Later Vedic Period

Vedic Period

 Part-2 {Later Vedic Period}

           We have already covered Rig Vedic Period in my previous article. Today we will learn about Later Vedic Period . this era spanning between 1000-500BC. This time there were also several noticeable things happened. In this period, Aryan expended from Punjab to all Uttar Pradesh. We will discuss over political organization, society , economy and Religion prevalent in that time.

How was Political System Prevalent that time?

           Friends it is really interesting to know that king was become more powerful on that time. And tribal authority also became territorial. King's position was strengthened by rituals. For example: Aswamedha and Vajapeya Yajnas. Aswamedha is a horse sacrifice ritual followed by the Srauta tradition of Vedic religion. It is basically performed by Queens particularly by chief queen for fertility. This was very terrifying ritual because it includes slaughtering the horse, then follows the obscene Queen’s intercourse with the horse, and then the horse is cut into pieces and cooked. Really it was unbelievable event that was performed by Queens on that time. But the interepretations given by Hindus on that time was little bit different. They deny the fact that horse was slaughtered during the ritual. According to him this ritual does not include intercourse and it is only for meant for prosperity in the kingdom but they are even failed to give any proof to show that it is a pure and decent ritual. Vajapeya Yajna: yajna means offer something to fire. Means it is a traditional ceremony in which various herbs and clarified oil ( also known as ghee in hindi) are offered to the fire with offering prederminded mantras.

What kind of Society Prevalent that time?

Friends during Later Vedic Period, Society was clearly divided in 4 Varnas namely Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. Verna is a Sanskrit word which means type, order or class of something. During early vedic period , position of women was very high but during later vedic period it was deteriorated and could not retained. This time one more thing took birth. This was the institution of Gotra which was appeared for the first time.

How was the Economy during Later Vedic Period?

          It is also interesting to know that this time town and settlement got started. People were started their livelihood on one place for long time. Their main occupation was the Agriculture. In the food they took Wheat and Rice as their staple food. Rice was also known as Vrihi in later texts. Women were also having some special occupations like ironsmith, coppersmith, jawel workers and weaving.

Lets know about the Religion prevalent during Later Vedic Period

          During this time, Prajapati became the supreme God. After that RudraRudra

was the animal God and followed by Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu was also known as Preserver and Protector of people. As such there were no sign of idolatry worship in early Rig Vedic period. You can also read my full article here. But during Later Vedic Period, its sign getting appeared and idolatry worship began this time. This time one more entity was known. He was known asPushna , "God of cattle". This time was known as more sacrifices rather than prayers.
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