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History of India Vedic period (ca. 1500 BCE–500 BCE)

By Ravinder Singh
The Indus valley civilization saw its genesis in the holy land now known as India around 2500
BC. The people inhabiting the Indus River valley were thought to be Dravidians, whose
descendants later migrated to the south of India. The deterioration of this civilization that
developed a culture based on commerce and sustained by agricultural trade can be attributed to
ecological changes. The second millennium BC was witness to the migration of the bucolic
Aryan tribes from the North West frontier into the sub continent. These tribes gradually merged
with their antecedent cultures to give birth to a new milieu.

The Vedic period is named after the Indo-Aryan culture of north-west India, although other parts
of India had a distinct cultural identity during this period. The Vedic culture is described in the
texts of Vedas, still sacred to Hindus, which were orally composed in Vedic Sanskrit. The Vedas
are some of the oldest extant texts in India. The Vedic period, lasting from about 1750 to 500
BCE, and contributed the foundations of several cultural aspects of Indian subcontinent. In terms
of culture, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Age in
this period.

Vedic society

Historians have analysed the Vedas to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper
Gangetic Plain. Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of
Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west. The peepal tree and cow were
sanctified by the time of the Atharva Veda. Many of the concepts of Indian philosophy espoused
later like Dharma, Karma etc. trace their root to the Vedas.

Early Vedic society is described in the Rigveda, the oldest Vedic text, believed to have been
compiled during 2nd millennium BCE, in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. At
this time, Aryan society consisted of largely tribal and pastoral groups, distinct from the
Harappan urbanisation which had been abandoned. The early Indo-Aryan presence probably
corresponds, in part, to the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture in archaeological contexts.
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At the end of the Rigvedic period, the Aryan society began to expand from the northwestern
region of the Indian subcontinent, into the western Ganges plain. It became increasingly
agricultural and was socially organised around the hierarchy of the four varnas, or social classes.
This social structure was characterized both by syncretising with the native cultures of northern
India, but also eventually by the excluding of indigenous peoples by labelling their occupations
impure. During this period, many of the previous small tribal units and chiefdoms began to
coalesce into monarchical, state-level polities.

Sanskritization

Since Vedic times, ”people from many strata of society throughout the subcontinent tended to
adapt their religious and social life to Brahmanic norms", a process sometimes called
Sanskritization. It is reflected in the tendency to identify local deities with the gods of the
Sanskrit texts.

The Kuru kingdom was the first state-level society of the Vedic period, corresponding to the
beginning of the Iron Age in northwestern India, around 1200 – 800 BCE, as well as with the
composition of the Atharvaveda (the first Indian text to mention iron, as śyāma ayas, literally
"black metal"). The Kuru state organized the Vedic hymns into collections, and developed the
orthodox srauta ritual to uphold the social order. When the Kuru kingdom declined, the center of
Vedic culture shifted to their eastern neighbours, the Panchala kingdom. The archaeological
Painted Grey Ware culture, which flourished in the Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh regions
of northern India from about 1100 to 600 BCE, is believed to correspond to the Kuru and
Panchala kingdoms.

During the Late Vedic Period, the kingdom of Videha emerged as a new center of Vedic culture,
situated even farther to the East (in what is today Nepal and Bihar state in India).[58] The later
part of this period corresponds with a consolidation of increasingly large states and kingdoms,
called mahajanapadas, all across Northern India.

Sanskrit Epics

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In addition to the Vedas, the principal texts of Hinduism, the core themes of the Sanskrit epics
Ramayana and Mahabharata are said to have their ultimate origins during this period. The
Mahabharata remains, today, the longest single poem in the world. Historians formerly
postulated an "epic age" as the milieu of these two epic poems, but now recognize that the texts
(which are both familiar with each other) went through multiple stages of development over
centuries. For instance, the Mahabharata may have been based on a small-scale conflict (possibly
about 1000 BCE) which was eventually "transformed into a gigantic epic war by bards and
poets". There is no conclusive proof from archaeology as to whether the specific events of the
Mahabharat have any historical basis. The existing texts of these epics are believed to belong to
the post-Vedic age, between c. 400 BCE and 400 CE. Some even attempted to date the events
using methods of archaeoastronomy which have produced, depending on which passages are
chosen and how they are interpreted, estimated dates ranging up to mid 2nd millennium BCE.

Magadha Empire
The Aryan tribes soon started penetrating the east, flourishing along the Ganga and Yamuna
Rivers. By 500 BC, the whole of northern India was a civilized land where people had
knowledge of iron implements and worked as labor, voluntarily or otherwise. The early political
map of India comprised of copious independent states with fluid boundaries, with increasing
population and abundance of wealth fueling disputes over these boundaries.

Unified under the famous Gupta Dynasty, the north of India touched the skies as far as
administration and the Hindu religion were concerned. Little wonder then, that it is considered to
be India’s golden age. By 600 BC, approximately sixteen dynasties ruled the north Indian plains
spanning the modern day Afghanistan to Bangladesh. Some of the most powerful of them were
the dynasties ruling the kingdoms of Magadha, Kosla, Kuru and Gandhara.

