From c. 1500 to c. 500 bce

Question 1

from c. 1500 to c. 500

Answer 1

• Indus civilization had declined by about 2000 bce (or perhaps as late as 1750 bce), and the stage was being set for a second and more lasting urbanization in the Ganges valley

Question 2

Early Vedic period

Answer 2

• In addition to the archaeological legacy discussed above, there remains from this period the earliest literary record of Indian culture, the Vedas
• the Rig-, the Sama-, the Yajur-, and the Atharvaveda
• there was a migration of Indo-European speakers, possibly in waves, dating from the 2nd millennium bce, is clear from archaeological and epigraphic evidence in western Asia
• Rigveda is divided into 10 mandalas (books), of which the 10th is believed to be somewhat later than the others. Each mandala consists of a number of hymns, and most mandalas are ascribed to priestly families. The texts include invocations to the gods, ritual hymns, battle hymns, and narrative dialogues. The 9th mandala is a collection of all the hymns dedicated to soma, the unidentified hallucinogenic juice that was drunk on ritual occasions.
• period of transition from nomadic pastoralism to settled village communities intermixing pastoral and agrarian economies

Question 3

Later Vedic period (c. 800–c. 500 bce)

Answer 3

• two major Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, to this period, but subsequent scholarship has rendered these dates less certain
• The geographic focus of the later Vedic corpus moves from the Sapta Sindhu region into the Ganges–Yamuna Doab and the territories on its fringe
• By the 5th century bce, clan identity had changed to territorial identity, and the areas of settlement changed from chiefdoms to kingdoms in some cases.
• The technology of iron, or krishna ayas (“dark metal”), as it was apparently called in later Vedic literature, and the migration into the Ganges valley helped in stabilizing agriculture and settlements
• In the course of time the Brahmans became the preeminent priestly group, the intermediaries with the gods at the sacrificial rituals, and the recipients of large donations for priestly functions
• The traditional view that varna reflects the organization of Indian society has recently been questioned; it has been suggested that the rules of varna conform to a normative or presumptive model, and that the concept of jati is more central to caste functioning.