Chapter - 04 WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US


 


What Books and Burials Tell Us VIDEO LINK


NOTES


• The oldest book known all over the world is supposed to be that of the Vedas.

• They were written about 3,000 years back and are the earliest literary source available.

The Vedas:

(i) The word, Veda means Knowledge. There are four Vedas: Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda.

(ii) The Rigveda is the oldest Veda. It was composed about 3,500 years ago.

(iii) The hymns have been composed by sages. These hymns were recited and passed from one generation to another until they were written down.

(iv) These hymns are in praise of different gods such as Indra (the god of warrior), Agni (the god of fire), Soma,a plant from which the special drink somarasa was made.

(v) Rigveda was printed less than 200 hundred years ago.

How do Historians study the Rigveda:

(i) While studying about the past, historians examined written sources.

(ii) They studied the Rigveda. Most of the hymns in Rigveda were in the form of dialogues.

(iii) Historians studied these dialogues to arrive at conclusions.

Rigveda: What does it tell us about Prayers and Battles:

(i) Most prayers in the Rigveda are for cattle, children and horses.

(ii) Horses were yoked to chariots and used in battles.

(iii) Battles aimed to capture cattle, land, pasture, water and people.

(iv) The wealth captured in the battles was distributed among the priests and people.

(iv) A portion of the wealth was used for performing Yajnas or sacrifices in which offerings were put into fire, for gods including ghee, grains and in some cases animals too.But the major part remained with the leaders.

Political Life:

(i) The Vedas even tell us about political life of this age.

(ii) There were two groups who were described in terms of their work-the priests, sometimes called brahmins,who performed various rituals,and the rajas.

(iii) The Raja had no capital, palaces or armies. Taxes were not collected and there was no hereditary monarchy.

Occupations:

Agriculture, cattle-rearing, chariot-making, pottery, jewellary-making tanning and metal-work were the main occupations.

Jana and Vish

(i) To describe the people or the community as a whole, two words were used viz jana and vish.

(ii) Several vish or jana are mentioned by name.

(iii) So, we find Puru jana or vish,the Bharata jana or vish, the Yadu jana etc.

Dasas/Dasyus

(i) The people who composed hymns described themselves as Aryas and the group of people who opposed them were called Dasyus. Dasyus were the people who did not perform sacrifices and probably spoke different languages.

(ii) They were later called Dasas or Dasyus or slaves.

Silent Sentinels:

(i) The big stones or the stone boulders are known as megaliths,which were carefully arranged by people and were used to mark burial sites.

(ii) Archaeologists often find a circle of stone boulders or a single large stone standing on the ground, which are the indications that there are burials beneath.

Social Differences: Burials

(i) Archaeologists assume that objects discovered with a skeleton, probably belonged to the dead person.

(ii) In Brahmagiri, a skeleton was buried with 33 gold beads, 2 stone beads, and one conch shell whereas other skeleton only had a pot.

(iii) This shows the difference in status, amongst the people who were buried. Some were rich while other were poor.

(iv) Sometimes, megaliths have more than one skeleton. It indicates that people belonging to the same family were buried at same place though at different times.

(v) Special burials took place at Inamgaon. The site of Inamgaon is located on the bank of river Ghod, a tributary of the Bhima which was occupied between 3600 and 2700 years ago.

(v) Bones of a number of animals, many bearing cut marks that show they may have been used as food,have also been found.

(vii) Skeletal studies tell us about better way of identifying dead bodies.


Exercise


1. Match the columns

SuktaStone-boulder
ChariotsSacrifice
YajnaWell-said
DasaUsed in battles
MegalithSlave

Answer.
Sukta - Well-said
Chariots - Used in battles
Yajna - Sacrifice
Dasa - Slave
Megalith - Stone-boulder

2.Complete the sentences:
(a) Slaves were used for
Answer: various kinds of work.
(b) Megaliths are found in
Answer: (b) throughout the Deccan ,south India, in the north- east and Kashmir.
(c) Stone circles or boulders on the surface were used to —
Answer: (c) cover and indicate the burial places.
(d) Port-holes were used for ——
Answer: (d) Port-holes were the openings for entering the burial places.
(e) People at Inamgaon ate ———
Answer: (e) Fruits (ber, amla, jamun, dates and a variety of berries), cereals (seeds of wheat, barley, rice, pulses, millets, peas and sesame) and meat.

