Vedic Corpus

Historians divide the Vedic corpus into two parts early and later Vedic texts

Early Vedic literature refers to the family books of the Rig Veda Samhita. Later Vedic literature includes Books 1, 8, 9, and 10 of the Rig Veda Samhita, the Samhitas of the Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas, and the Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads attached to all the four Vedas.

Political Situation • The Rig Veda is pervaded with the aura of warring tribes. About 30

tribes and clans are mentioned.

• Five tribes—the Yadu, Turvasha, Puru, Anu, and Druhyu—are collectively known as the ‘five peoples’ (pancha-jana, pancha-kristhya, or pancha-manusha).

• The Purus and Bharatas are the two dominant tribes.

• Initially, they seem to have been allies, but at some point, they fell apart.

• The Rig Veda mentions a chief of the Purus named Trasadasyu.

• It also mentions a famous Bharata king named Divodasa and describes his victory over the Dasa ruler Shambara, who had many mountain fortresses.

• Many Rig Vedic hymns beseech the gods for victory in battle.

• It is difficult to distinguish between mythical and historical events, between demons and real enemies.

• There are several references to conflicts with the Dasas and Dasyus.

• One view is that these were the aboriginal people encountered by the Indo-Aryan tribes.

• However, they may actually represent earlier (pre-Vedic) waves of Indo- Aryan immigrants.

• Prayers to Indra to defeat not only the Dasa but also the Arya enemies indicate that there were conflicts among the Aryas too.

• There are about 300 clearly non-Indo-European words in the Rig Veda.

• These ‘loan words’ show that the Rig Vedic people were interacting with people speaking Dravidian and Munda languages.

• There are many tribes with non-Indo-Aryan names in the Rig Veda, such as the Chumuri, Dhuni, Pipru, and Shambara. The text also refers to Arya chieftains with non-Indo-Aryan names, e.g., Balbutha and Bribu.

• All this is indicative of processes of cultural interaction

• The ‘battle of ten kings’ (dasharajna), recounted in Book 7 of the Rig Veda Samhita may be based on an actual historical incident.

• In this battle, the Bharata chief Sudas, grandson of Divodasa, fought against a confederacy of 10 tribes (Yadu, Turvasha, Puru, Anu, and Druhyu, Alina, Bhalanas, Paktha, Shiva, Vishanina).

• The mention of the Purus, their former allies, as a part of this confederacy indicates that political alliances were fluid and shifting.

• Vishvamitra, the Bharata purohita, seems to have been replaced by Vasishtha before the battle, reflecting another sort of behind-the-scenes re-alignment.

• The great battle took place on the banks of the river Parushni (Ravi).

• The Bharatas won by breaking a natural dam on the river.

• Marching on to the Yamuna, they defeated a local ruler named Bheda.

• Sudas eventually settled down along the Sarasvati and celebrated his victory and position of political paramountcy by performing the ashvamedha sacrifice.

• The word rajan (or raja) occurs many times in the family books of the Rig Veda. Since a full fledged monarchical state had not yet emerged, this word is best translated as ‘chieftain’ or ‘noble’, rather than as ‘king’.

• It is not always clear from the hymns whether the rajan was the chief of a tribe, clan, clan segment or several clans.

• But his main task was to protect his people and to lead them to victory in war.

• The reference to the chieftain as gopa or gopati (lord of the cattle) indicates that protecting and increasing the cattle herd was his other major role

• Animals such as horses, goats, and sheep are mentioned in the family books, but cattle were clearly prized the most.

• R. S. Sharma (1983: 24) has drawn attention to the many derivations of the word gau (cow) in the Rig Veda.

• Words for war with the infix gau—such as gavishti, gaveshana, goshu, and gavya—suggest that many battles were in effect cattle raids.

• Further indications of the importance of cattle come from other words containing the gau infix.

• The tribal chief was known as janasya gopa.

• Measures of time included godhuli (dusk) and samgava (morning), measures of area/distance included gavyuti and gocharman.

• The buffalo was known as gauri or gavala.

• The daughter was duhitri (she who milks cows). Gojit (winner of cows) was a word for a hero.

