Aryans - The great warriors
Aryans- An important part of Indian History! They came to India and changed the direction of Indian History. Before the arrival of Aryans, Dravidians resided in India. It's believed that Dravidians were the original natives of India spreading all over the country and Aryans defeated Dravidians and pushed them towards mountains and southern regions of the country, thus dominating everywhere. Aryans called Dravidians, 'Dasru' which means 'slaves' in their language. Now also there is no clear evidence, from where Aryans have come from and it is still a topic of hot argument. Some historians believe that they may have come from regions belonging to Hungary, Australia, Bohemia, Germany, France or around that region. They are claiming so, pointing out factors that those regions were abundant in milk, wheat and meat. Some Historians believe that they came to India through northern mountains somewhere from Iran or South Russia around 1500 BC. Balagangadhar Tilak had once told that they belong to Northern polar regions. More preferences are given to the claims of Middle Asia as their original place. It was famous German scientist Marx Muller who put forward this claim first. Surprisingly, one more claim known as 'Aryan Invasion is a Myth' is also gaining popularity nowadays, which states that there was no Aryan invasion, this is quite contradictory to all the above views. Yet, it's believed that Aryan culture gradually flourished in India between 2000 BC and 600 BC.
Chaturvarnam - the origin of caste system in India
It's believed that, it were Aryans who first divided people into different classes according to their work profile. Earlier, Aryans didn't have a proper style of living. They were just nomads who wandered around, feeding their cattle and eating fruits from trees around. When they reached India, they had to face Dravidians who were doing agriculture and living at permanent residences. Very soon, they mingled with agricultural culture of India. They considered farming as a creativity means and they began to worship God and natural forces before dispersing seeds or reaping. At that time, poojas, yaga, vrita etc were common among Aryans to please God. To protect people from both natural calamities and animals, needs arose for permanent poojas which resulted in the origin of Brahmins. They were assigned to do poojas and were given high honour in the society. Thus they formed the top group. Their economy was completely based on agriculture and cattle. So, to protect both and to remain vigilant against enemies, Kshatriyas were formed. They were the warriors who fought for the people. They had good physical qualities and a healthy body comparing to all other groups. For farming and selling of goods, Vaishyas were created. Then, a need arose for slaves for serving the above three classes. Thus Shoodras formed the lowest class and their duty was to serve all the above classes. Classification of people according to their job is known as Chaturvanam. Chatur means four and varnam means caste/colour.
Women enjoyed high positions
During Rig veda days, women decorated high positions in families and society. For religious rituals, ladies participated along with men. They were given good education and were given freedom to select their life partner. There are clear evidences in Vedas and Upanishads about educated women pandits. Ladies - Maitroyi, Gargi and Lopamudra were treated as intelligent women who gave final decisions in disputes as well.
Their life style
India is also known as Aryavartham. But, it was never under a single King or Emperor at any time in the ancient periods. Instead they formed different gotras and tribes. In Rig Veda, it's told about Aryans who both, fought each other and stood united against a common enemy. Each gotra had a King
and their own political rules and regulations. Family formed the first layer. Several families combined together to form a village and villages combined to form a 'Visam'. Later, different visams combine together to form 'Jan' and many 'Jans' together form a country. If a dispute occurs in a village, it's solved by village representatives itself. i.e. Each structure was headed by a group of representatives selected from the corresponding group. If a king is to take a decision, he used to discuss with 'Jan' representatives. Main duties of a king include collection of tax, solving disputes and protect his countrymen from enemies. Both priests and gurus had an important position in the ruling of the country. Kings used to seek their opinion before taking decisions. It's clearly evident in Vedas that kingdoms of ancient time did have Raj Gurus.
Vedas and Upanishads
The culture and life style of Aryans are known through Vedas, Upanishads, Brahmanas and Sookthas. Aryan literature is classified into these four groups. The four vedas - Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva are considered as world's oldest literal works. The primitive cultural life of Aryas are known
through the vedas. It's believed that the centre of primitive Aryan culture belongs to the banks of Yamuna and Satlej rivers. It deeply stresses the existence of Aryas in the banks of the five rivers of Punjab.
The people were interested in farming
The main occupations of Aryans were agriculture and cattle farming. Wheat was cultivated the most. They kept cow, ox, goat, horse and dogs. They dig wells and ponds for irrigation purposes and used horses and oxes for ploughing land for cultivation. They were brilliant in embroidery, vasthu, sculptures and sewing. Since cows were seen as the symbol of wealth, stealing them was a common offense at that time which even resulted in many clashes. Giving fire to hay storage was a common method to fight against such opponents. They used clothes made of wool and cotton and their hobbies were dance, chess, chariot riding and horse races. Aryans were music admirers and used veena and flute at that time.
Religions and beliefs
Aryans, who were frightened seeing nature's wonders like sun rise, rain, flood etc began to worship them as God. They worshipped sun, earth, thunder, lightning, sky, fire etc in a symbolic way treating them as Gods. Indra, Rudra, Vayu, Varuna, Ushus, Aswini Devas are some among them. Their religion strictly followed rituals and customs. Chanting mantras, religious rituals, yagas, yajnjas, homas are some of them and they form an invisible bond with Aryan culture. To please devas, they did yajnjas and yagas which are clearly told in Vedas. After Rig Veda, a dramatical change was seen in their rituals and customs. Their rituals became more complex than before adding many new things. Animal sacrifices became common everywhere. Sanyasa began to attain more importance, where people abandon everything to live a life away from their family and desires. People's living style changed and again it was divided into four stages - Brahmacharyam(Unmarried life), Garhasthvam(family life), Vanaprastham(forest life) and Sanyasam(leaving everything). At that time, people began to follow all these four stages. In addition to nature gods, Rama, Krishna, Vishnu, Siva etc were begun to be worshipped as deities.
Ramayana and Mahabharatha
Both these epics were written in the last stages of Vedic period. The changes in Aryans' vision, customs, culture and life style are well visible in these two epics. Kauravas and Pandavas of Mahabharata represents different dynasties of Aryas itself. It's believed that during Kurukshetra battle, all kings of ancient Bharat also participated in one of the two groups. About Ramayana, Rama is the representative of Aryas while Ravana represents Dravidian culture. It can also be claimed that the win of Aryas over Dravidians is symbolically represented in Ramayana. Whole through the epic, it's clearly told Ravana resides in southern region, Srilanka. In Hindu mythology, many stories are told about battles between Aryans and devils. Aryans are white skinned while Dravidians, a little brownish or dark. So, it's also said that battles fought in Hindu mythological stories were the wars between Aryans and Dravidians, whom Aryans coined as slaves, devils, monsters etc.
Though it's believed that Aryan invasion is around 1500 BC, according to astronomical researches, many incidents of Mahabharata occurred before 7000 years. It's true, we are just following the culture and customs started by Aryans 3500 years back. Though, many changes have occurred and many rituals have come to an end, we are still its followers. No doubt!
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