Question 3. In what ways are the books we read today different from the Rigveda?
Answer. The books we use today are written, printed and then read, whereas Rigveda is the oldest of all Vedas and is supposed to have been composed about 3,500 years ago. It was recited and heard and passed on from one generation to another. It was written down several centuries after it was first composed and printed less than 200 years ago. It provides most of the information regarding the early Vedic period.

Question 4. What kind of evidence from burials do archaeologists use to find out whether there were social differences amongst those who were buried?
Answer. Archaeologists have found burial places which help them to reconstruct the past and tell about the society. At Brahmagiri, the archaeologists have found out a skeleton buried with 33 gold beads, 2 stone beads, 4 copper bangles and one conch shell. Some skeletons were buried with more pots while, other skeletons have only a few pots. These findings suggest that there was some difference in status amongst the people who were buried.

Question 5. In what ways do you think that the life of a raja was different from that of a dasa or dasi?
Answer. The words like' raja','dasa' and 'dasi' are used to describe the people found in the Rig Veda.The raja is the elected ruler of a tribe called jana. He did not have capitals, palaces or armies, nor did he collect taxes. Generally, the sons did not automatically succeed fathers as rajas. They managed with voluntary contributions (bali) made by the members of the tribe. The raja took decision with the consent of sabha and samiti, which were tribal assemblies.There were people who did not perform sacrifices and probably spoke different languages. Later, the term came to mean dasa (and the feminine dasi) or slave. Slaves were men and women captured in the war. They were treated as the property of the owners who could make them do any kind of work they wanted.

Question 6. Find out whether your school library has a collection of books on religion, and list the names of five books from this collection.
Answer. Refer your school library. Following are few important books on religion:

BOOKSRELIGION
1. Guru Granth SahibSikh
2. Zend AvestaZoroastrianism
3. QuranIslam
4. BibleChristianity
5. Old testamentJudaism
    1. Ramayana
    2. Mahabharatha
    3. Bhagwad Gita
Hinduism

Question 7. Write down a short poem or song that you have memorized. Did you hear or read the poem or song? How did you learn it by heart?
Answer: (Do it yourself. Refer to an example) A Song which we have memorized is a song from film Jagriti (1954), sung and written by the legendary poet and singer kavi .We heard and saw this song in film Jagriti, 2-3 times on TV. Also during Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations, this song is very often broadcasted by All India Radio and even telecasted by Door Darshan on TV.

Question 8. In the Rigveda, people were described in terms of the work they did and the languages they spoke. In the table below, fill in the names of six people you know, choosing three men and three women. For each of them, mention the work they do and the language they speak. Would you like to add anything else to the description?
Answer. In the Rig-Veda people were described in term of the work they did and the language they spoke. In the table below, given the names of six people we know, three men and three women. For each of them, mentioned the work they do and the language they speak.

NameWorkLanguageAnything else
1. Teacher in my school (Female)TeachingEnglish and HindiSometimes they act the scene with the help of the children.
2. Doctors (Male)Gives medical treatmentGenerally Hindi sometimesExamines the body parts, gives medicine and sometimes a dose of injection
3. Vegetables Sellers (Male)Sells vegetablesHindiUse haggling and tries to give less weight
4. Maid-Servant (Female)Does Households workHindiSometimes cooks food and very often take leave
5. Driver (Male)Drive our carsHindiDrop us to school, takes us to any other place
6. Salesgirl in the Shop (Female)Display the goods in the shops and show them to customersEnglish and HindiGossip a lot, tries to sell the goods as quickly as possible