Vedic age, 1500 to 600 BCE

The Early Vedic age is known mainly from the Rigveda, the oldest Vedic text and the one closest to that world, and its earlier layers matter most.
The Rigveda, especially its earlier layers, is rich in references to tribes, cattle, rivers, chiefs, gods, conflict and ritual.
The Later Vedic age is known from the later portions of the Rigveda and from the Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda.
Later Vedic sources also include the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads, which together with the later Vedas describe the age.
Archaeology adds the Ochre Coloured Pottery and Painted Grey Ware (PGW) cultures to what the Vedic texts tell us about the period.
Painted Grey Ware, fine grey pottery with black designs, is often associated with the Later Vedic phase, especially in Kuru Panchala.
Archaeology suggests settlement expansion, more stable village life, agriculture and gradual iron use in the later stages of the Vedic age.
No pottery type matches a text one to one, so the texts and archaeology must be used together carefully.

Pottery cultures of ancient India

About 5500 to 2600 BCE
Pre Harappan: black on red ware with simple geometric patterns, handmade and kiln fired; the Indus valley and surrounding regions
About 2600 to 1900 BCE
Harappan: fine wheel made pottery, often red with black painted designs; the Indus valley sites of present day Pakistan and northwest India
About 2000 to 1500 BCE
Ochre Coloured Pottery: ochre or light red pottery, often taken as a precursor of the Black and Red Ware; mainly the Gangetic plains
About 1300 to 900 BCE
Black and Red Ware: distinctive black and red pottery with geometric designs, often in white; spread across the subcontinent
About 1200 to 600 BCE
Painted Grey Ware: fine grey pottery painted with black geometric patterns; northwestern India and the Gangetic plain, often overlapping the early Vedic period
About 700 to 200 BCE
Northern Black Polished Ware: shiny, black, almost metallic pottery from a specific firing process; the Gangetic plains and later wider, with urban centres and the rise of major cities

Each pottery culture dates a span of the past and marks a region, so one layer of pots places a site in time and space.Source: Theme 1 handout, Pottery Culture of Ancient India

Veda comes from vid, meaning knowledge, and the Vedas have the status of shruti, that which has been heard.
Shruti is an eternal truth realised by the rishis, unlike smriti, the remembered texts: the Vedanga, Puranas, epics, Dharmashastra and Nitishastra.
The Rigveda, first of the four Vedas, holds hymns to gods with references to tribes, battles, rivers, cattle, priests and kings.
The Samaveda arranges verses taken mostly from the Rigveda for singing, while the Yajurveda holds sacrificial formulas and ritual instructions.
The Atharvaveda is a collection of spells, charms, healing formulas, domestic rites and prayers for protection.
The Rigveda has ten Mandalas, and Mandalas 2 to 7 are its oldest core, known as the Family Books.
The Family Books are linked with Vishvamitra, Vamadeva, Atri, Bharadvaja and Vasistha, while Mandalas 1 and 10 are generally considered later additions.
Each Veda has four parts, beginning with the Samhita of hymns, the earliest core, followed by the Brahmana, prose on ritual.
The Aranyaka, or forest texts, bridge ritual and reflection, and the Upanishad deals with the self and ultimate reality.
The Upanishads call the self Atman and ultimate reality Brahman, a word distinct from Brahmana, the varna.
There are several recensions of the Vedas, called shakhas, each linked with a different school of Vedic study, called a charana.
The six Vedangas, limbs of the Veda, aid its recitation, use and understanding, from shiksha (phonetics) to jyotisha (astronomy).

The Vedic corpusTap to enlarge

Shruti, the heard, is the four Vedas in four layers each, with the six Vedangas as their limbs; smriti, the remembered, is a separate branch.Source: Theme 3 handout

The four Vedas

Veda	What it holds
Rigveda	Hymns to gods, with references to tribes, battles, rivers, cattle, priests and kings
Samaveda	Verses mostly from the Rigveda, arranged for singing
Yajurveda	Sacrificial formulas and ritual instructions
Atharvaveda	Spells, charms, healing formulas, domestic rites and protection prayers

Each of the four Vedas serves a different part of Vedic life, from hymn and chant to ritual and spell.Source: Theme 3 handout

The six Vedangas

Vedanga	Subject
Shiksha	Phonetics
Chhanda	Metre
Vyakarana	Grammar
Nirukta	Etymology
Kalpa	Ritual
Jyotisha	Astronomy

