Iron Age India: Social Stratification and State-Building in the Later Vedic Period

The Later Vedic Phase: Transition to State and Social Formation

The Later Vedic Phase (c. 1000-600 BC) is based mainly on the Vedic texts compiled after the age of the Rig Veda. These texts - collectively called the Vedic Samhitas - include:

Following the Samhitas came the Brahmanas - full of ritualistic formulae explaining the social and religious aspects of rituals. All later Vedic texts were compiled in the upper Gangetic basin in circa 1000-600 BC.

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Geographical Expansion

• The texts show Aryans expanded from Punjab over the whole of western Uttar Pradesh covered by the Ganga-Yamuna doab.
• The Bharatas and Purus (the two major tribes) combined to form the Kuru people.
• Kurus initially lived between the Sarasvati and Drishadvati rivers on the fringe of the doab.
• Kurus occupied Delhi and the upper portion of the doab - area called Kurukshetra (land of the Kurus).
• Kurus coalesced with the Panchalas (occupied the middle portion of the doab) -> authority of Kuru-Panchala people spread over Delhi and upper and middle doab.
• Capital at Hastinapur (in Meerut district) - history of the Kuru tribe is the main theme of the Mahabharata.
• The Mahabharata war (Battle of Kauravas vs Pandavas) is supposed to have been fought around 950 BC - though the epic was compiled much later in the fourth century AD.
• Excavations at Hastinapur (datable to 900 BC to 500 BC) revealed settlements and faint beginnings of town life - but they do not answer the description of Hastinapur in the Mahabharata.
• From traditions: Hastinapur was flooded and remnants of the Kuru clan moved to Kausambi near Allahabad.
• Panchala kingdom: covered modern districts of Bareilley, Badaun, and Farukhabad - famous for philosopher kings and brahman theologians.
• Towards end of later Vedic period (~600 BC), Vedic people spread further east to (eastern UP) and (north Bihar). Kosala associated with the story of Rama - but Rama is .

PGW (Painted Grey Ware) - Iron Phase Culture

• Archaeological correlate of the later Vedic expansion: Painted Grey Ware (PGW) sites.
• PGW sites: inhabited by people who used earthen bowls and dishes made of painted grey pottery and iron weapons.
• Nearly 500 PGW sites known - mostly in the upper Gangetic basin.
• Only a few have been excavated: Hastinapur, Atranjikhera, Noh.
• Material remains thickness: one metre to three metres - settlements lasted one to three centuries; entirely new settlements without immediate predecessors.
• People lived in mudbrick houses or wattle-and-daub houses on wooden poles.
• Ovens and cereals (rice) recovered - Painted Grey Ware people were the later Vedic people, who were agricultural and led a settled life.
• However, since they cultivated with the wooden ploughshare, peasants could NOT produce enough for those engaged in other occupations - hence towns could not contribute much to the rise of towns.
• Glass hoards and bangles in PGW layers - used as prestige objects by a few persons.

Iron and Economy

• From around 1000 BC, iron was used in the Gandhara area (Pakistan).
• Iron appeared in eastern Punjab, western UP, and Rajasthan.
• Iron weapons (arrow-heads, spear-heads) commonly used in western UP from about 800 BC.
• Metal called syama or krishna ayas in Vedic texts.
• By the end of the Vedic period, knowledge of iron spread in eastern UP and Videha (from 7th century BC).
• Very few agricultural tools made of iron found - but no doubt agriculture was the chief means of livelihood of the later Vedic people.
• Late Vedic texts speak of six, eight, twelve, and even twenty-four oxen yoked to the plough (may be an exaggeration).
• Satapatha Brahmana speaks at length about ploughing rituals.
• Rice and wheat became chief crops (earlier it was barley); wheat became the staple food in Punjab and western UP.
• Rice first encountered in the doab - called vrihi in Vedic texts; remains recovered from Hastinapur belong to the eighth century BC.
• Copper objects found in PGW sites - used mainly for war, hunting, and ornaments.
• Four types of pottery known to later Vedic people: black-and-red ware, black-slipped ware, painted grey ware, and red ware - the last (red ware) was most popular and found almost all over western UP.
• Weaving confined to women; leather work, pottery, carpenter's work made great progress.

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Transition from Tribe to Territory

• Popular assemblies lost importance; royal power increased at their cost.
• The vidatha completely disappeared.
• The sabha and samiti continued but their character changed - came to be dominated by princes and rich nobles.
• Women were no longer permitted to sit on the sabha; it was now dominated by nobles and brahmanas.
• Formation of wider kingdoms made the king more powerful.
• Princes ruled over tribes, but their dominant tribes became identical with territories - each area named after the tribe which settled there.
• The term rashtra (indicating territory) first appears in this period.

Royal Rituals Strengthening Kingly Power

The king's influence was strengthened by rituals:

• Rajasuya sacrifice: supposed to confer supreme power on the king.
• Asvamedha (horse sacrifice): meant unquestioned control over an area in which the royal horse ran uninterrupted.
• Vajapeya (chariot race): the royal chariot was made to win the race against kinsfolk.
• All these rituals impressed people with the king's increasing power and prestige.