• A wealthy person was known as gomat (owner of cattle).

• One of the epithets of the god Indra was gopati (lord of cattle).

• The royal priest accompanied the rajan to battle, recited prayers, and supervised the performance of rituals.

• The importance of royal priests such as Vasishtha and Vishvamitra is reflected in many Vedic hymns.

• Bali refers to an offering made to a god; it also means tribute periodically offered by the clansmen to the rajan.

• Tribute was no doubt also extracted from tribes defeated in battle.

• A regular taxation system had not yet emerge

• The Rig Veda mentions assemblies such as the sabha and samiti.

• The distinctions between their functions are not entirely clear.

• The sabha seems to have been a smaller, more elite gathering, whereas the samiti appears to have been a larger assembly presided over by the rajan.

• Such assemblies may have played an important role in the redistribution of resources.

• Hymns express the desire for harmony among members (‘Assemble, speak together; let your minds be all of one accord.’).

• The vidatha has been understood as a tribal assembly with diverse functions.

• However, it actually seems to refer to a local congregation of people meeting to perform socio-religious rituals and ceremonies for the well-being of the settlement

• The family books contain several terms for socio-political units, many of which were based on kinship.

• These include jana, vish, gana, grama, griha, and kula.

• The jana of the Rig Veda can be translated as tribe, vish is often translated as people in general or as clan, and gana as lineage.

• Grama, which later came to mean village, seems to have originally referred to a mobile group of people who may or may not have been related to each other through kinship.

Socio-Economic Conditions

• Some scholars have used the number of references to pastoral versus agricultural activities in the family books as an index of their relative importance

• Some scholars have concluded that while cattle rearing was of overwhelming importance, agriculture was either a subsidiary activity or one that was practiced by non-Indo-Aryans.

• However, the frequency of usage in religious or ritualistic texts and contexts may not be an accurate indicator of the relative importance of these activities in everyday life.

• Apart from word frequencies, it is necessary to examine the nature and content of the references

• R. N. Nandi (1989–90) has drawn attention to the many references to agricultural activity in the Rig Veda and argues that it was by no means marginal.

• The verbs vap (to sow) and krish (to cultivate) occur, along with references to various agricultural implements.

• Phala, langala, and sira are words for the plough, which must have been made of wood. Other implements included the hoe (khanitra), sickle (datra, srini), and axe (parashu, kulisha).

• The word kshetra has a range of meanings, including a cultivated field. Hymns refer to the levelling of fields for cultivation, the desire for fertile fields (urvara), and furrows (sita) drenched by rain, producing rich harvests.

• The only terms for cereals are yava (barley or a generic term for cereal) and dhanya (a generic term for cereals).

• There are references to seed processing, food prepared from cereals, and large jars that were probably used to store grain.

• Some hymns refer to conflicts among people for the protection of sons, grandsons, cattle, water courses, and fertile fields.

• Prayers to Indra beseech him to grant or enrich the fields.

• This god is described as the protector of crops, winner of fertile fields (urvarajit), and one who showers such fields on those who perform sacrifices to him.

• The later parts of the family books invoke Kshetrapati, who seems to have been a guardian deity of agricultural fields.

• Wars were fought for cattle, but also for land.

• Hymns refer to warriors, priests, cattle rearers, farmers, hunters, barbers, and vintners.

• The crafts mentioned include chariot-making, cart-making, carpentry, metal working, tanning, the making of bows and bowstrings, sewing, weaving, and making mats out of grass or reeds.

• Some of these occupations and crafts may have been the jobs of full-time specialists.

• Hymns refer to warriors, priests, cattle rearers, farmers, hunters, barbers, and vintners.

• The crafts mentioned include chariot-making, cart-making, carpentry, metal working tanning, the making of bows and bowstrings, sewing, weaving, and making mats out of grass or reeds.

• Some of these occupations and crafts may have been the jobs of full-time specialists.

• There are hardly any references to metallurgical activities in the Rig Veda, and very few of these occur in the family books.

• The word ayas occurs in several contexts.

• There are references to Indra’s thunderbolt of ayas; the chariot of Mitra and Varuna having columns of ayas; and the home of Indra and Soma made of ayas.