The six limbs of the Veda aid its proper recitation, use and understanding.Source: Theme 3 handout

The Rigveda mentions about 30 tribes and clans, among them the five tribes known together as the Pancha Jana.
The five tribes of the Pancha Jana were the Yadu, the Turvasha, the Puru, the Anu and the Druhyu.
The Purus and the Bharatas were the dominant tribes of the age, first allies and later enemies of each other.
The Rigveda mentions many conflicts with the Dasa and Dasyu, peoples whose identity remains unclear to historians.
The Dasa and Dasyu may have been aboriginal tribes or pre Vedic Indo Aryan migrants, which would mean conflict among Arya tribes too.
The Pani were described as wealthy but hostile, and the Simyu and Kikata were enemies of the Arya.
Several tribes have non Indo Aryan names, such as the Chumuri, the Dhuni, the Pipru and the Shambara.

Sudas
king
King of the Bharata tribe who defeated a confederation of ten tribes on the banks of the Parushni in the Battle of Ten Kings.
Divodasa
king
A Bharata king mentioned in the Rigveda.
Trasadasyu
king
A Puru king mentioned in the Rigveda.
Vasistha
priest
An important priest associated with Sudas, and one of the priestly families of the Family Books.
Vishvamitra
seer
A major seer associated in tradition with political conflict and patronage, and one of the priestly families of the Family Books.
Gargi
learned woman
A learned woman who remained visible in the Later Vedic age.
Maitreyi
learned woman
A learned woman who remained visible in the Later Vedic age.

The Early Vedic rajan was a tribal leader, not yet a territorial monarch, who led in war with no standing army.
The rajan protected people and cattle, distributed booty and kept order, and his position was hereditary but not absolute.
The assemblies were the Sabha, a council of elders, the Samiti, the general tribal assembly, and the Vidatha.
The Vidatha had military, social and religious functions, and women attended the assemblies, especially the Sabhas and Vidathas.
The senani was a powerful post after the king, and the vrajapati had authority over a large stretch of land.
Bali was a voluntary offering, for there was no regular taxation yet in the Early Vedic polity.
In the Battle of Ten Kings, Sudas of the Bharatas defeated a confederation of ten tribes on the banks of the Parushni.
The confederation Sudas defeated in that battle was made up of five Aryan tribes and five non Aryan tribes.
The Later Vedic polity became territorial, with the Sabha and Samiti controlled by warriors and Brahmanas, and kingship passing often to the eldest son.
The Kuru alliance, formed by the Bharatas and the Purus, held Delhi and the region around it in the Later Vedic age.
From about 800 BCE the Brahmanas use janapada, alongside rashtra for territory and rajya for sovereign power.
The Later Vedic king still kept no standing army but performed the sacrifices of kingship: the Rajasuya, the Ashvamedha and the Vajapeya.

Tribe and rajan, early and laterTap to enlarge

The Early Vedic rajan led a tribe checked by its assemblies; the Later Vedic king ruled a territory, with assemblies under warriors and Brahmanas and his power displayed in royal sacrifices.Source: Theme 3 handout

Early and Later Vedic polity

	Early Vedic	Later Vedic
Nature of polity	Tribal	Territorial and stronger monarchy
King	Tribal chief, but power controlled by assemblies	More powerful ruler
Assemblies	Sabha, Samiti and Vidatha important	Their role declines

Across the two phases the tribe became a territory and the chief a king, while the assemblies lost their hold.Source: Theme 3 handout, comparison table

Sacrifices of kingship

Sacrifice	What it was
Rajasuya	Royal consecration
Ashvamedha	A horse sacrifice claiming unquestioned control over the land the royal horse ran through
Vajapeya	A chariot race the royal chariot must win against the king's kinsmen

Later Vedic kings asserted their power through these three great sacrifices.Source: Theme 3 handout