Earliest historical evidence from Mehargarh (north-west Indian sub-continent) shows beginning
of civilization in India at around 6500 B.C. It is the earliest and largest urban site of the period in
the world. This site has yielded evidence for the earliest domestication of animals, evolution of
agriculture, as well as arts and crafts. The horse was first domesticated here in 6500 B.C. There
is a progressive process of the domestication of animals, particularly cattle, the development of
agriculture, beginning with barley and then later wheat and rice, and the use of metal, beginning

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with copper and culminating in iron, along with the development villages and towns. It has been
suggested by some historians that an 'Aryan Invasion' of Indian subcontinent took place around
1500-1000 B.C. However, current archeological data do not support the existence of an Indo
Aryan or European invasion into South Asia at any time in the pre or proto-historic periods
(David Frawley). The people in this tradition were the same basic ethnic groups as in India
today, with their same basic types of languages.

Two important cities were discovered: Harappa on the Ravi river, and Mohenjodaro on the Indus
during excavations in 1920. The remains of these two cities were part of a large civilization and
well developed ancient civilization, which is now called by historians as 'Indus Valley
Civilization', or 'Saraswati Civilization'. Later Harappan (Sarasvati) civilization 3100-1900 BC
shows massive cities, complex agriculture and metallurgy, sophistication of arts and crafts, and
precision in weights and measures. They built large buildings, which were mathematically-
planned. The city planning in those ancient cities is comparable to the best of our modern cities.
This civilization had a written language and was highly sophisticated. Some of these towns were
almost three miles in diameter with thousands of residents. These ancient municipalities had
granaries, citadels, and even household toilets. In Mohenjodaro, a mile-long canal connected the
city to the sea, and trading ships sailed as far as Mesopotamia. At its height, the Indus
civilization extended over half a million square miles across the Indus river valley, and though it
existed at the same time as the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Sumer, it far outlasted them.
This Sarasvati civilization was a center of trading and for the diffusion of civilization throughout
south and west Asia, which often dominated the Mesopotamian region.

Mehrgarh, Harappa, Mohenjodaro, Kalibangan and Lothal are peripheral cities of the great
Sarasvati civilization with more than 500 sites along its banks awaiting excavation.

The year 4500 B.C. marks Mandhatr's defeat of Druhyus, driving them to the west into Iran.
4000-3700 B.C. was the Rig Veda period. In 3730 B.C. the 'Battle of Ten' Kings - occurred. That
was the age of Sudas and his sage advisors, Vasistha and Visvamitra. From 3600 to 3100 B.C.
was the late Vedic age during which Yajur, Sama, and Atharva Vedas were composed. 3100
B.C. is the probable date of the Mahabharata, composed by Vyasa. At this time, a tectonic plate
shift resulted in river Yamuna which was a tributary of river Saraswati shifted its course and

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Saraswati became smaller. It was the beginning of 'Kali Yuga'. In 1900 B.C., another tectonic
plate shift made Saraswati lose Sutlej. This dried up Sarasvati, causing massive exodus of people
towards the Ganga valley in east, whence arose the classical civilization of India. Post-Harappan
civilization 1900-1000 BC shows the abandonment of the Harappan towns owing to ecological
and river changes but without a real break in the continuity of the culture. There is a
decentralization and relocation in which the same basic agricultural and artistic traditions
continue, along with a few significant urban sites like Dwaraka. This gradually develops into the
Gangetic civilization of the first millennium BC, which is the classical civilization of ancient
India, which retains its memory of its origin in the Saraswati region through the Vedas.

David Frawley and other modern scholars propose:

1. 6500-3100 BC, Pre-Harappan, early Rig Vedic

2. 3100-1900 BC, Mature Harappan 3100-1900, period of the Four Vedas.

3. 1900-1000 BC, Late Harappan, late Vedic and Brahmana period

Buddha and Mahavira :

The sequence of development in the literature does not parallel a migration into India but the
historical development of civilization in India from the Sarasvati to the Ganges'. In the 5th
century BC, Siddhartha Gautama founded the religion of Buddhism, a profoundly influential
work of human thought still espoused by much of the world. In the same another religion called
Jainism was founded by Mahavira.

Around 500 BC, when the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius, pushing their empire eastward,
conquered the ever-prized Indus Valley. The Persians were in turn conquered by the Greeks
under Alexander the Great, who came as far as the Beas River, where he defeated king Porus and
an army of 200 elephants in 326 BC. The tireless, charismatic conqueror wanted to extend his
empire even further eastward, but his own troops (undoubtedly exhausted) refused to continue.
Alexander returned home, leaving behind garrisons to keep the trade routes open.