Taxation and Administration

• Collection of taxes and tributes seems to have become common.
• An officer called sangrihitri was probably in charge of tax collection.
• At big sacrifices, large-scale distributions were made by princes; all sections of people were fed sumptuously.
• King discharged duties assisted by: priest, commander, chief queen, and a few other high functionaries.
• At the lower level, administration possibly carried on by village assemblies controlled by chiefs of the dominant tribe - these assemblies were also entrusted with trial of local cases.
• Even in later Vedic times, the king did NOT possess a standing army - tribal units mustered in times of war.
• King had to eat along with his people (vis) from the same plate (one ritual for success in war).
• A state could NOT be set up without a regular system of taxes and a professional army - which again depended on taxes. The existing mode of agriculture did not leave scope for taxes in sufficient measure -> state formation was incomplete.

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Four Varnas

Later Vedic society divided into four varnas: brahmanas, rajanyas/kshatriyas, vaisyas, and sudras.

Brahmanas:

• In the beginning, brahmanas were only one of the sixteen classes of priests.
• The growing cult of sacrifices enormously added to their power.
• Priests who officiated at sacrifices were rewarded generously with dakshinas (gifts).
• Brahmanas claimed a monopoly of priestly knowledge and expertise.
• They invented a large number of rituals - many adopted from the non-Aryans.
• As many as 240,000 cows were given as dakshina in the rajsuya sacrifice.
• Brahmanas gradually overshadowed other priestly groups and emerged as the most important class.
• Towards end of later Vedic period: strong reaction against priestly domination especially in the land of the Panchalas and Videha - around 600 BC, the Upanishads were compiled.

Rajanyas/Kshatriyas:

• The prince represented the rajanya order; tried to assert power over all three other varnas.
• Brahmanas and rajanyas came into conflict for positions of supremacy.
• From the end of the later Vedic period: emphasized that the two should cooperate to rule over the rest of society.
• According to the Aitareya Brahmana, in relation to the prince the brahmana is described as a seeker of livelihood and an acceptor of gifts but removable at will.

Vaisyas:

• Constituted the common people; assigned producing functions: agriculture, cattle-breeding, artisans.
• Towards the end of the Vedic period they began to engage in trade.
• Vaisyas appear to be the only tribute-payers in later Vedic times.
• Kshatriyas are represented as living on the tributes collected from the vaisyas.
• A vaisya is called tribute-paying, meant for being beaten, and to be oppressed at will.

Sudras:

• Still a small serving order.
• Deprived of the sacred thread ceremony (upanayana) - with this began the imposition of disabilities on sudras.
• The sudra is called the servant of another, to be made to work at will by another, and to be beaten at will.
• Several public rituals connected with the coronation of the king in which sudras participated - presumably as members of the original tribe.
• Even in later Vedic times, varna distinctions had not advanced very far - certain artisan sections such as rathakara (chariot-maker) enjoyed a high status and were entitled to the sacred thread ceremony.

Common Features of Three Higher Varnas:

• All three higher varnas shared one common feature: they were entitled to upanayana or investiture with the sacred thread according to the Vedic mantras.
• The fourth varna (sudra) was deprived of this sacred thread ceremony.

Family and Gotra

• Gotra appeared in later Vedic times - literally means the cow-pen or place where cattle belonging to the whole clan are kept; in course of time it signified descent from a common ancestor.
• People began to practise gotra exogamy - no marriage between persons of the same gotra or having the same ancestor.
• Primogeniture was getting stronger in princely families.
• Male ancestors came to be worshipped.
• Women were generally given a lower position - though some women theologians took part in philosophic discussions and some queens participated in coronation rituals; ordinarily women were thought to be inferior and subordinate to men.
• Asramas (four stages of life): only three are mentioned in the later Vedic texts - brahmacharya (student), grihastha (householder), vanaprastha (partial retirement). The fourth (samyasa or complete retirement) was not well established in later Vedic times.

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Change in Pantheon

• The upper doab developed as the cradle of Aryan culture under brahmanical influence.
• The cult of sacrifice was the corner-stone of this culture.
• Two outstanding Rig Vedic gods - Indra and Agni - lost their former importance.
• Prajapati (the creator) came to occupy the supreme position in the later Vedic pantheon.
• Rudra (god of animals) became important in later Vedic times.
• Vishnu came to be conceived as the preserver and protector of the people who now led a settled life.
• Pushan was supposed to look after cattle; came to be regarded as the god of the sudras.
• Some symbolic objects began to be worshipped -> signs of idolatry in later Vedic times.
• As society became divided into social classes, some of the social orders came to have their own deities.

Mode of Worship

• People worshipped gods for the same material reasons as in earlier times.
• However, the mode of worship changed considerably - prayers continued to be recited but they ceased to be the dominant mode of placating the gods.
• Sacrifices became far more important and assumed both public and domestic character.
• Public sacrifices involved the king and the whole community (still identical with the tribe in many cases).
• Private sacrifices performed by individuals in their houses.
• Sacrifices involved the killing of animals on a large scale and especially the destruction of cattle wealth.
• The guest was known as goghna - one who was fed on cattle.
• Sacrifices were accompanied by formulae (mantras) which had to be carefully pronounced by the sacrificer (yajamana). The performer of yajna was the yajamana and much of his success depended on the magical power of words uttered in sacrifices.
• Some rituals performed by the Vedic Aryans are common to the Indo-European peoples; many rituals seem to have developed on the Indian soil.
• Strong reaction against priestly domination, against cults and rituals - especially in the land of the Panchalas and Videha -> around 600 BC, Upanishads were compiled.