Early Vedic society was organised by kula (family), grama (village or group), vish (clan) and jana (tribe).
In the Early Vedic age hierarchy existed but was not rigid, and the sources suggest some social mobility.
Varna means colour, and early historians made it the basis of hierarchy, though many now think its importance was exaggerated.
The four fold varna order appears first in the Purusha Sukta of the tenth Mandala, a later book, so it is a Later Vedic feature.
Later Vedic society lived in mud brick houses and became more stratified and patriarchal than before.
Varna grew more formal, hierarchical, ideologically justified and linked with ritual status, though it was not yet the full caste system.
Upanayana was allowed to the top three varnas, who were called the dvija or twice born.
Gotra, first the clan's cattle pen, came to mean descent from a common ancestor, and gotra exogamy became common.
Early Vedic women, though in a patriarchal society, had a relatively better position, taking part in rituals and sometimes gaining learning.
Early Vedic women composed hymns and chose their husbands, and goddesses and women sages are named in the texts.
In the Later Vedic age women's position declined, with son preference, a reduced role in assemblies and more male control.
Learned women such as Gargi and Maitreyi remained visible in the Later Vedic age despite this decline.

The Purusha SuktaTap to enlarge

A hymn of the tenth Mandala, and so Later Vedic: the four varnas from the body of the cosmic being, a deepened hierarchy but not yet the full caste system.Source: Theme 3 handout

The Early Vedic economy was mainly pastoral, with agriculture known but secondary, and land was not a well established private property.
Cattle were the main form of wealth in the Early Vedic age, and most wars of the period were fought over cows.
The Rigvedic words for war show how central cattle were: gavishthi, gaveshana, goshu and gavya.
Time and distance were counted in cattle terms too: godhuli (dusk) and samgava (morning), and gavyuti and gocharman for distance.
The horse (ashva) is the animal mentioned most in the Rigveda, the cow comes second, and the vrishabha follows.
Crafts included chariot and cart making, carpentry, metal working, tanning, bows and bowstrings, sewing, weaving and mats of grass or reeds.
Ayas may mean copper, copper bronze or metal in general, but metallurgy is hardly mentioned, and regular trade may have been missing.
The Later Vedic age saw major agrarian expansion, with krishi central, and barley (yava), wheat (godhuma) and rice (vrihi) named.
The Shatapatha Brahmana speaks at length of ploughing rituals in the Later Vedic age.
Toward the later phase iron, called shyama or krishna ayas, the dark metal, grew important.
Private property was not yet an institution in the Later Vedic age, and exchange was by barter, with no clear reference to coinage.

Rita is the order of the universe, of the sacrifice and of moral life, and dharma holds that moral law should agree with natural law.
The four purusharthas of the tradition are dharma, artha, kama and moksha.
Early Vedic people worshipped nature personified, and Indra, called purandara and god of rain, was the most important god.
Indra was the slayer of Vritra, whom some read as chaos, and was worshipped alongside Agni, Varuna, Soma and the Maruts.
Early Vedic goddesses included Usha, Aditi and Sarasvati, worshipped alongside the gods of nature.
Early ritual was prayer in chorus and sacrifice, and there were no temples in the later sense of the word.
Early Vedic priests received dana and dakshina, but they never received land.
In the Later Vedic age sacrifice mattered more than prayer, and the one who performed it was the yajamana.
Large scale sacrifices were held in which guests, called goghna, were fed cattle meat.
Indra and Agni declined as Prajapati, Rudra and Vishnu rose, and signs of idol worship appear in the Later Vedic age.
Pushan, supposed to tend cattle, was a god for the Shudras, and Later Vedic priests now received gifts of land.
Reaction against ritual produced the Upanishads, stressing right belief and knowledge, and schools rejecting Vedic supremacy, Buddhism and Jainism.

Early Vedic culture rested on oral tradition, poetic composition, cattle and chariot culture, heroic values, and a close relation between priest and chief.
Later Vedic culture brought prose texts, systematised ritual, stronger kingship, formal social hierarchy, philosophical questioning and expansion east.

Early and Later Vedic age

	Early Vedic	Later Vedic
Time	About 1500 to 1000 BCE	About 1000 to 600 BCE
Region	Sapta Sindhu, the northwest	Ganga Yamuna Doab, Kuru Panchala, Kosala, Videha
Nature of polity	Tribal	Territorial and stronger monarchy
King	Tribal chief, but power controlled by assemblies	More powerful ruler
Assemblies	Sabha, Samiti, Vidatha important	Their role declines
Economy	Mainly pastoral	Mainly agrarian
Wealth	Cattle	Land, agriculture, surplus, cattle
Society	Relatively fluid	More stratified
Varna	Early and flexible	More formal and hierarchical
Women	Better relative position	Position declines
Religion	Nature gods, simpler sacrifice	Elaborate ritualism, priestly dominance
Literature	Rigvedic hymns	Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads
Major process	Tribal pastoral life	Agrarian expansion and state formation

