Question

Brief me about post vedic society?

Answer 1

Post Vedic period means the time when people will not follow the Vedic texts. ... According to them, this is the post Vedic period.

We notice a significant transition from Rig-Veda or early Vedic society to that of later Vedic age.

Chronologically, this transition is assigned to the period corre­sponding to 1000 BC to 600 BC. Both Vedic literature and archaeological sources provide sufficient material to reconstruct the history and culture of the people of the post-Vedic period.

The literary evidences relate primarily to the territories of the upper and middle Ganga basin and somewhat peripherally to other region too.

The archaeological spade found the existence of agricultural communities in the same geographical region; roughly corresponding to the same time span.

Their culture is called Painted Grey Ware (PGW) culture and nearly 700 sites of this culture are found along the upper Ganga basin. These sites extend from the dry beds of river Ghaggar in Bahawalpur in Pakistan and northern Rajasthan, to the watershed of the Indus and the Ganges and the Ganga-Yamuna doab.

The evidence of Sravasti site indicates that the eastern limit of the area of the PGW culture is restricted to the northern plains of the Ganges. It is also suggested that the Banas culture of southern Rajasthan reached the Ganges valley at around 800 BC and consequently black and red pottery users were said to belong to this period.

While literary texts speak of the eastward shift of the Vedic Aryans, the archaeological excavations do not corroborate that view. Though there is discrepancy between the archaeological and literary sources in this period, they are in agreement regarding the use of iron by these people of PGW culture of the Gangetic basin. This can be confirmed by the Carbon 14 test conducted on the artefacts found in that region.

The word Ayas referred to in the Rig-Veda is translated as ‘iron’. We come across the term ‘Syama Ayas’ in the Yajurveda and ‘Krishna Ayas’ in the Brahmanas. Megalithic burials of southern India also reveal that they too were familiar with iron and its use. It is a prevalent view is that iron technology was indigenous rather than the consequence of foreign contacts.

It is now generally believed that iron technology did not influence the material cultural base till the second half of the first millennium BC as a ploughshare came into use only during this period. Further, the literary evidence of the Mahabharata refers to the mechanism of Khandavadaham to clear the forests by burning them rather than by iron implements.

In this phase, there was definite growth of agricultural operations as vast areas of fertile alluvial lands of the Ganga-Yamuna doab and the middle Ganga valley were available. No doubt, the later Vedic texts recognize pastoralism as an important occupation.

We conclude that the mixed farming that included cultivation and herding continued to be the main occupation of the people. The people produced rice, wheat, and barley. Rice is referred to as Vrihi, Tandula and Sali in later Vedic texts, and excavated sites of PGW and Banas cultures yielded charred grains.

Sathapatha Brahmana mentions agricultural operations like ploughing, sowing, reaping and threshing. Hesterman points out that in the major sacrificial rituals such as Rajasuya, the offerings of dairy products were less, compared to agricultural products. There is also a view that the economic pattern varied from region to region. From indirect evidences, it is suggested that the region around Mathura continued to be substantially pastoral for many centuries, while the middle Ganga plain shows limited evidence of pastoralism. This deduction was made based on specific reference to the amounts of grain and cattle in their offerings at the sacrificial ritual.

A significant feature of this age was the emerging importance of land as an important commodity. Initially, the Vis or the clan owned the land collec­tively. In course of time, land became the property of a family. Consequently, cultivation of land became a family activity with the assistance sometimes of domestic servants and slaves. The reference to eight, twelve and twenty-four oxen yoked to the plough makes us speculate that the land holding varied in size leading to the emergence of hierarchy of landed families.

The plough, an important agricultural implement was endowed with divinity and venerated as Sita by them. Besides the plough, the cow also became a sacred object as Gomata. We notice prayer to gods to protect the cow. We also come across reference to various occupations that were needed by the people. Sukla Yajurveda refers to a variety of occupations of this time. Weaving appears to have been in an advanced stage...

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