The cities of the Harappan Culture had declined by 1500 B.C. Consequently, their economic and administrative system had slowly declined. Around this period, the speakers of Indo-Aryan language, Sanskrit, entered the north-west India from the Indo-Iranian region.
Initially they would have come in small numbers through the passes in the northwestern mountains.Their initial settlements were in the valleys of the north-west and the plains of the Punjab. Later, they moved into Indo Gangetic plains. As they were mainly a cattlekeeping people, they were mainly in search of pastures. By 6th century B.C., they occupied the whole of North India, which was referred to as Aryavarta. This period between 1500 B.C and 600 B.C may be divided into the Early Vedic Period or Rig Vedic Period (1500 B.C -1000 B.C) and the Later Vedic Period (1000B.C - 600 B.C).
Sources
Literary Sources: Vedic literature.
The most important literary source for the study of the Vedic society is the ‘Vedic literature’,consisting of the Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads, Itihasas and Puranas.Though they were not recorded in any chronological order, they provide useful information about the Vedic society.Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharva Veda are the four Vedas.The Rigveda was the oldest and the most important book of the Aryans. It consists of 1017
hymns divided into ten mandalas or chapters.The hymns are addressed to various Gods imploring them to send material blessings to the people.They throw light on the early Aryan
culture and society.The Yajurveda contains both hymns and commentaries.It describes the performance of sacrifices.The Samaveda is a collection of hymns that were meant to be sung
by a special class of priests. According to Dr.R.C. Majumdar, ‘the Samaveda has great significance in the history of Indian music.It also throws interesting light on the growth of sacrificial ceremonies…”.The Atharvaveda is partly prose and partly poetry. It deals with magic and spells to overcome enemies.The Brahmanas are commentaries useful for the easy comprehension of the Vedas.They also contains instructions to the priests regarding the correct chanting and pronunciation of the ‘mantras’.The Aranyakas are part of the Brahmans. They are also called forest books, which
are considered too sacred to be read only in the loneliness of the forest. Aranyakas are the great philosophical thoughts of the great saints of the past. The Upanishads describe the religious and spiritual thoughts of the Aryans. They discuss serious problems like Karma, soul and salvation. Max Muller called the Upanishads as, “the most wonderful composition of human mind”. The Vedic literature throws light on the life, culture and civilization of the
Aryans. The political, social, economic and religious life of the Aryans also reflects in the Vedic literature.The Suthras, Smrithis, the Puranas, Dharmasastras, the epics etc. are come under the category of the later Vedic literature. The Suthras contains rules relating to Vedic rituals and customary laws. The Smrithis deal with laws, customs and practices of the various Aryan
groups. The Puranas are legends. They are helpful in bridging the gaps of several royal dynasties in the history of ancient India. The
Dharma Sastras deal with ordinary laws and social customs. The duties and responsibilities of the rulers and the ruled are discussed in the Dharma Sastras.The great epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata deal with the achievement of the great heroes in the early days of the Indo-Aryans. The Ramayana was composed by the great saint Valmiki. It deals with the conflict between the Aryan and non-Aryan civilizations. The Mahabharata describes the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. According to tradition, Vyasa was its compiler. Both the epics are inverses and discuss about life, culture and religion of the people of the later Vedic period.
Archaeological evidences
The history of the Indus civilization is reconstructed on the basis of archaeological evidences only. But when we come to the historical period of the Vedic culture more information is derived from the literary sources. Here archaeological sources acts as supplementary to the available literary sources. The archaeological sources mainly throw light upon the material life of the then people and the society. It enable the historian to understand the pattern of settlements, the type of pottery used, the tools and weapons practiced and the houses in which they dwelt. The pottery, tools, weapons and monuments form the important aspects of
archaeological excavations. Excavations conducted in Punjab, Northern Rajasthan, U.P. along the Indus and Ghagger Rivers over the last forty years have unearthed many settlements
which had existed roughly between 1700 B.C.to 600 B.C. The important materials excavated from these sites are pottery called ‘ochre coloured pottery’, Black and Red ware and ‘Painted
Gray ware’ cultures. However, the pottery types do not reflect the entire culture of the
people. The analysis of pottery remains will help to understand the specific trait of the cultural assemblage of the period. The literary sources often refer to the geographical areas of U.P., Haryana and Rajasthan. When a particular pottery happens to be a distinct feature of a culture, that particular culture is known by the specifications of the pottery. The Ochre coloured pottery (OCP) culture is associated with a particular type of pottery. More than 100 sites have yielded this characteristic pottery in the Ganga-Yamuna doab. The OCP culture is succeeded by Black and Red Ware (BRW) and painted Gray Ware (PGW) cultures. The OCP
was discovered in the archaeological sites of U.P. in 1950’s. It is made of grained clay under fired and has a wash of ochre. The site associated with OCP is called OCP culture. The OCP sites are generally located on riverbanks. These sites are small in size. The material remains of OCP culture are mostly in the form of pottery. These include Jars, bowls etc. Archaeological remains found at Atranjikhera, an OCP site suggest that the people of this culture had grown rice and barley. The OCP culture has been ascribed to a period between 2000 B.C. and 1500 B.C. Black and Red Ware (BRW) have been found at Atranjikhera in between OCP and PGW
levels during the excavations conducted in the early 1960’s. But in Alangirpur and Hasthinapuri, BRW is found associated with PGW, the characteristic feature of Black and Red Ware is the black colour inside and near the rim on the outside and over the rest of the body red colour. Some of the pots are wheel made and some others are handmade. The BRW recovered from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have paintings, while those found in the doab area have no painting at all. Waste flakes, chips, heads of shell and copper, copper ring and fragments of comb made of bone and found in the BRW sites at Atranjikhera.BRW are received from a wider area with some variations from region to regions. It covers a period
between 2400 BC and the early centuries of the Christian era.
PGW (Painted Gray Ware).
It was first excavated from Ahichatra in 1946.It is wide spread in North India. Thirty sites of PGW culture have been excavated so far including Bhagwanpura in Haryana, Now in
Rajasthan, Rupar in Punjab etc, these settlements are located along the river banks and are mostly small villages. The pottery of this culture is wheels made and is gray in colour. Bowls and dishes are the common types of this culture. The people of this period lived in circular or
rectangular houses. Certain houses had more than a dozen rooms. Several objects made out of copper, bone, iron and glass and found in the PGW sites. Iron objects are found in all most all sites. Ornaments had been used by the people. Remains of rice, barley and wheat were discovered at the sites of Hasthinapura and Atranjikhera.
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