NCERT 6th Class (CBSE) Social Science: The Vedic Age

Question: Name the four Vedas. Answer: The four Vedas are: Rigveda Samaveda Yajurveda Atharvaveda Question: In what language has the Rigveda been composed? Answer: The Rigveda is in Vedic Sanskrit. Question: What were the various purposes of fighting battles as depicted by the Rigveda? Answer: Battles were fought for cattle, land, water and for capturing people. Question: What were the groups of people in terms of their work? Answer: There were two groups of people in terms of their work—the 'brahmins' and the 'rajas'. Question: Who were the 'Aryas' and the 'Dasas'? Answer: People who composed the hymns called themselves Aryans and they called their opponents 'Dasas'. Question: What were megaliths? [Imp.] Answer: Stone boulders used to mark burial sites are known as megaliths. Question: Name some area where megaliths were prevalent. Answer: Megaliths were prevalent in the Deccan, South India, in the North-east and Kashmir. Question: How is it known that burial spots were meant for families? Answer: Sometimes megaliths contain more than one skeleton. This indicates that families were buried together. Question: Where is Inamgaon situated? Answer: Inamgaon is a site on the river Ghod, a tributary of the river Bhima. Question: In addition to the Vedas, what are the other texts that form a part of vedic literature? Answer: The other texts that form a part of Vedic literature. The Brahmanas, the Aranyaks, the Upanishads and the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharat were. Question: Which were some of the goods worshipped during the Early Vedic period? Answer: During the early Vedic Age, the people worshipped natural gods and godnesses such as Indra (the god of thunder), Vayu (the wind god), Surya (the sun god), Agni (the god of fire), Varuna (the god of water), Prithvi (the god of earth), Soma (the god of plants), Usha (the goddess of dawn) and Yama (the god of death). Question: Why is the Later Vedic Age called the Epic Age? Answer: The events mentioned in the Ramayana and Mahabharata are believed to have taken place towards the end of the Later Vedic period. Hence this period is also called the Epic Age. Question: Name the four ashrams in a person's life. Answer: According to the religious texts, the life of an individual was divided into four stages or ashramas. The four stages were - brahmacharya or student life, grihasth or life a householder (father and husband), vanaprastha or the life of a hermit and finally sanyasa or total renunciation of the world. Question: What do you know about the diet of the people in the Later Vedic period? Answer: The main diet of the people consisted of rice, wheat, barley, ghee, meat and fish. Soma and sura, which were intoxicating drinks, were also consumed. Milk and other dairy products such as butter and cheese were also eaten. Question: What is the significance of the Rig Veda? Answer: The Rig Veda is the oldest of the Vedas. It is a collection of prayers in honour of various Hindu gods and goddesses. It consists of 1o28 Sanskrit hymns which are organized into ten books or mandalas. These hymns are meant to be recited at sacrificial rituals. Question: Compare the political organization of the Early and the Later Vedic periods. Answer: During this period, people were organized in the from of tribes. The basic unit of society was the family. A number of families made up a village or grama. Each village was headed by a village headman or gramani. A number of villages formed a clan. Several clans made the jana or tribe. The head of the tribe was the rajan. His post was hereditary, but he was also elected on several occasions by a tribal assembly called the samiti. The king protected his tribe from enemies. He was assisted by tribal assemblies such as sabha, samiti and vidatha. Both men and women were member of these assemblies. The day-to-day administration was conducted by a number of officials. The purohita (priest) performed religious matters. The senani (commander-in-chief) led the forces during war. The king received voluntary offerings called bali from his subjects. Question: Why did the people pay a lot the Early and the Later Vedic periods? Answer: The Early Vedic people were nomadic and moved from place to place. Later they began to lead a pastoral life. They reared animals such as cows, goats, sheep and buffaloes. The cow was considered very valuable and was the principal form of wealth. The kings gifted cows to priests. Cattle were used for barter and exchange of commodities. Domestication of cattle continued as wealth was calculated in the form of cows. Question: What do you know about the caste system in the Later Vedic period? Answer: Earlier the caste system was based on profession or occupation, in the Later Vedic Age, a person born's caste was determined by birth. A person born in a particular caste could not change his profession or caste. The brahmanas and the kshatriyas assumed the status of the high castes. The status of the vaishyas decreased and that of the shudras worsened. They were treated as the lowest of castes and were meant to serve the high castes. Question: Write a note on the site of Inamgaon. Answer:Inamgaon is a