The Upanishads

• Compiled around 600 BC in the land of the Panchalas and Videha.
• These philosophical texts criticised rituals and laid stress on the value of right belief and knowledge.
• They emphasised that the knowledge of the self (atma) should be acquired and the relation of atma with Brahma should be properly understood.
• Brahma emerged as the supreme god, comparable to the powerful kings of the period.
• Some kshatriya princes in Panchala and Videha also cultivated this type of thinking and created the atmosphere for the reform of priest-dominated religion.
• Their teachings promoted the cause of stability and integration - emphasis on the changelessness, indestructibility, and immortality of atma or soul.
• Stress on the relation of atma with Brahma served the cause of loyalty to superior authority.

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• The pastoral and semi-nomadic forms of living were relegated to the background; agriculture became the primary source of livelihood and life became settled and sedentary.
• The later Vedic period registered a great advance in the material life of the people.
• The formation of wider territorial kingdoms, the growth of varna divisions, and the Upanishadic philosophical revolt collectively prepared the ground for the emergence of the Mahajanapadas and the rise of Buddhism and Jainism in the sixth century BC.
• The term rashtra (territory/state) appears for the first time - marking the conceptual shift from tribe to state.
• The Mahabharata (though compiled in the fourth century AD) has its historical basis in this period.

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• GS Paper I - Ancient India: The Later Vedic phase is the bridge between the tribal Rig Vedic world and the state-based Mahajanapada period - essential for understanding India's political evolution.
• Continuity vs Change: The shift from Indra/Agni (Rig Vedic) to Prajapati/Vishnu/Rudra (Later Vedic) illustrates how religious pantheons evolve to reflect socio-political realities - a recurring theme in Indian cultural history.
• Social Stratification: The consolidation of the four-varna system, the imposition of disabilities on sudras through denial of upanayana, and the conflict between brahmanas and kshatriyas for supremacy - all foundational to understanding the caste system.
• Philosophical Revolt: The Upanishadic reaction against priestly ritualism prefigures the Shramana movements (Buddhism, Jainism) - connecting the Later Vedic phase directly to the sixth-century BC intellectual revolution.
• Iron and Civilisation: The PGW-Iron Phase archaeology demonstrates how technology (iron weapons, horse chariots) enabled territorial expansion - connecting material history to political history.
• Ecology and Agriculture: The use of wooden ploughshares limiting surplus production, and its consequences for state formation, illustrates the ecological constraints on political development.

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1. The vidatha completely DISAPPEARED in the later Vedic period: The sabha and samiti continued (though diminished), but the vidatha vanished entirely. Students often confuse which assembly disappeared.

2. Rama is NOT mentioned in Vedic literature: Kosala is associated with Rama's story, but Rama does not appear in any Vedic text. This is an explicit statement by RS Sharma - critical for mythology-vs-history questions.

3. Only THREE asramas are mentioned in the later Vedic texts: Brahmacharya, grihastha, and vanaprastha. The fourth (samyasa) was NOT well established in later Vedic times. Students often assume all four asramas existed from this period.

4. The term rashtra (territory) first appears in the LATER VEDIC period, NOT the Rig Vedic: In the Rig Veda, janapada does not appear; in the Later Vedic period, rashtra first appears. This marks the tribal-to-territorial transition.

5. Prajapati, NOT Indra, was the supreme god in the later Vedic pantheon: Indra (most important in Rig Veda with 250 hymns) lost importance; Prajapati became the supreme deity. Students frequently confuse this reversal.

6. The Mahabharata was compiled in the FOURTH CENTURY AD, NOT during the later Vedic period: The battle it describes is attributed to ~950 BC, but the epic itself was compiled much later. Excavations at Hastinapur (900-500 BC) do NOT match the epic's description.

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• Later Vedic Phase: c. 1000-600 BC
• Key texts: Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda Samhitas + Brahmanas
• Atharva Veda: charms and spells; throws light on non-Aryan practices
• PGW culture: ~500 sites; key excavated sites: Hastinapur, Atranjikhera, Noh
• Iron first used: Gandhara area, ~1000 BC; iron called syama/krishna ayas
• Chief crops: rice and wheat replaced barley; wheat became staple in Punjab/western UP
• Rice first encountered in doab: called vrihi; remains at Hastinapur belong to 8th century BC
• Four types of pottery: black-and-red, black-slipped, painted grey, red ware (most popular)
• Vidatha: completely disappeared in later Vedic period
• Sabha and samiti: continued but now dominated by princes and nobles; women excluded from sabha
• Key rituals: rajasuya (supreme power), asvamedha (territorial control), vajapeya (chariot race)
• Term rashtra (territory): first appears in this period
• Tax collection officer: