, gave rise to numerous occupations, meeting the growing needs of the people:
  • Fishermen, fire-rangers, ploughers, weavers, dyers, washermen, barbers, butchers, footmen, messengers, makers of jewels, baskets, ropes, chariots, and bows, smiths, potters, professional acrobats, and musicians.

Industry-Related Occupations

• The development of industries brought numerous new professions — boatmen, helmsmen, oarsmen, moneylenders (kusidi), and merchants or shreshthis, who organised themselves into guilds.
  • The astrologer formed an important part of village life.
  • Women were employed as dyers, embroiderers, or basket-makers.
  • We hear of smiths and smelters, who certainly had something to do with iron-working, from about 1000 BC onwards.
• The Vedic people were familiar with copper-working from very early on — numerous copper tools of the pre-1000 BC period, found in western Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, might suggest the existence of copper-smiths even among non-Vedic societies.
  • The Vedic people may have used the copper mines of Khetri in Rajasthan — in any case, copper was one of the first metals used by the Vedic people.
  • Copper objects have been found at Painted Grey Ware sites, used mainly for war and hunting, and also for ornaments.
• Weaving was largely confined to women, but was practised on a wide scale.
• Leather work, carpentry, and pottery all made great progress.
  • The Later Vedic people were acquainted with four types of pottery:
    • Black and Red Ware.
    • Black-slipped Ware.
    • Painted Grey Ware: the most distinctive pottery of the period.
    • Red Ware: the most popular type, found almost all over western Uttar Pradesh.
  • Glass hoards and bangles found in the PGW layers may have been used as prestige objects.
  • Jewel-workers are also mentioned in Later Vedic texts, possibly catering to the needs of richer sections of society.
• There was a continuous increase in population during the Later Vedic period, due to the expansion of the agricultural economy — the increasing number and size of PGW settlements in the doab area shows this.
  • With time, the Vedic people also acquired better knowledge of seasons, manuring, and irrigation.
  • All these developments led to the substantial enlargement of certain settlements — such as Hastinapur and Kaushambi — towards the end of the Later Vedic period.
  • These settlements slowly began to acquire the characteristics of towns. Such rudimentary towns, inhabited mainly by chiefs, princes, priests, and artisans, were supported by peasants, who could spare some part of their produce for them, voluntarily or involuntarily.

Faint Beginnings of Towns

• Although the term nagara is used in Later Vedic texts, we can trace only the faint beginnings of towns, towards the end of the Later Vedic period.
  • Hastinapur and Kaushambi can be regarded as primitive towns, belonging to the end of the Vedic period — these may be called proto-urban sites.
  • Vedic texts also refer to the seas and sea voyages, suggesting some kind of commerce, which may have been stimulated by the rise of new arts and crafts.
• A certain amount of sea-borne trade was carried on. On the whole, in the Later Vedic phase, pastoral and semi-nomadic forms of living were relegated to the background.
  • Agriculture became the primary source of livelihood, and life became settled and sedentary.
  • Equipped with diverse arts and crafts, the Vedic people now settled down permanently in the upper Gangetic plains.

Religious Life

The Early Vedic Age (1500–1000 BC)

• The religious ideas of the Vedic people are reflected in the hymns of the Rigveda.
  • They venerated the natural forces around them — wind, water, rain, thunder, fire, and so on — which they could not control. The Rigvedic gods were generally personifications of different aspects of these natural forces.
  • The attributes of these gods also reflect the tribal and patriarchal nature of society, since we do not find many goddesses mentioned in the text.
    • Indra, Agni, Varuna, Mitra, Dyaus, Pushana, Yama, and Soma are all male gods.
    • In comparison, there are only a few goddesses, such as Ushas, Sarasvati, and Prithvi, who occupy secondary positions in the pantheon.
• The functions of different gods reflect the needs of society:
  • Indra was the god of strength, invoked to destroy enemies — also known as Purandara, “breaker of forts.” He was the god of thunder, and the rainmaker, periodically asked to release the waters; he could not be vanquished.
    • Thus, thunder and rain (natural phenomena) were associated with strength, personified in a masculine form, represented by Indra. The concept of a tribal chief, who was also a war-lord, is also found represented in the character of Indra.
    • About 250 hymns in the Rig Veda are devoted to him.
  • Agni, next in importance to Indra, was the god of fire.
    • He was considered an intermediary between heaven and earth — between gods and men — and dominated the domestic hearth; marriages were solemnised in his presence.
    • Fire destroyed dirt and germs, and hence Agni was considered pure. His importance can be related to that of the yajna, or sacrifice, in Early Vedic society — it was supposed that oblations offered to Agni were carried to the gods in the form of smoke.
    • About 200 hymns in the Rig Veda are devoted to Agni.
  • Varuna personified water, and was the upholder of the natural order of the universe, known as rita — an important aspect of the tribal set-up.
  • Yama was the god of death, and had an important place in Early Vedic religious belief.
  • The Maruts, gods of storm, aided Indra in wars, in the way tribesmen aided their leader in tribal wars.
  • Soma was associated with plants and herbs — Soma was also a plant, from which an intoxicating juice was extracted and drunk at sacrifices.
  • Pushan was the god of roads, herdsmen, and cattle — very important in the life of pastoral nomads.
  • Some female divinities, such as Aditi and Ushas, represent the appearance of the dawn, though they are not particularly prominent during the time of the Rig Veda.
  • Other gods were similarly associated with other aspects of nature and life.

