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HISTORY
Subject
:
History
Paper No.
:
Paper - 1
History of India
Unit No. & Title
:
Unit – 5
Background to the Emergence of
Early Historic India
Topic No. & Title
:
Topic - 1
Vedic Period up to c. A.D. 650
Lecture No. & Title
:
Lecture - 1
Vedic Society
(For under graduate student)
Script
VEDIC SOCIETY
This unit makes a survey of the Vedic literature in order to
graph the nature of the Vedic society, its practices and
institutions. The literature describes a society that evolved
through approximately one and a half millennia from 1500
to the 6th century B.C.E. The Rig Veda Samhitā, with its ten
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mandalas, provides us with the information on the early
phase, while the other three Samhitā along with the
Brāhmaņas, Āraņyakas and Upaņișads cover the later
phase. Literary data indicates that bands of nomadic Vedic
people had entered and circulated in the stretch of valleys
from the Panjshir to Ghorband Rivers, south of Hindukush,
and gradually with time moved across the Sutlej – Ganga
Divide to the Upper Ganga valley. Throughout this whole
span
of
time
and
space
society
underwent
several
significant and dynamic changes, which can be gleaned
from a minute study of the Vedic corpus.
The society was primarily ordered into innumerable tribes
mentioned in the texts as jana. The Vedic jana was the
most popular socio-political unit, later indicating probably
whole tribes settled in a certain area. A number of early
tribes are referred in the Rig Veda like the Purus, Anus,
Druhyus, Yadus, Tŗtsus, Bharatas, and others. The Pakhtas,
Bhalanasas, Alinas and Visanins lived west of the Indus. We
also hear of eastern tribes like Ajas, Sirgus and Yaksus.
Archaeological data points to a concentration of settlements
and cultures, roughly contemporary to the later phase of
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the Vedic literature, in the lower doabs of the Punjab,
Haryana and northern Rajasthan. The Sarasvati described
as a mighty river might have been flowing east of Sutlej
and met the Indus in the Sind region. It was described as
eventually joining the ocean. There are indications of
hydraulic changes in this area, which were investigated by
geologists, which might have affected the life of both the
Late Harappans and the incoming Vedic tribes in the area.
This phenomenon would date to the latter half of the 2nd
millennium BCE, a date which would not conflict with the
generally accepted chronology for much of the Rig Veda.
Hydraulic changes in northern Rajasthan may well have
subsequently compelled migrations of a scale such as are
suggested in the movement of Bharatas and Purus from
southern Punjab and northern Rajasthan to Haryana and
the upper Doab or the wanderings of the Yadus to Mathura
and Saurashtra.
Apart from several warring Indo-Aryan tribes, the Vedic
texts refer to Dāsas or Dasyus who were the ubiquitous
foes of the Indo–Aryan speaking people. The former were
probably to be identified with the earlier established
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indigenous
chalcolithic
and
Late
Harappan
folk,
who
defended themselves in fortified places- purah, a word
which
later
referred
to
a
town.
These
places
were
surrounded by, palisades or walls. Many Vedic hymns praise
the chief god of the Vedic Aryans, Indra, as a destroyer of
forts (purandara). The Rig Veda describes them as a-varta,
people who do not obey the ordinances of the gods and akratu, those who do not perform sacrifices. The adjective
mŗdra-vacha applied to them has been interpreted in
different
ways,–
as
referring
to
their
speech
being
indistinct, unclear, soft, unintelligible, uncouth, hostile,
scornful and abusive. The term kșņna-tvach or asikņi-tvach,
literally interpreted as “dark skinned”, has been applied to
the Dasyus thrice in the Rig Veda. Dāsas have also been
referred to as anāsa, interpreted variously as noseless or
flat nosed, faceless, in some metaphorical sense and even
mouthless, perhaps referring to their incomprehensible
speech.
