Aryan Civilization

The Aryans migrated from their ancestral home near the Caucusus mountains, north of the black sea in Central Asia. They entered the Indus valley through the fabled Khyber Pass.

• The Aryans were a seminomadic pastoral people.

• Meaning of the word Arya: Noble.

• They spoke Sanskrit, an Indo-European language.
• Entered India probably through Khyber pass around 1500 BC.
• The Vedic age started with the Aryan occupation of the Indo- Gangetic Plains.

Vedic Age-

There are two phase of Vedic age-

1. Early Vedic period(1500 BC-1000 BC)
2. Later Vedic period(1000 BC-600 BC)

Early Vedic period–

In this period Aryans were organized into tribes. Tribe was known as Jan and The chief of a tribe was called a Rajan.

They followed a mixed economy pastoral and agricultural in which cattle played a imp role.

Later Vedic period-

Kingdom like mahajanpadas were formed.

Vedic Literature- The word Veda means “Knowledge”.

There are four Vedas-

1. Rig Veda-This is the oldest religious text in the world. It contains 1028 hymns and is classified into 10 Mandals.
2. Sama Veda– Sama Veda is the veda of melodies and chants.
3. Yajur Veda– Yajur Veda is the Veda Primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.
4. Atharva Veda– The Atharva Veda is the knowledge storehouse of atharvans, the procedure for everyday life.