Every row moves the same way: from a pastoral tribe to an agrarian, stratified kingdom.Source: Theme 3 handout, comparison table

Painted Grey Ware sherds
Painted Grey Ware, fine grey pottery painted with black designs, is often associated with the Later Vedic phase.
Zunkir, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Painted Grey Ware from Sonkh, Mathura
Painted Grey Ware is associated with the Later Vedic phase, especially in Kuru Panchala.
Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A chariot from Sinauli
Excavation at Sinauli, in Baghpat district, found spoked wheel chariots of the post Harappan period.
Nripendra Singh 1976, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A Rigveda manuscript in Sharada script
The Rigveda, the oldest Vedic text; the Vedas were preserved orally, and manuscripts like this are much later copies.
Ms Sarah Welch, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
A Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari
The Rigveda has ten Mandalas; this manuscript is a much later written copy of an orally preserved text.
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A Vedic fire altar, a modern performance
In the Later Vedic age sacrifice mattered more than prayer; this is a modern performance of a Vedic fire ritual.
Puranastudy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sapta Sindhu: The land of seven rivers, the Rigveda's name for the Early Vedic region, mostly modern Punjab and Sindh.
Shruti: Literally 'that which has been heard': the status of the Vedas, thought to embody an eternal, self existent truth realised by the rishis.
Smriti: Literally 'remembered': a category of texts different from shruti, including the Vedanga, Puranas, epics, Dharmashastra and Nitishastra.
Mandala: A book or section of the Rigveda, which has ten.
Family Books: Mandalas 2 to 7 of the Rigveda, the oldest core, associated with the priestly families of Vishvamitra, Vamadeva, Atri, Bharadvaja and Vasistha.
Samhita: The collection of hymns or mantras, the earliest core layer of each Veda.
Brahmana: Prose texts explaining rituals, showing the expansion of sacrificial religion and priestly authority.
Aranyaka: Forest texts, a bridge between ritualism and philosophical reflection.
Upanishad: Philosophical teachings stressing knowledge, the self (Atman) and ultimate reality (Brahman).
Vedanga: Literally the limbs of a Veda: supplementary texts on phonetics, metre, grammar, etymology, ritual and astronomy for its recitation, use and understanding.
Rajan: The Early Vedic tribal leader, not yet a territorial monarch; hereditary but not absolute.
Sabha: A council of selected persons or elders.
Samiti: The general tribal assembly.
Vidatha: An early assembly with military, social and religious functions.
Bali: A voluntary offering to the rajan, and also an offering to a god; no regular taxation had emerged.
Rajasuya: The royal consecration ritual.
Ashvamedha: The horse sacrifice, claiming unquestioned control over the area the royal horse ran through uninterrupted.
Vajapeya: A chariot race in which the royal chariot was made to win against the king's kinsmen.
Ayas: A Rigvedic word that could mean copper, copper bronze, or metal in general; iron was later shyama or krishna ayas, the dark metal.
Varna: Literally colour: a broad social distinction in the Early Vedic age that became formal, hierarchical and linked with ritual status in the Later Vedic age.
Purusha Sukta: A hymn of the tenth Mandala describing the cosmic being Purusha, from whose sacrifice the world and the four varnas emerged.
Upanayana: The initiation ceremony allowed to the top three varnas, who were called dvija, twice born.
Gotra: Literally the place where the whole clan's cattle were kept; later, descent from a common ancestor.
Rita: The order of the universe, of the sacrifice, and the moral order that people should follow.
Yajamana: The sacrificer, the one on whose behalf a sacrifice was performed; the handout writes jajmana.
Dakshina: The gift given to priests; land was never given in the Early Vedic age, but it was in the Later Vedic age.

Who were the Aryans?

Arya was a cultural and linguistic term, not a racial one, in the way historians use it today.
Historians mean Indo Aryan speaking groups of the Indo Iranian branch of the Indo European family of languages.
These groups are associated with Vedic Sanskrit, some horse and spoked chariot culture, pastoral tribal life, the cult of fire and Soma, sacrificial religion and oral poetry.
The subcontinent they entered had already seen the rise and decline of the Harappan civilisation and of Late Harappan regional cultures.
It also held post urban rural societies, Chalcolithic cultures and older populations when the Indo Aryan speakers arrived.
Spoked wheel chariots of the post Harappan period at Sinauli raise doubts over the theory that Aryans introduced them.

