The Vedic period is characterized by Indo-Aryan culture
associated with the texts of Vedas, sacred to Hindus, which were orally
composed in Vedic Sanskrit. The Vedas are some of the oldest extant texts in
India and next to some writings in Egypt and Mesopotamia are the oldest in the
world. The Vedic period lasted from about 1500 to 500 BCE, laying the
foundations of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society. The
Aryans established Vedic civilization all over north India, particularly in the
Gangetic Plain. This period succeeded the prehistoric Late Harappan, during
which immigrations of Indo-Aryan-speaking tribes overlaid the existing
civilizations of local people whom they called Dasyus. The Aryans, originally
came from the Caspian Sea area of Asia. Settling first in Bactria and then in
the Hindu-Kush area of India, before settling in the Ganges and Yamuna River
valleys.
Many scholars throughout history have maintained that the
Aryans subjugated the "backward aboriginies" that had previously
lived in northern India. However, discoveries of advanced civilizations in the
Indus River valley, caused many scholars to change their theories in this
regard. The Aryans may have received as much from the neighboring cultures of
northern India as they contributed. Indeed when the Aryans moved into India,
they were semi-nomadic pastoralists, their clothing was simple, they had no
regular legal institutions and their religion was a very basic form of animism.
The basis of the Aryan economy had always been centered around cattle raising.
During this period of time, the cow began to be venerated in Aryan society.
Thus, the origins of the later Hindu belief in India that cows are sacred may
have started during this time.
Early Vedic society consisted of largely pastoral groups,
with late Harappan urbanization having been abandoned. After the time of the
Rigveda, Aryan society became increasingly agricultural and was socially
organized around the four varnas, or social classes. In addition to the Vedas,
the principal texts of Hinduism, the core themes of the Sanskrit epics Ramayana
and Mahabharata are said to have their ultimate origins during this period. The
Mahabharata remains, today, the longest single poem in the world. The events
described in the shorter, Ramayana are from a later period of history than the
events of the Mahabharata. The early Indo-Aryan presence probably corresponds,
in part, to the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture in archaeological contexts.
The Kuru kingdom corresponds to the Black and Red Ware and
Painted Grey Ware cultures and to the beginning of the Iron Age in northwestern
India, around 1000 BCE, as well as with the composition of the Atharvaveda, the
first Indian text to mention iron, as śyāma ayas, literally "black metal."
The Painted Grey Ware culture spanned much of northern India from about 1100 to
600 BCE.[36] The Vedic Period also established republics such as Vaishali,
which existed as early as the 6th century BCE and persisted in some areas until
the 4th century CE. The later part of this period corresponds with an
increasing movement away from the previous tribal system towards the
establishment of kingdoms, called mahajanapadas.