• A hymn to Agni compares his splendour to the edge of ayas.

• Another hymn to Agni beseeches him to be like a fort of ayas to his worshippers.

• A prayer to Indra asks him to sharpen his worshipper’s thought as if it were a blade of ayas.

• The family books also refer to the Dasyus’ cities of ayas, forts of ayas, a horse’s jaws of ayas, a vessel of ayas.

• Some scholars have interpreted the references to ayas, metal objects, and metallurgical activity in the Rig Veda as indicative of iron artefacts and iron working.

• However, there is no definite evidence that this was so.

• There is in fact no clear or conclusive reference to iron in the family books.

• Ayas could have meant copper, copper-bronze, or may have been a generic term for metals

• The few metal objects mentioned in the Rig Veda are kshura (razor), khadi (maybe a bangle), and asi/svadhiti (axe).

• But it is not clear precisely which metal these objects were made of. A hymn (4.2.17) refers to the doers of good deeds having freed their birth from impurity in the same way as ayas is purified.

• The medieval commentator Sayana explains this reference as follows: ‘As the smiths heat metal using bellows.’

• There are a few references in the Rig Veda to the words dham and karmara, but these occur in the late books 9 and 10, and it is far from certain whether they refer to iron-welding or iron smiths

• Anthropological studies have brought out the importance of gift exchanges in simple societies, and some of their observations are useful for understanding the culture reflected in the Rig Veda.

• In his classic work on the gift, Marcel Mauss [1954], 1980) pointed out that such exchanges may appear on the surface to be voluntary and spontaneous, but are actually strictly obligatory and governed by conventions that have to be observed.

• It is not the individual but groups (families, clans, tribes) who make the exchanges and are bound by their obligations.

• Such exchanges—known as prestations—do not only involve material goods of economic value.

• They also involve the exchange of other things such as courtesies, entertainments, military assistance, ritual, women, children, dances, feasts, and hospitality.

• The rules of the game in gift exchange are different from the logic that operates in ordinary sorts of economic exchanges.

• The offering, receiving, and reciprocating of gifts are acts that establish and cement social relationships and social hierarchies.

• In the Rig Veda, we have noted that gifts (bali) were received by the rajan from members of the clan.

• Priests received dana (ritual gifts) and dakshina (sacrificial fees) at the conclusion of sacrificial rituals.

• Gift-giving and receiving do not rule out other kinds of exchange, but trade in the Rig Vedic context was probably minimal. Barter was the mode of exchange and cattle an important unit of value.

• The word nishka seems to have meant ‘a piece of gold’ or ‘gold necklace’, and there is no indication of the use of coins.

• There are prayers to the gods to ‘give broad paths to travel’ and ensure a safe journey. Mention is made of chariots and carts drawn by oxen, mules, or horses.

• The panis (literally, ‘those who possess wealth’) in some instances refer to merchants and in others to stingy people who did not perform sacrifices and hid their wealth.

• There are references to boats (nau) and the ocean (samudra).

• Rig Veda 1.116.3 refers to the Ashvins rescuing Bhujya in the ocean with the help of a ship with a hundred oars (shataritra).

• Book 10 refers to the eastern and western oceans.

• But both Books 1 and 10 are later books, and historians differ on whether or not the composers of the early sections of the Rig Veda were familiar with sea travel, let alone sea trade.

• War booty was a major source of wealth (pana, dhana, rayi, etc.).

• The references to wealthy people and those worthy of attending the assemblies suggest differences in wealth and rank.

• The rajan and the assemblies must have had a say in the redistribution of war booty, and the rajan and his immediate kinsmen must have got a larger share.

• Apart from cattle, other items solicited in prayers and sacrifices include houses, horses, gold, fertile fields, friends, plentiful food, wealth, jewels, chariots, fame, and children.

• The notion of individual private property ownership as we understand it—associated with the right to buy, sell, gift, bequeath, and mortgage—did not exist.

• The clan as a whole enjoyed rights over major resources such as land and herds.

• The household was the basic unit of labour, and there is no mention of wage labour.

• The Rig Veda is, however, familiar with slavery. Slavery, is an extreme form of social subordination.

