They have influenced Indian civilization throughout its long history, right up to the present day. Read more on ancient Indian literature , including from the Vedic age. The Vedas, the Mahabharata and the Upanishads formed the foundational writings of the Hindu religion, which was gradually taking shape in the Vedic Age, and long after.
They show that the ancient Vedic religion was evolving into something different. This was probably to a large extent the result of influences from the older Dravidian populations over whom the Aryans ruled.
During the course of centuries the Aryan nature deities lost much of their importance, and three new gods took their place: Vishnu, the preserver; Shiva, the destroyer; and Brahma, the creator. An image of Vishnu Author: Ramanarayanadatta astri.
The ideas associated with the Upanishads became important, and these had a profound effect on social life. With it came a respect for all living things. It was during the Vedic age of ancient India that there developed one of the most distinctive features of Indian society, the caste system. The tendencies towards social division had been present ever since the coming of Aryans into India.
As happened at many different times and places in world history, the conquerors set themselves up as a ruling class. However, unlike in other parts of the world, where the differences between the conquerors and the conquered gradually disappeared over time, in India they solidified in the form of divisions between the castes, between whom intermarriage was forbidden. The priestly caste — the Brahmins — were at the top of the social ladder, as being closest to Brahma.
Below them came the warrior caste, the Kshatryas. Then came the Vaishyas, the ordinary Aryan tribesmen, farmers, craftsmen and traders. Finally came the Shudras, menial workers, the laborers, servants and those performing services which are ritually unclean. They were not really regarded as human beings, and performed the most degrading tasks of all, such as dealing with human waste. A group of Brahmins, As the Vedic Age of Ancient India drew to a close, the tribal society of the early Aryans gave way to a more complex social organization.
This made agriculture more productive, and populations grew. Trade expanded, both within India and with the lands to the west. From the Middle East came the use of writing, and the great oral traditions of Aryan society began to be written down. Organized kingdoms with centralised authority emanating out from royal palaces arose in place of the looser, clan-based tribal states. This makes ancient India the only place as far as we know in which the republican form of government flourished in the ancient world apart from in the Classical world of the ancient Mediterranean.
The place of the Vedic Age in World History is as the period of ancient India which gave birth to Indian civilization — one of the great civilizations of the world.
Together, these religions claim the allegiance of billions of people in the world today. Ancient India — an overview of the civilization of Ancient India. The Indus Valley Civilization. The Classical Age of Ancient India. The Mauryan Empire. The Kurgan people may have been mobile because of their domestication of horses and later use of the chariot.
The Vedic Period refers to the time in history from approximately BCE, during which Indo-Aryans settled into northern India, bringing with them specific religious traditions.
Most history of this period is derived from the Vedas, the oldest scriptures in the Hindu religion, which were composed by the Aryans in Sanskrit. Vedic Civilization is believed to have been centered in the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent and spread around to the Ganges Plain, a million hectare area million acres of flat, fertile land named after the Ganges River and covering most of what is now northern and eastern India, eastern parts of Pakistan, and most of Bangladesh.
The Ganges Plain is supported by the Indus and Ganges river systems. The Indo-Aryans settled various parts of the plain during their migration and the Vedic Period.
They raised sheep, goats, and cattle, which became symbols of wealth. The Indo-Aryans also preserved collections of religious and literary works by memorizing and reciting them, and handing them down from one generation to the next in their sacred language, Sanskrit. The Rigveda , which was likely composed during this time, contains several mythological and poetical accounts of the origins of the world, hymns praising the gods, and ancient prayers for life and prosperity.
Organized into tribes, the Vedic Aryans regularly clashed over land and resources. The Rigveda describes the most notable of these conflicts, the Battle of the Ten Kings, between the Bharatas tribe and a confederation of ten competing tribes on the banks of what is now the Ravi River in northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. Led by their king, Sudas, the Bharatas claimed victory and merged with the defeated Purus tribe to form the Kuru, a Vedic tribal union in northern India.
After the 12th century BCE, Vedic society transitioned from semi-nomadic to settled agriculture. From approximately BCE, the development of iron axes and ploughs enabled the Indo Aryans to settle the thick forests on the western Ganges Plain.
This agricultural expansion led to an increase in trade and competition for resources, and many of the old tribes coalesced to form larger political units. The Indo-Aryans cultivated wheat, rice and barley and implemented new crafts, such as carpentry, leather work, tanning, pottery, jewelry crafting, textile dying, and wine making. Ceramic goblet from Navdatoli, Malwa, c. Economic exchanges were conducted through gift giving, particularly between kings and priests, and barter using cattle as a unit of currency.
While gold, silver, bronze, copper, tin, and lead are mentioned in some hymns as trade items, there is no indication of the use of coins.
This continued into what became the Indo-Greek Kingdom, which covered various parts of South Asia and was centered mainly in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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