Chalcolithic settlement discovered near Pune in Maharashtra. Inamgaon is a historical site located on the banks of the river Ghod a tributary of the river Bhima. The economy of the people was based largely on farming and cattle rearing. Rice, beans, gram, wheat, lentils and barley were some of the main crops grown. The pottery found was red in colour with black designs.Stone tools and blade tools were also recovered from the sites. Tools and ornaments made of copper and gold have also been found. The houses were all rectangular in shape. Houses were mostly made of mud and thatched with grass. Storage facilities for grain were also available. Inamgaon was well-known for its ancient burials or graves. Vessels containing food and water were placed within the grave. The culture witnesses a decline from about 700 BCE. Question: In what ways are the books we read today different from the Rigveda ? Answer: The most important points of difference between the Rigveda and the modem books is that today books are written and read. The Vedas, instead, were memorised by students, and later passed on to the later generations by speaking, listening and then memorising. Question: What kind of evidence from burials do archaeologists use to find out whether there were social differences amongst those who were buried? Answer: The objects found in graves are usually different. Some skeletons were buried with a great number of pots, while some with just a few of them. Archaeologists have thus concluded that people were buried with objects depending upon their status. Question: In what ways do you think that the life of a 'raja' was different from that of a 'dasa' or 'dasi'? Answer: In the society, 'raja' was one of the highest civil positions. 'Rajas' were the kings of the community, whereas the 'dasas'/'dasis' were the lowest position in society. The 'dasas'/'dasis' were slaves who were used for work. They were treated as the property of their owners. They were captured in war. Question: Find out whether your school library has a collection of books on religion, and list the names of five books from this collection. Answer: Do yourself with the help of your subject-teacher and school librarian. A sample set of five such books: The Mahabharata The Ramayana The Bible The Bhagwad Gita The Quran Question: Write a short note on the Rigveda. Answer: The Rigveda is the oldest of the Vedas. It indicates over a thousand hymns in Vedic (old) Sanskrit. These hymns (called 'Sukta' — well said) are in praise of various gods and goddesses, mainly: Agni, Indra and Soma. These hymns were composed by sages, who learnt them and made their children learn. Finally, they were printed about 200 years ago. Question: Describe in brief about how the Rigveda depicts cattle, horses, chariots, and battles. Answer: Rigveda has prayers for cattle and horses. Horses were used in battles. Battles were fought for cattle, land, people and water. Most men took part in wars. There was not any regular army. There were assemblies where people met and discussed matters of war and place. They chose brave warriors as their leaders. Question: Write a short note on megaliths. Answer: Megaliths are stone boulders used to mark burial sites. They were prevalent around 3000 years ago in the Deccan, South India, in the northeast and in Kashmir. Some megaliths are seen on surface and some are underground. Sometimes a circle of stone boulders or a single large stone is found standing on the ground, to indicate the position of burials. Question: How do megaliths show that there were social differences? Answer: Sometimes, more objects are in found in one grave than in another. This indicates that people were buried according to their social status. In Brahmagiri, a skeleton was found with 33 gold beads, 2 stone beads, 4 copper bangles, and a conch shell. Whereas other skeletons have only few pots. Question: How have people in a society been depicted in the Rigveda? Answer: According to the Rigveda, there are two groups of people in terms of their work: The priests, called Brahmins, and The 'rajas'. The priests performed various vituals while the 'rajas' ruled. These 'rajas' did not, however, have capital cities, palaces or armies, nor did they collect taxes. Two words were used to refer to the people or the community as a whole — those words were 'jana' and Vish'. The people who composed the hymns referred to themselves using the word 'Aryas' and called their opponents 'Dasas' or 'Dasyus', The 'dasas' were later slaves and were treated as the property of their owners.

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NCERT 6th Class (CBSE) Social Science: The Vedic Age

Question: Name the four Vedas.

Question: In what language has the Rigveda been composed?

Question: What were the various purposes of fighting battles as depicted by the Rigveda?

Question: What were the groups of people in terms of their work?

Question: Who were the ‘Aryas’ and the ‘Dasas’?

Question: What were megaliths? [Imp.]

Question: Name some area where megaliths were prevalent.

Question: How is it known that burial spots were meant for families?

Question: Where is Inamgaon situated?

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One comment