There is a solitary reference to the four varņas in the
Purușasūkta hymn of the tenth mandala. But there are
many more numerous references in the Rig Veda to the
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jana or tribe, gana or tribal groups in a semi-political
organisation,
viśah
or
the
clans
and
grāma
or
the
settlement of the kin groups, would indicate that there was
an absence of a rigorous Varņa- divided society during this
early period of social formation which was marked by the
existence of simpler lineage relations and groups. However,
this was not an egalitarian society, as the information in the
Rig Veda bore out. The hymns mentioned rich and generous
persons, Maghavan, who were sources of wealth and gifts,
individuals rich in cattle wealth, gomat and even the
burgeoning owners of cultivation fields- kșetrapati.
Romila Thapar points out that the Vedic jana (tribe)
incorporated a number of viś (clans). Kinship was a
deciding factor in socio-political units in early days, kin
family being the lowest social unit. The jana therefore
comprised of clans of kins. The familial linkages of these
social units were denoted by their gotras. Settlements or
grāma were populated by, the members of the same large
kin tribe. Clan lands were held jointly by, the Jana.
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With the adoption of agriculture and division of labour a
class arose that primarily produced food and was associated
with manual labour, and another which took over the tasks
of protecting the land, cattle and the people and also
leading in wars of aggression.
This process may have led to a bifurcation in the jana,
which may originally have been more egalitarian. By the
time the Rig Veda was composed the jana had bifurcated
into the viśah and the rājanya, the latter constituting the
ruling families. Thapar found the explanation of this
bifurcation in the inevitable division of the viśah into senior
and junior lineages out of growing changes in economic and
leadership structures. Clear indications of the socio-political
distinction enjoyed by the chariot-riding warriors who were
pre-eminently the guardians and protectors of the agropastoral viśah are there in the Rig Veda.
The
viśah
as
the
junior
lineage
provided
voluntary
donations or bali to the rājanyas. The latter as the senior
lineages doubtless kept a larger share of the booty from
raids and bali but as long as the wealth came from
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pastoralism in the main there was a relatively more
equitable distribution. This wealth was further redistributed
among a limited group through dāna and dakşiņā bestowed
by the rājanyas on the brāhmaņas and bards and oblations
offered at the yajña rituals. But with time bali was formally
extracted
on
special
occasions,
marked
especially
by
performances of great public rituals and a further social
division arose with the redistribution of wealth to the priests
on these and other occasions .
The priests gained this
position through the exercise of their ritual power in
legitimising the authority of the aspiring rājanyas through
the performance of rituals. With time the sacrificial rituals
drew off a large proportion of surplus wealth and the status
of the rājanya gradually rose to eventual association with
deities. The rājanyas of the Rig Veda gradually came to be
denoted by their potency - kșatra, the term implying
sovereign power. The concurrent rise in the authority of the
priests in the society was expressed in terms of their
supreme claim of association with Brahma or sacerdotal
power. The realm of authority and social leadership was
thus divided into the two spheres of Brahma and Kșatra.
The widening socio–political gap between the Ksatriya and
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the viśah brought about a certain tension and ultimately
took the form of the Kshatriya claiming more rights of
appropriation and the viśah being reduced to subordination.
It is to be noticed that as long as the settlements were
comparatively small, simple lineage authority was sufficient
as a mechanism of control. However, with the growth of
farming
population
surplus,
there
was
and
a
settlements
consequent
producing
growth
of
greater
wealth
redistribution and evolution of hierarchy based on control
over the surplus. The above changes in the interrelations of
the priestly and ruling classes on the one hand and the
common producers on the other, were the manifest results
of these factors. These led to a complex social situation and
the crystallization of the varņa by the beginning of the later
Vedic times and the concept and practices of authority in
society and polity also began to assume extra-tribal
characteristics.
A late hymn in the tenth mandala of the Rig Veda contains
the first evidence of this new system. It describes the
abstract sacrifice of the primal being, the Purușa, and the
creation of the universe and of the four Varņas from his
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body. This hymn reflects the creation of a myth in
conceptualisation of a sacerdotal legitimacy for the social
hierarchy implied in the Varņa system. The normative
importance of the Varna rule for ordering of the society was
thus laid down, putting the brāhmaņa at the apex of the
social hierarchy:
“When gods prepared the sacrifice with Purușa as their
offering. Its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn, and
summer was the wood.