• A slave, whether male or female, has no rights, power, autonomy, or honour, is considered the property of the master, and is obliged to perform all kinds of services, no matter how menial.

• The Rig Veda refers to enslavement in the course of war or as a result of debt.

• The fact that in later times, dasa and dasi are terms used for male and female slaves, suggests that initially, ethnic differences may have been an important basis of enslavement.

• Slaves, male and female, generally worked in the household, but were not used to any significant extent in production-related activities.

• As pointed out by Gerda Lerner (1986), in all cultures, throughout history, there was an important difference in the experience of enslavement for men and women—for women, enslavement generally involved sexual exploitation in addition to exploitation of their labour.

• Although the family books reflect differences in rank and some inequalities in wealth, these do not add up to distinct socio-economic classes in the sense of significant differences in access to and control over basic productive resources.

• However, the absence of a class hierarchy does not mean that Rig Vedic society was egalitarian.

• The family books reflect inequalities between masters and slaves, and between men and women.

• The rajan stood at the top of the ladder of political and social power and status, the dasi stood at the very bottom

• The Rig Veda mentions food and drink, clothes, and leisure-time pursuits of people.

• There are references to the consumption of milk and milk products, ghrita (ghee, clarified butter), grains, vegetables, and fruits. Vedic texts refer to meat eating, and to the offering of animals such as sheep, goat, and oxen to the gods in sacrifice

• However, thereference to cows as aghnya (not to be killed) suggests a disapproval of their indiscriminate killing.

• This issue has sometimes become controversial in view of the sanctity that eventually came to be associated with the cow in Hinduism.

• However, it should be remembered that religious and dietary practices have always varied considerably over time and space.

• The drink known as soma consisted of the juice of the soma plant, mixed with milk, sour milk, or yava (cereal).

• Sura seems to have been an intoxicating drink made out of fermented grain.

• People wore clothes of cotton, wool, and animal skin, and donned a variety of ornaments.

• There are references to singing and dancing, and to musical instruments such as the vina (lute), vana (flute), and drums.

• Dramas may have been a source of entertainment, and chariot racing and gambling with dice were popular pastimes.

WOMEN, MEN, AND THE HOUSEHOLD • Nineteenth-century socio-religious reformers and nationalist

historians of the early 20th century often presented the Vedic age as a golden age for women.

• They pointed out that the Vedic people worshipped goddesses; the Rig Veda contains hymns composed by women; there are references to women sages; women participated in rituals along with their husbands; they took part in chariot races and attended the sabha and various social gatherings.

• Such a presentation of the ‘high’ position of women in Vedic society can be seen as a response to the oppression and humiliation of colonial rule.

• The idea was to show that in ancient times, Indians were better than the Westerners, at least in the way they treated women. This could also be used as an argument to improve the prevailing condition of women in Indian society

• Recent scholarship has shifted the focus from discussing women in isolation to an analysis of gender relations.

• Gender refers to the culturally defined roles associated with men and women.

• Earlier, historians tended to focus on the public, political domain, relegating the family, household, and gender relations to the private, domestic domain. Today, the distinction between the private and political domains is recognized as an artificial one.

• Ideologies and hierarchies of power and authority exist within the family and household, in the form of norms of appropriate conduct based on gender, age, and kinship relations.

• Further, there is a close connection between relations within the household, marriage and kinship systems, the control of women’s sexuality and reproduction, class and caste relations, and larger political structures.

• These are all like the interlocking building blocks of a vast and complex social pyramid. For these reasons, gender relations form an important part of social history.

• The experience of women belonging to different groups in society varied, and it is therefore necessary to break down the category of ‘women’ into more specific subcategories based on rank, class, occupation, and age.

• Women have to be understood in relation to men, and their relationships are embedded in wider social, economic, and political contexts.

• For all periods, the vague issue of the ‘status of women’ therefore has to be dissolved into smaller, more meaningful questions, such as:

• What were the relations between men and women in the domestic sphere? How was a person’s descent recognized? What were the norms of property and inheritance? What was the role of women in production-related activities? Did they have control over these activities or the fruits of their labour? How was the sexuality and reproductive potential of women controlled and regulated? What was the role of women in the religious and ritual spheres? Did they have access to education and knowledge systems? Did they have direct or indirect access to political power? Further, structures of subordination and control were not total or all-encompassing, and an analysis of gender relations has to move beyond seeing women as passive victims of oppressive social structures.

