Rig Vedic Culture Social Divisions - Ancient India Study Materials

Social Divisions

The Vedic people distinguished themselves from the non-Aryan people.
Varna was the term used by Aryans to refer to colour and category.
The Rig Veda refers to Arya varna and Dasa varna.
The Dasas and Dasyus were conquered and treated as slaves.
They came to be considered sudras in the later period.
Social classes were classified as warriors, priests and common people.
Sudras as a category of people appeared at the end of the Rig Vedic period.
Slavery was common and slaves were given as gifts to the priests, but there is no reference to wage labour.
Horse-drawn chariots and bronze objects were possessed by a few, suggesting social distinction.
Vedic society was largely egalitarian initially, and social distinctions emerged later.
According to the Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda the various varnas emerged thus: Brahmanas from the mouth, the kshatriya from the arms, the vaisya from the thighs and the sudra from the feet of Purusha, when he was sacrificed.
These social divisions are considered to have arisen towards the end of the early Vedic period.
Various professional groups such as warriors, priests, cattle-keepers, farmers, barbers are also mentioned.
Panis were itinerary traders or perhaps caravan traders.
Panis are also seen as enemies in some verses.

Kinship was the basis of the social structure of Rig Vedic society.
People were identified with specific clans and the clans formed the tribe or jana.
The term jana occurs in the Rig Veda 21 times but janapada does not occur even once.
The term vis, which refers to the common people, occurs 170 times and they lived in gramas (villages).
The family (griha) was the main social unit within the tribe.
It was headed by the grihapati and his wife was known as sapatni.
And the family at that point of time was perhaps a joint family.

Women had a respectable position but it is not possible to generalise about this.
Society was essentially patriarchal with a preference for male children and cattle.
The birth of a son was preferred perhaps because of the martial nature of the society, which required male members for their clashes to establish dominance over the territories.
Having ten sons was considered as a blessing.
Women attended assemblies and offered sacrifices.
Marriage was common but primitive practices were also continued.
Polyandry seems to have existed, and widow remarriage was also known.
People married at the age of 16–17, according to scholars, and there is little evidence of child marriage.