When they divided Purușa how many portions did they
make? What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they
call his thighs and feet?
The Brāhmaņa was his mouth, of both arms was the
Rājanya made. His thighs became the Vaiśya, from his feet
the Sudra was produced.” (RV, X, 90)
But the full-fledged caste system assumed greater order
and importance only at a much later date. The origin of
Varņa discrimination remains in speculation and has been
explained by different scholars in different ways. It has
been argued that colour or Varņa served as the badge of
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distinction between the Aryan-speaking people and the
indigenous
folks,
many
of
whom
were
subsequently
subjugated in wars and raids as is time and again
mentioned in the hymns of the Rig Veda.
The social status of the victors and the defeated were
concurrent with the difference in their skin colours. Thus the
notion of Varņa as the great social divider arose as a
prominent aspect. Varņa soon assumed new and extended
meaning, including
divisions
in
occupation, and
since
occupations began to become hereditary towards the later
part of the early Vedic phase, the idea of ‘caste’ was applied
also to the Vedic people themselves in order to classify the
strata of priests, warriors, free peasants and the labourer or
slave.
The absence of a strict social hierarchy and the existence of
an element of social mobility are suggested in the third
mandala of the Rig Veda (RV3. 44-45). In this hymn, the
poet prays to the god Indra: “O, Indra, would you make me
the protector of people, or would you make me a king,
would you make me a sage who has drunk soma, would you
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impart to me endless wealth?” A certain amount of fluidity
in occupations is also suggested in the Rig Veda as late as
in the ninth mandala (RV, 9.112.3), where the poet says “I
am a reciter of hymns, my father is a physician and my
mother grinds (corn) with stones. We desire to obtain
wealth in various actions”. This suggests that a man could
aspire to different sorts of vocations and goals in life even
towards the end of the early Vedic phase.
By the later Vedic times social regulations had assumed
greater importance in the life of the people. The life of the
individual was conceptualised in four stages. An individual
put his childhood behind and became a Brahmachārin on his
investiture with the sacred thread. He was ordered to lead
the life of celibacy and austerity – Brahmacharya - as a
student at the home of his teacher. Having mastered the
Vedas, or part of them, the individual returned to his
parental home and was married, becoming a householder
gŗhastha, assuming the stage of gārhasthya. Well advanced
in middle age, his task in family life fulfilled and progenies
safely established the individual was to leave his home for
the forest. This was the stage known as vānaprastha. In the
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last stage of life he freed his soul from material things by
meditation and penance, left his hermitage and assumed
the state of an ascetic – sannyās. The series of the four
stages is evidently an idealization reflecting the attempt at
social ordering down to the individual level on the part of
the dominant social caste, the brāhmaņa.
According to the scheme of the four stages life began not
with physical birth, but with the second birth, or investiture
with the sacred thread. The individual’s existence was
hedged around with religious rites even before his birth
through the performances of rituals.
Nationalist historians of the early 20th century as well as
19th century socio-religious reformers often presented the
Vedic age as a golden age for women. They based their
argument on the following points: –
• The Vedic people worshipped goddesses;
• The Rig Veda contains hymns composed by women;
• There are references to women sages;
• Women participated in rituals along with their husbands;
• They took part in chariot races; and
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• They attended the Sabhā and various social gatherings.
Such a presentation of the ‘high’ position of women in Vedic
society can be viewed in terms of response to the inherent
critique that the liberated western society had made of the
repressive social practices they witnessed in the 18th and
the early 19th centuries in India. The western educated
intellectual
middle
class
was
hard-pressed
to
furnish
evidence of a much better social fabric in existence in the
past of the country and the examples from the early Vedic
society became the means to salvage glory to Indian social
heritage! The chief thesis was to show that in ancient times,
Indians were better than the Westerners, at least in the
way they treated women. This was also used as an
argument to improve the prevailing condition of women in
Indian society.
