ARYAN CIVILIZATION
The fair-skinned Aryans were among the many groups of Indo-European people who migrated across Europe and Asia seeking water and pasture for their horses and cattle. The early Aryans built no cities and left no statues or stone seals. Most of what we know about them comes from the Vedas, a collection of prayers, hymns, and other religious teachings. Aryan priests memorized and recited the Vedas for a thousand years before they were written down. As a result, the period from 1500 BCE to 500 BCE is often called the Vedic Age.
In the Vedas, the Aryans appear as warriors who fought in chariots with bows and arrows. They loved eating, drinking, music, chariot races, and dice games. These nomadic herders valued cattle, which provided them with food and clothing. Later, when they became settled farmers, families continues to measure their wealth in cows and bulls.
ARYAN SOCIETY
From the Vedas, we learn that the Aryans divided people by occupation. The three basic groups were the Brahmins, or priests; the Kshatriyas (kuh SHAT ree yuhz), or warriors; and the Vaisyas (VIS yuhz), or herders, farmers, artisans, and merchants. At first, warriors enjoyed the highest prestige, but priests eventually gained the most respect. Their power grew because Brahmins claimed that they alone could conduct the ceremonies needed to win the favor of the gods.
The Vedas also show that the Aryans felt vastly superior to the Dravidians, the people they conquered. Many scholars think that the Dravidians may have been descended from the original inhabitants of the Indus Valley. The Aryans separated Dravidians and non-Aryans into a fourth group, the Sudras (SOO druhz). This group included farm workers, servants, and other laborers who occupied the lowest level of society.
During the Vedic age, class divisions came to reflect social and economic roles more than ethnic differences between Aryans and non-Aryans. As these changes occurred, they gave rise to a more complex system of castes, or social groups into which people are born and which they cannot change.
ARYAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
The Vedas show that Aryans were polytheistic. They worshipped gods and goddesses that embodied the natural forces such as sky and sun, storm and fire. They also honored animals, such as monkey gods and snake gods.
Brahmins offered sacrifices of food and drink to the gods. Through the correct rituals and prayers, the Aryans believed, they could call on the gods for health, wealth, and victory in war.
As the lives of the Aryans changes, so, too, did their beliefs. Some religious thinkers were moving toward the notion of a single spiritual power beyond the many gods of the Vedas, called brahman, which resided in all things. There was also a move toward mysticism. Mystics are people who devote their lives to seeking spiritual truth. Through meditation and yoga, or spiritual and bodily discipline, Aryan mystics sought direct communion with divine forces. The religions that emerged in India after the Vedic age reflected the impact of mysticism as well as the notion of brahman.
FROM NOMADS TO FARMERS
Aryans mingled with the people they conquered. Gradually they settled into villages and from the local people, they learned farming and other skills and developed new crafts of their own. They migrated and expanded to the Ganges river basin and built grand walled-cities filled with multi-story houses.
By 500 BCE, a new Indian civilization had emerged. It consisted of many rival kingdoms. However, due to acculturation, or the blending of two or more cultures, the people shared a common culture rooted in both Aryan and Dravidian traditions. By this time, too, the Indian people had developed a written language, Sanskrit. Priests now began writing down the sacred texts.
ROOTS OF HINDUISM
The Aryans were the first of many people to filter into India through the passes in the Hindu Kush. Even though scholars recognize that our knowledge of the Aryan migrations is very limited, most accept that Aryan traditions and beliefs formed a framework for later Indian civilization.
Aryan religious beliefs would evolve into major world religions. Just as the Middle East gave rise to three world religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—South Asia was the birthplace of two influential faiths, Hinduism and Buddhism.
From World History: Connections to Today pgs- 55, 57, 58 (looking ahead)