Vedic Civilization: Later Vedic, iron and kingdoms

R.S. Sharma writes that the Bharatas and Purus, two major Rigvedic tribes, combined to form the ruling Kuru people. The Kurus held Delhi and the upper doab, with their capital at Hastinapura, while the Panchalas occupied the area of the present Bareilly, Badaun and Farrukhabad districts of western Uttar Pradesh. The two together came to dominate the later Vedic heartland. Statement 2 is wrong.

R.S. Sharma notes that the term rashtra, which indicates territory, first appears in the later Vedic period. This marks the move from loyalty to the tribe (jana) towards loyalty to a territory, as tribes such as the Kurus and Panchalas settled in the Ganga-Yamuna doab. In the Rigveda the people are organised as jana, and Harappan seals remain undeciphered.

R.S. Sharma notes that agriculture was the chief means of livelihood of the later Vedic people; the Shatapatha Brahmana speaks at length about ploughing rituals, and according to legend Janaka, king of Videha, lent his hand to the plough (Sita's name means 'furrow'). But there were no regular coins: units such as the nishka and shatamana were ornaments or measures of value, and punch-marked coins appear only around the sixth-fifth century BCE. Statement 3 is wrong.

R.S. Sharma notes that the popular assemblies lost importance as royal power grew. The vidatha completely disappeared, and the sabha and samiti survived but changed: women were no longer permitted to sit in the sabha, which was now dominated by nobles and brahmanas. Yet even in this period the king had no standing army; tribal units were mustered in times of war. Statement 3 is wrong.

R.S. Sharma explains that gotra literally means a cow-pen, the enclosure where the cattle of a whole kin group were kept. In later Vedic times it came to signify descent from a common ancestor, and marriage between people of the same gotra was not allowed: the rule of gotra exogamy. The name itself preserves the memory of the cattle-based Rigvedic economy.

R.S. Sharma writes that the dominant mode of worshipping the gods was the recitation of prayers and the offering of sacrifices; both collective and individual prayers were made. The people did not worship the gods for their spiritual uplift or to end misery; they asked mainly for praja (children), pashu (cattle), food, wealth and health. There were no temples or idols in the Vedic period, so statement 2 is wrong.

R.S. Sharma shows that in the later Vedic period the three higher varnas were entitled to the upanayana, while the shudras were excluded. The Aitareya Brahmana describes the vaishya as tributary to another, to be lived upon by another, a sign that the vaishyas were now the main taxpayers. Yet some artisans such as the rathakara enjoyed high status and were entitled to the sacred thread. All three statements are correct.

During the Rajasuya the king visited the houses of the ratnins, the high functionaries of the realm, and made offerings there. The list in the Shatapatha Brahmana includes the purohita, the senani (army commander), the mahishi (chief queen), the gramani, the suta, the bhagadugha (collector of the king's share), the akshavapa and the palagala (courier or messenger). The suta was the charioteer and herald, not the treasurer, so pair 4 is wrong.

R.S. Sharma explains that the Rigvedic chief received bali, a voluntary offering from his people, and a share of the booty won in war. There was no regular system of taxation. In the later Vedic period the bali became a compulsory payment, collected by the bhagadugha, and the one-sixth share appears only in the later Dharmashastra tradition. The priest's fee was called dakshina.

The early Upanishads teach that the self (atman) is one with brahman, that knowledge rather than ritual leads to liberation (moksha), and that deeds (karma) decide rebirth. Image worship in temples belongs to a much later age: there were no temples or images in the Vedic period, and temple-based devotion developed in the post-Vedic and Gupta periods.

R.S. Sharma points out that the Rigvedic word for war is gavishti, 'search for cows', because many conflicts were fought over cattle. The reason is economic: the Rigvedic people were mainly pastoral, cattle were their chief form of wealth, a rich man was gomat (possessor of cows) and gifts to priests were counted in cows. Statement-II therefore explains Statement-I.

The Rigvedic people were mainly pastoral, though they practised some farming. The cereal they knew best was yava, a word that seems to have covered barley and grain in general. Rice (vrihi) does not appear in the Rigveda; it is mentioned in the later Vedic texts, when settlement moved into the wetter Ganga plain. Wealth was counted in cattle, and the dana-stutis praise chiefs for gifts of cows. Statement 2 is wrong.

The verse comes from the ninth mandala (IX.112). R.S. Sharma uses it to show that varna divisions were not yet hereditary or rigid: members of one family could follow quite different callings. Rigvedic society was essentially tribal and largely egalitarian, and the fourfold order appears only in the late Purusha Sukta; birth-based occupations hardened in the later Vedic period.

R.S. Sharma describes a simple tribal administration. The vrajapati held authority over the pasture ground and led the heads of families, the kulapas, or the heads of fighting units, the gramanis, into battle; in time the gramani became the village headman. The two officials closest to the chief were the purohita (priest) and the senani, who was the commander of the army, not a priest. Statement 4 is wrong.

R.S. Sharma notes that the two great Rigvedic gods, Indra and Agni, lost their former importance in the later Vedic period, while Prajapati, the creator, rose to the supreme position. Rudra, the god of animals, became important (he is the forerunner of Shiva), and Vishnu came to be seen as the preserver. Pushan, who looked after cattle, came to be regarded as the god of the shudras, not the brahmanas. Statements 3 and 4 are wrong.

The Isha (Ishavasya) Upanishad, which opens with 'isha vasyam idam sarvam' ('all this is to be dwelt in by the Lord'), is the 40th chapter of the Vajasaneyi Samhita. It is therefore unusual: most Upanishads are attached to a Brahmana or an Aranyaka, but this one is part of a Samhita itself. The Kena belongs to the Samaveda, the Katha to the Krishna Yajurveda and the Mundaka to the Atharvaveda.