Male dominance and the subordination of women is a
feature of all known historical societies. The issue is one of
the degree of dominance and subordination, and the
structures in which these were embedded. Compared to
later Vedic literature indeed the family books of the Rig
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Veda Samhitā did reflect a situation in which social status
was not as rigidly defined or polarized as it came to be in
later times. Thus the rituals described in the Rig Veda
indicate post-puberty marriages, and there are references
to women choosing their husbands.
A woman could remarry if her husband died or disappeared.
There are also references to unmarried women, such as the
Rig Vedic seer Ghosā. The equation of power and women
was spelt out in a very few rare instances, but they are
worth mention. Viśpalā (Rig Veda 1.112.10 and 1.116.5)
was described as the queen and a warrior who lost a leg in
the battlefield. There were references to other women
warriors such as Mudgalinī and Vadhrimatī. Women also
enjoyed position within the family as is clear from the
description of the women’s role in the Vidatha, speaking on
behalf
of
her
family,
claiming
the
share
of
wealth
distributed. There was the instance of Apālā in the Rig Veda
(8. 80), taking care of her father’s fields. The Rig Veda
attached importance to the institution of marriage and had
referred to polyandry within the various types of marriages
in vogue including monogamy and polygamy.
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The Rig Veda also considered marriage and consensual
union in a much less rigid manner. A seventh mandala
hymn (RV, 7.55.5-8) described an instance of elopement,
the man praying that his beloved’s entire household – her
brothers and other relatives – as well as the dogs, be lulled
into a deep sleep, so that the lovers could creep out
stealthily. However, on the whole, recent research reveals
that the different categories of female roles as revealed in t
he Rig Veda do not support a simple thesis of ideal picture
so far as the women’s social position was concerned. Recent
scholarship has shifted the focus from discussing women in
isolation to an analysis of gender relations. Gender refers to
the culturally defined roles associated with men and
women. Earlier, historians tended to focus on the public,
political domain, relegating the family, household, and
gender relations to the private, domestic domain. Today,
the distinction between the private and political domains is
recognized as an artificial one.
Ideologies and hierarchies of power and authority exist
within the family and household, in the form of norms of
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appropriate conduct based on gender, age, and kinship
relations. Further, there is a close connection between
relations
within
the
household,
marriage
and
kinship
systems, the control of women’s sexuality and reproduction,
class and caste relations, the larger political structures. For
these reasons, gender relations form an important part of
social history.
In the earlier historical writings, a great part of the
discussion about women of the Vedic age focused on elite
women, ignoring the less privileged members of this sex.
Although the Rig Veda mentioned goddesses, none of them
were regarded as important as the major gods. Moreover,
the social implications of the worship of female deities are
complex. While such worship does at least mark the ability
of a community to visualize the divine in feminine form, it
does not automatically mean that real women enjoyed
power or privilege.
The proportion of hymns attributed to women in the Rig
Veda is miniscule (just 12-15 out of over 1,000), as is the
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number of women sages and teachers. This suggests that
women had limited access to sacred learning.
There were no women priests referred in the Rig Veda nor
do they appear as givers or receivers of dāna or dakșhiņā.
The female child was viewed in many different aspects as
kanyā, duhitā, kaninakā, kunyanā, kanyalā, putrikā. The
wife was hailed as jāyā, janī, patnī. She was ideally the
companion
of
her
husband
and
performed
the
dāmpatyakrātuvidyā.
While women participated as wives in sacrifices performed
on behalf of their husbands, they have not been described
performing
sacrifices
in
their
own
right.
The
Vedic
household was clearly patriarchal and patrilineal, and
women
enjoyed
relatively
little
control
over
material
resources. Their sexuality and reproductive resources were
controlled through the ingraining of norms of what was
considered appropriate behaviour. Considering that this was
a patriarchal and patrilineal society, it is not surprising that
Rig Vedic prayers are for sons, not daughters, and that the
absence of sons is deplored.
