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Vedic Civilization and Culture 1

Hi everyone.

This is another post on Indian history. In this post, I shall focus on the Vedic civilization and culture. This is part of the category ancient Indian history. Ancient Indian history plays an important role in Govt. job examinations such as UPSC, SSC CGL etc.

In this post and subsequent posts, I shall discuss the important facets of ancient Vedic civilization.
  1. There are many theories regarding the original home of the Aryans. According to some historians, the Aryans were native to the soil of India. Some other scholars propose that the Aryans came from Central Asia while some of the scholars believe the Arctic region to be the home of the Aryans.
  2. The Boghazkoi Inscription, found at Bogazkale, Turkey, bears testimony to the theory that mentions Central Asia as the home of the Aryans. It mentions four Vedic Gods Mitra, Nasatyas, Indra and Varuna.
  3. It is believed that Aryans migrated to India in several groups from 2500 BC to 1500 BC.
  4. The first group of Aryans that came to India set up their habitat at modern day Punjab. Afterwards, they moved to settle in the plains of the Ganges and the Yamuna.
  5. The Vedas are the most important and fascinating part of the Vedic literature. Another name for the Vedas is Apaurasheya which denoted that Vedas are not created by man.
  6. There are four parts of the Vedic literature. I) The Samhitas/Vedas II) The Brahmanas III) The Upanishads IV) The Aranyaks.
  7. There were no written form of the Vedic literature. It was handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. This is why Vedas are also called Shruti. 
  8. Rig Veda, Sam Veda and the Yajur Veda are caleed Vedatrayi(jointly).
  9. The Rig Veda is the oldest of the Vedas and it consists of approximately ten thousand verses and a thousand hymns which were divided into ten Mandalas.
  10. The tenth Mandala of the Rig Veda describes the Varnashram, that is, the four varnas - Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. It describes the duties of people belonging to each Varna. 


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