Golden period of Indian History

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The Mauryan Empire :

Although Indian accounts to a large extent ignored Alexander the Great's Indus campaign in 326
B.C., Greek writers recorded their impressions of the general conditions prevailing in South Asia
during this period. A two-way cultural fusion between several Indo-Greek elements-especially in
art, architecture, and coinage--occurred in the next several hundred years. North India's political
landscape was transformed by the emergence of Magadha in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plain.

As the overextended Hellenistic sphere declined, a king known as Chandragupta swept back
through the country from Magadha (Bihar) and conquered his way well into Afghanistan. This
was the beginning of one India's greatest dynasties, the Maurya. In 322 B.C., Magadha, under the
rule of Chandragupta Maurya, began to assert its hegemony over neighboring areas.
Chandragupta, who ruled from 324 to 301 B.C., was the architect of the first Indian imperial
power-the Mauryan Empire (326-184 B.C.)--whose capital was Pataliputra, near modern-day
Patna, in Bihar.

Situated on rich alluvial soil and near mineral deposits, especially iron, Magadha was at the
center of bustling commerce and trade. The capital was a city of magnificent palaces, temples, a
university, a library, gardens, and parks, as reported by Megasthenes, the third-century B.C.
Greek historian and ambassador to the Mauryan court. Legend states that Chandragupta's success
was due in large measure to his adviser Kautilya, the Brahman author of the Arthashastra
(Science of Material Gain), a textbook that outlined governmental administration and political
strategy. There was a highly centralized and hierarchical government with a large staff, which
regulated tax collection, trade and commerce, industrial arts, mining, vital statistics, welfare of
foreigners, maintenance of public places including markets and temples, and prostitutes. A large
standing army and a well-developed espionage system were maintained. The empire was divided
into provinces, districts, and villages governed by a host of centrally appointed local officials,
who replicated the functions of the central administration.

Ashoka, was the most trusted son of Bindusara and grandson of Chandragupta . During his
father's reign, he was the governor of Ujjain and Taxila. Having sidelined all claims to the throne
from his brothers, Ashoka was coroneted as an emperor. He ruled from 269 to 232 B.C. and was
one of India's most illustrious rulers. Under the great king Ashoka the Mauryan empire
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conquered nearly the entire subcontinent, Ashoka extended the Maurya Empire to the whole of
India except the deep south and the south-east, reaching out even into Central Asia.

Ashoka's inscriptions chiseled on rocks and stone pillars located at strategic locations
throughout his empire--such as Lampaka (Laghman in modern Afghanistan), Mahastan (in
modern Bangladesh), and Brahmagiri (in Karnataka)--constitute the second set of datable
historical records. According to some of the inscriptions, in the aftermath of the carnage resulting
from his campaign against the powerful kingdom of Kalinga (modern Orissa), Ashoka renounced
bloodshed and pursued a policy of nonviolence or ahimsa, espousing a theory of rule by
righteousness. His toleration for different religious beliefs and languages reflected the realities of
India's regional pluralism although he personally seems to have followed Buddhism. Early
Buddhist stories assert that he convened a Buddhist council at his capital, regularly undertook
tours within his realm, and sent Buddhist missionary ambassadors to Sri Lanka. His rule marked
the height of the Maurya empire, and it collapsed only 100 years after his death.

Under his reign Buddhism spread to Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, Central Asia, Burma. For
propagation of Buddhism, he started inscribing edicts on rocks and pillars at places where people
could easily read them. These pillars and rocks are still found in India, spreading their message
of love and peace for the last two thousand years. To his ideas he gave the name Dharma.
Ashoka died in 232 BC. The capital of Ashoka pillar at Sarnath is adopted by India as its
national emblem. The "Dharma Chakra" on the Ashoka Pillar adorns our National Flag.

References

1. Bongard-Levin 1979, p. 51.

2. MacKenzie, Lynn (1995). Non-Western Art: A Brief Guide. Prentice Hall. p. 151.
3. Romila Thapar, A History of India: Part 1, pp. 29–30.
4. Singh, U. (2009), A History of Ancient and Mediaeval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th
Century, Delhi: Longman, p. 255, ISBN 978-81-317-1677-9
5. Stein, B. (27 April 2010), Arnold, D., ed., A History of India (2nd ed.), Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell,
p. 47, ISBN 978-1-4051-9509-6
6. Kulke, H.; Rothermund, D. (1 August 2004), A History of India, 4th, Routledge, p. 31,ISBN 978-
0-415-32920-0
7. Singhal, K. C; Gupta, Roshan. The Ancient History of India, Vedic Period: A New
Interpretation. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors. ISBN 8126902868. P. 150-151.
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8. *Day, Terence P. (1982). The Conception of Punishment in Early Indian Literature. Ontario:
Wilfrid Laurier University Press. P. 42-45. ISBN 0-919812-15-5.
9. Duiker, William; Spielvogel, Jackson (2012). World History. Cengage learning. p. 90.
10. Nelson, James M. Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality. Springer. p. 77.
11. Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press,
p. 37, ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0

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