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The Rig Veda mentions food habits, clothes, and leisuretime pursuits. There are references to the consumption of
milk and milk products, ghŗta (ghee, clarified butter),
grains, vegetables, and fruits. Vedic texts refer to meat
eating, and to the offering of animals such sheep, goat, and
oxen to the gods in sacrifice. The reference to cows as
aghnyā (not to be killed) suggests a disapproval of their
indiscriminate killing but not a total abstinence from
consumption.
Barren cows were killed for guests and on ritual occasions.
In fact the later Vedic sūtras referred to the practiceoffering guests with beef on select special occasions.
The Later Vedic Period
The adoption of agriculture created conditions for rapid
class division in the later Vedic phase, which is abundantly
testified by the later Samhitās and Brāhmanas. Varņa
reflected the increasing social differentiation of the times
accompanied by different degrees of access to productive
resources. In dividing the society into four hereditary
strata, it defined social boundaries, roles, status, and ritual
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purity. Members of the four varņas were supposed to have
different innate characteristics, which made them naturally
suited to certain occupations and social ranks. The varņa
hierarchy remains an important part of the social discourse
of the Brahmanical tradition.
The body symbolism in the Purușa hymn already mentioned
indicates that the four varņa were visualized as interrelated parts of an organic whole. At the same time it
clearly indicates a hierarchy of ranks, with the Brāhmaņa at
the top and the śūdra at the bottom. The fact that the
varņa were described as being created at the same time as
the earth, sky, sun, and moon indicates that they were
supposed to be considered a part of the natural, eternal,
and unchangeable order of the world.
Ambiguity about the relative position of the higher varņas is
evident in the Pañcavimśa Brāhmana (13, 4, 17), where
Indra is associated with the creation of the varņas and the
rājanya were placed first, followed by the brāhmana and
vaiśya. The Śatapatha Brāhmana (13.8.3.11) also places
the ksatriya first in the list. Elsewhere, in the same text
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(Śatapatha Brāhmana 1.1.4.12), however, the order was as
follows: brāhmaņa, vaiśya, rājanya and śudra. However,
the order of the four varnas in the Brāhmanical tradition
became
fixed
from
the
time
of
the
Dharmashastras
onwards.
The later Vedic literature informs us about the scramble
between the brāhmaņa and the kșatriya for attaining the
superior position in the society. The conflict between the
gods Mitra and Varuņa has been seen as symbolic of a
conflict between the two varņas.
Mitra represented the principle of Brahma (sacred power)
and Varuņa the principle of kșatra (secular power). There
are several statements about the relationship between
Brahma
and
kșatra,
describing
them
variously
as
antagonistic, complementary, or dependent on each other.
Upaņișadic philosophy has also been viewed, at least in
part, as a reflection of the kșatriya challenge to brāhmaņical
supremacy in the field of ultimate knowledge. The spirit of
rivalry
was
softened
as
the
texts
stressed
on
the
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importance of mutual co-operation between them to ensure
their domination over the two lower varņas.
It may be noticed that some of the texts emphasize on the
importance of the purohita for the king and the close
relationship between the rājanya and at least a section of
the brāhmna community. The later Vedic ruler was much
more powerful than his Rig Vedic counterpart, as he now
became the exterminator of the foe (amitranāmhantā)
devourer of the folk (viśamattā) and extractor the of bali
(balihŗt) from the vaiśya, the wealth producing section of
the community. Bali in the Rig Veda stood for voluntary gift
by the people to the chieftain. In the later Vedic times, it
denoted an obligatory payment. The urge for greater
concentration of power in the hands of the ruler is
expressed; in the elaborate prescription of the performance
of lavish sacrifices by the ruler (Rājasūya, Vājapeya,
Aśvamedha, Aindramahābhișeka, etc.). This practice of
royal sacrifices led to the manifold increase in the influence
and status (at least ritually) of the officiating priests. In fact
the later Vedic and the Sutra texts (considered to be the
latest stratum of the Vedic literature and assignable to
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c.500-200 BCE, are steeped in the ritual of sacrifice or
yajña which permeated every facet of life of the people
irrespective of high or low.