The Nature of Vedic Sacrifice

• The Vedic religion was sacrificial. Sacrifices, or yajnas, were performed to invoke the gods, in order to grant boons — either victory in battle, or the acquisition of cattle, sons, and so on.
  • We find some hymns dedicated to the power residing in the sacrificial implements — especially the sacrificial altar, the stones used for pressing the Soma plant, and the weapons of war, drums, mortars, and so on.
  • Hymns and prayers were recited at these sacrifices, generally performed by priests. The growing importance of sacrifices in Vedic society resulted in the growing importance of priests as well.
  • The ritual of sacrifice also led to the growth of knowledge in mathematics and animal anatomy — elementary mathematics was necessary to calculate the positions of various objects in the sacrificial area, while frequent animal sacrifices led to knowledge of their anatomy.
• For the Vedic people, the world grew out of a vast cosmic sacrifice, and was maintained by the proper performance of sacrifice.
  • The dominant mode of worshipping the gods was through the recitation of prayers and the offering of sacrifices.
  • Both collective and individual prayers were made — it seems that prayers were offered to gods in chorus by members of the whole tribe, as was the case with sacrifices as well.
  • Religion was not based on magico-ritual formulae; rather, it stressed direct communication with the gods, through sacrifices and hymns.
    • During sacrifices, offerings of vegetables, barley, and the like were made to the gods, but this process was not accompanied by any elaborate ritual or sacrificial formulae — that is, at this stage, the magical power of the word was not considered as important as it came to be in Later Vedic times.
• Gods were not worshipped for spiritual upliftment, nor for ending the miseries of existence, nor for any other abstract philosophical concept — they were invoked to grant material gains.
  • People asked mainly for praja (children), pashu (cattle), food, wealth, and health.
• Sacrificial religion is a religion of pastoral peoples.
  • Animal sacrifice is rampant in pastoral society, where older animals — no longer capable of producing milk or meat, or used for breeding — that is, those no longer economically viable, are killed to lessen the burden on their owner. Animal sacrifice was thus one way of disposing of old animals, and had an important role in society.
  • In an agrarian society, however, older animals are employed in the fields for traction purposes, and hence the destruction of animals is frowned upon by a society that primarily depends on agricultural activities.
  • Thus, Vedic religion reflected the patriarchal, pastoral society, and was materialistic in its perspective.

