LATER VEDICPERIOD(C.1000-500 B.C.)
THE HISTORY of the later Vedic period
is based mainly on the Vedic texts which were
compiled after the age of the Rig Veda. The
collections of the Vedic hymns or mantras
were known as the Samhitas. For purposes
of recitation, the prayers of the Rig Veda were
set to tune, and this modified collection was
known as the Sama Veda Samhita. In addition
to the Sama Veda. in post-Rig Vedic times two
other collections were: composed. These were
- the Yajur Veda Samhita and the Atharva
Veda Samhita. The Yajur Veda contains not
only hymns but also rituasls which have to
accompany their recitation. The Atharva Veda
contains charms and spells to ward off evils
and diseases. The Vedic Samhitas were
followed by the composition of a series of
texts known as the Brahmanas. These are full
of ritualistic formulae and explain the social
and religious meaning of rituals.
All these later Vedic texts were complied
in the upper Gangetic basin in circa 1000-500
B.C. These are called Painted Grey Ware
(PGW) sites because they were inhabited by
people who used earthern bowls and dishes
made of painted grey pottery. They also used
iron weapons. With the combined evidence
from the later Vedic texts and PGW ironphase archaeology we can fom an idea of the
life of the people in the first half of the first
millennium B.C. in western Uttar Pradesh
and adjoining areas of Punjab, Haryana and
Rajasthan.
The texts show that the Aryans
expanded from Punjab over the whole of
western Uttar Pradesh covered by the
Ganga-Yamuna doab. The Bharatas and
Purus, the two major tribes, combined and
thus formed the Rum people. In the beginning
they lived between the Sarasvati and the
Drishadvati just on the fringe of the doab.
Soon the Kurus occupied Delhi and the upper
portion of the doab, the area called
Kurukshetra or the land of the Kurus.
Gradually they coalesced with a people called
the Panchalas, who occupied the middle
portion of the doab. The authority of the
Kuru-Panchala people spread over Delhi, and
the upper and middle portion of the doab.
The authority of the Kuru-Panchala people
spread over Delhi, and the upper and middle
parts of the doab. They set up their capital at
Hastinapur situated in the district of Meerut.
The history of the Kuru tribe is important
for the battle of Bharata, which is the main
theme of the great epic called the
Mahabharata. This war is supposed to have
been fought around 950 B.C. between, the
Kauravas and the Pandavas, although both
of them belonged to the Kuru clan. As a result
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