The first three varņas were known as dvija, literally ‘twice
born’, that is, those entitled to the performance of the
upanayana ceremony, which was considered a second birth.
They were eligible to perform the agnyādheya or the first
installation of the sacred sacrificial fire, which marked the
beginning of ritual activities prescribed for the household.
On
the
other
differences
hand,
between
the
the
texts
three
also
emphasized
varņas.
The
the
Aitareya
Brāhmaņa (8.36.4) states that the Rājasūya sacrifice
endowed each of the four varņas with certain qualities – the
brāhmana with tejas or lustre, the kşatriya with vīrya or
valour, the vaiśya with prajāti or procreative powers, and
the śūdra with pratiştha or stability.
Later texts such as the Śrautasastras laid down the
different details of the performance of sacrifices such as the
soma sacrifice and the agnyādheya, depending on the varņa
of the sacrificer. In the opinion of Romila Thapar, the
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23
implicit attempt here was to define and limit the access of
each
group
to
economic
resources
by
the
gradually
increasing insistence on occupational functions. This was
accompanied by, the channelising and redistribution of
wealth among the limited castes claiming ownership of clan
resources and higher ritual status. But varņa alone could
not contain this hierarchical economic structure. That the
attempt was not entirely successful is indicated by the
economic stratification also taking place within each of
these vertical varņa groups. Thus there were impoverished
brāhmaņas as there were wealthy śūdras.
There were groups in society who were considered even
lower than the śudras. Slaves (dāsas and dāsī) were
mentioned among gift items in the dāna-stuti. However, on
occasion, children born of slave women could aspire to
higher status. For instance, in Book 1 of the Rig Veda, there
is
a
reference
to
Ŗişhi
Kākşivān,
son
of
the
sage
Dīrghatamas by a woman slave of the queen of Anga.
Kavaśa Ailușa, author of a Vedic hymn in the tenth
mandala, is also described as the son of a woman slave.
However these were probably exceptional instances.
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24
Although there were no clear indications of the practice of
untouchability in later Vedic texts, groups such as the
candālas were clearly looked on with contempt by the
elites.
The
Chhāndogya
Upaņișad
and
Taittirīya
and
Śatapatha Brāhmanas mentioned the candāla in a list of
victims
to
be
offered
in
the
presumably
symbolic
purușamedha (human sacrifice), and described him as
dedicated to the deity Vāyu (wind). The dedication to Vāyu
has been interpreted as indicating that the candāla lived in
the open air or near a cemetery, but this is far from certain.
The Chhāndogya Upaņișad (5.10.7) stated that those who
performed praiseworthy deeds in this world swiftly acquired
rebirth in a good condition – as a brāhmaņa, kșatriya, or
vaiśya, while those who performed low actions acquired
birth in a correspondingly low condition – as a dog, boar or
a candāla.
Later
Vedic
texts
reflected
the
interaction, conflict, and assimilation.
processes
of
social
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25
According to the Aitareya Brāhmana (33.6), the royal sage
Viśvāmitra had cursed his 50 sons to become the Āndhras,
Pundras,
Śabaras,
Pulindas,
and
Mutibas,
when
they
refused to accept Śunahaśepa (Devarata) as his son and
their legitimate brother. This story reflected the attempt of
the Brahmanical tradition to extend some amount of
recognition to ‘outsiders’. Some non-Indo-Aryan groups
were assimilated into the varna hierarchy usually at the
lower rungs. In fact, the śūdras may have originally been
some non-Vedic tribes living in the northwest, who later
lent their name to the fourth varna. However, not all tribal
groups were assimilated. Some were simply acknowledged.
Later Vedic texts mention forest people such as the Kirātas
and Nișādas. They also show the emergence of the concept
of mleccha, a category that included various tribal groups
and foreign people considered to be ‘outsiders’ by the
Brāhmanical tradition.
The household constituted an important institution in the
society. The ideal grha was headed by the gŗhapati whose
control over the productive and reproductive resources of
the household was legitimised by a series of household
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26
rituals. Only a married man, accompanied by his legitimate
wife, could become the yajamāna in a sacrifice. Marriage
(vivāha)
was
important
for
the
continuation
of
the
patrilineage. Relations between husband and wife (pati and
patni) and father and son were hierarchically organized.
