SAGES AND SUKTA
The oldest Veda is the Rigveda, composed about 3500 years ago. The Rigveda includes more than a thousand hymns, called sukta or “well-said”. These hymns are in praise of various gods and goddesses. Three gods are especially important: Agni, the god of fire; Indra, a warrior god; and Soma, a plant from which a special drink was prepared.
These hymns were composed of sages (rishis). Priests taught students to recite and memorise each syllable, word, and sentence, bit by bit, with great care. Most of the hymns were composed, taught, and learnt by men. A few were composed by women. The Rigveda is in old or Vedic Sanskrit, which is different from the Sanskrit you learn in school these days.
Activity:
Write down a short poem or song that you have memorised. Did you hear or read the poem or song? How did you learn it by heart?
Sanskrit and other languages
Sanskrit is part of a family of languages known as Indo-European. Some Indian languages such as Assamese, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, and Sindhi; Asian languages such as Persian, and many European languages such as English, French, German, Greek, Italian, and Spanish belong to this family. They are called a family because they originally had words in common.
Take the words ‘matr’ (Sanskrit), ‘ma’ (Hindi), and ‘mother’ (English). Do you notice any similarities?
Other languages used in the subcontinent belong to different families. For instance, those used in the north-east belong to the Tibeto-Burman family; Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam belong to the Dravidian family; and the languages spoken in Jharkhand and parts of central India belong to the Austro-Asiatic family.
Activity:
List the languages you have heard about and try and identify the families to which they belong.
Source: This topic is taken from the NCERT TEXTBOOK.
HOW HISTORIANS STUDY THE RIGVEDA
Historians, like archaeologists, find out about the past, but, in addition to material remains, they examine written sources as well. Let us see how they study the Rigveda.
Some of the hymns in the Rigveda are in the form of dialogues. This is part of one such hymn, a dialogue between a sage named Vishvamitra, and two rivers, (Beas and Sutlej) that were worshipped as goddesses.
Vishvamitra and the Rivers
Vishvamitra: O rivers, come down from the mountains like two swift horses, like two shining cows that lick their calves.
You move like chariots to the sea, through the power of Indra. You are full of water and wish to unite with one another.
The rivers: We, who are full of water, move along the path the gods have made for us. Once we start flowing, we cannot be stopped. Why do you pray to us, o sage?
Vishvamitra: O sisters, please listen to me, the singer who has come from a distance with his chariots and carts.
Let your waters not rise above our axles, so that we can cross safely.
The rivers: We will listen to your prayers so that you can cross safely.
Historians point out that this hymn was composed in the area where these rivers flow. They also suggest that the sage lived in a society where horses and cows were valued animals. That is why the rivers are compared to horses and cows.
Other rivers, especially the Indus and its other tributaries, and the Sarasvati are also named in the hymns. The Ganga and Yamuna are named only once.
Activity:
1. Look at Map and list 5 rivers that are not mentioned in the Rigveda.
2. Do you think chariots were also important? Give reasons for your answer. Read the verses and find out what are the modes of transport that are mentioned.
Source: This topic is taken from the NCERT TEXTBOOK.
CATTLE, HORSES AND CHARIOTS
There are many prayers in the Rigveda for cattle, children (especially sons), and horses. Horses were yoked to chariots that were used in battles, which were fought to capture cattle. Battles were also fought for land, which was important for pasture, and for growing hardy crops that ripened quickly, such as barley. Some battles were fought for water, and to capture people.
Some of the wealth that was obtained was kept by the leaders, some were given to the priests and the rest was distributed amongst the people. Some wealth was used for the performance of yajnas or sacrifices in which offerings were made into the fire. These were meant for gods and goddesses. Offerings could include ghee, grain, and in some cases, animals.
Most men took part in these wars. There was no regular army, but there were assemblies where people met and discussed matters of war and peace. They also chose leaders, who were often brave and skillful warriors.
Source: This topic is taken from the NCERT TEXTBOOK.
WORDS TO DESCRIBE PEOPLE
There are several ways of describing people — in terms of the work they do, the language they speak, the place they belong to, their family, their communities, and cultural practices. Let us see some of the words used to describe people found in the Rigveda.
There are two groups who are described in terms of their work — the priests, sometimes called brahmins, who performed various rituals, and the rajas.
These rajas were not like the ones you will be learning about later. They did not have capital cities, palaces, or armies, nor did they collect taxes.
Generally, sons did not automatically succeed fathers as rajas.
Two words were used to describe the people or the community as a whole. One was the word Jana, which we still use in Hindi and other languages. The other was vish. The word vaishya comes from vish.
Several vish or Jana are mentioned by name. So we find a reference to the Puru Jana or vish, the Bharata Jana or vish, the Yadu Jana or vish, and so on.
Do any of these names sound familiar?
Sometimes, the people who composed the hymns described themselves as Aryas and called their opponents Dasas or Dasyus. These were people who did not perform sacrifices and probably spoke different languages. Later, the term dasa (and the feminine dasi) came to mean slave. Slaves were women and men who were often captured in war. They were treated as the property of their owners, who could make them do whatever work they wanted.
While the Rigveda was being composed in the north-west of the subcontinent, there were other developments elsewhere. Let us look at some of these.
Elsewhere
Around 3500 years ago, we find some of the first evidence of writing in China. These writings were on animal bones
These are called oracle bones because they were used to predict the future. Kings got scribes to write questions on the bones — would they win battles? Would the harvest be good? Would they have sons? The bones were then put into the fire, and they cracked because of the heat. Then fortune-tellers studied these cracks and tried to predict the future. As you may expect, they sometimes made mistakes. These kings lived in palaces in cities. They amassed vast quantities of wealth, including large, elaborately decorated bronze vessels. However, they did not know the use of iron.
Activity:
Find China in your atlas.
List one difference between the raja of the Rigveda and these kings.
In the Rigveda, people were described in terms of the work they did and the languages they spoke. In the table below, fill in the names of six people you know, choosing three men and three women. For each of them, mention the work they do and the language they speak. Would you like to add anything else to the description?
NAME | WORK | LANGUAGE | ANYTHING ELSE |
Source: This topic is taken from the NCERT TEXTBOOK.