• In spite of their subordination, women occupied a variety of social

spaces, performed different roles, and were participants and active agents in history.

• A very small part of their history has, however, been written so far.

• In the older writings, a great part of the discussion about women of the Vedic age focused on elite women, ignoring the less privileged members of this sex.

• Although the Rig Veda mentions goddesses, none of them are as important as the major gods.

• The social implications of the worship of female deities are complex.

• While such worship does at least mark the ability of a community to visualize the divine in feminine form, it does not automatically mean that real women enjoyed power or privilege.

• The proportion of hymns attributed to women in the Rig Veda is miniscule (just 12–15 out of over 1,000), as is the number of women sages.

• This suggests that women had limited access to sacred learning.

• There are no women priests in the Rig Veda.

• While women participated as wives in sacrifices performed on behalf of their husbands, they did not perform sacrifices in their own right; nor do they appear as givers or receivers of dana or dakshina.

• The Vedic household was clearly patriarchal and patrilineal, and women enjoyed relatively little control over material resources.

• Their sexuality and reproductive resources were controlled through the ingraining of norms of what was considered appropriate behaviour.

• Early Vedic literature has several words for household units—durona, kshiti, dam/ dama, pastya, gaya, and griha—which may have corresponded to different kinds of households.

• Considering that this was a patriarchal and patrilineal society, it is not surprising that Rig Vedic prayers are for sons, not daughters, and that the absence of sons is deplored.

• The Rig Veda attaches importance to the institution of marriage and refers to various types of marriage—monogamy, polygyny, and polyandry.

• The rituals indicate post-puberty marriages, and there are references to women choosing their husbands.

• A woman could remarry if her husband died or disappeared. There are also references to unmarried women, such as the Rig Vedic seer Ghosha.

• Hymn 7.55.5–8 tells of elopement, the man praying that his beloved's entire household—her brothers and other relatives—as well as the dogs, should be lulled into a deep sleep, so that the lovers could creep out stealthily.

• Male dominance and the subordination of women is a feature of all known historical societies.

• The issue is one of the degree of dominance and subordination, and the structures in which these were embedded.

• Compared to later Vedic literature, the family books of the Rig Veda Samhita reflect a situation in which social status was not as rigidly defined or polarized as it came to be in later times.

• However, it was not a society of equals—rank and gender were the two main bases of inequality.

RELIGION: SACRIFICES TO THE GODS

• The Rig Veda reflects the beliefs and practices of a religious aristocracy and its patrons, and there are several striking similarities with ideas reflected in the Iranian Avesta.

• The Rig Veda indicates a diversity of religious practice. For instance, there is mention of people who did not worship Indra, and the Dasas and Dasyus are described as not honouring the Vedic gods and not performing sacrifices.

• The Vedic hymns divide the universe into the sky (dyu), earth (prithvi), and the middle realm (antariksha). The word deva (literally, ‘shining’, ‘luminous’) is frequently used for the gods.

• The gods are sometimes also called asuras. Initially, this word referred to a powerful being; in latertimes it came to be used exclusively in a negative sense for demons.

• The Rig Veda asserts that there are 33 gods associated with the sky, earth, and the intermediate region, but the actual number of deities mentioned in the text is more.

• Some gods are mentioned more often than others, but there is no fixed order of importance nor a fixed pantheon.

• Whichever deity is invoked in a particular hymn is spoken of as a supreme god.

• Max Müller described this phenomenon as Henotheism or Kathenotheism.

• Apart from the gods, the Rig Veda mentions gandharvas (celestial beings), apsaras (celestial nymphs, wives of the gandharvas), and malevolent beings such as rakshasas (demons), yatudhanas (sorcerers), and pishachas (spirits of the dead).

• Different ideas of how the world was created are mentioned in passing—e.g., as a result of a great cosmic battle, the separation of heaven and earth, or the actions of the gods.

