Question

Conclusion of later Vedic period

Answer 1

The Aryans initially lived in the region drained by seven rivers Septa Sindhu roughly covering the modern states of Punjab, and Harayana. Subsequently they also occupied the region drained by Ganga, Yamuna, Sarayu, Ghaghra, and Gandaka roughly covering the modern states of eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar.The Aryans, who were mainly cattle herders, became agriculturists later, and assisted by the knowledge of iron technology they were able to establish larger settlements in the Ganga- Yamuna doab region. This is shown by the PGW archaeology and the contents of the Later Vedic literature. This change precipitated a series of changes in the other spheres of life. From an egalitarian, tribal socio-political set up during the Early Vedic period it was transformed into a varna divided territorially based set up by the end of the Vedic period. The position of the tribal chiefs became hereditary and the emerging officials usurped the role of the popular assemblies. The growing number of yajnas shows the importance of the king as well as of the brahmanas. Similarly, the gods who were important earlier lost their significance and gave way to new deities. All these changes ultimately resulted in the rise of janapadas and mahajanapadas i.e. bigger territorial states in the sixth century BC. The character of this aforementioned reality was intrinsic to a period after the early Vedic era, known as Late Vedic era. The late Vedic period is also called the Brahmanic Age because it was dominated by the priestly religion of the Brahman class, as evidenced in commentaries called the Brahmanas (ca. 1000–800 or 600 B.C.E.). It is also sometimes called the Epic Age because it provided the setting for India’s two classical epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Both works were composed much later, probably between 400 B.C.E. and 200 C.E., but contain older material and refer to older events.