Aryan Migration and the Vedas

 During the second millennium BC, Harappan society declined

bands of foreigners filtered into the Indian Subcontinent and
settled throughout the Indus Valley and beyond
 Most prominent were nomadic speaking Indo-European
languages who called themselves Aryans (noble people)
 Depended heavily on a pastoral economy
 Their arrival was not an invasion or organized military
campaign
 It is likely that Indo- European migrants clashed with
Dravidians (people settled in the Harappan area)
 By the time Aryans entered India, internal problems had
already brought Harappan society in the point of collapse
 The Vedic age 1500 to 500 BC
 The Vedas refer often conflict between Aryans and the
indigenous people whom the Aryans called “dasas” meaning
“enemies”
 Dravidian people competitions (land and resources)
The Vedas
 Vedas, Sanskrit word Veda means Knowledge or wisdom

 It refers to that knowledge that priest needed to carry out their

function while transmitting religious knowledge.

 The early Aryans did not use writing

 They preserved extensive collections of religious works (poems etc)

 Memorize and orally transmitted works called the Vedas sacred

language (sanskrit)
Aryans also used a language Prakit for their everyday

communication

This language later evolved into Hindi, Bengali and other

languages currently spoken in northern India

There are four Vedas, earliest and most important are:
Rig Veda “Knowledge of the hymns of praise, for
recitation”
Sama Veda “Knowledge of the melodies, for chanting”
Yajur Veda “Knowledge of the sacrificial formulas”
Atharva Veda “ Knowledge of the magical formulas”
 Fried Max Muller (December 1823-October 1900) was
German born Philologist
 Was being the first to propose a date for the period of
composition of “Rig Veda” of 1200-1000BC
 Rig Veda collection of 1,028 hymns addressed to Aryan gods
 Collection of hymns, songs, prayers and rituals honoring the
various gods of the Aryans.
 The Vedas identify “Indra” the Aryan war god and military
hero as who ravaged citadels and destroyed forts.
 Indra also had a domestic dimension
 Also recognized other deities including gods of the sun, sky,
moon, fire, health and disease.
 Settlement and Political Structure

 Aryans did not have a state or common government

 They formed hundreds of chiefdoms organized around herding

communities and agricultural villages

 Most of the chiefdoms had a leader known as raja Sanskrit term

related to Latin word rex (king) governed in collaboration with a
council of village elders

 They regarded cattle as their chief for wealth in their society

 Aryan groups settled in Punjab and spread east and south and
established communities throughout much of the Indian Sub-continent
 As Aryan settled down into permanent communities, began to
rely upon agriculture rather than herding
 Lost the tribal political organization and brought into India a
formal political Institutions
 Aryans constructed a well defined social order
 The Aryan social structure rested on sharp hereditary
distinctions b/w individuals and groups according to their
occupations and role in society and these distinction became
the foundation of caste system
 The term caste comes from the Portuguese word casta,
meaning breed, race or kind
 A caste society is one that is segmented
 Hierarchically arranged
 When the Aryans entered India had a simple society consists
of herders and cultivators led by priests and chiefs
 Caste identities developed slowly as the Aryans established
settlements throughout India.
 Aryans used the term “Varna” sanskrit word meaning “color”
to refer major social classes
 Aryans were wheat colored and Dravidians were darker skin
 Four main Castes or Varna's:
 Priests (Brahmins)
 Warriors (Kshatriyas)
 Merchants and Land Owners (Vaishyas)
 Peasants, servants (Sudras)
 People who perform dirty duties or tasks (Untouchables)
which is added later on
Thank You