The famous Harappan Civilization had its near total decline by 1500BC. This period also witnessed the advent of Aryan community into the subcontinent. They were pastoral people and spoke distinct language which later refined into the classic language of Sanskrit. Their origin is debatable, with some anthropologists calling their origin from a central Asian tribe which had its ancestry rooted near Caspian Sea. Bala Gangadar Tilak famously advocated The Arctic origin of Aryans.
They migrated in phases crossing Indus in stages. The rising prominen divided in two phases
Early Vedic Age 1500BC to 1000BC
Later Vedic Age 1000BC to 600BC
The earlier population dwelling here were mixed with the incoming Aryans.
Early Vedic people were nature worshippers. They created Vedas. Vedas comprise four major texts-the Rig-, the Sama-, the Yajur-, and the Atharvaveda. Of these, the Rigveda is believed to be the earliest. The Sarasvati, the sacred river at the time, is thought to have dried up during the later Vedic period. The early Vedic was the period of transition from nomadic pastoralism to settled village communities intermixing pastoral and agrarian economies.
Kula was the basic unit of political organization. While ‘Jana’ was used to mention tribe and Raja was the king. Sabha and Samiti were two important assemblies of those times. Early Vedic society was not strictly patriarchal so women were allowed in assemblies. Women poets like Apala, Lopamudra, Ghosa were examples of women prominence in society.
Most important deity was ‘Indra’. Second is Agni. Female deities like Aditi and Usha were also represented.
The end of early Vedic phase ends with the rising prominence of Iron among Aryans thus emerged the later Vedic phase.
The principal literary sources from this period are the Sama-, the Yajur-, and the Atharvaveda (mainly ritual texts), the Brahmanas (manuals on ritual), and the Upanishads (Upanishads) and Aranyaka’s (collections of philosophical and metaphysical discourses).
The geographic focus of the later Vedic corpus moves from the Sapta Sindhu region into the Ganges-Yamuna Doab. Raja become more powerful and ceremonies like aswamedha, rajasuya and vajapeya become more important.
Other than Vedas, texts like Brahmanas, Samhitas also came into existence. Society become more patriarch oriented and women lost place in assemblies. Society become more class oriented. Brahmins become more prominent. Rice, wheat become chief crop replacing barley. Rice was known as ‘Vrihi’.
Prajapati. Rudra and Vishnu become most important Gods replacing Indra, varuna etc.
The warring between various tribes increased in this time resulting in more conquests and annexations. All these led to rise of Mahajanapadas by 6th century BC.
