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IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : India Earliest Times to the 8th Century A.D - Changes in the Later Vedic Phase

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

India Earliest Times to the 8th Century A.D

Changes in the Later Vedic Phase

Structure

13.0 Objectives
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Sources
13.2.1 Literary Sources
13.2.2 Archaeological Sources
13.3 Iron Technology and its Impact
13.4 The Nature of the Economy
13.4.1 Importance of Pastoralism Declines
13.4.2 Changes in the Functions of the Rituals
13.4.3 Emerging Importance of Land
13.5 Polity and Society
13.5.1 Polity
13.5.2 Society
13.6 Religion
13.6.1 Priestcraft
13.6.2 The Changing Gods
13.6.3 Folk Tradition
13.7 Let Us Sum Up
13.8 Key Words
13.9 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

13.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this unit you will be able to know about:
the sources which enable us to study the later Vedic Society,
the changes in the social, political, economic and religious structure during the
later Vedic period, and
the economic and social implications of a change in technology with the
introduction of a new metal, i.e. iron.

13.1 INTRODUCTION

The period hch you are going to study now extends roughly from 1000 B.C. to 600
B.C. By this period some of Vedic tribes had moved from the 'Sapta Sindhava'
region to the upper Ganga Valley and other adjacent regions.
During the period of this shift a number of changes in their social, political, economic
and religious structure took place. In this unit we shall be discussing the major
aspects of these changes.

13.2 SOURCES

We get both literary as well as archaeological sources to study this period.

13.2.1 Literary Sources

The later additions specially the 10th Mandala to the Rigveda Samhita and the Sama,
the Yajur and the Atharva Veda samhitas are the other vedic texts which are
assigned to the later vedic phase. The Sama Veda samhita is a book of prayers and
chants which are from the Rigveda, modified and set to tune for the explicit purpose
of singing them during rituals.