• Deities were worshipped through prayer and sacrificial rituals (yajnas).

• The sacrifice marked a movement from the everyday, mundane sphere of activity and experience to the sacred sphere.

• The gods are presented as powerful, mostly benevolent beings, who could be made to intervene in the world of men via the performance of sacrifices.

• Sacrifices took place in the house of the yajamana (the person for whom the sacrifice was performed and who bore its expenses) or on a specially prepared plot of land nearby.

• They consisted mostly of oblations of milk, ghee, and grain poured into the fire, accompanied by the recitation of appropriate sacrificial formulae.

• Some yajnas involved the sacrifice of animals.

• The gods were supposed to partake of the offerings as they were consumed by the fire.

• A part of the offerings were eaten by the officiating priests.

• The goals of Rig Vedic sacrifices included wealth, good health, sons, and a long life for the yajamana

• Some sacrifices were simple, domestic affairs, performed by the householder.

• Others required the participation of ritual specialists.

• Seven types of sacrificial priests are mentioned in the Rig Veda— the Hotri, Adhvaryu, Agnidh, Maitravaruna, Potri, Neshtri, and Brahmana—each with his particular tasks clearly laid down.

• Priests were given a fee (dakshina) in return for the important duties they performed.

• The Rig Veda does not mention temples or the worship of images of deities, which were an important aspect of popular Hinduism of later times.

• The Rig Veda reflects a naturalistic polytheism—a belief in many gods who personified natural phenomena.

• The connection is clear in some cases from the very name of the deity, as in the case of Agni (Fire), Surya (the Sun), and Ushas (Dawn).

• However, the mythology of some deities stretched far beyond their association with a particular natural phenomenon.

• For instance, although Indra seems to have been originally associated with the thunderstorm, he rapidly outgrew this connection to develop a much more complex personality.

• The gods were conceived of as anthropomorphic, i.e., as having a physical form similar to that of humans.

• The level of detail varies, but mention is often made of their head, face, mouth, hair, hands, feet, clothes, and weapons.

• There is an overlap in some of their physical features, epithets, and exploits.

• Indra is the most frequently invoked god in the Rig Veda.

• The hymns vividly describe his appearance and personality.

• He is vigorous and strong, a great warrior, his weapon is the thunderbolt, and he leads the Aryas to victory in battle.

• He is bounteous (maghavan) and loves to drink soma.

• There is reference to his mother and father (Tvashtri is often mentioned as his father).

• Indrani is his consort and the Maruts his companions. There are many references to Indra defeating hostile forces and demons such as Vala, Arbuda, and Vishvarupa.

• The most important myth connected with him is his victory over the serpent demon Vritra.

• In this episode, Indra is fortified by the god Soma and accompanied by the Maruts.

• He kills Vritra with his thunderbolt and frees the waters that had been obstructed by the demon.

• The Rig Veda often mentions Indra as Vritrahan, slayer of Vritra.

• Many scholars interpret the conflict between Indra and Vritra as a creation myth, in which Vritra symbolizes chaos

• Agni is another important god and is often invoked along with Indra.

• He represents many aspects of fire—the fire of the cremation pyre, the fire that engulfs forests, the fire that burns enemies, the heat generated by tapas (austerity), and the heat of sexual desire.

• Most important of all, as the sacrificial fire, he is the intermediary between gods and humans.

• In this role, he functions as a divine priest.

• Soma—the personification of the soma plant—is closely associated with Indra and Agni, and is credited with many similar exploits.

• He is described as a wise god, one who inspires poets to compose hymns, a great god who rules over the earth and all humans.

• In later hymns, Soma is identified with the moon.

• Varuna and Mitra are frequently invoked together in the Rig Veda and are members of an eightmember group of gods known as the Adityas.

• Varuna is associated with kshatra (secular power), sovereignty, and kingship.

• He restricts and punishes evil-doers with the fetters or bonds that he has at his command.

• Although the hymns mention his eye and golden mantle, they do not give vivid descriptions of his physical appearance.

• He is associated with maya, an ability to construct forms.

• He is an all-seeing god who knows what everybody is up to.