Women came to be increasingly identified in terms of their
relations with men. Words such as strī, yośā, and jāyā were
closely associated with wifehood and motherhood, actual or
potential. The control of the gŗhapati was maintained by a
domestic ideology that clearly laid down the structures of
dominance and subordination within the patriarchal family.
The productive resources of the household were transferred
from father to son, and rituals such as the agnyādheya
emphasized the importance of ties with the patrilineal
ancestors (pitŗs). The Yajurvedic rites, which engulfed the
lives of individuals since being born reflect the growing
control exercised by the brāhmana priests on the society in
general.
There was a conventional list of forty samskāras which
punctuated the stages of an individual’s life. It was initiated
with the Garbhādhāna ceremony to cause conception,
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27
followed by Pumsavana, – securing the birth of a male
child; Sīmantonnayana, – the ceremony for protection of
the pregnant mother-to-be; Jātakarman followed next for
welcoming the new born; Nāmakaraņa followed on which
occasion the child was bestowed with a name; Annaprāśana
was the ceremony for feeding the child with solid food at six
months;
followed
by
Cūdākarman,
Upanayana,
Samāvartana, Sahadharmacāriņi-samyoga and so on.
A major foundation on which the society operated was the
institution of marriage. The ideal was marriage within the
varna
(savarna)
and
outside
the
gotra
(gotrantara)
endowing traditional marriage in India with the features of
both endogamy and exogamy. The later Vedic texts refer to
eight different types of marriages: Prājāpatya, Ārșa, Daiva
were the general types accepted in the society. Gāndharva
was the marriage union where a man and a woman chose
their respective partners. The rest were also accepted as in
vogue but not really approved. Āsura, the type described
where
the
family
of
the
bride
was
propitiated
into
agreement by payment of money or gifts and Paiśāca where
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28
the bride was taken by force were the last forms recognized
as prevalent.
Polygamy was more prevalent than polyandry. The Aitareya
Brāhmana (3.5.3.47) stated that even though a man may
have several wives, one husband is enough for one woman.
The Maitrāyanī Samhitā referred to the ten wives of Manu.
A woman was married not only to a man but into a family
and apparently the bride was regarded with caution. The
later Vedic ideas and ceremonies of marriage are reflected
in a complex hymn in the tenth mandala, often referred to
as the Surya-sukta (Rig Veda 10.85). This hymn indicated
that the bride was simultaneously considered a precious
asset for the groom’s family, and, at the same time, a
stranger with destructive potential. In the marriage hymn in
the Atharva Veda (14.1-2), the priest was assigned a
prominent
role
as
it
was
thought
that
through
his
ministrations the dangerous potential of the bride could be
neutralized and her incorporation into the new home
ensured.
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29
The marriage ceremonies seem to have been largely
confined to the bride, groom, and their immediate families.
Women were praised and exalted in some instances in the
later Vedic texts. For example, the Śatapatha Brāhmana
(5.2.1.10) stated that the wife constituted a half of the
identity of her husband and completed his existence. The
Bŗhadāraņyaka Upaņișad (6.4.17) mentioned a ritual for
obtaining a learned daughter. However, women were
generally excluded from the study of the Vedas. Although
their
presence
sacrifices,
as
they
independently
in
wives
was
required
could
not
perform
their
own
right.
in
the
such
Later
śrauta
sacrifices
texts
even
introduced the practice of using the symbolic effigy of gold
or grass in place of the wife. Most of the samskāras
(expect, of course, marriage) did not apply to them. In such
crucial respects, the position of a woman, – no matter what
her varņa – was indeed similar to that of a śūdra. In fact,
the later Dharmaśāstra equation between women and
śūdras drew its roots from the Vedic texts. The texts also
mentioned the periodical taboos relating to the menstrual
cycle to be imposed on women regarding their participation
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30
in sacrifices and even cooking of food, communicating with
or sitting near the members of the family and community.