Changes in the Later Vedic Phase

• With the growth of agricultural activity, changes in material life naturally resulted in a change in attitudes towards gods and goddesses as well — continuous interaction with the local non-Aryan population also contributed to these changes.
• The texts of this period indicate two different religious traditions:
  • The Vedic tradition, documented in the Sama and Yajurveda Samhitas and the Brahmanas.
  • The non-Vedic, or folk, tradition, extensively documented in the Atharvaveda.
  • The fact that the Atharvan religious tradition was considered part of the Vedic corpus suggests the assimilation of different cultures and beliefs into the Vedic religious system.
• Another important feature was the increase in the frequency and number of yajnas, which generally ended with the sacrifice of a large number of animals.
  • The Yajurveda Samhita and Brahmanas document the sacrificial religion of this period. Sacrifices became very important, assuming both a public and private character.
  • Public sacrifices — such as the Rajasuya, Vajapeya, and Ashvamedha — were conducted on a massive scale, with the whole community participating.
  • Private sacrifices were performed by individuals in their own houses, since, in this period, the Vedic people led a settled life and maintained regular households.
• This growth was probably the result of the growing importance of a class of Brahmanas, and their efforts to maintain supremacy in a changing society — these yajnas brought them a large amount of wealth, in the form of dana and dakshina.
  • Cows, gold, cloth, and horses were given as gifts to the priests. Sometimes, priests claimed portions of territory as dakshina, though the grant of land as a sacrificial fee is not well established for the Later Vedic period.
    • The Shatapatha Brahmana states that, in the Ashvamedha, north, south, east, and west should all be given to the priest — though this could not happen in reality, and merely indicates the priests’ desire to claim as much land as possible.
• Some of the important yajnas were the Ashvamedha, Vajapeya, and Rajasuya. The purpose of these yajnas was twofold:
  1. They established the authority of the chiefs over the people.
  2. They reinforced the territorial aspect of the polity, since people from all over the kingdom were invited to these sacrifices.
• Some of the rituals performed in these sacrifices show elements of a fertility cult.
  • For instance, the Ashvamedha yajna required the chief queen to lie next to the sacrificial horse, where the queen represented the earth — this ritual was thought to ensure the prosperity of the king.
  • A number of agricultural rituals were performed in the Rajasuya and Vajapeya yajnas — the periodic rejuvenation of the earth and its fertility were recurring themes in these ceremonial yajnas.
• People worshipped gods for the same material reasons in this period as in earlier times — however, the mode of worship changed considerably.
  • Prayers continued to be recited, but ceased to be the dominant mode of placating the gods — sacrifices became far more important.
  • Some objects began to be worshipped as symbols of divinity — showing that signs of idolatry appear in Later Vedic times.

The Growth of Priestcraft

• Later Vedic texts reveal the elaboration of rituals, which became complicated and required professional men, trained in the art of performing them.
  • Vidhis, or rules for performing sacrifices, were formulated, and Vedic sacrifices no longer meant a simple offering of food/oblations into the fire.
  • The types of offering, and types of sacrifice, differed according to the needs of the patron, or yajamana.
  • Sacrifices were now endowed with mystical symbolism, and every ritual act was endowed with mysterious power.
• A new science of priestcraft emerged, because of the complexities involved in the performance of these yajnas, whether private or public.
  • Thus, a class of priests became specialists in the performance of yajnas — there were even different sets of priests for performing different stages of the same sacrificial ritual.

The Changing Gods

• Two prominent Early Vedic gods, Indra and Agni, lost their importance. On the other hand, Prajapati, the creator, came to occupy the supreme position in the Later Vedic pantheon.
  • Vishnu and Rudra, minor deities in the Rigveda, became extremely important.
    • However, there is no reference to different incarnations, or avataras, of Vishnu — with which we are so familiar — in any of the Later Vedic texts. Vishnu was conceived of as the preserver and protector of the universe.
  • This changing status of the deities is an indication of the change in the character of the tribes, from pastoral groups to sedentary agriculturist groups.
  • The Early Vedic gods, who represented natural phenomena, were slowly discarded, and the personification of natural elements as divine beings became far more complex. It was no longer easy to identify the natural element represented by a particular god, from the hymns of the Later Vedic period.
  • Some sections of society came to have their own deities — Pushan, who had protected cattle in the earlier period, now became the god of the Shudras.

The Folk Tradition (Atharvaveda)

• The Atharvaveda is a mine of information regarding the folk tradition. Its contents are radically different from the Vedic sacrificial religion, and it is concerned more with magic.
  • The contents of this Veda cover different aspects of human life. Its hymns deal with:
    • The cure for diseases.
    • Prayers for health.
    • Charms for the prosperity of home and children.
    • Charms concerning cattle and fields.
    • Charms to produce harmony.
    • Charms concerned with love and marriage, or, conversely, rivalry and jealousy.
  • The Atharvaveda thus documents the kinds of superstition and belief prevalent at the time.
  • Gods of the Vedic tradition were invoked, but for reasons that were trivial and individualistic. Many godlings and spirits, such as pisacas and rakshasas (some malevolent, some benevolent), were invoked either to bring good fortune, or to cause havoc and destruction to one’s friends and foes.
  • The invocations and chants related to the domestic and household sphere, close to the daily cycles of common life. For example:
    • Indra was asked to kill the house-robber, the worm in the body, and the wolf-devil.
    • The Ashvins were entrusted with the protection of agriculture, and the killing of rats.
    • Savitri was summoned to fix a place where a new home could be built.
    • Pushan was invoked to bring harmony and safe delivery of babies.
    • Surya was invoked to remove demons.

