History of Ancient India
The study material of "History of Ancient India" is divided into 5 main parts according to the chronology of events.
Physical and social life of Aryans in India
It is believed that Aryans were not native to India. Some historians say that Aryan's actual home was in Central Asia. Other historians believed that their actual home was in southern Russia (near the Caspian sea) or in southeast Europe (Austria and Hungary). The Aryans who settled in India were called Indo-Aryans. Bal Gangadhar Tilak used to say that the Aryans had settled in Siberia but due to the falling temperature, they had left Siberia for greenery.
Physical life of Aryans in India
• The Rig Vedic Aryans attribute their success to their understanding of horses, chariots and brass weapons.
He used to do copper business from Khetri province of Rajasthan.
• Aryans used wooden plows as a stake for sowing, harvesting and threshing.
• Aryan's most important asset was cow.
• Aryans, who were rustic, mostly fought for their control over cow's tabloids. These battles were called Gavisthis or the search for cows in the Rigveda.
• Land was not seen as private property.
• Metals like copper, iron and brass were used.
• Some people used to work as goldsmiths, potters, spinners and carpenters.
Tribal politics
• The tribal head was called Rajan and his place was hereditary.
• Tribal meetings with the king such as sabha, samiti, gana and vidhata were also powerful to take decisions.
• Women could also participate in sabha and vidhata in the pre-Vedic period.
• Two chief functionaries who could help the king:
I. priest or chief priest
II. Chief or army chief
• Taxes imposed in Vedic era were Bali and Bhag.
• Detectives were appointed to keep track of wrongdoers.
• Those officers who settled in the village and occupied the land were called Vrajapati.
• Vrajapati was under the control of the Kshetra army and headed the families (Kulpa) and the army battalions (called Gramani) for the war.
• Aryans did not have a permanent army but they were skilled fighters.
• They were tribal by nature and therefore did not have a fixed administrative system as they used to roam continuously.
Tribal and family
• People were identified by their caste.
• Tribals (Jan or Vis) played an important role in Aryan's life.
The Vis was further divided into small tribal units made up of village or warriors.
• When two villages fought each other, it was called Sangram or war.
• In Rigveda, the word family or family is used for family.
• Arya lived in a joint family.
• Like the Romans, they considered patriarchy as the father of the family.
• People liked sons more than daughters and prayed for it at the time of sacrifice.
• Women could participate in political meetings and make sacrifices with their husbands.
• In the Rigveda, there was also a matrimonial rule of having more than one husband and there are many incidents in which the wife of the deceased brother was married and the widow was remarried.
• There is no evidence of child marriage and 16 or 17 years is considered suitable for marriage.
Social division
• Aryans were conscious of varna and started caste discrimination on the basis of varna (literal meaning color).
• The Aryans were white in color from the original inhabitants which gave rise to the social system.
• Slaves and dasyus were treated like slaves and Shudra was given the lowest status in the caste system.
• The tribal head used to get the highest share of the goods looted in the war and became powerful.
• Like Iran, tribal society is divided into three parties:
I. Warrior
II. Priest
III. ordinary people
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