What Books and Burials Tell Us

One of the Oldest Books in the World

→ The oldest book known worldwide is the Vedas.

→ They were composed around 3,000 years ago and are the earliest known literary source.

The Vedas

• The word Veda means Knowledge.
• There are four Vedas: Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda.
• The Rigveda is the oldest, composed about 3,500 years ago.
• The hymns were composed by sages and passed down orally for generations before being written.
• The hymns praise gods such as Indra (god of warriors), Agni (god of fire), and Varuna (god of sky).

How Do Historians Study the Rigveda?

• Historians study written sources to understand the past.
• They analyze the Rigveda, which contains many hymns in dialogue form.

→ These dialogues help historians draw conclusions about ancient times.

Cattle, Horses and Chariots

• Many prayers in the Rigveda are for cattle, children, and horses.
• Horses were yoked to chariots used in battles.
• Battles were fought for cattle, land, pastures, water, and people.
• Part of the wealth was used in Yajnas (sacrifices) offered into fire for gods, including ghee, grains, and special animals.

Words to Describe People

Political Life

• The Vedas give insight into political life of that age.
• The head of the tribe was called Raja.
• The Raja had no capital, no palaces, no army, and no authority to collect taxes.

Occupations

• Main occupations included agriculture, cattle-rearing, chariot-making, pottery, jewellery-making, tanning, and metalwork.

Dasas or Dasyus

• Alongside the Aryans who composed the Vedas, there existed another group known as Dasas or Dasyus.
• They were considered slaves or opponents of the Vedic people.

Silent Sentinels — The Story of the Megaliths

• Archaeologists believe that objects buried with skeletons belonged to the deceased.
• In Brahmagiri, a skeleton was buried with 33 gold beads, 2 stone beads, and 1 conch shell, while another had only a pot.

→ This suggests social differences—some people were rich, others poor.

• Sometimes megaliths contain more than one skeleton.

→ This indicates that members of the same family were buried in the same spot at different times.

• Special burials took place at Inamgaon.
• Animals were likely used as food during burial ceremonies.
• Skeletal studies help identify dead bodies and understand burial practices.

MCQs – Later Vedic Age

1. _____ is the assembly of selected persons of a tribe

(a) Sudha

(b) Samiti

(c) Somveda

(d) Sabha

► (d) Sabha

2. What were used for entering the burial places

(a) Stone holes

(b) Portholes

(c) Surface holes

(d) Burial holes

► (b) Portholes

3. Which of the following was not the currency used during the later Vedic age

(a) Rupee

(b) Nishka

(c) Krishmane

(d) Satamana

► (a) Rupee

4. _____ were used for various kind of work

(a) Slaves

(b) Carpenter

(c) Labour

(d) Farmers

► (a) Slaves

5. The Vedic people are generally referred to as the

(a) Dasyu

(b) Brahman

(c) Vaishyas

(d) Aryans

► (d) Aryans

6. Where Inamgaon is at present

(a) Punjab

(b) Kashmir

(c) Gujarat

(d) Maharashtra

► (d) Maharashtra

7. Which Veda is the oldest one?

(a) Rig Veda

(b) Atharva Veda

(c) Yajur Veda

(d) Sam Veda

► (a) Rig Veda

8. How many types of Epics are there

(a) 2

(b) 3

(c) 4

(d) 5

► (a) 2

9. Agriculture and ___ were the main occupations of Aryans

(a) Jewellery making

(b) Cattle-rearing

(c) Metal-work

(d) Pottery making

► (b) Cattle-rearing

10. One of the dialogues in the Rig Veda is between rivers Beas & Satluj and

(a) Vaish

(b) Vyas

(c) Vishwamitra

(d) Vashist

► (c) Vishwamitra

11. Later Vedic period is known as

(a) Hymns age

(b) Yajna age

(c) Epic age

(d) Songs age

► (c) Epic age

12. The Aryans had divided themselves into _______ tribes

(a) 5

(b) 6

(c) 4

(d) 3

► (a) 5

13. How many types of Vedas are there

(a) 3

(b) 1

(c) 4

(d) 2

► (c) 4

14. The Rigveda is divided into 10 ____

(a) Munds

(b) Mundik

(c) Mandals

(d) Mandalika

► (c) Mandals

15. Sanskrit is part of a family of languages which is known as

(a) Indo-European

(b) Indo-China

(c) Indo-Russian

(d) Indo-Dravin

► (a) Indo-European

16. What is the language of the Vedas?

(a) Urdu

(b) Pali

(c) Sanskrit

(d) Prakrit

► (c) Sanskrit

17. The Aryans had divided themselves into tribes known as

(a) Ashtajana

(b) Panchajana

(c) Chaturthjana

(d) Saptchajana

► (b) Panchajana

18. _____ performed the religious ceremonies for the king , ______ gave him their opinion about important matters and the ______ helped him in the battles

(a) Samiti and sabha, Sainani, Purohita

(b) Purohita, Samiti and sabha, Som

(c) Samiti and sabha, Purohita, Sainani

(d) Purohita, Samiti and sabha, Sainani

► (d) Purohita, Samiti and sabha, Sainani