The Reaction Against Sacrifice and the Rise of the Upanishads

• People began to oppose these elaborate sacrifices even during the Later Vedic period itself. There was a strong reaction against priestly domination, and against the complexities involved in the yajnas.
  • The large number of cattle and other animals sacrificed at the end of each yajna must have hampered the growth of the economy.
• This resulted in the formulation of a philosophical doctrine, enunciated in the last sections of the Vedas, called the Upanishads.
  • The path of good conduct and self-sacrifice was recommended for happiness and welfare.
  • The Upanishads contain two basic principles of Indian philosophy — karma and the transmigration of the soul (rebirth, based on past deeds). According to these texts, real happiness lies in attaining moksha — freedom from this cycle of birth and rebirth.
  • Thus, the materialistic aspect of religion was discarded, and religion was raised to the realm of philosophy.
  • The Upanishads emphasised the changelessness and indestructibility of the soul — which, in a way, also emphasised the need for stability and integration, at a time when the janapadas and mahajanapadas (republics and monarchies) were emerging.
• It is important to note that, during the entire Vedic phase, people did not construct temples, nor did they worship any statue — these features of Indian religion developed much later.
• Thus, we find that a great change in religious beliefs and practices took place between the Early and Later Vedic periods — a change partly related to the shift from pastoralism to agriculture. The religious changes of this period parallel, and reflect, the socio-political and economic changes that had taken place between the Early and Later Vedic phases.

Various Approaches to Understanding Vedic Religion

Beyond the historical narrative of change from the Early to the Later Vedic period, scholars have proposed several interpretive lenses for understanding the nature of Vedic religion itself.

Naturalistic Polytheism

• The Rig Veda reflects a naturalistic polytheism — a belief in many gods, who personified natural phenomena.
  • The connection is clear in some cases from the very name of the deities, as in Agni (Fire), Surya (the Sun), and Ushas (Dawn).
• The gods were conceived of as anthropomorphic — that is, as having a physical form similar to that of humans. The level of detail varies, but mention is often made of their head, face, mouth, hair, hands, feet, clothes, and weapons.

Henotheism, or Kathenotheism

• Though some gods are mentioned more often than others in the Rig Veda, there is no fixed order of importance, nor a fixed pantheon.
  • Whichever deity is invoked in a particular hymn is spoken of as a supreme god.
• Max Müller described this phenomenon as henotheism, or kathenotheism — in other words, in reference to the Vedas, Müller explained that each deity is treated as supreme in turn.
  • Kathenotheism means the worship of one god at a time; it is closely related to henotheism — the worship of one god, while not rejecting the existence of others.

Monism and Monotheism

• The Vedas and the Upanishads propagate neither pantheism nor polytheism alone, but a form of monotheism and monism.
  • There are many gods, but they represent different aspects of the same underlying Reality — monism and monotheism are found intertwined.
  • In many passages of the Vedas, ultimate Reality is represented as immanent, while in others it is represented as transcendent.
  • Monism sees Brahman as the ultimate Reality, while monotheism represents the personal form of Brahman.
• The Taittiriya Upanishad states that Brahman is that form from which all beings are born, by which they are sustained, and into which they enter at death — Brahman is the eternal and imperishable reality of the universe.
  • Another view holds that the Vedas contain a sparse monism, and also have some degree of pantheism.

Vedic Religion as a Sacrificial Cult

• The Purusha-Sukta describes creation as the result of a primordial sacrifice. A hymn to the god Vishvakarman imagines the creator god as the first sacrificer, and the sacrificial offering itself.
• The Brahmana texts reflect a situation in which sacrifices had become longer, more elaborate, and expensive.
  • A sacrifice is presented as the act that created the world, and the correct performance of sacrifice was seen as necessary to regulate life and the world.
  • The god Prajapati, most closely identified with sacrifice, is the most important deity in the Brahmanas.
• The Vajapeya, Ashvamedha, and Rajasuya were complex sacrificial rituals associated with kingship, whereas the Agnihotra was a simple domestic sacrifice.

Agnosticism and Atheism

• Belief in the gods is questioned in the Rigveda itself, as is belief in the alleged greatness of certain gods, such as Indra.
  • A Rig Vedic hymn asks: “Whoever has seen Indra? If he has not been seen, why should one believe in his existence?”
  • Another hymn in the Rig Veda Samhita asks: “Who has seen the primeval being at the time of his being born… what is that endowed with substance which the unsubstantial sustains… from earth are the breath and blood, but where is the soul?”
• The views expressed in the Swasanvad Upanishad have been summarised by the writer of the Samkhya Sutra: “There is no incarnation, no god, no heaven, no hell; all traditional religious literature is the work of conceited fools; nature, the originator, and time, the destroyer, are the rulers of things, and take no account of virtue or vice in awarding happiness or misery to men.”

