This chapter covers India from about 3000 BCE to the emergence of the Mahajanapadas: the Late Harappan, Chalcolithic, Megalithic Iron Age and Vedic Cultures and the Aryans. Its two main sources are archaeological material culture (pottery, plant remains, metal objects) and Vedic literature; there are no written documents, as the Vedic texts were transmitted orally. The Early Vedic culture is correlated with some Chalcolithic cultures and the Later Vedic culture with the Painted Grey Ware culture of the Iron Age.
1. Literature of the Vedic Age
- Vedas (Vid = to know), in Vedic Sanskrit, are four: Rig (the oldest), Yajur, Sama and Atharva. They were orally transmitted by Brahmins; the earliest written manuscripts date to the 10-11th century CE.
- The main collections of hymns are samhitas (ritualistic texts); the Rig Vedic samhita is the earliest text. The Rig Veda (1500-1000 BCE) has 10 books: Books 2 to 7 are the earliest; Books 1, 8, 9 and 10 are later.
- The samhitas of the Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedas, and the brahmanas, aranyakas and upanishads, are the Late Vedic texts.