Category History

       In Sanskrit, the word ‘Veda’ means knowledge. The Vedas are the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism. The four main Vedas are the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda and the Atharva Veda. The Rig Veda is a collection of inspired songs or hymns, and is the main source of information on the civilization of that time.

       The Rig Veda is considered the most precious gift that the Aryans have passed on to us. The Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda were compiled after the age of the Rig Veda, and are ascribed to the Vedic period. The Sama Veda is purely a collection of melodies. The hymns in the Sama Veda, used as musical notes, were almost completely drawn from the Rig Veda. Musical notes indicated how the verses should be chanted. In effect, it is a shortened and musical version of the Rig Veda.

       The Yajur Veda practically served as a guidebook for the priests. It contains hymns and rituals to be performed while chanting the verses. The Atharva Veda contains magic spells and chants to cure diseases, and ward off danger. If you have fever, or have been bitten by a snake, the Atharva Veda has a chant to cure it! According to Hinduism, the Vedas are of divine origin, and it is believed that all human knowledge is available in the Vedas in symbolic form.

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       Do you know that the caste system in India originated in the Aryan society? The Aryan society was divided into four varnas or castes, which were decided by the occupation one followed. The four varnas were the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. The word ‘varna’ means colour, and in those days, the four castes were supposed to wear different colours.

       The Brahmins wore white, the Kshatriyas wore yellow, the Vaishyas wore red, and the Shudras wore black. The Brahmins were teachers, priests and intellectuals. The Kshatriyas were warriors and administrators. The Vaishyas were farmers, merchants and business people, and the Shudras were artisans and workers. In the early days, a person was not born into a caste. However, with the passing of time, the caste system became more rigid. A person’s caste was decided by birth, and the Brahmins and Kshatriyas began to consider themselves superior to the other two castes. The system of untouchability was one of the evils that originated as a result of the caste system.

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       Vedas are not only religious texts but also socio-cultural and literary documents of ancient India. The Rig Veda, the oldest literary document of India, is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the gods.

       The Rig Veda tells the story of Prajapati, the first god who created the world. His mouth, arms, thighs and feet turned into different groups of people. These groups became the different castes. The Rig Veda mentions many different gods, and it is the first written evidence of Hinduism. It refers to some rituals such as marriage and funeral rites, which differ little from those practised today.

       The Rig Veda is also considered the source of much Indian thought. It is believed among the world’s oldest religious texts in continued use.

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       You may have heard of the Aryans who invaded India thousands of years ago. The Aryans were a tribal and nomadic people who lived far away in Euro-Asia. They were unquestionably a tough people, and were fierce warriors.

       The Aryan culture was oriented around warfare, and they were very good at it. They were superb horsemen and rushed into battle in chariots. The Aryans were ruled over by a war chief, or Rajan.

       Somewhere in the early centuries of the second millennium BC, the Aryans began to migrate southwards in waves of steady conquest across the face of Persia, and the lands of India. There, they would take on the name ‘superior’ or ‘noble’ to distinguish themselves from the people they conquered. Their name is derived from the Indo-European root word, ‘ar’, meaning ‘noble’.

       The Aryans first settled along the Indus River, in the same place where the Harappan people had lived. They settled down, and mixed with the local Indian people. They lived there from about 1500 to 800 BC. It seems to be around this time that the caste system began in India.

       About 800 BC, the Aryans learned how to use iron for weapons and tools. Once the Aryans learned how to use iron, they used their new weapons to conquer more of India, and moved to the south and east into the Ganges river valley. The Aryans are also called Vedic people since they composed some important books that describe the life and religion of those days, known as the Vedas.

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       Can you imagine that the tall mountains of the Himalayas were once under the ocean? Yes, this amazing fact is true! Millions of years ago, all the continents were joined together to form a giant continent called Pangaea. Gradually, Pangaea split up into two continents, Laurasia and Gondwanaland.

       These two continents were separated by a sea called the Tethys Sea. India, which was on Gondwanaland, later broke away and became an island. The Indian and the Eurasian plates collided with each other 20 to 30 million years ago, and as a result of this collision, the Himalayas started rising up. Since this area was once covered by the Tethys Sea, fossils of fish and other marine animals have been found on the icy cliffs of the Himalayas.

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       The Chalcolithic Age refers to the period after the New Stone Age. During this time, copper became an important material, along with stone. The Chalcolithic period is also known as the Copper Age. ‘Chalcos’ in Greek means copper.

       Chalcolithic Man relied less on hunting than the Neolithic Man. He focussed more on sheep and goat breeding, and the cultivation of wheat, barley, dates, olives and lentils. Houses during this period were built of sundried mud bricks with roofs made of wood, reeds and mud. Some houses were based on stone foundations, and many were planned around large courtyards.

       The walls of the houses were also used for artistic or ceremonial purposes. In many parts of the country, Chalcolithic cultures existed between 2000 and 1000 BC. Chalcolithic sites have been discovered in Rajasthan, south Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Bengal, central and south India.

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