Sacrifice as a Ritual and a Form of Social Exchange in Vedic India

• Deities were worshipped through prayer and sacrificial rituals (yajnas). The sacrifice marked a movement from the everyday, mundane sphere of activity and experience to the sacred sphere.
  • The gods are presented as powerful, mostly benevolent beings, who could be made to intervene in the world of men through the performance of sacrifices.
  • The goals of the sacrifices included wealth, herds, good crops, success in skirmishes and raids, good health, sons, and long life for the yajamanas. The ritual of sacrifice was believed to sustain the well-being of the clan and the wider system.

Examining Sacrifice as a Ritual

• Sacrifices took place in the house of the yajamana, or on a specially prepared plot of land nearby.
  • They mostly consisted of oblations of milk, ghee, and grain, poured into the fire, accompanied by the recitation of appropriate sacrificial formulae. Some yajnas involved the sacrifice of animals.
  • The gods were supposed to partake of the offerings, as they were consumed by the fire; a part of the offerings was eaten by the officiating priests.
• Some sacrifices were simple, domestic affairs, performed by householders. Others required the participation of ritual specialists — seven types of sacrificial priests are mentioned in the Rig Veda, each with particular tasks clearly laid down.
  • The Agnihotra was a simple domestic sacrifice, to be performed daily by the head of a dvija household, morning and evening — it involved pouring oblations of milk into the fire, to the god Agni.
  • There were also periodic new moon and full moon sacrifices, and those performed at the beginning of the three seasons.
  • Soma, a ritual drink mentioned in the Rig Veda, was used during sacrificial rituals.
• In Later Vedic times, sacrifices had become longer, more elaborate, and expensive.
  • The sacrifice was presented as the act that created the world, and the current performance of the sacrifice was seen as necessary to regulate life and the world.
• A number of complex sacrificial rituals were associated with kingship:
  • The Vajapeya sacrifice was connected with the attainment of power and prosperity, and also contained a number of fertility rites — it included a ritual chariot race, in which the rajan raced against, and defeated, his kinsmen.
  • The Ashvamedha was a sacrifice associated with claims to political paramountcy, incorporating horse sacrifice and several fertility rites.
  • The Rajasuya was the royal consecration ceremony. Apart from a number of agrarian fertility rites, it included a ritual cattle raid, in which the rajan raided the cattle of his kinsmen, and a game of dice, which the king won.
    • At a larger, symbolic level, in the Rajasuya, the king was presented as standing at the centre of the cyclical processes of regeneration of the universe.

Examining Sacrifice as a Form of Social Exchange

• The priests were given dakshina (fee) in return for the important duties they performed — as sacrifices became longer and more complicated, the role of the priest, and the dakshina given to them, grew accordingly.
  • Small oblations were restricted to domestic sacrifice, but, from time to time, larger sacrifices were organised, for which the clan brought substantial prestations.
  • The public sacrifice was a solemn occasion, but it also released energies, through the general conviviality that followed at its conclusion.
• The wealth collected by the raja, through voluntary tribute and prestations from the vish, was consumed in the ritual, and in the distribution of gifts, at its conclusion, to other rajas and to the priests.
  • The giving of gifts was believed to ensure a return of gifts in even greater amount.
• Sacrificial rites tended to increase the power of the priest, without whom the sacrifice could not take place, and of the raja, who possessed the wealth it required.
  • Collecting this wealth meant pressurising the vish to part with their produce — the sacrifice thus assisted the Kshatriya in asserting greater power over the vish and the shudra.
• Public sacrifices were occasions when the wealth of a raja was collected and displayed via ritual.
  • This wealth was consumed, and whatever remained was gifted — with some deliberately destroyed through forms of ritual, which were themselves part of the display.
  • The patron of the sacrifice, the yajamana, generally a raja, competed with his peers in the magnificence of the occasion and the generosity of the gifts.
  • Such competitions in the display of wealth established the status and power of the yajamana, encouraging his belief that even more wealth would come his way.
  • The raja’s gifts to the priests enriched and empowered the Brahmans.
• The sacrifice also prevented the raja from accumulating wealth to the point where his status would be based on economic power, rather than ritual sanction — yet the former was necessary to create the type of kingship associated with a “state,” in which the king controlled the accumulation and distribution of wealth, among other things.
  • In order to accumulate the required wealth for these sacrifices, the raja would have made bigger demands on the vish, in the form of offerings and prestations, and would have needed to create a rudimentary administration for support.
  • The point at which wealth could be accumulated and spent on a variety of adjuncts to authority marked the point at which kingship was beginning to draw on political authority, rather than ritual authority alone.
• However, the ritual of sacrifice, as a necessary precondition to kingship, could not remain a permanent feature. Once kingdoms were established, there were other demands on the wealth that went to support them.
  • At one level, the questioning of the centrality of ritual was encouraged by new perceptions of the relationship between the human and the divine.
  • At another level, greater production of wealth in the middle Ganges Plain, on the eve of urbanisation — not all of which could be consumed in rituals — allowed rajas to accumulate wealth, contributing to a change in the requirements of both society and polity.