Invasion

An older theory of an Aryan invasion is now largely rejected, as archaeology shows no large scale violent destruction of the Harappan world.
Harappan decline also began earlier and was more complex than a single invasion.

Migration

Indo Aryan speaking groups entered gradually from the northwest in phases, not in one attack, and interacted with those already living here.
Vedic culture developed through migration and interaction, not simple replacement, and this is the best accepted theory today.

Indigenous origin

The indigenous theory holds that the Aryans arose within India and did not come from outside the subcontinent.
Most historians and linguists do not accept it as the strongest explanation, because Indo Aryan is strongly linked with the Indo European family outside India.
Indo Aryan also shares deep similarities with the Iranian languages, which weighs against an indigenous origin.

The migration theory is the best accepted: Vedic culture formed through gradual entry, interaction, sometimes conflict, adaptation and cultural mixing with the peoples already here.

The Vedic language laid the foundation of the later Sanskrit tradition that followed the Vedic age.
The ideas of yajna and rita, and later of Atman and Brahman, shaped Indian thought for centuries.
Vedic sacrificial and priestly traditions influenced later Hindu religion in many of its forms.
Varna became a major long term feature of Indian society, though it changed greatly over time.
Kingship, royal rituals and ideas of royal legitimacy grew from Vedic roots.
The Upanishadic inquiry into self and reality became foundational for Indian philosophy.
Many later traditions, epics, rituals and identities drew legitimacy from the Vedic past.

Prelims

Try each before opening the answer; every question is also on the Prelims PYQs pages.

2026 · Q10

Consider the following statements about the Rigvedic period:

I.Irrigation from wells allowed agriculture to expand away from flood plains and strips on river margins into the present Punjab and Haryana plains having underground water levels reasonably close to the surface.
II.Draught-animal power was employed to draw up water out of the wells.

Which of the following information support/supports the above statements?

1.There is evidence in the Rigveda of the use of ashma chakra (stone pulley wheel) and ahava (strapped wooden pails) to draw up water.
2.Mention has been made in the Rigveda of the use of implements like parashu/kulisha (axe) and datra/sreni (sickle).
3.There is a history of the use of ox, even before the Rigveda, for ploughing the land and pulling the carts.

(a)1 and 2 only
(b)1, 2 and 3
(c)1 and 3 onlyUPSC key
(d)3 only

Show answer and explanation

Item 1 supports both statements directly, because a stone pulley wheel and strapped pails are the physical apparatus of well lifting, which is the technology that makes cultivation away from the river margin possible and which also needs a source of pulling power.
Item 3 supports statement II, since the established use of the ox for ploughing and for drawing carts before and during the Rigvedic period is exactly the draught-animal power that could be transferred to lifting water from a well.
Item 2 supports neither statement and is the eliminator. An axe is a tool for clearing forest and a sickle is a harvesting implement, so both relate to the land use cycle but tell us nothing about wells or about animal power applied to water lifting. Hence 1 and 3 support the statements and (c) is correct. (a) and (b) admit the irrelevant implements item, and (d) discards the pulley and pail evidence, which is the single most direct piece of support in the set.

Moderate · Static · Ancient and Medieval History · Prehistory, Harappan and Vedic India

2026 · Q13

Which of the following pairs of ancient and modern names of rivers is/are correctly matched?

1.Vitasta : Chenab
2.Asikni : Jhelum
3.Parushni : Ravi
4.Yavyavati : Beas

(a)1 and 2
(b)3 and 4
(c)3 onlyUPSC key
(d)4 only

Show answer and explanation

Pair 1 is wrong, since Vitasta is the Jhelum and not the Chenab.
Pair 2 is wrong, since Asikni, meaning the dark one, is the Chenab and not the Jhelum. The two names have simply been swapped, which is the trap the question is built on, and noticing the swap already eliminates (a).
Pair 3 is correct, since Parushni is the Ravi, the river on whose bank the Battle of the Ten Kings was fought.
Pair 4 is wrong, since the Beas is Vipasha in the Vedic lists, while Yavyavati is a minor stream mentioned in the Dasarajna context and is not identified with the Beas. Only pair 3 survives, so (c) is correct, and (b) and (d) both depend on accepting the Yavyavati identification.