Women were clearly expected to conform to a docile role.
Śatapatha Brāhmana (10.5.2.9) stated: ‘A good woman is
one who pleases her husband, delivers male children, and
never talks back to her husband’. According to the same
text (4.4.2.3), women owned neither themselves nor an
inheritance. The Atharva Veda (1.14.3) described a life of
spinsterhood as the greatest curse for women, and deplored
the birth of daughters (6.11.3). Although both the Atharva
and the Rig Veda Samhitā referred to the practice of widow
remarriage but the male in question was preferably the late
husband’s younger brother. While this refutes the existence
of the practice of sati in Vedic society, the instances also
signified the fact that the woman was considered as bound
to the marital family even after her husband’s death.
The Aitareya Brāhmaņa (7.15) describes a daughter as a
source of misery, and states that only a son can be the
saviour of the family. The desire for sons is borne out in
many hymns. The very concept of the pumsavana rite
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31
brings out the harsh reality of this attitude and the Atharva
Veda even contained charms for changing a female foetus
into a male one. The Maitrāyanī Samhitā (4.7.4) in fact laid
down the position of the woman in clear perspective: ’Men
go to the assembly, not women’. Women appeared to be
treated
as
chattels
to
be
presented
as
gifts
and
commodities of exchange, for instance in the references to
the kings handing over their daughters to win over the
sages. The only form of ritual gift giving or exchange that
women could participate in was the upanayana, where she
enjoyed
the
right
of
giving
the
first
alms
to
the
brahmachārī, who was supposed to begin his stint by
begging from his mother or his teacher’s wife. The process
of crystallization of the family unit and family’s wealth in
land
etc.,
the
increasing
social
differentiation
the
emergence of a state, – all these factors were accompanied
by an increasing subordination of women.
A few women sages like Gārgī and Maitreyī who were
described in the Upaņishads participating in philosophical
debates with the learned and esteemed sage Yajñavalkya
were
very
rare
exceptions
and
do
not
qualify
as
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32
representing the general picture of women’s condition. Here
too, in the case of the position of authority among the
sages, male domination emerged in a rather blunt and
artless manner.
Thus in the course of the famous Gārgī-Yajñavalkya debate
it is seen that as the former’s questions became more
subtle
and
pointed,
Yajñavalkya
apprehending
defeat,
arbitrarily threatened her with dire consequences if she
persisted in questioning him and so eliminated her from the
contest. So far as historiography is concerned however,
these issues had been blown under the carpet till recently.
Nationalist rendering of the event reflected in Shakuntala
Rao Shastri’s work, Women in the Vedic Age, interpreted
the tone of the argument in a golden light, maintaining that
“…. The
motive
of Gārgī’s
enquiry
was
not to
test
Yajñavalkya but to learn from him about the nature of
Brahman”.
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33
Thus the harsh tone of Yajñavalkya, who failed to answer
Gārgī’s query, was reduced to the moment of blissful
supplication of a woman thinker to the mastery of a mighty
male
sage.
This,
along
with
similar
other
“sanitized
interpretation of events” have prompted scholars to suggest
by scholars like Uma Chakravarti and Kumkum Roy that it is
time to look beyond the “Altekarian paradigm”.
Thus the Vedic society, as gleaned from the text appears to
have progressed from simple lineage based fabric to
complexities. As composed primarily by the brāhmaņical
male society of the priestly class, there appears to have
been a gradual process of social designing into a ritual
hierarchical fabric where caste and gender differentiation
created inequality of a kind that to some extent matched
the economic functions of the classes and gender. However,
there were areas where the patterns did not match. The
clashes of interest between rising classes of kshatriyas,
vaiśyas on the one hand, and the brāhmaņa- dictated social
system, on the other, did emerge. The questioning of the
superiority of priestly rituals vis–à–vis meditation and
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34
pursuit of knowledge in the Upaņishads direct us to this
tendency that was growing inside the Vedic society and
would flare up in the post Vedic times. The potentials for
these later developments were rooted in the Later Vedic
society.