Conceptual Basis of the Vedic Deities

• The Rig Veda reflects a naturalistic polytheism — a belief in many gods, who personified natural phenomena. The connection is clear in some cases from the very name of the deities, as in Agni (Fire), Surya (the Sun), and Ushas (Dawn).
  • The gods were conceived of as anthropomorphic — having a physical form similar to that of humans. The level of detail varies, but mention is often made of their head, face, mouth, hair, hands, feet, clothes, and weapons.

Indra and the Maruts:

• Indra is the most frequently mentioned god in the Rigveda.
  • He is vigorous and strong, a great warrior, whose weapon is the thunderbolt, and who leads the Aryas to victory in battle.
  • Since the Aryas were engaged in wars with indigenous tribes, they worshipped Indra as a god of war. He was also invoked as a weather god, who brought rains.
• The Maruts were the companions of Indra, and aided him in his wars.

Agni:

• Agni is another important god, representing many aspects of fire — the fire of the cremation pyre, the fire that engulfs the forest, the fire that burns enemies, the heat generated by tapas (austerity), and the heat of sexual desire.
  • Most importantly, as the sacrificial fire, he is the intermediary between gods and humans — in this role, he functions as a divine priest.

Soma:

• Soma is the personification of the soma plant.
  • He is described as a wise god — one who inspires poets to compose hymns, a great god who rules over the earth and all humans.
  • In later hymns, Soma is identified with the moon.

Varuna:

• Varuna is associated with kshatra (secular power), sovereignty, and kingship.
  • He was the keeper of the cosmic order known as rita, and restricts and punishes evil-doers with the fetters, or bonds, that he commands.

Surya, the Ashvins, Vayu, and Rudra:

• Other deities of the Rig Veda include the sun god Surya, son of Dyaus — Surya drives away darkness by riding his chariot across the sky, and is sometimes visualised as a white horse or an eagle.
• Vayu is the wind god.
• The Ashvins are twin gods, associated with war and fertility.
• Rudra is a deity associated with great destructive potential, who inspires fear.

Usha:

• Usha, goddess of the dawn, is mentioned 300 times in the Rig Veda, with 20 hymns addressed to her.
  • She represents the victory of light over darkness, and is invoked by those desiring wealth.

Aditi:

• Aditi, whose name means “freedom,” is invoked to bestow freedom from sickness, harm, and evil.

Conclusion

The Vedic period, viewed across its political, social, economic, and religious dimensions, tells a single, coherent story of transformation: a small-scale, mobile, pastoral tribal society, organised around kinship, the sabha and samiti, and the cattle-centred vocabulary of the Rig Veda, gradually gave way, over the course of the Later Vedic age, to a larger, more hierarchical, agrarian order — one marked by hereditary kingship legitimised through elaborate royal sacrifices, the emergence of the four-fold varna system and its accompanying disabilities, the beginnings of iron-aided settled agriculture in the Ganga-Yamuna doab, and a religious life that shifted from simple, materialistic prayer and sacrifice towards an increasingly complex priestly ritualism — and, ultimately, towards the philosophical questioning of that very ritualism in the Upanishads. Read together, these four threads of political, social, economic, and religious change show that the “Vedic Age” was never a single, static civilisation, but a long and dynamic process, in which each dimension of life — power, status, subsistence, and belief — evolved in tandem with the others, laying the social and institutional foundations upon which the sixteen mahajanapadas, and the wider civilisation of early historical India, would soon be built.