Moderate · Static · Ancient and Medieval History · Prehistory, Harappan and Vedic India

2026 · Q20

In which one among the following texts does the term kshetra-patni ('mistress of the field') originate?

(a)Rigveda
(b)AtharvavedaUPSC key
(c)Ashtadhyayi
(d)Arthashastra

Show answer and explanation

The official key gives (b), the Atharvaveda. That text is the Vedic collection most concerned with the household, the field, agricultural fertility and the domestic rites attached to them, and it is the source usually cited in agrarian history for expressions treating the field as having a mistress. (a) is set aside because the Rigveda's related expression is Kshetrapati, the masculine lord of the field invoked in the Kshetrapati hymn, which is a different term. (c) is set aside because Panini's Ashtadhyayi is a grammar and derives forms rather than originating agrarian vocabulary. (d) is set aside because the Arthashastra is a much later treatise on statecraft and administration, and terms first attested there would not be described as Vedic in origin.

Difficult · Static · Ancient and Medieval History · Prehistory, Harappan and Vedic India

2017 · Q2

With reference to the difference between the culture of Rigvedic Aryans and Indus Valley people, which of the following statements is/are correct?

1.Rigvedic Aryans used the coat of mail and helmet in warfare whereas the people of Indus Valley Civilization did not leave any evidence of using them.
2.Rigvedic Aryans knew gold, silver and copper whereas Indus Valley people knew only copper and iron.
3.Rigvedic Aryans had domesticated the horse whereas there is no evidence of Indus Valley people having been aware of this animal.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a)1 only
(b)2 and 3 only
(c)1 and 3 onlyUPSC key
(d)1, 2 and 3

Show answer and explanation

Statement 1 is correct. The Rigveda refers to varman, body armour, and to sipra, a helmet or head covering, in its battle hymns, while no armour or helmet has been recovered from Harappan sites.
Statement 2 is incorrect on both halves. The Harappans worked gold and silver extensively, as the Mohenjodaro and Allahdino hoards and the jewellery from Harappa show, so the claim that they knew only copper and iron understates them; and iron was unknown to the Harappans altogether, the Indian Iron Age beginning around 1200 BCE, well after the mature Harappan phase. A single statement that is wrong in two independent directions is the eliminating statement here.
Statement 3 is correct. The horse is prominent in the Rigveda, in the ashva hymns and in the horse sacrifice, whereas the Harappan animal repertoire on seals shows the humped bull, buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros and tiger but no horse, and the contested Surkotada bones are not accepted as settling the question. Rejecting statement 2 alone eliminates (b) and (d) and leaves (a) against (c), which is then decided by statement 3. The official answer (c) follows.

Moderate · Static · Ancient and Medieval History · Prehistory, Harappan and Vedic India

2016 · Q89

With reference to the cultural history of India, the memorizing of chronicles, dynastic histories and epic tales was the profession of who of the following?

(a)Shramana
(b)Parivraajaka
(c)Agrahaarika
(d)MaagadhaUPSC key

Show answer and explanation

The Magadhas, along with the sutas and the vandins, were the bardic communities whose hereditary profession was the memorising and recitation of genealogies, dynastic accounts, panegyric and epic narrative at royal courts. Their importance to the historian is considerable: before the epics and puranas were committed to writing, the vamsanucharita sections preserving dynastic lists existed in the keeping of exactly these reciters, so the oral bardic tradition is the channel through which much early dynastic material survived. Hence (d).

Option (a), shramana, denotes the wandering ascetic of the heterodox traditions, Buddhist, Jaina and Ajivika, defined by renunciation rather than by recitation.
Option (b), parivrajaka, likewise denotes a wandering mendicant, the term used across traditions for one who has left household life.
Option (c), agraharika, refers to the holder or resident of an agrahara, a village granted to Brahmanas, which is a category of landholding rather than an occupation of memorising. The elimination route is that three of the four options describe modes of life, ascetic or landed, and only one names a professional occupation.

Difficult · Static · Ancient and Medieval History · Sources, Chronology and Historiography

Mains

General Studies Paper 1; every question is also on the Mains PYQs pages.

2024 · Q110 marks150 words
Underline the changes in the field of society and economy from the Rig Vedic to the later Vedic period.
2023 · Q1115 marks250 words
What are the main features of Vedic society and religion? Do you think some of the features are still prevailing in Indian society?